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and praise. Hence he laboured,' as he expresses it, 'to exercise most love to God when suffering most severely; and hence he so affectingly encountered the billows that overwhelmed his feeble frame, crying,

Sweet affliction, sweet affliction,
Singing as I wade to heaven.'

The constant happiness that he enjoyed in God was apparent in the effects of his sermons upon others. Whatever we feel ourselves we shall ordinarily communicate to our hearers; and it has been already noticed, that one of the most distinguished properties of his discourses was,-that they inspired the serious mind with the liveliest sensations of happiness. They descended upon the audience, not indeed like a transporting flood, but like a shower of dew, gently insinuating itself into the heart, insensibly dissipating its gloom, and gradually drawing forth the graces of faith, hope, love, and joy: while the countenance was brightened almost ¡nto a smile, tears of pleasure would rise, and glisten, and fall from the admiring eye.

What a practical confutation did his life afford of the slander so generally cast upon the religion of Jesus, that it fills the mind with gloom and misery! No: leaving futurity out of the question, the whole world of unbelievers might be challenged to produce a character from among them who possessed half his enjoyments.

Fourthly, From his example we are furnished with the greatest encouragement, while pursuing the path of duty, to place our trust in God.- -The situation in which he left his family, we have seen already, was not owing to an indifference to their interest, or an improvident disposition, or the want of opportunity to have provided for them; but to a steady and determined obedience to do what be accounted the will of God. He felt deeply for them, and we all felt with him and longed to be able to assure him before his departure, that they would be amply provided for: but owing to circumstances which have already been mentioned, this was more than we could do. This was a poin in which he was called to die in faith and indeed so he did. He appears to have had no idea of that flood of kindness,

which, immediately after his decease, flowed from the religious public: but he believed in God, and cheerfully left all with him. • Oh that I could speak,' said he to Mrs. Pearce a little before his death, I would tell a world to trust a faithful God. Sweet affliction; now it worketh glory, glory!' And when she told him the workings of her mind, he answered, 'Oh trust the Lord! If he lift up the light of his countenance upon you, as he has done upon me this day. all your mountains will become mole-hills. I feel your situation : I feel your sorrows: but he who takes care of sparrows, will care for you and my dear children.'

The liberal contributions which have since been made, though they do not warrant ministers in general to expect the same, and much less to neglect providing for their own families on such a presumption; yet they must need be considered as a singular encouragement, when we are satisfied that we are in the path of duty, to be inordinately careful for nothing, but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, to let our requests be made known unto God.'

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Finally, In him we see that the way to true excellence is not to affect eccentricity, nor to aspire after the performance of a few splendid actions; but to fill up our lives with a sober, modest, sincere, affectionate, assiduous, and uniform conduct. greatness attaches to character; and character arises from a course of action. Solid reputation as a merchant arises not from a man's having made his fortune by a few successful adventures; but from a course of wise economy, and honourable industry, which, gradually accumulating, advances by pence to shillings, and by shillings to pounds. The most excellent philosophers are not those who have dealt chiefly in splendid speculations, and looked down upon the ordinary concerns of men as things beneath their notice; but those who have felt their interests united with the interests of mankind, and bent their principal attention to things of real and public utility. It is much the same in religion. We do not esteem a man for one, or two, or three good deeds, any further than as these deeds are indications of the real state of his mind. We do not estimate the character of Christ himself so much from his having

given sight to the blind, or restored Lazarus from the grave, as from his going about continually doing good.

These single attempts at great things are frequently the efforts of a vain mind, which pants for fame, and has not patience to wait for it, nor discernment to know the way in which it is obtained. One pursues the shade, and it flies from him; while another turns his back upon it, and it follows him. The one aims at once to climb the rock, but falls ere he reaches the summit; the other, walking round it, in pursuit of another object, gradually and insensibly ascends till he reaches it: seeking the approbation of his God, he finds with it that of his fellow-Christians.

THE

SUBSTANCE OF AN ORATION,

DELIVERED AT THE GRAVE

OF

THE REV. SAMUEL PEARCE,

OCTOBER 16, 1799.

BY THE REV. J. BREWER.

We are called together to-day upon a most solemn and affecting occasion. Our business here is, to convey the precious remains of a dear departed brother to his long home, to the house appointed for all living. The subject of our present contemplation is of no ordinary kind; it is that which ought to come home to every man's bosom, because it is that in which we are all interested. It is not like many other subjects, which, while some are materially affected by them, to others they are articles of total indifference: but death speaks in an imperious tone, and demands the attention of all.

DEATH! solemn sound! the bare annunciation of which, should arrest the mind of every individual in this numerous assembly. Where is the man that liveth and shall not see death? When Xerxes viewed his incalculable army, it is said, he wept from the consideration that in a few years, not one of that prodigious host would be living. Whether the Persian really wept or not, I am not sure; but when I consider, that in a few, comparatively a

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very few years, not one of all whom I am now addressing but must be laid as low as the breathless corpse of our dear departed brother, I feel my mind deeply affected. And O that I could but awaken a due concern in every bosom about this truly momentous subject!

Thus stands the irrevocable decree of the immutable God-IT The wise and unwise, IS APPOINTED UNTO ALL MEN ONCE TO DIE. the patrician and plebeian, the monarch and the beggar, must submit alike to the strong arm of this universal conqueror, the king of terrors. A consideration like this, should sink deep into every man's heart; but alas! man is a strange being, loth to learn what most intimately belongs to him. The most awful things lose their effect by their frequency; and hence it is, that the death of a fellow-creature is, in general, no more regarded than "the fall of an autumnal leaf in the pathless desert." Wretched apathy! Fatal insensibility!

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Let us for a moment meditate upon the effects subsequent to the triumph of the last enemy. What melancholy ravages does he make, even in this world! He causes the fairest flower to wither, often in the morning; he stains the pride of all sublunary glory; and casts the noblest work of God into the dust. When he takes to himself his great power, none can stay his band. Fixed in his purpose, and irresistible in the execution of the same, he stalks, untouched by the pangs of agonizing nature; the distress of helpless infancy; the poignant grief of paternal affection; or the bitterest sorrows of connubial love. Relentlessly he breaks in upon domestic happiness; frustrates the most benevolent designs; and casts a dark shade upon the brightest prospects. In fine, cruelty marks his footsteps; and desolation and anguish are his common attendants.

If we look beyond the scene which presents itself to our view in this life; and, by the aid of revelation, endeavour to substantiate the serious realities of death, beyond "that bourne from whence no traveller returns ;" if we look into the eternal world, and there behold what follows death, surely we cannot remain unmoved.

Man is immortal; it is the flesh only that dies: The spirit is incorruptible. Hence death is the most eventful period. The

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