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tor; and was also appointed a judge of the court of common pleas for the county of Suffolk, which office he held till the division of the county. The fidelity and intelligence he displayed in all the truste committed to him are universally known.

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Impressed with a conviction of his merits, the university at Cambridge conferred upon him an honorary degree. He was also elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and his reputation has been continually rising.

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Among all his excellencies his piety perhaps was the most prominent. The profoundest veneration of the supreme Jehovah pervaded his life. He felt in every action that he was in the presence of God, and accountable at his tribunal. In his family devotions he was uncommonly fervent; and in his life were as few aberrations from the strictest integrity, as have ever marked the character of man. On the publick offices of religion he was, until prevented by infirmity, a constant and serious attendant, and as a professor of christianity he adorned the doctrines of the Saviour. With him vice could find no shelter; but was frowned with indignation from his presence. Though pleasant and cheerful as a companion, his cheerfulness never degenerated into levity; nor in the moments of greatest relaxation did he forget his character as a christian. His conversation was replete with apposite and entertaining anecdotes, and with the richest fund of intelligence. The wise delighted to mingle in his society, and could always find some addition to their own treasares from the full stores of his mind.

"With the clergy he was in the highest estimation. Having devoted a considerable portion of his life to theological pursuits, he might with propriety be denominated a sound divine. Few, even of the clerical profession, have ever surpassed him in their knowledge of christian theology.

"Of his enlarged and comprehensive mind catholicism was a natural consequence. Though not attached to the sentiments of those christians, who are considered as orthodox, yet he viewed them with an eye of candour; and beheld, in every different shade of the christian faith, men of sincerity and real virtue. Apprized of his own imperfections he never erected himself into a standard for others; but was willing to believe that however widely christians might differ in their conceptions of the less important articles of their faith, there might be in them all that honesty and fidelity in their inquiries, which would recommend them to God. Every approach to bigotry his soul abhorred; and he delighted to look forward to that period, when the honest and upright of every country and of every religion would meet together in heaven.

"Of the advantages resulting from the religious principles, in which he was early instructed, and from the publick avowal of the christian faith, which he made in youth, he was deeply impressed. For more than sixty years, he observed in my last conversation with him, for more than sixty years, I have fell the value of early religion, and of an early profession of christianity. At a period, when no

worldly considerations could be supposed to influence my conduct, I made a publick profession of religion. I have never found reason to lament this part of my conduct. It has always given me pleasure on reflection, and brightens my prospects into futurity.”

"Mrs Cranch was born in Weymouth, in September, 1741. She was daughter of the rev. William Smith, pastor of the first church in that place, and she enjoyed the advantages of a pious education. Her mind, which was above the ordinary level, she had highly improved by reading, and the society of the wise. Few of her sex have surpassed her in useful qualifications, and none perhaps in the virtues, which will be in everlasting remembrance. As a companion she was cheerful and entertaining, as a friend she was affectionate and faithful. In the relation of a wife and a mother she was every thing, that could be desired. She looked well to her household, and her children have reason to call her blessed. The sick found in her a ready and consoling visiter; and the poor were made partakers of her bounty.

"As she had early made a publick profession of religion, so she endeavoured uniformly to live as the gospel teacheth. Habitually serious and devout, death and eternity were no strangers to her thoughts; and she met the last enemy without a terror. Never have I witnessed more perfect resignation, more triumphant hopes, more settled composure of mind, than she displayed in her last sickness. Sensible of her imperfections, she depended for salvation on the

mercy of God, through the Redeemer. Every step to the grave seemed to give additional firmness to her faith, and fresh vigour to her hopes, and, as she observed in my last visit, it appeared to her that she was daily conversant with other beings, and with another world. Heaven seemed to be already begun in her soul; and I doubt not she has received the approbation of her Judge; and will shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as a star, forever and ever."

Mrs. Cranch's mother was a daughter of the hon. John Quincy. She was the oldest sister of mrs. Adams, consort of president Adams, and of mrs. Peabody, consort of rev. mr. Peabody, of Atkinson, and formerly the consort of the late rev. John Shaw, of Haverhill. She had one brother, who died in early life leaving a family of worthy children.

Mr. and mrs. Cranch were the parents of three children, the oldest of whom was married to the rev. Jacob Norton of Weymouth, and departed this life before her mother, in 1811. The youngest daughter is the wife of mr. John Greenleaf, of Quincy, Their only son, the hon. William Cranch, resides at his seat in the vicinity of Alexandria. He is supreme judge of the district court of Columbia, and reporter of cases in the federal court of the United States.

The venerable judge Cranch had devoted much time to the study of the scriptures, and the result was a scheme in reference to the apocalyptic beast, which embraces so much originality, and is so

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little known, as to render it a suitable and important appendix to this article. It is therefore given entire as it was addressed to his son-in-law, rev. mr. Norton, 14 March, 1810.

"The term beast in the prophetick language, gener ally means some great over bearing power on earth, that afflicts and tyrannizes over the professors of true religion. And such a tyranny, when exercised over the church of Christ, has generally been called the reign of Antichrist. And christians in the several ages of the church have been wont to apply the title to the various powers, who have persecuted them, from the times of the persecutions under the pagan Roman emperors, to the time of the tyranny of the Romish church, after the pope had obtained the proud title of universal bishop, from Phocas the usurping emperor, in the year 606. From this latter period protestants in general have agreed to fix the character of Antichrist on the Roman pontift and his clergy, and suppose that it was foretold and described in the prophecy of Daniel, and in the book of Revelations.

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But, in opposition to this application of the title to a power, that professes to honour Christ, and to have received all its authority from him; it has been supposed by others that the character of Antichrist ought rather to be looked for in some great tyrannical power that was professedly in opposition to the christian religion, and so might literally be termed Anti Christ. It may not therefore be improper here to take a cursory view of the ancient christJan churches that were settled before the acknow

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