In the different relations of life, as a son, a husband, and a parent, he was invariably kind and affectionate. In his friendship he was faithful, and as a companion cheerful, instructive, and unassuming.

His reading was extensive. His power of discrimination enabled him to separate the profound from the superficial in argument; and his command of languages gave him great facility of expression. He understood most, if not all, the European tongues; three of the American; one African; and several of the Orientals. He was commencing a grammar of thirty languages, when Providence laid him aside by affliction, and then called him to praise God in the one language of the celestial Canaan. Being asked by a friend how he managed to obtain the knowledge of a language so expeditiously, he replied, with his usual kindness, "I first take the grammar of the language, and read it: and, having fixed certain points in my mind, which I find to agree with a language already attained, and those points of agreement which pertain to language in generalhaving gone thus far, I read again to attain the knowledge of words, then study the grammar, take a lexicon, and commence translating into English. Afterwards, I re-translate the English, and compare it with the original; by which I discover my errors, and then apply the grammar with rapid effect.”

His defence of the Mahratta version of the New Testament, against the criticisms advanced in the "Asiatic Journal" for September, 1829, brought him under the notice of the committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society; and in the spring of last year, 1830, he was appointed superintendent of the editorial department of that institution, at a salary of £300 per annum; not, however, without labour and responsibility adequate, and more than adequate, to the remuneration.

Let us now follow our departed friend to the closing scenes of his mortality. On the morning of this day six weeks, the 16th of October, he was with us as usual, at the head of his family. He came into the vestry after the service, and was very cheerful. On the following Sabbath, he was not present; but as the day was wet and very uncomfortable, and his distance from the chapel so great, I was not surprised. On the subsequent Friday, however, his daughters called to inform me of his serious illness. I went up to see him, and found him very unwell; but his mind was perfectly composed. His conversation was spiritual, and he said he rested his all on Jesus Christ. We read the Scriptures, and engaged in prayer. We then renewed our conversation; and he appeared happy in his experience of divine mercy and goodness through the mediation of our blessed Lord.

On the next day, Saturday, October 29, I was not able to see him but, in conversation with another friend, he expressed himself most delightfully on his hopes and prospects respecting eternity. It appears something had been previously contemplated, to expose his ungenerous assailants, and false accusers of neology, to the contempt of good men; and Mr. Greenfield had sent for a gentleman in the city on that subject. This gentleman being out of town, his son waited on the deceased, and the following dialogue ensued.

Mr. G. said, "Here I am, you see: I have been very bad; but, thank God, I feel very much better." His friend replied, "I am glad to hear you say so. I hope God will yet spare you." Mr. Greenfield observed, " I think he will:"-(abruptly,) "but where is your father? I want to see him." Being informed that the gentleman he particularly inquired for was from home, and requested to unburden his evidently anxious mind to his son, he said, "You know, when sickness has laid the body on the bed of languishing, the mind is unfettered. Now I have been well ruminating over the conversation which I and your father had together. The more I think of it, the less I like it; and I entreat you to tell your father, my mind is hurt, that I should have given way to my carnal reasoning, and advised him to render evil for evil." This was Christian principle and Christian feeling too, in their God-like operation of forgiveness; but perfectly accordant with the general kindness of the man. He said, "Oh! do pray entreat him not to pursue the new course which has been proposed. The misrepresentations have indeed laid hold on the public mind too fatally; but, I believe, that He who has permitted the wicked to prosper, will soon appear and raise up godly men who will set the Comprehensive Bible' in its true light. Let us not forget our Christian profession, but leave the vindication of our just cause to Him who judges righteously." To this it was rejoined, My dear friend, you may make your mind perfectly easy. I am sure my father's feelings coincide with yours, from a recent conversation I have had with him, and your wishes will be met." Mr. Greenfield said, " God be praised! and has nothing been done?" His friend replied, "No, I assure you the communication was written, but abandoned.” Mr. G. then remarked, "Oh, how happy I am! I should not like the last act of my life to have been so far below the true Christian principles; and my pain is alleviated. Since I have been here I have learned more of the depravity of my heart than I knew before; but, blessed be God, I have also had that inward witnessing of the Spirit, that I feel myself to be a pardoned sinner through the blood of Jesus Christ. For worlds I would not have been without this illness. I have had the most delightful interviews with my heavenly Father.

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I have enjoyed that nearness of access which prevents me doubting my interest in the precious blood of a crucified Redeemer; and I am ready and willing, if it be the Lord's will, to depart and be with Christ." The gentleman who has made this communication to your preacher, adds, "During the short time in which I was favoured with this conversation with my late friend, his countenance assumed the most enlivened appearance. He seemed to me to have had a heavy burden taken off his mind, when I assured him his fears were all groundless."

On the following Monday, Oct. 31, I saw him in the morning, and his spirits were greatly depressed, he seemed to think himself in a hopeless condition, as if his iniquity could not be pardoned: but in the afternoon of the same day, he resumed his confidence in the atonement, and said to a friend, "Oh! if it were not for the precious, precious blood of Christ! Give my respects to your wife; tell her it is an easy thing to profess religion, but it must be imbodied to secure our happiness." Subsequently the fever seized his brain, and from Tuesday the first of November to Saturday the fifth, on the evening of which he expired, about half-past seven o'clock, he was quite delirious, apparently without a lucid interval. Thus lived, and thus died, Mr. William Greenfield, at the early age of thirty-two years. His funeral was attended by many literary gentlemen; and a great number of others, who could not pay that personal mark of respect to his character, sent letters of condolence and sympathy for his afflicted family, with deep regret for his loss, both to the church of Christ and to the world.

Certainly it is a most mysterious event! He was a man wonderfully endowed by Providence for great usefulness; his mind was bent upon doing good: he had laboured hard for some years almost unknown to the world; he had recently been brought into public notice; his extraordinary powers were beginning to attract universal attention; his worth was becoming generally known and highly appreciated; his prospects were brightening on every side; his wife, children, and friends, were all participating in his success: but, in one moment, how the scene is changed, and every hope is blighted by the hand of death! Indeed, "Clouds and darkness are round about him." But though his years were few, he had done much for the benefit of society; and his name will be long in remembrance, when thousands, and tens of thousands, who have lived even to old age, but lived without benefit to the world, shall be forgotten.

"That life is long, which answers life's great end;

The time that bears no fruit deserves no name;

The man of wisdom is the man of years."

Let us now consider

1. The solemn lesson of instruction which we have given us in this mysterious providence! Ought we not to stand always prepared to meet the living God? Our departed friend had spoken of becoming a member of our church, as well as an attendant in the congregation; but his change of habitation, the loss of a dear child almost immediately on his removal, and a multiplicity of other engagements, postponed the execution of his purpose until it was put beyond his power to fulfil it. Hence, we are supplied with new arguments, and urged by new motives, to enforce the exhortation of Solomon, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest," Eccles. ix. 10. Let us see that we possess an interest in our Lord Jesus Christ; that we have a personal, an experimental, and a practical knowledge of his name; that we are born from above, and worshipping God in newness of life: then welcome death, welcome eternity. "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus," Rev. xxii. 20. 2. It behoveth us to stand in awe of God, and acquiesce in his righteous will.

I might say

We must justify his ways when we cannot trace his goings: when he speaks in thunder, we are commanded to be still. Is he not a Father to the fatherless? is he not the widow's friend? to this mourning family, Look unto the Almighty, and your help and your refuge, in this, and in every storm. however, adopt the language of dictation under your present circumstances, but become a suppliant at the mercy-seat of heaven in your behalf, as far more suitable to the solemn occasion.

he will be I will not,

O, may God be present with you; may his holy arm be your shield of protection; his sacred Spirit your comforter and your guide; his promises happily realized in your future days; his beneficent providence your constant attendant; and his everlasting kingdom your final home, to unite again with him whom you so dearly loved, and who is absent from the body to be present with the Lord. Amen, and amen.

SERMON II.

THE LIBERTIES OF THE CHURCH.

BY R. M. BEVERLEY, ESQ.

GALATIANS iv. 26.

-Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Η δε ανω Ιερουσαλημ, ελευθερα εστιν, ητις εστιν, μητηρ παντων ημων.

ST. PAUL, through the whole of his Epistle to the Galatians, has fought the battle of spiritual freedom against the spirit of bondage and carnal ordinances. The persons to whom he had addressed this famous letter had been freed from the yoke of the law; they had been manumitted by Christ; their chains had been broken, and they had been let loose from the thraldom of works, to expatiate in the liberty of the gospel: but the habits of slavery, and the principles of superstition, were a part of their nature, and they had not so far crucified the old man with the affections and lusts thereof, as to be able to say, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." No; they had slunk back to their old slavery; the gospel was too spiritual for them, its beauties were too refined; they wanted the grosser and more palpable food of the visible law, something that they could taste, and handle, and touch; they were in love with the weak and beggarly elements of the Mosaic system, and went a whoring after the old idols that Christ had thrown down; so that Paul looked on them as fools bound in the spells of witchcraft, and was exceedingly earnest to throw out this familiar spirit which had blinded their eyes so that they could not see the gospel : O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been

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