tling part. He had not the proper consciousness of power. He was of too sensitive a spirit for exposure. His station and repute were, therefore, always unworthy of his capabilities. He, however, felt it not, and was stranger alike to querulousness and disappointment. He looked upon none with envy, nor sought a prouder fame. A few tried friends were far more to his exquisitely susceptible feeling than the acclamations of the multitude; and the noiseless tenor of his way best approved itself to his judgment as well as to his sensibility. He chose his path, and steadily kept it.

I do not profess to "tell his story." Even a biographical etching I cannot attempt to trace. My acquaintance with bim begun after his academic studies had terminated. What was his attention, what his ardour, what his assiduity, in that noviciate of mental discipline, I can only infer from its success. The College of Homerton had the honour of preparing him for his ministry. He felt and warmly expressed his debt to that Institution. Perhaps in none other of our ministerial schools is the curriculum more severe and extended. Accurate readings constitute its test and law. Patient submission to evidence is its distinguishing praise. The demand for proof, the analysis of reasoning, are incessant; an unquestioning, a chivalrous, allegiance to truth must be the result.

How he profited by these advantages is the best testimony how diligently he improved them. His conceptions were finely accurate, though many could form them more readily. The order of his mind was not that of a rich spontaneousness. But the field was so well cultivated, that the soil became changed by the act of the

labour. It really took a quality of fertile richness; and the stores of his knowledge grew so ample, were so constantly amassed, that the greater facility of others was more than compensated by his prompt command and graceful disposal of that intellectual wealth. He could not boast the mines of some, their exhaustless though unassayed ores, their uncounted but crude gems; but his were, if more scanty, still always the most valuable, wrought into the most noble shape, and laid open in their fairest brilliance. He was, therefore, rarely at a loss for illustration or reply; if he hesitated at all, the delay arose from a fastidious taste, discriminating between the treasures which offered to him so wide and various a selection.

Fully did he appreciate the benefits of general literature. Perhaps this was a more descriptive mark of his mind than interest in profounder problems. In this reference the classical writings are particularly intended; he caught no common portion of their spirit and grace. He had a soul formed to be touched by beauty. His examinations were not superficial; he was the scholar in research: but his ambition was not confined to the vocabulary or the divaricate; he found in those noble tongues the elements of philosophy and the spells of eloquence. It was not point and even felicitous phrase that he sought in these studies: he went in quest of character, of human nature, of scattered truth.The polite letters of the present day are not unworthy of it, but this department is so diversified, that it is impossible for a person of serious habits and urgent duties to gain any but the most cursory acquaintance with it. He would not have said, Literæ nihil sanantes. Much he did towards this purpose:

nor was his range of these authors confined to those who are strictly modern. He was conversant with the wits and critics of another era. This embued his mind with a raciness, and even piquancy, which lent an indescribable charm to his conversation. Quick in the sense of quiet pleasantry, he was not inadept in the adroitness and mastery of quaint and easy humour. To elicit this feature required the unembarrassed intercourse of friendship and confidence, and even then its freest play was as void of all levity as of unkindness. It was always regulated and chastised. He was too kind to deal a wound. Had he resolved, he might have been a formidable antagonist; he would only use the foil, but his skill in its management showed how he could have lunged with the rapier.

An interesting piety endeared him to all who could love good men." Genuine religion, it cannot be denied, is not invariably presented with like effect of loveliness. In the counteraction of natural temper it is exhibited by some: through the medium of natural temper it is exemplified by others. His bonds of religion were "the cords of a man." His devotion was graceful and simple, because it was deep it was beautiful in its inartificial expressions. Suavity, forbearance, and modesty combined to form his original native character; and when piety was superinduced on this framework, when godliness was impressed upon this "inner man of the heart," that which is first and is natural only endeared and adorned that which was afterward and was spiritual; that which had never been far from the kingdom of God entered it with a no less decided transition than others, but bore itself with a more royal heirship in it.

He would, it is believed, have been amiable without the influence of Christian principle. "Being evil," he would have been esteemed; but discipled to the gospel, he was

a man greatly beloved;" "partaker of a divine nature," you could never lose sight of his own. A true and cheerful devotion was his element; it seemed to explain, as it tended to dignify, his whole character.

By those who only slightly knew him, he was in danger of being misjudged. So placid, so meek, so courteous was he, that they might have suspected that he was incapable of strong resolution. But not less firm is the subaqueous rock, because of the rippling stream which covers it, and the lilies which fill that stream. Let my friend have been tried by sycophant and hypocrite-let questions of truth and justice have been submitted to him-his part at once was taken, and what could then have diverted him from it? It was always an unostentatious, a vauntless, courage which bore the martyr to the stake. Of this stamp was his courage and his constancy. He stood strong in his purpose, for his purpose always stood strong in conscious reason and approved right.

I wish that it were my skill to describe his manners; they blended so well with his character. They were mild, without a mixture of effeminacy. They seemed to open and shut with his heart. But then that heart! It was so kind, so soft, so unsuspicious! Things only of vice withered before itenvy, insinuation, impurity, detraction! How candid was he; not confined in his regards to a few, but constantly did he "add to brotherly kindness, charity !"— Even his aspect was an index to this. His countenance had an im

press of amenity and benignity. Its air and manner were true to its feature. With nothing in the general outline which would be called handsome, there was the symbol drawn of delicate and noble sen..timent. And what Cicero said of Quintus Hortensius, I will quote of him, than whom I scarcely can hope to find a sweeter, blander specimen of mingled excellencies, "Admodum adolescentis ingenium, ut Phidiæ signum, simul adspectum et probatum est."

It might, perhaps, be supposed that this blandness was incompatible with that efficiency and zeal which the Nonconformist Ministry of this country is expected to discover. Here would be another mistake, and another wrong. He had no small feeling of religious enterprise. He lived in a suburban village, and he considered the religious state of the populous town. He determined to attempt something for its benefit. He selected its rudest portion of inhabitants. Thither on the Sabbath, and on other days, he repaired, and overstrained a delicate constitution. His strength was inadequate, and the seeds of death were sown in him. Though he seemed to rally, my impression is, that a zeal too lavish, too indiscreet, shortened his life. He was not wittingly imprudent; every noble construction must be put upon his fervent self-denying labour; no strain of gentlest reproof is intended; but it might still be wished, that more experienced friends could be found to restrain the generous impetuosity of youth, or that youth could be persuaded to take the counsel which they give, to wield the weapon more sparingly, that they may strike with it the longer. Speaking upon the probabilities of the case, how many a sustained effort might years have witnessed and honoured, which has been pro

digally consumed on transient moments and fitful operations. But who can repress, or scarce discourage, ardours of pious diligence like these? Nor is the tone of some of these earlier "Recollections" contradicted, since "to spend and to be spent" is the characteristic of him who "worketh the work of the Lord,"-since this can hardly be adjusted by a scale,

and since all this may be permitted and made subservient, for the hastening of a reward and consummation which, according to more reserved and stinted labour, must have been delayed. I state but what, to my best judgment, is the fact: I would not too plaintively repine that some, whom I might have constrained to linger here, have fearlessly exhausted themselves, and committed all in single struggles more than in the general conflict, and in detached encounters more than in the plan and system of the entire field.

I remember more than one trying instance in which his firmness asserted itself. A lion may be worried to its death, if the assailants be numerous enough, and fix on him from behind. A great, good, man was attacked, was to be borne down! How, then, did the strength of my friend rise with the occasion, and spurn the enticements held out to him to join a hunt, which certainly led its most eager pursuers to no fame, and, it is to be hoped, to no self-congratulation. The subject of these reminiscences was not the man to fret at a majesty which he might deem to show his inferior dimensions. He could bear it, he could seek it, he could welcome it. But all did not like a contrast which reduced them to a littleness, sufficiently obvious to others without it, but now forced upon the notice of even their selflove. The abjects felt his rebuke in his disdain of their alliance.

How can Christian ministers marvel that some men love to prey upon them, when they devour one another?

It is due to the village sphere, which my friend occupied for about nine years, to remark that it combines advantages known to few. The kindness that he experienced he felt, and was always ready to acknowledge. To one of these hospitable homes he was invited when it was physically certain that there he must breathe his last. Its inmates felt it an honour to receive that legacy; and his affection for this place seemed never checked by its contractedness. His labour for the pulpit was honourably ample. I once saw his MS. sermon, preached on returning from a long absence on the Continent-an absence required by the state of his health. There was in that composition a warmth, a truth of feeling, so simple, so natural, so far removed from oppressive epithet and mawkish sentiment, that the people must have been worthy of his love, and, in some degree at least, have been capable of appreciating his excellence. They were most commendable in their quiet, cheerful patience during his long suspensions of labour, and in their prayerful, affectionate hope of his recovery. In humbler associations he was perhaps occasionally annoyed: a sound of rudeness, without its meaning, may have startled his ear: but though sensitive, and perhaps each heartstring jarred, he was always ready with excuse, and was the apologist when he might have stood the complainant. His bodily weakness had for years excited our apprehensions, but seldom were his labours interrupted. He always wrought when his strength could at all sustain him, but it was only intermittent. There sprung up once a reasonable

hope of its establishment—for a time it flattered us-but it seemed that the original narrowness of the pulmonary region compressed the lungs, and menaced disease in them. Again and again we tried to think he might be restored, until his last attack gave most of us certainty that it could never be! "Death his dart

Shook, but delayed to strike!" On his death-bed he seemed neither inclined nor empowered to say much. The event had been the theme of long forewarning and devout preparation. At his ordination he declared that he aspired to no happier lot than that of his predecessor, the Rev. Jefferson, an admirable young man, erudite and most amiable, who was removed at a still earlier period of life. In the pastor of the church in Howard Street, Sheffield, he found a companion spirit. Thomas Rawson Taylor was also his harbinger to the tomb! He preached his funeral sermon in the pulpit of the venerable father, in Bradford,—that dear youth having been obliged to decline his stated ministry, and having filled most honourably, until his lamented death, the classical Faculty of Airedale College. How could his mortality but be familiar to him? And one dying sentence was so sublime, within even the reach of every lip, yet drawing out feelings known only to minds delicate and meek as his, that it is worthy of record. It was scripture, beautifully applied. He spoke of Jesus, "tempted in all points like as we are." He was sinking, languishing, expiring, and then dwelt with calm restoration on this," all points!" Is not this testimony, inly experienced, mightily supported, worth the whole material universe? Did it not proclaim that what he then suffered, his Saviour had already endured? that the tear had traced its channel

down that Awful Countenance ere one had stood upon his cheek? that wherever he now set down his weary tottering foot, the Forerunner had planted his before? Literary productions he should have left behind him. But he did not aim at distinction, nor could be induced to contemplate this as his proper instrument of usefulness. Not many would have excelled him, if he would have yielded to requests importunate and almost incessant. I know but of two specimens:-his Answers to the Questions at his Ordination, and a Sermon on Protestant Dissent. In the former he discovered a most humble self-estimate, but in a strain so approved to taste and rich in beauty, that all felt that the lowest seat was his choice, and not his alternative; that the last should be first: he has since had honour of all. In the other, the argument is clear and compact, several of the illustrations are novel and very acute, but too much of a local temporary excitement was compulsorily thrown into it.

Before he was thirteen years of age, he had joined a Christian church as a member at the age of thirty-two he left the Christian church lamenting him as one of its worthiest pastors, and fairest dawning lights! In the former instance we are tempted to say," O venerande Puer," in the other we may borrow as our elegy the language of the Book of Wisdom: "Honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time. He being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time. For his soul pleased the Lord: therefore hasted He to take him away."

Our ministry, speaking of the Independent denomination, has perhaps as general efficiency as any. It does not, however, provide the same encouragement to

talent as some. A particular kind, the ready fluency, the variegated aptitude of address, is in constant requisition: as useful, though not so shining, abilities are too commonly slighted. Because his was not the popular, the captivating art, I know that a few regarded him as really a secondary man. Might not a larger share of capability be drawn towards us? at least might it not be unrepelled? There seems too great reason to think that we are continually casting from us powers of mind, and forms of intellectual endowment, merely because unaccompanied with certain accidents. I have no wish that our pastors should read their sermons,- a free enunciation, I cannot doubt, is decidedly preferable,-but ought it to be that a young man of high attainment and powerful understanding shall be almost spurned from us, unless he command powers of delivery? The consequence is, that the young men of our more respectable families are driven into the hierarchy, sufficiently seductive without this expulsion. Every community has its prejudice: this, perhaps, is ours: every consideration, however, renders it desirable that we should foster and ply all the literary advantages and masculine minds among us, without one rigid and arbitrary test, if we would keep our position, and still more if we would advance it. Our brethren of the establishment are now employing species of talent which once they despised: they have yielded, and suffer each labourer to take his way and it will be folly in us to dismiss contemptuously from our portals men of preeminent worth and masterdom, because they have not a silvery voice, or a well-chimed articulation.

I must draw my reflections to an end. I mourn, with many, one who deserved our love. To my mind