work of the ministry, he was reading in his bible, and was led in a way which he could not account for, to that particular passage, Ezek. xxiv. 27.." In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb; and thou shalt be a sign unto them, and they shall know that I am the Lord." These words made so strong an impression on his mind, that he could not keep them out of his recollection, day nor night, till he preached again, although he endeavoured by every means to forget them.

In the year 1787, the meeting-house at Launceston was purchased, which, together with the expence of putting it into its present decent form, amounted to several hundred pounds. Mr. S. subscribed fifty pounds towards it himself; then his congregation subscribed; after which a few other congregations sent their assistance; but there was a considerable debt still remaining. He therefore applied the salary, which they now began to raise, to diminish it. What remained due at his death, he gave to the congregation, that they might be the better able to support a minister after his In September 1788, the meeting-house was opened in a very solemn manner. Several ministers preached on the occasion. The Sabbath after it was opened, Mr. S. preached on Psa. cxxvi. 3. « The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad." In this discourse he gave a history of the work of God at Launceston, and expressed the particular pleasure he received in seeing them provided with such a commodious place in which to worship God.

Mr. S. had been frequently requested to take upon him the pastoral care of his congregation, but in 1789 he received a very pressing invitation for this purpose. After much deliberation and prayer, he agreed to comply with their request, and in June 1790, he was solemnly set apart to the sacred office, in the presence of many of his brethren and fathers in the ministry. The Rev. Mr. Lavington, of Biddeford, delivered an excellent charge to him on the occasion, which was exemplified in his future conduct.

Mr. S. possessed a great share of understanding. He read much; was blessed with a retentive memory, and had made great observations on men and things. From the time he first became serious, he studied the word of God with the greatest avidity, and it was remarked of him, by a person of different sentiments in religion, that he was like Apollos, mighty in the Scriptures. As a minister he well considered the subjects on which he preached: He was very laborious, and aimed at doing good.

It

It must not be omitted that Mr. S. was well known to be a man of unfeigned humility. He knew much of himself, which kept him very lowly in his own eyes. He possessed the most

exalted ideas of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was his happiness to be assured, that his Saviour was the only wise God, and that be bad been manifest in the flesh to take away sin. It was evident that he followed the great Redeemer with his whole heart, which made him very spiritual in his conversation, and exemplarily holy in his life. Love to Christ appeared to be. the leading motive of his actions. This made him ready to every good work. He was likewise an affectionate pastor : Many of his congregation have acknowledged since his death, that he was like a father to them. They could consult him on all occasions, and ever found in him a judicious adviser and ready friend. That Mr. S. was a disinterested minister of Christ, will appear by the following circumstance: Although he preached the Gospel almost twenty years, devoting the whole of the last thirteen years of his life to the work, he never accepted of any pecuniary aid for his labours. It could. not be expected that such a genuine disciple of Christ should pass through the world without opposition. He met with it. from different quarters, but it only made the character of the Christian shine more visibly in him: He had learned to return good for evil.

The Great Head of the Church had not designed that he should remain long on the earth, and therefore had been some years preparing him for heaven. In the former part of his Christian life he suffered very distressing doubts respecting the state of his soul, but in the latter part of it he enjoyed. much liberty and comfort. On Saturday, the 4th of April 1795, he was taken ill of a nervous fever. It did not, however, prevent him from preaching three times on the following day. On the Monday he grew worse, and continued so to do till his disorder increased to an alarming degree. About the Tuesday se'nnight after he was taken, the fever began to abate; but notwithstanding this, he grew weaker, and visibly: sunk under the disorder. After the fever left him, he was truly happy in his mind, and spoke with great pleasure of his approaching dissolution. His friends, who sat up with him, were witnesses of his heavenly frame of mind. - Christ was his constant theme, and to exalt him, he manifested the greatest ardor.

On the Wednesday before he died, when his brother and sister were with him, his soul was engaged in the greatest devotion, and his desires went out so much after God, that they VOL. IV.

I

were

4

were apprehensive he must immediately sink under the exertion of his mind. He conversed with his sister in a most affectionate manner, exhorting her to trust in the Lord, and declaring to her his own experience of the Divine faithfulness. His brother said to him, "I suppose you don't repent that you have walked in the ways of God, and have been a despised follower of Jesus above twenty years past?" "No!" said he : "If I am sorry, it is that I have not served him with greater zeal." He then began to speak of his approaching dissolution, and, lifting up his eyes and heart to the Lord, he repeated the following lines in a rapture of devotion:

"Hide me, O my Saviour! hide,

Till the storm of life is past;

Safe unto the haven guide,

O receive my soul at last!"

After which he desired his brother to repeat the hymn; and through the different parts of it, his soul was delighted beyond measure. He then requested his brother to engage in prayer with him, and, through the whole, his soul was agonizing with God, and breathing after him in the most ardent manner.

At another time he repeated that passage of Scripture, "Whoever will, let him come, and take of the water of life. freely." He then said, "O precious, precious Christ! I do come, and I do drink of the water of life." Again he said, "O what is an interest in Christ worth now!" Observing to his servant how ill he was, be immediately adopted the fol lowing lines of Dr. Watts:

"Then while ye hear my heart strings break,

How sweet my minutes roll!

A mortal paleness on my cheek,

And glory in my soul!"

On Saturday, April 18th, about two o'clock in the morn ing he said to his brother, Brother, I am dying, and I die in the Lord! I die in the Lord!" His brother asked him if he was happy in his soul? to which he replied, "Very happy." His brother then spent some time in prayer with him; and although he was reduced almost to the greatest degree of weakness, his soul was much engaged in aspirations to God. The same morning he addressed the physician in the following language: "I, Doctor, thank you for your kind attention to me during my illness, but medicine now can do me no good, I am dying, and shall soon be for ever with my Lord." He

continued

continued breathing till eleven o'clock the same morn ing, when he fell asleep in Jesus. Through his illness, no thing was permitted to interrupt his hope and confidence, It was indeed a most blessed dying bed! It might be com pared to the sun's going down in a clear summer's evening.

It has not unfrequently happened, that ministers before their departure have been led to preach on subjects remarka bly suited to that event. Whether this was the case with the subject of this memoir, we will leave our readers to judge. The evening before Mr. S. was taken ill, he preached on Luke, xxiii. 28. "Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children." In this discourse he observed, among other things, with what propriety a faithful minister, when leaving the present world, might adopt the language of the text. On the day after he was seized with the disorder of which he died, which was the Lord's Day, his text was Acts, ji. 24. “It was not possible that he should be holden of it." We presume the following extract of his sermon will be acceptable to our readers:- "Is it not great encou→ ragement to true believers, that though death seized on the only Reedemer of mankind, it could not hold its prey. Had it been able to do this, all faith or hope in him would be vain, 1 Cor. xv. 17. But he was capable of breaking the bands of death, and of rising triumphant over them, and this he did on the behalf of his redeemed. Is there not, then, the most ample encouragement to believe on such a deliverer, whom it was not possible for death itself to retain!

"What security is hereby derived to true believers, that death shall not always retain them within its power. He that was able to take his own life again when he had laid it down, Is able to restore his redeemed to life; yea, to such a life as will be in no more danger of a forfeiture by death or other

This was intended and fully established by his own death and resurrection, 1 Cor. xv. 20---22. Here then is security in committing the bodies of believers to the gloomy mansions of the grave, that these shall not always be their abode, but that, ere long, they shall inherit a glorious resur rection, both of body and soul, in the everlasting kingdom. For as Christ the Saviour rose from the dead, so all his fol lowers must.

"Believers, from this view, may even triumph at the thought and approach of death. Death is no real enemy to the believer; it is only so in appearance. It cannot do the Christian any essential hurt, however terrific it may seem; because its sting is taken out by him whe exhausted all

1 2

its

its power in himself, when it could hold him no longer. Thus in effect he destroyed death itself, and him that had the power of it. The believer, therefore, in the proper exercise of faith, may, even now, in a measure, as he will hereafter in perfection, triumph over this formidable adversary, saying, "O death where is thy sting!" &c. May it be our felicity thus to triumph at the hour of death, and at the final or complete resurrection of body and soul !

"How careful should we be to ascertain our interest in Christ! To such only all this happiness belongs. He that hath not the Son of God, hath not life, but abideth in death. Death must be a king of terrors indeed to all of this description. How should believers themselves, by contrasting the perishing things of this life with the glories that await them, and the death that must come on all worldly enjoyments, learn to detach their minds more and more from all these, and set their affections on things above! There can be no proper expectation of heavenly joys, where there is no heavenly-mindedWhat need there is for the continual exercise of faith to realize divine truths to our souls; and particularly how necessary must it be in the article of death to behold it a conquered enemy!

ness.

"Faith hath an overcoming pow'r,

It triumphs in the dying hour."

May we possess this genuine principle now, and have it in full experience then!''

The Friday after his departure, his remains were interred in the family vault in Launceston Church, and immediately after, the Rev. Mr. Lavington, of Biddeford, delivered a very excellent discourse on the occasion at the meeting-house, to a very crowded and weeping audience. The text was, Rev. xiv. 13. And I beard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. In the first inquiry, Who are those that die in the Lord ?" Mr. L. bore the following testimony to the character of Mr. S.: "If I might be allowed to mention names, I should not be at a loss for an answer; I could tell you of one whom you all knew, and hold him up as (I was going to say) a living example. And if I had said it, there would have been no great solecism in it; for though you shall henceforth know him no more after the flesh, yet his memory lives, and will long live in the hearts of many. Ye are witnesses, and God also, bow bolily, and justly, and unblumcably be bebaved bimself among you. Towards the close of life his breathings after God were strong, and his confidence