ment to prayer that many may be added to our communion of such as shall be saved."

At this period he entertained a belief in the Trinity. His preaching, however, was practical, and had little to do with what he was obliged to consider the mysteries of religion; and the opinions, he had been led to form, from the circumstances in which he commenced his theological career, were shadows, which were destined to be dissipated in a clearer acquaintance with the doctrines of the gospel.

The process, by which he was led to a change of some of his former opinions, was, first, a doubt of their reality, from their apparent inconsistency with what he esteemed the plain doctrines of christianity. This doubt instigated to an anxious inquiry respecting their truth. His personal inquiries weakened the effect of his former impressions, and the fundamental principles of Unitarian belief became the objects of his decided conviction.

He continued in the pastoral care of the society at Haverhill, beloved by an affectionate congregation, his services received with flattering tokens of acceptance in the neighbouring pulpits, and devoting his youthful energies to an earnest, direct, and engaging inculcation of the great truths of the gospel. At this period he was very exact in the distribution of his time. On entering a new year, he writes in his diary-" Let it be my solicitous endeavor this year to redeem time. Let it be my plan to undertake more, and to perform quicker. To carry, this design into execution, several things will

be necessary. To take better care of the fragments of time. A portion of the day may be often saved in the morning and evening, which is apt to slide away in other avocations. Less time should be spent in ruminating, or listless study. Let the moments of application be improved, at all times, as they are when special necessity compels to the utmost ardor and activity. Read with attention; converse with spirit and judgment; visit by plan and to some good purpose. Let civility have its place; but let religion and ministerial objects have their turn also. Choose for the pulpit subjects of variety; this will keep curiosity alive, which may be the handmaid of religion; and it may also put me in the way of crossing every hearers prevailing fault, and remind him of a duty, in which he is most of all deficient." The youthful portion of his flock engaged his particular attention, in a course of instruction which he has left in his manuscripts, and prepared with a design, happily directed to enlighten their understandings and interest their affections.

In 1796, he was married to Miss Eunice, eldest daughter of Ebenezer Wales, Esq., of Dorchester. The lamented subject of this notice was particularly remarked by those, who shared his more intimate friendship, as possessing in an eminent degree those qualities which adorn and brighten the scenes of private life. The sweet gentleness, which was never withheld from the humblest stranger, and which excited at once the interest of those whom he transiently met for the first, and perhaps the last season of interview, was peculiarly en

gaging in the walks of domestic life. With a natural attachment to the objects of nearest affection, as strong as can well be supposed to possess the heart, this attachment was refined and exalted by christian principle. The early inculcation of rational and affecting views of religion was an object of supreme regard. He viewed the affections of the heart as formed for an infinite expansion, and as destined to realize their richest exercise in a world, where sorrow and separation would be unknown. These principles prepared him for a cheerful reception and acknowledgement of private blessings, and to a composed acquiescence in their removal; and it was this character, formed on the proper estimate of the direct distributions of Providence, which enabled him to give a religious direction to the joys and griefs of others.

In May, 1803, from the insufficiency of his support, he relinquished the pastoral charge of the society at Haverhill. The determination to which he was led with anxious application for divine direction, and with daily and nightly consideration, was received by his church and society with the most ample testimonials of love and respect. The concurrence of five neighbouring churches was solicited in the dissolution of the connexion, who cordially recommended him, as an able and faithful minister of the gospel, to other places whither Providence might direct him.

The recent struggles, which his susceptible mind had experienced, in the rupture of ties to which he was accustomed to attach a peculiar sacredness, and his anx

ieties for a family, to which he was fondly devoted, proved too much for his delicate and sensitive frame. He was consequently compelled to decline any present engagements in his profession, and to seek the recovery of his health by a prolonged journey. In the summer of this year he was invited by the first Congregational society in Beverly, to supply the vacancy occasioned by the removal of Dr. M'Kean to the presidency of Bowdoin College, where, after preaching four Sabbaths, he was unanimously invited by the church and parish to be their pastor. At this period, he was solicited to preach as a candidate to the society in Brattle Street, Boston, which he was compelled to decline from an unwillingness to incur additional obligations, and from the feeble state of his health. Earnest proposals were also made to him from the society in Providence, now under the care of the Rev. Dr. Edes, inviting his settlement with them. He accepted the call at Beverly, and was installed in the following winter, on December 13, 1803. At this time his health was extremely feeble. He was just able to ascend the pulpit, and preached under the disadvantages of evident debility and frequent interruptions. The writer of this imperfect account of his valuable life and labours, has heard him say, that he preached his introductory sermon under the consciousness that it might be his last. Many of his beloved congregation have not forgotten the impressive manner, with which he preached on that occasion from the words, "We all do fade as a leaf." He was soon after confined with severe illness.

Through the prescriptions of an amiable and eminent physician, by whom, under Providence, his useful life was at succeeding times saved and prolonged, he was restored to comparative health, and enabled to enter upon the active and successful discharge of the arduous duties of his large and extended parish.

With a debilitated frame, but a mind ardent and bent on high degrees of usefulness, he entered on this enlarged sphere of labour. His first efforts were followed with an increased seriousness in his society. In August, 1804, he writes-" My labours have been apparently blest more than in any former period. The serious of the society have expressed to me their joy and gratulation; the whole assembly appears more solemn and attentive and full than formerly." In February, 1805, he writes-"The additions to the church in less than a year have been nearly fifty, and they seem to adorn their profession." The mode of preaching, which was instrumental in these results, was eminently practical. Religion was with him a deep personal feeling, founded on a delicate and tender sense of the divine mercies. It was this feeling, that he laboured to inspire in others. Hence his preaching was characterized by the closeness of its application to the heart and conduct, and its topics often suggested by passing events in his parish. An intimate acquaintance with the situation and wants of his hearers was the source of his successful appeals from the pulpit. It was because his addresses were founded on known circumstances in the experience of those whom he ad