dead, and behold I am alive forever more, amen, and have the keys of hell and of death. Come all ye who las bour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Look unto me all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved, for I am God, and besides me there is none else. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The bruised reed he will not break, and the smoking flax he will not quench, till he bring forth judgment unto victory, and the isles shall wait for his law. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool. Thy dead men shall live together, with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust, for my dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead."

Here father Rice concluded, saying, "When I began this little history, I designed a lengthy address on some particular subjects, but find I must conclude for want of ability to proceed." "The watchman," says his amanuensis, "hath once more told us what of the night. It was indeed a last effort. Like Jacob of old, his weak state required to be strengthened when he sate upon his bed, and gave his last blessing to his children. He had been a father to the scattered churches in this country. and he still had the feelings of a parent, though his tongue was deprived of its eloquence, his voice had lost its harmony, and the powers of articulation sometimes failed. While dictating.these Memoirs, he had often to take rest before he could proceed, yet his mind was

firm. He was an old man among a thousand. Amidst all-the infirmities of nature, he was Mr. Rice still. His memory with respect to recent occurrences had failed greatly, but his understanding was the same that ever it had been. He was still cheerful, still instructive. He talked about the grave with serious composure, and with as little alarm as a man talks of his bed when undressing. His mortal clothing was worn out, and he was about to lay it off without a murmur. I could not help wishing him another suit, that he might go on preaching again, but it was an unjust wish. He had endured the storms of half a century. Why should

not the relief come at last? We knew not his value while he was with us in full vigour. May we profit by his character, and example, and writings, which are now all that we have left of him!"

CHAPTER XV.

SKETCH OF THE PART WHICH HE TOOK IN NATIONAL AND STATE AFFAIRS,

MR. RICE was naturally of a modest and retiring disposition, yet when duty evidently called, he could come forth, from the humble walk of a country parson, and take a part in the public concerns of the nation. At the commencement of the Revolutionary struggle he

took a decided stand, and let slip no opportunity of warning the people among whom he laboured, of the danger to which their civil rights were exposed. He indeed, like many others, at first supposed that the grievances of which the colonies complained might have been redressed, and complete security given for the enjoyment of all these privileges, without a dismemberment of the British Empire. But when the attainment of the object in this way was found to be utterly hope less, he was prepared to make every sacrifice, and to exhort his countrymen to make every sacrifice, rather than submit to arbitrary power, in any form or in any degree. He knew the force and the spirit of the apestolic injunction-"Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well." See 1 Pet. ii. 13 & But he knew also that he who had made of one blood all the nations of the earth, never authorised any one class of men, or any one nation, to exercise authority over another class, or over another nation, any farther than it was consistent with the general good. He knew also, that in the case of British subjects there was a solemn compact between the rulers and the ruled, and thus obedience was only a duty when protection and justice were afforded.

14.

As an illustration of these remarks, the following exracts are given from a discourse which appears to have been delivered at a county meeting, at an early period

of the revolution. Having given a brief statement of the grievances complained of, he proceeds thus:

"These high proceedings could not fail of giving a general alarm. Every sensible man saw, that the same power that seized private property in one colony might do it in another: that the same power that altered one charter might alter or take away another: that the same power that took from the subject the right of trial by jury in one colony, might take it from the subject in every colony that the same power that established popery and tyranny in one place might establish it in anoteer. Which weighty and important considerations excited every colony from New-Hampshire to Georgia to oppose these unrighteous proceedings. They evidently saw that it was a common cause, in which every American was deeply interested, and were sensible of the necessity of being united to a man. The mode of opposition they adopted was the best, the most pacific, their circumstances would admit of. It was calculated to bring about an accommodation without the effusion of human blood.

"Should our king attempt to extend the royal prerogative beyond its proper limits, and thereby deprive us of our liberties, we should not even in that case be bound by the oaths we have taken to submit. The compact between the king and the people would then be broken; he would cease to be our king; resistance would not only be lawful, but an indispensable duty; it would be resisting a tyrant, not a.king. And he who maintains the opposite doctrine, except through ignorance, is a traitor

at heart; he is a Jacobite in principle, unfriendly to the English constitution, an enemy to his king and his country. Should the Pretender again attempt the throne of Britain, this doctrine would be universally received by every loyal subject: the doctrine is as sound now as it would be in that case: it is upon this principle of the lawfulness of resistance that king George III. sits upon the British throne.

"But this is not the case. His Majesty, as I know of, has made no attempt to extend the prerogative, but has rather suffered a diminution of it. The dispute is not between us and the king, but between us and the parliament. The king has the same authority here he has in Great Britain: the Americans never denied it, they always submitted to it; and have, particularly in the late war with France, and are still willing to hazard fortunes in its support.

"The question is this: Has the parliament of Great Britain authority to make laws to bind the Americans in all cases whatsoever? or in other words, have they a right to take our money out of our pockets without our consent, and apply it to what purposes they please? They assert they have; we maintain they have not."

And again,

"All the rights of free born British subjects have been made over to us, ratified and confirmed by royal charter, and can never be taken from us but by a flagrat breach of faith. And what we are now contending for is an undoubted, an indisputable right of a Brit