his mind, the people with deep regret had to countermand their invitation to Mr. M'Chord. In April, 1811, he was ordained, and sent as a delegate to the General Synod, and to preach a short time to a congregation in New-York, that had invited him with an intention of giving him a call. Through some untoward circumstances they could not agree: and Dr. Mason, who wished him as a colleague, could not persuade his congregation to enter into the measure. Mr. M'Chord returned to Kentucky, and as the subject of intercommunion with other churches was at this time agitated in the Associate Reformed Synod and Presbyteries, and as he did not pursue the course which was pleasing to his brethren in the West, unhappy feelings and differences arose, which involved him in difficulties and troubles, until death terminated them. In 1813 he went through one series of prosecution and came off triumphant. In 1814 be published a work, entitled The Body of Christ, which was supposed to contain some errors. He was called to answer for it, Oct. 1815, before the Presbytery, and was suspended from the exercise of his ministerial office. He appealed to the General Synod, but being unable at the next meeting to prosecute the appeal through bodily indisposition, the case was submitted to a committee, one of whom had for sometime, through mortified pride, been hostile to him, and has since showed his hostility to the morality of the Bible. This committee reported unfavourably to Mr. M'Chord, and recommended to Synod that he should be required REV. JAMES M'CHORD. 175 peared to prosecute his appeal. He appeared before the Synod, May, 1817, and in a very able manner supported his appeal and the justice of his cause. The Synod, however, having prejudged the cause, and being handled not very gently by the appellant, theyconfirmed the sentence of Presbytery. Mr. M'Chord anticipated the result, and upon the ground of their illegal and unrighteous proceedings, put in a declinature of their authority, and appealed to churches who might be disposed to do him justice. He accordingly applied to the Presbytery of West Lexington the ensuing fall, who considered his views on the whole correct, and received him to their fellowship, and to exercise the ministerial office under and among them. A small society in Lexington had erected previously to this a very elegant church, where he laboured with some success, but under various difficulties and discouragements, until the fall of 1819, when, being invited to take charge of the Bourbon Academy, he complied, and removed to Paris. He had from 1813 been afflicted with a fistula, which had now affected his whole frame, and produced great debility. It, with close confinement, hard study, and application to his official duties, brought on a complication of disease, under which he sunk, May 26th, 1820. In his last illness his reason was at times deranged, but in his lucid moments his piety and his hope were conspicuous. Not long before his departure he sung, with all the fervour of heavenly devotion, "On Jordan's stormy banks I stand To Canaan's fair and happy land, Where my possessions lie," &c. Mr. M'Chord was of the middle size, delicate and slender in his person. His constitution was by far too weak for the operations of his powerful mind; which was not merely strong, but rapid in its movements, rush. ing with the eye and force of the eagle through all the windings and different bearings of whatever subject arrested his attention. It was connected with a strong and rich imagination, and a heart of the most delicate and noble feeling. The grovelling and the mean, the sycophantic and intriguing, he abhorred and pitied. But the honourable and manly, the gentle and childlike, found in him every thing that was responsive. At his first entrance on the ministry he took a lofty stand, such as he considered suitable to his office, and from which no persecution could drive him, and no allurements could decoy him. Never did he court favour or popular applause, and never did he cower before the "iron mace" raised to crush him. Trusting his cause to his Master, he moved on fearlessly in the course of duty, blending the dignity of the heavenly ambassador with the simplicity and lowliness of a little child. The limits of this sketch will not permit us to review the works which he published. It may be sufficient to say, that no writings of the west have met with such an extensive and respectable patronage as his. A highly cultivated taste, or cold criticism, may censure his style, and point out many blemishes which mark his produc tions. Shakespeare, the poets, and the peculiar movements of his own mind, appear to have given the lead ing characters of his style. His imagination, it must be conceded, was much more strong and fertile than chaste and correct. Time, however, might have done much for him in this respect, and had his days been prolonged, there is no doubt, that experience, the advice of friends, and the unsparing hand of criticism, might have placed him among the foremost of Ameri can writers. "Such talents and such piety combin'd, In the derangement which preceded his death, the state and character of his mind were strongly marked. He supposed he was in heaven, and he talked almost incessantly. During the first 24 hours he scarcely ever finished a sentence, but appeared to be engaged in important conversation with three or four individuals who had been his particular friends in Lexington, and whose names were continually repeated. In one of his silent intervals a friend stept up to his bed-side, and having looked him full in the face, was recognized. He raised his arm, held out his hand, grasped the hand of his friend, gave it a hearty shake, uttering these words -"Brother Ewhen did you die? I died yesterday at 11 o'clock," the hour in the preceding day at which he had become deranged. A few hours after, he recovered the full use of his mind, and talked with his friends for a short time, aş usual, and then sunk back into his former state of derangement, but with this remarkable difference: His discourses were now generally not only coherent, but lucid and argumentative. He discussed, for instance, at considerable length, the theological points on which he had been accused of heresy, and maintained their agreement with the word of God. He pronounced also, while in this state, a lengthy and animated discourse on the national advantages of the United States, closing every paragraph with these words: "And men call this fine land their land, but it is God's land, yea, it is God's land." Towards the close of the dissertation, after a pause of a few minutes, he called out, "Molly, Molly, Molly, (the name of his wife, who was also at that time on her death bed) come here-look down yonder towards Lexington. See what a glory is all round. Lex ington." Some two or three hours before his death he again recovered the full use of his mind, and continued so, till he joined the assembly of the spirits of just men made perfect. His publications were, 1. A Sermon on the Divine Forgiveness, 1812. 2. A Sermon on the Signs of the Times, 1813. 3. The Body of Christ, being a Series of Essays on Federal Representation, 1814. 4. A Sermon before the Legislature of Kentucky, entitled National Safety, 1815. 5. A Plea for the hope of Israel, being the Substance of his Defence before the General Synod of the Asso ciate Reformed Church, 1817. |