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ful ministry. His labours in the instruction of young men, preparing for the ministry at home and abroad, will be highly esteemed by those who set a due value on that important ordinance.

"He was an able champion of the creeds of the church of England, against Unitarians and Socinians. He opposed them on the general and broad principles of the gospel, rather than on the authority and interpretation of certain disputed texts of scripture. He had, however, read the chief controversial writings of the divines on both sides, and was able to shew the miserable shifts to which the opponents of the divinity and atonement of Jesus Christ are reduced. His preaching, compared with the liturgy, articles, and homilies of the church, was eminently orthodox. He was a clear and well-informed defender of the church. So thoroughly was he persuaded of the soundness of those views which the reformers had taken of the sacraments, that he was prepared to defend certain passages in the baptismal service which some wish to see altered. The same may be said with respect to some expressions in the offices for the administration of the sacrament of the

Lord's supper and the burial of the dead. He remarked some months ago, that 'alterations might possibly drive many out of the church, while they brought a few within its pale.' He admired the wisdom and moderation of the reformers, in keeping so close to scripture and the custom of the primitive churches, in the formation of the discipline and government of the church of England. Industrious

in finding out arguments, he was bold in urging them on the attention of those who entered into discussion with him on such subjects. His confidence that the church was right, was calculated to make a strong impression, when he failed to produce conviction.

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He was a warm and constant friend. Incapable of concealing his opinions, he gave full expression to his feelings and sentiments. This openness might at times expose him to the charge of imprudence; yet it procured him high respect as a man of inflexible integrity. He did not easily forget a favour, though he was willing to suffer the remembrance of an injury to drop into oblivion. He was aware of his failings; he lamented them; he set himself in the strength of the Lord to overcome them; and he succeeded to a very great extent.

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His efforts in assisting to educate his children were incessant. In this duty, no time was deemed too much; no pains were spared; nor any sacrifice, within the calculations of personal self-denial or tutorial labour, was considered too expensive, that he might give his children a christian and liberal education. He was very judicious in cultivating the peculiar talents of his children, some of whom inherited his fine taste for music. The study of literature, the acquirement of general knowledge, and the cultivation of taste, were always to be found at Olney vicarage. The presiding mind of the affectionate father gave direction, impulse, and encouragement to the social system of education, to the close of his valuable life."

This brief record would be incomplete, if it omitted to bear testimony to that unexpected and unsolicited tribute of posthumous respect, which a large circle of friends, and many who were personal strangers, hastened to pay to the memory of its subject, by the presentation of a sum amply sufficient to carry on and finish the education, and establish in life, the younger members of his family. Beloved for the father's sake, they possess a rich legacy in his fervent prayers, christian virtues, and honoured name. While gratefully receiving a provision so generously offered, may they be careful to tread in his steps; in their turn to become the servants of God and of his church, with an impression indelibly engraven on their hearts of his fidelity and love.

Should this imperfect delineation of the history and character of one so valued and lamented, stimulate surviving relatives and friends to follow him in the work of faith, labour of love, and patience of hope, which marked his christian career of nearly half a century ;-should any be encouraged to trust more implicitly, and depend more confidingly, in the tender care of their heavenly Father;-to follow more fully, with constant steps, the long train of those who, having kept the faith and entered into rest, form a portion of the great cloud of witnesses by which the church below is compassed about ;-if by it, in any measure, God be glorified and his people strengthened, it will not have been written, although in much weakness and many tears, in vain.

SERMON I.

MAN IN THE IMAGE OF GOD.

GENESIS i. 27.

SO GOD CREATED MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE, IN THE IMAGE OF GOD CREATED HE HIM; MALE AND FEMALE CREATED HE THEM.

MANY inquiries may be proposed concerning the original state, and the subsequent fall of man. But on all those questions on which the Bible is silent, in relation to this subject, it becomes us to be silent likewise, and to acknowledge our ignorance. It may, however, be useful to consider the character of man, in his original rectitude and glory, that we may discover how much we have lost by the introduction of sin. If we had been deprived of a sum of money, with the amount of which we were unacquainted, to learn the extent of our loss, it would be necessary first to ascertain, how much we had previously possessed. Thus, that we may obtain the knowledge of what mankind have lost by sin, it will be proper to consider the state of the first parents of the human race, before they were stripped of their honour and glory, in consequence of their apostasy and departure from God.

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The present condition of man has been compared to that of a magnificent building reduced to ruins. Enough is left to demonstrate that it was once a glorious edifice. The remains of some of its arches and columns lead the imagination to a retrospective contemplation of the original grandeur of the structure. Thus, the present state of man, in connexion with the light of revelation, will bring us to a discovery of the amazing difference between human nature now, and the original condition in which it existed, when first formed by the almighty power of the Creator. God created man "in his own image;" but by sin he fell from his glory, and in consequence lost the divine similitude in which he was formed. Hence arose human misery and woe. 'By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so judgment came upon all men to condemnation."

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The chapter from which the text is taken, affords us the only account we have of the creation of man. The Almighty, having formed the earth worthy of the inhabitant whom He designed to place in it, brought into existence Adam, the first of the human race. It is remarkable, that when God formed out of nothing other creatures and productions of the earth, He only commanded their existence, and immediately they sprang into being, invested with utility, and adorned with loveliness. Thus, "God said, Let there be light: and there was light. Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters: and it was so. Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it

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