earthly friendship, founded indeed upon right principles, but subjected to so many imperfections, interruptions, and alloys, what will be the transport, when "this mortal shall have put on immortality," and when, as I humbly hope and trust, we shall meet again, to celebrate an eternal triumph over sin and sorrow, and suffering; and to make perpetual advances in the knowledge, the worship, and the love of God!

In the plan of Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey, as well as in the way in which it was executed, there was every thing to approve and admire, Their leading object was the improvement and happiness of the people committed to their charge; and to this, every species of unnecessary indulgence, whether of food, of outward appearance, or of mere amusement, in itself, or in other circumstances however innocent, was made subservient. Their family establishment of two servants, a man and a maid, moved as it were by clockwork. They rose very early, so that the work of the dairy, out-houses, stables, &c. was finished by eight o'clock before breakfast, when they were called to prayer. Mr. L. likewise rose very early, and always lighted the fire in his study himself; here his morning hours were usually spent, except when the duty of visiting the sick, comforting the afflicted, or exhorting the impenitent, claimed a portion of his time. Mrs. Lindsey in the meanwhile, was usefully employed in domestic occupations, in which she excelled; in visiting the sick, studying the case, if any difficulty occurred, (for she had a good medical li

brary, and great acuteness in the discrimination of diseases,) and in prescribing and making up medicines. She was careful always to obtain the best drugs from Apothecary's Hall, and generally administered them in person; and such was her knowledge, her care, and her assiduity, that if the disease was not absolutely incurable, she generally succeeded. When the weather would admit of it, she often spent some of her leisure time in gardening, in which she shewed considerable knowledge, and great taste; and every thing both within doors, and without; in the garden, the lane which led to the house, the church-yard, and little surrounding shrubbery, was kept with such extreme neatness, as to wear an appearance of great comfort, if not of elegance.

Although Mr. Lindsey had been accustomed for some years, after leaving the university, whilst chaplain and secretary to the duke and duchess of Somerset, to a very splendid table, yet he had never indulged in the luxuries with which it abounded; a species of self-denial, which prepared him to be perfectly satisfied with the plain and simple fare, which the extensive plans of benevolence, on which he and Mrs. Lindsey acted, with a very limited income, rendered necessary, and upon which his usefulness as a minister of the gospel, in a country situation, in a great measure depended.

In the afternoon, it was their custom, when the weather would permit, either before or after tea, according to the time of year, to take a walk in' the fields, often on the banks of the Swale, a

rapid river, about half a mile distant; in those walks, with what pleasure was I wont to accompany them!

They made frequent visits to the rectory at Richmond, and occasionally spent a day in the families of some of the neighbouring gentlemen ; but they saw very little company at home, and never received any dining visits. It required however, no little firmness of character, uncommonly qualified as they were for the enjoyment of social intercourse, among persons of cultivated minds, entirely to avoid this. "Give us nothing more than a potatoe," said a neighbouring lady to my mother, "only let us sometimes dine with you." She was a person of excellent character, and good understanding, but having always been accustomed to an affluent fortune, and a numerous establishment of servants, she had no idea of the trouble, expense, and numberless inconveniences, to a small regular family, of these potatoe dinners. Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey, both of them possessed this necessary firmness, but with this difference, that in him it was a painful sacrifice, made at the shrine of superior obligations, so repugnant was it to his feelings to give cause of offence or pain to any human being; and he well knew that the line of conduct which duty prescribed, would be considered as unfriendly and unsocial. With Mrs. Lindsey, no effort was necessary; the determination in itself was right, and she regarded very little what others might feel or think. This discriminating difference ran through the whole

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of their characters, and hence it was, that whilst Mrs. Lindsey was admired for her talents, and respected for the benevolent purposes to which they were subservient, her amiable and excellent husband, was every where affectionately beloved, as well as admired and respected. Here however, as in every other providential arrangement, where we can see the issue,-wisdom and goodness are strikingly apparent. How often have I heard it regretted, that Mr. Lindsey had not married a person whose disposition and temper would have assimilated more completely with his own. Little did they foresee, that this very unyieldingness to the wishes of others, if not always pleasant, was quite essential in the wife of a reformer to his completing the work assigned him by Providence, in which she was to be honoured with so considerable a share! This will be more evident as we advance in the history.

I would here make another remark, suggested by the subject, and not unimportant, as I conceive,to young ministers of the Gospel, whether within or without the pale of the Established Church. Having received in general, a liberal education, their society becomes desirable to persons much superior in rank and fortune to their own, by whose notice and acquaintance, they in their turn, are apt to be greatly flattered. "What harm," they are ready to inquire, if these persons are not profligate in their manners, or profane in their conversation, "what harm can arise from our associating with them? The gospel of Christ does

not require us to live in caves and deserts, totally secluded from the innocent enjoyments of society." It does not require this-but it does require of its sincere votaries, and it is expected from its ministers, that they be especially careful not to conform too much to the manners of the world around them;-the mere conversation of these opulent persons, may not be injurious,—the luxurious entertainments connected with it, the late hours, the fashionable amusements, and especially those which are necessarily expensive; those games of chance or skill, which may become so, or which require a great consumption of time, in order to obtain the skill that shall prevent it; the style of dress; the general objects of pursuit; the importance attached to them;-all these, if they could be made compatible with what ought to be the feelings and the habits of a Christian minister, are at any rate, wholly unsuitable to a narrow, circumscribed income; and more than all this, the very habit of frequently associating with those who live in a fashionable, luxurious style, insensibly generates the wish of procuring more ample means of being upon a footing with them. Hence the mind insensibly loses its firmness; and if views of ambition and the insatiable desire of higher and still higher preferment, do not gain the entire ascendancy, still the mind becomes altogether unfitted for those sacrifices of inclination and of ease, to principle and duty, which, in a world like this, the interests of truth and righteousness may, and frequently do, most imperiously demand. Is there, besides, no danger, lest persons habitually