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SKETCH OF THE CHARACTER OF THE REV. DR. ELIOT.

The following is an extract from a sermon, delivered at the Thursday lecture in Boston on the day of the interment of Dr. Eliot. Some of the friends, who knew him best, were of opinion, that the view here given

of his character is true to nature;

and at their request it is inserted in the Christian Disciple.

THERE are few cases, I believe, where our hope can be more full of assurance, than in that of the beloved and respected man, whose remains we are in a few hours to follow to the tomb and commit to its peaceful and sacred custody. I could wish, that the office of speaking of his character had fallen on one, more worthy of delineating it, as it merits to be drawn. Yet in truth it would be an offence against its singular and perfectly unaffected modesty, to attempt to adorn it by the pomp of splendid and formal eulogy. I am not willing therefore to suffer this occasion to escape, without at least a passing tribute of my affection and respect for a man, who was my father's friend, and, I may be permitted to say it, mine own friend.

Dr. Eliot was one of those men, who are and who deserve to be universally beloved for qualities, which, while they claim the truest respest, do not repulse the most familiar affection by their overpowering grandeur. The peculiar habits of his mind led him perhaps to delight more in inquiry and research, than in very abstruse and original thinking; rather to collect and treasure up what is already known, than to employ himself in arranging the

mass of knowledge or enlarging its limits by his own speculations, The extent of his reading on subjects connected with theology and general literature was not, I presume, surpassed by any among us. The strong power of his mind was memory; and he had collected and retained a great fund of curious and very uncommon learning, particularly on the history of the church and the history and biography of our own country, This knowledge, together with his knowledge of mankind-for without any ostentation he was a most acute and judicious observer of human character-made him an universally pleasing companion. There is no one, who ever knew him, who does not remember with complacency and affection the readiness and copiousness with which he communicated his knowledge; the vein of perfectly chaste and innocent pleasantry, which ran through his conversation; the essential good nature and sound judgment, which charaeterised his remarks; the occasional beams of fancy, which played over his thoughts; and the smile of most sweet and ineffable benevolence, the unclouded "sunshine of the 'soul," which always lighted up his countenance, But Dr. Eliot had higher qual ities than these. He possessed all the elements of a thoroughly virtuous and christian character. His life was always governed by a predominant sense of duty to God. His heart was alive to all the charities of our nature. He had not a particle of envy or ma

lignity, not a single drop of gall in his whole composition. His breast was a stranger to deceit; he was an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile. Though the gentler virtues were evidently most congenial to his disposition, yet, when the occasion required it, he did not fail to show, that he was not deficient in more energetic and commanding qualities of the mind. There was in him an uncommon healthiness and purity of principle, a singleness and openness of heart, an integrity which nothing could bend and nothing pervert; and to all his good qualities he united a transparant simplicity of character, which you might expect to find and could not fail to admire and love even in a child.

He filled up the duties of life with fidelity and honor. He was a tender husband, a most affectionate parent, and a true and steady friend. Our university never lost a sincerer advocate; the numerous literary and charitable societies, of which he was a member, a more faithful associate; and the cause of truth, and civil and religious freedom, a more conscientious and unfailing supporter.

As a minister of the gospel, his claims to respect were not few. In his theological opinions he was moderate and liberal-a temperate, yet not a timid critic-neither an enthusiast nor a latitudinarian-in short one of that class of christians, which, if not the most systematic and, if you please, philosophical in their theories, have yet probably kept the great practical and essential truths of christianity more steadily before

In

their eyes, than any religions denomination in christendom. his official ministrations you all knew him; and if any should say, that there are others to whom Providence has entrusted greater gifts of eloquence and interest; yet, in the more private and perhaps more useful offices of a christian pastor-the tears of his congregation bear me witness when I say it-you will not easily find a more faithful, affectionate, and devoted servant of Christ.

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How deeply and sincerely he was impressed with the truths of that religion, which he taught, no one, who knows the sublime composure, the unostentatious digni. ty, the perfect submission with which he met his last summons, will need to be assured. never forget the few moments, which, in the interval of his severe agony, I was permitted to pass with him-when I received the last affectionate pressure of his hand-when he faultered out his expressions of joy at my recovered health; his prayers for my future usefulness and fidelity; his acquiescence in the divine government in removing him from the world; his testimony that the views of the religion he had preached gave him consolation and support, even while the hand of death was pressing heavily upon him.*-In such a frame of

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mind as this, did this truly good and venerable man wait the ap. pointed time of his change. And I do not fear to say, that if he had done nothing else, as a minister, for the cause of religion than this if he had left behind him no other memorial of his usefulness-the eloquence of such a death, the value of such an exemplification of the efficacy of religious impressions in giving serenity to the close of life and

shedding so divine a ray of consolation over the darkness of the tomb-this alone would be sufficient to vindicate his claims to a place among the powerful and persuasive preachers of the gospel. He has gone to receive his reward:-" And I heard a voice, saying unto me, write: blessed are the dead which die in the Lord; for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them."

AN ADDRESS TO CHRISTIANS ON FAMILY RELIGION.

It is not to be concealed, that the salutary discipline of domestic government, the great business of religious education, and, above all, the reasonable and interesting practice of family worship, have fallen into a degree of disuse, of which it is more easy to conjecture the extent, than to counteract the example-more easy to lament the symptoms, than to predict the consequences. This address is designed to awaken the attention of christians to this important subject.

Christians! The worship of God in your families is a rea sonable service, and may be rendered a most profitable service. These are the two heads of our remarks.

First, then, it is a reasonable

observed to him, that in moments of

service. If there be
any who
doubt this, their reasons are to
me utterly beyond conjecture. It
is not easy to imagine any reasons,
which can be suggested in favor
of public congregational worship,
which are not equally strong in
favor of the worship of families.
The same God, whose providence
governs communities, presides
over the small circles of which
communities are composed. It is
he who setteth the solitary in
families. It is he who has unit-
ed them in ties more intimate,
than any which can bind together
the members of a large society.

Is it of any consequence, that the public should be impressed with reverence for God and his government ? Surely then no practice can be indifferent, which will make those impressions ear

danger those points, on which Chris-, stamp them deeply, and give

tians differed, seemed to lose their im-
portance, and the mind rested on those
great essential truths, on which all men

agree.
He assented to this with ea-
gerness. He added after a pause-"I
trust in the mercy of God, declared by

Jesus Christ his Son." His extreme
faintness made it necessary here to
close the conversation.

ideas of religion an intimate association with the most tender, amiable, and lasting affections of the human heart.

the authority, which the head of It is not necessary to insist on a family possesses for this service, and which it is his duty tq

exercise with fidelity and affec. tion. However much the relaxation of the sentiments of religion, conspiring with other maxims of insubordination, may have enfeebled the authority of parents and masters in this age and under this government; the obliga, tion of those, who are at the head of families, to provide for the religious wants of those, who depend on them for support, is still commensurate with the powerfor it is the power which every where constitutes the obligation; and I shall refuse to believe that the power is extinct, till some serious attempt to revive and exercise it shall have failed. The father and the master may yet be the priest of his household.

But you ask, is it not enough that we observe our private devotions, in which we pray for our families, but must we also pray with them? I might reply by asking is it enough that 1 give orders for the provision of the day, though I never take a repast with my family? Is it enough that I secretly wish my children should possess knowledge, which I take no care to communicate; or habits of which I set not the example; or principles which I take no pains to enforce? Unless it is first taken for granted that the practice which we recommend is either unnatural, unreasonable, or useless, no man, much less a christian, can have fulfilled his parental and domestic obligations, while he neglects to make an experiment at least of family worship?

Can any one imagine that topies will be wanting, while there

are so many subjects of family congratulation and thanksgiving -so many occasions for acknowledging domestic, sins-so many family anxieties and afflictions wants and mercies, hopes and fears? Is not every occasion, which you are still disposed to acknowledge in public by the notes which you send to be read in the sanctuary, an occasion for domestic gratitude, or supplication, or acknowledgment? Sure ly every truly devout sentiment, which you are ready to make the subject of public expression in the house of God, is worthy of being expressed on the spot where it was excited-in the circle where it is most intimately felt; and how many occasions there, which it would be painful or improper to notice in any other place?

are

If we look back to the manpers of the ancient world, and to the practice of the very heathens themselves, we shall find the rites. of family religion every where prevailing. It was a dictate of nature to those Gentiles, who, having not the law of Moses or any express revelation, were a law unto themselves. Who can avoid discerning this fact in the frequent mention of the household, gods of the Pagans? How touching that passage in the Roman poet, where the old Anchises is represented, escaping from the flames of Troy, and taking in his hand the images of his domestic deities?

The good old man with suppliant hands implored

The gods' protection and their star adored:

Now, now, my son, no more delay,

I yield, I follow, where heaven shows

the way: Keep, O my country gods! our dwelling place, And guard this relique, of the Trojan race, This tender child!

What! Shall the images of the heathen world cry out against us; and the voice of nature be preserved only in the fictions of poetry and the records of idolatry? Shall the men of Troy rise up in judgment against this generation, and condemn them?

Our second assertion was, that it is a profitable practice. If any thing can effectually revive and secure the fidelity of parents, the ́affection of husbands and wives, the moral restraint and early piety of children, the peace of domestic life, the attachment of servants, and the general order of families, it must be the revival of family religion. This must impose a check on the impetuosity of our passions, and give to the conversation of the household a sobriety and purity, which nothing else can so effectually secure. It is not easy to believe that profaneness and riot should ever find their way, much less take up their abode, in a house where the presence of God is every day acknowledged,his protection sought, his bounty acknowledged, his pardon implored.

There is also another consideration, which is by no means of little moment. By the regular reading of the scriptures in select portions, as introductory to the acts of family devotion, there is given to the young a knowledge of these sacred writings and a reverence for them, which can be

in no other way so early and so easily acquired. If it could for a moment be supposed, that the heads of families stood not in need of this instruction, and that they would derive from it no advantage, yet a pious and benevo lent regard to our children and domestics ought to render us all willing, punctual, and faithful in the performance of a service, which would produce the happiest and most lasting effects.

Yet there are those, who, insensible to those moral and spiritual benefits, and looking only at present and visible advantages, ask, with a most deplorable unconcern, what is the Almighty, that we should serve him, and what profit shall we have, if we pray unto him? If you think it nothing then to have those about you impressed with the fear of God; if you think it a poor con sideration to raise a seed to preserve the sentiments of religion and pure christianity for succeed ing generations; if you think it nothing, that those who leave your families, to establish fami. lies of their own, should carry with them the spirit of prayer and the faith of the gospel-at least reflect on the influence which the blessing of God thus faithfully sought may have upon your own industry and temporal circumstances; and upon the happiness of domestic life. The curse of the Lord is in the habitation of the wicked, but he blesseth the habitation of the just.

You complain of the irregularity and perversities of youth, that you have lost the control of your children, and that you cannot correet the evil habits which they

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