Being reminded of his missionary labours, he replied, Ah! the object was unquestionably good;' but adverted to the mixture of motives, to the influence of which we are liable in supporting the best of causes. To another friend, who was congratulating him in a similar style, he replied, 'I have been a great sinner; and if I am saved at all, it must be by great and sovereign grace.' Here the dying minister the dying friend speaks all my heart: here I come nearer to him at his death than I have ever done through the whole course of his life. The testimony of a Christian conscience is at all times invaluable; but in the dying moments of a fallen creature, it can afford no more than auxiliary support; the grand prominent hold of the trembling soul, must be 'the golden chain that comes down from heaven.' It is the immediate, personal, realizing application; it is the broad palpable hope of salvation for penitent sinners, through the riches of divine grace in Christ Jesus our Lord, that throws every thing else to the shades. It is not the voice of congratulation on the best spent life, however just, that is most acceptable in those awful moments, to pious minds; that is often heard with trembling diffidence and conscious apprehension, of contaminating motives and counteracting effects. The sweetest music in the ears of expiring piety, must be struck from another string : This is the record, that God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son-The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.'

"In all probability, my bones will be deposited not far from his. God grant that I may die in the same temper, and in the same hope; and that our spirits may be united in the day of the Lord! Amen."

On the following day, May 15, 1815, the mortal remains of Mr. Fuller were interred in the burying ground adjoining the place of worship, where he had preached for two and thirty years. The funeral solemnities were numerously attended by persons from all the adjacent towns; the mourning resembled that in Egypt when Jacob died, and both ministers and people vied with each other in paying the last token of respect to his memory. Crowds of people rushed into the meeting house, the galleries of which had been propped in several places to prevent any accident or alarm, and still there were many who could not be admitted. At a quarter before five the funeral procession en

tered, and the coffin was placed in the table pew. Mr. Toller began the service in prayer, with great fervour and devotion; Dr. Ryland preached the funeral sermon, from Romans viii. 10, which was afterwards printed; and Mr. Robert Hall delivered the oration. Six ministers, of the different denominations in Kettering, bore the pall; namely, two clergymen of the Establishment, two of Mr. Wesley's connection, Mr. Toller, and Mr. John Hall, assistant and successor to the deceased. Dr. Ryland spoke a few words at the grave, at the time of the interment.

"It is pleasing to reflect," as has been observed by Dr. Newman, "that a spontaneous homage was paid to him by persons of all ranks and degrees. Man of education and learning, men of distinction in wealth and office, the poor and illiterate, Christians in the establishment and out of it, of all denominations, hung delighted upon his lips ;" and when those lips were sealed in death, they poured out their tears upon his grave. And as long as the spiritual achievements in India are recollected, it cannot be forgotten, that FULLER LIVED and dieD A MARTYR TO THE MISSION.

In unison with the general testimonies of esteem, the most respectable Society in Great Britain paid their tribute to departed worth, by transmitting the following entry from their Minutes, on the 22nd of May following. "The Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, learn with deep regret, the decease of the late Rev. Andrew Fuller, Secretary to the Baptist Missionary Society; and impressed with a sense of the valuable services rendered by that excellent individual, in promoting the translation and circulation of the sacred Scriptures in the east, desire to unite their condolence on this afflictive event with those of their Baptist brethren to whom he was more particularly allied, and of the Christian world by whom his memory will deserve to be held in affectionate and grateful veneration."

The congregation at Kettering memorialized the solemn event, by erecting a Monumental Tablet with the following Inscription :

IN MEMORY OF THEIR REVERED AND BELOVED PASTOR,

THE REV. ANDREW FULLER,

THE CHURCH AND CONGREGATION HAVE ERECTED THIS TABLET.

HIS ARDENT PIETY,

THE STRENGTH AND SOUNDNESS OF HIS JUDGMENT,

HIS INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HUMAN HEART,

AND HIS PROFOUND ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE SCRIPTURES,

EMINENTLY QUALIFIED HIM FOR THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE,

WHICH HE SUSTAINED AMONGST THEM THIRTY TWO YEARS.

THE FORCE AND ORIGINALITY OF HIS GENIUS,

AIDED BY UNDAUNTED FIRMNESS,

RAISED HIM FROM OBSCURITY

TO HIGH DISTINCTION IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

BY THE WISDOM OF HIS PLANS,

AND BY HIS UNWEARIED DILIGENCE IN EXECUTING THEM,

HE RENDERED THE MOST IMPORTANT SERVICES

TO THE

BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY;

OF WHICH HE WAS THE SECRETARY FROM ITS COMMENCEMENT,

AND TO THE PROSPERITY OF WHICH HE DEVOTED HIS LIFE.

IN ADDITION TO HIS OTHER LABOURS,

HIS WRITINGS ARE NUMEROUS AND CELEBRATED.

HE DIED, MAY 7th, 1815, AGED 61.

CHAPTER XIII.

Brief Review of Mr. Fuller's Character.

AFTER what has been advanced in the preceding pages, on the subject of Mr. Fuller's abilities as a preacher and a writer, his missionary pursuits, general labours, and usefulness-all of which demand, and will receive, the tribute of esteem from Christians of every denomination, and be long and gratefully remembered by posterity-it is presumed that little more will be expected than a few remarks on some of the prominent features of his character, for the purpose of deriving instruction from the excellencies and defects which they exhibit, and of discharging the duty of a faithful and impartial biographer; especially as these Memoirs have already extended beyond the limits which the author had prescribed, though without exhausting the materials he had prepared to lay before the reader.

The favoured individual, whose life and character we are now contemplating, and who was so eminently formed for active and important services, was evidently endowed with great mental and corporeal strength, and possessed, according to his own expressive phrase, "a large portion of being,"

"A frame of adamant, a soul of fire,

No dangers fright him, and no labours tire."

In person, he was above the middle stature, tall, stout, and muscular; his sombre aspect impressive of fear, and repulsive to approach. And being, as he said, "of an athletic frame, and of a daring spirit, he was often in early life engaged in such exercises and exploits as might have issued in death, if the good hand of God had not preserved him." Alluding to those days of vanity, he would quote with sensible emotion the words of the prophet; "let not the mighty man glory in his might;" but having been a famous wrestler in his youth, he seldom met with a stout man without making an ideal comparison of strength, and possessing some of his former feelings in reference to its exercise. If necessity required, he was still by no means deficient in courage, of which some evidence was given after he removed to Kettering. When his rest was disturbed by the conduct of disorderly persons, he would sometimes rise in the night, rush alone into the street, half

dressed, and quell the disturbance, without any apprehension of danger.

His nerves were uniformly so firm, that he seemed to be made almost without fear; and such was his invincibility and perfect self-command, that it may be doubted whether he was ever seen in a state of agitation. Often would he divert himself with the saying of old lady Huntingdon's, who, on noticing the effeminacy of modern times, would "thank God that she was born before nerves were in fashion;" and whether Mr. Fuller also enjoyed this singular felicity or not, no man was less troubled with nervous sensibilities than himself. About the year 1793, the shock of an earthquake was felt across the kingdom, a little before eleven o'clock at night. Mr. Fuller had preached that evening at Braybrook, a few miles from Kettering, and was just retired to rest. The friend at whose house he lodged, being much alarmed, awoke him, by reporting the dreadful tidings of an earthquake! "Very well," said he, "I must sleep," and with perfect composure and satisfaction he continued his devoirs to Morpheus, while the frightened family were penetrated with dread and consternation.

His mode of living had an air of patriarchal simplicity; he seldom indulged in any thing more than the plainest food, and was very moderate in the use of fermented liquor. He carried his idea of economy to an extreme, deeming it scarcely allowable to eat animal food more than once a day and when he occasionally departed from this rule, he would remark that it was a luxury somewhat like that of the prophet, who had 'bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening.' Possessing a robust constitution, and having been brought up, nearly, in habits of rusticity, he was unable to make due allowance for those whose manners were differently formed, or whose health required another mode of treatment. Hence he was in some instances severe in his reflections upon others, equally economical with himself, though in a different way, but who could not exactly adopt his ideas of frugality, or conform to the unrefined nature of his regimen. Free from parsimony and selfishness, the rigid sentiments and feelings which he carried into every department and into all the duties of life, left but little room for the expressions of hospitality, or even the ordinary forms of civility. Nature had formed him to endure hardness; and as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, he found a higher motive for his obedience and self-denial.