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becility, and my body from protracted disease and excruciating pain. Deliver me from despondency and discouragement in my declining years, and enable me to bear affliction with patience, fortitude, and perfect submission to thy holy will. Lift upon me perpetually the light of thy reconciled countenance, and cause me to rejoice in thy salvation, and in the hope of thy glory. May the peace that passeth all understanding be constantly diffused through my soul, so that my mind may remain calm through all the storms and vicissitudes of life.

"As, in the course of nature, I must be drawing near to my end, and as I know I must soon put off this tabernacle, I do humbly and earnestly beseech thee, O Father of mercies, to prepare me for this inevitable and solemn event. Fortify my mind against the terrors of death. Give me, if it please thee, an easy passage through the gate of death. Dissipate the dark clouds and mists which naturally hang over the grave, and lead me gently down into the gloomy valley. O my kind Shepherd, who hast tasted the bitterness of death for me, and who knowest how to sympathize with and succour the sheep of thy pasture, be thou present to guide, to support, and to comfort me. Illumine with beams of heavenly light the valley and shadow of death, so that 1 may fear no evil. When heart and flesh fail, be thou the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. Let not my courage fail in the trying hour. Permit not the great adver sary to harass my soul in the last struggle, but make me a conqueror and more than a conqueror in this fearful conflict. I humbly ask that my reason may be continued to the last,

and if it be thy will, that I may be so comforted and supported, that I may leave a testimony in favour of the reality of religion, and thy faithfulness in fulfilling thy gracious promises; and that others of thy servants who may follow after, may be encouraged by my example, to commit themselves boldly to the guidance and keeping of the Shepherd of Israel.

"And when my spirit leaves this clay tenement, Lord Jesus receive it! Send some of the blessed angels to convoy my inexperienced soul to the mansion which thy love has prepared. And 0 let me be so situated, though in the lowest rank, that I may behold thy glory. May I have an abundant entrance administered unto me into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; for whose sake and in whose name, I ask all these things. Amen."*

The unvarnished narrative of such a scene might perhaps claim to be left to make its own impression; but there are a few reflections which force themselves upon our thankful minds, and which shall be simply and briefly expressed.

The first is, that death approached in a great degree disarmed of its ordinary terrors. Here was nothing ghastly. Though not painless, his dying bed was exempt from agony. He was surrounded by his family, was waited on by the wife of his bosom, and was in full possession of his intellectual powers.

Another remark is, that in his last hours there was no vacillation, as to the truth of the system which he had spent his life in maintaining. He may be said to have reasserted it with bis last breath.

* Thoughts on Religious Experience, p. 307.

But more striking than all, is it, that in dying he was pre-eminently true to the natural simplicity of his character. Not one syllable was there for effect. All was as in his days of health. He looked collectedly on the awful change, and met the enemy as one whom he had long surveyed and was

now to overcome.

CHAPTER NINETEENTH.

1851.

FUNERAL SERVICES, AND OTHER TESTIMONIALS OF RESPECT.

G

REAT solemnity was added to the scenes which have

just been reported, by the fact that the Synod of New Jersey was meeting in Princeton at the time. This venerable body adjourned to attend the funeral services, which took place on Friday, the 24th of October. The concourse of awed and mourning friends was extraordinary. Many members of the New-York and Philadelphia Synods were present, as well as numerous fellow Christians of other persuasions. The Synod of New Jersey, after meeting in the Chapel, assumed the principal part in the solemnities. The Presbytery of New Brunswick accompanied the remains as pallbearers. Then followed the family, and Professors, the Directors, the students, the clergy and a multitude of mourning friends. The assembly gathered in the First Presbyterian Church, where the galleries were filled with the students of the two institutions, and the body of the house with the

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Synod, while the aisles and even the pulpit stairs were occupied by the attendant throng.

A prayer by the Rev. Dr. Murray opened the service. The students of the Seminary then sang a hymn

Part of the fifteenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians was read. The hymn, 'Why should we mourn departed friends,' was sung. After which, in pursuance of a wish expressed by the departed, a funeral discourse was delivered by the Rev. John McDowell, D. D., the oldest Director. His most appropriate text was Revelation xiv. 13. "And 1 heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours: and their works do follow them." The preacher pointed out the prominent marks which indicate the character referred to -he that is in the Lord; and then remarked, that blessedness was predicted of him who sustained this relation in life and in death. The nature of this blessedness was a second topic-a blessedness in union with Christ; a blessedness in dying while thus united with the living head; a blessed rest after all the toils of life, and in the full enjoyment of heaven, whither every good work followed the believer, and received its gracious reward. The beautiful and appropriate theme was treated in the most practical manner, with much earnestness and feeling; and there appeared to be but one impression among the auditors of the entire fitness both of the subject and its treatment to the solemn occasion. It was just such a sermon as should be preached on a funeral occasion, and we doubt not, that the deceased, could he have heard it,