has convinced me of my many sins past, and begot such terrors of conscience, as have begot in me holy resolutions. This benefit, and many other like benefits, I and other Christians have had by preaching: and God forbid that we should ever use it so, or so provoke him by our other sins as to withdraw this blessed ordinance from us, or turn it into a curse, by preaching heresie and schism; which too many have done in the late time of rebellion, and indeed now do in many conventicles; and their auditors think such preaching is serving GoD, when God knows it is contrary." Such were the rational grounds, on which he founded his faith and practice. No excuse is pleaded for again noticing the opportutunities of improvement, which he experienced from his appropriated intimacy with the most eminent divines of the Church of England. Genuine friendship exists but among the virtuous: a friend is emphatically styled "the medicine of life;" the sovereign remedy that softens the pangs of sorrow, and alleviates the anguish of the heart. We cannot therefore sufficiently felicitate the condition of Isaac Walton, who imbibed the very spirit of friendship; and that with men renowned for their wisdom and learning; for the sanctity of their manners, and the unsullied purity of their lives."If,” to use the words of one of his biographers, "we can entertain a doubt that Walton was one of the happiest of men, we show ourselves ignorant of the nature of that felicity, to which it is possible, even in this life, for virtuous and good men, with the blessing of God, to arrive." The features of the countenance often enable us to form a judgment, not very fallible, of the disposition of the mind. In few portraits can this discovery be more successfully pursued than in that of Isaac Walton. LaVATER, the acute master of physiognomy, would, I think, instantly acknowledge in it the decisive traits of the original:-Mild complaisance, forbearance, mature consideration, calm activity, peace, sound understanding, power of thought, discerning attention, and secretly active friendship. Happy in his unblemished integrity, • Biographical Dictionary. Ed. 1784. happy in the approbation and esteem of others, he inwraps himself in his own virtue. The exultation of a good conscience eminently shines forth in the looks of this venerable person. "Candida semper Gaudia, et in Vultu curarum ignara Voluptas," HACKET, Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry, used this motto, "SERVE GOD, AND BE CHEERFUL." Our biographer seems to have adhered to this golden maxim, during the whole tenor of his life. His innocence, and the inoffensive plainness of his manners, his love of truth, his piety, and the unbiassed rectitude of his conduct, diffused over his mind a serenity and complacency which never forsook him. Let no one, however elevated in rank or station, however accomplished with learning, or exalted in genius, esteem himself undervalued, when it shall be pronounced concerning him, that his religious and moral qualities are placed in the ba lance, or compared with those of ISAAC WALTON. |