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'Look up yonder, dont you see that man? He is a British spy sent over by the king of England to spy out our land, and as he comes down I intend to shoot him.' 'No,' said the neighbor, he is the minister who preached for us the last evening.' Upon this the unhappy man gave up his arms and retired; but it was fully believed by those who knew the state of his mind, that he would have shot our friend dead, if he had not been thus providentially prevented. The Doctor often mentioned this singular escape from sudden death with great sensibility."

In August, 1808, Mr. GRIFFIN was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Union College.

The Theological Seminary at Andover having just been established, Doctor GRIFFIN was appointed, in the course of this year, to the Bartlett Professorship of Pulpit Eloquence in that institution; and shortly after this appointment, he was elected by the infant church in Park-street, Boston, their stated preacher. For both these places he was considered as pre-eminently qualified; though it was not without much deliberation, and as it would seem many severe struggles, that he finally came to the determination of resigning his pastoral charge. Before the meeting of Presbytery in April, 1809, he requested the congregation to consent to his dismission; and having obtained their consent, he was dismissed at that meeting, though he continued his ministrations among them till the last of May. On the 28th of May he preached his Farewell sermon.

It was a noble effort, full of sublimity and pathos, worthy of the occasion and worthy of the man. It has had an extensive circulation, and been admired on both sides of the Atlantic. The following paragraph from the sermon, exhibits the wonderful success which had attended his ministry.

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Eight years ago, this church consisted of two hundred and two members, of whom one hundred and forty-six still remain. We have since admitted four hundred and thirty-four to our communion, of whom three hundred and seventy-six still remain. Of those whom we have admitted, sixty-two were received from other churches, and three hundred and seventy-two from the world. Of the latter we admitted a hundred and thirteen in one year, and at another time a hundred and seventy-four in six months. All the members which have belonged to this church, within that period, amount to six hundred and thirty-six; of whom a hundred and fourteen have, in various ways, been removed, and five hundred and twenty-two still remain."

Of the various testimonies of respect and affection which he received from his people on leaving them, the following letter, from the Hon. ELISHA BOUDINOT, dated "Baltimore, 18th May, 1809," may suffice as a specimen.

REV. AND DEar Sir,

My feelings were too much alive at the idea of those connections being rent asunder which I had fondly hoped would have continued until they had placed my remains in the house appointed for all living—to call upon you before I left home. I knew my feelings had too much the mastery of me to trust them where they were so much aroused. Nothing but the

conviction that it is the duty of every servant of Christ to sacrifice his own friendship, feelings and connexions, whenever there is a probability of their interfering with the general and superior good of Zion, could have made me submit to this separation with any degree of composure. But viewing this to be the case, I rejoice in the idea that our great Master will make you instrumental in pulling down the high pillars of Satan's kingdom, and destroying his strong hold, and cause you to witness for the truth, as the apostle of old, even at Rome.

When I reflect on the many interesting scenes I have witnessed since you was our pastor-the many hours of sweet intercourse we have had together; when I consider your zeal, your ardor, your faithfulness in our Master's cause, and the blessing that has attended them, the thought that I must witness them no more, I must confess, is too much for my feeble nature to bear with composure, and I must weep in silence. May a compassionate Saviour forgive the falling tear, if wrong! Suffer me to entreat still an interest in your prayers, and that you will never cease wrestling at the throne of grace for me and those who are dearer to me than life, till I have a comfortable hope that we shall all meet with joy at the final appearing of our glorious Immanuel, when my children shall be of the gems that shall constitute your crown of rejoicing. Now go in peace, cloathed with the whole armor of God, prepared to fight the battles of our Master; and the God of Peace be with you, and make you abundantly successful in all things, and continue you his faithful witness to the end.

My dearest Mrs. B. bears the idea of parting worse than I do. She joins me with our children here, in our best affection to your dear Mrs. Griffin and Louisa, wishing you may long be continued a blessing to each other in health and happiness. I am, my dear Sir,

Your affectionate friend,

ELISHA BOUDINOT.

VOL. I.

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CHAPTER IV.

HIS RESIDENCE AT ANDOVER AND BOSTON.

On the morning after he preached his farewell sermon, Doctor GRIFFIN left Newark with his family for Massachusetts, and on the 21st of June was inducted with appropriate ceremonies into the professorship at Andover, to which he had been appointed. His inaugural oration, which was one of his most chaste and beautiful productions, fully justified the high opinion that had been formed of his qualifications for that important station.

There was, as has been already intimated, another enterprise with which Doctor GRIFFIN about this time became identified, scarcely less important in its bearing upon the interests of truth and piety, than the opening of the Theological Seminary,viz. the establishment of Park-street church. For nearly seventy years previous to this period, that great system of religious doctrine which had been held by the Pilgrim fathers had been gradually declining in the capital of New-England, till it seemed to have well nigh reached the point of utter extinction. It would be a most important service to the cause of Ecclesiastical History to trace minutely

the

progress of this decline, and the causes in which it originated; and it is to be hoped that before this generation shall have passed away, and while the materials for such a chapter in our religious history are easily accessible, some qualified person may be found to address himself to the work. If a remark or two on the subject is not out of place in this connexion, perhaps it is safe to say, that this lamentable defection is to be traced, more than to any other cause, to the irregularities and extravagances that prevailed so extensively in New-England during the revival of 1741 and 1742, in which DAVENPORT and others of the same stamp had so prominent an agency. No doubt that many-perhaps most of these, were truly devoted men, who fully believed that in all their wild and fanatical movements they were doing God service; and several of those who had been most conspicuous, especially DAVENPORT himself, not only became convinced of their errors, but retracted them in an honest and christian-like manner; but still it admits of no question that their influence upon the church was both disastrous and enduring. It was quite natural that some of those churches which took a stand against them from the beginning and kept it to the end, should have come out of the conflict with fanaticism with an undue prejudice against religious excitement; and from this there was but a step to a state of chilling formality; and this was the appropriate field for the propagation of a lax theology. And it was quite as natural on the other hand, that those churches over which the tempest of fanati

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