ledge of other men's characters, and a sort of prophetic insight into the future; who are fit to take the lead in great enterprises, and can make their influence felt far and wide, no matter what may be done to restrain or neutralize it. When such a minister arises, he becomes at once a man of mark-his brethren in the ministry, the church, the world, all acknowledge his superiority. He may be a modest man-he may even be doubtful of his ability to occupy the field into which Providence introduces him; but there is is little danger that he will be unknown or unhonored. The light of his mind will dart abroad just as certainly as the light of Heaven; and not improbably there may come back to him from the ends of the earth the blessings of those to whom he has been a benefactor.

The exhausting labors and anxieties of the ministry are not favorable to long life; but, independently of this circumstance, we should expect that but a small part of the whole number who are devoted to this work, would attain to old age-and so we actually find it. There is only here and there one to be found, in the ranks of Christ's ministers, who may properly be called, in the language of our text, an "ancient;" and the "prudent" and the "ancient" sometimes meet in the same individual. Yonder is a man richly endowed, highly cultivated, extensively useful, who has been constantly gathering wisdom through the long period of three score and ten or four score years; and even the gray hairs and wrinkles that you see upon him, scarcely betoken the waning of his higher faculties. He remembers much which those around him never knew. His experience is a volume abounding with the most instructive lessons upon human life. The little children, allured by his gentle and loving manner, come up and hang upon his knees, while he reciprocates their simple greetings, and gives them his blessing. Perhaps his voice may not now be heard as it once was, in publicly discussing great questions of church polity, or in urging the claims of benevolent institutions, or in stilling the waves of popular excitement; but you may go to him with perplexed questions, and he will show himself adequate to solve them still; and, peradventure, when God's holy day returns, you may find him at his post, dispensing the great truths of the gospel with a vigor and unction that would not have dishonored his best days. Is not such a minister preeminently entitled to the gratitude and reverence of the community in which he dwells?

But no matter to what point his life may be lengthened out, he bows to the unchanging ordinance of God, and dies at last. He who framed and put in motion the wonderful mechanism on which life depends, has fixed a bound to his earthly existence which he can not pass; and when he reaches that, the Lord of Hosts takes him away. And what are some of the duties which devolve upon the living, in view of such a dispensation?

The first which I shall mention, is to acknowledge reverently the agency of God, in bringing such a life to a close. We are too apt to lose sight of God's hand in the regularity of its movements. Because day and night, summer and winter, seed time and harvest, return upon us with unvarying uniformity, we find it difficult to realize that the heavenly bodies on whose action these changes depend, are only God's servants, moving in exact obedience to his will. Because the diseases which men suffer can frequently be traced to natural causes, we are little inclined to look beyond those causes, and we often practically admit the delusion that they originated and disposed themselves. And so, too, when we see God's servant, venerable for age and wisdom, going down to the grave, we naturally look upon his decline and his departure as something inevitable: it is no cause for marvel that he dies now-the only wonder is that he did not die sooner. But Christian faith frowns upon these illusions of sense, and sees the hand of God in that lingering process of decay, and finally, in the extinction of the vital principle, just as truly as in the original formation of man out of the dust of the earth. There is sovereignty in that dispensation where all seems so accidentalin the operation of those second causes there is an infinite mind working out its own infinite plan. That patriarch minister has performed the work which was allotted to him; and now He, whose servant he is, has removed him to a higher sphere, and He has done it at the time, and in the manner which his own unerring wisdom dictated.

In the next place, it is suitable that survivors should gratefully acknowledge the goodness of God in continuing such an one so long among the living. When he set out on the journey of life, no one could predict at what point the journey would terminate; but according to the best ascertained principles of calculation, the probability was that he would not live to grow old. He was introduced into a world where human life is always insecure; where death is ever busy, and often does his work suddenly and stealthily; where disease takes on a thousand forms, and accident sometimes outstrips disease in the rapidity of its fatal operations. And those who started with him-how they have fallen by his side! How he walks over the dust of his cotemporaries! How he stands as the venerable representative of three generations! But during the whole of the active period of this long life, that gifted, accomplished, sanctified mind, has been tasking its energies to the utmost for the well-being of the human family. The pulpit has been his throne; and from it has proceeded the broadest and deepest current of influence which he has sent forth; and this may have entered into a thousand minds, making way for that higher influence that brings light, and peace, and salvation. And much good service he may have performed in other ways; perhaps by a vigorous co-operation with other leading minds in reforming the abuses and elevating the morals of society; perhaps in giving a safe and successful direction to some noble Christian enterprise connected immediately with the world's regeneration; perhaps in forming the minds and characters of a multitude of youth, into whose hands the great interests of civil and religious society are soon to be resigned. Shall not then the closing of such a career, the extinction of such a light, suggest to us the duty of thanksgiving? Shall we not gratefully ask, who but God kept that great mind vigorously and constantly employed for the world's benefit, until we saw before us a very patriarch, making ready to put on immortality?

And finally, when such a benefactor of the world is taken away, those who have known him, especially those who have enjoyed the immediate benefit of his labors, should render due honor to his memory. I do not mean that honor which is expressed by a mere formal attendance on his funeral solemnities; nor yet that which exhausts itself in a lofty eulogium, or a splendid pageant, or a towering monument; but I mean an intelligent and hearty tribute to his extraordinary worth and usefulness-a deep sense of the loss which the community has sustained in his removal, manifested by appropriate expressions of reverential sorrow. And I mean yet more than this-the very highest tribute that we can pay to him is to seek to perpetuate his usefulness by giving to his teachings and example a permanent home in our memories and hearts, and endeavoring to secure to them an enduring influence over our fellow men. If to do good was the great object for which the venerable man lived, can we doubt that the most welcome tidings that could reach him in his blest abode, would be that the good which he has done not only is not lost, but is constantly working out still more glorious results, in the progressive renovation of the world. When our remembrances of him make us better and holier; when they strengthen our faith and quicken our zeal, and stimulate us to improve our own hearts and benefit our fellow men, then may we be sure that we act in accordance with his wishes, even as a glorified immortal; that we are worthily contributing to keep alive his memory on earth, while his spirit rejoices in Heaven.

Is it not due to ourselves that, when the Lord of Hosts takes away such an one, we should testify our reverence for his memory-for in so doing we open a new channel of blessing to our hearts; and in the act of embalming his virtues, there comes a genial warmth, an increased vigor, to our own. Is it not due to our fellow men for the praise that we render to departed worth is a testimony in honor of truth and virtue, adapted to recommend these qualities to the world. Is it not due to the individual who is the subject of our praise--for death does not abate the value of high intellectual and moral excellence; and he who has exhibited it while living, has lost none of his claims to grateful remembrance by going to his grave. And finally, and above all, is it not due to the Father of spirits-to Him who made that noble mind what it was, and gave it its right direction, and fixed it in its appropriate sphere, and recalled it to Himself, after it had accomplished a glorious work? Truly, my brethren, there are manifold claims upon us to mourn for the aged and honored servant of God. When "the Lord of Hosts, doth take away the prophet, the prudent, the ancient," they do well who resolve to hold his virtues in honorable and enduring remembrance.

The occasion that has assembled us is associated with the departure of one to whom the prophetical description in our text may be applied with no doubtful propriety. He was a "prophet" he was set apart in early life to proclaim the doctrine of salvation to his fellow men. He was a "prudent" man; both in the large sense of being intellectual and accomplished, and in the more restricted sense of being cautious and far-seeing. He was an "ancient;" for however little the frost of age had touched his faculties, he had filled up several years more than three-quarters of a century. But though he has been spared so long, Heaven has at length claimed him; and here, where he has spoken to you so often, he has stopped, dressed in his grave-clothes, to deliver his last message. I shall only meet a reasonable expectation in presenting you now with some brief notices of his life and character.

Dr. Bates was born at Cohasset, in this State, on the 20th of March, 1776-a date in reference to which he used to say that he was born a subject of George the Third, and was three months older than our National Independence. His early years he spent at home, laboring upon his father's farm; but even in childhood he began to develope a remarkable fondness for books, which led his father, whose circumstances were somewhat straitened, to consent to his receiving a collegiate education. Accordingly at the age of seventeen he commenced his preparation for college under the instruction of his pastor, the Rev. Joseph C. Shaw; but as it was only a part of the time that he was able to devote to study, it was nearly three years before he was fitted to enter the Freshman class; and then circumstances occurred which led him to engage in teaching a school in his native place, rather than going immediately to college. His connection with the school continued one year; and meanwhile he was prosecuting the studies of the Freshman class at Cambridge, availing himself of occasional assistance from the Rev. Henry Ware (afterwards Professor), then of Hingham. It was a rule from which he never departed, to pass over nothing in his studies which he did not fully understand; and to this habit thus early formed, I have heard him say that he attributed much of his success in life.

He became a member of the Sophomore class of Harvard College in the autumn of 1797-a few months after he had reached the age of twenty one. As he was in a great measure dependent for his education upon his own efforts, he taught a school during two of the winters that he was in college, and attempted it the third, but was prevented by a serious illness. Notwithstanding these interruptions, however, he maintained uniformly an excellent standing in his class; as was sufficiently indicated by the fact that he graduated with the highest honor-a distinetion, I cannot forbear to say, the more marked, from his having been a classmate of the gifted, accomplished and eloquent Buckminster; not to speak of some others who still survive, bearing the highest professional honors.

Immediately after his graduation, he became assistant teacher at Phillips Academy, Andover, and at the same time commenced his immediate preparation for the ministry under the Rev. Jonathan French. He held his place as teacher for one year; and after he resigned it, remained at Andover, prosecuting his theological studies, nearly another. He was licensed to preach by the Andover Association in April, 1802. Shortly after, he accepted an invitation to preach at Dedham, the result of which was that he was ordained and installed there on the 16th of March, 1803.

Here he continued laboring to great acceptance, and enjoying in a high degree the respect and confidence of his people, fifteen years. There were many circumstances which rendered this a pleasant settlement to him; not the least of which was that it brought him into intimate relations with that illustrious man, Fisher Ames, who was, at that time, an active member of his parish. He evidently succeeded in gaining both the ear and the heart of the great statesman; their intercourse was frequent and affectionate; Dr. Bates' reminiscences of his friend were equally abundant and delightful; and for several years preceding his death, he was probably the best living witness to Ames' personal habits and intellectual and moral qualities. It is earnestly to be hoped that he has left some record of his observations upon that eminent man, of which posterity may have the benefit.

Dr. Bates resigned his charge at Dedham with a view to accept an appointment as President of Middlebury College. His induction to this office took place in March, 1818. Here he continued discharging his duties with great ability and fidelity until September, 1839. Not only was his devotion to the interests of the college unwearied-not only did he exert himself to the utmost to elevate the standard of liberal education, and to make thorough scholars of all who came under his care, but the influence of his high personal character in the community at large, was favorable to the prosperity of the institution. His instructions-I say it upon the authority of some of his distinguished pupils were specially prized in the departments of intellectual and moral philosophy, where his clear and vigorous perceptions, and his power of rigid analysis, found their appropriate exercise. It was Dr. Bates' determination, when he accepted the Presidency of the college, not to retain it beyond the age of sixtycircumstances occurred, however, to induce him to remain a few years longer; and other circumstances subsequently occurred