The Episcopal office is not sufficiently estimated by the mass It has been misunderstood. Could its use of our countrymen. fulness be exemplified more satisfactorily than by the life of a a person who understood its design, and, by divine grace, was enabled to fulfil its arduous and very important duties? The memoirs, however imperfectly prepared, of one who gave himself wholly to the work of the Christian ministry, and in these latter days blessed our eyes with the sight of a primitive deacon, a primitive presbyter, and a primitive bishop, cannot but be instructive and animating to his brethren of the clergy. We have many invaluable treatises on the "sacred office;" but "the voice," we also say The pen "is but an instrument on which a man Can play what tune he pleases; In the deed-the unequivocal, authentic deed We found sound argument, we read the heart." We have been told from infancy, and we know, that "example is more effectual than precept;" we may add, that there are facts valuable to the Church, if not to the community in general, for making which public, the present essay affords the most favourable opportunity. Conscious of his insufficiency for the due execution of this undertaking, the author entirely adopts the language of Bishop Burnet as applied to Boyle: "When I remember how much I saw in him, and learned, or at least might have learned, from him; when I reflect on the gravity of his very appearance, the elevation of his thoughts and discourses, the modesty of his temper, and the humility of his whole deportment, which might have served to have forced the best thoughts even upon the worst minds; when, I say, I bring all this together into my mind, as I form upon it too bright an idea to be easily remembered by such as did not know him; so I am very sensible that I cannot raise it equal to the thoughts of such as did." It cannot be unbecoming, and the author does, in all sincerity, invoke the divine blessing on this work, that it may promote, in some degree, the imitation of its admired and beloved subject, and the sacred cause to which he was devoted. CONTENTS. 1795, ..... 301-306 IV. An Oration before the Phi Beta Kappa Society: 1807,..317-325 The Episcopal office is not sufficiently estimated by the mass of our countrymen. It has been misunderstood. Could its usefulness be exemplified more satisfactorily than by the life of a a person who understood its design, and, by divine grace, was enabled to fulfil its arduous and very important duties? The memoirs, however imperfectly prepared, of one who gave himself wholly to the work of the Christian ministry, and in these latter days blessed our eyes with the sight of a primitive deacon, a primitive presbyter, and a primitive bishop, cannot but be instructive and animating to his brethren of the clergy. We have many invaluable treatises on the "sacred office;" but "the voice," we also say The pen "is but an instrument on which a man Can play what tune he pleases; In the deed-the unequivocal, authentic deed We found sound argument, we read the heart." We have been told from infancy, and we know, that "example is more effectual than precept;" we may add, that there are facts valuable to the Church, if not to the community in general, for making which public, the present essay affords the most favourable opportunity. Conscious of his insufficiency for the due execution of this undertaking, the author entirely adopts the language of Bishop Burnet as applied to Boyle: "When I remember how much I saw in him, and learned, or at least might have learned, from him; when I reflect on the gravity of his very appearance, the elevation of his thoughts and discourses, the modesty of his temper, and the humility of his whole deportment, which might have served to have forced the best thoughts even upon the worst minds; when, I say, I bring all this together into my mind, as I |