"casions, prompted him to those little at"tentions, those minuter acts of kindness. 66 which, in the man of the world, are the "produce of artificial politeness, but in him were the unstudied suggestions of Christian courtesy, of genuine benevolence. 66 "Nor less striking was the unaffected simplicity of his manners, so inexpressibly "attractive!! His full stored and always lively mind indulged in common to spor❝tive sallies of wit and merriment, with "the innocence and playfulness of a child. Happily he had nothing of that gloomy gravity, that austere reserve, which often accompany distinguished talents and at“tainments, and are so repulsive to the free"dom of conversation and intercourse; "while at the same time he never lost sight "of the respect which is due to sacred subjects, nor ever sanctioned licentious con"versation. Replete with pleasantry, he "could, on proper occasions, be as strictly " serious as any man. "His "His aversion to every thing that bore a "resemblance to guile and dissimulation * was open and avowed; his abhorrence of "deceit he, on every occasion, strongly expressed; and his own uniformly undisguised, unreserved conduct fully proved, "that he inwardly felt that aversion, which "he outwardly manifested. For no motives "of worldly policy, or selfish regard, could prevail upon him to have recourse to, or to countenance in others, those petty ar tifices, for the accomplishment of even the "best designs, which are too commonly re"sorted to, and thought allowable by many, "who are acknowledged to be, in the main, " upright and well-intentioned persons. "To him was strictly applicable the cha66 racter of Nathaniel, that he was an Israelite 66 indeed, in whom there was no guile. He really was the man which he appeared to "be. So that his character was as com 66 pletely developed by the intercourse of a "few days, as by an intimacy of several years. At the very first interview he ex "hibited CCXVIII MEMOIR OF THE REV. GEORGE WALKER. "hibited the marks of a most benevolent "and cheerful disposition, of an open and "unreserved temper, of a sincere love of "truth and virtue, of a most vigorous and "comprehensive mind, which was ever ac"tive and ever communicative.” |