A Memoir of the Rev. Edward Payson, D.D.

Uses of religious biography. Birth of Edward PaysonHis early impressions; intellectual qualities; filial and fraternal conduct; moral character-His literary education: enters Harvard College; his reputation there.

Ir, as it has been well observed, "the memorials of the good constitute one of the most sacred possessions of the Church of Christ,"—there is an obligation, resting on each successive generation of her children, to perpetuate those living evidences of Christianity, which have been exhibited by their most distinguished contemporaries. It is not submitted to our choice, whether, or not, we will preserve and hand down the characters of such as have been eminent in their day for the savor and strength of their piety, the ardor and steadfastness of their devotion, the consistency and power of their example, and the abundance and success of their labors in the cause of their crucified King: the duty is imperative. Nor does the value of a mere human example depend upon its freedom from imperfection, so much as upon the degree of resistance, which its original has overcome in his progress towards the mark of our high calling.' To secure the object contemplated by such a memorial, it is not necessary to hold up the character as faultless, nor even to magnify its excellences, or extenuate its defects. A strict adherence to truth, and a just representation of facts, will not only be safest for man, but most effectually exalt the grace of God. That apostle, who labored more abundantly than his fellows, recognises it as among the causes why he had obtained mercy, who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious,-that he 'might be a pattern to them who should hereafter believe.' The heart, alive to

its guilt and wretchedness, would sink in everlasting despondency, if it might not revert to the 'chief of sinners,' as among the number whom Christ came to save, and who have actually obtained salvation. The discouragements arising from inbred sin, in all its countless varieties of operation, would depress the Christian almost beyond recovery, but for the recorded experience of others, weighed down by the pressure of similar burdens, who finally came off conquerors, through Him who loved them.' From the 'great fight of afflictions,' which his elder brethren, who have preceded him in the weary pilgrimage, have 'endured,' and the terrible conflicts with passion and temptation, which they have survived, he may learn, that his case is not singular; that, however fiery the trial to which he is subjected, still no strange thing hath happened unto him.' There is no unholy bias of the heart, no easily besetting sin, no violence of passion, no force of temptation, which has not been vanquished by faith in things unseen; and that, too, in circumstances as unfavorable to victory, as any in which men now are, or, probably, ever will be placed. Enemies as virulent and formidable as any that lie in wait for our souls, have been successfully resisted,-trials as disheartening, and struggles as desperate, as any that await our faith, have been met, sustained, surmounted, by men of like passions with ourselves.' 'Out of the depths they cried unto the Lord, and were heard; they overcame through the blood of the Lamb.'

Nor will the benefit be limited to the fervent believer, in his spiritual conflicts. These monumental records will meet the eye of him, who has a name to live while he is dead;' and they are adapted, beyond most other means, to break his fatal slumber, to excite salutary apprehensions in his mind, and fasten there the unwelcome, but needful conviction, that he has 'neither part nor lot' in the Christian's inheritance. The marked contrast, which he cannot fail to observe, between the operations of a mind animated by the Spirit, and glowing with the love of God, and those of which he is himself conscious; between the moral achievements of a man, carried forward by the steady energies of a purifying faith, and the few and sluggish efforts, which fill up his own history,-can hardly fail to reveal him to himself, as one 'weighed in the balance and found wanting.' He reads of exertions, which he never put forth; of humiliation and self-denial, which he never practised; of confessions, which his heart never dictated; of exercises, which he never experienced; of hopes and prospects, by which his own bosom was never gladdened. In the character

of the determined Christian, he discerns a renunciation of self, and a godly jealousy over the workings of the heart, naturally deceitful above all things, which are totally at war with his own self-confidence. He learns, that, under all varieties of outward condition, self-mortification is still an eminent characteristic of the follower of Christ; that no man, who warreth, entangleth himself with the affairs of this world; that the expectant of the crown of righteousness is no more exempted from the agonizing strife to obtain it, than he was in the days of primitive Christianity. In the modern believer, if his faith be not 'dead,' you identify the grand features of that religion, which sanctified, controlled, and supported apostles and martyrs.

The uses of religious biography extend further still. It is the means, under God, of attaching to the cause of Zion, men of great energy and moral worth,-magnanimous in purpose, wise in counsel, vigorous and persevering in action. In how many, who have done valiantly for the truth, has the flame of holy zeal and enterprise been first kindled at the pages which record the religious experience and evangelical labors of Baxter, Brainerd, Edwards, Martyn, and others of a kindred spirit,-who, but for these memorials, would have been lost to the Church of Christ, and perhaps have become her most determined foes! The 'children of this world' understand the influence of such writings, and wisely preserve every thing that is memorable in their heroes, philosophers, poets, and artists, that youth may emulate their enthusiasm, and act over their achievements. And though it may be true, that "modern biography has been too busily and curiously employed in enrolling and blazoning names, which will scarcely outlive the records of the grave-stone," still "it is not easy to estimate the loss, which is sustained by the Christian community, when an example of eminent sanctity and heroic zeal is defrauded of its just honors, when a living epistle of apostolic piety is suffered to perish; or, to change the figure, when the lamp kindled by a holy life, which might have shone to posterity, is suffered to go out."

If Christians in the ordinary walks of life need the stimulus of such examples, much more does the minister of the cross. He has his full portion in the trials and discouragements, that are common to all believers; and his mind is also familiar with causes for "great heaviness and sorrow of heart," in which they can but feebly sympathize. In addition to his own personal security, he is in a manner responsible for that of his

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A Memoir of the Rev. Edward Payson, D.D.: Late Pastor of the Second Church ...