town of Atwater, in Ohio. Here again he found himself in the wilderness. There was neither church nor preacher; but he could not live without the enjoyment of divine worship. He invited his neighbors to his own house, to join in public prayer and praise. Every Sabbath, he read to them a sermon from some pious author. The Spirit of God was poured out in answer to their prayers, and soon the converting power of the Holy Ghost was felt in every family. The foundations of a spiritual house were thus early laid, and the wilderness budded and blossomed as the rose. Such a father might well expect to reap an early and abundant harvest in his own domestic inclosure. All his children, who have come to years, six in number, have been gathered into the fold of Christ.

To their faithfulness, the subject of this narrative bears grateful testimony. "The instructions of my grandfather were succeeded by those of my parents. I was taught to read the Bible and made to reverence the Sabbath day; they also made it my duty to go to the sanctuary, where I joined in the worship of God. I committed to memory the Assembly's Shorter Catechism, which I repeated regularly every Lord's day to my father. He accompanied it with a prayer, but added no explanation; yet the influence of this excellent summary of Christian doctrine was such upon my mind, that I can never think of it but with profound respect and gratitude to God."

The time was when every child among us was thus instructed in the doctrines of our faith. That education was incomplete, which did not lodge the Assembly's Catechism in the memory of the child. It was taught in the day-school and at home; it formed a part of the

duties of the parent, to inculcate its truths upon the minds of his children every Lord's day, at least. And well has that generation repaid their pious teachers. They, who were thus trained, are, if yet living, to be found for the most part in the bosom of our churches, and very many in the very fore-front of the ministry of the gospel. They are among the soundest, most experienced, most stable, most useful members of the church and ministry. Why are the old paths forsaken, and why are the rising generation, to so great an extent, left to grow up without being able so much as to answer the question-" What is the chief end of man?"

An incident similar to one already related, that occurred in his ninth year, served still further to subdue

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a temper, naturally quick and furious," such, as he himself believed, was his. "Having one evening," he remarks, "in company with several children, resented a trifling affront by an excessive ebullition of passion, I was, upon reflection, extremely mortified, and without any instruction, or communicating my intention to any one, resolved to restrain my words and expressions of resentment in future, under every provocation, until I should either have repeated the letters of the alphabet to myself from A to Z, and back again; or retired for a time sufficient to cool my excited feelings."

Those who knew him have often been constrained to speak of him as a rare example of equanimity. He seemed always to have his passions completely under his control, and was, perhaps, one of the very last men to be suspected of a native temper so "quick and furious" as he represents his own to have been. Such a conquest may well encourage every child to attempt the same, and all parents to persevere in the endeavor

to subdue and regulate the temper of their children, however ungovernable they may at first appear.

His mind was also deeply impressed by a remarkable providence, whereby he was preserved from an early grave. But for the interposition of his father, who saved him at the hazard of his own life, he would have been crushed to death by a falling tree. His life was prolonged, and his tender mind much affected by the goodness of his Preserver.

So obedient was he to the will of his parents, that his father has been heard to say, that he never, in a single instance, had occasion to punish him. He was a son on whom the rod of correction had never been laid.

From early childhood he was addicted to books, and as he grew up was very careful to select only such as would be profitable. On one occasion a novel was loaned to him by a neighbor, but after having read enough to ascertain its character, he consulted with his mother as to the propriety of continuing the perusal, and returned it to the owner as a foolish thing. He could seldom be induced to leave his books to join his youthful companions in their sports.

The great scrupulousness with which he avoided an untruth, or any thing which might lead him into a falsehood, may be seen by a little incident which made a strong impression on the mind of his father. Having been told that he and his brother should each have a pocket-knife, on the condition of promising not to lose them, tempting as was the offer, he could not be induced to join in the promise readily made by his brother, lest he should break his word. The loss of the knife was so severe a trial, as to cause him to weep bitterly.

His conscientiousness was rewarded with the object of his desire.

When he was about ten years of age, his native place was visited with a refreshing from the presence of the Lord. This work of divine grace continued more than two years, and resulted in a general awakening by which about eighty persons were led to experience a saving change. The mind of Elihu was brought at this time more directly in contact with divine truth, and the seriousness of his early childhood greatly increased.

Shortly after the occurrence of this revival, his parents determined to give him, as far as their limited means would allow, a liberal education. At the age of fifteen he was placed under the care of his pastor, the Rev. Mr. Townsend, who, like many of the ministers of that day, was accustomed to prepare young men for college. Such was the serious, correct, and exemplary manner of his daily walk, that his pastor was induced to ask him, why he did not connect himself with the church. He could not, however, believe that he had yet experienced a change of heart.

Having completed his preparatory course in the autumn of 1807, in his eighteenth year, he left for the first time the home of his childhood, to seek a dwellingplace among strangers, and venture upon the temptations and trials of a college-life.

CHAPTER II.

Conversion.-Diary commenced.-Profession of Religion.

THE year 1807 was distinguished in the history of American churches for the prevalence of the revivalspirit. New-York and Connecticut shared largely in the blessings of divine grace. About the period that young Baldwin became a member of Yale College, the churches of New Haven enjoyed a revival of great extent and power. The students of the college, however, were, for a number of months, almost unmoved by the prevailing excitement. At the commencement of the college-year, "the number of professing Christians in all the classes did not exceed fifteen."

This low state of religion in college, during the prevalence of a powerful revival in the town, was a source of great anxiety and distress to the venerable President, Dr. Dwight. The spring-term was about to close, and the students to disperse. He could not endure the thought that they should depart in their sins, and careless. Deeply oppressed with this feeling, he preached early in April, 1808, on the Sabbath, in the chapel, a sermon from the words "Young man! I say unto thee, arise." At evening-prayers, on the day previous, he had manifested deep emotion. One who was present, thus describes the scene:-" The chapter was read with an altered tone, the hymn was recited with a faltering accent, and when he joined with the choir, as was his custom, his usually loud and sonorous voice