sweet blossom which is now withered forever. Is it not natural, then, is it not just, that I should be deeply affected by an event which blasts at once so many fond expectations, and shrouds so many brilliant and beautiful prospects? But I forbear. Far from me be the cruelty of recalling those scenes of distress, through which you have lately been doomed to pass. But, my dear brother, dearer than ever to my heart, may I add, there is one consolation which should soothe your distracted breast: Emily has died in the blessed hope of immortality beyond the grave. Here, amid all your sufferings, is cause of gratitude. I know that we are all apt to murmur at the bereavements of Providence. When our peace is disturbed, or our happiness interrupted, it is hard to submit. It is hard to believe that our afflictions are not the frowns of a Judge, but the chastisement of a Parent. And yet do we not hold all our blessings as pensioners on the bounty of Heaven? 'Shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive evil?' Has not He who gave, a right to take away? Let us, then, calm our agitated feelings. We know that what is done is right. Although the violence of grief may hide from our eyes the justice of the sentence under which we mourn, yet we may safely rest on that promise which has softened and sanctified the most agonizing dispensations : Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." O, may the death of our dear departed friend warn us of our mortality. May it teach us that the enjoyments of earth are at best but transitory and uncertain. May it detach our affections from the world and fix them upon high and noble objects. May it lead us to a Saviour who died for our sins, and who is presenting to us, every day of our lives, the offers of mercy, pardon, and immortality."

To his sister afflicted by the loss of her child, he soon after wrote, under date of the 24th of May, 1817:

"There is no affliction which befals you, especially of such a nature as that of the loss of a dear child, in which I do not participate. I sometimes think that those who go soonest are most happy. At any rate, they escape the trials which await mature age. Thus far they are certainly gainers; and we may hope that those who die in infancy are washed in the blood of the Saviour, not so much because the Scriptures have settled this question, as because where sin abounded grace does much more abound. Nor is it an objection to this hypothesis, that faith is made necessary under the New Testament, for faith is not of ourselves it is the gift of God. Why not, then, suppose the gift extended to infants in the same way as to adults, since there is, in either case, no merit. But if it be comfortable to hope that those who die in infancy are happy, much more should it be to remem. ber that God is just and right. Whatever are our allotments, He is the same. Let it, then, be our concern to secure an interest in his favor, an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. I expect to be ordained in New. York on the 15th."

Near the commencement of the year 1817, the Rev. Elias Cornelius was appointed by the Trustees of the Connecticut Missionary Society, to engage in a missionary tour through the south-western States, and more especially to visit New-Orleans, (at that time containing a population of 30,000, and but one Protestant minister,) to examine its moral condition, and while preaching the Gospel to many who seldom heard it, to invite the friends of the Congregational or Presbyterian communion to establish a Church, and secure an able and faithful pastor. He was also desired by the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, to arouse the public to the claims of our Indian tribes, and solicit funds for the education of their children. Animated by that apostolic zeal which finally consumed him, on the the 13th of January, 1817, he proceeded through the southern portions of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Hartford and New-Haven in Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, parts of Virginia and Tennessee, remained some time among the Cherokees, and after a journey of 3000 miles, (during which he preached one hundred and fifteen times, and raised about $4,400,) arrived in New-Orleans on the 30th of December. It was doubtless arranged, while Mr. Cornelius was in New-Jersey, that Mr. Larned should soon follow him, since the latter addressed a letter dated July 7th, 1817, to the former at Washington City, in which he says,

"Ascribe, my dear friend, my apparent remissness in any case to any thing, rather than want of affection-to any thing rather than a suspension of the high interest I shall take in every step of your tour, and in every blessing you dispense while performing it. I do most sincerely pray that the great Head of the Church may keep you in the hollow of his hand, and qualify and furnish you for the service in which we have alike enlisted. But to myself: On Tuesday week I expect to be ordained in New-York-shall leave Princeton the day after to-morrow, with a thousand regrets known to none but the aching bosom in which they lie. After my ordination, my project is to return to Massachusetts, spend six or seven weeks with my friends, and then for the great object. By the by, it is probable I shall change my route, and go by Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, &c., &c., to Savannah, whence I shall ship for New-Orleans. I say probable. The General Assembly appointed Doctors Nott and Romeyn for this duty. If one of them, which seems likely, should decline, the plan is, that I should accompany the other-if both decline, that I should go

alone."

To Mrs. Larned* (the wife of his brother Col. James Larned), in Washington City, he wrote "in great haste" from New-York, on the 16th of the same month :

"I have taken my pen with a mind deeply solemnized by the transactions through which I have just passed. Yesterday I was ordained, in this city, to the work of the ministry. The services were performed in the Brick Church. Dr. Romeyn preached the sermon, Mr. Springt made the consecrating prayer. Solemn, indeed, my dear sister, is the responsibility with which I am now invested. O that I may live the religion to the service of which I am now consecrated! O that God would communicate to me abundantly of His Spirit, to lead and encourage me in the path of duty -to hold me back from every action calculated to wound

* This admirable lady, eminent alike for her intelligence and varied accomplishments, and during her latter years, for active benevolence and unfeigned piety, died soon after the wife of the subject of this memoir, in Washington City.

† The present Rev. Dr. Spring. To this gentleman I am indebted for the following anecdote: At the close of Mr. Larned's examination by the Presbytery, the duty of preaching before that body was assigned to him for the next day. He informed Dr. Spring that he had no sermon. The Doctor suggested that he (Mr. L.) might occupy his study, and that he should retire thither immediately. He did so, and during the night prepared, and the next morning preached, a good the cause of the Redeemer-to make me useful to the Church and the world, and to prepare me to meet many seals of my ministry in the temple above. Looking beyond the temptations by which we are apt to be dazzled in the present world, how interesting, how important, how sublime, is the situation of a herald of the everlasting Gospel!-that Gospel which brings life and immortality to light-that Gospel which holds out to fallen man the only hope of salvation when these heavens and this earth shall have passed away. Well might the mind faint under such contemplations, were it not for that heavenly promise, 'My grace shall be sufficient for you.' This, truly, is a delightful reflection. Nothing can have a greater tendency to urge a minister forward in his labors, than to remember that he is but an instrument in fulfilling the great plans of God-that whether he be peculiarly blessed or not, these plans will move on to their consummation; and that one of them of the highest promise is, to save those who believe, by the foolishness of preaching."

Mr. Larned's first appearance as a preacher excited the highest expectations of the public, and left none who heard him to doubt the fervor of his devotion, the force of his intellect, or the simplicity, elevation, and power of his eloquence. Love and admiration attended his steps, churches were thronged wherever he preached, and the elements of moral and intellectual greatness so embodied in his fine commanding person, the intonations and compass of a voice never perhaps excelled, and an entire manner natural, bold, winning and majestic, left impressions upon every assembly he addressed, not to be effaced. He hastened to the bosom of his family in Pittsfield, to share for a few days, communion with those most