averted-" Curious frame "-Flattery deprecated -His marriage-Becomes sole pastor of the church ing, sustaining and extending a due interest in re- ligious concerns-- dinances, church fast, conference, inquiry meetings 254 CHAP. XV. The same subject-Bible class-Pastoral visits-Social parties-Special and casual inter- CHAP. XVI. His exertions without the bounds of his pa- rish-Influence on his ministerial associates; in re- suscitating and edifying other churches-Visits "The Springs "-Effect of his example, conversa- tion, and prayers on other visiters-Excursions in behalf of charitable societies-Translation of mi- nisters-He is invited to Boston and New-York 317 CHAP. XVII. Letters to persons in various circumstan- CHAP. XVIII. His private character-His affections and demeanor as a husband, father, master, friend-His gratitude, economy, generosity-His temper of CHAP. XIX. Further particulars relating to his person- al history, and religious exercises, in connection with his pastoral labors and their results CHAP. XX. His last labors-His spiritual joys, heaven- ly counsels, and brightening intellect, during the MEMOIR. CHAPTER I. Birth of Edward Payson-His early impressions ; intellectual qualities; filial and fraternal conduct; moral characterHis literary education: enters Harvard College; his reputation there. EDWARD PAYSON was born at Rindge, New-Hampshire, July 25th, 1783. His father was the Rev. Seth Payson, D. D. pastor of the church in Rindge, a man of piety and public spirit, distinguished as a clergyman, and favorably known as an author. His mother, Grata Payson, was a distant relative of her husband, their lineage, after being traced back a few generations, meeting in the same stock. To the Christian fidelity of these parents there is the fullest testimony in the subsequent and repeated acknowledgments of their son, who habitually attributed his religious hopes, as well as his usefulness in life, under God, to their instructions, example, and prayers-especially those of his mother. She appears to have admitted him to the most intimate, unreserved, and confiding intercourse, which was yet so wisely conducted as to strengthen rather than diminish his filial reverence; to have cherished a remarkable inquisitiveness of mind, which early discovered itself in him; and to have patiently heard and replied to the almost endless inquiries which his early thirst for knowledge led him to propose. His father was not less really and sincerely interested for the welfare of his son; but, from the nature of the relation, and the calls of official duty, his opportunities must have been less frequent, and his instructions have partaken of a more formal character. With the mother, however, opportunities were always occurring, and she seems to have been blessed with the faculty and disposition to turn them to the best advantage. Edward's recollections of her extended back to very early childhood; and he has been heard to say, that though she was very solicitous that he might be liberally educated, and receive every accomplishment which would increase his respectability and influence in the world, yet he could distinctly see that the supreme, the allabsorbing concern of her soul respecting him, was, that he might become a child of God. This manifested itself in her discipline, her counsels, expostulations, and prayers, which were followed up with a perseverance that nothing could check. And they were not in vain. From the first developement of his moral powers, his mind was more or less affected by his condition and prospects as a sinner. It is among the accredited traditions of his family, that he was often known to weep under the preaching of the Gospel, when only three years old. About this period, too, he would frequently call his mother to his bed-side to converse on religion, and to answer numerous questions respecting his relations to God and the future world. How long this seriousness continued, or to what interruptions it was subjected, does not clearly appear; nor is much known as to the peculiar character of his exercises at that time; but that they were not mere transient impressions seems highly probable from the fact, that, in subsequent years, his mother was inclined to the belief that he was converted in childhood. There was some other cause than maternal partiality for this opinion, as she did not cherish it alone. Besides, his intimate friends have reason for believing that he never neglected secret prayer while a resident in his father's family. The evidences of his piety, however, were, at this period, far from being conclusive; he, at least, does not appear to have regarded them as such; neither were they so regarded by his father, who had earnestly desired to see him a decided follower of the Redeemer, before encountering the dangers to religious principle and pure morals, which are sometimes found within the walls of a college. How far those mental qualities, which distinguished Dr. Payson's maturity, were apparent in his early days, cannot now be known; for, though he died comparatively young, his parents had gone before him, and their surviving children were all younger than this son. The very few incidents belonging to this period of his history, which have escaped oblivion, though not adequate to satisfy curiosity, are, on the whole, characteristic, and afford undoubted indications that this well-known decision, enterprise, and perseverance had dawned even in childhood. That he was a minute observer of nature, and highly susceptible of emotions from the grand and beautiful in the handy-works of God, was obvious to all who had the privilege of listening to his conversation or his preaching. His taste for the sublime very early discovered itself. During a tempest, he might be seen exposed on the top of the fence, or some other eminence, while the lightnings played and the thunders rolled around him, sitting in delightful composure, and enjoying the sublimity of the scene. He is said to have manifested an early predilection for arithmetic; and was a tolerable proficient in the art of reading at the age of four years-an art which no man ever employed to better advantage. The surprising quickness with which he would transfer to his own mind the contents of a book, at a time when a new book was a greater rarity than it now is, threatened to exhaust his sources of information through this medium. All the books in his father's collection, and the town library, which were of a character suited to his age and attainments, were read before he left the paternal home, and retained with such tenacity of memory, as to be ever after available for illustrating truths, or enlivening and embellishing discourse. It is natural to inquire whether there was any thing in the circumstances of his early youth which will account for his mental habits, and especially the rapidity of his intellectual operations. A partial answer may be found in the fact, that his time was divided between labor and study. His father, like most ministers of country congregations, derived the means of supporting his family, in part, from a farm, which his sons assisted in cultivating. From his share in these agricultural labors the subject of this Memoir was not exempted. But, whatever were his employment, though he appears to have engaged in it with cheerfulness, and to have prosecuted it with fidelity, his thirst for |