always endeavored to make it a source of instruction, warning, or reproof, as the case might require. He watched the aged in the decline of life, to see the effect of their past.conduct upon their latter end; and of the influence of their example upon the rising generation. He watched those of his flock, who were in the meridian of life, and considered with deep interest the influence which their respective occupations were likely to exert upon themselves and others. He was never unmindful of the youth of his congregation. Their connection with religious or irreligious parents, the means of education which they enjoyed, the occupations in life which they pursued, and even the amusements in which they indulged themselves, were all objects of his thought; and the good or evil effects which these things were likely to produce upon their spiritual condition, gave him great pleasure or pain. He always had his eye upon the literary, religious, and political publications of the day; upon the movements of the different religious denominations; the doings of ecclesiastical bodies; the plans and operations of ministers; and the state of religion in the community, especially in his own neighborhood; and never failed to consider minutely the probable influence for good or evil, which these things would have upon his own people. He often alluded to all these things with much feeling, both in private conversation and his public discourses.

He was an affectionate pastor. No minister was ever more sincerely and ardently attached to his people than he. He sympathized with them in all their enjoyments, and in all their sufferings. In the sick chamber, and at the house of mourning, he was not only peculiarly appropriate and instructive in his conversation and prayers, but peculiarly kind and sympathetic. His own deep affliction, in the early part of his ministry, was, in his estimation, instrumental of improving his feelings in respect to the afflicted, and of preparing him to meet them in a more appropriate and acceptable manner.

The following notice of Dr. Emmons by the Hon. Tristam Burges of Rhode Island, is a satisfactory testimony to the kind and sympathetic manner in which he treated the afflicted.

"With Dr. Emmons I was personally acquainted. His excellence as a distinguished preacher of the gospel, is known and acknowledged universally. In this eminent department I, many years ago, knew and admired him. Before that time, he had become endeared to me by another kind of excellence. Though a stranger to him, and not then residing in his parish, 'I was sick and he visited me.' know him as he really was, you must have met him by the bed of pain, prostration, and anxiety. Here I first saw him; and such was his

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discourse, so pious, so parental, so consoling, that it never has, and I think never will be forgotten by me. For at this moment, he lives in my memory as he then sat by my bedside, the very image, it seemed to me, of his great and gracious Master."*

He was a faithful pastor. He did not suffer the feelings of kindness, which he always cherished towards his people, to degenerate into a weak connivance at their sins. They were as sure to feel his rebukes when their conduct was known to be censurable, as they were to receive his sympathy in the day of trouble. He was wise in regard to the time, manner, and circumstances of giving reproof. But no offender could long sit under his preaching, or be in the habit of familiar intercourse with him, without receiving, in some form or other, decisive evidence that his conduct was understood and disapproved. His people felt that they were under his eye, and anticipated reproof whenever their guilt was known. His pastoral supervision was a constant source of encouragement to the righteous, and of restraint to the wicked.

His character as a pastor, as well as a preacher and a divine, was peculiarly his own. He imitated other ministers in the discharge of his pastoral duties only so far as their movements appeared to him, upon the most careful scrutiny, to be both wise and good. He visited the sick always when they sent for him, and when they requested public prayers. A request for prayers, he uniformly received as an intimation that a visit would be acceptable, and acted accordingly. He did sometimes call upon the sick without waiting for either of these formalities; as upon a near neighbor when suddenly attacked by a dangerous disease, or upon persons in similar circumstances at a distance, when called by some other providence into their vicinity. But he thought it best both for him and the people to have it understood, that, as a general rule, they must signify their wish, if they desired to see him. He then always knew what to do, and they what to expect.

His method of instructing the youth of his society, he has given in his own memoir of his life. It was by meeting them in the several school districts, and teaching them the Assembly's Shorter Catechism, the same which was generally adopted by the pastors in New England in the early part of his ministry. His catechetical lectures were attended by great numbers, and gave him free access to nearly all the children of his parish. It will naturally be supposed, that such a man as he is known to have been, would be peculiarly interesting and instructive in

Extract from a letter addressed to Rev. Thomas Williams, by Hon Tristam Burges.

these exercises. Such we are assured, by some who uniformly attended them, was the fact.

Dr. Emmons took a bolder and more decided stand in regard to the influence of other denominations among his people than pastors in general do. Every minister of the gospel who has at their request consented to take the oversight of a people in the Lord, and has been solemnly set apart as a spiritual watchman upon the walls of this portion of Zion, wishes to see them united; and of course is indisposed to have ministers of other denominations come, without his invitation or consent, and appoint and hold meetings in the midst of his flock. He knows that this has a direct and powerful tendency to divide them; that it is not doing to others as we would that they should do to us; that it is a gross abuse of the liberty which Christ has given to his ministers; and that whatever may be the influence of the gospel thus preached, upon a few who perceive no wrong in the proceeding, its ultimate effects, if not overruled by him who brings good out of evil, must be irregularity, disorder, confusion, and every evil work among the churches of Christ. But though these are substantially the feelings of all pastors in respect to the unrequested labors of sectarians among their flocks, yet they generally bear their grief in silence; and often, either through fear of giving offence by an unreserved expression of their feelings, or the hope of curing the evil by letting it alone, rather countenance than oppose them. But Dr. Emmons adopted entirely a different course. Though he was glad to see ministers of other denominations, and treated them with great attention and kindness when they called upon him, making them as welcome to the hospitalities of his house as those of his own persuasion; yet if they proffered their services to his people without his request, he not only felt, but expressed displeasure. He doubted the purity of their motives when they left their own charge and came without his request to minister to his flock; and he openly denounced their conduct as unfair and disorderly. Though he knew that the gospel preached through much contention would sometimes produce some good present effects; yet as he was fully persuaded that meetings gotten up and conducted in this disorderly manner were wrong in themselves, and tended to more hurt than good, he uniformly and openly advised his people not to attend them; and if they did attend, he would charge them with an abuse of their liberty, and reprove them for inconsiderateness and irregularity. Nor would he spare the preacher, if he could find access to him. He has been known to deal with great plainness and severity with some who ventured to intrude their services upon his flock, and also with others who proposed to do the same. The

honesty, decision and boldness with which he expressed his feelings on this subject, as well as others, may be seen by the relation of a single fact, which is said to have occurred when he was in the midst of his days. A very respectable clergyman of another denomination was solicited by a gentleman in Franklin to come and preach at his house, and as Dr. Emmons thought, with a view to make an impression upon his people in favor of the peculiarities of that denomination. Shortly after receiving the invitation, this clergyman met Dr. Emmons in Boston, and told him that he had been invited to come and give his people a sermon. The Doctor very pleasantly replied, "You have a very important sphere of labor assigned you where you are. You need not take the trouble to come to Franklin. I can take care of my own flock." But said the clergyman, " You will not object to my coming." The Doctor understanding by this that he was still inclined to come, notwithstanding the hint which had been given him, made the following characteristic reply. "I do object. And if you come to Franklin in our present circumstances, I'll consider and treat you as a wolf in sheep's clothing." This clergyman never came. He doubtless saw upon reflection the gross impropriety of leaving his own charge and breaking into the enclosure of a distant flock, contrary to the known wishes of him whom the Holy Ghost had made their overseer. The difference between Dr. Emmons and other ministers, in regard to the influence of sectarians among their people, is not so much in feeling as in action. In at least nine cases out of ten, other clergymen would have felt just as he did, in regard to the proposed labors of this brother. But, perhaps, there is not one in a hundred who would have expressed them with the same honesty and decision.

There was a difference between the practice of Dr. Emmons and that of most other ministers, in regard to pastoral visits. He did not, in ordinary circumstances, go from house to house to talk and pray with his people. He was remarkably attentive to them in sickness, and in trouble of any kind, when they manifested a desire to see him. On all these occasions, he was peculiarly prompt in his visits, and kind and faithful in his intercourse with his people. But in ordinary circumstances, he did not visit his people. He believed that he could do them more good, by laboring for them in his study. Though he thought that a minister ought to be acquainted with his people, and maintain a familiar intercourse with them; yet he believed there was a better way of doing this, especially for him, than the common mode of pastoral visitation. He encouraged his people to visit him, and to open their minds freely on all subjects on which they wished for religious instruction. It was understood

by his people that he was glad to see them at his house for this purpose, and to converse with them upon those subjects which lay with weight upon their minds. His people availed themselves of the opportunity which he gave them. The members of his church frequently called upon him, and encouraged their children and families and others to do the same. When they called, an opportunity was given them, if they wished it, of conversing with him alone in his study. He sometimes sent for individuals in his parish whom he wished to see, and when they were retired with him alone he would converse with them with great plainness, affection and fidelity. He seldom conversed with individuals in a family upon the subject of their own feelings or personal condition before each other, because as he used to say, they would not, unless very specially interested, converse freely. He thought it was laboring to great disadvantage to undertake to converse particularly with the members of the same family on the subject of their own feelings, in the presence of each other. On this account he chose to see them at his study, rather than at their homes. The loss of time attending it was another reason why he did not adopt the common method of pastoral visitation. Frequently the persons whom the minister goes to see are not at home; and if at home, they are perhaps engaged in some business which they cannot without great inconvenience leave; or if disengaged, they may be so connected with others either of their own family or visiters from abroad, that he cannot accomplish the purpose of his errand. By the experiments which he had made on this subject, Dr. Emmons was led to conclude that it would be a great saving of time to see his people at his study.

The plan of intercourse with his people which he adopted, he adopted for himself, without pretending to say that this is the best plan for other ministers. He made much of the maxim, "Know thyself." He was often heard to say that "some ministers have a peculiar talent for conversing with individuals and families on religion, and can do more good in this way than they can by preaching; and it is important that those who have this talent should know it, and pursue such a course as will enable them to improve it to the greatest advantage." But he knew that the most efficient way in which he could operate upon his people and do the most good in the world, was by studying and preaching. In the discharge of these duties, he felt himself

*In a revival, when his people were so much interested in their feeling on the subject of religion as to be willing to talk, he would converse with them any where. After a lecture at the meeting house he would sometimes request those who were disposed to converse with him to tarry, and sometimes more than half the congregation would stop either to converse, or hear.