ficient to transmit his name with the greatest respect to future ages.

In this disinterested manner did Dr. Price uniformly act, though his circumstances were by no means what the world would call affluent, considering that he lived near the metropolis, and in the society of the most opulent in it. But his style of life was of the simplest kind, and he was rich, as almost any man may be, by his moderation and economy. From a moderate income he had a very considerable surplus, in the distribution of which he was most judicious and liberal. When, in my great intimacy with him, I was some years ago remonstrating against one particular instance of his liberality, he told me he made it a rule to expend one fifth of his income in some form of charity, and only wished to produce the greatest good by it; but that, had he had children, he would have contented himself with giving a tenth.

Here, my brethren, is an example worthy of imitation by the most opulent among you, and which, as Dr. Price is now dead, I think it not amiss to hold out to you, and to the world. But, alas! the greater part of those who are possessed of wealth, instead of enlarging their fortunes and their means. of doing good, by diminishing their wants and their expenditure, are ever stretching them to the utmost bounds and beyond the bounds of their incomes; though the evident consequences of this conduct, is their own infinite embarrassment, and a total incapacity of doing good to others. This, however, is a duty incumbent upon all who have, or who might command, the means of it; a duty enjoined by the great Being who, for the wisest purposes, viz. for promoting general virtue, for the exercise of patience, humility, and gratitude in some, and of generosity in others, has appointed that inequality which we see to prevail in the conditions of men on the face of the whole earth.

Such glorious characters, however, there are in the world, though little known in the bustle and glitter of public life

persons who spend even more on others, than they do on themselves; who really consider themselves as merely stewards of the bounty of Divine Providence and almoners of the Almighty, entitled only to their portion for their care of the distribution. Such was Mr. Howard, the intimate friend of Dr. Price; and such are others, whose names it is their wish to remain unknown, but which will be proclaimed at the resurrection of the just, when they who have sowed bountifully shall also reap bountifully, and when they who are rich now, but who make no generous or wise use of their riches, will wish that they had been poor. The good deeds of such men, though buried in oblivion now, all live unto God. They are preserved in the book of his remembrance, and in that book the characters are indelible, as the volume is imperishable.

Dr. Price's piety, which is the surest foundation of all virtue, was no less, though it was less conspicuous, than his benevolence. The peculiar fervor of his devotion, ever expressed in the most natural and unaffected manner, you must have constantly observed in the pulpit, and in all his public services of which prayer made a part; and the deep sense that he had of the constant presence and providence of God was always apparent in his conversation on religious subjects. But such marks of strong devotional feelings as he discovered when he was under less constraint, in the more private devotions of his family (of which some of his more familiar religious friends must have been occasionally witnesses), I have seldom seen in any other person; and as he was too apt to look at the dark side of things, sentiments of the deepest reverence, and the most entire submission to the Divine will, were most predominant on such occasions. I can compare the earnest manner in which he always expressed himself at those times, to nothing but what we may conceive to have been that of our Saviour in the garden, when, in prayer to his Almighty Father, he said, Not my will, but thine be done. No doubt he felt more intensely still in his more private

devotions, when, with or without the use of words, he poured out his whole heart to his Father who seeth in secret. It was evident to all his acquaintance, that his devotion was both intense and habitual, the idea of God and his providence being never long absent from his mind. No person well acquainted with Dr. Price could say, that rational sentiments of Christianity are unfriendly to devotion.

Perhaps the sentiments of no man's mind were ever more clearly perceived in the natural expression of them, than those of Dr. Price. It was impossible to converse with him, and not apply to him the character which our Saviour gave to Nathaniel, of a man without guile. Such simplicity of manners, with such genuine marks of perfect integrity and benevolence, diffused around him a charm, which the forms of politeness can but poorly imitate. Accordingly, his society was coveted by those who were bred in courts, as superior to any thing they found in the most polished circles.

As a preacher, without any thing that is termed oratory, he never failed to gain universal attention; and what he delivered in his plain and artless manner, coming evidently from the heart, made a deeper impression than those discourses which are heard with the loudest bursts of applause. I am confident that all that you who have attended upon his ministry can wish for in a speaker, is such a delivery as his, which to appearance had nothing in it that was striking, or peculiarly excellent, because it was unstudied,

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Notwithstanding Dr. Price's ability, which however was the least article in his praise, and the confidence which, on that account, he might be supposed to place in his own judg ment, which no man took more pains to form, he was remarkably diffident of himself, and in public controversy his natu rally ingenuous temper led him to express his doubts in the frankest manner; and though, when he thought his argu ment well-founded, he made use of pretty strong language, he did not think the worse of his antagonists in a moral respect.

The topics on which he engaged in controversy with myself were those on which it is well known that he laid peculiar stress. He thought some of them to be of great importance even in a practical view; and yet my openly differing from him with regard to them, made no change whatever in his respect for me. Nay, if I might judge from appearances, which in him were never deceitful, it increased that respect. Nor, which is another usual effect of public controversy, did he in conse quence of it become more tenacious of the opinions for which he contended. Judging by the same sure appearances, he became in consequence of it more doubtful, and on many occasions, with his usual ingenuousness, never scrupled to acknowledge it; though it did not appear that his opinions were materially changed. That this circumstance did not diminish my respect for him, is not to be wondered at. Besides I did not lay the same stress on the points in dispute that he did. In real candor, I question whether Dr. Price ever had a superior.

The greatest defect in Dr Price arose from an excess of this amiable virtue of candor. He could hardly see a fault in those to whom he was much attached. Of this pleasing foible I myself was happy to have the advantage.

Dr. Price's extreme unwillingness to disoblige any person, was the occasion of no small trouble and embarrassment to him. His well known public spirit and benevolence brought upon him many applications for advice and assistance and many requests of personal interviews, which he did not know how to decline. In this case alone did he want firmness of mind. In the cause of truth or public liberty, no man had less concern about what any person thought, or said of him; but he could not without great pain to himself, do any thing that had the appearance of being unkind, or uncivil. On this principle he sacrificed much of his own ease and satisfaction to that of others. He often complained to me, and I doubt t to others of his friends, of his want of resolution in this

respect, and the great loss of time, which he could very ill spare, by this means.

Humility is a virtue nearly allied to candor and benevolence, and I never knew a person less sensible of his own excellencies, or so little elated by the great celebrity to which he attained (and this was greater than any dissenting minister ever acquired before him), as Dr. Price was.

But with the greatest disposition to please, and to comply with others as far as he innocently could, he never made a sacrifice of his opinions to complaisance, but on all proper occasions openly avowed every important principle that he held. Conversing much with the world at large, and of course with many unbelievers, he always appeared a zealous Christian, and with bigots, a rational one; so that to the latter he was, from very early life, an object of dislike; and his zeal for what are usually called liberal opinions in reli-gion, was as great as theirs for those of an opposite kind.