promises appear at first view to be conditional, such as this: "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." But faith is only to be considered as a condition of connection, or, in other words, faith is absolutely necessary on the part of the sinner, as the means of investing him in the blessings of salvation. But it should be carefully observed, that this same faith, which seems to be the condition of salvation in this last cited promise, and others, is itself made the matter of absolute promise in other passages of scripture. It is said, for example, "I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced."

4. These promises are exceeding great and precious, if we consider that they are all infallibly true. However great a promise may be, with respect to the author, and the matter which it contains, and however truly it be made, yet if a sus picion should arise in our minds about its truth in point of fulfillment, it will not be great and precious to us. But in the case before us, the promise is made by the unchangeable God, who cannot lie, who has both power and will to fulfill it; and who for the confirmation of our faith, has added to his promise his oath, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.

5. Another excellence of the promises is, that they are all most suitable to us in our several necessitous cases. Life, light, liberty, pardon, adoption, sanctification and eternal glory, are blessings which we all unquestionably need: and these are some of the blessings contained in the promises.

Inference 1. The wonderful love of God, in giving us such exceeding great and precious promises.

2. The unreasonableness, and the damning nature of unbelief.

3. The happiness of those who have obtained an interest in the promises.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

OF THE REV. THOMAS HAMILTON.

Mr. Hamilton is the only native American minister, of the Associate Church, whose life we have been called upon to sketch in this volume. Our first supply of ministers had, of necessity, to come from the parent church, in the land of our fathers. And according to the ordinary course of human events, these might be expected to be first removed.

Mr. Hamilton was a native of the county of Washington, near the borough of Washington, in the state of Pennsylvania; of which county his father was a highly respectable citizen, and for some time held the office of high sheriff of the county. He had an elder brother, George, who succeeded his father in the sheriff's office, of the same county. As his father was much engaged in public business, it is probable that Mr. Hamilton was chiefly indebted, as a means, to the early instructions of a pious mother, for his first religious impressions.

And although we are not in possession of such facts as would warrant our speaking very particularly of his first religious impressions; yet we are authorized to say, that he early gave indications of a serious and pious turn of mind, and of an inclination to devote himself to the work of the ministry; which was properly and prudently cherished by his friends. Mr. Hamilton received the rudiments of his education at the grammar school at Canonsburgh, Pa., which has since risen to the rank of a college, of a highly respectable literary character. But he completed his collegiate course at Dickinson college, at Carlisle, Pa.

He entered the study of theology under the care of the late Dr. Anderson, in what may be called the first class of students educated in the Associate Church in America; two students only having been previously licensed, and these sepa

rately. [See Introduction, p. 105.] This class consisted, besides Mr. H., of Messrs. Ebenezer Henderson, Thomas Alison and Samuel Murdoch ;* and completed their course under the care of the professor, about the year 1800, or 1801. They were immediately afterwards taken on trial for license to preach the everlasting gospel; to which, after due trial, they were admitted.†

After Mr. Hamilton had preached for some time in other vacancies of the Associate Church, he was sent to supply in the city of New-York; where, as has already been noticed, (Introduction, p. 79,) a congregation had been organized, by Mr. Beveridge, in the spring of 1785. Although that congregation contained, at its organization, men of distinguished energy and zeal in supporting and extending the Secession cause; such as Mr. Gosman, Mr. Wright, and others, whose names are doubtless familiar to many still living in the Associate Church; yet it appears that for at least fifteen years after the organization of the congregation, it remained destitute of a settled dispensation of gospel ordinances: a circumstance which is doubtless to be ascribed chiefly to the paucity of ministers and preachers, during that period, in the Associate Church in this country. Some time before Mr. Hamilton was sent to New-York, Mr. F. Pringle, late Clerk of Synod, had arrived in New-York and supplied there for several months. The congregation, desirous of obtaining a stated dispensation of ordinances, and judging themselves able to support a minister, resolved on taking measures to have either Mr. Hamilton or Mr. Pringle settled among them. When the vote of the congregation was taken for this purpose, it appeared that Mr. Hamilton was the choice of the majority. He accordingly received the call, which he accepted, and was ordained to the office of the ministry, and installed pastor of the congregation early in the summer of 1802. Some of those, however, who voted for Mr. Pringle did not acquiesce in the choice of the majority with that cordiality which would have been desirable, and indeed, which duty in such cases requires. This was a source of some grief to Mr. Hamilton, and not less re

* Now Doctor Samuel Murdoch, of Washington, Pennsylvania, who, after completing a regular theological course of studies, turned his attention to the study of medicine. He has been long known to the public, as a scientific and successful practitioner of medicine, as well as for his exemplary and consistent Christian deportment.

An apology is due to the public and the friends of Mr. H. for the want of exactness respecting this and some other dates which should have been given in this sketch. The paper on which the memoranda were entered has been mislaid, and the loss was not discovered until it was too late to remedy it, without delaying the publication.

pugnant to the feelings of Mr. Pringle, when he learned it, and a cause, at least in some degree, of retarding the prosperity of the congregation.

In connection with the ordination of Mr. Hamilton, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was also dispensed in the congregation. Dr. Banks, then of Cambridge, preached the ordination sermon, and Mr. Marshall presided at the dispensation of the sacrament of the Supper. This was an occasion, it may be hoped, of refreshing to many; we can speak with certainty that it was long remembered by one of God's people.*

About a year and a half after his settlement in New-York, Mr. Hamilton was happily united in marriage to one of the daughters of the late William Young, esqr., of Philadelphia; in whom Mr. Hamilton found a companion who could sympathize with him in his trials and encourage him in his duties. Mrs. Hamilton having been early instructed in the religious principles of the Associate Church, principles which she herself conscientiously approved; and having been all her life under the influence of a strictly religious example, in her father's house, (her parents were equally distinguished for their piety and intelligence,) she was highly qualified to make Mr. Hamilton both an agreeable and a profitable companion. Besides her religious attainments Mrs. H. possessed a mind well furnished with every qualification necessary to make her both a useful and an ornamental member of society.

Mr. Hamilton continued to discharge the pastoral duties in the congregation, with affectionate diligence and care, for a period of about sixteen years, when the hand of disease ar rested his labors. After a considerable time of indisposition,

The late Mr. ALEXANDER BACHOP, merchant, of Argyle, N. Y., who departed this life on Sabbath, the second day of December, 1838, and whose name has long been familiarly known to all who have taken an interest in the annals of the Associate Church, for his uniform liberality to every measure that tended to advance the cause of the Redeemer's kingdom; and who through an extensive community was proverbial for his singular honesty, in all his business transactions, and universally venerated for his meek and unaffected piety, and for his conscientious regard to the principles and practice of his Christian profession. In reference to the above mentioned occasion, a short time before his decease, and in near prospect of that solemn event, in a letter to the writer of this sketch, Mr. B., after mentioning some symptoms of the progress of his disease, makes use of the following remarkable language: "I have a strong impression that my days are almost at an end. Pray for me, that I may be enabled to go safely through tho valley and shadow of death, and be kept from evil. Since the worthy Mr. Marshall dispensed our Lord's Sup per in New-York, in the year 1802, I have not been in doubts about an interest in Christ Jesus; which has been a great support to me, but I have fallen often into improper exercises. I could not believe that a saint would forget himself so much, if I had not the experience of it."

in the month of August, 1818, Mr. Hamilton resigned his spirit into the hands of his God. His age was probably fortyfive.

Mrs. Hamilton, after her husband's death, returned with her children to her native city, where she survived him about ten years. Besides his widow, Mr. Hamilton left two sons and a daughter. His eldest son, William Young Hamilton, has devoted himself to the work of the ministry of reconciliation, and is now laboring in the gospel field, under the direction of the Associate Synod; the other son and daughter have some time since gone to the house appointed for all living.

Mr. Hamilton was diligent, faithful and affectionate in his labors among the people. An air of unaffected solemnity diffused itself through all his exercises, evincing the solemn sense he had of the important trust committed to his chargethat of co operating with his ascended Redeemer, in promoting the salvation of souls.

In manners he was amiable, unaffected, and retiring; and although free and sociable with his friends, yet the same solemn and affectionate seriousness which distinguished his public exercises, visibly pervaded also his social intercourse. He lived and looked like a man, whose sole aim was to do his Master's work.

In person Mr. Hamilton was tall and slender, with a general appearance indicating a delicate constitution, but of a prepossessing countenance.

It will be a matter of surprise, to those especially who are unacquainted with the rapid changes which the character of a congregation sometimes undergoes, situated in a city such as New-York, to learn, that now, only about twenty years since Mr. Hamilton ceased from his labórs, but a remnant of a congregation is to be found adhering to the cause of the Associate Church, in the place where he labored so long and so faithfully. It is enough, however, here to say, that the change can be readily traced to the operation of subsequent causes, and is in no respect to be ascribed to any want of fidelity or 'diligence on the part of Mr. Hamilton.

The annexed specimens of his ordinary pulpit exercises, as well as another recently made public in the Religious Monitor, (See Vol. XV.,) are highly creditable to his intellectual powers, and the accuracy of his theological attainments.