him. But, notwithstanding this, he was in other respects, a signal and happy pattern and model for preachers. He introduced a way of close and lively application to the conscience, for which, I believe, many of the most admired and eminent preachers now living, will not be ashamed, or unwilling to acknowledge themselves his debtor."

How highly the Rev. William Romaine thought of Whitefield, his own account of his death will best tell.

"Look at the public loss! O what has the church suffered in the setting of that bright star, which had shone so gloriously in our hemisphere. Mr. Whitefield's preaching is over-now he is praising. We have none left to succeed him : none of his gifts; none any thing like him in usefulness."

The Rev. Samuel Brewer, of Stepney, near London, also preached a sermon on the occasion, which his modesty would not permit him to print. And many ministers, both in and out of the establishment, amongst whom were the Rev. William Romaine, the Rev. Martin Madan, the Rev. Dr. Gibbons, and the Rev. Dr. Trotter, who, in their preaching and prayers, lamented the loss of so eminently faithful, and uncommonly successful a servant of God.

These sermons are so many testimonies to the extraordinary and unexampled effects, wrought by this wonderful man of God, in both hemispheres; and in the act of acknowledging, they pay in the purest and scarcest coin, the debt of gratitude due to this spiritual soldier, for his heroic and self-sacrificing perseverance in breaking up that sensual spell, in which the people had been fast bound, whose purified lives were the seals of his ministry, the crown of his rejoicing, and the earnest of their own salvation. They were the spontaneous, unsought expressions of grief at the loss of one, who had been to them, under God, the conductor of Spiritual Life. Few men have made themselves felt so sensibly and widely during their own lives; and still fewer have been privileged to fill a space so large, that their death seems to leave, through a whole people, a mournful and irreparable void. Even among this small band, it is seldom that any have their graves watered with tears, flowing from that fount of affection, which supplies itself from the enduring and immortal within us.

That devout and affectionate veneration, which would have led throngs to bathe WHITEFIELD's feet in their tears, never exists for any merely earthly hero. The same power of touching the truest and deepest chords within us, which made his memory and worth so much eulogized after death, also awakened a love and admiration which irresistibly spoke themselves out before the living man. So effectual was the impression

made by him wherever he went, that formal commendatory discourses were often pronounced upon him, in his younger days, the tone of which precisely accords with the eulogies after his death. This is proof that his fame was not accidental or temporary, but rested on the fixed basis of intrinsic worth and pre-eminence. A specimen of these demonstrations of the respect deferred to him, may be found in the following sermon. It was preached by the Rev. Josiah Smith, of Charleston, when Whitefield was but twenty-six years of age, and was published in Boston, with a reconimendatory preface by the Rev. Dr. Coleman, and the Rev. Mr. Cooper, in the year 1740. The sermon is as follows:

Job xxxiii. 27. I said, I will answer my part, I also will show my opinion.

My design from this text is, to show my impartial opinion of that son of Thunder, who has lately graced and warmed this desk; and would have been an ornament, I think, to the best pulpit in the province. Happy shall I think myself, if I can only clinch the nails, this great master of assemblies* has already fastened. Like Elihu, the gallant youth before us, "I am now full of matter; the spirit within me constraineth me; my belly is as wine which hath no vent, it is ready to burst like new bottles, I will speak that I may be refreshed." Others have freely spoken their sentiments of the wondrous man before me; and I have heard the defaming, as well as the applause of many. "I said, therefore, I will answer also my part, I will also show my opinion." In this I design no offence, nor would I give flattering titles to any man, lest my Maker should take me away.

The scheme proposed is,

I. To show my opinion of the doctrines he insisted upon, and well established..

II. To speak something of the manner of his preaching. III. To offer my sentiments upon his personal character. Lastly, to give my thoughts, of what Providence seems to have in view, in raising up men of this stamp in our day, almost every where spoken against, yet crowded after and justly admired.

I. I shall give you my opinions of the doctrines he insisted

upon among us.

To speak more generally, they were doctrines, I am of opinion, agreeable to the dictates of reason; evidently founded upon scripture; exactly correspondent with the articles of the establishment; of great use and necessity in forming the

That ministers of the gospel are called masters of assemblies, See Paul's Annotations on Eccl. xii. 11.

christian life; which I had early imbibed from the best writers and systems; from which I had never yet seen reason to recede, and which therefore you are witnesses, I have not failed to introduce and inculcate, in the course of my ministry among you.

To be more particular:

One of the doctrines, which he has hardly passed over in silence, in any single discourse, is that of original sin. A truth so manifest in scripture, that I am almost of opinion, it is impossible any sincere, diligent and unprejudiced inquirer should miss it; for it is written in sun beams, that a man may run and read.

By original sin I mean nothing less than the imputation of Adam's first sin to all his posterity by ordinary generation; which imputation is the result of his being constituted to act for them in the extensive capacity of legal representative; the consequence of which is, that inherent corruption of nature, and those sinful propensities, we are now born with into the world. As to the point of imputation, it is a doctrine, it must be confessed, of more intricacy; about which, it is therefore possible, a well meaning man may labor under some scruples, while perhaps he allows of the depravity of human nature. Though I must beg leave to express my surprise, that any person of judgment should maintain this depravity, and not immediately discover its neccessary connection with the imputation, and how impossible it is to secure the justice of God, without having recourse to it: for, certainly, the corruption of human nature, so universal and inseparable, is one of the greatest punishments that could be inflicted upon the species; and that it is inflicted, appears from hence, that God made man at first upright. Now, if there be no previous imputation, to lay a legal foundation for this punishment, then God has inflicted an evident punishment upon a race of men, perfectly innocent, and which had neither sinned personally, nor yet by imputation; and thus, while we imagine we honor the justice of God by renouncing imputation, we in fact pour the highest dishonor upon that sacred attribute. This, I fear, is the grand reason, why the adversaries of original sin labor so hard to explode the depravity of nature; for should they once admit that, they are conscious they must admit imputation too. I say, I fear this is the grand reason. How else is it possible a man should question a truth, written in capitals upon the moral world? A truth, we feel in every power of our soul! what we read upon our own hearts; and is indeed stamped upon universal nature, within our horizon; and which, the more righteous any man is, the more he feels and groans under. We need not wonder then,

our late incomparable preacher should insist upon original sin, when we consider, not only in what an incontestable manner he proved it, but of what vast importance it must be. For to give my opinion freely; I cannot think, I cannot see, how the christian scheme can be consistent with itself, or supported with honor, without this basis. I look upon it, not merely as a doctrine of the scriptures, the great fountain of truth, but a very fundamental one; from which, I hope, God will suffer none of you to be enticed, by any sophistry of the subtle disputers of this world, or charms of language.

But to proceed.

Another doctrine we have lately had in the warmest language impressed upon us, is that Pauline one of justification by faith alone. And here you will remember, how the preacher vindicated himself from all suspicions of Antinomian error, and opening a door to licentious manners: for while on the one hand, he earnestly contended for our justification, as the free gift of God, by faith alone in the blood of Christ, an article of faith delivered to the saints of old; so on the other hand, he took special care to guard against the licentious abuse of it, and would not make void the law, when he asserted that good works were the necessary fruits and evidences of true faith; telling us plainly, and with the clearest distinction, that a man was justified these three ways; meritoriously by Christ, instrumentally by faith alone, declaratively by good works. And believe me, my brethren, this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and the writings of the apostles. For when Abraham believed God, was not it (his faith) imputed to him for righteousness? And yet, was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? How shall we then reconcile this? Why very easily. The act of this faith justified him through Christ, and the offering of Isaac justified that faith: the first in the sight of God, the other in the sight of man. In justification faith precedes, works follow after; for if works precede, or had any casual influence in our justification, we might seem to have whereof to glory before God. But here, it is the free gift of God, and boasting for ever excluded. God, when he justifies a man, never finds, but makes him holy; without any previous merit, of which there can be no shadow in an apostate creature. No; By grace ye are saved, through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And, could I live the most exact life ever man lived; could I even excel the virtues of the pious preacher himself; could I produce as many good works as the saints in all ages collected together; I would not for ten thousand worlds, put my justification upon them; I would only consider them, as

bright and pleasant evidences of the truth of my faith in Christ. Good works are valuable things; God forbid we should lisp a word against them, in their proper place; we plead for them, we press the practice of them, as incumbent upon all christians; but we cannot allow them any share in our justification before God. They may prove we are justified; but they cannot justify us. No, verily Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but of his own mercy, God saveth us. Hitherto then, our preacher is orthodox in his doctrine, which both excludes licentiousness, establishes the law, and exalts free grace; the evident design and language of the gospel, and which, I am of opinion, every minister of Christ should earnestly contend for; because the sinner must first see himself naked, before he will come to Christ for his white raiment; the pure and fine linen, which is the righteousness of the saints, and which I counsel you all to buy of him.

Regeneration was another great doctrine, which the excellent man much insisted upon; hardly a single sermon, but he mentioned it, sometimes more than twice; and one, and perhaps the best of his discourses, was er professo upon this subject. Nor can any man be surprised, that a minister of the New Testament should so heartily espouse a principle, which our Lord himself began to speak, and asserted as a fundamental point of christianity, indispensably requisite to eternal life; and this with so much vehemency, and earnest repetition. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, (from above,) he cannot see the kingdom of God. He assures us, We must be born of water and of the Spirit. Our regeneration results, in its necessity, from original sin. They that are shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin, must be washed and cleansed. By which is not meant the mere forms and rites of baptism; not the washing away the filth of the flesh, as the corrupt Pharisees might wash their hands and the outside of the cup; but the answer of a good conscience towards God, purged by the blood of Christ. For we can only be saved by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost: the infusion of a new life, a divine, heavenly, and prolific principle. As we are by nature dead in trespasses and sins, God must quicken us by his Spirit, and through that we must mortify the deeds of the body, and crucify the flesh with its lusts and affections. For until we know (until we feel the exceeding greatness of) the power of Christ's resurrection, we have no part in him: we cannot enter into heaven; or if we should, our first petition would be, to be discharged as soon as possible. Pleasure is the result of harmony; the nature must agree with the object: there must be a great change upon