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that in his profession, amidst the collision of rivals, his ambition, which undoubtedly degenerated sometimes into excess, was still so controlled by his generosity and uprightness, that he was never known to sully with an envious breath, the honest fame of another, or to withhold a ready testimony to another's worth. So great was the kindliness of his heart, that his many pressing employments did not exclude those little attentions to his kindred, for which multiplied cares are generally admitted as an exHe made leisure for minute as well as important servi ces, and thus it is that a feeling of tenderness as well as of respect is spread through the whole circle of his relatives.

cuse.

In regard to his intellectual powers, they derived their superiority not only from the liberality of nature, but from the conscientiousness with which they were improved. He early felt the importance of a generous and extensive culture of the mind, and systematically connected with professional studies the pursuit of general literature. He was a striking example of the influence of an operative and enlightened moral sense over the intellect. His views were distinguished not so much by boldness and excursiveness as by clearness, steadiness, judiciousness and truth, and these characteristic properties of his understanding derived their strength, if not existence, from that fairness, rectitude, simplicity, and that love of the true and useful, which entered so largely into his moral constitution. The objects on which he thought and wrote did not offer themselves to him in the bright hues of inspired imagination, but in the forms, dimensions, and colours of reality; and yet there was no tameness in his conception, for the moral relations of things, the most sublime of all relations, he traced with eagerness and delighted to unfold. Accordingly in all his writings we perceive the marks of an understanding surrounded by a clear and warm moral atmosphere. His intellect, we repeat it, was excited and developed very much by moral and religious principle. It was not naturally creative, restless, stirred by a bright and burning imagination. The strong power within was conscience, enlightened and exalted by religion; and this sent life through the intellect, and conferred or heightened the qualities by which it was distinguished.

Of his professional character we know nothing by personal observation; but we do know, that in a metropolis, where the standard of professional talent and purity is high, he was eminent. We have understood, that he was at once a scientifick and practical lawyer, uniting comprehensive views of jurisprudence, and laborious research into general principles, with a singular accuracy, and most conscientious fidelity, in investigating the details of the causes in which he was engaged. The spontaneous tribute of

the members of the Suffolk bar to so young a brother is perhaps without precedent. It deserves to be mentioned among his claims to esteem, that he was not usurped by a profession to which he was so devoted; that his thirst for legal knowledge and distinction, though so ardent, left him free for such variety of exertions and acquisitions.

Of his industry, we have had occasion frequently to speak, and it was not the least striking trait in his character. We need no other proof of this, than his early eminence in a profession, which offers no prizes to genius unaccompanied by application, whose treasures are locked up in books, which hold out no lures to imagination or taste, and which can only interest a mind disposed to patient and intense exertion. We recur, however, to his industry, not so much because it distinguished him, as from the desire of removing what seems to us a false impression, that he fell a victim to excessive application. That he was occasionally guilty of intemperate study, (a crime in the eye of a refined morality, because it sacrifices future and extensive usefulness to immediate acquisition,) is probably true; but less guilty, we apprehend, than many who are not charged with excess. His social nature, his love of general literature, and his regular use of exercise, gave as great and frequent relaxation to his mind, as studious men generally think necessary; nor ought his example to lose its power, by the apprehension, that to follow his steps will be to descend with him to an early grave.

This excellent man, it has pleased God to take from us; and to take without warning, when our hope was firmest, and his prospects of usefulness and prosperity were to human eye, unclouded. That such a course should be so short, is the general sorrow. But ought we to think it short? In the best sense his life was long. To be the centre of so many influences; to awaken through so large a circle sentiments of affection and esteem; to bear effectual testimony to the reality of religion; to exalt the standard of youthful character; to adorn a profession, to which the administration of public justice, and the care of our civil institutions are peculiarly confided; to uphold and strengthen useful associations; to be the friend of the poor and ignorant, and a model for the rich and improved; to live in the hearts of friends, and to die amidst general, deep, unaffected lamentation; these surely are not evidences of a brief existence. Honourable age is not that, which standeth in length of time, nor which is measured by number of years; but wisdom is the grey hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age.

Still the question may be asked, "why was he taken from so much usefulness ?" Were that state laid open to us, into which

We should see, that

he is removed, we should have an answer. this world is not the only one, where intellect is unfolded, and the heart and active powers find objects. We might see, that such a spirit, as his, was needed now in another and nobler province of the creation; and that all God's providence towards him had been training and fitting him to be born, if we may so speak, at this very time, into the future world, there to perform offices and receive blessings which only a mind so framed and gifted could sustain and enjoy. He is not lost. Jesus, whom he followed, "hath abolished death." Thought, affection, piety, usefulness do not die. If they did, we should do well to hang his tomb with sackcloth, or rather to obliterate every trace and recollection of his tomb and his name, for then a light, more precious than the sun's, is quenched forever. But he is not lost, nor is he exiled from his true happiness. An enlightened, just and good mind, is a citizen of the universe, and has faculties and affections which correspond to all God's works. Why would we Jimit it to earth, perhaps the lowest world in this immense creation? Why shall not the spirit, which has given proof of its divine origin and heavenly tendency, be suffered to rise to its proper abode, to a holier community, to a vision of God, under which earthly and mortal natures would sink and be dissolved.

One benefit of the early removal of such a man as Mr. Gallison is obvious. We learn from it, how early in life the great work of life may begin, and how successfully be prosecuted. Had he lived to advanced years, the acquisitions of his youth would have been forgotten and lost in those of riper years. His character would have been an invaluable legacy, but chiefly to the mature and aged. And surely if his early death shall exalt the airns and purposes of the young; if piety, now postponed to later years, to a winter which bears no such fruit, shall be esteemed the ornament and defence of that interesting and tempted age; if our young men shall learn from him that they belong to God and society; then his early death may prove as useful as a protracted life.

We shall add but one more remark. The general sorrow which followed Mr. Gallison to the tomb, was not only honourable to him, but to the community. For he had no dazzling qualities. His manners were not imposing, nor was he aided by uncommon patronage. His worth was unobtrusive, mild, retiring, and left to win its own way to notice and honour. Yet how few young men have reared such a monument in the memories and hearts of the community? Amidst charges of degeneracy, and with real grounds of humiliation, we should deem New Series-vol. III. 4

it a privilege to live in a state of society, in which such a character as Mr. Gallison's is so generally understood, and is recompenced with such heartfelt and generous praise.

Note.--A Memoir of Mr. Gallison would be imperfect, which did not contain the tribute of the members of the Suffolk Bar to his worth, and we therefore add it.

On the 26th instant, the Bar of the county of Suffolk, at a meeting holden to consider what measures had become proper in consequence of his decease, unanimously passed the following votes

Voted, That the members of the Bar will attend the funeral of Mr. Gallison, and that crape be worn by the members, until the end of the present term of the Supreme Court.

Voted, That the following notice of Mr. Gallison's decease be recorded in the books of the Bar.

"The members of our association have been assembled by their common sorrow and sympathy, occasioned by the bereavement which the profession and the community have sustained in the decease of Mr. Gallison. "As a fraternity our strength is impaired ;-as members of society, we are sorrowers in common with all who respect learning, integrity, fidelity, piety, and whatsoever tends to adorn and elevate the fellowship of men. The emauations from Mr. Gallison's mind and beart were so familiar to us and of such daily experience, that like some of the most common, though most precious of blessings, it is only by unexpected and irretrievable loss that their just value is perceived.

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"Professional learning, in Mr. Gallison, was scarcely a subject of remark. We all felt that he must be learned, for we all knew that he severely exacted of himself to be competent to whatsoever he undertook;

diligence aud fidelity were his peculiar qualities; his moral sense made them so; he could never inspire a confidence that he could not fully satisfy.

"It is not only a learned, a diligent, a faithful minister of justice, that is lost to us; the public have lost one of the purest and most indefatiga ble and most capable of all men who have attempted to illustrate the utility of professional learning; to prove the beauty and fitness of morality, and to give new attraction to the truth of revealed sanctions. It was among the favorite pursuits and objects of our deceased brother, to trace the connexion and dependence which exist between learning, religion, morality, civil freedom, and humau happiness.

"The very virtues which we admired are the cause of our present regret. His labours were incessant-and through these his course is terminated at an early age. However brief, his life has been long enough to furnish a valuable commentary on our professional, moral, and political institutions. He lived long enough to prove that an unaided individual, of such qualities as those which we are called on to regret, will find a just place in the community. He has proved that an unassuming citizen of chastened temper, amiable deportment, indefatigable industry, incorruptible integrity, and sincere attachment to the public welfare, will always be felt, known, and honoured. He has proved that a man who was never known among his contemporaries, associates, and rivals to have refused to others what belonged to them; or to have assumed to himself what was not his own, cannot go down to the tomb unattended by general and heartfelt regret."

A copy of the records.

W. J. SPOONER, Sec'y.

[The following remarks upon the rights and duties of government in relation to religion were written during the debates on that subject in the Convention, and were originally intended for the newspaper. Although these debates are now closed, yet as the general principles by which it ought to be settled, are at all times of deep importance, what is here said, it is thought, may not be wholly uninteresting to the readers of the Disciple.]

REMARKS ON THE RIGHT AND DUTY OF GOVERNMENT TO PROVIDE FOR THE SUPPORT OF RELIGION BY LAW.

THE enquiry into the right of governments to support religion by law, will probably be found to resolve itself entirely into a question of expediency. As, however, in the recent discussions of this subject, in application to the third article of the Massachusetts Bill of Rights, two great questions have been made;first, has civil government a right to provide by law for the support of religion? and secondly, is it expedient to exercise this right ?—in the remarks I am now to offer, I shall follow the same distribution.

First. As to the right of government. It is objected in the first place, that religion is a matter entirely between every man and his creator, and, of course, that civil authority can have no concern with it. This objection arises from a misapprehension of the distinction between those objects, which are the proper concern of government, and those which are not. Society is not a being, which can think and feel; but a relation of individuals, and is affected only as individuals are affected. Obvious as this truth is, a practical inattention to it has been the cause of many mistakes in political reasoning. It cannot, therefore, be the difference of public and private, that makes the distinction in this case, but it is created by considerations of practicability, expediency and justice. There are many subjects, which government cannot regulate, and there are others, where its interference would, on the whole, be prejudicial, or violate the essential principles of equity; but wherever the control of government is at once possible, useful and just, that control may be properly exerted. Surely the province of government is not merely to provide directly for the security of the persons and property of the citizens; its proper sphere is whatever can promote the peace and happiness of society, in the widest view of the subject. Why else does it encourage institutions for education, for the diffusion of knowledge, the suppression of vice, and the advancement of good morals? It is true, there are various means of promoting important ends, with which it does not intermeddle; not on account of any thing in the abstract nature of these ends,

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