the great Lord of the harvest may still bless these means, and make them productive of abundant fruit to be reaped by other labourers.

He took a lively interest in the support and progress of native schools; and though he perhaps did less in this department than any other, he did enough to convince us, that he felt deeply interested in the religious welfare of the rising generation. Some consider schools as paramount to all other means: he did not view them exactly in this light; but thought them, when conducted on Christian principles, important auxiliaries. In all the schools he established, the Scriptures were introduced, and constantly read, and the children instructed in the principles of Christianity. He kept his eye steadily fixed on their religious improvement, as his main object, and his efforts in this department were not in vain. Many received such ideas as made them better members of society, if not decided Christians; and it is hoped, in that day when Jehovah makes up his jewels, there will be at least one found, who was extracted from the dunghill of idolatry, and polished in a native school under his care to shine with eternal splendour.

Such were the qualifications, and such the laborious exertions of this truly devoted servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. We think the account given of him by the Society to which he belonged, when the news of his death arrived in England, was by no means exaggerated. They say: Mr. C. was no ordinary character, either as a Christian or a sa missionary. Perhaps no one who ever left this country in the latter capacity, possessed more ardent attachment to missionary labours, or displayed more undaunted resolution in the service of his heavenly Master." We have no doubt but his name will be embalmed in the memory of the religious public, with many of his predecessors and contemporaries who are now with him in glory, and never pronounced without calling to the remembrance, by a natural association of ideas, his zeal for the glory of God and love for the souls of men. Whoever attentively considers the graces that adorned his Christian character; the zeal that actuated him at all times; the labours

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that distinguished his missionary life; the difficulties, dangers, and distresses of all kinds through which he passed; the eminent manner in which he was enabled to consecrate himself as a living sacrifice to the service of his Saviour; and the success with which his efforts were crowned; will perceive with what propriety he might adopt the language of the apostle: " By the grace of God I am what I am: and the grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

CHAP. XII.

Concluding Reflections.

THE amelioration of the heart, and the improvement of the life, are the objects which ought constantly to be kept in view, as the grand ultimatum of all the knowledge we acquire by reading. There is one species of writing which has a more powerful tendency to produce these effects than many others, and that is, biography; because in it, as in a glass, we see some defects which belong to ourselves, and some excellencies which we do not possess: the former serving to humble us under a sense of our deficiencies, and the latter to excite us to holy emulation. Had not this been one of the best means of building up the people of God in their most holy faith, the Scriptures had not abounded with so many examples; nor had the divine Spirit wrought so powerfully by them, in convincing the world and edifying the church. With a view of securing in a greater degree, those important advantages which may be derived from Christian biography, by a proper application of the subject to our own characters and circumstances, we propose in this chapter to make a few obvious reflections on what has been brought under consideration; hoping they may lead the reader to make others of a similar nature, which may be both pleasing and profitable.

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1. We must not estimate a man's life by the number of his years, but by the manner in which it has been spent for this is the way in which it will be weighed at last in the scales of divine retribution. The design of our existence being to know, love, and serve God, we may calculate the true length and value of it, by the advances we make in those things, which prepare us for our ultimate destination. It is said of that time, when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters do the sea, "there shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that has not filled his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old; but the sinner a hundred years old, shall be accursed." Babes and sucklings, out of whose mouths God has ordained praise, if removed in their infancy, may be said, as to all the valuable purposes of their being, to die a hundred years old; while men who actually live to that period, without being acquainted with themselves or their God, are a curse to the world by their example, and possess all the childishness of infants, without their innocence. Brainerd, and Janeway, and Pearce, though they died in the prime of their lives; yet for their spirituality, and meetness for heaven, might be considered as proverbial for the age to which they lived: and Chamberlain, though he had gone but a little beyond his prime, may, on account of his uncommon exertions in the cause of Christ, be said to have died in a good old age. We have read of many, who have been so convinced of the propriety of estimating life by the advances of the soul in piety, that when they have been asked their age, they have replied, not according to the number of their years, but according to the time when they first began to know, love, and serve their Saviour, reckoning all the rest of their existence a mere blank.

If we bring ourselves to this criterion, it cannot fail to humble us in the dust before God, as we shall perceive, that there has been very little substance in our being; that the greater part of it has been shadow; that in the true judgment of things, we are but a very few years old; and that, though we may be men in our bodies, in our minds we are very children, when compared with the "full stature of a man in Christ Jesus." Let us ask ourselves, as individuals: What do I know of the

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character and perfections of the great God more than the heathen; how much do I love him more than any earthly good; and what have I done for him who loved me, and gave for me? And let us not only ask, but force our consciences to give a definite answer to these questions, and resolve in the strength of divine grace, that the future part of our lives shall be influenced and governed by what conscience declares to be our duty. By so doing we shall perceive our great defects, and shall be studious to know how others have attained to higher degrees of virtue; and thus our humility will become deeper, our happiness will rise higher, our activity for the glory of God and the good of men will be greatly increased; and, if called away in the prime of life, we shall possess the advantages of old age, with having suffered its incon

veniencies.

2. We must not form our judgment of the state of men or things from outward appearances, which is a prevailing error: “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." External things cannot be relied on as an index to the state of the mind; and those who make them such, act as inconsistently as the person who supposes that an ignis-fatuus is a true light, and that the sun is dark, when it does not shine on him. Asaph once looked on the prosperity of the wicked, and was filled with envy; but when he entered into the sanctuary, and heard their end described, he found that he had been deceived by outward show, and that with all their honours and pleasures, they were more to be pitied than to be envied. The friends of Job, when they saw him deeply afflicted, supposed that he was a great sinner, and the object of divine vengeance on account of his crimes; but the Scriptures teach us, in the sequel of his history, that they were greatly mistaken. Persons judging from outward circumstances, would conclude that Mr. C. was an unfortunate man; but those losses and disappointments, for which they would consider him unhappy, were, by the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, made the means of his advancement in spiritual enjoyments. As in the life, so in the death of a person, we are liable to be deceived by external things. When Dives died, his friends probably thought his death as honourable as

his life; and when Lazarus died, it is not unlikely that their convictions of his having been a miserable man were increased; yet the Scriptures tell us, "that the beggar died, and was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom: that the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments." We are not, therefore, always to judge of the future happiness of the Christian by his appearance in his last moments; for many who, like their blessed Master, set behind a cloud, will rise and shine with eternal splendour.

As we can form no true estimate of the state of the soul from the external condition, so neither can we form a correct idea of a man's usefulness by outward appearances. "There may be fruits actually brought forth, which we may overlook, or which do not come within our circulation. The usefulness of faithful ministers in any country, is seldom, if ever, justly estimated. As much of that which we reckon usefulness, may turn out to be of no account; so much of that which we overlook, may prove genuine." The life of a Christian is a life of faith; and he must go forward in the discharge of his duties, depending upon God for the success of what he does, just as much as for the overruling and sanctifying of what he suffers. "He that observeth the wind will not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds will not reap." Had Mr. C. been discouraged by the dark appearances of things at different seasons, he would have concluded that all his efforts were vain, and would have relinquished his work in despair; but he remembered that it was written, "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good." Taking encouragement from this, he continued to persevere, leaving the final issue with God. The seed which he sowed at Cutwa produced a considerable harvest, and the native church which he there formed, afterwards became one of the most flourishing in India. Nor are we to calculate the good he did entirely by what took place in his lifetime important effects may yet result from the Scriptures which he distributed and explained in different parts of the country, and missionaries who may yet succeed him, may find many pleasing vestiges of his labours. From his

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