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A SERMON,

ON OCCASION OF HIS LAMENTED DEATH, DELIVERED And publishED AT THEIR REQUEST,

ARE INSCRIBED WITH SENTIMENTS OF

MOST SINCERE ESTEEM AND GRATITUDE,

BY THEIR OBLIGED AND FAITHFUL

SERVANT,

THE AUTHOR.

MEMOIRS,

&c.

THAT the lives of studious and literary men

are commonly barren of interesting incidents, is an observation so trite as scarcely to bear a repetition; nor would it have been here repeated, but for the sake of remarking that it is not from those incidents alone which are usually considered interesting, that both pleasing information, and valuable instruction are to be derived. The splendid achievements of the hero-the virtuous efforts of the patriotthe skilful intrigues of the statesman-the hazardous wanderings of the traveller, may excite more general curiosity, and furnish a larger store of amusement; but men of the most retired habits, and in the humblest walks of life; men whose intercourse with the

A

world has been circumscribed within the narrowest limits, may afford the biographer an opportunity of enlarging the history of the human mind, may contribute something to the advancement of piety and virtue, may impart some aid in the successful investigation of truth, and in the communication of it to others. Some there must ever be, and these the great bulk of mankind, "who have no memorial, who are perished as though they had never been, and are become as though they never had been born, and their children after them :" whilst others who have not indeed "borne rule in kingdoms, nor been men renowned for power, nor rich men furnished with ability, honoured in their generations and the glory of their times," yet "giving counsel by their understanding, wise and eloquent in their instructions, have left a name behind them that their praises might be reported. Their bodies are buried in peace, but their name liveth for evermore."(a)

Amongst these may be placed the subject of the following pages. Born in a comparatively humble station of life, devoted from his youth to a profession which forbids all ambi

(a) Ecclesiasticus, xliv. 3—14.

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