his reply; " I had the following intercourse with Dr. Ryland, of Bristol, England. In writing to Dr. West, he expressed a desire to correspond with a few of Dr. Hopkins's friends; with any of them, indeed, except Mr. Emmons, of Franklin." On the same principle, remarks in his praise would be repeated by the nonagenarian, with no more apology than if they were in praise of an absent one. These outflowings of a childlike frankness were agreeable to his friends; but they exposed him to the misapprehension of his foes.

Alluding to the failure of his memory toward the close of life, he was wont to say: " My mind is just like a sieve. It takes in a great deal, but all that is valuable run* through." His loss of power in retaining recent impressions, however, was a foil to get off his continued power in reasoning from remembered premises. One signal illustration of his logical faculty, surviving the acutencss of his senses, was given during a visit which an eminent civilian paid to him while ho was on his dying couch. The civilian, formerly well known by Dr. Emmons, was introduced: " This is Mr. X. Y." The Doctor responded: " No! no ! this is not X. Y.; " and he persisted in denying that the true name had been given him, but added : " I am glad to see you, whoever you are." The civilian engaged in a conversation on bygone scenes, and at length alluded to an incident connected with one of the Doctor's early sermons. The old man of ninety-five years roused up : "Did I ever tell you that ? When did I tell you that 1 I never told that to more than one person. I told it to X. Y. Be knows that, and I know that, and nobody else knows that. But you know that. Therefore you must be X. Y." Thus did his logic rectify his vision.

§ 3. The Resemblance between his Outer and his Inner Being.

The theory that the soul originally makes or develops the body, would find as much confirmation in Emmons as in any other man. He was no more erect in his outward, than he was upright in his inward nature. The neatness and order of his room and dress, were symbols of the exactness with which his thoughts were classified. He arranged his ideas in conversation, as methodically as he arranged his books upon their shelves. His chirography was precise like liis logic, and he wrote a better hand at the age of seventy-five than at thirty-five. So did his mental discipline affect his physical organs. The provincial dialect concerning him was: " He is a spry man." His gait was brisk. " My feet are the best part of me," he replied when told at the age of eighty, that he walked like a youth of twenty. Dr. South would have said, that " his body was a fit workhouse for sprightly, vivid faculties to exercise and exert themselves in. It was of so mnch quickness and agility, that it not only contained, but also represented, the soul; for we might well suppose that where God did deposit so rich a jewel, he would suitably adorn the case." His hands seldom moved as if they were numb. The twinkling of his eye, as it darted ont some bright idea, was tho delight of the eyes of his beholders. Hu enunciation was rapid, and this added keenness and point to his repartees. The manner and the matter of his conversation were often sparkling. His quickness in retort took his companions by surprise. It was a rare man, who was not sometimes discomfited by the lightning-like rapidity of the Doctor's sallies, when he was in his happier moods, and disposed for an encounter of wit. Not his eye only, but his whole face would appear to scintillate; and his monosyllables would seemingly spring from him, instead of being passively uttered. Hence the ion-mots which came from him lose much of their force, when not associated with the vivacity and suddenness which his manner gave them. They did instant execution.

His sermon on the perdition of Judas was republished and reviewed by a UnivcrtalL-t clergyman, the review and the sermon being printed in the same pamphlet. He was asked, " What do you think of sending out together, before the world, two such things as your sermon and a Universalist's reply ?" " It is against the law," was his sudden answer; " for it is said in Deuteronomy, ' thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together.'" (Deuteronomy 22 : 10.)

On one occasion a Universalist minister called on him, and beard him express his disapprobation of certain new measures which the orthodox churches were adopting. His objections were uttered in the privacy of his own parlor, and of course without the slightest suspicion of their being made public. The next week he was told that all these remarks were published in a certain Universalist periodical, and would probably damp the ical of some sincere Christians. " No, no," ho replied, " that paper publishes so many falsehoods, that it cannot be believed when it publishes the truth; and every one who reads my remarks in it, will conclude, of course, that I never made them."

§ 4. His Conversational Apothegms and his Socratic Metliod.

" When I left his study," writes Dr. Joel Hawes, " I always carried away with me ingots of the most precious metal, to be worked up at my leisure." His conversation was fall of well defined sentences which could be easily detached from their conclusions, and thus answer the etymology of the word, aphorism. On almost every one of the following remarks, he has been known to discourse with divisions and subdivisions, as regular as those of a Chapter on Syllogisms.

" The less Christians conform to the world, the mora will the world conform to them."

" The more men have multiplied the forms of religion, so much the more has vital godliness declined."

" The weakest spot in every man is where he thinks himself to be wisest."

" If men will define depravity and volition as they ought to do, they will understand the most important doctrines of the Bible."

"Strict Calvinism brings God near to us; all opposing systems put him tar way."

" Reason is the same thing in God, in angels, and in men."

" No blank in time or in duty did God ever make or mean; hence there can be no work of supererogation."

" Of the two Edwardses, the father had more reason than his son, but the son was a greater reosoner than his father."

" Whatever President Edwards investigated for himself, he understood and mastered ; but in his treatise on Original Sin, he took his first principle on trust, and brace is like a great horse floundering in the mire. The more he tries to push through, the deeper in he gets."

" Retail geniuses are worth nothing. Go to the wholesale merchants, if yon wish * bay knowledge."

" There was not a divine in America who understood the truo use of the means of (race, until Sandeman drove some upon correct ground."

"The great objection to the writings of Tillotson, Barrow, and that class of preachers is, that they never teach the difference between a good and a had man."

Being asked what is the difference between Natural Depravity and Original Sin, he replied: " Natural Depravity is the truth; Original Sin is a lie."

Being asked, " What is space ?" he replied, " Nothing."

" Never reason from what you do not know."

" A man ought not only to know the truth, but to know that he knows it." \ " If I were to prepare for the ministry again, I would study law first."

" If I had not chosen to be a minister I would have been a lawyer."

" I like lawyers best at a distance."

" I never could see how some persons could so manage as to be claimed on so many different and opposite sides. Why, I was never claimed only on one side, and hardly on that"

" I go," he said at the age of ninety-three, " with the Old School of New England divines half way, and then turn round and oppose them with all my might I go with the New School half way, and then turn round and oppose them with all my might. The Old School must say less of passivity, the New School more of dependence."

At the age of ninety years Emmons adopted the following Socratic Method, in his conversation with a theological teacher: " Do you believe that God is the efficient cause of sin?" "No." " Do you believe that sin takes place according to the usual laws of nature ? " " Yes." " What are the laws of nature according to Newton ? " " They are the established modes of the divine operation." " Do you approve of that definition ? " " Yes." " Put those tilings together."

" Do you believe that God is the efficient cause of sin ? " " No." " Do you believe that ho created the world by his mere volition; that he willed, and it was done ? " " Yes." " Do you believe that his will is creative; that he has only to put forth a volition for an event, and the event takes place ? " " Yes." " Do yon believe that on the whole he willed sin to exist ?" " Yes." " Was not bis will creative then?" Pause. — "Is there any more harm in causing a thing to be, than in willing it to be ? " Pause. — " My theory is, that God causes moral evil in the act of willing it; and you believe that he performs that act. If it be wrong to cause the evil, it is wrong to will it. I believe that he caused it, in no sense morally different from that in which you believe he willed it. Where, then, is the great discrepancy between you and me ? "

§ 5. The Combination of apparently discordant Attributes in his Character.

One of our Theological Reviews has classed him with the German transcendentalists, and has ranged side by side the names of Hegel and Emmons. A more frequent criticism is, that he is too empyrical, plodding continuously over one low plain. Thus do men divide a great mind among different parties, giving to each a due proportion, and implying that the excellences of each may be gathered into one comprehensive spirit. What he was as a theologian, the same was he as a man. He not only aimed to combine, in one great schemo of Consistent Calvinism, various truths which seem to conflict with each other; but he also loved to combine, in one consistent character, the different virtues which seem to be mutually antagonistic.

He was a man of authority. One of his parishioners, riding homeward after a brief absence from town, overtook a chaise driven so slowly and surely, that it wma known to be the minister's. " What shall be done. Shall I pass the carriage of Dr. Emmons? Shall /ride before Aim? That will never do." So the parishioner turned into a cross road, went two miles or more out of the direct eoune, and thtu gave play to the respectful instincts which his people generally felt toward him. Still he was affable and simple ax a child. Men did not suspect, either in his presence, or in his aliscncc, thai ho was desirous of gaining admiration by affected reserve, or of concealing a weakness under the garb of profound,abatracted thought.

He was a prudent man; else ho could not have ruled so long and so well, in the Lord's house, especially during such exciting scenes as those of our Revolution, and I lie succeeding years. Yet he was frank, wearing before his heart a glass through which his companions might look. At times he was loo transparent; but, in the general, it was his open-heartedncss which gavo so peculiar a charm to his character. Instead of evading an inquiry which he preferred not to answer, he would frankly tell yon. that he chose to be silent. " I do not wish to bo catechised on that subject," was Ins reply to a distinguished Professor, who was pushing a personal examination rather too far. You would feel confident in his society, that you knew his attachments and aversions ; sure that he was not searching for your opinions, in order to make such a use of them afterwards as you would dislike ; free from suspicion that he was conversing as a diplomatist, and using language for tbo purpose of concealing his own thoughts and exposing yours, tic never stooped in ambush, nor allowed his opposcrs to complain that they were decoyed upon false tracks. If, like some of the apostles, be had received a new name at the time of his ordination, what better name could have been given him than that of Kathanael 1 for he was an Israelite indeed in whom was no guile.

His simplicity was one of his noblest qualifications for a theological inquirer. When a divine becomes interested in dark and petty manoeuvres, he loses his affinity far the truth which is noble and as the light. Ho mystifies what is plain, complicates what if simple, and makes that crooked which the Bible has made straight.

Modesty and self-respect are qualities which, though seldom coalescing in one man, were happily blended in Dr. Emmons. When ho was in company with three or four strangers, he could not easily converse in tho bearing of them all, but was embarrassed unless, whilo conversing with a single ono of tho strangers, the others were attending to something more than his words. He distrusted his ability to satisfy or please other men. Until tire last Sabbath of his labors in the pulpit, he felt a tremor in view of addressing a multitude. *' In one hour it will all be over," was tho remark which he often made for the sake of tranquillizing his agitated system, aa he appeared before an assembly. His diffidence or bashfulncss did not, as it does in some, result from mere nervous weakness, or from being unaccustomed to society, or from a self-esteem which receives no sanction from the deference of the bystander. He was naturally predisposed to think of himself no more highly than he ought to think, and to esteem other men, in some respects, abovo himself. But not in all respects. Ho knew his own worth, and did not succumb to his brethren, when he believed that an impartial jodge would require concessions from them. He was not arrogant, but where he felt that he had aright to govern, he governed. If ono whom he knew to be his inferior assumed a lordly attitude, and spoke to him in the tones of a master, he signified to the supercilious disputant, that it were well for every man to keep his own place. He did not pretend to know what ho was ignorant of, but sometimes confessed his inability to give the information which was desired and expected of him. Ho would not defend his assertions when he suspected them of unsoundness ; but if ho had made a mistake, he made an atonement for it by confessing it. On one occasion, he was severely criticized by the well-known Mr. Niks, afterwards Judge Kiles of Vermont, before an Association of ministers, to whom Dr. E. had just preached a sermon. He replied to the criticism, acknowledging its justness, and remarking that, somehow or other, he had not gotten into his subject when he wrote the discourse. His critic interrupted him, saying, " No, no, Mr. Emmons, that is not the difficulty; here it is; the 6ul jeet never got into you." The criticism, he afterwards remarked, was no more severe than just. He once spent several hours in company with Dr. Burton, his distinguished opponent on the " taste and exercise " question, and was asked by one of his pupils, after the conversation had closed, " What was the result of your discussion with your antagonist 1" " No result," was the frank and modest reply. " Neither of us broached the subject." Why ? " We were both too much afraid of each other."

Ho had a peculiar mode of reproving an opponent, which indicated both his modesty and his confidence in his own opinion. Being aware that every important doctrine is liable to some objections, he was contented to show that the doctrine of his opposcr was liable to greater objections than his own. When pressed with a difficulty, his resort was to prove that the same difficulty was involved in the system of his adversary. If, therefore, his opponent were pertinacious in repeating a query, which neither party could answer, he would say reprovingly, " You have no right to ask me that question ; it belongs to you as well as myself; I can answer it as well as you, and you as well as I."

Ho was not always, however, thus delicate in rebuking an opponent A divine of no small eminence, having read Dr. Emmons's sermon on the Atonement, a sermon which was encountering at that time some opposition, sent to the Franklin minister the following epistle, which was considered rather too laconic, magisterial, and patronizing to comport with the apostle's rule for the treatment of elders : "May 1st. My dear brother, I have read your sermon on the Atonement, and have wept over it. Tours affectionately, A. B. C." These admonitory words were no sooner read, than the following reply was written and sent to the Post-office: " May 3d. Dear Sir, I have read your letter, and laughed at it. Yours, Nath'l. Emmons." The reader will perhaps admit that there was no shorter way of reminding a man in high life not to overlook modest worth ; and of showing that an elder in the church must be reasoned with before he is wept over. Few men could endure more meekly than Dr. Emmons to be voted down, or to be reasoned down, or even to be laughed down, but he bad a peculiar repugnance to being publicly wept down.

There was a rare combination of candor with inflexibleness, of kindness with severity, in Dr. Emmons. Ho was aware that some readers of his works had been led by his phraseology, to look upon him as devoid of the milder graces. When such a reader once remarked to him, " I have come several miles out of my way to see yon," he Bmiled, and said, " Now you see the bear. Men go out of their way to look at mc, as if I were a wild beast. But sec, I have no horns." Such was the confidence of his friends in the mellowness of his temper, that even the insane of his parish would sometimes insist on being sent to tho parsonage for relief. When their request was granted, they uniformly received from him that gentle and affectionate treatment which their malady demands. He early adopted the same principles for the treatment of this afflicted class, which are now adopted by our most scientific physicians. Those who have read what in common parlance are called his Pharaoh and Jeroboam sermons, and thence derived their notions of his character, would little expect that his company would be sought as a balm for the wounded spirit, and a soothing appliance for an irritated nerve.

Wc might proceed in developing the combination of diverse excellences in Dr. Em