science, and politics, and religion, who are among those that take the lead in moulding the elements of our public prosperity-whose present elevated standing must be referred to what seemed a most unpropitious beginning; and if you go back with their history but a few years, you will find them amid the toils of some humble vocation, engaged with the perplexing problem, "whether the obstacles in the way of their acquiring an education were too great to be overcome?" Happily, they decided in favour of making a vigorous effort to overcome them; and in the successful result which has followed may be read in golden letters the great truth, that nothing is too hard for an unyielding perseverance.

But while the history of eminent self-made men holds out the strongest inducements to young men of promise, in humble circumstances, to grapple fearlessly with the difficulties which may lie in the way of their being liberally educated, it suggests to the wise and good, and especially to the guardians of our public interests, the great importance not only of seconding the wishes and aiding the efforts of such young men, but of keeping an eye out upon the humbler classes of society, with a view to cherish, so far as possible, every opening bud of piety and genius. It is indeed an office that requires much judgment and discrimination, to select youth in indigent circumstances to be educated solely, or in a great degree, upon the charities of the church; but in a state of things which calls for so much

well-directed intellectual and moral influence as that in which our lot is cast, it is manifest that every class of society must be taxed for its legitimate share, and even the humblest must not escape. There are young men of considerable vigour and precocity of mind, whom it may not be desirable to educate, on account of some marked defects in their moral constitution; and there are young men, on the other hand, of promising dispositions and exemplary piety, who have too little force of intellect to warrant their being withdrawn from a vocation in which the hands rather than the head are put in requisition; but where talent, piety, and prudence are found in combination, and there is a disposition on the part of the individual to consecrate himself to the Christian ministry, no doubt it is the duty of the church to train him for her own service; and the individual by whose benefactions he is sustained in his preparation for the sacred office, or by whose watchful sagacity he has been selected for such a destination, may have exerted a benign influence which will reach to the ends of the earth.

There is perhaps no public instrumentality which is so important in its bearings upon this subject as the Sabbath school. Into the sacred enclosure which this institution provides are gathered children from the humblest walks of society; and the intercourse which the teacher necessarily has with them gives him the best opportunity of estimating aright their dispositions and

talents. It were well that every teacher and superintendent should consider it a part of his duty to watch the characters of those under his care with reference to this object; and whenever he finds a case of sufficient promise to warrant such a step, let him report it to the officers of the church, and let the individual be recommended to her charities.

If I may pass to a remark or two of a more general kind, I would say that the formation of such a character as that of Mr. Haynes furnishes a striking illustration of the wise and wonderful workings of Divine providence. Who that beheld him in the deep degradation of his earliest years, could have dreamed that he was destined to occupy an extensive sphere of usefulness in the church; to stand for more than half a century a skilful and valiant defender of the faith, and to leave behind him a name which multitudes would delight to honour? But God's ways are not as our ways. The elements of his character, his faculties, and dispositions, were given with reference to the work he had to accomplish. And so, too, the ordering of his circumstances was made to subserve the same end; and even those events in his history which seemed to betoken nothing but degradation and disaster, were rendered subservient to the development of his faculties and the extension of his usefulness. If there was bitterness in his cup, it was qualified by softening ingredients. If there was thick darkness hanging over the commencement of his path, a faint light soon shone in

the darkness, and that light grew brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. And this is only a specimen of God's dealings with his people. He leads them by a path which they know not; and in the admirable combination of prosperity and calamity, of hopes fulfilled and hopes blasted, which compose their lot, he gives them sooner or later to see that his own kind hand has been constantly at work for the promotion of their highest interests. Let the Christian ponder this gracious arrangement of Providence, and rejoice in his darkest hours! Let the church ponder it, and look fearlessly at the boldest array of opposition!

And finally, the preceding train of thought naturally leads us to consider how superior is the dignity which is conferred by character to that which is the result of mere circumstances. It will not be difficult to find in some of the highest places of earthly distinction men of feeble intellects, degraded morals, and perhaps malignant dispositions: the moral element in which they move is a withering selfishness or a black misanthropy; and yet they move in splendour, and multitudes render them a kind of homage, and they are well nigh lost in the bright visions of their own glory. But here is an individual coming up from the humblest walks of life, with his heart beating in vigorous and holy pulsations to be useful to his fellow-men; his character is formed after a model of superior excellence; he borrows no importance from the pride and circumstance of life, but moves about continually, as did the Master whom he

serves, on errands of benevolence; and wherever the sound of his footsteps is heard, it is welcomed as the harbinger of heaven-born charity. Here is true dignity-the other deserves not the name. If the man who writes your epitaph can only say of you that you bore the image of your Master, and served your generation well, though your home on earth had been a hovel, he confers infinitely higher honour upon your memory than if he were simply to record that you had worn a crown and occupied a throne.

I have extended these remarks beyond what I had designed; and, in bringing them to a close, I have only to congratulate the reader that he is about entering a field in which, I am sure, he can hardly fail to be at once interested and improved. The memoir is written with the simplicity and perspicuity which characterize all the productions of my respected friend; and, from my knowledge of the venerable man who is the subject of it, I have reason to believe that the character is presented with great truth and fidelity. I shall feel much disappointed if the labours of Doctor Cooley in preparing this memoir do not secure to him the gratitude of every portion of the church in which it circulates, and if the character which he has so happily exhibited does not diffuse its savour of wisdom and piety beyond the present generation.

Albany, Oct. 28, 1836.

W. B. SPRAGUE.

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