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book that shows how sinners may be forgiven and made happy. It says, and there never was a juster saying, that "favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be honored!"

'We all send love, from the oldest to the youngest, by 'Your affectionate father.'

'September 2d, 1808.

'MY DEAR F.,-I have so many cares and avocations, that I have but little time to write. I am sorry, when you have so much time on hand, that you should stand upon punctilios with papa. If you knew how much I love you, and am concerned for your welfare, you would think of me every day, pray for me when you prayed for yourself, and write to me whenever you could. I send you a little book with an address on one of the blank leaves from your dear father's heart; if you have never seen it, I hope it will please you; if you have seen it, yet, for your father's sake and your own, you will read it again and again. But there is no book, my dear Frances, like the Bible. Let no business nor pleasure, no company nor care, prevent your reading and recollecting some part of it every day. Other books may make us wise for this world, but this believed and obeyed, will make us wise to salvation, through faith that is in Jesus Christ. If others neglect the Bible, or speak lightly of it, O, do not you! Remember who has said, "What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"

'I find you have a desire, my little daughter, to attend the dancing-school ball, and I would not so far thwart your inclinations as to forbid it; but I would caution you against thinking that to figure at a ball is any essential part of a lady's education, who intends to form the refined and elevated character which I hope it will be the ambition of my daughters to attain. No lady is at any time more respected for distinguishing herself in these sportive exhibitions. I

sent you to dancing-school, in the hope that you would acquire an easiness of manners that would render you graceful and respectable in the formal or the family circles that you may be connected with in life.

'I presume, by your letter to one of your sisters, that you have been to the theatre. I hope the edge of your curiosity is taken off, and that once will suffice for such an amusement. The theatre, my dear daughter, is a dangerous place for young women, although it is the fashion to praise it, and talk about those who distinguish themselves there. Yet who esteems an actor upon the stage? Who ever came home from a play better fitted in mind or heart to read the Bible, pray to God, and lie down upon his bed prepared for sleep or death?

'Your affectionate father, J. BUCKMINSTER.'

1804.

NEARLY a year had passed since the corAged 20. respondence we have inserted between the father and son,* and while domestic cares pressed heavily upon the former, the sorest of all his disappointments was the wavering and unsettled faith of his son upon some doctrines which the father believed essential to true piety, to the culture of the religious affections, and to all usefulness and success in the profession he had chosen.

It has been seen that my brother did not pursue his studies in the customary manner, which, as there were no schools of theology at that time, was usually by residing in the family of a clergyman, and studying divinity, as law and physic were studied, under the direction of a master. As the study of divinity was almost wholly technical, that is, the study of the forms and phraseology which the divine science had taken in the hands of man, two or three years was ample time to furnish a candidate. He seems early to have taken a more liberal view of the studies requisite to his profession. In one of his college

* Pages 137-155.

themes there is a humorous description of the manner of finishing a candidate for the ministry. He, on the contrary, thought that no culture could be too generous for this, in his estimation, the most noble of professions; that every branch of human knowledge. should contribute to form and enrich his mind who was to address every class of persons, upon subjects the most momentous and of imperishable value. And as the preparation could not be too liberal, so the acquirements and the additions to his rich stores of preparation should never cease, but go on augmenting to the end of life.

His father retained the old-fashioned idea, that it was indispensable for a student of divinity to live with a clergyman already settled, and learn ministerial duties from his example. That my brother's studies were pursued in a manner different from the usual course is undoubtedly true; but with the privilege of obtaining books from the College library, which he could not have enjoyed by residing in a remote country village, the society of the learned of all professions, and the excitement of mind that is obtained in all literary pursuits, where the chain of thought is kept bright by the perpetual collision of different intellects, must have more than counterbalanced the advantages of private instruction in ministerial duties. There is also a class of duties for which little preparation of the intellect can be received from books or from instruction. To comfort the afflicted and bereaved, to soothe the guilty or agitated soul, to support with tender sympathy the lonely mind as it approaches the gate of death, to be what Jesus was to the sisters and Lazarus, the heart itself is the best, and perhaps the

HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES.

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only, instructor. He who does not feel, cannot teach upon such occasions; the silent pressure of the hand from a heart deeply moved is better than whole volumes of formal consolation.

He

There are, fortunately, the means of showing, from a journal of his studies, kept very exactly, the year previous to his settlement in Brattle Street, that his reading was extensive, comprehensive, and most conscientious, and that in compliance with his father's advice, he faithfully studied Orthodox writers. made an accurate analysis of most of the books that he studied, which is too long to be inserted here. The part of the journal which is afterwards inserted. is from December, 1803, to December, 1804. It probably gives a fair account of his manner and course of study, and the theological student of the present day can judge how far it would have been better to have yielded to his father's earnest advice, to put himself under the guidance of some settled or aged minister. No doubt, the helps that students

have since derived from the introduction and translation of German theology, the study of the German language, the various learned and critical reviews, which were then almost unknown, the establishment of professorships and schools, the impulse given to theological studies by all these aids would have been of incalculable advantage to him,—would have abridged his labor and cheered him on his solitary path. During this whole year, also, he was harassed and distressed by his father's disapproval of his method of study, and by the withholding of his consent to his advancement in his profession. This alone must have thrown disheartening uncertainty over all his