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INTRODUCTION.

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THE present volume the work of an esteemed friend, at whose request I prefix to it a few lines will commend itself to the reader with a sort of personal interest. It treats of death - to all men inevitable, and to most men an appalling personal interest. Comparatively few of the works we read relate directly to our own individual life; biographies themselves, being mostly the records of extraordinary men, have but an indirect relation to our own inferior career; but with death"the great leveller" — there is no respect of persons, and when, in tracing the course of the great man, we at last follow him into the presence of the king of terrors, the peculiar sentiment with which we contemplate his greatness, and which reminds us continually that he was not of our class, gives way to an entirely new sympathy a fellow-feeling of mortality the solemn consciousness of a common doom. Therefore, a work like the present, which, though it presents interesting outlines of the lives of notable men, does so chiefly in reference to that stage of their history in which they share our common fate, must be personally and more than commonly interesting to us.

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This common inevitableness of death is an aspect of the subject sternly solemn to a reflecting mind; and were men habitually disposed to reflect upon it, we can hardly doubt that it would produce a most manifest and universal effect on their moral conduct. It is, however, apparently an effort of man

kind to repress the consciousness of the fact- - as if the most intensely interesting event in human history deserves the least possible anticipation, or as if forgetfulness could forestall its inexorable approach. But, alas, it comes onward with unabated pace, notwithstanding our heedlessness, and overwhelms us at last with its awful reality—the more fearfully for having been the less apprehended. Of what avail is it to the mariner, whose vessel has sprung a leak, to betake himself to the bottle, and to slumber on his sinking deck; will sleep or dreams of safety avert his doom? Nay, the waters will gain on him until the fatal wave washes over him, and buries him for ever in the deep? Rather let him exert his every energy to reach, as nearly as possible, the neighboring shore, so that when the wreck goes down beneath him, he may perchance struggle through the waters to the safety of the land.

Notwithstanding our habitual disposition to evade the thought of death, the consciousness of its inexorable certainty will come over us at times with startling distinctness. Salutary are such intervals of reflection, if we allow them their just impression upon us. Then are we reminded of the insignifi

cance of both the pleasures and the sorrows which absorb our ordinary life; then we see, though it be in contrast with the darkness of the grave, as the starry worlds are seen in the night, the ineffable reality and importance of spiritual things; then, if ever, we perceive the consolatory adaptations of the evangelical economy to our condition.

But how readily such periods of serious thoughtfulness pass away, and we again find ourselves carried along in the current of life, heedless of all things except the transient passing scene. The eddies that whirl us along, however, bear us onward to the unavoidable precipice, and we plunge it at last; and then, when death is no longer an anticipation, vague, however startling, but a realization, solemnly and actually at hand, how does the soul wake up as to a new consciousness; how like a dream, a most frivolous dream, does its past life appear. With what amazement does it look upon its ending career, and the ordinary course of human life. How does it wonder that a being appointed to such a fate, and to such a following destiny, could pass through his probation with such a life!

Such is the history of the ordinary experience of men respecting death. But the genuine Christian has other views and other experiences concerning it. He contemplates it more or less habitually-he lives for death. He looks forward to it, not without solicitude, yet with a reliance upon the revealed assurances of divine support, that often rises into devout exultation; so that he can share the sentiment of the apostle, who "desired to depart and be with Christ." The present volume is designed to illustrate this power of religion over death. The examples given are numerous, and presented with considerable detail. The thoughtful reader will find in them at least two interesting facts;the first is the all-sufficient consolation of divine grace in the trying hour of dissolution; the other the uniformity of the victory which good men achieve over death, notwithstanding the great contrasts of their previous opinions and sectarian relations. Contemplating these good men as they enter the gates of pearl," with " 'songs of deliverance" upon their lips, we may learn to have charity for the differences of earnest minds, and comfortable hope for the coming hour of our own departure.

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BOSTON, AUGUST, 1850.

A. STEVENS.

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THE EMINENT DEAD.

PHILIP MELANCTHON.

GOD works with human instrumentalities in establishing and extending the kingdom of Christ in the world. In His omniscient wisdom He selects His laborers, and sanctifies their various talents to the accomplishment of the same great design. In nothing more is the providence of God shown, than in the remarkable manner in which he has called forth and endowed marked and peculiar gifts in the ministry, during the different periods and exigencies in the history of the church. In every hour of peril and of reformation the Saviour has fulfilled his promise to be with his church until the end of the world, by raising up and sending forth men every way adapted, by nature and grace, to struggle with the difficulties that surround them, and triumph over every opposing obstacle. How remarkable the variety of gifts among the little band of apostles first sent forth to evangelize the world; and how well adapted for the fight of faith, the patient endurance and utter sacrifice incident upon their honorable but perilous calling. In this band were harmoniously combined the sanctified impetuosity of Peter, the devoted and melting affection of John, the gravity and wisdom of James, and afterwards, the boldness and manly eloquence of Paul. Human frailty attaches to all human

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