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ence and direct my mind and heart by His blessed Spirit and infinite wisdom, that all my efforts may be conducted to the most happy issue, even the promotion of His glory, and the salvation of immortal souls.

Philadelphia, June 22d, 1830.

Amen.

THOMAS G. ALLEN.

MEMOIR.

CHAPTER I.

THE PARENTAGE AND BIRTH OF THE REV. BENJAMIN ALLEN, AND INCIDENTS OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.

IN tracing back the forefathers of the Rev. BENJAMIN ALLEN, much apparent piety rises to view. Thus he was the child of many prayers. His immediate parents were reared in Rhode-Island; his father was born in Providence, and his mother in Newport. They accompanied the emigrants from that State, who first settled the city of Hudson in the State of New-York. In that place they were married on the 9th of December, 1787. Benjamin was their first child. He was born in Hudson, September 29th, 1789. We have the following account of his mother from her surviving connexions. Her sufferings for many years before her death were great. And her afflictions, we trust, were sanctified to her soul. She never made a public profession of religion; this, no doubt, arose in part from the fact, that there was no regularly organized Church in Hudson till after her death. However, to use the language of her friends, whose communications are now before me, she was "an excellent woman, a possessor of religion, and good evidence that she was born of God; a sainted mother." Under her peculiar trials, she bore up with Christian forti

tude. A few days before her death, she observed she had lost all fear of man, and had given herself entirely to God. On the day of her death, she inquired if she was not dying, and she appeared much gratified with an answer in the affirmative. Her sister writes, "We trust she fell quietly into the arms of her Saviour, in whom she had so long put her trust, and who had supported her in her severest trials." In her conduct to her family, "as far as her privileges and circumstances in life would admit, she endeavoured to lead her little ones in the only path which would guide them to everlasting happiness." "She prayed with and for her children." Thus my brother was nurtured in the lap of piety, and his early years were spent under the fostering hand of one, who, out of much tribulation, has entered into eternal rest. She died of a pulmonary disease, April 4th, 1801, aged 37 years, and nearly 10 months. Benjamin was in his twelfth year at this time. His loss he considered irreparable. He ever fondly cherished her memory, and her affectionate and pious intercourse with her children. He always said, that the seeds of piety were sown in his heart by her hands. These were his feelings and views throughout his life. In the year 1827, I delivered a sermon in one of the churches in Maryland, in which I acknowledged myself indebted to the early instructions of my mother, as the instrument in the hands of God, of laying the foundation in my heart, of all my subsequent attainments and enjoyments in the spirit and usefulness to my fellows. A person present, afterwards informed me, that my brother on some former occasion, had made a similar declaration from the same pulpit, as to our mother's influence on his own heart and life. The happy effect of her instructions was speedily displayed in the opening mind and heart of my brother. One who watched over his childhood observes; "from the earliest period it was easily discovered that his disposition was amiable, and his heart

overflowing with the milk of human kindness." Another connexion states, that he "was always studious when a boy, and free from the follies incident to youth."

When about 11 years of age he left school and entered his father's store. Shortly after the death of our mother, our father broke up housekeeping, and took me to Provi dence, for the purpose of attending school, and boarding in his brother's family. In this journey my brother accom. panied us. They soon returned to Hudson. I have a letter before me dated May 21st, 1802, which Benjamin wrote to me. In this letter he gives me the counsel of a parent, rather than a brother of 12 years. And he displays much solicitude, not only as to my moral deportment, but also as to the discharge of my duties towards God, and my preparation to meet death, as he says, "with a smile." From the evidence before me, it is manifest that his mind was early inquiring after knowledge, and his heart soon impressed with divine truth. Not long before his death, he observed to a friend in this city, that at the age of 13 years, he was acquainted with the enjoyments of religion in some degree. He would then retire for meditation and reading the Bible.

The first unfoldings of the bud of immortality, and the first feeble efforts of the rational soul to soar to Heaven, should certainly be gratefully cherished, especially as we are assured that the infinitely wise God favourably regards the day of small things.

A paper containing two prayers, signed by my brother, dated Hudson, May 20th, 1801, affords us a view of his early exercises. It should be remembered, that he was then between 11 and 12 years of age. The first prayer is a short confession of sins, and an acknowledgment of the justice of God in his judgments, and closes with this petition: "Be merciful unto me, O Lord, for my Saviour's sake, and receive me unto thy bosom, or guide me in thy ways:"

The second bursts forth at its commencement with the notes of praise and adoration thus: "Praised, praised for ever be thy name, oh God, Most High! thy loving kindness, thy tender mercies are not withdrawn from the sinner. We are still surrounded by thy bounties: still permitted to praise thee, to supplicate thy favour, to adore thy wisdom, to celebrate thy goodness. Thus ennobled shall we repine and murmur at thy dispensations, if the thorns and briers of affliction are scattered in the way of our pilgrimage to the bosom of our Father, the dwelling of our God? We sinners kneel before thee in the dust. O may our prayers ascend to thy celestial throne. Look with an eye of compassion on us, O God, in this valley of death, this abode of sin. Our iniquities are great, but thine infinite goodness is still greater. We are polluted in thy sight; thou beholdest our impurities; yet thou hast not turned thy face from us: thou still vouchsafest to look on us in our misery with a propitious eye. Thou permittest us to implore thee: thou hast not abandoned the sinner. Eternal praises rise to thee. Thy works, O God, render thee praise! the beauties of spring, the serenity of the heavens show forth thy beneficence: the loud voice of thy thunders, the ratling hail, the howling storm, proclaim thy power: smiling joy glorifies thee. Thy justice is also glorified by the tears of sorrow. We have beheld the son of sin, frightful death. He has come to our dwelling in a form most hideous. Eternal praises be rendered to thee who hast received the soul of the happy deceased into the regions of never-ending felicity. Death has seized his victim. We shall follow one after another to the dark and silent grave. O thou who createdst the heavens! at whose word this world arose from nothing! they shall perish, the heavens and earth shall pass away, but thou art eternal. We dwell in bodies of dust. This dust shall be dissolved; but thou art unchangeable, and wilt raise to glory the sin