is a vast distance between the one of these extremes and the other. There are in this family men who have grasped nearly the whole of what has been revealed→→→ who are masters of all the facts, and who understand, to a great extent, all the doctrines-and who are capable of making application of all these facts and of all these doctrines to all the varied states of human life, and to all the varied dispensations of divine providence. And they find almost daily use for all these acquirements. And on the other hand, there are members of this family who know little more than that they are lost sinners, that the Lord Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost, and-that there is salvation no where else. And they know and believe these truths merely upon the testimony of God, without being able to understand much even of their connection with one another. It is probable that old Captain's knowledge of divinity did not extend much beyond these three points. They were enough for his own personal salvation, and they were enough for the salvation of those among whom he laboured. And to these three points Dr. Scott, and Dr. Watts, and the apostle Paul himself, had to come for relief, again and again, when their extensive knowledge of human nature, and of the whole range of what God has been pleased to reveal, was of very little use to them.

No. 18.

SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE LATE JOSEPH CABELL

RIDGE, ESQ.

BRECKIN

JOSEPH CABELL BRECKINRIDGE was the son of the Hon. John Breckinridge, the framer of our state constitution, and for some time Attorney General of the Uni ted States, and Mary Hopkins Cabell, both of Virginia. He was their second child, and first son, born in Albemarle county, Virginia, on the 24th of July, 1788. After a short residence there his parents removed to the state of Kentucky, and established themselves in 1792, in the 5th year of his age, in the town of Lexington. Shortly afterwards the family became permanently settled on a farm near the town, and Mr. Breckinridge was at once and fully identified with the interests of the state of Kentucky. About the age of 14 be placed his son Joseph in a Grammar School in his native state, with the object of preparing his young mind for future and extensive usefulness. It was in this school, while sitting under the powerful preaching of the Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander, now a distinguished professor in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, New-Jersey, that he received his first religious impressions. Our departed friend has himself informed the writer of this article, that his convictions, though quite a boy, were deep and evangelical, and for some time continued to

affect his feelings and life. But by the providence of God he was soon afterwards removed from the ministerial instructions of this great and good man, to a school in the west, in which the budding hope of the gospel in his heart was withered by the pestilent breath of infidelity.

After the necessary acquirements were made, he was taken by his father to the College of New-Jersey, at Princeton, in the autumn of 1804. He was here received into one of the lower classes of the institution, and continued his connection with it in his progress through the course of study ordinarily pursued there, until the sudden death of his father called him home to his bereaved family, in the winter of 1806-7. The solemn responsibilities connected with becoming, almost in his boyhood, the head of a large family, and the principal agent in adjusting the concerns of an extensive and complicated estate, deeply affected his mind, and suddenly impressed a gravity, a prudence, a decision and maturity upon his character, which were beyond his years. Before fully entering on these important and trying services, he returned, in 1808, to the College of New-Jersey, and graduated with distinguished honour in 1810. It was during the latter stay at Princeton that he became attached to the daughter of the Rev. President, Mary Clay Smith, whom he afterwards married and brought with him to his native sate. Here in retirement we find him directing the education of the rising family of which he had become a foster father, and preparing himself, in the intervals which were spared from the various duties arising out of this

relation, for the practice of the law. It was while thus engaged that he was called, by an appointment from General Samuel Hopkins, to the office of his aidde-camp, to engage in an expedition against the western Indians. He was now the head and hope of two families, and it was not without a convulsive struggle that they could surrender him to a service of exposure and peril or he leave, perhaps forever, his weeping and dependant kindred. But it was the call of his country. He obeyed-and after two campaigns, occupying to gether several months, he was restored by a kind provvidence to the bosom of his friends.

After his return he finished his preparatory studies, and was admitted to the bar of Kentucky. He soon after settled himself in Lexington, and entered upon the regular practice of his profession. It need not be told his fellow citizens how rapidly he grew upon public notice, regard, and patronage. Very soon after his establishment in Lexington he was literally compelled by his friends, against his own views, to enter into political life. He was elected repeatedly to the state legislature from Fayette county, and soon rose to the speaker's chair, almost in his political and personal boyhood, in successful competition with a leading veteran in the western ranks. This office he filled with great dignity, and firmness, and public approbation, during his continuance in that honourable body.

On the accession of General Adair to the gubernatoral chair of the state, he was designated by public opinion, as well as by the governor himself, for the office of Secretary of State. This fact, connected with the pro

fessional inducements of the place, determined him in the choice of Frankfort as a place of residence. He accordingly removed with his family to it in the spring of 1821. Ilere he continued, discharging the various and responsible duties which devolved upon him, and growing daily in the affections and gratitude of his country, till he was called to a better country and a better home,

But what is especially interesting in this imperfect sketch is, his relation to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The convictions which so deeply affected his soul at the age of fourteen were never entirely effaced, but continued in unequal degrees amidst the changes of opinion, and habit, and society, to which his circumstances and natural character exposed him. At College, while studying the Evidences of Christianity under the instruction of Dr. Smith, his principles became firmly and finally fixed in favour of the divine authority of the Bible, and though still a stranger to the sanctifying influence of the doctrines of revelation, he took his stand and became an advocate for their being taught and studied in connexion with every thing else. And, following up this first principle, it was by his faithful hand (though before he had became a practical follower of the Saviour) that those seeds were first sown, which, under God, have grown up for the service of the church in the person of a younger brother.

Under the same general principle, while he studied the history of the world, and particularly the history of the laws and politics of his own country, with a view of devoting himself to her service, he read and studied his