Mr. Burr's; and any additional sum of money that might be expected to be laid out that way, I would have it disposed of to charitable uses.'

He said but very little in his sickness; but was an admirable instance of patience. and resignation to the last. Just at the close of life, as some persons who stood by, expecting he would breathe his last in a few minutes, were lamenting his death, not only as a great frown on the college, but as having a dark aspect on the interest of religion in general; to their surprise, not imagining that he heard, or ever would

* President Burr ordered, on his death-bed, that his funeral should not be attended with pomp and cost, by giving away a great number of costly mourning scarfs, &c. and by the consumption of a great quantity of spirituous liquors which is an extravagance that is become too customary in those parts, especially at the funerals of the great and the rich. He ordered that nothing should be expended but what was agreeable to the dictates of christian decency; and that the sum which must be expended at a modish funeral, above the necessary cost of a decent one, should be given to the poor, out of his estate. It is to be wished and hoped, that the laudable example of these two worthy Presidents, in which they bear their dying testimony against a practice so unbecoming and of such bad tendency so many ways, may have some good effect,

speak another word, he said, "Trust in God, and ye need not fear." These were his last words. What could have been more suitable to the occasion! And what need of more! instruction and support, as if he had written a volume. This is the only consolation to his bereaved friends, who are sensible of the loss they and the church of Christ have sustained in his death; God is allsufficient, and still has the care of his church.

In these is as much matter of

He appeared to have the uninterrupted use of his reason to the last, and died with as much calmness and composure, to all appearance, as if he had been only going to sleep. The physician who inoculated and constantly attended him has the following words in his letter to Mrs. Edwards on this occasion: "Never did any mortal man more fully and clearly evidence the sincerity of all his professions, by one continued, universal, calm, cheerful resignation and patient submission to the divine will, through every stage of his disease, than he. Not so much as one discontented expression,

nor the least appearance of murmuring through the whole! And never did any person expire with more perfect freedom from pain: not so much as one distortion; but in the most proper sense of the words, he really fell asleep."

CHAP. VI.

His Publications, Manuscripts, and Genius as a Writer.

MR. EDWARDS was highly esteemed, and indeed celebrated, as an author, both in America and Europe. His publications naturally excite in the reader of judgment and moral taste an exalted opinion of his greatness and piety. His works met with a good reception in Scotland especially, and procured for him great esteem and applause. A gentleman of note there for his superior genius and talents, has the following expressions concerning Mr. Edwards, in a letter to one of his correspondents in America: "I looked on him as incomparably

the greatest divine and (moral*) philosopher in Britain or her colonies; and rejoiced that one so eminently qualified for teaching divinity was chosen President of New Jersey College." In another letter, he adds, "Ever since I was acquainted with Mr. Edwards's writings, I have looked upon him as the greatest divine this age has produced." And a reverend gentleman from Holland observed, "That Mr. Edwards's writings, especially on the Freedom of the Will, were held in great esteem there;" and "that the professors of the celebrated academy presented their compliments to President Edwards." This gentleman further remarks, that "Several members of the Classes of Amsterdam gave their thanks, by him, to pious Mr. Edwards, for his just observations on Mr. Brainerd's Life; which book was translated in Holland, and was highly approved by the university of Utrecht.

Viewing Mr. Edwards as a writer of sermons, we cannot apply to him the epithet

This must have been the writer's meaning.

eloquent, in the common acceptation of the term. We find in him nothing of the great masters of eloquence, except good sense, forcible reasoning, and the power of moving the passions. Oratorical pomp, a cryptic method, luxurious descriptions presented to the imagination, and a rich variety of rhetorical figures, enter not into his plan. But his thoughts are well digested, and his reasoning conclusive; he produces considerations which not only force the assent, but also touch the conscience; he urges divine authority by quoting and explaining scripture, in a form calculated to rouse the soul.

He

moves the passions, not by little artifices, like the professed rhetorician, but by saying what is much to the purpose in a plain, serious, and interesting way; thus making reason, conscience, fear, and love, to be decidedly in his favour. In this manner the passions are most profitably affected; the more generous ones take the lead, and they are ever directed in the way of practical utility.

K