Page:Sketch of Connecticut, Forty Years Since.djvu/181

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
FORTY YEARS SINCE.
169

deportment toward this patriarch in the Church, and the solemnity with which he administers the appointed ordinances, reflect honour upon the religion which he professes. In prayer, he condenses, as it were, the spirit of devotion, and gives it force even among the inattentive. I have seldom heard any thing more pathetic than his performances in the house which Death has entered, where there is such an expressive adaptation of manner, countenance, and supplication, to the sorrows of the mourner, and the desires of the penitent heart."

"These excellencies," said Dr. L——, "he possesses in an eminent degree; and his union, with one of our most ancient and respectable families, affords reason to hope that he will continue with us. In length of days, and in exemplary piety, may he equal his revered predecessor, that "mighty man so eloquent in the Scriptures." To us, who are going down into the dust, many would deem it of little importance, who shall stand as a watchman upon the walls of Zion. Yet it ought never to be a matter of indifference, who shall be the spiritual guide of our children. Those, who desire religion to be honoured when they are no more, should not only teach their descendants to obey its precepts, but to revere its ministers.