SERMON, 
 
 DELIVERED 
 
 AT THE FIJ]\ERAL. 
 
 or THE 
 
 Reverend ALrFRED V. BASSETT, 
 
 PASTOR OF THE UNITERSAI^IST SOCIETY IX DEDIIAM. 
 
 BY THOxlIAS WHITTEMORE. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 Printed and published at the Trumpet Office, 40, Cornhill. 
 1832.
 
 
 " Dreadful Death. A mote melancholy instance of suicide probably 
 never occurred in this region, than that which it is now our painful duty to 
 record. The Rev. Alfred V. Bassett, Pastor of the Universalist Society 
 in this town, committed suicide on IMonday night, December 26, by cutting his 
 throat with a razor ! The following particulars, as we learn from a friend of 
 the deceased, are substantially correct. Mr. Bassett had been unwell several 
 days with the prevailing influenza, and complained of a pain in his head, from 
 which it is supposed that a fever on his brain produced that derangement of 
 mind which caused him to commit the fatal deed. After retiring on Monday 
 night, he arose and extinguished the light, which had been left burning in 
 consequence of his illness. The individual who lodged with him, about 11 
 o'clock, being aroused by the struggles and groans of the deceased, he hasten- 
 ed to alarm the family, and the poor man was found lying on the floor, 
 struggling amid the agonies which thirty minutes after terminated in death. 
 It appeared that he had drawn the razor on both sides of the throat, cutting 
 very deeply on the left side. Mr. Bassett was 25 years of age, a native of 
 Atkinson, N. H. and had been settled in this town two years. He was a 
 young man of respectable talents, and by his amiable manners and kind dis- 
 position, had won the esteem of many, who are now called to unite with 
 his relatives and friends in mourning his untimely exit." — JDedham Advicalie^
 
 \J \J \J tJ I.IU>llf>i* 
 
 SERMOJY. 
 
 PSAL.MS XCVII. 1, 2. 
 
 *' The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles 
 he glad thereof. Clouds and darkness are round about him : right- 
 eousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.''' 
 
 That there is a Being who created all nature, and 
 whom all nature obeys, icw persons deny. From the un- 
 tutored savage in the wilderness up to the profoandest 
 pliilosopher — from the degraded Hottentot to him in 
 whose mind nature has displayed her most brilliant gifts, 
 all, with rarely an exception, have acknowledged the ex- 
 istence of a God of boundless power and wisdom. The 
 evidences of his existence appear all around us. The 
 heavens declare his glory, and the firmament showeth 
 forth his handy work. He rides upon the whirlwind and 
 directs the storm. The earth is full of his goodness. 
 Whicii way soever we turn our eyes, we see the proofs 
 of his boundless power and skill. Wherever we com- 
 mence to reason concerning the divine existence, the re- 
 sult is invariably the same. If we begin with the mi- 
 nutest atom, with the frailest insect, with the poorest 
 specimen of human skill, we come to the same conclusion; 
 we trace things irom effect to cause through successive 
 parts of the great chain of being, until the powers of rea- 
 son are suspended, as the only resting place, at the cause 
 of all things — himself uncaused. This is God. 
 
 In the words laid before you at this time it is asserted, 
 
 I. That God governs the world. " The Lord reigneth." 
 
 II. That there are many things in the divine govern- 
 ment inscrutable to human wisdom, the design and end 
 of which human wisdom cannot see. "Clouds and dark- 
 ness are round about him." 
 
 III. That notv/ithstanding "clouds and darkness are 
 round about him," and human wisdom some times can- 
 not readily discover the reasons of the divine government, 
 yet there is one thing of which we may be certain, viz. 
 that righteousness and justice are mingled in all its dis- 
 pensations. " Righteousness and judgment are the habi-
 
 tation of his throne," i. e. his throne is founded in justice 
 and righteousness. 
 
 IV, The goveniment of God, wlien properly under- 
 stood, is a source of joy and gladness. " The Lord reign- 
 eth, let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad 
 thereof." 
 
 That God governs the world, is a fact which will not 
 be disputed by any one who acknowledges the divine ex- 
 istence. 1. The Bible asserts it. David says, " God sit- 
 teth upon the throne of his holiness." Psalms xlvii. 8. 
 " The Lord reigneth ; he is clothed with majesty : the 
 Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded 
 himself, the world also is established, that it cannot be 
 moved. Thy throne is established of old, thou art from 
 everlasting." xciii. 1, 2. 2. The government of God 
 over the natural world is proved from the order and regu- 
 larity with which every thing in nature proceeds. He 
 hath established fixed laws, which nothing but himself 
 can alter. The sun, and every part of tne system be- 
 longing to it, is governed by those laws. He furnishes 
 them light and heat, as they wait upon him to receive the 
 blessings he dispenses. They always move in their prop- 
 er orbits, preserving their distances from their common 
 centre and from each other. No jar, no interruption, no 
 failure was ever known in the vast machinery which God 
 hath made. How great doth the Creator appear, when 
 seen through the medium of his works. Well might Da- 
 vid say, " when I consider thy heavens, the work of thy 
 fingers ; the moon and the stars wliich thou hast ordain- 
 ed ; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the 
 Son of man that thou visitest iiim .'" Psalms viii- 3, 47 
 No mind hath such views of the majesty of the great 
 eternal, as that of the man who hath walked the fields of 
 science, and seen with a philosopher's eye, the displayed 
 heavens above. The mind is irresistibly carried up, un- 
 til it is lost in the contemplation of boundless wisdom, 
 love and power. The language of the immortal poet is 
 fit to give vent to the feelings which such a scene is cal- 
 culated to inspire. 
 
 " 'J'liHse are t)iy glorious works, Parent of good, 
 
 Aliiiiglily, tliine this Universal frame. 
 
 Thus wondrous fair ; thyself how wondrous then, 
 
 L'nsjjeakable I who sitl'st above the heavens, 
 
 To us invisible, or diniiy seen 
 
 In these tliy lower works, ^'et these declare. 
 
 Thy goodne.ss beyond thought, and power divine."
 
 The government of God over the moral world, is no 
 less certam than his government over the natural world. 
 He rules men an well as things ; animate as well as in- 
 animate matter ; nor is there less wisdom displayed in 
 the one than in the other. "The Lord God omnipotent 
 reigneth," Rev. xix. 6. The irresistible government of 
 God is expressed in the book of Job, as follows : " When 
 he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble .'' and 
 when he hideth his face, who then can behold him .'' 
 whether it be done against a nation, or against a man on- 
 ly." xxxiv. 29. The prophet Daniel asserts the undis- 
 puted dominion of Jehovah over mankind. "He doeth 
 according to his will in the army of heaven, and among 
 the inhabitants of the earth ; and none can stay his hand, 
 or say unto him, what doest thou .^" iv. 35. Paul's lan- 
 guage is of the same import, when he saith, that God 
 " worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.'* 
 Eph. i. 11. There are some who are perfectly willing to 
 admit the undivided dominion of Jehovah overall the nat- 
 ural world, but who will not allow, what Daniel evidently 
 declares, that he doeth according to his will among the 
 inhabitants of the earth. We see as little reason to doubt 
 the one truth as the other. It is thought there are im- 
 perfections in the moral system which could not have 
 proceeded from the hand of God ; sin presents an insu- 
 perable obstacle in the way ; the offences of men, wrath, 
 hatred, malice, murder, suicide, misery, the sicknesses 
 of little children, the afflictions of the righteous, — all these 
 things are so many evidences, that though God reigns in 
 the natural world, he cannot be said, except in some 
 qualified sense, to reign in the moral world. But people 
 arrive at this conclusion, as we think, because they sepa- 
 rate the great ends and purposes of divine government 
 from the means by which they are produced. What they 
 call imperfection is order ; and judged to be imperfection 
 by them, because they do not connect with it the ultimate 
 design of God in ordaining it. They reason from a part 
 of the system only. They would arrive at the same re- 
 sult in regard to the natural system, if they reasoned 
 concerning it in the same manner, supposing a part to be 
 the whole, or judging of means disconnected from the 
 ends to be produced by them ; and by this process of rea- 
 soning it would at last come outj that God doth not reign 
 at all, either in the natural or moral world. Such a con- 
 clusion as this would differ from Atheism in nothing but a
 
 name ; and it would leave man, like the mariner without 
 compass or helm, to be tossed upon the boundless ocean 
 of chance. But the text declares that the Lord reigns; 
 and it means in the moral system, since men are called 
 for this reason to rejoice and be glad. 
 
 II. The text justifies the conclusion, that there are 
 some things in the divine government which are dark and 
 inscrutable, the design and end of which human wis- 
 dom sometimes i ails to see. "Clouds and darkness are 
 round about him." The figure here is beautiful. It rep- 
 resents the throne of Jehovah as being hidden from men's 
 sight — it is enveloped in clouds and in darkness ; but 
 there is no less a throne because men cannot see it. 
 Sometimes we cannot see the sun ; yet none but a mad- 
 man would think of doidDting the existence of that bright 
 orb, because "clouds and darkness were round about 
 him." 
 
 In all ages of the world there have been men who 
 have been unreconciled to the will of Jehovah, who could 
 not see the propriety and justice of the divine administra- 
 tion. To them the throne of God was enveloped in 
 " clouds and darkness." Jacob complained unto Pharaoh, 
 that i'ew and evil had the days of the years of his 
 life been. When his children were taken away, and car- 
 ried into Egypt, he repined against the will of heaven, 
 and said "all these things are against me." None are so 
 liable to mistake the dealings of God, and misunderstand 
 his government ol' the world, as those who are atllicted 
 with a constitutional melancholy. They see every thing 
 through their dim and diseased vision ; and all the world 
 seems to bear the color which rests only on the medium 
 of their sight. Cowper, the celebrated English poet, was 
 a man precisely of this character. Endowed with a 
 great genius, a rich fancy, the rarest talents, it was his 
 misfortune, humanly speaking, to be always viewing the 
 dark side of earthly affairs. That theology which places 
 upon the throne of the universe an implacable tyrant, was 
 congenial with the gloominess of his soul, and he em- 
 braced it. Throughout his life he was in constant fear 
 that God would snatch him from the earth, and plunge him 
 into eternal sorrow. Such a state of mind unfitted him 
 either for living or dying. He gave up all temporal con- 
 cerns, and once or twice was saved from suicide by a mere 
 accident. There are snany, who though not driven to 
 the same extent of sorrow, find it very difficult to account
 
 for what they regard as imperfections in the divine g"OT- 
 ernment, or, in other words, as things over which the 
 Deity has no control. 
 
 The prevalence of vice in the world they find it difficult 
 to reconcile with the divine rectitude and benevolence. 
 
 The sickness and pains of the good, more particularly 
 of innocent infants, who sutler every moment they 
 breathe, they regard witli the same objections. 
 
 The mental afflictions of many are very keen. They 
 mourn over sin, and tiie distresses of mankind; the more 
 benevolent their hearts, the more they softer: the sorrows 
 of the parent for a prodigal son, or a dissolute daughter, 
 which are even worse than death itself, these are things 
 which some regard as subject to like objections. 
 
 The prostration of the finest minds by insanity, where- 
 by persons have been lelt to drag out a miserable exist- 
 ence, the anxiety of all their friends, or in an unsuspected 
 moment to lay hands upon themselves, and hurry them- 
 selves from the earth; these things are objected to in the 
 same manner. 
 
 Lastly, the death of our most promising friends, the ex- 
 amples of society and the comfort of all around them ; 
 the beloved son, the support and joy of aged parents ; the 
 faithful pastor, around whom the affections of his parish 
 had clung, like the tendrils of the vine, (a solemn proof of 
 which we see before us this day) such things some regard 
 as imperfections in the divine government, or as things 
 which God did not ordain. To such people, " clouds and 
 darkness" are round about the throne of God ; they can- 
 not see in what way good can possibly result from them ; 
 and they cry out in their anguish, with the aged patri- 
 arch, "All these things are against us." This brings 
 me to notice, 
 
 III. That notwithstanding clouds and darkness are 
 round about Jehovah, and human wisdom sometimes can- 
 not discover the reasons of the divine government, yet 
 there is one thing of which we may be certain, viz. that 
 righteousness and judgment are mingled in all its dispen- 
 sations. This consoling truth — this, the richest of all 
 assurances, is given in the text : " Righteousness and 
 judgment are the habitation of his throne." 
 
 In proof of this, my friends, we have tlie word of God. 
 ^'He shall judge the people righteously," "He shall 
 judge the world in righteousness." Aside from distinct 
 declarations of the fact, we may infer it with certainty
 
 8 
 
 from the well known beneficence of the divine nature. 
 God is merciful, and just, and good. " God is love," and 
 love worketh no ill. " Tiie Lord is good to all, and his 
 tender mercies are over all his works." It is said by one 
 of the prophets, that he " will not cast off forever. That 
 though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion ac- 
 cording to the multitude of his mercies; for he doth not 
 afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men." It is 
 declared by another prophet, that ''he delighteth in 
 mercy." Now it is not possible that a being of whom all 
 this can be truly said can permit evil to afflict his crea- 
 tures, without designing their good by it. Again, we 
 know from human experience, that the afflictions which 
 men suffer on earth are desigtied for their good. The af- 
 flictions suffered by the Psalmist, he expressly assures us 
 resulted in ])roducing his good. The case of Jacob, to 
 which we have already referred, most beautifully illus- 
 trates the doctrine for which we are now contending. 
 His favorite son Joseph, as he in his ignorance supposed, 
 had been devoured by wild beasts. When his sons went 
 down to Egypt for sustenance, a stern ruler demanded 
 that they should return and bring their youngest brother ; 
 and seizing Simeon, he bound and retained him as a 
 hostage, until the younger came. When Jacob hears of 
 this, he bursts forth in the following pathetic lamentation: 
 "Jlfe have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not ^ and 
 Simeon is not^ and ye will take Benjamin away. Jill these things 
 are against me." But my brethren, what was the cause 
 of this repining against the allotments of Providence .'' 
 Jacob did not know, that righteousness and justice were 
 mingled in these dispensations, which seen by his feeble 
 sight, appeared so detrimental to his peace. He did not 
 know that the hand of God was conducting the whole to 
 advance his happiness. His blindness was the cause of 
 his sorrow — clouds and darkness hid the throne of God 
 from his sight ; he did not see the divine agency in any of 
 these events. But when the light of truth chased the 
 darkness and the clouds away, his bosom thrilled with 
 joy — a joy he was obliged to ascribe to the events he at 
 first so sincerely deprecated. That son who he thought 
 had been devoured by wild beasts, was lord of Egypt. 
 That stern ruler who demanded Benjamin, and seized 
 Simeon as a hostage, was the beloved Joseph himself 
 That Benjamin who was torn away from his father's 
 bleeding heart, went down to Egypt only to hear this ru-
 
 ler declare, "lam Joseph: cloth my father yet live?" He 
 who went down to Eg-ypt a slave in the eyes of his breth- 
 ren, went as an angel in the sight of God, to prepare a 
 resting place for the family, and to save much people 
 alive. This was the history of Joseph as written on the 
 throne of God, which Jacob saw when the " clouds and 
 darkness" round about it were dispelled. 
 
 I cannot refrain from referring once more to the history 
 of the celebrated poet whom I have already named, to 
 whom the dispensations of heaven, except in a few lucid 
 intervals, were sources of disquietude and indescribable 
 anguish. He felt what every man must feel, who supposes 
 that an implacable and cruel tyrant sits upon the throne 
 of the universe. I have read of him, that on one occasion 
 he formed the resolution to destroy his life. He called a 
 carriage, and rode to London bridge, with the intention 
 of throwing himself into the Thames. So many persons 
 were passing at the time, that he found it impracticable. 
 He took a seat in another vehicle, and ordered to be 
 driven to an apothecary, of whom he purchased a phial 
 of poison, which he laid beside him, with the intention of 
 returning immediately to his chamber, and swallowing it. 
 On alighting he looked for his phial and found it broken, 
 the contents gone. The clouds were for a moment dis- 
 pelled, and he saw the throne of God, and read righleous- 
 ness and justice inscribed there — he saw the hand of God 
 in this event; and he went to his chamber, and wrote that 
 inimitable hymn, which, if nothing else had been left, 
 would have handed down his name to posterity. 
 
 God moves in a mysterious way 
 His wonders to perform, 
 He marks his footstep:! in the sea, 
 And rides upon the storm. 
 
 Deep in unfathomable mines 
 Of never failing akill, 
 ' He treasures up his bright designs, 
 
 And works hia sovereign will. 
 
 Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take 
 The clouds you so much dread, 
 Are big with rnercy and shall break. 
 In blessings on your head. 
 
 Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, 
 But trnst him for his grace. 
 Behind a frowing Providence 
 He hides a smiling face. 
 2
 
 10 
 
 IT is purposes will ripen fast, 
 Unfoldiiig every hour, 
 The bud may have a bitter taste 
 Rut sweet will be the flower. 
 
 Blind unbelief is sure to err, 
 And scan his work in vain, — 
 God is his own interpreter. 
 And he will make it plain. 
 
 I do not quote this for the sake of amusing" my hearers 
 with poetry, but to administer the consolation with which 
 it abounds. Neither do I refer to the case of the unhap- 
 py author, because I think it in all respects parallel to 
 that of our dearly beloved brother whose sudden death 
 has called us together; but to illustrate the truth of the 
 text, that to some clouds and darkness are round about 
 the throne of God, but that it is true, that righteousness 
 and justice are the habitation thereof. 
 
 IV. The government of God when properly understood, 
 is a source of joy and gladness. This is a fact plainly as- 
 serted in the text: "The Lord reigneth, let the earth re- 
 joice; let the muUitude of isles be glad thereof.''^ For what 
 reason shall the earth rejoice .'' Because the Lord reign- 
 eth. For what reason shall the multitude of isles be glad.'' 
 Because the Lord reigneth. The Lord hath undivided 
 dominion — the Lord leigneth in the natural and in the 
 moral world. He doth not share the government of the 
 world with a semi-omnipotent adversary. What is done 
 the Lord hath done. 
 
 But why is the government of God a source of joy and 
 gladness ? Is it because he permits sin, and death, and 
 misery to exist ? No, for if these were the ends of his 
 government, instead of gladness and joy, we should have 
 anguish indescribable at the thought that he reigned. 
 Wily then is the government of God a source of joy and 
 gladness .'' Ans. because he overrules all events for 
 good — because benevolence is infused into every dispen- 
 sation of his Providence — because nothing takes place 
 without his wise permission — and because he never per- 
 mits any thing but what he will overrule for the benefit of 
 mankind. There are events which will cause ns sorrow, 
 when we disconnect them from the great purpose of God, 
 and view them as Jacob viewed the absence of his beloved 
 son ; but when, like him, we see the whole purpose of 
 God, when we see the marks of the divine hand on every 
 event, like him we shall rejoice. "The Lord reigneth,
 
 11 
 
 let the earth rejoice." And here let it be observed that 
 it is the earth, the ichole earth, tlmt is called on to rejoice — 
 it is the multitude o( the isles that are called on to be glad 
 because the Lord reigiieth. You see from this at once, 
 that the divine purpose embraces the everlasting good 
 of «// mankind; for why should the whole earth be called 
 on to rejoice at the reign of God, if that reign is to result 
 in the endless destruction of a part? We cannot rejoice 
 at our eternal ruin ; and if the government of God shall 
 end in the eternal ruin of any part, the smallest part, of 
 the creatures God has made, it were mockery to call on 
 the whole earth to rejoice because God reigned. In such 
 a case, that would be what would prevent the earth from 
 rejoicing. God " will have all men to be saved ;" 1 Tim. 
 ii. 4. and he ''worketh all things after the counsel of 
 that will." Eph. i: 11. Every thing, every thing is con- 
 spiring, in heaven above, and on earth beneath to that 
 great result. How reasonable then the words of the text, 
 " The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice." I should be 
 glad to pursue this sul)ject yet liirther ; but I am admon- 
 ished to pass to a more direct reference to the soleuin 
 event which has called us together. 
 
 Our brother, whose voice was heard on the last sab- 
 bath within these walls, is no more on earth. His cold 
 clay is brought to that place where his lovely forn) so of- 
 ten hath been seen. His congregation who have listened 
 with the deepest attention to his accents of love and sal- 
 vation, now come to drop a tear upon iiis shroud. The 
 family with which he resided, the relatives i'rom a dis- 
 tance, and one whose case exceeds in tenderness the rest, 
 and whose fond expectations have been dashed in a mo- 
 ment to the ground — these have all come to mingle their 
 sorrows and their prayers. The choir who chanted songs 
 of praise at his ordination to the cliristian ministry, have 
 sung his funeral dirge. We, his ministering brethren, 
 who loved him for his amiableness and his virtues, who 
 prized him for his talents, who doated upon him for his 
 usefulness, and who in his consecration laid our hands 
 upon him, have now come to lay our hands upon his 
 pall, and discharge the last office that men can do for one 
 another. Solemn, solemn beyond description, is this 
 scene. I entreat the society, the family with which he 
 died, the relatives, this whole assembly, to accept the 
 consolations afforded by the subject I have endeavored to 
 discuss. Believing that God reigns — that thoug-h clouds
 
 12 
 
 and darkness are round about him, yet justice and rig-ht- 
 eousness are the habitation of his throne; and let this as- 
 suage a sorrow that otherwise could not be mitigated. 
 
 I trust I shall be pardoned if I refer to the melancholy 
 means by which oiu' dearly beloved brother came to his 
 end. It is natural to inquire for the cause of an event so 
 utterly unexpected, the intelligence of which carried 
 astonishment to every heart. He had for a long time 
 been alilicted with a disease, which I am not competent to 
 de-cribe, and which, more than a year since, he informed 
 me would probably bring him to his grave. How far this 
 had an influence on the means of his death, I will not pre- 
 tend to say. Once or twice of late, in my intercourse 
 with him, I had perceived that his conversation and state- 
 ments slightly approached the marvellous; and I dis- 
 tinctly recollect telling him, a few weeks since, that he 
 was insane, although all I meant by it at the time was, 
 that his language was extravagant. He had been afHict- 
 ed, very severely afflicted, for two or three weeks previous 
 to his death, with the prevailing epidemic, which tended 
 greatly to increase the disease of his head, and to render 
 the pains to which he had become accustomed by long 
 suffering, excruciating almost beyond endurance. On 
 Sunday last, although his inability would have excused 
 him, his zeal for the cause he had espoused brought him 
 to this house, and he performed, I know not how vigo- 
 rously, the regular services. His diseases on Monday 
 were of a more aggravated character; and he supposed 
 himself on that afternoon to have had a fit, as he realized 
 that he had been in a state of insensibility into which he 
 had been thrown when no person was with him. The sen- 
 sations of his brain were imusual ; and he attempted a de- 
 scription of the strange feelings in his head to one of the 
 members of the family. This plain, unvarnished state- 
 ment contains all we know of his case. The strong pro- 
 bability is, that he awoke during an aberation of reason; 
 and lor the conduct of men when the powers of intellect 
 are prostrated, we cannot account. That he was not 
 jiossessed of reason when the fatal act was done, is as 
 certain, in my apprehension, as inference can make any 
 tiling. He had every thing earth could ailbrd to render 
 him happy. In his pecuniary concerns there was nothing 
 to make him uneasy. By his relatives he was regarded 
 ^vith the sincerest affection. The society with which he 
 labored, erred only in loving him too well, and setting
 
 13 
 
 their hearts too much upon him. The family in a neig-h- 
 boring town, in which the affections of his early manhood 
 centered, more than respected him ; and while they were 
 waitino- his dad entrance to their dwelling, the messen- 
 ger came to announce his sudden death. His ministering 
 brethren loved him ; and I have already declared, that 
 they prized him for his talents, and doated upon him for 
 his usefulness. In addition to the respect which we felt 
 for him as a young man of more than ordinary ability, his 
 amiableness excited a tender regard that adds too greatly 
 to the poignancy of our sorrows on the present occasion. 
 None of tliese circumstances which I have now stated 
 were hidden from him ; he must have been fully aware 
 of them all. The event of his death therefore, must be 
 attributed to an alienation of mind, which his complicated 
 diseases had produced. 
 
 In the sorrow which this event has occasioned, you 
 all participate — it has wrung your hearts with an inde- 
 scribable anguish. Not only this society, not only the 
 relatives, not only his particular friends, not only his min- 
 istering brethren, but all that ever knew him, whether 
 friends or opponents in religion, will sympathise with us 
 in our sorrows this day. But among the multitude op- 
 pressed with gloom, I see two or three who are whisper- 
 ing, "it was his doctrine that drove him to this. Here 
 we see the dreadful effects of the sentiments he has de- 
 fended." The sentiment of our beloved brother was, 
 that the Lord reigneth ; and this conviction led him to 
 rejoice. Does any one believe that a firm trust in God's 
 goodness, a belief that all our earthly afflictions will 
 be overruled for good — that the Lord is good to all and 
 that his tender mercies are over all his works, will make a 
 man unhappy, and unreconciled to God .'' The thought is 
 preposterous. No one who ever believed this sentiment 
 will suppose it can make a man sick of life ; and those 
 who believe it know the influence of it better than those 
 who do not. The deceased was heard to say, but a short 
 time before his death, that he should prefer to suffer the 
 heaviest lot of human ills, while blessed with the consola- 
 tions of Universalism, rather than possess all the earth 
 could afford, and believe in the horrid doctrines of the 
 Calvinistic creed. 
 
 Again, it has been said, that our departed brother had 
 been convicted of the falsity of his doctrine at the late 
 four-days meeting in this place ; and that the thought of
 
 14 
 
 having been engaged in preaching error, drove him to 
 desperation and death. These misguided sectaries are 
 blind, or they would see that they had refuted themselves. 
 For how, if the man had been brought to see the falsity 
 of his doctrine, and had been driven to desperation by the 
 thought of having preached error, how we say, in that 
 case, can it be true, that the influence of Universalism 
 caused the deed ? Men must be driven on by a blind fa- 
 tuity, who are the authors of an absurdity so highly pre- 
 posterous. It is true that our friend attended the late 
 four-days meeting in this village ; and it is also true that 
 he came home dissatisfied with what he saw and heard ; 
 and that he hath left us his testimony, almost his dy- 
 ing testimony, against such meetings, and the doctrines 
 inculcated at them. I have already referred to the cir- 
 cumstance, that on the last Sabbah, depressed by sickness, 
 with an imprudence that his zeal only can pardon, he per- 
 formed the regular services in this house. It was the 
 25ih of December, the supposed anniversary of our Sa- 
 viour's birth. His sermon in tlie morning was a happy 
 reference to that event, from tlie words of the angel, Matt, 
 i. 21, "thou shalt call his name Jesus, for lie shall save 
 his people from their sins." In proposing his subject, he 
 said, " There are two points of doctrine which demand 
 our attention, and embrace the whole subject of our dis- 
 course : 1. Who, or liow many, are Jesus's people.'' 
 2. Will he through the power of God completely perform 
 the work of saving his people from their sins .'"' He pro- 
 ceeded to show that all people belong to Christ, and 
 brought forward a full share of quotations from the word 
 of God to prove that fact. On the second part of the divis- 
 ion, — "will Jesus accomplish the purpose of his mission," 
 he was peculiarly happy. He said, "should any one 
 doubt this, let him seriously inquire, what is there to hin- 
 der the salvation of the world .'' Would a good man, who 
 hates sin, and loves righteousness, throw obstacles to the 
 way } Would holy angels .'' Would Christ Jesus himself.'' 
 Would Almighty God ? No : God wills all shall be saved, 
 in conformity to which Christ came to save them : angels 
 rejoiced when the Saviour was born: the saints in heaven 
 are glad when the sinner turns from his sins : and saints 
 on earth pray that all may turn to the Lord, and obey 
 him in righteouness" In concluding he said, "we may 
 rest assured that Christ will save his people from their 
 sins, which people are all mankind." On the afternoon he
 
 15 
 
 preached his last sermon. It wns from the words of Jere- 
 miah, Lamen. iii. 39. "Wherefore doth a livinsf man 
 complain, a man for the punishment of his sins ?" In this 
 sermon he says, "we think the scriptures, when properly 
 understood, no where teach the doctrine of endless mise- 
 ry, therefore, we do not feel it our duty to preach it. 
 But we feel it our duty to preach against it, as an error 
 which has been the occasion of more mischief and misery 
 in the world, than all others together." These quot-ations 
 from his last two sermons, fully and unanswerably settle 
 the character of the report which has been put into cir- 
 culation . 
 
 I am warned by the lensjth of time I have occupied, to bring 
 this service to a close. What shall I say to the mourning rela- 
 tives here present ? I stand too much in need of consolation 
 myself to discharge faithfully the duty of dispensing it to others. 
 I know that one of the kindest of sons has fallen — a generous, 
 faithful brother. To allude to the situation of one whose hopes 
 and heart were bound up in the welfare of the deceased, and 
 who comes to this house afflicted and broken down, is a duty 
 that my weak heart disqualifies me to perform. I commend the 
 mourners one and all to the consolations of the religion of Jesus 
 Christ. The family in whose bosom the awful event occurred, 
 deserves our sincerest sympathy and commisseration. I pray 
 God to reward them for all their sacrifices in the great cause of 
 universal love, and for their labors and services since the solemn 
 transaction. 
 
 I cannot persuade myself to close, without addressing a few 
 words to the members of the society in this place. Brethren, I 
 have been with you in your joys, I am now with you in your 
 sorrows : I found you faithful then, I hope to find you faithful 
 now. You have met with a great loss. In him whose death you 
 mourn, you were all united ; and you never cherished in regard 
 to him any other fear, than that you should lose his labors. This 
 fear has come upon you in ten fold severity. Your faith blooms 
 the most brightly when darkness reigns around. Remember the 
 last sermons your departed pastor preached. I know you can- 
 not refrain from mourning, but you must not despond. God 
 will send you another pastor, and fill the breach he has wisely 
 broken down. Let this event bind you the more closely to- 
 gether. Every one must fill his place, and do his duty, and 
 your prosperity cannot be hindered. Your ministering brethren 
 will stand ready to assist you, in every way consistent with their 
 paramount duties to the societies with which they are connected.
 
 
 16 
 
 Brethren, be united, love one another, — let the tears that are 
 shed on this occasion cement you together in one body. Be 
 sober, be vigilant. Be stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding 
 in the works of the Lord. 
 
 I trust this assembly will see in passing events, a lesson on the 
 instability of human hopes, on the vicisitudes of life, the uncer- 
 tain nature of earthly things, and the necessity of setting their 
 affections on truth, and virtue, and immortality. Lord, teach us 
 so to nufliiber our days, that we may incline our hearts unto 
 \visdom. Turn our feet- to thy testimonies, lead us in the way 
 of life, and at last bless us, and ali mankind, with incorruption 
 and immortality, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Sa- 
 viour, Amen. -^-^^ 
 
 m'^