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This was the more remarkable, as from the terms of his engagement such activity was neither required nor expected; much of it, and the best part, was purely a labor of love. He had also arrived at that age when men feel justified in relaxing their exertions. The attractions of his home, of hist visiters, and of his beautiful place were, moreover, such as might have wholly absorbed the interest of a common man. Nor did this faithfulness fall upon an unfruitful soil. Rarely have all the members of a society, young and old, been more attached to their minister. His sudden death touched every heart with a grief, tender, deep, silent, as when a parent is taken. It was evinced at the funeral, on the next Sabbath, by the drooping head and the trickling tears of nearly every one of the congregation.

Mr. Ripley's constitution inclined him to action, rather than meditation,-to be a practical man, rather than a scholar. He had a strong native good sense, which saw at a glance the real points of character in persons, and the available aspects of circumstances and subjects. In the words so happily applied to his venerable father, "He would put his faculties upon what came before them with a sort of honest strength, which showed any thing but a want of power.' But it was of the intuitive and discursive kind, that belongs to the practical man, rather than that connected and patient thinking which marks the metaphysician and philosopher. Mr. Ripley never rested until he had enacted his thought. He loved to look at truth clothed in flesh and blood, rather than after it had undergone an intellectual dissection. Still, he put a high value upon the labors of the metaphysician, the theologian, and the general scholar, and could skilfully avail himself of their results. And, amidst all his multiform employments, he never forsook his study, but kept up much of the habits and tastes of the scholar. If his thoughts were redolent of the spirit of real life, they showed that they had been born of meditation. His mind was well stored with the current theology and literature of the day. He had a moral discernment, true by nature, and well trained in the school of Christ. Any thing unfair, oblique, or bordering on dishonesty, shocked him. The blood would mantle to his cheeks, and he would give vent to his feelings without regard to persons. He was remarkable for his openness and candor. The presence of a person, who had excited a strong emotion of admiration or disapprobation, could never restrain

him from a decided and even abrupt expression of it. He sometimes violated, in this way, the conventional rules of courtesy ; but his bluntness had this merit, that none doubted his genuine feeling. It had the still greater merit of making the rebuke or encouragement of an honest heart tell on all of evil or good that appeared in social life.

Mr. Ripley was generous to his heart's core. This trait showed itself in his hospitality. His whole nature never was in such high and genial action as when surrounded by a large circle of guests. What was said of the "old manse in the days of his father was equally true after he returned to it. "No horse from the Eastern country "" out of town) "would go by his gate." It showed itself in his charities.

"His house was known to all the vagrant train.
Careless their merits or their faults to scan,
His pity gave ere charity began."

(or from

The only dissatisfaction he ever expressed, after returning to Concord, was, that his restricted income diminished his charities. The talents and success of his brethren in the ministry were rejoiced in as heartily when they exceeded, as when they fell short of his own. He never looked upon his young colleagues as persons coming to steal the hearts of the people from him; but, in the words of one of them, "he was always a father to them." And we cannot forbear adding, in the beautiful words of a friend : "I may also truly say that it was from him we learned the possibility of what has so often been denied, that the happiness of the conjugal relation might be unimpaired, though the wife were the object of admiring reverence, instead of tender condescension."

As might be inferred from what we have said, Mr. Ripley was eminently social. He could never meet a human face, although it was a child's, in the street, that his social feelings did not flow out in kind, humorous, and hearty expressions, and glow in his open beaming face. He was the best illustration of the words of the wise man, "As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man." in his own quiet river, "the rich clouds float through the unruffled bosom of the stream," so all the various moods of feeling in his fellow-beings were reflected back from the depths of his sympathetic nature with a softened beauty and a warmer glow. He often surprised his friends by the ex

As,

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Character of his Preaching.

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hibition of wit and humor, as well as by lively anecdote and pointed expressions, that never suffered a moment to hang heavily in his presence. In him was fulfilled another saying of the wise man, "As iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance [faculties] of his friend." It was not until he came into society that he seemed entirely himself. At the risk of trespassing on private correspondence, we must quote from one who had known him for many years, and than whom there could not be a better judge. Beginning at his first introduction, when a young man, she "At first we stood on our dignity, but some home truth or lively jest soon brought us to a compromise, and from that day he took possession of a place in our regard which he never vacated. During the frequent interviews we have enjoyed with him, I have no recollection of ever having passed a dull minute in his society. The light of a cheerful countenance, the prompt repartee, the glowing eulogy on absent friends, an unslumbering vigilance in detecting any absurdity in our opinions or statements, produced the liveliest excitement, and kept us always on the alert in his presence, so that his visits were an unfailing gala-season. His most unceremonious speeches were tempered with a good-humor and archness, which made them preferable to the most elaborate compliments, and now gild the memory of our intercourse with him as something distinct from the common courtesies of friendship." From these qualities, and his tender humanity, and quick sympathy, united with a deep piety, we can judge of the character of his parochial visits, and readily account for the deep hold he had on the hearts of his people.

As a preacher Mr. Ripley was just what we should expect from this view of his character, not learned, but full of the fruits of observation and experience, not sentimental and imaginative, but full of humanity and a devout spirit, not speculative, "with the wisdom of words,"` but bringing the Gospel home, by his strong sense and manly experience, to the business and bosoms" of his hearers. Intellectual acuteness and elaborate sentiment, compared with these qualities, are what the polished and unmeaning courtesies of fashionable life are to the spontaneous utterances of the heart of a friend. We are confirmed in this judgment by the testimony of a very competent hearer of Mr. Ripley, who says, "His preaching was Scriptural, plain, direct, and

practical, never fearing to offend, or hesitating about the likes or dislikes of the audience; and, withal, there was great earnestness and sincerity about it. You never suspected him of uttering sentiments that he did not feel the full force of himself, or of saying or doing any thing to be seen or heard of men. There was a great propriety, a harmony, a uniform excellence, a beautiful consistency, about all his performances."

And now we must take leave of him with the feelings of the friends of an Apostle at their parting interview, sorrowing most of all that we shall " see his face no more. It is a sad thought, that we shall see his face, and hear his voice, and feel the warm grasp of his hand no more in the public assembly, in the religious festival, in the social walk, in his own happy and hospitable home. We can fully sympathize with the inmates of that home, and appreciate their loss. Our first feeling at a bereavement like this is, that a Being of infinite benevolence could hardly dispense with such an agent in this world of sin and sorrow. But He can raise up other and better agents, and it should be our desire and prayer and effort, as it was Elisha's, that the mantle of the departing man of God may fall on us. Belt B. F.

4.7. Butzsuch.

ART. III. THE CLAIMS OF THE MINISTRY.

Ar the present time, when an unusual degree of attention is directed among us to our own position as a branch of the Christian Church, it may be well to introduce some reflections on a kindred subject. We would speak, then, of the claims of the ministry, especially among Unitarians, on those who are about to select their pursuit in life.

To young men, who, having nearly completed their preliminary education, look forth upon the world in some uncertainty as to which of its various paths they shall hereafter tread, possessed of moderately good constitutions, respectable talents and attainments, virtuous character, and religious faith, these remarks are particularly addressed. Perhaps, however, they may present to others some considerations of a useful kind. To members of the clerical profession who may be unduly depressed by its burdens, and to parish

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ioners who suppose that a pastor's life is one bright day of indolent repose, they may suggest some thoughts calculated to remove their respective errors. Though advocating the claims of the ministry, we would not urge them unfairly. Rather would we exhibit, in clear view, the disadvantages to which the profession is subject, that we may do something towards removing them, where circumstances permit, and that those who enter this field of labor may be prepared to encounter its unavoidable difficulties.

There are some, however, whom we would not include in this appeal. There are those to whom, from a decided tendency to consumption, the choice of a studious occupation is suicidal; there are those to whom, from natural disadvantages either of mind or of utterance, the selection of such a profession would be certain failure. Let such forbear. Above all would we address this counsel to those who cannot, in view of their future calling, rise to any higher thoughts than such as are connected with its pecuniary results, to whom there is no attractiveness in the idea of doing good, no pleasure in the conception of being "fellow-workers with God." Let them select other employments; they have no call to this. No. Beyond all other motives, so far beyond them as to exclude them from comparison, in the mind of him who worthily desires to enter the profession of the ministry, should be the purpose of doing good, in the noblest, the most godlike sense of that expression. To serve God by leading his wandering children back to him, this is the great object of the ministry; this should be regarded as its highest privilege, its noblest reward. If, then, in what follows, we should appear to dwell at undue length on other considerations, it will not be because they are regarded as of equal importance in themselves, but that we may meet the objections which are most commonly urged, and which sometimes, being considered unanswerable, induce young men to turn away from the profession without a fair examination of its claims.

The very lowest of these objections is, that the ministry does not furnish its members with sufficient means of support. This argument claims our first attention, according to the well-known rules of logical arrangement, for the very reason that it is the lowest.

There are, we admit, no high prizes of fortune presented to the successful in this line of life. Large salaries are paid by very few churches, and the largest are but moderate, - 4TH S. VOL. IX. NO. II.

VOL. XLIV.

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