ocrity have not, in many instances, emerged from an obscure condition, and rendered important service to their generation. What I would imply is, that where God designs to render an individual eminently useful, whose condition in life would seem to oppose formidable obstacles to it, it will generally be found that he has given him some peculiar original qualifications for encountering these obstacles successfully.

But it is not merely in the native character of the mind, but in the arrangements of Divine providence, that we are to look for the cause of eminent usefulness in what would seem eminently unpropitious circumstances. If we examine closely in such cases, we shall generally find that God has set over one thing against another, and that that condition whose general features seem most uninviting, has in it, after all, some element of improvement-something which may assist to the formation of a useful character, and even be a passport to future eminence. And a moment's reflection may satisfy us that such an arrangement is admirably adapted to develope and strengthen the intellectual powers. On the one hand, there are difficulties enough to require the most vigorous exertions to overcome them; and on the other, there are facilities enough to encourage the hope of ultimate success; so that there is a double influence operating to a sustained and diligent course of effort at mental improvement. In many cases, indeed, there may appear to be such a

preponderance of difficulties, and the path to eminence so entirely hedged up, that, to a superficial observer, it may seem impossible that the individual should ever escape from his original obscurity; and yet, to the more scrutinizing observation of the person who is most of all interested, there may appear enough that is favourable to awaken hope and stimulate to exertion; and it will usually be found, in such cases, that the degree of eminence attained, other things being equal, is in proportion to the amount of difficulty

overcome.

In the case of the venerable man whose character is exhibited in this volume, there was a combination of unpropitious circumstances at his entrance upon life, which, if the idea of his attaining to future eminence in the Christian ministry had been suggested, would doubtless, with almost every one, have stamped it as a visionary project. But there were, after all, some circumstances pertaining to his condition of a favourable kind, and his instinctive sagacity led him to discover them, while his eager desire of knowledge prompted him to avail himself of them. Though his lot was cast in a neighbourhood which, at that time, was favoured with limited advantages for intellectual improvement, yet a few books were actually within his reach, and if his poverty forbade his reading them by the light of a candle, he knew how to appreciate and improve the light of a kitchen fire. And though he was cast

helpless upon the world, without a friend and without a farthing, he was thrown into a family who evinced towards him an uncommon degree of kindness, and were disposed, according to their ability, to second his humble efforts at improvement. It deserves especially to be remarked that this family was distinguished by the fear of God; and it was no doubt the influence of an exemplary Christian conversation which served chiefly to mould the elements of his moral character, and ultimately to imbue him with a deep and pervading piety. Had his lot been cast in a family of a different description, where he had been treated with cold neglect instead of being fostered with parental tenderness, or where he had breathed the atmosphere of infidelity and blasphemy rather than of piety and prayer, is it not reasonable to suppose that he might have proved a scourge rather than a blessing to society?—a degraded wanderer over the world, instead of an eminently devoted and honoured minister of Jesus Christ?

And the providence of God is often not less strikingly or kindly manifested in indicating to the individual an appropriate field of labour, than in combining circumstances to rescue him from early degradation. Had Mr. Haynes, even after he became a preacher, attempt. ed to plant himself in the bosom of refined and cultivated society, he might have found himself engaged in an impracticable enterprise; and not improbably, if he had subsequently found his proper place, would have

gone to it with his energies depressed, and his spirit broken by a bad beginning. But, instead of seeking great things for himself, he chose a retired and comparatively uncultivated field, where the peculiarity of his history would be least likely to awaken prejudice against his ministrations. And, more than that, the field of his early labours was overrun to a great extent with different forms of infidelity; and the unusual fertility and quickness of his mind, in connexion with his previous familiarity with the cavils and objections of unbelievers, singularly qualified him for such a sphere. The result has been, that the trophies which he gained in some of his conflicts with the enemies of true Christianity, survive to his honour on both sides of the Atlantic. Perhaps it had not been easy to have selected another field in which both his original powers and early training would have conspired to render him so much at home, and in which such a mind as his was so pre-eminently needed.

It must appear on the slightest reflection, that there is much in the history of such a life as that of the subject of this memoir, to aid young men of promising dispositions and talents, but of an humble lot, to encounter the obstacles which lie in their way to usefulness and distinction. It must be acknowledged, indeed, that Mr. Haynes had the advantage of possessing finer original powers than fall to the lot of the mass of mankind; but, on the other hand, it is equally certain that few have

ever risen under the pressure of such adverse circum stances; so that, if he had more power than most others, he had proportionally greater difficulties to surmount. Is there a child at this moment in some one of the haunts of wretchedness around me, in whose bosom is kindled up the great and noble desire of becoming an enlightened and useful man ;-of moving in the walks of respectability, or becoming a fountain of intelligence and blessing to his neighbourhood, or devoting himself to the service of God in the ministry of reconciliation;-shall I bid that child extinguish this rising desire, and tell him that the degradation into which he is cast is too deep to warrant the hope that he shall ever escape from it, and exhort him to make the best of his ignoble condition, because it admits of no remedy? No, I will do no such thing; but I will approach him with looks and words of encouragement, and I will tell him that there is no obstacle that will not yield to perseverance; and then I will go over with the story of Lemuel Haynes, to show him that I speak words of truth and soberness. And it were easy to refer to many other instances of a similar character, in which individuals have triumphed over the most appalling obstacles to eminence, and, from the humblest lot, have actually risen to the highest places of influence and honour. Yes, there are men now in our own country whose influence is felt at the extremities of the nation-men in the various departments of literature, and