"O Jonathan, thou wast slain upon thy high places! I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan !"—DAVID.

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THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS

OF

MR. PEARCE,

THESE MEMOIRS,

COMPILED WITH THEIR APPROBATION,

AND FROM A TENDER REGARD TO HIS MEMORY,

ARE AFFECTIONATELY

AND RESPECTFULLY

INSCRIBED BY

THE COMPILER.

INTRODUCTION.

It was observed by this excellent man, during his affliction, that he never till then gained any personal instruction from our Lord's telling Peter by WHAT DEATH he should glorify God. To die by a consumption had used to be an object of dread to him: but "O my dear Lord," said he, "if by this death I can most glorify thee, I prefer it to all others." The lingering death of the cross, by which our Saviour expired, afforded him an opportunity of uttering some of the most affecting sentences which are left on sacred record: and to the lingering death of this, his honoured servant, we are indebted for a considerable part of the materials which appear in these Memoirs. Had he been taken away suddenly, there had been no opportunity for him to have expressed his sentiments and feelings in the manner he has now done, in letters to his friends. While in health, his hands were full of labour, and consequently his letters were written mostly upon the spur of occasion; and related principally to business, or to things which would be less interesting to Christians in general. It is true, even in them it was his manner to drop a few sentiments, towards the close, of an experimental kind; and many of