feeling, and gently admonish them to return to the close connexion of their alliances, and, while they are in fond communion its influence will not be perceptible. It shall be broken only by the voice of Him who will furnish them with the powers of a spiritual existence in immortality, where they neither marry no rare given in marriage.'

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Mr. Fuller was a sincere Christian. He believed all that he professed, and was free from every stain of infidelity. Receiving the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as a revelation from God to man, he made them the rule of his faith and life in every matter of religion and of duty. He was "not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ;" and he sought no apology for believing the whole truth of God. He made no attempts to explain away the miracles of Christ; nor did he deny the miraculous conception of Him who is the only begotten of the Father. And we may incidentally remark that if the first and second chapters of Luke are not true, Christianity may well be considered a fable! If Jesus Christ was no more than a descendant of Adam, of the earth, earthy, our preaching is vain, and our faith is also vain!

But the soul of the departed was not corrupted I with the skeptical speculations, for which some professing Christians have shown a strange fondness. Though gifted with a mind of uncommon powers, he displayed the humility of a Christian, and blended no false "philosophy and vain deceit" with his faith in the Redeemer of

the world. "I unite with you (said he in a letter which I received from him in 1835,) in deploring the sad state of religion, and the prevalence of vile infidelity in the interior of this State, as also with thousands of pretended liberals in this city. You know my voice and my whole heart are enlisted against these evils." He was a man of truly generous mind; but he saw no propriety in applying the term "liberal" to the scoffers of religion, and the enemies of righteousness and truth. But he loved the gospel, and knew the power of pure and deep religious feelings. And in life and in death he gave full proof of his ministry; and showed forth the excellency and worth of our holy religion.

As a preacher, Mr. Fuller was excelled by few, if any, in the Universalist ministry. He was mild in spirit, but earnest in manner; eloquent in speech, and sound in logic. With considerable confidence in his own abilities, and a dislike to plodding studies, he read but little and wrote less. And as he depended more upon the impulses of his mind at the time of speaking, than upon any special preparations for the work, his public efforts were very unequal. It is believed that he sometimes selected his text and arranged his subject after entering the pulpit. And while most of his discourses were of a very· high order, others were sadly deficient in arrangement, and seemed to have neither aim nor object. But he was always zealous and fervent in spirit; and the instances in which he failed to interest and instruct his hearers must have been few. And when it is considered that he suffer

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ed the effects of disease probably from the commencement of his ministry, it seems truly astonishing that he performed so much labor and with such great success. In the exercise, of prayer he was without a superior. His words came from the heart warm with life, and breathed the spirit of devotion into his hearers. The honest sincerity with which he poured forth the simple but eloquent strains of supplication to God, could not be mistaken. His soul was engaged in the work and he loved the service. Prayer was his delight in sickness-prayer was the last comfort of his soul in the hour of death.

CHAPTER VIII.

His Last Sickness.-Death and Burial.

MR. FULLER used facetiously to say that he "was cut out for a large man, but spoiled in the making." He was early the victim of disease; and the first sickness that he ever suffered affected his lungs. And I think it may well be questioned whether he was ever from infancy to the period of his death entirely free from disease. He was subject to many changes, it is true, and at times seemed to be healthy. But he is known to have been feeble in body until his removal to Philadelphia, in 1833, and a post mortem examination of his body induced the belief that he must have been affected with pulmonary consumption, of which he died, at least eight years. His natural cheerfulness of spirit gave him the appearance of health while an insidious disease was constantly preying upon his vitals. And his ardent zeal in the work of his profession led him to pursue his public labors when his strength was insufficient.

Several years before his death he became subject to bleeding at the lungs, and was in consequence sometimes rendered unable to preach. But with apparently little concern for his health, he would again enter into active and laborious service, when prudence would have admonished

him to forbear. This course was continued until December, 1839, when he preached his last sermon, and betook himself to the retirement of his chamber. Still he could not think that his lungs were dangerously affected; and he expected soon to resume his wonted avocations. But a fatal cough ensued, his strength failed, and he was soon wasted away to little more than a skeleton. In common with most consumptive persons he cherished the delusive hope that every new application of medicine would renew his health, and soon revive his wasting energies. His confidence in the system of medical practice according to which he was treated, was unbounded and even obstinate; and aside from his Christian hopes, if any thing reconciled him to death it was the thought that he should . die in the hands of Thomsonians! I do not mean by this remark that he was not properly treated on that subject I have no opinion to express. And from witnessing an examination of his body after death, I was well convinced that he died because it was not possible for him to live any longer under any kind of medical treatment. But I mean that his unreserved confidence in the system strengthened his hopes of recovery, and for a long time caused him to feel insensible to the certain approaches of death.

Some time before his last confinement in sickness, Mr. Fuller engaged to become the editor of the Nazarene," a weekly Universalist paper commenced in Philadelphia in January, 1840. He found himself quite unable to prepare the first number by the appointed time, and its pub