11
to witness the sorrow they manifested in taking their last farewell of their aged instructor: while he, as he shook them by the hand, gave to each his parting blessing.
From this interesting period his health rapidly declined, and his bodily and mental vigour so quickly forsook him, that he afterwards attempted only once or twice to address his people from the pulpit; and for about a month before his death, he was almost entirely confined to his own house, exhibiting day after day, evident marks of approaching dissolution. Such was the activity to which he was habituated, and such his delight in the public and private duties of his office, that when the hopes of resuming them became fainter, he felt rather uneasy. An impression also, which certainly he had less reason than many others to indulge, that he had done little for Christ, and for promoting the best interests of his beloved people, accompanied with severe bodily pain, in no small degree agitated his mind, and unfitted him for conversation. But as the interesting crises approached, his mind became more tranquil, and seemed to lose its strong attachment to the activities of life; and on the morning of the last day
