obtained. It was performed in December, 1826, and January, 1827. He visited a number of the principal towns in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, and travelled a distance of eight hundred and twenty-two miles. About this time, he wrote to a beloved friend as follows. "Though by accepting the office which I now hold, the sacrifice of personal interest and enjoyment is greater than I ever made before, yet I have been enabled, I trust, to feel that it is good to forsake all and follow Christ. I have rarely, if ever, been so sensible how precious a source of support and consolation that blessed Redeemer is, to those who are willing to give up all to him, and serve him wherever he calls. We have a great work to do. I hope we may, by God's blessing, be able to change the spiritual destiny of millions of our countrymen, and open a fountain of salvation, which shall send its streams to the ends of the earth. Let us be humble, dependent, self-denying, patient, earnest, full of faith, and full of zeal, and persevere even unto death in the good work, and future generations will bless God for our efforts."

To an early friend, he writes, "I pity you, I pity any man, any people, who are expecting to sunder such ties as I have sundered. But how often have I thought of Paul's resolution not to confer with flesh and blood. Certainly I had all that a minister and pastor could desire-saving more personal piety, and still higher success in winning souls to Christ. But what things even of a spiritual kind were gain to me, I have been made willing to count loss for the greater interests of the Saviour's kingdom. I have never, dear friend, lost sight of that time of solemn consecration to the Lord, of which you were witness, when I was first brought back from the precipice of destruction. The spirit then breathed into my soul, I hope by the inspiration of the Almighty, I desire to cherish to my dying day; and that was the spirit of absolute, unreserved submission to God, and devotedness to his will."

In the months of February and March, 1827, Mr. Cornelius performed an agency in the large towns in the State of Maine, for the purpose of establishing scholarships, and of visiting various literary institutions. While absent, he travelled five hundred and seventeen miles.

The subjoined paragraphs from his letters will show that his mental sufferings were sometimes severe, yet, "though cast down he was not destroyed."

"Bath, Me., Feb. 12, 1827.

"My heart would leap at the privilege of once more having a home upon earth; but to this precious enjoyment I must be crucified. I desire to be content, and to wait for rest after my work is done, and I have reached, if I ever shall, a home in heaven."

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Hallowell, Feb. 22. Augusta. In regard It has been a month A winter of storms

"I came here this morning from to myself, I feel afraid to say much. so far which I shall not soon forget. without, but a more terrible winter within. There has been but one period of my life, in which, so far as I can recollect, my soul has been in greater trials, and that was when it pleased God first to raise me from the slumbers of moral death. Never have I had to contend with a stronger current, or to wage a harder spiritual warfare. Eclipse has followed eclipse, till darkness almost total has spread over my mind, intercepted the beams of heavenly light, and cast a portentous gloom over all my prospects. And though it has pleased God to change the scene in some measure, for a few days past, I am well convinced that I shall sink as low as ever if he does not hold me up. I hope when I see you, you will excuse me from sayingmuch on this subject, or from adverting particularly to my feelings during this season of trial. They have been

aggravated by incidents and circumstances growing out of the very great change in my situation, and the almost utter violation of my habits of study and reflection for seven years past. I find the less I converse about some of these changes, the easier is the work of controlling my feelings. Another difficulty, and perhaps the greatest, is, in reconciling myself to the business of charitable solicitations, for which I have a great and increasing aversion. The poor opportunity which it leaves for mental improvement, the continual solicitude which it induces, and the dissipation of heart which it is apt to bring along with it, makes me to dread it more and more. My feelings are entirely different from what they were when I could look forward to a few weeks or months, and think that then I should be released. Now it is, for a long time to come, to be a part of my official duty. But I desire to feel daily and hourly, and to the bottom of my heart, that I am not my own; that what things were gain to me, should be counted loss for Christ; that this is not my rest; that to live for eternity is my duty; and to do the most I can for the cause of Christ in the little time which is allotted to me on earth. It may be that my period of labor here will be short, but be it longer or shorter, my prayer to God is, that I may be doing my duty at the post which Christ assigns me, be it where it may. I give up my wife and children to this blessed Redeemer, and living or dying, implore for them his favor, which is better than any thing else."

The ensuing letter refers to an expected union between the American and Presbyterian Education Societies.

"Rev. and dear Sir,-As it is now decided that my labors are hereafter to be devoted to the cause of the

American Education Society, I feel anxious to express to you and the other gentlemen in New York, who have requested that a part of my time should be devoted to the interests of the Presbyterian Education Society, my readiness, as an individual, to enter heart and hand, into any measures which may tend to unite the energies of the two societies, and in this way to combine the efforts of the whole community, in one noble and grand enterprize. I regard the object as one, and I firmly believe we may make our exertions converge to one point. Let the two denominations, which are in fact but one body of Christians, combine their counsels and their resources, and with God's blessing, we shall be able in a good degree, to supply, speedily, the wants of our own country, to raise up hundreds of faithful and successful missionaries for the heathen, and to lay a foundation that shall change the destinies for eternity of millions in future ages.

"I feel oppressed with the responsibleness which in the providence of God is laid upon me, to carry forward this great system of benevolence; but I rely for aid, under God, upon the thousands in New England and out of it, who have for years been weeping over the desolations of Zion, and sighing for the spiritual emancipation of a world in bondage.

"The board under whose immediate direction I act, are prepared to attempt great things, as well as to expect them. Their views, I am sure, are in the best sense expanded and liberal; they wish to make common cause with the friends of the Redeemer every where; and they will cheerfully unite in any measures by which the strength of the whole country may be brought to bear, in the most effectual manner, upon this great enterprize of Christian charity."

The consummation of the union mentioned in the pre

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ceding letter was effected in the spring of 1827. The sphere of operations of the Presbyterian branch, was to be the middle States. It had previously cultivated a larger field. About one hundred young men were patronized by the society. My heart rejoices," says Mr. Cornelius, "in the smile of heaven upon this holy alliance, in the true sense of that term, between New York and New England. The hand of God is most clearly to be seen in these arrangements for a united and extended system of benevolent enterprize. The overwhelming demands which our country and the world are making upon our compassion and our aid, are too great for local and divided efforts ever to accomplish, and God is preparing his people to make an onset, which shall cause the firmest pillars of the empire of Satan to tremble. Let us do all we can to encourage and hasten this mighty combination, and scatter terror through the kingdom of darkness. The God of hosts is our leader, and will certainly conduct us to victory."

The following was addressed to a western correspondent.

66 Andover, March 14, 1827. "Rev. and dear Sir,-It is with many recollections of the pleasure which I took in your society several years ago, that I now sit down to renew in some degree that pleasure, by addressing a few lines to you on a subject which I am well assured is deeply interesting to your feelings. After seven years of delightful labor in the pastoral office, among a numerous, united, and most affectionate flock, I find myself called by the voice of my brethren and friends, who I cannot but regard as uttering the still higher voice of God, to engage in an arduous and difficult enterprize, the successful prosecution of which, is no longer doubted to be of essential consequence to the spirit