men adopt;-men who deal in harsh complaints, and illiberal comparisons, and not in the soft and winning words of encouragement. At the same time, Mr. Cornelius was not in the habit of palliating or excusing the apathy and avarice of Christians. His appeals were in a striking degree addressed to the conscience. He felt that here, as well as in the pastoral office, he was commissioned to "charge them that are rich, not to trust in uncertain riches, but to be willing to communicate, and ready to distribute." But in his severest reproofs he was affection

ate.

He spoke to the avaricious professor, "weeping." He considered a miserly disposition, not as a sin against himself, or the cause which he was pleading, but as a dishonor to Him, "who became poor for our sakes." Of course, when he found occasion to warn the illiberal professor, as well as to comfort the poor widow with her two mites, his admonitions were like "medicine to the bones," for they led the delinquent to that repentance "which worketh the peaceable fruits of righteousness."

One of the principal causes of his uniform success was the air of cheerfulness and hope which he threw around him. The words of some men are full of unlucky auguries, discouraging all with whom they come in contact. Their sun is always in disastrous eclipse." Their feelings become morose, and their energies cramped. Mr. Cornelius accomplished great things because he expected great things. It was delightful to witness the glow of hope which animated his countenance, when commencing a great undertaking. It was the almost unfailing signal and precursor of success.

In enforcing his object upon the attention of people, he was willing to repeat the same arguments and facts. He had little of that vanity which leads its possessor to search for new modes of expression, and new trains of thought, at the expense of useful impression. This is probably

one of the severest sacrifices which an agent is called to make. It must be exceedingly irksome to an aspiring mind, to trace the same weary round from year to year. It operates as a chill upon an inventive fancy; and in fact it impedes the whole intellectual progress.

An agent will not accomplish his purposes by addressing exclusively or principally the most cultivated portion of his audience. The arguments or appeals which will reach them, would be powerless upon the mass of hearers. His time is limited to a single sermon or a single Sabbath. He cannot of course stop to portray those aspects of his subject, which are most interesting to his own mind. He must bring the old things out of his treasures, almost exclusively. There is, indeed, some scope for invention and variety of illustration; but in general, an agent must consent to sacrifice his own mental improvement, for the greater good of his Master's kingdom.

Mr. Cornelius never allowed himself to disparage other kindred institutions. His example and his principles, in this respect, were of the most honorable and elevated character. Some agents, whose theory is right on this subject, almost invariably run counter to it in their practice. The temptation to do thus is by no means slight. To be successful in his business, the solicitor must have elevated conceptions of its importance. Its various relations must become familiar to his mind. The cause must be frequently presented to his Saviour, in his most favored addresses at the throne of grace. It will thus acquire a sacred character, and become incorporated with his best thoughts and feelings. When he rises to present its claims, the whole field of his vision is filled, and it is a wonder, if he does not give a diminished importance to every other philanthropic plan. Mr. Cornelius was not only correct in theory, but he set a watch over the door of his lips. He rarely, if ever, put himself in the attitude

of a special pleader. He had maturely weighed the bearings of the different benevolent associations, and he justly considered them as elementary and fundamental parts of one great whole. For several of them, he had given his personal exertions. To all, he was in the habit of liberally contributing of his substance, as God gave him opportunity. Each of them found him, at some period of his life, an earnest and successful advocate.

His love of the great doctrines of the gospel was not in the least diminished, by his being so long occupied on the out-posts of Christianity. On these doctrines he built his hopes of eternal life. He made them the foundation of holy action. He placed the necessity of education societies, in the fact of the total depravity of man, and that no influence can recover him but that of an omnipotent Spirit, exerted through the divinely appointed means of preaching the gospel. His sermons, for various objects of charity, not only proceeded on the assumption of the truth of these doctrines, but were themselves, not unfrequently, specimens of clear doctrinal statement. discourses did not degenerate into charity-lectures, nor terminate in the common-places of a worldly philanthropy. They were impressive exhibitions of evangelical truth. This was evidently one reason of his great success. Holy men of God loved to listen to his appeals, because they savored so much of the inspired volume. Unbelievers also were not unfrequently impressed by some casual remark in his sermons, or by some direct appeal, of the necessity of "repentance towards God and of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." The number is not small, it is believed, who will ascribe their şalvation to the instrumentality of those sermons, whose general object was to excite Christians to benevolent effort.

It is important to remark, in this connection, that he was always welcomed in towns and churches where there

existed revivals of religion. It was sometimes, indeed, considered advisable to postpone the solicitation of money for a charitable object, from congregations which were enjoying the special influence of the Holy Spirit. But this was not generally practised. He was enabled to enter with his whole heart into the work of his Lord, and to labor as though the direct promotion of piety had been the single object of his life; at the same time giving such an aspect to his remarks, in behalf of his particular mission, as in the highest degree promoted his design, and also left an impression favorable to the progress of the revival of religion. His habits as a pastor were of inestimable service to him. He could fully sympathize with his brethren, in their trials and discouragements. He knew the avenues to their hearts, and how to enlist their best services in his behalf. Their hearty co-operation, which he thus secured at the beginning of his labors, was one cause of his uniform success. In the sense of Paul, he became all things to his ministerial brethren, that he might win the assistance of all. He was fully aware of the diversity in theological views, and in measures for the promotion of religion, which existed in the different towns and districts of country which he visited; and he had fixed opinions of his own, which he never surrendered at the call of popularity, or a temporizing necessity; yet he "went every where," enjoying the favor of man, "and the Lord working with him by signs following." He was never in the habit of concealing his sentiments, nor of conciliating favor by undervaluing the difference between his own creed and that of others. He was honest, frank, independent, and at the same time enjoyed a large measure of popularity in nearly all the divisions of the Christian church.

His method of personal solicitation was very felicitous. It was at once courteous, gentlemanly, prompt, and ef

fective. His manner of first accosting a stranger was remarkably apt, in opposition to every thing awkward and unseemly. His countenance, benign and intelligent, was frequently an index of the nature of his errand. If he had anticipated a reluctant or unwelcome reception, he was prepared, at all points, to remove objections, and conciliate kind wishes. He sometimes made an humorous remark, accompanied with a cheerful smile, which most happily prepared the way for a direct presentation of the object. He had a species of ready wit, which was a valuable auxiliary to his labors, and of which the following was a specimen. On a certain occasion, he entered a merchant's shop in Pearl-street, New York, to see one of the partners. As he came in, another partner, who was not then personally acquainted with him, accosted him as a purchaser of goods, informing him that they had just received a large assortment of a particular article, that he should be happy to show to him, &c. "Will you just examine the goods, sir?" Why, no, not now," replied Mr. Cornelius, "I have come for the proceeds."

He understood the philosophy of benevolent agencies in a remarkable degree, the proprieties of time and place, the different structure of different minds, and how to mingle weighty motives with the soft persuasion of voice and manner. However concealed his auditor might be in avarice, or in any other cloak, he could not very often resist the wisdom and zeal with which Mr. Cornelius spoke. His appeals were singularly cogent and penetrating, and generally irresistible. He brought the commands of God, the love of Christ, the ruined state of the world, the bliss of heaven, the woes of hell, the obligations of Christians, the blessedness of doing good, and the encouragements to religious effort, with such power, that the conscience was convinced and the heart was taken captive. He left no middle ground on which his