near at hand. Being aware that very aged persons often drop away without premonitory illness, he used, for years, to say, that when he "laid his head upon his pillow, and closed his eyes in sleep, he expected to awake in eternity."

Of the extent to which he retained his mental faculties, the following letter, written in his 99th year, affords an illustration. It was addressed to a grandson and his wife in Michigan, to whom he was much attached.

"My dear Grandchildren,

"I have such evidence of the overruling providence of God, that I believe there is nothing in this world which is not under the superintendence of that providence. You have been under its protection ever since you have been on the journey of life, and you have great reason for gratitude and thankfulness to the Giver of all your mercies.

"It is so difficult for me to write, and will be so difficult for you to read my letter, that I shall omit every thing of a worldly nature; only I advise you, if you meet with embarrassments, to apply to Judge C- for aid, and I trust he will be willing to assist you by advice or otherwise. I shall confine myself principally to family religion. If you have arrived at your expected place of residence, I advise you to adopt Joshua's resolution, that you and your household will serve the Lord, the living God. I advise you to set up and maintain family religion, reading some part of the sacred Scriptures every morning, with prayers morning and evening.-Christ said to his disciples, and now says to you, 'Enter into thy closet, shut thy door, and pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.' Any place, retired from the world, will answer for a closet for Christ Jesus. I advise you to withdraw from the world

and spend some time in prayer and meditation. I have understood that when you was at C school, you was a subject of awakening and of hopeful conversion; it was the best news I ever heard ;-but that you have since lived like the rest of the world. I hope you will find pleasure in religion, and go on your way rejoicing. If religion is burdensome, you have reason to conclude that your heart is not right in the sight of God. Pray earnestly for a right frame of mind. Nearness to God in duty is the greatest satisfaction the Christian ever enjoys. Let not the world engage your whole attention; you may live comfortably with a small portion of this world, but without religion you cannot be happy.

"I firmly believe you would be glad to add something to my comfort in my old age. There is nothing you can do that will add so much to my comfort, as to furnish me good evidence that you and your family are engaged in religion. I do not know what religious privileges you enjoy, but I do not expect you will be favored with preaching for some time. If you are destitute of preaching, I advise you, if you have religious neighbors, to meet upon the Sabbath, and pray and read the Scriptures, or other books on divinity. But if you cannot be favored with such meetings, I advise you to withdraw from worldly concerns, for reading, prayer, and meditation.

"A word to N. Dear N, I advise you to assist your dear husband in the important duties of family religion. I expect the adversary will be casting stumblingblocks in the way of religious duty; you must remove them. If you should be blessed with a family of children, join hand in hand in training them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Let not the world prevent your attending to the one thing needful. If these few lines should reach you, you will trace in them a striking evidence of the effects of old age on the human frame. It is

so difficult for me to see and to write, that I must close with this advice:-keep near to God in duty, and God will be near to you with a blessing. I shall commit each of you to the care and keeping of that God, who hath promised to protect and bless all that put their trust in him. Live in love, live in peace, and the God of love and peace be with you.

"I must bid you adieu by subscribing myself your aged and affectionate grandfather,

"THOMAS PORTER."

An equally clear indication, perhaps, of the remarkable degree to which Judge Porter retained his mental faculties, was his correct perception of their gradual decay. Of such perception, indeed, he used modestly to acknowledge himself incapable. "I feel," says he in a letter to his son, several years before his death, " I feel my strength decaying, but I consider myself incompetent to judge of the failure of my mental faculties." Consequently, towards the close of his life, he was rarely heard to express an opinion in regard to secular concerns, which might by others be called in question, and might be imputed to a lack of judgment. He would sometimes say, respecting the miscalculations of others, "I saw they were wrong, but did not express my conviction, because they were sanguine, and would have deemed my opinion of no value." The first certain indication which he discovered of the decay of his faculties, was, to use his own expression, "an inability to cast figures in his head, as he had formerly done."

He was wholly exempt from the peevishness, common to advanced age. Every attention from his friends was gratefully received. It was rare indeed that any designed act of kindness done for him, did not seem to meet his full approbation. It was even more rare that he uttered

an expression of dissatisfaction.

The last years of his life

he manifested affecting solicitude lest he should be a burden to his friends. While spending a few months with his youngest daughter, about a year before his death, she found him several times in tears. When she kindly inquired the cause of his grief, he would reply, "I fear, my daughter, I occasion you more trouble than your feeble health will enable you to sustain." His son, at whose house he died, remarks in his obituary, that "during several months of entire helplessness, previous to his decease, not a murmuring word escaped his lips."

For some years, Judge Porter stood alone. He knew not that one companion of his childhood or youth survived. He regarded himself as belonging to a past agea man of another generation; and he desired that “his earthly house of this tabernacle might be dissolved, that he might be clothed upon with his house which is from heaven." He longed to depart, that he might be reunited with his early friends in the holy and perfect services and enjoyments of heaven. The vital current ceased to flow, not because obstructed by disease, but because the fountain, which had so long fed it, was exhausted. He came to his " grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season. He died at the house of his son, in Granville, New York, May 30, 1833, aged NINETY-NINE YEARS

AND THREE MONTHS.

CHAPTER II.

LIFE OF EBENEZER PORTER.

Birth-Childhood-Classical education-Profession of religionTheological studies and license to preach-Calls to several places-Ordination at Washington-Marriage.

EBENEZER PORTER was the third son of the Hon. Thomas Porter, the subject of the preceding sketch. Besides his older brothers, the family consisted of three sisters older, and one brother younger than himself. He was born at Cornwall, Connecticut, Oct. 5, 1772, and removed with his father to Tinmouth, Vermont, in 1779. In childhood, he was distinguished only by loveliness of disposition and propriety of deportment. His principles of action began very early to be formed under judicious parental training; and to this, doubtless, is chiefly to be attributed the uniform correctness of his early conduct. A single instance of his mother's instruction he used to mention as having probably exerted a controlling influence in the formation of his character. While very young, having one day received an injury from some of his mates, he went directly to his mother to unbosom his grief. She said, "My son, treat your companions kindly in return, and you will heap coals of fire on their heads." This precept, if not new to his young mind, had never before attracted his attention. He pondered it, and was enabled, as he hoped, to make it a permanent principle of action.