resident of Auburn, to the wife of the deceased, will show the estimation in which Mr. C. was held by his fellow-citizens: "MY DEAR MADAM: "Auburn, April 26, 1848. I "I can hardly express to you how much I was shocked, on opening the morning paper, by reading the notice of the death of your respected husband. felt self-reproached that I had not even known that he was ill. Harassed as I am with a thousand cares, I would not that such a man had died among us, and I not by his side in his illness, to tender him the assurance of my profound respect and sincere sympathy. But these regrets are unavailing. Permit me to disturb your grief, inconsolable as it must be, long enough to say, that I have lived a quarter of a century in this community, and I never knew, among its members, one more just, truthful or benevolent. Always under obligations to him, I would have confessed them to him on his death-bed. Since this melancholy pleasure was denied to me, I beg you to accept the tardy acknowledgment due to his memory from one who knew his worth, and was proud of his friendship. “I am, dear madam, 66 Very respectfully, "Mrs. Elizabeth Curtis." "WM. H. SEWARD.. OLIVER SMITH, Esq., of Fredericton, N. B., died August 26, 1848, aged 49. He was a native of Readfield, Me. The editor of the "Gospel Banner,” of Maine, thus speaks of him: "None knew him but to love him, so good was his heart, so amiable were his manners, so upright was his life. From childhood he was a Universalist. The doctrine of universal grace grew into him with his progress to manhood, and became a part of his very constitution. He could but live in it; and in it he died with great reconciliation to the Divine will. He found few to believe his doctrines in Fredericton; but he found none to deny that they had a glorious effect upon his life. If there ever was a Christian, Br. Oliver Smith was one. He was sick several weeks before he died, and had time to make his will, and all desirable arrangements. He knew he must go, and if he manifested any impatience, it was that death was slow and tardy in performing its office. As a good Providence would have it, his brother and family from Wayne were with him on a visit when he died. It was a cause of great thankfulness to him and to them that it should have been so. He died, as he lived, full in the faith. Previous to his decease, when too weak to write himself, he called an amanuensis to his bed-side, and dictated the following letter to us, which we publish as his dying valedictory to all his friends. "Fredericton, N. B., 1st August, 1848. "BR. DREW, —I dictate this (being unable to write) under the fullest impression that I am fast sinking to the grave. During the last quarter of a century I have not had a doubt, nor the shadow of a doubt, in reference to the accomplishment of the purposes of God in the final restoration to a state of holiness and happiness of the entire family of man. As the taper of my existence seems to be flickering in its socket, I find my confidence in those great and glorious truths increasing and brightening. In reference to my future condition, I feel as though I could change my abode from earth to the land of spirits as calmly and quietly as I fall asleep in my hours of health. It may be the will of Providence to restore me to health; but should it be otherwise designed, I now beg to bid you, and through you, Br. Drew, my numerous friends and connections widely scattered about New England, a final farewell; under the fullest assurance that we and the whole family of man shall meet around the Throne of God and join in the grand anthem of redemption throughout the wasteless ages of eternity." DEACON ROBERT HOWELL, of Portland, Me., died August 19, 1848, aged 62. His pastor gives this very interesting account of him: "The writer became acquainted with brother H., about two years and a half since. He was then evidently in an incurable decline; but his conversation was cheerful, animated, and instructive. A man of steadier nerve, of clearer head, and purer heart, we have not seen. The gospel - its principles and precepts, influences and hopeswas his theme. I visited the good man, and conversed with him, more than an hundred times during his decline; and never did I see him, when speaking of his approaching departure, without a heavenly smile beaming in his countenance, rendering his face as the face of an angel.' He entertained the most uniformly rational and consistent views of religion, of the uses of sickness and death, and the prospects of the future state, of any man we ever knew, under similar circumstances. His mind was vigorous and clear, almost to the last moment. His soul was strong and healthy, and constantly on the wings of faith and hope. "Mr. H. was an active philanthropist and reformer. His benevolent and charitable deeds were numerous. But he desired that no public display might be made of them; assigning as a reason that, If he had done anything for the poor, the suffering inebriate, and others, those for whom it was done, knew it; and it was of no consequence whether other people knew it or not.' This is a specimen of our brother's unaffected modesty, and, so to speak, his 'disinterested benevolence.' For many years, Deacon Howell was a very active member of the Universalist Church and Society, in this place. He is said to have been ready in prayer, and a felicitous speaker in social meetings and conferences. He was sound in faith and mighty in the Scriptures, giving God the glory. "During his whole sickness, our departed friend never uttered a word of impatience or complaint. His whole confidence was in the goodness of God, and the resurrection of the Saviour, and hence, of those for whom he died and rose again. Besides other services, I often read to him from the holy Scriptures; and even after his utterance failed, and till a day before his death, as I read chapters, touching the resurrection, the light of hope would break through the visage pale with disease, and a heavenly smile animate and beautify his countenance. "Br. H. viewed the change of worlds in such a glorious light, that he could not consent to anything like mourning, for his departure to his glorious home. Death had no terrors for him; for it was the gate to endless joy.” DR. TIMOTHY HOWE, of Turner, Me., died August 31, 1848, aged 71. It was the request of this worthy man that no eulogium should be given of his life and character; a request with which his family complied. But his minister, who had long and affectionately known him, deemed it proper to offer his tribute of the heart to his memory. We make an extract from the same. "He was a literary man, and well educated in the true sense of the word; deeply read in ancient and modern history; and especially the history contained in, and connected with, the Bible. And as he had a wonderful memory and an easy method of communication, his conversation was edifying and instructive. He was a constant student of the Scriptures, and from them he drew those pure maxims by which his life was guided. His faith in the paternity of God, the brotherhood of man, and in the final ingathering and salvation of the whole human family, was firm and unwavering. This faith constituted his spiritual life; for it was a living, operative faith, which cheered him in prosperity and adversity. From time to time for many years he contributed with his pen to the dissemination of the faith which so much warmed and cheered his own heart. "He was not fond of controversy, but was ever ready to defend his religious views in a spirit of mildness and charity, and to impart a knowledge of his faith to all who were sincerely inquiring after truth. His was not a mere speculative faith, that 'plays around the head, but comes not to the heart;’ but one which sustained him under the most trying scenes of bodily suffering, and which to the last moment of his earthly existence afforded him visions of immortal beatitude. During the past winter I enjoyed one of the happiest interviews with him which ever fell to my lot. He was then in the daily expectation of a passage through the valley of death; but I found him calm, reconciled and happy, SO |