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as his decided opinion, (without elating him with a hope, of the ultimate failure of which, there was still a probability,) that his views should in some way or other be directed towards the ministry.

This revolution in Mr. Spencer's affairs was not unnoticed or unimproved by Mr. Wilson, who wisely regarding it as a favourable opportunity for carrying into effect those generous designs respecting him, which from their first interview he had cherished, sent for him; conversed with him upon the subject, and introduced him to the Rev. William Hordle, of Harwich, a gentleman to whose care some of the young men were committed, whose youth or other circumstances did not allow of their immediate entrance into the Academy, though they were considered as proper objects of its patronage. To this gentleman, at length, Mr. Wilson proposed to send Mr. Spencer for trial of his talents and piety, and for preparatory studies; a proposition to which Mr. Spencer acceded with unfeigned gratitude and joy. The time fixed for his entrance into Mr. Hordle's family was January, 1806. The interval between this period and that of his departure from the Poultry, which was in October, 1805, he spent in his father's house, and for the most part in his father's business. Though this was repugnant to his feelings, he had yet learned, by five mouths' absence, in the bustle of a shop in the city, to appreciate the calm and tranquil pleasures of a domestic circle, to which he became more endeared as the lovely qualities of his mind unfolded, and the dignified and pleasing prospects of his future life were disclosed. But though considerable light was thrown upon his

destiny, yet on leaving London it was not finally determined; and this pressed with peculiar weight upon his spirit, which, susceptible of the slightest emotion, must have deeply felt in leaving one scene of action, the uncertainty which as yet partially veiled from him that which should succeed. Of the day of his departure he thus writes:-"I anticipa ted it with mingled emotions; a strong desire to see my father, mother, brother and sisters, a sensation of sorrow at parting with my old friends, and the idea of uncertainty as to my future engagements in life, equally affected me. Although I had been ab

sent from home but five months, the desire I had again to see Hertford was very great, nor do I suppose I shall often spend more pleasant evenings than the first one I spent at home, after the first time of being absent for any considerable season; two or three days were spent in seeing other relations and friends, till.”**

Here the narrative, first referred to, and often quoted, written by his own hand, and evidently for his own use, abruptly closes; and here for a moment his biographer will pause. It is a charming domestic piece, which the hand of his departed friend, obedient to the warm and vivid recollections of his fervent mind, has sketched; but scarcely has he pictured to himself the countenances of that interesting group which gathered around him again to bid him welcome to his father's house, and committed the rude outline to his paper, than he is suddenly called off, and lays down the recording pen for

*M. S. Memoirs.

ever! So did his life abruptly terminate; but the mysterious voice that summoned him from his endeared connexions upon earth introduced his emancipated spirit to the bosom of a happier family above-not another family, but one most intimately connected with his own, for which whilst here he cherished such a warm affection. The sentiment this sentence breathes was familiar to himself, and often seen in the energy and fervour with which he would repeat these admirable lines of Kelly:

One family, we dwell in him;

One church above, beneath,
Though now divided by the stream,

The narrow stream of death.

One army of the living God,

To his command we bow;

Part of the host have cross'd the flood,
And part are crossing now.

Ten thousand to their endless home

This awful moment fly;

And we are to the margin come,

And soon expect to die.

Dear Jesus, be our constant guide;

Then when the word is giv'n,

Bid death's cold stream and flood divide
And land us safe in heav'n.

At Harwich Mr. Spencer was completely in his element. He commenced the year 1806 in Mr. Hor dle's family, and was then about completing the fif teenth of his own life. At this interesting age. when the powers of the mind begin rapidly to unfold,-when a tone is often given to the future cast

of thought, and sentiments and habits are imbibed and formed, which constitute the basis or become the germ of the matured and finished character ;-it was a circumstance peculiarly auspicious in the history of this lamented youth, that he was introduced to the pious and enlightened care of such a man as Mr. Hordle. In his preaching, in his lectures, and in his conversation, he saw most admirably applied, those elementary principles of theological science, the scholastic forms of which must else have been unintelligible or insipid to his mind. In the liberal and sacred current of his habitual thought, Mr. Spencer would find a safe channel for the yet infant stream of his own conceptions; whilst he would imperceptibly form his character upon that mild, eorrect, and amiable model, constantly before him.

It must be of incalculable advantage to a young man destined for the Christian ministry, as it evi dently was to our departed Spencer, to pass a year or two beneath a faithful and enlightened pastor's roof,-to be a spectator of his toil,-a daily witness of the varied scenes of duty and of trial which the Christian ministry perpetually presents. It is true, that in academies, lectures on the pastoral care are read, and discourses on the duties of the Christian ministry delivered; but one week of actual observation must impress more deeply on the mind all that such lectures can contain, and unnumbered other circumstances, equally important, but which no general analysis can include, than months or years of the most devoted study. And to the diligent improvement of this peculiar advantage, perhaps, may in part be attributed that early maturity at which

Mr. Spencer's capacity for the sacred office had arrived. He had the seriousness, the reflection of the pastor while but a student; and when he actually entered on that holy office, the exercises of the pulpit, and the habits of his ministerial life, bespoke the knowledge of long experience, rather than of recent theory, and indicated the presence of a master's, not a learner's hand.

At Harwich his diligence was exemplary: a judicious course of reading was marked out for him by his respected tutor, which he conscientiously and unweariedly pursued; but besides this, he had the use of an excellent library, with rich supplies from which he amply occupied his leisure hours. He had made considerable progress in the Latin; and soon after his introduction to Mr. Hordle, he commenced, under his direction, the study of the Hebrew. With this sacred language he was particularly pleased, and soon demonstrated his attachment and his diligence, by completing, with considerable labour, an abridgment of Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon. This work he accomplished in a small pocket manual, which proved of considerable use to him, and was almost his constant companion.*

Here, too, he first became acquainted with the principles of Moral Philosophy; and whilst from the lectures of Doddridge, and the essays of Locke,

Of this Manual he made two fair copies, one of which is in possession of his tutor, and the other is amongst the pa pers from which these Memoirs are supplied. The design is honourable to his judgment, and the execution to his perseverance and his accuracy at that early age.

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