Page:Most remarkable passages in the life of the honourable Colonel James Gardiner.pdf/2



The reader here is to survey a character of such eminent and various goodness, as might demand veneration, and inspire him with a desire to imitate it too, had it appeared in the obscures: rank; but it will surely command some peculiar regard, when viewed in so elevated and important a station, especially as it shone, not in ecclesiastical, but military life, where the temptations are so many, and the prevalency of the contrary character so great, that it may seem no inconsiderable praise and felicity to be free from dissolute vice, and to retain what in most other professions might be esteemed only a mediocrity of virtue. It may surely, with the highest justice, be expected, that the title and bravery of Colonel Gardiner will invite many of our officers and soldiers, to whom his name has been long honourable and dear, to per use this account of him with some peculiar attention: In consequence of which, it may be a means of encreasing the number and brightening the character of those who are already adorning their office, their country, and their religion; and of reclaiming those who will see rather what they ought to be, than what they are. On the whole, to the gentlemen of the sword, I would particularly offer these memoirs, as theirs by so distinguished a title, yet, I am firmly persuaded,