Page:Records of the Life of the Rev. John Murray.djvu/232

222 as a solemn seal of your ordination to the ministry of the New Testament, and the sole directory of your faith and practice." His acceptance was affecting; as what comes from the heart reaches the heart.

"With my full soul I thank our merciful God, for this inestimable gift. With grateful transport I press it to my bosom; I receive it as the copy of my, as the deed of an incorruptible inheritance; as the unerring guide to my feet, and lanthorn to my paths. Dear, precious treasure, thou hast been my constant support in every trying hour, and a never failing source of true consolation. I thank you, most sincerely do I thank you, for this confirming seal, this sure directory; and I pray that the spirit, which dictated these sacred pages, may enable me to make the best use thereof." A sermon by Mr. Murray, from Luke v. 2, succeeded, "The harvest is great, but the labourers are few," &c. &c.

"The solemnity, attention, and christian demeanour, that attended the whole transaction of the ordination, and every other occurrence of the day, gave universal satisfaction to a numerous audience."

Days of tranquillity now succeeded; weeks, months, nay years rolled on, and harmony, unbroken harmony, presided. Religion shed her balmy influence, her mind-irradiating, passion-subduing consolations; and we were ready to say, stability dwelleth even in our times. But alas! we too soon experienced that "bliss, sublunary bliss," was not the durable possession of mortality.

It was in this interval, of most pleasant memory, that Mr. Murray, in the summer of the year 1790, then on a visit to his Pennsylvania, Jersey, and New-York connexions, was, by the Universalists convened in the city of Philadelphia, associated with Mr. William Eugene Imley, to present an address to the immortal Washington, then President of the United States. We proceed to transcribe the address.

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Permit us, in the name of the Society which we represent, to concur in the numerous congratulations which have been offered to you, since your accession to the government of the United States.

"For an account of our principles, we beg leave to refer you to the pamphlet, which we have now the honour of putting into your hands. In this publication it will appear, that the peculiar doctrine, which we hold, is not less friendly to the order and happiness of society, than it is