Page:Records of the Life of the Rev. John Murray.djvu/237

Rh were frequently repeated; yet these visits were always made by the assenting voice of the society, and he regarded every individual, congregated under his directing auspices, as in an essential and solemn sense his children. A gentleman, attending in the church in Bennet-street, addressing Mr. Murray by letter, thus observes: "I was very much pleased at your meeting; the orderly, respectable, and serious demeanour of your society; their silent, and fixed attention upon you, penetrated me with sentiments of attachment and satisfaction, and I forbore not to invoke the providence of God, that no froward, or adverse spirit, should interrupt the harmony which now so evidently subsists between you."

Yes, it is indeed true, that Mr. Murray considered the interests of the people of his charge as his own. Most fondly did he cherish, and perseveringly did he seek, by every possible means, to advance their reputation. He sympathized with the afflicted, and largely partook their sorrows; while, so often as the course of events brought joy to their bosoms, his eye beamed gladness, and his tongue exulted to dwell upon facts, which illumined the hours of his protracted pilgrimage. His voice, at the bed of death, was the herald of consolation. Are there not uncounted numbers, still passing on, in this vale of tears, who, while attending upon their expiring relatives, have witnessed the divine effects emanating from the luminous understanding of the preacher, and lighting up a blissful smile of anticipated felicity, amid the agonies of dissolving nature. To the aged he delighted to administer consolation; his presence gave a face of cheerfulness to those social hours, which the numerous classes, with whom he mingled, were wont to appropriate to enjoyment. Children lisped with infantile transport the name of the philanthropic preacher, and they were even eloquent in expressions of unfeigned attachment. The pleasures of young people, if under the dominion of innocence, were uniformly sanctioned by their Preacher; and his appearance in well regulated circles of hilarity, so far from clouding, was always considered as the harbinger of high-wrought entertainment. If we except a single instance, we do not know, that, through a series of revolving years, the harmony subsisting between the minister and his congregation, suffered either interruption or diminution. This instance originated in political pertinacity. Party spirit occasionally ran very high; and federal and democratic leaders were among the adherents of Mr. Murray. A July Oration was to be delivered; much invidious disquisition was afloat; but it is fruitless to delineate; suffice it to say, that this oration, and its consequences, were