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    Such were his ' wishes and hopes , and such his efforts to realize them . What the fruit would have been of so much ability united to so much diligence , had it been permitted to become mature , it is impossible to say ; but it must have been

    considerable aud excellent . That period of maturity , however , was not to arrive . By one of those mysterious dispensations which fill the mind with astonishment and awe , his hopes and his labours have been prematurely closed . He has been snatched from friends who loved him

    with tender affection , and from a circle in which his worth was appreciated , and which he Would have enlightened and improved , and now the memory of his excellence is all that is left . In nothing do the purposes of the Moral Governor of the world appear more inexplicable . That the corporeal frame , just as it has

    attained the activity and beauty of adolescence , just as all its organs are fully developed , and all the functions of those organs are so vigorously performed , and so exquisitely balanced , that there is not a single movement of the machine which is not perfect , which does not seem to exult in its strength , and which doe 3 not

    produce pleasure : that the mind , just as its faculties are unfolded , just as it is beginning to put forth its power , just as , after immense labour , it has opened to itself the treasures of knowledge , and is beginning to diffuse them with an eag r and delighted liberality ,- —that then the

    mind itself should suddenly and , as to the eye of sense it seems , utterly perish , and nothing remain of the beautiful fabric in which it resided , but a heap of dusthow irreconcileable does this appear to the wisdom and goodness of the Creator ; to that very wisdom and goodness which are exerted in the formation of those

    very powers and attributes thus prematurely destroyed 1 To this great difficulty the Christian knows the answer . That death is a good both to the individual and to the system ; that unless the natures of each were wholly changed , its existence is indispensable , and that it rould not secure the moral advantages it is

    intended to answer , unless it were constituted exactly as it is ; unless its approach were sometimes sudden , alwavs uncertain , and it were able to select its victims alike from persons of every character and every station and every age : of these

    truths the Christian is well assured , and being so , he can see in some measure the Wisdom and goodness of this most awful and afflictive appointment . But nothing can sustain his mind under it , excepting such an enlightened and comprehensive view , of its object and end . In the autumn of 1821 , the active mind of . this sincere and diligent inquirer after

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    truth , was deeply engaged in the study of the question of Baptism . la this Itrl vestigation he read W ^ i Gale , Belsham , Taylor , Robinson , &c ., and examined for himself the authorities from the Fathers to which these writers refer . After a laborious search he conceived that the evidence in favour of adult baptism by immersion preponderated , and in

    conformity to this conviction , he thought it hig duty to submit to the ordinance . Yet lie did not do so until he had again reviewed the grounds of his opinion . Having made an excellent syllabus , arranging in different columns the historical evidence

    the facts admitted on all sides , ami the deductions fairly to be drawn from both , he was more satisfied than before , that baptism by immersion , on the part of & believer , " coincides with all the data , viz ., the evidence of the New Testament , of the Fathers , of the Jewish customs , and with that arising from the nature of

    the Christian dispensation , while it is really at variance with none /* Accordingly he submitted to the rite , and was baptized by Mr . David Eaton at Worship Street , on Sunday , October 28 , 1821 . But the caution and modesty with which he judged and acted on this occasion , afford a striking illustration of the general character of his mind and coudocf .

    At the conclusion of the memorandum referred to he says , " I frankly confess that if I had now the means of studying theology thoroughlyy I might feel inclined to defer my baptism until after I had made full use of those means ; but having , I sincerely believe , employed erery

    means which I at present possess , I am inclined to submit to it now . However , I shall consider that I leave a duty undischarged if I do not give the subject n more extensive examination when my opportunities become enlarged . TW memorandum will be a bond upon my conscience . "

    In the like conscientious manner he carefully abstained in his public discourses from entering on any controverted subject which he had not himself thoroughly studied . His mind was not

    of that constitution which would permit him to take any opinion ripOn trust , and he had too much probity to speak in the language of conviction on subjects of which he was conscious that he bad not

    made himself acquainted with the evidence . There could be no better prttff that he would have become & firm , fearless and zealous advocate of whatever'he might ultimately believe to be Hie truth :

    There' was one subject ' trf * which * was convinced , of wmfclai Itftifc ' evidence appeared to Mm to be ' nsdst ^ BifiMlwN and glorious , and which fyt ^ d llti * 0 *^ atant theme of his discourse > bo * h ? to # *

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    58 ObituaryK- ^ Rev . Culeb Evans .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1822, page 58, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2508/page/58/