IT has been the laudable practice of all ages, to perpetuate the memory of their illustrious dead, either by erecting to their fame, monuments of the most durable materials; or immortalizing their names, in the faithful pages of history. These methods, of expressing our esteem, are indeed of no avail to the deceased; but to be considered as grateful memorials of their superior merit; and to prevent time, which molders away their mortal part, from obliterating the remembrance of their [Page 2]virtues. They are, moreover, of singular use, to inspire posterity with an emulation of examples so deservedly honoured, and transmitted to futurity with such eminent marks of distinction. Hence there is, perhaps, not a more useful study than that of BIOGRAPHY, which presents to our view the glorious patterns of antiquity; and while the amiable portraits are passing before our eyes, can scarcely fail of imprinting on our minds, some beautiful and striking lineament. To see virtue and vice exemplified in real life, is instead of a thousand lec­tures; and infuses greater veneration and horror, than whole volumes of moral philosophy. And, when fi­nally, we consider, that all those celebrated characters have long since submitted to the inevitable stroke of fate, such a reflection will out-preach the preacher, and more effectually than the boy at PHILIP'S ear, re­mind us of our own mortality. But shall heroes and conquerors, ingross the admiration of posterity, while the christian and the patriot, lie buried in oblivion? Shall the splendor of martial renown, wholly extinguish the mild—the gentle lustre of private worth? Is not the [Page 3]sage, the philosopher, and the friend, who diffused joy and happiness all around him, as worthy the funeral eulogy, as those victorious ravagers who seatter famine and war; and owe the blaze of their glory to the terror of their arms?

To have all the qualifications that render a man amiable or great;—to be the object of delight wherever one is known;—to possess learning, genius, and subli­mity of soul;—can there be born a greater blessing to the world? To exert those shining endowments for the benefit of mankind, and employ a great and elevated spirit, only in doing great and diffusive good.—Can a nobler use be made of the happiest talents? Amidst such striking colours, in so degenerate an age, who can mistake the picture of the excellent deceased, whose memory these pages are intended to celebrate?

CAN you image to yourself, a person modest in prosperity, prudent in difficulty, in business indefati­gable, magnanimous in danger, easy in his manners, [Page 4]of exquisite judgment, of profound learning, catholic in sentiment, of the purest morals, and great even in the minutest things.—Can you image so accomplished a person, without recollecting the idea of the late PRESIDENT BURR?

WHETHER we consider him in a private, or public view, he is still equally striking, equally distinguished; and, without exaggerated expression, something sur­passing the ordinary bounds of human nature.

FEW were more perfect in the art of rendering them­selves agreeable in company. 'Twas in those social mo­ments, when frequently the human mind lies all open and ungarded, that he blended improvement with delight; and happily tempered the serious with the gay. His knowledge of men unfolded to him all the avenues to the heart, which he could variously affect with wonderful dexterity. Nothing is more difficult, than to please in conversation, without betraying a design to please, which never fails to disgust. Pride [Page 5]cannot bear to be diverted by a companion, who, under the disguise of entertaining others, appears intent on securing his own applause. Hence good nature and modesty, with a slender share of ingenuity and reading, generally carry the palm against wit and erudition, attended with ostentation and parade. Of this so sensible was the PRESIDENT, that unless the subject required it, no one would have suspected his learn­ing; and when it did, every one was astonished how a perion so immersed in books, had acquired so large a share of ease in converse, and freedom of behaviour. But in him every thing was agreeable, because every thing was natural: and he had the secret to be inti­mately familiar, without degrading the dignity of his function. As he had not studied the philosophers, without sacrificing to the graces; so neither in the sallies of humour, did he ever forget the character of a DIVINE. In a word, his open benevolent and un­dissembling heart, inspired all around him with innocent chearfulness; and made every one who knew him, court his engaging society.

[Page 6] IN his FRIENDSHIPS how varm! how sincere! how refined and disinterested! Power, with her mighty arm, may extort a reluctant submission: Wealth, with her golden lure, may attract the obsequi­ous levée: Honour, with its surrounding blaze, may dazzle the wondering multitude: And eloquence, with her enchanting voice, bewitch the transported audience. But neither power, with her mighty arm; nor wealth, with her golden lure; nor honour, with its surrounding blaze; nor eloquence with her inchant­ing voice, can fix a single heart, or procure a cordial friend.

THO' a person of a slender and delicate make, to encounter fatigue he had a heart of steel; and for the dispatch of business, the most amazing talents, joined to a constancy of mind, that induced success in spite of every obstacle. As long as an enterprize appeared not absolutely impossible, he knew no discouragement; but in proportion to its difficulty, augmented his dili­gence: and by an insuperable fortitude, frequently [Page 7]accomplished, what his friends and acquaintance con­ceived utterly impracticable. To his unparallel'd assi­duity, next to the divine blessing, is doubtless to be ascribed the present flourishing state of the COLLEGE of NEW-JERSEY; which, from a meer private under­taking, is in a few years, become the joy of its friends, and the admiration and envy of its enemies.

HE was life and activity itself; and tho' cut off in the bloom and vigour of his years, attained, with respect to his public utility, the remotest period of old age. His every year was replete with good works; and while others cou'd here and there boast a shining action, like a scattered star in the vast expanse of heaven, his LIFE, like the milky way, was one continued universal glow.

IN the sacred scriptures, he was a perfect APOLLOS. These were his constant study, the subject of his daily meditation: From these, he extracted his divinity: From these, the maxims of his conduct: and by these, was made wise unto salvation.

[Page 8] HIS PIETY eclipsed all his other accomplishments. He was steady in his faith; unfluctuating in principle; ardent in devotion; deaf to temptation; open to the motions of grace; without pride; without oftentation; full of GOD; evacuated of self; having his conversa­tion in heaven; seeing thro' the veil of mortality, the high destiny of man; breathing a spiritual life; and offering up a perpetual holocaust of adoration and praise.

I MENTION not his private CHARITY and ALMS. I say nothing of his PRAYERS, his FASTINGS and his WATCHINGS. I pass by all those virtues, which shunn'd applause, and sought obscurity and retirement. These were only to be observed by that all-penetrating eye, which pervades immensity; and to be noticed by that omniscient judge, who seeth in secret, but will reward before the grand consistory of angels and men.

HOWEVER steady to his own principles, he was perfectly free from every appearance of BIGOTRY. He [Page 9]prized religion as an inestimable jewel, whose real va­lue was neither inhanced nor diminished by the casket in which it is deposited. Hence he loved and revered the sincere and exemplary of every communion; and particularly cultivated a strict correspondence, with several of the greatest ornaments of the CHURCH esta­blished in ENGLAND; who, in their turn, treated him with the highest affection and respect.

IN the PULPIT he shone with superior lustre. He was fluent, copious, sublime and persuasive. The momentous truths, and awful mysteries of religion, so strongly possessed his mind, that he spoke from the heart, which is the only way of speaking to it. His language was intelligible to the meanest capacity; and above the censure of the greatest genius. He was neither destitute of the ornaments of stile; nor so capti­vated with the flowers of rhetoric, as to bury beneath them, the fruits of improvement. More sollicitous to penetrate the heart, than to amuse the head, he aimed at perspicuity; and instead of subtle speculations and [Page 10]metaphysical distinctions, inculcated the luminous and uncontroverted truths of revelation. His invention was not so properly fruitful, as inexhaustible; and his elocution equal to his ideas. Out of the well-stor'd treasure of his mind, he produced things new and old; while his human literature, like an obsequious handmaid, was ever ready to set off and embellish her mistress DIVINITY. He was none of those "downy doctors," who sooth their hearers into delusive hopes of the divine acceptance; or substitute external morality, in the room of vital godliness: On the contrary, he scorned to proclaim the peace of GOD, 'till the rebel laid down his arms, and returned to his allegiance. He was an ambassador, that adhered inviolably to his instructions; nor ever acceded to a treaty, that would not be ratified in the court of heaven. He searched the conscience with the terrors of the law, before he essuaged its anguish with the balm of Gilead, or pre­scribed the sweet emollients of a bleeding deity. He acted, in short, like one not intrusted with the lives and fortunes, but the everlasting interests of his fellow­mortals; [Page 11]and therefore made it his business to advance the divine life, and restore the beautiful image of GOD, disfigured by the apostacy of man—to represent religion as the offspring of light, and the parent of liberty and self-dominion;—to expose the shadowy gratificati­ons of pomp and power, and recommend the superior exalted pleasures of a constant intercourse with the fa­ther of spirits, the fountain of life, and light and love;— to call our wandering thoughts from the syren allure­ments of the world and the flesh, and direct them to the supreme magnet of souls, the center and origin of beatitude and perfection;—to enlighten the under­standing; to reform the judgment; to regulate the passions, and to rectify the will.

WHAT he preached in the pulpit, he lived out of it. His LIFE and EXAMPLE were a comment on his sermons: and by his engaging deportment, he rendered the amiable character of a christian still more attrac­tive and lovely. In many, religion appears awkward and disgustful: In some, more agreeable and becom­ing; in others, charming and ornamental; but in him [Page 12]she seemed to have erected her throne, and as it were doubled the beams of her majesty.

THE PASTORAL FUNCTION he discharged with equal fidelity and success. To examine into the condition of his flock;—to watch against essential errors;—to instruct the ignorant;—to revive the disconsolate;—to animate the penitent;—to reclaim the relapsing;—to confirm the irresolute;—to humble the arrogant, and reprove the contumacious and immoral, were his con­stant and most delightful employments.

FOR PUBLICK SPIRIT, and the love of his country, who ever surpassed this reverend patriot? Amidst all the cares of his academical function, he thought, and studied, and plan'd, and toil'd, for the common weal. He had a high sense of english liberty; and detested despotic power, as the bane of human happiness. With him the heresy of ARIUS was not more fatal to the purity of the gospel, than the positions of FILMAR, to the dignity of man, or the repose of states. Of our excellent constitution he entertained the [Page 13]justest idea; and gloried in the privileges of a Briton, as much as he lamented their prostitution and abuse. If any thing ever ruffled the serenity of his mind, be­sides the prevalence of vice, it was the adverse fortune and disastrous situation of his country. His compas­sionate bosom daily agonized, for the families bleeding by the sword of the wilderness; or captivated by ruthless unrelenting savages. His MAJESTY'S arms un­successful, and those of the enemy victorious, fired him with a generous resentment; and made him rouse his fellow-subjects, to efface the memory of our former miscarriage; and avenge the righteous quarrel of the BEST OF KINGS. How did he lament, that BRITAIN, the mother of heroes, the school of patriots and war­riors, the land of frugality and virtue, the native soil of liberty, that light of life and source of human bliss! —that BRITAIN, which humbled the oppressors of the earth; and bade her navies carry her name in terror round the world, should at length degenerate into the shameful seat of venality and corruption; become the nurse of effeminacy, voluptuousness, and riot; the vile [Page 14]receptacle of impurity, sloth and dejection; and so ignominiously forget her primitive martial prowess, as to brook the insults of a people, formerly trembling at her name; and for every indignity, feeling the ven­geance of her arms!

IN propagating the gospel among the heathen natives, how assiduous a CORRESPONDENT of the SCOTCH SO­SIETY! He thought no labour, no difficulty too great, in the prosecution of so important an enterprize. An enterprize, most benevolently calculated, to illumine the gloomy wilderness with the beams of evangelical truth; and proclaim the resurrection and the life, to those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death! By the smiles of heaven, on the pious endeavours of that VENERABLE BODY; and the zealous activity of some of their missionaries, many are undoubtedly converted from paganism to christianity; and from the error of their ways, to the LIVING GOD. How illustrious an atchievement, to lead the worshippers of deceased heroes and infernal spirits, to the knowledge of the [Page 15]UNIVERSAL CREATOR AND FATHER OF ALL! To transform rocks and mountains, till then the pagods of superstition and polytheism, into so many Bethels to the LORD OF HOSTS!—To render the howling desart, hitherto resounding with idolatrous orgies, divinely vocal with the praises of GOD, and his anoin­ted MESSIAH! —To prepare, in fine, the obdurate heart of barbarism for the influences of the HOLY GHOST; and replenish the huts of savages with the disciples of JESUS!

WITH what dignity and reputation, did he sustain the office of PRESIDENT! Sensible how important to the public, and thro' the whole thread of our existence, is the early culture of the human mind, he considered himself, with the painter of old, as "designing for eter­nity". He had the most engaging method of instruc­tion; nor inferior to the extent of his capacity, was his facility in communicating. No man had a happier talent of expressing his sentiments; or calling latent truth from her dark and profound recesses. No man [Page 16]more capable of opening the mental soil, to the kindly rays of science; or improving its fertility, with the gentle dews of exposition and comment. Instead of turning any branch of learning, into inexplicable mys­tery, the common pride of pedagogues, he set the most intricate points in the clearest light, and stripp'd off all the scholastic clouds, that obscured the simple majesty of knowledge.

NOR did he neglect any opportunity of imbuing the minds of his PUPILS with the seeds of VIRTUE, at the same time that he inriched them, with the treasures of learning. And, indeed, if a pagan mythologist could observe, that to treat of the world, without saying any thing of its author, would be impious, what wonder that this divine philosopher, in explain­ing the appearances of the universe, should trace the bright and conspicuous footsteps of the deity, thro' every part of the magnificent system of nature! What wonder, that he perpetually raised their thoughts, to the invisible things of GOD, from the visible wonders [Page 17]of his power; from the beautiful and stupendous fabric of the world, to the infinite all-governing ARCHITECT; and from the scatter'd rays to the IMMENSE OCEAN OF LIGHT!

WITH the same ease, he secured the obedience and the love of the students. He had the art of leading the will by invisible chains; and ‘making reason, no less prevalent than authority.’ Who, like him, could punish an offence, not only without the resentment, but with the approbation of the delinquent? Speak ye, who best can tell, ye sons of the prophets, who experienced his affection; nor ever heard him pronounce punishment, without observing the trickling tear, and the reluctant heart? Surely, never will his idea be blotted from your memories; but in your walks, in your studies, in your meditations and amusements, you will see him, hear him, accost him, admire and deplore him.— With him, doubtless, had the MUSES deserted their recent abode; and SCIENCE rusted in her inexplicated volumes, had not the same all-gracious hand, which [Page 18]removed one president, instantly pointed out another: Perhaps the only one, capable of making us forget (could such a calamity be ever forgotten) the loss of his predecessor.

WHATEVER disguise the hypocrite may assume, at the approach of death, dissimulation drops her mast. When men have but a moment to live, it is no longer their interest to wear a vizard. In this precise view, let us therefore contemplate our illustrious friend. Than a DYING CHRISTIAN, the whole compass of nature affords not an object of more dignity, astonish­ment or grandeur. Come, ye ministers of the LORD, behold a spectacle, even to you, of fruitful instruction. Behold the triumphs of grace, in the dissolution of na­ture! What patience, what resignation, what lively hope and divine affiance! See the king of terrors dis­arm'd of his sting; and vanquish'd in the very act of conquering! Behold heaven commencing on earth; and faith triumphant over pain, disease, and mortality! Wrapt in the thoughts of immortal life, he appears [Page 19]great even in the midst of distress; and suffers with all the majesty of woe. How august in ruin! How immoveably fixt on the rock of ages! What peace passing understanding! What joy, what ineffable joy, in the HOLY GHOST! ‘O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?’

BUT what heart can conceive, what tongue can utter the anguish of his CONSORT? Alas! madam, that so bright a sun shou'd decline so soon; and with it, your every joy and every comfort! An awful les­son, against building our happiness, except on the foundation of eternity. But why the unavailing tear, or fruitless lamentation? He is indeed a prisoner to the grave, but he is a prisoner of hope. Since the omnipotent captain of his salvation has subdued the last enemy, dispoiled principalities and powers, and led captivity captive, the blasts of death cannot destroy the buds of his virtue. These are transported to the paradise of GOD, there to grow, and spread, and flourish, with unwithering and ever-blooming verdure. [Page 20]'Tis death alone, that affords a harbour, to all that embark on the sea of this tempestuous life. But with him, the storms that vex this turbulent ocean are blown over, and will molest no more. He has finished the perillous voyage, and enjoys a secure anchorage in the calm haven of eternal rest. He is where even you, madam, could not improve his happiness. He is— and what a cruel kindness to regret his lot!—he is ‘re­moved from all pain, resolv'd of all doubt, purified from all sin, delivered from all fear,’ and happy be­yond hope, or the power of time and vicissitude. Cease then to weep an angel, whom you lov'd a man. Ra­ther improve the alarming providence, and take sanc­tuary in the consolations of religion; and then, 'tis the voice of infallibility, "thy maker will be thy husband." Thus will instruction spring from his very relicks; and wisdom, the best of wisdom, blossom on his sepulchre.

BUT what an unexpected stroke, and how univer­sally deplored! See, how the churches put on their sables, and mourn like a disconsolate widow! Where [Page 21]is the unsiowing eye, or the unsorrowing breast? O ad­mirable man! friend! father! husband! scholar and di­vine! and worthy a longer life, was the present life of any other value, than to ripen us for the next. But ‘great and marvellous are thy works, LORD GOD AL­MIGHTY! just and true are thy ways, thou KING of SAINTS.’ At so dreadful a blow, and so glorious a change, who can weep, or who refrain from weeping? But will they not be guilty tears, that bemoan the blest transition, from this vale of humiliation and sorrow, to the summit of immarcessible honour and joy? We may indeed lament ourselves, our country, and mankind, as berest of a friend; and the church of her ornament and boast: But we should rejoice, that he has bequeath­ed us the inestimable legacy of his virtues; and that, "blessed are the dead who die in the LORD." Instead of effeminate wailings, let us therefore adorn his memory, by adopting his excellencies; and while nature drops the inevitable tear, let reason and religion crown his tomb with triumphant laurels.

[Page 22] METHINKS I see him disingaged from his prison, and regaining his native skies! ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates! and be ye listed up, ye everlasting doors! that an heir of glory may enter in.’ I behold him, approv'd by the righteous judge, and taking his rank among those ‘more-than-conquerors, who thro' faith and patience inherit the promises!’ Mark, how the reverend choir, who here below serv'd at the altar, clus­ter about him; and hail his admittance into that city, ‘which needeth neither sun nor moon, but is illumi­nated with the GLORY OF GOD, and the LIGHT OF THE LAMB.’ But, who is HE! that with superior fond­ness, congratulates thy arrival on the coast of bliss? 'Tis that BEST OF FRIENDS ^*, who left thee only time to perform his obsequies; and pay thy last—last duty to his memory, before ye were to meet never—never more to be parted.