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those features which have hitherto escaped notice. His singleness of view, his brotherly kindness, his perfect guilelessness, his activity, his zeal, and his piety, have all been dwelt upon by others. I wished to dilate upon his social character to show him as a husband, a father, and a patriot; but the limits assigned me are passed.

His labours speak for themselves. He was one of the most efficient agents in building up a Church to spread Scriptural holiness throughout the land. When he joined it, there were but nineteen travelling ministers, and three thousand one hundred and twenty-eight members; when he died, the ministry numbered one thousand five hundred and seventy-six, and the membership three hundred and eighty-one thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven. He rests from his labours, and his works do follow him.

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX

TILDEN FOUNDATIONS

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Millbur Fisk.*

WILLBUR FISK was born at Brattleboro', in the State of Vermont, on the thirty-first day of August, 1792. His ancestors were of the old Puritan stock, and maintained the virtues and piety of that peculiar people. His father, Isaiah Fisk, was stripped of his patrimony by unfortunate business connexions, and compelled to seek a residence in the wilder and less cultivated portions of the state. He accordingly removed to Lyndon, within about forty miles of the Canada line, where he resided respected and beloved by all who knew him. He filled important legislative and judicial offices, and discharged the duties they imposed with severe virtue and untarnished honour. The region of country in which he resided after the birth of his son Willbur, is described as being peculiarly adapted to excite emotions of beauty and sublimity. "The house is situated on a considerable eminence, overlooking a wide extent of country. Around it the tops of the hills are seen peering one above another, like the caps of the ocean billows in a gale; while, at the distance of forty miles, are discerned the summits of the White Mountains of New

This memoir has been chiefly compiled from Dr. Holdich's Life of Willbur Fisk, and extracts not otherwise noted are to be accredited to that work.

Hampshire, soaring majestically till their heads are lost in the clouds."

Born of such ancestry, and reared amid scenes like these, Willbur Fisk in early life was impressed with a reverence for God, and an appreciation of the beauty and sublimity of his works. "He would wander off by himself for hours, traversing the woods, climbing the hills, or tracing the windings of the rivulet. There is one spot on the farm which was a favourite resort. It is the summit of a sloping hill, perhaps two hundred feet high, terminating on one side precipitously, and crested with a lovely grove." Here he often wandered with his book, deriving instruction from its pages and inspiration from the surrounding scene.

His mother, whose maiden name was Willbur, was diligent in impressing the great principles of Christianity upon the minds of her children. "She took them early and constantly to church, made it a particular business to read to them the word of God, required them to learn their Catechism, and commit texts, hymns, and prayers to memory. She had the happy art, too, of rendering these things more a pleasure than a burden. According to their capacity, she was almost constantly stimulating them to thought and inquiry by her conversation with them. Both parents were exemplary in the observance of the Sabbath. They regarded it as a day strictly set apart for religious uses, and hence the time not spent in public worship was occupied in family instruction. Yet their piety was so mild and cheerful, and their household governed with such uniform consistency, that the Sabbath was far from being a dull or gloomy day." Such training necessarily produced a happy effect upon the family circle.

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