eflections and improvements which he made when reading
history, in which he took a great deal of pleasure, as persons remarkable
for their knowledge of mankind, and observation of Providence, generally
do. I have an instance of this before me, which, though too natural to be
at all surprising, will, I dare say, be pleasing to the devout mind. He
had just been reading, in Rollin's extracts from Xenophon, the answer
which the lady of Tigranes made when all the company were extolling
Cyrus, and expressing the admiration with which his appearance and
behaviour struck them. The question being asked her, What she thought of
him? she answered, "I do not know; I did not observe him." On what, then,
said one of the company did you fix your attention? "On him," replied
she, (referring to the generous speech which her husband had just made,)
"who said he would give a thousand lives to ransom my liberty." "Oh,"
cried the colonel, when reading it, "how ought we to fix our eyes and
hearts on Him who, not in offer, but in reality, gave his own precious
life to ransom us from the most dreadful slavery, and from eternal
destruction!" But this is only one instance among a thousand. His heart
was so habitually set upon divine things, and he had such a permanent
and overflowing sense of the love of Christ, that he could not forbear
connecting such reflections with a multitude of more distant occasions
occurring in daily life, on which less advanced Christians would not have
thought of them; and thus, like our great Master, he made every little
incident a source of devotion, and an instrument of holy zeal.

Enfeebled as his constitution was, he was still intent on improving his
time to some valuable purpose; and when his friends expostulated with him
that he gave his body so little rest, he used to answer, "It will rest
long enough in the grave."

The July before his death, he was persuaded to take a journey to
Scarborough for the recovery of his health, from which he was at least
encouraged to expect some little revival. After this he had thoughts
of going to London, and intended to have spent part of September at
Northampton. The expectation of this was mutually agreeable; but
Providence saw fit to disconcert the scheme. His love for his friends in
these parts occasioned him to express some regret on his being commanded
back; and I am pretty confident, from the manner in which he expressed
himself in one of his last letters to me, that he