A NEW SERIES

FOR 1809.

PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATRONAGE

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM P. FARRAND AND CO.

Fry and Kammerer, Printer.

1809.

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Oliver Ellworth, LLD. ( 1745- 1807 ) Graduated Princeton, 1766, member of the Connecticut bar, elected to the 1777 Continental Congress, elected to represent Connecticut at the 1787 federal constitutional convention, later appointed to the Senate. In 1796, Washington nominated Ellsworth for the office of Chief Justice, U.S. Supreme Court. Later, in 1799, President Adams appointed him as Envoy extraordinary to France, in order to frame beneficial treaties with this now difficult former ally. Above all, a solid example of applied Christian virtue well appointed to every high political and judicial office the country offered him. Willison Ed.

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THE Editor of the Evangelical Intelligencer, on the publication of the first number of a new volume, begs permission to make a tender of his acknowledgments to those patrons who have thus far supported the work. He will suspend no exertions on his part to deserve the continuance of their favours.

A production, whose aim is to state and defend evangelical truth and to announce the circumstances attendant on its triumph among the nations, by which the exemplary lives and happy decease of ancient and later godly characters are exhibited for the conviction of the unbeliever and the imitation and comfort of the sincere christian, must, at first sight, claim the countenance of the friends of God and man. In it, the divine and the historian, the philosopher and the poet, the minister of the sanctuary and the private saint, are invited to associate the rays of genius and piety, for the purpose of firing, by their convergent splendour, the bosom of every reader, with holy love. Materials for the work are sought not merely from the circles of immediate observation, but from " the uttermost parts of the earth;" and it is believed that there are few evangelical efforts of a missionary nature, on their way, of which it is not a correct Intelligencer.

The paucity of publications of this kind in a world that greatly needs them, the ease by which they may be

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tamed even by persons and families who boast not of wealth, arising from their cheapness and periodical issue, the advantages which result to youth, whose curiosity is gratified and information extended by the monthly arrival of at once a stranger and a friend; and the arousal of active zeal by the examples of men, that, like Barnabas and Paul "have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus," and whom God has set among the nations "to root out and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build and to plant," are among the countless considerations that invite the public patronage.

The age in which we live is marked with revolutions; and is preeminently an era of missions. While the nations are raging and the earth is moved, the rivers of salvation are winding their silent and majestic way around inhospitable mountains and through dismal deserts; producing the excellency of Sharon and of Carmel, wherever they roll; prophecies are fulfilling with an unusual rapidity; and, in the general expectation of the church, the millennial glory will ere long cover the earth, To be found at this eventful crisis, "fellow workers with God," and to be waiting with cheerfulness until "the end" shall arrive, are the duty and privilege, in which we are encouraged to abound and rejoice.

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AMONG the rich favors bestowed by providence on New England, her constellation of christian patriots is a prominent blessing. From her earliest periods, men have been raised up, of whom it were poor commendation to say, that they were worthy the best days of Greece or Rome. They were taught in a sublimer school than those ancient patriots knew. They were formed on a far superior model. The were deeply imbued with the spirit of that gospel, which came from heaven. Hence, while they contributed to save their country by their exertions, they adorned it by their virtues. Their example was an instructive lesson to the age in which they lived, and an invaluable legacy left to posterity.

Among these worthies, a distinguished place is occupied by Oliver Ellsworth; a man whose character cannot be contemplated without admiration, nor admired without profit.

He was born at Windsor, in Connecticut, April 29th, 1745. At the age of seventeen, he was admitted a student of Yale College; but removed afterwards to Nassau Hall, in New Jersey, where he was graduated in the year 1766. Having passed through a course of preparatory studies, he commenced the practice of the law, in which he soon attained a great and acknowledged eminence. At a period when the Bar in Connecticut was, occupied by men of the most brilliant accomplishments, and profound legal science, his

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ta1ents could not be eclipsed. He sustained an honorable competition with a Johnson and a Hosmer. His perceptions were unusually rapid; his reasoning, clear and conclusive; his eloquence powerful, and almost irresistible. His method of managing causes was peculiarly happy. Having ascertained those points on which he could make the most vigorous defence, he seized them with ardor, kept them undeviatingly in view, pursued his object without parade or circumlocution, and triumphantly bore his hearers along with him.

In the year 1777, he was chosen a delegate to the continental congress. He found himself in a new sphere; but his extraordinary powers did not forsake him. He devoted himself with unwearied assiduity to the great interests of his beloved and threatened country. He met the exigencies of that awful crisis without shrinking; and consecrated to the common cause all the energies of his mind, and all the powers of his eloquence.

In 1780, Mr. Ellsworth was elected into the council of his native state. He continued a member of that body till 1784, when he was appointed a judge of the superior court. In 1787, he was elected a member of the convention which framed the federal constitution. This was an object which gave full scope to the faculties, of his sagacious and powerful mind, and called into use his ample stores of political science. In an assembly rich in talents, in erudition, and patriotism, he held a distinguished place. His opinions were received with deference; and his exertions essentially aided in the production of an Instrument which, under the divine blessing, has been the main pillar of Columbian glory and prosperity. Immediately afterward, he received a new proof of the unbounded confidence of his fellow citizens, who placed him in the state convention, to which the federal constitution was submitted for ratification. His exertions to accomplish an object so near his heart,, were vigorous, unremitted, and successful.

When the federal, government was about to be organized, Mr. Ellsworth was appointed to a seat in the congressional senate. This elevated station he filled with his accustomed dignity. Profound wisdom and incorruptible integrity marked every part of his conduct. No subject of legislation seemed beyond the reach of his excursive and vigorous mind. The opinions which he had deliberately fixed, he maintained with a firmness which nothing could shake. On subjects of uncommon magnitude and interest, he shone

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with peculiar lustre. " If he was ardent in debate, and at times he was so, it was an ardor which illuminated the subject, and flashed conviction on the mind. If he was undaunted and persevering in his purposes, it was because those purposes were wise and just. He loved his country; he knew her true interests; he pursued them with that firmness, that independence, that intrepidity, and that skill which constitute the civilian, the statesman, and the real patriot."

In March 1796, he was nominated by president Washington, chief justice of the supreme court of the United States. Such an honor, conferred by one who so intimately knew him, and who with such unparalleled accuracy of discrimination and inflexibility of purpose, made merit the standard of promotion, could not but be gratifying to sensibilities like Mr, Ellsworth’s. The approbation of Washington was a species of fame, which the purest and noblest mind needed not blush to prize. His attention had been for many years abstracted from the study of the law; yet he presided in that high court with the utmost dignity and respectability. The diligence with which he discharged his official duties, could be equalled only by that inexhaustible patience, which he manifested in the hearing of causes, however uninteresting, complicate, and protracted. His charges to the jury were rich; not only in legal principles, but in moral sentiments, expressed in a simple, concise style, and delivered in a manner which gave them a tenfold energy and impression; while his official decisions evinced a depth and extent of juridical science which secured universal confidence and admiration.

Toward the, close of the year 1799, he was appointed by president Adams, envoy extraordinary to France, for the purpose of accommodating existing difficulties, and settling a treaty with that nation. With many reluctancies, and at the expense of much inconvenience, he accepted the appointment. In conjunction with governor Davie and Mr. Murray, his associates, he negotiated a treaty which, though it did not answer the just claims and expectations of the American public, was undoubtedly the best that could be procured. It arrested some alarming evils, and contained some arrangements favorable to the United States. Nor did it, as originally framed, comprise that abandonment of claims for millions of spoliated property, which was afterward made, by the premier consul, the condition of its ratification.

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Mr. Ellsworth’s health, in the course of his passage to Europe, had suffered much. The combined influence of fatigue and sea sickness induced maladies, which preyed on his constitution, and terminated not, but with his important life. Having accomplished the business of his embassy, he repaired to England for the benefit of the waters. Convinced that his infirmities must incapacitate him for the future discharge of his duties on the bench, he transmitted a resignation of his office, as chief justice; and returned home in the expectation of spending the residue of his days in retirement. But his fellow citizens, anxious to express their grateful sense of his important public services and sacrifices, and desirous still to enjoy the benefit of his extraordinary talents, seized the first opportunity to elect him into the council of the state. With a disinterestedness and ardor of patriotism, equally laudable and rare, be complied with their call, and discharged the important duties devolved on him with his usual fidelity and acceptance. In May, 1807, he was appointed chief justice of the state. But his maladies were rapidly increasing. Frequent attacks of pain exhausted his remaining strength; and severe domestic troubles lent their aid to unnerve his frame. His eldest son, an amiable and promising youth, who had accompanied him to Europe, lost his health soon after his return, and gradually sunk to the grave.

Mr. Ellsworth apprehending that he could not long survive his distressing complaints, declined his last appointment; and was almost immediately seized with such violence, that his life was for some time despaired of. He was favored however, with a short and partial recovery. But the next attack proved fatal. After some days of mental derangement, he expired, November 26th, 1807, in the sixty third year of his age. At his funeral, an appropriate sermon was delivered by the reverend Mr. Rowland, his pastor, to a numerous assembly, which grief and verneration had attracted to the scene.

In the imperfect detail above given, of the prominent circumstances of Mr. Ellsworth’s public life, we perceive and admire the accomplished advocate, the upright legislator , the able and independent judge, the wise and incorruptible ambassador, the patriot ardent, uniform, and indefatigable, devoting every faculty, every literary acquisition, and almost every hour of life, to his country’s good. Let it be remembered too, that this man moved for more than thirty years, in a most conspicuous sphere, unassailed by the

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shafts of slander; and that at a period, when the demon of party spirit has so often blasted all the distinctions of virtue and talents, no one has been found vile enough to blow upon his fair fame. His integrity was not only unimpeached, but unsuspected.

In private life, he was a model of social and personal virtue. He was just in his dealings, frank in his communications, kind and obliging in his deportment, easy of access to all, beloved and respected by his neighbors and acquaintance. Amid the various honors accumulated upon him by his country, he was unassuming and humble. No superciliousness of demeanor, no airs of self satisfaction, repelled the modest, or offended the discerning. His dress, his equipage and mode of living were regulated by a principle of republican economy; but for the promotion of useful and benevolent designs, he communicated with readiness and liberality. He was a cordial and active friend to the peace, the order, and best interests of society. In short, his life, while unstained with any immorality, was replete with the most useful and noble exertions.

The answer is at hand. Mr. Ellsworth was a christian. He firmly believed the great doctrines of the gospel. Its spirit and maxims regulated his temper, and governed his life. He made an explicit and public profession of christianity in his youth. Nor in all his intercourse with the polite and learned world was he ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Amid a scene of multiplied and various engagements, he made theology a study, and attended, with unvarying punctuality, on the worship of the sanctuary. It was a sight equally delightful and edifying, to behold this venerable sage, whose eloquence had charmed the listening senate, and whose decisions from the bench were scarcely less than oracular, sitting with the simplicity of a child at the feet of Jesus, and devoutly absorbed in the mysteries of redemption.

The religion which Mr. Ellsworth befriended, was not of the cold and heartless sort, but vital, serious, and practical. Meetings for social worship and pious conference, he countenanced by his presence. He was one of the trustees of the Missionary Society of

Connecticut; and engaged with ardor in the benevolent design of disseminating gospel truth.

The genuineness of his piety appeared with increasing evidence, toward the close of life. In that scene, Where real and apparent are the same— he exhibited the humble, tranquil firmness, which religion inspires. In the full consciousness of death’s approach, he expressed the submission, the views and consolations of a christian.

Let christianity, then, have the honour, which it so justly claims, of forming the sublime character of an Ellsworth. Let the sceptic, the infidel, and the libertine shrink into disgrace before him. And let those who aspire to imitate his illustrious virtues, imbibe the pure and evangelical principles by which those virtues were inspired and nourished.