As a fellow citizen with the saints, he considered him-
self .essentially, interested in the weal or wo of his bre-
thren, and was constantly observed, either mingling his
tears with those who wept, or triumphing in the joy of
such as rejoiced before God. Hence, he could not be-
hold, as an unconcerned spectator, the distress to which
the Church was exposed in his day, and the dissensions
by which it was torn in pieces ; but rather as a true dis-
ciple of that gracious Redeemer, who loved the Church,
and gave himself for it. He was engaged, indeed, in
those greiat debates which disturbed the tranquillity of
the religious world for so long a season ; and during
those sharp contests he appeared, it is true, in the very
front of the battle. To all who knew him, however, it
was sufficiently evident that he entered not into the con-
flict with any design either to signalize himself, or to
establish the reputation of a party ; but rather to confirm
and build up the Church in her most holy faith. Zeal
for God constrained himi, upon this occasion, to take up
a cross which he regarded as almost insupportable ; and
when he came forth from the retirement he loved, in
the character of a public disputant, he came forth with
the laifguage of the evangelical prophet in his mouth>:
for Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jeru-
salem's sake will I not rest, until the righteousness
thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation there-
of as a lamp that burneth.. His attacks were constantly
directed, not against the leaders of any particular sect,
but against the errors of every sect : and in carrying on
these attacks he manifested a degree of impartiality and
candour which few have ever discovered in similar cir-
cumstances. "While he cautiously exposed the apparent
mistakes of his opponents, he put his own religious
opinions to a fiery trial ; and whatever was unable to
stand the severest test he considered as no better than
vanity and dross. Like the Apostle Paul, he could do



HFE of rev. J. FLETCHER. 