The pressing exigencies of that period, urged Dr. Manning to obey the call of his country, in accepting several important trusts in civil life. On a trying occasion, there was committed to him an embassy from this commonwealth to the state of Connecticut, the object of which he accomplished most successfully. In 1786, he was appointed to represent the State of RhodeIsland in the Congress of the United States, where it was aptly said of him that he "held the pen of a ready writer," and was master of all the great questions before the House. In 1788, he attended, as a visiter, the Convention which met in Boston for ratifying the Constitution, where, "on the last day of the session, before the final question was taken, Governor Hancock, the President, invited him to close the solemn convocation with thanksgiving and prayer. Dr. Manning, though, as Dr. Waterhouse thinks, taken by surprise, immediately dropped on his knees, and poured out his heart in a strain of exalted patriotism and fervid devotion, which awakened in the assembly a mingled sentiment of admiration and awe." The impression which he made must have been extraordinary, for it appears from the statement of Dr. Waterhouse, who dined in a large company after the adjournment, that Dr. Manning became the theme of general conversation, and had not Dr.

Stillman at that time been filling a very wide sphere with remarkable energy and success, a church would have been built in Boston for Dr. Manning's acceptance.*

When the war was over, and the members of the church who had been separated were restored to each other, two church meetings were held, one in Providence, the other in Pawtucket, in order to renew their solemn covenant to walk together in the commands and ordinances of the Lord. Mingled with the joy of peace, there was a mournful recollection of that happy religious progress which the war had arrested, and that "bloom of possession which had faded away." Amidst the general thanksgivings for political quiet, the church gathered around the altar of the Lord, and dedicated themselves to him afresh.

When the affairs of the College began to revive, Dr. Manning felt that the number of his duties and his cares were too great for him. On that account, in 1791, he resigned his pastoral office, and preached his farewell sermon in April of that year. His relation to the church had been an endearing one, and while they all wept at that parting scene, they little thought how soon they would be called to pay the last

* Memoir of Manning by Professor Goddard, p. 12.

sad tribute of affection and friendship at his tomb. Two months after that time, while engaged in family worship, he fell in a fit of apoplexy, in which he remained for six days, almost unconscious of any thing, and then expired. He was aged fiftythree years, and if, like his friend, Dr. Stillman, whom he much resembled in character, he had prayed that he might not outlive his usefulness, that prayer was truly fulfilled in the time and manner of his death.

A glance at the character of Dr. Manning, and of the eventful times in which he lived, is adapted to awaken in the mind a pleasing sense of that wise adaptation of means to ends, which may be traced more or less in all the workings of that holy Providence which led him hither, to present an impressive view of the great truth which Cowper felt when he said,

God gives to every man

The virtue, temper, understanding, taste,
That lifts him into life, and lets him fall
Just in the niche he was ordained to fill.

He was born in Elizabethtown, N. J., October 22d, 1738, graduated at Princeton College in 1762, with the highest honors of his class, and having preached a short time at Morristown, became a resident of Rhode-Island in 1763.

Here he has left many memorials of a useful life, and a name that will be always fragrant.

Rev. Jonathan Maxcy, D. D. was the successor of Dr. Manning in the ministry. A little before the death of the latter, young Maxcy was licensed by the church to preach, having graduated three years before, at the age of nineteen years. The following year he was ordained to the pastorship, and appointed Professor of Divinity in the College. The next year, 1792, he succeeded Dr. Manning in the Presidency. Not long after, he resigned the pastorship of the church, and in 1802, accepted the Presidentship of Union College at Schenectady, N. Y. He remained there only two years, and then removed to Columbia, S. C., having been elected President of South-Carolina College. Over that institution he presided sixteen years, until the time of his death, in 1820. was an accomplished scholar, an efficient instructer, and an eloquent preacher. His writings breathe the spirit of a pure christianity, and indicate that he was both a sound theologian, and a clear reasoner. One of the most lucid exhibitions which we have ever seen of the doctrine of the atonement, came from his pen, and among the theological articles which the discussions of his day called forth, few productions have done more to meet the difficulties,

He

and determine the opinions of young inquirers.

We come now to speak of the ministry of one, whose form and features seem to be intimately associated with this place in the recollections of many of us, and whose very voice seems still to linger around these walls. For thirtysix years, the Rev. Stephen Gano went in and out before this people as their pastor, and with a character "known and read of all men" commanded the esteem of all, as a man, a christian and a minister. It is always pleasing to speak of the life of any individual, to the very community in whose midst he lived, when all accord in the acknowledgment of his moral worth, and are glad to do him honor; but especially is it a grateful thing to do so in the case of one who was set as a teacher and guide of the people, when those who knew him best esteemed him most, confessed that he practised what he preached, and adorned the doctrine of God in all things. Such a man was Dr. Gano, who though he passed the greater part of his manhood in this place, from first to last maintained that beautiful consistency, that dignity of life and manners, which when calmly surveyed in retrospect, is fitted deeply to impress the heart with a sense of the reality and the power of religion.