CHAPTER III.

Sunsets while yet Day.

"I GO to life, and not to death,

From darkness to life's native sky; I go from sickness and from pain To health and immortality. Let our farewell then be tearless, Since I bid farewell to tears; Write this day of my departure Festive in your coming years."

I.

REV. STEPHEN MORELL.

II.

DR. JAMES HOPE.

III.

REV. ALFRED VAUGHAN.

IV.

DR. JAMES HENDERSON.

V.

MRS. DICKSON.

VI.

ROBERT ROLLOCK.

THE

I.

STEPHEN MORELL.

HERE is much about the memoir of Stephen Morell that is affecting. He died on the eve of marriage, four months after his ordination to the work of the Christian pastorate, and before he had completed his twenty-fourth year.

He was born at Paddow, in Essex, where his father was the minister of the Congregational church, on the 23rd of December, 1800. The supreme desire of his parents was that he should, if spared, serve the Lord in the service of the sanctuary; and with that view they earnestly and unreservedly dedicated him in infancy to Him. They had the joy of seeing the offering they made of their child accepted, and that ministry entered upon in which they hoped he would spend many years of usefulness.

At a very early age Stephen showed more

than ordinary activity and power of mind. He was fond of reading, and applied himself with diligence to several branches of knowledge. He had accordingly before the age of ten made considerable progress in his knowledge of Latin, history, geography, and some other subjects of learning.

At fifteen he expressed to his father a wish to enter on a course of preparatory study for the office of the ministry. As this was in accordance with the mind of both parents, and as Stephen had given every evidence of personal piety, and was manifestly possessed of superior abilities, the father could not do other than hail with gratitude and delight the wish, and give encouragement to its realization. Stephen accordingly adopted a systematic course of study, and on subjects bearing on his chosen profession for the future. At eighteen he entered the theological college at Homerton as an accepted student for the Christian ministry.

"Mr. Morell," says his biographer, “pursued the course of study there with distin