ble hearts. If you follow this advice of your father, my joy will be complete, when I shall once see you all again in eternal bliss, and be able to say to our Saviour; Here, Lord, is thy poor unworthy Cornelius, and the children whom thou hast given me. I am sure our Saviour will not forsake you; but I beseech you do not forsake him.' He fell gently asleep in Jesus on the 29th of November, 1801, being, according to his own account, eighty-four years of age." For the Christian Advocate. NO SIMILARITY BETWEEN THE DOC- ments and means to verify the mission and teachings of his messengers, and to be emblematical of spiritual things-these are not mysteries. Such were the miracles wrought by Christ and his apostles, and such was his resurrection; and of the very same character are the sacraments, both of the Old Testament and the New. In regard to things of this latter kind or order, where spiritual things are found joined with corporeal things, the spiritual things, symbolized by what is sensible, remain objects purely of faith; but in regard to the sensible symbols, or emblems themselves, it is clear, that what is true in regard to them, must be judged AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRI- of and decided by the external NITY. The argument drawn in favour of Transubstantiation, from its being no more incredible than the doctrine of the Trinity, is altogether irrelevant and false. Our belief of the doctrine of the Trinity, is not contradicted by any of our senses-but the doctrine of Transubstantiation, is contradicted by all our senses that can be applied to the subject-It is contrary to our sight, our touch, our taste, and our smell. To all these senses the elements of bread and wine are recognised to be still bread and wine, as fully after the consecration as before. It has been justly remarked, in regard to this subject, that there are two kinds of things which are proposed to our faith-Those of one kind are absolutely and entirely detached and separated from corporeal things; and these are called Mysteries. These things are purely the objects of faith, without the external senses having any thing to do with them: and such an article of faith is the doctrine of the Trinity—it is a mystery. But there are other things which are sensible and material, that God makes use of as instru senses. Hence it follows conclusively, that we must resort to our senses to determine the question— whether the bread and wine in the Eucharist, remain real bread and wine after consecration; or whether these elements, which all our senses declare to be still bread and wine, are not in fact the proper natural body and blood of our blessed Saviour-It appears, then, that the parallel attempted to be run between the doctrine of Transubstantiation and the doctrine of the Trinity, is utterly fallacious. The two things are totally different, and can admit of no fair comparison; inasmuch as the one is an object wholly of faith, with which the external senses have nothing to do; and the other is an object in which the external senses have to do, and, as far as sensible things are concerned, are the proper and competent judges of the facts, which are and must be addressed to our senses. The truth is, the doctrine of Transubstantiation is in contradiction to the whole evidence-the evidence of the external senses-on which we believe the resurrection of Christ, and the other miracles recorded in the Bible. There is a pleasaut story told on this subject, relative to an interview between the celebrated Erasmus, and Sir Thomas Moore, when the former was on a visit to England. They were both Catholicks, but Erasmus was one of those who felt himself at liberty to question this doctrine of Transubstantiation, or at least to dispute against it, for the sake of an argument. Sir Thomas's great argument was the efficacy of faith; that is, believe that in the Eucharist you eat the very body of Christ, and then you really eat it. Shortly after this dispute, Erasmus returned to Holland, and Sir Thomas lent him a small horse, called a palfrey, to carry him to the place where he was to go on ship-board, and a servant was sent to bring back the palfrey. But the story says, that Erasmus took the palfrey over to Holland, with himself, and sent back these lines to Sir Thomas Nonne meministi Crede quod habes et habes.* OBITUARY, Died, at his lodgings, in Philadelphia, on the 5th of the present month, (Dec. 1833,) the Rev. EZRA FISK, D. D., Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government in the Western Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, located in Alleghany Town, in the vicinity of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. * Do you not remember Believe that you have him, and you have him. His funeral was attended by many of his clerical brethren, and by other citizens of respectability, on Saturday the 7th inst., to the burial ground of the 2d Presbyterian church, where his corpse was deposited in the family vault of Dr. John White, who kindly offered it for this purpose. A funeral service was performed on the occasion, in the lecture room adjoining the burial ground: in this service the Rev. Dr. John M'Dowell made the introductory prayer; Dr. A. Green gave out a psalm, and followed it with an address;* Dr. W. Neill followed the address with a prayer; and the service was closed with a hymn and the apostolical benediction, by Dr. Green. THE ADDRESS delivered on the occasion was as followsFRIENDS AND BRETHREN, Death seldom seizes on a vic tim, whom, if permitted, we should more earnestly desire to rescue from his grasp, than in the instance in which he laid his corpse-making hand on the dear brother, whose funeral rites we now celebrate. But we are to remember that death is God's messenger; and as it is not in our power, so it ought not to be our desire, to interfere with his arrest, whenever we perceive that he has received a commission to strikeLeast of all should we do this, or be disposed to repine, however great may be our loss, when death is sent to call an eminent friend and servant of God, from his labours and sufferings on earth, to his rest and his reward in heaven "Why do we mourn departed friends, The Rev. DR. EZRA FISK, whose mortal remains are now before us, was born in the town of Shelburn, state of Massachusetts, in January 1785; and in Williams' college, of the same state, he received his academical education. He was graduated in 1809; having been, during his college course, one of the little band of pious youth that met frequently for prayer, with a special reference to evangelical missions; and of which the well known and much lamented Mills and Richards were leading members. His classical studies, previously to his entering college, and his theological studies afterwards, were prosecuted under the Rev. Dr. Packard, the pastor of a Congregational church in the town of his nativity; and for whom he ever retain ed the greatest love and veneration, as the man whose early instructions had imbued his mind with those principles, and given him those views, which had effectually preserved him from the pernicious errors, both in philosophy and theology, which have recently obtained a lamentable currency. Having preached as a licentiate for about a year, he was ordained as an evangelist in 1810. His labours in this character were principally performed among the numerous destitute congregations, then in the state of Georgia; and here, in March 1812, he entered into the marriage relation, with a daughter of the venerable Dr. Francis Cummins. In the autumn of the same year, though debilitated by his residence and labours in the south, he preached as a missionary for some months, in this city. In August, 1813, he was permanently settled in the ministry at Goshen, in the state of New York-so that he appears to have sustained the pastoral relation to his beloved people, a little more than twenty years. An affection of the lungs compelled him to intermit the greater part of his ministerial duties, in the autumn of 1832, and to seek relief by a winter's residence in the more genial climate of Georgia. During his absence, he unexpectedly received the appointment of Corresponding Secretary and General Agent of the Board of Missions of the General Assembly; which, on his return, he declined to accept; under a conviction that his health was not such as would enable him to endure the labours, hardships, and exposures of the appointment. He was recommended in May last, by the Directors of the Western Theological Seminary, to the last General Assembly of the Presbyterian church, for the appointment of Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government, in that seminary. After his election to the designated professorship by a vote of the Assembly, he visited the Seminary at Alleghanytown, and having inspected its state and prospects, he accepted the professorship assigned him. His separation from the beloved people of his pastoral charge was, both to them and to himself, a most trying occurrence. His farewell sermon to his brethren of the Presbytery of which he was a member, is published, and remains to them, and to the attached people of the congregation that he left, as a memorial of his affection, and the depository of his wise counsels. On his way to Pittsburg, he arrived with his wife in this city, on Saturday, the 2d of Nov. last. In the evening of the next day, the Sabbath, he preached his last sermon, in the lecture room where we are now assembled. His text was, Col. i. 12: 66 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." From these words, while addressing his Christian brethren, he undesignedly drew his own character, and described the blood-bought inheritance of his Redeemer, of which, in a few days, he was to be made a glorified partaker. Immediately after preaching, he was taken with great sickness of the stomach, followed the next day by a high fever, and a distressing pain of the head. To these symptoms, on the third day, was added a violent af fection of the breast, accompanied by a cough, discoloured and bloody expectoration, and an incessant and exhausting hiccup. In about two weeks, however, all these threatening symptoms disappeared, under the medical treatment he received. He seemed, indeed, to be free from all actual disease, and was in a state of such promising convalescence, as to be encouraged by his physician to hope that the time was not far distant, when he might with safety go abroad, and eventually pursue his journey. But an all-wise, sovereign, and holy God had otherwise ordained. On the night of the last Lord's day, he was taken with a relapse, and although he seemed in a degree relieved, during a part of the next day, yet the following night, alarming symptoms, which seemed to threaten his immediate dissolution, made their appearance; and although some abatement to the violence of his complaint was obtained, yet the oppression of his lungs not only continued but increased, till exhausted nature, on Tuesday last, about four o'clock in the afternoon, yielded the conflict-His death was not painful; he fell asleep in the Lord. I conversed and prayed with him, about two hours before he expired-The hand of death was then on him, although his mental faculties were unimpaired, as indeed they appeared to be to the very last. A beloved brother, whom a severe indisposition prevents being present at this time, took my place, shortly after I retired; and spoke to him in a strain of Christian and consolatory address, accompanied with prayer, which is testified by those who heard it (as a number did) to have been of the most appropriate, elevated and animating kind. The eyes of the dear deceased, were steadfastly fixed on the speaker, till they were closed in death-having given previously repeated intimations, in reply to questions asked by his beloved partner, that he understood all that was said. A heavenly composure, or serenity of soul was vouchsafed him, during the whole of his illness. Nor did it in any degree abate, when he knew that he was dying; and it left imprinted on his features, after his spirit had fled from its earthly abode, such a sweetness of expression, as I have never seen in any other countenance, after death. For him, the king of terrors had no terror. He might indeed say with the apostle, "O death where is thy sting; O grave where is thy victory. The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." The intellectual powers of Dr. Fisk were of the solid, more than of the brilliant kind. His imagination was not the distinguishing faculty of his mind. His imagination was indeed by no means barren; it was fertile; but its fertility was that of thought, and not that which is prolific of poetic images, or rhetorical figures. His mind was vigorous, penetrating, discriminating, and judicious. This was its character. He saw truth with a quickness, perspicacity and depth, that was uncom *The Rev. Wm. L. M'Calla. mon; and hence he could separate and disentangle it from error, with a readiness and accuracy that few possess. His affections were tender and strong, but not violent. In the connubial relation he was exemplary-He imparted, and I know he also received, in that relation, a high degree of the happiness which it is calculated to cherish and bestow. In every domestic relation he excelled as an example. In friendship he was most sincere and unwavering; not affected by a change of outward circumstances; or if he was, he only changed to cleave closer to his friend, when others proved fickle or faithless. Alas! in him I have lost a friend, whose place I can scarcely hope to be supplied. He was peculiarly grateful for favours received. He spoke frequently, and with much sensibility, of the friendship and kind attentions which, during his illness, he and Mrs. Fisk had received in this city-not only from his clerical brethren, but from many others, both male and female. He said that he knew he had some friends here, but that he had received friendly offices, far beyond his expectations. Modesty and humility were ever distinguishing features of his character. His integrity was of the most unsullied and unbending kind. He had doubtless adopted the resolution of Job-"My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live." Hence it was, that he acquired the high estimation which he held in the minds of all honourable men who knew him, and enjoyed the peculiar confidence of his brethren in the ministry. He was a man, whom all who were acquainted with him intimately, knew where they would find him, on every question in which truth, and consistency of character and profession, were concerned. It was his integrity, prudence, discretion and firmness, mingled with a mildness of manner, and so far as duty would permit, a spirit of accommodation and conciliation, which gave him the extensive influence that he confessedly possessed. His literary attainments were highly respectable. Of the origi nal languages of the Sacred Scriptures, he had acquired a better knowledge and a greater familiarity, than is possessed by most of the clergy of our country. He loved science in almost all its departments; and in some, not often cultivated, he had made a desirable progress. In mental philosophy, I do not know his superior, in the church to which he belonged. He loved this study. It accorded with that close and discriminating investigation, to which his faculties were adapted, and in which he delighted. His was the true Baconian system of philosophy, applied to the mind-a system in which facts, and fair inductions from facts, stand for every thing; and hypotheses and fanciful speculations stand for nothing. Such alone was the philosophy which had charms for our departed friend. He considered a plain declaration of the word of God as establishing a fact, to which all speculation was implicitly to bow and submit; and not busy itself in perverting, disguising, or endeavouring to explain away the announced fact-a fact resting on the declaration of Him who cannot err. His theology was that of the Protestant Reformation, as embodied in the doctrinal standards of the Presbyterian church. In every department of this Theology he was an adept. He had carefully examined its foundations, and all its bearings: And he was prepared to defend and maintain the system, on the grounds both of reason and Scripture. The piety of Dr. Fisk was truly eminent. It was not a flighty and |