CHAPTER III.

LICENSE TO PREACH THE GOSPEL-ENGAGEMENT AS AN AGENT IN BEHALF OF THE BOMBAY SCHOOLS-ORDINATION AS A MISSIONARY-AGENCY AMONG THE

SOUTHWESTERN INDIANS-RESIDENCE IN NEW ORLEANS-MARRIAGE-AGENCY FOR RAISING A FUND FOR THE CORRESPONDING SECRETARY OF THE BOARD

STUDIES AT ANDOVER.

On the fourth of June, 1816, Mr. Cornelius was licensed to preach the gospel by the South Association of Congregational ministers, in Litchfield county, Connecticut. The readers of this memoir will be gratified to learn the opinions which were entertained of him at this time by an individual who had every facility for forming a correct judgment. "I have forborne to say all I think of Mr. Cornelius and his prospects as a popular preacher in the best sense of the term, and as a missionary of great enterprise and prudence, lest, upon experience, some deficiency, unperceived by me, might be discovered. But the successful manner in which he has conducted the enterprise in which he is now engaged, (that of raising funds for the support of heathen children in the schools at Bombay,) and the influence he has exerted upon all classes of people, young and old, good and bad, and the confidence reposed in him by all the ministers and churches around us, make me feel as if it was safe and as

if it was duty to state freely to you my opinions and views. Mr. Cornelius has been as signally blessed in promoting revivals of religion, as in soliciting charities. I have never known a young man of such ardent feeling and ardent piety, and so much maturity of judgment and prudence, and who combines so many advantages to influence, as a public speaker, and in private conversation, the minds of men."

Notwithstanding the eminent advantages which Mr. Cornelius possessed from the God of nature and grace, it may admit of a doubt, whether a somewhat different and a more exact theological discipline would not have increased his powers for doing good. Considering the circumstances of his own character, and the peculiarly excited state of the Christian community at that time, in respect to benevolent exertions, when the attention was first aroused to the subject, it is evident that he was exposed to peculiar danger of premature entrance on the great work of the Christian minister and missionary. He was possessed of a vivid imagination, and of a ready elocution, which, added to active habits, exposed him to fall into a loose and prolix mode of preaching. He was certainly capable of reasoning and writing in a concise and logical manner, of methodizing his ideas on all subjects upon which he reflected, and of unfolding them in proper order, and without circumlocution. Such a "chosen vessel" should have had every possible polish. A little more vigorous discipline, and a somewhat closer attention to taste and accuracy in composition, would have considerably increased his singular ability in the service of his Lord. We allude to these things from a desire to give an impartial view of his character, and also from the knowledge that, in subsequent life, he himself regarded the subject in the light in which we have presented it. Very few men judged of their own char

acter and attainments with more accuracy and real humility than Mr. Cornelius. None desired more earnestly, all those qualifications which would have enabled him, by the grace of God, to confer eminent blessings on his fellow-men.

The following incident, while it illustrates the preceding observations, will show a very uncommon attainment in one of the most difficult of the Christian graces. We relate it in the words of the excellent individual who communicated it to us, and who is now, as we do not doubt, partaking of the blessedness of the saints in light.

'The

"In the year 1816, soon after Mr. Cornelius became a preacher, he received a commission, to solicit benefactions for foreign missions. Under this commission he preached with great acceptance, in several places in the northwestern parts of Connecticut. Many individuals went from town to town to hear him; some of them exclaiming, ‘he is a second Whitefield.' It was my privilege to listen to him at Norfolk. His text was Psalm 1xxiv. 20. dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.' His discourse was in itself excellent. He gave a most striking account of the wickedness and woes of heathenism. His manner was still better. Without any appearance of wild-fire, he was wholly inflamed with his subject. Soon the flame seemed to spread through the house, and kindle every hearer. The effect was most happy. The people contributed much more than he requested. Still his discourse was probably less instructive, and less useful, than if it had been more regularly arranged, and more accurately composed. And now the question with me was, Shall I tell my young brother of his defects? Can I expect that thus borne onward by such a tide and torrent of popularity, he will be willing to stop and listen to chilling criticisms from me, upon points of comparatively small importance? I concluded, how

ever, that if my counsel should be rejected, the evil would be trifling; that if accepted, the advantage might be considerable. Rousing up all my courage, therefore, I told him my whole heart. Never could I wish any pupil to listen with more respectful and earnest docility, or greater desire to profit to the utmost by every remark. This was

sufficient to win my heart. But this was not all. At the conclusion, he manifestly felt more gratitude than he could express. Such was the basis of our friendship—a friendship which continued rising and consolidating till the day of his death-a friendship, which I hope, is destined to flourish and ripen forever."

The object to which allusion has been repeatedly made, and in which Mr. Cornelius employed several months of the year 1816, was originally suggested by Gordon Hall, a missionary of the American Board at Bombay. supposed that heathen children might be obtained there more readily than in any other part of India. In addition to the Hindoos, there were many degraded and miserable Portuguese and half-cast children, who seemed to have no way of escaping misery both temporal and eternal, unless the arm of charity was immediately stretched out for their salvation. Bombay, especially in times of scarcity, swarms with beggars from the neighboring continent with their families, and not unfrequently parents die and leave their orphan children friendless and wretched in the extreme.

It was on behalf of this interesting portion of the pagan world, that Mr. Cornelius commenced his labors. It was obviously a department of the missionary work, into which he could throw all his energies. He could portray human suffering in its most touching forms.

· The first letter which he wrote in reply to an official communication of Dr. Worcester, the Secretary of the Board, informing him of his appointment, we quote. He had previously made some efforts for the same object in a private manner.

"Rev. and dear Sir,

"Litchfield, June 26, 1816.

"I have the satisfaction to acknowledge the receipt of your official communication, which came to hand two days after I had written a second letter to Mr. Evarts. I should not have written that letter, had I not been strongly urged to go in many directions, and had I not wished to be engaged in the service of the Board as speedily as possible, to prevent those solicitations. I hope, therefore, you will not wonder at my apparent impatience. I am sensible that I have taken upon me a concern of considerable responsibility, and I most sincerely wish it might have fallen to one more competent to execute it. But God, I trust, has warmly engaged my heart in the thing, and the success already given to comparatively weak exertions, encourages me to hope, that I shall, through the blessing of God, be able to do something for those dear missionaries whose sympathies are so much excited on account of the miseries of the thousand hapless orphans of India. I shall most conscientiously observe the particulars of the commission you have given me, and the more so, as the catholic feelings of the Board have ever been my own, since I turned my attention to those plans for doing good, in which the Christian world is now engaged."

At the time in which Mr. Cornelius commenced his agency, there was a freshness and interest investing the whole subject, which contributed greatly to facilitate his labors. Many interesting incidents came continually under his observation. He thus writes to Dr. Worcester.

"Litchfield, August 3, 1816..

"The object which you have commissioned me to lay before the public, I am happy to say is one which greatly interests the feelings of all who hear it presented. In