THE PROVINCE AND USES OF BAPTIST HISTORY. I was not uninfluenced by personal considerations in accepting the invitation which has brought me to your presence to-day. I came to meet old friends, whose grasp always repays a long journey, needing no pledge of welcome save that which is furnished in recollections of former intimacies, and of labors in a common and blessed service. This hill, whose winding ascent is shaded by venerable elms, the beautiful panorama which delights the eye from its summit,― are not more familiar than the faces which assemble here on these sacred occasions. They differ in this, that while the former abide with the constancy of nature, knowing no change save that of increasing beauty, the latter reveal the touches of time and care, each year reminding us, by their absence, of some whom we shall not greet again, and whom we in our turn shall successively follow. I may too early attune your thoughts to sadness; but these allusions force to my mind and to yours the name of one whose recent departure, in the very vigor of his days, we all have mourned as the loss of a brother. It is not my province to utter his eulogy; and yet, the part which I have to perform in the exercises of this anniversary, permits and invites a brief reference to his virtues. He was my friend. When he came to the pastorship of the ancient church in Providence, I was the pastor of a rural church in this state, at no great distance from him, and was honored with his confidence. From that time I knew him well. I never knew integrity more perfect than his. Prudent and reserved, when he spoke his words were the exact transcript of his thoughts. Of ripe judgment, he was a sagacious and wise counsellor. With wonderful faith in right and in God, he looked for the triumph of truth and righteousness with a confidence as unquestioning as that of the astronomer looking for the calculated phenomena of the planets. Perhaps it required somewhat of intimacy to know his emotional nature, the depth, the unchangeableness of his love, which, as a pervading, characterizing sentiment, embraced his friends,- his work as a pastor,— and the cause of Christ, whether as a whole or in its special departments of education or missions, whether as connected with his own denomination, or with that true church catholic which embraces the faithful of every clime and name. He was a rarely developed Christian man, whom, to human seeming, the church on earth could not afford to lose. We feel the pang of his absence here to-day, and before we pass to other themes we pay this brief tribute to the memory of JAMES N. GRANGER. I had another reason for obeying the summons which called me hither. It was my privilege to bear a part in the formation of this Historical Society; anterior, |