How delighted would I be to join heart and voice with you and the people on this interesting occasion! Mrs. Prime and I were in the dew of our youth when we took up our abode in Matteawan, and gave our lives to the service of that infant church. When I add that last week on Friday we celebrated the forty-eighth anniversary of our marriage you will perceive that nearly the entire life of your church has passed since I entered upon its pastoral care.

Beautifully nestled

It was then an ideal pastoral charge. at the foot of the mountains, near the great river, the people largely engaged in manufactures, liberal, hospitable, intelligent, and earnestly religious. I entered upon my labors with enthusiasm, and pursued them with constantly increasing ardor and enjoyment. My first residence was in the house on the west side of the beautiful Grecian temple that was our church. Soon my generous people built for my home the spacious and commodious parsonage which still stands as a memorial of their care for me and mine. Those fine trees that make so grateful a shade around it were planted, I may say, by my own hand. In the parsonage we often had the people as our guests, as we were their shepherd. Many of our people lived three families under one roof. I often took tea in the basement or the attic, in whichever the family resided, and the children were my friends. I was said to know every child in the parish by name. Those who grew up to manhood and womanhood continue to be my friends, and it is enough for me to be reminded that I was the pastor in Matteawan, of one who speaks to me, to awaken my warmest interest. In foreign lands those young parishioners have hailed me as the friend of their childhood. One of them died in Paterson, N. J., a few days ago, whom I baptized. It is pleasant to me that Mr. Jabez Turner, who was an active member of the church when I was pastor, is and has long been an officer of the church in which I now statedly worship in New York. A few of my old friends survive in Matteawan. Their names and faces are familiar and precious. To them especially I send my love with these words. How well do I remember the prayer-meetings, the

revivals, the conversions, the communion seasons which we all enjoyed! The three happiest years of my ministerial life were spent in that charge.

On the second Sabbath in October next I expect to preach my semi-centennial sermon in Bedford, N. Y., where I preached my first sermon fifty years ago. There and then I will testify to the loving-kindness of my Matteawan people, and to the sorrow with which I resigned my pastoral work from total failure of health-a work which I have never been able to resume. Other and far better men have followed me in that pleasant field; the generation that knew me has passed away; few know that one of my name was ever a keeper of the flock on that mountain-slope; but them that God gave me he will keep unto that day when it will be my exceeding joy to present them before our Father's face in the kingdom in heaven.

That you, my dear brother, may be as happy in your work in Matteawan as I was forty-five years ago, and far more successful, is the earnest prayer of your friend in the gospel of Christ

S. IRENEUS PRIME.

His leaving his much-loved parish and entering upon his great life-work is best described in the following letter addressed by him

To the Presbyterian Congregation of Matteawan.

BELOVED BRETHREN: Three years ago this day I came among you. They have been years of uninterrupted peace and prosperity. The bond of mutual affection uniting us is so strong that nothing but sickness or death appears sufficient to separate us. While I have been with you I have been repeatedly solicited to come to other fields of labor and to take the charge of other churches in which my pecuniary condition would have been greatly improved. But my attachment to you and my views of duty would forbid me to leave this people for the sake of assuming any other pastoral charge. I have been happy here and willing to spend and be

spent for you so long as God would give me strength to preach his blessed Word.

When I was first settled here "I was sick and ye visited me." From that time I have struggled daily in the midst of my manifold labors against a disease that has disabled many ministers of the gospel and laid not a few in the grave. Often when others may have thought that I was neglecting my duty I have been seeking temporary relief from the insidious effects of disease. Since my attack in October last it has manifested some symptoms that indicate clearly the necessity of a speady cessation of public speaking.

Such being the will of Providence, “What are we that we should reply against God?" Bowing to that will, I have now to ask the congregation to unite with me in a request that the Presbytery will dissolve the pastoral relation subsisting between us.

Knowing your interest in everything that concerns pastor and his family, I will add that after I had determined to rest from my labors in the ministry, another “great door and effectual has been opened to me." It will be my endeavor to do what I can for the good of my fellow-men through the columns of the New York Observer. I regard it as a special mark of Divine favor that I have been permitted to look forward to such a field of usefulness when I am no longer able to preach the Word. And I wish it to be distinctly understood that my leaving you is caused solely by the state of my health, and the hope that after ceasing for a season to preach may be able to resume pastoral labor with strength sufficient for the work.

The Lord willing, I shall continue to supply your pulpit on the Sabbath, omitting my Wednesday-evening lectures, until the first of April next. On the last Sabbath in March I shall probably take my leave of a people among whom I have spent the happiest years of my life.

That God will send to you a man after his own heart, who will be more faithful and successful than I have been, is the sincere and constant prayer of your unworthy pastor,

MATTEAWAN, Feb. 22, 1840.

SAMUEL I. PRIME.

He entered in 1840 upon his duties as associate editor of the New York Observer, then under the charge of Messrs. S. E. and R. C. Morse and A. P. Cumings. In the course of a few weeks the Messrs. Morse practically relinquished their duties to their associate, whose aptitude for the work was evident from the first. Though constantly delicate in health, his literary labors were not confined to the columns of the Observer. His pen was employed in writing religious books, in advocating educational and benevolent enterprises in the secular press, and also in general literary work for various publishers in this city. But his body was not equal to the demands of his spirit, and in 1853, an almost helpless invalid, he sailed for Liverpool in the Devonshire, and spent a year in travel in Europe and the East. In 1858 Dr. Prime purchased an interest in the New York Observer, in which he had been acting editor since 1840, with the exception of a brief period, during which for a year he was one of the Secretaries of the American Bible Society, and subsequently for a few months an editor of The Presbyterian.

During the first few years of his editorial work Dr. Prime resided at Newark, N. J., where he was an active member of the congregation of the Third Presbyterian Church, then under the pastoral care of the Rev. Dr. H. N. Brinsmade. Of the large and flourishing Sunday-school of this church Dr. Prime was for some years the superintendent. His association with the establishment of the Public Library at Newark has been recorded in the New York Observer. In 1850 he removed to Brooklyn, N. Y., where he resided until 1858, when he established himself in New York City as a permanent resident.

Besides the journey abroad in 1853, Dr. Prime, made an extensive European tour in 1866-67, and again in 1876-77. His letters during these various journeys were so frequent and full that most readers are equally familiar with his thoughts and experiences abroad and at home.

His published works include “Travels in Europe and the East," "Letters from Switzerland," "The Alhambra and the Kremlin," "The Old White Meeting-house,” “Annals of the

English Bible," "Thoughts on the Death of Little Children," "The Power of Prayer" (a sketch of the Fulton Street prayermeeting), with several continuations, "Memoirs of Rev. Nicholas Murray," Under the Trees," and "Life of S. F. B. Morse." "The Power of Prayer," which was first published in 1859, was translated into several languages, and was reprinted in Europe, Asia and Africa, attaining, it is said, a circulation of more than 175,000 copies.

He has frequently been a Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, and in 1883 he went as a delegate from the Northern body to the Southern General Assembly. He has been Corresponding Secretary of the American Bible Society, of which he was one of the active directors; Vice-President and Director of the American Tract Society; Corresponding Secretary of the American Evangelical Alliance; Vice President and Director of the American and Foreign Christian Union; President of the New York Association for the Advancement of Science and Art; ex-President and Trustee of Wells College for Women; Trustee of Williams College; Honorary Fellow of the Incorporated Society of (English) Authors, and a member of many other religious, benevolent and literary organizations.

This enumeration gives but a faint impression of the breadth and variety of his activities in connection with religious, benevolent and educational enterprises.

As a member of an ecclesiastical body, he was untiring in his interest, quick and powerful in debate, indefatigable and efficient in committee.

How this life ended in the fulness of its strength and brightness was told in the Observer of July 23. When such a man is taken out of this present world he leaves behind more than he takes away. His works do follow him. In the Church of Christ, in the New York Observer, in the social circle and in the family, his faith, his hope, his love, his energy, his cheerfulness, his activity, will remain to inspire, guide and consecrate long after all of us who knew him have passed away. When John's disciples learned that their leader had nobly fallen they came and took the body and