Christian perfection, or the highest possibilities of Christian grace and growth, is a theme of intense interest to every true lover of the Lord. There are many ways of promoting it, widely differing in their merits and their helpfulness. Without disparaging other methods, it may be safely said that nothing can be better than example. Christianity centers around a person; and personal experience perennially appeals. Better than abstract discussion is concrete practice. More profitable than speculation and controversy is an actual life on highest levels. There is also a large advantage in beholding such a life in another age and land and Church, thus noting how God can magnify and fulfill Himself in very diverse circumstances, and amid intellectual influences that to us are quite obnoxious. We invite, therefore, the attention of the thoughtful reader to a man who presents one of the most perfect types of human purity that the world has ever seen; one who for two hundred years has stood among the choicest few of those universally esteemed to be authorities in spiritual things; one endowed with a luster which the lapse of time can not tarnish,—a luster far brighter than can be bestowed by mere worldly honors or temporal prosperity, however high. He not only had a heart filled with the love of God and glowing with pure devotion, but also a mind capable of the closest analysis and the keenest discrimination. He was not only a saint, but also a scholar and a genius, an original thinker as well as a pursuer of holiness. Such combinations are very rare. His thirst for perfection has probably never been surpassed. Seldom, if ever, has such a remarkable combination of high qualities tabernacled in the flesh. He had both modesty and majesty, both simplicity and sublimity, unconquerable firmness in duty, unsurpassed meekness in society; he was equally eminent for piety and politeness, for morals and manners; he was sympathetic and chivalrous, severe to himself, indulgent to others. In the midst of a voluptuous court he practiced the virtues of an anchorite; with the revenues of a prince at command he hardly allowed himself ordinary comforts. His abilities awaken our admiration, his afflictions excite our compassion. Born among the nobility of earth, he resisted the blandishments of earthly pomp, and became crowned with the far higher nobility of heaven. He was truly humble and truly heroic; good as well as great; skillful in teaching, wise in counsel, master of an elegant style both in composition and discourse; faithful to his friends and kind to his foes; devoted to his native land, generous to his family, a man of peace yet ready to fight for the faith, true to his convictions, tolerant toward those of other beliefs, tenderly affectionate, vigorously diligent; the glory of his country, the joy of mankind, the beloved of the Lord. He had an intense nature, and was, as has been said, “One whose religion must be more