“I have long thought the love of popular applause a meanness which a philosophy far inferior to that of our Divine Master, might have us to conquer. But to be esteemed by eminently great and good men, to whom we are intimately known, appears to me not only one of the most solid attestations of some real worth, but, next to the approbation of God and our own consciences, one of its most valuable rewards. It will, I doubt not, be found so in that world to which spirits like yours are tending, and for which, through Divine grace, you have obtained so uncommon a degree of ripeness. And permit me, sir, while I write this, to refresh myself with the hope that when that union of hearts which has so long subsisted between us shall arrive to its full maturity and endearment there, it will be matter of mutual delight to recollect that you have assigned me, and that I have, in some degree, executed a task which may, perhaps, under the blessing of God, awaken and improve religious sentiments in the minds of those we leave behind us, and of others that may arise after us in this vain, transitory, and ensnaring world. “Such is the improvement you have made of capacities for service that I am fully persuaded heaven has received very few in these latter ages who have done so much to serve its interests here below; few who have laboured in this best of causes with equal zeal and success; and therefore I cannot but join with all who wish well to the Christian interest among us, in acknowledging the goodness of Providence to you, and to the Church of Christ, in prolonging a life, at once so valuable and so tender, to such an advanced period. With them, sir, I rejoice that God has given you to possess in so extraordinary a degree, not only the consciousness of intending great benefit to the world, but the satisfaction of having effected it, and seeing such an harvest already springing up, I hope, as an earnest of a more copious increase from thence. With multitudes more I bless God that you are not in the evening of so afflicted and so laborious a day rendered entirely incapable of serving the public from the press and from the pulpit, and that, amidst the pain your active spirit feels when these pleasing services suffer long interruption from bodily weakness, it may be so singularly refreshed by reflecting on that sphere of extensive usefulness in which by your writings you continually move.