church, besides others who came into the church soon after his resignation, the fruits of special religious interest that prevailed during the last months of his ministry here. In July, 1843, he was elected Principal of Cambridge Washington Academy, which post he occupied with great efficiency and success until August, 1848.

During this time he supplied the Reformed Dutch Church in Easton, N. Y., for one year; also, the Reformed Dutch Church in Buskirk's Bridge for two years.

Having a fondness for the Natural Sciences Dr. Newton gave his attention early in life to mineralogy and geology, and availing himself of the opportunities he enjoyed to collect specimens in these departments, he had gathered one of the largest and most valuable private cabinets in the land. This cabinet of about ten thousand specimens attracted the attention of connoisseurs and elicited proposals for purchase from several quarters. All these he refused, and in August, 1857, presented it to the Theological Seminary in Andover, Mass., and there gave the summer months of several successive seasons in arranging these specimens and preparing a catalogue. He afterwards gave his Library of about one thousand volumes to Middlebury College.

In 1860 he returned for the first time, after an absence of twenty-seven years to Marlboro', Vt., and finding his former parish destitute of the preached word, he consented to occupy the pulpit for a time, preaching as he had strength, while at the same time he was engaged in gathering materials for a history of that township. He found here a most discouraging state of things, but he addressed himself with zeal to the work of restoring that wasted heritage of the Lord. He spent the most of his time here until the fall of 1862, when he was elected to represent that people in the Legislature of Vermont, and while in the discharge of his duties as a member of that Legislature he was attacked with a severe fit of sickness from which he never fully recovered. In the fall and winter of 1863 and the spring of 1864 he was the acting pastor at Wilmington, Vt., and there sustained his last labors in the pulpit. At the time of his death he had made arrangements to supply that people for the winter.

In August and September Dr. Newton made his first visit to the West. He went to visit two sons and their families in Cincinnati, Ohio, to visit other kindred and to secure a suit of fossils and shells from the Ohio River, and his last contribution to the cabinet in Andover.

He returned October 15th to the house of his son-in-law, John M. Stevenson, Esq., in Cambridge, N. Y., where he had made his home for the last eight years, and while engaged in labors at the Academy for a few days took a severe cold, failed rapidly, and died October 26, 1864. Dr. Newton was tall in person, dignified in appearance, and genial in his manner. prevailing expression of his countenance was that of benevolence, and he never failed to command the respect and to win the affection of those with whom he was associated.

The

As a preacher he was plain, earnest and Scriptural, seeking to present the great truths of the Bible in their simplicity rather than exhibit ornament in style or oratory. His ambition was to acquire knowledge, and make himself a learned man, that he might be more useful among his people and become qualified to instruct the pupils committed to his care.

He was especially active in all that concerned the welfare of his people, in things both religious and secular, and a zealous and successful worker in the town and country benevolent associations of the day. For his attainments in Theological and general knowledge his Alma-mater conferred on him the honorary degree of D.D. From early life he manifested a great interest in the cause of education, and his first effort after being settled as a

pastor in Middlebury and Glens Falls was to establish schools which were successful and proved a lasting benefit.

At Cambridge he found a good Academy already established, and immediately gave it the benefit of his energies and counsels. After resigning his pastorate he was its Principal for five years. Subsequently he became its President, and his interest in this institution continued during his life, and his last public act was in performing an official duty in that Academy.

Dr. Newton took a great interest in Agricultural matters, and by his advice and example among the people of his first charge, introduced many beneficial changes in their mode of farming, especially in sheep husbandry. After giving up the Academy at Cambridge he retired to a small farm where he remained for several years. During this period he devoted much time to the cultivation of varieties of seeds and vegetables, with a view of learning what were the best, and by this means gave much valuable information to the neighboring farmers. He contributed many articles for publication in the agricultural journals, and at the time of his death was President of the Washington County Agricultural Society.

Dr. Newton was married, in 1815, to Huldah, eldest daughter of MajorGeneral Timothy F. Chipman, of Shoreham, Vt., an excellent and devout woman, who entered into rest in 1853. Three sons and one daughter survive to cherish, with many other friends, the memory and mourn the loss of a good father and a good man.

Rev. I. O. FILLMORE, who followed Dr. Newton in the pastoral office in Cambridge, writes as follows:-"My acquaintance with Dr. Newton began with my ministry in Cambridge. He was one of my parishioners there. He had passed through some troubles that had grown out of the Old and New School controversy, which at that time was agitating some of the churches in that part of the country. The parties in the church and congregation were about equally divided--a small majority being with those who espoused the Old School side of the controversy. With this side Dr. Newton had identified himself. Of course, he encountered the opposition of the other party. This item of history is given, not to revive feeling, now happily passed away, but to show that what Dr. Newton encountered arose from the state of things in the church and not from anything chargeable upon him personally as a man or a minister. Any other minister, at that particular juncture of affairs, would have experienced equal or greater troubles.

"If this state of things, and the delicate position he occupied, put some restraints upon our intercourse, it was not long before all reserve and restraints were thrown off, and I think I may say our friendship was mutual and cordial. I learned to love him and to seek his counsels and aid, and I may as well state here that the bitter feelings which controversy and party spirit had engendered in the minds of some, all passed away, and the whole church and congregation loved and honored him as an honest, upright man, a devoted, faithful minister of Christ, and as a Father in Israel.

"In summing up his characteristics and virtues I am at a loss where to begin or where to end. He must have been well on to three score years when I first saw him, perhaps in the fifty-sixth or seventh year of his age. He was spare in person, rather tall. His countenance was grave, sometimes wearing a shade of sadness. My first impression of him was that he was a severe and gloomy man. But I found him to be the reverse. was usually cheerful and pleasant in conversation and intercourse. There was in him a vein of humor and wit, which would now and then reveal itself. but not so as to compromise his dignity or seriousness.

He

"He was a man of great industry, never allowing himself to be idle.

When he retired from the more active duties of a regular ministerial charge he was engaged at first as Principal of Cambridge Academy, which was never more flourishing than under his supervision; afterward he devoted himself to agriculture, in which he excelled.

"In matters of business he was proverbially accurate and honest, and was one of the best accountants I ever knew. He used to say that the manner and accuracy of keeping accounts determined a man's success in business. Respecting his attainments in scholarship, I am not able to speak, except that in the natural sciences, he is said to have excelled. There was a time when in mineralogy and geology he was equal to any in the land. Had he given his undivided attention to these sciences, he would have been the peer of any of our eminent geologists.

"During my ministry in Cambridge he gave a course of sermons on the first chapter of Genesis, in which he displayed high attainments in geology and great ability in reconciling that science with revelation.

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As a preacher Dr. Newton was sound and scriptural rather than imaginative, ornamental, and oratorical. His sermons were models of system and Scripture illustration. He was a great friend to all the benevolent operations of the church, and was especially interested in the cause of Foreign Missions. Acquainted with the early efforts of the American Board and with many of the first missionaries, he never lost sight of the operations of that noble Institution. He was also a warm friend and patron of the Board of Missions in that church with which he was so long identified. He was always ready to assist at missionary meetings and concerts. His extensive knowledge, and his accurate presentation of statistics, were of great advantage, and always interested his hearers. He was a man of prayer and a lover of the doctrine and order of the church with which he was connected.

"In every sense he was a good and faithful man and minister, and I was not surprised to learn that death found him ready to go and join the church triumphant and engage in the higher service in the temple not made with hands. He came to his grave in a good old age, like a shock of corn fully ripe. The memory of the just is blessed. May the example of his fidelity to the cause of Christ and of his many virtues excite to imitation, and may the mellow rays of his sunset linger long in the memories of his children and other friends."

Rev. A. B. BULLIONS, of Troy, N. Y., writes thus:-" Dr. Newton was a man of great industry, perseverance, enthusiasm, and fidelity to his trusts. His life was filled up with usefulness, and wherever he was placed he labored conscientiously and successfully for the well-being of the community. As a preacher, he was orthodox, discriminating, and faithful to the souls of men. As a Christian, he was humble and trustful, always living near his Saviour. As a friend, he was genial and warm-hearted. Apart from the duties of his sacred calling, he devoted much of his time to the cause of education, and to every interest designed to benefit the community in which he lived. Having a sure and safe judgment, he knew how to devise well; and possessed of a remarkably methodical mind, combined with great perseverance, he could accomplish well all he undertook. He was never in a hurry, and yet his influence was powerfully felt in every good work. He labored all his life, and almost up to the day of his death; and his record is not only on high, but also among a grateful people, who will now sadly miss his presence, and his unselfish devotion to their welfare. But blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.'"

NICHOLS, JAMES-The son of Abiel and Fidelia (Briggs) Nichols, was born in Berkley, Bristol County, Mass., August 6, 1811. He was educated at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., and studied Theology in the Seminary at Andover, Mass., was licensed by Albany Presbytery, in 1838, and ordained by same Presbytery in 1845, as pastor of the Presbyterian Church, Oneida, N. Y. This was his only charge.

He was Principal of the Synodical Academy at Geneseo, N. Y., from January, 1850, to March, 1858, and was Chaplain of the Western House of Refuge, Rochester, N. Y., from February, 1859, until he entered the Army as Chaplain of the 108th Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry. His exposure to the privations of the camp ended in his contracting a fever, from which he never recovered. He returned to Rochester,

N. Y., where he died, January 31, 1864.

He married Miss Sarah J. Hastings, of Heath, Mass., who, with five children, survive him.

NOEL, E. P.-Was born in North Carolina, in 1804. His parents removed to Anderson County, Tenn., and gave their son such an education as that portion of our country afforded. He studied Theology in the Union Theological Seminary, at Marysville, Tenn., and was licensed and ordained by the Presbytery (Holston,) in the bounds of which this institution was located, and entered upon his labor as a minister of the gospel of peace in Jasper County, Tenn., in 1833. In 1835 he moved to Knoxville, Ill., and for two years labored with acceptance to the church in that place. He then removed to Columbia, Mo., and it was here that he was first troubled with a pain in his left foot, and though he received the best medical assistance it baffled all skill and became eventually an ulcer.

From Columbia he moved to Rocheport where he had charge of a school, but sickness unfitted him for active usefulness. In about a year he moved to the south-west, and located in Bolivar, Poik County, Mo. Here was the scene of his greatest trials and sufferings.

He was the first Presbyterian minister who preached south of the Osage. He organized a church near Bolivar and one twenty-five miles distant in Green County, near Springfield, preached to these charges and in other places, hunting up the lost sheep who were wandering about without a shepherd, many of whom had united with other churches, never expecting to see a Presbyterian minister among them, obtaining no other aid. The next year he found two other ministers, viz., Messrs. Dodge and Jones, formerly of the Harmony Indian Mission, who united with him and formed a Presbytery. He continued here for more than two years longer, suffering all the privations incident to a life of poverty in a new settlement. A man with less energy, suffering as he did would have shrunk back from the toil he endured. He now walked on crutches, and his limb had become so painful that for months at a time he could not obtain a single night's rest. Yet nothing kept him from his appointments-not even sickness in his family.

He would start out in a storm to cross a prairie, where the only landmark was a distant point of timber and that frequently hidden from view by the driving snow. Providence always led him aright. He traveled in a little light buggy, and his good old horse swam the creeks with him and it. Indeed it was frightful to see the animal plunge into the driving current with the buggy floating after him. People used to say, "Brother Noel, you have got your horse so trained that he travels over these ravines as though he was walking on eggs." In the summer time when the heat and prairie flies were intolerable he would travel at night. The people grew to

expect that he would fulfil all his appointments, no matter what was the state of the weather or the condition of the roads, and once when he was detained more than an hour beyond his time by the breaking of his buggy, one old lady insisted that he was lying dead by the road side, and a party were about to go in search of him when he drove up. Another old lady used to walk seven miles to hear him preach, so much did she love the word of God.

During these two years he received some little aid from the Home Missionary Society, and a very little from his people, for they were poor. At the end of this time, and at the earnest solicitation of his friends, he gave up his active labors here and moved to Balls Mills, near Fort Scott, and placed himself under charge of Dr. Dodge who thought he could cure his foot in three months, if he would avoid taking exercise during that time and confine himself entirely to his chair. But his desire to do good forced him to labor for Christ. He used to preach occasionally sitting in a chair to the Rev. Mr. Dodge's charge, and his efforts were blessed with an abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is desirable to mention that the people here were very kind, ministering to the temporal wants of himself and family. After remaining in this country about a year, failing to obtain any relief for his foot, he moved with his family to Ray County, and preached to the Plum Grove Church about fifteen miles from the county-seat. Here, too, the church enjoyed quite a revival. After several years stay here he was induced to move to St. Louis to procure medical assistance for his foot. Here he was faithfully attended by Dr. Knox for more than two years, without, however, receiving any permanent cure. During this time he was not idle, but preached to two small churches in the vicinity of St. Louis.

In 1850 he moved to Troy, Lincoln County, and continued here "in the faithful discharge of his ministerial duties, growing in usefulness and in the esteem of community, and in the affections of the people of his charge till the day of his death," which occurred March 22, 1864, and was occasioned by the amputation of his leg which he had broken accidentally. Let us drop the veil over his sufferings during the time that he remained after the amputation. They were intense; he bore them without a murmur.

In regard to his character words fail me. As evidence of his usefulness whenever he preached for any length of time there was a revival of religion. I know that he was well beloved by his flock in this place. He was possessed of energy known to few. I have seen him suffer days of pain, and in the long still night have heard groans of anguish burst from his lips, but he was always patient. He was a kind husband, a tender father. He set an example of Christian fortitude and Christian zeal to all who knew him.

About three weeks before his death it pleased Providence to take away a darling son aged five years, the child of his old age, and as he watched with tears streaming down his face his death struggles, and saw the imploring eyes turned on him for relief, he cried, "Oh, Charlie, pa can't cross the dark river with you, but something tells me it won't be long before I'll come too." Though his own heart was breaking he prayed continually, "Thy will be done." On the next Sabbath he preached from this text. "It is finished." In his discourse he made the following remark, "It is more than probable that I will never preach to you again,' and he never did. The next Sabbath that he spent with God's people was in the church triumphant, in the house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.

He married Miss Jane A. Flesheart, in 1831, who, with several children, survives him.