and judicious divine, and an evangelical, zealous, and animated preacher of the gospel. The doctrine of the cross was his favourite theme. On this, he used to dwell with engaging and persuasive eloquence. In the state of Kentucky, where most of his ministerial labours were employed, he performed services highly important to the church in the time of her adversity, when the enemy was coming in like a flood, when des. tructive error and a spirit of disorganization prevailed. While many others departed from the faith of the gospel, he stood firmly to his post. When the precious doctrines of the Reformation were publicly assailed and villified, he appeared in their defence, and in various publications, successfully combatted and exposed the prevalent errors of Pelagians, Socinians, Deists, and Atheists. By this labour of love, he incurred the displeasure, reproach, and persecution of many who ought to have been grateful for the truths which he exhibited to their view from the sacred scriptures, and to have received them with meekness and humility. As he had an infirm, delicate constitution, and was subject ed to many temporal difficulties, his pilgrimage through this world was frequently unpleasant, and sometimes distressing. But he has outlived the reproaches of his enemies. His toils are now ended. His conflicts are over. We may safely say, he is more than a conqueror. He has made his exit from this world of sin and sorrow, and, we doubt not, is now before the throne of God in heaven. "As his life was devoted to the service of God, so his last end was peaceful. Mark the perfect man, and the upright: for the end of that man is peace. Towards the closing scene, on account of his extreme debility, he was able to speak but little; but expressed his resignation to the righteous will of heaven. He said his heart had been rebellious; but praised God, who, by the gracious influence of his Spirit, had given him a submissive temper, a sweet serenity of mind, and a disposition to say, "The Lord's will be done." "He was three times married, and has left behind him a wife and nine children, who are worthy of the tenderest regard and most friendly attention, in their state of bereavement and heavy affliction. May God be their father, their friend, their stay, and their exceeding great reward. May this dispensation of Divine Providence be sanctified by them, and to us. May we all remember, that our days are as a hand-breadth, our life as a shadow passing over the plain, our time swifter than a weaver's shuttle-that death is approaching with unabated rapidity-and that eternity, with all its solemn, inexpressibly important realities, is near to every one of us. Let us not procrastinate the great work of preparation for death, until it shall be eternally too late. Let us awake from our lethargy, and consider who we are, what we are doing, whither we are tending, and what is to be our final, our everlasting state. Let us realize our guilt, our depravity, our helplessness, our need of a Saviour-cry with every breath for mercy, pardon, and renewing grace-fly from the wrath to come, and lay hold of the hope set before us-and take no rest until we shall have obtained an interest in Christ and all his precious benefits; and can, on scriptural grounds, rejoice in hope of the glory of God." The humble compiler of this imperfect sketch was the favoured companion of Dr. Campbell's journey from Kentucky to Connecticut in 1812. He obtained from his own hand, while living, that list of his works which was first published in the Weekly Recorder, afterward in the Almoner, and now copied above; and he had the mournful, though edifying, privilege of closing his eyes in death. He spoke but little. Yet to his friend, who was leaning over him, with emotions which none but a friend can know, he expressed a desire to leave his dying assurance of the truth of those doctrines which he had preached and written; and to bless God for the happy experience which he then had of the reality and efficacy of those gracious operations of his Divine Spirit, which, through much reproach, it had been the business of many years to defend. No. 16. SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE subject of this sketch was in Kentucky at the head of a rising family as early as 1784, and was one of those who assisted Mr. Rice in collecting and organ izing that branch of his charge called the Forks of Dick's River. He had been raised under the Episcopal ministrations in Virginia, and though taught to respect the institutions of christianity, knew little of the power of religion till he moved to Kentucky. He is in fact to be considered as one of the first fruits of Mr. Rice's labours in the then wilderness. In his case the wilderness and the solitary places began to be glad, and the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose. And in him also it was relized to an eminent degree. "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age, they shall be fat and flourishing." But like the palm-tree flourishing, That is in Lebanon. Those that within the house of God And in old age, when others fade, After several movements he finally settled permanently in Clarke county; but wherever he had his tent, or his cabin, or his house, like the patriarchs of old, he had his altar; and every Sabbath day, that he had not worship within his reach, (and he had many of these, nearly one half of his Sabbaths) he had a church in his house, and his neighbours were invited to join with him in acts of devotion, and hear instruction from the word solemnly read. On the last Sabbath of May, 1821, the pastor of the place, the Rev. Robert H. Stuart, being gone to the eastward, the writer of this note, assisted by another. brother, dispensed the children's bread to this aged father for the last time which he received it on earth. At the close of the Monday service he took both the preachers by the hand, and in a manner which no words can express, intimated that it was his impression that he never would enjoy another occasion of the kind. And in passing homeward, he observed, that previous to their having a place of worship, meetings had been held on almost every spot between his house and the church, which was a distance of two miles. The following account of his death and religious character is given by his son, Rev. James Fishback. Departed this life in the forenoon of Saturday the 15th of September, 1821, at 9 o'clock, in his own house, in Clarke county, Kentucky, JACOB FISHBACK, in the 730 of his age. year He was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, on the 14th day of April, 1749. He had been married more than fifty years to Phebe Morgan, who survives him, and was 70 years old two days before his death, by whom he had eleven children, whose living offspring at his death amounted to * * The names of his sons and daughters are, William Fishback, John Fishback, James Fishback, Annie Price, Elizabeth Mason, Jesse Fishback, Charles Fishback, Hannal Taylor, Lucy Stonestreet, and Samuel D. Fishback. |