congregation, but also Professor of Greek and Hebrew in a theological seminary, and at this time the only one to teach the students anything to fit them for the office of the ministry. How well this was done, the band of noble men who are scattered all over this land and also in foreign lands can testify. All was work for "the Master" he so loved to serve, and not for worldly gain, as his salary from the seminary was merely nominal, a pittance of $300 a year.

It is easy to understand why the family rarely saw my father, except in the evenings, which he always cheerfully devoted to them. Or why, at sixty-eight years of age, he should be taken away, with no disease, as his physician said.

The truth is correctly given in a sentence from a sketch which appeared in 1876, in a work called "Men of Mark of Cumberland Valley, Penn.," by Rev. Alfred Nevin, D.D. He says, "Dr. McCarrell's last years were made sad by various causes, which could not operate upon such a nature as his without reaching and affecting the fountain of physical life.

"The changes in the denomination* to which he was so warmly attached, causing separation from

*The Associate Reformed Church, or, as it is sometimes called, the Scotch Presbyterian, was for many years a strong body of Calvinists in New York and Pennsylvania. (See life of Dr. John M. Mason.) And there is yet in the South, I am told, a large and influential body of Associate Reformed Presbyterians.

brethren with whom he had so long been closely connected in ecclesiastical fellowship, and the death of his eldest daughter all made a deep and visible impression upon him. That his strength was weakened in the way' was obvious to all. With only a few days illness he fell on sleep,' March, 1864, and is buried in the Old Graveyard' in the center of the city of Newburgh, N. Y., surrounded by his elders, who also are waiting for the adoption.'

"Dr. McCarrell was married to a Miss Jane B. Leiper, of Shippensburgh, Penn., a lady of superior excellence as a minister's wife. His family consisted of eight children, four of whom are living, and also one grandson."

On a hill which commands a fine view of the city of Newburgh and the Hudson stands the "Theological Seminary," a large stone building. It is now used as a boarding-school for boys; the school is successfully conducted, and is still under Presbyterian influence.

The "old church" is the same unpretending edifice, with alterations in the interior. The truth is still taught by an able minister of the " Word," and the old sweet bell yet softly tolls the hour of service, but many of that once large congregation no longer gather there to worship: many are scattered far and wide, and very many are singing the "new song" of the redeemed in the "upper Sanctuary." R. MCC. May, 1888.

INTRODUCTORY.*

“THE HE Rev. Joseph McCarrell, D.D., was a native of Shippensburgh, Pa., and was born on the 9th of July, 1795. His parents were warmly at

tached members of the " Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church" of that place, and the region was one whose history was connected with the earliest annals of the denomination, in the communion of which Dr. McCarrell lived and died, and for which he had an unchangeable affection.

His mind was early turned towards the ministry of the gospel; and he entered upon studies preparatory thereto, availing himself of such helps as were within his reach, though in the main he had to depend upon his own efforts, and was in fact (to a great extent) a self-made man.

While preparing for college in 1814, the country was electrified by the news of the capture of Washington, the burning of the Capitol and other public buildings, and the threatened attack on Baltimore. The militia of the adjacent counties of Pennsylvania marched as quickly as possible to the scene

*This sketch was published in the Newburgh Journal at the time of Dr. McCarrell's death, April, 1864.

of danger. Among them was Joseph McCarrell. For three days and nights the young studentsoldier was in the trenches awaiting the onset of the enemy. I have often heard him describe the magnificent scene which he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry, and the anxiety with which they watched at the dawn of each day to see whether our flag was still in place. (As is well known, it was this scene which inspired Mr. Francis M. Key to write that lyric which the American people will never willingly let die,-"The Star Spangled Banner.")

Soon after his return home, he entered Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, Pa., and graduated with high honors in the class of 1815. In 1818, he entered the Theological Seminary of the Associate Reformed Church, then in New York, under the care of the distinguished Dr. John M. Mason. He brought to the Seminary an amount of attainment in certain branches of learning which very few possess when leaving it, for he had made himself a thorough Hebrew scholar, and had read the whole of the Old Testament in that language.

Having finished the prescribed course of study, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Big Spring, Pa., on the 21st of June, 1821. For several months he supplied the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, in Murray Street, New York (vacant by the resignation of Dr. Mason), with so much acceptance, that not a few of its members wished to call him as