Zachariah Cushman received to full communion. Saba his wife, baptized and received to full communion."
"23 Dec. 1808. Lt. Zachariah Cushman and Lt. Soule were appointed a standing committee of the chh. to visit and endevor to reclaim offenders."
23 Dec. 1808. Lt. Zachariah was one of a. Committee on the settlement of a minister at Plympton, and on the 6th June 1815, he and his wf. Saba were dismissed and recommended to the chh. at Needham.
To be a Lieutenant in the militia, and a Deacon in the chh. was no small distinction in those days. Ergo Lt. Zachariah was no ordinary man. " Quid est denionstrandum." But the following, being the testimony of those who knew him best, is conclusive on that point:

Delivered in the first Parish in Needham, June 18, 1826, the Sabbath after the interment of Deacon Zachariah Cushman,

St. John, 1: 47..- Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile.

* * * * No difficulty, christian friends, meets us, in delineating the character of Deacon Cushman. We have only to give the distinguishing characteristics of christian sincerity, as it relates to God and man, and it is immediately recognized as his character. Were I disposed to dwell upon that birth and pedigree, which some regard with veneration, as giving them a title to superior consideration and respect, I might here indulge that disposition through a line of respectable and pious ancestors ; we can trace the descent of our deceased friend to that little band of heroi pilgrims, who first landed on the shores of New England. In contemplating the pleasure which this would afford to most men, we insensibly forget our own principles with respect to these things. We forget that we acknowledge no hereditary honors; that our principles as freemen recognize the man who, amidst powerful obstructions rises to honor and distinction, as much more an object of admiration, than the man who is born to such a for tune. We forget that in our own country, the nobility is that

which intellect, knowledge and goodness create. If, therefore, we do not venerate the deceased on account of his ancestors, yet we may well venerate him far his imitation of their virtues, and feel grateful that in his own life he has given us a transcript of their sincerity, uprightness, piety and benevolence. His religious lpeculations were those of his ancestors; but speculations had little to do with his religious character. His was the religion of the heart and life. It had nothing sectarian, nothing exclusive. "The good he loved of every name,", and with pleasure and profit ha often listened to the instructions of those whose opinions did not fully coincide with his own. Peace and.charity were leading objects with him; and to these, many inferior considerations were cheerfully sacrificed.

It would be wrong indeed to present the character of our deceased friend as a perfect model for imitation. We have but one such model, the character of Jesus Christ. Yet there were so many excellencies combined in his character, that we should be wanting to ourselves did we not remember, for the purpose of imitating them. Everything in his religious character, was easy, unaffected and natural. There was nothing put on to excite an opinion of superior sanctity. No gloom or moroseness mingled with his piety. He was exemplary in the private and public duties of re ligion. He was uniformly cheerful, industrious and temperate. He always received his friends at his hospitable dwelling with expressions of the. highest satisfaction; and he had no enemies. His friends always retired from his society with perfect confidence that what he professed was the language of the heart. They never suspected that their characters would be treated with less delicacy when absent, than when they were present. The law of kindness was not only on his tongue, but in his heart. Hi character was adorned with candor, justice, uprightness, compassion and benevolence.

As he lived the life of the righteous, so the closing scene was peaceful and happy. No images of those whom he had defrauded, oppressed or defamed, and no charge of duties omitted or 'violated, could disturb his dying pillow. At this interesting moment, and in reviewing his past life, he meets only recollections of the relief he has afforded to the suffering, the consolation he has imparted to the afflicted, the good he has done to all men, as he had opportunity; and these recollections, like angels of mercy, soothe, comfort and support him. He was not indeed insensible of the imperfection of his virtues; yet at this solemn season he recollected no instance in which it had not been his sincere object to do his duty. His imperfections, therefore, though they made him humble, never for a moment east a shade over his future.

prospects nor checked his "desire to depart and be with Christ, which was far better.' His hope was in the mercy of God, through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was, indeed a privilege to visit the dying bed of such a Christian. There was a moral dignity which might well excite our admiration. It was a privilege to behold the happy triumph of our religion over the terrors of death and the grave. May we, my friends, suitably value that religion now, which alone can calm our troubled minds, dissipate our fears, and open to our view at death a happy immortality. May we embrace it in sincerety, and conscientiously discharge its duties, that our death, like our friend's, may be that of the righteous.

304   VI. LEVI, 6 b. 11 Aug. 1755, d. young; baptized 28 Sept.1755.

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