audience, because they embodied the fruits of his study and reflection.

In the meetings of the Church for conference and prayer, he was often
very helpful. He had too much reverence for the place and object of the
assembly, to indulge in crude and repetitious utterances. He prepared
himself for the duty, by recalling the lessons of his own experience or
citing illustrations from the wide stores of his reading. His words were
well chosen, and his thoughts seldom common-place. In the exigencies of
the missionary cause, or on some occasion of special peril to the truth
he would bring forward an instance of signal deliverance from similar
trial, in the previous history of the Church, or in the lives of her
servants. There were those, who might speak with more fluency, or
employ a more impassioned manner, but no one spoke more to edification.
His prayers also were marked by the same evident thoughtfulness and
spirituality. He was not hasty to offer his desires before God. You
felt, in following his petitions, that he had a message, and his voice
would often be tremulous with emotion as he made supplication in behalf
of the sick or the sorrowful; as he prayed for the youth of the
congregation, or interceded in behalf of the Church and the country.
As an officer of the Church, he was considerate of the feelings and
wants of his brethren; visiting the sick, searching out the poor, and
practicing a generous hospitality. Ministers of all denominations were
welcome to his house, and among his chosen friends there were none held
in higher esteem than the ministers whom he loved for their works' sake.

Deacon David was averse to strife and controversy; the convictions which
he cherished had been matured by careful study, and he was ready to give
them expression on all suitable occasions; but he avoided personal
disputes, and the imputations that accompany heated discussion. He knew
that these controversies were unprofitable, and he consequently sought