county, where he was appointed prosecuting-attorney. Here, and in the counties of Mason and Bracken, he obtained some little practice, but did not succeed well in either of those courties. Although well versed in the principles of law, he had never yet read any book which treated of practice either in courts of law or equity. While at Flemingsburg he commenced a course of mathematical studies.

"In March, 1801, he visited Chillicothe, by advice of the late General Nathaniel Massie and other friends, and upon consultation with his old friend, Dr. Edward Tiffinwhom he had known and taken into the Church eleven years prior to that time, in Virginia-he concluded to remove to and settle in that town, which he did the following month, and has continued to reside there to the present time a period of over fifty-one years. Before leaving Kentucky he went to Cincinnati and was examined before the General Court of the North-Western Territory-Judge Burnett, Mr. M'Millen, and Attorney-General St. Clair examiners-and admitted to the degree of counselor at law. During the summer of 1801 he wrote in the clerk's office for Doctor Tiffin, and engaged in such other business as he could to obtain a scanty subsistence, as he could not practice as counselor at law till he had resided two years in the territory. The succeeding winter he was employed as engrossing and enrolling clerk during the session of the Territorial Legislature. On the assembling of the convention for forming a constitution for the state, Mr. Scott was elected Secretary to that body. Dr. Tiffin being a candidate for governor, under the new constitution, he resigned the clerkship of the several courts which he then held, and Mr. Scott was appointed in his place by the acting governor. At the first township election in Chillicothe, under the constitution, he was elected a justice of the peace, and was the first

one commissioned under the state government. At the session of the first General Assembly, under the constitution, Mr. Scott was elected Secretary of the senate, to which office he was annually appointed till 1809, in February of which year he was elected, by the Legislature, one of the judges of the Supreme Court, and the year following was re-elected and commissioned chief judge of that Court. This office he held till July, 1815, when, finding the salary insufficient for the support of himself and family, he resigned his seat on the bench and resumed the practice of law.

"In October, 1815, Judge Scott was elected one of the representatives of Ross county, in the Legislature, and in 1822, he and the late Judge Francis Dunlevy and Thomas Ewing, Esq., were commissioned by Governor Morrow, under a law of the state, as a board of revision, to revise the general laws of the state, and to report the same to the General Assembly at its ensuing session. The Board had not quite completed their work when the Legislature met; and one of the first things done by that body was to dissolve the Board, so that no report was made. In March, 1829, he was appointed, by the President and senate, Register of the Land-Office at Chillicothe, which office he held, by successive appointments, till March, 1845, when he was removed by President Polk.

"The foregoing sketch of our old friend and neighbor is condensed from a more extended one recently drawn up by himself, and kindly furnished to us. We have devoted more space to it than we can well spare, and yet have been obliged to omit many incidents and facts which would have lent additional interest to the narrative. Many of his friends have, with us, regretted that the Judge ever exchanged his high and holy calling of an embassador of Christ for the bar, or the bench, or polit

ical life, with its turmoil and strife. 'Tis true, he possessed superior qualifications for the bar, and the bench, and the various other offices he has held. But his fitness for the ministry was of a still higher order. And had he remained at his post therein, he would, doubtless, long since have ranked with the most talented and distinguished ministers in the Church; nay, might possibly now be filling the dignified office of its senior superintendent. It is but justice, however, to add, that he considered himself forced, by 'dire necessity,' to take the course he did. 'For,' said he, 'had the Church at that period been able to support myself and family, I would have spent my whole life in the ministry. But the Church was then too poor to do it.' It is much to be lamented that many others of the ablest and most useful ministers in the Church, in former times, were, from the same cause, compelled to retire from the work."

IF we were to hear of a minister of Jesus who had preached the first sermon in what is now the state of Ohio, and spread the first table of the Lord that was ever spread in this wilderness, would it not awaken a thrilling emotion in our hearts and create a romantic interest to hear something of his wonderful history? What adventure could be connected with more stirring incident than the adventures of such a man in braving the perils of the wilderness, and preaching the Gospel, and administering its ordinances in these wilds more than fifty years ago? We have his history, gentle reader, and the incidents connected with his heroic Christian life.

The subject of our sketch was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, on the 29th of August, in the year 1768. He was blessed with pious parents, and particularly a pious mother-one of the greatest blessings to mortals; for to the mother more than to any other, and, in fact, all other influences combined, apart from the grace of God, is the child indebted for its character. A mother's smile, and gentle word, and kind hand do more to mold the character and fix the destiny of the child than all other agencies combined. "Give me," said Madame de Stael, "the first seven years of a child's life, and I eare not who afterward shall have its training." This, as a general principle, will hold good, as the period alluded to constitutes, to a great extent, the forming stage of human character. During that time it receives

its bent and direction for time and eternity. Having a mother whose mind and heart were thoroughly imbued with the principles and graces of religion, young Kobler was early trained in the path of virtue, and fortified against the assaults of vice and sin. The example and teachings of that godly mother were accompanied by` ardent prayer and the impressive and awakening influence of the Holy Spirit. Thus, at a very early period in his life, he was led to feel the importance of religion. Drawn by the Spirit, and yielding up his young heart to its genial influences, he was led away from the noisy sports of life to the place of retirement, where he would read his Bible and pour out his young affections to the great Father in heaven. Under the influence of such agencies, human and divine, as were at work on his heart, he was soon led into the possession of that regenerating grace which filled his heart with the joys of salvation.

In the nineteenth year of his age we find him a professor of religion, and happy in the love of God. This profession he maintained by a consistency of conduct which would do honor to a mature Christian. He was, however, evidently designed for a higher service than that of exemplifying the Gospel of Jesus in the private walks of life; and it could be seen by his peculiar fervency and the train of his thoughts, that the Spirit was calling him to the work of the ministry. Moved by that Spirit in a way he could not mistake for the motions of his own heart, he obeyed the Divine call, and in the twenty-first year of his age he gave up home, and friends, and earthly comforts and prospects, and entered the rough and rugged field of itinerant life. Shortly after his entrance upon the work of an itinerant, there being a loud call for preachers in the far west, he enlisted as a volunteer and went out as a pioneer to the North-Westeru territory. Here, in these wilds, he encountered toils,