The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-09-20 00:00:00

DEAN STANLEY on the ILLUSTRIOUS

DEAD.

At Westminster Abbey on Sunday afternoon, the
Very Rev. the Dean of Westminster preached from
the 2ad chap, 2nd Kings, 15th verse—" The spirit of
Elijah doth rest on Elisha." He said he proposed to
consider some of the lessons which were derived from
the story of the departure of Elijah and the succes-
sion of Elisha. Th-y had to take a lesson from the
departure of every good and eminent man from
amongst them. Such a lesson came to them, as,
for example, when they heard of the sudden death—
the tragical death, which had, as it were by a
flash of lightning, illuminated lives hitherto,
perhaps, almost unknown to them—when they
sorrowed for the loss of their brave countrymen
perishing amidst flames and carnage in a desperate
fight at Cabal. Thoughts of another kind must occur
from time to time in that great sepulchral church,
as, for instance, with respect to the death of that in-
estimable benefactor of his countrymen and of man-
kind, the solemnities of whose funeral recently closed
over his life. It was one of the purposes of such
deaths that they recalled the lesson of each life that
passed away. The same hand of death which rested
upon a beneficent existence turned the lamp of truth
on the character of him who was gone, and then for
the first time they fully recognised how much they
owed to the incessant struggle against the sluggishness
and incredulity and selfishness which he had to
contend with. They felt that such men were the
"salt of the earth," which saved them from corrup-
tion. Such solemnities in that Abbey, of necessity,
came but seldom. It was now fifteen years since he
hai presided over the Abbey, and the number of
eminent men who had been interred within its walls
had been but fourteen—hardly one in the course of
each year. It was this rarity which gave a signifi-
cance to each occasion, and, as they looked back over
these fourteen funerals, they saw that each had its
peculiar physiognomy, each struck different chords in
the heart of the country. Each revealed to them a new
character. The event was the same to all, but the re-
sult which each left behind was very different. The
vigoroas politician and statesman, the humorous and
philanthropicnovelist, the world-renowned astronomer,
the high-minded soldier and historian, and, in the same
grave, his fellow-soldier and historian—the gallant
soldier of Afghanistan, the resolute statesman of the
Punj sub, the brilliant student of literature, the inde-
fatigable explorer of the earth's primeval structure, the
unflinching missionary-traveller, the sweet musician,
the restorer and builder of our churches, the reformer
of the postal communication ef the earth—these each
as they passed around, gathered around their
graves separate recollections, and each left a peculiar
vacancy to be supplied by those who followed. That
led. him to the second part of the lesson to be drawn
from this subject—namely, the succession of gifts by
which the purposes of Providence were carried on.
They heard it powerfully stated last Sunday that the
aim of that Christian man's life was to benefit his race,
and in this respect the example must encourage them.
This lesson extended in a thousand directions, and was
placed before them in the extreme diversity of the
forms of genius and philanthropy, which existed in
each succeeding generation. They might follow this
through all the departments of social life. It was so
in the constant succession of poets. Cowley was not
like Spenser, nor was Gray like Milton, and yet each
was devoted to his predecessor. And so in the case of
social reformers—of him whom they had laid to rest
by the standard-bearer of Agincourt, beside the
Governor of Calais when Calais was still ours. The
contrast of the gifts of such benefactors as James
Watts and Rowland Hill was as wide as it was pos-
sible to conceive, and yst both alike were enrolled in
the like service of their country and their God.