The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-08-06 00:00:00

SERMON BY CANON FARRAR ON
DEAN STANLEY.

Canon Farrar, preaching at the evening service at
Westminster Abbey, on Sunday night, took his text
from Acts x. 34, 35—" Of a truth I perceive that God
is no respecter of persons • but in every nation he that
feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted
with Him." It was impossible, he said, for him not
to dwell a little on the dear departed, whose body
they had just laid in the grave, while all things still re-
minded us of him. The Abbey had been crowded on the
day of his funeral by such an assemblage as had rarely, •
if ever, been seen inside its walls —princes, princesses,
the Prime Minister, the leaders of the Opposition, the
chief men of eminence in all departments, worthy men
of every shade of political feeling, men of all grades
of society, French Protestant clergy, American
bishops, ministers of religion of all denominations.
All the bravest and best thronged the Abbey from
end to end to honour the memory of one man. It
was true that the good deeds, high principles, and
excellent teaching and consistent life of a good man
did not perish, but that the memory of these things
still lived on. His kindly hospitality, his far-reach-
ing generosity, his high-minded justice and his holy
life, untainted by superstition, all still, preached
to us, and we should strive to learn how we
shall fit ourselves to join him hereafter. We had
still the memory of what he had been, and could
profit by it. "But, oh ! for tha touch of a vanished
han.l, and the sound of a voice that is still 1" If
John Wesley inspired John Howard, and Heber and
others were incited to their useful careers by the
example of other great and good men, shall we not
draw inspiration from his bright example? He
reverenced every man simply as a man, and always
looked to the best side of his character. He did this
bsea.use he felt the beauty and grandeur and sacredness
of manhood, and he recognised that beneath every
depth of human degradation there was still the better
part of every man's being. And this was why he was
so much beloved; he was loved by men of every
shade of opinion and of every class and position in
life. He was at one time passing through a
a little fishing village in Devonshire, when a fisher-
man, seeing him, asked the clergyman of. the
parish, who was near, "Is that Dean Stanley ? "
and on being told that it was, the man ran into his
cottage and brought out a chair, on which he invited
the Dean to sit down and rest awhile. The day might
come when there would be a conflict between class
and :lass, and in such case the want of such a man
would be strongly felt, when we shall need such
as one of the few righteous to stAnd befoie the
danger. He not only helped to unite class with
class, but also nature with nature, and his visit to
Russia was productive of much that helped to promote
peace between. that country and our own, and to in-
culcate in that land a sympathy with Englishmen.
He had also done much to promote brotherly love
between America and England. He ever showed in
his life the meaning of that one word which represents
Christianity—the word love; and with regard to
systems, institutions, and Churches, he always sought
out their bc-st features. He thus displayed his large-
heal tedness to all, recognising that in every nation he
that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is ac-
:cepted with Him, and he especially delighted to quote
; the message sent by an Eastern Patriarch to the
Pope during a controv.ersy, "Let us love one
another."

A DE-SIDE-D IMPROVEMENT.—Instead of saying a
person is of a " znany-sided nature," the proper
"form" of expression in these highly-cultured days is
to describe them as "constitutionally polygonal,"—
/inntiy lake,