Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1853-12-07

OucHWcTc Tic HictS III tHc lctscol ratiler 'oPEs-
GER He was endowed with pewcrs of a higher
order than one individual! in thousands; his viii
and passions were stron3; and his childhood and
youth were spent i'm penniess orphanase. lfit
we've ,rrerTsary make apology for his faults, it
woail be found IN these facts. II there were nol
some such men human affairs would stagnate. 1t
was interesting obscrvethe effect Of the Christian
rrliginn on this massive character. 1t had curbed
rhr PASSIONS, controlled the VIII, softcned the heart,
and turned the forces of his nature into the chan.
nrl Of rccti,ude and pirty. y profound conscious.
ness of his inirntcs SOM, tines possessed him;
and it was touching to witness the pcntcntial and
cKlllike simplicity with whick he wun!d cuffess
them.
The deceased acted we'll his part in LIE. COM
mrnc:ng, rs have said in pcnnicss orplanage, by
industry, economy, and uprightncss, he amassei
good cststc and introduced large family, on the
stage of lfc. in circumstances of competency. lie
educated them intellectually in superior way, for
the times and the country in which he lived. And
what kind of religious and moral training he gave
them, need no, say, for they are, and have been
your ncighbors.
Father SrEScER was always on the right side Of
every question, moral, religious, or political, which
he understood. If he sometimes male mistakes,
no one thought Of a,tribuling it to wrong motives.
And what is more, lie was tearlessly on the right
side. Con ,eIucncrs never staggered him, for mo-
n,cnt, when he bad once decided what was right
lie had been member of the Baptist Church
lust fifty years and nine days; the lat nineteen
veors he was connected with the Providence
Church where lie will now BE- buried He has ever
been recognised as one Of the pillars Of the Church,
both in this State and in South Carolina. The
area, idea which pcrvairl his whole being and
absorbed all others, during the last years Of hlS
life, was tho contemplation Of the political, moral,
and religious movements Of the times, aud the
rarllv improving facilities Of international c"nmu'
uicati"n, as ushrring in that day when the world
shall be thu willing subjects of Alcs'ah's reign.
lie often dwell, with enthusiasm on this subject in
conversation will, the speaker, repeating the 9th
Psalm as containing comprehensive and beautiful
prediction of those times.
How much Of rcvcrrnlial affection the communI-
ty entertained f.r the d, ceased is apparent in the
very term by which he was uniformly designated
=" Father SPENCER The esteem in which his
family held him was unusl,a and speak what is
true in my own case, AMI what know from the
manner Of others, when say that outside "i ms
own family he was scarcely less an object Of Fever
encc and love, than within it. We all know that
behind certain patriarclia severity OF manner,
there was great, huncst, benevolent and plous
heart. The deceased WAS remarkable for his clear
and evangelical views Of the pan of salvation and
the child Like trust with which he rcposcd on the
or, Mt atonrmcnt His habual state of mind had
for y,rrs been. that it were better to be absent
from the body, and TO be present with the Lord
Yet if il were Coils will for him to stay he Was
content, and almost the very last days Of his life
were spent in attempting to devise and do s"lne-
thing for God, who had, he supposed, spared him
to his s4th year for some such purpose.
There is something exceedingly rad in buryins
the young, even when We have hopes "ithelr future
happiness bu, to hurry one grown old in the SER
vice Of Christ, gathered to his fathers like ripe
shock of corn, and descending, calmly, and peace
fully into the dark valley, i, solrmn yet pr:sing
task.
The objrct Of \ funeral address is to instruct the
living: let us, my friends. take :he lessons of this
Efr.. lst We may learn from it the uses o! indus
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