Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1859-07-23
WHEE
THE INTELLIGENCE.
RUFUS CHOATE,
A DISCOURSE BY MS PASTOR, REV. NEHEMIAH

ADAMS, D. D.
n we qnote from the sermon preached to the
Essex street congregation, Boston. july 17tb
Win reference to the death Of Hon. Rufus Choota
".e member ct the congregation, by the Pas
TOT. We make extracts from this discourse -.
We lind it in the Boston Courier:
PsALN 1856: ITO Him that made great Igb,. -, r,,.
mercy endureth forever 800 's''' 'oF ms
THE VACANT PEW
Ihat vacant pew, covered with habilimerts of
mourning, tells its own sad tale The last Tine
1Ha' I. most OF us saw that departed fellow-wor-
supper and friend in public, he was standing on
the platform In front Of this pulpit. At the c0n.
memoration of the twenty-ffth anniversarv NJ
inc pastors settlement The part which he took
on that occasion is too deeply impressed on vonr
minds to need anything more than this passiu,,
alluSiOn Fe
TIE ANNIVERSARY SPEECH.
Before he rose to speak, we had listened to
the beautiful and touching words of that chant
ea hymn: The Anniversary of Twenty-Five
leaFS Ago The prominent words of those
StanzaS Passing away Passing away !"
The thought occurred to me at the time whether
ne wOuid have chOs en- that such strain in that
minor key, should be the immediate prelude to
his remarks. Alas that the words of that
strain should first of all have been fulfilled in
''''n' tie himself was "passing away" That
great mind has fed. This week, the wanino
moon, unless the clouds conceal from her the
sieht, viii look upon vessel making towards
thls har6OT freighted with a form as precious rs
any that ever, or entered, the sepulchres of the
sea- Blessed be God, that those sepulchres are
not to receive hi:u. He paSslonately loved 'tthe
literature Of the sea-" the OdrSSey had special
charm over his Imagination; but we give thanks
that we are spared the pain of aSsociatine, the
wandering graves of the ocean with his burial:
that his sepulchre will be with US, and become
one OF our shri"eS for the pilgrimage of Genius,
and LearnlHg, and Love.
WHO WILL ANALYZE THIS DIVINE WORKMANSHIP
Who will undertake to analvze the character
ot this great product Of the divine workmanship
L" ana we one of our woodland Sccues in Au.
tnmn, with its changing leaves, its cvergrccns
birds and flowers writing with musical ammo.
tauoRS the differing voices of the wind in the
oaks and pines, ana pointing with the finger to
say: ms Is Subiimity, and this is beauty: and
setting the outgoingS with the morning and
evening there in comparison, one with the other
would De, IN some respects, like employment
and the task would be accomplished with the
same amount of dissatisfaction IN all who have
felt the power of this tranScendant mind. Its
operations were no more azrule for another mind
than the law of nature in the PleiadrS are the
rule for the solitary star Were this the time
and place, therefore, and were it becoming in
me to attempt anything like an euiogy, shonld
only pour out my soul with yours in love aud
he help CT Snch subject : he who gave him,
a"d who took him-'to Him that made great
lights: for his mercy endurrth forever"
GREAT MEN SPECIAL GIFTS OF GOD.
Great men special gifts Of God to a nation.
and through it to the world. They are special
efforts of that same divine henevolence which
gives us Apprentices, and Alps, and Lebanons.
and hiEnmafayahS These the uttarian aud
materialiSt will ahnOni>h us arc needrul p3rtS
d the worlds mechanism -
that account dcvOut mind recognizes them as
proofs of goodness in the Detv. The mechan.
ism of human society, for all the practica! pur-
poses of life, might work well ii there had been
40 Homer, no Shakespeare, M Milton; but the
wisdom and goodness which ordained that the
eye and mind should not to be wearied with
uniform dead levels, and therefore set up the
corner stones Of the globe with view to the
benevolent effect upon the earth and its inhab-
ltants, of hills and mountains, is pleased here
and there to endOw men with tranScendent ce.
MUS for the good Of the race. They have an
eievaung effect upon mankind by raising the
standard of excellence; they Vebuke our erovel-
ling thoughts, purify and ennobIe our conccp-
tions, shed a charm over things which other
wise would De tame aud wearisome; they are
the wine of life; the: are angels on the ladder
with God Almighty above it, filling even onr
dreams, as we'll as our waking hours with assn.
RANGES that there is something better in reserve
But these gifts Of God, these men of genius, arc
capable Of perversion by US, like all his gifts.
GIFTS OF GENIUS.
Gifts Of genius are as really the special gifts
OF God as the miraculous gifts which led the
two Apostles at the Beautiful gate of the Tcm.
pie to say, "Ye men of Israel, why look yc SO
earnestly on US as though by our own power
of holiness we had made this man to waik?'-
\ wonderful mind is merely an uncommon
efaorescence in one of number of plants of the
same species, whose structure is ordained by
the allwise God; and we are to receive the rare
product like every creature of God, with thanks
giving. 1t IS new Illustration OF that divine
benevolence which even in this world of sin and
deserved misery, strives to teach US that God
is love. But we do not find it to be common
thing for those who read the great poets and
prose writers, and look upon works of art, and
listen to eloquenCe and music, and reverence
craftsmanship, and great military talent, and
medical sagacity, and surgical skill, and the
fruits of mechanical genius, to praise and bless
him who uade heaven, earth, and seas and the
fountains of waters Ypt tho Cama hoortc ,no11,