Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1868-12-15
From the Central Presbyterian.
In Memoriam.
SUSAN MORTON HOGE.

| From the Central Presbyterian.
In Memoriam.
SUSAN MORTON HOGE.
THE brief address delivered by the Rev DR.
| T. v. Moore at the funeral of Mrs Hoge is pub
ished under the persuasion that it will be receiv-
| ed by wide circle of readers as a cherished
memorial of one whom they knew and loved
Were L to follow the spontaneous impulse of
my heart on this occasion, would have much
to say to the living, much to say of the dead.
For this is one of those cases that occur rarely
IN the providence of God, when not one family
| put many are mourners, and when the pent up
| feelings OF whole community seem to crave for.
| some expression OF theirs in which they may
lind partial relief But am precluded from
such an expression OF them as the heart would
| desire by the known wishes of her whose re-
moval has called forth this wide spread grief
for 1t was her request during her last illness that
her funeral services should be simple and un-
ostentatlous, and that no formal panegyric dis
course should be uttered on the occasion This
request we regard as sacred and yet only con-
cur with those whose judgment prefer to my
own, IN believing that the very humility that
caused this request would not feel that its spirit
was dlsregarded, If we give vent to those strug
Cling emotions, not by any tribute to man, but
by devOut and thankful acknowledgment of
the grace of God, as it was magnified in her life
and death. -,
If that Divine grace has enabled a woman to
come as young bride to church and COM
munlty, and so occupy the delicate position of
pastors wife that after nearly quarter of
century that community can say, ''she never
gave us cause for sorrow until she left US for
her home In heaven -
1t it has enabled rally,high-toned spirit
SO to put on the meekness and gentleness of
Chrst as to seek out the bruised reeds of hu-
man life that she might tenderly bind them up
and train their crushed tendrs to twine around
the Gross; to bend over the smoking flax, and
by the breath of kindly sympathy WOO it to a
fiame OF love to Jesus, so that the poor, the
lonely, the neglected sought her out or welcomed
her search for them by an irrepressible instinct
that led them to make her the depository of
their tales OF sorrow, with the assurance that
all that human kindness could do for them
would be done by her;
Ii to manage her affairs so as to relieve her
husband of all worldly care, and Sd to arrange
her expenditures by cutting off all needless
iuXuries and even cOmforts-especiay from
herSelt-as always to have the means of meet
Ing the calls of charity whose bountiful be-
stoWals will only be known when the books
shall be opened -
If grace enabled her to difuse around her so
much OF her own sweet and sunny spirit that
not only was home brighter place by her pre-
sence when all within it was bright, but vet
more wondrously so when that home became a
house OF mourning, and when she seemed almost
to forget the agony of her own maternal be-
reavement In her anxiety to soothe the sorrow
OF others; so that the very gloom of outward
care seemed to vanish, and the earth to grow
more radiant under the charm of her cheerful
and hopeful spirit, and those who had been at
variance with each other saw their causes of
dVUIv 10 rtnvur, -
until they were able to meet and be reconciled
as friends;
so to live as Christian, that 10 pressure
of household cares was ever allowed to abridoe
or alter the time allotted to her private deyo-
tions, and yet in them all to feel with increasing
humility that she was less than the least of ali
saints;
Ii so to live as a mother that there is not the
mlnutest line Of her long, unchanging example
IN lie, which her children need hesitate TO fol-
low; to be friend so true and so faithful that
when others grew cold or shrunk away in the
hour of trial, her brave, magnanimous spirit
only clung the closer and threw its shield of
loving vlndication around the good name with
a lottler courage;
We say if He who works in us ''both to will
and to do, enabled her so to live. and thus TO
exempllfy the precepts Of the Gospel. then
without any desire to exat human merit. we
may ascrlbe 1t all ITO the praise of the glory of
His grace And if every member of human
society were to receive this grace, in this way,
and be made precisely such an illustration Of
it, how beautiful this earth would be
Whether she whose mortal remains are now
before us was such trophy ofthe grace of God,
through Jesus Christ, and much more besides.
your own hearts can now respond Indeed, if
there was any thing that magnifed that grace
more than her gentle and blamecss life. it was
her calm and triumphant DEATH Her life was
like long summer day. bright and vocal with
sunlight, and birds, and flowers, and Beulah
breezes, and ending In sunset of crimson and
gold that seemed to come softly down from the
gates OF pearl that opened to let her in.
During much of her life she was tinid self.
distrustlng believer, and feared that as she
neared her end clouds would hang around the
dark valley. But 1t was beautiful illustration
OF the gentle grace Of God, that from the time
that the entrance to the valley became clearly
visible to her, not cloud ever darkened the
brightness OF her hope; and like the two timid
travellers In Bunyan's matchless alleeorv. we
doubt not she passed through the diminished
river, we'll nigh dry shod cat the EVENING
time" it was all light
The closing months of her life were months
of unspeakable agony, combining in strange and
sorrowiul union the terrible certainty of death.
with all the vivid susceptibility to suffering Of
the unweakened powers of life And vet she
was never heard to murmur, but continued
from day to day, as she slowly sank beneath
the wasting maady, to praise God for his
wonderful and peculiar goodness and mercy to
her. And when the last, stern struggle came,
and she knew that she was entering the dark
valley, she declared that the 23d Psalm was a
complete and exact expression of her expe-
rience-that the good Shepherd who had led
her all her life long in the green pastures and
by the still waters was with her in the valley of
the shadow of death, supporting her spirit bv
the strong rod and the beautiful staff" and
would surely lead her through the gares of the
city to her home in her Fathers house above,
And as the earthly Sabbath which she loved
so we'll, was silently passing toward the dawn
of new week, there dawned on her waiting
vision that day that has no night, and
Her spirit with bourd
Left its encumberng clay,
Her tent at sunrise on the ground
A darkened ruin lay"
And we may add to the praise of this glorious
grace, that "enabled her to be faithful unto