The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-04-30
IN M C. IN ORIAM.
The Late Bishops Thomson and
Kingsley, of the M. K. Church.
An Eloquent Tribute to their
Memory by Bishop Simpson.

sermon by Bishop Simpson on the death OF
Bishops Kingsley and Thomson, of the M. e.
Church. Among the audience were a large
number of the clergy of this city and adjacent
counties.
The exercises we're opened by Rev. Alfred
Goodman, Of the Delaware Conference, who
gave out ymn 1888.
Rev. Charles Cooke, of st. Georges
Church, then offered prayer,
The nineteenth Psalm and the closing part
of the fourth chapter of the First Epistle of
Paul to the Thessalonians were read by Rev.
S. E. Post, of the New Jersey Conference,
after which Rev. T. 7. Tasker announced the
1O77th Hymn.
Bishop Simpson then delivered the sermon,
of which the following is verbatim report
The Bishop selected the following text-it
being the 10Th verse of the 10th Psalm;-
"Pr6ciOus IN the sight Of tile Lord is tile deaM
Of his saints"
He then said:-Sad are our hearts when
the angel of death enters the circle of our
friends and calls some loved one away. We
bow, smitten The tomb seems dark And
at once we are Joined to the spirit world by
strong though unseen tie. When the wise
and the good and the great are taken from
the family of the Church and of the nation,
the hearts of the community are made sad,
and, clouded, the congregations feel that God
has smitten them. And yet from these signs
of sorrow and of death we are called to think
of the sovereignty of God; of his care to-
wards his creatures that death is not I'M
noticed by Him; that living or dying we are
the Lords and that especially those who
put their trust in Him, and in His Word, are
denominated as saints; that He seems to
bend over their dying bed, and precious in
His sight are their dying moments.
1t seems sometimes difficult for us to real
ize this, for so still and quiet so sad and
solemn are such scenes, that we do not think
it possible as we ought to, that God is pre-
sent in the dying chamber, and that, pre-
cious to us as loved ones may be, more pre-
cious are they in the sight of God The
reflections on this pass age lead us to consi-
der, first, that one great object of revelation
seems to be to assure us of the constant pre-
sence and supervision of God. We speak of
the Work of God as a revelation. 1t is not
only a revelation of His will, which might
not be learned from the voices and outgoings
of nature, but there is O sense in which this
Word takes off the veil from the face of ma
ture and gives it meaning, and force, and
power in all its utterances
That there is God, the heavens above us
declare, and the earth beneath us echoes
back There is voice that comes in every
gale; there seems to be tongue in every
tree and shrub and flower, that tells us of the
wisdom and the skill and the goodness of
God. And yet such is the perversity of our
nature and such the veil which sin throws
over our hearts, that we go through this
world greater part of our journey without
recognizing the presence of God around
and about us. 1t is His declaration
that the whole earth shall be filled with His
glory; and when the veil is lifted from the
heart and the eye, the heavens declare His
glory and the armament showeth His handi-
work. His voice goes out through the earth,
and on the winds to the ends of the world.
When Gods spirit touches the human
heart, the utterances of His word make us
feel His presence, and man rises to something
like the dignity which God designs him to
have-the moral position he ought to occupy,
and wherever he goes recognizing the pre-
sence of God around him. If he walk in the
streets of q crowded city, God is there! If
he pass through the untrodden waste, God is
there In the midst of the business of the
world, in all its surroundings, and in the
pressure fand excitements of all its scenes,
the man whose heart is right recognizes the
presence of God. At home and abroad, in
sickness as we'll as health, in poverty as
we'll as in wealth-everywhere and
under all circumstances, when the
veil is taken from the eye, God is above us.
Even if enemies press us, when the eye is
enlightened, the hills and the mountains are
full of chariots and horsemen and fire
The great error of our hearts, and the error
of the day, is failure to recognize the
presence OF God with us everywhere. If our
hearts could but feel this, it would make us
strong to think, strong to work, able to suffer,
to do and to die, and make us feel that the
arms of everlasting love, everywhere and at
all times and circumstances, encircled us.
What may be the capabilities of man, or what
may be the possibilities of man, so recog-
nizing the presence and power of God-who
can tell? If God be for Us, who shall be
against us? If God be in us, what strength
can he impart to us!
/ have gone into the philosophical rule.
have seen person isolated on stand, and
the electric current brought into contract
with them, and from the end of every finger
and the extremity of every hair would go out
stream of fire. That which was unseen,
unnoted, and unfelt, becomes, palpable, visi-
BILE, powerful! So it seems to me a man may
be in going through this world. Isolate him
from his sins, cut off the connections that
bind him to this lower earth, and let the
stream of grace be turned on his heart, and
let him feel the power and the presence OF
Almighty God, and in going through this
world he becomes power from whom shall
issue heavenly influences touching the world
wheresoever he goes. For if God work
through man, what may he not accomplish!
As have said, one great object of revelation
is to take off the veil from the face of nature
that God stands revealed as our God, witt
his influence guiding, directing, strengthen
ing
II is comparatively easy for us to think o
God caring for active workers. The Psalmis
says, ''The steps of good man are ordered
of the Lord and He lighteth his way" and the
figure is one of parental affection and solici