Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1872-01-19
LOCAL NEWS.

The following is the cOncluQlng portion OF
Rev. Mr.. Benson's Memorial Sermon, preached
Inst Sunday in the Methodist Protestant Church,
of this place:
Taking up again the thread which We drop
ned ut the conclusion of the remarks Of this
morning, we invite you to recall the memory OF
the ministers Of the former days-your beloved
pastors, who, having ministered to you in spiri
NAL things, have since finished their work, and
assembled to their blessed reward
Passing from the origin and early history of
the church, the very ueXt remembrance, both
in point of order. and in point of Christian
love, than which no memories of the former
DAYS are more fragrant and precious, is that of
the Ministers of the Gospel, who one after
another, stood in this pulpit, the faithful
Shepherds OF the flock, gathered and richly
ted in this fold. You have not forgotten, you
never can forget, those great and good men,
who brought forth with varied learning. from
the treasury of all truth, illuminated with en-
tranciug eoquenee, enforced with the power of
logic. pathos and tears, under the junction of
The Holy Ghost, the glorious gospel of saliva
ton: those who led you to the cross, received
YOU into the church, united you in the holy
lands of matrimony, dedicated your children
to God i'll ordinance of baptism, tervently iu-
vnked Gods blessing upon you and yours
a.ain and again. at your family altars those
who visited your sick, buried your dead, and
lnStercd to you all the sweet consultations of
o,,r holy religion, IN all your griefS, aud all
your hereavements. Their tears of sympathy,
and their words and toues of christian tender
ness. are blessed and imperishsble memories
10 those of you who have passed the noon of
HE day, would mention, 10 this connection,
the name of Dr. John S. Reese, your pastor
in 1890 and 81, aud again in 1915 and '4G
What response does yonr memory make to the
rnrntion Of this dear and distinguished name
May venture to express that response? As
near. ii not the nearest approach to perfection,
say you, that We have ever known, or ever
hope to know this side OF just men made per-
feet In him, the wisdom of the serpent, was
beautifully blended with the harmlessness of
The dove; and the knowledge and power of 4
master with the simplicity of child, so that
he held 10 rapt attention, at the same time, the
mature and scholarly, and the little cues in
their monoSyllables. He was as firm as rock,
and yet as kind as love. lie was cheerful
friend, i weeping prophet skilliul player on
al the tender cords of the human heart, which
might be best attuned to heavenly harmony
How mysteries dissolved in light at his touch I!
How the profound and abstruse opened into
luminous simplicity while he spoke, like child
10 children, the deep things of God The Cos
pei. as he preached it, how meagre it was in
iaw--how vast it was in love! His God was
love- His Jesus was love. His gospel was
Iove-''glad tidings of great joy Love was
the music of his soul, and the song OF his life,
the chief power, land the brightest adjournment OF
his beautiful character. DR.. John S. Reese .
How you loved him How you love his memory
still Uncousciously and therefore legibly, he
inscribed his name among the first on the roll
ni The sngularly excellent, and enshrined it
,leepcst in the affections of the brotherhood.
10 the same class OF hearers / would men
ton another of your deceased pastors--the
I)r.'s successor and younger brother-Rev.
Levi R. Reese, the able occupant of this pulpit
in 1882 and '33, and also in 1898 and 39. He
stands in your remembrance, -emlnently,
as the pulpit orator. There was melody in his
voice, a magic charm in his iutouations, en-
phaSis and attitudes. On what lofty excursions
he took you. through the spheres of the beau
,iiul the sublime, and the glorious! What
:ultories here hung upon his lips! No vacant
seat, but pews, and alses, and affairs, all full
And no wonder; for as one lighting some grand
Chandelier. passes from branch to branch. until
MI combine TO Danish darkness with all the
splendor of blended light, so he ghded FROM
point to point, until reaching his grand climax
every point united in one blaze of gospel light
in which saints rejoiced with JOY unspeakable,
and sinners sued for mercy, amid tears OF peHl-
icntial sorrow For months together this altar
was crowded, and at times the pews also In dit
Icrcnt parts of the house, with anxious pen-
tents. Here, under his ministry, TRANSFERRED
the blessed scenes of the spiritual birth of an
hundred and fifty souls. o, how these walls
then reverberated with string appeals, and fer
vent prayers, the songs Of the heart, and the
hallelujahs Of happy, happy souls! . thon on
coming, gracious future, hasten to US with sea-
SONS OF grace, and scenes OF power, IKE those
Of the glorious past
Josiah Warden your pastor in 1887. We
should suspect, in him, who having once seen
and heard, has forgotten brother Warden, the
decay of the mental faculties. He was man
Of peculiar gifts, and of peculiar pulpit power.
You can think of no one, among all you have
known, whom he resembled except in positive
eeneralities He was not an expostor, he was
not reasoner; yet he impaired much instruc-
ton, and produced deep conviction Preachers
did not rank him very high as a preacher, yet
they wept or shouted, unconscious alike OF the
weakness of tears, and the rudeness OF shouts,
while he preached. never heard him but
once, and then Obvious to all beside, seemed
to hear universe of birds, OF every, note, form
ipg grand chorus Of merry, gleeful song,
warbIing and trilling through all chimes, and
this wonder of harmony and praise lifted me
to another, it was the song Of a great multitude,
which no man could number, of all nations, and
kindreds and tongues, before the throne, and
before the Lamb. His text was, "the time OF
the singing of birds is come, aud the voice OF
the turtle is heard in our land" He abounded
in the imaginative. and his imagery wasinstinct
with life and beauty His voice, too, had a
penetrating ring which went right into your
soul. If you had ordinary sensibility, you
would be likely soon to lose your self posses
sion, and 90 where he might choose to carry
YOU; but it always was pleasant flight in the
direction of the heavenly and glorious. 80
His name revives personal memory. We
met at camp meeting in Howard county, Md;
when was youth. At night after my arrival
there were few persons at the altar Some
were converted, and as the night grew on,
Others left; but one man said, Il cannot leave
this place with this burden Of guilt on my soul. .
| remained with him. and about one o'clock