Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1879-05-15
Life and Character of late the
Bishop Edward r. Ames.
Sermon Delivered by Rev. j. III.
COmkle, in the M. r. Church,
St. ClairsvIlle, Ohio, Sunday Eve
ming, May 4, 1879.

David, the victorious king, said this of
Abner, the brilliant young commander
of the armies of Saul. Abner was killed
or rather assaSsinated by the equally
able and versatile JOab, who was the
Marshal Ney of Israel, the Sheridan of
King David. OF this piece of treachery
| need scarcely speak, as neither Joab or
Abner possessed moral characters that
will bear analysis. 1t is true they pos
sessed elements of power that made
them brilliant cOmmanders-anda as SOL
diers no word of praise would be wasted
I upon them. In those fearful days, not
| yet fifteen years away, when brave men
were in such demand, and men who led
victorious armies wore the laurel and
received our plaudits, it was always fitting
to speak in eulOgy. If a man has the ell
ement of courage, and has the genius to
command, that element at least will
bear cOmmendation-at least we bare
our heads and utter our plaudits when
we stand in the presence of the brave
General. 1t is of Abner in this sense
that David speaks. He was truly prince
among generals, and great man among
the vast number of brilliant men King
David gathered about him. OF his NOR
ais, probably the less said the better
the same lamentable facts have been
and still are too often true of men with
military genius.
1t is not of Abner, of Joab, or of Da-
| vid, would speak tonight; but of a
born commander in another department
of the army of God. And of him we
may say as David said of Abner, "know
We not that prince and great man is
| fallen this day in Israel" Unless we
totally misapprehend, these words may
be much more properly descriptive of
the late Bishop Ames than of any Alb
ner that ever lived. We think it wise
as we pass through life, to pause by the
bier of the truly great and good, ask
what lesson he leaves us, and by the les
son gather strength to 60 towards the
prize he grasped. Our life is so swift,
events tread upon each other so closely,
that even the most prominent and prince
ly of men are soon forgotten when they
go into the river of death. Like the
pebble dropped into the lake, the wave
lets soon circle to the shore and all is
still, and eventless again, so far as the
dead are concerned. Our church suffers
great and irreparable loss in the death
of such man as Edward r. Ames. 1t
is not too much to say when such man
dies the general church is greatly the
loser, and ought to be keenly alive to the
vacancy SO hard to fill. The loss of an
able defender of the faith, though he
move in a narrow circle, leaves vacan-
cy full of meaning and difficult to fill !;
but when such man is chief pastor over
church of nearly two millions of a
membership; when he is personally
known to twelve thousand travelling
preachers; when he is intimately ac-
quainted with the spiritual wants, OPP
pOrtunitics, and expectations of such a
church, yea, of such country as ours,
his death is indeed a loss that probably
cannot be even with any nearness filled.
He was eminently prince in that he
will bear such description as Pollock
gives of the wise man, when he says:
''The wise man walks with God,
Surveys, far on, the endless line of life;
Values his soul; thinks of eternity;
Both worlds considers, and provides for both;
With reasons eye his passions guard; abstains
From evil; lives on hope, on hope, the fruit
OF faith; looks upward; purifies his soul;
Expands his wings, and mounts into the sky;
Passes the sun. and gains his Fathers house;
And drinks with angels from the fount of
God"
Such description fits the late Bishop,
and ought to give pause and raise ques-
tionings in us. 1t is something to be a
Bishop in the church represented by
Edward r. Ames; but it is vastly more
to possess the elements of character that
magnifies and dignifies the Office; and
it may not be uniting in us to analyze
the elements of his manhood, and draw
from that ANALYSIS lessons that will help
weaker men, incentives that will stimu-
late younger men to new zeal and conse-
Grafton in the service of God.
No man could see him, and be present
when he presided at conference, and
not feel that at least he came into life on
an errand. And yet with him there
was no hustle, no haste, but the quiet
expedition that in the end always hast
ems. His sermons, addresses, every
movement betokened man who came
into life realizing its stupendous mean
ing, and proposing to work out for him.
self and others the best possible solu-
tion of the problem. 1t was refreshing
to contrast him with the waspish man,
who is at Conference as well as else
where. So cool, so calm-not the cool
ness, calmneSs of carelessness, but the
deep set purpose of man who saw the
true end of life, and was bent on work
ing out the problem.
| Ever since l have had the honor. and
have been intruSted with the respOsibili-
ty of being Methodist preacher, have
learned that Ames was easily chief as
the statesman of the board of Bishops.
Over thirty years since, when Presiding
Elder in Indiana, Tin those DAYS "Out
West" the Office was no sinecure) he was
offered the position of U. S. Senator, but
he chose the nobler office, in declining to
leave the Methodist ministry. have no
hesitation in saying that when called
from labor to reward he ranked such
men as Senators Morton and Bayard.
He was the intimate friend of Lincoln,
and being a native of our State, he was
long the intimate friend and associate
of Stanton and Chase-called by them
into counsel when grave affairs of State
were being discussed. He was as well
the intimate friend and counselor of
Presidents johnson and Grant. He was
eminently practical man; and when
he looked at scheme of craftsmanship
Va OOOiOoiooelOsll pooSiuliity, IL WAS tO
subject it to the keen analysis of his su-
perb common sense. After all, good
common sense, backed by a vigorous
brain, is about as near genius as any
thing we are likely to find. am sure l
would rather trust to common sense for
solution of any question of Church or
State, than to the most lofty genius His
common sense and craftsmanship was
the jewel of the Church when the work
of reorganization commenced at the
close of the war. He had always been
a conservative in politics, and yet this
did not cause him to hesitate to plan for
the entire re-Occupation of the South by
the Church. 1t is known to every stu
dent of recent ecclesiastical history, that
prior to, and during the war, the old
Church was confined to two or three
feeble Conferences on the border of the