The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1881-04-06

be was as ready to take as to give.
His critical mind sometimes eX-
posed him to repartee.
. Haifa-dozen ministers were sit
ting on the piazza Of Congress
Hall at Saratoga; Dr.. Parks, of
West Point, continually addressed
him as DR.. Plu-mer. At length
the DR.. turned upon him and
! said
"Dr. Park, my name is Plum.er,
not Plu-mer."
"Thank you," said the other,
"my name is Parks, not Park" Dr..
Plumer enjoyed this as much as
we all did, and not long afterward
he picked me up for a remark in
which | had made the sentence so
j involved, that the relation Of the
latter part to its proper antece-
dent was obscure and perhaps lu-
dicrous. I forget what it was,
but | said: 1T reminds me Of
DR.. Plumer's first sentence in a
sermon, when be said: i once
made a journey of q hundred
miles to see my aged mother on
horseback -
He was ore Of the ablest de-
baters Of the age. His power in
the General Assembly was i'm
mense. On the, platform or at
the har; if be had been in civil
life. no orator or statesman Of the
day wonId have surpassed him.
When be was settled in Rich
mond, Va, a legal question in re-
gard to taxation Of ministers came
up, and the clergy appointed DIR.
Plumer to represent them in re-
sistance to the proposed measure.
The bar of the State was arraycd
against him. The gentleman who
related the resalt to me said {:
He beat them all, and was wrong
besides"
He probably never did better
work, and he said so himself
when dying, than in the mighty
meeting in Philadelphia, when be
stood up and answered Mr..
Moody's questions in regard to
the plan of salvation. The ques-
tions and answers were reported
in thousands of newspapers, and
were then made into a tract OF
universal circulation. DR.. Plum
mer was as full Of the Holy
Spirit in giving those answers IS
the divines Of the Westminster
Assembly when they answered,
"Wbat is God ?"
Yet he was a man Of sorrows.
All great natures are disciplined
by trials, and it may be that such
men need far greater burde >
than others 10 make them feel the
weight. Probably the two great
est of these were his separations
from the two Seminaries which he
served with vast ability and use
fulness. When be was constrained
to retire from Allegheny, the
pressure nearly broke his heart.
He came TO New York and
poured the grief Of his soul into
mine. | asked him to ride out
with me, and strove to divert him
by pleasant talk and the sight of
pleasing things. AS We were re-
turning at the edge Of evening,
when l thought he was less dis,
turbed, he bowed his head on my
shoulder and wept sore, saying
IL am in anguish Of spirit: it
seems as though l were forsaken
of God and man." TO me there
was something awful in the sad
ness and dependency Of such q
man. So it pleased God to brulse
him. Then grace triumphed, and
the saint was made illustrlous over
the suffering man. Greater USE
fulness remained for him, and he
went away TO his newly-opened
field, a willing worker anywhere,
bringing sons unto glory, like the
Captain whom be followed, made
perfect through suffering.
He brought forth fruit, seen
down to old age" A son Of thun-
der and a son Of consolation,
blended, with q voice like the
voice of many waters when be
shouted, and soft as any lutte in
it's lower tones, bis natural force
was not ahated under the weight
of eighty years. Children and pa
rents hung on his lips as if one
were speaking who had risen from
the dead. This is one Of the old
prophets, they ready to say. Aad