The Cecil Whig., 1882-11-04
THE DEAD PREACHER.
Or. TALMAGE'S ELOQUENT EUL0GT ON
THE LATE MR. GUARD.
Methodist Minister of Electric Eloquenoe-
Mighty in ElOquenoe, Mighty in influence
A Man with Large sympathies-The
Loss to Methodism.

| a Man with Large sympalnles ne
Loss to Methodism.
The Rev Dr. Talmage, in his sermon
on Sunday in New York, paid glowing
| tribute to the late Rev. Thomas Guard,
of Baltimore. In answering the ques-
ton, who was Thomas Guard? ? he said:
| Mighty in eloIueuce, ilighty i'll sym
| pathy, mighty III influence, mighty for
God, mighty for the Church, mighty for
! the wo. Ids betterment. how are the
| mighty fallen III the death of 1hos.
| Guard, pastor of Mount Vernon Metho-
dist Episcopal Church, Baltimore. who
breathed his last two weeks ago. lie
was grand specimen OF what the rell-
| gion of Jesus Christ can DO .or man.
When in Ireland. = here he was born in
| 1881: in South Africa. in America, on
the Atlantic or Pacific coasts he was
ever busy trying to make people better
and to give them hope. | challenge YOU
to bring from the ranks oI those who
have dispensed Christianity i'll all ages
SO uuseltish and Sc self-sacr!icing man
and will give you from now until the
day of Judgment to bring up your first
specimen.
from Methodism to Christianity. He
was in the apostleship of which John
| Wesley was the chief. and Al red Cook
man the modern exponent. What Il
group of the great chieltains of Christi
anity must have awaited him. II ,w it
makes one long for the helmet and the
sword to give reverential salute as are
called the names of Asbury and Cook,
Fletcher and Whitfield, Bishop James,
and the rest. He wss with us in the at
tempt to annhilate sectarianism.
Who was he? He was the contribu-
ton of the foreign field to America. Take
away frcm the history of the American
forum, laboratory. more than all fore gn
talent aud you will obliterate more than
half of them. Scotland grows great
MethodiSts. France grows great philoso-
piers, Germany great dreamers, Italy
great painters. Sweden great singers and
Ireland great orators. Thomas Guard
came from the land of Emmet, Burke
and o Connell. There was eloquence in
his eve i'll his hands, III his feet. 1t
quiveved i'll his whole body. H. every
tone, attitude and gesture lie deviated
from rules OF rhetoric AS laid down in the
books. He made his own laws. Ills was
electric. thulderbulted Irish elouueuce,
sancttied. When America has received
for the last half century such donation
of great souls trem Ireland. she can well
afford to return her sympathy-b bread
when there is famine and il resou nding |
protest when there is political oppression. |
Who WIS h.? lie was a preacher of
the Gospel. natural and untrammelled /,
by what other ministers do every week. !
He did not use what Is called the pulpit
tone. The people of to-day will not go
to church 20 hear the humdrum of min !
listers resol"esi to preach like their prede !
cessors. The fact is that our theological
serliuaries of to day take all the fire out
of !: man and send him into the pulpit !
cowrd down. The professors tell the
student how many heads he mast have /,
to his sermon, how .lie application must |
be made. how he must stand. how he |
must throw ont his hand. There are |!
thousands of Presbyterian and other
churches today dying by inches of in !
tolerahle humdrum. Thomas Guard lat |
ed convcnti"nali,ics with body, mind. !
and soul. The trouble in onr theological |
seminaries is thai the young men are
taught To preach by professors who do
not themselves know how to preach. The |
fact is that the old Gospel is good cell
tury after century. but it is 70 be adapt |
ed to each age. What a farce is being |
enacted in many churches capable of |
holding thousand people. where only |
250 sit iii scattered lonesomene>s be-
cause it has been decreed that they |
should go there year after year unt:l !
eternity.
Who was Thomas Guard He was a |
man of large svmpathie>. He did not |
90 about with those who whjmper that !
the world is going 10 destruction. while |
the fact is. it is going t" redemption. lie |
was full Of the gospel Of genality. of
practical help: the gospel of the sprinG |
morning. the curnation. the rose and the |
proud lily. Great soul, gentle soul, SYM
pathetic soul. >,lfeling soul. triumphant
soul, trHuscendenr soul. il there be one
gate of heaven of larger pearls. or with
hinges OF more FURNISHED gold than an
other. thou shalt enter triulnphantly at
that gate in a chariot with swilter wheels
and SaOwIer courSerS.
ThGre are mysteries and allcviltions i'll
the death of Thomas Guard. Mystery
first: Why should So good Il man h.
called TO suffer so terriiically' rs
husband his love lasted from the time
when. twenty-sevcn years Old, he took
his wife s hand. down to fuur or tive
years ago whcn he laid her away for the
resurrection. That hu>bandly affection
is but poor which lasts only while the
eye sparkles and tie cheek has in it the
tinge OF sunrise. IL held that hand as
lovingly after it was wasted and sick lis
when it was round, we'll and strong.
Mystery second: Why should he be
taken at II when his usefulness had just
ripened? Why should ne be taken bo-
a.. - a,
Why should this Captain of the Lord of
lios;s be slain while weak Christians are
shaken out of their stirrup> by terror?
| cannot explain these mysteries any
more than | can explain why Henry
kirke White died at 2l, just as it began
to appear that he WAS to be another
Charles Wesley to the Christian Church.
| cannot explain it any more than | can
tell Won why John Smithtieid died at ~
or McClntock at 81, or why Beethoven
was struck deaf. SO that he could nos
hear the loudest organ rendering his own
music. Why does the painter drop his
pencil? Why are so many bright days
halted at noon? Is it, after all. but an
eclipse, Il transit. an occnltation; it is
not an cxting gushm"ht. Have you any
idea that Thomas Guard lies lacerated in
the cemetery? He has become one of
the athletes of heaven, deathicss as God
is deathless, His work on earth is not
done; it is not one-quarter done; nor a
thousandth part done. He resumes it
now under better auspices. How do |
know? [Seizing Bible anh reading.
Are they not all ministering spirits
sent forth to minister to them that shall
be heirs of salvation
DR.. Talinage announced than an op-