The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-12-20
VOL. 19---NO. 21.

oo, s and when disappointment chilled his
res; known him when misrepresentation as
sailed his good name and when with mag
nanlmlty which rare as it was beau
tiful, he chose to suffer in silence, assured
that God, in his own good time would bring
forth his righteousness as the light and his udg-
ment as the MONDAY. l have known him as a
student of theology, taking it up after his con-
version, as he would a new treatise on science
or international law, and mastering it as few
divines in the pulpit have done; known him as
a student OF polemics and church government,
coming to unalterable conclusion as to the
Scriptural origin OF the creeds and confessions
of the Church Of his choice; known him in the
humble. but in his esteem, the honored office
of superintendent of Mission Sunday Sch ool
in the suburbs of the city; known him as a
teacher of Bible Glass for which he began to
prepare his lectures on Monday morning lest
the pressure of professional duties should hinder
him at the close of the week known him as
an ofice-5earer in the church, giving to his pas-
tor all the hearty cooperation, cement
and support which a man of his clear Judgment
and generous nature capable of render
ing known him a devout and regular at
tendant on all the services of the church on the
Sabbath and during the week, in heat and cold
In sunshine and storm, even when failing
health rendered sGch regular attendance diff
cult and hazardous known him as the friend
of the poor, and the generous contributor to all
the enterprises of Christian benevolence known
him as a member OF ecclesiastical courts al
ways heard with Difference when he spoke be-
cause of his fapiliarity with ecclesiastical law
and his fair, lucid, and conciliatng style of dig
cussion; known him as q friend congenial to
my intellect and heart, loyal, true and loving
known him as an appreciatve hearer. never
listening critically, cautiously or distrustfully
but giving me his fullest sympathy and conf
dence so that he was to me none of you will
misunderstand what 1 mean) as it were, an
audience in himself and now that | shall
no more see HIM coming with slow and mea~-
ured step along that aisle, no more look upon
his calm and placid face, full of light and low
ing kindness, l feel like this church hereafter
cannot be to me all that it has been since 1870.
l hasten to the close. I was absent from the
city when the mortal chill seized him. When
entered his chamber on my return and ex-
pressed my concern at finding him so ILL., he
smiled and quietly said, You came near losing
one of your Elders last night" Little did |
think when | kneeled and commended him to
God, that this was my last interview. The
next morning | lost him-oh, no, not that
if heaven found him, and if while walking with
God, he was not, because God took him.
His departure was sudden, but sudden death
Is sudden glory to the Christian. 1t seems to
bring the eternal world nearer when one makes
the transition from earth to heaven by a single
step. When one dies by long and lingering
illness, 1T lnterposes, as 1t were, a wide and
a
broad and barren beach of sand between cui-
tivated fields and the ocean. Not so when the
green grass comes down to the very margin of the
blue water and is kissed by its ripping waves
Not so when the spirit with a bound leaves
Its encum bering clay. Then heaven is not dis
tant but near door in the very house we live
in, door In the very house we die in suddenly
opens, and in an instant we are in house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens
1t is touching and impressive to remember
that the last effort of his noble intellect and
loving heart was In portraying the character
and commemorating the virtues of the lamented
Judge Moncure-&ho wore his ermine spotless
until he put on brighter robes in heaven-and
that IN so dong he was unconsciously pre-
nourclng his own eulogy. That tribute to the
pure and lncorruptible Judge spread upon the
records of the court will form part of the iu-
dical history of the Commonwealth, and will 90
down to other generations as the testimony of
the lawyers and judges of our time, to the
superior dignity and worth of moral excellence
above all the adventitious advantages of birth
wealth, and power-a testimony not from
theologians and the editors of religious journals
but from judges and lawyers to the nobility of
a lie whose foundations were laid in Christian
faith, and whose superstructure was a har-
montous and symmetrical development of Chris
tian manhood, and thus to compel even the
frivolous and profane to feel how awful good
ness Is, and see virtue in her own shape how
lovely"
The pause he made when he said " this is the
last time | shall ever address this court" before
he added, as it is now constituted was pro-
Phetic. The assertion that, -" as we review the
procession Of the dead the order comes Tor us
to fall in, is now historic.
have SAID we shall see our friend no more,
but recall the words, for
Hope looks beyond the bounds of time,
When what we now deplore
Shall rise In full immortal prime,
And bloom to fade no more"
We consign these mortal remains to the tomb
IN the sure and certain hope of resurrection.
We part while from this chastened spirit. but
In the midst of our grief we are glad that the
ties which bind us to those who die in the Lord
are not severed by the stroke OF DEATH but that
these Christian friendships, cemented by the love
OF Christ, shall have a resurrectionsbevond the
grave, and spring up and flourish beautiful and
immortal in the paradise Of God. We will re-
gain our departed friends in the land of re-
union, recognition, and communion, in glory
everlasting, and so we may say though with
voices made tremulons with emotion. " GLORY be
to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holv
Ghost; as it was in the beginning is now, and
ever shall be, world without end Amen"