The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1883-03-14
SKELETON SERMON.
AN ACFOR,s LAST WORDS.

of the services held over the mortal re
mains OF the actor, Charles r.. Thorne,
on Monday last His last words were
:. No preacher, tell Bob, !" and his wish
ca were SO far respected that the funeral
seene more resembled the custom of an
eient Athens than the usage Of Chris
tian community. He was buried with
out prayer, and without the recognilion
Of immortal llfe.-N. Y. Herald.
So it looks to the eyes of the pre-
sent evil world, the world as it is,
when men are trying to persuade
themselves and others that death is
an everlasting sleep and the preach
er's occupations gone. They will
come together To celebrate the birth
day of a miserable infidel. They
pay dollar apiece, and flock in
crowds TO hear another blaspheme
God and laugh at the flames of hell
fire. But this daily paper is the
voice of the multitude, the cry of
the mighty conscience of mankind,
saying that such a funeral as this of
Thorne was poor, degraded pagan
ism, an insult to the enlightened civ
ilization of the age.
There is scarcely a more nolan
choly scene-nothing in Hamlet is
half so sad-as the anguish of the
old man in the room with the body
of his dead son, whose last words
were, mo preacher, tell Bob He
walls, and will not be comforted.
His daughters, in the garb of deep
mourning, in vain attempt to soothe
him. There is but one balm for such
q wounded heart as his. And that
balm was not there No preacher,
tell Bob" The great physician is
preacher when he brings the conso-
lations of the Christian faith into
such a chamber of sobs and sorrow,
of weeping and wailing and gnash-
ing of teeth. But there is no ply
sician for the soul that in the last
hour of the last struggle rejects the
religion of Christ and orders the
poor body to be buried as dogs are.
Shakespeare was great poet, per-
haps the greatest of the uninspired
sons of men. But an actor standing
by a coffin and spouting Shakes
peare to weeping friends is as drea
ry a spectacle as would be the at
tempt of friends to warm the dead |
man to life by filling his coffin with |
Jumps of ice. Solemn mOckery f.!
The devils, who know how it is,
laughed at the ceremony. Human
hearts were wrung with agony, and |
might well exclaim-" Miserable |
eOmforters are We all-away, away
who will show us any good p
While this performance was going
on this travestie of a tragedy-this |
burlesque of funeral-I was stand
ing by the coffin of my friend, VIM.
Z. Dodge, and reading with exulta-
ton the words, - This mortal shall /
put on immortality | am the re-
surrection and the life; he that be- |
lieveth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live" And as read, | |
heard a voice from heaven saying,
A" Blessed are the dead who die in
the Lord"
In the evening of that day | step |
ped out of my own door, and q lit
tie way off / went into the house
where Ex-Governor Morgan was dy- |
ing. He had held the helm of State, !
and sat m the Senate of the nation.
But he was dying. Honor, power,
wealth, were all worthless now. Yet
his peace passed understanding:
like a river, deep, great, rolling 70
the sea of infinite Love. He knew
whom he believed, aud was safe.
/ walked a few steps farther, and |
entered the mansion from which that
day we had carried the body Of Mr.
Dodge to burial. Was there wall
ing and weeping there? A holy
quiet reigned in the halls; pleas
ing greeting met me at the door +;
the blessed cheerfulness, born of
love and faith and hope, pervaded
the household like the fragrance of
celestial flowers. My friend was not
there i'm that graceful cherry, loving
form and face that made the house
so bright n home. But his spirit
was there lingering in the hospit-
able rooms, among the pictures, by
the warm hearths, and more than
all in the hearts and words of those 1
whom he loved and left behind We
talked of him as of one lost indeed
to sight, but not far away: with Je-
sus whom he loved and who had
prepared the place for him in a bet
ter house, a better country, whittier
we would soon 20.
Returning through the silent
streets, 1 said to myself, All day
among the dying aud the dead, and
/ have not shed tear. Death has
been swallowed up in victory. For
them who are dying in him, and
them who are dead Ina him Christ
will bring with him, and we shall
be ever with them and the Lord"
This Is the power and the joy of
the gospel. That other thing that
saith, No preacher, tell Bob, | do
not know, nor care to know. 1t is
the blackness of darkness into which
the unbeIieving spirit goes. For an
atheist has a soul. His unbelief does
not rob him of an immortal soul. /
do not want TO die i'm that unfaith.
But when my turn comes, let the
preacher come, and standing V my
coffin, say The Lord was my light
and salvation the Lord was the
strength of his life aud is his portion
forever" lREERUs
Almost Raised From the Dead.