Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-08-07
SERVICES OVER GRANTS REMAINS
Confined from fourth pageD

mutual and reciprocal love of welded life
within those sacred precincts? Husband
and wife, the happy supplement- OF each
other, their characters blending in sweet
est harmony like the blended colors in the
bow of promise. Lovely and
pleasant in their lives, and in
their death they shall not be divided. "
Side by side they shall sleep in the same
tomb, an she shall share with him what
ever homage future ages shall pay at his
national shrine. 1t was his love for her
that lifted his intellect above the ceaSeless
fortunes of IA malignant disease and threw
oblivion over the sense Of eXcrucatng
pain, that he might write his personal
Memoirs. ~ that she should not want when
he was gone.
And " no should marvel that in a home
of such parentage parental love and filial
affection should reign supreme.
"Honor thy father and thy mother" was
in perpetual obedience there. Oh what
reverence for that honOred father shown
by those devoted sons and that precious
daughter oh what blissful love they
manifest for that dear mother, today Il
widow. Such home is worthv to be called
an American home. Give us such homes of
purity, love and joy, and our republic shall
live forever If such was his character,
such his life such his home. what We're
the consultations that sustained him in
sickness and cheered him in death Was
life to him a walking shadow and death
an endless dream? Reared in the Meth
odist Episcopal church, and baptized in
his last illness by one of her ministers, his
religious nature was sincere calm and
steHdfast. The principles of Christianity
We're deeply engrafted upon his spirit,
Firm, but never demonstratve, he was
not man of religious pretence His life
was his profession.
He was man OF PRAYER 1t was on
sabbath evening, March ~, when alone
with Mrs. Grant, that his pastor en-
tered and the General with tenderest APP
probation and gratitude referred to the
many PRAYERS offered for him. and men
toned societies and little children who
had promised to pray. for him daily; and
then, in answer to his minister's Sugges-
ton that we should join that universal
prayer, he replied with emphasis, yes -
and at the conclusion of our Supplcation
the illustrious invalid responded, amen ~
That amen, by that silent man was more
significant than volumes by others
He was not Il bigOt. Bigotry was no
part of his noble and generous nature
While he demanded religion as the safe
guard of free people he accorded to all
the largest freedom of faith and worship
He was without prejudice he claimed
that public education should be non-sec-
tartan, but not religious.
His was the beatitude Blessed is he
that considereth the poor Strangers
might regard him Indifferent to the needy !:
yet the poor will rise up and call him
blessed. Many were the pensioners on his
kindly bounty. He gave Ibis to feed the
poor
In private unseen life he bore many of
the fruits of the spirit. He loved his enc
mics, not as he loved his friends, but he
loved them as enemies by doing them
good as he had opportunity. Of all men
known in pastoral experience of thirty
years he displayed the spirit of forgive
ness more than any other man. He caught
the spirit of the Saviour's prayer 'Fath-
er forgive them; they know not what
they do"
Who does not regret the death of such
a man Heaven may he richer, but earth
is poorer. On one of those delusive April
days when hope revived in all our hearts,
i said to him: You are a man of Provi-
dence. God made you the instrument to
save our Nation, and he may have great
spiritual mission to accomplish by you,
and may raise you up In the most
solemn and impressive manner, with a
mind clear and a voice distinct he replied
81 do not wish to proclaim it, but, should
he spare my life, it is my intention and re-
solve to throw all my influence by my eX-
ample in that direction"
He is gone, but shall death defeat pur-
pose SO beneicent Is he not mightier in
his death than in his life? What home
has not felt the sympathetic chord touch
ed by the invisible hand of his terrible but
patient suffering. How the embers of sec
tional strife have died out on the hearth
stone of the nation How political ami
mosities have skulked away in shame from
the peaceful spirit of his last moments
How sectarian prejudice shrank into obi
won when around his couch all bowed in
prayer before a universal Saviour!
And where in all the annals of the
church shall we find dying hour so full
of divine repose His calm faith in q
future state was uRlisturbed by anxious
doubt. His suffering and wasted body
was but the caSket for the resplenden'
jewel of his soul, and when death ruth
lessly broke that precious casket an ange
carried the Jewel to the skies to lay it a,
the Saviour's feet.
o calm, brave, heroic soul, sing thor
the song of Christian triumph so, death
where is thy sting; o, grave, where is thy
victory Thanks be to God, which givetl
us the victory, through Jesus Christ, oul
Lord"
And that victory wat at hand. From
his view on Monday at the eastern out
look he was to ascend to behold a grande
vision. Tuesday came and went. Nigh
drew on apace, and death seemed lmmln
ent. Around his chair we knelt in praye
for some divine manifestation of comfort
Our prayer was heard. The sufferer re
vived. Again he wrote messages of low
and wisdom. The night wore away
Wednesday dawned on hill ant
dale. Hope revived. His intellectual
clear and his consciousness wa
supreme. Again he wrote, and again h
whispered the wishes of his heart. A
came the eventide, so came his last night
From out of that chair wherein he hac
sat and suffered, and wrote and prayed
tenderly he was carried to that coucl
from which he was never to rise. Aroun
him we gathered and bowed in prayer t.
commend his departing spirit to the low
and mercy of Him who gave it. lie an
swered in monosyllables to questions 70
his comfort. The brain was the last L
die. All were watchers on that memorG
BILE night Recognitions were exchanged
A peaceable death and consciousness t
the last breath were granted unto hin
The last night had passed.
lis morning. The stars have melte
into the coming light. The rosy fingere
morning lifts the drapery of the night
The distant mountains stand aglow. Tn
soft pure light of early dawn cover
earth and sky. The dewdrop sparkles o.
the grass and in the daisy's cup. I'll
birds from their sylvan coverts carroll tn
melody Of II thousand songs. The worl
rejoces, and its many MINISTRIES challeng
the harDprS of the SkV In a humblp co