The Portland daily press., 1885-03-02
AT REST.
The Funeral of DIR. Charles #artweIl
Burr Yesterday Afternoon.

Burr Yesterday Afternoon.
The last services over the remains of Charles
b. Burr were held yesterday afternoon in the
New Jerusalem Church, Long before the APP
pointed time every seat was filled and many
were obliged to stand although chairs were
placed in the aisles.
The funeral obsequies were fitting and im-
pressive. After reading from tie Scriptures
by this Rev. Mr.. Lowdsn, the Rev. Mr.. Smyth
delivered the following beautiful tribute to the
memory of the deceased:
REV. MR.. sAyrH's EULoGY.
In the removal of our friend and brother,
Charles Hartwell Burr, this community parts
with one who was widely esteemed as faith
full citizen, a skilled physician and thorough
ly sincere and noble Christian. L would not
make death the occasion for extravagant en-
logy. l would not seem to speak from mere
enthusiasm. feel rather an inability to fully
set forth those qualities which were combined
into strong, symmetrical, elevated charac.
ter. Not that 1t is necessary that we should
describe and analyZe our friends when death
removes them from our midst We know them
II at all not through any obituary or funeral
grafton bat by actual contact with their lives.
Notwithstanding, it is but an instinct of our
nature to linger with them, as it were, at the
are beckoning; to recall those attributes by
which they were known to us, to say from the
neart land II not from the heart, our eulogies
were best unsaid) what qualities we loved.
AND now otherwise can it be, than that the
death OF an intelligent, faithful physician ap-
pears to us serious loss? Who more than he
nils SO large and responsible a position in
Community? He sees the pathetic and even
tragic side of life. He sees humanity in its
sutferings, its diseases, it's deformities. He
l0arH lfa he
and surge through its members 1t is for
MIN whether by night or by day to answer the
summons OF distress Whether in hut or in
palace his is the duty of ministering to the
sufferer, caring for him in the very throes of
death. And If the physician faithfully and
from high motives performs these Offices does
ne not OF necessity come into the very life, as
II were, not simply of the patient but of. the
family Does he not become their adviser,
their more than friend, touching oftentimes
as no one else can touch their inner, moral
life; receiving their condolences, assuagipg
their SORROWS? So exalted, indeed, is the of.
ice of the physician, that in tho hands of the
inspired writers it becomes one Of the most
beautiful types under which God reveals His
perfect nature. For does He not declare His
desire to heal the sicknesses which hurt and
waste the soul; to bind with loving fingers the
Droken-hearted; to revive and strengthen the
morally infirm?
And now think how often this man whose
name is on all our lips, has come and gone into
many OF our homes; by day and by night:
IN summer and in winter, how faithfully has
ne tended our sick and our dead His life was
wrapped mp in his profession He SHARED
himself no pains. By his faithfulness, his
skill, his quiet bat deep sympathy, he seems in
high degree to have realized the possibilities
OF true physician. His very presence was
an encouragement. One felt better for his
having come into the sick room, with his
CHEEKY salutation, his pleasant smile, his warm
clasp OF the hand. He held out no false hopes
TO the patient; neither did he overshadow him
with fear. he was kind, sympathetic, always
earnest, always watchful.
And one other quality he had which gave
certain strength and fulness to his ministra-
tions,-a quality which if not indispensable, L
can but believe to be the crowning grace of the
healing art--and that was his religious faith
Those who ever saw him by death bed will
know what mean; for though he might say
but little, the spirit and atmosphere of the
man was essentially religious. And so when
recovering from serious illness one of his
patients once eaid II suppose owe my life to
you" he replied mo, never to me, I am only
Gods agent" "ODly Gods agent" / think
that expressed the spirit in which he tried to
do his work. He knew that life flowed from
an Infinite and divine source He knew that
death was but the cessation of a physical ac-
tivity which ia nowse injured the real. that
Is the spiritual and immortal man. And he
not only believed these and all other cardinal
principles of our Christian faith, but he lived
them. He made them a part of himself
They were In his thoughts, in his words, in his
sctions. 10 him religion meant life-a life of
use lived in the full Acknowledgement and
reverence OF his Saviour, life of charity to
all men. do not believe that he cherished
Feelings OF animoSity against a single man.
STRONG IN his convictions he could make them
known when asked. Infexibly honest he in
tentionally wronged no one. Sound in his
Judgment his life was true and blameless
Pure, sincere, modest, he used life as think
God would have us uss it.
Nor was he without those other qualities
which, make men companionable. Intellec-
tually ne was broad. His tastes were refined
AND with 1t all he was genial, and cheerful
and found pleasure in the midst of busy
life. He loved his friends. And when to
brighten the hours of his last sickness, the
names OF the many who had called with their
enquiries and good wishes, were read to him,
be smiled and said: sit does not make the
pain any less; butit gives one moral courage
to bear it,
And now the kind friend, the good physi-
clan, has gone to his rest While the words of
that Psalm, tthe Lord is my Shepherd, - and
the Lords Prayer we're being repeated with
his family bending over him with whispers OF
love and OF peace, he quietly, painlessly fell
asleep lie who had so often ministered for
others was himself taken into the full keep
Ing OF that Divine Physician, who "giyeth His
beloved Sleep" After toll, rest has come at
last While still in the very vigor of his
AAA0hhoOdS bbluIc Qle6dH6 OF OlQ age mad mar
red one faculty, our brother was released from
care that he might be introduced into the
Kingdom of the Lord.
And who would decree otherwise? Who
has better earned the rest and happiness that
are laid up for the pure in heart? hRlessed y
say the Holy Books, blessed are they that do
His commandments, that they may have right
to the tree of lie, and may enter in through
the gates into the CITY," And swester still
are the words right out of heaven: BLESSED
orC rhnNy ruHN rfa Il
Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from
their iabors, and their works do follow with
Them
With divine assurances like these, we would
not morn unduly at DEATH We would not
magnify its real proportions. We would think
OF 1t as an outward separation merely-not
denying the pain it brings to those who must
wave their adieus; knowing that it sometimes
rives the heart; bat confessing always that it
IS real blessing to the emancipated spirit,
and believing that it is always of Divine
Providence. And then when our friends go,
we should have recourse to this thought, that
they are close at hand, and possessing all the
qualities OF heart and intellect which we knew
SO WELL
"Death is another life. We bow our heads
At going out, We think and enter straight
Another golden chamber of the kings,
Larger than this we leave and lovelier."
Think of beings who have no evils to contend
With; whose right purposes are not, as with us,
SAScccu W uhWurIuy nUblN6B. beings whose
intellects are keen and bright, discerning
truths which We have not so much as thought
OF; solving problems which only confuse us;
beings of versatile talents, and with all but in
finite of capacity for use; freed from every
slightest form of disease, being graced with
spiritual bodies of exquisite beauty, and in
such absolute harmony with the ind yelling
spirit as to respond instantly to les every
slightest impulse, so that, in the language of
prophecy: "They shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint" beings whose
lines ara indeed fallen in pleasant places, sur
rounded by the loveliest sights, sheltered Ia the
most exquisite homes; but more than all, be-
ings who no longer see as through glass dark
ly, but face to face with heavenly mysteries.
and who live in the actual presence of God
with all that that implies of comfort of refuge.
Of warmth and light, and perfect peace-think
OF all this and what may not eternity have
10 store for us! What happiness, what actiyi-
ties, what gracious charity for all, what in
tense interest 10 angels and menl And such
peace such immunity from our present vexa.
lions, our struggles for subsistence even, our
petty animosities and rivalrles which seem to
put our life quite out of tune. Beautiful
angelsl ready when the struggle is over to in
herit the kingdom prepared for them from the
foundation OF the world entering through
that "OD6n Door, AVen our Lord