The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-01-28
TRIBUTE TO AN OLD PASTOR.
BY Hon. ]. X. GRAVES.
Dubuque)

Promptly responding to the request of the
editor, Hon. J. X. Graves sends his address
at the Bach memorial service in Dubuque,
for publication.
Less than two years ago, a 'goodly
company" assembled in Chicago to do
honor and fttingly celebrate the eighth
eth anniversary of Rev. W. S. Balch.
Since that event, our hOnored and gifted
friend has passed from earth, and we
are gathered here tonight to unite in
fitting tribute to the life which has just
closed.
Br. Bai3h passed sixty active years
in the ministry. He was literally a
pioneer in the pulpit and made his
pathway bright and luminous with
grand ana noble achievements, as the
servant of Him "who dOeth all things
WE'LL" and by reason of his elevated,
earnest and persistent course, made the
world brighter and cemented more
closely the friendships of this life, while
pointing the way to immortality in
LANDS that are fairer than day." The
friends and co-laborers of his earlier
years nearly all have preceded him to
the betterland Ballou, Streeter, Chaplin,
King, Whittemore, Thayer and Cham
berlain have been long awaiting his
presence and now greet his coming.
While the mortal remains of the
loved and gifted Chaplin are at rest on
the shores of the Atlantic, and our
sainted Starr King sleeps on the shores
of the Pacific, weeping friends have
just consigned to earth, midway be-
tween the two oceans, the 'old man
eloquent" whose Christian life we
signalize tonight as we mourn his de-
parture.
While it is sad indeed to consign
loved ones to earth, even though the
full allotted time has been reached, yet
the teachings of Br. Balch's life gave
such radiant promise of the life to
come, that aside from the fact that his
familiar face will be sadly missed, we
should not mourn but rejoice that after
the full fruition of years he has passed
beyond the cares, sorrows and dis
appointments Of this life, to "house
not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens"
In the brief words we uttered on the
occasion of his eightieth birthday, we
alluded to the warm friendships in tnis
church which he, as its pastor, had Gre
ated-to the family choir which for
tWenty-one years, with hardly an inter-
ruption, lifted its songs of praise on
each recurring Sabbath, and to the in
dividual members of the congregation
and the deep regard in which we all
held our late pastor. These recollec-
tions as they crowded upon him, warmed
his heart and moistened his eyes, for
they could not be effaced from memory;
nor would we efface them while the
future has its heaven and the heart its
long ago.
Surrounded as Brother Balch was, on
that happy anniversary, by old and by
new friends who thus linked the past
with the present, we vouchsafed that
there came to his mind at that hour
the triumphs and achievements, the
conflicts and the battles of his long and
active life, and that in memory at least
he grasped again the weapons he so
skilfully handled in earlier years. The
weapons which your hands have formed
are those which heaven itself has
wrOught-light, truth and love; your
ground, the free, broad field of
thought.
Our friend ever labored in the conf
dent assurance that it is not all Of life
to live nor all of death to die - and he
is entitled to wear the crown which
neither the gold nor the silver of earth
can purchase-th priceless wreath of
Immortality. If, as hath been said,
the shadow of human life is traced
upon the golden ground of immortal
hope, then our friends life stands out
III bold relief like apples of gold in pic
lures Of silver, as one of the grandest
types of earthly existence. If the
rays of happiness, like those of light.
be cOlorless when unbrOken, then his
pure and perfect life stands rounded
out like the great rainbow of promise
which gladdened the earth when the
floods subsidized.
Though his earnest voice is hushed
forever, though we shall never again
behold his living presence, yet deeply
craven on the tablets of memory are
the scenes and events which marked
our intercourse; and it will be long
years hence ere we forget his heroic de-
votiOn to duty, his sterling honesty, his
eloquence and sincere and cord al man
Der and our yeneration for his life here
in Dubuque and elsewhere. With this
brief yet earnest tribute, we utter the
solemn farewell TO our lamented friend
who has gone to his reward
lie preached that mankind was born
for higher destiny than of earth; and
the inspired word supplemented by
manifold evidence on every hand, tells