The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-08-16
DEATH The TEACHER
Rev. Father Brown Unfolds
the Lessons from the
Loss Of Father Tighe.
TOUCHING AND ELOQUENT DISCOURSE
Christians Should Not Look Upon
The King Of Terrors with
Fear and Trembling.

500
AT the mornings service in st. Paurs
r. c. Church. G~reenville, yesterday, the
acting rector Rev. Father James T.
Brown took the recent death Of the
beloved pastor Rev. Father j. ]. Tighe
as the theme OF a thoughtful and
scholarly discourse. The subject of the
sermon was death the Teacher" and
Rev. Fathe Brown treated it in a grace
full and touching m He began by
saying
ut has been said dear brethren that life
is a good school. The man who has gone
| through this life successfully will tell
you that worldly experience is a great
teacher. But death is a better school
since it teaches life. Man then is subject
to death. Faith, experience, reason and
scripture tell us that. We know it by
faith because God has told us 1t IS
ordained for man once to die Coo mas
said this and he cannot lie. Notice the
words, 1t is ordained, The decree has
been pronounced and that decree IS ire
vocable and Its execution will be deferred
but a short time.
aAt the coronation Of the Greek and
Roman emperors this certainty OF death
which was the end of all earthly great
ness was recalled to their mind. AT the
of the Pope, fax is burned 70
signify that he too must be ready to sur
render his great Office when death cans.
s.No matter how great the office a man
holds. how eminent the dignity-deatn
win come for him as we'll as FOR the
humbiest of m~ankind-the dread messen-
ger knocks both at the palace ana the
garden gate. The man who boasts OF MS
strength the evening before may be stark
and cold in death on the following morn
ing. Lincoln, with the glory OF the war
encireling his name and character, was
shot down in the hour of his strength
and triumph. Garfield, enjoying an nonor
which made him the first citizen OF the
great Republic, started out from the
White House one morning a contenteu'
baDpy man. He had achieved the hign-
est honor of his country. One moIneht
he stood erect, strong, confident IN the
honors he had won and in the prospect
of their enjoyment. The next ne lay
wounded, bleeding, helpless, doomed 10
suffering and the grave. William VIM
dom. after making the speech OF ms
life. while the applause which greeted
him was filling the hall in which ne
smoke. was lead ere that applause nad
subsidized. Truly, death is ordained
truly. our Lords words are true. II
shall come like a thief in the night.
mot only is death a decree-not only
is it ordained, but the decree, the ordi-
nance, has a universal scope. 1t Is or
dained for all men.
again. brethren, we can only die once.
IT is ordained for all men once to die
If we should try to do well what we
can do often, why should we not try 70
do that act well, which we can do oniy
! once. Take a statesman who ma been
| invited to deliver a speech upon a set
| occasion. He knows he can only speak
once: that on that one speech perhaps
depends his reputation as a diplomat or
| an orator. Does he not prepare well for
the occasion? Take the case of sclen-
| lists. who observe the transit of a heay-
| enly body, which occurs only once per-
hans Ia a hundred years. With what care
| they arrange their instruments and set
ont for the most favorable point of OBJ
servation. Take the lawyer who pleads
q critica l case-how careful he is to
prepare well to manage it skiilfully and
| to gain his point. Well, brethren, we
| have TO prepare for a set occasion which
| will decide not only our reputation but
our eternal fate. We nave a transit from
time to eternity to observe, and we have
only one moment to make it, we have a
case to plead which, when decided. can't
be appealed to a higher court. This set
| occasion. this transit, this final case. oc-
| curs only once in a lifetime; it is the
| one only last meeting with God in death.
This is what faith teaches US of death.
| We believe the words of God, 1t is or
| dained for all men once to die.
The calm, resigned and philosophic
manner in which Father Tighe died
| brings another thought to my mind. He
| died you might say with cheerfulness.
| Did it ever occur to you. dear friends,
| that we make a mistake in not speaking
| to one another more frequently and "a
miliarly of death?. Perhaps we think
| it is time enough to think about it. when
| sicknes or disease or the loss OF near
and lear friends force IT upon US. But
| IS death really such a gloomy, melan..
| choly event as it is often thought 70 be!
| For the good Christian, death should
bring neither gloom Or s., SADNESS, Tor Inc ~
sleep from which WI shall arise strong
and bright in the morning. II We AYE
spent a good life TIE 70 90 30 fba f uuay
| steps OF Christ by being falthrul e Him,
we Should really have no fear of death.
death then is the coHSulitudti pi "
| our highest hopes. the end for winch
| we were born. the ummon TO ARISE ana
take on ourselves the nature Of angels.
the saints have passed away. Sometimes
scarce a feature has been hanged. q
| thought ruffled in the transition. The
| venerable Bede. while debating from the
SCRIPTURES to his disciples. put. his hand
/ on to the hand of death and scarcely
| felt its coldness. We should study death
in order that we may learn the cheering
and consoling doctrine which Il teaches,
The classroom, in which death teaches Its
+ lessons. is in the character or the dying.
The Almighty has. 1t is true. surrounded
| death with many circumstances OF dread.
but that was that the rash and thought
| less sinner might not rush upon u When
| narrowed by disappointment or disguised
by sin and the world. The heathen. IN
| his ignorance, and the sinner. IN his
guilt. alike tremble at deaths approach.
But the good Christian should neither
grieve bitterly for those who are called
/ BEFORE him. Natures tear at parting
Cannot be restrained. 1t is hard to break
the bonds of relationship. OF ~friendshlp.s
Of love. Of confidence. which Joined US
10 the dead. But still. while we grieye,
/ and that rightly for the dear. friendly
T voice that is still. think that we
+ must all confess that when we go with
"a dear. kind father or mother, wife. sis
ter or brother to The brink OF eternity.
it is illumination, not shadow or gloom.
we feel. 1T Is not Overwhelming grief we
feel. or at least should feel.
SAIL of us went the other day with q
beloved pastor to the very. threshold OF