The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-12-04


Cast Over the City of New Haven.
The New Haven, Conn, Union yes
terday contained the following with
reference to the funeral of the Craig
family, which was held at that place
Saturday afternoon:
One of the saddest funerals which
ever was held in this city, was that of
Yesterday afternoon, when the last
rites of earth were paid to the Craig
family, at the Grand Avenue Congre-
gational church. 1t Is doubtful If ever
before were four members of one fam
lily buried in single grave in this city.
The services were for the late Mr..
and Mrs. Alexander Craig and their
daughters, Esther Sanford and Jessie
Hager Craig, who were killed in the
railroad accident at Paterson, N. j.,
Wednesday evening. They had resided
In Scranton, Pa, several months, re-
moving there from this city, which had
previously been their home. At the
time of the accident they were on their
way to Brooklyn, n. Y, to spend
Thanksgiving with friends.
At about 2.15 o'clock the remains of
the deceased were removed from the
undertaking rooms of Lewis e. May
COCh 10 Ine STdnu Avenue COnBTeBH-
tional church, in four hearses, drawn
up abreast, two and two. The hearses
were preceded by carriages containing
the bearers.
HUNDREDS AT THE CHURCH.
In front of the church, as the pro-
cession arrived, were hundreds of peo-
ple. The caskets were borne UP the
main aisle and placed directly in front
of the pulpit platform and at right
angles thereto. The caskets of Mr. and
Mrs. Craig were first brought in and
later the bearers. selected from the
former associates of the little girls,
| carried the caskets of the latter to the
platform. The casket of the oldest
daughter was placed between the cask-
cts of her parents and the casket of
| the Younger daughter was placed on
the right of the mothers.
As the removal took place, there was
hardly a dry eye in the church, and
some of the intimate friends of the de-
parted were weeping bitterly. There
were fully 1900 people in the church,
while several hundred more waited on
| the grounds and in the cemetery al the
| rear of the church grounds. AS the
| caskets were terderlv borne UP the
aisle, solemn dirge was played on the
organ by Harry Jepson.
Upon the pulpit platform, just back
|
and chrysanthemums, and many palms
| stood at either side of the platform.
Each of the four caskets was COM
pletely covered with roses, pinks and
! other flowers.
The service were begun by the read
| ing of Scripture, beginning with the
verse, Let not your heart be troubled.
ye believe in God, believe also in me-"
by Rev. d. ]. Clark of the East Haven
| Congregational church. Mr.. Clark read
a chapter from Revelations, concluding
with the verse, And God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes"
Rev. ]. Lee Mitchell, d. D., the pas
! tor of the church, then made appropri-
ate remarks, which were as follows:
REV. MR.. MITCHELL'S REMARKS.
| "He who imagines that he stands
now in the presence of death and means
/ by death tinality, the end of living,
mistakes vastly the situation. We
| stand in the presence of the 'resurrec-
! ton and the life. But that is almost
| too much for us to lay hold of. We
| are dim primaeval, mere barbarians of
| the time to be; we have somewhere
! lost the Interpretation of these dream
| lives we lead here, and our minds cam
| not cross from one shore to the other
| without some rock to cling to in mid
stream.
MY fellow-men, we must believe in
| Jesus Christ, the rock in midi stream,
and not try to believe SO many other
things.
1.-The very Cod Think Abb dost
thou think" So through the thunder
comes a human voice saying, %, heart
1 made a heart beats here! Face my
hands fashioned, see it in myself! Thou
hast no power, nor mayest conceive of
mine. But leve l gave thee, with my
self to love, and thou must love Me
who have \. l for thee Believe in
God first 1t as the order of convic-
ton for Jesus himself. He could not
| doubt the life beyond death, because
He walked with God, throbbed with
God, this life had to Him no meaning
but to do the will of God. If God Is,
all else is easy; man inhabited by
God looks on th lifting w of one of
our lives into eternal unastonished,
It's natural fl God, as natural as any
strong deed to any strong man.
But how may a man believe in
God? Why, trust in God is planted in
you, il grows wild in every human
heart and needs only the nurture of q
pure life and a lofty purpose to be-
come self-conscious, conviction. Men
doubt God as they doubt the value of
anything else for which they have paid
little. If it costs little it is worth little
We denv ourselves nothing for Gods
sake, and so He is nothing. He doesn't
cost us enough to become very potent
conviction. Jesus walked with God
God was all things to Him and that
His life taught Him TO eXpect the
resurrection. Our lives must similarly
teach us to expect the resurrection and
he who has nothing fit to rise of his
own must ACCEPT of the fitness of our
fair Christ, and he who has nothing fit
of his own to rise, not even a faith In
Christ's fitness, must forever doubt
that he will rise.
BELIEF IN GOD.
Believe in God, in Jesus Christ, the