Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1910-02-02
DR.. A. ALEXANDER
GREAT THE0lOG|AN
Distinguished Son of Rockbridge
H0n0red and Revered
A MEMORIAL TABLET ERECTED
Eloquent Address at Princeton by
DR.. w. M. Paxton

was printed. The subject was a
cousin OF Robert Alexander, deceas-
ed, of Rockbridge county, father of
A. and Miss Esta b.
of Stuart's Draft, Angus
ia county; also the late Mrs. VIM
G. Mcclure of near Buffalo Forge,
this county, mother Of ]. S and
Misses Emma and Nettie Mcclure
of Glasgow. DIR. Alexander was an
uncle of Mr.. Archibald Alexander
of Lexington.
Address of the Rev. William NJ. Pax
ton. D. D., at the unwilling Of the
memorial tablets at Princeton, N.
j., on the 29th OF April:
These tablets, as I understand
them, put honor not only upon the
names which they bear, but also
upon the Alumni of Princeton Semi
nary. They tell to the world how
much we loved these men and simp-
ly to love such men is our highest
praise.
Archibald Alexander needs no
tablet to perpetuate his name. There
is his monument. Princeton Semi
nary is the record of his fame. He
projected it. Graded it, nurtured it.
He chose. and gathered around him,
the honored associates who helped
him to make it what it is. He watch
ed over it for forty years. He CON-
menced with three students, and
lived to see the Seminary in it's full
grown maturity, its class rooms
crowded with one hundred and six
ty candi iates for the ministry. AS
long as Princeton Seminary endures
the name of Archibald Alexander
will not be forgotten.
He lives also in his children.
Monumental sons rose up at his
side, bright and polished shafts,
that cast their radiance afar; sons
who have inscribed their names
side by side with that of their father
upon this entablature of honor and
worth.
He lives also in his writings. The
books of a few men live; but there
ara some men who live in their
books.
In that buck on Religious Elk
perience" DR.. Alexander lives.
The book itself is breath of life.
A frontispiece gives us this picture
but the book is himself. The one
shows us his face, the other makes
US feel the pulsations of his heart.
There was only one man VINO could
have written the Pilgrims" Pro-
gress, SO there was but one who
could have written this book on re-
ligious experience. The name OF
John Bunyan will live as long as
there is a pilgrim Zion-bound, SO
DR.. Alexander will live in this book
as long as religious experience
lasts.
But Archibald Alexander still
lives in the whole Presbyterian
Church. John Wesley lived to i'm
press his image and superscription
upon, and to breathe his spirit into,
whole denomination; so that wher.
ever in the wide world you see
Methodism, there you see John
Wesley.
DIR. Alexander did not live in an
age in which this could be done
but in his measure, and to an ex.
tent which cannot now at this dis.
lance of time be readily understood
he impressed himself upon. and
breath ed his spirit into. the whole
Presbyterian Church. 1t is true
indeed, that DR.. Alexander lived
before the union; but it is also true
that he lived before the division. ]
speak, therefore, of his influence a:
a power in the whole Presbyteriar
Church for two reasons. First: Be
cause it is wicked now for any on,
to have memory enough TO remem
Der that there ever was anythin,
but one happy, undivided Presby
terian Church; and secondly: Be
cause it is a remarkable fact con
nected with the singular power Q
this extraordinary man, the Churc
sprang from his wisdom and good
ness. He was as humble as q child