Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1920-06-07

vented the eircumlocution office! H,
was always direct, forceful and to thu
point. He was taken sick and dice
within two OF three hours. The sud
denneSS of his death shocked the com
munity and is very hard upon his i'm
mediate friends. Yet it is about the way
he would have himself chosen his ext
from the flesh. 1t was like him to die
in harness. Always he was Il man OF
vigor and strength. 1t vas his nature
to be up and doing. Surely it was q
kindly Providence that saved him from
long suffering and lingering death. He
fell asleep in the hospital and awoke
in heaven. When the flesh had become
a burden to him his resolute spirit
|Droke through to the full freedom OF
the tleshless spirit.
Faith a Characteristic.
Connected with the death Of L. A.
McMurray this Christian faith seems
ientirely natural. His own religious
faith was perhaps the most character
istic attribute of the man, and his
religious attitude toward life will be
longest remembered. Ten years l have
been his pastor, and I have known
him well. In many ways he has been
a sort of unofficial assistant pastor of
the church. Whenever the pastor hap
pened to be away people expected that
Mr.. McMurray w0nld lead the prayer
meeting. Such service was rendered
cheerfully and efficiently. The man
was Il tower of strength to organized
religion in the city. He was as sue
cessful in his religion as he was in his
business. He loved the church and
gave himself for it. To him the church
was not a liability but a glorious asset.
The church was to him Il privilege
rather than Il responsibility. Attend
ance upon the services of the church
was a habit and not a pastime. He
was a ''twicer" in his Sunday attend
ance of church and rarely missed the
prayer meeting. He could not very
well understand people who had taken
the vows of the church only to play
fast and loose with the institution for
which Christ died. Bravely he stood
with Joshua of old. "As for me and
my house, we will serve the Lord" was
his creed. He was loyal to his church
and its pastor. AS a member of the
church. as deacon and teacher of the
Bible class, l.. A. McMurray never
wavered in his allegiance to the faith
of his fathers as it was expressed in
the local church. This does not mean
that he was perfect. OF course he had
the faults of Il strong man. But by
and large he lived the higher life and
strove manfully after the nobler ideals.
And through the years to come this
will keep his memory green.
His Bible Class.
NJ. NfrN1,,rr ~, pih1n <Ins hoc lDrn
been one of the lions of the city. For
many years visitors have always been
taken TO see Mr.. McMurray's Bible
class aand hear him teach the Sunday
school lesson. For about forty years
Mr.. McAIurray had Il Bible class in
the Congregational Sunday school. For
years ut Il stretch the average attend
ance has been close upon a hundred.
Three or four generations Of Sunday
school pupils have sat under the spell
of Mr.. McMurray's teaching. He was
an unusually good teacher of the Sun
day school lesson. III forty years of
Sunday school lessons he had covered
the entire Bible over and Orcr many
times. His eXpositions were in reality
sermons superior to many preached by
ordained ministers. He had a per-
sonal interest in every member of his
large class, and the class had con-
iidence ana pride in its teacher. In IL
hundred ways Mr.. McMurray's place
will be difficult to ill, but nowhere
will he be missed more than in his
Bible class. How can we get along
without him? How can we carry on
his notable work? That will be the
very thing he will want us to do, and
somehow it must be done.
Mr.. McMurray did much for his be-
loved Bible class. But it is~true of
him as it is OF every true teacher, that
the class did more for the teacher than
the teacher did for the class. Forty
years of preparation of the weekly les
son gave the teacher mental, moral
and religious culture equal to half Il
lifetime spent in the classes OF Il great
university. His work caused him to
gather IL library of books on Sunday
school, biblical and theological sub
jects. Few ministers have more or
better books covering these subjects.
He spent time and money N his books,
which is one secret of his unusual sue
cess.
MI. McMurray had the habit of Bible
study. He worked hard for what he
got. He began his preparation of the
lesson on Monday and most OF his
leisure time during the week he put
into the lesson for the coming Sunday.
Never once did he coInc to his class lily
prepared. In teaching others lie taught
himself. Few men. not excluding the
regular ministry, had a wider knowl-
edge of the Bible, and the more infOr-
nation he impaired the more he had
for himself. He dearly loved his work.
Without stint he put into it the full
of his strong personality. In
his class he was II preacher of the good
news. All over this goodly land of
ours are people by the hundreds who
have sat under the ministry Of this
Christian layman and who will be sad
dened by the news of his death.
No Death.
But, he il known to all, that l.. a.
McMurray is not dead. Death has not
out the candle of his life. He
has not wen fallen asleep. He is alive
and conscious. wide awake and active
now as ever he was. Not merely that
the memory of him will live on with
us as an eXhOrtatiOn to higher ideals,
but the man himself is actually more
alive than we are. There is NO death
for the real man, for the soul that lives
within the tleshIy body. What seems
to be death is but Gods evolutionary
way of Kidding maj of the burden of