Year: 1876

| Funeral Address by the Rev. Dr.. Putnam

 at the Funeral of the Brooklyn Dead.

 We stand here to day in the presence of the most solemn and affecting funer- al scene that has over been witnessed in Brooklyn. It would ill become the occasion were l to attempt to describe the awful catastrophe of that fatal night; the growing horror of our people, as the full extent of the disaster was more and more revealed the gathering crowds and the increasing excitement and the wild dismay that was seen in our streets; the continued exhu nation of the dead and the frantic grief of families as they searched for their lost the funeral pro- sessions that have already wound their way through the city to the silent ceme teries, and all the emblems and habili- ments of mourning that shroud our public buildings and that clothe the sad, sad multitude of the afflicted and suffer. ing. The spectacle that is before us is quite enough for our eyes to see and our hearts to bear. For here; deposited in 8 common grave, are the charred and unrecognized remains of scores of vi@ tims of the frightfnl tragedy, cut off in the very flower and prime of life, snatched away from all tho accustomed pursuits of familiar associations of earth and wept not alone by great company of kindred who were near and dear, but by the larger concourse of men, women and children that come hither to testify their sympathy, and by the general body of our friends and fellow citizens.

 The event is a public calamity. We are all mourners- All alike seek for comfort and pray for light and peace. How dark the problem How terrible the cloud Brought face to face with facts and realities like these, what mys- teries bsset us and what trials are given to our faith! Now, as scarcely ever before, 8 stern, unpitying, implaca- ble power seems to have come in upon us with averaging fury to devastate our firesides, blast the bright hopes and cherished plans of the young and active, take away the strong supports of ad- vancing age and consign the immediate victims of the dreadful visitation to in- conceivable torment. And it is at such a time, if ever, that painful, dismal doubts arise in our minds and we come to question whether indeed it is true that an infinitely gracious and merciful Being rules over al and guidest the course of human affairs loving and caring for each and every soul just as surely and constantly as He leads on the planets in their noiseless, unwearying round. We may still somehow acknowledge the ceaseless and benefcent reign of law. But the ordinary processes of nature, in the outward world and in the spiritual world alike, are powerless to meet and supply the deep needs, the importunate | lo oe whelming troubles and trials, unless we can feel that in and through them there is ever at work supreme, intelligent flesh crieth out for the living God" life when the heart can no longer be sat- reason, speculation or philosophy can give 1t, but asks with imploring and irresistible urgency for some mightier some better interpretation than it's owr, some holier light, some sweeter rest con- fused and confounded by so much that is distracting and apparently contradic- tory in these earthly scenes and rela- tions it pleads that some one shall come out of the very heart of God, knowing most intimately and fully the divine counsels, and say to us that He who creates and controls all things Is @ Universal Father, that His name is love, that He numbers the very hairs of our heads, and that not even sparrow fall eth to the ground without His watchful care. If not sparrow, continues the Blessed Teacher, then surely not the children of the Highest. Christ it is who revealed to men, once for all, that infinite goodness, as well as infinite power, unspeakable sympathy as well as irrepealable law, were operative in every event or change, in every joy or trial of | life. Now are we assured that no hour can be so dark and fearful, no woe can be so afiictive and dreadful that it does not confess the presence and kindness ofaan Almighty Friend who holds us still in His faithful hands. and who, iu ways we do not know, in ways that baf11e oftentimes our poor understand. ing is ever seeking our eternal good.

 "Through all the various shifting scsnss OfNlife's mistaken ill or good

 Thy hand, oh, God conducts unseen

 The beautiful vicssitude."

 For, oh ! if we could rise to that su- preme exultation, as perhaps in some happier time we may, whence we might look down and back upon ail these strange and perplexing paths, these dire and whelming misfortunes of the life that now is, and see them as God be- holds them now, who can doubt that we shall discover that all His ways were right. "What do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Hereafter There awaits us the great explanation. We shall understand it all st length. Then with patience will we wait for it. Ours is the glorious assur- ance. the thrilling promise; ours shall be the immortal trust, the boundless hope. It is only this higher philosophy, this heavenly revelation of him who spake as never man spake. that casts the needed light athwart our troubled way, brings God near to us, enables us to bear our burdens and fills our souls with peace. It is with such words of benevolence and blessing that the Savior draws nigh us to-day. In His mild and gentle accents we hear the Fathers voice. In His tender, winning look we see the Fathers face. In all His pity ing graciousness and helpfulness we feel the Fathers love. If we only heed His invitation "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest, the Father will be with us and they who SOW in tears shall reap ill joy. Shall we not try to discern wbat- ever light may fringe the awful cloud ? However shocking and heartrending may saano tho 3oath of o1Ir beloved de- |