IN MEMORIAM.
A PEW THOUGHTS
UPON THE
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DEATH
( ON THE 21st DECEMBER, 1866,)
OF THE
Rt Rh STEPHEN ELLIOTT, D. D.,
BISHOP OP THE DIOCESE OP GEORGIA,
BY THE
Rev. HENRY KOLLOCK REES,
3£Uctoi dDfjurxf), JHatoit, <Ka.,
DECEMBER 23d, 1866.
Paaro, :
J. W. BURKE & CO., STATIONERS, PRINTERS AND BINDERS.
1 8 6 7.
37th Psalm, 37th Verse—"Mark the perfect man,
and behold the upright • for the end of that man is
peace
The first Bishop of Georgia has been called, by
the Great Shepherd and Bishop of the Church, to
receive his crown, and to rest from his labors. But
we, his poor orphan children, can only weep, because
our father is taken from us; never shall we see his
face on earth again. What, then, can we do in this,
the first hour of our grief, but weep, as we behold
these sad signs of our desolation ? Never again shall
he take his place by the side of that holy altar
where he hath consecrated, for us, the emblems of
Jesus' death ; never again shall he lay his hands upon
the heads of those who come to renew their vows to
the crucified Redeemer; never again shall his words
of. gentle counsel fall upon our ears, as he preached
Christ, and set before us the wisdom and beauty of
godliness.
On last Wednesday evening, amid the shades of
the Montpelier Institute, he gathered' around him a
bright group of happy children, and gave them his
last words of precious counsel; pure and simple,
chaste and beautiful, warmed by the Savior's love
4 IN MEMORIAM.
and the power of the Holy Spirit; they were his
last, as a bishop, priest and father, to his children
of the church, on earth.
On Friday evening, he had returned to his parish—
reached his home—been received by his beloved
family, and their glad welcoming had scarcely ceased,
when, before an hour had passed, a messenger from
the Holy Master—unseen in his approach—sud¬
denly called the faithful servant, and in an instant,
they two departed—the angel with the servant, and
immediately they stood in the presence of the Master;
and the welcome of paradise, the home of the
faithful, followed close upon the tender greeting of
the home on earth.
But, brethren, while our faith pierces the veil of
the heavens, our hearts hasten to the earthly abode
where the night of bitter mourning and lamentation
closed in, so darkly, upon broken, desolate hearts.
Wife and children saw only the prostrate form of
him they loved, and the gathering around of weep¬
ing friends, with hearts as suddenly broken as their
own; and there was none to comfort, for the pastor,
the priest, the friend, the father, the husband, the
bishop, was gone; and the noble tabernacle in which
he dwelt, was growing cold in death; the light of its
golden lamp was fled—the spirit had departed ; and
now that dear, sacred form, in its calm, still peace,
waits for the burial. Yet, weep not, beloved, for we
hear a voice from heaven, saying unto us: " Blessed
IN MEMORIAM. 5
are the dead who die in the Lord ; even so, saith
the Spirit, for they rest from their labors, and their
works do follow them."
And what a noble worker he was ! Who shall
estimate the labor—who shall recount the days and
nights of toil, of travel, of exposure, of hardship,
of care, of anxiety, and of watchfulness, he gave to
the Church of Christ committed to his trust ? Who
shall estimate the countless words of love and pre¬
cious tenderness he spake, and their holy influence as
they imparted calm strength to the hearer, com¬
forted and encouraged the doubting, and bid God
speed to the believing, called back the wandering,
and guided the erring into the paths of peace ? To
the rich and to the poor, to the great and to the
lowly, he was Chrises messenger of love and godli¬
ness, preaching as truly by his example as by his
precept. Who, that ever approached him, did not
feel his influence, and were the better and the nobler
for having enjoyed his social intercourse ? The little
children loved their Bishop,* and the old men did
him reverence, for he was a Father unto all.
Our Reverend Father in God was consecrated the
*And well might they lore him, for he saw in them the purest and truest
representatives of his fioly Master on earth. In illustration of his reverent
tenderness towards them, a touching and beautiful incident occurred during
his last visitation, when in an hour of home relaxation, he watched the play
of the little one of the household, who, in her glee threw off her shoe, the
venerable Bishop knelt before the chlid and was replacing it, when the
father said, "Little Mary you are greatly honored." "Honored," said the
kneeling Bishop, " O no, whose shoes latchet I am not worthy to unloose,
for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
6
IN MEMORIAM.
First Bishop of Georgia, in the year of our Lord,
1841 ; for a quarter of a century, therefore, he has
served in his Apostleship. The little flock, of seven
Presbyters and three hundred disciples, over whom
he was called to be the Shepherd, has increased ten¬
fold, not reckoning the many who have been called
home by .the Chief Shepherd and Bishop of their
souls. Churches have been planted, Ministers have
been ordained, many of the baptised have been con¬
firmed. But these apostolic acts give no true or just
estimate of his work as a Bishop and Priest of the
Church of God ; for while in his diocese he ministered
to his own, and we were proud to call him, " Our
Bishop," he was a welcome messenger of Christ,
to all who loved the Lord Jesus, of every name, and
of every church. His visitation to any Parish was the
signal for all to gather to hear the words that fell
from his lips; and we know that when they hear
that he is gone, they will grieve as truly as ourselves,
that a Father in Israel has fallen, and long will
they cherish the blessed memory of the First Bishop
of the Diocese of Georgia.
But his work and influence went far beyond his
diocese. In the general councils of the church, no
man had more weight, or concentrated more univer¬
sal respect. You remember when " the great-hearted
Bishop of New Jersey" was beset by his enemies,
and ill counseled by his friends, and his brother
Bishops met, called together as a court of trial in
IN MEMOKIAM. 7
1853, it was our own beloved Bishop, whose words
of kindly sympathy to the falsely accused, and of
ghostly wisdom to the judges, arrested the trial,
spoke peace to the troubled waters, and made the
scandal mongers and the tale bearers hang their
heads in shame, and delivered the whole church from
strife and division.
And again, it was his wide reaching wisdom which
in private conference, with his compeer, the first Bish¬
op of Louisiana, laid the foundation, and perfected the
scheme of the great " University of the South.'1 Its
walls have not yet arisen, but they shall one day be
the fitting monument of these two noble champions
of right and holiness, whom all men will delight to
honor.
And in the terrible storm which has so lately
swept over our land, his reason, his judgment and
his heart were one, and he threw all in what he
felt was the scale of truth and justice ; and yet
none bowed more submissively to the will of God,
or yielded a more perfect obedience to the laws of
man. But let us remember his warning words:
when I last held social converse with him, a few days
only before his death, in speaking of the state of our
whole country, he said, "I fear we have not yet
seen the worst."
"The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to
" heart; and merciful men are taken away, none
8
IN MEMORIAM.
"considering that the righteous is taken away from
" the evil to come."
And thus, brethren, our father is gone, and if there
is evil yet in store for our land, we may be thankful
that his noble spirit has been called to dwell where
the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are
at rest.
In this mysterious providence it is so ordered,
that when the whole church throughout the world
is rejoicing on the festival of Jesus' birth, and glad
voices are repeating the Angel's song, the voice
of praise and thanksgiving must be hushed within
the walls of the churches of our diocese; not that
we would put aside the honoring of the Holy Child
Jesus, who is ever our Lord and Master; but at the
master's own bidding, every minister and priest is
called to hasten to do honor to the faithful shepherd
he set over us in his holy church, and we go to gather
around the grave, and to commit to the dust the
sacred form of him, whose dear hands were laid upon
our head, and ordained us to be servants of his Lord.
And dearly beloved, ajs®, in the Lord, you upon
whom his hands were laid in the sacred rite of confir¬
mation, and all to whom he has ever broken the
bread of life, will you not seek more earnestly and
watchfully to realise the prayer he made in your
behalf, when you came forward and were received as
Christ's disciples ? " Strengthen them, we beseech, O,
IN MEMORIAM.
9
Lord, with the Holy Ghost the Comforter, and daily
increase in them thy manifold gifts of grace, the
spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of
counsel and ghostly strength, the spirit of knowledge
and true godliness, and fill them, O, Lord, with the
spirit of thy holy fear, now and forever.1' Then, when
the Holy Master shall come, and all the redeemed
and the Holy Angels with Him, you " may be found
an acceptable people 111 His sight/1 And we shall
all ascribe the glory of our full salvation, to the
Father, Son and Holy Ghost—world without end—
Amen.