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 We 
 
 REV. RUSSELL GECIL, D.D. 
 
 Pastor Second Presbyterian Church 
 Richmond, Va. 
 
 Died June 15, 1925 
 

 
SF oveword 
 
 me 
 
 It was the manifest desire of the congregation that 
 some record of the faithful and fruitful work among 
 us of our late beloved pastor, Rev. Russell Cecil, D. D., 
 should be preserved, and we feel assured that those 
 who knew him will value these ‘‘Memorials,”’ remind- 
 ing us, as they do, of him who for twenty-five years in 
 this church preached earnestly and eloquently the Gos- 
 pel of God’s Grace and served the community in many 
 ways until he “‘fell asleep.” 
 
 We have added to the Memorials the sermon he 
 had prepared before he was stricken with his last ill- 
 ness, and which he had expected to deliver the follow- 
 ing Sunday morning. May it be to each of us a mes- 
 sage from one “who being dead yet speaketh.”’ 
 
 “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: 
 yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors and 
 their works do follow them.” 
 
 —THE SESSION, 
 
 Second Presbyterian Church, 
 Richmond, Va. 
 
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CONTENTS 
 
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 A Sketch of the Life of Rev. Russell Cecil, D. D. . 
 
 Memorials 
 By the Session of the Second Presbyterian Church. . . 
 By the Board of Deacons of the Second Presbyterian Church 
 By the Vanguard Class . 
 By the Woman’s Auxiliary aes 
 By the Hoge Memorial Presbyterian Church . 
 By the Presbyterian League . 
 By the Synod of Virginia . 
 By the Presbyterian Committee of Publication . 
 By the Ministerial Association 
 By the Bible Society of Virginia 
 By the Million Dollar Campaign Committee 
 By the Presbyterian Ministers’ Association 
 By the Union Theological Seminary 
 Memorial Service . 
 
 Rev. W. L. Lingle, D.D. . 
 
 Rev. W. L. Carson 
 
 Rev. O. E. Buchholz . 
 
 Rev. Edward Mack, D.D. . ‘ 
 Rev. H. C. MacLachlan, D.D. . 
 
 Newspaper Statements . 
 Address by John S. Munce . 
 
 Dr. Cecil’s Last Sermon 
 
Went 
 
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 a 
 
 Moth: 
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MeSieh EC voy the LL OF 
 REMEORUSSELTEVGECIE, D.D: 
 
 we 
 
 REV. RUSSELL CECIL, D.D., was born at Monti- 
 cello, Ky., October Ist, 1853, and entered into Life 
 Eternal after a brief illness, June 15th, 1925. He was 
 the son of Russell Howe Cecil, long a ruling elder in 
 the Presbyterian Church and Lucy Phillips Cecil, a 
 rare woman, mentally and spiritually. Dr. Cecil was 
 reared in Mercer County, Ky., and received his early 
 education in what he loved to speak of as ‘‘an old field 
 school,” but it was taught by a man—Dr. James H. 
 Smith, who knew well how to awaken in his young 
 pupils a love of learning and the ambition for collegi- 
 ate education. Out of this little school went forth a 
 large group of men who attained distinction in law, 
 medicine and in ministry. Dr. Cecil took his academic 
 training at Princeton University, graduating in 1874. 
 A year later he entered Princeton Theological Semi- 
 nary and graduated in 1879. He was not satisfied 
 with the ordinary preparation for the high calling to 
 which he had consecrated his life, but added thereto 
 a course in the Free Church College, Edinburg, Scot- 
 land, and studied and traveled for a year in Europe 
 and Palestine. Princeton University conferred upon 
 him three degrees—in 1874, the degree of A. B.; in 
 1877, the degree of A. M., and in 1895, the degree 
 of D. D. The Southwestern Presbyterian College also 
 conferred upon him the degree of D.D. Dr. Cecil 
 had four pastorates in his forty-six years of service— 
 
10 MEMORIALS 
 
 
 
 Nicholasville, Ky., 1880-1885; Central Church, Mays- 
 ville, Ky., 1885-1889; First Church, Selma, Ala., 1889- 
 1900, and in 1900 he was called to the Second Church, 
 Richmond, Va., where he spent the last twenty-five 
 years of his faithful and fruitful life. Dr. Cecil 
 served the church in many official positions. In 1911 
 he was moderator of the General Assembly of the 
 Presbyterian Church, and the same year was modera- 
 tor of the Synod of Vriginia, and also moderator of 
 East Hanover Presbytery. The Richmond Times- 
 Dispatch, writing of the Virginia Synod in session at 
 Winchester in 1912, said: ‘“There are some very in- 
 teresting points connected with the positions held by 
 Dr. Cecil. His church is the strongest in the Presby- 
 tery and Synod, East Hanover Presbytery is one of 
 the oldest and strongest in the Southern Church, as the 
 Synod of Virginia is the oldest and strongest Synod in 
 the Church, and the General Assembly is the highest 
 court in the Church. So it can be seen that such re- 
 markable coincidences could hardly take place in the 
 case of any other man.” 
 
 For twenty-five years Dr. Cecil was connected with 
 the work of the Presbyterian Committee of Publica- 
 tion, serving first as vice-chairman and later as chair- 
 man of this Committee; he was a member of the 
 Executive Committee of Foreign Missions during his 
 residence in Alabama, and for twenty years the prési- 
 dent of the Virginia Huguenot Society, in which he 
 took a very vital interest. He served as a trustee 
 of Union Theological Seminary, Virginia; of Columbia 
 Theological Seminary, South Carolina; of Southwest- 
 ern Presbyterian University, Tennessee, and of Agnes 
 Scott College, Georgia, and through these was largely 
 
MEMORIALS 11 
 
 identified with the educational work of the Church. 
 He was a charter member of and represented the 
 Southern Presbyterian Church for fourteen years in 
 the World Conference on Faith and Order, and in the 
 Council of Reformed Churches, and from its found- 
 ing was a member of the Presbyterian League of Rich- 
 mond Va. In 1912 he was elected president of the 
 Alumni Association of Princeton Theological Semi- 
 nary, and was president of the Richmond Ministerial 
 Association. 
 
 But in all of his activities nothing lay closer to 
 his heart or gripped his interest more fully than the 
 Bible Society. For more than twenty years he was a 
 member of the Board of Managers of the Virginia 
 Bible Society, and for many years was chairman of the 
 Southern General Assembly’s Permanent Committee of 
 the Bible Cause, and during this time represented the 
 Southern Presbyterian Church in the Advisory Coun- 
 cil of the American Bible Society. The secretary of 
 this great cause wrote of him: ‘‘He brought to these 
 important positions the same high-souled service which 
 was the Cecil ‘water-mark’ on all service he rendered 
 
 his Lord.” 
 ‘Faithful Unto Death.”’ 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 Adopted by the Session of the Second Presbyterian Church 
 Richmond, Virginia 
 
 FOR the second time in its history of eighty years, 
 this Church has to place on its records the death of 
 its pastor. On January 6, 1899, it recorded the death 
 of its beloved founder and only pastor for fifty-four 
 years the Reverend Moses Drury Hoge, D. D. Now 
 we are called on to record the death of the Reverend 
 Russell Cecil, D.D., who passed from his earthly 
 labors on June 15, 1925. 
 
 Dr. Cecil was installed as pastor of this Church 
 November 14th, 1900; so that he had almost com- 
 pleted a quarter of a century of service. Coming to 
 the Pastorate of the Church at a critical time in its 
 history, he soon endeared himself to its members and 
 won his way into all hearts. 
 
 Endowed with a splendid personality, affectionate 
 and winning in his manner, gentle of speech and modest 
 in bearing, for twenty-five years he was our faithful 
 and well-beloved minister, our ‘‘Man of God,’ who 
 went in and out among us carrying a blessing and 
 breaking to us the Bread of Life. He preached the 
 Word in season and out of season—a pure evangel, 
 proclaiming with force and power carefully prepared, 
 faithful messages of God’s love to sinful men. No 
 note of doubt was in these messages; he had the “‘assur- 
 ance of faith’ and “declared the whole counsel of 
 God.” “I know whom [ have believed” was his mes- 
 sage, and his heart yearned that every one should 
 
MEMORIALS 13 
 
 know the living and loving Christ as their Savior, their 
 Sanctifier and their Comforter. 
 
 He was more than our preacher—he was our well- 
 beloved friend. In joy and sorrow, in distress of 
 mind, body and estate, he was the faithful friend, who, 
 with loving heart, brought the word of sympathy, 
 tender consolation and gentle kindness, pointing to 
 him, ‘“‘who carried our sorrows,” and cheering us with 
 the glad tidings of the Gospel of God’s grace. He 
 never spared himself or failed in any duty or responsi- 
 bility in connection with his pastoral duties; visiting the 
 sick, comforting the sorrowing, guiding the young, 
 encouraging the faint-hearted, and cheering the aged, 
 he brought help to many. 
 
 He spent his life for his people. 
 
 Of broad and liberal education, sound scholarship, 
 wide reading, and endowed with a most discriminating 
 mind, he loved the truth, and seeing Jesus clearly, as 
 the ‘author and finisher of our faith,’ the mists of 
 error and currents of doubt never beclouded his vision 
 or swerved him from the straight course. He believed 
 that Jesus was the only Savior of sinful men; yet his 
 walk was so gentle that those who differed loved and 
 respected him. 
 
 He had a singularly clear, far-seeing mind and was 
 eminently wise in counsel, which made him much 
 sought after as an adviser and gave him a place of 
 respect and confidence and honor among his brethren, 
 to whom he was ever the kind friend and counselor. 
 He was a great Presbyter, humble and unselfish, never 
 putting himself forward, yet because of his great gifts 
 he received many honors and was called again and 
 again to positions of the greatest responsibility and 
 
14 3 MEMORIALS 
 
 highest honor in church courts and councils, in all of 
 which he bore himself with ability, dignity and power. 
 He was truly one of the ‘‘Fathers”’ of the church. 
 
 Easy of approach by young and old, respected, rev- 
 erenced, beloved, he held an honored place, not only 
 among the people of his own church, but in the hearts 
 of the entire community as a good citizen and a great 
 Christian. He was great because he was good. 
 
 With the blessings of God, this Church prospered 
 under his ministry, greatly enlarging in numbers, gifts 
 and works, and we thank our Father in Heaven for 
 having blessed us in sending him to be our pastor, and 
 for his life and work and example. 
 
 Death found him ready. In the midst of our sor- 
 row that we will see his face on earth no more, we 
 would not forget that he has now entered into the per- 
 fect bliss and joy in the presence of the Master he loved 
 and served on earth and heard His gracious welcome, 
 “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into 
 the joy of thy Lord.” 
 
 RESOLVED, That to Mrs. Cecil and the members of 
 the family we express our loving sympathy in the 
 death of their beloved husband and father, and com- 
 mend them to the care of our Father in Heaven. 
 
 RESOLVED, That this memorial be spread on the 
 minutes of the Session, read to the Congregation, pub- 
 lished in the Church papers, and sent to Mrs. Cecil 
 and members of the family. 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 Adopted by the Board of Deacons of the 
 Second Presbyterian Church 
 
 IN the death of our beloved pastor, Dr. Cecil, this 
 Board of Deacons, as well as all of the organizations 
 of the Church, the Church at large and the commun- 
 ity, has experienced a great loss. Dr. Cecil was not 
 only our pastor but he was a personal friend of each 
 one of us, always approachable, and one to whom we 
 would as instinctively turn in time of trouble, as we 
 would to the nearest and dearest of our own families. 
 He combined most happily those characteristics both 
 of pastor and friend. He came to our Church at a 
 critical period in its history, and at a time when just 
 such a pastor was needed most. His work has been 
 most fruitful, and it has been largely through him 
 that our Church has maintained its usefulness and 
 prominence in this community, and that so many souls 
 have been added to the Church. While Dr. Cecil had 
 attained a ripe age, his health and apparent strength 
 were such that we confidently expected and hoped to 
 have him with us for many years to come. His brief 
 illness and sudden death, therefore, came as a great 
 shock, and have cast a gloom over the whole Church. 
 Although he has gone before, he has left behind him 
 a memory of service well done, and his life among us 
 will continue to be an inspiration and an encourage- 
 ment and example to us all to strive to so live that we 
 may reap the reward of those who walk with the Lord, 
 even as he has done. 
 
16 MEMORIALS 
 
 This Board, desiring to record resolutions upon the 
 death of Dr. Cecil resolves: 
 
 1. That in his death this Board has lost a pastor 
 and friend, and a wise counsellor whose place it will 
 
 be difficult to fill. 
 
 2.. That we are grateful to God for his earnest and 
 forceful preaching of the Gospel, his sterling char- 
 acter, for his life which exemplified so well his own 
 teachings, and that he was spared to be with us for 
 so long a time. 
 
 3. That we tender to his bereaved family our affec- 
 tion and our deepest sympathy in their great loss. 
 
 4. That the Secretary of this Board be instructed 
 to send to Mrs. Cecil a copy of this preamble and 
 these resolutions. 
 
MEMORIAL and RESOLUTIONS 
 
 Adopted by the Vanguard Bible Class of the 
 Second Presbyterian Church 
 
 RESOLUTIONS on the death of Rev. Russell 
 Cecil, D.D., for twenty-five years pastor of the 
 Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Va., passed 
 unanimously at a meeting of the Vanguard Bible 
 Class, Sunday, June 28, 1925. 
 
 Death has, for the second time within a period of 
 eighty years in the history of this Church, removed 
 from our midst a servant of God, whose passing away 
 will not only be felt by this Church, of which he was 
 the pastor for more than a quarter of a century, but 
 by this City, State and Nation. 
 
 His great piety, gentleness of manner and sympa- 
 thetic understanding of the problems of life enabled 
 him to minister to the needs of his people in a way 
 that brought comfort and consolation to the be- 
 reaved; hope and encouragement to the discouraged 
 and cast down and happiness to those who, by his 
 helpful assistance, were enabled to get a clearer con- 
 ception of the Christian life, and, like Paul, be able 
 to say, “I know whom I have believed and am per- 
 suaded that he is able to keep that which I have com- 
 mitted unto him against that day.” 
 
 Deeply sensible of the great loss this Class and 
 Church have sustained in the death of Dr. Cecil, and 
 being desirous of placing on our records a suitable ex- 
 pression of our sorrow, 
 
18 MEMORIALS 
 
 Therefore, be it Resolved: 
 1. That in the death of Dr. Cecil, the Second Pres- 
 
 byterian Church has lost a very devout and able min- 
 ister; this city and community one of its best citizens, 
 and the Presbyterian Church one of its great outstand- 
 ing figures. 
 
 2. That in his long pastorate, Dr. Cecil brought to 
 his work an abundance of enthusiasm and zeal for the 
 salvation of his fellow-man, and his absolute faith in 
 God and in Jesus Christ as the Saviour of sinful men 
 enabled him to expound the Scriptures with great 
 power. Under his able ministry, many were brought 
 to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, who now mourn 
 his death as a personal loss. 
 
 3. That the Presbyterian Church at large has been 
 _ deprived of the services of one who at various times 
 has occupied the highest offices within the gift of the 
 several bodies, which offices he filled with modesty, as 
 becomes a true Christian, and yet with such signal 
 ability that he was known and recognized as one of 
 the greatest moderators the Church has ever had. 
 
 4. That this city of his adoption has lost one of its 
 best and most-beloved citizens, a man who always re- 
 sponded to every call made upon him, and whose pres- 
 ence at any function, large or small, was always a 
 benediction. : 
 
 5. That these resolutions be spread upon the min- 
 utes of the Vanguard Class; that they be printed in 
 the Church Bulletin, and that a copy of the same be 
 sent to the family of Dr. Cecil with an expression of 
 our sincere, heartfelt sympathy in their great bereave- 
 ment. 
 
RESOLUTIONS 
 
 Adopted by the Woman's Auxiliary of the 
 Second Presbyterian Church 
 
 WHEREAS, God in His infinite wisdom and love 
 has called away from earth, into that rest that remain- 
 eth for the children of God, our beloved Pastor, Dr. 
 Russell Cecil, and as we feel very keenly the great loss 
 that has come to us in this dispensation of God’s provi- 
 dence; 
 
 Therefore, be it Resolved: 
 
 1. ‘That there is a prince and a great man fallen 
 this day in Israel,’ and while it is hard for us to under- 
 stand why such a good and useful man should have 
 been removed from this sphere of usefulness; yet we 
 bow in humble submission to the will of our Heavenly 
 Father, knowing that ‘all things work together for 
 good to them that love God.” 
 
 2. We wish to express our high appreciation of him 
 as Pastor and friend. He set for himself the high 
 standard drawn in the Holy Scriptures, and measured 
 up to the ideal as a Christian gentleman and citizen. 
 The Church will miss his wise and able counsels; we 
 will miss his earnest Gospel sermons, his kindly, gentle 
 and courteous ministrations in our homes, his genial 
 smile, his cordial handclasp, and his words of sympathy 
 and cheer in sorrow and afflictions. May the memory 
 of his Christlike life long dwell with us as an incentive 
 to more consecrated lives. 
 
 3. ‘That these Resolutions be placed in our minutes 
 and a copy be sent to his bereaved widow, to whom, 
 together with his other loved ones, we extend our 
 deepest sympathy. 
 
RESOLUTIONS of RESPECT 
 
 Concerning the Death of Dr. Russell Cecil 
 Drawn Up by the Official Bodies 
 of the 
 
 Hoge Memorial Presbyterian Church 
 June 28, 1925 
 
 IN the passing of Dr. Russell Cecil from his earthly 
 career into his Heavenly Glory, we recognize that our 
 whole beloved Southern Church has lost a most wise 
 counsellor and friend; that the Second Church has sus- 
 tained the loss of a pastor and preacher, tested and 
 tried by many years of devoted service; and that Hoge 
 Memorial Church, to which he was so strongly at- 
 tached, is bereft of one who was ever kind, sympa- 
 thetic and ready to help either in service or counsel. 
 
 Therefore, be it Resolved by the Board of Deacons 
 and Session: 
 
 First, that we take this means of expressing to the 
 Second Presbyterian Church congregation our deep 
 sympathy in their great sorrow, and assure them of 
 our prayers that the God of all Grace would guide 
 them in the future as He has so wonderfully done in 
 the past. 
 
 Second, that a copy of these resolutions be sent to 
 the Session of the Second Church, and that iene be 
 spread upon our minutes. 
 
MEMORIAL of the 
 PRESBYTERIAN LEAGUE 
 of RICHMOND, VA. 
 
 In Memory of Rev. Russell Cecil, D.D., Member 
 of the Board of Directors 
 
 On June 15, 1925, Rev. Russell Cecil, D. D., after 
 an illness of only two days, was called to his reward. 
 Dr. Cecil was one of the best friends the Presbyterian 
 League ever had, and was a member of its Board of 
 Directors from the time the League was incorporated 
 
 in 1915 to his death in 1925. 
 
 In 1900 Dr. Cecil became pastor of the Second Pres- 
 byterian Church of Richmond. For twenty-five years 
 he stood in that historic pulpit and preached with 
 power the unsearchable riches of the Gospel of Christ. 
 At the same time he lived that Gospel in his daily life 
 in such a way as to make Christianity winsome and 
 attractive to others. 
 
 He was widely known and loved throughout the 
 Church. He was a man whom the Church delighted to 
 honor, for he was worthy. In 1911 he was elected 
 Moderator of the General Assembly of our Church. 
 
 His interests went beyond the bounds of his own 
 Church and denomination. The world was his parish. 
 He was especially interested in promoting Christian 
 
 unity and fellowship among the various Evangelical 
 Churches of the world. He was a member of the 
 
 World’s Conference on Faith and Order. 
 
22 MEMORIALS 
 
 His love for unity and co-operation gave him an 
 especial interest in the Presbyterian League, which 
 stands for unity and co-operation among the Presby- 
 terian Churches of Richmond, for the building of the 
 Church and the Kingdom in and about this city. 
 
 From the day the League was founded in 1911 he 
 was one of its guiding spirits, and from the day it 
 was incorporated in 1915 he was one of its Directors. 
 
 We shall miss his wise counsel and his genial face 
 which always radiated Christianity. Let us pray for 
 a double portion of his spirit. 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 Adopted by the Synod of Virginia 
 Also by East Hanover Presbytery 
 
 WHEN on June 15, 1925, this servant of God was 
 called upon to cease his earthly labors and to come up 
 higher, it might truly have been said, ‘‘A prince in 
 Israel has fallen,” though he fell only that he might 
 rise to a higher and nobler service; for there was no 
 greater prince of God among all the members of this 
 
 Synod than Dr. Russell Cecil. 
 
 He believed that preaching the Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ was the great outstanding work to which he 
 was called, and he preached with power and simplicity 
 the pure gospel of the unsearchable riches in Christ 
 Jesus. He delighted in preaching the great doctrines 
 of the Scriptures, but did it in such a way as to offend 
 no one, but to strengthen the faith of believers and 
 to win the unconverted to faith in a crucified Saviour. 
 
 He was firm in his convictions as to the great funda- 
 mental and essential truths of the gospel of salvation 
 as taught in the Scriptures and as held by the Southern 
 Presbyterian Church, and there was no unsoundness 
 in him. 
 
 As he fed the flocks of God over which he was called 
 to be pastor he showed a friendliness, a sympathy, and 
 an interest in all that concerned each member, that 
 won for him the highest esteem and the deepest love 
 of them all. He was always ready to render a service 
 to any one whom he could aid in any way. 
 
24 MEMORIALS 
 
 ne nS a A 
 
 In the affairs of the Church at large he always took 
 the deepest interest. He was exceedingly faithful in 
 his attendance upon the meetings of the Church, with 
 which he was connected, and in the performance of 
 every duty connected with them. Few men were ever 
 called upon to serve the courts of the Church oftener 
 or in more important ways than was he. 
 
 In 1910-11 he had an experience, which was prob- 
 ably unique in the history of the Presbyterian Church, 
 and which showed the high place he had reached in 
 the esteem of his brethren. 
 
 He was during that year at the same time Mod- 
 erator of the four courts of the Church with which he 
 was connected. As pastor, he was Moderator of the 
 Session of the Second Church in Richmond. He was 
 then elected Moderator of the Synod of Virginia, of 
 the General Assembly, and of East Hanover Pres- 
 bytery. 
 
 To him were given many of the honors of the 
 Church, and upon him were laid many of its labors. 
 He bore the honors with credit to the Church and to 
 himself, and he performed all of the labors as unto 
 the Lord and for His glory. 
 
 As a man he was pre-eminently a Christian, and no 
 one ever doubted the sincerity of his faith. His influ- 
 ence upon those with whom he came in contact, whether 
 in the Church, in the business world or in social life, 
 was always that of a true Christian, whose chief 
 thought was the honor and glory of God and the sal- 
 vation of souls. He left a deep impress for good upon 
 all those with whom he came in contact, and there are 
 many who cherish his memory as among their dearest 
 treasures. 
 
MEMORIALS 25 
 
 poranacarsneevennesirentne nse re en ee CR RN rrr ED 
 
 In the brief space available it is possible to give only 
 a limited sketch of the outstanding points in his life. 
 He was born in Monticello, Ky., on October 1, 1853. 
 He was educated at Princeton University, Princeton 
 Theological Seminary and the [Free Church College, 
 Edinburg, Scotland. He received the degree of Doc- 
 tor of Divinity from Southwestern Presbyterian Uni- 
 versity, and from Princeton University. He was 
 licensed by Transylvania Presbytery in May, 1877, and 
 was ordained by West Lexington Presbytery in No- 
 vember, 1879. He was pastor at Nicholasville, Ky., 
 1879-1885; of Central Church, Maysville, Ky., 1885- 
 1889; of the First Church, Selma, Ala., 1889-1900. 
 From Selma he came to Richmond, Va., in 1900, and 
 for twenty-five years he was the faithful and efficient 
 pastor of the Second Church of that city, and there in 
 the full strength and vigor of his manhood he was 
 suddenly called to his heavenly home. 
 
 Though his labors here have ended, the results of 
 these labors will abide forever, and the influence which 
 he exerted will be felt throughout eternity by thousands 
 of those who knew, admired and loved him. 
 
RUSSELL CECIL 
 An APPRECIATION 
 
 Adopted by the Committee of Publication, October 6, 1925, 
 and Ordered Spread Upon the Minutes 
 
 ‘THE life of Rev. Russell Cecil, D. D., born October 
 1, 1853, died June 15, 1925, was a benediction to a 
 countless multitude who came under his influence, and 
 he left as a legacy to those who were closely associated 
 with him in Christian work, an example of high devo- 
 tion to duty which will always be to them a source of 
 inspiration and power. 
 
 Dr. Cecil’s clear judgment, splendid poise and un- 
 failing courtesy easily marked him for positions of 
 leadership, and while carrying the heavy burden of a 
 large and exacting pastorate, he yet always found time 
 to perform such additional tasks as were assigned him 
 by the courts of his Church, and was never too busy 
 to take his full share in the promotion of civic enter- 
 prises which promised to advance the welfare of the 
 community. While modesty and reserve controlled 
 his actions, his great ability was quickly recognized in 
 any group, and his wise counsel and constructive sug- 
 gestions were always helpful in solving difficult prob- 
 lems of Church or state. 
 
 Dr. Cecil became a member of the Publication Com- 
 mittee in 1901, and for about twenty-five years was 
 an enthusiastic supporter of every plan for increasing 
 the service of the Committee to the Church. In 1919 
 he succeeded the late Dr. James Power Smith as Chair- 
 
MEMORIALS 27 
 
 man of the Committee. The officials and all members 
 of the Executive Committee will ever hold as a precious 
 memory their association with Dr. Cecil through these 
 years of service, and we desire to record our deep 
 sense of loss in the home-going of this princely servant 
 of God. The Church has lost a loyal and efficient 
 worker, his family a devoted husband and father, and 
 the community an illustrious and useful citizen, but 
 all are the richer for his life and example. 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 Adopted by the Ministerial Association 
 of Richmond and Vicinity 
 
 THE Ministerial Union of Richmond and vicinity 
 hereby records its great sense of loss in the calling of 
 Rev. Russell Cecil, D. D., from his labors on earth to 
 his reward in Heaven on June 15, 1925. 
 
 For twenty-five years he had been a member of this 
 Union. During all this time he was deeply interested 
 in all that the Union undertook for the advancement 
 of God’s kingdom. He was regular in his attendance 
 upon its meetings, always interested in its work, and 
 a zealous participant in all of its activities. 
 
 His fellow members in the Union held him in the 
 highest esteem as a brother beloved. He was always 
 cordial and sympathetic. He was looked upon as a 
 wise counsellor in all matters that were under consid- 
 eration by the Union. He was often called upon to 
 take the place as leader in the various movements in 
 which the Union was engaged. 
 
 The Union recognized him as being a man of the 
 highest Christian character, who lived close to God, 
 who was always ready to render any service in his 
 power to God or man. 
 
 Dr. Cecil was one of the leading men of the Pres- 
 byterian Church, but his influence and his labors were 
 not confined to that Church. He was always interested 
 in and ready to help forward any movement that was 
 for the welfare of the Church of God or of this city. 
 
MEMORIALS 29 
 
 
 
 He was generous in the bestowal of his friendship, 
 and the result was that he had many friends, who ad- 
 mired and loved him. Evidence of the esteem in which 
 he was held by his fellow ministers of the gospel was 
 shown by the fact that there were in attendance upon 
 his funeral services about seventy-five ministers of 
 many denominations of the city and vicinity. 
 
 As a preacher of the gospel he was sound and strong. 
 He stood for ‘“‘the faith which was once for all de- 
 livered to the saints,’ and there were many who 
 delighted to hear him, as he delivered the messages 
 which he received from God’s word, under the guid- 
 ance of His Holy Spirit. 
 
 The members of the Union cherish the memory of 
 their delightful intercourse with Dr. Cecil, and feel 
 that they have been greatly benefited by their associ- 
 ation with him. They rejoice in the assurance that 
 this beloved brother, who walked close with God on 
 earth, is now with the Saviour, whom he so long loved 
 and served here below, and that he has been called to 
 a higher service above. 
 
 The Union would express to the members of Dr. 
 Cecil’s family its deepest and sincerest sympathy in 
 this great affliction, which has come to them, and yet 
 it rejoices that his loved ones do not have to mourn 
 as those who have no hope; that they have the assur- 
 ance that their loved one has gone to be with Jesus; 
 and that they can find comfort in the thought that he 
 is waiting in Heaven to receive them, when the Father 
 shall say to each of them, “Come up hither.” 
 
 To the Second Presbyterian Church, of which Dr. 
 
 Cecil was pastor for twenty-five years, the Ministerial 
 
30 MEMORIALS 
 
 Union offers its sympathy, while it rejoices in the good 
 work that he did in and through the church, and the 
 Union prays most earnestly that God may send them 
 another pastor, who will be for it such a shepherd and 
 leader as he whom God has called away, and that 
 together they may carry on the work laid down by 
 Dr. Cecil. 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 Adopted by the Board of Managers of the 
 Bible Society of Virginia 
 
 THE Members of the Board of Managers of the 
 Bible Society of Virginia desire to put upon the records 
 of the Society the following testimonial expressive of 
 their appreciation of the character and worth of the 
 
 late Dr. Russell Cecil: 
 
 Few men in the history of Richmond have been more 
 universally beloved and admired by its citizens, or 
 have made a more lasting impression for righteousness 
 upon the city than Dr. Cecil. He did not have the 
 prestige of a native Virginian, having been born in 
 Kentucky and having spent the greater part of his life 
 out of the state, but so thoroughly was he in accord with 
 all that was best and noblest in Virginia, that from the 
 time he came to Richmond to be Pastor of the Second 
 Presbyterian Church in 1900, he was so ideally Vir- 
 ginian that no one would have supposed he had not 
 been born and brought up here. 
 
 Dr. Cecil was blessed with a splendid mind which 
 had had all the advantages of college training under 
 the best masters. He was a graduate of Princeton 
 University and of Princeton Theological Seminary. 
 
 So finely balanced was his mind and so firmly estab- 
 lished was his faith that the many cults and isms of 
 the present day which shake the faith of so many, 
 never disturbed him in the least. To him there could 
 be no conflict between science and religion, both were 
 from the same God, and if there seemed irreconcilable 
 
32 MEMORIALS 
 
 now, further knowledge of science would clear up the 
 
 difficulty. 
 
 No shadow of doubt as to the truth of the Scriptures 
 ever passed across his mind. He saw in the Holy Bible 
 the Word of God, and here God spoke, and that was 
 the end of controversy. So being convinced himself, 
 he necessarily convinced others, and his preaching car- 
 ried all the winsome persuasiveness which came from 
 his unbounded faith, his strong mentality and a gentle- 
 ness which he had gained by a living union with Jesus 
 Christ. Dr. Cecil was a Presbyterian by conviction. 
 He believed that of all church government Presby- 
 terianism was the best, and because of this belief, he 
 was a Presbyterian with all his heart. But that did 
 not make him blind to what was good and apostolic 
 and Christlike in other churches. He could and did 
 mingle with his brethren other than Presbyterian. He 
 joined them and took part in their services, and he 
 was that affable, genial, agreeable brother minister that 
 one loved to be with and regretted to part from. 
 
 His own church, in the many honorable positions to 
 which it elected him, showed how highly it appreciated 
 his many sterling qualities, and the other churches gen- 
 erally, as well as the citizens at large, were always 
 ready to do him honor, as seen in the many important 
 assemblies when he was called to be their spokesman. 
 
 We members of the Virginia Bible Society need not 
 stress what he was to this organization. We know 
 how long and how efficiently he served on this Board, 
 and how ready he was to perform any duty; how 
 wrapped up his heart was in the work of the Society, 
 and how he prayed and labored for its success. 
 
MEMORIALS 33 
 
 “He has fought a good fight, he has finished his 
 course, he has kept the faith.” He has fallen asleep in 
 Christ, leaving the heritage of a good name and an 
 example worthy of being followed by all.’ 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 Adopted by the Executive Committee of the 
 Million Dollar Campaign for Christian Education of the 
 Synod of Virginia 
 
 W HEREAS, it has pleased our Heavenly Father, in 
 His inscrutable wisdom, to take from the sphere of his 
 earthly labors our friend and associate on this Com- 
 
 mittee, Rev. Russell Cecil, D. D. 
 Be it Resolved; First, That in the death of Dr. Cecil 
 
 this Committee has sustained the loss of one of its 
 most devoted and efficient members, one who was 
 always wise and prudent in counsel, courteous and con- 
 siderate in his relationship with his co-workers, alert 
 to every movement for the advancement of the cause 
 of Christ and loyal to every interest committed to him. 
 It was a pleasure and a privilege to have been associ- 
 ated with him in the work of this Committee, and his 
 place will not be easily filled. 
 
 We are grateful to God for his life and work, which 
 will ever be an inspiration to those of us who remain. 
 
 “Servant of God, well done! 
 Rest from thy loved employ, 
 
 The battie fought, the victory won, 
 Enter thy Master’s joy.” 
 
 Second, That we extend to his family our deep and 
 heartfelt sympathy in our common loss, praying that 
 the God of all comfort will be especially near to them 
 in the hour of their sorrow. 
 
 Third, That a copy of these resolutions be spread in 
 the minutes of this Committee to become a part of its 
 permanent records, and that a copy be sent to the 
 family. 
 
A TRIBUTE to 
 REV. RUSSELL CECIL, D.D. 
 
 Adopted by the Presbyterian Ministers’ Association 
 
 IN view of the departing of our honored and beloved 
 brother, Rev. Dr. Russell Cecil, Pastor of the Second 
 Presbyterian Church of Richmond, Va., to be with 
 his Lord and ours, the Presbyterian Ministers Associ- 
 ation of this city records the following tribute to his 
 memory: 
 
 On June 15, 1925, after a brief illness, Dr. Cecil 
 was called from the ministries of a busy and influential 
 pastorate ‘‘to be with Christ,” and to receive “a crown 
 of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge 
 shall give.” 
 
 This Association will ever cherish, with grateful re- 
 membrance, his varied and distinguished services to 
 the Church and to the world in every department of 
 his sacred calling. 
 
 As a pastor he was watchful and eminently helpful. 
 As a friend he was true, cordial and generous. As a 
 counsellor he was responsive, wise and sympathetic. 
 As a citizen he was an exemplar of righteous living. 
 As a teacher he loved to set forth and was a master 
 of doctrine. As an evangelist he was fervent and elo- 
 quent. As a preacher of “‘the glorious gospel” he was 
 strong, tender and convincing. Asa presbyter he loved 
 the organic life of the Church and addressed himself 
 with diligence and effectiveness to her welfare. In 
 her councils and courts the weight of his opinions and 
 the force of his discussions received church-wide recog- 
 nition. 
 
36 MEMORIALS 
 
 eee rene are cere en setae wereerenenenn nee enarencnas on ae: 
 
 
 
 In all the relations of life Dr. Cecil seemed to ap- 
 proximate the standard of a specialist, ever addressing 
 himself with diligence, sound judgment and abiding 
 enthusiasm to the tasks assigned him, and the ideals 
 to the attainment of which he summoned the varied 
 talents with which he was endowed. 
 
 If we seek the sources of his wide usefulness and 
 abundant Jabors, they may be found in his well-rounded 
 and mature culture; in his great heart of sympathy, 
 responsive to human need, wherever found; in his 
 zeal for truth, justice, reverence and every human vir- 
 tue; in his energy and fidelity in the discharge of every 
 duty and the accomplishment of every worthy task. 
 The unity of these under divine grace may interpret 
 much of the story of his consecrated life. 
 
 To the family of Dr. Cecil and to all to whom he 
 was bound by ties of friendship and affection, this As- 
 sociation extends its warmest sympathy, while treasur- 
 ing with them the memory of his full orbed ministry, 
 his splendid talents, and his eminent service to the 
 Church, to humanity and supremely to his gracious 
 
 Lord. 
 
 “Servant of God, well done! 
 Rest from thy loved employ; 
 The battle fought, the victory won, 
 Enter thy Master’s joy.” 
 
 His body was laid away, as resting on the shield of 
 his faith, in beautiful Hollywood, there to sleep in 
 Jesus, until that great day, when, responsive to his 
 Master’s call, spirit and body shall again be one, and 
 so shall he be ever with his Lord. 
 
 As in life he counted it a joy to live for Him, who 
 died and rose again, so in death he was unafraid. 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 Adopted by the Executive Committee of the 
 
 Union Theological Seminary in Virginia 
 
 "THE Executive Committee of Union Theological 
 Seminary is greatly bereaved in the death of Rev. Rus- 
 sell Cecil, D. D., for many years one of its most active 
 and highly honored and greatly beloved members. 
 Recognizing the value of theological training for our 
 preachers, Dr. Cecil from the moment he came to 
 Richmond as the pastor of the Second Presbyterian 
 Church which he served so long and so successfully, 
 gave of his time and energy and influence to Union 
 Seminary. As soon as a vacancy occurred on the Board 
 of Trustees, which naturally should be filled by a Rich- 
 mond minister, Dr. Cecil was chosen by the Synod of 
 Virginia as the one to fill that vacancy, and the whole 
 Synod was delighted to have that opportunity and priv- 
 ilege. 
 
 ‘At once Dr. Cecil’s worth as a wise and judicious 
 counsellor was recognized, and he logically was forced 
 by the Board of Trustees into the front rank of leader- 
 ship in its deliberations and actions. He was imme- 
 diately placed on the Executive Committee, perhaps 
 the most important of the Committees of the Board. 
 On this Committee he served most wisely, efficiently, 
 giving freely of his time, ability, and judgment which 
 have been of the greatest value to the Board and to the 
 Committee and to the Seminary. Notwithstanding all 
 the demands made upon him by his large and most 
 influential church and by the many organizations of the 
 
38 MEMORIALS 
 
 ae cn ne ne 
 
 city where he was honored and greatly beloved, Dr. 
 Cecil was ever ready, though often at a sacrifice, to 
 respond to the calls of the Executive Committee and 
 Seminary. The Executive Committee, therefore, de- 
 sires to place on record in this brief form its high ap- 
 preciation of his valuable service and its sense of the 
 irreparable loss, which the Committee and Seminary 
 and the entire church have sustained in his going from 
 us. 
 
 “Dr. Cecil was an effective preacher of the Old 
 Gospel which he loved, believed and lived. As a pas- 
 tor, he was a welcome visitor to the people, bringing en- 
 couragement, cheer, comfort, and new hope. Honored 
 among men of all creeds, he witnessed to and for the 
 truth in a way that never repelled but always attracted. 
 As a Presbyter, with that fine, clear, judicial poise of 
 mind, he rendered decisions in a manner that brought 
 conviction to all who listened and gave satisfaction to 
 all concerned. He was characterized by a conservatism 
 that was progressive yet safe and sane. He listened 
 to and respected the opinions of those who differed 
 with him, and by his gentle manner and lovable spirit 
 won and held the respect and admiration of all who 
 came in contact with him. 
 
 ‘Fle was sympathetic, especially with the young, to 
 an unusual degree; and the young men preparing for 
 the ministry, many of whom attended his church, and 
 his younger brethren in the ministry found in him a 
 friend and brother whose brotherly esteem, advice, 
 friendship, and fellowship were beyond price, as well 
 as a wonderful incentive in their work. 
 
MEMORIALS 39 
 
 ‘As an author and also writer for the Church 
 papers, he expressed himself clearly, succinctly, effec- 
 tively, and his opinions carried much weight whenever 
 they were expressed, for the people understood in him 
 one who was always honest with the truth. Above all, 
 Dr. Cecil was a man of God. In it all, he manifested 
 a spirit of humility, for he walked and talked with God. 
 His desire was to do the will of the Master for the 
 Master’s honor and glory. 
 
 ‘These talents and wonderful characteristics Dr. 
 Cecil brought to the Seminary, through the Executive 
 Committee and the Board of Trustees, and used them 
 unreservedly to the building up of our beloved institu- 
 tion. 
 
 “The Executive Committee expresses its deepest 
 sympathy with the family, the Second Presbyterian 
 Church, the Seminary, and the entire Southern Presby- 
 terian Church in the great loss that has been sustained 
 by his removal at the call of the Master. 
 
 ‘We bow in submission to His will and pray for the 
 realization of the statement that ‘God buries the work- 
 man but carries on the work.’ 
 
 ‘In conclusion it may be said of Dr. Cecil, as 
 preacher, teacher, pastor, writer, trustee, man, in the 
 language of some writer: 
 
 “He held the lamp of truth that day 
 So low that none could miss the way; 
 And yet so high to bring in sight 
 That picture fair—The World’s Great Light, 
 That gazing up—the lamp between— 
 The hand that held it scarce was seen. 
 
40 
 
 MEMORIALS 
 
 “He held the pitcher, stooping low 
 To lips of little ones below; 
 Then raised it to the weary saint 
 And bade him drink when sick and faint. 
 They drank—the pitcher thus between— 
 The hand that held it scarce was seen. 
 
 “He blew the trumpet soft and clear, 
 That trembling sinners need not fear; 
 And then with louder note and bold, 
 To raze the walls of Satan’s hold. ~ 
 The trumpet coming thus between, 
 ‘The hand that held it scarce was seen. 
 
 “And when the Master said, ‘Well done, 
 
 Thou good and faithful servant, come! 
 
 Lay down the pitcher and the lamp, 
 
 Lay down the trumpet, leave the camp!’ 
 
 ‘The weary hand—ah, then ’twas seen 
 
 Clasped in those Pierced Hands, naught between.” 
 
Slemorial Service 
 
 Second Presbyterian Church 
 
 AV MEMORIAL service for the late Rev. Dr. Rus- 
 sell Cecil was held Sunday afternoon, November 8, 
 1925, in the Church, the purpose of which was to pay 
 tribute to his work as a minister and citizen, not only 
 in his own Church and the other Presbyterian Churches 
 of Richmond, but his influence for sane, sound views 
 for the greatest good of all of the Evangelical 
 Churches. 
 
 Rev. W. L. Lingle, D. D., presided at this meeting, 
 at which the following addresses were delivered: 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 By Rev. Walter L. Lingle, D. D., L.L D. 
 
 President of the 
 General Assembly's Training School for Lay Workers 
 
 WE have come together to pay tribute to the mem- 
 ory of a man whom we all loved and honored. For 
 twenty-five years Dr. Cecil stood in this pulpit and 
 preached with persuasiveness and power the pure 
 Gospel of Jesus Christ. For twenty-five years he went 
 in and out among this people as their pastor, radiating 
 good cheer and Christianity wherever he went. The 
 members of this Church loved him devotedly, as the 
 presence of this large audience testifies. 
 
42 MEMORIALS 
 
 The elders, the deacons, the Vanguard Bible Class, 
 and the Woman’s Auxiliary of this Church have all 
 passed appropriate resolutions expressing their love 
 and devotion. These resolutions, along with others, 
 will be published in a memorial volume in the near 
 future. 
 
 I once heard Dr. W. T. Ellis, the distinguished trav- 
 eler and writer, say that the minister’s greatest tempta- 
 tion is to think only in terms of his own parish. If 
 Dr. Cecil ever had such a temptation he did not yield 
 to it. His interests and influence went far beyond his 
 own congregation and beyond his own denomination. 
 
 While wandering through Westminster Abbey last 
 summer I came across a tablet in memory of John 
 Wesley. On it were engraved a number of his great 
 sayings. Among them was this one: ‘“The world 1s 
 my parish.”’ That might have been written of Dr. 
 Cecil. 
 
 There are on the program this afternoon speakers 
 who will tell of the labors and influence of Dr. Cecil 
 in large branches of the Church’s work which lay be- 
 yond his immediate congregation and beyond his own 
 denomination, and your Committee on Arrangements 
 has very graciously asked me to preside and present 
 these speakers. 
 
 Dr. Cecil was deeply interested in the whole work 
 of the Presbyterian Church in the City of Richmond, 
 and through the Presbytery, the Presbyterian League, 
 and every available channel, did all in his power to 
 promote the work of every Presbyterian Church and 
 every Presbyterian mission in the city. Rev. W. L. 
 Carson, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, will 
 speak on “Dr. Cecil’s Work in the Denomination.” 
 
MEMORIALS 43 
 
 His interest in Presbyterianism went far beyond 
 Richmond. It was as wide as the Church itself, and 
 through many avenues he served the whole Church. 
 He was a man whom our Church delighted to honor. 
 In 1911 he was elected Moderator of the General As- 
 sembly. Very frequently the General Assembly elected 
 him to positions of honor and service. For many 
 years he was a member of the General Assembly’s 
 Executive Committee of Publication and Sabbath 
 School Work, and for a number of years he was Chair- 
 man of this Committee. In this connection he ren- 
 dered a large service. Rev. O. E. Buchholz, D. D., 
 Professor of Missions and Evangelism in the General 
 Assembly’s Training School for Lay Workers will rep- 
 resent the Committee of Publication and speak of “Dr. 
 Cecil’s Work on the Committee of Publication.” 
 
 In the City of Richmond is located Union Theologi- 
 cal Seminary, one of the greatest Presbyterian institu- 
 tions in the world. For the past hundred years it has 
 been educating the majority of all the ministers in the 
 Southern Presbyterian Church. For many years Dr. 
 Cecil was a member of the Board of Trustees and a 
 member of the Executive Committee of Union Theo- 
 logical Seminary, and in this connection rendered a 
 large and unselfish service. Rev. Edward Mack, D. 
 D., LL. D., McCormick Professor of Hebrew and the 
 Interpretation of the Old Testament, in the Seminary, 
 will speak on ‘Dr. Cecil's Work in Connection With 
 Union Theological Seminary.” 
 
 Dr. Cecil’s interest crossed denominational lines. 
 He was ready to co-operate with all evangelical inter- 
 denominational movements. He was deeply interested 
 
 in ‘“The World’s Conference of Faith and Order,” 
 
44 MEMORIALS 
 
 whose purpose it is to cultivate a spirit of brotherhood 
 and co-operation among the various churches of the 
 world. 
 
 At the time of his death he was Chairman of The 
 Permanent Committee on the Bible Cause, and a mem- 
 ber of the Advisory Council of the American Bible 
 Society, which is an inter-denominational organization 
 for the printing and dissemination of the Word of God 
 throughout the world. 
 
 He was loved and honored by ministers and mem- 
 bers of all denominations throughout this city. Rev. 
 H. D. C. MacLachlan, D. D., Pastor of the Seventh 
 Street Christian Church, will speak on “Dr. Cecil’s 
 Relation to Brother Ministers in Other Denomina- 
 tions.” 
 
 When I remember that Dr. Cecil was pastor of this 
 Church, and then look at the various other lines of 
 Christian activities in which he was engaged, I wonder 
 how he did it all. Yet he did it in a way that was 
 effective and unhurried. 
 
 We thank God that such a man lived and labored 
 in our midst, and that we knew and loved him. Dr. 
 S. H. Chester, in speaking to me once of his love for 
 another pastor in Richmond, said: “It is a great com- 
 fort to me when I think of the kind of people I love.” 
 It is of great comfort to us when we remember that 
 we loved a man like Dr. Cecil, and that he loved us. 
 The most fitting prayer that we can make today is 
 that we may have a double portion of his spirit. 
 
DR. CECIL’S SERVICES and 
 INFLUENCE 72 the 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH of 
 RICHMOND, VA. 
 
 By Rev. W. L. Carson, 
 Pastor First Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Va. 
 
 DURING the last twenty-five years Presbyterianism 
 in Richmond has had no more loyal supporter, no wiser 
 counselor, no more capable leader, no more’ zealous 
 servant than Dr. Cecil. 
 
 As the Pastor of one of our largest and most influ- 
 ential Churches he has been responsible for building 
 up and organizing a congregation that is a credit to 
 our denomination. The Second Presbyterian Church 
 is a powerful factor in all the affairs of Presbyterian- 
 ism in the city. There is a sense in which this great 
 congregation is a monument to Dr. Cecil’s labors. It 
 is true that he did not found it; an illustrious prede- 
 cessor did that. But during Dr. Cecil’s ministry the 
 Church has increased its strength, acquired a deeper 
 piety, and has grown in the grace of Christian lib- 
 erality. His sermons have been the food upon which 
 the life of the congregation has been nourished; love 
 for him has been one of the bonds that has bound the 
 congregation together; his unwavering faith and deep 
 personal piety have ever been sources of inspiration; 
 and his sane leadership has guided the Church in all 
 of its great undertakings. The stamp of his person- 
 ality is indelibly printed upon this congregation. 
 
46 MEMORIALS 
 
 —-———-—.. 
 
 Dr. Cecil was a far-sighted ecclesiastical statesman. 
 He believed in colonization rather than in centraliza- 
 tion. He had a large share in establishing and fos- 
 tering new churches in growing sections of our city. 
 When his own members left his Church to take places 
 of leadership in these young organizations, he forgot 
 his own loss in his rejoicing over the gain of the cause 
 of Christ. His friendship and support encouraged 
 these congregations and their pastors in times of ad- 
 versity. His influence procured funds to tide them 
 over periods of emergency. He was generous in giv- 
 ing his time and energy to them in evangelistic meetings 
 and other services. When the Presbyterian League 
 was organized with a view to taking over the local 
 extension work in our denomination, Dr. Cecil was 
 one of its most enthusiastic supporters, one of its 
 wisest counselors, and, until the day of his death, was 
 one of its most faithful workers. He never allowed 
 his interest in his own congregation, nor his ambition 
 for its growth to interfere with his support of the 
 general interests of the denomination at large through- 
 out the city. 
 
 As an associate and friend, Dr. Cecil contributed 
 largely to the pleasure and usefulness of his brethren 
 in the ministry. His transparent unselfishness was a 
 quiet but effective rebuke to all ambitious self-seeking. 
 His unquenchable optimism was a tonic to those who 
 were discouraged. His warm sympathy was a balm 
 to hearts bruised by adversity. His fine judgment was 
 a safeguard against errors of ignorance and impetu- 
 osity. During the latter years of his ministry his posi- 
 tion among the Presbyterian ministers was almost 
 unique. He was the oldest minister in years. He was 
 
MEMORIALS 47 
 
 the oldest in point of service. His ripe experience and 
 his familiarity with local affairs made his judgment 
 invaluable wherever denominational plans were being 
 made or denominational policies were being mapped 
 out. His brethren relied upon his wisdom, and looked 
 to him for counsel on all occasions. They loved him 
 devotedly, looking upon him as a spiritual father. 
 
 In the affairs of the city, Dr. Cecil always reflected 
 honor and credit upon the denomination to which he 
 belonged. Whether in movements which involved co- 
 operation with the other denominations, or in meet- 
 ings of benevolent organizations, or in social gather- 
 ings, he always bore himself in such a way as to lead 
 others to respect the Church which he represented, and 
 to cause his own denomination to be proud of its rep- 
 resentative. 
 
 These are some of the services which Dr. Cecil has 
 rendered to Presbyterianism in Richmond. The mem- 
 bers of our denomination may well thank God upon 
 their every remembrance of him. ~ 
 
An APPRECIATION 
 
 from the 
 Executive Committee of Publication and Sabbath School Work 
 
 By Rev. O. E. Buchholz, D. D. 
 
 LIFE’s greatest achievement is a CHRISTIAN 
 PERSONALITY. When an outstanding CHRIS- 
 TIAN lives among us for a quarter of a century and 
 then is called to his eternal home at the age of seventy- 
 two, we see and we feel his immeasurable value to 
 humanity and to the Kingdom of God. As the weeks 
 and the months go by since his home-going we see more 
 clearly and we feel more deeply the abiding worth of 
 his rich and rounded personality—a personality which 
 has stood the tests of early discipline and training, of 
 embarrassing popularity, of toilsome service, and of 
 suffering and death. 
 
 These few words express the viewpoint and embody 
 the feelings of the Executive Committee of Publication 
 and Sabbath School Work of the Southern Presby- 
 terian Church concerning the late Rev. Russell Cecil, 
 
 D. D. 
 
 He served as a member of the Publication Commit- 
 tee from 1901 to 1919, and as its Chairman from 1919 
 until the day of his departure. His radiant and glow- 
 ing personality was one of the inspiring features of 
 each meeting of the Committee. Self-pity never found 
 expression on his lips and selfishness was banished from 
 his life by love. He was neither lax nor hard in his 
 relation with others, but he endeavored to practice 
 unceasingly the Golden Rule which was the subject of 
 
MEMORIALS 49 
 
 his last written sermon. He united the highest culture 
 with the widest human interests, and he was thereby 
 equipped to receive sympathetically and to solve wisely 
 the dificult problems which arose from the deeper 
 levels of the Church’s life. His knowledge and wis- 
 dom and patience and love brought him to the highest 
 post as Chairman of the Publication Committee, a 
 place of pre-eminent influence in shaping the policies 
 for the printing and distribution of Christian literature 
 and in guiding the work of Religious Education in the 
 entire Southern Presbyterian Church. 
 
 The following excerpt was taken from the Minutes 
 of the Committee at the meeting of October 6th, 1925: 
 “The officials and all the members of the Executive 
 Committee will ever hold as a precious memory their 
 association with Dr. Cecil through these years of ser- 
 vice, and we desire to record our deep sense of loss 
 in the home-going of this princely servant of God. 
 The Church has lost a loyal and efficient worker, his 
 family a devoted husband and father, and the com- 
 munity an illustrious and useful citizen, but all are the 
 richer for his life and example.” | 
 
DR. CECIL’S SERVICES to 
 UNION THEOLOGICAL 
 SEMINARY 
 
 By Rev. Edward Mack, D.D. 
 Professor Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Va. 
 
 Dr. CECIL’s versatility of gifts, and his unselfish 
 and impartial helpfulness, will keep his name in the 
 lasting and grateful remembrance of the trustees, fac- 
 ulty and students of our largest Theological Seminary. 
 Not a single good cause of the Church or Community 
 failed of his interest and support. A great heart, a 
 wise mind, and an unselfish purpose to serve, made him 
 the friend of all holy and kindly undertakings. Wher- 
 ever Christ’s work was, there his heart was to be found 
 in sympathy, and his hand wrought in strength. 
 
 Although always under requisition for service in so 
 many other causes and spheres: as pastor, presbyter, 
 community leader, author, citizen; he found time, how- 
 ever, to serve in another field of activity. His devoted 
 life was so endowed with talents, so vigorous and so 
 well-organized, he was ready and equipped to answer 
 the call of duty in any place of need. To his many 
 other lines of Christian work he added yet another: 
 devotion to Christ and achievement for Him in the 
 wide sphere of Christian Education. 
 
 Although graduated from another Theolowical Sem- 
 inary (Princeton), which often honored him with ex- 
 pressions of confidence and positions of trust, electing 
 him at one time president of its Alumni Association, 
 
MEMORIALS 51 
 
 yet from the beginning of his ministry in Richmond, 
 he gave his sympathy and co-operation to Union Theo- 
 logical Seminary because he recognized its strategic 
 position in the activities of our Southern Church, and 
 its inestimable value in the cause of World Evangeliza- 
 tion. Staunch conservative that he was and at the 
 same time a warm hearted evangelical, he appreciated 
 the happy combination in a great Seminary of those 
 two noble ideals: sound evangelical doctrine and fer- 
 vent enthusiasm for world evangelism. 
 
 Himself a widely and thoroughly educated man, his 
 interest in Christian Education was always alert and 
 active. All of our Church schools and educational in- 
 stitutions, centering 1n Richmond, are under debt to 
 his greatness and goodness. For years he was Chair- 
 man of the Executive Committee of Publication and 
 Sunday School Work, which sends out its teaching and 
 training influences into every part of our Southland. 
 For some years he taught with ability, classes in Chris- 
 tian Theology in our Assembly’s Training School, a 
 by-product of such service in that institution being the 
 publication of his useful Handbook of Theology. 
 
 Here it is appropriate to call to mind the rich con- 
 tribution of this Church of which he was pastor, to the 
 building up and direction of our Seminary. ‘The Presi- 
 dent of its Board is an Elder of this Church. The be- 
 loved George L. Christian served for many years as 
 Vice-President of the Board. One of its beloved Dea- 
 cons as a member of the Finance Committee. And each 
 year a young man of distinction from the graduating 
 class continues in a year of graduate study his prep- 
 aration for a life of highest service in the Church on 
 the foundation of the Moses D. Hoge Fellowship. 
 
52 MEMORIALS 
 
 From the moment Dr. Cecil entered the pastorate 
 of the Second Presbyterian Church in Richmond his 
 attitude was that of cordial friendship, and as the 
 years passed he came to be one of the trusted advisers, 
 although for the first years of his pastorate he had no 
 oficial connection with the Seminary. At a critical 
 time he rendered a very great service to the Seminary, 
 and one which must have cost him a heavy personal 
 sacrifice, in filling through one session the Chair of 
 Church History, when, following the death of Dr. 
 Strickler, Dr. Johnson had been transferred from that 
 Chair to the Chair of Theology. 
 
 The Synod conferred honor on itself and rendered 
 a signal benefit to the Seminary when it elected him 
 a member of the Seminary Board of Directors in 1918, 
 in which office he continued to the lamented end of his 
 life. After his election, he was promptly made a mem- 
 ber of the Executive Committee, to which he became 
 a tower of strength. This Committee found him both 
 so wise and so willing to lay himself out in the work 
 that they soon came to rely upon his sound judgment 
 and to shape their course largely by his advice. ‘The 
 last public service rendered by him was attendance 
 upon a meeting of the Executive Committee of the 
 Seminary on Friday, June 12th. That very evening 
 he was stricken, but the good which he accomplished 
 at that meeting will be of far-reaching benefit to the 
 seminary. His scholarship and balanced judgment led 
 to his appointment as a member of the Board’s Cur- 
 riculum Committee, of which he was also Chairman 
 for a time. He also served on many special commit- 
 tees, and performed many individual services which 
 called for a man of tact and wisdom and gentleness. 
 
MEMORIALS 53 
 
 And so his time, his talents and his great human in- 
 terest have been inwrought into the remarkable growth 
 of our great Seminary, to be a part of its service to 
 mankind for all time. | 
 
 There are certain precious Bible texts which we shall 
 ever associate with Dr. Cecil: 
 
 “The righteous shall be had in everlasting remem- 
 brance.”’ 
 
 “They that are teachers shall shine as the brightness 
 of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteous- 
 ness as the stars forever and ever.”’ 
 
 “I have had much joy and comfort in thy love, 
 brother, because the hearts of the saints have been 
 refreshed by thee.” 
 
An APPRECIATION 
 
 Dr. Cecil and the Ministerial Union of Richmond, Va. 
 By the Rev. H. C. MacLachlan, D.D. 
 
 W HEN I came to Richmond, seventeen and a half 
 years ago, the outstanding leader in the interdenomi- 
 national life of Richmond was Dr. Cecil. He was not 
 only never absent from the meetings of the Ministerial 
 Association, when they were held in the old Presby- 
 terian Building, but was always an outstanding figure 
 in them. One of my vivid recollections is the promi- 
 nent part played by him in the Chapman Evangelistic 
 meetings. I recall that a committee representative of 
 all the evangelical denominations went to Norfolk to 
 secure Dr. Chapman’s services. I believe, even yet, 
 I can name that committee. Baptist, Dr. Ramsay; 
 Episcopalian, Dr. James Clarke; Methodist, Dr. An- 
 drew Christian; Lutheran, Dr. J. J. Scherer; Disciples, 
 myself, and Presbyterian, Dr. Cecil. On the boat-trip 
 across the sound I had my first real conversation with 
 him. Our talk turned on preaching, and I remember 
 as vividly as if it were yesterday the almost child-like 
 glow with which Dr. Cecil spoke of the mysteries of 
 sermon-building and the glory of preaching. He be- 
 lieved in the pulpit. He magnified the ministry. He 
 was absolutely certain that the kingdom of heaven must 
 come, not by politics, economics, or social service— 
 though he did not undervalue these in their place—but 
 by the preaching of the Word. 
 
 In one sense of the word, he was an old-time 
 preacher. He was not afraid to preach theology, 
 
MEMORIALS «55 
 
 therein following the lead of the greatest preachers of 
 the past. He laid a burden on his hearers to think. 
 He challenged them with the great facts of God, of the 
 Incarnation, of the Holy Spirit, of the living Word. 
 His thinking processes were always young, even if his 
 conclusions were rooted in the past. He kept up with 
 the latest theological books and enjoyed getting the 
 newest thought in that realm, even though his own 
 thinking was of a very different school. He never 
 feared for the Ark of the Covenant. He had no classi- 
 fication of ‘‘fundamentalist’’ or ‘modernist’? for his 
 brethren, realizing that we are all saved by faith and 
 not by theological opinion. 
 
 While a staunch Presbyterian, he was notably sym- 
 pathetic in his attitude towards his brethren of other 
 Communions. In every new movement he was a 
 trusted leader. Always he could be counted on to 
 espouse the cause of Christian charity and tolerance. 
 No harsh word ever passed the portals of his lips. He 
 had a large patience, a big heart even for his brethren 
 (as he supposed) in error. I can think of no occasion © 
 in which the Protestant forces of Richmond were called 
 upon to bear united witness that Dr. Cecil was not in 
 the van of the host. 
 
 Above all, his brethren of the other Communions 
 trusted him. During the last ten years, no meeting 
 of the Ministerial Association where any important 
 question requiring tact or finesse in its handling, was 
 complete without Dr. Cecil. His patience, his ripe 
 wisdom, his knowledge of Church procedure, his con- 
 sideration of others, his aptness in discerning the 
 crucial point of a debate constituted a rich endowment, 
 reminiscent of the words of the prophet to the excited, 
 
56 MEMORIALS 
 
 rash and restless people of Jerusalem: “In quietness 
 and confidence shall be your strength.” He was pre- 
 eminently a man of counsel—a counsellor. I can see 
 him now where he used to sit, in the arm-chair near 
 the southeast corner of the room, and see the faces 
 of the ministers turned expectantly towards him when 
 he intervened in debate. His presence was the bal- 
 ance-wheel of many sessions. | 
 
 And now that he is gone, if his mantle has not yet 
 fallen on another, at least his memory remains as a 
 benediction and sets for all of his brethren whose locks 
 are being touched with the snows of winter, the goal of 
 a sure, wise, serene, hopeful and helpful old age. 
 
 On him, and such as he, are the foundations of the 
 kingdom laid. 
 
NEWSPAPER STATEMENTS 
 
 Richmond clergymen associated with Dr. Cecil in 
 Richmond commented on his death in statements to the 
 newspapers as follows: 
 
 Dr. GEorGE W. McDANIEL: 
 
 “T have known Dr. Cecil over twenty years, and 
 have associated with him in moral and Christian work. 
 He was perhaps the best loved and most implicitly 
 trusted member of the Ministerial Union. He has 
 entered upon the rich Heavenly reward. I sorrow as 
 one who has lost a faithful friend and fellow worker.”’ 
 
 Dr. CHARLEs L. KING: 
 
 ‘Dr. Cecil approximated the New Testament ideal 
 of a good minister of Jesus Christ. He was a man of 
 God—a preacher of the Word. He made no apology 
 for the Gospel he proclaimed. He magnified his call- 
 ing. His life was a beautiful illustration of the power 
 of the Gospel. The church can thank God for such 
 a minister and pray that his spirit may abide upon those 
 who carry on the work he loved. 
 
 ‘Many of us feel that we have lost our spiritual 
 father.” 
 
 Rev. J. N. Latuam, D. D.: 
 
 “T feel that in the death of Dr. Cecil the community 
 has suffered a great loss. He was an able preacher, 
 a sympathetic pastor, and a friend of all the churches; 
 
58 MEMORIALS 
 
 interested in everything pertaining to the spreading of 
 the Kingdom of God. I feel a personal loss in his 
 
 going.” 
 Rev. WILLIAM E. Cox: 
 
 “Personally, I was devoted to Dr. Cecil. He was 
 one of the finest men I know anywhere, both as an 
 individual and a Christian. Everybody loved Dr. 
 Cecil.” 
 
EDITORIAL 
 
 (Richmond Times-Dispatch) 
 
 DReECE CIE 
 
 For twenty-five years the Rev. Russell Cecil, A. B., 
 A. M., D. D., clergyman, pastor and author, lived and 
 ministered in Richmond. And never did one man more 
 crowd a quarter of a century with good works, with 
 kindly teaching and with modest leadership toward the 
 right than did this good man. The degrees he earned 
 from Princeton, the degree conferred upon him by 
 Southwestern Presbyterian University, and the periods 
 of study spent at the University of Edinburg and in 
 Europe and the Orient indicate the profound scholar- 
 ship of the teacher; the strength of his Church here in 
 Richmond testifies to the power of his ministry and 
 to the care he lavished upon his people as their pastor; 
 and the respect and affection which he inspired in clergy 
 and laity of other faiths constitute a living memorial 
 to his concept of brotherhood in all faith. 
 
 With all the gentle qualities he possessed, there was 
 added a mind so clear, a vision so unclouded and a 
 spirit so high that his counsel and his calm wisdom 
 were called upon for service by the whole of the Pres- 
 byterian Church, South. As moderator, as chairman 
 of executive committees—including the Committee on 
 Publication and the Committee of his Church in the 
 World Conference on Faith and Order—Dr. Cecil was 
 summoned to the aid and guidance of his church time 
 after time. Indeed, he was moderator of every court 
 in the Presbyterian Church, South, at the same time— 
 
60 MEMORIALS 
 
 a distinction never held by any other, it is believed, of 
 the Southern Presbyterian Church. 
 
 So, then, he wrought mightily in the church at large. 
 But always he wrought gently: because, partly, of his 
 education in the North, he sought always to bring 
 about closer relations between his and the Northern 
 Church; because of his lofty spirit, he strove to recon- 
 cile what might have been warring elements; because 
 he was a faithful follower, he spoke the softer word. 
 He was a mediator, as well as a moderator. He could 
 afford to speak the softer word, because all his preach- 
 ing, all his teaching, all his ministry and all his pas- 
 torate, were based on an unswerving belief in the eter- 
 nal principles to which he and his Church held: never 
 an unsound sentence passed his lips. 
 
 Yet he was not stern, but kindly; he was not cold, 
 but tender; he was not forbidding, but warm. To the 
 end of his long and beautiful life—‘‘So walked he from 
 his birth, in simpleness and gentleness and honour and 
 clean mirth.” 
 
 Surely, too, another part of another line is true of 
 him: That when yesterday he died, ‘He trod that day 
 to God.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch. 
 
EDITORIAL 
 
 (Richmond News Leader) 
 
 HE SPARED NOT HIMSELF 
 
 Dr. Russell Cecil stinted nothing he ever did. 
 
 Thoroughly schooled, he read widely and ceaselessly 
 and never superficially. When he put down a book, 
 he had wrung it dry. All that it contained of fact 
 worth remembering, he had made part of himself. In 
 preparing his sermons and public addresses, thorough- 
 ness seemed instinctive. People who listened to him 
 for more than twenty years never knew him to enter 
 his pulpit unready for his sermon. The sheep looked 
 up and always were fed. He held to the tradition of 
 direct delivery, without the tricks of oratory, and he 
 stooped to no sensationalism of theme or manner, but 
 he set a standard of thoughtful, scholarly ministration 
 that no Richmond preacher of his generation excelled 
 and only one or two ever rivaled. A worshipper could 
 always be sure that he would leave the Second Pres- 
 byterian, after Dr. Cecil’s sermon, strengthened in 
 truth that had been persuasively and intelligently set 
 forth. 
 
 Similar was the spirit he displayed in his pastoral 
 labors and in the work of his denomination. When he 
 visited, it was for service and not merely for courtesy. 
 If he accepted responsibility as trustee or as director, 
 he discharged it patiently. Intellectually and spirit- 
 ually, his house was always in order. His desk in his 
 study, one may be sure, was left on Saturday with each 
 paper in place. And in his locker, no doubt, where he 
 
62 MEMORIALS 
 
 put his sticks after his last round at his beloved golf, 
 everything was precisely where it belonged. 
 
 His life bespoke obedience to conscience and a 
 superb sincerity that were bound up with an inspiring 
 intellectual honesty. Dr. Cecil had held the highest 
 office in the Presbyterian Church, that of moderator 
 of the General Assembly of the entire denomination— 
 an office that goes only to those the whole brotherhood 
 trusts. Yet he was not afraid to give Huxley and 
 Tyndall a place on his shelves, and in his theology he 
 was convinced, yet tolerant. He could “hear the other 
 side’ and neither be thrown back to over-conservatism 
 nor swept into hasty theological radicalism. He was 
 an admirable interpreter of old truth in new com- 
 plexities because his intellectual honesty never failed 
 him and never was hobbled by fear or by prejudice. 
 He knew ‘‘on whom he had believed.” 
 
 The closer one stood to him, the taller he seemed 
 in spirit. The better one knew him, the more one 
 respected his piety. There was something beautifully 
 personal about his faith. You felt that, though he was 
 able to make God very real in comfort and in hope to 
 those in distress, he had a still closer fellowship him- 
 _ self. When he came from his own chamber, after his 
 private devotions, you found yourself looking for the 
 light on his countenance that is given to those who 
 have been in the very Presence. 
 
 He came to Richmond when he was 47. The Second 
 Presbyterian was his fourth pastorate. It was a heavy 
 charge, for between him and the great Moses D. Hoge 
 there had been only one brief ministry, in a period of 
 dificult adjustment. Those who were privileged to 
 have his company knew how he prepared himself that 
 
MEMORIALS 63 
 
 summer of 1900 for the responsibility he was assum- 
 ing. He spent three months in prayer. When at 
 length he took up his duties it was with a zeal that 
 two-score years and more in no wise lessened. Rich- 
 mond moved westward. The Gothic building atop 
 Fifth Street hill became a downtown church. Dr. 
 Hoge’s familiar house that seemed as tall and as gaunt 
 as he, was knocked over in order that an office-building 
 and apartment might have the land. The friendly 
 neighborhoods were broken up. Dr. Cecil held his 
 ground and yielded nothing to time or change. Truth 
 was eternal. He held fast to it. 
 
 Now that he is dead, perhaps they will undertake a 
 removal the congregation would not have considered 
 in his lifetime. A new Second Presbyterian may rise 
 in the district where most of its members reside. But 
 if the change comes, it will not hurt him, for though 
 he preached in the Church, he preached to his audience, 
 and deep in their hearts, far down in the cortices that 
 give men their outlook on life, he will live and will 
 
 speak.—Richmond News Leader. 
 
EDITORIAL 
 
 (The Presbyterian of the South) 
 
 Rev. Dr. Russell Cecil has completed his work on 
 earth and has gone to his higher work in heaven. On 
 Saturday evening, June 13th, he was reading over the 
 manuscript of the sermon he had prepared for Sunday, 
 when the summons came without any premonition. 
 For forty-eight hours he tarried before leaving loved 
 ones and friends to join his Saviour in His Heavenly 
 home. Few men have ever been better prepared to 
 answer the call, and few have ever deserved more 
 the plaudit of the Saviour, ‘Well done, good and faith- 
 ful servant.’’ Dr. Cecil was pre-eminently a man of 
 God. He lived near to Him, as his life showed. A 
 Christian business man of this city said to a friend one 
 day, “I do not know Dr. Cecil personally, but I am 
 always glad to see him pass my office window. He 
 preaches a sermon as he walks on the street.”” There 
 are hundreds of others who would say the same thing. 
 
 He was faithful to God and to his fellowman. He 
 willingly and earnestly performed every duty as it was 
 presented to him. His first thought always was as to 
 what he could do for the advancement of the kingdom 
 of God. He preached the pure gospel of salvation 
 through faith in the crucified Saviour. His preaching 
 was practical and carried its message to the hearts and 
 minds of his hearers. He was faithful and loyal to 
 the doctrines and the sentiments of the Southern Pres- 
 byterian Church. 
 
 In recognition of his character and his services, his 
 Church conferred on him many honors. This was 
 
MEMORIALS 65 
 
 strikingly shown, when in 1911 and 1912 he had the 
 experience, probably unique in the history of the world, 
 of being the moderator of four Church courts at the 
 Same time. ‘These courts were the Session of the 
 Second Church, Richmond, the Presbytery of East 
 Hanover, the Synod of Virginia and the General As- 
 sembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church. 
 
 He was so wise and efficient as a member of these 
 courts that he was placed upon, often as chairman of, 
 many of their most important committees and commis- 
 sions. He was always regular in his attendance upon 
 the sessions of these courts, ever showing a deep in- 
 terest in all of the business that came before them. 
 He did not talk a great deal in the discussions of the 
 business, but when he did speak he showed a clearness 
 of conception and grasp that was very noticeable and 
 which usually carried conviction to his hearers. He 
 was quiet and gentle in his manner and in all of his 
 bearing. 
 
 He was considerate of the feelings and opinions of 
 others. He was true, sincere and sympathetic in his 
 friendship. No one ever went to him for counsel, 
 advice or comfort who came away disappointed at his 
 reception. He was a man whom men admired and 
 loved. 
 
 For nearly a half a century he served the church as 
 pastor and preacher, as presbyter and writer. For 
 twenty-five years he had been the pastor of the Second 
 Church of Richmond, where he proved himself a strong 
 and wise leader, of a strong church. 
 
 His impress has been made deeply upon this as upon 
 each of the congregations that he served, upon this 
 whole city and upon the Church at large. His going 
 
66 MEMORIALS 
 
 has left an aching void in many a heart and many va- 
 cancies in the Church. Those who knew him best loved 
 him most and felt his loss the deepest. They will 
 cherish his memory, rejoice that he was their friend 
 and be thankful that the association which was so dear 
 on earth shall be renewed in the Father’s home above, 
 where there shall be no parting of friends. 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 Delivered by Mr. John S. Munce Before the Woman's 
 Auxiliary of the Second Presbyterian Church 
 
 “Mark the perfect man and behold the upright; for the 
 end of that man is peace.” 
 
 “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, 
 for God took him.” 
 
 "THESE two passages from God’s Word epitomize 
 the life of him in whose memory we are met today. 
 
 It is for many of us a new experience we are going 
 through as a Church; in its eighty years of existence 
 this is only the second time the Church has had to 
 mourn the death of a pastor—the beloved Dr. Hoge, 
 in the year 1899, and now Dr. Cecil, who entered into 
 rest June 15, 1925. Dr. Hoge was pastor for fifty- 
 four years, Dr. Guthrie for less than a year, Dr. Cecil 
 for twenty-five years; three, we may say, only, two 
 pastors in eighty years. What a record! Unique in 
 the annals of churches, but, oh! how we thank God 
 for it—thank Him for ‘“‘those immortal dead who live 
 again in lives made better by their presence here.” 
 
 Twenty-five years have passed since we called Dr. 
 Cecil to be our pastor. He was installed November 
 4, 1900, by a Committee of East Hanover Presby- 
 tery—Rey. Dr. Smith, Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, Rev. 
 Dr. Calvin Stewart, Rev. Dr. Kerr and Captain John 
 A. Coke. Every member of that committee has pre- 
 ceded Dr. Cecil into the home in Heaven. 
 
68 MEMORIALS 
 
 ence 
 
 The committee of this Church that had been ap- 
 pointed to nominate a pastor to the congregation was 
 Mr. W. W. Henry, Judge G. L. Christian, M. M. 
 Gilliam and John S. Munce from the Session; S. H. 
 Hawes, E. D. Taylor and J. L. Anderson from the 
 Deacons. Of that committee only Mr. Taylor and 
 myself remain, and of all the members of the Session 
 and Board of Deacons at that time only. Mr. E. D. 
 Taylor, H. S. Hawes and myself remain. All the rest 
 have joined the saints in “the house not made with 
 hands, eternal in the Heavens.” 
 
 So you see how the membership of the Church 
 changes even in twenty-five years, and we here today 
 are reminded that the Church is not dependent on any 
 one person; it is not man’s work but God’s. “God 
 removes the workers but carries on the work.” 
 
 We are met this afternoon for a memorial service, 
 and I take it for granted that we are not in any formal, 
 cold and critical way to discuss Dr. Cecil and analyze 
 his character, but rather just talk of him as we knew 
 him and loved him. It is easy to talk of one we have 
 loved, and may I hope it is easy also to listen while 
 another talks. 
 
 Like the Ephesian elders at Miletus about Paul, 
 ‘We sorrow most of all that we shall see his face no 
 more.’ We never get used to death; no matter how 
 surely we expect it, when it comes it is startling, over- 
 whelming, crushing, and I have often thought if we 
 who have the Christian’s hope in our hearts think 
 death so cruel when our loved ones are taken from 
 us, how are those who have no sags or hope able to 
 
 stand it. God pity them! 
 
MEMORIALS 69 
 
 It is hard for us to realize that the kindly gentleman 
 to whom we have looked as our Christian leader and 
 guide has passed away from us and that we shall see 
 his face no more. | 
 
 When he came to us twenty-five years ago, he soon 
 won his way into all our hearts by his modest and 
 gracious manners and by his devotion to his work. 
 
 Today in thinking about him and what he has been 
 to us all during these twenty-five years, over and above 
 our sadness rises a note of joy that we knew him, a 
 note of thankfulness that God gave him to us for so 
 many years of work and usefulness, years of leadership 
 in our common labor in the Master’s kingdom, years 
 of sweet fellowship, years of loving sympathy, years 
 of helpfulness. To adapt the words of the well-known 
 hymn: 
 
 “For this thy saint who from his labours rests, 
 Who Thee by faith before the world confessed, 
 
 Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest. 
 Hallelujah!” 
 
 Dr. Cecil was a man of most pleasing personality; 
 he made friends everywhere he went, and his winning 
 smile revealed the affectionate and tender heart. He 
 was a welcomed guest in all our homes, and [ think I 
 may say we are all sorry that we did not see more of 
 him. Men liked him, women liked him and, best of 
 all, children liked him. Quiet of manner and gentle 
 of speech, his tongue spoke no guile. J never remem- 
 ber hearing him speak an unkind word against any one. 
 When differences arose, no bitter or cruel word escaped 
 his lips. ‘In his tongue was the law of kindness.” 
 But this does not mean that he was insincere or a 
 
70 MEMORIALS 
 
 ‘weakling or without definite opinions. Firm in what 
 he believed to be right, he had the courage and bravery 
 to stand up for the truth always; even those who dif- 
 fered, respected and honored him. Many a lesson in 
 self-control] and ‘kindness of speech I learned watching 
 him. ‘He left a world grown kindlier that he came.” 
 
 Dr. Cecil was a true pastor. When joy came, he 
 rejoiced with us; in hours of depression, he cheered 
 and heartened us; when sorrow and darkness over- 
 shadowed, his gentle and comforting words and heart- 
 felt sympathy came as a brightening gleam through 
 the gloom, and as a healing balm to the wounded 
 heart, strengthening us to take up again bravely the 
 duties of life. 
 
 Sympathy is better felt than expressed. ‘The brief 
 word and the pressure of a hand often convey more 
 than many words, and we knew that he truly sympa- 
 thized with us in our sorrows, as he told us of the 
 Comforter waiting to enter our hearts to heal and 
 bless. 
 
 Dr. Cecil had received a splendid education, study- 
 ing at Princeton University, Princeton Seminary, and, 
 later, at Edinburgh University. Possessed of a won- 
 derfully clear mind, enriched by wide and discrimi- 
 nating reading of the best literature, and broadened by 
 travel and contact with many men of many minds, he 
 had a noble and large vision of life and its greatness, 
 and a deep and sincere passion for souls. 
 
 His chosen life work was to preach the gospel of 
 God’s redeeming love for sinful men, and no false or 
 discordant note marred the harmony of his message. 
 He was never led aside by popular clamour to discuss 
 sensational or ephemeral subjects in the pulpit. The 
 
MEMORIALS 71 
 
 ey 
 
 burden of his message was “‘God so loved the World 
 that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever 
 believeth in Him should not perish but have everlast- 
 ing Life.” 
 
 In this age when the lure of worldly prosperity is 
 so attractive to men, his cry was, “Seek first the King- 
 dom of God and His righteousness and all these things 
 shall be added to you.” So he preached faithfully and 
 powerfully and with a passionate earnestness we all 
 felt and knew. ‘There was no note of doubt in his 
 message. He did not defend the truth; he affirmed it. 
 “IT KNOW Whom I have believed,” he proclaimed, 
 and so amid all the confusion and storms of modern 
 doubt and strange views and so-called Modernism, he 
 remained steadfast. He knew that God would take 
 care of His own Truth and that it would prevail. I 
 feel that he had realized the fulfillment of the promise, 
 “Tf any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of 
 the doctrine whether it be of God.” 
 
 He knew God’s truth by experience and preached 
 it with all his heart and soul and strength and mind, 
 and his soul yearned that men would accept Christ and 
 be at peace. He wanted his people to dwell in the 
 house of happiness, and in that house Jesus must be 
 an honored guest. 
 
 Like all good preachers, he prepared his sermons 
 with the utmost care. He disliked careless work, es- 
 pecially for the pulpit. Great themes demanded great 
 thought and diligent work. | 
 
 He spent much time in prayer, and knew the value 
 of these hours of communion with God, and earnestly 
 urged his people to cultivate the habit of prayer. 
 
72 MEMORIALS 
 
 He was never happier than when doing evangelistic 
 work, and I have frequently heard him preach earn- 
 estly, faithfully and eloquently to a crowd of working 
 men and women, in their overalls, at their lunch-hour 
 in a factory, with evident joy in his heart, his face 
 shining as he told them of Jesus and His love. “He- 
 loved God’s gentler face and made it dear.’’—Lowell. 
 
 This explains his zeal for Foreign Missions. Not 
 the veneer of civilization, not ethical culture, not art, 
 not humanitarianism nor uplift work, excellent as all 
 these are in their proper place, could redeem heathen- 
 dom from its darkness and cruelty and idolatry. Jesus 
 Christ and Him crucified as the Saviour of the world, 
 the only remedy for sin. The foolishness of preaching 
 was God’s way of proclaiming the Gospel. First and 
 always, Dr. Cecil believed the Gospel of Christ to be 
 the only way of lifting heathendom from its deep and 
 dark and cruel grave. 
 
 Dr. Cecil was much beloved by his brethren in the 
 ministry. His warm-hearted brotherliness, his sound 
 common sense, his unselfishness made him truly a 
 ‘Father in Israel.” Many of them took him their 
 problems, valuing his wise counsel and advice, always 
 freely given. A Richmond minister said to me, ‘He 
 was like a father to me; my problems of faith, my. per- 
 sonal troubles, the difficulties in my work—I went to 
 him with them all and always he was kind and wise 
 and helpful. I cannot express in words how much he 
 has been to me.”’ 
 
 There was no selfishness or jealousy of other work- 
 ers in him. He rejoiced in everything that promoted 
 
 the Kingdom of God. 
 
MEMORIALS 73 
 
 Called again and again to the highest positions of 
 honor in the Church, not because he sought them, for 
 he was modest and retiring and never self-seeking, but 
 because his brethren looked up to him as a wise coun- 
 selor and a safe leader. In the General Assembly, I 
 have seen him enter a discussion that had reached a 
 tense point, with much feeling shown, and in his quiet, 
 forceful way offer a suggestion that would immediately 
 appeal to all and bring peace and harmony out of con- 
 fusion. [le was a great Presbyter, a great bishop in 
 our Church, and his counsels will be sorely missed. 
 
 Not only among his brethren in the ministry nor 
 among the members of his own Church, but among his 
 fellow citizens of all classes and all faiths was he loved 
 and esteemed. The Roman Catholic Bishop and the 
 Jewish Rabbi were his friends. I have heard capable 
 business men say ‘“‘what a leader he would have been in 
 the business world,” but he chose the better part—the 
 winning of souls for Christ’s Kingdom, ‘“‘laying up, not 
 treasures on earth, but treasures in Heaven, where 
 neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves 
 do noth break through nor steal.” 
 
 Dr. Cecil never sought publicity. Like the great 
 Dr. Jowett, he believed ‘“‘that when a minister of the 
 Gospel is doing his proper work he makes no ‘copy’ 
 for the newspaper. It is when he does and says things 
 outside his proper sphere that he provides headlines 
 for the secular press.” Yet he was one of the best 
 known, best loved and most highly respected citizens 
 of this city. When he died the city mourned him, the 
 crowd at his funeral—men and women from all ranks 
 and walks of life—testified their loss of a friend. 
 ' Both of our daily newspapers not only published bio- 
 
74 MEMORIALS 
 
 eee 
 
 graphical notices of him, but editorials expressing in a 
 striking way their admiration for him as a man, a 
 citizen, and a minister of the Gospel. ‘The closing 
 lines of one of these editorials reads, ‘‘Yet he was not 
 stern, but kindly; he was not cold, but tender; he was 
 not forbidding, but warm. To the end of his long and 
 beautiful life—so walked he from his birth, in simple- 
 ness and gentleness and honor and clean mirth.” 
 Surely, too, another part of another line is true of 
 him: that when yesterday he died ‘“‘he trod that day 
 to God.” 
 
 What Dr. Cecil was to this Church, who can esti- 
 mate? Coming to its pastorate at a critical time in its 
 history, following in less than a year a man conspicuous 
 for eloquence, character and force, the work of the 
 church prospered greatly under him. Enlarged mem- 
 bership, greatly enlarged contributions to all benevo- 
 lent causes, enlarged Home and Foreign Missionary 
 enterprises, enlarged work in many fields, yet all done 
 without one word of self praise, it was always “not 
 unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give 
 glory, for Thy mercy and for Thy truth’s sake.”’ 
 
 When Dr. Hoge was celebrating the fiftieth anni- 
 versary of his pastorate of this Church, he paid this 
 tribute to the ladies of the Church—‘“The female mem- 
 bers of the Church were characterized by their intelli- 
 gence and zealous and hearty devotion to the work of 
 the different societies organized among them for 
 benevolent purposes of every kind, and no other agency 
 has accomplished more for the prosperity of this 
 Church or for the great enterprises of Christian phi- 
 lanthrophy by which the world is benefited and blest.” 
 Dr. Cecil had equally warm and loving appreciation 
 
MEMORIALS 75 
 
 of the loyal assistance you ladies gave him in his work, 
 and often spoke to the Session about it. You will 
 miss him, miss his wise counsels, miss his words of 
 encouragement and cheer and helpfulness, and I think 
 if he could send you a message today it would be the 
 words the English soldiers said to each other in the 
 World War, ‘‘Carry on.” 
 
 With great tenderness would I speak today of her 
 who mourns her life-long lover, husband, companion. 
 We know how fortunate and happy and blessed he was 
 in his wife. Like the wise preacher of old, he could 
 say, ‘The heart of her husband doth safely trust in 
 her.” ‘She did him good and not evil all the days of 
 his life.’ Our prayers go up for her today, that the 
 comforting message of Christ’s love that her husband 
 carried to many bereaved hearts, may comfort her, and 
 that her heart may not be troubled till she joins him 
 in the mansion that Christ has prepared for them, 
 eternal in the Heavens. 
 
 I bring you no lessons drawn from his life. Each 
 of us knows best what we learned of him, but for what 
 he was to us for so many years our praise goes up 
 “Unto Him who loved us and washed us from our 
 sins in His own blood, to Him be glory and dominion 
 forever and ever. Amen.” 
 
DR. CECIL’S LAST SERMON 
 The GOLDEN RULE 
 
 [This sermon was the last prepared by Rev. Dr. Russell 
 Cecil. It was to have been delivered to his congregation at the 
 Second Church, in Richmond, Va. The last work that he did 
 was going over this sermon Saturday evening, familiarizing him- 
 self with it, so as to be ready to preach it the next morning. 
 While thus engaged the summons from the Master came. 
 Through Sunday and until Monday afternoon he tarried for 
 the final call, and then went to be with the Saviour whom he 
 loved and served so well. ‘This last message to his people, Dr. 
 Cecil was not permitted to deliver. We consider ourselves for- 
 tunate in being able to give it to all of our readers. | 
 
 —Presbyterian of the South. 
 
 “Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that 
 men should do to you, do you even so to them: for 
 this is the law and the prophets.’—-MATTHEW 7:12. 
 
 This verse is known as the Golden Rule of Christian 
 Conduct, and many people, not a few of whom do not 
 profess to be Christians, claim to have adopted this 
 as descriptive of their way of life and of their attitude 
 toward other people. I have endeavored to discover 
 the author of this beautiful phrase, ‘“The Golden 
 Rule,” as applied to these words of our blessed Lord; 
 but all of my search has been in vain. No one, how- 
 ever, can question the beauty of the term. It is con- 
 tended by some that Jesus is not the Author of the 
 Golden Rule. It is found in the Apocryphal book of 
 Tobit and in the teachings of Confucius, the Chinese 
 philosopher, in the negative form. It remained, how- 
 ever, for Jesus Himself to make the positive declara- 
 tion, as we find it here in the text, and also in virtually 
 
MEMORIALS rif 
 
 the same words in the gospel of Luke. ‘Therefore all 
 things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, 
 do you even so to them: for this is the law and the 
 prophets.” 
 
 In this positive form you have, not only the expres- 
 sion of justice in our dealings with our fellow men, 
 but beyond that the expression of grace and goodness. 
 The Golden Rule, as our Lord puts it, calls for love 
 in the heart as well as an outward manifestation in 
 the life. The Golden Rule is not only ‘‘the law,” but 
 it is also ‘“‘the prophets.”’ ‘That is to say, it includes 
 the whole teaching of the Old Testament Scriptures, 
 as well as of the New. Jesus had a way of summing 
 up the significance of God’s revelation of His will as 
 it is found in the Old Testament Scriptures in a few 
 words, like these of the Golden Rule, and then giving 
 to the words a new and fuller application. The Golden 
 Rule as it comes from Jesus embraces everything of a 
 practical nature in the Christian life. 
 
 It is a common experience with me, and no doubt 
 with you also, to hear some one say, “‘Well, I do not 
 claim to be much of a Christian, or perhaps not a Chris- 
 tian at all in the true sense, my faith is weak and fal- 
 tering; but I have adopted the Golden Rule as the law 
 of my life, to do unto others as I would like them to do 
 unto me; the Golden Rule is my religion.”” Now this 
 is certainly a large claim, and I apprehend that many 
 people make it without fully realizing the full sig- 
 nificance of what they are saying and undertaking to 
 do. I have never before taken the Golden Rule as a 
 text for a sermon, and I do not remember ever to have 
 heard a sermon preached upon it. But it occurs to me 
 that half an hour spent upon thinking and talking about 
 
78 MEMORIALS 
 
 it might prove of practical value to our spiritual life; 
 and therefore I ask your attention this morning to 
 some thoughts upon the Golden Rule. 
 
 THE GOLDEN RULE IN BUSINESS 
 
 Let us consider the application of it in the business 
 affairs of life. I understand there is a man of large 
 business interests in the city of Cincinnati who is known 
 as ‘Golden Rule Nash’; and for some years past he 
 has been endeavoring to apply the principle of the 
 Golden Rule in all of his business affairs and in all of 
 his dealings with his employees. It is commonly re- 
 ported by those who are acquainted with his experi- 
 ence that not only has his business largely increased, 
 but his adoption of the Golden Rule has also added 
 much to his own satisfaction and to the happiness of 
 those who are employed by him. I can readily under- 
 stand how the application of the Golden Rule to busi- 
 ness would effect a marvelous change in the relation- 
 ship existing between capital and labor, the employer 
 and his employees. I believe that we have many busi- 
 ness houses throughout the country, and certainly some 
 of them here in our own city, which are gradually, but 
 steadily adopting this great principle with satisfactory 
 results. | 
 
 Suppose that a man who does not profess to be a 
 Christian, or whether he be a Christian or no, claims 
 to adopt the Golden Rule in his dealings with his fel- 
 low men, in business and elsewhere, how much does 
 this include? 
 
 Suppose you are a prosperous man, it means that 
 you are not striving to prosper at the expense of your 
 
MEMORIALS 79 
 
 
 
 fellow men. While competition may be the life of 
 trade, and more or less of it perhaps is necessary; if 
 you are going to treat the other man as you would like 
 for him to treat you, you must be just and generous to 
 him, and you must not lose your charity and sympathy 
 for the man who is not prosperous; and you must not 
 take advantage of the poor man who is dependent upon 
 his daily labor for a living for himself and his loved 
 ones. If you are living by the Golden Rule you can- 
 not say to yourself, “‘Well, this fellow cannot help 
 himself, and he is bound to do as I tell him, whether 
 agreeable to him or not, or whether he likes it or not.” 
 If you are going to treat others as you would like to 
 be treated, you must put yourself in their place. 
 
 But suppose you are not a prosperous man; but, as 
 is the case with the vast majority of men, you fail 
 sooner or later; and suppose you are striving with ad- 
 versity and finding it daily a hand-to-mouth struggle 
 to make a living; there is no reason why, even under 
 those circumstances, you should not adopt the Golden 
 Rule, and say, “I am going to treat others as I would 
 like to have others treat me.” In that case you should 
 not be envious and jealous of the prosperous man and 
 hate him, and say that he is taking advantage of his 
 position to oppress you; and you should not be unkind 
 to your fellows who are in the same condition as your- 
 self. The man in adversity should put himself in the 
 place of the prosperous man, and should think, ““Now 
 if I were prosperous what would I do? How would 
 I treat those who perhaps are not as prosperous as 
 I am, or who are dependent upon me for their daily. 
 bread?” 
 
80 MEMORIALS 
 
 In short, when we come to apply the Golden Rule 
 to the daily affairs of business life you will find that it 
 is not an easy thing to do; and when a man says to me, 
 ‘Well, I do not profess to be a Christian, but I live 
 by the Golden Rule,” I wonder if he really understands 
 what he is saying, and if he realizes what a big propo- 
 sition he has taken upon his hands. There are some 
 people who say it is impossible to apply the Golden 
 Rule in all business affairs of life. Jesus, however, 
 did not think so; and He is our greatest Teacher as 
 well as our greatest Example. 
 
 THE GOLDEN RULE IN SOCIETY 
 
 But let us next consider the application of the Golden 
 Rule to the ordinary social affairs of life. It should 
 not only apply to business, but also to society. 
 
 If you are to follow the Golden Rule you cannot be 
 harsh in your judgment of others. In this Sermon on 
 the Mount our Lord touches practically upon all of 
 these applications of the Golden Rule which I am en- 
 deavoring to bring to your attention. He says, “‘Judge 
 not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment 
 ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure 
 you mete, it shall be measured to you again.” If we 
 are harsh in our judgment of others we may be sure 
 that others will be harsh in their judgment of us. If 
 you do not wish others to judge you harshly, when you 
 are perhaps in trouble or difficulty, or have committed 
 serious errors or mistakes, you must not be harsh in 
 your judgment of them. The best of society is by no 
 means perfect; and the best people in society are by 
 no means perfect. ‘This is true in any rank or grade 
 
MEMORIALS 81 
 
 
 
 of life—among the rich and the poor, the high and the 
 low—and the same principle should apply, and the 
 Golden Rule is equally true for us all. If you do not 
 wish others to be bitter against you, jealous of you, 
 and critical of you, be sure that you do not indulge in 
 such a state of mind toward them. 
 
 The one thing above all others which should control 
 us in our application of the Golden Rule is the exercise 
 of charity toward the faults of other people. We 
 should remember that we have faults of our own, and 
 we wish to be judged charitably. Charity covers a 
 multitude of sins, and it is a cloak of love which we 
 should use in all of our thoughts and dealings with 
 others. If you are so unfortunate as to hear a slan- 
 derous story against one of your fellows, do not be 
 eager to believe it. But be slow to believe it, and do 
 not believe it at all, unless you have proof positive 
 that it is true, and proof that cannot be ignored. Many 
 persons are seriously injured by slander, and because 
 people are not willing to exercise charity toward them. 
 
 We may be kind and helpful in society, as in busi- 
 ness and in other matters of life. Sometimes people 
 are cruel in their extreme reserve; and leave the im- 
 pression (whether they mean to do so or not) that 
 they are very much better and superior to their neigh- 
 bors. This is what our Lord used to characterize as 
 Pharisaism; and He was not mild in the terms He used 
 concerning it. I remember many years ago reading a 
 lecture by Ruskin addressed to girls; and one of his 
 exhortations to them, very earnestly emphasized, was, 
 “Girls, do not be cruel to each other.’ At that time 
 I could hardly appreciate what he meant. But I have 
 learned that girls in a very quiet, and often apparently 
 
82 MEMORIALS 
 
 sweet way, can be exceedingly cruel to each other. 
 If you do not wish others to be cruel to you, do not 
 you be cruel to them. The Golden Rule can find a 
 multitude of applications in ordinary social life. 
 
 THE GOLDEN RULE IN THE FAMILY 
 
 Next we may consider the application of the Golden 
 Rule in the family life. The home is a wonderful 
 place to try it. Many homes would be happier and 
 better if the Golden Rule was constantly in use among 
 the members in their dealings with each other. 
 
 Love should be the controlling force in the home. 
 But we are often tempted to be critical and fault-find- 
 ing, even with members of our own household. If 
 one gives way to that disposition he should not be 
 surprised if others do the same thing. We should 
 learn to be gentle and patient with each other. Large 
 families and large family connections may be very 
 happy, useful and helpful to each other, if they will 
 apply the Golden Rule in all of their dealings with each 
 other. On the contrary, if they are not willing to 
 apply the Golden Rule, there may be much unhappi- 
 ness and misery and hard feelings among them. It 
 is easy enough in any community to compare the home 
 life of families. Some very large families, which have 
 multiplied to maybe a dozen different households, live 
 in great peace and harmony; while others are not able 
 to get on with each other, but are jealous, and con- 
 tinually snarling and fighting each other. If we are to 
 do unto others as we would have them do unto us, we 
 should certainly begin in our own homes and among 
 our own connections and blood relations. Some large 
 
MEMORIALS 83 
 
 
 
 family connections are a great blessing to the com- 
 munity in which they live; while others manage to keep 
 the community in a continual snarl. 
 
 Let us therefore study not to be critical of each 
 other; but to be helpful to each other. Not to be 
 jealous of each other, but to rejoice in each other’s 
 prosperity. Nothing will produce more unhappiness 
 than bitterness and jealousy in the home life. We 
 should not be forgetful of each other’s interests; but 
 should study to advance each other’s interests. 
 
 THE GOLDEN RULE IN THE CHURCH 
 
 But once more, let us consider the Golden Rule in 
 its application to our work in the Church as Christians. 
 After all it is the Christian Rule of Conduct, and comes 
 to us from our blessed Saviour Himself. He gives it 
 a broad and comprehensive application when He says, 
 ‘Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men 
 should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is 
 the law and the prophets.”’ I have step by step made 
 certain practical applications of the Golden Rule—to 
 business, to society, and to the home—but as Chris- 
 tians we cannot really separate our lives into great 
 ‘ departments, and say that we can apply the Golden 
 Rule to one, and not to another. What I have had 
 in mind especially up to this point is that many people, 
 who do not profess to be Christians, yet claim that 
 they live by the Golden Rule. My contention is, if 
 you are going to live by the Golden Rule, you have to 
 live the Christian life; and certainly it must begin in 
 the Church of God, in our dealings with our fellow 
 
 Christians. If you are not a Christian, can you really 
 
84 MEMORIALS 
 
 live by the Golden Rule? and if you are a Christian, 
 are you living by the Golden Rule? Let each one of 
 us take this now to himself and be honest with himself. 
 If as Christians we are to live by the Golden Rule 
 we must practice the forgiving spirit. Suppose you 
 have offended some one, or done something you ought 
 not to do; you certainly wish to be forgiven. If you 
 wish others to forgive you then you must be forgiving 
 yourself. Our Lord goes so far in this same Sermon 
 on the Mount as to make the application, “I say unto 
 you, [hat ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite 
 thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. ... 
 Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good 
 to them that hate you, and pray for them that despite- 
 fully use you, and persecute you. That ye may be the 
 children of your Father which is in heaven: for He 
 maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, 
 and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” This 
 means that the Father in heaven is continually forgiv- 
 ing those who have offended against Him. Indeed all 
 of us who are saved must be forgiven by the heavenly 
 Father, and He is continually doing good to us, even 
 when we are forgetful of Him and sinning against 
 Him. Now, says Jesus, if you are to be the children 
 of your Father which is in heaven, you should cultivate 
 the spirit of your Father in heaven. He even goes so 
 far as to say, “If ye forgive not men their trespasses, 
 neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”’ 
 This Golden Rule should control us in our work in 
 the Church. We need to be helpful to each other, not 
 critical of each other. What can we hope to accom- 
 plish by simply bearing down on each other, and abus- 
 ing other people in the Church, often times when we 
 
MEMORIALS 85 
 
 ee 
 
 ourselves are no better than they. I must say I have 
 never seen much good accomplished by a professional 
 kicker in the Church, or anywhere else. I believe that 
 those who do most good in the Church are those who 
 exercise the loving, forgiving spirit, the helpful spirit, 
 the spirit of co-operation; those who are ready to do 
 their part, and not to shift the responsibility on other 
 shoulders, and then criticise these others for not doing 
 what they think ought to be done. Let us not be too 
 sensitive and too afraid of having our feelings hurt. 
 Let us think about the work of the Church, let us love 
 that, and love our brothers and sisters who are en- 
 deavoring to do their part. Treat others, even in the 
 Church of God, as you would have them treat you. Be 
 warm and friendly and loving and prayerful. It has 
 been one of the chief characteristics of the life of this: 
 Church that the people have lived in such harmony and 
 good-will toward each other. Let us continue to culti- 
 vate that trait; as Paul says, ‘‘Study the things that 
 make for peace.”’ The Apostle James gives us some 
 good advice when he says, “‘Wherefore, my beloved 
 brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, 
 slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the 
 righteousness of God.” 
 
 Let us apply the Golden Rule also to those who are 
 tempted, and to those who give way before temptation. 
 All of us are subject to temptation, and all of us yield 
 to it. So the apostle Paul says in writing to the Ga- 
 latians, ‘‘Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, 
 ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit 
 of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be 
 tempted.” This means, if one be overtaken in a fault, 
 do not begin to criticise him, to abuse him, to withdraw 
 
86 MEMORIALS 
 
 from him and to threaten to put him out of the Church. 
 But we are to restore him, remembering that we are 
 all subject to temptation. Treat him as you would 
 like for him to treat you. Suppose you commit a fault, 
 suppose you yield to temptation, would you wish all 
 the people in the Church to criticise you, and leave you 
 to go from bad to worse? Treat others as you would 
 have them treat you under similar circumstances. 
 
 Let us also apply the Golden Rule to those who are 
 in trouble. Be sympathetic and helpful to the sick and 
 the sorrowful. When you are in trouble, how do you 
 feel, if others forget you, neglect you, are cold and 
 unsympathetic in their attitude toward your You ap- 
 preciate the kindness, the love and the help of your 
 friends in times of trouble; therefore you should exer- 
 cise the same spirit toward them. There is nothing 
 that touches the heart like sympathy and help, when 
 one is in trouble; and frequently, I am happy to say, 
 people who are in great trouble tell me, “I did not 
 know I had so many friends; and their kindness has 
 broken my heart.’ This is the Christian spirit; this is 
 really the application of the Golden Rule. 
 
 HEtpe NEEDED 
 
 In these, and in many other ways which I have not 
 mentioned, when we think seriously about it, we can 
 understand what our Lord meant by saying, ‘“There- 
 fore all things whatsoever ye would that men should 
 do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law 
 and the prophets’; and we can understand what it 
 implies when one says he does not claim to be a Chris- 
 tian, but that he adopts the Golden Rule as his rule of 
 
MEMORIALS 87 
 
 
 
 life. How large a contract he has taken upon himself! 
 Now honestly I do not believe that any man who is 
 not a Christian can apply the Golden Rule; and I do 
 not believe any Christian can do it, as our Lord intends 
 for him to do it, unless he is led by the spirit of God 
 and has His sustaining grace. If you and I are going 
 to live by the Golden Rule, we must live near to the 
 Saviour. Our Master says it is only in this way that 
 we are to be the children of our Father who is in 
 heaven. We have to learn to be like Him. 
 
 If you are going to adopt the Golden Rule, and 
 certainly you cannot adopt a better one, you will have 
 to start out by giving your heart to Christ; and you 
 must ask His guidance and the help of His grace. 
 
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