PRINCETON, N. J. * 
 
 1 
 
 Presented by Mrs. Sanford H. Smith. 
 
 CT 275 ~."H642~S67 1862' 
 Spring, Gardiner, 1785-1873 
 A funeral sermon, occasione< 
 by the death of the late 
 
 
 
 
 
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 MAKCH 25th, 1862. 
 
A Funeral Sermon*., occasioned by the death 
 of the late Horace Holden, by Gardiner Spring, 
 Pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church in the 
 City of New York. 
 
Sermon, 
 
 JESUS WEPT.— John si. 35. 
 
 We have often contemplated the character of 
 the Saviour in its superhuman and divine glory ; 
 we have contemplated it in the tenderness, the 
 wisdom, the dignity of his human nature. It 
 was no fancied picture, and no coarse painter 
 that drew this inimitable scene. We cannot now 
 dwell upon it, except in the single feature ex- 
 pressed in our text. It was foretold of the Son 
 of Man, that he should be " a man of sorrows 
 and acquainted with grief ;" and we behold him 
 now weeping at the grave of Lazarus. What an 
 instructive and beautiful picture of his lovely 
 character ! It was no matter of surprise to him 
 
 (5) 
 
6 
 
 that Lazarus was dead j he had intimated it to 
 his disciples while they were at a distance from 
 Bethany. He knew that he would raise him 
 from the dead ; he had intimated this also to 
 his disciples, and to Martha, the sister of Laza- 
 rus. He was on his way to the grave, in order 
 to perform this great miracle. But, all of a sud- 
 den, he was observed to be in tears. "Jesus 
 wept." There he stood in silence and in tears. 
 It was an hour of suspense among the spectators 
 as he approached the grave. It was a cave, 
 and a stone lay upon it. Jesus broke the silence : 
 " Take ye away the stone !" and when the stone 
 was rolled away, he uttered a solemn prayer to 
 his Father, and then "cried with a loud voice, 
 Lazarus, come forth !" It was a glorious day in 
 Bethany and in Judea. The event showed that 
 the death of Lazarus was a glorious event ; yet 
 Jesus wept over it. 
 
He was a mourner with those who mourned. 
 He would scarcely have been human, had not 
 his spirit been troubled within him, and had he 
 not learned to " weep with them that weep." He 
 feels an interest in those he loves ; "in all their 
 afflictions he is afflicted." His tears at the 
 grave were human tears ; they came from a heart 
 that was full to overflowing. He took man's na- 
 ture that he might suffer with men when they 
 were sufferers, and care for them when they were 
 outcasts. He felt it to be a privilege to mingle 
 his tears with these weeping and orphan sisters. 
 It was a relief to his own affectionate heart to 
 enter into their calamity and share their sorrows. 
 
 It is recorded of him also, that he " loved 
 Martha and her sister, and Lazarus." He had 
 the sympathy not merely of man with man, but 
 of a friend with friends. His heart beat tenderly 
 and quickly toward those who loved him, and 
 
8 
 
 whom he loved. " A friend loveth at all times, 
 and a brother is born for adversity." Never was 
 heart so formed for strong attachments as his. 
 His life and death breathe this spirit. The bonds 
 of intimacy between him and this favored family 
 at Bethany were peculiar ; it was no ordinary 
 friendship that existed between them. They were 
 often brought together, not upon terms of con- 
 ventional and cautious civility, but of unem- 
 barrassed friendship. He was their guest ; their 
 hearts were knit together in confidential union. 
 These sisters knew him well, and did not doubt 
 his love to their departed Lazarus. How could 
 he do otherwise than enter into their sorrows ? 
 When he saw Mary weeping, and the Jews also 
 weeping who came with her, he " groaned in 
 spirit and was troubled." And as they led Him 
 to the grave. He wept. Even the hard-hearted Jews 
 wept. It was no time to reason. It was nature 
 
9 
 
 to feel. His tears were an affectionate tribute 
 to the dead, and an amiable expression of the 
 heart of the living. 
 
 Other emotions, too, could hardly have failed 
 to fill his compassionate mind. He came from a 
 world where sin and sorrow and death never 
 enter. He found this earth a hospital, full of 
 "lamentation and mourning and woe." He 
 found it a vast dormitory filled with the sick 
 and the dying ; a land of graves ; a world-wide 
 Golgotha, where ' : the mourners go about the 
 streets." And well he knew the cause. "As 
 by one man sin entered into the world, and 
 death by sin. so death passed upon all men, for 
 that all have sinned." The funeral knell had 
 tolled the departure of successive generations 
 from Adam's first-born to the death of Lazarus. 
 What an obituary was here ! What a chronicle 
 of mortality ! Even those whom Jesus tenderly 
 
10 
 
 loved are engulphed in the general doom. It 
 was a gloomy scene, these weeping sisters and 
 this grave of Lazarus. Sin had found its way to 
 those peaceful retreats of Olivet, and made them 
 the house of mourning. The sun did not shine 
 so bright, nor the green olive smile so gladly ; 
 there were shadows, there was sadness ; the 
 Serpent had been there and chased its victim 
 to the tomb. It was but a single example of the 
 Destroyer's power that Jesus beheld ; but he 
 was troubled when he beheld it, He came 
 to conquer sin and death ; and as he met 
 his foe, he saw the victim in his hands, and 
 wept. 
 
 How true is it that "we have not an High 
 Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling 
 of our infirmities I" Are we tempted ; so was 
 he, that he "might know how to succour them 
 that are tempted." Have we enemies ; so had 
 
ll 
 
 he. Have we friends ; so had he. Do our 
 friends forsake us and die ; so did his. Must 
 we leave our hearts buried with them in the 
 grave ; he, too, wept at the grave of those he 
 loved. Lift up your eyes to that throne ; Jesus 
 the God, Jesus the Man is there. There is the 
 " First-Born among many brethren ;" our own 
 brother, Mary's son. 
 
 He wept ; and is it not enough that " the ser- 
 vant be as his Lord ?" We must expect to 
 weep. And we may weep. Sorrow has its 
 appropriate mission in this lost world. There 
 is nothing in the religion of Jesus to forbid 
 our tears. " Blessed are they that mourn, for 
 they shall be comforted." He gave us hearts 
 to feel, and eyes to overflow. It is a slander 
 upon the religion of the Bible that it dries up the 
 social affections. It is a selfish and unfriendly 
 world we live in ; but Christianity is neither un- 
 
12 
 
 friendly nor selfish. When those we have loved 
 are laid in the grave, how sweet his voice, 
 breaking in upon our brooding sorrows, " Where 
 have ye laid him?" The love of Christ at such 
 an hour, how sweet is it ! Yes, ye sons and 
 daughters of affliction, ye may weep. In a world 
 where sin has dug the grave of all that is lovely 
 and beloved, you may not look for attachments 
 that never die. 
 
 Some of you are mourners to day. Take heed, 
 lest in this hour of blighted earthly hopes, you 
 give way to the thought that he has forgotten 
 you, who makes your sorrows his own. He 
 loves to be trusted at such an hour as this. 
 The tempest may rage, and you may feel the 
 effects of the storm ; anxiety and alarm may 
 crowd upon your hearts ; but do not forget that 
 his loving heart is no stranger to the depths of 
 sorrow. You have but to send your messages 
 
13 
 
 of grief to his ear, and even if he does not 
 make haste to help you, in his own best time 
 and way, you shall be comforted. 
 
 We are all mourners. The prophet Isaiah has 
 left it on record, in relation to a period of great 
 degeneracy in the Hebrew Church, that " the 
 righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to 
 heart." We have fallen upon evil times ; but 
 they are not so degenerate, that no man lays to 
 heart the death of him whose recent departure 
 from the midst of us is the occasion of our pre- 
 sent services. I do not know a man in this 
 Christian community whose death would cause 
 deeper grief than the death of Horace Holden. 
 It is not the domestic circle alone, of which 
 he was the bright adornment, who are mourners 
 to-day. It is the church of God in our city. 
 They are God's ministers ; they are the friends 
 of God of every name, who knew and loved 
 2 
 
14 
 
 and mourned for him. It is an hour of blighted 
 hopes ; anxiety and sorrow crowd upon our 
 hearts ; and we come to God's Sanctuary to 
 seek calmer and holier thoughts from the Great 
 Comforter. He speaks to us, and invites us 
 to speak with him. We come to lay on him 
 who is "touched with the feeling of our in- 
 firmities," the burden of our sorrows, to com- 
 mune with him concerning them all, and to 
 ask him to commune with us. "He maketh 
 sore, and bindeth up ; he woundeth, and his 
 hands make whole." The happiest persons in 
 our world are not those who are exempt from 
 trouble ; but rather those whose hearts have 
 been schooled by affliction, and who have learned 
 to say, " God is our refuge and strength ; the 
 Lord of Hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob 
 is our refuge." God removed our beloved friend 
 at the right time, and in the right way. His 
 
15 
 
 death is an event for which the Sovereign Dis- 
 poser had for a long time been making much 
 preparation. Providence and grace, Sabbaths 
 and ordinances, the labors of ministers, the fel- 
 lowship of his people, and his own prayers and 
 efforts had clone their work. He was ready ; he 
 was fully ripe for the harvest, and "came to his 
 grave in a full age, and like as a shock of corn 
 cometh in in his season/ ' The angels of God 
 and the spirits of the just made perfect, look 
 upon his death with satisfied and joyous emotions. 
 And so does the Saviour who loved him. He 
 would have all his friends about him ; and when 
 they remove to the upper sanctuary, it is in 
 answer to his request, "Father I will that they 
 whom thou hast given me be with me where 
 I am." 
 
 In some views, the death of such a man as Mr. 
 Holden is most undesirable and afflictive : in 
 
16 
 
 others, it is an event of the most joyous kind. 
 He is safe ; he is holy ; he is happy. He shall 
 hunger no more, nor thirst any more ; nor suffer, 
 nor sigh any more. " God shall wipe away all 
 tears from their eyes. 77 
 
 We rejoice with the departed ; and though we 
 sorrow for them, it is not with the sorrow of the 
 world that worketh death. We bless God for 
 them, and for all his goodness and mercy toward 
 them. Our departed friend will not easily be 
 forgotten ; we love his memory, and would fain 
 be "followers of them who, through faith and 
 patience, inherit the promises. 77 
 
 Horace Holden was born at Sudbury, Mass., 
 November 5, 1793. When quite young his 
 father's family removed to Newark, N. J., where 
 he pursued his studies under the care of Eev. 
 William Woodbriclge, D. D. He came to this 
 city in the year 1809, where he entered the 
 
17 
 
 office of Ezra Bliss, Esq., with a view to the pro- 
 fession of the law. He was admitted to the bar 
 in 1811, and during the war of 1812, was sta- 
 tioned at Sandy Hook, and attached to the staff 
 of General Colfax. More than forty years ago 
 he was introduced to me as a student at law in 
 this city ; and from that hour to the time of his 
 death, my personal acquaintance with him has 
 been growing into unembarrassed intercourse 
 and affectionate confidence. For some time he 
 attended upon the ministry of Rev. Dr. Mason, 
 of the Murray Street Church, where he was 
 highly esteemed. I became his pastor in the 
 year 1819, and was the witness of his early re- 
 ligious convictions. His conscience was first ar- 
 rested by a familiar lecture from the words, " If 
 thou Lord shouldest mark iniquity, Lord, who 
 could stand V His convictions of sin were clear 
 and strong. It was not a slavish dread of punish- 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 went that agitated him, so much as a deep sense 
 of his wickedness. It was during one of those 
 seasons of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit 
 upon this people, when the work of the Law was 
 faithful and severe, but not prolonged. He 
 found that " there was forgiveness with God, that 
 he might be feared," and his mental distress soon 
 resulted in the peace which Jesus gives, and 
 furnished delightful evidence that he had passed 
 from death unto life. He was received as a 
 member of this church in the month of July, 
 1820, in company with ten others, only two of 
 whom remain among us, and are present with us 
 at these solemnities. His views of religious truth 
 were eminently evangelical, tracing his whole 
 salvation to the sovereign purposes and electing 
 grace of God, through the perfected redemption 
 of his Son, inwrought in his own soul, and car- 
 ried on, "not of blood, nor of the will of the 
 
19 
 
 flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." He 
 began his Christian course, if not with that same 
 freedom, yet with that same affectionate earnest- 
 ness which distinguished his whole life. I say, 
 he thus began his Christian course. He felt the 
 importance of beginning right ; his example and 
 his influence upon our young men will not soon 
 be forgotten. He felt the importance of being a 
 well instructed and active Christian, and was not 
 satisfied with merely uniting with the church and 
 then retiring from active Christian duties. 
 
 He was ordained as one of our Ruling Elders 
 in the month of March, 1823 ; it is in this 
 official character that he is best known to the 
 members of this congregation. How faithfully, 
 and with what discretion and kindness he dis- 
 charged its duties, and how acceptably, you are 
 the witnesses. No man was more punctual, more 
 prompt, or more diligent in his high vocation ; 
 
20 
 
 with him it was a calling, not of honors and 
 trust merely, but of responsibility and ser- 
 vice. He took a deep interest in the spiritual 
 and temporal welfare of the Church ; his re- 
 ligious history, his personal comfort and use- 
 fulness were so associated with it, that it 
 would be difficult to specify the earthly object 
 that was so dear to his heart. If anything was to 
 be done which belonged to him to do, lie did it. 
 His will and his work were in habitual harmony. 
 The Sabbath-school, of which he was so long the 
 laborious and instructive superintendent ; the 
 weekly lecture ; the weekly prayer-meeting ; his 
 pastor and his brethren of the Session ; as w r ell 
 as those special seasons of prayer, which will be 
 long remembered by some still among the living, 
 found in him one of their chief supporters. Be 
 the signs of the times ever so ominous, and the 
 discouragements what they may ; be the service 
 
21 
 
 ever so responsible, and ever so great a weariness 
 to flesh and blood, Horace Holden was always 
 in his place, and with his spiritual armour girt 
 about him. Nor ought this beautiful trait in his 
 character to be overlooked, that he gave a cor- 
 dial welcome to every summons to active duty. 
 It was a cheering invitation ; he was glad when 
 they said unto him, " Come let us go up to the 
 House of the Lord." 
 
 Nor may the remark be suppressed, that he 
 was greatly favored in his natural disposition. 
 He was frank, cheerful, unforbidding, had great 
 kindness of heart, and was unsuspicious to such a 
 degree that he sometimes too readily gave his 
 confidence to those who did not deserve it. Gen- 
 tlemen of the legal profession see so much of the 
 dark side of human nature, that they are apt to 
 be suspicious. It was not so with Mr. Holden j 
 he was a stranger to evil surmisings. The charity 
 
22 
 
 that "hopeth all things, and thinketh no evil," 
 was much more easily cultivated by him than 
 that severe caution which comes by sad ex- 
 perience. These natural traits of character gave 
 a pleasant and delightful coloring to his piety. T 
 have never known him the subject of dark and 
 distressing doubts. Religion was to him no sad, 
 demure and comfortless thing. It had charms 
 for him. He had great enjoyment in it ; it made 
 his life a happy life. It drew comfort from God, 
 and at the same time it did not spoil the world. 
 In cherishing its spirit, and yielding to its charms 
 he was not swimming against the stream, but 
 gently carried along with his own unruffled and 
 most gratified affections. Though there was much 
 that was joyous in his piety, there was nothing 
 that was spasmodic, or even extravagant. He 
 was zealous, but his zeal was according to know- 
 ledge. He lived during the period when there were 
 
23 
 
 not wanting those who kindled unhallowed fire on 
 God's altars, and who, in the spirit of one of old, 
 ventured to say, "Come, see my zeal for the Lord !" 
 But he was no friend to " new measures or novel 
 doctrines. 7 ' He was " rooted and grounded" in 
 faith and love. His piety was habitual, long- 
 tried, useful and happy. Even in adversity it was 
 happy. He was a man of trial. Storms beat 
 upon him. Many a dark cloud overshadowed him. 
 But amid clustering bereavements, his piety shone 
 out in amiable lustre. He honored God by a 
 pensive, yet unrepining submission, and a sweet 
 confidence that supported him in these dark pas- 
 sages of his pilgrimage. He had learned to rest 
 on the promises of a covenant God. He was a 
 man of prayer, and knew the value of the Mercy 
 Seat. God had given him both the grace and 
 the gift of prayer ; and he cultivated them in his 
 closet. His prayers with us and for us will be 
 
24 
 
 long remembered. Those sweet words of his, 
 " never let ns leave thy side, nor let go the 
 hand that guides us," still linger on our ears. 
 His prayers are fresh in our hearts now ; they 
 have gone up as a memorial before God ; while 
 to us they are " as the smell of a field which the 
 Lord hath blessed." 
 
 Nor was he wanting in interest or effort, or a 
 liberal bounty toward the benevolent institutions 
 of the age in which he lived. He was judicious 
 and discriminating in his gifts, but he was a 
 liberal giver. Many is the widow and orphan 
 whose apprehensions he has quieted, and whose 
 heart he has made leap for joy. God had pros- 
 pered him in his secular vocation, and his " hand 
 was open as melting clay to heavenly charity.' 7 
 Beside his cheerful co-operation in the cause of 
 Domestic and Foreign Missions, the place he oc- 
 cupied in the direction of the American Bible 
 
25 
 
 Society, and on its Committee on Legacies, and 
 the active part he took in the Committee for the 
 Sanctification of the Lord's Day, gave him a 
 prominence in this land, especially in this com- 
 munity, which makes us deeply feel his loss. 
 
 With all this, he was a man of the world. No • 
 not a man of the world, but a man of G-od in the 
 world. In this busy world he had a part to act, 
 and he acted it well. In his business transactions 
 he was one of the most unexceptionable and ex- 
 emplary of men. He abhorred deceit and wicked- 
 ness in every form. He carried his religion into 
 his office, into his hours of relaxation at home 
 and abroad, into the social circle, and was not 
 ashamed of it before men. In his profession as a 
 lawyer, he felt and acted as though he knew that 
 the Law of God had claims upon him, and that it 
 gave dignity and claims to human laws. His 
 simplicity and purity of character, his uncompro- 
 3 
 
26 
 
 raising integrity, and his warm and friendly spirit 
 were always recognized by his professional breth- 
 ren, and won for him an enviable reputation in 
 the community. No judge upon the bench ever 
 listened to a statement of facts made by him with 
 any doubt of its truth ; and with his brethren of 
 the bar. his word was always as good as his 
 oath, or his bond. His well-known integrity and 
 ability in the management and advisory cha _• 
 of important trusts and estates, were much prized 
 and eagerly sought after. His mind was em- 
 inentlyj vractical, hi.- judgment cautious and s<:»und. 
 and his business habits industrious and perse- 
 vering. Though from the modesty of his charac- 
 ter and the peculiarity of his tastes, he did not 
 seek distinction in the more noisy and frequented 
 oath- of professional life, he was widely and 
 well known as a .-ale and judicious counsellor, 
 and an earnest, able and faithful lawyer. From 
 
27 
 
 Ins warm and generous nature, he was always a 
 friend to his clients ; and that, in so high and 
 true a sense, that lie would never, as counsel, 
 advise that which, as an honest man and a 
 Christian, he could not justify and maintain. In 
 a profession, whose influence in the community is 
 so wide-spread and powerful ; whose rapacity for 
 good or for evil is second to none, save that of the 
 pulpit ; and whose standard of morals and prin- 
 ciples of action are as elevated and just as ob- 
 tain in any secular calling ; it is no ordinary 
 praise to say, that the name of Horace Holden 
 had passed into a proverb, and that his influence 
 and example won for him the affection and re- 
 spect of all his compeers. Faithful always to 
 the interests committed to his professional charge, 
 he was always, above all and before M, faithful 
 to duty, illustrating, in his daily life, those great 
 principles of truth, purity, charity and sound 
 
28 
 
 morality which he learned from the Bible, and 
 which distinguished him everywhere as a Chris- 
 tian lawyer, as well as a Christian man. 
 
 His work is now done. It is not his death we 
 dwell upon, but his life. Such was the nature of 
 his disease, that God did not allow him to bear 
 that testimony to the word of his grace in his last 
 hours, which we desired and expected from his 
 well-known character. We did not need the 
 testimony. It is a beautiful sight to look at, 
 when, after a clear, bright autumnal day, the sun 
 goes down on " his throne of gold ;" but we do 
 not doubt his shining, though his fading beams 
 are obscured by a cloud. Our departed friend 
 had glorified God by a prolonged and fruitful 
 life ; his last days were days of intellectual de- 
 rangement, with barely a glimpse of light amid 
 the ravings of the storm. 
 
 That glimpse was not denied us. On Monday 
 
29 
 
 morning last T called to see him, but it was 
 thought best that he should be left undisturbed ; 
 there was no abatement of his delirium. Fearing 
 the worst, I called again in the afternoon, with 
 some hope of directing his thoughts to his real 
 condition, and eliciting from him some expression 
 of his views in his near approach to a better world. 
 Though he was raving with inflammation of the 
 brain, his wife and daughter thought he would 
 recognize me. I put my hand upon his head, 
 and as soon as he became quiet, I said to 
 him : 
 
 " Mr. Holden, do you know me ?" 
 
 " Yes, I know you.' 7 
 
 "Who is it?" 
 
 " Why, it is Dr. Spring, my dear Pastor ! " 
 
 He then relapsed into his delirium, and began 
 to speak incoherently about his business affairs, 
 addressing the Court and the by-standers. I put 
 
 3* 
 
30 
 
 ray hand again upon his head, and he was silent. 
 I said to him — 
 
 " Mr. Holden, let all that go now ; we have 
 higher subjects to think of." 
 
 "Yes," he answered. "I have no earthly in- 
 terest left." 
 
 "You are very sick, my dear sir. Are you 
 going to leave us ? — are you going home ?" 
 
 He answered with emphasis, 
 
 11 Yes, I believe I am : I am going home." 
 
 "And is it well with you; and are you at 
 peace?" 
 
 Here his mind wandered again ; there was a 
 pause, and an evident effort for some deliberate 
 thought. I then remarked : 
 
 " You recollect that when Christian and Hope- 
 ful, in the ' Pilgrim's Progress," came to the river 
 that separated them from the Celestial City, 
 Christian, as he entered in, began to sink, and 
 
31 
 
 cried out, ' I sink in deep waters ; the floods 
 overflow me !' But Hopeful said to him, ' Be of 
 good cheer, my brother, I feel bottom, and it is 
 good !' " 
 
 At this allusion, the countenance of our be- 
 loved friend lighted up, and he exclaimed, " Yes, 
 it is good ; it is imperishable ; it is solid ; it is 
 a rock." Then, raising his voice, he said, " It is 
 imperishable. My only hope is in Christ and 
 his righteousness ; yes, it is imperishable [" 
 
 I feared a return of his derangement, and once 
 more put my hand upon his head, and said, 
 
 " Mr. Holclen, shall I pray with you P' 
 
 Calmly ho replied, " I should be delighted to 
 have you. It will be a delightful exercise to 
 me." 
 
 ' And is there anything you wish me specially 
 to pray for?'' 
 
 His simple answer was, "Yes, that if I have 
 
32 
 
 ever been the means of doing any good, it shall 
 be ascribed to the praise of unmerited grace in 
 Christ Jesus/' 
 
 During the prayer he was silent and seemed 
 perfectly calm. At the close, I said, "Did you 
 hear me, my dear friend ?" 
 
 His answer, clear and emphatic, was, " Yes, 
 
 EVERY WORD/ 7 
 
 We all wept. It was our last prayer. I left 
 him between live and six o'clock. 
 
 Soon after this his daughter said to him, 
 " Father, you are going home to Jesus ; have 
 you not something to say to me ? ;? 
 
 "Yes," he replied, "Jesus came into the 
 world to save sinners ; just such sinners as 
 you and I are." And after a short pause he 
 continued, "He still lives, the same all-glor- 
 ious, all-conquering, omnipotent Saviour." To 
 his affectionate and devoted wife, he uttered 
 
33 
 
 many words of comfort, not to be repeated 
 here. 
 
 At the request of his family, I called later in 
 the evening ; he did not recognize me. At nine 
 o'clock * I bade him farewell j sorrowing that I 
 should see his face no more. From all appear- 
 ances, and from the intimations of his medical 
 attendants, we did not expect that he would sur- 
 vive the night. 
 
 He remained delirious almost to the last. Yet, 
 as his strength failed, his thoughts, though inco- 
 herent, ran in a religious channel. As he drew 
 near his end, and became more exhausted, his 
 incoherency seemed, in a measure, to pass away, 
 and, turning upon his side, with a heavy sigh, he 
 said, — 
 
 " A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, 
 On thy kind arms I fall." 
 
 But here his voice faltered, and he could only 
 
34 
 
 say to his weeping wife and daughter, "Finish — 
 finish \t\ r They added, 
 
 " Be thou my strength and righteousness, 
 My Jesus and my all !" 
 
 Shortly after this he again turned his face 
 upon the pillow, and death closed the scene 
 about one o'clock the following morning. 
 
 Thus lived, and thus died Horace Holden. 
 For three years he had suffered from disease of 
 the heart, and, as I have heard him affirm, rarely 
 went from his house when he did not think it 
 probable that he should be brought home a 
 corpse. These three years he could say with 
 St. Paul, " I die daily." But the conflict is over. 
 "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is 
 death. 7 ' Toil and danger are now past ; there is 
 no darkness now, and no eclipse of faith. There 
 are no more deep waters ; no sin, no sorrow ; no 
 
35 
 
 hidden disease, no foe, no fear. lt There the wicked 
 cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." 
 That last breath, to what an untrodden, but glo- 
 rious way, did it conduct him! That last sigh, 
 fainter and still more faint, what a pensive, af- 
 fecting, but emphatic prelude to his everlasting 
 song ! 
 
 My beloved friends, how ought the life and 
 death of Horace Holden to affect you and me ? 
 Many a time have we listened to that welcome 
 voice in prayer, in praise, in tender expostula- 
 tion. Many a time have the children and youth 
 of our Sabbath-school been attracted and im- 
 pressed by his well-timed and beautiful addresses. 
 Many an afflicted family will remember his heal- 
 ing and consoling influence ; and many, many a 
 young man of this congregation — aye, and not a 
 few old men, too — may go home and put his 
 hand upon an affectionate and ad monitory letter 
 
36 
 
 from Mr. Holden's faithful pen, urging upon 
 him the one great concern of attending to the 
 things which belong to his everlasting peace. 
 These things live only in memory ; and they 
 are delightful memories. He is gone now. 
 He will not be seen, nor heard again until 
 the voice of the archangel, and the trump of 
 God shall change the living and awake the 
 dead. Within the short period of nine mouths 
 two of the Ruling Elders of this Christian Church 
 have been called to the Church of the First-Born 
 in Heaven. Thomas Eggleston and Horace Hol- 
 den have been added to the company of that 
 bright world, itself more bright from every ac- 
 cession from this world of tears. It is no loss to 
 them ; the loss is ours. We feel it. and can only 
 say. "It is the Lord ; let him do what seemeth 
 him g<x»d !" 
 
 For myself, my heart is desolate. I know not 
 
37 
 
 where to look for those who will " stand in the 
 gap and make up the hedge." No ; it is not al- 
 ways so, that the "righteous perisheth, and no man 
 layeth it to heart." The " precious sons of Zion, 
 comparable to fine gold, how are they as earthen 
 pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter !' 
 Well ma} T we say, "Help, Lord, for the godly 
 man ceaseth ; for the faithful fail from among 
 the children of men!'' Our "strong rods are 
 broken and withered." how the realities of 
 Eternity open upon us ! and they are the only 
 permanent realities in the universe. Yet, how 
 they approach us ! This long succession of holy 
 men and holy women that have passed from the 
 lower to the upper Sanctuary, what an aggregate 
 of immortal beings ! What a congregation do 
 they form ! What a cloud of witnesses, bending 
 from their thrones, are these fresh testimonials to 
 the grace that bringeth salvation ! How touch- 
 
 4 
 
9 
 
 ing their appeal to as ! Yon have thought of the 
 
 e when you shall meet them again ; let 
 
 'he thought be lite the passing v = F an 
 
 _ tated fancy. The unseen are things tha r 
 
 nal. Thei re no shadows there. The dosf 
 
 only upon that which is seen and 
 
 temporal. Set not your as then on the 
 
 earth, but whe at the right han> 
 
 if any of yon have no 
 wit 1 1 in the world, be ye entreate •'. 
 
 : a pardon at the cross of Jesus, lest where he 
 spirits ■■: the just made perfect are 
 car. He. 
 
The following Testimonials, so full of sympathy, 
 and so full of comfort to his surviving family and 
 friends, will not, I hope, be deemed out of place 
 in this Memorial. 
 
 (39) 
 
New York, 10th April, 1862. 
 
 Mrs. Horace Holder: 
 
 Dear Madam, — At a meeting of the Session of 
 the Brick Church, held this clay, the following 
 Minute was directed to be entered on their re- 
 cords : — " It is with no ordinary sadness, that in 
 this report of deaths the Session have to record 
 the name of Horace Hold en, as a man every 
 way entitled to our love and confidence, as a well- 
 known and long-tried member of this church, and 
 for many years associated with us in the elder- 
 ship ; faithful, diligent and acceptable in the dis- 
 charge of his official trust, and distinguished for 
 his virtues in private life. He is greatly lamented 
 and will be long remembered.' 7 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 ABNER L. ELY, Clerk, pro tern. 
 (41) 
 
42 
 
 The following Preamble and Resolutions were 
 adopted at a meeting of the Board of Trustees of 
 the Brick Presbyterian Church, held March 26th, 
 
 1862: 
 
 Whereas^ By the dispensation of Divine Provi- 
 dence, Horace Holden, Esquire, has been removed 
 from us by death, and this Board desire to ex- 
 press their sense of the great loss they have sus- 
 tained in this bereavement. Therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That by the death of the late Hor- 
 ace Holden, Esquire, the Board of Trustees has 
 lost the invaluable services of one of its most be- 
 loved, efficient and faithful members, and we de- 
 sire to pay a just tribute to the ability, fidelity 
 and earnest zeal which have always distinguished 
 him in the service of the church and of this Board, 
 of which he has been so long an efficient and 
 prominent member. 
 
 Re-solved, That while paying this tribute to his 
 
 4* 
 
43 
 
 memory and worth in his official relations to us as 
 a body, we cannot repress the thought that in the 
 death of Horace Holden we have each of us lost 
 an invaluable fnendaud a faithful Christian bro- 
 ther. 
 
 Resolved, That in expression of our respect 
 and affection for our deceased brother, this Board 
 will attend his funeral on the 27th instant. 
 
 Resolved, That the foregoing Preamble and 
 Resolutions be entered on the Minutes of the 
 Board, and that a copy of the same be sent to the 
 family of our deceased brother and friend. 
 
 (A true extract from the Minutes.) IRA BLISS, 
 
 Clerk. 
 
 American Bible Society, Bible House, 
 
 Astor Place, New York, April, 1862. 
 
 At a meeting of the Committee on Legacies of 
 the American Bible Society, held at the Society's 
 
44 
 
 House, April 3.1. 1862, Charles Tracy, Esq., in 
 
 the Chair, the following Eesolution was unani- 
 mously passed : 
 
 Resolved, That we have heard with sorrow of 
 the decease of Horace Holden. Esquire, a mem- 
 ber of this Committee from May, 1839, a period 
 of nearly twenty-three years, and Chairman there- 
 of long prior t«» and at the time of his death ; 
 that his uniform and diligent attention to this de- 
 partment of the Society's affairs, his wise judg- 
 ment and his firmness, combined with unfailing 
 Christian courtesy in administering it. as well as 
 his earnest zeal in the Bible cause, had endeared 
 him to his a iates ; and that his nam': will be 
 preserved among our most grateful memories of 
 tin 1 good who have been called to a Higher life. 
 
 (A true extract from the Minutes.) HENRY FISHER, 
 
 Secretary of Committee on Legacies. 
 
45 
 
 American Bible Society, Bible House, Astor Place, 
 New York, April 4th, 1862. 
 
 At the stated meeting of the Board of Mana- 
 gers of the American Bible Society, held on the 
 3d hist., the Hon. Luther Bradish, V. P., presid- 
 ing, and before the regular proceedings ; Secre- 
 tary Brigham announced the decease, since the 
 previous meeting, of Horace Holden, Esquire, for 
 many years a member of the Board. 
 
 Whereupon, the following Minute was unani- 
 mously adopted, and it was ordered that a copy 
 thereof be sent to the family of the deceased : 
 
 Resolved, That the Board enter upon their 
 records the recent death of Horace Holden, Es- 
 quire, for twenty-seven years an active and val- 
 uable member of the Board of Managers of the 
 American Bible Society, and for twenty-three 
 years a member of the Committee on Legacies, 
 during many of them its Chairman. In perform- 
 
46 
 
 ing this melancholy but grateful service they can- 
 not do justice to their own feelings, nor to the 
 memory of the departed without recognizing in 
 this event the chastising hand of God in remov- 
 ing from the midst of us one so greatly beloved 
 as a man, so greatly respected as a member of 
 society, and so actively devoted to the interests 
 of this Institution. Kind and genial in his spirit 
 and intercourse ; conservative in his views and 
 influence ; diligent, self-sacrificing and liberal in 
 his official trusts ; a lover of good men and the 
 friend of his race ; an honored member of the 
 New York Bar ; an upright Christian lawyer and 
 an upright Christian man. and in every view a 
 man of unimpeachable integrity ; Horace Holclen 
 has left a chasm in this community and in this 
 Board, which is deeply felt and not easily sup- 
 plied. The Board may be allowed to express 
 their sympathy with the bereaved family of the 
 
47 
 
 departed, and to commend them to his love and 
 guardianship who does not willingly afflict nor 
 grieve the children of men. 
 
 (From the Minutes.) CALEB T. HOWE, 
 
 Recording Secretary. 
 
 New York, April 21st, 1862. 
 Mrs. Horace Holden : 
 
 Madam, — In compliance with the direction of 
 the Board of Managers of the New York Sunday- 
 School Union, I take pleasure in transmitting the 
 following Resolutions : 
 
 Whereas, It has pleased Him in whom we live 
 and move and have our being, to call away from 
 the scenes of this transitory life the late Horace 
 Holden, long a member of this Board, and ever 
 warmly interested in the work of Sabbath-School 
 instruction. Therefore, 
 
 Resolved- That in the death of this Christian 
 
48 
 
 brother, whose life was adorned with so many 
 virtues, we find a source of sorrow, softened only 
 by the resignation that comes of cheerful submis- 
 sion to the Divine will, and by the assurance that 
 death has no sting, and the grave no victory to 
 him that enjoys that " peace of God, which pass- 
 eth all understanding." 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of these Resolutions be 
 transmitted to the family of the deceased. 
 
 With sentiments of high Christian regard, 
 
 Yours, very respectfully. 
 
 JAMES K McELLIGOTT, 
 
 Cor. Sec. N. Y. S. S. Union. 
 
 The following notice is from the New York 
 Observer : 
 
 THE LATE HORACE HOLDEX, ESQ. 
 
 A good deal has been very justly and properly 
 said respecting the general character and useful- 
 
49 
 
 ness of this servant of God. To that I shall not 
 add any thing. But I have had access to a cor- 
 respondence of his with one of God's children for 
 some years past. To her he expressed himself 
 with great freedom. His letters show the work- 
 ings of his mind in a way far more satisfactory 
 than can be learned from general statements. 
 He writes : 
 
 11 May 16, 1859.— I suppose that I never shall 
 be perfectly well again. I do not expect it. 
 These are kind admonitions to me to set my 
 house in order. I have seen many good days. 
 God has borne long with my sins and infirmities ; 
 and though I am utterly unworthy to indulge the 
 least hope, I trust still, that he will enable me to 
 triumph in the dying hour." 
 
 "June 2, 1859. — I was miserable when 
 
 left here ; and my recuperation, if it be such, is 
 so slow, that I sometimes feel as if it would never 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 be otherwise with me. But one thing I know ; 
 if it is best, God will direct to the use of the best 
 means ; if otherwise, I hope for a meek, quiet 
 and submissive spirit to yield to his sovereign 
 will without a murmur. The fact is, I am just 
 about good-for-nothing. I cannot bear to sit still 
 and do nothing ; and yet I can do nothing that 
 requires much physical or mental effort." 
 
 11 July 12, 1861. — I am trying to pray for an 
 humble spirit. Plow far I am from possessing it ! 
 I very often cry, for true humility ! My old 
 minister once said, 'I do not ask whether you 
 have much pvids. Have you any humility ¥ 
 
 " The coming Sabbath is our Communion. I do 
 not anticipate as much comfort as usual. But 
 God can clear the darkest skies, and give us day 
 for night." 
 
 '* Oct. 7, 1861. — We had quite a serious day 
 
51 
 
 yesterday. I was obliged to come up to church 
 to open my Sunday-school. For the last eight 
 weeks we have had the services of the Rev. John 
 Nitchie Lewis, who supplied the pulpit during 
 Dr. Spring's vacation. He was to have preached 
 for us yesterday afternoon, and on Friday even- 
 ing he was at work, very late, at his sermon ; he 
 was taken very ill (disease of the heart) and died 
 at 6 o'clock yesterday morning. Dr. Spring al- 
 luded to it in his opening service, preached a ser- 
 mon adapted to the occasion, and offered such a 
 prayer. How sudden ! I often think my end 
 will be like his. If I am as well prepared as I 
 hope he was, on my account, I should not dread 
 it. But oh ! it is a great thing to be prepared to 
 die. What is it to be prepared to die, except 
 simply a cordial reception of Jesus Christ ? 
 Have I done this ? Have I any true humility of 
 heart? Have I any sincere penitence for sin? 
 
52 
 
 Do I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? I want 
 better evidence of my discipleship. I am sure 
 that I do not repose on works of my own. My 
 best righteousness is all filthy rags. Oh, for a 
 stronger faith ! ,; 
 
 "Nov. 19, 1861. — I thank you for remember- 
 ing to send me a letter on my birth-day. I can 
 hardly believe that I am older than Gen. Wash- 
 ington lived to be — so it is. I look back on the 
 way in which the Lord has led me, and wonder 
 at his forbearance and mercy — and my ingrati- 
 tude and uufruitfulness. ' God be merciful to me 
 a sinner,' is my only plea and my only hope. 
 
 "I want a more confiding trust in Gocl. A 
 knowledge of my heart constantly overwhelms 
 me." 
 
 Much more might be given ; but enough has 
 been said to give the reader an insight into Mr. 
 
53 
 
 Holden's inner life. His Christian character was 
 marked — 1. By deep humility before God. Be- 
 fore men none was farther from servility. But 
 no approved devotional language was too abasing 
 as he prostrated himself before his Maker. 
 
 2. Mr. Holden's piety was benevolent. He 
 thought kindly, he felt kindly, he spoke kindly, 
 he acted kindly. He hated all malice, and ma- 
 licious acts and words. 
 
 3. Mr. Holden's piety was very earnest. He 
 was not moody in religion. He was always lively 
 and intent on God's service. 
 
 4. Mr. H. was very devotional in his feelings 
 and habits. No inmate of his family ever doubted 
 this. He sang, he read God's word, he prayed, 
 he soliloquized in a manner showing that his 
 heart was in true devotion. 
 
 5. His piety bore every scriptural test. In 
 experience of trials, crosses, losses, in weariness, 
 
54 
 
 in perplexity, in sickness, in death, his religion 
 bore him up, bore him on, bore him through. 
 
 6. To him Christ was all and in all, the way, 
 the truth, and the life, the Alpha and the Omega. 
 
 W. S. P. 
 
 The following, among many others, speak a 
 language to which many hearts respond : 
 
 At the monthly meeting of the Sabbath Com- 
 mittee, held April 14, 1862, the following Minute 
 was adopted : 
 
 " Horace Holden, Esq., a valued member of 
 the Committee from the time of its organization, 
 and, while his health permitted, the Chairman of 
 the Advisory Committee, having entered upon his 
 eternal rest since our last meeting, 
 
 11 The Committee would place on their records 
 this expression of respect for his personal and 
 
55 
 
 professional character, and of admiration for his 
 genial, active and useful Christian life. An early, 
 steadfast and generous friend and advocate of the 
 Sabbath Reform, and of the Bible, Missionary, 
 and kindred institutions, his public career has 
 been identified with the prosperity of religion 
 and morals, as his private life has exemplified the 
 beauty and power of the Gospel of Christ, The 
 Committee would tender their cordial sympathy 
 to the Church with which he was so long associ- 
 ated, and to the widow and children bereaved by 
 this Providence : and they would be quickened 
 by it in their devotion to a cause which occupied 
 the dying thoughts as it had shared the living 
 energies of their lamented associate." 
 
 (A true copy from the Minutes.) 
 
 Attest, R. S. Cook, Cor. Sec. 
 
56 
 
 Cincinnati, May Sth, 1862. 
 
 My Deae Mes. Holder : 
 
 I thank you for the opportunity you have 
 kindly afforded me of adding a few words to the 
 memorial, which is about to be published, of your 
 deceased husband. I look upon it as another 
 proof of that hearty friendship, which ever since 
 I have had the happiness to know your family, 
 has been so constantly shown me by every mem- 
 ber of it, and by none more than by him whose 
 death has now afflicted us all. 
 
 My personal acquaintance with your husband, 
 as you are very well aware, has been compara- 
 tively brief. For a quarter of a century I have 
 been familiar with his name, as that of a person 
 prominently active in all the great enterprises of 
 Christian benevolence in your city, and in this 
 country, but my first meeting with him occurred 
 only some eight or nine years ago, at Saratoga, 
 
57 
 
 on an occasion which you have not forgotten, for 
 then I first became acquainted with yourself, and 
 with those dear children, one of whom has since 
 had trial of death, and I doubt not of the joys of 
 heaven, having gone before to welcome her fath- 
 er in their Father's house. 
 
 The manner in which my intimacy with your 
 husband began, had in it something so character- 
 istic of him, that although it may not appear in 
 perfect taste for me to describe it, T am still un- 
 willing to deny myself the privilege of doing so. 
 We had just returned from an evening religious ■ 
 service at which I had preached, and as I was 
 passing through the hall of the Union Hotel, in- 
 tending to retire at once to my chamber, a gen- 
 tleman, whom I did not know, planted himself 
 square before me, and seizing my hand, said — 
 11 Dr. Thompson, I was in your congregation this 
 evening. My name is Horace Holden. I like 
 
58 
 
 you. Let us know each other and be friends." 
 My present impression is that he threw his arms 
 about me, and drew me warmly to him. At any 
 rate, whether he literally did that or not, I felt 
 as if he had done it. There was something so 
 intensely fraternal, and Christianly loving in his 
 manner, that I had a sense, when it was all over, 
 of having been hugged. 
 
 After this beginning we walked together for 
 half an hour on the piazza of the hotel, and when 
 we parted for the night I think I knew him as 
 thoroughly as if we had been natural brothers. 
 Not a single impression which my mind then re- 
 ceived of his character, though we have regularly 
 corresponded, my last letter from him being writ- 
 ten only a fortnight before his death, though he 
 has been a guest in my house, and I often in his, 
 though we have been with each other in sickness 
 and in health on terms of the utmost familiarity, 
 
59 
 
 conversing freely on air sorts of subjects, has 
 been changed in the slightest degree. I do not 
 think that I have discovered in him since, in all 
 the intercourse which we have had together, one 
 single peculiarity of mind or heart which I did 
 not see clearly belonged to him on that first even- 
 ing of our acquaintance. 
 
 If ever a man lived on earth who knew how to 
 be a friend, with a capacity of nature equal to 
 his understanding, surely your husband was such 
 a man ; and he seemed to have made up his 
 mind, at the outset, to be a friend to me. All 
 reserve was laid aside. Every window of his 
 soul was thrown up, and every door set wide 
 open ; and from that time onward, there was no 
 drawing back from this full and cordial surrender 
 of himself. I never had a friend whom I trusted 
 more implicitly, or whose friendship I more highly 
 prized, and I never shall cease to feel while I live, 
 
that in his death I b ive met with one of 
 •' earthly log 3. 
 
 In the my life I have never known 
 
 but three men who seemed that 
 
 I could not easily imagine h 
 '-ha: . . Sim your husk. 
 
 Eirth. 
 May 
 I will 1 hus- 
 
 T . {] 1 .. 
 
 o 
 
 m. He 
 
 at with i. 
 self, to I y in re- 
 
 I to whi man he was. and I am 
 
 sure, If I w mpt a . of him, 
 
 that I ai what w. 
 
 better expi his 
 
 1 1 I 
 11 him so lo 
 
61 
 
 Two remarkable excellencies were so conspicu- 
 ous in him, that T cannot forbear to mention 
 them ; first, the eminently practical character of 
 his piety ; and, second, what indeed is included 
 in the first, but may yet be separately noticed, 
 his absolutely perfect truthfulness. He was, day 
 by day, in his house, in his office, in the city, 
 every where, upon fixed principle, a steadfast, 
 cheerful doer of God's will. He was a man of 
 quick and deep emotions, with whom religion 
 often kindled to a blaze of passionate zeal, yet 
 bis emotions had nothing to do with the fidelity 
 of his habitual life as a Christian. In the other 
 respect to which I have referred, T am very cer- 
 tain that no one, who w r as not a stranger to him, 
 could ever have been in doubt. His words were 
 a perfect revelation of his thoughts and of his 
 heart He spoke out what was in him ; and his 
 actions and his manner were as truthful as his 
 
62 
 
 words. He loved the light, and walked in it. I 
 do not believe there is the man living who can 
 say that Horace Holclen ever played him a double 
 part, or intentionally deceived him. 
 
 No one better knows than his own wife, how 
 perfectly honest he was, and how consistently and 
 steadfastly faithful as a man of God. I can offer 
 no more fervent or important prayer for his chil- 
 dren, than that these great and shining virtues 
 of their father may be repeated in them. He 
 has left them an ample worldly inheritance, gath- 
 ered by the patient labors of a life on which no 
 stain rests, but his example is by far the richest 
 legacy. 
 
 I might speak of many things, dear Mrs. Hol- 
 clen, the particular remembrance of which could 
 only add to your great sorrow. I know how 
 dark, but for the presence of God in it, must be 
 the house in which the light of such a life has 
 
63 
 
 been extinguished. I doubt not, however, that 
 the presence of God is there. May the blessed- 
 ness of it be more and more experienced by you 
 and yours, until that glorious day shall come 
 when God will bring again with Jesus them that 
 sleep in him, and we which are alive and remain 
 shall be caught up together with them in the 
 clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, to be forever 
 with the Lord. Let us comfort ourselves and 
 one another with the words of God's unfailing 
 promise. 
 
 I am, in a common affliction and with the truest 
 love, Ever yours, 
 
 M. L. P. THOMPSON. 
 
64 
 
 Albany, May 13ik, 1862. 
 My Dear Mes. Holden : 
 
 I should find it exceedingly difficult to do jus- 
 tice to my own feelings, were I to attempt to ex- 
 press my sense of the greatness of the loss which 
 not his own family alone, but a wide circle of 
 friends also, have suffered in the death of your 
 excellent husband. It is better to be still and 
 submissively to acknowledge the hand of God in 
 this affecting event. The Lord reigneth — let the 
 earth rejoice ! 
 
 Yet I suppose that it is altogether proper, and 
 may in many respects be useful, to remember 
 what he was, and to recall particularly the gifts 
 of nature and of grace to which he owed his use- 
 fulness, and by means of which he attracted to 
 himself so much of affection and respect. Such 
 a man ought not to be soon forgotten. Hardly 
 
65 
 
 any thing is more inspiring than the study of a 
 good and useful life. 
 
 My acquaintance with Mr. Holden began more 
 than thirty years ago. He was then in the prime 
 of life, and actively engaged in his profession. I 
 was at that time struck with his decided and 
 earnest Christian character and his strong com- 
 mon-sense. He attached one to him, even on 
 a slight acquaintance. For several years after I 
 became a settled Pastor. I saw him but rarely. 
 Since my residence in Albany, however, our in- 
 tercourse has been more frequent. It has been a 
 great gratification to me to enjoy the hospitalities 
 of his home, and to receive him to my own. I 
 loved and honored him, for he well deserved it. 
 He was always, throughout the whole period of 
 my acquaintance with him, the same genial and 
 warm-hearted friend, the same inflexibly upright 
 and honorable man, the same clear-headed and 
 
 5 
 
66 
 
 judicious counsellor, and the same intelligent, 
 consistent, earnest Christian. His piety was 
 warm, but not fitful — an habitual glow of affec- 
 tion towards God. There was, indeed, a re- 
 markable unity and self-consistency in his whole 
 life. It was a healthful growth, a steady process 
 of becoming riper and richer in all goodness ; so 
 that when I saw him last — not without some mis- 
 giving in relation to his prospect for lengthened 
 days — he seemed to me like one who had been 
 long becoming prepared for the higher life of 
 heaven. He loved the Kingdom of Christ, and 
 was always ready to talk of it, to pray for it and 
 to labor for its advancement. I have often no- 
 ticed with admiration the strength of his attach- 
 ment to the particular church of which he was a 
 member, and to its now venerable Pastor, the 
 Rev. Dr. Spring, in whose ministry, through the 
 whole of his Christian life, he had seemed to find 
 
67 
 
 unminglecl satisfaction. Happy the Pastors who 
 have such friends and fellow-laborers ! Happy 
 the man who, having left such influences and 
 memories behind him, has been bidden to go up 
 higher, and has entered into the presence of the 
 Saviour whom he loved ! 
 
 A precious inheritance, indeed, to his own fam- 
 ily, to all his friends, and to the Church of God, 
 are the remembrances of such a man ! We may 
 honor the grace of God in him, even as he de- 
 lighted to say— by the grace of God, I am what 
 I am. May our faithful Gocl be to you, my dear 
 madam, more than a husband, even an everlast- 
 ing comforter and friend, and to your children a 
 tender Father and guide ! 
 
 With kindest regards to your family, believe 
 me always. Very truly yours, 
 
 RAY PALMER. 
 

 
 
 V *< 
 
- T 5