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 'Rev. l^ilHdtti C.^rownUe 
 
BX 9543 .B769 M4 1860 
 
 Memorial of the Rev. Willia. 
 C. Brownlee 
 
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 MEMORIAL 
 
 REV. AYILLIAM C. BROWNLEE, D. D, 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE CONSISTORY OF THE COLLEGIATE REF. PROT. 
 DUTCH CHURCH OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK. 
 
cy 
 
 J. J. Ennis, Stationer and Printer, 
 No. 24 Nassau-st., cor. Cedar, N. Y. 
 
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WILLIAM C. BEOWNLEE, 
 
 FOURTH SON OF THE LAERD OF TORFOOT, 
 
 BORX AT TOEFOOT, LANAKKSHIKE, IX SCOTLAND, IN 17.^3. 
 
 GRADUATED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW. 
 
 ^ircn.^ca U gitaclt by the grc$bDt(^vif ot <f tivUmj, 
 
 I KT 1 8 O 8 . 
 
 REMOVED TO THE UNITED STATES, AND SETTLED ASriSTOR OF THE 
 ASSOCIATE CHURCH, AT MOUNT PLEASANT, PA. 
 
 Called in 1813 to the Associate Scotch Church, in Philadelphia. 
 
 PASTOR OF THE PRESBYTERIO CHURCH, IN BASKIXGRIDGE, N. J., IN 1819. 
 
 RECEIVED THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF DIVINITY BY THE UNANIMOUS 
 
 VOTE OF THE SENATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW, 
 
 DECEMBER G, 1824. 
 
 Appointed Professor of Languages in Rutgers College, at Ne'W- 
 Brunswick, N. J., in 1825. 
 
 INSTALLED COLLEAGUE PASTOR OF THE REFORMED 
 
 PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH, IN THE CITY OF 
 
 NEW- YORK, JUNE IS, 1826. 
 
 iDiED f:e::s:rtjj^ti-^^ lo, iseo. 
 
PROCEEDINGS 
 
 . CONSISTORY. 
 
ACT OF THE CONSISTORY. 
 
 At a meeting of the Consistory of the Keformed Protestant 
 Dutch Church of the City of New- York, held Feb. 11, 1860, 
 
 The President stated that Rev. William C. Brownlee, D. D., 
 one of the Pastors of this Church, departed this life yesterday 
 afternoon, and that Consistory had been convened for the pur- 
 pose of making arrangements for the funeral. 
 
 It ivas then ordered, That a Committee of Five be appointed 
 to confer with the family of deceased, and make and carry out 
 suitable arrangements for the funeral in accordance with the 
 wishes of the family. Messrs. Woodruff, Monroe, Wilkin, Cal- 
 houn, and W. Bogardus, were appointed the Committee. 
 
 It was resolved, That Rev. Dr. Vermilye be requested to 
 prepare a minute, commemorative of Rev. Dr. Brownlee, to be 
 inserted in the record of the proceedings of Consistory. 
 
 It ivas further ordered, That the Church masters be direct- 
 ed to drape our Churches in their discretion. 
 
 In view of the selection of ministers to officiate at the fu- 
 neral. Rev. Dr. De Witt was added to the above Committee. 
 
 In Consistory, February 13, 1860, 
 The Committee appointed to make arrangements for the fu- 
 neral of the Rev. William C. Brownlee, D. D., deceased, re- 
 ported, that the funeral will take place on Tuesday, the 14th 
 inst. That" a brief exercise will be had at the late residence 
 
8 
 
 of the deceased at half past one o'clock, and the public servi- 
 ces will be performed in the Middle Church (at the corner of 
 Fourth street and Lafayette Place) at two o'closk in the after- 
 noon ; and submitted the following resolutions for adoption : 
 
 Resolved, That this Consistory (the Ministers, Elders, and 
 Deacons) attend the funeral as mourners, and wear the usual 
 badge of mourning. 
 
 • Resolved, That this Consistory, with the great Consistory, 
 meet at the Consistory Chamber, at one o'clock on the day of 
 the funeral, and proceed in a body to the house, and join in 
 the procession. 
 
 Resolved, That the following minute in relation to the de- 
 cease of their beloved and lamented Pastor (prepared by the 
 Rev. Dr. Vermilye in compliance with the request of this 
 Board), be approved and entered on the minutes of Consis- 
 tory.* 
 
 Resolved, That such one of our Pastors, as may be agreed 
 upon between them, be requested to prepare a funeral sermon 
 in reference to the decease of Dr. Brownlee, and deliver it in 
 the Middle Church. 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, and of the reso- 
 lutions adopted on the 11th instant, be certified by the Clerk, 
 and sent to the family of the deceased. 
 
 The above minute was read, and with the report and reso- 
 lutions, was adopted. 
 
 In Consistory, February 14, 1860. 
 The Consistory convened at one o'clock for the purpose of 
 attending the funeral of Rev. Dr. Brownlee. They then pro- 
 ceeded with some of the G-reat Consistory present, in a body, 
 to the residence of the deceased. Here a prayer was offered, 
 and the funeral procession was formed, and followed the body 
 of the deceased to the Middle Church, where the funeral so- 
 
 * The substance of the paper being embodied and expanded in the biographical 
 sketch contained in the sermon which follows, is here omitted. 
 
9 
 
 lemnities were held, consisting of an opening and closing 
 prayer, singing of two hymns, and addresses by Rev, Drs. 
 McCartee and Hutton. The funeral procession again formed, 
 and proceeded to the Marble Cemetery, in Second street, where, 
 in a vault belonging to Consistory, the body was deposited. 
 
 In Consistory, March 1, 1S60. 
 Resolved, That the Rev, Dr, Vermilye be requested to fur- 
 nish for publication his sermon, commemorative of our deceased 
 Pastor, Rev. William C, Brownlee, D. D, And that the pub- 
 lication of the sermon, with such other matter as they shall 
 deem proper, be committed to the Committee who had charge 
 of the funeral ceremonies. 
 Extracts from the Minutes. 
 
 (jTEo. S. Stitt, Clerk. , 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 REV. DR. McCARTEE 
 
ADDRESS OF EEV, DR. MCCARTEE. 
 
 When God speaks, Man should hearken and hear ; and 
 when the voice of a ministering servant of God is hushed in 
 death, then G-od speaks, and all, especially those who bear 
 the like office and sustain the like responsibilities, should listen 
 to the call, " Think on these things." 
 
 God has his purpose to accomplish in all his works of creation, 
 in all his ways of Providence, and in all his dispensations of 
 grace. In all he designs to show forth his glory ; and whe- 
 ther worlds are framed or dissolved, whether kingdoms flourish 
 or fade, whether man live or die, God's will is to be obeyed, 
 and his hand to be recognized. 
 
 In these manifestations of Himself, rising in importance and 
 exceeding in glory. Providence transcends creation, and 
 grace exceeds them both. 
 
 His instruments and agents receive their importance and 
 their rank according to the place they occupy and the work 
 they perform, until they rise to Him^ " by whom he made the 
 world, to whom he has subjected all things," and whom, in his 
 crowning work of redemption, he has exhibited, as " the 
 brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his 
 Person." • 
 
14 
 
 By holding communion with Grod, especially in dispensa- 
 tions of solemn and urgent import like this, we may become 
 better fitted for the closing scenes of our own earthly course, 
 and for the house to which we are looking, and for the rest 
 which God has promised to His people ; to mingle in the 
 throng of redeemed spirits, and to join in the song of praise 
 and gratitude to him that loved us, and gave hiniiself for us. 
 In all Grod's works, and in all His words, and in all His dis- 
 pensations, He has so framed them that men may realize that 
 they have to deal with Him. And whenever, in the course of 
 His Providence, men are disposed to wander from Him and 
 forsake Him, He is in the habit of removing whatever has 
 come between the soul and Himself. Of all the agencies and 
 instrumentalities which he employs to effect His purposes, 
 none have a more grand and glorious mission than those to 
 whom He intrusts the duty of preaching the gospel, "When 
 God is pleased to call His instruments and agents to the work 
 of building up His kingdom, and of gathering in the souls for 
 whom Christ suffered and died, these instruments are not call- 
 ed to stand before men alone, but before the living God, and 
 to be co-workers with Him. "When God calls men of like 
 passions with ourselves to preach the gospel of His Son, to 
 stand between the living and the dead, and to plead with 
 Him on behalf of men, and with men for their own sake, 
 He lays deep and awful responsibility upon them, under which 
 their souls might well tremble, were not the promise given, 
 " My grace is sufficient for thee, and my strength perfect in 
 weakness." 
 
 God does not lay on men these awful responsibilities, with- 
 out conferring upon them, according to their need, the grace 
 and strength whereby they may glorify Him, and be enabled 
 to benefit their fellow-men. "When a man is called to this 
 
15 
 
 great and glorious work, it is the subject of interest in heaven, 
 and it ought to be so on the earth also. And when he is pleased 
 to take away such a one ; to extinguish the light His own 
 spirit had kindled in the sanctuary ; to remove the watch- 
 man whom His own hand had placed on the walls of Zion ; 
 to hush the voice that loved to relate the story of redeem- 
 ing love, and make the proffer of saving grace ; well might 
 both earth and heaven look with interest on the scene, Such 
 a scene is before the present audience on this occasion. 
 
 We have come here to pay the last tribute of respect to one 
 whom many of those present have known, and whom many 
 of them have loved. Called of God in his early days to the 
 gospel ministry. Dr. Brownlee came to the work richly 
 furnished in intellect, and richly furnished in heart ; richly 
 furnished with the wisdom of the world, more richly and glo- 
 riously supplied with the wisdom from above to proclaim the 
 unsearchable riches of the love of Christ to his fellow men. 
 It is not the business of an introductory address to sketch the 
 character of the man whom I so well knew and so truly loved, 
 to whose voice I have loved to listen, because it proclaimed a 
 pure and rich gospel, which, holding firmly, he preached 
 strongly, energetically, and with his whole soul. It was easy 
 to see that he was a man who loved his work, and who 
 loved his Master. His natural firmness was aided by the 
 power of a holy purpose to glorify God, even if it should lead 
 him to suffering and martyrdom. Why is it that God in His 
 Providence has taken away such a man ? bimply, that those 
 who have heard his proclamation of the truth, and his brethren 
 in the ministry, may mark the way that he has gone, and 
 be guided by his footsteps in the path to glory, honor, and 
 immortality ; that the saving power of His grace, who is in 
 the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image 
 
16 
 
 of His person, may be impressed still more deeply on the 
 hearts and consciences of those who suffer the bereavement. 
 What is the lesson to the brother ministers of the de- 
 ceased, taught by the present scene ? That they are to preach 
 the G-ospel of the Son of Grod, not to amuse their hearers, not 
 to instruct them, even, in other things, but pre-eminently to 
 set the one object before them of preaching Christ, that they 
 may feel, with the Apostle Paul, that for them to live is 
 Christ, and to die will be gain. An impressive warning to 
 each minister of the gospel is conveyed by the present scene — 
 and, indeed, to every occupant either of pew or pulpit— that 
 they should embody in their hearts and lives the whole gospel, 
 humbling as it is to the pride of man, and giving all glory to 
 Christ. Day by day, and more and more, we should realize 
 that it is the duty of Christian ministers, not only to preach, 
 but to illustrate the gospel — to walk as Christ walked, to suffer 
 as Christ also suffered, to sacrifice as He sacrificed, and to 
 count all things but loss, so that they may win Christ for 
 themselves, and proclaim him fully and truly to others. The 
 best light that a Christian minister can throw on the gospel of 
 the grace of Grod, is his own holy, devoted, and loving life. He 
 should commend the gospel to the people of his charge by a 
 clear and bright example, that they may follow him as he 
 followed Christ. Thus they will illustrate the power and 
 purity of the gospel of the grace of Grod. The minister of 
 God stands between the powers of darkness on the one hand, 
 and the great day on the other ; and while, as a good soldier of 
 the Cross, he battles for the truth, he must hold fast where- 
 unto he has attained, that no man take his crown. He must 
 unite precept and example, doctrine and duty. He must not 
 only point, but lead the way to heaven. Travellers on the 
 path need to be cheered, to be comforted, by him, that they 
 
17 
 
 may go on glorifying the Lord, and rejoicing in his salvation. 
 For this purpose simply, ministers should live. " I deter- 
 mined," said Paul, "to know nothing among men, save Christ, 
 and him crucified." 
 
 But, then, why do they die ? If such their important work, 
 why, in the Providence of God, should there come a dispen- 
 sation like that which has deprived us of our beloved and la- 
 mented brother, which has laid him aside from the glorious 
 work of the gospel ministry ? Such a dispensation of Provi- 
 dence can have happened only because his work was done. 
 Ministers of the gospel are immortal, until the last sermon is 
 preached, until the last warning is given, until the last exam- 
 ple is afforded to those around them, and then the work is ac- 
 complished, the warfare finished, and they enter into the rest 
 that remains to the people of God. Yet, when they pass away, 
 it is not forever and entirely. The angel who came with a 
 message to the beloved apostle, and whom John was about to 
 fall down and worship, told him, in reply, '-I am of thy bre- 
 thren the prophets." And though the deceased has entered 
 the portals of another world, his example, which has been af- 
 forded during life, ought not to be without its lasting impres- 
 sion on those who Icnew him. Christ and him crucified has 
 been the loved subject of his contemplations, and will now be 
 forever the theme of his lips ; for to the servants of God. 
 Christ and his cross are all in heaven, as they were all on 
 earth. And though the life of the deceased on earth is ended, 
 the truths he has preached have sank deep into many hearts ; 
 the clear instructions, and the promises, warnings, and en- 
 treaties which he has declared from God's Word, remain be- 
 hind. Long after the herald of the Cross is laid aside, and 
 his frame has mouldered in the dust, the people who have 
 heard the truth from his lips will retain the happy impression, 
 
18 
 
 and the benefit will remain as long as immortality endures. 
 Departing themselves, the ministers of G-od leave behind them 
 the truth they have preached, the example they have set, in 
 souls converted and sinners saved. This is the great source of 
 encouragement and great joy to them', as John expressed his 
 gladness to learn that his spiritual children walked in the 
 truth. And then they die, because their work is done. They 
 die, because G-od designs i'.i the last solemn act, to make a 
 deeper impression on the hearts of their hearers, of the fact 
 that they themselves will also have to give an account to God. 
 The record has now been closed concerning Dr. Brownlee 
 and this people. It has been closed concerning this people 
 and many of the loved ministers of Jesus Christ, who have 
 passed from the pulpit into their rest, closing the solemn 
 and heavy responsibilities which they had sustained. My 
 memory carries me back to the time when I heard the 
 venerable patriarch, Livingston, proclaim the gospel of the 
 grace of God in the city of New-York, to the people of the 
 Reformed Dutch Church. I remember also, the time when 
 was to be heard Lynn's burning eloquence, Abeel's clear, 
 practical, loving instructions, well calculated to win souls to 
 Christ. And I can trace the ardent Brodhead, the ardent, 
 loving Brodhead, the youthful Strong, the blessed Knox, my 
 own brother in early days, in the faith and hope of the Gospel, 
 with whom my intercourse was very sweet, in preaching the 
 Gospel and holding communion on matters regarding our posi- 
 tion and the affairs of our people. Dr. Brownlee preached the 
 Gospel fully and fearlessly, with all its richness, all its tender- 
 ness, but with all its point. He felt its power ; he loved its 
 preciousness, and therefore preached it in its fullness. Salva- 
 tion by grace, through faith, without the deeds of law, was 
 his great theme. All that touched the honor of the Saviour 
 woke up all the energy of his spirit. Because he loved the 
 
19 
 
 gospel so dearly, he defended it so vehemently. So earnest 
 and fearless was he in the great work, that none could hear 
 without realizing how deeply he felt its truth and importance. 
 In controversy, few could alTord to meet him ; in private life 
 none was more humble, loving and gentle, casting the pure 
 influences of the Gospel over the domestic circle, and carrying 
 a loving heart into the social circles in which he rningled. In 
 a word, he was a Luther in public, a Melancthon in private 
 life. If stern to those who attacked the Master and detracted 
 from the glory of his name, Dr. Brownlee was ever tender and 
 kind to those who sought his direction in the kingdom and 
 grace of God. High, indeed, was the estimate formed of his 
 character by one competent to judge (the late Dr. Knox), in 
 his own language : 
 
 " Fairness demands, from one who has known him long and 
 well, to testify to the liberal gifts with which his mind was 
 originally endowed, and the sedulous culture by which these 
 gifts were improved and turned to the best account. Stored 
 with knowledge ; familiar with almost every department of 
 learning ; he possessed a ready faculty in bringing his enlarged 
 resources to bear on matters of practical utility with great 
 effect. 
 
 " A pioneer in the Catholic controversy, he was mainly in- 
 strumental in rousing the attention of the community to a 
 system then regarded by him, and now regarded by many, as 
 fraught with danger to our cherished liberties. 
 
 " In this cause his zeal was ardent, his courage indomitable^ 
 his efforts unwearied, and his ability and eloquence admitted 
 by all. His sermons and lectures were, from year to year, 
 listened to by eager crowds. In the fulness and ripeness of 
 his powers, and in the zenith of his fame, he was stricken 
 down by paralysis, in September, 1843." 
 
20 
 
 Yet it came with its lesson. It can be more than conjec- 
 tured why he was the subject of so afflicting a Providential 
 dispensation. God would have his people know and remember 
 that it is not the learning, nor the eloquence, nor even the piety 
 of the minister to which a church should trust, but only to the 
 living God, who could dispense with the services of any of 
 his instruments and agents. By taking away the strong ones, 
 Grod had shown that He needed not the help of their strength. 
 His dispensations of providence show how he is able to make 
 perfect the strength of the weakest, and how fully He can 
 spare the labors of the strongest. By reflecting on these dis- 
 pensations, the people of G-od will be led from the stream to 
 the fountain, that they may put their trust m Grod, and not 
 in man. 
 
 To both ministers and 'people, the present scene is an exhor- 
 tation to work for G-od while it is yet day, with all their heart, 
 4[k mind and strength. Of how many in this congregation may 
 
 it be testified that they have never received in their hearts the 
 message of the grace of God which the deceased has delivered ! 
 I thank God that there is reason to believe that the proclama- 
 tion of saving grace made by the deceased has not been in vain, 
 and that his crown of glory is studded with many jewels, of 
 souls whom he has been instrumental in bringing to the knowl- 
 edge of the truth. Many to whom he has proclaimed the un- 
 searchable riches of the grace of God are, doubtless, now with 
 their deceased pastor, swelling the anthem sung by the ran- 
 somed of the Lord, in the blessed place whence sorrow and 
 sighing have flown away. Happy, indeed, are those who have 
 fought the good fight, finished their course, and kept their faith ! 
 There is no room for regret that the deceased has ceased from 
 his labors and that his works do follow him. Blessed are the 
 dead that die in the Lord ; but blessed most of all are they 
 
21 
 
 who, having turned many to righteousness, shall shine as stars 
 in the kingdom of God, 
 
 Especially is the present occasion adapted to be a solemn 
 warning to all whose hoary hairs and trembling steps should 
 warn them that they arc already on the brink of the grave. 
 The old should not grow weary in well-doing, nor relax in their 
 service to the Lord. Let not the wayworn traveller repine at 
 the toilsomeness of the way, now that he has drawn so near to 
 its conclusion. The glorious object of their journey is before 
 them, and G-od Himself is their head, uttering for their encour- 
 agement the cheering promise, " Be thou faithful unto death, 
 and I will give thee a crown of life." Therefore let every ser- 
 vant of the Lord, admonished by this scene of the nearness of 
 his reward, gird up his loins, be strong, and let all quit them- 
 selves like men. In all probability many of you have hard 
 work yet to do in the church below, and much difficulty to en- 
 counter ; but greater is He that is with you than those who 
 are against you. Let the spirit of Christ, the spirit of prayer, 
 dwell more than ever in your hearts. You will find that the 
 secret of a successful devotion to Christ's service in the minis- 
 try, the way to secure and train up souls in the Redeemer's 
 Kingdom, is to frequent incessantly the throne of grace. And 
 let all, pastors and people, remember that the time is short — 
 " He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry." Minis- 
 ters may die, but the great High Priest still lives. Assistant 
 shepherds may be taken away, but the Great Shepherd and 
 Bishop of souls still has an eye upon his people, and an arm 
 to succor them. The promise of the Lord is to one and all, as 
 faithful now as ever in the past : " Be thou faithful unto death, 
 and I will give thee a crown of life." 
 
A. ID D E E S S 
 
 EEV. DR. HUTTOiY 
 
ADDRESS OF REV. DR. HUTTON. 
 
 A bold and fearless champion for truth and orthodoxy sleeps 
 to-day in his narrovv mansion. The eloquent voice we shall 
 never hear again on earth. The kind and affectionate hand 
 we shall never again grasp here below. Death has removed 
 another minister — another of the pastors of this church. We, 
 dear friends, have gathered in the house of God to pay to 
 him our last tribute of respect, and to lay to heart the lessons 
 which his death teaches. It is about two years since we as- 
 sembled in this same place for a similar object. "VVe found 
 this house draped, as it is now, in mourning. Yet were our 
 feelings very different. Then we mourned a minister, a pastor, 
 a friend, struck down in a moment, in the midst of his labors. 
 The solemn tones of his voice were still ringing around these 
 walls. AVe were startled, we were overwhelmed, by the sud- 
 denness of the blow. To-day it is different. The pastor, 
 the friend, the minister, lies low, now as then. But death 
 came to him more slowly — not indeed less sadly. He laid his 
 skeleton hand upon him years ago, and bade us mark how gra- 
 dually he could close his inflexible fingers. We can hardly 
 recall the tones of his voice — we who were once most familiar 
 with him ; and I doubt if there are not many of those who are 
 gathered here to-day in this house, who never heard that voice. 
 For upwards of sixteen years it has been hushed and still in 
 
26 
 
 the house of God. But, let death come as he will, he always 
 utters lessons of wisdom to the survivors. So far as our de- 
 parted friend is concerned personally, we have no regrets to 
 utter to-day. He sleeps, we believe, in Jesus. Blessed sleep, 
 indeed ! Who would wake him ? He is with Jesus, We 
 have no regrets for him personally. He has been spared, also, 
 to a good old age — passed beyond the three score years and 
 ten. No ! We have no regrets for him personally ; for he is 
 now at home — home with Jesus. Who would call him back ? 
 His loving Master had doubtless prepared him for the event, 
 for He has caused him to undergo a very unusual discipline. 
 For years He has closed his public ministry — shut him up, as 
 it were, in his room, did not allow him to raise his voice for 
 Him as he loved to do. Oh ! this must have been a very se- 
 vere trial to a minister of the Lord Jesus, who loved his Mas- 
 ter and the souls of men. Who can tell how great that trial ? 
 Who will attempt to describe the world of sad, busy thought 
 and feeling of the silent minister ? The blow which struck 
 him down did not entirely destroy his mental powers ; they in 
 a measure returned. His memory, I am told, was unimpaired, 
 and he was the constant source of joy and comfort to the group 
 which gathered around him in the family circle. How trying, 
 then, to his spirit, to feel that his feeble physical powers would 
 ho longer enable him to utter the words which his heart 
 prompted — to know that that beloved Master who once bade him 
 speak for him (and oh ! how gladly he obeyed the voice !), 
 that that same Master bade him now keep silence ! 
 
 To all his pleadings that the Master would allow him to pro- 
 claim again his name, the reply was, " My grace shall be suffi- 
 cient for thee." Oh ! the lessons of love taught in the retired 
 chamber of our departed father and brother ! Oh ! the heartfelt 
 prayers we may suppose there uttered — the appeal v^^ith all his 
 
27 
 
 heart, "Blessed Master, restore me to usefulness, or take me to 
 thyself." Who shall attempt to describe it ? Yet not comfort- 
 less, we know, was that retirement, for " Jesus was there." 
 The reflection on the mercies which that Master had ever shown 
 him — placing him, in His own kind Providence, in the minis- 
 try, enabling him to continue so long there, and to rejoice in 
 having so many seals to his ministry — and then, when his God 
 had chosen to lay him aside, how must his heart have been af- 
 fected by that mercy which made him the pastor of perhaps 
 the only church in our bounds who could and kindly did 
 take care of him in his sickness and in his sufferings — the 
 sermons which he was allowed to preach in former years, the 
 writings to which memory would refer — all his labors on be- 
 half of his Lord and Master. Oh! when we look at his life, 
 when that life was an active one, with how many sweet re- 
 flections was his soul comforted ! 
 
 And what a trial also was it, and yet how mingled with 
 comfort, to come from time to time to this house of God. Oh ! 
 methinks as be entered here, and as he felt, I cannot go into 
 that pulpit ; my Master has told me not to enter there ! and 
 yet, here is my people. And as his eye fell upon one and an- 
 other who remain still unconverted and careless, indiflerent to 
 their soul's eternal interest, as the good pastor felt, Oh ! I can do 
 no more for them, I can no more tell them of Jesus — how must 
 his heart have been pained ! And often from his seat, when a 
 brother proclaimed the words of eternal life, must his heart 
 have gone up in prayer for you, dear friends around me, upon 
 whose heads grey hairs must now be gathering, if he saw any 
 to whom he ministered, who had not yet given their heart 
 to Christ. Oh ! let the memory of his entreaties, the thought 
 of his prayers, and the speaking of the silent minister to-day, 
 produce the effect which his heart desired, and lead you to Je- 
 
28 
 
 sus. But then he enjoyed, I said, also, comfort here ; and it 
 is a comfort not often granted to the minister of the Word. 
 He could sit down and listen to the message from his Master. 
 He could join with the people in the song of redeeming love, 
 and thus be led to anticipate the happy period when, with his 
 flock, he and all his colleagues, saved by Divine grace, should 
 join together in the songs of redeeming love, in the brighter 
 and better world. And yet, though he could not speak to us, 
 dear friends, what a powerful sermon did the silent pastor ut- 
 ter to us all ! To his people, that slow sad step up the aisle, 
 that hushed voice — what a reminder of duty! How calcula- 
 ted to impress the thought and sense of personal responsi- 
 bility ! Yes, it ought to have been so to every member of 
 this church and congregation. There was, each time their 
 eye fell upon their silent pastor — there was a sermon as pow- 
 erful, just from that vision, as there dropped in the words of 
 him who addressed you from this place. 
 
 To his colleagues, and the ministry in his day, how loud 
 the lesson — ^liow powerful the sermon which our father and our 
 brother preached to us ! Oh ! what preacher of us all ever 
 saw him without having our hearts filled with gratitude to our 
 Gfod that we, too, were not laid aside — that whilst he was so, 
 we were enabled still to proclaim the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ. What a warning, too, was there in the vision, the 
 simple sight of the silent minister ! How did it bid us labor 
 with all our might in the great work which had been commit- 
 ted to us, bidding us remember that the grave was approach- 
 ing, wherein there was no work, nor device, nor knowledge, 
 nor wisdom. What a lesson, too, did he preach to us, in the 
 mere vision of the silent minister, of the personal insignificance 
 of each one of us to the cause of our divine Lord and Master ! 
 
 We thought once we could not do without him. Oh ! now 
 
29 
 
 suddenly did God teach us that the Church of Christ will suc- 
 ceed, will go on; and that the noblest and the best of her 
 ministers are but the honored instruments which Jesus uses ; 
 and that, it becomes us to say, thanks be unto thee, Re- 
 deemer ! that we are permitted to take on us thy name, and 
 to seek to win souls as the trophies of thy grace ! Christian 
 brethren, ministers of the gospel, let us learn the lesson which 
 the silent preacher uttered. He gives power and tone to all 
 these lessons to us to-day. That voice is hushed forever, that 
 form is shrouded forever from our sight ; but the silent preacher 
 preaches still to each one of us. 
 
j^. PISCOXJRSE 
 
 COMMEMORATIVE OF THE 
 
 REV. WILLIAM C. BROWNLEE, D. D, 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE 
 
 MIDDLE DUTCH CHURCH, LAFAYETTE PLACE, 
 
 On the Evening of Sabbath, Feb. 19th, 1860. 
 
 THOMAS E. VERMIT^YE, D. D., T.L. D 
 
 ONE OF THE MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
SERMON. 
 
 " For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the 
 voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ 
 shall rise first. Then we ichich arc alive and remain shall be caught up 
 together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall 
 we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words." — 
 1 Thessalonians, iv. 16, 17, 18. 
 
 There are several distinct lines of argument 
 by which to illustrate, in different relations, the 
 nature and excellence of the gospel. Thus we 
 may regard it simply as a system of moral 
 teachings, and, in relation to our present interests 
 alone it may be shown to be far superior to all 
 the systems of ethics, or of philosophy that have 
 ever prevailed among men. It gives the most 
 exalted conceptions of the Deity, and of His 
 moral government, which must be the basis of 
 all pure morality, as well as of all religion; it 
 inculcates the noblest principles of conduct, and 
 enforces them by the most efficacious motives ; 
 and it is clearly adapted, in its whole influence, 
 to reform and dignify individual character, to 
 purify domestic life, to elevate the social state, 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 and pour a tide of joy among the habitations 
 of men. 
 
 But real and transcendent as are its claims 
 in these respects, our thoughts fall far below its 
 true majesty, if they are confined to this earthly 
 side of the subject. It is the grand error of 
 very much that is called philosophy, and of many 
 religionists, to regard man, and to estimate re- 
 ligion, in their worldly relations mainly or alone. 
 The thinking mind of our age is largely imbued 
 with this spirit, which makes philosophy unre- 
 ligious, and religion mere philanthropy : which is 
 so benevolently occupied with man, as almost to 
 forget that there is a God : — with the body and 
 its convenient lodgment, as scarce to think of the 
 soul : — with human associations and improvement 
 as to aspire, with but little fervor, after things 
 spiritual and holy: — with time and earth, until the 
 judgment of the great day, and the eternal 
 habitation of the spirit are lost quite out of 
 sight. 
 
 The gospel has a far wider range and a more 
 sublime office. It is a religion more than a 
 morality. Its province is to bind back the soul 
 to God and fill it with thoughts of its immor- 
 tality. Although it means to accomplish the ends 
 at which these philosophic religionists profess to 
 aim, it treats them still as subordinate, and it 
 most efiectually promotes them by linking them 
 
35 
 
 with man's higher nature and destiny. It tells 
 him he is accountable hereafter, and makes pro- 
 vision for his redemption as a sinner, and just 
 where reason fails it becomes our prophet. It 
 turns its stron"- lij^ht over the dark chasm that 
 divides time from eternity, and shows scenes of 
 transcendant interest and significancy in which 
 we are to bear a part. It quells our passions 
 and restrains our sins by the terrors of a judg- 
 ment to come. It secures our pardon by the 
 blood of the atonement. It wakes repentant sor- 
 row, and holy love, and an obedient temper by 
 the constraining power of the love of Jesus. 
 And it gives courage in duty, submission under 
 trials, and sweet consolation in bereavement, by 
 contrasting the light afflictions of this present 
 moment with an exceeding and eternal weight of 
 glory : with the meetings and greetings and ever- 
 lasting nnion in a better world. Its bow of 
 promise paints its most beautiful hues upon the 
 darkest cloud, and casts its span from earth to 
 heaven. 
 
 The Apostle presents this view of the gospel 
 in the context. He wishes to comfort the early 
 Christians under the loss of friends, and he does 
 it by a remarkable description of the resurrection 
 scene. The coming of the Son of Man, the ris- 
 ing of the saints from their graves, the change 
 wrought upon those who shall be alive when that 
 
36 
 
 notable day shall come, and the grand procession 
 of the quick and dead, under the Captain of 
 their salvation, to the rest on high, are the fea- 
 tures of this wonderful picture. 
 
 As a mere theory this short passage is more 
 sublime, and for the purpose of imparting light 
 and comfort to the sorrowful heart, it is worth more 
 than all the speculations and reasonings of men 
 on the same subject in all places, through all 
 ages of time. 
 
 Let us attempt to analyze it, and draw forth 
 the several points it presents to our contemplations. 
 
 First. — We notice the certainty and the mode of 
 Christ's second coming. This doctrine stands out 
 with great prominence upon the inspired page. 
 It is represented as an appropriate and, indeed, a 
 necessary manifestation to consummate the eternal 
 purposes of God, and give a fit close to the me- 
 diatorial scheme. But as the fact itself, and the 
 attendant circumstances, are purely matters of 
 revelation, we are to look to that alone as the 
 source of our knowledge or opinions, and its 
 simple assertions in regard to the whole subject 
 of the last day are to be taken as the legiti- 
 mate and all sufficient testimony. 
 
 Allusion, then, is more than once made to it 
 in the Old Testament, but it was frequently and 
 distinctly promised by our Lord to His disciples in 
 
37 
 
 the New, "If I go away, I will come again 
 and receive you to myself." " The Son of ]\Ian 
 shall come in the glory of Ilis Father, with His 
 angels." " And then shall appear the sign of the 
 Son of Man in the heavens : and then shall all 
 the tribes of the earth mourn : and they shall see 
 the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven 
 with power and great glory." The assurance is 
 repeated by the Apostles in a gTeat variety of 
 connexions. On the Mount of Ascension it was 
 boldly declared to the awe-stricken multitude, in 
 most emphatic words. "This same Jesus which is 
 taken up from you into heaven shall so come in 
 like manner as ye have seen him go into 
 heaven." And in the text, " the Lord himself 
 shall descend from heaven." Now these and 
 kindred passages teach us several truths in rela- 
 tion to this subject. As, that heaven, far distant 
 as it would seem from the atmosphere of our 
 earth, is yet a place, which such a body as Jesus 
 took with him from earth, the pattern of the 
 resurrection body, can inhabit. Also, that from 
 that place Christ shall transfer himself to earth 
 in person: "The Lord Himself shall descend." 
 Once • before he was personally in our world, the 
 babe of Bethlehem, the Man of Sorrows, to make 
 propitiation for sin. But since He rose from Olivet, 
 no mortal eye has rested upon that glorious form. 
 He has not, indeed, lost interest in His media- 
 
38 
 
 torial office, nor forgotten His ransomed ones in 
 this remote region, this speck amidst the assemblage 
 of worlds. But He now chooses to carry on His 
 work by subordinate instrumentality : sometimes 
 by special agents raised up in emergencies of His 
 providence for deeds of special significance ; bat 
 ordinarily by His regular ministers and the appointed 
 means of grace. But then these means will have 
 accomplished their purpose and will have come to 
 an end. He will delegate none of His minister- 
 ing servants, nor mighty angels, to stand in His 
 place. But attended by the heavenly hosts, the 
 Captain of our salvation shall himself descend to 
 close the scene of time and earth, and bring 
 His children home to glory. Again, it will be a 
 visible appearance. " They shall see the Son of 
 Man coming in the clouds." An objection at once 
 occurs to the mind, that should the Lord appear 
 on any particular part of the globe He could not 
 be seen by all its inhabitants, but only by a very 
 small number at the same time. But it is not 
 said He shall come upon the earth, but that the 
 saints shall be gathered to Him in the air. Nor 
 is it affirmed that all shall behold Him at the 
 same instant of time. It is not improbable that 
 this spectacle may appear successively to the dif- 
 ferent tribes of men, as the earth revolves on its 
 axis : that the raising of the dead, and the process 
 of judgment, whatever it may be, then to succeed, 
 
39 
 
 and the preparation of the saints for their ascent, 
 in proper order, to the air, may occupy some con- 
 siderable space of time. But however this may 
 be, and Ave are left very mncli to conjecture in 
 regard to these particulars, it is positively said that 
 " every eye shall see Him," and that " all kindreds 
 of the earth shall wail because of Him." Again, 
 it will be sudden and unexpected ; " at an hour 
 when ye think not," saith the Scripture. From 
 the description given by the Saviour, we may 
 also conclude that it will be at midnight, " when 
 mankind are wrapped in sleep." And it will be 
 ushered in with the pomp of a mighty retinue 
 of angels, and accompanying splendor of circum- 
 stances to give grandeur and impressiveness to the 
 scene. At that period the business and pleasure 
 of life will go on just as it always had done. 
 Men will eat and drink, and marry and be given 
 in marriage, and buy and sell and get gain. They 
 will also resign themselves on that night to sleep, 
 in full confidence that the nightly firmament will 
 roll away its myriads of stars, and that the sun, 
 which for thousands of years has never varied its 
 course, nor withheld the dawn, will bring in a 
 new morning. But suddenly the watchman beholds 
 a strange sight! Far off in the fields of space, 
 unusual light appears. It hastens toward the 
 earth, and as it comes, "the sign of the Son of 
 Man" glares out from the dark back ground. What 
 
40 
 
 is it? Is it a vast radiant cross — the instrument 
 of His suflferings, now turned into the standard 
 of victory, that all may recognize the meaning 
 of the prodigy? The vision halts in the air, and 
 there Jesus, once the Man of Sorrows, now the 
 King and Judge, takes his place : the attendant 
 angels wheel their mighty squadrons into line to 
 grace His coming — from the innumerable throng 
 goes up "a shout," as when an army rushes to 
 conquest — the voice of the archangel leader and 
 the trump of God peal through the expanse, and 
 that night is turned into " such a day as earth 
 saw never." 
 
 These particulars may, in some degree, be figur- 
 ative. But since the figures must have some like- 
 ness to the reality, they teach, that as the Saviour's 
 whole work on earth was a matter of deep inter- 
 est among the heavenly hosts, so will its con- 
 summation be at His final appearance. Naturally, 
 we may conclude it will be glorious, jubilant, on 
 the part of the angels in heaven. 
 
 And now the promise of Christ's coming is re- 
 deemed. Through the cycles of intervening ages 
 His suffering Church longed and prayed for it. 
 From the stake, from the deep dungeon, from the 
 caves and dens of the earth, whither persecution 
 had driven them, went up the bitter cry, " How 
 long, Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge 
 and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the 
 
41 
 
 earth." And infidels mocked the long delay and 
 scoffed the f\iith of saints, saying, " Where is the 
 promise of His coming?" And He seemed not to 
 regard their complaints, nor did He send deliverance : 
 and disappointment and woe sometimes awakened 
 fearful doubts ; " Hath God forgotten to be gra- 
 cious ?" Is this Bible true ? Is there " a God that 
 judgeth in the earth?" Yet He was faithful that 
 had promised, although His plan must be devel- 
 oped in its appointed order. And now the days 
 of man on earth have run their course — the full 
 scheme is accomplished — the set time has come, 
 and there, at last, He is. The consummation, the 
 destined end of all things, is at hand ; " lift up 
 your heads ye saints and sing, for your redemp- 
 tion draweth nigh." 
 
 II. Let us notice what takes place on the earth. 
 With this final appearing of Christ, the Apostle 
 tells us, shall be connected the immediate resur- 
 rection of the saintly dead and their entrance into 
 the promised rest, a state of perfect and unending 
 blessedness. Now this doctrine of a corporeal res- 
 urrection, like that of the second coming of the 
 Saviour, is one of revelation entirely. A future, 
 or rather a continued life of the spirit after death, 
 was not, indeed, excluded from the philosophical 
 conjectures, we can hardly say the faith, of en- 
 lightened heathen. It seemed not unreasonable 
 
42 
 
 that that fine essence which eluded all observa- 
 tion, but as the seat of thought and feeling and 
 vitality gave activity to the body, while it was 
 evidently a thing distinct from mere matter ; which 
 was noble and somewhat divine in gifts and 
 operations, should escape the wreck of its earthly 
 prison, nor perish with the frail body it had 
 ceased to animate. This reasoning seemed to be con- 
 firmed by many striking analogies in the natural 
 world. And surely the deep-set instincts and de- 
 sires of every human being must corroborate the 
 hope that it would be so. But after all it was a 
 deduction of mere feeling, or of human judgment 
 proverbially fallible ; it was btit conjecture and 
 doubt ; it could possess no binding authority even as 
 a logical or moral demonstration ; while the resur- 
 rection of the hody and its future endless life, 
 seemed to be contradicted by the very senses and 
 to be impossible. The nearest resemblance to this 
 idea may be detected, perhaps, in the practice com- 
 mon among the Egyptians and some other people, of 
 embalming the bodies of the dead, under the notion, 
 it is said, that after many thousand years the 
 spirit would return to its former habitation. But 
 that was very different from the resurrection of 
 a decayed body out of the earth, with which it 
 had mingled for ages in indiscriminate mixture; 
 and such as it was, it was, no doubt, the obscure 
 remains of a primeval revelation. 
 
43 
 
 Yet this remarkable idea, so discordant from aU 
 natural belief, is made a cardinal doctrine of the 
 New Testament. The body that, with sad rites, 
 we lay away to moulder in the earth as long 
 as time shall last, shall be brought up again from 
 its earthly bed when time and earth shall be no 
 more. The body, as well as the spirit, shall be 
 immortal; "no more to see corruption;" and each 
 shall become to the other the vehicle of pure and 
 perfect bliss, or of woe intense and interminable. 
 This wonderful doctrine the Bible establishes, not 
 by a process of argument, but on the divine 
 authority, and commends it not to our speculations, 
 but commands for it our faith in Ilim who is 
 true and mighty. It was the faith of Old Testa- 
 ment saints. " I know," saith Job, " that my Re- 
 deemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the 
 latter day upon the earth. And though after my 
 skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall 
 I see God." Thus also Isaiah declares, " thy dead 
 men shall live : together with my dead body 
 shall they arise." 
 
 In the New Testament the doctrine is so fre- 
 quently and variously exhibited, and is so inter- 
 woven with the very texture of its system 
 of teaching, with the life, mission and char- 
 acter of Jesus Christ, and the truth of His 
 doctrine, that it cannot be removed without the 
 destruction of the entire fabric. It is the vital 
 
44 
 
 power of the whole scheme. " If the dead rise 
 not, then is not Christ risen, and if Christ be 
 not risen, then is our preaching vain and your 
 faith is also vain." The difficulty is not, therefore, 
 in the want, but in the selection of proofs. Paul 
 tells the believers : " He that raised up Christ from 
 the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies." 
 Again : " We look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who shall change our vile bodies that they 
 may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, 
 according to the working whereby he is able even 
 to subdue all things unto Himself" Almost the 
 entire 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians is occupied 
 with this subject, and its aim is to demonstrate the 
 corporeal resurrection of those who die. Paul says, 
 "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incor- 
 ruption : it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in 
 glory : it is sown in weakness, it is raised in 
 power: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a 
 spiritual body." The resurrection of Christ is also 
 urged as a positive proof, as well as the pattern 
 of our resurrection. It shows that a dead body 
 may be raised to life, and in connexion with a 
 distinct promise, and by virtue of divine energy, 
 we may know that " He who raised up Christ 
 from the dead shall also quicken our mortal 
 bodies." The time when these things shall come 
 to pass will be the end of the world, i. e., the 
 close of the existing order of things, and the 
 purpose will be a final judgment of all who 
 
45 
 
 have lived on the earth. Each shall he judged 
 " according to the deeds done in the hody," and to 
 each shall be assigned his place of happiness or 
 misery throughout eternity. Such an end is surely 
 in perfect congruity with a system of moral gov- 
 ernment over intelligent beings ; and so, likewise, 
 is there a marked congruity in the arrangement 
 by which the entire person, body as well as spirit, 
 shall suffer or enjoy for the deeds in which the 
 body, as well as the spirit, was a sharer. If it be 
 objected, that as changes take place in the sub- 
 stance of the body during life, and as our theory 
 supposes that greater changes will take place at 
 the resurrection, therefore, the same person will 
 not suffer or enjoy ; we may reply, that the same 
 objection will prove the same man not to be the 
 same throughout life, despite of his conscious iden- 
 tity ; and that the righteous man, or the sinner of 
 any past time, cannot now be rewarded or punished 
 for the acts then done in possibly another body. 
 So that the objection lies not simply against a 
 future resurrection, but is equally valid in regard to 
 different periods of the present life, and proving 
 too much, it proves nothing. 
 
 Admitting, however, the scriptural doctrine of a 
 resurrection, the inquisitive mind will still ask, 
 " with what body do they come ?" And truly many 
 and great difficulties environ the subject. These 
 arise in part from an attempt to press our in- 
 quiries into a region where our senses and ex- 
 
46 
 
 perience can a,fford us no aid, and to elucidate 
 the subject by supposed analogies that have really 
 no application to the case ; and partly, perhaps, 
 from uncertainty as to the precise meaning of that 
 sameness of which we speak. It has been well 
 observed, " If it be asked, whether the same atoms 
 of matter which belong to our present bodies will 
 constitute the resurrection body, both reason and 
 scripture answer. No ! The mass of matter which 
 has at different times belonged to one body would 
 form many." Besides, Paul tells us that " flesh and 
 blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Again, 
 that body will not possess the same constitution 
 and qualities, for it will not require nourishment 
 like these, nor be subject to pain and disease, 
 and decay, but be endowed with the properties of 
 self-sustained immortal vigor and inherent life. And 
 the apostle says that the bodies of those saints 
 who shall be alive at Christ's coming must be 
 " changed," to fit them for heaven. Some have 
 imagined a sort of original and unchangeable 
 basis, or germ, out of which the new body is 
 to spring as the vegetable from its seed. But 
 there would then be no resurrection from death, 
 but growth of a new body from a secret living 
 principle : not the resurrection of our body in 
 any proper sense, for a mere germ would not be 
 our body : it would, in fact, be rather a creation 
 than a resurrection. Dismissing these questions 
 
47 
 
 and theories, however, which are nugatory, and 
 can never be answered in this workl, we may 
 still have some satisfaction from the >Scriptures. 
 It shall be the same body, in such a sense, that 
 each shall feel and say, just as much as now 
 — this is my own body. It shall be recognizable 
 and known by others as the same. It will be 
 incorruptible and immortal. The resurrection bod- 
 ies of believers, also, shall be infinitely beau- 
 tiful, "fashioned like mito Christ's glorious body." 
 For the fleshly, it shall be a spiritual body, 
 meaning, probably, that its powers of life, its 
 organs of perception, and activity, and enjoy- 
 ment, shall vastly surpass those with which we 
 are now endowed, so as very much to resemble 
 attributes of mind, and fit them to become the 
 vehicles by which all the operations of the spirit 
 within shall be promptly, accurately, and per- 
 fectly expressed. 
 
 The process by which saints are thus to be 
 endowed and adorned, is to take place at Christ's 
 coming. Then Paul says, " the dead in Christ 
 shall rise." And to correct an opinion which 
 some might form, that the living believers 
 would have some advantage at that day, in 
 seeing their Lord and rising to meet him first, 
 he says, " the dead in Christ shall rise first." 
 This is to be the very first movement. The 
 original Avord in this passage denotes not the act 
 
48 
 
 of rising; but it is that word which properly 
 signifies to stand up again, and means conscious, 
 active existence beyond the grave. The buried 
 dead shall stand up with the living on the 
 earth. 
 
 Immediately, then, upon the appearing of the Son 
 of Man, the earth shall heave, every graveyard 
 shall release its trust, and the sea give up the 
 dead that are in it; and myriads of those who 
 have been sleeping in Jesus shall start to life 
 again, at the instant their souls being reunited, each 
 to its own body, clothed with immortal youth and 
 beauty, and inconceivable vigor, and so equipped 
 for heaven. Those too, who are alive, shall "in a 
 moment, in the twinkling of an eye, be changed," 
 from corruptible into the same resurrection body ; 
 and all the Lord's ransomed ones, of every age 
 and lineage and clime, shall stand together on 
 the earth, a noble army. They shall recognize 
 *'the sign of the Son of Man;" and a shout re- 
 sponsive to that shout of angels with which the 
 Lord descended, shall go up to the vault of 
 heaven, and echo through the distant regions of 
 space. The judgment scene shall be enacted, 
 and then they rise by the inherent energy of their 
 new bodies, or by the power of Christ, drawn 
 up, not in the clouds, but on clouds, or else, 
 more properly, perhaps, in clusters, to meet, or 
 as the language implies, to be introduced to their 
 
49 
 
 Lord in the air, and so to be forever with tlie Lord. 
 What a meeting ! What a greeting ! Death can 
 have no more dominion over them. Their days 
 of mourning are ended. They shall nevermore 
 be separated from their Saviour. They will pass 
 on to heaven, God's habitation of holiness, to 
 know no more of sins, nor fears, nor pains — to 
 spend eternity in the company of the redeemed, 
 amidst the splendors of the throne. It is ob- 
 servable that almost all these vivid descriptions 
 of that scene are mainly confined to the right- 
 eous. As if the writer would not mar his picture 
 by a repulsive image, nothing is said of the con- 
 dition of the wicked. Yet, lest there should be 
 misconception in relation to them, we are told in 
 other places that they, too, shall rise — but "to 
 shame and everlasting contempt." Their bodies 
 shall not be transformed and made like unto 
 Christ's glorious body, but will probably be the 
 fleshly body, carnal and corrupt — fit to express 
 all that is hideous and vile in character, and 
 immortal to bear all that is awful in suffer- 
 ing. Nor shall they be "caught up to meet the 
 Lord in the air;" but here they shall be judged 
 and sentenced. Possibly, this very distinction be- 
 tween the bodies of the saved and the lost shall 
 be Christ's judicial fiat, by which the final award 
 to each shall become visible and intelligible ; and 
 on this earth, which is to be enveloped in fire, 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 it may be they will remain, or be driven into 
 some hell within its bowels, there to wear out an 
 eternity of woe. Oh ! what a contrast in every 
 respect will take place among the risen myriads ! 
 What terror will seize the wicked when they shall 
 wake out of their graves to confront the Judge ! 
 What amazement and anguish, when they behold 
 their very bodies, perhaps, marked with the linea- 
 ments of perdition, while the saints are clothed 
 with resplendent forms of angelic loveliness ! What 
 despair when the separation begins, and the 
 ransomed, perhaps their own friends and loved 
 ones of earth, ascend with songs and everlasting 
 joys, and disappear forever ! 
 
 III. Another reflection suggested by the text is, 
 that there will be a glorious REUiNioN of Saints 
 
 AND of all holy BEINGS AT THE END OF THE PRESENT 
 
 DISPENSATION. All the redeemed of Adam's race, 
 both the quick and the dead, for the first time, 
 shall come together on the earth. In the air they 
 unite with the angels who attend Christ's coming ; 
 and as they pass away to heaven, it is probable 
 they will be joined by other ranks of holy beings, 
 and begin a fellowship which will last through 
 eternity. All will follow the same leader, submit 
 to the same sceptre, and form henceforth but one 
 community, through which one spirit of loyalty 
 .to their King and affection for each other shall 
 
61 
 
 flow. All shall be perfectly holy, and therefore 
 happy. Among the redeemed no unregulated pas- 
 sions — no impatience, nor wrath, nor envyings, 
 nor jealousies, nor hatred — no separate and selfish 
 interests — shall be found. They have left all these 
 in the world from whose pollution they have now 
 escaped. The interests of each are the interests 
 of all. The only rivalry there known Avill be 
 who shall love the Saviour most, and adore and 
 serve him best. And so absorbing will be that 
 love that each will rejoice to find himself excelled 
 by all the rest. Love and humility will reign 
 perfect there. 
 
 To attain the ends of such a society of intelligent 
 beings there must be methods of intercommunication. 
 Yet how they will convey their thoughts and feel- 
 ings to each other, and hold long converse, as 
 probably they will — saints with angels respecting 
 their past histor}^, — and the redeemed with each 
 other respecting the dealings of grace with their 
 souls ; the way by which their Saviour led them 
 from Egypt into the wilderness, and thence to 
 that promised land ; how they shall give expression 
 to the many new ideas which will crowd their 
 minds as they shall see the wonders of God's 
 character and providence, and the Redeemer's per- 
 son and grace, more and more fully developed ; in 
 a word, what shall be the language of heaven ; in 
 what dialect they shall exclaim, "He hath done 
 
52 
 
 all things well," we are not told. But it shall 
 be a perfect vehicle for such ideas and emotions 
 as shall be appropriate there. 
 
 A more interesting inquiry, however, resulting 
 from the thought of the saints being joined into 
 one society, at least one more interesting to our 
 feelings, and perhaps more conducive to practical 
 benefit, is, whether friends shall there know one an- 
 other and recall the events of their earthly lives. I 
 think the Scriptures afford us some clear intima- 
 tions that they will. It has been noticed, in proof 
 of this point, that they represent, for example, that 
 persons unknown in this world shall immediately 
 be recognized there. Thus it is said that " many 
 shall sit down in the kingdom of God with Abra- 
 ham and Isaac and Jacob :" to fulfil the intention 
 of which promise, it seems to follow that they 
 shall know those patriarchs. Lazarus, Abraham, 
 and the rich man, are exhibited in the parable as 
 known to each other: Moses and Elias were 
 known to the disciples on the Mount of Trans- 
 figuration : all which certainly implies that there 
 shall be a recognition of the persons of eminent 
 saints But the same idea is given of those who 
 knt^w and were interested in each other here ; as, 
 for example, between the pastor and his flock : 
 " What is our hope and joy and crown of rejoi- 
 cing," saith Paul ; " are not even ye in the pros- 
 ence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming ? 
 
53 
 
 Ye are" (speaking as if the scone were then pres- 
 ent) " ye are " (at that day) " our glory and our 
 joy." Such recognition there then will he. And if 
 of such relations, why not of those more intimate 
 and endearing unions, where the ties of nature have 
 been sanctified and rendered doubly tender and 
 strong by grace? It may, in some respects, en- 
 hance the joy to find our most beloved relatives 
 there; together to rehearse the doings of Providence 
 and grace with them and us through time. Hus- 
 band and wife, parents and children, and friends, 
 may talk over scenes of past spiritual delight which 
 alone can interest them there. They will give 
 free indulgence to those social affections which God 
 implanted in their nature: and which will not be 
 extinguished by the change of death, but purified, 
 quickened, and enlarged, and carried forward to 
 heaven to enhance its bliss. Nor need we fear that, 
 on the other hand, the same powers of recollection 
 will make them miserable to miss from those ranks 
 of the saved, and those scenes of glory, some whom 
 here they fondly loved. There will be so much that 
 will be new and more blissful to occupy the mind, 
 that, in the comparison, these lingering affections 
 o earth will, after all, not greatly move us. I do 
 not suppose that those of a joyous character, recalled 
 and excited by the presence of their earthly ob- 
 jects, will form any very large element of the 
 heavenly happiness. There will be too much glory 
 
54 
 
 in the immediate vision of God and the Lamb ; 
 too much interest in those sublime subjects of con- 
 templation there first opened to view ; too much 
 ecstatic delight in the service before the throne, to 
 permit it. And if the mind recurs to those who 
 are absent from that bliss, it must be with the 
 submissive, loyal feeling, "Thou art righteous, oh, 
 Lord God." All grief and rebellion will be swal- 
 lowed up in the certainty of God's rightful sov- 
 ereignty and perfect rectitude. Nor could the holy 
 soul be guilty of such dishonor to the Saviour, as 
 to mar heaven's joy by murmuring at his dealings 
 with those who refused his grace. All such rebel- 
 lious feelings will be forever banished, forgotten, 
 and lost in love, and submission, and adoration. 
 
 IV. 1 PASS TO OBSERVE THAT, AT THE RESURREC- 
 TION, ALL THE DEPARTED " SHALL BE WITH THE LoRD." 
 
 They shall not only meet their friends, and quick 
 and dead be clothed upon with immortality, but, 
 what will add lustre to the glory and intensity to 
 the joy is, that eternity shall be spent in the pres- 
 ence and company of the Saviour. Separation from 
 Christ would be grievous. No place in the uni- 
 verse could be counted as heaven by a believer ; 
 no affluence of outward comforts which the hand 
 of God could bestow could make him happy, if 
 Christ were absent. To be with the Lord would 
 itself suffice, in Paul's estimation, to make a heaven 
 
55 
 
 and a happy eternity. It is worthy of special no- 
 tice, what peculiar affection the New Testament 
 writers cherished and expressed toward the Re- 
 deemer. It was not merely for his condescension 
 and grace that they were thankful ; hut his very 
 person they loved with undying tenderness. Thus, 
 elsewhere, Paul even declares, "I have a desire 
 to depart and to he with Christ which is far bet- 
 ter." Again, he was "Avilling rather to he absent 
 from the body and present with the Lord." Now 
 this, in Paul's case, was not the natural longing 
 of the bereaved heart after a lost friend : for Paul 
 had never seen the Saviour, or at least had never 
 enjoyed a personal friendship with him during his 
 abode on earth. It was therefore the result of 
 faith, which has the adorable person of Christ as 
 much as the blessings of his redemption for its ob- 
 ject. It opens to the soul such a glory in the won- 
 derfully constituted nature and perfect character of 
 the Mediator, and produces such a sense of infinite 
 obligation to him for what he has done in our be- 
 half, as kindles a feeling of personal affection. In 
 this way Jesus Christ became to Paul the direct 
 object of personal attachment. He was more 
 precious to his soul than all other beings or ob- 
 jects in the universe besides. Christ and him 
 crucified was the central doctrine of his system. 
 It was not so properly Theology as Christianity. 
 Love to Christ was also the central affection of his 
 
56 
 
 soul. And heaven exerted an attractive influence 
 over him, not because an abstract God of infinite 
 perfection and glory reigned there, but because 
 there he should be embosomed with his Saviour, 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 The same is true of all the other New Testa- 
 ment writers. And it has been likewise the avowed 
 sentiment in life, and the sustaining power in death, 
 of men in all ages who have been eminent as 
 Christians. Their religious affections and exercises, 
 the expressions of their belief and hope, have 
 always taken precisely this direction — the best pos- 
 sible proof that this is the right direction. You 
 never hear an apprehension uttered by such persons 
 lest possibly they may be paying too much honor 
 to their Saviour. They never tiiink they dishonor 
 God the Creator by committing their departing spirit, 
 like Stephen, to Christ's hands. They never dream 
 that it is desecration to speak of heaven, and to 
 long after it chiefly as the place " whither Jesus 
 the forerunner has for us entered." No ! no ! to 
 them " Christ is all and in all." And justly, therefore, 
 may we repudiate any scheme of professed Chris- 
 tianity that denies him this pre-eminence, this 
 ubiquity; that will not join in that choral doxology 
 of " all creatures in heaven and on earth and under 
 the earth," " unto Him that sits upon the throne, 
 even unto the Lamb forever." It is not the scheme 
 of Apostles. A creed without a Mediator is not for 
 
57- 
 
 Adam's mined race. A heaven without an atoning 
 Saviour is at once despoiled of all its glory ; its 
 holy light ; its songs of redeemed sinners, and its 
 Sahbatism of rest to earth's weary sojourners. 
 
 Nor is this strange. We all know the power of 
 an absorbing aflection. How the heart, by some 
 mysterious affinity, selects from the Avhole earth 
 its one object, to which its affections and its hap- 
 piness are henceforth indissolubly bound. Absence 
 is misery. But in its companionship pain is soothed, 
 poverty smiles, and any sacrifice is cheerfully en- 
 dured for its advantage and to express our love. 
 Other objects are not despised, but this is supreme. 
 This natural sentiment, refined by grace, betroths 
 the soul to Christ, and bids it expend on Him its 
 purest and brightest aff'ections as upon an object 
 the most worthy of its devotions. 
 
 But Paul found increased satisfaction in the 
 thoujrht that jrlorified saints should be ''forever'' 
 with the Lord. Eternity was to be spent in com- 
 munion with Him. There would be no change of 
 condition, and no bound nor end of the bliss. There 
 would be no more walking by faith and not by 
 sight. No more seeing through a glass darkly, but 
 face to face. No more alternations of light and 
 shadow, as on earth. No more hiding His face ; no 
 more depression of spirit ; nor barrenness in ordi- 
 nances, nor languor in prayer, nor doubts of His 
 love, nor fears for our safety. These former things 
 
58 
 
 shall have passed away. And now, " thy sun shall 
 no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw 
 itself. For the Lord God shall he thine everlasting 
 light, and the days of thy mourning shall he 
 ended." Every foe shall he foiled, the last enemy 
 destroyed, and he will convey them to his rest for- 
 ever. The ransomed spirit shall then have come 
 to the New-Jerusalem, to God, the Judge of all, 
 to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, to an 
 innumerable company of angels, and to the spirits 
 of just men made perfect. In such society eternity 
 shall revolve its ages. Yet there will he no 
 wearisome reiteration and no satiety — their active 
 powers will be fully occupied. There will be 
 memory of the past — perception of the things 
 around them — mental scrutiny into the mystery of 
 God, and of Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and prov- 
 idence, and redemption ; reasoning upon the vast 
 problems which have confounded all intellects, with 
 the feeling that those finite barriers which have 
 bafiied their efforts are broken down, and now they 
 may advance over the boundless field in endless 
 progression. Imagination, too, will be incessantly 
 active to prefigure the unknown and the yet future, 
 and to stimulate their immortal faculties to fresh in- 
 quiries. And as the early disciples came to tell 
 the Lord their difficulties, and to take counsel at 
 his lips, so will they who are ever in his presence, 
 freely ask to be enlightened in all mysteries and 
 
59 
 
 all knowledge. And every new discovery will give 
 a new impulse to their eiiiotional nature, and 
 deepen the fervor of their praise. The themes that 
 will occupy them are inexhaustible ; adapted to give 
 them employment through their unwasting being. 
 
 Application. 
 1. We are reminded, by this subject, of the 
 things that shall be hereafter. What a scene is 
 to signalize the close of man's days upon the 
 earth ! Yet, truly, it is a fitting sequel to such 
 a wonderful history. We turn to the Bible, and 
 learn that at the simple word of the Lord the 
 heavens were spread abroad, and the earth fash- 
 ioned and sent on its way through space. And, 
 again, about six thousand years ago, God made 
 man upon it ; and he sinned and was driven 
 forth from Eden, and his descendants were scat- 
 tered over the face of the globe, and have been 
 formed into many nations ; and wars and famines, 
 and pestilences, and natural disease and decay, have 
 given them a weary life, and the remorseless grave 
 has swallowed the race from generation to genera- 
 tion. At its mouth survivors have called in tones 
 of anguish, "if a man die shall he live again" ; 
 but no response has come to their ear. The gospel 
 alone solves the problem. It says God sent His Son 
 to redeem from the power of the grave. He died 
 to atone. And when the ends of Providence, in 
 regard to the race here are answered, the same 
 
60 
 
 Son of Man shall come again, and at His sign in 
 the heavens death shall resign its prey, and a 
 mighty retinue of Adam's children that no man 
 can number shall return with .Him to His native 
 heaven, to be forever with the Lord. 
 
 But, " when shall these things be ?" There have 
 been those who have argued from some passages 
 of our Lord's language, that he intended to teach 
 the end of the world near at hand in His day. 
 Yet He forewarned His disciples, even then, of 
 events to occur among the nations that must oc- 
 cupy many ages, a long tract of time. So, many liaA^e 
 supposed that, because in the text Paul says, "w^ 
 who are alive and remain," he intended to teach 
 that before that generation should have passed 
 away the end of the world would have come. 
 He means, however, only to say in general, the 
 Christians, i. e , those of the brotherhood who should 
 be alive. This is perfectly clear from the second 
 epistle to the Thessalonians, in which he corrects 
 this very notion which some of them seem to have 
 inferred from his language. " That day shall not 
 come," he tells them, until after certain events he 
 there explicitly predicts. They were, the taking 
 out of the way him who then let : i. e., the 
 destruction of the Roman empire ; and a falling 
 away, or great apostacy, among Christians ; and the 
 revelation, dominion, and final overthrow of the 
 
61 
 
 Man of Sin, /. e., Papal Rome ; — all which wonld 
 come in their times, and have their course, and 
 consume many centuries. With ccjual clearness 
 we are told, in other passages, of other events, 
 which, at the termination of the great apostacy 
 (now even at the door), are to have their place 
 and time in the scheme of Providence before 
 the end of the world shall come. The millennium, 
 the thousand years of the Church's triumph, wheth- 
 er they be literal years, or, much more probably, 
 years of years, is to bless the earth with pristine 
 loveliness and peace. And beyond those ages Satan 
 is to be loosed for a short period ; evil will again 
 make head ; and it is by no means improbable that 
 at the moment when, in that final conflict, the ene- 
 mies of the Church are pressing it sore, and the 
 victory is doubtful, the sign of the Son of Man shall 
 be seen in the heavens to rejoice Ilis saints, and 
 give an utter and eternal overthrow to their and 
 His enemies. But age after age shall yet roll on 
 their courses, and the days of man upon the 
 earth be continued to fill out and perfect in his- 
 tory what the spirit of prophecy has drawn in 
 outline. Nor can a single circumstance be mis- 
 placed or omitted, or hurried in the enactment. 
 God never is in haste. He moves majestically 
 through the scheme His infinite mind projected in 
 eternity, and all its parts shall be exhibited, 
 each in its place. " One day is with the Lord as 
 
62 
 
 a thousand years, and a thousand years as one 
 day." But when the end shall come every soul 
 of all the myriads of men shall reappear. By 
 some process which now we cannot comprehend, 
 there shall be a rehearsing, or public and recog- 
 nizable manifestation of the life and character 
 of each, and an award according to the strictest 
 justice. Each will justify the decision for himself, 
 for the book of conscience shall be opened, and 
 as with electric flash, all the deeds done in the 
 body, with their moral desert, will instantly ap- 
 pear, so that every subject of this revelation will 
 adore the equity of the procedure, saying, " Right- 
 eous art thou, oh. Lord, when thou judgest." To 
 all around the sentence will be known, perhaps 
 by some bodily mark, and by the separation, 
 when the ascending saints shall leave the wicked 
 on earth ; and " these shall go away into ever- 
 lasting punishment, but the righteous into life 
 eternal." 
 
 Finally. — What ineffable consolation does this sub- 
 ject offer in trials and bereavements. For this pur- 
 pose the text was written. God's wisdom and 
 goodness in the permission of moral evil, in the 
 pains and disappointments and bereavements and 
 woes of our earthly lot, are wonderfully relieved 
 by the doctrine of a judgment to come, and the 
 recompense of heaven to suffering souls who be- 
 lieve in Jesus. From the same truth the course 
 
63 
 
 of each day's providence receives a cheering 
 light. And in every instance of bereavement, when 
 a Christian dies, the bahn of hope, nay, of his 
 assured and unending blessedness, is poured into 
 the wounded bosom. Indeed, so remarkable are 
 these revelations that a Christian is taught to be- 
 lieve that " to die is gain :" to say often he would 
 " rather depart to be with Christ." It is a tran- 
 sition from a land of illusions and shadows to per- 
 fect light : from doubts and fears and cares to 
 tranquillity : from much infirmity and sin to purity 
 and confirmed happiness. When mourners linger 
 round the coffin to take their last look at the dead, 
 or drop the bitter tear into the grave that conceals 
 those they loved so well, oh, how sweetly com- 
 forting does this mild expostulation fall upon the 
 ear. "But I would not have you to be ignorant, 
 brethren, concerning them that are asleep, that ye 
 sorrow not even as others which have no hope. 
 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, 
 even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God 
 bring with him." It means that the spirit is now 
 with its Lord, and that even the body they love 
 will be the care of his wakeful affection, for it is 
 His ; He purchased it with His blood, and loves it 
 better than they can. It is to be a trophy of His 
 mediatorial power, and He will bring it forth fash- 
 ioned like to his glorious body. It shall survive 
 the decay of nature and be happy when those 
 
64 
 
 heavens and this earth shall he no more. " Where- 
 fore comfort one another with these words." 
 
 The suhject very suitably introduces our memorial 
 of that beloved friend and pastor whose mortal re- 
 mains we have just laid in their earthly resting- 
 place. Over the dust consigned to its kindred 
 dust we have pronounced our long farewell with 
 words of Christian hope, " I am the resurrection 
 ai;d the life." And now, ere we leave him there, 
 we would, as it were, sculpture his tomb-stone with 
 affection's record of his life and character. 
 
 The Rev. William Craig Brownlee, the fourth 
 son of the Laird of Torfoot, Scotland, was born in 
 the year 1783 at Torlbot, the family homestead for 
 many generations, dating back to the reign of Queen 
 Anne. At the time of his decease he was, there- 
 fore, seventy-seven years of age. The race was of 
 the Covenanter faith. Upon his mother's side he 
 was also well connected. She was Margaret Craig, 
 of pure Scotch descent, a woman, as it appears, 
 of strong mind and sound heart, of whom her 
 son used to speak in terras of profound reverence, 
 as a devoted Christian and an exemplary mother. 
 No doubt, then. Dr. Brownlee was another instance 
 to be added to the list of men whose characters 
 have been very much formed, and who were made 
 what they became, by the force of maternal train- 
 ing and example. From such a stock on both 
 sides it is not surprising that Dr. Brownlee should 
 
65 
 
 have possessed the strong traits of character ho 
 manifested through life. And to the same cause 
 is probably to be attributed, in a great degree, 
 that peculiar energy with which he maintained 
 the rights of Presbytery ; the Calvinistic scheme of 
 doctrine with which his opening mind was satura- 
 ted, and the uncompromising hostility he displayed 
 towards errors in opposition to that scheme of truth, 
 and especially to the Papal apostacy. For the 
 covenanters, we know, were a sturdy race of re- 
 ligionists ; conscientious, unyielding, feeling each, 
 that he was set for the defence of the gospel. And 
 Dr. Brownlee was well read in their polemical 
 theology. 
 
 Care seems to have been expended upon his 
 youthful training, which laid the foundation of his 
 future scholarship. At a proper age he passed 
 into the University of Glasgow, from which, in due 
 course, he received his Master's degree ; and sub- 
 sequently, also, as a mark of their appreciation of 
 his volume on Quakerism, the Honorary Degree of 
 Doctor in Divinity. In regard to his early religious 
 exercises, I have no information. But from the fact 
 that the Lairds of Torfoot for generations were Cov- 
 enanters, and shed their blood, as is known, in 
 that cause, there can be no doubt that his youth 
 was nurtured in piety. Upon his graduation he 
 made choice of the gospel ministiy as the sphere 
 in which he would serve God in his generation, and 
 
 5 
 
GG 
 
 his theological studies were conducted by the Rev. 
 Dr. Bruce. In ls08, he was licensed to preach the 
 gospel by the Presbytery of Sterling, shortly after 
 which he removed to this country, being then 
 twenty-five years of age. Ilis first settlement was 
 in the Associate Church of Mount Pleasant, Penn- 
 sylvania. Thence, in 1813, he was called to the 
 Associate Scotch church in Philadelphia. In 1816, 
 he removed to New-Brunswick to take charge of 
 the Academy connected with Queen's, now Rutgers, 
 College. In 1819, he again assumed the pastoral 
 work in Baskingridge, New-Jersey, in connection 
 with the charge of a Classical Academy. In 1825, 
 he returned to New-Brunswick as Professor of 
 Languages in Rutgers College, and, in 1826, was 
 elected a pastor of this church to supply the va- 
 cancy caused by the removal of the Rev. Dr. Mil- 
 ledollar to the presidency of that College. Here 
 for nearly seventeen years he pursued his ministry 
 with great assiduity and acceptance, until September 
 23, 1843, when, in the full vigor of his powers and 
 usefulness, he was stricken down by paralysis. 
 His speech and his physical functions were never 
 fully recovered, although he still retained a good 
 degree of mental activity. 
 
 At first, and for some time, it was observed 
 that when the Sabbath came, his spirit seemed 
 somewhat depressed. He loved the Sabbath work, 
 and, no doubt, felt the privation. But those six- 
 
C7 
 
 teen years of sore infirmity he bore with exem- 
 plary, Christian patience ; and now, in a good okl 
 age, surrounded by his chikhen and many friends, 
 he has, at length, been called to his rest, and 
 devout men have carried him to his burial. His 
 last illness was short and sharp, yet he seemed 
 not to fear in the valley of the shadow of death. 
 Passages of Scripture, repeated . at his request, 
 seemed greatly to comfort him. The pressure of 
 the hand and smiles showed his recognition and 
 peace within, as the Saviour's name was pro- 
 nounced in his ear. And the lines of a favorite 
 hymn — 
 
 " Where Jesus dwells my soul would be, 
 Aud faints my much loved Lord to see,'' 
 
 he desired to have repeated, showing the greatest 
 pleasure in them. Thus has he passed away, nor 
 could we wish him back. We doubt not his 
 preparation for the change, and surely for him " to 
 die is gain." 
 
 Dr. B. possessed a fine natural disposition. 
 Amiable to a remarkable degree, generous, un- 
 selfish, unsuspicious, he might be imposed upon 
 by the cunning, but he was fitted, by native 
 kindness, to be a true and trusty friend. His 
 endowments of mind had been cultivated with 
 unremitting industry. In tlie Greek and Roman 
 classics, and in belles-lettres, his acquirements were 
 accurate and elegant; in genernl literature and 
 history very extensive; and in theology he added 
 
68 
 
 to the carefal study of the original Scriptures and 
 of standard authors much independent thought : 
 so that he was no novice hut might fairly have 
 been called a learned man. In his profession 
 particularly, he was well qualified, both to ex- 
 pound and maintain the system of divine truth, 
 as set forth in our reformed confessions, and also 
 to refute or convince the gainsayer by appro- 
 priate arguments from reason and Scripture. 
 
 For several years preceding his illness, Dr. B. 
 had given his thoughts very much to the Papal 
 controversy. His conviction of the destructive in- 
 fluence of that religion, and of its antagonism to our 
 civil institutions as a policy, were so controlling, 
 that in frequent ministrations to his own people, 
 and by lectures, he exerted his best powers to di- 
 rect the popular attention to the falsehoods and 
 the evils of the system. He was among the first 
 in this country who gave it special prominence ; 
 nor were his labors without effect in awakening 
 attention to that subject. 
 
 As a Preacher, Dr. B. was graceful, deUberate, 
 yet engaging in manner ; always perspicuous, often 
 argumentatiA^e, and sometimes beautifully imagina- 
 tive and finished in style ; scriptural, doctrinal, 
 and thoughtful, in matter. He excelled in the 
 statement of doctrines, and in expounding the 
 sacred text. So that, notwithstanding the method 
 of extemporaneous speaking, which he generally 
 
69 
 
 followed, he brought forth from his richly-furnished 
 mind, things new and old, and was an interest- 
 ing, able, and instructive minister. 
 
 He was well read in polemical theology and was 
 more of a controvertist than many of his breth- 
 ren, and, much better. In the Trinitarian, the Uni- 
 versalist, as well as the Catholic controversies, he 
 delivered full courses to his people, and in this 
 capacity he was laborious in preparation ; ardent 
 and even unsparing; bearing down upon false- 
 hood and heresy with a sort of holy violence, yet, 
 in obedience to the dictates of his generous heart, 
 he seemed free from bitterness and malignity to- 
 wards the persons of his opponents, and could 
 still meet them on kindly terms. 
 
 Dr. Brownlee was also known as an author of 
 tracts and volumes, both literary and theological, of 
 acknowledged merit. His active mind even ven- 
 tured into the field of fictitious writing, where, 
 too, his taste and his fancy received the meed of 
 high praise. His volumes on Quakerism ; the Lights 
 and Shadows of Christian Life ; the Young Com- 
 municant's Text Book ; several premium tracts ; The 
 Reformed Dutch Church Magazine, which he 
 edited through four volumes; and his essays on Di- 
 dactic and Controversial Theology, remain to his 
 Iriends and the public as honorable memorials of 
 the mind from which they emanated. 
 
 Dr. B. was once married — the partner of his 
 
70 
 
 youth being spared to him until age and infirmi- 
 ties brought them together towards the close of 
 their pilgrimage. They were the parents of nine 
 children, who survived them. Mrs. B. deceased in 
 September, 1849. 
 
 Such, brethren, was the friend and pastor we 
 have lost. Attractive as a man ; possessed of fine 
 powers of mind ; a scribe well instructed ; 
 a preacher of no common merit ; and, to crown 
 the whole, a believer sincere, devout ; walking 
 before the flock over which the Holy Ghost had 
 made him an overseer in faith, in humility, in 
 love; carefully breaking unto them the bread of 
 life, and feeding them with knowledge and un- 
 derstanding. His ministrations will be cherished 
 by many with grateful recollections. Though his 
 voice has been long silent, his frequent presence 
 in the sanctuary was impressive and affecting. 
 Being dead, he yet speaketh. To his family he 
 seems to say: Mourn not for me, for the days of 
 my trials are over. The fettered tongue is now 
 unloosed to sing redeeming love, and the palsied 
 frame, after its rest in the grave, will come forth 
 made like to Christ's glorious body. Be it your 
 care to love the same Saviour, to follow in the 
 faith which was my support, that when the 
 trump shall sound we may meet never again to 
 part — to go with all the saints " to be forever 
 with the Lord." — To this church there comes 
 another voice from the tomb : " Remember them 
 
71 
 
 who have had the rule over you, who have 
 spoken unto you the words of life, whose laith 
 follow considering the end of their conversation. 
 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and for- 
 ever." ]\Iilledolhir, Broadhead, Knox, Brownlee — 
 you have had their message, and within a short 
 period they are gone to give to the Master their 
 solemn account. They labored long and faithfully 
 here. Many of you heard them all. From their 
 sealed lips the voice of instruction and entreaty 
 has often fallen on your ears. What fruits have 
 followed ? what record, my beloved hearers, is 
 made np for the judgment? which shall their 
 gospel he to you, " a Saviour of life unto life, or 
 of death unto death?" 
 
 On us, my dear colleagues, who survive in this 
 ministry, the monition is solemnly enforced ; 
 " feed the flock of Christ which lie hath pur- 
 chased with His own blood." Oh, may we give 
 heed to it and redouble our diligence for our own 
 sake, for the honor of the Saviour, and the good 
 of souls. The shadows of our day are lengthen- 
 ing, and soon the sun will roll down the sky, 
 and the night will come in which we can no 
 longer work. May he who holds the stars in his 
 right hand, give ns grace to shine in purity of 
 doctrine and consistency of life, that many may 
 be turried to the Lord. " And when the Chief 
 Shepherd shall appear we shall receive a crown 
 of righteousness that fadeth not away." — Amen. 
 
isr O T I C E 
 
 DEATH AND FUNERAL SERVICES, 
 
 TAKEN FROM 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN INTELLIGENCER, 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM PAPERS. 
 
THE LATE WILLIAM C. BROWNLEE, I), D, 
 
 The march of death is uninterrupted. No age impedes, nor 
 condition arrests his inevitable advance. He lays low his vic- 
 tims when the green earth is laughing to the eye of spring, 
 when summer lustres shine from every leaf, when autumn 
 embrowns the fields, and when winter howls his dirges through 
 the stricken forests. Death is ubiquitous, and the grave yawns 
 a perpetual welcome to man. " Earth to earth, and dust to 
 dust," is the solemn refrain which closes the song of mirth, in- 
 terrupts every plan, and emphasizes every monody of hope. 
 
 The " weaver's shuttle," and the passing " vapor," are the 
 divinely chosen emblems to signify the duration of human exist- 
 ence here, and the swift coming of that dark messenger whose 
 summons none can escape, 
 
 Not always, however, with equal effect, does death do his 
 work. Sometimes, in prostrating one, a multitude is stricken 
 with orief. The gloomy shadow of the grave involves in its 
 sombre hues the many who mourn in sacred sadness over the 
 removal of those whom Providence has connected with their 
 kind, by the highest and the holiest ties. Thus, when a min- 
 ister of the gospel dies, his coffin holds, and his shroud enwraps, 
 the memories and feelings which a beloved teacher in the Lord 
 will always awaken. We have seldom, if ever, witnessed a 
 more, impressive illustration of this truth than has just been 
 shown in the decease and burial of the 
 
 REV. WILLIAM CRAIG BROWNLEE, D. D. 
 
 Sixteen.years ago last autumn, while at Newburgh, under 
 engagement to deliver a lecture, and while in apparent full- 
 ness of health. Dr. Brownlee was stricken with paralysis. We 
 
76 
 
 remember well the effect which the intelligence of this event 
 produced upon the public mind. Not only were many prayers 
 offered for his recovery, should G-od please, but the expectation 
 was strong, that the natural vigor of his constitution would 
 successfully medicate and overcome his disorder. It was the 
 will of the Almighty Providence that the strong man should re- 
 main dependent as a child, and that the big heart which had 
 glowed with fervid eloquence, while multitudes listened with 
 sympathetic ardor to its loving counsels or brave reproofs, should 
 be shut up to the endearments of home, and to the sweet luxu- 
 ries of private friendship. 
 
 From the day when the swift malady upheaved the founda- 
 tions of that brain-battery, which had worked so actively and 
 Avell, in obedience to the will of its possessor. Dr. Brownlee never 
 again appeared before an audience. His ministerial work was 
 done. To the great public he was then dead ; and, in the 
 solitude of the populous city, he lived to be cherished by the 
 few, and to be remembered by the many, as the man of might, 
 whose sun had been suddenly eclipsed. 
 
 In the lapse of seventeen years, so many changes have oc- 
 curred, especially in the composition of the community, that 
 the announcement of Dr. Brownlee's death has occasioned 
 among some a desire for a biographical sketch — to satisfy 
 awakened curiosity concerning the character and the achieve- 
 ments of the man, rather than for the customary mortuary 
 notice which affection craves. For this class of our readers 
 we are happily able to supply the information sought — and this 
 we do in the language of the late Dr. Knox, who penned the 
 following sketch a few years ago : — 
 
 " The Rev. William C. Brownlee, D. D., who has long sus- 
 tained a distinguished rank among American divines as a man 
 of talent, varied and extensive erudition, and indefatigable in- 
 dustry and activity, is of Scottish descent. He was born, in 1783, 
 in Scotland, at Torfoot, Lanarkshire, the family homestead for 
 many generations. He was the fourth son of the Laird of Tor- 
 foot, His early education was received under the most favor- 
 able auspices, in his native land. Having taken his degree of 
 A. M. with honor in the University of Glasgow, he pursued his 
 
77 
 
 studies for the ministry under the direction of Rev, Dr. Brace. 
 In 1808, soon after his licensure by the Presbytery of Sterling, 
 he removed to the United States, the scene of his subsc(iuent 
 labors, success, and usefulness. Hi.s first settlement was in 
 the Associated Church of Mount Pleasant, Pa. Thence he was 
 called to the Associated Scotch Church, Philadcli)hia, in 1813. 
 In 1816, he removed to New- Brunswick, N. J., to take charge 
 of the Academy of Queen's College. 
 
 " In 1819, he became the pastor of the Presbyterian Church 
 in Baskingridge, N. J., where he also conducted, with eminent 
 success and popularity, an institution of learning, in which 
 many youth were trained who have since adorned the various 
 liberal professions — and several have attained eminent positions 
 in political Hfc. From Baskingridge, 1825, he was appoint- 
 ed Professor of Languages in Rutgers College ; and in 1826 
 he removed to the city of New- York, to supply the place made 
 vacant by the transfer of the Rev. Dr. MilledoUar to the Presi- 
 dency of Rutgers College, as one of the pastors of the Colle- 
 giate Dutch Church. 
 
 " In this sphere he continued to labor with untiring dil- 
 igence, and great acceptance and usefulness, until September 
 23, 1843, when, in the fullness and ripeness of his powers, and 
 the zenith of his fame, he was stricken by paralysis. From 
 this stroke he has never recovered the power of public effort, 
 but still survives, in a tolerable degree of comfort, dwelling in 
 the bosom of those he so faithfully served, cherished by their 
 sympathy, affection, and kindness. In patient, persevering, 
 and exhausting labors, Dr. Brownlee was unsurpassed. Pos- 
 sessing uncommon stamina of bodily constitution, and a mind 
 of corresponding vigor, his physical and intellectual energies 
 were taxed to their utmost power. In addition to the services 
 already intimated, he found time for the copious and effective 
 use of his pen, his writings traversing the various fields of 
 didactic and controversial theology, and extending to depart- 
 ments of lighter literature, not excluding works of imagina- 
 tion — a faculty he possessed in a remarkably brilliant degree. 
 For many years he successively and ably edited various rcli- 
 
78 
 
 gious periodicals, and particularly the Reformed Dutch Church 
 Magazine, which extended to four volumes. At different pe- 
 riods, he gave the publiD his volume on Quakerism, Letters on 
 The Roman Catholic Controversy, Lights and Shadows of Chris- 
 tian Life, Young Communicant's Text-Book, and many other 
 volumes. He also was the author of several premium tracts, 
 and various other writings of smaller compass. 
 
 " Li attempting even the slightest sketch of the character- 
 istic qualities of one still living, the Avriter feels embarrassed 
 by considerations of delicacy. Fairness, however, demands 
 from one who has known him long and well, to testify to the 
 liberal gifts with which his mind was originally endowed, and 
 the sedulous culture by which these gifts were improved, and 
 turned to the best account. Stored with knowledge, familiar 
 with almost every department of learning, he possessed a ready 
 facility in bringing his enlarged resources to bear on matters 
 of practical utility with great effect ; a pioneer in the Cath- 
 olic controversy, he was mainly instrumental in rousing the 
 attention of the community to a system then regarded by 
 him, and now regarded by very many, as fraught with danger 
 to our cherished liberties. In this cause his zeal was ardent, 
 his courage indomitable, his efforts unmeasured, and his abil- 
 ity and eloquence admitted by all. His sermons and lectures 
 were, from year to year, listened to by eager crowds. Dr. 
 Brownlee usually preached without being trammelled by the 
 use of notes, either extemporaneously, or having written and 
 committed his discourses to memory. The general character 
 of his preaching was argumentative, but enlivened and illus- 
 trated by flashes of fancy, brilliant and beautiful. His views 
 of Christian doctrine were thoroughly of the Calvinistic school. 
 
 " Dr. Brownlee is a man of most amiable temperament, 
 kind and conciliating in all the social relations of life — a fact 
 which those acquainted with him only by his controversial 
 writings, might be disposed to infer. His manners, the true 
 index of the spirit that reigns within, are dignified, courteous, 
 and genial. "We have often pondered on the mystery of Provi- 
 dence, which, for so long a period of years, has laid aside one 
 
79 
 
 so eminently fitted for usefulness, from all public service — and 
 it remains a mystery still. ' Even so, Father, for so it hath 
 seemed good in thy siijht.' ' His judgments are a great deep, 
 and his ways past finding out.' " 
 
 THE FUNERAL 
 
 was observed on Tuesday afternoon, in the Reformed Dutch 
 Church on Lafayette place. Relatives of the deceased, his 
 colleagues in the pastorate, the Consistory of the Collegiate 
 Church, and many clergymen of various denominations, at- 
 tended first at his late residence, where a fervid, and impres- 
 sive, and deeply sympathetic prayer was offered by the Rev. 
 Benjamin C. Taylor, of Bergen, N. J. ; after which a proces- 
 sion was formed, which moved, with reverent step and slow, 
 to the sanctuary. 
 
 The pall was borne by the following eminent and mostly 
 aged clergymen : 
 
 Dr. Spring, Dr. Bangs, 
 
 Dr. Ferris, Dr. Rogers, 
 
 Dr. Matthews, Dr. Somers, 
 
 Dr. Hardexburgh, Dr. Krebs, 
 
 Followed by the physician of the family, 
 Gurdon Buck, M. D. 
 
 The church was draped in black, and filled with such an 
 assemblage of venerable men and women as is rarely seen. 
 There were many men distinguished in professional life, and 
 in every walk of Christian usefulness, who had been the friends 
 and associates of the deceased in his prime. Their whitened 
 locks showed how closely they might look upon the spectacle 
 of the occasion, and feel that the time of their departure ap- 
 proached. 
 
 The religious services were rendered by Dr. Adams, who 
 offered prayer, and gave out the 731st Hymn : 
 
 " IIow blessed the righteous when he dice," 
 
80 
 
 by Rev. Dr. McLeod, who read the 90th Psalm, a part of the 
 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians, and selected portions from 
 the Revelations by St. John. The venerable Dr. McCartee 
 then delivered a warm and earnest address. He was followed 
 by the Rev. Dr. Hutton. 
 
 [The addresses as published in the Inteltigencer loere in sub- 
 stance as hereinbefore hiserted.] 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Phillips offered prayer, after which the 717th 
 Hymn was sang, and the Benediction pronounced. The con- 
 eresation then took a farewell look of the deceased, after which 
 his remains were interred in the cemetery in Second street. 
 New- York. 
 
81 
 
 From the N. Y. Observer. 
 
 REV. WM. C. BROAVNLEE. D. D. 
 
 This great and good man, whose decease has recently 
 taken place, has been dead to the public for now nearly seven- 
 teen years. At the noon of his life and of his influence, he 
 was smitten with paralysis, from the enfeebling influence of 
 which he never recovered. He went out, the strong man 
 armed, to perform a public duty at Kewburgh, on the banks 
 of the Hudson ; he was brought home weak as a child. With 
 that stroke, as sudden and unexpected as a flash of lightning 
 in a clear sky, closed his public life ! Never afterwards was 
 his voice heard in the sanctuary of God, or in the assemblages 
 of men ! Cherished and soothed by his family and friends in 
 private, he was dead to the public. 
 
 The first time I ever saw Dr. Brownlee was in Broadway, 
 New-York, now thirty-two years ago. But a short time pre- 
 vious, he had been transferred from New-Brunswick to the 
 Middle Dutch Church ; and his name was in the mouth of all 
 my acquaintances. The first sight of him impressed me. His 
 peouliarly adjusted hair ; his penetrating eye, peering at every- 
 thing through a pair of heavy gold spectacles ; his open, fresh, 
 massive countenance ; his short neck, if neck it could be called, 
 bound round with a cravat of many folds ; his short, compact, 
 firm frame, made never to bend ; his firm step, indicative of a 
 firm purpose ; all and each made an impression on me which 
 is distinct at this hour. And although 1 have not seen him 
 through the long evening twilight of his life, yet, had I the 
 pencil of a Rubens or a West, I could now paint him to the 
 life, as he- impressed me the first tinie I saw him. Ordinary 
 men make no such impressions. No one that ever saw the 
 Duke of Wellington could forget him. You- could single out 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 Antonelli from all the stupid, dozy, old cardinals that say mass 
 in the Sistine ; his restless, wicked eye ; his strongly marked 
 face, tell the whole story ; all his features tell of a soul within 
 fit for stratagem and crime, and ready to renew the cruelties 
 of a Torquemada. 
 
 After acquaintance with Dr. Brownlee only deepened the 
 impression which the first sight of him made upon me. 
 He was a man of unusual strength of mind. His ima- 
 gination, wit, irony, were noticeable in his conversation, and 
 discourses, and controversies ; but they were to his mind what 
 the ripples on its bosom are to the river. His thoughts were 
 strong, and laid hold of great principles. And if he seemed to 
 deal severely, at times, with those who differed from him, it 
 was because he saw the effect of their false principles in their 
 remote consequences. His mind seemed, at a glance, to dis- 
 tinguish the true from the false ; and it was a part of his very 
 nature to deal with the false, in morals and theology, with an 
 unsparing hand. He regarded all error as the enemy of all 
 righteousness. 
 
 His learning luas extensive and accurate. Enjoying all the 
 advantages of education which his own Scotland could afford, 
 he diligently improved them. His connection for so many 
 years with classical institutions here, served to give depth and 
 accuracy to his learning. Besides he was a most diligent 
 student. In patristic learning he had but few equals; and he 
 had fully mastered all the controversions of the Papal and 
 Protestant Churches. With the very shadings of thought 
 which separate truth and error he had a most familiar ac- 
 quaintance. His library was his home, where he made himself 
 familiar with almost every department of learning. 
 
 He was truly independent. He thought for himself; and 
 was made to lead rather than to follow. When he formed his 
 opinions they were never yielded, nor concealed. When he re- 
 solved on a certain course, there was no turning back, though 
 bonds and imprisonment awaited him. He had no armor, or 
 covering for his back. In the line of duty, he felt, like the 
 eagle rising from the rock, that beyond and above the storm 
 
83 
 
 there was eternal sunshine. This characteristic was wonder- 
 fully displayed in his controversy with the Romish priests, — 
 Power, Levins and Varela, — nearly thirty years ago. At that 
 time many Protestants were lukewarm as to the spread of Po- 
 pery ; and politicians patronised it because of the votes of its 
 adherents ; but Dr. Brownlee saw in it a lurking enemy con- 
 spiring against religion and all the great interests of humanity, 
 and he resolved to drag it into the light. And this he did with 
 a power, and boldness, that rows, threats, anathemas, and the 
 most ribald abuse, seemed only to strengthen. And when his 
 friends feared his appearance even in his own church, he went 
 to work as calmly to batter down the walls of Romanism — 
 which he regarded as baptised Paganism — as he did to visit 
 the sick, or to preach the simple gospel to sinners! To his 
 mind, the interests of true religion, the existence of our liber- 
 ties, and the perpetuity of the Republic, were involved in the 
 questions between him and the priests ; and he was heedless of 
 danger, and regarded the threats of personal violence as an 
 evidence of his victory over his assailants. Error and fanati- 
 cism are very kind until beaten ; then they rage like a hungry 
 lion, and will make up in abuse what they lack in argument. 
 
 But mingled with his bravery, was a most kind and gentle 
 heart. These are traits of character generally united. Na- 
 poleon knew no fear, — amid the roar of cannon, and the shock 
 of battle, he was calm as a summer's morning, — but when the 
 battle was over, with the tenderness of woman, he was often 
 seen visiting the dead and the dying. If Dr. Brownlee was a 
 lion in public, he was gentle as a lamb in private. Amiable in 
 his temper — soft in his manners — gentle in his tones of voice 
 and intercourse — conciliating in his conduct — he soon dissi- 
 pated the awe which his appearance and name inspired ; and 
 he proved himself as genial and courteous in private as he was 
 terrific and fearless when combating error in public. Hence 
 the great esteem in which he was held by all that knew him. 
 He died without a personal enemy ; and, save the enemies of 
 truth and righteousness, without one enemy. 
 
 He ivas an able minister of the New Testament. Brought 
 
84 
 
 up amid the early religious training for which Scotch Presby- 
 terians are so famous, he devoted himself in the morning of 
 his life to the Lord. The strong, masculine theology of Paul, 
 Calvin, and Knox, which made Scotland what it was, and is, 
 became intertwined vvith his earliest thoughts and affections. 
 In the pages of the Bible, and in the volumes of the Covenan- 
 ters and Puritans, he found the principles of all science, and 
 the foundation of all true wisdom. He conned them over and 
 over — early and late, — until their principles became the law of 
 his life. This fact is the key to all that was peculiar in his 
 character ; and whatever estimate may be formed of his char- 
 acter, it is certain that, in this way it received its distinctive 
 impress. In all his principles, doctrines, and feelings, he 
 was a Covenanter of the strongest mould ; and his earnest and 
 honest .soul clung to his principles as the shipwrecked sailor 
 clings to the cliff. His preaching was strongly doctrinal, and 
 argumentative ; and, often, exhaustive of the subject. His 
 manner in the pulpit was earnest, and dignified and impres- 
 sive. He never lowered its dignity by unworthy themes. Pie 
 fed the people with knowledge and understanding ; and crowds 
 attemled his ministrations. From a full soul that had a rich 
 experience of its power, he poured forth the truth as it is in 
 Jesus ; and although utterly averse to the histrionic and tinsel 
 of the pulpit, he was one of the most popular preachers of his 
 day. 
 
 It is one of the mysteries of Providence that we may not 
 comprehend, why a man of such varied gifts — of such power 
 for doing good — should be so suddenly prostrated in the midst 
 of his usefulness ; and so long continued, without the power 
 to do the things that he would. But what we know not now 
 Ave shall know by-and-by. Dr. Brownlee is dead ; but he will 
 live, for ages, in his works. His sun has set ; but long, long 
 will its rays linger upon the high places of Zion. Truly, a 
 great man has fallen in Israel ; and with the hand of tender 
 affection, we lay this chaplet of yew upon his tomb. 
 
 KiRWAN. 
 
85 
 
 From The Christian Inlelligcnccr. 
 
 THE LATE DK. BROAVNLEE. 
 
 Albany, Feb. 24, 1860. 
 
 Mr. Editor : — The news of the death of the Rev. \V. C. 
 Brownlee, D. D., senior pastor of the Collegiate Church, took 
 none of us by surprise, who were familiar with his feeble state, 
 and knew that he was struggling with an enemy who always 
 conquers in the end. For more than sixteen years that strug- 
 gle had been going on, and death has triumphed at last. The 
 accomplished scholar, the fearless champion for God's truth, the 
 bold and earnest preacher, the devoted Christian, the laborious 
 pastor, the kind and faithful friend, has at last rested from his 
 labors, and truly his works do follow him. He. has met in the 
 upper sanctuary, the revered and beloved Knox, with whom, 
 as with his surviving colleagues, he so long took sweet counsel 
 together, and whose summons home came in such a different 
 form — ^^ par nobile fratruni." Their " memory is blessed." 
 
 The first sermon which I ever remember to have heard was 
 from Dr. Brownlee. I thought of it as I stood by his pale and 
 shrunken form, as he lay in his coffin, and as I followed him 
 to his grave. It was from those blessed words : " For we know 
 that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we 
 have a building of G-od, a house not made with hands, eternal 
 in the heavens." It was in the old Pearl street Church, then 
 under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Monteath, the successor of 
 Rev. Dr. Phillips. I was too young to appreciate the sermon, 
 but I distinctly remember the deep impression made upon me 
 by Dr. Brownlee's appearance, and his sonorous voice — the 
 effect of which was assisted by the rich brogue which he had 
 brought with him from his noble native land. I often heard 
 him afterwards, and became acquainted witli him personally. 
 
86 
 
 When T was first licensed to preach, and was considering the 
 question of a field of lahor, he wrote me a long letter, full 
 of wise counsel and paternal kindness, giving me a brief history 
 of his own ministerial career, and the lessons of a rich experi- 
 ence in different fields. Here and there were flashes of humor 
 quite characteristic of the man, and much judicious advice, 
 given in the kindest spirit. One sentence of the letter was quite 
 significant : " Do not seek a city charge in your youth, my dear 
 young brother, unless you ivish to get to heaven very quick.''^ 
 Often has this sentence recurred to my memory since I have 
 borne the burdens, and tried to meet the responsibilities of such 
 a charge. It would be well if our young men, ambitious to be- 
 come city preachers, would remember these words. Twenty 
 years have added much to the burden which such a charge lays 
 upon its incumbent, and a man needs more strength of every kind 
 to bear it than our young brethren can ordinarily possess. Dr. 
 Brownlee himself, struck down in the fullness of his powers, 
 when " his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated," is 
 but another illustration of the fearfulness of the pressure which 
 a pastoral charge in a large city makes on one who appreciates 
 its responsibilities, and endeavors faithfully to discharge its 
 multifarious and onerous duties. 
 
 In common with many others, I shall ever cherish the 
 memory of Dr. Brownlee with reverence and affection, and 
 trust that I have taken to heart the admonition, which came 
 to me from his closed lips, and the solemn scenes of his 
 funeral, to do more faithfully my appointed work, as a minis- 
 ter of Jesus Christ, while the day lasts, remembering that 
 " the night cometh when no man can work." 
 
 Fraternally yours, E. P. R. 
 
87 
 
 From the Sower. 
 
 DR. BROWNLEE. 
 
 AVe are called to record, in this number, the decease of this 
 venerable and distinguished servant of the church. Few men 
 in the American church occupied so prominent a position, and 
 exerted so wide an influence as he, at the time he was stricken 
 down by disease, seventeen years ago. He seemed to have an 
 iron constitution, and he taxed it by an amount of duty that was 
 truly astonishing. Besides the claims of the collegiate pulpit, 
 which he fully and ably met, he made time to conduct a paper 
 in the advocacy of Protestantism, to prepare various works for 
 the press, and was ever ready to take active part in the pro- 
 motion of the cause of temperance. To him belongs largely 
 the credit of awakening the American church to the errors 
 and encroachments of Romanism. He seemed to be most 
 happy in the pulpit — almost to live there, for rare indeed was 
 it for him to be a hearer. He held himself always ready to 
 help a brother minister, when his engagements in his proper 
 place allowed, and in this generous service he was not 
 restricted by denominational limits. "While in his war on the 
 Roman system, his were tremendous blows ; with the misled 
 people he was all tenderness and love. In argument he was 
 strong, and thorough, and sharp ; but in his practical services, 
 no man uttered sweeter or more comforting words, and was 
 heard with more delight. 
 
 For a long period he has been laid aside from work, schooled 
 in patience. Pleasant has it been to see him, during his 
 infirm state, make his way, on the Sabbath, slowly, and 
 relying on the filial arm, to his place in the elder's seat in 
 Lafayette Place Church, and to note his upturned countenance, 
 and his unwearying and evidently intelligent interest in the 
 word preached ; pleasant it is now, to think of him in the 
 upper sanctuary, enjoying the full glory of the Master he 
 served. 
 
WRITINGS. 
 
 The following works by the Rev. Dr. Brownlee, were pub- 
 lished during the period of his active labors in the ministry : 
 
 Brownlee on Quakerism. 1 vol., 8vo. 
 
 The Roman Catholic Controversy. 1 vol., 8vo. 
 
 Lights and Shadows of Christian Life. 1 vol., 8vo. 
 
 Christian Youth's Book. 12mo. 
 
 The Whigs of Scotland (a Romance). 2 vols., 12mo. ' ' 
 
 Christian Father at Home. 12mo. 
 
 On the Deity of Christ. 24to. 
 
 Brownlee on Baptism. 24to. 
 
 Popery an Enemy to Civil and Religious Liberty. 24to. 
 
 The Roman Catholic Religion Viewed in the Light of History 
 
 AND Prophecy. 12mo. 
 St. Patrick • or. the Ancient Religion of the Irish. 
 
 He was also the author of several pamphlets and premium 
 tracts, and edited the Dutch Church Magazine through four 
 consecutive volumes. 
 
PAMPHLET BINDER 'j 
 
 p*T. NO. 
 
 877188 
 
 Manufactured bu 
 
 GAYLORD BROS. Ine- 
 
 Syracu<e, N. Y. 
 
 Slocliton, Calif. 
 
 •.TED IN U 
 
1 1012 01039 0567