formed then is the Union of to-day, and under it our prosperity has been so great that we are all willing to sacrifice the last drop of our blood to see it maintained against traitors. The forbearance of the North was simply the calmness of conscious strength. The first cannon-shot, however, against Sumter, struck the great heart of the American people, and that heart shall never cease beating until this wrong is avenged. Despising the remedies offered by the Constitution itself for redressing their supposed grievances, they, just as wicked men always do, have gathered their forces, have stolen forts and arsenals, have plundered our public property, murdered innocent citizens, and now are endeavoring to coil a serpent among the stars and stripes, whose fangs shall strike out the emblems of seven States from its glorious folds, If a foreign foe had done this, the nation would have risen up as one man to hurl down the aggressor. How much worse is it when the foe came from within our own bosom. In fact, a more monstrous crime against human rights had never been perpetrated since the crucifixion of our Lord and Saviour."* Yet this indignation at treason, was tempered with the spirit of that love which dictated words like these, in his address at the last anniversary of the Bible Society-words which I quote as indicative of the final remedy for the evils that now distract our unhappy country, and as a rebuke to the vengeful spirit of retaliation which would destroy us: "The hope has strong foundations that the Bible may even now preserve us a free people, reconcile prevailing discontents, and again unite us as brethren of a country whose liberties the patriotic statesmen of every section of it labored to gain and to secure. This blessed volume, in the scope of its precepts, and breadth of its charity, can reach all the collisions of opinion, and pacify the troubled waters of strife. While different interpretations may be, and are, honestly entertained, all must agree to the one meaning of the clear injunction of forbearance and long-suffering patience. No one can easily misapprehend the charity that suffereth long and is kind." During his last illness, and up to the day of his death, his country was upon his heart, and upon his tongue, and in his prayers. And when from almost every public building and private house in the city, the good old flag floated at half-mast over his unburied corpse, the people felt that America and the Union had lost the very Daniel of the time. His death was preceded by an illness of a few weeks' duration, attended by severe suffering. But grace was triumphant there. The faith which he had humbly adorned so long was his victory. The Saviour, whom he loved so well, was "Christ in him the hope of glory." Notwithstanding he had been prone to constitutional * Only a portion of the above extract was repeated in the delivery of this discourse, but we keep it whole in print. religious depression, and had during long years felt those fears of death which trouble many of God's dear children, they were all dispelled by the grace which was given him. The valley of the shadow of death was made light about him. His end was peaceperfect peace-which was the effect of the assurance of hope unto the end. His was not the death of one 66 who wraps the drapery of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams." But he died in the faith which he had loved, "His eye bright with hope, Flashing its birthright radiance unto heaven, Drinking revealments of God's paradise." Amid the prayers and the praises of a great multitude of the best citizens of the land, with tears and with love, his body was laid in the grave of the righteous, among the sepulchers of many honored and sainted dead, to await "the resurrection of the just." I am painfully conscious of the meagerness of this sketch of our departed "worthy." Yet, as a friend remarked to me, of Mr. Frelinghuysen, it is almost as difficult to write out one's impressions of so complete a character as it is to describe Niagara. The impressions are within you, and you have no voice or pen to produce them. Others will do better justice to his exalted name, services, character and memory. But none can be more heartfelt than this tribute to the illustrious man, whose friendship was my honor, and whose personal and official relations to your preacher are remembered only to exalt his beloved name. Whatever of infirmity he possessed-and "he was a man of like passions with ourselves" he was a model man, a nobleman by nature, and a prince in Israel by the grace of God. Tears fell hot and fast when he died, for his loss is irreparable. But devout men who carried him to his burial, and the throngs that stood over his grave, praised the Lord who gave him to the Church, the country, and the world who spared him so long, and then brought him to his grave "as a shock of corn fully ripe in his season." His work was done. His life was beautifully rounded off. He could say with the Apostle-"I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." Yes! yes! He was a burning and a shining light, and we rejoiced in his light for a season! "Oh! give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good-to him that made great lights-for his mercy endureth forever." The beneficent grandeur of such a character deserves peculiar attention in this troublous time. Nature had done much for him; but grace did more. It gave this "salt its savor." His world-wide charity, his deep piety, his representative character, his high example, are before the nations of the earth. Wherever the American tract, the American missionary and the American Bible, "go into all the world preaching the Gospel to every creature," they carry with them the influence and the prayers of this prince of God. To our American youth he is the pattern of patriotism, professional purity, and success, and of sanctified ambition, with modesty, humility, and faithful piety. To the legal profession he is "the burning and shining light" of its learning, its integrity, its eloquence, and its legitimate power in the state. To our country, and its rulers, he is the model of its wisest counselors, its best citizens, and its most Christian loyalty. To the Church he is the type of her most eminent servants in her Sabbath-school, her eldership, her ecclesiastical courts, and her benevolent operations. To every one of us he is the pattern of the decided believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, "walking softly before God, and occupying his talents until his Lord came." It is a calamity to lose such a man when radicalism and revolution walk hand in hand; when a great nation reels, staggers, and wades deep in the blood of its citizens, to save its own life; when sea and land are involved in one great strife with parricidal rebellion. His was not the light of a dim taper, nor that of a little household lamp, nor that of a signal rocket, nor yet that of a festive illumination. It was rather like that magnificent arrangement of lamp and lantern, lenses and prisms, which some of us have seen on the lighthouse by the ocean side. It was lifted up on high, a fixed, steady, and powerful light, "burning and shining"-shooting its radiance far out upon the sea, through fog, and storm, and darkness, in the wintry blasts, and through the summer solstice, never waning, never deceiving, but true as the North star in its place and beauty - the guide, the beacon, the warning and the joy of every mariner upon a dangerous coast. It was a true reflection of the best civilization and Christianity of the age. And who can think of him in his latter days, without the sweetest impressions of that serene and beautiful old age, which, preserved from decay, gave full scope to his genial simplicity of soul, his winsome manners, his inexpressible attractions for young and old alike; and, above all, to his mellowed Christian virtues. Dear, beautiful old man, how we loved him! Toward the evening of the day on which he was nominated for the Vice-Presidency, I stood with a friend and classmate in the Seminary, upon an elevated spot, looking toward the western hills. Just as the tidings came, the heavens were lighted up with the splendors of such a sunset as seldom glows even in Italian skies. Cities and palaces, domes of gold, mountains of light, and seas of silver, were crowded into the gorgeous pano rama. And as the scenes shifted with the vapory masses of crimson and gold, wonders grew upon wonders, until imagination itself was lost in the vision of the naked eye. It seemed an emblem of the good man's political future-and so it was, but not as we thought. The clouds grew gray and dark as the sun went down, and the night was heavy with the rain. And so the election failed. But not so ended that "calling and election" which, "giving all diligence," he had "made sure" through grace. When his sun went down, it revealed not its lingering splendors in "cloudland - gorgeous land," but they flashed upon the precious foundation-stones of the New Jerusalem; from her gates of pearl, and from the throne of the Lamb; "and the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." "And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates thereof shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there, and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." PHILADELPHIA, May 5th, 1862. REV. W. J. R. TAYLOR, D.D., Pastor of the Third Reformed Dutch Church, Philadelphia: DEAR SIR: Having heard with much satisfaction the discourse delivered yesterday in our church, commemorative of the late Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, and believing its publication would be productive of good, and a permanent memento of that eminent man, we would respectfully ask the favor of a copy for publication in THE NATIONAL PREACHER. While the relations of Mr. Frelinghuysen were closely identified with our Church as a member of her communion, a prominent officer in several of her Boards, and President of Rutgers College, his memory is revered throughout our land and the Church universal-a whole people feel that a great and good man has passed away, leaving a character of lofty patriotism, exalted moral worth, and Christian excellence, for us to imitate and cherish. DEAR BRETHREN: At your request, I submit the accompanying memorial-discourse for publication, trusting that it may, at least, witness for the grace by which our revered friend was made "a burning and a shining light" to the Church, the country, and the I remain, your friend and pastor, WILLIAM J. R. TAYLOR Messrs. LEONARD JEWELL, WILLIAM WHITNEY, and others. DEATH OF PRESIDENT FRELINGHUYSEN. Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen died at his residence in New-Brunswick, N. J., on the 12th instant, (April, 1862.) He was born in Somerset county, N. J., March 27, 1787, graduated at Princeton College in 1804, and was admitted to the bar in 1808. In 1826 he was elected United States Senator, and in 1844 received the Whig nomination for VicePresident of the United States. In 1838, after his retirement from the Senate, he was elected Chancellor of the University of the City of New-York, and removed his residence to this city. Mr. Frelinghuysen resigned the Chancellorship of the New-York University in 1850, on his election to the presidency of Rutgers College of New-Brunswick, New-Jersey, and removed from New-York to that city during the same year. There he resided until the close of his life. In Newark, N. J., where he resided during his active professional life, he was one of the founders of the Second Presbyterian church in 1811, and held the position of Elder, Trustee, and Superintendent of the Sabbath-school down to the time of his removal to New-York. He was also the Mayor of the city in 1837 and 1838. He was twice married. His first wife, Miss Mercer, of Newark, died April 13, 1858. He afterwards married Miss Pumpelly, of Oswego, N. Y., who survives him. SERMON XII. BY REV. A. S. GARDNER, MINISTER OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, COLD SPRING, NEW-YORK. THE EMOTIONS OF A SAINT JUST ARRIVED AT HEAVEN. FULLNESS of joy is a most comprehensive expression. It implies the perfection of enjoyment in all the faculties of being. It springs from good in possession and good in prospect, and in its very nature involves certainty and permanence. That joy which, however great its present extent, is destined to ultimate extinguishment, can not be said to be perfect joy. Much less may that be called fullness of joy which is attended with many abatements. It is evident, therefore, that the expression, fullness of joy, can not have relation to this world. It must stand related to some other and higher sphere. There is, there can be, only one place of which it may be truthfully said, that in it there is fullness of joy, and that place is heaven. "In thy presence," saith the Psalmist, "is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Heaven is the goal of the Christian's race. He has respect to it from the beginning to the end of his career. He feels more and more sensibly, as he advances toward it, that nowhere else is happiness in fullness to be found. And when he reaches it, when he enters upon his inheritance, when faith is lost in sight, hope. |