He frequently dwelt upon the hymn commencing

"How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord!"

On Thursday morning he desired a beloved elder to tell him concerning his prospects for death or recovery; and when told our fears, listened without the least apparent emotion.

He spoke many words of tenderness for those nearest and dearest. His whole ministry seemed to pass before him in pleasing vision. He spoke of Newbern, and said that he had never received an unkind word there, but had always been treated lovingly. He dwelt upon the mercies he had received here. He thanked God for the faithful elders and for the great kindness of his people.

He wished the church to be told that he felt they had been loving and generous to him. He invoked God's blessing upon them. He sent messages to the Sunday-school, and to the young men especially, charging the latter to be faithful.

And then, looking upon the loving group around him, and no doubt in them blessing the congregation and the friends they represented, he said: "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord cause his face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Amen and amen. During the afternoon an occasional sentence burst from his lips, such as, "God knows best." "Whatever God does is best. "As thy day, so shall thy strength be."

During the night he said but little. At eleven he repeated, "He has been with me in six troubles; in the seventh he will not forsake me. Then followed the Lord's Prayer, and once more he pronounced the apostolic benediction.

At five minutes past three on Friday morning, August 24, death was swallowed up in victory.

Rev. Mr. Hubbard read from the pulpit the fourteenth anniversary sermon prepared by Mr. Stratton previous to his death, which closes as follows: "The fourteen years of my ministry here have been in many respects blessed years. At our communion in July last our numbers were one hundred and ninety-two. In 1852, just previous to my coming, it was ninety-two-a most encouraging progress has been made. While the membership of the church has been more than doubled, your liberality has kept pace with your increase in numbers. As these years of the ministry have passed they have summoned many to the purer service of a better world. The wheat has been safely garnered. Many have fought the good fight and finished their course. And now we are to be followers of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Some of us are drawing near the close of life. Time is leaving its impression, strength of body and mind passing away. A few years ago our children lay in our arms, and now they stand by our side to enter upon this strife for life. Another generation presses upon us, and we pass from the stage of action. Submissive, joyful, without any desire to stop in the course, we are passing to the chambers of the dead. We see already the valley of the shadow of death, and beyond it the land of eternal peace. If those who follow us will cleave to Christ with a stronger faith, if they will walk more humbly before God, if they will more diligently serve God, and defend the doctrines, worship and ordinances of the Church of our fathers, we will cheerfully resign the world when our appointed time shall come. How important, in view of so solemn an event, that we have a daily preparation for the hour of our departure! How need

ful for us all that we have an abiding assurance of our acceptance, so that we may be ready in season for the coming of our Lord!"

An elder in the Church writes as follows:

We have heard strangers and others say, "That man fills my ideal of St. John."

The above extract from the discourse delivered at the funeral of our lamented pastor embodies perhaps the most truthful estimate of his character that can be given. As in his great prototype, so in him, the milder attributes of the Christian character predominated. His ministry was preeminently a ministry of love. The goodness and mercy of God were the themes upon which he delighted to dwell. He seldom indulged in the language of denunciation or appealed to the fears of his audience.

His power as a preacher consisted more in appealing to the affections and awakening sentiments of love and gratitude than in arousing the terrors of a guilty conscience. Yet there was nothing effeminate in his piety. His convictions were as strong as his faith in the gospel which he preached was steadfast. No servant of Christ stood up firmer than he when the doctrines of his Church or the vital interests of Zion were imperiled. He loved his fellow-men with a generous love, but his love for God was the controlling impulse of his heart. He disliked innovations in the forms of worship or in doctrine, and ever stood a watchful sentinel at the portals of the Church. Educated in the theology of Princeton, he was jealous of the slightest departure from it. The writings of Dr. Hodge were always to him "words fitly spoken;" "apples of gold in pictures of silver.' But while he so much revered the doctrines and forms of his own Church, his heart went out in Christian charity and love to other denominations.

He possessed the rare faculty of being firm without giving offence in the expression of his opinions. His skill in softening the asperity of discussion was remarkable. To the graces of the Christian minister he united in an eminent degree the gentle demeanor of the man. Though greatly successful as a preacher, his greatest influence for good was exerted as a pastor and in social life. Many, not only in his own church, but in this community, will long remember with gratitude his ministrations in the sick chamber and in the house of mourning.

No one prized more highly the enjoyments of the social circle than our late beloved pastor. While mingling in these pleasures the charm of his presence diffused itself through all hearts. Young and old welcomed him with a cordiality that bespoke the esteem in which he was held. Indeed, few men have mingled so largely in society, and left behind memories so pleasant and suggestive of all that is pure in our fallen nature.

JOSEPH B. STRATTON, D.D., of Natchez, Miss., writes as follows: My cousin was possessed of a well-organized and vigorous mind, and is entitled to the credit of having improved and cultivated it with conscientious fidelity. I think, therefore, he may be said to have been a growing man all his life. It was rarely that I had the opportunity of hearing him preach. The last occasion was in 1865, before West Jersey Presbytery, convened at Bridgeton, upon some assigned subject, and I confess I listened to him with surprise and delight. There was a massive force and a luminous wisdom in his utterances, a pertinence in his matter, a gracefulness in his style, and an unction in his tone which charmed me, and proved him, in my estimation, to be a preacher of no common order. His popularity for a series of years, both in Newbern and Salem, is probably evidence sufficient that he was this. He was eminently a consecrated man-well versed in the letter, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Christianity. He loved the work of the ministry,

wrought in it with a simplicity of faith and a tenderness of love which I think are unusual, and was successful in winning many souls to the Saviour. He had a broad sympathy with his fellow-men, and a remarkably clear common sense, and hence was apt and acceptable in his intercourse with his people, so that his influence out of the pulpit was perhaps even more positive than in it. Though an invalid all his life, he was singularly free from petulance, and had the same hearty ring in his laugh-when I saw him last, with the silver of a premature old age on his brow-which I had loved to hear when we were boys together.

I could go on indefinitely in my reminiscences and praises, but fear I am writing quite aside from the point to which your inquiries relate.

P. O Studdiford

STUDDIFORD, D.D., PETER O.-The son of Rev. Peter and Phoebe (Vandeveer) Studdiford, was born at Readington, N. J., Jan. 11, 1799. Having received a faithful religious training, he early made a profession of religion, and became a minister of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church at Readington, of which his father was pastor. He attended the academy at Baskingridge, N. J., then under the care of Robert Finley, D.D., and subsequently at Somerville, N. J., under the tuition of Cullen Morris, Esq. He was educated in Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J., and was graduated with the highest honor in 1816. After leaving college he was occupied about three years in teaching-first at Bedminster and afterward in Somerville, N. J., with great success and acceptance. He entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J., July 8, 1819, and finished his course Sept. 29, 1821. He was licensed by New Brunswick Presbytery April 27, 1819, and began his labors in the neighborhood of Bristol and Tullytown, Pa. He was ordained as an evangelist by the same Presbytery Nov. 28, 1821, and on the Sabbath, Dec. 2, 1821, commenced his labors at Lambertville, N. J., alternating for one year with the Solebury church in Pennsylvania. September, 1822, upon the application of seven persons, the church of Lambertville and Georgetown was organized by Charles Hodge, D.D., under the direction of New Brunswick Presbytery, and Emley Holcombe and Jonathan Piddock were chosen elders. In June, 1825, he was installed pastor of Lambertville and Solebury churches. In the same year he opened a classical school in his own house, and from that time onward he labored as pastor and teacher with this people. He declined various calls to other churches, because his judgment and his feelings prompted him to abide with the church of his early choice, and this relation existed most happily for a period of forty-five years. Whilst on a visit to his brother-in-law, Josiah Simpson, M. D., United States Medical Director, Baltimore, Md., he was taken ill, and died June 5, 1866. His remains were taken to Lambertville, N. J., and buried in the cemetery. October 12, 1824, he married Miss Ellen W. Simpson, daughter of John N. Simpson, of New Brunswick, N. J., who, with four sons, survives him.

GEORGE HALE, D.D., of Pennington, N. J., preached the funeral sermon, whence the following is taken: He was a diligent student through his whole life; his reading was varied and extensive; he was a sound and able theologian and an independent thinker, investigating for himself the great questions that claimed his attention; he was a judicious, discriminating and

most instructive preacher, which can be accounted for when we consider his extended biblical researches. He seized with avidity every book coming from the press which promised to throw light on the word of God, which he studied constantly in the Hebrew and Greek. He was mighty in the Scriptures, and sought to make his people so. He was a man of pure motives, sound principles and elevated aims; a man who held communion with God; was imbued with an evangelical spirit, was animated with love for souls and love for the Church of God, and was ready to spend and be spent' in his Master's service. One of his latest public exercises was the giving of the charge to his son Samuel at his installation as pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church, Trenton, N. J. His last sermon was preached at the funeral of his friend Jacob Kirkpatrick, D.D. His closing hours were such as befitted such a life. Cyrus Dickson, D.D., of Baltimore, Md., visited him during this period, and to him the dying man said: 'I feel conscious of deficiencies, but the Lord has granted to me his presence and sustained me by his grace. I have found him to be a precious Saviour. I would not exchange my situation as an humble minister of the gospel for that of the greatest prince on earth, or the honor of serving such a Master for all the honors this world can give.' The evening before he died his mind wandered, but after a season of extreme agony his pain suddenly left him, his reason returned, and with a radiant face he exclaimed: Let me go, for the day breaketh!' He afterward suffered excessively, and finally settled into a partial stupor. About two hours before his death he awoke from it and was able to articulate good-bye' and 'love to all.' On being asked, 'Is it well with you?' he replied, 'All is well; I know that my Redeemer liveth.' He then repeated the first line of a favorite hymn: Jesus, thou art the living bread, and of a psalm he often used in public worship: Happy the man whose hopes rely on Israel's God.' He then said: 'Into thy hands I commit my spirit,' and engaged in prayer, but quite inaudibly. After that he waved his hand, requesting those around him to leave the bedside, evidently desiring to be alone with God. Thus closed his long and useful life.'

man.

CHARLES HODGE, D.D., Professor in Princeton Theological Seminary, made the following address: "In the year 1811-12, when at school in Somerville, N. J., I stood beside Peter O. Studdiford, then a delicate, fair-haired boy about twelve years old. It is difficult to believe that the frail-looking youth and the venerable man whose remains lie before us are one and the same, not in person only, but in character. What he was as a boy he was as a The impression made on his school-fellows was the impression he has left on this community, after his forty-five years of pastoral service among them. Intellectual superiority, distinguished scholarship and goodness, in the comprehensive sense of that word, were his characteristics in school, and have been his characteristics through life. He was a good student, a good and obedient pupil, good in his moral character, good in his disposition, and good to all around him. Although I knew him longer perhaps than any one in this large audience, you knew him better, for he lived among you and lived for you. It is, however, a satisfaction to his old friends to bear their testimony to his varied excellence. We all esteemed him as an eminently wise, judicious and able theologian. In the course of fifty-five years I never heard him speak evil of any man, and I never heard any man speak evil of him. In the discharge of his pastoral duties he was instructive, faithful and laborious. In the judicatories and boards of our Church he was uniformly kind and courteous, and his opinions were always received with the greatest deference. Very few men lived a more honored and useful lifefew men more lamented in death.

Rev. WILLIAM H. KIRK, of Belvidere, N. J., spoke as follows: "He appeared to me, during seventeen years of intimate intercourse with him, as ever active-a restless (in the best sense) man. God gave a physical constitution active and nervous, and in early life, by his grace, consecrated that constitution to his own service. He was ever restless in doing good, always earnestly at work, constantly engaged in achieving something for the Master whom he loved and served. He was restless in study; he loved to ponder the ancient classics and especially to dig for treasures in the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, and these riches he sought, not merely for himself, but that he might pour them forth for the instruction, consolation and establishment of his people. He was restless in exploring all sources which promised light upon the sacred volume. He was restless in the communication and reception of knowledge; he loved social intercourse; he enjoyed greatly the interchange of thought with friends and brethren in the ministry. Nothing which concerned them was foreign to him. While by his classical attainments he lived with interest in the quiet past, by this love of social intercourse he lived also amid the dust and toil of the busy present.'

Rev. JOHN L. JANEWAY, of Flemington, N. J., speaks of him as follows: "Gifted by nature with a high order of talent, a clear, vigorous mind, with the close application which marked all his days, his attainments as a scholar were of a very high character. He was distinguished for an almost incessant activity; he was in the highest sense a worker; he never seemed to rest, but was always actively employed. As a preacher he was instructive; he fed his hearers; none could listen and fail to derive something worth serious thought. As an educator of young men, to which he gave great attention and for which he was admirably fitted, he was highly successful. He held, as the Presbyterian Church has always held, that education was of the highest importance-an education which should discipline the mind and call forth its best powers. As a man he was cheerful and kind in his disposition, free from guile and overflowing with kindness."

Robert & Taylor

TAYLOR, ROBERT FRANCIS-The son of Rev. Samuel* and Elizabeth (White) Taylor, was born in Bourbon county, Ky., Dec. 29, 1830. He was converted in infancy and was early impressed with a strong desire to become

About

* SAMUEL TAYLOR was born in Nova Scotia, September 14, 1795. The sermon preached on the occasion of his father's funeral by James Hoge, D.D., at Columbus, Ohio, from 1 Peter iv. 13, was instrumental in his conversion. the year 1822 he entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J. After remaining there for three years was licensed to preach. During the next six months he labored as missionary in Indiana, and was greatly blessed in the awakening and conversion of souls. In 1825 he was ordained and installed pastor of the Millersburg and Stoner Mouth churches of Bourbon County, Ky.

In 1831 he was installed pastor of the Nicholasville and Cedar Creek churches, Ky., where he remained until 1836, when he removed to Frankfort, Ind. While at Frankfort he organized and built

up the church of Jefferson, Ind. In consequence of ill health, he resigned his charge at Frankfort in 1843. Having recovered his health, in 1845 he became pastor of the church of Waveland, Ind. In 1852, his health having again begun to fail, he removed to Washington, Ind., where he preached for eighteen months. Continuing feeble, but still retaining all the zeal and energy of early manhood, he thought that removal to a Southern climate would build him up again physically; accordingly in 1854 he went to Waco, Texas. Soon after reaching Waco he and the Rev. Thomas Alexander organized a church. In all the churches to which he ministered his labors were attended with ample and blessed fruits, and hundreds of persons were added to them. Possessing great energy of character himself, he succeeded in a remarkable degree in