Especially do we offer to the family, bereft of a devoted father, our hands and hearts, accompanied by our prayers, that in this time of sore distress they may feel "underneath them the everlasting arms," and that they may hear the voice of Jesus saying: "Let not your hearts be troubled; ye believe in God; believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you."

As for ourselves, in view of the event which calls us together today, each one of us would say: 'Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his."

Copies of this action of the session are ordered to be sent to the family of our deceased brother, and to the session of the Second Presbyterian Church.

ROBERT P. KERR, Moderator.

ROBERT T. BROOKE, Stated Clerk.

Richmond, Va,, January 7, 1899.

THE COLORED PRESBYTERIANS.

The resolutions adopted by the First (colored) Presbyterian Church say in part:

"In view of his eminent piety, his fruitfulness in Christian labors, his willingness to render service, whether among the lowly and unlearned or among the influential and learned, we feel that our church, in common with his own Zion, has sustained a loss in the death of this Christian friend and brother.

"The Presbyterian Church of Virginia, and all other Christian churches of the State, deeply regret the death of Dr. Hoge, who, taken for all in all, was a Christian whose concern for the salvation of man was as broad as humanity.

"As a church, we tender his family and the Second Presbyterian Church our sympathy, and this tribute of respect to the memory of the sainted man-of whom it may be said he

How it does seem, sometimes, that every act and word of a good

man turns to some blessing to the community in which he lives and dies!

man.

Only yesterday a gentleman made a contribution of $10 to the Citizens' Relief Association, and gave a peculiar, and yet such a happy, reason for it. He said when he first learned of Dr. Hoge's death he laid aside $10 to purchase flowers to lay as his simple tribute of admiration and affection upon the grave of the departed nobleLater, he heard that Dr. Hoge had requested that no flowers be used, and that his wish would be respected. Then he bethought himself what to do with the $10. He concluded that no disposition of it would be so pleasing to Dr. Hoge-friend of the poor, the widow, and orphan, and servant of the orphan's God—if he could know of it, as to have it given to the poor of Richmond. No disposition of it would be in such consonance with the life of this good man, and in such harmony with the chords of gentle piety of his heart, which vibrated into loving action when the poor stood at his door empty handed and pleaded to be filled.

So the flowers for Dr. Hoge's grave will be strewn among the living poor.

WHERE HE FIRST PREACHED.

A special to the Dispatch from Pamplin City says:

The announcement of the death of Dr. Hoge, the beloved minister, recalls the fact that his first sermon as an ordained minister of the Gospel was preached in Walker's church, near this place, then an old weather-beaten building, with a central aisle dividing the sexes, as was the custom at that time.

On his return from Lynchburg, whither he had gone on horseback to receive his "license" from presbytery to preach, he stopped on a Saturday afternoon at the house of a friend to spend the night and ensuing Sabbath. The next day he accompanied the family to church. A revival was in progress, conducted by Rev. William Taylor, of Buckingham, a very popular minister of the Baptist denomination. The church was crowded with people, who had come to hear their favorite minister, and sectarian feeling in that day was very strong.

Under these circumstances Dr. Hoge was invited into the pulpit. and accepted an invitation to preach. As he went into the pulpit, an old lady was overheard to remark, "It is just like Brother Taylor to invite that stripling to preach at such a time as this.”

The sun of Dr. Hoge's career, afterwards so bright and lustrous,

had its dawning on that day. The old lady who made the invidious remark above quoted rode seven miles on horseback that afternoon to hear him preach again. He was urged to remain and assist in the revival, and did so for several days, winning many souls to Christ by his persuasive eloquence and fervor.

During the session of 1850-51, of the University of Virginia, Dr. Hoge was one of a number of prominent ministers, who, by invitation, delivered a series of lectures before the students on the Evidences of Christianity (which was published in a handsome volume, with portrait, in 1853), and so signally logical and convincing was that of Dr. Hoge, that it resulted in the conversion of many students. Among them may be named Rev. Richard McIlwaine, D. D., President of Hampden-Sidney College, and the late Professor William J. Martin, of Davidson College, North Carolina. Thus for the magnification of the glory of God, was Dr. Hoge an early instrument in sowing the seed.

Reference has been made to a fellow graduate from HampdenSidney College, of Dr. Hoge, the late Rev. W. T. Richardson, D. D., who preceded Rev. James Power Smith, D. D., as editor and owner of that influential church organ, the Central Presbyterian. In the conduct of this valued household visitant, Dr. Hoge ever took the deepest interest, and many of its ablest editorials during the ownership of the late Rev. William Brown, D. D., were written by Dr. Hoge. Thus, also, he contributed materially to the cause of education, and the furtherance of the work of The Master.

Our heart-impelled but hasty tribute to commanding excellences of purest ray, is almost done. No medium of The Maker, we feel, has ever in devoted and useful life merited more lasting remembrance than has Dr. Hoge. Now, there remains but the reiteration, of a sublime trait.

He was thoroughly self-abnegative.

It is supererogatory with us of his home and the scenes of his devoted labors, to repeat this.

Although he had received for many years an appreciative salary, he died without estate and without a home of his own to shelter his honored head. The remuneration of his life work, was all expended in the Master's Cause, and in the alleviation of the wants of the needy and suffering-in Sweet Charity.

Of strongest devotion to local habitat, he had occupied the same domicile for two-score years, paying for it latterly, a rental, which its

exterior, would in the estimation of any other, hardly have been held warranted.

"Dr. Hoge's life was a prodigiously busy one. He never seemed to be in a hurry; but he was never idle. He was at work all the time." A year or two ago in deference to pressing request, he promised friends to commit to writing the so-appealing incidents of his blessedly protracted life.

It is feared that he had found the time to prepare but little of his "Reminiscences" which would have proven so delightful, so help

ful.

A distinguished divine in pithy review of the life of Dr. Hoge, recently urged that he had been kept so busy in the Master's Cause and in helpful deeds to his fellow-man that he had not taken the time to secure personal reward, or for any aggrandizement of his reputation and, in cogent summary, said: "He never wrote a book, he did not own a house!"

Dr. Hoge's accustomed mode of address was extempore. Although no one exceeded him in the study of printed sources of information and in power to apply illustration, he but seldom committed to paper more than a skeleton of his line of exegis, and often made a jotting, simply, of illustrative points.

Consequently, of his wealth of itellect, but little tangible for print

survives.

This is truly lamentable. It has been stated that his nephew, who is happily competent, the Rev. Peyton H. Hoge, D. D., has undertaken the preparation of Memoirs of his distinguished relative.

A GRACIOUS DEED.

A lady, a resident of Richmond, returning from a visit northward, during which she was at Morristown, New Jersey, attended divine worship there, on the 8th of January, on which day the pastor of the church, Rev. Dr. Erdman, announced feelingly to the congregation the death of Dr. Hoge.

In referring to the ability and excellences of character of Dr. Hoge, he stated in illustration, the following signal incident, which is in due evidence of Dr. Hoge's attributes:

Shortly after the war, that period of vital grapple, which held the world in awe, Dr. Hoge visited Morristown and preached in the church of Dr. Erdman, then just erected, and heavily in debt, and struggling with all the difficulties which beset the exigencies of a new church.

"The Southern preacher was not received with great warmth,' for the mighty contention was too close with its significance and results, and its reminiscences were too bitter and too sorrowful.

"With such power" did Dr. Hoge preach, however, that, "when one year later the building was dedicated, the text of his appealing discourse was chosen to be inscribed on the wall," just over the pulpit, and it remains there, a memorial to him, to this day.

A Great Man in Israel has been taken!

The grateful incense of his memory remains!
The world is better that he lived!

GENERAL JOSEPH WHEELER.

The Visit of the Hero to Richmond, Va., Dec. 16-17, 1899.

ON THE OCCASION OF THE PRESENTATION OF A PORTRAIT OF "THE GALLANT PELHAM," TO R. E. LEE CAMP

CONFEDERATE VETERANS.

With Addresses by Mr. E. P. Cox, General Wheeler, Gov. J. Hoge Tyler, Judge D. A. DeArmond, and Hon. W. A. Jones.

Richmond, Virginia, had a visit from the virile veteran, General Joseph Wheeler, in January, 1899.

The hero of two wars, at the close of the Civil War, by his skill and indomitable courage, had won the high rank of Lieutenant-General, and been assigned to the command of a corps. In our last war, it has been urged that he was the chief propeller to successful issue, and that his coolness and courage at Santiago (although he arose from prostrating illness in an ambulance and pressed to the front), saved our army, at least, from temporary disaster.

Rev. J. William Jones, D. D., who has lately examined the official reports of the war, 1861-1865, states that General Wheeler had sixteen horses killed under him in that gigantic conflict.

General Wheeler came to Richmond at the invitation of R. E. Lee Camp Confederate Veterans, to accept on its behalf, the portrait of Major John Pelham, presented to it by the Sons of Veterans. He was accompanied by Hon. David A. DeArmond, Member of