Extract from a Sermon Delivered at the Bulfinch-Street Church, Boston, Jan. 9, 1853, the Sunday Following the Interment of the Late Amos LawrenceGray, Frederick T. (Frederick Turell)
Religion
Extract from a Sermon Delivered at the Bulfinch-Street Church, Boston, Jan. 9, 1853, the Sunday Following the Interment of the Late Amos Lawrence
Gray, Frederick T. (Frederick Turell)
Lawrence, Amos, 1786-1852
Mr. Lawrence was a religious man in every sense of the word, dedicating
his time and wealth to the service of God, and the good of his fellow-men:
hence he was "not slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the
Lord." He loved the sanctuary, and its very dust was sacred to him. He
visited the distressed, and it was his delight to distribute the gifts
laid upon the altar for the poor, personally, to the members of the
household of faith.
If you would know the origin of all that he did, which blessed so many
hearts, which made him the friend of the widow and the orphan, and a
father to those who had none to help,--why it is that all around us the
tears of sorrow are shed,--that every one feels that the community has
sustained a severe loss, and that the poor and suffering are bereft of a
benefactor and friend,--you must trace it to its true source, and say that
he was a religious man and true Christian, and that he simply carried out
and exemplified the holy principles of the gospel. This was its source. In
this his benevolence and world-wide charity had their origin. It was this,
young men, which makes his memory so precious, his name so dear, and will
long embalm him sacredly in the grateful hearts of hundreds of the
sorrowing children of men, who will bedew his grave with tears, and rise
up hereafter and call him blessed. What power did religion impart to this
benefactor of his race! What influence did it enable him to exert with the
talent entrusted to his care!
Bring now before your minds this poor young man going to that house of
God, more than forty years ago. He was unknown, a stranger among
strangers, seeing around him there the most distinguished men in the
Commonwealth assembled in worship. He hears the word, and is impressed. He
resolves to follow out the instruction received, and, in imitation of his
Master, to devote himself to doing good to his fellow-men. Forty years and
over found him faithfully going up to that temple, enjoying its
privileges, and gratefully improving its services and rites; till at last,
when the summons came, his spirit, all ready and prepared, gently passed
to its heavenly home! And who would wish to call him back, that saw the
smile on his countenance when within a day's journey of the tomb, which
seemed to have received new radiance from the spirit-world, upon which he
was so soon to enter? Oh, well might we then have said,--
"Mark but the radiance of his eye;
The smile upon his wasted cheek:
They tell us of his glory nigh,
In language that no tongue can speak."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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