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SERMON.

GENESIS XXV. 8.

-DIED IN A GOOD OLD AGE, AN OLD MAN AND FULL OF YEARS, AND WAS GATHERED TO HIS PEOPLE.

How similar the feelings with which death and the dead are always contemplated! How similar and yet how different! There is always the unutterable solemnity of a visible exchange of worlds; of a fellow-creature passing the barrier of time, and entering within the veil that hides eternity from the living; of a kindred soul gone to its God. The Christian mind is always moved to more searching questionings into the mysteries of life and death, and flies with renewed interest to seek a sufficiency of light in the revelations of Christ. When the ties of life are sundered, and the near and dear are taken, there is always a sorrow, a melting of the bereaved heart, such as the untried in affliction cannot have a conception of, and such as the afflicted themselves cannot long remember how deep, how entire, how overwhelming it is. The chamber of death is always the most solemn of earthly scenes; the grave is the solemn place; the funeral bell is the solemn sound; the funeral company is the most solemn meeting of mortals; for they betoken a spirit gone to the world of spirits, and we remember then that it is a scene, it is a place, it is a sound, it is a

meeting that will soon be for all whom we love, and for ourselves.

But the circumstances of death differ, and there is a corresponding difference in the meditations and emotions of survivors.

The little child is taken, and the parental heart is filled with anguish, while all but parents wonder, and even that bleeding heart itself can hardly understand, how the grief can be so bitter as it is.

The youth is taken, and there is a deeper disappointment. More and increasing ties are broken. Longer cherished and stronger hopes are crushed, and a brighter prospect is darkened.

The middle-aged is taken, and it is to society as a stone torn out of the wall. There is a void. There was a strong arm, and there were those who leaned dependently upon it; and it is withered away.

The humble and obscure are taken. The world passes on, and knows it not, and the mourner weeps apart and alone.

The wicked die, and those who take note of it are more moved, as is becoming in fellow-sinners, to cover their memories with the mantle of charity, and to commend them to the mercy of God.

The righteous die, and their memory is blessed.'

The known and the honored die, and the community are mourners, and join their tribute of public regret to the tenderer sorrows of private bereavement.

The aged die; and death never comes under a more solemn aspect. But sorrow for the aged, though it may not be surpassed as the outbreaking of bereaved affection, yet it is not like other sorrow barbed by the anguish of disappointment. It overwhelms not, as in some other cases, with consternation and sudden despair. It will soon be placid. It will soften more easily into resignation. For the mind is in a measure prepared, knowing that the shock of corn must come in in its

season; that the sun must set when it sinks towards the horizon; that man must depart when the measure of his days is full.

It is under the three last mentioned circumstances that we are assembled today. The righteous, the honored, the aged, is taken. The godly man ceaseth.' A prophet and master in Israel has fallen. An old man and full of years is gathered to his people. It is therefore that a whole community has, on this occasion, been moved by the familiar tidings of death. It is therefore that we have stopped these remains on their way to their resting place, and brought them to this house of our solemnities, to manifest the widely felt sympathy with an afflicted family, to do justice to our own feelings of respect and veneration, and to refresh our souls by the contemplation of departed worth.

The same circumstances that have called us together, render it proper to advert briefly to the life and character of the de

ceased.

Eliphalet Porter was born June 11, 1758. He died Dec. 7, 1833, making his age seventy-five years and a half. He was the son of a respected and venerable clergyman in North Bridgewater of this Commonwealth. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1777. He prepared himself for the ministry under the tuition of his father. There had been a vacancy of several years in this church during the Revolution, Mr Adams the former minister having died in 1775. Mr Porter was ordained here October 2, 1782. He was married in October 1801. Of his history from his settlement here to the present time, you have all known or have heard it from your fathers. His life has not been an eventful one, but has been as free from vicissitudes and striking incidents, as perhaps that of any man who ever lived so long and in so conspicuous a station.

It is now a little more than fifty-one years since he entered upon his ministry in this place. Here he has ever been found

*His wife, Mrs Martha Porter, was the daughter of Major Nathaniel Ruggles, Esq. of this town. She died without children, in December, 1814.

constant and faithful at his post. Here have been all his local attachments, and this the home of his affections. He identified his interests and his happiness with those of this people, and he used to say in the latter years of his life, that he knew not how the kind providence of God could have better provided for his earthly welfare than by placing him here—he knew not how the lines could have fallen to him in a pleasanter place. When he came here, it was comparatively the day of small things; and he has witnessed the growth of what was then a small and scattered village, into a populous and thriving town. He has witnessed the rising of new houses of worship, where till lately there was but one. And he witnessed them not with alarm or a spirit of hostility, but with satisfaction, as called for by the wants of a growing town, and he bade them God speed. He was accustomed to remark that this new state of things was not so much the division as the multiplication of the fold of Christ. Through all the changes, of whatever kind, that have taken place around him, he has stood unmoved in his meekness and independence, giving none offence, and commanding the respect and good will of all.

The leading points of his character and his manner of life, though they are familiar to this community, demand a cursory notice on this occasion. And while I remember that I speak of one whom none could flatter while he lived, and while I know that his modest spirit, could it still have utterance, would rebuke me with its wonted freedom and mildness, for every word too strong, and every tribute undeserved, I shall not exaggerate, but would rather leave much unsaid than say one word too much.

As a Preacher, few of my hearers know so little of our friend as myself. But in this respect his character is not easily mistaken. He was never, I believe, what is called a popular preacher. He was never followed by the multitude of those 'having itching ears,' nor was a trumpet sounded before him where he went, nor were his praises heard from the lips of

thronging admirers. He was not endowed with that ardor of mind, with that freedom, fulness, and glowing facility of thought or speech, which fit a preacher for that sort of distinction. In the prime of his life, and before the infirmities of advancing age prevented his keeping pace with the changes of style in the pulpit and of taste in the hearers, in his prime (and that is the period from which to estimate any man), he held a most respectable rank among his contemporaries as a sound, instructive, practical preacher, 'rightly dividing the word of the Lord.' There were many to whom the ministrations of none other were more acceptable than his. He wrote slowly and with labor. He was of a temperament not to be easily excited himself, and accordingly excitement was not the effect of his discourses, but instruction rather, just and clear views of truth and duty, enforced by calm appeals to the understanding and the conscience. He has published but few of his productions. He was called as frequently as most of his brethren to preach on public occasions, and his performance on one such occasion was received with unusual favor, and is still remembered, and spoken of in terms of high approbation. What the character of such a discourse must have been, may be inferred from the character of the man. It must have been a word of wisdom,' and a word of knowledge,' a word in season.' Doubtless there was considerable inequality in his productions, as from the nature of the case there must be much in those of all of his profession.

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A reason why such a preacher does not become popular in the usual acceptation of that word, is stated by the eminent Robert Hall, with his usual harshness and exaggeration, yet with some foundation in human nature, viz., that Most hearers are a sort of spiritual epicures, who prefer a poignant and stimulating to a simple and nourishing diet, and would infinite

* Sermon before the Massachusetts Convention of Congregational Ministers, delivered and published in 1810.

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