I esteem it an honor, therefore, and a blessing to humanity to have kindred associations with the Davis', Kinders', and Noble families. It is a privilege and a joy to me, to be here. is an auspicious occasion. All nature tranquilly smiles upon this scene. This The sun never shone upon a more beautiful, bracing, balmy day; fit emblem of the life and character of this triune family. The passing year has come to full maturity of life, and is appproaching its termination, now, with gilded beauty and mellowness. So have the aged sires of these families, in all their history, passed into the autumn of their lives, with characters adorned with moral beauty and christian attractiveness. I have listened with interest, and admiration, to the several representative addresses, which have mainly guided me in my words of compliment and eulogy. You may well be proud, in the spirit of gratitude to God, of your family history. Its pages are well and nobly written in the lives of your ancestry. What worthy examples have the young, in the lives of departed sires, and in many of the fathers yet living, of moral excellence, christian devotion, and firmness of purpose! The record of their lives has been kept by the rule of double-entry-The day book of this life and in the Lamb's book of life!' When I view and contemplate this grand old church edifice, that is co-existent with the independence and liberty of our great country, and with the work of Methodism on this Peninsula of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, and associate these families with the christian instruction here imparted to them, with the happy experiences they have received within her hallowed courts, I am forced to the conclusion that Methodism has indeed been a "Bethel" to them, yea, one of the chief agencies of the success and happiness they have attained in this life. Methodist doctrine and spirit has been well suited to constitute them worthy citizens, good christians, and a uniformly happy and contented people. The conjugal relations of these families have been fortunate, in that there was the blending of a natural bent towards good dispositions and principles;--when exception has occurred in the lives of any of their offspring, it was the probable result of the admixture of blood, making a combination in nature, of the naturally bad, with the naturally good dispositions, followed by the influence of bad social companions in youth. I would guard the young, entering now upon maturing life, in respect to the company they keep and against any matrimonial alliance that would associate bad natural dispositions, habits and tastes, so out of harmony with that of your own families. The dozen min I do not discourage, but greatly approve, judicious marital selections, outside of family kindred. for both physical and mental reasons. This is a re-union of the living. Many links of the family chain have been broken off at the grave and are hidden from mortal view. There is, today, a fond memory of the Davis, Kinder, and Noble dead. The links, of the family chain, are only broken in earthen vessels; in spirit the chain is unbroken -mutual love, binds it forever: Spirit blends with spirit—unperceived, the glorified departed may now throng with you in this sacred place. Angels are looking on with wonder, at this exhibition of love and unity in a fallen world. isters of God present, successors to those they have followed in the ministry of this church and vicinity, are cheered in the midst of their toils, with the evident success of the gospel, in the history of your families. May this hallowed occasion, which has brought to your minds and hearts, such pleasant memories of family history, encourage and stimulate you to more glorious deeds in the race of life, and a fuller consecration of yourselves to the God of your fathers. May your family history, in the future, possess all the excellences of its past, and more, and exhibit greater force and capacity in its influence in the world for good, as the years of time roll on. And when the world's record is fully made up, preparatory to the general assizes, and heaven's loud auditor shall step down upon the earth's platform of land and sea, and sound out the funeral dirge of time, to the hearing of both the living and the dead; when Jesus comes in the clouds, bringing the spirits of the just made perfect, may you, and all of yours, who now lie in the cemeteries of the dead, come forth in bodily form, and rising with transfigured splendor to meet your coming Lord in the air. May you then with him ascend above the arches of the etherial sky, to the heaven of heavens, and be crowned and quartered upon the everlasting hills of glory. You have sweetly sung today. May you then, flushed with an overpowering joy of full and final victory, with harps in hand, sing “Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." Thoughts on Visiting Bethel. A Country Church. Oh, Bethel! 'round thy sacred walls 'Twas here where first my voice did raise And here, beneath this hallowed roof, Full many a storm has swept amain But, as I turn my eyes, they meet But, they are gone, and 'neath the sod Yes, Bethel, 'round thy sacred walls Some friend of youth, that death has borne, To that bourne from whence there's no return. Oh! when the dream of life is past, And Death's cold arms are round me cast, Then lay me 'neath the oaks to rest, Federalsburg, 1849. -DR. W. D. NOBLE. |