LIBRARY 
 
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MEMORIAL 
 
 REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D., 
 
 LATE PASTOR OF THE 
 
 FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
 
 READING, PA. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY DIRECTION OF THE CONGREGATION. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 CLAXTOX, REMSEN, AXD IIAFFELFIXGER. 
 
 1872. 
 
COLLINS, PRINTER, 
 
 705 j ay. Nr. 3 rnEET. 
 
At a Special meeting of the Congregation of the First Presbyterian 
 Church, Reading, Pa., held Friday evening, May 24, 1872, Mr. James 
 Jameson was called to the Chair. 
 
 The following resolution, offered by Mr. Louis Richards, was unanimously 
 adopted : — 
 
 Resolved, That a Committee of three be appointed by the Chair to request 
 for publication copies of the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Sermon of the late 
 Rev. Dr. Richards, and the Memorial Sermon delivered by the Rev. 
 Wallace Radcliffe, and that the same be compiled in a suitable memorial 
 volume, in which shall also be printed the resolutions of condolence adopted 
 by the Presbytery and by the Congregation upon the death of the Rev. Dr. 
 Richards, together with any other material that may seem to the Committee 
 to be appropriate to the work ; to said Committee being also entrusted the 
 details of the style and method of its publication. 
 
 The Chair appointed as the Committee called for by the Resolution, Messrs. 
 Louis Richards, J. H. Sternbergh, and William M. Eaird. 
 The meeting then adjourned. 
 
TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY SERMON, 
 
 PREACHED BY 
 
 The Rev. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D., 
 
 IN THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, READING, PA., 
 
 Sunday Evening, July 9, 1871. 
 
TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY SERMON. 
 
 "Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what 
 manner I have been with you at all seasons." Acts xx. 18. 
 
 The parting of St. Paul with the elders of 
 Ephesus is the most impressive and touching 
 scene in all his eventful life. In an address of 
 unequalled tenderness and beauty he poured out 
 his whole soul to them. He appealed to their 
 knowledge of his manner of life among them at 
 all seasons. He reviews his labors among them 
 for "the space of three years," and calls them 
 to witness to his blameless life, his unselfish 
 devotion, his abundant labors, his tears and 
 temptations, and to the earnestness and fidelity 
 with which he had discharged his duties as a 
 Christian minister. When he had closed his 
 address, he kneeled down with them all in that 
 solitary place, on the shore of the great and 
 wide sea on which he was soon to set sail, and 
 
8 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 commended them unto God. It was a deeply 
 affecting farewell; they "sorrowing most of all 
 for the words that he spake, that they should see 
 his face no more." And they parted there, Paul 
 going bound in spirit unto Jerusalem, and the 
 brethren returning to the scene of their labors 
 and responsibilities. 
 
 It would be sheer presumption for any modern 
 minister to bring his life and labors into com- 
 parison with those of the "chiefest of the 
 apostles." Paul had a rare genius, and was the 
 prince of preachers. He possessed some peculiar 
 qualifications and endowments. His conversion 
 was miraculous; he had seen the Lord, and he 
 had the transcendent gift of inspiration. But 
 while none may rival him in genius, in seraphic 
 ardor, or in the grandeur of his achievements, 
 yet other men may be conscious of the same 
 honesty of purpose, and the same high endeavor 
 to make full proof of their ministry. It is one 
 thing to aspire and to strive, and another to 
 achieve and be victorious. 
 
 No relation is more important or sacred than 
 that which subsists between a pastor and his 
 people. Without disparaging any other lawful 
 calling which contributes to the order and 
 prosperity of society, or to the safety and 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 9 
 
 improvement of the individual, there can be no 
 doubt that the office of a Christian minister is 
 of the highest excellence. It involves great 
 labors and responsibilities; While it is the duty 
 of the lawyer to defend the civil rights and 
 property of men, and while it is the province of 
 the physician to take care of the body and to 
 guard the health, it is the duty of a minister to 
 watch for souls as one that must give account. 
 He has to do, not with the transient and 
 perishable, but with the immortal interests of 
 men. When the records and results of other 
 labors have passed away and been forgotten, the 
 effect of his preaching and prayers and pastoral 
 labors will remain, and come under review in the 
 last day. The issues are eternal. The pastoral 
 relation should not be entered upon lightly or 
 unadvisedly, but prayerfully, and in the fear of 
 God ; and when so formed, it should be dissolved 
 only for weighty and sufficient reasons. It has 
 ever been the policy of our Church to secure its 
 permanency. It contemplates this in all its 
 provisions and arrangements. There is a public 
 and solemn act of installation. Pastor and 
 people are charged with reciprocal duties, and 
 assume mutual obligations. It is felt that the 
 harmony and growth and prosperity of a congre- 
 
10 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 gation is best secured when this relation is not 
 transient and casual, but fixed and permanent. 
 A pastor is somewhat more than an evangelist, 
 ranging at will over wide fields of labor, and 
 tarrying only for a season. He is somewhat 
 more than a preacher, also, who, standing above, 
 and apart from, the people, discourses to them 
 upon high and holy themes. He is indeed 
 commissioned " to stand in the temple and 
 proclaim unto the people all the words of this 
 life." But he has other important duties. God 
 has made him an overseer, a shepherd, and 
 " bishop of souls." Upon him devolves the duty 
 of inspection, oversight and watchfulness. He 
 dwells among his own people, not as an acquaint- 
 ance and friend only, but as their teacher and 
 adviser in spiritual things. He knows them, and 
 they know him, thoroughly. He is admitted 
 freely into the inner circles of life. He is with 
 his people at all seasons, in prosperity and 
 adversity, in joy and in sorrow, at weddings and 
 at funerals. They come to him in the most 
 solemn crises of their history, and consult him 
 on the most momentous of all subjects. Long 
 intercourse widens his friendships and deepens 
 his affections, so that, in the course of years, 
 there is a close interweaving of all the fibres of 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 11 
 
 their existence. Confidence springs up, and 
 attachments are formed which greatly extend a 
 pastor's influence for good. Enduring relations, 
 also, give to his ministry greater breadth and 
 compass. He can avail himself of the laws of 
 growth and progress. The impressions made 
 to-day can be deepened to-morrow. The seed 
 sown can be watered, and the field cultivated, 
 until the harvest is gathered. A far greater 
 good is ultimately secured than when the system 
 is narrowed down and condensed for a short 
 continuance. It is only the strong faith that I 
 have had in these principles, joined to an abiding 
 conviction of personal duty, that has led me, in 
 spite of frequent and strong solicitations to enter 
 other inviting fields, still to remain here at the 
 post of duty. 
 
 This is to me an occasion of great solemnity 
 and interest. The present Sabbath completes a 
 period of twenty-five years during which I have 
 been the Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in 
 Reading. I preached my first sermon here, on 
 the second Sabbath of July, 1816. I am not a 
 stranger among you, nor am I speaking to 
 strangers. Standing before you to-day, at the 
 end of a quarter of a century, I may say "Ye 
 know after what manner I have been with you 
 
12 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 at all seasons." It is not with confident boasting 
 that I make this appeal to your judgment, but in 
 all humility, and with the deep consciousness of 
 having fallen very far short of my endeavors. I 
 apprehend that I may have less to fear from your 
 severity than your partiality; and I shrink not 
 so much from the scrutiny of my congregation, 
 as from my own self-inspection, and from the 
 searching eye of God. 
 
 Twenty-five years! In that time almost a 
 generation has passed away. Childhood has 
 ripened into maturity, manhood has sunk into 
 decrepitude, and old age has found its resting 
 place in the grave. " Instead of the fathers are 
 the children." Twenty-five years — and in the 
 middle of the Nineteenth Century ! What 
 eventful years they have been, and what a record 
 they will have in history. What marvellous and 
 unlooked-for events have come to pass. What 
 great and startling changes have they witnessed. 
 The mightiest political revolutions have taken 
 place in the world. Empires have risen and 
 fallen, kingdoms have changed their rulers and 
 changed their boundaries. Of all those who wore 
 the diadem of royalty a quarter of a century 
 ago, not one occupies a throne in Europe to-day 
 save the widowed Queen of England. France has 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D. D. 13 
 
 been by turns a kingdom, a republic, an empire, 
 and is again in the throes of a revolution. Prussia 
 that was but a small and fragmentary kingdom, 
 has advanced to the front rank of nations, and 
 her king has been elected to wear the crown of 
 Charlemagne as Emperor of Germany. Italy, 
 so long divided between petty sovereigns, has 
 at length realized its dream of unity. Yictor 
 Emmanuel has established his throne in the old 
 Rome of the Caesars. Terrible and bloody wars 
 have been waged in India, in Hungary, in the 
 Crimea, in Italy, in France, and in the United 
 States. Great and decisive battles have been 
 fought, making epochs in the history of nations. 
 Sadowa, Sedan, and Gettysburg will henceforth 
 rank with Thermopylae, Pharsalia, and "Waterloo. 
 "What great and important changes have been 
 wrought by steam and electricity, in the mode, as 
 well as in the channels of commercial intercourse. 
 They have bound together sundered continents, 
 and brought distant nations into daily communi- 
 cation. "Within the period contemplated, the 
 Suez Canal was begun and completed. The 
 Alps, also, have been pierced by a tunnel, and 
 the Rocky Mountains scaled by a railroad that 
 opens new routes of travel to the Eastern world. 
 Such gigantic feats of engineering and enterprise 
 
14 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 find no parallel in the past. And this, too, has 
 been the era of Atlantic Cables. By these, time 
 and distance are almost annihilated. We read 
 the news of the previous day from London and 
 Paris and St. Petersburg at the breakfast-table 
 every morning. Five and twenty years ago 
 China and Japan were closed against commerce 
 and Christianity. But the wall of partition has 
 been broken down. Ignorance and superstition 
 have had to yield to science and civilization. 
 Treaties have been formed, guaranteeing the 
 rights and safety of those engaged in trade. The 
 Bible has been translated into foreign lanjmaofes, 
 and missionaries are permitted to travel and 
 preach the gospel without molestation. The 
 whole world is now open to the church of God. 
 Great progress has marked these years, in science, 
 in the arts, in liberty and in religion. It has 
 been a privilege to live and labor in such an age 
 of the world. 
 
 Our own country, especially, has witnessed 
 great changes, and been the theatre of the most 
 marvellous events. Its domain has been vastly 
 extended. New states and territories have been 
 added. Its population has almost doubled, num- 
 bering now nearly forty millions. Cities and 
 towns have sprung up as if by magic. The land 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 15 
 
 has been in a great measure covered by a net- 
 work of railroads and magnetic telegraphs, thus 
 facilitating trade and travel. What wonderful 
 revelations have been made of the vast resources 
 and wealth of the country ! Mines of coal and 
 iron, of gold and silver have been discovered that 
 seem inexhaustible. Great advance has been 
 made in commerce, in manufactures, and in agri- 
 culture. Capital has been increased a hundred 
 fold. More has been done within the past twenty- 
 five years to promote the interests of science and 
 education than in the previous century. Colleges, 
 academies, seminaries, and observatories have 
 sprung up in every part of our land. And what a 
 wealth of endowment many of them have received. 
 
 The great institutions of religion have never 
 been so prospered. It has been emphatically 
 the era of church extension in our land. Cities 
 and towns, and villages have been adorned with 
 churches, of a style and character such as the 
 past age knew nothing of. Everywhere there 
 has been substantial progress. 
 
 The time has also been filled with great and 
 startling events. This great Republic is no 
 longer to be regarded as a doubtful experiment 
 in self-government. It has passed in safety 
 through the most fiery ordeal to which any na- 
 
16 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 tion can be subjected. It has crushed out the 
 most formidable rebellion that the world has ever 
 seen, and it stands to-day stronger and more 
 stable and glorious than ever before. Slavery was 
 the one unnatural and dangerous element in our 
 Constitution, and the one dark and disgraceful 
 blot upon our escutcheon. It was a perpetual 
 menace to the harmony and integrity of the 
 Union. Its whole influence was demoralizing. 
 It corrupted Congress, the Press, and the Pul- 
 pit. It controlled public sentiment, and subsi- 
 dized most of the wealth and talent of the country. 
 It could not be discussed anywhere without 
 arousing passion, and no man could even pray for 
 the down-trodden and oppressed without offence. 
 The irrepressible conflict began, and none could 
 foresee its issues. Good men hoped and prayed 
 that the dark problem might find some peaceful 
 solution by a system of gradual emancipation. 
 But this hope was not to be realized. Compromises 
 were made in vain. The dark cloud grew darker 
 every year, and now, and then were seen vivid 
 flashes of lightning that foretokened the coming 
 tempest. The first shot fired upon Fort Sumpter 
 plunged the nation into all the horrors of a civil 
 war. And what a Avar it was, waged on such a 
 broad arena, and between such gigantic forces! 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 17 
 
 The world had never seen anything like it before, 
 and, it is to be hoped, it may never see anything 
 like it again. But the stern logic of events set- 
 tled forever the question of slavery. The sword 
 gave freedom to four millions of men who had 
 been pining in bondage. Henceforth this broad 
 land is to be the land of the free. 
 
 We now look back with feelings of awe and 
 wonder at that terrible and bloody strife. It 
 seems more like some strange and appalling 
 vision of the night than a reality. But it was no 
 dream, or fading vision. The thousands of 
 families that have been stricken with sorrow, the 
 thousands of homes that have been made desolate 
 by war, the fathers and mothers, the wives and 
 sisters that have wept in bitterness over fallen 
 sons, husbands, and brothers, are witnesses that 
 it was no dream. The many battle-fields where 
 our heroes fought and fell, the wretched prisons 
 and hospitals where they languished or starved, 
 and the cemeteries where they sleep their last 
 sleep, assure us that it was a stern and awful 
 reality. And as long as the custom lasts of 
 decorating their graves with the flowers of 
 spring, we shall not be suffered to forget what a 
 sacrifice of precious lives it cost to save our im- 
 periled country. And having emerged from 
 
18 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 that bloody baptism and been purified by the 
 fires of war, loved at home and revered abroad, 
 she has set out upon a career of prosperity and 
 splendor. 
 
 To us, as Presbyterians, the most auspicious 
 and glorious event has been the re-union of our 
 beloved Church. For thirty years the Church 
 was in the wilderness, divided into two camps 
 marching in sight of each other, yet refusing to 
 mingle. It was a scandal to the Church, and a 
 grief to the friends of religion. Ephraim envied 
 Judah, and Judah vexed Ephraim. But at last, 
 when death had done its work upon those who 
 had been most active in the strife, and a calmer 
 spirit reigned in the Church, they were drawn 
 together by a sure instinct. And when the 
 word Re-union was uttered, it found a unanimous 
 response from all quarters. The providence of 
 God effected what no human wisdom could have 
 compassed. It was a grand and impressive 
 event, never to be forgotten by those who 
 witnessed it. We are permitted to rejoice over 
 it as an accomplished fact. Members of the 
 same household, after years of alienation and 
 strife, now happily dwell together in unity. The 
 Lord has done great things for us, whereof Ave 
 are glad; and as the witness of their joy and 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 19 
 
 thanksgiving', the re-united Church determined 
 to raise five millions of dollars as a memorial 
 offering unto God. But she has done more and 
 better than she purposed. In the final summing 
 up it was found to be but little short of ten 
 millions ! It was such an offering as was worthy 
 of this great historic Church, and it has won for 
 her the commendation of sister churches on both 
 sides of the Atlantic. 
 
 During this period there have been great 
 changes in our own city. Time was when 
 Reading was known only as "a little Dutch 
 town up among the mountains." Twenty-five 
 years ago it was an incorporated borough of 
 some twelve thousand inhabitants, of which 
 Peter Filbert, Esq., was Chief Burgess. It was 
 a staid and quiet town, with a decided look of 
 quaintness. Its streets had recently been graded, 
 but were not yet lighted with gas. The Court 
 House had disappeared from Penn Square, but 
 the old brick Market Houses, which gave place 
 to those recently removed, were still standing. 
 There was but one railroad, and one passenger 
 train a day each way. On other routes the old 
 stage coaches afforded the only facility for travel. 
 The public school system had been but partially 
 organized, and not a school-house had yet been 
 
20 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 built. Great progress has been witnessed in the 
 last quarter of a century. The borough has 
 become the third city in the State, having a 
 population of nearly forty thousand. Its boun- 
 daries have been extended, new streets have 
 been opened, and many vacant places covered 
 with substantial dwellings. Business has greatly 
 increased. The whole river front is now lined 
 with furnaces, forges, rolling mills, and various 
 other manufacturing establishments. On every 
 side may be seen changes and improvements, in 
 stores and shops, in public buildings and private 
 residences. Fine, spacious, and well-arranged 
 school-houses have been erected in every ward 
 of the city. Our youth also enjoy the advantages 
 of a High School, which is worthy of the patron- 
 age it receives in the community. A model prison 
 has been built, not excelled by any in the State. 
 The city now boasts of a Cemetery — a city of 
 the dead — beautiful for situation, and the noble 
 a'ift of that old and honored citizen whose name 
 it bears. In religious affairs, also, we have made 
 a decided advance. During these twenty-five 
 years there has been a great increase in the 
 number of churches, and in the accumulation of 
 church property. New churches have been built 
 and old ones re-modeled, enlarged, and improved. 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICIIAKDS, D. D. 
 
 21 
 
 The accommodations for worshippers have more 
 than kept pace with the growth of the popula- 
 tion. 
 
 Great changes have occurred in the society of 
 Reading, by deaths and removals. We may well 
 ask— "The fathers, where arc they?" When I 
 came here, five-and-twenty years ago, the leading 
 men at the Bar were Evans, and Biddle, and 
 Banks, and Gordon, and Dechert, and Strong. 
 The last, only, survives to adorn the Bench of 
 the Supreme Court of the country. Our medical 
 practitioners were the Drs. Hiester, and Otto, 
 and Gries, and Stuart, and Hunter, and these are 
 all gone. And how few do we meet on the street, 
 or in the places of concourse, of our old merchants 
 and business men. Of the ministers who filled 
 the pulpits of the various churches at that period, 
 not one remains in his place. In some of the 
 pulpits there have been many changes, in all of 
 them more than one. Many, and perhaps better, 
 pastors have found difficulties and been dismissed, 
 and others have not been suffered to continue by 
 reason of death. It has been my sad duty to 
 follow to their last resting places, at different 
 times, the Rev. Drs. Miller and Richards, and 
 the Rev. Messrs. Wiggins, and Pauli, and Hoff- 
 man, and Keller, and Gloucester, and Hunt. 
 
22 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 My old associates are in heaven, and I am living 
 among new men. 
 
 "When I came among 3 r ou, this congregation 
 was worshipping in the " Old White Church," 
 on West Perm Street, a building not very 
 attractive, or eligibly situated. The lecture- 
 room was in the basement, dark, damp, poorly 
 ventilated, and with no accommodations for the 
 Sabbath-school. A few months after my instal- 
 lation, measures were taken to secure a more 
 central location, and to erect a new and more 
 commodious church. The corner stone of this 
 building was laid, with appropriate services, on 
 the 27th of June, 1847, and it was dedicated to 
 the worship of God on the 19th of November, 
 1818. The church remained in its original 
 condition until 1867, when many changes and 
 improvements were made. It was re-upholstered 
 and painted, new gas fixtures were procured, and 
 these beautiful memorial windows put in place. 
 The cost of the building and ground, together 
 with the late improvements, was not far from 
 forty thousand dollars. Our object has been to 
 meet the wants of the times, and to render this 
 house worthy of Him whom we worship. It is 
 a great mistake to suppose that God is indifferent 
 to the kind of temple which His people consecrate 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 23 
 
 to His service. If it be not the noblest and best 
 within the compass of their means, it is not what 
 He may reasonably expect from them. For the 
 church is not to be regarded as a place where 
 divine worship may be celebrated, but also as a 
 perpetual offering unto God; an anthem praising 
 Him as it stands silently like the stars that have 
 no speech, yet are forever singing as they shine. 
 To me this structure is invested with peculiar 
 interest. I had some agency in determining its 
 plan and arrangement. It cost me much thought 
 and anxiety and labor to make it what it now is. 
 I watched with eager interest these walls as they 
 went up, stone upon stone, and every subsequent 
 step and stage of its progress toward completion. 
 Others may be grander and more costly, but none 
 can be to me so dear or sacred. It has been my 
 spiritual home through all these years. Here, in 
 this pulpit, I have stood to preach the Gospel to 
 m}^ fellow-men. Here I have witnessed scenes of 
 ino-atherino: and the consecration of souls to God 
 that have not only made the church glad, but 
 have called forth a sweeter note from the harp of 
 Gabriel. I have hallowed memories and associa- 
 tions connected with all things around me. I 
 regard this edifice, also, as a reasonable guaranty 
 for the future of this congregation. It is sub- 
 
24 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 stantial in its character, ample in its dimensions, 
 convenient in its arrangements and sufficiently 
 tasteful and elegant to meet the wishes of rea- 
 sonable men. It is centrally located, just where 
 it will be wanted for generations to come. It 
 will stand when I am gone, when you are gone. 
 Here the word will be preached and the ordi- 
 nances be administered. Other pastors will 
 stand in this pulpit, other members will occupy 
 these pews, other elders will bear in their hands 
 the symbols of the great sacrifice, other parents 
 will dedicate their children in Christian baptism. 
 A century hence it will be regarded as the most 
 enduring and befitting monument of those who 
 reared it. Peace be within its sacred walls! 
 
 As a church, we have had some difficulties to 
 contend with in our growth and progress. It is 
 to be remembered that this is a somewhat peculiar 
 community. The mass of the population has no 
 natural affinity with the Presbyterian Church. 
 Other forms of faith and worship are here in the 
 ascendant. By descent and education and per- 
 sonal preferences, the people are drawn into other 
 communions. And we honor them for their 
 strong attachment to the faith of their fathers. 
 We, on the other hand, are dependent mainly on 
 the influx from abroad for our increase. This 
 
EEV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 25 
 
 source is less reliable and certain. It has its ebbs 
 and flows. We are subjected to a constant 
 drain by the removal of our active young men to 
 the larger cities, or to the West. We have dis- 
 missed over one hundred members, during this 
 period, to the city of Philadelphia alone. We 
 suffered severety also, during one decade, by the 
 loss of a number of our oldest and best families, 
 who had been identified with the church from the 
 beginning. And yet, in spite of all these hin- 
 drances, it is gratifying to be able to record sub- 
 stantial progress. When the church records came 
 into my hands, there were one hundred and sixty 
 members on the roll. Meantime, Ave have ad- 
 mitted, in the aggregate, more than five hundred 
 persons to our communion. Three-fifths of these 
 have been received on the profession of their faith. 
 And notwithstanding the losses to which we 
 have been subjected by death and removals, the 
 present membership on the register of the church 
 is four hundred and seventeen. The progress 
 has been onward from year to year, and though 
 the growth has not been as rapid as we could 
 wish, it has been steady and healthy. Very 
 precious seasons of revival have been enjoyed 
 by this people from time to time, some more 
 and some less extended and powerful, but all of 
 
26 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 them bringing forth such fruit of increase as 
 greatly to strengthen the church and to create 
 joy in heaven. In these seasons we have de- 
 pended upon God and ourselves. The pastor, 
 with little foreign aid, has conducted the ser- 
 vices, preaching evening after evening, and for 
 several weeks. They were truly times of re- 
 freshing from the presence of the Lord, and will 
 never be forgotten by those who were then made 
 heirs of grace. 
 
 The Sabbath-school of this church is the oldest 
 in our city. It was for many years conducted as 
 a Union School, and very many have been trained 
 up in it to become efficient laborers in other rela- 
 tions. The record of the school for the past 
 twenty-five years has been a very honorable and 
 encouraging one. It has been indeed the nursery 
 of the church. JS^ot a single year has passed 
 without more or less ingathering of precious 
 fruit from it. According to the last Annual 
 Report, it numbers three hundred and twenty- 
 eight persons, teachers and scholars, and at pre- 
 sent it is in a very prosperous and promising con- 
 dition. Meantime we have not been unmindful 
 of the destitute sections of the city. During most 
 of this period, two nourishing mission schools 
 have been conducted and supported by members 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D. D. 27 
 
 of this church. Three years ago, a new enter- 
 prise was started at the Rolling Mill, that prom- 
 ises good success. A flourishing Sunday- 
 school has been gathered, and a Memorial Chapel 
 erected at a cost of about five thousand dollars. 
 Services are now held in it twice every Sabbath, 
 and we have good hopes that it may soon result, 
 by the blessing of God, in the organization of a 
 new church. 
 
 The cause of Christian benevolence has always 
 received the active sympathy and co-operation of 
 this church. It has been my aim to lead its mem- 
 bers to consecrate their substance to God, and 
 to regard themselves as stewards of His bounty. 
 In the Sunday-school a system of monthly con- 
 tribution was established more than twenty years 
 ago, and with most gratifying results. There has 
 been a gradual increase, the contributions the 
 last year amounting to three hundred and thirty- 
 five dollars. A like increase has been witnessed 
 in the benefactions of the church. They have 
 averaged more than one thousand dollars a year 
 during the period under review. £Tor must I omit 
 to mention that the Ladies' Sewing Society has 
 each winter made up a box of clothing for the 
 family of some home missionary, valued at one 
 or two hundred dollars. At the same time they 
 
28 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 have not been unmindful of the poor and destitute 
 in our own church and community. Thus, from 
 a review of the past, while Ave find reason to be 
 humbled that we have done no more, we also find 
 abundant cause for gratitude to God, and for 
 renewed encouragement for the future. 
 
 But mere dry statistics cannot adequately 
 convey to us the results of Christian ministry. 
 Silently and unseen it has been going on through 
 all these 3 7 ears. Think of the impressions and 
 experiences that have here taken place, of the de- 
 cisions that have been formed for eternity, the con- 
 solations that, in connection with ministrations, 
 have been poured into the bosom of affliction, 
 the great thoughts and emotions that have been 
 awakened in believing souls, and that have gone 
 out hence to be embodied in noble actions, the 
 evil influences that have been counteracted, the 
 wanderers that have been reclaimed, the miseries 
 that have been alleviated, the hopes that have 
 been confirmed, and the souls made meet for 
 heaven. Bread has been cast upon the waters 
 that may be found after many days. Seed has 
 here been sown, which, though it may lie buried 
 long in dust, } r et shall not deceive our hope. 
 The good may appear long after our da}'. It 
 may appear on the shores of another continent ; 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 29 
 
 it may appear on the shores of another world. 
 No, not until the great day of revelation, not 
 until we enter the eternal world shall we be able 
 to sum up the good accomplished in this church 
 during the last quarter of a century. But not 
 unto us, but unto God be all the glory. 
 
 The past twenty-five years are not without 
 their record of bereavement and sorrow. Very 
 few yet remain of those who called me to this 
 field of labor. In vain I endeavor to re-assemble 
 the audience to whom I first preached. They 
 are scattered far and wide. Some are distant 
 and some are dead. Of the many once familiar 
 forms, some have entered into fellowship with 
 the church militant in other places, and some 
 have joined "the General Assembly and Church 
 of the First Born in Heaven." There are dear 
 faces pictured in memory that appear no more in 
 our social gatherings, and there are names not 
 difficult to recall that have been chiseled on 
 monumental marble for many a year. As I look 
 over this congregation to-day, I realize most 
 deeply what changes have taken place in indi- 
 viduals and families, changes in the Board of 
 Trustees, in the session, in the choir, and in the 
 pews. Death has been among us, reaping with 
 no sparing hand. Few dwellings are there that 
 
30 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 during this period have not been draped in 
 mourning-. Often, oh ! how often, have Ave wept 
 together as we have laid our loved ones down in 
 that sleep which on earth knows no waking. Of 
 the elders who have borne to you the sacramental 
 emblems, John McKnight, Elijah Dechert, and 
 William Eckcrt have gone to join the "four-and- 
 twenty elders" who stand before the throne of 
 God. And we miss from their accustomed seats 
 such men as Charles Pearson, Samuel Bell, Wil- 
 liam Peocock, Henry Robeson, Samuel Strong, 
 AVilliam McFarland, John Zeller, James Luckie, 
 Thomas Hunter, Daniel Reeser, John Fritz, and 
 Thomas McCombs — not to mention others whose 
 names you will easily recall. Death is no 
 respecter of persons. !N"o age nor sex has been 
 spared. Many cherished little ones have been 
 transplanted to the other side. Young maidens 
 in the glow of their beauty, and young men in 
 the pride of their manhood we have followed to 
 their last resting places. And mothers in Israel, 
 also — "noble women not a few" — women "full 
 of good works and alms deeds which they did," 
 have been taken from us, and the church has 
 made devout lamentations over them. Their 
 names and record are on high. 
 
 My most tender and impressive recollections 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 31 
 
 to-day are connected with those scenes of bereave- 
 ment and burial. I have sat, scores of times, in 
 the dim light and close atmosphere of the dying 
 chamber, and with aching head and heart have 
 watched and prayed while humanity was strug- 
 gling in life's last agonies. I have stood by 
 many a coffin and many a grave, and spoken 
 words of consolation which my own heart craved 
 as much as yours. For am I not a man and a 
 brother? Conld I do otherwise than mingle my 
 tears with yours when death was robbing me of 
 some of my warmest and most cherished earthly 
 friends? They are gone to be forever with the 
 Lord, and earth appears less dark and lonely 
 when we remember that "such as these have 
 lived and died." 
 
 "Remembered are the dead ! They have lain down, 
 Believing that when all our work is done 
 We would lie down beside them, and be near 
 When the last trump shall summon to fold up 
 The trusting flock, and with the promises, 
 Whose words could sweeten death, 
 Take up once more the interrupted strain ; 
 And wait Christ's coming, saying — ' Here am I 
 And those whom thou hast given me.' " 
 
 You will pardon, I trust, some references to 
 myself, on an occasion like this, as they seem 
 
32 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 unavoidable. Twenty-five years ago, I came 
 among- yon in answer to a very unanimous and 
 earnest call from this church, a call thrice 
 repeated in the space of a few months. I was 
 then a young man, with but a limited experience 
 in the ministry. I greatly distrusted my ability 
 to meet the responsibilities of such a charge. 
 My health, too, had been shattered by a recent 
 illness. If I wondered at the venture you made 
 in extending me a call at the first, I wondered 
 still more at your persistence in urging my 
 acceptance. It was not without many doubts 
 and misgivings that I yielded at last to the 
 judgment of friends and what seemed to be the 
 convictions of duty. I came here a stranger, and 
 literally "in much fear and trembling." You 
 know the result. The union then formed has 
 remained unbroken, and the harmony and peace 
 of the congregation has scarcely been disturbed 
 by a ripple. My personal intercourse with this 
 people has ever been most pleasant and familiar. 
 I have endeavored to regard them all — rich and 
 poor, old and young — as my friends. My purpose 
 has been to visit all the families at least once 
 every year, but from sickness and other unavoid- 
 able circumstances, I have not always been able 
 to accomplish it. No one but a pastor can know 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 33 
 
 how difficult it is to meet the wishes of a con- 
 gregation in this particular. If, in any instance, 
 there has been apparent remissness on my part 
 which has grieved any heart, I can assure such 
 that no such remissness was intended, and that 
 it can be regretted by no person more sincerely 
 than by myself. 
 
 It would be doing great injustice to my own 
 feelings, as well as to the demands of the occasion, 
 were I to omit some distinct reference to the 
 manner in which this people have treated their 
 pastor from the first day until the present hour. 
 JNeed I say that it has been kind, considerate, in- 
 dulgent, and often generous treatment. I cannot 
 enumerate all the marks of confidence and esteem 
 that I have received at your hands. One instance, 
 however, I may allude to as marked by a white 
 stone in my memory. Fifteen years ago, when 
 my health was likely to fail utterly, you kindly 
 voted to give your pastor rest for some months, 
 and also something substantial to sweeten that 
 rest by enabling him to visit the Old World. I 
 shall feel richer and happier for life by what I 
 was permitted to see. I would not part with the 
 new experience I then had, nor lose the thoughts 
 there awakened, nor blot out the impressions then 
 received, from the works of art and nature, for any 
 
34 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 man's fortune. There are those among the living, 
 as well as among the dead, whose words of encour- 
 agement, genial sympathy, and needed assistance 
 have a record in my heart of hearts. Few pastors 
 have been more favored in the people to whom 
 they have ministered. To the Trustees, holding 
 as they do very important relations to the com- 
 fort and success of the pastor; to the Elders, who 
 have counseled and encouraged him in all his 
 labors ; to the Superintendents and Teachers, who 
 have aided him in training the young; to the 
 Choir, who have added so much to the interest of 
 worship ; to the dear Children, who have ever wel- 
 comed him with smiles ; and especially to that 
 little band of faithful Christian men and women, 
 who have sustained him by their attendance at 
 the lecture and the prayer meeting; to one and all 
 of these I take pleasure, on this public occasion, 
 in tendering my sincere and heartfelt acknowledg- 
 ments. May the Lord reward them a thousand- 
 fold for all their kindness to me. 
 
 "When I assumed the office of a Christian 
 minister, it was with the full consciousness of its 
 solemn responsibilities. The one work given me 
 to do was to preach the Gospel. I felt that I 
 had no choice, no discretion in the matter. 
 "For necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is me 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D. D. 35 
 
 if I preach not the Gospel." 'Not philosophy, 
 nor science, nor literature, but Christ crucified 
 has been my theme. Not Socrates and Plato, 
 but Paul and John have been my teachers. In 
 my ministry in this place, I have never sought 
 after novelties, never chosen mere sensational 
 themes, never pursued any hobbies, never in- 
 dulged in curious speculations, nor engaged in 
 angry and useless controversies, nor dragged in 
 politics. I have never felt justified in courting 
 a grin when I should woo a soul, nor in address- 
 ing the fancy with amusing tales when sent 
 with God's commission to the heart. While I 
 have never been careless of the approbation of 
 my people, I can honestly say that I have been 
 more anxious to profit than to please them; 
 more anxious to commend myself to their con- 
 sciences than to their tastes. I have the consci- 
 ousness this day that I have been sincere in 
 preaching the Gospel, never preaching what I 
 did not believe, and never keeping back anything 
 I did believe and felt it my duty to preach. I 
 have endeavored to make the Cross of Christ 
 central in my preaching, as it is in my system of 
 theology. !NTor have I ignored the creed of our 
 Church, as containing the best expression of 
 "the faith once delivered to the saints." It may 
 
36 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 not be very popular in this age of liberal, but 
 shallow, thinking. I adopt it intelligently, 
 heartily. I bind it as a crown unto me. If it has 
 Alpine sternness and gloom, it has also Alpine 
 grandeur and glory. In connection with it is 
 developed the best type of religious character 
 the world has ever known. It nourished the 
 manly piety of martyrs and reformers, and from 
 its strong mould spring such " cedars of God" 
 as Ansel m and Augustine, Luther and Calvin, 
 Howe and Edwards. 
 
 In regard to the character of my pulpit minis- 
 trations, I have uniformly labored to make them 
 as perfect as I could. I have seldom, or never, 
 brought here that which cost me nothing. God 
 has required beaten oil for the sanctuary. "While 
 I have not ambitiously made sermons to gain a 
 reputation for genius, learning, and taste, I have 
 still recognized the right of this people to my 
 best thoughts at all times. It has been my 
 custom, when health and other duties would 
 permit, to devote many hours a day, and often 
 many days in a week, to my pulpit preparations. 
 But I have always had an ideal of excellence in 
 sermonizing which has mocked my attainments, 
 and after striving to do my best, I have often 
 been pained by a sense of miserable failure. 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 37 
 
 !None of my hearers have judged me more 
 severely than I have judged myself. While here, 
 I have preached over three thousand sermons, 
 and have been with you at a hundred commu- 
 nions. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that all these years 
 should pass over me without their personal trials. 
 I have not been exempt from the common lot. I 
 have felt vexations and troubles ; I have expe- 
 rienced disappointments and losses. I have not 
 been a stranger to dejected hopes. Often I have 
 known what it was to be a sufferer. There have 
 been years, many years, when there were but few 
 days in the week, and often but few hours in the 
 day, of respite from pain and discomfort. I look 
 back now with wonder that I could labor at all, 
 that I did not yield to the temptation of giving 
 up in despair. But God was better to me than 
 my fears, and brought me through. I have 
 known, also, one sore bereavement. Suddenly I 
 was called to go down to the margin of the cold, 
 dark river, with the wife of my youth and the 
 mother of my children, and to gaze after her wist- 
 fully and with tears, as she passed over to the 
 other side. I have been taught by these trials 
 that religion has consolations for the darkest 
 hours, and that joy is often born of sorrow, as 
 
38 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 morning is of night. The aspects of life have 
 somewhat changed with the flight of years. 
 Many illusions have vanished, many sanguine 
 hopes have miscarried, and all the roseate hues 
 of that morning time have faded into the light of 
 common day. 
 
 Ministers, I am aware, are often stigmatized 
 as hirelings, and accused of discharging their re- 
 sponsible duties in a cold, heartless, and perfunc- 
 tory manner. It may sometimes be so, not often. 
 But God is my witness when I tell you that what 
 toils and trials, anxieties and sorrows, I have 
 had as a man, are light afflictions compared with 
 those I have endured as a minister. The heaviest 
 burden upon my heart has been the burden of 
 souls. The deepest grief I have ever felt has 
 been for my want of success in winning souls to 
 Christ. There is no sorrow like unto this sorrow. 
 The world knows little of the days of darkness 
 and solicitude, and the nights of wakefulness and 
 weeping that fall to the lot of every faithful 
 minister. God will not forget. 
 
 You will bear me witness that I am not in the 
 habit of obtruding any personal matters upon the 
 attention of this congregation. Perhaps on an 
 occasion like this, I may be justified in a passing 
 allusion to my own views and feelings on a sub- 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 39 
 
 ject above all others the most important, and to 
 which I have so often directed your attention. 
 My religious experience extends over a period of 
 more than forty years. And I would say that I 
 have no doubt of the reality and truth of the 
 Christian religion, that it is what it purports to 
 be, a revelation from Heaven. I regard the glori- 
 ous Gospel of Christ as worthy of all acceptation. 
 The doctrines of grace, atonement by the blood of 
 a dying Saviour, justification by his righteousness, 
 sanctification by the spirit of God, and the gua- 
 rantees of son -ship and saint-ship, these are en- 
 shrined within my heart. I repose in them an un- 
 questioning trust. They were never so true and 
 precious to me as in these later years. I expect 
 to be saved through no merit of my own, but by 
 the Grace of God in Jesus Christ. Through him 
 alone have I righteousness and peace. Blessed 
 be God, I have long enjoyed a comfortable hope. 
 I would not exchange it for the wealth of worlds. 
 It has been my stay and support in all my labors 
 and trials. Religion is now my delight and com- 
 fort in life. My happiest thoughts spring from 
 this source. My sweetest moments are those in 
 which I think most clearly of religious truth, and 
 feel most strongly its genial power. Its resources 
 and provisions are all-sufficient for my spiritual 
 
40 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 necessities. And now, when the shadows begin 
 to lengthen, I look with composure into the tomb, 
 and with joyful anticipations to my heavenly 
 home in the skies. 
 
 Turning now from the past, what shall I say 
 for the future ? It is not for me to lift the veil 
 to see what may lie beyond it. But well I know 
 that we shall never meet on another such anni- 
 versary. Full well I know that I shall not be 
 able to repeat, here or elsewhere, such a ministry 
 as that which has been the subject of this review. 
 The largest and most effective portion of my life 
 is past. My manhood was given to this church, 
 in honest and earnest labor. Though I have 
 some years yet before I count the three-score, 
 still I feel that the infirmities of age are gradually 
 creeping over me. Time, and toil, and sickness 
 have left their impress on a constitution never 
 robust, and often too severely taxed. The 
 almond-tree has already blossomed, the eye has 
 lost its keenness of vision, and the heart is less 
 buoyant than when I came to you a quarter of a 
 century since. It is not for me to say how long 
 I may be permitted to continue in my present 
 relation. I leave that to the wise decision of 
 Him who appoints our lot and regulates our 
 ways. Under any circumstances, I could not 
 
EEV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 41 
 
 leave this church without the deepest regret. It 
 would seem like leaving home and beginning: life 
 anew. I have been here too long not to love the 
 place and the people. Things have grown 
 familiar to me. I have pleasant memories with 
 the very aspects of earth and sky. These 
 circling hills are dear unto me. It cannot be 
 expected that I should ever become as deeply 
 attached to any other people as to those to whom 
 I have given my toils and cares, my prayers and 
 tears for so many years. "When I die," said 
 Queen Mary, "you will find the name of Calais 
 written on my heart." Whether here or else- 
 where, in this world or in eternity, this church 
 will ever be associated with my best and happiest 
 days. The past, at least, is secure. If I have 
 any wish for the future, it is that I may be able 
 to labor on until I am called to my final rest. I 
 have an instinctive dread of a decrepit, helpless, 
 and profitless old age. 
 
 But I weary your patience, and must close. 
 These departed years have a special monition for 
 me to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding 
 in the work of the Lord. When Pompeii was 
 destroyed, there were multitudes buried in the 
 ruins of it. Some were found in the streets, as 
 if attempting to make their escape. Some were 
 
42 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 found in vaults, as if they had gone there for 
 security. Some were found in saloons, as if sur- 
 prised in their pleasures. But where did they 
 find the Roman sentinel ? At the city gate where 
 his captain had placed him, with his hand still 
 grasping his war weapon; and there, while 
 the Heavens threatened him; there while the 
 earth rocked beneath him ; there, while the lava 
 stream rolled on, he stood at his post; and there, 
 after seventeen centuries had passed, he was 
 found. Brethren, I ask your earnest prayers for 
 me, that I may continue at the post of duty 
 without faltering or fainting. I am not weary 
 of my work, but I am often weary in it. Here, 
 to-day, I would solemnly renew the consecration 
 of my heart's best affections, and my whole being 
 to that Saviour who says : "Be thou faithful unto 
 death, and I will give thee a crown of life." 
 Amen ! 
 
MEMORIAL SERMON 
 
 OF TUB 
 
 REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 
 
 TREACIIED BY 
 
 Rev. WALLACE RADCLIFFE, 
 
 IN THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, READING, PA., 
 Sabbath Evening, Mat 5, 1872. 
 
MEMORIAL SERMON. 
 
 "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." 
 Rev. ii. 10, last clause. 
 
 A crown of life, a spiritual diadem, honor, power, 
 and immortality, a blessing that shall be comprehensive, 
 satisfying, remunerative, and eternal; a life of contrasts 
 and cumulative glory ; that, whereas there has been in 
 it obscurity, there shall be renown, whereas denial, there 
 shall be restitution, whereas conflict, there shall be 
 victory, whereas pain, there shall be exquisite gratifica- 
 tion, whereas a living death, there shall be a life 
 enduring as that of God, a life in which whatsoever 
 things are pure, are honest, are lovely, are of good 
 report, whatsoever a perfect being can desire, what- 
 soever a perfected being can be, shall be appropriated — 
 this is the benediction of God upon His accepted ones. 
 And this not by achievement of human power, nor by 
 limitation of worldly accident, but as the gift of divine 
 favor, not as the result of human working, but as the 
 divine reward to the spirit of that work. And herein 
 is the divergence between human and divine plans. In 
 
46 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 the accepted theories of men, the result is rewarded 
 independently of the means used, and the stimulating 
 ideas. The ruthless hand may snatch the crown from 
 worthier heads, the name may glitter with stolen 
 splendor, and the sceptre wave with an usurped 
 authority, the march may have been over the heaped-up 
 graves, dishonored vows, and prostituted friendships; 
 there may have been deceits, injustices, and oppressions, 
 but the processes and animating principles are too often 
 condoned, overlooked, or forgotten, in the hilarity and 
 brilliancy of the result. Man says, Success is success. 
 God says, Faithfulness is success. There may be no 
 accumulated fortune, no historic name nor laurel crown, 
 not even the comfort and approval of honest industry, 
 there may be even discomfort, disappointment, and 
 evident and irremediable failure in well-matured desires 
 and plans, and yet so pure has been the spirit of the 
 work, so faithful to every revelation of the right, that 
 the whole life smiles with the favor of God, and receives 
 His " well-done," and welcome into heaven. The real 
 approval, then, that which is permanent and sufficient, 
 is not for anything which can be gathered up with the 
 hand or looked upon, it is for the motive, the cherished 
 principle, the measure of conscience. The divine judg- 
 ment has no factitious standards, is not amused with 
 superficial glitter, is not dazed with temporary advan- 
 tage, these and all things carnal and earthly are but the 
 accidents of existence — the fine dust in the balance that 
 are as nothing against the principles of action — the 
 essentials of the life. And such is a standard adapted 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D. D. 47 
 
 to human wants. It is practical. It is attainable. It 
 is enduring. Every man can run. Every man cannot 
 grasp a prize. Every man can fight. Every man cannot 
 be victor. Every man can be faithful. Every man 
 cannot be renowned. To be faithful is to surrender 
 one's self to Christ, to acknowledge His authority, and 
 accept His service, and, therefore, to refer the whole 
 life to His direction. It is to acquiesce in His will, and 
 to see the present work, the present condition of things, 
 as the expression of that will to you. It is to do the 
 work thus set to your hand diligently, constantly, in love 
 to Him who has appointed it, and to those affected by 
 it. It is to go on conscientiously in the Providential 
 labor, though there seem no result, resting in the wisdom 
 of Him appointing, and in the verity of His word that 
 what you know not now you shall know hereafter. 
 
 The faithful Christian is but the trusty servant, who 
 hears the Master's will and carries the burden, or runs 
 the errand, not dictating nor interrogating, nor worry- 
 ing about the end. And just such simple, homely, 
 available, straightforwardness in the discharge of daily 
 duties God honors as the highest virtue of man. It is 
 within reach of the little child, and adorns the hoary 
 temples of age. It glorifies the peasant's hut, and 
 becomes the throned monarch better than his crown. 
 It dignifies the humblest act, and adds lustre to the 
 most exalted. It receives the last final approval. It 
 enters heaven. 
 
 It is to the contemplation of such a faithfulness, 
 completed and honored, that we gather here to-night. 
 
48 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 There walked one among yon for twenty-five years, 
 meek, unassuming, yet self-possessed and reliant, quiet 
 in his assured purpose, hopeful, and sympathetic in his 
 set work, following in the steps as they were ordered, 
 sowing the seed, nor repining because the harvest was 
 not yet; laying the foundations, nor disappointed that 
 another must build thereupon ; witnessing in weariness, 
 "in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling;" 
 faithful unto death, and he is not, for God has called 
 him to his coronation. 
 
 In pronouncing this eulogy upon your departed pastor, 
 no one feels more keenly than I that one of such recent 
 and limited acquaintance should speak to you of him 
 whom you have known for so many years in the 
 intimate friendships and Christian sympathies of the 
 pastorate. I feel in every way unequal. As I recall 
 the many reminiscences that have fallen from your lips 
 of his tenderness, his delicate susceptibility, his natural 
 pathos as he sought to comfort you concerning your 
 departed ones, his words that wept, his eyes suffused 
 with the sympathy his faltering lips could not speak, 
 I cannot but think of the confession of another when 
 about to pronounce an encomium upon Rome's greatest 
 orator, " There is need of Cicero himself to be his own 
 fit eulogist." There is need at least that some of those 
 older friends who had mingled their prayers and 
 counsels with his, and stood by him in the burden and 
 heat of the day, should speak of his worth from the 
 riches of their own experience. But Wallace, Brainerd, 
 Barnes, they preceded him out of the tribulation, they 
 
REV. ELI AS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 49 
 
 rest from their labors, and already robed and crowned 
 have welcomed him to the joy of the Lord. But after 
 all what need were there of men and occasions? "What 
 were tearful voice, or tender words, or glowing periods, 
 to that life which, simple and uneventful though it 
 were, in its serene faith, its humble work, its fidelity, 
 its good results, and precious memory, is its own best 
 eulogy ? 
 
 The main features in his life are doubtless familiar to 
 all, because of your long acquaintance, and their recent 
 and frequent publicity. 
 
 Elias Jones Richards, the son of Hugh and Jane 
 Ellis Jones Richards, was born January 14, 1813, in the 
 Valley of the Dee, in the west of England, not many 
 miles from the town of Llangollen, in Wales, whose 
 famous vale is noted for its picturesque beauties and its 
 antiquities. His ancestors were tillers of the soil, the 
 principal industry of the surrounding region. The 
 father was an adherent of the Presbyterian faith, and 
 his mother a devout member of the Church of England. 
 This good woman died when her son Elias was but four 
 years of age. For her he always cherished the fondest 
 regard, his memory with a remarkable tenacity extend- 
 ing back to those early years and retaining some idea of 
 her personal appearance and maternal care. He carried 
 through life the conviction that she expressed the wish 
 for his devotion to the ministry, which fact no doubt 
 strengthened his subsequent purpose. About a year 
 after the death of his wife, Hugh Richards left his 
 native land for America, whither his elder brother John 
 4 
 
50 MEMORIAL OP THE 
 
 had years before preceded him, and, as a land surveyor, 
 had already amassed considerable means in the northern 
 part of the State of New York. Of his six children, 
 Hugh Richards brought four with him, the two younger, 
 Jane and Richard, remaining behind until some years 
 after. Johnsburg, Warren Co., N". Y.,was the destina- 
 tion of the emigrant family, and, in what was then a 
 wilderness country, the father re-engaged in agricultural 
 pursuits. He subsequently removed to Utica, Oneida 
 Co., N. Y., and died a few years afterwards. He left 
 his family but little, and the little circle of orphaned 
 children was scattered. Of the six children, three now 
 survive. All through life, Elias J. Richards had the 
 power of attracting warm friendships, whose sympathy 
 and aid were ever prompt and generous. The earliest 
 and most directive he found in Judge Jonas Piatt, of 
 Utica, a lawyer of extensive practice in that place and 
 in New York city, who assumed the care and expense 
 of his education. By his assistance the youth was 
 enabled to attend a preparatory school in New York, and 
 afterwards, in 1829, the Bloomfield Academy, Bloom- 
 field, N. J. He entered Princeton College in 1831, and 
 while yet an undergraduate, the choice for his life-work 
 was presented him by his benefactor between a mercan- 
 tile life, the legal, and the ministerial professions. A 
 week was given for decision. The opportunities pre- 
 sented in such an emporium for success in either of the 
 first two callings, with their attendant prospects of 
 speedy wealth, luxury, influence, and position, must 
 have been seductive allurements at that buoyant period 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D. D. 51 
 
 when the world looks brightest and its promises seem 
 most certain of realization. For this was no vague 
 offer. The places were open, and the prospects promising 
 for pecuniary and social advancement. !Nor was his 
 choice with the wisdom of ignorance. He knew the 
 contrast, accumulation and self-aggrandizement as op- 
 posed to the sacrifices and privations of the ministry. 
 But he consulted not with flesh and blood. He has 
 told me that his decision was made the moment he heard 
 the offer. He hailed it as an unexpected answer to his 
 desires, and, though he permitted the week to intervene, 
 he never wavered from this judgment. JSTot only, nor 
 for the most part, attracted by literary tastes to a field 
 which promised their cultivation, but driven by the 
 promptings of conscience, which was to him the voice of 
 God, he elected to preach the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ. The sudden death of Judge Piatt during the 
 collegiate course of the young man prevented him from 
 seeing the full fruition of his benefaction, and was a sad 
 blow to its grateful recipient. As regards the time of, 
 or circumstances connected with his conversion, nothing 
 definite is known. It appears to have been previous to 
 his entrance upon college life. It may have been under 
 the preaching of the Rev. Charles Gr. Finney, an eminent 
 evangelist of that period, of whose powerful labors sub- 
 sequently in this church there are many still remaining 
 to testify, or through the influence of the Rev. Dr. 
 Spring, of New York city, with whose church he be- 
 came connected, whose counsel he often sought, and of 
 whom he always spoke in terms of respect and affection. 
 
52 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 It is related by a living witness that as early as 1830, 
 while he was attending the Academy at Bloomfield, X. J., 
 there was a revival of religion in the town, and that he 
 appeared in the scenes and Christian labors of the prayer- 
 meetings and the Sabbath-schools. It is very probable 
 that this is one of those occasional instances where a 
 character susceptible and surrounded by good influences 
 gradually and almost unconsciously emerges into the 
 light and enlarged experiences of the Christian life, 
 and that whatever changes transpired, either under the 
 preaching of these honored servants of Christ, or subse- 
 quently, when amid the hallowed influences of Princeton, 
 they were but successive developments in that spiritual 
 life which had been begun in his youth. In 1834 he 
 graduated from the College of Xew Jersey, already 
 known and honored among his classmates for that taste 
 and ability in belles-lettres which afterwards became so 
 prominent and cultured. In the same year, being 
 threatened with a pulmonary affection, he was enabled, 
 through the kind offices of another valued friend, the 
 Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, of Newark, K J., to ob- 
 tain a situation as tutor in Fredericksburg, Va., a posi- 
 tion facilitating his desired recuperation. Here again 
 he found friends, who opened the way, if he had chosen, 
 to the study and successful practice of medicine. The 
 kindness and congeniality of the friendships here formed 
 were among the cherished themes of his last days. 
 Having remained here for one year, he returned to 
 Princeton and graduated at the Theological Seminary 
 in 1838, and was licensed to preach in the spring of the 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D. D. 53 
 
 same year by the Presbytery of New York. His strong 
 inclination was to return to his friends in Virginia, or to 
 seek, in the genial clime and tropical beauties of the 
 further south, his home and work. There was but one 
 obstacle across that enticing path. He had looked upon 
 slavery and hated it, and could not begin his career as a 
 Christian teacher with an implied compromise of views 
 already fixed and advanced. 
 
 He was commissioned as an evangelist, and preached 
 for one year — 1839 — in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His 
 health failing, he returned east in 1840, and organized 
 the Second (N. S.) Presbyterian Church, Paterson, New 
 Jersey, where he remained but two } T ears, being called 
 in 1842 to the Western (N. S.) Presbyterian Church, 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 Of his professional work up to, and including this, we 
 know but little. To say that it was uneventful in that 
 which commands popular gaze and plaudit for itself is 
 only to place upon it the common stamp of the faithful 
 pastorate. Its informing principle is to count all things 
 but loss that he may win Christ and attract souls to 
 Him. The man is the minister and the minister is the 
 man, the life is the profession and the profession is the 
 life. Of this we feel sure, that everywhere that he has 
 preached and prayed "his works do follow him." 
 
 In 1846 he was called three times to the First 
 Presbyterian Church, at Reading, Pa. He finally yielded 
 to what he felt to be the importunate call of duty, and 
 took charge of this church in July, 1846, and was 
 installed on the fourteenth of October, in the same year. 
 
51 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 Here began his lite-work. The preceding years, with 
 their tossings and tremblings and experimentings, had 
 been but probationary, but preparative. The sapling 
 had been transferred from one garden to another until 
 here it became a tree of the Lord, full of sap, its roots 
 penetrating deep and on every side into countless hearts 
 and homes, its wide branches covering and yielding 
 fruit to the fathers and children of many generations. 
 For more than twenty-five years he stood here the 
 messenger from God. For twenty-five years — what 
 changes he saw, what work he did ! He came to 
 Reading and found it, as he expressed it, "a quaint 
 little Dutch town up among the mountains ;" he saw it 
 enlarging its boundaries and population, multiplying 
 and adorning its buildings, extending the variety and 
 reach of its business, enriching its people, and advancing 
 in every importance and power until it became the 
 third city in the State. He found you in "The Old 
 White Church;" it was his privilege to transfer you to 
 this tasteful and commodious structure. He found you 
 a few sheep in the wilderness ; he left you the leading 
 church in the Presbytery of Lehigh. At the beginning 
 of his pastorate, the church roll numbered one hundred 
 and sixty members. He has admitted more than five 
 hundred to your communion, three-fifths of whom were 
 upon profession of faith, -and the actual number upon 
 the roll at the time of his decease was four hundred and 
 thirty. Time and again there have been the seasons of 
 refreshing from the Lord, increasing the burdens of his 
 isolated work, but multiplying his joys as the fruits of 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D. D. 55 
 
 the increase have been brought into this storehouse of 
 God. He has preached for you more than three 
 thousand sermons, and been with you at a hundred 
 communions. He has baptized and married many of 
 you, watched and prayed over the spiritual instruction 
 of your children, received you and them into the com- 
 munion of the church, comforted you when sick or 
 distressed, stood by the bedside of your dying, buried 
 your dead, like his Master of old, bearing your griefs 
 and carrying your sorrows. And he was thus instant 
 in season and out of season. For years he carried that 
 wearied suffering body into duty, unconscious himself 
 of the extent of the insidious disease, standing in this 
 pulpit and following you to your homes for ministry to 
 you, when he should have been upon his couch receiving 
 from you your ministry of love and relief. Nor did he 
 remain at this post by necessity, other than that of 
 conscience; the solicitations to other fields were many 
 and flattering, which were set aside because of his firm 
 conviction of duty to remain. But how shall state- 
 ments and dry statistics measure the fulness of a 
 Christian work? Can you gauge the power and reach 
 of one wave? How then will you when they are 
 innumerable? Silently, steadily through all these years 
 the influences have gone forth from his words and 
 labors, duplicating and reduplicating themselves, trans- 
 ferring from father to son, rolling wave upon wave, until 
 the word spoken in this place has found its echo on the 
 shores of the Pacific, or upon another continent. Im- 
 pressions, experiences, lives, the consolations that have 
 
56 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 been spoken, the miseries that have been alleviated, the 
 wavering that have been strengthened, the perplexed 
 that have been enlightened, the wandering that have 
 been reclaimed, the lives that have been purified, the 
 hopes that have been conferred, the souls that have been 
 saved because he lived, cannot be measured nor reckoned, 
 and will be known only when the Day will declare to 
 him and to us. 
 
 In noting the public work of his ministry, it would 
 ill become me, it would be wrong, not to remind you 
 that its influence was consecrated to the cause of 
 Christian patriotism. It was his privilege to stand in 
 this high tower in the time of national peril, and send 
 forth the certain sound that warmed and strengthened 
 the patriot heart. It is the calm testimony that I have 
 heard more than once, that "he did more than any 
 other one man in this city to encourage the hearts of 
 the people and uphold the integrity of the government." 
 Certain it is that men knew where he stood, that he 
 loved his country, that he hoped and believed through 
 everything, seeing the flag through the clouds, and 
 giving of his confidence to other trembling ones, that 
 he prayed and preached and wrote and sanctified every 
 influence of this post to the interests of freedom and 
 loyalty. That were sufficient to make his memory 
 green to every Christian patriot. 
 
 As regards the literary virtues of these and all his 
 public efforts, I doubt not your larger experience Mould 
 not only confirm, but enhance the usual testimony to 
 their excellence. lie had superior intellectual abilities, 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 57 
 
 cultivated and enriched by a learning wide and intimate. 
 He was a reader, a student, and a scholar. lie loved 
 books, books for the books' sake as well as for what was 
 in them. I remember him looking upon his books 
 with an affection which any scholar can understand, as 
 he said : "They are a poor legacy, but a very delightful 
 investment." His mind was wide, clear, discriminating, 
 and well furnished. "While his research was mainly 
 and necessarily in the direction of theology, his sym- 
 pathies were not limited by professional lines. Espe- 
 cially were his tastes marked and encouraged in the 
 line of belles-lettres. He was known as a fine English 
 scholar, that is, well informed in the literature of the 
 English language. I doubt not that had he yielded 
 to his natural inclination, the close of life would have 
 found him upon a literary journal or in the professor's 
 chair. As it was, it gave beauty and attractiveness to 
 all his work. It imparted neatness, grace, and classic 
 finish to his most hurried sermons, to his careless 
 conversation a quiet humor and fancy, that played in 
 the mellow sheen rather than startled by a comet's 
 flash, a sprightliness to his most trite utterances, an 
 ability and cultivation that made him a leading 
 contributor, and one of the most acceptable, to the 
 papers and reviews of his denomination. In 1843 he 
 prepared for publication a memoir of Mrs. Morrison, 
 who died in Calcutta, India, whither she had gone as 
 a missionary with her husband, the Rev. Dr. Morrison. 
 But he denied himself many such excursions into the 
 
58 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 literary field, however congenial, that he might prepare 
 beaten oil for the sanctuary. 
 
 In his personal character the traits were many and 
 rare which made him loved and honored as the 
 exemplary citizen, the sympathizing friend, the faithful 
 pastor, and pure Christian. He was kind, tender- 
 hearted as a woman, sensitive, ready to judge every 
 one's sensibilities by his own, forbearing even to a fault, 
 eager ever to find or to imagine some palliation or 
 extenuation of the wrong-doing, continuously illus- 
 trating the exhortation of the Apostle, "considering 
 thyself lest thou also be tempted." This tenderness 
 many of you have often known as he came to you with 
 the words of consolation, but could only speak his 
 message by his grasp of the hand and his own falling 
 tears. This sentiment of his personal life restrained 
 him ofttimes in his official acts. Discipline was to him, 
 as to every kindly heart, an unpleasant thing. He 
 would have shirked it if he could. He would rather 
 any day have been the culprit than the judge. Rather 
 than mount the bench to sentence, he would go down to 
 weep with the offender. It was this in all his relations 
 that fitted him to be the approachable, genial com- 
 panion, and made his speech so often like "apples of 
 gold in baskets of silver." 
 
 lie was a man of peace. He deprecated contentions. 
 He was not at home amid the strifes of deliberative 
 bodies. He turned from controversy not through 
 inability, but dislike. His place would have been not 
 in Ephesus, but in the Isle of Tatmos, and his beloved 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D. D. 59 
 
 disciple would have been not Peter but John. Hence 
 his unusual popularity outside of his own denomination. 
 He gave to others the liberty he claimed for himself. 
 He shut his eyes to differences, and sought some common 
 ground for recognition and communion. And yet, with 
 all this charity, is there one to rise and charge unfaith- 
 fulness, in teaching or influence, to the church of his 
 adoption ? He rightly thought that differences, both 
 social and ecclesiastical, were sooner healed by ignoring 
 than by notice and attack. 
 
 His life was a daily illustration of the apostolic 
 exhortation: "As much as lieth in you, live peaceably 
 with all men." When he was reviled, he reviled not 
 again. "When he suffered, he threatened not. That 
 was his highest encomium conveyed in the challenge of 
 his friend : " "Where is the trouble that he ever made?" 
 But who will count the troubles he prevented, or has 
 healed? Hence it was that he was so sought as 
 counsellor by conflicting parties before our church 
 courts. Hence it was that he hailed the first token and 
 labored so assiduously for that re-union of his beloved 
 church, whose consummation God permitted him to 
 behold. It was in the recognition of these labors, and 
 of that peace-loving disposition for which he was so 
 eminent, that in June, 1870, he was, by a unanimous 
 vote, elected the first Moderator of the re-united Synod 
 of Philadelphia. And yet this charity and desire for 
 peace were not, as they so often are, the result of 
 inability or indifference. 
 
 He knew what he believed. He formed opinions, he 
 
GO MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 held and defended them. lie was a thoughtful man, a 
 man of clear judgment, of quick perception, and keen 
 discrimination, a reliability and worth that are attested 
 by the work he has done, and the trusts and honors he 
 has received of the church. But I doubt not changes 
 have been projected, opinions formed, and resolutions 
 made which have not been accomplished because of this 
 overmastering charity and tenderness that recognized 
 in other hearts a sensitiveness equal to his own, and 
 that would not offend so much as a little child. And 
 all this was sustained, sweetened, and purified by an 
 abiding faith in the Christ, whom he preached. It 
 seems, it was providential, that, just before his last 
 illness, iu his quarter-century discourse, he should make 
 formal confession of that faith which had been his for 
 forty years, that there might be a denial to every 
 questioning and the comfort of a certain and reasonable 
 hope to those that remain. It is in his own words. 
 "I have no doubt of the reality and truth of the 
 Christian religion. . . . The doctrines of grace — 
 atonement by the blood of a dying Saviour, justification 
 by His righteousness, sanctification by the spirit of God, 
 and the guarantees of saintship, and sonship — these are 
 shrined within my heart. ... I expect to be saved 
 through no merit of my own, but by the grace of God' 
 in Jesus Christ. Through Him alone have I righteous- 
 ness and peace. . . . This hope has been my stay 
 and support, my delight and comfort. ... Its 
 resources and provisions arc all-sufficient for my spiritual 
 necessities. And now, when the shadows begin to 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 61 
 
 lengthen, I look with composure into the tomb, and 
 with -joyful anticipations to my heavenly home in the 
 skies." 
 
 The closing words seem prophetic. Scarcely had he 
 thus declared himself, when God, by the hand of disease, 
 put him to the last test of his faith. That painful, 
 lingering illness you all remember. It was my 
 privilege to be often with him, and in the last hour of 
 his consciousness to kneel by his bedside, and I give 
 you record this day that never, by word or sign, did I 
 have aught to signify that he had wavered or changed 
 in his faith, or that its promised rod and staff had 
 failed in the valley of the shadow of death. During 
 his illness he bore its pains with fortitude, and was 
 hopeful of restoration and prolonged life. He wanted 
 to live. But let not that be misunderstood as a cling- 
 ing to life for life's sake, or as a fear of death for death's 
 sake. It was to do duty better, and to complete his 
 work. It is not unchristian to desire to live. The 
 good Hezekiah in bitterness turned toward the wall 
 and prayed for life, and God lengthened his days. It 
 was for Christian life and work that your pastor 
 wished, and that same grace that created the wish for 
 longer days enabled him, in the last struggle, to commend 
 Ms incomplete work and all that he loved into the hands 
 of a covenant-keeping God, and to say, " The will of the 
 Lord be done." So he died, and was saved from that 
 which had been his apprehension through many years, 
 "a decrepit, helpless, and profitless old age." So he 
 died, and there was lamentation in Israel, and devout 
 
G2 • MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 men carried him to his burial. It is meet that in 
 yonder cemetery he should lie in the midst of those to 
 whom he had been the minister of strength and 
 consolation by his presence, reminding the living of 
 his calls of grace, and waiting with his trusting flock 
 to hear the summons, that they may together rise in the 
 resurrection and the life. 
 
 He has gone, passed from this family to that family 
 that is named of Christ, from this city to that other 
 which hath foundations, from this solemn assembly to 
 the innumerable company of the worshipping angels, 
 from this church to the church of the first-born whose 
 names are written in heaven, from the uncongenial 
 associations and jarrings of sinful men to the glorious 
 company of the Apostles, to the goodly fellowship of the 
 prophets, to the noble army of martyrs. 
 
 It is the end. The hand is nerveless, the pen is 
 dropped, the sentence is left unfinished, and he that 
 would know further of his earthly being must trace it 
 in the dust that has returned to dust. The book is 
 closed, and closed it must remain until lie shall come 
 who has in His hand the keys of death. The workman 
 dies, but his work is immortal. Upon that foundation 
 from the wise Master-Builder, the gold, the silver, the 
 precious stones which he built cannot perish. They 
 remain the testimony to his faithfulness and assurance 
 of his reward, the assertion of your opportunities, and 
 the demand for your acknowledgment. 
 
 Then, though his form be no longer seen, nor his 
 voice heard in these accustomed scenes, it is well that 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D. D. 63 
 
 ofttimes here and round your family hearth-stones you 
 recall his character and labors. For the lives of such as 
 he are the reiterated assurance to the world that the 
 tabernacle of God is with men. It is good for the 
 world that such as he have lived and died. Of how 
 few, even of the known and favored, may that be said? 
 But the life of a good man ! It is an emphatic 
 testimony against error, and selfishness, and injustice, 
 and all wrong-doing: it arrests the heedlessness of the 
 racing world, it transfers to earth the holiness of 
 heaven, it incarnates the beauty of Christ, it exhales on 
 all around purity and truth, and, departing, leaves 
 behind it the fragrance and fruits of a real spiritual life. 
 Gather to yourselves the fruits of this life; cherish its 
 admonitions ; respect its precepts ; emulate its fidelity ; 
 imitate its faith; solicit its simplicity; guard its im- 
 mortal work; enshrine its memory in your hearts and 
 its virtues in your lives. 
 
 But words and occasions are vain. What is the 
 judgment of men to him who has already appeared 
 before the judgment seat of Christ? What are our 
 fading laurels to that brow already honored with the 
 crown of life to which immortal gems are adding their 
 lustre, as one by one your souls ascend, redeemed and 
 resplendent in heavenly glory. 
 
 Let fond hands, if they will, twine the laurel and 
 scatter fresh flowers upon the grave, let skilful hands 
 uplift the storied monument, or modest tablet tell the 
 passing traveler his many virtues, but let this be your 
 memorial — better than fading flowers or breathed-out 
 
G4 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 praise, more enduring than brass, and purer than the 
 Parian marble — a life animated by the same faith, 
 purified by the same love, irradiated by the same hope, 
 and consecrated to the same God, and Father of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Listen to his voice as it comes to you through so 
 many sanctified channels, lingering round your homes 
 and hearts, your bedsides and your closets, speaking in 
 the precious memories and sacred offices of this hallowed 
 spot, breathing through the solemn stillness of this 
 hour, calling in the realities and suggestions of } T on 
 new-made grave ; listen, it is the voice of the dead : 
 " Remember not me, but the words which I spake unto 
 you while I was yet present with you. Choose the 
 Saviour I have chosen. Live for heaven. Live for 
 immortality." And if thou wouldst have thy memory 
 fragrant and thy work eternal, if thou wouldst abide 
 upon the earth and yet be forever honored with the 
 heavenly coronation, be thou faithful, be thou faithful 
 unto death. Amen. 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D. D. 65 
 
 THE CLOSING SCENES. 
 
 The close of the twenty-fifth year of the pastorate of 
 the Rev. Dr. Richards in Reading, was an epoch in his 
 ministry which made a profound impression upon his 
 mind. This, it may he presumed, was the result hoth 
 of the natural emotion which a review of his life and 
 lahors during that long and eventful period stirred up 
 in his deeply sensitive and sympathetic breast, and the 
 significant bearing which manifestly increasing physical 
 infirmities exerted over his future. In his Quarter- 
 Century Sermon — an effort that does enduring credit to 
 his mind and heart, and which contributed to cement 
 still more deeply the feeling of attachment for him on 
 the part of the people with whom he lived and labored 
 the greater portion of the effective period of his life — 
 he refers to a consciousness of bodily decline, but 
 trustingly forbears to forecast his lot during the 
 remaining days of his earthly pilgrimage. There is 
 reason to believe that, when he thus wrote, his health 
 had already been threatened in such a way as to begin 
 to awaken his serious apprehensions. Yet he was 
 hopeful, and he closes this tenderly conceived aud 
 5 
 
06 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 touching discourse with the expression of the heroic 
 impulse that animated the Roman sentinel — to die at 
 the post of duty. It seems, indeed, a remarkable 
 dispensation of Providence, that this good and useful 
 man was to end his earthly labors so soon after turning 
 aside to mark the progress he had made in his 
 journeyings with this people — that so soon after impart- 
 ing to them his blessing he was to mount up, as Moses 
 of old, on Nebo, and be translated to the promised land. 
 
 The Quarter-Century Sermon, preached on the 9th of 
 July, 1871, was the last pulpit production he ever 
 wrote. The middle of the summer had arrived, and his 
 congregation tendered him an unlimited respite from 
 his labors. The three following Sabbaths he occupied 
 his pulpit as usual. The last sermon he preached was 
 delivered in his church on Sunday evening, July 30. 
 It was from the text, Job xxix. 18 : " Then I said, I 
 shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as 
 the sand." The theme of this discourse was the 
 Disappointments of Life, and in it he showed how 
 often our plans are overruled by God's decrees — how 
 men count upon life as the medium of gain and good, 
 and how God frequently overthrows their schemes by 
 requiring their souls of them at such times as they 
 think not of. 
 
 He left Reading on Tuesday, August 1, for a visit of 
 a fortnight to a brother residing on a farm in the 
 vicinity of Utica, New York. The Sabbath following, 
 August 6, he attended church in the vicinity. It was 
 the communion season, and he participated in the 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D. D. 67 
 
 ordinance, and, being called upon, delivered a few 
 remarks at the distribution of the elements. 
 
 The day was warm and sultry, and, returning home, 
 he, in the afternoon, threw himself upon the floor of the 
 country house, without his coat, and thus passed a couple 
 of hours in reading. In the evening he again exposed 
 himself similarly in the open air, conversing until a late 
 hour beneath the tall trees in front of the dwelling. 
 The same night he was seized with an attack of 
 illness, which at once assumed a painful and alarming 
 character. The effect of the cold he had taken, it was 
 the subsequently expressed medical opinion, was simply 
 to accelerate the development of the disease which had 
 lain dormant for some time in his system (an affection 
 of the kidneys, of the chronic type), and which 
 eventually brought him to his end. On Tuesday his 
 family in Reading were telegraphed for, and his wife 
 and eldest son hastened to his bedside, arriving in the 
 afternoon of the following day. They found him 
 rather more comfortable, having successfully passed 
 through au agonizing crisis in the medical treatment of 
 his disease. He remained at his brother's house for a 
 little over three weeks, tenderly cared for. The 
 medical attentions which he received, however, were 
 inconvenient to obtain, and it became greatly desirable 
 that he should be brought to his home, if possible. In 
 a weak and still suffering condition he undertook the 
 journey on Friday, the 1st of September, arriving home 
 the following afternoon, after traveling uninterruptedly 
 for over twenty-four hours, a distance of nearly four 
 
G8 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 hundred miles. Every arrangement was made for his 
 comfort on the route, yet he suffered great prostration 
 from the journey. 
 
 Soon after his arrival, it began to be apparent that 
 his disease was of such a character as to be beyond the 
 possibility of arrest by medical aid, and that the limit 
 •to which he might last was merely a question of time. 
 Throughout the long illness which followed, in the 
 course of which he was called to endure at times the 
 keenest suffering, he bore his pain patiently and with- 
 out a murmur. It was his good fortune during the 
 entire progress of this sickness to have the unremitting 
 attendance of two of the leading physicians of the 
 city, Drs. Wallace and Ulrich, both members of his 
 church, who night and day devoted themselves to the 
 alleviation of his sufferings, and did all that medical 
 skill and Christian sympathy could suggest. 
 
 After about a month's confinement to bed, he was 
 able to sit up and see a few of his friends. Some time 
 afterwards he rode out, on one occasion, a short distance, 
 in a carriage. The deepest interest was manifested 
 throughout his whole illness by his warmly attached 
 congregation, and the community in general, in his 
 situation, and announcements from time to time of his 
 condition were eagerly received. In the latter part of 
 December, he was enabled to be present at, and 
 moderate, a meeting of the church session, held in his 
 study, to examine several candidates for admission to 
 membership. During the succeeding months of January 
 and February, 1872, he frequently came down stairs to 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D. D. 69 
 
 meals, and saw all friends who called, and there seemed 
 to be a temporary change for the better in the symptoms 
 of his complaint. lie attended to correspondence, and 
 endeavored to apply himself to the revision of a work 
 on Christian Experience, which wanted a few chapters 
 of completion, and which he was anxious to finish. In 
 February, he baptized four infant children of parents 
 belonging to his church, and this was his last pastoral 
 act. During this month, the improvement in his 
 condition was so satisfactory as to induce some hope 
 that he might again be able to preach. He was 
 hopeful himself, clung to the idea of a restoration to 
 pastoral labor, and began to lay plans for future work. 
 In reference to the possibility of renewed usefulness, he 
 remarked that if again permitted to occupy his pulpit, 
 he could preach as he had never preached before. 
 
 But these indications were fallacious, and his own 
 hopes, and the hopes and expectations of his family and 
 devoted friends, were doomed to a speedy disappointment. 
 He approached the month of March with apprehension, 
 on account of its unfavorable associations with his 
 health for many years previous. About the middle of 
 that month, he was apprised of the death of his college 
 classmate and life-long friend, Gilbert Coombs, A.M., of 
 Philadelphia, who, he was aware, had recently been 
 stricken down with the same disease, and with whom 
 he had shortly before exchanged letters of sympathy. 
 This intelligence greatly shocked and agitated him, and 
 in his weak condition doubtless hastened his end. 
 Exactly two weeks these friends remained divided. In 
 
70 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 a few days lie grew rapidly worse, and his life soon 
 hung trembling in the balance. The prayers of his 
 stricken flock went up to God that he might be spared. 
 Their beloved pastor, the idol of their hearts and the 
 corner-stone of their earthly religious associations — how 
 could God take him away while yet in the full tide of 
 his Christian usefulness? But His ways are not as our 
 ways. In the economy of God's administration of this 
 world's affairs, no one man is indispensable. 
 
 Throughout the greater part of his illness, he had the 
 companionship of his temporary pastoral substitute and 
 ultimate successor, the Rev. Wallace Radcliffe, with 
 whom he took counsel concerning the affairs of the 
 church, and who ministered to him in his dying hours, 
 receiving his parting blessing. On Friday, the 22d of 
 March, he was made acquainted by his physicians with 
 the fact that he was near his end. He said simply, " Is 
 it so?" On the evening of that day he had the last 
 rational interview with his family. Though faint and 
 so feeble as scarcely to be intelligible, his mind at this 
 time was clear. He left a blessing for his congregation, 
 and sent messages to the little children he had recently 
 baptized, and desired that they should be taught to 
 remember him. He said, distinctly, to his eldest 
 daughter, who bent over him, "My faith is in Christ." 
 This was his last connected expression. He soon 
 became delirious, and the same night was believed to 
 be dying. He lingered, however, three days longer, 
 and on the Monday evening following, the 25th of 
 March, at a little before eight o'clock, God took him. 
 
REV. ELTAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 
 
 On Friday afternoon, March 29, 1872 (Good Friday), 
 the funeral services of the Rev. Dr. Richards took 
 place in the First Presbyterian Church. The pulpit 
 and surroundings were heavily draped with black, 
 relieved here and there by a cross or wreath of 
 immortelles. The body of the deceased was removed 
 from the dwelling at 11 A.M., and borne to the church 
 and deposited in front of the pulpit. Here, from this 
 time until 1 P.M. — the hour fixed for the commencement 
 of the services — the remains were viewed by hundreds, 
 who crowded forward to take a last look at the face of 
 the beloved dead. The coffin was covered with black 
 cloth and silver mounted, a plate upon the lid containing 
 a suitable inscription. The body was laid out in a full 
 suit of black, with white neckcloth. The features were 
 calm, natural, and peaceful. 
 
 At the hour appointed for the funeral the church 
 was crowded with a sad concourse of people, for all 
 were mourners. The various clergy of the city occupied 
 seats in a body, convenient to the pulpit. The occasion 
 was one of the deepest solemnity. As the funeral 
 cortege entered the aisle, a dirge was played upon the 
 organ. 
 
 The services were conducted by the Rev. Wallace 
 Radcliffe, and opened with the singing of the hymn by 
 the choir: — 
 
 "How blest the riirhteous when lie dies." 
 
72 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 A selection of Scripture was then read, and prayer 
 offered by Mr. Radcliffe. This was followed by the 
 singing of the familiar hymn, which was a favorite 
 with the deceased, 
 
 " Unveil thy bosom, faithful tomb,"— 
 
 After which several prominent clergymen from abroad 
 were introduced, and delivered addresses. 
 
 The Rev. Z. M. Humphrey, D.D., pastor of Calvary 
 Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, was the iirst speaker. 
 In answer to the inquiry, what brought so large an 
 audience together on one of the secular days of the 
 week, he said it was the sympathy of their hearts, and 
 the unusual interest manifested by the community in 
 this sad bereavement. These emblems of mourning 
 told of the great loss this congregation and city had 
 sustained. These flowers symbolized a life and character 
 made perfect through the grace of God. When an 
 elder in the church dies, it is always an occasion of 
 unusual interest, particularly when his pious influence 
 has been exercised over the church for many years. 
 But the occasion is one of especially deep and solemn 
 interest when, as in the present instance, a beloved 
 pastor is removed, who has so long and faithfully 
 ministered to his congregation. As the speaker had 
 seen, in his boyhood, in his native ISTcw England 
 village, an old tree that had grown in the central 
 square for many years, and sheltered under its protecting 
 shade the fathers and the children for many generations, 
 suddenly prostrated by the violence of the storm, the 
 
REV. ELTAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 73 
 
 people of the village, old and young, gathered with 
 sorrow and affection around its uprooted trunk, until it 
 seemed as if its roots had gone into every home and 
 heart ; so this multitude gather here to-day around the 
 prostrate form of this good man, who had stood in this 
 place for twenty-live years, sending out his grateful 
 influences into all these homes and hearts. Oh ! what a 
 gap these old trees make when they are taken away. 
 There are many here to-day whose hearts are torn by 
 the removal of him who was so greatly honored and 
 beloved. It seems as if not only something had gone 
 from his life, and the life of his household, but from 
 the lives of this congregation and community. The 
 speaker referred to the significance of the day fixed for 
 these ceremonies. It was the day of the death and 
 burial of our Lord, a day most fitting for this Christian 
 man to descend with his Saviour to the tomb. As we 
 see about us in this vernal season the tokens of already 
 reviving nature, so do we also look, even in this 
 bleakness and barrenness, for a restoration and a joy 
 when he whom we thus commit to the silence and 
 darkness of the grave, shall, with his Saviour, appear 
 again in the final glories of the resurrection. 
 
 Rev. Daniel March, D.D., pastor of Clinton Street 
 Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, followed, in an 
 eloquent tribute. There were nations, he said, that 
 had rich men, mighty men, and yet those nations were 
 poor, and there are nations called poor, which were rich 
 because they had good men. To-day this congregation 
 and community were mourning the greatness of their 
 
74 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 loss. For twenty-five years, in this busy hum of 
 industry, this faithful man of God has gone to and fro 
 in the accomplishment of his mission. For twenty-five 
 years in this city he has gone about doing good. 
 Who can estimate the value of his influence? I can 
 truly bear you witness that home-life in this entire 
 community has been made purer and better from 
 the fact that such a man has lived among you. It 
 is a great thing for a man to live in this world for 
 twenty-five years and do good. My heart was never so 
 touched, nor have I ever received so great a compliment 
 in my life as was conveyed in the childish remark of a 
 little girl in one of the families of my congregation, 
 who said to a visitor, as she pointed to a picture of her 
 pastor, hanging on the chamber wall, " That is God's 
 man." It is a great thing to be God's man upon the 
 earth, and it is a great thing to be able to stand here 
 to-day, and say over the body of this faithful pastor, 
 " This was God's man." How many times he has 
 blessed this house by his words, always so fittingly 
 spoken. How many times he has bowed down at the 
 bedside of sickness and suffering, and spoken tender 
 words of comfort to the sick and dying. There are 
 many living temples of his goodness and tenderness in 
 this house to-day which are desolate and silent, because 
 of the light that has gone out, and the voice of 
 admonition and instruction that is silent. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Cattell, President of Lafayette College, at 
 Easton, said, with deep feeling, that during all these 
 services two passages of Scripture had been forcibly 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 75 
 
 suggested to his mind. The first was, "Blessed are the 
 dead who die in the Lord." It is not all of death to 
 die, but the greatest part is to have the Christian's 
 hope and promise of dying in the Lord. He could 
 speak much of his dear, departed brother, so cultured, 
 so scholarly. He referred to his intercourse with him 
 for many years in connection with the legislation of the 
 church, and bore testimony to his goodness of heart, his 
 sturdy common sense, his purity, his soundness and 
 judiciousness as a church counsellor, and his patience 
 and influence as a Presbyter. He had learned to love 
 and honor him, with their increasing intimacy. The 
 other Scriptural passage that had arisen in his mind 
 was, " He being dead yet speaketh." The dead man in 
 his coffin speaks in the eminent piety and purity and 
 goodness of his life. Dr. Cattell, in the concluding 
 part of his remarks, spoke with great pathos and 
 impressiveness in well-chosen words of comfort to the 
 bereaved family and flock. 
 
 The Rev. C. F. McCauley, pastor of the Second 
 Reformed Church of Reading, expressed the sentiment 
 of the clergy of the city in the great loss they had 
 sustained. He said he had known Dr. Richards since 
 1855, and had known him only to love and praise him. 
 He had had an ever increasing appreciation of his 
 character as an able and eflicient minister of the gospel, 
 a thorough and accomplished scholar, an humble and 
 devout follower of our Lord, a high-toned Christian 
 gentleman, and a genial, kind, and sympathizing friend, 
 with whom it was pleasant to take counsel, and in 
 
76 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 whose hands the speaker could trust his reputation — 
 his most sacred interests, under any circumstances, with 
 perfect safety. A discourteous or unkind act or word 
 was altogether foreign to his character. In using this 
 language, Mr. McCauley said he felt that he was 
 authorized to speak in behalf of all his brethren in the 
 ministry in the city. As ministers of the gospel, and 
 co-laborers with Dr. Richards, they deeply felt his loss, 
 believing, however, that in the Communion of Saints 
 he was still with them. They had come hither to-day 
 to sit as silent mourners. Rev. Mr. McCauley then 
 stated that upon the announcement of the death of the 
 Rev. Dr. Richards, a meeting of the clergy of the city 
 had been called by him at the suggestion of Rev. Dr. 
 Schmucker, and others, and convened in the Second 
 Reformed Church, to take suitable action in reference 
 to that event. A cordial response was given, and a 
 minute read by Dr. Schmucker had been unanimously 
 adopted, and the speaker was requested to read it on 
 the occasion of the burial services, after consultation 
 with the family of the deceased. The minute was as 
 follows : — 
 
 " Forasmuch as it has pleased our Heavenly Father 
 to bring to a close the life and labors on earth of our 
 honored and beloved brother, the Rev. Elias J. Richards, 
 D.D., the high place which he had in our esteem, and 
 in that of the whole community, and the loss which his 
 death has occasioned to his household, his congregation, 
 his brethren in the ministry, and to the city, render it 
 fitting that we, his fellow-laborers in the work of the 
 
ItEV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D. D. 77 
 
 Lord in this place, should give expression to our regard 
 for him, and our sorrow on account of his death. 
 
 "As a man lie had such gentleness, kindness, and 
 purity of natural disposition, and divine grace had 
 brought forth in him such and so many excellent fruits 
 of the Spirit, that his daily life bore testimony that he 
 had been with Jesus, and had learned of Him, and it 
 was pleasant to take counsel with him, and mark his 
 spirit. 
 
 "As a minister of Christ's church, he had a high sense 
 of the importance of diligent and laborious study ; 
 from the beginning to the close of his work he never 
 relaxed his habits of scholarly research and thoughtful 
 meditation, and his attainments entitled him to an 
 honored place among the learned in the ministry of our 
 land. His preparations for the pulpit were habitually 
 made with very great care, and under a deep sense of 
 his responsibility to God. To the work; of his ministry 
 his life was consecrated without reserve. 
 
 "As a pastor he was very gentle, tender, patient, 
 earnest, and faithful, and the congregation to which so 
 large a part of his life was so faithfully devoted has 
 our warm sympathies in the severe loss which it has 
 sustained. 
 
 "In his relations to his brethren in the ministry he 
 was kindly and courteous in a degree that could 
 scarcely be surpassed. He has set to us a beautiful 
 example of high-toned Christian courtesy, which will 
 make his memory very precious to us. 
 
 ""We hereby extend our kindly sympathies to his 
 
78 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 bereaved household, and to the congregation long 
 highly favored by his labors, now enduring loss. 
 
 " We will attend the funeral services in the Presby- 
 terian church on Friday, at 1 P.M." 
 
 Rev. J. Fry, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, 
 Reading, then offered an impressive prayer, in which 
 he specially invoked the Divine comfort upon the 
 stricken widow and bereaved family. 
 
 A duet entitled "The Spirit Land," a very beautiful 
 composition that had always been a favorite with the 
 deceased pastor, was then sung with much taste and 
 feeling by two former members of the choir, Mrs. A. 
 R. Durham and Mrs. J. C. Brown : — 
 
 " There is a land mine eye hath seen 
 In visions of enraptured thought, 
 So bright that all that spreads between 
 Is with its radiant glories fraught." 
 
 • 
 The services then closed, and the body was borne from 
 
 the church by the following gentlemen, who had been 
 
 designated as the pall-bearers: Rev. Messrs. Cornelius 
 
 Earle, of Catasaqua ; J. W. Wood, of Allentown ; Goodloe 
 
 B. Bell, of New York City; John Moore and John 
 
 Thompson, of Pottstown ; and Albert Erdman, of 
 
 Morristown, New Jersey. 
 
 As the cortege moved from the house to the place of 
 
 interment, the church bell was solemnly tolled, and 
 
 everywhere along the line of the procession sad crowds 
 
 of people gazed reverentially at the passing by of the 
 
 remains of one so long and generally known, and 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 79 
 
 so universally respected and beloved throughout the 
 community. Everything betokened the solemnity that 
 was befitting the occasion. At the Charles Evans 
 Cemetery, where the burial took place, a very large 
 assemblage was convened to mingle their tears in the 
 last sad rites at the grave of the departed pastor. The 
 body was committed to the earth by the Rev. Wallace 
 RadclifFe, and the Rev. Dr. Humphrey pronounced the 
 benediction. 
 
80 MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 ACTION OF THE CONGREGATION. 
 
 At a meeting of the Congregation of the First Presbyterian 
 Church, held on Sabbath evening, March 31, 1872, immediately after 
 the close of public worship, on motion, William M. Baird, Esq., was 
 called to the chair, and Edwin F. Smith appointed Secretary. 
 
 The following resolutions were offered to the meeting by Dr. D. A. 
 Ulrich :— 
 
 Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God, in His wise providence, to 
 remove from our midst the Rev. Elias J. Richards, D.D., who for 
 twenty-six years has been the beloved and honored pastor of this 
 church, we, the members of this church and congregation, do here 
 resolve — 
 
 That in this said dispensation we devoutly recognize the presence of 
 our Heavenly Father, who doth not afflict willingly, but loveth whom 
 he chasteneth, and has in this very trial a lesson for us of Divine 
 wisdom and affection, and pray Him so to sanctify it that in all our 
 hearts there may be wrought even now the promised exceeding weight 
 of glory. 
 
 That we here give testimony to the purity and attractiveness of his 
 private character, and the faithfulness and honor of his public life. 
 In his social relations he was kind, winning, and congenial. Jn his 
 pastoral offices he was patient, intelligent, watchful, peace-making, and 
 sympathetic, weeping in our sorrow, and rejoicing in our joy. In his 
 public ministrations he was instructive and persuasive, ever evidencing, 
 not only the ripe scholarship and culture of the student, but the 
 prayerful devotion that was earnest to hold forth the word of life to 
 perishing sinners, and approve himself in all things a minister needing 
 not to be ashamed. 
 
 That we gladly record our conviction that his life illustrated the 
 power of the gospel he preached, and that death was not only to him 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D.D. 81 
 
 a relief from protracted pain, but the welcome messenger from Him 
 who is the Resurrection and the Life. 
 
 Thai we will cherish the memory of his life and labors, that he being 
 dead may yet speak to us the restraining and comforting counsels of 
 our beloved Lord. 
 
 That we invoke the special presence and care of the Shepherd and 
 Bishop of our souls, that in this hour of bereavement we may not be 
 as sheep without a shepherd, but guided in all our counsels, and 
 preserved in the unity of the spirit, which is the bond of peace. 
 
 That we extend to the bereaved wife and family our deepest 
 sympathy in their affliction, and commend them in our prayers to the 
 Father of all mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforted us in 
 all our tribulations. 
 
 That a copy of this paper be presented to the family, and also to 
 the daily papers of this city, and the religious papers of our church, 
 for publication. 
 
 Dr. Edward Wallace, in the course of some feeling and appropriate 
 remarks, moved the adoption of the resolutions, which was seconded 
 by William H. Liviugood, Esq., in an address of a similar character. 
 
 The resolutions were subsequently unanimously adopted. 
 
 The meeting then adjourned. 
 
82 MEMORIAL OP THE 
 
 ACTION OF THE LEHIGH PRESBYTERY. 
 
 At the stated meeting of the Presbytery of Lehigh, convened in the 
 First Presbyterian Church at Easton, Pa., April 16, 1872, the death 
 of the Rev. Dr. Richards having been announced by the Moderator, 
 Rev. D. S. Banks, on motion a committee consisting of Revs. J. W. 
 Wood and Cornelius Earle, and Elder Lot Benson, was appointed to 
 prepare a minute expressive of the sentiment of the body in reference 
 to the event. The committee reported the following, which was 
 unanimously adopted: — 
 
 The Presbytery having heard of the decease of one of its ministerial 
 members, the Rev. Elias J. Richards, D.D., the pastor of the First 
 Presbyterian Church in Reading, put upon its records with sad yet 
 trusting hearts the following minute : — 
 
 1. We recognize in this removal of our beloved brother the hand of 
 the Coveuankkeeping Head of the church, who, while He removes his 
 faithful servants from their earthly sphere of labor, raises them thereby 
 to the full possession and enjoyment of the promised inheritance of the 
 saints. 
 
 2. This Presbytery is specially made to know by this dispensation 
 that ministers must die, and appear before God to give an account of 
 their stewardship, and we would, therefore, be moved to an increased 
 faithfulness in the work of the Lord. 
 
 3. While we sorely feel our loss as a Presbytery, we give thanks to 
 God for the grace that counted our brother worthy putting him in the 
 ministry; that he was permitted so long and successfully to preach the 
 gospel, and to go in and out as a pastor among a loving and confiding 
 people, ever maintaining the dignity of his office, and exhibiting the 
 tenderness and faithfulness of a true under-shepherd. 
 
 4. We are thankful for the grace and the gifts bestowed upon our 
 departed brother, whereby he became a high-toned Christian gentleman, 
 
REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D. D. 83 
 
 uniting gentleness with courage ; in learning profound, yet unobtrusive ; 
 wise in zeal, and firm in purpose; a workman that needed not to be 
 ashamed. 
 
 5. This Presbytery hereby convey to his bereaved family their 
 Christian sympathies and condolence, and also to his church where 
 he was so useful and so beloved, and our stated clerk is hereby 
 directed to furnish them both with a copy of this minute. 
 
84 EEY. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D. D. 
 
 MEMORIAL TABLET. 
 
 At the stated congregational meeting of the First Presbyterian 
 Church, held on Wednesday evening, May 1, 1872, Dr. J. K. McCurdy 
 in the chair, and Mr. F. R. Schinucker, Secretary, Mr. Louis Richards 
 offered the following — 
 
 Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the Chairman of 
 this meeting to take the necessary steps towards the erection in the 
 church, by voluntary subscription, of a suitable tablet to the memory 
 of the late Rev. Dr. Richards, to whose plans and efforts we are in a 
 great part indebted, as well for the architectural perfection of the 
 church edifice itself, as for the spiritual prosperity which attended us 
 as a congregation during the twenty-five years of his faithful ministry 
 in this charge. 
 
 The resolution was unanimously adopted, and the chairman appointed 
 as the members of said committee, Messrs. Louis Richards, "William 
 H. Livingood, William G. McGowan, W. E. C. Coxe, and H. A. 
 Yundt.