A gracious Deed.
A lady, a resident of
Richmond, returning from a visit northward, during which she was at
Morristown, New Jersey, attended divine worship there, on the 8th of January, on which day the pastor of the church,
Rev. Dr. Erdman, announced feelingly to the congregation the death of
Dr. Hoge.
In referring to the ability and excellences of character of
Dr. Hoge, he stated in illustration, the following signal incident, which is in due evidence of
Dr. Hoge's attributes:
Shortly after the war, that period of vital grapple, which held the world in awe,
Dr. Hoge visited
Morristown and preached in the church of
Dr. Erdman, then just erected, and heavily in debt, and struggling with all the difficulties which beset the exigencies of a new church.
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The Southern preacher was not received with great warmth,
for the mighty contention was too close with its significance and results, and its reminiscences were too bitter and too sorrowful.
“With such power” did
Dr. Hoge preach, however, that, ‘when one year later the building was dedicated, the text of his appealing discourse was chosen to be inscribed on the wall,’ just over the pulpit, and it remains there, a memorial to him, to this day.
A Great Man in
Israel has been taken!
The grateful incense of his memory remains!
The world is better that he lived!
