As a Presbyterian minister.
I experience a mournful pleasure in complying with the request of the
Dispatch that I write a brief tribute to the memory of
Dr. Hoge as a minister of the Presbyterian Church.
There are many reasons of a personal nature, growing out of my close relations with him for the fifteen years of my residence in
Richmond, which constrain me,
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with affection and gratitude, to pen the following inadequate sentences:
From my earliest recollection,
Dr. Hoge has been the one of all our ministers who most frequently, and always with honor to himself and his denomination, represented the Presbyterian Church in great Ecclesiastical assemblies of Christians in
America and
Europe.
By reason of his breadth of sympathy, his wide acquaintance with public men, and his splendid ability as an orator, there was no man of his time who could, with more propriety, grace and impressiveness, rise to an occasion.
He always challenged first the attention, and then the confidence and admiration of his audience, whether in an American city or beyond the sea. We have lost the man who most represented the Southern Presbyterian Church to the Christian Church at large, and to the world; the man of whom, whenever he appeared in the arena of a national or international assembly, we were always proud.
In our own church courts
Dr. Hoge had little interest, and took small part in the details of Ecclesiastical procedure.
He was not given to much speaking, but only on occasions of importance did he take the floor.
When he did, it was with a gentle and easy grace, coupled with masterly eloquence, and always on broad lines and for peaceful measures.
He was never polemical always irenic.
Probably there is no living man whose feelings
Dr. Hoge ever wounded in the least degree in debate.
His courtesy was a principle and an instinct.
