THE 
 
 Bk.T^^ 
 
 E. 
 
 THE ETHEL CARR PEACOCK 
 MEMORIAL COLLECTION 
 
 Main's amori monumentum 
 
 TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 
 DURHAM, N. C. 
 1903 
 
 Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Dred Peacock 
 
An Historical Oration 
 THE LIFE AND LABORS 
 
 —OF— 
 
 Rev. Hezekiah G. Leigh, D. D., 
 
 DELIVERED IN KINSTON, N. C, 
 
 BY 
 
 Rev. W. H. Moore, D. D., 
 
 — OF— 
 
 5T>e 3\ort^ ©ctrotirya ©oi)fereT)ce, 
 DECEMBER 8, 1896. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/historicaloratio01moor 
 
Mr. President, and Members of the Historical Society of the North 
 Carolina Conference : 
 
 To honor the living who deserve our esteem on account of their 
 virtues, is both a duty and a pleasure. We are not slow to recog- 
 nize the worth of those who have put us under obligations to them, 
 by enriching us in material things, whether their services have 
 been rendered to us as individuals, or as the benefactors of man- 
 kind. But, to hold in grateful and loving remembrance the names 
 and virtues of our sainted dead, and to keep these fresh in the 
 minds of the living, making of them an inspiration to a nobler life 
 for ourselves, and coming generations, is a duty we owe both to 
 the dead and the living. 
 
 It has been said that the refinement of a people can be judged 
 of by the care the}* take of the graves of their dead ; and, it may 
 be more truthfully said, that a peoples appreciation of a noble life 
 is manifested by the sacredness with which the memory of that 
 life is cherished. 
 
 Nations build monuments of brass, and stone, to perpetuate the 
 memory of those who have rendered signal service to their country, 
 and the Church should not be less slow to embalm in grateful re- 
 membrance the memor)- of those who have wrought well in her 
 interest. It is piety, not patriotism, which says, "The righteous 
 shall be had in everlasting remembrance. ' ' 
 
 I could have wished, at the time your partiality devolved on me 
 the task I am now attempting to perform, that it had fallen to the 
 lot of one more competent to worthily fulfill your wish ; for sure- 
 ly, a life so consecrated, and useful, should have a rarely gifted 
 tongue to perpetuate its memory. But, however far I may fall 
 short of a worthy performance of my task, I shall be conscious 
 that I have brought to its accomplishment a heart loyal to the 
 purpose of the Society, and as earnest a desire as any can cherish 
 that the picture of our distinguished brother's life should have a 
 frame as noble as itself in which to hang it on the walls of our 
 memory. 
 
 Liks some tall peak which lifts itself far above the mountain 
 range and which seems to grow taller by recession from it, so 
 does the life of this eminent servant of God and the Church in 
 the lengthning distance of time grow larger and more impressive 
 to those who contemplate it. 
 
Ill reviewing the life and labors of him who is the subject of this 
 address, his Family History will naturally claim our attention first. 
 
 Hris Farqiiy History. 
 
 Hezekiah Gilbert Leigh was born in Durand's Neck, Perquim- 
 ans County, North Carolina, November 23rd, 1795, and was of 
 Scotch-Irish descent. His early ancestors came to "the James 
 River section" of Virginia, and settled there soon after the estab- 
 lishment of "the Jamestown Colony." Gilbert Leigh, the grand- 
 father of Hezekiah, moved from the James River section to 
 Durand's Neck, in the year 1 760. He bought lands near the New 
 Hope M. E. Church, and built a residence there, which is still 
 standing, and occupied as a dwelling. It was in this house that 
 Hezekiah was born. Richard Leigh, son of Gilbert Leigh, and 
 Elizabeth, his wife, was born October 14th, 1773. Richard was 
 married to Charlotte Spruill, December 18th, 1794, and their son, 
 Hezekiah Gilbert, was born November 23rd, 1795. 
 
 Of Hezekiah' s childhood I have not been able to gather any- 
 thing of public interest. Imagination must fill a gap of fifteen 
 years ; but we may well believe him to have been a bright and 
 health}' lad, with more than ordinary ambition for mental culture. 
 Socially, his family ranked among the best, and, having both lands 
 and slaves, his parents were able to give their son the best edu- 
 cational advantages offered by the schools of that time. 
 
 The old Colonial town of Edenton, though not so populous then, 
 as now, was, nevertheless, a place of great importance. It was 
 the rival of any town in the State for commerce, culture, and 
 social life. There was an Academy here, and, as this school af- 
 forded better facilities than could be obtained nearer home, Hez- 
 ekiah was entered at this Academy in 1810, at which time he had 
 attained the age of 15 years. He remained in this school two 
 years, and, on leaving it, returned to his home in Durand's Neck, 
 where he taught till he was about 22 years old. 
 
 What purpose in life he may have cherished, what avocation, 
 or profession he intended to follow, is unknown. Though his 
 education was only academical, it was equal to that of any of the 
 young men of his section, and placed him far in advance of the 
 multitude. An honorable career might have been his at the Bar, 
 in Medicine, or in the halls of Legislation. For the first, and the 
 last named, he was pre-eminently endorsed. But, whatever may 
 have been his purpose, this year was remarkable as the one in 
 which occurred the event which proved to be the turning point 
 in his whole subsequent life. God had a great work for him to 
 
do, and this was the year of his conversion. He who took David 
 from the sheep-cote, and anointed him to be the King of Israel, 
 took this young man out of the school-room and anointed him with 
 divine power, as a preacher of the gospel of His Son. 
 
 Tradition says, "he was converted in an old-fashioned Meth- 
 odist Camp-Meeting, held at Nags Head Chapel," one of the ap- 
 pointments of the present Perquimans circuit. The meeting in 
 which he was converted was conducted by the Rev. Henry Holmes 
 and others. Doubtless there were others converted at this meet- 
 ing, but had young Leigh been the solitary convert, as is said to 
 have been the case in Georgia, where young James Osgood An- 
 drew was the only convert, the meeting would have been a great 
 success. The conversion of one such soul is worth a life-time ef- 
 fort. Who but God can tell what shall be the result, in all its 
 bearings, on the Church and State, or that of individual souls? 
 
 At the time of his conversion, much the larger part of the ter- 
 ritory now embraced in the North Carolina Conference, was in the 
 bounds of the Virginia. Believing himself to be called of God to 
 preach the gospel, he "conferred not with flesh and blood," but 
 devoted himself at once to the work, offered himself to the Vir- 
 ginia Conference, in the bounds of which he was living, and to 
 which, under God, he was indebted for his conversion. 
 
 His application was favorably acted upon, and he was "received 
 on trial," by the Conference at its session in February, 1818. He 
 remained an honored, as he was a distinguished member of that 
 body, till the creation of the North Carolina Conference in 1836, 
 at which time he became a member of this Conference, which 
 membership he retained till his death, September 18th, 1853. 
 
 On January the 5th, 1830, he was married to Miss Mary Jane 
 Crump, a daughter of Major Richard Crump, of Northampton 
 county, in this State ; and soon after his marriage bought a 
 plantation, and settled his family near Boydton, Mecklenburg 
 county, Virginia, which was the seat of Randolph- Macon College, 
 of which Institution he was Founder. 
 
 There were born to him six children. The oldest child, Lieut. 
 Col. R. W. Leigh, of the 43rd Mississippi Regiment, was killed in 
 the battle of Corinth, October 22nd, 1862. 
 
 H. G. Leigh, M. D., now resides, as he has long done, in Pe- 
 tersburg, Va. , and is an honored member of that community, and 
 distinguished in his profession. 
 
 J. H. Leigh, whose surpassing eloquence crowned him as "the 
 silver tongued orator of Mississippi," died November 7th, 1891. 
 
 —3— 
 
Louisa C. Leigh, married Judge John B. Sale, of Mississippi, 
 and died in the summer of 1864. 
 
 Mary Alice Leigh, married Capt. James E. Craddock, and is 
 now a widow, living in Columbus, Mississippi. 
 
 F. M. Leigh, the youngest child, lives in Columbus, Mississippi, 
 and is now a man of 52 years, having been born in February, 1844. 
 
 Mary Jane Leigh, widow of the Rev. H. G. Leigh, D. D., died 
 in Columbus, Mississippi, April 14th, 1881, and is buried in the 
 city where she died. The mortal remains of her husband rest in 
 the old Randolph- Macon cemetery, Mecklenburg county, Virginia. 
 Widely separated is their sleeping dust, but they rest well after 
 life's toilsome day, and he who watched over them so tenderly 
 while living, shall one day call them thence, and glorified togeth- 
 er, they shall be forever "present with the Lord." 
 
 Hris labors. 
 
 Having given this much of Dr. Leigh's Family History, I may 
 be permitted now to speak of his labors, and the eminent success 
 with which they were crowned. 
 
 As we have already seen, he was "received on trial" by the 
 Virginia Conference at its session in February, 18 18. His splen- 
 did physique, his mental, and spiritual endowments brought him 
 into prominence at once, and so well did he meet the responsibil- 
 ities of his position, in all places where he became known, he was 
 held up by the Laity as a model for his successors. 
 
 There were giants in those days, and Hezekiah G. Leigh stood 
 at the head, the peer of any, and the most influential of them all. 
 
 A list of the appointments he filled in both the Virginia, and 
 North Carolina Conferences will abundantly confirm this state- 
 ment. His appointments were : Bedford, Raleigh, Gloucester, 
 Norfolk, Petersburg, Meherrin District, James River District, Agt. 
 for Randolph- Macon College, Petersburg District, Raleigh Dis- 
 trict, Henderson Circuit ; and, finally, he was for a second time 
 Presiding Elder of the Raleigh District, and Agt. for Randolph- 
 Macon College. 
 
 For eighteen years he was a member of the Virginia, and seven- 
 teen a member of the North Carolina Conference ; nearly six years 
 of which latter period he was without an appointment, on account 
 of bodily affliction, which incapacitated him for active work. 
 
 With the mental endowments he possessed, and the academic 
 training he had received, added to by an extensive course of read- 
 ing, which made him familiar with the English classics, and gave 
 him a readiness of speech in conversation, and an elegant diction 
 
 —4— 
 
in public discourse, it is not to be wondered at that his broad mind 
 should be pained at, and keenly sympathize with the masses who 
 were not only living in ignorance, but were indifferent to their 
 surroundings. Still less is it to be wondered at that he should be 
 pained to see a young man entering the ministry of the Church, 
 with every qualification for success save that of mental culture, 
 and doomed by its lack to an almost barren ministry. 
 
 An ' 'experience of grace" — a sound conversion — to "know God 
 in the pardon of sins," has always been regarded by the church 
 as the first necessity for a preacher. In the earlier days of her 
 history a man who had none of the subtile forms of sin to fight, but 
 only its grosser ones, could, by "telling his experience" out of a 
 warm heart, win those who were out of Christ. But the times 
 were changing, had changed, in so man}' places, that if Method- 
 ism held her own as a spiritual force in the world, particularly in 
 the towns, and more thickly settled rural sections, the education 
 of the ministry, far beyond what it then was, had become a neces- 
 sity. 
 
 Dr. Leigh was one of the first men in the church to see this ne- 
 cessity, and, with him to see a thing, was to act. His action was 
 along two lines, both of which looked to the accomplishment of 
 the same result. He first secured the raising of the standard for 
 admission into the Conference, and then a wider compulsory course 
 of study for the four years preceding ordination to the full duties 
 of the gospel ministry. 
 
 This was of incalcuable benefit to the churches, and to the men 
 themselves. It sharpened many a battle-axe, and tempered many 
 a trenchant blade, which otherwise would have remained as dull 
 as a hoe, and as untempered as mortar into which no lime has 
 been put. 
 
 But, to get the best results he knew that more thoroughness 
 was essential than this "Conference Course" would give. He 
 saw that an institution of college grade was necessary, in which 
 at least a good proportion of young men called of God to preach 
 might receive a more liberal education. Some young men who 
 believed themselves called to preach, hesitated from lack of prep- 
 aration. With Dr. Leigh a call to preach, meant a call to get 
 read}' to preach, for those not already prepared ; and he earnestly 
 desired to put a liberal education in reach of all who could, and 
 would take it. And, besides this, Dr. Leigh saw the disastrous 
 effects of educating our young people in colleges of other denom- 
 inations, or, worse than that, of educating them in colleges where 
 religion is ignored. His motto was : "Religion and learning must 
 
 —5- 
 
go together. ' ' But, state institutions did not offer such, and those 
 of other denominations did it with a bias that tendered to alienate 
 our young men from the church of their fathers. His watchful 
 eye detected these influences at work against the progress of the 
 church in the more intelligent communities, and he set himself to 
 remedy them. But, how could it be done? 
 
 To raise a sum sufficient to put up such buildings as were de- 
 sirable, was, indeed, an herculian task. The mass of the church 
 were then, more than now, indifferent to higher education ; and it 
 was questionable if the minority who were interested and had the 
 means, could be induced to contribute it. A man without faith 
 in God would not have thought of taking on himself such a task ; 
 but, actuated by that faith Dr. Leigh began to talk the matter of 
 a college in private, and to preach about it in public. He met 
 with many discouragements, (and who has not in any great and 
 new enterprise?) but he triumphed over them all. Such was his 
 success the Conference at its session in 1829 determined to build 
 a college, and appointed a committee to select the site. 
 
 Several communities competed for the prize ; but the college was 
 located near Boydton, Va. One strong reason for locating it in 
 Virginia was the hope of getting some aid from the State treasury ; 
 there being a law that as soon as the School Fund reached a cer- 
 tain point, the residue should be disbursed for the benefit of other 
 schools in the commonwealth. That proved, however, it is said, 
 to be only "a trick of political demagogues for securing offices." 
 The college has never received any help from the State. 
 
 Disappointed in this expectation, the enterprise was threatened 
 with disaster. Virginia and North Carolina, together, furnished 
 only from one hundred to one hundred and fifty students, a part 
 of whom came from South Carolina and Georgia. The income 
 was not sufficient to meet expenses, and we hear the great -souled 
 founder exclaiming: "Why do not our men of head and heart 
 come to the rescue ? Why do they not send in their offerings to 
 the Lord, and whilst they live, rejoice in the good their liberality 
 is effecting ? Dying ! — Why do they not remember this great in- 
 terest of their beloved church ? Has not Randolph- Macon another 
 friend like Jesse Harper of Orange, in all our bounds ? Oh ! have 
 we no Woffard among us who would be the benefactor of his race ? 
 Let him rear a monument to his memory which shall last as long 
 as religion and learning shall be honored amongst a free and happy 
 people." 
 
 He had borne the college on his heart ; he had contributed to it 
 liberally of his means. It was the child of his praytrs and toils, 
 
and he who had never failed in any other undertaking, could not 
 see it struggling for life, and be indifferent to its cries. Its needs 
 were his needs ; and all the fires of his great soul were kindled by 
 its neglect, till they poured themselves out on the ears and into 
 the heart of an unwilling church, and compelled her to nurse the 
 starving infant into healthy life. 
 
 The gift of such a man is one of God's best boons to men. Oh, 
 for one such in every Conference of Southern Methodism to-day ! 
 One such, to shame the rest with the magnitude of his gifts from 
 a scanty store, and scorch with fiery eloquence the consciences of 
 those who hoard, till all the church needs to meet this demand 
 shall be put at her disposal. 
 
 To Dr. Leigh more than any other, perhaps all others, is the 
 church indebted for the existence of Randolph- Macon College, 
 with the stream of beneficient influences it has been pouring into 
 her churchly life since it was founded. It was the enterprise he 
 cherished most of all, and one that shall perpetuate his memory 
 as one of the wisest men with whose labors the church has been 
 blest. 
 
 It is not claimed, however, that he was the sole instrument in 
 the establishment of this, the first successful effort to found a dis- 
 tinctively Methodist college. The name of G. P. Disosway, de- 
 serves, as it will always have honorable mention in this connection, 
 as an ardent friend and supporter of the scheme ; but Dr. Leigh 
 was its first promoter, as he was its most influential, and life-long 
 advocate. The College stands to-day a monument to his wisely 
 directed zeal for the upbuilding of Christ's Kingdom in the world, 
 and none better could be desired to perpetuate his memory. Its 
 buildings may decay in the lapse of time, but others shall take 
 their places; and, when "storied urn" and bronze, or granite 
 piles, in silence point to some forgotten hero of the world, her 
 walls shall ring with the glad voices of those who seek in them 
 not only the wisdom of this world, but that which cometh from 
 above, and which makes its possessor doubly blest— the inheritor 
 of this world, and that which is to come. 
 
 In 1868 the college was removed from near Boydton, to Ash- 
 land, Va. , where, with new buildings and equipment, it has had 
 a career of which its most exacting friends may be justly proud. 
 The plant now includes the Woman's College, located at Lynch- 
 burg, Va. , with an endowment of more than an hundred thousand 
 dollars, besides the academies at Front Royal, and Bedford City, 
 which cost an hundred thousand dollars each to erect them. These 
 
schools, attended by five hundred students, are all the property of 
 the church, and controlled by one Board of Trustees. 
 
 Great as are these results, the services of Dr. Leigh to the cause 
 of higher education would be but imperfectly conceived, did we 
 stop here. He was a member of the first Board of Trustees for 
 Greensboro Female College, and by his labors made Trinity Col- 
 lege an easier possibility. The tree which he planted is filling 
 both States with its fruitage. The name given to the college 
 wisely sought to bind to its interests the two States, the liberality 
 of whose citizens had given it existence, and to which it must look 
 for its principal patronage. Randolph was a name as illustrious 
 in Virginia, as was that of Macon in North Carolina ; and, indeed, 
 the two were of national repute. The blending of the two names 
 in one gave each State an identity of interest in the institution, 
 and a common pride in its successful career. 
 
 Dr. Leigh was a North Carolinian by birth, and a member of 
 the North Carolina Conference by preference ; but he had fixed 
 his residence near the college in Virginia, and was so fully identified 
 with both the church in North Carolina, and the college in Vir- 
 ginia, that to him there was no divisional line in feeling or in fact. 
 
 The church in North Carolina was, by this means, brought to 
 feel that the college was her property, in common with the 
 church in Virginia ; and so fully was this sameness of interest felt, 
 a large share of its patronage was obtained from this State, and a 
 strong feeling of affection engendered for it, which remains with 
 many among us to this day. 
 
 Let the college stand in the future, as it does now, and has 
 stood in the past, for "Religion and Learning," as differentiated 
 from culture divorced from religion, and North Carolinians must 
 feel a genuine affection for it, because of their identification with 
 its history — its having been founded by one of our noblest citizens, 
 and bearing, in part, the name of one of her most illustrious 
 statesmen. 
 
 The founding of the college being the great work of his life, it is by 
 that he will be chiefly remembered ; but this great work was carried 
 to success while he was doing full and exceptionally distinguished 
 service in the pulpits, and at the altars of the church. Multitudes 
 attended on his ministry, and to hear him preach was reckoned 
 among the greater privileges of life. The larger part of his min- 
 istry was spent in the Presiding Eldership, and the Quarterly 
 Meetings on his district were seasons of gracious visitations. It 
 is said he never preached three sermons, consecutively, at a church 
 without having a revival. Of course he did not preach at all times 
 
with equal effect, but his sermons were always carefully prepared, 
 and left no feeling of disappointment with his hearers, except that 
 which arises from comparative excellence. 
 
 They never compared him with others, but always with him- 
 self ; and, sometimes, when he had finished, they were satisfied, 
 but knew he could do better. Under one of his sermons, in Frank- 
 lin county, it is said that sixty souls were converted at a single 
 service — the service continuing through the day, and all of the 
 following night. 
 
 I remember to have heard the late Luther Clegg, of Chatham 
 county, tell delightfu lly , of two sermons preached by Dr. Leigh, 
 while Presiding Elder of the Raleigh District. One of these con- 
 tained a description of the resurrection of Lazarus. The tomb, 
 the crowd about it, the difference of feeling which actuated them ; 
 the weeping sisters, and their touching address, "Lord, if thou 
 had been here, my brother had not died;" the agitation of the 
 Saviour, himself in tears, was so graphically described that the con- 
 gregation became oblivious to everything save the voice and thought 
 of the preacher. Repeating the command of Christ, "Take ye 
 away the stone," he then exclaimed in trumpet tones, "Lazarus, 
 come forth !" The congregation was startled. The scene was as 
 real to them as it was to the Jews of old. They looked to see the 
 dead man come up before them, and when he added in gentler, 
 but authoritative tone, "Loose him, and let him go," some invol- 
 untarily left their seats to unbind him. 
 
 The other instance occurred in Johnston county. It was a 
 Quarterly Meeting occasion, and Dr. Leigh had preached one of 
 his masterly sermons. Among his auditors at that service was an 
 infidel, attracted to the service by the fame of the preacher. As 
 he left the church he made this comment on the sermon : "I have 
 heard other men preach, and they have struck me sledge-hammer 
 blows ; but Dr. Leigh throws at a man hammer-anvil-and-all /" 
 
 The Rev. John K. Edwards, D. D. , writing his personal rec- 
 ollections of Dr. Leigh, says, "I first saw Rev. H. G. Leigh 
 at the Conference held in Norfolk, Va. , February, 1836. His 
 personal appearance impressed me favorably. He was then in the 
 prime of his life. He was, I should say, five feet, ten inches in 
 height, perhaps six feet. At that time he was not so fleshy as at 
 a later period of life. His face was radiant, and of a very hand- 
 some cast and mould ; his nose a striking feature ; his eyes clear, 
 calm, and full of expression ; his head magnificent ; his hair rich 
 and lustrous, inclining to ringlets ; his complexion ruddy and 
 bright ; his whole, physique perfect ; his voice unsurpassed in 
 melody, intonation, and compass. 
 
I heard him preach but once during the Conference session. 
 His text was, "I am crucified with Christ ; nevertheless I live ; 
 yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life I now live in the 
 flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave 
 himself for me. ' ' His exegius of the text was delivered in a quiet, 
 natural manner. The statement of his text was distinctly an- 
 nounced, the doctrine strikingly illustrated and enforced ; but it 
 was not until he came to the application of his subject that he 
 reached the highest power as an orator and public speaker. 
 
 In this department of his great sermon on that occasion, he 
 made climax after climax of surpassing grandeur and sublimity. 
 He had a peculiar shrug of the shoulder, and a peculiar breathing, 
 approaching a suppressed cough, (I can't describe it) that always 
 preceded these great and overwhelming outbursts of eloquence. 
 In describing the man who "lived after the flesh," in opposition 
 to the one "crucified with Christ," he had occasion to allude to 
 the sensualist ; and, in speaking of a certain sin to which this 
 character was addicted,, he raised his voice to its high trumpet 
 tones, and in the most impassioned manner pealed out the sentence : 
 "This is the sin that deals damnation round the land; what I 
 should call the very steamboat of hell !" The effect of his sermon 
 was powerful and impressive. 
 
 He possessed an extraordinary magnetic power over his audience. 
 I have seen vast multitudes, under his camp-meeting out door ser- 
 mons, sitting and gaping — tears falling — lips quivering — appar- 
 ently unconscious of anything around them ; and then, suddenly, 
 by a striking gesture, and a corresponding utterance of the won- 
 derful voice that never broke, I have seen a whole crowd swayed 
 and moved like the forest before the storm. 
 
 On one occasion which comes up distinctly to my memory, at a 
 camp-meeting, held at Soap Stone Church, in the Raleigh circuit, 
 some twelve miles from the city of Raleigh, he was preaching to 
 a very large congregation. The subject led him to describe the 
 perilous condition of a sinner, unconscious of his danger. This 
 he illustrated by one of his inimitable figures of speech. He rep- 
 resented a little child in pursuit of a butterfly. In its chase, 
 around and around, it came to the brink of a deep well — for a 
 moment it paused ; then it was in the act of extending its little 
 hand to pluck a flower. It toppled. Just at that moment he 
 sprang across the platform, and cried out in a most startling and 
 plaintive voice, "My God, it's gone !" The whole congregation, 
 by a common impulse, sprang to their feet, and many shrinked as 
 
 — 10 — 
 
if they had seen the child actually disappear in its downward de- 
 scent. 
 
 For nearly six years preceding his death he was without an 
 appointment. The strong, well knit frame, of which a Grecian 
 athlete might have been proud, was tortured by rheumatism ; but 
 his zeal for the glory of his Master was unconquerable. He 
 preached at the College and in the neighboring churches, as often 
 as his health would permit and occasion offered. Once when the 
 College Chaplain was absent, he had engaged Dr. Leigh to fill his 
 pulpit for him on the following Sabbath. The Doctor prepared a 
 sermon for the occasion, but, as he entered the pulpit a different text 
 from that which he had selected impressed itself upon his mind, 
 and the conviction that he should preach from that, instead of the 
 other. What the one first selected was we do not know. The 
 one from which he did preach was, "He that being often reproved 
 hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without 
 remedy." One who was present says, "The sermon was one of 
 remarkable power, and, at its close, he called for penitents. A 
 large number of students, with streaming eyes, went to the altar 
 of prayer ; and that service was the beginning of a revival which 
 embraced nearly all the young men in the college. ' ' 
 
 We must not suppose from this incident that his sermons were 
 not carefully prepared. Many of his discourses were not only 
 thought out, but they were written in full. He had too high a 
 sense of ministerial responsibility to go before a congregation with- 
 out having made the very best preparation his circumstances 
 would allow, and too much respect for the intelligence of those 
 who came to hear him to think they could be entertained and ben- 
 efitted by "airy declamations." His sermons in manuscript con- 
 stitute about all of his literary remains ; yet his mind was of a 
 high order, capable of grasping the most abstruse themes of science 
 and theology. 
 
 It has been a matter of surprise, to which those who knew his 
 fitness best, have not failed to give expression since his death, that 
 he did not give the world a volume, or volumes on some of the 
 great themes with which^familiar, and for which he was so em- kx. W*«Ld 
 inently qualified. But we really need not wonder at this. If he 
 had any ambition for authorship he had no time to gratify the 
 desire. His hands and heart were full of work on lines that Prov- 
 idence had chosen for him, and he wisely concentrated his energies 
 on his pulpit work, and carrying to a successful issue the educational 
 matters he had enterprized. 
 
 Dr. L. C. Garland, late Chancellor of Vanderbilt University, 
 
 — ii — 
 
regarded him as one of the greatest minds of the age, and this 
 opinion is echoed by Drs. W .A. Smith and J. H. Edwards, and, 
 indeed, by all who knew him and were capable of judging. 
 
 Rev. W. A. Smith, D. D. , said of him in a funeral discourse de- 
 livered at the time of his death, "The first time I saw Dr. Leigh 
 was at the Portsmouth Conference, February, i8?6. His move- 
 ments in social life, his speeches and bearing in Conference ses- 
 sion, and particularly his preaching, engaged my special attention. 
 I .soon determined in my own mind; that, in many respects, he was 
 by far the most prominent member of the body. I have known 
 him well since that period ; served with him in important public 
 positions ; broken many a lance with him in debate ; and have 
 found to the present time no reason to change my opinion. Dr. 
 Leigh had few equals in the pulpit. Sound in theology, bold in 
 conception, often brilliant in fancy, and appealing in all his efforts, 
 no less to the heart than to the head, he stood a prince among 
 pulpit men." 
 
 Bishop John C. Granberry, says, "My personal knowledge of 
 Rev. H. G. Leigh was slight, chiefly confined to the years of my 
 student-life at Randolph- Macon College. I counted it a great 
 privilege to hear him preach at a camp-meeting in 1848. He had 
 then passed the meridian of his power ; but that sermon sustained 
 his fame as one of the foremost preachers of his day, and it was a 
 day of great preachers. The text led him to dwell on the judg- 
 ments of God against sinful men and nations which the Holy 
 Scriptures record. His descriptions were graphic, vivid, terrific. 
 He stirred and swayed the multitude. Dramatic genius was 
 possessed by him in an eminent degree, without affectation, with- 
 out seeking, almost without consciousness. The stories he told, 
 and the scenes he depicted seemed present to the senses of the con- 
 gregation, as they gave themselves up, eye, ear, and soul to the im- 
 passioned speaker. When I was a youngman, I heard Dr. Landon 
 C. Garland remark that of all the men he had met, he regarded Dr. 
 Leigh as by nature the most highly gifted. I repeated this re- 
 mark to Dr. Garland while he was Chancellor of Vanderbilt Uni- 
 versity ; he had forgotten it, but said he would not take back the 
 judgment which he had expressed so many years before." 
 
 Rev. C. F. Deems, D. D. , who was himself a master of assem- 
 blies, says : "Dr. Leigh was great as an orator. I have heard 
 Summerfield, Bascom, Mamtt, Breckinridge, Hawks, Bethune, 
 Cookman, and Henry Clay and his compeers — and I have never 
 heard a man who seemed to me to approach Hezekiah Gilbert 
 Leigh as a natural orator. I never saw him try to produce an ef- 
 
 — 12 — 
 
feet, but the magnetic power of his genius seemed naturally to 
 shoot itself into his audience whenever he was fired with the themes 
 of the Gospel. This power was wondrous, and wondrously unap- 
 preciated by its possessor. ' ' 
 
 If other testimony be needed to convince the most sceptical, I 
 may point them to the commanding position to which he so early 
 attained among his brethren of the Virginia Conference, and which 
 he held in that, and, afterward, in the North Carolina Conference, 
 to the close of his life. Within six years of his reception on trial, 
 he was elected by his Conference a delegate to the General Con- 
 ference — a very unusual occurrence — and was re-elected at each 
 succeeding election. He was a member of the ever memorable 
 General Conference of 1844, but sickness prevented his attending. 
 He was also a member of the Convention, called under the ''Plan 
 of Separation," for the organization of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, South. He was elected to the General Conference, the 
 most august body of the church, as soon as he was of eligible age, 
 and this fact, and the one to which allusion has already been 
 made, that he was re-elected as long as he lived, is proof beyond 
 question of the high estimate put on his abilities, as well as of the 
 affectionate regard of his brethren. 
 
 "But in the midst of a glorious career of usefulness, it pleased 
 God by a most painful and prostrated affliction, to command him 
 to comparative retirement. ' ' About ten years before his death he 
 was attacked by a painful rheumatic affection, which soon became 
 chronic, and, for the most part, disqualified him for any very act- 
 ive sendee as an itinerant preacher. At intervals his sufferings 
 were very great. Eighteen months before his end he suffered a 
 partial paralysis of his left side, and in July following, a paralysis 
 of the kidneys, which it was .thought at the time, would prove 
 fatal in a few hours. He rallied, however, so far as to encourage 
 the hope that he might recover his usual health ; but on the 9th 
 of September he was seized with a violent attack of dysentery, 
 which so prostrated him that he sank into a comatose state, from 
 which he never recovered, only as he was aroused for a few mo- 
 ments at a time, till he slept in death on the 18th of Sept., 1853. 
 
 His life and labors here have closed ; but "he, being dead, yet 
 speaketh." "His works do follow him," and a grateful church 
 rises up to repeat the commendation which the Master long ago 
 gave him : ' 'Well done, good and faithful servant !" Happy shall 
 it be for us if the recollection of his life and labors shall stimulate 
 us to fulfill in our measure the ministerial office with such fidelity 
 that he and his co-laborers shall not be ashamed of us in the King- 
 dom, into which he, and they, have entered. 
 
 —13— 
 
I shall close this address with some reflections on the sources of 
 Dr. Leigh's great usefulness to the church in which his life was 
 spent, and to the cause of Christ in general. • 
 
 A/ong these sources of usefulness I would specify the following : 
 
 1. A sound body, and an active, well trained mind. 
 
 The description of his bodily appearance by Dr. Edwards, given 
 in the body of this address, though highly wrought, is but the 
 sober truth. A medallion likeness of him, struck by Randolph- 
 Macon College, and furnished me by Richard Irby, Esqr. , Secre- 
 tary and Treasurer of the College, (and which I have the honor to 
 present to the Historical Society in his name) and a crayon por- 
 trait which I personally present, shows the head and bust of an 
 Apollo. The Masters of Art could desire no better model after 
 which to fashion a likeness of one of the gods. Revs. S. Lea, J. 
 B. Martin, and I. W. Avent, each of whom knew him well, de- 
 clare him to have been "the handsomest man they ever saw." 
 
 But, to this symmetry of form was added a vigorous constitution, 
 which gave him great power of endurance, and enabled him to 
 perform with comparative ease, tasks which would have been im- 
 possible to men less fortunate than he. 
 
 A strong mind in a weak body is not to be despised ; but a strong 
 mind in a strong body, is one of nature's most priceless gifts. An 
 oil lamp soon burns itself away, but the sun shines on forever. 
 
 To a mind not only bright, but strong, he added the embellish- 
 ments to be obtained by cultivation, in the study of text books, 
 and an acquaintance with what has come to be denominated for 
 their worth — the "English Classics." This gave him not only 
 the readiness of speech which never allowed him to falter for a 
 word, but an elegance of diction which was a delight to all, and a 
 never failing charm to the more cultured ones among his hearers. 
 And, above all, his intellect had received the anointing of the 
 Holy One ; and this gave him an insight into the truth of God 
 which made his thoughts luminous, and gave to his sermons a di- 
 rectness and power not to be obtained by "the trickery of art." 
 He wrote much, and, by this mental discipline, gave to his dis- 
 courses a methodical arrangement, an accuracy of statement, and 
 a beauty of expression, impossible to extemporary speech. 
 
 2. He had a clear, and deep, religions experience. 
 
 He was converted at an old-time camp-meeting. His experience 
 was satisfactory after the songs, prayers, and shouts of the meet- 
 ing had died away. The root of the matter was in him, and in 
 the joy of a conscious possession of salvation, he longed to tell others 
 
 "The old, old story, 
 
 Of Jesus and his love." 
 
 —14— 
 
His heart was full of it, and he never wearied in telling about 
 it. Justification, Adoption, and the Witness of the Spirit, were 
 themes on which he delighted to dwell, and were the solace of his 
 hours of affliction. Dr. W. A. Smith, President of the College, 
 was with him much during his last illness. He tells us, "The 
 topics which interested him most, were the faith of assurance, in- 
 spired by the Holy Spirit ; the rich comfort it afforded him as he 
 drew near the Jordan of death ; the bright and glowing light it 
 threw over its otherwise dark valley ; the glory that awaited the 
 children of God in the heavenly rest ; the curious and interesting 
 inquiries which would be answered in the heavenly state ; the dif- 
 ficulties in both mental and moral nature, which would be solved ; 
 and the glorious advance of mind along the illimitable fields of in- 
 finite knowledge, developing at every step of the vast progression, 
 the amazing wonders of Diety, filling the ever increasing capacities 
 of the immortal soul with that large measure of heavenly joy which 
 the eternal fountain of light and love could alone supply. ' ' 
 
 At the period when it was supposed he was in a few hours of 
 his dissolution, I spent some time with him. The conversation 
 turning on his state and prospects, he dwelt with peculiar interest 
 on the rich comfort afforded him by the great Bible truth of the 
 Witness of the Spirit : and though he felt confident of a safe trust 
 in Christ ; a sweet assurance of acceptance, there seemed to open 
 to his view so bright and glowing a prospect of the truths yet to 
 be revealed, in the fields of knowledge and comfort provided by the 
 love of Christ, that he narrowed down, by comparison, the attain- 
 ments already made, to a point so contemptible in his own eyes, as 
 to cause him to loathe himself, and exclaim, "Oh, if there were 
 not a daj's-man betwixt God and me, how could I stand his search- 
 ing eye ! Thank God, bless God, for such a Saviour." 
 
 The day before his death, I visited him, and found him fast 
 sinking. Just before leaving, as it was not deemed proper to fatigue 
 him hy conversation, I only sought to enquire : "Watchman what 
 of the night?" He turned his fading eye upon me, and with a 
 smile of triumph playing on his countenance, he softly said in 
 reply to my inquiry, if he still felt that his trust was in his Saviour. 
 "Oh yes ! What should I do without that? Jesus is with me ! 
 My trust is in him alone. ' ' 
 
 "Calm on the bosom of his God," 
 
 He leaned his weary head ; 
 And passed beneath the chast'ning rod, 
 
 To where the Christ had led. 
 
 j. Another, and the final source of his gteat usefulness , which I 
 shall mention, was his consecration to his work. 
 
 —15— 
 
He was a man of one work, and seems never to have lost sight 
 of the vow he, in common with all our ministers take, to "draw 
 all their cares and studies this way. " The words of St. Paul, 
 ' 'This one thing I do, " might have been the motto of his life. He 
 did not fritter away his life in indolence, nor dissipate his energies 
 on that which had no immediate connection with his labors as a 
 servant of the church. His ministerial life, for the most part, was 
 spent in District work. At that time the Districts were geographic- 
 ally much larger than now, and, as there were but few rail-roads 
 they were more laborious to travel. The exposure necessary, 
 under such conditions, was doubtless the main cause of the rheu- 
 matic affection, to which after a struggle of ten years, other com- 
 plications having risen in the time, he succumbed in death, at an 
 age when he should have been but little beyond the prime of life. 
 
 He died in his 58th year, eaten up by his zeal for God's house, 
 and the glory of His name. 
 
 The sword never rusted in his hands. He kept it sharp and 
 bright by constant use, and when it was wrested from his grasp 
 by Death, "it was warm with recent fight." It has been forty- 
 three 3'ears since he left us to be "present with the Lord," and 
 near a half century since his voice, and the sounds of his battle- 
 axe, were heard on the fields of conflict with "the powers of dark- 
 ness ;" but the influence of his life and labors still lives as an 
 inspiration to his successors in the ministry, and an ever in- 
 Teasing blessing to the Church. 
 
 "The memory of the just is blessed," and, though his works 
 shall give him immortality, ungrateful shall we be, if we fail to 
 keep his memory fresh in the minds of men. To this purpose I 
 consecrate this effort, in behalf of the Historical Society, and my- 
 self , to whom its preparation has indeed been a labor of love. 
 
 The memory of such a life can not perish ; but it were a crime 
 in us to contribute to its neglect ! 
 
 The Mitchell Manfg. Co., Petersburg, Va. 
 
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