•^rjaes f^enxies ^^ront" of tl)e CJnitier0itp of Jl3ortft Carolfna Collection of jRortfi Carolmfana Cp6 This book must not be taken from the Library building. UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 00036746904 HIS TITLE HAS HEEN WiCaOFiUvlj JAMES MENZIES SPRUNT, BORN AT Perth, Scotland, January 14th, 1818, DIED AT Kenansville, N. C, Dec. 6th, 1884. ' 'Mark the perfect man and behold the upright : for the end of that man is peace.'" WIIvMINGTON, N. C: D^ROSSKT & MEArES, Printers, Publishers and Binders. 1885. \ , / 4' 4 A DISCOURSE DELIVERED AT Union Church, Faison, N. C, January 11 fh, 1885, THE DEATH OF Rev. Jas. M. Sprunt, D. D., Bif PETER IVIclNTYRE. "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof." UCH is to be learned from the Bible of the death scenes of its characfbers — mourning, sad wailing, gleams of hope, full assurance of immortality. In the 5th chapter of . Genesis we read, "All the days of Adam were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died; the days of Seth nine hundred and twelve years, and he died; Enos nine hundred and five years, and he died; Cainan nine hundred and ten years, and he died;" and thus and thus the list goes on, each one ending with '^and he dieciy No word here of heaven, no glimpse of what is beyond. We read, again, that '* Abraham gave up the ghost and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people." Here, again, though the founder of the Jewish Church, we have in this death nothing of immor- tality. But very early in the Sacred History we are given a glimpse of a future existence: "Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him." Coming a little way nearer ourselves, down Time's steady river, we reach the death of Moses. The sage, the warrior, the law-giver, the prophet, at the age of one hundred and twenty, with his eye undimmed and his natural force una- 4 bated, laid him down to die and the people lamented him thirty days. What wonder ! Their trust, their staff was re- moved. He who had never failed them in their direst dis- tress, w^ho had borne with their murmurings, who had led them from the land of bondage, who had secret converse with their God, who received laws for the people diredl from the Omnipotent, dead! What wonder that they lamented. Joshua dead! The bold warrior who drove out the enemy and gave Israel a home, and the people lamented for him. Samuel dead! A pure man, pure from his infancy, — the only upright among a corrupt priesthood — a judge to the people, a leader in stormy times — dead! And the people gathered together and lamented for him. A royal prince, David's son, dead! The King, in sackcloth and ashes, prays for the recovery of his child, but he dies, and David says, "Wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again ? I shall go to him but he shall not return to me." A darker death is in the same family: This time the cry of David, the afflidled, is, "O, Absalom, my son, my son! Would God I had died for thee, my son, my son." Abner dead, and the King says: "Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day?" Dorcas dead, and the women stood round showing the gar- ments she had made, and telling of the good deeds she had done, and lamenting her departure. Lazarus dead! See Mary weeping in the house! see Martha sobbing on the highway! See the tears that fall from the Saviour's eyes, and fall at the foot of the sepulchre! Christ himself dead! The earth trembles; the hills are shaken to their base, and the sun hides in darkness. The hope of the little band of disciples taken away and they in despair until the messenger returns with the glorious news that He is not dead but risen again. From these instances, my friends, we can draw much com- 5 fort when called upon to mourn the death of some dear friend. The mourning of the people for their leaders, the lamenta- tions of David, and his hopes of future reunion, the tender recolledlions of Dorcas; the raising of Lazarus, and, above! all, the resurrediion of Jesus, strike in our hearts sympathetic chords, and console us in our bereavement. To-day, my friends, we are called upon to bewail the death of our dear pastor, the Rev. James M. Sprunt. This is the first time since his death that we, his flock, have met together in this house, where so oft we listened to his words of truth and peace, and were comforted. Remembering all that he was to us, the great confidence and trust that we reposed in him, the joy we felt in his min- istry and the destitution in which his death has left us, we lament him with sorrow akin to the woe of the people for their law-giver Moses, their warrior Joshua, their pure priest and prophet, Samuel. Lament him as David did when he cried, "Know ye not that a prince and a great man is fallen this day in Israel." Lament him for his good works as was Dorcas bewailed. The tender ties of friendship that caused sorrow at the death of Lazarus cause us like sorrow to-day. But more appropriate to us, perhaps, than any of these pas- sages cited is the lamentation of Elisha for Elijah, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!" You doubtless remember the circumstances of Elijah's departure — how he and his servant and disciple, Elisha, together crossed the Jordan ; how Elijah vainly per- suaded his follower not to cross over; how that follower per- sisted in remaining with him to the last; how a chariot and horses, bright with the effulgence of heaven, took Elijah up- ward and left Elisha alone, gazing after the wonderful sight and crying, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof" What, my brethren, is there in the cry of this solitary He- 6 brew, alone in the wilderness, and what in it can we make applicable to our situation and in unison with our feelings to-day? : We hear in this the cry of bereavement, of sorrowing afflidlion, at the severing of the strong chord of parental at- tachment. Elijah had indeed been a father to Elisha. Both were prophets, exponents of the Word of God. They lived together and held mutual communion with God. Elijah was old, experienced, had tested once and again the eternal truths of his Heavenly King, knew the strength that comes from trust in Him, realized the love of God shed abroad in the heart. Elisha was young, inexperienced, impatient, in- clined at times to doubt and murmer. The elder man had come through all these trials and had triumphed. Who bet- ter could advise, comfort, sustain, teach his young friend? Who better could point out to him the way upward ? Strong, deep aijd tender must have been the association of the two. The Rev. J. M. Sprunt was tons a father like unto Elijah. He had himself striven through all the perplexities and vicis- situdes of the Christian life, and had reached that point where — As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midwa}' leaves the storm, Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head. Which of us that had doubts and took them to him but had them removed ? Which of us that had perplexities and told him of them but had them brushed away ? Hath he not often encouraged you, strengthened you, enlightened you, pacified you? Ye older members of his flock, who have known his worth these many years, and to whom he was as an elder brother; ye young adherents of his, drawn to the Christ he loved by the sweetness and earnestness of his plead- ing, can you not, each one of you, with truth cry as did Elisha of old, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof ? 7 Besides this personal bereavement we gather from our text national loss : ' 'the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. ' ' Time and again had Elijah heroically, undauntedly a,nd alone, risen up for the salvation of his people. Sometimes, when they were assailed by heathen foes, he had wrought them deliverance. Sometimes, when they forsook their God and brought upon them the displeasure of the Holy One of Israel, he had brought them back to a better state of heart. He had delivered them by a mighty miracle (by the calling of fire from heaven) from the worship of the beastly Baal. He had restored their dead to life, and fed their widowed ones. He had taught them pure religion and undefiled. Does not the similitude again strike you — the likeness be- tween this man and our dead pastor? Heroic and undaunted, can you not, some of you at least, see him on the battle field, caring for the wounded, comforting the dying — hesitating not to encounter danger where good might be done ? Do you not remember how, at home, he rebuked vice and dishonesty, both public and private; how an unclean, a dishonorable thing sought to hide itself from him abashed; how to all within his acquaintance, both inside and without his own particular Church, he was a standard, and a high one, of honor, truth, purity, knowledge, goodness and charity ? Then might we not also speak of his usefulness to his county in the public office which he so long and so well filled ? His clear intelle6l and extensive learning, freely given to all who sought, but especially to the needy, the illiterate and the befogged, saved to many such time, money, property and harrassing anxiety. Public loss, great and irreparable, comes from the heart of Blisha. Public loss, great and irreparable, is felt in our hearts, as once more we repeat, ^'My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof" I know that this church session and the officers of this con- gregation, to whom he was a stay and bulwark in time of difficulty, an expounder of law and order, a leader whom it was very safe to follow, can truthfully from their hearts make my text their lamentation. I feel that every communicant and every one baptized by him, realizing that from his hands they can no more partake of the sacred symbols, no more hear his earnest invitation to "Drink ye all of it," must also take up the mournful wail as their own. I judge that every one who listened to his preaching, now that his voice is silent forever, now that no more from his pure lips can they hear words of invitation, pleadings, warnings, love and peace — words fit to stir the soul to its utmost depths and calm it into the stillness and rest of a sweet summer eve; words that wounded but also healed; words that showed the danger but also the way of escape — cannot but sympathize deeply with the lone Elisha: "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof." And, moreover, the great beauty of the man — the thing, perhaps, to be more admired in him than aught else — the par excellence of his life, is that he became to us all that he was, and yet is more, much more, by his condu6l, his secret, silent influence, than by his words. He was no babbler, no shouter, not given to rn^uch speaking, nor extraordinary and doubtful methods of revivalism. He was no chattering, noisy brook, nor thundering cascade, but a river, deep, broad, peaceful, fruitful, silently bearing on its bosom much bread, to be re- turned to it in eternity. But we cannot express what we feel concerning this much loved pastor of ours; we can but weep. Weep, Church of Union, weep for one Who long hath been your light, your sun; His God hath ta'en him home to rest, To mansions of the pure, the blest. Weep o'er him, shed for him the tear That all must shed o'er the great man's bier ; Pay to his memory that respe