£..3U£. i from tyt &i0rat£ of (professor Wiffidm OXifPer (patfon, ©.©., fe&.©. (Jtteeenfeo fig (Tttrg. (J)arton fo f 0e £i6rar£ of (princefon Cfleofogicaf ^Seminarg 3$S BR ■ >•->?•*.:: BX 9225 .C734 15 In memoriam, Rev. Thomas Creigh, D.D. ■I ■ - H El I IS nii H ■ ' si m$m ng IU, V FEB 26 1912 A A MS REV. THOMAS CREIGH D.D. Born, September 9, 1808, Died, April 21, 1880. Lane S. Hnr>, Printer and Binder , H irrisburg, Pa. The Rev. Thomas Creigh, D. D., died suddenly, on Wednesday night, April 21,1 880. On Monday afternoon, April 26, the funeral services were held in the Presbyterian Church of Mercersburg. A large number of the Minis- ters and Elders of the Presbytery of Carlisle (of which he had been a member for nearly half a century) and many friends from the neighboring towns were present. The Churches of the entire Presbytery were mourners on the sad occasion, for the deceased was well known and greatly beloved in them all. His fellow-citizens of Mercersburg shared in the common grief, and the town presented the quiet and solemnity of the Sabbath. The places of busi- ness were closed, and " the mourners went about the streets." Groups here and there silently talked of him whom all classes revered and loved, and whose presence for so many years had been a familiar one on their streets and in their homes. It was a beautiful tribute to the memory of the great and good man departed. Before the hour appointed for the funeral, the Ministers of the Presbytery and of the Mercersburg Churches, with the relatives and immediate friends of the deceased, met at the parsonage, and prayer in behalf of the stricken fam- ily and people was offered by the Rev. George S. Cham- IN MEMORIAM. bers, of Harrisburg. The body was then removed to the Church and deposited in front of the pulpit, borne thither by the Elders of the Church. The pulpit and galleries were draped in appropriate mourning. The house was crowded by a large and saddened concourse of people. The features of the beloved dead were calm, and natural, and peaceful, befitting one who, having "kept the faith," had "fallen asleep in Jesus." Among the touching sights of the sorrowful occasion, was that of one of the galleries filled with the colored people of the community, all of whom venerated and loved Dr. Creigh as the life-long friend of their families and of their race The Ministers of the community and the Presbytery occupied the seats in and near the pulpit. As the slow procession came in, the choir sang the anthem, beginning : "Go to thy rest in peace." The remaining services were conducted as follows: Invocation — By Rev. Robert McCachran, of Newville, the oldest member of the Presbytery. Hymn 265 — "Jesus, I live to Thee," — Read by Rev. James H. Stewart, of Greencastle. Scripture Lesson — Psalm xcii: 12-15; Johnii: 25-26; John xiv: 2-3; 1 Cor. xv : 53-57 ; 2 Cor. v: 2-4; Rev. vii: 13-17, and Rev. xxii: 1-6, first clause — By Rev. Conway P. Wing, D. D., of Carlisle. Prayer — By Rev. Robert F. McClean, of McConnells- burg. Address — By Rev. J. Agnew Crawford, D. D., of Cham- bersburg. Ker. THOMAS CREIGH, D. />. Addresses brief and touching, mainly re-calling tender per- sonal reminiscences of Dr. CREIGH — By Rev. James F. Kennedy, D. D., of Chambersburg ; Rev. Andrew J. Hesson, Lutheran Church, Mercersburg ; Rev. Isaac J. Brown, Reformed Church, Mercersburg, and Rev. Joseph A. Murray, D. D., of Carlisle. Prayer — By Rev. William A. McCarrell, of Shippensburg. Hymn 758 — (i Forever with the Lord," — Read by Rev. Joseph A. Fleming, of Welsh Run. After the very impressive and solemn services at the Church, the great body of the people accompanied the remains to the beautiful cemetery, close by the town. It stands on the crown of a hill overlooking the village and the surrounding country for many miles. But a few mile:, away, and stretching north and south to the dim horizon, runs the fine range of the Blue mountains, while close by were the homes for many miles around, that formed the parish of Dr. Creigh's love and labors for half an hun- dred years. In the ground around his grave slept the dust of saints to whom he had ministered. It was a fitting place, amid the dead and living of his love, to lay the body of this venerable and beloved servant of God. After prayer by the Rev. Joseph Vance, of Carlisle, ail that was mortal of Thomas Creigh was committed to the grave and to the care of his immortal Saviour, and over the sacred dust was pronounced the benediction, by the Rev. John R. Agnew, of Greencastle. BY THE Rev. J. A&IEW CRAWFORD, D. D. The part which I rise to take in these sad solemnities is not one of my own selection. My thought was that I should sit with my brethren of the ministry a mute mourner, while some one better qualified should be leading us in the service. But 1 have yielded to the wish of the family of our departed brother, and taken upon me the duty, which, had he been able to attend, would have devolved ' upon the Rev. Dr. Brownsoia, of Washington, Pennsyl- vania. It seems to shorten the road to the sky when we find that the fraction of an hour gave ample time for our brother to travel it. It seems to put contempt, indeed, upon all earthly splendors, to realize that a sudden rent in this curtain of gauze which is hiding the future, may, in an instant, let in the eternal glories upon us. The poles are far apart, as we think ; " the east is distant from the west," as the Psalmist sings to us ; but the men who are walking here with God are already in the very purlieus of the celestial city, and in the ante-chamber of the King of Kings. IN MEMO R I AM. To be a Christian is to tent, not so much upon the very rim of eternity, for we all do this, as upon the mystic borders of the Paradise of God. Death is indeed material enough, but we shall be false to our divine faith if we do not realize how entirely it has changed all these material finalities for a Christian. It does not indeed halt death, nor make the grave unreal. It has not repealed for the Church the ancient law of mortality. Pain, decay, the assaults of sickness, the giving up of the ghost, these scenes funereal, these paths of silence, this personal registering in the city of the dead, all this is for the Church ; but, for her sake, "our Lord Jesus Christ hath abolished death." " Jesus has warmed the cold bed of the grave so that a believer need not fear to lie down in it." He has in personal charge the dust of every dead believer, as being redeemed dust. Their very death is precious in His sight, and, as they disrobe for the grave and pass into the silent land, they simply sleep in Him. This honor have all His saints; whatever else may perish, faith does not ; let who may sink in the swift tides, a believer cannot; there are angelic escorts for his departure ; there is a safe walk through the valley of the shadow of death ; there is light, and room, and citizenship, and coronation beyond. The Lord Jesus rises from his throne to receive the soul whiHi He has redeemed, and to house it with Himself forever. And, of all this, we must persuade ourselves at such an hour as this, lest the scene should appear a gloomy one, and lest we should, in mistake, take up our dirge instead of some stirring psalm of hope and joy. We have not come here with any such poor purpose as this. We are Rev. THOMAS CREIGH, />. D. met, indeed, to mourn, but it is for ourselves. There is a sacredness in sorrow. The tears of the Church go into God's bottle, and are written in his book. This widowed wife; this widowed Church; these desolated hearts of child, and relative, and friend ; this congregation of the Lord, bereft and shepherdless ; this community which has met now its greatest loss ; all this is more than enough to give us pause, and to justify the sadness of this hour. And we are here with words of sympathy, with our demon- strations of respect. We have come, we who stood with this departed friend in the blessed brotherhood of the ministry, to get a deepened sense of the solemnities of our position, and of the need of holy haste and added energy in our work. So close has the Master come, that we seem almost to hear His departing feet. So quickly have the gates of pearl swung open, that we have seemed almost to get a glimpse of that which is within the city of God. It was a sudden exodus, this. It was a very quick exchange of night for day, of death for life, of age for .eternal youth, of toil for rest, of the hoary hairs, which are the crown of glory, to the righteous, for the golden diadem which they each wear who are kings unto God, and of the peerage of the sky. How then, believing all this, shall we give way to grief or stain the lustre of a spectacle like this with the badges of the world's poor sorrow. I will venture to say, that there was not one of us, who, when he heard of what had transpired so quickly here at the turn of the night, a few hours ago, but thought of the translation scene of Enoch, who, while he was walking with God, presently "was not, because God hadj:aken him." IN MEMO R I AM. I do not understand that I am here to day to pronounce a eulogy upon our brother, or to give to you a detailed account of his remarkable ministry. A service of this kind will, doubtless, be provided for, as it should be. But I may say a few things of him which will command the assent of all. i. The simple fact standing by itself, of a ministry of nearly half a century, is most suggestive. This is a monument better far than brass or marble. It would be a passport anywhere to be able to say of one that he had stood sentinel on his post, walking his one beat, with his face towards the foe, and guarding hallowed interests for nearly five decades. It is not fulsome eulogy to say that no ordinary characters could do this. Men commonly do not wear thus. This is an age of change. Men are restless, and the visible Church is largely restless, demand- ing novelties, growing weary of the same voice and the same manner and of the familiar methods of handling truth, so that the ministry itself has become largely no- madic, almost, under this demand for new men and new mannerisms and new spiritual caterers. And it is the glory, alike of our departed brother and of this church, that, with changes and ruptured pastoral ties and enforced itinerancy all around, they have stood for almost the half of a century strong in the holy covenant which joins pas- tor and people. There must be something positive and forceful in a mere man who can thus hold his place year by year until nearly forty-eight of these have been counted. For, though we who stand to feed the flock of God draw, indeed, upon the infinite supply, though the things new as well as old are in His treasury, still it is not every Rev. THOMAS CREIGff, D. />. shepherd who is competent to feed and guard so long, nor every scribe who is so instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven as to be able either to re-produce the old or to bring forth the new to the same minds for half a cen- tury. Our brother was enabled to do this, and the Mas- ter who kept him on this one watchtower so long, and tending this one flock so long, would have us speak of this to-day. If Dr. Creigh had no tablet but this, it would be enough — " Pastor here for nearly eighteen thousand days." 2. But he excelled as a pastor. The most of us, per- haps, fail here. He had, indeed, this advantage over some of us, in that he came to his ministry in those better days when the professed people of God were willing to be led and supervised; when it was thought that housing and limitation, that restraint and restraint were as necessary for the flock of God as the liberty of the largest pasturage; when youth and age were not regarded as convertible terms, and when Religion was a queen rather than a feeble commoner. And so this pastor set out not simply to feed a flock of God, but to lead it, too. The men and women of his generation had a deep conviction of the fact that authority and power and discipline inhere in the very idea of the Church, and that that is not religion which is limited to the Sabbath, and which has only the public altars and the vagueness of an indefinite creed. With such views, therefore, our brother set himself to have his church not pure simply, but practical ; not devout and correct merely, asunder the eye of the public, but worship- ful and religious at home. He taught, indeed, from house to house. He grappled the youth to him with hooks of steel, drawing them with an authority born of grace and IN MEMORIAM. tempered with love, and holding them they knew not how. Dr. Creigh had the old-fashioned and scriptural idea of the children's place in the covenant and in the visible Church. And I do not know a man who was so successful as he in catechetical instruction, as the means approved of God for bringing the youth to an open personal taking of those obligations under which parents had come for them. We all know that he had rare gifts for all pastoral work. Again and again have we heard him in his place in the Presbytery, when addressing the students of theology or when the "state of religion in our churches" was under discussion, urge the importance of caring for the young, of pastoral visitation, of making much of that part of our work which lies outside of the pulpit. In all this he led the way, and set us an example which we fain would copy ; and yet no one of us was more fond of his Library. He had his books, and he knew what was in them. Warmly attached as he was to the old divines, sitting at the feet of such strong thinkers and such complete theologues as Owen and Howe, and Bates and Baxter, he was at home in the modern literature which has to do with our sacred work. 3. As a preachertf the Gospel, our brother was marked by earnestness, by great simplicity, by purity of style, and by an unction, the richness of which told of the power upon him of the Holy Ghost. The last sermon which I heard from him, was upon the occasion of our visit as a committee of Presbytery to the Market Square Church of Harrisburg, in December last. It was upon the words in the Canticles, v, 3, "I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on ;" and in it he sought, with very earnest Rev. THOMAS CREIGH, D. D. 13 words, to stir the sluggish soul to rise and respond to the renewed love of a slighted Saviour. In the " Historical Discourse" delivered by him in July, 1876, he refers to the fact, that on taking charge of the church in the year 1 83 1, his first sermon was from 1 Cor., ii, 2, and he makes this remark : " I have adhered, as far as the grace of God has enabled me, to the purpose enunciated in my introductory discourse to this church, and in the prayerful study of ' the form of sound words,' viz : The Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, the Form of Government and Book of Discipline, and comparing these with the word of God, I am more and more fully confirmed in their truthfulness, and see their peculiar ad- aptation to our present earthly condition and in preparing us for our everlasting home, and in this faith I hope to die." In it he did die, preaching to the last those great truths and doctrines which he began to preach here nearly fifty years ago. 4. It remains to say of our brother, that he was indeed "a holy man of God." The simplicity of spirit which was natural to him, grace had sanctified, adding its own purity and adorning his character with the celestial virtues. Our brother was proverbially refined, of the most deli- cate sensibilities, gentle, courteous, kind. He had largely the loftier instincts and much of that power of presence which comes of grace. One was put in mind by him of what Cowper sings : When one who holds communion with the skies Has filled his urn, whence these pure waters rise, And once more mingles with us meaner things, T'is even as if an Angel shook his wings ; Immortal fragrance fills the circuit wide, And tells us whence his treasures are supplied. 14 IN MEMORIAM. He had lived long, yet, though many winters had sifted their snows upon him so that his head was whitened indeed, we never thought of him as being old. It was well said of him that he grows old gracefully. He had indeed "served his own generation by the will of God," then suddenly he fell asleep, and went to be with Christ, which is far better. And we are here to-day, these many hundreds of us, to lay him tenderly to rest in God's acre, in his sepulchre, among the buried believers, in the assured hope of a blessed resurrection. We mourn ••not as those who have no hope; for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also* who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." To Him do we com- mend you all, and to the word of his grace. May He help you to realize that what is, is best, and to say (, it is the Lord, let him do what seemeth Him good." "All is of God; if He but wave His hand The mists collect, the rains fall thick and loud, Till, with a smile of light on sea and land, Lo! He looks back from the departing cloud. Angels of Life and Death alike are His; Without His leave they pass no threshhold o'er; Who, then, would wish or dare, believing this, Against His messengers to shut the door!" MEMORIAL DISCOURSE, BY Rev. T. H. ROBINSON, D. D., Given at Mercersburg, July 4, 1880. And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. ***** And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more.— Acts xx : 25, 37, 38. Scarcely in the records of human history can there be found a more impressive and touching scene than the parting of Paul with the Elders at Ephesus. The great missionary apostle was on his way to Jerusalem, in haste to reach there, if possible, at Pentecost. As his vessel touches at different ports on her southward course, he gathers around him the disciples of Christ for some part- ing words of kindly encouragement and warning. Ephesus lay back from the sea coast some thirty miles, and finding that the vessel would be detained at Miletus, the seaport town, long enough for a visit from the leaders of the Church at Ephesus, immediately upon its arrival he sent for them. Great must have been the excitement and gladness when the Ephesian Christians heard that their ib IN MEMORIAM. beloved teacher and friend was but a few miles away. They recalled the years he had spent among them, and eager to look upon his face the Elders of the Church has- tened to Miletus. They gathered around their venerated instructor, probably in some solitary spot upon the shore, to listen once more to his beloved voice. Paul's address to them is given at considerable length, and is a rich and precious legacy to the Church of all lands and all ages. It is the valedictory of a faithful and loving Minister of Jesus Christ to the flock over which he had been a shep- herd for several years, and is one of the most tender, solemn, and impressive discourses in the New Testament. Its value for every age lies in the lessons it gives us upon the nature of ministerial work, the fidelity of the true ser- vants of God, and the deep and ardent attachment that should exist between the Christian pastor and his people. Paul had labored longer at Ephesus than in any other city. He had been eminently faithful, and felt an undy- ing love for his spiritual children in that city, and a deep anxiety for the future welfare of the Church. He was now on his way to Jerusalem, knowing well the dangers that awaited him there, for as he passed from Church to Church, prophetic voices announced that bonds and im- prisonments were before him. But these do not alarm him. With the mournful presentiment upon him that he should never see them again, he gives them a brief review of his ministry while at Ephesus, reminding them how, from the first day of his coming, he had, with all humil- ity and amid many tears and temptations, served the Lord, and withheld from them nothing that was needful for their spiritual profit and happiness; but had, publicly Kev. THOMAS CREIGH, D. />. 17 and privately, from house to house, preached the whole way of life. He summons them to bear witness to the truth of his words. It was in no spirit of boasting and of vain glory that he spoke ; rather was it in the spirit of truest humility. True lowliness of heart does not consist in ignoring one's own virtues and labors, but rather in re- ferring them to the rich free grace of God as their source. Paul was conscious of great fidelity of heart towards the Lord and his Church. He appeals to these men who had known so well his manner of life among them for three years', how faithful, how earnest, how upright, how labor- ious he had been. He now announces his separation from them. The thought that it is a final one affects him. It colors his memories of the past, and gives force to his counsels for the future. But he is comforted with the assurance that he had declared in Ephesus the whole counsel of God, and was pure from the blood of all men. He had preached and warned and prayed, day and night with tears and great faithfulness. He had done his full duty. If any in Ephesus failed to hear the Gospel, if any per- ished in their sins, it was not through any indifference or carelessness of his. He now exhorts the elders to new heed unto themselves, and increased care and fidelity to- ward the Church which the Lord had purchased with his blood, and which the Holy Ghost had committed to them. He reminds them of coming dangers, of grievous wolves that would enter the fold and seek the destruction of the flock. The close of the discourse is followed by a sol- emn act of united prayer. They all knelt down upon the sand, and Paul prayed with them and for them, com- 2 i8 IX MEMORIAM. mending them to the grace and protection of Almighty God, and rising to their feet there followed a touching out- break of natural grief, which their christian faith and resig- nation did not restrain. They fell upon the apostle's neck and clung to him and kissed him again and again, "sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more." It would be presumption for any modern preacher of the Gospel to bring his life and labors into comparison with those of him who was "in nothing behind the very chiefest apostles." And no one would more sensitively shrink from such an act, than would our beloved Dr. Creigh, whose nature was full of the lowliness of self- depreciation. But while none may rival Paul in the rare- ness of his genius, in the ardour of his heart, and the greatness of his achievments, we may yet see in many of Christ's ministers something of the same honesty of pur- pose, the same consecration of soul, and the same high endeavor to make full proof of their ministry. There walked one among you, for nearly fifty years, a man who had surrendered himself to Christ, and bowed to his authority ; a man who set his hand to the work of the ministry among you diligently, constantly, in love of Him who had appointed it, and in love of you to whom he was sent ; a man who went conscientiously on resting on the wisdom and verity of God; a man modest, un- assuming, quiet in all his ways, full of sympathy and ten- derness for you all ; a man who in word and life was ever sowing divine seed among you, laying foundations for you to build upon, digging around the roots of character in you that he might present you faultless before God ; wearied Rev. THOMAS CKEICII, I). /). //? often in his work, never of it, working " in fear and much trembling," yet faithful to the last, and now he is not, for God has taken him, and Christ has crowned him. For nearly half a century he was your pastor and guide, giving you the enthusiasm of his youth, the strength of his riper years, and the gathered experience and wisdom of age. Outliving most of the men and women who welcomed him here in his youth and listened to his ordination vows, he survived until a new generation surrounded him. The children were in the place of the fathers. Change had followed change. Those upon whom he had sprinkled the waters of baptism had grown to be stalwart men and mothers of households. He had solemnized the marriage of parents and then of their children. He had counseled at firesides, and prayed in the sick-room, and buried the dead of two generations. The spiritual father of a mul- titude, the wise and trusted teacher of many hundreds, and the holy exemplar for thousands ; after bringing forth from the treasury of the Gospel for half an hundred years its riches of grace and comfort, he has gone, with the gathered wealth of years, to join that communion to which so many of his flock had already departed. The difficult but grateful duty has been assigned me of presenting a record of his life and labors, and expressing my estimate of his character. My effort is greatly aided by the records of a diary faithfully kept for over thirty- three years, an autobiography prepared for his children, and other memoranda in his own hand writing and that of his brother, Dr. Alfred Creigh, of Washington, Pa. Let us turn, first, to some facts in the family and per- sonal history of Dr. Creigh. IN MEMORIAM. The name Creigh is of German origin, and signifies war, or warrior. In the reign of James I, 1603-1625, the family of Creigh, being Protestant in faith, left Germany because of religious troubles, and emigrated to Scotland. Here they remained for about sixty years, when that branch of the family from which Thomas Creigh de- scended, removed to Ireland, and settled on lands between Belfast and Carrickfergus, in the county of Antrim. A part of the original family remained in Scotland and gave their name to one of its towns. The great-great-grandfather of Dr. Creigh, John Creigh, was, in 17 19, a ruling elder in Carmony Church, five miles from Belfast. His son, Thomas Creigh, was also an elder in the same church in 1740, as the records of that church, which are still in existence, show. John Creigh of the third generation, the son of Thomas, removed from Ireland to this country in 1761, arriving in Philadel- phia, May 19. He settled permanently in Carlisle, Cum- berland county, bringing with him a certificate of church membership from the Carmony Church, dated March 1, 1 761, signed by the Rev. John Thompson. The grand- father was a man of high character and more than ordinary ability, and speedily took a prominent place in social and civil life and in the Church. He brought with him, as did most of the emigrants from Scotland and Ireland, enlarged ideas of civil and religious liberty, and a thor- ough hostility to despotic forms of government in Church and State. Believing that the State was created for man and not man for the State, he took at once an active part in defense of the rights of the colonies against the tyrannies of the British Crown, entering the army for the protection Rev. THOMAS CREIGH, D. D. of American liberty. He filled the offices both of lieu- tenant and lieutenant colonel. His commission is dated April 29, 1776, and is signed by John Morton, Speaker of the Assembly. In June,* 776, he had the distinguished honor of being one of the representatives of Cumberland county, to the Convention of the Province of Pennsyl- vania, held in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, from June 18, 1776, to June 25, 1776, in which it was unanimously declared that the colony of Pennsylvania was free and independent of the Crown of Great Britain. This decla- ration of independence ante-dated the famous one of July 4, 1776, made by the American Congress. It was signed by the ninety-eight members, and among those honored names is that of John Creigh. Subsequently he joined his regiment, marched with it through New Jersey, united with the Continental forces, and was engaged at the battle of Germantown and in several other conflicts. Returning to his home during the following year, he was commis- sioned as associate judge of the county of Cumberland, and retained the office until his death, February 13, 18*3. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Carlisle for fully a half century, and was chosen as a rul- ing elder in it, serving it under the pastorate of Rev. Dr. Robert Davidson. The maternal grandfather of Dr. Creigh, John Dunbar, was also a soldier of the Revolution, a ruling elder of the First' Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, and of the same sturdy Scotch-Irish race. His father, William Dunbar, came to this country in 1730, and a few years later settled near Carlisle. The son John died June 2, 1810. Dr. John Creigh, son of Judge Creigh, and the father IN MEMORIAM of Thomas Creigh, was a physician of high standing and large practice. He was born at the opening of the Revo- lutionary war, 1773 ; pursued a collegiate course, gradu- ating with high honors from Dickinson College, in 1792, before he had completed his nineteenth year. Three years later, 1795, he completed a medical course at the University of Pennsylvania, and entered at once upon the practice of his prosession. His wife was Eleanor Dunbar. The young physician practiced for a brief time at Pittsburgh, and at Lewistown, but in 1799, removed to Sherman's Valley, Perry county, then a part of Cum- berland county, and for the succeeding twenty years made his home at Landisburg. In addition to the honors won in his profession, no less than five of the Governors of the Commonwealth conferred upon him offices of honor and trust in the State. When Washington was burned by the British forces, in 181 4, Dr. Creigh, in two days, enrolled a company of militia, offered their services to Governor- Snyder, and was accepted, he himself being as- signed the second post of honor in the Pennsylvania Line. While he resided at Landisburg, Thomas Creigh was born, September 9, 1808, the seventh child in a family of six sons and four daughters. Of these but three now sur- vive, one sister and two brothers, Hon. John D. Creigh, of California, and Dr. Alfred Creigh, of Washington, Pennsylvania. Sherman's Valley, for a half century, or from the close of the Indian wars about 1765, had been filling up with Scotch-Irish settlers of earnest and rugged type and chris- tian character. The Rev. John Linn was then in the midst of his long and faithful pastorate of the churches in Rev. THOMAS CREIGH, J). D. 23 the upper end of the valley, and at his hands THOMAS Creigh received baptism while in his infancy. As there was no Church at Landisburg, the family of Dr. John Creigh attended the Sabbath services at Centre Church, four miles distant, save when their pastor preached in some private house at Landisburg. In a too brief auto-biography left by Dr. Creigh to his children, he speaks with a tender affection of his early home, of the very house where he was born, of his school- boy days, and especially of the ties that drew him away from the out-door sports of the boys of his age to the side of his mother. He was a quiet, sober-minded boy, mani- festing in early life that gentle seriousness of disposition which characterized him through life. The first eleven years of his life were spent in Sherman's Valley, where he received the elements of a good English education. In that day country schools were limited in their power. Dr. Creigh saw his large family growing up around him de- prived of the intellectual training which he desired for them. To give them better advantages he abandoned his valley home, and in 1819, removed to Carlisle. It was an im- portant step in the history of his children, affecting all their subsequent life. Three years longer were spent by Thomas Creigh in the public schools. In the summer of 1822, being then Sn his fourteenth year, he entered the grammar school connected with Dickinson College, and two years later, September, T824, he was admitted to the Freshman class, and four years subsequently completed his college course, receiving his first degree of the arts September 24, 1828, having just entered upon the twenty-first year of his age. 24 IN MEMOKIAM. The subject of his graduating oration was "Maternal In- fluence," and was a testimony to that silent and loving power, which, for more than twenty years had been at the work of molding his character and life. Of the graduating class, numbering twenty-one, eight entered the ministry. One of them, Rev. Dr. VV. H. Campbell, has, for many years, been an honored professor in the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Dutch Church, at New Brunswick. Fifty years passed ere these college classmates, Crkigh and Campbell, met. They had become venerable and honored men in the Church, and it was now with diffi- culty that they recognized each other. They then re- called the incidents of college days, noted the wonderful leadings of Providence with them for a half century, in- quired for each other's welfare and the history of their families, praised the grace of God, then grasped each other's hands in mutual blessing and farewell to meet no more on earth. It was a touching scene, which one who witnessed it will never forget. The early life and school-boy days of Thomas Creigh had been marked by many tender and serious religious im- pressions. The restraints of home and of Divine grace preserved him from all immoralities, and kept him rev- erent toward religious things. Very often conscience was awakened, and his mind was filled with concern for his salvation. Providences, such as the death of a sister, in very early life, and the death of a brother, in later years, startled him and sent him anew to his Bible and to prayer. The preaching of his pastor, Dr. Duffield, often searched and alarmed him, robbing him of all peace of mind and Rev. THOMAS Ch'E/C//, D. D. 25 driving him to secret ( onfessions and supplications to ( rod. During the larger part of his college course the deep in- ternal struggle of the soul, seeking rest and getting none; yearning for peace and finding it not; careless for a little time, then troubled afresh and more deeply, went on; prayers, vows, tears, reading the Bible upon his knees, opening it at random in the vain hope that God would direct his eyes to light upon some word of comfort ; reso- lutions taken again and again in his own strength and as often snapped assunder by a deceitful heart ; the proud efforts of a determined and self-rightecus will to keep God's law ending ever in disastrous failure ; this sad strug- gle of the unhappy and convicted soul went on, until health gave way, despondency weighed upon him, and it became necessary to put away his books and to seek phy- sical health. This in kindness and love God gave him, but left him not until His law, the divine schoolmaster, had brought Thomas Creigh to Christ. He came, at length, wearied by the long conflict ; came, feeling that he was but a poor, helpless, condemned, lost sinner, ready now to accept the unparalleled grace of a free and complete salvation. This lengthened experience in conversion was doubtless largely due to his quiet and retiring ways. He was self-contained and concealed his feeling from others, often passing days, weeks, and months without opening his burdened heart to any friend. And when at length the end came, and rest was given, it was attended by no raptures or ecsta- cies of soul, no bright and joyous assurances of Divine acceptance. It was only the ease of a heart from which long and heavy burdens were lifted away, and the peace 2b IN MEMORIAL. of a soul long ruffled and tossed by storm now stilled by a divine voice. A fixed hatred of sin took possession of him, and with it a desire to be holy, to be created in the image of Jesus ; a desire to love God and to be always drawn by the cords of the will divine. God was seen in new and attractive light. The plan of salvation won his heartiest ap- proval, and bowing his will completely, Thomas Creigh gave the glory of his salvation to the infinite and sovereign grace of God, through Jesus Christ, and was at rest. With these views and feelings, after private counsel with his pastor, and a subsequent interview with the Ses- sion of the Church, he made a public confession of his faith and was received into the communion of the Church May 10, 1828. He was then in the last year of his college course. The great crisis of his life was now passed. The poles of his being were set, and the ends and aims of life were fully determined. It only remained, having completed his college course, to make the choice of a profession. This, too, praise be to the secret and powerful will of God, had already been virtually settled ; for, years before, Thomas Creigh had promised his Maker, that if He would make him a child of His, by renewing grace, and give him the needed qualifications, he would consecrate him- self to the work of the Gospel ministry. God had gra- ciously taken him at his word, and he could now say with Paul, "It pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, co reveal His Son in me, that I might preach." And now, confer- ring not with flesh and blood, he immediately began the special preparation for his life work. He entered upon Rev. THOMAS CREIGH, D, D. 27 it with trembling gladness, feeling that he was shut up of God to it, and happy amid conscious infirmities, that he could see no other path for his feet. Hindered by the providence of God from pursuing his studies in a theological seminary, he entered upon them under the direction of his pastor, Rev Dr. Geo. Duffield, in the fall of 1828, shortly after his graduation from col- lege, and on Sept. 25, of the same year, he was taken under the care of the Presbytery of Carlisle. The Rev. Dr. John M. Krebs, of New York, was for some time a fellow pupil with him of Dr. Dufheld's. From the auto- biography left by Dr. Creigh, we learn that the theologi- cal text-book used by Dr. Duffield was the Scriptures in the original tongues. The recitations were always begun with prayer to God for the guidance of His Holy Spirit. Dr. Creigh was compelled in subsequent years to differ from some of the theological views of his early preceptor, but he ever spoke with great tenderness of feeling of the happy influence of this "dear man of God," as he calls him, upon the development of his own religious life. The winter of 1 829-1830 was spent at the Theological Seminary in Princeton, under the instructions of those honored servants of God, Drs. Alexander, Miller, and Hodge. That single session was filled with the closest study, his time being fully engrossed. Returning home, he continued for a year longer a course of reading and study, under the direction of Dr. Duffield. The great Head of the Church had now for him a special course of training, that proved to be of greatest value in his subsequent ministry. Would to God that all 28 IX MEMO R JAM. our theological students could have a similar blessed tuition before they go forth among the Churches ! During the winter of 1 830-1 831 and the spring of the latter year, the Spirit of God came with power to the First Presbyterian Church of Carlisle. A great revival of re- ligi m among the people of God, attended by a great awakening of sinners, was the result. Thomas Creigh was drawn into the very heart of this work of grace, and for months he lived and worked and rejoiced amid the happy scenes of re-quickened saints and of sinners com- ing home to God. The baptism of the Spirit fell upon him. The convicted and the inquiring were all about him. Divine truth' and human experience were continu- ally brought together. The Gospel of salvation was daily illustrated. Divine things were taught him in God's marvellous dealings with his own dear people and with prodigals of the world. Theology met a practical appli- cation, and for months Thomas Creigh, as yet unlicensed by men, was called of God to preach law and Gospel, guilt and redeeming blood, human helplessness and divine grace, to dying men. It was a divinity school, where the Word was the sole text-book, and the Holy Ghost was the Teacher. From the midst of tlfat revival Thomas Ckeigh came, and on the nth day of April, 1831, made application to the Presbytery of Carlisle, then in session at Newville, for licensure, and having passed the required examina- tions, was, on the following day, April 12, licensed to preach the Gospel. Two other young men were examined and licensed at the same time, one of whom, the Rev. David Mahon, is still a member of the Presbytery ; the Rev. THOMAS CREIGff, D. D. 29 other, Rev. Dr. Robert Davidson, also a classmate of Dr. Creich's, passed away from earthly labors April 6, 1876. Although Dr. Creigh lacked the benefit of that full and systematic course of training which is now given in our theological seminaries, he was not without many compensations for it during the years of his probation. Chief among them was the fact that he had been sur- rounded in the Presbytery by an array of godly and able men, whose names the Church will always honor. I need but mention William Paxton, Joshua Williams, David Elliott, Robert Cathcart, David McConaughy, Henry R. Wilson, George Duffield, and others, their peers in con- secration and usefulness, if not in ability. Many of them were men of great natural powers and of large attain- ments, and stood among the theologians of their day. Into the fellowship of such men Thomas Creigh was en- tered. After his licensure, he continued to prosecute his studies and to supply the pulpit of his pastor in his ab- sence. Having been appointed by the Presbytery to preach in the Mercersburg Church, which was then vacant by the resignation of its pastor, Dr. Elliott, he fulfilled the ap- pointment, preaching his first sermons to this congregation on the 7th of August, 1831. The morning sermon, given in the country church, was on the text Isaiah, lv : 1 , ' ' Ho ! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price." The evening sermon, preached in town, was on John, iii, 17, " For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be jo IN MEMORIAM. saved." Both of these discourses were on the freeness and the fullness of the Gospel. These were the great themes of his ministry throughout life. His youth, his earnestness, and his hearty presentations of truth, touched the hearts of the people, and two weeks later, the session of the Church, through Maj. John Brownson, subsequently a greatly beloved friend of Dr. Creigh's, invited him to return and minister to the Church again. After great hesitation on the score of his own unfitness and his fear of being called to so important a charge, he came, and preached a third sermon from Ezekiel, xxxiii, 1 1, " As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked ; but that the wicked turn from his way and live." On Tuesday, September 27, 1831, the Presbytery met in Carlisle, and greatly to the surprise of the young li- centiate, he was presented with a unanimous call to the pastorate of this Church. That call, after prayer to God and counsel with friends, was accepted. His immediate predecessor in this charge, Rev. Dr. Elliott, had filled the pastorate over seventeen years, and had greatly endeared himself to the people as an able and instructive preacher, and an earnest and sympathizing pastor. The Church had greatly prospered under his wise and energetic leader- ship. It was no small tribute to the ability and personal worth of Thomas Creigh, that, at the early age of twenty- three, and while still a licentiate, he should be called to be the successor of such men as Drs. King and Elliott. The day having been appointed for his ordination and installation, he left his father's house on the 5 th of No- vember, 1831, with great fear and trembling, reaching Rev. THOMAS CREIGH, D. D. 3 1 here the next day. His feelings while on the way hither were greatly depressed and cast down, in view of the weighty responsibilities which he had assumed. The journey was filled with prayers and cries to God for help. Recalling that memorable horseback journey many years after, he writes: "O my God and Father, how I cried unto Thee and Thou heardest me ; why, O why, could I not trust Thee when Thou didst assure me, ' Lo, I am with thee alway, to the end of the world.' Forgive me, forgive, O my Master, my Master." His heart was greatly lightened by the welcome with open arms and loving hearts which he received from the people. On the 16th of November, the Presbytery met, concluded the examinations preparatory to his ordination, and adjourned until the next day, when he was set apart with prayer and the imposition of the hands of the Pres- bytery to the work of the Gospel Ministry, and was then installed as the third in a noble line of able and godly pastors of this Church. Rev. Robert Kennedy presided, and delivered the charges to the young pastor and to the people. Rev. John McKnight preached, the sermon, and the Rev. Dr. Henry R. Wilson offered the ordaining prayer. That day, with its solemn consecration and holy vows, was never forgotten. Too often, in our own times, the respons- ibilities of a christian pastor are lightly assumed and as lightly cast aside. The spirit with which Thomas Creigh entered upon his work here may be best seen in a paper which he wrote on the day preceding his ordination and installation. It is headed " Desires." "As a creature, I would desire to feel my entire de- 3 2 IN MEMORIAM. pendence on God continually for life, health, food, rai- ment, friends, reason, and every other blessing. ' In God we live and move and have our being.' "As a sinner, I would desire to feel that my salvation is freely of grace ; that I have no righteousness of my own ; that I have no other friend than Christ. And in view of these things, I desire ever to feel those sacred obligations pressing upon me that ' being bought with a price, even the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ,' I a. a in duty bound to present myself, ' body, soul, and spirit, a living sacrifice to God, holy and acceptable.' "As a minister of Jesus Christ, I would desire to feel how unworthy I am to be allowed to be put in trust with the Gospel; I would desire ever to look unto Thee for grace and strength to discharge its sacred functions ; I would ever feel my entire dependence on the Spirit to own and apply my messages and my labors ; I would de- sire to be faithful, and to feel continually my awful re- sponsibilities ; I would desire to feel intensely for the souls of my fellow-beings, who are perishing around me and through the world; I would desire to have an eye single to Thy glory in their conversion ; and I wou'd de- sire to consecrate my time, my talents, and my abilities to the service of my Master, that His kingdom may come with power among the children of men, and Thy Church, which Thou hast bought with Thy blood, may be univer- sally established. And especially would I desire to be made instrumental in this congregation over which Thou hast called me to watch, in turning many sinners from death to life, and in building up thy children in holiness. "All these, O Lord, if my heart deceive me not, do I Rev. THOMAS CREIGH, D. D. 33 desire. All these . D. 37 mended them to the grace of God. And when ten years ago the divisions of the Church were healed, Dr. Creigh welcomed the re-union with sincerest joy. He was a life-long friend and earnest advocate of a thorough and Christian education, encouraging the young men of his congregation to pursue higher courses of study, and drawing quite a large number of them into the Chris- tian ministry. As President of the Board of Trustees of Wilson Female College, Chambersburg, Pa., from an early period in its history until his death, he evinced a deep and tender concern for its welfare and usefulness, and was ever ready to make any possible sacrifices for its prosperity. Greatly attached to this Cumberland Valley as the home of his ancestry, and his own home and the field of his life-long labors; rejoicing in its natural beau- ties, in its people, its churches and institutions, he gave to its welfare his prayers and labors for half a century. Its history was familiar to him. He recalled with deep affection the honored men of the past. Its churches were precious in his sight, and to the people of the valley his name will, for many years to come, recall the venerable form of a beloved servant of God, whose presence was always welcomed, and whose ministrations in the pulpit, at the table of communion, in the places of social prayer, and in times of revival, were greatly prized. Dr. Creigh was a man of fine personal presence. Physically, he was of full manly size, and in his bearing and courteous manners, at all times inspired respect. He was dignified in his deportment, yet gentle and unassum- ing. His face was handsome and genial, and when the whitened locks of age had gathered the glory of years S$ IN MEMORIAM. upon his head, and his countenance, still ruddy with health, beamed with the kindness and love of his warm and Christian heart, all classes paid him the tribute of in- voluntary homage and admiration. In his family and social life, he was an example to all men. His home felt the power of his true and unchang- ing affections. He was unselfish, cheerful, and considerate for the welfare of all. His diary,, written in the unre- strained freedom of one who had nothing to conceal, dis- closes in all its allusions to the members of his household, in its frequent ejaculations of prayer to God in their be- half or of thanksgiving to God for their preservation, how true he was as a husband, and how full of love as a father. Dr. Creigh was twice married. On the 14th of Feb- ruary, 1833, to Ann Hunter Jacobs, daughter of James O. and Margaret Jacobs, of Lancaster county, Pa. This union was severed by death, October 16, 1836. His second marriage, November 29, 1837, was with Jane McClelland Grubb, who survives him. Six children were given him of God, of whom three preceded him, dying in the covenant faith of the Church. The surviv- ing three are, Rev. James Jacob Creigh, Rector of the Episcopal Church in Conshohocken, Montgomery county, Pa. ; Alfred Creigh, general manager of Goraman's whole- sale and retail drug store, in Omaha, Nebraska; and Ellie D. Creigh, who resides with her mother in the family home at Mercersburg. Beyond the home, and in his daily contact with his fellow men, he impressed them with a sense of the truth- fulness of his nature, the kindliness of his heart, and the purity of his life. In the many-sided intercourse of life, Rev. THOMAS CREIGff, />. D. 39 he was always gentlemanly and obliging. He did not lay aside his humanity when he entered upon his profession, nor assume a lofty, distant, and ministerial manner. He loved men, and mingled with them, feeling a deep inter- est in their welfare, in their trials and troubles, their joys and successes. His nature was sympathetic, and he with- drew from no opportunity to bless men and do them good. As his Saviour went from house to house mingling with all, blessing all, so this servant of His sought to make all around him smile, and to bring to every heart the glad- ness of salvation and spiritual life. As he went among men, his calm, reasonable, dispas- sionate nature revealed itself, the man to be a peace-maker, to heal divisions and quiet strife ; not hasty or impulsive, not irritable or headstrong, but the man to proclaim and to illustrate the Gospel of peace ; the man for household counsel, for childhood's loving reverence, for social power. In his business relations with men, he was faultlessly honest and honorable, scrupulously fair, free from all taint of money loving and penuriousness. It was a beau- tiful thing in the character and life of this man of God, that he kept his sacred office and all his work so undefiled by any traces of a worldly spirit. In the Presbytery and Synod, whose meetings he at- tended with religious fidelity, he was always greeted by his brethren as the friend and brother of all, and the model of quiet gentleness and forbearance. He was the bond of harmony. No harsh word ever fell from his lips. No sharp criticism, no unkind judgment, no jeal- ous, disparaging remark escaped him, or marred the; uni- form charity with which he treated his ministerial brethren. 40 IN MEMORIAM. He walked among us, as did "the beloved disciple" among the ancient Churches, ever silently saying, " Love one another, love one another." His beautiful example of high-toned christian courtesy and gentleness will abide as a permanent power while his memory lives. Never did a kindlier heart beat in human breast. It was charm- ing to observe how the ruffled spirits of men were quieted when they came into his presence. In tone and temper he was a child. He had entered into the Kingdom of Heaven. Decided as he was in his convictions, and reso- lute in their defense, and frank in the expression of them, he disliked controversy, and was not at home amid strifes. The spirit of peace ruled in him, expelling bigotry, in- tolerance, and harshness, and making it painful for him to grieve so much as the heart of a little child. Dr. Creigh was a man of prayer, and of habitual com- munion with God and spiritual things. Prayer with him was not an event for set times and places, but a life. His spirit was full of it. His diary glows with prayer. Brief, frequent, and fervid ejaculations of prayer and praise be- stud it like gems, showing that prayer was no effort for him. It was an exhalation. Prayers for the home-circle, for friends, for the people of his love, for unbelieving members of the congregation, prayers for the divine bless- ing upon his work, his sermons and lectures, prayers for revivals, for the coming of the Holy Ghost, are scattered through these records of his daily life. He prayed for the sick. The news of any death or sorrow among the families of the people called forth prayer. He made out special lists of members of the congregation, and carried them before God in prayer. The names of a multitude Rev. THOMAS C REICH, D. D. I' might be drawn from these sacred records who were borne on his heart to God. This pastor prayed for his people. They were with him in his stndy and in his closet. Thanks- giving, too, so closely allied to prayer, are found here— for home-blessings, for safe journeys, for conversions of sinners, for help in preaching, for acts of kindness shown him, for peaceful or triumphant deaths of members of the Church, scattered like pearls through the pages of his diary. This people were on his heart. He baptized all his work among you with prayer. He prayed with you in your homes, and for you in his own. Does one call upon him to inquire the way of life? He makes record of it. "The Lord be praised !" Does death visit any home? "The Lord comfort that smitten home." A por- tion of each Saturday was spent in special prayer for the presence of the Spirit of God in the Sabbath services. It was evidently a habit with him to carry everything to God in prayer. He had intercourse with God. "He en- dured as seeing Him who is invisible." He lived in a presence that eye could not see, nor ear hear. As a minister of Christ's Church., he had a high sense of his responsibilities. He was a diligent and laborious student of the Bible. His sermons were habitually prepared with great care, and are models of neatness and of exact and painstaking faithfulness. Thoroughly biblical, strictly orthodox in statements of christian doctrine, they are per- vaded by a calm but deep seriousness, and emotional power. Dr. Creigh preached to the heart and conscience. There was no attempt to please men or captivate them. He was a stranger to the cold, intellectual way of looking at truth or of presenting it. Moved and governed by a controlling 42 IN MEMORIAM. love for his Lord and Saviour, it was his great aim to pre- sent this Adorable and Divine Person as the object of the sinner's acceptance, and the believer's adoration and love. The love of Christ constrained him. He never lost sight of Him, nor sense of Him, and that lifted into high and holy earnestness all his appeals to his fellow-men. The first sermon he preached to this congregation, was on the freeness and fulness of the Gospel offer, ' ' Ho ! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters;" and the last was on following the Lord fully, Numbers, xiv, 24, "But my servant Caleb, because he had another Spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereunto he went." And now he is gone, who, for fifty years sat at the feet of Christ and brought from thence God's word to you. He is gone, to whom life, while here, was a great oppor- tunity, not for personal ease nor for earthly gain, but for drawing you and your families from the thraldom of sin into the liberty of Christ's salvation. He worked with God, for you. He shared in the joy of Heaven over you as you repented of your sins. He watched the growth of grace in your hearts and lives. He longed to present you faultless before the throne. He sympathized with your griefs. At how many graves he stood and wept, ere you bore him, with many tears, to his own ! Into how many homes stricken with sorrow did he bring the minis- try of consolation ere his own was darkened by the griet of his departure ! How often did he preach to men of death and of Him who is the Resurrection and the Life, before he so suddenly passed into that sublime and im- perishable life beyond the grave ! So sudden was his de- Kev. THOMAS CREIGH, D. D. 43 parture, that we were stunned and confused by the shock. It was not so sudden to him as to us ; he had looked for it. Months before his call came, he writes in his diary, "How near I may be to the end of my pilgrimage, the Lord only knows. It may be very near and sudden. So I often think it will be, and hence, under this impression, I would put my hand in the hand of Jesus and would fol- low vvherever He leads." Somewhat later he again writes, of the shortness of breath which so frequently troubled him during the last years of his life, "My shortness of breath continues, and probably increases. It may bring about the end suddenly. May I be prepared for the issue, be it long or short, sudden or protracted. All my springs are in Thee, O God. ' Into thy hands I commend my Spirit. Living, I would live unto the Lord. Dying, I would die unto the Lord.' Whenever the Lord calls me, I can be spared ; my work is done." On the closing day of 1879, ne was suffering from severe pains in the region of the heart, and again refers to the precariousness of his life. The pains were similar to some from which he suffered in his early manhood. He writes, " Would it not be a singular Providence if they had abated, except occasionally, for forty-eight years, abated in order that I might do the work of the Lord for these years, and now that they should return when my work seems to be coming to a close ! What cause for thankfulness that the Lord has spared me these many years to labor for Him ! Oh, how much infirmity and sin, and how many short comings ! The good Lord par- don all that has been wrong in thought and word and deed, in purpose, in motive^ and in desire. My days are 44 IN MEMORIAM. hastening to a close. They may be very few. Oh to be able to keep the end in sight! " And on the next day, January i, 1880, after expressing the wish that the work for his Master, during the year just gone, had been more and better done, he adds, "And now since I have entered on another New Year, would that it might be one of more entire consecration to my blessed Lord ! It may be my last year on earth. I feel that the time of my departure is drawing near. It may take place soon and suddenly. Oh to be fully prepared for it !" Two weeks before his death he makes this entry : "Indisposed ; machine seems to be wearing out. The Lord reigns ; we will rejoice." He attended the meeting of Presbytery one week before his death, made a record of its session in his diary, with the prayer, "The Lord bless the Presbytery ! " At the close of his last Sabbath's labors, he writes : "Another Sabbath nearly gone, with all its privileges and responsibilities. O, to be prepared for the Eternal Sab- bath ! " Beloved Dr. Creigh ! Dear man of God ! He was living quite on the verge of heaven. He was permitted to work up to the very last. There was not the loss of an hour. The infirmities of age lay lightly upon him. He was spared, in the great kindness of God, from severe physical prostration and weakness. His mental powers were unimpaired. His thoughts had been gently gathered for months around the coming world. The soft light of the eternal future was falling upon him. His earthly cares were set in order. His .ear was daily listening for Rev. THOMAS CREIGH, D. D. 45 the summons of departure. It came suddenly. In a mo- ment the " golden bowl was broken, and the silver cord was loosed." Without the bitterness of death the spirit passed away. So Chalmers died. Lying down at night, with the im- plements for writing within easy reach of his hand, that ne might resume his work at waking, and at the early dawn, his liberated soul exclaimed, "Let me go, for the morning breaketh." So died Albert Barnes. So many another servant of God has gone, suddenly, as if, resting for a moment, he leaned against a door, unexpectedly it opens, and lo ! all beyond is heaven. So passed dear Dr. Creigh. The door opened and he was gone to be with Christ. He was ready. The trimmed and burning lamp was in his hand. It was not far to go. " Surely yon heaven, where angels see God's face, Is not distant, as we deem, From this low earth ? Tis but a little space, The narrow crossing of a slender stream; 'Tis but a veil, which winds might blow aside: Yes, these are all that us of earth divide From the bright dwelling of the glorified." Nor has he changed his life, his work, or his inward self. While he was here he lived for God, and worked for God, and loved God, and there, too, he is the same man, living for God, working for God, loving God still. To God he gave himself long years ago. He kept his consecration vows clear and fresh to the last, and now, purified, cleansed from the last taint of sin, and glorified, he is still consecrated to Christ, and employed in his service. f^go^iPrtOjVg ADOPTED BY THE $e^sioi\ of tl\e ^lef dei^lmrg Cfliiu'dl\. Whereas, The Great Head of the Church has seen fit, in His all-wise providence, suddenly to remove, by the hand of death, our beloved and faithful friend and Pastor, the Rev. Thomas Creigh, D. D., who died of con- gestion of the lungs, at eleven o'clock and forty minutes, p. m., on Wednesday, the 21st of April, 1880; therefore, Resolved, 1st, That we bow with resignation and sub- missiveness to His will, knowing that He doeth all things well. Resolved, 2d, That we recognize with devout thank- fulness the goodness of God, who gave and so long con- tinued to us this His faithful and devoted servant — his labors with us having extended to a period of more than forty-eight years. Resolved, $d, That we delight to bear testimony to his great fidelity as a Minister of the Word, the careful preparation of his sermons, and the earnestness, tender- ness, and faithfulness which characterized his public min- istrations. Resolved, 4I/1, That we would express our high appre- ciation of his pastoral labors, in which he excelled ; in Rev. THOMAS CREIGH, D. D. 47 visiting the families of his flock, speaking the Word from house to house; comforting, encouraging, warning, ad- monishing, as the occasion might require; in visiting and ministering to the sick and dying ; in pointing the sorrowing and distressed to the Source of all comfort and consolation. In his flock and neighborhood there were none, however poor or humble or lowly, that had not his sympathy and care and prayers. Resolved, $th, That we would not be unmindful of his deep interest in and care for the lambs of the flock, and his earnest solicitude that they might be early gathered into the fold of the great and good Shepherd. Resolved, 6th, That we shall ever cherish a grateful remembrance of his relation to us, and his intercourse with us as a Session, his kindly advice, words of encour- agement, tender sympathy, and gentle admonitions as to the duties that devolved upon us. Resolved, yth, That the family of our late beloved Pastor have our heartfelt sympathy in this hour of sore bereavement and deep distress ; and that we, with tender ness, commend them to the care of that faithful, covenant- keeping God, whom he so delighted to serve, and on whom he relied. Resolved, 8th, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the afflicted family. By the Session of the Church, at Mercersburg, Penn- sylvania, April 26, 1880. John Humphrey, James A. Patterson, John L. Rhea, John McCullough, O. L. Murray, A. B. McDowell, James A. McCune, Seth Dickey. Sdtioq of % fWd of T^u^tee^ of Wilson College, Chkin>ei'£bm'g, Pk. The Board of Trustees of Wilson College having heard, with deep sorrow, of the decease of Rev. Thomas Creigh, D. D., a corporate member of this Board from its organ- ization, and its honored President for many years, would put on record their sense of the great loss sustained by the College and by the Christian Church in his removal. By his uniformly courteous and dignified bearing, by his calm and wise counsels, by his abiding and great in- terest in the cause of a higher and Christian education for woman, and his peculiar interest in the welfare and work of this College, Dr. Creigh was eminently worthy of that complete confidence which he inspired in the hearts of his fellow members of this Board. We shall recall with pleasure the memory of our official intercourse with him for so many years, unmarred by a single word or act that could give any one pain ; the memory of one who united gentleness with zeal, wisdom with firmness, and an unfailing charity, with a conscientious faithfulness to duty. We extend to his bereaved family assurances of our tender sympathy in their sorrow, and commend the Church, where he was so useful and beloved, to his Master and theirs for consolation. „ m HH