YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 06447 2526

Lord , John C ,
A Discourse on the Death of the
Hon. Samuel Wilkeson,
Buffalo, 1848.

T3o

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

1941

REV. JOHN C. LORD'S DISCOURSE

DEATH

HON. SAMUEL WILKESON.

"THE VALIANT MAN.

A DISCOURSE

ON THE

DEATH

OF THE

HON. SAMUEL WILKESON

OP BUFFALO.

BY JOHN C. LORD, D.D.
PRStor of the First Old School Presbyterian Church of the City of Bulihln.

BUFFALO:
STEAM PRESS OF JEWETT, THOMAS & CO.
Onminercinl Advertiser Buildings.
1848.

DISCOURSE.

I Samuel, XXVI, 15: II Samuel, I, 27.
ART NOT THOU A VALIANT MAN, AND WHO IS LIKE TO THEE IN ISRAEL?
HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN, AND THE WEAPONS OF WAR PERISHED.
With the ancients, valor and virtue were synonimous
terms. They knew no higher development of the moral
nature of man than fortitude, they acknowledged no
greater quality than courage. This conclusion is not so
wide of the truth as it might appear to be upon a cursory
examination, for moral courage properly directed, is at
once the most striking characteristic of greatness, and the
most exalted attribute of goodness or virtue.
The gospel was to the Gentile world the revelation of a
form of valor of which they knew nothing, of a kind of
courage of which they had httle or no idea, yet, no new
term was necessary to express the fortitude with which
Christianity exhorted its disciples to deny themselves
ungodliness and worldly lusts, to crucify the flesh and its
appetites, or the courage with which they were animated
be the precepts of the Savior, to endure hardness as good

soldiers of Jesus Christ, to speak with boldness before
kings, to carry the news of salvation to the ends of the
earth, with danger and death ever at their side ; to preach
Christ and him crucified amid afflictions, persecutions and
terrors, such as had been before unknown, and to endure
the trial of cruel tortures invented now for the first time
to terrify the soldiers of the cross in their onset upon the
kingdom of darkness. Nor did the Gentiles need a new
term to express the boldness with which the primitive
christians were exhorted to defend the faith once delivered
to the saints, to obey God rather than men, to fear no face
of clay, no arm of flesh, and when the early martyrs
refused to offer incense before the image of the emperor
of Rome, when they declined to render to the imperial
Coesars the homage which was due only to God, when the
gray headed senator, the rough soldier, the tender and
delicate female and the child of years, who had been
instructed in the things of the Kingdom of heaven,
endured scorn and scourging and "were stoned, were sawn
asunder, were tempted, were slain by the sword," nay,
were clad in the skins of beasts, worried and torn by dogs,
and cast, mangled and bleeding, into the fires, for the testi
mony of Jesus and the word of God, they needed no
other term than virtue or courage to express the idea
suggested by a heroism of which they knew no precedent
and had seen no example.
The Romans had indeed known instances of patriotism.
The groans of Regulus rolled upon spikes by the fierce

Carthagenians because he refused to desert or betray his
country, had penetrated the hearts of all men, and the
youth of Rome were taught in childhood the words
" dulce et decorum est pro patria mori."
But to endure the worst evils for God and the truth, to
suffer for conscience' sake, to receive the loss of all things
that a Avorld lying in wickedness might be enlightened, to
know no difference between bond and free, Barbarian,
Scythian, Greek or Jew, to die rather than endorse a false
hood by rendering a common act of homage to the majesty
of Rome, was to both Greek and Roman an astonishment,
a wonder, a sign to them indeed, that the promised Light
who was to enlighten the Gentiles and break down the
wall of partition, was now come and had set up his king
dom among men. It was but a higher form of courage, a
nobler valor, a greater virtue, a more universal patriotism.
They had seen the systems of polytheism meet and min
gle at Rome, they had gloried in the fact that all Gods
were tolerated and all religions practiced in the Eternal
City, where were gathered the captive Deities of the
various forms of paganism throughout the world, now
domiciled and naturalized in that vast capital which claimed
to be mistress of the whole earth; but they had never
before seen a religion wThose doctrines were exclusive and
supreme, whose followers had the courage to proclaim by
the very altars of their false gods, "there is none other
name under heaven, given among men whereby we must
be saved," and who had the valor to die for their faith.

6
These were valiant men, such as had not been seen before,
and this example so wrought upon the Gentiles that it
became a proverb among the primitive christians "the
blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." No
wonder then that the Apostle Peter exhorted the people
of God to add to their faith, virtue, by which he intended
valor, the true signification of tlie term in the original ; or
we may understand him as saying, " make proof of your
faith by your courage."
The high and rare quality of valor so greatly esteemed
among the ancients, was the image and shadow of that
divine grace in the church, which enabled her to contend
against all the powers of evil, and to triumph over a
world in, arms, against principalities and powers in high
places, the rulers of the darkness of this world, who had
enthroned themselves in all places of worship and secured
the allegiance of all the nations of the earth. If the
triumphs of Christianity are not now what they were in
the first ages of the church — if, as all must admit, she fails
to progress with the same power and rapidity, it is because
she does not add to her faith valor — because there are so
few valiant men " the arms of whose hands are made strong
by the' hands of the mighty God of Jacob." We have said
that courage is rare in this world, as a natural quality, by
which we do not mean that mere physical courage which
leads its possessor under all the excitements of the battle
field, to face the cannon's mouth, but the valor which
enables a man to act independently, upon the basis of his

own convictions and judgment, to express his opinions
boldly, even when adverse to the common current of senti
ment, to act in view of obligation and duty, rather than
expediency, to stand for what he deems to be true, if com
pelled to stand alone amid a storm of reproach and obloquy,
to face like a valiant man an army of opponents, to expose
tyranny and corruption though clad in regal or sacerdotal
vestments, and defended by a host of venal parasites or
vacillating time servers. We mean that valor which makes
a man something beside a mere echo of the thoughts and
sentiments of others, which constitutes a true nobleman of
nature's election, a real king, or leader of men whose royalty
is sufficiently manifest without the purple or the diadem,
who answers to that description in the Old Testament so
commonly applied to the truly great, whether kings or
subjects, prophets or statesmen, priests or warriors, "He
was a mighty man of valor." Thus Gideon threshing
wheat under the oak of Ophrah is styled by the angel
" The Lord is with thee thou mighty man of valor." So
David while a mere youth, feeding his father's flocks, is
called a mighty, valiant man and a man of war and
prudent in matters. Thus Abner is styled in the text,
and Zadoc the Priest, in the book of Chronicles. We mean
by courage, the substantial element of true greatness,
ever rare, yet never more so than in this age of ours.
How small the number of men, in this day, who are any
thing more than mere cyphers in a row, whose value and
importance exist in, and are ascertained by, the prefixed

8
unit which is called public sentiment. How is individual
responsibility merged in the action of the masses, and
private opinion crushed beneath the weight of that
blind Giant called the public voice, who staggers onward
unguided and undirected, without aim or end, presenting
the single energy of brute force and governing by the sim
ple element of pure despotism.
Who now dares maintain an individual opinion? Who
does not seek the shelter of some action of the masses, of
some aggregation or combination for the defence of his
position on moral or political questions ? What argument
is so powerful for the maintainance of a sentiment, or the
wisdom of a measure as that a majority are in favor of it,
which is not even presumptive eAddence pf the truth of
the one, or the expediency of the other, Who hopes for
success without the prestige of a supposed numerical supe
riority? What argument so prominent in the great political
canvass for the highest office in this Republic, what plea
is so urged, what motive so counted on, what declaration
so stereotyped in our public journals as that of the candi
date's prospect of success ? " The public voice is with us, we
have a majority, our party were never so numerous, so
united or so determined ! — Let the weak yield to the strong,
let right give way to might !" Even in the church the grace
of valor is exceedingly rare, nay, it has come to be dis
credited and called by harsh names. If a man stand for
the faith he is styled a Polemic ; if he is clear and earnest
in his opinions and their statement, he is a dogmatist ;

if he resists the insidious approaches of error and blows
the trumpet of alarm when the enemy comes in like a
flood, he is a man of war from his youth and to be
shunned on this account, by those who cry peace, peace,
though the Master said " I came not to send peace on the
earth but a sword." Charity is made the plea in the
church for cowardice — a time-serving spirit that abandons
principle for ease and quiet, and truth for popularity, is
called humility and brotherly kindness. An infidel
eclectism prevails, which finds something true and praise
worthy in every system, and so sacrifices the gospel upon
the altar of that spirit of compromise, which led the
Romans to unite with their own every other form of
religion, and compound in one that mass of abominations
upon which Christianity fell like a consuming fire.
Against this philosophy the early christians arrayed them
selves in a position of uncompromising hostility ; unter-
rified by the charge that they were turning the world
upside down, and creating tumult, confusion and persecu
tion, for 'they knew that truth was eternally hostile to
error, that light and darkness could never mingle, that
they could not serve two masters, and that the attempt
to unite the altars of God and Mammon was ever a cow
ardly sacrifice of principle to expediency. The slanders
of their opponents, the bitterness of the enmity which
they awakened, never moved them from their purpose, for
they knew the Master had said, " the servant is not above

10
his Lord ; if they have persecuted me they will persecute
you," and "woe unto you when all men speak well of you."
These remarks are appropriate as an introduction to a
brief account of the distinguished man whose recent death
we are called to notice and improve to-day, because of all
the high qualities which gave him an extended influence
and a national reputation, courage was the most marked
and prominent.
Judge Wilkeson was a valiant man, of whom we may
say, as David of Abner, "few were like him in Israel." It
was his fearlessness, his native energy, ever undaunted by
difficulties, and unterrified by opposition, that gave promi
nence, if not development, to his great intellectual powers.
To the want of this quality more than any other, may be
attributed, the neglect often experienced by men of genius ;
no less than the continued obscurity of multitudes whose
gifts of intellect would have enabled them to have held
Senates in wrapt attention, or to have successfully guided
the vessel of State. The fact so often observed that a
great crisis makes great men, that times of revolution,
change and terror, when the sun in the political heavens is
darkened, abound with the gifted and heroic, whose displays
of intellect and power, are the admiration and the envy
of succeeding and more quiet ages, proves the truth of
this remark. Men are forced into action by the exigencies
of troublous times ; the fearful are made courageous by
the convulsions and dangers which they cannot escape, and
Giants are seen warring with upheaved mountains, where

11
otherwise and under other circumstances, Pigmies alone
are discovered hiding in the clefts of the rocks. It is in
times of peace and security that the words of Gray's
beautiful elegy in a country church-yard are verified :
" Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire,
Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed,
Or waked to ecstacy the living lyre.
Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learned to stray,
Along the cool sequestered vale of life,
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way."
It is no small proof of the extraordinary courage and
energy of Samuel Wilkeson, that he should have not only
distinguished himself and wielded so great an influence in
times of quiet and prosperity, but that he should have
attained his elevated position under the most adverse
circumstances. Born, in a new settlement of Pennsylva
nia, when the country was convulsed with the struggle
for independence, during the flight of his family from
the seat of war, and while his parents were exiles in the
wilderness, no school opened its doors for his reception in
his childhood. He had but two books to engage his
penetrating intellect — the book of. nature, the mountains,
rivers and forests of the rugged place of his nurture, the
glorious heavens above, spreading the same magnificent
arch over the people of every land, in every place, whether
city or desert, forest or field ; and the Book of Revela
tion, without which no Scottish Presbyterian, (for he was
of this noble descent,) ever crossed the ocean or settled

12
the wilderness. The Covenanter twice exiled — first to
Ireland and then to the new world — no more hunted
by the bloody instruments of tyranny, no more compelled
to worship God in the dens and caves of the earth, or
upon the Hill Side with armed sentinels stationed around
the congregation to give notice of the approach of the
soldiers of the persecuting and faithless Stuarts, whose
military executions were more summary than those of the
pagan Caesars', — was yet in the wilderness of western
Pennsylvania without a house of worship. But what was
this to the men of that pure and primitive faith, who had
learned that the living God dwells not in temples made
with hands ? What was it to them if they worshipped
under the arches of the ancient forests, with the free light
of Heaven shining in the intervals of the woods with an
effect that no painting or architecture can imitate ?
What cared these valiant men for visible altars, who
offered spiritual sacrifices upon altars erected in their
hearts ? What to them was the glitter and show of exter
nals, who abhorred the superstitions of that hollow but gor
geous worship, whose officials had by their cruelty made
both Popery and Prelacy an abomination, and a hissing to
the Scottish and Irish Presbyterians ? How often has our
venerable friend and brother described the places where he
first heard the word of God from the early missionaries in
the wilderness,— 'an opening in the forest, with a stump
for a pulpit and rude logs arranged for seats under the
open canopy of heaven.' It was thus the Presbyterians

13
who settled that part of Pennsylvania were accustomed to
assemble on the Sabbath, thinking of the hill-sides of
Scotland, where amid a scenery, almost as wild as that of an
American wilderness, they had formerly convened with
arms in their hands to protect their women and children
from violence, thankful now that their Sabbath offering was
no more disturbed with the rattle of musketry and with
the cries of wounded and dying brethren.
Without the means of education, destined apparently to
the hard and laborious life of a farmer in the new settle
ments, without any advantages of fortune or patronage,
young Wilkeson seemed likely to live and die in that
comparative obscurity to which all things appeared to tend
in his early history. But he was a valiant man and fought
his way upward against difficulties which to the vast
majority of men would have appeared insurmountable.
Without the indomitable courage, which we esteem his
great and peculiar characteristic, his powers would have
remained undeveloped, his strength unknown, his influence
unfelt. Who could have imagined that the youthful Penn-
sylvanian with hardly the rudiments of an English educa
tion, of uncultivated manners, and in the coarse clothing
of a borderer upon civilization, going forth to seek his for
tune in the world with his strong features, rough speech,
and woodman's habits, would come to deliver the decisions
of the law as Judge, and fill with distinguished ability a
place in the Senate of the greatest state of the confederacy?
Who would have supposed that Iris genius, his knowledge

14
and sound judgment would attract the attention and secure
the admiration of the most distinguished men in the
United States, and that in connexion with the cause of
Colonization and at the head of a Society which has its
auxiliaries throughout the Union, he would become known
and appreciated over our vast country as the leader of a
national enterprise, who had in his natural powers, in his
energy and courage, in his extensive and general informa
tion, few equals and no superiors? Who could have
dreamed that this wild and uncultivated boy would take a
place like this and grow up to an intellectual stature which
should give him a position among the small number of
truly great men, and an influence beyond the city of his
residence or the country of his birth ; for the name of Sam
uel Wilkeson is inseparably connected with the cause of
African Colonization, and is numbered with the deliverers
of a continent, to be remembered and honored by the world,
in the day when "Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands
unto God." Across the Atlantic there is a durable monu
ment of his fame in the free State of Liberia, whose
inscription shall yet be read by the untold millions of that
vast continent, as through the wide and effectual door which
he aided to open, the light of civilization and Christianity
shall dawn upon the children of Ham. Then it shall be
seen, if it be not already discernable, through the fogs of
prejudice, and the heats of fanaticism, that the enterprise of
African Colonization is the only wise, safe and efficient
measure of all the devices which look to the welfare

15
of the black man, the only one that has really tended
to the elevation of this degraded and down-trodden
race, whether enslaved abroad, or roaming over the sands of
their native and burning climate. What is now apparent
to impartial and careful observers, will hereafter be seen
and acknowledged by all, that the African can only be
elevated on his own continent, away from the shadow of
the white race, free to develope his powers and prove his
natural equality with his brethren, and prepared by
his position to win his barbarous and pagan kindred to the
truth, able at last to startle with his cannon the Harpies
that haunt the coast of Africa for slaves, and make his
flag respected in every sea, and by all the nations of the
earth. How insignificant and trifling appear the civil and
political honors of our departed friend, compared with his
connexion with a great moral enterprize, which looks to
the redemption of a continent; which, passing out of the
circle of social and political relationship, beyond the boun
daries of country, color and climate, embraces the world in
its efforts and seeks the recovery of the race. As the
promise of the Father to the Son is accomplished, as the
King of men is set on the holy hill of Zion, as the Heathen
become his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth
his possession, the renown of monarchs, heroes and war
riors must dechne, the limited field of their action and glory
will be forgotten. The reputation that is local, the fame
that is merely national, must diminish as the common

16
brotherhood of men is made apparent by the progress of
the kingdom of Christ, but who can tell with what admi
ration arid reverence the recovered world will embalm the
names of those who, in the day of apathy and apostacy, of
selfishness and fanaticism, of discord, jealousy and strife
among the nations, led the forlorn hope of a ruined race
and fought against the most fearful odds — who counted
him faithful who had promised, and valiantly led the des
pised band who contended for the Kingship of the Son of
God, assailed the dominion of Satan, and planted the
foundations upon which the world's recovery is heralded,
embracing in their sympathies and efforts not a city,
a nation or an empire, but a world. With the opening of
doors for Africa, with the efforts to redeem the children of
Canaan from the curse, to chase away the night of centu
ries resting as a dark cloud upon that third part of the
earth, with the glory, honor and immortahty which belong
to the first efforts of mighty valiant men to plant the gos
pel in the haunts of the slave-trader, amid two hundred
millions of barbarians, the name of Samuel Wilkeson is
inseperably connected, and though his body rests in the
mountains of Tennessee, his epitaph may yet be written by
an African at the Equator. The memory of the lad who
first heard the gospel in the forests that skirt the Allegha-
nies, may be gratefully cherished and his influence felt by
coming generations on the banks of the Niger and at the
sources of the Nile. What a glorious thought is this, that
a man in the short period of an ordinary life may connect

17
himself with the highest interests of the universe, may
write his name in imperishable characters upon the enter
prises which are to accomphsh the regeneration of
our race, and may perpetuate his influence to the end of
time, by valiant effort in behalf of Him who is destined to
put ah things under his feet, to open the doors of the
prison house, and to set the captives free — to break every
yoke of bondage, arid chase away every remnant of
darkness. The natural impulse in view of the death of a great and
good man — the first burst of lamentation, is like that of
David over Jonathan — " How are the mighty fallen and
the weapons of war perished." We are ready to exclaim,
'the bow of strength is broken — the shield is hung up in the
hall — the sword is rusting in the scabbard — the strong man
has bowed himself — the battle has ceased at the gate — the
valiant has fallen in the conflict with death — the strong rods
are broken and withered — the silver cord is loosed, the
golden bowl is broken ! They are gone who were swifter
than eagles and stronger than lions — the beauty of Israel is
slain upon the high places — how are the mighty fallen in
the midst of the battle ! ' Our first thought is to lift up
the prayer, "help Lord, for the godly man ceaseth, for the
faithful fail from among the children of men." But anon we
hear a voice from heaven saying "write, blessed are the
dead that die in the Lord, from henceforth, yea, saith the
Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works
do follow them."

18
Judge Wilkeson became a resident of this city before
the close of the war of 1812, when it was but an inconsid
erable frontier village, and was engaged in the partial
defence of Buffalo which was attempted at the time the
town was invaded, and destroyed by the British. His
early identification with the interests of this city is well
known, and it will probably be conceded that to no man,
living or dead, is Buffalo so much indebted for its rapid
growth and present position as the Queen City of the great
inland seas of the North. Indeed it may be questioned
whether this city would have been anything more than a
mere dependancy upon a neighboring village, had the provi
dence of God directed the footsteps of Judge Wilkeson
to another quarter.
Although a deep interest was felt by all the citizens
here to secure the advantages of the natural position of
Buffalo — though a law was obtained in 1818 authorizing a
sirvey of a harbor, and a loan in 1819 of $12,000 to build
it, yet without the courage and energy of Samuel Wilke
son, without his peculiar qualifications, without his devoted
psrsonal superintendence of the Work which made Buffalo
the terminus of the Erie canal, the project, to human view,
must have been abandoned. No disparagement is intended
of the efforts and sacrifices made by others. Among the
dead are Charles Townsend and Oliver Forward, who
signed with him that bond which pledged their private for
tunes to the repayment of the hazardous loan which laid
the corner stone of this growing city ; among the living

19
there are many who, to the extent of their means and
influence, aided in this great work. But where was the
man who could make a harbor with twelve thousand dollars ?
where the valiant man that would baffle the winds and shut
up the waves within the necessaiy bounds, and stay the
devastating sweep of the fearful storms which annually
career over the lakes with this insignificant sum — a work
which subsequently cost the general government^ two
hundred thousand dollars ? Who else had the physical
courage to labor with his men shoulder-deep in the water
from sunrise to sunset? Who here had the same control
over others, or could induce a gang of laborers to endure the
exhausting toils of an undertaking the recorded perils of
which are really starthng?* Without a leader possessing

* From a brief history of the early incidents connected with the
Buffalo Harbor, which appeared a few years since in the Commercial
Advertiser of this city, from the pen of Judge Wilkeson, we makes
the following extracts:
" But a harbor we were resolved to have. Application was accord
ingly made to the Legislature for a survey of the creek, and an act
was passed on the 10th of April, 1818, authorising the survey, and
directing the Supervisors of the county of Niagara to pay three dollars
a day to the surveyor, and to assess the amount upon the county.
The survey was made by the present Hon. William Peacock, during
the summer of that year, gratuitously. Then came the important
question, where to get Lhe money to build this harbor ? At that day
no one thought of looking to Congress for appropriations, and there
was no encouragement to apply to the Legislature of the State. The
citizens could not raise the means, however willing they might have
been. A public meeting was called, and an agent (the Hon. Chas.
Townsend) was appointed to proceed to Albany and obtain a loan.
Jonas Harrison, Ebenezer Walden, H. B. Potter, J. G. Camp, 0.

20
the combined physical and mental energy of our departed
friend, without a vahant man whose like could not be
found in our Israel to devote his whole powers of body and

Forward, A. H. Tracy, E. Johnson, E." F. Norton and Charles Town-
send were the applicants. Judge Townsend, after a.protracted effort,
succeeded, and an act was passed April 17th, 1819, authorizing a loan
to the above persons and their associates of $12,000, for twelve years,
to be secured on bond and mortgage, and applied to the- construction
of a harbor, which the state had reserved, the^rjgbti to take when
completed, and to cancel the securities. The. year 1819 was one of
general financial embarrasment, and no -where "was the pressure or
want of money more sensibly felt than in the iake country. It had no
market, and its produce was of little value. Some of the associates
became embarrassed and others discouraged. The summer passed
away, and finally all refused to execute the required securities except
Judge Townsend and Judge Forward. Thus matters stood in
December, 1819. Unless the condition of the loan should be com
plied with, the appropriation would be lost, and another might not
easily be obtained ; for the project of a harbor at Black Rock and the
termination of the canal at that place was advocated by influential
men, and the praetibility of making a harbor at the mouth of Buffalo
creek, was seriously questioned. At this crisis, Judge Wilkeson, who
had declined being on the original company, came forward, and with
Messrs. Townsend and Forward agreed to make the necessary secu
rity. This was perfected during the winter of 1 820."
Speaking of the failure of the superintendent first appointed, who
was removed : —
"No one could be found experienced in managing men, who would
undertake the superintendence. Mr. Townsend was an invalid and
consequently unable to perform the duty. Mr. Forward was wantino-
in the practical experience that was necessary. Mr. Wilkeson had
never seen a harbor and was engaged in business that required his
unremitted attention. But rather than the effort should be abandoned
he finally consented to undertake the superintendence and proceeded
immediately to mark out a spot for the erection of a shanty on the
beach between the creek and the lake — hired a few laborers, — gave

21

soul to the enterprise, it must have failed. If there be a
citizen among that early band of enterprising men who laid
the foundations of Buffalo, who was pre-eminent among oth-

the necessary orders for lumber, cooking utensils and provisions. The
boarding house and slee ping room were completed that same day.
" Neither clerk or other assistant, not even a carpenter to lay out the
work, was employed for the first two months to aid the superintendent;
who beside directing all the labor, making contracts, receiving mate
rials, &c, labored in the water with the men, as much exposed as
themselves, and conformed to the rules proscribed to them of com
mencing work at daylight, and continuing until dark, allowing half an
hour for breakfast, and an hour for dinner. Beside the labors of the
day, he was often detained until late at night waiting the arrival of
boats, to measure their loads of stone, and to see them delivered in
the pier, as without this vigilance some of the boatmen would unload
their stone into the lake which was easier than to deposite it in the
pier." After recording the perils of the work, its partial destruction at
various times and the constancy and courage with which their repeated
disasters were at last overcome, he says —
" Thus was completed the first work of the kind ever constructed
on the lakes. It had occupied two hundred and twenty-one working-
days in building, (the laborers always resting on the Sabbath) and
extended into the lake about eighty rods to twelve feet water. It
was begun, carried on and completed principally by three private
individuals, some of whom mortgaged the whole of their real estate
to raise the means for making an improvement in which they had but
a common interest And now, although but twenty years have
elapsed, these sacrifices and efforts, and even the fact that such a work
ever existed, are unknown to most of the citizens of Buffalo, who have
only seen the magnificent stone pier erected at a cost of over $200,-
000. But should the names of those who projected and constructed
the first pier be remembered, for a few years, yet the subordinate actors
by whose faithful labors the drudgery of this work was accomplished
must remain unknown even to those who enjoy the immediate fruits
of their labor in wealth and luxury."

22
ers in his efforts, who deserves above all to be remembered
and to have his name indissolubly connected with the
history of the city of his adoption by a record of his life
or by monumental honors, that citizen is the one whose
decease we this day lament. Who has forgotten the con
flict he sustained against one of the strongest men in the
State in behalf of Buffalo? Who has not heard of the
war between rival towns, a war of conflicting interests, in
which Judge Wilkeson as a mighty man of valor was
victor against principahties and powers. But the detail of
these things or the particulars of the pohtical life of Judge
Wilkeson will not be expected upon this occasion. It
will be enough to say that between the years 1820 and
1830 he was appointed first Judge of this county, was
elected a member of the Assembly, and at the expiration
of his term was sent from the eighth District to the Sen-
ate^of this State. He was one of the first citizens chosen
to fill the office of Mayor after the incorporation of this
city, and performed its duties with his characteristic intre
pidity and zeal, infusing his energy into the administration
of its affairs, and making its pohce, for the time, a terror to
evil doers. It is not too much to say that he filled all
these stations with distinguished ability and with contin
ually increasing reputation to himself and advantage to his
constituents. Soon after the close of his pohtical career he
became connected with the American Colonization Society
and acted for several years as an agent and manager of the
affairs of this benevolent institution without compensation.

23
His papers show the extensive knowledge he had acquired
of the geography of Africa, of the moral and physical con
dition of its population and the profound interest he felt in
the elevation of its degraded and barbarous tribes, an
interest that was not diminished by his retirement from his
official connexion with the cause, as years and infirmities
increased, but that continued to the end of his life.
The person of Judge Wilkeson was tall and comman
ding, the expression of his countenance somewhat stern
and severe, but full of inteUect and significant of his
wonderful power and energy of character. While no man
was more attached to his friends, it was perhaps a fault
of our departed brother that he never sought to conciliate
his enemies. Fearless of the opposition and enmity which
men of his position and character always excite, to a
greater or less extent, he was perhaps not sufficiently
anxious to explain his motives, or to go into a justification
of any plan of action adopted by him which aroused
opposition. Satisfied himself of the wisdom and rectitude
of his course, he was habitually careless of the opinions
of adversaries and went boldly to his object, not only
without equivocation or concealment, but without explan
ation. To this inflexibility of character may be traced the
origin of many controversies, and the continued bitterness
of some enmities which might otherwise have been preven
ted or healed, and though it was not mingled with any
thing vindictive, yet it was undoubtedly a defect, which
perhaps no one would be more ready to recognize and

24
acknowledge than himself. He was eminently fearless in
the expression of his opmions, and never shrunk from
the exposure of any corruption in high or low places,
whatever dariger might be incurred or whatever hostilities
aroused ; he was in this respect a valiant man, and few
like him are to be found in our Israel.
He was distinguished for the influence he exerted over
other minds. He was a natural leader of men, and would
have filled with credit and honor the most exalted stations
of Government and authority. He had an extraordinary
faculty of impressing his opinions upon others, and leading
them to conclusions which seemed their own but were
really his. There was a vigor of thought and action about
Judge Wilkeson that naturally subjected to his influence
those who came within his sphere ; like the strong current
of a rapid river, drawing within its control, carrying with
its flow and impelling with its motion, the objects that
would otherwise have remained inert and stationary. He
communicated his energy to other men, and gave impulse
and movement to other minds by the A'igor of his
own. In former ages and under other circumstances he
might have led armies to victory, or headed a revolution
against tyranny, or founded a dynasty, for he had all the
essential elements of the old hero race who were made
rulers and kings because they were " mighty men of valor,"
— who were elevated by common consent, as the ancient
Goths bore their elective monarchs aloft on their shields,
an acknowledgement and sign of a superiority, not of

25
accident, but of intellect and courage. Judge Wilkeson
was entirely free from that common error of httle minds,
of attempting to maintain an apparent consistency of
opinion at the expense either of veracity or integrity.
Notwithstanding his inflexibility of purpose and iron will,
he was ready to be corrected and open to conviction.
Any view that he had taken, any course that he had
adopted, which afterwards appeared erroneous he readily
and openly abandoned: As an illustration of this trait
the following fact has been furnished by one who knew
him intimately. A few months after he had made a pub-
he profession of religion, Judge Wilkeson was appointed
upon a committee of conference to promote a certain
measure of a moral and religious character. He made
some suggestion in regard to the matter, or advised some
plan which was thought by a much younger member of
the Committee to be imbued with the spirit of worldly,
rather than divine wisdom, which he frankly stated. The
Judge immediately replied, " those who have practised
upon the suggestions of expediency until they are old, are
likely to be misled by them, and you, my young friend
cannot understand how much a man, long trained' in the
maxims of the world, has to contend with," — a noble
reply to a just reproof. To that pretended consistency
which implies either an incapability of error or of pro
gress, he made no pretension, and those who do, seem to
forget that the assumption clothes him who makes it with
the attributes of God in the one case, by supposing him

26
infallible, or makes him in the other a fool, by denying
him the power or the disposition to correct his errors, or
increase his knowledge. It is not consistency, but cow
ardice that leads a class of men to cleave to their ancient
errors and adhere to their mistaken opinions. The vahant
man can no more be bound by them, than could Samson
by the cords of the Philistines. He goes where truth
leads, if he goes alone, unmoved by the snarling of that
envious crew, who invariably clog the heels of all who rise
above their own inferior and contemptible standard. That
Judge Wilkeson was not liable to be warped by the strong
views he took of his own side of a question, or that he
was incapable of prejudice is not intended by these
remarks, but that he could bear reproof, and when con
vinced of an error was ready to acknowledge his mistake
and retrace his steps.
Our departed brother possessed unusual conversational
powers, and we venture to affirm that few men were ever
in his company even for a brief period, without receiving
the impression that he was an extraordinary person, and
retaining a lively recollection of his appearance and
address. No one has travelled with him or spent half an
hour at a pubhc table in his society, who was not con
vinced that he was enjoying the conversation of a man of
splendid inteUect, of varied knowledge, and acute obser
vation. With what prompt and withering rebuke he has
reproved improprieties and purse proud insolence, and brawl
ing infidelty and profanity, in pubhc places, there are

27
living witnesses, who will never forget the power of his
eye, the sternness of his look, and the severity of his sar
casm. Let those of you who have long known Judge
Wilkeson, think for a moment and consider, whether you
remember any individual among your acquaintances who
generally resembles him ? Can you recall any person who
would remind you of his appearance, manner or address,
or whose mental characteristics are sufficiently similar to
sustain a comparison ? He was a man " sui generis " in
almost every respect, and although he may have had equals
in capacity, yet he possessed those pecuharities of mind and
manner which attract universal attention and prevent
all idea of resemblance.
No man could be more affectionate and indulgent in his
family than Judge Wilkeson. Whatever impression he
may have made upon casual acquaintances by a certain
apparent severity of manner, those who knew him best can
testify that ds a friend, as a husband, and as a father, his
conduct was characterized by a kindness and affection rarely
equalled. He was thrice married to women of superior
talents and character. It is but a few months since the
tears of a whole community bedewed the grave of that
excellent and eminent female *Mrs. Mary Peters Wilke
son, his last wife, whose sudden death undoubtedly hastened

* Note. — The following brief sketch of the life and character of
Mrs. W. is extracted from the funeral discourse delivered upon the
occasion of her death. It was the design of Judge Wilkeson to have
had the whole sermon published. In view of this and in accordance

28
his own. Former afflictions had come upon him in the
vigor of his strength — this in the sere and yellow leaf, when
the keepers of the house begin to tremble and they that
look out of the windows are darkened. In his declining
years she was to him an excellent gift from God, an orna-

with the wishes of her friends the extract which follows has been selec
ted, and appears in this connexion.
" She was a daughter of Gen. Absalom Peters, of Hebron,
Conn., who was of the old Puritan descent, The Peters family were
renowned as the friends of evangelical truth and civil liberty in the
fierce contentions of the lYth century in England, in which the founda
tion of English and American freedom were laid by the final over
throw of the Stuarts at the abdication of James II. The celebrated
Hugh Peters, who was beheaded in 1660, in the reign of Charles II,
was a brother of Gen. Peters' great grandfather. The Mother of
Mrs. Wilkeson was a daughter of Nathanial Rogers Esq., a descen
dant of the fifth generation from the Martyr John Rogers of England,
who was burned at Smithfield in 1550. This is not narrated simply
to show the descent of our departed sister from an ancestry illustrious
for ability and for their defence of civil and religious liberty, but that
we may notice the faithfulness of God to the original covenant, on
which he founded the Church, in the family of Abraham, when he
said, " I will be a God to thee, and thy seed after thee in all their
generations." — to show that she was of that holy generation, that
royal priesthood, that peculiar people, of whom were the fathers and
to whom and to their children after them, are the promises. A child
of the covenant, Mrs. Wilkeson was trained in the nurture and admo
nition of the Lord, and early manifested unusual talents which cultiva
ted with care and sanctified by the grace of God, placed her eventually
at the head of one of the most distinguished Seminaries of learning
for females in the United States. In the discharge of her onerous
and highly responsible duties as Principal of this school, on the classic
ground of New Haven, she spent many years of her life, previous to
her marriage with Judge Wilkeson, with distinguished reputation to
herself and usefulness to others. Her works do follow her, her wit-

29
ment to her sex, distinguished for her attainments, eminent
for her piety, whose winning deportment, lovely example,
and extensive charities won all hearts. The whole city
was moved at her death as though each had lost a personal
friend and benefactor, and what must have been the grief

nesses are scattered over a continent, her memorials are to be found
in households in almost every section of our extended Union, in the
characters of wives and mothers formed under her influence, upon
whose hearts the tidings of her sudden death will fall heavily, and
tears will be shed, and prayer offered and lamentation made by mul
titudes who received from her lips enduring lessons of wisdom and
piety. If we could follow the tidings of her decease to all the house
holds that will mourn her loss ; if we could mark the effect upon the
numerous pupils upon whom she left the grand impression of her
great intellect and her ardent piety ; if we could trace out all the
streams of influence springing out from.the Seminary at New Haven,
and for a time Ike silver threads gliding onward until they become
majestic rivers, bearing household treasures and immortal influences on
their broad expanse ; if we could observe the influence of the counsels of
wisdom and virtue instilled by mothers trained under her care, into
the infant minds of those who are to be the statesmen and legislators
of the next generation, we should see in the case of our departed
sister the significance of the words of the text, " their works do follow
them." The intellect of Mrs. Wilkeson was of a high order, she possessed
what is rarely found in combination, genius and judgment. She had
with the imagination of a poet, a philosophic cast, an antique grandeur
of mind, grasping easily all subjects from the highest to the lowest and
this was combined with a truly feminine delicacy of thought and
• feelino- as uniform as it was fascinating. It has been well said that
she possessed a wonderful ease and simplicity of manner combined
with a native and unaffected dignity and a benevolence of character
which shone out in her countenance as well as in her life, which
attracted all hearts. Though possessed of exquisite sensibility there
was a lofty calmness in her deportment in times of trial and trouble

30
of our aged brother when this rod of support to him was
broken and withered, and what must have been his sorrow,
when all were mourners, for the wife who was the light of
indicative of the native grandeur of her mind and her firm confidence
in God.
Hor Christian graces were manifest in all her life and conversation
in the church, and in the world. If in a christian character of such
admirable proportions, so justly balanced as that of our departed friend
then; can be properly any discrimination made, I should say she was
distinguished especially for her benevolence, her humility, and her
profound sense of dependance. Her charities were numerous, exten
sive and for the most part secret. Those who had wearied the patience
of all others by their multiplied wants and querulousness of disposi
tion found her yet a willing listener to their complaints, an unwearied
reliever of their necessities. The words of the Patriach were applica
ble to her : " When the ear heard me, then it blessed me ; and when
the eye saw me it gave witness unto me, because I delivered the poor
that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
The blessing of him that was ready to perish, came upon me and I
caused the widows heart to sing with joy. I put on rightousness
and it clothed me, my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was
eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame, and the cause I knew
not I searched out." Yet she counted herself the least of all saints,
exhibiting a humility of mind and a contrition of spirit which would
seem in strange contrast with her blameless and holy life, and conver
sation to those who know not the nature of true religion and remain
ignorant of the plague of their own hearts. Her constant feeling of
dependence upon God, was another prominent trait in her christian
character. From one of the last letters she ever wrote, addressed to
a beloved sister, who mourns for her with a grief like that of Rachel,
which refuses comfort, I am permitted to extract a Hymn of Prais»
composed by Mrs. W. during a recent journey to Chicago, and which,
with what precedes it, affords a striking view of her devotional feelinos.
Speaking of a sleepless night, she says, " I meditated upon God in the
night watches and on his providential care, and had this especially
impressed upon my mind, that

31
his hearth, the partner of his cares, the support of his old
age. It was a dark hour for our venerable friend when
that noble woman died ; its shadow never left him ; the sun
was never so bright for him afterward, nor the earth as
green, nor the summer air so balmy ; and " all the daugh-

" Nothing but truth before his throne
With honor can appear,
No vain pretense or false excuse
Can find acceptance there."
and so I resolved that I would study more to approve myself to God,
wh o I am persuaded will never forsake those who trust in him. Oh !
if we could commit all our ways to Him, it would be well with us
I finished my Hymn of Praise which I commenced at C hicago and
write it out for you. " O God of our salvation,
To thee we humbly raise
Our song of adoration,
Our sacrafice of praise.
Whose hand our way hath guided
Across the watery deep,
Each day new joy provided,
Each night refreshed with sleep.
And now, thou bounteous Giver,
Fresh mercies we implore,
For man the frail receiver
Must eVer ask for more.
Withhold thy righteous sentence
Against our sin's deserts,
And lead to true repentance
Our wandering wayward hearts.
And When flie voyage is ended
Of Life's uncertain sea,
And our spirits have ascended
To dwell for aye with thee—
The way the Lord hath brought us
Through all our mortal days,
And he whose blood hath bought us
Shall be our theme of praise."

32
ters of music were brought low " when that pleasant voice
was silenced by death. He said it was well, for he recog
nized the hand of God ; but from the day when the fight
of his dwelling was darkened, when the staff of his age
was broken, his time-touched locks became whiter, his
strong frame weaker, his brow more furrowed, his eye
more dun ; and standing by her tomb he could say with
the afflicted patriarch, "the grave is mine house, the
clods of the valley are now sweet unto me, ah the days
of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come."
Death came again to his doors, yet not as he supposed,
to dissolve the "house of his tabernacle," before the
trembling gates of which the grim monarch had so often
and so loudly knocked, but to chill the pulses of a prom
ising grand child* who inherited his name — to pale a coun
tenance glowing with health and beauty — to pass by, in
the mysterious providence of God, the aged and infirm
man, and cover with the deadly shadow of his wing one
before whom was the promise of a long life, the only son
of his mother, withered like aa opening blossom before an
But the life and character of such an one as our departed friend is an
exhaustless theme and we have spoken of her not with any vain
desire to exalt her character, or eulogize her intellect or magnify her
piety. We have spoken for the praise of Him whose grace was exhib
ited in her life for the honor of the gospel, of which she was a living
epistle, and because it is proper that her works, which follow her,
should, now that she is beyond the influence of praise, be reported for
the edification of the Church and the glory of God.
* An only son of Mr. William Wilkeson, aged about thirteen years,
who was instantly killed by the falling of a beam.

33
untimely frost. Our venerable friend c-nce more gazed
sorrowfully into the grave's mouth — surely, so he thought,
to open for him next ; but it was not so appointed. He
is summoned again to the death-bed of one of his
family,* called in the 'meridian of life to the unseen world,
and now he knows that he must soon He with them that
have gone before him to the dark and ^narrow house, yet
not with them, for the Angel of Death met him in the
way and his mortal remains repose in the mountains of
the South West, far from the* graves of his household — far
from his home and his loved ones — far from the city to
which his dust belongs, and the friends who would have
given him a burial expressive of their .esteem and worthy
of his fame. He sleeps away from the resting place of
his fathers, from the home of his childhood, from the
city of his adoption and the theatre of his life, yet he said
" what matters it where one dies " — and we know that
this is nothing to him that sleeps in Jesus.
" Asleep in Jesus, far from thee
Tfey kindred and their graves may be;
In burning sands or frozen snows
Believers find the same repose."
Some account of Judge Wilkeson's religious character
will be expected on this occasion, and from this place. He
who performs the last sad office of friendship and christian
affection, to day, in this funeral discourse upon the occasion
of the decease of a member and office bearer in this church,

* The late Dr. Stagg.
C

34
stood with him seventeen years since in the same aisle,
where a large company were assembled for the first time
to receive the memorials of a Savior's love, and to acknowl
edge the Crucified before men. It was a solemn scene.
In those aisles of the only Presbyterian church at that time
erected in this city, were seen the results of a revival of
religion, by far more extensive and powerful than any
which preceded or have hitherto succeeded it, were
assembled a large company of ah ages and classes, the old,
the middle-aged and the young : there were the poor and
unknown, with the rich, the gifted, and the honorable, to
confess the same Savior, to acknowledge a common faith
and a common hope : there ancient enemies met, long
estranged, now reconciled, brethren henceforth, receiving
together the sacramental symbols, the communion of the
body and the blood of Christ, a spectacle of wonder and
joy to angels and men. From that solemn day to this, no
one has been more conversant with the religious character
of Judge Wilkeson, no one has better known his views
and feehngs upon religious subjects, no one, out of his
family, has been with him in habits of more friendly and
confidential intercourse than the Pastor of the church of
which he was so. long a member and an elder; and I do not
hesitate to say that whatever power of past habit might
have been manifest in a man, who first became experimen
tally acquainted with Christianity at the age of fifty years,
whatever from the bold and original cast of his mind, or
from the peculiarities fixed by the passage of hah a century,

35
may have been inferred, by prejudice or enmity, in the
case of one, who had uncharitable opponents as well as
warm friends, our departed brother gave clear and ample
evidence of a gracious change wrought in his heart by the
power of the Eternal Spirit. Says one who knew him
well and who has kindly communicated several circum
stances in his history, "his meekness, his noble simplicity,
and marked growth in spirituality from the time of his
conversion, ought not to be lost sight of, and will not by
one who knew him so weh as yourself."
There was apparent, in Judge Wilkeson, after his public
profession of the faith of Christianity, not the mere restraints
of a religious education which, however important, are no
evidence of a vital union with the Redeemer — not alone
that acquaintance with and respect for the gospel, which
was one consequence of his Presbyterian training, but a
spiritual apprehension and love of divine things, a total
renunciation of his own merits as a ground of hope, a
closing in with the terms of the gospel and a cleaving to
His righteousness who is the "end of the Law for righte
ousness to every one that believeth." He had now not only
a profound sense of the guilt and condemnation of human
nature, but of his own unworthiness of the divine favor,
and that as a sinner there was no hope for him but in
that Redeemer who came to seek and to save that which
is lost, and "who is able to save to the uttermost ah that
come unto God by Him." An advance was very manifest
in Judge Wilkeson in the latter years of his life, in the

36
knowledge of God his Savior, in a clearer apprehension of
the great truths of the Scriptures, especially of those
doctrines of grace maintained by the Reformers, and
defended at this day by the Presbyterian church. Though
entangled for a time in the heresies and heats which pre
vailed here extensively after his profession of religion, he
soon discovered their real nature and influence, and cor
dially returned with this church to the General Assembly,
to .which .he was several times elected a commissioner, and
of which he was once at least a member. He evidently
advanced, towards the close of his hfe, in the discernment
and love of spiritual things ; there was in him a marked
growth in grace and an increase in his desire for the
advancement of the kingdom of Christ, and in his willing
ness to make personal and pecuniary sacrifices for the
spread of the gospel.
To the cause of Missions he was a hberal contributor.
No man in this church felt a deeper interest in the spread
of the gospel in the dark places of the earth.* The con
dition and prospects of the unhappy tribes of Africa were,
as we have seen, a matter of constant and increasing weight
with our lamented brother. The cause of Christian educa
tion had a large place inJiis thoughts, and in one of the last
conversations I had with him he mentioned his design to
secure the sum of ten thousand dollars to endow an insti-

* Since the delivery of this discourse it has been ascertained
that Judge Wilkeson has left a liberal bequest for the founding of a
Mission on the coast of Africa.

37
tution of learning, to be under the care of the Judicato
ries of the Presbyterian Church, which, had he lived, he
would have undoubtedly carried into effect. Almost all
the great moral enterprises of the day had his countenance
and aid, and numerous instances might be given of his
readiness in every good work, and of his liberal contribu
tions for the various objects of benevolence.
As an Elder in this church, he was excellent in counsel
and prompt in his performance of the duties of his office,
so far as his advancing age would permit, and notwith
standing his multiplied sorrows and increasing infirmities,
though laboring under a form of disease which subjected
him to the most excruciating pain and which would have
utterly incapacitated most men from active exertion or
warm interest in the external affairs of the church, he
continued to manifest the deepest concern in the prosperity
of this congregation by personal efforts and pecuniary con
tributions. A strong rod was broken and withered in our
Zion when Samuel Wilkeson died. In the pathetic
language of the Psalmist, we may say, "Return, 0 Lord,
how long, and let it repent thee, concerning thy servants.
Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast
afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil."
Of the death of our departed friend and brother, while
on the way to visit a daughter residing in the state of
Tennessee, no very full account has been received. A
stranger,* who was called to his death-bed, gives the
* Dr. McCall, of Tennessee.

38
following statement of the last scene in his life, through
the columns of the New York Journal of Commerce.
"On arriving at Kingston, Roane Co., Tennessee, at 9
P. M., of the 7th inst., I was requested to see a dying
stranger, Judge Samuel Wilkeson, of Buffalo, New York.
As an enterprising citizen whose conduct had been marked
with great benevolence, I had heard of him. He had a
daughter with him on their way to visit his married
daughter at Tellico Plains, forty miles from this place.
The latter arrived to attend his funeral at 6 o'clock this
evening, the 9th. Bronchial Erysipelas of two year's
standing had caused gouty and rheumatic. neuralgia in the
lumbar and sciatic nerve, with other constitutional derange
ment. He was conscious of his approaching dissolution,
and met it with the most perfect calmness and submission.
On asking for water, he found he could not swallow it, and
turning over said he would " drink of the springs of living
waters." Intently examining his benumbed limbs with
his hands and piercing blue eyes, he said submissively and
assentingly, "Well! Well!" Having forgotten words to
express himself, his brain was actively thinking for twelve
or fourteen hours, when its powers suddenly sinking, he
passed from life, like one quietly reposing in sleep, not
moving one muscle, nor suffering any distress. Truly his
seemed to be the death of the Christian, necessary for
passing the screen that conceals future life from our view-
He was an active promoter of the Colonization cause, years

39
ago, and had long been an exemplary member of the
Presbyterian Church. His form and appearance strikingly
resembled Gen. Jackson. He was sixty-seven years of
age." "Judge Wilkeson " says the same writer in a subsequent
statement of his disease and its termination, "could not
long have survived even had he not subjected himself to
change of place and the fatigue of travel."
In the impression made upon a stranger in the final
struggle, we perceive another proof of the native grandeur
of the man whose loss we lament, more than this we find
the evidence that God was with him in the last conflict in
the dark valley. But one child was present to wipe the
death damps from his furrowed brow, and she a widow and
desolate, whose last prop seemed now failing — who, over
whelmed by the calamity, stood trembling there to receive,
rather than communicate consolation, for the last effort he
made, says the attending physician, appeared to be an
attempt to comfort his daughter. Strangers, compassionate
and attentive indeed, but strangers still, stood by that bed
of death in the hour of his mortal agony, but ONE was
with our dying friend 'who sticketh closer than a brother ;'
ONE, who walked with the Hebrew children in the fires
of the Babylonish furnace, which had been seven times
heated; ONE, whose form was like the Son of God.
Angels, too, were there, and as the film of death obscured
his vision of earthly things, he saw them bending over him
to lift the curtain of eternity and point him to the living

40
waters which flow fast by the throne of God. " I wih
drink," said he, " of the springs of living waters," when
dissolving nature refused the pure element which is the
type of the rivers of hfe in the heavenly city.
" Is it well with thee," was the enquiring look of those
who gazed upon the countenance of the aged sufferer. " It
is well," was his reply as he yielded his spirit to the Lord
of hfe. We shah see him no more, until the heavens fail,
until the elements melt with fervent heat, and the dead
hear the voice of the archangel and the trump of God,
and amid the groans of a dissolving universe, assemble
before the great white throne and Him who sits thereon,
before whom Heaven and Earth shah flee away. But though
dead he yet speaketh ; a voice from that death bed, from
that lone grave in the mountains comes to you who are of
his blood, entreating ah who are his children by descent,
and who inherit his name, to be also the heirs of his faith
and hope, to say from your hearts, " my father, my father,
thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." I
am a witness to you this day of the deep and earnest
sohcitude of your venerable father for your salvation, often
expressed to me as his pastor and friend. May you drink
with him at the last of these springs of living waters,
which he saw by faith before his spirit entered the unseen
world.*

* In his last letter addressed to his sons, Judge Wilkeson says,
among other things, " I may never see you again, whether I do or not,
be kind to each other, be liberal, and generous — forgiving all injuries
whether real or imaginary."

41
"This is the end of earth," said a great statesman
struck down by death in the hah of the national legisla
ture. " Ah flesh is grass," and man's " life is a vapor
which appeareth for a moment and then vanisheth away,"
is the testimony of the Holy Ghost. How impressive is
the lesson of the vanity of earthly honors and the brevity
of human life when the great and gifted die, when we are
compelled to take up the lamentation " How are the mighty
fahen and the weapons of war perished," when the strong
man has bowed himself, and the bow of the vahant is
broken. Happy are they, who like our departed friend,
cast down their honors at the foot of the cross, who lay up
durable riches and righteousness, who seek for glory, honor
and immortahty, even eternal Hfe.
The same startling contrasts which move us when the
great and noble go down to the land of silence and dark
ness, when the strong, the beautiful and the vahant bend
beneath the touch of death, and seem to say in the pathetic
language of Job, " my days are past, my purposes are bro
ken off, the grave is mine house, I have made my bed in
darkness, I have said to corruption thou art my father, to
the worm thou art my mother and my sister," have
been witnessed and felt by ah former generations, the
broken monuments of whose magnificence and power are
scattered over the earth, like beacons on the shores of time,
warning the Mariner on the Ocean of life of the inevitable
shipwreck and ruin which sooner or later overtake all
temporal things.

42
The mighty Shadows of the Past as they flit along
the dim perspective of History, lift the finger of warmng
and point us to the graves of Empires, the shattered
columns of the vast cities of antiquity, and to the few
names of valiant men that have escaped the erasure of
Time ; and voices .from these august Spectres, reverbe
rate along the fine of centuries like the sound of many
waters, exclaiming ' this is the end of earth,' behold all is
vanity, while voices from heaven respond 'verily man at his
best estate is altogether vanity, his life is a vapor, he is
crushed before the moth, his works perish, he cometh forth
as a flower and is cut down, he fleeth also as a shadow
and continueth not ; ' and mournful responses from our
fallen world pierce the skies, " if a man die shall he five
again? and where is then our hope and where is our
Dehverer ?" then the Lord ' thunders from Heaven and
the most High utters his voice,' before an astonished and
attentive universe. " Behold, HE cometh from Edom, with
dyed garments from Bozrah, his apparel is red, HK treads
the wine-press of my wrath alone, and of the people there
is none with Him, — the Angel of the Covenant, the Prince
of Peace, the Everlasting Father, the Redeemer mighty
to save, and they that believe in Him shah live and reign
forever as kings and priests unto God. To Him be glory
and dominion, Amen.

43

APPENDIX.

Judge Wilkeson was often a member of the Synod of Buffalo,
aiding their deliberations by his counsels. The following notice of
his death will indicate the esteem in which he was held by this body :
Extract from the Records of the Synod of Buffalo, held at Roch
ester, Aug. 17, 1848 —
Whereas it has pleased God to remove from this world the Hon-
Samuel Wilkeson, late an Elder in one of our Churches, and from
time to time a member of this Judicatory;
Therefore resolved by this Synod, that, in the death of Judge Wil
keson we are called to mourn the loss of an individual distinguished
by his high position, by his gifts of intellect, by his christian benevo
lence, and by his ardent attachment to the interests and his earnest
efforts for the advancement of the Presbyterian Church.
Resolved, that we deeply sympathize with his bereaved family in
their afflictions, and our prayer to God, is, that the death of our depar
ted Brother may be sanctified to them, that his religious counsels may
be embalmed in their memories, and that the Spirit of all Grace may
impart to them all needful consolation and enable them to follow in
his footsteps.
Resolved, that the Stated Clerk of the Synod address to the family
of the late Judge Wilkeson a copy of this minute.
A. T. RANKIN, Moderator.
A true copy from the record.
Attest John C. Lord, Stated Cleric.

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THE SLAVERY QUESTION AND COLONIZATION.

Some years since Judge Wilkeson published under his own name
in the columns of the Commercial Advertiser of this city, several
articles on the subject of Slavery and the elevation of the colored
race. They were written with great ability and indicated his intimate
acquaintance with this complicated and difficult question. The follow
ing extract has been selected for the reason that it presents his views
on the subject of Colonization. Speaking of the free Blacks, he says:
" Wherever the white laborer came in contact with the black, he
prevailed. Thus depressed, it is not surprising that so many should
have become tenants of our prisons.
"In Massachusetts (in 1826,) where only one seventy-fourth part
of the population were free people of color, one-sixth part of the
convicts were of their number. In Connecticut, one-thirty-fourth part
of the population were colored and one-third of the convicts. In
Vermont, where there are only nine hundred and eighteen colored
persons altogether, twenty-four of that number were in the Peniten
tiary. In New York, one-thirty-fourth part of the population were
colored, and about one-fourth of the convicts. In New Jersey, one-
thirteenth of the population and one-third of the convicts. In Penn
sylvania, one-thirty-fourth part of the population, and one-third of the
convicts were colored persons."
Although the relation of master and slave was dissolved, and the
slaves of the eastern and middle states had become free, yet the
hopes of their elevation, which had been honestly and confidently
anticipated by the benevolent friends of emancipation, were disap
pointed. They saw the colored man excluded, by the stern law of
public opinion, from social equality with the whites. However worthy
and respectable the family of the negro, the parlor and the drawing-
room were shut against them, and the schools were closed against their
children. If a young colored man was educated, no merchant would
give him employment at his counter, or in his counting-room. He
could not get employed as a mechanic, for no journeyman would work

45
with him at the same bench, or in the same shop, or permit him to
board at the same table. Had the colored man displayed the greatest
perseverance and fortitude, the obstacles thrown in his way would have
been insurmountable, but he possessed neither the one nor the other,
and the hope of his elevation in this country could not be realised until
a total change should take place in the public mind. In Massachu
setts nearly half a century had passed since slavery was abolished, and
no advance had been made in elevating the negro; and if the most
intelligent, moral and religious community in the world would not
take the poor, oppressed, and much abused African by the hand, and
raise him to an equality with themselves, his case was hopeless; the
fate of the red man awaited him. The free man of color was among
us, but not of us.
Mr. Jefferson, and other distinguished southern men, exerted
themselves successfully in awakening the attention of slave holders of
the south to the evils of domestic slavery. A large number of slaves
were emancipated, particularly in North Carolina and Virginia, but
instead of improving their liberty, and making 'themselves useful as
free laborers, they generally became worthless and vicious. Many
masters who were prepared to emancipate their slaves were restrained
from doing so, under the belief that -it would be only consigning them
4o wretchedness.
The friends of the colored man, disappointed, but not discouraged,
resolved to make another effort for his elevation, by seeking a country
to which he could remove and call it his home, where he would have
no white man to lord it over him, where all the stimulants and induce-
mentsto noble and manly effort would be felt, where he would be the
maker and executor of his own laws, and could hope to see his race
rise by their own energies to the enjoyment of religious and civil
liberty. This was a plan worthy of the men who conceived it, men
who icould not be Suspected of selfishness, who loved to do good to
their fellow men, because they were immortal follow beings. Deeply
sympathising with the children of Africa in our own country, and for
whom their seemed no hope, -to whom emancipation was scarcely a
blessing, they resolved upon Colonization.
The formation of the American Colonization Society, its object — the
commencement of a colony in Liberia on the western coast of Africa,
and its progress up to this time, are known to the American public.
Whatever may be the fate of that colony, the scheme of colonization

46
itself was evidently wise and benevolent, and adapted to the end in
view. The object of this society was to remove free colored men with
their own consent, from a country where insurmountable difficulties
appeared to be in the way of their elevation, to a country where all
their energies could be called into action and have full scope. Some
of the early friends of the society, no doubt had other views than those
expressed, in giving their support : this does not however detract from
its merit, nor from the wisdom and benevolence of its founders. If
the chances of success had been ever so doubtful, the experiment was
bold, and commended itself to the benevolent world. The good to be
attained, if successful, would embrace the whole African race. But
the scheme itself was practicable, and the partial success which at first
attended its prosecution, is attributable to causes which could not have
been foreseen, and to errors which might have been avoided."