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Article AN ORATION ← Page 3 of 5 →
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An Oration
so as scarcely to leave to him the vestiges of their ancientand extensive domains , yet he not only supported with decent dignity the appearance of a gentleman , but he extended his bounty to many ; and , as far as his fortune permitted , was ever ready to assist those who claimed the benefit of his protection . If in the course of transactions in business his schemes were not always successful ; if asanguine
, temper sometimes led him too far in the pursuit of a favourite plan ; whatever might be urged against his prudence , none ever suspected the rectitude of his principles ; and if at any time he was unintentionally the cause of misfortune to others , it was never without his being at the same time himself a sufferer . After this briefbutI hope , just and well-merited eutogium , permit
, , me to claim your attention a little longer to some few reflections which naturally present themselves on such an occasion ; and which , therefore , 1 hope , will not be thought foreign to the purpose of our present meeting . I need hardly remark that commemorations such as this , are meant not solely in honour of the dead , but chiefly for the advantage of the living . Our worthy Brother is now gone to that
land where , in respect of the passions and prejudices of mortals , " all things are forgotten ; " where he is far removed from the applause or . censure of the world . But whatever can tend to enhance the value of departed merit , must , to an ingenuous mind , prove an incitement to the performance of praise-worthy actions ; and if we make the proper use of this recent instance of mortality , our Brother ' s death may prove of higher utility to us than all those advantages for which in his life-time we stood indebted to him .
My younger Brethren will permit me to remark to them , that although this our Most Worshipful Brother attained to that age which David has marked as the boundary of human'life * , at the same time without experiencing any great degree of that " labour and sorrow" which the royal prophet has recorded as the inseparable concomitants of so advanced a period ; although his mental faculties remained unimpaired to the lastand even his bodily strength had
, suffered but a slight and very late decay ; we are not to look on this as a common instance , nor to expect that we shall certainly be indulged with an equal longevity ; for hairs so grey as his are permitted but to a few , and few can boast of so singular an exemption from the usual uneasinesses of advanced age . Let us not , therefore , vainly flatter ourselves that we have still many years unexhausted , in
which we shall have time sufficient for the performance of the duties peculiar to our respective stations ; nor from this idea delay those tasks which , although of infinite importance , we may be disposed to postpone a little longer , because they are not perhaps of a very pleasing nature . If this instance of our aged Brother should seem to contradict my assertion , I am able to confirm it by another event , which but too
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Oration
so as scarcely to leave to him the vestiges of their ancientand extensive domains , yet he not only supported with decent dignity the appearance of a gentleman , but he extended his bounty to many ; and , as far as his fortune permitted , was ever ready to assist those who claimed the benefit of his protection . If in the course of transactions in business his schemes were not always successful ; if asanguine
, temper sometimes led him too far in the pursuit of a favourite plan ; whatever might be urged against his prudence , none ever suspected the rectitude of his principles ; and if at any time he was unintentionally the cause of misfortune to others , it was never without his being at the same time himself a sufferer . After this briefbutI hope , just and well-merited eutogium , permit
, , me to claim your attention a little longer to some few reflections which naturally present themselves on such an occasion ; and which , therefore , 1 hope , will not be thought foreign to the purpose of our present meeting . I need hardly remark that commemorations such as this , are meant not solely in honour of the dead , but chiefly for the advantage of the living . Our worthy Brother is now gone to that
land where , in respect of the passions and prejudices of mortals , " all things are forgotten ; " where he is far removed from the applause or . censure of the world . But whatever can tend to enhance the value of departed merit , must , to an ingenuous mind , prove an incitement to the performance of praise-worthy actions ; and if we make the proper use of this recent instance of mortality , our Brother ' s death may prove of higher utility to us than all those advantages for which in his life-time we stood indebted to him .
My younger Brethren will permit me to remark to them , that although this our Most Worshipful Brother attained to that age which David has marked as the boundary of human'life * , at the same time without experiencing any great degree of that " labour and sorrow" which the royal prophet has recorded as the inseparable concomitants of so advanced a period ; although his mental faculties remained unimpaired to the lastand even his bodily strength had
, suffered but a slight and very late decay ; we are not to look on this as a common instance , nor to expect that we shall certainly be indulged with an equal longevity ; for hairs so grey as his are permitted but to a few , and few can boast of so singular an exemption from the usual uneasinesses of advanced age . Let us not , therefore , vainly flatter ourselves that we have still many years unexhausted , in
which we shall have time sufficient for the performance of the duties peculiar to our respective stations ; nor from this idea delay those tasks which , although of infinite importance , we may be disposed to postpone a little longer , because they are not perhaps of a very pleasing nature . If this instance of our aged Brother should seem to contradict my assertion , I am able to confirm it by another event , which but too