{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36351/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36351","id":"gutenberg_36351","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36351","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Funeral sermons","Marsh, Lucy Gilpatrick, 1792-1868 -- Death and burial -- Sermons","Sermons, American"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Gerard Arthus, Lisa Reigel, and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes: Words in italics in the original are surrounded by\n_underscores_. A row of asterisks represents a thought break.\n\n\n\n\n                               MEMORIAL\n\n                                  OF\n\n                     MRS. LUCY GILPATRICK MARSH.\n\n\n                          A FUNERAL ADDRESS\n           DELIVERED AT THE ELIOT CHURCH, BOSTON HIGHLANDS,\n                        MONDAY, JUNE 22, 1868.\n\n\n                                  BY\n\n                      REV. A. C. THOMPSON, D.D.\n\n\n       PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE ELIOT\n                        CITY MISSION SOCIETY.\n\n\n                               BOSTON:\n                          GOULD AND LINCOLN,\n                        59 WASHINGTON STREET.\n                                1868.\n\n\n\n\nFUNERAL ADDRESS.\n\n\nWhen the Lord removed his servant Moses, there was but one mourner, and\nthat mourner was all Israel. To-day a whole community is the mourner. A\nmother--may I not say, _the_ mother--in Israel has been taken from us. A\nwoman, a whole woman, an aged woman, a thoroughly Christian woman,--one\nworthy to have sat with Mary Magdalene and the other Mary \"over against\nthe sepulchre,\" to have returned with them, that she might assist in\npreparing sweet spices, and, when the Sabbath was past, to have come\nback again to the tomb,--is herself to be laid away to-day. We glance at\nher career and character.\n\nIt is of small moment where she was born,--it was in the town of\nBiddeford, Maine; of small moment that it was on July 3d, 1792; of small\nmoment that she was the youngest of twelve children, none of whom now\nsurvive. But it is a point of interest to us, that, when a little past\ntwenty years of age, she became by renewing grace a child of God; that\nthe chief reason for leaving home, fifty years ago, was a persistent\nopposition, on the part of friends, to her Christian activity; that\nafterwards she left for a time her field of usefulness in this city to\nattend upon her mother in her last sickness, and then had the\nsatisfaction of rejoicing over the conversion of that parent at the same\nage she has now herself departed this life. Still later, and under the\nsame circumstances, she performed a similar kind service for her father\nin his closing sickness, and was cheered by the hope of his conversion\ntoo, when just verging upon fourscore. Being in Biddeford at that time\nfor ten months, she established a female prayer-meeting, and several\nconversions followed. She also, after much opposition, opened a Sabbath\nschool, having obtained permission to occupy a school-house, but at the\nsame time being forbidden to use wood belonging to the town. That, it\nwas supposed, would prevent the attendance of children. But the noble\nwoman was not to be baffled thus. In her own arms she carried fuel from\nher house. Of course the Sabbath school was a success.\n\nShe had previously had tempting offers, to the extent even of the\nhomestead to be secured to her, if she would remain there; but\nProvidence, as she believed, evidently called her to Christian labors in\nthis city, and to her mind that was decisive. Pecuniary considerations\nmight not divert her from the Master's service here. How far from a\nsinecure was that! While acting indefatigably as matron of a reformatory\ninstitution, she attended the prayer-meetings of the church to which she\nbelonged, and a private devotional meeting preparatory to each of them.\nIn addition to her regular Sabbath-school exercise, she once a week\ntaught a class of colored children, and spent Saturday afternoons in\nvisiting members of the same, besides paying weekly visits to persons in\nthe House of Correction.\n\nOne of the senior members of this church hands me, by request, the\nfollowing memorandum:[Footnote: Rev R. Anderson, D.D.]--\n\n\"I have known Mrs. Marsh since the year 1820, or about forty-eight\nyears. In that year I came to Boston from the Andover Seminary, with\nseveral classmates, to spend a vacation in missionary labors, and made\nmy home at a religious boarding-house, kept by Miss Witham and Miss\nGilpatrick. As I recollect Miss Gilpatrick,--and I well recollect\nher,--she was the same sort of a Christian woman then that we have known\nher to be of late years, only without that grand development, which time\nand the grace of God have given her, placing her among the more\nremarkable Christian women of her generation. Miss Witham was married,\nnot long after, to the Rev. Amos Bingham, brother of the missionary,\nand, at a later period, Miss Gilpatrick was married to the Rev.\nChristopher Marsh, pastor of the Congregational Church in West Roxbury.\nFor several years before her marriage she had filled a responsible\nstation in one of the most self-denying departments of the religious\ncharities in Boston; and always, as I have understood, with the\nunbounded confidence of those who knew her, in her ability, integrity,\nand devotedness to the cause of her Redeemer, and in her unwearied\nefforts for the salvation of those placed under her care. Since that\ntime she has been a striking illustration of an humble, devoted,\nself-denying, intelligent, useful follower of the Lord Jesus.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhat might be expected of such a one as parishioner? Just what her\npastor at Jamaica Plain,[Footnote: Rev A. H. Quint, D.D.] and other\nfriends there testify. The church in that place, then struggling into\nexistence, was not a little indebted to her. It was her constant\nendeavor to promote sociability in the congregation; she made it an\ninvariable practice to call on all new-comers, and to request others to\ndo the same. Never did she, except under necessity, absent herself from\nchurch meetings, nor omit to speak a kind word and also a faithful word\nto those whom she met, when suitable occasions presented. Her spirit and\nways were peculiarly motherly. During her residence here, I have never\nlooked upon her as a parishioner so much as a colleague, my senior, and\none that may well be accounted a model.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhat might be expected of such a one as pastor's wife? I indulge in no\nvague and conjectural portrait-painting, nor yield to any professional\nbias, but give the deliberate judgment of those acquainted, and\nqualified to speak. In the delicate relation now referred to, she was\ngreatly beloved at West Roxbury;[Footnote: 1831-1850.] her life there\nwas that of a missionary laboring in the by-ways for miles around. It\nwas very much owing to her truly self-denying and most energetic\nefforts, that a place of worship was built, for which, as for the\ncommunion service, she solicited funds. She collected the Sabbath\nschool, and for a time superintended it herself. She gathered a female\nprayer-meeting, and a meeting of mothers, both of which she sustained\nalmost unaided. Her kind attentions to the sick and afflicted, to the\naged and the young, were unwearied.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn 1838, the Rev. Mr. Marsh, finding his health improved, was invited\nto settle again over the church in Sanford, Me., where he had first been\na pastor. Soon after, there began a remarkable work of grace in that\ntown, and during the short ministry there, till death closed her\nhusband's labors, Mrs. Marsh toiled and prayed, and rejoiced over a\nspiritual harvest. It is not too much to say there will be weeping\nthroughout the town of Sanford, where these remains are to be taken,\nwhen the news of her decease shall reach the place. What she was as a\nmother, faithful and tender, there are those present who can testify.\n\nWhat now might be expected of one, with such a character and such\nantecedents, on becoming our city missionary? Precisely what we delight\nto record of her. In September, 1861, she began that labor amongst us.\nSingular devotedness, fidelity, and good judgment have marked her whole\nministry here. Not long since she mentioned to a friend that she had\ntaken this passage for her daily resting-place,--\"Be careful for\nnothing.\" Of nothing that pertained to herself--ease, strength, or\nhealth--was she careful. The cause of the poor, and those spiritually\nperishing, she made her own. She gathered, and chiefly maintained, two\nor more series of weekly prayer-meetings, and a mother's meeting; she\ntaught a Bible-class in the mission Sabbath school; and that school, by\ntheir tearful presence, now attest the deep regard which they entertain\nfor her.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA sewing school, during the colder season, was one favorite method of\nusefulness. The first intimation of her coming in was the signal of a\ngeneral brightening of faces, and her smiles, bestowed upon all, gave\nfullest satisfaction. While interested in providing employment for each\nscholar during the session, her chief thought seemed to be, \"How can I\nbenefit these immortal souls?\" To the utmost would she strive to win\ntheir attention to God's Word, to a hymn, or valuable story. Though\ncoming to the school, often weary with labors elsewhere, she would still\nlisten with great patience to the many questions asked, and would bear\nup cheerfully under the multiplied cares of the hour.\n\nBut her chief vocation was to visit from house to house. Go out with her\ninto the region assigned. It is no fancy sketch that I draw. Those who\nhave accompanied Mrs. Marsh supply the materials, if not the colors. In\nher walks through by-ways, after her character had become manifest,\nwords of greeting would everywhere meet her from the little child and\nfrom older persons. The young were drawn to her, and for all she had a\nkind word and a wise word. In the sick-room her presence acted like a\ncharm; the languid eye would brighten, and the name of Jesus was sure to\nbe whispered in the ear. It was as easy for her to pray to our heavenly\nFather as to speak to any friend; her prayers were earnest, simple,\nconfiding, and appropriate to the occasion and the person.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHer peculiar field presents phases quite varied, and which quite\ndecisively test character. The concurrent testimony of those who have\nbeen associated with Mrs. Marsh more or less intimately, and have seen\nher in the different departments of Christian work, is that they cannot\nname a fault in her; that they have been deeply impressed with her\nsingular fitness for such service; that they have found her always calm\nand collected; that she never seemed surprised at any scene of\ndestitution, or any amount of complaint poured into her patient ear;\nthat she showed herself forbearing and sympathizing, yet watchful and\ndecided; and that, if occasion required,--as occasion sometimes did\nrequire,--they found she could be stern.\n\nShe understood human nature well; character seemed to lie open to her\neye. Attempts at concealment or deceit were almost always futile. One\nhad need be master of chicanery to impose upon her.\n\nVery few here know what courage there was in that heart. Never otherwise\nthan womanly, never weakly feminine, she exhibited, when there was need,\ntrue heroism, a masculine daring of benevolence. She never boasted,--no\ntruly courageous person is ever boastful,--she seldom spoke of what she\nhad done; but there are persons living who know somewhat of a history,\nin former years especially, that shows the highest style of undaunted,\nself-forgetting intrepidity.\n\nAnother characteristic of Mrs. Marsh--and far from being\nunimportant--was her habit of great exactness in making a written record\nof articles sent in for gratuitous distribution, and in keeping a\ndetailed account, even to every two-cent purchase, from her \"Poor's\nPurse,\" which was entirely separate from the mission treasury.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHer industry was remarkable. It was not fragmentary, occasional,\nspasmodic; but maintained month by month, year after year, in heat and\ncold, in rain, snow, and tempest, in weariness, and often in great\ndiscomfort walking a long way from her home that she might minister to\nthose in need. After visiting thus from house to house all day, she has\nfrequently sewed till the neighborhood of midnight preparing garments\nfor the destitute. If there are any two stars symbolizing activity and\nperseverance, it must have been under their conjunction that she was\nborn. Growing old and growing indolent had no affinity in her. It should\nbe borne in mind that almost the whole of this good work amongst us has\nbeen performed on borrowed time, since the period of three-score and ten\nhad been reached,--a period which by universal consent is allowed and is\nusually taken for repose, for remission of all laborious effort. At the\nhour of her decease last Saturday morning, Mrs. Marsh lacked only\nthirteen days of being seventy-six.\n\nLook at her record for the last year only. Besides being almoner of\nother comforts and delicacies for the sick and destitute, she\ndistributed more than one thousand two hundred garments and other\narticles to the needy; more than two thousand religious tracts, papers,\nbooks, and the like; and made rising of three thousand visits; which,\nowing to lameness, was a number less by one thousand than that of the\nyear previous.\n\nIt should be stated that in early life her constitution and her health\nseemed not to be firm; and that frequently her toils have been\nprosecuted amidst no small amount of weakness and even suffering. Hers\nis one of the cases going to show that nothing conduces more to\nlongevity than benevolent industry.\n\nIt should also be stated that this perseverance in Christian toil did\nnot stand connected with personal necessities. Children had urged her to\nwithdraw from these labors, and at more than one of their homes is an\napartment called \"Mother's Room,\" which has for years stood waiting for\nher. Loyalty to the Master demanded, as she believed, that all remaining\nstrength should, no less than in former years, be devoted to him. Her\nlife was, to its close, a protest against the prevailing spirit of\nself-indulgence. Though fully aware that the hour of departure hastened\non, she could not bring herself to the pitiful work of merely saving her\nown soul. There are certain of woman's rights which she strenuously yet\nmodestly vindicated,--her right to quiet benevolent activity, her right\nto be a ministering angel. You may have noticed that trees and plants,\nwhen they feel the approach of decay, sometimes seem to hasten their\nfruitage just at the last. She was aware that her time was short, and\nshe hastened to make the most of it. And it would be an important\nomission if the statement were not made that in her views of duty and in\nher Christian sympathies there was no narrowness. This work of city\nevangelization was no pet employment. It proceeded from genuine\nprinciple, which is always expansive and liberalizing. Her heart went\nout with special interest to the Home Missionary Society, and yet more\ntoward the foreign fields of the American Board.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHad our deceased friend the weakness--the comparatively pardonable\nweakness of vanity? Had the characteristic infirmity of old age come\nupon her,--a fondness for recounting earlier or more recent labors and\nsuccesses? From what has been said, you who are strangers to her would\nhardly expect it, for you have noticed that it is the lighter ears of\ngrain that hold their heads highest, and wave about most freely. Mrs.\nMarsh was a branch so laden with fruit as to hang low; she was clothed\nwith humility. She sat at the Master's feet. She did not talk about\nmeekness or modesty,--she illustrated them. Moses probably did not know\nhow his face shone as he came down from the mount; our friend seemed not\nto know how radiant hers was with benevolence; nor how busy were her own\nfeet in errands of kindness. All agree in testifying that this grace of\nhumility shed a sweet, calm lustre over all her other virtues. The only\none's faithfulness that she hesitated to speak of was her own; her\nuniform estimate of herself was, \"I am an unprofitable servant.\" Who\never suspected her of vainglory? Who will say that she was not\naccustomed to give all glory and praise to God?\n\nThis quality was too genuine to admit of a sombre tinge. There seemed to\nbe no trace of false spirituality. She exhibited a fine combination of\ncheerfulness and seriousness. In fact, she had no time for despondency\nabout herself or others. Heart, lips, and hands were too full of\nsomething else to admit of moodiness.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMrs. Marsh had often expressed a desire that, if it pleased God, she\nmight not outlive active usefulness; that she might die in the harness,\nmight die here amongst us. When two years ago a city missionary in\nBoston[Footnote: Deacon Wilder.] died suddenly, she said she would like\nto go in the same way. God has substantially gratified her wish.\n\nNow, in all the relations at which we have glanced, and positions as\ndaughter, as head of a family, as head of a charitable institution, as\nprivate church-member, as a helpmeet for a Christian minister, and as\ncity missionary, she exhibited the highest order of conscientiousness,\nand of consecration to God. Have you ever known one who walked more\nnearly in the steps of our Lord and Saviour, one who did less to please\nself? Do you recall an acquaintance who appeared to act less from\nimpulse, or more uniformly from an abiding sense of duty, in all\nquietness and steadfastness doing with her might what the hands found to\ndo? A friend, who has known her intimately for forty years, states,--\"I\nnever knew Mrs. Marsh lukewarm or with a cold heart. Her life has been a\nchain of well doing all along, without one breakage.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe impression with us is deep, that the character of our deceased\nfriend was in its type a very uncommon one; that by the grace of God it\nattained to a moral grandeur seldom witnessed. Such concentration, such\nunselfishness, such devout persistency in endeavors to honor our Lord\nJesus Christ raise her to a lofty level.\n\nWe would institute no comparison between her and the votaries of\nfashion,--the frivolous, selfish beings, whose thoughts centre chiefly\non personal accomplishments and position. \"She that liveth in pleasure\nis dead while she liveth.\" But for a moment bring to mind those of a\nmore elevated grade, who, by the pen, the pencil, or in the departments\nof sculpture and music, minister to aesthetic enjoyment, and the mental\nimprovement of a community. Select, if you please, one who attained to\nthe same age with our departed friend, a woman of undoubted talents, of\nunimpeached morals, the most distinguished tragic actress that England\never produced, and who was applauded to the skies. Let Sarah Kemble\nSiddons march grandly up that aisle. Ah, to what nothingness does she\nshrivel in the presence of this heavenly woman, around whom the light of\nthe cross and the glories of eternity gather! Let the present Roman\nPontiff, born the same year with this humble city missionary, enter in\nall his regalia; how does his triple crown grow dim before the crown of\nrighteousness that adorns her head!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTen days ago, at the last meeting of the Eliot City Mission Society,\nMrs. Marsh, in view of failing strength, sent in her resignation. A\ncommittee were appointed to wait upon her, and convey an expression of\nthe general appreciation in which she and her labors are held. They have\nas yet had no opportunity to do so. They are now present, and will\nbriefly perform the duty assigned them.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBeloved Friend,--\"beloved Persis, who hast labored much in the\nLord,\"--we speak in behalf of ourselves, and we speak in behalf of\nmultitudes. A church to whom you are endeared, a missionary association\nbearing an apostolic name, an affectionate and indebted Sabbath school,\nwho are here at this hour, a whole section of our city, many scores of\nsick-rooms,--German mothers, Holland mothers, mothers from England and\nScotland,--bid us say, We all respect you, we love you, we thank God for\nyour coming amongst us. Your prayers have strengthened us; your wise and\nmotherly ministrations have relieved us. The very stones of this rocky\nplace have been worn to smoothness by your busy footsteps. The very dust\nof our streets is hallowed. Tears fall apace; yet we praise the Lord\nthat there remaineth a rest for his people.\n\n                 \"Rest, weary head;\n     Lie down to slumber in the peaceful tomb;\n     Light from above has broken through its gloom;\n     Here in the place where once thy Saviour lay,\n     Where he shall wake thee on a future day,--\n     Like a tired child upon its mother's breast,--\n                 Rest, sweetly rest.\n\n                 \"Rest, spirit free,\n     In the green pastures of the heavenly shore,\n     Where sin and sorrow can approach no more;\n     With all the flock by the Good Shepherd fed,\n     Beside the streams of life eternal led,\n     Forever with thy God and Saviour blest,\n                 Rest, sweetly rest.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"Memorial of Mrs. Lucy Gilpatrick Marsh delivered June 22, 1868.","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":3489}