TRIBUTE

TO

A GOOD MAN

EXTRACT

FROM

A SERMON

DELIVERED AT THE

BULFINCH-STREET CHURCH, BOSTON,

Jan. 9, 1853,

THE SUNDAY FOLLOWING THE INTERMENT

OF THE LATE

AMOS LAWRENCE.

BY REV. F. T. GRAY.

BOSTON.

JOHN WILSON and SON.

1853.

THE FOLLOWING PAGES

ARE

Respectfully Dedicated

TO THE
FAMILY AND KINDRED OF THE LATE LAMENTED

AMOS LAWRENCE,

BY ONE WHO WOULD OFFER A GRATEFUL TRIBUTE TO THE
MEMORY OF HIM WHO SO WELL DESERVED
THE EXALTED TITLE
OF THE

Poor Man's Christian Friend.

The text of the Sermon, from which the following extract was taken, was the seventh verse of the second chapter of Paul's Second Epistle to Timothy: "Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things."

After contrasting the views and maxims of the worldly-minded with those of the Christian, and stating the claims of the Young Men's Christian Union, the Discourse closed with the following tribute to the character and memory of one who was the early patron and devoted friend of that Society.

THE GOOD MAN

Among the warmest friends of the Young Men's Christian Union was one, whose departure from among us this community has recently been called to mourn,—one who was beloved by all who knew him; whose wide, expansive benevolence and Christian charity won the admiration of those of every name and sect; who so truly loved the Saviour, and was so truly baptized into his spirit, the spirit of divine and heavenly love, that he became through it his blessed messenger; so that all rejoiced who came within his influence, as "he went about doing good," ready to take each believer by the hand, saying, "One is our master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren."

As we saw him on his errands of mercy, just on the verge of threescore years and ten, how, as his benignant smile beamed upon us, did he remind us of "the disciple Jesus loved;" who, when so feeble from the infirmities of age, could only say, in addressing the people, "Little children, love one another"! That smile, shadowing forth a happy Christian spirit within, was a benediction indeed, when it beamed upon us! May it prove an incentive to us, to show our love to God in our love to man, which was the whole tenor of his example; remembering that "by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples," not in any name ye may adopt, or church ye may join, but "in your love one toward another."

Long has it been my privilege to know this good man. In a letter to me a few days before his death, he signed himself "A friend of long years past." Yes! he was an old friend to me, and, as I well know, a long-tried friend to the poor, the forsaken, and suffering, as he was also a friend to those "whom the Saviour took in his arms and blessed;" for he was always ready and rejoiced to do what he could, that the lambs of the flock and the children of the