eo fows Pooh Sate Op oe Pax S Nis NAA ~ sree Be a a pa OS ee) r ot yp SS i EEE ON K € C—SO0ON THE== “SOF THES ‘Late Rey. Thomas G. L Delivered at Haywood’s Church, Halifax County, on June 24th, 1882, WELDON, N. C.: PRINTED AT HARRELL’S CHEAP BOOK AND JOB PRINTING HOUSE. EAGINE (eA Le @ NF SON THE Late Rey. Thomas G. Lowe, Delivered at Haywood’s Church, Halifax County, on June 24th, 1882, Theodore Bryant Kingsbury, A. M. ~~ SK Published at the solicitation of the Methodists of Halifax. \ WELDON, N. C.: HARRELL's CHEAP Book AND JoB PRINTING HOUSE. 1882. « When the letter was recieved inviting me to be amongst you to-day to participate in its solemn exercises, it found me in un- certain health and with the editorial ¢ ares ofa daily newspaper resting upon me. Declining other invitations I could not decline this. How could I refuse to contribute all 1 was able in saving from decay the precious memory of a dear personal friend with whom I had held sweet communion almost daily through several years, with whom I had walked and t alked in all of the free- dom and frankness that true friendship and sympathy allow, and whose pure and simple character grew brighter and more attractive with time? How could I refuse, however pressed with duty, and feeble in body to lay my offering upon the altar of friend_ ship,and to do my utmost in enabling others to understand | better the intellectual character of a man whose life was simple, who lived honestly ad frugally before all men, and whose genius | was genuine, but who has most unfortunately left no memorial, no line even, to attest to yenerations unborn the splendor and grace of his superb mind? I am here, my friends, to place a stone—would it were of purest marble from Carrara and finished with true Phidian art —in that monument which pure friendship and men’s unfailing recollections must raise to the memory of the greatest man yet | born in a county by no means barren of men of mark. I came | bere also from a more selfish consideration. for a few hours among old acquaintances, and to take by the hand in cordial gras | I bear always in my heart of hearts a very sincere attachment, praying always to the Great Ruler and Beneficent Dispenser of the Universe for each and all for every possible blessing which Me can vouchsafe and a true friendship can invoke. Why, lam half a Halifax man myself. In this historic county—a few wiles from Clarksville—the dwelling still standing in the grove on the road to Palmyra—the mother who died when I was so p those T have long known and for whom | in both Church and State there are but few if any such orators | could make this appear, I think, but it would lead me too | far from the theme of the bour. | ranked high in their respective denominations. In that section | of the State lying west of Raleigh there have been at least two | superior native orators. John Kerr, the elder, the father of the | very numerous Baptist denomination in the South has had. and a capital judge of preaching, baving beard the leaders of I came to mingle | was the greatest of all sacred orators to whom he had listened, | gladly heard him three hours longer, The late Dr. Numa F. 3 young and whose memory I cherish with so much of filial de- votion and affection, was born. She had kindred and many friends in this goodly county sixty years since, and when I think of Halifax I think of the county of my maternal an- cestors, where their bones rest, where my father lived for a decade, where I have lived, and beneath whose hospitable soil® two of my own cbildren sleep awaiting for Jesus, their friend and mine, to awaken them, and where [ rejoice this day to know that I bave found many of the truest and dearest friends of my own somewhat protracted manhood. How could 7 then afford to remain away when such a call was sent me? Whether, as is affirmed by some very intelligent writers, elo- quence be in a condition of decline or no in the South, I wfll not now undertake to determine; but ‘as far as North Carolina is concerned this much I will be bold enough to declare: that now as formerly. I find no men moving me now as I was moved thirty years ago, and I do not believe this is attributable to any loss of sensitiveness or impressibleness on my part. I North Carolina has produced several pulpit orators who late Judge Kerr, was no doubt the greatest pulpit orator the The late Rev. Dr. Jeter, of Richmond, Va., a prince in Israel, two continents, gave it as his deliberate opinion that Mr. Kerr Gen. T. L. Clingman said he was a most wonderful preacher. He heard him once for nearly three hours and he would have teid was an exceptionally fine preacher—analytical, logical, and at times really eloquent. But the Hast bas been the most productive section in_men of powerful or facinating eloquence. Perbaps the most eloquent living Baptist preacher in the State is a native of Bertie. I refer to the venerable William Hill Jordan, of Granville. His half-brother, the late Rev. Dr. Poin- dexter, born in the same county, was the most influential Bap- + tist minister in Virginia, where he spent most of bis ministerial life, and where he died. He was one of the greatest platform speakers in the Christian Church of America. When afew years ago Rey. Dr. Cornelius B. Riddick, a native of Hertford county, moved to California, he left no peer in North Carolina for true . eloquence among the ministry. He bas established a complete supremacy as a preacher in the Conference of California, as I have seen mentioned in the Methodist organ of that State. He is a capital preacher or 1 am not worthy to judge. Incompar- ably the first Episcopal orator of North Chagall: thus tar was the fate eminent Rev. Dr. Francis L. Hawks, a native of New- Berne and an eastern man. At the time of his death he was generally regarded as the great orator of American Episcopacy. Another eminent preacher was the lute Rev. Dr. Lovick Pierce, of Georgia, and he was a native of Halifax. He was a very | able man and a prodigious preacher of the Gospel. Twenty years or more ago I asked Rev. Dr. Deems who was the greatest preacher he ever heard. I well remember his answer. Said he, “When Lovick Pierce is at his best I never heard a better.” In point of mental power, I have but little doubt, he was the equal at least of any I have mentioned. But he was not | as great an orator as Kerr, and not the equal of two others of whom I now turn to speak, and they were both Eastern men. | I refer to Hezekiah G. Leigh, a native of Perquimans, and Tuomas G. Lows, a native of Halifax. They were both Metho- | dists, and no two men were more unlike in the structure of their minds, and in the characteristics of their masterly elo- quence. As there are uo two leaves in the forests that are | precisely alike; as there aré no two flowers that bloom that are in hue, perfume and even formation exactly the same; as there | are no two mountains that loom beavenward that in outline and detail are alike, so there are no two mer who are precisely similar in mental and physical organization. There is always a manifest. contrast to the discerning eye or the observant critic. Hach has his own individuality, clear cut and easily defined. God in his own good time raises up men and qualifies them specially to do His chosen work and to fulfil His grand purposes. He requires men of various mental qualities and dis- tinclive powers of eloquence, and at the right time they step upon the platform of the world and answer to the roll-call of Deity. 5 He causes Moses and Aaron to appear together—the man of stammering speech andthe man of ready eloquence. And then on through the ages as the persecuted and struggling and ) yet conquering Church needs the help of courageous hearts and high intellects—of men of rare but dissimilar powers, at God’s fiat the right men appear. At one time it may be the logical, powerful, eloquent, exalted Paul, so full of holy zeal and grand conceptions of conquests, or of the gifted, persuasive, enticing Apollos. At another time it is the golden-mouthed Chrysos- tom or the acute, eloquent and constructive Augustine. Then | again ib may be the robust, ardent, bold, able, organ-voiced Luther, or the subtile, learned, vigorous, original,, penetrating Galvin. Or coming down the centuries it is the tireless, lucid, evangelical, administrative Wesley, surpassing all men in the quality and quantity of his work since Paul completed the last | of his great missionary journeys, or it is his gifted co-laborer, George Whitfield, who compassed land and sea in his stupen- dous efforts to preach the blessed Gospel of the Son of God and to bring men to the foot of the cross, and whose eloquence was ofa most extraordinary kind—vehement, dramatic, pathetic, abound- ing in simple narrative, délivered with a voice of unexampled rich- ness, melody and variety. Sir James Stephens, in his masterly article upon him, says, “he was a great and holy man, and as a preacher without a superior or a rival!” God always has his “mer of consolation” as well as “the sons of thunder.” The Almighty had a positive use for two such preachers and orators as Leigh and Lowe. There was work for them to do in that part of the moral vineyard in which their destinies were cast. I will not detain you with an imperfect analysis of the elder orator. I never heard Mr. Leigh but once. He had been broken by disease, and Death had already thrown his shadow upon him. But he was still an imposing figure in the pulpit, majestic, serene, noble, and although more than thirty years have | passed, [ yemember distinctly that his subject was Moses the Lawgiver, and I remember the impression upon my youthful mind was that never before had I heard such thorough analy: of motive and character and such a grand presentation of a grand buman life. 1 heard many years ago the Rev. Robt. O. Burton say that once in Norfolk, Va., such was the overwhelming power of Mr. Leigh’s preaching that when he uttered his last word the whole congregation were standing. Before I con- = | | | clude I will show vou that Mr. T | 4OWE sometimes produced ex- traordinary impressi g uy Impressions and on some occasions extraordinary cae thodism were wonderful sons of Y Knew each other know each er in the ‘i ach other in the bright be pure in heart shall meet again.” results. These two sons of Me eloquence, here in this life and they autiful world beyond. “The | From what I have said it is appare North € i eva reine 8 apparent that North Carolina | ee 1 preachers who were gifted with a very s ae pet f t € Ratatat ate ng who possessed a combination of anaes | ees isle pete rank with the most imposing and Sree Be Pah of the nineteenth century. But not J pulpit bas our State been the bar and in the Congr men of high abilities & that bas produced Archibald Hendey can not be said blessed with orators. At | S or on the hustings she has bad | and ofte a: > k ten of a noble eloquence. A State | a Davie, a Be i uvie, a Benton, a Gaston, a Badger, an son, a Wiley P. Mangum, an Iredell, v Vance to have | se een barren of’ ere: penne? Z ( ’ great and um altogether persuaded that the biches Revere ot ‘ 1¢ highest, the quence Ol North Carolina bas been ¢ Gospel. And why not? moving themes that pre. mand, why should ¢} gifted sons. purest elo- | i Among the ministers of the With the lofty, ennobling, ; y heart- acners of r iteousness have at their com. | ‘ey not achieve the ; i ; m« onspic sor sults and wear such ; eee ame that | intellectual | salvation of the | directly to cach hearer is possible for any earthly themes to at melts the heart of the. are wrapped in the {uarterings in the escutcheon of f bravery and blazonry of other re ( pk Tbe Immortality and eternal Soul of man comes home shall out rival all the achievements? and lends a | higher inspiration than it furnish. Itisa subject th the great, and all alike chantment that both simple and arments of an en- delights and w ae gots and warms. these sacred orators I have spoke face to face with m The greatest of hamed—Kerr, Letau and Lowr— en from full minds without notes or m as the great orators of the with intense emotion, fee poured forth in rapid sue , and with a ready, anuseript. bey spoke world have copious eloquence, always spoken when li very sent; Ing ex ery sentiment they uttered, they cession their j “Thoughts that breathed and words that burned.” Let us consider for 4et Us s or a moment what e i vhat eloquence is. We can do | | get torily by a reference to examples, | ‘ | ) 4 - True eloquence does not this briefly and more satisfac Mr, Webster said: consist in | Speech. Words and phrases may be marshalled in every way, | but they cannot compass it. It must exist in the man, and in the oceasion.” And Mr. Webster was right. An orator is born, just as much as a poet. True eloquence “must exist in the | | man.’ The schools cannot impart it; neitver study nor practice | can bring it “from afar.” Mr. Everett was a highly accomplished gentleman. His speeches read very charmingly. He was a delightful rhetorici- | } an, and he recited his fine productions with a certain pleasing | | stateliness that I well remember. But surely he was no great | | orator. His statues were very graceful, were very deftly | wrought out of pure white marble, but then they were U/feless. | He lacked the divine afflatus—*the glorious burst of winged | words’ — that sent his thoughts to the heart like the unerring | ‘and bounding shaft from the archer’s bow. Patrick Henry, | on the otber hand, knew but little of rhetorical tropes and fig- ures, was neither learned nor extensively read, was ignorant of acknowledged elocutionary rules, was unskilled in the usages of courts and coteries, but was a living battery—a powerful mag- netic organism, possessed a soul full of passion, and commanded at will the language of Nature. His eloquence was a part of himself; it “existed in the man.” It is no wonder that he could control an audience as a skilled rider the horse. No one could sit under the inspirations of his voice and criticise the speaker. The intense magnetism of the orator swept away all resistance, and held one in leash. When Mr. Everett spoke you could watch curiously bis mannerisms, his posturings, his pronuncia- tion, even the felicities of: his diction and the eraceful flow of his periods, and be always self contained, never for a moment | yielding to the influence of his artificial and entertaining elocu- tion. Mr. Everett did not seem to feel himselr. xnd hence, could | not make others feel. There was too much of art and not | enough of nature in what he did—his passions seemed asleep. I come now to fulfil as far as Tam able a promise I once made | | to my departed friend in a spirit of pleasantry and in a happy moment when enjoying the delightful companionship of a sweeter and more entrancing orator than any I have named—than any | have known. In the delicacy, refinement and grace of his in- | tellect rHOMAS G. LOWE, was incomparably beyond all men I have known. Te was not the equal of some I have named in the 8 dramatic qualities of his genius; he was not their equal in sinewy and masculine vigor of intellect; he was not their equal in that grand, sonorous, commanding, awing eloquence of which they were masters. But in eloquence of another kind he was supreme as faras I ixnow. I told this silver throated, simple hearted, unspoiled son of nature one day that I thought I understood his | gifts and graces better probably than any other person did, and that if I survived him I wonld prepare a sketch of his life. I have sought in vain for many years to obtain the material nec- essary for the writing of such a monograph as friendship would dictate. I must, therefore, content myself now with the most meagre of all sketches, and without those minute personal touches which constitute the real charm of biography. I have not one line from others with which to enrich this oration. I have no biographical material, no reminiscences, no memora- bilia, no letters upon which to draw. If Tuomas G. Lowg had been born in Rome in the days of the Antonines, poets and philosophers, as they listened to the sweet and tender eloquence that flowed from his tongue, would have insisted that at his birth were gathered those Muses and Graces who were presumed to be most concerned in the gifts of eloquence and song, that they might shed upon the unconscious infant their selectest influences. In our day few. men have lived whose beauty of mind was reflected in a more charming eloquence than his, or of whom it could be more truly affirmed, to use the fine words of Milton, “his tongue dropped manna.” -His birth place is a few hundred yards from this newly erected church. Yonder, in sight of us, stands the old bome- stead where his eyes first saw the light. Under those trees still remaining he played in childhood. There he received those maternal lessons the influence of which he never lost. There amid wide stretching sands, in a secluded home was reared as genuine a child of natural eloquence, I must believe, as belongs to our time and country. Born of plain, honest, virtu- ous parents, fairly intelligent and worthy, this gifted boy had but limited opportunities for acquiring a sound education or of laying up stores of knowledge upon which to draw in after years. His education, in fact, was limited and was only such as could be obtained in the “old field schools” of sixty years ago. His birthday was August 10th, 1815. The ‘old Haywood’s Methodist Church, on the site of which this new edifice stands, 9 was a very humble structure of the primitive sort. Here in his sarly boyhood, when full of life and joyousness, he often heard the self‘sacrificing itinerants tell of Jesus and eternal life be- yond the skies. I do not know bow soon he found the trath, but whilst yet a small lad he would mount the rail fence and deliver a little sermon to the attentive negro children who, “panged around,” constituted bis sole audi ory. Before te was twenty-one he became a local minister in the Methodist Epis copal Church, and soon gave promise of that very exce;:tional and seraphic eloquence for which he was afterwards so distin- cuisbed. In August 1842, he was married to Miss Maria J. Wade, of New Berne, a young lady of good family and education. By her he had two daughters, one of whom, Kate, married Mr. Robert J. Boyd, Jr., of Halifax, and is now dead; the younger, Lizzie, married Mr. James Ousby, of the same county, and still survives. Mr. Lowe was not a great’ reader of books, but he was fond of good books. He bad read with a genuine relish some of the best poets, and enjoyed the sermons of the masters, specially of those whose imaginative powers were of a high order. He thought Richard Watson’s vigorous and eloquent sermons the finest he had read, but he was not acquainted with the works of the great continental and English preachers, outside of his own denomination. He regarded Bishop George F. Pierce the great- est preacher he bad ever heard, Mr. Lowe never entered the conference of his Church, but to the close of his useful and comparatively unchequered life, fre- quently preached not only in many portions of his own county, but in many of the neighboring towns, where he had sometimes stated appointments. He was very much sought after, and was called upon continually to deliver funeral discourses and Mason- ic addresses, in both of which he very greatly excelled. Indeed, his funeral sermons, when the subject possessed him, were of transcendent eloquence and beauty. In many sections of North Carolina, from Goldsboro and New Berne to Halifax, and’ from Murfreesboro to Raleigh and Oxford, and in some portions of Vir- gations asi I h ginia, he was sure to attract large and delighted cons whenever it was known that he was to occupy the sacred desk, or the platform of the lecturer. Men of intelligence would ride twenty or thirty miles to listen to this sweet and fascinating orator. | | 10 | THis health was infirm for many years, and towards the end of his days it was painfully manifest to his anxious friends, and he had very many,! that he was gradually sinking under the ravages of pulmonary disease. A little more than thirteen years ago—on February 13th, 1869—in his humble home in the town | of Halifax, this admirable gentleman—this “poet among preach- ers,” as has been said of Jeremy Taylor, passed away in peace | and hope, wept over by his own-dear household and the friends | who gathored about his dying bed, and lamented by thousands | who had been so greatly favored as to have heard one of those grand discourses of his—so sweet, so musical, so enthralling, \ so forever memorable. During his long illness no murmurings escaped his lips, but he bore the heavy chastisement with that | fortitude and resignation which were in keeping with his simple, manly life. The tongue of eloquence was dumb forever, for «the silver cord” had been “loosed,” and “the golden bowl” had been “broken.” Then the “dust” of this good and noble man | was “returned to the earth as it was; and the spirit returned | unto God who gave it.” Only a few months ago the papers brought to me the sad in- telligence that Mrs. Lowe was dead. I knew her well and have cause to be grateful to her for many kindnesses to me and my | family when we were living near her. She was always a true | friend, and when God took two of my children to himself she | proved her sympathy and devotion. God bless her forever! Peace to ber soul! I must hope that she has joined her husband in the land of glory and of rest. I knew Mr. Lows very intimately for several years. There | was never the slightest flaw in our friendship. From first to last it was smooth, warm, sincere. Long before we parted last I had learned to love him. I heard him preach very many times, under various circum- stances. I heard him after matured preparation and I heard him when speaking strictly ¢mpromptu, and I feel assured that he was by nature the most eloquent being I ever knew or heard. This may appear excessive to those who never beard him in one of bis inspired efforts, or who never heard him but once and when he did not approach his own standard. many times when he did not rise above mediocrity. But then I have heard him talk in a strain of enraptured and unearthly elo- quence that but few men could approach much less excel. He I have heard him | | | | | | known stanzas in Gray's “Elegy | ted genius, ' our | deep by the sculptor’s art, that it was erected to the | | | unsearchable riches of Jesus, and died, when his work was done, | his unmarked, weed grown resting-place (for he is not dead but | eloquence. Ha was always neat in speech however ordinary the discourse. He was a man of singular excellence of character. Amiable, | Sincere, candid, modest, true, and just, his indeed was a fine and lovely nature. Although praised and flattered beyond any | man I have known, it had no injurious effects upon his unobtru- sive and sterling character. | ed, unpretending, thoroughly frank and good-natured. He neither envied others, nor prided himself’ upon any’ of his He always remained simple-heart- | | | achievements. He used his splendid gifts in proclaiming the | in the full assurance of an immortality of bliss through the | atonement of bis crucified and ascended Lord and Saviour. This really great orator—great when judged at his best—lies in | sleepeth) about two miles South of the old historic town of | Halifax in a burial ground where there were but few | bably but one or two.) before his body was there deposited. | graves (pro- He had chosen himself that quiet, secluded spot where he wished | to repose after “life’s fitful fever was ended,” there to await that | summons when the graves shall give up their dead, and the re- | deemed shall be glorified. ,In a few fleeting years—in a few swiftly passing decades at farthest, his memory will have faded away forever, for he has left no bright. and eriginal memorials, as I have said, to perpetuate his name among the children of men. . Standing over his grave we might well recall those well » | | | | in which is described neglec- | Surely Tuomas G. Lown’s “heart” was “once preg- nant with celestial fire,’ if we can say so much of any man of state. In his grave were interred both genius and virtue. He richly deserves a monument, and upon it should be graven FOREMOST NATURAL ORATOR OF NORTH CAROLINA. Ilis name should be added to that roll of‘illustrious American preachers who were eminent for a rich, glowing, and inspiring | Addressing so many who knew him peysonally, it is almost | unnecessary that I should attempt to describe him as he ap- | peared in this life. He was probably five feet, ten inches in height, and his weight was about 145 pounds. He was not fastidious in dress, but recognized fully the saying of John 12 It would not have struck a stranger that in yonder plain, quiet, gentle, un- obtrusive man there was a master of eloquence who sometimes made a tremendous impression. Wesley “that cleanliness was next to godliness.” His forehead was not remark- able. There was a maried development just above the eyes, but the remainder of the head was neither broad nor high. His eye was grey, and when fired by emotion gleamed with that exquisite light that was “never seen on land or sea.” THis nose was straight and well formed. His mouth was expressive of gentleness and amiability. His chin was decidedly good and shapely. His face was somewhat pale, deepened by rather delicate health when I knew him, andayhen he was excited by an unusual passion in his public address, it grew paler and | more impressive somehow. In some of his more eestatic mo- ments, as he has been described to me, the whole expression was strangely changed—transfigured as it were, and ‘he really seemed as if transported to another sphere—in the body or out of it—and he was for the time unconscious of bis earthly sur- roundings. This is no fancy picture. In a free conversation once in which I had to lead him-by questions, he said only twice in his lite had this strange, anomalous condition fallen | upon him. When the younger Pitt was asked what was the great desid- | eratum in English literature, he replied: “A speech from Boling- | broke.” A sermon, just as it was delivered by this gifted man, | would be a genuine contribution to the literature of the pulpit. His reputation, even among his countrymen in many parts of | North Carolina, is a matter of tradition, In the Wilmington country I have never found a half dozen scarcely who had so much as heard of him. And yet a long time ago he preached a | sermon in our largest town. One Wilmingtonian told me tbat he had always rewarded it as the most eloquent and splendid pulpit effort he had heard. Mr. Lowe never wrote his sermons, or made a skeleton of a discourse or even the slightest notes. I knew him to be ap- | plied to for a sermon,to appear in a volume that was to be pub- lished. He told me that he had never prepared a sermon or an address in the ordinary way in his life. He said that he lost all inspiration or mental fervor the momeut he undertook to use the pen—that the mental excitement and glow and expansion | guage to be used. | a quiet day spent on the mill pond. | cent. ers was attributable to these very marked gifts. | only came to him when wrapped in meditation or when stand- ing upon his feet in the very act of delivery. As I have said, he never resorted to the pen, but on occasions of great impor- tance when he was to address an immense audience and expec- tation was at fever heat, hesitating to trust. his generally ready powers of thought and expression, he would not only think out | all he should say, but would arrange in his mind the precise lan- He would do this whilst walking, or, as was often the case, whilst sitting in a boat fishing. He would be able to repeat several days afterwards, sometimes even for two | or three weeks, verbatim, an entire sermon or address that he had delivered, every word of which he had excogitated during But his finest oratory—his | noblest exhibition of a high and commanding eloquence—was on occasions when the inspiration was upon him, and he spake | Without previous preparation. Then, indeed, he was magnifi- No Vates ov Rhetor of the ancient world was ever more happy in diction, or more beautiful, or more sublime, in thought. When all his powers were fully employed and his voice rang | out with a melody as sweet as rarest minstrelsy, and he be- came enthralled by the subject he was discussing, be would for thirty or forty minutes engage ina strain of oratory that was | as enravishing and pleasing as ever charmed earthly ears. His voice was very musical. whom I have ever listened. When in his loftiest mood, when his sermon was almost “of imagination all compact,” | had the clear ring of the bugle, as it sets “the wild echoes flying.” Indeed, so sweet, so melodious was bis voice, so exquisite his intonation, so distinct his articulation and emphasis, that I have thought that no little of the fascination he threw over bis hear- We all know how subduing and melting is the power of music—how it recre- |; ates the mind and composes the soul. When Mr. Lows was in one of his happy moments of inspiration and passion, his voice had unwonted power and sweetness, and then it was he seemed to have complete dominion over his auditors, and they became | | tender and yielding under the magic influences wrought by this master of melody and tears. The most potent ofall instruments In its higher key, it was an in- | | strument capable of the rarest effect. His tear-tones were abso- | | lutely subduing and more pathetic than those of any speaker to | and_ his | | eye, “in fine phrensy rolling,” was lifted heavenward, his voice 14 is the human voice. Said that graceful Kentucky poet Mrs. Welby: «There is a charm in delivery, A wonderful art, That thrills like a kiss From the lip to the heart.” He had the taste and sens:bilities of a poet, and although he wrote but little if any verse, he constantly exhibited in his public ad- dresses the imagination of an inspired singer, ‘and he often awakened notes of such exquisite sweetness, as he passed along the avenues of thought, clad in the robes of the sacred ministrely as to remind you of the matchless numbers that flow from the lyre as its strings are touched by the cunning hand of some Keats or Shelley. He literally, at times, spoke fine poetry, al- though presented in the garb of prose. In his greatest efforts of the imagination he gave rein to his coursers as they went careering through the heaven of invention. His descriptive powers surpassed those of any speaker I have known, with perhaps one exception. He delighted in describ- ing the rest of heaven, and the beatitudes of the redeemed in glory. He sometimes presented a fearful picture of the lost soul, but his heart was too tender and kindly, and his imagination too refined and gentle, to delight in such harrowing scenes. He loved the sun-light and the flowers, and his eye was ever ments and crystal streams. When my good friend, the late Rev. William H. Pell, was ap- | having previsions of the heavenly home, with its jasper pave- | | | tive too many, or to detect a figure not admirably wrought out, | strains of heavenly eloquence as you never heard before, com- | proaching the close of his useful life, he asked me one day—‘Does ed—*I do not know how that was, but he preaches charmins and wonderfully now.” Said that wise and good Christian—‘I could never hear him without getting so full I had to weep and laugh.” His English was quite marvellous—pure, simple, correct, flex- ible, graceful, elegant. : Without the benefits of a higher education, and with only a moderate familiarity with a few good writers of his language, he spoke perbaps the best English of any man of his day. Suid | an eminent New York minister once to the speaker: “Do you brother Lowz preach of heaven as he used to preach?” I repli- | * never heard any one to approach him on such a theme, and I | know who is master of the best English I have known on two | pelling forgetfulness of self and the world around, being only | tors bave left upon the world’s memory have been made by 15 continents?’ A negative being given, Dr. Deems continued: “It is Tuomas G. Lown, the only man I have ever known who never blundered in the pulpit, nor even in the carelessness of | familiar talk. In his oratory there was no “ravelled sleave” of | sentences, but all was flowing, graceful, and melodious. If he | dipped his pencil in the brightest, richest hues sometimes he never lost sight of simplicity and purity. His taste was very fine. He rarely offended the severest taste by either the grandeur of his descriptions, or the affluence of his diction when his theme required the boldest treatment. Nobly gifted, he devoted the stores of his rich and brilliant imagina- tion to the service of the Redeemer, “lending all the charms of beauty to set forth the sanctity of truth;” but without the Asia- tic opulence of ornament and the excessive “flower-gardens of quotation.” that often mar the otherwise exquisite productions of the English Chrysostom—Jeremy Taylor. Possibly an aus- tere judgment might pronounce that sometimes there was an excess of ornament—too many sweet metaphors—even too much splendor of language ; that the garment had too much fringing of gold, and was too bright with excess.of light. And yet I could defy you to point out a misapplied word, to find an adjec- Doubtless you would be swept on, as you were never before, upon the very flood of his description ; doubtless you would bear metaphors as striking as those of poets presented in the most Winsome garniture of words; doubtless you would drink in such conscious that you were under the control of a mighty orator, whose incantations charmed and fascinated you, bringing to your ears the allelujahs and triumphant choruses of heaven as they were accompanied by sounding harps of gold. There was nothing, however, stormy or voleanie about him; | there was no barbaric splendor or false glitter. Your ears caught | the chime of the silver stream of speech aud you felt the thrill and flush of the heart. ; All great orators are judged by their highest efforts. It is so with poets. When we think of Shakespeare we think of Hamlet and Lear, of Macbeth and Othello. The impressions which ora- | their most extraordinary exertions of the mind. Edmund Burke by his “Nabob of Arcots’ Debts | his four or five other most splendid or We estimate and admiration of every student of buman eloquence as they , are the despair of all statesmen. It is so with Sheridan and Fox, with Pitt and Chatham, with Evskine and Grattan, with Webster and Preston, and, indeed, orators of ancient and modern times. When we recall the great name of Demosthenes his magnifice nt Philippics at once come before us; when the splendor and fervor of Cicero are presented to our view we at once recur to his vigorous and terrible denun- ciations of Cataline and A ntony. Lowx when at his best—have judged him, not by his every day | efforts, or by those sermons. and that nounced exceptionally fine by his but I have judged addresses were auditors; him when he rose with an easy piring and bold imagination, and when he “drew audience still | as night” and men listened as they never liste ned before. The distinguishing characteristic of his mind was beauty as the greatest faculty of his mind was imagination. over value this attribute of vreatness. wonderful instrument, what a glorious endowment! Shakespeare and Homer, Dante and Milton, with their tive imaginations, are ereate The imagination—whuat a r than dry reasoners and cold met- | aphysicians of the Hume, Locke and Sir Wilham Hamilton | type, so is the high imaginative greater always than the man without the | ment. It is because of this that the greatest poet is confessedly the greatest of all men, and without this tr mining imagination he would full often below the dull men who delve constantly and who plod through life. the man who lives under the influence of a high anc 1 disciplined | imagination is a great man eve n though he should never perform commensurate Coleridge—one of the two or thre hundred years—never deeds or write books with his noble gifts. © greatest men of the last two life explains this remark. The Sensuous man is confined to the | earth. The imaginative man soars heavenward, and dwells on promontories of thought be the other. The golden hues of imagination falling object gives it a peculiar upon any speech, and by | ations, which are the study | with all of the most famous | { have estimated Tomas G. pro- | grace upon the wings of an as- | It is bard to Just as | superla- | being, governed by reason, | heaven-born bestow- | ansforming and illu. | The truth is that | did half of what he was capable. His | yond the vision or the conception of | glory. Her draperies can clothe the | 17 nakedness of earth and add a new beauty and grace to things common. When imagination is sanctified; when it lends its powers to the pure religion of Jesus; when it throws its radi- ance over topics that otherwise may seem threadbare and dreary, it becomes a tremendous factor in the world and a most potential ally of holiness. The imagination can vivify the dry bones of theology and give attractiveness to themes that other- wise would repel. It can so present the doctrines of eternal life as to allure by sweetness and love, so that the stoutest heart shall melt and the most barren mind shall glow under the fervent heat. Yes, believe me friends, a rich and fruitful and chastened imagination like Mr. Lows possessed, is indeed & marvellous organ, The sanctified imagination is the noblest Isaiah and Ezekiel, Job and Daniel had it. In their hands what an engine it was. All the great poets thing in the universe. and orators of earth have possessed it: There ean be no such things as a sweet, abundant, moving cloquence without imagi- nation. The fres garlands ever offered to God by the children of men, have been woven of fancy and imagination and were bound with the golden bands of love and faith. It was this great faculty that enabled the sublimest of all poets: John Milton, to lay before God the great works of his creative genius. One of the great living writers of England, Dr. James Marti- heau, says finely: “In virtue of the close affinity, perhaps ulti. mate identity, of religion and poetry, preaching is essentially a lyric expression of the soul, an utterance of meditation in sorrow, hope, love, and joy from a representative of the human heart in its divine relations.” Let me quote from the President of Davidson College. In his excellent work ou Rhetoric, Dr. Hepburn says : “No one can be insensible to the rare beauty of some sermons of this meditative, poetical cast, or dispute their high rank as literary productions. But those only are capable of such com- positions in whom are united a genuine poetical nature and a pro- Sound religious experience.” Mr. Lown bad both of these; he was truly poetical in his temperament, and he was a converted man. Hence, his preach- ing delighted whilst both stimulating the intellect and warm- ing the soul. Just in proportion as a man has imagination, and taste with ia +——— 18 | it, is he a poet. Without it man must always wall; he can | | never soar. It has been described as “being the eye of the soul.” | But better still, an American writer, Dr. Hudson, the very able critic in Shakespeare, says.of it that it “is the organ through | | which the soul within us recognizes a soul without us; the | | | spiritual eye by which the mind perceives and converses with the spiritualities of nature under her material forms.’ The | Scotch philosopher, Dugald Stewart, said of imagination, that | it “is the great spring of human. activity and the principal | source of human improvement * Destroy this faculty, and | the condition of man will become as Stationary as that of brutes.” I have dwelt on this greatest of faculties of the mind because it is misunderstood, often underrated, especially by those to whom it is denied save only in very stinted measure, and because it is, the fulcrum of the world. Napoleon said the world “is governed by imagination,” and it is a profound truth. | Tuomas G. Lown was the most purely imaginative being 1 have | ever known personally, and yet there are dozens here to-day who will bear witness to his having been one of the most prac- | | tical of men, full of common sense, a man of solid judgment, a He | had a splendid imagination but under the control of reason and | man utterly free from Quixotic notions and crazy fancies. ‘taste and allied to wisdom and discretion, He was a very | sound piece of American timber. | J have said that Tnomas G. Lown was the greatest natural orator, I believe, yet born in North Carolina.’ It seems to me if ever there was “a forest born Demosthenes,” it was the plain, simple-natured, pure, unambitious North Carolina Methodist. | preacher whose life 1 have briefly sketched, and whose mental | qualities I have attempted to present. I would dwell particu- | larly upon his natural gifts. He had no training whatever in the schools of eloquence. He had learned nothing from elocu- | tionists or professional actors. He knew scarcely anything of grammatical rules, as he once told me, and yet he spoke the purest and most correct English possible. edge whatever of works of rhetoric, and yet he constructed his sentences with a revularity, precision, clearness and an art that would have excited the envy of the professed rhetorician. i have referred to his emphasis and intonation. In saying “Our He had no knowl- | | Father,” when leading in prayer, he always gave me a sense of ; fax, I visited with him a 19 the nearness of God, of standing actually in the Divine Presence, such as I never felt before or since when any other man offered Up prayer and supplication. I know not how to describe his manner; I only knew the effect. I have heard a great histrionie | performer utter a word that haunted me for days. It | 80 with Mr Lowe's elocution. was When overwhelmed with one | of his baptisms—that impartation of the divine afflatus, he spake as I never heard any other man speak. his prayers, Impres ment. I just now referred to I know not how he affected others. sed me most singularly, He was‘not boisterous or vehe- He did not have the attitude of speech making. He did not address Deity as if conveying information. He did not aim at popular effect as is the manner of some. to be eloquent. He was not trying He was not so far forgetful of the proprieties of the place or the sanctity of the office | plause of hearers. ; reverential attitude, But with pathos, with pleading voice, with with persuasive solemnity he approached the throne of grace, and talking as if very near to Almighty Father, even looking up into the very face’of Love itself, so full | of benignancy and pity, he poured out adoration and supplica- | tion in words of such real sweetness as to quite enravish the soul. He touched the hearts of the earthly hearers and he must have touched the Great Heart of the Lord of the Universe. thought once or twice when I have listened that his prayer was | 8 poem—a beautiful creation, simple, quisite in finish and very beautifa [ have sarnest, and tender. I have thought | about his prayers as I have thought about certain passages in his sermons; that there were such not excessive, ex- fine strokes—such fel words—such beautiful tbhoughts—such choice selection of lan- guage, that to appreciate them fu ly one should have something of that culture and taste necessary to enjoy fully the music, the | perfect workmanship, and the OUus exquisite rhythmical effects of Milton’s Lycidas, the most perfect poem in our language, or of Pennyson, one of the greatest poets God ever made. It is true all | might enjoy the general burden of the prayer and enter gladly Into its petitions, but it required the attuned ear, the improved taste, the receptive mind to relish fully those graceful, poetic | | touches, that adorned the whole. ; B A few miles from where we now are and on the road to Hali- good Christian woman who was slowly descending to the grave, In her sick room Mr. Lown | read to her all or a part of that wonderful, most comforting fourteenth chapter of the Gospel according to John. He read as to strain after the ap- | At times he | ‘| } t 20 21 | | ous harmony. j Fe: . is IZePINntio 7 a nO a) 7 7 yy 7 a it in those clear, mellow, simple tones which so moved me, ey His descriptions were simply wonderful. The | nse and then he knelt by her side and held sweet audience with ected Congregation sat spell-bound: a death-like stillness | God in her behalf. It was all done with the utmost simplicity awed, to be broken but once by the sudden swooning of a | and sympathy. And yet, after nearly twenty years the whole ~ 1 8dy who sat watching the inspired orator. The tension was | | : 3 AS | tremendous scene is before me. I remember it to-day with more distinct- ous. It appeared, if the speaker continued in his un- | ness than any religious exercises that have occurred since. I aia Strain that the very heart-strings of his auditors would cannot reproduce the manner and without that you would not | i ay Tt became almost unbearable when the great magician appreciate the matter properly if I could command it at will. osed. Never betore had any. of that congregation heard such T can say, and truthfully, that his prayers were sometimes to oe pues magnificent description, such pathetic pleading, | me more striking than the elaborate efforts of some men of a een and prolonged eloquence. I once menuongds| talents I have heard. Pe ie: Te Mr. Lows, and the remarkable effect it had | ess © congregation. His reply was, “I remember but little | I had but little preparation. I only recollect | that I bad no mental or physical pain—that I spoke without | any Conscious effort,” | | a } music, of the sermon. Whilst he was not a technical logician, he was by no means deficient in ability as a thinker and reasoner. In his sermons there were no obscurities. If he did not impress you by great pa ne : cumulative power, he would give you at least lucid statement a not hear this masterpiece of pulpit eloquence, but it | . 2 ; created sh talix i Ny ss deel esi Bam rWe and clear tracts of thought. I never heard him preach a ser- | ha: cae In my own county, in which it was delivered. ave aT ary Pe | Anued tha 4 alieve. meeting held near Henderson, Granville county, N. C., (now ‘ t he believed he ne r : : age down in some way. Vance,) about 1857 or 1858, he preached on Saturday. It was re i ay a é | 1d many ap fi Sie 4 ; a failure for him. On Sunday morning he was selected to preach a nd ee ee orators. but none ever approached this : peti } x | particular effort of ir again. He ascended the pulpit in the presence of more than | | ne Spiniot pile: n £ ; ; | one 1 1e tr, two thousand people. He was very pale. His text was: “How | keene shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation.” He spoke | calmly, deliberately, unimpassionedly for a few minutes. Pres ently his eye began to brighten, his voice to swell out and to | play upon that key that never failed to move and thrill. His | | imagination put on her singing robes, and then for over twenty | minutes such a strain of supra-mortal eloquence issued from his lips as none in that immense congregation had ever heard before. He seemed utterly unconscious of the presence of his hearers. He leaned, as was sometimes his wont, upon the pulpit, bis eyes lifted to heaven, where they continued fastened. His voice was sweetvas lute or harp, and his grand periods rolled forth in glori- He said that if Lown had con- himself’ would have broken He had heard Bishops Pierce, Kavanaugh, | | | | | | agination and passion, There was but anscendent beauty and power of the dis- I must mention the most remark | preach. Ten or eleven mile a Methodist church, | few of whom are | or well informed. able sermon I ever heard bim 8 from the town of Halifax there is in Which worship a large congregation, but moderately educated, and none are scholarly I mention this to show that there was noth | ing peculiar or extraordinary to arouse | Lows on the occasion I have in mind, the imagination of Mr. or to cause him to’ make a very uncommon effort. But nevertheless, on a quiet Sabbath Morning, in 1864, I heard him preach in that church very de- cidedly the most beautiful, delightful, bewitching discourse to 23 22 trains, north and south of Enfield, even as faras Goldsboro, were ; run, bringing six hundred people. His sermon was one of great } beauty and eloquence. Days after, at my solicitation, he repeat- ed a long pas: ige from it that equaled any passage I have ever met with for splendor of thought and felicity of expression. He ! recited it immediately after I had read a very grand p from Edward B that Mr. T excellence 3 . Lapa strain of exal- The sible for any uninspired mortal to indulge such a strain of exa The ] ted and charming eloquence. To me it is marvellous, at Roe revelation of the most wonderful gifts.” And yet Mr. ee EW a evidently speaking under the inspiration of the ete ts doubt if he bad reflected for an hour upon his theme, on ; - ever preached the sermon again. The probability is that his which I ever listened. I shall never forget it as long oe ee ory lasts. It is to me to this hour “a thing of beauty, ae will remain “a joy forever.” I have heard no such cophy a eloquence in my time. A Presbyterian gentleman of G ee then teaching a classical school in Halifax COnaRyy but He teacher in the ministry, Rev. Isaac Osborn, of BLE ee Mr. Lowe on that day for the first time. He said to Sr | ¥ had not heard him thus speak, I would not have believed it pos assage verett’s St. Louis oration, and I thought then | 4oWe’s surpassed it in those qualities that gave it such ast sermon he preached was a few months before the Scene in the quiet drama of bis life. He had the mountains in ITis fame hac closing gone to Western North Carolina in search of health. 1 gone betore him, and he was importuned to preach, ile was very feeble, A very lai and his fine voice was broken and w e assembly had gathered to hes His theme was “T] the musie of th when this eal. | only preparation was such as he obtained during his solitary 0 aratic woe é mide of two hours that morning from his home at Halifax to the church. w him—all strangers de Song of the Angels;” and if ever} © angelic choristers was heard on dying man stood up to preach his | earth, his face pale and first indistinct and and to him. earth, it was | ast sermon on worn, his form emaciated, his voice, at cracked, but presently clear and | melodions as of yore. | Surroundings, and the comp I had often heard a tradition concerning a certain trip he made to New York before he had attained to his thirtieth year. a ‘ i ‘acts fr > gentlem: vyho accompanied | last I obtained the facts from the gentleman who a ny ee him. Col H. B. Short, of Columbus county, but Re of | ; : 7E ro with hi o New Beaufort county, persuaded Mz Low E to go with eu 3 ee York. He introduced him tosome of the members of Old John’s | | ye Ne ae : | street Methodist Church. Lows was asked to preach at. night $s a | resonant His theme suited his condition, his his peculiar genius. He spoke of heaven and | anionship of the redeemed ; of redemption ing life through Jesus Christ. It was indeed as sweet a “song” as “angel” ever sung. It was a seraphic picture that filled the 5 soul with ecstasy, and gave the believer Pisgah views of the | ae nas Tere reac gain | Prat ote . : Pn . His success was pronounced. He was urged to preach ag | Promised inheritance. It was an echo of celestial harmony—‘“a allelujahs and harping symphonies.” The dying swan thi short while he Was Ove! | | | | and everlast- . | | He did so and stirred the hearers most profoundly. That sim- | pita ter | S HG o VNTR er, ¢ | ple h sarted, gentle, plain looking “pine¥-field” North Carolinian é »g ) g ‘ | 4 awoke such echoes in the hearts of his hearers as reminded them | Sevenfold chorus of h is sung his last und sweetest notes. In a returned home to die, and in and THomas G. Low: stood in Master w > afew months all | of Su nerficld when he poured out from his cornuce pla pb nv few the presence of the | ho had said to him, “Come up higher!” Mr. Lowe, as I} | rich treasuries of sacred eloquence. The result was 2 eae | tee of gentleman waited upon te and offered Mr. Loe oes Sa nave said, was frank, manly and sincere, He | | a year to preach to them. The unambitious and sweet-m: as all good men enjoy, the good Opinion of But of all men I have associated with he was the least tainted with personal vanity. In his vocabulary there was unexpected offer. : ale ah ane aD no everlasting I. Ip his conversation, however free and f After preaching for thirty years in Eastern ne 4 lar,there was no offensive Byo. | he could draw five times the crowd that any ovher wie eeu that I never heard him re attract. In the summer of 1864 he preached a funeral aan done or said, | within five miles of his birthplace, over a plain, sea: | citizen. Some two thousand people were present, and extra | doubtless enjoyed, | ’ y inian declined, saying he did not preach the | ia i nered North Carolinian declined, saying he di 11 ‘ 1 eh his fellowe Gospel for money, however much he appreciated their kind and | amil- I tell the truth when I declare motely allude to any thing he had Save only in response to a direct inquiry. You thust learn from others and not from him, a history of his per- | 24 formances. In simplicity of character, in guilelessness, in con- sistent friendship, that was always the same, scarcely his equal. I bave known Freinds, brethren beloved, I have thus at much length and , under difficulties of which you know nothing, attempted to dis- charge a most grateful duty. I have essayed to present to you | the religious and intellectual character of 2 former county man—a | deliberation and from a full conviction. neighbor, a friend and brother of many of you. I have spoken warmly, enthusiastically it may be, but only after mature I do not believe that in any particular I have used the colors too freely or that I have exaggerated the purity, the fascinating erace, and the splendid imagination of Toomas G. Lown. As I said at the outset, I have judged him when in his happiest vien, est effusion of the Enlightening and when under the full- Sanctifying Spirit, when his eye kindled under the Divine baptism, and bis heart. was filled: with holy ardors and a burning love for souls. I have simply judged him as the great of earth are always judged—by the highest exhibition of his powers. Thus judged, I feel sure that my departed friend was all 1 have depicted him. Whilst preparing this oration I received a most kindly letter from a dear friend at Oxford. The writer is a gentleman of | fine taste in letters, of true culture, of sincere piety, and a law- yer of high standing. THe, like Mr. Lows, is a native of Halifax, but he left it when a little boy. He writes as follows “I well remember 40 years ago, attending the old church at | (Haywoods) in company with Mr. Warren Branch’s family, to hear Rev. T. S$. Campbell preach. If I had the money to spare { should certainly be present to hear you speak of that wonder- ful man, that simple hearted, sweet Spirited christian disciple, whose faculties seemed endowed of heaven to clothe the pro- foundest thought in the richest drapery of expression, and who combined in his eloquence the skill of the artist with the highest inspiration of genius. So far as I have known, Tom. Lowe has left nothing in writing, and when the last of the generation who heard’ him shall have passed away his name will live only in tradition and your writings of him. No lawyer in North Carolina by reason of cultivation, taste and skill with the pen is better qualified to render judgment upon the gifts of an orator like Lows than John W. Hays, sans peur, sans reproche. 25 Whilst we gather here to pay fitting homage to the name and good deeds of a rarely endowed servant of Jesus who went in and went out before you; whilst you erect this house of worship in view of his natal birth-spot and upon the site so long occupied by the old church in which Tuomas G. Lows first found Christ and united with His people, we must believe that if the Saints in glory are ever occupied with the things of earth that our dear absent friend now. regards from the celestial heights this scene and these memorial services. Although he has passed into the eternal heavens he is not forgotten here- Though rejoicing in the beatitudes of the redeemed and glori- | fied his name and memory are kept green on earth, and we | trust may be preserved for generations yet unborn. | life here, like his, is ended forever, looking only to the same | Jesus he preached with so much of unction and power and | eloquence, and who bought him with His own precious blood, | may we meet our friend who has gone before When our , who was dead but 7s alive again, in those mansions of perpetual rest and per- | petual bliss prepared by God for his people.