glass of cold water. She stepped to the door and drew him water from the well near, which he received and drank. "With what joy he was soon to draw water from the wells of salvation! "Soon after this, seating herself near the window, she took up a copy of The Little Faithful Promiser,' and read aloud the passage for the day. It was this: I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.' "Yes, the precious promise was now about to be fulfilled. A little while after, he said he would rise; and leaning forward gave utterance to his last prayer, which died away in the praises of the upper sanctuary. "The prayer was in these words: Lord, be merciful unto me; bless my children; build up thy kingdom; enlarge Zion.' "He died in the arms of a favorite grandson, two of his daughters being near him; and O, how peaceful looked the venerable face, when the head was laid back upon the pillow, as the Sabbath began to dawn.' He had entered into rest. "When his death was announced from the pulpit on Sunday morning, the congregation were much affected. One old lady said to me, I thought when the minister was speaking of him, he little knew how much some of the people there loved him.' Numbers came and wept over the dear remains; and the pastor of the church spoke of the support his very presence had been to him, coming in, as he had done, with feeble and tottering steps, Sabbath after Sabbath, and giving such earnest attention to the preached word. "On Monday morning the body of my father was carried to Chicago and embalmed. In the afternoon a funeral service was held in the New-England church, Rev. Willis Lord, D. D., making an interesting and appropriate address. The same evening, my brother and myself started with the remains for Hadley, where we arrived on Wednesday morning. HIS DEATH AND FUNERAL SERVICES. 443 "It is remarkable that after death my father's face assumed a peculiar beauty. When the funeral took place in the NewEngland church in Chicago, it seemed as if a light from the better country had fallen upon it. As the coffin was carried into the church, while the choir sang a funeral dirge, the sun suddenly shone out, and sent its rays through the stained windows, as if conscious that a temple of the Holy Ghost was there. When at the close of the service the coffin was open, among those who went to look their last upon the dead, were two little grandsons of the deceased, who leaned forward and looked so lovingly upon the beautiful smiling face, that a friend who saw it remarked long afterwards, that they seemed to have no fear. Death had none of its usual terrors. My brother tells me that while the remains were still in his own house, his little daughter Helen, four or five years old, sat a long time beside the coffin alone in the room, looking at her grandfather's face. "Is it not possible that the Saviour smiled upon him as he passed through the gates of death, and left for a time his impress"?" The funeral services were attended at Hadley, long his endeared home, and where he had preached the gospel that he loved for thirty-five years, on Thursday, September 30. Though the notice was brief, a large congregation were assembled, including several clergymen. An appropriate sermon was preached by Dr. Gordon Hall, of Northampton. At the close of the services the multitude gathered around the remains to take a farewell look of his familiar face. One very aged man was seen approaching with slow and trembling step. Stooping, he looked sharply into the casket, and then stretching out his hand, clasped the cold hand of his once loved pastor and cordially shook it and passed on, while tears moistened his withered cheeks. He afterwards said, "I loved Dr. Woodbridge. No man ever opened to me the scriptures as he did; and I wanted to give him an affectionate good-bye." When all had gratified their affectionate interest in looking on those peaceful features, once so interesting when flushed with life, his body was borne to the cemetery where he had often walked and thought of the "heavenly country," followed by a long procession. There rests "the Christian hero," dust committed to dust, awaiting the resurrection morning. It is a pleasant spot. Green meadows spread themselves immediately around it, and the placid Connecticut, flowing at a little distance, almost encircles it, giving beauty to the scene. Jesus he loved; in Jesus he sleeps, with the holy dead, the trophies he won, around him. A monument has been erected over his grave, bearing the following inscription : REV. JOHN WOODBRIDGE, D. D. WAS BORN AT SOUTHAMPTON, MASS. PREACHED THE GOSPEL MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY, WITH GREAT ABILITY, FERVOR, AND BOLDNESS. FINISHED HIS COURSE WITH JOY, AND THE MINISTRY WHICH HE HAD RECEIVED of AT WAUKEGAN, ILL., ON SABBATH MORNING, IN THE 85TH YEAR OF HIS AGE. "LET ME GO, FOR THE DAY BREAKETH." "THE HIGHEST REWARDS OF A FAITHFUL MINISTER WILL BE FOUND IN ANOTHER LIFE." THIS STONE IS ERECTED BY HIS CHILDREN IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF A BELOVED AND REVERED FATHER. APPENDIX. I. JEMIMA ELLIOT'S PEDIGREE. MABEL HARLAKENDEN was second wife of Gov. John Haynes, whose daughter Ruth married Samuel Willis (or Wyllys), whose daughter Mary was second wife of Rev. Joseph Elliot, whose daughter Jemima married Rev. John Woodbridge of West Springfield, etc. Chancellor Walworth carries back the pedigree of Mabel Harlakenden to Edward I., who died July 7, 1307, and through him to Alfred the Great, and two generations earlier, to Egbert, who succeeded to the West-Saxon crown, A. D. 800 or 801. See Appendix to Hyde's "Genealogy." II. I'M OLD TO-DAY. I WAKE at last; I've dreamed too long; The world, its passions and its strife, Strange that I never felt, before, That I had almost reached my goal! My bark is nearing death's dark shore, Life's waters far behind me roll; And yet I love their murmuring swellTheir distant breakers' proud array; And MUST I CAN I say "Farewell"? "I'm old to-day - I'm old to-day." This house is mine, and those broad lands "I'm old to-day - I'm old to-day." "Twixt yesterday's short hours and me A mighty gulf hath intervened; A man with men I seemed to be: But now 'tis meet I should be weaned From all my kind - from kindred dear; From all those deep skies - that landscape gay; From hopes and joys I've cherished here. "I'm old to-day - I'm old to-day." O man of years, while earth recedes, "I'm old to-day- I'm old to-day." |