COLLEGE RECORD. OBITUARY. 



B>/ all of human race, death is a debt 



That must be paid : and none of mortal men 



Knows whether till to-morrow, life's short space 



Shall be extended. Euripides. 



" Man Cometh forth like a flower and is cut down : he fleeth as a shadow and con- 

 tinuelh not. " — Job. 



During the last month we have had sad mementos furnished us of our own mor- 

 ' tality. Death has entered our Institution and cut down those who were connected 

 with us by the most interesting ties and endeared to us by their many virtues. It is 

 indeed true that Daxiel A. Willemax, George Albert, and William Beard 

 are no more! On the 14th ult, the first, a member of the Freshman Class, on 

 the loth, the second, of the Senior, and on the 2.3d, the third, of the Junior Class, 

 ceased from among us. Although the best medical sliill was put into requisition, it 

 proved of no avail; disease was relentless and resisted every ministration employed 

 for their recovery. Come when it may into our midst, death never fails to touch 

 the heart of those who survive its work. There is no one so indifferent as to defy 

 its impressions, even when a casual acquaintance falls ; but when those are torn from 

 us with whom we were daily associated, and were wont to hold sweet converse, 

 whose amiability, gentleness and kindness, whose industry, application to study, 

 and fidelity to duty, whose exalted worth, pure character and sincere piety have 

 won for them a high place in our affections and secured the esteem of all, the gloom 

 that prevails, is beyond the ordinary feeling, the grief is inexpressible. During a 

 painful and protracted illness the sinking spirits of these dear young men welcomed 

 death as the entrance into that world where the weary are at rest. With a perfect 

 consciousness of their approaching end, they expressed their unwavering confidence 

 in the blessed Redeemer. To them Death had no terrors : they died as they had 

 lived, in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the confident and peaceful hope 

 of everlasting perfection and bliss through his merits. We weep then not for them ; 

 they are safe and blest. We weep for ourselves, for the Church for whose service 

 they were preparing, for the extension of whose borders they were sighing. But 

 still they live ! And long, long will they abide in memory " despite the ruins of 

 the tomb. " The recollection of their many virtues will long be engraven on the 

 tablets of our hearts. The influence of their life and example shall remain. From 

 their '•' walk and conversation " we will learn the excellency of piety — from their 

 death we will learn the power of religion in qualifying the soul for heaven. 



May the solemn lessons addressed to us on this mournful occasion be blessed to 

 our spiritual improvement. May we listen to the admonition, how short is time 

 and how frail our hold upon it, what responsibilities we sustain, and what impor- 

 tant issues are before us ! Blay we remember that we are not proof against the 

 shafts of death — that our eye too must lose its lustre, and our frame its vigor — that 

 even now the grave waits to receive our ashes, and the church bell will soon have 

 tolled our knell ! May we so live then that death will be to us only an admission 

 into higher life — that survivors may shed over our tomb tears of hope as well as 

 tears of sorrow ; that they may discover, in their remembrance of us, springs of 

 comfort, testimonies to the power of religion, encouragements to virtue and piety, 

 and pledges of immortality ! May we so live and " walk with God, " that, when 

 summoned from time to eternity, we may commit our departing spirits to Hiin who 

 gave them, with humble trust, with fdial prayer, with undying hope : that death 

 may be gain, and "when Christ, who is our Life, shall appear, we may appear with 

 Him in glory. " 



