96 — — — 



DEATH OF WILLIAM A. RENSHAW. 



Who to himself shall promise length of life ? 



None but the fool : for O! toiday (done 



Is ours : we are not certain of to-morrow. Sophocles. 



" .ds for man, his days are as grass : as a flower of the field, so he flourishcih. 

 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone : and the place thereof shall Icnoio it no 

 more. " — The Sweet Singer of Israel. 



It is with no ordinary degree of sorrow that we record the death, and offer our 

 tribute of affection to the memory of another, who was linown to us as a pupil and a 

 friend, an associate and a Christian — whom we had learned to admire for liis talents 

 and to love for his worth. Renshaw, too, is numbered with[the dead ! On the 21st of 

 January his spirit passed into the rest which is eternity, and is now, we trust, with 

 God! 



Mr. Renshaw completed his course in Pennsylvania College, and was gradua- 

 ted at the last Commencement. At the beginning of the Winter term he became 

 a member of the Theological Seminary of this place, and, with a view to the Chris- 

 tian ministry, he was faithfully and successfully prosecuting his studies. About a 

 month since, disease, entering the Seminary, seized hold of his frame, and death 

 speedily selected him as a victim. Although every thing was done for his restora- 

 tion that either medical science could suggest, or affectionate sympathy prompt, 

 it was all in vain. 



Whilst we contemplate the removal from among us of our esteemed friend, as 

 the fulfillment of that law of our being which makes it needful for man once to die, 

 we cannot but lament the loss of one whom we had hoped to see spared for many 

 years of active usefulness, the pride of his Mma Mater, an ornament to the com- 

 munity, and a blessing to the Church. This mysterious and melancholy event we 

 must ascribe to the sovereign pleasure of that Almighty Being who works all things' 

 according to the counsel of His most wise and righteous will, who " numbers our 

 days, ■' who " changes the countenance of man and sends him away, " and we must 

 acknowledge it to be just. No matter how painful the dispensation, it is our 

 duty to acquiesce in the appointment of Heaven, to bow with Chi-istian resignation, 

 gratefully recollecting tliat He, xoho strikes, has power to heal. None but God could 

 take the life God gave, or dissolve what God has made. Our friend has gone — but 

 as the thought recurs, it is softened by the cheering reflection that he has passed 

 from earth to heaven, from sin to holiness, has exchanged a life of labor and toil 

 for that of rest, sufferings for eternal bliss. Disease no longer preys upon his body 

 — no longer temptation assails, or care distracts. Hitherto he was associated with 

 men, now he is the companion of angels. Shall not the heart then respond to 

 the song of holy resignation : 



Why should we mourn departed friends 



Or start at death's alarms ? 

 'Tis but the voice that Jesus sends 

 To call us to his arms ! 



Whilst we deeply sympathize with the bereaved friends, we can only point them 

 for consolation to that Higher Power which is never found to deny comfort to 

 those who ask reverently that His will, not theirs, be done. JMay our Father and 

 the Saviour of us all, who tempers the breeze to the shorn lamb, extend over them 

 the shelter of his wing, and sanctify this afflicting dispensation to their eternal good, 

 that it may work out for them "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 



