43 



MINUTE OF SYNOD. 



The Committee appointed by the Synod of the Presbyterian Church in 

 North Carolina, at its meeting in 1857, reported the following minute to 

 the meeting in 1858. 



** The Synod of North Carolina records with heart-felt sorrow the loss 

 of one of its oldest members by the death of the Rev. Elisha Mitchell, J). D., 

 Professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy and Geology, in the University of 

 North Carolina. Late in 1817, Dr. Mitchell was licensed to preach the 

 everlasting Gospel by a Congregational Association of orthodox faith in 

 Connecticut. He was ordained to the full work of the Gospel ministry by 

 the Presbytery of Orange. His first sermon was preached in the Chapel 

 of the University not long after his licensure, and his last in the Presby- 

 terian Church in Salisbury, a short time before he perished. So his ministe- 

 rial service of nearly forty years was rendered altogether while in commu- 

 nion with this body. He was probably the most learned man that ever 

 lived in this State. He was a skillful and conscientious Professor, and as 

 such was constantly engaged in preparing for their various walks in life the 

 youth of the land. He was a well-grounded believer in Revelation, and no 

 common expounder of its doctrines in matters of Natural Science, as well as 

 in those of Religion. The Synod gladly recognizes the healthful influence 

 of his teachings upon the many generations of his pupils, in that he always 

 led them, by precept and by example, to look for the Lawgiver of nature 

 as well as for its laws. He also preached regularly to them the great 

 doctrines of moral depravity, the necessity of an atonement by a Divine 

 Redeemer, of regeneration and sanctification by the Holy Ghost, and of 

 faith and repentance by each individual of the one race of Adam. By the 

 will of God, he served his generation faithfully in his day, and he was cut 

 off while surrounded with unfinished plans of usefulness. This death 

 calls upon the Synod to lament that Science has lost a learned, patient, 

 and devout investigator — that Education must miss an honest and accom- 

 plished guide, and that Religion needs another faithful watchman upon 

 the walls of Zion . The Synod also mourns for itself, the absence of one who 

 was to many of its members a revered preceptor, and to all a sincere 

 friend, and a worthy co-laborer in the harvest of God. 



In view of this solemn event the Synod resolves. 



That while it thanks the great Head of the Church for its long and 

 fraternal intercourse with Dr. Mitchell, and for the example of untiring 

 industry, unfailing liberality, unceasing acquisition, fearless conscien- 

 tiousness, and consistent piety afforded by his life, its surviving members 

 will so improve his sudden and unexpected death in the midst of his un- 



