REV. AUGUSTUS SHEPARD 55 



ers, God required him to answer to a summons 

 from on high. 



He was invited to preach the dedicatorial 

 sermon in the beautiful and imposing First 

 Baptist Church of Charlotte, N. C, of which 

 mention has been made among his pastorates; 

 but the invitation came just too late for compli- 

 ance. His summons had come from his Fa- 

 ther's throne on high, and it was mandatory. 

 Even his family was unmindful of the real situ- 

 ation; his wife had gone to Charlotte ahead of 

 him, and anxiously awaited his coming. For 

 the first time a message over the wires told of the 

 real situation, and his wife hastened to his bed- 

 side, where she remained to the end. 



The news of the extreme illness of the dis- 

 tinguished pastor of White Rock Baptist 

 Church was flashed over the wires from his 

 home in Durham to the remotest parts of the 

 State of North Carolina and elsewhere. The 

 newspapers told the sad story of his illness with 

 as much reservation as possible, and yet one 

 could easily ''read between the lines" and was 

 made to feel that the ''prince" of preachers 



