Forty Years in South China | Page 9

niece of the late Abraham Van Nest, of New
York City, who a few years preceded him into glory. She was the most
godly woman the writer ever knew, a wonder unto many for the
strength of her faith, the profoundness of her Christian experience, and
the uniform spirituality of her mind. The ebb and flow common to most
believers did not appear in her; but her course was like a river fed by
constant streams, and running on wider and deeper till it reaches the sea.
It might be said of this pair, as truly as of the parents of John the
Baptist, 'And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the
commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.' Hand in hand
they pursued their pilgrimage through this world, presenting an

example of intelligent piety such as is not often seen. 'Lovely and
pleasant in their lives, in their death they were not (long) divided.'
Exactly three years from the day of Mrs. Talmage's death her husband
received the summons to rejoin her on high.
"These parents were unusually careful and diligent in discharging their
Christian obligations to their children. The promise of the covenant was
importunately implored in their behalf from the moment of birth, its
seal was early applied, and the whole training was after the pattern of
Abraham. The Divine faithfulness was equally manifest, for the whole
eleven were in due time brought to the Saviour, and introduced into the
full communion of the Church. Years ago two of them were removed
by death. Of the rest, four, James, John, Goyn, and Thomas De Witt,
are ministers of the Gospel, and one is the wife of a minister (the Rev.
S. L. Mershon, of East Hampton, L.I.). Without entering into details
respecting these brethren, it is sufficient to say that, with the exception
of the late Dr. John Scudder's, no other single family has been the
means of making such a valuable contribution to the sons of Levi in the
Dutch Church.
"Mr. Talmage was not only exemplary in the ordinary duties of a
Christian, but excellent as a church officer. Shrewd, patient, kind,
generous according to his means, and full of quiet zeal, he was ready
for every good work; one of those men--the delight of a pastor's
heart--who can always be relied upon to do their share, if not a little
more, and that in things both temporal and spiritual. He was a wise
counselor, a true friend, a self-sacrificing laborer for the Master."
We find the following allusion to the life and death of his mother, in a
sermon by Dr. T. De Witt Talmage:
"In these remarks upon maternal faithfulness, I have found myself
unconsciously using as a model the character of one, who, last
Wednesday, we put away for the resurrection. About sixty years ago,
just before the day of their marriage, my father and mother stood up in
the old meeting-house, at Somerville, to take the vows of a Christian.
Through a long life of vicissitude she lived blamelessly and usefully,
and came to her end in peace. No child of want ever came to her door,
and was turned away. No stricken soul ever appealed to her and was
not comforted. No sinner ever asked her the way to be saved, and was
not pointed to Christ.

"When the Angel of Life came to a neighbor's dwelling, she was there
to rejoice at the incarnation; and when the Angel of Death came, she
was there to robe the departed one for burial. We had often heard her,
while kneeling among her children at family prayers, when father was
absent, say: 'I ask not for my children wealth, or honor; but I do ask
that they may all become the subjects of Thy converting grace.' She had
seen all her eleven children gathered into the Church, and she had but
one more wish, and that was that she might again see her missionary
son. And when the ship from China anchored in New York harbor, and
the long absent one crossed the threshold of his paternal home, she said,
'Now, Lord, lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes
have seen Thy salvation.'
"We were gathered from afar to see only the house from which the soul
had fled forever. How calm she looked! Her folded hands appeared just
as when they were employed in kindnesses for her children. And we
could not help but say, as we stood and looked at her, 'Doesn't she look
beautiful!' It was a cloudless day when, with heavy hearts, we carried
her out to the last resting-place. The withered leaves crumbled under
wheel and hoof as we passed, and the setting sun shone upon the river
until it looked like fire.