THE LATE M. J. MACGINNIS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1204, 27 March 1885, Page 3

THE LATE M. J. MACGINNIS.

On Sunday. March l£lh, 1885, the fol* lowing remarks were made in a sermon by the liev, J. l.oihian referring to the sudden and unexpected death of the late Mr M. J. Maeginnis, The subject of sermon was I Cor. xv„ 26—*‘The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death ; *' and in the course of his remarks the rev. gentleman said : Yon have perhaps read or heard of the ancient legend of the mysterious arrow which was once seen hovering in the. air over the heads of two contending parties. There it seemed to pause for a moment and

remain suspended, as if uncertain whither •o wing its flight, and as if looking oat for a vioti ii, and. th n n with one sudden swift unerring dart, it pierced the heart of one of the leaders in the fight, and laid him low. And so, brethren, over the battle of our human life, the mysterious arrow of Death hover* ever, yet it* aim, snaureand deadly, not one can avert ; and who among ns can say where or when that winged shaft may next alightf Last Tuesday night the fatal mysterious shaft quivered in the air and paused, but it fell with a keen and swift descent, not upon the invalid, the aged, the weak, or the infirm, but it alighted suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, upon him who till then appear d to be one of the strongest and most stalwart of your citizens. In the very prime, as we should say, of h<s manhoo t and usefulness, whilst busy at his bones’, toil gathering in the precious harvest then the enemy dame upon him ; ana it was hnt as yesterday that a great company of his fellow citizens followed him tn his long home in silence and regret; it was but yesterday .that his widow wept i'< grief over the grave of the husband of her youth—the f itherof her children. He was l.nsy like his neighbours in the harvest fields, but There is a reaper whose name is Death, And with his sickle keen, Re reaps the bearded grain at a breath, And the Sowers'that grow between. And that great reaper has cat him down. The great and common enemy bath done his work. With" bur departed friend I have often had opportunities of converaa* tion and intercourse, end 1 always found him eager and anxious for promoting the public good by all honourable means, gym* pnthisiog with the right and good, and with a firm conviction of the sublime cardinal truths of our common Cbiiatianity. At our annual church tea meetings (though he bel nged to another communion) be was a frtquent viaior, and I liked to see his honest f >ce the-e. At our last meeting I missed him, but did not think ihat Death had maiked him for his own. Friends and brethren, in this, another solemn warning sudden and sail, is now given to each one of us. speaking in wonts of loudest and clear, eat power, and saying—Be ye aso ready. The night c .math wne.n no man can work. And now in the name of the great Master of Life and Death, let me specially charge iho-o who w re Cr ends and neighbours, and th se who weie assoc ated in public affairs with our de eased brother, to live as wise m n, redeeming the time an i setting before tneir fellow citizens the godly example of a Christian life On ! public men. Oh I men of wealth. <d position, who ocou’*y responsible and influential situations in the com-, m nity, I charge you before God and the peop e of this laud lh>t ye he not unmindful of tin se meat “ primal dudes ’’ which shiue aloft like the stars ot heaven- that ye be not high-minded, lovers of pleasure, trusting in uncertain riches or in power—but iu the Living (4 id. who giveth us all things richly to enjoy. Remembering also fo’ the public good that righteousness ex. Itelh a nation, an I that blessed is that people whose Go I is the Lord. And further, let mo also say. as a humble servant of the same great Master, io those who wilfully rej cl Him who is the resurrection and the life ; to those who despise the cnessvge of His idesaei gospel and the riches of his love and vra. e ; shnttin ; the doors of their hearts to’Him that kuockeih there ; those who n» tune to worship and acknowledge the Lord before their fellowmon ; who desp se the Sailba'li and the sanc.n ry, calling them a weanness, let me siyinall affection and faithfulness to the n, that soon a mighty messenger shall stand at your door and yo cannot r. fu e him eu rauce for, as the old poet -aith, “ Col I pale di ath wi f h reijnorsaleas sten, kno- ks at the door of rich and poor alike,” and summons all to that certain life beyond iho great Shadow, to which all human aspiration, all Scripture, and even the very la eat and clearest testimony of science are for ever pointing.