SUDDEN DEATH OF A MINISTER IN HIS PULPIT.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 599, 18 November 1869, Page 4

SUDDEN DEATH OF A MINISTER IN HIS PULPIT.

The church-goers of Airdrie on Sunday, August 22, as they left their respective churches at the interval, were stunned with the intelligence that the Rev Wm. Jackson, the revered and popular pastor of the Free West Church, Airdrie, had suddenly dropped down dead in his pulpit, and in the midst of his sermon. It was a singular coincidence that having chosen for his text Colossians ii. 1 2, and was likening the scene which St. Paul took of the Laodicean Church to that of a general who encouraged his army both by word and example, while leading them on to victory, 'to a mother in her working and striving to attain the welfare of her children, to the anxj^ty of an encaged bird which, aeeing her yowig ant of her reach, and in clanger from the eagle which was hovering aloft, preparatory to seizing on its prey, dashes, her body again and again against the cage,, even till she fell lifeless at the bottom, H<* had i hs^ gained this point at about half-past 12 o'clock, when the congregation observed him bow down his. head as if to wipe his face with his handkerchief. His head gradually descended till it touched the hook=board, when the rev. gentleman, fell over to one side. A servant of deceased, who wa,s in Qhurch at the time, was; the first to notice that something wa3 wrong with her master, and she sprang up the pulpit stairs to his assistance, closely followed by his son and two number? of geasj.ou, M.r Jaok^-i; luny-

ever, never spoke, and just as they lifted him up he breathed his last. One of the members announced to the congregation that their beloved minister was dead, and was greeted with cries "no," "it cannot be." The scene in the church was at this moment most painful. All the worshippers present were moved to tears, and loud sobs from men and women resounded from all parts of the building as the body was gently carried to the vestry. Medical assistance was sent for, and Dr. Cullen and other gentlemen were speedily on the spot, but death had been before them. It was stated that death had been caused by a shock of paralysis. Mr Towers-Clark placed his carraige at the disposal of the session, and the remains were conveyed to the manse, which he had but a few hours before left in all the vigour of health. Mr Jackson "was one of the oldest ministers in the parish, and had been, since the death of Rev. Mr Buchan of Hamilton, the senior member of Hamilton Free Presbytery. He was sixty years of age, and had been thirtyfive years a minister of the gospel in Airdrie. The West Established Church was built for him, and he preached there till the Disruption, when he cast in his lot with the Free Church, and the preseut Free West Church was erected by his congregation. Mr Jackson was a vigorous, healthy man, and had only a day or two before been out visiting various members of hia congregation. He was in the habit of exerting himself very much in the pulpit, and when taken into the vestry his hands, neckcloth, and underclothing were wet with perspiration.