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Sarah Lawrence Obituary
1876. Unknown newspaper.
Sara Lawrence Obituary
1876
Hall--- The death of MRS. SARAH W. HALL, recently announced in our columns, will recall many reminiscences and awaken an affectionate interest in a large circle of the older members of our church. The daughter of Puritan parents, her fidelity to the best spirit of Presbyterian culture, was first bred in her, and then carefully trained. Her childhood home was in Geneseo, where she was born in 1800, her father being Col. Joseph William Laurence, a man of resolute character and stern principle. The daughter inherited from him a love of fixed principle, bringing with it great steadiness of purpose and directness of conviction. Hence all her life through her religious character was marked rather by settled, calm faith than by impulse, by fidelity to duty in all it's details than by fitful enthusiasms. She was more capable of sacrifices than self-assertion, and her decisiveness and firmness as well of feeling as of deed were plainly connected in her mind with a sense of religious fidelity.
Mrs. Hall was the widow of the Rev. Charles Hall, D.D., one of the first secretaries of the American Home Missionary Society, and one who was retained in its service until his lamented death in 1853. Her attachment to him began early in his course of preparation for the ministry, and with him her whole prospect in life was bound up with the service of the Master among us. Those who remember the assiduous, tender, and wise care with which Dr. Hall cared for his delicate and weighty trust, (for scores of self-denying missionaries in the Wes depended on his diligence, sympathy and counsel,) will be almost sure to recall the wife who followed him into these cares with a solitude like his own. It was noticeable of the spirit of these servants of Jesus, that they threw their influence in with missionary enterprises where they lived, and they found their personal church-home, first in the Mercer-street church in New York, and afterward in the High-street church, Newark, where these were in their infancy and missionary in their character. Their interest in this kind of work was engrossing, and hence there came to them a constant solicitude to be bearing the burdens of the Lord's kingdom, and when they could not work themselves, to know and share in the labor of others. When the death of Dr. Hall cut his widow off from her close association with Christian ministerial labors, and led to a change in her residence, the habit of deep interest in all the fortunes of the Saviour's kingdom, remained ineradicable. Tp the last her anxiety to know what was being done for the salvation of men, her delight in works of evangelization, her eager pleasure in converse with those who could inform her of these things, were noticeable marked. Her weekly paper, The Evangelist, was indispensable to her because it opened avenues for her sympathies to run on to the workers, and when she found some cause of hope or gratitude, she rested not until others of kindred mind accessible to her shared the feast.
In later years bodily infirmities came upon her, and though she partly regained her strength, and wholly retained her mental faculties, her activity was much impeded. She was never weary of giving thanks that her mind was left undisturbed, and her "greatest trial" was her inability to continue the active services so dear and accustomed to her. But her afflictions wrought in her a looking for the heavenly home. Her affections were consciously more and more set on things above, where Christ is, and her beloved ones with him. This feeling was too deep and sacred for much revelation, but it's domination over her was betrayed by the things she loved to read, the constant preparation she made for her change, and her tranquil look upon the coming of death.
Mrs. Hall was a person of much strength of character, and an unusual energy. Her affections were persistent, her habitudes of feeling and devotion were stable and strong, her religious convictions simple and direct, and they were absolute law to her, her faith and comfort in the spirit knew little wavering, but flowed evenly and quietly full. She was a type of the fervor, strength and charity of a generation of Christians that sometimes seem nearly gone, and whose nobleness, fidelity and unassuming grace and strength will ever be admirable. Her end came quietly, and her life was gently breathed out after a few days of illness. These days had been preceded by unusual feelings of animation, by more than ordinary delight in Christian conversation, and by a perceptible mellowness and tenderness of word and feeling towards those about her. She has entered into rest, and those who knew and loved her, will without misgiving, thank God for the good examination of his aged servant now resting from her labors.
Sarah Lawrence Obituary
1876. Unknown newspaper.
Sara Lawrence Obituary
1876
Hall--- The death of MRS. SARAH W. HALL, recently announced in our columns, will recall many reminiscences and awaken an affectionate interest in a large circle of the older members of our church. The daughter of Puritan parents, her fidelity to the best spirit of Presbyterian culture, was first bred in her, and then carefully trained. Her childhood home was in Geneseo, where she was born in 1800, her father being Col. Joseph William Laurence, a man of resolute character and stern principle. The daughter inherited from him a love of fixed principle, bringing with it great steadiness of purpose and directness of conviction. Hence all her life through her religious character was marked rather by settled, calm faith than by impulse, by fidelity to duty in all it's details than by fitful enthusiasms. She was more capable of sacrifices than self-assertion, and her decisiveness and firmness as well of feeling as of deed were plainly connected in her mind with a sense of religious fidelity.
Mrs. Hall was the widow of the Rev. Charles Hall, D.D., one of the first secretaries of the American Home Missionary Society, and one who was retained in its service until his lamented death in 1853. Her attachment to him began early in his course of preparation for the ministry, and with him her whole prospect in life was bound up with the service of the Master among us. Those who remember the assiduous, tender, and wise care with which Dr. Hall cared for his delicate and weighty trust, (for scores of self-denying missionaries in the Wes depended on his diligence, sympathy and counsel,) will be almost sure to recall the wife who followed him into these cares with a solitude like his own. It was noticeable of the spirit of these servants of Jesus, that they threw their influence in with missionary enterprises where they lived, and they found their personal church-home, first in the Mercer-street church in New York, and afterward in the High-street church, Newark, where these were in their infancy and missionary in their character. Their interest in this kind of work was engrossing, and hence there came to them a constant solicitude to be bearing the burdens of the Lord's kingdom, and when they could not work themselves, to know and share in the labor of others. When the death of Dr. Hall cut his widow off from her close association with Christian ministerial labors, and led to a change in her residence, the habit of deep interest in all the fortunes of the Saviour's kingdom, remained ineradicable. Tp the last her anxiety to know what was being done for the salvation of men, her delight in works of evangelization, her eager pleasure in converse with those who could inform her of these things, were noticeable marked. Her weekly paper, The Evangelist, was indispensable to her because it opened avenues for her sympathies to run on to the workers, and when she found some cause of hope or gratitude, she rested not until others of kindred mind accessible to her shared the feast.
In later years bodily infirmities came upon her, and though she partly regained her strength, and wholly retained her mental faculties, her activity was much impeded. She was never weary of giving thanks that her mind was left undisturbed, and her "greatest trial" was her inability to continue the active services so dear and accustomed to her. But her afflictions wrought in her a looking for the heavenly home. Her affections were consciously more and more set on things above, where Christ is, and her beloved ones with him. This feeling was too deep and sacred for much revelation, but it's domination over her was betrayed by the things she loved to read, the constant preparation she made for her change, and her tranquil look upon the coming of death.
Mrs. Hall was a person of much strength of character, and an unusual energy. Her affections were persistent, her habitudes of feeling and devotion were stable and strong, her religious convictions simple and direct, and they were absolute law to her, her faith and comfort in the spirit knew little wavering, but flowed evenly and quietly full. She was a type of the fervor, strength and charity of a generation of Christians that sometimes seem nearly gone, and whose nobleness, fidelity and unassuming grace and strength will ever be admirable. Her end came quietly, and her life was gently breathed out after a few days of illness. These days had been preceded by unusual feelings of animation, by more than ordinary delight in Christian conversation, and by a perceptible mellowness and tenderness of word and feeling towards those about her. She has entered into rest, and those who knew and loved her, will without misgiving, thank God for the good examination of his aged servant now resting from her labors.