Funeral services at the burial of the Right Rev. Leonidas Polk, D. D., together with the sermon delivered in St. Paul's Church, Augusta, Ga., on June 29, 1864: being the feast of St. Peter the Apostle

DEPARTMENT OF STATE SEN W. FDRTSQN, JR. SECRETARY OP STATE ATLANTA 3, QEIDRBIA

Churches, scopal^ St. Paul's E^jisoopal Church (Augusta) Richmond County.
"Funeral Services at the Burial of the

Reel No. _222_ Positive' filed in

Right Rev. Leonidas Polk, D. D., Together with the Sermon Delivered

in St. Paul's Church, Augusta, Ga., on June 29, 1864: Being the

Feast of St. Peter the Apostle." 28 pp. Pub. Columbia, S. C., 1864.

In passession of: St. Paul's Episcopal Church Augusta, Ga.

Date microfilmed; Feb. 9, i960

MICROFILMED BIl HORACE

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Georgia Department OF Archives, and History

Microfilm Division

1516 Peachtree ST., NE

a J

Atlanta 9, Georgia.

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3

KUNUKAI. SKI!VK;|';s
UIGHT RUV. LKONIDAS POLK. I).0. TO<JHTIlfcK W[Tli TIIK JiKKMOX nKl.tVKRKK
IN si', i*;vri/s ciiuiifMi, .U (;rsrA, (;a.. ON JOiNK ->9, 1804
liKlNd rHK FKAST OK SI'. KKTKIt THK AKOSTLK.
They (liitl Hiiw iti tcar.'i, Hlmll re;ii> in.jt*y. IVulni I'xxvi, (1.
OOLUAiniA, K. C. I'KINTKD BY EVANS 4 COrtSWELL,
1861.

FUNERAL SERVICES AT TIIK BniAL OF TRR
RIGHT REV. LEONIDAS POLK, D.D TOO ETHER WITH THE 8ERMON niLITFJtCD
IN ST PAUL*S OHUROIT, AUGUSTA, GA., ON JUNE 29, 18C4;
BEING THE FEAST OF ST. PETER THE APOSTLE.
They tbat sow in tnrs, nball reap in joy.--Psalm cxxvt, 8.
COLUMBIA. 8. C. PRINTED BY EVANS A COGSWELL.
1M4.

CORRESPONDENCE,

Tt>aSnttkad*teeBP.irgtehitdBinegveJrfeinadioSpteio'Uf EthIeI ProteitantDE.Dp.i,ieBoi$phaolp Cohfutriceh Diniocthteet oCfonQfeedoergraiate,

cmBttohoroepTITodutyhtemhrhielneosieanfrsuitbe,notDtueatghLirttdemeekleyjtouhraaamesdseccimtrydgiihocrdnoaoeaeevrassfWdaespt,cryPo.pdtooirteMenthueirhl.cre.ixeobrii.GearrfedrethRsioeplvoaapdeEretlaceifEorutthtrohNnleiiifesbdas,rurtewBdhttareahiieirteyraehhyttmCuoaotehpthuehsunlIirh^hsrstac,afoonhrvriudee,fSeunnsiaappenetnerearleiidyacirfedahtemefloliuteopefoolfplnfmyhitu,htiarshnseehnueqmoiAsuruhnerelaalmmdsasltmoy,hiwrnaefyecovna.lireltndepdetdqhunuNebtFa.llaaibictfrehiayenet,deirofwinayt,nohoduoaf

JH.ELNORNYGSCT. RLABYET, ,BLieiheoupteonafHAtr'Okaeuiteearaei., Artnif of Virginia.

JOSIAH TATNALL, C. B. N., CommaHtling Naval Station,

SavuMHuk, Georgia.

GEORGE W. RAINS, Colonel Commanding Post, Augusta, Go,

* CCMMCMCWW.ooA.aaM.liTJ.j.MHH....WHTFE..QH..H.RHH.UCDHOOACEI...NNSYLRNGH.TABRDFPAcAARI.EENLSRMKTRTOAEDMESEc,Nl,R,RORAS,CHAYtNNSBaheE,,f,,ecafS,BSSctpoottHtteloaraaafcefrffoitfcfnfGoCftoroooeahSrfnfftuotteo.arGfGGrcfcPaheEeehlaSnnneoonPteeedt.lfrmror'JaaaetltoloalkAlknPC.PPGnaoohoAe'eelulllkkntkro.Cce..Onhrkea,knmlnArPoennnkokgt,l,,uSkAAef'tttntvahSga.entunasefextf,aa.h.Q. a.

W. W. LORD, Bector of Chritt Cknreh, Vickeburg, MUeieeippi.

STAHMOAS'Ll.aOJb.a.mBPaIE.NAKREDR,T^iOeeNio, nCahrgapltaoinA,rmg of TeGnenoeregeeiae., Bioctee of



JJOOHHNSNouNUthE. ECCLaOfYoRl,iNnAIanS,gHu,etaH,eDctioorceosefoSft.OTeokra^dtdam. ne' GEOPRrGeeEbgWter. oSTf IthCeKDNtoEcYes,eCqk/*apLUoiuiineioanfat.he Poet,

Church, Aiken, CJumbxte, Ua.,

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COLLECT FOR FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.
O God, the Protector of all that trust in Thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy; Increase and multiply upon us Thy mercy; that Thou, being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ's sake our Lord. Amen.

OCCASION OF HIS DEATH. On Tuesday morning, Juno General Johnston, Lieutenant-Generals Tolk and Tlardee, and IBrigadier Genci*al W. H. Jackson, accompanied by membei's of their respective statfa, visited Pine mountain, an elevated position lyingbeyond the Confederate lines, and some six miles from the Town of Marietta, for the purpose of making a military reconnoissance. Leaving their escorts and horses behind the hill, they proceeded to the top on foot. Their observations having been completed, they were about to return, when a shot from a Federal battery, striking the ground a short distance in front of their position, warned them that their presence had been discovered by the enemy. The grcnip at once separated: Generals Johnston and Polk passing along the brow of the hill, still farther to the left, while the other officers withdrew toward the right and rear.* After finishing their survey in that direction the two parted-- the former moving around the hill to rejoin his escort, and the latter leisurely retracing his course across the summit. Upon reaching a commanding point he paused for a moment, either to make a final examination of the scene before liim, or, as is more probable, to spend a short interval in silent coramuTiion with his God. As he stood thus occupied, his arms folded upon his breast, and his face wearing the composed and reverent look of an humble and tnisting worshipper, a second shot was heard, and the cry arose that General Polk had fallen. Colonels Jack and Gale, members of his staff, at once returned to the spot, but life was already extinct. His body, badly torn, was lying upon the ground at full length, with the face upturned, and retaining its last expression of pray-

6

erful faith, aud the arms, though broken, still crossed upon the breast.
The enemy's bAttory was by this time shelling the hill with great rapidity and precision, and the remains were borne to a place of safety in the rear under a heavy hre.
In the left pocket of his coat was found his Book of Common-I^rayer, and in the right four copies of a little manual entitled "Balm for the Weary and Wounded." Upon the fly-leaf of three of these had been written the names respectively of " Geneml Jos. E. Johnston," " Lieutenant-General Hardee," " Lieutenant-General Hood," "with the compliments of Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk, June 12th, 1864." Upon that of the fourth was inscribed his own name. All were saturated witli his blood.
The General-in-Chief at once made known the great loss which his army had sustained, in the following order:

"IIead-quartbks Army of Tennessee, ] In the Field, June 14, 1864. /

" General Field Orders^ No. 2.]

Comrades ! You are called to mourn your first oaptain,

your oldest companion-in-arms. Lieutenant-General Polk

fell tp-day at the outpost of this army--the army he raised

and commanded--in all of whose trials he has shared--to

all of whose victories he contributed. " In this distinguished leader we have lost the most cour-
teous of gentlemen, the most gallant of soldiers. "The Christian, patriot, soldier, has neither lived nor died

in vain. His example is before you--^his mantle rests with

you.

tL E, JOHNSTON, General.

"Official: Kinloch Falconer,.A. A. G."

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The members of his military staff not feeling at liberty to determine upon the place of his interment without consultation with his family and friends, sent telegraphic despatches to his eldest son, then in Montgomery, Ala., and to Bishop Elliott, at Savannah, to. meet the body at Augusta, as it was their intention to proceed with it to that point.

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On reaching Atlanta the body was received by a com-

mittee appointed for the purpose by the Mayor of the city,

aud taken directly to St Luke's Church. It continued

lying in state for several hours, aud then, after appropriate

religious services and an impressive eulogy pronounced by

the Rev. Br. Quintard, Rector of the Church and Chaplain

attached to the staff of General Polk, was conveyed to the

depot under a proper military escort, attended by a laige

concourse of sympathizing citizens.

A car having been provided expressly for their use, the

immediate attendants proceeded with it to Augusta, and

upon their arrival, early the following morning, were met

by the Rectors, Wardens, and Vestrymen of St. Paul's

Church and the Church of the Atonement. The remains

were reverently conveyed to St. Paul's Church, where a

guard of honor had been stationed to receive them by the

Commandant of the Post.

Upon consultation at Augusta with such members of

General Polk's family as could be gathered at the spot, aud

with Bishop Elliott, it was decided to be most appropriate

to commit his remains to the keeping of the Diocese of

I

Georgia, whose Bishop had now become the Senior Bishop of the Church in the Confederate States, until the Church of

Louisiana should claim them as her rightful inheritance.

The following bivitation was accordingly issued:

" The Bishops, Clergy, and Laity of the Protestant Epis-

copal Church in the Confederate States, the officers of the

Army and Navy of the Confederate States, and the citizens

generally, are invited to attend the funeral services of the

Ht. Rev. Leonidas Polk, D.D., from the City Hall of Au-

gusta, Georgia, pii Wednesday, the 29th of June. The

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procession will move fmra the City Hall to St. Paul's

Church. His remains will be deposited in the chiirch-yard

of St. Paul's until the war closes.

" Stephen Elliott,

"Senior Bp. of Prot. Epis. Ch. in C. S. A."

I

After remaining two days in St. Paul's Church, the body.

FUNKRAL SOLEMNITIES:
. U^n the day appointed--being, by a happy coincidence, the Feast of St. Peter the Apostle--the local military force of Augusta, consisting of one full regiment of infantrj^ a battery of light artillery, and a company of cavalrj-, was drawn up on Telfair st., in the rear of the City Hall, at halfpast nine o'clock, a. m. The case enclosing the remains was brought and placed within the hearse by soldiers detailed for the purpose. The hearse was draped in the flag of the Confedei-ate States, with its broad folds of white and its starry cross of Trust and Truth upon a field ot blood, an<l surmounted with wreaths of hay and laurel, and a cross of evergreen and snow-white flowers.
The military escort, under Major I. P. Girardcy, headed by the Palmetto Band, began its solemn march, the Colonel commanding the Post and Ills Honor the Mayor of the city on horseback, immediately preceding the hearse. Wai*dens and Vestrymen, representing St. Paul's Church, Augusta, St. John's, Savannah, and the Church of the Atonement, Augusta, accompanied the remains on either side as pallbeard's. After them, under the direction of Captain C. A. Platt, tlie remainder of the funeral cortege was arranged in the following order; The Military Family of General Polk, with the Clergy ami
Citizens of Louisiana. The Reverend Clergy. Officers of the Army and Navy.. Members of the City Council. Civil Officers of the Confederate Goveniment. Members of the Medical and Legal Professions.
Other Citizens.

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While the^ imposing procession was passing along the principal streets of the city, houses and halconies and walks were thronged with multitudes who had come out to pay the respects pf loving homage to the departed Christian ^ soldier. All places of business were closed. The band played appropriate dirges, and the bell of St. Paul's Church ^ was tolled at intervals. As it came down Reynolds street, approaching the church, the Bishops of Georgia, Mississip, pi, and Arkansas, in their robes, attended by a company of surpliced Priests, moved from the vestry-room, and took their station iu front of the church near the entrance-gate, while the company of Silver Greys was detached from the regiment and drawn up on either side of the avenue as a special guard of honor.
m fore it into the chuCrlcehrg, ythheavSinengiomreBtitshheopcorrpespee,awtinegnt tbheewords, " I am the Eesun-ection and tire Life, saith the Lord," etc. The three Bishops, with the Rector of St. Paul's, entered the chancel, while the attendant Priests occupied places assigned them on either side without the rail. The anthem, " Lord let me know my end," was chanted by the choir' with a solemn and effective accompaniment upon the organ. The Bishop of Arkansas read the Lesson; after which the choir and congregation united in singing the first three stanzas of the firmiliar hymn, " I would not live alway." The Senior Bishop then delivered, in the presence of a
t vast assemblage gathered within and around the church the

FUNERAL ADDRESS.
St. John's Gospel, chapter xi, verse 28.-- The Master is come and calleth for thee.
God hath made everything beautiful in his time, and nothing is more beautiful than Death, when it comes to one who has faithfully fuelled all the duties of life, and is ready for its summons. To such an one tlie solemn message, "The Master is come and calleth for thee," has no terrors. It is but the long-expected announcement of rest--* but the long-desired ending of the toil of life. The battle has been fought, the victory won, and the war-worn veteran is heralded by his ^iaiiquished enemy to his crown of righteousness. ; And it makes no matter to the faithful servant under what shape that summons comes. In the history of the Church of Christ the death of its most illustrious saints has taken the revolting form of violence. Some have gone to glory imitating Christ in the shame and agony of the Cross. Otliei's have ascended to the gates of Paradise in chariots of fire. The spirit of the Martyr Stephen passed away amid the curees of an infuriated mob; and the gentle James was smitten with the sword of ruthless tyranny. Why, then, stand appalled that, in these latter days, our brother should have died by the hand of violence? Has human nature changed ? Has fanaticism leaimed any mercy ? Does the fire which is lighted from hell ever cease its fury against the children of the Most High ? We have been plainly told in Holy Writ that, in the latter days, perilous times should come, and come they have to us. Instead of being appalled, Bishops of the Church of Christ, let us rather prepare for what may be our own future fate! Do ye not hear the

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vok-i'sot v'onr owii brethren,'Ministers and Bisliops, hounding on these hordeSS)f lawless men t6 tlie desolation of our
honieifoiir altars, onr families, ourselves 'i The body which lies before ns is the last, but not the only one, of onr martyred Bishops. The heart of the gentle, loving Cobbs was broken by the vision of coming evil which he foresaw. The lion-hcai'tod Ntoade died jnst when the hand of destruction was laid upon his quiet home, a?id its sacred associatiinis were scattered to the winds. Otey, the high-sonled, the honest-hearted, the guileless, expired a prisoner in Ins own borne, bis closing eyes looking upon a desolated diocese, a scattered and ruined people, an exiled ministry--all the work of his life in ruins. The mangled corpse of our beloved brother closes, for the present, the succession of our Episcopal martyi's. Who shall come next ? I, in the proper order snf succession, (fod's will be done. My oidy prayer is, that, if lie secs necessary, I may die in defence of the same holy cause, and with the like faith and courage.
Our brother tills the grave of a Christian wurriorl Although a minister of the Briuce of peace and a Bishop in the Church of (iod, he has poured out his life-blood for us upon the field of battle. Home, even of those forswhom this precious blood is shed, have cavilled at it. Many, even of those who are stirring up tiiis hellish warfare, have found a mote in their brother's eye. As he has given his life for us, our duty is not OTdy to honor his ashes, but to place his noble life, and still nobler death, beyond the reach of human calumny. His judgment is with his God, whom he loved so earncstiv, whom he served so faithfully. His Master has come and called for him, and with him we leave his cause gladly, joyfully, in unswerving contidence.
That we may fonn a just estimate of a mans hte, we must keep with us the great principle which is its pervading influence; and we must consider it in connection with the natural temperament of the'individual whose life we are examining. The sun does not change by his beams the ontlines of the landscape upon which he shines. They re-
main ever the same, stem or soft, rugged or .gentle, as they

ciimoi'i'oiu the hand ol'theU' Creatoi^. The Hviu-oiily huiliCji this uatui*al arrangemoiit iu its flood of-tight/aiid clothes it with its robes of purple and of gold. Aud so witli^iviiie grace. It does not alter the great characteristics of a man's natural temperament. It only softens it, and illumines it, and makes it glorious to all who look upon it, and fills it witli the fulness of God's divine spirit. St. I'eter was by nature bold, impetuous, full of arilor ami devotion, and iu him the spirit-of Christ tV>uud materials for a grandeur ot design.Aud a high-souled energy which made him foremost in all the acts which illustrated the earth-life of our Saviour and the annals of the Apostolic Church. Is any one inclined to disparage Peter because he was not tho same gentle, loving spirit as John, or to quarrel with him ])ecause his fervent temper and burning zeal made him sometimes liable to rebuke? God raises up instruments in his Church * for his pwii purposes, aud moulds them according to bis own predetermined counsels.
A man can not bo ardent, uucom])romiBing, single-miuded, full of a grand ideal of religion, without being a mark for the criticism of the Church as well as of the world. Such men have been filled with a divine afflatus of which lookerson know nothing. They seem, in the fulness of their zeal and ardor, to be carried away by a spirit w'hich is mistaken for the spirit of the world. It is not indeed the spirit of the world; it is only that they are fighting the world with the world's own fearlessness. "The children of this world," said pur Savioui*, " are wiser in their generation than tho children of light." Such men as these--men specially raised up--do not permit the children of this world to assume this superiority. They meet them face to face--use different weapon^., 't is true, but use tliem alike.--hurl at their adversaries the armor of the Lord, iu the like spirit of zeal in which the armor of the world U hurled against them; and God means them to do it. There are times and occasions when such a spirit is not only right, but glorious, in the sight of the Lord. Look at our Saviour himself, when he lashed from the temple those who were dishonoring liis

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Fadier's house! Sec him i-agiag, like a man of war, among the money-ohauget^nd the hucksterer*, overturning their tables,Ind casting out their merchandise! Hear that same Saviour when he burst forth in indignation against the Scribes and Pharisees, hyiiocrites, using such language as a weak Christianity would now find fault with. "Ye serpents, ye genei-stion of vipere, how can ye escape the damnation of liell ?" Hear St. Stephen, when he stood in the midst of the infiiriated multitude and said: "Yb stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and cars, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted ? And they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just one; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers." Hear St. Paul, when he was withstood by Elymas the sorcerer: "O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Loi-d?' Recalling instances like these, tell me if you can not perceive, mingled with the grace and the love of the Gospel, a spirit of fiery indignation, rising and swelling in the bosoms of the Apostles, and Martyrs, and Saints, and even of our Lord himself, which should make us careful how we judge and condemn our brethren who may differ from us in spirit and in action. God raises up his own servants for his own
use; elects them, calls them, prepares them, places them where they shall be ready for action, and in due time gives them their work to do. It rises up so plainly before them, that they can not avoid it. It sweeps up to their feet; it involves them in its current. They ofttimes struggle against it, but it overpowers them by its irresistible circumstances, until at last they find themselves mere instruments in God's hands, doing His will, driven on by His spirit, supported by His strength, dying as His martyrs! Let us apply these principles to the life and conduct of him whose murdered body now lies before us.
In the year eighteen hundred and twenty-six we find, ill the military school of the United States, a young man

of heroic lineage, with the fiery blood of the Kevolutioii coursing in his veins, of independent fortune, of chivalric tone, of high and noble impulses, preparing himself for the service of his country. He had every quarrfication to ensure him success as a military man; every prerequisite for carrying him up to lofty reputation. No one doubts, for a moment, that had he followed the beck of ambition, he might have risen, as a soldier, to the very proudest rank in the array of the Union. His most fastidious critic has never doubted that he had military traits in his character of the very highest order. If personal couhige, comprehensive views, quick perception, rapid combination, prompt decision, great administrative capacity, with the faculty of commanding men, ar^ at the same time of attaching them to him, are the qualities which make a great military leader, then we, who know him best and have longest acted with him, can bear our testimony to his possession of these qualities in a most eminent degree. They were his characteristics in everything he did--the qualities which have made him illustrious in every phase of his life-. Upon this young man, thus preparing for the service of the world, Christ laid the touch of His divine spirit, and transformed him into a soldier of the Cross. He had work tor him to do in his Church. Ife had use for those very qualities which would have fitted him for a glorious service of the world. The Church needed a bold and fearless man, full of youth and nerve, to plunge into the great wilderness of the Southwest, teeming, as it then was, with the young and vigorous life of the republic, swelling and surging under the rushing tide of emigration, and consecrate it to her service; and she found that champion in this youth of military training. The Church needed a man of high social position, with the carriage and mannei*s of a gentleman, with the courtesy aiMi grace of a well-bred Christian, to commend her to the consideration of men of hereditary wealth, of great refinement, of cultivated accomplishments. For in the vast country over which he was appointed to establish the Church, extremes were meeting--extremes of established position.

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uml ol bU;ut;'^le i'or position--of old aettlod luudholdera uiul

of needy adventurers--of men with all the polieh of foreign

refinement, and of men witli all the strength of unpolished

intelligcnee. The Bishop who should go forth to conquer

that country f>r the Churcli must possess manners as well

;u> energy--cultivation as well as Christian courage--and

the Church found such a combination in this young soldier,

\vh. had hceu snatclied from the flatteries of the world.

The Church ucedeil a large slaveholder, who might speak boldly and fearlessly to liis peers, as being one of thehiselves,

I

about their duty to their slaves, and might teach them, by

his living example, what that duty was,and how to fulfil it;

and slie found it in this young disciple. He combined in

liiinsclf just tle natural qualities and the accidental cir-

cumstances which fitted him for the work to which he was

culled; and when these had been sanctified by the Spirit

of Christ, and constrnint was laid upon liim to preach the

Gospel, he went forth in the power of the Holy Ghost to

iho eanieiit tulJUmeiit of liis bishopric. And who shall

dare to sav that the foreknowledge and election of the

Head of the (.'hurch ended at this point ? Who shall pre-

..uine to sav that Christ did not prepare this glorious ser-

vant for tile final work of his life? It all depends upon

the stand-point from which we view this conflict. If wo

oon.fidcr it a mere struggle for political power a question ot

sovereignty and of dominion, then should I he loath to

,uin-le the ('hurch of Christ with it in any toriu or manner.

15nt%ncli is not the nature of this conflict. It is no such

power, or for the adjustment ot a boundary.

a.oSnvtdreariihoitnusriotdatel vomordt1eeendr, cawonhudtone,trlhyahvcyilniegf ehaasvtfepotefsltim'gsaanCctarhlihUfuolreemcedheoetfhsaelotlhifretChludheaerraircstelth-i by defiling the altars upon which the sauin

17
of our Saviour is commemorated, by violating our women, by raieing the baiiirfer of Hervile insurrection', by fanning into f\iry the demoniac passions of the ignoi'ant and the vile! For active personal resistancS to such an invasion might Obrisf well liave fitted and prepared a servant, even thongh that servant should meanwhile have worn the mitre of a bishop. It is a wonderful coincidence (to say the least of it) that he who, in his young manhood, consecrated his sword as an oftering to the Lord, should, in tlie ripened of his old age, have resumed that sword to do the battles of Religion and the Chui*cb ! Who knows the comninnings of a spirit like his with his Master? Up to that moment he had commended himself to the Church as a self-sacrificing, selt-devoted servant "and bishop. He had laid down evervthhig at the foot`of the Cross. He had stripped himself and his family of riches and of home. He had wandered with them, delicately trained and delicately luirtnred, fi'om resting-place tO resting-place, until they felt that they were pilgrims and strangers,'and had no sure abiding place. He had laid aside, for the Church's sake, the comforts of domestic life^--being separated for months from wife and children-- until at times he was, as Job says, strange to thorn. He had his mind, his heart, his sonl teeming at all times with great ideas for her advancement and glory, so that his lujlile. generous soul was well-nigh bursting with its exuberant riches; and can you believe that all this was suddenly changed into a vain and paltry ambition of winning renown upon the battle-field ? Why, his views were as much above all such littleness as the heavens are above the earth !
1 speak what T do know when I affirm that the complexion which this war was to assume was known to him long before it burst upon our country. We had studied together for yearn the gathering elements; we had analyzed them; we had seen in them the ripening germs of irreligion, of unbelief, of ungodlineSf^ of corruption, of cruelty, of license, which have since distinguished them, and we came long since to the deliberate conclusion that it was a struggle against which not only the l^tate hut the Church must do

18
licr utmost. Not merely tlio layuiuu, but the priest. And thirt couclusiou was not cfHiiiued to our owu bi*east8. Others of our bretliren coincided with u in our views, and even the gentle, loving Cobbs told us, again and again, that when the moment came, old and intirm as be wa.s, he slionld shoulder his luuskpt and march to the battle-field! And when at last this great responsibility was hud upon him unexpectedly, it met him-in the strict performance of his duty.
During the first year of the war, when our armies were lu the peninsula of Virginia, ho left his diocese upon an episcopal visitation to the soldiers from Louisiani^ who then thronged those armies. Having tullilled that mission, ho returned to Richmond just when the Federal armies were preparing to sweep down tiie valley of the Mississippi aud bbt out its civilization.. A committee oi'gentlemen from that valley was then at Richmond beseeching the President to appoint some man in whom the people of that vast region could Imve confidence, and around whom they might rally for its defence and preservation. Sidney JolmsUm, upon whom the President had relied as the commander of tlw forces of tlie Southwest, had not yet arrived from California. Beauregard and Joe Johnston were in coniuiaiid in Vii'ginia. Magruder was in the peninsula. Jackson and the Hills and Longstreet had not yet exhibited their military skill, and were unknown in the valley of the Wosb The incomparable Lee was engaged in detending the frontiers of his own native state. Hardee was in the service of the State of Georgia. The emergency was great, for tlie Northwest was gathering all its clans to open the coui*sc of the Mississippi, the point which most nearly touched its interests. The people of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana were ' clamoring for a leader, and, unless one was furnished them, might abate their enthusiasm and make but faint resistance to invasion. At this critical moment *jJie President betlrought him of this man, whom lie remembered as a young soldier of the academy, whom he knew as a bishop of the Church, whose lofty qualities ho had marked all through life, aud

whose wide and commanding intinence in the valley of the Mississippi he well understood An unusual sphere in which to seek for a general; bnt, witli his usual promptness and sagacity, he marked his man, ami asked the commissioners if Bishop Polk would meet the wishes of the people of the valley. The reply was as prompt as the nominaticii. "The very man; uo one whom you eould name of all at your command, would be so acceptable." Tlicn arose the important question--" Can he be persuaded, in this moment of his country's peri), when all eyes arc turned upon him, and all hearts are yearning for him; when his home, his diocese, his Clmi'ch, the sheep entrusted to his keeping and for whom Christ had died, are threatened not only with temporal but witii spiritual destruction ; when hordes of infidel foreigners, sj)awiied upon our sliores from their hotbeds of infidelity aud ungodliness, are coming to preach blood and license* to the slaves he was laboring to humanize an.d christianize ; can lie bo persuaded, was the interesting qiic'stion, to resume the sword whicli lie had laid in yontli upon tlic altar of God, and use it in their defence? There it lay, where he had placwl it in the prime of lifb, a virgin and uiisiiiliod sword. Not a stfiin had dimmed its brightness; not a fb'Op of blood had ever marred its purity! It was consecrated to his Saviour--a votive offering which he had made in the days of his early love. Can it be resumed with honor to his Ciinrch--with safety to Ids soul ? For vain ambition, no I For worldly distinction, no! For the preservation of property, or even life under ordinary circumstances, no! But for the defence of his Church, tlie spouse and bride of Christ, for the purity o/the altars to which he had been bound as a sacrifice, for the care of the sheep bought with Christ's death and committed to his charge, for the maintenance of the sacred trust of slavery, yes!--a thousand times yes! That sword had heen laid upon that altar tor the glory of God. and for the glory of God it might be resumed, and for the glory of God it was I'csumed, and has tlaslied with a celestial lirightnoss in the eyes of the adversuiy, dazzling and confounding them. And God has

\

blcsttcd that bwonl upon ever^' occji^bioii of its usv. matter what was the. fate of the rest of the army, wherever that sword was wielded, there was victory. He never knew St defeat. He never received a wound. He moved unharmed through all the perils of the battle-held. Until his work was accomplished upon eartli and God would call him to his rest, no. weapon that was directed against him ever pivwpered.
The mode In which Bishop Polk accepted the responsi* hility which was laid upon him was eminently characteristic of him. When he had determined to assume the militaty rank with which the President thought fit to iuvest him, he wrote to me to inform me of the step. " 1 did not consult you beforehand (were his v>v>rds), for I felt that it was a matter .to be decided between my Master and myself. I knew how it. would startle the Church.; how much critiewm and obloquy it might fetch down; and I determined that all the responsibility should rest upon myself. When I had fully nmde up my mind to the step, I went to the valley and paid a visit to our vonerablc Father Meade, feeling it to be my duty to let him know, as the presiding bislmp of our fiock, whatX hail determined upon. 1 told him distinctly that 1 had not come to consult him; 1 had cotne to conmiu< nicate a decision and to ask his blessing. His answer was, * Hud you consulted me, I might nut have advised you to ussuine the office ofu general; but knowing you to be a Hin< cere, eaitiest, God-fearing man, believing you to Imve cuiue to your decision after earnest prayer for light and for direction, I will not* blame you, but will send you to the field with .my blessing.' ' What our brother did he always did boldly, fearlessly, openly, in the face of God and of man. The act was always his own; the responsibility he never laid upon the shoulders of another.
There was in Bishop Polk's character an earnestness of purpose and a concentration of energy which distinguished everything he did. Whatever Christian work he took in hand, he labored at it with all his heart and soul. His early missionary work, his later diocesan su|>ervi8ion, bis in-

terest.iu the advancement oi* the slave, his grand iiniversity scheme, his military career, were all marked by a like intense devotion and absorption. And this characteristic
mail caused Jiiin sometimes to be niisundci'stood. He appeared to be so wrapped up in what he had in hand, that superficial observers supposed him to be neglecting concurrent duties, uiidevenhia ownspiritual discipline. But never was there a greater mistake in tlie Judgment of a man's character. During his conception and conduct of that gioiious scheme of education which will remain as hU enduring momitnent, I was his chosen colleague and constant companion. For months together we lived under the same roof, often occupying the same chamber, and interchanging, as brothers, our thoughts an<l feelings. During that period of three years he seemed, to those who saw only his Ulster life, to be entirely absorbed in the affairs of the university--to have no thought or care for anything else. But I, who was w'itli him in his moments of retirement as well as of business, know better, and testily that f do know. At the very time when he was putting in motion every inflnence which mightadvance his gigantic enterprise, he was conducting a parish church in the City of New Orleans with the entire love of his people.; he was managing a diocese which felt no neglect because of his other occupations ; he was keeping up a correspondence with litemry and scientific men coextensive with the limits of the republic. His pen knew no rest. Midnight often found him at his desk, and early morning saw him resume lus work with unflagging energy. He left nothing undone to ensure the success of his undertaking,.ami his entliusiusni and self-devotion were contagious. They spread to every one whom he approached, until his impulses uninuited all about him. (k>ld indeed wa.s that nature, and selfish that heart, which he could not awaken to some generous and liberal emotions. V^ery fascinating were his manners, and that not from any art or design, but from the high-toned frankness of his nature, and the noble feelings wliich welled up from his soul as from a fountain of truth and of purity.

Alul during all tlis (um\ wliilo lu' whh ho abHoebod in his great pm*poao of Unkittg oduoHlion to tlio chariot-wheels
of the Church, ho lorgt't tho fVi'*h Hi^rtng of his concoptiou, the author and doaignor <*f hi plan. <4(Wl was enir ill hia thoughts; Olirist, the head of tlio Chineli, was ever upon hia lips; the Holy Gluwh the onMghtenerof the understnmliiig of men and tlio oontrxdlor ot their wills, was imceasinglv invoked, Xovor was any step taken in this great work which was not proceiiott iUul aocompunied by constant pmyor. Never was any man approached whose coo|>eratioii was imilorhuit, unless prayer preceded that approacii. Every morning, ere lie sallied forth u[K>n his work, waatho |K>\vcr of Christ called down to bless and forward his plan. Never was any enterprise more bedewed with the spirit of prayer. At the same time that he was busy aihoiig men, enlisting the (>owov of the prewi, securing the sj'nipathios of the wise, opening the purses of the rich, bringing into harmonious action minds and interests of the most diversified nature--seeming only to be employing hitman means and human appliunces--he was likewise busy in his closet invoking upon these efforts the blessing of the Most High.
And as it wjis in his connection \ritli his imiversity plans, so w'as it likewise during his. inilitar}- career. lie entered upon that with the like concentration of energy and of will, because he believed it to be, for the time, his highest duty toward God and hia Church. The dutie.s of his episcopal office he laid <lown during his military career, in imitation of hia .Master, who put asiile the glory which he had with the Father ere the world was, during his humiliation upon earth. For he felt his change to be an humiliation--such an humiliation as all God's children and servants are forced to pass through in their discipline upon earth. When some one, who did not understand the spirit of his act, was toolish enough to congratulate him u|>on the high honor which the I'resident had confereed upon him, his indignant reply was; " Honor, sir! there is no honor ujKm this earth equal to the honor of being a Bishop in the Church of God.'* And never

did he depai't from this proper feeling. He felt his military character to be a burden to him, and again and again, as opportunity offered, did lie pray to be released from its trammels. But.tlie same necessity which called for his appointment required the continuance of his semces, and our highest civil magistrate, the power which we believe to be ordained of God, denied liis request. At Harrodsbiirgh,
Kentucky, after the bloody field of Perr^ ville, he said to Di-. Quintard, who accompanied him al! thi-ongb that campaign, with the deepest emotion, "Oh! for the days when we went up. to the House of the Lord and compassed liis altar with the voice of prayer and of thanksgiving!" Whenever it w.as iKjssible, during his military career, he surrounded himself with all the appliances of hia priestly office, and rejgiced in them to the bottom of his soul. Two days before his death--a Sunday of storm and darkness--he sai<l to one of his {ydes: "Everything is dark in nature without, but all is peace within this house. Call ail my military family together, and let us have the precious service of the Church." "And never," said he, "did I hear him more fervent, or see hin^ more absorbed." He was being anointed for his Inirial.
Who can estimate the intluenee of such an act its tliat of our brother upon the cause which is so vital to everyone of us? What could invert it with a higher moral grandeur than that a bishop of the Church of God should gird on the sword to do battle for it ? A faction of the Northern Church pretended--some of them engaged in acts infinite! v more derogatory to the glory of Christ's Church--to bo shocked at it; but it, nevertheless, filled them with dismay. They saw in it an intensity of feeling and of purpose at which they trembled, and when they found no echo of their pious horror from the Church of England, they ceased their idle clamor. And our brother thus became, before even he had drawn his sword, a tower of strength to the Confederacy, And wlio can say how much of the religious influence which lias diffused itself so remarkably among the officers of the army of the West may not have rcahlied

their heart? through the silent power of his example and

Ilia prayers! Bishop Polk did not think the public exercise

of his ministry a proper accompaniment of his military ca-

reer, and in that I think he acted most wisely i but his dig-

nitied and irrepr<*achable life was a jierpetual sermon, and

his jirivate communion with C-Jod was his spiritual power.

It is a very striking fact that every officer of high rank in

that army--the army which, in the language of Gen. John-

ston, he created, and had always commanded--has become a

professed disciple of the meek and lowly Jesus; and that

the last act of our warrior-bishop was the admission into

the Church of his Saviour and Redeemer, through thclioly

Hacnimont of baptism, of two of its most renowned com-

manders. He lived long enough to see Christ recognized

in its councils of war; and, his work on earth being done,

he obeyed the summons of his Master, and passing away

from earth, his mantle rests upon it.



Time does not permit uie to enter into any detail of his

long and nsefiil career as a bishop in the Cliurch of God.

That must be left for the biographer, who shall, in mo-

ments of leisure and* of peace, gather up^the threads of his

most eventful life and weave them into a narrative which

shall be strange as any fiction. The vicissitudes of that

life have been as wonderful os those which have distin-

guished the annals of so many princely families during the

last eighty years. Born to large hereditary estates, and in-

creasing that fortune by intermarriage with the noblewom-

an whom he had loved from boyhood, and who has cheer-

fully sliared with him all his Christian pilgrimage, he has

died leaving his family without any settled dwelling-place,

wanderers from the pleasant homes which knew their child-

hood and their youth. Trained as a man of the world and

a man of pleasure, he ha.s lived u life of almost entire self-

denial, a servant of servants, and has died a bloody deatli

upon the battle-field. Destined, in his own intention, to

mount to earthly glory by the sword and his own brave heart,

he has mounted to heavenly glory by the crook of the Shep-

herd* and the humiliation of that heart. Pull of heroic

25
purposes as he leaped into the arena of life--purposes always high and noble, even when unsanctified--he has been made, by the overruling hand of God, to display that heroism in the fields which Christ his Master illustrated teaching the ignorant, enlightening the blind, gathering together the lost sheep of Israel, comforting the bedside of sickness and afHictioii, watching long days and nights by the siiftering slave. Oh! how many records has he left with God of heroic selfidevotioii, of which the world knows notliing; records made up in silence and in darkness, when no eye saw him save the eye of the Invisible! The world speaks of him now as a hero ! He has always been a hero; and the bloody fields which have made him conspicuous are but the outbiirat of the spirit which has always distinguished him. Battles which he fought long since with himself and Ills kind; wliieh he waged against the pomps and vanities of the world and the pride of life ; wliich he contested witli the pestilence tliat walketh in darkness and tlie destruction that wastetli at noonday--were far more terrific than Belmont, or Shiloh, or Berryville. Tliese required qualities which were natural to liim-those qualities wliich came fr'Atn tlic grace of God and tlie spirit of Jesus. If, as the wise man says, " Greater is he that nileth his spirit than he tliat taketh a city," tlien was he truly great--for he had a spirtt hard to rale, and Christ gave liim the mastery over it. But Ills work is done, and now he rests from his labors! That brave heart is quiet in the grave--that faithful spirit has returned to its God. " The beauty of Israel is slain upon the high places. The mighty is fidleii in the midst of the linttle. I am distressed for thee, my brother very pleasant hast thou been unto me." And thou liast come to die at my Very door, and to find thy burial amid my pleasant places. Welcome in death, as in life; welcome to thy grave as thou hast ever been to my home and to my heart. Thy dust shall repose under the shadow of the Church of Christ. These solemn groves shall guard thy rest; the glorious anthems of the City of God shall rollover thy grave a perpetual requiem.

And now, ye Christians of the North, and especially ye priests and bishops of the Chnrch who have lent yourselves to the fanning of the fury of this unjust and cruel war, do I this day, in the presence of the bo<ly of this my murdered brother, sutnmon you to meet us at the judgment-
seat of Christ--that awful bar where your brute force shall avail you nothing; where the multitudes whom you have followed to do evil shall not shield you from an angry God; where the vain excuses with which you have varnished your sin shall be scattered before the bright beams of eternal truth and righteousness. I summon you to that bar iii the name of that sacred liberty which you have trampled under foot; in the name of the glorious constitution which you have destroyed; in the name of our holy religion which you
have profaned ; in the name of the temples of God which you have desecrated ; in the name of a thousand martyred saints whose blood you have wantonly spilled ; in the name of our Christian women whom you have violated; in the name of our slaves whom you have seduced and then consigned to misery ; and there I leave justice and vengeance to God. The blood of your brethren crieth un-
to God from the earth, and it will not ciy in vain. It has entered into the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth, and will be returned upon you in blood a thousand-fold. May God have mercy upon you in that day of solemn justice find fearful retribution!
And ivow lot us commit his sacred dust to the keeping of the Church in the Confederate States until such time as his own diocese shall be prepared to do him honor. That day will come; I see it rise before me in vision, when this martyred dust shall be carried in triumphal procession to his own beloved Louisiana, and deposited in such a shrine as a loving, mourning people shall prepare for him. And he shall then receive a prophet's reward ! His works shall rise up from the ashes of the past and attest his greatness ! A diocese rescued from brutal dominion by the efficacy' of his blood !--a Church freed from pollution by the vigor of his counsels !--a country made independent through his

devotion and self-sacrilice!--an university sending forth streams of pure and sanctified learning from its exuberant bosom--^generations made better and grander from his example and life, and rising up and calling him blessed !
*
At the close of this address, the coffin, under the escort of the Silver Greys, preceded by the bishops and clergy, was carried to the grave prepared for it in the rear of the church, irnjuSdiately behind the chancel-window, the family and near fi^jhds of the departed accompanying it While it was made ready tob'^aid into the grave, the senior bishop pronounced the sentences, " Man that is born of a woman,' ' etc., and the form of committing the body to the ground, and the sentence, "I heard a voice from heaven." As he uttered the words "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust," earth was cast upon the body by the Bishops of Mississippi aud Arkansas, and Lieutenant-General Lougstreet, of the Army of Virginia; and the last military honore were paid by a salvo from the battery of light artillery, stationed for thd purpose, at foot of Washington street.
The Bishop of%ississippi concluded the solemn services by offering the "Lord's Prayer;" the first prayer in the order for the burial of the dead; the prayer, " 0 God, whose days are without end;" the prayer for persons in afflictimi, and the apostolic benediction.

DEATH OF LIEUT.-GEN. LEONIDAS POLE.
The entire community have been thrwa into gloom by the publicity of the official announcement that LieutenantGeneral Leonidas Polk, of the Army of Tennessee, was killed by a cannon-sliot, in the early part of Tuesday, while engaged with his associates in command in making observations at the immediate front.
Lieutenant-General Polk w'as born in Haleigh, N. C., in 1806, from whence, at an early age, he emigrated to Tennessee, in which state the greater portion of his life was spent. At the age of seventeen he entered "West Point as a cadet, in the same class with General Albert Sidney Johnston. While at West Point, under the teachings of Right Rev. Bishop Mcllvaine, of the Diocese of Ohio, then chaplain of the post, he was received into the Protestant Episcopal Church by holy baptism, in the presence of the whole corps of cadets.
He subsequently ratified his baptismal vows, and was confirmed by Bishop Ravenscroft, of the Diocese of North Carolina. He was ordained a deacon in die Church by the venerable Bishop Moore, of Virginia, in lS.30, and was endowed with the priesthood by the imposition of the same apostolic hands in 1836. He was consecrated to the episcopate in 1838, and exercised his varied functions in the Diocese of Louisiana with great credit to himself and usefulness to the Church, until the commencement of our present struggle for liberty, when he entered the field in which he was engaged at his death.
A divine and chieftain has fallen, and at an inopportune hour. The Church will mourn the demise of one of its brightest ornaments, while the whole country sustains a loss that can be ill afforded. But to other pens we leave the duty of recording the virtues and services of the deceased. His history is that of his Church and country, and both will acknowledge his worth and revere his memory.--Atlanta Appeal.

TATE CAPITOL

DEPARTMENT OF STATE BEANTLEWCARN.ETTrAAaMR3Y,TOBFSERQOTRANTOE,IAJR.

DEFARTMENT OF ARCHIVE3 AND HIITaRV 1R1R PEACHTREE RTREET, N.W.
ATLANTA , OEOROIA

CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY

This is to certify that the microphotographs appearing on this reel are the accurate, complete and official reproductions of:

Churches, %iiscopal St. Paul's I^iscopal Church (Augusta)

Reel No Positive"

J22.

Richmond County.

filed in

: "Funeral Services af the Burial of the

Right Rev. Leonidas Polk, D. D., Together with the Sermon Delivered

1 in St. Paul's Church, Augusta, Ga., on June 29, 1864: Being the

I Feast of St. Peter the Apostle." 28 pp. Pub. Columbia, S. C., 1864.

^ In possession of: St. Paul's Episcopal Church

;

Augusta, Ga.

Date microiilmed: Feb. 9, 196c

As reproduced by the Kiorofilm Division of the Georgia Department of Archives and History, under the jiu-isdiction of the Georgia Department of State, Ben W. Fortson, Jr., Secretary of State.
It is further certified that the microphotographlo processes were accoinplished in a manner and ort a film which meets with the requirements of the National Bureau of Standards for permanent mlorophotographic copy.
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