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1886

law, was summoned to his bedside last
week and reports his condition as critical
in the extreme. The two oldest
children are now at the Doctor's home
here in Rockville. Mrs. Stonestreet is
still at Roanoke.

Death of Rev. L. Rosser Green.

[Special to The American.]

ROCKVILLE, November 23.—News of the
death of Rev. L. Rosser Green, of the Methodist
Episcopal Church South, which occurred
this morning at his home in Salem, Roanoke
county, Va., was received here this afternoon.
Mr. Green was in the thirty-third year of his
age, born near Fredericksburg, Va., and was
one of the most gifted ministers in his church.
He was stationed on this circuit from March,
1879, to March, 1883. He married the eldest
daughter, Miss Adie, of Dr. E. E. Stonestreet,
of this place, and leaves a young widow and
three children.

Tribute of Respect.

At a meeting of the Board of Stewards
of Roanoke Station, held Nov. 26,
1886, a committee of three was appointed
to prepare suitable resolutions on the
death of their beloved pastor, Rev. L.
R. Greene. At a session of the Church
Conference, Sunday, December 5, Rev.
Dr. W. A. Wade, of Christiansburg, in
the chair, the committee submitted the
following report, which was unanimously
adopted:

In the death of L. R. Greene, our beloved
pastor, which took place on the
23d day of November, 1886, an event has
occurred which, while we recognize the
will of an inscrutable Providence, we, as
worshiping congregation, deeply deplore.

In his Christian life our departed
brother as he came in and out before us
in the daily walks of life, was without
blemish, and in the trusting faith of a
little child he exemplified to the fullest
extent a complete reliance upon the Divine
promise.

Not only did he walk by faith, but his
convictions were so clear and his step
was so firm and direct, that all who
knew him recognized at once that his
meat and drink was to do the will of his
Father which is in Heaven, and that his
reliance was founded upon something
which the world can not give nor the
world take away.

And whilst we are mindful of the
truth which the Master has spoken, that
there are none good, no not one, yet our
brother accepted without question, that
other precious promises of which the
Saviour's life, death and resurrection
was the perfect witness, that His blood
cleanses from all sin.

We have said his faith was childlike;
his life was also a practical exemplar of
the Christian Messenger who can not
think too highly of his Prince, nor too
humbly of himself.

In the putpit [pulpit] he would assume all the
dignity which becomes one who is an
embassador of Christ; yet he had the affectionate
manner which insinuates itself
into the heart of the hearer, rendering
it soft and pliable, ready to imbibe
the sentiments and to respond to
the impulse of the speaker.

Distrustful of his own powers—the
trembling hand and faltering lip, which
no art can copy and no actor imitate,
attracted a sympathy in his behalf
which never abated; and the fullness of
thought and earnestness of manner
which characterized his efforts rendered
his sermons eminently attractive, persuasive
and potential.

By industry his natural attainments,
which were of a high order, had been
vastly improved; his mind "was wax to
receive, and marble to retain;" his
reading had given him a fund of valuable
information on various subjects,
which supplied him, as occasion called
for, ready illustrations with which he
adorned his sermons, adding to the power
of his utterances a beauty of expression
which captivated the audience and
rendered his teachings pleasant to receive
and fruitful of good results. His
powers of expression were clear, concise
and striking; he never hesitated in the
use of a word, and yet his style, singularly
free from all redundancy of expression,
aided by an imagination which
was quick to act and well sustained in
its flights, flowed on with an easy grace,
to which the simplicity that a child
could comprehend, lent its charm.

Need we say more as to the Christian
graces of our Brother, if so, we will
sum up all, and bear testimony that
with him did abide faith, hope and charity.
that charity which suffereth long
and is kind, that envieth not, that
vaunteth not itself and is not puffed
up; that charity which beareth all
things, hopeth all things, endureth all
things; that charity with rejuiceth not
in iniquity, but rejoiceth in truth; that
charity which doth not behave itself
unseemly, which seeketh not her own,
which is not easily provoked and which
thinketh no evil.

In intellectual and social attributes
there are but few men who at the age of
thirty three years have given promise
of more usefulness in the Church, or of
a brighter future. He had charge of
this congregation only eighteen months
and the universal esteem in which he
was held, and the crowded aisles which
meet him with increasing interest Sunday
after Sunday, bespeak for him that
he possessed those rare qualities in a
pulpit orator, which never aim at the
sensational and yet never fails to enlist
the warmest interest in his hearers, and
which leaves an abiding sense of sins
committed and duties unfulfilled. Simple,
straightforward and manly in his
utterances, he never sought to wound
by denouncing in a hard and unfeeling
manner the threatenings which are contained
in the word of God, but he seemed
rather to delight in those passages of
Scripture which teach that "Greater

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