and was afterwards high sheriff of the County of Somerset for the usual period.  In both cases he fulfilled the expectations of his friends, and rendered faithful service.  The sterling integrity of his character manifested itself in every situation; and even in the turmoil of politics, at a time of much excitement, he maintained a stainless name, and defied the tongue of calumny.  But it was chiefly in the sphere of private and social relations that his work was done and his influence exerted.  His father’s piety was reproduced in him at an early period, and soon assumed a marked type of thoroughness, activity and decision, which it bore even to the end.  His long life was one of unblemished Christian consistency, which in no small measure was due to the influence of his excellent wife, Catherine Van Nest, a niece of the late Abraham Van Nest, of New York City, who a few years preceded him into glory.  She was the most godly woman the writer ever knew, a wonder unto many for the strength of her faith, the profoundness of her Christian experience, and the uniform spirituality of her mind.  The ebb and flow common to most believers did not appear in her; but her course was like a river fed by constant streams, and running on wider and deeper till it reaches the sea.  It might be said of this pair, as truly as of the parents of John the Baptist, ’And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.’  Hand in hand they pursued their pilgrimage through this world, presenting an example of intelligent piety such as is not often seen.  ’Lovely and pleasant in their lives, in their death they were not (long) divided.’  Exactly three years from the day of Mrs. Talmage’s death her husband received the summons to rejoin her on high.

“These parents were unusually careful and diligent in discharging their Christian obligations to their children.  The promise of the covenant was importunately implored in their behalf from the moment of birth, its seal was early applied, and the whole training was after the pattern of Abraham.  The Divine faithfulness was equally manifest, for the whole eleven were in due time brought to the Saviour, and introduced into the full communion of the Church.  Years ago two of them were removed by death.  Of the rest, four, James, John, Goyn, and Thomas De Witt, are ministers of the Gospel, and one is the wife of a minister (the Rev. S. L. Mershon, of East Hampton, L.I.).  Without entering into details respecting these brethren, it is sufficient to say that, with the exception of the late Dr. John Scudder’s, no other single family has been the means of making such a valuable contribution to the sons of Levi in the Dutch Church.

“Mr. Talmage was not only exemplary in the ordinary duties of a Christian, but excellent as a church officer.  Shrewd, patient, kind, generous according to his means, and full of quiet zeal, he was ready for every good work; one of those men—­the delight of a pastor’s heart—­who can always be relied upon to do their share, if not a little more, and that in things both temporal and spiritual.  He was a wise counselor, a true friend, a self-sacrificing laborer for the Master.”