“Life is the time to serve the Lord,”

their fine voices blending in perfect harmony.  Mr. Caldwell took for his text the 12th verse of the 2d chapter of Thessalonians, “That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and his glory.”

He explained to them in the most affectionate and beautiful manner, that they were called unto the kingdom and glory of Christ.  He dwelt on the glories of that kingdom, as existing in the heart of the believer, inciting him to a faithful performance of the duties of life; as in the world, promoting the happiness and welfare of all mankind, and completed in heaven, where will be the consummation of all the glorious things that the humble believer in Jesus has enjoyed by faith, while surrounded by the temptations and enduring the trials of the world.  He told them they were all called.  Christ died for all; every human being that had heard of Jesus and his atonement, was called unto salvation.  He dwelt on the efficacy of that atonement on the solemn occasion when it was made, on the perfect peace and reconciliation of the believer.  He spoke of the will of God, which had placed them in a condition of bondage to an earthly master; who had given them equal hope of eternal redemption with that master.  He reminded them that Christ had chosen his lot among the poor of this world; that he had refused all earthly honor and advantage.  He charged them to profit by the present occasion, to bring home to their hearts the unwelcome truth that death was inevitable.  He pointed to the coffin that contained the remains of one who had attained so great an age, as to make her an object of wonder in the neighborhood.  Yet her time had come, like a thief in the night.  There was no sickness, no sudden failing, nothing unusual in her appearance, to intimate the presence of death.  God had given her a long time of health to prepare for the great change; he had given her every opportunity to repent, and he had called her to her account.  He charged them to make their preparation now closing, by bringing before their minds that great day when the Judge of the earth would summon before him every soul he had made.  None could escape his all-piercing eye; the king and his subject, the rich and the poor the strong and the weak, the learned and the ignorant the white and the colored, the master and his slave! each to render his or her account for the deeds done in the body.

The servants were extremely attentive, listening with breathless interest as he enlarged upon the awful events of the Judgment.  Many a tear fell, many a heart throbbed, many a soul stretched forth her wings toward the kingdom and glory which had been the clergyman’s theme.

After he concluded, their attention was absorbed by the preparation to remove the body to its final resting place.  The face was looked upon, then covered; the coffin lid screwed down; strong arms lifting and bearing it to the bier.  Nancy and Isaac, her only relatives, were near the coffin, and Mr. Weston and the clergyman followed them.  The rest formed in long procession.  With measured step and appropriate thought they passed their cabins toward the place used for the interment of the slaves on the plantation.