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July 1, 1914.
A FAMILY PAPER.
SYNOD'S PROCEEDINGS.
MONDAY EVENING, JUNE S.
CO.VTl.N'UATION OF MEMORIAL SERIVES.
Rev. S. J. Johnston read the memorial to Dr.
Louis A. 'Meyer.
In many respects the Rev. 'Louis A. Meyer was
a remarkable man.
Although not permitted to
live as long as some others, yet he accomplished
a great deal more than many
whose lives are
much longer.
Dr. Meyer was born at Crivitz, Germany, Aug.
30, 1862, and died at Monrovia, Cal., July llth,
1913. Wishing to give him only a secular education,
his parents sent him to the Gymnasium, in
Parchim, Mecklenburg, Germany, from which he
graduated in 1882. He took up the study and
practice of medicine. Contracting hlood poisoning
in a surgical operation, upon the advice of physicians,
he gave up his practice and became a sailor
for four years. Having regained his health, he
came to the United States and resumed the practice
of medicine in Cincinnati, Ohio. About that
time the Rev. J. C. Smith, D.D., then pastor of our
church in that city, started a mission to the
Jews, by means of which Dr. Meyer was led to
the Savior. He was baptized in 1892 by his pastor,
whose oldest daughter became his wife in
1898.
At the earnest solicitation of his Christian
friends, Mr. Meyer first gave himself to mission
work among his own people and a few years later
to the Gospel ministry. Entering our Seminary,
he finishedhis course in December, 1897. He became
pastor of our Lake Reno congregation in
August, 1898, which charge he demitted two years
later to assume the pastorate of our Hopkinton,
lowa, congregation where he served for fivefull
years.
While always interested, of course, in his own
people, yet that interest was greatly quickened at
the time of his licensure. The Presbytery assigned
him for his historical essay a study of his own
people. In after years he searched the libraries
of Harvard, Tale, Boston, and New York, for facts
and figuresalong this line, until during the closing
years of his life he was readily acknowledged
as an international authority upon that subject.
He furnished the tables of Jewish dissions for
the "World's Atlas of Christian Missions," revised
in 1910. In February, 1906, Dr. Meyer became
Field Secretary for the Chicago Hebrew Mission.
He was also a Department Editor of the
Jewish Era and an associate editor of the Missionary
Review of the World. When Dr. A. C.
Dixon, by his removal from Chicago, was forced
to resign as Executive Secretary ol the "Fundamentals,"
Dr. Meyer was appointed to fillhis
place, which he did most acceptably. In June,
1910, he attended the World's Missionary Conference
held in Edinburg, Scotland, and took a
prominent part in its discussions, delivering an
address op. the subject of "The Jews."
Humanly speaking, of course, in the life of this
gifted son of God's Chosen People, death came
altogether too soon. On Nov. Srd he was stricken
"Jown. Although taken to a sanitarium on our
western coast and surrounded by skilled physi-
•cians, he passed on to be with Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob in the Kingdom of God. Two weeks
before death he said to a friend, "I have never
been sorry for the cross which I had to carry in
the persecution of my people," and only a few
days before his death, to his faithful and beloved
wife, "The battle is over, the victory is won."
Dr. Louis Meyer was a man of high Christian
character. He was faithful, studious, conscientious
and painstaking to the last degree. As Dr.
Pierson said of him, "He had the German's love
of accurate scholarship, the Hebrew's keenness
of perception and dogged perseverance and the
Christian's humility and love for his Master."
His remarkable memory enabled him easily to
quote facts and figures touching his own people
whieh astonished his audiences. Although his
earthly pilgrimage was comparatively short, yet
he did much to advance Christ's Kingdom. By this
we are reminded of what the poet has said:
"We live in deeds, not years;
In thoughts, not in figures on a dial.
We should count life by heart throbs.
He lives longest who thinks deepest.
Lives the noblest, and acts the best."
Dr. W. P. Johnston read the memorial to Dr. C.
D. Trumbull.
It is a thing of interest to look into the causes
that produced life. The forces that have been at
work are real forces. Growth anywhere, and in
anything, is under conditions that are fixed and
definite.
There is a spiritual, as well as a physical
physiology. One of the German critics says that
Nature's supreme function is to help the man "to
be his school mistress." .Our Bible says that God
"makes all things to work together for good, to
them that love Him."
This progress in man's spiritual life, as we may
see, has its origin in two source's. There is the
one that is above us, outside of us, the outward
that brings into play the influences that mould
character, that create the disposition; there is the
other, the inward, the purpose, the will, the aspiration,
of the personality, which takes hold of, falls
in with, acquiesces in the plan of Him who works
in us, "to will and to do, of his good pleasure."
The friend of whom we are to speak was one
who accepted the good things God meant for him.
It is a pleasant thing to deal with, a life in which
the human will merges itself in the divine. On
this account, certain things come to have a meaning,
being the place of birth, the parentage, the
character of these, the schools, the companionships,
all these enter into, and build up.
Charles DeWitt Trumbull was horn on April 4,
1837, In East Craftsbury, Vt. His father having
moved to Northwood, Ohio, in 1851, Charles entered
Geneva College in the autumn of the same
year. The writer of this sketch became his classmate
at the same date. Edward G. Elsey was in
the college at that time, as was H. H. George.
In the autumn of 1857, Mr. Trumbull and the
writer went to Jefferson College, entered the
class of which J. W. Sproull was a member, and
with him, graduated in the class of 1858.
Dr. Trumbull was Associate Principal of Geneva
College for one year after his graduation.
Rev. Robert Shields was his associate. Dr. Trumbull
was a fine scholar and always a student.
Then came the four Seminary years beginning
with 1859, then his licensure by Lakes Presbytery,
on April 21, 1863, then ordination and installation
as pastor of Lind Grove Congregation, July 29,
1864, resigning this April 1, 1874, becoming first
pastor of Morning Sun Congregation, April 14,
1874. It ought to have been stated, earlier in this
sketch, that Mr. Trumbull had been married to
Mary, second daughter of Dr. Thos. Sproull, on
June 8, 1864.
Dr. Trumbull was a happy man. God gave him
a pleasant place in his vineyard. He liked the
place that God gaye him. God gave him much
grace and Charles Trumbull accepted all that
God gave. The sun gives warmth to the flowers,
the flower takes all that the sun gives, and grows.
Now in all those years, beginning in 1864 and
closing Jan. 21, 1914, our friend did the work God
gave him to do. In the Commonwealth of Iowa,
he was always found in conventions that had to
do with "National Reform,'' or "Anti Secrecy" or
"Temperance," and never found to be wanting.
There are reasons for lives. A good heart, fixed
principles, labor, love to God, devotion to our
Lord Jesus, will bring usefulness to the soul that
possesses these.
The tree has a root. The stream has a spring.
The good has its origin.
Dr. Trumbull had always been honored by his
church. He was the Moderator of the Synod of
1868. He was President of Synod's Board of Co:itrol,
from its organization to his death. He was
Vice President of the 'Board of Corporators of
Geneva College for many years, and on the death
of Dr. T. P. Stevenson, became the President.
Monmouth College honored him with his degree of
Doctor of Divinity. We think it ought to be said,
that of all the men who were active in the Synod
during his ministry, that no one was so frequently
chosen to act as a member on committees where
prudence and calmness or like traits were called
to be exercised.
When it came to his burial, and the people
realized that this face was soon to be seen no
more among them, the places of business were
closed. The business men of Morning Sun sent
a fioraloffering.
There is a force in genuine faith which influences
men. The sight of Dr. Trumbull, In his
buggy on the country road, preached the sermon
to the man that passed him, and his face, as
truly and as fully as by the sermon he preached
at the desk on the Sabbath afternoon.
Our dear friend acted in life under motives
which he can carry with him, into the sphere to
which he has passed, and in the presence of th©
Friend, in whose honor he tried to live his life.
The unseen faces of our dead ought to have
messages for our minds, if they have gone from
the sight of our eyes.
After the reading of the memorials. Dr. D. B.
Willson and Dr. A. 'Kilpatrick addressed the congregation.
Psalm 121 was sung to tune 349. Rev.
M. M. Pearce led in prayer and Rev. Thos. McFall
pronounced the benediction.
TUESDAY MORNNG, LAST DAY OF SYNOD.
Synod convened at 7.30 and was led in prayer
by Rev. J. M. Foster. The topic for the devotional
half hour of the morning was "Prayer that
the congregation, quickened and organized by the
Spirit, may look upon itself less as a fieldthan a
force, and that the membership may have an enlarging
vision of their duty to witness for Christ
not only in their own neighborhood, but also in
the commonwealth, in the nation and in the
world." The biblical references were Acts 1:8;
Acts 16:9, 10; Isaiah 40:3, 4. The leader was
Missionary A. I. Robb. During the services, the
following Psalms were sung: Psalm 104:16-18,
sung to tune number 284; Psalm 102:8-11, sung to
tune number 208; Psalm 45:15-17, sung to tune
126. Prayer was offered by Revs. Elmer Russell,
John Coleman, D. H. Elliott, D. C. Matthews, W.
W. Carithers, T. M. Slater and Elder J. M. Wallace.
A second object of prayer was kept before
the Synod during the devotional exercises; the
restoration of some of our number who have been
led into the acceptance of false philosophy.
Elder Matthew Euwer invited Synod to meet
next year at Parnassus. Elder James Carson iu-