THE TEACHER AND PASTOR.

From President F. L. Patton's address at the funeral of Dr. Purves.

We all felt the terrible shock when word came to us on Wednesday
morning that Dr. Purves had died suddenly the night before. We knew
that he was suffering under an acute attack and that in recent months
he had been subject to such attacks, but we did not suppose that his
illness was of a nature that was likely to prove fatal.

This congregation, the First Presbyterian Church of Princeton, the
Princeton Theological Seminary, and Princeton University have sustained
a great loss. All connected with these institutions feel that they have
suffered a personal bereavement, for Dr. Purves had a singular power of
laying hold upon the affections of those to whom he stood related.

We admired him as a preacher and as a teacher. We were impressed with
his goodness and with the genuineness of his religious life, but,
beyond all that, we loved him as a man. The story of his life is
familiar to us all. He was born in the city of Philadelphia on the 27th
of February, 1852. After graduating at the University of Pennsylvania,
he entered Princeton Theological Seminary, remaining there after the
completion of his curriculum for a year of graduate study.

It was during this year in Princeton that he came under the quickening
influence of his great friend and teacher, the beloved Dr. Caspar
Wistar Hodge, and that he acquired that taste for New Testament study
which he so assiduously cultivated during his two pastorates in
Baltimore and Pittsburg, and which ended in his being the unanimous
choice of the directors of the Princeton Theological Seminary as the
successor of Dr. Hodge.

It was a matter of great doubt to him and to his friends whether he
should give up the pulpit to take the professor's chair, for he had
singular qualifications for both positions. He was an eloquent
preacher, and his services were especially acceptable to young men, who
came in throngs to hear him on Sunday evenings.

He also had special qualifications as a teacher. He was a ripe scholar,
and what was a very important factor in the case, he knew, as few men
know, how to show the bearing of accurate, minute exegetical study of
the Bible to the service of the pulpit. These facts, added to his
warmth of temperament, gave him great facility in dealing with
theological students.

None who had the privilege of being his pupil will ever forget his
hospitality. H