Freedom's Journal/1827/03/16/Rev. Abraham Thompson

We publish this extract, because Mr. Thompson's whole life was honorable to his profession, and creditable to his brethren of color, and because he was generally known and esteemed by our patrons. We have the farther pleasure of promising our readers a biographical sketch of this worthy Divine, from the same pen. Such men as Mr. Thompson should not soon be forgotten. The piety, usefulness and propriety which characterised his life, should excite us to emulate his character.

"To die and waste away is the lot of every child or Adam. One event happeneth to them all—the strong man as well as the feeble.—His strength affords no protection from the stroke of death, or the corruption of the grave. Yes, even good men, those who are the most useful to their fellow-creatures, the prophets of the Lord; and the ministers of his word, all die and waste away. All of every rank and condition must sink in death, and waste away in the grave. In the height of his strength, his beauty his usefulness and honor, when all admire him, and he is tempted to feel himself some great one; God says "dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return" Descending gradually to the tomb, his strength withers, his desire fails; his flesh consumes, he wastes away till death has but little to do to complete his work. In this way did he accomplish the overthrow of our lamented brother. I remember him when he was in the full vigor of manhood. His nerves were strong, his limbs active, his spirit manly. Often when a little boy have I sat by his side, listening with thrilling interest while he recounted the hardships and dangers, which he had passed through in different parts of the world. His fortitude inspired me with admiration, and his success with transports of joy. It was highly interesting to hear him tell what he had seen, and what he had suffered, and how be overcame. I wish I could repeat his history, it would be an interesting work; but then, it would lose half its interest. To hear it rightly it should come from his own lips; for, very few men I assure you, could tell what they had experienced better than brother Thompson. He was possessed of a natural eloquence, which art might improve, but could not produce. But to our point. Possessed of a sound constitution and a vigorous mind, our brother Thompson promised to wear well, and did wear well. But still the seeds of mortality were within him. As he grew old, he grew infirm. Death approached him, sending as his harbinger, one sickness after another, to remove the stays of life, and undermine his frame, until he stood as a house tottering over the brink of a precipice. Thus for a number of weeks he was suffered to remain, while his relatives and friends were calculating every day upon his end, and then by removing the last prop, the earthly house of his tabernacle fell speedily into the grave.

"Man wasteth away and dieth." And here we cannot help noticing, how wonderfully his mind was sustained under the failure of his bodily powers. That cheerfulness, that affability, that readiness to converse, particularly on religious subjects, which so,eminently distinguished him in health, were manifested by him during the whole course of his illness even in the moments when his body was racked with acute pain; yes, even in the agonies of death. The sufferings of his body were great, but his spirit was firm and unshaken. He was very much the same on his sick and dying bed, that he was in health: composed and cheerful, smiling under pains, smiling even in death. Instead of torturing his attendants, and visitors, with complaints and murmurings, be comforted them by assurances, that he was resigned to the will of God and that he had a good hope through grace of future and eternal blessedness. My body," (he observed to me, on the afternoon previous to his death, my body is full of pain, but my soul is happy." I saw his countenance light up with a smile, and my heart responded, "let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." But I must not longer dwell upon his dying expressions and dying conduct, lest I should be considered as removing my neighbors' land mark, and trespassing upon his field. I leave these things, therefore, to those who are to notice his death from the pulpit, where so frequently he delivered the truths of the gospel. One, remark, however, I will take the liberty to add; that that smile which so distinguished him in health, and was exhibited to every one who visited his sick bed, was retained so long that every one who viewed him after death: said the soul that inhabited this tabernacle left it rejoicing.