ELDER SAMUEL ROGERS.



be)st pioneer preachers. It was not the likeness before
me that crushed my heart as I stood gazing thereon, but
it was the recollection of my dear lost boy who, years
before, had painted this likeness. I thought of the fatal
charge at Augusta, and the mangled corpse of my dear
child, the youngest born among my sons. Here let the
curtain fall and hide from view forever all but the fact
that a nobler, truer heart was never pierced by the ball
of an adversary than that which beat in the breast of
W. S. Rogers.
  On Sunday night I delivered an historical discourse,
having been requested to give a brief sketch of my life
and labors. My motto was II. Tim. iv. 7: " I have
fought a good fight," etc. At the close one confessed
faith in Christ, and two united with the church. By
special invitation, I visited Missouri University, where I
was brought face to face with the likenesses of the former
Presidents of the institution, painted by my son, W. S.
R. Among them I recognized the beloved ShanWnD, a
great and true Reformer. In his early ministry he was a
Presbyterian preacher; but, having been appointed by
the Synod of Georgia to deliver a discourse upon the
subject of infant sprinkling, after searching his Bible
through for proof-texts, and, to his surprise, finding
none, he at once laid down his commission at the feet of
his brethren, and attached himself to the Baptist church.
Subsequently he became acquainted with the views of
our people, and advocated with great zeal, until the day
of his death, the doctrine of the Bible. From Columbia I
went to Miller's Landing, where I preached more than
two weeks, on the ground where, in years past, I had
achieved for my Master many grand victories. To me
this was sacred ground. It was in sight of the graves
of my mother, two sisters, and many friends of my
youth. Though in my eighty-fourth year, yet, as I stood
upon the old battle-ground, I became in feeling young
again, and spoke with the strength of my early man-
hood. On Tuesday after the third Lord's day in August,
the evening of my departure, I addressed my brethren



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