At that fatal threshold Dives relinquishes his
millions and Lazarus his rags. The poor man is as rich as the richest
and the rich man is as poor as the pauper. The creditor loses his usury
and the debtor is acquitted of his obligation. The proud man surrenders
his dignity, the politician his honors, the worldling his pleasures.
James Nelson Burnes, whose life and virtues we commemorate to-day, was a
man whom Plutarch might have described and Vandyke portrayed. Massive,
rugged and robust, in motion slow, in speech serious and deliberate,
grave in aspect, serious in demeanor, of antique and heroic mold, the
incarnation of force. As I looked for the last time upon that
countenance, from which no glance of friendly recognition nor word of
welcome came, I reflected upon the impenetrable and insoluble mystery of
death.
If death be the end, if the life of Burnes terminated upon "this bank
and shoal of time," if no morning is to dawn upon the night in which he
sleeps, then sorrow has no consolation, and this impressive and solemn
ceremony which we observe to-day has no more significance than the
painted pageant of the stage.
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