Excerpt from In Memory of John Dove, Esquire: A Sermon Preached in the Free Church, Andover, Mass., November 26, 1876

Lord. And there are diversities of operations; but it is the same God which worketh all in all. Society, like the body, is not one member, but many. Those members of the body which seem to be most feeble are often most necessary._ There is never, in reality, any schism in the body of believers which God has compacted together.

But while it may be true'that, when viewed in their absolute and ultimate relations, good men are upon a plane of equal honor, this fact need not prevent us from using the light we now have in determining the present amount of respect we shall pay to our fellow-men. In this world we are compelled to walk by such light as we have. Because our judgments of men are provisional and fallible, it does not prevent us from exercising and following them. Our practical duties in life must be regulated by What is seen. Human societies are visible organizations. In such organizations we are compelled to recognize distinctions, and must render more honor to some than to others. It is not our prerogative to go behind the veil of absolute distinctions, and render the awards of an omniscient judge. We Speak only from the point of view which our own reason gives us. From that point of view, the member of the church and community whose recent death gives tone and direction to our thoughts to-day has filled an unusually important sphere. And it is fitting that we give longer pause than usual to reflect upon the lessons of his eventful life.

Mr. John Dove, whose peaceful death occurred last Monday morning, was born in Brechin, County of Forfar, Scotland, on the fifth day of May, 1805, and hence had passed the period of three score years and ten which is allotted by the Psalmist as the limit of the days in which we can hope toexperience anything but labor and sorrow. It was permitted him to come to his grave like a shock of corn fully ripe.

When, now, at the close of his earthly career, we are led to consider the large space he occupied in the business enterprises of Andover, and the extent to which he has aided the religious and educational institutions of the place, and when we remember how much the honor of our town has been enhanced by his charities abroad, we cannot avoid ad miring the providence of God, which brought him here and prepared the way for his success.

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