Obituary for Edward Pedigo [#136-19]

Funeral Discourse.

[The subject of this discourse was born in Patrick county, Va., April 15, 1805, and died in Whitman county, Wash., September 4, 1894, aged 89 years, 4 months and 20 days.]

There is a fitness in the nature of things and there is a propriety in the coming into this sacred place this sad hour to pay the last tribute of respect and affection to our dear brother in Christ, and our oldest, best known and most highly respected citizen. Our thoughts, our hearts and our most sacred memories today are with the dead. Moved by a common sorrow and weighted down by a sense of personal bereavement, we come in the quiet hush of this hour in this glad season of golden grain ripening for the harvest, to resign to God's keeping the ripe, redeemed and radiant spirit of the venerable Edward Pedigo, and to give back to the bosom of mother earth all that remains of our departed brother and friend - earth to earth and dust to dust.

Hundreds of people are made glad today because of God's gracious gifts in bestowing upon us a bountiful harvest in this our highly favored land. We come in return to surrender back from whence it came, the priceless gift of our most venerable citizen. This is one of the most valuable gifts Garfield could give. Nothing that your speaker can say; nothing that the tender hearts and gentle hands of life long friends and neighbors can do will add to his good name or enlarge the measure of his worth and lasting esteem. These services are intended for the living and not the dead. In honoring him we honor ourselves. His greatest and most imperishable monument is his place in the hearts of the people among whom he has lived and gone about doing good for many years. His highest and truest eulogy is the testimony of every heart to his uniform kindness, gentlemanly deportment, high Christian character and self-sacrificing labor for the good of others. Said one of our citizens, "Mr. Pedigo is one of the sweetest spirited old men I ever met." Said another, "I have been personally acquainted with Brother Pedigo 17 years. I believe he has done less harm than any man I ever knew; in fact I never knew him to do wrong." "What I pride myself upon," said Pericles when he came face to face with death, "is that no other man ever wore mourning through me." It is equally true of our departed brother, that no man was ever oppressed through him. His great heart was as tender as a woman's, in fact his life was gentle, and the elements so mixed in him that that nature might stand up and say to all the world that this was a man.

All things considered, he was one of the most remarkable men of his age, and his equal is hard to find. Said Napoleon, "my son cannot replace me; in fact I cannot replace myself." This is especially true of our brother. His place cannot be filled. For many years he has been a familiar figure in the church and a most welcome guest in every home. When Daniel Webster lay wrapped in his winding sheet a friend and admirer said, as he looked for the last time on the face of the great states man, "The world seems very lonesome without thee. " Yes, the church can say of this old patriarch of God, "We are lonely without thee." The last time he was at our prayer meeting -- about 4 weeks ago -- he said that he always preferred to hear others, but he had resolved early in life to always say something for Christ when he had opportunity. He said one time a brother called on him to speak, he hesitated, then the scripture came to him, "Let no man take thy crown." He said tremblingly, as the tears flowed down cheeks, that he expected soon to receive a crown of life, admonished the young to be faithful and let no man take their crown. Our church and our homes will seem very empty without Grandpa. He was everybody's friend. He was so gentle in spirit; so pleasant in manner that he attracted everyone, and each felt in his presence that he was being lifted to the level of a kind and generous Christian heart. His spotless character and Christian gifts and graces; his interest in the rising generation, made our boys and girls look up to him as a father, and when he laid his hand upon their head its touch was like a benediction. From his life our young men should receive inspiration for years and years to come. When Theodore Parker lay dying in Italy he said, "There are two Theodore Parkers, One of these today is dying in Italy, the other I have planted in America and it will continue to live." Edward Pedigo died yesterday and has crossed the silent river. Still he lives with us in example, and his work follows. His whole life full of years and full of honors was given to the good of others.

Brother Pedigo was a man of great reverence for God, good men and sacred things. His high sense of honor, his uniform gentleness and thoughtful consideration of others won for him the high esteem and lasting respect of all good people. He was no partisan in politics and no sectarian in religion. His heart and sympathies were too large and generous to be confined in any narrow bounds, while his local membership was in this congregation. Still he loved all Christian people, rejoiced in their prosperity, and mourned over their adversity. This enlarged sympathy and interest in others enabled him to grow gracefully and submit becomingly to the inevitable -- something hard for old people to do. How true it is that no snow falls lighter than the snow of age and none is heavier, for it never melts. Whatever poet, orator or sage may say of it, old age is still old age. Brother Pedigo had lived nearly four score and ten years, and for many years his mind was possessed with the truth and spirit of Christ that really makes the body rich. This not only enlarged his mental horizon, but warmed his great heart which was as clean as morning roses washed with dew. His blameless life and spotless character are the product of the Christian religion. He was in all his actions controlled by the teachings of the New Testament and hence was a living epistle known and read of all men. His last sickness was brief and comparatively free from pain. He understood his own case from the very beginning; he was walking along the silent solemn shore of the vast ocean he was to sail so soon. He remarked a few days before his death that he was ready for that great change; he realized that he was nearing the other world. Already he was entering the valley and shadow of death where he constantly heard the murmurs of the shoreless ocean and was conscious that the time of his departure was at hand. Said Wilberforce, when the last of his daughters died, "I have often heard it said that sailors on a voyage, when they drink, will say friends astern till they are half way over the ocean and then friends ahead." For many years with Brother Pedigo, no doubt, it was friends ahead. His companion and early friends had crossed over.

Part of the host have crossed the flood and part are crossing now. On last Saturday he said to me, "Brother Stivers, I expect I will soon be so I cannot talk so I will tell you now. I want you to preach my funeral here at Garfield and I want Brother Thorn to have something to say at Eden Valley." He said his way was clear and that it would be so cool and refreshing to pass over the river without suffering, but the Savior had promised to be with him through the valley and the shadow of death. He said that his children had been very kind and attentive to him. A few minutes later his three daughters were standing by his bedside and he saw they were weeping, he said, "don't weep for me but weep for yourselves and the calamity that is coming upon the world." He said that it would be so sweet to hear the song that mother used to sing,
"Sweet rivers of redeeming love
Lie just before my eyes;
Had I the pinions of a dove,
I'd to those rivers fly."

For 50 years Brother Pedigo and his wife prayed that they might both die in peace. On the 20th day of June 1879 his dear wife quietly and peacefully fell asleep in Jesus. He always told his children that their prayer was answered. It will be gratifying to his friends to know that his great heart reached the end in peace, in the home of his own children and surrounded by a few of those who loved him best. The day was bright and beautiful, the sun poured in a flood of light through the open window, as if to drive away the shadow of death; a gentle breeze fanned his brow, as if to revive the waning flame of life; the pulse continued to grow weaker and weaker; the breathing softer and softer, till the clock marked the hour of 8:30 in the morning, when the heart that had beat for four score and nine years stood still and the grand old patriarch, wayworn and fatigued with the long journey, slept like a babe on its mother's bosom.

Life's race well run,
Life's work well done,
Life's crown well won,
Now comes rest.

Geo. F. Stivers