USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > History of the Parish of the Holy Apostles, Philadelphia : 1868-1918 > Part 5
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Probably there is not now, nor ever has been in the history of the Church in this country, a layman whose name was as universally known and whose char- acter and work were as universally respected and ad- mired as in the case of Mr. Thomas.
In the missionary, educational, Sunday-school and parish work of the Church, in his city, his Diocese, and
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in the entire land, he had so long been a conspicuous and leading figure that even mature men have no recol- lection of when these conditions began to exist. His work at the Church of the Holy Apostles would have constituted a splendid life mission for most men; but this was only the beginning of his great work, and as it were the basis of his national interests and influence. No man can think of the great Sunday-school Movement which has done so much for the Church's intensive and extensive growth without immediately recalling his name.
But the work that will, in the minds of the great mass of Churchmen, always stand as distinctly his memorial, is the great national and international work of the Board of Missions. As Treasurer of the Board, back to a period when the memory of many mature men runs not to the contrary, he showed a devotion, a zeal, an enthusiasm, a systematic and explicit knowl- edge which has rarely been given, as a labor of love, to any missionary work or cause.
He was never satisfied to give only his money, how- ever great the gift might be, but always gave first him- self and his personal devotion. Probably, no man who has ever seen him at a "Board meeting," when the world-wide work of Missions was under consideration, will ever forget the picture: the strong and eager face, the quick sympathy, the exact knowledge even to the minutest detail in the farthest field, the ready response to all needs, and the finger ever on the very pulse of the missionary situation. It was a sight that sent no man home without a finer ideal and a stronger grip and a warmer heart.
His systematic and intelligent work as Treasurer of the Board of Missions has revolutionized the whole
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missionary work of this Church, and his humble and enthusiastic zeal and devotion has put the whole cause on a higher plane in the minds of his fellow-Churchmen.
But, after all, Mr. Thomas's greatest power and chance was in his personality: "A Christian gentle- man"; the fine flower and fruit of what a child-like faith can do for a man; a character that naturally drew men to him as did that of the Master whom he loved and served; modest, gentle, true, faithful and always thoughtful for and considerate of the other man; these are the characteristics for which thousands will remem- ber and always love him. This writer knew one of his Sunday-school boys, who had, in the course of his work, drifted hundreds of miles away from Philadelphia, but who had always the most abiding conviction that no matter where he went, Mr. Thomas's love and interest would follow him, and he would show the most loving pride in the little papers and leaflets his old Super- intendent would send him, and when he talked of "Mr. Thomas," the fashion of his countenance was changed. It was a wonderful illustration of the power of personal influence.
The death of this faithful Christian man will leave a void in thousands of hearts and lives and will make a gap, hard to fill, in many a good work, and the Church and humanity will be vastly poorer for the loss of voice and presence that always spoke and stood for right and righteousness.
"THE AMERICAN CHURCH SUNDAY-SCHOOL MAGAZINE"
Now that he has been called away from us into life eternal, there is no impropriety in revealing a hitherto well-kept secret. It is this: the constant ad-
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vance and improvement of this Magazine has been due to the magnificent generosity of Mr. Thomas.
His interest in the religious training of the young people of the Church and his appreciation of the diffi- cult but highly important work of Sunday-school offi- cers and teachers made him eager to help, and so this Magazine may be regarded as having been for years past the kindly voice of a faithful worker speaking by means of these pages to his fellow-workers throughout the American Church, urging all to thorough personal consecration to the service of Christ, and showing how all might qualify themselves to do more efficient work for the Divine Master.
It must not be understood that this assertion is based simply upon the fact of his using money gener- ously to meet part of the expense of publication, espec- ially when the subscription lists were small and before the present more prosperous days of the Magazine began. He did much more. He helped give that tone to the Magazine which has commended it to the confi- dence and affection of the clergy and the Sunday-school workers in the Church. He ever urged that such a publication must not be a mere literary miscellany, or a technical journal of pedagogics, or a collection of carp- ing criticisms of methods-but a kindly, helpful, read- able magazine that the average teacher would welcome and in which all would find something to encourage them in their work and to show them the best way of doing it.
While scores of writers have united in the develop- ment of this Magazine, and while every one has felt at liberty to adopt his own plans of work, all realized that the policy favored by Mr. Thomas must be kept in view, and as the years passed on all the workers on the Maga-
zine became more and more convinced that his vision of what the training of a Christian child should be was a true vision and that his ideal teacher was the person who had an experimental acquaintance with the power of Christ's religion, who accepted heartily the truths of revelation, who fervently loved the Church, and who offered his best to the Lord.
So, then, if this Magazine has proved helpful it has been because it has pursued the policy favored by our departed brother.
"SAINT ANDREW'S CROSS"
The Church throughout the United States has for years regarded him as our foremost layman, and to all who knew him he has been the ideal Christian. Though a business man of very great ability, with many temp- tations to absorb himself entirely in money getting, he always put the Master's service first and gave to his efforts to spread the Kingdom the first fruits of his time and strength and thought. To him the vision of the King in His beauty was ever present. Though he had reached his three score years and ten, he had never grown old, for he found in daily companionship with the Master the well-spring of eternal life, the true fountain of perpetual youth.
And to us he was especially close. In the early years of the Brotherhood a member of the Council, he wore his Button to the end, not only doing all he could for the welfare of his Chapter, but faithfully fulfilling his Rules of Prayer and Service, and deeply interested in the growth of the Brotherhood throughout the country.
"THE STANDARD," OF LONDON
There is a deep feeling of sorrow in the Church in the United States at the startling announcement of
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the death of George C. Thomas, who may be called, with almost no hesitation, the foremost American Church layman of this generation. The secular Press calls him "the well-known financier, art-collector, and Church- man," and all this he was, but pre-eminently the active, generous, inspiring Churchman. He was busied in im- portant financial affairs, the representative in Phila- delphia of the firm of which Mr. Pierpont Morgan is the head, carrying great responsibilities as a director in important Corporations, and successful as a man diligent in his business. He made large and valuable collections of works of art, secular and ecclesiastical, and was a connoisseur in books, possessing some choice liturgical treasures; yet with all this he was a man of simple habits, and he considered it his first duty to serve the Church with his means and his influence and the work of his mind and body. This service was most immediately rendered to the Church of the Holy Apos- tles in his own city of Philadelphia, where a parish of two thousand communicants, with a proportionately large Sunday-school, has been indebted to him for gifts towards its maintenance, for buildings, and for other appliances, but especially for his own personal labour, and herein especially for what he did in and for the Sunday-school. In the Diocese his influence, strong and leading, but never obtrusive, was constantly felt. It is understood that he largely maintained the American Church Sunday School Magazine, and well known that much that was done for the advancement of Church interests in divers ways was his gift. He had but re- cently announced that during the current year he would furnish Bibles to the number of ten thousand to such Sunday-schools in the Church as could not afford to purchase them. It ought to be added that he took his
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place as a parishioner among the rest and opened his house to other members of the parish and to its Guilds, taking pleasure himself in thus giving pleasure to others.
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS AND TELEGRAMS SENT TO MRS. THOMAS OR THE REV. N. S. THOMAS AT THE TIME OF MR. THOMAS'S DEATH
THE RT. REV. DANIEL S. TUTTLE, D.D., THE PRESIDING BISHOP
Mr. George C. Thomas is dead. At the very time I am writing these words his sacred body is being taken to its burial from his loved parish church in Philadel- phia. In these last three days, the sad message of his death has gone around the wide world. For he loved the Saviour's cause and wrought for the Church's mili- tant and missionary work all the wide world round. Our human hearts cry out, how can we get on without him? But our Christian faith rising out of sadness says, he was full of hope and love and courage and he worked cheerily and steadily while it was the day, and the night to him is not darkness, but rest, and peace, and love and home. Could he speak to us he would say: "Go on, do not stop. Work, hope, love, give, pray. Live for God while the day is yours. When your night comes, through Christ's merits and mercies ye shall live with God."
His life and work were sermons. I know of no better or more helpful American sermons. God be humbly thanked for the preacher whom He sent to us and for the sermons which he preached.
Surely thanks may overtop the tears. Our great missionary leader and helper died in the glad Easter-
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tide. Who doubts that the joyful Easter promise whis- pered itself to his departing spirit out of his own Bible which he loved so well-"Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him."
"The graves grow thicker and life's ways more bare As years on years go by : Nay, thou hast more green gardens in thy care, And more stars in thy sky,
Behind, hopes turned to griefs and joys to memories Are fading out of sight;
Before, pains changed to peace and dreams to certain- ties
Are glowing in God's light."
God's will be done! Alas! "My father, my father, The chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof." God mercifully have us all in His holy keeping.
Our greatest earthly missionary leader has fallen- nay, is exalted. God's peace is his.
And what shall we do ?
BISHOP NILES, OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
"Paradise has gained one of earth's very best men."
REV. ALEXANDER MANN, D.D., RECTOR OF TRINITY CHURCH, BOSTON, MASS.
This is a most sorrowful day for Churchmen all over the United States, and I know what the loss of Mr. Thomas must mean to those who stood close to him. To my mind he was unquestionably the foremost man of our Church to-day. I mean by that, that although he was neither the most learned nor the richest, he was
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the man who was most widely known and who will be most widely mourned by all sorts and conditions of men -Bishops, Priests and Laymen. He leaves a great heritage in his example to the American Church, but where shall we look for his successor in the missionary work of the Church ?
BURTON MANSFIELD, ESQ., OF NEW HAVEN, CONN.
Such a mission as called us all to Philadelphia on Saturday is sad beyond expression, but such a life as Mr. Thomas's will now be a greater inspiration than ever, if that be possible.
H. D. W. ENGLISH, EX-PRESIDENT OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF ST. ANDREW
His life has been a fine example of high Christian service. The Kingdom of Christ has felt the impulse of his loyalty and every man in this country, known or unknown to him, will and should have a higher con- ception of a Christian's privilege and duty through this life, which in death I predict will blossom into the desire and expression of many souls to more deeply consecrate themselves to the cause of Christ, following his manly example, than ever before.
THE REV. SAMUEL E. APPLETON, D.D., ASSOCIATE RECTOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY APOSTLES
The terrible blow has fallen, and our dear friend, Mr. George C. Thomas, as been taken from us. You, the Church of the Holy Apostles, and the whole Church, have met with an irretrievable loss. We can only say, with resignation, "The will of the Lord be done." Knowing you were absent at six o'clock, I telephoned to Mrs. Thomas that if I could be of any service I
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would go at once to her husband. I was so happy that you could be with him in time. It is all so dreadful that I cannot express my grief at his death, and your personal loss.
THE REV. GEORGE C. FOLEY, D.D., THE DIVINITY SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA
I sympathize deeply with you in the great loss you have sustained. Personally it must mean much to you, throwing a shadow over your coming consecration. I can hardly conceive what the Parish will do without him. The diocese meant much more to the general Church because of his interest in missions and the Sun- day-school. The Church at large and the Diocese can- not replace him, because they breed few such men now- adays. I am glad that Philadelphia Evangelicalism pro- duced him. I wonder if, with our modern breadth on the one hand and ceremonialism on the other, we are somehow losing the spirit which moved him and so many others of a little earlier time.
BISHOP DOANE, OF ALBANY
It seems to me there was no more precious life in the Church than his for our great mission work to which he gave not money only, large and lavish as his gifts were, but the greater gift of himself.
He was very gracious and kind to me, always, and I have some realization, I think, of the greatness of the personal loss and sorrow of those who are nearest to him.
REV. JOHN HENRY HOPKINS, D.D., SECRETARY OF THE FIFTH MISSIONARY DEPARTMENT
He was unquestionably our greatest layman and his life will be remembered as one of the noblest and
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most powerful forces for good which God has sent into our modern world. Tens of thousands of people will thank God for the inspiration of his example, and will pray God to help and sustain you in the midst of this overwhelming affliction.
REV. DR. STIRES, RECTOR OF ST. THOMAS' CHURCH, NEW YORK
We are all grieving with you but thanking God for that inspiring life. What a welcome he had, that good and faithful servant, who has entered into the joy of his Lord. Nothing but anxious illness in my family would keep me from the service to-morrow. I know God is comforting you.
REV. W. R. HUNTINGTON, D.D., RECTOR OF GRACE CHURCH, NEW YORK
Engagements here from which I cannot escape cut me off from the sad privilege of being with you at the Church of the Holy Apostles, but I cannot let this day, for you the most sorrowful of all days, come to a close without sending you a word of heartfelt sympathy. The praises of the man whom it has pleased God to trans- fer from usefulness here to usefulness elsewhere are on many tongues. He was loved and honored as few men are honored and loved, and that not merely because he was lavish in his giving, but because he so unreserved- ly gave that rarest of all gifts-himself. That is God's own way. In the commercial and political worlds it passes for a proverb that "There is no necessary man," but I confess to having scanned the horizon in vain in search of one who might be to the Church in the future what George Thomas has been to it in the past.
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BISHOP MANN, OF NORTH DAKOTA
Nothing can alleviate your sorrow as nothing I can say will really add to the universal sorrow of the Amer- ican Church.
Earth will be the poorer to me for his absence from it, and Paradise must be the more real to me for his presence there.
BISHOP WEBB, OF MILWAUKEE
What the Church is going to do without him, is hard to tell. There is no one to take his place. I owe more to him in my own spiritual life than I can tell.
BISHOP GREER, OF NEW YORK
A great sorrow has come to the whole Church in the death of your husband. I do not know of anyone in the entire Church of the United States, Bishop, Priest or layman, whose loss would be more deeply and widely felt. What we shall do without him in the Board of Missions I do not know. He was one of the most devoted men I have ever met, and it will always be a sweet and precious memory to me that I possessed and enjoyed his friendship. I cannot realize that he has passed away from earth, and that I shall see his face no more. He was a rare and gifted soul, and everybody who knew him not only believed in and admired him, but loved him.
BISHOP EDSALL, OF MINNESOTA
It was the greatest loss that could happen to the American Church. He was our greatest man, clerical or lay. From all over our mission field prayers are going up for you in your personal loss, and thanks for the lessons of his illustrious life and consecrated stew- ardship.
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BISHOP LEONARD, OF OHIO
Without question he was the leading layman in this American Communion of ours, a man we all revered and loved; a man to whom we owe great inspiration, a man greatly beloved of God, consecrated, pure, gener-, ous, loving. The Church will bend over him in sorrow while she gives him her earnest benediction.
BISHOP LAWRENCE, OF MASSACHUSETTS
The life and death of Mr. Thomas was a continual triumph and we all mourn one who has fought a good fight and won an immortal crown.
How well I remember him back in '74, teaching his teachers' class. Dr. Cooper let me look in. Of late years we have come together more closely. I grew first to admire, then love him. It is not every man who has his strong and common sense qualities who can also win affection.
There will be sorrow around the world, deep sor- row, for a good friend has passed on. Tears will fall in Alaska, Asia and Africa, in the East and West. But the inspiration of his example will remain with us.
Think of him in the company of Phillips Brooks and the saints gone before !
BISHOP ANDERSON, OF CHICAGO
Mr. Thomas's death will be felt throughout the country and throughout the Church all over the world. His love, his zeal, his character, his generosity have been a great gift to the Church and to the world. The whole Church is filled with gratitude for such a good and noble man, and is bowed down in sorrow over his death.
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BISHOP FUNSTEN, OF IDAHO
Sorrowful news just received. Our loss is immeas- urable.
GOVERNOR STUART, OF PENNSYLVANIA
He represented the highest type of a Christian and a citizen, and his life is well worthy of emulation.
A FEW MEMBERS OF THE PARISH
It is with the greatest sorrow that I have learned of the death of our dear Superintendent, and I cannot fully realize it, or else I am sure I would be almost dis- tracted. Little I thought as I saw him take up the offering on Sunday that it would be his last. I am just heartbroken, and never during my life have I mourned a loss so much, and I can comprehend just how you knowing him so intimately and loving him so well feel at this moment.
I cannot realize that we have lost our friend, our dearly beloved friend, always ready and willing to help. I feel as if I cannot bear it, for dearly I loved Mr. Thomas from the time I was a small girl to the present. When cares pressed too heavily (and they have pressed heavily many a time) I got ready and went in to Sunday-school, so I could listen to Mr. Thomas, and as soon as I heard him everything seemed to smooth out, and the cares were forgotten. Not long ago when matters looked dark for us, I had such a blue spell, I couldn't seem to shake it off, and my husband came home and said "Cheer up. I have something here that will send your spirits up fifty degrees," and he unwrapped Mr. Thomas's book of letters which he had bought.
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When my daughter was about seven years old she went to a little school and the teacher asked the chil- dren if they could name three great men, and she promptly answered, "George Washington, Mr. George C. Thomas and father." I merely mention these little incidents to show you what a regard we had for him. When I saw his form borne out on Saturday, I felt as if a cloud had come over my life. Somehow I feel that God is far away from me on occasions like this.
THE FOLLOWING ARE EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS TO MRS. THOMAS RECEIVED FROM PERSONAL FRIENDS
My sister joins me in very earnest expressions of sympathy for you and your children in your great loss. We, too, were happy to be counted among those who enjoyed Mr. Thomas's friendship, and now we share with them in the great sorrow evinced in such a touch- ing way, both at the impressive funeral, in the silent gathering on the sidewalks, and in and near the Church, and in the public and private expressions of grief and affection and respect. His whole life was a sermon on earnest work for others, and his example of devotion to duty, and happiness in doing it, will be a blessing to all who knew him, and loved him and admired him. This must be your comfort and consolation now.
For many years I have been to some degree asso- ciated with your husband, and have counted myseif happy in having his friendship. I shall miss him greatly as will a host of others. He leaves a vacant place that cannot be filled, and why such a man should have been taken away in the prime of his activity and usefulness is one of the mysteries we shall not in this
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life comprehend. When we pass beyond the veil our eyes will be opened to see more clearly.
I must tell you how deeply I sympathize with you and for you, in the irreparable loss which has befallen you. His loss is a public calamity. Truly there is mourning throughout the land, and well there may be.
Please let me send my sympathy and the loving thought that what Mr. Thomas did will remain in the world to bless it; that his influence can never be lost. And for the sorrow of the broken tie there is the sure knowledge that we can never be so far away as not to love and understand.
It is indeed a time of sadness, not only for his own loved ones, his wide circle of friends, business associ- ates, the dear Church he loved so well, and served so zealously, but also for the entire community whose representative citizen he was, who mourn the loss of Mr. Thomas.
Mr. Thomas has always been an inspiration to me since I was a young girl. It is almost an aweing thought that he has been a spiritual help to such vast numbers of people, young and old, in many cities, States and countries, and that this influence is of a kind to last till life ends.
It is not fulsome praise to say this and I am sure that the realization of its truth must be your greatest comfort in this hour of affliction. We have thought and spoken of him to our Sunday-school to-day, and prayed for you while we thanked God for Mr. Thomas's Christian life and example.
What a tribute to him was his funeral! I suppose that hundreds more would have longed to have been in
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the Church. How beautiful the service was, so perfect and yet so simple, just what that good, modest man would have wished. I always think that in times like this, we would go mad, with thinking of ourselves. I have found comfort in saying constantly, "Delivered from the burden of the flesh, and in joy and felicity." "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath pre- pared for them that love Him."
What a consolation to know, no one was ever associated with Mr. Thomas, who was not better for having known him.
There is a feeling here that Marion will never be the same. This afternoon I heard Mr. Brown, at the little Chapel, where a memorial service was held for Mr. Thomas. He spoke beautifully of your husband, and every one present felt the truth of all that he said.
The memory of his life among us is an inspiration. We feel that this little mission has lost a friend and counsellor whom it will be hard to replace, and whose presence in our midst, we shall sadly miss in the days that are to come.
Not only in Philadelphia, but throughout the Church his name was a household word, and the ex- ample of his devoted service, an inspiration and an uplift. We all feel that we have lost a friend, and the Church her noblest benefactor.
While we sorrow deeply for you and yours, we can- not but rejoice that he passed away as and when he did. After he had taken part in the Easter services
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that he loved so well, and yet during the Easter season that speaks so strongly of the resurrection hope.
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