“In consequence of our long and close intimacy word was soon sent to me.  I hastened to see him.  He was already very weak and could not converse without great effort.  Everything was done for him that could be done.  But he continued failing until about a quarter before six in the afternoon, July 26th, when he breathed his last.  He knew what his disease was and what would probably be its termination, but evidently the King of Terrors had no terror for him.  His end was peace.  He retained his consciousness nearly to the last.

“He was to have preached in our English chapel to the foreign community on the following Sabbath morning.  He told us his text was Romans vi. 23, ’The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’  The text was so suitable to the occasion that I took it, and in his place on the next Sabbath morning preached his funeral sermon from his own text.

“By overwork he had worn himself out, and made himself an old man while he was yet comparatively young in years.  He came to China quite young and at the time of his death was only about forty-six years of age, and yet men who had recently become acquainted with him thought him over sixty.  Is any one inclined to blame him too much for this, as though he wore himself out and sacrificed his life before the time?  If so, he did it in a good cause and for a good Master.  Besides this, he did more work during the twenty-two years of his missionary life than the most of men accomplish in twice that time.  And then, he reminds us of One, who when only a little over thirty years of age, from similar causes, seems to have acquired the appearance of nearly fifty (John viii. 57).

“Recently, especially during the last year, it was manifest, at least to others, that his physical strength was fast giving way.  Yet he could not be prevailed upon to leave his field for a season for temporary rest, or even to lessen the amount of his work.

“I never knew a more incessant worker.  He was a man of most extensive general information.  I think I have never met with his equal in this respect.  He was acquainted with several modern European languages and was a thorough student of the original languages of Holy Scripture, as witness the fact of his study of the Hebrew Bible, even after his last sickness had commenced.  As regards the Chinese language, he was already taking his place among the first sinologues of the land.  We were indebted more to him, perhaps, than to any other one man for the success of the recent General Missionary Conference (at Shanghai).

[At this first General Conference of the Protestant missionaries of China, held at Shanghai in May, 1877, Dr. Talmage preached the opening sermon and read a paper, the title of which was, “Should the native churches in China be united ecclesiastically and independent of foreign churches and societies?”]

“As a member of the Committee of Arrangements he labored indefatigably by writing Ietters and in other ways to make it a success, and though comparatively so young, he well deserved the honor bestowed on him in making him one of the presidents of that body.  ’Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?’