Patterson.--Our dearly beloved pastor, the Rev. James H. Patterson, of McCain's Church Maury county, Tenn., died very suddenly October 14, 1888. Brothers Weaver, Whittaker, and others delivered a touching addresses, but a more lengthy one will be delivered at presbytery. A larger concourse never gathered at a burial at McCain's Church than followed the remains of Brother Patterson. Every body love him and feel their loss. He was not regarded as a great preacher in its common acceptation. He was humble and modest and much more thoughtful of God's glory and the salvation of souls than his own reputation as an orator. His style was plain and his manner earnest. His preaching was searching and intensely practical. In all his revivals he heeded the Savior's injunction, "Take up the fragments, that nothing be lost." As long as the ark moved he would follow and plead for the soul of an awakened sinner, and hundreds will rise up in the judgment and call him blessed. While this field will especially miss him, the whole church will feel his loss, for no man ever lived in its communion that served it more faithfully and with a purer and more disinterested benevolence. Such a friend God only can raise up. His reproff and admonitions were true and faithful, and administered in such a way as to make one feel grateful, and his words of encouragements were like dew on mown grass. His life was perfect while he staid here with us. As for his life before he came into our midst I know nothing, only it was full of goodness. He leaves four orphan children. They have many friends, but none can be to them what a father was. May the Lord, in his all-wise providence, guide them to endless rest, is the prayer of one who is their FRIEND.

[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, December 13, 1888, page 8]