The committee on deceased brethren made their report, which was received and adopted and is as follows: Your committee appointed to report upon deceased brethren ask leave to report the following: There has been but one minister died within your bounds since last meeting (viz): Our beloved Brother L. N. Calvert, who died in Union City, Tennessee, May 4, 1869. Bro. Calvert was one of the ablest conselors, one of the best theologians, and at the same time, one of the purest men in the church. During the last few months of his life, he gave the brighest evidence of the presence of that Savior whom he loved so well to preach when in health. He seemed to have peculiarly clear views of the true nature and worth of pure and vital religion of the worthiness and vanity of pomp and show in the church and the importance of promoting a spirit of love and spirituality in the church which is its true life blood.

We recommend the adoption of the following resolution: Resolved first that as a Presbytery, we feel truly afflicted in the loss of this highly esteemed and eminently useful servant of God. Resolved, 2nd, that we express our tender sympathy for his bereaved wife and children in this their soul affliction, Resolved, 3rd, that we celebrate his funeral services tonight at early candle lighting and that Bro. Jones conduct said services. Resolved, 4th, that a copy of the foregoing preamble and resolution be sent to the Banner of Peace for publication and also to the afflicted family of our deceased brother.

Signed, J. G. Webb,
J. W. Morrow,
E. Rudolph

[Source: Minutes of Obion Presbytery, November 1869, page 181]

DIED--At her residence in Fulton co., Ky., on the 7th of August, 1851, sister MARTHA CALVERT, consort of Rev. L. N. Calvert, aged 50 years, 2 months and 2 days.

There are perhaps few instances in which christian fortitude and humble resignation to the divine will, were more clearly developed, than in the subject of this obituary. If an assemblage of the most endearing qualities, sweetness of temper, meekness, kindness, benevolence, candor and innocence of life could have claimed exemption from the common lot or mortality, she had been left to the endearment of her fond husband, children and friends, but death has passed upon all men for that all have sinned.

Sister Calvert was a native of Sumner co., Tenn.; and when young, her parents-- Rev. James and Polly Farr--moved to Wilson co., Tenn., and at the age of 15 she professed religion at the Big Spring campground, and joined the C. P. Church; and so devout was her walk thro' life, that no one ever doubted for a moment but that she was a pious christian. She manifested very conspicuously thro' the whole of her christian pilgrimage, that of an unassuming, modest christian. She was endowed by nature with strong mental powers; she was sensible and discreet; with all the warmth and intenseness of woman's feelings, a superior judgment always dictated to her the utmost propriety of conduct; and this it was that made her the invaluable wife and parent, and the life and soul of the social circle. Cheerful and happy herself, she was the cause of the happiness of others, not only from the promptings of pure benevolence, but from the charms of her conversation and manners. It is melancholy to reflect, that so much worth has become the victim of comparatively an earthly grave. It is a consoling reflection, amid the sorrows that crowd upon the bosoms of her friends, and the tears that are shed upon her grave, that she died in the triumphs of a christian faith, and with a hope as bright and as cheering as a summer sun, of a blessed immortality with the saints in glory. Uniting the respect and esteem of those who best knew her, the religion she had long practiced shed its heavenly influence on the closing scene. O, how consoling that promise, "He that believeth on Him shall not be confounded;" and as she stood near the waters of Jordan, and as her heart failed, and the world receded and disappeared, the immortal joys of Canaan broke upon her enraptured vision, and with heaven in her eye and glory in her soul, she ascended, radiant with the beams of immortality, to the bosom of God.

During her last illness, her mind seemed to take leave of things earthly; truly, her "conversation was in heaven." Her placid and beaming countenance told the joys of her soul more forcibly than the strains of impassioned eloquence. Her victory over death was most complete. The presence of her Savior and the glories of the higher kingdom, had so entranced her soul, that the face of her forsaken clay was sublimated into a beautiful smile, which all the dark powers of death were unable to obliterate; a ray of light is seen to dart from the damp. still vaults of death, and points to Jesus--the resurrection and the life.

The writer of this has been acquainted with sister Calvert for some 20 years, and has frequently seen the tear flow from her eye while hearing the unsearchable riches of the Gospel preached; and while her husband was engaged in his arduous labors, as a minister of Jesus Christ, she was found wrestling with God in prayer for the success of the Gospel. She was assiduous as a wife, kind, loving and obliging as a mother; indulgent, attentive and highly interesting--letting pass no opportunity to impress virtue's bright image on the minds of her children. To her neighbors she was a friend and helper in distress; and when any thing was wanting for the comfort of friends, or support of the Gospel, her heart and hand was opened to her wants. She often remarked that she felt truly resigned to the will of God, on whom her confidence was stayed. But when she found her disease fast hastening to a crisis, she placed her confidence implicitly in the promises of God, who took away the sting of death, and made her dying bed as soft as a downy pillow, and she went peacefully to sleep.

Thus terminated her peaceful life. She is gone. She is no more. She slumbers peacefully in the grave--free from the turmoils and perplexities of this world--leaving a husband and six children, with a large circle of friends, to lament her loss. Christian friends of the deceased, she cannot come to us, but we may go to her. Death, to the christian, is the gate to endless joy, and dying is but going home.

"Now that stream has nothing frightful;
To its banks my steps I'll bend,
There to plunge will be delightful,
Then my pilgrimage will end."
C.E.H.

[Source: The Banner of Peace and Cumberland Presbyterian Advocate, (Lebanon, Tennessee), November 21, 1851, page 4]