Death of Rev. Eli Ball
This sad event occurred on the 21st of July. It has come
upon us unexpectedly, producing a vacuum which will not easily
be supplied. Our esteemed brother had arranged for a second visit
to the coast of Africa, expecting to leave his home for this puipose,
within three or four weeks. He had anticipated the service with the
liveliest interest. Plans for the enlargement and increased
efficiency of our operations on the coast, were in contemplation,
and it was his desire to spend several months at the mission
stations, for the puipose of maturing and carrying out these plans.
The Board were satisfied of the policy of the appointment, in the
former experiment, and they were entertaining strong hope in
reference to this second visit. But the Great Master whom he
served, has seen it to be wise and good, to remove him from our
employ, calling him up to a higher and nobler work in the heavenly
world. Though disappointed in our plans and expectations, we
dare not complain. All is right. The Lord reigneth, let the earth
rejoice. Our brother, who seemed so needful to us, and the cause
of foreign missions, has been stricken down, but He who has
removed him, is transcendently more interested in the cause than
we can be. It is ours to bow, with unmurmuring heart, and to say,
“The will of the Lord be done.”
It will be proper to notice in this connection, the valuable
service which has been performed by brother Ball, as our agent for
the State of Georgia. For the last three or four years, his labors
have been incessant, and remarkably successful. He has succeeded
in winning over many of our brethren in Georgia, who from
misapprehension, have stood aloof from the missionary enterprise,
and in augmenting the contributions of the churches generally.
The impressions he has left behind, have been of the more
favorable kind, and his death will awaken in many a heart in
Georgia, the deepest emotion.
Our brother was permitted to see a good old age. He had
reached his sixty-seventh year. He was a native of New England;
professed religion at an early age; entered the ministry when
nineteen years of age; spent a few years in ministerial labors in
Massachusetts and Connecticut, and in 1823, removed to Virginia.
Ever since that period, he has been identified with all the great
denominational movements of this state, occupying various
prominent positions in the pastoral office, and benevolent agencies.
He was indefatigably industrious. Of him it might truly be said,
