Died, in Stephentown, N. Y., Sept. 8th, 1865, Dea. Joshua B. Maxson, aged nearly 77 years. For about two years, he had been a sufferer from paralysis of the tongue and the other organs of digestion, so as to render him speechless, and the taking of food extremely difficult.
Brother Maxson was so well and so extensively known among our people, that any remarks on his general character, in this notice, are deemed superfluous. The prospect continually before him, during the last two years, has been that of death by starvation or by suffocation. And it will be satisfactory to his friends and relatives to learn that, to the last, he confronted this appalling prospect with a calmness, fortitude, and resignation, which marked him as a disciple of Him who, under similar circumstances, was known to say, in the fullness of his soul, "O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done." As his physical strength, for want of nutriment, gradually gave way, his inward strength, the purpose of his soul, sustained by his faith in God, became more and more conspicuous. It was in these his last days, that he answered, by an emphatic shake of the head, the question, whether he had any doubt of his acceptance with God.
Not only did his strong faith become perfect in his physical weakness, but his strong affections also. Naturally of a very social turn of mind, when his friends have visited him, tears instead of words have had to speak for him. The last time the writer parted with him, two days before his decease, a long shake of the hand, with weeping, said it was the last.
Although his friends anticipated for him a terrible struggle with the king of terrors, yet God graciously granted him, at last, a comparatively easy release. Serenely he fell asleep in Jesus. Just at the beginning of the earthly Sabbath, which he could not enjoy, he was transferred to the everlasting rest which, we trust, he is prepared to enjoy.
Thus, as God magnified Joshua of old in the sight of all Israel, on the day that he passed over Jordan, so also, on the day of his passage over Jordan, has he magnified his modern Joshua in the sight of all Israel. S. C.
