OBIT: Richard PROUDFOOT, 1845, Trough Creek Valley, Huntingdon County, PA

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OBITUARY RECORD.

DIED: On the 2nd inst., in Trough Creek Valley, Huntingdon county, the 
Rev. Richard Proudfoot, in the 76th year of his age.
    Communicated.
  The subject of the above notice was the senior minister of the Centre 
Baptist Association, who for 46 years sustained the character of an 
"ambassador of Jesus Christ," the greater part of which time he 
officiated in the capacity of a pastor. And by his untiring zeal, 
exemplary practice, and ardent piety in connexion with other Christian 
virtues, he was endeared by his flock, whom he had the honor to serve 
in gospel bonds, and a numerous circle of friends who still survive - 
  "Mourning the loss
  Of the aged veteran of the cross."
  He was perhaps among the early settlers of Cambria county, where a 
son and an aged afflicted companion still live to suffer the 
bereavement of Providence in the demise of a kind father, and an 
affectionate husband. As a man he was universally respected, so far as 
his acquaintance extended. As a preacher he was mild, tender and 
affectionate in his address. He made no pretensions at oratory by 
flashes of rhetoric, tones, attitudes and gestures, which (in some 
respects) are incompatible with the genius of the gospel. But his 
preaching savored so much of the good things "of the kingdom" that it 
never could be said of him "he has taken away my Saviour, and I know 
not where he has lain him." His devotedness of spirit - thorough 
acquaintance with the depravity of the human mind - and the 
indispensable necessity of Divine sovereignty in conversion, made his 
appeals irresistible and spirit-stirring. Some in glory, perhaps, and 
others on their way, are witnesses of this fact. Many a mountain top 
has resounded with his voice on the Sabbath day, telling the story of 
the babe of Bethlehem, and the victim of the cross; while the loud 
hallelujah has re-echoed from heaven-born spirits, brought into the 
kingdom through his instrumentality; so that his eloquence must have 
been the spontaneous effusion of a mind filled with the love of God; 
breathed out in accents of mercy, consoling the pious, and warning the 
impious. But he "rests from his labors, and his works do follow him;" 
and it will doubtless be a gratification to his numerous friends that 
have access to your valuable "Journal," to learn that his last moments 
were peaceful, and that he had an easy struggle with the enemy Death, 
almost imperceptibly falling asleep in Christ, with the blessed hope 
that "they that fall asleep in Jesus, God will bring with him." - And 
now methinks that every heart responds to the voice of Providence by 
saying, peaceful be thy rest, thou sufferer, in the bosom of thy God!
May 17, 1845.  W.T.B.

Huntingdon Journal, Wednesday, May 21, 1845