Born: Dunnsville, Virginia, August 18, 1851.
Died: Bethany, West Virginia, September 25, 1891.
JOHN MEREDITH TRIBLE was born in Dunnsville, Virginia,
August 18, 1851. His early education was received in a school taught
by the sainted J. T. T. Hundley. He entered Bethany College in 1872,
and was graduated in 1875. Among his classmates were E. T.
Williams, E. V. Zollars, I. J. Spencer, T. B. Knowles, W. A. Davidson,
C. T. Carlton, M. M. Cochran and A. B. Williams.
Upon leaving college he entered at once upon the work of the ministry. He preached for the church in Norfolk, Virginia, two years; for the church in Franklin, Tennessee, three years; for the church in Memphis, Tennessee, two years; for the church in Buffalo, New York, six years; for the Central Church in St. Louis, Missouri, one year. Wherever he labored he built up the church. He widened the sympathies of his hearers, he raised their moral standard, he deepened their spiritual life. Thoughtful people were surprised and delighted with the originality and variety and beauty of his thoughts.
It was not only in the pulpit that his peculiar powers were exhibited. His unpremeditated talks in the prayer-meeting, his addresses at the table of the Lord, his words of counsel to those who made the good confession, bore the stamp of his genius. On these occasions his fitly spoken words were like apples of gold in pictures of silver. In prayer he was marvelously gifted. In the pulpit, in his home, with the sick and the dying, he prayed as only a few of the greatest souls have been able to pray. For several years he was a corresponding editor of the Christian-Evangelist; one year he was office
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editor. His dispositions of the Sunday-school Lessons were a valuable feature of that paper. As a writer, his style was marked by clearness, force and beauty. The shortest paragraph had some happy turn of thought or felicitous expression. He touched nothing that he did not adorn.
While he was preaching in Franklin, Tennessee, he was married to Miss Bessie Campbell. Four children were born to them--John, Sue, Campbell, and Bessie Graybiel. Mr. Trible was seen at his best in his own home. His gentleness and considerateness, his sincerity and unfeigned faith shone there as nowhere else.
In 1889 he was selected to fill the chair of Biblical Literature in Bethany College on the Thomas W. Phillips foundation. He entered upon his duties in September. He loved the place. The magnificent hills that stand round Bethany like sentinels, the fair and fragrant valleys, the shadowy waters of the Buffalo as they wander riverward forever, the glorious sunrises and sunsets, had an infinite charm for his poetic soul. He loved the old college, and spoke of her past with pride and enthusiasm and of her future with confidence. He loved the students, and felt that nothing was too good for them. His idea of a college was that it was a place to make men. The business of a teacher was not to impart information simply, but to call out the latent powers of the student, to make him think for himself, and to inspire him with lofty ideas. As he saw his pupils grow in knowledge and in reverence and in Christlikeness, he felt repaid for all his toil and sacrifice on their behalf. They were his joy and his crown.
While teaching in the college he preached for the church. He spoke once every Sunday, sometimes twice. It was universally conceded that he was a worthy successor of the great men who filled this pulpit since the church was organized. In addition to his work as a teacher; editor, and preacher, he and Mrs. Trible had charge of the Ladies' Hall. The inmates and guests
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will long remember his kindness, his courtesy, his sympathy, his abounding wit. In June, 1891, he was offered the Presidency of the college, but declined. He consented to serve as President one year. Three weeks before the session opened he fell sick. Physicians and nurses did all in their power, but in vain. He died on the 25th of September. His mortal remains rest in the cemetery on the hillside, near the graves of Thomas and Alexander Campbell, Robert Richardson and W. H. Woolery. His spirit is at home with the Lord.
ARCHIBALD MCLEAN.