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VOL. IV. RICHMONI
Oxford Chui
Amid the blue mountains of Virginia there is
no more picturesque scene in all the country
than that presented at the confluence of the
Collier's and Buffali)
as well as the most cen- Xl^infT'*
know, but presumes the
name, like the religion (
it was intended to rep- ^
resent, was brought from abroad.
A recent visit to this church, when there was^ V
no preacher, or congregation assembled, caused
the writer to stand in awful admiration of nature
and its wonderful production. The great
Short Hill Mountain in front, and at its foot
came the valley with the pure limpid water of
Buffalo Creek gurgling and shining in the morn
ing sun, then the table land, and in the rear the
nearby Green Hill Mountain, and had your
writer believed and lived in tne days ot liaai
worship, right where dear old Oxford stands is
where he should have erected his High Place
to worship the sun by day, and the moon and
stars by night.
In the year 1895 the late Hon. Roger Quarrels
Mills, then a member of the United States Senate,
was induced by the Hon. Harry Tucker,
also a member of Congress, to come to Lexington
from Washington, and make the address
before the joint literary societies of Washington
and Lee University. After Senator Mills appeared
on the rostrum and before he began to
TT- ?-J < < Tin
speak, he related the following: ne nam, wnen
Mr. Tucker came to him in Washington with
the request to come to Lexington, he replied
that he did not have, and could not make a speech
suitable for such an occasion; that he was very
busy as a member of Congress helping to work
out some important legislation, and could not
think of a subject that would be suitable for
literary societies. But Mr. Tucker persisted and
jgep
). NEW ORLEANS. ATLANTA, JANU/
ft* V? I? A/?l/kvi/]
L Vll^ 1WVIVU1IV
- By JOHN A. McNEEL ?
told Senator Mills, "When you get up to Staunton,
look out at the North Mountain at the great
Buffalo Gap, and then look at the Blue Ridge,
| ! f
V
OXFORD "PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
and when you reach Lexington, go to the rear
of the college campus and look up at the House
Mountains as they loom above you, and if all
?l?i?i
v*-' :
Hfe*
m,M
. REV. A. W. WOOD.
this does not bring about the inspiration
of a speech nothing else can."
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<\RY 17, 1912. NO. 3.
Ige Co., Va.
)
Senator Mills related this from the rostrum,
and under the inspiration of "the mountains"
delivered one of the most eloquent addresses
that ever has been made
ou a like occasion in
Lexington.
From the very inception
of history, the
mountains have ever
piayed an important
part. The Bible, the
-v book which is the source
knowledge,
H ns so often of the mounH
( tains, and in the providence
of God, how often
J sell
/ lected as the place for
the performance of some
I^JL great act; for example,
where
Noah's Ark rested;
was on Mount Sinai
wKM where the Levitical law
was given; it was on
Mount Carmel where
Elijah's sacrifice was
made and accepted; it was on Mount Tabor where
Barak's camp was situated; it was on Mount
Nebo from where Moses saw the promised land,
and where God buried him; and many other
mountains of note, of Old Testament history,
are recorded, and when we come to the New
Testament we find Jesus sitting on the Mount,
delivering the sermon which has made a new
rpliffiAn fni* An*% 1 11?11
iwx uui nunu, uiiu nnauy we nna Jesus
standing on Mount Olivet weeping because of
the doom of Jerusalem. And surely if mountains
are a possession of so great value, Oxford
is by far the richest of all the Valley churches.
Oxford church had its beginning, and was coeval
with the first white settlement of this part
of the country. The people who built the first
log church and called it Oxford, and dedicated
it to God as a place of worship had had their
period of starvation in the wilderness long before
they had ever seen Buffalo or Collier's
Creek.
From the best sources of information,' the Itfnd
on which the present cMircn and cemetery are
situated was deeded for that purpose by Benjamin
Borden and the two acres wa-9 3' part of the
famous hundred thousand ntitb"trtfcfc.
The first church was built in the year 1763;
the second church was built of limestone rock,
and was erected in the year 1811; and the third
church was made of brick as the picture shows,
and was completed in the year 1867.