a large measure to his eloquence by voice and pen. At that meeting Dr.
Powell was elected Corresponding Secretary of the Association.

Bro. Powell was an orator born, not made. His eloquence was not of the
Websterian sort, massive and logical, but rather of that magnetic kind
which wins and sways an audience at will, sometimes to smiles and then
to tears, but always with definite persuasion. He was a brilliant writer
as well as speaker. His pen glowed with a special inspiration, and was
prolific as well. The pages of the AMERICAN MISSIONARY, the columns of
the weekly religious press, the numerous circulars issued from this
office and his abundant correspondence, all bear witness to this. He was
a wise man in counsel. The impassioned and imaginative speaker is not
usually characterized by a cautious judgment or administrative gifts;
but we have found in this office that when grave questions arose for
consideration, Dr. Powell was remarkably conservative and judicious. But
the crowning glory of the man was his bright and genial nature, and his
warm and devoted Christian character. It was this that won all hearts,
that made him welcome on every platform and in every pulpit, that bound
his friends to him in warmest attachment, that opened the doors of all
homes to him and that leaves the memory of brightness behind him in the
offices where he toiled and in his own dear home. His life went out not
as the lightning's flash, that leaves the deeper darkness behind, nor as
the setting sun, that has the night before and after, but his departure
from life was only the entrance into eternal brightness, and leaves a
radiance behind that will be a perpetual joy and consolation to his
friends. He was born on Christmas day, and the festivities of another
Christmas day were not wholly past when he died. His birth was a
Christmas gift to earth, and, be it said with reverence, his death was a
Christmas gift to Heaven, for through the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and the sanctifying influence of the blessed spirit, we believe