Mr. Mason, while yet in New Hampshire, found himself engaged in causes
in which that illustrious man, Samuel Dexter, also appeared. The late
Mr. Justice Story was still more frequently at the bar of that State;
and, at a period somewhat earlier, your great and distinguished
predecessor, Chief Justice Parsons, occasionally presented himself
before the courts at Portsmouth or Exeter, and he is known to have
entertained a very high regard, personal and professional, as well for
Mr. Mason as for the late Chief Justice Smith.

Among those still living, with whom Mr. Mason was on terms of intimacy,
and with whom he associated at the bar, were Messrs. Plumer, Arthur
Livermore, Samuel Bell, and Charles H. Atherton. If these respected men
could be here to-day, every one of them would unite with us in our
tribute of love and veneration to his memory.

But, Sir, political eminence and professional fame fade away and die
with all things earthly. Nothing of character is really permanent but
virtue and personal worth. These remain. Whatever of excellence is
wrought into the soul itself belongs to both worlds. Real goodness does
not attach itself merely to this life; it points to another world.
Political or professional reputation cannot last for ever; but a
conscience void of offence before God and man is an inheritance for
eternity. _Religion_, therefore, is a necessary and indispensable
element in any great human character. There is no living without it.
Religion is the tie that connects man with his Creator, and holds him to
his throne. If that tie be all sundered, all broken, he floats away, a
worthless atom in the universe; its proper attractions all gone, its
destiny thwarted, and its whole future nothing but darkness, desolation,
and death. A man with no sense of religious duty is he whom the
Scriptures describe, in such terse but terrific language, as living
"without God in the world." Such a man is out of his proper being, out
of the circle of all his duties, out of the circle of all his happiness,
and away, far, far away, from the purposes of his creation.

A mind like Mr. Mason's, active, thoughtful, penetrating, sedate, could
not but meditate deeply on the condition of man below, and feel its
responsibilities. He could not look on this mighty system,

"This universal frame, thus wondrous fair,"

without feeling that it was created and upheld by an Intelligence, to
which all other intelligences must be responsible