LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
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Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH 
 
 MARY CARR MERRITT 
 
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Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 A Brief Biography 
 
 Compiled by 
 
 MARY CARR MERRITT 
 
 fie Ceach us the lesson of his life 
 The secret of his power, ' ' 
 
 J. F, El well Publishing Company 
 247 S. Broadway. Los Angeles 
 
Copyright 1909 
 
 by 
 JXCary Can JKCtrritt 
 
"So the Mother and Father 
 who ha\>e been the inspiration and jo^ 
 
 of his life 
 is this book dedicated. 
 
 Mary Carr Merritt. 
 
 193429 
 
"His purity of thought and feeling dis- 
 played the nobility of his nature. No coarse 
 expression marred his spoken or written 
 word. 
 
 "For all that was noble and tender and 
 sweet he had a strong affection. He was 
 one of those who desired to be pure in 
 heart." 
 
 Sunday School Times. 
 
Pref 
 
 rerace 
 
 Standing on a hill in the Shenandoah Valley we 
 watched the sun as it crept slowly up the Blue Ridge 
 mountains. 
 
 Here we could detect dim shapes and there watch the 
 deepening shadows till almost before we were aware of it day 
 was upon us and the sun was sending its influence of cheer 
 and comfort over all. 
 
 Such was the life of Rev. J. W. T. McNiel. Growing up 
 in the retirement of his Virginia home and so modestly 
 taking his college honors we hardly knew that a man 
 of worth was among us until we felt the silent power over 
 our lives. 
 
 That we might gather together some of the treasures of 
 this life and share them with others is the purpose of this 
 book. 
 
 All of those who have contributed have done so out of 
 a love that is "pure, precious and permanent." 
 
 It is our wish that in these chapters he may again speak 
 to us and that through the inner vision we may look into 
 those eyes, those soulful eyes, that told us of a desire to learn 
 from the "peerless Teacher" and to serve mankind. 
 
 MARY CARR MERRITT. 
 Oct. 22, 1909. 
 
Contents 
 
 Page 
 I . B oy hood 1 1 
 
 II. College Days 17 
 
 III. University of Chicago 29 
 
 IV. Potomac, Va 35 
 
 V. Washington, D. C 39 
 
 VI. Albuquerque, N. M 43 
 
 VII. Extracts from Letters 65 
 
 VIII. Memorial Services 73 
 
 IX. Sermons ... 87 
 
I 
 
 BOYHOOD 
 
Give us the faith that made him strong, 
 
 Aggressive, bold and true ; 
 The zeal that ever prompted him 
 
 The Master's will to do; 
 The love that sought the fallen ones 
 
 To lead them to the cross ; 
 The joy of knowing Thee, which makes 
 
 All other gains but loss. 
 
OF THE 
 
 | UNIVERSITY 
 
 * 
 
 I 
 
 BOYHOOD 
 
 By Miss Susie McNiel, a Cousin. 
 
 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel was born near Rocky Mount, 
 Franklin County, Va., Oct. 22, 1873. His father, Thomas J. 
 McNiel, came from the hardy Scotch-Irish stock, and per- 
 haps the perfectly balanced mind, the clear intellect and 
 powers of perseverance that were dominant traits of the 
 son, may be regarded as gifts from his fine Scotch ancestry. 
 His mother was Miss Hudson, from a good old English fam- 
 ily. Her life has been given to her children with a love 
 and devotion rarely equaled and never excelled, and her 
 sweetness of disposition, generosity, and other virtues were 
 strong forces in moulding the character of her son. The 
 earliest years of young McNiel's life were spent in happiest 
 freedom on his father's farm. Long days filled with play 
 and sunshine were his. Trudging in good-natured content 
 after the men at work in the fields, rambling on the green 
 hill-sides, fishing and playing in the little river or helping 
 his mother about the house were his usual occupations as 
 a little lad. Being of a merry and fun-loving disposition 
 he was always willing and eager to join in the many pranks 
 of his young comrades, and in his later years he often spoke 
 with tender remembrance of the humorous incidents of these 
 days. 
 
 At the age of five his education began in a little country 
 school house and even at this early date he evinced signs 
 of an unusually strong intellect. As he grew older he 
 became very fond of study and his evening duties were 
 promptly done that he might devote the later hours to his 
 lessons. 
 
 So conscientiously did he spend his time that at the age 
 of fifteen he had mastered the studies of the little school and 
 taught it himself. 
 
14 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 At thirteen he had commenced teaching in the Sunday 
 School held in an old building used as a place of worship 
 by a band of Baptists. 
 
 When in the early days the people met there to listen 
 to the earnest message of their pastor, Rev. Samuel Mason, 
 it seemed as if the very windows of heaven were opened 
 and showers of blessings poured upon them. So earnestly 
 did the pastor tell the gospel story in all its sweetness and 
 simplicity and so conscientiously did his little flock aid 
 him that a great revival of religion was their reward. 
 
 Among the many who professed faith in Christ and 
 were baptized was young McNiel, then only fifteen. Turning 
 his face into the light of God he firmly resisted temptation ; 
 and, his young soul thrilling with the hope and enthusiasm 
 of youth, looked into the years of the dim future and saw, 
 perhaps, the many things he was to do for his Redeemer. 
 
 He resolved to give his life to the Master and daily 
 studied the Bible for divine truth. Going out into the quiet 
 shade of the trees where he could be face to face with God, 
 he sought and found through prayer and careful study that 
 most blessed wisdom and inspiration of all the ages. 
 
 The beauty and uprightness of his Christian character 
 soon became evident in his influence upon his associates. He 
 continued teaching in the Sunday School and spent much 
 time in the study of the lesson and preparation of notes for 
 illustrations. For the next two years we find him living 
 this truly beautiful life, in summer working with his father 
 on the farm and in winter going to school. Ever present 
 was the ambition to serve the Master in a worthier and more 
 perfect manner. 
 
 In the autumn of 1890, at the age of seventeen, he 
 entered Glade Spring Academy at Glade Spring, Va., to take 
 a preparatory course for Richmond College. He was in this 
 school for two years and won the marked approval of the 
 teachers by his diligence in study, manly bearing and purity 
 of life. When this course was completed he turned to 
 Richmond where he was to distinguish himself as a student 
 
Boyhood 1 5 
 
 and orator. How eagerly he looked forward to the life 
 before him, in all its phases! 
 
 As we look over even this part of his life we are led to 
 exclaim, "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." 
 
II 
 
 COLLEGE DAYS 
 
God's boundless Love and arching sky 
 Above us when we wake or sleep, 
 Above us when we smile or weep, 
 
 Above us when we live or die. 
 
 God's endless Love ! What will it be 
 When earthly shadows flee away, 
 For all Eternity's bright day, 
 
 The unfolding of that Love to see ! 
 
 Maltbie D. Babcock. 
 
II 
 
 COLLEGE DAYS 
 
 By Rev. W. L. Richardson. 
 
 Mr. McNiel was born at a time when there was a grow- 
 ing recognition of the importance of an education. The 
 many improvements and general progress of the age created 
 many problems, the solution of which requires the best 
 trained minds. The natural desire for knowledge has stim- 
 ulated the minds of men to an effort unrivaled, perhaps, since 
 the days of the Italian Renaissance. 
 
 Living in an age when the intellectual demands are so 
 great and having decided to enter the gospel ministry, 
 Mr. McNiel was not content with any thing less than the 
 best preparation. To him it was folly to enter the arena 
 of life not having on the whole armor of a well trained 
 mind. 
 
 As Moses spent eighty years, or two-thirds of his life, 
 in preparation for the forty years' service, so it can be 
 said of the subject of this sketch by far the greater part 
 of his life was spent in equipping himself to lead his fellow- 
 men from the bondage of sin to the soul's freedom. Again, 
 as Moses departed this life just at the time when, humanly 
 speaking, he was about to receive his reward, so Mr. McNiel 
 was taken a little before the close of his search after 
 knowledge, and was about ready to enjoy his most coveted 
 earthly reward the dedication of himself and all his ac- 
 complishments to the service of God and humanity. As 
 at the time when the Israelites were about to begin their 
 numerous and hard fought battles it seemed that the pres- 
 ence of Moses was essential to their success, so in this 
 day when the conflicts with intellectual and spiritual dark- 
 ness are being fought with the greatest severity, to all that 
 knew Mr. McNiel it seemed most unfortunate to lose his 
 counsel and leadership. But in both cases a God of wisdom 
 willed it so. 
 
20 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 Being born in Franklin County, Va., near the county 
 seat, Rocky Mount, he attended the public schools. Here it 
 was said of him, "he learned fast." He enjoyed the full 
 measure of this honor. He would either stand at the head 
 of his class or greatly annoy the one who did. He partici- 
 pated freely in the debating (not literary) society of the 
 neighborhood when the members had under discussion 
 questions of such ponderous weight as : Resolved, ''That 
 fire is more destructive to property than water," or "That 
 a gun is of more importance to man than a dog." Though 
 in eloquence he may not have equaled Cicero when expos- 
 ing the conspiracy of Cataline to the Roman senate, yet in 
 earnestness he might well be considered his rival. 
 
 He graduated from Glade Spring Academy in 1892. 
 During these years there grew upon him daily the im- 
 pression that God had called him to the work of the min- 
 istry. It was the one duty of his life. The natural man 
 argued, the spiritual man triumphed. The selfish proposi- 
 tions were ordered to the rear, the unselfish made to lead. 
 That unselfishness was one of his characteristics until the 
 day of his death. 
 
 Later in life he heard a powerful discourse on unsel- 
 fishness delivered by a visiting minister in the Grace Street 
 Baptist Church, Richmond, Va., from the text : "Except 
 a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth 
 alone; but if it die it beareth much fruit." (John 12:24.) 
 On returning to his room he said to his companion : "The 
 thought of that text and sermon is the key to the most 
 useful life ; that answered all my objections to entering the 
 ministry. If a man accomplishes much in this life for truth 
 and humanity, he must die to self interest." 
 
 This high ideal began to be his goal even in his academic 
 days, and was God's own appointed way to turn him into 
 the channel of service for which he was so eminently fitted. 
 
 Having once for all time yielded he felt even a greater 
 need of cultivation of mind and he would not excuse himself 
 with any thing less than the best the land could afford. 
 
 Accordingly in September, 1893, he entered Richmond 
 
College Days 21 
 
 College, Richmond, Va. He had the good fortune of being 
 well prepared to take up the college work and pursue the 
 same with no severe tax upon his mind. Possibly he could 
 have entered some of the classes of the second year's course, 
 but he highly valued the importance of doing foundation 
 work well. He believed that in order that intellectual 
 houses might stand they must be "founded upon a rock." 
 This rock was sought by digging deep for Greek roots and 
 mastering the fundamentals of other languages and sciences 
 whose fields of wealth he attempted to make his own. In 
 this ground work he was very painstaking. 
 
 He had in his favor the best of instructors. Among 
 them were Prof. H. H. Harris, who was acknowledged 
 one of the leading Greek scholars of the South, and who 
 spent the last years of his life as Professor in the Southern 
 Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky. ; Prof. 
 Edmund Harrison, that master of the Latin language, now 
 President of Bethel Female College, Hopkinsville, Ky. ; the 
 learned Dr. S. C. Mitchell ; Prof. F. W. Boatwright, Presi- 
 dent of Richmond College, and many others of exceptional 
 ability. 
 
 As a student he was above the average ; he was one of 
 the best best in applying himself and best in attaining 
 results. 
 
 As the thirsty traveler of the desert longs for the foun- 
 tain of water with which to refresh his languishing soul 
 so had Mr. McNiel yearned for this fountain of knowledge. 
 
 He did his best in the hours set apart by himself for 
 study and the physical exercises were entered into with the 
 most jubilant spirits. When he returned to his room he 
 seemed to forget everything but the book before him. 
 
 To the other members of his class he rendered frequent 
 and valuable aid. His quick and retentive mind enabled 
 him to master his subject in less time than others ; and when 
 this was done he cheerfully and freely shared with his 
 fellow students the fruits of his own labors. It was almost 
 a daily occurrence to see one or more wending their way 
 to his room asking his assistance. He took delight, not in 
 
22 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 his superiority over his fellow students but in every oppor- 
 tunity of rendering assistance. The idea of helping was 
 most pleasing to him. 
 
 With a mind naturally bright and time well spent, the 
 day of his reward was not far away. Soon the time came 
 when the President of the college in his annual distribution 
 of diplomas began to deliver some to Mr. McNiel. At the 
 close of the session of 1897-1898 he had received enough 
 to entitle him to the degree of Bachelor of Arts. This in 
 turn was used as a stepping stone to the highest academic 
 honor of the college, the Master of Arts degree, which he 
 won the next year, 1899. 
 
 This accomplishment would have satisfied many, but not 
 so with Mr. McNiel. His desire for the best training led 
 him at once to begin preparation for a course in the Univer- 
 sity of Chicago, which he took after a year's pastorate in 
 Gordonsville, Va., his physician having advised him to 
 take at least this much rest. But his worth was too well 
 known to allow him much rest. As soon as it was known 
 that he was going to Gordonsville an effort was at once 
 made to induce him to accept in addition to his pastoral 
 work the principalship of the Piedmont Academy. The 
 pressure was so great that he finally yielded. Though 
 he had this unusual amount of work to do he made a won- 
 derful reputation as an instructor. He was greatly blessed 
 in his church work and endeared himself not only to the 
 members of his church and pupils of the school but to all 
 classes of people and the ministers of the town. Here he 
 was married to Miss Annie Stanard Goodloe, the highly 
 accomplished daughter of Mr. Spotswood Goodloe, Gor- 
 donsville. She was a graduate of the Woman's College, 
 Richmond, Va. Directly after their marriage they went 
 to the University of Chicago, where she died six months 
 later. 
 
 To be complete an education must not only have the 
 benefit of faithful class work but also that of a literary finish. 
 An application of this fact brought about the formation 
 in Richmond College of two literary societies the Philolo- 
 
College Days 23 
 
 gian and Mu Sigma Rho. Though membership in either is 
 not determined by profession, the majority of ministerial 
 students are members of one while those in the law de- 
 partment usually choose the latter. Mr. McNiel was a 
 loyal Philologian. He loved to sing her praises and did 
 what he could to promote her success. He was frequently 
 heard on the floor advocating or opposing some proposition. 
 It is no exaggeration to say that none had more influence 
 in this department than he, and but few had as much. His 
 good business and executive ability won for him the highest 
 office the society could bestow, that of president. Unless 
 the writer is mistaken Mr. McNiel was the first in many 
 years to be elected by acclamation. 
 
 Not only in business debate was he strong but was espe- 
 cially so in literary discussion. His diction was free and 
 easy ; his arguments were well arranged ; and he had the 
 art of winning the sympathy of his opponents rather than 
 repelling them. But his greatest attraction was his unusual 
 power of eloquence. People said, "He is a natural born 
 orator." Perhaps the secret of his power lay in the fact 
 that he was "natural." If he used thoughts of others at all 
 he first incorporated them into his own being, made them 
 his own thoughts, and proclaimed them with all the per- 
 sonal conviction of the author. He was completely free 
 from mechanical gestures ; and those that he did make were 
 the expression of his own soul. 
 
 Each year these two societies gave jointly a medal to the 
 best orator of the college. During these contests the rivalry 
 between them is at the highest pitch. At times this interest 
 becomes excitement and afterwards leads to adverse 
 criticism of the judges when the medal goes "the wrong 
 way." At the close of his graduating year Mr. McNiel 
 was one of the representatives of the Philologian Society. 
 The evening of the contest brought the usual large audience. 
 The orations were delivered amid much applause, some- 
 times because of merit and at others for effect upon the 
 judges. When the judges returned they listened to the 
 chairman as he told how all of them were on the road to 
 
24 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 fame and how much he regretted that he did not have a 
 medal for each, but as he had only one it would be awarded 
 to him who had so clearly won it. They were almost breath- 
 less as he lifted a card on which was written the name of 
 the winner and said in substance, "With one accord we 
 have awarded this medal to Mr. J. W. T. McNiel." With 
 equal unanimity the audience burst forth in wild applause. 
 Congratulations from all the contestants as from all mem- 
 bers of both societies and many visitors were showered upon 
 him with the greatest freedom. It is now needless to say 
 that the decision of the judges was accepted with no adverse 
 criticism. 
 
 As in many of the states so in Virginia there was a fur- 
 ther stimulus to oratorical effort. Nine colleges of the state, 
 including the University of Virginia, sent their medal win- 
 ners to Salem to contest for the state orator's medal. Mr. 
 McNiel, having won the medal at Richmond College, was 
 entitled to enter this contest. How anxious were all that 
 this honor should be brought to Richmond ! 
 
 As the time approached the interest became intense. 
 "Will Richmond win ?" was a question that weighed heavily 
 upon the hearts and minds of all. At the hour when the 
 battle was being waged there could be seen groups of stu- 
 dents discussing the probability of McNiel's success. At a 
 late hour when they were satisfied that the contest was 
 over, the hope, yea the faith that McNiel had brought that 
 honor to Richmond quieted the nerves of many and put 
 them to rest. They some how felt he had gained the vic- 
 tory. Very early the next morning, while nearly all were 
 still slumbering, one over anxious young man holding in 
 hand a copy of "The Times" came down the hall by leaps 
 and bounds and yelling at the top of his voice: "Say, boys, 
 McNiel got that medal !" "Hurrah for McNiel !" echoed 
 scores of voices behind closed doors. Like wild fire the 
 news spread to every student and professor on the campus. 
 When the down town students came in and learned what 
 this meant they also entered fully into the spirit of the 
 hour. In the midst of the noise an occasional voice could 
 
College Days 25 
 
 be heard to say: "Just as we expected; we knew McNiel 
 would do it." When the train upon which he returned 
 arrived it was met by about a hundred students. They 
 obtained permission from the policeman to cheer, and when 
 the successful contestant emerged from the stream of pas- 
 sengers, the cheer was swelled to almost a deafening volume, 
 so delighted were they to bestow honor on him "to whom 
 it was due." 
 
 Though very busy in other departments, Mr. McNiel 
 was very attentive to religious work. His life at college was 
 a standing refutation of the idea that students have no time 
 for religious or "outside work." He was one of the fore- 
 most workers in the college Y. M. C. A. and when a num- 
 ber of "room classes" were organized for a special study 
 of the Bible he was promptly elected one of the teachers. 
 His class selected the "Parables of Christ" as their special 
 line. In this difficult field he led the class with marked 
 ability. 
 
 His college life was made more useful also by the 
 amount of preaching he did. Early in the second session 
 while doing much scattered supply work he was called to the 
 pastorate of the Potomac Baptist Church, in King George 
 County, Va., which he served for four and a half years. 
 Although he was very busy with college duties he did in this 
 church a most acceptable work as was shown by the resolu- 
 tions adopted by the church when he resigned, also by the 
 fact that on hearing of his death, eight years afterward, 
 they held in honor of his memory a memorial service partici- 
 pated in by representatives from every part of a large section 
 of country. 
 
 During his vacations he did much evangelistic work in 
 which God greatly blessed his labors. In one meeting not 
 far from the church mentioned above, over fifty souls pro- 
 fessed faith in Christ. 
 
 In all the "northern neck" of Virginia there are many 
 that will "rise up and call him blessed." This seed sown, this 
 abiding impression made during his busy college days. Yet 
 he did not allow it to interfere with his class work, though 
 
26 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 the pastoral part necessitated the loss of much time from 
 college. 
 
 On the part of most people there is a tendency to eulo- 
 gize unduly their friends after death ; especially is this true 
 when the realm of the inner man is discussed. But from 
 man's viewpoint Mr. McNiel was to his companions a 
 model Christian. He enjoyed the confidence and highest 
 respect of the entire student body. 
 
 His success had not the effect of making him vain or 
 creating a desire for personal compliments. In the midst 
 of honor he was one of the most humble. When he won 
 his orator's medal his room-mate was at home attending 
 the bedside of a dying sister. After her death he returned 
 to the college and lived in the room with Mr. McNiel more 
 than a week before he knew of his having won the medal ; 
 and then was told by another student. So free from boast- 
 ing was he that his thoughts turned to the sorrows of his 
 room-mate rather than to his own honors. 
 
 His fellow students saw him tried as but few are and 
 learned from him how a Christian can bear up under the 
 demands of God, which in this case were unusually trying. 
 Yet he faced these trials with the courage of a David. He 
 neither borrowed trouble nor, when it came, did he chafe 
 under it. 
 
 While at college death twice invaded his home taking his 
 two remaining sisters, but his courage did not falter. Like 
 Job he was able to say, "The Lord gave, the Lord has taken 
 away: blessed be the name of the Lord," and so turned 
 his mind from his sorrow to the discharge of present duty. 
 That of itself was a powerful testimony to God's grace 
 in his servant. This manly Christian courage made a deep 
 impression upon his comrades and as these young men are 
 scattered from the Atlantic to the Pacific so wide to-day is 
 his influence. During this college course he had the un- 
 speakable joy of baptizing his father and brother who were 
 converted in his meetings. 
 
 What was God's purpose in Mr. McNiel's life and was 
 that purpose fulfilled? 
 
College Days 27 
 
 Since God's desire to impart his principles to man is so 
 great and man's power of comprehension is so small it 
 becomes necessary at times to leave the abstract for the con- 
 crete. This he did for Thomas who could not understand 
 but by the nail prints. May not God have used Brother 
 McNiel as the nail prints to many a young man who doubted 
 the possibility of his own high attainment? Did he not 
 labor under the greatest difficulties and attain almost the 
 greatest height? Is not his life an unanswerable demon- 
 stration of the power of courage and effort ? Will not God 
 point to him many a young man faltering under difficulties 
 and thus stimulate him to an effort that will lead to success ? 
 And will not these young men in turn thank God for such 
 an example? 
 
 Servant of God, the world is blessed by thy well spent 
 life. Enjoy now thy rich reward ; for when thy summons 
 came we can easily hear thy response : "For I am now ready 
 to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I 
 have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have 
 kept the faith." 
 
HI 
 UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 
 
"There is the quiet, gentle talk of a holy 
 heart, immovably fixed on the one aim of 
 always and everywhere confessing the 
 Saviour." 
 
 A. W. Thorold, D. D. 
 
Ill 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 
 
 Mr. McNiel as a Theological Student 
 
 By Dr. C. H. Hewitt. 
 
 Mr. McNiel came to the Divinity School of the Univer- 
 sity of Chicago in the fall of 1900. He was more mature than 
 most of our students and had more experience in preaching 
 and Christian work. He was already ordained. By virtue 
 of his experience, ability, and attractive personality, he very 
 soon became widely and well acquainted, and filled a promi- 
 nent place in the intellectual and social life of the institution. 
 
 Not many weeks of student life had passed, however, 
 when it became manifest that his health was not robust. 
 After six or eight months he left the school and accepted 
 a call to the Maryland Avenue Baptist Church in Washing- 
 ton, D. C., for one year, at the expiration of which term he 
 returned and went forward with his theological study. His 
 experiences seemed to enrich and ripen his nature, and he 
 became yet more decidedly a leader in the devotional life 
 and work of the students. 
 
 Of his work in the Evangelistic Band another is to 
 write, but it is worthy of note that his influence on the spirit- 
 ual life of his fellow-students was ever stimulating and help- 
 ful. Students come to know each other more intimately, and 
 in many respects more perfectly, than they are known by 
 officers or members of the faculty, and the estimate in 
 which one is held by his fellows is one of the best tests of 
 his character and influence. It is only just to the memory 
 of Mr. McNiel to say that no one stood higher in the respect 
 and confidence of those thus intimately associated with him 
 than he did. 
 
 He was also highly regarded by the members of the 
 faculty, as a student, a Christian gentleman, and 
 
32 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 as a preacher. It was in this last his work as a preacher 
 that he was especially happy and effective. It soon became 
 apparent from reports that came back when he went out 
 to supply different pulpits here and there that he was an 
 exceptionally able and interesting speaker, and that he 
 impressed people by his intellectual ability, his Christian 
 spirit, and his unaffected devotion. 
 
 It was with unspeakable regret on the part of all when 
 it became manifest that his health required him to relinquish 
 his studies and seek a more favorable climate. He had 
 not then quite completed his course of study, and was never 
 afterward able to do so. 
 
 So ended the career as a student of one of the noblest 
 and best loved of the many who have in our Divinity School 
 made preparation for their life work as ministers of the 
 Gospel. 
 
University of Chicago 33 
 
 Mr. McNiel in Association With His Fellows 
 
 By Rev. James W. Durham. 
 
 Mr. McNiel happily combined those qualities which 
 drew to him many friends and made him an admirable com- 
 panion and helpful associate. He was by nature genial, sym- 
 pathetic and unselfish. These qualities combined with his 
 noble ambition won for him hosts of friends and admirers 
 who never lost their love for and confidence in him. 
 
 When I entered Richmond College, and during our 
 three years there, he was one of the most popular "boys" of 
 that institution. In fact, to the boys who belonged to his lit- 
 erary society, he was a kind of idol. The name of J. W. T. 
 McNiel was to many of the members of the Philologian 
 Society a clinching argument for the superiority of their 
 society. His superior knowledge and wisdom above that 
 of the average student made his acquaintances not only love 
 but reverence him. 
 
 When I entered the University of Chicago it was a de- 
 light to me to be associated with him even more closely 
 than at college. The first year of my stay at the university 
 we lived next door to each other. We lived together like 
 brothers sharing each other's purposes and plans. He never 
 exhibited any childish familiarity, but was always manly 
 in his associations. He hated all forms of sham and little- 
 ness. He loved truth and intellectual as well as moral hon- 
 esty, and boldly did he contend for them. He never pretended 
 to believe what he did not. He was not a time-server, nor 
 a man who would "play to the galleries" for the sake of 
 passing popularity. Such moral courage in private as well 
 as in public life caused others, as well as myself, to recognize 
 in him a man of strength and integrity, whose acquaintance 
 was worth cultivating. 
 
 McNiel was of a cheerful disposition. He never tried 
 to burden others with his troubles. While he loved the 
 sympathy of his fellows, he never courted it by bareing the 
 sorrows of his own heart. His cheerfulness even in the 
 
34 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 most distressing sorrows was simply remarkable, and he 
 showed what a man can endure, who has a strong faith 
 in the goodness and love of the Father. When 1 remember 
 the sublime courage with which he bore the many sorrows 
 that came to him, I can but feel that his was a large soul 
 and strong faith. 
 
 The pain of all this he bore in silence only showing it by 
 the manifestation of a sublimer faith, a sweeter disposition 
 and an enlarged sympathy for the sufferings of humanity 
 everywhere. 
 
 McNiel impressed his fellows as being a manly man, 
 whether in the class room, on the athletic field, in private 
 conversation or in the pulpit. This manhood he never 
 sacrificed for the sake of popularity, nevertheless it made 
 him popular and won to him those who love the true, the 
 good and the beautiful. Those who have been privileged 
 to know and associate with him have been left the inspira- 
 tion of a noble character, a truly heroic soul, an unselfish 
 spirit, toiling manfully amid increasing sorrows up the 
 rugged road to God, only that he might come down and 
 help those needing his healing touch. 
 
IV 
 POTOMAC, VA. 
 
"The strength of gentleness, 
 The might of meekness, 
 The glory of courage unafraid, 
 A constant love, a tenderness of weakness, 
 Were in his face and life displayed." 
 
 Edward H. Griggs. 
 
IV 
 POTOMAC, VA. 
 
 In January, 1895, at the suggestion of Mrs. J. O. Kirk, 
 wife of a former pastor of the church, the Potomac Church 
 of King George County, Va., invited J. W. T. McNiel, 
 then a youth and a student at Richmond College, Va., to 
 supply for the church until they could get a pastor. 
 
 Brother McNiel continued to supply for the church until 
 June, 1896, when by authority of the church at Rocky 
 Mount, Va., of which Brother McNiel was a member, the 
 Potomac Church called a council consisting of Rev. C. H. 
 Ryland, D. D., Rev. Alfred Bagby, Rev. O. Elyson and Rev. 
 W. W. Owens, who met at the Potomac Church on Wednes- 
 day, June 24, 1896, and after satisfactory examination pro- 
 ceeded to ordain Brother McNiel to the full work of the 
 ministry. 
 
 The Hanover Church of this county having taken simi- 
 lar action regarding R. S. Monds, a fellow student of Brother 
 McNiel in Richmond College, they were ordained at the 
 same time and place by the same council. 
 
 Immediately after the ordination of Brother McNiel he 
 was elected pastor of the church and entered upon his first 
 pastorate September 1, 1896. He continued to serve as 
 pastor while pursuing his studies at Richmond College until 
 August 20, 1899, when on account of failing health he 
 resigned. That the church was very reluctant to part with 
 him is shown by the following resolutions passed by the 
 church at the time. 
 
 It having been necessary on account of ill health that 
 our beloved brother and pastor, Rev. J. W. T. McNiel, 
 should terminate his pastoral relations with this church; 
 therefore be it 
 
 Resolved: I. That we desire to express our high appre- 
 ciation of Brother McNiel as a faithful, consecrated minister 
 
38 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 of the Gospel of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and 
 that it is with sincere sorrow we agree to sever the very 
 pleasant and profitable relations that have existed between 
 us as pastor and people for the past four and a half years. 
 
 Resolved: II. That a copy of these resolutions be spread 
 upon our church records and a copy be furnished our 
 Brother McNiel. 
 
 WILLIAM J. ROGERS, 
 
 Church Clerk. 
 
V 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
"His being working in my own, 
 The footsteps of his life in mine." 
 
 Peloubet's Notes. 
 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 By Rev. R. S. Owens. 
 
 In September, 1902, Mr. McNiel was persuaded to ac- 
 cept the pastorate of the Maryland Avenue Baptist Church, 
 Washington, D. C., for one year before returning to the 
 University of Chicago. 
 
 In this time eighty-four members were added to the 
 church forty-seven by letter and thirty-seven by baptism. 
 
 He was an indefatigable and faithful worker; one who 
 has learned the secret of a true pastor, by knowing his 
 people, of both church and congregation, in their homes. 
 Making from seventy-five to eighty calls per month, he 
 found out their needs and soul-desires, and responded 
 around the home-circle as well as in the pulpit. 
 
 At the time of his resignation he was held in the 
 highest esteem by all who knew him, and had written his 
 name indelibly upon the hearts of the people with the pen 
 of service, which is shown by the resolutions offered at 
 the time his resignation was accepted : 
 
 WHEREAS, It has been deemed best by our beloved 
 pastor, Rev. J. W. T. McNiel, to sever his relation as 
 pastor of our church, in order to fit himself for the great 
 work to which he has been called, therefore be it 
 
 Resolved, That we, as the members of the Maryland 
 Avenue Baptist Church of Washington, D. C., will ever 
 hold in grateful remembrance the noble self-sacrifice dis- 
 played by him in laying aside his cherished plans and dis- 
 continuing his studies for one year to serve us; 
 
 That by his untiring efforts and devotion to the Master's 
 cause in this community he has won the admiration of us all ; 
 
 That by this separation we lose an efficient pastor, an 
 enthusiastic leader and a loving friend; 
 
42 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 That he leaves us with our best wishes and prayers for 
 his future success in the Master's kingdom. 
 
 Done by action of the Maryland Avenue Church of 
 Washington, D. C., on the first day of September, 1903. 
 
VI 
 ALBUQUERQUE, N. M. 
 
"In his simple naturalness, gentle sensi- 
 tiveness, absolute sincerity, quiet courage, 
 incessant considerateness, unwearied self- 
 forgetfulness, we see what makes precious- 
 ness and points to the beauty of all human 
 friendship." 
 
 A. W. Thorold, D. D. 
 
VI 
 
 ALBUQUERQUE, N. M. 
 
 Introduction by Dr. C. H. Hewitt. 
 
 Broken health made it necessary for me to spend the 
 first three months of 1904 as a vacation in California. 
 While there I learned to my surprise and sorrow that Mr. 
 McNiel was unable to continue his studies in the Divinity 
 School of Chicago and that on advice of his physician he 
 was to seek a more favorable climate in the west. 
 
 Knowing his ability and attractiveness as a preacher, 
 I began to look about for a vacant pulpit. No opportunity 
 appeared until, on our return east, Mrs. Hewitt and myself 
 stopped for a week early in March at Albuquerque, of 
 which we had heard much as a health resort. On our 
 arrival we found that Rev. H. G. Powell, a former friend, 
 then pastor of the Baptist Church, was about to close his 
 pastorate and move from the city. It occurred to me that 
 this would be a suitable place for Mr. McNiel, and that he 
 would be a most acceptable supply for that pulpit and a 
 desirable man to fill the office. 
 
 The retiring pastor was pleased with the prospect that 
 the church might secure at once so good a man, and joined 
 me in advising the church to invite Mr. McNiel to fill the 
 pulpit for a time, with the possibility of his becoming per- 
 manent pastor. 
 
 In accordance with the suggestion, the church wrote 
 him at Santa Fe, N. M., where he had gone, inviting him 
 to preach for them at his earliest convenience. He accepted 
 the invitation and so soon won the hearts of the people 
 that they called him to the pastorate. 
 
 It was manifest, however, that he ought not to under- 
 take alone to minister to all those to whom the churches 
 in such a place should carry the cheer and consolation af- 
 forded by the gospel of Christ. 
 
46 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 Conference with Pastor Powell made it evident that 
 the demand for Christian sympathy and help in that resort 
 for invalids was excessive. The opportunity to "go about 
 doing good" as the Master Himself did was unlimited, and 
 the opportunity to those having the spirit of the Master 
 was a call to duty. The Baptists must do their share of 
 this work. The local church, with its limited membership, 
 could not, unaided, do this. The retiring pastor had been 
 nearly crushed in the endeavor to meet urgent demands 
 and was compelled to relinquish the task. 
 
 In view of this situation, and at the suggestion of Mr. 
 Powell, I formulated an appeal to the Women's Baptist 
 Home Mission Society to send a missionary; to that field 
 to work in connection with and under the advice of the 
 pastor of the church. Towards the support of such a worker 
 Pastor McNiel generously pledged $200 a year from his 
 own moderate salary. 
 
 The Women's Society, through Miss Mary G. Bur- 
 dette, gave kindly consideration to the appeal and a little 
 iater appointed Miss Mary Carr Merritt to render the 
 service. She began her work December 1, 1904, and con- 
 tinued it a little over two years. 
 
 Some record of what was accomplished may appear 
 in this volume ; a record more accurate and complete finds 
 place in God's "book of remembrance." 
 
 The three years of Mr, McNiel's pastorate in Albu- 
 querque were marked by the closest fidelity to the Master's 
 work and his deep interest in humanity. It was a rare 
 privilege to listen to sermons of such ability and moulding 
 power; sermons which revealed a large and vigorous soul 
 and ever led the hearer to nobler heights. To illustrate 
 this we will share with the reader the following beautiful 
 poem, written by Mr. W. H. Worth, in memory of a sermon 
 preached by Mr. McNiel, November 19, 1905, "Abide With 
 Us," the text being Luke 24 :29 : 
 
Albuquerque, N. M. 47 
 
 To MY BELOVED PASTOR: 
 
 Abide with us, for evening draweth near, 
 
 The lone disciples prayed; 
 The day is spent, the way is dark and drear, 
 
 And storm-clouds lower o'er head. 
 
 Our hearts are sad, as silently we go, 
 
 Or speak but of our grief; 
 No words can measure the despair and woe, 
 
 Or minister relief. 
 
 A stranger, thou, indeed ! or thou hadst known 
 
 The awful tragedy, 
 Scare three days since, that to the world was shown 
 
 On cruel Calvary. 
 
 We thought the Christ had once among us stood; 
 
 We saw his wondrous power, 
 And trusted that the Lord had visited 
 
 His Israel in that hour. 
 
 
 He called us each by name to follow him ; 
 
 How gladly we obeyed, 
 Forsaking all, counting it joy to win 
 
 The Hope so long delayed. 
 
 But now 'tis night, and not a star doth pierce 
 
 The blackness of our sky ; 
 That hand, which dried so oft the mourner's tears, 
 
 Cold in the grave doth lie. 
 
 For wicked hands, inspired by fiendish hate, 
 
 By blinding passion led, 
 Have crushed that life, so warm and true of late, 
 
 And hope (not love) lies dead. 
 
48 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 But fellowship with him would bid us look 
 
 Not to our griefs alone; 
 The broader love, of which his life partook, 
 
 Made the world's woes his own. 
 
 The night draws on to thee, the way is long, 
 
 And dangers may be near; 
 Without are lurking foes, stealthy and strong; 
 
 Come, tarry with us here. 
 
 Thy sympathy sincere has power to turn 
 
 E'en sorrow's tears aside; 
 Thy words of love have made our hearts to burn ; 
 
 Come, and with us abide. 
 
 Constrained thus, he enters in, and lo! 
 
 What glory greets their eyes ; 
 In welcoming a stranger, they behold 
 
 The Master in disguise. 
 
 Their risen Lord ! He whom they mourned as dead, 
 
 Their guest, but now their host; 
 As of old, he blessed and brake the bread ; 
 
 In joy their fears are lost. 
 
 O living Christ, come and with us abide, 
 
 Not as a transient guest, 
 But as our Saviour, King, Defender, Guide, 
 
 And our abiding rest. 
 
 We, too, have felt thy words within us burn 
 
 With energy divine; 
 And, listening to thy voice, we still would learn 
 
 To mould our lives by Thine. 
 
 We have no bounties, Lord, to offer thee, 
 
 Nought but a heart of love; 
 And that would ever cold and lifeless be 
 
 Lest quickened from above. 
 
Albuquerque, N. M. 49 
 
 ; 
 
 But thou hast loved us, and our hearts respond 
 
 As turns the sun-kissed flower; 
 Draw thou and keep us in that deathless bond, 
 
 Thy changeless love and power. 
 
 Help us to open wide to thee the door ; 
 
 Loosen each secret spring, 
 That thou mayest come and dwell forevermore, 
 
 Our Master and our King. 
 
 His pastoral duties were planned to reach the largest 
 number of sick, sorrowing, and the many lonely strangers, 
 at the same time not neglecting the members of his flock 
 who were more fortunate. 
 
 Every suffering heart appealed to him, regardless of 
 name and creed, and only the recording angel knows all 
 the hours, early and late, which he spent by a lonely death- 
 bed, or with stricken hearts at the train. He made real 
 to us the words, "The wisdom from above is first of all 
 pure, then peaceful, courteous, not self-willed ; full of com- 
 passion, and kind actions free from favoritism and from 
 all insincerity." 
 
 It was in the fall of 1905 that his drives through the 
 northwestern part of town impressed him with the large 
 territory covered by no church and in which there were 
 many members of his own church who were too ill to go 
 so far to service, and he felt that if they could not go to 
 the church, the church should go to them ; so, together 
 with the solicitation of a number of the residents, he began 
 Neighborhood Prayer Meetings, the first being in the home 
 of Mr. I. A. Dye. After holding a number of such meet- 
 ings, Holden Mission was organized. The Lord prospered 
 the work, and in January a tent-house was built which 
 was dedicated February 4, 1906. He was prevented by 
 illness from being present, but he arranged the entire pro- 
 gram and sent a letter written for the occasion and read 
 by Mr. W. K. Preston, which revealed his deep interest: 
 
50 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 To the Members of Holden Mission : 
 
 Dear Friends : It is with deep regret that I am de- 
 prived of being with you on this happy and significant day. 
 Though unavoidably kept away, I rejoice with you in the 
 splendid successes that have already crowned your labors. 
 
 I wish to avail myself of this privilege publicly to 
 congratulate you upon the constant and uniform progress 
 the work of the mission has made from the beginning to 
 the present day. This good beginning promises a strong 
 and useful life for Holden Mission. And in addition to 
 the encouragement gained from past successes, you have 
 the supreme assurance of future success from the fact that 
 this is God's work and you His co-workers. 
 
 While unable thus far to attend any of the services 
 of the mission, I have, nevertheless, known of every step 
 in the work, and I have rejoiced to see such a beautiful 
 spirit of Christian service on every hand. 
 
 You have not been lashed into this enterprise. You 
 have approached it voluntarily and have thus shown a 
 genuine desire to be true to your Heavenly Father and to 
 render service to your fellow-men as opportunity may afford 
 and the Master may direct. Nothing, in my mind, makes 
 this work more promising than the spirit of spontaneity 
 which seems to pervade the whole mission. This is evi- 
 dence of the Divine leading, and it will surely result in 
 the Divine blessing. 
 
 If I may be allowed a word of admonition, I should 
 like to say : In your Christian service do not narrow and 
 restrict your vision of duty and love to your own com- 
 munity, but rather adopt the better and more blessed way 
 of keeping before your mind the good of the kingdom at 
 large. In this way you can most beautifully serve Him 
 whose dominion some day will cover the whole earth. 
 
 May you have that joy and peace which filled the 
 Master's mind in doing the Father's will. And when re- 
 verses and trials come, remember, "His cross is not greater 
 than His Grace." Yours fraternally, 
 
 February 4, 1906. J. W. T. McNiEL. 
 
Albuquerque, N. M. 51 
 
 After this period his health so greatly improved that 
 he was often able to meet with them, and took a special 
 delight in the service. Happy in returning strength, we 
 find him devoting himself most assiduously to every detail 
 of his work. For nearly the entire year following he pur- 
 sued his course with an energy his friends could not re- 
 strain, but so modest was he about it, all that almost no 
 one had any idea of the immense amount of work he was 
 doing. However, it had been apparent to the* missionary 
 for some time that he was making more calls than the 
 average minister in robust health. 
 
 He not only visited and preached, but he sang comfort 
 into aching hearts. January 6, 1907, in connection with 
 his morning service, when his text was from I Cor. 15:58, 
 he sang the accompanying solo most impressively: 
 
 I THANK THEE, LORD. 
 
 For the cross that, day by day, 
 Brings me unto Thee to pray; 
 For the agony and strife, 
 For the bitter in this life, 
 I thank Thee, Lord. 
 Patience unto him is born 
 Who a crown of thorns has worn. 
 
 For the path so dread to me, 
 That in fright I cling to Thee; 
 For the chasm's yawning deeps, 
 For the peril-laden steeps, 
 
 I thank Thee, Lord. 
 Then it is I hear Thee say: 
 "Fear thou not; I am the Way." 
 
 For the night when it comes on 
 Like the darkness ere the dawn ; 
 
52 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 For those hours when faith must be 
 All the guide that leadeth me, 
 
 I thank Thee, Lord. 
 Then I know how needless sight, 
 If Thou only art my light. 
 
 NELLIE A. MONTGOMERY. 
 
 January and February were marked by that same tire- 
 less, self-forgetful devotion, nothing moving him from his 
 sense of duty, unswerving to the end. Sunday, March 3rd, 
 he preached, as usual, morning and evening, and we are 
 fortunate in having the outline of each sermon, both of 
 which are here given. These notes were found in his Bible 
 as he had left them on Sunday. 
 
 NOTES OF MORNING SERMON. 
 
 The Lame Man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. 
 
 Text, Acts 3 :6 "But Peter said, Silver and gold have 
 I none, but what I have, that I give thee." 
 
 Introduction: The story of Peter and John going 
 into the temple. 
 
 I. Today the world's needy and suffering sit at the 
 gate of the temple and look to the worshipers of God for 
 help. 
 
 1. The idea of charity and helpfulness are associated 
 
 with the Christian religion, (a) Jesus set the 
 example of helpfulness. 
 
 2. It is Christianity and her devotees who build hos- 
 
 pitals, insane asylums, orphanages, and go as 
 angels of light to the dark places of want and 
 , misery. 
 
 Illustration: When the Chinese commissioners were 
 in Chicago, they were taken about by a delega- 
 tion of citizens to see the sights the railway 
 stations, stock-yards, factories, etc. One of 
 
Albuquerque, N. M. 53 
 
 the chiefs of the commissioners being asked 
 what impressed him most, replied: "The hos- 
 pitals, Hull House and Y. M. C. A. work." 
 These they did not have in China. 
 
 3. If a professed follower of Christ proves discour- 
 
 aging and unhelpful, he is branded a hypocrite, 
 for helpfulness is expected and demanded of 
 a Christian. 
 
 4. Contrast conditions now with those of Pompeii 
 
 and Babylon. Call up an old-time citizen of 
 each and show our good sides, and also our 
 bad ones, which are relics of the past. 
 
 II. After all, the Gospel does not aim directly at im- 
 proving men's circumstances ; it aims at improving men 
 themselves. 
 
 1. The primary object of Christianity is not to give 
 
 silver and gold, but life, wholeness of life, 
 abundant life. The lame man's restoration was 
 worth more to him than much fine gold. A 
 church is not first of all a charitable institu- 
 tion. Her work is to build up character through 
 Christ and His Gospel. 
 
 2. When mankind once gains moral and spiritual 
 
 health, material improvements and blessings will 
 follow. Charity is not Christianity, but a fruit 
 of the Spirit. 
 
 Conclusion : He who looks up to God from a state 
 of sin and helplessness will get more than he ever asked or 
 dreamed. So with the lame man at the gate. God gives 
 abundantly above all that we can ask or think. 
 
54 
 
 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 NOTES OF EVENING SERMON. 
 
 ~4^~- *+AU/T[*/ 
 
 -C 
 
 -w_ 
 
Albuquerque, N. M. 55 
 
 Monday and Tuesday were spent as usual. The last 
 letter he wrote was one of sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. C. 
 E. Hulbert, March 5, 1907, upon the death of Dean Hulbert. 
 Tuesday evening after supper several of the boarders gath- 
 ered about the piano as he selected and sang, "One Sweetly 
 Solemn Thought," by Ambrose. How true were the words : 
 "It may be I am nearer home, nearer now than I think." 
 
 The next morning about break of day, with scarcely a 
 moment's warning, he was not, for God took him. The 
 shock of his death was felt in every part of town. In their 
 deep grief, all grades and classes of people were saying: 
 ''We have lost a friend." 
 
 The funeral was held in the church Friday, March 8, 
 at 3 :30 p. m., and conducted by the Ministers' Association. 
 The crowded house, bountiful floral offerings and impressive 
 service attested in some measure the love of the people. 
 At the close of the service the body was taken to the train, 
 escorted by the ministers, and started on its long journey 
 to rest in his loved Virginia home. 
 
 The following program was carried out at the service : 
 
 Organ Prelude Funeral March (from Sonata op. 26) 
 
 Beethoven 
 Hymn "My Jesus, As Thou Wilt," 1st and 3rd verses 
 
 Scripture Reading Rev. E. Moser, Evan. Luth. Church 
 
 Prayer Rev. J. C. Rollins, Methodist Episcopal 
 
 Hymn "Jesus, Lover of My Soul," 1st and 2nd verses 
 (Tune, "Refuge.") 
 
 Address Rev. H. A. Cooper, Presbyterian 
 
 Address Rev. J. W. Barron, Congregational 
 
 Duet "My Father Knows" 
 
 Mrs. Silbernagle and Mrs. Miller 
 
 Address Rev. J. H. Heald, Congregational 
 
 Resolutions adopted by the Ministers' Association read by 
 
 Rev. E. E. Crawford, Christian Church. 
 Solo "One Sweetly Solemn Thought" (Ambrose) 
 
 Mrs. Silbernagle 
 
 Prayer and benediction. 
 
 Mrs. Rose Futrelle Gideon, organist. 
 
56 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 The following, clipped from the "Morning Journal," 
 expressed the sentiment of many hearts : 
 
 "Seldom has it fallen to the lot of a resident of Albu- 
 querque to win the warm place in the hearts of its people 
 that belongs to the late Rev. J. W. T. McNiel, pastor of 
 the First Baptist Church, who was laid to rest yesterday 
 with fitting honors. The funeral was held yesterday after- 
 noon from the Baptist Church, all the local ministers taking 
 part in the services. The following exceptionally strong 
 resolutions, passed by the ministers of Albuquerque, show 
 in what remarkable esteem this man was held by his fellows. 
 The resolutions appear on the minutes of the Ministers' 
 Association, of which Mr. McNiel was secretary, as follows : 
 
 "1. It is the expression of this body that in the passing 
 of Rev. J. W. T. McNiel, this city has sustained a loss that 
 is irreparable. A manly man, a true citizen, a kind and 
 loyal friend, an almost ideal Christian character, has de- 
 parted from us to return no more. But the inspiration of 
 his life among us can never fail, and our memory of him 
 will always be God's call to us to come up higher. 
 
 "2. It is also our deep conviction that the church of 
 this city has lost one of its noblest associates and helpers. 
 In a very real sense, Mr. McNiel belonged to the church 
 universal. His broad views of Christian teaching, his spirit 
 of unbounded fellowship for all Christian people, his utter 
 freedom from denominational prejudices, his glad and 
 hearty co-operation with every good work, all combined 
 to make men of every faith fe-el that one of their brothers 
 has passed away from us to the place where the fullness 
 of God's love enables all followers of our common Master 
 to live as one fold in the presence of one shepherd. 
 
 "3. Especially do we desire to express our sincere 
 sympathy for our sister church in her bereavement. They 
 know out of the riches of a long association, more fully 
 than we, how profound is their sense of loss. Rarely, in- 
 deed, has a man been so possessed of the combined qualities 
 that make an ideal minister. His clear perception of the 
 
Albuquerque, N. M. 57 
 
 truth, which is the inevitable and invariable result of a life 
 of intellectual and moral honesty and purity; his eloquent 
 presentation of it, his love for his people, which was too 
 great to be confined to them alone ; his genial, kindly dis- 
 position and sympathetic helpfulness, will make his place in 
 this pulpit very hard to fill. His life was his best sermon. 
 
 "4. Personally, we wish to pay our tribute to him 
 as a man and brother minister. To know him was to love 
 and admire him. His personality was a rarely beautiful 
 combination of gentleness and strength. To him, to live 
 was Christ, and to die is gain. His thoughts were God's 
 thoughts, and his life was the expression of them. His 
 intelligence was great, his heart was great, and they united 
 in a great service to his fellow-men. The days of his 
 earthly life were wisely spent, therefore the Great Law of 
 Compensation has given him his liberation and his reward. 
 He 'allured to brighter worlds and led the way.' 
 
 "The resolutions were signed by Rev. Hugh A. Cooper, 
 Presbyterian Church; Rev. J. C. Rollins, Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church; Rev. J. W. Barron and Rev. J. H. Heald, 
 Congregational Church; Rev. Ernest Moser, Lutheran 
 Church ; Rev. O. B. Holliday, Southern Methodist Church ; 
 Rev. Ernest E. Crawford, Christian Church, and Rev. W. 
 W. Havens, Methodist Church." 
 
 AN EXTRACT FROM THE ADDRESS OF REV. HUGH A. COOPER 
 DELIVERED AT THE FUNERAL. 
 
 "Thy Will Be Done." This is the text from which our 
 brother preached his last sermon. As I have read this 
 sermon it has seemed to me that Brother McNiel spoke 
 with prophetic voice. The sermon breathes the spirit of 
 the man. Though he did not know the end was so near, 
 had he known it he would have said, "Thy will, not mine, 
 be done." None would have been readier than he to recog- 
 nize that "a man is immortal till his work is done." 
 
 From our point of view today it seems like a dark 
 providence. We cannot understand it. All we can do is 
 
58 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 in faith to repeat our dear brother's last text, "Thy will 
 be done." "Even so, Father, for it seemeth good in Thy 
 sight." 
 
 Those of us who knew J. W. T. McNiel know that he 
 sought ever to make the will of God the plan of his life. 
 This is what made his life so beautiful. This is why he 
 was optimistic always. As Emerson said of Tennyson, 
 "he had a beautiful soul." "There are," says Froude, "men 
 who, wherever they go, create an epidemic of nobleness." 
 McNiel was .such a man. 
 
 One thing that always impressed me was his trans- 
 parent sincerity. The word sincere comes from sine, "with- 
 out," and cera, "wax." When the ancients were building 
 mansions of marble, some workmen, then as now, were 
 dishonest, and if there was a flaw in the marble, filled it 
 in and glossed it over with wax, which soon dropped out 
 and revealed the flaw. To avoid this there came to be 
 introduced into the contract the words, sine cera, "without 
 wax." Brother McNiel, as I knew him and I knew him 
 well was sincere. All he did was in the open. What he 
 believed he spoke. He stifled no conviction. 
 
 Another thing that impressed me and helped me was 
 his kindness. He was the stranger's friend. He would 
 go out of his way and bestow strength that he could ill 
 afford in order to help another. 
 
 His very gentleness made him great. Though young 
 in years, he was a man of exceptional ability. He was 
 an earnest student and had a natural gift of oratory, but 
 of these I need not speak. We all knew of these gifts 
 and prized them. 
 
 How sadly we shall miss his helpfulness and counsel 
 in our Ministerial Alliance. Though he was a loyal Bap- 
 tist, in the larger sense he was a Christian, and his ambi- 
 tion above that of the individual church was the advance- 
 ment of the kingdom of God. 
 
Albuquerque, N. M. 59 
 
 "Servant of God! well done! 
 
 Rest from thy loved employ; 
 The battle fought, the victory won, 
 Enter thy Master's joy. 
 
 "The voice at midnight came. 
 
 He started up to hear; 
 A mortal arrow pierced his frame, 
 He fell but felt no fear. 
 
 "The pains of death are past, 
 Labor and sorrow cease, 
 And life's long warfare closed at last, 
 His soul is found in peace. 
 
 "Soldier of Christ! well done! 
 
 Praise be thy new employ; 
 And while eternal ages run, 
 Rest in thy Saviour's joy." 
 
 RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE) FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, 
 ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, MARCH 13, 1907. 
 
 WHEREAS, Our Heavenly Father has, in His infinite 
 wisdom, taken from us our beloved pastor, Rev. J. W. T. 
 McNiel ; therefore, be it 
 
 Resolved, That our church has lost a wise, kind and 
 efficient pastor, one who possessed rare intellectual ability 
 and withal a deep spirituality. His was a strong nature, 
 yet his sweetness of disposition and gentleness of manner 
 endeared him to all. He was magnanimous, and of no one 
 can it be said more truly, "He was God's nobleman." 
 
 Resolved, That his memory will be a sacred legacy 
 to our church, and will ever be an inspiration to higher 
 and nobler living. We will not say "he is dead," but 
 rather, he has entered God's presence, "where there is full- 
 ness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures 
 forevermore." 
 
60 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 Resolved, That we extend to the family, on whom the 
 loss falls heaviest, our sincere sympathy, commending them 
 to the great Comforter, who alone is able to sustain them 
 in their sorrow. 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to 
 the family of our late pastor, and also that they be spread 
 upon the church records. 
 
 MRS. MARY V. SHUTT, 
 MRS. JOSEPHINE E. PRESTON, 
 MR. C. D. GOFF, 
 MR. J. A. HAMMOND, 
 
 Committee. 
 
 The news of his death which had sped to his host of 
 friends in all parts of the United States brought forth an 
 universal expression of sorrow. 
 
 On August 4th a memorial service was held in Potomac, 
 Va., the first church of which he was pastor. When we 
 realize that it had been eight years since he left this pastor- 
 ate, we see that the attachment between this church and 
 pastor was most unusual. 
 
Albuquerque, N. M. 61 
 
 An Appreciation 
 
 By Rev. Wilson /. Marsh, Albuquerque. 
 
 My acquaintance with Rev. J. W. T. McNiel began 
 about April 1, 1904, when he assumed the pastorate of the 
 First Baptist Church of Albuquerque. 
 
 One morning I heard a knock at my study door. Upon 
 opening it I beheld a young man, tall and slender, wearing 
 high-top boots and a broad-brimmed hat, his face bronzed 
 from exposure to New Mexico sun and wind. The counte- 
 nance, frank and open, at once commanded confidence, and I 
 gave him a cordial welcome. Presently the stranger intro- 
 duced himself as Mr. McNiel, the new pastor of the Baptist 
 Church. For health reasons he had been spending much 
 time out of doors engaged in his favorite exercise of horse- 
 back riding. We spent a pleasant hour together, and thus 
 began an acquaintance which ripened into warmest friend- 
 ship. This friendship terminated only with his sad and 
 sudden death, to be renewed some day, I fondly trust, in 
 a better world and under fairer skies. 
 
 The two churches of which Brother McNiel and I were 
 pastors are located only a block apart. It has been the 
 custom for many years for the two congregations to unite 
 during the summer months, giving each pastor a vacation 
 in turn. For these reasons Mr. McNiel and myself were 
 naturally closely associated. A mutual congeniality en- 
 hanced still further the intimacy and pleasure of our com- 
 panionship. 
 
 I can truly say that the better I knew him, the more I 
 admired and loved him. 
 
 Mr. McNiel was possessed of a singularly clear and 
 penetrating mind. I heard him preach only a few times, 
 but was impressed with these mental characteristics origi- 
 nality, lucidity, and logical arrangement. He was not sat- 
 isfied with the superficial, with that which would occur to 
 the merely casual thinker. He loved to delve down deep, 
 and to bring to light the hidden treasure. No matter how 
 
62 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 profound the subject, no matter how diverse and various 
 the sources from which he drew the original elements of 
 his discourse, when they had passed through the crucible 
 of his mind and came forth in the finished sermon, they 
 appeared in the form of clear, orderly expositions of truth. 
 His perceptions were keen, his grasp of a subject strong 
 and comprehensive. 
 
 While one might admire Mr. McNiel for his intellectual 
 talents and attainments, it was his qualities of heart that 
 most endeared him to those who knew him best. He was 
 of a kind and sympathetic nature. Above all was he imbued 
 with the spirit of the Master, whose he was and whom he 
 served. I have seen occasional flashes of a warm southern 
 temperament, but that ardent nature was softened and sub- 
 dued by the genuine Christian spirit. These heart qualities 
 ennobled and vivified the intellectual in his preaching. In 
 the delivery of his sermons there was a vast reserve of 
 emotional power which might not be permitted expression ; 
 nevertheless his preaching was winning, effective and elo- 
 quent. 
 
 But Mr. McNiel was more than a preacher; he was a 
 man. His life was as eloquent as his sermons; the two 
 were consistent. What he preached on Sunday he prac- 
 ticed on Monday. From the pulpit he declared the doctrine 
 of the universal brotherhood of man; then in private life 
 he manifested this spirit in all his relations with others. 
 While loyal to his own convictions, there was no sectarian- 
 ism or bigotry in his attitude toward other Christians. As 
 far as mutual sympathy was concerned, he and I were more 
 like co-pastors over a single congregation than like pastors 
 of two neighboring churches. The high esteem in which 
 he was held throughout this community, and the universal 
 sorrow over his premature death, bear testimony to the 
 catholicity of his spirit as well as to the integrity of his 
 Christian character. As a friend, Mr. McNiel was com- 
 panionable and lovable. He was a man who easily made 
 friends, and those who knew him well were warmly at- 
 tached to him. He in return was loyal and devoted to his 
 
Albuquerque, N. M. 63 
 
 friends. His bright mind, congenial disposition, ready con- 
 versational powers, made him a delightful comrade. 
 
 We wonder why it is that one so gifted, so useful, so 
 loved, should be taken thus early in his promising career 
 from the world in which he is so sadly needed. We can 
 only bow in resignation to the will of Him "who doeth all 
 things well." But our sorrow is not unmixed with re- 
 joicing. Hope whispers of a brighter morrow, and faith 
 proclaims, "We shall meet again." 
 
 "Green be the turf above thee, 
 Friend of my better days. 
 None knew thee but to love thee, 
 None named thee but to praise. 
 
 "Tears fell, when thou wert dying, 
 
 From eyes unused to weep, 
 And long where thou art lying 
 Will tears the cold turf steep. 
 
 "When hearts whose truth was proven, 
 
 Like thine, are laid in earth, 
 There should a wreath be woven 
 To tell the world their worth." 
 
64 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 The Male Quartette, Albuquerque 
 
 By Prof. J. N. Cadby. 
 
 Knowing Mr. McNiel's highly refined, generous and 
 sympathetic nature, one would expect him to be, as he 
 was, a sweet s\nger. Somehow it fitted his disposition so 
 well. Like his preaching, his singing was genuine; one 
 knew that he thought of what he sang and believed what 
 he was singing. His musical Virginian accent, his rich, 
 clear tenor voice, and his oratorical powers, all combined 
 to make his singing reflect his true, upright character and 
 sympathetic disposition. He loved music, and sang even 
 when he knew he was overtaxing his limited strength, be- 
 cause he believed in music as a means of elevating man- 
 kind. 
 
 As a director he was very good ; his understanding 
 of music, his enthusiasm and his untiring energies carried 
 his male quartette over difficulties which would have caused 
 most people to give up in despair. 
 
 He was not physically able to sing on Sundays, in addi- 
 tion to preaching, without greatly overtaxing his vocal or- 
 gans, but he continued to sing with us until the end. He 
 carried the burden of the quartette, selecting music, arrang- 
 ing rehearsals, and, what was no small task in the transient 
 Albuquerque population, kept up the personnel of the quar- 
 tette. 
 
 Those of us who were fortunate enough to sing with 
 him and to hear him sing, and to come within the circle 
 of his influence, thank God for McNiel. who was one of 
 God's masterpieces, an oasis in our western desert, a shining 
 light to the sick and dying; sympathetic, affectionate, en- 
 couraging and faithful "unto death." He has gone on to 
 sing the new song, "where there is no more sickness, nor 
 sorrow, nor pain, nor death." 
 
 Members of the quartette were: Mr. McNiel, Prof. 
 J N. Cadby, Dr. Palmer and Mr. Collister. 
 
VII 
 EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS 
 
"He sank to rest as sinks the evening sun, 
 A prayer upon his lips, "Thy will be done." 
 Wondering, we look toward the sunny skies, 
 Half hoping there to see those pitying eyes; 
 Those eyes so deep, so gray, so kind, so true, 
 Those tender, friendly eyes for me, for you !" 
 
VII 
 EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS 
 
 "He was responsible for the changed ideas of life that 
 I had. He helped me to know what was really worth while 
 in life, and to realize that there is something infinitely higher 
 and better than this worldly life." 
 
 "The sweetest picture in my memory of Mr. McNiel, 
 and the one that came to my mind and dried the tears when 
 I first heard the news of his passing, was when the Evan- 
 gelistic Band was holding meetings at Hammond, Ind. 
 
 '"It was Sunday night, the last meeting closing the 
 series. The service was over, and the aftermeeting was 
 lingering, the people loath to leave, and the Band loath to 
 have some of them go who were still in the valley of 
 decision. 
 
 "I had stepped into the vestibule with a young couple, 
 who were leaving, and when I returned to the auditorium 
 Mr. McNiel was again speaking, pleading for his Master, 
 in tones so sweet and so musical. 1 remember being im- 
 pressed with the beauty of his voice and the evident 
 sweetness and kindliness that pulsated through his earnest 
 and tender appeal. Even then he had been sick during all 
 the meetings. Perhaps it was the sense of anxiety and 
 solicitude for our leader, which hung over all the fellows 
 of the Band even in the work of the meetings, or perhaps 
 it was the dread of what the end of this weakness might 
 be to one whom we all cherished, but anyway I know my 
 heart went out to dear old McNiel as he stood there, em- 
 bodying it seems to me now something of the love of the 
 Saviour, who forgot Himself and gave Himself for others. 
 
 "Mr. McNiel's leadership was perfect, but of no one 
 could it be said more truthfully that 'His banner over us 
 
68 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 was love.' His modesty was so genuine, and with all his 
 gifts, he was yet so unassuming. 
 
 "One other picture of him, which is so fresh in my 
 mind, I know you will be glad to hear. 
 
 "One day perhaps a score of us theologues were at 
 our Divinity table in the beautiful men's dining room at 
 the University. It was shortly before he left for Albu- 
 querque. Somehow the conversation drifted to some knotty 
 higher critical problem which partook of the nature of 
 a doubt about something or other and the fellows were 
 expressing various views, when McNiel spoke up in such 
 earnestness but with that happy smile of his, and that little 
 chuckle which he had, and said, 'Well, I don't care, I know 
 I have a Saviour, and nobody can take him away from 
 
 "It is wonderful what amount of work he crowded into 
 his short life, with such ill health to fight against. He 
 always lived near to God and that accounts for it." 
 
 From a letter to his parents by Mrs. A. Holmboe, repre- 
 senting the Ladies' Missionary Circle of Albuquerque: 
 
 "Our blessed Lord has been pleased to find in His vine- 
 yard the rounded out and completed life of your noble son 
 and has called him to higher realms of glory. 
 
 "We who have labored by his side, been guided by his 
 wisdom, have sustained a great loss for his presence ever 
 lifted us to that nobler life with Jesus. It has drawn us 
 away from the muck-rake service to this world and shown 
 us the joy and peace of a closer walk with God. In his 
 very last message to us he could not have besought us more 
 earnestly or left a more lasting impression, 
 
 "May you, in this dark hour, be able to say as sweetly 
 and as resignedly as he did in his last words in the service, 
 'Thy will, O Lord, be done.' Think what it means to claim 
 a son whose life has been so pure, whose character so 
 
Extracts From Letters 69 
 
 true, whose influence for the Master so far-reaching! Not 
 only has our church learned to love him, but the whole 
 city of Albuquerque is mourning his loss. 
 
 "As with our Saviour so with Brother McNiel, his 
 sojourn in this world was thirty-three years. 
 
 "Oh, the lives that have been touched by his ! 
 
 "His patient and enduring love for the brethren and 
 his exalted Christian life will inspire us to a more consistent 
 life for Christ." 
 
 "I was most intimately acquainted with Brother McNeil. 
 Though only a few years my senior, he baptized me and 
 preached my ordination sermon. There was no man who 
 took the place in my life that he did; and it was because 
 of his high ideals and noble Christian character. The more 
 I knew him the less was I surprised at his Christian 
 manliness." 
 
 "While I prize his sermons, which are rare, and all of 
 his public work, the choicest after all is the man that is back 
 of everything." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. W. of Cleveland, O., were in Albu- 
 querque Christmas, 1906, and heard Mr. McNiel's 
 Christmas sermon, and remarked to a member afterward, 
 "We were saying as we came away from the church how 
 much a sermon like that must cost; not in mental effort 
 alone, but most of all in cultivation of heart and life! We 
 can't understand how a little place like this can have such 
 a man as that." 
 
 From a letter written to Mr. McNiel by one of his 
 members, June 1905 : 
 
 "There is one thing you must not lose sight of, you are 
 
70 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 a great blessing to us. It should comfort you greatly. All 
 these invalids and their self-denying relatives need great 
 spiritual sermons, not from a man who never was sick, but 
 from one who suffers pain and self-denial as they do, then 
 their words go home to their hearts and lives. It is as 
 Paul said of Jesus, 'For we have not a high priest who can 
 not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but one 
 who was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without 
 sin.' You suffer as they do here and you can reach their 
 hearts and lives. God bless you in this great work, and 
 speak through you to these people. You are an apostle to 
 the consumptives, dear brother ; God bless you !" 
 
 From a member after he died: 
 
 "How much such sweet characters as Mr. McNiel's 
 are missed in this world. If the world only had more like 
 him how much better it would be. I always felt each time 
 I heard Mr. McNiel that I was lifted a little higher. Each 
 talk with him gave me a new thought." 
 
 "When I met him last summer (Washington, D. C., 
 1906,) I told him I was glad to meet one man whom every 
 one loved." 
 
 "The message he brought to us (Pueblo, Colorado,) on 
 Thursday evening has been often spoken of, but one little 
 incident stands out more prominently than any other. It 
 was one night when he had been in my home. You know 
 there are some people you can get closer to than others. 
 When I walked to the car with him he said, in referring to 
 his health, 'God knows best and I am trusting Him.' These 
 are common words, but they seemed to come to me with 
 peculiar force, and have made an impression on my mind 
 I never will forget." 
 
Extracts From Letters 71 
 
 "He was my closest and dearest friend. We were in 
 college together five years. No nobler character could be 
 found anywhere. He was making his mark in the world 
 and would have been one of our brightest lights." 
 
 "I am so thankful I could attend the last prayer meet- 
 ing he conducted on earth. These words come to me from 
 his prayer, 'Dear Lord, if there is anything in our hearts 
 that keeps us from Thee, take it away.' Not long before 
 he died I went to hear him preach, though I am a member 
 of another church. During the sermon he said, "I am going 
 to repeat some words that I have often used in your hearing, 
 because I love them so. 'Come unto Me all ye that labor 
 and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.' Then he 
 spoke such beautiful words of comfort, 'when you are 
 weary, heartsick, tired of the turmoil and strife of life, 
 turn to Jesus, he will give you rest, peace/ I can not tell 
 you the rest; I only remember tears ran down my cheeks 
 as I listened to him." 
 
 "I went into the college building and to the room we 
 occupied. I stood there alone and thought of our past years 
 and him whose life was so valuable to his companions. 
 Honored he was and he deserves much honor." 
 
 "The story of this song ('One Sweetly Solemn 
 Thought') in the last two weeks of his life seems remark- 
 able. In my memory it is sacredly dedicated to this funeral 
 service and I do not wish to use it at another." 
 
 The Baptist Standard, Chicago, 111., introduces a long 
 article by saying: "One of the ablest, most promising and 
 
72 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 best beloved of recent students of the Divinity School has 
 speedily followed our lamented Dean Hulbert to the better 
 land." 
 
 The Religious Herald of Richmond, Va., pays him a 
 beautiful tribute from which we can quote but a few words : 
 
 "He was a preacher of exceptional powers, persuasive 
 and thoughtful in his message, earnest in his work. He had 
 a burning love for the salvation of souls, and many were 
 converted under his able ministry." 
 
VIII 
 MEMORIAL SERVICES 
 
THINE. 
 
 Whose eye foresaw this way? 
 
 Not mine. 
 Whose hand marked out this day ? 
 
 Not mine. 
 A clearer eye than mine, 
 
 'Twas Thine. 
 A wiser hand than mine, 
 
 'Twas Thine! 
 Then let my hand be still 
 
 In Thine, 
 And let me find my will 
 
 In Thine ! 
 
 Maltbie D. Babcock. 
 
VIII 
 MEMORIAL SERVICES 
 
 A Memorial and a Tribute 
 
 By Rev. W. Edgar Woodruff. 
 
 Soon after the death of Mr. McNiel it was suggested 
 that a simultaneous memorial service be conducted by his 
 clergymen friends in their several churches. The memorial 
 was delayed, however, for several months owing to the 
 absence in the Orient of some of his most intimate friends. 
 Upon their return the plan was carried out, and copies of 
 the following letter, of which we give extracts, were mailed 
 to all of his most intimate college and university friends. 
 The letter itself is a good explanation of the spirit and 
 purpose of the memorial : 
 
 "Minneapolis, Minn., Aug. 28, 1907. 
 "Dear Brother : 
 
 "For some time the friends of the late J. W. T. McNiel 
 have had in mind a simultaneous memorial service, but the 
 absence of some of his friends in the Orient has delayed it 
 hitherto. But now such a service seems to be opportune. 
 
 "The plan in brief is as follows: (1) That all of his 
 most intimate college and university friends who are in the 
 pastorate be invited to co-operate. (2) That the morning 
 or evening service of September 15 be made a memorial 
 service in which his life and influence upon his fellows 
 be made the basis of the message ; or (3) That his character 
 be used as illustrative of the truth of the hour. 
 
 "His friends feel that his life, though brief, was one 
 of unusual usefulness and helpfulness, and that it may 
 profitably be made the basis of a most inspiring message. 
 Blessed is the man who wears a smile through sunshine 
 
76 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 and through shower and can make a place of exile a place 
 of cheer ! Spiritual realities have been made more tangible 
 to some of us because of his unwavering faith ; the Unseen 
 more inviting because he is there. As one of his friends 
 you are invited to co-operate in this memorial." 
 
 It was not possible to reach some of Mr. McNiel's 
 friends as their addresses could not be ascertained; others 
 could not participate because of absence from their pulpits 
 on vacation ; while a few were not located in pastorates. 
 There were doubtless other pastors who participated but 
 failed to notify me. The following replied: Rev. Alva J. 
 Brasted, Lisbon, N. D. ; Rev. John M. Linden, Oregon City, 
 Ore. ; Rev. J. C. Garth, Napa, Cal. ; Rev. John E. Ayscue, 
 Greenville, N. C. ; Rev. Charles B. Elliott, Breckenridge, 
 Minn. ; Dr. Rolvix Harlin, Dixon, Ills. ; Rev. W. L. Richard- 
 son, Athens, W. Va. ; Dr. John W. Bailey, Oskosh, Wis. ; 
 Rev. John H. Larson, New York, N. Y. ; Rev. W. Edgar 
 Woodruff, Minneapolis, Minn. ; Rev. J. A. Shaw, Albu- 
 querque, N. M. ; Rev. Lester M. Burwell, Reno, Nev., 
 pastor of First M. E. Church ; Rev. W. J. Marsh, pastor of 
 First Congregational Church, Albuquerque, N. M. 
 
 [The address that follows is substantially the sermon 
 that the author of this article (and originator of the plan 
 of memorial services) delivered on the occasion of the 
 memorial, Sept. 15, and is reproduced here by request. Ed.] 
 
 "The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree : he 
 shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon." Psalm 92 :12. 
 
 In a much-worn Bible that was given me by Rev. J. W. 
 T. McNiel when he was leaving Chicago for New Mexico, 
 I find marked the words of our text. It was the Bible he used 
 when a student in college. Its dilapidated condition bears 
 witness to the service it had rendered. On looking it over I 
 find that the torn and faded leaves are in themselves an index 
 to McNiel's character. The Psalms, Isaiah, the Gospel of 
 John and Paul's letters, especially Romans, bear unmistak- 
 able evidence as to the source and strength of his faith. 
 Among the many marked passages in this book that was 
 
Memorial Services 77 
 
 his companion and inspiration, I find that of our text, and 
 I take it as illustrative of both the beauty and influence of 
 his life. 
 
 The beauty of the palm-tree was proverbial throughout 
 the ancient East. The Bedouin all but worshipped it. 
 
 The tall, serene, majestic palm is a fitting picture of the 
 righteous man. Encircling the oasis like a cluster of 
 emeralds, or skirting the banks of the river like sentinels 
 on duty, the palm beckons the weary and dust-covered 
 caravan to rest and refreshment. The great personalities of 
 the world, the real Giant Great Hearts, raise their heads 
 above the barren wastes and commonplaceness of the rest 
 of us as the palm above the cacti. They are to us a place 
 of refreshment and cheer. So it was with McNiel. He was 
 not the tall redwood of the California forests, awe-inspiring 
 and depressing in its immensity, but he was a big brother 
 whose friendship and help any one was proud to receive. 
 No one ever felt the least hesitancy in going to him with 
 the most perplexing soul problem. Just because his religion 
 was of the muscular, athletic variety, free from the veneer of 
 piestic phraseology, he readily became the councillor and 
 friend of college and university men. 
 
 Many species of palm flourish amid desolate and desert 
 environment. So the life of the righteous man stands out 
 in striking contrast to the barren sage brush life of those 
 about him. 
 
 In the early spring the desert is clad in a mantle of 
 green, verily it blossoms as the rose. But let the scorching 
 heat of summer fall upon it and its beauty fades in a single 
 day. So the faith of many of us flourishes and is beautiful 
 so long as we are bedewed with the moisture of love and 
 friends and prosperity; but let the sun of life's shifting 
 seasons fall full upon us and our faith and Christian sweet- 
 ness withers like the desert grass ! Not so the giant palm. 
 Not so our friend McNiel. 
 
 Few young men have been put to the test of faith 
 that he was and kept sweet. With him climax was followed 
 by anti-climax, defeat (in health) followed on the heels of 
 
78 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 victory, and grief close upon rejoicing. Graduated from 
 college with honors and married to a beautiful young wife, 
 they entered the University of Chicago with the full flush 
 of hope and victory. A few months and his young wife 
 is resting beneath the sod in her Virgina home, and he is 
 shepherding the flock of the Maryland Avenue Baptist 
 Church of Washington, D. C. After a year he again 
 resumed his theological work in the University of Chicago. 
 The Evangelistic Band, an organization of ten young theo- 
 logical students banded together for the purpose of doing 
 evangelistic work in the vicinity of Chicago, had just been 
 organized. Mr. McNiel, because of his experience in such 
 work, was made leader. The organization met with unex- 
 pected success. At Michigan City, Indiana, as the result 
 of three days of services the Band had the pleasure of seeing 
 seventy-five persons surrender themselves to Christ and 
 take him as Saviour and Lord. When we returned to the 
 university the divinity students showed as much genuine 
 enthusiasm over the work done as though we had been a 
 football team returning from a victory. McNiel was the 
 recognized champion. Many times before he had known 
 what it meant to hear his name cheered as an athletic hero, 
 but to know that he was the recognized leader of a "team" 
 for Christ both pleased and humbled him. He was most 
 happy, and the future prospects looked bright. He was soon 
 to finish his theological course, and there were churches both 
 East and West that were in correspondence with him relative 
 to his future location. But no ! Such was not to be his 
 lot. Like a bolt from the blue the order of his physician 
 came to go to New Mexico, there to wage a life and death 
 struggle. Slowly and unnoticed the disease had crept upon 
 him. His friends were the first to detect it and advised him 
 to consult a physician, but his hopeful nature and the fact 
 that he was an athlete was enough to deceive both himself 
 and the first physician that examined him. By much per- 
 suasion he was finally induced to consult another doctor. 
 I shall never forget the Sunday morning I accompanied him 
 to the physician's office to receive the final verdict. The 
 
emorial Services 79 
 
 doctor gave it to him and then advised him to leave Chicago 
 at once for a more favorable climate, saying, "You have a 
 fighting chance." 
 
 So near the realization of his dream of a completed 
 theological training, a parish, and a home, and yet so far! 
 "Exiled" said his friends, but let me hasten to say that he 
 never spoke of it in that way. 
 
 Within a week he was leaving for New Mexico, not in 
 dejection and discouragement but with faith in his heavenly 
 Father and confidence that he was going to get well. His 
 purpose was to go to Santa Fe and join a government 
 ranger, who should help him to live his life in the open. 
 But circumstances decreed it otherwise, and he soon found 
 his way into a place of usefulness a thing he would have 
 done had he been banished to Siberia. Notwithstanding 
 all these disappointments he remained steadfast, unshaken, 
 hopeful. Oliver Goldsmith was describing him when he 
 said of the village preacher : 
 
 "As some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form, 
 Swells from the vale and midway leaves the storm, 
 Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, 
 Eternal sunshine settles on its head." 
 
 One is led to ask for the secret of all this, as even the 
 casual observer asks for the secret of the palm's verdure 
 and thrift. Situated as it often is close to, if not in the 
 very midst of, a desert environment, why is it that the 
 palm nevertheless finds nourishment and flourishes while its 
 companions, the sage brush and cacti, like unthrifty peas- 
 ants, eke from the soil a bare existence? Why is it that 
 even in college and university circles we find a number 
 of men, with equal advantages, pursuing the same courses 
 of study, but one of them towers above the others as the 
 palm above the cacti. The secret of the palm is the secret 
 of the righteous man. They both have a secret fountain 
 of nourishment whose source is unknown, or whose fullness 
 remains untapped by their fellows. As the palm seeks the 
 rim of the oasis, hugs the banks of the winding river, or 
 
80 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 when found upon the desert, sends its roots down deep and 
 taps the arteries of moisture below, so the good man keeps 
 his life in touch with the Source of life. 
 
 No one can examine the worn and frayed Bible that 
 J. W. T. McNiel used during his early life and fail to 
 find the source and explanation of his superior character. 
 In the Gospel of Matthew he has underlined Pilate's ques- 
 tion, "What shall I do with Jesus which is called Christ ?" 
 Men have done many things with him. Some have ignored 
 him ; some have pretended to accept him and have presented 
 to the world such a caricature of His face as to cause His 
 name to become a hiss and a by-word. Mr. McNiel took 
 this question seriously and answered it intelligently. Wel- 
 coming Christ as the light and inspiration of his life, he 
 made Him attractive to others. Christianity's best adver- 
 tisement is not upon paper but upon the hearts of her loyal 
 subjects. 
 
 There is yet another thought contained in our text 
 which should have attention. "The righteous shall flourish 
 like a palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebnaon." 
 I suspect the Psalmist thought of the palm more as a shade 
 tree, an ornament, than as a thing of utility. To him it 
 represented the aesthetic quality of the good life ; that about 
 the good man which is pleasing to the eye and refreshing 
 to the spirit. But it is not enough to be good ; one should 
 be good for something. So in describing the utility aspect 
 of the good man's life he changes the parallelism a little 
 and compares him to the cedar in Lebanon. 
 
 The forest of gigantic cedars upon picturesque Mount 
 Lebanon was one of the marvels of the age. Not only do 
 the Hebrew writers of that time mention them but reference 
 is made to them by the Greek and Egyptian writers as well. 
 They were both pleasing to the eye and also valuable as 
 building material. From their tall trunks the palace of 
 David and the temple of Solomon were constructed. The 
 life of the good man is builded into the temple of his fellow- 
 men. McNiel is dead only in the sense that Lebanon has 
 been denuded of her beautiful forest. The trees became 
 
Memorial Services 81 
 
 the temple of Jehovah where they wrought themselves into 
 the emotions, vows and conduct of the Hebrew people. 
 They were transformed into poetry, psalm and prayer. So 
 the life of our friend has been wrought, let us hope, into the 
 temple of humanity. The impress he left upon many of 
 us will be felt years to come. He numbered among his 
 friends people of many beliefs. A young Hebrew in the 
 University of Chicago was often dubbed a "Christian" 
 because of his admiration for McNiel. A Catholic lady 
 writes me expressing her admiration for him. Another 
 friend, writing of the memorial services says, "May the 
 Lord use these services to make more McNiels." 
 
 Rev. J. M. Linden, pastor of the First Baptist Church 
 of Oregon City, Ore., writes : "I shall never forget his 
 influence over me, especially when he was leader of the 
 Evangelistic Band at the university. What sermons he 
 preached during that campaign! His Lord stood out and 
 McNiel was out of sight. I tell you, Woodruff, he changed 
 the message for some of us as we listened to him." 
 
 Although he was only thirty-three years of age when 
 he was called away, the influence that he left upon those 
 who knew him forces me to believe that his life accomplished 
 the purpose whereunto God had planned it. What he might 
 have accomplished had he been spared no one can con- 
 jecture. But when my mind begins to brood over the brevity 
 of his life I console myself with the words of Shelley, found 
 in his lament over the untimely death of the young poet 
 Keats : 
 
 "Peace, peace ! he is not dead, he doth not sleep 
 
 He hath awakened from the dream of life 
 
 'Tis we, who, lost in stormy visions, keep 
 
 With phantoms an unprofitable strife, 
 
 And in mad trance, strike with our spirits knife 
 
 In vulnerable nothings. We decay 
 
 Like corpses in a charnel; fear and grief 
 
 Convulse us and consume us day by day, 
 
 And cold hopes swarm like worms within our living clay. 
 
82 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 "He has outsoared the shadow of our night; 
 
 Envy and calumny and hate and pain, 
 
 And that unrest which men miscall delight, 
 
 Can touch him not and torture not again; 
 
 From the contagion of the world's slow stain 
 
 He is secure, and now can never mourn 
 
 A heart grown cold, a head grown gray in vain; 
 
 Nor, when the spirit's self has ceased to burn, 
 
 With sparkless ashes load an unlamented urn." 
 
 Dear boy, thou wert such a mixture of man, woman 
 and child that we all loved thee, nor now love thee less. We 
 say not, "Rest in peace," for such a spirit as thine cannot 
 rest, neither here nor there, but ever must it search for 
 Truth, Beauty, Duty God. Call to us out of those 
 Mysterious Depths and teach us by our memory of thee so 
 to blend the man, woman and child in us that our spirits 
 may be even as thine. 
 
 We leave this flower upon thy new-made grave to- 
 morrow it shall wither and turn us to our tasks, cheered 
 by our memory of thee, and with a greater confidence in the 
 Unseen, because thou art there. 
 
Memorial Services 83 
 
 Memorial Service Held in Potomac, Va., Aug. 4, 1 907 
 
 MS. MCNIEI/S FIRST PASTORATE. 
 
 By Mrs. Annie H. Grigsby. 
 
 The morning and afternoon services of the Baptist 
 Church at Potomac, Va., on Sunday, August 4, were 
 devoted to a memorial service in honor of him who 
 for four and one-half years, January 1895-August 1899, 
 was its pastor. 
 
 The sincere regard in which Mr. McNiel was held 
 by the members of this church, was evidenced by the large 
 attendance at both services. 
 
 His pastorate began while he was a student at Rich- 
 mond College and was characterized by the faithfulness 
 and devotion that made his comparatively brief life so full 
 of useful and blessed service to his fellows. 
 
 The exercises were presided over by Deacon William 
 J. Rogers, and were unusually interesting and appropriate. 
 
 Dr. Charles J. Ladson, of Washington, D. C., a devoted 
 friend of Mr. McNiel's, made an address on "Mr. McNiel 
 as a Man ;" Mr. W. J. Rogers, "Mr. McNiel as a Minister," 
 and Rev. H. H. Fones, pastor of the Hanover Baptist 
 Church, "Mr. McNiel as an Evangelist." 
 
 A sermon appropriate to the occasion was preached by 
 Rev. R. S. Mpnds, pastor of churches on the Eastern shore, 
 who was a close friend of Mr. McNiel, both having been 
 ordained to the ministry at the same time and with the 
 same service. 
 
 The exercises were interspersed with beautiful music, 
 favorite pieces of Mr. McNiel's, including a trio, "Far 
 Away," by Dr. C. J. Ladson, Mrs. C. J. Ladson, of Wash- 
 ington, D. C., and Miss Louise Rogers, King George. A 
 solo, "Jesus Lover of My Soul," by Miss E. Pearle Grigsby, 
 of Washington, D. C. ; solo, "Only a Dream," Dr. C. J. 
 Ladson; a duet, "Forever With the Lord," by Misses E. 
 Pearle and Mabel Grigsby; solos, "Cast Thy Bread upon 
 
84 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 the Waters/' and "Sometime We'll Understand," by Mrs. 
 Daisy Coakley Staples, of Washington, D. C., and a solo, 
 "One Sweetly Solemn Thought," by Mrs. Annie E. Grigsby, 
 of Washington, D. C. 
 
 Resolutions adopted by the First Baptist Church of 
 Albuquerque, N. M., of which Mr. McNiel was pastor at 
 the time of his death, were read by Mrs. Grigsby, at the 
 morning service, and resolutions were also presented and 
 adopted, expressing the affectionate remembrance in which 
 he is held by the members of The Potomac Baptist Church 
 and the people of this community in general. 
 
 Mr. McNiel's four and one-half years of service made 
 an abiding impression on the life of the Potomac church 
 and it is perhaps more than a coincidence that this service 
 in which the church testified her love for him, was followed 
 by one of the most successful meetings in her history, 
 thirty-four having: been received by baptism and four by 
 restoration ; thus, "He being dead, yet speaketh." 
 
 Resolutions presented and adopted: 
 
 WHEREAS, On March 6, 1907, in Albuquerque, N. M., 
 our beloved brother and former pastor, Rev. J. W. T. 
 McNiel, was called to his reward in heaven ; and 
 
 WHEREAS, For four and one-half years he so faithfully 
 and efficiently served us as pastor and by his consecrated 
 life, soul stirring sermons and genial companionship did so 
 much to build up our church and community ; and 
 
 WHEREAS, We wish to give some public expression to 
 the feelings of our hearts ; therefore be it 
 
 Resolved 1. That while we do not understand why 
 one so young, so useful and promising should be taken away 
 in the beginning of his work, yet we acknowledge with pro- 
 found reverence the supremacy, wisdom and love of our 
 God and meekly bow to His will ; we are assured that there 
 are wise purposes underlying this divine act and are com- 
 forted with the thought, that our loss is the blessed gain of 
 our deceased friend; 
 
 Resolved 2. That in the death of Brother McNiel, 
 
Memorial Services 85 
 
 his family lose a loved one, of which they were justly proud 
 and over whose silent grave they have cause to shed their 
 tears; the cause of Christ in general loses a minister, who 
 loved the message God gave him for a dying world and 
 who, in every trust divinely committed, was ever true; he 
 possessed strong faith in God, he was sincere in his devo- 
 tions and ever ardent in his efforts to reach men's hearts 
 and win them for his Lord ; he was richly endowed for his 
 work and in a very special sense was he fitted for evangel- 
 istic work in which he so greatly delighted and was wonder- 
 fully successful. While his active life was very short, 
 covering as it did a period of not more than twelve years, 
 yet scores of precious souls were led to the cross through 
 his earnest work and many stars added to his heavenly 
 crown; this church in particular keenly feels his loss, for 
 it was here, the first and most of his service as a minister 
 was rendered ; we learned to love him for his work's sake 
 as well as for his own ; our hearts loved to nestle beside 
 his loving heart; he led us all to higher ideals, loftier 
 purposes and holier ambitions; his work in our midst will 
 never die and his memory is enshrined in the hearts and 
 minds of us all; heaven has an added charm, since he is 
 there ; 
 
 Resolved 3. That we do hereby extend our heartfelt 
 sympathy to each and all of his dear relatives, with whom 
 he was such a favorite and whose hearts are almost broken 
 at the thought of his departure; we pledge to them our 
 earnest prayer, that the God who filled the soul and life 
 of their dear one with joy while he lived, may soothe their 
 aching hearts as they pass through the shadows of earth's 
 journey. May they be guarded and guided until the end 
 and then rest with their precious loved ones beneath the 
 shade of heaven's trees forever at home ; 
 
 Resolved 4. That these resolutions be made a part of 
 the records of The Potomac Baptist Church, a copy sent to 
 the bereaved family of our brother and copies furnished The 
 Religious Herald and The Free Lance for publication. 
 
I am a stranger here, within a foreign land, 
 My home is far away, upon a golden strand ; 
 Ambassador to be of realms beyond the sea, 
 Fm here on business for my King. 
 
 This is the King's command, that all men ev'rywhere, 
 Repent and turn away, from sin's seductive snare; 
 That all who will obey, with Him shall reign for aye, 
 And that's my business for my King. 
 
 My home is brighter far than Sharon's rosy plain, 
 Eternal life and joy thro'out its vast domain ; 
 My sov'reign bids me tell how mortals there may dwell, 
 And that's my business for my King. 
 
 This is the message that I bring, 
 
 A message angels fair would sing; 
 
 "Oh, be ye reconciled," thus saith my Lord and King, 
 
 "Oh, be ye reconciled to God." 
 
IX 
 
 SERMONS 
 
"Teach us the lesson of his life, 
 
 The secret of his power 
 To scatter light and sunshine 
 
 When threatening storm-clouds lower ; 
 To sympathize with sorrow's tears, 
 
 To greet with joy the glad, 
 To carry hope to fainting hearts 
 
 And comfort to the sad.' 1 ' 
 
IX 
 SERMONS 
 
 Christians of Today Need the Courage of Paul 
 
 Text: Romans 1:8-17. Paul has about completed his 
 work in the east, and consequently begins to turn his face 
 toward the west. Being, in a peculiar sense, the apostle 
 to the Gentiles, he desires to stand within the gates of 
 Rome, the proud mistress of the world, and there preach 
 the Gospel of the Son of God. But this desire could not 
 be realized, for he must first go to Jerusalem to bear to 
 the needy Christians there a contribution from the Gentile 
 Christians of Galatia, Macedonia and Achaia, and thus bind 
 together by bonds of love and gratitude the two great divi- 
 sions of the church and avert a schism of the body of Christ. 
 This trip to Jerusalem will necessitate a considerable delay 
 in getting to Rome, for, even if he has a prosperous journey, 
 he will consume considerable time n going from Corinth, 
 where he now is, to Jerusalem and back to Rome. But, 
 in the meantime, he wishes to assure his Roman brothers 
 of his desire to come to them, and also to fortify their 
 faith against the doctrine of the Judaizers, who may come 
 at any time and lead them from the true faith. Therefore, 
 Paul writes the epistle to the Romans, the very heart of 
 which is a comprehensive description of righteousness apart 
 from works of law and available through faith for both 
 Jew and Gentile. But Paul does not purpose to make his 
 letter a permanent substitute for a personal visit, for his 
 heart is still set upon eventually preaching Christ to those 
 also that are in Roire. This desire is shown by his attitude 
 toward the brethren at Rome. He is thankful for the 
 faith of the Roman Christians and prays that he may be 
 prospered by the will of God to come unto them. 
 
 He doubtless felt keenly the trying circumstances under 
 
90 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 which Christians were laboring in that wicked and idolatrous 
 city. We labor today under such favorable circumstances 
 that it is difficult for us to realize what suffering and what 
 hardships and what self-sacrifices were involved in con- 
 fessing the name of Jesus. They were confronted daily 
 with trials and sufferings, and quite well did Paul know 
 that those were times which tried the very souls of men. 
 His heart, therefore, went out to them in sympathy and 
 love, and he longed to see them and impart unto them some 
 spiritual gift that they might be thoroughly grounded in 
 the faith and be strengthened for the noble work of living 
 and laboring for God. 
 
 Rome, moreover, was a strategic point. To establish 
 the work in Rome meant much for the Gospel and for the 
 world. As 1 all roads led to Rome, so all roads led from 
 Rome. To establish firmly the Gospel in Rome meant to 
 send the message of salvation through every channel and 
 avenue of the great empire, just as blood is sent out from 
 the heart into every artery and vein of the human body. 
 
 But, in thinking of his going to Rome, the apostle's 
 love flows even more freely when he touches upon his great 
 obligation. First, he was to preach the Gospel to all men. 
 "I am debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the 
 wise and to the foolish." God had given him a world-wide 
 message of love, and he could not rest until he .had, to the 
 fullest measure of his ability, proclaimed it to all classes 
 and conditions of men. Reflection upon this obligation 
 warms his great heart, and defiance to all the satanic 
 powers of wicked Rome flashed from his eyes as he thought 
 of standing within her gates to discharge the duty that 
 had been divinely laid upon him on that eventful day of 
 his journey from Jerusalem to Damascus. He has come 
 face to face with the world's Redeemer, and his theological 
 system has been turned upside down. Instead of narrow, 
 bigoted Pharisaism, he has a world-wide salvation to pro- 
 claim ; instead of thinking of the Gentile as unworthy to 
 be classed with the highly exalted Jew, he recognizes in 
 him a brother. The great truth of the universal brother- 
 
Sermons 91 
 
 hood of man has been learned from the awful tragedy of 
 Calvary, where Jesus tasted death for every man. He sees 
 that there is now in the eyes of God no difference between 
 the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich 
 unto all that call upon Him. He recognizes that the human 
 soul is loved by Christ and should be sought by every faith- 
 ful servant of God, regardless of the name it wears, the 
 flesh that embodies it, or the nation that claims it. Paul 
 has seen that the Son of Man rises above the parentage, 
 the blood, the narrow horizon which bounded, as it seemed, 
 His human life ; He is the archetypal man in whose presence 
 distinctions of race, intervals of ages, types of civilizations, 
 degrees of mental culture, are as nothing. Paul's own soul 
 had found in Jesus the healing fountain, the purifying 
 water, the saving grace of God, and he was rejoicing in 
 the exalted privilege of pointing earth's burdened and weary 
 hearts to this everlasting remedy. He had been placed 
 upon the walls of Zion as a sentinel to sound the signal 
 of the approach of the enemy, and he would not prove 
 recreant in the face of duty. 
 
 Even so, you and I, who, as we trust, have been saved 
 by the grace of God, and have had committed to our keeping 
 the message of life, are bound by all that is good and true 
 and sacred to tell troubled hearts that there is peace; to 
 tell the sin-sick soul that there is a Great Physician ; to tell 
 those who are in spiritual darkness that there is light ; to tell 
 those who are bound and imprisoned by sin that the Lord 
 looseth the prisoners. Shall not our hearts fill with trans- 
 porting joy and our feet quicken their steps as we hasten 
 to meet our divinely-appointed obligation to men ? 
 
 Are you ready to pay this debt? Paul was ready to 
 respond to the call of duty. "So as much as in me is, I 
 am ready to preach the Gospel to you also that are in 
 Rome." He was waiting and praying for the opportunity 
 to lengthen the cords and strengthen the stakes. How is 
 it with you? Are you ready for the command to march? 
 If your country needed you today, you would be ready to 
 march into the very jaws of death to save your flag from 
 
92 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 disgrace and your native land from humiliation. But God 
 calls us to a greater service than bearing arms in earthly 
 combat. Our brothers are perishing in their sins, and the 
 Divine voice comes to us, saying, "Whom shall I send and 
 who will go for us ?" The true heart and loyal sends back 
 the response, "Here am I ; send me." 
 
 "It may not be on the mountain's height, 
 
 Or over the stormy sea ; 
 It may not be at the battle's front, 
 
 My Lord will have need of me. 
 But if, by a still, small voice He calls 
 
 To paths I do not know, 
 I'll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in Thine 
 
 'I'll go where You want me to go.' ' : 
 
 Having declared his readiness to go, the apostle turns 
 to the consideration of his great message. He is no sound- 
 ing brass or tinkling cymbal, for he has a living, powerful 
 message of Divine love that has come to him from, the 
 great compassionate heart of God, and has penetrated the 
 deepest recesses of his soul. In this message he glories. 
 When he says, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of 
 Christ," he does not mean only that he is not ashamed ot 
 the Gospel, for his chief delight and highest glory was in 
 his message. His declaration here is, in its real significance, 
 very similar to that of Gal. 6:14 "God forbid that I should 
 glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom 
 the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Christ 
 was his message Christ, who is the brightness of the glory 
 and the express image of the Father Christ, who bore our 
 sins in His own body on the tree, who died like a god, 
 rose triumphant over death, and returned to the Father, who 
 "made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, 
 far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, 
 and every name that is named, not only in this world, but 
 also in that which is to come ; and he put all things in sub- 
 jection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all 
 
Sermons 93 
 
 things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him 
 that filleth all in all." Such a Saviour is worthy of the 
 adoration of every heart. The Greeks gloried in their strong 
 and flexible language, which has been for ages the admira- 
 tion of the human race ; they gloried in their profound phil- 
 osophy, which exhibits some of the most clear-sighted rea- 
 soning the world has ever produced; they gloried in their 
 exquisitely beautiful paintings and sculpture, which perhaps 
 may never be equaled. The Romans gloried in their im- 
 perial power in arms, their invincible Caesars, their match- 
 less city, the proud, defiant mistress of the world, with her 
 spacious theatres, magnificent palaces, and temples gilded 
 with pure gold. But all these, in the mind of Paul, became 
 as nothing in the presence of God's greatest gift to men. 
 We have a Saviour in whom we can glory. May no earth- 
 born cloud dim our vision of God in Christ. When all 
 earthly glory has faded as the autumn leaf in the silent 
 grove, and earth has been rolled back as a scroll, Christ 
 will still live and reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 
 
 "In the cross of Christ I glory, 
 
 Towering o'er the wrecks of time; 
 All the light of sacred story 
 
 Gathers 'round its head sublime." 
 
 Paul saw also that his message was the power of God 
 unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, 
 and also to the Greek. You that have trusted your all to 
 Jesus have found the truth that is spoken of here. You 
 can testify to the power of the Gospel to save men from 
 sin. You have many a time lifted your heart to God and 
 exclaimed, "Oh, to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm con- 
 strained to be." You have doubtless thought how strange 
 that Christ should take your sinful heart, purify it, and lift 
 you into holy fellowship with the Father. It is because the 
 Gospel is the power of God. 
 
 When Jesus began His ministry of love and mercy, 
 the Jew was weighted down by rabbinical legislation. The 
 
94 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 Greek philosophy had proved its own weakness in the pres- 
 ence of sin. It had no life for the dead heart, no comfort 
 for the troubled soul, no power to forgive sin. The Romans 
 were losing confidence in their gods. They did not find 
 them "a very present help in time of need." These gods 
 had no message for the sin-burdened soul. How different 
 from all these was the message which Paul had for the 
 Romans. "For the word of God is living and active, and 
 sharper than any two-edged sword." If we are to save 
 men, we must lay hold upon this powerful message and 
 preach it to men. This message alone can bind up the 
 broken-hearted, give liberty to the captives, and the opening 
 of the prison to them that are bound. It is the power of 
 Heaven come down to earth. 
 
 Again, Paul observed that in his message is revealed 
 a righteousness of God from faith to faith. He declares 
 it boldly : "For therein is revealed a righteousness of God 
 from faith to faith." Then he quotes from the prophet 
 Habakkuk, "as it is written, but the righteous shall live 
 by faith." The word righteousness is used by Paul in this 
 letter to mean God's way or plan of accepting men. Hence, 
 he desires to come. to the people with a message that reveals 
 God's w r ay of receiving men into holy fellowship with 
 Himself. 
 
 What message could possibly be of greater moment? 
 It is a message that stays man's heart upon God and trans- 
 fers his affections from earth to heaven. It was the poet 
 Blair, 1 think, who said : 
 
 "Some angel guide my pencil while I draw 
 What nothing less than angel can exceed, 
 A man on earth devoted to the skies." 
 
 But, mark you, this righteousness is revealed from faith 
 to faith, or out of faith into faith. This means that the 
 Christian life begins with faith to Christ; it is continued 
 and strengthened by faith in Christ, and it is completed 
 gloriously completed by faith in Christ. 
 
Sermons 95 
 
 Character Must Be a Personal Achievement 
 
 Text: Matt. 25 :9 "But the wise answered, saying: 
 'Peradventure there will not be enough for us and you ; go 
 ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.' ' ; 
 
 In this parable of the wise and foolish virgins, Jesus 
 gives a dramatic story of an eastern wedding, with its sud- 
 den midnight cry, its sense of surprise, its shut door of 
 opportunity. He vividly describes the bitter grief and the 
 deep disappointment of those who had professed and long 
 appeared to be His friends, now encountering the closed 
 door and the solemn voice of refusal. He thus forcefully 
 points out the supreme necessity of preparing for all moral 
 crises. What Jesus tells to the ear by this impressive story, 
 the sculptor Renaldi shows to the eye in his famous statue, 
 "The Moment, One and Infinite." It is the moment of a 
 great moral crisis. Browning calls it "the tick of one's life- 
 time." We stand amazed when we contemplate the power 
 of critical moments to settle destinies of individuals and 
 nations. This has been a favorite theme with the moralist 
 and the student of human life. Such moments are turning 
 points in human life and human history, and not infre- 
 quently are big with consequences. Failure to measure up 
 to such emergencies shuts doors that sometimes can never 
 be opened again. Lord Tennyson was contemplating this 
 tragic fact of life, as taught in the story of the virgins, 
 when he applied it to Queen Guinevere in her effort to 
 reopen a closed door : 
 
 Late, late, so late! and dark the night and chill! 
 
 Late, late, so late! but we can enter still. 
 
 "Too late, too late! ye cannot enter now!" 
 
 No light had we ; for that we do repent ; 
 
 And learning this, the bridegroom will relent. 
 
 "Too late, too late! ye cannot enter now!" 
 
 No light ; so late ! and dark the night and chill ; 
 
 O let us in, that we may find the light ! 
 
 "Too late, too late! ye cannot enter now!" 
 
96 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 Have we not heard the bridegroom is so sweet? 
 O let us in, though late, to kiss his feet ! 
 "No, no; too late! ye cannot enter now." 
 
 Life is serious because tragic. We know not when the 
 clock may strike the hour in which a single act may decide 
 the future and happiness, the success or failure, of a whole 
 life. Some things are done in critical hours that cannot 
 be undone, and leaving undone things that ought to be 
 done, frequently incurs irretrievable and irreparable loss. 
 The trite maxim, "Strike while the iron is hot," is good 
 advice if one strikes wisely. Strike at the opportune time. 
 Do the right thing at the critical hour. It was a tremen- 
 dously critical moment in the history of Rome when Julius 
 Caesar, the pro-consul of Gaul, took the law in his own 
 hands and daringly crossed the little River Rubicon. His 
 own destiny and that of his country hung upon that one 
 event. Hence, as men have read of this turning point of 
 his history, they have made him exclaim : "The enemy 
 awaits me; the opportunity invites; the die is cast." 
 
 But for one's weal or woe, one's fortune or misfortune, 
 to hinge on the action of a single hour, does not seem just ; 
 indeed, it would not be just. All we have said is true only 
 when rightly understood. Critical hours determine one's 
 future only in the sense that they reveal one's character. 
 They are the revelation of all that has gone before and of 
 the character that has been formed in previous years. There- 
 fore, the determining factors of life are not, after all, the 
 crises, but rather is it true that the less striking and perhaps 
 unobserved moments and events of life decide one's fate 
 and fortune forever. The critical moment in the life of 
 the foolish virgin, as seen in the parable, did not change 
 her condition, but only revealed it. The sudden midnight 
 cry, "Behold the bridegroom !" took nothing from her and 
 decided nothing for her, except what was already decided 
 by her previous life, but it did bring out in bold relief 
 the awful fact that she had nothing no oil, no character! 
 Her previous life had made this moment and this revela- 
 
Sermons 97 
 
 tion inevitable. She followed the wrong path, and as a 
 matter of course reached the wrong destination. How hard 
 it is for us to realize, beyond all doubt, the simple truth 
 that whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap ! 
 
 In times of peace we prepare for war. In ordinary 
 and normal life we prepare to meet extraordinary and ab- 
 normal times. The tree will stand the test of the storm, 
 provided in former and calmer days it has struck its 
 roots deeply into the soil and thus gained strength for the 
 testing time. To the thoughtless and careless the critical 
 hour may seem harsh in its dealing with men, but it is 
 never unjust. It never makes nor unmakes any man; it 
 only reveals what the man has been making himself during 
 his previous years. This is what Wellington meant when 
 he said that the battle of Waterloo was won on the cricket 
 field at Eton. It is an inescapable law of the moral and 
 spiritual world that the unworthy are by their own act 
 excluded from the highest achievements when life's greatest 
 moments come. Some one has wisely said : "Man's whole 
 life and training is just to fit him to do the right thing 
 at the critical moment. He who fails at this juncture fails 
 not because he, by mere accident, took the wrong path or 
 made a bad guess, or lost his stake; he fails because he 
 has not so ordered his previous life that he might instinct- 
 ively do the right thing at a push." The apparently good 
 man falls with a crash, and his friends are amazed that such 
 a man should fall before the forces of evil. But if all the 
 facts of the case were known, they would perhaps see that 
 secretly the foundation has been slipping away for a long 
 time, and the collapse made inevitable by his previous life. 
 Another man makes a powerful stroke and suddenly be- 
 comes a hero, but the energy and force for the hour have 
 been accumulating for many years. Man's whole life and 
 training is just to fit him, or unfit him, to do the right thing 
 at the critical moment. The well-ordered life instinctively 
 takes the right course at the right time. 
 
 But the great and impressive point of the story of the 
 virgins the point that our peerless Teacher would write 
 
98 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 indelibly upon our souls is that character is a personal 
 achievement and is by no means transferable. Immanuel 
 Kant, when discussing the metaphysics of morality, gave 
 expression to a world of truth when he said: "Nothing 
 in the world, or even outside of the world, can possibly 
 be regarded as good without limitation except a good will." 
 Kant, furthermore, rightly identifies will with what we call 
 character. And just as the directing will of any given 
 individual is personal and untransferable, so it is with 
 his character. We may give others our money, our sym- 
 pathy, our love, and a thousand other things, but in no 
 way can we transfer our character to other persons. This 
 is one of man's possessions that must always and every- 
 where be personally acquired. We may help the unfortu- 
 nate and fallen to reform; we may point men to a better 
 life; we may urge the wicked and godless to correct their 
 way ; but every step toward moral reform and a good char- 
 acter must be made by the individual himself whose better- 
 ment we seek. You cannot take of your character and 
 confer any fractional part of it upon the characterless. 
 Character is a jewel that cannot be had for love or money. 
 It is not on the market. If you would have character, 
 then, you must cultivate it for yourself in the garden of 
 your own heart. Because the virgin thought she might 
 draw on the resources of her sister, Jesus calls her foolish. 
 I do not doubt but that the wise virgin desired to help her 
 foolish sister, but it was impossible to grant the request, 
 "Give us of your oil." Renaldi's beautiful group, which has 
 been already referred to, represents the foolish virgin mak- 
 ing a pathetic entreaty for a part of the good supply of 
 oil possessed by the wise virgin, while the latter lifts her 
 hand as if to guard her treasure, and has upon her face a 
 look of deep sadness as she refuses her sister's request. 
 
 A New England essayist, commenting on this scene, 
 said, u She should have given her the oil." So would you 
 and I say, did we not remember that in both the parable 
 and the statue the subject is character, and character is 
 not transferable. We may work for others, think for others, 
 
Sermons 
 
 and pray for others, but we cannot be good for others. 
 If, then, you would possess this pearl of great price a 
 character, pure and beautiful you must obtain it by your 
 own seeking and by your own endeavor. It is not the 
 gift of heredity, nor of environment, nor of both combined, 
 but it is the flower that can grow and blossom only within 
 the sacred precincts of the individual soul. When it blos- 
 soms in beauty and loveliness, it sheds its fragrance every- 
 where, yet its seat of empire is within, and not without. 
 Hence, we are told, "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for 
 out of it are the issues of life." But I have not told you 
 the whole truth, and lest I should be misunderstood and 
 you go away depressed instead of encouraged, I must try 
 to make plain the further fact that while the good man 
 cannot give you of his oil, he can, in many ways, help you 
 to get oil for yourself. Therefore, while character is solely 
 and supremely a personal achievement, you need not wage 
 the fight against the forces of evil simply in your own 
 strength and all alone; for good men everywhere extend a 
 helping hand and offer you their prayers, their sympathy, 
 and their co-operation in the noble endeavor to move on- 
 ward and upward into the divine likeness. We move for- 
 ward with more stately tread and with greater hope of 
 victory when we move together. Co-operation is as replete 
 with significance in the moral as in the commercial or po- 
 litical world. And as one who has faith in mankind, I am 
 glad to be able to vouchsafe to every earnest, struggling 
 soul the most cordial co-operation of those who stand for 
 the best in life and who aspire to rise above all that is 
 unworthy of the noblest and truest man.. No, you need not 
 stand alone. A mighty host, who themselves are bearing 
 arms in the mighty combat with evil, invite you to stand 
 firmly and bravely w r ith them in their united endeavor to 
 gain supremacy over all of earth's satanic powers. This 
 is an engagement of tremendous magnitude, and you can 
 no more afford to stand aloof from the best influences and 
 forces of life than you can afford to be crushed to earth 
 and destroyed forever by agents of evil and soulless vam- 
 
100 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 pires. But you do not have to stand alone. All who are 
 worthy of your respectful consideration will help you in 
 the task of shaping your life and moulding your character 
 after the highest ideal. And, better still, you will receive 
 help from our good, compassionate heavenly Father, who 
 "resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble." In 
 the dying words of our great teacher, President Harper, 
 of the University of Chicago, we have this noble testimony : 
 "God helps, God always helps." Would that these words 
 might be emblazoned in large letters across the sky, so 
 that whoever looks upward from earth's sins and sorrows 
 might learn that in our search for goodness and for God, 
 we might hear, "God helps, God always helps." God speed 
 you on and give you victory. 
 
Sermons 101 
 
 True Greatness as Shown in the Life of Jesus 
 
 Text : Matthew 12 :42 "Behold, a Greater than Solo- 
 mon is Here." 
 
 Every one who thinks at all has some standard of 
 greatness, and by that standard seeks more or less con- 
 sciously to fashion his own life. The higher the standard, 
 the better the life. How unfortunate that so many of our 
 capable young people are satisfied with low ideals. In our 
 great universities there can be found hundreds, of young 
 men whose hero is the college athlete and whose highest 
 ambition is to excel in muscular strength and physical en- 
 durance. Others, however, find their ideal in the success- 
 ful student, and their ambition is to be scholarly, cultured, 
 and well equipped for life's arduous duties and important 
 responsibilities. In nearly every walk of life there are 
 found those whose recognized standard of greatness con- 
 sists of making the most elaborate display of material pos- 
 sessions. These always vote the richest man the greatest, 
 for they estimate a man's worth to the world by what he 
 has rather than what he is. In the minds of others the 
 consummation of all greatness is to pass freely as a "society" 
 man or woman, and hence they lend every energy to this 
 one end, thinking they will have reached the pinnacle of 
 all human glory and human achievement when once they 
 can look down from their lofty height upon earth's common 
 hordes who are weak-minded enough to give some atten- 
 tion to other things. But, fortunately for the human race, 
 those who possess these low ideals are not the controlling 
 factors in making human history and in fixing human 
 destinies, for the predominating influences of today emanate 
 from better hearts and saner minds. Men who move the 
 world in its upward progress are those whose standard 
 of greatness is based on moral worth. He who has some- 
 thing with which to ennoble human life is welcomed by 
 the worthy and pronounced great by those who are capable 
 of judging. The man who is universally accounted the 
 world's greatest benefactor possessed absolutely nothing but 
 
102 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 moral and spiritual worth. "The foxes have holes and the 
 birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not 
 where to lay his head." And yet the human race knows 
 no one that could be brought even afar off into comparison 
 with Jesus, and it was He who taught us, saying, "Let 
 him who would become great among you become servant 
 of all." 
 
 If human greatness is to be measured by personal 
 service and moral worth, then we go wrong when we con- 
 dition one's greatness on parentage. The parents of Jesus 
 are known to us only because of the greatness of their 
 Son. It is not just to ostracize any child because of the 
 sins of his parents; neither is it fair to discriminate in 
 favor of the well-born. Let every one stand or fall on 
 his own merits. Many a criminal has been shielded from 
 the punishment of the law simply because he belonged to a 
 good family, while if his people had been unknown he 
 would have received punishment to the full extent of the 
 law. Our false standards of life license certain classes 
 to revel in criminality with impunity. But we are fast 
 approaching the day when we shall not feel ready to esti- 
 mate the worth of a given individual when we have care- 
 fully sought out the history of his ancestors, for we have 
 already learned that some of the most worthless wretches 
 that tread the earth are sons and daughters of noble parents. 
 We know, too, that history's greatest names have sprung 
 into fame regardless of ancestry. People, like trees, do 
 not start great, but grow great. True greatness belongs 
 to the soul that presses to the front independently of mere 
 circumstance. Time was when worthless souls could sub- 
 sist on their family names, but conditions have changed, 
 and he who leans today upon the ancestral tree and waits 
 in ease and sloth fulness for fame and fortune, will inevitably 
 receive his just reward. 
 
 Furthermore, Jesus was unmoved by outward trap- 
 pings which the world loves to worship. His was an humble 
 entrance into the world, not marked by pomp and splendor 
 such as earthly kings rejoiced in. No room in the inn, 
 
Sermons 1 03 
 
 He rests in the manger and is worshiped there. May the 
 time hasten when our judgments shall be just, our ideals 
 true, our valuations fair, for then, and only then, shall 
 we recognize true greatness wherever it may exist, and 
 be prepared to give honor to whom honor is due. Well 
 do you know, my friends, that many a great soul today is 
 hid under tattered and torn garments. Many of you who 
 hear me today may not discover their virtues, but God 
 knows their worth and makes them His own. You re- 
 member the poet's song: 
 
 "Full many a gem of purest ray serene 
 
 The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear ; 
 
 Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
 
 And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 
 
 As a few little clouds may hide from our vision the bright- 
 ness and beauty of the midnight stars, so it may happen 
 that an inexpensive robe may hide from the world's view 
 that beautiful and stately soul whom to know is to wonder 
 that so much loveliness and worth could take on mortal 
 shape. He who measures greatness and worth by outward 
 show and material things proves his own soul to be blind 
 and covetous, and thereby reveals a littleness that ought 
 to be despised and a meanness of thought that mars the 
 beauty and blights the flower of our civilization. No one 
 advocates more emphatically than I the sacred obligation 
 of every one to make faithful and honest endeavor to pro- 
 vide well for temporal needs, but I do say that he who 
 becomes a miser and gathers and uses wealth for selfish 
 ends, whether that wealth assume the form of money or 
 of mental training and intellectual culture, becomes an 
 object to be despised and spurned and cursed. What the 
 world most needs today is not money to buy bread, but a 
 powerful moral and spiritual uplift to make better men 
 and women. When our characters become conformed to 
 the Divine likeness, the world will not cry for bread nor 
 shiver in the cold. If He who made the greatest gift and 
 
104 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 did most for the betterment of mankind had not where to 
 lay His head, then our usefulness in the world is not 
 conditioned on material things, but rather on greatness 
 of soul and beauty of character. You yourselves may know 
 of men who possess thousands in silver and gold, while 
 in reality they are not worth to the! world their room in 
 the pauper's cemetery. Material wealth is a great blessing 
 when wisely used, but even then it is not the only blessing 
 worthy of our honest seeking. Poverty is no virtue and 
 is no guarantee of a passport to glory, and surely no one 
 could be foolish enough to advocate poverty for poverty's 
 sake. My only contention is that neither poverty nor wealth 
 conditions one's usefulness to the world, nor is either a 
 just basis on which to estimate one's true worth to mankind. 
 Jesus' worth lay in His moral and spiritual worth, His 
 inner life, His character, and out of this sprang His deeds 
 of universal and lasting blessing. He was great in moral 
 courage. He dared to do His duty, to speak the truth, 
 commending the right, condemning the wrong. Although 
 the path of duty and truth led by way of Gethsemane and 
 Calvary, He nevertheless walked it with stately tread and 
 unfaltering courage. From His baptism to His death He 
 never once courted the favor of evil or proved recreant 
 in the face of duty. What man among you can compromise 
 with sin without losing self-respect? The consciousness 
 of manhood must be maintained at all hazards, and you 
 who cavil at the truth and tamper with moral values will 
 soon count yourselves moral imbeciles and spiritual para- 
 sites. 
 
 The highest type of courage is moral courage. Many 
 a man who would stake his life in deadly combat in defense 
 of home and country would prove a coward in a moral 
 crisis. Many a man who would give his life for his 
 country's liberty would not lift his hand to free his native 
 land and protect his home from the curse of vice and the 
 enslaving forces of evil. Our need today is not physical 
 courage to keep the other man from encroaching upon our 
 rights. We are abundantly blessed with that. We need 
 
Sermons 1 05 
 
 rather that courage which will impel us always to stand 
 for the right and to do the right, a courage which will 
 inspire us to welcome righteousness and truth in every 
 vocation of life. The business man who will deliberately 
 lie to make a dollar will sell his character for the same 
 price. He may prize ever so much his reputation, but he 
 has no regard for his character. You put a price upon 
 your own soul when you decide to do wrong for material 
 gain. The world needs more men of stalwart character 
 and great moral courage. Jefferson Davis saved the day 
 at Buena Vista as his clarion voice rang out above the din 
 of battle : "Steady, Mississippians, steady. Cowards to 
 the rear, but brave men to the front !" In the struggle for 
 moral achievement and moral victories let the cry go forth 
 in thundering tones, "Cowards to the rear, but brave men 
 to the front." 
 
 Another element in the greatness of Jesus' moral and 
 spiritual life lay in the fact that He saw things in their 
 true relation, knew how to value each, and therefore made 
 the kingdom of God first all the time. He knew the value 
 of things temporal, and the value of things eternal. The 
 relative value of each He states in the solemn question, 
 "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world 
 and lose his own soul ?" This is an infinite valuation placed 
 upon the human life or soul. The fatal error of many 
 lies in the fact that they put the emphasis, the supreme 
 valuation, on the wrong side of life. When, I assert that 
 things of eternal worth ought to be seriously considered 
 by every thoughtful person, I am not dealing with pious 
 platitudes and statements that ought to be made by the 
 minister just as a matter of course. I mean that sooner 
 or later you will be compelled to face this question, and 
 far better that you begin right and act today the part of 
 a sensible man. It is hard to understand why an intelligent 
 being will struggle almost day and night for the accumu- 
 lation of things which must pass away in a few fleeting 
 days, and give scarcely a thought to the building of char- 
 acter and the culture of the soul possessions that abide 
 
106 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 when all things temporal have passed from us forever. 
 May God give us true valuations, high ideals and eternal 
 possessions. 
 
 Notice also that Jesus trusted God fully and was in 
 perfect harmony with the Divine plan. If we understand 
 God's purpose regarding the human race, it is to lead men 
 into that same perfection of manhood and self-mastery 
 which was so clearly manifested in the person of Jesus. 
 To be great, we must fall in line with this plan and make 
 our contribution, be it ever so small, to the betterment of 
 mankind. Harmony with the Divine will and co-operation 
 in the Divine plan is the keynote to the truest and highest 
 success. This requires you to become the servant of all, 
 but it is the highest service man is capable of rendering. 
 By giving yourselves diligently to this most royal task, you 
 will save the life that now is and the life that is to come. 
 Its requirements are great, but its rewards are greater. 
 
 Through His true life and heroic death, Jesus has 
 become the world's greatest benefactor. He has become 
 the King of countless lives, and 'is fast forging His way 
 from the manger in Bethlehem to universal dominion when 
 He shall be crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 
 If you would be great, follow Hini through sacrifice and 
 service, and He will bring you at last to share His triumph 
 and His glory. 
 
Sermons 1 07 
 
 Faith Alone Can Bring Knowledge of the Almighty 
 
 Text: John 14:9 "Have I been so long time with 
 you, and dost thou not know me, Philip?" 
 
 Philip's request, "Lord, show us the Father and it 
 sufficeth us," was evoked by Jesus' words, "From hence- 
 forth ye know him and have seen him." 
 
 That Jesus was the revelation of the Father, was the 
 one foremost truth of His life. The consciousness of this 
 fact had grown with His growth, and it had been the one 
 proclamation of His ministry. So intense and so vivid 
 was this truth to Him that He thought the blind and deaf 
 in heart might see and hear it. And now one of his 
 hearers asks a question which suddenly makes Him feel 
 that what is to him as clear and bright as the sun in 
 heaven is not perceived at all. What wonder, then, that 
 we hear in His question a note of sorrowful surprise, "Have 
 I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know me, 
 Philip?" Philip desired some physical manifestation of 
 the Divine glory, so that every doubt might be forever ex- 
 pelled. He sought some such scene as the transfiguration 
 on the mount, when before Peter, James and John, our 
 Lord robed Himself in splendor, his raiment bright as 
 the light, and His face shining as the sun. But Jesus 
 thought His disciples might discover His significance with- 
 out any such extraordinary experience, so He declares, "He 
 that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Philip had en- 
 joyed splendid opportunities for finding in Christ the revela- 
 tion of God; otherwise Jesus could not have propounded 
 this question of sorrowful surprise. Philip's association 
 with Jesus was enough to lead the Divine Teacher to expect 
 more of His disciple. On many occasions it had doubtless 
 been his privilege to witness the transforming and magic 
 touch of Jesus as a miracle-worker. At His command, souls 
 were released from the dominion of demons, disease gave 
 place to health, and cold death yielded to the warm pulsa- 
 tions of full and vigorous life. This wonder-worker was 
 
108 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 also the most profound and heart-searching Teacher known 
 to human history. It was no mean privilege to sit at His 
 feet and feast the soul on such words as fell from His lips. 
 They were words sweeter than honey, radiantj with light 
 and instinct with life. The world knows no one whose 
 grasp of truth and comprehension of life can be brought 
 even afar off in comparison with Jesus. The Greeks were 
 acknowledged masters in art, literature and philosophy. 
 The whole of philosophy is virtually contained in the works 
 of four or five Greek authors. Other men have explained 
 and illustrated, but have added next to nothing. Emerson 
 says that only a very few people are capable of understand- 
 ing Plato. Yet, when brought into comparison with Jesus, 
 the greatness of such sages and philosophers as Socrates, 
 Plato and Aristotle grows dim, like stars before the bright- 
 ness of the sun. Jesus was like one standing on, a high 
 peak, reporting of the sunrise to men in the dark valley. 
 They heard His words, but they saw also upon His counte- 
 nance the glow of dawn, and dazzling all about Him the 
 incommunicable splendors of a new day. He was and 
 still is the Light of the World, and to Him the wisest turn 
 for guidance in solving the problems of life. 
 
 And we must remember, too, that Jesus was not only 
 Teacher, but Saviour as well. For, after all, the greatest 
 need of mankind is not for more light, but for more power ; 
 not for knowledge to discern between good and evil, but 
 for deliverance from sin. Jesus not only teaches the right 
 way, but gives grace to walk therein. Human nature needs 
 something more than enlightenment ; the illumination of 
 the horrible pit is not enough to effect a rescue. Buddha 
 and Socrates could reveal the distressed condition of hu- 
 manity, but they could not stretch out the arm which alone 
 could bring Satan's victim out and set him upon the rock. 
 Jesus not only gives a correct philosophy of life, but, what 
 is more important, He gives life itself. The soul dead in 
 trespasses and sin has its sorest need unsatisfied until it 
 has received the vitalizing touch of Him whose greatest 
 title is "Savior of the World." Such was the Man with 
 
Sermons 1 09 
 
 whom Philip had communed in the quiet of the day and 
 stillness of the night. 
 
 After all this, why did not Philip know Jesus? The 
 explanation is probably found in the fact that the light was 
 shut out by preconceived ideas regarding the Messiah. The 
 shutters of the windows of his soul were closed the dark- 
 ness shut in, the light shut out. If we would find the real 
 Christ, and in Him the revelation of God, we must ap- 
 proach Him without the blinding trammels of preconceived 
 and warped ideas. 
 
 To know God is to have eternal life. Then let us 
 consider for a moment the important question as to how 
 we may know Him. If I may first answer negatively, I 
 would say that this knowledge of God, which issues in 
 eternal life, is not to be found in the study of Nature. To 
 be sure, God is in His world, and he who already knows 
 Him may find Him everywhere. 
 
 Every blooming flower, every rippling stream, every 
 twinkling star, tells us that God is in His world, but it 
 is only the believing heart that can interpret Nature's mes- 
 sage and read in her beauty and perfection the glory of the 
 Almighty. It is not the eye of the astronomer, but the eye 
 of faith that sees God through the telescope. Our dis- 
 covery of God is not made by aesthetic, geological or as- 
 tronomical research, but after we have found Him some 
 other where, all nature proclaims His presence and His 
 praise the stars "singing as they shine the hand that 
 made us is divine." 
 
 And what we say of nature is true of all science. 
 You cannot make your chemical analysis and say, "There- 
 fore God is." No science can ever say, "I have found 
 beyond all question the living God," for religious certitude 
 is not the product of scientific investigation. It is the fruit 
 of another field, the flower of another garden. Yet every 
 law of science is the law of God, and God is in all true 
 science as verily as He is in all true religion. Therefore, 
 science could not be despised. It is only the dilettante who 
 fears that science will take away his Lord. Such knowledge 
 
110 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 can neither give nor take away the God whom to know 
 aright is life eternal. 
 
 We may go a step further and say that God is not 
 found solely in the words of eternal truth. You may read 
 the Scriptures all your life and listen attentively to a thou- 
 sand Gospel sermons, and then not know Him. Had not 
 Philip sat at the Master's feet and heard such words as 
 mortal lips never before had uttered? And still Jesus says 
 to him, "Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou 
 not know me?" That God was in the ministry of His Son, 
 no one of us would doubt; but we may hear wonderful 
 words of life and witness deeds of mighty power, and not 
 be brought thereby into a holy fellowship with God. We 
 cannot know Him simply through these things. The beau- 
 ties of nature are aesthetic we admire. Science is intel- 
 lectualistic we reason. Miracle is wonderful we stand 
 amazed. But we may admire, we may reason, and we 
 may stand in awe before the deepest mysteries of God, 
 without ever being able to feel and to exclaim with the 
 great Augustine, "Oh, God ! Our souls are made for 
 Thee, and our hearts will be restless until they rest in 
 Thee." 
 
 What we want is God, and my contention is that a 
 revelation of Him can be appropriated only through re- 
 ligious faith. We do not need so much a theory about 
 God, but communion with Him our heart meeting with 
 His heart, our wills lost in His will. We seek not a 
 sovereign seated far away upon a distant throne, surveying 
 with majesty the subjects of his rule, but we seek Him 
 who is nearer to us than our own breathing; whose throne 
 is the human heart, and in whom we live and move and 
 have our being. To know Him is not to have a well-form- 
 ulated, logical theory about Him, but to be in conscious 
 communion with Him as the Lord of your life. This, it 
 seems to me, is effected by two steps. First, by being 
 associated with Jesus, who is the supreme revelation of 
 God ; and, secondly, by surrendering your whole life to the 
 Lordship of the Redeemer. We associate with Jesus by 
 
Sermons 1 1 1 
 
 following Him in His life and ministry as portrayed in the 
 Gospel stories. We listen to His words, we behold His 
 deeds, and we are swayed by His powerful personality. 
 When brought close to Him, we confess with Thomas, 
 "My Lord and my God." The inner spirit of Christ masters 
 us and calls out our confident faith and our eager submis- 
 sion. But this association is effected also, and perhaps 
 more largely, by contact with true Christians who reflect 
 and reproduce in their life the life of Jesus. Many a time 
 have you been in the presence of some sainted soul in whom 
 you recognized a ruling power that you yourself did not 
 possess. He who lives a distorted life cannot thus influence 
 you, but the man who is true to the principles of the 
 Christian religion, and who allows the spirit of Christ to 
 be the ruling passion of his soul, does bring Christ before 
 you in such a light that you must see Him, whether you wish 
 to or not. Divine revelation appeals to the will of man, 
 and God is found only when the will surrenders to that 
 revelation. This surrendering and yielding of one's self 
 to the will of God is the exercise of that Christian faith 
 which brings to the soul of man a vivid and blessed con- 
 sciousness of God, and establishes between the soul and 
 the Infinite a divine fellowship. He seeks in vain who 
 seeks to know God independently of doing His will; but 
 he who seeks aright will surely find, and, in his finding, 
 will be blessed forevermore. "Behold, I stand at the door 
 and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door, 
 1 will come in and sup with him and he with me." 
 
112 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 Public Opinion 
 
 Text, Matthew 11 :18, 19: "For John came neither eat- 
 ing nor drinking, and they say, He hath a demon. The Son 
 of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a 
 gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and 
 sinners." 
 
 When John the Baptist appeared to Israel and made his 
 voice heard from the wilderness, the stern reality of his life 
 struck all imaginations. His proclamation of a Deliverer 
 who should at once subdue all hearts and lift off the weight 
 of sin, stirred men with the hope of peace, and all classes 
 streamed into the desert to hear his message. But only a 
 few remained; the rest streamed back again, untouched 
 and unmoved by the fiery words of the fearless prophet, 
 who, conscious of his unique mission, was unsparing in his 
 denunciation of sin. 
 
 The voice of John rang out the old and rang in the new. 
 He stood upon the line that divided two great religious 
 epochs. Israel had waited long for their deliverer, and now, 
 at last, this greatest of the prophets points to the long- 
 looked-for Messiah, the Galilean stranger, and says, "Be- 
 hold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the 
 world." You would suppose that never since the flaming 
 sword of the sentinel angel guarded entrance to the forbid- 
 den Eden, did men so overflow with joy and strike such full 
 notes of praise. But how different in reality ! Instead of 
 hailing their king with shouts of hosannas, they begin to 
 point out petty faults. They say John must be deranged ! 
 They reject his witness to Jesus and ridicule his mode of 
 life, declaring him to be possessed of a demon, because he 
 came neither eating nor drinking. On the other hand, Jesus 
 lived among men, eating and drinking as they did. He 
 went to the homes of Pharisee and publican, of scrupulous 
 observers of the law and open transgressors of it, and shared 
 their customary food and drink, and immediately they cried, 
 "Behold a gluttonous man, a winebibber, a friend of publi- 
 cans and sinners." Because he ate pleasant food like others, 
 
Sermons 1 1 3 
 
 with no special abstemiousness, they called him a glutton. 
 Because he sometimes drank wine as others did, he was a 
 winebibber. Because he treated bad men with civility and 
 kindness, earnestly seeking to do them good, he himself 
 also was bad. So they talked. John was not enough like 
 other people a crazy sort of a man. Jesus was too much 
 like other people. Poor souls ; nothing could please them. 
 
 Public opinion, in this instance, was glaringly inconsist- 
 ent and grossly unjust. It was based on externals, such as 
 food and dress, and therefore was a very superficial thing. 
 There was pure gold beneath the surface, but the multitudes 
 were too stupid and self-satisfied to give more than a casual 
 glance. They were, like many of today, in a frame of 
 mind to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel, and this they 
 did without ever suspecting that any blame could thereby 
 be laid at their own door. Little did they dream they were 
 condemning a man who in after years would be called the 
 world's chief friend and benefactor, and who would 
 receive, after they themselves were long forgotten, the 
 highest tributes of praise the human heart is capable of 
 bestowing. Many a great soul has espoused the cause of 
 truth, only to meet with persecutions and finally death at 
 the hands of his own generation, and wait for other times 
 to justify his stand and other hearts to sing his praise. But 
 "wisdom is justified by her works," and though public 
 approval is sometimes centuries behind heroes and martyrs, 
 yet the hour of vindication comes and truth triumphs in 
 the end. 
 
 On February 17, 1900, Rome witnessed a concourse of 
 men such as the great city on the Tiber has rarely ever 
 seen. But this time the crowd had not gathered to greet 
 a triumphant Caesar at the head of his victorious legions, 
 for they came from the ends of the earth to unveil a monu- 
 ment in memory of a poor wandering knight of the spirit 
 who three centuries before on the same spot, had closed 
 his tumultuous and checkered life on a pile of faggots. And 
 why did this man, Giordano Bruno, suffer martyrdom at 
 the hands of his countrymen ? Because he lived three hun- 
 
114 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 dred years in advance of the multitudes and taught the 
 modern conception of the boundlessness of the world. It 
 was eminently fitting that the nineteenth century, just be- 
 fore closing its doors, should think that it must pay this 
 man a homage so pure and so enthusiastic. There was 
 prophecy as well as courage in the bold words Bruno flung 
 in the face of his judges, "You pronounce the sentence with 
 greater fear than I receive it, perhaps." But after all, such 
 bravery is not so rare; it fills the breasts of countless men 
 and women whose crosses and pyres the history of the 
 world passes by without even naming their names. 
 
 Men fall into two great classes, the fossilized and the 
 progressive, and between these two classes the conflict rages. 
 New ideas are costly things to cherish and espouse, for they 
 require sacrifice and suffering. To champion the new means 
 a battle with those who are intrenched in the old ideas, and 
 whose varied interests are bound up in them. It means 
 enemies who are heartless and cruel enemies who confess 
 great devotion to the Christ who was crucified by the same 
 spirit they manifest, because he dared to introduce revolu- 
 tionary ideas into the world. Everyone knows how Galileo 
 was treated by devout ecclesiastics of his day, whose minds 
 were fixed in error's chains and shut against the light. But 
 this is the story of all human advance in all ages. Today 
 the progressive man is not tied to the stake and his body 
 burned to ashes, for the civil law does not allow that, but 
 what is even worse, he is persecuted, villified and hounded 
 to a slow and agonizing death. Those who proclaim loudest, 
 "Give us religious liberty or give us death," are frequently 
 among the first to stab the heart of a brother whose theo- 
 logical opinions do not exactly coincide with their own. One 
 example out of many that might be cited will suffice. In 
 
 1902, Professor made some unusual assertions about 
 
 miracles, and immediately his beloved brethren were literally 
 up in arms. The papers gave extensive accounts of the 
 meeting, in which one of the oldest saints in the Rock River 
 conference, gave vent to the severest vituperation and the 
 most fiery denunciation of his straying brother. With one 
 
Sermons 1 1 5 
 
 hand uplifted and a voice trembling with emotion the patri- 
 arch minister passionately arraigned the brother of his faith, 
 and forgetting the grace that forgave his own sins, ex- 
 claimed, "He ought to be skinned and his hide hung upon 
 the barn door and salted." This is but the rage of the 
 unthinking multitudes who have kindled the fires through 
 which heroes and martyrs have had to pass in order to lead 
 humanity onward and upward towards the boons of free- 
 dom, light and life. 
 
 Public opinion is vacillating and hence not a safe guide 
 for the seeker after truth. Nearly all advance in religious 
 knowledge, from the days of the first prophets of Israel 
 to the time of modern biblical criticism, has been made 
 through the crosses and fires of heartless persecution. Had 
 moral and religious reformers guided their endeavors by the 
 pulse of public sentiment, we would have simply marked 
 time, with practically no progress, through all these cen- 
 turies. But, thank God, men were brave enough to die for 
 their convictions and let their death stand as the harbinger 
 of better days. Heroes have been willing to perform their 
 tasks in the light of their own conscience and wait for future 
 generations to rise up and call them blessed. Men of tower- 
 ing strength and great moral courage have stemmed the 
 tide of adverse public opinion, remembering that the multi- 
 tudes will praise you today and tomorrow clamor for your 
 death. No one knew the vacillation of the public mind 
 better than the Man of Nazareth. Today they cry, "Behold, 
 a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans 
 and sinners," and tomorrow they come to him from every 
 quarter to receive the blessings of his ministry. Now they 
 hang upon his words and seem to appropriate his message, 
 but soon he offends some over-scrupulous Pharisee and they 
 seek to stone him to death. Now he rides into Jerusalem, 
 the Holy City, amid shouts of hosannas and long live the 
 King; but a few days later the same enthusiastic mob cried 
 aloud, "Away with him! Crucify him!" And they led him 
 away to a little hill, lone and gray, and there they crucified 
 him of whom the great historian Rauke, said : "More guilt- 
 
116 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 less and more powerful, more exalted and more holy has 
 naught ever been on earth than his conduct, his life and his 
 death." No wonder, then, that this man, who knew human 
 nature as no other man knew it, said to his disciples : "Be- 
 hold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be 
 ye therefore as wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But 
 beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, 
 and in their synagogues they will scourge you; yea and 
 before governors and kings shall ye be brought for my sake, 
 for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles." 
 
 But I would not have you brethren think me a pessimist 
 with no faith in human kind. On the contrary, I believe 
 in the ultimate integrity of the human race, and I believe 
 that when men and women are brought to see the truth and 
 feel their obligation, they will take up their tasks with hearts 
 brave and true. Therefore, public opinion is always tre- 
 mendously powerful for good, when in the right. Great 
 reforms are wrought at the command of public sentiment. 
 To-day many men in high places, who are vested with 
 authority, dare to lift their hand in enforcement of law 
 and in defense of righteousness. One of the most propitious 
 signs of the times is the recent and present crusades against 
 public graft and unholy impositions upon the people, along 
 with the facts that the men leading in these reforms have 
 the approval and backing of the general public. A better 
 day is coming. The people are going to rise up in their 
 sovereignty and demand that justice, truth and righteous- 
 ness be enthroned to do their perfect work. This day will 
 not come, however, until the public mind is still better edu- 
 cated and trained on these vital issues. Therefore it behooves 
 every right thinking man and woman, every educational in- 
 stitution, the public press and the pulpit to bend every energy 
 to enlist the sympathy and support of the masses in stamping 
 out crime and ushering in a better day. 
 
 But however powerful public sentiment may be, it can- 
 not eventually triumph over truth. 
 
 "Truth crushed to earth will rise again, 
 Th' eternal years of God are hers." 
 
Sermons 1 1 7 
 
 John the Baptist suffered a ghastly death at the hands 
 of a cruel foe, but the truth he proclaimed still lives and 
 moves on to final victory. Jesus was taken by the midnight 
 mob, tried, condemned and crucified by those who made an 
 impious tool of law and a mockery of justice, nevertheless 
 his kingdom moves on to universal dominion with the state- 
 liness and majesty of the sun in his unhindered journey 
 across the sky. All the combined forces of persecution and 
 instruments of torture could not put out the light that 
 emanates from the life of Socrates. Cicero paid him a 
 just tribute when he said, "Socrates called philosophy down 
 from the heavens to earth, and introduced it into the cities 
 and houses of men, compelling men to inquire concerning 
 life and morals and things good and evil." Nevertheless his 
 countrymen thought him better dead than alive. He drank 
 the cup of poison in his prison, surrounded by his disciples 
 and friends, with perfect steadfastness and tranquility of 
 soul, full of assurance that the death which was to attest 
 his fidelity to his convictions would be most advantageous 
 for him and his work. 
 
 Truth is eternal. This is the ultimate ground of our 
 optimism. The right will prevail, because God lives and 
 rules. In the beginning of his ministry Jesus faced three 
 great discouragements, the doubting of John, adverse public 
 opinion, and the hardness of the cities ; but in spite of it 
 all he was still optimistic, and said : "I thank thee, O Father, 
 Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things 
 from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them 
 unto babes." So let us look up and hope, believe and pray, 
 until the day dawns and the light of eternal glory floods 
 our souls. 
 
118 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 A Plea for a Larger Place for the Church 
 in Our Hearts 
 
 Text, Jeremiah 51 :50 : "Remember Jehovah from afar, 
 and let Jerusalem come into your mind." 
 
 Subject : "A Plea for a Larger Place for the Church in 
 Our Hearts." 
 
 "Jeremiah stood at the threshold of the Babylonian cap- 
 tivity, and sounded in unmistakable terms the warning to 
 his fellowmen. He saw that unless a thorough repentance 
 came over the Israelites, and that very soon, the nation must 
 fall, and Jersualem must be laid waste by the enemy. Israel 
 must repent or suffer, and since there was scarcely any hope 
 of repentance, suffering was practically inevitable. The aged 
 prophet studies the situation, sees with prophetic vision the 
 holy city made desolate, and his brethren pining under the 
 torturing yoke of heathen rule. He looks still further and 
 sees that spoilers shall come from the north, and that Baby- 
 lon herself shall fall. It is then that he makes this strong 
 and pathetic appeal to his brethren : "Ye that have escaped 
 the sword, go ye, stand not still ; remember Jehovah from 
 afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind." Though 
 far away, remember your own native land, which you "have 
 loved and lost awhile." In the midst of false and strange 
 gods, remember the God of Israel, in the midst of heathen 
 cities in which men serve images made by their own hands, 
 remember Jerusalem, the holy city, where you have so often 
 met and worshipped the God of Jacob. 
 
 Jerusalem was to the faithful Jew what the Church of 
 Christ is to the Christian. Therefore, Jeremiah's appeal to 
 his brethren can be echoed as an appeal to every true fol- 
 lower of Christ to let the church come into his mind and 
 heart, and occupy therein her merited place. We purpose 
 to make this plea by setting forth, first, the real value of 
 the church; and, secondly, by showing the just claims she 
 has upon men. 
 
 By "the church" we mean, in this discourse, the great 
 
Sermons 1 1 9 
 
 brotherhood of believers in Christ. The value of this brother- 
 hood is shown in part by the incalculable cost of our re- 
 demption. The church is not the product of human 
 scheming and sacrifice ; it does not represent a certain ex- 
 penditure of money, nor does it represent only a certain 
 number of years of human toil and suffering, the value of 
 which might be computed, if only we had the data upon 
 which to base the calculation. It is of divine origin, and 
 the product of divine planning and divine execution. The 
 execution of these plans involved the sufferings of a life 
 of hardships, and the tortures of a humiliating and agoniz- 
 ing death. Man's best and greatest Friend was scorned, 
 spat upon, crowned and robed in mockery, nailed by ruth- 
 less hands to the cruel tree, in order that we might be saved 
 from our sins. No matter what may be your theory of 
 the atonement, the facts of the awful tragedy remain as a 
 testimony to the incalculable cost of the church of Jesus 
 Christ. The Son of God did not die for naught. His death 
 has a profound meaning, and until we can fathom the depth 
 of these agonies and comprehend the boundless love of God, 
 we shall stand in amazement before the ransom price of the 
 church. 
 
 The value of the church is further shown by the fact 
 that for nearly twenty centuries she has had the faithful ser- 
 vice of the truest and best of men. Just as on the gory bat- 
 tle-field thousands of brave men have shown their loyalty 
 and love for home and country, so at the burning stake, in 
 positions of honor and of abasement, in riches and in pov- 
 erty, in health and in sickness, in life and in death, men have 
 shown undying loyalty to the cause of Christ. Many brave 
 hearts have been pierced that a land of the noble and the 
 free might become the heritage of sons and daughters. For 
 this reason, if for no other, we would give our native land 
 a large place in our hearts. The Kingdom of God has been 
 purchased for us not only by the offering of the Spotless 
 Lamb of God, as a sacrifice for our sins, but unnumbered 
 loyal and noble lives have been sacrificed that truth might 
 
120 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 live, and the church of God become the blessed heritage 
 of many generations. 
 
 That the church is of inestimable value is demonstrated 
 also by the fact that we who are followers of Christ and 
 have received the "inheritance among all them that are 
 sanctified," have been saved by her sacred influence and 
 faithful labors. We owe our salvation to the church. The 
 sacrificing love of Christian people, as they have been led 
 and inspired by the Spirit of our Master, has led us to 
 the divine Redeemer. Were it not for the church, to whose 
 keeping have been committed the oracles of God, we should 
 now be "without hope and without God in the world." 
 She told us of our disease and pointed us to the remedy. 
 She found us in darkness and led us into the light. 
 She found us sorely oppressed by sin, and pointed us to 
 the "Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." 
 
 When we have grown into manhood we can appreciate 
 the true value of father and mother; we can then see how 
 tender the care and how many the labors they bestowed 
 upon us in order to bring us up in the right way. We 
 honor and value them for what they have done for us. 
 So the church has brought us life, joy, peace all the bless- 
 ings that come through redeeming grace. God bless the 
 church, which he has appointed to be the light of the 
 world and the salt of the earth. 
 
 The value of the church becomes even more apparent 
 when we remember that through her the world is to be 
 saved. What a tremendous mission ! If she is to be valued 
 by this world-wide and vastly important mission, surely 
 nothing else can be of half so much worth to the world. 
 Thousands and millions of souls are lost, and must be 
 brought to God through the instrumentality of Christian 
 people. Philosophy, science, culture, riches, are all power- 
 less in the presence of sin. The task of the church can be 
 accomplished only by the church, and this work surpasses 
 all else in importance. Consequently she merits a large 
 place in every heart, and we should prize her above all 
 else we possess. The millions of the lost, the vastness of 
 
Sermons 1 2 1 
 
 the work, the awfulness of living and dying in sin, and the 
 eternal verities of salvation through Christ, demand that 
 we love the church and give her the best and chief place 
 in our hearts. Therefore, my brethren, we plead with you, 
 that in your homes and the rush of your business affairs, 
 you remember the Lord our God, and let the church come 
 into your mind. 
 
 Let us notice, in the next place, that the church has 
 certain just claims upon the people. It is evident that 
 she has just claims upon the unsaved. No one in a Chris 
 tian country can deny that he is indebted to Christianity for 
 many privileges and blessings enjoyed daily by all classes. 
 No church is worthy of Christ that does not benefit the 
 entire community in which it happens to be located. To 
 a large extent it elevates the morals, preserves the peace, 
 enhances the price of property, and makes life better in 
 every way. Any one will surely concede that a good Chris- 
 tian church is beneficial to the whole community, and 
 therefore deserves the respect, the love and the support 
 of every patriotic citizen of the community,, whether he be 
 identified with the brotherhood or not. This is a fact 
 that needs to be emphasized and kept constantly before 
 our minds, in order that all classes of men may come to 
 give the church a larger place in their hearts. Every man 
 should be willing to love his country, discharge the duties 
 of citizenship, and comply with the just demands made 
 upon him by his state and nation, because of the manifold 
 benefits derived from citizenship therein. So when men 
 are led to see the blessings derived from the benignant in- 
 fluences of Christianity, they will doubtless be willing to 
 respond to the obligations resting upon them with reference 
 to the Christian church. 
 
 The church, however, has especial claims upon those 
 that have been saved. She justly demands of every Chris- 
 tian that he shall keep clean her garments. No one has a 
 right to wrap himself in the cloak of church membership 
 and then allow this cloak to trail in the dust and dirt of the 
 earth. When we voluntarily identify ourselves with Chris- 
 
122 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 tian people, we owe it to God and to men to keep our church 
 out of the low places that curse the land and wreck human 
 life. We have no right to drag the church into saloons, 
 into gambling dens, or into any place of questionable pro- 
 priety. No loyal citizen should ever think of disgracing 
 his country's flag, which is the symbol of his nation's glory 
 and power. In like manner, hold high the Cross of Jesus, 
 love the church, and guard well her name, her purity, her 
 interests. Ungrateful is he who stoops to dishonor her 
 name and impede her progress. Church membership is 
 becoming a matter of too little significance, whereas it 
 should have a profound meaning to everyone that possesses 
 it. We need to learn that it is no trivial thing for one to 
 be called a Christian. Membership in the Masonic order is 
 appreciated, and certain it is that no true Mason would 
 bring his lodge into disrepute by an act of disloyalty. 
 Jesus Christ is the Grand Master of our Christian federa- 
 tion, and he makes the reasonable demand upon his fol- 
 lowers that they be pure in heart, loyal and true in service. 
 That was a severe reproof of those that claimed to have 
 the light the reproof that says, "For the sons of this world 
 are for their own generation wiser than the sons of the 
 light." We cannot serve God and mammon, and having 
 once made God our choice, let us keep pure and clean our 
 life, and pray for Zion, "Peace be within thy walls, and 
 prosperity within thy palaces." 
 
 But the church rightfully asks of her members not only 
 a pure life, but a life of service. No one thinks of enter- 
 ing a secular fraternity without giving himself in service 
 to that fraternity. He will stand in readiness to respond 
 to any reasonable demand the order may make upon him. 
 So when we come into the fold of the Good Shepherd, we 
 should come with hearts willing to do the Master's bidding. 
 The work of the church, as we have pointed out, is to save 
 the human race from sin and lift it up into righteousness, 
 and in order to accomplish this enormous task we must be 
 unanimous in our readiness and united in our activity. The 
 church justly claims your best service, and we beseech you 
 
Sermons 1 23 
 
 in Christ's name to do what you can, whether it be much or 
 little. 
 
 "So tired; yet I would work 
 For thee. Lord, hast thou work 
 
 Even for me? 
 
 Small things which others hurrying on, 
 In thy blessed service, swift and strong, 
 
 Might never see." 
 
 The church claims our financial support. Many can 
 give but little, but they should do what they can. The 
 widow gave her two mites and won the commendation of 
 her Lord. We should give because it is our duty to support 
 the noblest work that ever engaged the attention and efforts 
 of man. Upon you the Master of the harvest has laid the 
 responsibility. 
 
 I want just here to make an appeal for the church to be 
 lifted from the low level of a tramping beggar, and given 
 her rightful and dignified place of honor and power in the 
 world. Jesus Christ, the divine head of the church, is no 
 beggar, and yet we must confess with a blush of shame 
 that the actions of some churches and church people would 
 lead a stranger to feel that Christianity is a pauperized in- 
 stitution. A Chinaman in San Francisco once asked, "Who 
 is this Jesus that's all the time broke?" Well might a blush 
 of shame crimson the cheeks of those who attempted, in 
 their abject beggary, to present the cause of Christ to this 
 foreigner. All things are Christ's. Before him the angels 
 of heaven fall in praise and adoration, as they behold him 
 exalted at the right hand of the Father's glory. He has 
 seen fit to commit to his disciples the exalted task of evan- 
 gelizing the world. It cannot be his will that we should 
 pose as paupers and beg for pennies with which to keep 
 alive his work upon the earth. As saved men and women, 
 we are to face our duty bravely and lovingly, and give of 
 our means to this most royal work. But if any of you 
 should perchance feel that your church is a pauper eking 
 out a bare living by begging bread, you need to throw off 
 
124 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 your morbid lethargy, remember the power of God, and 
 cry aloud, "Awake, O Zion, put on thy strength." The 
 church of God is not a thing to be despised by any class 
 of people, for she wields the greatest power on earth, and 
 stands as a thing of strength, of beauty, and of glory, 
 deserving the highest admiration of all. When we behold 
 her, marching from victory to victory, we can only magnify 
 her matchless prowess, and glory in her conquering Lord. 
 God pity that depraved soul who, in his remotest thought, 
 would drag Zion and her ministry from her exalted and 
 dignified place down to the despised level of mere beggary. 
 
 Furthermore, you owe the church your earnest prayers. 
 Every Christian should pray for the prosperity and final 
 victory of the Kingdom of God. You should pray for 
 your pastor before he comes to you with his message. When 
 you give him to understand that you pray for him, he will 
 preach with greater freedom and helpfulness. Pray for him, 
 and you will find less in the sermon to criticise and more 
 to praise. Pray also that the spiritually blind may receive 
 their sight, and you will see more hearts bowing before the 
 sovereign rule of our blessed Lord. 
 
 Finally, the church has a just claim upon your heart's 
 best affection. Ungrateful is the man who has no love 
 for the church that led him into the Saviour's light. The 
 devout Jew loved Jerusalem, his spiritual home, the place 
 where he held sweetest communion with God, and where 
 he found sweetest peace for his soul. The church is our 
 spiritual home. She has often called us to prayer and to 
 communion with God. The Jew had a custom of engraving 
 upon the palm of his hand the image of the temple at 
 Jerusalem. Let us engrave upon our hearts the image of 
 the church of Christ, and love her with a pure and un- 
 selfish love. 
 
Sermons 1 25 
 
 A Vision of God Through Purity of Heart 
 
 Text : From Matthew, S :8 : "Blessed are the pure in 
 heart, for they shall see God." 
 
 Let us think first of how we get this vision of God 
 and then consider the blessedness of those who get such 
 a vision. 
 
 I. How we get a true vision of God. 
 
 To find God, to possess Him and to do His will, has 
 been for man the task of all the ages. Starting with the 
 world and all its manifold phenomena, Greek philosophy 
 set as its task to find the infinite the First Cause. For 
 Hebrew wisdom, God was the starting point, and the prob- 
 lem for the believer was how to put himself in line with 
 God. Whether in philosophy or in religion, God has been 
 the chief aim or supreme desire in all the centuries. The 
 Psalmist did not express merely the longing of his soul, 
 or that of Israel, but also the deep yearning of the heart of 
 humanity, when he said : "As the hart panteth after the 
 water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." (Ps. 
 42:1-2.) It was to reveal God and satisfy this longing 
 for the human soul that Jesus lived and died. He taught 
 us that to have a true knowledge or vision of God is to 
 have eternal life. "And this is life eternal, that they should 
 know thee, the only true God, and him whom thou wouldst 
 send, even Jesus Christ." (John 17:3.) But when Jesus 
 said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," 
 He lifted this problem out of the sphere of science and 
 philosophy, as those terms are generally accepted, and placed 
 it solely within the moral and spiritual sphere. While it 
 is true that God is in all true science, and that all philos- 
 ophic truth is God's truth, yet He is to be found and known 
 in the sphere of moral activity, and practical obedience to 
 His will. Accordingly, if we are to gain a vision of God, 
 it is to be done, not by turning the telescope upon the 
 heavens, and standing amazed at the vastness of the uni- 
 verse, but by looking through the eyes of a surrendered 
 
126 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 will and purified heart. The sciences, of which theology, 
 taken in its broadest sense, is queen, have their proper place 
 in the evolution of human thought and the onward and 
 upward* march of the human race. Nevertheless, it is not 
 the trained and keen intellects, but the pure in heart, that 
 feel God's tenderness and know that He is. His Spirit 
 bears witness, teaches, and communes with the pure in 
 heart. 
 
 It is appalling how darkened becomes our vision of 
 God and of divine things when sin is cherished and fos- 
 tered in the heart. Impurity so veils the soul as to hide 
 God from our view. It breaks the flow of our fellowship 
 and intercepts our vision of Him who is too high and holy 
 to reveal Himself to the profane and irreverent. Many of 
 you have stood in some eastern valley and watched the set- 
 ting sun. As the sun went down in the western sky, some 
 huge mountain arose before your gaze, intercepting more 
 and more the light of day, until soon the whole valley was 
 flooded with night and you stood submerged in thick dark- 
 ness. Just so some of you today are wondering why there 
 is no light for your soul, no vision of God. The mountain 
 of sin has arisen between you and the light of the world, 
 and whatever light you may have had in former days has 
 fled before the gross darkness of sin. But when sin is cast 
 out and purity enthroned in the heart, it is like the dis- 
 pelling of night before the brightness of the morning sun. 
 As the hill top and valley are kissed and beautified by the 
 renewed sunlight, so our souls are touched and lighted by 
 God's presence, and we have a vision which fills the heart 
 with joy unspeakable and full of glory. If then you would 
 see God, if you would possess Him and do His will, be 
 right with men, be clean and pure in life, and "keep thy 
 heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." 
 
 There is a prevalent idea today that the quality of 
 one's religion depends largely upon the accuracy with which 
 one adheres to certain intellectual and dogmatic proposi- 
 tions regarding the Christian faith. In this age of real 
 enlightenment, when we Protestants boast of our deliver- 
 
Sermons 127 
 
 ance from medieval theological darkness and night; when 
 we no longer have, nor desire to have, a divine Thomas 
 Aquinas to think for us and dictate what form our faith 
 shall take, it ought to be unnecessary to assert that the 
 Christian faith does not consist of intellectual assent to a 
 formulated and prescribed dogmatic creed. There is a great 
 difference between faith itself and the form in which faith 
 clothes itself. In our servility to form, we separate our- 
 selves from God to worship an image which man has made ; 
 if faith is the gift of God, the form of faith is the work of 
 man. The soundness of my faith, the purity of my re- 
 ligion, and the clearness of my visions of God, do not de- 
 pend upon my accepting in toto the creedal decisions of 
 ecumenical councils. The very genius of the Christian 
 religion opposes intellectual slavery ; it antagonizes the per- 
 functory imitation of the mere copyist, and unqualifiedly 
 condemns the religious and theological parasite. The faith 
 that finds God and worships Him is not an intellectual 
 assent to dogma, nor any other mere intellectual process. 
 It is grounded in and springs out of the moral life. The 
 very core and essence of the Christian religion is fellow- 
 ship with God through Jesus Christ, who is the mediator 
 of this new and blessed relationship. As Christians, we 
 come into this fellowship by a moral surrender to the im- 
 pelling power of the inner life of Jesus Christ. We continue 
 therein through a divine companionship which demands 
 devotion of heart and purity of life. It is this fact that 
 makes our text true. It is for this reason that the pure 
 in heart see God. Jesus was conscious of an entirely 
 unique and unutterable fellowship with God which has 
 exalted His name above every other. The measure of the 
 exaltation of Jesus' life above every other is the fullness 
 of the inflowing into Him of the divine life and character. 
 But, mark you, this inflowing of the divine life and character 
 involves the outflow from life of all that is incompatible 
 with goodness, love, purity, and divine righteousness. We, 
 therefore, reassert that if you would find God, if you would 
 possess Him and do His will, be right with men, be clean 
 
128 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 and pure in your life, and then shall you surely realize in 
 your experience a blessed vision of God through purity 
 of heart. 
 
 "Blest are the pure in heart, for they shall see their God ; 
 The secret of the Lord is theirs ; their soul is Christ's abode. 
 He to the lowly soul doth still Himself impart, 
 And for His dwelling and His throne, chooseth the pure in 
 
 heart. 
 
 Lord ! we Thy presence seek ; may ours this blessing be : 
 Give us the pure and lowly heart a temple meet for Thee." 
 
 II. With a vision of God comes a blessedness that only 
 the pure in heart can ever know. The verdict of the world's 
 sanest minds and purest hearts has been that man's highest 
 good is to be found in possessing God and doing His will. 
 Our highest, most sacred and most blessed relations in life 
 are personal relations ; and our friends satisfy us and enrich 
 our lives according to the riches of the life they reveal to 
 us. In the personality of God dwells all fullness, and he 
 who gets the vision of the boundless riches of the life of 
 God has unfathomable resources of joy. And just this is 
 the blessedness of the pure in heart. Our joy is never so 
 sweet, so profound, so boundless, as when it springs out 
 of an unbroken and undisturbed communion with God. 
 God in the soul is our highest guarantee of transporting 
 delight and rapturous joy. 
 
 In Paul's letter to the Philippians we have what may 
 seem to the uninitiated a strange anomaly. The great 
 apostle, in Roman chains, not knowing what hour his head 
 may fall, rises to magnificent heights and, out of chains 
 and maltreatment endured for Christ's sake, he cries : "Re- 
 joice in the Lord always ; again I will say, rejoice. . . 
 In nothing be anxious, but in everything by prayer and 
 thanksgiving let your requests be made unto God. And 
 the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall 
 guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus." 
 Our joy does not depend on what is without the heart, but 
 
Sermons 1 29 
 
 what is within; not on environment, but on the internal 
 condition ; not on material and worldly gains, but on moral 
 and spiritual possessions. One may be clothed in purple 
 and housed in a palatial mansion, with all the comforts 
 and splendors of kings, and still be forlorn, miserable, 
 heart-sick and soul-burdened; for that soul upon which 
 heaven sheds no light and to which God is a stranger must 
 be something like a seething caldron of bewilderment, or 
 a deep, dark and dismal dungeon, or a miniature world 
 wandering aimlessly through space, knowing neither its 
 origin nor destiny. But it is not so with those who have 
 found God and have put themselves in harmony with His 
 will. They have chosen the better part, they have found 
 the pearl of great price, they have come into possession 
 of the soul's greatest and priceless heritage, and have 
 thereby become masters of themselves and independent of 
 their environment. That the gospel of Jesus can liberate 
 from world-enslavement and give songs even in the night, 
 has been exemplified in history a thousand times over. It 
 calms and gives poise to the soul even when our little bark 
 is tempest-tossed and rock-beaten. It does not remove the 
 storm, but it anchors the ship. It does not take away 
 trouble nor remove cares, but it lifts the soul above them 
 and makes us see beyond all passing clouds of evil the 
 eternal sunshine. 
 
 You have seen the eagle spread out his wings and soar 
 round and round until he rises above the little hill ; then 
 soaring round and round until he has reached the highest 
 mountain peak, and still he rises higher and higher until 
 he passes above and beyond the storm-cloud into the clear 
 blue sky. Just so we can mount upon the wings of faith 
 and trust and hope, and rise higher and higher until we 
 soar above the storms of earthly care and perplexing anx- 
 iety and rest in the clear sky of God's love and grace. 
 Then all things become ours and for our good. Even death 
 itself becomes to us only a passport into the bosom of the 
 Eternal God for whom we were made and in whom we 
 shall rest and rejoice forever more. But without God we 
 
130 Rev. J. W. T. McNiel 
 
 grow tired and weary of life's rugged journey. We long 
 to lie down like a weary child and "weep this life away." 
 It is then the gentle voice of the Master, "Come unto me 
 all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
 rest," comes to us like a new song, imparting that myster- 
 ious peace which comes only by resting in God. Clouds 
 are driven from the sky. The day-dawn drives away our 
 night, and the soul becomes "bright with the beauty and 
 celestial glory of an immortal grace." 
 
 Oh, sweet, sustaining trust in God, that clears life's 
 clouded sky and lets in the soft, radiant light of the Father's 
 face ; that reconciles contentment with aspiration, and blends 
 activity with repose. May this our blessing be ! 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
BE STRONG. 
 
 Be strong! 
 
 We are not here to play, to dream, to drift. 
 We have hard work to do, and loads to lift. 
 Shun not the struggle ; face it. 'Tis God's gift. 
 
 Be strong! 
 
 Say not the days are evil, who's to blame? 
 And fold the hands and acquiesce O shame ! 
 Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God's name. 
 
 Be strong! 
 
 It matters not how deep intrenched the wrong; 
 How hard the battle goes, the day, how long. 
 Faint not ; fight on ! Tomorrow comes the song. 
 
 Maltbie D. Babcock. 
 
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