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HORATIO STEBBINS 
 HIS MINISTRY AND HIS PERSONALITY 
 

HORA1 
 
HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 HIS MINISTRY 
 AND HIS PERSONALITY 
 
 BY 
 CHARLES A. MURDOCK 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
 (Cbt ftitrrfiDr prc* Cambridge 
 IQ2I 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1931, BY RODERICK STEBBINS 
 ALL RIGHTS KEbERVED 
 
 
 PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. 
 
DEDICATED 
 
 TO THE FAMILY HE DEARLY LOVED 
 AND THE PEOPLE HE NOBLY SERVED 
 
 457649 
 
" There are souls that seem to dwell 
 Above the earth, so rich a spell 
 Floats round their steps where'er they move." 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THERE are lives that should be better known and 
 every memory of them jealously cherished. A debt of 
 gratitude and a clear responsibility rest upon those 
 whose privilege it has been to enjoy an exceptional 
 influence. 
 
 Horatio Stebbins, in his day and generation, was a 
 man of rare power and lofty spirit. He was a great 
 personality, with uncommon gifts of mind and heart. 
 His mountainous faith was a marked characteristic. 
 He united strength and tenderness in a degree that 
 made him a leader of men. His absolute integrity, his 
 kindliness, his serenity, his patient faithfulness, his 
 fortitude, his magnanimity, his humor, made him the 
 embodiment of the best religious life. For fifty years 
 he preached a rational and reverent religion, with 
 great power. He loved God and his fellow-men. He 
 lived happily, he served gladly, he died courageously. 
 
 For the more than thirty-five years of his ministry 
 in San Francisco I knew him well and enjoyed his in- 
 dulgent friendship, a blessing that demands every 
 possible return. I feel my inability to set forth ade- 
 quately his message and personality, but I am moved 
 by a profound sense of obligation to do what I may to 
 make him known as he was, to recall to those who 
 
x PREFACE 
 
 loved him some of his characteristic sayings with in- 
 cidents of his fruitful life, and especially to extend his 
 influence to this generation, by emphasis on his benign 
 and beautiful spirit. 
 
 C. A. M. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I. EARLY YEARS i 
 
 n. FrrcHBURG AND PORTLAND : 1851-1864 16 
 
 III. WITH THE SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH 30 
 
 IV. WIDER SERVICE 49 
 V. RIPENED YEARS 79 
 
 VI. CLOSE OF THE SAN FRANCISCO MINISTRY 108 
 
 VII. QUIET YEARS IN CAMBRIDGE 131 
 
 Vin. LETTERS TO A SON : 1881-1899 160 
 
 DC SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 185 
 
 X. PRAYERS 227 
 
 XL THAT WHICH REMAINETH : A CONFERENCE 
 
 SERMON 236 
 
 THE SON OF MAN IN HIS DAY: A SERMON 247 
 
HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 EARLY YEARS 
 
 THE Stebbins families of the Connecticut Valley find a 
 common ancestor in Rowland Stebbins, born in Bock- 
 ing, Essex County, England, on the fifth day of No- 
 vember, 1592. In the baptismal record in the register 
 of St. Mary's Church there, the name is spelled 
 Stebing. Rowland came to America in 1634 with his 
 wife, Sarah Whiting, and two sons. After living in 
 Roxbury, Massachusetts, for four or five years, he 
 moved his family to Springfield, the site of which his 
 friend Pynchon had bought from the Indians some 
 years before. With his son John he later removed to 
 Northampton, while the elder son, Thomas, remained 
 permanently in Springfield. From him Horatio Steb- 
 bins was descended. 
 
 In 1685 the "outward commons" of Springfield, 
 mountainous land on both sides of the Connecticut 
 River, were awarded to settlers, and three sons of 
 Thomas secured subdivisions. Samuel Stebbins, great- 
 grandson of Thomas and great-grandfather of Horatio, 
 settled on one of these subdivisions in 1741. The tract 
 was nine miles from Springfield and a part of the future 
 
2 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 town of South Wilbraham, now known as Hampden. 
 In those days families were generous in size, and 
 Samuel had ten brothers and sisters. His own family 
 was limited to eight children, but his son and his 
 grandson in the direct line had the customary eleven. 
 Calvin Stebbins, one of his grandsons, married Amelia 
 Adams, a young woman of character and charm. 
 Horatio was their third son. Roderick, five years 
 older, became a successful physician. The second son, 
 Randolph, was Horatio's senior by two years. Two 
 other brothers died in infancy. The mother died when 
 Horatio was six years of age. By his father's second 
 marriage there were three children, one of whom, the 
 Reverend Calvin Stebbins, D.D., is still living. 
 
 In the history of Wilbraham the family name ap- 
 pears frequently. In 1741 the application for a parish 
 meeting was signed by Samuel Stebbins, and at the 
 meeting he was made an assessor. Aaron, Caleb, and 
 Phineas held minor offices. The location of the meet- 
 ing-house was a stirring issue. It was six years before 
 Wigwam Hill triumphed, and it was twelve years 
 before this site was accepted, the church built, and 
 all the gallery seats were installed. 
 
 The community was intensely loyal to the cause of 
 the colonies. In 1774 a pledge against purchasing or 
 consuming goods imported from Great Britain was 
 signed by one hundred and twenty-five determined 
 men, ten of whom bore the name of Stebbins. In 1775 
 the call from Lexington was promptly answered by a 
 
EARLY YEARS 3 
 
 company of volunteers. Another company rallied at 
 Bennington to the relief of Gates. At least ten of the 
 Stebbins family served in the Continental army. In 
 church matters the family was interested, but inde- 
 pendent. In 1805, when a petition for a Methodist 
 Episcopal Church was presented to the town, thirteen 
 of the proponents signed the name of Stebbins, and 
 several of the same name signed a protest against it. 
 
 From such an ancestry and in such a community 
 Horatio Stebbins was born on August 8, 1821, of the 
 eighth generation of his American family. His father 
 was a well-to-do farmer, a man of good mind but lim- 
 ited education. He was just and upright, respected by 
 his neighbors. In his family relations he united gentle- 
 ness and wise severity. He made his son a companion. 
 Dr. Stebbins said of him: "He often bore me upon his 
 shoulder across the running river, or led me by the 
 hand through meadows where birds sang and lilies 
 bloomed." 
 
 The death of Horatio's mother in his early boyhood 
 was an irreparable loss. She was a woman of fine 
 temper, good sense, and great sensibility. She is said 
 to have had an unusual gift for sententious expression, 
 which Dr. Stebbins also possessed, perhaps inherited 
 from her. He had merely a childhood recollection of 
 her a beautiful but indistinct picture of a loving 
 presence as she spoke to him in tender blessing on her 
 dying bed. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins had an intense affection for his grand- 
 
4 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 mother. In a remarkable sermon on "The End of 
 Being," he says : "There is one other whose being was 
 a beatific vision to my childhood heart, above all the 
 accidents of earthly existence, in whom duty was a 
 cheerful song, and care a happy delight ; from whose 
 heart love shone like the lily in Abou Ben Adhem's 
 dream. She was my grandmother. What beautiful 
 conduct ! Her feet touched the earth as lightly as an 
 angel's ; in her face was the strange mystery of pain 
 and joy, and a piety in which all fear was changed to 
 reverence. To a child's heart, beauty shone around, as 
 glory on the shepherds of Judea. Thanks be to God 
 that such visions and wonderings and imaginations 
 may be in the heart of a child. They are the light 
 beyond our earthly horizons, tingeing our morning 
 heights." 
 
 The family home was the scene of much kindly hos- 
 pitality. The father was interested in religion, politics, 
 and the intercourse of educated men, and he enjoyed 
 entertaining visiting ministers and strangers generally. 
 Polemics had not much interest for the young boy, 
 but he liked to hear the ministers discuss matters with 
 his father, who, to the son at least, seemed to hold his 
 own. Many of these men were marked figures, who 
 impressed him strongly. He remembered especially 
 Minister Warner, who wore breeches, knee-buckles, 
 and a queue of braided hair; also Elder Brewster, who 
 had a very small salary, but always seemed to have 
 money to lend; and Wilbur Fiske, the Methodist, 
 
EARLY YEARS 5 
 
 who founded a college at Middletown, Connecticut. 
 Mr. Stebbins was a reverent man, but he never took 
 much interest in the revivals that recurred regularly. 
 The home was well supplied with books, and the boy 
 learned to read by reading to his father. For three 
 months in the winter he attended the district school. 
 He early showed ability for work on the farm, and 
 could cut grain in the field, drive a team on the road, 
 or fell a tree in the woods. His youthful sports were 
 simple: a little hunting and fishing, a bee-hunt in the 
 summer, spelling-school in the autumn, nuts and 
 apples around the open fire in the winter. From all 
 that is told of his boyhood life and from his later devel- 
 opment, it is plain that one of his happy inheritances 
 was vigorous strength. Physically and mentally he 
 was sound and well. He could do all kinds of things to 
 help his father, and he grew up expecting to do them. 
 He was surrounded by an atmosphere of work, con- 
 ducive to health of body and mind. He was generally 
 a happy boy, although he had a vein of sensitiveness, 
 and occasionally suffered from some imagined griev- 
 ance. No doubt he missed his mother unconsciously, 
 but he was a normal boy, thoughtful and serious- 
 minded, who enjoyed good reading. He early showed a 
 predilection for the best preachers, and was attracted 
 to Channing and Dewey before he was twelve years 
 old. He had a half-formed hope that some day he 
 might be a minister, but definite purpose awaited 
 development and the assurance of possibility. 
 
6 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 The early unfolding of the boyish mind was recalled 
 more than fifty years later, with a beautiful picture of 
 his daily life. He opened his Easter sermon in 1887 
 with these words : "When I was a boy, thirteen years 
 old, I sat at noonday beneath the shadow of an oak on 
 my father's farm to eat my luncheon and allow the 
 patient oxen to rest and refresh themselves from the 
 plough. I had taken with me to the field a little book, 
 the first printed sermons of Orville Dewey, that great 
 preacher of a former generation, whose fine sensibility, 
 tender pathos, and moral insight delighted with deep 
 and reverent feeling the hearts of men. I had taken my 
 luncheon, and the oxen were feeding on the fine Eng- 
 lish hay, that had a brightness and flavor like Hyson 
 tea. I lay flat upon the ground and read : 'The world 
 is filled with the voices of the dead. Though they are 
 invisible, yet life is filled with their presence.' Go 
 where we will, the dead are with us. We live, we con- 
 verse, with those who once lived and conversed with 
 us. Their well-remembered tone mingles with the 
 whispering breezes, with the sound of the falling leaf, 
 with the jubilee shout of the springtime. The earth is 
 filled with their shadowy train." 
 
 These days of helpfulness on the far n left many 
 pleasant memories. In a sermon on "Looking Back- 
 ward" he says : "Jesus affirms that 'no man is fit for 
 the Kingdom of God who holds the plough and looks 
 backward.' Did you ever hold a plough? It is a much 
 better business than you think. On a fine morning in 
 
EARLY YEARS 7 
 
 May, when the sun shines clear through genial air, 
 the trees are putting forth their buds into tender 
 leaves, and birds are singing in the branches, it is a 
 pleasant thing to go into the field with a team of 
 strong, handsome, gentle-eyed oxen, their heads high, 
 their horns pure white tipped with shining brass, their 
 faces so honest that you know they could never tell a 
 lie. There is a picture, familiar to many of you, per- 
 haps, of a ploughing team, with a man and boy. The 
 boy is holding, and his father is walking by his side, 
 directing him with a gesture of his hand. It is a simple 
 picture of a simple scene, such as artists of great genius 
 choose when they present the scenery of common life 
 on the level canvas, and fascinate and surprise us with 
 the greatness of the everyday sentiments of human 
 nature. I have looked upon that picture many times, 
 and I could imagine that I heard the father tell his son 
 how to hold the plough : ' So, my lad ; bear on the 
 handles gently ; cut the same breadth ; keep the same 
 depth, and turn the furrow flat ; speak quietly to the 
 team, and don't look behind you ; the work is here.'" 
 Next to the family and the home comes the influ- 
 ence of community life and customs. It was almost a 
 hundred years ago, and there was far less relaxation 
 from Puritan severity than we find to-day. There was 
 far greater simplicity, and a rigor we know little. Life 
 was a serious business. To make a living, simple 
 though it was, was not easy, and hard work was a 
 necessary habit of existence. Happiness, if reached, 
 
8 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 depended little on self-indulgence. Accumulations of 
 wealth were infrequent, amusements few, and pleas- 
 ure hardly expected. Frivolity was frowned upon as 
 something that could not be afforded. Economy was a 
 part of the atmosphere, and extended to the expres- 
 sion of affection. The church loomed large as a part 
 of life, and, although its standards were narrow and 
 its demands rigid, it nurtured strong characters. 
 Waste did not weaken and luxury did not corrupt. 
 The difficulty of getting anything spurred effort, 
 and vigorous effort generated the strength required 
 to accomplish purpose. 
 
 Such environment and educational advantages 
 might not now be considered favorable, but we are 
 prone to underestimate the value of what is hard and 
 difficult. Conditions may be favorable in the degree 
 that they compel effort and arouse determination. 
 
 When Horatio Stebbins was about fourteen, he 
 really needed better educational privileges than the 
 district school afforded, and he went to Springfield to 
 attend the high school, working nights and mornings 
 to earn his board. He was not satisfied with the results. 
 The studies were dull, and the teachers did not inspire 
 him. After about a year and a half, he felt an ambition 
 to earn money, and went home to hire out on a neigh- 
 boring farm. He felt that he was doing well to earn 
 twelve dollars and a half a month ; and he saved a good 
 part of his wages, for his wants were simple. After a 
 year or more he and his brother entered into an ar- 
 
EARLY YEARS 9 
 
 rangement with their father by which they worked the 
 family farm on shares, and for two years they were 
 moderately successful. During this period of wage- 
 work and farming he kept at his studies, and finally 
 applied for the place of schoolmaster in a near-by 
 district. He passed the examination, and began to 
 teach at a salary of fifteen dollars a month, boarding 
 around after the manner of the time. He was there- 
 after engaged for the four months' winter term, and 
 taught for several years. 
 
 My native town, Leominster, was about forty-five 
 miles to the northeast, but his reputation extended 
 even there. One winter he was engaged to teach for the 
 central district At the advent of a new master, a test 
 commonly arose for actual control. On the first day of 
 the term the big boys were apt to be unruly and in this 
 instance they were provokingly defiant ; but the ques- 
 tion was summarily solved. The new master, Horatio 
 Stebbins, said little, but he quietly opened the outside 
 door, grasped the ringleader, lifted him high in air, 
 and threw him into a snowbank. His control was not 
 further questioned. The fact that the boy was the son of 
 a prominent deacon gave the schoolmaster no concern. 
 
 Taught by teaching, ambition grew until Horatio 
 finally formed the settled purpose to take a college 
 course. One day, as he and his father worked together 
 in the field, he broached the subject. His father was 
 not unsympathetic, but gave him no encouragement. 
 He was unable to give all his sons a college education 
 
io HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 and felt that he must treat them alike. Horatio re- 
 mained firm in his purpose, and, realizing the difficul- 
 ties to be overcome, he determined to accomplish the 
 undertaking by his own efforts. 
 
 A friend of his father's conducted an academy at 
 Ithaca, New York, and thither he went, riding ten 
 miles in the family buggy and walking a hundred miles 
 to the Hudson River, in order to husband his small 
 savings. He could not carry his belongings, and sent 
 them by the stage. When he paid the charge in Ithaca, 
 he found that it had cost him only fifty cents less than 
 if he had taken a railway ticket and brought his bag- 
 gage a painful lesson in false economy. He began 
 a course of hard study, spending one dollar and 
 twenty-five cents a week for food and lodging, and 
 nearly breaking down in health as a consequence. 
 In six months he was obliged to go out and teach. 
 Trying to make a short cut he added to his teaching 
 the study of medicine, reading evenings and riding 
 with the doctor during vacations. He soon became 
 dissatisfied and discouraged, and returned to his home, 
 feeling that he had wasted two years. For a short 
 time he managed to pursue elementary studies at 
 Northampton, and spent a few months pleasantly 
 and profitably with his cousin, Rufus Phineas Steb- 
 bins, at Leominster. Finally, having overcome many 
 obstacles and made what he considered many blun- 
 ders, he planted his feet more firmly on a recognized 
 ladder of learning. 
 
EARLY YEARS n 
 
 Before the Revolution one John Phillips founded a 
 preparatory school at Exeter, New Hampshire, and 
 here young Stebbins made his way. His course was 
 prolonged by necessary interruptions for school- 
 teaching, when funds gave out, but on the whole he 
 made good time. In 1845, he was invited to give 
 the Fourth of July address at a celebration at Epping, 
 New Hampshire. This address has especial interest as 
 the earliest example of his public speaking that has 
 been preserved. In many respects it was remarkable. 
 He spoke with serious purpose of the principles and 
 ideals of liberty. Thoughtful and prophetic, it sug- 
 gested in passages and tone the Gettysburg Address. 
 He said in part : "We honor our fathers most in honor- 
 ing the great principles which they revered ; we are 
 their most worthy children when we cherish in our own 
 bosoms the virtues they reverenced, when we acknowl- 
 edge the power of the great truths they uttered, and 
 for which they went out for voluntary martyrdom. It 
 is a poor tribute to their memory that we laud their 
 deeds, if the true heroism of those deeds does not dwell 
 in us. Poor, indeed, is it that we speak here the praise 
 of liberty unless we are able to cherish that same spirit 
 of self-sacrifice which moved those heroes of the past. 
 As we stand this day at their graves, let silence be the 
 eloquence we utter. The spirit of the mighty past is 
 here ; the heroic dead are here. They speak ; let us be 
 still!' 
 
 He then traced the rise of the star of human im- 
 
12 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 provement, finding the key that unlocks the destiny of 
 the human race to be heroic devotion to truth. "Free- 
 dom is dangerous, and not to be enjoyed in passive ease 
 and security. It puts man's higher powers to the test. 
 Governments have usurped power, and human life 
 and liberty have been baubles with which kings have 
 played ; but it has been now established that there are 
 principles more sacred than the divine right of kings. 
 We stand among the nations asserting the highest prin- 
 ciples of government under heaven, recognizing the 
 rights of man more fully, a thousand years in advance 
 of European civilization. We as a nation are but a 
 handful of men in comparison to the myriad hosts of 
 the earth who wait for the deliverance which we have 
 reached, and if they ever reach it, it must be from the 
 genius of our institutions." 
 
 He concluded with faith in the general diffusion of 
 the great doctrine of universal brotherhood, and in the 
 spirit of inquiry and freedom of thought. 
 
 This address is singularly impressive, coming from a 
 young man in a preparatory school, and especially as 
 indicating how early in life were established convic- 
 tions that he firmly maintained to the end. It is also 
 interesting to recall that thirty-one years later he was 
 selected to speak for the great city in which he had 
 cast his lot, on the occasion of the one hundredth anni- 
 versary of the signing of the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence, which also coincided with the one hundredth 
 anniversary of the founding of San Francisco itself* 
 
EARLY YEARS 13 
 
 The following year he graduated from Phillips 
 Exeter, honored as class orator and also delivering a 
 notable address on "The Dignity of Learning," before 
 the Golden Branch Society. In this he declared that 
 the highest objects of education are the influences it 
 exerts on character. One striking sentence was : " Man 
 is not educated if his moral and religious nature be not 
 developed ; he is only mangled, and if he is great, he is 
 great in his deformity." 
 
 On June 21, 1883, Dr. Stebbins enjoyed attending 
 the Centennial of Phillips Exeter Academy. It must 
 have been a satisfaction to him to be selected to deliver 
 the oration. 
 
 He left Exeter with little money in his purse. When 
 he reached Boston, it was reduced to three dollars, 
 and he probably had recourse to one of his periodical 
 drafts on his school-teaching bank. He had made 
 friends who believed in him and wanted to help him, 
 and he allowed them to make some small advances 
 during his college and divinity school days ; but he was 
 mainly self-supporting, and had no false pride as to 
 the character of the work that offered. The story of 
 his potato patch was long told at Harvard. He re- 
 ceived from Dr. Noyes, of the Harvard Divinity 
 School, permission to cultivate a vacant field on 
 Oxford Street, near Kirkland Street, where a wing of 
 the Agassiz Museum was afterwards built. It was a 
 dry summer and a hard year for potatoes in Cambridge, 
 but morning and night young Stebbins carried pailful 
 
H HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 after pailful of water from the college pump to supply 
 his need. Other potatoes failed to mature, prices were 
 correspondingly high, and the student-farmer cleared 
 one hundred dollars from his potato patch. 
 
 Horatio Stebbins received his degree at Harvard 
 in 1848. His friend Horace Davis, ten years younger, 
 graduated hi 1849. It may be inferred that the nine 
 years' priority represents about the time taken to 
 overcome the handicap of having to earn his own way. 
 How much it added to the fiber of his character can- 
 not possibly be shown, but no one could know Dr. 
 Stebbins without feeling that his strength and inde- 
 pendence had been largely fostered by his circum- 
 stances. 
 
 There are evident advantages in postponing the 
 study of theology until relative maturity. At the age 
 of twenty-seven a man should have a ripened judg- 
 ment and a firmer grasp on truth than is possible in 
 boyhood. Such an experience as that of young Steb- 
 bins was doubtless a valuable preparatory course, but 
 fortunately he was able to push on now without added 
 delay. He was anxious to find his place in life and to do 
 his work, but he was wise in not taking advantage of 
 opportunities to cut short his training and accept a 
 pulpit hi advance of the completion of his preparatory 
 studies. He resolutely stayed by the Harvard Divinity 
 School, and regularly graduated in the class of 1851. 
 
 This was a momentous year in his life. The impor- 
 tant question of location was first to be determined. 
 
EARLY YEARS 15 
 
 Evidently his promise was immediately recognized, 
 and he was offered the choice of several desirable pul- 
 pits. One was in Boston and would have been taken 
 by almost any graduate, but Horatio Stebbins had a 
 way of thinking a thing out in all its bearings. He had, 
 in the first place, a sincere purpose to render the best 
 possible service. He felt that he was the best judge of 
 his own qualifications and limitations, and that he was 
 better fitted to a country pulpit than to one in a great 
 city. He had known country people all his life, and 
 could get at them and help them far better than the 
 more sophisticated dwellers in the city. Therefore, 
 after careful consideration, he accepted the call to 
 Fitchburg. It was a good church in a manufacturing 
 center about forty miles from Boston. He was or- 
 dained a minister and settled over the church on 
 November 5, 1851. Before entering his ministry he 
 married Mary Ann Fisher, of Northborough. 
 
 Miss Fisher was the daughter of Samuel Fisher and 
 Mary ^Bowman, and the granddaughter of Joseph 
 Bowman and Anna Valentine, representatives of 
 families distinguished in the history of Massachusetts. 
 One of her ancestors, the first of his name in this coun- 
 try, was Advocate- General of the Provinces of Massa- 
 chusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, 
 and is buried in the burying-ground of King's Chapel, 
 Boston, of which church he was a warden. Mary was a 
 beautiful girl, endowed with vivacity and a playful 
 sense of humor, but not robust in health. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 FITCHBURG AND PORTLAND 
 1851-1864 
 
 HORATIO STEBBINS was ordained in Fitchburg as a 
 minister of the Unitarian Church and installed as 
 colleague of the Reverend Calvin Lincoln. The Rev- 
 erend Andrew P. Peabody, of Portsmouth, New 
 Hampshire, preached the sermon, and the Reverend 
 George R. Noyes, the Reverend Converse Francis, the 
 Reverend John F. W. Ware, and others took part in 
 the service. It was an auspicious beginning of a long 
 ministerial career. His wife wrote a glowing account of 
 it to his brother, Dr. Roderick Stebbins, then living at 
 Friendship, New York : 
 
 "Horatio's ordination went off finely. The day was 
 bright and clear a beautiful autumn day. The serv- 
 ices were peculiarly solemn and impressive, of the 
 highest order. Everybody said so. The house was 
 crowded. After the service the ministers and delegates, 
 with their wives and all invited guests, went to the 
 Fitchburg Hotel to dine. We stayed at the hotel until 
 four o'clock, then came home to rest, in order to attend 
 the levee which took place at the hotel in the evening. 
 We went down about seven, and met nearly all the 
 members of the parish. I never was at so large a party 
 before. There were about four hundred there, and we 
 
FITCHBURG AND PORTLAND 17 
 
 were introduced to nearly all and shook hands with 
 them. About nine we went down to the dining-room to 
 refreshments. We had music and songs. It was a 
 grand affair. It showed the good feeling of the people. 
 They have all been very cordial. Nothing could be 
 more so. Do not think, my dear brother, that we are 
 carried away with all this. It is not so. We feel that 
 we are among our friends, and feel grateful for their 
 kindness and cordiality." 
 
 Her husband added a postscript : "I find myself with 
 a whole village on my shoulders. There is a great 
 parish here, numbering two hundred families at least, 
 and among them a good sprinkling of educated and 
 clear-headed men. I have got something to do to keep 
 up to their expectations. Mary is a great help to me 
 by her affectionate discretion and quick sense of 
 propriety without referring to rules. My dear brother, 
 not a day passes in which you do not make a part of 
 our conversation. We think of you and talk of you by 
 ourselves, for our hearts delight to turn toward you, 
 and to love you. 
 
 " Your dear brother, HORATIO STEBBINS." 
 His wife closed the letter with a second postscript, 
 giving an interesting side of the new life: "He mar- 
 ried a couple the day after the ordination, for which he 
 received five dollars. That belongs to me, of course, 
 and now, if anything is wanted, why, he thinks I can 
 get it, as I have money enough. I hope he'll get an- 
 other job soon." 
 
i8 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 Fitchburg adjoins Leominster, where I spent most of 
 my boyhood. It was about five miles from church to 
 church, and the two ministers frequently exchanged 
 pulpits. I found the tall young minister a most attrac- 
 tive visitor. He was impressive even to a boy. His 
 appearance and manner were different from those of 
 any one else. His was a new pattern, and he said 
 things in his own way. I was always interested in his 
 texts, which were unworn by common usage. I was 
 not equal to following him closely, and I knew nothing 
 about originality or personality, but I now see why 
 he seemed distinctive and pleasing. He used rather 
 long words, I thought, and he preached to men rather 
 than boys, but I liked him, for he was genuine and 
 strong. 
 
 There was poor connection between the towns, long 
 before the day of street cars, and when the ministers 
 exchanged they usually walked. Naturally they met 
 as they went home, and they often stopped to talk. 
 Years afterwards Dr. Stebbins related an experience. 
 Amos Smith, our Leominster minister, was a man of 
 rare kindliness, very good but bland, piously emo- 
 tional, and not forceful. He was fond of Stebbins and 
 wanted to help him. One day they had an earnest talk. 
 As they parted, he stretched himself up on his toes, 
 grasped his towering brother by his collar, and ex- 
 claimed : "Stebbins, Stebbins, you must try to be 
 spiritual!" " While aU the time," Dr. Stebbins said, 
 "I was trying to hold myself in and be moderate in 
 
FITCHBURG AND PORTLAND 19 
 
 expressing my deep feeling." However, it is to be 
 admitted that in earlier years his intellect seemed pre- 
 dominant. His clear, thorough thought was so evident 
 that his feelings were less readily recognized, and the 
 indwelling spirit was hidden as are the stars at midday. 
 As he ripened he mellowed, and more and more he 
 became the seer and the prophet commandingly 
 spiritual. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins was well liked by his Fitchburg parish, 
 and declined a number of calls to leave them. One of 
 these calls, in 1852, was from the church in San Fran- 
 cisco. It was a kind providence that left that particu- 
 lar church to be ministered to eight years later by Starr 
 King, and also allowed Horatio Stebbins to grow and 
 ripen for twelve years, gaining firm mastery of great 
 principles that enabled him powerfully to supplement 
 the brilliant leadership of King. 
 
 At the death of Dr. Stebbins the Springfield Repub- 
 lican related a characteristic incident of his Fitchburg 
 ministry that throws light on how he captured his first 
 followers. When he was pastor in Fitchburg, accord- 
 ing to this narrative, he set out to interest a close-fisted 
 farmer who had long been the terror of the clergymen 
 of Fitchburg and the hard case of the town. Calling 
 on this farmer one day, he found him at work in the 
 hay-field, and drew him into conversation about farm- 
 ing, a subject with which his early experience had 
 made him familiar. 
 
 "You like farmin' ? Can ye mow?" said the fanner. 
 
do HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 "Oh, yes, I used to mow a little when I was a boy," 
 was the reply. 
 
 "I'd like to lay a swath with ye," said the farmer. 
 
 "All right," replied the doctor, as he stripped off his 
 coat. 
 
 The fanner chuckled, for his prowess with the scythe 
 was the pride of his life, and he dearly loved to test the 
 endurance of rival mowers and exult in their downfall. 
 He gave the doctor the choice of his scythes. The 
 latter picked out a good one, and the two strode in 
 silence to the part of the unmown field where the grass 
 stood the tallest. The doctor struck in, followed by 
 the farmer, and so strong and powerful were the clergy- 
 man's strokes that the farmer could hardly follow him. 
 
 "You are the only man I ever saw that could lead 
 me at the end of the round," he said. "I guess I'll 
 have to come to hear you preach next Sunday, by 
 gosh," he remarked as he wiped the perspiration from 
 his brow. 
 
 Early in 1854 Dr. Stebbins was invited by the people 
 of the "Old First Parish" of Portland, Maine, to be- 
 come the associate of that remarkable and beloved 
 man, Ichabod Nichols, for whom he entertained great 
 admiration and regard. In later life Dr. Stebbins wrote 
 of him : "He was a man of genius, too little known but 
 thought by those who knew him to be one of the 
 unknown great men. His mind was essentially poetic 
 and saw truth as by spiritual vision. He was present 
 at Baltimore when Charming preached the great ser- 
 
FITCHBURG AND PORTLAND 21 
 
 mon there the most polished theologic weapon of 
 that period. Dr. Nichols told me that before Channing 
 preached, on the morning of the day, he read the ser- 
 mon to him, Nichols, asking his opinion concerning 
 the discourse. Dr. Nichols, in his modesty, said to me, 
 'I considered that a great honor.' I always thought 
 that Ichabod Nichols was as great a man as Channing, 
 though without Channing's consciousness and will." 
 
 Dr. Stebbins accepted the call, not that he was dis- 
 satisfied with Fitchburg, but from a desire to be associ- 
 ated with a man so eminent and to gain added oppor- 
 tunity for service. 
 
 At the installation on January 31, 1855, the sermon 
 was by the Reverend George E. Ellis of Charlestown. 
 Dr. Peabody, the Reverend Joseph H. Allen of 
 Bangor, the Reverend Cyrus A. Bartol of Boston, and 
 the Reverend Loammi G. Ware of Augusta, shared in 
 the service, and the senior pastor, the Reverend Icha- 
 bod Nichols, made the prayer of installation. Perhaps 
 no other church in the land had had an equal record of 
 long ministries. The Reverend Thomas Smith served 
 for seventy years from 1725; the Reverend Samuel 
 Deane, forty-five years; and Dr. Nichols had served 
 forty-six years when Dr. Stebbins became his associ- 
 ate. It cannot be doubted that, but for the imperative 
 call to fill the gap when Starr King fell, nine years later, 
 he would have spent the remainder of his life in the 
 dearly loved Portland parish and equaled the term of 
 his two predecessors. 
 
22 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 Dr. Nichols died early in January, 1859. On the 
 Sunday following, Dr. Stebbins preached from the 
 text: "All saw his face, as it had been an Angel." 
 A brief extract from the concluding paragraphs ex- 
 presses his estimate and admiration: "His was the 
 heroism of saintship, the heroism of thought, aspira- 
 tion, and obedience: a mysterious, childlike man, a 
 man whose best words were spoken upon the air and 
 cannot be gathered, who could hardly read his own 
 sermons after the ink was dry, so did his mind, con- 
 tinually renewed by the freshness of its life, throw off 
 its past states and forget itself ; who in a casual talk 
 would immortalize an hour by making it a seed-plot 
 of principles, and fill the air around with shivering 
 rays of intellectual light amid which his face was as the 
 face of an angel ; a man who appreciated Christ as the 
 ideal of our humanity, and not less his washing his 
 disciples' feet. What testimony to the spirit his last 
 days yielded, we have all heard. He died in that high 
 serenity which was appropriate alike to the philo- 
 sophic dignity of his life, and the simplicity and 
 humbleness of his faith." 
 
 On the 1 5th of June, 1763, the town of South Wil- 
 braham, the birthplace of Horatio Stebbins, was incor- 
 porated, and the one hundredth anniversary was 
 appropriately honored. The Reverend Rufus Phineas 
 Stebbins delivered the historical address and his cousin, 
 Horatio, traveled from his Portland parish to be 
 present The address was too long for complete deliv- 
 
FITCHBURG AND PORTLAND 23 
 
 ery. After having read from it for what seemed a 
 decent time the orator offered to desist, but was urged 
 to go on, so he continued until he had spoken for two 
 and a half hours, and even then left much unsaid. It 
 was afterwards published with additions as a history 
 of the town. After the exercises there was a dinner, 
 and then more felicitations. 
 
 Among other sons who had come far, Horatio Steb- 
 bins was called upon. He said : 
 
 "My kinsman, the orator of the day, will pardon 
 me if I have seemed to listen with half-intent and 
 wandering mind, for I have been everywhere to-day, 
 drawn by magic powers of the air. I have been back to 
 childhood. All the hilltops have blazed in recollection, 
 and I see the earth and sky again as they seemed 
 spread above and around my father's house! The 
 hills are mountains and prop the heavens with ever- 
 lasting support ; the 'goat rocks/ halfway up the slop- 
 ing hillside, rise grim and gray, and my voice echoes 
 in the cave beneath, peopled with shadows and half- 
 terrors ; the Scan tic River is a flood, rolling in might 
 and majesty toward the sea ; the old mill in the moun- 
 tain pass grinds away, and I grope carefully in its 
 dusky light, with a childish curiosity and wonder ; and 
 no huntsman 'in at the death* so thrills with tremu- 
 lous delight, as I, when, drawing the bleating flock 
 closer and closer, they stand, huddled beneath the 
 great button wood, at the sheep- washing. Mr. Presi- 
 dent, you never saw such a tree as stood before my 
 
*4 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 grandmother's door; it was a mighty tree! the 
 noontide glory rested upon its head, its branches 
 reached from the east to the west, and touched the 
 morning and the evening ; it was a wonderful tree, by 
 midday or moonlight ; beauty, grandeur, and strength 
 had their abiding-place in it ; in the winter, cold and 
 bare, it stood shadowless, severe and unrelenting ; in 
 summer, it was benignant, kind, and merciful; it 
 always had the same aspect with the heavens, and, like 
 the heavens, seemed to have stood forever ! But, the 
 prosaic suggestions of mature years hint that all this 
 is a sort of childish wonder and exaggeration" ; and 
 he closed with thoughts suggested by the words of the 
 Preacher, "One generation goeth and another genera- 
 tion cometh, but the earth abideth forever." 
 
 Portland always held a warm spot in Dr. Stebbins's 
 heart, and he was very happy there. One of his parish- 
 ioners has written of his ministry : "His manner and 
 voice and words in the pulpit excited in others the high 
 thoughts and emotions with which his own mind and 
 heart were kindled." It was a sad day for the parish 
 when it parted company with him. Dr. James De 
 Normandie writes : 
 
 "When I was settled over the South Parish in Ports- 
 mouth, in 1862, Dr. Stebbins had been for seven years 
 the minister of the First Parish in Portland, and had 
 attracted great attention by his strong preaching and 
 powerful appeals for the Union just as the Civil War 
 was coming on. When I was invited to become his 
 
FITCHBURG AND PORTLAND 25 
 
 successor in 1865, I heard much about his ministry; 
 and one incident, told me again and again, is strongly 
 characteristic of the man. 
 
 "In his parish, as in all old, wealthy, conservative 
 parishes in New England, there were at that time some 
 whod eplored any reference in the Sunday services to 
 the war or to slavery. They were bound up in com- 
 mercial interests with the South or they were disturbed 
 about the future of the land, and developed a sudden 
 desire to hear what they called the gospel when they 
 went to church, and not politics, which meant the 
 events that were stirring the whole country. 
 
 "One day a committee waited upon Dr. Stebbins to 
 say that they feared there was a good deal of dissatis- 
 faction about his political sermons, and that they 
 might break up the parish. ' Who are the dissatisfied 
 ones? 1 he asked. They did not care to mention any 
 names ; but thought there was, among many, an under- 
 current of unrest which boded no good. Some of the 
 best supporters of the church might fall away. 'Who 
 are the satisfied ones ? ' he asked. * The most, of course, 
 seem to be ; only some of us do not like to hear every 
 Sunday about the disturbing topics of which the week 
 is full.' 'Well,' said Dr. Stebbins, 'I know one person 
 who is satisfied that the minister is doing his duty, and 
 that is Horatio Stebbins ; and as long as he feels this, 
 such sermons will be preached.'" 
 
 In 1864 Dr. Stebbins received an attractive and 
 earnest call to the church in Springfield. He had a 
 
26 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 % 
 
 great fondness for that city, and it at first tempted 
 him, but, after considering all the circumstances, he 
 felt that it was his plain duty to stay by his Portland 
 church, and he declined the honor. When he attended 
 the high school hi Springfield he was chore boy in the 
 home of Mr. George Dwight and became much at- 
 tached to the family. After declining the call he wrote 
 to Mrs. Dwight, his almost lifelong friend : 
 
 Portland, March 14, 1864 
 MY DEAR MRS. DWIGHT, 
 
 Shall I pour into your ear the story of my lovesick 
 heart? I know you will listen, and pity all my weak- 
 ness and soothe my pain. 
 
 The invitation of the parish at Springfield quite 
 flooded me. The past all rushed in on me and carried 
 me away. The thought of going in my mature youth 
 to be he religious counselor of men whom I obeyed as 
 a servant : the possibility that I might sit at their bed- 
 side to talk of eternal things, when the world was sink- 
 ing into the gray mist, quite unmanned me, in view of 
 the ways of Providence and its guidance of me. I 
 believe in my soul there was not a particle of conceit, 
 but tears, and humility, and love, and gratitude. I 
 have come within an inch of going to Springfield, but, 
 when I put the question to my deliberate moral judg- 
 ment, I could not find a sufficient cause. I have writ- 
 ten to Mr. Chapin declining the invitation. I know 
 how deeply you and Mr. Chapin will regret it, but I 
 
FITCHBURG AND PORTLAND 27 
 
 beg of you to offset your disappointment by a thought 
 of the conflict in my own heart. How glad I was to see 
 Mr. Dwight! Will he ever come again? Will the 
 Springfield people ever want to see me again ? I hope 
 they will. Now that is all over, let me assure you again 
 and again of my frequent thoughts and undiminished 
 love. HORATIO 
 
 The Portland years of ministry were happy and 
 prosperous. Horatio Stebbins steadily grew hi favor 
 and in power. The parish had always enjoyed able 
 ministers and high standards, and it was more than 
 satisfied with his service. The period was not without 
 its difficulties. At the opening of the Civil War trying 
 problems presented themselves, and there was con- 
 stant need for prompt decision on new issues. Men 
 were troubled, for the heavens were dark, and they 
 were called to act where they were in doubt. On the 
 Sunday following the fall of Fort Sumter, the congre- 
 gation found the pulpit draped with the American flag. 
 It disturbed and shocked some of the more conserva- 
 tive. They had never seen a flag in a church, and they 
 felt that it was out of place. They thought the minister 
 indiscreet, and promptly warned him of the danger in 
 raising an issue that had nothing to do with religion. 
 He had counted the cost, but his religion included 
 loyalty to country, and the flag remained, with its 
 full significance. 
 
 While Horatio Stebbins was supporting the cause of 
 
a8 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 *\ 
 
 the Union in Far-East Maine, Starr King was zeal- 
 ously sustaining the same cause in the Far-West. 
 Suddenly, from a clear sky, came a thunderbolt of 
 dismay. Starr King had fallen at his post, as much a 
 martyr as any soldier called to die for his country. He 
 had done his full part. California was loyal. To his 
 denominational brethren the loss seemed well-nigh 
 irreparable. A stricken church, representing a great 
 empire, called for the best that could be given them, 
 and the selection of the man who could supply the 
 loss and hold what King had gained was left by com- 
 mon consent to the recognized leader of the Unitarian 
 denomination, Dr. Henry W. Bellows, of New York, 
 a man of consummate ability and discretion. With the 
 full approval of his brethren, he fixed upon Horatio 
 Stebbins as the man best equipped to fill the vacant 
 pulpit. Within thirty days Stebbins had accepted the 
 call and given his consent to a momentous change in 
 the whole course of his life. It was hard to leave Port- 
 land. The people were dear to him. They had appre- 
 ciated and stood by him and he had no desire to 
 change, but he felt that he must not decline a clear 
 duty in a great emergency, whatever regret it involved. 
 Dr. Bellows went to San Francisco to comfort the 
 people and prepare the way, and for four months Dr. 
 Stebbins filled the pulpit of All Souls' Church in New 
 York. 
 
 On the i3th of August, 1864, he sailed for Cali- 
 fornia by way of the Isthmus of Panama, taking the 
 
FITCHBURG AND PORTLAND 29 
 
 oath of allegiance on the way. With him were his wife, 
 their two children, Mary Louise and Roderick, and his 
 wife's sister, Miss Ellen F. Fisher. They had an 
 uneventful passage and arrived in San Francisco on 
 the morning of September 7. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 WITH THE SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH 
 
 IT is fitting that Dr. Stebbins should be allowed to tell 
 the story of his reception in San Francisco and his 
 first impressions. Five days after his arrival he wrote 
 to Mrs. Dwight: 
 
 Here we are, as you have already heard by the 
 dispatch. Our voyage has been prosperous, with only 
 the usual toils of the sea, sickness and tedium. First 
 impressions are pleasant. Of course, the object of 
 first interest was the church. It is beyond my ex- 
 pectations, a very impressive structure, externally 
 and internally; all in all, the finest Protestant preach- 
 ing-house I have ever been in. It seats fifteen hun- 
 dred people, is lighted from above, has a very fine 
 pulpit and a baptismal font of singular beauty, indeed, 
 of impressive art. 
 
 Yesterday morning the services of installation were 
 held, and were attended by an almost vast audience, 
 hundreds going away unable to gain admission. The 
 intensest interest was felt by the people to see the man 
 whom they had taken on trust. Many I noticed weep- 
 ing, as I went in, touched by memories so dear and 
 tender as have rarely clustered around the name of any 
 public man. It was a trying time. I went through it 
 
THE SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH 31 
 
 with self-possession, but this holding the heart in the 
 teeth is hard and wearing, and I am glad it is over, 
 though I am not sorry for a single twinge of pain my 
 heart has borne. I never felt more free from anxiety 
 than now. The people were evidently put to rest by 
 the morning services, and they breathe free, now that 
 they take up the journey again. I preached a straight, 
 simple little sermon, which my wife was immensely 
 delighted with. The trustees of the church, and the 
 Governor of the State were in the pulpit, and an audi- 
 ence before me of plucky-looking, come-if-you-dare, 
 magnanimous, tender-hearted people. General Wilson 
 (Long Wilson) was there and after the service, he 
 shook me, and blessed me, and laughed and wept. 
 
 Yours, H. S. 
 
 The First Unitarian Church of San Francisco dates 
 back to 1850. In the marvelous coming the year 
 before of the gold-led, adventure-prompted of every 
 land, many New Englanders were numbered. They 
 formed the backbone of the new community, and were 
 especially active in the commercial and mercantile 
 life of San Francisco. It happened that the Reverend 
 Charles A. Farley, a Unitarian minister formerly in 
 Maine, was in the city, and when this became known 
 to a group of pioneers who were loyal Unitarians and 
 had pleasant memories of church gatherings "at 
 home," he was persuaded to hold a public meeting in a 
 hall on Sacramento Street above Montgomery, and 
 
32 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 an advertisement in the Alia California gave notice of 
 Unitarian religious services on October 20, 1850. In 
 response a good number assembled, probably nearly 
 all men, as few women had accompanied their hus- 
 bands in the pursuit of a fortune assumed to be 
 % speedily attainable. Some of the men were acquainted, 
 while others met for the first time. They enjoyed the 
 simple service, which was like a breath of fresh air in a 
 sultry day. One man supplied a hymn-book, another 
 a collection of tunes, and a former parishioner of Mr. 
 Farley led the singing with his violin. After the serv- 
 ice twenty-five men remained and made plans to 
 continue. On November 17 a church was organized, 
 and Mr. Farley filled the pulpit until April, 1851, 
 when he returned to New England and services were 
 necessarily suspended. Two severe fires discouraged 
 immediate effort, and it was January, 1852, before 
 a fresh start was made. Then a lot was purchased, 
 and the effort to secure a minister began by corre- 
 spondence. That took time in those days, and it was 
 August before the Reverend Joseph Harrington, who 
 had accepted the call, arrived and began to preach with 
 great promise. In a few weeks he was taken seriously 
 ill and on November 2 he died. Correspondence was 
 resumed, and a church was erected on Stockton Street 
 near Clay Street. The Reverend Frederick T. Gray, 
 of the Bulfinch Street Church, Boston, agreed to come 
 to California for a year. He arrived in June, 1853, 
 dedicated the church soon afterwards, and organized 
 
THE SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH 33 
 
 a Sunday School. At the end of a prosperous year, the 
 Reverend Rufus P. Cutler, of Portland, Maine, became 
 the minister and served nearly five years. The Rev- 
 erend J. A. Buckingham then filled the pulpit for about 
 ten months until the arrival of the Reverend Thomas 
 Starr King, who had received leave of absence for a 
 year from his parishioners in the Hollis Street Church, 
 Boston. He was not in rigorous health, and hoped 
 that a brief visit to California would restore him. He 
 entered upon the work with interest and enthusiasm, 
 and aroused immediate ardent response. The people 
 flocked to the church in great numbers and their sup- 
 port gave it new impulse and vigorous life. They had 
 been a struggling handful. The church was in debt for 
 twenty thousand dollars, on which it was paying inter- 
 est at one per cent a month. Nothing daunted, Mr. 
 King threw himself into his arduous work with resist- 
 less vigor, and within a year he disposed of the debt 
 and all discouragement. He became so impressed with 
 the opportunity for service that he extended his term 
 indefinitely. 
 
 Then came the Civil War, and, when he added 
 patriotic leadership to his exacting church duties, he 
 became the acknowledged champion of national loy- 
 alty and California's foremost citizen. He lectured in 
 all parts of the State, aroused the people, and had a 
 large part in cementing a sense of devotion to the 
 Union that turned the scale in doubtful California. 
 He was active politically, and supported with elo- 
 
34 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 quence and wit those who represented loyalty. Se- 
 cession thwarted, he turned his energy to sustaining 
 the Sanitary Commission, of which his close friend, the 
 Reverend Henry W. Bellows, was the head. Under 
 King's brilliant leadership the Pacific Coast, with 
 half a million people, gave to the Commission $1,500,- 
 ooo, one third of the whole amount contributed. The 
 rest of the Union, with 34,000,000, gave $3,000,000, 
 two thirds. 
 
 In 1863 King devoted much time and energy to 
 raising money for the beautiful church on Geary Street 
 near Stockton Street, which was joyfully dedicated in 
 January, 1864. He had preached only seven Sundays, 
 when he was attacked with diphtheria. He seemed to 
 have no power of resistance and breathed his last on 
 March 4, confirming a premonition that he would not 
 reach the age of forty. The City, the State, and the 
 Nation were plunged hi grief. He was mourned and 
 honored in a degree that seldom falls to the lot of man. 
 On the day of his burial, courts adjourned, after extoll- 
 ing his merits ; activities ceased ; and from the fortifica- 
 tions in the harbor the Government authorities ordered 
 a salute. A special ordinance was passed permitting 
 the interment of his body beside the church which 
 was itself a real monument of his love, that passers- 
 by might ever be reminded of his service and sacrifice. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins paid this tribute to his predecessor at 
 an early anniversary: " Thomas Starr King is the 
 happy name of one of the most interesting men that 
 
THE SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH 35 
 
 American society has ever known. In the union of 
 solid qualities of mind with brilliant fancy sparkling 
 with persuasive oratory, and with sincere and reverent 
 feeling, he was almost without a peer, and perhaps 
 never surpassed. His place during the Civil War gave 
 his life and influence a national import, and made his 
 name as brilliant as the day. Amid his great and pure 
 popularity, there was not a touch of conceit, but he 
 won the admiration of his fellow-men with the sweet 
 simplicity of an unconscious child. The tendency of 
 popularity is often to lower the tone of thought and 
 action, but Mr. King was popular on a higher plane 
 than any other man of his generation. He had a kind 
 of homespun sympathy with all human feeling, that 
 lifted other men up to him, rather than pulled him 
 down. He had a shrewd knowledge of men and experi- 
 ence and was at home with a hunter in the mountains, 
 as in the brilliant circle of literature, philosophy, and 
 religion. His death was mourned by guides at the 
 White Mountains, by miners in the Sierras, by soldiers 
 in the army, by philosophers and legislators. When I 
 came here to the church, soon after I had landed, in 
 company with Henry W. Bellows, it seemed to me as if 
 the building wept" 
 
 Horatio Stebbins performed an act of great heroism 
 when he accepted the duty to succeed Thomas Starr 
 King. He knew well what it implied and indulged no 
 self-satisfied expectations. He knew the cost, but was 
 not concerned with anything so comparatively unim- 
 
36 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 portant as self-interest, or so unessential as personal 
 success. He indulged no illusion of filling Mr. King's 
 place. He stood on his own feet to make his own place 
 and to do his own work in his own way, with such 
 results as might come, and he was undisturbed and 
 self-respecting. 
 
 Horatio Stebbins had striking personality. He was 
 a strongly marked individual. It is related that on one 
 occasion, when he was awaiting the arrival of a mem- 
 ber of his family at the Oakland Mole, he noticed two 
 men furtively watching him. Finally they approached, 
 and the bolder of the two hesitatingly addressed him : 
 "Excuse me, but would you mind telling us who you 
 are, as my friend and I have made a bet on it ? " They 
 were so impressed by his appearance that they felt 
 sure he was somebody of importance. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins once took me with him on a May 
 Meeting pilgrimage to Boston. One evening George 
 William Curtis, admirably presiding, introduced suc- 
 cessively, Dr. Hedge, Dr. Stebbins, and Dr. Andrew P. 
 Peabody. In presenting the latter he related an inter- 
 esting incident. On a certain Sunday morning young 
 Peabody had supplied the Cambridge pulpit. As the 
 congregation passed out, a stranger politely asked an 
 evident member if he could tell him the name of the 
 youthful preacher who had preached so fine a sermon. 
 "That," replied the native, "was Andrew Peabody." 
 "Peabody, Peabody?" exclaimed the stranger, "I 
 was sure he was some body." 
 
THE SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH 37 
 
 Dr. Stebbins once met was never forgotten. His 
 erect, towering form, his dignified bearing, his strong 
 face, his expressive eyes, his polished manner arrested 
 attention. His dress was not ecclesiastical, but fitted 
 his calling and suggested a New England gentleman. 
 It seemed never to vary. In the pulpit he was at ease, 
 with no evidence of self-consciousness. He seemed 
 never to strive for effect. He was reverent in manner, 
 deeply earnest, but never excited or vociferous. He 
 expressed his inmost feelings and his full thought, 
 speaking, as he was wont to say, from the level of his 
 mind. His noble voice often thrilled with deep emo- 
 tion, and he was eloquent in the best sense, but nothing 
 was ever assumed for effect. He spoke straight on, 
 always natural and true, never unduly concerned for 
 immediate results. He held himself to strict responsi- 
 bility for faithful effort, but what came from it was 
 beyond his control. A sentence from one of his pub- 
 lished prayers embodies his deep philosophy: "Help 
 us, each one in his place, in the place which is provi- 
 dentially allotted to us in life, to act well our part with 
 consecrated will, with pure affection, with simplicity 
 of heart ; to do our duty, and to leave the rest to 
 God." 
 
 It was wholly in this spirit that Dr. Stebbins took up 
 the work of his gifted and brilliant predecessor. He 
 was a very different type of man, less magnetic, more 
 reserved, in comparison even severe, with a strong 
 emotional nature held firmly in check. He had little 
 
3 8 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 popular charm. He was independent, original, and 
 of marked intellectual power. Those who did not know 
 him, or who tried to patronize him, thought him cold. 
 He was incapable of pretense and could not assume 
 fictitious friendliness, but he had a heart that throbbed 
 with sympathy and affection, and he was the staunch- 
 est of friends. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins was an inspiring preacher. His great 
 faith was transfused, reenforcing that of his hearers. 
 The strength of the spirit was made manifest, and 
 righteousness was held up as reasonable service. His 
 lofty thoughts were clothed in language of great 
 beauty, poetic in imagery and majestic in diction. His 
 voice was rich, full, and thrilling, organ-like in quality. 
 His presence was deeply impressive in its calm power 
 and reverent simplicity. Intellectual honesty was ap- 
 parent in every word, as he spoke the truth he saw 
 or felt. He was undisturbed by lack of appreciation. 
 Such results as popular applause and admiring throngs 
 were not considered, and he seemed almost distrustful 
 of a crowd. His pulse never quickened when an 
 occasion quite filled the church, and it gave him no 
 especial satisfaction to have Easter marked by chair- 
 filled aisles. He preferred the ordinary routine serv- 
 ice, calm and natural, with the usual congregation 
 attentive and worshipful. As a crowd did not inspire 
 him to special effort, so a scanty audience did not 
 depress him. Numbers had no great interest, and 
 he smiled indulgently on those dependent on them. 
 
THE SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH 39 
 
 He once said to me, "I have never been guilty of 
 counting my congregation." He was by no means 
 indifferent to approval and appreciation, but he never 
 depended on it. He moved steadily and serenely, 
 above elation at popularity or dejection at apparent 
 neglect. He was never given to complaint and never 
 was censorious. His people were never scolded for 
 what they failed to do, nor prodded to immediate 
 action. He was long-minded and patient. Nothing 
 excited him to passionate denunciation or frenzied 
 appeal. He never stormed at sinners, but he could be 
 appropriately severe and never failed uncompromis- 
 ingly to denounce wrong. His gospel was the reality 
 and supremacy of the spirit, the integrity of the Uni- 
 verse, and the beauty of holiness. He was fearless and 
 free. He respected man and he trusted God. He 
 sought abundant life, and he walked humbly, in faith- 
 fulness and honor. He commanded complete respect 
 and confidence, and as time went on he gained a firm 
 hold on the affections of his parishioners and the regard 
 of the community. 
 
 It was remarkable that a body of people so devoted 
 to King, should readily accept a successor with so 
 different a personality, but the substitution had little 
 effect on personnel or numbers. Mr. King's best 
 friends became the strongest supporters of Dr. Steb- 
 bins and the church went steadily on. One reason for 
 this was that the difference was more apparent than 
 
40 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 real, more superficial than essential. Their funda- 
 mental message was the same. Their idea of God, their 
 regard for man, their love of truth, and their trust in 
 Goodness were the same. No one was called to give 
 up accepted faith or to accept new and strange teach- 
 ings. Differences in manner or manners and diversity 
 of gifts were unimportant, and the unity and harmony 
 of the church was undisturbed. Again, both were loyal 
 to the denomination, but made it secondary to religion. 
 Their perspective was much the same, and to both the 
 individual was responsible to God as a human being, 
 and not as a church member. Dr. Stebbins looked 
 askance at one who professed religion as something 
 special and uncommon. He ministered to humanity 
 and placed manhood first. He had no great regard for 
 organizations to promote mere church activity, and 
 was somewhat suspicious of people who were anx- 
 iously busy and restless. He had little sympathy with 
 the specifically institutional church. His reliance was 
 in the spirit, and he appealed to the spiritual power in 
 man for its translation into life. 
 
 He sympathized with all sorts of people and ap- 
 pealed naturally to an uncommonly wide circle of 
 individuals. He was once walking with a lady, one of 
 his parishioners, when a man, shabby in appearance, 
 bowed effusively and asked for a moment's conversa- 
 tion. When Dr. Stebbins rejoined the lady he said: 
 "It seems as if I were father-confessor to all the 
 broken-down hackmen in town. He had to tell me his 
 
THE SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH 41 
 
 troubles. He is doing better, but sometimes he falls 
 down." The incident was typical. 
 
 When Starr Kingwason his death-bed, self-possessed 
 and calm, he asked that no indebtedness should remain 
 on the new church building to harass his successor, 
 but that, free of all debt, it should be his monument 
 he wanted no other. Dr. Stebbins came with the 
 understanding that this had been done, but the failure 
 of a few persons to meet their pledges had left a con- 
 siderable sum unpaid and the situation was embarrass- 
 ing. Dr. Stebbins felt strongly that it was vital for 
 the future of the church to have this debt paid. This 
 was finally accomplished, and the necessary effort 
 resulted in a fixed policy that debt should not be 
 allowed to accumulate. If at the end of any year a 
 deficit develops members of the church subscribe the 
 amount needed and start anew. This habit has had 
 great advantage. 
 
 The domestic life of Dr. Stebbins was very beautiful. 
 He came to California accompanied by his wife, al- 
 ready, however, in broken health, and a dearly loved 
 son and daughter. The long illness and the death of his 
 wife, and the marriage and death of his daughter were 
 severe trials, but not consuming fires. Paul adjured 
 the Ephesians "having done all, to stand." Dr. 
 Stebbins did all, and stood. His son Roderick, named 
 for his beloved brother, was a great comfort. Their 
 relations were always close. When the small boy 
 reached the church-going age, he would walk home 
 
42 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 . % 
 
 holding his father's hand. One day his father had 
 preached from the text: "I and my Father are one." 
 The happy boy said: "I could understand that. He 
 and his father were one just as you and I are one." 
 Dr. Stebbins watched the education and development 
 of the thoughtful youth with deep sympathy and was 
 thankful when he chose the ministry as his life-work. 
 Roderick's early settlement in Milton, Massachusetts, 
 was a great satisfaction to him, and it was a blessing to 
 be near him in the closing days of earthly life. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins was at first domiciled at 930 Clay 
 Street, above Stockton Street, in what was at that time 
 a favorite residential district. In 1870 he took a suit- 
 able house at 1 6 Ellis Street, which he occupied for 
 seven years, and it was here that his wife, who had 
 long been in failing health, died. Her sister, the chil- 
 dren's "Aunt Nellie," died here also. Dr. Stebbins 
 then removed to 739 Bush Street. Here, and after- 
 wards at 831 on the same street, he lived for eight 
 years, and then settled at 1609 Larkin Street to 
 remain seventeen years, until he went back to New 
 England. During all his long residence in the city he 
 occupied only rented houses. He said he considered 
 it too presumptive of permanency for a minister to 
 buy a house, even if he could. 
 
 He thoroughly enjoyed hospitality. He took delight 
 in having his friends at his table, and his wonderful, 
 happy table-talk made memorable every opportunity 
 to enjoy it. He lived well but frugally. His tastes were 
 
THE SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH 43 
 
 simple and he was never self-indulgent, but one thing 
 he considered essential : he wanted to keep warm, and 
 delighted in a wood fire. He followed the inherited 
 custom of New England, and in the fall of the year 
 stored his basement with a good supply of cord-wood 
 for winter use. Sometimes the limited size of his grate 
 fireplace necessitated short lengths, but he enjoyed to 
 the full what he could get. Another simple indulgence, 
 from which he derived surprising satisfaction, was a 
 cup of tea of good blend well brewed. He was partial 
 to a certain brand of English breakfast tea, generally 
 had it, and finished his cup with apparent reluctance. 
 I recall an occasion when he and his wife were the first 
 dinner guests of a friendly couple essaying housekeep- 
 ing. The simple dinner, cooked on a tiny oil stove, had 
 been fairly satisfactory, and when the cup of tea was 
 served the pains taken gained rich reward. Tasting it 
 lingeringly, he turned to Mrs. Stebbins, saying, with a 
 tone and emphasis all his own, " That, my dear, is a cup 
 of tea/" He was the most appreciative of mortals, and 
 the most courteous, nor did he reserve his courtly 
 manners for friends and favorites. He was as polite 
 and considerate to his cook or the policeman on the 
 beat as he was to his banker or the queenliest lady 
 parishioner. 
 
 I remember that once, when he returned from an 
 Eastern trip, I inquired how he was impressed by a 
 man whom I knew he had met He shook his head as 
 he said: "I was disappointed in him; I heard him 
 
44 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 speak discourteously to a cab-driver." He was a con- 
 sistent democrat, always considerate and kindly, and 
 so it happened that rot a man who ever sawed wood 
 for him, or drove his hack, or checked his baggage, 
 failed to be his admiring friend. 
 
 Dr, Stebbins was a very tolerant man. He seemed to 
 look for, and find, the good in every one, but there were 
 some things for which he could make no excuse ; and 
 he was capable of withering scorn. If a man was mean, 
 if he abused a trust for personal advantage, he need 
 not expect to go unrebuked. Dr. Stebbins could be 
 severe, but he reserved his severity for occasions when 
 it was clearly demanded. He measured men by no 
 petty standard, he was by nature generous, he recog- 
 nized limitations and was patient with mistakes, but 
 a sneak or a hypocrite he could not treat with com- 
 placence. 
 
 He was outspoken, apt to say what he thought, and 
 not inclined, even at a funeral, to hold back what 
 he really felt and believed. He reverenced the truth 
 supremely, and had no tact that involved dishonesty. 
 He never sought to please by agreeing with what was 
 popular but doubtful. His integrity was fundamental. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins was not only an able preacher, but also 
 a most sympathetic minister. To those bereaved by 
 death he brought rare power of comfort. His feelings 
 were deep and tender, and the tone of his voice and 
 the clasp of his hand brought assurance of sincerity 
 and love. As he mourned with those who mourned, 
 
THE SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH 45 
 
 he rejoiced with those who rejoiced. At a wedding he 
 was very happy, although the ceremony was always 
 impressively serious, never taken as a matter of little 
 importance. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins was a noticeable figure on the streets 
 of San Francisco. He was an inch over six feet in 
 height, well-proportioned, well-dressed, deliberate in 
 his movements. He was courteous and considerate, 
 and seemed never hurried or worried. He was always 
 ready to exchange a cordial pleasantry with an ac- 
 quaintance, but, as he had not a retentive memory for 
 people he had merely met, and never assumed a 
 warmth of feeling for effect, it happened sometimes 
 that with no basis of fact he was thought unresponsive. 
 
 While essentially a serious man, engrossed in his 
 great calling, he was not burdened by it. He loved it 
 and was at peace with the world which he found beau- 
 tiful and kindly. He met its trials trustingly and 
 enjoyed life from day to day. In moments of whole- 
 some relaxation, his mind played with ideas and he 
 had a fund of characteristic humor, not nimble and 
 trifling, sometimes even ponderous, but always kindly 
 and considerate. He was often playful and whimsical. 
 Quaint expressions, apt and unexpected figures of 
 speech stored from his boyhood in New England, or 
 original sayings packed with wit and wisdom made his 
 conversation continuously attractive. The side of his 
 character which made him often the care-free and 
 delightfully entertaining center of a group of friends 
 
46 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 was unsuspected by strangers. While naturally re- 
 served and dignified, he was quite capable of genial 
 sportiveness. 
 
 At my marriage, in 1871, he was an invited guest It 
 happened that I had chosen the daughter of devoted 
 Presbyterians, and it was considered proper to call 
 upon their minister to officiate. Dr. Stebbins gladly 
 came, and added to the enjoyment. In great good 
 humor he rallied his brother minister. "Never mind, 
 Mr. H., you shake the bush, and I'll catch the bird." 
 The saying was not intentionally prophetic, but it 
 proved so. 
 
 He once said to me, speaking in frank confidence of 
 
 one we both greatly respected, " G is an absolutely 
 
 honest man. It would be impossible for him to be 
 otherwise, but he would not be a gentleman if he 
 should live a thousand years. He takes to culture as a 
 wild boar would take to a currycomb." 
 
 He was friendly with a contractor, who had been 
 greatly perplexed over a lawsuit brought against him 
 in connection with the construction of one of the build- 
 ings of the University of California. Mr. George A. 
 Nourse, a trusted parishioner, was attorney for the 
 contractor, who poured out a tale of woe. Dr. Steb- 
 bins listened patiently, and then, placing his hand on 
 his friend's shoulder, said : "Never mind ! Nourse and 
 I will stick to you as long as you have a cent." The 
 story may lose in the telling, but the answer did not 
 fail in its purpose. 
 
THE SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH 47 
 
 He often mingled philosophy with his humor. One 
 day we dined together at a poor hotel at Merced. He 
 speared a potato and prepared to divest it of its 
 jacket, but it proved hopelessly soggy. He eyed it 
 whimsically and turned to me, and said, with an ex- 
 pressive glance, "Charles, I never eat a potato simply 
 because it is a potato." 
 
 While Dr. Stebbins was fond of nature and often 
 aroused to truly poetic feeling in response to its beauty, 
 he found his greatest enjoyment in human nature. 
 Man was his chief interest, and when he came back 
 after a summer vacation he was much more likely to 
 recount human experiences than to recall grandeur or 
 loveliness of land or sea. He found the Yosemite 
 Valley tremendously impressive, but I think that he 
 enjoyed two touches of human nature still more. One 
 discovery was a stage-driver, a real character who evi- 
 dently reciprocated the interest he aroused. Dr. Steb- 
 bins shared the front seat with him, and they "talked 
 horse" almost exclusively. A remark of Mr. Horace 
 Davis disclosed the fact that his companion was a 
 clergyman, whereat the driver turned and asked, 
 "Are you a minister?" The doctor replied, "Yes, 
 that's what I am when I'm at home." " Well," rejoined 
 the driver, " I don't know what kind of a preacher you 
 are, but there's a blamed good horse-man spoiled." 
 
 The other was the "remarks" of a tourist in an 
 ancient hotel register. As I remember, it modestly 
 read something like this: "John Studebaker, South 
 
48 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 
 
 Bend, Indiana, president of Studebaker Brothers, who 
 manufacture twenty-four complete wagons every day ; 
 six hundred every month ; seventy-two hundred every 
 year ! And yet this is nothing, compared with the 
 wonders of the Almighty as displayed in the Yosemite 
 Valley." 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 WIDER SERVICE 
 
 DR. STEBBINS, it is to be remembered, came to Cali- 
 fornia before the ending of the Civil War. Thanks- 
 giving Day of 1864 gave him an opportunity to express 
 his sentiments on the grave national issues of the day. 
 His text was from Second Samuel, XL, 7 : "David de- 
 manded how Joab did, and how the people did, and 
 how the war prospered." His discourse was greatly 
 approved, and, in accordance with the request of 
 Governor Low and others presented the following 
 morning, it was published. It shows a sagacious ex- 
 amination of immediate conditions and has especial 
 interest as indicating his discerning judgment of Lin- 
 coln, a judgment amply confirmed later. After a keen 
 and appreciative analysis of Lincoln's character, it 
 dosed with these words : 
 
 "When I say this of a President of the United States, 
 assailed, abused, misrepresented, hindered, as he al- 
 ways is, by those who have no office but to speak evil 
 and found all their hopes on his fall ; when I say, that, 
 in spite of all this, our President has gained hi the con- 
 fidence and respect of the country, I award to him the 
 sublimest honors of moral victory over men 1 There- 
 fore I rejoice in him, as the exponent of the people, 
 and as a part of God's providence with the country." 
 
50 HORATIO ST^BBINS 
 
 On April 23, 1865, Dr. Stebbins again delivered a 
 memorable sermon in which he set forth the essential 
 moral significance of Abraham Lincoln's life and char- 
 acter. He referred to the special characteristics by 
 which obstacles were overcome and signal achieve- 
 ments reached. He found in him "a certain theme of 
 mind, a fine instinct for what is, and a belief in justice." 
 And he continued, in sentences here somewhat con- 
 densed: "An instinct of truth, which guides as surely 
 as attraction holds the stars, pervades all Mr. Lincoln's 
 thinking and all his jest and anecdote and drollery. 
 It is the quality that enables him to state just what he 
 thinks and what he means. The principles of our 
 government and the nature of the war have never been 
 stated so clearly as by him, and no man has seemed to 
 have so fair and consistent a record as he. When by 
 events he came to administration of affairs, he took no 
 double or devious course and no backward step. No 
 man was more conscious than he that he was raised up 
 on the tide of events, and he knew that all his power 
 lay in the spirit of the time. He held to his theme so 
 surely, so naturally, that events not only guided him, 
 but they were the unfolding of his own convictions. 
 As a natural result of Mr. Lincoln's instinct of truth he 
 believed in man. Never was a man more in sympathy 
 with the people or more completely imbued with those 
 ideas of social justice and individual rights which are 
 the spirit of our institutions and their only ground of 
 right to be. The prevailing political faith of the coun- 
 
WIDER SERVICE 51 
 
 try in past years has been a stout advocacy of liberty. 
 There has been no persuasion, strong and invincible, 
 that justice is a component part of the idea of freedom. 
 There has been no idea in this country of freedom as a 
 principle of conservatism and development. Amid the 
 shock of civil war God is teaching us what we have 
 been slow to learn, that man is the chiefest thing on 
 earth. To raise him up to the rights, the privileges, and 
 the immunities of existence is the great purpose of 
 social order, and the government which is not filled 
 with that purpose has no right to be." 
 
 Dr. Stebbins was soon in demand for addresses 
 before various organizations. He rested satisfied with 
 no perfunctory performance, but always had some- 
 thing of real value to say, worth the hearing. The 
 Society of California Pioneers rejoice in and glorify 
 the past, harking back to the early days and felicitat- 
 ing themselves on their pioneering. In September, 
 1865, he addressed them and said, among other thing* 
 well to heed : 
 
 "Nothing can save us from Spanish decline and 
 Mexican littleness but communication with the world, 
 that rapid and sure intercourse with human society 
 which assimilates the interests of mankind. We must 
 boldly affirm this, not in lugubrious strain of croaking, 
 but as the firm ground of our hopes concerning the 
 growth and prosperity of our State, namely, that 
 the powers that have made her prosperity thus far 
 have done their best, and that no great impulse of 
 
p HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 human affairs denoting permanent progress can be 
 felt here, until the great highways are opened over sea 
 and land, and the world the many-sided industries, 
 arts, commerce, and literature is imparted to us." 
 
 On May 25, 1865, Dr. Stebbins was invited to make 
 the principal address at the dedication of the magnifi- 
 cent Mountain View Cemetery at Oakland. It was 
 received with great favor, and it has permanent 
 worth as indicating his calm and trustful view of 
 death and immortality. He expressed the conviction 
 that it is man's distinction and the privilege of intelli- 
 gent faith to look forward with composure to the final 
 dissolution of his earthly frame. It is the distinction of 
 his nature, elevated by religious thought, to contem- 
 plate death as an event in life and no accident of 
 chance, nor calamity of darkness. It is permitted to 
 him to prepare for that event as inevitable though 
 uncertain in its date. This is striking testimony to the 
 truth that life is moral and disciplinary. 
 
 "The moral and religious import of death is that 
 all man's labors, enjoyments, and possessions are to be 
 pursued and held as subject to a higher power. It 
 mingles the Divine Providence in the daily thoughts 
 of men, urging them out beyond the domain of time 
 and sense to the realities of spiritual existence. Thus 
 death, by its constant presence in human life, is the 
 great teacher of man. It is this confidence of man in 
 a never-ending existence that not only saves our 
 human lot from being unendurable, but makes exist- 
 
WIDER SERVICE 53 
 
 ence cause of gratitude and joy. In the light of this 
 truth every man can thank God that he is, and the 
 darkest griefs may be illuminated by hope, the heavi- 
 est griefs may be borne with patience, and defeated 
 good may believe that its promise will yet be kept." 
 
 Among the adjustments necessary in removing to 
 California is acquirement of the requisite composure 
 to meet gracefully an earthquake when it seeks recog- 
 nition. A New Englander, through long experience, 
 grows immune to terror from electric bolts. He is 
 used to the fateful flash from above, but he has no 
 experience with insecurity from below, and even a 
 slight tremor is unnerving. It frequently happens 
 that our shocks come conveniently in the night when 
 those who turn pale do not show it, or where the 
 sufferer recovers in pleasant privacy, but sometimes 
 he is compelled to exhibit his emotion where all may 
 see whether nerve or nerves control. The earthquake 
 of October 8, 1865, occurred on Sunday, about the 
 time of dismissal after morning service. Those who 
 heard Dr. Stebbins that morning were singing the 
 closing hymn. A sudden tremble increased sharply. 
 The building was grasped by tremendous power and 
 severely wrenched. Through my mind flitted the 
 thought, What weakness there must be in a large 
 unsupported roof ! A good congregation with blanched 
 faces awaited results. It was a moment of nervous 
 terror, which would have quickly passed if the central 
 pipe in the organ at the preacher's right had not top- 
 
,54 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 pled from its place and vaulted over the choir, falling 
 into the space in front. That was enough. No one 
 waited for the benediction or other formal dismissal. 
 The church was emptied with great promptitude. 
 Many were soon standing in the street with hymn- 
 books still in their hands. A startling coincidence was 
 that the interrupted hymn was a paraphrase of the 
 passage from Isaiah portraying the end of all things, 
 when the elements shall melt with fervent heat. We 
 held evening services at that time, and for the last 
 hymn that evening Dr. Stebbins gave out the one left 
 unfinished in the morning. We sang it to the troubled 
 end, and the usurped benediction was then calmly 
 pronounced. 
 
 All sorts of persons called on Dr. Stebbins for all 
 sorts of service. In a letter of that pathetic humorist, 
 Samuel L. Clemens, to his mother at St. Louis, written 
 on December 4, 1866, he says : "I am thick as thieves 
 with the Rev. Dr. Stebbins. I am running on preach- 
 ers now altogether; I find them gay. Stebbins is a 
 regular brick. Whenever anybody offers me a letter 
 to a preacher I snaffle him on the spot." From the 
 context it is indicated, that, in view of a contemplated 
 trip to New York, he had the inspiration to take letters 
 of introduction to ministers there. He evidently had 
 special designs on Dr. Bellows, and called on Dr. 
 Stebbins to secure credentials. What he goes on to 
 write bears every mark of the source of its inspiration. 
 "I shall make Dr. Bellows trot out the fast nags of 
 
WIDER SERVICE 55 
 
 the cloth for me when I get to New York. Bellows is 
 an able, upright, and eloquent man, a man of imperial 
 intellect and matchless power. He is Christian in the 
 true sense of the term." What a difference and gain to 
 Mark Twain and the world it might have made if to 
 the chemical content of his soul he had added at this 
 time a liberal infusion of the fundamental trust and 
 love of Stebbins and Bellows ! 
 
 It must be borne in mind that the San Francisco 
 church had stood like a lone lighthouse on the Pacific 
 shore for fourteen years before Dr. Stebbins came, and 
 it was two years more before he had a neighbor nearer 
 than St. Louis. In May, 1866, he went to Portland 
 and counseled with the fine group of people who had 
 prepared the way there for a church. They raised 
 twelve hundred dollars, bought a lot on the edge of 
 the woods, and authorized him to find their minister. 
 He corresponded with the Reverend William G. Eliot, 
 of St. Louis, and with his son, Thomas L. Eliot, 
 then about to enter the ministry. In December, 
 1867, when the chapel was completed, the worthy son 
 of a worthy sire came out, by the way of Panama, to 
 become their preacher. At that time we were experi- 
 menting in San Francisco with theater preaching, 
 then tried out generally, and we held successful meet- 
 ings at the Metropolitan Theater. The audiences were 
 large and the singing led by our devoted basso, 
 Wunderlich, was truly "wonderful." People seemed 
 to like it, but interest fell off as the novelty waned and 
 
-56 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 they showed no disposition to graduate into the church. 
 We considered it not worth the cost and trouble. The 
 experiment is connected in my mind with the sight 
 one Sunday of an attractive young couple in a promi- 
 nent box who, I found on inquiry, were the Eliots on 
 their way to Portland. For the next ten years the 
 Portland church was the only one to keep us company. 
 In 1877 Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and San Diego 
 were added to the list. 
 
 Up to 1869 we always spoke of our minister as "Mr." 
 Stebbins, for he was not one to allow a title not wholly 
 and regularly authorized, but his deserts were then 
 recognized by Bowdoin College which conferred upon 
 him the degree of D.D., Doctor of Divinity. 
 
 On one matter, at least, Dr. Stebbins had a well- 
 settled opinion that was quite at variance with popu- 
 lar prejudice. He was not at all in sympathy with the 
 Chinese exclusion legislation and he never missed an 
 opportunity to express his feeling that a man of China 
 is still a man. On December i, 1866, a banquet given 
 to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company was attended 
 by leading citizens and the officials of the company, 
 and also by the Chinese Consul and other distinguished 
 representatives of the Orientals. Captain Eldredge, 
 Governor Stanford, and others spoke. To Dr. Steb- 
 bins was assigned the eighth regular toast: "Com- 
 merce the Ally of Religion and Civilization." Before 
 his formal reply he said: "I but reiterate the senti- 
 ment of every man here when I express the pleasure 
 
WIDER SERVICE 57 
 
 I feel in meeting merchants of China in the mutual 
 exchange of good-will with merchants of San Fran- 
 cisco. May that interchange never cease, so long as 
 value seeks equilibrium on the earth, or the wind of 
 popular liberty rushes to fill the vacuum of despotism." 
 
 He had further opportunity for such expression in 
 1868 at the remarkable reception given to Anson 
 Burlingame and the Chinese Embassy at the Lick 
 House. He was very happy on such occasions when he 
 lifted public consideration of large subjects to a level 
 of statesmanship, and made shuffling politicians seem 
 contemptible in comparison. He was greatly respected 
 by broad-gauged men and thinkers in public life and 
 was always heard with attention. 
 
 A little later Japan sent an Embassy Extraordinary 
 to the United States. The distinguished representa- 
 tives were royally entertained, and the culminating 
 feature in San Francisco was a banquet. Over it pre- 
 sided the Governor, Newton Booth, and among the 
 distinguished speakers was Dr. Stebbins. His brief 
 but stirring remarks aroused enthusiasm, and also 
 some antagonism. The Bttlletin account, omitting the 
 introductory words and the frequent interjection of 
 applause, follows : 
 
 "An ancient empire outside of Christendom, num- 
 bering more than thirty millions of souls, with a civili- 
 zation unique, peculiar, having laws, polity, manners, 
 and religion its own, standing in august and sullen 
 grandeur apart from the general movement of the 
 
58 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 world's life, with a history running back to the earliest 
 periods of recorded time, and beyond into dim twilight 
 of the mythopeic age ; a history and civilization com- 
 pared with which Christendom itself is young, even 
 the latest child of time; whose royal line of kingly 
 blood flowed down through centuries before Caesar 
 entered England, before Moses received the Law in 
 the glory-smitten heights of Sinai, sends forth an 
 embassy of peace to all nations, to observe the arts, 
 industries, manners, customs of the modern age ! 
 
 "To a poetic imagination, it seems a repetition of the 
 ancient story of the wise men, the astronomic Magi, 
 led by a star to the place where the young child lay, 
 for that star still leads mankind where the ages are 
 born, and stands above the place where the best 
 thoughts of humanity are nurtured. 
 
 "Hail ! illustrious descendants of the ancient stock, 
 inspired with wonder and desire ! The motive that 
 impels you is a more fragrant gift than aromatic spices, 
 frankincense and myrrh ! Welcome to this western 
 shore of the Western World ! this cradle of the latest 
 born of nations ! 
 
 " Governor, the manifest suggestion of this occasion 
 is the vast appliances of intelligence which have been 
 made within the last century to overcome the ob- 
 stacles of time and space, and which, while they per- 
 fect the earth as the abode of man, make such a meet- 
 ing as this possible. Vast mountain chains, which 
 presented impassable barriers between nations and 
 
WIDER SERVICE 59 
 
 races, have been dissolved by noble engineering, and 
 the sea, ' that flaw in the planet/ no longer separates 
 the nations. Floating bridges swing on it through 
 all the latitudes, binding the peoples of the earth 
 together in a common destiny. Our transcontinental 
 road, together with the Suez Canal, has practically 
 annihilated one third of the periphery of the globe, 
 and there are those here who shall not taste death 
 before the magnetic current shall be made complete, 
 and the spark of human intelligence, unquenched by 
 multitudinous waters, shall report itself around the 
 earth in advance of the sun ! 
 
 "The inner idea of this vast conquest is the unity 
 and ultimate perfectibility of the human race. Com- 
 merce, which is the inspiration of man's noblest 
 achievements over nature, is simply the expression 
 of the mutual dependence of mankind ; the reamrma- 
 tion of that which divine philosophy teaches, that no 
 man, no community, no nation, no race, can fulfill 
 its destiny in an exclusive and isolated life. As the 
 globe is a unit of organism, holding every island, sea, 
 and continent in one organic whole, so Commerce, 
 which is the expression of the mutually dependent life 
 of mankind, draws the populations of the earth by the 
 attraction of common want and a common end. Al- 
 ready the exclusive system gives signs of modification 
 under the benign influence of well-regulated interests 
 and mutual regards. From henceforth no exclusive, 
 isolated, independent civilization can endure. Before 
 
6o HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 the spirit of the age its adamantine walls are dust that 
 vanishes at a breath. 
 
 "One word more! Nobody is here but ourselves, 
 and that one word I will say. We here are providen- 
 tially placed in near relation with these exclusive 
 civilizations. The changes wrought by transcontinen- 
 tal communication have changed forever the area of 
 commercial distribution for this city. We can never do 
 the business of the Mississippi Valley, and probably 
 we shall not extend our inland commercial area 
 beyond the summit of the great mountain chain. To 
 compensate for that, we must gather up the islands of 
 the sea and push our trade to the unnumbered popu- 
 lations of the Asiatic world. But our position is 
 anomalous. While we are here to-night, wooing the 
 commerce of old empires, you, Governor, as the rep- 
 resentative of one political party, and ex- Governor 
 Haight, as the representative of the other, are com- 
 mitted to a policy to exclude these people from our 
 shores! The position is absurd and ridiculous. As a 
 policy, it is nonsense ; as a principle, it is nowhere. It 
 is rag-tag and bob-tail. If any of you cheap politicians 
 have won a penny by it in the passions of an hour, 
 beware when you put that penny in your purse, lest 
 the eagle on the reverse of your coin stick his talons 
 through and clutch the face of liberty !" 
 
 The account says "prolonged applause," but it was 
 a daring challenge to the political leaders, and a 
 rebuke to the politicians that they little enjoyed. 
 
WIDER SERVICE 61 
 
 Dr. Stebbins was deeply touched and severely 
 tested by the death of his very dear brother, Randolph, 
 in 1870. His grief was profound. On April 24 he wrote 
 to his half-brother in New England : 
 
 DEAR CALVIN, I am wading heart-deep through 
 my griefs, and, although I almost lose my breath 
 sometimes, I keep on my feet. I am anxious to learn 
 all little details of the family and the burial, even to the 
 very color of the fresh clean earth that received his 
 precious body to its kind embrace. Did you pray at 
 the funeral? I don't know whether I could if I had 
 been there, but my heart longs to mingle and flow in 
 the common stream of fraternal sympathy. Never 
 was sight of Immortality so dear as it is now, and 
 never have so great consolations soothed my aching 
 breast. Yet my morning hours have a strange sense 
 of loneliness, as if the very sunbeams were withdrawn 
 from the day, and my night-watches are as if the whole 
 universe of worlds were still. This eclipse of earthly 
 brightness reveals the eternal spaces as no midday 
 splendor can, and I am impressed, inspired, and 
 encouraged by the thought of the vast unknown and 
 unquarried truth that lies in the abysses of our 
 nature. Neither the height of the stars, nor the depth 
 of the earth can measure it What a power is this 
 personality, into communion with which we have been 
 so tenderly brought! How it sways my heart, away 
 across the world, giving me some conception of the 
 
62 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 Infinite personality whose inspiration is the life of 
 all intelligence and whose power sustains all things. 
 
 Three days later he writes : 
 
 MY DEAR CALVIN : Yours came this morning. It is a 
 great comfort to read your tender story of grief. In 
 Randolph we have been, and are, indeed, blessed. 
 Though there seems something gone from the very 
 air of my daily life, I yet feel as if something new had 
 come to me in the depth of my affection and the 
 serenity of my love. How the words of Christ are ful- 
 filled. "If I be lifted up, I shall draw all hearts unto 
 me !" I had a very full letter from Roderick [his elder 
 brother] three days ago. He is, as you say, the ap- 
 pointed consoler of us all, an angel of God, and divine 
 messenger. When I think of his sorrows, and his 
 broken life, my heart aches, and loves its aches, for 
 him. Do write to him often, Calvin, and keep bright 
 the chain of fraternal love. You speak of Luanda's 
 grief. Tell her to be comforted by sorrow itself, and, 
 in the pain of earthly ties sundered, to learn the joy of 
 self-loss. If I could only sit down by your side, O 
 unconquerable space ! HORATIO 
 
 On May 18, he wrote again : "Your little reference 
 to Randolph's grave is comforting. I have stood there 
 in imagination at sunrise and sunset and midday. I 
 have walked through the meadow and orchard, and 
 lain down on the green grass and wept. I have risen 
 
WIDER SERVICE 63 
 
 up from the earth with strength and peace, and found 
 the way of duty full of comfort and eternal power." 
 
 In October he mentions to his brother that he has 
 been under the pressure of considerable personal trial 
 in the affliction of friends, and adds : " Since Randolph 
 died, it has seemed as if the sorrows of men were laid 
 on me with redoubled weight, and that God would 
 make me minister to an innumerable company of 
 broken-hearted. I am so poor in all perfunctory ways, 
 and so incapable of conventional methods of ministra- 
 tion, that every human experience seems to fall on my 
 naked heart. Don't think I am sentimental or weak : 
 I enjoy the pain, and bear glad testimony of its 
 superiority to the flesh." 
 
 Dr. Stebbins was uncomplaining, but he must have 
 suffered from loneliness in the lack of ministerial 
 association. He saw few ministers of his own faith. 
 Occasionally one came to the Coast for a brief period 
 of sight-seeing, and the most was made of such visits, 
 but they were, like other angels' visits, few and far 
 between. In the meantime he had practically no pro- 
 fessional intercourse. There were a number of more or 
 less liberal individuals among the orthodox clergy, 
 but for the most part they held aloof. His attitude 
 was decidedly friendly. He was never antagonistic, 
 and never indulged in controversy or attack, but 
 friendliness in return was apparently more than he 
 could expect. The Catholic representatives seemed 
 more inclined to fraternize with him than others. 
 
64 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 Dr. Stebbins had respect for the opposite pole of his 
 faith, and felt that there was no logical ground 
 between a church of reason and a church of authority. 
 That he was willing to do his part in maintaining 
 friendly relations is established by an incident revealed 
 after his death. 
 
 Dr. George C. Adams was the minister of the First 
 Congregational Church of San Francisco when Dr. 
 Stebbins died, and he sent to the Congregationalist a 
 touching tribute. He related the courtesy and kindli- 
 ness of a prompt call made by Dr. Stebbins when 
 Adams came, a stranger to the city. The cordial wel- 
 come had given him courage and confidence. Soon 
 afterward Dr. Stebbins accepted an invitation to a 
 reception given by the Congregational Church. Sev- 
 eral other ministers had referred in their addresses to 
 the ministers present who represented various other 
 churches, but all stopped short before they reached 
 mention of the Unitarian. It was very noticeable and 
 the discourtesy made the audience uncomfortable. 
 Finally Dr. Stebbins was called upon to speak. He 
 gave no indication of having felt any slight. "He rose 
 and spoke so ably and on so much higher ground 
 than had been taken by any other speaker that the 
 audience were charmed. He made without question 
 the best address of the evening." Dr. Adams added : 
 "His influence was great, his integrity was unques- 
 tioned, and people of every faith and no faith believed 
 in him, and knew he was like the Master." 
 
WIDER SERVICE 65 
 
 It was a red-letter day when men of his own faith 
 stood by Dr. Stebbins in his pulpit, and whatever 
 their high reputation in the church might be, we had a 
 feeling that he never suffered in comparison. In the 
 long course of Dr. Stebbins's service he welcomed and 
 entertained most of the Unitarian leaders, and others. 
 I recall Peabody, Furness, Eliot of St. Louis and 
 Eliot of Cambridge, Hale, Chadwick, Savage, Joseph 
 Henry Allen, Fenn, Williams, Camp, Alger, and 
 many others. Dr. Stebbins was a flattering host. He 
 was happy in having his friends around him, and the 
 atmosphere of his home was delightful. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins heartily enjoyed the visit of Ralph 
 Waldo Emerson in April, 1871, when he came with his 
 daughter in company with Mr. John M. Forbes, of 
 Milton. Mr. Emerson was delightfully simple and un- 
 assuming, prepared to be pleased with all he saw. He 
 visited the Geysers and the Yosemite Valley, which he 
 felt was one of the few things "that came up to the 
 brag." One Sunday evening, to our great satisfaction, 
 he read his essay on "Immortality." In the thought 
 that a course of his lectures would be appreciated, Mr. 
 Horace Davis, who had visited him at Concord, and I 
 called on him at the Occidental Hotel to gain his con- 
 sent. His daughter had put a few lectures in their 
 trunk, thinking they might be called for, and he was 
 glad to accommodate us. The lectures were given at 
 his convenience, between trips. The first audiences 
 were good, but curiosity seemed to be the leading 
 
66 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 motive of attendance, for toward the end the audiences 
 dropped off, whereat Dr. Stebbins remarked: "I 
 thought the people would tire in the sockets of their 
 wings, if they tried to follow him." Emerson was very 
 friendly and approachable. He went over the church 
 with interest, and was particularly pleased with an 
 upper chamber over the Sunday-School room that Mr. 
 King had provided as a refuge from the over-persist- 
 ent. He remarked, with his gentle smile, "I think I 
 should like a study beyond the orbit of the chamber- 
 maid." We paid him for his lectures in twenty-dollar 
 gold pieces, the first he had ever seen. 
 
 Mozoomdar, the Hindoo reformer, was another 
 lovable personality, who impressed us all very favor- 
 ably. It was a memorable evening when, in Dr. 
 Stebbins's parlor, he seated himself on the floor in 
 his native fashion, and we, a stiff-kneed and perverse 
 generation, attempted to unbend and follow him. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins had unbounded admiration for Dr. 
 Hedge, and expressed his esteem and regard on many 
 occasions. In a letter to his brother Calvin, written 
 early in his settlement in San Francisco, he says: "I 
 have read Hedge's address in the Examiner. How 
 mightily it sounds away here ! Well, he is the man of 
 us all. I think he is so much ahead, as to have no 
 second." Many years afterward Dr. Hedge came to 
 the Pacific Coast, and it was a great satisfaction for 
 the two to meet. 
 
 On March 9, 1873, Dr. Stebbins, at the conclusion 
 
WIDER SERVICE 67 
 
 of his sermon, spoke with great tenderness in memory 
 of a fellow-minister, Dr. Joseph Henry Allen of North- 
 borough, Massachusetts, who had died February 20, 
 aged eighty-four years. Dr. Allen was the beloved 
 minister of the family of Mr. Stebbins. His active 
 ministry extended over a period of more than fifty 
 years, and his life seemed to Dr. Stebbins like a con- 
 necting link between the present and the former age, 
 one of the class of men who kept alive the ideal of 
 Goldsmith's Village Preacher. He spoke of him as an 
 important part of the life of that lovely New England 
 town, a man of great simplicity, whose desires, sub- 
 dued to reason and conscience, gave him great re- 
 sources of content and peace. 
 
 "As a preacher he handled the Word of God with 
 that reverent and devout good sense which makes it 
 daily bread to men. As a counselor and friend, he was 
 wise, tender, and true. As a guardian of public edu- 
 cation, he placed the schools in the foremost rank of 
 the time. In social intercourse he was the life of every 
 circle, and gave to manners a tone of intelligence and 
 refinement. His fine taste for gardening and the cul- 
 ture of fruit and ornamental trees formed his appro- 
 priate recreation and made the parsonage and the 
 village church lovely. His household was ordered with 
 that consummate discretion, independence of mind and 
 feeling, genial, urbane, affectionate spirit, that make a 
 house a home: and with that unprepared, yet ever- 
 ready, open-door hospitality that causes its light to 
 
68 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 shine upon all. How many have been cheered by that 
 light! How many have been encouraged by its shin- 
 ing and warmed by its glow !" 
 
 As Dr. Allen illustrated for Dr. Stebbins the life of 
 a New England parish minister, so, in an address given 
 in the same month of March, 1873, in memory of 
 Judge Oscar Lovell Shaf ter, of the California Supreme 
 Court, he summed up the characteristics of a remark- 
 able jurist ; and this address, like the other, indicates 
 the trend of Dr. Stebbins's mind and his recognition 
 of those qualities which make the highest types of 
 human character. 
 
 After noting Judge Shafter's practical ability his 
 energy, good sense, and integrity of nature he 
 analyzed his intellectual and spiritual perceptions. 
 He said : 
 
 "He had that appreciation of the law of laws, the 
 unity and generalization of truth, that gives moral 
 dignity to the intellect and the perspective of moral 
 dignity to all principles. When theories of deep human 
 interest were touched, his mind kindled along its sum- 
 mits with fine enthusiasm of poetic feeling and insight. 
 He did not belong to that class of minds always em- 
 phatic never forcible; neither to that other class, 
 "small pot soon hot," whose enthusiasm is in the 
 blood and not in the idea. His mind sometimes lay 
 calm, silent, sullen as the summer sea, and rolled with 
 sleepy strength, and in all the manifestations of his 
 intellectual activity there was something of that re- 
 
WIDER SERVICE 69 
 
 pose which is the measure of reserved power and the 
 background of all greatness. His religious faith was 
 simple and human. He arrived at his conviction of the 
 character of God from the nature of man and the 
 experience of human lif e. He inferred that justice is 
 God's justice, that mercy is God's mercy, that love is 
 God's love ; and that the expression of these in human- 
 ity is the expression of the divine. I think, in com- 
 mending himself to the Almighty maker of men, he 
 would, in the devout simplicity of his heart, have for- 
 gotten all the honors and respect he enjoyed from his 
 fellow-men, and thought only that he was a man." 
 
 I hardly dare allude to the generosity of Dr. Steb- 
 bins's judgment and the boundless kindness that year 
 after year added to my debt of obligation and love. 
 At a time of deep trial, his tenderness and sympathy 
 were a great blessing. When he had done all, he begged 
 me to promise to dine with the family at least once 
 every week. For seven years it was my happy privi- 
 lege to share Friday's dinner. When I married again, 
 he said they must release me from the regular routine, 
 but that I must come and bring my wife often, and 
 that they should expect me once a week for luncheon. 
 Then, for eight years, as long as he remained in Cali- 
 fornia, I shared weekly a happy luncheon with his 
 family. What honor ! What blessing ! Nor was I the 
 only favored one. For years a widow and her two 
 daughters shared another weekly dinner, and several 
 bachelors were regularly expected at breakfast, lunch- 
 
70 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 eon, or dinner. Dr. Stebbins's home and his heart 
 were open to many, and he made them feel that they 
 were giving as much as they were receiving. His 
 abounding generosity was a great source of power and 
 influence. 
 
 It was not from lack of opportunity that Dr. Steb- 
 bins did not leave his western parish after a brief 
 term of service. He received many calls to return to 
 the attractive East, all of which he respectfully de- 
 clined. In 1873, a second attempt, in behalf of the 
 church in Cambridge, gave the San Francisco parish 
 occasion to express its sentiments. On January 28, 
 at a meeting of the congregation an address, prepared 
 by Horace Davis, moderator of the church, was 
 unanimously adopted, signed by the trustees and 
 three hundred and fifty-six members within easy 
 reach, presented to Dr. Stebbins, and published in 
 the Christian Register. From the first Mr. Davis 
 was the steadfast friend and supporter of the suc- 
 cessor of Starr King, whom he had dearly loved. 
 With equal loyalty he became the unfailing right hand 
 of Dr. Stebbins, who valued and appreciated him. In 
 this earnest plea he set forth the urgent need of San 
 Francisco, and declared that Cambridge ought to 
 allow its minister to continue the vitally important 
 work he had successfully begun. He referred to the 
 deep sense of the value of his ministrations felt by his 
 people, their personal affection, and the loss to the 
 church and the liberal cause that would follow his 
 
WIDER SERVICE 71 
 
 departure. Pledging cordial aid and support, the ad- 
 dress concluded: "As you esteem our love and con- 
 fidence, we pray that you will continue your ministra- 
 tions among us." There was probably less danger than 
 they apprehended. Dr. Stebbins once said to me: "I 
 have had but three parishes, and if my life were again 
 before me, I think I would choose to have but one." 
 
 Dr. Stebbins early became interested in the College 
 of California, which graduated its first class, three in 
 number, in 1864, the year he came. It was located 
 in Oakland, and represented large hopes. On June 7, 
 1865, he addressed a meeting of the alumni, and the 
 next year he delivered the Commencement oration. 
 In the newspaper English of the period it was pro- 
 nounced "brief, pertinent, philosophical, effectively 
 delivered, and warmly applauded." 
 
 He became a member of the board of trustees, and 
 later was elected president of the board. He was influ- 
 ential in transferring the organization and property to 
 the State as the foundation for the University of Cali- 
 fornia, subsequently located at Berkeley. He was ap- 
 pointed a regent for the State, and was reappointed 
 from time to time until he had served continuously 
 for twenty-six years. He was not, himself, a minute 
 scholar, but he knew the means of scholarship and 
 was without doubt completely equipped for leadership 
 in formulating and sustaining a really great university. 
 The other members of the board deferred to hirq with 
 advantage to the cause. 
 
ys HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 Professor William Carey Jones, the authority on 
 this subject, in an address on "The Making of the 
 University," says: "As I have studied the formative 
 agencies of the University of California, I have come to 
 believe that above all others the mind that gave large- 
 ness and character to the university movement was 
 that of Dr. Stebbins. The College of California, de- 
 signed to be a religious but not sectarian institution, 
 was popularly believed to be controlled in the interest 
 of one or another of the evangelical churches, but its 
 really non-sectarian character is shown by the fact 
 that Starr King and later Horatio Stebbins were on its 
 board of trustees. To Dr. Stebbins's broad vision and 
 surpassing intellect is largely due the realization of a 
 University of California out of three separately con- 
 ceived ideas. In February, 1868, Dr. Stebbins wrote 
 for the college paper an article of profound import, 
 entitled 'Why do We Cherish the University?' He 
 was cherishing the university before the university 
 was born: just when perchance proper care was 
 needed to give to the embryo the form and character 
 and stamina that would enable it to achieve its highest 
 purpose. The concluding sentences of this paper read : 
 'This, then, is our vocation, to make men more manly 
 and humanity more humane ; to augment the discourse 
 of reason, intelligence, and faith, and to kindle the 
 beacon fires of truth on all the summits of existence. 
 To this end and for this cause may our University 
 stand so long as the sun and moon shall endure.'" 
 
WIDER SERVICE 73 
 
 Dr. Stebbins's fostering care did not cease with the 
 birth of the institution; as regent he continued to 
 cherish it and to rejoice in the marvelous growth. 
 Two outstanding figures of the governing body were 
 Dr. Stebbins and Mr. A. S. Hallidie : Dr. Stebbins 
 in all that pertained to academic and cultural interests, 
 and to their development on the grand scale; Mr. 
 Hallidie in what pertained to the engineering depart- 
 ment and, especially and above all, to the financial 
 safeguarding of the University. Valuable cooperation 
 by Durant, Ashburner, Tompkins, and others is to be 
 freely acknowledged, but it is quite within bounds to 
 say that Dr. Stebbins was the controlling influence on 
 the board of regents from the beginning to the inau- 
 guration of President Wheeler. 
 
 Think for a moment what is involved in holding a 
 position by the appointment of constantly changing 
 governors for twenty-six years. What steadiness of 
 purpose and degree of satisfaction are implied ! Posi- 
 tive persons are sure to arouse opposition, and envy 
 is a plant of vigorous growth. A Unitarian in an 
 Evangelical community is at popular disadvantage, 
 constantly distrusted by those who consider religious 
 liberals dangerously unsound ; yet here an uncompro- 
 mising, outspoken independent is retained for well-nigh 
 a generation, and left to have his own way in a place 
 of first importance. Such a public service is almost 
 unprecedented, and the volume of benefit it conferred 
 is hardly calculable. 
 
,,74 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 Dr. Stebbins had a definite conception of the part 
 that education should play in the formation of char- 
 acter. The article to which Professor Jones referred 
 sets forth the end of the University in such character- 
 istic fashion that it is included in the extracts from 
 his writings, collected at the end of this book. 
 
 Perhaps no one in California appreciated Horatio 
 Stebbins as fully as his friend Horace Davis, and 
 association with him gave Davis a clear insight into 
 his educational ideals and service. In an address at the 
 University in 1909 he said : 
 
 "Dr. Stebbins was a faithful servant of the Uni- 
 versity of California for many years. Next to religion 
 his dearest interest in life was education. Next to his 
 God he thought most and deepest on the problem of 
 human life : men and women in the concrete, not in 
 the abstract, were his constant study. He was inter- 
 ested in science ; but he felt a greater interest in the 
 scientist. He loved art; but the artist was dearer to 
 him than art. Reserved and self-contained in his 
 bearing, his heart overflowed with sympathy for his 
 fellow-men. This was the root of his deep interest in 
 education. It was not so much the love of literature 
 or the love of science, as it was the love of men. 
 
 "The early years in the life of the University were a 
 critical period, calling for strong men and wise coun- 
 sels. Forty years ago the people of the State had little 
 sympathy with higher education. They were strong, 
 vigorous men, who had crossed the continent for gain 
 
WIDER SERVICE 7$ 
 
 or adventure ; they were absorbed in the problems of 
 material life, in developing the resources of a new land. 
 They had little leisure to ponder questions of intel- 
 lectual life or the moral destiny of the community. 
 The schools were inferior; what little university life 
 existed was on a low plane, making it difficult to main- 
 tain this institution on a basis at all commensurate 
 with the standards of the older American colleges. It 
 needed deep conviction and resolute courage to pro- 
 claim the highest standard and hold to it in the face of 
 opposition and outcry. Another danger that threat- 
 ened the young University was jealousy and secession. 
 The farmers wanted to secede and form a separate 
 college of their own. To yield to this was to destroy 
 the solidarity of the University, to open the way for 
 ultimate dissolution into separate independent depart- 
 ments here a farmer's college, there a technological 
 institute, somewhere else a school of arts and letters. 
 It took a long and hard fight to head off these class 
 prejudices and maintain the integrity of the Univer- 
 sity as the single head of the educational system of the 
 State. 
 
 "Such were the trials and labors of those early 
 regents. In response to their courage and faith a 
 brighter day has dawned. The public schools have 
 been lifted to higher standards, and the University 
 has risen to an honorable place in the front rank of 
 American universities. Dr. Stebbins was a leader 
 among those men who guided its infant steps and set 
 
y6 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 the pace for future attainment; and his confident 
 faith, his high ideals, his resolute courage, were strong 
 factors in determining the future of the University. 
 
 "When Mr. D. O. Mills was about to make his 
 generous gift to the University, he asked his friend 
 Dr. Stebbins in what form the benefaction would 
 do the greatest good. The Doctor, true to his ideal 
 conceptions, recommended the endowment of a Chair 
 of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy. At the time 
 it was criticized as a barren, unpractical gift; but 
 Mr. Mills's choice vindicated itself. No one influence 
 inside the University has done so much to lift the 
 standard of culture and to mellow the atmosphere, as 
 this happy endowment of Mr. Mills, the Chair long 
 filled by the revered Dr. Howison. 
 
 "Dr. Stebbins has passed away ; but he lived to see 
 the fruit of his labors. He saw the University grow 
 in wealth, in power, in standing and influence, far 
 beyond anything he could have conceived in those 
 days of small things. All honor to those courageous 
 men of the early days, whose faith nerer wavered, 
 whose ideals were never dimmed ! They planted the 
 seed ; we reap the fruit." 
 
 In considering Dr. Stebbins's contribution to the 
 cause of education in California, one may well speak 
 here of his interest in Stanford University, founded 
 some twelve years later than the period covered in this 
 chapter, but carrying forward the same convictions 
 of the worth of study and culture. He contributed 
 
WIDER SERVICE 77 
 
 in many important ways to its formation and admin- 
 istration. He was a trusted friend of both Senator and 
 Mrs. Stanford, and they often consulted him. From 
 the nature of things he could not take an active part 
 in details, but he could and did give frequent counsel. 
 He retained his position on the board of trustees until 
 his removal to New England. He took part in many 
 public occasions there, and the University and the 
 splendid gift that made it possible were the subject of 
 notable addresses. 
 
 In 1885 he preached a sermon that reviewed the 
 career of Senator Stanford and the founding of the 
 University. He spoke of it as "a great benefaction, 
 unequaled in our country, or in Christendom, it may 
 be, in substantial grandeur or in its prophetic idea." 
 He spoke freely of Senator Stanford, as the product 
 of a new epoch of human affairs and modern thought, 
 a man of good sense by nature, fitted to grow wiser, 
 on whom dawned the railroad age, bringing with 
 it a success into which entered many causes beyond 
 human control. The possession of vast wealth brought 
 him the idea of responsibility and duty. "Grief and 
 money," said Dr. Stebbins, "are alike naturally selfish : 
 one thinks of its possessions, the other thinks of its 
 own sufferings. Happy are those whose possessions 
 are transfigured by a glory from above and whose 
 sufferings are transformed to sympathies." 
 
 It is interesting to know that Dr. Stebbins's influence 
 in these great universities did not cease with his death. 
 
78 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 His daughter Lucy is the honored Dean of Women and 
 professor in the University of California at Berkeley, 
 and his son Horatio holds an assistant professorship 
 in the engineering department of Stanford University 
 at Palo Alto. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins's service to education was not confined 
 to the two great universities. He was always ready to 
 give his best thought and his long experience to aid 
 the public schools generally. He was frequently called 
 to address school institutes and gatherings of teachers, 
 or to advise with principals or teachers. He was pro- 
 foundly interested in education as an influence, and 
 was consulted by many who had plans for advancing 
 it. He was named by the will of James Lick as trustee 
 of the California School for Mechanical Arts and he 
 served for many years on its controlling board, with 
 large influence in establishing its excellent foundation 
 and its wise control. On its board were many of his 
 nearest friends, and under their judicious management 
 it became a most successful school, second perhaps to 
 none of its character in the country. It has now drawn 
 two other large endowments into working cooperation, 
 and promises to become an important educational 
 power. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 RIPENED YEARS 
 
 ON July 4, 1876, San Francisco was called to do her 
 utmost to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary 
 of the signing of the Declaration of Independence at 
 Philadelphia. It happened that, while the signers were 
 deliberating on their act, Lieutenant Moraga, of 
 Anza's command, was getting out the timber to build 
 the Mission Dolores; and San Francisco was then 
 virtually born, as a Spanish city. Thus it was a double 
 celebration and an important event In the twelve 
 years of Dr. Stebbins's residence his reputation for 
 ability and eloquence had been firmly established and 
 to him was entrusted the oration on this day, great 
 for the Nation and the city. His address was a lofty 
 reiteration of the spirit of the Declaration which 
 meant an extension of freedom and equality of oppor- 
 tunity to share the moral and spiritual rights of man. 
 A sentence or two gives its keynote: 
 
 "We affirm and declare to-day, as the fathers in 
 1776, that all men are free; and we mean by it that 
 fundamental fact of human nature by which man is 
 man, endowed by Heaven with the power to choose 
 between good and evil, and to direct his course toward 
 those ends that seem to him best ! We mean that the 
 office of Government is to protect that freedom, and 
 
80 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 not to encroach upon it ; to throw around it the envi- 
 ronments of law, that under law it may be liberty 
 indeed ! We affirm and declare to-day, as the fathers 
 in 1776, that all men are equal ! Hear it, O Heaven ! 
 and give ear unto it, O Earth! We mean by this 
 that that human nature, whose inspiration is reason 
 and conscience, is divine, and we avow that progress 
 of mankind is grounded in this common nature of man. 
 On this we base our hope of human progress, and our 
 faith in human destiny." 
 
 In August, 1876, Dr. Stebbins stopped at Chicago 
 on his way eastward, and from there he sent me a note 
 with news that concerned his future happiness, that 
 I was delighted to receive : 
 
 MY DEAR CHARLES AND ALICE : 
 
 Your goodness to me, always manifest, will readily 
 appreciate my temper toward you when I tell you that 
 I am engaged to be married, at some future day, to 
 Miss Lucy E. Ward, of Chicago. 
 
 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 Miss Ward's father, Deliver Ward, went to Cali- 
 fornia in 1850 and died there the following year. Her 
 maternal grandfather, James Wibray, was an English- 
 man who, like other young men in those days, "ran 
 away before the mast." He became a much-beloved 
 and honored sea-captain, who commanded packet- 
 ships sailing between Liverpool and New York, and 
 
RIPENED YEARS 81 
 
 later between New York and New Orleans. He 
 brought his family to Illinois in 1835 by way of the 
 Erie Canal and the Great Lakes. His wife, the "little 
 grandmother," and daughter played an heroic part in 
 early pioneer days on the prairies ; and the daughter 
 married Deliver Ward at the age of eighteen. 
 
 In due time the marriage took place and a blessed 
 Providence gave Dr. Stebbins twenty-six years of 
 exceptionally happy life. He had perfect sympathy, 
 devoted love, and solicitous care. A son, Horatio 
 Ward, and a daughter, Lucy Ward, completed the 
 family. He was a most affectionate and wisely indul- 
 gent father, with complete confidence in his children. 
 It was a happy home in every respect, and his fond 
 hopes found abundant fulfillment His daughter was 
 a precious "Jewel" and "the boy" was as companion- 
 able as he himself had been to his own father. He 
 liked to repeat a remark that "the little fellow" made 
 one day as they came, hand-in-hand, home from 
 church: "Papa, I don't think I understood much of 
 the sermon, but it made a good impression." He 
 watched with intense interest the development of the 
 children, and to see them take their place in life added 
 greatly to his peace and joy. 
 
 In 1864 the church at San Francisco stood alone 
 on the Pacific Coast and there was no opportunity for 
 exchange of pulpits. The church at Portland was 
 established in 1866, as has been said. The dedication 
 of the present church building in June, 1879, was ^ e 
 
32 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 occasion of the first gathering of Pacific Coast Uni- 
 tarians. It was my privilege to accompany Dr. Steb- 
 bins on this delightful trip. We went by steamer, 
 though if there was anything in the world that Dr. 
 Stebbins did not love, it was ocean travel. I have a 
 card of that date : 
 
 MY DEAR CHARLES : 
 
 The California, the finest ship in the known world, 
 will leave this part of said world on Tuesday the 2yth. 
 I feel about it as the woman in Connecticut did about 
 the revival: "I dread her, but let her cornel" 
 Yours really 
 
 H. STEBBINS 
 
 He was miserably seasick on the way up, but stood 
 the hard test and kept good-naturedly humorous, as 
 he lay helpless in his berth. He enjoyed it when I read 
 aloud and he was benefited by the complete escape 
 from care and responsibility. When we passed up the 
 beautiful Columbia River, he was very happy, like a 
 large boy on a vacation, the life of every gathering we 
 had. On Sunday he preached the dedication sermon, 
 and on the two following days we organized the first 
 Pacific Coast Conference. Ministers were somewhat 
 scarce, but they were of good quality and we made the 
 most of them. We spoke of Mr. Stebbins and Mr. 
 Eliot in those far-away days, but they were the same 
 men who later honored their degrees. The Reverend 
 
RIPENED YEARS 83 
 
 David Utter came down from Olympia on Puget 
 Sound, and the Reverend Edward Galvin from Walla 
 Walla. The Reverend W. W. McKaig, an emerging 
 Presbyterian minister from Marysville, was a decided 
 addition. 
 
 When off duty Dr. Stebbins was more hilarious 
 than I had ever known him to be, or ever afterward 
 saw him. One day as we strolled along the street he 
 was walking with Mr. McKaig, a man almost his size. 
 Suddenly he stopped and faced his companion, say- 
 ing: "McKaig, I believe I'm a better man than you 
 are. Come on, take off your coat and let's settle it." 
 It was the height of the incongruous and convulsed 
 the ministerial crowd. At the dedication and the 
 Conference, Dr. Stebbins was at his best. He was 
 particularly fond of Eliot and pleased to see the hold 
 he had gained on the Portland community. It was as 
 happy a convocation of good men as I ever knew, and 
 Dr. Stebbins returned to his arduous duties greatly 
 refreshed. 
 
 The Sunday School, organized in 1853, had grown 
 steadily but slowly, until it shared in the rapid expan- 
 sion of Starr King's time. When I joined it in 1864, 
 the average attendance was about four hundred, and 
 it was vigorous and efficient. When Dr. Stebbins 
 succeeded Starr King, I was a teacher in the Sunday 
 School, and when in 1869 Mr. J. C. A. Hill became 
 superintendent, I was his assistant for four years, and 
 upon his return to New England in 1873 I became 
 
- 84 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 superintendent, serving most of the time during the 
 long ministry of Dr. Stebbins. The entertainments 
 of the Sunday School were popular, and the public 
 enjoyed them in a unique degree. Our Christmas 
 festivals were a feature of the city life. Platt's Hall 
 would be well filled, with an admission fee of a large 
 silver dollar, and after the dinner for pupils, service 
 for the school, Christmas tree and entertainment, an 
 enjoyable dance followed. Something attractively 
 fresh was always expected and generally realized. A 
 surprise snowstorm is a memory of many early mem- 
 bers. Equally popular were the picnics, which usu- 
 ally alternated between Belmont and Fairfax. The 
 attendance often numbered a thousand and the whole 
 community looked forward to them. Perhaps, how- 
 ever, our anniversaries were the most distinctive and 
 memorable events of Sunday-School life. On the 
 Sunday nearest to the yth of August the Sunday 
 School usually marched behind its banner to the center 
 and front of the church and conducted the morning 
 services, which included the year's report, an address 
 by Dr. Stebbins, and, best remembered of all, the 
 presentation of a souvenir bouquet from an immense 
 floral pyramid as each scholar passed before Dr. 
 Stebbins after the benediction. Year after year this 
 happy custom was followed, and his gracious pres- 
 ence as he bestowed the simple tokens of his affection 
 was impressed on thousands of little ones, who still 
 reverence him. 
 
RIPENED YEARS 85 
 
 When Dr. Stebbins came to us, the era of organiza- 
 tions inside the church had not arrived. In 1871 the 
 Unitarian Socials were organized, with officers and 
 committees charged with promoting the social inter- 
 ests of the church. Musical and literary entertain- 
 ments were given in the church parlors, but they were 
 too formal to provoke real sociability. In 1873 we 
 turned to a rather elaborate organization for general 
 usefulness, the Society for Christian Work, to which 
 both men and women belonged. One section carried 
 on the benevolent activities that had never been 
 neglected; the second established and maintained a 
 successful sewing school for which as many as four 
 hundred pupils met weekly ; the third section distrib- 
 uted reading matter to hospitals and jails; and the 
 fourth kept up social gatherings and tried to promote 
 better acquaintance among church attendants. It 
 did good work for several years. Section One had use 
 for more money than it could easily secure, and some- 
 times extraordinary efforts were necessary. In 1877, 
 when the Kellogg Opera Company was having a good 
 season, the contralto singer, Annie Louise Gary, who 
 had known and loved Dr. Stebbins in Portland and 
 wished to help, gave a really sacred concert in the 
 church on a Sunday evening. She had a capacity 
 house, and, supported by the Loring Club and others, 
 presented a fine programme, the best number of which 
 was her solo "O, Rest in the Lord." Standing in the 
 pulpit, with reverent manner, she seemed a dovelike 
 
86 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 embodiment of purity and love. The benefit added 
 over a thousand dollars to the treasury. By 1880 a few 
 determined women reorganized the society, keeping 
 the same name, but confining it to the duties of Sec- 
 tion One. In 1887 a second Woman's Society was 
 organized under the name of the Channing Auxiliary. 
 Its interest is educational and denominational; it 
 conducts a Post Office Mission and occasionally 
 indulges in publication. This society became affiliated 
 later with the Alliance of Unitarian Women, a Na- 
 tional Society, of which for years it was the largest 
 branch, as, indeed, it still may be. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins was sparing in the matter of vacations. 
 He never closed the church for more than a month 
 in the summer, and for most of the time he conducted 
 a morning and an evening service. He did not alway? 
 leave the city for his brief annual rest. He liked hi 
 own home too well to risk discomforts. He generally 
 enjoyed good health, but in 1882 he had an attack of 
 pneumonia, which left him reduced in vitality, and he 
 was advised to spend a time at Sisson's meadows, near 
 Shasta. In September he writes : 
 
 "My coming here has been a great benefit, and I am 
 feeling the returning tides of health and strength. I 
 want to stay only long enough to 'catch the slack* 
 and thus make fast what I have gained. I rode in 
 the saddle on a mountain trail over twenty miles on 
 Saturday. The days are singularly fine, and there is 
 a peculiar luxury in the air. I am making the most 
 
RIPENED YEARS 87 
 
 of it, as I breathe it, flavored with the love of my 
 friends." 
 
 He was most generous in expressions of affection. 
 In September, 1884, on a journey to the East, he wrote 
 from Portland, Maine: 
 
 "MY DEAR CHARLES : I want only to speak to you ; 
 it matters not much what I say. My journey at all its 
 stages has been pleasant, and the days have gone 
 gently on into a deeper splendor, typical of my own 
 feelings whenever I come into these fields of former 
 memories. The occasion at Saratoga was very inter- 
 esting, and my part in it was all that your love could 
 wish ; which surely seems egotism in me to say, did I 
 not say it from your heart more than from my own. 
 Dear Charles, my affection for you is very great, and 
 I am instructed by you in my spirit. I shall see you 
 again soon." 
 
 In 1888 he again returned from the East by way of 
 Portland, Oregon, whence he writes: 
 
 "Mv DEAR FRIEND: I have about completed the 
 circle of my travels, and am satisfied with the purpose 
 and end of my journey. I have been met everywhere 
 with cordiality, and, strange to me, with an acknowl- 
 edgment of reputation of which I did not dream. I 
 hope I shall be saved from any vanity. I have nothing 
 to write, unless it is to tell you of my admiring regard 
 and manly love. Is that nothing? It is a good deal 
 tome!" 
 
 He had the habit of dropping in frequently at my 
 
88 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 place of business just to say a friendly word. One day 
 I returned from a brief absence and found on a scrap 
 of paper his familiar bold signature, followed by one 
 word and three exclamation points: "Nothing!!!" 
 Dr. Stebbins enjoyed his trips to the East whenever 
 opportunity offered. It was a pleasure to meet old 
 friends and renew early associations. In 1883 he wrote 
 me from Matunuck Beach, Rhode Island: 
 
 MY DEAR CHARLES : 
 
 I am truly refreshed by your cordial remembrance 
 and your kind words. The fact is, I am one of the most 
 susceptible creatures in the world : fond even to de- 
 pendence, on the regards of others, yet with resource 
 and self-reliance that seem to contradict it. I came 
 down here on Tuesday to meet Hale and have a little 
 quiet seclusion with him. I have enjoyed a great deal. 
 I leave this afternoon to go to Springfield, where I 
 shall meet a few friends of early days, and feel the 
 absence of those who are gone. I am much refreshed 
 by my journey. The soft green landscape, the run- 
 ning waters, the cool shade, all sink into my very 
 spirit. The memories of former times and persons are 
 keen and vivid, but I would not avoid the pain they 
 bring. How happily shall I return to my work ! I 
 hope I shall be able to do more and better than ever 
 before. I am much interested in all you are doing for 
 the Boys and Girls Society. You are surely a most 
 happy man in such ability for works of goodness and 
 
RIPENED YEARS 89 
 
 love. I have often thought of you with gratitude and 
 joy. Give my love to your wife. I cherish her regard for 
 me as one of the precious things of life. With love to 
 you both, H. STEBBINS 
 
 On the twentieth anniversary of Dr. Stebbins's 
 settlement the congregation testified to their affection 
 by presenting to him, on the Sunday evening nearest 
 the actual date, an address on parchment, signed by all 
 the people within reach. It read: 
 
 DEAR DR. STEBBINS : It is fitting upon this anniver- 
 sary, marking an important era in our history and in 
 yours, that we express our gratitude for these years of 
 happy association, and our sincere affection and re- 
 spectful regard for you. The text from which you first 
 preached to us, twenty years ago to-day, "Whosoever 
 will be great among you, let him be your minister," 
 was prophetic. You have indeed been our minister; 
 sustaining us in trouble, comforting us in sickness, 
 teaching us by word and example, and holding ever 
 before us the highest ideals of moral and spiritual life. 
 You have been patient with us in our indifference, and 
 devoted to us far beyond our deserving. Nor has your 
 service been confined to us. You have ministered with 
 tender sympathy to the poor and the pastorless, and 
 helped to better living and nobler aspirations many 
 not of your household of faith. You have been able to 
 do much for the cause of good learning in the commu- 
 
90 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 nity, and holding alone this western outpost of Unitari- 
 anism, you have added to the respect in which our 
 liberal faith is held, and augmented its influence and 
 power. We know that you are not dependent upon our 
 appreciation, but we trust it will gratify you to feel 
 that we are not unmindful of the service which, during 
 these twenty years of unremitting labor, you have 
 rendered us and the community of which we are a part 
 May the kind Providence that has so favored us con- 
 tinue to bless us in your presence and ministrations, 
 and may we be enabled to express to you by willing 
 service our sense of personal obligation, and to show in 
 our lives the fruits of your teaching. May you be ever 
 sustained by the deep and lofty faith which you have 
 revealed to us, and may the peace that follows all true 
 service and the love that passeth all understanding 
 rest upon and enfold you always. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins always enjoyed the social side of a 
 conference. He liked his associates, and gave them all 
 a chance to do their best. It was a real opportunity to 
 compare experiences and convictions, and advance 
 interest in things of the spirit. He was always ready 
 to do his full part, but never monopolized a session, 
 or left as soon as he had finished, as if indifferent to 
 what others might say. He had a pithy way of sum- 
 ming up discussion and flashing light on dark places, 
 and he never spoke without saying something. He was 
 more than able; he was wise, patient, and good- 
 
RIPENED YEARS 91 
 
 natured. He was a large part of the first Conference at 
 Portland, and he planned the second several years 
 later, held at the Geary and Stockton Church, where 
 Bartlett, Howison, Rabbi Cohn, and others supple- 
 mented the Unitarian clergy and made a really great 
 meeting. He attended every session thereafter. I 
 recall one at Oakland when participants were few, 
 which did not, however, suffer in interest. The meet- 
 ings were particularly brilliant, and at the closing ses- 
 sion Dr. Stebbins said it reminded him of an experience 
 early in life, when, standing on the shores of a lake, 
 he saw the boat of a fisherman friend coming in. In 
 answer to a query as to the catch, the friend stood in 
 the boat and held up a large fish which he dropped 
 into the boat. Then he held up and dropped another, 
 and another, and so on, until his catch was the envy 
 of all. The truth was that he had simply manipulated 
 one fish. The few at the Conference had been so busy 
 that they had given the impression of large numbers. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins was never disposed to unsettle those 
 whose religious convictions or theological opinions 
 differed from his own. He encouraged no one to come 
 to us with large expectations, or to hasten out of 
 orthodoxy until he felt that he must. He deplored the 
 loss that often resulted when the old faith was given 
 up before the new was firmly established, and the mis- 
 conception on the part of the unripe as to what it 
 means to be a liberal. On his return from a trip to 
 Oregon, he remarked that he found men whose only 
 
9 2 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 idea of liberalism was that it allowed a man to shoot 
 ducks on Sunday. 
 
 Some of the ministers who turned from the old 
 churches and essayed to preach in ours shocked him 
 with their lack of reverence and their revulsion from all 
 that was spiritual. He said of one who seemed to glory 
 in his escape from orthodoxy and spoke with contempt 
 of his old faith : "He seems to have come out from his 
 old church, naked, leaving all his clothes behind him." 
 
 For many years the sessions of the National Con- 
 ference, now the General Conference, were held at 
 Saratoga. At the eleventh meeting, held in 1884, Dr. 
 Stebbins preached the biennial sermon an impor- 
 tant assignment. It was later published in pamphlet 
 form. 
 
 The published sermons of Horatio Stebbins are few 
 in number. He was always disinclined to print. In 
 reply to a request for permission to publish a sermon, 
 he once wrote me : "About this printing ! I am wrong, 
 perhaps, but experience has confirmed my feeling and 
 I find that first-rate men in the profession agree with 
 me. I will, however, sometime give you something to 
 print. The secretary of the American Unitarian As- 
 sociation wanted material for a volume of sermons, 
 but I have not agreed at present." While he shrank 
 from printing sermons, he was always cordially anx- 
 ious to contribute in any way possible to the value of 
 the Pacific Unitarian, and often gave me short ex tracts. 
 
 In 1885 Dr. Stebbins was touched by the receipt of 
 
RIPENED YEARS 93 
 
 resolutions and photographs from the Brotherhood of 
 Locomotive Engineers. In the previous year, during 
 a strike, one of their number, Engineer Clarke, had 
 gone to his death in the pursuit of duty. Dr. Stebbins, 
 in a sermon on "The Industrial Troubles of the 
 Times," alluded with grateful appreciation to this 
 notable act of heroism. A fund had been raised for a 
 memorial, and a fitting monument erected to Clarke 
 at the spot where he died in honor. During the unveil- 
 ing the thoughts of the committee reverted to the 
 admiring allusion of Dr. Stebbins, and they passed 
 resolutions of gratitude for his words, "words that 
 sustained many a brave heart in the discharge of his 
 duty," and sent with them photographs of the monu- 
 ment and its unveiling. 
 
 In 1886, largely through Dr. Stebbins's interest and 
 effort, the Unitarian Club of California was organized. 
 For thirty years it was a strong, helpful agency, large 
 and generous in membership, which held a place in the 
 community all its own. It was acknowledged to offer 
 the best of audiences, and when distinguished visitors 
 came to the Coast its hospitality was gladly accepted. 
 When Lyman Abbott visited San Francisco, Dr. 
 McLean, the head of the Congregationalists, asked the 
 privilege of introducing the club to him. Many Uni- 
 tarian leaders have been entertained at its hospitable 
 board. Dr. Stebbins was held in great veneration, and 
 was usually urged to conclude the programme, who- 
 ever had spoken. One of the most notable dinners was 
 
94 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 a reception to Susan B. Anthony and Anna Howard 
 Shaw, at which Dr. Stebbins spoke to the toast: 
 "Womanly Women." The largest and most impres- 
 sive reception was given to Booker T. Washington. 
 
 In 1887 Dr. Stebbins was one of the guests of the 
 Chit-Chat Club at its thirteenth annual meeting, as 
 was General O. O. Howard, to whom was assigned the 
 toast: "The Prospect of Universal Peace." He spoke 
 hopefully, quoting General Sheridan to the effect 
 that by extraordinary improvements in breech-loading 
 ordnance war would soon become too costly in life 
 and money to admit it as a solution of national 
 troubles. He also referred to the love of peace exhib- 
 ited by Grant and other soldiers, and to the effort of 
 English and American statesmen to secure an Inter- 
 national Congress. He felt sure there was an increasing 
 majority of peace-loving men, and further that mis- 
 sionary enterprise was convincing the semi-civilized 
 and uncivilized that their best interests were found in 
 the divine teachings of him who came to proclaim 
 peace on earth. 
 
 The second regular toast was "War," assigned to 
 Dr. Stebbins. After a cordial introduction he said : "I 
 know not by what design I have been set over against 
 the distinguished captain. Let it not be supposed that 
 I have any contention with him in the hopeful senti- 
 ments which he has expressed. I share those senti- 
 ments with him in company with the illustrious 
 prophets and teachers of mankind, who, in inspired 
 
RIPENED YEARS 95 
 
 vision of the advancing God, have seen the time when 
 war shall be no more. We shall not live to see that 
 time, though there be those here who shall not see 
 death till they see the dawn of that day. Not to hope 
 it, and trustingly believe it, is to belie those aspira- 
 tions of the heart of man which the Maker has kindled, 
 not to tantalize the world, but to lead mankind on to 
 the realization of the poet's insight, more profound 
 than politico-economics, or any doctrine of the balance 
 of power, when 
 
 'all men to be 
 Will make one people ere man's race be run.'" 
 
 He continued, however, with reflections on the ground 
 and standing of war in the providence of the world, 
 and concluded with the assurance that there is some- 
 thing worse than war, namely, the misery of having 
 nothing worth fighting for. 
 
 Horatio Stebbins used his mind fearlessly and 
 calmly, with no prejudices to be overcome. His 
 thought was analytic and penetrating, and he followed 
 it to ultimate conclusions. He remarked once that 
 intellectual honesty was far more rare than moral 
 honesty. His massive integrity had great distrust for 
 half-truths, and the faculty of grasping essentials at 
 once. He had great facility for generalization, and 
 never mistook the corollary for the proposition. 
 
 Often during the discussion of a subject, before a 
 club meeting, for instance, he would sit apparently 
 unimpressed, absorbed in thought, and if called on at 
 
96 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 the close, as he often was, he would, in a few brief 
 words, state the question clearly, and dispose of it to 
 the satisfaction of the company, perhaps bringing up 
 some decisive factor not before considered. His dis- 
 crimination and sense of perspective were remarkable, 
 as also the beauty and finish of form with which he 
 clothed extemporaneous remarks. His speech was al- 
 ways deliberate and rhythmical, often poetic. When 
 unexpectedly called to say a few words in the way 
 of benediction, he expressed his thoughts in beauty 
 that was seldom less than majestic. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins was never more impressive than at the 
 communion service, which he wholly divested of the 
 quality of formal observance. It was real and tender, 
 a communion of the inmost spirit, in which there was 
 a sense of vital union and joyful solemnity. He fre- 
 quently carried forward the theme of the sermon in 
 the preceding church service, applying its central 
 thought to life and connecting it with the unity of 
 sympathy which a communion service typifies. He 
 rarely followed any prescribed form of responses or 
 prayer, but spoke from the depths of his own feeling, 
 and led his flock in reverent supplication. At such 
 times he was transfigured before us, lifted up into 
 the heights of being. His countenance glowed with 
 supernal beauty, and those to whom he ministered 
 felt with him the divine presence, and were strength- 
 ened in their purpose to be led by the spirit. The serv- 
 ice, to him, filled a real want, and was not a tradi- 
 
RIPENED YEARS 97 
 
 tional observance of doctrinal implication, but a nat- 
 ural and blessed opportunity to draw near to one 
 another and to God, in spirit and in truth, that love 
 might find increase and strength be gained for loftier 
 life. 
 
 Of all the many trips I enjoyed with Dr. Stebbins, 
 attendance at the Boston May Meetings of 1886 holds 
 first place. From first to last it was a delightful ex- 
 perience. He was in good spirits on the train and 
 enjoyed meeting all sorts of men. I would find him 
 animatedly discussing cattle with a man from Mon- 
 tana, or lumber with an Oregonian. He was thoroughly 
 democratic and sympathetic, friends with all, even 
 with the jocose Pullman porter, whose final injunction 
 was: " Be good." He was easily amused. During a 
 brief stop at a station called Green River a desolate 
 place, where there was nothing green in sight except- 
 ing the word on the station sign he engaged in con- 
 versation a native on the platform and casually asked 
 him if it were not rather lonely in the winter. "Well," 
 replied the man, "in the winter we play cards a good 
 deal, to mitigate the gloom." "Mitigate the gloom" 
 appealed to Dr. Stebbins as an expressive phrase, and 
 he never forgot it. It is still a family expression. He 
 was unwearied by the long journey and reached Boston 
 with keen anticipation of the companionship he missed 
 in his distant field of labor. He was heartily welcomed 
 and enjoyed much in the remarkable meetings of the 
 week. He spoke at the large evening meeting, where 
 
98 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 he met Dr. Hedge and Dr. Peabody, whom he greatly 
 esteemed. 
 
 At the laymen's festival he replied for the ministry, 
 and was very happy. He told an incident of his early 
 experience in San Francisco that convulsed the com- 
 pany. He had entered one of the street-cars of the 
 period, with plush-covered seats, and straw on the 
 floor. It was well filled, but he finally found an unoccu- 
 pied space by the side of a good-natured man who 
 made room. He noticed that the accommodating 
 stranger had obviously been imbibing rather freely, 
 also that he, himself, was recognized. The man turned 
 toward him and familiarly patting the doctor's knee 
 said: "I know who you are. You're Dr. Stebbins, 
 and you're a good man, but I don't go a cent on your 
 religion. I'm a Baptist myself." "The laugh was on 
 me," Dr. Stebbins continued, "but by a happy chance 
 I turned it off with the reply: 'I am glad to know you 
 are a Baptist ; cold water is just what you need. ' " 
 
 The ordination of his son Roderick at Milton 
 occurred during our stay. He gave the charge to the 
 minister, and it was one of the best addresses I ever 
 heard, full of wisdom, tenderness, and feeling, sea- 
 soned by a touch of homely humor. A sentence or two 
 may find place here : 
 
 "My notion is that the prime credential for the 
 vocation of a minister is a generous love of human 
 nature a conviction, glowing with enthusiasm, that 
 human nature is the best thing God has ever made, as 
 
RIPENED YEARS 99 
 
 far as we know. The strong citadel of a minister's 
 mind, amid indifference around him and the con- 
 sciousness of the inadequacy of his own work, is that 
 in every man's inmost soul he has an advocate with 
 the Father, that says amen to all eternal truth ; and 
 that, while his own imperfect work partakes of the 
 imperfection of all human things, yet the work of God 
 shall prosper." 
 
 It was a beautiful sight to view the silver-headed 
 saints, lifelong friends of the returned exile, as he 
 stood in grateful pride by the side of the son who had 
 chosen the profession he honored and loved. 
 
 On June 19, 1887, we worshiped for the last time in 
 the Starr King Church, which was to be torn down to 
 make way for a business block. The churches in Oak- 
 land and Sacramento united with us in the farewell 
 service. In his announcement the previous Sunday, 
 Dr. Stebbins had said: "Let us all, young and old, 
 gather here once more, and offer gratitude and praise 
 to the Giver of all good, and the Guide of man. Then 
 let us go out with reverent and strong adieux where the 
 Eternal Providence shall lead." To this announcement 
 he added the following suggestion : "Let each one of 
 us as we come in lay a green leaf, a flower, a spire of 
 grass on the burial stone that lies yonder. Let there 
 be no wreaths or artificial labors, but a sprig of the 
 beauty of the world, such as a child can pluck with 
 his hand, or that a dove let loose from heaven might 
 bring to adorn the brow of a Son of Man." 
 
~ioo HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 The service was carried out in the spirit of his words. 
 
 We had worshiped in this church for over twenty- 
 three years, but it was time to leave the business dis- 
 trict. We sold for one hundred and twenty thousand 
 dollars the lot that had cost sixteen thousand dollars, 
 and built, at the corner of Franklin Street, a fine build- 
 ing that cost, lot and all, ninety-one thousand dollars. 
 Dr. Stebbins took great interest in this new church, 
 and on February 19, 1889, it was dedicated. Dr. 
 Hedge wrote a hymn for the occasion. During its 
 construction we worshiped in the Synagogue Emanuel, 
 and the Sunday School was hospitably entertained at 
 the First Congregational Church, which indicates the 
 friendly relations maintained by Dr. Stebbins, who 
 never engaged in controversy with any other house- 
 hold of faith. 
 
 When Dr. Stebbins came to the church he found 
 as its treasurer, and a trustee, Captain William C. 
 Hinckley who had been its devoted friend for many 
 years. He lived on Bush Street, and was thus a near 
 neighbor as well as a constant attendant at church. 
 As he drew near his end, he was pathetically depend- 
 ent on his dearly loved minister. His wife had gone 
 before; he was childless and lonely. Dr. Stebbins 
 was tenderly devoted, cheering and sus taming him to 
 the last. Captain Hinckley wanted to dispose of his 
 property so that it would do the greatest possible 
 good after he was gone. He asked Dr. Stebbins to draw 
 up his will, who complied after much thought and con- 
 
RIPENED YEARS 101 
 
 sultation. On December 29, 1875, the will establish- 
 ing "The William and Alice Hinckley Trust" was 
 signed. Captain Hinckley died April n, 1876. Let 
 Dr. Stebbins tell his story. On the Sunday following 
 he said, in part: 
 
 " Captain William Crawford Hinckley and his wife, 
 Alice Campbell Hinckley, were members of our parish 
 and cheerful helpers of our cause from the early days. 
 They were the cordial friends of my predecessor, Mr. 
 King, and he enjoyed, as only such as he can enjoy, 
 the simplicity of their manners and their true kindness. 
 They could not love me as they loved him, but they 
 loved me after a true fashion, which gave them much 
 delight and me much cause of gratitude." After telling 
 of Captain Hinckley 's birth in Boston in 1809, of his 
 boyhood in Milton, of his apprenticeship to the dry- 
 goods trade at thirteen, of his finding that there was 
 "no trade in him," and of his shipping on a whaler at 
 the age of sixteen, returning three years later with 
 ninety dollars and experience, of several years in the 
 merchant service, of his determination, at twenty-one, 
 to get more schooling, of his return to Milton and 
 study at the academy for three months, Dr. Stebbins 
 proceeds : 
 
 "There the sailor-boy, returning from throwing the 
 harpoon along the Pacific longitude, encountered the 
 javelin that pierced his heart from Alice Hinckley's 
 eyes. Then a new inspiration took him. He must do 
 something and what could he do ? He was ' good for 
 
102 HORATIO STJEBBINS 
 
 nothing else' the sea was his field. He went, rose 
 quickly to be master, and he was a good one, 
 roved from sea to sea and from shore to shore with 
 varying fortunes, sometimes up and sometimes dowa, 
 but generally down. He was accustomed to say, with 
 honorable simplicity: "The truth is, I never was a 
 business man.' He was off the coast of South America 
 when he heard of the gold discoveries in California. 
 He took his ship up the river among the first, and her 
 bones lie there now. He went to the mines. As he 
 said, he 'got the hang of mining/ and in a few months 
 took out nearly six thousand dollars, and came back 
 to the Bay ; and in those shifting times and events he 
 bought at auction for sixty dollars the land on which 
 the California Theater long stood. Nobody outbid 
 him, and some thought he was a fool for buying it. 
 He never displayed any conceit about it after it turned 
 out to be successful far beyond his foresight. He 
 always said it was a good Providence that gave him a 
 competence hi his increasing years. He was so im- 
 pressed with the idea that his later prosperity was 
 owing to no special wit or talent of his own, that he 
 wanted to set apart a portion of his property as a 
 memorial of the good Providence that had befriended 
 him. I have never seen a man who understood more 
 clearly or confessed more humbly that causes entirely 
 beyond his control and greater than his wisdom had 
 given him success. He knew that he came in on the 
 tide and never claimed that he rowed in or steamed in. 
 
RIPENED YEARS 103 
 
 After the death of Mrs. Hinckley, his frame gave 
 way, though he lived in much enjoyment, occupied 
 chiefly in making all things ready for his departure. 
 Ten days before his death it was manifest that he was 
 sinking rapidly. At evening, holding my hand in his, 
 he said, 'I am glad to see you ; it does me good !' In 
 the morning, before day, when the tide served, he 
 lifted his anchors and put out upon the boundless 
 blue." 
 
 ; The lot on Bush Street, near Kearney, bought for 
 sixty dollars, had been leased to the California Theater 
 Company for one thousand dollars a month, ground 
 rental, and he had some other property. Under the 
 will the then trustees of the church were made exec- 
 utors, and also trustees of the trust fund. From the 
 income of the lease a number of legacies and a mort- 
 gage were slowly met The will was contested as con- 
 stituting a perpetuity. Litigation postponed settle- 
 ment, but finally the will was sustained and the trust 
 fund, to the extent of one third of the estate, set aside. 
 It was March, 1890, when disbursements of the inter- 
 est of the fund of fifty- two thousand dollars began. 
 The will gave great discretion to the trustees under the 
 general provision, "for Human Beneficence," particu- 
 larly commending religion, learning, and charity. It 
 called attention to the trials and afflictions of the in- 
 dustrious, striving, unfortunate poor and especially to 
 the aged, the infirm, and the lonely. It also provided 
 a Hinckley Scholarship of three hundred dollars a 
 
104 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 year. Dr. Stebbins was elected president of the board, 
 and held the position till his removal to New England 
 in 1900. 
 
 This fund has been of incalculable benefit and is a 
 source of great strength to the church. Its income 
 provides an appropriation of one hundred and twenty- 
 five dollars a month to the Society for Christian Work 
 for the charities of the church, and as much more 
 for other expenditures. Up to this time we have dis- 
 bursed more than seventy-two thousand dollars and 
 the fund has increased to sixty-two thousand dollars. 
 Dr. Stebbins was strong in his belief that individuals 
 should be endowed rather than institutions, and this 
 Will, in providing that vacancies be filled by joint 
 ballot of the trustees and the board of church trustees, 
 insures perpetual beneficence administered by a group 
 of interested individuals. Only one of the original 
 trustees survives, but the spirit of the trust is un- 
 quenched and seemingly immortal. 
 
 Incidentally the case has significant importance, as 
 it established the American law on perpetuities, rind- 
 ing that such a perpetuity for human good is not to be 
 interdicted (as by the English law), as against public 
 interest 
 
 Dr. Stebbins inspired the utmost respect among the 
 men of the parish, and they responded to his spirit and 
 were anxious to serve others. Among those who felt 
 this fine friendliness was Mr. Henry Pierce, a man 
 of apparently little sentiment. He was frequently a 
 
RIPENED YEARS 105 
 
 dinner guest, and delighted to take with him any of 
 the family when he exercised his line team of horses. 
 When he died, his will contained an unexpected clause : 
 "I give and bequeath to my three friends, Horatio 
 Stebbins, Horace Davis, and Charles A. Murdock, 
 and to their successors, the sum of ten thousand dol- 
 lars in trust for the library of the First Unitarian 
 Church." There was no existing library, save that of 
 the Sunday School, and the surviving trustees decided 
 that the income of the fund should be spent, after pro- 
 viding for the wants of the Church School, in establish- 
 ing a library, to be called "The Henry Pierce Library," 
 which should provide, for the parish and for ministers, 
 students, and others, of all denominations, the best 
 publications on religion and kindred topics. It is lo- 
 cated at the church, and provides even to ministers at 
 a distance books they would find it difficult, if not 
 impossible, otherwise to obtain. It has increasing ap- 
 preciation from the parish. At the death of the sur- 
 viving trustee, it will be controlled by the church 
 trustees, one more monument to the memory and in- 
 fluence of Horatio Stebbins. 
 
 Another parishioner, Mrs. Anna M. Hathaway, 
 established at her death a trust fund of five thousand 
 dollars for the poor of the church. Dr. Stebbins served 
 as a trustee during his lifetime. These two funds 
 augment the beneficence that promises to testify for 
 all time to the helpful influence of his ministry. 
 
 Two parishioners who loved him much, William and 
 
io6 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 Caroline Hardy, provided by will for some memorial 
 of him to be placed in the walls of the church, and in 
 1917 a simple tablet of bronze was dedicated. A sim- 
 ilar tablet is placed near it in memory of Starr King. 
 A touching tribute of grateful affection in the form 
 of a mural painting adorns the Gothic panel back of 
 the pulpit. It is the work and gift of Mr. Bruce Porter, 
 who grew to manhood under Dr. Stebbins's preaching, 
 and greatly revered him. It represents the religious 
 development of mankind, particularly the significance 
 of a favorite phrase of Dr. Stebbins, "Lo, at length, 
 the True Light." Mr. Porter was variously gifted, and 
 a beautiful poem written by him in 1898 may well 
 appear here : 
 
 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 Honored by humble men, he walks these streets, 
 
 Priest of the wider parish of the heart ; 
 
 A tower of strength to the impetuous State, 
 
 Where steadfast and serene he fills his part ; 
 
 Still offering wisdom though the hour grows late; 
 
 Still lending courage in the face of Fate. 
 
 Unterrified and kind, large as the light of day, 
 
 He passes on 
 
 We lift our eyes, sodden with petty ills, 
 
 And lo ! visions of forests, of the silent hills, 
 
 And the deep tides of the obedient sea ! 
 
 Without doubt the friend upon whom Dr. Stebbins 
 most relied for sympathy and support was Horace 
 Davis, who for nearly forty years conducted the Bible- 
 Class in the Sunday School. He was thoroughly con- 
 
RIPENED YEARS 107 
 
 genial and by character and attainment more nearly 
 an equal than any other parishioner. He delighted in 
 Dr. Stebbins, and their intimacy was a great resource 
 to both. He was an appreciative friend. In an histor- 
 ical sketch of the church, after referring to Dr. Steb- 
 bins's valued public services, he said : " Dr. Stebbins's 
 greatest power was in the pulpit ; and his preaching was 
 always to the individual, to you and me. Each of us re- 
 members some peculiar phase of his preaching, but he 
 impressed me most when he spoke of the eternal verities 
 of the spirit. God and the human soul were realities 
 to him, more real than the rocks and hills around us. 
 I gratefully acknowledge my debt to him a debt 
 greater than I owe to any other man, greater than 
 any service of mine can pay." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 CLOSE OF THE SAN FRANCISCO MINISTRY 
 
 ON the twenty-fifth anniversary of the coming of Dr. 
 Stebbins, his congregation turned out hi full numbers 
 to mark the event. The parlors had been tastefully 
 decorated with flowers and ferns by the loving hands 
 of the ladies of the church societies. Delightful music 
 formed a background for congratulations and brisk 
 conversation during a happy evening. Then the mod- 
 erator, Mr. Charles M. Gorham, signaled silence and 
 addressed Dr. Stebbins : 
 
 "Years ago you came to the pastorate of this church. 
 During all these years you have given us the best that 
 God has given you, and, while you have faithfully 
 ministered to this congregation, you have also taken 
 the whole city for your field of duty going about 
 doing good, helping the needy, encouraging the weak, 
 comforting the distressed ; and so, moved by feelings 
 of grateful appreciation and affectionate regard, we 
 herewith present you something material by way of 
 remembrance, with the hope that you may be long 
 spared to your family, to us, your people, and to the 
 church of God." 
 
 The "herewith" was a purse containing $1864, and 
 accompanied the latest edition of the Encyclopedia 
 Britannica. Dr. Stebbins replied with tender emotion. 
 
CALIFORNIA MINISTRY ENDS 109 
 
 He was "surprised, delighted, and happy." It was he 
 who was under debt to his people, and, "if my teach- 
 ings have cast warmth upon your hearts," he said, 
 "it is from inspiration I have gained through the grace 
 of God. If I have entered into service with the love of 
 human nature, it is from the womanly influence which 
 is ever near me. I owe this to the woman who is my 
 wife and whom I have the honor to love." He closed 
 by bestowing his blessing on the gathering 
 
 Dr. Stebbins was well sustained by his people, but 
 he stood practically alone on the Pacific Coast; for 
 even when he could rejoice in Eliot in Portland or Fay 
 in Los Angeles, distances were so great that he had 
 little companionship. So we were always glad when he 
 was able to go to conferences in the East and meet his 
 brother ministers. It had value for them as well. It 
 stimulated the young to see and hear him. The Rev- 
 erend Richard W. Boynton wrote in 1909 to the 
 Christian Register: 
 
 "I well recall, at my first National Conference at 
 Saratoga in 1891, when on my twenty-first birthday 
 I consecrated myself to this ministry, the magnificent 
 presence of Dr. Stebbins of San Francisco, and the 
 spirit of what he said. He dosed in this way, 'I have 
 always spoken and preached from the level of my 
 mind ; and, by the grace of God, I am able to say, with 
 all humility and yet with pride, that those who have 
 gone from the First Church of San Francisco have 
 gone inoculated at least with truth that preserves 
 
no HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 them from the miserable religious diseases of Christen- 
 dom/" 
 
 Again Mr. Boynton wrote : 
 
 "Study the preaching of the great preachers, of 
 George Putnam, of Phillips Brooks, of Horatio Steb- 
 bins, of Brooke Herford, of James Martineau, and you 
 will find that it did not concern itself with the uproot- 
 ing of particular wrong so much as with the affirming 
 and establishing of universal truth and right. It went 
 out of doors, it glorified in the broad sweep of truth, it 
 spoke with the voices of authority, it made men whole, 
 and then trusted those whole men to make a whole- 
 some world." 
 
 The thirtieth anniversary was marked by the instal- 
 lation of the Reverend William G. Eliot, Jr., as assist- 
 ant minister of the church. To join in the auspicious 
 event Dr. Thomas L. Eliot, father of the new minister, 
 had come from Portland, Oregon, and the Reverend 
 Roderick Stebbins, his close friend, had come from 
 Milton, Massachusetts. The Reverend Charles W. 
 Wendte preached the sermon, Dr. Eliot gave the 
 charge, the Reverend Roderick Stebbins the right 
 hand of fellowship. Dr. Stebbins gave a noble ad- 
 dress in the course of which he said : 
 
 "DEAR FRIENDS : The purpose that gives importance 
 and emphasis to this occasion is concluded. The day 
 has indeed a double import to our memory and our 
 hope. We may reverently recognize the providence of 
 
CALIFORNIA MINISTRY ENDS in 
 
 God in history, when we call to mind that this is 
 the anniversary of the admission of California to the 
 Union one of the most striking events, considering 
 all its attendant circumstances, of the last half-cen- 
 tury. We may reverently confess that Providence in 
 human affairs, under whose guidance men are some- 
 times wiser than they know, and which brought this 
 western shore under the protecting aegis of the Consti- 
 tution, within whose folds there lie those latent prin- 
 ciples of justice and truth that are yet to be revealed 
 for the guidance and welfare of mankind ; else, we had 
 been a feeble republic, looking with vacant gaze upon 
 a lazy, idle sea, facing Oriental monotony, the sullen 
 pyramids, and the drowsy Sphinx. 
 
 " We may call to mind with a reverent gratitude 
 that this historic event in the life of our country was 
 contemporaneous with the founding of our church, 
 and that here political liberty and rational religion, the 
 eternal signals of human progress, were established to- 
 gether by men who brought with them something of 
 the continuity of history, and the traditions of an 
 advancing race. We may cherish with cheerful humil- 
 ity and honorable self-respect, under God, the feeling 
 that our church has been the source of much good, and 
 has done something, not only for the spiritual life and 
 growth of those who have sustained its cause and 
 shared its ministrations, but also for that general 
 progress of religious thought from dogmatic assertion 
 to reasonable conviction, which characterizes the 
 
U2 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 better mind of our day. We have had an honorable 
 share in the interpretation of human life in the light 
 of religion. For this, we reverently thank God, whose 
 inspiration giveth us understanding. 
 
 "This date is the thirtieth anniversary of my com- 
 ing as your minister. That period of thirty years in- 
 cludes more than half the period of the American occu- 
 pation of the country, and of the life of our church. I 
 would give it no personal accent or importance. When 
 I came, Bellows was here ; a distinguished figure and 
 remarkable man of his time, who, most susceptible to 
 impression, was more eloquent than Kossuth, more 
 witty than Sydney Smith, and devout as Augustine. 
 The beloved King had died six months before ; the air 
 was fragrant with his name, and the vanishing echoes 
 of his voice for God and Country were still heard. The 
 fires of war cast their lurid glare from shore to shore, 
 and grief and victory wept for the sorrows of the land. 
 
 "But let me not dwell upon the past, much less 
 speak of myself. There is no necessity that a man 
 should speak of himself among those who know him 
 better than he knows himself, only bear with me a 
 little if I boast of your friendship, and am proud of 
 your fidelity. I can ask nothing better for this young 
 man than that you receive him, as you have me, with 
 magnanimous moral and spiritual hospitality. Respect 
 will grow to admiration and love, and he will be to 
 you what he is already to his friends strength, con- 
 fidence, and satisfaction. 
 
CALIFORNIA MINISTRY ENDS 113 
 
 "Young man, I bid you hail ! As you stand upon the 
 threshold of the future, and go forward to the work 
 that Heaven ordains, we who are passing salute you, 
 and the coming race takes up the theme 1" 
 
 For the thirty-first anniversary the ladies of the 
 congregation had planned a pleasant acknowledg- 
 ment in the form of a portrait in oil to be presented to 
 the church. Although Dr. Stebbins usually enjoyed 
 good health, he had then an attack of weakness that 
 prevented him from preaching the sermon he had pre- 
 pared, but he was able to respond to the words of the 
 moderator and clerk. A large number were present, 
 and at the close of the services pressed around Dr. 
 Stebbins to express their regard. He was much 
 touched by their sympathy and loyalty. Subsequently 
 he preached what he called a secular discourse, and it 
 was published by the Charming Auxiliary. It gives 
 an estimate of the results of the past thirty-one 
 years. 
 
 He spoke first of the material progress of the State 
 and the fact that, in spite of the spirit naturally 
 engendered by the gold discoveries, there had been 
 established a commonwealth that promised to rank 
 high in world states by its institutions of law, learn- 
 ing, and religion. He noted signs of increasing in- 
 dustry and economy, alluded prophetically to the 
 dangers involved in wine and liquor production, 
 
- 1 14 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 declared that the theory of the minimum of business 
 at the maximum of profit must give way to the theory 
 of the maximum of business at the minimum of profit, 
 and showed that the tide of population would come 
 When people knew that the land would yield compe- 
 tence and comfort to small owners of good habits and 
 little money. He spoke of California's inevitable rela- 
 tion to the Asiatic races in the opening of the Orient 
 and her responsibility therein. He analyzed tendencies 
 of society and of the public press and found the remedy 
 for ills and wrong in the education that in the large 
 sense includes development of the intellectual and 
 moral nature of man, and relies on the evolution of the 
 individual for the renovation of society. He con- 
 cluded with a statement that embodied his mature 
 conceptions of religion ; and closed with the thought 
 that a teacher of religion is the interpreter of human 
 life in its true relations. He closed with the words: 
 "How feebly I have filled this ideal in these years of 
 the lifetime of a generation, I know and God knows ; 
 but in no folly of self-adulation, in deep and tender 
 humility, this has been my aim; and my honor and 
 respect for you are that you have sustained me in it, 
 by your steadfast hearts and by your vision on the 
 mount. I am and have been among you a much em- 
 ployed man. I have not withheld my hand or my 
 heart as a minister, a man, or a citizen from any human 
 interest, within the reach of limited capacity and 
 prescribed duty ; and my proud humility and gratitude 
 
CALIFORNIA MINISTRY ENDS 115 
 
 are, under God, that men and women from every con- 
 dition and circumstance of life have come to me sim- 
 ply because they thought I was human. If life and 
 strength are given, I may render you better service 
 yet, the riper fruits of experience, some dearer vision 
 of God." 
 
 In April, 1895, occurred the ninetieth birthday of 
 Martineau, and among the words of greeting to him 
 Dr. Stebbins wrote : 
 
 "REVEREND AND DEAR DR. MARTINEAU: Indulge 
 me, I pray you, for the sake of the satisfaction it gives 
 my own heart, to convey to you my revering, grateful, 
 and affectionate regards. If to be honored and beloved 
 is the full cup of earthly joy, your joy is full. If to 
 awaken the mind and heart of man to the deepest 
 truth of his being is the purest and noblest service, 
 you are among the great teachers of mankind. Among 
 those who, in different lands, rejoice to see your day, 
 I offer thanks to God that through you he has been 
 revealed to many souls, and that in loving you they 
 have loved him." 
 
 On August 23, 1896, Dr. Stebbins preached a noble 
 sermon on "Manliness." It was in the nature of a 
 farewell to his assistant, the Reverend William G. 
 Eliot, Jr., who after two years of service went to Mil- 
 waukee to take charge of its pulpit. He said he would 
 make no elaborate adieux to one "who goes out in 
 
n6 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 obedience to inward promptings to the open field of 
 the world to cast the seed of truth on fresh furrows." 
 He assured him of ardent wishes, and reminded him, 
 and himself, of the office and duty of a minister, " to 
 unfold the principles of moral and spiritual truth, to 
 awaken the sentiments and affections of the heart, and 
 lift up those ideals that ever draw the wondering eyes 
 to the mountain-tops that lie between this and a 
 hidden world." 
 
 In December, 1897, Dr. Stebbins wrote to Mr. Eli 
 T. Sheppard, the essayist, who had read a paper at the 
 Chit-Chat Club on "The Future of the Pacific" 
 
 "Mv DEAR MR. SHEPPARD : I was sorry not to be 
 present to hear you. All expected much, and I am 
 assured that they were not disappointed. I do not 
 know the precise view you took of the final part that 
 shall be acted in the scene of History, on this now 
 vacant sea. I am an Asiatic, and have always held 
 the opinion that this western shore of the continent 
 would wait the slow process of Oriental life, and 
 depend for its full development on our relations with 
 the Asiatic races. As our religion began in Asia, and 
 took its westward way, so it will complete its circuit 
 and finally touch the spot whence it arose. Great 
 changes are going on, and a hundred years may wit- 
 ness China divided among the nations, or raised to 
 equal rights among the 'most favored.' But let me 
 not prophesy! I am content in the Faith that there is a 
 providence in History." 
 
CALIFORNIA MINISTRY ENDS 117 
 
 Dr. Stebbins's attitude to Christian Science is set 
 forth in a letter to Mr. Carol Norton, dated in 1898. 
 He writes : 
 
 "My interest in Christian Science is drawn from 
 observation and converse with devotees, rather than 
 from careful studies. In conversation with intelligent 
 disciples of this school, I have been led to the con- 
 clusion that the center of gravity of the theme is in the 
 influence of mind over matter ; or, put more humanely, 
 self-control under the laws of moral rectitude and 
 purity. Of course, the very gravamen of our religion, 
 as expressed in thought or action, is just this, but I fail 
 to discover anything new in it, either to saints or 
 sinners, or to find in it a ground for that 'exact science* 
 of which you speak. I cannot understand how a moral 
 and spiritual world can be reduced to what is called 
 demonstration. The glory of moral being is that what 
 is apprehended is greater than the comprehended, and 
 the demonstrable is the narrow border-land of the 
 infinite. The guides of life, thought, and action, are 
 judgments, probabilities, faith, and hopes. Abolish 
 these by demonstration, and reduce the world to 
 mathematics, the sun, moon, and stars would fall, 
 and the bleak heavens would mark the .hopeless world. 
 There is in Christian Science an element of miraculism 
 which contradicts our most elementary and funda- 
 mental idea of science as right knowledge: but the 
 theme is too large for discussion here. I thank you 
 sincerely for your cordiality, and assure you of my 
 great respect." 
 
n8 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 In July, 1898, the Class of '48 of Harvard Univer- 
 sity, of which Dr. Stebbins was a member, celebrated 
 its fiftieth anniversary. He was unable to attend, but 
 sent a letter, which has especial interest as expressing 
 some general conclusions reached at the eminence of 
 seventy-seven. He said : 
 
 "Of myself I will not speak, more than to say that I 
 have been as happy as is common to human lot under 
 a Divine Providence, and had as good success as a 
 man like me can reasonably expect. I also confess 
 with grateful humility that I have taken great satis- 
 faction in my vocation, and, it may be, have rendered 
 some service to my time and the welfare of my fellow- 
 men. I am especially glad, too, that years find me 
 good-natured, and that, amid all human vicissitude of 
 ignorance, weakness, or wrong, I have a cheerful heart 
 toward humankind, am a believer in the world, and 
 an ardent lover of human nature as the best thing 
 God has ever made. I am no sentimentalist, but a 
 severe moralist, tempered by the genial charities of 
 religion and cheered by a great hope." 
 
 On August 21, 1898, Dr. Stebbins felt moved to 
 express his satisfaction at the public act of a foreign 
 ambassador, then at Berlin. He sent this letter : 
 
 "HoN. ANDREW D. WHITE: I thank you heart- 
 ily for your speech at Leipzig on the Fourth of July. 
 It is distinguished for wisdom, discretion, and inde- 
 pendence, united with that felicity of expression which 
 
CALIFORNIA MINISTRY ENDS 119 
 
 becomes the courtesy of nations. Your position has 
 been of such delicacy that we, here at home, have felt 
 a lively interest in your conduct, and it is a source of 
 great and proud satisfaction, that our confidence has 
 been abundantly justified. Your speech displays the 
 qualities of a discreet politician, a wise statesman, and 
 an independent champion of freedom. The touchy 
 spirit of the German Emperor has, in some minds, 
 excited evil forebodings ; in others, derision. You have 
 ignored these extremes, by the path of right reason, 
 and the manners of a prince of liberty. That is a 
 singular felicity of speech where you give our cause 
 such historic setting: 'The struggle of a new era of 
 right against an old era of wrong.' The war was inevit- 
 able ; it is over : my only desire now is that diplomacy 
 may be so wise and so honorable that statesmen may 
 believe in one another in all national efforts to pro- 
 mote the welfare of humankind. Bismarck is dead! 
 The heavens do not weep ; nor is there a ripple of grief 
 in the heart of man. A statesman so bereft of great 
 human nature as to think of founding a modern state 
 without principles of individual liberty does not 
 attract the applause nor the gratitude of the world. 
 I hope you are well and enjoying the well-earned 
 reputation which your varied public service justifies." 
 
 Dr. Stebbins endeared himself to many in the com- 
 munity who were not identified with his church. His 
 friendliness and his services were not confined within 
 
120 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 any ecclesiastical or theological banks, and he was 
 always ready to respond to any call or need. An ex- 
 sea-captain of Episcopalian affiliations fell ill, and 
 relapsed into invalidism. He was fond of Dr. Stebbins, 
 and nothing seemed to brighten him like a call from 
 the much-occupied preacher, who regularly and fre- 
 quently dropped in to see him; and this habit con- 
 tinued as long as the Captain lived. 
 
 Added to Dr. Stebbins's generosity was entire 
 independence and disinterestedness. He was faithful 
 to his church, but he commanded community respect 
 and confidence, and the strong men of business and 
 leaders in public affairs believed in him and trusted 
 him fully. They were ready to help him, and so he 
 became practically influential, and able to help those 
 who were out of employment. His opinion carried 
 weight, and on any public matter his attitude had 
 value. 
 
 It was a fortunate circumstance that the Unitarian 
 Church in the controlling community of the State of 
 California was represented continuously, by two men 
 of the strength and character of Starr King and 
 Horatio Stebbins. It gave it a standing and a respect 
 not always accorded. No California Unitarian ever 
 thinks of being apologetic for his faith. Neither has 
 he any excuse for being a narrow and illiberal liberal. 
 His traditions ought to be generous, without com- 
 placency or contempt. Dr. Stebbins never sought to 
 build up his church by destroying any other. Neither 
 
CALIFORNIA MINISTRY ENDS 121 
 
 did he indulge in attacks or disparagement. At differ- 
 ent times, as opportunity offered, he expressed sym- 
 pathy and appreciation with many other forms of 
 faith. 
 
 In 1900, Mr. Rolla V. Watt, a prominent and loyal 
 Methodist, had publicly expressed his disappointment 
 at the apathy and weakness of his church. Dr. Steb- 
 bins wrote him a considerate letter, recalling his early 
 observations and his present regard for Methodism, 
 and besought his friend to be patient, and not to forget 
 the honorable record and continued excellence of a 
 great church. He often showed his friendliness with 
 the Roman Catholic Church, and had no sympathy 
 with those who distrusted and feared it He was 
 generally on good terms with those from whom he 
 widely differed. Generous and magnanimous by na- 
 ture, he preserved a sense of perspective that did 
 not distort the truth. 
 
 The discourses of Dr. Stebbins were thoroughly pre- 
 pared. They were never long and rarely exceeded 
 twenty minutes, but were often so packed with 
 thought that they seemed to embrace enough material 
 for at least two sermons. He was distrustful of the 
 diffusiveness of extemporaneous speaking, though he 
 was known on occasion to develop an introductory 
 allusion to Fome current occurrence into a complete 
 address, allowing his manuscript to remain unopened. 
 His sermons were always constructive and affirmative, 
 
122 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 never controversial. He was earnest, but never pas- 
 sionate. He was calm with the dignity of a strong man 
 uttering deep convictions. His use of language was 
 apt, and his illustrations were original and effective. 
 He was an attractive speaker, but he demanded 
 thoughtful hearing and to follow him was no easy 
 task. He enjoyed his congregation, and it gained the 
 credit of showing unusually quiet and absorbed at- 
 tention. He wrote deliberately, taking all the time 
 required to express himself clearly, often delaying a 
 sentence to find the exact word to express his meaning. 
 When the sermon was complete, it was beautiful in 
 appearance, written in bold and striking characters, 
 without interlineation or correction. In the Pacific 
 School for the Ministry there have been deposited 
 some eight hundred manuscripts of sermons, and 
 hardly an amended sentence is to be found. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins usually enjoyed robust health, but 
 along in 1897 and 1898 he had several serious warn- 
 ings. On December 16, 1899, he felt oppressed, and 
 unable to fill his pulpit. The next day he had a severe 
 attack of apparent heart failure, and the end seemed 
 near. Tuesday morning he was better, and full of 
 courage but weak. He said to me : "Early this morn- 
 ing we had a storm center and I thought the end had 
 come. My son held me up with strength like an 
 angel's and here I am, at peace with the world and all 
 mankind." 
 
CALIFORNIA MINISTRY ENDS 123 
 
 For ten days his life trembled in the balance, and 
 then he steadily improved. The trustees felt that 
 every possible relief must be given him, and, after 
 supplies had filled the pulpit for January, they engaged 
 the Reverend Stopford W. Brooke, of Boston, to sup- 
 ply for several months, until Dr. Stebbins was able to 
 resume his ministry. On January 22 he felt constrained 
 to resign "that you may be free," he wrote, "to 
 act according to the dictates of your discretion, and 
 as the welfare of the church demands." 
 
 The resignation was read to the congregation and 
 the trustees reported that there was no other thought 
 than retaining the existing relation as long as he lived, 
 and that it was fondly hoped he might soon be in his 
 pulpit. The resignation was formally declined and 
 the moderator was instructed to confer from time to 
 time as to further action. His health steadily im- 
 proved during the succeeding months. He saw his 
 friends, walked about, and was full of courage and 
 faith. Mr. Brooke served very acceptably for five 
 months. Dr. Stebbins preached on June n and was 
 able happily to round out thirty-five years of service 
 with his anniversary service of September n. 
 
 On that occasion the congregations of his church and 
 of the Second Unitarian Church joined in commemo- 
 rating the event. The services were held in the First 
 Church, the Reverend Andrew J. Wells offering the 
 prayer and reading the scriptures. Dr. Stebbins took 
 
124 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 for his text the passage from Deuteronomy where 
 Moses was commanded : " Get thee up into the top of 
 the hill, and lift up thine eyes westward and northward 
 and southward and eastward, and behold with thine 
 eyes." He made rapid survey of the half-century 
 drawing to a close, and added: 
 
 "This church has stood for those great principles of 
 freedom and independence in religious thought that 
 must ever be the ally of reason and of faith. It 
 churches or unchurches no man. It inquires not for 
 the particular items of his belief, nor puts him on trial 
 for his opinions, but simply organizes religion for the 
 purpose of teaching, worship, and prayer, and the 
 good works of honor, truth, and love. 
 
 "A minister should know the world without being 
 worldly, understand the wickedness of the world 
 without partaking its wickedness, though he himself 
 is weak ; sympathizing with men of all ranks and con- 
 ditions, severely upright, yet tender-hearted. Beyond 
 that there is not much that I believe I would tell any- 
 body. I would talk with anybody, and supplement 
 my own experience by his, and increase the breadth 
 of my knowledge, and learn to know how little I know, 
 yet standing firm as a rock in the eternal verities of 
 moral and spiritual being. 
 
 "The prosperity of this church has been a kind of 
 steady-going strength without proselytism or compe- 
 tition, relying simply on the moral and spiritual attrac- 
 tions of religious truth, interpreted by reverent faith, 
 
CALIFORNIA MINISTRY ENDS 125 
 
 imagination, reason, and common sense. The preacher 
 has spoken from the level of his mind, and the people 
 have heard with tolerant mind and receptive heart. 
 There has been no trial for heresy and no meddling 
 with private opinions, and the human sentiments of 
 mutual sympathy and honor have been our bond of 
 thought, feeling, and actidn. Religion is not a pro- 
 fession ; it is human nature and life, the law and love 
 of our being, as gravitation is in earth and star, and 
 as light goes forth upon land and sea. We have only 
 to lay hold upon that law and love within, and our 
 being becomes real to us. We are satisfied that though 
 life has many illusions life itself is no deception ; that 
 we ourselves are spiritual beings of kindred nature with 
 God ; and if these great sentiments sway our hearts, 
 illume our reason, and inspire our action, we have, by 
 the grace of God, vested rights and blessings in 
 immortality." 
 
 The moderator of the church then stepped forward 
 and asked him to accept a simple memorial of the 
 regard of his parishioners, in the form of an engrossed 
 address, bound in a convenient volume and signed by 
 many friends. Slipped in was an envelope containing 
 over four thousand dollars. 
 
 On September 26, Dr. Stebbins, feeling that his 
 health was too precarious to justify him in longer 
 continuance of service, asked to be definitely relieved. 
 With reluctance the trustees granted his request and 
 
126 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 elected him Pastor Emeritus ; and the Reverend Brad- 
 ford Leavitt, of Washington, D.C., was called as min- 
 ister. Dr. Stebbins T s health greatly improved and he 
 was able to fill the pulpit frequently. In November 
 he preached three times to the great satisfaction of all. 
 
 A letter to Mr. Eli Sheppard, written early in 1900, 
 indicates his mental and physical condition : 
 
 " I am having a low- toned kind of health that admits 
 some comfort, yet exacts some carefulness. Your 
 speaking of me so kindly, and finding here and there 
 a man who speaks so, impresses me much with senti- 
 ments of gratitude toward all. I feel that I have acted 
 a very feeble part, yet I am not altogether without 
 self-respect. As years increase, and the profounder 
 experience of thought and life is awakened, I am 
 impressed with how much there may be in every man 
 that has not been called out or used. Abilities lie 
 scattered all around 'loose that life has not fully 
 appropriated. Your own health and your courage have 
 always challenged my admiring sympathy, and I have 
 held the hope that you might yet be delivered of all 
 shipwreck and disaster, and have a free course of 
 health and strength worthy your gifts. Whenever I 
 have met you, I have felt toward you the happy obli- 
 gations of an indebted mind. My work is done, though 
 I will not lie down in the furrow, but will plod on with 
 a slow but cheerful gait till the sun has set. My suc- 
 cessor will be installed next Sunday morning. I trust 
 that his cheerful confidence will be justified. I am 
 
CALIFORNIA MINISTRY ENDS 127 
 
 indeed glad that you have such a fine impression of the 
 country as you have gone through different sections, 
 here and there. I felt all your intelligent enthusiasm 
 in regard to our wonderful land. I believe in it, mind, 
 heart, and soul ; and I believe there is to be a display 
 of human power and greatness never surpassed on the 
 earth. There is great noise among the nations, and 
 we are living in a most eventful period. The world is 
 growing smaller every year through the influence of 
 swift communication, and nations are becoming 
 neighborhoods, and the unity of mankind is dawning 
 upon the world. While the life of a generation is short 
 and sees little change, the eternal years move on under 
 the guidance of Him with whom a thousand years is as 
 one day, and one day is a thousand years. I thank you, 
 indeed, for your great kindness. Believe me that it is 
 heartily and sincerely reciprocated, and whether I see 
 you again or not I bear upon my mind and heart the 
 cheerful impression of your image." 
 
 On January 14, 1900, the Reverend Bradford 
 Leavitt was installed. Dr. Stebbins was in fine spirits 
 and made an excellent address. Then, turning to the 
 people he besought them to receive his successor with 
 the cordial hospitality of heart and mind, which they 
 had ever shown toward him. " There has been in you," 
 he said, "a cordial, sincere, and strong respect toward 
 me which has given me the greatest personal satisfac- 
 tion, and you have been very patient of my errors and 
 
128 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 my blunders, with that good sense and upright judg- 
 ment with which we all learn at length to take a man as 
 he is, and not as he ought to be. This young man comes 
 approved by all who know him. Treat him manfully, 
 with confidence and trust, and thus challenge him to the 
 noblest things there are in him, or that God can give." 
 
 A session of the Pacific Coast Conference was held 
 at Berkeley on May 2 and 3, 1900. The general topic 
 was "A Century of the Unitarian Movement in 
 America." On the afternoon of the 2d, there were five 
 five-minute papers or addresses on related topics. Dr. 
 Stebbins was asked to speak on "The Contribution of 
 the Unitarian Movement to Religious Thoughts and 
 Ideas." When he was announced and stood up to 
 speak, the entire body instinctively arose, to pay their 
 respect to their devoted leader, whose early departure 
 made it probable that he never would be with them 
 again. He spoke briefly, but effectively, and was heard 
 with the close attention he always received. Without 
 a particle of boasting, he set forth with firm respect 
 the influence of liberal teaching, and took occasion to 
 deny the charge that our position was one of negation : 
 
 "There never was anything more false. It is an 
 affirmation of the true nature of human nature and of 
 retribution. It was a denial of Calvinism, that terrible 
 system which controlled men through fear, and which 
 could only be outgrown by the common sense of man- 
 kind. It is passing away ; it is now substantially gone. 
 
CALIFORNIA MINISTRY ENDS 129 
 
 This having fallen to the ground, Unitarianism comes 
 in as the common-sense view of religion. It is not a 
 dogmatic creed, but a way of thinking, a habit of mind. 
 God is not manifested merely in three persons, but in 
 humanity." He alluded to the great contribution of 
 the Reverend George R. Noyes. " He was a great lover 
 of truth, and his studies are the track of light that has 
 swept through our heavens for a hundred years. The 
 destiny of our way of thinking is safe. A man who 
 has character and moral courage follows his thought 
 We know the truth just in proportion in which we our- 
 selves become the truth." 
 
 Dr. Stebbins stood in his San Francisco pulpit for 
 the last time on May 27, 1900, four days before he 
 was to leave for Milton, Massachusetts. Mr. Leavitt 
 preached a brief sermon, Dr. Stebbins offering the 
 prayer, and speaking impressive words of farewell. 
 He said he had come to the church on this last Sunday 
 because he wanted to join in the service of praise and 
 prayer. As he had stood upon the corner and looked at 
 the building, its stony face softened by the vines that 
 caught the morning sun, it had seemed to typify the 
 religion to whose service it was dedicated. It was 
 strong and conscious of power; it spoke of rest and 
 peace. Of his ministry he would not speak. If it had 
 been helpful, if it had been able to do any good, it was 
 because of the inspiring God, and it would be immortal. 
 He had always entertained a respect for his people, 
 
1 30 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 for their intelligence and faithfulness. He recognized 
 Humanity as the greatest of churches, a communion 
 that transcends all others. First of all, God had made 
 him a man ; and the inspiration to become a minis- 
 ter had come to him when, beneath the trees of his 
 father's farm, he read the words of the greatest spirit 
 of mankind. His ministry to this church had covered 
 more than thirty-five years a long period in the 
 activity of a human life. If he had ever said anything 
 to offend, he asked forgiveness ; if he had been guilty 
 of neglect, it had been without intent ; if he had ever 
 seemed to fail of sympathy in times of sorrow, he 
 adjured them to believe it not. If he had a wish to 
 express for the future of the church and its people, it 
 was that they might continue to bear the name Uni- 
 tarian. The best thought of all lands tends to converge 
 in the acceptance of unity of natural law, unity of 
 humanity, unity of God. In conclusion, he spoke of his 
 gratitude for all he had enjoyed. He had always endeav- 
 ored to speak to the reason, the faith, and the love of 
 his hearers. Now he followed where the hand of Provi- 
 dence seemed to lead, and with gratitude, confidence, 
 and trust he wished his congregation a cheerful, a grate- 
 ful, and a happy good-morning. After the singing of a 
 hymn he pronounced a tender benediction with a voice 
 as strong and unfaltering as the noble heart it echoed. 
 The long, blessed ministry was at an end. Worn in 
 body, but with mind unimpaired and spirit undaunted, 
 he joined his children, calmly to await his earthly end. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 QUIET YEARS IN CAMBRIDGE 
 
 DR. STEBBINS continued in fair health, occasionally 
 preaching and not unfrequently officiating at the 
 funeral of some friend. In early May, 1900, he decided 
 to return to New England, largely to be near his three 
 children. He gave up his home on Larkin Street, 
 associated with sacred memories, and on May 31 pro- 
 ceeded to Milton, Massachusetts. He sent to the July 
 Pacific Unitarian a pleasant account of crossing the 
 continent. 
 
 "Travel across the continent is now so frequent that 
 nothing new can be said about it, and the scene awak- 
 ens no surprise in the traveler himself. We took our 
 places on the train at evening, gave pleasant adieu to 
 friends, and were greeted on board by the faithful 
 porter, who accosted me, calling me by name as if he 
 knew me well, saying, 'Dr. Stebbins, if I can do any- 
 thing for you, let me know. I'll be glad to do anything 
 I can to elevate your comfort ! ' 
 
 "It is said that when men become travelers they 
 grow selfish, and that it is a kind of every-one-for- 
 himself, and the Devil take the hindmost. I think, 
 however, that that saying is modified by the spirit 
 and manners of those who travel. People whom you 
 meet crossing the country from west to east are, on 
 
HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 the whole, polite, accommodating, and good-natured. 
 Politeness to women is certainly characteristic of the 
 spirit of the people, and makes travel for ladies alone 
 entirely becoming and independent. 
 
 " During the night of Thursday the double engines 
 tugged and puffed up the mountains, and at early 
 morning we could discern that we were running down- 
 hill on the eastern side, where the waters flow in 
 another direction. The second day is the time to set 
 down to business and get adapted. The way is rather 
 dry and tedious, and yet there is no hardship unless 
 you are inclined to complain and who is not ? The 
 country, dry, barren, and lonely as it seems, yet bears 
 some marks of civilization and culture, here and there, 
 and it is noticeable that fewer Indians cling to the 
 train or linger about the stations than thirty years ago. 
 Where the Indians are I do not know. Some say they 
 have gone farther south. 
 
 "Ogden looks large and bustling, the focus of in- 
 dustry and railways, a point from which you can go 
 anywhere, if you take the right train ; and if you take 
 the wrong train, you are sure to be landed somewhere. 
 Onward through to Omaha the country shows increas- 
 ing cultivation ; stations are more frequent. Pleasant 
 farms and industrious populations tell of the increas- 
 ing life and power of the State. Omaha is a beautiful 
 town with a public school situated on a noble eminence 
 that overlooks a boundless country of land and river. 
 
 "When one comes near the city of Chicago, he feels 
 
QUIET YEARS IN CAMBRIDGE 133 
 
 a little throb of wonder, mystery, and fear. Chicago 
 is a terrible town, not pleasant, but awful, industrially, 
 commercially, socially, or morally. All the world is 
 there, of every tribe and race and nation on the earth. 
 It seems now to have an overflow of population, more 
 than can be employed or fed, and thousands of 
 industrious men have left to find in other fields or 
 cities an outlet for their pent-up, smothered life. 
 Externally Chicago is indeed a terrible city, full of all 
 human powers, destined to a greater greatness among 
 the cities of the world ; not a pleasant city to live in, 
 it may be, but how little that has to do with the 
 founding of the cities of the world ; the natural centers 
 of activity settle that 1 
 
 "One day more, through a thickly peopled country, 
 where towns, villages, and cities are seen as flashlights 
 in the darkness of night or flecking the brilliant land- 
 scape by day ; and we arrive at Boston, on time to a 
 minute (three o'clock), and from the train in half an 
 hour step into a pleasant little cottage house, with 
 table spread and adorned with flowers." 
 
 A few days after his arrival he wrote : "We are com- 
 fortably settled in the midst of beauty above and 
 around, and our hearts are blooming with memories 
 and gratitude fairer than earth or sky." 
 
 Soon afterwards he wrote : "I have kept quite still 
 and am rather enjoying it. I am about, so, and do not 
 expect anything else. I went to Commencement, and 
 
134 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 returned as soon as I could get out. I have been out on 
 the trolley cars, twenty miles. They run everywhere 
 and afford the easiest outing. I went to church on 
 Sunday morning and heard Roderick. I have rarely 
 enjoyed a service of greater refinement, dignity, and 
 reverence." 
 
 By husbanding his strength he was able to enjoy 
 much. In another note he says : "If I am able, I am 
 going to Cambridge this afternoon, not to do any- 
 thing, but to meet the ministers, who have an address 
 and an hour together. I shall not be able to hear the 
 address by Fenn, but maybe I will dine with them, 
 and come home." 
 
 On July 18, 1900, Dr. Stebbins wrote : "Commence- 
 ment at Harvard is a great day. The order and cere- 
 mony of the occasion are impressive, and one feels 
 that a university is a school not only of learning, but 
 also of manners and propriety. There is in it, too, a 
 mingled joy and sobriety, such as youth feels when 
 his academic course is ended and the realities of prac- 
 tical life and experience are before him. The scene 
 is impressive, giving a kind of cosmopolitan view 
 of society, its complex and multiplied interests and 
 increasing wants. All sorts of learning, from Greek 
 letters to veterinary medicine, from philosophy to 
 dentistry, from fine arts to sanitary engineering, are 
 included, to meet the demands of society in this 
 modern age. As the scene moves on, the chief figure is 
 
QUIET YEARS IN CAMBRIDGE 135 
 
 President Eliot. With ease of natural dignity and 
 refinement, he announces the graduation of those who 
 have pursued prescribed studies, and confers academic 
 honors upon men distinguished for public service in 
 different fields. His voice, without effort, by simple 
 force of articulation and clear utterance, is distinctly 
 heard where other voices are lost indistinct mur- 
 murs among the waiting throng. This clear enuncia- 
 tion is characteristic of the man. Among university 
 men he is an acknowledged leader. In that patient, 
 long-winded tact that pursues a purpose with untiring 
 will, in the conception of the relation of means to ends, 
 which is the wisdom of all great enterprises, and the 
 common sense of daily life, he is unsurpassed. One 
 says, 'I wish he were President of the United States.' 
 But is a four years' hold of the policy of a party a 
 greater influence than a thirty-years' presidency of a 
 great university ? Influence may be difficult to define, 
 but there is a distinction, no doubt, between quantity 
 and quality. President Eliot has demonstrated, if 
 anybody ever doubted it, that power must be at the 
 center if anything would be made to go. 
 
 "An important event is the coming of twelve 
 hundred teachers from Cuba to be taught at Harvard 
 and to observe the manners and customs of the coun- 
 try. The fact that they wanted to come and that 
 Harvard invited them to come is an unspeakable good. 
 While war is to be deplored and the doctrine that 
 might makes right is to be repudiated, it cannot be 
 
136 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 denied that might makes a way for right. The coming 
 of the teachers from Cuba is a signal event of our time, 
 changing the lurid glare of war to a beacon-light 
 warning and cheering the nations. Cuba is doing well, 
 better than in centuries before." 
 
 Later he wrote : "The Cubans have concluded their 
 studies and delights, and are about to return. They 
 have had a ' great time.' Their coming may be reck- 
 oned among the distinguished events of our time, and 
 illustrates in a striking manner that in the great union 
 and relation of peoples and nations in the modern age 
 a great nation cannot put forth its power and receive 
 the approval of mankind without bestowing some good 
 upon the world." 
 
 Of the death of Collis P. Huntington, he wrote : "A 
 conspicuous figure in the business of the world, and a 
 striking illustration of the union of daring yet careful 
 energy and great opportunity, he was a born genius 
 of business, with a keen scent for values. He asked no 
 favors and gave none. He stuck to his 'line of things' 
 and knew what he was good for. He also had a fine 
 perception of what other men were good for, and com- 
 monly put the right man in the right place." 
 
 Life in Dr. Stebbins's new surroundings opened very 
 pleasantly. To be near his son and many friends, to 
 have all his family around him, to be free from care 
 and responsibility and yet to be able to preach as 
 
QUIET YEARS IN CAMBRIDGE 137 
 
 opportunity offered, was happiness. In August he 
 preached in Plymouth, and was much impressed with 
 its charm and historical interest. He wrote enter- 
 tainingly of it for the Pacific Unitarian, in which he 
 always felt a deep interest : 
 
 "Monuments and memorials are here and there and 
 everywhere, from the posts of the doors of ancient 
 houses to chiseled stone of monumental grandeur. 
 Relics of ancient custom, from spinning-wheels, fire- 
 locks, and swords to records of nearly three centuries, 
 give an impression of a past on the theater of human 
 action which no scene of wild Nature in her awful 
 silence suggests. The presence of man gives chief 
 interest to the world, and his fortunes, brief as they 
 are compared with the geologic ages, are forever the 
 theme of history, philosophy, poetry, and song. The 
 fame and interest of Plymouth will increase as time 
 goes on and the mind of the country from East to West 
 becomes more historic. The town holds its own. 
 Though it will not be a great center of thronging popu- 
 lation, it will be all the more on that account the 
 appropriate keeper of some of the most interesting 
 archives that attest the unbroken chain that unites 
 our country with the great struggles for liberty 
 throughout the world. What would have been the 
 result if these rocky shores had been a field of gold? 
 I will not undertake to picture the scene or write up 
 the past with an */. I glory in the great and honorable 
 past, and am not unmindful of the debt I owe to the 
 
ij 8 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 master-spirits who rule the race, yet 'I think it lucky 
 I was born so late.' " 
 
 In September his son, Horatio, entered the Massa- 
 chusetts Institute of Technology, and as his daughter 
 Lucy was in Radcliffe, the family home was established 
 in Cambridge. 
 
 In October occurred the fiftieth anniversary of 
 the San Francisco church, and he sent a letter of 
 greeting : 
 
 "We do well to celebrate with praise, gratitude, and 
 thanksgiving the half-century anniversary of our 
 church. It has been a most honorable and much- 
 beloved institution, and, under God, has kept alive the 
 sacred fire kindled by this inspiration, and replenished 
 the fountain of that stream that flows from age to age 
 and from generation to generation, refreshing the life 
 of man as long as time shall endure. 
 
 "The origin of our church is a testimony of the com- 
 mon want of our nature for some recognition of its 
 divine relations, and is a sure guaranty that religion 
 will never die out on the earth. While yet the site of 
 this town was a heap of sand, and the lazy tide swept 
 in upon a hitherto idle shore, a few men who felt that 
 religion was the high and final interpretation of human 
 life, in harmony with reason, intelligence, and moral 
 sense, and that faith in God is the supreme action of 
 the mind and heart and will, met in confidence and 
 trust toward Him for mutual counsel and prayer, and 
 
QUIET YEARS IN CAMBRIDGE 139 
 
 laid the foundations of that spiritual structure the 
 corner-stone of which is the heart of man. 
 
 "From that beginning this church has had a con- 
 stant life of worship, teaching, and work in harmony 
 with those great principles of truth that are the es- 
 sential things of faith and duty. We inquire for no 
 man's private opinions, nor establish rules of believing 
 as standards of salvation. Our passport is a sense of 
 need and a desire to be partakers and helpers in that 
 worship, teaching, and work in which our relations 
 to God and one another are expressed. Our great 
 affirmations are God, truth, and our fellow-men. To 
 have had a part in founding this church on these eter- 
 nal things that remain through all time or opinion, and 
 to cherish all progress of thought in every realm of 
 man's dominion or of God's inspiration, is, indeed, 
 reasonable cause of gratitude ; and to be partaker and 
 helper of its life and power is a source of present joy. 
 
 "A half-century is a considerable period of time, 
 reckoned by human days a brief hour in the eternal 
 years. But God is ever near and Truth is ever young, 
 and by working with Him we have perpetual youth, 
 and our eternal life goes on. So we hail those who have 
 lived on into the nearer presence of God, and we salute 
 those who are yet with us whose memory goes swiftly 
 back to fifty years ago, or have later joined the un- 
 unbroken line of living men as they move in divine 
 procession. Salute them as they pass before us, the 
 living generation that unites the future of the earth 
 
i 4 o HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 with the future of heaven and keeps unbroken the 
 ranks of immortals as an unseen Hand waves the 
 generations on or off the stage ! Now, finally, salute 
 the brethren each and all, named or unnamed those 
 who have wrought long and well and bear rich sheaves 
 from the harvest of years, or those who go forth in the 
 morning with the song of the reapers. Salute John 
 Perry, the revered and honorable, and the host of 
 others whose names cannot be written, besides noble 
 women without number, on whom be honor and bless- 
 ing evermore." 
 
 In early October he had the great pleasure of revisit- 
 ing his old parish at Portland, Maine. It is something 
 of a test to go back to a place left thirty-six years 
 before, but he found a few who cherished his memory, 
 and a multitude who as children had either come under 
 his influence or who had heard of him from their 
 fathers. A large congregation gathered to hear him, 
 and after the service crowded the parish house for 
 nearly an hour to greet him, He preached with great 
 vigor upon the possibilities of manhood, thrilling his 
 hearers and giving the younger generation a better 
 understanding of those traditions of his power under 
 which they had grown up. 
 
 He was able to assist Dr. Charles G. Ames at the 
 funeral service of his lifelong friend, the Reverend 
 Cyrus A. Bartol. About this time he contributed an 
 article on Christmas and the New Year to the Pacific 
 Unitarian, a passage from which gives its quality : 
 
QUIET YEARS IN CAMBRIDGE 141 
 
 "What does the Son of Man represent? There have 
 been a great many attempts to define Christianity, 
 from a patent-right scheme of salvation to some plan 
 of great believing that should be a divine contract 
 between God and the soul ; but all our great convic- 
 tions are apprehensions not comprehensions. Our 
 own being is as great a mystery as God's being, and 
 we are so allied to Him by nature that we are called the 
 children of God. Christianity is the impersonation in 
 man and men of this common nature. The religion of 
 Jesus is God in humanity ; or, as Theodore Parker said, 
 'Christianity is Humanity' that is, human nature 
 at its best. All attempts to define it in dogmatic form 
 will fail. Jesus was so human that he could say, * I and 
 my Father are one/ and Augustine said that Chris- 
 tianity is in human nature, expressed in Jesus as the 
 type and ideal of humankind." 
 
 On January 22, 1901, he wrote entertainingly of 
 winter: 
 
 "Winter begins when it gets here ; spring when it's a 
 mind to ; summer when it can't help it ; and autumn 
 comes as wisdom comes! We all know how that is 
 commonly late ! If scenery has any effect on civilized 
 man's character or constitution, if climate changes the 
 quality of his blood, this winter terribleness and glory 
 must have had something to do with fashioning the 
 northern races of mankind. But winter is not severe 
 on men or on domestic animals, if they are well cared 
 for. Animals grow fat, and men and women enjoy the 
 
r 4 2 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 fine clear cold, if they are well protected ; and there is 
 a kind of happy pride in standing before it, though 
 unprotected none can stand. It is this necessity for 
 protection and provision that has a moral effect not 
 felt in milder latitudes. Almost all the birds and 
 smaller animals are driven out by winter, but an ill- 
 boding crow the other day sat on the branch of a 
 melancholy elm yonder and cawed and cawed in that 
 fine voice which the fox in the fable praised ; and now, 
 while I write, a fine squirrel, with waving bush and 
 lively action, runs across the brilliant snow, appar- 
 ently happy as a lamb in May. But somber wisdom, 
 melancholy grandeur, terrible power, and brilliant 
 glories are the characteristics of winter. Nature puts 
 on severe manners, relieved by cheerful fireside, do- 
 mestic, and social joy. It is the season for study, for 
 evening talk, and genial hospitalities. The glory and 
 power of it impressed the Psalmist, who saw in it that 
 sublime Will that looses the bands of Orion, or binds 
 the sweet influences of the Pleiades." 
 
 In November he wrote a charming letter to an 
 eight-year-old San Francisco boy. 
 
 "MY DEAR BOY : Have you forgotten me? I think 
 of you often and wish I could see you, and walk about 
 with you. There are great elm trees here, and the 
 name Elmwood Avenue is given to the street. Right 
 over the way is the Lowell house, where the poet James 
 Russell Lowell was born. Among these elms are many 
 
QUIET YEARS IN CAMBRIDGE 143 
 
 squirrels ! gray, with fine bushy tails and bright eyes. 
 They are quite tame. Yesterday a fellow (squirrel, I 
 mean) came to the door, and Mrs. Stebbins gave him 
 a nut, and he ran with it up a tree, and sat down on his 
 hind legs, his tail curled over him like a feather, and 
 his eyes sparkling like gems ; and he cracked the nut 
 and ate it, all the time looking down cheerfully, not 
 afraid of falling. I thought of the fable that Emerson 
 wrote about the Mountain and the Squirrel, and I 
 said to myself that / would write to you about it. 
 You know what a fable is : a story made up just to 
 give a hint of something true, that he didn't think of 
 before ! Ask your father to find the fable (I think he'll 
 do it), and as you read it, imagine the squirrel sitting 
 on his hind legs looking toward Mount Diablo and 
 having a little talk. Learn the fable, not in a hurry, 
 but, say, three lines a day ; and when you have got it 
 so it will go itself if you open your mouth, write and 
 tell about it what you think it means. My love to 
 you all." 
 
 The following month he added: "I only want to 
 tell you not to be in a hurry about that squirrel. He is 
 here now. I see him, his fine bush over his back as he 
 sits on his hind legs, looks every way, and then jumps ! 
 I hope you will not have any trouble with your eyes. 
 I have known boys and girls who have been obliged to 
 wear glasses for a while, and then have got well soon. 
 It makes a young fellow look very learned to wear 
 glasses! You would think of asking him some great 
 
f44 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 questions ! Thank your father for his fine letter to me. 
 My love to all, especially to your sisters ! They do not 
 know me, but then, I want them to know that I love 
 you all. I am yours, dear boy, HORATIO STEBBINS." 
 
 In a letter soon after New Year's Day, 1901, he 
 wrote at length, concluding: "I have called myself, 
 'Yours affectionately/ or something else as good for 
 more than thirty years, and I stick to it yet I" 
 
 At the annual meeting of the San Francisco church 
 held in February, a telegram was sent to Dr. Stebbins : 
 "Our gratitude and our regard increase as time re- 
 veals the measure of the blessings we have enjoyed." 
 In response he wrote : 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. SYMMES : The telegram in your 
 name, and in the name of the people of the First Uni- 
 tarian Church, means to me more of gratitude and love 
 than I can express, and I beg of you all to let me go 
 free with a voiceless thought that overflows my heart. 
 Indulge me, though, if you will, in the expression of my 
 great happiness in you all, in the inexhaustible resource 
 I find in my experience as your minister and my 
 citizenship among you for the lif etime of a generation. 
 I have enjoyed a degree of intellectual and moral 
 independence limited only by my ability to share the 
 freedom of him whom the truth makes free. Your 
 genial minds have been the climate most friendly to 
 my nature, and your liberal hearts have responded with 
 cheerful hospitality to noblest sentiments of humanity. 
 
QUIET YEARS IN CAMBRIDGE 145 
 
 "Your word to me spoken across the land carries 
 with it a weight of meaning that causes my heart to 
 quiver with emotion, and reason to find becoming 
 refuge in humility. But I will speak. If I have, under 
 God, and by the inspiration of his spirit, illumined 
 your common mind and heart with thoughts that send 
 their beams afar, making this world more human, the 
 heart of man more prophetic, the human more divine 
 and the divine more human to our imagination and 
 affection, then indeed have I cause for the deepest 
 gratitude and the happiest joy. The greatest blessing 
 that man can receive is a thought, an imagination, a 
 conviction concerning his own nature and his relation 
 to God ; that gives courage to faith, and transforms 
 the world to a scene of discipline and teaching for 
 moral and spiritual beings in the likeness of God. In 
 this great faith may we all be living, above the limi- 
 tations or contradictions of provincial thought. In 
 the name of God our Father and in the name of our 
 common human heart, I salute you all, and may 
 blessing, honor, truth, and love be upon you and abide 
 with you evermore." 
 
 In March Dr. Stebbins was seriously ill with pneu- 
 monia, but his good constitution withstood the attack, 
 and he was soon preaching now and then. In July he 
 preached in Dorchester, and he very much enjoyed 
 visiting, in company with his son Horatio, the scenes of 
 his early youth, near Springfield. No member of the 
 
146 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 family now lives at the old homestead, but it was a 
 satisfaction to take luncheon in the house in which he 
 was born, and to show his son the fields where he 
 ploughed and mowed as a boy. 
 
 In September he was asked to take a prominent part 
 at the Saratoga Conference, but felt that his health 
 was too precarious to justify it. 
 
 On October 2 his son Roderick was married to Edith 
 Endicott Marean, in Appleton Chapel of Harvard 
 College, Cambridge. Dr. Stebbins shared the wedding 
 service with Dr. Samuel M. Cr others, and the dignity 
 of his manner, as he uttered his few words of affection- 
 ate recognition and counsel, made the ceremony one 
 never to be forgotten by even the least interested of 
 the many who heard them. He was in bright spirits 
 at the reception which followed and made it evident 
 that he was especially happy in this marriage. 
 
 On February 22, 1902, he wrote a kindly letter, one 
 sentence of which showed his lessening strength: "I 
 have been bottled up for a week with something, and 
 may not be out for another week. I do not go out much, 
 and then not alone. I notice the dropped stitches." 
 He regretfully informed me of the fact that Dr. Charles 
 W. Eliot had been obliged to give up his promised 
 visit to the Pacific Coast, and suggested a "disappoint- 
 ment addendum" to an announcement which he had 
 sent his last article. The letter concludes : 
 
 " I cannot write more now. Yours ever 
 
 " HORATIO STEBBINS " 
 
QUIET YEARS IN CAMBRIDGE 147 
 
 These were the last words penned by that loving 
 hand. He had been weary all day and was taken sud- 
 denly down that night. The attack was much like 
 that of two years before, and was followed by alter- 
 nating periods of improvement and relapse. His 
 friend, the Reverend A. W. Jackson, was in Cambridge 
 on March 19 and called to inquire for him. Hearing 
 that he was in the house, Dr. Stebbins expressed a wish 
 to see him, and Mr. Jackson went to his room. "To 
 my great surprise and delight," he wrote, "I found 
 him sitting up and dressed. He was apparently weak, 
 but his eye was dear, his countenance did not look 
 wan, he was apparently free from pain, and the old 
 smile was there. His conversation was in his noblest 
 vein of books and thoughts and friends/ 1 
 
 Among the many San Francisco friends to whom Dr. 
 Stebbins was warmly attached was Kate Douglas 
 Wiggin Riggs, whom he befriended and helped when 
 she came to San Francisco from Santa Barbara, a 
 talented and ambitious kindergartner, with her mother 
 and her sister, Miss Nora Smith. They were frequent 
 and welcome guests at the family table, and were very 
 near through all the changing years. On March 31, 
 he dictated through his wife this tribute of his undy- 
 ing love : 
 
 "DEAR KATE, What you say transcends all my 
 powers of expression, but if I should let go I don't 
 know where I should begin or end. You have always 
 
i 4 8 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 been among my great admirations, and my intellectual 
 and moral delights. That I have had any influence 
 or standing with you has increased my self-respect, 
 tempered by gratitude and humility. What can I say 
 but repeat what you know already my great affec- 
 tion for you all, your husband, your mother, Nora, 
 the ever-beloved and honored, whom to know is pride 
 enough for a lifetime, and gratitude to fill the heart 
 with joy." 
 
 Shortly before the final attack and death of Dr. 
 Stebbins the eightieth birthday of Edward Everett 
 Hale was royally celebrated in Boston and elsewhere. 
 Dr. Stebbins was too ill to attend. He said several 
 times, "If I were going to speak, there is one thing I 
 should say." Finally, he took pencil and paper, and 
 wrote the following words, the last which were written 
 by his own hand: 
 
 "The time will come when men will ask, Who was 
 he ? His religion was that universal principle of human 
 nature that includes mankind. It is that great prin- 
 ciple which, carried into the world of thought, compels 
 all men, when brought face to face with it, to confess 
 that neither station nor wealth, nor conspicuous 
 popularity, is the final test of greatness, but that 
 mysterious quality that we recognize as character, 
 diffused through all the activities of the mind, uniting 
 the manly and the godly in one. Let those who will 
 undertake to define it, they will fail. It has many ele- 
 
QUIET YEARS IN CAMBRIDGE 149 
 
 ments in combination that defy all chemistry, reveal- 
 ing God in man. It is flesh and blood, and bone and 
 marrow, and nerve and brain, suffused with feeling, 
 free will, moral force, imagination, and love." 
 
 This indicates how fully and firmly he maintained 
 to the last his intellectual and spiritual faculties. 
 
 On March 22 he dictated a long letter full of gen- 
 erous affection, and in good courage. He said : "Your 
 desire to see me, ardently expressed, is sincerely felt 
 and reciprocated. Time and events only can de- 
 cide." He concludes with : "I am living on reduced 
 strength which I use with economy in the enjoyment 
 of many blessings, and in gratitude for all good like 
 yours. In all this Mrs. Stebbins and myself are ever 
 united and we give you and Winifred our abounding 
 love." 
 
 A few days later he became notably weaker, and 
 suffered almost unendurable pain for two weeks, so 
 that he prayed for release. He was calm and collected 
 when free from agonizing pain, and on April 4 he 
 dictated a dispatch to San Francisco : "Salute all the 
 people, and give them my blessing. Let them have a 
 service of praise and prayer in the church, Sunday 
 morning, April 13." On the 8th he breathed his last. 
 A noble life had ended; a great heart was at rest. 
 The private funeral on Friday morning, April n, 1902, 
 was conducted by Dr. Samuel M. Crothers. The 
 burial the following day was at Portland, Maine. 
 
150 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 Several years before Dr. Stebbins had prepared with 
 calm consideration a memorandum of the order he 
 would like to have followed at his funeral service. 
 A few weeks before the end he asked his son Roderick 
 to send it to San Francisco, as expressing his wishes. 
 In form and substance it is so characteristic that it is 
 given. He especially asked that all eulogy and remarks 
 be omitted and his wishes were reverently respected. 
 The service was tenderly beautiful and impressive. 
 Loving hands had appropriately decorated the church 
 with flowers; friends from far and near gathered to 
 express their devotion; Mr. Leavitt's sermon was 
 singularly fit, inferentially applicable to the noble life. 
 The singing of his favorite hymns was sympathetic, 
 and the atmosphere throughout breathed the deepest 
 affection and reverence. 
 
 Dr. Stebbins's Memorandum follows: "I suggest 
 this order of service at my funeral, if it be well- 
 pleasing and will relieve friends of care : " 
 
 1. Organ. 
 
 2. "Lead, Kindly Light" Solo. 
 
 3. Prayer by Minister and People: "Blessed is the Lord 
 God of Ages, who never ceaseth to draw more nigh." 
 
 4. Bible Reading: John's Gospel, 20: 1-17. 
 
 5. Prayer by Minister and People : "Lo ! at length the True 
 Light." 
 
 6. The Lord's Prayer, by Minister. 
 
 7. Hymn 136. "Great God, how Infinite art Thou": by 
 the Congregation. 
 
 8. Last words by Minister, the People all standing: "I 
 heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write: 
 
QUIET YEARS IN CAMBRIDGE 151 
 
 From henceforth blessed are the dead who die in the 
 Lord ; even so saith the spirit, for they rest from their 
 labors and their works do follow them : The Grace of 
 Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the 
 fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. 
 Amen." 
 
 At the concurrent hour a memorial service was held 
 in the Cambridge church, under the direction of Dr. 
 Crothers. Dr. Hale offered the prayer; the Reverend 
 Francis Tiffany spoke of Dr. Stebbins's early life, and 
 of the impressions that his high ideals had made on 
 his fellow-students. From his father he inherited his 
 strength of character and rugged independence ; and 
 from his mother, who was a woman of deep religious 
 feeling and poetic nature, came his tender sympathy. 
 Directness of speech, distinction of manner, and power 
 of original statement distinguished Him through his 
 entire career. 
 
 President Charles W. Eliot referred to his great 
 service to the State, saying that he had done more 
 than could be estimated to give the California Uni- 
 versities the place they occupy among the educational 
 institutions of the land and to shape their present 
 standards. As a result of his presence it is everywhere 
 understood that these universities are built on free- 
 dom of thought. He referred to Dr. Stebbins's ability 
 to stand alone as a leader of men, independent and 
 strong ; and his finest tribute was in citing as proof of 
 immortality Dr. Stebbins's noble life. He said: "In 
 the presence of a growing and expanding soul like that 
 
152 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 of Dr. Stebbins, men feel that there is something in 
 man independent of the body, not born to die." 
 
 Dr. George Batchelor gratefully recalled the char- 
 acter of his influence. He applied to him the words 
 of Paul: "For God hath not given us the spirit of 
 fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." 
 His fearless spirit, his power of leadership, his loving 
 sympathy with the young, and his comforting courage 
 with the thought of old age were all included in a 
 "sound mind." 
 
 Dr. James De Normandie spoke of his work in 
 Portland, and then added : "When Dr. Stebbins suc- 
 ceeded Starr King in California, he did as much for 
 that State, but in other ways, as did the golden-lipped 
 preacher who saved it to the Union. It does not often 
 fall to the lot of any man to have such opportunity 
 given, for a man to have the gifts to lay a whole land 
 under obligation for his noble work. There was in 
 Dr. Stebbins a rare union of power and pathos, of 
 strength and sweetness, of fierce denunciation of the 
 wrong-doer and tender sympathy for every burdened 
 or penitent one, of the prophet's vision and the 
 prophet's faith in the day of triumphant good. Added 
 to these qualities, the secret of that remarkable min- 
 istry, reaching to eighty years, was its transparent 
 reality. Here was no sensationalism, no artificiality, 
 no theatrical posing, only entire compliance in a few 
 spiritual verities. By these he lived and wrought, and 
 in their peace he calmly passed on." 
 
QUIET YEARS IN CAMBRIDGE 153 
 
 The benediction was pronounced by his lifelong 
 friend, Dr. Edward Everett Hale. 
 
 On April 22, the Unitarian Club of California paid 
 tribute of its great respect and gratitude by the 
 adoption of fervent resolutions, and on April 23 a 
 memorial service was held by the Pacific Coast Con- 
 ference, in session at San Francisco. 
 
 The press, east and west, was generous and deeply 
 appreciative. A single sentence from the Christian 
 Register editorial is taken as representative of all: 
 
 "He was a tower of strength, a steadfast promoter 
 of large ideas, moral ideals and the old-fashioned 
 virtues which were by inheritance and tradition his 
 own. He was stalwart in person, of strong mind, firm 
 will, unshaken integrity, and unspotted life. At his 
 best, his preaching was in the higher ranges of the 
 religious life. He suggested the moral grandeur of the 
 universe in which we live, and the dignity of human 
 nature and human duty. 1 ' 
 
 In addition, many friends and admirers sent words 
 of affection or reminiscence. From these, that of the 
 Reverend John White Chadwick is given in part, as 
 it reveals personality in a manner no one else has 
 approached. He writes : 
 
 "We shall all agree, I think, that the peculiar power 
 which Dr. Stebbins exerted was that of a grand and 
 unique personality ; and personality is always hard to 
 
154 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 analyze. The whole is greater than the sum of all the 
 parts. There was the towering form, 
 
 'the front of Jove himself ; 
 An eye like Mars, to threaten and command ; 
 A combination, and a form, indeed, 
 Where every god did seem to set his seal, 
 To give the world assurance of a man/ 
 
 There was that marvelous voice ; the 'music of mild 
 lutes ' was in it, and anon it was a 'clarion of disdain ' ; 
 but these were but instruments. Behind them was 
 the informing soul ; and that streamed into everything 
 he said and did, and made the ungirt spontaneity of 
 his private life of one piece with his most carefully 
 considered public speech. He was a master of expres- 
 sion, and struck out phrases of unique and startling 
 beauty, which reminded you not of books, but of the 
 living world. They smacked of the soil in which he 
 grew. They were ruddy with the hue of his immediate 
 experience. He was no phrase-maker except as his 
 large thoughts demanded adequate expression. His 
 humanity was his central trait. I never knew a man 
 who could more vitally appropriate the Latin poet's 
 boast Nothing human was foreign to him, least of all 
 the passions which devastate our human life. I have 
 heard him talk of these with a kind of sacred fury in 
 his speech ; and he was as pitiful as Jesus of the sinful 
 folk. Yet he was not more human in his awful sense 
 of life's tragic implications than in his delight of 
 everything that was compact of human pleasantness 
 
QUIET YEARS IN CAMBRIDGE 155 
 
 and kindliness, and I cannot easily conceive a kinder 
 spirit than his own. He was a great citizen. I could 
 not walk the streets of San Francisco by his side with- 
 out being touched by the reverence and affection in 
 which he was held by the people of that city. But I 
 shall best remember him saying the morning grace at 
 his own table, the words were so simple and so strong, 
 and pervaded with such a tender sense of the perfect 
 mutual understanding of heavenly Father and the 
 man who prayed." 
 
 Mr. Chadwick also wrote for the memorial this 
 beautiful sonnet: 
 
 TO HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 On the same day, thine by the Western sea, 
 Mine where the Eastern rolls its music in, 
 Our work began, the continent between 
 Our sundered ways. Thwart that immensity, 
 When doubt and fear had well-nigh mastered me, 
 How has thy cheery message been 
 A trumpet calling me to rise and win 
 O'er foes abject triumphant victory I 
 
 The Eastern and the Western ocean make 
 One music. Even so thy heart and mine 
 Have beat accordant. Silent now is thine ; 
 Yet still from thy great spirit I will take 
 Fresh courage daily, conquer by thy sign, 
 Be something braver, better for thy sake. 
 
 Dr. A. W. Jackson, who formerly lived in Santa 
 Barbara, California, later in Concord, Massachusetts, 
 wrote: 
 
156 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 "In my long acquaintance with him, I was always 
 peculiarly sensible of his moral elevation. This was 
 not on occasions only, when strong impulses might 
 move him, but in the unrestraint of private affection, 
 as in the pulpit or on the platform, there it was, a 
 grace that never forsook him. In his fiercest wrath, 
 he never lost his poise ; in his keenest sorrow, he wit- 
 nessed to those about him that a suffering may be 
 an unshaken soul. He could err in judgment, err in 
 action, as all may do ; but even in error men felt him 
 noble. He may not have belonged to the order of 
 saints, but surely to that of heroes. His mien was 
 patrician, but his manhood was imperial. 
 
 "Another feature was what I will dare to call a 
 genius for friendship. A man so positive in his con- 
 victions, dealing with so many interests and 'ever a 
 fighter/ is reasonably sure to provoke resentments; 
 and Dr. Stebbins did so. At the same time he at- 
 tracted people to him as few ever can, and held them 
 in an allegiance that is much too rare. In that far 
 Western city he was surrounded by a cordon of friends 
 that neither personal malice nor partisan antipathy 
 could break through, men and women whom even 
 error could hardly have alienated and whom trial 
 made more steadfast. The explanation is easy enough ; 
 it was a case of a large nature attracting other 
 natures, and holding them steadfast by its own 
 fidelity." 
 
 A sonnet, written by Mr. Jackson at the time he was 
 
QUIET YEARS IN CAMBRIDGE 157 
 
 preparing his Life of Martineau, associated lovingly 
 the two leaders, and should find place here: 
 
 TO HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 Dear Friend, whose noble presence fails to show 
 The regal grandeur of thy inner plan, 
 Patrician mien, but an imperial man, 
 I link thy name with that of Martineau. 
 He sage, thou prophet ! His the orient glow 
 Of one who all surveys from peaks of Darien, 
 Thine to call beck dead souls to life again : 
 Isaiah's flame, the tones of Cicero. 
 
 He is the Phosphor of the coming day ; 
 
 Awakener thou of those who dwell in night. 
 
 Through him men see the height, through thee adore ; 
 
 And they who write your epitaphs should say 
 
 Of him, " He touched the mountain crests with light." 
 
 Of thee, "He thrilling witness to its glory bore." 
 
 These words of loving appreciation are but few of 
 the many that were written. Wherever Dr. Stebbins 
 was known, he was beloved, and the extent of reverent 
 regard for him testifies to the breadth and depth of his 
 humanity. 
 
 Horatio Stebbins was a type of America's best and 
 most characteristic manhood. He was essentially a 
 preacher, set apart by fitness and divine desire to be a 
 teacher and inspirer of his fellow-men. He was utterly 
 fearless in following where truth seemed to lead. He 
 often saw many sides where over-zealous little souls 
 saw but one, and was patient by reason of profound 
 faith. He was not of the class of ardent reformers who 
 
158 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 prescribe small remedies for great difficulties. Nothing 
 disturbed his sublime faith ; nothing that contradicted 
 the goodness, wisdom, and love of God could enter his 
 mind or heart He believed in the realities of moral 
 and spiritual being. He never allowed amiable com- 
 monplaces to confuse his meaning, and never shirked 
 an issue when it could not honorably be avoided. 
 Thousands can testify to his generosity of spirit and 
 his ever ready helpfulness. No service or kindness was 
 too great for him to render to others. His manner 
 sometimes deceived those who did not know him well, 
 but he proved his love for his fellow-men by constant 
 service and sacrifice. 
 
 Through his firm faith hi spiritual verities, his keen 
 insight, and his firmly logical mind Dr. Stebbins was a 
 seer. His fine imagination, his delicate sensibility, and 
 his originality of expression constituted him a poet. 
 As a speaker he was eloquent in the highest sense. 
 Rarely has such profound and virile thought been so 
 beautifully expressed. His prose style was admirable, 
 and through its poetic imagery and aptness of illus- 
 tration was often more akin to poetry than much writ- 
 ing accorded that classification by reason of metrical 
 form. 
 
 His burial spot at Portland is marked by a granite 
 boulder from a New England pasture, simply inscribed. 
 It is a fitting symbol of the simplicity and integrity 
 of his life and character. Its solidity and individ- 
 uality are akin to his. It owes its strength and 
 
QUIET YEARS IN CAMBRIDGE 159 
 
 symmetry to its power of resistance to disintegrating 
 forces. His character was as firm as granite. Time 
 and events had softened the outline, but had not 
 changed the substance. He served God with all the 
 consecration of his Pilgrim ancestors. He had the 
 daring faith of Job, and powerfully set forth the reality, 
 the all-embracing power and love, of God. His un- 
 questioning trust, and his passion for truth ; his scorn 
 for the ignoble and reliance on right, his serenity and 
 his reverence made him a constant influence for good. 
 Great as was his power as a preacher and a minister 
 to his fellow-men, he transcended all his manifesta- 
 tions and was greater as a man. 
 
 The sun still shines, and happy, blithesome birds 
 Are singing on the swaying boughs in bloom. 
 My eyes look forth and see no sign of gloom, 
 No loss casts shadow on the grazing herds ; 
 And yet I know a grief that feeble words 
 Can ne'er express, for in the silent tomb 
 Is laid the body of my friend, the doom 
 Of silence on that matchless voice. Now girds 
 My spirit for the struggle he would praise, 
 A leader viewless to the mortal eye 
 Still guides my steps, still calls with clarion cry 
 To deeds of honor, and my thoughts would raist 
 To seek the truth and share the love on high, 
 With loyal heart I'll follow all my days. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 LETTERS TO A SON 
 
 1881-1899 
 
 THE intimate companionship with his father, in which 
 Roderick Stebbins had grown up, made his departure 
 for Harvard College a serious event to both. On the 
 day he left home, Dr. Stebbins began a journal, to 
 afford in some degree a needed channel for self- 
 expression. It was not long continued, however, 
 merging naturally into daily letters to his boy, who 
 was in turn hardly less faithful. The close relation 
 between the two was kept up for many years by these 
 almost daily letters. The pages of the brief journal, 
 which includes not more than a score of large fools- 
 cap pages, reveal a side of Dr. Stebbins's character 
 which many never discovered the deep humility of 
 the man, his self-questionings and his utter surrender 
 to the eternal strength and love which were the heart 
 of his religion. 
 
 August 25, 1877. Roderick left this morning for 
 Cambridge. The parting with him is very severe and 
 has subjected my tired heart to a new strain. It has 
 been a rough day, indeed, and tempests are within. 
 I am truly grateful that he does not suffer as I do. I 
 learn daily something new of the power of suffering. 
 I have written almost a sermon to-day. Nothing but 
 
BETTERS TO A SON 161 
 
 work would have kept me from the deepest distress, 
 
 and as it is I have broken down once utterly But 
 
 I am strong now, and clear, calm light rests on all my 
 summits. 
 
 September 2. This is Roderick's birthday ! Eighteen 
 happy years ! His heart has beat within mine, and it 
 has not been easy to tell whether it was mine or his 
 that had the deepest throb. 
 
 [Dr. Stebbins seldom stopped long enough in his 
 thought for his daily work to consider himself, but one 
 single entry that follows may indicate how little he 
 realized what he gave to others. Only by genuine 
 understanding of the man can one know how truly his 
 calm serenity implied not indifference nor insensibil- 
 ity, but conquest.] 
 
 November 5. It was twenty-six years ago to-day that 
 I was ordained at Fitchburg. O swift years ! and how 
 deep is my disappointment in myself ! I am not what 
 I ought to be and what I might have been, either in 
 my attainments and power to set forth moral and 
 spiritual truth, or in the elevation and resource of my 
 character How little I know, and how weak I am ! 
 
 [Two years later Dr. Stebbins took up his discarded 
 journal, with a word of half-regret that he had let 
 his "daily talk" with Roderick supersede entirely the 
 independent value of memoranda "that catch the 
 light and shade of life and thought as they fly."] 
 
 September 6, 1879. Roderick left this morning to 
 return to Cambridge. Although I parted with him in 
 
1 62 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 complete self-control, it yet cost me a sharp pain, and 
 after he had gone I went into his room, looked in the 
 vacant places, and buried my face in my hands and 
 wept. I find it no easier to part with him than a year 
 ago. I am most happy and blessed in him. I must not 
 let my love interfere with him, or stand in the way 
 of his own individuality. Neither must I allow my 
 affection to intrude upon him. His mind must be 
 respected and my love must be wise and high, not too 
 familiar, and certainly not meddlesome. 
 
 September 7. How this strange sense of Roderick's 
 absence oppresses me ! It has almost overcome me two 
 or three times to-day. When he left me on the 25th 
 of August two years ago, I thought that would be my 
 severest trial ; but hard as it was, this is hardly less so. 
 
 [The preceding extracts have been given because no 
 other available material reveals so clearly the tender- 
 ness and strength of affection that controlled Dr. 
 Stebbins in his family and home relations. Let the 
 first selection from his letters be one written on an 
 anniversary of his father's birth. He held his father's 
 memory in loving reverence and often spoke of him.] 
 
 March 5, 1881 
 
 This is the anniversary of my father's birthday. He 
 died in January, 1859, aged eighty-one years. He was 
 a man of limited experience, but of uncommon endow- 
 ment ; a polemic in politics, religion, and morals. His 
 
LETTERS TO A SON 163 
 
 life was spent near the place where he was born, and 
 he rarely went beyond the notch in the hills on the 
 east, or the level plains on the west, where the setting 
 sun measured his earthly days. He was a man of native 
 dignity of mind and feeling, and everything low or 
 vulgar shrank away abashed from his presence. He 
 had more books than all the families in District No. 10. 
 Among the first books I ever saw were Miss Maria 
 Edgeworth's "Evenings at Home," which he read 
 aloud to us as we sat round the evening fire. He 
 was esteemed the wise and long-headed man by his 
 neighbors, and was respected and beloved. He was 
 singularly happy with children, though he did not 
 fully sympathize with youth owing to his temperament 
 and constitution. I can never forget the singular 
 tenderness of his voice, the sweetness of his manners, 
 or the calmness of his authority. My mother died 
 when I was six years old. The influence of that event 
 on my father's mind made strong impression on me. 
 I was too young to feel the force of what had happened, 
 but his great grief, restrained and borne with that 
 calmness that nothing but depth can give, impressed 
 me in a manner that I can never fully describe, and 
 has left its stamp upon my own character. Often in 
 my mature years have the lessons which he taught 
 me sprung up like fountains to refresh me. My love 
 for him was very great, as was the love of all his sons, 
 
 I have been sitting here having Mr. Congdon tell 
 
1 64 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 .* 
 
 about remarkable horses that he has known ! A little 
 queer one-sided knowledge is pleasant sometimes. I 
 like to get hold of a man who will tell me some odd 
 thing away from my habits and tastes, though I have 
 a taste for horses. He wants me to go out to the track 
 and see a span there; $25,00x5! what extravagance 
 and nonsense, when there are probably a thousand 
 children in the city not as well fed or clothed 1 
 
 When I was a youth, I worked in the open field : I 
 often felt that it was hard, and I longed to be free ; 
 but when I began to study, I found that hard, and it 
 seemed to me that to work with my muscles or the 
 bare earth would be a rest! A noble self -direction 
 always requires firmness, and often it requires forti- 
 tude. It requires more energy to lead a true student 
 life, than it does to pile up stones in the field, or to 
 weed corn in the heat of the sun. You have not been 
 situated as I was, but I hope you will get as much 
 discipline of will and purpose in academic life as I got 
 in rustic labors. Concentration is the soul of discipline. 
 
 I have just heard of the death of Dr. Putnam, of 
 Roxbury. The event calls to mind some incidents in 
 my early experience. I knew him when I first entered 
 on my professional life. He used to go to Sterling, his 
 native town, and to the old family homestead to spend 
 his vacations. When I first went to Fitchburg I rode 
 over to Sterling, a dozen miles, to see him. I formed a 
 
LETTERS TO A SON 165 
 
 great liking for him. He was a man of stalwart good 
 sense and roundabout wisdom. He was a fine preacher 
 to eminently respectable people. He was an immense 
 reader of current literature, and his sermons were 
 suggested by the illustration of lif e and experience that 
 he found in his reading. His style was simple, pure, 
 and strong; and his manners in the pulpit were a 
 happy combination of reverence, manliness, and en- 
 thusiasm. 
 
 About Bismarck's policy with socialism, I did not 
 write, because it would lead into discussions that I 
 could hardly state in a manner fit for a theme. The 
 gist of it is this : There is in Germany a keen popular 
 discontent concerning the present social conditions 
 of men, based on wealth, rank, labor, capital, etc. 
 The discussions call in question the present order of 
 things, and threaten to remodel society. Bismarck's 
 policy is in the suppression of debate in the Reichstag, 
 and the suppression of the press. He proposes to 
 throttle free discussion, and thus shut the safety- 
 valve of popular discontent. That policy is fatal in the 
 long run, and will make him the hero of a great folly, 
 and maybe a great disaster. Errors of thought and 
 intellect are not to be corrected by putting bits in the 
 mouths of men. Bismarck is verging, so it seems to me, 
 toward that intoxication of self-will, in which every- 
 thing and anything seems possible, because they are 
 desired; when force is greater than insight, and 
 
1 66 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 courage greater than far-sightedness, and will be more 
 conspicuous than sympathy with the day and hour. 
 His great services may yet be balanced by a stupen- 
 dous folly. 
 
 I met to-day, and he told me he had noth- 
 ing to do. I am sorry for it. It is a trial to any man, 
 and it is stupid and exasperating to a bright and ac- 
 tive fellow like him. If ever you have felt that work 
 is painful, and duty irksome, think of the utter misery 
 of doing nothing, and having nothing to do. I have 
 been much blessed in all my life. I have never been 
 stranded oh the shore of involuntary idleness, but have 
 always found a place of usefulness, where I could earn 
 my bread by giving in work for value received. 
 
 I am thinking that you may be in Northboro to- 
 night. Your description of ice-scenery calls to mind 
 the most remarkable display of that kind I ever saw. 
 It was in February, 1845. Nothing could surpass the 
 brilliancy of the scene, under the illumination of the 
 moon. The world seemed hung in pearls and diamonds, 
 and every tree was transformed with light ! A grove 
 was more beautiful than the night-heavens, and 
 seemed like a city let down from the sky. The dry 
 sticks of rails and fence glanced in all the colors of the 
 prism ! I walked with Mary Fisher from the home- 
 stead under the elms to the weekly lyceum in the town 
 hall, where the people of the village met. You may be 
 
LETTERS TO A SON 167 
 
 there to-night! Happy years have come and gone: 
 yet not gone, for their beauty and love remain, and 
 can never be lost. 
 
 Moody and Sankey are here. I think they are 
 simple and plain men, not mercenary, and inclined to 
 put the invitations and persuasions of religion on the 
 grounds of reverence, duty, and love. They do not 
 deal in the old staple doctrines of depravity, nor nil 
 the background with lurid flames and selfish fears. 
 They will draw crowds. The secret of it is the singing 
 on the minor key. It kindles emotion, and unseals the 
 fountain of tears, but it does not supply that power to 
 the will which nothing but the enthusiasm of duty and 
 love can do. Their influence will be wide and shallow, 
 and soon will pass away. While they are a great im- 
 provement on the average revivalist of former years, 
 both in their probable simplicity of character and in 
 the superiority of their appeals to the sentiments, I 
 do not feel that they can do much for me, nor am I at 
 all inclined to join them, or to oppose them* 
 
 There are two classes of minds, my son, which are 
 brought out very clearly in their relation to religion, 
 and the questions involved in religion. One class is 
 hard, dry, sterile, unimaginative, and dogmatic, 
 whether believing or skeptical. It settles everything 
 within positive, definite boundaries of affirmation or 
 negation, because it sees so little. The other class, 
 
1 68 HORATIO S'TEBBINS 
 
 longer-winged, longer-minded, deeper-breathing, with 
 a roundabout and beyond-looking sympathy, see and 
 feel the many-sidedness of truth, and are perplexed or 
 grieved with its seemingly ever-changing, kaleido- 
 scopic, transient appearance. To such natures, en- 
 dowed with sight and deeper capacity of joy and 
 suffering, there is always a struggle, until the nature 
 of truth is felt and the mind and soul and heart are 
 brought into sympathy with it. 
 
 Your questionings are prophetic, and even if they 
 are trying, they are the clarifying process of the mind. 
 In the first place, you must remember that all our 
 great convictions are growths and not manufactures. 
 Dogmatic religion can make a faith to order, the 
 expedient of weakness and fear, but those whose hearts 
 are nourished by the divine spirit can wait for dew 
 and rain and wind. The thirst for "positive knowl- 
 edge" in things spiritual is only an ignorant desire to 
 extend the empire of mathematics over the kingdom of 
 God. The demonstrable is soon exhausted, and what is 
 apprehended is much more influential with us than 
 what is comprehended. The great moral verities of 
 our being are laid in eternal strength : but they do not 
 account to us for all the methods of truth, more than 
 yonder light by the sea casts revealing splendor upon 
 the sun, or makes plain to us the soft and noiseless 
 axle of the earth. They reveal, indeed, that light, here 
 or there, is of the same nature, and all strength is from 
 
LETTERS TO A SON 169 
 
 the same will. Here, then, we are firm. The divine 
 manifestations in man are the highest theme on which 
 the mind can dwell. Historic grandeur invests Jesus 
 as the unique expression of God in humanity. He must 
 have felt himself to be the exponent of the race. His 
 life and being are our common nature awakened and 
 living in its relation to God. I cannot speak of him 
 as "a beautiful spirit" unless beauty is made synony- 
 mous with power. His lovely, terrible, unique person- 
 ality is what draws my wonder and love. Do you ask 
 how he came to be that unique illustration of man in 
 his divine relations? That is the mystery, also, of 
 every other personality. What makes one man differ 
 from another in the type of his being ? It is the secret 
 of all personality. It is true of every genuine life that 
 is hid in God. How came Shakespeare to transcend all 
 men, and yet to be recognized by all as a fuller repre- 
 sentative of their own nature ? It is his very character- 
 istic to be natural, while he is so infinitely above us ! 
 While Christ is unique, the mystery is not unique. 
 It is universal : we see it in daily life, and at our own 
 firesides. We have little conception what our nature 
 is in its fullness when brought into its highest relation 
 with God. If you ask me what he is, I answer he is the 
 personification of man, universal man, in his divine 
 relations; and illustrates you and me in the possi- 
 bilities of our being, under God. There is nothing new 
 in Christianity but Jesus himself. There is not one 
 single phase of spiritual truth in the New Testament 
 
i yo HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 that had not flashed on the soul of some man before. 
 The stones of Angel Island were here before the Bank 
 of California, but they were not the Bank of Cali- 
 fornia. Yet the only thing that is new is the Bank 
 itself. The order and unity and beauty, brought out of 
 what was before disorder and fragmentary form such 
 is the personality of Jesus in the moral and spiritual 
 world. 
 
 Yours of the 2ist came at breakfast. We notice with 
 great satisfaction all that interests you. I am pleased 
 that you have remembered your Uncle Roderick. 
 Your words of simple and affectionate sympathy will 
 be a great satisfaction. We are disposed, my son, to 
 undervalue the expression of our thoughts and feelings 
 to others: If only we can do it with simplicity and 
 respectful sympathy it has great influence. To do it 
 with true gentleness of manners and yet with moral 
 strength is a great means of growth to ourselves and a 
 great support to others. 
 
 I am gratified to get your idea of Irving. He must be 
 a great actor, who presents his characters from ideas 
 within, rather than from patterns without. Actors, 
 generally, are only imitators, not men of inspiration 
 and idea. Can any man personify completely all 
 there is in any great character of Shakespeare ? What 
 a creature Shakespeare is! I have received great 
 benefit from comparing him in his sphere with Jesus 
 in his sphere. They both seem matchless in theii 
 
LETTERS TO A SON 171 
 
 endowment. The one deals with human nature in its 
 thoughts and passions on the ordinary plane of life; 
 the other carries that human nature into its divine 
 relations, and shows man in relation with God. 
 
 I have just received the memoir of Charles Lowe, my 
 classmate in the Divinity School. It is a fine record of 
 a pure and spotless life. He kept a journal ! I have 
 not! Do you? It has many advantages : first, it brings 
 one to time, and compels a great discipline of the will ; 
 second, it fastens many thoughts, doings, sayings, 
 events, which in the accumulations of experience afford 
 a rich fund of satisfaction. 
 
 Mr. 9 s apparent neglect, is another of those 
 
 things that you have got to get used to. It is some- 
 times very trying. Indulgent feeling, a kind of round- 
 about wisdom and charity, may find many apologies 
 for such things in a man, but there is a residuum of 
 impatience, and a feeling, too, that one will not expose 
 himself again to what seems an indecorous neglect 
 The accidents of conduct, my son, are very great, and 
 a man by a tone of voice or an air of indifference may 
 lose the opportunity of a lifetime, when he has no 
 thought of it ! No man uses the English language cor- 
 rectly ; and no man is up to the finest conduct always ; 
 truth is one, error is multiple. 
 
 Your account of confirms my general im- 
 pression. The great balance and equity of the mind 
 
172 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 is in having a taste for truth, or a poetic appreciation 
 of it. Then the intellect may be as reckless as a comet, 
 but reason and the heart will be strong as the sun. 
 To put things merely analytically is the office of an 
 incomplete development. A noble mind has centrif- 
 ugal and centripetal tendencies; and if one is too 
 great or out of harmony with the other, you whirl 
 into bleak space, or are drawn, like the moth, into the 
 flames. 
 
 I am impressed with your appreciation of our old 
 and faithful servant. No better test of a man's man- 
 ners and heart can be made than his way with those 
 of inferior position, and especially his servants. There 
 is that fine gradation of respect which makes them feel 
 your sincerity, and also keeps their respect for you ; 
 which is as important to them as to you. 
 
 The sentimentalism of which you speak is a weak- 
 ness, and sometimes an affectation. To be moved by 
 fine emotions and sensibilities, restrained power and 
 thought and feeling, gives the keynote of all moral 
 force in conduct or address. You will strike the right 
 key in "doubt and belief." What is doubt? and what 
 is belief? Doubt is the spiritual world unsubdued, as 
 the world of matter is a blind abstraction until intelli- 
 gence has made its conquests. It is God's challenge 
 to our souls to find him. Why has he not made belief 
 as plain as the road to town, and stormed our spirits 
 into faith in spite of us? Why does he stand at the 
 
LETTERS TO A SON 173 
 
 door and gently knock ? Why does he not knock the 
 door down and come in and take forcible possession ? 
 Because life is a conquest, and faith is a conquest over 
 the dark obstruction of the senses, and the rude powers 
 of our minds. Doubt is the childhood of the soul, the 
 under-age of the will, and belief is the mind and heart 
 trained to duty and love. If you come to particular 
 doubts and to particular beliefs, there is yet a vast 
 domain that must in all minds of any depth and rich- 
 ness be undecided. There are many things, on which 
 to be decided is evidence only of a barren, sterile 
 mind. The great beliefs are like climates; they are 
 not berries, and pickles, and preserves. 
 
 The attempt to gain influence through second-rate 
 motives is always degrading, and commonly in the end 
 deceives the inventor. Serious, hearty earnestness, 
 equally removed from lugubrious piety and irreverent 
 frivolity, is the real power of any man's personality. 
 There are a hundred things, in which there is "no 
 hurt," that will ruin a man's influence before he knows 
 it. This pertains especially to manners. To be genial 
 without being silly, to be social yet easily dignified, is 
 one way in which men gain influence, not by being 
 like others, but by being unlike them. This matter of 
 giving substitutes for religion, such as some scheme 
 of philosophy, or a kink in science, is a short-breathed 
 way of getting along, and deludes by a kind of mo- 
 mentary attraction, as a baby is diverted from his 
 
174 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 mother's breast by a red apple, to be weary of it soon, 
 and turn again to the fountains of life. The religious 
 idea in things, events, and experience that is the 
 matter for the preacher; that is insight, and to set 
 forth what he sees makes him teacher of men. That, 
 while it runs parallel with ordinary knowledge, reveals 
 a human element which the ordinary man does not see 
 until it is shown to him ! " 
 
 I have read swiftly Masson's sketch of Keats, just 
 to refresh my mind and feeling with the impression of 
 so fine a creature. He seems to dash the doctrine of 
 heredity all in pieces. Indeed, heredity is not a law, 
 but a tendency, and the tendency sometimes con- 
 tradicts itself. Law means invariable sequence, tend- 
 ency means general gravitation in a given direction. 
 The one is science, the other is probability. One is of 
 the nature of ascertainable cause and effect, the other 
 is of the nature of unknown cause and effect. There is 
 a disposition in some quarters to push our exact knowl- 
 edge too far, in this matter of the human constitution. 
 Our frame and its functions are not matters of posi- 
 tive demonstrable knowledge. Pathology and medi- 
 cine are not exact sciences; neither is descent or 
 heredity in man or animals. There sometimes seems 
 to be a terrible and cruel truth in Kenan's, I think, 
 saying that human-life-and-society is a steaming 
 moral compost from which grow the rarest flowers, 
 and the only condition of having the flowers is having 
 the compost. 
 
LETTERS TO A SON 175 
 
 The afflictions of human life are the perpetual 
 wonder and trial of the heart. I remember distinctly 
 when the impression first began to grow on my mind 
 and feeling. It was during the early years of my 
 experience in Fitchburg. I noticed how many came 
 into the church on Sunday, in their mourning weeds. 
 The selfish view of suffering and sorrow is surely an 
 indication of a narrow mind and a pinched and stingy 
 heart. The trials we are put to are a dark mystery, 
 but they are a fact ! and I think they are ground of 
 faith in the wisdom and goodness of God ; for a human 
 world can be only on this condition ; and unless God 
 saw good, final good to all, he could not righteously 
 or mercifully sustain such a world. 
 
 Mr. Jackson is a very superior man. I am sincerely 
 grieved at his infirmity, and sometimes ask myself 
 how I could bear it But tell me how the hard and 
 flinty soil matures the delicious berry, or how in the 
 dark caverns of the sea there bloom the colors of the 
 mother-of-pearl, and tell how the spirit of man is 
 nourished, with all divine powers of life and being, 
 amid the anguish of sharp adversity. We talk much 
 about good circumstances, but Heaven only knows 
 what circumstances are good. 
 
 I am more and more pleased with what seems to be 
 the felicity of your situation, morally, socially, and 
 materially. You appear to have caught the spirit of 
 our vocation, and day by day to be feeling its influence. 
 
1 76 HORATIO StEBBINS 
 
 It is a good vocation, and affords great opportunities 
 to live the life of a man, engaged with the finest 
 objects of study, thought, and action. 
 
 I went to hear Mrs. Norton sing last night : took 
 Mrs. Ward, Kate, and Nora. She sang very finely, and 
 appeared with quiet propriety. I wondered, as I sat 
 and looked and heard, how a woman who had been 
 through so much disappointment in her affections 
 could sing so appreciatively those ballads that praise, 
 and die for, human constancy. No disappointment, 
 no anguish, no bitter humiliation, no dreary way of 
 loneliness and neglect could cast a doubt on the great 
 ideals of purity and devotion. It is a testimony to the 
 survival of great and illustrious sentiments in the 
 midst of earthly ruins, and of a light that beams on the 
 heart, above all broken hopes. 
 
 Your experience in writing sermons revives my own. 
 Take simple themes one thing, and stick to it, I 
 would write short sermons twenty minutes, or five 
 more sometimes, is enough, and best. Your experience 
 in calling interests me. I have found it best for me to 
 use the mornings in the study, and the afternoons in 
 pastoral duties. I never have liked calling all day. 
 An average of two calls a day will carry you around 
 often enough, I should think. What conduces to use- 
 ful work more than anything else is to get so settled, 
 with duties laid out, that one can work easily and with- 
 
LETTERS TO A SON 177 
 
 out worry. Then good eating and sleeping, rest before 
 eating, if one is tired, and rising in the morning with 
 pure taste are great accessories to pleasant work ; then 
 constant communion with a poetic mind, and some 
 new intelligence gained every day. The mind becomes 
 happy in study then. 
 
 You went to see Dr. Hedge! I am glad you did. 
 Nothing is more common than to see the reserved 
 manners of reflective men interpreted to mean hauteur 
 and severity of bearing. It is a good piece of manners 
 to know how to meet such men with complete self- 
 possession, on the same plane of mind with themselves. 
 Young persons, and persons who at any and every age 
 live chiefly in the outposts of the mind and not in the 
 citadel, usually think that reflective men are proud or 
 unsympathizing. It is a great mistake. The difference 
 is that some are always melted down and flowing; 
 others, like silver, must be melted down before they 
 flow. Dr. Hedge has always been a reserved man, and 
 he lacks that genial ardor that gives one a pleasant 
 and cordial introduction, but he has the elements of 
 intellectual and moral greatness. I hope you were not 
 embarrassed in his presence : but if you were, it would 
 not hurt you in his estimation or in your own, or in 
 mine. Many persons think I am a stern man. I sup- 
 pose that I make that impression sometimes in my 
 more reflective moods ; and then again, the only way 
 to shake off some talking fool, rescue your own soul 
 
178 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 from the pit, is to draw into your shell and cease to 
 report. 
 
 I am sure the occasion to see and hear Mr. Brooks 
 must have been helpful and instructive. A wise and 
 liberal mind, open and receptive, is always ready to be 
 taught from every source of truth and good. The 
 individual, alone and uninstructed by the experience 
 and sympathies of others, is a sterile type of human 
 nature. I would like to have you tell me more defi- 
 nitely the impressions you received from his presence 
 and preaching. As I have told you, I have always felt 
 that much of his influence is presence; not merely in 
 avoirdupois, but in that fine indescribable halo of 
 moral and spiritual life which belongs to all in whom 
 the high truth of spiritual being is personated. 
 
 Have you read "The Control of the Tropics" by 
 Kidd, an interesting essay? He says white men can 
 live there only as a diver can live under water. A 
 writer in the Spectator, not in controversy, says that 
 they can. Jordan says that they can live there, but 
 instead of improving the people they will sink to the 
 level of the natives. Science is a little "too previous" 
 in the matter of races. The world hasn't been going 
 long enough to determine some things. The dew is on 
 the grass yet, and the sun isn't above the trees on the 
 eastern mountains. 
 
 I am quite unable to understand the turkey kind of 
 
LETTERS TO A SON 179 
 
 life of the wandering here and there, and through the 
 grass and bushes, leaving the children, now the other 
 side of the fence, and now in the ditch. 
 
 I see so many broken-winged birds, so many whose 
 affairs are piled in a heap of ruin, and some who have 
 lost what little moral substance they ever had, that I 
 am often pained for the sorrows of the world, and 
 refuge is found only in vigilant duty and in the 
 consciousness of the upright mind. When we reflect 
 that much of the trouble of men is brought on by 
 themselves, we are impressed with the conviction that 
 little can be done without a modification of character, 
 or recharging of the will. My error, I think, has been 
 that I am too impressible and given to pity, when a 
 wise severity would have been more true. To be truly 
 wise and kind is a union of sentiment and truth which 
 we may look for only in the Almighty. 
 
 (After hearing General Booth.) It is a platitude to 
 say "They will do much good " ; but it is in a field and 
 by methods quite off my plane. I can give it only 
 that general moral sympathy which I feel toward 
 fetichism and all that sensuous form of religion which 
 characterizes the undeveloped man. The common 
 mind must have religion painted in tawdry colors. 
 I am only glad there is some one to paint it 
 
 The flash of war streams up from beyond the hori- 
 
i8o HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 zon [1898] and gives a lurid gleam across the sky. I 
 feel deeply its import and possible result. In such a 
 time one wants to have a clear idea, at least to himself, 
 of the cause and purpose of a conflict in some respects 
 new to us, and perhaps destined to modify the rela- 
 tions of the nations of the world. The cause of the war 
 is the inefficiency and cruelty displayed by an ancient 
 monarchy in the government of the colony of Cuba, 
 near our shores. All just sentiments demand that 
 such ww-government with its attendant miseries should 
 cease. Christendom agrees in that, whatever the allied 
 powers of Europe through jealousy of one another 
 failed to do in Armenia. It is becoming in a great 
 nation to put an end to what seems to be ceaseless 
 bloodshed and misrule. This is our cause, as I under- 
 stand it. There are many blunders in diplomacy, and 
 statesmen do not believe one another, and war carries 
 with it all the motives of human action, mendacity, 
 selfishness, ambition, honor, patriotism, and liberty. 
 But mixed with all these passions and principles there 
 is an idea of justice and right, that gives import and 
 meaning to war, and it has an awful morality amid all 
 its crimes and suffering. 
 
 Whatever our Government has failed to do through 
 diplomacy is a part of diplomacy itself, its fraud, cun- 
 ning, duplicity, and passionate will. I see no reason to 
 believe that war would have been averted if diplomacy 
 had been continued. A decaying monarchy lay across 
 the path of justice and right ; collision was inevitable 
 
LETTERS TO A SON 181 
 
 unless the world ceased to move. We are at war with 
 Spain ! A great war estimated by dimension or idea, 
 time or consequence. 
 
 What will be the result? No man knows. The 
 contingencies are very great. Our business is to say, 
 and compel, that a government so weak that it can be 
 only cruel shall let go. If we say and do that, our duty 
 is done, and all honorable sentiments give applause. 
 Will Cuba have peace then ? Perhaps not, but she will 
 be working out her own problem, and will have as 
 good as she is able and worthy to have, with no med- 
 dling from abroad. 
 
 But I am no prophet, and it is not becoming in any 
 man to assume to understand the future. I can con- 
 ceive contingencies that may carry the war into for- 
 eign lands, and involve the Anglo-Saxon race, and 
 arraign the European civilization at the bar of modern 
 judgment, but it is just as easy to conceive that it will 
 not be so. Wise men and fools alike prophesied that 
 our Civil War would be over in ninety days. It lasted 
 four years, and culminated in an act of righteous 
 humanity of which they never dreamed. That war 
 ended in humanity. This war begins in humanity. 
 Maybe this war will illustrate as truly as that how 
 little men know to what a principle, the only eternal 
 thing on earth, will lead. Anyhow, I hope for swift 
 and heavy blows, quickly to bring the end. 
 
 War has many issues and outcomes that were not 
 contemplated or indicated in the original pronuncia- 
 
1 82 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 mento, and a complete change of mind may come over 
 a nation as war advances, developing new conditions 
 and raising new questions. I do not know that I have 
 an opinion satisfactory even to myself, in regard to a 
 policy that may lead to indefinite territorial aggran- 
 dizement, but the views of those who rest on traditional 
 immemorial usage, the Constitution, George Washing- 
 ton, do not convince me. The growth of our country, 
 the expansion of its power, the extinction of slavery, 
 have all come in spite of the rigid frame of the Con- 
 stitution, according to spirit, elasticity, and spring 
 that recasts the setting and framework of nations and 
 the world. The idea of nations remaining as they are, 
 with fixed boundaries and limited domain, is contrary 
 to all experience of history or human progress. There 
 is a self-correcting process in the very constitution of 
 nature informed with living power. I will not agree in 
 this or that about the present war, but express my 
 conviction that it will put us in new and more vital 
 relations with nations, readjust the distribution of the 
 world. 
 
 September 7, 1898 
 
 This is very much such a morning as that of Sep- 
 tember 7, 1864, when we came into the harbor through 
 a gray mist that obscured the town. The period be- 
 tween then and now is a considerable portion of a 
 man's life, and gives opportunity for retrospect and 
 prospect. My experiences have been as satisfactory, 
 
LETTERS TO A SON 183 
 
 perhaps, as the experience of men commonly is any- 
 where. I have, on the whole, led a life of self-respecting 
 independence, and rendered some honorable service. 
 I am not anxious for the future, and have no desire for 
 posthumous eulogy ; while to be beloved and remem- 
 bered by those who are nearest me is my humble but 
 divine ambition. I confess, with gratitude, that the 
 longer I live, the more deeply am I impressed by the 
 grandeur of the world scene, and the more ardently 
 do I contemplate the fortune and destiny of Human- 
 ity. While human nature is ever the same, there are 
 great eras of human progress, when man seems more 
 receptive of the Divine Spirit and the world gets a 
 fresh impulse from on high, attesting that man is 
 never deserted by the Maker, and that immortality 
 alone is the theater on which the Eternal Mind can 
 work out the infinite designs of good. 
 
 August i, 1899 
 
 Horatio has just come in to bid me good-morning ! 
 His heart is as strong as the sun, and his mind as clear 
 as the sky. His going awakes the sentiments I felt 
 when you left me for Cambridge, when every pain was 
 soothed by gratitude. What you say about Williams 
 [Theodore C.J gives me great pleasure. He is a man, 
 a scholar, and a gentleman, and his spiritual mind is 
 not infested with the owls and bats that flutter in the 
 dark of much believing. Give him and Mrs. Williams 
 my salutations, when you see them, and tell them that 
 
1 84 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 I distinguish them from others by a kind of cheerful 
 glory around their heads. 
 
 As for myself, I am about as well, I suppose, as I 
 can expect to be, and, while my strength is dimin- 
 ished, I enjoy much and feel many sources of wisdom, 
 gratitude, and love, of which your mind and heart 
 are perennial fountains. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 
 
 [DR. STEBBINS habitually made use of clear-cut, epi- 
 grammatic sayings, which condensed a philosophy 
 into a sentence. The present chapter includes some of 
 these characteristic condensed statements, as well as a 
 few extracts from addresses or sermons.] 
 
 LIFE 
 
 THE guides of life are not demonstrations, but opin- 
 ions, judgments, probabilities, faith. 
 
 True greatness always and everywhere is a great spirit, 
 and the power that moves a great spirit is the heart. 
 
 The exercise of generous and unselfish affections is the 
 only true happiness on earth or in heaven. 
 
 We want to feel and know, not how God made the 
 world or why he made it, but that our hearts, our 
 consciences, our imaginations are in sympathy with 
 his will and love. 
 
 Virtue is positive ; vice is negative. We often miss the 
 attainment of real excellence, because we think it con- 
 sists simply in getting away from our sins. 
 
 The eternal reason for doing right is because it is right ; 
 any other reason, such as getting hurt or going to hell, 
 
1 86 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 is a sneaking apology, and has no relation to morality, 
 pure and true. 
 
 There is no heresy but the heresy of not believing in 
 duty, virtue, excellence, and love. These alone are 
 universal as human nature and belong to every human 
 being as an endowment from heaven, and have the 
 same native glow in all fashions of the tribes of the 
 world. 
 
 We cannot think of the enormous trial which is 
 undergone in the world by vast multitudes, without 
 the thought of some sublime fruit to come of it some 
 day. It may not emerge from the struggle of bare 
 endurance here, but has not the seed been sown ? 
 
 I would live as though there were no such thing hi this 
 world as death for me or for others. I would live with 
 my thoughts amid things that endure; in work and 
 duty and love, until death itself is consumed in life, 
 the resurrection going on day by day, the mortal 
 putting on immortality. 
 
 The eternal foundations are sentiments: Honor, 
 Shame, Patriotism, Reverence, Love of Beauty, Jus- 
 tice, Goodness, Conscience. These have no time or 
 season, and suffer no mutations of uncertainty or 
 doubt. 
 
 It has been said that we dig our graves in our youth ; 
 but a sadder thing is a low-toned dull maturity that 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 187 
 
 has no resurrection power, and holds to life from mere 
 animal instincts. The only thing that can help us is a 
 new resolve by which the breath of heaven may fill 
 our sails, and bring us out of the wretched doldrums of 
 a soul delayed in the senses, into the wide sea and free 
 winds of a new life. If we can carry our self-reproach, 
 accepting willingly its burden, knowing that we are 
 not estranged from the love and forgiveness of God, 
 there is great hope for us. 
 
 All our past that is precious must be brought into the 
 present as living force, and all our past that is mistake, 
 or folly, or sin, must be left behind. We are here 
 our work is here our duty is here our being is 
 here and here is the kingdom of God. Don't look 
 back after it ; forward is the course ! 
 
 While we do all in our power to remove temptation 
 from the weak, we should always teach, and nail the 
 truth on every height of moral glory, that temptation 
 is not only an opportunity to vice, but also an oppor- 
 tunity to virtue. 
 
 As the glad light of day comes invariably with the 
 returning sun, so peace and joy and the divine love 
 and benediction always come with our return to truth 
 and duty, however far we may have wandered from it. 
 
 Wherever on the earth stand the monuments of human 
 struggle, self-sacrifice, and devotion, there it is good for 
 the living, as they move forward in ever-flowing pro- 
 
1 88 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 cession of generations, to pause in their march and pay 
 venerating respect, gratitude, and admiration, 
 
 God forbid that I should decry learning, refinement, 
 intellectual culture, in any form in which these adorn 
 human lif e with beauty, luxury, and power ; but these 
 are not supreme, and they are not the climax of indi- 
 vidual greatness, or of the nation's glory. What we 
 want as individuals, what society wants, is not so 
 much increased intellectual force as awakened moral 
 sensibility. 
 
 THE USES OF LIFE 
 
 To him who looks upon the world aright, life is desir- 
 able, if only for discipline. When Job was surrounded 
 by afflictions of the severest kind, he exclaimed: 
 "I would not live alway " ; but modern writers have 
 exclaimed, "I ask not to stay," as if the duties of life 
 were a loathsome task which to be discharged from 
 would be "unspeakable gain." What Christian would 
 not, with the ancient patriarch, exclaim, "I would 
 not live alway" ; yet who would say, "I ask not to 
 stay"? I would ask to stay. I would live a long life ; 
 I would live for virtuous discipline, to do good, to 
 alleviate suffering humanity, to raise the immortal 
 mind by communion with the truth and with God ; to 
 practice the principles of love and good- will which the 
 Saviour of men taught ; to contemplate the character 
 of God in his works ; to enjoy communion with friends, 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 189 
 
 and to visit the graves of those whose memory and 
 parting blessings are yet fresh in the mind. I would 
 hear the thunder as it rolls through the heavens as the 
 voice of God, and behold the gathering cloud as it 
 rises in terrific grandeur, the chariot of the Almighty. 
 I would see the mighty forest tree bend with graceful 
 meekness before the tempest, and when the storm is 
 over see it stand firm and towering upwards, and learn 
 the lesson from it, that virtue, though meek, is firm 
 and unrelenting. I would hear the tiny shout of the 
 little child, as he runs to meet his father returning 
 from the toils of the day. I would see him wrapt in 
 sweet slumbers, with the smile playing on his lips. 
 In the mountain waterfall, in the delicate lily which 
 blooms in the vale, and in the rippling rill that mur- 
 murs by the cottage of content with music sweeter 
 far than that of the fair daughters of Italy, in the fly- 
 ing cloud, I would learn a lesson of life. In all these I 
 would learn the character of God. Are these not worth 
 living for? They are worth a lifetime, however check- 
 ered that life may be with temptation and evil ; and 
 in the proportion by which we overcome wrong, our 
 lives will be valuable. I would live long for this. The 
 joys of heaven are worth a lifetime of preparation, and 
 he who disciplines most will be the best prepared for 
 that enjoyment. I would live then until the silvery 
 locks of virtuous old age should be an emblem of 
 fitness for the society of heaven. To him who has 
 spent a life like this, the tomb is stripped of its terrors ; 
 
190 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 the chills of death are as the smiles of God's counte- 
 nance. 
 
 My time has come. It is best that I should go. I have 
 loved you all ; love me still. Remember me with gentle 
 sorrow and cheerful gratitude. We have loved one 
 another, and how happy have we been in that love. 
 What may we not expect from the infinite love? 
 
 AGE 
 
 AGE has a life, a plan of thought and feeling, rather 
 than a field of action. It is divided between remem- 
 brance and hope ; experience has become transformed 
 to wisdom ; and the heart of the child, the hope of the 
 youth, and the strength of the man, have all and each 
 contributed their finest quality to these summits of 
 existence, which the light of parting day tinges with 
 supernal glory. The finest quality of life is in age, 
 when thought, remembrance, and hope, reflection and 
 imagination, gathering up all the materials of life, 
 crown our earthly experience with eternal power and 
 beauty. 
 
 IMMORTALITY 
 
 WE never consider man and his material frame identi- 
 cal. Our idea of him is something superior to the body. 
 The life of the body is held subject to a higher life in 
 our very conception of duty. Conscience overrides the 
 natural instincts, but man never completely succeeds 
 on earth in doing what the spirit wills. Virtue is never 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 191 
 
 completely realized. What a host of unused abilities 
 and what feeble attainments ! Shall not another term 
 and a longer date perfect the fruit which the days of 
 the world are too short to ripen ? The climax of all our 
 thought is that men believe in immortality, and the 
 proof of it is that faith in it that realizes it. Mankind 
 in all ages have had a hope of perpetual life, a fond 
 expectation. Has he endowed his offspring with such a 
 sentiment and expectation only that they may see 
 their nature at last a lie ? Is this holy and triumphant 
 suggestion of our nature false? Impeach not the 
 Author of our frame by affirming that he has put a fact 
 or a faculty into our being which has no corresponding 
 truth. Amid much weakness, confusion, and tears, 
 beneath these great persuasions of our being, man's 
 spirit still affirms that the grief of unsatisfied desire 
 is his grandeur, and discontent with the limitations of 
 the present is a promise of immortality. I know of no 
 testimonies, presumptions, evidences, in the whole 
 range of man's moral experience and history, equal 
 to those which proclaim his immortality. 
 
 I trust that every one who believes in immortality, 
 believes that he will meet again with those who have 
 been most dear to him on earth. I have sometimes felt 
 that I would not make another friend, if all that I 
 could enjoy of him were confined to this earth. I need, 
 in this susceptibility to friendship, in this power and 
 tendency to multiply the bonds of spiritual kindred 
 
192 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 and affinity, the assurance that we are laying up 
 treasures for our heavenly life, providing friends that 
 shall be ours forever. Let us feel, then, that we lose 
 nothing and risk nothing by our friendships that 
 sometimes seem brief and fruitless; and when the 
 thought of some dear friend, long unseen, and perhaps 
 never to be seen again on earth, comes over us with 
 almost painful vividness, let it be as a gentle wind 
 upon the harp of prophecy, let memory merge in hope, 
 and let our minds and hearts and imaginations turn 
 for their satisfaction to that dwelling-place of God 
 where within 
 
 Bright gates inscribed, no more to part, 
 
 Soul springs to soul, and heart unites to heart. 
 
 HEAVEN 
 
 HEAVEN cannot possibly be anything to us except as 
 the culminating and idealizing of what we honestly 
 care most for here, and hell cannot possibly be any- 
 thing to us except the culminating and idealizing 
 of what we dread and hate. Here reason and faith, 
 always hand in hand, unite in a purely moral and 
 spiritual conception of the world to come. 
 
 LOVE 
 
 THE essential, elementary, fundamental item of faith 
 is the insight and conviction that this love, that is from 
 God, and is the divine inspiration of our souls, is the 
 same as that ceaseless growth of good that shall van- 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 193 
 
 quish and subdue the evil that is in the world. This 
 was that vision of Jesus that outstrips science, and 
 sees truth in eternal light as it is in God, and lovers 
 of humanity, teachers, philanthropists, philosophers, 
 may expect the realization of their hopes and their 
 faith from the increase of this love alone. 
 
 Social science is good by pointing out measures and 
 methods by which love may work, but all true and 
 living reform springs from a radical and substantial 
 growth of human nature in moral life ; that is, from an 
 increase of love. 
 
 If man loved man, as God loves the world, what 
 wrongs would be abolished, what selfishness and sin 
 would be extinguished, what corporate and individual 
 wickedness would be dissipated, what clouds of war 
 would be swept from the heavens, and what graces 
 and charities, and lovely affections without pedantry 
 or calculation would readjust the politics of the earth 
 and change the climates of the world 1 
 
 HATRED 
 
 HATRED of evil is no measure or statement of excel- 
 lence and never can be. Love of good is, and ever 
 shall be. 
 
 Doubtless there are things to be hated. But hatred of 
 anything is no positive good, but a mere negative 
 quality, and square leagues of it could never make a 
 garden-plot where one flower could grow. 
 
194 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 To hate evil, to see imperfection without idea of the 
 perfect whole, means nothing but one's own imper- 
 fection, and testifies to a degraded will rather than to 
 a pure affection. 
 
 In respect of the world and the part we act hi it, we do 
 most good when we pursue the good and let the evil 
 alone. That is, the most efficient method of abolishing 
 any evil is to overcome it with good. We hate evil 
 more than we love good. This is why we rarely appre- 
 ciate things we do not like. 
 
 HONOR 
 
 TRUE honor is the conscious rectitude of the soul, in 
 harmony with God and itself. It is a law of its own 
 beyond laws incarnate rectitude, the ideal morality. 
 It is more and greater than honesty, as faithfulness is 
 greater than duty ; as faithfulness overflows duty, so 
 honor overflows- honesty. This is the meaning and 
 spirit of it as I understand it now ; as it has come down 
 to us through ages of changing, increasing morality. 
 
 Honor ! The glory of the mind, the glory of God ! It 
 is a world splendor, a divine glory, a manhood great- 
 ness! It illumines the earth. It shines through his- 
 tory, and men and nations behold it, the terrible 
 beauty of God ! 
 
 SELF-REPROACH 
 
 THERE must be no uneasy self-reproach for what has 
 taken place, no backward-looking as if we could have 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 195 
 
 shunned this or that under which we are suffering. 
 True, there is hardly any event in the Divine Provi- 
 dence in which there is not a commingling of human 
 agency, and there is often a sharp and painful thought, 
 "Had I only done otherwise all this might not have 
 been." The only question is, Had you right purposes? 
 Did you do the best you knew? If not, then penitence 
 and contrition become you before submission, and 
 you shall bear bravely what you suffer as the adequate, 
 kind, severe, yet healing retribution of wrong-doing. 
 But if your conscience is clear, if what you regret came 
 by no fault of your own, then it is yours trustfully to 
 submit, and joyfully to hope. True, had you known 
 what you now know, you would have done differently ; 
 but you did not know. You could not have known. 
 Yours is not the gift of prophecy. Had you this gift, 
 it would indeed seem a powerful protection, but it 
 would prevent too much. It would shut out the very 
 dews and rains and sun and wind of this great experi- 
 ence of earthly frailty and uncertainty/ 
 
 INTELLECTUAL HONESTY 
 
 THERE are laws of thought: and reasoned truth, that 
 knows no fortuitous luck and no blind gropings of 
 chance and passion, is the only worthy achievement of 
 the mind. Intellectual development is not merely an 
 individual development, but a common sense of truth 
 and right reason in the common mind. It is the in- 
 crease of order, law, causes, and consequence in the 
 
196 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 mind of an age. Freedom of thought has no existence, 
 except when based on intellectual development, such 
 as this. On any other grounds free thought is in the 
 intellectual world what free love is in the sensual world. 
 Without the rectitude of the intellect, thinking is 
 itself a vagary, and truth is a caprice of self-will. To 
 be intellectually honest is the last accomplishment of a 
 mind that moves without passion or prejudice in the 
 happy rhythm of truth, simply seeking to know what 
 is. Intellectual honesty is much more rare than moral 
 honesty. 
 
 PROPERTY 
 
 PROPERTY is a great ethic and spiritual education of 
 man. It is a provision of the Maker for our welfare. 
 It is not your own in the sense of an irresponsible sel- 
 fishness. It is an opportunity, and God will call you to 
 account for it. When ownership shall not merely ask, 
 "Is it not lawful for me to do as I will with mine 
 own ? " but will search for wisdom and truth and good- 
 ness to guide and transform selfishness to moral glory, 
 then man will dwell with man as with a brother, and 
 free political institutions shall not be defaced by the 
 hideous contrasts of social condition. 
 
 EXPERIMENT AND EXPERIENCE 
 
 RELIGION rests on the certainty of principle. There is 
 no experiment in it; there is no reason for any sus- 
 picion that it will not work well. It is a plain, estab- 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 197 
 
 lished, eternal thing. It is not found out or formed out 
 by experiment, but by experience. It is human excel- 
 lence. It is good everywhere. It is not dependent on 
 locality, or climate, or season of the year. A man runs 
 no more risk in living under its law than in breathing 
 the air or loving his child. It is good for his mind and 
 heart, as the blood is for his body. It is not a medicine : 
 it is health itself. It is simple, plain goodness. There 
 is no man to whom it would not be good to improve 
 his temper, purify his feeling and conscience, and give 
 generous and cheerful hopes. There is no man whom 
 it will not improve and bless, and help to do or bear 
 whatever may be appointed to him in human lot. 
 There is no experiment here, but the experience of man 
 is the guarantee against all venture or risk. The claim 
 of religion upon us is not that it asks us to try an ex- 
 periment, but to enter upon the experience of eternal 
 verity. 
 
 BEING 
 
 THE reason for your being is that you are a being ; and 
 the end and purpose of it are that you may be more 
 and more and more what you are, even unto the glory 
 that is God's glory. 
 
 Those that have the purest joy know that happiness is 
 not the end of being, and comes not from seeking or 
 following, but flows from the glad heights of a soul 
 that in itself is blessed. 
 
198 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 experience! costly jewel! indefinable substance! 
 mysterious thing ! extract of existence ! sum of life's 
 toils, and aroma of life's agonies ! compound of earth 
 and heaven ! Experience ! Man's thought, hope, feel- 
 ing, joy, and pain distilled through the sands of God's 
 wisdom. 
 
 My own consciousness of untrained faculties and unde- 
 veloped powers is so vivid, and what I am is so feeble 
 compared with what I might have been, that not only 
 my life, but my being seems sometimes a failure. Yet 
 
 1 am not moping or melancholy. Neither am I weep- 
 ing over an unretrieved past. My being and my doing 
 go forward into the great future where I trust more 
 abundant life will find more abundant calling. 
 
 Not having or doing is our chief attainment. Being is 
 our great possession. This is the crowning expression 
 of human lif e. 
 
 Aspire, and you shall rise. Do your first duty, and the 
 next will appear, and your will and your deed shall be 
 one. 
 
 No man who withholds himself from active and sym- 
 pathizing association with the poor can keep the foun- 
 tains of his own nature flowing with that generous 
 moral health that belongs to a good and wise heart. 
 
 To live in dreams or visions is sickly. To go into a 
 cloister and meditate on eternity is morbid. To lose 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 199 
 
 our interest in the present world in thinking about 
 another is morbid. The highest condition is that in 
 which with all hearty energy one lives in the present 
 with his life drawn from the past and the future. 
 
 It is not longer time that we want so much as the 
 capacious soul to flow through the little we have. 
 
 ON OVERCOMING 
 
 IF anything in nature is dearly intended, it is that 
 arrangement of our moral constitution by which it is 
 so hard to be anything, so hard to keep a steady direc- 
 tion upward of all our powers. Amid what continuing 
 besetting difficulties do we domesticate a virtue, so 
 that it will stay with us as a gentle habit ! How many 
 times, over and over, must it be acted through pure 
 power of will. Those genialities which come without 
 this labor give little strength of character. The char- 
 acter which has overcome the most obstacles in its 
 formation is the best and strongest, and what pro- 
 found respect do we feel toward one who has started 
 with a fund of inborn ungenial qualities and by little 
 and little brought in sunshine and joy! Are these 
 labors to dishearten men, or is it not through them 
 that men feel the majesty of virtue and the greatness 
 of obligation? How does it happen that the more we 
 overcome, the more we love the fight? Why does 
 patient, quiet acceptance of any difficulty, though it 
 pillows us upon a stone, always send us divine assur- 
 
aoo HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 ance and strength? So wondrous is the education of 
 life, so vast the discipline of the soul ! 
 
 GOD 
 
 THE most sublime conception of which the human 
 mind is capable is that of an infinite personality whose 
 will pervades the universe; the source of law that 
 moves in consentaneous procession in all realms, from 
 cause to effect ; the source of power that unfolds the 
 petals of a rose, and draws back the earth from its 
 aphelion ; the source of love that warms the heart of a 
 child, and kindles the flame of angelic aspiration. The 
 idea transcends all others, and is an apprehension, not 
 a comprehension; an insight of pure reason, not a 
 conclusion of the logical understanding. 
 
 Say what we will, let theology do its best, and let 
 science have full scope, and let all the evidence be 
 brought into line in bristling array, yet nothing so 
 persuades us of the great realities of moral and spirit- 
 ual being as the man hi whom God is manifest, the 
 type of our human nature at its best, and the faith 
 that God in humanity is the sublime revelation of 
 himself. 
 
 To be brought to God's judgment is to be brought to 
 a discernment of the truth in regard to ourselves. 
 
 There is a vast over-balance of mercy over wrath. Let 
 us trust that. Let us think nobly, triumphantly, of 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 
 
 God, and be sure that trust in a righteous God means 
 the ultimate triumph of good over evil. 
 
 The conviction, the feeling, the faith, whatever you 
 call it, that however knowingly men may look upon 
 this world and see nothing but society all solid 
 mass yet to God the world is all individual ; that 
 conviction alone can sustain our hope, and plume our 
 wings to fly lightly across the moral abysses of the 
 world. 
 
 Let us think nobly, triumphantly of God : and be sure 
 that trust in a righteous God means the ultimate 
 triumph of good over evil. 
 
 The tenderest men of all are the severest with them- 
 selves. They know how to pity who know how to 
 repent 
 
 BELIEF 
 
 THE beliefs which Jesus taught are of the same nature 
 and kind as those which good men have in one another. 
 The teachings of Jesus were not to make propositions, 
 but to bring men into communion with God. 
 
 Belief is not faith, and no amount of belief is faith. 
 Faith is a personal, inward knowledge that we are 
 spiritual beings, that a divine life belongs to us as the 
 vocation of our nature, and that we are in relation 
 with other spiritual beings, our fellow-man and with 
 God, the source of all being. Faith does not consist in 
 
202 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 a belief in spiritual existence, neither is it to be con- 
 founded with the acceptance of any statement in 
 words. It is not assent to propositions. It is the sense 
 of a living and supreme authority in the man of the 
 heart. It is a state of spiritual health and vitality of 
 soul that discerns the living powers of spiritual being 
 and responds to their signals. 
 
 Faith in its true and pure sense is not toward things or 
 propositions of the understanding, but toward spirit- 
 ual beings and a spiritual order above the dark powers 
 that confront and contradict us here. Belief may be a 
 purely intellectual state touching no active emotion ; 
 but faith worketh by love. It is of the very essence of 
 it that it lives and moves and has its being, in, and for, 
 and toward those in whom its trust is, its objects of 
 worship, its models of duty, its springs of satisfaction, 
 the living God, and the living imprint of God in 
 humanity* 
 
 It seems to me that if a man would be square with 
 himself, square with the world and square with God, 
 he must rest in some great truths, stated in large, free, 
 and indefinite form. There are some things of our most 
 profound conviction which, if we strive to give them 
 more definite conception, either vanish or involve us 
 in confusion. The moment that religion is fixed in 
 dogma, that moment the dogma begins to dissolve. 
 Humanity and divinity are of the same quality and 
 nature, as father and son. Jesus is the historic witness 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 203 
 
 of the height to which human nature has attained, and 
 the eternal figure toward which the church of God, or 
 human society, is to grow, "till we all come into a 
 perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the 
 fullness of Christ." 
 
 To believe is to realize the invisible. To believe is to 
 see with the soul, as nature sees with the body. To 
 believe is to realize God as the source of our being and 
 all spiritual illumination, and the goal of destiny. To 
 believe is to discern and live in a world above and 
 beyond and within this world, whose least interests 
 are more important than this world's greatest, whose 
 one day is as a thousand years to the whole duration 
 of the earth. To believe is to see what humanity did 
 become in Jesus of Nazareth, and to see in him, in 
 whom God's glory was so manifest, the possibility of 
 one's self, and of his fellow-man. It is to believe that 
 humanity, through that glory that cometh from the 
 only God, may become thoroughly divine. Believing 
 is to see and feel that discipline teaching education, 
 that mystery that we call moral influence, is as real to 
 man as the beams of the sun or the revolving earth. 
 Believing is to discern, by the insight of the soul, that a 
 fine and pure conscience, reflecting in terribleness and 
 beauty the distinction of right and wrong, is as real as 
 the mountains in the horizon or the sea rolling in the 
 Almighty's hand! Believing is to see, with the eye 
 behind the eye, that the mind of a child, with all its 
 
204 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 tender buds of thought and feeling and imagination, is 
 as real as a bank-account, a wide area of land, or the 
 choicest breeds of cattle : and is as much superior to 
 them as the stars of heaven are to a beggar's staff ! 
 Believing is to see that man's heart, and woman's love, 
 and childhood beauty reflect a light that is not on 
 land or sea: the light that is the glory that cometh 
 from the only God ! 
 
 THE CHURCH 
 
 THE office of the Christian Church, as I understand it, 
 is to stimulate personal character and life to moral and 
 spiritual excellence, and to cherish those revering sen- 
 timents toward God in which all excellence at last has 
 its root. It is not primarily to engage the soul in the 
 work of its own salvation, but to engage it rather in a 
 free, abounding human life. Progressive apprehension 
 of spiritual truth, the nature of man, duty, and destiny, 
 is the keynote of human welfare. To have an idea of 
 the meaning of this world and to respect it, to study 
 its wants and apply the principles of righteousness and 
 human charity to life and experience, and to find the 
 kingdom of heaven in the helpful and hopeful condi- 
 tions of earthly existence, in short, to befriend what- 
 ever is human, this is the office of a Christian Church. 
 It is not the office of the church to reflect public opin- 
 ion, like the press, but to show the pattern forever in 
 the mount, and that moral and spiritual ideals are the 
 glory of the world. 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 205 
 
 If the church survives, it will be because she is inspired 
 and guided by the spirit of truth that will lead her to 
 all truth ; and all truth is unity, not of opinion, but of 
 heart and will. 
 
 THE CREEDS 
 
 THE truth is that this whole system of doctrine mis- 
 conceives the moral order of the world. To call belief 
 in it faith is as great a blunder as to call bookkeeping 
 astronomy. Faith is not a belief at all expressed in 
 intellectual form ; it is a free motion of man's moral 
 nature in trust and love toward God, the Father of all ; 
 and to confound it with dogmatic statements of any 
 sort is a confusion of thought and idea. The kind of 
 celestial certainty with which the creed speaks is 
 intellectual impudence, as compared with those moral 
 and spiritual sentiments which are the very heart of 
 religion. 
 
 The world is in the making, and its ruins and disap- 
 pointments and defeats are not a relapse from a former 
 glory, but a part of that "process of the suns" which is 
 a method of almighty wisdom and love. This fronts us 
 with God, our ideal is before us, and destiny is a glory 
 to be won in the future, and not a lost paradise to be 
 retrieved from the past 
 
 CHRISTIANITY 
 
 IT is the purpose of Christianity to purify and conse- 
 crate human nature. 
 
206 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 Christianity is as old as creation. Its truth is in human 
 nature, supremely expressed in selected souls, among 
 whom Jesus is chief. He voices human nature in clear 
 accents of truth and love, snatches of a celestial song, 
 the glories and harmonies of a moral world. In this 
 transcendent expression of the truth that is universal 
 as man, he has purified the hearts of men, changed 
 their thoughts of God, and given a moral impulse to 
 speed the race on toward its ultimate goal, through 
 regions where old truths take new shapes, and new 
 circumstances call for new actions. This is the eternal 
 Gospel, in the heart of God when he laid the founda- 
 tions of the world, and in the heart of man when God 
 made him a living soul. 
 
 Christianity, a revised edition of human nature, takes 
 the world as it finds it, as it is and not as it ought to be, 
 and proposes, through eternal principles of righteous- 
 ness and truth, to refine, exalt, and bless human-kind. 
 This, in its fullest and most comprehensive scope, is 
 what we mean by human progress, or, in that com- 
 pletest phrase that ever fell from lips touched with 
 heavenly fire, the kingdom of God. 
 
 Christianity, as it exists in the common opinion and 
 life of Christendom, is, doubtless, a religion, but as it 
 was in the mind, heart, and life of Jesus, it is Religion. 
 The universal and human quality is the glory of it, and 
 it is that which raises Jesus above the level of the mere 
 teacher and makes him the practical and ideal deliverer 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 207 
 
 of the world. If we have this conception of him and 
 his truth, we shall go to him for the impulse, and 
 power, and elevation of human life, rather than to 
 trace the lines of a religious system. The most pro- 
 found and authoritative account of his purpose and 
 aim is in his own words: "I am come that they 
 may have life, and may have it abundantly." This 
 is Resurrection : an enlarged capacity of moral and 
 spiritual life ; as it is also the test of any genuine like- 
 ness to him. This test would bisect the sects, exclude 
 many stout believers, give heretics a place in the 
 eternal kingdom, and make Christianity as wide as the 
 world. Then we shall be able to reconcile intellectual 
 difficulties by acknowledging the oneness of all excel- 
 lence and the oneness of the religious life. 
 
 RELIGION 
 
 RELIGION is the recognition of the divinity in all things 
 and creatures, animate and inanimate, and of the 
 relations of the personal soul to the personal God. 
 
 Religion assures us with tender and entreating voice 
 that God is ever near, doing all that wisdom and love 
 can do, within the limits of our nature and circum- 
 stances, to lif t us out of our difficulties, to repair our 
 misfortunes, to console our griefs, and to make up in 
 the most tender manner for our sorrows and struggles. 
 
 Religion is not a profession ; it is in human nature and 
 life, the law and love of our being, as gravitation is in 
 
208 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 earth and star, and as light goes forth upon land and 
 sea. We have only to lay hold upon that law and love 
 within, and our being becomes real to us. We are 
 satisfied that, though life has many illusions, life 
 itself is no deception, that we are spiritual beings of 
 kindred nature with God, and that, if these great 
 sentiments sway our hearts, illume our reasons, and 
 inspire our action, we have, by the grace of God, 
 vested rights and blessings in immortality. 
 
 The idea that there can ever be any unity of religion, 
 save in that unity of variety in which every individual 
 is sacred in his experiences before God, is fantastic. 
 No two human experiences can be alike, and, though 
 the world seems to a finite mind all solid, to an infinite 
 mind it is all personal, and we must have done with 
 dogma as a test of character or thought, and accept 
 a reverent heart and upright mind as the final test and 
 last word. 
 
 Finite beings like ourselves must come sometime, 
 somewhere, to something they do not know, and 
 religion offers the most reasonable satisfaction in the 
 thought that what finite beings cannot fathom is not 
 necessarily unfathomable. Religion spans the chasm 
 between the finite and the infinite by the method of 
 trust and love in and for a being of intelligence and 
 goodness above our own. Reason justifies our confi- 
 dence, and faith makes an easy flight across the abyss. 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 209 
 
 As science suggests will, so religion suggests love. 
 
 The primal interest of religion is with the individual, 
 through the inspiring power of personality. It is for- 
 ever the "fifty righteous in the city" that saves the 
 city. Let all secular movements go on, to relieve the 
 stress of circumstances ; the real source of energy is 
 found in personal character, in the actual excellence 
 and virtue that radiate from high and pure lives. No 
 more vague and senseless notion ever possessed an 
 honest but ignorant mind than the notion that the 
 machinery of things will do the world's noblest work. 
 All excellence, all renovating powers are finally vested 
 in persons, and there can be nothing in a nation or a 
 state, or a city, however exalted its aims, or however 
 perfectly organized, which is not in the persons com- 
 posing the city, the state, or the nation. An ultimate 
 standard of worth is an ideal of personal worth. All 
 our inspirations, all our visions of eternal beauty are 
 visions, remembered glances of persons, or some in- 
 effable glory of Him, all good. To speak of any prog- 
 ress or improvement or development of a nation, or 
 society, or mankind, except as relative to some greater 
 worth of persons, is to use words without meaning. 
 
 This moral and spiritual fact is the basis of religion, 
 and of institutions for worship, prayer, and teaching. 
 Man's nature overlaps this outward scenery of life 
 and experience, and there are capacities in the human 
 spirit not realizable in any conditions that we can 
 
210 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 conceive on earth. Our faith in that Infinite Person, 
 like ourselves, though infinitely above us, is justified 
 by gleams of suggestion that a life, lived here under 
 conditions of limitation that thwart its full develop- 
 ment, shall be continued hi a society where the com- 
 plete measure of our capacities shall be attained. 
 
 To this end is religion and its institutions to set 
 in operation moral agencies, not through the imper- 
 sonal machinery of society, but by the presence and 
 contact of good men and good women in the city, the 
 state, or the nation. To this end every true teacher 
 and preacher of religion is born, and to this end he 
 comes into the world : to be the interpreter of human 
 life in its sublime relations and terrible glories. This 
 is my thought, my view, my conviction. 
 
 THE LIBERAL 
 
 THE liberal in religion has a glimpse of universality, 
 and as the climates of the world enfold the earth and 
 sea, so the spirit of God enfolds the world of man. 
 There is no infallibility for man. He is guided by 
 opinions, judgments, probabilities, faith, hope, and 
 love, great, general, all-comprehensive truth which, 
 if you would define too accurately or appreciate too 
 exclusively, vanishes and spurns the thrall. I rest 
 in those great general beliefs, opinions, and ideas of 
 God, man, eternal righteousness, and human destiny 
 that give sublimity, grandeur, and hope to human 
 life. 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 211 
 
 Justified by his own moral being and spiritual con- 
 sciousness as the interpreter of life in the light of 
 religion, he must move fearlessly on that shadowy 
 twilight border-ground between matter and mind, 
 and stand in the verge of the abyss between law and 
 will, force and person, which science cannot bridge, 
 keeping open communication between the human and 
 the divine, confident that when the me of conscious 
 moral being and the not-me of things meet as sheeted 
 ghosts, and sword cuts sword in viewless air, no 
 Damascus blade of polished physical fact can ever win. 
 
 The consummate spiritual man conceives the human 
 world as no accomplished fact or concluded tragedy, 
 but as the field of divine operation, where the ever- 
 working, inspiring God prefigures in human souls on 
 earth the glory and power of that life and society 
 where men shall receive more abundant measures of 
 God's eternal spirit All the activities of life sooner or 
 later follow the fortunes of the mind. The friend and 
 teacher of men must have some insight into the 
 supreme motives of human nature and of those powers 
 of reason, imagination, and faith that cannot rest in 
 the known, but stream into the unknown as the early 
 day-beams stream into the darkness of the night. He 
 must interpret human life in the light of these. He 
 must voice them in his own personality, and in the 
 personality of Jesus of Nazareth, as the supreme figure 
 and expression of human nature in its divine relations. 
 
2 1 2 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 ON WAR 
 
 WHILE we wait this great fulfillment [the realization 
 of the vision of universal peace], what is the ground 
 and standing of war in the providence of the world ? 
 Has it a place in the progress of mankind, or any part 
 in that world-system by which education of the race 
 has been carried on through the graduated steps of 
 an imperfect morality? Neither the moment nor the 
 propriety of the occasion permit the discussion of so 
 wide and profound a theme. I shall be happy, indeed, 
 if to your awakened minds I can give the seed and 
 kernel of it. Mankind is divided into individuals, 
 families, and nations. Each of these is a moral unit 
 or whole, endowed with the powers and passions of 
 humanity. On a large scale, nations make the grand 
 divisions of the human world, while individuals are 
 smaller parts of the greater whole. The individual is a 
 moral unit, and the nation is a moral unit. Therefore, 
 disputes may arise between nations and between indi- 
 viduals. In the one case they are settled by law ; in 
 the other case, they are settled by war. Why this 
 striking contrast? Why are the misunderstandings 
 and contradictions of individuals settled peacefully 
 according to the intelligence and reason of the present, 
 while the misunderstandings and contradictions of 
 nations are settled by methods that are a thousand 
 years back in a barbarous and cruel age ? 
 
 The contrast is thus striking because there is a law 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 213 
 
 for individuals while there is no law for nations. The 
 individual submits to the opinion of society : he must 
 submit, for the same power lies sleeping behind a court 
 which is awake and abroad in war. No government of 
 nations can thus compel the obedience of nations. 
 Even if international law should rise to such a height 
 of power as to become the public opinion of mankind, 
 a nation that refused to consent to that opinion could 
 be compelled to consent only by war, just as the law 
 can be executed only by force against the individual 
 who refuses to submit. So long as any nation refuses 
 to act upon any other sense of justice than its own, war 
 is not an accident of society, but something rooted in 
 the very constitution and progress of the world. 
 
 This is a dark fact : but it is a fact, nevertheless, and 
 one that plays a conspicuous part in the history of the 
 world. However we may deplore it and look forward 
 heroically, in the name of reason and of God, the 
 inspirer of reason, for the coming of the millennial 
 age, this is the condition of man to-day. 
 
 But this is not all despair ! The Almighty Maker 
 has prepared the cloud by day and the fire by night, 
 the eternal ideals that lead his people on. War, with all 
 its terrible features, has its own solemn and august vir- 
 tues. The idea of the soldier's life and destiny is to die 
 for the good of others. He sinks into the abyss that 
 the nation, with all its peaceful and happy homes, its 
 teeming populations, its shining capitols of law, art, 
 letters, and religion, may breathe the air and glance in 
 
214 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 the light of heaven. He is the instrument of ideas 
 above himself that bind him with supreme and subtle 
 force, giving a background of moral grandeur to the 
 dark perspective of grief and glory. 
 
 There is something worse than war : it is the misery 
 of having nothing worth fighting for. 
 
 (Spoken at the Chit-Chat Club dinner, 1887.) 
 
 UNITARIANISM 
 
 IN these declining days of a venerable form of faith, 
 when many things are remembered that were once 
 believed by the true and the good, "but remembered 
 with a smile as belonging to the past," it has been 
 asked if we Unitarians have any further duty or voca- 
 tion. The question misconceives the nature of truth 
 in assuming that religion is a settled fact, and not a 
 moving spirit ; that now we have come to the mount of 
 transfiguration and we will build three tabernacles 
 and appropriate the divine glory to private use. It is 
 the old weakness for concluded fact before the spirit 
 of truth has come, unmindful that the ever-flowing 
 fountains of religion are in the mountain fastness of 
 Reason and the Moral Consciousness, and only super- 
 ficial and short-breathed powers try to appropriate it 
 as their own. It misconceives the idea of our time, 
 inasmuch as it forgets that there is no longer any such 
 thing as external authority in religion, and that the 
 appeal to the inner convictions of the soul is the only 
 divine credential. To say that men who have believed 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 215 
 
 this and proclaimed this, have now no vocation, is 
 simply falling back into the old rut of belief that 
 religion is once more finished and we are going to have 
 an easy time ; whereas religion, in view of the ever- 
 increasing complexity of life, has now a harder task 
 laid on it than ever before. To give spiritual help to 
 men, it must be spiritual, and no longer think to win 
 the soul by storming the senses, or to shirk its own 
 responsibility as a teacher under cover of a textbook. 
 If any man thinks that Unitarianism is to be the 
 formulated faith of the future, he knows not the spirit 
 that he is of : and if, in this time, when religion must 
 come forth and ask no favors of the world or men, and 
 seek no protection, but take its place with reason and 
 divine philosophy, any man asks if Unitarianism has 
 lost its vocation, surely the spirit of truth has not 
 come to him. The concluded fact, the finished truth, 
 still haunts him, and no glories of the advancing God. 
 (National Conference, Saratoga, 1884.) 
 
 Unitarianism is not a dogmatic form of religion, but a 
 way of thinking that corresponds with reason, com- 
 mon sense, and the great facts of man's experience. 
 The protest that it makes against dogmatic Protes- 
 tantism is of the same kind as that which Protestant- 
 ism makes against dogmatic Rome. Unitarians are 
 a small body among the sects of Christendom, as 
 Christendom is a small body compared with the 
 human race, but Unitarianism, as a way of thinking. 
 
2 1 6 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 has an influence far beyond its numbers. Poetry is 
 imbued with it, literature bears it on wings of power, 
 and science proclaims it. The late Dean Stanley said 
 that he did not hear a sermon in America that was not 
 imbued with the spirit of Charming and Emerson. 
 Religious reform is the slowest of all to move, but as 
 sure as day and night the Christian Religion is about 
 to be placed on a basis of reasonable fact physical, 
 moral, spiritual. The appeal to ignorance and fear, 
 and dread of mysterious consequences, will give place 
 to appeals to honor, the sense of justice, the latent 
 affection for truth and goodness, the beauty and holi- 
 ness of God, and the loveliness and wisdom of Jesus. 
 Religion will drop its melancholy and austere tones, 
 and commend itself by its sympathy with what is 
 hopeful, joyous, and trusting, and be guide, cheerer, 
 and inspirer. It will recover its half-lost respect for 
 literature, poetry, and art, and find genius, philosophy, 
 and science its true allies. Before such powers major- 
 ities are nothing. Those who think the thought and 
 hope the hope of mankind hail the day-spring from on 
 high and live in the morning of the world ; and man 
 comes of a nobler spirit as he learns to gauge his opin- 
 ions and his actions by a scale commensurate with 
 his nature. The world is young, and the path of 
 humanity is wet with dew. The vision is plain, that 
 he who runs may read. Though it tarry, wait for it, 
 because it surely will come ; it will not tarry. 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 217 
 
 THE OFFICE AND DUTY OF A MINISTER 
 
 THE office and duty of a Minister is to unfold the 
 principles of moral and spiritual truth, to awaken the 
 sentiments and affections of the heart, and lift up 
 those ideals that ever draw the wondering eyes to the 
 mountain-tops that lie between this and a hidden 
 world. Above the dust and grime of earth, above all 
 wickedness, he must be in love with man and men. He 
 must understand the world, yet be not of it. He must 
 see the good, the beautiful, the true, as in eternal light : 
 
 As when a painter, poring on a face, 
 
 Divinely through all hindrance finds the man 
 
 Behind it and so paints, his face, 
 
 The shape and color of a mind and life, 
 
 Lives for his children, ever at its best and fullest 
 
 Thus there is gladness in his heart, with something 
 of the patient resignation of sorrow. He must have 
 sympathy without softness, that can seize any oppor- 
 tunity to give pleasure, or establish peace and comfort 
 in a troubled mind,' or soothe a penitent heart with 
 healthy pain. The more he is a man, the more he is of 
 God. At home with human experience, he often knows 
 without knowing, and is wisest when not wise at all. 
 He is no pietist and no professor of religion after the 
 style of the professor's chair, as if religion itself were a 
 specialty. He is man, and, through conscience, reason, 
 and imagination, illumined by studies, cherished by 
 prayers, and enriched by human love, he ascends by 
 
ai8 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 easy steps to heights of spiritual being, where the light 
 of God forever dwells. The nature of moral and spirit- 
 ual influences is silent and unseen, yet all the glory of 
 man's estate is there, and the kingdom of God on 
 earth and in heaven lies folded in the human heart. 
 
 A minister, first of all, should be a man who likes this 
 world, believes in it and loves it, is of the world, and 
 yet above it. He should love human nature believe 
 in it and hope in it. In short, he should be thoroughly 
 human in all his thought and feeling. He should have 
 common sense, good learning, delight in literature, a 
 reverent mind, without pietism or sentimentality, and 
 that mysterious power that has never been defined, 
 that we call character, which, at any rate, is nothing 
 more than alliance with God. A man thus equipped is 
 well furnished for some of the finest and most enduring 
 influences of human life, and to such an one there is 
 something in life that gives it a profound, glad, and 
 solemn joy something greater than happiness, more 
 sublime than pleasure, strong as the sun, and steady 
 as a star. A man who is equipped with reason, intelli- 
 gence, and love, without which intelligence is only 
 moonlight, observes the world from celestial heights of 
 strength and light. A good man knows the world 
 much better than a bad man can know it. A man's 
 influence with his fellow-men depends, in the long run, 
 on the powers and qualities to which he appeals ; and 
 while he does not ignore tact, skill, or wisdom, his 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 219 
 
 real influence that is worth anything depends on his 
 appeal, in action, life, and speech, to the best there is 
 in men. I take every man at his best. I would awake 
 his noblest powers. I would think of him at his best, 
 and I have found that, whenever you so speak or act 
 in public or private toward a man, you get a response; 
 for the moment, at least, he is a better man, and is 
 awakened, it may be in surprise that there is some- 
 thing in him of reason and love that had slept so long. 
 This is idealizing the real, and showing how our human 
 nature may be swept by heavenly breezes as the trees 
 of the wood are moved by the wind. I have found 
 that human nature in its great leading outlines is the 
 same, while individuals differ as the leaves of the trees 
 or the flowers of the field. Every man must take him- 
 self for better or for worse, to have and to hold, to do 
 the best with himself that he can. I recognize and 
 feel the unknown good there is in the world, and the 
 supreme summits of human excellence in individual 
 hearts. I know as much of human wickedness as the 
 heart can bear, and I know as much of the supreme 
 heights of moral and spiritual beauty. To these heights 
 I ever look and cheer my heart with celestial visions. 
 
 ON EDUCATION 
 
 THE aim of education should be those powers of moral 
 and intellectual nature which make one denizen of a 
 universe founded in intelligence and truth. Man can- 
 not live on equal terms with nature ; high aristocratic 
 
220 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 blood flows in his veins, and he feels that he was born 
 to good estate. AF he beholds the signatures of intel- 
 ligence and law in the universe around him, and feels 
 the motion of kindred powers within him, a mysteri- 
 ous unrest possesses him, until he moves in the realm 
 of those powers and finds his home above nature in 
 the kingdom of intellectual life. Education is the ac- 
 knowledgment of this resplendent truth, and school 
 and college and university stand as signals that man 
 comes to his manhood, not as the animal comes to the 
 complete development of his life, but by culture and 
 receptivity. 
 
 Education, then, is putting man in possession of his 
 better powers, and in communion with humanity and 
 Providence. What ought an educated man to know, 
 to think, and to be? These are the three terms of his 
 existence as a man, and without these he has no proper 
 life as a man. Knowing may be said to be the power 
 of seizing any fact or thing, denning its boundaries and 
 distinguishing it from all other things or facts ; hence a 
 man does not know anything until he can define it, or, 
 rather, anything that he knows he can define, and the 
 common sayings, "I know but cannot tell," "I have 
 the idea but cannot express it," are loose fallacies of 
 speech. The prime importance of intellectual acquire- 
 ment is that a man may distinguish between his knowl- 
 edge and his ignorance. Inasmuch as all knowledge is 
 not within his grasp, it is of first rate, even indispen- 
 sable, importance, that he should have a chart of the 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 221 
 
 unknown regions and be able to map out the terra 
 incognita of the mind. 
 
 The days of universal scholarship are gone, never to 
 return. Aristotle may be supposed to have known all 
 that was known in his time; but the times have 
 changed. The vast incursions of science and philos- 
 ophy into the world of matter and mind, the golden 
 chain of literature running through all ages and fast- 
 ened in the skies, are too boundless for exploration 
 within the limits allotted to the life of man on earth. 
 The field is so wide, of such varied beauty and vast 
 wealth, that every man is compelled to some specialty 
 of intellectual vocation. To wish to be a universal 
 scholar at the present day is equivalent to that ambi- 
 tious aspiration for universality in mechanism, whose 
 defeated hopes are summed up in the old adage, "Jack 
 at all trades, good for none." 
 
 Therefore, an educated man is compelled to decide 
 for himself what he will know. With us Americans 
 that question is practically settled by vocation, and, 
 whatever calling a man may choose as the field of his 
 active powers, let him know the central things of his 
 vocation to the extent to which they are known. Let 
 them stand clear in his thought, in their outline and 
 boundaries, distinct from everything else in heaven, on 
 earth, or in the water under the earth. No man is an 
 educated man who has not brought his knowing and 
 discriminating powers to this tension. It not only 
 makes him master in his chosen vocation, but it brings 
 
222 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 a certain tone of mind which is test of everything, a 
 kind of common sense or mother wit which the mind 
 takes on when it is put in hearty rapport with truth. 
 This is why the dryest studies, when vanquished to 
 intelligence, bud and blossom, and memory and imagi- 
 nation dwell forever. Knowing something, and know- 
 ing it to the bottom, is the only condition of salvation 
 from the ill-ventilated habitation of a narrow mind. 
 Specializing tends to narrow thought and bigotry of 
 feeling, unless it is offset by strong impressions of the 
 unknown regions and refreshed by winds from afar. 
 The man that knows one thing can never be superficial, 
 though he must have superficial knowledge. That one 
 thing holds about the same place in his intellectual life 
 that backbone holds in character. The end is indwell- 
 ing, salient power, which is at home on its wings. An 
 educated man, then, ought to know something so 
 thoroughly that its boundaries are clear in his mind as 
 the rim of the firmament, and at one sweep of his eye 
 to take in the limitations of his own knowledge and 
 distinguish that which he knows from that which he 
 does not know. Thus, while he has much superficial 
 knowledge, he is not a superficial man, and while he is 
 compelled to a specialty of thought and action, he will 
 not be narrow-minded. 
 
 What ought an educated man to think? I am con- 
 fronted at the outset with this fact, namely, that the 
 exercise of some of the greatest powers and privileges 
 of humanity is a matter of ability not less than of duty 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 223 
 
 and right. If I were to answer the question in view of 
 this fact, I should reply : Every educated man should 
 think as much as he can ; that is, he should be able to 
 set himself free from the tumults of sect or party, from 
 passion, prejudice, and public opinion, and think for 
 himself according to the best lights he can find. He 
 should have courage enough not to fear the results of 
 such thinking ; he should believe that, whatever it 
 comes to, it cannot be so hurtful as dull acquiescence 
 in what is commonly accepted. To think and believe 
 with majorities, to accept tradition and custom, and 
 imitate society and the world, require only the com- 
 mon faculties of an ape ; and the ape can do it without 
 spending four years at college. 
 
 Young men : The man who thinks at all does think- 
 ing for himself ; nothing else deserves the name. The 
 man who, having no affinity for the truth, mistaking 
 the flame of a zealot for the eternal light, or a cloud of 
 prejudice for a heavenly signal, who knows not con- 
 science from self-will and goes fumbling through the 
 universe to make out a foregone conclusion, is the 
 standing reproach of education as he is also of human 
 nature ! Whereas the man whose soul is in love with 
 moral beauty ; who sees truth as a thing that hath its 
 glory in itself, and cannot be touched ; who trusts him- 
 self in the simplicity of meekness to his own soul and 
 the God that inspires him, and feels that the angels 
 have charge over him lest at any time he dash his foot 
 against a stone ; who desires only to stand face to face 
 
HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 with what is and knows that one truth cannot con- 
 tradict another; who is so full of courage that he 
 knows no fear, and so full of moral and intellectual 
 love that fear knows not him; who thinks into the 
 open space of truth around him with freedom and joy 
 and reverence ; that man is the guide and hope of 
 men, elect and precious, king and priest unto God. To 
 such freedom and courage, truth itself invites and 
 inspires us, and we have it on the authority of him who 
 is the truth, "If the truth shall make you free, you 
 shall be free indeed." 
 
 No bar the spirit world hath ever borne 
 It is thy thought is shut, thy heart is dead : 
 Up ! scholar, bathe unwearied and unworn 
 Thine earthly breast in morning's beams of red. 
 
 What ought an educated man to be? What final 
 result should come to pass in him? I reply first and 
 midst and last : He should be more and more a man 
 according to the advantages he has enjoyed of putting 
 himself in communion with the life of humanity. The 
 man who is educated has simply received more from 
 the life of the world than other men. The experience 
 of mankind, as expressed in literature, history, science, 
 philosophy, has been tributary to him; he has re- 
 ceived more of the life of humanity, and surely he 
 ought to be more human, as the prime result of his 
 privilege. He ought to be five men in the delicacy of 
 his perceptions and in the breadth of his sympathies. 
 Instead of taking advantage of his fellow-men by the 
 
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 225 
 
 superiority of his attainments, he ought to be all the 
 more their minister and benefactor. Instead of boast- 
 ing that he is of the people and has risen by force of 
 his own faculty, it should be his pride and joy that he 
 is not merely of the people, but that he is for the 
 people not their flatterer, not their cajoler, but 
 their believing counselor and friend, who will always 
 be true to himself and true to them. The educated 
 man should be as much more a man than other men as 
 he has been receptive of the life of mankind. If his 
 education does not augment all his human powers, for 
 what cause has his education been? Let him be care- 
 ful how he diverts from this augmented manhood in 
 any of the petty channels of immediate influence. Let 
 him beware how he runs into any specialty of thought 
 or action ; let him pursue his vocation ; let him do what 
 is required to be done, but, whatever he is and what- 
 ever he does, let him be and do with the whole breadth 
 of his human nature, however office or the conven- 
 tionalisms of society may support his abilities or aug- 
 ment his influence. Office can do something to increase 
 his authority for good ; position may give him vantage- 
 ground of power, but his chief reliance must be that he 
 is a man among men. Whatever he is in particular, 
 his manhood should be greater than that particular. 
 He must be something more than all he knows or 
 thinks or does. There must be an ever-increasing 
 momentum of life and conscious being in him. Let 
 him not think to find any goal in which to rest. Let 
 
226 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 him not be politician, lawyer, preacher, engineer, 
 philanthropist, temperance man, or abolitionist; let 
 him not be Freemason, Oddfellow, or church member, 
 but while he acts and thinks in these, let him be 
 greater than them all. Although a man may stand on 
 the balances with the weights in his pocket, there is a 
 notch hi which he goes, and his true avoirdupois, no 
 more and no less, is hi his manhood. When you have 
 told a man to be a man, can you add anything to that 
 counsel ? Are not all the powers of the universe tribu- 
 tary to that ? Were they not made and inspired, even 
 unto this end ? 
 
 (From "Why Do We Cherish the University?" 1868.) 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 PRAYERS 
 
 [THE prayers of Horatio Stebbins were uttered with 
 unquestioned sincerity and earnestness from the 
 depths of a loving, reverent heart. Prayer was not a 
 prescribed form, but the outflowing of his inmost soul 
 in communion with the All-Father. In 1889 his son 
 Roderick, without Dr. Stebbins's knowledge, engaged 
 a stenographic reporter, who sent him, for nearly a 
 year, reports of the prayers of the Sunday services. 
 After Dr. Stebbins's death, they were published as a 
 precious memorial of his ministry. The fire of 1906 
 destroyed a large part of the edition and put the book 
 out of print. A few of the prayers are therefore in- 
 cluded in this volume.] 
 
 O Infinite and Holy One, Almighty Providence of 
 our lives, inspirer of our souls, the beginning of reason 
 and the end of faith, we implore thee now by thy 
 gracious spirit to come nigh unto thine own, and lead 
 forth thy flock in green pastures beside the still waters 
 of divine grace. "We were glad when our companions 
 said to us, Let us go up into the house of the Lord." 
 We are come in the gentle light of day ; the sun shines 
 bright and fair ; our lives are blessed and our hearts 
 are inspired by thy gracious spirit. We come as we are, 
 
228 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 with all our earthly burdens ; we come as we are, with 
 all our earthly joys, with all the hopes that thy spirit 
 has kindled in our breasts, thou knowing us better 
 than we know ourselves our inward thoughts, our 
 veriest purpose, our desires, our pain, our will, all 
 known to thee. Pity our weakness; enlighten our 
 darkness; confirm our feeble strength by thy own 
 might ; and let thy children rise up and sit down and 
 lift up their voices in gracious benediction and praise 
 and blessing to thee, our God. 
 
 O Holy One, Infinite Father, we invoke thy blessing 
 on us always. Renew in our hearts our sense of depend- 
 ence on thee, our sense of filial trust in thee. Conse- 
 crate unto us all our experience ; what is dark do thou 
 illume in thy time ; what is a deep trial, or pain, or 
 anguish of any sort, do thou relieve and assuage ; and 
 gently bless with tender and holy consolations and 
 reverent feelings of how little we know of thy ways, 
 the mystery of thy providences, the teachings and 
 the wonders of thy grace. 
 
 Almighty God, we thank thee for our daily affairs ; 
 for our constant occupations ; for that which we find 
 within our own dwellings, and in the world of men to 
 occupy our minds, our hearts, and our hands. Give 
 prosperity to our honorable industry, to our intelli- 
 gent service ; and in doing good, in walking humbly, 
 and in loving mercy, may we find the abundant 
 reward and peace of thy divine kingdom. 
 
 Almighty God, our Father, we would fix our minds 
 
PRAYERS 229 
 
 and thoughts on thee now. We would think what thou 
 art in thine ineffable beauty and perfectness ; and we 
 would feel that thou hast inspired us with a nature 
 kindred to thine own, and called us to the great calling 
 to be sons of God. May our minds be inspired and 
 filled with reverence and devout feeling and holy pur- 
 pose of obedience and trust in thee ; and as we stand 
 upon the great eminence the great eminence of our 
 Mount Zion, the city of our God and look abroad 
 over all the earthly scene of our experience, its 
 mystery, its trial, its abundant salvation, its kindness, 
 its times of distress, may we see in it all and through 
 all a wondrous leading, a divine hand, a holy and pro- 
 tecting care. 
 
 Let thy blessing, Holy Father, be upon all to-day, as 
 wide as the beams of the sun. Let thy gracious bene- 
 diction be shed abroad. Guide with thy strong and 
 merciful hand ; keep by thy pure spirit ; and save all by 
 thy eternal grace. Hear our prayer ; forgive our sins, 
 and remove them from us as far as east is from the 
 west. As our earthly experience increases, may that 
 experience stretch over into unknown worlds, into 
 untried scenes ; and may divine wonder and curiosity 
 enamour our hearts of what God has yet to reveal to 
 his children. Amen. 
 
 The day is bright and fair, the world is filled with the 
 glory of the sun ; thy spirit, O God, goes forth inspiring 
 the hearts of all thy children, and we come, beckoned 
 
230 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 by divine signals, led on by holy hands, with our feel- 
 ings drawn toward thee, to our place of prayer. Come 
 to thy people as thou ever dost and hast done from all 
 time ; come to us as to thy own, and give thy people 
 peace. Forgive our sins ; subdue our minds to patience, 
 to penitence, to prayer; lift up our hearts in holy 
 gratitude with exultation of soul and bowing down and 
 worship, and rising up before thee with awe and glad- 
 ness and terrible reverence and comfort at thy good- 
 ness, by thee manifested to thy children. 
 
 We always thank thee, Almighty One ; we always 
 bless thee, thou infinite and eternal God; and with 
 holy patience and penitence and prayer we lift up 
 our hearts to thee now. Let thy benediction be upon 
 the homes we have left for an hour to come to this, 
 our house of God. Consecrate them, consecrate this. 
 Wherever our thoughts, flying on wings of imagina- 
 tion and love, rest down upon those whom we would 
 bless with thy blessing, there let thy love go inspiring, 
 and thy almighty hand sustaining, comforting, and 
 supporting. Let thy tender benediction be upon all 
 thy suffering ones. Deal kindly with the wretched, 
 the poor, the weak, the wicked, the wise, the good, the 
 true. Thou knowest, Almighty One, our wants ; thou 
 knowest and thou canst supply them by thy spirit 
 and by thy grace and thy power. Subdue our hearts 
 to thee. Teach us wisdom by thy divine grace and 
 spirit. Lead us in plain paths of duty and consecrate 
 to our minds and hearts our daily work. As we go 
 
PRAYERS 231 
 
 forth at any hour of the day, in the morning, at mid- 
 day or evening, may the rising of a new life, the satis- 
 faction of midday strength, the tender thoughts of the 
 evening glories, fill our hearts with the divine presence 
 and holy companionship of God in heaven. Amen. 
 
 Holy Father, Almighty One, hear the prayers of thy 
 children now, and come to thine own with blessing and 
 peace. We reverence thee and bow down in awe and 
 holy fear; we lift up our voice in devout song and 
 praise and prayer. Pity our weakness, help our igno- 
 rance, heal our doubts and our wounds of mind and 
 heart, and give thy people everlasting peace and trust 
 and comfort and love. If any of thy people are in 
 heavy trial, if they are alone in Gethsemane, be with 
 them there with thy power and spirit, and lif t them up 
 and save them forever and ever ; and if the cup may 
 not pass from them, may they be enabled to say from 
 hearts enriched by obedience and faith, "Not my will 
 but thine be done." 
 
 We rejoice, Almighty God, in the themes of thy 
 eternal truth, that truth which thou hast set in the 
 nature of man, in the world around us, in the work of 
 thy hands ; and hast illustrated by the lives of prophets 
 and martyrs and saints, and by thy Son Jesus Christ. 
 We thank thee that that truth, rising upon the world, 
 never sets ; that it knows no eclipse of its increasing 
 glory, but stands higher and higher until its beams shall 
 illumine the whole world. 
 
23 2 HORATICVSTEBBINS 
 
 Confer upon us, O thou Almighty Spirit, the spirit 
 of truth, the love of what is, the joy of thy command- 
 ments, the beauty of thy love, and let us in our daily 
 lives, with simplicity of heart and purity of thought, 
 seek to know thee, to know our own being, our inmost 
 purpose ; and may our thoughts and purpose be alike 
 consecrated to thee. 
 
 Let thy blessing be hi every heart of man ; let it be 
 in every human dwelling, resting down in holy peace 
 upon little children, upon youth, upon mature man- 
 hood, and upon the aged in years, and let all thy 
 children be blessed in thee, their Father in heaven. 
 Amen. 
 
 O God, our Father, Infinite and Holy One, thou whose 
 word is spoken in all places of thy dominion and the 
 uttermost parts of the world; thou whose law goes 
 forth to hold the worlds in their places and in whose 
 hand the ocean rolls ; thou hast proclaimed thy word 
 and thy truth to the children of men ; thou hast set 
 thy Son Jesus Christ to confirm that word, to estab- 
 lish and to keep it forever and ever. 
 
 We adore thy greatness ; we bow in humble rever- 
 ence before it, and we lean with filial trust upon thy 
 paternal arm. Owning the presence of thy inspiring 
 spirit in all those great sentiments of the human heart 
 which have struggled on in the darkest periods of 
 man's trial and ignorance and sin, we thank thee that 
 somehow through the wicket gate of death we see a 
 
PRAYERS 233 
 
 heavenly light. We thank thee, owning the influence 
 of thy everlasting spirit, for that faith by which thine 
 humble children are gone up from earth as the sea 
 ascends in mists. They have gone up with humble 
 hope, with humble trust, that somewhere and some- 
 how they would be nearer thee, their Maker, and feel 
 thy paternal arm. In times of darkness and ignorance 
 and sin we thank thee that this great hope has strug- 
 gled on in the human soul. 
 
 We thank thee, Almighty One, in the name of thy 
 Son Jesus Christ, that thou hast confirmed the heart 
 of man and strengthened his hope and comforted his 
 spirit ; that thou hast given to him thy Son to abolish 
 death, to bring life and immortality to light through 
 his gospel and to establish thy eternal kingdom and 
 that infinite communion of earth and heaven. Let 
 this spirit and this faith be upon all thy people to-day, 
 on every land and dime and race and tongue ; and in 
 whatever humble ways men worship thee, O God, 
 hear their prayers, strengthen their hearts, confirm 
 their hopes, and lead them forth to everlasting life. 
 
 We ask thy blessing upon us now, and receive, we 
 pray thee, our humble prayers, our penitent confes- 
 sions ; and lift up thy people forever and ever. Let the 
 blessing of the truth of the gospel of thy Son be in all 
 our dwellings. Let it be in all our hearts, blessing, 
 consoling, lifting up, and comforting amidst trials or 
 perplexities or joy or gladness, forever and ever. 
 Amen. 
 
234 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 Again we come in the evening hour to this our place of 
 prayer. Again we lift up our heart and voice to thee 
 and commend ourselves and all those who are dear 
 to us to thy holy providence, thy paternal and ever 
 friendly care. 
 
 The pleasant day is gone. Evening shadows are 
 falling around the dwellings of man, and thy care and 
 thy watching are over all. We adore thy providence ; 
 we wonder at thy works, the marvelous works thou 
 art doing and hast been doing from when time began 
 until now ; and the experience of human life, renewed 
 in the hearts of every generation, repeated in our 
 hearts and lives, the leading of thy providence, the 
 monitions of thy spirit, the direction of thy will all 
 these fill our hearts with a revering adoration, and we 
 look forward and around us, and upward, and we gain 
 new and divine suggestions and hints of our being and 
 our destiny. 
 
 We thank thee for all the records of thy providence 
 in the world of men, for the testimony which the great 
 and the good, the illustrious exemplars of mankind 
 give of their confidence and their trust when guided 
 by thy almighty hand. We thank thee for the story 
 of the childhood of man ; for thy care of him, for thy 
 watching over him, for the adaptation of thy teaching 
 to his mind and heart, and for thy guidance by thy 
 spirit and thy Son. 
 
 Let a reverent mind, we pray thee, let a devout 
 temper and disposition, penetrate our hearts. Dismiss 
 
PRAYERS 235 
 
 from our minds all conceit of knowledge. Now may 
 reason and faith and affection, pure feeling and pure 
 thoughts, guide us, inspire us, and keep us in perfect 
 peace. 
 
 Almighty God, we ask thy blessing upon all those 
 whom we think of when we think of the human ties 
 that bind us ; we remember our fathers and mothers 
 and brothers and sisters and neighbors and friends of 
 to-day. For every feature of human life and experience, 
 for every joy and grace, for every pain we bear, we 
 give thee revering gratitude, and we invoke on us 
 daily thine eternal good-will. 
 
 Let thy blessing be upon every human dwelling, on 
 every human heart; chastise, reprove, lead by thy 
 hand, lift up, restore, and strengthen, and let all thy 
 children be blessed in thee. Amen. 
 
CHAPTER XI * 
 THAT WHICH REMAINETH 
 
 A CONFERENCE SERMON 
 
 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh . . . whose voice then 
 shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more 
 I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once 
 more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken . . . 
 that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. (Hebrews 12: 
 25, 26, 27.) 
 
 THE style of Asiatic grandeur in which things moral 
 and spiritual are set forth in the New Testament 
 requires to be toned down a little to meet the severer 
 and more logical mind of the modern time. The Orien- 
 tal mind is huge, and is fond of cloudy magnificence, 
 gigantic splendors, and world-on-fire catastrophes. 
 Nature is awful and overwhelming in Asia, and a great 
 writer has said that if Europe had been projected on 
 the scale of terribleness of the Whang Ho or the Hindu 
 Kush, the modern civilization could not have been. 
 However that may be, Asia, the homestead of man- 
 kind, was fit place for the childhood of humanity, 
 and the birthplace of religions. 
 
 1 Few sermons or addresses of Dr. Stebbins have ever appeared in 
 print. He steadfastly refused to allow the publication of a volume, 
 and only occasionally yielded to request that a sermon should be 
 published. The sermon of the Saratoga Convention in 1884 has 
 been widely read, and several addresses printed by the Charming 
 Auxiliary are treasured by their owners. Restricted to the choice of 
 sermons already printed, I take one that was preached at the dedica- 
 tion of the Unitarian Church in Berkeley, California, November 20, 
 1898. 
 
THAT WHICH REMAINETH 237 
 
 The mountainous and smoky style of the writer 
 that I have quoted would have been modified by a 
 kind of human common sense if he had been a delegate 
 to the Pan-Anglican Convention or the Methodist 
 Conference of the modern time. He would have said, 
 "Many things that once seemed firm have passed 
 away, and they have passed away that the eternal 
 things may abide unshaken." 
 
 On an occasion like this, gathered as we are to take 
 grateful and reverent note of the completion of a 
 simple building devoted to worship, prayer, and teach- 
 ing, it is becoming in us, amid the shifting scenery of 
 religious thought, which to some minds is cause of 
 doubt and alarm, but to others the dawn of a new day, 
 to consider what has been shaken, and what remains 
 unshaken. I invoke the aid of that Almighty Spirit 
 that giveth us understanding that I may inquire with 
 reverence and love concerning the deep things of God 
 revealed in the history of humanity. I will unfold no 
 panoramic scene or world-view, but be content if I 
 may flash a light here and there along the horizon that 
 overflows the urns of eternal splendor. 
 
 I suppose there is no danger that man will ever lose 
 sight of God, that Almighty Being whose power gives 
 law to suns and stars, and whose spirit in man reveals 
 the awful glories of right and wrong. The only change 
 there can be is in man's idea of him. That there have 
 been great changes there can be no doubt, from age to 
 age, and from generation to generation. Many things 
 
2 3 8 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 that were thought to be permanent have proved to be 
 transient, as man ha s been educated by the graduated 
 steps of an imperfect morality. The idea, the thought 
 that men have of God, depends on the time, the age, 
 and I might add, on the temperament of men. Abra- 
 ham and Isaiah, David and Whittier! Wesley said 
 that Whitfield's God was his devil ! But amid all this 
 change and passing away, the idea of God remains an 
 everlasting possession to the mind and heart of man. 
 Hawthorne says, "The reason why the mass of men 
 fear God, and at bottom dislike him, is because they 
 distrust his heart." The great change that has come is 
 that humanity and divinity are the same in quality, 
 differing only in degree. The great transformation is 
 the spiritual humanizationof God, the idea that reason, 
 conscience, affection in us are the true interpreters of 
 him, and that the smallest particle of truth, or right, 
 or love here on earth, is of the same nature with the 
 eternal reason and the eternal love. A God whom we 
 suspect of being ill-tempered and self-willed is no God, 
 only an idol, a bad imagination of ignorance and pas- 
 sion. If we attribute to him, or allow to be attributed 
 to him, characteristics unworthy of man, character- 
 istics that are incompatible with reason and love, 
 our belief is only the belief of a Samson bully, and not 
 the belief of the sons of God. The idea of God perma- 
 nantly survives, and the being that we can per- 
 manently worship is a God of love, the most sublime 
 conception of which the mind and heart of man are 
 
THAT WHICH REMAINETH 239 
 
 capable. And when we say that God is love, we know 
 what we mean. It is the best of all that can be ex- 
 pressed in action or character. It flings a heavenly 
 glory on every human sense, and, like the angel in 
 Abou Ben Adhem's dream, fills the dusty corners of 
 our earthly dwelling with celestial light. We have our 
 true life only in love. Call to mind those who have 
 had the sweetest influences they are those whose 
 presence shone on you as a light not on sea or land, and 
 warmed your heart to surprising powers of excellence 
 and beauty, and you wished that you were altogether 
 as they, who filled the simplest word or deed with 
 eternal kindness. For this, science, learning, wit, and 
 wisdom uncover their heads and stand in holy awe. 
 Around this the universe of worlds and souls revolves, 
 God-centered in eternal hope. Let all things else be 
 shaken, this that cannot be shaken remains. 
 
 There is a book that is reverently regarded as the 
 special repository and record of God's word and provi- 
 dence, through the ages of his care for human-kind. 
 It is a book made of many books bound in one, to 
 unite and unify the divine teaching from age to age. 
 Written by different men at different times, widely 
 separated, it seems a kind of autobiography of human 
 nature jotted down in happy moments, of personal 
 experience in all the simplicity of personal conscious- 
 ness. The first wondering impressions of the newcomer 
 just arrived on this earth; the hardened heart and 
 daring crimes of the long resident here, forgetting that 
 
240 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 the world was not his, and he only a tenant at will ; the 
 recalled and penitent spirit awakened by the voice of 
 Christ, when to the world, dead in custom, he brought 
 back the Irving presence of God, and to the first rever- 
 ence added love. All this, and more, is written there, 
 in happy moments of inspiration such as have fallen 
 upon the ensamples and leaders of our race during the 
 lapse of centuries. The land and country of the book 
 is a well-chosen spot, a kind of watch-tower, from 
 which men can overlook the history of the world. A 
 bit of mountainous land in the southwest corner of 
 Asia, across which merchants, shepherds, and Arabs 
 guided their caravans, pitched their tents, or hid in 
 mountain dens. India, Babylon, Jerusalem, Egypt, 
 all are spread out beneath the imagination of one who 
 would see the panorama moved by the finger of Provi- 
 dence. 
 
 This book has taken such a hold on a portion of the 
 human race as no other book has ever done. All the 
 best books of Christendom are born of the thoughts 
 and ideas of this book, coming from a nation despised 
 in ancient and modern times. It is read at the hour or 
 day in millions of places on the earth, and a hundred 
 times a year in each place. It is a presence, and when 
 men unaccustomed read or hear it read, they wonder 
 as the patriarch did when he awoke from his stony 
 pillow and exclaimed, "God was in this place and I 
 knew it not." The book tells of God and his Son. 
 
 A book that has such influence over men ought to be 
 
THAT WHICH REMAINETH 241 
 
 regarded reverently and carefully. We ought to expect 
 something from it as we do from Shakespeare and Mil- 
 ton. We read them expecting to find great things ; and 
 the Bible read so would reveal great universal testi- 
 mony of things human and divine. It is a kind of 
 natural inheritance into which we are born. 
 
 But while this state of mind is proper, legitimate, 
 indispensable, indeed, to a just appreciation of the 
 Bible, it is not a complete opinion. We must apply 
 our intelligence and reason to these writings as we 
 would to all great writings. They are the work of dif- 
 ferent minds through a period of a thousand years. 
 Nothing human is infallible. Infallibility belongs only 
 to the Infinite mind that moves in the rhythm of 
 Almighty power and love. The same liberal studies 
 that unfold the meaning of all history must be be- 
 stowed upon the Bible. When Niebuhr's history of 
 Rome appeared, Arnold of Rugby said that, when 
 studies like Niebuhr's were directed to the Bible, we 
 should understand it much better. I cannot touch the 
 question of inspiration that is a theme by itself. 
 The Bible, when liberal studies have done their work, 
 will be regarded as one of the providential records of 
 the education of the race. It is the book of human 
 nature from childhood to maturity. Myth, fable, 
 parable, and miracle are there, and the speech of 
 humanity in its loftiest moods of virtue and prayer. 
 The natural history of the soul is there written for all 
 mankind. It justifies itself to the mind of a child, and 
 
242 HORATIO StEBBINS 
 
 to the conscience of a man. It tells stories of childhood 
 wonders and utters truth profound as human nature 
 and perpetual as time. 
 
 The Bible is not an infallible book. Some, thinking 
 so, have taken the book instead of God. It is history, 
 literature, law, and religion. It is to be read, studied, 
 and reasoned about so. There is much in it from which 
 we gain little, there is much in it from which all 
 things of eternal worth may be won. There is much in 
 it that is not true, but truth burns there unconsumed 
 from age to age. Historic truth is not the only truth ; 
 a fact that is not historically true may yet be true 
 on a higher plane than that of history ; true to eter- 
 nal reason, to moral and religious sentiment and 
 human need. A fact means nothing until it is pene- 
 trated with thought, and transmuted from gross sub- 
 stance into idea. The story of Belshazzar's feast may 
 not be history, but the idea of fallen greatness is an 
 eternal admonition to all the votaries of pride and 
 power, as Shakespeare puts it in the mouth of Wolsey 
 in the modern time : 
 
 Had I but served my God with half the zeal 
 I served my king, he would not in mine age 
 Have left me naked to mine enemies. 
 
 The story of Christ's temptation, the scientific 
 critics tell us, is not literal historic fact. Let it be so. 
 The story is none the less true, but a great deal more 
 so, when the narrative which embodies the inner truth 
 and experience of a human soul is conceived as myth 
 
THAT WHICH REMAINETH 343 
 
 than when understood as matter-of-fact history. The 
 idea of the myth, the terrible idea that God has placed 
 us here in the midst of temptation, from which the Son 
 of Man was not exempt ; that is the truth which con- 
 cerns us far more than the rude outline of devilish wit 
 sitting on the pinnacle of the temple or climbing a 
 mountain with nothing to eat. Idea is what illumines 
 the mind, not fact recorded in the mythopeic age. 
 Again, the story of Jesus and the fig tree. That has no 
 idea, and was probably put there by some interliner. 
 We have no hesitation in saying that it is not true that 
 Jesus was angry at a fig tree because it had no fruit 
 and that out of season. If we know anything in the 
 light of truth and reason, we know that this could not 
 be true of Jesus. Thus we study reverently, enlight- 
 ened by beams of eternal light, and follow the track 
 of truth through centuries, as moonbeams on mid- 
 night waters. Let liberal studies, higher and lower, 
 let science bring all the methods of nature to shake 
 the earth of ancient opinion, and remove the things 
 that are shaken, that those things which cannot be 
 shaken may remain. 
 
 Out of the Bible, before science was born, there were 
 strange doctrines of the will of God built up with mas- 
 sive logic, and dark mountainous power, as the guides 
 of human conduct, and the sure prophecy of human 
 destiny. Never was a man on earth so resolute to tear 
 out and destroy all that was false, so resolute to estab- 
 lish what was true, and to make truth, to the very last 
 
244 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 fiber of it, the rule of practical life, as John Calvin. He 
 could ride all day in the valley of the Rhine and see not 
 a thing of beauty. John Calvin is dead, and his doc- 
 trines of God and man are his winding-sheet. Walk 
 reverently and look upon that face, and lay a leaf of 
 holly, or myrtle, or immortelles on his bier. As far as 
 the state of knowledge permitted, he laid the founda- 
 tion and reared the walls of the most terrible system 
 ever devised by man. The strong angel has spoken 
 earth and heaven are shaken that those things which 
 cannot be shaken may remain. 
 
 Silent influences have been working on the common 
 mind, not only through religion directly, but through 
 literature. Whatever is humanizing, whatever reveals 
 a sympathy between the human and divine, gives the 
 keynote of the human world, and reveals the heart of 
 God. Walter Scott, Robert Burns, Carlyle, Emerson, 
 have made manhood the standard of virtue. The great 
 transition of thought is from theology to humanity. 
 Jesus said, "Ye believe in God, believe also in me." 
 If we believe in God we must believe hi ourselves 
 that we are spiritual beings of like nature with him. 
 And if we have this great belief in God and ourselves, 
 we shall not go amiss amid many doctrines, and while 
 many things are shaken, that which cannot be shaken 
 will endure. We need to minimize our beliefs, and 
 weigh them rather than count them. To know too 
 much is a sign of a sterile mind. We should cherish a 
 wise agnosticism. We live by apprehension more than 
 
THAT WHICH REMAINETH 245 
 
 by comprehension. A poet has said : "Things proved 
 are not worth proving." All our great beliefs are dar- 
 ing assumptions ; they were not reasoned into us, and 
 they cannot be reasoned out of us. It is the promise 
 of our own nature that gives us hold on things eternal. 
 Every man is convinced of his own being, though he 
 may not have reflected on it to learn what it implies. 
 But its chief attributes are so obvious that, when once 
 attention has b^en called to them, they cannot fail to 
 be discussed and recognized. These attributes, call 
 them what you will reason, conscience, faith, love, 
 or individuality, self-consciousness, free will give 
 us rank as children of God, the great distinction 
 between creatures and beings. A great writer has 
 said : "What the thing is, which we call ourselves, we 
 know not. It may be true. I for one care not that the 
 descent of our mortal bodies may be traced through 
 an ascending series to some glutinous organism on the 
 rocks of the primeval ocean. It is nothing to me that 
 the maker of me has been pleased to construct the 
 perishable frame which I call my body. It is mine, but 
 it is not me. The intellectual spirit we believe to be 
 incompatible, something that has been engendered in 
 us from another source." 
 
 The spiritual mind is angelic strong in insight 
 and emotion. The spiritual man, not the pietist or 
 creed-monger, is he whose intellectual and moral 
 powers are raised to a point of vision and action, 
 whence he discerns the unity of law without, and the 
 
246 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 unity of law within ; whose mind, free of superstition 
 and degrading feais, is at home in the world, and, 
 beholding on every hand tokens of good, finds happi- 
 ness in duty, and, without anxiety or fear, trusts him- 
 self to that goodness of which his own upright will 
 and pure heart are the promise and the pledge. 
 
 May the sublime truths, drawn from the Being of 
 God and the nature of man, be taught here, with 
 prayer and song, and illustrated in the moral beauty 
 of daily life* 
 
CHAPTER XII * 
 THE SON OF MAN IN HIS DAY 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 When he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of 
 God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God 
 cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, 
 lo there ! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. And he said 
 unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see 
 one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they 
 shall say to-you, See here ; or, see there : go not after them, nor follow 
 them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under 
 heaven, shincth unto the other part under heaven ; to shall also the 
 Son of man be in his day. (Luke 17 : 20-24.) 
 
 THE friends of God have great cause for gratitude and 
 joy in the ever-renewed tokens that his mercy is from 
 everlasting to everlasting, and that his truth endureth 
 to all generations. There have been times of distress 
 when God's people looked with fear and trembling 
 lest he had become weary or his heart had failed. But 
 from age to age a light gleams from one part under 
 heaven, even unto the other part under heaven, and 
 God seems nearer and nearer his beloved race, while 
 man's heart and woman's tears win new victories of 
 the soul. 
 
 Is there a God in history? Is there a Providence in 
 the lif e of mankind ? The ancient prophet had a vision 
 of it through the rifted clouds of wonder and mystery, 
 when humanity was young. The prophet conceived 
 
 1 The sermon in this chapter was printed by the British and Foreign 
 Unitarian Association in London in August, 1893. 
 
248 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 humanity in the relation of a child to his parent : the 
 child's image is formed on the retina of the father's eye, 
 and the father caresses him, the little man of his eye, 
 and loves him for the tie of kindred blood and the 
 beauty of his being. 
 
 Another prophet and apostle conceives humanity 
 not in infancy, but in childhood, led by the pedagogue 
 to school the young scholar brought to the master 
 by the father's servant, who guided and urged on the 
 boy, carried his satchel, and saw him safe at the door, 
 where the teacher received him to the hospitalities of a 
 larger mind. "The law was our pedagogue to bring us 
 to Christ" a conception of the provisional and pro- 
 gressive character of divine guidance, culminating at 
 length in the fullness of light and life, when God shall 
 be all in all. 
 
 Yet another, brooding over the mighty theme of 
 God's ways, ascends the ages and icons, and catches a 
 glimpse of the eternal method, which in our day is the 
 sublime generalization of the patient love and judicial 
 mind of science : 
 
 My frame was not hidden from Thee, 
 
 When I was made in secret, 
 
 And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 
 
 Thine eyes did see mine imperfect substance, 
 
 And in thy book were all my members written, 
 
 Which day by day were fashioned, 
 
 When as yet there was none of them. 
 
 Prophetic vision, spiritual genius, is ever seeing new 
 
THE SON OF MAN IN HIS DAY 249 
 
 worlds beyond the western horizon, and the setting sun 
 of to-day is the dawn of to-morrow ; while to the simply 
 practical mind the present is a finality, the world is 
 finished. God has fulfilled the contract he made with 
 man : the work is done. Yet we hear much of progress. 
 The air is full. It is with us wherever we go, importun- 
 ing us for attention, admiration, or wonder. Progress 
 in the material world is in the market-place a thing 
 of length and breadth and thickness, that can be 
 bought at a price. It comes home to our comfort, 
 refinement, or luxury. No man in his senses will speak 
 lightly of man's conquest over nature, as we call it, 
 nor affect the conceit of indifference to the wonderful 
 works of the hands and the brains of the children of 
 men. Nor will he deny, but gratefully confess, the 
 indirect influence of these upon morals and religion. 
 There is a sense in which material comfort sweetens 
 life and relieves the hardness of necessity. Though 
 the sufferings of the world may be changed, they are 
 not less, even as the increase of knowledge does not 
 diminish the area of the unknown. So there is no 
 patent right to make virtue and honor easy; nor is 
 the electric light to be confounded with " the lightning 
 that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven," and 
 " shineth unto the other part under heaven." There is 
 no essential and eternal relation between righteousness 
 and physical comfort, as there is no essential and 
 eternal relation between the salary of a judge and the 
 judicial mind. In war the science of attack is, in the 
 
2 5 o HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 long run, matched by the science of defense, and dyna- 
 mite is as good for an anarchist to tear a town into 
 human agonies, as it is for an engineer to compel the 
 sullen rocks or make the proud mountain bellow with 
 pain. The conductor of a street-car, unless there is a 
 sparkling gem of honor in his breast, can outwit the 
 spring-punch ; and trying to make a man honest, true, 
 and pure by "improvements" is like putting a fox to 
 bed, and teaching him to lay his head on a pillow and 
 sleep like a child. 
 
 Of course, it is a mere platitude of the village moral- 
 ist to say that, if men were inspired with high and pure 
 principles, the world's wrongs would be righted. But 
 that is not what I am saying. Our notions of progress 
 are often vague, and it is good to know what we mean. 
 The world is a unit, and there is One Lawgiver for 
 starry heavens and soul of man. The virtues are many, 
 but virtue is one : ten commandments, but one right- 
 eousness. The kingdom of God includes all the inci- 
 dentals ; but the natural center and germ of the world, 
 the idea of progress, is in morals and religion. There 
 the responsible God meets responsible man; and all 
 the conquered powers of nature follow, if haply they 
 may render willing service. The kingdom of God 
 that kingdom which is the peculiar field of divine 
 powers and operations has its own methods of still 
 and quiet coming. Its field is the mind of man, where 
 results alone are manifest: the process is concealed. 
 How fares it in this kingdom of God, in which results 
 alone are manifest ? 
 
THE SON OF MAN IN HIS DAY 251 
 
 The great truth is now, ever has been, and ever shall 
 be that man is the crown of the world ; that the study 
 of his nature and the conditions of his life is the focus 
 of intellectual rays, and the ever-brightening way of 
 all divine ambition. To this end of man's honor and 
 advancement all institutions science, art, philos- 
 ophy, and religion are subordinated. To increase 
 the capacity and refine the quality of human nature 
 and human life, to raise man's powers to a height of 
 vision and action where he discerns the nature and 
 relation of things, sees truth, is not humiliated by 
 ghostly superstition or mean fear, finds perennial 
 fountains of thought and life within himself and the 
 scenes in which he moves, acts amid the egotism of the 
 senses and the impudence of social fallacies, under the 
 guidance of enlightened conscience and responsible 
 will, warmed by the genial beams of human love 
 this is the kingdom of God within, and the lightning 
 that flashes across the firmament This goes behind 
 economics, behind social solidarity, to the individual 
 man on his own account, and as the medium of that 
 inspiration that informs and guides the world. To us, 
 in our bulky thought, this world of men often seems all 
 solid ; but to an Infinite Mind it is all individual. God 
 inspires this world through individuals, never through 
 crowds or corporations ; and he reveals himself only to 
 congenial souls, as they are able to receive the light 
 and love. 
 
 We get a hint of this kingdom that comes without 
 
252 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 observation, or like a flash of light across the heavens, 
 filling the mind with divine splendor, in the growth and 
 development of a human being. What a distance is 
 traveled from the life of a child to the life of a man ! 
 A distance of thought as great as that which divides 
 the age of Pliny and his panthers at the celebration of 
 his friend's wife's funeral and the sweet griefs of a 
 Christian home, where that light that is not on land 
 or sea is quenched to mortal eyes. 
 
 Look at the child in his mother's arms or prattling 
 with his toys. He is innocent and lawless innocent 
 because he has no conception of right and wrong. His 
 will is wild and feline, and he has no more thought of 
 obedience than the cat that he strangles in his unimag- 
 inative cruelty. He is a thief, and takes anything he 
 can lay his hands on. His knowledge of cause and 
 effect comes by getting hurt, and he has no idea of 
 nature or of a law of nature more than of a bar of 
 music or of the tides. Reason, conscience, reverence, 
 love, lie folded like buds untouched by the sun. 
 
 But see this same creature again, when conscious- 
 ness and personality have arisen, and distinguished 
 him to himself from the world of things and creatures 
 around. As the ancient lyrist has it, he is but little 
 lower than God, crowned with glory and honor. He 
 has dominion over God's works, and all things are put 
 under his feet. He tills the earth, conquers the sea, 
 finds the law that holds atoms and worlds. Reason 
 assumes sway over the senses, sends out her voice to 
 
THE SON OF MAN IN HIS DAY 253 
 
 far realms of speech and language, and gets reply in 
 mother tongue, then, turning to the world within, 
 finds lineaments of the inspiring God! Well might 
 the modern seer translate into modern phrase what the 
 ancient lyrist sung: "O rich and various man! thou 
 palace of sight and sound, carrying in thy senses the 
 morning and the night and the unfathomable galaxy, 
 in thy brain the geometry of the city of God, in thy 
 heart the power of love and the realms of right and 
 wrong!" 
 
 I am not indifferent to the splendors of scientific 
 achievement or to the conquests of man's spiritual 
 nature over the material world. But to me there is no 
 wonder of man's empire over sea or land that so 
 kindles imagination or flashes such streams of light 
 into the future of man's possible destiny as this devel- 
 opment of a human soul. That a child should ever 
 become a Plato, a Milton, or a Darwin fills the mind 
 with proud yet humble awe, more than all the gran- 
 deurs of the universe, as they sing the song of eternal 
 reason, and more than that sublime patience and skill 
 that gather large masses of facts of the most varied 
 kind, and bring them under the reign of known law. 
 
 Thou gazest on the stars, my soul. 
 Ah ! gladly would I be on starry 
 Sky, with thousand eyes, 
 That I might gaze on thee 1 
 
 What is this marvelous development? What makes 
 this growth, which seems not so much a growth as a 
 
254 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 burst of splendor from an unknown sphere? Do we 
 guess backward from fact to principle, and say, 
 Evolution; as in another sphere we guess backward 
 from fact to principle and say, Gravitation? But 
 gravitation and evolution are methods, not causes. 
 Religion and reason, unmindful of method, as science 
 is unmindful of cause, affirm that these are ways of 
 God's working. Gravitation is the universal force 
 reason and religion call it will, diffused through all 
 realms, and of the same nature and kind, whether dis- 
 played in the ball tossed from a boy's hand or "in the 
 process of the suns." Gravitation unifies the universe 
 in one Eternal Will. Evolution, in its strictly human 
 sphere, is the unfolding in man of powers which recog- 
 nize themselves and their own law, and, reading the 
 universe between the lines, find signatures of power 
 like themselves, and, guessing back from fact to prin- 
 ciple, affirm God in man, and humanity of the same 
 nature with God. As the force that draws the ball 
 tossed from the boy's hand is the same as that which 
 leads forth the Mazzaroth in their season, so the fee- 
 blest bond of right or duty, or sigh or joy of human love, 
 is of the same kind as in the ever-living One. This 
 thought as a divine insight, not as a scientific conclu- 
 sion, culminated in the mind of Jesus, and makes him a 
 fountain of truth for the education of the world, and 
 gives him the unique and lovely grandeur of Teacher 
 of mankind. 
 As it was in his day, so it is in the day of the Son of 
 
THE SON OF MAN IN HIS DAY 255 
 
 man forever, with all the children of men, thought, 
 idea, vision of truth, that is not here nor there, nor 
 local nor provincial, nor for hell nor for heaven, but 
 human and divine, filling the mind with light, and 
 flashing across the world. All our inspirations come 
 through men who have the insight of the Son of man 
 in his day, who have seen truth as it is in eternal 
 beauty, felt at home in the universe whenever night 
 overtakes them, and at one with the eternal good-will. 
 Thus the consummate personality is the teacher, the 
 medium of celestial fire, the Son of man in his day. 
 His being, his presence, his word, awaken other beings 
 like himself, and reason speaks a universal language, 
 and faith flies on easy wing across the abyss too deep 
 for human thought This is revelation in its highest 
 and purest sense the unveiling of truth to human 
 vision, which has been going on from the beginning 
 through saints and seers, and is still going on with the 
 whole human race. It is no climax of time or occasion, 
 no day of the Son of man surprising the world, and 
 men crying, "See here ! " ''See there !" but the Son of 
 man in his day, diffusing his mind and heart through 
 other minds and hearts kindred to his own, increasing 
 the capacity and refining the quality of human nature 
 and life. The Son of man in his day reveals other men 
 to themselves, finds them in the recesses of their 
 being, shines on their minds with celestial light, and 
 sets their hearts aglow with love. This is the teacher 
 of men, the benefactor of his race, whose flashes of 
 
256 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 universal reason and common sense fill the sphere with 
 light, telling men that all the heroism of the world, 
 the greatness of history, and the loveliness of life are 
 in the primal dictates of conscience and the primitive 
 suggestions of the heart, and that the strength of wis- 
 dom and experience is in knowing how much we could 
 have known without the experience if we had had the 
 insight to discern and the courage to follow, at first, 
 that which we find true at last. No amount of obser- 
 vation can take the place of insight. "See here!" or 
 " See there ! " is the surprise of the provincial mind or 
 the cry of the quack that has got some new compound 
 with which to medicine the credulous world. 
 
 Thought, idea, conception, changes the mind, re- 
 news the heart, plumes the imagination, and the world 
 and human life and destiny are changed, and knowl- 
 edge is vitalized by reason. Who cannot call to mind 
 some hint or suggestion that has unlocked his heart, 
 voiced his common sense, and charged his intellect 
 with cheerful courage without which truth was never 
 won? I once knew a youth, a boy, whose heart was 
 moved, as the trees of the wood are moved by the 
 wind, by religious thoughts and musings of wonder, 
 love, and fear. The walls of the chambers of destiny, 
 painted in vivid colors, were the dwelling-place of 
 imagination to him. Under the genial shade of an oak 
 at noontide the patient oxen, released from the 
 plough, refreshed their strength with sweet-scented 
 hay, while he lay on the ground, reading from a little 
 
THE SON OF MAN IN HIS DAY 257 
 
 book of sermons by Dewey. The tender pathos, the 
 kindling sympathy, the fine insight, sank into his 
 heart and illumined his mind. The great impression 
 that he got was that the world and life were the scene 
 of moral and spiritual discipline for beings capable of 
 divine society, and that all the scenery, providence, 
 and experience of life are for the teaching of men. 
 The thought gave the boy's heart the keynote of the 
 world. It was like coming up out of a well, and climb- 
 ing a lovely hillside to view the landscape. The air 
 was pure, the sky was clear, the river flowed gladly to 
 the sea, trees laughed in the wind, and the jingling 
 team threw their heads high, as if their yoke was easy 
 and their burdens light. The Son of man in his day 
 illumined the heavens of a boy's mind, and flashed 
 celestial beams from horizon to horizon. Such as this 
 is teaching, such as this is history a flash of reason 
 that lets the primal instincts out of the dark and 
 endows them with sight and power and courage of free 
 speech in their own name. Thus every teacher is a 
 Son of man in his day, lightening the heavens of 
 thought and feeling, and kindling the fires of con- 
 science and love on all the heights. The consummate 
 personality is the teacher; and the consummate 
 teacher is the Son of man, the knowing one, the seeing 
 one, the loving one. He knows, as like knows like ; he 
 sees with the inner eye, and loves with the human 
 heart. He is rare, more rare, it may be, than great 
 men in other walks of life. And few follow him, it may 
 
258 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 be, because of dimness of vision ; but those few hear 
 his voice, and see the banner that he waves, and plant 
 it at length on the war-worn walls of the world. 
 Teaching of any kind is only moderately successful, 
 and the teacher knows but little of his influence ; but, 
 if he is in love with human nature, he knows that God 
 is in love with him, and that he treads the way by 
 which man becomes immortal. The influence of truth 
 is not clamorous or demonstrative, but 
 
 As sunbeams stream through liberal space, 
 And nothing jostle or displace. 
 
 We hear much of our age, of its discontents, the dis- 
 solving of opinions and creeds. There is doubtless 
 some exposure to melancholy croaking on the one 
 hand and to feeble cant on the other the cant of 
 progress and the croaking of decline. The chief cause 
 of disturbance is the discordance of religion and knowl- 
 edge arising in the sublime and world-atoning truth 
 that the more we know of nature, the finer is our con- 
 ception of the supernatural, and the more we know of 
 man, the better we think of God. The Son of man in 
 his day knows nothing of this disturbance, feels it not. 
 There is no collision between old and new in his crea- 
 tive thought. Let knowledge soar with eye undazzled 
 toward the sun ; the Son of man in his day, inspired by 
 reason and sympathy with truth, is greater than 
 knowledge ; for he has power to master it, to appropri- 
 ate it, and make all the past tributary to the present. 
 
THE SON OF MAN IN HIS DAY 259 
 
 He has charge of truth, the common inheritance of 
 humanity and not one jot or one tittle shall fail or be 
 forgotten. He has no conflict with the past, for he sees 
 the truth that is interwoven with error, and his heart 
 is in sympathy with the wisdom of mankind : 
 
 By Heaven I there should not be a seer who left 
 The world one doctrine, but I'd task his lore 
 And commune with his spirit. All the truth 
 Of all the tongues of earth I'd have them all, 
 Had I the powerful spell to raise their ghosts I 
 
 The conflict of religion with knowledge in minds that 
 cannot appropriate the knowledge is the center of the 
 disturbance of our time. I had a friend in former years, 
 well tried and faithful, in whom a fine conservative ex- 
 perience and true spirit of enterprise united to make 
 what we call wisdom. He invested freely in coal mines, 
 rich in that illuminating oil that has so transformed the 
 evening hours in the homes of our land. He built ships 
 for freight and wharves for landing and furnaces for 
 purifying fires. In a night the mountains of Pennsyl- 
 vania poured out rivers of oil, and superseded ships 
 and wharves and fiery furnaces. My friend suffered a 
 momentary shock; but his wisdom was supreme, 
 mastering and papropriating the new knowledge. 
 
 The Son of man in his day is ever revealing new con- 
 ceptions of the human and the divine ; and, when Jesus 
 says, "I have many things to say unto you, but ye 
 cannot bear them now," he shows the amazing force 
 and comprehension of his character. He recognized 
 
260 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 the human-world fact of the conflict between past 
 experience and new knowledge in the common mind 
 that all growth has a history, and truth creates the 
 circumstances that aid its progress, as the atmosphere 
 diffuses the beams of the sun. He saw in his pure vision 
 that high truth was at a disadvantage in low minds, 
 and that the baser the religion, the plainer the god. 
 But the Son of man has no conflict in his mind or 
 heart between old faith and new knowledge. To him 
 evolution is only another name for history, and history 
 is the method in which God is ever manifesting himself 
 in the flesh. He knows the difference between science 
 and religion, that religion is concerned with cause and 
 science with method, and whatever science approves 
 he adopts, always subjecting things to persons. 
 
 And here is the pinch to which the Son of man is put 
 in his day it is to teach men to recognize the divine 
 order hi the development of truth, to know that every 
 doctrine that has gathered around it a body of believ- 
 ers has a germ of truth that can never perish, and that 
 all true progress out of the past must carry with it into 
 the future all the truth that the past has won. There 
 is a timely and seasonal development of truth to differ- 
 ent minds as they are prepared to receive it. As the 
 discoveries and applications of science have come in a 
 kind of providential order, according to the want and 
 ability of the world to receive them, so Christianity 
 has been unfolded according to the want and ability 
 of human nature. Religion is the most flexible of all 
 
THE SON OF MAN IN HIS DAY 261 
 
 forms of thought ; and, of all religions, Christianity is 
 most supple, and adapts itself with tender sympathy 
 to the humble devotee who bows before the cross on 
 which God is stretched in pitying love and grief, or 
 croons and kisses the picture of the mother that bore 
 him, to him who with true angelic vision worships 
 the Father neither in this mountain nor at Jerusalem, 
 but in spirit and in truth. Consider the divisions of 
 Christendom : the Greek Church, that quintessence of 
 Orthodoxy ; the Roman Catholic Church, the custo- 
 dian of truth that is promulgated by the vicegerent of 
 Christ, as he " looks from his throne of clouds o'er half 
 the world" ; the Protestant sects that have their little 
 or great followings, and their little opinions and con- 
 tradictions these are all Christians included in the 
 divine hospitality of the mind of Christ. This is the 
 liberality of Jesus and of his truth the recognition 
 that different geologic eras of the mind are represented 
 in society, and that Silurians are on the earth in every 
 age. To understand this, to see it and feel it, to dis- 
 cover it in imagination, and to sympathize with it in 
 the heart, is the climax of the liberal mind, as it is the 
 glory and perfection of the liberal God. This is the Son 
 of man in his day, the child of the light, who speaks 
 from the level of his mind, with all the sympathies of 
 truth. It is the balance of judgment and insight, of 
 conservatism and progress, of poetic faculty and plod- 
 ding practicability. He says there are many things 
 that cannot be received now, but he knows that the 
 
262 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 spirit of truth will yet unlock the treasures of human 
 nature. He knows no landings on the " stairs that lead 
 through darkness up to God," and he no more thinks 
 of coming to a stand from which there is no advance 
 than the scientific man thinks to conclude his dis- 
 coveries. The Son of man in his day never thinks him- 
 self a finality. 
 
 It is nigh two thousand years that our religion has 
 been on earth, bearing the name of its Founder ; and 
 yet the summits of Christendom are just beginning to 
 be touched with the day-spring from on high. Man 
 has been on this earth for tens of thousands of years, 
 yet he is just beginning to get hold of the powers of the 
 world, and learning to write Nature with a capital N. 
 The true account of this is that truth is revealed to 
 man only as there is historic preparation for it in his 
 own mind, and it suggests the eternities that are 
 required to reduce principles to practice. Man creates 
 nothing ; he only finds something that was already 
 aforetime. The facts and laws, as we call them, were 
 ever what they are now. The pendulum that pre- 
 siding judge over the times and distances of the uni- 
 verse was in the Garden of Eden as truly as it is 
 to-day in the national observatory. Electricity was as 
 active when Abraham led his flocks and pitched his 
 tents in Arabia as it is now. But primeval time had no 
 preparation for an eight-day clock, and the magnetic 
 telegraph would have increased Job's confusion. 
 
 Nothing so impresses me as this human breadth of 
 
THE SON OF MAN IN HIS DAY 263 
 
 sympathy and powerful space-piercing spiritual vision 
 in Jesus which enabled him to speak to simple minds, 
 yet to reveal truth far beyond them, and even then to 
 tell them that this was not all, but that one should 
 come, when they were prepared to receive him, with 
 heavenly manners, who would lead them farther than 
 he could, and help them to do greater things than 
 he did. The mind of Jesus is the encouragement of 
 humanity, and the encouragement of that Church 
 Universal which carries forever the ideals of human- 
 ity in its breast. The progressive development of 
 religion is concurrent with the life of the Son of man 
 in his day. 
 
 We must confess that religious opinions, talents, 
 insights, sensibilities, are very much matters of con- 
 stitution and temperament. There are those to whom 
 truly spiritual and ideal views are impossible. There 
 is such a thing as truth that men cannot bear. Have 
 we not seen a decent everyday character that has lost 
 headway, and been thrown into the trough of the sea, 
 by views that were quite true to a mind that could 
 receive them ? The fault is not in the truth, but in the 
 man. We hear of such a thing as dangerous truth ; but, 
 if that means anything, it means dangerous as a 
 spirited horse is dangerous to a timid and feeble rider. 
 The great conservative instinct that makes men fear 
 the influence of full-bloomed truth on the common 
 mind is not all wrong, however it may be overdone by 
 him who hugs the past. There is a great inertia in 
 
264 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 human character that inspires a sympathetic mind 
 with wise caution an J careful fear, and the Son of man 
 is no proselyter. Have we not, as moral and spiritual 
 advisers, been compelled in all honesty to counsel some 
 whose constitutional limitations were clearly marked 
 to remain where they were? Have we not met those 
 to whom to give what are to us most spiritual views of 
 God and Christ and man were as useless as a sewing 
 machine in the family Adam, or the Northwestern 
 Railroad to Caesar for the invasion of Gaul? This is 
 not pearls before swine that I am speaking of now. 
 It is that breadth of moral sympathy that was in Jesus, 
 the poetic insight of the Son of man, and the practical, 
 plodding facts of human life and experience. It is a 
 simple principle of common sense, but which has not 
 had much recognition in religion. It is what makes 
 Christianity the common law of human nature, in- 
 cluding within itself every possible condition. 
 
 This is the way of history, the way of progress, the 
 way of evolution, the way of the Son of man, as I 
 understand them. Happy are the men who have no 
 conflict with their past, but go forward out of their 
 past, carrying into the future the wisdom and truth 
 they have won. 
 
 The lively discussions in different quarters concern- 
 ing the creed and the creeds, the revision or remodel- 
 ing of them, are little more than the comparison of 
 errors, and lack the creative spirit of the Son of man. 
 As the immoralities of our time are meannesses rather 
 
THE SON OF MAN IN HIS DAY 265 
 
 than great crimes, so in religious thought and life there 
 is much "See here !" and "See there !" instead of the 
 lightning that lighteneth out of one part under heaven 
 and shineth to the other part under heaven. I once 
 knew a man who boasted that he could agree to any 
 contract if he could have the writing of it. I can sign 
 all the creeds in Christendom if I can have the inter- 
 pretation of them. I feel very much toward them and 
 their meaning as Augustine did about time. If you ask 
 me, I do not know : if you do not ask me, I do know. 
 Yet men of honor do not write agreements to be read 
 between the lines. I could not do business or hire a 
 man to saw a cord of wood or have a faithful maid in 
 the kitchen on that plan. But I charge no man with 
 dishonesty or prevarication in this matter. When I 
 reflect on the variety of things that an honest man can 
 do, from the United States Land Office to the New 
 Theology, showing a versatility of resource with which 
 no other talent bears comparison, I am careful how I 
 charge men with religious dishonesty. I think that I 
 do often see what I am bound to call intellectual and 
 moral cowardice, and I am bound to confess that intel- 
 lectual honesty is much more rare than moral honesty, 
 owing to what seems to me some weakness of vision. 
 Yet I am careful about calling men dishonest, though 
 they do and say and believe that which I could not 
 believe or say or do, to save my soul from hell. Haw- 
 thorne's ancestor was as honest whipping a witch on 
 the road from Boston to Salem as the genial writer of 
 
266 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 "The House of the Seven Gables." Honesty! Yes, let 
 us have it. And let us believe in it, in ourselves, and in 
 our fellow-men. Let us be more than honest : let us be 
 honorable. And let us remember that honesty, to be 
 worthy of its name, to be worthy of anything above a 
 kind of pitiful respect, must carry a light that flames 
 upon its path like that light of the Son of man in his 
 day, that flashes from horizon to horizon, and no 
 tallow dip. Progress, growth, spiritual life all ac- 
 claim of faith and victory and glory are in stand- 
 ing by the Son of man in his day, giving blessing and 
 honor and power to the past for what it has done for 
 the present and the future. Then the past is venerable 
 and reverend, and through all its cruelties and igno- 
 rances there is a gleam of tender, loving care the 
 present is lovely, as the newborn of the race come for- 
 ward to their great inheritance, and the future is 
 crowned with hope and faith in the common destiny of 
 man. Men weep over the venerable symbols that are 
 passing away, as if truth were dead and buried, having 
 no resurrection. Far be it from me to speak with levity 
 of any illustrious sentiment in which the heart of man 
 finds expression. I call men my brethren of whatever 
 name; yet I do not intrude myself on them, or hang 
 around them as one who would waste their time in 
 getting acquainted, neither as one of their poor rela- 
 tions ; yet I do not allow anybody to turn me out of the 
 family. But when I read in the daily press how our 
 brethren of the Presbyterians, in their Assembly, fell 
 
THE SON OF MAN IN HIS DAY 267 
 
 upon each other's necks and wept over the fading glo- 
 ries of the creed, I should have been ashamed of my 
 heart if I could not have been touched with that grief ; 
 yet we cannot always control the law of association, 
 and I thought of the man in New Hampshire, ninety- 
 three years old, who wept because his father and 
 mother were dead and he was left an orphan. I am 
 told by ancient records that my English ancestor was 
 of respectable stock and named for a Christian hero 
 who suffered at the stake for his religious opinions. 
 Some of my ancestor's descendants have been respect- 
 able men, I am told men of deep, religious convic- 
 tions and bulky opinions. I am inclined to believe the 
 tradition, and to be thankful for it. One of those men 
 not far back held some public office when it was the 
 fashion for men of authority, when on public duty, to 
 wear the town-boots. I have a sincere respect for this 
 memory and tradition of creed and boots ; and, if I had 
 them, boots and creed, I would send them, with a 
 touch of pathos in my heart, to the World's Fair. 
 Why should I not? I could not wear either, but the 
 memory and the sentiment I would keep forever. In 
 these times of old faith and new knowledge, times of 
 disturbance, times of village surprises, and " See here !" 
 and " See there ! " how steady is the head and heart of 
 the Son of man in his day ! How high and how clear 
 the light streams from east to west, from north to 
 south ! The Son of man, like the true poet that he is, 
 shines and is content. The realms of reason are his; 
 
- 268 HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 there only can his beams penetrate. The human heart 
 is his : there only can love find its native clime. Fear 
 not : be not afraid. 
 
 It cannot be doubted that this new knowledge that 
 is coming in so steadily has some advantages. And 
 some think that it has the whip-hand of religion. But 
 they mistake the theme. Physical science is concerned 
 with things, and works with its own tools. It has the 
 great advantage of the physical origin of language, and 
 can say exactly what it means and all it means. It 
 starts at full speed. But in all our language about man, 
 his nature and being, the words do not contain all the 
 truth. No lover can put half his heart into his letters, 
 but he can make a chemical formula that will include 
 every item of the analysis. Thus the attempt to reduce 
 religion to terms of scientific exactness that is, to 
 express it in forms that will mean the same thing to all 
 minds must always fail. Physical science starts at 
 full speed ; but, in this race, it is the long, hot, dusty 
 road and dog-trot that win. Physical science is the 
 helper of religion ; and the Son of man in his day will 
 find no controversy, nor will he have any conflict con- 
 cerning the relative rank of persons and things. 
 
 We are moving forward, it is said, from liberty to 
 unity. What is the center of that unity? Has there a 
 norm of organization been found ? The dream of union 
 and peace has been the vision of prophets and seers 
 from age to age, and the vision is yet unfulfilled. Is 
 there a church that offers honest and unselfish hospi- 
 
THE SON OF MAN IN HIS DAY 269 
 
 tality large enough for all ? There is none, unless it be 
 the realization of Renan's "Apocalypse," when the 
 Roman Catholic Church shall rouse herself to say: 
 "My children, all here below is but symbol and dream. 
 The only thing that is clear in this world is a tiny ray 
 of azure light which gleams across the darkness, and 
 seems as if it were the reflection of a benevolent will. 
 Come to my bosom : forgetfulness is there. For those 
 who want fetishes, I have fetishes. To whomsoever 
 desires good works, I offer good works. For those who 
 wish the intoxication of the heart, I have the milk of 
 my breasts which intoxicates. For whoso want love 
 and hate also, I abound in both ; and, if any one de- 
 sires irony, I pour it from a full cup. Come one and all : 
 the time of dogmatic sadness is past. I have music and 
 incense for your burials, flowers for your weddings, the 
 joyous welcome of my bells for your newly born." 
 But the Roman Catholic Church will not say so; 
 and, if she should, the Protestant world would not 
 accept her invitation; for no one can settle that ques- 
 tion but the Son of man in his day. Our duty, then, is 
 plain to stand by him until his light and truth shall 
 11 the sphere. 
 
 THE END 
 
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