THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 5 
 
 
 I
 
 
 MEMOIR 
 
 OP 
 
 GEORGE T. DAY, D.D. 
 
 MINISTER AND EDITOR: 
 18461875. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM H. BOWEN, D.D. 
 
 DOVER, N. H. : 
 
 FREEWILL BAPTIST PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 1876.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by 
 
 I. D. STEWART, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
 
 I3A 
 
 TO 
 
 THE YOUNG MEN 
 OP THE DENOMINATION OP WHICH HE 
 
 OF WHOM WE WRITE 
 WAS A MOST HELPFUL AND EFFICIENT SERVANT, 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED, 
 
 WITH A DEVOUT DESIRE THAT IT 
 
 MAY FURNISH QUICKENING AND ENCOURAGEMENT 
 
 FOR THEIR OWN CHRISTIAN SERVICE, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 550389
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The preparation of this memoir of my early spiritual guide 
 and my latest counsellor, has been invested with the sacred- 
 ness of duty and love. 
 
 Dr. Day left no sketch of his life, not even a record or 
 notes of the most important events of it. His private corres- 
 pondence, in those forms which lay open the sanctuary of the 
 inner life, was very limited ; that which is found upon these 
 pages, so rich in Christian experience, so characteristic, leaves 
 us ardently longing for more. 
 
 The first sermon, of those inserted, is the only one found in 
 MS. which has not been already published, except two or 
 three belonging to the earliest years of "his ministry. We 
 have attempted to represent his pulpit work, therefore, chiefly 
 by selecting from the multitude of such brief sketches as he 
 usually carried to the pulpit, some of " The tops of thoughts " 
 written in the quietude of his study. These appear as, 
 " Studies of the Word and Life." While we regret that they
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 must partially take the place of pithy, electric utterances 
 thrown off under the inspiration of the hour of delivery, yet we 
 hope that these brief sentences which suggested the living 
 utterance, or often constituted it, will go far toward renewing 
 and preserving valuable impressions of by - gone Sabbath 
 hours. We have also, in the same chapter, given numerous ex- 
 tracts from his editorials in the Morning Star. 
 
 The peculiar value of his characteristic letters from abroad, 
 specially emphasize many expressed wishes for their insertion. 
 All his lectures, excepting " Across the Desert," and " Eu- 
 rope," the chief features of which are given in his foreign let- 
 ters, are found in these pages. 
 
 The difficulties arising in our task from the absence of usual 
 materials for a memoir among Dr. Day's papers, have been 
 greatly relieved by the cheerful and valuable help rendered by 
 manywho, moreor less intimately, were associated withhislife. 
 
 We have aimed to exhibit his character and work to the 
 fullest extent possible within the limits of a single volume. 
 We have endeavored to do this in such a way that, in ac- 
 cordance with the meaning of his whole life, they should be 
 full of helpful ministries to mind and heart, that his " works " 
 may "follow him." Not the least welcome and durable of 
 those " works " will be that which he will continue to perform 
 l>y his words recorded for hearts bowed in affliction. As
 
 PREFACE. Vli 
 
 we have trodden the old familiar ways anew with our father 
 in Israel, another presence hath accompanied us ; for, in the 
 same month in which he ascended, one who, in the fullness of 
 his loving, sunny boyhood, used to call him " Papa Day," en- 
 tered one of the " many mansions." 
 
 If this memoir shall create in the hearts of readers who had 
 not the rare privilege of his personal acquaintance, a sense of 
 loss because they did not know him ; if, especially, it shall 
 suggest to his friends, or enable them to supply, those name- 
 less, inexpressible graces which each holds peculiar and dear- 
 est, the most ardent wish of the author will be satisfied. 
 
 Lewiston, Me., Dec. 20, 1875.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 i. 
 
 PAGE. 
 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD ----- il 
 
 II. 
 
 IN THE MINISTRY : Grafton, Chester, Olneyville 35 
 
 III. 
 
 IN THE MINISTRY : Providence. Letters - 76 
 
 IV. 
 EDITORIAL LIFE -..--.-. 127 
 
 V. 
 
 MEMORIALS of his Death and Character ... 160 
 
 VI. 
 
 RECREATION in Europe and the East 196
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 VII. 
 
 STUDIES OP THE WORD AND LIFE - 241 
 
 VIII. 
 
 SERMONS AND LECTURES : 
 
 i. Religious Prosperity ------ 294 
 
 11. Christ's Vital Relations to Men - 319 
 
 m. Christianity : Our Help and Hope - 344 
 
 IT. The Bright and Dark Sides of Life - - - 372 
 
 v. Public Opinion - - 383 
 
 vi. Crusades and Crusaders ----- 399 
 
 vn. Anglo-Saxon: The Old and the New - 416
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 i. 
 
 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 
 
 1822 1847. 
 
 ON the eighth of December, 1822, a new- 
 born child was welcomed to a home of piety 
 and love, in the town of Concord, now Day, Sara- 
 toga Co., N. Y. 
 
 He was the fifth son and tenth child of Benjamin 
 and Cynthia (Kent) Day. Other Georges had en- 
 tered life with greater earthly advantages, certainly, 
 to help answer the question, " What manner of 
 child shall this be?" He owned no illustrious an- 
 cestry, nor family name honored even in decay. 
 No delicate training, nor luxurious shielding from 
 rough, unkindly influences awaited his steps. But
 
 12 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 intellectual power and royal gifts refuse to enter no 
 cottage, however humble, nor avoid the dwellings 
 of poverty. 
 
 At three years of age, he showed unusual apti- 
 tude of mind in learning and reciting stanzas of po- 
 etry, and some entire Psalms. When three and a 
 half years old, he removed with his parents to 
 Hope, in the town of Scituate, R. I., where he 
 spent nearly two years. At five years of age, 
 George was sent with the older children, to work in 
 the cotton mill, his little help in contributing to 
 family support being deemed necessary. 
 
 For several years his time was divided between 
 the mill and the school. Often, however, he 
 worked until nine o'clock in the morning, returning 
 to the mill at the close of school in the afternoon. 
 The days of labor at that period were strangely 
 long and wearisome ; beginning, the year round, 
 with the earliest light, and closing at eight o'clock 
 at night, in the fall and winter, and at sunset in 
 spring and summer. It was not uncommon to find 
 children of that tender age, even more closely con- 
 fined to the mill than he. 
 
 Removing from Hope to Hebronville, Mass., and 
 thence, after two years, to Kent, now Lebanon, 
 Mass., the family remained together until October, 
 1834, J ust preceding George's twelfth birthday,
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 13 
 
 when his mother, for whom he possessed a most ar- 
 dent affection, died. Thirteen of her fourteen chil- 
 dren survived her. His father died about eight 
 years after. 
 
 The mother keeps the home for the children's re- 
 turning footsteps and love, and when she passes 
 away, the wide world claims them. With three 
 other members of the family, George left home for 
 work in the mill at Lonsdale, R. I., soon after his 
 mother's death. Here he remained, with the ex- 
 ception of a few months, until he was eighteen 
 years of age. While at Kent he attended school 
 for a short time only. After removing to Lonsdale, 
 his school ' days were interrupted altogether. 
 
 His parents were members of the Congregational 
 church in Hebronville. Amid poverty and the 
 cares of so large a household, they conscientiously 
 carried forward the religious training of their chil- 
 dren. They insisted, with the strictness of an ear- 
 lier time, upon the observance of religious duties. 
 The catechism and Scriptures furnished tasks to be 
 learned on Sunday. One of the reminiscences of 
 his boyhood, is of a Sunday when he was left at 
 home by his father, with the one hundred and nine- 
 teenth Psalm to be committed to memory and re- 
 cited before sunset. He regularly attended Sun- 
 day school at Hebronville, previous to his mother's
 
 14 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 death. Before his sixth birthday he was sprinkled 
 by Rev. Thomas Williams, pastor of the Congrega- 
 tional church at H. 
 
 His mature estimate of the value and wisdom of 
 this form of early discipline, finds this expres- 
 sion: "There is certainly much to commend in 
 the earnestness with which our New England an- 
 cestry sought to indoctrinate the youth of their 
 charge. They believed the sentiments taught in 
 the catechism as fundamental in practical religion, 
 as is education in a popular government. To reject 
 the ' Westminster Confession of Faith,' seemed to 
 them equivalent to a rejection of God's plan of sav- 
 ing the soul. Their faith was practical, and their 
 conviction expressed itself in action. They felt that 
 their duty was done only when they had securely 
 deposited within the store - house of their children's 
 intellects, that whole digest of theology ; and then 
 they waited for religion to spring up from the soil 
 which their training had prepared. 
 
 " Nor was their labor in vain. It may some- 
 times have cramped the intellect by repressing its 
 inquiries, and curtailing its rational freedom. It 
 may sometimes have increased the tendency to fling 
 the charge of heresy at every dissatisfied inquirer, 
 and begotten such a tendency where it was not be- 
 fore. The doctrines of divine appointment and
 
 THE GREAT DECISION. 15 
 
 providence, may have sometimes weakened the 
 feeling of individual obligation, and induced a few 
 daring minds, unable to reconcile the statements 
 with philosophy or consciousness, to plunge boldly 
 into skepticism. After all, that early training ope- 
 rated powerfully as a conservative force in the moral 
 life of that early time ; and aided in nurturing and 
 developing elements of character that have done 
 much to make whatever is valuable in American 
 mind and American institutions. It kept alive a 
 solemn reverence for God, for truth, for sacred 
 things, for duty, for moral heroism, for the civil 
 magistracy, for age and for order."* 
 
 The religious training was answered by this large 
 number of children, without exception, by lives of 
 virtue' and positions of respectability. 
 
 Martin Cheney, pastor of the F. Baptist church 
 at Olneyville, in labors most abundant and self- de- 
 nying, unable to confine his work to his immediate 
 field, answered frequent and earnest calls for "his la- 
 bors in neighboring towns and villages. Many 
 were thus brought under the influence of the Gos- 
 pel who had never else heard it. He was accus- 
 tomed to visit, among these outposts of labor, the vil- 
 lage of Lonsdale, at the invitation of some families 
 who had removed thither from Olneyville. Indica- 
 
 *LU'e of Martin Cheney, p. 15.
 
 l6 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 tions of unusual interest induced him to commence 
 a series of meetings in the beginning of the winter 
 of 1839 4* His hopes of a revival were not dis- 
 appointed, a number being brought to Christ. 
 
 The religious interest had almost lost its special 
 power, and still George, who had attended the 
 meetings with some regularity, seemed entirely un- 
 moved. The final result is given in his own words : 
 " One day I was meditating upon the matter. The 
 question was asked me : ' Are you willing to live 
 longer such an ungrateful life? ' I pondered, I de- 
 cided. * Will you live hereafter in obedience to 
 God?' Another season of reflection, and the last 
 decision was made. Only an hour had passed, and 
 I felt that I was in a new relation to God, entering 
 upon a new life." His attention had been arrested 
 by a sermon from Mr. Cheney on the text : " Come 
 unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, 
 and I will give you rest." 
 
 This process of calm, intellectual reflection and 
 decision, which characterized his conversion, was 
 reproduced to no small extent in the experience of 
 many whom he led to Christ. Though his appeals 
 from the pulpit, and in private, lacked somewhat 
 in the emotional element, they stirred hearts pro- 
 foundly. It was his conviction that the better way 
 to radically affect the life and secure continued and
 
 THE GREAT DECISION. 17 
 
 abundant fruitage for the Master, was to reach the 
 heart chiefly through the intellect. The large spir- 
 itual results of his ministry, and their permanency, 
 go far to prove the correctness of his theory. Many 
 can recall the earnest pleading, the apt illustrations, 
 the cogent reasoning, and the loving, brotherly in- 
 terest with which he attempted to draw their love 
 and life to his own Helper and Redeemer. As one 
 who could not be denied for Christ's sake, he en- 
 tered the lists in behalf of wayward, straying souls, 
 to help them win the great battle of life. 
 
 In his own case, the fruitage showed the gen- 
 uineness of his faith and the fullness of his consecra- 
 tion. His conversion, occurring in 1840, in the 
 spring following his seventeenth birthday, gave 
 significance and direction to his entire future. 
 
 At five years of age he had read with great ea- 
 gerness and intelligent comprehension, every book 
 which the library of his Sunday school could fur- 
 nish ; but years of severe toil greatly diminished this 
 love of books, and straitened pecuniary circumstan- 
 ces could not allow food for its growth. Special 
 encouragement to learning which others might have 
 supplied, being wanting, the physical prostration 
 incident to his labors, and the demands of a grow- 
 ing body for recreation being especially exacting, 
 little trace of that early thirst for knowledge seems
 
 l8 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 to have appeared in the interval between his twelfth 
 and seventeenth years. Ambition took new and 
 surprising directions ; the better and higher aims 
 were held in abeyance, and there seemed to be lit- 
 tle promise of a high and noble manhood. 
 
 His life was kept, however, from gross vices. 
 Amid all his wildness and seeming recklessness in 
 the companionship of low associates, he never was 
 known to make religion, either in its professors or 
 its claims, the subject of joke or sarcasm. " When 
 I was tempted to use profane words, like some of 
 my companions, I always seemed to feel the pres- 
 sure of my mother's hand as it used to rest in boy- 
 hood upon my head as she commended me nightly 
 to God in prayer," is his touching testimony to the 
 maternal influence which never left his spirit. As 
 it was the earliest influence, so it was the latest, to 
 which he responded. It was recognized all through 
 the waywardness, and the consecration, and the vi- 
 cissitudes of his life. It was upon him in his last 
 public address delivered at the Anniversary of the 
 Free Baptist Woman's Mission Society, Oct., 1874. 
 The tenderest, sweetest portion of that address was 
 a tribute to the virtues and life of that mother whose 
 tones earliest evoked his own, and which sang 
 themselves all through his life, to burst out in notes 
 of devotion and praise, in this his own dying song.
 
 MATERNAL INFLUENCE. 19 
 
 He speaks of her as the " meek and saintly spirit 
 that lighted our early home with piety and love, 
 even now acting on our hearts freely, sweeping all 
 its chords with strange power, though it be many 
 years since she obeyed the summons, * come up 
 higher." 1 As, in the closing hour of a most busy 
 and trying week, he summoned his flagging ener- 
 gies to the fulfillment of a promised service in be- 
 half of womanhood in India, that motherly pa- 
 tience and self-denial, sensitive love and thought- 
 ful tenderness seemed to culminate in his own 
 spirit, imparting to it a chastened dignity and a 
 mellow luster which impressed his audience as on 
 no previous occasion. 
 
 The tenderest spirits are strongest, and often 
 yearn for the grander exhibitions of God's nature, 
 and most freely respond to their power. With the 
 spell of the holy influences of the evening before 
 still upon him, he preached Sunday morning from 
 the words: "But the natural man^receiveth not 
 
 the things of the spirit of God "It 
 
 was an effort of surpassing power, magnificent in 
 imagery and reach of thought, full of devotion and 
 fidelity to a love better to him than life. It was fit- 
 tingly his last sermon. 
 
 We are aware of digression from the special 
 promise of this chapter, but the grouping of events
 
 2O GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 may sometimes most fittingly require other than 
 mere chronological order. 
 
 Such a character as that of Martin Cheney, defi- 
 nite, independent, full of sincerity and daring impul- 
 ses, was needed to make the required impression 
 upon this young disciple, whose years had recently 
 been full of frivolity and aimlessness. He must be 
 trained by some master hand and made to listen to 
 truth spoken with authority, before his true life - 
 work should stand out clothed with significance. 
 Mr. Cheney was now at the height of his fame and 
 power as a preacher, and his personal magnetism 
 was in fullest play, and as a master he directed and 
 inspired the soul of his awakened and willing pu- 
 pil. 
 
 Then came a most perplexing question in re- 
 spect to church membership. The preferences of 
 the family were with the Congregationalists, to 
 whose customs and tenets his acquaintance had 
 been almost wholly confined, and his connection 
 with that order was naturally sought with some 
 eagerness. He had known a little of the Calvinist 
 Baptists. An Episcopal society held services in the 
 village. He knew nothing of the Free Baptists 
 save through Mr. Cheney. At length, after pro- 
 curing and carefully studying the confessions of 
 faith of these and some other religious bodies, he
 
 STUDENT LIFE. 21 
 
 decided to unite with the F. Baptist church in 
 Olneyville. He was baptized by Mr. Cheney on 
 the second Sunday in May, 1840, and received into 
 church fellowship. 
 
 An older brother about this time removing to 
 Saccarappa, Me., George accompanied him, and for 
 two years continued at work in the mill. But now 
 a new ambition burns within him, his early thirst 
 for knowledge comes back with manifold power, 
 baptized with holy fervor. Within this period he 
 read wholly by candle-light more than twelve 
 thousand pages. His religious purposes gained 
 strength, and his desire for Christian service began 
 to manifest itself in decided forms. He found duty 
 in the prayer room, where his exercises both in 
 prayer and word, became increasingly welcome, 
 and where he was often assigned leadership. Grad- 
 ually the conviction arose in his own heart and with 
 others, that the gospel ministry was likely to be- 
 come his life service. Though unsettled as to his 
 future sphere of toil, he could not feel that any po- 
 sition was to be successfully entered upon without 
 systematic literary training. He accordingly re- 
 turned to Rhode Island, and at the commencement 
 of the academical year, in 1843, began study in 
 Smithville Seminary, Rev. Hosea Quinby, Princi- 
 pal.
 
 22 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 His entrance upon student life was characterized 
 by an intelligent, deep enthusiasm. His long cher- 
 ished dream was about to be realized ; the conquest 
 of the realm of knowledge, upon which he had de- 
 sired to enter, especially since his conversion, seem- 
 ed more practicable now. Freed from the burdens 
 and hindrances of daily manual labor, he entered 
 most joyfully into the more exhausting toil of the 
 study and class-room. He had a definite purpose ; 
 knew the value of his opportunities and grasped 
 them as a miser his gold. He was now almost 
 twenty years of age, and the time had already gone 
 by in which the majority of youth complete their 
 academical studies. 
 
 The prescribed hours of study were easy limits to 
 his ambition and his endurance, the average time 
 spent over his books being from twelve to fourteen 
 hours daily. The tasks set for his class were faith- 
 fully and quickly learned, and then left for other 
 studies and literary pursuits. He was excessively 
 fond of, and expert in, youthful sports in his early 
 life, but he sparingly, or rarely, indulged in them 
 at Smithville. He was avaricious of even the mo- 
 ments which had, with wisdom, been given to rec- 
 reation. 
 
 His work in the classroom was marked by exact- 
 ness, and showed careful and liberal preparation.
 
 A WINTER AT BRISTOL. 23 
 
 His recitations were not confined to the routine of 
 the text - book, but conveyed the result of collateral 
 reading and study. The manual was the starting- 
 point from which he proceeded to new investiga- 
 tions, and afforded stimulus to inquiries in fields be- 
 yond. Although not mingling with great freedom, 
 nor promiscuously, with his fellow students, yet he 
 gained no unpleasant reputation for exclusiveness, 
 but by his kindly, conciliatory spirit, and his emi- 
 nent abilities, won their admiration and love. The 
 attitude of Principal and teachers toward him soon 
 became more like that toward a younger brother 
 than a pupil. In the fall of his second year, the 
 Principal having occasion to be absent for two 
 weeks, he was put in charge of the classes of the 
 Principal and of the government of the school. His 
 services were attended by the respect and obedience 
 of pupils, and the satisfaction of teachers. 
 
 In December of this year, he accepted the charge 
 of the High school in Bristol, R. I. His work as a 
 teacher and disciplinarian received commendation, 
 and met success. His hours out of school were still 
 devoted to close study, or the writing of essays and 
 lectures, upon which he spent much time and labor. 
 His lectures were delivered before various associa- 
 tions in the town. Though his time of study and read- 
 ing had been very limited, yet these produc-
 
 24 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 tions show more than an ordinary acquaintance 
 with the geological theories of the time, with the 
 issues of the temperance controversy, and with the 
 history of the slavery question, and its prominent 
 actors. They exhibit, besides, no ordinary ac- 
 quaintance with English prose writers, and poets. 
 His discussions were mature in thought and style ; 
 the arguments carefully stated, and supported by 
 abundant proofs. We can not help the expression 
 of regret, as we examine these early productions 
 and note their ability and promise, that greater wis- 
 dom had not regulated his application, and that a 
 more intelligent decision did not fix the kind and 
 amount of his intellectual training. It did not re- 
 quire the keen insight of Dr. Shepard to enable one 
 to declare, as he did : " Mr. Day will make one of 
 our ablest men." 
 
 During the winter, among other lectures, he pre- 
 pared, with his usual care, one upon Temperance. 
 His brother Lewis, then a resident of the town, was 
 desirous that it should be delivered in the Congre- 
 gational church. Upon expressing his wish to Rev. 
 T. P. Shepard, the pastor, he was met by the re- 
 ply: "We have had a great many temperance 
 lectures; they are all about alike, and the people, 
 I think, are getting tired of them; but if your 
 brother wishes to speak, I will announce his ad-
 
 THE CHRISTIAN STUDENT. 25 
 
 dress, to be given in the vestry, and will at the same 
 time say that other speakers may be expected also ; 
 so if he does not get on well, I, with others, will try 
 to help him out. " At the hour fixed, the speaker 
 was introduced not a little distrustfully. After 
 listening five minutes with increasing interest, anx- 
 iety fully giving way to confidence, Mr. Shepard 
 left the platform and took a seat among the au- 
 dience, directly in front of the speaker, who contin- 
 ued to hold undivided attention for an hour. Mr. 
 S. referring to it afterward, said with nervous em- 
 phasis : "I didn't know the man. " 
 
 He was soon after invited to lecture in the au- 
 dience room of the church, where he was greeted, 
 on his appearance, by a large congregation. On 
 whatever topic he spoke subsequently, during that 
 winter, he never failed of a flattering reception. 
 He is remembered by some of the older residents of 
 the town with special interest, and reference to his ef- 
 forts still awakens enthusiasm. A part of another 
 winter was also spent in teaching in the same town. 
 
 His religious life at the Seminary gave no out- 
 ward occasion for anxiety, yet he often had seasons 
 of self- reproach for his coldness .and inactivity. 
 Concern also for the religious welfare of the school, 
 mingled largely in his meditations and prayers. At 
 one time he writes :
 
 26 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 " There is a religious stupidity among us at the 
 Seminary which is truly alarming. Science has its 
 votaries, pleasure pleads successfully, and worldly 
 intellectual ambition enthralls many hearts ; but re- 
 ligion, bearing to us the great lessons, the great as- 
 pirations and hopes of life, revealed by the blood of 
 Immanuel, is forgotten. My soul, arouse thy dor- 
 mant energies, awake and gird thyself for thy ardu- 
 ous task. Not only thy own destiny but that of a 
 thousand others may depend upon thy activity or 
 indolence. " 
 
 On the evening of his twenty -first birthday, after 
 recounting, with deep gratitude, the many mercies 
 which had crowned his life, among which he spe- 
 cially mentions the prayerful love of Christian 
 parents, and the helpful solicitude of brothers and 
 sisters, he concludes his reflections with these de- 
 vout words : 
 
 "And what shall I do but dedicate myself anew 
 to God, consecrate myself afresh to his service, and 
 devote my life to the work of aiding the cause of 
 righteousness in promoting the highest present and 
 future welfare of mankind? Holy Father, confirm 
 and seal these resolutions of faithfulness, that my 
 life may tell to some good account. And when I 
 shall have fulfilled all thy will on earth * may 1 be 
 permitted an inheritance among the sanctified, 
 through the merits and sacrifice of an atoning Re- 
 deemer. " 
 
 It was often remarked by his friends that " He
 
 > THEOLOGICAL, STUDY AT WHITESTOWN. 27 
 
 ought to go to college. " This question of a colle- 
 giate course, after giving it considerable attention, 
 he decided in the negative, although specially en- 
 couraged by one of his brothers, and also by others, 
 to pursue a liberal course of study. His advanced 
 age, together with an ardent desire to enter, soon as 
 possible, upon active life, was allowed to influence 
 his decision unduly. Cherishing somewhat errone- 
 ous ideas of the nature of a true culture, ideas 
 which in after years were greatly modified, he 
 believed he could obtain what he wanted and need- 
 ed, in the way of discipline and actual attainments, 
 easier and better by foregoing collegiate priv- 
 ileges. 
 
 This decision, with its consequences to mind and 
 body, he regarded in his mature years with regret. 
 During the entire four years of his first pastorate, 
 at Grafton, he buried himself in his books, and at- 
 tempted by intense study to supply what a limited 
 attendance upon the schools had denied. It can not 
 be questioned that he succeeded in gaining a more 
 thorough and intelligent acquaintance with English 
 literature than the graduates of colleges usually 
 reach, and a wider and more comprehensive theo- 
 logical knowledge than the majority of graduates 
 from our foremost theological seminaries, but his 
 victory was won at too great a cost.
 
 28 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 At the time of entering his pastorate at Olney- 
 ville, in 1852, his daily hours of actual, severe 
 study had become reduced, by mental and physical 
 inability, from twelve to two. This lower limit he 
 rarely, afterward, was able to exceed, although his 
 power of application, in the easier forms of literary 
 service, continued for many years the day long, 
 save in time of actual prostration. His after life of 
 almost continual pain, often of intense suffering, 
 was chiefly born of the unwise, but absorbing devo- 
 tion to study in the ten years succeeding his enter- 
 ing Smithville Seminary. His change of feeling 
 with reference to collegiate education, is partly 
 evinced by his direction of the life of his son, 
 whom, at no small sacrifice, he placed within the 
 reach of college privileges. 
 
 Having decided to enter upon a course of theolog- 
 ical study, he left Smithville in the spring of 1845, 
 and entered the F. Baptist Theological School at 
 Whitestown, N. Y. His examination for admission 
 showed an independence of thought which was well 
 nigh arraigned by one of the examining committee 
 as heresy. It was certainly an advance in knowl- 
 edge, and power of thought, beyond what had 
 been usually witnessed on similar occasions. He 
 became not only a student, but an ornament of the 
 school, giving it new acceptability and higher rep-
 
 LIFE AT WHITESTOWN. 29 
 
 utation in the community of which it was the 
 center. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Butler speaks of his " marked ability 
 and originality of thought." " Throughout the 
 course of study he was diligent, earnest, courteous, 
 and eminently successful. My remembrance of 
 him in the class - room, is unexceptionally pleasant 
 and endearing ; he commended himself to other 
 teachers also, and to the students, in a manner to 
 obtain a large place in their hearts. " 
 
 Thoroughness and promptness characterized his 
 exercises in the class - room ; a spirit of devotion 
 and activity marked his attendance upon the meet- 
 ings for prayer. He was courteous in social inter- 
 course, free from sharpness in debate, and abstain- 
 ed from decided expressions of approval or dis- 
 pleasure. 
 
 The students were accustomed to hold extempora- 
 neous debates, in which he took a lively interest. 
 At such times a question would be proposed, and 
 speakers called at once to discuss it. His im- 
 promptu arguments at these debates, were a source 
 of constant surprise to his class - mates. He would 
 open the question systematically, and argue with a 
 clearness and effective rhetorical arrangement that 
 seemed the fruit of long study upon it. His lan- 
 guage was grammatical, eloquent and forcible.
 
 30 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 " The critics had a lean subject when he was upon 
 the floor. " 
 
 For a number of years he held substantially the 
 position of his early religious guide, Martin 
 Cheney, upon the Peace question : that all wars are 
 wrong ; that armies and navies are excluded by the 
 spirit of Christianity ; that Government has no right 
 to resort to force of arms to restrain vice or to 
 punish criminals ; that capital punishment is totally 
 unallowable ; that " to control, or attempt to control 
 the actions of men by a resort to force, is a practi- 
 cal refusal to recognize them as moral beings. " 
 
 He frequently discussed this question at Whites- 
 town ; and having studied it more than his oppo- 
 nents, he maintained his position to their discom- 
 fiture. His opinions on this subject were either 
 greatly modified or abandoned, as he came in more 
 direct and serious contact with questions of morals 
 and government, especially when the stern logic of 
 events, the hand of Providence, laid the fearful is- 
 sues of life and death before the nation, at the in- 
 auguration of civil strife. 
 
 Toward the close of his studies, Nov. 4, 1846, he 
 delivered an address of signal ability, entitled "The 
 reign of Force and Reason," before the Rhetorical 
 Society. In this, his Peace principles received an 
 ornate setting, and somewhat thorough presentation.
 
 ADDRESSES AT WHITESTOWN. 31 
 
 The term Reason was employed by him in its 
 widest sense, to denote all that is implied in the 
 very trite phrase : " moral suasion." We introduce 
 two or three paragraphs from it, to illustrate the 
 beauty and strength of his style at that time, rather 
 than the course of argument or the nature of his 
 opinions : 
 
 "The first act of homage was paid it," (the 
 reign of Force) " when the earth was yet young. 
 ' And Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it 
 came to pass, that when they were in the field, that 
 Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew 
 him. ' He talked with Abel ; for Reason had until 
 now equipped him with his implements of control ; 
 but he abjured her mildness in his passionate heat, 
 and grasping the proffered sword of Force, sent it 
 quivering to his brother's heart. 
 
 " The history of the reign of Reason is sad, not 
 in its character, but in its brevity. Not an age has 
 
 honored it, not a nation has welcomed it It 
 
 has sometimes peered out, amid the almost univer- 
 sal despotism of force, most lovingly upon the 
 world, showing that it has other homes, when earth 
 will not give it a shelter. ... It has been like a 
 lone bright star, gazing out through the cloudy 
 folds of midnight ; like a rose blooming on the 
 bosom of winter ; like an angel's song bursting up 
 from the heart of chaos. 
 
 ''If the natural sympathies of your renovated 
 souls had instinctively clung around the sword as
 
 32 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 the great instrument of social blessing ; if they had 
 harmonized with the reign of Force, why choose 
 "Whitestown rather than West Point as the place of 
 instruction? Why seek skill in the use of the 
 Bible, rather than the pistol and scimetar? Why 
 covet the ornamental graces of the Spirit rather 
 than sash and epaulette ? Why gather from week to 
 week for logical, rather than military power? Why 
 cultivate a persuasive eloquence rather than a 
 frightening fury? Those belong to the sway of 
 Reason, these are essential elements in the reign of 
 Force." 
 
 On the nineteenth of the same month, he also ad- 
 dressed the "Society of Christian Research," pre- 
 senting, " The Christian Scholar's Mission." He 
 was expecting to enter upon his first pas- 
 torate two weeks later. The address, there- 
 fore, possesses some interest as indicating 
 his convictions of work and duty. In it he de- 
 clares : " It becomes a matter of less importance 
 what functions it will be our lot to discharge, than 
 how we shall discharge them." A sentiment full of 
 meaning as he afterward translated it into life. 
 " He who dignifies his office, whatever it may be, 
 seldom does it by mere accident. . . . It is the 
 Christian who searches most deeply and earnestly 
 into the things of God, that honors best his high 
 and sacred profession. " His unremitting efforts to 
 win abiding gains ; his utter unwillingness to accept
 
 CLOSE OF STUDENT LIFE. 33 
 
 show for substance, and to rest upon reputation 
 rather than character, show that the young candi- 
 date for the pulpit had wrought this truth into his 
 own being, before it gained the utterance of the 
 tongue. 
 
 With similar spirit he proceeds to say: "The 
 scholar's obligations are commensurate with his 
 power. Every scholar has his specific sphere and 
 his specific duties ; a sphere and a class of duties, 
 which, so to speak, are created by his scholarship. 
 . For what are schools, seminaries and col- 
 leges established? Not to twist the cords of caste 
 but to sunder them ; not to disqualify men for bear- 
 ing a part among the multitudes of their fellows, but 
 to gird them with higher efficiency for this very 
 work ; not to break off their fellowship with the rest 
 of human souls, but to strengthen, exalt and sancti- 
 fy that fellowship, and make it an instrument of 
 universal blessing. " 
 
 This is his farewell word, spoken at the close of 
 the address, to those with whom he had been asso- 
 ciated in study : " Let us prosecute our work, 
 whether here or elsewhere, now and hereafter, with 
 manly fortitude and singleness of heart. As the 
 night is doubly welcome to the weary laborer, so 
 will heaven be sweeter after the toils and warfare of 
 a faithful life. "
 
 34 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 In the eighteen months which comprised his con- 
 nection with the Theological School, he had com- 
 pleted, to the satisfaction of the faculty, the studies 
 of the three years' course. 
 
 This chapter has attempted to reveal some of the 
 moulding forces of his life, and his response to them 
 in the forming and cherishing of purposes, and 
 choosing his field of service. We must now follow 
 him to the battle - field ; to the tent of rest by the 
 way-side ; to heroic endurance ; to the test and fruit- 
 age of early choices and principles.
 
 II. 
 
 IN THE MINISTRY. 
 
 GRAFTON, CHESTER, OLNEYVILLE. 
 18461857. 
 
 ON the first of December, 1846, he entered upon 
 his first pastorate with a church of sixty mem- 
 bers, in the quiet village of Grafton, Mass. The 
 stipulated salary was $350 per annum. At the be- 
 ginning of the second year, fearing this amount was 
 too great for the ability of the parish, he requested 
 that it might be reduced to $300. 
 
 His ordination occurred in connection with a ses- 
 sion of the R. I. Quarterly Meeting, held at Olney- 
 ville, May 20, 1847 ; Martin Cheney preaching the 
 sermon, and M. W. Burlingame offering the prayer 
 of consecration. 
 
 During the four years in this pastorate, his life 
 was almost wholly free from cares beyond the
 
 36 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 limits of his parish. He was cheered and helped in 
 very significant ways, by the abundant hospitality, 
 the kind social intercourse and confidence of his 
 people. Not unfrequently he took his books to 
 the woods, or chose for the place of composing his 
 sermons, some rock or mossy bank by the stream. 
 His communion with nature was then, as always, in- 
 timate and free, and she readily gave back to him 
 help for the work of promoting the spiritual life of 
 men, and refreshment for his own mind and heart. 
 
 He was married Dec. 23, 1846, to Miss Frances 
 L. Green, of Lonsdale. The house which wel- 
 comed them was most frugally furnished, and the 
 books which aided the young pastor were few ; yet 
 he always spoke of this beginning with the greatest 
 satisfaction, and from amid the heat and pressure of 
 multiplied cares in after years, often looked back 
 upon it as a desert traveler upon an oasis of wav- 
 ing palms and cooling waters. 
 
 His coming to his chosen field was not greeted 
 with special enthusiasm. Many inquiries were 
 made as to the wisdom of the choice of the church, 
 because of his unprepossessing personal appearance ; 
 complexion being dark, his form stooping, and 
 manner suggesting awkwardness. But prejudice and 
 doubt quickly vanished as he earnestly and ably ad- 
 dressed himself to his work. The first two years
 
 CLOSE OF LABORS AT GRAFTON. 37 
 
 were comparatively barren of spiritual results. The 
 last two years were blessed by a number of conver- 
 sions ; and the house of worship was crowded reg- 
 ularly. On pleasant, mild Sundays, even the steps 
 and entrance would be filled with eager listeners. 
 
 The opening of the year, 1848, brought to the 
 household its first great grief, when " an infant of 
 days," ascending, bound earth to heaven with strong- 
 er bands. Its body rests beside his own in the ceme- 
 tery at Mulberry Grove, a place which, because 
 of the presence of the dust of that little form, 
 and of his own prospective resting there, he called 
 " the sweetest spot on earth. " 
 
 His pastorate closed October 29, 1850. His fare- 
 well sermon, proclaiming "The Duties and Rights of 
 Ministers," was no attempt at self- defense or incul- 
 pation of the people, but a robust, manly presenta- 
 tion of the mutual relations of pulpit and pew. The 
 limits of these pages allow only brief extracts from 
 it: 
 
 " // ts the duty of the minister to give instruction 
 in the great doctrines and duties of the Gospel. 
 To teach, or rather to interpret and illustrate God's 
 teachings, is his primary work. Whatever else he 
 ma^ do, if he does not dismiss his congregation to 
 their homes from Sabbath to Sabbath, with new 
 means of wisdom and clearer views of duty, he and 
 his labors must be found wanting.
 
 38 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 4 ' They mistake the character of the Gospel sad- 
 ly, who suppose that it comprises only a few com- 
 mon - place ideas connected with the salvation of 
 men. It has these, certainly, shining out glorious- 
 ly and distinctly on its surface, so that even the 
 weakest may learn the methods and the means of 
 redemption. But no minister whose opportunities 
 and capacities enable him to look from the surface 
 to the interior of a truth, from a principle to its 
 modes of application, can be justified in simply re- 
 peating these general truths from week to week 
 and from year to year, investing them with no new 
 meaning, and giving them no new application. 
 
 "Is it objected that these are the great funda- 
 mental truths of the Gospel, and should therefore 
 be constantly insisted on? My reply is that this 
 suggests a reason why they should not occupy ex- 
 clusive attention. A wise builder does not work 
 forever on his foundation. He has the building 
 still to erect above it, and the value of that founda- 
 tion is estimated in proportion as it meets the wants 
 of the structure above it. The alphabet is the foun- 
 dation of learning, but a wise and faithful teacher 
 does not always keep his pupils repeating it. And 
 so the inculcation of these primary truths in Chris- 
 tianity has reference, in a wise minister's labors, to 
 the noble and godlike character he seeks, by wider 
 teaching, to rear upon them. Is it said that Paul 
 knew nothing among men save Jesus Christ and 
 Him crucified, and therefore his successors should 
 be satisfied with following his example? I ask
 
 FAREWELL SERMON AT GRAFTON. 39 
 
 what did Paul mean by this language? That 
 his mission should be confined to the simple 
 announcement that Christ died for the world's 
 salvation? Not at all. Take up any of his 
 discourses recorded in the Acts ; or follow him 
 through his epistles to the churches, and his com- 
 prehensive meaning will soon be learned. The 
 cross is the central truth in his system of teaching ; 
 but he shows it sustaining relations broad as the 
 universe and vast as eternity. He makes it link it- 
 self with the soul's highest destiny, and with all the 
 facts of human history, and with all the hopes and 
 passions of human hearts. It takes a firm step and 
 a strong head to follow him over the dizzy heights 
 of wisdom he traverses. Now he welds an argu- 
 ment with the strength of steel ; now he throws an 
 all comprehensive truth into an epigram ; and then 
 with a burst of imagination, he flashes light upon a 
 vast field of inquiry, where all was dark and unin- 
 telligible before. 
 
 " It is strange that Paul's example should ever be 
 quoted in support of barrenness in pulpit teaching. 
 Never was there better illustration of his own pre- 
 cept : ' Therefore leaving the principles of the doc- 
 trine of Christ, let us go on to perfection.' 
 
 " Whatever else you may forget or neglect of my 
 teachings, do not forget nor neglect that part of 
 them by which you have been urged to receive and 
 study the Bible as the inspired word of God ; that 
 part which has aimed to show the importance of a 
 living, trustful sympathy with Christ."
 
 40 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 While at Grafton he composed his sermons with 
 great care, usually writing them out with considera- 
 ble fullness. They were marked by carefulness in 
 expression, and elegance of style. He devoted 
 special labor to the preparation of his illustrations ; 
 appreciating the value of complete, definite pict- 
 ures, which should lose nothing of effect from lack 
 of fitness or from imperfect finish. This early hab- 
 it reveals not a little of the secret of the masterly 
 use of illustrations which attended the maturity of 
 his powers. He also gave careful study to the con- 
 clusions of his sermons ; not satisfied to leave them 
 wholly, nor chiefly, to the working of his mind at 
 the moment of delivery. He could never be ac- 
 cused of a rambling, pointless, ineffective close. 
 There was a reserving of strength, a hiding of re- 
 sources for the final declaraCion of the discourse, 
 which made it the culmination of thought and elo- 
 quence. 
 
 In an essay read before the R. I. Minister's Con- 
 ference, near the close of his labors at Grafton, he 
 says: " It is claimed that the preacher should fol- 
 low his tendencies, whether they be natural or ac- 
 quired ; that ' he must be like himself,' ' maintain 
 his individuality,' forgetting that he may be like 
 himself,- may be individual, and yet have a culti- 
 vated style. If' he cultivate himself, as he certainly 
 should, his style will be like him. Cultivation of
 
 MENTAL HABITS. 4! 
 
 mind and of style go hand in hand. The style of 
 the pulpit should be the purest possible, but fre- 
 quently instead, as once when the sons of God 
 were assembled, Satan is found also." 
 
 Among a thousand sketches of sermons written 
 subsequently to this pastorate, there is rarely one 
 covering more than a sheet of note paper. Hard 
 study accompanied his early written productions, 
 whether essays or sermons. It is not easy to think 
 of him spending, as he once declared, four hours of 
 study upon the composition of half a page of manu- 
 script, or a week upon a single sheet. Those valu- 
 able qualities of speech which signalized his last 
 years, were not the result of genius, nor gained 
 without difficult struggles. 
 
 On being asked if he ever experienced difficulty 
 in finding words to clothe his thought, he would re- 
 ply : " Not the least; the chief task is to choose the 
 most fitting of those words which present them- 
 selves." With him this very facility of expression 
 was an element to be controlled and guided. 
 Readiness in the use of language, this " almost 
 fatal facility of words," as one fitly describes it, has 
 proved disastrous to multitudes as gifted as he. 
 But we find in him no resting in the ready tongue 
 and quick utterance ; language must embody 
 thought and be the vehicle of real spiritual forces.
 
 42 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 His abiding, resolute choice of unfaltering serv- 
 ice, forbade dependence upon a readiness of ex- 
 pression that might seem likely to retain acceptabil- 
 ity with his audience. 
 
 Great as was the promise of the opening of his 
 career, he was saved from comparative uselessness 
 and obscurity, by the spirit which entered into his 
 labors. He scorned subterfuge and formality, and 
 strove to make his work stand not in the sight of 
 men, but of God. His conscience was kept too 
 keen to allow him to attempt a sonorous utterance, 
 rather than a thoughtful, self-denying helpfulness. 
 The decisive, telling utterances of his later years 
 had been impossible without these qualities. 
 
 One substantial proof of his strength of mind and 
 the nobility of his nature, is exhibited by his steady 
 development in precision of statement, terseness of 
 expression and weight of thought. A feeble, unhe- 
 roic nature would have given over the severe strug- 
 gle ; fallen back upon some fancied superiority of 
 mind, or upon a fluent utterance, and missed the 
 grandeur of a life of self- sacrificing toil. 
 
 Continuing to supply the pulpit at Grafton until 
 the close of December, he accepted in the begin- 
 ning of January following, an invitation to visit 
 Ohio and preach as his services might be sought by 
 the churches. He then became acquainted with 
 the church in Chester, acceptably supplying its pul-.
 
 REVIVAL WORK IN OHIO. 43 
 
 pit for several Sundays in the absence of the pastor, 
 But the chief event connected with this tour, was 
 a series of meetings held with the church at Greens- 
 burg, where some religious interest had been ob- 
 served and promoted, previous to his arrival. He 
 cheerfully accepted the invitation of the pastor to 
 aid him by preaching a single sermon. At the 
 conclusion of the services it was felt that the interest 
 had received a specially needed help and direction. 
 He responded to what seemed an indication of 
 Providence, by preaching nearly every evening for 
 three weeks, when he was compelled by exhausted 
 strength to give the work up to other human hands. 
 A number of conversions resulted from the meetings. 
 This large draft upon his resources was, of 
 course, wholly unexpected, and found him in a 
 measure unprepared. He had not studied the nat- 
 ure of his work in vain, nor did his heart lack vital 
 sympathy with Christ and regard for the salvation 
 of men. There had been a deep and true founda- 
 tion for enduring power, laid in mind and heart. 
 He yearned to win triumphs for Christ, in the wisest, 
 most self- sacrificing ways, and his desire had not 
 been wholly disappointed. Still there was needed 
 a special vitalizing of waiting forces, the stirring 
 of valuable soul - depths, to reveal the man, the 
 Christian and the minister.
 
 44 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 Fortunately for him and the world, the needful 
 quickening was not long to be missed from his life. 
 He was thrown by these revival meetings, upon his 
 own resources, as never before. The few sketches 
 of sermons which he had brought from home, soon 
 failed to serve as guides to thought, or helps in em- 
 barrassment. He was then in no little anxiety over 
 the question : " How is it possible that I can contin- 
 uously feed and guide this people ?" He was com- 
 pelled to abandon the methods and routine of labor 
 to which he had been quite closely bound ; and as 
 never before, was brought in contact with the 
 active forces and immediate power of the Gospel. 
 His preaching at once exhibited marked improve- 
 ment. He had formerly spoken with a small voice 
 without much emphasis or force ; but now his 
 whole nature was roused ; his eye began to kindle 
 with that significant light which afterward became 
 of rare power to magnetize and inspire his audi- 
 ences; his spiritual life became clearer and more 
 vitalizing; and his voice ever after exhibited 
 greater flexibility, volume and power. Theory had 
 become transformed into life ; the man stood forth 
 in the light of a new revelation; the secret of 
 preaching power was more fully revealed to him, 
 and the elements of pastoral success more intelli- 
 gently comprehended.
 
 LABORS IN CHESTER. 45 
 
 In April, 1851, he became Principal of Geauga 
 Seminary, a young and promising institution at 
 Chester, Ohio ; he also assumed the duties of pas- 
 tor of the church at that place. A previous ac- 
 quaintance prepared the way for the hearty welcome 
 which was accorded him ; and high hopes were en- 
 tertained of his ability to give the school and the 
 church added prosperity. But he had scarcely ar- 
 rived and signified anew his cheerful acceptance of 
 these trusts, before he was prostrated by an 
 illness which threatened his life. For several 
 weeks his friends were without hope of his recov- 
 ery, until at length, the hour of dissolution seeming 
 near, preparations were partially made for the 
 proper transportation of his body to the East for 
 burial. 
 
 On Sunday Christians met in the church and 
 much prayer'was offered in his behalf. On their 
 return to the house he was rational, and expressed 
 great ecstacy of soul. " Have they not been pray- 
 ing for me down at the church?" said he. " I feel 
 as if they had, and I have seen angels, oh, such 
 beautiful angels, all around me and in the sky." 
 He expressed firm belief that he should recover, 
 and at once began to amend. 
 
 He recovered from this illness only in season to 
 be present at the graduating exercises, July i. He
 
 46 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 remained in Chester until the close of the next aca- 
 demical year ; both church and seminary having, 
 meanwhile, been blessed with cheering growth. 
 
 The death of Martin Cheney, Jan. 4, 1852, left 
 the Olneyville church without a pastor. From the 
 beginning of his acquaintance with Mr. Day, Mr. 
 Cheney had cherished toward him great admiration 
 and ardent affection ; and often declared that no 
 common career awaited him. It was also his ex- 
 press wish that Mr. Day might be called to be his 
 successor. Responding to its own favorable im- 
 pressions and the known desire of Mr. Cheney, the 
 church at Olneyville, soon after his death, summon- 
 ed Mr. Day to its pastorate. At about the same 
 time he received from Hillsdale(then Michigan Cen- 
 tral) College an appointment to the chair of Rhet- 
 oric and Latin. 
 
 He decided to accept the call to Olneyville, and 
 accordingly entered upon his labors in July, 1852. 
 
 Amid the numerous and pressing duties of this 
 large pastoral field, he entered upon the fulfillment 
 of a promise made to Mr. Cheney more than two 
 years before, that he would become, in the event of 
 Mr. C.'s death, his biographer. This work, per- 
 formed at no slight disadvantage, but in a manner 
 creditable to his literary abilities, his power of dis- 
 crimination, and his reverent affection, was publish-
 
 SUCCEEDS MARTIN CHENEY. 47 
 
 ed in the following December. In the preface he 
 says: "Unfitted as I might have felt for such a 
 task, I could not refuse to comply with his request, 
 when I saw that his heart was strongly set on such 
 an arrangement." 
 
 Not only was the admiration of Mr. Cheney re- 
 ciprocated by Mr. Day, but he possessed a keen 
 appreciation of the peculiar character of the man 
 whom he was called to present, by virtue of the in- 
 trinsic qualities of his own mind and heart. He 
 had not less courage than Mr. Cheney, but more 
 persistence ; not less independence, but more cau- 
 tion ; not less self-reliance, but more self-control. 
 
 He entered upon his pastorate with sanguine ex- 
 pectations. He came as no novice in pulpit and 
 parish work, but ripened in judgment, and assured 
 by the success which had recently attended his 
 methods of toil, and possessed of an encouraging 
 amount of mental and bodily vigor. His capacity 
 for application to severe study had, indeed, been 
 greatly reduced, yet, in the briefer period allowed 
 him, he was able to perform more than a propor- 
 tionate amount of work, because of his retentive 
 memory, his systematic habits of study, and espe- 
 cially his thorough, exact discipline. 
 
 His ambition, in a healthful way, received a 
 powerful stimulus from his new position. The
 
 4.8 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 name of Martin Cheney had become significant not 
 merely in Olneyville, but in the adjoining city, and 
 in the denomination at large. The Olneyville 
 church, in numbers, social standing, wealth and in- 
 fluence then stood at the head of the R. I. 
 churches. He was not likely to be unimpressed by 
 all these circumstances. The work which had prov- 
 identially fallen to him was accepted with modest 
 courage and a self- depreciating, yet hopeful spirit. 
 There was intelligent Christian stability recognized 
 in the existing membership ; a large number of 
 promising youth were either actually attending the 
 sanctuary, or likely, with proper efforts, to be won to 
 it; there were, too, many enterprising young men 
 of business, whom he hoped to win for Christ. 
 
 The first communion Sunday yielded him no 
 little satisfaction and encouragement, as two candi- 
 dates presented themselves for baptism. It was to 
 him, as he said, " a binding of the sheaves" which 
 had been matured by his predecessor. Nearly every 
 one of the first twelve months witnessed anew 
 the stirring of the baptismal waters, and valuable 
 accessions to the membership ; and with each occa- 
 sion his heart acknowledged afresh its early hopes, 
 and hastened with heightened joy to fulfill them. 
 Within this time thirty persons were admitted by 
 baptism. The 8th of May he declared to be one of
 
 METHODS OF WORK AT OLNEYVILLE. 49 
 
 the happiest days of his life, when four young men 
 were among the number gathered into the Christian 
 fold. 
 
 He did not shrink from inaugurating such new 
 methods of church work as seemed to promise sub- 
 stantial advantages, while endeavoring to impart ad- 
 ditional vigor to those already accepted. Sunday 
 school concerts received considerable attention, and 
 were made attractive and profitable ; a Friday even- 
 ing Bible class was organized, and he became its 
 efficient and instructive teacher. Not a little 
 through his influence and co - operation, attendance 
 upon the school was greatly increased, averaging, 
 during one of the years, nearly three hundred. 
 The meetings for prayer yielded less readily to his 
 wish and effort, but he steadily strove to make them 
 occasions for impressing the practical, vital forms of 
 Christian duty upon the membership, and upon the 
 unconverted. A well filled lecture - room regularly 
 greeted him at the hour of prayer, on Sunday even- 
 ing ; the great majority of those in attendance not 
 being Christians, he often attempted to set before 
 them the claims of the Gospel by a brief, informal 
 sermon, which, in flow of sympathies and quick, 
 cogent reasoning, was the climax of the day's min- 
 isterial toil. 
 
 It was remarked how easily he secured the con-
 
 JJO GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 sent of others to engage in the public exercises of 
 Missionary and Sunday school concerts, making 
 them feel honored, even, by being allpwed to bear 
 a part in the service designated ; the younger with 
 the older, responding readily to the magnetic in- 
 fluence of his word and example. 
 
 Not a few persons can testify to his happy faculty 
 in discovering latent talent, and his attempts to de- 
 velop it. Others can speak of the skill with which 
 .he reached a dormant or latent interest in the 
 Gospel, and its practical work for the soul. A num- 
 ber of those who united with the church in the first 
 year of his pastorate, had been quickened under the 
 preaching of Mr. Cheney, but awaited another 
 hand to lead them to the light. He challenged no 
 comparison of his labors with those of his predeces- 
 .sor, but rather, when the words and acts of the lat- 
 ter were extolled, he was a pleased and unprejudic- 
 ed listener. 
 
 Some of the present teachers in the Olneyville 
 Sunday school readily recall, with a thrill of 
 pleasure yet, his eye resting upon them in encour- 
 .aging sympathy as he used to walk slowly through 
 the aisles of the lecture -room during the session, 
 and can feel his presence still, as he sat down unob- 
 trusively, quietly, beside them to utter words of 
 cheer for their own hearts or of Christian love and
 
 SUNDAY EVENING LECTURES. 51 
 
 helpfulness to their scholars. How he was felt, 
 when he entered the vestry door, almost before we 
 saw him, or knew by his voice that it was he I He 
 was recognized by the school as its watchful guardian 
 and personal friend ; contact with its life he felt to 
 be a necessary help to the succeeding pulpit ser- 
 vices of the morning. 
 
 With the hope of reaching with religious truth, 
 many who did not attend regular Sunday worship, 
 he gave a course of lectures on Sunday evenings to 
 young people. Beginning them modestly in the 
 lecture - room, the large attendance compelled 
 the use thereafter of the audience room of the 
 church, even the natural seating capacity of the 
 latter proving insufficient. On such occasions he 
 treated some practical question of public or private 
 morals, in much the same way, (only less formally,) 
 as in the usual Sunday services. The interest in 
 these lectures culminated, in some instances at 
 least, in a practical Christian life, while many 
 others' acknowledged their reforming power. En- 
 couraged by these results, he gave a similar course 
 in the following winter ; and, several years after, 
 another, while pastor of the Roger Williams church, 
 of like value and profit. 
 
 The opening year of this pastorate witnessed con- 
 siderable pastoral visiting, and it was his desire to
 
 52 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 equal, if not to exceed the amount of it, year by 
 year; but he was now to become, in no ordinary 
 sense, the honored and laborious servant of others be- 
 yond the limits of his parish. He was called to 
 frequent service in the neighboring city, and also to 
 promote, in various important ways, the interests of 
 the denomination at large. Burdens were thus 
 pressed upon him which he knew not how to refuse, 
 nor yet, sometimes, consistently with parish duties, 
 how to accept. The number of his public address- 
 es, at home and abroad, reached one hundred and 
 fifty annually. He attended fifty funerals each 
 year, and engaged in many lesser forms of Chris- 
 tian labor. 
 
 In the spring of 1849, he introduced at the R. I. 
 Quarterly Meeting, a resolution favoring the publi- 
 cation of a Review which should represent denomi- 
 national enterprise and tenets to the world, develop 
 literary talent, and minister, in the higher forms, to 
 intellectual and spiritual life within the denomina- 
 tion. About the first of October following, a call 
 was issued in the Morning Star, for a convention 
 to consider the propriety of publishing a "Quarterly 
 Review ;" the call being signed by fourteen clergy- 
 men, G. T. Day being one of the number. The 
 convention met at the time of the Anniversaries, at 
 Great Falls, Oct. 16, and decided to attempt the pub-
 
 CONNECTION WITH F. BAPTIST QUARTERLY. 53 
 
 lication of the Review which was afterward known 
 as the Freewill Baptist Quarterly. Mr. Day was 
 made one of the editorial council of five, to which 
 the literary and financial management was entrust- 
 ed. The complete arrangements were not made 
 until the fall of 1852. On the first of January, 
 1853, it was published at Providence, by "Williams, 
 Day & Co.," and by " Houlston & Co.," London, 
 England. 
 
 The publication and literary management of the 
 Quarterly threw upon him, for sixteen years, great, 
 and sometimes very pressing burdens. His contri- 
 butions were of a high order and permanent worth, 
 constituting valuable additions to our denominational 
 literature. After the editor, Rev. D. M. Graham, he 
 was the principal working force and sustainer of the 
 Quarterly. Half the book notices were his ; one, 
 two, and sometimes three articles in a number, 
 would be his ; the general editorial supervision he 
 shared equally with the editor. 
 
 The promotion of this literary enterprise marked 
 his first attendance at the larger denominational 
 gatherings. He became at once an active, earnest 
 participator in the discussions and other public ex- 
 ercises of that anniversary week. And, as after 
 years found him almost invariably present on like 
 occasions, they found him also bearing in them a
 
 54 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 more prominent part, and accepting new and 
 greater responsibilities. 
 
 Soon after his coming to Olneyville, it became 
 apparent that the house of worship was too small 
 to furnish sufficient sittings for those who sought to 
 attend Sunday services. The question of erecting 
 a new and larger church edifice, was generally and 
 earnestly discussed at intervals, between the winter 
 of 1852, '3, and the spring of 1854, w ^ tn varying 
 encouragement and disappointment ; at the latter 
 date it was practically abandoned as a financial im- 
 possibility. In his second anniversary sermon, 
 1854, ne sa id : 
 
 " One phase of our work, that which respects a 
 new house, I may speak of. The subject is dis- 
 missed for the time from parish consideration. 1 
 appreciate the difficulties, but I have my doubts 
 whether l can not * is the word to be used when set- 
 tling your policy. In a few words I will tell you 
 frankly the aspects it presents to my own mind. 
 
 " The society itself is not accommodated. Many 
 members of the church feel positively excluded. 
 Many are all ready, and waiting for the opportunity 
 to give their help when it can be done without seem- 
 ing intrusive. Souls about us hunger for the bread 
 of life, and can not obtain room in the house of 
 worship if they would. There are many who at- 
 tend nowhere, and with a little effort could, under 
 proper circumstances, be gathered in. The Sun-
 
 EFFORTS FOR A NEW HOUSE OF WORSHIP. 55 
 
 day school is crowded and overflows its limits, 
 while multitudes of children are left to neglect. 
 
 " The entire field is by the providence of God 
 placed at your disposal, and for its spiritual welfare 
 you are made responsible. The pressure can never 
 be expected to be stronger ; the longer it is resisted 
 the less inclination will there be to yield to it. Neg- 
 lect a duty and it will be questioned whether it be a 
 duty. It will cost something to build now, it always 
 will cost something. To refuse to build is 
 certainly nurturing a narrow, selfish, unenterpris- 
 ing spirit that looks dark for the future. Better die 
 now, honorably, than here to drag out a lingering 
 death. Certainly a narrow, illiberal policy will 
 doom us." 
 
 With him this question assumed vital proportions, 
 freighted with the highest welfare of the society 
 and that of many souls dependent upon its saving 
 influences. The village was rapidly extending its 
 borders, the population continually increasing be- 
 cause of the recent establishment of great business 
 enterprises. The field had been nobly won 
 and tilled by Mr. Cheney ; its sympathies were with 
 the doctrines and work of the church ; and it was a 
 crushing blow to his ardent hopes and spiritual 
 longings when a conservative, timid policy was al- 
 lowed to prevail. The matter was practically 
 dropped throughout the remainder of his pastorate. 
 This decision was the first great public disappoint-
 
 ^6 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 ment which he was called to bear. That it should 
 not seriously diminish his hopefulness, dampen his 
 enthusiasm, and therefore affect his bodily health, 
 was simply impossible. 
 
 A visit to the New Hampshire Yearly Meeting, 
 in 1854, was made memorable by his sermon, a 
 copy of which is found in these pages, at the dedi- 
 cation of a new house of worship at New Hampton. 
 The interest during its delivery was, at times, in- 
 tense. It was observed that Deacon Dudley was, at 
 any moment, liable to uncommon demonstrations. 
 These were restrained, however, until after the 
 benediction, when he shouted, as he alone could 
 shout, " Glory, glory, glory !" The retiring au- 
 dience was startled, many were alarmed, thinking 
 that some calamity had befallen, but after those 
 three shouts all was calm again. 
 
 His first serious, protracted physical prostration 
 at Olneyville, occurred in the summer of 1855 ; for 
 a number of weeks he sought strength and rest on 
 the eastern shore of Narraganset Bay, at a retired 
 spot of great natural beauty, about three miles be- 
 low Providence. Amid " influences that teach, 
 chasten and soothe," the ministry of the sea that " is 
 never spent, its lessons never fully learned, its 
 litany never completed," he addressed to his 
 church these sweet lines, which he calls
 
 REST BY THE SEA SHORE. 57 
 
 AN INVALID PASTOR'S SABBATH MUSING. 
 
 The distant bells, whose tones fall faint around me, 
 
 Reclining on the sod, 
 Rouse up my spirit from the spell that's bound me, 
 
 And say "Come, worship God." 
 
 In the dim distance graceful spires are pointing 
 
 Up to the deep blue heaven ; 
 And reverent souls go forth to the anointing 
 
 Which in God's house is given. 
 
 Gladly my feet would hasten to the portal 
 
 So often passed in peace, 
 And, feasting on the word of life immortal, 
 
 Seek there the Father's face. 
 
 Back from the temple where tried friends and cherished, 
 
 In by-gone Sabbath days, 
 Cemented heart-bonds that have never perished, 
 
 Mid prayer, and song, and praise ; 
 
 Thence come remembr >nces that wake up yearning, 
 
 And make my eyes grow dim ; 
 And thither even nw my ear is turning, 
 
 To catch the Sabbath hymn. 
 
 Again within that pulpit I am sitting, 
 
 Calmed by the organ's swell ; 
 Before my eyes familiar forms are flitting, 
 
 Each face I know it well. 
 
 Now clear and sweet the grateful psalm seems pouring 
 
 Its melody abroad, 
 And now in prayer the soul is upward soaring, 
 
 Craving the help of God. 
 
 But when my trembling lips the text has parted, 
 And winds take up the tone,
 
 58 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 Then breaks the dream th' illusion has departed, 
 And I am here alone ! 
 
 The city bells have ceased their Sabbath calling, 
 
 Fresh breezes round me play, 
 The sea's soft mmmur on my ear is falling, 
 
 Then softly dies away. 
 
 Alone ! jet Nature is God's habitation, 
 
 The clouds Lis robes of light, 
 The winds his messengers the best oblation 
 
 Are pure hearts in his sight. 
 
 To the true soul that bows itself in meekness, 
 
 Or lifts itself to sing, 
 All holy beings come to aid its weakness, 
 
 All blessings to it bring. 
 
 Within deep dungeons heavenly light comes flaming, 
 When Faith kneels there to pray ; 
 
 And voiceless solitud s hear heavm proclaiming, 
 Redemption on its way. 
 
 And thus my spirit bows itse'fin meekness 
 
 Here by this beetling rock, 
 And ci'ies, " Come near me in this hour of weakness, 
 
 Great Shepherd of the flock." 
 
 And then my heart flings off its load of sadness, 
 
 And feels no more of fear ; 
 For, as of old, is heard the word with gladness, 
 
 " Look up, for I am near." 
 
 Then flame the skies with a celestial brightness ; 
 
 The ripples of the sea 
 Lift to the breeze their liquid lips of whiteness 
 
 All things bring joy to me. 
 
 My prostrate frame renews its strength while sharing 
 These gifts of heavenly love,
 
 REVISITS OHIO. 59 
 
 And seems anew beneath Heaven's smile preparing 
 Its gratitude to prove. 
 
 Not less is prized the wonted Sabbath meeting 
 With God's dear friends and mine; 
 
 Stored in the memory is each heartfelt greeting, 
 Shared in the by-gone time. 
 
 Back to those fellowships, at beck of duty, 
 
 In gladness will I go, 
 Counting it joy alone to show Christ's beauty, 
 
 Him crucified to know. 
 
 Yet 'tis a dearer thing to know that ever 
 
 Christ walks close by my side, 
 To share his fellowship, and feel forever 
 
 He is his children's Guide. 
 
 To that great faithful ONE our souls are yielded, 
 
 Sailing life's ocean o'er; 
 Till in his presence, from all peril shielded, 
 
 Heart-bonds are broke i o more. 
 
 In the autumn of 1856, being much worn in body 
 and mind, he spent a few weeks, previous to the 
 session of the General Conference in October, in 
 vacation rambles amid familiar scenes in Ohio. 
 The visit to this field, where labor had been most 
 gratefully received, and where many tender friend- 
 ships had been formed and cherished, yielded him 
 unusual pleasure. In this letter addressed to the 
 covenant meeting of the Olneyville church, the old 
 memories seem struggling with the new for the 
 uppermost place in his heart, and pastoral love 
 beams out with tenderness :
 
 6O GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 44 CHESTER, OHIO, Sept. 25, 1856. 
 
 " I can not meet you this month as usual in the 
 covenant meeting, and so there is only left me a 
 prayerful remembrance, and a few lines of Chris- 
 tian sympathy. They are small gifts in themselves ; 
 but there is heart interest enough going with 
 them to make them larger if I knew how. In the 
 midst of the rural retreat from which I write, 
 thoughts of those who call me pastor come trooping 
 up in battalions. Surrounded by those whose faces 
 beam like stars because they suggest many remem- 
 bered kindnesses, your forms are present to the in- 
 ner eye. Gladdened by tones that tell of well - 
 tried sympathies, your Christian speech still seems 
 to blend with all these friendly voices. The greet- 
 ings of old acquaintances are associated with the pres- 
 sure of your hands. The sacred words I read, bear 
 me back in spirit to the spots where you and I have 
 meditated on them together. A familiar hymn 
 leaps to my lips in melody, and I am listening for 
 the tones that so often helped me lift it heavenward. 
 I kneel amid a group of worshipers to ask the 
 peace of heaven, and your interests still stand be- 
 tween me and the Mercy Seat. Sabbath bells call, 
 and I seem hastening to stand before the faces that 
 have looked up to me eagerly or reverently from 
 the seats^ of the sanctuary. My pastoral responsi- 
 bilities will not be wholly loosened from my heart, 
 and my pastoral yearning for your welfare leaps 
 these hundreds of intervening miles at a bound. 
 * God be gracious to you, and lift the light of his
 
 LETTER TO THE OLKEYV1LLE CHURCH. 6l 
 
 countenance upon you and give you peace, ' is the 
 pith of my prayer, and the hope of my better 
 hours. I trust you stand fast in the Lord, and are 
 dwelling in unity and peace ; not the peace and 
 unity of simple contact, but the unity of a Chris- 
 tian oneness, the peace springing from the daily 
 ' well done ' of heaven over your zeal and faithful- 
 ness. Be strong and fear not. Trust in the Lord 
 and do good, and he shall strengthen you out of 
 Zion and give you prosperity. May none of your 
 hearts falter, none of your hands hang down, none 
 of you be wanting at your posts in the labors of the 
 Gospel. I desire above all things that you may 
 prosper. 
 
 " For myself I feel that my heart is set on doing 
 the will of God. Cloudy or bright, my purpose is 
 to tread the path of duty. Blind to the issues of 
 the great conflict of sin with righteousness, or fore- 
 seeing the triumph of the truth, I would ever be fol- 
 lowing without a fear the great Captain of our salva- 
 tion, not doubting but as soon as is meet, I may cry, 
 ' Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory.' 
 May we all be sharers in that triumph of the cross. 
 Afresh I accept our covenant, and over it I 
 clasp all your hands to night in spiritual fellowship. 
 Count me one of Christ's friends and yours, and 
 speak my name and hold up my weakness some- 
 times in your prayers." 
 
 Another letter addressed to the church on a simi- 
 lar occasion, a few weeks after he had resigned its 
 pastorate, may fitly appear in this connection :
 
 62 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 " EDINBURG, N. Y., May 31, 1857. 
 
 '- As my membership still remains with you, it 
 will be a privilege to me to express in this way my 
 interest in the great common cause which makes all 
 Christ's followers one. 
 
 " Removed as I am from the circle of former as- 
 sociations, and more or less removed from the active 
 duties to which I have been accustomed to devote 
 myself, I have time for the review of my opinions 
 and experiences, my work and plans. I am not 
 now in a position to be controlled by enthusiasm, 
 nor held fast by outward cords to a mode of life 
 which my cooler judgment would not sanction. On 
 these heights of contemplation and survey, I can 
 stand and look upon the stream of human life as it 
 sweeps on till it is lost in the mists that hang over 
 the eternal sea. I stand here and look Heaven in 
 the face, then turn to inspect the world and the life 
 to which I am wedded by Providence. I recall 
 what I have read of history, I arrange before the 
 mind what I have seen and known in experience, 
 I cast a glance into the future, and then endeavor 
 to frame the judgment which I shall be likely to 
 pronounce in the days that are to be. I try to sum 
 up the meaning of life, and ask where and how are 
 its great interests to be found, how its results are to 
 be made longest and best. And with a force that 
 is peculiar, the conviction comes home to me, that 
 to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with 
 God, ' embodies the highest philosophy, and reveals 
 the deepest wisdom which ever belongs to human
 
 LETTER TO THE OLNEYVILLE CHURCH. 63 
 
 life. A life of piety and prayer is the sublimest 
 thing which human history knows ; it is a grander 
 epic than ever poet wrote, a richer picture than ever 
 artist painted, a sublimer prophecy than ever herald- 
 ed the downfall of an empire. It is more royal than 
 the sovereignty of a king, and no discovery ever 
 put in motion such an enduring and redeeming 
 power. I can newly understand why Jesus bade his 
 exultant disciples not rejoice over the wielding of 
 miraculous powers, but reserve their gladness for 
 the assurance that their names were written in heav- 
 en. To be an humble, faithful Christian is the 
 great glory of the noblest lives. All other splendor 
 fades ; this brings increasing light. Ail other hon- 
 ors find a grave ; this is immortal. Whatever else 
 we fail to obtain or keep, let us hold fast to Christ, 
 who is the Rock of our confidence, the inspiration 
 of our virtues, the guide of our steps, the Saviour of 
 our souls. 
 
 4 In our hands no price we bring, 
 Simply to thy cross we cling.' 
 
 " I need not speak of the peculiar relations we 
 have sustained to each other, nor of the experiences 
 in which we have been sharers in common, nor of 
 the memories which will long survive them. They 
 have moulded our spirits in no small measure, and 
 will reach on to the end of the earth. May God 
 forgive whatever was unfaithful on my part and 
 yours, and teach us thereby wisdom for coming 
 days.
 
 64 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 " In the prosperity you have enjoyed within a few 
 weeks past, I have rejoiced, it seems to me, scarce- 
 ly less than though I had mingled in the scenes 
 which have made your hearts throb faster, and 
 your faces wet with grateful tears. May many 
 seek your guidance to 'the Saviour, and while suc- 
 cessfully leading them thither, may you yourselves 
 approach and tarry still nearer His footstool. 
 
 " I hope I am learning some new and higher and 
 more practical lessons from the great volumes of 
 Nature, Life and the Gospel. If I am permitted to 
 go back to the pulpit at a future day, I hope to 
 carry there a wisdom, a faith, a devotedness, a 
 sympathy with God and a yearning for the redemp- 
 tion of men, which no previous portion of my minis- 
 try has possessed. 
 
 " I would bind myself anew to faithfulness by giv- 
 ing a fresh endorsement to the Covenant on whose 
 basis we have pledged ourselves to God and each 
 other. No day passes but you are remembered be- 
 fore God. May I hope that my necessities will 
 sometimes add a petition to your prayers?" 
 
 From the hour when Martin Cheney entered the 
 lists against American Slavery, until his death, the 
 Olneyville pulpit was recognized as no insignificant 
 bulwark of freedom. Its utterances rang like bugle 
 peals of victory to the sons of liberty, rousing the 
 courage and directing the blows of ministry and 
 laity who felt the need of strong leadership ; but the 
 friends of slavery dreaded its power and cursed its
 
 ANTI - SLAVERY EFFORTS. 65 
 
 influence. It had been a calamity indeed, if, as 
 Mr. Cheney left that pulpit, his successor had 
 looked upon the growing insolence and mighty ef- 
 forts of the slave power with indifference or timidi- 
 ty. But the pupil was worthy of the master, and 
 the mantle of the strong, undaunted prophet fell 
 upon no unwilling, inadequate shoulders. 
 
 Mr. Day early became a close, earnest student of 
 the character and workings of slavery. He began 
 to discuss the issues involved in it, at Smithville, 
 not merely with the fervor of youthful enthusiasm, 
 but in the spirit of sober inquiry and manly resist- 
 ance, as one who grapples an evil so vast and dan- 
 gerous as to forbid aught but the most intelligent, 
 serious, determined opposition. At Bristol, in 
 1844, he delivered an and - slavery address having 
 this conclusion: " I need not ask whether such a 
 system is hostile to the spirit and designs of Chris- 
 tianity. In bringing it to the principles of revealed 
 truth by which to test its character, I have acted 
 under the conviction that it can be justly decided by 
 no other standard. If it be opposed to the Gospel 
 it is wrong, wholly and radically wrong, and it will 
 leave a withering, blighting influence wherever it 
 goes." 
 
 By that same unvarying, infallible test he thence- 
 forth gauged and defined the system ; nor did he
 
 66 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 fear to expound the principles of liberty and politi- 
 cal obligations because of the obloquy attaching to a 
 minister's "dabbling in the dirty waters of politics." 
 With the passage of the Fugitive Slave Bill, in 
 1850, the nation, generally, began to enter into the 
 fiercest heats of political strife. The repeal of the 
 Missouri Compromise, the rendition of Burns, and 
 Kansas outrages quickly followed. Freedom and 
 slavery stood face to face in a gigantic moral war- 
 fare ; the mask had fallen from the great foe to civil 
 rights, revealing in all their nakedness the hideous 
 lines of avarice fed by lust, and sinister designs 
 supported by recklessness. Meanwhile, many who 
 had for years been strangely blind to the real nature 
 and issues of slavery, were startled into hostility to 
 it. But there were many others who, with more or 
 less willingness acknowledging it to be an evil, 
 would not confess it to be an evil to be repented and 
 abandoned, nor to be laid at the door of the party in 
 power, with which they voted. Although Mr. 
 Cheney had incurred the bitter opposition, and suf- 
 fered from the withdrawal of some who had support- 
 ed that party, yet many of them remained under his 
 ministry, illy concealing their uneasiness in the 
 presence of his severe condemnations of slavery 
 from the pulpit, and were still members of the con- 
 .gregation at the beginning of Mr. Day's pastorate.
 
 ANTI- SLAVERY EFFORTS. 67 
 
 When the hour was darkest and the foe most 
 insolent, then it was that Mr. Day put forth his 
 most daring, brilliant efforts in behalf of freedom. 
 It implied no little courage and strength of purpose, 
 to proclaim boldly the unpopular cause in a town 
 whose prevailing influences were arrayed against 
 him, and where not a few pew-holders were sure to 
 denounce and desert the church to which he minis- 
 tered. But no new outrage was suffered to pass 
 without eliciting from him a new vindication of 
 right ; and occasionally a town - meeting would be 
 preceded by some clear proclamation of a principle, 
 or followed by wholesome rebuke. Some of his 
 warmest friends, startled by his boldness and keen 
 onslaught, would now and then counsel greater 
 moderation and prudence. His opponents freely 
 sneered and condemned in stores and on the street, 
 but ventured no open attack by argument or by or- 
 ganized opposition. 
 
 The most remarkable episode in his anti - slavery 
 efforts, occurred in the early part of the summer of 
 1856. It was at the time of the Kansas troubles. 
 Governor Reeder had been driven from the State, 
 which had become a field of bloodshed in the en- 
 counter between freedom and slavery. A conven- 
 tion of those who sympathized with the sufferers 
 from Southern outrage had been held in Buffalo, N.
 
 68 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 Y. A minister present at that convention, on his 
 return to Providence, was allowed the use of the 
 lecture - room at Olneyville, for the purpose of giv- 
 ing an account publicly of its spirit and action. At 
 the close of his lecture, a gentleman well known in 
 Democratic circles in R. I., asked the privilege of 
 the use of the lecture - room for an evening of the 
 following week, that opportunity for criticism upon 
 the remarks just presented might be afforded, inti- 
 mating that he himself should not presume to answer 
 the lecturer, but would procure the service of one 
 amply qualified to do so. The request was grant- 
 ed, and, at the time specified, Hon. Welcome B. 
 Sayles, of Providence, a thorough - bred politician, 
 being introduced, gave, as was hoped and supposed 
 by many, a triumphant vindication of his party. 
 Before the close of the week, Mr. Day announced 
 that he would attempt an answer to Mr. Sayles,. on 
 the next Wednesday evening. Both curiosity and 
 anxiety attended the announcement: curiosity to 
 know how a minister would appear in a contest with 
 a recognized political leader and orator ; anxiety 
 by timid men lest he should greatly offend and alien- 
 ate, and also by some of his friends lest he should 
 appear at a disadvantage. 
 
 The lecture - room, on the evening of his speech, 
 was filled by an audience which embraced a num-
 
 ANTI- SLAVERY EFFORTS. 69 
 
 her of the prominent men of both political parties, 
 among whom was Hon. H. B. Anthony, now of the 
 U. S. Senate, and others who then figured, and are 
 now known, in the politics of the State. 
 
 Mr. Day had taken full notes of the utterances of 
 the previous meeting. These notes, together with 
 carefully compiled and effective quotations from ad- 
 ministration journals and official documents, fur- 
 nished the basis of a strong, thorough indictment of 
 the pro - slavery party, both in its Northern and 
 Southern developments. For three hours and a 
 half, scorching rebuke, keen analysis and Christian 
 protest went on with resistless might ; while no po- 
 sition assumed was left carelessly guarded, nor any 
 blow suffered to fall in weakness. Its close was 
 a burst of patriotic fervor, ending with the lines : 
 
 " Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State ! 
 Sail on, O Union, strong and great! 
 Hunnnity, with all its fears, 
 With all the hopes pf future years, 
 Is hanging breathless on thy fate ! " 
 
 The Providence Journal referred to the speech 
 the next morning, at some length, and in terms of 
 high praise. It was more pointed and scathing 
 thau his audience had anticipated, as it was more 
 powerful and eloquent. No answer was ever pro- 
 posed or seriously contemplated. The master in 
 the pulpit was also master in the political arena.
 
 7O GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 Weakness crushed, or suffering imposed, had 
 special claim upon his sympathy and help. He en- 
 deavored to ascertain the nature of his human rela- 
 tionships, and become in a true sense, -his " broth- 
 er's keeper." Compromise of principle, or fear of 
 results in the presence of threats or contumely was 
 with him impossible. In the heat of the anti - slav- 
 ery conflict he was bitterly charged with being 
 an Abolitionist. He simply replied: "Whoso- 
 ever is afraid to avow it, I glory in it." His posi- 
 tion admitted no charge of ambiguity. If he were 
 complained of, as "helping prejudice the slave- 
 holder, making him more determined in his 
 course," he replied : " If slaveholders are such men 
 that they will hold on, and grow more oppressive 
 just out of spite to their accusers, they show that 
 they are not fit to manage slaves ! " While, in this 
 combat with slavery, one missed the fiery, epigram- 
 matic utterance, the sharp, stern dealing of Cheney, 
 there was recognized in his successor a finer array 
 of those qualities and powers which are dreaded 
 and shunned by an opponent. 
 
 While our attention is directed to his position 
 and exertions in this field of patriotic, Christian 
 service, let us notice his utterances on two oth- 
 er significant occasions, after which, formal refer- 
 ence to his anti - slavery efforts may cease.
 
 ANTI- SLA VERY EFFORTS. 71 
 
 A meeting of citizens of Providence was held 
 Dec. 2, 1859, tae day of John Brown's- execution at 
 Harper's Ferry. Few prominent men in political or 
 business circles, and few ministers even cared to be 
 identified with it. The better portion of the city 
 press had strongly intimated that such a meeting, 
 for such a purpose, ought not to be holden. The 
 meeting was addressed by Hons. Amos C. Barstow 
 and Thomas Davis, and by Revs, G. T. Day and 
 A. Woodbury. 
 
 Amid the deep gloom of that hour, with great 
 national issues fearfully impending, strange por- 
 tents appearing in the political heavens, and men's 
 hearts well nigh failing them, hope, faith and 
 courage beam out in his words : 
 
 "Somehow deliverance is manifestly coming; 
 that is hardly a question ; the eternal laws of Provi- 
 dence settle that It is a fitting time now to 
 
 bear testimony for Freedom in the face of public 
 clamor. I can afford to be silent when her step is 
 stately, her mien majestic, her work manifestly con- 
 servative, when she stands simply on the defensive, 
 or is pitied by the world while she bleeds in the 
 Senate Chamber, struck down in the person of a 
 noble Senator, and all voices are lifted in her de- 
 fence and praise. I choose to come here in the day 
 of her misfortunes ; to stand by her side when men 
 are doubting whether it be wise and prudent to be 
 allied with her interests. I take her with all her
 
 72 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 perils, and will repudiate no confidence when her 
 friends commit excesses in her name." 
 
 Here appears the nobility of his nature. Shun- 
 ning no cause through 'the obloquy or weakness at- 
 tending it; once assured of the fitness of its claims, 
 he accepted all the liabilities of an alliance. The 
 " irrepressible conflict " found him never less warm 
 in his adherence when an avowal of belief excited 
 a howl of indignation. Nor did he ask who pro- 
 nounced a denial of the facts, nor who were dumb 
 before them. To know the facts was to decide his 
 utterance and his allegiance. If he seemed in the 
 advance as a reformer, it was chiefly because of his 
 determination to see, and abide with, the right, 
 when others fell back from it or refused to accept 
 its utmost direction. 
 
 In the sermon, delivered on the day of President 
 Buchanan's National Fast, just preceding secession, 
 after referring to the position of the President, of 
 Congress and the country, and recounting the real 
 issues presented in the crisis, he asks : 
 
 " What shall we do? There is one way in which 
 we may seek relief, it is to yield everything. Can 
 we do that? If we have meant nothing in what we 
 have said; if our praise of liberty is mere rhetoric; 
 if we feel that no honor, no justice, no righteous- 
 ness, nor manhood, nor virtue, nor religion is in- 
 
 O 
 
 volved in this question ; if quiet and cotton, sugar
 
 ANTI- SLAVERY EFFORTS. 73 
 
 and tobacco, and the money they represent, are 
 everything ; and if satisfied that these are to come 
 through submission and acquiescence, we can yield 
 everything. If every man who has stood for a 
 truth, or died for a principle, is either a fanatic or a 
 fool, then we may consent at once, promise all that 
 is demanded, recall our words, annul our oaths, 
 and go down on our knees in penitential confession. 
 If we have acted with a Christian conscience we 
 can not retract ; and if we read history aright, the 
 future offers a straight path. New England at least, 
 has grown from the seed of free and sacred principle. 
 The chief freight of the Mayflower was moral 
 conviction. The Pilgrims chose manhood with 
 exile rather than servility with preferment. The 
 real thrift of two hundred years has come of per- 
 sonal courage and fidelity, of social honor and re- 
 spect, of national justice and dignity. Our chief 
 strength and glory are the outgrowth of that spirit 
 which has lifted up the weak, given the despondent 
 courage, taught the lowliest of our race to aspire to 
 the functions and honors of a man, and which flung 
 off as an incubus, that hideous system which grew 
 up in the midnight of barbarism. And when we 
 are now asked to unlearn all the best lessons of our 
 significant history, to ignore all the facts of experi- 
 ence, to pervert the conscience which our whole 
 training has taught to cry out against oppression, to 
 confess that the Bible is the slave - trader's war- 
 rant, to blot out or blur over every sentence which 
 our fathers spoke for freedom, to eat all the bravest
 
 74 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 and most generous words which we have ever utter- 
 ed, to sneer at the Declaration of Independence, to 
 commission the plague and pestilence of slavery for 
 an irruption over all the region and territory of the 
 Continent, while freedom is left without a single 
 legal guarantee, when all this is demanded as the 
 condition of fellowship and peace, the answer to 
 such dictators ought to be calm, prompt and final. " 
 
 Yielding to a conviction which the experience of 
 nearly two years had been maturing, that pro- 
 tracted efficiency and usefulness required longer and 
 more complete rest than could be consistently gained 
 while sustaining pastoral relations, he tendered his 
 resignation in February, 1857. During the two 
 months following, the tokens of personal inter- 
 est and appreciation which accompanied his 
 ministry, were manifested in a peculiarly tender 
 manner, and plans highly honorable to the generos- 
 ity and devotion of the society were proposed for 
 his personal relief and welfare ; but still urging his 
 request from a sense of private and public duty, the 
 relationship of pastor and people was dissolved on 
 the first of April. 
 
 Seeking only the regaining of physical and mental 
 vigor, he retired for a number of weeks with his 
 family, to the seclusion of his brother's farm in 
 Edinburg, N. Y. How freely he gave himself up 
 to^the new and welcome influences ; how fully he
 
 REST IN EDINBURG, N. Y. 75 
 
 drank in the teachings of nature, and how readily 
 he allowed her moods to direct his own ; how trout 
 and bird, brook and forest, the farm-yard with its in- 
 cidents of animal life, afforded occasions for playful 
 humor, as well as refreshment to jaded powers, his 
 letters written at that time to the Morning Star bear 
 some witness. One of the letters sent from this re- 
 treat did not appear in its columns. " A fact 
 accounted for, "' he said, referring to it some months 
 after, " -perhaps by failure of the mails, but more 
 likely because it so far surpassed its companions in 
 the element of fun as to be unwelcome to sober 
 tastes. " To those who knew the fund of humor in 
 his nature, these sportive sketches of rural life and 
 enjoyment were the exuberant sallies of a healthful, 
 genuine soul, the gratifying signs of returning 
 hopefulness and vigor.
 
 III. 
 
 IN THE MINISTRY. 
 
 PROVIDENCE. 
 18571866. 
 
 The pastorate of the Roger Williams church in 
 Providence became vacant soon after his resigna- 
 tion had been sent to the society at Olneyville. But 
 not until final action by the latter, sundering the re- 
 lationship which had subsisted between them, would 
 he listen to any proposition for his labors else- 
 where ; and after his pastorate had formally closed, 
 private solicitations having reference to the Provi- 
 dence pastorate were met by little encouragement. 
 
 While at Edinburg he received a formal call to 
 the Roger Williams church, with the privilege 
 of a vacation of six months before he should 
 assume its active duties. Accepting the call, he 
 decided to devote three months to a European
 
 FIRST TOUR IN EUROPE. 77 
 
 tour, and sailed from New York, June 24. Having 
 visited England, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland 
 and France, he reached home Sept. 23. Before 
 going abroad he had become sufficiently strengthen- 
 ed to be able to enjoy with comparatively few phys- 
 ical hindrances, the taxation of strength, arising 
 from the experiences of a tourist. 
 
 It was a joy to walk by his side as, with form 
 erect, the dull leaden line, brought by severe, anx- 
 ious toil, and by suffering, faded from his eye - lids, 
 exuberant movement taking the place of the old 
 languor, he performed a toilsome journey of twenty 
 miles in a day, on foot, over the rugged Swiss 
 mountain passes. The nerveless, weary, despond- 
 ent pastor could scarcely have been recognized on 
 that radiant August morning, when with the sun's 
 rising he stood upon the balcony of the hotel at 
 Chamounix, and clasped his hands with childlike un- 
 consciousness over his heart, as if to keep in its 
 wild beating, as he gazed with lustrous eye up to 
 the clear, pure, vast majesty enthroning Mt. Blanc, 
 and then silently, with inspiration and dignity in 
 every step, went back to his room to meditation and 
 prayer. 
 
 Every day, almost, seemed to add to his strength 
 of body and exhilaration of spirit ; and the results 
 sought by the tour were gained to a degree highly
 
 78 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 gratifying to himself and his friends. It was pur- 
 sued with such regard to personal endurance, and 
 the gaining of intelligent acquaintance with what 
 was best in art, peculiar in society and striking in 
 nature, that there were no features of it which he 
 ever recalled with feelings of disappointment or re- 
 gret. A series of letters contributed to the Morn- 
 ing Star, were remarkable for their ease and fresh- 
 ness, their vividness of descriptions of life and 
 scenery, and their comprehensive appreciation of 
 the beautiful and grand in art, and of the wonder- 
 ful achievements of scientific and architectural skill. 
 
 His pastoral labors commenced with October. 
 In regard to this entrance upon ministerial duties he 
 said : 
 
 " I felt in some sense as if beginning anew ; had 
 been given a season for reflection, for a survey 
 backward and forward. I meant to make my ser- 
 vice more full of heart. I felt that spiritual results 
 alone, without undervaluing others, could satisfy 
 me, and that these should be chiefly sought ; never 
 felt more self - distrustful, nor more like looking to 
 God. " 
 
 Those who were permitted to enjoy his public 
 and private counsels in the ensuing nine rare years, 
 realized a significant incarnation of these words of 
 pastoral devotion, of Christian love and hope. The 
 study and toil, the varied and rich experiences of a
 
 ROGER WILLIAMS PASTORATE. 79 
 
 faithful, watchful ministry bore in this field their 
 choicest fruits. 
 
 Mature judgment, ripe scholarship, large and 
 quick comprehension of human nature, caution in 
 forming opinions and their usual correctness when 
 reached ; an intelligent, sympathetic appreciation of 
 the spirit and efforts of those who sought his help 
 and guidance, combined to make him a pastor and 
 teacher indeed. 
 
 His pulpit ministrations disclosed, if possible, more 
 than former dignity, and were richer in thought, 
 more practical, and more effective in reaching the 
 intimate and peculiar wants of the soul. He strove 
 to win men ; his ambition was to save them by the 
 faithful application of the vital teachings of the 
 gospel. At one time he said publicly : " I am 
 trying to be more plain in speech and kind in act. * 
 
 In his anniversary sermon, Oct. 2, 1859, ne sa *d : 
 
 " To me the work seems every year to grow 
 weightier. I am settling more and more into fixed- 
 ness of character and effort. More and more ] 
 seem to hear the precept : ' Whatsoever thy hand 
 findeth to do, do it with thy might, ' sounding from 
 every side. More and more the Gospel seems the 
 great reality, and all beside it, phantoms. Here is 
 the solid adamant. I seem but a child in grace, but 
 thank God for the hope that I shall have an eternal 
 summer for my growth.
 
 8O GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 " I have not met you as a mere routine always 
 I know that. I have tried to study your wants, and 
 have tried to meet them. I think we are coming to 
 understand each other better, and I should be sorry 
 to think that increasing knowledge was not bringing 
 increased confidence. 
 
 " We have met in sick rooms and at death beds, 
 and looked upward to find hope and light ; in joyous 
 circles and our pulses have leaped freshly in the 
 sunshine of sympathy ; our voices have blended in 
 song and our hearts in prayer when the hour of 
 evening worship drew on; and sometimes in this 
 sanctuary has it not seemed as though we were on 
 the crest of another Tabor, amid eternal brightness, 
 saying with deep fervor : ' how good it is to be 
 here ' ? But we are workers together here. Not 
 finished yet are our tasks. 
 
 " Do not suppose that I am alone responsible for 
 your religious character, life and faithfulness, or 
 think of me as necessary to it. I have no compul- 
 sory power. And if any feeling of excessive con- 
 fidence or passivity exists, I am the occasion of 
 your loss. The profit you gather must largely de- 
 pend on yourselves. It is your enterprise quite as 
 much as mine more yours who are not Christians. 
 It involves your salvation, and that no man can se- 
 cure for you. " 
 
 The amount of work pressed upon him from be- 
 yond his pastoral field was in no degree intermitted 
 or lightened. A larger sphere of public service
 
 ROGER WILLIAMS PASTORATE. 8l 
 
 was opened to him by his removal to Providence. 
 He was more closely surrounded by the working 
 forces of an intensely active and growing city. 
 Among its pastors he was accorded a prominent and 
 influential position, while none of their number who 
 came into close acquaintanceship with him, did not 
 find it pleasant and profitable to consult his judg- 
 ment and seek his counsel. He was in all circles 
 recognized as a fearless, independent and valiant 
 friend and defender of human rights, and of all 
 healthful reform. And while timidity and conserva- 
 tism stood aloof, it was understood that he would 
 not be found wanting in any crisis however beset 
 with difficulty or obloquy. His presence at the 
 "John Brown meeting" has been mentioned. 
 When "the colored school question" came up in 
 the R. I. legislature, in 1859, he made several 
 speeches upon it before the legislative committee at 
 the State House, and also wrote the report to be 
 presented to the legislature by that part of the com- 
 mittee favoring the bill. 
 
 His efforts as a lecturer were not unwel- 
 come in his own city. At a festival, in 1860, of the 
 " Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers, " 
 he was called to respond to the toast : " The R. I. 
 March As played by the pulley and wheel, 
 spindle and shuttle ; sweet music and popular. "
 
 82 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 Col. Wm. Sprague, who was expected to re- 
 spond, was absent, and the President called up 
 Rev. G. T. Day, who till that moment had no in- 
 timation of such a change in the programme. After 
 an introduction full of pleasantry, his remarks ran 
 in the following vein : 
 
 " Music has been classed among the fine arts ; it 
 is described, sometimes, as an accomplishment; it is 
 set down as belonging to ornamental education. It 
 is suggestive of taste, and implies refinement of 
 feeling. This assthetical culture is no longer con- 
 fined to what are peculiarly literary circles. It is 
 not alone the possession of the wealthy, nor the joy 
 of those who live in ease. There is mind among 
 the spindles ! The mechanic's hand is guided by a 
 cultivated intellect, and his home bears witness to 
 the presence and influence of refined tastes and ele- 
 vated enjoyment. The eye of labor is becoming 
 quick to perceive beaut}' ; its ear is open to music ; 
 it is at home amid the refinements of social inter- 
 course ; it feeds its understanding with thought, and 
 its heart answers to the appeal of virtuous love. 
 
 " The old mythological story carries a prophecy 
 whose fulfillment we are witnessing. Gigantic Vul- 
 can, muscular, swarthy and grim, whose business 
 it was to forge thunderbolts for Jupiter, in the depths 
 of Vesuvius, was wedded, not to Juno, nor 
 Minerva, but to Venus, child of the sea -foam, 
 goddess of grace and beauty. So the mechanic is 
 rapidly forming an alliance with the artist, taste is
 
 ROGER WILLIAMS PASTORATE. 83 
 
 the perpetual companion of labor, and beauty is 
 wedded to strength. Everywhere the Vulcan of 
 toil is effectually wooing the Venus of taste. The 
 disciplined ear and cultivated intellect of the Rhode 
 Island mechanic are translating the hum of machin- 
 ery into marches which quicken and steady the 
 steps of progress. " 
 
 Not only is his chaste eloquence illustrated by 
 this extract, but the response was regarded as^a 
 most happy proof of the readiness of his mind in 
 emergencies which might be expected to confuse or 
 silence. The speech, given with such spirit and ef- 
 fect, was received with special demonstrations of 
 pleasure, and led to an invitation from the Associa- 
 tion to deliver one of the lectures in its regular 
 course the following winter ; an invitation possessing 
 significance from the fact, that in a city boasting 
 large talent, few of its residents have received a 
 similar honor. 
 
 Churches of his own order freely sought his ad- 
 vice in connection with the settling or dismissal of 
 pastors, and upon financial matters. They also re- 
 ceived the benefit of frequent sermons and lectures. 
 In the beginning of the year 1859, tne " Choralist," 
 a hymn and tune book, upon which he had bestow- 
 ed much time and labor as chairman of the com- 
 mittee of compilation, was issued. He writes : 
 " Have found some difficulty in getting the copy-
 
 84 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 righted music to insert. It is about as easy to ar- 
 range with musical composers, as to get a choir to 
 go along without quarreling or pouting. " 
 
 Multiplied general labors, added to those of his 
 ministry at home, made incessant, exhausting in- 
 roads upon his powers of endurance, and it excites 
 little wonder that once or twice in each year health 
 gave way altogether. But he would rally from 
 prostrations that seemed likely to keep him from 
 activity for weeks, with surprising quickness, suffi- 
 ciently to enable him, all too soon, to creep back to 
 his post. It is deeply to be regretted that the re- 
 monstrances of his friends, to which he alludes in 
 the following letter, could not have more frequently 
 and successfully prevailed over his unwise persist- 
 ence. It is written after an illness resulting in the 
 suffering from debility beyond what he had ever felt 
 before : " I hope soon to be about my usual service 
 again. I ventured out last Sunday afternoon and 
 bore it tolerably. Last evening went to our usual 
 prayer meeting and enjoyed it highly. I think I 
 could manage to preach next Sunday, but our 
 people threaten to leave me on the useless list, at 
 least a week longer. " 
 
 In one of his anniversary sermons he says : "I 
 am not a little perplexed to decide what is my duty 
 with respect to general service, which absorbs more
 
 ROGER WILLIAMS PASTORATE. 85 
 
 or less of time and strength. Calls for general 
 labor are frequent and burdensome, and I do not 
 see how I can get rid of them. Yet I have had 
 a prayerful longing for the growth of spiritual life 
 among you. Judge my ministry by what it does as 
 bearing upon that object. If it has failed here, the 
 failure has been sad and disastrous. " 
 
 But amid all outward distractions and cares, he 
 kept his deepest interest and tenderest care for his own 
 people. No triumphs elsewhere were to him such 
 sources of joy as the evidences of their growth, 
 nothing saddened him " so much as disappointed 
 hopes and efforts in that direction. " Again he 
 says : 
 
 " I have been anxious to see a rounded and com- 
 plete Christian character in individual cases, and 
 in church life ; have wanted intelligence and heart, 
 solidity of principle and fervor of feeling, system with 
 spontaneity, reverence with sociability, conscien- 
 tious fidelity and sunny gladness. For every gain 
 in this direction I thank God daily. I may some 
 times seem too intent on reaching unattained objects 
 to give appreciation to what is done. I try not to 
 err in that way. Every day my life becomes more 
 closely bound up with yours. I learn to be glad in 
 your gladness and sorrowful over your griefs. I 
 long to work more in Paul's spirit, and find the re- 
 joicing of which he speaks. "
 
 86 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 In February, 1864, his health demanding respite 
 from pastoral toil, his friends procured him an 
 appointment to labor in the army under the au- 
 spices of the Christian Commission. The kind, as 
 well as place of service, was left freely to his 
 choice ; and while it was mutually understood by 
 him and the officers of the Commission that it was 
 to be of real value, yet that it should be of no 
 greater weight than due regard for the regaining of 
 health would allow. 
 
 It was hoped that such a change of work, with 
 the stimulus coming from the encouragements usu- 
 ally experienced by the agents in that kind of ser- 
 vice, would impart new vigor to body and mind. 
 March 22, after a week's absence, he writes, show- 
 ing that he shared the expectations, and entered 
 cordially into the plans of his friends : " I am rest- 
 ed a little and hope to begin recruiting in earnest. 
 I mean to take things easy and grow strong if pos- 
 sible. I want to go back with a fresh and higher 
 fitness for service." 
 
 A private letter indicates the nature of his posi- 
 tion, and the reception which, in peculiar circum- 
 stances, was accorded him : 
 
 " I find myself most cordially received, have 
 pleasant companionship in the delegates of the 
 Commission and others, and enjoy my work among
 
 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION WORK. 87 
 
 the soldiers. Have felt sometimes a little delicate, 
 mingling with regular delegates, being myself pos- 
 sessor of special privileges ; and I had a little fear 
 lest the agents were feeling it an embarrassment to 
 them ; but that feeling gradually wears away, I feel 
 more and more easy, and the agents gradually 
 come to help me to be quiet, and caution me 
 against over risk and service." 
 
 After arriving at the front, Culpepper, Va., he 
 again writes of his associatipns : "I receive every 
 kindness and attention which I need. The longer 
 I stop at any point somehow the more of kindness 
 and generosity I meet, so that I make every change 
 with as much regret as gladness." 
 
 His intention " to take things easy and grow 
 strong," was overborne or forgotten amid the full, 
 earnest devotion to duty into which, almost at the 
 outset, he was drawn. The interest with which his 
 sermons and personal approaches were received by 
 men and officers alike, in the camps which he visit- 
 ed ; above all, the religious awakenings which at- 
 tended them, ten, twenty, and sometimes a great- 
 er number asking prayers and wishing to be en- 
 rolled as Christians, stimulated him to the utmost 
 exertion. 
 
 The reaction following this excessive drain of 
 nervous and physical energy, he was illy prepared 
 to sustain.
 
 88 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 On his return home he experienced great lassi- 
 tude, with symptoms of fever, but refusing to yield 
 at once to the intimations of disease, he preached 
 on the following Sunday and performed other ex- 
 hausting labor. In a few days after, he was strick- 
 en down with an illness of so alarming character 
 that for weeks his life seemed almost hopelessly 
 jeopardized. It was not until autumn that he was 
 able to resume his usual labors. 
 
 With tender, subdued, chastened spirit he uttered 
 in his sermon on the first Sunday in October, being 
 his seventh anniversary, these memorable senten- 
 ces : 
 
 " Our ways the last year have been peculiar. 
 During half of it I have been only nominally pastor. 
 I have seen some unusual aspects of life. My way 
 has taken me among camps and over battle fields, 
 and by the cabins of men and women just rising 
 from chattelhood. It was an instructive part of the 
 journey. I hope it has helped me to see the path 
 for the future more clearly. 
 
 "And once my way ran near to that valley 
 through which we shall all pass sooner or later. 
 The fading world seemed to grow dim and shadowy ; 
 at times there was heard something of the roar 
 and dash of those waters which all must cross some 
 day ; and sometimes, for a little, it seemed that the 
 good - bye to earthly life might require to be sum-
 
 IN SICKNESS. 89 
 
 moned to the lip. For years I have learned to look 
 calmly on the end of life by anticipation. I was 
 never calmer than then. Sometimes earthly toil 
 and experience seemed a burden which it would be 
 pleasant to lay down, if the Great Master's permis- 
 sion were given unasked, but whether it were 
 longer work as I mostly thought it was to be, or 
 speedier rest as now and then seemed somewhat 
 probable, I was content God should decide that as 
 He deemed wisest and best. I have come back 
 slowly to the physical vigor which is needed to ena- 
 ble me to fill my sphere properly ; how much of wis- 
 dom I have gathered and what lessons of consecra- 
 tion I have learned in the school of suffering and 
 weakness, remains to be seen. Not alone that you 
 might be spared the sadness of missing another life, 
 did your prayers go up for my recovery, during 
 those days when you thought the angel of death 
 was hovering over my chamber ; but I trust every 
 petition was winged and freighted by the desire that 
 the great objects of the Gospel might be furthered 
 by my return to active life. To live nobly seems to 
 me greater than to die peacefully. A coward and 
 a traitor can give up life amid the battle field, it 
 often takes a patriot and a hero to take up his life 
 and march across other terrible fields of blood till 
 he wins the final victory." 
 
 The kindness, sympathy and generosity which 
 gathered with such meaning, from all sides, around 
 him in these and other hours of weakness and pain 
 left impressions upon his heart which all the fric-
 
 QO GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 tions of life could not wear away, nor prolonged ab- 
 sence dim. Here were his chosen people, and 
 amid their friendships, till life's latest breath, was 
 always " home." 
 
 The value of his work can be determined in part, 
 at least, by his success in so directing and instruct- 
 ing his flock, that, in the absence of his leadership 
 and teaching, their Christian service was not slack- 
 ened, but increased, rather, in noticeable ways. 
 He counted it the most cheering testimony to the 
 enduring nature of his ministry, that their faith and 
 active interest did not seem dependent, necessarily, 
 upon his continued presence and co - operation. It 
 is equally true of few pastors that the value of 
 labors bestowed in health, so spans and keeps fre- 
 quent and protracted intervals of sickness as to al- 
 low, with the people, scarcely a thought of a neces- 
 sity for a change in pastoral relationship. 
 
 It was painful to him to think that he must have 
 been in his invalid days the occasion of anxiety, 
 care, generosity, sacrifice and responsibility : " To 
 lie in any sense like a burden upon the hands and 
 hearts even of those who do not shrink at the load, 
 is repugnant to my whole nature. But I have tried 
 to hope that anxiety for my life will deepen the sym- 
 pathy of this church for other anxious sufferers, and 
 even help to turn your feet into the way of God's
 
 IN SICKNESS. pi 
 
 testimonies; that this long, weary waiting for my 
 return to the post of duty may teach you a more 
 trustful patience ; this steady outflow of generous 
 deeds and gifts may impart a deeper meaning to 
 Christ's saying, It is more blessed to give than to 
 receive ' ; this fresh discovery of the weakness of all 
 mortal helpers, may teach this people to depend 
 more fully on the unfailing arm ; that this walk in 
 darkness may fix the disposition to take the leader- 
 ship of Christ, this present grievous chastening 
 may yield more abundantly the precious fruits of 
 righteousness. If it shall serve this purpose no 
 price is too great to pay for such a blessing." 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding this repugnance, he could 
 write in one of his times of partial convales- 
 cence :* 
 
 ".I am almost willing to be sick once in awhile, 
 in view of the culture which my sympathies secure 
 through the many kind offices which multiply 
 around me. My pride very strongly rebels against 
 being laid under obligations, even in this way, but 
 it even gets nearly conquered sometimes when I am 
 fairly down, and must be helped, and am kindly 
 thought of. Scores of little delicate, nameless 
 kindnesses still make my heart swell, and bid me 
 believe that this world has much sweet sunshine in 
 it. They are little and nameless to the calculating 
 
 *December, 1853.
 
 p2 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 intellect, but great in the estimate of the heart, 
 and each one has a sacred name. Among the num- 
 ber of these precious things was the basket of my 
 favorite apples, and the little bouquet of flowers, 
 which smiled beside my bed till they had smiled 
 rheir life away. 
 
 "I hope always to be able to do some work 
 more work. I have sometimes a little foreboding 
 and dread of a useless, nerveless, invalid existence. 
 I know of nothing that would try my faith and spirit 
 like that. I can not help praying sometimes : ' If it 
 be possible let this cup pass from me.' And I think 
 it will be allowed to pass." 
 
 While engaged with his experiences in the army 
 his concern for those with whom he had associated 
 at home was greatly quickened. His remembrance 
 of the prayer meeting, the Sunday school and the 
 congregation was conveyed to each by letters 
 wherein he exhibits the aspects of his work and his 
 prayerful interest for them. Liberal extracts are 
 found among the correspondence at the end of this 
 chapter. 
 
 Another alarming illness was suffered in the 
 spring and summer of 1865. After rallying from it 
 a little, a tour in Europe and the East was proposed 
 to him. His prostration being made the subject of 
 special remark at the General Conference at Lewis- 
 ton, Me., in October, generous, and somewhat gener- 
 al response was made to a suggestion that not only
 
 SECOND TOUR ABROAD. 93 
 
 the sympathies but the financial help of the Confer- 
 ence be extended him. With the impression that 
 foreign travel would be highly beneficial, and to 
 encourage him to pursue it, several hundred dollars 
 were readily and cheerfully pledged toward his ex- 
 penses, another > proof of the wide and deep 
 interest attending him from the denomination at 
 large. 
 
 Having decided upon an extensive tour abroad, 
 in the sermon of the Sunday before his departure 
 he addressed his congregation as follows : 
 
 " Many of you may think if you were going with 
 me you would see, feel, believe and live, that I 
 can hardly help doing so. But it will depend 
 greatly on my spirit mostly, indeed, on that. 
 
 " These renowned spots and lands are what they 
 are because the moral heroes of their time, the 
 seers whose eyes grew keen with their steady up - 
 look ; and the Saviour whose touch hallowed every 
 thing, have made the whole land Holy. I hope for 
 profit, but a true soul and life may hallow the com- 
 monest sphere and task at home. I hope to add 
 something to the strength of conviction, something 
 to the vividness of feeling, to the firmness of the 
 grasp of faith, to the unction of the confession : 
 ' Behold the tabernacle of God is with men ! ' 
 
 " But I feel that the forces of God's kingdom are 
 in constant and effective exercise here. Through 
 our furnace of fire which has flamed for years, the
 
 94 
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 glorious form has been walking. In all that has 
 worked toward the regeneration of this people I 
 trace the movement of a divine energy. I do not 
 leave a desolate and Heaven - forsaken land, for 
 the footsteps of the Highest echo across the conti- 
 nent. I shall study other lands as embodying the 
 significant past of humanity ; but I shall turn to 
 ours as the highway over which the race is to 
 march to a higher goal and a truer glory. 
 
 ' ' My position and relations here to - day might 
 seem to invite a retrospect of the eight significant 
 years in our life as pastor and people. The story 
 is too long ; some of its paragraphs are too peculiar, 
 or touching, or sacred for a public rehearsal. The 
 kind and encouraging words which were not meant 
 for flattery to pride ; the generosity which has kept 
 on with its unostentatious offerings, through long 
 delays and beneath burdens which it would riot own 
 were heavy even when they pressed the spirit into 
 anxiety ; the charity which has covered many fail- 
 ures and much unfaithfulness ; the Sunday gather- 
 ings when each hour of worship lifted us nearer 
 Heaven ; the evening prayer circles, when our 
 hearts thrilled in unison, or melted in sympathy, or 
 were stirred by a better purpose, as we communed of 
 Christ, or prayed for a trembling penitent, or sur- 
 veyed our field of labor ; the solemn hours when 
 you have taken the veil from your burdened hearts, 
 and I have helped you tell the sad story to God ; 
 the seasons w.hen we have rejoiced together all 
 come up freshly and vividly before me at this hour."
 
 GENERAL BAPTIST ASSOCIATION. 95 
 
 Sailing from New York, he arrived in England 
 in the early part of December. Thence, after a few 
 days of rest he went to Paris, on to Italy, and 
 across the Mediterranean to Egypt. Crossing the 
 desert by the way of Mt. Sinai, he visited Pales- 
 tine, and reached England again, by way of 
 Constantinople, Vienna, and through Switzer- 
 land. 
 
 During his protracted stay in England he at- 
 tended the meeting, in June, 1866, of the General 
 Baptist Association at Loughborough, as a dele- 
 gate from our General Conference. He says 
 of it: 
 
 " I do not know whether it was an oversight, or 
 whether credentials were supposed to be needless, 
 but so it was that we appeared at this trans - Atlan- 
 tic gathering without any sort of attestation of our 
 appointment as a deputation to our brethren here. 
 I did not know this until a late stage in the proceed- 
 ings of the Association, or I might have suffered a 
 little mental discomfort. But, welcomed at once by 
 a resolution, moved by Dr. Burns and seconded by 
 Bro. Goadby, overflowing with Christian kindness 
 and courtesy, there was promptly accorded us by 
 the assembly a greeting in which the English heart 
 spoke out in its best tone, and called into play its 
 noblest impulses. After that, there was no room 
 for anxiety or distrust. I was too grateful to be 
 proud just then, too conscious of being treated with
 
 96 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 an excess of confidence and kindness, to find room 
 for anything hostile to humility and home feeling. 
 . . . New cords have attached my heart to the 
 fatherland which are in no danger of breaking 
 when stretched across the sea." 
 
 Again referring to these gratifying experiences, 
 he says : 
 
 " The two or three days spent in Nottingham 
 including a Sabbath were filled with a varied in- 
 terest. The thorough, unmistakable heartiness 
 with which we were welcomed to the very central 
 circle of the Christian homes of England, was more 
 grateful and touching especially after the long 
 months of wandering as pilgrims and strangers 
 than I dare attempt to tell. I had allowed myself 
 to anticipate, as a representative of the Free Baptist 
 denomination in America, a kindly and dignified 
 English courtesy ; but I had not dreamed of such a 
 warm, unreserved, affectionate greeting as was at 
 once accorded to us by not a few of the noblest and 
 best among our trans - Atlantic brethren. There 
 was no show, no voluble profession of regard, no 
 ostentatious demonstrativeness from first to last. 
 Instead of words there were quiet courtesies that 
 forbade formal notice ; the perpetual surrounding us 
 with an atmosphere that either took off the weight 
 of conscious obligation or made its pressure deli- 
 cious, in a word, the feeling that we were at home 
 was made to overspread and permeate the whole 
 social experience. When the English heart wakes, 
 its movements are strong, and we have felt the
 
 " HOME AGAIN." 97 
 
 beating. Bridge over fairly the chasm of English 
 reserve and self-assertion, and the fellowship is 
 like the manly love of brothers. Rouse the enthu- 
 siasm of an English audience, even at a religious 
 anniversary, and it storms out its kindled feeling in 
 a way that puts to naught the explosions of a wes- 
 tern political convention. All this we have seen 
 and felt." 
 
 After bidding farewell to England he visited the 
 Scottish Highlands, lona, and the cave of Staffa; 
 returning to Glasgow, crossed the Irish Sea to Bel- 
 fast; thence in a week's time to Queenstown, em- 
 barking for home from the latter city, Aug. i6th. 
 " NEW YORK HARBOR, Aug. 25, 1866. 
 
 " We have just sailed up the Narrows, past the 
 forts, around Castle Garden, the forest of masts 
 half revealing and half hiding the greatness of the 
 American metropolis. America greets me at last, 
 and I answer her silent salutation with heart - 
 bounds and moistening of the eyes. I put the treas- 
 ured memories of the old world into the keeping of 
 my spirit, and am content to leave that world behind 
 me ; I grasp the mighty possibilities of the new 
 world with my affection, and seek an abiding place 
 beneath the skies that brood over it like the stoop 
 of God's love. Europe and the East are pleasant 
 schools for the mind ; America is the home of the 
 heart." 
 
 " PROVIDENCE, Aug. 27. 
 
 " ' Home again I y God be thanked for his guardi-
 
 p8 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 anship over those whose lives are so closely linked 
 to mine ! I hear with gratitude of the safe arrival ' 
 of Bro. Dunn and son, companions in a portion of 
 life which will never cease to be memorable, and 
 which they have done so much to invest with inter- 
 est. Heaven keep them and theirs in its care for- 
 ever ; and may all the readers of the Star espe- 
 cially those who, with such unexpected and unde- 
 served generosity, aided in opening my way to the 
 wonders and sanctities of the Orient, .and have fol- 
 lowed our course of travel with their sympathies and 
 prayers may all these find the gates of a land 
 still more glorious, open at once to their coming 
 when their feet press the threshold of immortality." 
 
 Although not reaping all that was hoped from 
 this tour, it imparted considerable gain to bodily 
 and mental strength, so that he was enabled to re- 
 sume pastoral duties with much greater courage 
 and efficiency. Still, in looking back upon it, he 
 was compelled to admit that it had been too ex- 
 hausting for his enfeebled physical condition, and 
 for the fullest recovery of mental power. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the corporation of Bates 
 College, preceding his return, he was elected pro- 
 fessor of Rhetoric and English Literature. In Oc- 
 tober following, a convention of fifty ministers in 
 'Connection with the Anniversaries at Lawrence, 
 Mass., met to urge upon him the call of the col-
 
 RESIGNATION AT PROVIDENCE. 99 
 
 lege; declaring that, "in the opinion of this con- 
 vention of ministers, it would be for the glory of 
 God for our beloved brother, Rev. G. T. Day, to 
 accept the professorship in Bates College to which 
 he has been elected ; and we respectfully recom- 
 mend the church of which he is pastor, to release 
 him for that purpose." 
 
 On the death of William Burr, for many years 
 editor and manager of the Morning Star, in No- 
 vember, 1866, attention was directed to Mr. Day as 
 his successor in the editorial chair. On the as- 
 sembling of the corporators of the Star for the pur- 
 pose of choosing a successor to the vacant post, his 
 eminent fitness for it was freely conceded, but be- 
 cause of the claims of the College, and the feeling 
 represented by the action at Lawrence, together 
 with his unreliable health, his election was not at 
 the outset secured by the requisite number of votes. 
 
 Being elected at length by a unanimous vote, the 
 Board united in asking the Roger Williams church 
 to release him from his engagement with it at once. 
 In harmony with this request, he presented his resig- 
 nation Dec. n, 1866, to take effect immediately, 
 that he might enter upon his newly chosen duties. 
 
 With great reluctance, the church accepted his 
 resignation ; waiving its claim to three months' 
 notice and labor, that no obstacle might frustrate
 
 ICQ GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 his wishes, or lie in his chosen path ; and recorded 
 its farewell in words of consideration, regret, ten- 
 derness and appreciation, as it dismissed him to the 
 wiler fellowship and service of the entire sisterhood 
 of churches. Its resolutions, having reference to 
 the event, close as follows : 
 
 " Though our judgment, generosity, gratitude 
 and faith prompt us cheerfully and hopefully to 
 consent to this separation, yet these sacred ties, ce- 
 mented by years of varied experience, in public and 
 social meetings, in our home circles, amid our high- 
 est joys and deepest sorrows, uniting us with one so 
 pure, so wise, so true as our pastor has ever proved 
 himself, can not be sundered without heart-throbs 
 too deep and strong for words to express. . . . We 
 shall ever cherish the memory of our retiring pas- 
 tor as a dear personal friend, in whose sympathies 
 and prayers we hope ever to find a place ; and we 
 desire for, and will ask God to give to him large 
 physical, social and spiritual blessings, with many 
 added years of successful Christian work." 
 
 In connection with his farewell sermon, Dec. 
 I3th, he spoke as follows : 
 
 " It is natural for me to - day to refer to my work 
 for some ten years in this pulpit, as now I step out 
 of it, perhaps finally from all pastoral work. 
 
 " Let me be understood in leaving the pulpit. 
 It is a glorious sphere, notwithstanding its perplexi- 
 ties and privations. I never prized it more than 
 to - day. Deliberately I never repented of choosing
 
 FAREWELL SERMON. IOI 
 
 it. Ambition has sometimes whispered, and trial 
 has now and then forced out a sigh for rest, and 
 hopes deferred hare begotten temporary heart - sick- 
 ness ; but to be daily busy with the great thoughts 
 which Christ has filled with inspiration, and to deal 
 with men in relation to the grandest interests that 
 pertain to them, have brought deep peace, and 
 flooded life with heavenly splendor. Judged at the 
 end of this experience, I would make the same 
 choice were I a young man to - day. I would seek 
 a fuller fitting; I would try to till out more nearly 
 my ideal through a higher work, so that I might 
 blunder less and accomplish more. There are 
 young men here to whom I commend it, and be- 
 seech them to ask if their working programme had 
 not better be made out in view of that sphere. I 
 have hesitated on that ground to accept any other 
 position for all these years ; I could not have decid- 
 ed to take the place awaiting me, but that I deemed 
 it the condition of prolonged service anywhere, and 
 as still offering the opportunity to work in the same 
 general line of Christian education. I am yet to 
 preach, not with the voice in one pulpit, but in an- 
 other way, around thousands of hearth -stones. 
 Still, as before, I count the sphere Christian, and the 
 implement the blessed Gospel. 
 
 if I have sought to make you intelligent, practical 
 Christians in your varied spheres of life. Upon a 
 genuine conversion to Christ I have insisted, as the 
 vital thing. But I have not been content with a few 
 penitential tears, nor an open profession, nor an oc-
 
 IO2 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 casional gush of feeling or a fierce flame of zeal. 
 I wanted your religion fortified by intelligence and 
 illustrated in life. And so I have spoken to the un- 
 derstanding and the conscience. 
 
 " Of the relations subsisting between us, there is 
 no need to speak here and now. It is probably 
 enough to say publicly that I have always found 
 warm hearts, kind sympathies, charitable judg- 
 ments, and whatever else contributes to make the 
 ministry turn its sunny side toward me ; have had 
 much for which I am grateful to both God and you ; 
 have not, I hope, seemed unappreciative, because 
 I have not multiplied words. I trust we understand 
 each other, by this time, well enough to enable us 
 to confide when we can not always clearly see. 
 May God reward all your kindness in the truest way 
 and the largest measure. 
 
 " I trust not one of you mingles the feeling of dis- 
 couragement with the regret which arises over my 
 departure. My work is to be made manifest. Should 
 interest abate, and fidelity lessen, on the part of 
 those who have seemed to grow up into Christian 
 character under my teaching, just because I had 
 gone, it would naturally enough awaken a doubt 
 whether the teaching itself were not radically faulty. 
 If there is now a harder task and a more self- sac- 
 rificing service, apparently, before you, you may 
 properly look upon it as God's offer of a more hero- 
 ic work, the doing of which will add to your own 
 moral nobleness. 
 
 "My pastoral work ends here; but there is no
 
 FAREWELL SERMON. IO3 
 
 danger that my sympathies will at once detach 
 themselves from the sphere and circle to which ten 
 years of significant service and experience have 
 wedded them. We shall be workers in the common 
 field still. Give to my successor the confidence and 
 co-operation which he needs, welcome his service 
 and his teaching as you have welcomed mine, and 
 there is little ground for fear that any great dearth 
 will fall upon you. 
 
 " Let us one and all hallow this day, and place, 
 and service, with a common vow that our work shall 
 henceforth be Christian, and then its manifestation 
 will be glorious ; and then we can recall our rela- 
 tionships always, with a feeling of sacred joy, 
 thanking God for the satisfaction they have yielded 
 us. 
 
 "And now, brethren, sisters, friends, farewell. 
 Be of good comfort, live in peace, and the God of 
 love and peace will surely be with you. And 
 though we thus separate, we will do it hopefully, 
 looking forward gratefully to that hour of reunion 
 when the heart shall be satisfied because it wears 
 God's likeness, and the soul joyous evermore be- 
 cause his smile is upon us, in 
 
 ' The land upon whose blissful shore 
 There rests no shadow, falls no stain ; 
 There those who meet shall part no more, 
 And those long parted meet again.'"
 
 104 
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 His correspondence was not extensive, at least not 
 in the directions which would show in an intimate 
 manner his spiritual and mental experiences. The 
 few extracts which are here given will aid in reveal- 
 ing both mind and heart. Those not otherwise 
 designated were addressed to the author : 
 
 "Nov. 4, 1858. 
 
 " I was very glad to get your letter. It 
 was just such an informal, genial, and 
 hearty epistle, as always pleases me. I do not 
 feel that you need to be very severely castigated for 
 any presumption implied in the feeling of brother!}' 
 sympathy, nor for the expression of it. You know 
 I am partially conscious of my strong individualism, 
 and rather regret some phases, developments and 
 effects of it, and so I am always glad when I find 
 anybody feeling that there is really anything like 
 real personal sympathy growing up around and for 
 me. It is not alone because of the gratification 
 which the compliment brings, but because of the 
 evidence afforded that I am really living outside of 
 and beyond myself. " 
 
 " Nov. 30, 1858. 
 
 : . " Madam Rumor is not less busy than 
 usual, and she does me the honor of utter- 
 ing my name in most ludicrous connections 
 once in a while. The latest thing I have heard is, 
 that the ' spirits' so deal with me that I cm 't sleep,
 
 LETTERS. IO5 
 
 that my pen goes belter - skelter all over the page 
 whenever I attempt to write (that was always 
 rather more than half true) , and that at length I 
 was forced to consult certain Spiritualists for relief; 
 who told me, of course, that I must yield to the 
 sacred influence or suffer 'many stripes,' and urged 
 me to leave preaching Freewill Baptist theology 
 and devote myself to the ' progressive ' gospel of 
 ' Spiritualism. ' That is seriously told for just so 
 much truth from Smith's Hill, around Market 
 Square, and out to West Providence, and as seri- 
 ously believed by some really good people. 
 
 "This is just as true as that I had learned the- 
 ology of Jupiter (the planet !), or that I had been 
 negotiating with the comet to give me a ride to the 
 Pleiades. I shall be in danger of feeling that I am 
 somebody, and that my opinions are weighty mat- 
 ters, if I am to be honored in this way much 
 longer. * Spiritualism ' I take for so much 'bosh' ! 
 and its supporters I can't help looking upon as hon- 
 est * gullibles', or covert pharisees, making lofty 
 pretensions to hide the lowest purposes. ' Quantum 
 sufficit. ' " 
 
 "Jan. 19, 1859. 
 
 "I preached an hour and a half last Sun- 
 day afternoon on Modern Spiritualism ; and 
 am rather intending to preach a shorter time next 
 Sunday afternoon, on Modern Universalism. The 
 other sermon caused some fluttering, an indication 
 perhaps that the shot took effect. Do n't think 
 Madam Rumor will repeat the charge of Spiritual- 
 ism upon me this week or next.
 
 IO6 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 " Have just received a long and strong letter 
 from Hillsdale, saying that the removal of Prof. 
 Churchill to Oberlin has led to my appointment to 
 the vacant Professorship ; and after the case is argu- 
 ed earnestly awhile, I am told that farther reasoning 
 is needless, that I must go out there, and that is the 
 end of it. I have not yet replied, and really I find 
 it difficult to decide what to reply. It would save 
 us much hard and perplexing study if we had per- 
 petual and plenary inspiration. I do n't say I think 
 it unfortunate that we have not. " 
 
 "Feb. 5, 1859. 
 
 " I preached as I proposed, on Universal- 
 ism ; not less but more than an hour and 
 a half. I have had no occasion yet to question 
 the propriety of my preaching on those two subjects, 
 nor of seriously doubting the propriety of the meth- 
 od of discussion adopted. Some of the Spiritual- 
 ists are a good deal stirred, complaining of severe 
 things said in the way of illustration, though gener- 
 ally admitting the fairness of the argument. I 
 shall not ^probably be accused of being either a 
 Spiritualist or a Universalist, this month nor next, 
 unless some new developments take place. " 
 
 " Feb. 21, 1859. 
 
 "It is in the nature of technical theo- 
 logians to be creed - hunters and creed - 
 critics. Such a class of men are needed, I 
 think ; though from some cause their ministry does 
 not awaken my envy, nor excite my admiration as 
 much as once it did. The fact is, you can't tell
 
 LETTERS. IO7 
 
 what the real theology of a denomination is by look- 
 ing over its confession of faith. The words mean 
 different things to different persons ; and besides, 
 many men assent honestly to a confession of faith 
 when their real, living, practical theology is some 
 other and some very different thing. 
 
 . . . " I have read with some sadness, some 
 merriment, and a little pity, the recent pamphlet 
 of Rev. Parsons Cooke which you sent me. I sup- 
 pose bigoted conservatives have a mission in this 
 world ; they are a sort of offset to the reckless and 
 crusading radicals which more or less abound in 
 society. Garrison and Theodore Parker on one 
 side of an equation, and Parsons Cooke and N. 
 Adams on the other, what an algebraic formula that 
 would make ! It might seem absurd, but I am not 
 sure that it might not express a good deal of deep 
 moral truth. Prof. Park's theology is far less grim 
 and savage than Cooke's, but I can 't acquiesce 
 very cordially in all the doctrines of the New 
 School party. The freedom of all men, and their 
 perfect ability to accept the provisions of the Gospel 
 and be saved, I know are points strongly asserted ; 
 but much of the significance of those statements 
 seems to me to be frittered away when it is added, 
 that, such is the depravity of all hearts, no man 
 ever did come, or can be expected to come, to Christ, 
 save as God specially and effectively influences him 
 to do so. That scheme gets rid of a difficulty in a 
 logical way ; but practically it stands very close to 
 the system it repudiates and fights. But I am writing
 
 IO8 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 a letter of theology ; a thing I do n't think it often 
 proper or needful to do. " 
 
 " March 7, 1859. 
 
 . . . " Have you seen Dr. Bushnell's recent 
 work, 'Nature and the Supernatural'? 'It is the 
 most important contribution to theological science 
 which has been recently made. It deals a powerful 
 and effective blow against the rationalism or 
 naturalism which is becoming so rife. I don 't 
 readily concur in all his definitions, nor in all his 
 points in detail ; but the main argument is full of 
 strength, and the sweep of thought is full of sub- 
 lime and Christian majesty. His portraiture of 
 Christ surpasses anything I have ever met in that 
 line, the apprehension is wonderfully deep and 
 clear, the study is that of the profound philosopher, 
 the grateful reverence is such as only a deep- 
 hearted Christian can feel. It will richly repay a 
 reading ; it will yield its large and peculiar wealth 
 only to diligent and thoughtful study. " 
 
 " PROVIDENCE, May 20, 1861. 
 "To THE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE : In view of 
 the peculiar circumstances surrounding us during 
 the present financial year, rendering it difficult to 
 meet the expenses likely to be incurred, I hereby 
 relinquish my claim to two hundred dollars of the 
 twelve, hundred dollars appropriated as salary for 
 the pastor, and ask your acceptance of the sum 
 named, in the same cordial spirit in which it is 
 tendered. It is rather a privilege than otherwise, to 
 assist in bearing the burdens which our great
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 national struggle is laying upon the people, and es- 
 pecially those which it is laying upon our own 
 Church and Society. " 
 
 " WARRENTON, VA., April 6, 1864. 
 
 "DEAR ROGER WILLIAMS SUNDAY SCHOOL: 
 Have you ever feared that I had forgotten you, 
 amid so many new and strange things? There is 
 no danger that I shall do that. I carry the picture 
 of our vestry at home, as it appears on Sunday 
 mornings, hanging all the while in my memory ; 
 and I turn to it over and over again. I remember 
 just where each teacher was accustomed to sit, and 
 the faces of many of the pupils are remembered as 
 distinctly as though I had just been singing with 
 you some 'inspiring hymn, as 'Saviour, like a 
 Shepherd lead us, ' or, * The Sunday school, that 
 blessed place. ' It always seemed a blessed place 
 to me ; and now, amid these desolations of war, 
 where Sunday schools are mostly broken up, where 
 churches are turned into barracks and hospitals, or 
 left silent and desolate, it seems to me twice blessed. 
 I have thanked God many times that the desolations 
 of war have not passed, like a destroying angel, 
 over our blessed New England. 
 
 " I can not tell you much of what I have seen, 
 within the limits of a short letter. When I say 
 that I have slept in tents ; preached in the open air 
 to a company of soldiers standing eagerly around ; 
 distributed papers, tracts and books, and spoken a 
 kindly word, to such as were cheerful to receive 
 them ; that I have helped to cook and eat not a few
 
 IIO GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 dinners in a deserted church; that I have seen 
 many hard, stubborn men, who had been careless 
 and profane for years, get up in the prayer meet- 
 ing, tell how they had remembered the prayers and 
 Sunday school lessons of their childhood, and 
 that now they were ready and determined to obey 
 the truth, and become good soldiers of Christ, 
 when I tell you that I have seen all this, you will 
 understand that it is hard to write you a letter ; not 
 because there is so little to tell you, but because 
 there is so much. 
 
 " The men have got beyond the romance of war, 
 and now feel its realities. It is not now animal ex- 
 citement that stirs them. The hour for reflection 
 has come. They are taught to despise shams, and 
 feel that the real and substantial are only worth 
 seeking. Their perils, wounds, hardships, the 
 graves of their comrades, the memories of Chris- 
 tian homes, have disposed them to receive the spe- 
 cial influences set in motion by the Commission. I 
 am sure if you could sit, as I have many times, in 
 the chapel or smaller tents, see the men rise to ex- 
 press their purpose to be Christians, listen to their 
 confessions and stories of the inward struggle, mark 
 the simplicity, fervor, directness and force of their 
 prayers, hear the straightforward words in which 
 they speak of their life as it has been, and as, with 
 God's blessing, they mean it shall be, you would 
 feel that there were depth, sincerity and power in 
 their religious life. You see little hesitation ; men 
 do not talk much for talk's sake ; but the plain, reso-
 
 LETTERS. Ill 
 
 lute, yet modest utterances of men who feel the 
 seriousness of their undertaking, and who mean, in 
 God's name, to accomplish it. 
 
 " A few nights since, at the close of a brief ser- 
 mon which I was permitted to preach, in response 
 to a simple suggestion, six men arose at once, with 
 the most calm deliberation, to express their purpose 
 to be Christians. The number is sometimes twenty 
 in a single evening. The firm, yet tender grasp of 
 their hands as they crowd up to greet the speaker, 
 and say, ' God bless you, ' makes me feel at once 
 among brothers. We know what the expression 
 means, ' one in Christ Jesus. ' 
 
 " But I must stop, leaving wholly out some most 
 touching incidents which I will keep for my return. 
 Meanwhile, let me ask you to pray much for the 
 army. " 
 
 " WARRENTON, VA., April 7, 1864. 
 
 "To THE SUNDAY EVENING MEETING. No Sun- 
 day evening has passed since I left Providence 
 without bringing me some reminders of the place 
 where I have spent so many pleasant and profitable 
 hours in conference and prayer. 
 
 " I read the same words for needed instruction 
 and comfort now, which I used to read out of the 
 Gospel with you, and they bring me the same blessing 
 as before; I lift up my prayer to the same great 
 Helper, and find his grace comes to me to minister 
 strength as I need it, just as it has for years. I 
 find no other word that reaches my heart - wants, 
 and can turn to no other mighty one who bears up
 
 112 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 my weakness with his unfailing power. I only 
 desire to trust him more fully, to realize more of his 
 influence, and to honor him with a larger service. " 
 " NORFOLK, VA., April 26, 1864. 
 
 " To MY CONGREGATION AT THE ROGER WIL- 
 LIAMS CHURCH : The lapse of time does not make 
 me forget the faces that have, on so many Sundays, 
 looked up into my own, nor beget in my heart any 
 indifference over the interests of the people who 
 call me pastor. . I think of you as my congrega- 
 tion ; you still are my flock, though for the time I 
 am compelled to commit you, in a peculiar sense, to 
 the watchful care of the Great Shepherd. So I send 
 you a letter, grateful over the privilege of speaking 
 to you at all, and desiring to say something that 
 may interest and do you good. 
 
 " Since we have had a national army in the field, 
 I have desired to see and know its character and 
 life; and since the thunderbolts of war have been 
 shivering the fetters of the slaves, I have been anx- 
 ious to witness their march into the land of their 
 patient faith and long -trusted promise. I wished 
 to understand both these matters, that I might more 
 wisely do my own personal work respecting them, 
 and aid in helping others to know and perform 
 their duty. I believe I have gained something in 
 patriotism, that I prize the cause of the Union 
 more ; and I find my abhorrence of the rebellion, as 
 a needless, selfish, wicked plot against liberty, jus- 
 tice and honor, is deeper than ever before. If I 
 have condemned slavery heretofore, as founded in
 
 LETTERS. 113 
 
 violence and outrage, paralyzing the best energies 
 and poisoning the very heart of the nation, I find 
 now that my opposition to it has been far too weak, 
 and my protests tame. If I have been lukewarm 
 heretofore, God helping me, I will endeavor to be a 
 patriot and an abolitionist hereafter. If I have not 
 preached loyalty and freedom as vital necessities in 
 the life of a nation or a man, I mean my sermons 
 shall be plain on that point when I stand in the pul- 
 pit again. If I have not pleaded for a religious 
 spirit broad and strong enough to undertake reso- 
 lutely the work of lifting our whole public life up to 
 the plane of moral and Christian principle, I hope 
 nobody may have a chance to doubt hereafter that 
 I aim at the fulfillment of the prayer ' Thy king- 
 dom come.' 
 
 . . . " There is a thoughtful, direct earnest- 
 ness in the soldier's religion. The work he 'is set 
 to do is of the decisive, practical kind ; and he 
 generally takes hold of his religious work in the 
 same way. Men in the army feel that the religion 
 which is going to do anything for them must be 
 more than a theory, a sentiment, or a pleasant ex- 
 perience. They want what will save them from 
 camp vices ; what will make God a conscious per- 
 sonal Friend in the loneliness of their nightly 
 picketing, or when tidings reach them of the desola- 
 tions death is making in their distant homes ; what 
 will come to them like a clear ' well - done ' out of 
 heaven, when leading a charge into the terrors of 
 shot and shell ; what will enable them to lean on
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 God's promise of immortal life, as though it were 
 the bosom of wife or mother, when they fall unseen 
 and unhelped, to rise no more. The veteran 
 soldiers are far more thoughtful, calm, kindly and 
 modest than the later recruits. 
 
 " I can not now speak in detail of the work of 
 the Christian Commission, but I can not help bear- 
 ing grateful record to the success which has attend- 
 ed its work. It has won the confidence, sympathy, 
 affection and good wishes of the best part of the 
 army, including both officers and men, to an 
 extent and degree that are touching to witness ; and 
 it can point to results already reached, through 
 God's blessing, which astonish those whose faith 
 was largest. Encouraging incidents, some of a 
 most touching character, are constantly occurring. 
 
 " Three days ago, I went in a detailed ambu- 
 lance "to visit several encampments, and called at 
 the camp of a battery at the extreme limit of our 
 fortifications toward Suffolk. The Lieutenant com- 
 manding was a young man, not quite twenty - one. 
 We carried papers for distribution, and asked him if 
 it would be both convenient and pleasant to have a 
 brief service. His quarters were in a large room 
 in an old dwelling-house, and he at once put that at 
 our service, and sent his sergeants to notify the men. 
 I preached twenty-five minutes to a company of per- 
 haps fifty. When the room was cleared, the officer, 
 turning his frank face toward me, said : ' Sir, I 
 want to thank you myself for this j it is the first time 
 I have heard a prayer, even, in a month.' We sat
 
 LETTERS. 115 
 
 down together, and, as if impelled by some inward 
 impulse, he gave me his story, now and then with 
 moistened eyes, and a voice full of emotion. The 
 substance of it was this : * My father is a minister 
 in northern New York. My parents have eight chil- 
 dren. ' And, pausing a moment, he added, half 
 playfully, half seriously ; * I am the worst child my 
 parents have been troubled with. I have been 
 faithfully counselled, and often prayed for, but I 
 have departed from the way so kindly and plainly 
 pointed out. I came into the army almost three 
 years ago, only seventeen years old. I expected a 
 long piece of advice, but my mother waited till I 
 had reached the door, and then only said : "My 
 son, keep your integrity, and be true to the prin- 
 ciples we have taught you." Mother writes me now 
 once in a while, though she is sixty-five years old. ' 
 He took from his drawer a sheet folded in ancient 
 style, and read me a paragraph, in which maternal 
 pride, love and anxiety had poured themselves out 
 in most touching Christian counsel. 'That's the 
 way mother writes me, ' said he, ' and perhaps you 
 can guess what kind of a mother I Ve got. Some- 
 how your prayer and the service made me want to 
 tell you this. I said I was the worst child my 
 mother has got, and I think I am. I have been 
 fully resolved to be a thoroughly moral young man. 
 I never tasted a drop of liquor, nor played a game 
 of cards, in my life ; but it is terribly hard to resist 
 sometimes. I do not know of but one commissioned 
 officer among all whom I have met, who I suppose
 
 Il6 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 refuses to drink. Among my equals the temptation 
 is n't much ; but when a superior officer, from whom 
 you have received or expect favors, asks you to 
 drink, in a tone implying that he does n't at all ex- 
 pect a refusal, that 's the hard place. But so far I 
 have kept to my mother's advice on that point, and 
 maintained my integrity. ' ' Do you feel at all that 
 being a moral man fulfills your whole duty?' I 
 asked. ' Not at all, ' he promptly answered. ' I 
 know I should have been a Christian, long ago,' 
 ' I hope to be, too,' he added, after a moment, with 
 eyes downcast, and tone subdued. I said a few 
 words as wisely as I knew how, shook hands with 
 him, and we bade each other good - bye. ' Not far 
 from the kingdom,' I said to myself as I rode away. 
 Will he step in, or walk in the opposite direction? 
 His form, face, tone and manner have haunted me 
 almost continually since. The story illustrates 
 what we meet here in the army, and sets forth the 
 power which Christian counsel at home, and the 
 letters of loving Christian friends may have. Very 
 many of the most striking cases of conversion, are 
 readily traceable to this source. 
 
 " Allow me to add, in closing, that I have asked 
 myself many times, while witnessing the decided, 
 practical piety developed amid all the disadvantages 
 of army life ; and the fervid, trustful piety which has 
 held on its way in the hearts of these freed people 
 in spite of burdens and wrongs, I have asked 
 myself what apology we can urge for our inefficient 
 type of religion, amid all the helps of New Eng-
 
 LETTERS. 117 
 
 land homes, and sanctuaries hallowed by so many 
 tokens of God's favor. And if to live without God 
 be an inexcusable sin in men who have no home 
 but the camp, and men who have no lot but that of 
 bondage, how sad must be their lot who go on to 
 the last great trial through Christian homes, Sun- 
 day schools, and churches fragrant with prayer and 
 praise, to be weighed in the balance and found 
 lacking in the vital thing? " 
 
 " Sept. 13, 1865. 
 
 " DEAR BRO. ANTHONY : I desire to express my 
 sympathy with you in this hour when the shadow 
 of another bereavement has fallen upon your home, 
 and another star been stricken from the firmament 
 of your domestic heaven.* I need say nothing re- 
 specting the amiability and interest attaching to 
 Abby's spirit, for you know and realize that as no 
 one else can ; and the thought of that adds, doubt- 
 less, to the seeming greatness of your loss. Your 
 faith does not need to be assured that she who, in 
 our earthly way of speaking, prematurely dies, does 
 really leap the sooner into the only blessed life ; for 
 you have opened your heart too many times while 
 sitting beside little, silent, cold forms, to the words 
 
 *"Were you to ask in what particular way Mr. Day had been 
 of most service to me, I should say it was in hours of trouble 
 and sorrow. While he was my pastor I buried five children ; 
 the value of words of comfort that came from him at those 
 times never can be expressed by me."* 
 
 *L. W. Anthony to the author.
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 of Jesus: ' Suffer little children' , and have found 
 too much solace in them, to distrust them now. I 
 am sure you do not so much commit your dear ones 
 to the grave as yield them to the loving care of God. 
 
 "No long story of earthly experience, however 
 sunny ; no picture of future years below, however 
 bright the coloring, can equal that single line in 
 which divine wisdom and love paint for us the life 
 of those 'little ones' who hear the Shepherd's 
 voice, and hasten to the heavenly fold : ' Their an- 
 gels do always behold the face of my Father who 
 is in Heaven.' 
 
 " All this, I know very well, can not prevent your 
 sense of bereavement being very heavy, nor render 
 your utterance of the words : ' Even so, Father,' less 
 than painful. You will repeat them with choking 
 voice, and with lips that tremble at each syllable. 
 And I can not think God would have it otherwise. 
 He has not planted tender affections in our hearts 
 and then bidden us be stoics. When the cords of 
 affection snap under the strain of bereavement, he 
 would not have us deny that we are wounded. 
 When the choicest treasures which he has lent us 
 are suddenly removed, he would not have us watch 
 their departure with careless air or with dry eyes. 
 
 "The strength of Christian faith and the complete- 
 ness of Christian submission are not seen in our tak- 
 ing affliction, such as yours, with indifference ; but 
 while the agony is keen and the eye blind with 
 tears, to be able to say : The Lord gave, and the 
 Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the
 
 LETTERS. lip 
 
 Lord,' that tests our confidence and tells whether 
 * the Lord is our refuge, a very present help in 
 trouble.' The submission that costs, is specially 
 dear to him who makes bearing the cross the proof 
 of discipleship and the condition of his favor. 
 
 " You were sure to lose your little child, Abby, 
 even if she had not left you in this form. Her art- 
 lessness, her wondering questions, merry prattle, 
 winsome, childish ways and words, the freshness 
 of her thoughts and feelings which made Spring 
 abide through the whole year in your house, 
 these things which made her your little child, you 
 could not have kept save in memory, and there you 
 are sure to keep them now. ... If the heart had 
 kept up its beating, do you think that there could 
 have been any transition to another state on earth, 
 that could satisfy your human love and your Chris- 
 tian ambition for her, like this which makes the 
 beauty and the brightness of her earthly childhood 
 ripen into the eternal youth and glory of the heav- 
 enly life? 
 
 . . . * God is your 'loving Father' now, not less, 
 but even more than when the seats at your right 
 and left hands at the table were filled by the dear 
 ones whose presence so lighted your home, though 
 he seems the * terrible avenger.' Nearer than at any 
 other time does he come to us when the streams of 
 human comfort ran low ; his ministries are richest 
 when other help is unavailing. You have not un- 
 frequently, I am sure, felt to be deeply and glori- 
 ously true, the lines of Cowper :
 
 I2O GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 ' Behind a frowning Providence 
 He hides a smiling face.' 
 
 I think the last line would better express the 
 truth if it read : 
 
 ' He keeps a smiling face.' 
 
 " Have you never thought how special are the 
 pains God has taken to speak his best words to the 
 smitten, and what an unequivocal bearing that most 
 blessed of Christ's utterances has : ' Come unto me, 
 all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will 
 give you rest ' ? 
 
 " God's love may also be discerned in giving an 
 assurance that the dear departed ones find the real 
 home for which all healthy human souls have at 
 times an unutterable longing ; and also in making 
 them go before us to invest the heavenly world with 
 real home aspects, so that we go to it not as stran- 
 gers, but to find a familiar circle and mode of life. 
 You could not have made your earthly home so at- 
 tractive but that the members of your household 
 would have felt the complete idea of a home unreal- 
 ized on earth. They would have felt at times strong 
 yearnings for the eternal house not made with 
 hands ; or if not, the absence of such a look upward 
 would have been to you a deeper grief. 
 
 "They are going, early, indeed, but over a 
 road less thorny because they go early; they are 
 far less likely to miss the way than if the path ran 
 through the wilderness and among the temptations 
 of a long road ; they are going to take their places
 
 LETTERS. 121 
 
 around the board where you may find the seats at 
 your side never vacant, and the occupants never 
 unsatisfied with the glorious life. Is he not ' a lov- 
 ing Father * who comes to light up bereavements, 
 which are inevitable, with such beams of promise, 
 and such stars of hope ? . . . I thank God that your 
 affection has brightened the dewy path over which 
 your five children have passed from the morning of 
 earth to the land upon whose celestial glory no 
 night comes down." 
 
 " LONDON, ENG., Dec. 12, 1865. 
 " DEAR BRO. ANTHONY : I wish you could look 
 in upon us to - night. Three of us sit around a table 
 in a finely furnished private parlor, in the Stevens 
 Hotel, just off from Bond St., about half way be- 
 tween Oxford St. and Piccadilly. Before the grate, 
 where a pleasant fire is glowing, are plush easy- 
 chairs, and the polished fender waits for your slip- 
 pered feet, where you may toast them first into 
 warmth, next into luxury, and last into dreams of 
 home ; so that you will seem to see the distant 
 faces both of the dead and the living shining out 
 through the ruddy flame, and hear the voices that 
 once made music about other hearths coming back in 
 the street cries that ring in the distance on the night 
 air. At the back side of the apartment is a vacant 
 lounge where you can relax all the muscles at once, 
 and find a deepened meaning crowding itself into 
 the precious word rest. On the dressing - table 
 is a little Bible, bought in Providence three weeks 
 ago, and the Psalm we would read by candle-light
 
 122 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 would be not less comforting because it had been 
 carried over the sea; the subdued petition with 
 which we should put our souls into the Great Keep- 
 er's care, would go up by as short and sure a road 
 to Heaven from the new closet as from the old. 
 And I have just ordered breakfast at 8 1-2 in the 
 morning, here in this room ; the bill of fare to 
 consist of fried fish, baked potatoes, omelet, dipped 
 toast, baked apples and tea. I will secure you the 
 seat just before the grate, give you the second cut 
 from the tail of the flounder, and put two lumps of 
 sugar into your cup. Will you come? If you hes- 
 itate now, I shall give it up, for I have exhausted 
 the argument and plied you with all the motives ! 
 
 " But I only write you a word, to tell you, thus 
 playfully, that my heart goes across the ocean at a 
 bound, and that to see you to-night would be a rare 
 pleasure. Such a pleasure is, I hope, yet in store 
 for us. Am resting and rallying go to Paris in a 
 day or two." 
 
 "CAIRO, EGYPT, Feb. 17, 1866. 
 
 "DEAR BRO. ANTHONY: I got your letter at 
 Alexandria. Wandering so far from home, seeing 
 scarcely any faces but strange ones, and hearing 
 the music of my mother tongue but rarely, I am in 
 a condition to prize anything which helps to picture 
 the life and bring to the ear of my fancy the tones 
 which have so often and so largely blessed me on 
 another continent. I am very glad to learn of the 
 general steadfastness, interest and prosperity in our 
 church circle at home. It would be a rare privi-
 
 LETTERS. 123 
 
 lege to step in and share even the simplest, the 
 briefest and the most ordinary of your services." 
 
 " LONDON, June 29, 1866. 
 
 " DEAR BRO. ANTHONY: I need not tell you 
 how grateful it has been to me to learn of the relig- 
 ious prosperity which has been shared by the Roger 
 Williams congregation, Sunday school and church 
 in connection with Bro. Perkins's* labors, and the 
 labors of God's people. There is no joy like that 
 which springs from the triumph of the Gospel in the 
 field to which the strongest sympathies of the heart 
 are daily turning. I trust that the religious life is 
 to deepen, strengthen, rise and grow, year by year. 
 And I trust, too, that besides the fidelity which has 
 aided to win so many young disciples to Jesus, there 
 is being and will still be employed the gracious wis- 
 dom and divinely -taught skill, which organizes 
 and trains these new forces for a high, steady, con- 
 sistent, effective service in the great Master's vine- 
 yard. I hope to find when I get back that the yoke 
 of the Master is not only assumed but worn, that 
 behind every good profession a genuine life is 
 throbbing, that each name stands for a real and 
 felt force, to which every day and deed makes an 
 addition. 
 
 "I regret very much the necessity of being ab- 
 sent from Covenant Meeting. May the blessing of 
 God be with you in your gathering, and your hearts 
 burn within you, while you talk of Christ and his 
 
 * liev. C. S. Perkins, who performed pulpit and pastoral service with the 
 church during Mr. Day's absence.
 
 124 
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 grace, as it has been given to your hearts. Good 
 things and great are in store for you ; open the heart 
 freely and let them flow in.. For myself, I feel anx- 
 ious to be a truer Christian and a wiser and more 
 faithful minister. I am sometimes oppressed with a 
 sense of my own weakness and inefficiency ; but 
 Christ is my source of hope, and his promises my 
 never failing fountain of joy. I have pledged him 
 my heart and life, and I am only anxious to redeem 
 the pledge. My church relations seem full of sa- 
 credness, and there is no word of our Covenant 
 but I would renewedly accept. 
 
 " I am longing for two things : A church where 
 every member is a loving, willing, faithful worker ; 
 and the coming of many souls to Christ and to us. 
 My heart is deeply drawn out for this last blessing, 
 and I trust many of you are praying and laboring 
 for it. I can not feel satisfied without seeing some 
 fruit spring up under our labors." 
 
 " DAMASCUS, SYRIA, April 17, 1866. 
 
 " I am here at the easternmost point of my 
 tour. I do not always realize that I am sev- 
 eral thousands of miles from R. I. I have now 
 been so long among these orientals, and their phases 
 of life come so much as a matter of course, that the 
 sense of strangeness has largely worn off, and this 
 part of the world appears human and not wholly 
 unhomelike. Yet I shall leave it without great re- 
 luctance, and the idea of getting back to civiliza- 
 tion is agreeable. 
 
 " Without exaggeration I may say that I have
 
 LETTERS. 125 
 
 enjoyed this tour. I had longed to see these old 
 lands from my boyhood ; and so to see them has 
 been a prized privilege. Perhaps, too, I do not 
 count the blessing smaller that I have taken this 
 survey in the comparative maturity of thought and 
 life, when reflection is calm and active, though fan- 
 cy is less busy and buoyant ; when, if I have felt 
 less intensely, I may have thought more practically. 
 Besides, I am not much haunted by the idea or 
 feeling that I ought to be at work in the world, in- 
 stead of inspecting it for my own gratification ; 
 seeing that I am here because such recreation ap- 
 peared to be the only road to useful service in the 
 future. And, though I can never be quite satisfied 
 to tax the generosity even, which takes pleasure in 
 giving, there has often seemed to be a kind of 
 affectional sanctity thrown over this whole tour, by 
 the remembrance of what was done at Lewiston and 
 elsewhere, in the way of lifting me from my attitude 
 of waiting and doubt, and setting me at once 
 among the scenes that are so memorable and hal- 
 lowed." 
 
 " INVERNESS, SCOTLAND, July 31, 1866. 
 "DEAR BRO. ANTHONY: You probably want 
 some specific statement about health. I can not tell 
 the whole story in a brief letter, and need not. But 
 I have worked as hard, steadily and conscientiously 
 for physical vigor as I have been wont to work for 
 spiritual results. I have resolutely put down the 
 doubt which would keep coming up, whether my 
 physical life was really worth fighting such a
 
 126 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 long, earnest, expensive, sometimes painful, some- 
 times weary and doubtful battle. For I had gone 
 into the fight for life, and there is something in me 
 which hates to give up when I have once fairly en- 
 tered the lists. In that spirit I have been planning 
 and doing since I came abroad, in a general way 
 subordinating many other things to this. 
 
 " My life must henceforth be more even, if it is to 
 be capable of anything ; I must husband my 
 strength, take counsel of prudence, and heed the 
 remonstrances of my fretting nerves. My frailties 
 are absolutely stronger than my determination ; and 
 the careful study of myself and symptoms during 
 these past months compels the conviction, wheth- 
 er I would or not, that to be tough and enduring 
 is henceforth impossible."
 
 IV. 
 EDITORIAL LIFE. 
 
 1866 1875. 
 
 His election to the editorship of the Morning 
 Star, Dec. 6, 1866, was followed at once by his ac- 
 ceptance, but not without expressed apprehension 
 as to its wisdom, and reluctance from considerations 
 of health. On the latter account, he did not hesitate 
 to say that his long continuance of service was quite 
 doubtful. 
 
 His editorial salutatory appeared in the issue of 
 Dec. i pth, in which he says : 
 
 " Calmly, prayerfully, trustfully as I can, I ac- 
 cept the position. I need co-operation, and expect 
 it; I desire a true success, and do not despair of it. 
 Is that presumption? , 
 
 " I have no new plans to propose to - day, and no 
 large pledges for the future to give. The Star has 
 acquired a character and a moral position. They
 
 128 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 are definite, and have cost not a little. I trust 
 neither will be sacrificed or impaired. Some of the 
 noblest of our dead and the best of our living have 
 put their richest qualities and their most heroic pur- 
 poses into its life; it would be a grief and a 
 shame to barter away lightly what we have gained 
 at such a cost. If they be new voices that speak 
 through its columns hereafter, I trust it will not be 
 difficult to detect the clear ring of other days. 
 
 " The Star will, therefore, continue to speak for 
 and in the name of the denomination, whose organ 
 it has been from the first, while allowing, as hereto- 
 fore, a reasonable latitude for the expression of indi- 
 vidual opinion ; and so seek to promote at once uni- 
 ty and liberty. It will plead for temperance and 
 freedom; it will take the liberty of criticising public 
 measures, especially in view of their moral bearings ; 
 and it will lift up its voice -for the regeneration of 
 the state as well as for the consecration of the 
 church. While especially aiming at the supremacy 
 of a sound and vital religious faith in the spiritual 
 sphere, it will not stand quietly by and see that faith 
 contemned and crucified in the secular. The relig- 
 ion which it advocates will still include both the first 
 and second commandments. i 
 
 "It is a time when Christ's disciples are called to 
 be Christian citizens, and to define that duty will 
 constitute a part of the service which is to be under- 
 taken here. The Star will not cease to assert the 
 rightful supremacy of true religion always and ev- 
 erywhere. It is quite time that the heresy which
 
 RECEPTION AT DOVER. I2p 
 
 divorces politics from Christianity were buried out 
 of sight. The Gospel has many more precepts for 
 week - day life than for Sunday worship. 
 
 *' Brethren, Friends, Readers, I salute you all. 
 Sorrowing with you over the great bereavement 
 which has fallen upon us, sharing your gratitude 
 over the great blessing which God has vouchsafed 
 us in the long and consecrated service of him who 
 built his life into the F. Baptist denomination and 
 left it as his vital monument, anxious to join you in 
 carrying forward to completeness the enterprises 
 which owed so much to his clear head and good 
 heart, I take his vacant chair with human trem- 
 bling, but enter upon these duties with Christian 
 hope. I beg your most fervent prayers. I pledge 
 my best service." 
 
 His name had long been familiar in Dover, and 
 his abilities held in high esteem. His coming was 
 greeted with lively expressions of satisfaction. His 
 subsequent participation in municipal affairs was 
 much less than was desired by his fellow citi- 
 zens. He served upon the School Board for several 
 years ; and for one term represented Dover in the 
 legislature, where he was chairman of the commit- 
 tee on the State Normal School. At one time during 
 the session the school would have failed to receive 
 an important and needed appropriation but for a 
 speech which he delivered in its behalf. He was 
 President of its board of trustees for some time pre-
 
 130 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 vious to his removal from the State. He declined 
 a second nomination as representative. The honor, 
 never before conferred upon a citizen, of an invita- 
 tion to lecture in the regular city course, was ac- 
 corded him. He twice appeared as a lecturer, and 
 with an acceptability second to none other. 
 
 He was warmly welcomed at the office of the 
 Morning Star. To his kindly, courteous bearing 
 was yielded not only the favor, but the veneration 
 even, of those employed in connection with the pa- 
 per. Thenceforth to the end, he imparted needful 
 instruction with patience ; suggestions were made 
 with kindliness ; words of encouragement and help- 
 fulness, and genial qualities of mind and heart made 
 his presence full of endearing, elevating influences. 
 
 His work in the writing of editorials and book 
 notices, was performed with great celerity and ac- 
 curacy never being rewritten, nor bearing marks 
 of correction, except an occasional changing of 
 a word. His quick, exact eye enabled him to cor- 
 rect a proof with surprising rapidity. He was able 
 to seize without difficulty upon that which was re- 
 tainable in a manuscript, and to decide readily upon 
 its merits.* 
 
 His book notices in the Star were, perhaps, as 
 extensively used by publishers in their circulars and 
 
 *Bev. J. M. Brewster.
 
 EDITORIAL LIFE. 
 
 advertisements as those of any other religious jour- 
 nal. Unusually just and discriminating in this fa- 
 vorite part of his work, careful to commend excel- 
 lences as well as to note defects, he was known as 
 an able and appreciative critic. His thorough ap- 
 preciation by publishers is strongly testified by nu- 
 merous letters addressed to him personally, by the 
 quality and variety of books sent him, and the fre- 
 quent quotations made from his reviews. "I re- 
 garded him as singularly fitted to sit in judgment 
 upon the productions of young aspirants in the field 
 of literature. He was sensitive and genial, yet 
 scholarly and critical in all his tastes and acquisi- 
 tions. He had a disposition to see all the good 
 qualities of an author, and yet his high standard 
 of excellence be held to with tenacity." * 
 
 In 1867, Mr. Daniel Lothrop, then of Dover, pro- 
 posed to publish Sunday school books in connec- 
 tion with the F. B. Printing Establishment. The 
 Corporators received the proposition with favor and 
 referred it to a committee of which Mr. Day was 
 chairman. Forty - four books were published under 
 this arrangement, bringing upon him a very large 
 amount of literary labor. He examined and revised 
 all the manuscript of these volumes and read the 
 proof. He also revised other manuscripts for the 
 
 *J. E. Ilunkin, D. D.
 
 132 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 press of Messrs. Lothrop & Co., whose books 
 bear the finishing touch of his literary criticism, and 
 exhibit the results of his appreciative taste. 
 
 With Drs. Lincoln of Newton, and Rankin of 
 Washington, he examined manuscripts and decided 
 the awards in connection with both the $500 and 
 the $1000 prize series. 
 
 Meeting in this matter of business as comparative 
 strangers, the acquaintance ripened into mutual es- 
 teem and friendship. Both these members of the 
 committee speak with admiration of Dr. Day's ge- 
 nial, companionable qualities and literary ability. 
 The close of their joint labors was followed by a 
 dinner, at which much good humor prevailed. ' 
 
 " He was patient and minute in -his examination 
 and statement of the qualifies of manuscripts offered 
 for publication. His preferences were generally 
 for those which had delicate thought exquisitely ex- 
 pressed, rather than for those which, though hav- 
 ing more feeling and action, were destitute of the 
 sensitiveness and the finish which he exacted. He 
 seemed to enter into the sympathies and intent 
 of an author more fully than any other critic I have 
 known. '** 
 
 Having been, since 1850, a special contributor of 
 the Star, and, since 1863, one of the Corporators, 
 
 *Mr. D. Lothrop.
 
 EDITORIAL LIFE. 133 
 
 and actively and prominently connected with its lit- 
 erary management, he was prepared to enter 
 efficiently at once upon its more intimate direction. 
 Under his impulse and care, it soon exhibited a 
 higher intellectual character, superior taste, and 
 more of general accuracy and ability. 
 
 His editorials took a wide, comprehensive, intelli- 
 gent range ; grappling with sturdy questions of na- 
 tional politics and public morals ; defending some 
 needful reform, or asking that reform be inaugu- 
 rated ; extolling some public charity or private mu- 
 nificence ; pleading for a high and true secular and 
 Christian education ; aiming to extend brotherly 
 kindness and charity ; stimulating and encouraging 
 the ministry and churches : speaking words of ten- 
 derness fitted for a child's heart, or breathing expe- 
 riences full of comfort to the aged saint ; always 
 Christian, always patriotic and firm in utterance, 
 nurturing faith, heroism and patience. It was ap- 
 parent that his political preferences were Republi- 
 can, it was equally apparent that he was not a 
 partisan. He grasped intelligently and fairly in his 
 discussions, the position and spirit of the various re- 
 ligious bodies, and presented with clearness the 
 meaning and character of religious movements. 
 
 Testimonials to the worth and acceptability of the 
 Star, from sources beyond its usual constituency,
 
 134 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 multiplied on every hand, and were continued year 
 by year during his editorship. The business mana- 
 ger of a large religious publication house said : " I 
 read Dr. Day's editorials with more pleasure than 
 those of any other religious paper." From the 
 Congregationalist, the Watchman and Reflector, 
 the Advance, the Independent * and other religious 
 weeklies, and also from the higher class of secular 
 journals came high and appreciative words of en- 
 comium, commending the literary management of 
 the Star as that of a first class paper, distinguished 
 by its catholicity and fairness, the ability and ac- 
 complishments of its editor. A subscriber writes : 
 "Though a Baptist minister for over thirty years, 
 of the true, old apostolic, line, yet I like the spirit 
 of your paper. I like it because you stand up fair- 
 ly, frankly, honestly ; expressing your own views 
 without double dealing, or an effort to hover every 
 saint called a Baptist." 
 
 He gave to the Star from the outset the deepest 
 devotion, and it was always the object of his intense 
 love. He was greatly pained by any seeming lack 
 of interest or appreciation by its patrons. As he in- 
 sisted upon courtesy, fairness, good -will in himself, 
 he expected the exhibition of like qualities in others. 
 He was ambitious that the Star should be the expo- 
 nent of Christian love and helpfulness. One day
 
 EDITORIAL LIFE. 135 
 
 when he was ill in the office, and was talking of the 
 needs and interests of the Establishment, he was 
 asked : " What shall we put into the Star to make 
 it the best possible?" In reply, he said: "Put all 
 the sweetness, bravery, helpfulness and sacrifice of 
 the dear Redeemer into every issue of it. Nothing 
 else is worth the pain it costs or the interests in- 
 volved." He endeavored to make it subserve the 
 fullest interests of the denomination, and fairly rep- 
 resent its spirit and aims. 
 
 In his editorial of Dec. 31, 1873, he exhibits the 
 kind of ministry which he would have the Star per- 
 form : 
 
 " With this number, the forty - eighth volume of 
 the Star reaches its close. We hope its visits to 
 many homes have not been without satisfactions 
 and benefits. We trust it has carried some light to 
 perplexed readers, help to those who were in need 
 of spiritual quickening, courage, comfort and joy to 
 the hearts that were pressed by the burdens and 
 discouragements that life is almost sure to bring. 
 If it has helped perplexed minds into clearer views 
 of truth and duty, strengthened and lifted moral 
 and Christian purpose, cheered fainting hearts so 
 that they have been readier to take up their appoint- 
 ed work and carry it on patiently and trustfully, 
 borne healing influences to smitten and wounded 
 souls, taught bravery and trustfulness to the fearful 
 and anxious, aided bereaved ones to put fresh
 
 136 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 meaning into the sentence, 'Thy will be done,' 
 brought light through the shadows that hang over 
 the grave, and made the better land and life seem 
 nearer, more real and more precious to the soul, 
 if it has done these things, and such as these, it has 
 served the ends that stand in our thought, and satis- 
 fy our ambition above all others. For these results 
 we chiefly labor and pray, and the evidence that 
 they are reached in any good measure brings back 
 an encouragement and a gladness such as nothing 
 else yields. 
 
 " We are painfully conscious that our own service 
 has been too much lacking in the wisdom and devo- 
 tion that are always so needful ; but there has been 
 a measure of satisfaction in honestly trying to serve 
 the great cause which is so dear to the heart of God 
 and so vitally related to the welfare of men. We 
 end the year's work with a humble and glad trust, 
 and ask the great Helper's aid, for ourselves and 
 our readers, that the future may be nobler and bet- 
 ter than the past." 
 
 Again, with its first issue from Boston, Jan. 6, 
 1875 : " We wish it to serve the great end of en- 
 larging the plans, cementing the hearts and uniting 
 the efforts of those who are laboring together with 
 God for the highest welfare of men." 
 
 He adopted the rule of spending eight hours 
 daily, in the office. How he actually wrought 
 meanwhile, and his habits there, are best revealed
 
 EDITORIAL LIFE. 137 
 
 by one who was intimately associated with him in 
 editorial management for five years : 
 
 "What impresses me most, and that which comes 
 to my mind first in thinking of him, was his singu- 
 lar persistence in work. He kept himself in the 
 office quite as many hours as almost any one else in it. 
 Eight o'clock in summer and nine in winter usually 
 found him at his desk, and excepting the scant hour 
 that he generally allowed himself for dinner, there 
 he sat until about half- past six in the evening. 
 
 " He never stood, except now and then to walk 
 across the room once or twice in a pre-occupied 
 way, as if still carrying on the work in which he 
 had been engaged at the desk, and there he would 
 soon be found again wholly absorbed in work, as 
 though there were no time for respite. This was 
 especially noticeable when he was ill. At those 
 times when we knew him to be suffering severely, 
 he rigidly adhered to his usual habits of work. He 
 seemingly never ceased working for a moment out 
 of any disposition to yield to pain or any fear of the 
 probable consequences of overwork. It was only 
 when pain and illness actually conquered him, that 
 he seemed at all to yield." 
 
 For some time previous to his election as editor of 
 the Morning Star, the establishing of another de- 
 nominational paper, to be issued from some favor- 
 able locality in the West, had been seriously pro- 
 posed. Western brethren of influence urged his 
 acceptance of the position with the declaration that
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 it would be hailed with greater satisfaction at the 
 West than that of any other who could be appointed. 
 He was, moreover, assured by them that in the event 
 of his acceptance, the West would probably unite 
 with the East in making one strong paper. Such a 
 consummation was earnestly hoped for by many, 
 and the prospect of it had no little effect upon his 
 decision. But before he had fairly entered the new 
 sphere it was ascertained that western Free Bap- 
 tists, generally, could not be satisfied except by the 
 establishment of a paper under their control and 
 within their jurisdiction ; and that decisive prelimi- 
 nary steps had already been taken. 
 
 He was greatly disappointed by the final result, 
 but, endeavoring to yield his own convictions to the 
 opinions of others in whose judgment he reposed 
 great confidence, he worked on hopefully. Al- 
 though he never for a moment believed that two 
 papers would be as well for the denomination as 
 one paper well sustained, with a strong western as 
 well as eastern representation in its corporate and 
 editorial management, yet, when it was obvious 
 that his wishes could not be realized, he disinterest- 
 edly and heartily strove to make the two papers as 
 strong and valuable as possible. 
 
 The Conference at Buffalo, N. Y., in 1868, de- 
 cided to appropriate a considerable portion of the
 
 GENERAL CONFERENCE AT BUFFALO. 139 
 
 funds of the Printing Establishment to encourage 
 the continuance of the denominational paper already 
 published in Chicago, and also to aid in the start- 
 ing of a third paper in New York. 
 
 When the Committee on Publications, of which 
 Dr. Day was a member, by its majority recom- 
 mended the above action, he prepared a minority 
 report, but after brief thought concluded to withhold 
 it. He was opposed to the action of Conference on 
 the ground that the local and general objects 
 which were proposed to be gained, could be better 
 secured "by an earnest effort of all parties to add 
 patronage and power to the papers already estab- 
 lished, than by calling another into existence." In 
 the minority report, found among his papers, he 
 says further : 
 
 " The patronage which on the most hopeful view 
 may be looked for, is not adequate to sustain three 
 papers respectably. One or more of them will be 
 in serious danger of sinking into a weakness that 
 holds on to life only by a desperate struggle to keep 
 out of the grave. 
 
 " We have not the needed supply of men and 
 mind that can be spared from other spheres to make 
 three papers either a credit to the ability of the de- 
 nomination, a stimulant and an educator to the 
 young who are growing up among us, or a real 
 power in society. A weak periodical literature, at
 
 140 
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 such a time as this, is what we can not afford to 
 send abroad to represent us. Quality is more vital 
 than quantity. 
 
 " Thfe establishment of this number of papers, 
 through such appropriations, will almost certainly 
 cut off the resources of the Printing Establishment 
 so that it can no longer appropriate funds to the 
 great benevolent and religious undertakings of the 
 denomination ; it is liable to leave us without the 
 means to defray the expense of our general denomi- 
 national work, or to aid in the execution of impor- 
 tant plans in the future. 
 
 " This scattering of the funds, for the purpose of 
 exalting and putting vigor into so many measures 
 and projects that are local and sectional rather than 
 general and denominational, will, in our judgment, 
 tend to weakness and disintegration rather than to 
 that unity and working Christian strength with- 
 out which our record is likely to be one of partial 
 success, of blighted hopes, of unfulfilled promises 
 and mortifying failures." 
 
 He was never after satisfied with his passive posi- 
 tion and inaction over this question, and endeavored 
 as far as possible to obviate their effect. 
 
 An arrangement made by the Printing Establish- 
 ment in 1870, to maintain an office of the Star in 
 New York, did not fully meet his approval, yet, on 
 most accounts he believed it wisest, and honorably 
 and faithfully complied with the conditions involved 
 in it.
 
 VISIT AT THE WEST. 14! 
 
 Under the direction of the Executive Committee of 
 the Establishment, in the summer of 1873, he visited 
 the West. "You are going for rest, I presume," 
 said a friend to him, on the eve of his departure. 
 "Not at all," he replied; "but for earnest, hard 
 work." This he did in Yearly and in Quarterly 
 Meetings, and in other gatherings, as well as in 
 private. He did it for the closer cementing of the 
 denomination. Performed at a time of year unfa- 
 vorable for endurance, it nearly broke down both 
 mind and body ; but it was done out of love for the 
 people of his choice. He went, it is true, as the 
 representative of the interests of the Morning Star, 
 but seeking higher than any local ends, he went es- 
 pecially as the representative of the policy and 
 spirit of the denomination, of which the Star was 
 only the exponent. 
 
 Each step of his tour through the West was 
 marked by address, or lecture, or some effort of im- 
 portant and acceptable character. His presence in- 
 spired new confidence in our general denomination- 
 al work, and, besides greatly endearing him to our 
 people of the West, bound West to East in stronger, 
 more vital bonds, by the golden threads of his elo- 
 quence, furnished it new and fuller drawings of 
 brotherly love from the magnetic impulses of his 
 broad and genial spirit. A needed proof was given
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 by his visit, of the sympathy and cordial co - opera- 
 tion of the eastern portion of the denomination with 
 the efforts, toward upbuilding and prosperity, 
 by the western. 
 
 He was obliged to be absent from the office 
 from one to three months each year, on account of 
 sickness. Such discouragements arose from this 
 source that he often spoke of giving up his work 
 altogether. The routine of editorial life was at 
 times irksome, too stereotyped for his ambition, 
 and too confining for his health, and he was not 
 disinclined to listen to requests for his labors in 
 other spheres. This was specially true at the time 
 both of his first and his second election to the 
 Presidency of Hillsdale College. 
 
 *' In some respects he wished to go to Hillsdale ; 
 in other respects he feared to go. Some of the 
 firmest friends of the College, and who did 
 most to secure his election, said to me last summer : 
 ' We are glad Dr. Day did not come. The expec- 
 tations in regard to his work were so high, that no 
 man could meet them ; he must have disappointed 
 them, after doing a hundred per cent, better than 
 any other man, and the consequent loss of interest 
 and confidence would have distressed him.' I have 
 no doubt that this view of the matter, in connection 
 with the decided wish of the Corporators to retain 
 him, led to a negative decision. "* 
 
 *Kev. I. D. Stewart.
 
 CHANGES IN THE MORNING STAR. 143 
 
 In his annual report to the Board of Corporators 
 in 1867, he presented and urged the matter of en- 
 largement of the Morning Star, asking that all 
 questions involved, especially that of expense, 
 be thoroughly and minutely considered. This 
 change would involve increased expenditures in a 
 number of ways, besides in the important items of 
 a larger press and additional room. The Board de- 
 cided to purchase the other half of the Morning 
 Star building, owned by the Washington Street 
 church, remodel and enlarge it, buy a new press, 
 and change the form and size of the Star from 
 folio to quarto. The expense of these exten- 
 sive, radical changes was $26,000. 
 
 The removal of the Star from Dover to some 
 larger and more central city had been agitated, 
 more or less, for twenty years previous to the death 
 of Mr. Burr. Soon after Dr. Day became editor, 
 inquiries were instituted afresh in respect to the 
 feasibility of removal ; they were continued from 
 year to year, there appearing meanwhile " no suffi- 
 cient encouragement to justify any recommenda- 
 tion. " In 1873, he was very anxious for removal, 
 and accordingly a committee was appointed which 
 reported at great length at a special meeting, April 
 15, 1874. Boston was selected as the place to 
 which the Star should be removed as soon as prac-
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 ticable. In September following, it was decided that 
 the editorial office should be removed previous to 
 January i, and the mechanical and business depart- 
 ments the next spring. 
 
 At the meeting of April 15, as he was but par- 
 tially convalescent from an illness of several weeks 
 duration, he was granted leave of absence until the 
 annual meeting in September. The last ten weeks 
 of this vacation were spent chiefly in Nova Scotia. 
 As we remember the experiences awaiting him, his 
 speedy decline and close of life, it is a melancholy 
 pleasure to see him coming back from the healing 
 ministry of nature, with stronger pulses and a more 
 resolute will, with the closing words of his last 
 letter from the woods : 
 
 " To-day I set my face homeward. I shall long 
 keep in memory what I can not now put into words, 
 the beautiful scenery, the agricultural prosperity 
 and wealth, and the pleasant social and Christian 
 fellowship offered to eye and heart along the banks 
 of this noble river of St. John. And now for the 
 home that awaits me, and for the broader plans and 
 higher work that plead for what is truest in my 
 heart, wisest in my brain and strongest in my 
 hands." 
 
 It was no freak of enthusiasm when he confi- 
 dently said, on returning: ""I feel like going on 
 bravely, and do not see why I may not do hearty
 
 GIRDING ANEW FOR WORK. 145 
 
 work for twenty years more." New plans awaited 
 his direction, and he would richly develop them ; 
 new hopes animated him, and a fresh courage put 
 languor and weakness at bay. 
 
 In his formal report to the Corporators, at the 
 annual meeting in September, he says : "The rest has 
 been very serviceable and grateful to me, as I have 
 steadily and conscientiously devoted myself to 
 health - seeking. I meant one thing rest and rec- 
 reation ; and in some measure I have won it. The 
 tone of the general system has not been better for 
 seven years, and the brain has been rested into 
 comparative quietude^and comfort. I am certainly 
 hopeful for the future, as I am grateful for the past 
 and present." That these gains might be confirmed 
 and made enduring, another month was added to 
 his respite from editorial labor. The result was 
 gratifying and hopeful. 
 
 The newly gained strength was made subject to 
 another and unexpected draft. He grasped, in 
 mind and heart, as that " higher work " and those 
 " broader plans," the infusing of new vitality into 
 the Morning Star, making it a greater and more 
 welcome power for good, as it should be issued 
 from its new home. But he faltered in weakness 
 upon the threshold of the new enterprise, and his 
 hands fell in feebleness just as the joyfully antici-
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 pated work asked for efficient inauguration and 
 prosecution. 
 
 The F. Baptist General Conference assembled in 
 Providence, R. I., Oct. 7, 1874. During the ses- 
 sion, Dr. Day served as chairman of the Committee 
 on Education, addressed the Free Baptist Woman's 
 Mission Society, and met frequent demands, made 
 in a general way, upon his time and strength. 
 These usual burdens he had been able to bear with 
 usual success, but when to them was added the 
 long confinement connected with the sessions of the 
 Committee on Publications, and his labors, arising 
 from the discussion of issues involved in its re- 
 port before the Conference labors made addition- 
 ally severe from his anxiety to maintain a fair and 
 impartial position his strength gave way ; and as 
 the audience rose to sing the parting hymn, he fell 
 into the arms of his friends in nervous spasms. 
 
 We need, perhaps, refer to that discussion only 
 to say that his views and position were freely, 
 frankly stated, with courtesy and dignity, to the 
 Conference, and subsequently, through the columns 
 of the Star, to the public. If the labor and aliena- 
 tions, arising directly or indirectly from that dis- 
 cussion, were too severe for his physical strength 
 and sensitive spirit, he never allowed any word of 
 complaint or censure to escape him.
 
 DISCUSSION AT GENERAL CONFERENCE. 147 
 
 Not only was he anxious during the discussions 
 to avoid any utterance or the exhibition of any spirit 
 calculated to wound or estrange, but he was equal- 
 ly anxious, in his subsequent reports and comments 
 in the Star, to exhibit impartiality, truthfulness and 
 fairness. Repeatedly, and in the most noticeable 
 manner, in the weeks following, did he earnestly 
 request his friends to state to him their impres- 
 sions in respect to the form and spirit with which 
 his statements in the Star seemed to be attended, 
 always expressing an eager desire to suitably atone 
 for any failure in kindliness and fairness, should 
 any appear. 
 
 Nor were his efforts in the Conference, in con- 
 nection with the report of the Committee on Publi- 
 cations, the offspring of the moment's resolve and 
 purpose ; it was no personal caprice that compacted 
 his utterances and directed his argument, but the 
 impulsion of his love for the interests of his denom- 
 ination, and of his unquenchable devotion to them. 
 He felt that the time had come for a masterly and 
 thorough defense, a vindication and an upholding 
 of the policy and interests of the denomination, as 
 he clearly apprehended them ; the maintainance of 
 which involved, in no insignificant way, its integ- 
 rity, if not its existence. With this belief and this 
 persuasion, he spoke and wrought. He simply en-
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 deavored to defend the Star, as the long - time val- 
 ued exponent of the principles and policy of the de- 
 nomination. Urged by no mere personal preference, 
 nor swayed by private ambition, but by a fervent, 
 long - cherished desire to promote our denomina- 
 tional welfare, this was his chief inspiration, and 
 when his service was rendered he had no more 
 strength to yield us ; he had bowed himself with a 
 last, conscientious, hearty effort, there was noth- 
 ing left him but to die. 
 
 From the general exhaustion, of which the severe 
 spasms were the index, he came back slowly to 
 consciousness through timely and efficient ministra- 
 tions, but his mind never regained its former tone. 
 He said repeatedly in the next three months, " My 
 mind has had no elasticity since those terrible 
 shocks at Conference." Yet it occasionally seemed 
 to rally and work with unusual clearness, produc- 
 ing some of his finest, strongest editorials. 
 
 Preparations for locating the Star in Boston were 
 continued, as no serious cause for alarm was appre- 
 hended, and about Christmas he removed with his 
 family to that city. On the 6th of January, 1875, 
 the Star was issued from its new home. In the ed- 
 itorial of that date, which is headed: " Forward 
 Steps," he says : 
 
 " The Corporators have not been hasty and head-
 
 REMOVAL OF THE STAR TO BOSTON. 149 
 
 long in reaching the decision to put the paper into 
 this advanced position. To more or less observers 
 they have perhaps seemed timid and slow. But 
 they could not consent to presume and hurry. Too 
 much was involved to warrant that. They have 
 deliberated not a little. They have sought to weigh 
 carefully the arguments on both sides. They have 
 consulted not only their own judgments, but also 
 those of their constituents. One aim has been 
 steadily held, to find the way in which they could 
 best serve the denomination, and the great cause it 
 stands for, and then walk in it. 
 
 " They have chosen the progressive policy, taking 
 its added responsibilities and larger risks. It is one 
 of several such choices, though few have involved 
 so much as this. They have thus heeded the plea 
 for an advance ; they have confided in the pledges 
 of fresh co - operation ;. they have gone prompt- 
 ly at work to make practical the decision which 
 many brethren in various sections of the country 
 have strongly and thankfully approved, and whose 
 wisdom the late General Conference recognized. 
 
 " Going to Boston will not of itself secure any great 
 gains. Mere change of place is not of much ac- 
 count. It is less where the paper is than what it is, 
 that decides its mission ; it is what the writers for 
 its columns put into it, and what its professed 
 friends do in putting it into the hands of real and re- 
 ceptive readers who give it support, while they are 
 quickened by its messages, it is this that decides 
 whether it shall be a power for lasting good.
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 " It will indeed have a chance to speak now from 
 a more noticeable platform ; it may utter itself 
 where observing men see, and thoughtful men 
 hear ; it may be more freely acted on by the special 
 influences that heave and throb in a great commer- 
 cial, literary and religious centre. But nothing save 
 painstaking, and hard work, and a living and prac- 
 tical interest on the part of all its real friends, to fill 
 it from week to week with just what will stir and 
 bless the readers, can render it what we all long to 
 see it become. Unless removal means more work 
 and harder, on the part of both its managers here 
 and its friends elsewhere, we shall lose rather than 
 gain. Now is the time for fresh and vigorous 
 effort. We who supervise it mean to rise to our 
 duty and opportunity. Will its friends elsewhere at 
 once and generally do the same thing? 
 
 "The 'Western Department' of the paper we 
 trust will be a matter of special interest to our read- 
 ers and brethren in that part of the field. We hope 
 it may help to make them., feel that the paper is 
 really theirs, and that they will use it freely as a 
 medium of communication with each other, and also 
 with that part of our religious household nearer the 
 Atlantic. Especially may it be a bond of union be- 
 tween different sections of the F. Baptist denomina- 
 tion, and at the same time a token of real fellowship 
 between us and brethren of other households of 
 faith with whom we are in substantial accord. We 
 wish it to serve the great end of enlarging the plans, 
 cementing the hearts and uniting the efforts of those
 
 FAILING HEALTH. 
 
 who are laboring together with God for the highest 
 welfare of men. 
 
 " These forward steps, therefore, already taken, 
 mean steady advance and ascent. Keeping clear 
 of presumption, aiming always to be thoughtful and 
 discreet, we express our thorough belief in try- 
 ing to do something real, in daring for the sake 
 of achieving, in the brave heart and the ringing 
 word, in the heroism which prefers to fall, if it 
 must, in the storming column, rather than stagnate 
 and die in the cleft of the rock where cowards try to 
 hide from danger and toil. Is it too much to hope 
 that our readers share our faith ? " 
 
 The taxation of strength arising from change of 
 residence, from the performance of arduous and 
 perplexing duties in the new office, with other pe- 
 culiar burdens, developed still further signs of ab- 
 normal mental action, which had begun to appear 
 early in December. Still, in the editorial above 
 quoted, he could say : " We express our thorough 
 belief . . in the brave heart and the ringing word, 
 in the heroism which prefers to fall ." We 
 
 * 
 
 miss the " ringing word " after this, but we find the 
 "brave heart" and the "heroism," more abun- 
 dantly. 
 
 Jan. 26, he said to the Executive Committee of 
 the Corporators : 
 
 " I know that my mind is in a morbid condition,
 
 152 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 and I try to make due allowance for my reasonings 
 and conclusions in view of the fact ; and I some- 
 times logically bring myself to a bright conclusion, 
 and say to myself, stick to that ! But, in spite of 
 myself, such a terrible depression comes over me 
 that I sink under it." Then he added : " I am feel- 
 ing better to - day ; have rested better for a few 
 nights, so am more hopeful. I half believe that I 
 am over the worst, and shall soon be able to take 
 my place here in the office." 
 
 But new and fearful symptoms followed, such as 
 he had never before experienced. Daily he seemed 
 looking as if for some terrible calamity ; became the 
 prey of false or exaggerated alarms ; and, amid 
 great distrust of his powers and dark forebodings, 
 feared his mind would give way utterly. 
 
 The Corporators enjoined complete rest from all 
 thought, even, of work, and granted him respite 
 until the following September. 
 
 But cherishing still, with intensity, the idea of 
 work, he attempted from week to week to furnish 
 something for the columns of the Star, with what 
 emotions, this note of February loth will show : 
 
 " MY DEAR MOSHER : I tried to fix up a few 
 * Current Topics,' but the result is small and poor. 
 I hesitated about putting them in, but I let them go. 
 They ought to be far better, but all the present 
 products of brain and heart are sadly lacking. 
 How hard it is to be forced into inactivity at such a
 
 CLOSE OF ACTIVE SERVICE. 1 53 
 
 time as this, I pray you may never know. How 
 anxious I am for you, and for the interests to which 
 you now stand so closely related ! May God help 
 and keep you ! I can not tell how much I may do 
 for the Star hereafter. I do n't know how much it 
 is wise to try to do, when work strains and quietude 
 brings all sorts of thoughts and fancies. But the 
 wise way may appear. I try to think it will." 
 
 He had just previously written to the Corpora- 
 tors : 
 
 " I wish the right way were plain to me, but little 
 light comes. I am not sure that any considerable 
 part of my thinking is trustworthy, for the mental 
 moods change radically, it may be, every hour. I 
 hoped yesterday I might be a little better, but the 
 dizziness, confusion, and the tendencies to settle 
 into absolute and cowardly hopelessness come in a 
 stronger current to-day. Sometimes for an hour 
 the will springs up with a calm or a half- desperate 
 energy to conquer the depression, but it falls away 
 again speedily." 
 
 The desire to work is still uppermost. He does 
 not speak of himself with anxiety, but of his work : 
 
 " I wish I were surer of myself and service 
 
 I shall try to look up steadily, and be patient and 
 brave as 1 can." "Shall send more copy if lean ;" 
 this, when he expected daily to fail, and could " not 
 feel sure of standing twenty - four hours," and must 
 say : "I have been to the office a part of every day,
 
 154 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 but I never feel confident of coming again when I 
 leave it." Persistently wishing and attempting to 
 do more, though physical and mental foes arose 
 against him with fearful and increasing power, he 
 sings from amid the final conflict with a victorious 
 spirit, as he dictates his last editorial to his younger 
 daughter, walking the room in agony, with hands 
 pressed forcibly against his temples. At such an 
 hour "God as a helper" appeared before him in 
 beauty, sweetness and power ; enduing him with 
 confidence and breathing comfort, "Coming 
 freest when we need him most." 
 
 It is his priceless legacy, the parting gift of heart 
 and mind to the world, fragrant with the balm of 
 comfort, strong in its grasp of the pillars of confi- 
 dence, an inspiration to courage and strength : 
 
 GOD AS A HELPER.* 
 
 God's influence upon us depends largely on the 
 view we take of him. That is why we are taught 
 so much in the Scripture of his qualities and rela- 
 tions. That, too, is why such pains are taken to 
 disabuse us of false notions of him. That is also 
 why idolatry, or the worship of false gods, is so 
 strongly protested against, because false views work 
 moral mischief. Men are like the gods they con- 
 ceive. Looking, we are changed into the same im- 
 
 *Morning Star of Feb. 24, 1875.
 
 LAST EDITORIAL. 155 
 
 age. Thinking of God as lawgiver makes a sturdy 
 conscience. Conceiving of him as beneficent tends 
 to increase gratitude. Making him father renders 
 the spirit filial and tender and trustful. The true 
 knowledge of him, that which enables us to ap- 
 prehend him in his vital relations to us, goes far 
 to induce that inward state and putward conduct 
 which imply salvation. That is the thought ex- 
 pressed by Christ in his prayer : ' This is life eter- 
 nal, that they might know thee, the only true God, 
 and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent.' 
 
 " It is worth much to a human soul to be able to 
 take vital hold of the idea that God is its real helper. 
 He is often and strongly set forth as such. ' God 
 is our refuge and strength, a very present help in 
 trouble.' < I will strengthen thee ; I will help thee ; 
 yea, I will uphold thee with the hand of my right- 
 eousness.' ' Fear thou not, for I am with thee ; 
 be not dismayed, for I am thy God.' ' He giveth 
 power to the faint, and to them who have no might 
 he increaseth strength.' These are only specimens 
 of the words which pledge the infinite aid to human 
 souls. Such words abound in Scripture. They 
 light up its pages as stars light the winter heaven. 
 They are not mere bursts of rhetoric. They do not 
 spring from the tendency to exaggerate which 
 marks the writers of the East. They express only 
 what has been found true in many a human experi- 
 ence. And these experiences are found on the 
 common as well as on the loftier levels of life. 
 They interpret themselves in the heart of the peas-
 
 1^6 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 ant as well as in the soul that walks in royalty of 
 place or power. And wherever this truth is real- 
 ized it comes as a gift of strength, of courage, of 
 confidence, of comfort. 
 
 " Of Strength. This often proves a hard world to 
 men and women. The barriers in their way are 
 many and great. The forces that oppose them 
 mock at their might. It seems like a pigmy con- 
 tending with giants. They are every now and then 
 baffled and beaten. The struggle for bread is often 
 a hard one ; the struggle for integrity is often a 
 much fiercer thing. To keep a good conscience 
 seems, at times, well - nigh impossible. But when 
 one has grasped and taken home the idea of God's 
 helpfulness, it is a great gain. He is almighty. He 
 rules in the earth. He is pledged to aid the true 
 and trustful. What they lack, he can give. As a 
 soldier in the advance column is ten times the hero 
 he would otherwise be because he sees the whole 
 army of disciplined veterans at his back and knows 
 it will support his attack, so a weak Christian is 
 braced into a strong one when really assured that 
 God is at hand with succor and help. He will at 
 once be abler to dare, endure and do. And though 
 we may not quite know how it is that God breathes 
 his might into a feeble nature, the fact is often plain 
 enough, a*nd the result shows how real and large 
 and wondrous is the gift of power which is granted. 
 
 " Of Courage. A brave soul is half a victor be- 
 cause of its bravery. A courageous look scares 
 half one's perils away and demoralizes the rest.
 
 LAST EDITORIAL. 157 
 
 They who never give up are they who compel 
 others to yield to them. They may seem to be 
 beaten, but they are on their feet again the next in- 
 stant, and girded for another fight. This quality, 
 when it is simply human rather than Christian, is 
 the backbone of manhood and the key that unlocks 
 half the doors to success. It is greatly needed in 
 the Christian sphere. It gives steadiness and per- 
 sistence to effort. It braces the will. It renders 
 purpose like rock. It makes a song break often 
 out of cloud and tempest. It prompts cheerful 
 daring and doing, and each step taken under its in- 
 spiring influence suggests a conqueror marching to 
 his triumph. There is nothing else that will give 
 this quality in its highest and best form like the 
 sense of God's nearness and the full assurance of 
 his help. When he is thus apprehended as the 
 helper, fears lessen, hopes rise, and the very thought 
 of retreat and surrender is displaced by a fresh res- 
 olution. 
 
 " Of Confidence. ' If God be for us, who can be 
 against us? ' That is the question of one to whom 
 God's helpfulness was a constant reality in experi- 
 ence as well as a leading article of faith. Such a 
 soul is beyond serious and palsying doubt. There 
 is ever a calm looking for victory. There may be 
 clouds, dangers, disasters, repulses, but, in spite of 
 all, there is the calm utterance, ' I know that my 
 Redeemer liveth ; ' * I know whom I have be- 
 lieved ; ' ' Though I walk through the' valley of 
 the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; '
 
 1 5 8 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 ' Thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory ! ' 
 Such a sense of God's helpfulness is a blessing that 
 no words may fully express. What it is worth only 
 they can know of whose life it has become a part. 
 It is at once the rock on which their feet rest with- 
 out shaking and the distant peal of the trumpet 
 that heralds their coronation. 
 
 11 Of Comfort. ' Because thou hast been my help, 
 therefore under the shadow of thy wings will I re- 
 joice.' It is worth more to us than words can ex- 
 press, at times, to have a strong, noble, capable 
 human friend assure us that we are not to be for- 
 gotten or left unaided in our need. But for such 
 words, how many hearts would have utterly sunk, 
 which, stirred by them, have lifted up their eyes in 
 gladness, smiled through their tears, and stopped 
 their sighs with a song. And when it is God that 
 comes with both the pledge and the gift of help, the 
 comfort is sometimes so deep and peculiar as to 
 choke speech with gratitude and blur the vision with 
 tender tears. There is no other comfort like that ; 
 he who has it in abundance is rich in the divinest 
 possessions and his heart can never go unsolaced. 
 
 " God is such a helper, even though we fail to 
 take home the fact. He is a helper to such as we, 
 to those plagued with our trials, burdened with our 
 weaknesses, lorn with our sorrows, tossed about with 
 our anxieties and fears. It is to the actual levels 
 and experiences of our daily life that he thus 
 comes, low and bitter as these may be. He is even 
 now near and ready to aid us in getting on and
 
 LAST EDITORIAL. 159 
 
 through and over hindrances and discouragements. 
 He comes freest when we need him most. He 
 comes in spite of folly and sin if we are in earnest 
 to get rid of both, though a sincere, loving and reso- 
 lute fidelity is what will make this help of his seem 
 most real, abundant, sure and precious. Without 
 that help even the strongest are liable to fail, while 
 with it even the fearful and feeble are going on to 
 certain victory. We want many things, both for 
 the sake of the inward life and the outward success, 
 but this is the chief and vital thing on which almost 
 all else depends. 1 '
 
 V. 
 
 MEMORIALS 
 
 OF HIS 
 DEATH AND CHARACTER. 
 
 " Champion of Jesus, on that breast 
 
 From which thy fei-vor flowed, 
 Thou hast obtained eternal rest, 
 Tae bosoui of thy God." 
 
 It was deemed best that he should remove from 
 Boston to the quiet of his sister's home in Provi- 
 dence, where he might enjoy the kindly, valuable 
 ministrations of long - cherished friends. On the 
 morning of the day on which he was to leave Bos- 
 ton, a little more than a week after writing his 
 last editorial and about the time of its appearance 
 in the Star, he conducted prayers for the last time 
 with his family, singing, "Jesus, lover of my 
 soul," with great tenderness of expression. 
 
 Thence we follow him amid shadows and inscru- 
 table darkness which gathered thickly around him,
 
 MEMORIALS. l6l 
 
 as a traveler ascending some mountain height at 
 even - tide, which distort and make unreal his 
 bodily and mental form, and by which, as he looks 
 back upon us for some weeks, his own view of us 
 and of the earth he was leaving, suffers distortion. 
 But he is only climbing the last summit which God 
 had marked for his weary feet, and at early even- 
 ing, May 21, he entered the gates of the city of ref- 
 uge and rest. We look tearfully after him f wonder- 
 ing and dumb over the last steps of his way, amid 
 mental gloom and despair that make the shadow of 
 a great affliction seem denser ; but we know it was 
 only the chosen way into eternal light of " one of 
 the few, now and then shown us in the long history 
 of God's people, whom God could trust under trial, 
 and whose life had been too illustrious to need the 
 witness of an unclouded departure." 
 
 In the church which had been filled many times 
 by those whom his preaching had moved and help- 
 ed, he gathered his last congregation about him on 
 the afternoon of Tuesday, May 25 ; his voice was 
 not heard, but his silence was more impressive and 
 eloquent than speech. The Roger Williams church 
 was filled by representatives of the denomination 
 from a distance, and the large circles of friendship 
 and acquaintance in the city, and the immediate 
 churches of the R. I. Association. It was the day
 
 l62 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 for the opening of the annual meeting of the Asso- 
 ciation in which for many years he was the leading 
 spirit and light and guide ; a large number of its 
 clergymen were present, together with many others 
 both from within and beyond the limits of the city 
 and the State. 
 
 The pulpit was appropriately draped. Floral 
 tributes, abundant and rich, significant and touch- 
 ing, emblematic of his life or emphasizing some 
 peculiar feature of it, were contributions of love and 
 esteem from the office of the Morning Star, and 
 from many whom his pastoral labors, in Providence 
 and elsewhere, had signally blessed. 
 
 Brief addresses were made, portraying his char- 
 acter in its more marked and obvious aspects. 
 
 Rev. A. H. Heath, pastor of the Roger Williams 
 church, spoke of his eminent, valuable ministerial 
 services, paying tribute to the modesty and faithful- 
 ness with which they were performed, and the sub- 
 stantial quality of his unsought fame as a preacher. 
 
 Rev. I. D. Stewart, agent of the Morning Star, 
 referred to his editorial and general work ; saying 
 that while others may have done more for the de- 
 nomination in special fields, no one, in a broad and 
 comprehensive sense, ever accomplished so much 
 for it, almost equally at home in every department 
 of its work, and bearing burdens which almost no
 
 MEMORIALS. 163 
 
 other one would have sacrificed ease and strength 
 to do. 
 
 Remarks were made by the writer, in respect of 
 his position and labors as an educator by voice and 
 pen, by his identification with our literature and the 
 management of our schools and colleges. Episodes 
 of his life were narrated, illustrating the patriot, the 
 scholar and the Christian minister. 
 
 Rev. Mowry Phillips, for many years an intimate 
 friend of Dr. Day, spoke of him in the genial, ap- 
 preciative and kind intercourse of home life, which 
 his taste and daily converse supplied with pleasant 
 and refining associations. He also paid tribute to 
 his sympathetic, patient and helpful character as a 
 personal friend. 
 
 After the reading of expressions of love and sor- 
 row from the church in Dover, of which he was a 
 member, prayer was offered by Rev. Theodore 
 Stevens, and the impressive, affecting services were 
 ended. 
 
 His body was removed to its resting place, as the 
 rain was falling heavily, at Mulberry Grove, in the 
 adjoining town of Cranston, a retired, beautiful 
 spot, fragrant with flowers and resinous evergreens, 
 attractive by its shade and sweet quiet, where he 
 once delighted to walk, refreshed by its ministra- 
 tions to mind and body, "the sweetest spot on
 
 164 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 earth ! " Since his dust now reposes there, we may 
 repeat with greater significance his words when he 
 recorded the burial of Martin Cheney : " Few spots 
 1 there are, more suggestive of sanctified thought and 
 chastened religious feeling, to those who have lin- 
 gered among its graves, than ' Mulberry Grove 
 Cemetery.' " Over his grave a chaste granite 
 monument has been erected to his memory, chief- 
 ly by friends in the R. I. Association. 
 
 " The heart of the denomination beat to the fall- 
 ing of its tears," when the message reached it of the 
 great bereavement. At the office of the Star, " the 
 absolute worthlessness of words to express the deep- 
 er emotions of the soul was demonstrated as scarce- 
 ly ever before." On the Sunday following his buri- 
 al, special memorial services were held in several 
 churches, and his life and character were alluded 
 to in many others with more or less fullness. The 
 announcement of his death evoked grief- burdened 
 responses from all parts of the land. The editorial 
 profession recorded in numerous journals its loss, 
 and, representing the church at large, bore testimo- 
 ny to his large, catholic services as those of " a 
 master in Israel." Testimonials to his literary and 
 editorial ability, his gentlemanly bearing, his warm 
 and genial friendship, his culture, broad sympa- 
 thies, fairness and piety were recorded by many re-
 
 MEMORIALS. 165 
 
 ligious and secular papers. The Watchman and 
 Reflector reproduced in full the editorial of the Star 
 of June 2d concerning his death and obsequies. 
 
 Yearly and Quarterly meetings, the oldest organ- 
 izations and the newest alike, gave expression to , 
 their sense of bereavement while passing resolu- 
 tions testifying to his integrity and faithfulness as a 
 servant of the denomination, and acknowledging 
 their indebtedness to his valuable and efficient ser- 
 vices. 
 
 From a multitude of private letters, freighted 
 with heavy grief and fragrant in the offerings with 
 which love sought to embalm his memory, we give 
 extracts from three : 
 
 " The event of which you write fills my heart 
 and absorbs my thoughts. ' Bro. Day is dead ! ' 
 The world seems lonesome to me. How much and 
 how long I shall miss him. Death is robbed of an- 
 other of his darts I shall feel less reluctant to 
 leave this world and go home. . .Few men ever 
 lived that were equally dear to all their friends. I 
 tind it hard to write through my blinding tears. 
 He was a wonderful man, mentally and spiritu- 
 ally." 
 
 "Being dead he yet speaketh.' Had my early 
 life been spent where I could have felt his moulding 
 influence, I should have been a more useful minis- 
 ter and a better Christian. " 
 
 "We never saw his face; we never heard his
 
 1 66 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 voice ; but in our heart there is a shrine where his 
 noble teachings, his earnest words, his Christian 
 counsel, his cheering, uplifting words of apprecia- 
 tion and help are embalmed in perpetual freshness. 
 How pure, how exalted is the remembrance of his 
 great kindness ! His appreciative estimate of the 
 humblest human effort to reach up and attain purity 
 and goodness, was attended by a readiness to aid it." 
 
 The life whose progress we have marked, and 
 whose close we have recorded, was eminently one 
 of toil. From the beginning he was possessed by 
 an intense love of work, and gave himself intensely 
 to it. " Everything is saying to me : ' Whatsoever 
 thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might,' " he 
 said. His fitting motto and emblem might be that of 
 McCheyne " The night cometh," inscribed above 
 a setting sun. Until the pen fell from his nerveless 
 grasp in a vain attempt, in March last, to write an- 
 other editorial, and the tired feet sought the final 
 couch of pain, he toiled on, bravely, heartily, effect- 
 ively. Nor did selfish ease and personal gratifica- 
 tion ever consume his time and claim his strength. 
 His vacations were forced upon him by wasted en- 
 ergies calling upon him for recuperation, and were 
 accepted simply as the way over which he must go
 
 MEMORIALS. 167 
 
 to prolonged efficiency in the service of Christ and 
 humanity. His life of labor meant, if it meant 
 anything, helpfulness. This he sought continu- 
 ally to incarnate in life and utter through his lips. 
 He was as willing to serve the lowliest as the high- 
 est, once assure him that his service would be 
 welcome to him who sought it. Nor in his fullest 
 helpfulness, and most valuable service, did he give 
 the impression that he was conscious of self- sacri- 
 fice or of the greatness of the favor rendered. 
 
 Characteristically he writes : 
 
 "DEAR MRS. LINCOLN: Thanks for all the 
 kind things your heart prompts you to say in your 
 letter ; and I am glad if, at any time or in any way, 
 I can aid any human soul to bear its inevitable bur- 
 dens with added patience, and look through the 
 clouds gathering over every head, with a faith that 
 sees the eternal splendors beyond." 
 
 He was especially the servant of this denomina- 
 tion. He studied its spirit and promise carefully, 
 and sought the best ways by which service could be 
 rendered. He did not shun the minute forms of la- 
 bor, and welcomed any which promised to furnish 
 what another hand or voice or brain would not be 
 likely to yield. 
 
 Having heartily and fully accepted the faith and 
 methods of work peculiar to our denomination, he 
 gave himself without reserve to their promotion.
 
 l68 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 Year by year the best products of brain and the 
 warmest sympathies of heart were summoned to their 
 support. He seemed to live outside himself and 
 find his chief joy in this work. No one year was 
 freighted with such hopeful, large and comprehen- 
 sive plans for denominational prosperity as the last 
 of his life. He never accepted the role of a croaker, 
 nor of a prophet of evil, over our deficiencies. Nor 
 did he scold our slowness, nor quarrel with our pol- 
 icy. He was not blind to our errors, but he hoped 
 and labored for a wiser and better future. He con- 
 fessed the correctness of our aims, the freeness of 
 our policy, the acceptability of our doctrines to men 
 of standing and culture outside the denomination, 
 fully believing them worthy of commendation and 
 alliance. 
 
 " Once going with Dr. Day from Newport to 
 Providence, upon the steamboat, we had a long con- 
 versation upon the mission of the Free Baptist 
 Denomination. He thought it had done a noble 
 work, but that even a greater work in future was 
 in store for it. He thought the territory of division 
 between the ' Regular ' and the * Freewill ' branch- 
 es of the Baptist family was becoming more narrow, 
 and hoped they might have closer fellowship."* 
 
 He could say No, emphatically and instantly, to 
 the demand for his forbearance or silence, from a 
 
 *Rev. Dr. C. II. Malcom.
 
 MEMORIALS. l6p 
 
 popular and giant wrong ; he was hardly strong 
 enough to say No, even when crowded by labors 
 sufficient to make the strongest frame and nerves 
 yield under the pressure, when he was importuned 
 for lectures and sermons for service outside his 
 special sphere. 
 
 He was early impressed that his years were to be 
 few. The impression modified his term of study, 
 increased his application, and filled him with a de- 
 sire to mark the years with largest, highest devo- 
 tion to toil. He had been accustomed to regard his 
 fortieth year as the probable limit of his life, and 
 when year after year beyond it was granted, allow- 
 ing some of the severest, most significant labors, he 
 found occasion for heartfelt gratitude and thankful- 
 ness. 
 
 His power of rallying from severe mental and 
 physical prostration was remarkable. " He used to 
 surprise us," writes Mr. Mosher, "by coming into 
 the office to renew his work when we had only the 
 day before, perhaps, sat by his bedside and 
 found him too weak to talk much above a whisper. 
 One day we read to him a description of a heroic 
 worker, who, in the midst of bodily pains, and 
 critical and threatening symptoms, kept steadily at 
 his task till death forced him to rest * That is the 
 spirit,' said Dr. Day. * He is the hero who knows
 
 170 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY- 
 
 his duty, accepts it, and then steadily attends to it 
 till God's time of rest comes.' " 
 
 " In the spring of 1860, becoming pastor of the 
 Central Baptist church in Providence, I found him 
 a near neighbor, the beloved and useful pastor of 
 the Roger Williams church. We were soon 
 brought together in various social and Christian re- 
 lations, and I learned to love him warmly for his 
 personal qualities, and to honor him as an able 
 and faithful minister of Jesus Christ. He was a 
 busy man, always at work, always hard at work, 
 with duties crowding on him more than sufficient for 
 two common men. With a large parish demanding 
 his full strength for pulpit and pastoral service ; 
 with an immense amount of denominational work, 
 in the State and out of it, exacted of him as an ac- 
 knowledged leader ; with literary duties of various 
 sorts claiming constant attention ; with public ser- 
 vice forced on him by fellow - citizens who appreci- 
 ated his worth, his brain and heart were under high 
 pressure, and he drew largely on the reserved force 
 of his system. He always seemed to me weary and 
 jaded, but his cheerfulness was uniform ; he never 
 declined duty, because overtaxed, and his earnest- 
 ness so lighted face, and animated form, and coined 
 electric words, that one could detect no sign of 
 weariness when he began to speak." * 
 
 Similar testimony in respect to his life in another 
 sphere, is given by his editorial associate : 
 
 Bey. Dr. Heman Lincoln.
 
 MEMORIALS. 
 
 " He was cheerful about his work. Kind- 
 ness and courtesy seemed never to forsake him. 
 However pressing his duties, he received all callers, 
 and endured all interruptions, in the same cheerful 
 and cordial manner. 
 
 " He did his work faithfully. Everything that 
 was worthy his attention, or that forced itself upon 
 his time, must be done equally well. His work was 
 also done with method. New demands seemed 
 never to disturb him. Whatever the requests from 
 lecture - committees, or from churches wanting ded- 
 ication sermons, or from some blunder in the office 
 that would double his work for the day, or whatever 
 the fault - finding or rebukes from critical and quer- 
 ulous correspondents, he seemed to accept all in the 
 same quiet, genial, uncomplaining way, apparently 
 anxious, most of all, to do the best and fairest thing, 
 and thus to please and help the greatest possible 
 number." 
 
 This is remarkable in one oppressed by nervous 
 debility and almost constant suffering, implying 
 no ordinary self- control and patience. The long, 
 steady cherishing of a patient, firm, heroic trust had 
 brought it at length as an abiding presence to his 
 spirit, and it shone out from his life, speaking clear- 
 ly and strongly of God's grace and the power of re- 
 ligion, in the calm face, and the steady and cheer- 
 ful tone. 
 
 He was always pressed by work, but almost
 
 172 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 never seemed in haste, nor confused by its magni- 
 tude and diversity. Amid the multitude of cares, he 
 forgot no appointment, and was invariably punctual 
 in meeting all public and private engagements. 
 And while he escaped the charge of egotism and 
 self -presumption, " he had confidence in his own 
 ability to do almost anything so as to suit himself 
 better than could any one else." Others, aware of 
 his ability, preferring his careful, intelligent, satis- 
 factory methods, made incessant demands upon 
 them. Had he been less reluctant to leave minor, 
 or even many larger details to be wrought out by 
 others, his contribution to the general good would, 
 doubtless, have been greater, and his general effi- 
 ciency, even, been enlarged. The refusal' of certain 
 minuter forms of service would have left his powers 
 free to take up other, needful and fitting kinds, 
 which absorption of time and strength excluded. 
 
 He loved the work of the ministry and accepted it 
 with special gratitude, as the ministry of reconcilia- 
 tion. He gratefully welcomed the stimulus and in- 
 spiration coming from the great thoughts, plans and 
 themes which it supplied, and the arousing and viv- . 
 ifying of the heart's best impulses and affections 
 which came from contact with it. In his preaching 
 he endeavored to impress the fact of the universal 
 loss of sympathy of the human soul with God, and
 
 MEMORIALS. 1 73 
 
 to exalt the only efficacious way of establishing a 
 living union with the divine nature through Jesus 
 Christ. Apprehending the work of the ministry in 
 its broad relations, he accepted its charge : " to dis- 
 arm prejudice, to clear away darkness, to sound the 
 truce of God over battle-fields in the soul, to teach 
 trust, bring out repentance, multiply the points 
 where earth and heaven may meet, to take away 
 bitterness and plant sympathy, to comfort mourners 
 with heavenly hopes, and to surround death - beds 
 with celestial help and light." 
 
 His ministry was no sinecure, nor set to discuss 
 weak issues. His pulpit was no place for sentiment- 
 alism, feeble platitudes, or oratorical etiquette, but 
 claiming the clearest, manliest, most robust intellect- 
 ual and spiritual effort. 
 
 " His preaching was attractive, for the gift of 
 poetic insight belonged to him, opening new and un- 
 expected ranges of truth, and apt and striking illus- 
 trations, so that old themes seemed fresh and almost 
 novel ; while his language, even in unpremeditated 
 speech, was alike copious and elegant. I always 
 felt that he would have taken a foremost place among 
 the popular preachers of the land, if he could have 
 concentrated his rare powers on pulpit work. In his 
 sermons there were continual revelations of great 
 resources unused."* 
 
 *Dr. Heman Lincoln.
 
 174 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 " My acquaintance with Dr. Day was almost en- 
 tirely professional. But I remember to have heard 
 him, at a meeting of the Massachusetts General As- 
 sociation, to which he was a delegate from the 
 Rhode Island Free Baptist Association, in an elabor- 
 ate address, in which it was difficult which most to 
 admire, the beauty of his thought or his diction, the 
 Christian spirit of the man or his magnetic power 
 over his hearers,"* 
 
 The relation of Christianity to public wrongs, re- 
 ceived, as we have seen, definite, practical attention. 
 Religion is possessed of both soul and body, and he 
 discredited the claim to it where nothing appeared 
 in life to reveal it ; when the implanting of the di- 
 vine germ was claimed as the possession of a heart, 
 he was willing to admit the claim only when it blos- 
 somed in the open air, only when a right life pro- 
 claimed a right heart. 
 
 Christianity came to deal with evil forces, to con- 
 quer the world for Christ, and he believed that the 
 honorable, consistent, effectual way of doing this 
 was by no undecisive methods, nor by smooth or pala- 
 table or abstract utterances, but by boldly and stead- 
 ily compelling a conflict and a surrender. In this 
 work, he expected opposition and did not fear it. 
 He did not stop to ask, either before or after his 
 act, whether the supporters of wrong were willing 
 
 *Kev. Dr. J. E. Eankin.
 
 MEMORIALS. 175 
 
 lo be rebuked. He spoke from convictions which 
 practical service had strengthened when he said : 
 
 " Respect for Christianity is dependent on its faith- 
 ful utterance. Temporizing is always contemptible ; 
 and to none does it appear more so than to those 
 whose worthless smile is sought to be purchased by 
 sparing their faults, and conniving at their unfaith- 
 fulness. Till the Gospel is regarded as the stern re- 
 buker of sin as well as a loving minister to peni- 
 tence, it will be sneered at rather than confided in. 
 There is no such thing as discriminating wisely be- 
 tween a sin and a sinner. There is no such thing 
 as sin aside from the act of a wrong - doer. The 
 Gospel speaks to persons, not to abstract moral 
 qualities."* 
 
 His work in the ministry was a definite one. He 
 chose it and toiled in it with no sympathy with any- 
 thing that would make it afford mere Sunday enter- 
 tainment, and be a part of the routine of life, but to 
 bring men to a consciousness of their religious ne- 
 cessities and responsibilities ; to point out a nobler 
 life, to solve the problems of the heart and help 
 souls effectively into the highway of Christian ser- 
 vice. 
 
 His sympathy for one form of truth or one class 
 of men, was not allowed to blind him to the pres- 
 ence and value of other truths or of other forces in 
 society. He was not a partisan. His even judg- 
 
 *F. B. Quarterly, July, 1858.
 
 176 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 ment forbade his feelings an enlistment for any one 
 cause to the exclusion of others. Indifference to- 
 ward a definite and sound theology, he regarded as 
 illogical and fraught with evil, the offspring of an 
 unhealthy soul ; while he had little patience with 
 mere stickling for the form of words, and would not 
 watch for something irregular or doubtful with a 
 keen scent for heresy. 
 
 He sought neither place nor fame. In his great- 
 est efforts, self was subordinated to his work; some- 
 thing greater than the man appeared in the presen- 
 tation of themes which taxed his largest powers. 
 That modesty which marked his early manhood, 
 characterized his entire life. His chief study was 
 to present the truth in the most effective manner, to 
 bring men to accept freest and most thoroughly, the 
 issues which the Bible presented for their adoption. 
 
 Whatever might seem to be wanting in personal 
 presence, in oratorical grace, in manner or gesture, 
 men felt that he spoke with the deep, clear convic- 
 tions of a genuine manhood, from a heart in full 
 sympathy with the higher forms of truth. He re- 
 sorted to no unseemly methods of gaining a hearing. 
 Apologies were almost never uttered, however dis- 
 advantageous his condition or place ; he was accus- 
 tomed to say that they were generally so useless 
 that he despaired of finding them really serviceable
 
 MEMORIALS. 177 
 
 at any time. If he arose from a sick - bed to attend 
 a funeral, or went with fevered pulse and throbbing 
 temples to thepulpit,the fact was learned from lips not 
 his own. His repugnance to the habit of many preach- 
 ers, of explaining in detail the circumstances amid 
 which they are called to speak, forbade his indulgence 
 of it. He could consent to no such insult to an au- 
 dience, or wrong to himself, as to attempt to lower 
 their expectations that he might be surer of their 
 sympathy, approbation or impartiality. 
 
 Although he often said, when speaking of pastoral 
 work, that his ability to visit with interest and profit 
 was very small, yet his verdict will hardly be ac- 
 cepted in those homes where he felt his presence 
 heartily welcome. With his modesty and natural 
 diffidence, it was impossible for him to appear advan- 
 tageously in the presence of indifference or of cold- 
 ness, but did he find a disposition to accept and 
 cherish his efforts, he accepted it as an encourage- 
 ment to attempt the removal of any barriers pre- 
 venting complete and helpful mutual understanding. 
 Such were the distractions from this part of min- 
 isterial work, arising from other and important de- 
 mands for labor, that he was much dissatisfied with, 
 and often discouraged in it. 
 
 He was always interested in the personal religious 
 experience of others, and was eminently skillful in
 
 178 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 drawing timid, shrinking souls to speak of their in- 
 ner life ; and their doubts and struggles were met 
 with appreciation and sympathy. But he was 
 never intrusive. If a soul did not respond to the 
 delicate touch of his Christian interest, he never 
 sought to force his way into it. 
 
 One element of great value in his sermons was 
 that which was imparted by this acquaintance with 
 'Christian experience. Personal contact with the 
 spiritual life of Christians, quickening, guiding 
 them, enlightening dark places, helping to an ap- 
 prehension of the true Christian life, was exceeding- 
 ly congenial and precious to him. 
 
 In his pastoral intercourse, his humility was con- 
 spicuous. " If any one," writes a lady, *' was ever 
 awed into timidity and silence by his presence, it 
 was from their own sense of his superiority and 
 :not from any assumption or self-assertion on 
 his part. When he conversed with me on any sub- 
 ject, I always was made to feel, and to my sur- 
 prise, that he spoke as if I knew as much about it 
 as he, or if not, that I was capable of reaching his 
 standpoint." In another part of her letter, recalling 
 some impressions of him, she says : 
 
 " When he called at my house, before he went to 
 Halifax, he spoke of sometimes looking longingly 
 back to his old sphere, and said, ' If I had not had
 
 MEMORIALS. 179 
 
 a c^ass in Sunday school, I don't know what I 
 should have done.' And when I playfully remarked, 
 ' Perhaps you will get recruited so that you can 
 preach again,' he replied, ' It would be a very 
 grateful thing to me if I could.' " 
 
 He was considerate in his calls at the bedside of 
 the sick; gentle in manner; low, but distinct in 
 voice ; praying with deep tenderness, making the 
 sufferer's place, as far as might be, his own ; bear- 
 ing him in the strong arms of faith to the merciful 
 kindness of God, causing him to feel that a sympa- 
 thizing brother was craving relief from pain and 
 fear. 
 
 In hours of bereavement, his presence was spe- 
 cially welcome. No obtrusiveness marked his com- 
 ing to the homes of grief; gently and soothingly he 
 sought to lead the stricken soul to lean upon the 
 arm of the great Helper. And though we might 
 know that no form of sorrow precisely like our own 
 had ever fallen upon his life, we were never permit- 
 ted to feel that a wide gulf separated his heart from 
 ours. The kindling of his sympathies was natural 
 and helpful always ; he never attempted to express 
 a concern and sympathy he did not feel. He used 
 to say: " I sympathize with you as deeply as my 
 nature and experiences will allow," when others, 
 really possessing less feeling, but pretending to be
 
 l8o GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 more deeply touched, would exclaim, " I am over- 
 whelmed by your sorrow." 
 
 The aim and spirit of his ministry is amply illus- 
 trated by the extracts from his sermons in these 
 pages. His ardent desires for spiritual results in 
 conversion, were not wholly unsatisfied ; during his 
 last pastorate, one hundred and seventy - three per- 
 sons were admitted to the church upon profession 
 of faith. 
 
 In a sermon, he once said, ** Marks, sitting on the 
 platform of the Oberlin church, with the pulses 
 dying to a flutter at his wrist, and discoursing with 
 dauntless spirit and cogent logic of the great veri- 
 ties of the Gospel, represents the manliness of intel- 
 lect. Hutchins, as his eye is sightless for the faces 
 of friends, but open to the solemnities of the Here- 
 after, and his ear deaf to earthly voices because full 
 of the roar of the dark river, opening his lips to say, 
 with a sweet, reverent smile, ' Trust, trust, trust,' 
 shows the gracious childhood of the heart." May 
 we not say truthfully that George T. Day repre- 
 sents in his life both the manhood of intellect and 
 the childhood of the heart. 
 
 His piety was deep, simple and constant. His 
 early Christian life convinced his fellow - students 
 of its sincerity, and whatever unfavorable estimate 
 they might put upon the lives of others, or upon the
 
 MEMORIALS. l8l 
 
 distinctive principles of religion, they believed him 
 to be a Christian. " It was always," says his 
 teacher, Dr. Quinby, " a rich treat to hear him, 
 when, at our seminary prayer - meetings he bore tes- 
 timony to the truth in his peculiar, quiet way, 
 thoughtfully and eloquently." " I do not remem- 
 ber," says Dr. Malcom, " when I first met Dr. Day. 
 But 1 recollect my first impression of him. I judged, 
 him to be a man of quiet courage, of industry, of 
 learning, and of great piety. These impressions, 
 were confirmed as years went on." 
 
 He was a man of prayer. His prayers in public 
 and in private worship were humble, reverent, 
 trustful. He talked with God as with a loving Fath- 
 er in heaven, face to face with his love and help- 
 fulness. Worship, thanksgiving, petition, charac- 
 terized his prayers, an entering into intimate 
 fellowship with divine promises and the divine 
 will. " Now," said some students, as they 
 paused one evening near the half -open door 
 of the study of the celebrated Bunsen, " now, we 
 shall hear Bunsen pray." He fell upon his knees, 
 and looking up, simply said, with inimitable fervor 
 and tenderness: "Lord Jesus, we are upon the 
 same sweet, intimate terms." When we have 
 been in his frequent company as a fellow - traveller, 
 his nightly communion with Heaven often seemed
 
 l82 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 like that. He loved to pray in a low, quiet tone, 
 and found it a trial to be obliged to raise his voice in 
 prayer sufficiently to be heard in a large room. ** I 
 have never known," says one who was his intimate 
 friend for twenty - five years, " any man who seem- 
 ed to live so constantly in near and sweet commun- 
 ion with God." He seemed to be clasping the 
 hand of the Infinite Guide, saying calmly, trust- 
 fully, lovingly : 
 
 " His wisdom ever waketh, 
 His sight is never dim ; 
 He knows the way he taketh, 
 And I shall walk with him." 
 
 The healthfulness of his spiritual life is attested 
 by the effect which nature had in revealing to him 
 the traces of God's presence and love. The things 
 of beauty and of temporal comfort were accepted 
 with the feeling, " These are my Father's thoughts 
 concerning me ; I am poor and needy, yet the Lord 
 thinketh upon me." From the presence of Niagara, 
 its picture of might and its thunders of majesty, 
 he goes to the pulpit in Buffalo to speak of " Jesus 
 Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever," 
 with a majesty of speech out -rivaling that of Niag- 
 ara, catching from the mists of the cataract a type 
 of the fleeting nature of human opposition, and from 
 its resistless flow a symbol of the might and fullness 
 of the Gospel of peace.
 
 MEMORIALS. 183 
 
 " Greatness in condescension, is the phrase by 
 which I would express the chief characteristic of 
 Dr. Day," writes one of his most appreciative 
 friends ; " capable of performing deeds of the high- 
 est order, yet cheerfully accepting the humblest 
 task by which he might most honor God and help 
 men. Great enough to awe, but meek enough to 
 attract and inspire the humblest of his brethren," he 
 was at once their leader and their servant. Yet 
 there, was nothing in him which suggested con- 
 sciousness of condescension. He assumed no supe- 
 riority, claimed no exclusive privileges, and asked 
 no favors which could not readily be accorded to 
 others, nor which, had he power and opportunity, 
 he would be unwilling to grant. 
 
 A brief acquaintance with him begot esteem, 
 which prolonged contact ripened into friendship and 
 love. ** Our people of the West, after a single 
 visit, loved him and now bemoan his death, hardly 
 less than those who knew him more. They will 
 feel his loss almos't as keenly as you at the East, 
 although he was one of the few who are loved as 
 they are known. He was a light which, though it 
 appeared first in the East, was soon seen, and en- 
 joyed with no appreciable diminution in the farthest 
 West." * 
 
 *Kev. O. E. Baker.
 
 184 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 " As a friend, he was frank, genial and unselfish ; 
 one whom it was pleasant to meet for the inspiration 
 coming from generous impulses, and high ideals of 
 life. He was wise in counsel, unswerving in prin- 
 ciple, and charitable in judgments of men. We 
 never met him without feeling that he lived in a 
 pure atmosphere, and had breathed in much of the 
 spirit of his Master." * 
 
 His disposition was conciliatory, and by it he was 
 enabled in delicate circumstances to disarm criti- 
 cism and opposition, and allay suspicion. He was a 
 lover of peace and sought to promote it. He exhibit- 
 ed no tendency to presume upon friendship, and was 
 often fearful lest his friends should expect too much 
 and suffer from disappointment in him. Having 
 made promises in business, or in the name of friend- 
 ship, he felt bound to a scrupulous fulfillment of 
 them, and the manner in which he often redeemed 
 these promises showed rare fidelity. 
 
 His kind - heartedness was always a marked trait. 
 He was specially sensitive to the exhibition of suf- 
 fering, his sympathies sometimes conquering his 
 endurance. Once, during the recitation of the class 
 studying physiology, at Smithville, the teacher was 
 explaining the method of overcoming the contrac- 
 tion of the muscles when setting a hip joint, and 
 
 Rev. Dr. Lincoln.
 
 MEMORIALS. 185 
 
 happening to cast his eye to the place where 
 George sat, observed him falling over in a fainting 
 fit produced by the delineation. 
 
 He read men easily, and his estimate of their 
 character and promise was usually charitable, hope- 
 ful and correct. His reverence for real character, 
 his regard for the welfare and usefulness of others, 
 and his fear of doing an injustice, forbade a careless, 
 unappreciative verdict over a life, or work. It was 
 as natural for him to study faces as for a child its 
 picture - book. The impression gained of him by 
 those who were in his presence for any length of time, 
 was that of a man of self-restraint and poise of 
 nature, and one who was anxious to fairly and suit- 
 ably understand his fellows. 
 
 Men of open heart and ingenuous purpose, found 
 him frank, confiding and charitable ; concealment 
 of real designs under specious words, and vacilla- 
 tion, and cowardice, met unsparing rebuke and 
 searching exposure. His power of discernment, of 
 penetrating clearly and readily to the heart of 
 scheme or proposition, made his opinion and advice 
 of substantial value. 
 
 Weakness seeking strength and encouragement, 
 at whatever time or place, found him ready to help 
 and soothe ; weakness wearing the mask of willful- 
 ness, or claiming the homage accorded only to
 
 1 86 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 strength, excited his pitying contempt. Severe he 
 might sometimes be, in his characterization of unap- 
 proved plans and measures, but he would not stoop 
 to personalities, nor reply in the tone of vitupera- 
 tion. 
 
 In the use of sarcasm, he was keen and felicitous. 
 With the training of certain schools of public life he 
 would easily have become a master in invective ; but 
 his- heart of kindness and Christian love, forbade 
 utterances which his rhetorical knowledge of the 
 power of words would have admitted. With no de- 
 sire to unfairly silence or wound an opponent, yet 
 oftener, doubtless, than he was aware, shafts of 
 sarcasm found a mark. But no one could be more 
 sorrowful than he, over any needless, unintentional 
 wound inflicted by himself, nor lament it more 
 sincerely. His coolness and self- control were re- 
 markable amid opposition, and in the discussion of 
 great, exciting questions which stirred his whole 
 nature profoundly. 
 
 While he could not consent to worship at the 
 shrine of another's popularity, power, or genius, he 
 was intolerant of sycophancy and adulation in 
 others, and especially if exercised toward himself. 
 He loved praise and was sensitive to the absence of 
 it, but the praise must be manly and appreciative, 
 or it gave him no pleasure; blind flattery he de-
 
 MEMORIALS. 187 
 
 spised, but his eye would kindle and his voice be- 
 come tender in tone, answering expressions imply- 
 ing obligation for some service he had rendered. 
 He was specially grateful when a hearer pressed 
 his hand and said, '-You can not tell how much your 
 sermon helped me ;" the words : " You gave us "a 
 grand sermon," fell upon an unsatisfied heart. 
 
 His high regard for truthfulness in all the mani- 
 festations of a soul, forbade duplicity, and however 
 eagerly he sought an end, he would not resort to 
 specious arguments or doubtful acts to win it. We 
 have spoken of his love of commendation ; he was 
 also sensitive to censure, but would not violate his 
 convictions nor change his purposes to secure the 
 pleasure of the one or to avoid the pain of the other. 
 He chose to suffer wrong rather than to unfairly re- 
 sent it ; to endure injury with patience rather than 
 meditate or seek revenge. That he should have no 
 enemies was impossible ; that he should meet no op- 
 position could not be expected ; yet he endeavored 
 to meet the experiences which enmity or opposition 
 might bring, with a manly, Christian spirit. 
 
 His acquirements in knowledge were substantial 
 and serviceable. A close, critical student, his 
 mental tastes and habits forbidding him to be content 
 with undefined, unsystematized knowledge, he 
 would meditate upon a truth and scrutinize a state-
 
 1 88 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 ment until his comprehension became clear and 
 exact. He was prepared to " give a reason of the 
 hope " in his heart, and of the opinion in his mind. 
 He knew what and "whom" he believed, and the 
 distinctive steps by which he had arrived at a con- 
 clusion were as clearly present to him as the con- 
 clusion itself. If asked to define his position on 
 any question, he could do it logically, clearly, 
 promptly. Such was the exactness of his mind, so 
 systematic its arrangement of facts, so broad and 
 complete his power of grouping incidents and con- 
 clusions, so retentive his memory, that he was able 
 to marshal his knowledge and powers for almost in- 
 stantaneous service even on the most important oc- 
 casions. 
 
 Not only did he grasp a truth with readiness and 
 clearness, but he was highly capable of helping 
 others to a like result. He excelled as a teacher, 
 and his pulpit ministrations were successful in 
 clearing away doubts, perplexities, and obscurities. 
 His concentration was large, and he was sometimes 
 led to dwell upon a point in address or sermon, at 
 great and tedious length ; fearfulness lest he be not 
 understood caused him, now and then, to explain a 
 proposition with needless detail. If we adopt the 
 highest, truest definition of eloquence, that "it is 
 the breath and force of a man's personality, the
 
 MEMORIALS. 189 
 
 whole being of a man speaking," he was eloquent. 
 If a true rhetoric is signalized by " the communica- 
 tion of thought by language, with a view to per- 
 suade," he was a rhetorician. Wit, humor, sublim- 
 ity, pathos, were at his command. His style was 
 not a little marked by redundancy, especially in the 
 use of adjectives, and was defective through lack of 
 terseness and condensation. There was no want of 
 perspicuity, arising from defective expression, or 
 imperfect arrangement, or from confusion in the use 
 of words. Though his sentences were often of 
 considerable length, they were clear and intelligible. 
 His language was unambiguous, elegant and ap- 
 propriate, though not unencumbered by long words 
 and expressions not consistent with Saxon vigor. 
 
 The rhetorical faults of his style were scarcely 
 noticed, indeed, almost wholly escaped detection, 
 by the hearer, amid the attractiveness, excellen- 
 ces and power of his speech. He endeavored, late 
 in life, to secure for his style certain qualities which 
 a more exact early culture would have successfully 
 imparted. The study of the Anglo - Saxon element 
 in our language was taken up with much enthusi- 
 asm, and prosecuted as extensively as attention to 
 his ordinary tasks would admit. It gave rise to one 
 of his finest and most popular lectures. 
 
 Expressing regret that this study could not have
 
 10,0 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 been pursued in early life, and that its fields were 
 even then practically shut away from him, he writes 
 to a friend : 
 
 "I like very much your proposal to run through 
 English literature in the way you suggest. It would 
 be interesting and profitable to carry along the his- 
 tory of English life, in its social, civil, ecclesiastical, 
 and educational aspects, -pari ^>assu. The two 
 things would reflect light on each other ; and the 
 English character, and the English nation, would 
 then be fully before you. It would put you very 
 much into such a relation in respect to that people, 
 as Hugh Miller's autobiography makes you 
 sustain toward himself, as an individual subject. 
 I would give something if I had done that, or could 
 do it now." 
 
 His mind was equally capable in synthesis and in 
 analysis. If he was happy in his work of demoli- 
 tion, he was not less so in that of construction. If 
 he displaced a system, he was not satisfied until he 
 could summon another to take its place. His ability 
 to perceive a fallacy was accompanied with the 
 power to expose it efficiently. "Dr. Day," says 
 Dr. Malcom, " reminds me of our old teacher, Dr. 
 Wayland, in the solidity and honesty of his mental 
 and spiritual character." 
 
 "Years after we parted in Providence, we came 
 together again as critics, sitting in judgment on 
 manuscripts and books. I learned to honor anew
 
 MEMORIALS. 
 
 his fine insight and rare discretion. If the verdict 
 of judges of high authority can be accepted, that 
 the largeness of a man's nature is tested by the 
 breadth of his sympathies with authors, Dr. Day 
 had a comprehensive soul, for he detected, as by 
 intuition, any mark of genius in an author, or 
 superior excellence of whatever kind. His judg- 
 ment was rarely at fault. He recognized the good 
 qualities of authors, and he knew equally well the 
 tastes of readers."* 
 
 He never seemed at loss, on festive occasions, for 
 the right and happy word to secure or to promote , 
 social enjoyment. He adapted himself happily to 
 the capacities of childhood, and was successful in 
 eliciting and keeping its interest, when addressing 
 it in Sunday school, or at some picnic or excursion. 
 Some of his Commencement dinner speeches were 
 fine examples of brilliant repartee, and of scholarly 
 eloquence. 
 
 As a fellow - traveller, he was entertaining and 
 buoyant, full of zest and curiosity, entering bravely 
 and cheerfully into the more difficult experiences of 
 a tourist ; never obtrusive in remark or manner, nor 
 unpleasantly tenacious of his own preferences. He 
 entered with full sympathy and hearty abandon into 
 the sports of the forest, the sea -side, and the brook, 
 taking up rod and gun with almost boyish enthusiasm. 
 
 *Bev. Dr. Heman Lincoln.
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 In his social visits at the homes of intimate 
 friends, he was warmly welcomed by parents and 
 children, by old and young, alike. In private and 
 in public social gatherings, his presence was hailed 
 with pleasure. 
 
 His mind, naturally fine and discriminating in its 
 tastes, was improved and enriched by foreign travel. 
 His letters as a foreign correspondent of the Morn- 
 ing Star, Providence Press, and Watchman & Re- 
 flector, were full of vivacity, abounding in artistic 
 pictures of life and scenes in Europe and the East, 
 and secured great popularity with the readers of 
 those journals. 
 
 His love of the grand and beautiful in nature, art 
 and life was intense and enthusiastic. The two 
 poetical effusions given in this volume fairly exhibit 
 his poetic appreciation, imagination and skill. He 
 was a lover of music, and often regaled himself in 
 hours of weariness, at the organ or the piano ; he 
 was acquainted, to some extent, with the art of 
 musical composition; the tunes on pages 168, 187, 
 and 202, of "The Choralist," are among his pro- 
 ductions. 
 
 In those things which are indices of true bravery, 
 he gave no sign of cowardice. When his critical 
 illness at the close of Conference, and the fears of 
 friends lest it should terminate fatally on the spot,
 
 MEMORIALS. 1 93 
 
 were mentioned to him, he said : " I do not think I 
 should have been afraid ; the God of peace and 
 safety is never far off at such moments." By his 
 bravery amid sickness and pain, and in the pres- 
 ence of threatening wrongs, by his fidelity to prin- 
 ciple and truth, by his unceasing, high industry, his 
 life luminously exhibits not only the strength which 
 endures, but the* strength which suffers, and teaches 
 both the duty of action and the equally sacred duty 
 of suffering. 
 
 "There is seldom a line of glory written upon the 
 earth's face, but a line of suffering runs parallel 
 with it ; and they that read the lustrous syllables of 
 the one, and stoop not to decipher the spotted and 
 worn inscription of the other, get the least half of 
 the lesson earth has to give." 
 
 There was one, a dearly - beloved and loving 
 friend whom he had welcomed to church - fellow- 
 ship and whose life he had blessed, who bent over 
 him, on the last night of his life, and thanked him 
 for his sweet, valuable ministries ; in so doing he 
 represented thousands of grateful hearts who would 
 have deemed it a precious privilege to do even 
 that. 
 
 His life's history will read tamely beside the excit- 
 ing stories of battle - heroes ; nor can it attract like 
 that of men great in statesmanship, for it has few
 
 194 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 striking passages ; but its spirit can not be compre- 
 hended without fascinating an earnest Christian heart 
 by its exhibitions of the power of a quiet, helpful, 
 devoted, single life. It can not be understood, and 
 yet make no deep impression by its persistence in 
 Christian toil. 
 
 They who study this ended life will learn the 
 needed lesson of " the hidden power of faith, the 
 calm might that lies in communion with the truth, 
 the nobleness, and beauty, and reward of a high 
 :self- sacrifice. They will learn from it to keep 
 'brave hearts when clouds settle on their life, to 
 trust that God will do his work, though not perhaps 
 till their day is past ; they will learn to hold stead- 
 fast by their work, though pain and sorrow are 
 knocking loudly at the door; "* they will learn how 
 comfort, courage, peace, strength, and confidence 
 may flow from " God as a helper." 
 
 " Now," said Beza, when he heard of Calvin's 
 death, "now that Calvin is dead, life will be less 
 sweet, and death less bitter." Our loss might 
 " seem irreparable, unless God remained with 
 infinite gifts and graces to bestow according to the 
 needs of his people." 
 
 " His faith and works, like streams that intermingle, 
 
 In the same channel ran ; 
 *From a tribute to Kev. F. W. Robertson.
 
 MEMORIALS. 195 
 
 The crystal clearness of an eye kept single 
 Shamed all the frauds of man. 
 
 " The very gentlest of all human natures 
 
 He joined to courage strong, 
 And love, outreaching unto all God's creatures, 
 With sturdy hate of wrong. 
 
 *' Tender as woman ; manliness and meekness 
 
 In him were so allied 
 
 That they who judged him by his strength or weakness, 
 Saw but a single side. 
 
 " And now he rests ; his greatness and his sweetness 
 
 No more shall seem at strife, 
 And death has moulded into calm completeness 
 The statue of his life."
 
 VI. 
 RECREATION 
 
 IN 
 EUROPE AND THE EAST. 
 
 Presenting in this chapter extracts from his volu- 
 minous foreign correspondence, we have endeav- 
 ored to transfer to the more permanent form of 
 these pages, those which were esteemed by the read- 
 ers of the journals to which they were addressed, 
 as among the choicest, most valuable portions. 
 
 i. 
 
 SABBATH ON THE SEA, June 28, 1857. 
 The Sabbaths on shipboard are calculated to 
 make one feel strongly the loss of the religious op- 
 portunities on shore. The religious spirit on our 
 steamer was not apparently very strong nor very 
 general, and yet there was enough of outward def- 
 erence to remind one that there was a consciousness
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 10,7 
 
 of having entered upon holy time. The conversa- 
 tion was rather less boisterous, and reading was 
 more general ; the music was mostly hushed, tracts 
 obtained in New York were distributed by the stew- 
 ard over the saloon tables, and the English Episco- 
 pal service was read by the captain, and responded 
 to by a portion of the crew and such of the passen- 
 gers as chose to join. It was poorly read and not 
 very devoutly responded to ; still it is something of 
 a relief and a blessing tp have even this. 
 
 During it, and especially after it was over, my 
 heart turned homeward, heavenward and inward, 
 and, more than is its wont, felt how great a blessing 
 is a quiet Sabbath and sacred worship among 
 friends in the sanctuary. I sat down with note book 
 and pencil, and scribbled the following lines, which 
 contain a transcript of my experiences : 
 
 Bright shines the sun, fresh breezes blow, the heavens are 
 
 azure blue, 
 Save where the dappled clouds bring out their changing shapes 
 
 to view ; 
 
 All round are gathered human forms and faces lit with glee, 
 But still the heart a strangeness owns, 'tis Sabbath on the 
 
 Sea. 
 
 Far as the eager eye can reach, the crested billows rise, 
 Till on the distant verge they seem to kiss the bending skies ; 
 No sail, like sea- bird's wing, appears to speak of life to me, 
 Through all this livelong, holy day, this Sabbath on the Sea. 
 
 The deck anon with laughter rings where men converse in 
 crowds,
 
 198 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 And there the winds make sad response while whistling through 
 
 the shrouds ; 
 The canvas swells, the masts bend down, light o'er the deep we 
 
 flee, 
 We stay not for an hour although 'tis Sabbath on the Sea. 
 
 Far, far away the pleasant scenes where Sabbath days were 
 
 spent, 
 And far the cherished friends with whom up to God's house I 
 
 went 
 
 There gather they again to - day, and lift a prayer for me, 
 Blest thought ! the day is holier now, this Sabbath on the Sea. 
 
 God's presence fills creation all, He bendeth everywhere, 
 
 To deck meek hearts with robes of joy, to answer each true 
 
 prayer ; 
 
 His promise waits to be fulfilled where 'er his people be, 
 Pure souls find Sabbaths everywhere, sweet Sabbaths on the 
 
 Sea. 
 
 To eyes anointed from on high, his traces mark the deep, 
 
 The winds are marshalled by his word, when he commands they 
 
 sleep ; 
 
 And he who trod the waves of old on storm - vexed Galilee, 
 Can give the troubled heart repose a Sabbath on the Sea. 
 
 Bend down, Great and Glorious One, above thy pleading 
 
 child, 
 And speak thy " Peace, Be still," above each ocean tempest 
 
 wild. 
 
 May every weakness, every danger draw me nearer Thee, 
 So that my soul find constant rest, a Sabbath on the Sea. 
 
 Be Thou the Guardian of my life, my wanderings all restore, 
 And bring me to the home I love, my yearned - for home once 
 more;
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 
 
 Spread thy broad wing above the spot where my heart's treas- 
 ures be, 
 
 That pledge of thine will crown this day, this Sabbath on the 
 Sea, 
 
 II. 
 
 VALLEY OF CHAMOUNIX, > 
 Switzerland, Aug. 15, 1857. $ 
 
 I commence a letter to - day at this center and 
 culminating point of Alpine grandeur. 
 
 The last week is the seventh from home, and in 
 no merely fanciful sense it has been the Sabbath 
 week. Our movements have been mostly slow, 
 aiding calmness and reflection ; we have had less 
 of the bustle of life as it appears in the haste and 
 hum of cities, among the mountains there has 
 often been a stillness it seemed irreverent to break ; 
 only during two days have we been on the public 
 thoroughfares, for nearly two weeks ; influences 
 that soothe and elevate have been unusually abun- 
 dant, and those which harass and inthrall have 
 consciously touched us only at long intervals ; and 
 the spirit, laying off anxieties and cares, has been 
 kept full of sweet and glorious emotions. Almost 
 every morning I have awaked to find a hymn in my 
 heart which would sing itself in melodious snatches 
 all through the hours of sunlight, and die down at 
 night into a cadence that made sleep come as a direct 
 benediction from heaven. Prayers seem to go up 
 easily here as if the mountains were altars, and the 
 clouds on their tops were incense, drawing orisons 
 after them in the ethereal currents which their, as-
 
 2OO GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 cent creates. " God is great" needs not to be pro- 
 claimed here by human lips as from the minarets of 
 the East ; the solemn silence of these vast mount- 
 ains, the unseen but steady flow of these glacier 
 streams, the tremendous speech wherewith these 
 awful clouds talk to each other amid the darkness 
 and the tempest, all these are heralds of Jehovah's 
 greatness it were stupidity not to recognize, and 
 mockery to attempt to rival. If it be the office of 
 the Sabbath to rebuke worldly pride and ambition, 
 to make waywardness seem a presumption and a 
 sin, to bring back to the soul the half lost conscious- 
 ness of God's nearness and greatness, to stimulate 
 faith and make it more child - like, to render prayer 
 an irrepressible yearning or a grateful outgoing 
 toward the infinite Father and Saviour, to throw a 
 sacred calm over thought, to give such a movement 
 to sensibility that all its currents flow as to the 
 march of anthemnal music, to brighten the future 
 with hues borrowed from immortality, to stir pity 
 for the unfortunate and erring and crushed and be- 
 sotted, and make the coming of God's kingdom on 
 earth the heaviest burden our wishes carry, and the 
 goal toward which our highest endeavors set them- 
 selves to struggle, if this be the ministry of the 
 Sabbath, then this mountain scenery has brought 
 me at least the spirit of a long and blessed holy day. 
 Be it so that its spirit goes into the work -day life 
 of many a future year. 
 
 My tour and tarry in Switzerland is the crowning 
 feature of my journey. Its bracing airs are a splen-
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 2OI 
 
 did tonic for an enfeebled system, and the influ- 
 ences, with which it surrounds and fills the spirit, are 
 like a sea of blessing, bearing affection heavenward 
 to the solemn music of its sparkling waves. Wisely 
 enough I had judged that the Alps could not be 
 seen and felt in a day, any more than Niagara can 
 be comprehended at a glance. I had planned to 
 tarry, that the ideas and conceptions and emotions 
 which are born of these mountains might have time 
 to grow toward maturity within me. And so I have 
 done, and such has been the effect. The grandeur 
 has grown on me daily. These mountain tops, 
 where storms and thunderbolts are cradled, seem to 
 stretch loftier upward each time of climbing to them 
 with the eye. The photograph of their forms 
 grows more and more distinct within, their lessons 
 come with less wooing, and find a tarrying - place 
 with less difficulty. 
 
 in. 
 
 PARIS, FRANCE, Dec. 20, 1865. 
 I am every now and then reminded by the Pro- 
 fessor that it is time for me to get off my first letter 
 to Dover. I take the hint and act on it ; though I 
 must begin by disavowing what he imputed to me a 
 week ago. His comparison of our heads might nat- 
 urally enough imply that I was a sort of " Hard 
 Shell Baptist." That is not true. I never entered 
 into fellowship with that fraternity, and since they 
 have become secessionists I have had no inclination 
 to join in sweeping their " harp of a thousand 
 strings." And his intimation that I was to send
 
 2O2 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 solid food was calculated to awaken fears that I 
 should induce mental dyspepsia in the Star readers. 
 Let nobody be fearful. The bill of fare has no item 
 at which even an invalid need be 'alarmed. Even 
 if these letters should possess the variety of a curry 
 or a chowder, they will prove to be as digestible as 
 soup. 
 
 We heard Mr. Spurgeon in the morning of our 
 first day in London, for it was Sunday. To look 
 upon the vast audience gathered within his Taber- 
 nacle, and hear the swelling harmony of thousands 
 of voices bearing up the hymns to heaven, is well 
 worth going two miles, even if one must carry a 
 jaded body and an unwilling spirit. Six thousand 
 eager, expectant faces would give inspiration to any 
 preacher unless there was an excess of fear or lack 
 of soul ; but it must be a powerful moral magnet 
 that draws and holds such a mass of human mate- 
 rial. And with all his excesses on one side and his 
 defects on the other, Mr. Spurgeon embodies and 
 exercises power. He is as intensely Calvinistic as 
 ever scarcely preaching a sermon without putting 
 in the very pith and sharpness of the "Five Points," 
 and yet, having a will of iron, and an active, rest- 
 less, practical working energy, such as few other 
 men possess, he rarely ends a sermon without vir- 
 tually driving the dogmas unceremoniously out of 
 doors. He is no philosopher, no logician, no 
 master of analysis, no trustworthy critic. His dis- 
 course has a thread, but it lacks definite boundaries. 
 In the development of a thought or the enforcement
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 203 
 
 of a duty, he shows the ability of a master ; but in 
 the treatment of a subject, he is seldom comprehen- 
 sive or satisfactory. The range of his thinking is 
 not broad, but the power with which he drives home 
 a single point is wonderful. His congregation is 
 his empire, and the enterprises immediately con- 
 nected with it are to him the interests which fill the 
 inner circle of the world. But into this circle he 
 puts a planning, organized, resolute, persistent 
 force, which shows astonishing results. He 
 preaches with great energy, though his self -poise is 
 complete. He has no pulpit, only a large plat- 
 form, with a railing in front, and a simple table by 
 his side on which lie his Bible and hymn - book. 
 He uses no manuscript, and his marvelous mastery 
 of pure, idiomatic, forcible English, enables him to 
 speak right on, without waiting for a word, or 
 using a single loosely - constructed sentence. 
 
 Beecher is more original, Phillips more classical, 
 Curtis has more literar}^ finish, Bushnell exceeds 
 him in strength, as other men surpass him in other 
 respects, but in forcible simplicity and picturesque- 
 ness of expression, such as forbids obscurity and 
 goes straight to the mark, he is a marvel and a 
 model in extemporaneous speaking. He does not 
 scorn ornament, but employs it ; yet he never seems 
 to be reaching after it, nor pushing it into notice. 
 There is humor in him, and he sometimes lets it 
 have its way ; wit, also, and he now and then shoots 
 one of its winged arrows. Poetic imagery and 
 suggestive metaphors now and then leap forth and
 
 204 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 light up the course of his thought, as sun - bursts 
 glorify the road of the traveller as when, last 
 Sunday, he said, that " though the tongue halts and 
 stammers when it would speak of our joy in God, 
 the loving heart sends out whole troops of sonnets ;" 
 or as when, speaking of the early death of spirit- 
 ually-minded children, he said that "they were 
 fragrant rose - buds, opening in the gardens of the 
 world, which God hastened to pluck that he might 
 wear them evermore in his bosom." 
 
 Confining himself mostly to the central and vital 
 truths of the gospel, he unfolds the guilt and 
 danger of unsaved souls, and paints the privileges 
 of the justified children of the kingdom, in a light 
 so vivid and in words so full of might and unction 
 that the meaning and the method of salvation rise on 
 the vision of his audience like the sun out of dark- 
 ness. And so, with a soul heaving with life, a will 
 brimful of energy, and a faith in himself and his 
 message, which his experience and his successes 
 have combined to 'make powerful, he sends his 
 clear, full, ringing voice through the room, sweep- 
 ing and stirring the chords of sensibility in each 
 soul as the summer wind stirs the leaves of the 
 forest. A calm and critical hearer may go away 
 dissatisfied with the sermon, but in his heart he 
 must confess that he has stood before a preacher 
 who is a master of assemblies. Only a man of 
 weak will, defective individuality, and unschooled 
 taste, would wish to be his copyist or set him up as a 
 model ; but it would be wisdom for clearer - headed
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 2O5 
 
 men to take lessons from his methods of speech, 
 and a virtue to seek after his power. 
 
 We listened for a little time to the Liturgy, the 
 preaching and the music, as the twilight was 
 gathering over the worshippers and the tombs in 
 Westminster Abbey the music so wonderful in its 
 skill and so peculiar in its effects that it seemed to 
 make the only abiding impression upon the 
 audience ; and then we sat down quietly in Dr. 
 Burns's chapel and listened to a sermon far more in- 
 structive than Spurgeon's, far more quickening than 
 that which the dignitary of the Establishment had 
 given us among the cloisters of the Cathedral. Dr. 
 Burns still keeps his vivacity, loses none of his 
 mental vigor ; courtesies come leaping out from his 
 kindly nature like waters from a fountain ; he show- 
 ed us a little flag of the American Republic, nailed 
 to one of his study book - cases when the rebellion 
 opened its guns upon Sumter and the British 
 government cheered it on with its peculiar neutral- 
 ity, and which he said had never since been lower- 
 ed or loosened a significant expression of his 
 sympathy with our country in its great struggle. 
 
 IV. 
 
 FLORENCE, ITALY, Jan. 10, 1866. 
 The plains of Lombardy, over which we passed 
 from Turin to Venice, and more or less from Ven- 
 ice to Bologna, are remarkable for their extent, 
 their fruitfulness, the perfection in agriculture, and 
 the mulberry orchards and vineyards which stretch 
 away on either side of the road like the prairies of
 
 2O6 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 Illinois and Wisconsin. The snow - crested mount- 
 ain boundaries glorify all. Nothing seems want- 
 ing to make the most adequate provision for drain- 
 age and irrigation ; the trees are properly trained ; 
 the pruning - knife has been applied to the vines ; 
 the stones are . removed from the fields ; the roads 
 are as good as engineering and constant attention 
 can make them ; the bridges are massive, solid, 
 complete stone structures, looking as though they 
 might be five hundred years old, and were good for a 
 thousand more ; the hills are terraced as far upward 
 as is practicable, and the whole movement of com- 
 mon life goes on like the stars in their courses, as 
 though change were out of the question. What re- 
 mains is to take care of what has been done. Men 
 are seen spading up the most level fields, where the 
 steam - plow might run for hours without difficulty ; 
 the problem here is manifestly not to find how 
 much human labor can be dispensed with, but how 
 much can be economically or properly used. And 
 so, while the whole Lombardy valley is like a gar- 
 den in regularity, beauty and fruitfulness, the peas- 
 antry are poor, fighting the battle of life at great 
 disadvantage ; and, so far as this world goes, reach- 
 ing nothing but meager results even when their pa- 
 tient persistence gives them victory instead of defeat. 
 We enjoyed Milan. It is a neat, thriving city ; 
 old, but not decrepid. It has many historic associ- 
 ations, and not a few choice products of art; but 
 there are two things which especially make it fa- 
 mous. The one is the renowned Fresco of Leonar-
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 2(>7 
 
 do da Vinci, whose subject is the " Last Supper." 
 The other is the great Cathedral. 
 
 The fresco has been greatly defaced by time and 
 violence ; not a single head or form is complete ; 
 the building in which we find it is old, low, out- of - 
 the way and cheerless, and the sexton who keeps 
 the key must be looked up. But we found the man 
 and looked at the picture. 
 
 The glory of the work is seen in the central fig- 
 ure. The artist has done, perhaps, whatever a 
 mortal can do, in the way of embodying the com- 
 bined majesty and benignity of the great Master's 
 character. I have seen no 'other face of Christ 
 among the multitude that look out- from all these 
 vast galleries, which, on the Whole, comes so near 
 the ideal which the New Testament picture gives. 
 It wakes the profound reverence which prompts 
 worship, while kindling the sympathetic confidence 
 which sends the soul to His bosom as to the heart of 
 a great and long - tried friend. Out from those lips 
 it is easy to believe there might come in successive 
 sentences, the words : " He that hath seen me hath 
 seen the Father." " Him that cometh unto me I 
 will in no wise cast out." Not a single restoration, 
 or copy, or photograph, or engraving of this great 
 picture, which I have seen, preserves this " majes- 
 tic sweetness," which not only "sits enthroned" 
 upon the brow of Jesus, but which here informs 
 every feature and writes itself in the whole attitude. 
 
 Of the cathedral it is difficult to speak in any sat- 
 isfactory' way. It is easy enough to say that it is
 
 2O8 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 built of white marble, from pavement to spire; that 
 it was commenced in the fourteenth century, and 
 though a large number of workmen are constantly 
 employed, it is a long way from completion ; that 
 its extreme length is about 500 feet, its breadth at 
 the transepts about 300, its height 'from the pave- 
 ment to the top of the statue of the Virgin which 
 surmounts the spire, nearly 400; that the number 
 of statues, mostly of life size and larger, executed in 
 the highest style of art, and set in the niches, on the 
 angles and pinnacles as ornaments to the exterior, is 
 about 7000, with 3000 yet to be added; that the 
 smaller perpendicular projections from the roof, 
 representing so many varieties of botanical shrubs 
 and flowers, and made, when viewed at a given 
 angle, to appear like a vast flower garden, is not 
 less than 15000. But all this will amount to very 
 little in describing the cathedral as a whole, wheth- 
 er viewing it from a distance or near at hand ; seek- 
 ing to take in the great pile as a whole, or fixing 
 attention upon any single portion in its details ; 
 walking over its pavement and looking upward to 
 the lofty frescoed ceiling that seems like the brood- 
 ing of heaven at twilight, or standing among its pin- 
 nacles, turrets, balustrades, arches and statues on 
 the roof, and looking down upon the architectural 
 glories that arrest your vision all the way to the 
 street ; inspecting a single statue till the soul is full 
 of wonder at the skill of the sculptor, or regarding 
 the great structure itself as the embodiment of the 
 architect's magnificent conception, and crystaliza-
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 2CX) 
 
 tion of the religious experiences of the race into vis- 
 ible and permanent form ; it is still a wonder and a 
 glory, defying your analysis, silencing your tongue, 
 beggaring your description, spreading itself on 
 every side beyond your ideals, mocking your efforts 
 at comprehension. There is nothing to do but 
 stand, look, admire and wonder, to go away sur- 
 feited, to come and look again and then go away 
 as before, feeling that the spirit is too narrow for 
 such a conception to inhabit, too weak to bear 
 away such a burden of splendor. And so you go 
 away at last, with only the outlines of a great tem- 
 ple drawn on the tablet of memory, within which 
 beauty and sublimity, in many and varied forms, 
 come and go, like clouds of gold and crimson in the 
 summer sky ; and instead of a house built by human 
 hands which your mathematics have measured, you, 
 are haunted by visions of a temple let down from 
 above before you, as the New Jerusalem showed it- 
 self to John in the panorama of the Apocalypse. 
 
 There are larger structures ; there are costlier 
 and many more noted ones which I may yet see, 
 but I have no expectation that architecture will 
 speak to me again through lifeless marble with a 
 voice more impressive. Leaving out of the account 
 the economical and strictly moral consideration, 
 and regarding such a pile from a purely aesthetic 
 or artistic stand - point, it is something to be admired 
 with almost unbounded and perfect joy. As such, it 
 is pleasant to contemplate it. Stopping to ask 
 whether the Christianity in whose name it is reared
 
 2IO GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 would sanction such an outlay for a mere temple, 
 when the contrite heart is the true dwelling-place 
 of God on earth ; whether the disciples can be justi- 
 fied in rearing- for their occupancy such an abiding 
 place while claiming to imitate him who had not 
 where to lay his head ; whether so much gold may 
 be properly locked up in marble walls, and sense- 
 less statues, while our poorer brethren pine from 
 hunger, and our Father's children famish for the 
 bread of life; and especially asking, whether a false 
 .faith and a cheating round of ceremonies ought in 
 any case to be rendered more imposing and attract- 
 ive and powerful by throwing around them such a 
 robe of beauty and magnificence; then, indeed, 
 .there is an alloy flung into the pleasure of contem- 
 plation, and the picture is likely to be marred by the 
 doubt awakened over its office. Alas, that the glo- 
 ry of art should be so often the shame of religion ! 
 
 v. 
 
 ROME, ITALY, Jan. 25, 1866. 
 . . . But I may say that the churches, rich 
 and glorious as they are, considered from an artistic 
 stand - point, do not seem to me at all like the tem- 
 ple of God, unless they are deserted and silent, and 
 so leave me to my own meditations ; and I go to 
 witness the ceremonies at the festivals as I go to 
 witness any other splendid pageant, and I am sure 
 I shall not be disappointed. Save when, here and 
 there, 1 see a poor working man, with horny hand 
 and subdued and wondering look, kneel on the 
 pavement and reverently repeat a prayer as though
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 211 
 
 conscious that God was marking whether it were 
 the real language of his soul, or only the meaning- 
 less repetition of the lips ; or when some woman's 
 furrowed face carries a whole volume of inward 
 history, of hardships which waste her strength; 
 of disappointments which consume her courage ; of 
 afflictions that strike the stars out of her sk} r ; of 
 brave struggles that bring only defeats ; of bereave- 
 ments that beckon her to the hereafter ; and of 
 wounds which Christ only can heal, prostrates 
 herself in utter forgetfulness of human observers, 
 and moans out her agony toward heaven, and sends 
 up her longing in speechless sighs, save when 
 such worshippers as these push all the priestly cer- 
 emonialism out of sight and out of mind, or when 
 the wondrous music makes of the whole soul an 
 answering instrument, and sets it singing through 
 the whole scale of emotion, I get no quickening 
 or comforting thoughts of God, and am touched by 
 no influence that binds me close in loving service to 
 my kind. I can simply enjoy a great cathedral as 
 I enjoy a gallery of paintings or statues ; there are 
 faces in the latter as full of heaven as the chapels 
 of the former ; both alike tell me how great is the 
 spirit in man to which the Almighty has given un- 
 derstanding. And I look upon the processions and 
 the ritual as I look upon the glitter and the evolu- 
 tions of a great military parade ; both alike impress 
 me with the wondrous power which comes of skill- 
 ful organization, and prove that pantomime may be 
 thrillingly eloquent. There is to me far more to
 
 212 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 kindle devotion in a majestic mountain, which God's 
 strength long since reared, or in the simple prayer 
 of a child, whose heart his grace is now touching. 
 
 VI. 
 
 NAPLES, Jan. 30, 1866. 
 
 Naples is a thoroughly Italian city. The bay up- 
 on whose convex curve it stands is very beautiiul, 
 deserving a large part of the praise which has been 
 lavished upon it. The slope of its site upward from 
 the coast to the Castle of St. Elmo, where the bluff 
 overlooks the sea and the surrounding country, 
 opens the whole area of the city to view, whether 
 one looks upward irom the harbor, or downward 
 from the fortified ramparts. Towns crowd down to 
 the shore for a considerable distance on either hand, 
 and villages nestle at the toot of the hills as though 
 feeLng sure of shelter, or as if choosing a place 
 meet for the rearing of altars where the grandeur 
 of nature is a perpetual call and stimulus to worship. 
 At the eastward towers Vesuvius, the crest of min- 
 gled cloud from the sea and of smoke from the cra- 
 ter resting nearly all the day long upon his brow, 
 or hanging poised above his head, prophetic of a 
 coronation. The sky is lofty and has its own Ital- 
 ian tint of blue ; the waters of the bay are still 
 bluer, and so clear that you look far down into the 
 depths and see the mysteries of marine life. All 
 mountains are seen through a veil of thin, delicate 
 mist, blue, purple or golden, according to the posi- 
 tion of the observer, the strength of the light, or the 
 hour chosen for observation. The tinting of the
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 
 
 scattered clouds at noon is very delicate and sil- 
 very ; as the day wears on, they present a clearer 
 outline, and seem piled into more compact masses; 
 as they accompany the sun to his chamber they 
 blush, first with pink and violet, then with orange, 
 then with scarlet and crimson, and when he has 
 sunk, a mighty globe of gold, out of sight, he seems 
 to be casting a smile back upon his attendants, 
 lighting them up with a wondrous gorgeousness, 
 setting the whole horizon aglow, and making the 
 sea look like the pavement of a fabled palace. 
 The very air carries balm to the spirit and soothing 
 to the nerves, fancies mix themselves with sober 
 thought, and while you walk you are dreaming. 
 
 To stand beside one of these crowded streets, 
 and look upon the panorama of life as its successive 
 sections present themselves, is something rare if not 
 rich, an experience to be remembered even if one 
 does not care to have it repeated. 
 
 There have been occasional allusions to beggary 
 and beggars in this foreign correspondence. The 
 topic is rendered prominent enough in one's experi- 
 ence to justify the devotion of a letter to the portrait- 
 ure of this phase of life. One meets it all over the 
 continent. Naples has long had the reputation of 
 outdoing all other cities ; but Rome leaves it now 
 far in the rear, whatever may have been the case 
 heretofore. Travellers are generally regarded by 
 the people on the continent as legitimate game for 
 all classes to capture and pluck. 
 
 There are all sorts of beggars : beggars in
 
 214 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 broadcloth and beggars in rags ; beggars who de- 
 pend for success upon the use of brain, and beggars 
 who rely upon the powers of brass ; beggars who 
 make it a life - long occupation and who proceed ac- 
 cording to pre - formed theories, and beggars who 
 take up the business at odd times and intervals, and 
 follow the lead of circumstances or the guidance of 
 impulses ; beggars that demand with confident tone, 
 and beggars that whine out their pleas in a minor 
 key; beggars that depend on their good looks, and 
 beggars that employ all hereditary and acquired 
 loathsomeness to compel a surrender ; beggars that 
 enforce an appeal with their age, and beggars that 
 touch your heart by youthfulness ; beggars that 
 urge their own sufferings, and beggars that praise 
 your ability and generosity ; .beggars that threaten 
 you with curses if you do not give them, and beg- 
 gars that promise you their own perpetual prayers 
 and the Blessed Virgin's eternal intercession if you 
 do give them ; beggars who tell you what they have 
 already suffered, and beggars who picture the suf- 
 ferings which they expect will come unless your sil- 
 ver shall speedily halt the terrible procession ; beg- 
 gars who seek relief for themselves, and beggars 
 having a whole house full of friends eagerly looking 
 for the deliverance which a few coppers will surely 
 carry them ; beggars who ask your charity as a 
 mighty hand to lift them out of purgatory, and beg- 
 gars who ask it as a key to lock them securely into 
 paradise. 
 
 These are not over - statements. In Rome espe-
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 215 
 
 cially, it would not be easy to exaggerate the truth. 
 You find a beggar at the door when you go out in 
 the morning, beseeching you to begin the day with 
 a gift, and there is another, or the same, waylaying 
 you at night, praying you to carry a lighter con- 
 science to your bed by leaving behind a donation. 
 You go on the street, and a beggar is beside you, 
 with slouched hat in hand or miserable bonnet un- 
 der the arm, pleading, as always, for money. Stop 
 a moment before a shop window, and a group of 
 them is surrounding you. At every corner a fresh 
 voice accosts you ; each public square has its guard 
 of mendicants. While you are engaging a car- 
 riage to visit some object of interest, your bargaining 
 is interrupted by voices that keep up the perpetual 
 murmur of " bajoccha.^ When you turn to get in, 
 some beggar's hand is on each of the doors which 
 are opened for your entrance ; the beggar grasping 
 the door which you do take closes it after you and 
 confidently asks for money in pay for the service ; 
 the beggar grasping the door which you do not take 
 grievously or indignantly asks for money in pay for 
 the disappointment. When you alight, the process 
 is repeated. Every gallery has its beggars, waiting 
 at the entrance to get the first fee ; every old monu- 
 ment or ruin has waiting in its neighborhood more 
 than one human monument of wretchedness, and 
 more than one poor wreck of life, whose story you 
 must guess, but whose meaning you are not permit- 
 ted to mistake. Similar experiences in beggary ac- 
 company all undertakings, and crowd themselves
 
 2l6 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 into the life of every successive day. Men and 
 women, the old and the young, the strong and the 
 feeble, those who choose the occupation for its 
 profit, and those who know no other way in which 
 to eke out a miserable subsistence, desperate char- 
 acters and pitiable characters, those who excite only 
 suspicion and disgust and those whose mournful 
 tones touch the heart, and whose pleading, anxious, 
 sorrow - stamped faces haunt you for days, all, all, 
 without any apparent sense of shame or feeling of 
 reluctance, seeming to count the business legitimate 
 if it may only be successful, unite in swelling the 
 army of beggars, whose representatives are every- 
 where, but whose great encampment and principal 
 field of operations is the city which once boasted of 
 being mistress of the world, and which now glories 
 in having been for fifteen centuries the capital and 
 the efflorescence of Christendom. 
 
 VII. 
 
 CAIRO, EGYPT, Feb., 1866. 
 
 . ! . . . But the Egypt of to-day seems far 
 enough from leadership, or instruction, or national 
 beneficence. If it was the cradle where ancient 
 civilization was rocked, one might be pardoned for 
 the suggestion that when the child left the cradle it 
 forsook the homestead and carried away all the glo- 
 ry. If Egypt nursed enterprise after she had given 
 it birth, it might seem that the offspring absorbed 
 all the parent's vitality. The ancient ambition is 
 dead, and one looks in vain for the active forces 
 that built Thebes, and fashioned the tombs, and
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 217 
 
 conceived the Colossus, and sculptured the Sphinx, 
 and piled the pyramids. 
 
 I was not prepared to find poverty so abject, so 
 general and so unambitious, character so wanting 
 in manliness, government so imperfect a guardian, 
 and religion so largely a series of undefined super- 
 stitions. The dwellings of the masses are shock- 
 ingly poor and disgustingly filthy. Villages, just 
 outside of these chief cities, appear, a little distance 
 away, like a huddle of sand - hills or mud - heaps ; 
 at hand, they are found to be receptacles where 
 human and animal life indiscriminately gather 
 themselves into companionship, partly above 
 ground, and partly below ; now within walls of sun - 
 dried brick, and then merely of clay ; here with a 
 partial roof of coarse reed, half- thatched and half- 
 piled upon supporting cross - pieces, while there the 
 only bed is a ragged blanket on the earth, and the 
 only canopy the sky. Donkeys, dogs and fowls 
 mix together and w r ith the human denizens ; the 
 door-yard and the barn -yard are identical, and 
 while nature gives the kids a covering, the children 
 are more or less resigned to nudity. How the hu- 
 man system endures such neglect and uncleanliness 
 is a wonder ; that epidemics should leave whole 
 streets and towns anything else than cemeteries is a 
 problem for physiologists to solve. It is one merit 
 of the Mohammedan religion that it lays such stress 
 upon ablution ; if it had required the bathing to be 
 thorough and entire, it might have paved the way 
 for a faith that insists upon decency as a part or a
 
 2l8 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 condition of godliness. I do not overlook the allow- 
 ance of climate or of custom ; but after discounting 
 liberally, on every reasonable ground, there is still 
 left an amount of debasement, a general ignorance, 
 a destitution of honor, a poverty of heart, a lack, 
 indeed, of all the qualities which make character 
 attractive, affections purifying, domestic life a sac- 
 rament, and faith a bond of ennobling fellowships, 
 such as surprises as well as saddens. Egypt 
 once sheltered the Redeemer's infancy when hatred 
 was hunting it elsewhere ; oh, if it might now wel- 
 come His quickening Spirit and find a new life run- 
 ning through all its diseased and palsied frame ! 
 
 In Cairo as at Rome, beneath the dome of the 
 mosque as well as along the nave of the cathe- 
 dral, the maximum of piety seems often coupled 
 with the minimum of character. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 MT. SINAI, ARABIAN DESERT, ) 
 March 5, 1866. 5 
 
 From Suez, we had six days of sailing over the 
 Red Sea before we landed at Tor, whose harbor we 
 had hoped to make in thirty hours. Then three 
 days of desert and camel - riding, of stretches of 
 sandy desert, and mountain gorges where upheav- 
 als had torn and splintered the rock, and tourists 
 had plowed up the lighter debris, of bare, rugged 
 peaks outlined against the sky, and tufts of verdure 
 and branches of flowers springing up here and 
 there beside the dreary path, of wild and narrow 
 passes, alternating with valleys that broadened
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 2Ip 
 
 almost into plains, of scorching heat that made 
 the camels moan, and the drivers pant, and the 
 riders sigh, and then a cool breeze, that breathed 
 life into. the wilting frame, or a clear pool sheltered 
 from the sun, or a gurgling streamlet that made us 
 shout with gratitude and taught us the meaning 
 of many promises that sparkle on the pages of the 
 prophets ; three days of this strange life, followed 
 by nights where only a tent stood between us and 
 sky, and only a mattress between us and the sand 
 and we came to a halt before the gates of the 
 Convent at Mt. Sinai. Our letter was sent up by 
 a rope let down from a post- hole in the wall, and 
 soon a venerable looking priest, with a kindly face 
 and a smile of welcome, came out, and led us to 
 such apartments as he had to offer. They were not 
 luxurious, but they were comfortable ; and the hos- 
 pitality came at such a time and in such a way that 
 it signified much and blessed us largely. 
 
 This is our third day at Sinai. The wild, rug- 
 ged, awful, transcendent majesty of this mountain- 
 ous tract has had time to impress the heart, and has 
 done it. It is a fitting school - room in which to 
 teach a nation, born and reared amid idolatries, the 
 unity and majesty of God. Here, if anywhere, a 
 people might be cured of the tendency to worship 
 the creature, and taught to bow only before the 
 great Creator. It seems not strange that Moses 
 should here have received his great commission, and 
 that God should choose these echoing mountains as 
 aids to his voice w r hen he had his weightiest words
 
 22O GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 to utter. An imaginative, thoughtful and religious 
 nature, like Mohammed's, would find food for medi- 
 tation here, and it is not so wonderful that it should 
 seem to be a Divine voice which he heard coming 
 up from the depths of his own excited and pro- 
 foundly sensitive soul, swept by the influences that 
 seem haunting these solitudes. Here, if anywhere, 
 man gets back to the wild, simple grandeur of na- 
 ture ; here, if anywhere, he would be forced to feel 
 himself standing face to face with Jehovah. And 
 for the same reasons that induced God to choose 
 such a man as Moses to be a prophetic leader, he 
 might fittingly choose this same Sinai where I write 
 to be the temple for the unveiling of his glory to Is- 
 rael, and the audience room where he proclaimed 
 the statutes that were to go sounding on through 
 time. 
 
 Yesterday was the Sabbath. The Greek ritual 
 was hurried through by the monks in the Convent 
 chapel before sunrise, and the day was before us. 
 Do you ask how we spent it? We took our Bibles, 
 climbed to the point which tradition, historical criti- 
 cism, and rational probability designate as the spot 
 where Moses received the law in the sight of the 
 people, sat down in silence, took in, feature by 
 feature, the wild, and almost awfully sublime scen- 
 ery, put ourselves as far as possible into sympathy 
 with the ancient transaction, peopled the valley at 
 our feet with all the thousands that once stood here 
 among the camps, hushed, expectant, trembling, 
 anxious, as they saw the cloud, witnessed the light-
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 221 
 
 nings, heard the thunders, and felt the quaking of 
 the mountain ; then opened to the narrative in Exo- 
 dus and read the story as the pen of inspiration has 
 traced it, Decalogue and all, and as we came to the 
 sentence, " Thou shalt have no other gods before 
 me," we felt the significance of those deathless 
 words as never before. With that law pouring its 
 sanctity upon our souls, what was more fitting than 
 to sing, " Rock of ages, cleft for me," and then bow 
 ourselves in prayer before God's majesty, confess 
 our sinfulness in the presence of the statute we had 
 often broken, lift our tearful thanksgiving that the 
 Gospel had opened a way of forgiveness, and ask 
 that the authority of law and the pathos of love 
 might combine in a motive that should henceforth 
 make life a work of obedience, and our path the 
 highway of holiness, leading straight and sure to 
 heaven. And thus we spent the Sabbath at Sinai. 
 
 IX. 
 
 JERUSALEM, March 30, 1866. 
 It is Holy Week in Jerusalem. The city is full 
 of people, for the tide of visitors and pilgrims has 
 been setting steadily and strongly in this direction 
 for some weeks past, from almost every quarter of 
 the religious world. Our own country is largely 
 represented here. The arrival of some new Ameri- 
 can party is an event of almost daily occurrence ; 
 and there are just now but few departures, for the 
 culminating point of the festivities is just at hand, 
 and the attraction holds nearly all who arrive. Last 
 Sabbath was Palm Sunday, and the Latins had
 
 222 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 their usual ceremony in the Church of the Holy 
 Sepulchre. To - day is Good Friday, observed by 
 the Catholics and the Episcopalians according to 
 their custom ; it is also the great day of the Jewish 
 Passover, and the unleavened bread and the bitter 
 herbs will not be forgotten by any son of Abraham 
 according to the flesh. To - night the crucifixion 
 of Christ is to be dramatized in the Greek Church 
 a performance scandalous enough, one would think, 
 to raise a blush even on the cheeks of the shameless 
 ecclesiastics who get it up in the name of religion 
 and the church. I shall decline to attend it. The 
 very thought of it is shocking. I would prefer to 
 go out alone to Gethsemane, and read by the moon- 
 light half a dozen of those touching and sublime 
 chapters beginning with the thirteenth of St. John. 
 The thousands of pilgrims who went out of the city 
 Wednesday morning to bathe in the Jordan are to * 
 day pouring back over the Mount of Olives and 
 through St. Stephen's gate ; the Jews are moaning 
 and smiting their breasts with peculiar unction at 
 their wailing -place, while they look upon the 
 stones of the ancient city wall, and read the pas- 
 sages that speak of the glory which is no longer 
 theirs. Next Sunday will be Easter, and then the 
 living tide will begin its ebbing ; though the Greek 
 party will still hold out the attraction of the Holy 
 Fire, and keep another Easter a week hence. 
 
 It is not easy to write a descriptive letter here. 
 One would prefer silent meditation to speech, and 
 leave thought and feeling to themselves, rather than
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 223 
 
 constrain" them to flow in any epistolary channel. 
 There is quite too much to be told ; and one is like- 
 ly to feel that very little can be done in the way of 
 telling what is perceived and felt. The historic 
 personages and significant events that are associated 
 with almost every square foot of this territory, come 
 crowding upon the mind, and the present is lost in 
 the past. Through the steady murmur of the 
 streets, there seems to be coming up the music of 
 David's Psalms, sung over there on Moriah ; and 
 while the throngs sweep by, you are wondering 
 how the Great Teacher appeared when he came up 
 to the Passover, and interpreted and fulfilled the 
 ancient ritual by becoming himself the Lamb of 
 God to take away the sin of the world. 
 
 On some accounts, we seem to have had a favora- 
 ble introduction to this land of the Bible. We had 
 spent time enough in Egypt to recover from any 
 shock which a first view of oriental life might occa- 
 sion. The features that seemed at first strange and 
 disagreeable had become familiar, and so had 
 mostly ceased to absorb attention and give pain as 
 at first. The trip across the desert had made us 
 ready to appreciate the beauty which natural scen- 
 ery had to offer, and the low life of the Arabs, 
 among whom we journeyed for nearly a month, 
 made Palestine appear beautiful in its spring cos- 
 tume, and a long way toward genuine civilization. 
 As we came gradually upon the cultivated lands 
 about Gaza, saw the flowers springing among the 
 grass, caught the melody of birds as they flung
 
 224 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 their music to our ears from every side, and found 
 peasants following the plow, or casting the seed in- 
 to the soil, or coming out to greet us with smiles 
 and civilities, it seemed like a blessed world that 
 was giving us welcome, and the common people 
 appeared dignified and noble. Just now the feet of 
 spring are specially beautiful upon the mountains 
 of Syria, and the city and the people find favor in 
 the eyes of those who were becoming weary of the 
 monotony of the desert, and who had been studying 
 humanity in the type presented by the Bedouins. 
 
 My feet are at length really standing within the 
 gates of Jerusalem ! I have walked on Mt. Zion, 
 explored Moriah, followed the bed of the Kidron 
 through the valley of Jehoshaphat, drunk from the 
 pool of Siloam, threaded the valley of Gehenna, 
 mused in" Gethsemane, stood on what is said to be 
 Calvary, climbed Olivet, and strolled about Beth- 
 any. I do not much trouble myself now about the 
 assertions, pretensions and disputes of Mohamme- 
 dan, Jew, Greek, or Latin, respecting topography 
 in detail ; and questions of historic and critical 
 probability consume little of my time. I am sure 
 that here is where the great events which underlie 
 our Christian faith occurred ; here Jesus walked, 
 taught, and triumphed, and opened a way to re- 
 demption for those who take him as Master and 
 Lord ; here the whole scriptural narratives are illus- 
 trated, confirmed and invested with a meaning and 
 a reality which they never before possessed, as I read 
 them where their heroes lived ; and that answers
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 225 
 
 every vital demand of intellect and heart. Light 
 flashes upon the pages of the New Testament like 
 that which came streaming down upon the plains 
 at Bethlehem so long ago ; I am sure its source is 
 in heaven, and so I bow down with a grateful confi- 
 dence, and lift up my eyes with exceeding great joy. 
 The distant Christ comes nearer now ; blended with 
 the Divine majesty in his face there is a more thor- 
 oughly human smile than my eye had ever before 
 caught ; and in the incarnation of Jesus I behold 
 the highest glory of God and the dearest hope of 
 man. Here where the feet of the Messiah pressed 
 the mountains, my faith finds a rock on which to 
 plant itself; on the height whence he sprang to his 
 upper throne, my hope spreads its wing and stops 
 only at immortality. 
 
 x. 
 
 JERUSALEM, April 2, 1866. 
 
 It is a remarkable land. The varieties of climate 
 are both numerous and great. Mountain, plain and 
 valley alternate with great frequency, or are em- 
 braced in a single view. From one point, the out- 
 look is only upon barrenness that suggests the des- 
 ert, or upon the ruined works of other days ; after 
 an hour's travel, the landscape becomes a picture in 
 which the well - kept terraces are carried to the 
 very crest of the hills ; the valleys are beautiful 
 with orchards of fig and olive, flocks feed on the 
 hill -sides, the husbandman is plowing in the fields, 
 the maidens sing as they fill their pitchers at the 
 fountain, and the merry voices of children at play
 
 226 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 come sounding upon the air, waking memories of a 
 distant home and childhood. 
 
 Within this comparatively small area, all latitudes 
 appear to be represented. We seem to have trav- 
 ersed a zone between sunrise and midday. Mt. 
 Hermon alone gives us the portraits of more than 
 half the months that make up the family circle of 
 the year, and the seasons touch each other along 
 his slope. The summer covers his feet with flow- 
 ers, the spring fills his lap with verdure, and win- 
 ter puts a glistening crown upon his head. Not 
 even France exhibits more fruitful tracts than are 
 some of those which beautify the valleys of Sama- 
 ria ; not even Sinai or the desert exceeds the 
 heights that overlook the valley of the Jordan in 
 desolation. The Plain of Esdraelon exhibits agri- 
 cultural capacities scarcely inferior to those in Lom- 
 bardy ; Gennesaret reminds one of a Swiss lake ; 
 and the majesty of Lebanon is akin to that embod- 
 ied by the Alps. Other lands excel it in some sin- 
 gle features ; it was left for this to represent the 
 countries into which a continent is divided, and 
 almost to epitomize the world. 
 
 The general average of intelligence, enterprise 
 and character is higher in Palestine than in Egypt ; 
 it is a long way above that which we found in the 
 desert. The faces have a more pleasant look, the 
 salutations are more cordial, there are less villain- 
 ous eyes glaring out from beneath dark brows, and 
 the word fellowship seems oftener interpreted by 
 the observed intercourse of life. And still, even in
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 227 
 
 these respects, a few miles will exhibit great differ- 
 ences. 
 
 The villages of Nain, where Jesus gave the wid- 
 ow's son from the bier to his mothers bosom ; and En- 
 dor, where the sorceress confronted Saul with an 
 apparition, are but two miles apart ; yet one seems 
 animated by the spirit of a human friendliness, 
 while the other scowls defiance from the faces of its 
 women, screams impudence from the lips of its chil-' 
 dren, and steals whatever it can get by the hands 
 of all classes of its population. 
 
 Bethlehem and Nazareth, the birth-place and 
 the early home of Jesus, are especially distinguished 
 for the admirable natural positions which they occu- 
 py, for their neat, thriving and substantial appear- 
 ance, for the fair complexion and pleasant faces 
 which abound, and for the prominence of the nom- 
 inally Christian element in the population. And 
 though, when tried by a New England standard, 
 the lack would appear sad enough in all these re- 
 spects, the reputation is not undeserved. Gaza is 
 impudent ; Hebron is this and fanatical besides ; 
 Bethel is dirty and uncivilized ; while not a few 
 towns combine all these characteristics with not a 
 few others of equal significance and attractiveness. 
 
 . . . Jerusalem is not a city for the mere tour- 
 ist, but^ for the pious pilgrim. Its objects do not 
 challenge criticism, but prompt to prayer. Its 
 office is not chiefly the stimulation of intellect, but 
 the purification and elevation of the affections. 
 There is little to be told that feeds and satisfies
 
 228 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 common curiosity ; it does its work by vitalizing the 
 soul ; and who can transfer a thrilling religious ex- 
 perience to a page of manuscript, and send it flam- 
 ing six thousand miles across the continents and 
 seas to interpret itself in the inner life of others ? 
 
 XI. 
 LOUGHBOROUGH, ENGLAND, June 21, 1 866. 
 
 We have put the English Channel between us 
 and the European continent. Only the Atlantic re- 
 mains to be crossed before we reach America. The 
 attraction increases as the distance grows less ; and 
 with the music of our blessed mother tongue filling 
 the air and voicing the spirit of fellowship, home is 
 assuming reality, and its temple seems not very far 
 away. I went to Crown Court last Sabbath evening 
 and heard Dr. Gumming. His chapel is close to 
 Drury Lane Theatre, in a neighborhood not attract- 
 ive to the eye ; and the chapel itself exhibits less re- 
 gard to taste and architectural harmony than the 
 average of Dissenting chapels here, a statement 
 carrying with it a verdict severe enough to express 
 any amount of condemnation. It is not very large, 
 though its interior arrangements are such as to pro- 
 vide for seating quite a numerous congregation. Dr. 
 Gumming is a gentlemanly-looking man, neatly and 
 carefully dressed, a little above the medium height, 
 of regular features, fair complexion, black hair and 
 beard, an eye at once bright and genial, while his 
 air and manners have a degree of quiet elegance 
 and taste that would be fully at home in the draw- 
 ing - room. His voice is in perfect keeping with his
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 229 
 
 appearance ; pleasant, musical and well modulated. 
 He reads indifferently, without great skill, care or 
 unction. The Scripture lesson was rather heed- 
 lessly and bunglingly brought out ; the running 
 comments possessed nothing striking, and produced 
 not much impression; the hymns were better man- 
 aged, but were not at all vitalized by the unction of 
 the reader's heart. 
 
 The sermon was based on the passage, "Behold, 
 I stand at the door and knock." The preacher had 
 no notes before him ; and the sermon, considered 
 from the homiletical stand - point, was lacking in 
 plan, being neither philosophical in arrangement 
 nor exhaustive in its scope. The thought was not 
 remarkably strong nor fresh, the discrimination was 
 not always clear, there was no deep penetration, no 
 great logical vigor, no comprehensive generalization, 
 no overpowering force of statement, no master 
 strokes of imagination. But there were great ease 
 and self-reliance, the language was generally 
 exact, copious, picturesque, there was tact in the 
 methods of address, skill in ths use of illustrations, 
 directness in the argument, point in the applications, 
 fervor in the appeals. The sermon was not great, 
 but g9od;-ifnot philosophical, it was something 
 better ; it was bating its Calvinism, which seemed 
 to be gratuitously thrown in' evangelical, earnest, 
 warm - hearted, and faithful in exalting Christ and 
 asserting the sinfulness and peril of rejecting him. 
 It was simple enough for a child's comprehension, 
 and yet there were passages possessing rhetorical
 
 230 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 beauty which offered gratification to cultivated 
 tastes. It spread no royal feast for the intellect, but 
 it did what was far better and more legitimate, it 
 plied the conscience with Christian stimulants, swept 
 away the false pretenses by means of which the in- 
 tellect is wont to shield indifference, and by motives 
 which appealed to the sense of obligation and all 
 the better elements of our nature, pressed the soul 
 of the hearer up to its most sacred duty and its 
 noblest privilege. Dr. Gumming is more popular 
 than many other men who wield double his power, 
 but his mind possesses some sterling qualities and he 
 manifestly seeks to use all the opportunities which 
 Providence has coupled with his abilities and his 
 reputation, for the salvation of men and the glory of 
 his Master. 
 
 XII. 
 
 LONDON, July 6, 1866. 
 
 The week spent in the midland counties of Eng- 
 land, gave us time to see some of the finest scenery, 
 the most improved agriculture, the most marvelous 
 manufacturing temples, and the truest home - life 
 which this renowned island has to offer. 
 
 In picturesqueness, and quiet, subdued beauty, 
 nothing can well exceed some of these landscapes 
 in the interior districts. The fields are smooth like 
 lawns ; while trees and hedgerows, miniature lakes 
 and winding streams, cottages and halls, clustered 
 villages and thriving towns, diversify and complete 
 the picture. In the neighborhood of Buxton there 
 is Switzerland in miniature heights and precipices,
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 
 
 climbed not without weariness, fountains leaping 
 from the hill -sides, streams hurrying with rush and 
 roar to the plain, caves that can be explored only 
 by the aid of torches, and long tunnels through 
 which the railway trains dash in the darkness, all 
 reminding one of the similar but greater grandeur 
 of the Alps. 
 
 The season and circumstances could have hardly 
 been more favorable for us. The foliage is grown, 
 but has not yet lost its early freshness ; the grain 
 approaches maturity ; the recent rains had given a 
 clear and thrifty look to all the pastures and hills ; 
 the weather was bright like June in New England, 
 and the companionship, courtesy and interest of 
 genuine English friends gave zest to every experi- 
 ence, and would allow no fine point of view, no 
 notable object, no historic association, no interesting 
 legend to escape us. We have, therefore, seen what 
 is best and most beautiful in central England, and 
 under circumstances to give it full power ; and for 
 myself I may say that it does not disappoint my 
 high expectations, and that is saying much. Wealth 
 and taste and toil have wrought here for many cen- 
 turies, and they have not wrought in vain. Some 
 day, I trust, we shall add the beauty of the English 
 farm to the intelligent enterprise, the immense pro- 
 ductiveness and the growing wealth which mark 
 American agriculture; and then our tillers of the 
 soil ought not to find it necessary to "go abroad for 
 
 We are just now " doing" London. I heard last
 
 232 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 Sunday three celebrated preachers. In the morning, 
 Thomas Binney, standing before us with Websterian 
 head, muscular frame and fervid heart, preached in 
 a strain of noble, majestic simplicity that made me 
 wonder and weep. In the afternoon, at Westminster 
 Abbey, Dean Stanley preached to a military organi- 
 zation of volunteers, and so disappointed me in tone 
 and thought, style and manner, that I marvel even 
 now how he could put off his greatness and be the 
 feeble, turgid preacher he was. In the evening, at 
 the chapel, where I had gone to listen to Newman 
 Hall, James Spurgeon, brother of him of Surrey 
 Tabernacle, preached an earnest, fluent, effective 
 sermon to young men ; which largely made up in 
 genuine Christian directness, elevation and fervor 
 what it lacked in originality, plan, and thorough 
 treatment of the theme. 
 
 I heard Paxton Hood preach at Ealing, a pleas- 
 ant town near London, whither I had gone to spend 
 a day or two with some newly made and pleasant 
 acquaintances. He was a poor boy in his youth, I 
 am told, aided somewhat in his effort at education 
 by a gentleman who believed that he detected ele- 
 ments of unusual promise. But his first efforts in the 
 pulpit were not at all encouraging. His hearers 
 dropped away from him gradually till he had little 
 besides empty benches at sermon time ; he was oc- 
 cupied for a season as a sort of temperance lecturer, 
 mixing songs into his addresses as a means of keep- 
 ing up the interest of an audience which his 
 steady speech was almost sure to wear}'-. But
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 233 
 
 he kept on, refusing to be silent or discouraged. 
 
 Mr. Hood is now the esteemed and popular pastoi 
 of a prosperous Baptist congregation at Brighton, 
 the Newport of England, and his literary labors are 
 now recognizable in the world of letters; he ha? 
 fairly won his position as one of the recognized 
 powers of the land. There is little that is prepos- 
 sessing in his appearance. Nearly fifty years of 
 age, rather spare in person, having a narrow and 
 not too lofty head, tending somewhat to baldness, 
 sandy hair and complexion, careless of etiquette, an 
 air half thoughtful and half abstracted, with a voice 
 thin, limited in compass, and keyed quite too high to 
 be agreeable, reading the Scriptures with an unpar- 
 donable heedlessness of enunciation, though evi- 
 dently never missing their meaning, half seeming to 
 forget his audience and to be not over mindful of his 
 position, such was Paxton Hood as I saw him when 
 I first entered the well filled church on a week-day 
 evening. My friends had promised me an able and 
 good sermon ; I hardly dared to expect it from the 
 man before me, and imagined it must be some other 
 minister who was simply conducting the preliminary 
 services. 
 
 The prayer which followed the reading revolu- 
 tionized all my opinions, and soon made me glad to 
 forget all the work of criticism. It was unique, fol- 
 lowing no model, conforming to no ideal standard, 
 but at once devout, calm, full of thoughtfulness and 
 self -recollection, confiding, yearning, grateful, 
 sympathetic, comprehensive ; coming up from the
 
 234 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 soul-depths, full of recognitions of God's adaptations 
 to the human spirit, touching with bursts of quiet 
 pathos, lifting with its tone of faith, melting in its 
 simple confessions, restful with its spirit of recon- 
 ciliation and peace. It was eminently a prayer a 
 plain, free, sincere talk of the heart with God, in 
 whose fellowship it had often found light and life, 
 and was assured of finding them again. 
 
 The sermon that followed was full of the individ- 
 ual peculiarities of the man, but still more thor- 
 oughly crowded with Christ, who was eminently, 
 skilfully, impressively preached, as the Mighty One, 
 who was nevertheless " touched with the feeling of 
 our infirmities." There was such a freshness in his 
 methods of presenting common truths, such an 
 ability to vivify the trite and familiar, such a power 
 to evolve meaning from and give dignity to the 
 oft -repeated phrases of Scripture, and such an un- 
 ostentatious skill in picturing to the life even the 
 subtlest of his ideas, that he seemed even more 
 original than he was and that is saying very much 
 for his marked and peculiar originality in both 
 thought, style and manner. The last would now 
 and then provoke a smile. His sermon was written 
 upon note paper, and for some reason, I could 
 hardly determine what, he held it up in one hand a 
 foot or so from his face duringf the whole time of the 
 
 O 
 
 delivery, now gesturing with it, now resting the 
 elbow on the Bible and half leaning over the desk, 
 but still keeping the manuscript mostly in the neigh- 
 borhood of his head, even when he went on for five
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 235 
 
 successive minutes without apparently consulting it 
 at all. His light voice pirouetted about in unantici- 
 pated and undefinable ways, now coming out steady 
 and musical, then suddenly sharpening out to a 
 piercing point, then dropping into huskiness, then 
 hurrying along with a zigzag motion to halt sud- 
 denly in the middle of a ringing note. 
 
 But in spite of it all and through it all, the 
 preacher went on steadily, strongly, impressively, 
 gratefully with his work, intent on the development 
 of his gracious theme and his glorious Master ; the 
 smile which a moment ago was provoked by a 
 shrewd, quaint say ing or an odd tone or gesture, was 
 followed by a tear of penitence or gratitude, or ran 
 off into a freighted sentence of silent supplication. 
 And when the discourse was ended, I think there 
 was hardly one hearer but went away feeling that to 
 possess Christ's friendly sympathy is the one great 
 good of life, and that to lose it is the climacteric sin 
 and curse of the human soul. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 LONDON, July 16, 1866. 
 
 I linger yet in and about the great city, and am 
 still far enough from exhausting it. Its life spreads 
 over an immense area, flows through almost innu- 
 merable channels, and comes out in the most diver- 
 sified forms and phases. It is the world epitomized, 
 and its complete story is the condensed record of the 
 race. The heroic and the mean, the saintly and the 
 satanic, the beneficent and the brutal, the tragic 
 and the comic, perpetually meet and mingle in these
 
 236 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 bustling streets. The forms, faces and movements 
 frequently hint at unwritten histories whose simple 
 portraitures would shame all high-wrought romance. 
 There are eyes, now and then, into which one only 
 needs to glance to discover that years of fruitless 
 struggle and scores of disappointed hopes are peer- 
 ing out through the mist and gloom, as convicts 
 stare listlessly out of the cells from which they are 
 to go only to the scaffold or the grave. And there 
 are faces, too, resolute with ambition, or darkling 
 with revenge, or bold with defiance, or eager with 
 the lines and play of cunning, or smirking with self- 
 conceit, or restless with anxiety, or eager for action, 
 or beaming with kindly affection, or calm from 
 sacred meditation, or devout and patient with the 
 influence of a still - ascending prayer. 
 
 There are few volumes like that furnished us in 
 the thronged streets of a great city, where every 
 passer-by turns a new leaf, and every successive 
 countenance opens a fresh and significant para- 
 graph. And more than anywhere else in the world, 
 perhaps, these streets in the heart of London multi- 
 ply such meditations of human life. 
 
 It is easier to form an opinion respecting the char- 
 acter of the people whom one meets here than in 
 Paris. There is generally less regard for mere ap- 
 pearances ; the real qualities are likely to come out 
 in some way. Poverty generally appears poor, 
 misfortune does not so generally undertake to hide 
 its inward agony, nor so easily forget it amid sur- 
 rounding sunshine and gayety. Rags and beggary
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 237 
 
 seem fully at home in the prominent streets, and the 
 unwashed fraction of the passers - by is often a 
 large one. Misery does not keep itself out of sight 
 from any inward pride, shame, timidity, or regard 
 for others ; instead, it often seems bent on making a 
 show of its agonies. Vice, in that saddest of all 
 forms, in women who have parted with the refine- 
 ment and the honor of their sex comes out unblush- 
 ingly at noonday, it walks the streets and watches at 
 the corners at night, quite as often employing brazen 
 effrontery as captivating blandishment. 
 
 Nowhere else have I seen the evil and the good 
 so directly and manifestly pitted against each other. 
 The warfare between Satan and Christ is open and 
 undisguised. While the emissaries of the one stand 
 forth in their own character and seek to lead away 
 their dupes, the servants of the other are scarcely 
 less busy, decided, and full of expedients for giving 
 warnings and beckoning the imperiled to safety. I 
 have been greatly interested in observing the 
 various methods adopted by associations and indi- 
 viduals to draw the attention of men to the great 
 themes of the Gospel. Of course, the methods may 
 sometimes lack wisdom, and individuals will now 
 and then display a zeal wholly wanting in discre- 
 tion, and which may work as much mischief as 
 profit. But I can not help appreciating the positive, 
 decided, open, direct, resolute ways in which Chris- 
 tians seek to honor their Master, and press his claims 
 upon the attention of the people. 
 
 On a Sunday, at various points along the promi-
 
 238 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 nent streets, or in the squares, or close by a promi- 
 nent place of worship, around which the people 
 gather in advance of the opening of the doors, 
 one will find a preacher or exhorter, Bible in 
 hand, mounted in a chair, or on the steps, or the 
 edge of the side-walk, preaching away to the score, 
 or hundred, or dozen, or one, who may stop for a 
 few minutes to listen. Some of these street preach- 
 ers are, to be sure, rather sorry samples, but very 
 generally they appear to be earnest, devoted, pious 
 men, anxious to be useful, and some of them admi- 
 rably adapted to rouse the attention of such persons 
 as will not visit the sanctuary. Sometimes a wag in 
 the crowd will succeed in turning the solemnity into 
 farce, or a shrewd blasphemer will prove too much 
 for the simple - minded Christian exhorter ; but more 
 frequently the preacher triumphs in these colloquial 
 encounters, or is listened to with silent respect. 
 More or less of them are sent out by churches and 
 associations on these errands ; others, of course, re- 
 spond to what they claim is an inward call, or a 
 divine commission and impulse. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 DUBLIN, IRELAND, Aug. 17, 1866. 
 The tour to the Scottish Highlands has been 
 prosecuted amid all sorts of weather except the hot 
 and sultry, and has brought a variety of experiences. 
 Scottish life and character have turned many of 
 their ordinary and of their extraordinary phases to- 
 ward me, and the most celebrated of all the Scottish 
 scenery has been inspected somewhat in detail.
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. 239 
 
 It is a peculiarity of mountain scenery that it 
 never exactly reproduces itself in another country. 
 One in name and general character, mountains, like 
 great souls, give us an endless variety of combina- 
 tions, specific features and details. The Appenines 
 differ from the Alps, the desert groups and ranges 
 belong to a family still more remote, the chains and 
 single heights in Syria are made up after quite an 
 original model, the Carpathians have their own un- 
 mistakable build and aspect and expression, and the 
 Scottish Highlands are not less unique than beauti- 
 ful. 
 
 Where the naked rock appears in the loftier 
 heights of Scotland, it does not often stand out bare, 
 cold, unsympathizing and desolate, but wears a 
 softened, mellow tint of gray or brown or purple. 
 Sharply cut outlines, and long, acute angles, and 
 sheer perpendicular cliffs, and dizzy precipices, are 
 mostly wanting. And in most cases, where the 
 forests are not carried to the summit, the rains, frost, 
 friction and sunbeams, acting through so many cen- 
 turies, have disintegrated the surface to some extent, 
 and formed a thin soil sufficient to sustain a simple 
 vegetation, which overspreads most of the hills with 
 delicate verdure that suggests a spring robe. The 
 abundant summer rains keep the whole landscape 
 fresh, fill the gorges and ravines with brawling tor- 
 rents, decorate the green slopes with quieter streams 
 that wind hither and thither and gleam in the sun- 
 light like threads of silver, set the rivulets leaping 
 again and again down the shelving cliffs that abut
 
 240 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 upon the sea, and so multiply the gushing, foaming, 
 shouting waters on every side that the very hills ap- 
 pear as if bursting into laughter. And so, all 
 through this Highland section, beauty is forever 
 wedded to grandeur, the fruitful field lies in the lap 
 of the towering height, the lake bears fertile and 
 flowery islands on its bosom as a bride her jewels, 
 and the majesty of nature is in sympathy with the 
 affection of souls. These are some of the peculiar- 
 ities which mark the mountain scenery of Scotland, 
 and lend to it such an abiding charm.
 
 VII. 
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 
 
 " HE BEING DEAD YET SPEAKETH. " 
 
 The power of human life and the importance of it, 
 are only known when we see its whole work, and 
 read its whole history. Of most lives at the close, 
 we know perhaps only the least significant items. 
 Now and then a life stands so related to ours that we 
 feel its greatness to be untold. In many instances 
 we see that the posthumous work is vast, where we 
 did not freely realize the working influence. 
 
 The speech of the dead is often more impressive 
 than any other. We realize the worth of that which 
 ceases to be ours. Sanctity attaches to the append- 
 ages and words of the dead. The utterances are 
 ended now, and we are left to the study of them. 
 
 It takes sometimes a long while for a dropped 
 thought to grow up into maturity, and for a life to 
 leaven the souls it has touched. Great forces move 
 slowly, silently. 
 
 A man's religion is the index to his real character.
 
 242 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 / There may be a real attachment to God when 
 there is no love for some phases of religion, in- 
 deed, some phases of religion are disliked because 
 the heart loves God, and these do not bear his like- 
 ness. 
 
 It is one of the holiest and highest forms of Chris- 
 tian principle that is seen in our rallying to the side 
 of a misjudged and unjustly persecuted truth or be- 
 ing. 
 
 Just in proportion as men have looked less and 
 less into the word of God, and leaned on spiritual 
 impressions, their life has fluctuated, been full of 
 inconsistencies and follies. 
 
 One of the common and sad errors in church life 
 is that the religious training of the young is con- 
 sidered too much as something aside from, and 
 added to, the work of being a Christian. Work for 
 the young is the main work of the church. 
 
 In order to high success, the very best talent of 
 our churches must be employed in the work of Sun- 
 day school instruction. The keenest minds, the 
 most liberal culture, the highest refinement of feel- 
 ing, and the most unwearied perseverance are called 
 for in this sphere of labor. Christianity claims the 
 service of such minds, she is never content with 
 the mere compliment which such men pay when 
 they bow graciously in her presence. This duty of
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 243 
 
 leading the young to Christ presses with peculiar 
 weight upon us. Till we feel ourselves set as guides 
 to the cross, and as having done really nothing as 
 we should, till we have brought the children nearer 
 to it, we are poorly fitted to accomplish the work of 
 the Sunday school. 
 
 A true love of virtue will awaken whenever vir- 
 tue especially, spotless virtue appears. The 
 magnet is drawn most strongly when the ore is pure. 
 
 The peace of God passeth understanding, be- 
 cause, like other moral elements, its presence only 
 can develop it. Its exposition belongs to the ex- 
 periences of the heart, rather than to the discerning 
 intellect. 
 
 That Bible, esteem it as we may, is a wonderful 
 phenomenon. It is the voice of the past speaking 
 clearly across the chasm of centuries. It is a sun 
 lighting up the temple where humanity lay in its 
 cradle, and was crowned monarch of all terrestrial 
 things. Where discovery has halted, baffled in the 
 attempt to trace the stream of history back to its 
 fountain, this volume comes to its relief, reading 
 off the story of nations whose only monuments are 
 dust, bridging over the waters of the deluge, dig- 
 ging deeper than where the lowest page of Geology 
 was hidden, and pointing us to the emptiness and 
 desolation that waited for the coming of order and 
 beauty. Showing us the childhood of our race, it
 
 244 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 solves the strange enigma of its manhood. It uni- 
 fies the startling contradictions in our character 
 which all men see and feel, by telling us how 
 degradation fastened itself upon our grandeur. All 
 other histories begin with events already wearied 
 with their long and tedious marches and briefly 
 halting for the sake of repose ; this volume has its 
 Genesis and Exodus. 
 
 Here is the world's earliest literature, for time has 
 kept no other. Here alone do we catch the first 
 thoughts our human sires had vocalized, and here 
 palpitate the earliest emotions that answered to the 
 wooing of good and evil. Here stand incarnate the 
 first passions that opened the drama of violence, 
 whose subsequent tragedies wail through the lips of 
 centuries. Here quiver in their paleness the first 
 fears that guilt created, and whose wide - spread 
 progeny still seek to hide from the face of justice. 
 Here go up the first prayers that penitence ever 
 breathed, and the first triumphant hopes which 
 God's mercy beckoned to the sky, and here the 
 earliest human saintship walked meekly among 
 scoffers until it rose immortal to heaven. 
 
 Over that book, sage and child have sat together, 
 the one finding food for the most critical taste, and 
 drawings to the loftiest contemplation, and the 
 other feeling that there was syllabled to it 
 such soothing and simple things as made it 
 quiet, secure and satisfied in the midst of a 
 lonely and perilous world. In the heaven of hu- 
 man hope, its promises have ever beamed as the
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 245 
 
 eternal stars ; staggering under the heaviest burdens 
 our hearts ever carry, its speech has quickened us 
 into power and patienca ; by its halp, men hav3 
 scaled the mountains which frowned on them with a 
 "hitherto"; bewildered, it has led them out into 
 brightness ; it has taught them to wait for the gifts 
 of the future when the present offered no reward to 
 heroism ; under the most terrible pressure it has en- 
 abled affliction to say, "Even so, Father, for so 
 it seems good in thy sight ; " and when all earthly 
 sympathy had, lost its power over the fainting heart, 
 some whispered sentence, fragrant with Divine love, 
 has given brightness to the filmy eye, and parted 
 the pallid lips with a holy smile, and helped the 
 spirit to spread its pinions and wave a triumphant 
 adieu to the world. 
 
 Christianity allows no one to be satisfied with 
 simply getting through life well himself, or of 
 simply saving his own soul. 
 
 The interest in others never gets deep enough to 
 be Christian until it works for their sanctification 
 through the truth. 
 
 Church life, with all its imperfection, burden, 
 difficulty, is to the true soul a precious thing. 
 There spring up some of the sweetest experiences, 
 and the highest hopes ; around it linger some of the 
 choicest memories. Imperfections and trials there 
 are ; so everywhere ; but between that sphere and 
 another which involves the loss of all this growth 
 and fellowship, the contrast is great.
 
 246 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 /The only safety in our growing wealth is a 
 growth of self-sacrifice, charity and benevolence; 
 these are the only shields against the peril ; the only 
 alchemy that transmutes the fixed temptation into a 
 blessing; the only way to change the cheat and 
 bogus into the genuine coin of soul - wealth. 
 
 Can I be willing to please you merely ; to gain 
 your sympathy ; to buy your smiles and your good 
 will ; to ask what you would like rather than what 
 you need? God forgive me if my selfish aims 
 make me unfaithful ; if ever, in coveting your ap- 
 proval of my sermon, I be careless about your 
 welfare and recreant to my duty and vows. I would 
 not pain you needlessly, never censure from love of 
 rebuking, or the gratification of feeling ; but Heaven 
 keep me from pressing out of sight the guilt of your 
 sins, or the peril of your unsubdued hearts ; a peril 
 which God in his mercy has anointed my eyes to 
 see and set me here to preach. 
 
 Bring the highest religious motives to bear upon 
 your child's life. It will appreciate them. All else 
 is too weak for your purpose. Especially teach ac- 
 countability to God. 
 
 The question to be asked is not what do we be- 
 lieve, but what is truth. Our beliefs do not change 
 that; and it will make itself seen and felt some 
 time. 
 
 Men are inclined to apologize for what they prac-
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 247 
 
 tice to make their verdicts correspond with their 
 doings. Many are glad to find a reason for disbe- 
 lieving Christianity because an admission of its worth 
 and authority is equivalent to a confession of their 
 own guilt and peril. They are willing, if not anx- 
 ious, to hear suspicion thrown on the Gospel, list- 
 en eagerly to stale objections a hundred times an- 
 swered ; exult in the faults of professors. And in 
 this way, little by little, the reverence for sacred 
 things departs, the power of the truth is weakened, 
 and men seek freedom from the disquiet of God's 
 voice by resolutely doubting whether he has 
 spoken. 
 
 We talk of fighting in order to get rid of moral 
 foes, of running to keep away from powerful tempt- 
 ers. But there is often more struggle required to 
 go to perdition than to heaven ; more to keep a con- 
 science drugged than pure. 
 
 That living Saviour is here. To say that is to do 
 the highest thing connected with our ministry. 
 You need not feel orphaned and forgotten. He 
 comes and asks if you will be his, and let him be- 
 come the inspiration of your life. Tear down every 
 barrier, strike hands with him, rely on his help, and 
 you shall have life, life more abundantly. 
 
 Those who dignify the common spheres of duty 
 with the Christian spirit, make each daily duty a 
 testimony for Christ. Each trial meekly borne
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 bears witness how God may honor the human soul 
 and make common paths radiant. We need to 
 have our common life lifted up and lighted with 
 sanctity. 
 
 Oh, if all effort were fully sanctified with the 
 thought, " These are done for Christ," we should be 
 always tarrying in the temple ; each daily task 
 would be a handful of incense flung into the censer ; 
 and each word of love spoken with a blessing in it, 
 would be the key note of a psalm. 
 
 Lay your finger of self- denial on the lip when a 
 passionate tone leaps up from within ; crush into 
 quietude the selfish propensity that struggles for a 
 moment's rule ; carry out the perfect work of pa- 
 tience when petty perplexities are stinging every 
 nerve ; turn wrath away with a soft answer ; bear 
 each dull affection up to God in prayer that he may 
 quicken it with a touch ; show the souls that are so 
 burdened they can not look up, or so benighted 
 they can not see, the way to the Giver of light and 
 the Receiver of burdens ; sit down before any little 
 wondering child you meet, lead its thought gently 
 up to the Saviour ; fill the bony hands of want ; 
 show waywardness the sanctity of wise counsel ; 
 teach earthly spirits how pure and holy things may 
 be made to nestle in their chambers ; let cheerful- 
 ness beam from your face and tone in the path of 
 sad souls ; walk humbly and faithfully with God in 
 your own sphere : do all this as your best gift to 
 goodness, your highest work for God and men.
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 249 
 
 Toleration of religion on the ground of indiffer- 
 ence and stupidity is contemptible. Some men 
 lend au equal endorsement to everything religious 
 because they do not know nor care about any religion 
 at all. None of the religious sentiments are impor- 
 tant enough to be plead for, contended for, defend- 
 ed. Simply a want of life explains this form of 
 charity. Sometimes earnestness in religion is only 
 a quarrel with all religion. 
 
 The Christian spirit is one everywhere, in pul- 
 pit and pews, in apostle .and child, in the first cen- 
 tury and in the nineteenth. I have no doubt that a 
 piety deep and fervent as Paul's still walks the 
 earth and talks with Heaven. Lives whose stories 
 were never told to the public have the same kind of 
 heroism, and a faith that stands, without faltering, 
 the friction of as fierce trials. Spheres, circumstan- 
 ces and duties differ, but the religious spirit begot- 
 ten by the Gospel is forevermore. Natures may be 
 nervous or quiet ; one's impulses may be like a tem- 
 pest seldom sleeping ; another may be specially de- 
 liberate ; but though there be diversities of gifts 
 and temperaments and aspirations, there is but one 
 and the self- same spirit begotten and revealed by 
 Christianity. 
 
 Trust not merely in the triumph of a party, nor 
 in the seeming triumph of a principle. Watch over 
 it, that it may not suffer defeat. If the party lose
 
 250 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 the principle, it will perish. Do not be deterred 
 from standing for justice by the bread and butter 
 argument. 
 
 Every man may help the nation. Be righteous 
 and it may be better than to hold an office. In your 
 own sphere cling to principle and equity at all haz- 
 ards, taking any temporary losses that may come, 
 never doubting that triumph is thus to be won. 
 
 However we may throw off allegiance, we can 
 not annul the law nor take ourselves from beneath 
 its authority. The tribunal stands ; the legislator 
 and judge still keeps his seat; the misread deca- 
 logue is in force ; we shall be tried by the change- 
 less standard. 
 
 How much has been done for many of us. 
 Hymns, pleadings, prayers, sanctuaries, memories 
 of sainted ones, wooings of the Spirit, promises of 
 Jesus, calls of God ! What have we brought forth? 
 Amiability, kindness, integrity. But are these 
 more than the wild grapes? Where is the choice 
 fruit, the Christian clusters ? 
 
 There needs to be sought and gained, the spirit 
 that deliberately chooses God, duty, and toilsome 
 usefulness, whether there shall be fine sentiment, 
 poetry and gladness in them, or whether they shall 
 involve walking in darkness and bearing a heavy 
 cross. Not fine sentiment, but a consecrated soul ;
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 251 
 
 not a tearful or a jubilant human sympathy, but a 
 settling into Christian faith and principle ; not vehe- 
 ment pleas, but a hearty alliance of the whole nature 
 with the redeeming Christ, to live in and work with 
 him for the highest welfare of men, these are the 
 things that prove our prayers genuine and set forth 
 the real fruits which the week of prayer was meant 
 to offer. 
 
 If there is one truth in the Bible more clear and 
 unquestionable than another, it is God's love to 
 man. And if the Bible makes one duty of man 
 more imperative than another, it is the duty of love 
 to God. If we love him, we shall try to please him. 
 And our aspirations may not only rest in hope ; 
 they may be full of assurance, for, with the help we 
 may receive, it is no difficult task to please him. 
 
 But it is asked, How shall I please God? Lov- 
 ing him with all the heart and our neighbor as our- 
 self, can not fail to please him ; nor when we re- 
 pent of sin, trust in the merits of his Son for salva- 
 tion, and praise the Father for all his wonderful 
 dealings with us. And never, perhaps, is he better 
 pleased than when, in the spirit of Christ, we do 
 good to others as we have opportunity. 
 
 It is by maintaining a constant communion with 
 God that we best learn how to please him. With- 
 out this acquaintance ever fresh and intimate, we 
 are continually forgetting our duties to him. How 
 appropriate the admonition, " Acquaint now thyself 
 with him and be at peace ; thereby good shall come
 
 252 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 unto thee." Just as we may be more successful in 
 pleasing our friends, the more intimate our acquaint- 
 ance with them, so, as we seek a closer acquaint- 
 ance with God, the more acceptable can we render 
 our service. 
 
 Some souls seem especially dowered by Provi- 
 dence with great affectional wealth. The sunshine 
 abounds within, so that it irradiates, their faces. It 
 puts music into their voices. Their very presence 
 is felt like summer airs. There is a whole sermon 
 of comfort in their glance. The silent pressure of 
 their hands is more, in encouragement and sympa- 
 thy, than the profuse words and ample gifts of oth- 
 ers. Blessed are such souls ! Thrice blessed are 
 they when the Spirit of Christ has come in to sanc- 
 tify and lift up their natural affection ! Thrice 
 blessed are they to whom the ministry of such nat- 
 ures daily comes I 
 
 We pray, perhaps, for faith, for love, for earnest- 
 ness, for courage, for spiritual skill, for the best 
 sort of power over others. But to nurture faith, we 
 must search out and bring home the convincing 
 truth. To gain and keep Jove, we must cast out 
 hatreds and put down resentments. Earnestness 
 depends on our active alliance with a great truth or 
 cause. Courage is born of resolute and victorious 
 endeavor. Only thoughtful and patient effort 
 brings skill. Till we speak out of a living convic- 
 tion and have a character for integrity and consist-
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 253 
 
 ency behind our words and deeds, we shall seek in 
 vain to be leaders of our fellows. So that, if there 
 be no willingness to enter upon this larger, intenser, 
 costlier effort, the heart will still be empty, the life 
 continue barren, and even prayer will be likely 
 to come back in mocking and reproachful echoes. 
 
 It is well to pray for this richer, deeper, better, 
 truer life. But when it becomes plain that this 
 means breaking off worldly habits, taking heavier 
 burdens, casting away selfish aims, taking up neg- 
 lected duties, walking in purity before men, spurn- 
 ing illicit gains and debasing pleasures, it is time 
 to stop and ask whether the prayer can be honestly 
 offered again, till the heart is ready to surrender its 
 hesitation and the hands are willing to reach out the 
 price of the blessing. Such a surrender and dedi- 
 cation may tax the soul's full strength, but the ser- 
 vice will prove a blessed one, and the gain that 
 comes of it and after it, will represent the true and 
 eternal riches. 
 
 Joining the church is not the ending of Christian 
 responsibility. One does not carry his finished 
 duty there. It is not a mere asylum where the in- 
 mates, retiring from labor and turmoil, are to be 
 nursed and cared for, and saved from all future 
 struggle, and burden, and responsibility. One 
 goes there as into an organized company of work- 
 ers, to accept the great service of life, learn to do it 
 in a wise way, and find such stimulants and aids as 
 will most strongly assure its accomplishment. He
 
 254 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 goes not simply to get, but still more to give. He 
 may indeed take whatever of light, moral security, 
 peace, comfort, and quickening the church offers. 
 This indeed is both his privilege and duty. But it 
 is chiefly as a helper of his associates and an added 
 item of moral power, that his coming should be a 
 grateful thing both to him and to others. 
 
 It was a suggestive sight, the other bitterly cold 
 morning, to see the firemen coming home from a 
 long and hard fight with the flames, with clothing 
 nearly covered with crackling ice that had frozen 
 upon it while they worked. At first view, it seemed 
 as though the frosty air had chilled all the life in 
 the frame, and made it powerless for service. But 
 it was not so. The ice was only on the surface. 
 Beyond this, there was a warm heart beating with 
 high resolve ; there were nerves that tingled even 
 to the fingers' ends as the soul rose to meet the peril 
 and master it. Under the icy habit that crackled 
 with every movement of the limbs, there was a gen- 
 uine man, nobly doing and daring for the sake of 
 human welfare, as only a brave and noble man can, 
 and all the more actively because of the outward 
 chill. It is well for Christians to learn a lesson 
 from the picture. The frost of unfavorable circum- 
 stances, of difficulty, of disaster, of defeat, may en- 
 fold us, so that outwardly they suggest winter and 
 death ; but the ice can be kept at the surface ; the 
 vital energy may yet be active at the center ; it may 
 be December without, but we can still have June
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 255 
 
 in the soul. Happy are they whose inward life is 
 so fed from above, and kept in such constant activ- 
 ity by faithfulness, that the frost only touches the 
 garments and leaves the heart aflame. 
 
 Serving the public is not always yielding to its 
 whims, caprices, going with it to destruction ; cer- 
 tainly not in buying it off from earnest work by 
 loaves and fishes, or shams. Not in appealing to its 
 pocket to keep it from doing the great work God is 
 pressing it to perform. Not in singing its forces to 
 sleep, nor teaching it- how to escape all heroic ser- 
 vice. Be right, against the world, true to convic- 
 tion in all peril. Service to society can not be 
 true and large save as we are right and Christian. 
 We give what we are only that. Being right, 
 society will feel us strongly and well. Every high 
 character and noble life, is a true gift for the enrich- 
 ment of society. 
 
 A true ministry is a power. It must break a long, 
 deep, moral sleep, and rouse to genuine life those who 
 are dead in trespasses and sins. It is set not only 
 for the conversion, but for the training of men ; not 
 to answer an objection to the intellect, nor soften 
 an icy heart, nor direct a wayward will. It must do 
 all these, and so it must be a varied power, such as 
 resides in a well - balanced and well - trained soul. 
 It is not merely to teach a child how to pray, or a 
 dying old man to confess that a worldly career 
 brings only vanity and vexation of spirit, but to
 
 256 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 build up the early prayerfulness into mature Chris- 
 tian faith, and make the death of the white - haired 
 man, like the sunset of a harvest day. It is not 
 simply to regulate and chasten men's Sunday wor- 
 ship, but to consecrate all their week- day life. 
 Not only is it to look after individual lives, but to in- 
 form all the great forces that throb in society with 
 the Christian influence, until " the kingdoms of this 
 world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of 
 his Christ." 
 
 There is not one element of power, from the mar- 
 tyr's faith, the prophet's vision, the soldier's courage, 
 the laborer's muscle, but finds here sphere and 
 scope. If it be said : " The power is of God ; " yes, 
 but it uses human arms and pours life through 
 human channels not palsied and shrunken. If it 
 be said that learning may lean upon attainments, 
 and position may trust in its prestige ; but so may 
 ignorance fall back on its self- conceit, and obscu- 
 rity may call its impudent volubility a sacred inspi- 
 ration. The pride of the one and the mock humility 
 of the other are alike weapons of weakness and 
 folly. 
 
 There, is no working in a high and true way 
 without a plan. Random service is sure to be im- 
 perfect and unsatisfactory service. We do not stum- 
 ble into success. Work must be based upon princi- 
 ple, not expediency ; must be persistent and on a 
 continuous line ; energized by the conviction that if 
 it is true, it can not fail.
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 257 
 
 It is conscious sympathy with a personal God, 
 that is wanted ; not trust in the order of Providence, 
 but faith in God ; not a merciful order, but a forgiv- 
 ing Christ; not an approval from a principle of 
 righteousness, but the blessed well - done of Jeho- 
 vah. 
 
 Waiting on the Lord is not waiting for him to 
 come and do our work, nor waiting for him to come 
 and make it perfectly easy for us. A courageous 
 and waiting patience is often the highest kind of 
 strength which God gives. 
 
 One of the essential conditions of bringing out 
 the highest results in character and life, is the thor- 
 ough identification of a soul with a great principle 
 or cause. 
 
 -' It is a wicked cynicism that never looks at the 
 world save to scowl on it ; and he is an arrant cow- 
 ard who runs away from it into the cell or monas- 
 tery for the sake of safety and relief. The world is 
 meant to give the training for a better life. The 
 loves which fashion homes and then -flourish in 
 them ; the cares that make us vigilant ; the interests 
 that forbid negligence ; the honest gains which our 
 enterprise brings to bless us ; the rights we struggle 
 for, that teach our consciences discrimination alL 
 these are meant to build us up into something no- 
 bler and better, and make us familiar with the high- 
 er life and the things above. This is God's world r
 
 258 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 and he has placed us in it to keep, improve and 
 love it. 
 
 Great results are the fruits of steady and patient 
 forces. A comet may startle, but the sun is the real 
 benefactor. Men gape at pyrotechnics, but naviga- 
 tors regulate the movements of ten thousand ships 
 by the inspection of the constellations that hang 
 silent through generations. Ten thousand novels 
 keep young persons awake of nights when they 
 ought to be resting, but they are soon forgotten ; the 
 Bible lives on as teacher and comforter for genera- 
 tions. And when souls are smitten into dumbness 
 -or despair they turn to it for light and solace. 
 
 We often greatly mistake the times and condi- 
 tions of our spiritual progress. A storm, a battle, 
 .a fighting with unsubdued foes not yet dislodged 
 from the citadel of the heart, these are discourag- 
 ing things, and we only wish and long to get be- 
 yond them. Whereas they may be hastening the 
 coming of that higher light and life which we have 
 long prayed for, and long hoped to see. 
 
 They abuse society who turn cynics and become 
 blind to every bright and good thing, because of 
 some disappointing experiences ; treating every- 
 body as rascals. This often passes for profound 
 knowledge of human nature, it usually is a 
 shameful self- revelation. As magnets attract iron 
 and carrion draws buzzards, so a cynic attracts evil.
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 259 
 
 This is often contagious. Young men dread to be 
 thought green and simple, and go into the field to 
 ripen, but ripeness like that is rotten. 
 
 No man is in his right mind who suffers perpetual 
 disquietude without asking the cause ; who carries 
 the daily sense of sin and yet never earnestly seeks 
 its removal ; knows he leaves the noblest part of the 
 soul unschooled and yet goes on thus delinquent ; 
 knows his aims are all too low and unworthy, and 
 yet does not make them higher ; knows his influence 
 lacks the essential element, and does not seek that ; 
 suffers self- reproach, and yet is busy searching for 
 apologies instead of trying to get rightly rid of the 
 conviction. 
 
 Piety is a manly thing, adapted to a throne, 
 the grandest thing. David's civil rule is mostly for- 
 gotten, but thousands who know nothing of his 
 character and work as a mler, treasure his doctrinal 
 Psalms in the sanctuary of the heart. A worship- 
 per of God, he is immortal. His prayers still wres- 
 tle with Heaven in the outpouring of millions of 
 hearts, and his songs are wings bearing the love 
 and faith of the world to the sky. 
 
 What a rebuke to the upstart wisdom of an age 
 that covets distinction, and sees the path of strength 
 in sneering at Godliness. Only the smallest frac- 
 tion of all the names who have sought to bury the 
 Bible have been preserved; the simplest prayer - 
 strain or song of the monarch Psalmist makes the
 
 26O GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 air of continents fragrant. " The righteous shall be 
 held in everlasting remembrance, but the name of 
 the wicked shall rot." 
 
 Competence and plenty are matters of the heart 
 rather than of taxable property. It depends on our 
 moral state whether there is real heart plenty or not. 
 
 The religion made up of feeling happy, simply, 
 is a poor affair. Happiness is the blossom of work ; 
 the natural and grand result of a true work. 
 
 We have no right to refrain from all prominent ser- 
 vice because not appreciated, or criticised, or en- 
 vied, because everybody does not praise us, or 
 confess our superiority. 
 
 Walk humbly with God, lovingly with men. 
 Count meekness nobility. Weave a chaplet of self- 
 denials ; they shine on the brow above gems, or 
 gold of Ophir. Be more earnest to serve others 
 than to be served by them ; so shall you rule in the 
 empire of love. Helping others upward is the only 
 way to rise. Put honor upon others and it shall dig- 
 nify yourselves. 
 
 They who are always asking if one can not be a 
 Christian and do this doubtful thing, or neglect that 
 required service, must learn that an accepted life is 
 one that is anxious to do not the least but most work 
 possible, for Christ's honor.
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 261 
 
 ' It is always a most grateful thing to find gentle 
 affections and quick sympathies associated with a 
 royal intellect and a kingly strength and majesty. 
 Now and then a man may think of these as elements 
 of weakness, but no true critic will take any such 
 view. 
 
 Seek usefulness chiefly, not supremacy and dis- 
 tinction on the one hand, nor obscurity and irre- 
 sponsible position on the other. Learn to be con- 
 tent with usefulness, not demanding distinction and 
 compliment in order to work. 
 
 Ask not chiefly what is pleasant, but what is right 
 and duty. 
 
 Delay to seek Christ is an endorsement of our 
 past sins as well as the endorsement of the sins of 
 all others who are reached by our influence. 
 
 To flee before the assumptions of evil may pass 
 for shrewdness now ; hereafter it will wear another 
 name. However a man may thrive on expedients 
 for a time, he is damned by having " trimmer" put 
 on his tombstone. The verdict of righteousness gets 
 itself impressively rendered by and by. 
 
 The servant of duty, alone, wins a place in the 
 temple built to heroism. 
 
 Only by opposition to an evil can we avoid co - 
 operation with it.
 
 262 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 ; Not a few do nothing on the pretense of fearing a 
 ilure. As if d 
 kind of a failure. 
 
 failure. As if doing nothing were not the worst 
 
 Men talk about deliberating well before assuming 
 the responsibilities of disciples and friends ; is there 
 not more need of deliberating well before they con- 
 sent to take and keep the position of foes? 
 
 Religious teaching must be varied, as Scripture 
 teaching is. To preach a system, is not always 
 effectually preaching the Gospel. 
 
 There is no choice between doing -a thing directly 
 ourselves, and electing or lifting another man up 
 when we know he will do it. 
 
 It is objected by politicians that ministers should 
 not touch politics. They are easily gulled, it is 
 said, are simple, do not understand party tactics, 
 soil themselves with its filth. After saying this, I 
 should suppose any one would blush to confess him- 
 self a politician. 
 
 We have no right to have political principles 
 whose promotion requires morality to be trampled 
 down. 
 
 Religious virtue thrives only on religious truth. 
 He is the most stable and consistent Christian who 
 has pushed his researches farthest into the sphere
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 263 
 
 of divine things, provided he has suffered them to 
 exert their proper practical effect. 
 
 He who comes out from the halls of learning with 
 his heart beating no more warmly and sympatheti- 
 cally over human want and woe, has either been 
 trained under a system of education that is unde- 
 serving the name, or has perverted the great instru- 
 mentalities which have been brought to bear upon 
 him. It is the true office of education to socialize, 
 not to isolate ; to make philanthropists, not aristo- 
 crats. 
 
 Many in heaven have been dwellers here with us, 
 have passed through the same conflicts nay, have 
 sat by our firesides have bowed at the mercy - 
 seat with us, have blessed us with their last word, 
 have carried away half our hopes and hearts with 
 them. Their memory is a chastening influence ; 
 their recollected words and virtues are our daily 
 teachers and comforters ; they seem nearer to us, 
 often, than those whose hands we daily clasp, 
 more sympathies are attached to them than perhaps 
 to any earthly friend we would leap to their em- 
 brace. How eminently we and they are one I 
 
 One of the greatest and most common perils is 
 that springing from an accepted life of routine. 
 
 Art has struggled to exhibit the dead Christ in the 
 marble and on the canvas. Romanism hangs him
 
 264 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 up before all her altars, and it is not strange that the 
 heart feels the violence done it and craves the mild, 
 pure, loving face of the virgin by his side. " Not 
 here but risen," is the voice we need to hear. These 
 symbols are meant to make us tender, but their min- 
 istry will be brief and slight if they do not point us 
 beyond the darkness, within which they take us, and 
 show us the everlasting brightness out into which 
 the conqueror passed. 
 
 In regard to my preaching, I have done just what 
 I thought was wisest ; have called your attention to 
 just those views of the Gospel which I thought were 
 needful. I have sought to avoid two extremes, 
 the making of our petty experiment as a community, 
 the staple of my sermons ; and the dealing with re- 
 ligion in so abstract a way that nobody should feel 
 that they were meant. I have dealt with principles ; 
 for only as these are understood and embraced can 
 any gain be assured. I have discussed public 
 wrongs, not at all deterred because they are 
 labelled political ; and I shall do just so again when- 
 ever I think it needful. To suppose that each and 
 all of you, have approved my choice and manner, 
 is not consistent; to suppose that I have always 
 chosen most wisely would be high egotism. 
 
 There is danger of thinking that the redemption 
 of the world depends on our type of piety becom- 
 ing universal.
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 265 
 
 The germs of the worst characters lie in human 
 nature, not only at its average level, but even at its 
 highest. He who knows himself best sees most 
 cause for self- distrust. The purest spirit still shows 
 its earthly affinities. Even more than others, he 
 who laughs at moral danger is liable to be the next 
 victim, and he who thinketh he standeth may well 
 take heed lest he fall. 
 
 But there is another view that is proper to be 
 taken. That view is given us when we see the soul 
 at its best, and let it impress us with its grand possi- 
 bilities. 
 
 There are such seasons in the experience of all 
 true and trustful men and women. To some they 
 are more frequent, to others more rare. But it is 
 difficult if not impossible to find a real Christian who 
 does not know of them. 
 
 There is a plant which blossoms once in a hun- 
 dred years. Like it, the soul blossoms now and 
 then, to show its capacities, to assert its grandeur, 
 to prophesy its wondrous future. And this is the 
 lesson to be learned from these exhibitions of the 
 soul at its best. We see what great forces it carries 
 even when they lie latent ; what a real majesty be- 
 longs to its structure even when it is veiled ; what a 
 wealth of experience it may claim even when life 
 seems prosy ; what a song it has the ability to swell 
 even when its lips are silent ; how it may be at home 
 amid the splendor of heaven even when it sits be- 
 wildered in the earthly darkness. And, possessing 
 such a soul, one may well keep it from earthliness,
 
 266 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 even though it requires hard and constant work, and 
 comfort himself with a brave hope even when its 
 weaknesses will not be hidden, and when every step 
 leads over a path that is rough and painful. Climb- 
 ing upward and living truly, its goal is the perfect 
 life and its coronation is sure. 
 
 Blessed are they who carry a winning Christian 
 grace that makes godliness seem not less attractive 
 than sacred, and blends the beauty of holiness with 
 the homelike affection of the human heart. And 
 blessed, too, are they who are acted on by such ex- 
 amples of piety and such helpers to the soul's Re- 
 deemer. 
 
 The Scriptures speak of " Christ in you, the 
 hope of glory;" "Christ formed in you ;" having 
 " his abode" with and in the saints; of their being 
 " partakers of the divine nature." What can this 
 mean? It is more than to have him for our Leader, 
 King or Ruler ; more than to accept his doctrines 
 and believe his promises. It is a reception of the 
 personal qualities of his heart; his love becomes 
 our love ; the moral impulses of his soul, so rich, 
 generous, noble and true, become our impulses ; his 
 spirit, purposes, tastes, loves, motives, aspirations, 
 become our own, incorporated into our personal be- 
 ing, our every day experience and life currents ; his 
 righteousness becomes ours, not by imputation 
 merely, but by infusion, incorporation, by being 
 made actually, personally ours, properties of our
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 267 
 
 being, qualities of our characters, endowments of 
 our lives. 
 
 It is truth, reverently accepted and wisely 
 used, that sanctifies men. And the naturalist may 
 be God's mouth - piece to reveal his thought, as well 
 as the theologian and the preacher. David's devout- 
 ness climbed up to God's presence, where he laid 
 his consecrated soul, by the aid of the midnight 
 constellations ; and Jesus has made the lily of the 
 field preach an effective sermon upon trust to al- 
 most twenty centuries. The phenomena of the 
 material universe have not yet spent their force. 
 Never before were their lessons so many, so clear, or 
 so full of meaning. The true attitude of Christians 
 in relation to them is not that of Christ saying to 
 Satan, " Get thee behind me ! " but rather that of 
 Mary sitting at the Master's feet, looking reverently 
 into his face with beaming eye and attentive ear. 
 
 A genuine Christian faith often shows an achieve- 
 ment rather than an inheritance. It does not al- 
 ways come unasked. It does not spring up in all hearts 
 as a natural growth, and defy all attempts to tear its 
 roots out of the soil. Sometimes it thrives only be- 
 neath a constant and skillful nurture, and every item 
 of fruit represents much labor, conflict, heroism, 
 and prayer. 
 
 That religion which dies out as soon as a revival 
 ceases, or the prayer - meeting is at an end; which
 
 268 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 is afraid of an anti - slavery sermon, or wilts in the 
 workshop; which is tainted at each election, and 
 dies down at every trial ; which grows peevish at 
 the loss of praise, and feels as though it were starv- 
 ing because the preacher does n't make his hearers 
 weep in tenderness in every sermon, shows baby- 
 hood, not manhood. 
 
 The systematic study of the Bible needs to be 
 esteemed more highly, and presented more gener- 
 ally. Each community needs to feel that the re- 
 ligious necessities about and within it demand pro- 
 vision for the religious culture of the young, no 
 less than a place for public worship, and a preacher 
 of the Gospel. 
 
 The noblest and finest souls are those that cheer- 
 fully and constantly serve. If they can do this as 
 the result of careful plans, hard work, and the 
 steady putting down of selfishness, it is something 
 to honor, admire and copy. It is a still better thing 
 if they can do it as by a sort of sanctified instinct 
 and ruling impulse, as though there were nothing 
 else that stood in competition with it. 
 
 This is what so clearly marked the character and 
 life of the Great Master. He came to do the will 
 of him that sent him ; to serve and save others ; to 
 give his life a ransom for men. It is his meat to 
 give. He stands among men as one that serveth in 
 newness and gladness of spirit. His service 
 as the Great Helper is the natural and steady
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 269 
 
 outflow of his heart. It is the fragrant blossom oi 
 love, not a product fashioned by the mandate of law. 
 We admire brilliance of intellect. We are awed 
 before the power of a great thinker. We bestow 
 laurels on the hero. But, after all, in our heart of 
 hearts we pay the highest tributes, and offer our 
 tenderest love, to those who make us see what is 
 meant by helpful lives. They stand nearest to God 
 in our thought ; they seem most like him ; the chasm 
 is deepest and darkest that is left when they pass 
 away ; we can hardly think of heaven without find- 
 ing it especially attractive because they are to make 
 up a part of its company and give tone to its life. 
 
 The disquiet of the human soul is not an uncom- 
 mon thing. It labors and is heavy laden. It strays 
 widely and loses sight of home. It is shrouded in 
 darkness and rilled with fear. It seeks peace where 
 storms are born ; and tempests make it their sport 
 and plaything. And so the peace and rest for which 
 it is fitted are wanting. 
 
 Some souls have known nothing better than this 
 commotion,. w r eariness and fear. They have been 
 tossed and torn all their days. Spiritual peace has 
 come to them only as a bright vision, a blessed 
 dream, an unapproachable heaven. Their inward 
 history is symbolized by the dove sent out from the 
 ark while the floods covered the mountains, by 
 the troubled sea. 
 
 The psalmist was in that mood of retrospection 
 when he broke out in that sentence of mingled sad-
 
 270 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. . 
 
 ness, self- reproach, gratitude and aspiration, and 
 which is so full of human pathos and religious fer- 
 vor, " Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the 
 Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. " He had 
 known the peace of faith, of great victories, of con- 
 scious security, of a fellowship that made God's 
 thoughts precious, and of a love that casteth out 
 fear. He had seen men lying in wait for his life, 
 had been driven from his throne into exile by a re- 
 bellion headed by his own son, had touched almost 
 the lowest depths of what men call calamity. And 
 yet, through it all he can rest. His heart often 
 breaks out amid these experiences in a burst of 
 triumph or a strain of peace that sends its won- 
 drous music down through three thousand years. We 
 hear it yet. It trembles to - day in the psalms and 
 hymns of all Christendom. The gladdest and most 
 victorious souls yet voice their richest experiences 
 in his words. Wherever faith conquers, hope soars, 
 peace becomes worshipful, or love is satisfied, there 
 these strains, which come out of his joyous and 
 restful heart like the lark's song out of the summer 
 morning's mist, are caught up and repeated, as 
 having unequaled power to voice the deepest ex- 
 periences of the soul. 
 
 But his soul had wandered. It did not now find 
 itself quietly at home with God. It sought rest else- 
 where. It may have been in the achievements of 
 his conquering sword, the renown that brought him 
 homage from distant empires, or in the anticipation 
 of the splendid dynasty he was to found, or in
 
 STUDIES OF THE. WORD AND LIFE. 271 
 
 the sensual luxury which waited on his steps. 
 No matter what. His soul could not rest in these. 
 They were not meant to satisfy it. It had known a 
 better portion. It had felt a diviner joy. However 
 others might find peace and satisfaction in these 
 other things, they deepened his sense of want and 
 loss. They made him 1'ong for the old peace. God's 
 fellowship was the only source of rest for his soul. 
 And so he bids it return to its rest, and cheers it 
 with a reminder of the Lord's bountiful dealing. 
 He rouses himself to find and regain it. And it is 
 his again, as his after songs of peace, and grati- 
 tude, and thanksgiving, and triumph, tell us. 
 
 It is the only real rest of other souls, whether it 
 has once been known or comes as a fresh revelation. 
 It is the chief thing needed. Seeking it elsewhere 
 must fail. Seeking it here truly, will reveal and 
 obtain it. It may abide. It may deepen. It may 
 become a habit of the soul. It will calm agitation. 
 It will allay fear. It will make effort wiser and 
 more fruitful. It will make trials serviceable. It 
 will take the sting out of death. It will send the 
 soul to heaven ready to breathe its air and enter at 
 once into sympathy with its eternal peace. 
 
 It is time that we had learned that a mere change 
 of methods will not do everything ; that Satan is not 
 to be dislodged by a piece of skillful strategy ; that 
 there is no spiritual machinery which will enable us 
 to dispense with resolute effort ; that a Christian life 
 can not be entered without a real struggle nor main-
 
 272 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 tained without self- denying devotion ; that the cross 
 is yet a symbol full of meaning, and the bearing of 
 it an experience that tests and tries the full energy 
 of the soul ; that the promotion of religion is to be 
 a steady and costly as well as a sublime and joy - 
 giving work ; and that he who truly and largely 
 serves his Master and his fellows in the highest 
 way, must still keep to the old path whereon the 
 feet of the saints have left their footprints, know 
 something of the conflicts that make David's psalms 
 like the outcry of a desperate wrestler, and go up 
 to Paul's immortality and crown along the way of 
 Paul's heroic service. 
 
 There are those who find their gospel in the 
 newspapers, and claim that they are doing more for 
 the promotion of true religion than the pulpit. 
 They set the editor's leader above the minister's 
 sermon as a religious force. But we shall have to 
 wait a long while for the Christian millennium if we 
 are to depend upon the work of the secular papers, 
 as that work is done to - day, to bring it in. While 
 the World thrives by slander, and the Herald pros- 
 pers by pandering to the lower passions, and the 
 Tribune wins applause by charging its critics with 
 being " liars," " hypocrites," " rascals," " knaves," 
 and " fools," we shall need some better interpreter 
 of the beatitudes and some higher illustrations of 
 the golden rule than the secular journalism of the 
 country affords. 
 
 And it is no injustice to say that much of the re-
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 273 
 
 ligion which gets commended in our journals is lit- 
 tle else than a decent respect for strong and impos- 
 ing institutions thai have won a place and gained an 
 influence which will not allow them to be ignored 
 or despised. The vigorous, stalwart, personal faith 
 that our times are needing, is not greatly praised. 
 It is more apt to be calumniated than commended. 
 
 Our journalism tolerates and commends generally 
 just that kind, and degree of religion which pays 
 respect to Sundays and takes a seat in the sanctu- 
 ary pew ; which recognizes an over - ruling Provi- 
 dence in the opening or closing paragraphs of state 
 papers and Proclamations for Thanksgiving ; which 
 would put a short prayer at the beginning of public 
 business, as a kind of call to order and a testimony 
 that we are a Christian instead of a pagan nation ; 
 which would have some serious words said at the 
 funeral and the wedding, as fitting to the occasion ; 
 which would trace a sentence of Scripture on the 
 tombstone of a friend, because accordant with good 
 taste ; and allow an immortality, for the purpose of 
 putting the departed into a pleasant world where 
 they wait our company amid music and feasting. 
 
 But it has not a great deal to say, directly or in- 
 directly, in behalf of a religion which begins by 
 calling for a radical repentance and a thorough re- 
 generation ; which makes faith in God the chief in- 
 spiration of life, and righteousness the central qual- 
 ity of character ; which will not allow principle to 
 be bartered for the gains of policy ; which scorns 
 the profits that are bought by the sacrifice of godli-
 
 274 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 ness ; which will neither participate in, nor connive 
 at, a wrong, however old or popular ; which lifts up 
 its solitary voice to protest against a false life like 
 John the Baptist from the wilderness or Paul at Ath- 
 ens ; which begins and ends all its arguments by 
 quoting Jesus of Nazareth against the oppressive 
 statute of a legislature, the vicious decree of a court, 
 or the false verdict of a great people. Far too 
 much of the religion of our journalism is that which 
 >can be made to give its benediction to the policy 
 which that journalism has chosen, and which con- 
 sents to walk side by side with the principles that 
 bring the largest dividends and allow the widest 
 freedom of life. 
 
 The discovery of printing did not inaugurate the 
 millennium, nor do daily journals come to assure us 
 that the Messiah's final triumph is at hand. It will 
 mark the moral height of public sentiment, and indi- 
 cate the moral temperature of public life. The edit- 
 or is not always the clear - eyed and evangelical 
 prophet, and the sheet he sends forth is not always 
 the healing branch which turns the bitter waters in- 
 to a sweet and refreshing beverage. 
 
 No, the journal is not the Redeemer, and not 
 even his obedient and loyal servant. It may yet be 
 sometimes found exalting the vices which he put 
 under ban, and casting open contempt on the beati- 
 tudes which he has grouped into a constellation and 
 fixed in the spiritual firmament overhead. Yet it 
 shall doubtless one day be his instrument, speak- 
 ing his word with its mute but eloquent lips, and
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 275 
 
 hastening to bear his salvation to the ends of the 
 earth. 
 
 The early Greek sailors on the ^Egean sea had 
 no compass. But on the Acropolis, at Athens, 
 there was a system of burnished shields, and by 
 turning these skillfully to the sun its rays could be 
 caught and thrown far over the water, to guide the 
 sailors home. How many are going down all 
 about us in the sea of sin. The darkness of woe 
 envelops them. But God has set his people to be 
 the " light of the world." And yet, how shall the 
 heart emit this light, unless it be fixed toward the 
 Sun of Righteousness, to catch its rays and fling 
 them out towards the bewildered and the lost? No 
 clouds can prevent this light. By day or night its 
 effulgence is undimmed, and it is their own fault 
 who do not walk in its glory. 
 
 Whoever would preach virtue successfully must 
 practice it faithfully. The word goes for little when 
 the deed contradicts it. A bad life will neutralize 
 the best sermon. A man may pray like a saint, 
 talk like an inspired prophet, and sing hymns like 
 an angel, but if he acts like a self-seeker and 
 leaves the rights and interests of others to be sacri- 
 ficed, his power to profit will be gone, and his most 
 pious utterances will awaken impatience and dis- 
 gust. 
 
 What do we when we fret, but indirectly chide
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 God for his treatment of us? Will not the Judge of 
 all the earth do right? Shall a stormy day, or a 
 lost election, or a losing bargain, or any of these 
 minor matters betra} 1 - us into snares which Satan 
 would gleefully see us entangled in? 
 
 Intellect and sensibility are not sworn and deadly 
 enemies. They need not fight, sneer at, hate, or 
 protest against each other. Logic need not neu- 
 tralize love. Fervor need not blunt intelligence. 
 Study and prayer may clasp hands. What the 
 keen vision discovers, affection may feed and grow 
 strong on. On the solid facts which intelligent 
 thought has brought together, faith may plant the 
 foot of her ladder whose top pierces heaven., and 
 over which the angels of God ascend and descend, 
 ever bearing precious messages between God and 
 the human soul. 
 
 We become vitally interested in those for whom 
 we directly labor. They are at once near and real. 
 Their souls and ours clasp hands. It is true ser- 
 vice given and received. The giver acquires a 
 fresh love of giving ; and the receiver finds the new, 
 inward possessions adding something to every gen- 
 erous impulse and grateful emotion. 
 
 Never disparaging the church, nor exhibiting an 
 audacious and defiant disregard of its objects and 
 plans, yet we want more of the sense of individual 
 responsibility and the devotion of personal effort. 
 One's duty is not done by uniting with a church,
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 277 
 
 by helping to pay the minister's salary, by attend- 
 ing the prayer meeting and communion service, by 
 teaching a Sabbath school class, by contributing 
 to the funds of benevolent societies. All this is well. 
 These are things that should not be left undone. 
 But these may not be substituted for personal effort. 
 What we want is Christian disciples, who realize 
 that they are laborers with God, and who do their 
 daily work as in his eye, with the sense of responsi- 
 bility to him, to their own consciences, and to the 
 needy hearts about them. Each needs to feel that 
 he is his brother's keeper. Say an earnest, practi- 
 cal word for the Gospel to the soul that stands near- 
 est. That soul may keep open ear only at your lips. 
 Offer sympathy. Give aid. Supply a loaf of bread. 
 Do n't wait for the church or for any of its other 
 members to do it. Let the heart speak out in the 
 sentence or the act, and it will not be in vain. Ask 
 God's blessing on the effort, and see how great 
 things can come from what seemed so small. 
 
 Whether one finds little or much meaning and joy 
 and profit in church life, depends, more than on 
 almost an}'thing else, upon his own active fidelity. 
 
 Christ is the Teacher ; we are called to go to 
 school to him, not to learn literature and science, 
 but theology and life. He teaches gradually, not 
 all at once. First, simple principles, then, applica- 
 tions, then other, deeper, and more comprehensive 
 principles. 
 
 The true law of Christian life is progress ; provi-
 
 278 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 sion is made for it. Conversion is the end of noth- 
 ing but going on in the old way of selfishness and 
 impulse ; of all growth upward, earnest service in 
 the right sphere, self- mastery and the true way of 
 living, it is simply the beginning. 
 
 They who wish to be free from temptation, know 
 not what they ask. They are calling for a repeal 
 of the law of influence, praying for a complete and 
 ceaseless isolation of soul, craving a spiritual desert 
 for a dwelling place ; and never to be touched with 
 the finger of social S3^mpathy. For there is no such 
 thing as repealing the law of social affinities among 
 the vicious, and leaving it in full activity among the 
 pure. That may be possible in the chemistry of 
 eternity, not in that of time. 
 
 Trial has its high uses, a blessing springs from 
 the soil of sin. The bee gets honey from the poi- 
 sonous herb, the skillful and dutiful soul draws 
 vigor from the conflict wherein evil strikes at its 
 heart. The prayer, " Lead us not into temptation,'' 
 is the outburst of a soul, only fearing, with godly 
 anxiety, a moral fall. 
 
 A great nature shows its greatness quite as much 
 in its condescension to details, as in its soaring aft- 
 er a great object. God impresses us quite as much 
 when organizing an animalcule as when launching 
 a system ; and Christ, in talking with the woman of 
 Samaria, awakens not less of wonder and love than 
 when stilling the tempest.
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 279 
 
 Christ's sympathy is more than mental apprecia- 
 tion, more than mere pity for our lot, more than a 
 mere interest in our getting on though when we 
 think who Christ is, that would be much ; but 
 he feels it as one feels the blow that fell on a friend, 
 as a mother's heart writhes when a calamity strikes 
 a dear child. 
 
 Men are deceived by resolving they will not be 
 deceived by religious pretensions, appeals and 
 people. They are deceived into opposition and 
 skepticism. They resolve to take a cool, calm, rea- 
 sonable view of religion ; not to be carried away 
 by enthusiasm. Hence, they become icy, cynical, 
 irresponsible. They are deceived by an excess of 
 severe criticism upon others, on faults real or ap- 
 parent. They become destructive critics and icon- 
 oclasts. They may be such for other reasons than 
 love to truth and Christ, there may be hatred in- 
 stead of affection. They are deceived, too, by get- 
 ting rid of dependence on church rites, ceremonies, 
 Bibles, Sunday schools, prayer meetings. Go- 
 ing from these is usually going away from Jesus, 
 and leaving the great forces of religion to weak- 
 ness. 
 
 A soul roused to the consciousness of its state and 
 necessities, feels itself summoned to service. No 
 doctrine of passive regeneration avails then. And 
 when self - subdual is called for, that is felt to be 
 most earnest work. Moreover, it is felt that God i&
 
 280 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 rightful Master, and that He must be. appealed to 
 for light and direction. It is felt, too, that all is un- 
 availing which lacks his approval. Until God says, 
 " Well done," little has been gained. 
 
 The veriest slave is he whose own selfish passions 
 lead him whithersoever they will. Freedom is the 
 gift of stern discipline, of heroic labor. The pil- 
 grims were not less free because Plymouth Rock 
 was flinty, the tempest rough, and the wilderness 
 inhospitable. The slave is not less free because 
 forethought, care and toil are steps to manliness 
 and dignity. These nurtured the Puritan invincible- 
 ness these nurture, also, the bondman's higher 
 qualities that make him fully a man. 
 
 It can not be too well understood that Christ 
 comes to offer conditional help to needy and seek- 
 ing souls. If men do not wish nor mean to come 
 into contact with him, keep aloof for any reason 
 or on any pretense, he will not be seen as he is, 
 understood nor appreciated, nor will he profit men. 
 There is folly and presumption in the men who sit 
 down and endeavor to analyze or pronounce upon 
 the work Christ can do for a soul, when there is no 
 fellowship with Him. 
 
 There is sometimes a great deal of pride, preju- 
 dice and jealousy on the part of the poor as exer- 
 cised toward the rich. The}- talk of the wealthy 
 and strong as though they must be sinners, and of
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 28l 
 
 the poor as though they were surely saints ; and 
 yet it happens so that they do n't often take special 
 pains to get rid of wealth and power when it is 
 offered. They often copy the extravagances of the 
 rich, and insist upon appearing their equals. Pov- 
 erty and piety are not synonyms. 
 
 Not a few are fond of interpreting the Gospel so 
 as to make it drop benedictions over the poor and 
 depressed simply because they are so ; and utter its 
 maledictions over the wealthy and strong, as if 
 wealth and strength were wickedness, or implied 
 that. 
 
 That men should give attention, sometimes seri- 
 ously, to religious teaching, is no great virtue ; it is 
 eminently natural. The source of the Gospel, 
 the testimonials attending its preaching, -the solem- 
 nity of its subject matter, the appeal it makes to 
 every side of our nature and every faculty of the 
 soul's authority and its love, our own instinctive 
 yearnings, all nearly compel attention and inter- 
 est. It is no great virtue that we listen, believe, feel, 
 and are prompted to act. The wonder is we feel 
 so little and so seldom, and that our feeling issues 
 in so small practical results. 
 
 One other phase of faith there is, it is the phase 
 that makes it an inspiration ; a given energy, the 
 passing in of the spiritual power, indicated by the 
 truth within us ; the lifting us up in purpose, the 
 making God operative within ; the rousing of ener-
 
 282 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 gy which makes us live in the future, sow as if 
 we saw the harvest, struggle as though we grasped 
 the crown. This is the victory that overcometh the 
 world, even our faith. This is the climax. Belief 
 is a privilege ; confidence a promise ; trust a deep, 
 permanent joy ; but inspiration is a redemption and 
 a glory forever. On the first, God looks kindly, on 
 the second, he smiles, with trust he sympathises ; 
 but over the inspiration of faith alone, he cries, 
 " Well done." 
 
 It is useless to attempt to disguise the fact that 
 well trained and truly cultivated minds are in great 
 demand everywhere. This demand is to grow 
 stronger and more imperative every year. The real 
 leaders in all the higher circles of life must hence- 
 forth bring to their work disciplined and balanced 
 powers. And it is a rounded culture that is 
 especially demanded. We have salient points, 
 angles, unbalanced forces in society generally. We 
 want symmetry, unity, completeness, minds 
 harmonized, rounded, with their forces brought to 
 each other's support. 
 
 Give us real, vital, working vigor in our scholars, 
 to be sure, but give us also symmetry and sweet- 
 ness. ,The modesty, the graciousness, the fine 
 sense of propriety, the courtesy that is always 
 equally dignified and affable, the deference that is 
 never withholden where it is due, the manners that 
 keep their polish but do not part with their warmth, 
 the spirit that never ceases to be kind and sweet
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 283 
 
 even when it must be firm in its dissent and faithful 
 in its reproof, all this is something which enters 
 vitally into a complete and rounded culture ; it is 
 something which our teachers should earnestly set 
 themselves, to secure in their pupils, which our 
 pupils should be bent on acquiring, and which will 
 exalt our education in the esteem of the people. In 
 order to this, is it needful to establish special Pro- 
 fessorships in the interest of Christian manners ? 
 
 It is one thing to take the yoke ; it is quite another 
 to endure it. It is a help to bear life's inevitable 
 load in the one case ; it is like the world on the 
 shoulders of Atlas in the other. 
 
 This friendliness, of spirit is the very essence of 
 Christianity. When the Saviour wished to impress 
 upon his followers the blessed station to which he 
 had called them, he said, " I call you not servants, 
 but friends." Wonderful service of love, which at 
 once constituted and sealed Christ's friendship for 
 the world ! Can one be his follower and fail to ex- 
 ercise the same spirit? Has not the church this 
 divine message for the world, and is it not a part of 
 its mission that it be delivered in sympathy and love ? 
 How else shall we gain the heart of those whose 
 knowledge of our religion is so often gained only 
 from our cold and formal expressions of it? It is, 
 moreover, largely by the exercise of this friendly 
 and sympathizing spirit that the church keeps up its 
 life. Thinking only of itself, of its elegant house,
 
 284 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 of its eloquent preacher, of its exquisite singing, of 
 its wealthy membership, what service, such as the 
 world needs, is it fitted to render? Opportunities 
 depend upon the use we make of them. Bayard 
 Taylor's Lars was 
 
 " Weary, not in hands and feet, 
 
 But tired of idly owning them." 
 
 It is so with whatever opportunities we idly pos- 
 sess. They become only a burden and a reproach 
 to us. 
 
 Like the rain and the sunshine God sends abroad 
 his love. And as the daisy by the highway, the 
 fern in the forest, and the lichen on the mountain 
 take the warmth and the moisture and thrive there- 
 on, no less than the gorgeous flowers in the rich 
 man's garden ; so the loyal human soul, providen- 
 tially shut away from church life and fellowship, 
 may count on the coming of that infinite affection 
 which blesses as with heavenly beam and dew. It 
 is never forgotten ; it is never left without help ; it 
 never need fear that God's care will be denied it. 
 
 Christianity is a strong stimulant for souls. Christ 
 came that men might have life, and that they might 
 have it more abundantly. A nature offering itself 
 freely to the influence of the Gospel will be quicken- 
 ed as the landscape when the summer sun and airs 
 come up from the tropics and blend their ministries 
 in its behalf.
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 285 
 
 Peace and rest are among the most special and 
 the choicest things promised in the Gospel. That 
 wonderful forty - sixth psalm is an exaltation of the 
 quiet and settled trust that keeps a serene heart and 
 a smiling face amid the fury of the elements and 
 the fiercest strifes of men. It is upon the heads of 
 the gentle virtues that the beatitudes are showered. 
 The portrait of the Great Master that rises on the 
 reader of the New Testament, is one that suggests a 
 quietude of heart that is divinely deep, the infinite 
 majesty of moral repose. And there are few words 
 among all that are found in the Bible which speak 
 of Jehovah more impressively than those which 
 show him to us sitting "King above the floods." 
 
 Truth can enter no solitary way. Whether its 
 next step leads into the darkness, or the flood, or 
 the desert; amid thorns, or over mountains, or by 
 the springs of Marah, it may see a constant gleam 
 ahead, for Christ has gone before. 
 
 Gentleness of conduct is life's brightest ornament. 
 Not that gentleness which meekly stoops under op- 
 posing forces, and without a protest lets them walk 
 over one ; but that which goes quietly and steadily 
 along its way, scattering blessings from one hand 
 even if it must make a fist of the other, and so heal- 
 ing even while it hurts its enemies. This com- 
 mandment is not indeed among the regular ten, but 
 its authorship is the same. God judges by the 
 spirit quite as much as by the act, and perhaps Tom
 
 286 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 Hood's " wooden oaths" are oftener charged to our 
 account than the violation of the command which 
 Moses received on Sinai. 
 
 Let him who would do a worthy work for God 
 and men be manly and brave as well as sincere and 
 earnest. Let him keep clear of the minor key. 
 Let him hide his own griefs and trials with a cloak 
 of cheerful and patient resolution. Let him not 
 whine, nor croak, nor scold, nor boast. Let him 
 bury the story of his own sufferings out of sight, 
 and, instead of asking sympathy for himself, plead 
 for aid to the right cause. Let him not be forward 
 in making his own plans the exponents of God's 
 thoughts, nor accuse his own critics of freshly cru- 
 cifying Christ. Let him keep his faith in God 
 steady and his charity toward men sweet. 
 
 Yes, it is a vital Gospel that is in our hands. Its 
 words are spirit and life. He of whom it tells us 
 was dead, but is alive forevermore, and has the keys 
 of hell and of death. His truth is still like an angel 
 standing in the sun, and on his own head are many 
 crowns. He walks daily to fresh triumphs over the 
 graves of opposing systems and confident antago- 
 nists. His steps lead to a final triumph. Shouts of 
 victory from his friends blend with the prophecies 
 that his overthrow is sure. And so his truth will 
 live. He will reign till he hath put all enemies 
 under his feet. And the great voice will yet be 
 heard, saying, " The kingdoms of this world are
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 287 
 
 become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his 
 Christ ! " 
 
 The number of converts made to a system does not 
 indicate its strength nor clearly predict its future. 
 We need to know the nature of the cause, and the 
 character of the converts. If the first lack a sound 
 basis of principle, and the second are wanting in 
 character, the seeming strength is weakness and 
 the swelling army is only ready to make the panic 
 greater in the coming day of defeat. 
 
 The Gospel, then, is of God, whether developed 
 with human eloquence or not ; by the sturdy divine 
 or the feeble, lisping Christian child. In both cases 
 we are put into contact with the vast forces of God. 
 
 It is the plan of God, according to which he has 
 made and still governs the world, that an unselfish de- 
 votion to the welfare of others, through suffering and 
 self- sacrifice, shall wear the highest honors, work 
 out the noblest results and be crowned in the loftiest 
 temple. 
 
 Each claimant of the Christian name should re- 
 member that the only tenure by which the Christian 
 character is properly held, is that of labor, active 
 labor in the Gospel. This is a primary idea. Not 
 that this is a distinguishing feature of superior piety, 
 a kind of extra, surplus virtue, which may inure to 
 the benefit of others. They are created unto this
 
 288 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 the first inhalation of the Christian spirit is an im- 
 pulse, a commission, and a command to labor, 
 labor not only in moral forms, but for religious 
 prosperity. 
 
 Remember that what we are primarily and chiefly 
 called on to do, is to receive what God has pro- 
 vided, and is pressing on our acceptance. Teach- 
 ing, promise, inspiration, spiritual help, guidance, 
 elevation of aim and motive, stimulus for the affec- 
 tions and purification for the whole spiritual nature, 
 is what God brings us, this is the cup of salva- 
 tion. 
 
 There is a great deal said in the Bible about men 
 in social and national aspects ; for there has always 
 been a strong tendency to narrow down the idea and 
 sphere of religion so that it will fail to include fidel- 
 ity in all social relations and civil work. 
 
 Our real prosperity is not dependent so much on 
 the dominance of any party, nor the adoption of one 
 or another set of political measures. The vital 
 forces lie deeper down. 
 
 A man with a conscience against a national 
 wrong, and living and working in its interests, is a 
 conscious or unconscious foe to the land in which 
 he lives. Pleading for the sacrifice of moral con- 
 viction and principle for the sake of material gains, 
 he is paralyzing the manhood of the nation and 
 adopting a policy which will in time turn the very
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 289 
 
 soil into barrenness. Our opposition to a wrong must 
 be based on a conviction of its intrinsic wickedness 
 and its resulting evils. 
 
 The Gospel contains a reply to the most signifi- 
 cant and thrilling questions that come up from the 
 soul ; offers relief to the greatest and most pressing 
 necessities ; brings the strongest motives to act on 
 the soul to subdue its passions and rouse into life its 
 slumbering moral energies. Its adaptation to varie- 
 ties in character, circumstances, and experiences is 
 as large as the wants it comes to meet ; and its in- 
 spiration of the heart by means of bringing eternity 
 so near as to be constantly operative, shows how 
 perfectly the necessities of man had been measured, 
 and how fully its depths had been sounded by the 
 Author of the Gospel. 
 
 How powerless is a religion of mere taste and 
 imagination to profit the soul, nay, how it some- 
 times consists with and fosters the worst vices and 
 the most frivolous spirit. Only Christian principle can 
 do anything for us. The worst opposition of heart 
 may consist with great sensibility to religious forms, 
 with tears and admiration. 
 
 There is no ground for hope in Christ's mercy, 
 save as there is a spirit of obedience to the prescrib- 
 ing law. I know Christ is Saviour ; but only of the 
 obedient. That faith is worth very little that does
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 not work purity and fidelity. The trust is as 
 broken reed that is not coupled with active duty. 
 
 Every member who gives less than he receives ; 
 who uses up more energy in being kept and carried 
 along respectably, than is given to aid in such ser- 
 vice, and adding to its moral strength, is so far 
 making that church weaker by his connection with 
 it ; and so virtually doing something positive to de- 
 feat the object of its organization. They put bur- 
 dens on others, diminish their courage, paralyze 
 their arms, neutralize their influence ; they are 
 leeches on its arteries. 
 
 It is so common a thing to confess unfaithfulness 
 as Christians, in general terms, that it is regarded 
 as the proper expression of humility, and no real 
 impeachment of character. , 
 
 It is proper to state the facts about ourselves, but 
 when we regard the confession as an atonement, 
 and go on as before, we are doing a strange thing. 
 
 The idea of the atheist that this universe has no 
 God, is as desolating to the heart as irrational to the 
 intellect. It leaves us orphans ; and in those great 
 breakings up of the deep of the soul, which come, 
 when human sympathy is mockery, what portionless 
 creatures we are ! 
 
 The glory of heaven will be that all sides of the 
 soul will touch God. He will speak in the ear,
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 29! 
 
 show himself to the eye, teach the intellect, stir up 
 the conscience, awaken and give tenderness to the 
 affections, set nobler tasks than ever. Every faculty 
 will have nutriment and objects ;. and the whole life 
 will be one over which religion smiles. All experi- 
 ence will be holy ; all exercise worship. Each power 
 in combined and harmonious action will make life a 
 glorious, majestic and endless anthem of praise to 
 God and the Lamb. 
 
 What a thought- that, under the most touching 
 circumstances under which Christ ever offered a 
 prayer, it was for all future disciples. It is the cli- 
 max of his plea the culminating of his fervor. 
 And it was no general and meaningless prayer. 
 His eye saw each believer, and looked over all his 
 conflicts ; for each, for us he prayed. 
 
 We often pray for methods of deliverance not the 
 best, though we may suppose them so. Neverthe- 
 less if it be true prayer, aiming at Christian results 
 and efficiency, it will be heard and answered, 
 though in other and higher forms than we dreamed. 
 
 We can say of the Bible, it is given by in- 
 spiration of God. I have studied it; and though 
 my childish veneration has been modified, my intel- 
 ligent approval has grown yearly stronger. I have 
 ceased to be afraid when men dispute its history, or 
 its statements, or its principles, on the ground of 
 philosophy, or science, or intuition, or new revela-
 
 292 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 tions. It has been a hundred times given over to 
 the tormenters ; but its martyrdoms transfigure it 
 into some new form of splendor. Do you ask me if 
 I find no mystery in it? Yes ; but it is a testimony 
 to its divine truth. No difficulties unsolved? Yes; 
 many. No hard sayings? Yes; many. No state- 
 ments staggering my intellect and my faith? Yes ; 
 many. Why do I believe in it? Because unbelief 
 costs a hundred times more credulity. What do I 
 do with its mysteries? Wait for their solutions. 
 Its difficulties? For the growth of wisdom. 
 
 I can not do without the influence it brings. 
 Within me are yearnings the world can not still. 
 They cry for light, for sympathy, for help, for im- 
 mortality, for peace, for a great bosom to rest on, 
 for great, strong, tender arms, where my frightened, 
 hunted soul may lie down in safety and sleep, and 
 smile away, its fears. I ask, what answers to these 
 inward wants? There is the Helper, who offers a 
 staff for all my journey, and a pillow for my confi- 
 dence when I lie down amid the shadows of the 
 grave. He speaks to me, only as I would be spok- 
 en to in this book. I read, I listen, I believe, I 
 trust, and my thrilled and satisfied heart lies down 
 like a soothed child, or wakes to sing, or girds itself 
 joyfully for toil and conflict. 
 
 Like a field, blighted by frosts, all sere from 
 drought, and scorched by the fierceness of the sun , 
 so lies my heart, parched and desolate, all its green 
 growths going to decay. As the dew and shower 
 leave diamond drops glittering on every wilted
 
 STUDIES OF THE WORD AND LIFE. 293 
 
 shrub and grass -blade, quickening to life while 
 they beautify, till at length all the sward is in blos- 
 som, and the air is all sweet- scented and delicious, 
 so these promises of God's word, more full of re- 
 freshment than ever a cloud of summer was 
 of rain, come and pour their wealth upon me, 
 and there is spring - time and opening summer in 
 my soul. As each dew drop mirrors all the mag- 
 nificence of the firmament, so my spirit becomes a 
 tiny miniature where is faintly uplifted all the mag- 
 nificence of heaven. I am still human, but no more 
 weak; lam still perplexed, but I have a guide; 
 still the heart bleeds, but precious oil and wine are 
 poured into the wound ; whole armies of tempta- 
 tion assail me, but a sweet voice is saying, " Fear 
 not"; dark clouds, but a shining face beams 
 through ; the grave is before me, but the gate of 
 immortality opens within it, and radiant forms in- 
 vite my entrance, and I hope and long to be there.
 
 vm. 
 
 SERMONS AND LECTURES. 
 
 i. 
 
 RELIGIOUS PROSPERITY ; ITS DESIRABLENESS AND 
 ITS CONDITIONS. 
 
 " Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper." 
 
 John 3 : 2. 
 
 This word is just what might have been expected 
 from the disciple who leaned on Jesus' bosom, as, in 
 his ripe old age, near the hour of departure, he 
 turns his thought to those who have still life's bat- 
 tles to fight, and its temptations to meet. 
 
 Christian affection can never be selfish ; and a 
 Christian heart can never be indifferent to anything 
 pertaining to the honor of Christ and the spread of 
 the Gospel. The new circle into which the spirit 
 enters can not blot out the memory of the old. The 
 waiting glories of a heavenly life still leave the eye 
 free to cast backward glances of sympathy and 
 affection. Amid its thanksgiving to Qod it still has 
 a prayer for men. Triumphant over its own re-
 
 RELIGIOUS PROSPERITY. 
 
 demption, it can not be satisfied till others are on 
 the highway, pressing nobly toward immortal life. 
 *' Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest 
 prosper," is the word which alone expresses the 
 depth and direction of its yearning. 
 
 Passing by whatever was peculiar in the circum- 
 stances of the beloved disciple and in the circum- 
 stances surrounding the objects of his solicitude, let 
 me speak of the desirableness of religious prosper- 
 ity and the conditions upon which it may be se- 
 cured. 
 
 Religious prosperity alone is real, all else is 
 apparent. Only those who grow in wisdom and 
 moral goodness are doing well. Houses and lands 
 may be multiplied ; influence increased ; distinction 
 won ; friends may flatter and the world applaud ; but 
 it is all shortly over. Outward possessions are soon 
 the spoils of others, or the sport of calamity. The 
 wealth we have grasped will ' slip through our fin- 
 gers, and the worth of the soul alone make up our 
 heritage. Heart wealth is all that is known and 
 recognized in the inventories of the future. There 
 only the godlike are kings, while the pretend- 
 ers of time, long revelling in fancied royalty, will 
 find their gold ashes, and their moral nakedness 
 laid bare. All mere earthly prosperity is a tempo- 
 rary cheat ; that which is truly religious is an eter- 
 nal glory. 
 
 Besides, religion has a blessing for this world, as 
 well as for the other. She is the ally of all good 
 things, the friend of all man's interests. She smiles
 
 296 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 on industry, develops enterprise, invigorates and 
 inspires the planning intellect, and makes the work- 
 man's hand cunning. She fills the horn of plenty, 
 opens the eye to see beauty where it has long lain 
 hidden, lightens the load of care and brings the 
 peace of patience ; she restrains passion, sets the 
 conscience to rule over the empire of life and har- 
 monize elements that were otherwise in chaos. 
 " Length of days is in her right hand, and in her 
 left hand, riches and honor." 
 
 With true religion for an attendant, life is a hero's 
 march, and death the translation of a spirit hasting 
 heavenward. Who that has heard its benediction, 
 felt its strength, and contemplated its full bestow- 
 ments, but would yearn for others to take the same 
 blessing, and rise to the same sphere of light? No 
 other word can better express the sentiment that 
 struggles within, than this : " Beloved, I wish above 
 all things that thou mayest prosper." The same 
 thing is true of a community. No matter what ele- 
 ments are in it. It is a sad society that is not ruled 
 by the fear of God. You can not trust the prosper- 
 ity that has been built up on any other foundation 
 than Christian righteousness. It may look well to 
 the eye ; so did the Assyrian palace while the mon- 
 arch was boasting over the wayward power that 
 lifted it up. But a divine sentence against it was 
 even then dropping down from Heaven; and the 
 centuries march over only heaps of rubbish. Re- 
 ligious principle alone nurtures integrity in business, 
 elevates industry into a sacred duty, forbids any
 
 RELIGIOUS PROSPERITY. 
 
 class of men to grow fat by preying on their neigh- 
 bors, puts double dealing and demagogism under 
 ban, excludes vices, and makes each public place a 
 school for both intellect and heart. Intelligence, 
 taste, refinement, admitting these to be possible 
 where Christianity is ignored ; these all fail as 
 safeguards against evil works, against treachery, 
 presumption, hatred of God and contempt of men. 
 The world is full of proofs of that; and history tells 
 no story with greater plainness. Of what avail that 
 intelligence is claimed and possessed, if it is em- 
 ployed to authenticate a false principle and control 
 men for sinister ends? What are refinement and 
 taste worth if they are employed only about the 
 altars of frivolity? If Christian virtue is to be 
 scouted from a community, it is little satisfaction to 
 know that it was driven away by a man of ripe 
 scholarship, or dismissed with a graceful bow ; or 
 that practical atheism is set up with impressive cer- 
 emonies. When religion is put away, these evil 
 passions, in forms attractive or disgusting, come in 
 and take its place. Whoever, therefore, exerts 
 his influence directly or indirectly against the relig- 
 ious prosperity of a community, is warring against 
 all the elements of public weal. And, on the other 
 hand, every Christian heart and life is a contribu- 
 tion to civil quiet, social joy, and material comfort. 
 The prayer of the humblest disciple, offered in the 
 secret closet, is often worth more, even outwardly, 
 to a community than a hotly contested election, or 
 the accumulation of a million dollars additional cap-
 
 298 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 ital. A single faithful Christian life may operate 
 more effectually in the way of removing poverty, 
 and bringing comfort to wretched hearts, than would 
 the establishment of a new branch of business that 
 added at once fifty per cent, to the population and 
 enterprise of the neighborhood. Whatever else any 
 man may do, if he throw the weight of his influence 
 against religion, he is striking deadly blows at pub- 
 lic welfare, and providing for the coming of calami- 
 ties which afflict the body and brutify the soul. 
 Happy s is that people and only that people 
 whose God is the Lord. All outward and material 
 interests prosper just in proportion to the strength 
 and activity of the Christian element. Every de- 
 cline in spiritual power has been the signal for new 
 evils to rush in and riot ; and if religious institutions 
 ever become enfeebled by neglect, or crowded out 
 by growing worldliness, you may be sure that the 
 tide of private and public iniquity will have full 
 sway ; manliness will be a rare quality, the taint of 
 corruption will be left with the heart of childhood. 
 Let Christianity, on the other hand, find sanctua- 
 ries in all your hearts and homes, and she will 
 make the first, temples of peace, and the last, places 
 of plenty and joy. Truth will then spring up from 
 the earth, and righteousness look down from heav- 
 en. But what are the conditions of this religious 
 prosperity, which so lies at the basis of every other 
 form and kind? How can it be gained, increased, 
 and preserved? What are its elements, and on 
 what terms will it come?
 
 RELIGIOUS PROSPERITY. 299 
 
 In all I have to say I take it for granted that this 
 blessing is the gift of God. * He awakens penitence, 
 forgives sin, strengthens weakness, keeps courage, 
 patience, meekness and self- denial alive. Without 
 his blessing, all is vain. But his gifts are always 
 ready. He would always keep the windows of 
 heaven open, and make the stream of blessing flow 
 to us without cessation, if we but left it room in our 
 hearts and lives. Of what Heaven must do I need 
 say nothing ; for Heaven is always doing, or anx- 
 ious to do. Only our co - operation is needed, 
 that given, the result is certain. I speak, therefore, 
 only of the human conditions, only of those things 
 which depend on ourselves. The question, then, 
 comes back again, What is necessary on your part 
 in order to secure religious prosperity, and increase 
 it? I may be answered promptly : " A wise, faith- 
 ful and talented minister, is just what is wanted. 
 Let such a man come, and pray and preach, exhort 
 and work ; one who shall care for the flock and be 
 careless about the fleece ; whose spirit is like Paul's, 
 self- denying, tender, zealous and devout ; who 
 spares no time nor effort needful to accomplish his 
 work; who never gets impatient nor uneasy ; who 
 turns away from all paths of worldly honor and 
 gain ; who keeps himself free from all worldly 
 strife, and indulges no meddling with what is not 
 of his sphere; who works on, day after day, even 
 if he must work alone, in the very spirit with which 
 a martyr dies ; let such a man of God come, and 
 religion will flourish. Such a laborer, and such la-
 
 3<X> GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 bors, will scatter the darkness, bring heavenly light, 
 make Sundays pleasant, life a scene of daily happi- 
 ness, and death a messenger which there shall be 
 no disposition to put away." 
 
 That is, perhaps, your answer. Well, it is true, 
 according to Scripture, that God has chosen by the 
 foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 
 A regular ministry is a divine appointment; and 
 history testifies that true religion has never flour- 
 ished to any considerable extent when this divine ex- 
 pedient has been set aside. I need not stop to devel- 
 op the reason of this ; it is enough to note and admit 
 the fact. 
 
 Nor can it be doubted that they who enter upon 
 the work of the ministry are called to a faithful, 
 self- denying life, that their aim is to be high and 
 holy, their spirit consecrated, their hopes based on 
 the promise of God, and their chief reward to be 
 sought in the *' Well done " of Heaven. I do not 
 deny the obligation that is asserted, nor wish to de- 
 press the standard of ministerial character which 
 the highest truth sets up. But can any one tell 
 why it is claimed that ministers are bound to be 
 more holy and self- denying than other men? Are 
 there two laws, and two Gospels, one for the pulpit 
 and one for the pews? Are there two standards of 
 Christian duty one for the pastor and the other 
 for his people? Two kinds or degrees of religion, 
 the clerical religion, and the lay religion? A min- 
 ister should doubtless possess all the elements that 
 have been mentioned, but is the obligation any less
 
 RELIGIOUS PROSPERITY. 3OI 
 
 sacred as it applies to those who do not occupy the 
 post of public teacher? Would you scorn a minis- 
 ter who was not meek, prayerful, earnest, pure, 
 faithful, unselfish? Why, then, should you not 
 scorn yourselves when any such lack is discovered? 
 It sounds, I confess, a little strange, and a little 
 ludicrous to hear a mere shrewd getter of gain wax- 
 ing warm and earnest in a lecture upon the sin of a 
 minister's unwillingness to welcome poverty ; or to 
 hear a man whose home is a palace, and whose 
 table groans beneath luxuries, mutter some- 
 thing about the extravagance and pride and worldly 
 conformity of the clergy ; or a merchant, who 
 makes his ledger his Bible, and who knows no de- 
 votion except that to the fluctuations of the stock- 
 market, complain of the coldness of the Sunday 
 sermons and the formality of the prayers ; or a pol- 
 itician, who is ready to break the tables of the dec- 
 alogue in pieces that he may pelt his opponent into 
 defeat with the fragments, passionately declaiming 
 about the dishonor and demagogism of the pulpit, 
 when it says that sins perpetrated at the ballot- 
 box are as heinous as any others ; or a cold - heart- 
 ed professor, who sleeps in his seat on Sunday, 
 and whose place in the prayer - meeting and 
 closet is always vacant, intimating that until the 
 minister grows more devoted there can never be a 
 revival. But I need not specify further. So long 
 as the whole responsibility of promoting religion is 
 laid off on the minister, so long there will be blight 
 and mildew, hoar-frost and ice. His devotedness
 
 3O2 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 can not atone for the indifference and worldliness 
 of his people ; his prayers can not pardon nor sanc- 
 tify their profanity ; his earnest and powerful 
 preaching can not excuse their irreligious practices ; 
 his arguments will never avail in convincing a 
 prejudiced world, so long as the daily deeds of his 
 audience declare all the inferences lies ; his yearn- 
 ing can never draw after him to heaven the com- 
 munity for whose welfare he is ready to lay down 
 his life, while they are tied to the world by the mill - 
 stones of sinful custom ; he has no authority by 
 which he can legalize a union between Christ and 
 Mammon ; he has no skill, either human or divine, 
 by which he can bridge over the chasm between 
 the empire of Beelzebub and the kingdom of God. 
 He may endure and weep like Jeremiah, sing like 
 David, love like John, work like Peter and preach 
 like Paul ; and yet if he is left to bear responsibili- 
 ties alone, and held accountable, exclusively, for 
 the state of religion, he might as well lay down his 
 trumpet ere he sounds it, and so save his breath ; 
 and you might as well keep the money in your 
 pockets wherewith you seek to buy the grace of 
 God, when there is no heart to receive and appro- 
 priate it. Your earnest and responsible co - opera- 
 tion with a minister of simply good sense, and deep 
 piety, and fair abilities, would promise far more 
 than the unaided labors of a monarch of thought, 
 whose glowing speech were to dazzle you every 
 Sunday like a shower of meteors. 
 
 Besides, there is a great temptation, when you
 
 RELIGIOUS PROSPERITY. 303 
 
 have filled your pulpit with a man of mark and 
 power that you will come to feel that the provision 
 for religious ends is adequate, and that you are 
 called on to do no more. The truth has now a 
 strong defender ; there is no need of anxiety ; it 
 can be safely trusted in his hands. You are sure 
 the sermons will be good and able, and so you can 
 sleep during the delivery, assured that no false doc- 
 trines will be taught, no unseen argument adduced ; 
 or you can stay away from the sanctuary and the 
 social and business meetings, satisfying yourselves 
 by the thought that all will go on properly and well. 
 There is danger that you will simply compliment 
 instead of encouraging ; that you will be tempted to 
 deny co - operation, and seek to atone for the ne- 
 glect by multiplying your praise. 
 
 Proud of your minister, you may give him 
 your admiration, instead of prayerful help. 
 Satisfied with having him, you may pay little 
 practical deference to his teaching. I hardly 
 need to say that such a state of things is the 
 most disastrous to a church', and most disheartening 
 to a true minister. Anything which diminishes 
 your ow T n sense of personal responsibility, and any- 
 thing which induces spiritual indolence, and a mere 
 literary taste in the place of working zeal and a 
 yearning for the manna of divine and saving truth, 
 will bring a moral night - mare to sit upon all your 
 spiritual energies, and make you stand like a sap- 
 less tree, beautiful in its proportions, but lifeless and 
 decaying secretly at the heart. And you may be
 
 304 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 sure it is a sorry recompense for a faithful and ear- 
 nest minister, to find only words of praise for his 
 performances, when he had looked long and prayer- 
 fully for penitence and duty. A well expressed and 
 well meant eulogy on his sermon may often send 
 him home to his study and his closet with a heart 
 ready almost for bursting ; if instead he could only 
 have heard the eager question coming up between 
 heart -sobs, " What shall I do to be saved?" or the 
 deep prayer, mingled with tears, " God be merciful 
 to me a sinner," it would have set his heart beating 
 with a joy too great for words, too grateful to be 
 told anywhere, save in the ear of God. He could 
 spare your praises, if he could have your duty and 
 faithfulness. But they are in danger of being the 
 poorest instead of the best gifts that you offer to the 
 man of power. You may not mean to try his heart ; 
 but you may be wringing drops of blood from it 
 when you supposed yourselves offering grateful in- 
 cense. What is the approval of your intellect and 
 taste, when it is apparent that no new cord has been 
 set vibrating in the heart'? 
 
 I should say, then, that you make no certain pro- 
 vision for spiritual prosperity by securing a strong, 
 intelligent, instructive, and faithful man for this 
 pulpit. It is not of the first importance that eminent 
 mental abilities should stand here ; though, other 
 things being equal, that is desirable. No sphere 
 demands more eminent ability than this. The first 
 minds will find tasks lofty enough for their powers. 
 The idea that the pulpit needs only third or fourth
 
 RELIGIOUS PROSPERITY. 305 
 
 rate men ; and that a young man of eminent attain- 
 ments and genius is excusable for refusing the min- 
 istry in favor of some other sphere, is preposterous. 
 It is casting contempt on the divine ordination of 
 preaching ; it is degrading the Gospel, and impeach- 
 ing Jesus Christ. Some of the mightiest minds 
 have stood in pulpits, and even these borrowed half 
 their lustre and inspiration from their functions. A 
 man too strong and eminent in ability to preach the 
 gospel ! Then surely there is no work on earth he 
 can touch without defilement; there is no ^seat in 
 heaven high enough for him, unless it lifts itself 
 above the throne of Him who came of old to preach 
 good tidings unto the meek ! 
 
 But I may still say that it is not absolutely essen- 
 tial to the religious prosperity of a community that 
 it have one of these great souls in its pulpit. If he 
 be sound in judgment and doctrine, apt to teach, in- 
 corruptible in heart, prayerful, laborious, ready to- 
 endure hardness for his Master's sake, he brings 
 all that is essential. If he can but secure your ear- 
 nest co - operation, if you can be depended on to 
 second his efforts, supply his deficiencies, share his 
 burdens, and help him in steadying the ark which 
 he alone is too weak to control, it is fitting to wel- 
 come him as a blessing to you and yours. With 
 that co - operation, such a man may witness relig- 
 ious results such as a solitary pulpit toiler, mighty 
 as he may be in word and deed, would wait for in 
 vain. 
 
 May I add that a congregation does not always
 
 306 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 stop to think upon how many apparently trifling 
 things a minister's courage, hope, faith, and success 
 may depend. You may suppose he is, or should be, 
 lifted above all ordinary influences, and find stimu- 
 lus in heaven, when a hundred things combine to 
 cheat him of it on earth. Repeated absences from 
 your seats for the most frivolous reasons ; a slight 
 indisposition, a few clouds, a moist side - walk, the 
 call of a friend, a little weariness induced by the 
 excessive worldly toil of the week, or a desire to 
 husband the strength and so be fitted for the highest 
 business efficiency to - morrow you do not always 
 think, perhaps, how much there may be in this to 
 wear away the patience and clip the wings of hope. 
 You expect him to fill his place and meet his engage- 
 ment, cost whatever of effort it may ; is it strange that 
 he should be disappointed at your vacant seats, or 
 your late assembling even when you choose to be 
 there ? If, the hour comes and the services must be 
 commenced with but a third of the audience pres- 
 ent, and the service interrupted almost constantly by 
 the crowding in of absentees, is it strange that the 
 quiet of his own spirit should be disturbed, and the 
 interest he had nurtured by prayerful preparation 
 should be sadly interfered with? How much a full 
 house on an unpleasant Sunday would bring sun- 
 shine to the pastor's heart; how regular and prompt 
 attendance, such as vindicates that religious duties 
 are something more than matters of convenience, and 
 that they have taken hold of principle and conscience, 
 will stimulate the spirit. The absentees on any
 
 RELIGIOUS PROSPERITY. 307 
 
 cloudy day may be the very persons whom the pas- 
 tor had in mind in the preparation of the sermon on 
 which his best efforts have been expended; is it 
 strange that the idea of fruitless toil should occur to 
 him, as he looks for your answering faces and be- 
 holds vacancy? Is it strange that his next effort 
 should have less heart and hope, and his next Sun- 
 day's service should seem wanting in unction? Do 
 you say these are little things, unworthy of a min- 
 ister's attention ; that he should be wholly above the 
 influence of such petty annoyances ? Perhaps so ; 
 and yet every life is mostly made up of little things ; 
 and in things pertaining to the welfare of the soul, 
 the least of them all never seems slight to an ear- 
 nest pastor. Remember, too, that a pastor's whole 
 being is bound up with his religious sphere and 
 labors ; that he may not turn away to other things 
 for relief when his religious relations seem only 
 sources of pain. He is allowed to have no worldly 
 projects to which he may devote himself for relaxa- 
 tion and relief; he lives his heart -life in the circle 
 of spiritual things ; and when these suggest nothing 
 but anxiety, disappointment and fear, still they 
 must make up his world. He has no gains but re- 
 ligious gains ; growing virtues are the only harvests 
 he reaps ; Christian hearts and lives around him are 
 his only badges of honor. Carelessness about the 
 interests of religion, the falling away to worldliness 
 and sin among those to whom he has looked as 
 trophies of the truth, is to him what the sinking of 
 the vessel is to the captain who has all his reputation
 
 308 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 and his fortune invested in her. I mention these 
 things because they are small, and being so are in 
 special danger of being overlooked ; and yet, small 
 as they are in your eyes, they have immensely more 
 to do with a pastor's hope and ambition, faith- 
 fulness and success than perhaps any of you ever 
 dreamed. If your minister is to do any consider- 
 able portion of the work I have supposed you may 
 assign to him, he needs and must have the encour- 
 agement it would cost you almost nothing to give, 
 and yet without which his spirit is poor, and often 
 irresolute. I am not attempting to defend or excuse 
 a minister's timidity, or misanthropy, or croaking. A 
 man who has God's word to speak, and God's prom- 
 ise to stimulate him in doing it, who has allies in all 
 the universe, and witnesses- to the truth of what he 
 speaks even in the most stupid souls before and 
 around him ; who has all history endorsing the 
 principles he advocates, and all eternity waiting to 
 witness their triumph ; who finds appeals to be 
 faithful coming up to him from all the spots where 
 martyrs put on their singing robes and begin the 
 chant of the skies, and before whose vision the 
 gates of heaven are daily swinging to tell him how 
 near he is to his coronation, such a man should 
 carry a heart so brave that it can defy all enemies, 
 and a purpose so' firm that no strain should ever 
 make it quiver. The Lord of hosts is with him ; 
 the God of Jacob is his refuge. Let him work on, 
 human though he is, just where and as his Master 
 bids him, changing his methods, and trying new ex-
 
 RELIGIOUS PROSPERITY. 309 
 
 pedients ; selecting a new spot in the vineyard, if 
 he must ; but ever refusing with Christian obstinacy 
 either to submit or flee. That is for him. -But it 
 is not for you, if such a man shall ever come among 
 you, yearning for your welfare as an angel, and 
 preaching as one of the old prophets, it is not for 
 you to leave him, on any pretense, to stagger be- 
 neath the load of moral responsibility while you 
 leave it untouched, a load which will prove heavy 
 enough when every arm is lifting, and every life 
 crying courage. 
 
 There is another vital thing : The maintenance 
 of the principles of Christian righteousness, against 
 all attacks of subtlety and power, in defiance of all 
 hazards, and at the risk of all outward and tempo- 
 rary losses. 
 
 This is so plain a matter that it ought to require 
 nothing more than a simple statement ; but unfortu- 
 nately between what ought to be and what is, there 
 is often a wide, deep, and almost impassable chasm. 
 What the pulpit shall speak, has been clearly indi- 
 cated by the divine commission, and the irrepealable 
 law. What the church shall do, has not at all been left 
 to its discretion. It is to destroy the temporizing 
 spirit so prevalent in the world that Christianity has 
 been commissioned and inaugurated. She can ad- 
 mit no human dictation, and strike hands with no 
 human leader who substitutes policy for principle, 
 and craft for courage. Righteous principle has 
 well nigh been driven from the world ; the only de- 
 sign of Christian institutions is to provide it a sane-
 
 3IO GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 tuary and crown it royal even amid the sneers of 
 the world. And when a body, calling itself Chris- 
 tian, truckles before power ; or is bought with a 
 bribe ; or dragooned into the train of a demagogue 
 in whatever sphere he acts ; or stoops from its true 
 position to court patronage ; or perverts truth and 
 judgment to increase its popularity and keep off 
 outward dangers ; or panders to a false sentiment ; 
 or connives at popular wickedness ; or goes out of 
 its way to gain the smile of an unprincipled indi- 
 vidual or faction ; or consults the pulse of public 
 feeling rather than the leadings of the Spirit of 
 Truth, any body that will do that, is not only 
 faithless before its duty, but doing what it can to 
 sanctify, in the eyes of the world, the very crimes 
 against which its very existence was called forth to 
 protest ; forming a league with the very sins it was 
 set to exterminate ; and taking up arms against the 
 Ruler whose sway it was sent to make universal. 
 By such a process of trimming, numbers, wealth 
 and present peace may be gained, but each man so 
 won is not an ally, but an enemy in the camp ; every 
 dollar so obtained will drag downward like Judas's 
 thirty pieces of silver, and the quiet is only the lull 
 that goes before the earthquake. The larger such 
 a body grows by such methods, the greater evil it 
 becomes. The more that are attracted by its out- 
 ward impressiveness, the more rapidly does the 
 work of moral perversion go on. Its outward beauty 
 covers worse loathsomeness than the garnishing on 
 the old prophets' sepulchres. Externally, it may
 
 RELIGIOUS PROSPERITY. 311 
 
 appear a splendid temple ; but within the air is thick 
 and heavy, where souls are strangled while they 
 try to breathe. Of all the curses that came leaping 
 from the old prophet's lips, there is not one, scorch- 
 ing wherever it touches, like those flung at the head 
 of an apostate church, which had been set to tell 
 and live all God's truth, and war against every 
 spoken or acted lie, but which had held back the 
 verity and smiled on the falsehood. And the curse 
 will keep repeating .itself and executing itself on 
 every body calling itself Christian, which repeats 
 the experiment, and lives over the crime, which 
 seeks for peace at the expense of its purity, popu- 
 larity by discarding principle, and salvation by giv- 
 ing heed to Satan. 
 
 Nor is it enough that you simply tolerate freedom 
 in the pulpit ; that you license your pastor to be as 
 courageous as he dares, as faithful as he feels he 
 must. In these days of dictation from the pews to 
 the pulpit, that is something ; even that you consent 
 to the utterance of the whole law is a ground of 
 thankfulness, when grave senators hurl philippics at 
 the ministry, and the daily press writhes in contor- 
 tions to develop its spite against the occupants of 
 the pulpit. That is something, when influential citi- 
 zens mutter in their pews at quotations from the 
 Bible. It is something for a religious society to 
 consent at all for its minister to lay bare all sins, 
 organic and legalized, as well as others that hide 
 for shame in darkness. It is still more when that 
 consent is given not because it must be, not
 
 312 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 because the pastor would spurn a shackle, and the 
 attempt to impose it reveal glaring inconsistencies 
 and make the people cry " shame'* but because it 
 is felt to be the right of the minister, the duty of the 
 people, the condition of prosperity ; because the 
 soul feels that nothing but faithful dealing can save 
 it from the grasp of evil, or render the pulpit any- 
 thing more than a mock battery, or a stage for the 
 display of moral fire - works for the public diver- 
 sion. 
 
 But all that is not enough. Christian men must 
 stand by this faithfulness ; must defend and exalt 
 this plain - dealing ; must regard that as the vital 
 thing, and as that for which chiefly it has been or- 
 ganized, and in view of which, alone, it deserves still 
 to live. Nay, a policy must be inaugurated and ad- 
 hered to through all stages of experience and ordeals 
 of trial. 
 
 When a body, no matter how religious seems its 
 spirit, how touching its history, how reverend its 
 aspect, ceases to retain and work out that spirit, its 
 locks of strength are shorn off, its force is gone, its 
 arms paralyzed, it is hastening to decay. One 
 thing must be done, at whatever cost ; and that is 
 to stand by the truth, to make no compromises for 
 the sake of gain, to yield up no faithfulness, what- 
 ever bribes are offered, or clamors arise, or perils 
 threaten, or graves yawn. Better a thousand times 
 to die in martyrdom for truth and Christian princi- 
 ple, than grow fat on the food procured by dishonor. 
 Nay, death can not come to a true church. When
 
 RELIGIOUS PROSPERITY. 313 
 
 it loses its faith only it perishes ; retaining that, it 
 lives immortal. Its example cries ever, like the 
 blood of Abel, from the ground where men had 
 built for it a sepulchre. Its spirit walks the earth, 
 a perpetual presence and power, singing still with 
 martyrs, and making the prayer of a hundred clos- 
 ets more fervent, and teaching bereavement in a 
 hundred dwellings how to look up calmly to 
 heaven. It shall be a force through all time, and 
 eternity shall never be weary of telling its inspiring 
 tale. 
 
 Religiously, inactivity is death ; to stand still is 
 to stagnate. He who resolves to make his religion 
 cost him in the way of thought, of time, of effort, of 
 self-denial, of money, of patience, of skill, as little 
 as possible, may be able to get along cheaply, 
 but the religion he gets will be only of the cheapest 
 and poorest kind, and the quantity will be very 
 small at that. He who aims at no large religious 
 results, works for and expects none such, will reach 
 none. That is certainly plain enough in respect to 
 an individual experience ; it is just as true when 
 men act in bodies, as when they act alone. The 
 Christian element lives and acts only by expansion 
 and diffusion. When men get thoroughly chilled 
 in winter, they often feel a pleasant quiet creeping 
 over them, that makes them disposed to lie down 
 and sleep, the tendency is almost irresistible ; but 
 to sleep is to die. The fact has its analogies. 
 They who are satisfied with what they have done 
 or are doing, whether in the domain of their own
 
 314 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 personal life, or in the field o.f Christian activity 
 without ; who feel the pleasantness of self- satisfac- 
 tion stealing on, only indicate benumbed spiritual 
 energies, instead of proving that they have finished 
 their duty nobly and been released by the Master 
 from farther toil. And the more fully they are sat- 
 isfied, the more like death is the lethargy. 
 
 The whole genius of Christianity is aggressive. 
 It never is satisfied or wearied out. One object 
 gained or defeated, it eagerly pursues another. 
 Reaching one heart, it makes that a helper in its fu- 
 ture work. Subduing one evil influence, it conse- 
 crates that and makes it an ally in the work of over- 
 coming. It goes on enlarging its plans and multi- 
 plying its trophies. It is like the leaven working in 
 through the mass till its influence permeates the 
 whole. Every gain in ability and opportunity im- 
 poses a new task, and prompts to a higher service. 
 Men under its influence acquire only that they may 
 use ; they crave means and strength only that they 
 may be employed about some nobler, broader and 
 more important object. 
 
 They strangely mistake or pervert the spirit of re- 
 ligion who think of Christian institutions, the 
 preaching of the gospel, and the ordinances of 
 God's house, as meant simply to minister to their 
 gratification, as affording an equivalent in pleasant 
 experiences for the money they pay for them ; 
 who regard it as an instance of honorable and suc- 
 cessful trade. Are all questions of service for the 
 church to be settled by interest tables, by questions
 
 RELIGIOUS PROSPERITY. 315 
 
 of economic exchange and shrewd business barter? 
 
 To the poor the Gospel is preached, was one of 
 the testimonies to the Messiahship of Jesus. The 
 sympathy and benevolence of the Christian spirit, 
 naturally wrought out, will always reveal a similar 
 result. Religion is the one grand want of all souls 
 it may be said to be especially the want of those 
 whose share of outward favors is the poorest and 
 smallest. Everything that can be done to put the 
 gospel within the reach of the whole people nay, 
 everything that can be done to interest them in it, 
 and bring them regularly and systematically under 
 its influence, is demanded at the hands of all who 
 can aid in the work. It does not answer to wait till 
 they come, crowded forward by courage or the 
 sense of necessity, to beg for the smallest of its 
 crumbs of comfort. Every consistent thing that 
 can be done to bring them to the sanctuary regular- 
 ly and keep them there, is but the plainest and sim- 
 plest duty. 
 
 It is not in the power of one person or two to 
 bring such a result to pass. When a religious soci- 
 ety has become strong, stable, and influential, its 
 corporate action gives character to the religious 
 effort expended there. A pastor can not inaugu- 
 rate any new and progressive policy without their 
 co-operation. The idea of religion, obtained by 
 the general community, will be determined far more 
 by what they do than by what he says. He is their 
 servant, and is considered such among the people, 
 quite as much as he is a servant of the Lord. He
 
 316 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 may declare that religion is love, good -will ; that it 
 destroys selfishness, ennobles life, dedicates men to 
 the welfare of their kind ; that it enthrones all 
 sacred principles ; that the sanctuary is a school 
 for the heart, the temple where God comes near 
 with help and mercy to save ; that life is a failure 
 save as the baptism comes to it from on high, and 
 that then it is a thing of beauty and glory, a per- 
 petual, affectionate and earnest beckoning of all the 
 world upward to heaven. He may tell them all 
 that, with fervent words and tears, and sanctify his 
 effort with exhortation and prayer. But if he should 
 meet an incredulous look ; if he should be asked 
 where is this zeal for God among those who have 
 built up religious institutions ; if it were asked 
 where is this working energy, this planning enter- 
 prise for Christian objects, this working faith in the 
 divine promise, this unselfish and large-hearted 
 philanthropy ; where is the proof of this felt impor- 
 tance of bringing the whole people within the circle 
 of sanctuary influences ; where among all the mul- 
 titude who bear the name of Christ are they who 
 plan, and labor, and deny self, and spend time, en- 
 ergy, money and zeal to make the gospel work like 
 leaven- through the whole community? If he were 
 asked these questions, and were compelled to be 
 silent or confess that his picture was very far from 
 being a copy of the religious body with which he 
 was identified, what then? Would he be obliged 
 to retire, owning his defeat, and feeling that he had 
 perhaps only brought out and confirmed the preju-
 
 RELIGIOUS PROSPERITY. 317 
 
 dice against whose barrier his effort must still storm 
 in vain ? How shall he prove that Christianity is 
 benevolent^ earnest, skillful, self-denying and 
 laborious ; having faith in the promise of God which 
 pledges the truth a triumph, and which is bent on 
 seeing the fulfillment? 
 
 Of all places in this world, it seems to me a Chris- 
 tian church and society is the place where to find 
 the active heroism, and the majestic air of human 
 life. There is where all the manly qualities might 
 be expected to sit in convention to devise, and then 
 to rise up and work with a harmonious energy and a 
 sublime purpose. There whatever is beautiful and 
 great in the human character is expected to appear. 
 If there is thought in the intellect, it may be 
 expected to come out bold, strong and clear. If 
 there be high and generous impulses, they may 
 be expected to give ample proof of their pres- 
 ence. If a nice sense of justice, there it may well 
 poise its delicate balance and weigh out equity. 
 If there be enterprise, what other sphere so fitting 
 for its tasks? If an unselfish whole - heartedness 
 be anywhere in this world, there we might look for 
 it to thrill our nerves, and make the tears start in 
 sympathy, and the heart pay homage unconscious- 
 ly. And so on the other hand, how natural to think 
 of such a place as one from which all narrowness 
 of view, all petty jealousies, all mere dollar and cent 
 shrewdness, all scheming for sinister ends, are driv- 
 en away by the simple power of moral repulsion ! 
 
 That ideal society and church haunts my thought
 
 318 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 perpetually. There is that within me which tells me 
 it is possible ; and, my hope has struggled long to 
 see it actualized on earth. More than once an in- 
 ner prophecy has whispered to me that it shall yet 
 appear. Here and there a soul alive to all that is 
 good, and dead to sordidness, tells me that the ele- 
 ments of the portrait are even now found on earth. 
 And along the track of departed centuries, I see 
 the foot - prints of those whose legacy is an assur- 
 ance that, even here, life may be emancipated from 
 the bondage to the flesh. Above all, the life of Him 
 whose walk on earth voiced the old prophecies with 
 a tone that rings ever louder, that life tells me of 
 a Power which can and will work until divinity be- 
 comes incarnate in the church he inhabits, as it was 
 once in Him. 
 
 Take the mantle, broad enough to cover the 
 world, which he wore, for your radiant vestment. 
 Make Christian enterprise and benevolence actual 
 things. Make religious interests the ground of em- 
 inent purpose, the sphere of your noblest endeavors, 
 the occasion for your largest generosity. Then 
 how slumbering souls will leap with life ! How 
 fear and distrust will yield to hope and faith ! How 
 mountains of difficulty will change into clouds of 
 mist through which the star of promise will look 
 to greet you ! How cynical lips will close up in 
 silence, and croaking prophets turn their curses 
 into blessing ! How prejudice will melt, and co - 
 operation hasten to you ! Heroic souls will hail 
 you from afar as allies and brethren, and true men
 
 CHRIST'S VITAL RELATIONS TO MEN. 319 
 
 turn to you in their thought, drinking in your in- 
 spiration whenever a strong word is to be spoken or 
 a brave deed done. Then would be realized relig- 
 ious prosperity. 
 
 II. 
 
 CHRIST'S VITAL RELATIONS TO MEN.* 
 
 tl I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me 
 and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without 
 me ye can do nothing. " John 15 : 5. 
 
 In the early summer, especially, Nature every- 
 where gives emphasis to the illustration of the con- 
 ditions of spiritual life, which is found in this 
 fifteenth chapter of John's Gospel, where Christ sets 
 himself forth as the Vine and his disciples as the 
 branches. The illustration is equally forcible and 
 beautiful. The branches that maintain their vital 
 connection with the parent stalk are full of vigor. 
 The boughs are green with foliage, each twig is 
 bursting into buds, and all the buds are flashing 
 into blossoms. Roses are blushing as if at their 
 own beauty ; honeysuckles clamber up the lattices 
 and breathe fragrance in at every open window ; 
 the lily puts on the robes which no attire of eastern 
 monarchs can rival ; every bush by the road -side is 
 hanging out its bannerets ; the fruit-trees already 
 
 *Preached at New Hampton before ths Society of Theological Research 
 Jvuy lu, laoo.
 
 320 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 bend beneath the weight of promises hastening into 
 fulfillment, and the most barren mountains are 
 carrying verdure far up their sides toward the crest, 
 or bursting out into miniature oases wherever a little 
 tuft of grass can push its way up through the crev- 
 ices of the rock. The brownest heaths grow 
 beautiful, and the mosses upon the stone gather 
 new greenness. And all these struggles and swell- 
 ings and triumphs of life owe themselves to the or- 
 ganic unity of vegetation ; the stem keeps its hold 
 upon the root, the branch abides in the vine, the 
 loftiest twig preserves its vital connection with the 
 deepest and minutest radicle. 
 
 Sever the thriftiest branch, and the sap stagnates 
 in the channels, the chemical processes that went 
 on without interruption are suspended, the twigs 
 lose their flexibility and then stiffen into brittleness, 
 the foliage wilts, and decay and decomposition come 
 in to end the process. No artificial appliances avail. 
 Cement or string may keep the member in its old 
 position, but they can not restore nor preserve the 
 vitality. The stream of life has been cut off from 
 the fountain, and so the channels must run dry. 
 
 How different, too, is this life of nature from the 
 best and highest imitations of it in the spheres of 
 art ! The best painting on the canvas is a poor 
 thing compared with the landscape which it seeks 
 to reproduce. The grass in the picture has no mo- 
 tion ; the clouds keep their shapes day after day ; 
 the brook neither sparkles nor sings ; there is no 
 murmur through the forest ; the shadows cast by
 
 CHRIST'S VITAL RELATIONS TO MEN. 321 
 
 the sun neither lengthen nor change ; the night dims 
 the scene with no unusual suggestiveness, and the 
 morning floods it with no new splendor. An oak 
 in a pasture elaborated by the chemistry of a hun- 
 dred seasons, is a thousand times nobler than a 
 cedar of Lebanon in a picture - gallery, built up of 
 painter's pigments. A rose of wax, however skill- 
 fully fashioned, can not be compared with the queen 
 of the parterre swinging in the breezes of June. 
 The painted cluster of cherries which tempted the 
 bird to the window where it hung, how vastly in- 
 ferior was it to the product of the fruit tree, which 
 would have fed instead of cheating, and called out 
 a new hymn of thanksgiving from the throat of the 
 warbler. By so much as substance is better than 
 show, as realities are superior to shams, as great 
 deeds are above skillful jugglery, as spontaneous 
 movement is to be preferred to automatic impulse, 
 as a leap of life signifies more than a galvanic con- 
 tortion, by so much are vital products to be chosen 
 rather than mechanical, and God's inspiration before 
 man's philosophy. 
 
 In these words of Christ, that show his vital rela- 
 tion to the true life of the human soul, are stated 
 both the highest fact and the deepest philosophy of 
 the Gospel. All genuine spiritual life is the result 
 of that vital influence which is poured from the di- 
 vine heart into the currents of the human spirit. 
 The amount of this influence received and appro- 
 priated measures the strength of the religious 
 character and the faithfulness of the religious life.
 
 322 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 Without this, the soul is weak and effort ineffectual ; 
 with it, even frail natures become strong, and exer- 
 tion that seemed to promise little, issues in achieve- 
 ments which wake the wonder of men and win the 
 smile of God. 
 
 Vitality is the test of every thing. Whatever 
 helps us does so by adding to our life. All true 
 teachers quicken ; they are not set simply to 
 soothe and subdue. We do not want powers crush- 
 ed out, but rendered normal and consecrated to vigor- 
 ous work. The test of a system or a sermon is its 
 power to quicken the recipient and hearer. Anything 
 that sets fettered powers free, that expands the 
 sphere of thought, that opens new channels of en- 
 terprise, that exalts aim, that solidifies purpose, that 
 enlarges the play of imagination, that makes the 
 .movements of the will resolute, and thus increases 
 the dynamic forces of men, is set down as a bless- 
 ing and a condition of real gain. The whole plan 
 of the world is such that it is meant evidently to 
 stimulate and normalize the human powers. The 
 hiding of resources that they may be sought for ; 
 .the curse and dishonor put upon selfishness and 
 indolence ; the reward held out to a wise industry ; 
 the victories promised to persevering toil ; the joys 
 that blossom in the pathway of learning and dis- 
 covery ; the honors that wait as a crown of heroism ; 
 the monuments which men build in their hearts to 
 philanthropy ; the benedictions wherewith all good 
 men hallow human saintship ; all this shows that 
 souls were meant to find stimulants rather than ano-
 
 CHRIST'S VITAL RELATIONS TO MEN. 323 
 
 dynes in the experience of life. And it is Christ 
 himself who says, " I am come that they might 
 have life, and that they might have it more abun- 
 dantly." "Go, work," is the Master's commission 
 whenever he finds a teachable and loyal heart, not, 
 " Lie down and dream." "Take up thy bed and 
 walk," is his cry to the palsied cripple ; and the 
 mandate was aimed more at the torpid soul than at 
 the droning nerves or the flaccid muscles. And he 
 vitalized common natures till they became historic 
 and wonderful. Peter had scarcely been known, 
 save about the shores of Gennesaret, till Jesus com- 
 missioned him ; after that, he filled all Jerusalem 
 and Judea with wonder and alarm by his bold mag- 
 netic speech. Paul had sat as a student at the feet 
 of Gamaliel till the Gospel stung him into frenzy ; 
 and then, having accepted its ministry, he makes all 
 Asia Minor ring with his name and become rever- 
 ent before the messages which go out from his 
 prison. Not more surely does morning dawn to 
 wake the earth from its slumbers, than Christ comes 
 to quicken humanity and vitalize stagnant souls. 
 Not more surely do the monotonous forests change 
 into fruitful gardens along the highways of civiliza- 
 tion, than does the desert of human experience 
 blossom out into beauty when the life - giving spirit 
 of God finds a channel along which it may flow 
 through the torpid heart. 
 
 It is this perpetual presence Of Christ that consti- 
 tutes the glory of his Gospel, and gives it the chief 
 promise of success. That pledge, "Lo, I am with
 
 324 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 you always," rightly interpreted, is the highest 
 guaranty that his word shall not return void, nor his 
 servants speak it in feebleness. It gives the speaker 
 new authority and fervor, and it makes the hearer 
 realize that he is listening to no common message. 
 Christ's ministry was not simply the proclamation cf 
 a system, nor the founding of a new religious party ; 
 it was chiefly meant to bring a new vitality to the 
 world. He did more than to make our planet a 
 visit, show his own condescension and assert the 
 forgotten dignity of men. He comes to dwell in 
 humanity, and build up successive generations of 
 souls into heavenly majesty and beauty. 
 
 The manifestations of God which marked the 
 earlier history of the world are not to be set down 
 as exceptional developments and expressions of his 
 interest in the human race. The old miracles are not 
 the only symbols of the Father's heart. All the 
 Qenturies are his children ; each generation draws 
 largely and freshly on his sympathy. If he brood- 
 ed over the cradle of the race, he does not forget its 
 youth nor leave its manhood unattended. The in- 
 terests of our world grow constantly more numerous 
 and more valuable. As its forces increase and be- 
 come more operative, so must he follow them in 
 their work with a deepening interest. The world's 
 life of to - day stands related to its earlier life as the 
 oak is related to the acorn, as the flower to the bud, 
 as the fruit to the germ. The human race is a con- 
 stantly growing element in the sum of being, and 
 God's interest is always measured by the moral
 
 CHRIST'S VITAL RELATIONS TO MEN. 325 
 
 power of any existence. That is evident. 
 
 Men, calling themselves philosophers, often ob- 
 ject to the idea that God is operating in the world in 
 any effective way, on the ground that he is restrain- 
 ed by law. As though methods must exist at the 
 expense of souls ! As though God would frame 
 statutes that shut him away from the home, and cut 
 off his most needed ministries from the hearts of his 
 children ! As though laws were not instituted with 
 a full knowledge of all the ends to which they stand 
 related ! As though they were fashioned for any 
 other purpose than to be channels through which 
 his grace might be poured, in the largest streams 
 and with the highest certainty, into the heart ! As 
 though any law of God were anything else than a 
 guaranty to faith that the gift of to - day should be 
 repeated to-morrow. As though it were anything 
 else than a picture of his beneficence, all written 
 over with the sentence, " The same yesterday, and 
 to - day, and forever ! " 
 
 The withdrawal of Christ's humanity from the 
 earth is no index of loss. It does not denote the 
 perishing of divine sympathy, it rather suggests 
 its enlargement and diffusion. The human channel 
 could no longer hold the broad stream, as the banks 
 of the Nile can not enclose nor restrain the liquid 
 fruitfulness which comes pouring down when the 
 spring rains have given their baptism to the mount- 
 ains. It was expedient that he go away ; for only 
 thus could the great Comforter and Inspirer find his 
 way to all hearts without hindrance. Allied with a
 
 326 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 human body, God's grace must be largely limited in 
 its operations by conditions. If Christ's human 
 lips must distil wisdom, it could fall only when his 
 lips were opening. If the touch of his finger or 
 the glance of his eye must give healing vigor or 
 communicate hope, the distant sufferers must pine 
 on without relief from weakness or despair. While 
 Capernaum brings out her diseased ones, and 
 Gadara is cured of possessions, and Nain and Beth- 
 any welcome life back from the sepulchre, Jerusa- 
 lem finds no cure for her leprosy, Hebron sits sol- 
 itary, and Bethlehem stretches forth her arms in vain. 
 While the lost sheep of the house of Israel are 
 sought out and brought home with rejoicing on the 
 shoulders of the Great Shepherd, wolves are de- 
 vouring the flocks now broken loose from the 
 folds of the Gentiles. Christ's bodily life is the ala- 
 baster box which holds the sacred ointment ; it 
 must be broken before its odor fills the house of 
 humanity. The incense must find egress from the 
 censer before the fragrance can diffuse itself at once 
 through all the temple of life. The flood of glory 
 which came at Pentecost would have been only 
 another shower, such as fell at Nazareth and 
 Sychar, had not the cloud found room for expansion 
 till it filled the whole heaven. The light set now in 
 the firmament, and " lighting every man that cometh 
 into the world," would have been only a changing 
 star, like that which guided the Magi, had not the 
 obscured splendor culminated and formed the Sun 
 of Righteousness. The human Jesus walked among
 
 CHRISTS VITAL RELATIONS TO MEN. 327 
 
 men to show how thoroughly God may come in con- 
 tact with the soul and with common life ; having 
 done this, he threw off the finite limitations that the 
 Infinite Presence might brood at once and forever 
 over all the world of spirit. 
 
 Jesus, then, is the giver of a new and divine life 
 to men. All real spiritual vitality comes of his in- 
 fluence and quickening. It commences with an in- 
 fusion of energy from him. It continues only while 
 he feeds it from his own exhaustless fountain. The 
 original impulse from him does not suffice to keep 
 us forever in the sacred orbit. He gives as we re- 
 ceive and apply ; he feeds only as we consume. We 
 never get beyond the necessity for his ministries. 
 We never acquire a momentum that enables us to 
 dispense with his fresh impulses. Daily we must 
 have the daily bread. The manna gathered yester- 
 day does not answer to - day. We maintain no in- 
 dependent spiritual existence, by virtue of any ac- 
 quired vigor, or enlarged knowledge, or completer 
 self-mastery, or growing skill. However green the 
 foliage, or beautiful the blossoms, or luxuriant the 
 fruit, which may appear in our life, while preserv- 
 ing our vital connection with the living Vine, we 
 sever ourselves only to find the flowing currents 
 stagnate, the foliage wither, the blossoms perish, the 
 half- matured fruit fall. Keeping up this union with 
 him, the sphere of life enlarges, the play of its 
 forces is freer, the experience is enriched, the vital- 
 ity becomes intenser, the working energy multiplies, 
 the interior friction grows less, the powers combine
 
 328 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 harmoniously and work with new singleness, and 
 the results of this intensified and normal life are 
 larger as well as better. Out of this statement of 
 the truth contained in the figure of the Vine, there 
 spring many thoughts which show the significant 
 bearings of the lesson, exhibit it as a practical senti- 
 ment, and enforce its applications. Of these let us 
 consider a few. 
 
 i. It exalts Christ to a divine rank and assigns 
 him a divine ministry. 
 
 He can be no finite teacher, no delegated person- 
 age, no dependent being, who is authorized to 
 speak such words as these : " Abide in me, for so 
 only can you have life. I alone can vitalize your 
 spirits, can keep your- souls from stagnation, can fill 
 you with energy, and crown your work with suc- 
 cess. I am the fountain ; drink and live. I yield 
 nutriment ; feed on it and grow. I supply energy ; 
 receive it and be strong. Cut off from me you per- 
 ish, let whoever will, bring guardianship or apply 
 culture. Without me ye can do nothing. With my 
 inspiration no human task shall be undertaken in 
 vain. Prompted by my impulses, ye shall ask 
 what ye will, and the petition shall have its answer, 
 struggle for any goal and it shall be within 
 reach." Make now all proper allowance for eastern 
 metaphor, and there still remains in these words a 
 fullness of meaning, and they denote the calm, quiet 
 consciousness of resource, authority and power, 
 that makes them the outburst of an insufferable ego- 
 tism, or bold with terrific blasphemy if they are not
 
 CHRIST'S VITAL RELATIONS TO MEN. 329 
 
 from Him who is the beginning and end, all in all. 
 
 2. These words set aside all theories of human 
 redemption based on self- culture, or the education 
 of society. 
 
 The philosophy of development is utterly ignored 
 in this statement of the source and the quality of all 
 real spiritual life and Christian character, and 
 which explains every thing by reference to a new 
 and higher agency. These two theories of the 
 Christian life divide the world. One set of teachers 
 tell us that true religion is proper self- regulation ; 
 that repentance is breaking off bad habits ; that 
 forgiveness of sin is the overcoming of passion and 
 a growth out of the reach of evil forces ; that faith 
 is adherence to principle ; that prayer is a stimulus 
 applied to the sensibility in the form of devout 
 words ; that the peace of God is the harmony of a 
 well - balanced soul ; that true worship is a wise in- 
 dustry ; that God's gift of strength is a will grown 
 resolute by exercise ; that succor in temptation is 
 the repulsion felt by an improved moral taste ; that 
 the " well- done " of Heaven is the reasonable self- 
 satisfaction which our heroic work has brought us ; 
 and that salvation comes only from an out - grow- 
 ing of our inherited weaknesses. 
 
 There is indeed a partial truth wrapped up in 
 these methods of representation. They imply a 
 fact ; they show that there is a human side to 
 Christian experience ; that a Christian life is more 
 intense in its activity than any other. But these 
 words of Christ give another account of the change
 
 33 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 wrought by religion in the human soul ; they 
 make these high activities chiefly the expression 
 and result of his ministry within us. They show 
 that the heart is quick because life has been poured 
 into it from above. It is penitent because its sin is 
 shown it as a defiance of God's law and a blow at 
 Christ's love. It has peace because the broken 
 law's sentence of condemnation is withdrawn. It 
 hopes through its clinging to the divine promise. 
 It is strong through the incoming of heavenly pow- 
 er. It loves because the Redeemer stands before it 
 transfigured into the beauty of excellence. Its grat- 
 itude is kept active by the perpetual coming of 
 great and undeserved gifts. It looks for victories 
 only under the leadership of Him who, in conquering 
 all foes for himself, comes to conquer them again in 
 and through each of his children. Not by mechan- 
 ical processes, but by vital, does Christ propose to 
 make human nature a divine temple, and the earth- 
 ly life a type of heavenly experience. Not by cur- 
 tailing this power and enlarging that ; not by prun- 
 ing here and stimulating there ; not by perpetually 
 crowding the nature into some ideal mould, to bring 
 and keep it into comeliness and harmony of parts, 
 would Christ teach us to fashion the soul for him. 
 Rather, he instructs us that we must take from him 
 the living force that works in the center of our nat- 
 ure, elaborating the elements of spiritual nutrition, 
 and distributing them with superhuman skill to the 
 very extremities of our being. He must pour light 
 into the understanding, make conscience quick to
 
 CHRIST'S VITAL RELATIONS TO MEN. 331 
 
 see and prompt to impel, arouse sluggish affections, 
 ennoble aim, fortify purpose, sustain faith, preserve 
 patience, keep effort consecrated and vigorous. 
 Into the arctic winter of the soul he must breathe 
 summer airs ; and on the barren soil of the heart he 
 must pour enriching influences, as the annual floods 
 of the Nile change desert Egypt into gardens. 
 Thus, and thus only, according to Christ, does the 
 soul truly live ; thus only does experience rise up to 
 its great heights of privilege ; thus only does effort 
 bear the weighty sheaves on its shoulders at whose 
 approach heavenly voices join in shouting " harvest 
 home.'* 
 
 3. This view of Christian life is reasonable and 
 necessary; that is, it is easily sustained by phi- 
 losophy, illustrated by numerous analogies, called 
 for by all profound experience, and exalted in its 
 results. 
 
 Whenever life becomes really ennobled, it is by 
 the infusion of new forces from without. A soul 
 that gravitates downward through its own weight, 
 must rise, if it rise at all, because an upward im- 
 pulse has overcome the nether attraction, or a supe- 
 rior magnetism is lifting it heavenward. All effort 
 at self- redemption, which excludes help from with- 
 out, is like a struggle to raise one's self by lifting at 
 his own feet. And the merely human helpers that 
 stand on the same plane can only push the ambi- 
 tious soul as high as their own shoulders. The 
 truly ascending spirit must rise by the aid of strong- 
 er and diviner hands. The soul's life is in union
 
 332 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 with God ; whatever aims at or reaches less than 
 this, leaves the great work undone and the great 
 want unmet. 
 
 And in those deeper experiences of the heart, 
 when its fountains are broken up, and the floods go 
 careering over it, sweeping away the monuments 
 of its power and laying all its earthly hopes waste, 
 nothing can content or relieve it but a real God at 
 hand. When the plans of life succeed, when each 
 new morning dawns upon a fresh joy, when heaven 
 smiles in the look of the sun and drops benedictions 
 from all the stars, when calamities are kept at bay, 
 and lips distill compliments, and honors accumulate 
 upon us', then we talk, perhaps, of the benefi- 
 cence of natural order, and glorify law, and praise 
 human skill, and boast over, our foresight, and feel 
 we have no great need that God should come near 
 us. But when great perils impend, and our wisest 
 plans are thwarted, and our possessions drop away 
 from us, and loving lips are dumb, and trusted 
 hearts grow treacherous, and the order of nature is 
 like a massive chariot with scythes hung at its axles 
 cutting down our treasures as it rushes by ; when 
 all surrounding forces are laying life desolate with- 
 out apparent compunction or emotion, blind to our 
 tears, and deaf to all our wailing, then the blast- 
 ed and quivering soul cries out for a heart and 
 yearns for a bosom on which the aching temples 
 may find a soothing. 
 
 And especially when the heart reproaches itself 
 for its sin ; when the Law thunders condemnation ;
 
 CHRIST S VITAL RELATIONS TO MEN- 333 
 
 when the soul wakes to find itself guilty, desolate 
 and astray ; when it feels that retribution is on its 
 track and the earth has no refuge for it; when the 
 passions wake and ply all their enginery as if to 
 take conscience by storm ; when temptation comes 
 every hour with a fresher and larger bribe ; when 
 the public virtue falls away, and the integrity of 
 trusted men fails them ; when the retrospect of a 
 wretched life sickens the dying transgressor, and a 
 miserable legal obedience seems only a tattered 
 garment falling away from a selfish soul; then 
 what but the prompt mercy of a personal and Infinite 
 Redeemer can avail ? Will you talk to such a spir- 
 it of magnetizing itself, when its very limbs are tor- 
 pid? Will you point its fears to Law, when Law is 
 only Mt. Sinai quaking with thunders? Will you 
 bid it submit like a stoical philosopher, when its 
 deepest and strongest instincts are leaping to find 
 deliverance? Will you offer it a subtle and icy 
 ph.losophy, when it pleads for a simple word of love 
 and the uplifting strength of a Father's arm? None 
 of these things can satisfy ; they only mock at its 
 necessities, and reproach while they profess to help. 
 One word only can bring peace and impart satisfac- 
 tion ; and that is the sentence of the last Jewish 
 prophet, " Behold the Lamb of God which taketh 
 away the sin of the world ! " And then, while the 
 hearer looks and listens, He himself draws near to 
 say, "Come unto me all ye that labor and 
 are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." " Lo, I 
 am with you always."
 
 334 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 The character, too, which grows up under the 
 tuition of faith, and matures in the sunshine of this 
 conscious presence of Christ, is better as well as 
 surer. The spirit of an amiable woman is beauti- 
 ful; the integrity of a strong man is impressive ; a 
 mother, walking affectionately and queenly among 
 her children, is a scene for an artist's skill; and the 
 heroism of a great patriot is wrought into an epic 
 whose grand music goes sounding down the ages. 
 But if the amiable woman lack heavenly love, her 
 grace may be only inherited taste or fashionable et- 
 iquette ; and if the strong man's integrity wants the 
 basis of religious conviction, it may go crashing 
 down beneath the next fierce pressure. The moth- 
 er's royal robes drop from her when we perceive 
 that her home is praye,rless, and her children are 
 taught no trust in a Heavenly Parent; and the 
 patriot keeps but half our reverence when we know 
 that his death was no token of fidelity to God. A 
 punctilious legality is far below an obedient love ; a 
 constrained propriety is not half so welcome as a tear 
 that proclaims the thorough repentance of a prodi- 
 . gal. Tithes of mint and anise and cummin are less 
 than one deep gush of affection, making the heart 
 run over toward a personal Christ. The Magda- 
 len's box of ointment was worth a thousand times 
 more than the Pharisee's anxiety for the moral rep- 
 utation of his house; and Thomas's " My Lord and 
 my God," mounts in its character far above all his 
 prudent questioning lest he should be persuaded too 
 soon into the belief that his Master had fulfilled the
 
 CHRIST'S VITAL RELATIONS TO MEN. 335 
 
 prophecy of his resurrection. From the humility of 
 a broken heart, there springs up the highest nobility 
 of goodness, as the Gloria in Excclsis is never so 
 magnificent as when it bursts up from the orchestra 
 just now wailing out the Miserere. The virtue that 
 comes of self- culture and the regulation of the 
 passions may have symmetry and beauty ; that 
 which flows out from the inspiration given to the 
 soul by Christ has warmth and life and motion. 
 One is like the statue of the Venus de Medici > stand- 
 ing century after century in the Florentine gallery 
 to challenge admiration ; the other is seen in such 
 daily ministries as those of Florence Nightingale 
 among the wounded soldiers of the Crimea, ambi- 
 tious only to soothe suffering, and rinding her highest 
 reward in the smile of peace which answered her 
 effort when she pointed the dimmed eyes of the dy- 
 ing to Calvary, 
 
 4. The practical acceptance of this sentiment is 
 the highest guaranty of a sound theology. 
 
 Theology begins its method wrongly when this 
 idea of God's direct and constant contact with the 
 human soul is not laid at its basis. Religion has no 
 vitality, and so no valuable truth, when this is de- 
 nied or ignored. It is only a set of dry dogmas, 
 a skeleton system, without nerves or blood, and in 
 which all the muscles are either shrunken or ossified. 
 He who, on the other hand, commences his system 
 of doctrine by putting this great thought into the cen- 
 tre as the nucleus around which all other truths are to 
 be arranged in their order, is not likely to go widely
 
 336 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 astray. Such a man has one of the highest qualifi- 
 cations for the study of religious truth, that is, a 
 heart quick with affection, reverential with wonder- 
 ing gratitude, and teachable in its simple trust. 
 Such a spirit as this wins its w r ay where philosophy 
 is bewildered, and sees the morning kindle while ir- 
 reverent science is searching vainly for a star. 
 Where speculation stumbles, love interprets ; and 
 many a text of Scripture or a hard sentence of 
 Providence that defies investigation, gives up its 
 meaning to prayer. For God has " hid these things 
 from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto 
 babes." 
 
 Besides, he who accepts this perpetual presence 
 and grace of Christ, as the end and significance of 
 all religious doctrine, will have a special reason for 
 loving, and longing for, the truth. To him each 
 truth will seem a cup with which this living water is 
 to be dipped from the fountain and carried to the 
 spiritual lips ; and so the more clearly the truth is 
 seen, the more readily can it be used ; the more 
 full our apprehension of it may be, the larger is the 
 quantity which it holds. As souls seek for the 
 water of life, so will they prize the channels offered 
 by truth along which the tide may pour. True 
 doctrine is an unfailing aqueduct ; false sentiment 
 is a broken cistern ; it is the thirsty spirit, coming 
 often to drink,that will soonest distrust the shattered 
 vessel. 
 
 And by this test the relative importance of errors 
 is to be determined. The worst heresies, those
 
 CHRIST'S VITAL RELATIONS TO MEN. 337 
 
 that most need hunting down, are those that cut 
 off the soul from the divine fountain, that palsy its 
 spiritual faculties, that make its higher life stagnate, 
 that cheat its pulses of vigor, that take God away 
 from its consciousness, that beget a false indepen- 
 dence, that drive the spirit out of its appointed orbit, 
 and leave it to moral orphanage. Whether these 
 errors be of those put under ban, or of those that 
 keep orthodox company, they work the chief disas- 
 ters in the theology of the world. And that is the 
 divinest sentiment which most abounds in nutritious 
 juices ; that feeds the soul without killing its hunger, 
 that allows God all majesty and yet brings him 
 closest the heart, that enables us to whisper our 
 prayers into his very ear, to behold him putting his 
 seal on every task, to realize that he touches the 
 soul at every point, and so makes all life the out- 
 growth of his influence, and all work to be done as 
 under our great Taskmaster's eye. That theology 
 is the soundest which, year after year, in many 
 times and lands, on many classes of souls, brings 
 such attestations, stimulates such forces, and 
 matures such fruit. The heterodoxy that vitalizes 
 is truer than the orthodoxy that benumbs. 
 
 5. The hearty reception of this sentiment will give 
 to the soul courage and to effort effective power. 
 
 He who knows most of the world has usually least 
 faith in its redemption ; they who carry with them 
 most of this sacred vitality are most effectively 
 pressing it on toward its true goal. Peter and John 
 could promise nothing of themselves to the crippled
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 beggar at the gate beautiful ; but, holding at their 
 control the forces of Christ, they could make him 
 leap with a word. And he who goes abroad in the 
 strength of the Lord God, may calmly look all 
 dangers in the face and yet be full of resolution ; 
 may measure the barriers that oppose him and yet 
 look for them to melt away like walls of mist when 
 smitten by the wings of the morning. It matters 
 not much how weak human things may be, if God 
 has really selected them to confound the mighty, 
 nor how simple the instrument if it is Heaven's 
 chosen weapon for the overthrow of men's wisdom. 
 God in us, is the adequate explanation of every 
 achievement, and a sufficient justification of the 
 highest prophecies of the sacred word. 
 
 There is hope of bad men, too, if God's quicken- 
 ing may be counted on when our most rousing 
 words bring out no symptoms of life. The dead in 
 trespasses and sins may live, if He will pour vital 
 currents into their stagnant souls. The " old man " 
 .may give way to the forces of the " new creature, " 
 if his warm breath may quicken into summer growth 
 the seeds of grace till now buried and unwakened. 
 It is no longer a marvel that the chief of sinners 
 may be saved, and that possessed men may sit cloth- 
 ed in their right minds. 
 
 Here, too, is the proof of the human soul's nobil- 
 ity. Not all the history of Bethlehem had enriched 
 that town so much as the brief sleep of the infant 
 Messiah in the manger of one of its inns. The 
 glory of Solomon's temple was not in its magnitude
 
 CHRIST S VITAL RELATIONS TO MEN. 339 
 
 nor its splendor. The Shekinah above the mercy 
 seat was its crowning characteristic. The glory of 
 man is not his splendid intellect, nor his skill which 
 puts even his weakness into the place of mastery, 
 nor his great achievements of which history is the 
 monument. The dwelling of divine forces in him 
 is the strongest assertion of his greatness. The 
 weakest and most defiled soul is a majestic thing 
 when the Creator's spirit chooses it for a temple. 
 Carlyle voiced his sentimental pantheism when he 
 said, " He touches divinity who lays his finger on a 
 human body ; " it is plain, Christian truth which tells 
 us that he who unlocks a human soul to the Gospel 
 builds Jehovah another sanctuary on earth. No man 
 is mean who carries such a nature ; no effort wants 
 dignity which would transfuse such a nature with 
 the life of God. 
 
 So, too, this sentiment will help us rightly to in- 
 terpret success. Our learning may astonish, our 
 taste purchase compliments, our genius startle, our 
 gifts win homage, our logic silence opposition, our 
 eloquence magnetize, our pathos start tears, our 
 imagination throw splendid hues over the homeliest 
 things and thoughts, our fame attract crowds ; and 
 yet, if men are not made to feel the beating of God's 
 heart in theirs, and their souls are not quickened 
 with the consciousness of his inspiration, we have 
 only displayed a skillful jugglery where we were 
 set to distribute life. Pretending to inspire souls, 
 and to feed them with the bread of life, we have 
 only pampered taste and amused the fancy, deep-
 
 340 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 ening all the while the guilty slumbers we should 
 have broken. 
 
 6. There is special need of making this sentiment 
 real and primary now. 
 
 Our general life is eminently outward and fear- 
 fully intense. The gains we chiefly prize are those 
 that can be turned into cash without much discount 
 or delay. We spend our chief force upon matter. 
 Strength of muscle, cunning of brain, and sub- 
 dual of natural powers to the service of the body, 
 we hold these up as symbols of our civilization and 
 indices to our boasted progress. Physical science 
 is jostled by eager devotees everywhere, who 
 tease her for commissions or boast of miracles in 
 her name. The cry of the restless soul is answered 
 by an offer of new luxuries to the palate, or the dis- 
 play of art that shall feed the taste and so turn off 
 the eye from the inward barrenness. Men change 
 the desert into fruitful fields, and so forget to ask 
 Heaven for daily bread. They play with the light- 
 nings, and so lose their sense of dependence on the 
 divine protection. They balance one selfish inter- 
 est against another and call it peace. They play off 
 counter passions upon each other in the game of life 
 so skillfully that they forget that God only can pre- 
 serve the whole mechanism of society from confusion. 
 Charged with nervous power, men swing backward 
 and forward without cessation, like electrical balls, 
 attracting and repelling, striking and rebound- 
 ing, and this they call life ; while the music which 
 comes of the collision is described as the " March
 
 CHRIST'S VITAL RELATIONS TO MEN. 341 
 
 of Progress." We work deep, but think on the sur- 
 face ; we stimulate invention, but mesmerize the 
 heart; we plan much, but pray little; pet the body, 
 but plague the soul ; multiply resources for this 
 world, but lay up little treasure in the other; put 
 new honors constantly upon men, but lay down 
 small homage at the feet of God. 
 
 That is one vicious element, and defective feature 
 of life. Another is our exaltation of human inter- 
 ests above God's authority. The sneers at the 
 Higher Law, in which so many public men have 
 heretofore allowed themselves to indulge, show us 
 pride gone mad, and self- worship which has be- 
 come at length practical atheism. It is perverting 
 the public conscience, turning faith into mere senti- 
 ment, and robbing religion of all vigor ; and is pav- 
 ing the way to the very worst civil anarchy, and 
 converting legislation into a game of skill. 
 
 The cure for all this is obvious. The conscious- 
 ness of God in the heart of society, the perpetual 
 conviction that his Spirit is interpenetrating our life, 
 and will let no injustice nor crime pass without no- 
 tice or challenge or discipline, this alone can call 
 men back to reflection, teach them dependence and 
 submission, and render life loyal and noble. We 
 want intelligence, without doubt, but still more we 
 want that vitality of conscience which God imparts 
 by his contact with souls. Our discoveries, our en- 
 terprise, our achievements, our increasing power 
 over matter, and our developing national forces, 
 may be welcomed with gratitude ; but even these
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 fail of their highest service till we have learned to 
 use them all under the direction of Him whom we 
 recognize as Lawgiver and Lord. 
 
 Nor does this vital union with Christ imply or 
 promote a dreamy sentimentalism, which thrives in 
 the cloister but wilts in the sun. It does not show 
 itself chiefly in rhapsodies, and perish the moment 
 hard work is to be done. It is not a mere stimulant 
 of imagination, while it palsies muscle and takes the 
 vigor from volition. Rather it is the opposite of 
 this. Its legitimate and richest products are stal- 
 wart men, keen of eye, prompt in duty, unflinch- 
 ing in courage, skillful in work. This spiritual 
 force of God is specially wanted that it may fill the 
 whole domain of life. This vital power, truly with- 
 in us, comes out everywhere ; there is no task, 
 however humble, but it ennobles and hallows. On 
 the high places of eminence and in the commonest 
 walks ; in homes as well as in sanctuaries ; in 
 places of merchandise as well as in closets, this 
 sacred influence works and appears. " To be spir- 
 itually minded is life. Every rising up of pure as- 
 piration ; every clinging to principle in the hour 
 when the tempter is nearest ; every choice of ab- 
 stract right above politic selfishness ; every putting 
 down of sensual passion with reverential prayer ; 
 every preference of a truth which inherits a cross, 
 over the lie that flatters with a promise of prosper- 
 ity, is a palpable motion of God's life within the 
 soul." Indeed, the highest developments of this 
 divine force we have yet seen or shall see, appear
 
 CHRIST'S VITAL RELATIONS TO MEN. 343 
 
 in common life, when the daily work of men and 
 women all about us is undertaken with prayer, con- 
 tinued with true and patient heroism, hallowed as 
 though it were a holy sacrifice, and ended with a 
 hymn of thanksgiving. And some of the grandest 
 achievements which the Gospel is set to reach, will 
 be seen only when our secular pursuits, shall be an- 
 imated by a Christian temper, and our week - day 
 work shall be holy like our Sabbath worship. No 
 higher tokens of God's presence among men can be 
 witnessed than will appear when labor and capital 
 shall confide in each other, because both shall culti- 
 vate honor and cherish sympathy ; when trade shall 
 be both just and generous ; when commerce shall be 
 beneficent by intention ; when politics shall be ani- 
 mated by a conscience ; when law shall echo the di- 
 vine statutes ; when statesmanship shall imply 
 patriotism and philanthropy ; when schools shall 
 produce manhood, and honors be ordered by a wise 
 and efficient love. Over such a human state as that, 
 the great voice would be heard again in heaven, 
 not as before ringing out a prophecy, but at length 
 announcing a fact, " Behold the tabernacle of 
 God is with men." 
 
 Here, then, is the force by which your chosen 
 sphere is to be distinguished and your waiting work 
 carried to completion. " If ye abide in me and my 
 words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and 
 it shall be done unto you." The warning is signifi- 
 cant; the assurance inspiring. As an instrument, 
 your attainments and gifts may work mightily in
 
 344 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 concentrating and then diffusing the heavenly light 
 and life ; make them your dependence, and they will 
 utterly fail. Though your speech be golden as 
 Chrysostom's, it will be wasted treasure ; though 
 you reproduce the learning of Erasmus, your eye 
 will be blessed by no new - springing verdure ; 
 carry to your pulpits the dialectics, the philosophical 
 skill of Edwards, no agonized souls will be moved 
 to put their sliding feet upon the Rock of Ages. 
 
 Preach faithfully and prayerfully this word whose 
 sentences hold this life of God, as the clouds carry 
 the vitality of the garden and the forest. Teach 
 men its history ; utter its statutes for their warning ; 
 paint their future with the colors of its prophecy ; 
 sing its psalms into their souls ; and rest not until 
 they have found Him who is its central glory and 
 whose life in us is our only redemption. 
 
 in. 
 CHRISTIANITY: OUR HELP AND HOPE.* 
 
 " Neither is there salvation in any other : for there is none oth- 
 er name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be 
 saved. " Acts 4: 12. 
 
 " For the love of Christ constraineth us. 2 Cor. 5 : 13. 
 
 The great problem presenting itself to every sin- 
 cere and thoughtful man, may be thus stated : 
 Given : A race of beings selfish and sinful by ten- 
 
 *Preached at the session of the N. H. Yearly Meeting, on the occasion of 
 the dedication of a house of worship at New Hampton, June, Ic54.
 
 CHRISTIANITY : OUR HELP AND HOPE. 345 
 
 dency and habit, acting for thousands of years. 
 Required : The available moral force requisite to 
 redeem and purify it. 
 
 Over this problem, ingenuity, benevolence and 
 conscious necessity have toiled long and earnestly, 
 without reaping any satisfactory or very valuable 
 results. They have constantly varied the process, 
 but missed the solution. 
 
 If help is to come to the race, from what source 
 shall it emanate? Will it be a force springing up 
 among the sufferers, or a minister of power coming 
 from abroad? Are the lost to work out salvation 
 for themselves, or to expect a deliverance from 
 afar? The text furnishes a reply. The first pas- 
 sage declares the futility of all merely human expe- 
 dients ; the second shows the means and method of 
 the divine work. Peter shuts us in a prison, whose 
 bars our weak arms can not break nor tear down ; 
 Paul shows a heavenly messenger, at whose touch 
 the ponderous gates swing back, and we leap to the 
 vigorous life of freedom. 
 
 Let us, following the method of the text, look 
 at some of the chief natural forces at work in soci- 
 ety, which are often confided in as sources of 
 hope and help ; measure their moral power, and 
 study their bearing on the redemption of the world. 
 There is, 
 
 I. SELF-INTEREST. 
 
 In its behalf it is said, 
 
 First, That an effort to purify others, guards 
 ourselves most securely against their vices. We
 
 346 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 render all our interests the more secure in propor- 
 tion as we teach justice and integrity to others. A 
 child, reckless and maddened, may imperil a city ; 
 discipline hearts till their passions are quieted, and 
 the feeblest citizen walks at midnight without harm 
 or fear through a multitude of brawny men. Self- 
 interest, therefore, will prompt the giving of time 
 and effort and money to the work of purifying those 
 from whose vices it has everything to fear ; for their 
 integrity is its only security. It is said, 
 
 Secondly, That this effort for their welfare will 
 attach them to us by ties of gratitude and sympathy, 
 make them our fast practical friends, who will 
 directly lend us their aid, and become our bene- 
 factors when, perchance, they hold the resources 
 and we are the dependents. It is added, 
 
 Thirdly, That, as our social state has so much to 
 do with our gratification and welfare, to improve 
 that social state by promoting the virtue of those 
 about us, is to make the most effectual, abundant 
 and secure provision for ourselves. Few men will 
 consent to make a home in the midst of a vicious 
 neighborhood, and have only the companionship of 
 those who live by preying on the rights of others ; 
 while purely worldly men, for the sake of a prom- 
 ised social harmony and fellowship, have often 
 cheerfully put the hard earnings of years into the 
 treasury of a Fourierite community. 
 
 In all these forms, it is said, self- interest is 
 prompted to toil for the moral purification of the 
 v-cious ; that the reasons for such toil are strong,
 
 CHRISTIANITY : OUR HELP AND HOPE. 347 
 
 conclusive, and constantly pressing ; that these con- 
 siderations must in time become influential and con- 
 trolling ; that thus the better and more favored in 
 society will become benefactors to the weak, lifting 
 up the depressed and elevating themselves in the 
 same effort ; and that in this way the world will as- 
 cend to redemption. 
 
 This is specious and plausible, but is it trust- 
 worthy ? To the whole argument, I reply, 
 
 i. Admitting the justness of the reasoning, self- 
 interest is not wise enough to originate that view, 
 or feel its full force when presented. 
 
 It is the nature of self-interest to be short sight- 
 ed. It is not wont to seek gratification in the fields 
 of philanthropy. The toils of benevolence are dis- 
 tasteful to it. Its plans are not thus broad, and its 
 chosen means are not wont to be thus highly ration- 
 al. Self-interest, because it is self-interest, is 
 strongly averse to moral considerations, to turn 
 philanthropist would be to abandon its own charac- 
 ter. The steady aim at self- aggrandizement, and 
 the continual effort to purify others, are incompat- 
 ible. The very argument stated above, in behalf of 
 self-interest, was suggested, was first constructed 
 and taught, by genuine benevolence. It is real 
 philanthropy alone that learns how beneficent toil 
 brings back its own reward. Go and present 
 that argument to a thoroughly selfish man, one 
 who lives and labors only for himself, and see 
 how much confidence vou can awaken in it, and 
 
 w 
 
 with how much readiness he will spring to the work
 
 348 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 of moral reform. Bring the poor outcasts up to his 
 door, whose restless eyes flash with passion, and 
 whose faces are all written over with the inscriptions 
 of crime, and observe with how much readiness he 
 hastens to feed, and clothe, and instruct them in 
 duty. Show him the wretch who only last night 
 entered his store and robbed his till of a hundred 
 dollars, and who threatens now to burn his dwell- 
 ing ; then tell him that, if he will convert the offend- 
 er, his property will be safer, and his prosperity 
 receive a new guarantee ; see if his selfish arms will 
 open, and his selfish heart throb with anxiety for his 
 redemption. No ! He will only knit his brows with 
 vengeance, as he looks on his assailant, and he will 
 bid you stop your mocking speech. The language 
 of philanthropy falls on the ear of self- interest like 
 the dialect of a barbarian. 
 
 2. But suppose the reasoning could be appre- 
 hended, and its force felt, there is still another diffi- 
 culty. The motive is altogether too weak. It is no 
 slight task to redeem a sensual soul, and turn the 
 energies of life into a new and virtuous channel. 
 The tax which such a service lays upon the 
 patience, the forbearance, the charity and the faith 
 of the toiler, is very large. The work is not done 
 by a single wish, or purpose, or effort. The vi- 
 cious characters which breathe a pestilence, and 
 which prey on society, are not made white and 
 clean by one ablution, nor transformed into models 
 of virtue by one attempt to exorcise the evil spirit, 
 The sea of their boiling passions is not calmed for-
 
 CHRISTIANITY : OUR HELP AND HOPE. 349 
 
 ever by one cry of " Peace, be still ! " Your words 
 of sympathy may be answered by the sneer of sus- 
 picion, your offer of help be met by a threatening 
 scowl or a menancing gesture, your highest sacri- 
 fices be so interpreted as to be used for your calum- 
 niation, your miracles of love may awaken the 
 charge of being leagued with Beelzebub, and for 
 the generous ofFer to lay down your life for them, 
 you may be rewarded by a crown of mockery and 
 a malefactor's cross. Surely, that is not impossible, 
 nay, not wholly improbable. This is only an 
 outline of his history who was the wisest and divin- 
 est of all philanthropists ; and He has said, " It is 
 enough for the disciple that he be as his Master." 
 Do you say that the Master has conquered, that 
 eighteen centuries of triumph have walked over 
 the path of his thirty years' humiliation? I know 
 it ; but will your zeal and patience and faith and 
 self- devotion inspired as they are to be only by 
 self- interest will they hold out during thirty years 
 of humiliation and contempt? Nay, great as Jesus 
 was, in sagacity, and power, and prophetic insight, 
 do you believe HE would have possessed his soul in 
 patience, if self- aggrandizement had been his only 
 impulse ? It is the yearning heart that weeps over 
 doomed Jerusalem, the appreciation of the god - 
 like capacities and measureless worth of the souls 
 for which he toiled, it is this, and only this, that 
 explains his endurance, and brings him off with the 
 victory. 
 
 Where has self- interest turned moral deserts into
 
 35 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 blossoming gardens of virtue? Where are the pos- 
 sessed ones, whom it has rescued from the " Legion " 
 of adversaries, and presented "clothed and in their 
 right minds ? " It has not been wanting in opportuni- 
 ties ; it has heard a hundred times the argument 
 for effort; but where are the trophies? 
 
 3. But supposing self-interest could both feel 
 the claim and exercise the patience necessary to 
 keep itself diligently at work ; there is a third diffi- 
 culty in the way of its success, more formidable still. 
 It is found in the character of the agency which 
 employs itself in the work. It is selfishness that 
 prompts and sustains the effort. Self- aggrandize- 
 ment is the end, and, being such, it must give form 
 and color to all the effort put forth to compass it. 
 There is no genuine regard for the welfare of the 
 depressed ones ; they are sought to be elevated only 
 that they may be used as stepping stones, by the aid 
 of which the toiler may climb to a loftier position. 
 Their virtue is thought of only as so much material, 
 out of which some gain may be wrought for him- 
 self. This is the spirit in which the laborer goes 
 forth to work. 
 
 Now it is just that selfish spirit that constitutes the 
 curse of humanity, and explains all the debasement 
 of character of which the race struggles to rid it- 
 self. Sin consists in selfishness ; its removal will be 
 effected only when love shall take the seat of em- 
 pire. Self-interest has been schooling the world 
 for sixty centuries, and its success has been the meas- 
 ure of human guilt and woe. The wider the range
 
 CHRISTIANITY: OUR HELP AND HOPE. 351 
 
 you give to human selfishness, the more hopelessly 
 you bind the race in fetters. The more calculating 
 you make it, the greater is its power, and the less 
 conscience is connected with its rule. Only as you 
 eradicate selfishness, and enthrone piety and philan- 
 thropy and justice, have you done anything for hu- 
 man improvement. Men's vices may be transposed, 
 but they are vices still ; they may be gilded so that 
 they shall be less hideous to the superficial eye, but 
 the corruption festers beneath the surface, as the 
 putridity lay within the garnished sepulchres of the 
 prophets. Remove the disease by prescribing the 
 very thing which created it? It is trusting to Satan 
 to cast out Satan ; sending a traitor to teach loyalty ; 
 employing an ambitious chieftain to negotiate a 
 peace ; commissioning Judas Iscariot as an apostle 
 of self-- devotion. No ! That will never do. And 
 the poor sick world looks up sadly and repeats, 
 " Never \ " We must do better than that. 
 
 Let us look at another force. This is, 
 
 II. THE DISCIPLINE OF EXPERIENCE AND EX- 
 AMPLE. 
 
 Here is the plea in its behalf: 
 
 Suffering, or punishment, is less penal than in- 
 structive and reformatory. Wrong doing has al- 
 ways sad consequences, grievous to bear; while 
 right doing gives a heritage of blessing. In process 
 of time, men will learn that sin only curses, and 
 hence be deterred from its commission. The ruin 
 wrought ifpon others will prove a beacon which 
 time will cause them to heed. They will learn
 
 352 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 that justice and joy, purity and peace, are in wed- 
 lock, to be divorced by no human alchemy ; and so 
 they will practice the duties that they may gather 
 up the rewards. And thus, gradually, will the race 
 be disciplined to righteousness in its work, and rest 
 in the quietness of its own virtuous self-satisfaction. 
 
 To this it must be replied, 
 
 i. The experience comes after the sin; we are 
 not told of our danger till we are in its jaws and 
 they are fiercely closing upon us ; we are acted on 
 by the wrong tendency before being aware that it is 
 wrong. The instruction may come, but not, per- 
 haps, till we are cursed by the false step beyond 
 the hope of recovery. 
 
 A child may burn its hand, and so be taught that 
 coals are perilous playthings ; but in the experience 
 which teaches that fact, he may be maimed for life. 
 And the soul may be scorched as well as the body. 
 
 Sentence against an evil work is not always exe- 
 cuted speedily, and so crime may become such a habit 
 while we are pocketing its temporary advantages, 
 that, when judgment overtakes us, fines and prison 
 walls fail to cure ; or a halter is about our neck be- 
 fore obstinacy gives way to penitence. So the 
 spiritual iniquities may be sweet in the eating, and 
 when they suddenly turn to bitterness in the belly, 
 the imperious moral appetite may still clamor for 
 the accustomed indulgence ; or the impartial Judge 
 may stand at the door all ready with his sentence. 
 
 The warning was needed over the doorway ; but 
 it came only when the poor soul was being borne
 
 CHRISTIANITY I OUR HELP AND HOPE. 353 
 
 headlong to ruin, and at a point where few exercise 
 the decision which stops them, or the heroism which 
 brings them back. 
 
 2. Each flatters himself that, however others fall, 
 he shall escape. Men are self- confident, and the 
 weak not less so than the stronger. They attribute 
 some imbecility to those who fall, whose absence 
 guarantees them a firmer standing. The peril is 
 less operative than the pride and the curiosity. 
 " Do n't go to the theatre," besought a mother of her 
 daughter, and sustained the appeal with her tears. 
 "Why not, mother?" "Because, my dear, it is a 
 perilous exposure of one's virtuous principles. I 
 have been there, and seen and felt the dangers." 
 " Well, I shall be careful; but I want to go and see 
 them, too" That brief colloquy reveals the whole 
 philosophy on this subject. So little heeded is the 
 warning of example. Each commends the lesson, 
 to others, but denies that it is needful for himself. 
 Every drinker of champagne resolves not to be a 
 drunkard ; and though nine - tenths fall, each suc- 
 cessor trusts his purpose none the less. 
 
 3. Another defect in this force is, that there is no 
 model experience and example which can show the 
 goal and attract to it. Our own experience is full 
 of dissatisfaction and self- reproach ; and the ex- 
 amples of life about us are impressive chiefly by 
 their defects. (I am speaking of life where only 
 these natural forces are at w r ork.) Or, if it be in- 
 sisted that some philosophical Socrates reveals such 
 an example, the masses pronounce it impracticable
 
 354 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 for themselves, declaring that even the theory of 
 life on which it rests is above their comprehension. 
 As a result, it lacks power over them ; and because 
 it lacks power over them, the philosopher himself 
 loses faith in it, becomes disheartened, and is likely 
 to sink to' the popular level. Why should he walk 
 among the clouds and starve forgotten, when his 
 fellows will not look up at his call, except in deri- 
 sion? He will go down among them, and learn to 
 check his ambition. 
 
 No ! The true experience and the' moulding ex- 
 ample are wanting. We feel wrong ; but do not 
 reach the right. We meet much to condemn ; but 
 we want something to reverence and imitate. Ed- 
 ucation has its positive as well as its negative side. 
 Prohibition is not more important than precept. 
 Discipline means to plant and train virtues, as well 
 as to eradicate vices. Our teachers must develop as 
 well as repress. We want something more than 
 fiends to frighten us from paths we ought not to 
 enter ; there is need of blessed angels to beckon 
 us up the celestial highways. We want not only 
 to be disgusted with the caricature of a man ; a 
 complete specimen of our species needs to be ever 
 ^before our eyes, to teach us our capacities, to 
 show the culture we require, to win us to the work 
 of copying. 
 
 4. Such discipline will corrupt tenfold more 
 than it cures. The Spartans were mistaken when 
 they made some condemned criminal drunk, and 
 sent him staggering through the streets as a warn-
 
 CHRISTIANITY : OUR HELP AND HOPE. 355 
 
 ing to their } r outh I say they were mistaken when 
 they supposed the vicious example was corrective. 
 It was the public sentiment of Sparta which greeted 
 the sot with the hiss of derision, that taught temper- 
 ance and sobriety. Let the gravest and most re- 
 nowned men of that city have made themselves just 
 as drunk, when they marched up to their civil as- 
 semblies or their temples of religion, and every 
 Spartan lad would have begged for a sip from his 
 sire's mug of alcohol. Is an experience of sin and 
 an example of vice to teach virtue to the race ; the 
 more bitter the experience and the more corrupt the 
 example, the more rapidly and successfully will the 
 needful work of discipline go on? Is this so? Then 
 Bibles should give place to the " Age of Reason," 
 and the outrages of violence are better than the re- 
 straints of wholesome law; then Napoleon is to be 
 preferred to Howard, and a carnival at Paris is 
 more valuable than a Sabbath' of New England. 
 
 Let us turn to the next of these natural forces. 
 This is 
 
 III. CIVIL, GOVERNMENT. 
 
 i. Civil government is only a human product, 
 an instrument in the hands of men for allying 
 their possessed power. I am not touching, now, 
 the question whether government is of divine origin 
 and appointment. We should not probably differ 
 on that point. I am simply saying that only human 
 forces are employed in the administration of govern- 
 ment ; and hence the power represented or exer- 
 cised by government can never be greater than the
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 combined power of the men who are allied with it. 
 Government is not power ; it is only the instrument 
 employed by men for the better application of their 
 power ; for theocracies are past. 
 
 Now the fact is, that the defect may not be in the 
 instrument, but in those who use it ; and that is just 
 where the defect lies in this case. Men want the 
 moral power which can secure their redemption ; 
 that is just the lack ; there is too little moral influ- 
 ence in society, this is the radical evil under 
 which we are suffering. They have too little force 
 for the result ; and so no matter how they may per- 
 fect the means of using their force, the means will 
 reveal no more than they possess. If a ten feet fall 
 of water will not drive a given amount of machin- 
 ery, it is useless to seek the result by building a 
 better dam. If a horse can draw but a ton, it is fol- 
 ly to hope he will walk off with a ton and a half by 
 giving him a pair of new traces. And society, too 
 feeble to rise to redemption, will not accomplish it 
 by struggling through the avenue of government. 
 But, 
 
 2. Government expresses and employs only the 
 average moral virtue and force of the community, 
 if it be popular ; only the moral virtue and force 
 of the autocrat, if it be imperial. In the formation 
 of all popular governments there is a compromise, 
 either expressed or implied. The most vicious will 
 not consent to have legislation expressive of as 
 high morality as the most virtuous exercise and de- 
 sire, and vice versa. The result is, both make a
 
 CHRISTIANITY : OUR HELP AND HOPE. 357 
 
 concession, and form a government which is moral- 
 ly below the purest, and above the vilest. The 
 best men are defective enough ; they feel that the race 
 must rise far above themselves to find redemption ; 
 but, in point of morality, the government standard 
 is far beneath them, and so it will, nay, must be. 
 Does that look as though this force were to turn the 
 world speedily into an Eden? As to an absolute 
 monarchy, little need be said. The holding of such 
 power is itself a vice ; and if it were not, it would 
 almost certainly corrupt the purest of men to exer- 
 cise it ; or if its exercise could be necessary, that 
 would imply a debasement in the people which al- 
 ways suggests barbarism. In 1854, tne ^ est speci- 
 men of autocracy we can exhibit, is Nicholas the 
 Czar and vassal Russia. 
 
 There is yet one other force to be inspected. 
 This, as it is sometimes termed, is, 
 
 IV. THE PROGRESSIVE DESTINY OF MIND. 
 
 Progress is said to be the law of the universe. 
 Gradual development is the process obtaining every- 
 where. The germ, the stalk, the flower and the 
 fruit, these are the steps by which life climbs to 
 perfection. So man is gradually ascending. He 
 begins in ignorance and necessity, comes slowly up 
 through barbarism ; practice makes his hand cun- 
 ning, experience sharpens his intellect, his con- 
 scious supremacy gives him a royal air, his ambi- 
 tion to improve leads to the subduing of the forces 
 about him, his awaking conscience shows him the 
 law of morality, his growing religious aspirations
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 attach him to God ; till, at last, his manhood is com- 
 plete. And here, it is said, is the hope, rather the 
 certainty, of human redemption. 
 
 To this beautiful and imposing theory, it is re- 
 plied, 
 
 I. That it is not warranted by facts. The theo- 
 ry was not reached by careful induction ; it was evi- 
 dently framed by some man made for a sentimental 
 poet, but who mistook his function and aspired to 
 be a philosopher. Throw the influence of Chris- 
 tianity aside, and I do not know of a single people 
 shown us by history, whose path has been one of 
 uniform progress. Nay, there are a multitude of 
 facts that look exactly the other way. Where are 
 the old civilizations, deemed so glorious, and whose 
 broken monuments -yet remain to us the Egyptian, 
 the Assyrian, the Grecian, and the Roman? Gone, 
 all gone ! Imbecility walks listlessly over the land 
 of the Pharaohs, wondering at the Pyramids, and 
 timid amid the ruins of Thebes. Where Nineveh 
 and Babylon once sat, mistresses of the East, the 
 bittern and the satyr have their lurking places ; 
 and the few roving, superstitious descendants of 
 Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus wonder at the exhumed 
 bas-reliefs which symbolize their ancestral great- 
 ness. The former splendor of Athens, where 
 Homer sang, and Apelles painted, and Aristotle 
 philosophized, and Demosthenes thundered in -the 
 Forum, seems like a fabulous story to the modern 
 traveller, who wanders among its ruins. Rome, 
 after having pulled down and set up as she would,
 
 CHRISTIANITY : OUR HELP AND HOPE. 359 
 
 herself fell in pieces, and was buried beneath the 
 northern avalanche. The great mental masters of 
 those times and lands have given place to an 
 effeminate and sparse posterity, who are hardly 
 able to read their fathers' epitaphs. Does that look 
 like progressive destiny? 
 
 Here is another fact. The literature of every 
 people, whether traditional or written, enshrines the 
 history of an early golden age, when the gods 
 talked with men, and human nature towered up un- 
 der the discipline until itself grew divine. Each 
 nation glorifies its infancy, and kindles into rapture 
 while it celebrates its early purity and power. Has 
 that fact no meaning? Does it justify the theory of 
 perpetual progression ; or is it an echo of that di- 
 vine testimony coming up from the first pages of the 
 Bible, and repeated all along the ages, " God 
 created man upright ; but they have sought out 
 many inventions"? And one is anxious to know 
 if the cannibals of the Feejee islands have been pro- 
 gressing steadily for six thousand years, more or 
 less, what must have been their character and con- 
 dition when they began the work of life ; and if, in 
 so long a time they have only reached their present 
 stand - point, how long it will require for them to 
 ascend to a true moral redemption. Alas for them, 
 if that is the highest promise we can give, when 
 they mournfully ask, " Who will show us any 
 good?" 
 
 No ! steady progress is not the rule ; it is not 
 even the exception in human experience, where
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 revelation has been withholden. Left to nature 
 and themselves, no people has made a long and 
 steady march in the upward direction. I do not 
 know of one such people to-day, not one, even, 
 that is advancing in mental culture and the growth 
 of the arts. Outside of Christendom, if there be any 
 movement, it may be around a circle, it may be off 
 in a tangent, it may be backward ; it is not pro- 
 gressive and ascending. Even intellect is asleep, 
 save where the touch of the Gospel has startled it. 
 Indeed, where Christianity found its cradle, climbed 
 to its cross, broke open the door of its sepulchre, 
 and walked royally for centuries, the old temples 
 are rebuilt, the crescent overlooks the Holy Sepul- 
 chre, violence lies in wait beside the paths trodden 
 by the Prince of Peace, and the lips of men curl at 
 the name of Jesus. I think there is no wave of des- 
 tiny which evermore sweeps our race toward the 
 gate of heaven. Progress is normal to us, without 
 doubt ; but we are not in the normal state. 
 
 2. But suppose it were true that growth in 
 knowledge, science, art and influence, were our 
 destiny. Is piety always in proportion to power? 
 Is strength synonymous with goodness? Are 
 human forces all virtuous forces? We know the 
 answer. The most terrible forces have come to 
 fight virtue, bearing freshly written diplomas in 
 their hands. Intellect and skill are power ; but 
 they are often power perverted, pledged wholly to 
 wickedness. Does Milton's picture of Satan, with 
 intellect keen as a sabre and awful like the Alps,
 
 CHRISTIANITY : OUR HELP AND HOPE. 361 
 
 furnish a proof that large mental attainments are 
 always a lever to hoist the sensual world up nearer 
 to God? Give Archimedes a fulcrum, and he will 
 move the earth. Doubtless he will. But in forcing 
 it from its position he may crowd it toward the 
 blackness of darkness, as well as push it up nearer 
 the empyrean. Power may be used to break a de- 
 mon's chains, as well as give vigor to the sweep of 
 an angel's wing. It is better for a madman or an 
 assassin to be weak like a child, rather than strong 
 like Samson. We would not willingly put thun- 
 derbolts into the hands of a man of passion. Till 
 principle rind a home in the heart, till duty is felt to 
 be sacred, till love and pity dwell with men, till 
 God be reverenced in the earth, the expansion of 
 intellect and the growth of invention promise us 
 nothing but curses. I will pray that our poor race 
 may rest in an innocent infancy, rather than ad- 
 vance to a reckless maturity. Ours had been a far 
 better world if its Alexanders and Cassars had always 
 lain in their cradles, and been kissed by grateful 
 lips to happiness and dreams. No ! there is no 
 forced march of humanity that terminates only at 
 the gates of the sky. 
 
 All these forces are defective. I have spoken of 
 the specific grounds of their inadequacy. In gen- 
 eral terms they fail ; because, 
 
 i. They can not bring the great facts which set 
 forth our state and relations toward God. We 
 need to know our condition. We want a host of 
 questions answered. Why are we here? Whither
 
 362 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 do we tend? What is before us? What mean our 
 disquiet, our consciousness of guilt, and our dread 
 of judgment? May we be forgiven, and how? Is 
 there help for our weakness, rest for our spirits, an 
 ample provision for our moral necessities? These 
 questions call for replies, not the replies of con- 
 jecture or credulity, but of wisdom, truth, authority. 
 Till these are answered, and our faith is satisfied, 
 we can not rest ; but are tossed on treacherous 
 waves, and trembling before destruction. To these 
 inquiries none of these afore - mentioned sources 
 afford a response. Self-interest, experience, govern- 
 ment, progress, all are forced to be silent, for 
 they have nothing to reply. 
 
 2. They set up no definite standard of life which 
 satisfies the heart ; they leave duty without exposi- 
 tion ; they reveal no distinct goal toward which as- 
 piration and effort may turn and struggle. They 
 leave the purpose aimless, and set human energy 
 to beat the air. 
 
 3. They lack the moral motive power requisite 
 to overcome the selfish tendencies of the race, and 
 bend the spirit into the service of God, and dedicate 
 its power to the welfare of men. This is the great 
 lack. Motive power is the chief defect in every 
 system of morality. Men see duty, approve the 
 right, confess its claims ; but the selfish nature 
 rebels in practice. And in this fierce struggle, 
 others than Paul have cried out, " O wretched man 
 that I am ! " The hard heart needs to be melted, 
 the wayward affections captivated and held by
 
 CHRISTIANITY : OUR HELP AND HOPE. 363 
 
 righteousness. Men whose souls are magazines of 
 passion, want something more than light and con- 
 science ; they want a holy magnetism to which the 
 heart joyfully yields itself. And that motive power 
 is wanting to all and each of these forces which 
 offer their ministry to the needy world. They may 
 be strong for other tasks, but how to save the sink- 
 ing soul they find not. 
 
 And these are man's boasted possessions, the 
 sources of his trust, the helpers that stoop over a 
 prostrate nature. It is mockery to offer such things 
 as these to our race. Smitten and afflicted as it is, 
 what can they do for it ? It may well turn away as 
 did Job from his friends, saying, with a gesture of 
 impatience and a heart of disappointment, " Miser- 
 able comforters are ye all ! " Away ! Leave me 
 alone to die ! 
 
 And is our poor race doomed ? Must its long cher- 
 ished hopes die slowly and sadly out ? Is its future 
 to be only a repetition of its past? Is it to grope on, 
 waiting vainly for light ; to cry out piteously and 
 listen in vain for the footstep of an approaching 
 helper? Look up ! "Who is this that cometh from 
 Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that 
 is glorious in his apparel, travailing in the greatness 
 of his strength?" Listen to his repl} r . "I that 
 speak in righteousness, mighty to save." Yes, it is 
 HE, "the Desire of the nations." "Behold the 
 Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the 
 world ! " The Son of God is set forth among us. 
 
 How does Christ meet our necessities ? ' '
 
 364 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 1. He brings the needed truth. He tells us the 
 sad story of our fall, and delineates feature after 
 feature in our corrupted characters ; and as he pro- 
 ceeds, memory and consciousness, reason and ex- 
 perience, rise up to proclaim every statement true. 
 With great clearness and authority he shows us the 
 way of salvation. Or, if ever our suspicion is 
 awakened, and doubt diminishes the force of his 
 testimony, he sees the necessity and hastens to meet 
 it. Some sightless beggar opens his eyes at his 
 bidding ; leprous men grow pure at a command ; 
 Gennesaret sleeps at his fiat ; loaves multiply at his 
 touch ; Lazarus marches from the tomb at his call ; 
 and heaven speaks its approbation in response to 
 his prayer ; until all distrust vanishes, and each 
 satisfied soul cries out, "We know that thou art a 
 teacher come from God I " Henceforth the seal is 
 removed from the book of our destiny, the scales 
 fall from the eyes, and the long sought truth 
 streams steadily on the inquiring spirit. " Whereas 
 I was once blind, now I see." 
 
 2. He reveals the model character, and so gives 
 definiteness to our aims, a path and a goal for our 
 aspiration and effort. 
 
 The question, "What is virtue?" is answered 
 when we look at him. The completeness of man- 
 hood is before us, and our critical eye and yearn- 
 ing heart are satisfied. There he stands, solitary 
 in his superiority, yet pouring out streams of sym- 
 pathy for the lowliest and vilest, purer and deeper 
 than ever flowed from a woman's heart. In him
 
 CHRISTIANITY : OUR HELP AND HOPE. 365 
 
 blend majesty and gentleness ; the awful face of 
 justice and the pleading eye of love meet at once 
 the gaze of the beholder. Hoary - headed and 
 hard - hearted guilt sees something in him more 
 terrible than in the executioner ; while innocence, 
 though timid as a fawn, pillows its head confidently 
 on his bosom. In his unbending integrity he is 
 firmer than granite ; in his touching condescension 
 there is no want so low but he stoops without effort 
 to its level. To serve him would seem an honor 
 for which angels might contend ; but he can wash 
 the feet of the disciple who is planning his betrayal. 
 He discloses the greatness of God, and the meek- 
 ness of the humblest man. 
 
 And his life, how full is it of power and beauty ! 
 It is at once heroic as a singing martyr's death, and 
 as beautiful as a mother's ministry about the couch 
 of her moaning babe at midnight. Now he is 
 driving a cohort of evil spirits into the deep, and 
 now folding childhood with a whispered prayer to 
 his bosom. At one hour his own disciples cry out 
 in terror as his awful form sweeps over the mid- 
 night sea, and at another, guilt kneels before him 
 to hear him say, " Go and sin no more." But I can 
 not tell you of him or his life. He is Immanuel ; 
 and his life a prolonged benediction. Go and study 
 both, and you will go no farther for a model, or be 
 in doubt about your appropriate work. 
 
 3. He gives the motive power which takes control 
 of the wayward heart. 
 
 Showing us his character, he awakens our rever-
 
 366 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 ence and admiration ; exhibiting his love for us in 
 toils for our sake, our hard hearts melt, and our 
 gratitude leaps forward to serve him ; for his great 
 service our self- devotion for his sake becomes a 
 ruling force ; seeing the value of his interests, we 
 ally our all with him and his ; his wishes are our 
 chief impulse ; his expressed will our highest law ; 
 our zeal to please and honor him becomes a living 
 fire. The heart has become loyal, for now it has 
 found its sovereign. It is no more a mysterious 
 saying, but a joyful truth of experience, that, "THE 
 LOVE OF CHRIST CONSTRAINETH us." A patriot 
 dying for his country, a daughter sacrificing all, 
 that a mother's last few days may be less sorrow- 
 ful these are feeble illustrations of that motive 
 power with which Christ impels us, of that mag- 
 netic bond that draws and holds us to himself. So 
 is the cord of selfishness snapped, and the soul has 
 gained redemption. 
 
 4. This work accomplished in and for us, we are 
 ready for the Master's bidding. Now let him say, 
 as he does say, to such a captivated soul, " Go seek 
 your fellows, and lead them to God; teach igno- 
 rance ; win back the wayward from evil paths ; 
 gather in the outcast; bid the despairing hope, and 
 the dying live ; save them for my sake ; this is the 
 proof of your love, and the condition of my honor 
 let Christ say that, and philanthropy shall rest 
 in waiting no longer. No second command is 
 needed. Nakedness will be clothed, hunger fed, 
 sickness blessed, crime forgiven, guilty penitence
 
 CHRISTIANITY : OUR HELP AND HOPE. 367 
 
 brought to the Master's feet. If the constraining 
 love has passed within us, we shall not tarry. We 
 are strong to suffer or to do. Reproach, opposition, 
 sneers, temporary ill success, unappreciation by 
 those we toil for, what are these? Our enthusi- 
 asm is fed by the divine fountain. In the moment 
 of irresolution we look once at the Cross, and the 
 flagging energies leap to work again ; or we listen, 
 with the ear turned heavenward, to hear a voice say, 
 "Well done;" and our reward and our inspiration 
 have come to us. We are the servants of men,yi?r 
 Jesus' sake; and we bear them the -same Gospel 
 that has won us forever. Will they not be won 
 also? Surely, it shall not return void. Its mission 
 is to conquer. The desert will blossom. The sower 
 shall shout to the reaper, as both sit down rejoicing 
 over the gathered sheaves. "The mountains and 
 the hills shall break forth into singing, and all 
 the trees of the field shall clap their hands ; " 
 
 ' While, nation after nation, taught the strain, 
 Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round." 
 
 We come, to- day, to dedicate this goodly temple 
 to the great work of redeeming men by means of 
 this Gospel of Christ. It speaks not only of the 
 end we would attain, but equally of the means we 
 would employ in compassing it. The chief theme 
 of thought and speech here is " Jesus Christ and 
 him crucified." The divinity whose presence will 
 be sought here is the universal Father ; the oracle 
 to which the gathered company will listen, is that 
 which spake at Sinai, and Calvary, and Olivet
 
 368 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 proclaiming justice and mercy and redemption. 
 When weary and sad humanity, with heavy heart 
 and dimmed vision, waiting long and vainly for re- 
 lief beside the Bethesda pools of nature, comes 
 here to rest from some fresh disappointment, it shall 
 start with gladness at the pitying and triumphant 
 cry that greets it on the threshold, "Behold the 
 Lamb of God ! " and then, with beaming eye and 
 face toward heaven, it shall take up its couch and 
 walk up to where frailties drop off as a worn out 
 garment, and experience becomes a lofty and eter- 
 nal paean. 
 
 As preached in this house, Jesus Christ and him 
 crucified shall mean not only Jesus Christ the giver 
 of heavenly hopes, but Jesus Christ the expounder 
 of duty and the legislator for life. He shall be 
 shown, to be sure, with the weeping Magdalen at 
 his feet, that the guiltiest penitence may never de- 
 spair ; but he shall not be forgotten when he makes 
 reputable Phariseeism quiver and turn pale before 
 the artillery of his reproof. 
 
 I have spoken of four great forces in society, and 
 exhibited their inadequacy to reach and save the 
 race, indeed, I have shown how they often fight 
 against its welfare. But the pulpit, while preach- 
 ing Christ, is by no means to ignore the existence 
 of these forces, nor pass them by on the other side, 
 either in carelessness or contempt. It is no small 
 part of its business to mould them into a higher 
 image, and then subsidize them into its service. to 
 change them from foes into allies, as the malefac-
 
 CHRISTIANITY : OUR HELP AND HOPE. 369 
 
 tor's cross, after the Redeemer had hung upon it, 
 became the symbol of the loftiest virtue. 
 
 Self-interest will sit here now and then in these 
 pews ; let it go away ashamed of its low maxims 
 and its calculating spirit, as it learns of Him who 
 for our sake became poor, that we through his pov- 
 erty might be made rich. 
 
 Politicians will now and then come here, that 
 strange modern race of beings that so wretchedly 
 caricature humanity, politicians, who find their 
 decalogue in a party platform, their goal of virtue 
 in a successful election, and their highest heaven in 
 a well - salaried office. Let them come; but let 
 them find wide open a statute - book which tests the 
 validity of all civil constitutions; let them find a 
 law which, however it may be sneered at by the 
 mightiest men you ever cradled among your mount- 
 ains, is " higher" than your Mount Washington, or 
 the Alleghanies, and which spurns all vicious com- 
 promises ; let them be put face to face with a Ruler 
 before whom even the political giants of the West- 
 ern Republic are but as the small dust of the bal- 
 ance, who remembers every sigh of the oppressed, 
 and forgets no act of treachery. 
 
 And not less important, but far more grateful, 
 will be the task set this pulpit, of calling together, 
 from time to time, this gathered company of ingen- 
 uous youth,* whose daily culture gives them keener 
 eyes with which to survey the works of God, and 
 larger power for whose exercise they are to be held 
 
 The students of the New Hampton Literary and Biblical Institution.
 
 37 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 responsible, and teaching them how to see Jehovah 
 in his creation, and how to honor Christ in the lay- 
 ing of every fresh acquisition at his feet. Beautiful 
 companionship the seminary and the sanctuary 
 science and religion the elder and the newer 
 Scripture the works and the word the study 
 and the worship the kindling intellect and the as- 
 piring heart. The one shall save from that super- 
 stitious devotion, whose mother is ignorance; the 
 other shall guard against that vain philosophy, 
 which begins in self- conceit and ends in moral 
 ruin. Each is the complement of the other; let 
 them clasp hands before us in reverent affection to - 
 day, while we pronounce over them the sacred 
 formula, " What God hath joined together, let no 
 man j>ut asunder " 
 
 In erecting this house for the ministry of the Gos- 
 pel, we try no new experiment. We only follow 
 God's appointment, and confide in the testimony of 
 two thousand years now passed into history. The 
 redeeming power of the Gospel is now more than a 
 divine prophecy ; it is a solid, living fact. Wherev- 
 er faithfully preached, the darkness has fled away, 
 and the true light appeared. So, thank God, the 
 promise pledges it shall ever be. So may it be here ; 
 so let it be. Here may weary, heavy laden ones 
 find rest. Here may guilty penitence be bidden to 
 " go and sin no more." Here may mourners be 
 comforted. Here may childhood learn to lay itself 
 confidingly in the great Saviour's arms, maturity 
 and strength be taught to give their large resources
 
 CHRISTIANITY: OUR HELP AND HOPE. 371 
 
 to God, and trembling age, waiting for its transla- 
 tion, find every shadow fleeing from the tomb it en- 
 ters. Here may the fellowship of him who shall 
 stand where I stand, and of those who shall sit 
 where you sit, be sweet on earth, and ripen to an 
 eternal union. To these high ends is this sanctua- 
 ry dedicated. Hail ! Father, Saviour, Sanctifier. 
 In thy name we set up our banners, and seek thy 
 presence for our waiting temple. "Arise, O Lord, 
 into thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy 
 strength : let thy priests be clothed with righteous- 
 ness, and let thy saints shout aloud for joy."
 
 372 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE BRIGHT AND DARK SIDES OF LIFE. 
 
 Two visitors were standing before a distinguished 
 painting by Rembrandt, in one of the galleries of the 
 Louvre. One gazed a moment, turned the leaves 
 of his catalogue to learn the subject, gave it a sec- 
 ond glance, when a half- suppressed sigh escaped 
 him, and with a dissatisfied expression he slowly 
 turned to other works of art. 
 
 Rembrandt's pictures always appear as if hung 
 in shadow, or made somber by deepening twilight ; 
 and the visitor, impressed and saddened by the 
 gloomy hue of the canvas, had no inclination to lin- 
 ger where his already too heavy heart had nothing 
 offered it but an additional burden. 
 
 His companion was not so soon satisfied. He 
 first glanced over the whole scene, and then com- 
 menced its study in detail. Beneath that veil of 
 shadow, he saw the tracings of genius and skill. 
 Those shadowy faces seemed revealing the inward 
 struggle of a life - time ; those dusky brows told of 
 lofty purposes. The conflicts which had shaken 
 the world were symbolized before him. The som- 
 ber painting became an illuminated history of the 
 best half of the world, a silent, magnificent Epic. 
 He turned away from it at length with an air which 
 indicated that some new glory had fallen on his
 
 BRIGHT AND DARK SIDES OF LIFE. 373 
 
 eyes, and the power of a new hope had passed into 
 his heart. 
 
 Such a Rembrandt picture is our life ; and such 
 is the difference of view and of impression made, as 
 it passes under the eye of different observers. One 
 sees shadow, lighter or deeper, falling on every ob- 
 ject, leaving every outline dim and confused ; an- 
 other finds brightness on every hill -top, sunbeams 
 and flowers in every valley. One sings amid 
 scenes where his neighbor can only sigh and weep. 
 The same inscription is now translated so that it 
 promises a blessing, and then so that it threatens a 
 curse. One sees life perpetually on the dark side, 
 the other on its bright. The shadowy veil blurs 
 everything to one eye, while another detects star- 
 gleam and beauty. 
 
 These two classes of men and these two phases 
 of life are found in stately mansions and in humblest 
 cottages. They often inhabit the same dwelling, 
 sit around the same board, and are busy with the 
 same tasks. Some men's faces are bland as sum- 
 mer morning in one circle, but severe as Juno in 
 her wrath when outside the charmed ring. Lips that 
 drop honey in society, sometimes distill wormwood 
 at home. Half the heaven over some men's heads 
 is perpetually dark; the remainder has an azure fir- 
 mament and Orion and the Pleiades shine nowhere 
 more gloriously. 
 
 There are various reasons for these different as- 
 pects of life, some of which are known while others 
 are hidden.
 
 374 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 The natural and artificial surroundings of men 
 do much to affect their view of life. If one were 
 doomed to spend his days in a tent in Sahara, or in 
 an Esquimaux hut, near the Pole, he might be par- 
 doned for calling this a hard world ; or for having 
 so little interest in it as to say nothing when he 
 found his walrus blubber used up in February, and 
 the temperature stationary at 60 degrees below zero. 
 Wherever the climate is inhospitable, the soil bar- 
 ren; where food is scanty, intelligence wanting, 
 and selfishness supreme, it is hardly reasonable to 
 look for the bright side of life. Amid splendid cit- 
 ies are to be found deserts as terrible as Sahara ; 
 shivering want as hard to bear as the cold of polar 
 icebergs ; ignorance, vice and superstition as de- 
 grading as in Hindustan. 
 
 Sometimes the whole aspect of life is determined 
 or changed by a single peculiar experience. A 
 child comes to a dwelling long somber and shad- 
 owy, and at once there is the dawn of joy and hope ; 
 that little face warms and kindles like a sun, filling 
 the whole circle of life with its beams. Sometimes 
 a bereavement turns every cup into bitterness, and 
 grief succeeds laughter and song. 
 
 A man inherits an estate or draws a prize in the 
 lottery of stocks, or mounts to a petty office, and all 
 at once the ways of Providence seem full of equity. 
 Fire consumes a warehouse; the tempest sinks a 
 ship ; or a political opponent beats him, and he fills 
 his days with croaking, charges the world with in- 
 gratitude, and declares the devil had never so many
 
 BRIGHT AND DARK SIDES OF LIFE. 375 
 
 dupes and allies as to-day. Sometimes a giddy, 
 thoughtless life amid luxurious indolence, is reached 
 by misfortune, which repeats the decree. : "In the 
 sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread," and the 
 mortification and weakness which follow induce a 
 peevishness which sooner or later ends in a death - 
 scene upon which no angel - faces look lovingly 
 down. Another nature, long fettered by convention- 
 alities, walks forth into freedom at the call of bank- 
 ruptcy ; and goes to quarry heart wealth in labor, 
 and grow beautiful in active goodness. 
 
 Some see nothing of all their multitude of bless- 
 ings, because blinded by the tears over the loss of 
 one ; others only learn the value of what is left 
 through the pain over the loss of what is gone. 
 Not only does the departing blessing brighten as it 
 flies, but as it looks back it transfigures into splen- 
 dor all that tarry, and tells us for the first time what 
 unspeakable wealth is ours. 
 
 Some men are so endowed that hope always tar- 
 ries with them, to others it pays only rare and 
 brief visits. In the darkest night one looks in the 
 east for a streak of dawn, sure that the sun is throw- 
 ing smiles before him ; another never fails to re- 
 mind you in what gloom the light of many a brill- 
 iant day has gone out. 
 
 The character of the observer projects itself upon 
 all surrounding life. The world is more or less a 
 mirror where men see their own faces without al- 
 ways recognizing them. A man seems to see 
 meanness in his neighbor when really he looks up-
 
 376 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 on his own meanness. A man of real worth is 
 charitable over the faults and follies of his race. A 
 bankrupt in character pronounces severe verdicts 
 over good men. He whose spirit is like a tent of 
 angels, in which both comfort and the Comforter 
 abide, whose path is marked by monuments to God's 
 helpfulness, who sees the gate of immortality before 
 him, such a spirit walks amid brightness, and its 
 pulses are notes of praise. 
 
 One man so interprets duty that he feels bound to 
 walk abroad as the strange man at the siege of Je- 
 rusalem, dropping only wailings from his lips. 
 
 Another gives himself to the work of scattering 
 the beatitudes of Olivet, as a summer night scatters 
 dew. Some natures are always merry because 
 they are too superficial to be sad, there is not 
 depth of soil sufficient for a real sorrow to strike its 
 roots into. Now and then a man seems trying ,to 
 get a reputation for wisdom, or to gain notoriety, by 
 being snappish and surly. Not being able to be 
 felt when moving with others, owing to the small- 
 ness of his momentum, he turns and runs with what 
 little force he has, against them. Even small men 
 of this stamp can do much to divest life of its agree- 
 ableness ; for small quantities, like a grain of assa- 
 foetida, are sometimes readily appreciable. 
 
 These influences and many others besides, aid in 
 giving life its somber or luminous aspects, and the 
 heart its sadness or its joy. Sunshine and shadow 
 are both around us ; both daily fall on our path. The 
 world is neither wholly good nor wholly bad. Men
 
 BRIGHT AND DARK SIDES OF LIFE. 377 
 
 are neither saints nor demons when the average of 
 character is reached ; if they are in its extremes. 
 There is beauty around us, and that is an unfortu- 
 nate heart that can not drink it in. Firmament, sea 
 and mountain wear perpetual grandeur; flower, 
 dew - drop and zephyr tell of quiet, all - embracing 
 love ; bird - song and rill, and the humming of bees 
 charm away care ; the laugh of happy children, the 
 loves of home, give rest to the spirit ; the tireless 
 watch of sympathy around sick beds, wearying out 
 the stars ; the great, yet modest, labors of philan- 
 thropy, teaching penitence and making hopeless 
 sorrow smile ; the saintship which walks meekly 
 amid scoffers all its appointed time, till it rises 
 triumphant to heaven ; all these stir a holy rever- 
 ence, and turn even prayer into thanksgiving. These 
 sunbursts gild the darkest clouds that ever rise above 
 us, and fleck the dreariest landscape with spots of 
 gold. They are evermore around us, and he who 
 truly seeks shall find them. 
 
 Life has its dark side. The firmament drops 
 down thunderbolts that shiver whatever they touch ; 
 the sea becomes vexed, and a thousand eyes grow 
 heavy, wet and wild, as they are strained to see the 
 ship that never comes into port ; dews give a fatal 
 chill to the wanderer ; the breeze brings pestilence ; 
 sweet tones are often siren notes ; the laugh of 
 childhood dies out from the home ; the tempter 
 leaves our firesides desolate ; and warm hearts grow 
 strange to ours. Many look to heaven only to re- 
 member that thence came a heavy and relentless
 
 378 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 hand that smote all their ideals into powder. 
 
 This mingling of light and shadow serves high pur- 
 poses in a life like ours, where mental and spiritual 
 discipline is needed. A healthy life can not be 
 evolved in the perpetual glare of the sun. Half 
 the processes concerned in the growth of a plant 
 can be carried on only when the sun has gone 
 down. The human spirit thrives only when dark- 
 ness alternates with splendor. 
 
 It requires no argument to satisfy most men that 
 it is a blessing to see the bright side of life, and 
 dwell where sunlight tarries. We shrink at sight 
 of a cloud; we pray against calamity, and send our 
 friends out into life with a wish that they may never 
 know a heart- grief. But let us ask, what valuable 
 ends do shadows promote, what good can come to 
 us from disappointments, burdens, sorrows, bereave- 
 ments and dreary watches of faith ? 
 
 He who would minister wisely to sad, broken 
 hearts, needs to comprehend the experiences of 
 those who claim his sympathy. This work covers a 
 large part of every life. We are set to help each 
 other. The strong are to hold up the weak, the 
 wise to teach the ignorant, the pure to promote puri- 
 ty, the well supplied to minister to the needy. 
 
 The wisest teachers are those who have thirsted 
 for knowledge ; the most precious sympathy is born 
 of suffering. Howard breathes day after day the 
 chill, tainted air of dungeons that he may the sooner 
 bring a humane spirit within the door of prisons ; 
 Dorothea Dix dwells amid the ravings of chained
 
 BRIGHT AND DARK SIDES OF LIFE. 379 
 
 maniacs before she learns to read the beatitudes so 
 that the eye of insanity loses its strange fire. The 
 charge at Balaklava and the camp life of the Cri- 
 mean soldiery accomplished nothing else so impor- 
 tant and glorious as when they called forth the min- 
 istries of Florence Nightingale ; Jesus of Nazareth 
 must become the man of sorrows before anxious 
 mothers lay their children on his bosom, and the 
 Magdalen weeps her despair away at his feet, and 
 takes a heavenly hope to her heart. Beneath clouds 
 that hide every star, amid darkness that can be felt, 
 many a man has walked weary distances before he 
 could lead blinded and stumbling travellers along 
 gloomy paths. 
 
 The griefs of life, alone, reveal the soul fully to 
 itself. When the sun goes down, there are tones, 
 some gentle and others majestic, coming up from 
 the orchestra of nature, which are rarely heard at 
 noon ; creation spreads out some of her finest, rich- 
 est views only when the staring day has withdrawn. 
 Night marshalls the constellations, and marches 
 them majestically slow, silent and sublime across 
 the field of azure ; the cadences of the breeze in the 
 forest, and the roll of the sea - waves on the distant 
 strand, blend with the voices that come from field, 
 marsh and river - bank, making an oratorio which 
 dies away at dawn. So there are phases of the 
 soul which sorrow, only, exhibits ; there are chords 
 in our nature which never vibrate until calamity 
 strikes them ; qualities never truly seen till the dust 
 is washed from them by tears.
 
 380 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 Capacities are brought forth by sorrow. Half of 
 Egypt would be desert but for the regular flood 
 which the Nile brings down. So itis only when some 
 great and terrible convulsion has laid the heart 
 waste, and some flood of calamity swept over the 
 soul, that new resources are opened, and hidden 
 power appears. 
 
 " The night is mother of the day, 
 
 The winter of the spring, 
 And ever upon old decay, 
 
 The greenest mosses cling. 
 Behind the cloud the starlight lurks, 
 
 Through showers the sunbeams fall, 
 For God, who loveth all his works, 
 
 Hath left his hope with all." 
 
 A blind hopefulness is born of a weak vision. 
 Gravity and tears are manly ; a great and true soul 
 answers to the De Profundis as well as to the 
 Hallelujah. 
 
 Hopeful, courageous men only, can long be 
 leaders. We do not make captains of croakers. 
 Cynics are distrusted. When a man begins to 
 whine, his audience leaves him. A cheerful face, a 
 resolute will, a persevering hope, are the qualities 
 that rally followers. Men of courage and faith 
 open avenues to enterprise. Faith and hope have 
 wrought out the grand achievements of history. 
 Neither ability, nor foresight, nor fierceness, can 
 walk a monarch among men, and lead society like 
 a captain, so long as they live in shadow and speak 
 in -sighs. Pleasantry will sometimes overcome a 
 prejudice which defies batteries of logic ; and men
 
 BRIGHT AND DARK SIDES OF LIFE. 381 
 
 who grew pale before common dangers, ride in the 
 charge of Balaklava without the quivering of a 
 nerve, when a bold leader peals his trumpet and 
 dashes the spur into his war-horse. 
 
 Monasteries have oftener been hiding - places for 
 cowardice, than sanctuaries of piety. Monkhood 
 is an attempt to get rid of the stern battle of life. 
 The song of triumph is a farce when sung in a 
 cloister, and inspired by a hermit's dream. Many 
 giant souls have bartered away their honor for 
 public plaudits. How many mighty ones have 
 yielded to misanthropy, compromise, despair, be- 
 cause there was no inward light, no inspiring hope, 
 no prophetic faith. 
 
 For want of that splendor which no earthly 
 calamity can dim, how many hearts grow weary of 
 ^earnest work, how many powers are perverted, how 
 many purposes give way, how many lives are 
 wrecked ! So statesmen change to demagogues, 
 and merchants to gamblers ; chairs of instruction 
 misread history to please jealous patrons, and pul- 
 pits study to avoid the wrath of exacting pews. 
 
 On the other hand, there are no higher lives por- 
 trayed, or nobler deeds embalmed in history than 
 those animated by high hopefulness and serene 
 faith. Darkness serves only to show their latent 
 splendor. Clamors without reveal the quiet within. 
 Calamities are crucibles, refining their spirits. 
 Hopes deferred develop patience. The scars of 
 battle - fields become badges of honor. Outward 
 losses buy inward wealth. Every truth defended
 
 32 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 becomes their sacred defense. Misrepresented, they 
 calmly pass their vindication over to another cen- 
 tury. The time of their coronation surely comes. 
 
 Life needs illumination from the steady shining 
 of a lustrous, genial spirit. We are not a sedate 
 nor melancholy people, but the bright side of life 
 seems to be either mostly turned away from us, or 
 we are in no condition to see, enjoy and profit by it. 
 We strive hard, plan largely to be happy ; and 
 then spend our days worrying and struggling to 
 perfect the system which is to make us glad. And 
 yet the secret is not hard to find. If we will answer 
 each smile of nature with a look of love ; calmly 
 study the wise, deep meaning of Providence when 
 clouds hide the sunj lay hold of calamities and 
 wrestle with them as Jacob with the angel ; and 
 when deep darknesis is on earth, turn face and 
 heart up toward the beatitudes of Heaven, there 
 can be no night so dark or long but a bright morn- 
 ing shall break, and the most shadowy picture 
 which portrays human life, will exhibit to our eye 
 something of celestial splendor.
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 383 
 
 V. 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 
 
 One of the marked changes which have been 
 passing over our habits of thought and methods of 
 speech, is indicated by the frequent use of the 
 phrase : " The people." 
 
 When one reads ancient history, whether sacred 
 or secular, it is seen. that the patriarch, the king, 
 the military commander, or the philosopher, or some 
 other eminent personage, concentrates in his person 
 and deeds a large part of the interest that gathers 
 about the era or the land to which he belongs. 
 
 Abraham is a majestic figure on the canvas of 
 antiquity ; but we are left mostly to hints, guesses 
 and inferences when we would learn something in 
 detail of the common life which went on around 
 him. Pharaoh stands for an overshadowing im- 
 perialism in the centuries of historic twilight; but 
 the millions of the common people are silent in 
 their graves, and have no one to vocalize the epics 
 they lived, or the tragedies in which generation 
 after generation suffered and died. Plutarch's 
 Lives present a group of representative men which 
 show us many sides of ancient life in artistic Greece 
 and imperial Rome; but they afford us only now 
 and then a glimpse of the Helots whose condition 
 forms a dark background to the story, and of 
 the plebeians whose struggle for the simplest rights 
 was always intense and not rarely fruitless. We 
 have detailed records of Hannibal's marches, and
 
 384 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 Caesar's campaigns, and Alexander's conquests, but 
 of the multitudes who fell faint and dying amid 
 Alpine passes, and of the thousands who rendered 
 Macedon a dreaded power beyond the Euphrates, 
 we are told almost nothing. 
 
 So it has been in a great measure through later 
 ages. We know enough of William the Norman, 
 and of Charles XII., and of Carlyle's last hero, 
 the Prussian Frederick ; and more than enough ot 
 Philip II. and of Louis Quartorze; but we get only 
 an occasional glimpse of the simple peasant patient- 
 ly winning his bread from the acres which he may 
 not own, and of the significant politics and piety of 
 the common household. 
 
 But all that is changed, or is changing. The 
 dullest eyes are compelled to see the people, at 
 length, and even a Bourbon emperor must recognize 
 and consult them. Bismarck must study the temper 
 of the north - German peoples before he ventures to 
 pit Prussian regiments and needle-guns against 
 French battalions and chassepots ; and even after 
 victory has perched upon his standards at Sedan 
 and Paris, he does not count the problem solved till 
 the German masses have uttered their thought, and 
 the general sentiment of Europe has acquiesced in 
 the verdict rendered by the thunder - voice of battle. 
 Lord Derby began his administration by suppress- 
 ing a reform meeting in Hyde Park ; he did it eas- 
 ily with the clubs of the London police ; but before 
 a year had passed, the simple voice of English work- 
 ing men, speaking through the lips of John Bright,
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 385 
 
 extorted from that same Tory ministry a far more 
 liberal scheme of suffrage than that on whose defeat 
 Derby rose to the Premiership. 
 
 When the people have deliberately spoken, the 
 king's edict, the statesman's purpose, and the chief- 
 tain's sword have found something mightier than 
 themselves. When they have withdrawn their in- 
 ward loyalty from any sovereign, he is effectually 
 discrowned, though his royal autograph may still 
 continue to be affixed to state papers, and the gems 
 keep up their flashing in his coronet ; and a man 
 may stay in the White House, after the failure of 
 impeachment, write messages and dictate vetoes, 
 ventilate his passion and rehearse his political bio- 
 graphy, draw his salary and dispense patronage, 
 long after the sentiment of the people has decided 
 that the Presidential office is really vacant. 
 
 The facts thus stated, indicate the need of under- 
 standing, if possible, the nature and office of this 
 recognized and growing power in government and 
 society which we call public opinion. 
 
 The two extreme views which are entertained of 
 public opinion are well expressed in the current 
 definitions. We are told that it is " the average of 
 the prejudices existing in the community ; " again 
 it is declared that " the voice of the people is the 
 voice of God." Public opinion is both like and un- 
 like individual opinion. It is like individual opin- 
 ion in that it is partly a providential growth and 
 partly a product of definite and positive culture. It 
 has its lesser and its larger variations, its advances
 
 386 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 and retreats, its seasons of special illumination and 
 its periods of darkness and doubt, its wavering 
 weakness and its calm, settled strength. 
 
 There is also to be found the same conflict be- 
 tween the elements entering into public opinion that 
 appears in individual opinion. These elements may 
 be defined as sentiment and conviction. The senti- 
 ment is sometimes right while the conviction is 
 wrong ; and sometimes the feeling is quite astray 
 when the conviction stands by the truth. When 
 John Brown was hung at Charlestown, the authori- 
 ties and the people of Virginia were generally set- 
 tled in the conclusion that the claim of the gallows 
 was absolute and imperative, and many at the 
 North whose desire for the slaves' freedom was lit- 
 tle less than a revolutionary passion, were ready to 
 say : " We have a law and by our law he ouglit to 
 die, because he made himself not only a radical but 
 a revolutionist, and failed ; " and so they ut- 
 tered their " Amen" over the sentence of the court. 
 But underneath this conviction was a sentiment 
 which could not be wholly repressed, and which 
 burst up from the general heart and canonized his 
 heroism, even while his body hung in the air, and 
 sent half a million of soldiers to finish the work 
 which he began. The sentiment was mightier than 
 the conviction, as it was also truer. 
 
 On the other hand, when Capt. Wilkes took 
 Mason and Slidell from the cabin of the Trent and 
 brought them back as prisoners of war, the public 
 sentiment not only applauded his chivalric audacity
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 387 
 
 and patriotic resolution, but demanded that they be 
 held and punished as traitors, whatever precedent 
 might plead, and international law require. That 
 was the voice of sentiment. But behind all this 
 defiance flung at England's pride, and this taunting 
 of English neutrality, there was a general convic- 
 tion that the deed which gratified our sentiment of 
 nationality could not be justified before the tribunal 
 of precedent nor get the endorsement of national 
 honor. We gave up the traitors, that we might 
 keep our integrity ; we put down the impulse which 
 sprang from sentiment, that we might exalt the 
 purpose which rested on conviction. 
 
 Public opinion, especially when it takes the form 
 of deliberate conviction, is much more likely to rep- 
 resent the truth in its idea, than is the average indi- 
 vidual mind. Therefore we leave to a jury the 
 fashioning of a verdict, instead of confiding the case 
 to the judge who may have a better understanding 
 of law than the twelve put together. 
 
 Public opinion borrows power from the emphasis 
 with which human voices speak when under the 
 impulse of a common sympathy. Individual con- 
 victions are the soldiers of the Republic, springing 
 up as single recruits in all the scattered hamlets of 
 the North ; public opinion is the army which Sher- 
 man led from Atlanta to the Sea. 
 
 There is something terribly impressive in the 
 prompt and decisive way in which public opinion 
 sometimes metes out its discipline to a great trans- 
 gressor, whom no court could formally convict, and
 
 388 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 no magistrate punish, because he could bribe the 
 judge, or defy the civil officer. Its feet are swift 
 like the lightning, when it pursues the criminal ; its 
 arraignment as prompt as thought ; its discipline 
 as effect to follow cause. It arrests the liberated 
 and unconvicted criminal before he can cross the 
 threshold into freedom ; it fetters his heart with ac- 
 cusations which his will can not break ; it writes 
 his crime on the heavens above him by day, and 
 accuses him in the midnight darkness. Men may 
 affect to sneer at it like Herod, but it will turn upon 
 them as upon him, with a tireless persistence, till it 
 has worn them into agony, or tortured them into 
 the grave. The imperial Neros of society may war 
 upon it with terrific and savage violence, but it will 
 only fill their ears with maledictions, and give their 
 names to infamy. A Borgia may seek shelter from 
 its fearful discipline beneath the mantle of the Pope- 
 dom, but it drags her vices from behind the great al- 
 tar of the Church, and holds them up as a warning. 
 A shrewd ambition may delay its verdict by beauti- 
 fying a European capital and tickling the vanity of 
 a pleasure - loving people; but the judgment will 
 take shape soon and surely, and history is waiting 
 to record the sentence over the Mephistophiles of 
 the ipth century. A rebellion may assume such 
 gigantic proportions, and display such a sublime 
 audacity, as for a time to win a species of toleration 
 and applause ; but, because public opinion is to try 
 it and assign it its place, there is nothing in human 
 effort, or skill, or prejudice that can save it from be-
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 389 
 
 ing cursed forever, as the supreme blunder of 
 statesmanship and the concentrated crime of civil 
 history. 
 
 Still more gratifying and not less majestic does 
 it appear when it sets itself to vindicate the integ- 
 rity which is suspected and condemned, or to lift 
 up virtue crushed beneath the heel of power. It 
 not only disciplines offenders who slip through the 
 meshes of the law, but it exalts to honor the victims 
 of an unjust sentence. It refutes the perjured testi- 
 mony of the witness ; it neutralizes the advocate's 
 special pleading, and reverses the sentence of the 
 most eminent judge. 
 
 The cares and anxieties that were plowing 
 deep furrows upon the face of Abraham Lincoln, 
 were made far more tolerable by the sublimest of 
 all the great deeds which marked the years of strife. 
 That deed performed by the freemen of the Repub- 
 lic at the ballot - box, November, 1864, told him 
 that his patriotism was understood, his statesman- 
 ship appreciated and his purposes approved ; and 
 many a soldier to whom home was sacred and life 
 unspeakably sweet, laid down and died with a smile 
 when he knew that the best part of the nation was 
 blessing him for his devotion and weeping over his 
 sacrifice. 
 
 There is a lower and a pitiable side to this great 
 force ; for nothing which springs from human nat- 
 ure is wholly majestic. So long as the people are 
 imperfectly taught and are uncured of their way- 
 wardness, public opinion will go astray, and its ver-
 
 39 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 diets and discipline sometimes lack both justice and 
 self- consistency, and be at times both fickle and 
 unreasonable. Its hosanna may be still pulsating 
 in the air when the cry : " Crucify him ! " comes to 
 drown it in the flood of angry contempt. It names 
 Aristides " the just," and then sends him into exile. 
 It kills Socrates with a draught of hemlock, and 
 then pronounces him a saint, and hastens to line the 
 streets of Athens with his statues and monuments. 
 It banishes the Bourbons with a revolution, and 
 then revenges itself by worshiping an ambitious 
 despot and dictator under the names of first consul 
 and of emperor. The public opinion of Boston 
 opens its lips at Bunker Hill to glorify Jefferson for 
 writing the Declaration of Independence, and to 
 apotheosize Adams for defending and justifying it ; 
 and then it mobs Garrison for preaching its doc- 
 trines and applying its principles. When secession 
 hurls its first bomb at Sumter, New York springs to 
 its feet a patriotic city, and even the offices of the 
 Herald and the Express blossom with Union bunt- 
 ing ; but when Lee invades Pennsylvania, and is 
 hurled back from Gettysburg with a force that set- 
 tles the fate of the Confederacy, the metropolis is 
 more than half a scene of lamentation, and the eyes 
 of the Five Points are red with weeping and rum. 
 Call this fickleness the superficial sentiment of the 
 people if you will, and explain these false and vehe- 
 ment verdicts by saying that they are not rooted in 
 calm conviction, very true, doubtless, but what 
 must be said of a tribunal which speaks so 'Often out
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 391 
 
 of its varying and thoughtless impulses, and ex- 
 cludes both reason and right from its demands and 
 its discipline? And so long as public opinion 
 wheels about like a weather - vane in March, it is 
 hardly safe to use it as a compass ; and while it al- 
 lows itself to storm out its molten passion or pour 
 forth its extravagant panegyric when it ought to be 
 weighing testimony and framing a deliberate ver- 
 dict, it can hardly expect to be treated with excess- 
 ive reverence or counted an inspired prophet. 
 
 Public opinion is not absolutely the creator of 
 positive law ; the statute - book is more or less the 
 teacher of the people. Law itself comes into soci- 
 ety more or less as a school - master. Many men 
 venerate, in some sense, a principle wearing the 
 robe of the Law, who would curse it if it stood 
 forth unclothed. It is not at all that their modesty 
 is shocked by the nakedness, but that their respect 
 is awakened by the garment. Just laws not only 
 spring from and guage public integrity, but they 
 promote it ; good laws not only imply virtue, but 
 induce it ; beneficent laws not only elevate noble 
 aims, but call them forth ; while laws that wink at 
 iniquity breed wickedness ; laws that are oppressive 
 develop tyranny ; laws in the interest of a class are 
 the seed of monopolies and aristocracies ; and laws 
 that make a mock of justice invite anarchy, and in- 
 augurate revolutions. Hence the reason for put- 
 ting the best sentiment and conviction of the com- 
 munity into law, and keeping them there. It is not 
 just the thing to ask grog - shops whether they pre-
 
 392 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 fer prohibition or license ; nor to solicit a revenue 
 bill from smugglers. 
 
 That terror of what passes for public opinion is 
 perhaps more pitiable, though it may not be more 
 foolish, than the opposite extreme met in the case 
 of those who take pains to defy and disgust the 
 community by their rejection of what is currently 
 accepted, because it is accepted, and who count it a 
 mark of merit to deny what the general voice as- 
 serts, and oppose what is contemplated by the pub- 
 lic will ; presuming that when they are voted 
 down they are persecuted ; criticising public senti- 
 ment and calling themselves reformers ; provoking 
 opposition and setting themselves down as martyrs. 
 They forget that though public opinion may not al- 
 ways recognize the reformer, it generally discerns 
 the cynic ; though it may not hail the true hero on 
 his first appearance, it seldom mistakes the mounte- 
 bank whatever his disguises ; and though it may 
 not always be ready to welcome the real prophet, it 
 is apt to hiss a mere jester, whether he figures in 
 comedy or tragedy. 
 
 Because public opinion has not pronounced upon 
 any question, there is no reason why we should set 
 that question down as unimportant or incapable of 
 solution. The individual thinks earlier than the. 
 multitude. There is truth which demands our pa- 
 tient regard that has never yet been contended over 
 in any deliberative assembly ; there are duties sacred 
 as a claim of Heaven, that have never yet been de- 
 fined by civil statute; there are continents of
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 393 
 
 thought which it is one of the highest privileges of 
 God's chosen ones to explore. 
 
 Because public opinion has been occupied with a 
 given matter, and pronounced upon it, is not a suffi- 
 cient reason for accepting the verdict without ques- 
 tion or reflection, as though the responsibility of 
 thought were thereby removed. A vote of the ma- 
 jority is not a moral finality, especially when, as 
 has often been the case, it strikes against the pri- 
 vate citizen's conviction, offends his conscience, and 
 contravenes eternal justice. 
 
 The relation of public opinion to positive statute 
 is twofold. It largely supplies the material out of 
 which specific laws are formed, and it mostly deter- 
 mines the mission and the fate of enactments. 
 Sometimes, owing to local and temporary influences, 
 the formal law may be in advance of the popular 
 will, even in a republican state ; and sometimes leg- 
 islation may lag far behind the average conscience 
 of the community. But, in the long run, the stat- 
 ute - book is a pretty accurate exponent of the mor- 
 al sentiment and the executive will of the people 
 who express their sovereignty through their laws. 
 Educate public opinion to the point where it de- 
 mands new protection for any right or interest, or a 
 sterner discipline for any class of wrong doers, and 
 it will speedily crystallize into a defensive statute, 
 as the lava from Vesuvius hardens into walls of 
 rock, and it will scorch the flourishing transgression 
 as the molten stream annihilates the vegetation which 
 was thriving but yesterday upon its sunny slope.
 
 394 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 The deliberate verdict of public opinion entitles 
 it to respect. If it is opposed to our individual 
 opinion, it suggests a reason for careful review, but 
 not for unthinking acquiescence. It gives rise to a 
 proper doubt whether we may not be wrong ; it for- 
 bids haste in accusing the general thought of folly 
 and the general purpose of recklessness. 
 
 It is important to discriminate between that phase 
 of public opinion which exhibits a mere transient 
 sentiment, and that more deliberate conviction. The 
 surface of the popular mind may not indicate the 
 real thought in the calm depths below. Arctic ex- 
 plorers tell us that it is not uncommon to see an 
 enormous iceberg, with vast domes, and uncounted 
 turrets and pinnacles, springing from a body of 
 dazzling whiteness, as though it were a cathedral of 
 marble and crystal set in the sea ; and that while 
 the waves and all the lesser bergs hurry north- 
 ward like a fleet running before the gale, that grand 
 pile moves steadily southward to meet the advanc- 
 ing summer. Far beneath the surface there is a 
 counter - current, steady like God's purpose, and 
 strong like his omnipotence, flowing on toward the 
 equator ; and taking hold of the mighty mass that 
 extends down into the deep sea, bears it on with ir- 
 resistible might. The furious tempest driving north- 
 ward is the transient and erring sentiment of the 
 public mind ; the calm, mighty under - current, 
 making its way to the tropics, is the steady and re- 
 liable conviction of that public mind. 
 
 Sometimes there is nothing for a true man, in
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 395 
 
 dealing with public sentiment, but to resist its de- 
 mands and risk the seemingly unequal combat. He 
 has read history and studied life to little advantage, 
 who does not know that the minority is often right, 
 and that the truth is left, now and then, with a 
 single open defender against the multitude who 
 have rallied for the enthronement of a lie. Henry 
 Clay never uttered a finer sentence than when he 
 said, in response to a warning that his course was 
 blocking up his path to the White House : " I 
 would rather be right than be President." 
 
 The grandest passages in the world's story are 
 those which tell of privileged souls whom God has 
 taken to the top of some Sinai, or Pisgah, or Tabor, 
 that he might show them unutterable things and un- 
 veil to them the face of truth. 
 
 Who forgets Themistocles, answering the blow of 
 popular violence with : " Strike, but hear ;" or 
 Savonarola responding to the offer of a cardinal's 
 hat : " I wish no red hat but one reddened with my 
 own blood, for this is the one God now gives to his 
 saints;" or Tycho Brahe's majestic reply to the 
 skepticism which greeted his treatise on Astronomy : 
 " I can afford to wait a hundred years for a be- 
 liever, since God has waited six thousand years for 
 an observer ;" or Luther's response to the scowling 
 Diet : " Here I stand. I can not do otherwise ; God 
 help me." 
 
 There is but one more thing to be said respecting 
 the method in which the individual is to deal with 
 public opinion. His great business is to rectify, ex-
 
 396 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 alt and strengthen it. It is not enough to endorse 
 it when it is right, nor to stand out against it when 
 it is wrong, nor to appeal from its undeserved con- 
 demnation to eternal justice. Recognizing its grow- 
 ing power for good or evil, every man should seek 
 to make a positive contribution to its vigor and its 
 character. It needs the scholar's knowledge, the 
 Christian's conscience, the philanthropist's heart, the 
 reformer's zeal, the saint's believing patience, the 
 poet's vision and the orator's tongue. 
 
 The wondrous and impressive music which one 
 hears in the European cathedrals, known as the 
 mass, which embodies the phases and voices the ex- 
 periences of a devout soul standing face to face with 
 God and eternity ; [ now penitent and jubilant ; at one 
 moment crying faintly from the depths of grief and 
 shame and fear as though it felt at the same instant 
 the terror of a child lost in the forest at night and 
 the desperation of Peter sinking amid the waves of 
 Gennesaret ; then rising in the gladness of a great 
 hope newly -born, and a swelling adoration that 
 hardly knows whether to bend and worship or soar 
 and sing ; this wondrous Romish mass is made up 
 of fragments of ballads sung by peasant girls, and 
 national airs that have beguiled the march or cheer- 
 ed the bivouac, and pastoral songs chanted on the 
 hill - side, and cradle lullabies rising in the homes of 
 the lowly, and threnodies that ascended from the 
 chambers of sickness, and hallelujahs that trembled 
 on the lips of saints who went to immortality from 
 the dungeon and the scaffold ; from all these musi-
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 397 
 
 cal dialects in which human life has sung its vary- 
 ing emotion into the air of centuries, it has gather- 
 ed some item of its power and glory. So public 
 opinion has been, and still is, and yet more and 
 more shall be, the compound thought and the 
 many threaded tone into which individual, ideas and 
 utterances combine with unity and emphasis. 
 
 What we give is determined by what we are. 
 The mountaineer had no thought that the notes he 
 was singing as he sat on his Alpine cliff would 
 one day throb, a mighty pulse of harmony, 
 through the aisles and amid the arches of St. Peter's ; 
 but, though he only swelled his strain for his own 
 delight, it was caught up and poured into* the ear of 
 Christendom, as the voice of a great hierarchy call- 
 ing the nations to its altars. 
 
 We recognize readily enough the influence of a 
 few great names on the public opinion of to - day. 
 We know that the statutes of Moses, and the juris- 
 prudence of the Roman statesman, and the feudal- 
 ism of Europe, and Magna Charta wrested by the 
 English barons from king John, have all had their 
 influence in fashioning the civil legislation of our 
 own land. We do not find it hard to believe that 
 Homer's music modified the accent with which we 
 speak our fancies ; that we are prompted to think in 
 one way rather than another by Plato's metaphysics 
 and Aristotle's logic ; that Cicero's orations affect our 
 public speech ; that an analytical ear would detect 
 the tones of Horace and Dante in our singing ; we 
 know that the voices of Constantine and Charle-
 
 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 magne still inspire the projects which are framed at 
 the Vatican ; that the ideals of Angelo to - day are 
 blossoming in our architecture, and the divine 
 beauty which Raphael put into the face of his trans- 
 figured Christ struggles for expression in every 
 modern painter's studio. Calvin is yet teaching us 
 theology ; Cromwell's Puritanism walks yet with 
 reverent feet in the stillness of New England Sab- 
 baths ; Milton's plea for liberty and a free press 
 bears fruit in our polyglot literature which has 
 helped to smite our dark despotism into powder; 
 and the Norman baron's egotistic obstinacy is to - 
 day contending against equal rights in Richmond. 
 We can believe all that without difficulty. 
 
 But it is equally true that the lives which are liv- 
 ed in humbler spheres, and on lower social planes, 
 and the voices that fail to get distinct attention, still 
 have their influence in fashioning public opinion 
 and giving emphasis to its utterance. The young 
 mechanic who puts down the temptation to which 
 his genteelly dressed acquaintances have yielded, to 
 turn fashionable swindler ; the merchant who sells 
 goods, but will not bargain away his integrity ; the 
 mother who rules her little domestic empire as 
 Christ's vicegerent, and serves gladly as priestess in 
 the temple of home ; the faithful teacher, opening 
 daily the doors into the halls of knowledge ; the in- 
 valid in her chamber, interpreting trust and patience 
 in the smile that hides her pain ; the white - haired 
 man, whose years of fidelity to his trusts rest on 
 him like a benediction, and whose Christian hope
 
 CRUSADES AND CRUSADERS. 399 
 
 makes the brightness of the other world mingle 
 with the shadows of this ; all these are so many 
 sources out of which the elements shall come that 
 pass into the public opinion of the future. The 
 feeblest tone in which any true soul, however 
 humble, may speak, will surely enter into and af- 
 fect that majestic and imperial voice with which the 
 united convictions of the people shall one day utter 
 themselves, when public opinion has become the 
 mightiest earthly law - giver, and its word of bless- 
 ing or of blight comes sounding down from the 
 Gerizim or the Ebal of the future, as the infinite 
 justice of God framed into the common speech of 
 men. 
 
 VI. 
 
 CRUSADES AND CRUSADERS. 
 
 There are certain great epochs and movements in 
 history that stand for almost everything important 
 in the record of the human race. However great 
 and frequent may be the changes about us, it is still 
 true that : " History is forever repeating itself," or 
 as another, long before, put it : "There is nothing 
 new under the sun." 
 
 We find that that movement in Europe during the 
 middle ages, known as the Crusades, in its under-
 
 4OO GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 lying ideas and principles, keeps on through centu- 
 ries, and is felt to - day in the life of America ; and 
 that the spirit which impelled those old actors lives 
 and works in the stern, stirring souls about us, 
 whose words, like Luther's, are " half -battles," and 
 whose deeds are making history. 
 
 Let us go back to the latter part of the eleventh 
 century. The kings, not caring just then to fight, 
 are plotting in their palaces ; the princes are nurs- 
 ing their ambition ; nobles and barons quarrel with 
 each other for more territory, and plunder and cheat 
 their vassals ; the Pope carries himself with a lordly 
 air ; the priests here fawn and there tyrannize ; the 
 monasteries keep some learning, but more vices ; 
 dead ecclesiastics seem fast changing to saints, 
 while the living tell a truth too obvious to be ques- 
 tioned when they call themselves " miserable sin- 
 ners ;" the great mass of the people are poor, ignor- 
 ant, superstitious, with weak consciences and fiery 
 passions, whose hopes for this world are as small as 
 their hopes for the other are extravagant. There is 
 no general war ; the popular fury gathers strength, 
 and is ready to flame out and smite wherever a skill- 
 ful hand shall come to stir and direct it. There is a 
 pause as if the world were waiting for something ; 
 and it comes. The day of the Crusades dawns, 
 whose history becomes marked by wild fanaticism, 
 frightful loss of human life, deeds of romance and 
 valor ; fraught with great political and moral 
 changes. 
 
 Peter the Hermit, after inflaming the zeal of the
 
 CRUSADES AND CRUSADERS. 40! 
 
 nobles and the people by preaching a crusade 
 against the Mohammedans who had possessed them- 
 selves of Jerusalem, not waiting for thorough 
 organization, set out at the head of a vast rabble of 
 fanatics. A great pyramid of human bones, near 
 the city of Nice, in Asia Minor, was the chief 
 monument left to tell their disastrous story. 
 
 The real crusaders departed from Europe a year 
 later. They represented considerable intelligence, 
 strength, valor and discipline. No king joined 
 them in person. The German emperor was 
 not disposed to do it ; Philip I. of France, like most 
 of his successors, was busy with his pleasures;. 
 William Rufus of England was gathering the spoils 
 of a recent conflict ; the kings of Spain had their 
 hands full of domestic strifes ; the monarchs of 
 Northern Europe had not felt the fire and passion of 
 the South. But the expedition was headed by sev- 
 eral eminent feudal princes. There was Godfrey of 
 Bouillon, a lineal descendant of Charlemagne, famil- 
 iar with war, bold, chivalric, high - toned, prudent, 
 and moderate ; with a piety deep and sincere even 
 if it was sometimes half blind ; who practiced a 
 convert's virtues even in the soldier's camp. He 
 was a man who kept the confidence of his jealous 
 associates and even the esteem of his enemies. 
 There was Robert of Normandy, son of William 
 the Conqueror, sometimes frivolous and self-indul- 
 gent, but a man born to command and a hero in bat- 
 tle ; and Raymond, Count of Toulouse, a veteran 
 warrior, and who knew how to mould a mob into an
 
 4O2 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 army; and Bohemond, a Norman prince, cool, pol- 
 itic, whose passion only made his judgment more 
 quick and sure, at once a shrewd diplomatist and a 
 thorough master of strategy. These were captains 
 worthy of the name, and they had subordinates 
 whose alliance brought power. 
 
 The forces led by these princes numbered 600,- 
 <ooo foot, 100,000 well mounted troops, besides a 
 great multitude of priests, monks, women, children 
 and marauders. Many of these fell away before 
 passing the limits of their own country ; a great 
 host left their bones bleaching all the way to Jeru- 
 salem. " Europe was loosened from its foundations 
 .and hurled against Asia." Only a handful came 
 back to their homes. We can not here follow their 
 painful story of hardships in famine and sieges, 
 of losses in battle, till they captured the Holy City 
 in 1099. 
 
 When Edessa fell into the hands of the Turks, 
 in 1145, a second crusade was preached by the 
 famous St. Bernard. But the great armies that 
 were gathered and led by royal captains were 
 broken, weakened, scattered, repelled; and disap- 
 peared at length like a wave spent on the sloping 
 beach. 
 
 Then the great Saladin arose in the East, and at 
 length gave Jerusalem back to its former masters ; 
 the great church of Omar was consecrated a 
 mosque, and the crescent supplanted the cross. 
 
 The fall of Jerusalem gave rise to the third cru- 
 sade. This, and the five crusades which followed
 
 CRUSADES AND CRUSADERS. 403 
 
 it, at longer or shorter intervals, ended in disaster 
 and defeat ; and before the I3th century closed, this 
 strange and significant movement in history had 
 ended. In the meanwhile, and in the I3th century, 
 occurred that strangely pathetic episode, the 
 children's crusade, in which 40,000 children, of 
 both sexes, miserably perished, some in slavery, 
 others by famine or by violence, while many met 
 even a more terrible fate. 
 
 What valuable ends did the Crusades secure? 
 All such movements have a deep meaning and 
 teach needed lessons. Through the motley and 
 tangled web of human plans and policies there ever 
 runs a divine purpose gleaming like a thread of gold, 
 so that the wrath of man is made to syllable God's 
 praise. And these crusades served hitman welfare. 
 More or less sensual souls were lifted and inspired 
 by a great and sacred idea, and were ennobled by 
 it. The isolated peoples of Europe were brought in- 
 to closer and more vital relations. The eastern and 
 western nations stood face to face ; and, as is usually 
 the case, acquaintance melted away prejudice, and 
 Moslem and Christian came to think of each other 
 less as monsters and reprobates. The two civiliza- 
 tions, the Greek and Saracenic, furnished the Euro- 
 peans new ideas which they found worthy to be 
 wrought into their own institutions. Especially 
 did European commerce thus receive the strongest 
 impulse that had yet come to it. The old Greek lit- 
 erature and art were laid open to the inspection of 
 European observers, and became active and strong
 
 404 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 elements in the later culture. The policy, the 
 power and the spirit of the papal court were also 
 brought to public notice, so that it could afterward 
 be judged and dealt with in an intelligent way. If 
 Jerusalem still lay in shadow, Rome was unveiled. 
 And so the fruitless struggle to sanctify the sacred 
 sepulchre was a long step toward the great Reforma- 
 tion in the very lands whence the crusades sprang. 
 
 The crusading spirit is not a thing of one period 
 or people. In its essential quality, though ever 
 changing its forms, it runs through the ages and 
 visits all lands. It appears in the ipth century as 
 well as in the i2th, and it finds a theatre in the new 
 world as well as in the old. The traveler of to - 
 day, who visits Jerusalem at the time of the great 
 church festivals, finds much to remind him of the old 
 life we have been describing. The Church of the 
 Holy Sepulchre is still a shrine, and at the time of 
 Easter, there are usually as many pilgrims in and 
 about Jerusalem as citizens, that is, 20,000. Be- 
 neath that one roof, and separated only by open 
 colonnades or slight railings, the Greek, the Latin, 
 the Armenian and the Coptic churches have their 
 chapels and holy places and shrines ; and every 
 land where any form of the Christian faith has a 
 foothold, sends up its quota of pilgrims, whose great 
 life - longing has been to visit this holy place once 
 before death, perform their vow, atone for their 
 sins, get a quickening for the sluggish soul, and 
 vivify the hope of heaven. It is a strange, suggest- 
 ive, and often a touching sight to see them come in,
 
 CRUSADES AND CRUSADERS. 405 
 
 even singly and alone ; but far more so to stand by 
 the way -side and let the strange procession file by. 
 Some move on with bowed heads, and faces worn 
 into furrows by the long - lived griefs they now 
 hope to cure ; others proceed with a calm and 
 thoughtful silence, as if awed by the sanctities to 
 which they are drawing near ; there is a young and 
 gleeful girl gazing with eager eye as though she 
 saw the gates which opened into a long holiday for 
 body and spirit ; and here is a pilgrim full of the 
 spasmodic energy and restless fire which proclaim 
 the enthusiast, whose experience is a series of vol- 
 canic eruptions, and whose life is ready to be mar- 
 ried to any wild undertaking, whether it calls for de- 
 voutness or despotism. They are all crowding to 
 the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, into which they 
 long to look as a means of scattering the shadows 
 from their own inevitable graves. What thoughts 
 they awaken by their aspect, and what sermons 
 they preach through their silence ! And, though 
 one is sorry to tell it, I was present at the church 
 on the Sunday morning when the Latin Christians 
 were celebrating Easter, while the Greeks, only a 
 few feet away, keeping a different chronology, 
 were going through the services of Palm Sunday ; 
 and it did seem as though the fervor and sonorous- 
 ness of both parties were greatly increased by the 
 mutual hatreds felt and the determination of each 
 to drown out the chantings and prayers of the other. 
 The faces certainly had more scowls than sanctity. 
 And it is not a very unfrequent thing that the rival
 
 406 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 Christian sects come to disputes and violent blows 
 in the church itself, especially in connection with 
 the drama of the crucifixion, so that the Mohamme- 
 dan guard must needs keep the combatants apart 
 with their swords, to prevent bloodshed and possible 
 murder. One finds thus that the old spirit underly- 
 ing the crusades yet lives ; and recalls the story of 
 the little girl, who, disturbed in her evening prayer 
 by her mischievous brother tickling her neck with a 
 feather, suddenly improvised the petition: "O 
 Lord, excuse me just a minute, while I kick Fred." 
 
 Crusades in this century have special features. 
 We plan and execute in haste. We force ideas to 
 maturity. Among peoples that harness steam to 
 their carriages and use the lightning to talk with ; 
 in an age when Prussia throttles Austria in six 
 weeks, and crushes the military power of France in 
 half a year, crusades are sure to be intense and are 
 likely to be brief. Neither America nor Europe 
 would work two hundred years over the problem of 
 gaining or keeping a small city, even if it held a 
 gold mine instead of a grave. 
 
 But our crusades are real things. They too 
 have various elements, the sublime, and ludi- 
 crous, and pathetic. They are natural products of 
 human nature and life. They are often agencies in 
 the hand of Providence to do real and needful 
 work. Men need at times to act in masses, in- 
 spired by a common thought and purpose. You 
 say, perhaps, that silent forces which come like 
 morning through the gates of the East to unveil ere-
 
 CRUSADES AND CRUSADERS. 407 
 
 ation, or like summer from the South to change 
 barrenness into beauty, and that single characters 
 and lives that carry with them the atmosphere of 
 heaven, do the best work of the world. Yes, very 
 likely. But the tempest and the inundation have 
 their part to play when miasma and drouth are suf- 
 fered, as well as the cooling breeze and the summer 
 dew. If God's word is chiefly heard in the still, 
 small voice, the earthquake and the fire are often 
 needed to awe us into silence and get us ready to 
 listen. You can undermine or honeycomb or wear 
 out by patience some evils ; you can dissolve others 
 in charity as the gulf stream melts down the ice- 
 bergs it can not keep back in the arctic seas. But 
 there are others that must be stormed by an army of 
 heroes, or beaten into pieces as Niagara shatters 
 the ice - fields from the lake into minute crystals or 
 sheets of foam. 
 
 It would be pleasant and profitable to follow the 
 course of the crusade of science against supersti- 
 tion ; of labor against capital and monopolies ; of 
 the public school against popular ignorance; of 
 philanthropy against the brutalities of penal laws 
 and prison discipline ; of conscience and the humane 
 instinct against the liquor traffic ; of enlightened states- 
 manship against the barbarism of war; of Christian 
 faith against the idolatrous heathenism of every 
 land. These are great undertakings ; there are 
 strong reasons behind them ; they are animated by 
 high purposes .; they have their excesses as well as 
 their considerate movements ; and each can present
 
 408 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 a list of leaders that embody the sublime strength or 
 the pitiable weaknesses which set forth human nature, 
 and which sometimes antagonize in the single soul. 
 Science is not something to be sneered at or to be 
 dreaded. Its work is vast, varied, wonderful, be- 
 neficent. It is weighing the planets, analyzing the 
 sun, making each dumb and stony - lipped mount- 
 ain eloquent and impressive ; it is filling the water - 
 drop with teeming life and showing us the germ of 
 a world in an atom ; it is resolving our coal - fields 
 into sunbeams and showing the oneness of heat 
 and motion ; it is giving the winds a captain and 
 making the lightning man's docile servant ; it is 
 bridging the ages with solid facts, and bringing 
 what seemed the most wayward and wandering 
 phenomena within the embrace of law ; it is illus- 
 trating the majesty of man and interpreting the in- 
 finity of God. It is not for Christian men to de- 
 nounce it as the soul's greatest peril. Rather, it 
 should be heard with candor by the church and 
 welcomed as an ally by the pulpit. If it fairly dis- 
 proves a cherished opinion, let the opinion go. 
 What do any of us want of a falsehood, but to has- 
 ten with it to burial? If it shows that truth really 
 requires us to modify our creed, no matter wheth- 
 er that creed was built up by our own hands or in- 
 herited from the earlier centuries, we may well 
 thank it for having taught us. It may reach and 
 open sepulchres where great truths lie buried, roll 
 away the stone, and set them free to walk the earth 
 .as ministers of light and givers of blessing.
 
 CRUSADES AND CRUSADERS. 409 
 
 And yet, do not scientific crusaders at times go 
 beyond their province? Coming into the domain 
 of Christian faith and experience, and applying 
 physical tests to spiritual nature and life, are they 
 not guilty of impertinence? They can dissect a 
 muscle ; but, with all their crucibles and re - agents, 
 can they analyze a purpose ? Because they can fol- 
 low a cell all the way up to a complex organism, 
 must we admit that their microscopes enable them 
 to trace an infant's soul up to its outcome in a Chris- 
 tian character? A convolution of the brain is an un- 
 doubted fact ; but an affection of the heart, reach- 
 ing out to a mother or springing up to the Great 
 Parent in heaven, is another fact, not less solid and 
 far more vital, though it lies beyond the material- 
 ist's realm. Because he finds infinite force working 
 by law, we can not justify him in calling us to at- 
 tend the funeral of the great, personal God. Be- 
 cause he has deciphered some striking inscriptions 
 on the rocks, we can not quietly allow him to take 
 away the old family Bible. When a man has long 
 wrestled with his passion and his accusing con- 
 science, and been always mastered, and then, seek- 
 ing higher aid than human, has heard a voice like 
 that over storm - tossed Gennesaret, saying, ' ' Peace, 
 be still," and so found calmness and liberty ; when 
 a baffled and weary toiler, whose hands begin to 
 droop and whose heart is ready to despair, catches 
 that sentence ringing across the ages like the music 
 of silver bells, " Come unto me, all ye that labor 
 and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," and
 
 4IO GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 feels the load daily lightening, and the heart, 
 eased of its fear and fever, settling into healthy 
 repose ; when a large - souled woman, going back 
 from the grave - yard to what was her home, 
 widowed and childless, and straining her eyes 
 to look through the darkness and tears, reads the 
 simple sentence, " Of such is the kingdom of 
 heaven," and so learns to take up her life-work 
 again with a smile, and carry it patiently to the end 
 for which she is now quite content to wait ; when a 
 sunny - spirited girl, to whom life is like a rythmic 
 poem or the breaking out of a rose - bud into flower, 
 stands face to face with death, and feels her soul 
 going out alone into the Hereafter which no mortal 
 has fathomed, and yet turns earthward an instant 
 with lit eye and rapt face to whisper, ", I know that 
 my Redeemer liveth," " Thanks be to God who 
 giveth us the victory," and so passes silently and 
 sublimely on ; when such experiences of soul- life 
 appear, as they often do, is it for men to come in the 
 name of materialistic science and tell us that these 
 are only feverish fancies that evaporate in the chem- 
 ist's crucible, or beautiful myths born of a disorder- 
 ed brain? No, a thousand times, No! We will 
 hear the experimentist who keeps to his province, 
 but we may well turn away from the philosopher 
 who begins by sending the Lord into exile and 
 striking down the deepest instincts and divinest ex- 
 periences of the soul. Such crusaders must change 
 their programme and reconstruct their policy or 
 they will never come back with victory blazing on
 
 CRUSADES AND CRUSADERS. 41 1 
 
 their banners, nor receive any popular following. 
 
 It is natural to wish for an active part in some 
 crusade that aims to overthrow a huge wrong and 
 publicly enthrone a great truth. We read of them 
 in history, or think of them in society, and long to 
 share in the quickening and the glory that appear 
 to be theirs. Ambitious and generous souls 
 alike share this craving. It may be wholesome and 
 a virtue ; or it may lack wisdom and carry no prom- 
 ise. But a noble, glad and fruitful life does not de- 
 pend on marching with a great host that moves with 
 the tread and banners of an army. There are real 
 crusaders, who wear no outward badge and walk 
 .with no multitude. Whoever keeps the right heart 
 and the high purpose is really marshaled and count- 
 ed in the. great host at whose head God's Providence 
 marches. 
 
 What is wanted to make up a real crusade? 
 Several things : a keen inner eye, and a sensitive 
 heart, to see and feel the organized lie that is to be 
 supplanted by the apprehended truth ; an enlist- 
 ment of consenting minds and dedicated energies ; 
 the spirit that takes needed trial and hardship as 
 .Christ took his cross; leaders with brain and 
 character ; a vital faith in the idea to be enthron- 
 ed, and in the divine might which assures success. 
 Leave out any one of these elements, and the 
 movement may prove a failure, an abortion, a 
 farce, a thing for the centuries to laugh at. Let all 
 these things be present in any great movement, and 
 in time it will silence ridicule, defy criticism, belie
 
 412 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 hostile prophecy, master opposition, and become the 
 royal force of its period. Let even common men 
 join in such a movement, and they will be lifted and 
 kindled. Men get from it more than they give. 
 While our late struggle for union and liberty was 
 prostituted here and there to the basest ends, and 
 not a few pure souls were tainted to the core by it, 
 there were those who went out pieces of human 
 drift - wood and came back clear - eyed patriots and 
 resolute actors. Thus wedded to what is ennobling, 
 visions come to men that make their eyes gleam like 
 a prophet's ; they read their triumphs in disasters as 
 from the page of an illuminated book ; and they are 
 not likely to return with trailing banners, or scars 
 in the back, or a tale of defeat. That is a truth rec- 
 ognized by the ages. " Hitch your wagon to a 
 star, and you can not miss the road over which he- 
 roes go to their thrones," cries the transcendental 
 Emerson. It is but the forcible echo of what was 
 said again and again through the lips of Hebrew 
 prophets long centuries before. Lowell has turned 
 the real Crusader's soul inside out for us in a single 
 stanza : 
 
 " Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record 
 One great struggle in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the 
 
 Word ; 
 
 Right forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne ; 
 But tint scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown 
 Standeth God within the shadow,keeping watch above his own." 
 
 We have had our crusades and crusaders here so 
 lately that they are fresh things. Some of them
 
 CRUSADES AND CRUSADERS. 413 
 
 are at hand even now. There is the crusade against 
 the injustice embodied in our system of slavery. It 
 had all the strong and better elements, and some of 
 the weaker and worse. It is a familiar story, but 
 full of meaning. The great actors were many, with 
 familiar names, quite too many for the roll -call 
 here. How they crowd upon the thought ! Phil- 
 lips, with lion heart and golden lips ; Channing, 
 with piercing conscience and saintly soul ; Lovejoy, 
 putting the crown of martyrdom on his quiet 
 bravery ; Giddings, that human warhorse, always 
 roused by the scent of far - off- battle ; Mrs. Child, 
 mastering with her woman's sympathy what had 
 grown defiant before masculine logic ; Sumner, first 
 painting American barbarism, and then so 
 smitten down by it as to prove the accuracy of his 
 picture ; Hale, fashioning thunderbolts with his 
 strong logic and scattering hatreds with his genial 
 humor. We can not pass by him who preached 
 the Anti - Slavery crusade in New England not 
 less impressively than Peter preached in Europe. 
 How the words come back to us now, written in the 
 Boston printing office while he was yet a young 
 man, in response to a public caution against sever- 
 ity and a warning against the results of rashness : 
 " I will be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising 
 as justice. I will not extenuate ; I will not ex- 
 cuse ; I will not retreat a single inch ; and I will be 
 heard." That early word of Garrison's was the 
 key - note of the struggle whose end he lived to see, 
 though not till our ideas had been put into Parrott
 
 414 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 guns and minie rifles with gunpowder behind them, 
 and drawn out into sword - points with strong arms 
 to make them penetrate. Then the Bastile fell be- 
 fore the crusaders, and the despotism found a grave 
 over which breaks no promise of a resurrection. 
 
 The old world, too, bears its part in this crusade 
 against the oppression of the people, and has found 
 noble leaders ; Cobden, the patient and wise re- 
 former ; Bright, the incarnate thunder - tone in 
 which millions of working men's voices condense 
 themselves; Kossuth, through whose lips Hungary 
 sent her piteous and majestic cry to the continents ; 
 Mazzini, that embodied dream of a regenerated 
 Italy ; Castelar, the statesman - orator, struggling 
 to bring republican order out of the chaos which 
 Bourbonism left as its chief legacy to Spain. It is 
 a grand crusade, whose hosts stretch through cen- 
 turies, whose leaders exalt humanity, and whose 
 end means justice supreme in all lands. 
 
 In the great crusade that aims to pull down the 
 Wrong and build up the Right, every true - hearted 
 worker has a part. The sphere may be humble, the 
 lot lowly, the tasks of the commonest sort, the days 
 may go by quietly, the life - story may be unknown 
 to the great world. The years may be spent in fol- 
 lowing the plow, in handling the saw and plane, be- 
 fore the mast on the ship's deck, in hammering iron 
 into fresh shapes and uses, in work behind the 
 counter, in bending over the sewing machine, in 
 the routine of domestic cares, in keeping the spin- 
 dle busy and the loom productive, in opening the
 
 CRUSADES AND CRUSADERS. 415 
 
 mysteries of the spelling - book to little children, in 
 allaying the fever and soothing the pain of the sick 
 room, in carrying the load of bodily weakness with 
 a brave soul and a patient sweetness ; life may be 
 thus devoted, and yet if the true spirit is kept active, 
 the very humblest of such workers is made by Prov- 
 idence a vital part of that crusading force before 
 which the oldest tyrannies and the most audacious 
 evils must surely give way. 
 
 Not to gain and watch around the tomb of a dead 
 Messiah in some distant land does this host organ- 
 ize and march and struggle ; but to diffuse every- 
 where the quickening spirit of Him who was dead 
 but is alive forevermore, whose sure victories are 
 healing instead of hurting, and whose final conquest 
 blossoms out in the concord of nations. Thus carry- 
 ing on our better crusade with the hero's heart and 
 the believer's aspiration, this picture of Longfellow's 
 shall be no morbid dream, but a blessed waking 
 vision daily changing into fact : 
 
 Down the deep future, through long generations, 
 The sounds of strife grow fainter and then cease ; 
 
 And like a bell, with solemn, sweet vibrations, 
 I hear once more the voice of Christ say," Peace ! "
 
 416 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 VII. 
 ANGLO - SAXON : THE OLD AND THE NEW.* 
 
 We find the older forms of the Anglo-Saxon 
 element in history and language, and its chief home 
 in England. We find the newer phases in actual 
 and prospective life, and its later sphere especially 
 American. We study both history and language 
 more and in better ways than formerly. We have 
 fresher text -books, and more quickening teachers. 
 Grote and Gibbon, Macaulay and Motley, Buckle 
 and Froude, Bunsen and Guizot, have made his- 
 tory quite another thing. We are not now treated 
 to dry details, to prolix and tedious narrations, to 
 stiff pictures of the court and cloister, the conspira- 
 cies and campaigns, the bullying and the battles. 
 Now, to read a page of the historian is often like 
 opening a gallery of splendid portraits, where we 
 look into the very faces of the leading actors of by- 
 gone times and buried nations. The departed years 
 seem to come back at our bidding, and the dead 
 live anew, to turn a new leaf is like unrolling a 
 vast panorama, where whole generations sweep by 
 in an eager procession, impelled more by the hand 
 of Providence than by the force of the will. The 
 various nations clasp hands. The whole race 
 is seen to be a unit. The products of life at 
 
 *Purely historical matter and also extensive poetical illustrations, in 
 certain ways necessary to the popular lecture, are omitted here.
 
 ANGLO-SAXON: THE OLD AND THE NEW. 417 
 
 one period appear as the outcome of seed scattered 
 centuries before. The most remote lands are 
 bound to each other by a thousand ties. The latest 
 civilization is seen thrusting its roots into the grave 
 of the earliest. History, read in this way, becomes 
 at once teacher, inspirer and prophet ; man rises .in 
 dignity ; society is a wondrous growth, and God's 
 Providence takes on new majesty. 
 
 Since Schlegel and Grimm, Turner and Latham, 
 Max Miiller, Craik, Marsh and Whitney have put 
 us upon the study of Comparative Philology, we find 
 a meaning in language such as the old dictionary 
 and grammar never suggested. It is no longer a 
 mere mechanical instrument, or a set of accepted 
 symbols, but an organism, a growth, a living thing. 
 
 The people that used it poured into it their life - 
 blood and gave it a soul. It registers the changes 
 through which their life has passed. It still carries 
 all their beautiful fancies as though they were fresh 
 blossoms. It swells with their great hopes. It 
 keeps the soldier's battle-cry and enshrines his 
 valor. The mother's lullabies run through it like a 
 thread of melody. It catches up the laughter of little 
 children, who made music in the household, and 
 sends it ringing down the centuries. 
 
 Wherever a new tide of life has come into a land, 
 the language marks the precise point which it 
 reaches, as the Nilometer at Cairo marks the rise of 
 the great river that holds the great desert at bay and 
 makes Egypt a garden. Reading the literature and 
 analyzing the speech of an extinct people, we pos-
 
 418 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 sess more than half their secrets ; we know 
 even their rarer experiences ; and we read their 
 character as the geologist reads off the condition 
 of the earth in a remote period by looking over the 
 fossils in a museum. 
 
 Borne over from its Teutonic home in lower Ger- 
 many, the Saxon element roots itself in the English 
 soil, crowding out or taking up the Celtic elements 
 which still tarry, and working them into its own or- 
 ganism. The sunshine of the Christian faith falls 
 upon it, making it less rough and more flexible. 
 It takes the deposit which the Danish invasion 
 brings, and, although warped and hindered, it 
 grows still. It bends and shivers when the Norman 
 avalanche comes thundering down upon coast and 
 midland, but it is not uprooted, and it will not die ; 
 nay, it shows fresh vigor and bears ampler fruit. 
 
 It starts out for a broader sphere in the new world, 
 and finds it. Clasping its roots about Plymouth 
 Rock, it pushes its branches on across the continent, 
 and stops for no rest till, descending the slopes of 
 the Sierra Nevada, it is checked by the waves of 
 the Pacific. Certainly, in all this it shows its tough- 
 ness, its tenacity, its power of assimilation, and so 
 proves the strength of its life, and prophesies its 
 victorious future. 
 
 Turning now to the English Language, we shall 
 find that the Anglo-Saxon element is not less pow- 
 erful and important than it has been in English his- 
 tory. 
 
 As the Anglo-Saxons were a branch of the Old
 
 ANGLO - SAXON : THE OLD AND THE NEW. 419 
 
 Teutonic family, so their language, when they 
 made themselves masters of England, was a branch 
 of the Old Teutonic tongue. 
 
 Less than forty words can now be found in our 
 tongue that were used by the early Britons. The 
 Danish invasion added a small stock of words, but 
 they were neither numerous nor important enough 
 to produce any marked effect. The missionaries 
 brought in the Latin tongue, for this was the lan- 
 guage of scholars throughout Europe, and held 
 nearly all the ecclesiastical learning of the time. 
 But as few of the Saxons were scholars, it was not 
 much used among the people, but remained in the 
 cloister or circulated in the narrow circles of the' 
 learned few. 
 
 But the Norman conquest brought a change in 
 speech as well as in general life. The language 
 used by these Normans at this time was what is 
 known as Norman- French, differing from other 
 French only by having more or less Scandinavian 
 words mixed with it, which they had brought from 
 their home in the North. This Norman, or Nor- 
 man-French, came originally from the Latin. 
 
 After the fall of the Roman Empire, some centu- 
 ries before, the old Latin language, which had been 
 spoken in Italy, became broken into fragments, and 
 gave rise to the family of languages known as the 
 Romance, of which the modern Italian, the Span- 
 ish, the Portuguese and the French are the chief 
 members. It was the French, coming from the 
 shattered Latin, and lacking the finish of the
 
 42O GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 French of to-day, which these conquering Nor- 
 mans brought into England. They meant to root 
 out the Saxon tongue and put their own in its place. 
 But these plucky and defiant Saxons utterly refused 
 to give up their native speech and use that of their 
 hated conquerors. And so the two languages 
 fought for life and supremacy. The Normans were 
 the rulers, and they tried the virtue of law and co- 
 ercion. Only the Norman tongue was used at 
 court, in camp, in parliament, in the baron's hall or 
 the lady's boudoir. In this language the laws were 
 written, and all judicial proceedings conducted. 
 No civil contract was binding, no man could sue or 
 be sued, no right could be enforced, no wrong re- 
 dressed, no favor won, except in the language of 
 the governing race. The first step for every Saxon 
 serf who wished to rise to anything like equality 
 with his Norman neighbor, was to forget his moth- 
 er tongue and train his lips to the speech of his for- 
 eign masters. 
 
 The Normans inhabited the towns, managed the 
 markets, held most of the money, and kept the mas- 
 tery of trade. The Saxons dwelt in the country, 
 tilled the soil, furnished the supplies and talked in 
 the old speech. So that, while this state of things 
 lasted, there were three distinct languages in use. 
 The Latin was used in the schools, and among the 
 scholars in the church ; the Norman at the court, 
 the bar and the market ; the Saxon over the wide 
 domain of rural life. And yet these different class- 
 es mingled with some freedom.
 
 ANGLO-SAXON: THE OLD AND THE NEW. 421 
 
 When at length it became obvious that the Nor- 
 mans would stay and that the Saxons would not be 
 vassals, these two diverse tongues became welded 
 into one language, just as the two peoples became 
 welded into one nation ; but the tongues were 
 never fused any more than the peoples, lor it 
 is very easy to trace the lines that separate 
 them even now. And, as the Saxons were far 
 more numerous and wide - spread than the Nor- 
 mans, and as their language had enjoyed a foot- 
 hold for some centuries, the Saxon became the 
 basis and body of the English language which re* 
 suited from the union, and through all changes it 
 remains such to this day. 
 
 The Anglo - Saxon element of our language is 
 that which belongs to domestic life. It is the native 
 speech of love, and trust, and hope. The strongest 
 passion speaks in this dialect. The hero's watch- 
 words are Saxon, and so are the terms in which we 
 naturally tell of his bravest and noblest deeds. The 
 cry of a struggling soul to Heaven is wont to go up 
 in this style of speech ; for it echoes the publican's 
 plea, " God be merciful to me a sinner ; " and the 
 highest word of faith, whether it be watching 
 through the long, starless night, or meeting the last 
 earthly foe, is spoken in the old Saxon tongue, for 
 we hear it sounding still, " Though he slay me, yet 
 will I trust in him!" "O Death, where is thy 
 sting?" 
 
 Anglo-Saxon speech is simple, clear, strong, di- 
 rect ; sometimes blunt, pungent, audacious, it may
 
 422 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 be, but often wondrously rich, sweet and tender. 
 To hear it brings up the image of one who means 
 just what he says, who looks you straight in the 
 eye, who wastes no time nor breath in his talk. Men 
 who live by plotting, and speak with a double 
 meaning, do not use it. Diplomacy, finesse and 
 coquetry are chiefly carried on in Latin and Nor- 
 man. It always reaches the brain and heart of the 
 common people, for it is their own speech to the 
 manor born ; and he who would sway the masses 
 of men by his words, will find here the hiding place 
 of his power. 
 
 That part of our language which comes from the 
 Latin, is the language of a class. It is the dialect 
 of scholars, who give up a greater boon for a less. 
 It seems unfortunate that educated men, who do so 
 much to fix our habits of speech, should draw so 
 largely on the Latin, and let go that which is both 
 native and better. There is this apology for them. 
 They are earl}'- put upon the study of Latin, just 
 when the mental habits are forming and the whole 
 mind is plastic. Many of them form the habit of 
 using terms that came from the old classic tongue, 
 and learn to love it, not wisely but too well, and so 
 keep using it from choice. Or if, in later years, 
 they see the special value of the old Anglo- Saxon, 
 they find it hard to throw off fixed habits, and strug- 
 gle for simplicity with only partial success for the 
 rest of life. 
 
 We do not mean to condemn to hopeless exile the 
 great mass of words that have come to us from for-
 
 ANGLO - SAXON : THE OLD AND THE NEW. 423 
 
 eign tongues. They have come through our seek- 
 ing, have been naturalized, and rendered us large 
 service. Let them stay as a matter of justice and 
 profit. The English language is really larger in its 
 capacity for the presence of these foreign elements. 
 Every one of them brings its quota of wealth, and 
 pours it into our speech until the English language 
 of to-day is unequalled in resources and power. 
 Though less simple and harder to master than it 
 would otherwise have been, it has become a mag- 
 nificent instrument of thought. Its vocabulary is 
 wonderfully full. It well represents many tongues, 
 living and dead. Its capacity and its invasions 
 have made its wealth enormous. As another result 
 of having many foreign words, it is especially rich 
 in synonyms. As a single example, take the word 
 s/iine, meaning to emit light, and observe what a 
 list of words express the same general idea, though 
 each has a shade of meaning peculiar to itself. 
 We have beam, blaze, coruscate, dazzle, flame, 
 flare, flash, glare, gleam, -glitter, glisten, glister, 
 glow, illume, illuminate, irradiate, schimmer, scin- 
 tillate and sparkle. For large and varied power, 
 our tongue may safely challenge comparison with 
 all the tongues of history, since it has been thus en- 
 riched from these many sources. 
 
 Other languages do indeed excel it in single 
 qualities. The Greek has more artistic finish ; the 
 Latin has more stateliness ; the Italian more mel- 
 ody ; the French more spirit and grace ; the Ger- 
 man more calm strength ; but not one of them can
 
 424 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 call the roll of all those qualities that go to make a 
 tongue the pliant and adequate instrument of royal 
 minds, like the language in which Shakespeare 
 painted humanity, and Bacon mapped out the 
 realm of thought, and Milton sang of Paradise. 
 
 There is a class of minds and themes that seem 
 to need the stately Latin element of the language 
 in which to appear, and the dress adds to their 
 majesty. We follow Hooker, when he points 
 out the sphere and the work of law, as we 
 follow the march of constellations across the 
 sky, wondering and adoring all the while. To 
 read Gibbon's Fall of the Roman Empire is like list- 
 ening to the swell of the sea as it comes rolling in 
 upon the beach, wave thundering upon wave, over- 
 leaping its barriers and mocking at man's pride and 
 power. And when Chalmers is at the height of his 
 enthusiasm, pouring out his magnificent periods in 
 his discourses on Astronomy, one feels as if he 
 were hearing the grander passages of an oratorio 
 from the great Freiburg organ pulsing along the 
 nave of the cathedral till the burden of solemn joy 
 is almost too great to be borne. So much may be 
 said in behalf of the foreign elements that have min- 
 gled with our native English speech. 
 
 The words that cling closest to the memory are 
 of this kind. Milton freely borrows speech from 
 the Latin, which he knew so well, when, in his ma- 
 jestic prose, he writes his defense of the English 
 people and pleads for the liberty of the press ; but 
 when, as Macaulay puts it, he "soars with his
 
 ANGLO - SAXON .* THE OLD AND THE NEW. 42$ 
 
 singing robes about him," it is a Saxon melody that 
 trembles in the upper air and fills the heart of the 
 centuries with ecstacy. Dickens sometimes mar- 
 shals his sentences after the old Roman style, when 
 his theme is general or remote ; but it is the raciest 
 Saxon in which he gives us the unique and con- 
 tagious wit of Sam Weller, and with which he 
 melts us to tears around the grave of Little Nell. 
 Tennyson draws on his classical learning at times, 
 and then we listen to him as to the artistic passages 
 in a symphony ; but his poems of the heart, such as 
 the May Queen and Enoch Arden, appear in the 
 very dialect that he heard dropping from his moth- 
 er's lips, when he was a child. It is the Saxon 
 that holds Webster's massive ideas ; it is the Saxon 
 that carries the quaint and incisive thought of Lin- 
 coln, making us admire and quote his pithy sayings, 
 while we venerate his martyred manliness. It is 
 the Saxon that lights up the simple but splendid or- 
 atory and points the calm but terrible invective of 
 Phillips. It is the Saxon that rings out like a 
 smith's hammer on the anvil, or like the peals of 
 the old independence bell, in Whittier's songs of la- 
 bor and liberty. 
 
 We can only glance at the Anglo-Saxon element 
 in life. Time has mingled this element with others. 
 Saxon and Norman blood flow in the same veins. 
 Saxon and Norman words unite in the same sen- 
 tence and to express a common thought. But the 
 lines which divide them are not all effaced. In 
 England the ruling classes are largely Norman.
 
 426 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 But the Saxon force gains in influence, wins its 
 rights, and mounts to position. It is mostly Saxon 
 brain that invents and Saxon muscle that builds. 
 Trade and commerce are passing under Saxon con- 
 trol. And steadily the Saxon element is rising to 
 the place of political authority. It is this that re- 
 peals Corn Laws ; that widens the sphere of the 
 ballot, that sends men up to every Parliament to 
 speak and act for the people, that is steadily cut- 
 ting the cords that bind church and state, that is 
 fashioning a true public school system, that 
 makes and unmakes Cabinets. 
 
 In that great recent struggle on the continent, be- 
 fore which the world stood dumb with surprise, we 
 see a contest between almost precisely the same 
 forces that wrestled 1400 years ago for the posses- 
 sion of England. In both cases it is the Teuton 
 against the Celt. The period and the names have 
 changed, but substantially the same races are fight- 
 ing, and with very similar results. In the fifth cen- 
 tury we call it the Saxon against the Briton, 
 and the Briton goes down crushed in his own fields, 
 forests and hamlets. In the nineteenth century we 
 call it the German against the Frenchman ; and the 
 Frenchman staggers and yields under the shock of 
 disciplined strength, surrenders his strongest fortress 
 to escape the final fury of the storm ; gives up his 
 beleagured capital in despair, and sells his pride for 
 peace. 
 
 In American life we trace with most ease the 
 working of the Anglo - Saxon element. The old
 
 ANGLO - SAXON : THE OLD AND THE NEW. 427 
 
 Saxon was rapacious, grasping whatever he could 
 lay his hands on, sometimes paying a fair regard 
 to honor, but quite as often acting on the maxim 
 that might makes right. The modern Saxon in 
 America is not wholly rid of this tendency. He 
 has gone on widening his area and adding to his 
 possessions, making his appetite grow by what it 
 feeds upon. H'e has stretched out his domain till 
 it is bounded on its sides by opposite seas. 
 
 The Saxon element in language we have seen to 
 be rapacious, receptive, and having great power to 
 assimilate foreign elements. It has taken words 
 from all quarters, and wrought them into the mosa- 
 ic of English speech. The modern Saxon in 
 America repeats the operation in life. Our nation 
 takes and uses all comers, however numerous or 
 strange. Though the Saxon element keeps the 
 royal place, yet the national character is already a 
 striking specimen of conglomerate. It has taken 
 up, without hesitation, English courage, Scotch 
 tenacity, Irish humor, French vivacity, German 
 thoroughness, and Italian fervor. 
 
 Thus does history repeat itself, and show us that 
 it is not easy for a race to throw off from the surface 
 what is really bred in the bone. There is still room 
 for and need of the aggressive energy, the daring 
 and the persistence of the Anglo-Saxon. The 
 tasks set by Providence still call for brave souls, and 
 Christ keeps the crown only for conquering heroes. 
 True, we do not wish this power to work in just the 
 old way. We want the calm and generous courage
 
 428 GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 that is born of faith and fed by good will, rather 
 than that which storms out in passion. That old 
 vigor and fire are wanted to subdue nature, to 
 make forests fruitful fields, to beat down public 
 wrongs, to dislodge false principles from the cita- 
 dels of government, to put an end to the trade 
 that preys on the people's virtue, to cement the 
 warring nations into a political brotherhood, and 
 to plant the best and highest thoughts over all isl- 
 ands and continents, so that the tree of life may every- 
 where flourish, whose fruits thrive all through the 
 year and whose leaves are for the healing of the 
 nations. That is the new Anglo-Saxon for which 
 the world is waiting. 
 
 There is no glorious destiny for this Anglo- Sax- 
 on race which an unsound character and a heedless 
 heart may not render impossible. One. may be 
 pardoned for his anxiety at times over the future 
 of his country. Looking at certain phases of this 
 Anglo - Saxon race at home, at the audacity that 
 seems forgetting modest)'' and reverence ; at the 
 greed of gain ; at the mad race for distinctions which 
 we are unwilling to earn ; at the gambling in stocks ; 
 the gigantic schemes of swindling corporations 
 which defy the courts or buy them ; at the furious 
 heat of political partisanship ; at the worship of out- 
 ward success even though it has been gained by 
 breaking every precept of the Decalogue ; at the 
 casting off of restraint by children and the sur- 
 render of authority by parents ; at the growing con- 
 tempt of Paul's ethics and the rarity of that uplook-
 
 ANGLO - SAXON : THE OLD AND THE NEW. 429 
 
 ing meekness upon whose head Christ showered his 
 beatitudes; looking upon all this, a Christian 
 patriot may well find a chill at his heart as he re- 
 calls the truth : 
 
 " Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceed- 
 ing small ; 
 
 Though with patience he stands waiting, with exactness grinds 
 he all." 
 
 But there is a more hopeful and wiser way of look- 
 ing at the matter. Our life has better and more 
 cheering phases. If the nobler forces are hidden 
 at times, or lie latent, we may hope that they are 
 really here, and that they will answer the clear call 
 of duty and Providence as our doubted patriotism 
 answered the guns at Sumter, or as our suspected 
 generosity answered the cry that came out from the 
 flame and smoke of a western conflagration. We 
 may hope that the Anglo - Saxon has yet the best 
 part of his history to make and write. What he 
 has done, through the favor of God, we may take 
 as an evidence of Divine care and sympathy, and as 
 a pledge of still better things. The first patch of 
 verdure which April brings to the meadow may be 
 vexed by harsh winds, bleached by frosts, and bur- 
 ied by snows ; yet we know that every springing 
 spire of grass is a prophet, telling us that June is 
 on the way, with her hands full of flowers, her lips 
 dropping melody, and carrying all the glory of 
 summer in her bosom. So we accept the things 
 already done as a pledge of the better things that 
 are yet to be.
 
 43O GEORGE TIFFANY DAY. 
 
 We know that Divine Providence which 
 watches and rules over the nations is just, but it is 
 also patient and gracious. It has indeed smitten 
 many an old, wayward empire and crumbled it into 
 dust. But we may hope that this nation will copy 
 the massiveness of Egypt without her self- deifica- 
 tion, the art of Greece without her sensuality, the 
 imperial majesty of Rome without her selfish haugh- 
 tiness the best things which the wide world has 
 shown, without the vice that cankered its heart and 
 turned its gold to dross. Doing this, she will not 
 miss life nor honor. 
 
 Looking at this nation where the Anglo - Saxon 
 finds his highest task and his grandest opportunity, 
 we are visited by a striking vision, that we must be- 
 lieve has a basis of fact. It is this : On high sits 
 that Divine Providence which keeps the calmness 
 of infinite strength, and deals with men and nations 
 in infinite pity, but sends every faithless and irre- 
 coverable empire tumbling into disgrace and .ruin, 
 as a warning to the world. At once sentinel and 
 judge, it is summoning the peoples of to-day be- 
 fore it, and asking of each the countersign and 
 watchword that defines its position and tells its pur- 
 pose. The nations hear and come. Some of them 
 answer boldly and badly, and are treated as spies 
 or traitors. Others answer doubtfully, and are 
 held for trial. In her turn comes Anglo - Saxon 
 America, and hears the challenge. Pausing a 
 moment to rally her purpose and put down her pas- 
 sion, she answers in a clear, firm, ringing voice,
 
 ANGLO-SAXON: THE OLD AND THE NEW. 431 
 
 "Brotherhood and Faith." It is enough. The 
 stern face of the challenger takes on a smile, the 
 lips part, and these words fall like the tones of a 
 bell : " Pass on, America ! Thou art God's prophet 
 and man's helper. The warring and weary world 
 waits for thee, and thy work shall bind the nations 
 into concord as the sea clasps the continents. Pass 
 on ! The flush on the sky that greets thee pro- 
 claims the dawn of that better day : 
 
 When the war drums beat no longer, 
 
 And the battle flags are furled, 
 In the parliament of man, 
 
 The federation of the world." 
 
 THE END.
 
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