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 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,-