LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 Presented by 
 
 BX 9225 .H34^S4 1895 
 
 Services in memory of the 
 Rev. Eben Halley, D.D. by 
 
^roNi . TVesbvj t er >^ . 
 
 Services 
 
 Itn /IDemocs of 
 
 
 ICbe IRev. Bben Iballe^, H).2). 
 
 bfi 
 
 Ebe presb^tcr^ of ZTroi? 
 
 and 
 
 ZTbe Seconb Street Presbyterian Cburcb 
 
 Ubursbag jEvening, December 5, 1895 
 
1Rev. lebcn Iballe^, 2).D, 
 
 BORN AT SALEM 
 
 5anuars 7tb, 1845 
 
 DIED AT TROY 
 
 5une 8tb, 1895 
 
H^^re66e0. 
 
 ADDRESS OF REV. T. P. SAWIN. 
 
 I come this evening to offer my tribute to a brother 
 whose loss to us can only be measured by the immeasur- 
 able gain which has become his in the change from an 
 earthly to a heavenly environment. In that hour when 
 this change took place, and his soul was released from its 
 tabernacle of clay and hastened into the eternal temple 
 not made with hands, leaving behind only the outworn 
 shell of life, our hearts were too much overcome with 
 grief and too stunned with the sense of desolation to seek 
 for consolation either in memory or in hope. We could 
 not look back, and we could not look forward. Our 
 blinded eyes, dry with a tearless sorrow, had no vision. 
 All that we then realized was that there was absence 
 where there had been presence, emptiness where there 
 had been fulness, solitude where there had been com- 
 panionship, and death where there had been life. The 
 great current of deed and thought which had been sweep- 
 ing on through the valleys and meadows of our lives had 
 suddenly ceased to flow, and we could only look in blank 
 amazement at the waterless channel. The light which 
 had illuminated our pathway, casting its friendly beams 
 into the midst of our perplexities, was extinguished, and 
 impenetrable darkness shrouded all the way beneath our 
 
feet. The sound which had once touched our souls with 
 penitent shame, with upHfting reconciHations, with vigor- 
 ous courage, with tender sympathy, with dynamic faith, 
 and with impassioned love, no more stirred the air with 
 its varied vibrations. The voice had ceased with its last 
 good-bye, and an immutable silence barred the gate of 
 utterance. With these facts laying their weight upon us 
 and crushing us with grief, public expression of our esteem 
 was then impossible. We could only clasp each other's 
 hands, whisper our thoughts as we met face to face for 
 the moment, and pray for strength to endure. But a 
 kindly Providence did not forget us. Measuring with a 
 divine insight our needs, he has been supplying them 
 with consolation according to the infinite riches of his 
 grace. Day by day he has been bringing to our remem- 
 brance the things we can never forget, and he has been 
 adding to our faith the sight of things which hath been 
 prepared for them that love him, so that now, though we 
 are still looking through a glass darkly, we can see in clear 
 outline the features that reveal to us what our friend was 
 and is and shall be for evermore. The months that have 
 passed since he was taken from us have served the benefi- 
 cent purpose of alleviating the pain of separation, and of 
 assuring us that his death was but an incident in a con- 
 tinuous life whose spiritual influence can neither be 
 diverted nor lost through any change in location. Glori- 
 fied and crowned in the supernal realm invisible to us, he 
 is yet our neighbor, companion, and friend, and we would 
 therefore speak of him as one who hears, though he may 
 not answer, taking good heed that we offend not the sense 
 of his great modesty, while we fall not short in our esti- 
 
mation of those qualities the appreciation of which is 
 grateful to every heart that possesses them. 
 
 The outward facts of his life are few and may be written 
 in a few lines. He was born in Salem, N. Y., on the 7th 
 of January, 1845. His boyhood days were spent in Troy. 
 His preparatory education, aside from that which he re- 
 ceived in his home, was obtained in the Albany Academy. 
 He was graduated at Williams College in 1864. For a 
 year previous to his graduation he carried the musket of 
 a private soldier in the Army of the Republic, having 
 enlisted in the One Hundred and Seventy-seventh New 
 York Volunteers. His theological education was obtained 
 at Princeton. He began preaching in a home missionary 
 church in Richmond, Vt. In 1869 he was ordained and 
 installed as pastor of a Congregational Church in Cincin- 
 nati. In 1878 he was called to the Congregational Church 
 in Binghamton, N. Y., and here he soon afterward brought 
 his bride, the beloved wife and most helpful companion 
 and inspiration of his ministerial labors. In November, 
 1886, he began his ministry in this Second Street Presby- 
 terian Church of Troy. Last June he was transferred to 
 the right hand of God in the Glory Everlasting. 
 
 This is a short story on which to build the record of a 
 great life, but there is a divine meaning in all these facts 
 which neither you nor I can fully measure. Not many 
 men have lived to complete the circle of their life by re- 
 turning to their boyhood home, and in so doing disprove 
 the old proverb that " a prophet is not without honor save 
 in his own country and in his own house." A man may 
 grow up in a community and, never leaving it, may 
 achieve much honor for himself, because he grows along 
 
with it, and rises without any break in the vision of 
 others, but when an interval of absence intervenes, and 
 he comes back to old scenes to occupy an exalted posi- 
 tion, the contrast is sharp and criticism is apt to be keen, 
 and only a strong man can endure it. Yet it was here 
 and under these circumstances that Eben Halley chal- 
 lenged the observation of the past by the reflection of the 
 present, and maintained in his mature life the promise of 
 his early days. It was here, where he played and studied 
 and wrought as a boy and young man, that he achieved 
 his most memorable victories, and compelled the respect 
 even of those who had small sympathy with his purposes 
 and aims. It was here that he rose in splendor before the 
 eyes of the people and stirred the thought and quickened 
 the conscience of the timid and the vacillating, and en- 
 couraged the weak to put forth a strength they knew not 
 of. It was here, in the presence of men who had known 
 him as a child, that he stood up as a man, clad in full 
 armor, a soldier militant, to strike for and defend the 
 cause of civil liberty in the municipality, and of religious 
 liberty in the church of which he was a minister. It took 
 courage and faith and much humility to enter upon the 
 task set before him here, but under God he was equal to 
 the occasion, and proved himself in the eyes of his own 
 generation a workman that needed not to be ashamed. 
 
 Turning now from these general considerations, I will 
 speak of some of the characteristics which particularly 
 impressed me in the eight years of happy fraternal inter- 
 course that I was privileged to have with him. First of 
 all was the fulness of his life. No matter where or when 
 you touched him, in his social, intellectual, or spiritual 
 
5 
 
 nature, the response was immediate and complete. He 
 never grew rich by withholding, nor was he impoverished 
 by giving. He had taken advantage of the purpose for 
 which Jesus came into the world, that men might have 
 life and have it more abundantly. All things that came 
 to him through books, through travel, through intercourse 
 with friends, through the casual companionship of a pass- 
 ing acquaintance, through the daily round of labor and 
 through the freedom of recreation, were transmuted in 
 the alembic of his thought into life, and of this fulness 
 we all received. His accumulations were constant and 
 fresh, like the lake which is filled from the clouds above 
 and from springs beneath and from streams around. Yet 
 this was not a mere memory of words and events, or a 
 collocation of historical impressions, but was the result of 
 an assimilation which made it a real experience, though 
 it was often enriched by a fancy which, as Browning says, 
 " makes one fact the more." He had no pawn-shop goods 
 on hand, and he despised the trick of the borrower who 
 thinks to conceal the true possession by altering the trim- 
 ming. His receptivity was marked by a fine sense of 
 afifinity, so that all he had came by personal attainment 
 and bore his personal signature. The seal of his own life 
 was upon his every possession, and we know that when 
 he issued a note, whether it were of promise or of warn- 
 ing, its value would not shrink. This exuberance of life 
 made him forgetful of self and generous in giving. He 
 did not save his speech for special occasions, nor did he 
 lay away his choice thoughts in velvet and satin cases to 
 be brought out only in public. Great occasions inspired 
 him, but little occasions did not fail to move him. Those 
 
who came near to him in the quiet confidence of an even- 
 ing hour felt the thrill of his pulse-beats, as well as those 
 who listened to him from the rostrum or the sacred desk. 
 He could rise to the height and go down to the depth of 
 one man's necessity as well as that of the multitude. We 
 feared no exhaustion, and we dreaded no failure, because 
 of this boundless supply of inward force, this measure- 
 less quantity of spiritual energy which never lacked in 
 quantity, however large might be its expenditure. Often- 
 times this was checked in utterance. A limpid and 
 smooth flow of words he never had, for his speech was 
 like those mountain streams in Colorado which, fed from 
 eternal sources, come rushing down with impetuous 
 might, stopped, hindered, thwarted, here and there, by 
 boulders in the midst before and by the excess of pres- 
 sure from behind, and yet moving on like fate to 
 their goal, and bearing with them in the turbid flood the 
 rich, yellow gold which the placer miners will by and by 
 gather up. So his speech was majestic and mighty and 
 filled with wealth of thought, brilliant epigram, pure 
 inspiration, ringing battle cries and notes of salvation. 
 We have seen him on the floor of Presbytery, when 
 physical weakness bade him be silent and the tender 
 voice of love cautioned restraint, rise from his place at 
 the command of his conscience for truth and though 
 beginning with broken and hesitating utterance, pass on 
 into impassioned speech, filled with a noble indignation, 
 burning with an electric eloquence, and so resonant with 
 vigor that the weakness of the flesh was wholly lost sight 
 of in the abounding fulness of the spirit's power. And 
 we have seen him again, when the burden of a great grief 
 
was upon us, and the shadows were so dense that no light 
 could pierce them, and hope so feeble that it could not 
 touch us, and we have heard that same voice in gentler 
 tones, but with no less eagerness for help, breaking in on 
 the solitude and the darkness, answering the inquiry : 
 "Is it well with the child?" with such affirmative em- 
 phasis that it seemed like a voice out of the centuries 
 from the home in Bethany, saying : " I am the resurrec- 
 tion and the life." It was always so. His was a heart 
 that spoke ever out of abundance in the consciousness of 
 an exhaustless plenitude. 
 
 Another characteristic of this man was his moral in- 
 tensity joined with a clear discrimination and fine sensi- 
 tiveness. While he was musing the fire burned. Thus 
 his speech was kindled and supplied with thought. 
 Underneath every denunciation and every exhortation 
 there was a clear-cut proposition. If sometimes he 
 seemed to be pushing on regardless of consequences, it 
 was only the determination to reach a given end in time, 
 by one who held a steady rein and knew the road on 
 which he was travelling. He had the mastery over him- 
 self as well as his theme, and hence there was no wasting 
 of force in side issues and irrelevant matter. His con- 
 victions made close connections with his utterance, and 
 his utterance gave bonds for its performance. In his 
 clear discernment he could make things clear to any who 
 were seeking the truth with open eyes and ears, simply 
 because he knew how to detach the important from the 
 unimportant, the essential from the unessential. On one 
 occasion, in discussing the place of creeds in the Christian 
 system, he said : " Theology is the fallible interpretation 
 
8 
 
 of infallible truth." If that sentence were written over 
 the door of every theological seminary the odium theo- 
 logicunt would soon disappear, and in its place we should 
 have that sweet reasonableness which would make prose- 
 cutions for heresy impossible, not for lack of a definite 
 conviction of truth, but because in the depth and cer- 
 tainty of its indefectible character we should care little 
 for the incidental and material form in which one man or 
 another might personally choose to express it. Our friend 
 was not averse to creeds or to confessions of faith, but he 
 thought that the spirit of one age could not be embodied 
 in the forms of another. In the evolution of life he saw 
 the necessity of death, but in the survival of the fittest 
 he saw no loss of anything that was essential to continued 
 life. He believed in natural decay and spiritual growth. 
 He rejoiced that old things were passing away and that 
 all things were becoming new. To him life was a con- 
 tinuous resurrection, a process of transformation, an 
 energy forever transfiguring the body of our humiliation 
 into the glory of the eternal ; hence while he saw in his- 
 tory the spirit of the present, and while he regarded 
 memory as the identifying attribute of the future, he 
 cherished no fondness for the mouldy contents of ancient 
 sepulchres, and gladly forgot the things that were behind 
 as he pressed on to the goal of his chosen destiny. He 
 accepted with fervent thankfulness the incorruptible in- 
 heritance of the past, but the bric-a-brac of relics had no 
 place in the cabinet of his faith. He was intense in his 
 pursuit of truth, but it was no uncertain, vague, and 
 phantom-like form he sought, but a living ideal which he 
 might possess here and now, though he could not expect 
 
to realize the completeness of possession. He knew in 
 whom and what he believed, but he did not believe that 
 he knew all that he believed. The foundations of his 
 faith were laid on immutable rock, and he acknowl- 
 edged the infinite wisdom of the plan, but the structure 
 he is building yet. The sense of security in this founda- 
 tion gave him boldness in proclaiming its sufificiency ; 
 the insufificiency of his own knowledge made him gen- 
 erous and tolerant of the work of others, while the con- 
 sciousness of his own needs presented itself as a motive 
 for vigorous activity, in promoting a unity of faith and 
 life, on the basis of a common experience. It was after 
 this manner that he stood before us, a man of intense 
 moral earnestness, yet so completely under the guidance 
 of reason and sympathy that he was able to lift men out 
 of their prejudices without wounding their self-love, and 
 to give to those who had the power of comprehension 
 and the capacity of reason a rational philosophy of their 
 spiritual experience, so that their advent into the new life 
 appeared to them not as the result of a magical concep- 
 tion, but as an evolution in accordance with the law of 
 life after the mind of Christ. 
 
 I have now outlined with such discernment as I possess 
 the two leading characteristics of this friend of mine and 
 yours, as he revealed himself to me in the comradeship 
 of ministerial and personal friendship. There are many 
 other things of which I might speak, were the time at 
 hand, and there are still others that must be left un- 
 spoken, since they are too weighty for the emotion that 
 must bear them. 
 
 I cannot close, however, without adding a joyful note 
 
10 
 
 to the music of mourning. This fulness of life and this 
 discriminating and sympathizing intensity of moral ear- 
 nestness to which I have borne witness is no longer incar- 
 nate among us. The special form of it is formless, for 
 the outward man has perished. We say that he suc- 
 cumbed to death, and for us this blow was the dissipa- 
 tion of our hopes and the wiping out of our plans. For 
 this there is no compensation to us. No man can take 
 his place, for no man can do or be what he was able to 
 do and be. Just so much force manifested in thought, 
 in love, and in life is taken out of the world. This is our 
 side of it. But for him that blow was as the stroke of 
 the liberating sword, which touches the kneeling novice 
 and bids him rise, purified and clad in white, into the full 
 privileges of a royal knight, to stand forevermore with 
 kings and priests in the imperial court of the Sovereign 
 of Heaven. 
 
 He has finished his course, he has fought the fight, he 
 has won the crown ; let us then celebrate his triumph, 
 and send forth from this hither shore the all hail of 
 rejoicing spirits. 
 
 He has completed his earthly destiny, he has passed 
 the great tribulations of mortal experience, he has gone 
 through and beyond the valley of the shadow ; let us 
 sing praises for his faithfulness and shout forth our trib- 
 ute, that he may hear it as he stands with the saints 
 redeemed and glorified in the innumerable assembly 
 about the eternal throne. 
 
 O brothers of the Presbytery of Troy, O beloved neigh- 
 bors in this church of whom he was shepherd and teacher, 
 O friends and companions in the fellowship of a kindred 
 
II 
 
 spirit, O wife, loved with a love that passeth knowledge, 
 O children, sanctified and consecrated by a father's affec- 
 tion and blessing, O inhabitants of this city, in whose 
 presence he stood a terror to those loving evil and an in- 
 spiration to those loving right, suffer me in this solemn 
 hour to direct your thoughts away from this body of 
 death, away from the misery and pain of departure, to 
 the glory of Immanuel's land, where he dwelleth now, 
 and to remind you that the life he lived here was an im- 
 mortal life, having an immortal influence and a ceaseless 
 energy. Never will what he has accomplished here in 
 the name of his Master suffer loss ; for 
 
 " What is excellent, 
 
 As God lives, is permanent ; 
 
 Hearts are dust, hearts' loves remain ; 
 
 Heart's love will meet thee again." 
 
 The workman has gone, but the work abides. Charac- 
 ter is imperishable. Its sufificiency is of God, and hence 
 it can never fail. It is organized victory. It is the dem- 
 onstration of the divine in man. It is the guarantee 
 which heaven accepts in blank. To leave such a fact as 
 this in the world is the grandest achievement of life. It 
 puts into our hands an inheritance incorruptible, unde- 
 filed, and that fadeth not away. It makes us rich with a 
 treasure whose income is greater than any capital derived 
 from any other source. Thus in contemplating the trans- 
 figured life of our beloved friend, and in gathering up the 
 memories of its earthly manifestation, are we brought 
 out of our distresses even while the troubles of our heart 
 are enlarged. A deep peace settles upon our spirit, for 
 
12 
 
 we hear the voice of the Master of life, and his words 
 fill our souls with the golden dream of a perennial glad- 
 ness, and in their commanding prophecy we look to the 
 time when our mortal shall be swallowed up of mortality, 
 and we who are here and they who are there shall be 
 united in the realization of our and their highest anticipa- 
 tions : '* Let not your hearts be troubled ; believe in God ; 
 believe also in Me. He that liveth in Me shall not die." 
 In the full faith of this personal assurance we offer our 
 doxology : " Now unto the King Eternal, immortal, in- 
 visible, the only God, be glory and honor, world without 
 end. Amen." 
 
IRemembrances. 
 
 REV. E. H. GRIFFIN, D.D. 
 
 Thirty-five years ago, in September of the present 
 year, Eben Halley entered Wihiams College. From that 
 time until the summer morning when God called him, an 
 uninterrupted friendship subsisted between him and me. 
 I never had a more unselfish and loyal friend. I well 
 know that in his death I have suffered a loss which can 
 never be made good. 
 
 As I recall my first acquaintance with him, it is impos- 
 sible to realize that I am looking back over an interval of 
 more than a generation ; the circumstances and incidents 
 are as vivid in my recollection as if it were yesterday. 
 
 At the time of his entering college, Halley was less 
 than sixteen years of age, and this although he was 
 enrolled in the sophomore class. He was large in every 
 physical proportion, in the fulness of health, overflowing 
 with energy, good fellowship, and high spirits, full of 
 wit, humor and enthusiasm. He made friends easily, 
 and quickly identified himself with what was going on 
 around him. I remember that his resources in conversa- 
 tion were a surprise to some of the older students : he 
 had an acquaintance with books and with affairs, and a 
 readiness and self-command unusual in one so young. 
 
 In the appointed tasks of the college he always 
 
 13 
 
14 
 
 maintained a creditable standing, but he was one of 
 those whose work is not measured by class-room tests : 
 he taught himself more, perhaps, than he learned from 
 his instructors. Throughout his college course he read 
 industriously, widely, and with excellent discrimination. 
 He was particularly interested in history. All who have 
 been familiar with him know how strongly his tastes 
 inclined in this direction. To the end of his life, he was 
 accustomed to read and re-read Gibbon, whose stately 
 diction and animated, varied narrative had a special 
 charm for him. Gibbon was one of the favorite authors 
 of his student days ; he read also Greek history and 
 Roman history, the Prescott and Motley histories, and 
 much besides. He was attracted also by biography, 
 especially literary biography. Boswell's Johnson, Lock- 
 hart's Scott, the essayists and wits of the eighteenth 
 century, the group of men of genius who appeared in 
 English literature at the beginning of the present cen- 
 tury — Wordsworth, Coleridge, and the rest, the later 
 series of men of letters represented by Macaulay and 
 Carlyle — with all these he was very familiar, from the 
 biographical as well as from the literary point of view. 
 The college students of that time received less instruc- 
 tion in the history and criticism of literature than is given 
 now, but there is little doubt that there was more read- 
 ing of great authors, and more discussion of literary 
 questions than is prevalent in our colleges now, when 
 there are so many things, unknown then, to engross 
 attention. Halley's retentive memory enabled him to 
 use his acquisitions freely in social intercourse, and this 
 was done so aptly, and with such an entire absence of 
 
15 
 
 self-display or pedantry, that it was one of the chief 
 elements of attraction in his companionship. He was, 
 like most young men, extremely fond of Dickens, and 
 his knowledge of the leading works of that author 
 was so exact and minute that he could probably 
 have passed with success an examination paper, such 
 as has sometimes been constructed, by way of parody, 
 on the text of Dickens. He used sometimes to illus- 
 trate an existing situation by reference to his favorite 
 novelist ; with delightful wit he would identify him- 
 self with some character, or quote some humorous 
 phrase, and his hearty, irresistible laughter would compel 
 every one to appreciate the fitness of the application. 
 The range of his reading in fiction was wide and sym- 
 pathetic, but, while he appreciated the analytic and psy- 
 chological type of novel, he derived a greater pleasure 
 from representations of objective life. I can never forget 
 how eloquently, on one of the last occasions of my seeing 
 him, on the steps of the Adirondack Hotel, he extolled 
 the D'Artagnan and Valois romances of Dumas, declar- 
 iug that after a hard day, when things had gone wrongly, 
 nothing gave him greater relief and refreshment than 
 to escape into the free world of this great writer's 
 imagination. 
 
 In the spring vacation of his junior year, he entered the 
 army under a nine months' enlistment. This was much 
 regretted by his college friends, and was felt to be a grave 
 mistake. The event proved, however, that the step was a 
 wise one. He saw much hardship and no little danger : 
 the experience contributed much to the maturing of his 
 character : it changed him from a boy to a man. It is not 
 
i6 
 
 unlikely that the experiences of that year had something 
 to do with the earnest patriotism, the intense civic feeling 
 which characterized his after life. 
 
 I was not associated with him during his theological 
 studies, but after his graduation he spent a year at Rich- 
 mond, Vermont, and, as I was living at the time at Bur- 
 lington, only a few miles distant, we frequently met. He 
 had passed a summer, while a theological student, at 
 Richmond, in the employment of the Home Mission- 
 ary Society, and the people had become so much inter- 
 ested in him, and he in them, that, at their urgent 
 solicitation, he returned, after completing his studies, for 
 a longer residence. His acceptance of this restricted field 
 of labor did not seem, at the time, to be for his advan- 
 tage in a personal point of view, but, for himself as well 
 as for the people, it was a good beginning of his ministry. 
 
 During his pastorate at Cincinnati, and his subsequent 
 settlement at Binghamton, I saw him but seldom. After 
 he came to Troy, our early intimacy was resumed. We 
 passed several summer vacations together, and were able 
 to interchange visits not infrequently. This renewal of 
 intercourse, after so many years, enabled me to measure, 
 more accurately than if our association had been continu- 
 ous, the development of character and mind which had 
 gone forward in him. One who had known him as a boy 
 could not but feel that his growth had been singularly 
 harmonious and natural. Some men leave their youth 
 behind them as they grow older : the maturity of their 
 ripened powers is attained at the expense of their earlier 
 qualities. In his case the exuberance and enthusiasm of 
 the boy was carried on into the serious, earnest life of 
 
17 
 
 the man. One of the secrets of Dr. Halley's power, and 
 one of the chief reasons of his attractiveness to people of 
 all sorts, was his youthfulness of feeling — as shown in his 
 love of sports and games, his love of nature, his fondness 
 for innocent and wholesome fun of every kind. No one 
 could resist the contagion of his hearty, joyous laughter. 
 The union of so much spontaneity with so much dignity 
 and seriousness was admirable. 
 
 " I would the great world grew like thee. 
 Who grewest not alone in power 
 And knowledge, but by year and hour 
 In reverence and in charity." 
 
 It was a happy choice which Eben Halley made when he 
 entered the ministry. Few men possess so many of the 
 gifts requisite for success in it. No one who told him of 
 a sorrow, or burden, or anxiety, could fail to see, in the 
 expression of his countenance, and the tones of his voice, 
 as well as in his words, how tender a feeling he had for 
 those in trouble. He had an intense sense of the ethical 
 element in life : I remember how indignant it used to 
 make him to hear people speak of " mere morality " — he 
 could not endure even the appearance of a separation be- 
 tween the evangelical motives of Christianity and practical 
 righteousness. Every part of his work as a Christian min- 
 ister was a pleasure to him. I used to wonder at his readi- 
 ness, and even eagerness, to get back from his vacations ; 
 after the needed recreation had been obtained, his home 
 and his pulpit were more attractive to him than vacation 
 pleasures. All his friends know how magnanimous and 
 generous he was in his judgments of men, how he re- 
 
joiced in the successes of others, how wholly free he was 
 from pettiness and jealousy and censoriousness. From 
 the beginning of his settlement in Troy, his heart was 
 given to his people ; many times he expressed to me his 
 grateful sense of the kindness shown him. The last 
 letter I ever had from him, written just before his return 
 from the South, last spring, closed with the words, " Oh, 
 what a people ; what a people ! " 
 
 And now this one so rarely fitted for usefulness has 
 been called away from his work, his family, and the 
 multitude of his friends, just as he was entering upon the 
 most productive period of his career. What comfort does 
 so sorrowful a mystery admit except that derived from 
 Christian faith and hope ? 
 
 " What is death 
 To him who meets it with an upright heart ? 
 Perhaps a passage overhung with clouds 
 But at its entrance ; a few leagues beyond 
 Opening to kinder skies, and milder suns, 
 And seas pacific as the soul that seeks them." 
 
ADDRESS OF REV. GEORGE T. BERRY. 
 
 On behalf of the members of the Second Street Church, 
 I have been requested, in a closing word, to express to 
 the Presbytery the church's appreciation of their loving 
 act in uniting with us to-night in this sweet memorial 
 service. You have done, dear brethren of the Presby- 
 tery, an honor to him whose memory we cherish with a 
 deep and sacred love. Out of full hearts and with sincere 
 words we thank you. 
 
 But while I desire that this simple expression of grati- 
 tude, on behalf of the church, shall include also my own 
 sense of appreciation, I cannot allow this opportunity to 
 pass without adding a single word of personal tribute to 
 that life whose memory rests like a benediction upon us 
 all at this hour. 
 
 My acquaintance with Dr. Halley was an exceedingly 
 brief one — ah ! all too brief it was — but during the few 
 months that it was my privilege to know him and to feel 
 the warmth of his friendship, during those few sacred 
 hours in which we talked together of life's realities, he 
 stamped upon my heart the eternal impress of his soul. 
 With most of you it was my privilege to hear him speak 
 during those days of deep reflection in which he set his 
 •* forward countenance " and bravely peered into the 
 great beyond, but in one of those treasured hours when 
 we were alone together he let me into the inner sanctu- 
 ary of his soul, and I wish to bear this testimony to-night 
 
 19 
 
20 
 
 to the blessedness of his memory : That at no moment, 
 and in no experience of my life, have I ever caught the 
 meaning of the reality of the hidden life as at that mo- 
 ment, when, like a flash of heavenly light, it irradiated 
 my soul ! I cannot think of the soul, I cannot call the 
 word to my lips, without the recollection of that hour. 
 And this is my daily grief, that just when the richness of 
 his nature had created the desire of mind and heart for 
 yet fuller and more intense revelations of soul-life he was 
 parted from me. 
 
 Dr. Halley was a great man in manifold ways. In his 
 literary insight and knowledge, at which I never ceased 
 to wonder, in his knowledge of men and penetration into 
 character, in his great heart, whose sympathy and gene- 
 rosity I had special opportunity to feel, but he was great 
 in these ways, aye, grand in more ways than these, be- 
 cause of his spiritual intensity. Perhaps I can pay him 
 no higher tribute than when I say that his name always 
 recurs to my mind when I think of Robertson of Brighton, 
 of Frederick Denison Maurice, and of Phillips Brooks! I 
 have no higher hope than that in my own life and in my 
 ministry a double portion of his spirit may rest upon me ! 
 
 I would, in bringing these brief remembrances to a 
 close, apply to him another's beautiful and most appro- 
 priate memorial words, which you may recall : " Dear 
 friend, farewell! Thy going has made heaven near. Full 
 many a vase of comely phrase I keep among my treas- 
 ures as witness to the cunning of thy hand. Thy loving 
 words shall live in memory's garden like sweet forget- 
 me-nots ; and I will hold the broken thread of our high 
 discourse until we meet again." 
 
Xettere, IReeolutions, ant) tributes. 
 
 MEMORIAL. 
 
 Adopted at a joint meeting of the Session and the 
 Board of Trustees of the Second Street Presbyterian 
 Church of Troy, N. Y., June 17, 1895 : 
 
 The death of Eben Halley has brought unspeakable 
 sorrow to this church. In the shadow of such a loss, 
 grief is all but voiceless. For as there are living burdens 
 which can only be endured in silence, so are there labors 
 of the soul during which man is dumb in the presence of 
 his fellows, and to God and the great unknown alone can 
 tell his grief. It is easy, when the dead have spoken to 
 us only from a distance, to praise the benevolent, to laud 
 the hero, to respect the learned, to admire the great, to 
 point out all those virtues which challenge the respect 
 and veneration of mankind. But when the great, warm 
 heart has beat against our own, when there has been 
 daily fellowship of hand and voice and eye, and the over- 
 flowing spirit of deep, unfaltering love, of unaffected 
 truth, of Christlike grace and purity have made us know 
 that he who is gone was ours and we were his — in the 
 first flush of grief words seem too cold to measure how 
 good and great he was, to tell how much we loved him. 
 And if, indeed, there be a silence more eloquent than 
 speech, it is exemplified when we record this simple 
 truth, that his goodness and greatness appeal to us be- 
 
22 
 
 yond expression in this hour, when of all times we are 
 moved to make public testimony of it. 
 
 Some men have been termed nature's noblemen. This 
 man was more than that. He was God's nobleman — 
 God who came before nature and who created it. There 
 was a largeness in all his virtues which marked him as 
 among those who have found the source of life, and 
 whose spirits never falter in their uprising towards the 
 highest truth, the highest good, the highest love. With 
 a soul so open, a heart so warm and tender, and yet so 
 brave — so brave ; a purpose so steadfast, a courage so 
 high, a sympathy so boundless, a sense of honor so deli- 
 cate, and of justice so exact ; a love of right and a hatred 
 of wrong so constant and outspoken — his abundant gifts 
 of mind, and the graces of which he was all unconscious, 
 made him a power among men, a power in the Church, a 
 power in the community which mourns his death. There 
 is no home whose threshold he had ever crossed which 
 does not weep for him to-day. 
 
 His ministry in this church was of God. For he not 
 only preached God and the Master, but he lived them. 
 It was the spirit of truth which moved him ; it was the 
 truth which made him strong ; it was that which gave 
 him, as we believe, a unique place in this community — 
 the figure of a brave, simple, Christian gentleman ; full 
 of the sweetest charity, upholding everything which 
 made for good, resisting everything which was founded 
 on evil. 
 
 God has taken him — our beloved friend. We bow to 
 this mystery, which he accepted so readily even while he 
 yearned to live and labor with all the intensity of his 
 
21 
 
 strong, joyous nature. We yield to it, and we find there 
 a new and wonderful assurance that his abiding faith was 
 not misplaced. " For such coffins," said Victor Hugo, 
 bending over the tomb of a fellow genius, " proclaim 
 immortality." And we say to ourselves here to-day, it 
 is impossible that so great a spirit in this life can be 
 other than a great spirit after death. 
 
 Charles R. Ingalls, 
 Seymour Van Santvoord, 
 
 Committee. 
 
 FROM THE WALNUT HILLS CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 
 
 Cincinnati, O., June 9, 1895. 
 
 From the pulpit this morning was announced the death 
 of the Rev. Eben Halley, of Troy, N. Y. 
 
 Mr. Halley served this church as its pastor when it 
 was known as the Seventh Street Congregational Church. 
 He entered upon this service in December, 1869, and 
 resigned in April, 1878. 
 
 He was a man of fine presence : In mind and spirit 
 eminently equipped for his profession : In the pulpit 
 effective in discourse : In the homes of his people, through 
 his winning manner, sympathetic and affectionate nature, 
 his life became inseparably mingled with many of their 
 experiences, both of joy and sorrow, that will always be 
 of grateful memory. " He lives long who lives well," 
 he once said. How appropriately may this aphorism be 
 applied to him, cut off as he is in the noontide of his 
 life work. 
 
 We share in the grief thus brought to his bereaved wife 
 
24 
 
 and fatherless sons, and commend them to Him who has 
 balm for every wound, and can heal all sorrow. 
 
 On behalf of the Walnut Hills Congregational Church. 
 Lewis G. Hopkins, \ 
 Joseph C. Noyes, >• Committee. 
 G. Monteith. ) 
 
 from the congregational church, binghamton, 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 The sad news has come to this church that a former 
 pastor, tenderly beloved, has fallen asleep. 
 
 The Rev. Eben Halley, D.D., ministered to this people 
 for nine years, from 1878 until 1886, giving his best for 
 those whom he loved and among whom he labored. 
 
 He was not only an earnest working member and 
 leader of our church, but was also an aggressive Chris- 
 tian citizen who was respected and loved by the whole 
 city, and was identified with all that made for righteous- 
 ness in the affairs of our community. When he removed 
 to Troy, he carried with him the hearts of all his congre- 
 gation. 
 
 His ministry to this church formed such an important 
 period in its history, and so many of our present mem- 
 bers knew and loved Dr. Halley as their friend and 
 pastor, that we deem it fitting to make this expression 
 and to pass the following resolutions : 
 
 Resolved, That we record our great sense of loss in the 
 death of Dr. Halley ; and our deep gratitude that we 
 were permitted to know him for many years and to sit 
 under his teaching. 
 
25 
 
 He was a tender mourner together with us when we 
 were in any way afflicted, and in all things was a faithful 
 servant of the Lord in leading this people. 
 
 Resolved, That we extend to his bereaved wife and 
 children our heartfelt sympathy, and commend them to 
 the comfort of Him whom he loved and served with all 
 his heart. 
 
 Resolved, That we tender to the sister church, whom 
 Dr. Halley has served since his removal from us, our con- 
 dolence in their loss, knowing as we do how great that 
 loss is. 
 
 Resolved, That this expression be recorded upon the 
 minutes of this church, and that the Board of Deacons 
 be charged with the duty of conveying a copy of these 
 resolutions to the family of our departed brother, and to 
 the Second Street Presbyterian Church of Troy. 
 
 WiLLARD B. Thorp, 
 
 Pastor. 
 
 June 9, 1895. 
 
 MINUTE FROM THE TROY METHODIST PREACHERS' 
 ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Since this city has lost one of its public-spirited, faith- 
 ful, and patriotic citizens, the Christian pulpit one of its 
 brightest lights, and a prominent church a devoted and 
 beloved pastor, therefore we record upon our minutes the 
 following statements : 
 
 First, That we recognize in the late Rev. Eben Halley, 
 D.D., a man of large intellectual ability and culture, high 
 type of manhood, unexceptionable Christian character, 
 
26 
 
 large sympathies, an able preacher and faithful pastor, 
 unbounded brotherly love and intense interest in all that 
 tends to elevate humanity. 
 
 Second, That we tender the bereaved family, as well 
 as the sorrowing congregation, our warmest sympathy. 
 I. D. Van Valkenburgh, 
 D. W. Gates, 
 
 Committee. 
 
 June II, 1895. 
 
 FROM THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 
 The Pastor, Elders, and Members of the First Presbyterian 
 Church of Troy, to the Elders and Members of the Second 
 Street Presbytej'ian Church of Troy, Greeting : 
 
 Dearly Beloved : 
 
 The recent sad affliction which hath fallen upon you 
 by reason of the death of your pastor, a man honored of 
 God and esteemed by men, moves us to express our deep 
 sympathy for you in this great bereavement. As near 
 neighbors and friends, we mourn and weep with you, and 
 our hearts are broken for you. Your house is left unto 
 you desolate, and all the pain and grief of separation are 
 upon you. Into this sorrow we enter, for your pastor 
 was very dear to us. 
 
 In his occasional ministrations to us, we felt the magic 
 thrill of his sympathy, the high uplift of his spiritual 
 might, the broad toleration of his Christian love, the ten- 
 derness of his rebuke, the ringing force of his exhorta- 
 tion, the full touch of his inspired utterance, and the deep 
 devotion of his soul to the Master in whom his whole life 
 
2/ 
 
 was centred. We thank God for such a ministry and for 
 such a brother. His memory will be forever sweet. 
 
 We also had an especial pride in him as a noble de- 
 fender of the truth in the religious and civic contests of 
 the day. The instincts of righteousness placed him ever 
 on the side of liberty, justice, and the truth that makes 
 men free. He abhorred all tyranny, and set at naught 
 the narrow traditions of the past, that he might make the 
 word of God alive to the hearts and consciences of men. 
 His voice was that of a prophet of the Living God. For 
 himself he cared nothing; for the right he was ready to 
 make any sacrifice. Through good report and evil report 
 he kept on his way as steady to the goal as the ship that, 
 alike in storm and favoring gale, makes ever for the des- 
 tined port. We thank God again for this public mani- 
 festation of righteous activity in His servant, and in yours 
 and ours. 
 
 But we loved him apart from his public life. More to 
 us than the minister was the man. In the common inter- 
 course of daily life, his official position was forgotten in 
 the noble, generous, loyal, self-denying friend. He en- 
 tered our homes, shared our hospitality, and broke bread 
 with us in the sweet communion of friendship ; he re- 
 joiced in all our successes, and never a cloud of jealousy 
 floated before his face. He was always glad for our 
 gladness. Charming in conversation, pure in thought, 
 and noble in all his aspirations, he always lifted us to the 
 level of his own life, and made us feel that we were in 
 high company. When the darkness of the shadow was 
 over us, and we hid our faces in the agony of grief, he 
 came bringing with him light, hope, and the tender voice 
 
28 
 
 of comfort. His presence was a balm for wounded hearts, 
 and his words gave strength to endure where consolation 
 failed. 
 
 Dearly beloved, we know that we cannot measure your 
 loss by our own, but the knowledge of our esteem and 
 love may show you something of our sympathy, and the 
 share we take in your sorrow. Our prayer for you is with 
 broken voice, but with whole heart. We beseech our 
 Father that He will graciously comfort you with the 
 comfort wherewith He comforteth them that are in afflic- 
 tion, and that in the distress and pain which now fills 
 your souls, you may find the Eternal Refuge, and the sup- 
 port of Everlasting Arms. And may He who is the great 
 Head of the Church be especially near to you in these 
 days, and bring all things to your remembrance which 
 His servant and under-shepherd spoke to you in His 
 name. Your pastor has entered upon his reward and 
 taken possession of the illimitable glory which Jesus gives 
 to those who are with Him where He is. May it be 
 yours to reap in joy that which he has sown. 
 
 Wishing you grace, mercy, and peace from God our 
 Father, and Jesus Christ His Son, we remain ever yours 
 in the bonds of Christian love. 
 
 In the name and on behalf of the First Presbyterian 
 Church, its Elders, and Members, 
 
 Theophilus Parsons Sawin. 
 
 June 14, 1895. 
 
 FROM ST. STEPHEN'S GUILD. 
 
 The members of St. Stephen's Guild of the Parish of 
 the Holy Cross, Troy, N. Y., have with deep sadness 
 
29 
 
 received the intelligence of the decease of the Rev. Eben 
 Halley, D.D., pastor of the Second Street Presbyterian 
 Church of this city. Together with other pleasant 
 memories of him, they recall with particular pleasure and 
 gratitude the kind interest which he manifested in the 
 very interesting and valuable address which he gave 
 before them. The departure of a man so favored in in- 
 tellectual gifts, so gentle in spirit, so brave in his convic- 
 tions, so wise in his sympathies, so studious in various 
 fields, so faithful in every relation, and universally re- 
 spected and reverenced, is a loss which is profoundly 
 realized far beyond the favored circle in which he was 
 the devoted and beloved pastor. 
 
 As a humble expression of our appreciation and sym- 
 pathy, we very respectfully present to the family of our 
 departed friend a copy of the above memorial minute, 
 which we place upon our records. 
 
 Eaton W. Maxcy, 
 J. Ireland Tucker, 
 For the Committee. 
 
 ■June 20, 1895. 
 
 THE FAIRVIEW HOME. 
 
 West Troy, N. Y., July i, 1895. 
 
 At the regular quarterly meeting of the Board of 
 Directors of " Fairview Home for Friendless Children," 
 held June 27, 1895, the following memorial was spread 
 on the minutes, and directed to be sent to the family of 
 the deceased. 
 
 The death of Rev. Eben Halley, D.D., which has 
 brought sorrow to so many hearts, has deprived Fairview 
 
30 
 
 Home of a steadfast friend, and this Board of one of its 
 oldest and most useful members. Dr. Halley's thorough 
 knowledge of the needs of the Home, joined to his 
 strong, practical sense, made his counsel of great value, 
 the more so that he was always ready to supplement it 
 by active effort. By private as well as by public appeal, 
 has he brought material aid to the Home, while also 
 giving time and thought to its management. The death 
 of Dr. Halley brings to the members of this Board, indi- 
 vidually, a sense of personal loss. His warm greeting 
 will be missed by them no less than his hearty co-opera- 
 tion in their work. The children at the Home, too, will 
 remember with pleasure his kindly presence, and for his 
 work and loving thought for " these little ones ... he 
 shall in nowise lose his reward." 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 F. B. DURANT, 
 
 Secretary. 
 Mrs. Eben Halley, 
 
 Troy, N. Y. 
 
 FROM THE " SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN," JUNE 12, 1895. 
 
 In the death of Rev. Dr. Eben Halley, pastor of the 
 Second Street Presbyterian Church of Troy, N. Y., the 
 cause of good government and of humanity in that city 
 loses a powerful advocate, and the religious denomination 
 to which he belonged is robbed of a strong personality 
 always ranged on the side of manliness, of freedom, and 
 the progress that goes with freedom. The personal loss 
 that is felt by all who knew this attractive man made 
 
31 
 
 yesterday a sad Sunday in the city of his latest and best 
 work, and wherever the news of his death reached those 
 who loved him. 
 
 Dr. Halley was only just past fifty years of age, big of 
 person, warm of heart, and anxious to devote his ripened 
 powers to the service of his fellows. He was quick to 
 feel and quicker to help, the friend of all his kind, but 
 especially of those weighted in the race of life. When the 
 murder of Ross came to awaken the best citizenship of 
 Troy to a keener sense of its responsibilities, Dr. Halley 
 threw himself with all the force of an intense nature into 
 the fight for public honor and the well-being of the peo- 
 ple. What previous neglect had done to oppress the 
 people and create abuses that were intolerable in a 
 civilized community, was no new chapter to him. He 
 had lived close to the toilers and knew it all, and was no 
 cloistered theologian just awakened to his duty. But 
 others had come to see the situation in all its hideous de- 
 formity. How his very soul blazed out in impetuous and 
 righteously wrathful utterance, with an eloquence never 
 to be forgotten by those who heard his words or read of 
 that mighty mass-meeting of citizens, our readers will 
 recall, for the Republican printed his speech. He could 
 not spare himself in such a cause, albeit he was con- 
 sciously overdrawing the vital forces that had been too 
 far weakened in his regular work. 
 
 There came a serious breakdown. The members of 
 the church that he had broadened and strengthened and 
 almost compelled to share in a community life outside of 
 the old social lines, bound to him by ties of the tenderest 
 nature, came to his help with worthy generosity. They 
 
32 
 
 gave him a thousand dollars, voted to continue his salary, 
 and told him to lean on them and go and get well. Then 
 came the search for health. The strong man broken 
 sought the woods last summer, and then spent the winter 
 in the Adirondacks ; health seemed to be coming back, 
 and the outlook was bright for richer years of work ahead 
 — and now has come the sudden summons, the sorrow of 
 those left behind, and above all the sense of poverty 
 that oppresses when a leader among men is no more. 
 
 Eben Halley was graduated at Williams College in 1864, 
 where he was a classmate of Rev. Dr. J. L. R. Trask of 
 this city, of President Henry M. Booth of Auburn Theo- 
 logical Seminary, of the late President Ingalls of Drury 
 College, and of Rev. Dr. R. P. H. Vail of Stamford, Conn. 
 Halley studied theology at Princeton Seminary. Williams 
 gave him his degree of D.D. While never letting his 
 people lose hold upon the spiritual side of life. Dr. Halley 
 made them see the practical responsibilities that go with 
 the Christian idea of the brotherhood of man, and his 
 pulpit views broadened with his growth. The narrow 
 conscientiousness of the heresy hunter gave him wonder 
 and pain, and he longed to see the Church into which he 
 had been born widen her borders in the charity of Christ. 
 
 Eben Halley was as sweet and true and human as 
 Phillips Brooks. He had a quick sense of humor, was a 
 delightful story-teller, and his deep, infectious laugh that 
 shook his big frame was mighty pleasant to hear. His 
 fine courtesy of manner was the natural garb of a nature 
 so transparently genuine that trust and love went out to 
 meet him without reserve or fear, and he had the sympa- 
 thy to welcome and the strength to hold them ever after. 
 
33 
 
 The Presbyterian Church has great need of such as he, 
 and so has the world of strugghng humanity in all its 
 aspects. 
 
 FROM POST GRISWOLD, G. A. R. 
 
 At the regular Encampment of John A. Griswold Post, 
 No. 338, Department of New York, Grand Army of the 
 Republic, held Wednesday evening, October 23, 1895, 
 the following Memorial was unanimously adopted : 
 
 VVhei'cas, our beloved Comrade and Chaplain, the Rev. 
 Dr. Eben Halley, has been called to his eternal reward, 
 we would hereby most cordially and tenderly express our 
 reverence for his faithfulness and our admiration for his 
 many virtues. 
 
 Commanding in integrity as he was in stature, he has 
 left a memory fragrant with deeds of love and oft-repeated 
 utterances of patriotic devotion. 
 
 To his beloved wife and children, and to all his mourn- 
 ing friends, we extend our earnest sympathies, and pray 
 that the Great Commander may supply his place and fit 
 us all for similar devotion and final peace. 
 L. M. S. Haynes, I 
 W. W. Rousseau, )■ Committee. 
 Geo. H. Ennis. ) 
 
 FROM THE MINUTES OF THE PRESBYTERY OF TROY. 
 
 September 24, 1895. 
 Since the last meeting of Presbytery it has pleased our 
 Heavenly Father to remove from us by death our dear 
 
34 
 
 brother and co-presbyter, the Rev. Eben Halley, D.D., 
 minister of the Second Street Presbyterian church of 
 Troy. Taken away in the prime of his manhood and 
 in the maturity of his powers, we are left to mourn one 
 who had proved himself an able minister of the truth, a 
 zealous and courageous advocate of righteousness, a wise 
 and faithful counsellor, and withal a gentle and tolerant 
 spirit, filled with the hope of the Gospel, and guided by 
 the mind of the Master. 
 
 The Presbytery of Troy puts on record this brief tribute 
 to his memory, and accompanies it with sincere sympathy 
 for the church he so ably and worthily served for eight 
 years, praying that it may be comforted and strengthened 
 by the continual abiding of the work which he did in the 
 Master's name. 
 
 To the dear family, the wife and children who are left, 
 the Presbytery also expresses its sense of sorrow in their 
 bereavement, and earnestly beseeches the God of all com- 
 fort that He would be with them in their distress and 
 show them the full sweetness of His unchanging love. 
 
 And to the end that a more complete manifestation of 
 our deep regard for the memory of our brother may be 
 made, the Presbytery orders that a time for a memorial 
 service be set apart, the time and place and program 
 thereof to be determined by a committee chosen for 
 the purpose, to act in conjunction with a committee 
 from the Second Street Presbyterian Church, provided 
 such a service shall be acceptable to that church. 
 
35 
 
 TO EBEN HALLEY. 
 
 Brave prophet of the Ever-living Word, 
 
 To whom was given the vision clear, of Right, 
 And Truth, and Liberty, and speech of might, 
 
 Wherewith to show to men thine own accord 
 
 With all the Spirit of thy loving Lord — 
 
 Thy voice is silent now ; and from our sight 
 Thou art withdrawn into the cloudless light. 
 
 Where joys complete to thee the heavens afford. 
 
 Thou wast a man in whom all manliness 
 
 Of strength was matched with gentleness and grace ; 
 
 Thy thoughts were living breaths of sacred fire ; 
 Thy words were martial notes to make men face 
 The call of Duty stern, and reinspire 
 Their fainting hearts with Truth and Righteousness. 
 
 T. P. S. 
 
 June 10, 1895.