LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 Shelf _+£\h% 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
\ Voice frog tge Drieqli. 
 
TO THE 
 
 Members of the Spring Garden Congregation, 
 
 Philadelphia, 
 
 these Sermons ape affectionately 
 
 dedicated, as a token 
 
 of gratitude, 
 
 By their Friend and Minister. 
 
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 A VOICE 
 
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 FROM THE 
 
 ORIENT. 
 
 %erie£ of Germans 
 
 Mangasar M. Mangasarian, 
 
 
 Pastor Spring Garden Church. 
 
 'Religion is the master element in man, it is meant to rule.'' 
 
 Thought, 
 " The golden key 
 Which opes the Palace of Eternity.' 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 J . G . DITMAX. 
 
 1885. 
 
3 
 
 Wl 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by J. G. DlTMAN, 
 
 in the office of the Librarian of Congress, 
 at Washington, D. C. 
 
 Press of 
 J. F. DICKSOX & CO., 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
PUBLISHER'S NOTE. 
 
 To gratify the wishes of a large number of 
 Mr. Mangasarian's friends, I have requested him 
 to consent to the publication of a few of his ser- 
 mons. Most of them were delivered since his 
 return from the Orient, about three months ago, 
 and were preached before very large congregations. 
 I have no doubt that this will widen the Preacher's 
 influence for doing good. And if it accomplishes 
 this end, the publisher will have his reward. 
 
 J. G.!Ditman. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 1. The Armenians, or The Christians of the 
 
 Orient, ........ 13 
 
 2. Constantinople, or Christ Among- the 
 
 Turks, 29 
 
 3. Heart Fragrance, 45 
 
 4. What is God? 61 
 
 5. Eecognition of Friends in Heaven, . . 83 
 
 6. The Mission of Woman, .... 105 
 
 7. The Unpardonable Sin/ 121 
 
 8. A Lecture on the Times, . . . . 135 
 
 9. Immortality of the Soul, .... 153 
 
 10. Sunshine and Shadow, .... 175 
 
 11. Eeason and Religion, 193 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 About four years ago I came to this country as 
 an utter stranger. To receive a better and more 
 thorough education for the Gospel Ministry was 
 my main object. I began the study of the English 
 language when thirteen years of age, and in 1876 
 graduated at Robert College, on the Bosphorus. In 
 1877, when nineteen years old, I began to preach 
 in the Congregational Church, at Marsovan, Asia 
 Minor. In a few months I was ordained over this 
 Church, with a congregation of 7-800. My desire 
 to visit America and carry on my special studies 
 was so great, that in 1880, with the consent of my 
 people, I came to this country and entered the Semi- 
 nary at Princeton, N. J. The first few months in 
 this country, I felt very home-sick, and often sought 
 a secret spot and shed tears as I thought of the dis- 
 tance of 7,000 miles between me and my home. 
 America was a new world to me. I was a perfect 
 stranger to everybody. This loneliness and isola- 
 
2 Introduction. 
 
 tion added to my misery. I cannot explain why, 
 but one of the professors took a special interest in 
 me. On one occasion there was a tap at my door, 
 I- opened, and Prof. A. A. Hodge entered my room, 
 took a chair, and asked me of the friends and the 
 home I had left behind. My heart was full, — and 
 there I felt the power of his sympathy. From that 
 day the Doctor took a deep interest in me, intro- 
 duced me to the churches and Christian people and 
 made me welcome at his home. I could go to his 
 study under all circumstances, feeling perfectly free. 
 My first letter from Princeton to my people on the 
 other side was full of Dr. Hodge. It gives me pleas- 
 ure to-day, to acknowledge that my position as a 
 minister in Philadelphia, I owe to his friendship, 
 advice, and influence upon my character. 
 
 But I must speak of another person. One warm 
 day in August, while walking on Broad Street 
 and asking for Dr. Wylie's church, a certain gen- 
 tleman, with an open brow and kind face, put his 
 arm around me, and with a smile asked me where I 
 was going. " To hear Dr. Wylie." " Good, come 
 with me," said he and took me to the church and 
 prevailed upon me to occupy the pulpit that after- 
 noon. With the kind consent of the pastor, I 
 preached, and there, that afternoon, I won the heart 
 
Introduction. 3 
 
 and friendship of George H. Stuart, the gentleman 
 who had discovered me on the street. Through him 
 I was introduced into the pulpits of the city and 
 soon had some excellent friends in the West Arch 
 Street church, the North Broad Street church, the 
 Second church, the North Sixth Street church, 
 Bethany church, and many others. I soon forgot 
 my home-sickness and began to fall in love with 
 the country. 
 
 About two years ago, the congregation of the 
 Spring Garden church gave me a unanimous call to 
 become their pastor. The church then was in a very 
 deplorable condition. Already, they had had a 
 number of meetings, advocating the sale of the 
 building. Most of the members had withdrawn 
 their letters. There were only a handful of the 
 strong friends of the churoh left. 
 
 I accepted the call, entered into the work with 
 enthusiasm, and to-day, no minister has a larger 
 number of hearers and a warmer, kinder people than 
 I have at Eleventh and Green. Quite a number of 
 prophecies were made at the time. One day, being 
 in New York, I went to see a leading Christian 
 preacher of the city. After being introduced to him 
 by a friend who had accompanied me from Phila- 
 delphia, I told the eminent divine, that while study- 
 
4 Introduction. 
 
 ing at Princeton, I would like to do something in the 
 line of self-support, and asked him whether he 
 could or would be kind enough to introduce me to 
 some of the churches needing a supply. The cler- 
 gyman was wroth, bringing his fist down on the 
 table with a thump, he said : — " No, sir, do you think 
 the Americans would leave the American preacher 
 and come to hear an Armenian ? Why ! suppose 
 here is a church where there is an American minis- 
 ter, and here is one where there is an Armenian ; 
 everybody will say, we don't want the Armenian, 
 and go to hear the American." Similar words of en- 
 couragement were spoken to me by others. But my 
 great inspiration came from the people. Their grasp 
 of the hand was warm. Their sympathy was great. 
 I had faith in the American people, in the genius 
 of American civilization, in the breadth and impar- 
 tiality of the American heart. In these, I have not 
 been disappointed, but my highest expectations have 
 been fulfilled. I am constrained to say that I love 
 the American people. I owe a great deal to their 
 generosity and kindness. Forgetting that I was a 
 foreigner, they came to hear me and filled my 
 church from pulpit to vestibule, and from wall to 
 wall. For two years they have given me their 
 interest, co-operation and cheer. 
 
Introduction. 5 
 
 Out of gratitude, I dedicate this book to the kind 
 people of the Spring Garden Congregation, It is 
 an imperfect and humble gift. But just as it is, 'tis 
 a token of reverence and gratitude. If I succeed to 
 strengthen the tie that has bound us together for 
 two years so happily, I shall feel greatly rewarded. 
 That you will forgive, where your forgiveness is 
 asked, I am sure. I am also sure that you will en- 
 courage me to do better in the future. There is no 
 happiness comparable to that, which a minister 
 enjoys, when standing in the pulpit, or moving 
 among his members, he feels the electric sparks 
 falling upon his soul, from tibfe warm, sympathetic 
 and unanimous heart oi Ms congregation. I have 
 had this, and therefore I can say that I made a 
 wise choice when I entered the ministry, and a wiser 
 choice, when in the face of discouraging circum- 
 stances, I accepted the call of the Spring Garden 
 Church. The best chapter of my life, I have written 
 in this community; the highest moments of inspira- 
 tion I have enjoyed in this pulpit; the greatest con- 
 solation and reward have come to me from this 
 field. 
 
 The aim of this book is not to teach a new the- 
 ology. My position does not differ from that of any 
 other minister of the Evangelical church. If I have 
 
6 Introduction. 
 
 said things, seemingly out of harmony with the 
 general teachings of the Presbyterian pulpit, it is 
 not done from a desire to differ or criticise. I have 
 spoken in plain speech, my convictions and beliefs. 
 I have always believed that cowardice is out of 
 place in the pulpit. By an earnest, reverent, sin- 
 cere search and discussion of the truth, nothing is 
 lost, but much gained. Investigation is the road to 
 truth. Free speech is the sacred right of the pulpit. 
 
 " Ye earnest men, no longer shrink 
 
 From speaking what you truly think ; 
 
 Proclaim the truth you find, 
 And let free search, free speech, free thought, 
 
 By blood of ancient worthies bought, 
 Advance the human mind." 
 
 " Heed not the shaft too surely cast, 
 The foul and hissing bolt of scorn, 
 For with thy side shall dwell at last, 
 The victory of endurance born." 
 
 " Truth crushed to earth, shall rise again; 
 The eternal years of God are hers ; 
 But error wounded writhes in pain, 
 And dies among his worshpipers. " 
 
 " Another hand thy sword shall wield, 
 Another hand the standard wave, 
 Till from the trumpet's mouth is pealed 
 The blast of triumph o'er the grave." 
 
Introduction. 7 
 
 I am a minister in a Presbyterian church, and I 
 love and honor that body. I love it, because of its 
 freedom, breadth and depth ; I love it, because of its 
 glorious past, and its promises for the future. But 
 in a higher and broader sense I belong to no sect, no 
 ism, no denomination and no party. My individ- 
 uality is not swallowed up in any denomination. I 
 belong to the Christian church as I understand it, 
 and not as somebody else interprets it for me. Christ 
 has made a revelation to the individual Christian, 
 and He is to me, what I make Him to be. I must 
 see Him with my own eyes, feel Him with my own 
 heart, and comprehend Him with my own mind. 
 You cannot fasten a creed, or a belief on the soul, 
 as you fasten a rope to the tree. The faith must be 
 the outgrowth of the soul. Individuality of thought 
 in the domain of religion is^the immortal principle 
 of Protestantism. Between the individual soul and 
 God, no church, no sect and no council can stand. 
 
 Christianity is the religion of joy and love. Jesus 
 is the author of spiritual freedom. God is a father 
 in the broadest and kindest sense. And His word in 
 its spiritual outlines, is the infallible rule of thought 
 and conduct. 
 
 Life is more than creed. A living faith in the 
 person of Christ, is more than a belief in dogmas* 
 
8 Introduction. 
 
 A shiningly Christian character is more than a pas- 
 sive adherence to sectarian isms. A broad, inclusive, 
 Good Samaritan Church, is more than an exclusive 
 and narrow denomination. 
 
 A Church is not Christianity. A sect is not re- 
 ligion. There is no such thing as " Presbyterian 
 Faith," or " Baptist Hope," or " Methodist Love." 
 Faith, hope, and love, are absolute verities, and be- 
 long not to the phases, but to the essence of religion. 
 Our Father in Heaven, has one Church. It is 
 neither the Episcopalian, Lutheran, nor Unitarian. 
 It is Christian. And all who live Christ, indepen- 
 dent of creed and ism, are members in good and 
 regular standing of that Church. These are some 
 of the thoughts I have endeavored to emphasize in 
 the following sermons. 
 
 It is with much diffidence that I consent to their 
 publication. I am fully conscious of their imper- 
 fection and poverty. The earnest wish of a large 
 number of friends to have them in a permanent 
 form, has called forth this volume. Had I the time, 
 I would give them the benefit of a complete recon- 
 struction, but under the pressure of pastoral and 
 pulpit duties, I am compelled to offer them to the 
 public, in the main, as they were originally delivered 
 to my people. 
 
Introduction. 9 
 
 In the selection of the subjects for this work, I 
 have consulted the wish of my congregation, whose 
 warm and generous appreciation of my efforts in 
 the pulpit, has been one of the chiefest delights and 
 inspirations of my life. 
 
 The fourth sermon was preached soon after my 
 recovery from the effects of a sad accident and im- 
 mediately before my departure for the Orient. For 
 the few prayers in the book, I am indebted to the 
 kindness of Mr. T. Johnson, the stenographer. 
 
 Though the absence of the living voice, and the 
 expressions of the speaker's face, greatly impoverish 
 and weaken these sermons, still, I will pray that the 
 dear God may render these silent pages instrumental 
 in feeding the reader's soul with large thought, 
 with strong faith, and with divine love. 
 
 " They will reach the hand of the reader chill and 
 discolored, but, when in the autumn evenings the 
 leaves fall and lie on the ground, more than one 
 glance may still fall on them, more than one hand 
 still gather them. And even if they were despised 
 of all alike, the wind may sweep them away, and 
 prepare with them a couch for some poor man, on 
 whom Providence looks down with love from the 
 heights of Heaven." And thou, without whose 
 notice not a sparrow falleth to the ground ; let this 
 
10 « Introduction. 
 
 little volume be a message from Thy Love to Thy 
 children ! 
 
 66 The seeds are planted, and the Spring is near ; 
 Ages of blight are but a fleeting frost ; 
 Truth circles into truth. Each mote is dear 
 To God, no drop of ocean is e'er lost ; 
 No leaf forever dry and tempest tossed. 
 Life-centers deathless underneath decay, 
 And no true word or deed can ever pass away. 
 
 1 c Work on, oh fainting heart, speak out thy truth ; 
 Somewhere thy winged heart-seeds will be blown, 
 And be a grove of pines ; from mouth to mouth 
 O'er oceans, into speech and lands unknown, 
 E'en till the long-foreseen result be grown 
 To ripeness, filled like fruit, with other seed, 
 Which time shall plant anew, and gather when men 
 need." 
 
 Mangasar M. Mangasarian* 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 January, 1885. 
 
THE ARMENIANS; 
 
 OR THE 
 
 CHRISTIANS OF THE ORIENT. 
 
ARMENIA. 
 
 c ' Upon her soil they say those violets grew 
 That wove a fragrant crown for the feet 
 Of curious Eve, ere by that snake's deceit 
 The world lost innocence and suffering knew ; 
 Brave i^oe, riding with his motley crew, 
 Her highest hill-top, black above the sheet 
 Of turbid waters, haiPd as resting seat, 
 And thither in his batter 'd life-boat drew." 
 
 " Such honor had she in the years agone, 
 Whose lands lie desolate beneath the sky, 
 Whose people, now, the tyrant tramples on, 
 While few are fain to listen to their cry. 
 Oh ! pray we, that before her day be done 
 She taste again the sweets of liberty." 
 
THE ARMENIANS, OR TEE CHRISTIANS 
 OF THE ORIENT. 
 
 " They shall come from the East." 
 Matt, viii, 2. 
 
 The Armenians are the children of Mount Ararat. 
 It was on its summit, that the Ark of Noah rested, 
 after the waters of the great deluge had subsided . The 
 Bible speaks of the river Euphrates, as one of the 
 four streams that ran through Eden, moistening its 
 soil, watering its trees, and washing the flowers 
 thereof. Both Ararat and Euphrates, the one 
 crowned with the historic Ark, the other famous 
 by the recollection of man's primitive grandeur in 
 Paradise, are in the possession of that ancient and 
 Oriental nation known to the world by the name of 
 Armenian. 
 
 The Armenian's fatherland lies under the shadow 
 of the great Ararat, and it is girdled by the sacred 
 and beautiful stream of the Euphrates. It is claimed 
 by the Armenians that their ancestors descended 
 the heights of Massius, and populated the whole 
 world. The tree of humanity first found root in 
 the Armenian soil, thence it w r as borne to other por- 
 
16 The Armenians, or the 
 
 tions of the globe. Paradise, it is believed, was 
 located in beautiful Armenia. To this very day, 
 notwithstanding the fact that " where the Sultan's 
 horse-hoof treads, there grass never grows again," 
 is a terrestrial Paradise. The beauties of nature in 
 that land transport the mind. What springs of the 
 coolest and sweetest water ! What charming valleys 
 of verdure and fields of flowers ! What olive-clad 
 hills and rich vineyards of delicious fruit ! She is 
 the first-born of all the ages. The early Fathers of 
 mankind dwelt amid these picturesque vallej^s, and 
 breathed the pure and virgin air of the eastern 
 azure. Armenia therefore, more than any other 
 country, is the womb of all nations. The birth- 
 place of all civilization. The sun rise of mankind. 
 Humanity, like a heaven-born infant, stood first 
 upon her sky-kissing mountains, to survey the 
 great globe of lands lying at its feet. Between her 
 hills of immortal green, was rocked the cradle of 
 the first human child. 
 
 But I beg to lead you a step further. Armenia 
 deserves your earnest study, for it was the first 
 country in all the world to embrace the Christian 
 faith. This does not stand on tradition, but on 
 sound and indisputable historical basis. 
 
 All great church and religious writers admit the 
 authenticity of the evidence, which goes to prove, 
 that, before the Greeks, and before the Romans, and 
 before any other people on the face of the earth, 
 the Armenians, as a country and as a nation, opened 
 
Christians of the Orient. 17 
 
 their hearts and homes to the young Prophet of 
 Nazareth and made him their Saviour. As early as 
 the close of the third century these Christians of 
 the Orient began to tear down their idolatrous tem- 
 ples, demolish their heathen altars, dismiss their 
 false gods, and make the religion of the Crucified the 
 ruling and supreme faith of the people; the aristoc- 
 racy as well as the common masses. The beginning 
 of the fourth century found Christianity the reli- 
 gion of the State. St. Bartholomew was the apos- 
 tle of Armenia. Through his influence was raised 
 another leader and mighty reformer in the person 
 of Gregory the Illuminator, the brightest and largest 
 star across the Armenian blue, who, in his lifetime, 
 completely overthrew paganism, old and established, 
 and enthroned Christianity, then despised and weak. 
 Even to this day lives the dead hand of Great 
 Gregory, with an immortal thought in it, guiding 
 and moulding this people of ancient birth. 
 
 Let me ask you to take but one more step, and 
 that will carry you to the Middle or Dark Ages, 
 the ages of superstition and papal rule ; of perse- 
 cution and bondage of conscience ; of corrupt 
 Christianity and a degenerate clergy ; of dangerous 
 heresies and religious bigotry. When Rome 
 stretched every nerve to introduce her anti-Christ 
 into the Oriental Church and subdue them into 
 obedience to the Pope, the brave Armenian 
 Christians resolutely resisted popeism and barred 
 their doors against the Western thief. They main- 
 
18 The Armenians, or the 
 
 tained themselves free from the spiritual yoke of 
 the tyrant who sat in St. Peter's chair. To this very 
 day the See of Rome has no ecclesiastical control 
 or social influence upon the Orthodox Armenian 
 Church. On the other hand, Catholicism in the East 
 bears deep marks of hard-dealt blows received at 
 the hands of Armenian reformers. I am sorry to 
 confess that the Catholic Church of late has made 
 some progress in the Orient. The Jesuits, banished 
 from the Occident, have gone thither with their 
 mediaeval theology and church furniture. Yet, it 
 exists as a sect, and not as the ruling Christian faith 
 of the people. In all the religious battles the 
 Gregorian Christians have come out victorious. 
 They have held up the cross, the symbol of their 
 faith, high in the air for sixteen hundred years. 
 They have held fast the hem of Christ's garment 
 under the cruelest and bloodiest persecutions that 
 have ever befallen a nation on earth. They have 
 kept the faith for sixteen centuries of war and of 
 defeat at the hands of the barbarous tribes of the East. 
 
 " Such honor had she in the year agone, 
 Whose lands lie desolate beneath the sky. 
 
 Whose people, now, the tyrant tramples on, 
 While few are fain to listen to their cry. 
 
 O ! pray we, that before her day be done. 
 She taste again the sweets of liberty." 
 
 From a political stand point, Armenia, at the 
 present day is dead. She has no government of her 
 own. She has no independence, no soil, no property 
 
Christians of the Orient. 19 
 
 or power. Years ago, the Ottoman Turks overrun 
 the country of Armenia, swallowed up her fairest 
 portions, converted her walled cities to a ruinous 
 heap of dust, and with a hand as heavy as lead 
 and as sharp as steel, scourged the people into 
 poverty, into bondage, into ignorance and into des- 
 pair. Centuries of groaning and sighing, under the 
 iron hoofs of Islam, have crippled and paralyzed her 
 noblest and bravest energies, insomuch, that 
 to-day there is hardly any sign, or spirit of life, 
 patriotism, or of a general uprising in the breasts 
 of the children of Haig. To-day, Armenia, is a 
 mere geographical name, for there is no such 
 country as Armenia. Xot long ago, the avaricious 
 Russian opened his mouth and roared for the re- 
 maining portion of the land, and now she holds 
 her morsel fast between her teeth. The Shah of 
 Persia, put forth his hand and took what was left. 
 To-day three Oriental despots, Sultan, Czar and Shah, 
 sit upon the neck of the Armenian, determined to 
 crush him under their intolerable yokes. 
 
 It is, however, only from a religious point of 
 view, that I care to speak to you this evening. 
 Let the parliaments of Great Britain, and of Russia, 
 and of Germany, discuss the political salvation and 
 situation of Christian Armenia, this most ancient, and 
 most unjustly persecuted people of Christ, To an 
 American audience, I would only lay emphasis 
 upon the religious and spiritual aspects of the 
 country. 
 
20 The Armenians, or the 
 
 Four years ago, when I first came to this country, 
 and began to preach in the Protestant churches, if 
 I am not mistaken, the general opinion was, that I 
 had been converted to Christianity from the Moslem 
 faith. "Were you not a Mohammedan once?" 
 was a question often asked. " There must be a 
 great many converts from Islam in your country," 
 was another remark frequently made. My greatest 
 surprise was on being introduced as the Turk, or 
 the Turkish preacher, or the Christian Turk, by the 
 pastors of the churches. I do not blame the people 
 of this country for knowing so little about the 
 Armenians ; if there be a party to be blamed, they 
 are the missionaires, who have not taken the 
 pains to enlighten the people, and have willingly 
 or unwillingly conveyed the impression, that these 
 Armenians are a heathen people and need the gospel 
 in the same sense, that the Tartar or the African 
 do. Now the difference between Turk and 
 Armenian, in language, in nationality, in race 
 and in religion, is just as marked and irreconcil- 
 able, as that existing between the Englishman and 
 the Hindoos of East India, or between the Ameri- 
 can and the red man in the West. The Turks are 
 the followers and disciples of the Saracene Prophet. 
 Mohammed is their Christ. The Armenians believe — 
 in the language of Christendom — in one Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and have followed Him for sixteen cen- 
 turies. The Turks would never mingle with the 
 Armenians, and gather up their skirts less they 
 
Christians of the Orient. 21 
 
 be defiled by contact with those Christians, and 
 the Armenian always thinks it an insult to be called 
 a Turk. 
 
 On the banks of the beautiful Euphrates there 
 is the little, but, very old town of Mashgerd. Few 
 mud huts are on the brow of a hill, washed at its base 
 by the Ganges of Armenia. Some regal trees, softly 
 whistling their music and keeping time with the mur- 
 mur of the stream, mark the spot where I was born. 
 Little did I think as I played with the sand and threw 
 pebbles into the river, that I too, would be caught by 
 the westward moving current and be borne over the 
 seas to make my home in the far, far West, the land 
 of the setting sun. At the time of my birth, my 
 parents had already joined the American Congre- 
 gational Church, and in their arms I received 
 Christian baptism. I was born in the faith which I 
 now preach. I have always been a Protestant. I 
 have therefore just as good a birth-right claim to 
 Christianity as any one in this large assembly. But 
 the Gregorian Church to -which my parents formerly 
 belonged, and from which they seceded, is not the 
 Protestant Church. They do not recognize the Re- 
 formation. Not having become Catholics, they think 
 they never needed to protest and come out of the 
 Catholic Church. The missionaries, about sixty 
 years ago, began their work of proselyting in the 
 Armenian Christian Church, and it was through 
 them that my parents left the old national faith. 
 If you bear with me, I will mention a few of the 
 
22 The Armenians, or the 
 
 principal points of difference between the Gregorian 
 and Protestant Creeds. I praj r you to hold fast this 
 one fact, that we have been, before any other nation, 
 a Christian people. In the cardinal and funda- 
 mental truths of Scripture, they are sound and em- 
 phatically Orthodox. The doctrines of the trinity, 
 the atonement, the decrees, the divinity of Christ, 
 inspiration of scriptures and salvation only through 
 the supernatural Jesus, are firmly held and expound- 
 ed in the Armenian pulpit. I admit, with great sor- 
 row of heart, that from lack of enlightment, and by 
 reason of poverty and persecution, the Church has 
 neglected the education of her clergy, and through 
 their indifference and sloth, there are to-day, some 
 superstitions and errors of worship in the old Church, 
 once purely evangelical. She has unscriptural 
 forms and beliefs. Yet these do not make the essen- 
 tial part of her creed. What Church is perfect? 
 Where is the infallible creed ? Are the Protestant 
 Churches entirely above reformation? I feel it in 
 my deepest heart, that the advanced members of the 
 Christian Ministry of the Armenian Church are 
 honestly laboring to return to the Gospel purity of 
 their martyr ancestors. To-day on the Patriarchal 
 throne of Constantinople sits a Nersess Varjabedian,* 
 on whose shoulders has fallen the mantle of Gregory, 
 the Xavier of Armenia. A child of Armenian Chris- 
 
 * This eminent and Godly and patriotic Patriarch died a 
 few weeks after the date of this sermon. 
 
Christians of the Orient. 23 
 
 tianity, he is devout, reverent, noble-hearted, great- 
 souled and exceedingly sweet in disposition. Under 
 his ecclesiastical reign the Armenian Church has 
 been put through a hundred degrees of enlighten- 
 ment and excellence. He preaches the pure truth, 
 lives a shiningly Christian life and carries the 
 dearest interests of his people close to his thrilling 
 heart. Aye, the care of millions and millions of 
 Armenians rests on his faithful shoulders. Arme- 
 nia has one bosom swelling with this one emotion 
 of love and reverence for Nersess Varjabedian. Per- 
 haps you will say, Why, then, do our missionaries, 
 instead of going to heathens, spend their time and 
 money in converting the Christian Armenians into 
 Congregationalism, Presbyterianism, or to the Bap- 
 tist faith? I do not object to missionaries, repre- 
 senting various sects, carrying a spiritual power and 
 introducing a 'diviner energy into this old church. 
 They are welcome to labor for the enlightenment 
 and the leading out of what is noblest in these 
 people. But I do think that it is a mistaken 
 policy which aims at dividing and taking to pieces 
 the old national organization and, instead, creating 
 a number of sectarian isms. Here is a historic 
 Christian institution. Against it are arrayed the 
 forces of the Western denominations. First comes 
 the Congregationalist, with his creed, his form of 
 worship, and suc2eeds to tear a few from the mother 
 church, and puts up a new building for the seceders. 
 Then enters the Presbyterian, the Methodist, the 
 
24 The Armenians, or the 
 
 Episcopalian, the Carmelites, and, last of all 
 the close-communion Baptist. All these build 
 with Western money sectarian churches and put 
 up their respective machinery. The Ortho- 
 dox Armenian Church turns to the Boards that 
 support the missions and asks them whether it be 
 honorable and fraternal thus to assail and directly 
 or indirectly to undermine this Christian church. 
 Should there be no Christian courtesy between the 
 Church of the Orient and that of the Occident ? 
 Has she no rights which the Western churches 
 should respect ? It has often been answered that 
 the missionaries at first desired to labor in the old 
 church, but that they were refused and compelled 
 to go out. Did they think they could do it in a day ? 
 Does it not take time and effort and perseverance to 
 bring about a glorious reformation ? How many 
 years did they labor before they were forced out, 
 and was it not their method and policy which 
 brought upon them the suspicions of the people? 
 Far be it from me, to antagonize missionary enter- 
 prise. There is a sad need in the Armenian, as 
 in a great many Protestant churches of more spir- 
 itual life and less formality, and may God make 
 the missionaries instrumental in kindling a new 
 fire and devotion on our national altars. May 
 their preaching stir the deeps of our souls and 
 exalt our minds in reverence and worship of God's 
 truth. Still, as an Armenian, with my Christian 
 ancestors' blood throbbing in my heart, I will lift my 
 
Christians of the Orient. 25 
 
 humble voice against this sectarianism of the West, 
 which stands without, and throws stones at our 
 institutions hoary with age, illustrious with her 
 calendar of holy martyrs, honorable with her 
 heroism and defence of the faith, against the semi- 
 savage Turks, the barbarous Kurds, the fire- 
 worshippers of Persia, and the jealous sects of Latin 
 Christianty. For the cause of Christ upon a thousand 
 fields, the Armenian has given his share all warm 
 from the heart. Her history is sprinkled with the 
 blood of glorious martyrdom. To-day this is all that 
 poor, persecuted, conquered, exiled Armenia has. It 
 is the one thing, the true patriotic and Christian 
 Armenian loves. Break that national stronghold, 
 which has inspired her children with moral courage, 
 and Armenia is lost. Her sun sinks in gloom. Even 
 if she had a few things peculiar to her worship, 
 let her live and enjoy growth, progress and light. 
 
 There are signs of a better day coming, the 
 glorious morning will soon break and the sun of 
 righteousness with healing on his wings will shed 
 down his perpendicular rays upon this apostolic 
 country. What ! will the many prayers of her 
 saintly leaders be forever lost ? Will the good seed 
 planted by the illuminator, rot in the soil ? Will 
 not the blood shed at her shrine bring freedom 
 to her sons? Already the Eastern hills are red 
 with the purple promise of a magnificent sun-rise. 
 
 Xot many weeks ago, I was in the city of Con- 
 stantinople, and by invitation, went to hear a bishop 
 
26 The Armenians, or the 
 
 of the Armenian church deliver a sermon, the large 
 building was one mass of humanity, a sea of upturned 
 faces. The eloquent preacher, dressed in gorgeous 
 attire, after the custom of the Orient, ascended the 
 pulpit. How still, how hushed the great throng, one 
 could hear their breathing. The sermon was al- 
 together evangelical, and full of sharp and search- 
 ing thrusts at the sinner. I could see the moistened 
 eyes in the audience, the lips trembling in prayer, 
 and the glance of the eye turn heavenward. He 
 held them spell-bound in his hand, and they drank 
 in his sweet words, as the thirsty traveller stoops to 
 drink from the silver edge of a flowing stream in the 
 desert. He had no note, no manuscript, no written dis- 
 course to chain his hand and mind, but spoke out of a 
 heart warm and glowing. Are not sucli men and such 
 preaching brave prophecies of a revival and spiritual 
 life ? Not long ago I was at Amasia, which is about 
 five hundred miles from Constantinople, and which 
 is one of the most picturesque and historical towns in 
 the East. Here Julius Csesar came, and not very 
 far from it, fought his memorable battle, and wrote 
 1 lis still more memorable letter, " Veni, Vidi, Vici." 
 This city lies in the embrace of rocky and sublime 
 mountains, which descend into the river Iris. As a 
 Protestant preacher, the Armenians of that city in- 
 vited me to occupy the pulpit of the bishop, stand 
 in the old Church and speak to them concerning 
 religion. Few years ago, this would have been im- 
 possible, no Protestant minister could preach in 
 
Christians of the Orient. 27 
 
 the Armenian Church. God has prepared His 
 people for the reception of His truth, and if our 
 methods be wise, kind and liberal, we will succeed 
 in washing her ancient w r alls of all the stains of 
 superstition and renew the immortal spirit of true 
 worship in her temples. Armenia will be purged 
 and saved through the power of Christ. She will 
 become a polished and precious jewel in Emanuel's 
 crown. In the great Orient, the Armenian Church 
 shall be the guardian and evangel of truth. Arme- 
 nia sighs for freedom, sighs for education, sighs for 
 deliverance from oppression, sighs for the true and 
 splendid light of religion. Yonder Heavens, that 
 have been stormed with these piercing sighs, shall 
 one day melt into a shower of benediction and 
 blessing upon her desolate fields. 
 
CONSTANTINOPLE, OR CHRIST 
 AMONG THE TURKS. 
 
"One God the Arabian Prophet preached to man, 
 One G-od the Orient still 
 Adores, through many a realm of mighty span, 
 A God of power and will." 
 
 u Islamism, following as it did on ground that was none of 
 the best, has, on the whole, done as much harm as good to the 
 human race. 
 
 " It makes men tyrants or slaves, women puppets, religion 
 the submission to an infinite despotism." 
 
CONSTANTINOPLE; OR CHRIST AMONG 
 THE TURKS 
 
 " Ash of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine 
 inheritance." — Psalm ii., 8. 
 
 It was a charming day in July, the waters of the 
 Euxine were murmuring softly, the tender blue of 
 the Oriental sky was without a cloud. Our hearts 
 beat high and loud, as we felt the breezes of our 
 native land fanning our cheeks, and the old, old 
 associations of home, transfigured into noiseless 
 tears, unconsciously flowing from our eyes. As we 
 sailed through the two rocks of ancient fame which 
 guard the entrance into the Black Sea, through 
 which, like an open gate, rushes forth the Bos- 
 phorus and mingles with the Marmora, the feel- 
 ing came over us, that we were the happiest beings 
 on earth, for between us and home there was but a 
 step. Slowly and smoothly we glided down the 
 famous stream, with Europe and Asia on either hand. 
 Hills peeping o'er hills, picturesque valleys, hand- 
 some Oriental palaces, and a thousand glittering 
 minarets, giving to the Bosphorus a loveliness, a 
 
 c 
 
32 Constantinople, or 
 
 charm, and a magnificence not to be surpassed. 
 Yonder, centuries ago, Crysostom opened his mouth 
 of gold, and his immortal voice can still be heard 
 over the din and roar of traffic. There sat Persian 
 Darius and watched his great army with pride and 
 glory. Thither came the enthusiastic crusaders, 
 under the influence of one Peter the Hermit, and 
 leadership of Godfrey the Pious. Across this 
 blue stream which gives to history some of its most 
 dazzling pages, sailed the mythical Greeks in pur- 
 suit of the golden fleece; the first Constantine for 
 his Nova Roma, and Mohammed the Second, dressed 
 its waters in wedding garments for the capture of 
 this Oriental Queen from Christian grasp. With 
 all this, your imagination is thronged, and while 
 plunged in contemplation of these hard problems of 
 history, suddenly your steamer turns her head 
 towards Dolma Bapche, and Constantinople, the 
 only imperial city in the world, bursts upon your 
 vision. In the glory of the rising sun gleams the 
 city of the Sultan adorned as an Eastern bride. 
 Thou ! thronged metropolis of the Orient, that con- 
 tainest all nationalities and languages and religions, 
 who made thee so fair, thy waters so blue, thy 
 heavens so tender, and thy foundations so sublime ? 
 Constantinople is built on seven hills, and from all 
 over the city we could see the Moslem Mosques lift- 
 ing their proud brow against the Eastern azure. We 
 turn our eyes towards Galata, and all at once the 
 vision of home is before us. " Home again, from 
 
Christ Among the Turks. 33 
 
 a foreign shore," we forgot all else, and with bound- 
 ing heart we thank God, for home and fatherland. 
 In the midst of the noise and confusion on deck, 
 our neighbors hear us whispering the Song of the 
 Occident, which seemed so much sweeter in the far 
 far away Orient. 
 
 'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, 
 Be it ever so humble there's no place like home ; 
 A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there, 
 Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met elsewhere. 
 
 Home, home, sweet, sweet home, 
 There's no place like home. 
 
 My purpose in this discourse is to tell you some- 
 thing about the religious aspect of Constantinople, 
 the attitude of the haughty Turk towards the 
 Cross of Christ. In one sense Istamboul is the 
 Mecca of Mohammedanism. The Kaliph, successor 
 to the dead prophet, who is at the same time Sultan 
 of the Ossmanlies, resides here. This is the strong- 
 hold of that Oriental faith which is the chief an- 
 tagonist and foe of Christianity. Here rules Mo- 
 hammed, whose dead body sleeps in a gilded tomb 
 at Mecca, but whose thought for many centuries has 
 chained the hands and pinched the forehead of 
 every Mussulman. From the numerous minarets 
 of this city ascends the cry that fashioned Moham- 
 medanism, " There is no God but God, and Moham- 
 med is his prophet." The learned Ulemas — doctors 
 of Mohammedan law, the great preachers of the 
 
34 Constantinople, or 
 
 Koran, the enthusiastic leaders of the people, — with 
 green turban, flowing gown, and yellow sandals, 
 walk its streets and guard the faith with jealous 
 care. With the exception of Christianity, Islam is 
 the only missionary and aggressive faith. More than 
 Buddha, than Brahma, than Confucius, than Zoro- 
 aster, lives Mohammed in the religious world. 
 These other faiths have ceased to be missionary in 
 spirit. The great field is occupied by Christ and 
 Mohammed. Islam is making fresh advances 
 every year in Africa, Australia, and the interior of 
 India. Graduates from its theological halls mount 
 on their camels, with a Koran in their bosoms, 
 without salary or endowment, plunge into the 
 deserts of Arabia or the wilderness of Africa to 
 propagate the truth as it is in Mohammed. Like 
 Jesus, Mohammed was at first persecuted by his 
 own people and disbelieved by his own brethren. 
 Mohammedanism at first, like Christianity, was 
 very weak and helpless and limited in influence, 
 but in the course of time it spread far and wide, 
 swelling the number of the prophet's followers to 
 hundreds of millions. In a few years Mohammed 
 conquered Arabia, overturned her heathen temples, 
 put to flight her false gods, established the worship 
 of the one true God, and converted the " sand of 
 the desert into explosive powder, blazing heaven- 
 high from Delhi to Grenada." To this Saracen 
 founder of religion was given 
 
Christ Among the Turks. 35 
 
 u The monarch mind, the mystery of commanding, 
 The birth-hour gift, the art Napoleon, 
 Of wielding, moulding, gathering, welding, banding 
 The hearts of thousands, till they moved as one." 
 
 This day Islam is twelve hundred and seventy 
 years old, with one-fifth of humankind under her 
 sway. The immense mosques of Sultan Selim, of 
 Soleiman the Magnificent, of St. Sophia, of Kaliph 
 Ormar, and of other countries, are daily thronged 
 with a multitude of enthusiastic worshippers call- 
 ing upon the name of " Allah/' unaided by 
 the pompous forms and cumbersome rituals of 
 Latin Christianity, but in simplicity and plain- 
 ness of manner. Five times every day the 
 Imams, priests of Islam, ascend the tall 
 minarets and lift their turbaned heads in the 
 clear sky to call the faithful to prayer. "Prayer is 
 better than sleep ! " rings from every minaret, until 
 the sound goes around the Mohammedan world, 
 girdling it with these never-ceasing vibrations, 
 keeping it awake and at worship. At the sound of 
 the Muezzin's call the faithful hasten to the house 
 of prayer, or fall on their knees, with face turned 
 to Mecca, and perform their religious duties with 
 an untiring zeal. I was at Constantinople in the 
 month of Ramasan, the fast month of the Turk. 
 For a whole month, from early morning to the 
 going down of the sun, they abstain from all food 
 and drink. It is the month of pennance and peni- 
 tence. The great and eloquent Moslem preachers 
 
36 Constantinople, or 
 
 ascend the pulpit, and the mosques are open at all 
 hours of day and night, with an endless throng 
 going in and coming out. The Koran is recited, 
 the Prophet's life reviewed and the virtues and 
 excellencies of the faith discussed. The people per- 
 form their vows, offer prayers to God and renew 
 their allegiance to the Prophet. The embroidered 
 curtains that hang on the gates are in perpetual 
 motion by the surging tide of Mussulmen, enter- 
 ing, with sandal and turban, the temples of worship. 
 I was standing upon the iron bridge which con- 
 nects Istambol with Pera, and all of a sudden there 
 was the crash of music, the dash of arms, the shout 
 of soldiers, and the rush of horses. I turned around 
 and behold, a mass of gold, the most dazzling 
 grandeur bearing the Sultan to the treasury 
 where Mohammed's " holy coat " and other articles 
 of wear, his comb, his wooden clogs, a few 
 hairs from his beard and the sacred sheets on which 
 his life is written, are preserved. There the Sultan, 
 with all the Shahs, goes to listen reverently for 
 two hours, a detailed account of the Prophet's life. 
 As he comes out, faithful in his zeal for the faith, 
 he is followed by the enthusiastic crowd, who follow 
 his chariot wheels and shout their hearts out. The 
 next day found me standing at the gate of St. 
 Sophia. Alas ! what lingering memories in those 
 walls, those marks of ancient date, that architecture 
 of magnitude and of beauty, too. Once a Christian 
 temple, built by Christian money and for Christ, 
 
Christ Among the Turks. 37 
 
 now a Moslem house, with every vestige of Christi- 
 anity rubbed out. Yet even now as you go in, 
 such is her immensity and magnificence, that you 
 exclaim " Justinian, thou art immortal in this 
 temple.'' In the holy month of Ramasan, Christ- 
 ians are not admitted into the Mosque during 
 service time. I wore a fez and with a backsheesh 
 approached one of the door-keepers, and succeeded 
 to get his permission to enter in, and see Moham- 
 medans at worship. Said the doorkeeper to 
 me: "Be free, do not betray your nationality 
 and you will be safe." Uncovering my feet, I 
 walked in. Oh ! what a sight, what a transfigura- 
 tion, what changes has history made. I could 
 have wept when I beheld such a possession fallen 
 from the grasp of Christians. Its spacious halls 
 were filled with turbaned heads, white, green, red, 
 and black. It was one mass of humanity praying, 
 shouting, singing in a whisper, preaching and teach- 
 ing. Under each column or swinging chandelier 
 sat one Ulemma, surrounded with a congregation of 
 hearers, sufficient to fill any of our churches on Broad 
 street — listening to the expounding of the word. 
 I drew quietly near to one of the preachers, and 
 it was thus he ended his thrilling discourse. 
 " The merciful God on this sacred spot, and in this 
 holy month, pour his spirit of peace and light upon 
 you." The congregation, out of their deepest heart, 
 cried Amen. " The almighty God, keep you true 
 and faithful to the very end." x4men, again rose 
 
38 Constantinople, or 
 
 from the people's souls. "The great and only God, 
 write upon your hearts the precepts of Al Koran 
 and pardon you all your sins." Oh ! the thunder 
 of " Amen." That raised the preacher who had been 
 sitting down on a soft cushion, to his feet, and with 
 one majestic gesture, that seemed to carry him far 
 above his kneeling hearers, far above the white 
 columns, far above the ringing dome, far above 
 the oriental blue, to the throne of the eternal, he ex- 
 claimed in apathetic, and eloquent voice. "Thou 
 Allah! deliver these, thy children from the dark- 
 ness of the world, the snares of evil men, the 
 houses of shame and sin, the dens of vice, of 
 drunkenness and blasphemy. Save them from the 
 influence of infidel books, of false religions, and 
 hear the intercessions of the Prophet Mohammed, in 
 their behalf." Methought Justinian's temple shook 
 from its foundation with the eloquent Amen of the 
 people. Methought, never before, had this noble 
 structure heard so earnest and thrilling a voice. 
 
 In this large concourse of people, I did not see 
 a single woman. One solitary creature, trembling 
 under the weight of years, was kneeling on the cold, 
 bare marble in the vestibule, and offering her 
 prayer. 
 
 I hastened out, and with the pure, fresh air, fell 
 on my ear a musical voice coming from the 
 heights. I lifted my face, and lo ! a young Mussul- 
 man was chanting a sweet prayer. If my efforts 
 have been a success, the translation of his prayer 
 
Christ Among the lurks. 39 
 
 would be, " Thou bountiful one, thy mercy ceases 
 not; my sins are great, greater is thy mercy, 
 I extol thy perfections." I went home and 
 thought over what I had seen and heard on 
 that day of Ramasan. My heart grew sad and 
 sadder still, as I saw how near, in one sense, the 
 Mohammedans were to the Kingdom of Heaven, 
 and yet, would not enter in. So much of truth and 
 goodness, and Scripture in their religion, but the 
 chief thing lacking. The Moslems believe in Jesus, 
 as a Prophet of great power who lived eigh- 
 teen hundred years ago, and prepared the world 
 for the coming of Mohammed, the last and greatest 
 of all sent from God. Islam students quote the 
 Scriptures to prove the Apostleship of Mohammed. 
 These words of Moses to the children of Israel, " The 
 Lord, thy God, will raise up unto thee a Prophet . . 
 of thy brethren " are often quoted. The brethren of 
 Jacob's children were the Ishmselites, and Moham- 
 med, descending from that race, is said to be a fulfil- 
 ment of this prophecy. In the Septuagin translation 
 of Isaiah, we read of " two riders, one on an ass and 
 one on a camel." The one represents Jesus, as he 
 entered Jerusalem on the ass, the other is a foresight of 
 Mohammed entering Mecca on his camel. Again, in 
 the new Testament, Jesus was asked by the people 
 whether he was Christ Elijah, or that Prophet. Who 
 is that Prophet, but Mohammed ? " I shall send you 
 the Comforter ;" even these words have been inter- 
 preted as being prophetic of the Arabian's birth. 
 
40 Constantinople, or 
 
 The faith of Mohammed has also its dark side. It 
 lacks the spirit, teaching, and glorious example of 
 Jesus Christ. As a system of ethics, or of religion, it is 
 cold, barren and weak. Nay, it is a source of posi- 
 tive evil, by reason of its spirit of hate, per- 
 secution, and bigotry. It believes in pushing 
 Mohammed at the point of the bayonet. Its 
 war cry is " the Koran or the sword." It puts up 
 Mohammed as the ideal man. Higher, no man can 
 be. Better, no man can be. The sensual, ambitious, 
 blood-thirsty, fanatical soldier of Saracene birth, is 
 held as the best, purest, and noblest example. It 
 puts up the Koran, a book of very many good and 
 devout sayings, but also, filled with fables, immor- 
 alities, bad advice and fiction, as the Holy Book to 
 become their law, faith, life and worship. With such 
 a belief woven into the very texture of Islam, it has 
 opposed education and progress, from the day 
 that Kaliph Omar ordered the burning of the 
 Alexandrian library, saying that " If these books 
 agree with the Koran, we don't need them ; 
 let them be burned ; and if they do not 
 agree with the Koran, they are pernicious, and 
 on that account should be burned." Wherever the 
 Turk has gone with the Koran he has hindered the 
 dawn of day. Wherever he has set his foot there 
 he has sown the seeds of ruin. 
 
 Under Turkish rule fertile lands have been con- 
 verted into a wilderness, walled cities to a ruinous 
 heap. Mohammedanism has dragged down man 
 
Christ Among the Turks. 41 
 
 into the lowest vices and immoralities. Ob, that I 
 could make the great number of sufferers— their 
 bitter complaints, their sad groans, their broken 
 hearts, their oppression and persecution under 
 Moslem justice — to speak to you at this hour! 
 It would fill your eyes with tears and wring sighs 
 from your hearts. Let Mohammed be judged by 
 his fruits ; let the civilizations he has ruined testify 
 against him ; let the misery, ignorance and tyranny 
 he has nursed by his spirit of intolerance be the 
 argument against his claims. 
 
 Do you want to know what Christ is doing 
 among the Turks ? Will you hear what the truth, 
 as it is in Jesus, has done for the Mohammedan 
 people? I am ashamed to confess that in Constan- 
 tinople, the great heart of Islam, the religion of the 
 Risen One has made very little progress. There are 
 very few or no converts from Islam in the capital. 
 For sixty years the American missionary has 
 preached on the classic shores of the Bosphorus, 
 but, apparently, without any effect. No Moham- 
 medan church has been built, no Mohammedan 
 preacher has been ordained, no Mohammedan con- 
 vert has been baptized. Shall we say that Christ 
 has been a failure with these children of the Ara- 
 bian desert ? Shall we say that the Gospel can 
 avail in China, in Japan, in dark Africa, but not in 
 Turkey among the Turks ? No ! Let us not lose 
 faith ; let us not despair ; let us not turn our backs 
 and flee from the battle-field ! 
 
42 Constantinople, or 
 
 On the heights of Roumeli-Hissar, overlooking 
 the castles of great Darius and the blue Bosphorus, 
 stands Robert College, unfurling the Star-Spangled 
 Banner in the land of the Crescent. This Ameri- 
 can institution of Christian learning is verily the 
 light of Asia. From its halls proceeds the invisible 
 but invincible influence, moulding, shaping and 
 carving the character of the whole empire. You 
 cannot capture Turkey by the cannon, or by the 
 force of diplomacy, but by the power of light. 
 Education is the road to salvation. Robert College 
 is doing more for the cause of Christ, of truth and 
 of goodness, than all the powers of Europe put 
 together. 
 
 The days of Islam are numbered. Its dark and 
 long night is wearing out. The heavens begin to 
 gleam with Orient light. Christ the King is corn- 
 ing, and superstition, ignorance, fanaticism, false- 
 hood and fiction cannot stand against the sweeping 
 might of light, of knowledge, of truth, and of the 
 divine life? Can Mohammed resist the eloquence 
 of Calvary and the almightiness of love, and the 
 power and pathos of the gospel of the resurrection ? 
 Come quickly, Lord Jesus, and like a full-orbed sun 
 shine upon that ancient land of glorious birth, that 
 once more the shores of the Bosphorus may ring 
 with the song of Christendom. "All hail the power 
 of Jesus' name." 
 
Christ Among the Turks. 43 
 
 " There's a fount about to stream. 
 There's a light about to beam. 
 There's a warmth about to glow. 
 There's a flower about to blow. 
 There's a midnight blackness changing 
 
 into gray. 
 Men of thought and men of action 
 
 clear the way :*' 
 
 •• Aid the dawning tongue and pen. 
 Aid it hopes of honest men. 
 Aid it paper, aid it type. 
 Aid it for the hour is ripe. 
 And our earnest must not slacken 
 
 into play. 
 Men of thought and men of action 
 clear the wav.*' 
 
HEART FRAGRANCE. 
 
" Thy sweetness hath betrayed thee, Lord, 
 Dear Spirit, it is thou : 
 Deeper and deeper in my heart I feel 
 Thee, nestling now." 
 
 " Dear Comforter, eternal love, 
 Yes, thou will stay with me, 
 If manly thought and loving ways. 
 Build but a nest for thee." 
 
HEART FRAGRANCE. 
 
 " Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." 
 Matt. xxii. — 37. 
 
 The two great commandments of Christ are, love 
 to God and love to man. 
 
 We cannot love God and hate our fellow men. 
 " How can we have the love of God in us and hate the 
 brethren ?" This two-fold love, the one feeding on 
 the other, is the fragrance of the regenerated heart. 
 The heart is made to love. It is forever springing 
 up within us and fastening its affections upon the 
 supremely beautiful, and altogether lovely One. It 
 fills and refills its little cup with love, and pours it 
 upon the object of its worship — God. It is a vase 
 of alabaster, full of fragrance, breaking, every time 
 it comes into communion with Christ, "the beauty 
 of Angel Worlds." God with the largeness of His 
 heart draws all hearts to Himself. He makes 
 earthly parents, who press on their bosom their 
 darling children and cover their round, rosy cheeks 
 with kisses of natural affection, and who will die for 
 their offsprings, instinctively to look up to the Infi- 
 
 D 
 
48 Heart Fragrnnce. 
 
 nite Father and Mother, who presses all His children 
 to His oceanic heart and stoops to kiss their lips, as 
 the blushing morn kisses the eastern hills. When 
 we are very weak, and the waves of some great sor- 
 row roll over our heads, like the billows of the sea 
 over the storm-battered coast, and when rayless 
 gloom settles upon the soul, how we long for the 
 wings of a dove to fly away, and be at rest in the 
 Great Heart of God, where there is perfect calm. 
 In our afflictions and bitter disappointments, when 
 our eyes are tearful and our crosses heavy, how 
 sweet to think of the love of God, where dwelleth 
 peace and joy and light. Love of God is the anti- 
 dote to sorrow. Love of God is also the inspiration 
 of life. When fighting in the battle of life, pressed 
 with foes on every hand, thousands falling at your 
 side, sharp arrows piercing your heart, weary and 
 worn, how cheering to think of God, who loves you, 
 and follows you with His unslumbering eye, and 
 sends His angels to minister to your wants. How 
 inspirational to feel that your heart is locked in 
 God's heart, and that He will be with you even to 
 the end of the world. This divine love stirs the 
 the depths of our soul and under its warm and pene- 
 trating influence the human heart blooms into beauty 
 blossoms all over and bursts into a flower of sweetest 
 fragrance. 
 
 The love of our neighbor is the offspring of our 
 love of God. The one is the stem, the other is the 
 flower. Our love to God grows into love for our 
 
Heart Fragrance. 49 
 
 fellow-men. Religion is not complete without this. 
 " Love one another as I have loved you/' is the New 
 Testament Commandment. Have a pure and un- 
 selfish desire to help and benefit and comfort even 
 the lowest and meanest of all. The disciple of Jesus 
 must not wish evil, must not be revengeful, unfor- 
 giving, envious, belligerent, cruel, selfish or indiffer- 
 ent to the wants of others. Even his enemies he 
 must bless, and return them good for evil. This 
 seems very hard, but Christianity is a religion of 
 sacrifice. It costs a man to be a Christian. It costs 
 a man to breathe the Divine Spirit. It costs a man 
 to follow Christ. But the love of God to-us-ward, 
 makes the sacrifice a privilege. Is there any virtue 
 if I should love my benefactor and hate those who 
 have wronged me in word and deed? Is it Christ- 
 like to bless your friends and wish evil and curse 
 your enemies ? We shall know that we are His dis- 
 ciples if we overcome evil with good, hatred with 
 love, cruelty with compassion, jealousy with gener- 
 osity, slander with truth, meanness with frankness, 
 hypocrisy with honesty, and the spirit of revenge 
 with forgiveness. Be like the " trees that yield 
 their fruit to those who throw stones at them." 
 This broad Christian principle is the silver bell of 
 heaven, ringing in our ears at all the hours of day — 
 "but the greatest of these is charity." The Persian 
 poet, Hafis, voices this same sentiment, when he 
 says : 
 
50 Heart Fragrance. 
 
 " Learn from yon Orient shell to love thy foe, 
 And store with pearls the hand that brings thee woe. 
 Flee like yon rock, from base vindictive pride, 
 Imblaze with gems the wrist that tears thy side : 
 Mark when yon tree rewards the stony shower 
 With fruit nectarious, or the balmy flower. 
 Shall man do less, than heal the smitten, or the railer bless. ' ' 
 
 Love and goodness, the one to God, the other to 
 our fellow-men, are the two cardinal doctrines of 
 religion. This evening, I call your attention to the 
 nature of the love which oar hearts must generate 
 for " our Father in Heaven.'' 
 
 To love God is to lift our minds and our hearts 
 and our consciences and our souls in reverence and 
 worship towards Him. It is to bend our minds in 
 humility before His truth, our consciences before His 
 justice, and our souls before His holiness It is to serve 
 Him with every faculty and fibre of our manhood. It 
 is the deep of humanity in us calling upon the deep 
 of Divinity in God. It is the reaching of our heart 
 after His sunshine. And when the fullness of God 
 dwelleth in us, and all the living strings of the in- 
 ward harp are in chord with the Divine will, then is 
 our flower of piety in full bloom, beautiful as the 
 chaste stars of heaven, and fragrant as the lilies of 
 the field. 
 
 My hearers, you will be surprised to see what 
 erroneous ideas men possess concerning the nature 
 of this heart-love. Years ago, people supposed 
 that the " love of God" consisted in tormenting their 
 
Heart Fragrance. 51 
 
 physical frames and abstaining from food and flee- 
 ing from the world. The person who lived in a 
 cave and suffered his nails to grow and cut himself 
 with knives and wore a shirt of iron next to his 
 flesh, was considered the friend of God. The the- 
 ology of those days said to the people, " If you love 
 God, show it by denying yourself all rest, by ban- - 
 ishing sleep from your eyelids, by wearing your 
 flesh thin, by carrying an iron girdle and a head- 
 plate of coarse iron wire in the form of a heart, 
 which will bruise you, wound you, and tear the flesh 
 from your bones for Christ sake." Simeon, the Stylite, 
 spent thirty and seven years of his life on the top 
 of a pillar at Antioch, for the purpose of growing in 
 his love for God. Others forsook their children 
 their parents, and fled to the deserts, that they may be, 
 alone with God. Others shut themselves up in con- 
 vents, cells, nunneries and dark cloisters, that their 
 hearts may expand with love of God. Others, 
 again, ruined by bad usage the house of clay where 
 God has lodged His spark of immortality, and clip- 
 ped their spirits, disfigured and mutilated the no- 
 blest in them, thinking that in this way they will 
 please God and persuade Him to come down and 
 dwell with them. Oh ! the crimes, the suicides, the 
 blasphemies, the wrecks, in the name of love of God ; 
 oh ! the atrocities, the barbarism, and the cruelties 
 committed with a purpose to appease the wrath of 
 God and win His friendship. All this passed in 
 the name of love, in the name of sweet and tender 
 
52 Heart Fragrance. 
 
 affection for the dear God. The heart, which like 
 a flower opens to drink in all the sunshine of the 
 heavens, then scatters its fragrance all around, was 
 converted to a hollow, dumb, dry and insensitive 
 sepulchre. Yet even to-day there are Christian sects 
 which associate piety — the sincere love of the heart 
 for God — with fasting and abstaining from food. 
 It is thought that a pale countenance, a thin frame, 
 a sad and sorrow-stained face, and a sickly look, 
 are evidences of strong and growing spiritually. 
 St. Paul is quoted to prove that the body must 
 be prostrated by frequent fasting, and the soul 
 thrown into a melancholy state by constant medita- 
 tion upon our sins and transgressions. The 
 theory is that when God beholds our suffer- 
 ings He will be pleased, and seeing the lean- 
 ness of our flesh will delight our spirits with fatness. 
 This again, my kind hearers, is at war with the 
 idea that true and vital love consists in our hallowed 
 affections rising Godward and fastening themselves 
 on His person, the heart, soul and conscience, 
 the whole man springing up towards the Supreme 
 sweetness. True fasting consists not in setting apart 
 certain days and weeks for a prescribed abstinence 
 from food, for the soul fasts truly when it is feeding 
 on God with such enthusiasm and rapture that the 
 body forgets its need of food. It is spontaneous, 
 unbidden and voluntary. The strength and ecstacy 
 of the spirit sustains the frail frame and imparts to 
 it vitality. Mary, the sister of Martha, was so in- 
 
Heart Fragrance. 53 
 
 tensely absorbed with the Master's love that she sat 
 for hours at His feet, forgetting all else. I have 
 read of the philosopher Newton being so profoundly 
 interested in his studies that he often found no time 
 to eat, did not care to eat, for he had found some- 
 thing sweeter to his taste than meat and drink, and 
 they took away his meals from his study just as they 
 had brought them. Sometimes, when our hearts 
 are swelled with a great joy, we lose appetite for 
 food, we would rather dwell upon the dear object of 
 our happiness, than have our minds diverted from 
 it. Thus, when the adoring soul rises to the serene 
 summits of devotion and spiritual communion, and 
 lovingly lingers on the heights, where God is and 
 where the heavens are peaceful and calm, and the 
 sunshine is constant, it is then that the body fasts 
 while the spirit is fed from the exhaustless breast of 
 God. 
 
 Another wrong idea, which is very prevalent, 
 renders this love of God, to consist in a sentimental, 
 purely emotional, and therefore superficial worship 
 of God. In the discharge of my pastoral duties, I 
 have found that some people think that to be reli- 
 gious is to be talking and gossiping about religion all 
 the time, they have an idea that if they repeat the 
 name of God a dozen times during the day and call 
 Him in endearing names, such as " sweet Father," 
 " precious Saviour/' and " dear Jesus," and " sing 
 love-songs to Him," and pray to be taken away from 
 the world and placed in the arms of Jesus, and 
 
54 Heart Fragrance. 
 
 shedding tears at the communion table, and picturing 
 before their eyes Christ in the agony of death on the 
 cross, with wounded side, and bruised brow and 
 broken heart, and lament over his sufferings in 
 a sentimental way, they will be loving God with 
 the heart, mind and soul. In the Eastern countries 
 Christians think that no one can have profound love 
 for Christ, and having the means, neglect to visit 
 Jerusalem, to weep over the holy sepulchre and 
 make the footprints of Jesus in Judea wet with tears 
 of penitence. Candles are burnt before the shrine of 
 the great martyr. His picture is hung on the wall 
 and in the beautiful months of summer, His tomb is 
 converted to a monument of flowers. But this alone, 
 is sentimentalism. It is superficial religion, religion 
 of the feelings alone, of the eyes and hands, not of 
 the deep, deep heart. It is not the inexhaustible fra- 
 grance of soul ever ascending up to the nostrils of 
 God. Conventional piety is a mere show, not the 
 real thing, the words are there, the phrases are per- 
 fect, the form is beautiful, but the spirit, the vital 
 breath, is absent. The persons without any faith 
 whatever, may manifest this kind of religion by 
 using similar words and forms ; the hypocrite 
 may have all the appearance of piety, by imitating 
 the prayers and songs of sentimental worship ; the 
 Pharisee may pass for a saint by concealing his 
 true self behind the screen of emotional and shallow 
 religion. This one fact has given religion a bad 
 name. Ah ! say people, we know what that means ; 
 
Heart Fragrance. 55 
 
 to be religious is to assume a grave sepulchral tone, 
 carry about a long face, spend hours on your knees in 
 long prayer, to be seen of men and become visionary, 
 unpractical and sentimental. Do you wonder at the 
 irreverence of the multitudes for religion ? Are you 
 filled with surprise at the coarse indifference of 
 men for the professions of Christians ? Remove there- 
 for from religion all that is formal and conventional, 
 and let it be the pure and undefiled love of the heart, 
 growing into wholesome fruit and filling the world's 
 lap with riches, beauty and usefulness. Bury mere 
 talk, mere feeling, mere sentiment, under the waves 
 of the sea. Have first the reality, the jewel, and 
 then your speech will be sanctified, your feelings and 
 emotions an acceptable offering unto God. 
 
 How shall we win this prize ? How can we make 
 our whole life to yield this fragrance ? I answer, by 
 being busy in the cause of goodness on earth. We 
 are living in an eminently active age. Science, 
 trade, commerce and art, are stretching every nerve 
 and employing every live matter and utilizing every 
 second of time. Indolence, sloth, hesitancy, means 
 failure, to stand still is to give up hope. See them 
 pushing, driving, toiling and yearning for the mark 
 before them. This activity adds to their interest, 
 warms into life new efforts, fans into flame their de- 
 sires and keeps them growing and getting deeper 
 and deeper in love with the aim of their life. Thus 
 it is in the Christian world. Be up and doing, em- 
 ploy every talent and gift to better the little sphere 
 
56 Heart Fragrance. 
 
 wherein God has placed you. Push with both hands 
 and shoulders, the chariot wheel of the Kingdom of 
 Heaven. Do not stop to rest, there is a heaven of 
 rest for you when you have done well. There are the 
 ignorant to be instructed, the poor to be helped, the 
 fallen to be lifted up, the lost to be rescued, and a 
 world to be pushed through greater degrees of ex- 
 cellence. Do with all your might, your part, your 
 duty, and you will find no time to doubt or disbe- 
 lieve. But like a green and tender vine, your af- 
 fections will twine closer and closer around God, 
 who is the author of all that is true and just, pure 
 and lovely in human life. 
 
 I believe that an active Christian piety, loaded 
 with rich fruit, is the only hope of a world. You 
 who are believers "look aghast on the spectacle of a 
 world's corruption." Think of the amount of sin, of 
 misery, of drunkenness and of ignorance. Has 
 science put an end to these crimes ? Has education 
 helped man, completely to overthrow these evils? 
 Has wealth accomplished the desired end ? Nay ! 
 but has religion done it? Alas, for eighteen hun- 
 dred years it has been preached. Christendom is 
 dotted over with church and chapel, but where is 
 the wickedness we have stemmed, the monster we 
 have slayed, the abuse we have reformed, or the bad 
 custom we have put down ? What then, is religion 
 obsolete? Is God asleep ? Is Jesus dead ? Is piety 
 foolish sentimentality ? Not so, Oh ! thou Eternal 
 One. Not so, Great Guardian of all truth. 
 
Heart Fragrance. 57 
 
 Let us do for Christy let us love God in deed and 
 in truth, let us translate our confession into con- 
 duct, let us practice the precepts of Christ, let our 
 whole life be a prayer of faith, of truth and inspira- 
 tion. In one word, let us be busy in God's vineyard 
 after our Father's business as was the child Jesus, 
 and like Him we will grow stronger in spirit, 
 deeper in love and piety. Then will the whole 
 earth and all humanity grow in a living likeness to 
 God, and bud and blossom as the fragrant rose in 
 His right hand. 
 
58 Heart Fragrance. 
 
 PRAYER AFTER THE SERMON. 
 
 All-together lovely one; Chief among ten thou- 
 sand. Communicate unto us the pure, unsullen love 
 of thy divine heart. Fill us from the endless Ocean 
 of thy Being. We pray thee, cleanse our hearts of 
 all other idols, of this transient world, riches that 
 perish, and the passions and ambitions of the flesh, 
 and reign thou God of light and love, supreme over 
 all our desires. Our souls thirst for thee, thou 
 living God. Our hands are stretched out to thee 
 in filial love and faith, disappoint us not, laugh not 
 at our folly and weakness, reject us not by reason of 
 our short-comings. But take us all under the 
 shelter of thy motherly wings, and feed our love and 
 zeal for thy truth and in thy service, by the Holy 
 Spirit. Moisten the seed sown into our hearts and 
 give growth to the flower of piety, that its leaves 
 may open and its ripe fruit fall into thy lap — and 
 unto thy name Jehovah, God shall be ascribed all 
 praise in all ages. — Amen. 
 
WHAT IS GOD ? 
 
PRAYER BEFORE THE SERMON. 
 
 Our Father who art in heaven, thou all perfect, 
 all knowing, and all righteous one : We come into 
 thy presence to behold the matchless beauty of thy 
 countenance, to commune with thine infinite spirit, 
 to be fed from thine exhaustless breast, and to be 
 made purer in heart, holier in soul, and larger in 
 conscience and in mind. 
 
 We hasten into thy house of prayer, of praise, of 
 holy worship and inspiration, where thou, our 
 shield and our reward art present, to bless, to heal , 
 to comfort and to save. We thank thee for this day 
 of rest, of joy and benediction. We thank thee for 
 thy truth, so freely and magnanimously given unto 
 us, to become our daily food and drink. Above 
 all, we thank thee for, Jesus, the brightness of thy 
 face, and source of all good. Breathe upon us his 
 spirit, and kindle within us the flame of love, and 
 devotion for his cause. Creator of all things, we 
 thank thee for the return of Spring, and for the 
 promise of Summer in the green grass, the swell- 
 ing bud upon tender branches, in the sweetness 
 and beauty of the flowers so generously scattered 
 at our feet, and in the genial warmth of the sun, 
 shaking down glorious day upon our eyes. In the 
 
 E 
 
64 What is God ? 
 
 ten thousand objects of thy power and wisdom, we 
 behold the beauty of thy thought, the magnitude of 
 thy being, and the wondrous love of thy heart. 
 We would mingle our voices with the murmur of 
 the streams, the rustle of the leaves, the singing of 
 the birds, and the music of the stars, and praise God 
 from whom all blessings flow. Oh ! Holy Father, 
 may there be a Springtime in our spiritual life- 
 May there be sunshine and Summer in the realm 
 of our souls. May every seed of virtue, of piety 
 and of love, be warmed into generous growth in 
 our lives, filling thy lap with ripe and rich fruit. 
 Deliver us from the cold chilling blasts of sin. 
 Save us from the Winter of barrenness and unfruit- 
 fulness. Save us from the night of doubt and dis- 
 belief. Keep us forever, upon the heights where 
 thou art, and where the cares and passions and 
 ambitions of earth cannot disturb us in thine arms. 
 Thou art the God of love. In the largeness of thy 
 heart, there is room for us all. When earthly 
 parents forget us, Thou Divine Goodness shall not 
 forsake us, but keep us in the hollow of thy hand. 
 When billows roll over us, and dark clouds float 
 above us, and we are in distress, in grief and in 
 affliction, underneath us shall be thy everlasting 
 arms. When we fall and our hearts bleed from the 
 thorns of life, and we sin against the light, and thy 
 goodness, and thy love, then we shall seek thy face 
 and implore thy mercy and forgiveness. Oh ! thou 
 friend of the fallen, thou canst pardon, thou canst 
 
What is God ? G5 
 
 heal, thou canst cleanse, thou canst save to the ut- 
 most, This is Gospel glorious. May it inspire our 
 hearts with great hopes, brave prophecies and noble 
 virtues, making our life an acceptable offering unto 
 thee. 
 
 And shall we not pray for those who are sick, and 
 in sorrow and in great grief? Come, thou burden 
 bearer, into their homes and gladden their hearts 
 by sweet messages from the heavens of peace, com- 
 fort and strength. Wipe away the tear from sor- 
 row's eye-lids, cheer the drooping heart. Shed sun- 
 shine through the darkened windows, lift them up 
 in thine arms of tender care, and let thy heart of 
 sympathy and help beat against theirs. Every- 
 where may thine uplifted countenance carry joy, 
 peace, rest, light and love. 
 
 Bless also the strangers, who are here to worship 
 with us. Welcome them to thy heart and sanc- 
 tuary. Grant unto them the prayer of their heart, 
 and shed abroad in their lives the fullness of God. 
 
 Hear us, now, good Lord, and answer the uttered 
 and unutterable requests of our hearts, through 
 Jesus, the risen, ascended, ever-living one, we ask. — 
 Amen. 
 
WHAT IS GOD? 
 
 " What think ye of Christ?' 1 
 Matt. xxii. — 42. 
 
 God is immeasurable. Our finite minds cannot 
 contain the Infinite One. His nature, His attributes, 
 are too vast for human sight. Even " imagination's 
 utmost stretch in wonder dies away." Who has 
 crossed the unbounded and mysterious ocean of His 
 being? Who has risen to the heights where the 
 Eternal dwells shrouded in the glory of His love ? 
 What mortal has told us His name ? In the words 
 of the Poet Young, " A God alone can comprehend 
 a God." And shall we say, that because He is so 
 far above the grasp of our mind, heart and soul, 
 that therefore, He is'the " Great Unknowable ?" Are 
 we in such starless night; in such helpless ignorance; 
 in such pitiable weakness; that we cannot catch a 
 glimpse of His face, smiling upon us at all the 
 hours of mortal existence, or touch the skirts of His 
 immensity, or even think of Him, who is " Our 
 Father in Heaven?" 
 
 Believe me, there are lines of communication be. 
 tween man and his Maker. The clarified vision of 
 
68 What is God f 
 
 the spirit, beholds God and adores Him as the cen- 
 ter and soul of a universe throbbing with His divinity 
 at every point. Says Emerson, " By some private 
 door God enters into every individual." His truth 
 finds our mind ; His justice our conscience ; His 
 love our hearts, and His holiness our souls. In some 
 way God fills this little human cup brim-full with 
 His sweetness, His light and inspiration. He is a 
 great God, yet He reveals Himself to the immortal 
 soul of man. 
 
 Christianity is not the worship of an indefinable 
 and incomprehensible being. Were it so, then would 
 our faith be a farce, our religion a mockery, and our 
 profession a shame. Jesus Christ is the " brightness 
 of the Father's face," and through him we know 
 God. Knowing Him, we can love Him; loving Him, 
 we can obey Him ; and obeying Him, we shall be 
 happy forever. 
 
 It is written that God made man after his own 
 image. But man very often makes God to corres- 
 pond to his likeness. We all have our ideas and 
 impressions about the Divine Being, and our daily 
 life is fashioned according to the loftiness and sweet- 
 ness, or the meanness and hideousness of these 
 thoughts. The real God is to us, precisely what we 
 make Him to be. We see Him as our thoughts 
 represent Him. Our life is the outside of our 
 idea of God. We are happy, kind, useful, and 
 forgiving, if our view of God's nature feeds 
 these virtues in our life. We are grim and 
 
What is God? (3D 
 
 gloomy, uncharitable and partial, if we believe this 
 to be the charac er of God. He is tender hearted, 
 compassionate, fatherly and gentle, or awful, re- 
 vengeful, tyranical and ugly, according to our 
 thoughts about Him. 
 
 I do not mean to say that our thoughts change 
 the divine nature. For if God is merciful, our 
 opinion, that He is cruel will not make Him so. 
 Thoughts only affect us, and become the anvil 
 whereon our character is beaten and fashioned. 
 
 The tree of thought will bear fruit after its kind. 
 The idea we have of God, will become a thing. And 
 when I want to know your real God, I do not go to your 
 creed, or to your theology or to your church : but to 
 your every day life in the counting room, the street, 
 the fire-side ; and from the character of the motives 
 and impulses which sway your desires, from the 
 nobleness or baseness of your conduct, I form an 
 idea of the God, whose name is written on your 
 heart. Your thoughts are translated into actions ; 
 the ideal becomes the real in your life, and your 
 life the true language of your creed. 
 
 " We live in deeds not years, in thoughts, not breaths, 
 
 In feelings, not in figures on a dial ; 
 We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives 
 
 Who thinks most, feels the noblest acts the best. 
 And he w r hose heart beats quickest lives the longest — 
 
 Lives in an hour more than in years do some, 
 Whose fat blood sleeps as it sJips along the veins ; 
 
 Life is but a means unto an end ; that end 
 Beginning mean, and end to all things, God." 
 
70 What is God ? 
 
 Let me illustrate this power cf our ideas of God in 
 the formation of our character. In the dark ages the 
 Christian church had an idea that God was a cruel, 
 dreadful and narrow being, believing in persecution, 
 and hate and fire, loving only the miserable and 
 indolent hermit in his filthy cell, and frowning upon 
 the toiling masses who remained in their spheres of 
 battle, instead of fleeing to the desert. This was their 
 notion of God. And this picture they reproduced 
 in painting, in sculpture, in worship and in life. In 
 Oriental churches, I have seen these ghastly repre- 
 sensations filling one with horror and disgust. On 
 one window is the throne of God, high in the clouds, 
 while at his feet are the burning flames of hell de- 
 vouring the enemies of the church. On another 
 window is a devilish scene of the judgment day, 
 which makes one turn pale. While yonder are 
 the black and ugly demons, heaping fire upon the 
 heads of the excommunicated heretics. Think of it, 
 —all this in a Christian church. It was the idea 
 they had of God, and tliey lived up to it. This one 
 idea, that God was a cruel and vengeful being, origi- 
 nated the inquisition, Spanish, Mexican and South 
 American; kindled the fires of Smithfield; inaugur- 
 ated themasscreof St. Bartholomew; the thirty years 
 war in Germany; the slaughter of the Netherlands; 
 and the cold-blooded murder of many thousands of 
 honest souls, who died lingering deaths in damp, sub- 
 terranean cells. Christendom ran red with human 
 blood; the Christian church was one huge wound 
 
What is God ? 71 
 
 from the gashes cut in it by this savage and bar- 
 baric conception of the Supreme Being. They said, 
 if God will burn the heretic forever in hell-fire, we 
 must burn him now, for in so doing we are co- 
 workers with God. If God hates the unbeliever, 
 and the ones who disobey the church, we must fol- 
 low His example and curse and anathematize them. 
 If God will shut the door of heaven against the 
 heretics, we must keep them out of our churches, 
 away from our communion tables. All the disgrace- 
 ful wars of the sects, the bloodshed and heartless 
 atrocities of the believers, the harrowing scenes in 
 dungeons and torture-chambers, had their origin in 
 this inhuman and accursed idea, that the God of Hea- 
 ven was a little, jealous, cruel and angry Being, 
 loving a few of His friends, and hating all the rest. 
 Again, there was the idea, that God hated free 
 thought, and the man who did his own thinking 
 and differed with the established church. So when 
 John Wickliffe, a poor monk in his cell at Oxford, 
 began to teach the great truths of Protestantism and 
 died before the wave of persecution had reached his 
 abode, the Council of Constance ordered his bones 
 to be dug up and burned. What little was left 
 of the Reformer in the Lutterworth churchyard, 
 was burned to ashes and cast to the winds. Why 
 this cruelty to the dead man's remains ? Because 
 they had an idea that God, who is himself, the chief 
 persecutor of such men, will hold them responsible in 
 the last day, for not being God-like in their hatred 
 
72 What is God ? 
 
 of the heretics. It was blasphemy to disagree with 
 the church. Free thought was an unpardonable 
 crime. God would punish this sin with eternal 
 torment, and the followers of God ought to mani- 
 fest a similar dislike for this crime and a likeness to 
 God, by burning the sinner on earth. It makes my 
 heart sad to think of the horrible crimes committed 
 against the religion of light, life and freedom, by 
 Catholics and Protestants, in the name of this anti- 
 Christian idea. John Calvin was a master mind. 
 John Calvin w r as a great soul. John Calvin is peerless 
 in the ecclesiastical world as a man of head. But,, 
 as drunkenness is the one sad spot in the life of the 
 Patriarch Noah ; Debauchery, in that of Sansom ; 
 Adultery, in that of King David ; Treason, in that 
 of Peter ; The one black stain in Calvin's charac- 
 ter was his religious bigotry. With the Papal world 
 he refused the right of private judgment and in- 
 dividuality of thought, which inspired the great 
 movement of the Reformation. With this idea in 
 his head, he became, to say the least, the cause of the 
 burning of Servetus. Calvin could have saved the 
 unfortunate man, but why should he? Did not 
 God hate such men as Servetus ? Will he not burn 
 them forever? And should a man show any pity 
 and compassion when God would not ? Could Calvin 
 come back to the world to-day and see Christ with the 
 eyes of modern Christianity, he would hide his face in 
 his hands for his cruelty against a brother-man, whose 
 only fault was the free use of his faculties. Ah ! even 
 
What is God f 73 
 
 had he then seen Jesus on the cross, breathing away 
 His Holy Ghost in a glorious beatitude for his mur- 
 derers, he would have fallen on his knees and wept 
 with bitterness over his lack of charity for a frail, 
 weak, mistaken creature of the Heavenly Father. 
 It was not because these great theologians were 
 naturally unsympathetic and cruel men. It w r as 
 their idea of God and of His nature, which they 
 carried out in their lives. Taking the religious 
 history of the Mediaeval Ages as a test, we infer that 
 the God they worshipped was an altogether different 
 Being. Their God loved the barren monastic life; 
 our God loves the fruitful, active life in the sphere 
 wherein he has placed us. Then He said, u Believe 
 or burn/' now He says, "Coine unto Me all ye that 
 are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you 
 rest." Then He loved the Catholic and hated the 
 Protestant, or loved the Protestant and hated the 
 Catholic, now 7 He says, " Ye are all brethren one of 
 of another." Then He was a tyrant before whom 
 men and women trembled and grew pale ; now He 
 is the Father, who shall not forsake us, even when 
 our earthly parents have forgotten us. God Al- 
 mighty is the same immutable being, blessed for- 
 ever. It is only our thoughts and ideas that have 
 changed. 
 
 Once more. There is another idea that the Sov- 
 ereign Creator of the universe, the Lord of men and 
 King of angels, whom the heaven of heavens can- 
 not contain, who occupies all time and fills all space, 
 
74 What is God? 
 
 is a petty, sectarian being, who has a choice between 
 Presbyterianism and Methodism, between sprinkling 
 and immersion, between written and extempore 
 prayers, between the attitude of standing and 
 kneeling in worship, between bishops and presby- 
 ters, between ministers and priests. He is repre- 
 sented as preferring one form of worship to another 
 — the flowing gown to the ordinary dress, the cross- 
 formed chapel to the plain house, and a great num- 
 ber of other non-essential, secondary matters — which 
 convey the impression that God was a little being, 
 extremely one-sided in His preferences and sectarian 
 to the very core of His heart. Do you know what 
 this idea has done ? It has torn Christendom to a 
 thousand sects. It has given birth to a multitude 
 of irreconcilable schisms, all from the Bible. It has 
 robbed [the Body of Christ of its unity, glory and 
 strength. It has made a Babel of the Church of 
 God. The greatness of God and the greatness of 
 His Word are a condemnation of the sectarian 
 spirit. Read the inspired writers and you will see 
 how plainly and emphatically they speak of the royal 
 law of love, of righteousness, of purity of heart, of 
 integrity of soul, of living faith, and of charity. 
 There can be but one interpretation of the passages 
 in Scripture where these solid truths are revealed. 
 Only one sect, as far these great revelations are con- 
 cerned. But with forms and numbers and figures 
 or modes of prayer, or worship, or baptism, or sacri- 
 fice, a Great Bible has simply nothing to do. The 
 
What is God? 75 
 
 important truths have not divided Christendom so 
 much as the little, obscure and secondary matters in 
 the Word. 
 
 Once more. Coming still nearer to our times, 
 we shall meet with people who will tell us of an- 
 other idea about God. This represents the Divine 
 Father as an unfair and imperfect being. God, 
 it is thought, has provided an atonement for His 
 special friends. The plan of salvation is full and 
 complete, yet limited in its application. He is made 
 to say to Himself, " Is not this offer of life free and 
 gracious on my part and purely unmerited by my 
 creatures; I will bestow it therefore 8 on whomsoever I 
 will, and pass by the rest." Accordingly Jesus died 
 for the whole world, but effectually only for a certain 
 number. He is offered to all men, but irresistibly to 
 the chosen ones. God does not draw you, in the sense 
 that he draws your neighbor. He does not offer 
 unto you this great salvation, as he does to the 
 elect His atonement is limited. Christ's death 
 only avails for the predestined. This idea of a 
 limited atonement, I reject and consider it in direct 
 opposition to the broad outlines of scriptural teach- 
 ing. It makes God, " with whom there is no respect 
 of persons," a partial and unjust judge. He provides 
 no salvation for a certain number of His creatures, 
 then punishes them for not accepting what was not 
 offered to them in earnest. He does not make the 
 same offer to all his creatures, who were brought to 
 life, not by their own volition, but by a Divine 
 
76 What is God ? 
 
 fiat, and then holds them accountable for not ac- 
 cepting what was really and sincerely never meant 
 for them. Suppose you would set a table, rich 
 with food and free to all, announce it as such, 
 then invite all the hungry and needy to come and 
 eat and live, but refuse equal privileges to all, would 
 that, humanly speaking, be just and impartial. 
 Then suppose you would turn around and strike 
 these men on the head for not availing themselves 
 of your bounty as the more favored ones have done, 
 would that be fair, kind and in accord with the 
 highest justice ? Yet it is said, as Jonathan Ed- 
 wards would say, as Hopkins and Emmons would 
 say, " Is not God sovereign ? Can He not do just 
 as He pleases? Does He lack the power and right 
 to save your neighbor and condemn you ? Is it 
 unfair in Him to offer His salvation to some, and 
 withhold it from others ? " We answer — God 
 does what is right, just, impartial and absolutely 
 fair. Using the faculties He has given me, I say 
 such a course would make God an extremely unfair 
 being. Do you say that I, being a poor human 
 creature, may be mistaken in my ideas of justice and 
 fairness, then I say, I may be mistaken in my ideas 
 of love and kindness. How do I know, what Di- 
 vine goodness is, or what divine compassion is ? 
 But if I may define these benevolent attributes in 
 the Deity and be confident that in the main I am 
 right, likewise I can form my ideas of divine justice 
 and feel confident that what seems irrational and 
 
What is God? 11 
 
 contrary to Christian consciousness is not the at- 
 tribute of an absolutely and infinitely perfect God. 
 
 Jesus Christ died for all men. For Judas Iscariot, 
 in the same sense that He died for the great Apostle 
 to the Gentiles. He called each one of these men, 
 with equal love, sincerity and willingness to save. 
 The one refused, and died; not because Christ would 
 not help him as much as the other, but by reason 
 of his own hardness of heart. I may be asked to 
 reconcile the divine sovereignty with human free- 
 dom. My answer is, I cannot. I believe in the de- 
 crees of God, and I believe in a certain amount of 
 freedom given to the human will. Further than 
 this I cannot travel, for it is darkness and mystery. 
 In preaching the gospel, I say to my people that this 
 glorious gospel of the blessed God will do for you 
 all that it has done for the purest spirit that ever 
 drew breath. Christ is to you all that he ever was 
 or will be to any other human creature. He is as 
 near to your soul as he was to;the great and saintly 
 martyrs, reformers and heroes. Never for a moment 
 suffer yourself to doubt this. Never say to yourself 
 that, perhaps you are not elected to be saved; that 
 perhaps God does not love you as much and as truly 
 as he loves others ; and that perhaps from eternity 
 you have been predestined to be cast into the outer 
 darkness. No, NO. Fling aside all such thoughts. 
 Rise above all such doubts. God loves YOU. Jesus 
 seeks to save you. You, yes, even you, the Infinite 
 One yearns and agonizes to save. Am I asked to re- 
 
78 What is God? 
 
 concile this doctrine with the theory of fore-ordination 
 and fore-knowledge ? Do you tell me that I am not 
 consistent? I answer, with consistency, I have 
 nothing to do. I preach a free, full, gracious, glorious 
 good news, and if it clashes with and seems to con- 
 tradict certain theological ideas about God, I cannot 
 help it. 
 
 " I walk with bare hushed feet the ground 
 Ye tread with boMness shod, 
 I dare not fix with mete and bound 
 The love and power of God. 
 
 " I know not where His islands lift 
 Their f ronded palms in air, 
 I only know I cannot drift 
 Beyond His love and care. 
 
 " And Thou, O Lord, by Whom are seen 
 All creatures as they be, 
 Forgive me if too close I lean 
 My human heart on thee." 
 
 I plead with you this morning to shake off from 
 your souls all these false thoughts about the dear 
 God. Cast aside the horrible conception which, like 
 iron, pierces the heart of tenderness. Tear from your 
 bosom all these barbaric images of the infinite affec- 
 tion, and learn Him through the incarnate Christ. 
 Believe in your innermost and centermost heart, 
 that God is love, love above all and over all. Love, 
 free, generous and warm as the sunlight at noon of 
 day. Love, broad, tender, and comprehensive as 
 the distant blue over our heads. Love, eternal,. 
 
What is God f 79 
 
 illimitable and unconditional. Believe in this with 
 all your being. Say you believe in it, till you are 
 filled with it. Say it, till this beautiful thought per- 
 vades all your life. Say it till His all-conquering 
 love has melted your heart to glad submission. Say 
 it, till the love of God, glorious as the morning, has 
 purged you from the stains of sin. Say it, till it 
 becomes the unfailing inspiration of a gentle, meek, 
 frank, reverent, true, devout and godly life. 
 
 Believe also in His greatness. The heart of God 
 is large, there is room there for all who call upon 
 His name, and put forth the little arms of the soul 
 to embrace Him, and grope in the dark for the hem 
 of His garment. It makes no difference in what 
 language, or under what form, or by what creed they 
 worship Him, Orthodox or Hetrodox, Calvinist or 
 Armenian; they that worship Him u in the beauty of 
 holiness," are His children. He is the father of all 
 men ; but they that "have not the spirit of Christ are 
 none of His." 
 
 Believe again in the absolute perfection of God . He 
 cannot fail in His gracious purposes. He will see 
 that all wrong is set right, and justice is done to 
 every creature. He will bring good out of evil, and 
 better thence again. Though the Heavens fall, not 
 one iota of His truth shall perish. In wisdom, He 
 is all-knowing, in power, almighty, in justice, all 
 righteous. And sure of His infinite perfection, we 
 can face any thing in the shape of sorrow, of dis- 
 appointment, or of death. 
 
 F 
 
80 What is God ? 
 
 Fill your mind with such thoughts, feed your 
 heart with ennobling and bright ideas; and your 
 daily religion will be like the pure stream that de- 
 scends from the tall mountains, is fed by the virgin 
 snows and runs through the vast fields of humanity, 
 fertilizing the soil, moistening the seed and filling 
 God's lap with golden sheaves. 
 
 " Jesus, there is no dearer name than Thine, 
 
 Which time has blazoned on his mighty scroll ; 
 No wreaths, no garlands ever did entwine 
 
 So fair a temple of so vast a soul. 
 There every Virtue set his triumph seal ; 
 
 Wisdom conjoined with strength and radiant grace 
 In a sweet copy, Heaven to reveal, 
 
 And stamp perfection on a moral face ; 
 Once on the earth wert Thou, before men.'s eyes, 
 That did not half Thy beauteous brightness see ; 
 Once on the earth wert Thou a living shrine, 
 Wherein conjoining dwelt the good, the lovely, the Divine. " 
 
What is God? 81 
 
 PRAYER AFTER THE SERMON. 
 
 Thy name is love ! Oh, thou Eternal One ! And 
 with exceeding great joy we repeat this dear name 
 of thine! Thou hast the power to save to the 
 utmost, and to be gracious unto all thy creatures ! 
 Mightier than the tide of the Atlantic Sea is the 
 omnipotence of thy love! Wider than the blue 
 heavens is thy providence, hedging us in on every 
 hand ! Thou art a great God, yet dost thou conde- 
 scend to dwell in our humble hearts, with all thy 
 glory and goodness, too ! Come and deliver us 
 from fear, despondency, bondage and darkness ! 
 Lead us into the glorious light of thy gospel ! Im- 
 part unto us, we beseech of thee, the beauty, sweet- 
 ness, freedom and holiness of thy nature, through 
 Jesus, the Redeemer ! — Amen. 
 
RECOGNITION OF FRIENDS IN 
 HEAVEN 
 
4t Upon the frontier of this shadowy land 
 
 We, pilgrims of eternal sorrow, stand ; 
 What realm lies forward, with its happier store, 
 
 Of forests green and deep, 
 
 Of valleys hushed in sleep, 
 And lakes most peaceful, 'tis the land of evermore." 
 
 " What if earth 
 Be but the shadow of heaven and things therein, 
 Each to other like, more than below is thought." 
 
PRAYER BEFORE THE SERMON. 
 
 We lift up our eyes unto Thee, source of every 
 good and every perfect gift ; once more we hasten 
 into thy presence, Thou father and saviour of our 
 souls ; with hearts full of gratitude and full of praise 
 we surround thy throne. Thou invisible but ever 
 present One, we thank Thee for thy watchful care 
 over us, and for thy providence hedging us in on 
 every side, delivering us from sickness and death, 
 and always guiding us with Thine own eye. We 
 praise and magnify thy name that Thou hast been 
 so very nigh to us in all the hours of mortal exist- 
 ence, in the hour of trouble and sorrow, in the hour 
 of darkness and of gloom, in the hour of sickness 
 and bereavement. Xhou has been our comforter, 
 our friend, our help, our strength, and for all these 
 unnumbered mercies we lift up our hearts in praise 
 and in song, in gratitude and in love to thy throne, 
 for Thou deservest all our worship and adoration. 
 We confess in thy presence that we are not worthy 
 to take thy holy name upon our unclean lips ; we 
 are not worthy to bring offerings with our unclean 
 hands ; we are not worthy to lift up the eye and be- 
 hold thy face so luminous with glory and goodness; 
 
86 Recognition of Friends 
 
 but in Jesus Christ, our elder brother, we approach 
 to thy throxie and we present our petitions to Thee 
 this morning with a firm, immovable trust that Thou 
 wilt hear us and also wilt answer us. 
 
 Oh Lord God, we pray, first of all and over all, 
 for the gift of thy Holy Spirit, knowing that with- 
 out the inspiration of thy Holy Ghost, we cannot 
 worship Thee acceptably; we cannot render unto 
 Thee service that shall praise thy name and profit 
 our souls. Therefore, we pray that we may be 
 guided by thy Spirit ; be taught by thy Spirit ; be 
 inspired by thy Spirit, that our eyes may be opened, 
 our feelings may be rendered tender, our hearts 
 prepared for the precious seed of the Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 We pray that this morning, as we come to confess 
 our sins and to ask for blessings new, we may be in 
 the Spirit. Heavenly Father wilt Thou graciously 
 smile upon us, forgiving our many sins and short- 
 comings and filling our hearts with thy peace and 
 with thy love and with thy holiness. Give us 
 strength, give us courage, give us help from above, 
 that in the discharge of our duties we may be faith- 
 ful and brave ; that in the doing of thy will we may 
 be true, that in thy service we may be useful and 
 fruitful. Give us instruction from above that we 
 may know what is pleasing in thy sight, what is thy 
 will, and that in the doing of that will, we may be 
 crowned with never withering blossoms. When 
 temptation is too strong for our arms to put down ; 
 
in Heaven. 87 
 
 when we are in great peril and moral danger 
 send Thou an angel from above to strengthen 
 us and lift us up in his arms lest we dash our feet 
 against a stone. 
 
 In the great fight of faith upon the battle-field 
 for Christ may we ever see His banner unfurled over 
 our heads, and listen to his inspiring words of cheer, 
 and see His smile of approval and joy. In our every- 
 day life, in buying and selling, in doing and pray- 
 ing, in our homes and on the street, everywhere may 
 God's love shine through our works and words, and 
 may men be persuaded that Christianity is a power 
 and a reality. 
 
 Enable us to prove that the Cross of Christ is full 
 of charm and inspiration, and that the name of 
 Jesus is above every other name. May we have the 
 grace to be faithful unto death, that we may hear 
 the Master's " Well-done." 
 
 Shall we not pray, Almighty God, for all thy 
 children who are in affliction, in distress, and in be- 
 reavement? The Lord anoint their heads with 
 the oil of gladness, and fill their cups brim-full with 
 His comfort. Help them to lay their burdens at 
 thy feet and find rest, sweet rest, in thine arms of 
 infinite affection. Grant unto us a glimpse of that 
 future world of immortality and peace, that our 
 drooping, sinking spirits may mount to the heights 
 of spiritual vision and communion. 
 
 Bless all the strangers who have come to worship 
 with us. Let this be the house of prayer, psalm, 
 
88 Recognition of Friends in Heaven. 
 
 and gospel to their souls. Welcome them, gracious 
 One, to thy large and loving heart. Put thy hand 
 upon them, and bless them in their souls and in 
 their homes. 
 
 Hear us, Holy Father, in these, our petitions ; an- 
 swer the uttered and unutterable requests of thy 
 people, and feed us from thine exhaustless breast, 
 through Jesus Christ, our Lord. — Amen. 
 
RECOGNITION OF FRIENDS IN HEAVEN. 
 
 " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into 
 
 the heart of man the thmgs which God hath prepared 
 
 for those that love Him." 
 
 I Cor.— 2, 9. 
 
 Our friends are very dear to us. We carry them 
 close to our thrilling hearts. What is life without 
 friendship and the tender relations between husband 
 and wife, between parent and child ? Put a person 
 in a beautiful palace, surround him with all the 
 comforts of wealth, let him have all that his heart 
 desires, let him have honor and pleasure and health, 
 but take away from him his loved ones — perhaps a 
 little child, or a kind mother, or a faithful and 
 affectionate wife — and he will be perfectly miserable 
 in his magnificent mansion. Love is the soul of 
 life. Ever-growing affection for our own is the free 
 fire that keeps the human heart warm. Let these 
 be extinguished, and what is life? Without this 
 love, which shall outlast the ages, and which shall 
 know no parting, life is dreary, aimless and burden- 
 some. Would you care to live if you could not 
 love? Could you love and not wish to love forever? 
 
90 Recognition of Friends 
 
 You who are parents, would you believe for a 
 moment that this fragrant flower of affection grow- 
 ing out of your heart will soon wither and fade 
 away without any future for its greater growth? 
 Would you believe that the jewels God has set on 
 your parental brow fall forever from your crown at 
 death ? Would you believe that beyond the grave 
 you have no friends— no darling children, no father 
 or mother? I am confident every true, deep and 
 noble soul in this large congregation will say, " No, 
 NO, not for one moment can our hearts entertain 
 such a chilling, saddening and despairing belief." 
 And is there no significance in this firm, unambigu- 
 ous and brave answer of the world of love ? 
 
 This subject, my hearers, is a very delicate 
 one. I know there are in my audience hearts 
 that have been broken and bruised by reason of 
 death in the home circle. There is a vacancy in 
 your life, and nothing in the world seems to fill that 
 void. You had a bird in your arms, which has 
 flown away to other regions, leaving you comfortless ; 
 Death, that grim visitor, put forth its icy and cruel 
 hand and tore a loved one from your heart ; you 
 felt the cold blast from the wings of Death fanning 
 your cheeks as you sat beside the bed of the dying, 
 and when the end came, and the sufferer sank into 
 sleep, you asked yourself this question : " Shall we 
 not meet again ?" " Will I not find, some day, 
 what I have lost to-day ?" 
 
 Oh ! that I could inspire your hearts, this morn- 
 
in Heaven. 91 
 
 ing with the strong assurance that death does not 
 mean everlasting seperation. The parting is only 
 when the narrowband sullen stream is being crossed. 
 On the other side there is re-union. In our fathers 
 house we shall meet again. This belief is full of 
 inspiration, solace and gladness. In that glorious 
 spirit land we shall know our friends, our loved ones, 
 our blossoms, and walk hand in hand with them 
 through the golden streets of that larger and better 
 land. This is the faith of the heart. It is its 
 brightest and bravest hope. It is the longing of 
 love. It is its most ardent prayer and wish. As 
 we stand upon the brink of the grave, and follow 
 the departed one, in imagination, to the unseen 
 world, how we believe in it with all our heart. What 
 power, there is in this hope to dry the reddened eyes, 
 to illume the darkend tomb, to put a permanent 
 lustre at the entrance of the valley of shadows, and 
 . to robe the heavens with the immortal stars of 
 promise and prophecy ? What charm in this faith, 
 to make heaven real, eternal life a boon, and to rob 
 death of its sharpest sting ? Can a belief which is 
 so minutely woven into the texture of our hearts, 
 so closely associated with our highest, purest and 
 divinest aspirations, so intimately connected with 
 our ideas of God, of heaven and of happiness, be a 
 lie, a mockery, a deception, an unreal show ? Can 
 it be, that our hearts deceive us ? Can it be that 
 this natural and sacred instinct of the soul is a cruel 
 cheat ? Can it be that this sweet hope which lights 
 
92 Recognition of Friends 
 
 us to the grave is a traitor ? If these be treacherous 
 guides, then the moral foundations fall from under- 
 neath us. Then is our anchor torn from the shore, 
 and we are at sea, amid the fog, the darkness, the 
 rocks, and u false lights." " What is right." "Is God 
 good," and is "truth dear?" Can we answer these 
 question, if our holy instincts have organized a 
 conspiracy against us ? But nay ! believe in the 
 gospel of your heart. Accept the prophecies of your 
 soul. Follow unhesitatingly the lead of your con- 
 sciences and they will not deceive you, they will not 
 disappoint you, they will not turn traitor. 
 
 Again, the conception of heaven, as imparted to us 
 by the word of God is incomplete, without the re- 
 cognition of our friends. If there is no re-gathering 
 and meeting again in heaven, then it is an imper- 
 fect joy and an unsatisfactory rest, which is held 
 before us as our succeeding great and eternal re- 
 ward. Heaven means happiness, means unalloyed 
 joy, means full gratification of our noblest 
 desires, means growth and development of 
 our affections. On this conception of heaven 
 is rooted and grounded the belief in future recogni- 
 tion. Could you be happy in the celestial world 
 without the society of those, who on earth made 
 your life cheerful and constituted your invaluable 
 treasure? Would heaven be heaven, without the 
 presence of familiar faces ? Could you be at home 
 there, without the company and friendship and love 
 of all that were nearest and dearest to you on earth ? 
 
in Heaven. 93 
 
 It may be answered, that this is a human way of 
 reasoning concerning the future life, and that when 
 we go there we shall be so changed, that we will 
 forget friendship ; forget the tender and sacred ties 
 formed here below; forget all the objects of our 
 best affections, and be absorbed in something else. I 
 reply to this, that, if we shall cease to be men and wo- 
 men in heaven, the very same beings that we were 
 on earth, then our interest in heaven is lost. If the 
 heart here, so sympathetic, affectionate and loving, 
 there will become hard, indifferent and cold; if 
 friendship, now, so sweet and so essential to my 
 happiness, there will lose all its charm and power, 
 surely that will be a great change; and if death 
 works such a change, then we are in total ignorance 
 as to what kind of creatures we shall be after death. 
 But death does not work such a change upon hu- 
 man nature. Death is merely the messenger of 
 light and victory to the faithful in the battle, throw- 
 ing open before them the palace gates of immor- 
 tality and joy. There, our hearts shall be the 
 same, only purer, holier, deeper in love with God. 
 There our souls shall be the very same, only, the 
 image of the Eternal shining brighter thereon. 
 Our whole nature will be the same, only ennobled, 
 redeemed from sin and sorrow, sanctified, glorified. 
 Our life the same, only in a loftier and diviner 
 sphere, free from the imperfections, temptations, 
 accidents and shams of life, and without the lusts, 
 passions, ambitions and failings of the flesh; the 
 
94 Recognition of Friends 
 
 hypocrisy, deceit and hollowness of earth. I take 
 heaven to be a world of infinite truth, of infinite 
 goodness,^ infinite beauty, and infinite love. Into 
 this state we shall enter, not like new-born souls, but 
 as we are at the hour of death. And if the future 
 life is a continuation of this, then in that sphere of 
 activity, growth and unceasing work, how needful 
 to us, the co-operation, sympathy, help and inspira- 
 tion of our friends who on earth assisted us to gain 
 the crown ! In that immense arena of spiritual en- 
 terprise of rising, and climbing to higher heights of 
 excellence, how essential is friendship, its words 
 of cheer, its smile of approval, and the power and 
 pathos of its love ! Death will not kill friendship. 
 The grave will not destroy the social nature of man. 
 Love is immortal ; and an undying love will not rest 
 till the object of its affections is found. It will 
 search the heavens, scan the heights and depths, 
 haunt the ages, till its deep, deep thirst is satisfied. 
 Accept this conception of heaven and the recogni- 
 tion and society of our friends become just as essen- 
 tial there as they are here. Heaven is not a mere 
 singing school, where nothing else is done but chan- 
 ting psalms and playing on harps, which will leave 
 no time to renew the friendship of our once loved 
 ones. Heaven is not an endless prayer meeting; 
 where no one is allowed to talk to his neighbor, but 
 where all commune in solemn silence. Heaven is 
 our home, for the re-union of sundered love. Our 
 home, for the full growth and development and en- 
 
in Heaven. 95 
 
 largement of every faculty of the mind, every affec- 
 tion of the heart and every aspiration of the soul. 
 In that heavenly home. God will wipe away all tears 
 from our eyes, by first of all and over all, giving 
 Himself to us, and filling us with His divine sweet- 
 ness. There He will re-unite the scattered family 
 on earth. There He will make happiness twice 
 happy by satisfying love. The mother who has 
 sobbed and wept these many years, until her cheeks 
 are swollen and her eyes dimmed, shall behold her 
 dearest child resting sweetly upon the bosom of eter- 
 nal love, safe from sickness, sorrow and sin. 
 
 " One look sufficient to tell me they were mine; 
 My babes, my blossoms, my long parted ones. 
 The same in feature and in form, as when 
 I bent o'er their dying pillows last." 
 
 The revelations of the Christ encourage me to 
 believe that my departed friends are still thinking 
 of me, still interested in me, still love me and. pray 
 for me. When the summons comes for me to join 
 their ranks, will they not greet me with a come and 
 welcome? Thus greeted and surrounded I shall 
 feel at home in heaven. 
 
 Did I hear you say that this is only a dream? 
 If so, let it be a glorious one. But I am not specu- 
 lating, not theorising, I am repeating the prophecies 
 of my heart. AVhen I say man cannot live without 
 bread, I am not uttering a greater truth than when 
 I say man will die without love. I am just as far 
 
96 Recognition of Friends 
 
 from speculating when I picture the joy and rap- 
 ture of that re-union and fellowship in heaven, as 
 when describing the satisfaction and gratitude of 
 the thirsty traveller in a desert, when he sees a 
 clear, sparkling stream, inviting him to drink deeply 
 and live. If I am dreaming, it is in obedience to 
 my heart; if it is a speculation, it is the creation of 
 what is noblest in man. Faithfulness to my best 
 thoughts, my purest love and manliest trust, assure 
 me of the purpose and power of God, in his own 
 wise way, to fulfill this great prophecy of the human 
 heart. 
 
 Once more. In speaking to you on this subject 
 before I employed the immortality of memory as an 
 argument in favor of future recognition. Let us 
 reconsider this proof. Memory is indestructible ; it 
 does not perish with the body. Memory knows no 
 break ; it leaps over the grave ; it does not die. The 
 remembering is chiefly done by the mind. It is 
 there where, like a vast mansion, all our past life is 
 stored. Its many halls are crowded with imagery; 
 its walls echo with a thousand sounds; its ceiling 
 and floor are frescoed with the numerous events 
 which have taken place in our history. From its 
 huge galleries look down upon us the faces that 
 have cheered us and constituted the sweetness of 
 earth. The mind is a world of memories. All our 
 thoughts, all our whispers, all our imaginations, all 
 our actions, all our relations with our fellow-men, 
 leave their imperishable impress upon the walls of 
 
in Heaven. 97 
 
 the soul. Nothing can wipe them out. Nothing 
 can destroy these marks cut into our mental organ- 
 ism. Its pages are deathless. The record it keeps 
 shall be handed down from generation to genera- 
 tion. Another important fact is the freedom of 
 memory. We have no control over it. It is not a 
 slave to the human will. By a mere act of volition 
 you can neither remember or forget. Can you 
 arrest the palpitations of your heart? Can you 
 discontinue the circulation of your blood ? Can 
 you bring to a standstill the wondrous machinery 
 of thought? Are these under the control of your 
 will? Nay! So is memory a free faculty, which 
 cannot be held in prison at our pleasure. Ah, if we 
 could only forget some things, how r happy we would 
 be. If we could only bury in oblivion, hide under 
 a heap of dust those sad and shameful chapters in 
 our biography; if we had the power, understood the 
 art of washing out those dark stains from the cham- 
 bers of recollection: what would we not give in re- 
 turn ? Every time you turn your eyes upon the 
 past, a certain form' rises before you, a certain scene 
 is spread before you, and you say to yourself; oh I if I 
 could only forget, utterly forget that form, that scene, 
 I would be the happiest being on earth. Impossible I 
 memory works independent of your will. Your 
 choice has no influence with the workings of the 
 mind. The great Italian, Dante, in his immortal 
 poem, speaks of a stream of water which, on one 
 side was called Lethe, and on the other, Eunoe. 
 
98 Recognition of Friends 
 
 This poetic stream possessed on one side, the power 
 to take away the remembrance of sin and shame 
 and shortcoming, while on the other shore, it pos- 
 sessed the virtue of bringing back the memory of 
 every kind deed and holy thought and of sweet 
 experience. 
 
 Plunged into its waves you forget the guilty past 
 and from the other shore you come forth 
 
 " Kegenerate, 
 E'en as new plants renew'd with foliage new, 
 Pure and made apt for mounting to the stars." 
 
 But such a virtuous stream exists only in the 
 imagination of the poet. The hard facts of life are 
 that memory is an independent and impartial author, 
 putting down the good as well as thebad,and holding 
 up the picture before our eyes. You cannot bribe 
 memory. You cannot get him to prophecy smooth 
 things in your hearing. It is indestructible ; it is in- 
 dependent. In all this, there is an unanswerable 
 argument for future recognition. If memory shall go 
 with us to the other world, and if on the " eternal 
 walls all the past shall reappear," what shall hinder 
 us from remembering our friends, who make up so 
 much of the happiness, usefulness, quality and even 
 quantity of our lives on earth ! Shall we remember 
 how we were brought to Christ and to truth and vir- 
 tue and forget by whom? Shall we remember the 
 place where first the Divine Voice thrilled our hearts 
 and stirred the depths of our souls with hunger and 
 
in Heaven. 99 
 
 thirst for Him, and forget the dear friend who 
 became the blessed means for such a consummation ? 
 Shall we remember how we lead our darlings to the 
 Good Shepherd's fold and seated them on His lap 
 for a Divine benediction, and fail to recognize them 
 in heaven? The heart says, it cannot be, and I 
 believe in the judgment of the heart. Almighty 
 God shall withdraw the curtain of the great past, 
 and there shall rise before us a perfect picture of 
 our life here below, the bad as well as the good, 
 for we cannot forget the one and remember the 
 other, but the bad shall be freely pardoned and the 
 luminous veil of Christ's righteousness thrown 
 upon it. While the good shall shine like solid bars 
 of gold, like polished jewels in Emanuel's crown. 
 If therefore memory be a fact, the recognition of our 
 friends is beyond a doubt. 
 
 In conclusion, let us turn the broad and splendid 
 light of revelation on this subject. Jesus said, "I go 
 to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare 
 a place for you, I will come again and receive you 
 uato myself, that where I am, there you may be 
 also." Can this precious promise be fulfilled with- 
 out recognition of our friends, as dwelling with 
 Christ in the place prepared for us ? Again He 
 promises to seat his disciples on thrones with Abra- 
 ham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets in 
 the Kingdom of God. 
 
 Shall we make the acquaintance of these Patri- 
 archs and pass by our own ; soul of our souls, and 
 
100 Recognition of Friends 
 
 part and parcel of our lives ? Again, the Saviour 
 promised to feed us from His table. " Ye may eat 
 and drink at my table in my Kingdom." Does not 
 this present the picture of a happy brotherhood, a 
 complete family dwelling together in love ? And 
 can this idea be carried out without recognition ? 
 Then sounds in our ears, from the sweet Heavens, 
 the inspirational words of the Son of God, " In my 
 Father's house are many mansions ... I go to pre- 
 pare a place for you, and I will come again and 
 receive you unto myself; that where I am, there 
 ye may be also." Oh, is not this overwhelming 
 and assuring that there, in the words of Paul, "I 
 shall know, even as also I am known." In the early 
 Church, there were those that sorrowed for the de- 
 parted and wept bitterly, and would not be com- 
 forted. St. Paul, addressing his words to them, says, 
 " But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, 
 concerning them, which are asleep, that ye sorrow 
 not, even as others which have no hope. For if we 
 believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them 
 also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him." 
 Is not the direct and emphatic meaning of this pas- 
 sage " re-union, fellowship, recognition?" 
 
 What remains for us to do but to believe firmly 
 that in Heaven we shall be at home with our 
 children; at home with our parents; at home with 
 our friends; at home with the prophets, martyrs, 
 apostles, angels; at home with Jesus, who died for 
 
in Heaven. 101 
 
 the whole world; at home with God; the all-satisfy- 
 ing Good ? 
 
 With such a home before us, such friendship, such 
 re-union, such fellowship and happiness waiting for 
 us on the other shore, we can address death and the 
 grave in the manly words of Paul, and with David 
 exclaim, " Oh that I had the wings of a dove, to fly 
 away and be at rest." 
 
 " When the holy angels meet us, 
 As we go to join their band, 
 We shall know the friends that greet us 
 In that glorious spirit land. 
 
 We shall see the same eyes shining 
 
 On us, as in days of yore 
 We shall feel the dear arms twining 
 
 Fondly around us as before.-' 
 
102 Recognition of Friends in Heaven. 
 
 PRAYER AFTER THE SERMON. 
 
 thou who hast a father's heart, a father's feel- 
 ings, a father's care and love; we look up unto thee 
 for an answer to the deep desires of our hearts. For 
 the precious promises of Jesus, thy son, we thank 
 thee, for His revelation of the future world of peace, 
 of rest and of love, we adore thy name. We believe 
 in thy word. We trust in thine infinite tenderness. 
 The earthly mother may forget her child, and the 
 earthly father forsake his own, but thou Divine 
 parent shall follow us with thine unslumbering eye. 
 Oh! thou compassionate one, lift us up, and clarify our 
 vision, that through the shining veils we may 
 behold the exceeding great joy into which our 
 beloved have entered, and where we too shall follow 
 them soon. 
 
 Comfort thy sorrowing children, wipe away their 
 tears with a soft hand, and thrill their hearts with 
 the great hope of a happy re-union in thy presence, 
 " where there is fullness of joy." 
 
 Dismiss us now with thy benediction, and the 
 power of this immortal hope, inspired by thy word. 
 — Amen. 
 
THE MISSION OF WOMAN. 
 
THE MISSION OF WOMAN. 
 
 " c That cur daughters may he as comer stones.'' 
 Psalm cxliv. — 12. 
 
 We read in the new testament, that " there was a 
 man sent by God : " but in a broader sense, every 
 man and woman is sent by God. AVe are not the 
 children of chance, but of Divine wisdom and pur- 
 pose. Life is not aimless and meaningless, but it 
 has a task to perform, and a mission to fulfill. The 
 Almighty Maker created you for an end, placed 
 you in a certain sphere, and will demand of you an 
 account of your life. In a perfect universe, every 
 thing has its mission. From the grain of sand to 
 the sky-kissing hills,- capped with snow and blushing 
 rose-red in the rising sun ; from the apparently in- 
 significant insect crawling in the dust, to immortal 
 man, "a little lower than the angels, " — the impor- 
 tance and significance of the mission increase as 
 you ascend in the scale of being. The thought 
 that we may make our destinies, carve our charac- 
 ters, and succeed to be the glorious creatures we 
 were intended to be, when first the Divine breath 
 
108 The Mission of Woman. 
 
 passed through our nostrils, is full of inspiration 
 and power. You may commune with yourself and 
 say/" Soul! thou hast been fashioned for a glorious 
 purpose, for a mark loftier than the stars, a mission 
 hast thou to perform in the presence of a cloud of wit- 
 nesses, of God, and of Christ, looking down upon 
 you from the galleries of eternity ; quit thyself like 
 a man, and let a shout of triumph and congratula- 
 tion arise from the vast throng that surround you." 
 
 My object in this discourse is to discuss the 
 peculiar mission of woman. Not in the spirit of 
 eccentricity, neither from a wish to create a sensa- 
 tion, have I chosen this theme, but simply to lay 
 strong emphasis upon those tender graces and 
 charming virtues which crown Christian ladyhood 
 and arm her for the great mission of life. 
 
 The endurance and triumph of what is noblest in 
 our civilization, demands the careful and thorough 
 development of woman, that she may become the 
 corner stone in the marvellous architecture of man- 
 kind, ever rising into immensity. On their soft 
 shoulders should rest the huge columns of the 
 human edifice. From her Amazonian breast, she 
 must feed body and soul, the physical strength and 
 spiritual beauty. The hand that rocks the cradle 
 and leads the lambs, should also sway the sceptre 
 and guide the kings. Exalt woman to her proper 
 position, and society will have vigorous and healthy 
 blood in its veins, she will give birth to the dearest 
 principles, noblest motives and most philanthropic 
 
The Mission of Woman, 109 
 
 institutions; introducing into life's arena, heroes, 
 brave and true. Ripe, Christian womanhood is the 
 inexhaustible source and supply of excellence and 
 inspiration. Cultivated and Christian womanhood 
 is the rich soil, out of which spring the roses and 
 violets that bloom on our pathway; the human 
 heaven, whence descends the shower and sunshine; 
 the terrestrial Paradise, feeding the human bee 
 with honey. Wherever woman has enjoyed the 
 privileges of her sex, there civilization has taken 
 long strides in the path of progress. There, 
 with her white arm she has drawn the sword 
 and led the human forces to the field of action. 
 There, with excellence of heart, tenderness and deli- 
 cacy of conscience and transcendent spirituality of 
 soul, she has raised humanity from a low ebb to the 
 heights. There, she has become the champion re- 
 former, carrying the cause of truth, of religion, of 
 freedom, of justice and of temperance close to her 
 thrilling heart and supplying them with fresh sap 
 from her soul. There, she has become a mountain 
 spring, pouring its virgin waters through a thou- 
 sand pipes and bubbling up in all the avenue s 
 of sin and haunts of disease. The world owes 
 great gratitude to woman, for she has made her 
 breast bare against the darts and. sharp arrows of 
 the enemy of home, Fatherland and God. Take 
 away woman from the battle of life and all the 
 efforts and aspirations of mankind fall to a lower 
 octave. We lose the oil that keeps the lamp of pro- 
 
110 The Mission of Woman. 
 
 gress burning so sacrificingly ; we lose the valor 
 that spurns our cowardice and timidity; we lose 
 sight of that soft silvery star, which in the night of 
 defeat and shame, when the sky is palled in the 
 dunnest smoke of hell, shines smilingly through the 
 parting clouds and turns inglorious defeat into a 
 stupendous triumph. How often, when the ship of 
 humanity was sinking, gallant woman rushed to the 
 helm and steered the bark, laden with a precious 
 burden, amid the waves, rocks and false lights — to 
 the haven, safe and sound ? More than the intel- 
 lectual empire of Von Humboldt, the philosophic 
 spirit of saintly Socrates, the far-reaching genius of 
 La Place, and Liebnitz, the world owes to the hero- 
 ism, patience and self-denial of woman. It is also 
 a historical fact, that in countries where she is a 
 slave, crushed, degraded, despised, there man too is 
 a slave, poor and wretched. Barbarity, ignorance, 
 darkness and despotism reign wherever woman is 
 thrust out of her sphere and denied the full enjoy- 
 ment of her rights. The degradation of woman 
 breaks the wheels and wings of civilization and 
 blows out the lamp of progress. I come from a 
 country where woman is caged and imprisoned, and 
 forced to wander from the cradle to the tomb with a 
 mind which is a blank and a heart which is a void. 
 She is scourged by an iron hand, dragged to a con- 
 dition lower than the brute, and dwarfed in body 
 and spirit Alas ! was she created for such servitude ? 
 Was she sent simply to satisfy man's lowest and 
 
The Mission of Woman. Ill 
 
 meanest passions ? Woman ! wert thou created to 
 be a tool and a slave to man ? No, it cannot be. 
 For hundreds of years the Ottoman Turk has lived 
 on the shores of the Bosphorus, the brightest spot 
 in all the earth, but because of his savage cruelty ta 
 woman, and refusal of her freedom, the Turk has 
 gone down, down into ruin. History will bear me 
 witness, that the emancipation and elevation of wo- 
 man is the harbinger of civilization, the rosy dawn 
 that gilds the mountain tops with the promise of a 
 handsome day. 
 
 What a factor woman is in the affairs of man ! 
 At home she has the influence to save or to destroy. 
 In society, she can purify or corrupt. In the nation, 
 she has the power to lift to heaven or to drag to hell. 
 What an incalculable blessing to the domestic, 
 social and national life, is a true, noble, Christian 
 womanhood. Piety virtue, goodness, how won- 
 drously fair they seem in woman's character. Not 
 fairer is the blushing morning in the month of 
 June, among the hills of Switzerland. Woman's 
 heart was the best friend of the man of sorrows. 
 Last at the cross, first at the tomb. Hopefully 
 Mary outruns the bearded and broad-shouldered 
 Peter, and first awakens the sleeping world, with 
 her triumphant declaration, "the Lord is risen." 
 The most royal thing Jesus ever said, was said of a 
 woman — " She hath done what she could." 
 
 To immortalize the memory of a woman, who had 
 dropped her mite into the treasury, Jesus reared a 
 
 H 
 
112 The Mission of Woman. 
 
 a monument on the glittering pages of His gospel. 
 The most glorious words that ever fell from His lips 
 were uttered in the ears of a woman at His feet. 
 
 Christianity is the great friend of woman. Mo- 
 hammed cursed woman with the yokes of polygamy, 
 bondage and ignorance. Buddhism and the 
 Paganism of China, Japan and Africa, make a 
 woman's life intolerable. The religion of Christ 
 breaks her chains, frees her faculties and leads 
 out the noblest in her. Christianity is a new in- 
 spiration in her veins, new blood in her heart, new 
 vigor and life in her soul. At the knee of Jesus, 
 she learns her true mission, finds her proper sphere 
 and does her share for the fulfillment of the infinite 
 purpose, wherewith the universe throbs at every 
 point. 
 
 The mission of woman, in the first place, like an 
 anointed priestess, — is to guard the sacred fire of 
 love upon the altar of humanity. She must add 
 fresh fuel to the flame that burns in the heart 
 of mankind. She must be life and immortality to 
 love, without which, the world would grow cold 
 and freeze to death. She was made to love. A life 
 of the affections is her primary mission. The uncon- 
 querable in woman, which spreads over our heads a 
 majestic arch fretted with golden fire, is love: in its in- 
 fluence, ennobling, sweetening and purifying; in its 
 strength, immeasurable. Frcm the serene heights of 
 womanly love, descends the sunshine of home and 
 the happiness of life. With jealous and sleepless care 
 
The Mission of Woman. 113 
 
 she guards the sanctity of the home, the sacredness 
 of family ties and the sweet intimacies of friendship. 
 The love of woman goes further and binds faster in 
 the cause of right, than the armies and navies of all 
 the world. When all have failed and fallen, love 
 will triumph. God has given woman this oceanic 
 heart, and these growing and clinging affections, 
 that she may use them, and not abuse them. It is 
 infidelity in woman to fasten her affection upon 
 the world and by this misuse decay her noblest 
 powers. What think you is the most lovely thing 
 in life, the highest object that deserves our purest 
 love? — God: Is He not perfect beauty, perfect mercy, 
 perfect justice, perfect holiness and perfect goodness 
 too ? If God is your treasure, then is your heart 
 set on Him. If He is your jewel, then your heart 
 is His humble home. Ah, me ! how many fail to 
 find any loveliness and beauty in Christ. Nothing 
 which touches their imagination with a peculiar 
 pleasure and fascination. Hence they open their 
 hearts to the gaudy pleasures of the world; and sin 
 against love — by not loving, the true and the good. 
 Often woman is idolatrous, desiring the perishable 
 things more than God. If you love dress more than 
 God, think more of your apparel than of your God, 
 then dress is your idol, closer to the centre of your 
 heart, than God. If you think your chief end is to 
 wear jewels and decorate yourself with costly and 
 precious stones, and take better care of them than 
 you do of your soul, then are these articles your 
 
114 The Mission of Woman. 
 
 gods. As I have often said, I am not opposed to 
 elegance in dress, for nothing is too good for you. 
 Elegance fits woman. All the beautiful things are 
 for your use; the sparkling diamond finds its home 
 flashing in your hair; the pearls are for a necklace 
 around your neck ; the gems of land and sea are 
 for your person. Nor am I opposed to pleasure or 
 gayety. I do not believe in a sour, ascetic, grim 
 and gloomy life ; I do not believe in smothering the 
 song upon the lips of youth and plucking the rose 
 from the cheeks of beauty ; I do not believe in 
 sharpening and lengthening the thorns of life — 
 rather would I add to the innocent, happy laughter 
 and mirth of the world. There is joy in nature, in 
 the music of the streams and stars, the rustle of the 
 leaves; and the ten thousand objects of creation clap 
 their hands with joy. And why should the young 
 heart hate happiness ? But is this the only object for 
 which you were created ? Is this your crown ? To 
 walk in elegant apparel and move in gay societj 7 — 
 is this the sum of your life? Is there no greater 
 meaning, no higher importance attached to your 
 vocation and mission ? Is there no room in your 
 heart for the Infinite sweetness who has taught 
 thy heart to love? Woman fails in her mission 
 when she fails to keep the love of God burning 
 brightly in the world's heart. All the elegant 
 accomplishments — culture and wealth, will not atone 
 for this misuse and decay of love. 
 
 Again, woman is a minister of religion. It is 
 
The Mission of Woman. 115 
 
 given to her in an attractive and persuasive way to 
 demonstrate in her life the graces and virtues of the 
 Christian life. She need not be an eloquent speaker 
 in order to accomplish this, or an ordained preacher 
 of the Word. She need not go from house to house 
 with religious tracts and Bibles to give away. All 
 cannot do that. But in the discharge of her house- 
 hold duties, in her intercourse with the world, and 
 in her church life, let the spirit of Jesus — his meek- 
 ness, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, charity, self- 
 denial and piety — shine on her person and fill the 
 sphere wherein she moves with a fragrance and 
 sweetness, and she will render to the cause of re- 
 ligion inestimable service. The silver stars do not 
 shine brighter on the distant blue than these Chris- 
 tian graces in a woman's life. Is she a wife, like a 
 magnet let her hold the husband to her heart, to 
 truth, to fidelity and love. Let her pure and spirit- 
 ual life throw a halo of glory around the husband's 
 earthly toil and moil. She must be that higher life, 
 higher atmosphere, higher heaven of calm and 
 joy, into which theliusband shall enter at the close 
 of a day of care, anxiety and fatigue. Spirituality in 
 woman is like the majestic heights that inspire us 
 with reverence, with aspiration and love. Is she a 
 mother, like the constant shining of the sun her 
 example lifts them up to higher heights of excel- 
 lence and clothes them with angels' garments. The 
 children see that her life is a prayer ; her going out 
 and coming in, a sacrament ; her work, her worship 
 
116 The Mission of Woman. 
 
 of faith and love; her home, her temple of truth 
 and piety. The motherliness of her heart, like a 
 beautiful picture, rises before her children in after- 
 life, and when everything else is forgotten, this one 
 dear vision follows them " like the Madonna in a 
 chapel where all the lights are out save the one that 
 burns before her shrine." If there is any thing in 
 the rush and push, and jarring noises of life ; in the 
 din of business, the temptations of the street, the 
 heat of the passions — which reminds us and leads 
 us to think of God — it is the Christian mother. She 
 is a revelation of the divine motherhood. She is an 
 incarnation of pity, tenderness, love, and long-suffer- 
 ing. By virtue of this peculiar fitness; she can be 
 very successful in helping and furthering the cause 
 of true and undefiled religion. Believe me, piety is 
 not so beautiful in the church, in the rich court, as 
 it is in woman. In her, it dwells in its fairest and 
 most pleasing aspect. What is a woman, destitute 
 of the virtues inspired by the Gospel? She is a 
 failure, a wreck, without the possession of those 
 graces whereon angels look down with emulation. 
 What sadder sight is there than to see a woman 
 growing with the stains and smutch of sin on her 
 white raiment; sowing the wind to reap the whirl- 
 wind ; suffering the misuse and decay of her affec- 
 tion ; trampling the fragrant flowers of her heart 
 into the dust; dashing to pieces her beautiful 
 rainbow of promise, and crushing her spiritual 
 self underneath the body's cruel hoofs. Can the 
 
The Mission of Woman. 117 
 
 sternest man withhold his tears? Can such ruin 
 and wreck fail to touch the hardest heart? 
 
 Woman was made to live religion, and manifest 
 its excellencies. She is sent to our world as an 
 evangel of religion. With her beautiful feet she 
 descends the mountain tops, pressing softly the 
 grass ; in her mouth a green leaf, and in her heart 
 sweet messages from the excellent glory. 
 
 " The very first 
 Of human life must spring from woman's breast ; 
 Your first small words are taught you from her lips ; 
 Your first tears quenched by her, and your last sighs 
 Too often breathed out in a woman's hearing." 
 
 Once more I call your attention to woman as the 
 reformer. The power of conscience, the profound- 
 ness of feeling, the strength of sympathy, and the 
 tenderness of affection in woman, qualify her for 
 the work of ameliorating and reforming the con- 
 dition of society. She is more hopeful, more faith- 
 ful, more courageous in a great enterprise than man. 
 She has a keener perception of justice and mercy. 
 She possesses a more sensitive and responsive heart, 
 giving loud echo to the cries of suffering and sin. She 
 is ever ready to help, to heal, and to hope. Give 
 woman authority ; and intemperance, the curse and 
 shame of drink, will be wiped out of existence in an 
 instant. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, there will 
 not be one den of drink. She will knock the monster 
 down and put her foot on his throat. She will plunge 
 
118 The Mission of Woman. 
 
 her dagger into the demon's heart, and bring happi- 
 ness, health, honor and freedom to a million homes. 
 Give woman power, and there shall be no more war. 
 To the shame of man, let it be said, that under the 
 reign of the light and spirit of Christ, war, the 
 evil of evils and curse of all curses, most horrible, 
 has not been exterminated. Oh ! the homes ruined, 
 the flower and beauty of the country trampled 
 under foot, the precious blood shed, the barbarities, 
 atrocities, inhuman cruelties perpetuated in this age 
 of enlightenment and Christianity. Fie on our pro- 
 fessions. Fie on our manhood. Fie on our churches. 
 Think you, woman would go to war or countenance 
 bloodshed ? Nay ! She will spread the sails of peace, 
 and adopt the platform of universal brotherhood, 
 The cause of temperance, of peace, of charity to 
 the poor, the sick, the fallen and the wayward, have 
 no better friend, suppoiter, inspirer — than woman. 
 The world has no brighter names than Florence 
 Nightingale, Miss Dix, Elizabeth Fry, Sarah Martin 
 and Joan of Arc, the maid of Domraimy, who under 
 the soldier's armor wore the purity, gentleness and 
 faith of a philanthrophist. " Half angelic, half 
 heroic," 
 
 " The whitest lily on the shield of France." 
 
 To day all great institutions of humanity, 
 hospitals, asylums, homes and associations for the 
 furtherance of peace on earth, good will to man, 
 draw their sustenance from woman's breast, With a 
 
The Mission of Woman. 119 
 
 heavenly pity, a sweet sympathy, patient kindness, 
 enduring faith and love, supreme in adversity, she 
 goes to battle, and with these unconquerable 
 weapons crowns her fair brow with never-withering 
 blossoms. 
 
 " Oh. fairest of creation, last and best. 
 Of all God's work, creature in whom excelled, 
 Whatever canto sight or thought be formed. 
 Holy. Divine, good, amiable or sweet." 
 
 What firmer foundation can the glorious edifice 
 of mankind, have? Their outstretched arms hold- 
 ing the crown over our heads. Their mind a casket 
 of noble ideas, great and glorious thoughts, spark- 
 ling like polished diamonds. Their deep heart a 
 box of alabaster, pouring fragrance and sweetness 
 into our lives. Their Christian and consecrated 
 womanhood : the strength, beauty, andg lory of our 
 civilization. Every noble virtue, every heavenly 
 grace, every great reform, every benevolent institu- 
 tion, every deathless idea, every honorable cause, 
 shall draw inspiration and long life from woman's 
 oceanic heart. She will be the friend of God, the 
 helper of man, the ameliorator of the world. The 
 bravest prophecies of her soul shall be fulfilled. 
 Her divinest ideal shall be realized. No cause that 
 hath the friendship, sympathy and love of woman, 
 shall fall to the ground. Behind every great cause, 
 stands woman pushing it on to triumph. 
 
THE UNPARDONABLE SIN 
 
THE UNPARDONABLE SIN 
 
 " Shall not be forgiven." 
 Matt, xii — 6. 
 
 Is there an unpardonable sin? What is it? 
 Why is it unpardonable? If you lend me your 
 attention I shall endeavor to answer these three 
 questions. 
 
 The idea contained in this verse has been differ- 
 ently interpreted by writers and preachers. The 
 most common view makes this sin to consist in 
 blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Every other 
 sin shall be forgiven ; all crime, wickedness, world- 
 liness, usurpation, tyranny, and infidelity shall be 
 forgiven. It has even been directly or indirectly 
 preached, that, if through all your life you have 
 been dishonest and mean, selfish and sensual, in 
 the last hour let a tear of repentance flow from 
 your eye, or a cry for help or pardon escape your 
 lips, and all shall be forgiven you. Let a man who 
 has lived a seventy or eighty-years' life of sin and 
 shame, of hypocrisy and deceit ; on his death-bed 
 pray to be forgiven ; and the few seconds of sorrow 
 for sin will atone for eighty years of unrighteous- 
 
124 The Unpardonable Sin. 
 
 ness and crime. On the other hand it has also been 
 taught that this one sin when committed, years and 
 years of repentance and prayer and faith shall not 
 wipe it away. You may shed tears till they begin 
 to flow in streams to the sea ; you may sit on dust 
 and ashes the rest of your life; you may fast and 
 convert your body to a torture chamber for your 
 soul ; you may storm the skies with your sighs — 
 but there is no hope ; it " shall not be forgiven unto 
 men." Such has been the interpretation of this 
 much disputed text. The preaching of this sin in 
 this light has everywhere filled men with fear and 
 with awe. Tremblingly they have sat to listen to 
 the grave and gloomy descriptions of this crime 
 from the Christian pulpit. The dreadful definitions 
 of the unpardonable sin have driven people to the 
 verge of despair and moral suicide. How many 
 have been thrown into a state of melancholy medi- 
 tation from the dread of falling into this pit ! It 
 has ever been a topic for vehement preaching. It 
 has turned the sacred desk to a smoking Sinai, in 
 whose presence the people grew pale. It made the 
 messengers of the " Prince of Peace" and gentle- 
 ness, harbingers of the " wrath to come." Their 
 preaching was like the thunder of the clouds, not 
 their silver lining ; like the lightning of the sky, 
 not its soft and tender blue ; the foaming roar of 
 the billows, not the soothing music of the waves; 
 the wild hurricane that marches with irresistible 
 sweep, not the gentle breeze that descends from the 
 
The Unpardonable Sin. 125 
 
 tall mountains. They preached as they believed, 
 and the nature of their themes created the austere 
 character of their ministry. 
 
 " It shall not be forgiven unto men." Ah ! how 
 could Jesus, the tender-hearted, the one altogether 
 lovely and full of compassion, infinitely kind and for- 
 giving, be the author of this declaration ? Could such 
 a sentence proceed out of the mouth of the Friend of 
 sinners, the great burden bearer, the large-hearted 
 philanthrophist and martyr, the mightiest and 
 sweetest inspirer of man ? Was it the same Jesus,who 
 forsook the ninety and nine, and wandered in the wil- 
 derness in quest of the one lost sheep, who healed all 
 manner of diseases, and dried the bitterest tears 
 from sorrow's eyelids, from whose garments' hem 
 blessing and beauty descended upon the multi- 
 tude, and who suspended between earth and sky, 
 with his brow bruised by thorns and his side 
 wounded by a spear and his heart broken by grief, 
 plead for the forgiveness of His murderers; — 
 who on a certain occasion opened his lips and ere 
 they were closed 'again, the awful words were 
 spoken? Undoubtedly, very heinous, appalling 
 and black, must this blasphemy against the Holy 
 Ghost be, to have wrung such words from the lips 
 of tenderness and love. 
 
 The twelfth chapter of Matthew's gospel describes 
 the miracle which Jesus by supernatural power 
 performed in the very presence of the Scribes and 
 Pharisees. It was a miracle of compassion and 
 
126 Ihe Unpardonable Sin. 
 
 generous sympathy. They brought to Him a sight- 
 less and speechless man. Poor creature ! he could 
 neither speak> nor see. Jesus out of kindness, 
 with the sincerest of motives, spoke the word of 
 might, applied the healing touch, and the miserable 
 and wretched man was made whole. Into his 
 opened eyes entered upon the wings of light, the 
 sun, the stars, the earth and ocean, the glory and 
 magnificence of the universe. The blind could 
 see, the dumb could speak. Now the Jews, accord- 
 ing to our narrative, were eye-witnesses, the priests 
 in their long robes, the self-righteous Pharisees, the 
 learned scribes, all saw in the clearest, most em- 
 phatic manner, the power of the son of man 
 to glorify God in the healing of the unfortunate 
 man ; but instead of bowing their faces in honest 
 acknowledgment of his supremacy and divinity, 
 instead of honoring and worshipping the power that 
 had so marvellously and unmistakably manifested 
 itself, they put their hands upon their eyes, seared 
 their consciences and declared in the face of the over- 
 whelming argument that Jesus was an imposter, a 
 false prophet, a demon, who had the forces of 
 Beelzebub, the prince of devils, at his service. They 
 said this, not because they believed it to be the 
 truth, but knowing well it was a lie, they uttered it, 
 as if it had been the truth about Jesus. For, did 
 they not know, that no human being could, with- 
 out power from God, perform such works. Did they 
 not know, that no devil could be the author of such 
 
The Unpardonable Sin. 127 
 
 an act of charity, kindness, sympathy and love ? 
 Did they not know, that only a supremely good be- 
 ing could have cured the sick man? Undoubtedly. 
 Yet these stiff-necked, hostile Pharisees, were deter- 
 mined not to believe, no matter how great the proof, 
 and to lie, no matter how evident the truth, and to 
 shut their eyes fast, no matter how splendid and 
 bright the light. Oh, how they hated Christ, the 
 righteous One, the benefactor of the common people, 
 whom they despised, and gathered up their skirts, 
 not to be defiled by their vulgar touch. How they 
 abhorred and reviled Jesus, the true light 
 that exposed their deeds of darkness and deceit. 
 How they grudged and gnashed their teeth against 
 Him, whose brave voice thundered in tones of doom 
 against their hypocrisy and cruelty to the orphan 
 and the outcast. So intense was this enmity that 
 they steeled their hearts against the rays of His 
 melting compassion, armed their souls with weapons 
 of vengeance against His tenderest appeals, and in 
 the bitterness and madness of their hate, they flung 
 aside all proof and- argument and evidence of 
 Christ's divinity, and blasphemed, knowing that it 
 was a blasphemy, a lie, that had no excuse, a false- 
 hood black as night. He, they said, is a bad man, 
 the great demon is in His heart, and moved by him 
 He does these works. He is not good, He is not 
 kind, He is not our friend, cried they in rage, believe 
 Him not, follow Him not. Depend on it, said the 
 Pharisees, He is not the Sun of God, but the son of 
 
 i 
 
128 The Unpardonable Sin. 
 
 a — devil. Alas, this was the sad and awful climax 
 of their shameless and dishonest rebellion against 
 evidence as clear as the sun at mid of day. And when 
 they persisted in their refusal to tell the truth, and 
 repeatedly told a lie, they plunged their souls into 
 the abyss of irredeemable disgrace, then they sold 
 themselves to the devil. Jesus Christ, says to these 
 Jews : " In your ignorance you may call me a Gal- 
 lilean,a Nazarene and a poor carpenter. Without 
 knowing, you may call me, imposter, liar, am- 
 bitious ; you may spit upon me and strike me in the 
 face and nail me to the tree and say all manner of 
 evil against me ; but all this shall be forgiven you. 
 When, however, knowing the truth, you wilfully be- 
 lieve in a lie, and call light, darkness, good, evil, and 
 God, devil, and you do this repeatedly, deliberately 
 and knowingly — then there is no hope for you. 
 
 " The deaf may hear the Saviour's voice, 
 The fettered tongue its chain may break ; 
 But the deaf of heart, the dumb by choice, 
 The laggard soul that will not wake, 
 The guilt that scorns to be forgiven, 
 These baffle even the spells of heaven." 
 
 Having said this much, it is no longer necessary 
 to define to you the unpardonable sin. You can see 
 for yourselves that it consists in wilfully, knowingly 
 and repeatedly resisting the truth, and believing in 
 a lie. It consists in sinning against your best 
 thoughts, your noblest impulses, and the "still , small " 
 but forceful and clear divine whisper in your soul. 
 
The Unpardonable Sin. 129 
 
 It consists in answering no, no, no, no, to every argu- 
 ment of truth, virtue, nobleness, saintliness and God. 
 It consists in putting off, and putting off, an impor- 
 tant duty, knowing it to be a duty. It consists in 
 indulging, and indulging in sin. knowing it to be a 
 sin. The unpardonableness is not in the sin, but in 
 the state of mind of the sinner, brought about by a 
 repetition of the same sin. In a certain sense no sin 
 is unpardonable; if you repent you will be forgiven. 
 Again, every sin may become unpardonable by 
 being cherished, indulged in, and hugged to the 
 very end. Let me illustrate this point — 
 
 Is theft an unpardonable sin ? No. Yet, if a man 
 knows stealing to be a sin, a disgrace, a crime and 
 a shame, but knowingly choses to steal, and steals 
 until stealing becomes a second nature to him, is it 
 not then unpardonable? Is slander an unpardon- 
 able sin ? No. But when a vulture fastens his teeth 
 to his neighbor's character, and out of envy and re- 
 venge tears it to pieces, ruins and disgraces a good 
 name, and persists in his malicious murder, knowing 
 that his victim is innocent, is it not then unpardon- 
 able? Is hypocrisy unpardonable? Will not God 
 forgive the hypocrite ? Certainly. But when a 
 person, for the purpose of gain, devilishly puts on 
 the garb of virtue and piety, plies a smooth tongue, 
 and walks with a grim, gloomy, and sanctimonious 
 face, who continues in this course, till hypocrisy ex- 
 tends to the core of his heart and becomes his meat 
 and drink, is it not then unpardonable ? And is there 
 
130 The Unpardonable Sin. 
 
 not an answer in this explanation, to why is it 
 unpardonable? 
 
 Human character at first, is tender and malleable 
 like the soft metals ; and you can put it in any shape 
 you please. Gradually it assumes a fixity, a perma- 
 nence, a hardness to such an extent, that to cast it 
 into a new fashion becomes impossible. Like the 
 tree growing out of the soil, character grows out of 
 our life and becomes inflexible in the course of time. 
 The process is gradual. " Vice," says an English 
 writer, "is first, pleasing, then it groweth easy, then 
 frequent, then habitual, then confirmed, then the 
 man is impenitent, then he is obstinate, then he re- 
 solves never to repent." Step by step sin becomes 
 natural to us, and one day, to our great horror, we 
 find ourselves bound hand and foot by the iron of 
 evil habits. If through carelessness, which is at 
 the bottom of all sin, you suffer these vices to grow 
 into monstrous proportions, then they will hold you 
 a prisoner, denying you your freedom, in spite of 
 all your prayers and tears. Oh, the tyranny and 
 despotism of sinful habits ! 
 
 At Habit at first is but a silken thread, 
 Pine as the light- winged gossamers that sway 
 In the warm sun-beams of a summer's day ; 
 A shallow streamlet rippling o'er its bed ; 
 A tiny sapling, ere its roots are spread ; 
 A yet unhardened thorn upon the spray ; 
 A lion's whelp that hath not scented prey ; 
 .V little smiling child obedient led. 
 
The Unpardonable Sin. 131 
 
 Beware ! that thread may bind thee as a chain ; 
 
 That streamlet gather to a fatal sea ; 
 
 That sapling spread into a gnarled tree ; 
 
 That thorn grown hard, may wound and give thee pain ; 
 
 That playful whelp his murderous fang reveal ; 
 
 That child, a giant, crush thee 'neath her heel." 
 
 Can you be forgiven without forsaking your sin ? 
 Can you forsake it after you have allowed it to feed 
 on your heart and grow into a bosom companion ? 
 Can you break a habit of thirty, forty, fifty years 
 standing? Take an habitual drunkard, to whose 
 palate the intoxicating drug is sweeter than the 
 cool, fresh water of the mountain spring ; on whose 
 cheeks burns the flush of drunkenness ; who, for 
 drink, gives his hard earnings, the sweat of his brow, 
 his health, honor, and soul, his home and children, 
 and the wife of his early love, whose womanly heart 
 he has converted to a huge wound. Can such a one 
 easily tear himself from the clutches of the monster 
 and repent? That young man, from the day of his 
 youth, began a career of sensuality, debauchery, and 
 ambition; now he is old and gray, under the sway 
 of his animal appetite. No advice reached his 
 heart; no voice of God or of man could move his 
 frame; wilfully he walked in this path and idolized 
 the pleasures of the flesh. Can he, thus joined to 
 his idols, begin a new life? My hearers, is it 
 likely that an old miser, who has had no other God 
 but his perishable monster of three heads, gold, sil- 
 ver and copper, who has ridden over his manhood 
 
132 The Unpardonable Sin, 
 
 and the commandments of God to get rich ; who has 
 all his life thought more of being a millionaire 
 than of being a man : whose intense greed has 
 elbowed out Christ from consideration, and made 
 him a lover of gold more than of God: I repeat, is it 
 likely that such a one, after years and years of 
 slavery to the passion for gain, will say to himself, 
 " I must be a different man for the rest of my life, 
 and practice generosity, and charity, and piety?" 
 Can he be forgiven unless he repents of his sin ; and 
 is it easy to repent of a sin that has lived with you 
 for so many years and growing all the time ? For 
 such a person to go back step by step, and with sin- 
 cere tears of repentance, wash out the stains of his 
 footprints through his long life of sin and shame, 
 is such a huge task, that the immense weight of it will 
 drag his enfeebled moral nature down, and down, and 
 down, with accelerated speed, until a deluge of 
 vices drown him forever. Unpardonable, because of 
 the impossibility to repent and tear your false gods 
 from your heart. 
 
 It is not because God is unwilling to pardon ; not 
 because the infinite love of Christ Jesus is not suffi- 
 cient ; not because the Divine heart is not large 
 enough — No, no ! — but because the sinner has grown 
 so to love his sins that he cannot part with them. 
 
 Oh, that I could sink this truth deep into your 
 hearts, my people ! Oh, that I could ring an alarm 
 bell in the ears of those who are sinning against 
 ihe light, duty and truth! Oh, that I could bring 
 
The Unpardonable Sin. 133 
 
 you this evening face to face with this naked truth I 
 Promise ine you will think of it, even after you have 
 left this place ! Promise me you will throw open 
 your soul for a divine searching! Promise God 
 you will follow His lead and not suffer sin to build 
 its nest in your heart. 
 
 Before you to-night is the path of virtue, holiness 
 and piety, bright with the splendid light of God's 
 shining, glorious with the immortal memory of 
 saints. In the name of all that is divine in you, 
 I urge you to enter into this path now. But if you 
 will not enter now, when will you — When? 
 
 " There is a light cloud near the moon, 
 'Tis passing now, will pass full soon, 
 If by the time its vapory sail, hath ceased 
 Her shaded orb to veil ; thine heart 
 Within thee be not changed, 
 Dark will thy doom be ; darker still 
 Thine immortality of ill." 
 
A LECTURE ON THE TIMES. 
 
A LECTURE ON THE TIMES. 
 
 SUNDAY EVENING, OCTOBER. 1884. 
 
 It was my privilege during the past summer to 
 travel upwards of 15,000 miles, going through dif- 
 ferent countries and coming in close contact with 
 various civilizations, at the same time enjoying the 
 opportunity of now and then taking a peep into the 
 numarous ecclesiastical and domestic institutions of 
 Europe and the Orient. 
 
 We are often told that this life is a prophecy, and 
 that man's present clearly mirrors forth his future. 
 Is not the same true of collective humanity ? The 
 actual condition of mankind to-day, is the promise 
 of what it shall be to-morrow. You do not think it 
 a very hard matter to foretell the future of a 
 young person, from the mental and moral signs he 
 manifests in his youth. For what is youth but the 
 superstructure of infancy; and what is manhood 
 but the flower and fruit of youth ; and what is old 
 age but manhood at its maximum height, and 
 blossomed all over with years ? Thus it is with 
 nations, thus with entire communities, and precisely 
 thus with the great world. To-morrow sleeps on the 
 
138 A Lecture on the Times. 
 
 bosom of to-day. The " to come " is following hard 
 on the heels of the everlasting "now." As the far- 
 mer, according to a certain science well understood 
 among farmers, can, with precision, predict the com- 
 ing harvest or famine ; and the statesman, from 
 signs in the political world, the nature of the com- 
 ing dynasty; and as the father, looking in the 
 face of his offspring, beholds behind it the full- 
 grown man ; in like manner we can take our stand 
 upon the walls of the world, and with a little study 
 and a little insight and farsight, read the signs of 
 the times and unfold the blessings or curses they 
 have in store for us. Our task this evening, how- 
 ever, is with the present ; and I make haste to ask 
 and answer, if I can, this one question — " What 
 are the phases of our times ? " 
 
 One thing which we see plainly everywhere, on 
 either side of the Atlantic, is the rapid diffusion 
 and extension of irreligion. To the traveller it 
 often seems as if the w r orld had no God and hu- 
 manity no religion. Especially in large and popu- 
 lous towns this is the case — God banished from the 
 homes of the people, from the schools, the counting- 
 house, and their daily lives. The w r ord of God is 
 not studied ; the churches are cold and empty ; the 
 clergy have lost their hold on the masses, and the 
 masses have lost all reverence for religion. This 
 irreverence, one of the sad signs of our day, is 
 coarse and offensive. It is disgusting to a traveller 
 to be brought in contact with this vulgar, low-bred 
 
A Lecture on the Times. 139 
 
 profanity of the masses. How disrespectfully this 
 age speaks of the holy and reverend themes of re- 
 ligion ! How it ridicules and derides the solemn 
 and the sacred in life ! It looks upon piety as the 
 offspring of fraud and illusion ; upon worship in 
 the church or in the secret closet as a " contempti- 
 ble sentimentality ;" God is a reality, but only for 
 the coward and fanatic ; Jesus is a priest-invented 
 myth ; all religion is a stupendous fabrication ! 
 But worse than this is the practical godlessness of 
 the age. It is bad to be a speculative atheist ; it is 
 worse to be a practical infidel. Theoretical skepti- 
 cism is injurious, but three times worse is the down- 
 right, practical unbelief of the day — the unbelief 
 proven by the worldly, low and sensual tenor of 
 our civilization. This prevailing irreligion of our 
 era is a very strange phenomena. Why should 
 the multitudes of earth prefer the gospel of atheism 
 to that of immortality and joy in the H. G.? But 
 the sad fact remains — the irreverence and irreligious 
 tendency of modern thought. 
 
 Again, as a natural outcome of this, another 
 phase of the era we live in, is the intensity of the 
 secular spirit. Given a creed that scorns 
 and scoffs at even pure religion; that satir- 
 izes and jeers at the solemn verities of life, 
 and you have a secularism which renders itself con- 
 spicuous in all the affairs of man. In England and 
 in America this wordly reign is in the ascend- 
 ency. There seems to be one supreme wish in the 
 
140 A Lecture on the Times. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon breast of to-day. " Money." The one 
 cry which is heard above every other noise, is the 
 loud and long cry for " mammon." In all the earth 
 there is no other idol, so gorgeously robed, and so 
 highly exalted and so sincerly adored and cherished 
 as this " calf of gold." One thing we do more than 
 the Greeks, who worshipped " Beauty," and more 
 than the Romans who adored " Valor," we " bow the 
 head to copper, silver and gold, a monster of three 
 heads" and call them our gods. Think not that 
 I am opposed to riches, think not that I object 
 to opulence and wealth. Nay! I am against this 
 all-absorbing lust and greed and worship of wealth, 
 which it pains me to say, is the dominating spirit 
 of our age. You see men pushing, toiling, driving, 
 employing every atom of life, mind and limb to 
 get money ; money first of all, money before man- 
 hood, money before a Christian character, money 
 at the sacrifice of honesty and integrity, money by 
 turning God out of the heart, and money by the 
 sale of their souls. I condemn this greedy avarice 
 of our times. I denounce this lust which hungers 
 and barks after more. I despise this devilish 
 secularism, which elbows Christ out of the human 
 path, drowns all the whisperings of God's spirit in 
 the soul, and makes terrible havoc of the indi- 
 vidual, the family the community and the church. 
 But cursed and despicable as it is, alas ! this is an- 
 other phase of our times. 
 
 Once more. A third threatening characteristic 
 
A Lecture on the Times. 141 
 
 of our age, is the increase of crime. The moral 
 boundaries seem to have been swept away. The 
 spiritual standards taken down and the great land 
 marks of virtue and justice and fidelity thoroughly 
 washed away by the flooding torrents of human 
 sinfulness. Just see, how many horrible deeds, 
 how many bloody and ghastly crimes are com- 
 mitted from sunrise to sunset? How many 
 peaceful homes are ruined ; how many innocent 
 characters covered with shame; how many human 
 spiders catching and destroying the youth of the 
 land? Faithlessness in the marriage relation, 
 bringing in its train a host of curses. Infidelity at 
 home, maring and disfiguring human society at 
 every point. Faithlessness in business, commercial 
 dishonor, sending a panic through the country. A 
 certain bank explodes, then a line of banks give 
 way. The great chariot of human energy trembles 
 and comes to a standstill. The poor lose the little 
 they have, and begin to distrust and look upon 
 each other with a suspicious eye. All this by 
 reason of faithlessness behind the counter. All this 
 the result of the feverish excitement and desire to 
 be rich, and rich right away, and by means fair or 
 foul. 
 
 A bank like that on Wall Street failing, is a dis- 
 grace to our country and a reproach to our churches. 
 The case of the Cincinnati clergyman, Archbishop 
 Purcell, who received deposits from the poor mem- 
 bers of his parish, and then failed totally, leaving 
 
142 A Lecture on the Times. 
 
 the poor, poorer, is an everlasting shame, an unpar- 
 donable crime against faith and honesty. It is such 
 a deep blackness, on the churchman's character, that 
 all the holy waters of the Catholic Church cannot 
 wipe it out. In the presence of all this wrong, un- 
 righteousness, evil, crime and curse, one is apt to 
 ask, where are the Christian churches? Where the 
 thousands of ordained ministers? Where is the 
 power of the Cross? Where is the transforming in- 
 fluence of our Gospels ? Ah, but ours is the blame. 
 We have slept in indifference, and our lack of faith 
 and motive has suffered transgression to grow to 
 such monstrous proportions. To-day it threatens to 
 demolish our pulpits and overthrow our Bibles. 
 There is dire need for us Christians to walk the 
 world with downcast face and the sense of shame. 
 
 But to Almighty God be thanks, there are also 
 glorious and noble signs manifested by our age, 
 and let us now speak of them. I pray you, turn 
 away your eyes from the sad spectacle of the short- 
 comings of our times, and look upon the bright 
 promises, the brave prophecies and the achieved 
 triumphs of the golden day wherein we live. Mark 
 the silent, steady, sure growth of pure and undefiled 
 religion. You may think that this statement is in 
 conflict with my former assertion concerning the 
 widespread of irreligion. But it is one of the clear- 
 est and most indisputable facts, that undefiled reli- 
 gion, pure and practical, has made more progress 
 in Europe, than in any other period in the world's 
 
A Sermon on the Times. J 43 
 
 history. Do you marvel at this statement ? What 
 if men tell you that Christianity is waning, that 
 Germany and France have dropped God from their 
 institutions ; what if they tell you that its days are 
 numbered, and is rapidly losing its hold. It is a 
 lie, believe it not. That sun has never risen on a 
 fairer prospect of the Christian faith than the one 
 it has to-day. The vivality which enabled it to 
 make glorions strides 1800 years ago, is still fresh. 
 The old fires are brightly burning and the mighty 
 influence moulding and carving the destinies of 
 man. Listen ! I am one of those who believe that 
 the world is growing better, improving every day ; 
 I am one of those who believe that human nature 
 on the wings of Christ is rising and brightening. 
 I carry in me, this profound persuasion, that " God's 
 truth" is forever gaining over error, and God's jus- 
 tice over iniquity, and God's love over hate, and 
 God's religion over a blasphemous infidelity. Ah! I 
 have this prophetic trust. You here may betray your 
 Lord, and you there may sell him for silver pieces 
 like Judas; you may deny him like Peter, and turn 
 traitor and coward, but what of it? The kingdom 
 of righteousness in a chariot of fire, drawn by steeds 
 of flame, with Jesus Emanuel as its standard bear- 
 er, smoothly and gloriously glides on, with the 
 Almighty God behind it, and pushing it on. We 
 may all, — catching the spirit of the age, tear our 
 churches down, burn our Bibles to ashes, cast before 
 the winds our creeds, prove false; but what of that, 
 
 j 
 
144 A Sermon on the Times. 
 
 as the Lord God Omnipotent liveth, " not one grain 
 of love, or of justice, or of goodness, or of nobleness 
 shall perish.", Great God, not one ! 
 
 Listen again, ever since Christ died there has 
 been a universal growth of the Christly in the 
 world. I am confident there is a thousand times 
 more of Jesus to-day than when He hung on the 
 cross, outside the city gates, with a spear in His 
 heart, a thorn crown on His brow T , nails in His 
 hands and feet and a deep sigh on His lips, " why 
 hast Thou forsaken Me " To-day there are more 
 successors to the Great Physician, more disciples of 
 the Good Samaritan, more Marys, more consecrated 
 Pauls, more brave soldiers than when Jesus entered 
 Jerusalem amid the shouts of hosanna and the 
 cheers of His friends. In this present era, Christ 
 has more thrones, more influence, more weight than 
 when He sat on the seashore with a band of Galli- 
 lean fishermen about Him. Is it true that Christ is 
 losing His hold on the world? Let us see. 1800 
 years ago, He was persecuted, tortured and nailed to 
 the cross. To-day His ignominious cross is trans- 
 figured to a symbol of glory and life and the slaugh- 
 tered Christ is robed with majesty and divinity. Is 
 this the sign that Christ has failed in His mission ? 
 One hundred years after Christ, Christianity was but 
 a seed in the ground, with all the powers of earth 
 determined to crush its growth. This day, like a 
 mighty Amazonian river of light, it girdles this 
 globe of lands. Like the great and potent tide of 
 
A Sermon on the Times. 145 
 
 the Atlantic it washes every shore. Whose are the 
 schools, colleges, homes, hospitals, asylums and 
 benevolent organizations of the world? Whose the 
 power and wealth that rule the earth? Whose the 
 fleets that whiten every sea? Are these the proofs 
 of the decadence of Christianity ? 
 
 I am confident that religion will come out victo- 
 rious. The existing unbelief is only a temporary 
 phase of our times. It has not come to stay. Men 
 can be atheists " in their studies, with their sleepers 
 on/' shut from the world ; but in the great realities 
 and verities of life, who can be one ? In the sub- 
 lime hour of philanthropy, when you lay down 
 your life for an offering to humanity in the " holy 
 sanctities " of home ; in glorified moments when our 
 ambition stoops to bind up a broken heart and our 
 selfishness condescends to dry a tear from Sorrow's 
 eyelids, — can you be an atheist ? In the heroic hour 
 when we knock down and put a firm foot on Pas- 
 sion's neck; in the " kingliness of conscience/' when 
 we take our stand .with the minority, ready to fall 
 under a " monument of darts ,; rather than deny 
 the truth — tell me, in such times can one deny God ? 
 Verily, verily, Conscience, Love, Honor, Devotion 
 —these are never doubters. To say that Truth and 
 Courage, Love and Justice are infidels, is a lie. Be- 
 lieve me, the days of this infidel gospel are num- 
 bered. Eternal morning shall follow the midnight 
 of doubt. Look ! already the mountain-tops are 
 red with its rising beams ! 
 
146 A Sermon on the Times. 
 
 Once again, I invite your attention to another of 
 the most pleasing phases of our times. It is the 
 generous toleration and liberality and breadth of 
 opinion in matters of religion. It is an eminently 
 Christian duty to be charitable and broad in our 
 views, Bigotry, narrow-mindedness, exclusiveness, 
 are not in accord with the universality of the Gospel. 
 Years ago men thought that their church was the 
 true church, and that there was no truth elsewhere. 
 Every other sect was of the devil, every other creed 
 heretical, every other brother not a member of the 
 true church, was lost. This was the spirit of the 
 mediaeval times — the spirit of the days ' of 
 persecution, faggot, thumbscrew, iron and dun- 
 geon. This sectarian spirit, which still lingers 
 in some quarters is a relic of barbarism and bigotry. 
 I abhor it. I detest it. I shall vow to do my ut- 
 most to pull down these partition walls, and let men 
 shake hands and exchange words of fellowship. 
 I would like to minister in a church where all the 
 denominations could feel at home and worship with 
 freedom, and sit with me at the Lord's table and for- 
 get all the non-essential differences of opinion. I 
 make it my business when I am preaching to make 
 people forget that they are Presbyterians, or Baptists, 
 or Methodists, but remember that they are Christians. 
 I say to all, let there be no strife, for we be brethren, 
 members of one another. I aim to persuade my 
 hearers that Cristianity is not simply a creed, not 
 an organization, not a collection of isms. Christi- 
 
A Sermon on the Times. 147 
 
 anity is the Spirit of Christ living in our lives. 
 Once, when one differed from another in belief, the 
 strong burned the weak. Now, no man is led to the 
 stake because of his views. Perfect freedom of faith, 
 of private judgment and a diffusion of Christian char- 
 ity mark the spirit of our day in comparison with the 
 past. Of course the Golden Age has not yet come. 
 Still, here and there, we hear discordant notes. But 
 these seekers of discord grow fewer every year. Our 
 age is casting aside small ideas, is separating the in- 
 cidental from the essential and waking up a brother- 
 hood that has for its central figure and idea, one 
 Christ, and for its temple, — righteousness. Out of 
 the grave men will not rise, Catholic or Protestants, 
 Calvinists or Wesleyans. Nay, but as Christians and 
 children of the same Father. There is only one 
 heaven, only one paradise. Let sectarian ministers 
 quarrel about differences of vestment, or baptism, 
 and widen the chasm. Let narrow and bigoted 
 Christians buiid greater walls of partition. Let 
 little minds and little hearts and mean souls, cast 
 out the larger hearts and greater souls. The doom 
 of sectarian bigotry is at hand. Its days are num- 
 bered. The tide of Christian charity is rising, and 
 will soon sweep away all the barriers, and create 
 one vast, boundless sea, for the great ship of hu- 
 manity with its precious load of souls, to sail safely 
 to the haven of rest. 
 
 Shall we have no part in this stupendous victory 
 of right over wrong, of religion, over irreligion, of 
 
148 A Sermon on the Times. 
 
 goodness, over meanness, of charity, over bigotry, of 
 freedom of conscience, over the tyranny and despot- 
 ism of faith ? > Can we not bravely and hopefully 
 throw all the weight of our influence, example, 
 prayers and life on the side of Christ, who is the. 
 representative of " whatsoever things are true, what- 
 soever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, 
 whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are 
 lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ?" Is 
 there no heart that will fight to the very end, to 
 maintain the purity of love? No conscience that 
 will protect justice against all attacks? No mind 
 that will adhere to the truth of God in the midst of 
 doubt and denial ? No soul that will make its 
 bosom bare to defend our holy faith at any cost? 
 Who are the valiant among you? Who of great 
 faith in this large assembly ? Who of strong will and 
 invincible determination and moral courage? — let 
 them come forth and join the brave band headed by 
 the martyr Christ, and armed with love, truth, kind- 
 ness and faith, — they shall win the world from 
 unbelief, secularism and sin, to holiness, goodness, 
 and God. 
 
 Be of good cheer, my hearers, the tree of Christi- 
 anity is growing fast. Its great roots are deeply set 
 in the human soil. Its towering and ever fruitful 
 branches are reaching up to Heaven, and not one 
 leaf thereof shall fall to the ground. In the great bat- 
 tle of truth against error, " each one of us is a soldier 
 placed in his own spot by the Commander-in-chief. 
 
A Sermon on the Times. 149 
 
 We know nothing of the plan of the whole cam- 
 paign. That is not submitted to us ; that is arranged 
 by the Supreme Power. It is for us to stand where 
 we are, shoulder to shoulder, with this man to the 
 right and with that man to the left, never flinching, 
 doing our part, peering through the smoke of bat- 
 tle, taking our share of the buffets and of the 
 wounds, uncomplainingly until our particular fight 
 is done." And the assurance that God will win, and 
 truth will triumph, and virtue will reign, shall 
 nerve our souls and thrill our hearts. On to the 
 fight ; God is the banner bearer, and it will never 
 touch the ground. 
 
IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 
 
PRAYER BEFORE THE SERMON. 
 
 Almighty God, our Father in Heaven ! We come 
 into Thy presence this evening to offer our evening 
 sacrifice and psalm of praise and gratitude. Once 
 again, we have gathered in this place to dwell upon 
 the theme of Thy love and goodness towards us. 
 This is the house of prayer, of inspiration and of 
 communion with Thine Infinite Spirit. This is the 
 day of gladness and rejoicing, of resurrection and 
 ascension. In Thy Word is the power to make our 
 hearts glad, to raise us from slumber and sin, and 
 to lift us to the heights, w T here there is peace, joy, 
 light and life. 
 
 We thank Thee, our Father, for Thy Gospel. 
 It is full of consolation, of wisdom, of instruction, 
 and of inspiration/ It moves and touches the main- 
 springs of our souls. It stirs the depths of our 
 hearts. It can transfigure and transform our 
 nature. It makes us new creatures in Christ Jesus. 
 
 We thank Thee for Thy son, Jesus Christ, the life 
 of the world, the light of men. Thou didst send 
 Him to this world to live for us and die in our 
 stead on the cross. We thank Thee for the heroism 
 of His soul, the purity of His heart, the benevolence 
 
156 Immortality of the Soul. 
 
 of His life, and the sweetness and charm of His 
 example. He is our righteousness, our hope of 
 immortality, our anchor in the period of peril, and 
 the rock underneath us in the day of danger. His 
 riven side shelters our guilty souls. His pierced 
 hand shields our lives from Satan's darts. His 
 broken and wounded heart is our home. For such 
 a Christ, we render unto Thee our deepest gratitude. 
 Write His name upon our hearts. Breathe His 
 spirit into our lives. Let Jesus Christ be our argu- 
 ment against doubt, our armor for the battle, and 
 our comforter against the sorrows and disappoint- 
 ments of life. 
 
 Wilt thou put Thy hand upon our heads and 
 bless us all in large measures. Wherein we are 
 weak, make us strong; wherein we are timid and 
 fearless, grant unto us moral courage and gallantry 
 of spirit; wherein we are cold, careless and worldly, 
 kindle within us the flame of love, devotion and 
 sacrifice. 
 
 Oh ! thou compassionate One, lift up the veil of 
 thy face that we may catch a glimpse of thy beauty, 
 glory and goodness. Draw us up to thy self and feed 
 us from the unsearchable depths of thy kindness. May 
 we realize, that thou art a just God, that thou hatest 
 sin, that thou wilt punish the violation of thy holy 
 law, written upon every fibre of our souls. May we 
 realize that sin is an abomination in thy sight, a 
 cursed thing. Inspire us with the love of holiness.. 
 Show unto us the beauty of holiness. Win our affec 
 
Immortality of the Soul. 157 
 
 tions to everything that is Christly and well pleasing 
 in thy sight. 
 
 Be with us at this hour. Fill this house with thy 
 goodness and forgiveness. Give large replies to our 
 supplications at thy throne. 
 
 Bless and help the young to begin early in the 
 Christian life. Defend them, guide and guard 
 them, and give them the victory over the world. 
 Let their hearts be consecrated to thy service. 
 
 Remember in tenderness, the little ones in this 
 flock, lift them up in thine arms of care and sympa- 
 thy. Lead them, gentle Jesus, and when they are 
 weary, carry them in thy bosom of unfailing 
 affection. 
 
 Shall we not pray for all the sick, the afflicted, 
 
 the mourning? Send unto them thine angel, to 
 
 lift them up in His arms and wipe the tear from 
 
 their eyes. Put a new song upon their lips, and a 
 
 . greater, braver hope in their souls. 
 
 Bless the strangers who have come to worship 
 with us. Thou hast brought them hither. "Wel- 
 come them to thy fatherly heart and make them 
 feel at home with God, in thy sanctuary. 
 
 Hear us, thou Holy Father, pardon our sins and 
 shortcomings, and fill us brimful with thy Self. 
 Through Jesus our Lord we pray. — Amen. 
 
IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 
 
 " If a man die. shall he live again ?" 
 Job xiv, 
 
 I hasten to discuss the theme of the soul's im- 
 mortality. This is one of the practical questions, 
 for it is ever active in human thought. There is in 
 man the inborn thirst and longing to know some- 
 thing definite of the future life. We struggle to 
 catch a glimpse of the invisible world, far, far away. 
 On either hand is an eternity ; the mysterious past 
 and the unexplored future. Standing between these 
 two cold, grim and voiceless peaks, we strive to look 
 beyond the heights.- 
 
 " Between two worlds life glitters like a star 
 'Twixt night and morn npon the horizon's verge, 
 How little do we know that which we are ; 
 How less what we may be. 
 
 In this earnest and deep desire to know the here- 
 after, our hearts are always repeating the words of 
 Job : " If a man die, shall he live again ? " 
 
 Death is the great inevitable. Thousands to 
 thousands added are dying every day. Something 
 
 K 
 
160 Immortality of the Soul 
 
 in the dark draws their foreheads earthward, and 
 they die. Ah ! we shall all die. There is a day- 
 fast approaching, in the which, we too, shall bid 
 farewell to this earth, farewell to our loved ones, 
 farewell to all our hopes, aspirations and dreams, and 
 descend into the gloom of the tomb — cheerless, ray- 
 less and silent. But when we are dead, shall we 
 live again ? When gathering darkness has shut us 
 in the chambers of death, shall there be a resurrec- 
 tion morn, warming into new life our sacred dust? 
 When night, midnight, has descended upon our 
 noon, shall there be angels, in raiment white, wait- 
 ing on the golden shores, and beckoning us to 
 mount on their wings and fly away and be at rest ? 
 When these eyes have grown dim, these lips locked 
 in death, and this palpitating heart is still — shall 
 our immortality begin ? Tell me ; when this earth 
 fades away, and grows fainter and fainter in the dis- 
 tance, and the last pulse beats — will Heaven's fair 
 landscape, brighter than the sun, burst upon our 
 vision? The mother, with sleepless patience, sits 
 beside the bed of her dying son. He is all she had 
 in this world, her support, joy and treasure ; she 
 sees his face growing pale, his eyes gazing into a 
 vacuum, and the little flickering flame sinking into 
 eternal rest. Bending over her dying son, her heart 
 speaks : " tell me, my child, ' if a man die, shall he 
 live again?'" 
 
 Are we not all, gentlemen and ladies, profoundly 
 interested in this discussion ? We hold the breath 
 
Immortality of the Soul, 161 
 
 of our breasts to gather all the whispers that contain 
 a revelation of the future. We fix an ardent gaze 
 upon the heavens for a sign, a token, a prophecy 
 of immortality. But we are told that this deep 
 thirst of the soul cannot be satisfied. In vain we 
 pray and search for light. You lift your voice and 
 weep bitter tears, when a particle of your soul is 
 torn from you and cast into the grave, but there is 
 no one to transfigure those tear-drops into tele- 
 scopes, revealing the exceeding joy into which the 
 departed has entered. You look into the grave, but 
 there seems to be no door that opens into the eternal 
 world of life. In the night of death, you raise your 
 reddened eyes heavenward, but no star greets your 
 vission ; no soft tread of angels' feet, bringing the 
 tidings of immortality. Annihilation is the goal 
 of humanity. Eternal slumber under the sod, the 
 destinj 7 of the race. Death is a plunge into the 
 abyss of oblivion. To die is to cease to be. Such 
 is the gospel of atheism, throwing a dark shadow 
 across the tenderest heart, blowing out the taper 
 of the soul, and trampling in the dust the sweet 
 flower of eternal hope. No ! XO ! we cannot love 
 death ; we long for life. 
 
 " 'Tis life, whereof our newer are scant, 
 Oh ! life, not death for which we pant, 
 More life and fuller that I want." 
 
 It is in the structure of our souls to believe in 
 immortality. Instinctively we widen the horizon 
 
162 Immortality of the Soul. 
 
 of our sight, so as to sweep in, God and immortality. 
 All the works of creation, we resolve into a universal 
 proof of eternal life. In the green blade of grass, 
 holding the jeweled dew-drop in its cup ; in the un- 
 folding flower springing towards the sunshine ; in 
 the leaves of the rocks ; in the fossils and shells of the 
 sea; the stars and spheres of the sky — everywhere, 
 we read in large letters the promise and prophecy 
 of man's glorious to-come. Our desire for im- 
 mortality is omnipotent ; it overcomes every objec- 
 tion, answers every argument and never doubts. 
 
 If you kindly follow me with your attention, I 
 will repeat a few of my arguments for a personal be- 
 lief in immortality. I do not say, these arguments 
 are conclusive, or that they will carry conviction to 
 every heart, but they may help strengthen and de- 
 velope the existing faith in the deathlessness of the 
 individual soul. It is the immortality of man, not 
 of mankind, which I seek to prove. There are men, 
 who believe that humanity is immortal, though the 
 individual shall perish. I believe in the immor- 
 tality of the individual. 
 
 Let us begin with the historical argument. 
 Almost all the principal and leading thinkers 
 of the world, have given their vote for immor- 
 tality. From the earliest dawn of life, this faith 
 had a place in the human heart. At every stage 
 of man's history, if some one could poll the world 
 and record the a ayes" and " nays," nine hundred 
 and ninety-nine out of every thousand would give 
 
Immortality of the Soul. 163 
 
 their vote for immortality. To a certain extent, 
 this proves the universality of the belief. To say 
 the least, it is human to believe in the doctrine 
 of immortality. The philosopher and saint Soc- 
 rates, thousands of years ago, when cast into a 
 dungeon, spent the twenty-nine days of his im- 
 prisonment in discoursing to his disciples on the 
 excellencies of truth. On the last day, the thirtieth^ 
 he spoke to them on the immortality of the soul. 
 Holding in his hand the chalice of death and 
 pressing it to his lips, he looked in the face of death 
 and decay, and in that Christless age exclaimed : — 
 "I shall soon be in the company of the good." 
 Plato, with his intellectual empire, thought it not 
 unreasonable to believe in the same, and cherish 
 this divine hope. " What we call the soul lives/' 
 wrote this immortal mind. Plutarch, Seneca, the 
 Emperor Antoninus and the Orator Cicero, utter in 
 unambiguous terms, their firm faith in a future 
 existence. In his treatise on " Old Age," Cicero 
 has written these words — "Oh! for the delightful 
 morning when I shall be in the celestial assembly 
 of the Gods." Come nearer to our day, and a 
 mighty number of master-minds will stand forth 
 and give their testimony in the affirmative. Bacon 
 and Franklin, Emerson and Spinosa, Emanuel Kant 
 and Stuart Mill, and a host of others, not members 
 of evangelical Christianity, yet believers in immor- 
 tality. The noblest and truest of mankind in every 
 
164 Immortality of the Soul. 
 
 age and clime, as well as the lowest and meanest, — 
 the nakedness of the most barbaric included, love 
 and cherish .this dear belief. 
 
 '- Whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, 
 This longing after immortality ? 
 Or whence this secret dread and inward horror, 
 Of falling into nought ? why shrinks the soul 
 Back on herself, and startles at destruction ? 
 'Tis the divinity that stirs within us ; 
 'Tis heaven itself that points out an hereafter. 
 And intimates eternity to man." 
 
 My second argument is the testimony of nature. 
 Just at present, we are in mid-winter. The law of 
 decay and destruction is forcibly at work. The 
 ground underneath us is cold and fruitless; the 
 sky is melancholy and gray ; the trees are dry and 
 naked, their bare, frozen branches rattle drearily in 
 the air; the lovely flowers have withered and faded 
 away ; life, vigorous, handsome life, seems to have 
 fled forever from nature's bosom. But we know that 
 there is a warm spring-time coming, when life shall 
 return to nature's veins and revive the sleeping 
 woods with the invigorating breath of Summer. 
 Death and life, decay and resurrection are natural 
 phenomena, and are they without any significance? 
 If there is a power in matter to raise rich and 
 golden corn out of the rotten seed in the dust, and 
 preserve a million germs under the cold Winter snow, 
 and translate the refuse and black soil of the fields 
 into lilies and roses, and violets, and daisies, and to 
 
Immortality of the Soul. 165 
 
 re-clothe the icy, frozen, dead branches with new 
 green blossom and fruit at each returning harvest, 
 if there is such power in nature, ever at work, is it 
 unreasonable to believe that by some such method, 
 by a similar law in the realm of spirit, when this 
 earthly tabernacle is dissolved, and these walls of 
 flesh have succumbed, we shall have a "building of 
 God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the 
 heavens." Can it be deemed unscientific, unphilos- 
 ophical to argue, that as in the case of natural life, 
 so in that of spiritual life, a resurrection to a new 
 creation will take place in the hour of death? To 
 die is to rise. Death does not not mean going down, 
 descending into hades, but rising up, soaring to 
 loftier realms and living in new fashion. Even as 
 Summer is born on the bosom of Winter, and beau- 
 tiful life in the arms of decay, so shall immortality 
 spring up out of our mortality, and we shall be born 
 out of the perishable body into the eternal spirit. 
 I do not say these are mathematical demonstations, 
 leaving no room for doubt, I only ask if such rea- 
 soning is contrary to physical law and the phenom- 
 ena of natural life ? 
 
 Let us rise a step higher, and we shall 
 see that the faith in immortality, belonging 
 to the structure of our soul, is the indis- 
 pensible inspiration of life. Tear this belief 
 from the human bosom, and what can fill the void 
 or bridge the chasm? Let us for a moment force 
 ourselves to believe that life is a dream, immortality 
 
1G6 Immortality of the Soul. 
 
 a lie, and that we are mere bubbles floating aim- 
 lessly on the air of existence, soon to burst into 
 nothingness ; make yourself to believe that starless 
 night is before you, wherein you shall perish utterly; 
 and that your life is not more than the grass of 
 the field or the creeping insects of land and sea ! 
 Believe in this creed of annihilation with all your 
 heart. Believe in it as you believe in the certainty 
 of your birth, and what inspiration is left to make 
 our lives heroic, noble and divine ? It takes great 
 ideas, great thoughts, great aims and great beliefs 
 to inspire man. Immortality, eternal duration in 
 a larger, better, holier world, and with nobler 
 powers, thrills the heart of man with the best 
 of everything. Annihilation is repulsive, chilling^ 
 — it unnerves us and puts out the celestial fire of 
 our sou] s. If I am to perish to-morrow and be like 
 the unconscious dust under my feet, where, then, is 
 the motive to love? Why clasp my fair blossoms to 
 my heart and fasten, one by one, my purest affec- 
 tions on them, when it is only for a brief period, 
 and then lover and loved shall sink into endless 
 sleep and be trodden under the feet of future gene- 
 rations? Love, the sweetest flower of the heart, 
 loses its divineness and charm when it becomes 
 cognizant of its own mortality. But love will not 
 believe in annihilation ; it cannot. Argue with it 
 philosophize with it, threaten it — it is all in vain. 
 Love will hope, will aspire, will believe. Immor- 
 tality is its food and drink. Then take the other 
 
Immortality of the Soul 16/ 
 
 offsprings of the human mind, conscience, heart, 
 and soul. Is not immortality the inspiration of all 
 truth, justice, heroism, self-denial and piety ? Why 
 cultivate these virtues in the garden of my life if 
 to-morrow a cruel, cold blast shall sweep them all 
 out of existence, tear them by the root and scatter 
 them to the four winds ? Can I love justice, knowing 
 that, imperfect as it is in this life, it will never have a 
 chance to reach perfection ? Can I love moral heroism 
 if there is no heaven, where it shall be crowned on 
 the forehead with the ''well done''" of the Master? 
 Can I have the heart to fight for the truth, knowing 
 that there is no Almighty God standing behind 
 it and pushing it on'? Can I fall in love with 
 goodness and philanthrophy, and purity if they 
 cannot make me God-like, and prepare me for His 
 enjoyment forever? Tell me, are these sublime and 
 supreme attributes of man perishable as the worm 
 of the dust and transient as the 
 
 ' : Snow-fall in the river : 
 A moment white, then melts forever.'* 
 
 Is there no future for their greater growth and 
 enlargement? No higher sphere where these shall 
 ripen and glow with perfect beauty on our fore- 
 heads ? Then, something within me breaks, my soar- 
 ing spirit, aspiring energies, fall to the ground, and 
 the stars that light me to the tomb, sink in a sea of 
 despondency. I cannot help it, but I lose all inspi- 
 ration. "What follv to try and vindicate the truth ; 
 
168 Immortality of the Soul. 
 
 set the wrong, right; see that justice is done to all ; 
 care for the coming mankind, and suffer for the 
 welfare of others; when all is a girl's dream, a deceit- 
 ful show, a chaos, rudderless, and lawless ! Let me 
 look after my own body, feed my animal appetite, 
 spurn my passions, and trample upon everybody 
 else, for my own happiness. Is not the body all I 
 have? Is not this the only world? Then " eat, 
 drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we are not." Such 
 will be the inevitable influence of a creed that says: 
 "This is a world without a God, a body without a soul, 
 a here without a hereafter." Believe in this with all 
 your might, and it will bear fruit after its kind" 
 
 On the other hand, if I am to outlive the ages, 
 and dwell in the presence of light forever, then is 
 life full of meaning and inspiration, too. I love the 
 good, the true, the divine, for the eternal years of 
 God are theirs. They are imperishable and ever 
 rising to nobler heights. Not one seed of goodness 
 shall rot in the soil ; not one particle of. truth shall 
 be lost in the hurry and confusion of ages ; and not 
 one jewel from the diadem of man shall fall to the 
 ground. In the period of ambition, I shall think 
 of that higher prize, and thus resist evil. In the 
 hour of passion, I shall think of Heaven, the home 
 of the pure in heart, and overcome the animal ap- 
 petites. When tempted by greed and selfishness, I 
 will think of the blessed hereafter, and deny myself 
 for others. With this firm faith, I shall face every- 
 thing in the shape of sorrow, temptation, disap- 
 
Immortality of the Soul. 169 
 
 pointinent or death. Immortality is the living sap 
 running through the veins of what is noblest and 
 divine in man. May we not say, that in all this, 
 there is an argument for immortality ? Our hearts 
 answer " Yes.'' Eternal life is the gift of God. 
 Annihilation, gentlemen and ladies, is a lie. 
 
 Once more. The infinite perfection of God is an 
 unanswerable proof in favor of immortality. By 
 this we mean, that God in all His attributes. 
 purposes and decrees is absolutely perfect. Imper- 
 fection, absolute evil, cannot exist in the Universe 
 of a perfect Creator. And would a God, who is 
 perfect power, perfect wisdom, perfect love, create 
 man, endow him with supernatural capacities, give 
 him a mind capable of immense growth, a heart 
 never weary of love, a soul ever springing toward 
 God and heaven ; and then totally wipe him out 
 in the twinkling of an eye? Can you believe 
 of a perfect father giving birth to children, feeding 
 them from His breast, bringing them up to man- 
 hood and womanhood, and then digging graves to 
 thrust them back hi to nothingness? What mock- 
 ery ! Could an infinitely perfect Being create in 
 our souls the thirst, the longing, the craving for 
 more life, and then turn around and deceive us? 
 It cannot be ! Can you worship Him. who makes 
 man, puts him in a world of sin, trial, sorrow, 
 disappointment, heavy burdens, crosses, tears and 
 thorns, and prepares no future, where all this shall 
 be explained, and the cross changed into a crown ; 
 
170 Immortality of the Soul. 
 
 the battle into a victory and the tears into jewels to 
 shine on our foreheads forever? Is man created 
 only for the c^ires, sins, sufferings and curses of this 
 life ? Then is God cruel ; then He is not a father ; 
 then is infinite perfection a lie. God of heaven ! if 
 I had no faith in Thy perfection, I would curse the 
 day that gave me birth, I would go weeping through 
 life. Had I no faith in Thy perfection, I would 
 never smile again. Life would be the greatest 
 calamity to man. But not so ; I believe in the ab- 
 solute perfection of God, which whispers in my ears 
 the evangel of immortality. Sure of this, I take my 
 harp and in the midst of death, I sing 
 
 " Light after darkness, gain after loss ; 
 Near after distant, gleam after gloom ; 
 Love after loneliness, life after tomb." 
 
 In conclusion, let us hear the testimony of Jesus. 
 In the Gospel of John He speaks the words of im- 
 mortality when He says: "I go to prepare a place 
 for you ; In my Father's house are many mansions ; 
 were it not so, I would have told you." Oh ! trans- 
 porting thought. Jesus busy over there preparing 
 a mansion for my soul ! A thousand years before 
 Christ David sang : " When I awake I shall be satis- 
 fied with thy likeness." When Jesus had left the earth 
 and was no more among men; from a dark dungeon 
 in Rome came the words of Paul : " Henceforth 
 there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, 
 
Immortality of the Soul. 171 
 
 which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me 
 at that day." Who can believe in the Christian 
 Scriptures and deny immortality 7 . It is woven into 
 the very texture of revelation ; it is the discovery of 
 the Christian religion. 
 
 I have said my say. Do you in your hearts be- 
 lieve in God and in immortality? Does this glori- 
 ous hope warm your bosom and purify your life ? 
 Does it lead out the noblest in you ? Behold an im- 
 mortality of bliss, of glory and joy, and an immor- 
 tality of shame and sin ! Choose as you will, but 
 heaven or hell, glory or shame, depends on your 
 choice. There, is Jesus Christ with a crown in his 
 hand for the victor's brow. There, is God standing 
 at the shining gate to greet all with an individual 
 kiss. There, are the angels, the prophets, martyrs, 
 apostles, saints, and heroes of every land and nation, 
 beckoning us to " come up higher" and enter into 
 the exceeding and eternal joy of our Lord, Shall 
 we lose that crown, that welcome kiss, that immor- 
 tal joy ? No ! good God, no ! 
 
 Let us begin to live nobly, to do bravely, and to 
 breathe the Christian spirit, and the Son of Man, 
 who brought life and immortality to light, will 
 make death's bier the birth-bed of Life Eternal. 
 
SUNSHINE AND SHADOW. 
 
SUNSHINE AND SHADOW. 
 
 " Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning." 
 Luke xii. — 35. 
 
 " For our lamps have gone out." 
 Matt. xxv. — 8. 
 
 I have something to say this morning on the two- 
 fold nature of human life. In the world of matter 
 we have the handsome, sweet and luminous day ; 
 and the night, dark, dreary and damp. The world 
 of spirit has likewise its day and night ; its bright- 
 ness and dimness ; its sunlight and shadow. Our 
 pilgrim path through the earth, runs now, along the 
 mountain crest, high in the pure atmosphere, with 
 nature's orchards and silver streams spreading be- 
 fore us and animating our spirits ; and now again, 
 along the deep and dark valley, walled in, and 
 threatened with frightful and thunderous sounds. 
 
 Your life is made up of the two elements of joy 
 and sorrow. Happiness and misery, gladness and 
 gloom, go hand in hand through all the days of 
 mortal existence. They are omnipresent. In the 
 
178 Sunshine and Shadow. 
 
 palace of the prince and in the peasant's cottage ; in 
 the heart of the millionaire and in the bosom of the 
 penniless beggar. The philosopher with his empire 
 of learning, and the ignorant, illiterate laborer — all 
 have their share of weal and woe. 
 
 Can you not recollect those days of your life which 
 were radiant with great joys, full of sparkling mirth, 
 of profound satisfaction and rapture ? Ah ! then 
 you loved life ; to be, was glorious ; even without a 
 yesterday, or a to-morrow, the life of that one day 
 seemed an exquisite gift to you. And then there is the 
 remembrance of other days, when the sky was black, 
 the heavens draped in mourning, and the cup of 
 bitterness was pressed to your lips ; tears like a 
 stream ran from your eyes; your heart heaved and 
 sighed like the troubled sea; and life seemed to you 
 an intolerable burden, a curse, and a torment. 
 Gladly you would have leaped into the embrace of 
 death to escape the pains and pangs of life. Such 
 is human experience. One chapter, written in let- 
 ters of gold and living light, murmuring melodious 
 music ; the other inscribed in characters of gloom, 
 and whispering a sad wail in our ears. It seems as 
 if the two were in perpetual battle, the one chasing 
 the other. Like winter and summer, the one slay- 
 ing, freezing and destroying w r hat the other warms 
 to life and fruition. Light and darkness mingle 
 in our life. The light is veiled with the thick cover 
 of darkness, the darkness is girdled with a rainbow 
 ring of light. 
 
Sunshine and Shadow. 179 
 
 " Lamp of life, thy lips are burning 
 
 Through the veil that seems to hide them, 
 As the radiant lines of morning 
 Through thin clouds, ere they divide them." 
 
 God sends the sunshine, man makes the shadow. 
 The gifts of God are unmixed blessings. His good- 
 ness has no bitterness, His joys have no alloy, His 
 love is pure affection. Like His own nature, His 
 gifts are perfect. Whence then are our sorrows, our 
 disappointments, our fears and failings ! Not from 
 above, but from below. God does not scatter thorns 
 on your pathway, He does not wring tears from 
 your eye-lids, He does not wound your heart with 
 grief, nor does God hide from your soul the sun- 
 shine of the sweet heavens. You make your own 
 life bitter and bruise your own heart, and stain your 
 face with the tears of sorrow. I have heard of people, 
 who hold God responsible for the long and linger- 
 ing shadows in their lives. They are angry with 
 Him, and call Him to task for the misery of their 
 life, which seems to cling to their bones. " Oh/' 
 they say, u God has been cruel to us, He has 
 scourged us with a rod of iron. He has frowned 
 upon us, and smitten us with His w T rath. What 
 have we done to deserve such treatment ? Are our 
 sins blacker than those of our neighbors ? Is it just 
 and kind in God to pursue us with his vengeance, 
 tossing us hither and thither upon the tempestuous 
 sea of life?" Hearers, God persecutes no man, 
 with anger and malice. He does not go about, 
 
180 . Sunshine and Shadow. 
 
 to make this or that man miserable. He is only 
 the author and source of every "good and perfect 
 gift." v I confess, there are some problems con- 
 nected with the existence of pain, which I am utterly 
 unable to solve. For instance, here is a poor per- 
 secuted, afflicted, wronged woman, she, as far as 
 human judgment can go has been faithful, true 
 and kind. In return she is smitten and beaten and 
 tormented by the steel whip of want, hunger, wretch- 
 edness and desertion. Why should it be so? I 
 cannot tell. And here is a man, wealthy, honored, 
 comfortable, enjoying in great abundance the 
 pleasures and luxuries of the world ; who according 
 to public opinion, has been mean, avaricious, selfish, 
 tyrannical and deceitful. Is this fair ? How do you 
 explain this seeming partiality and unfairness of 
 the Divine justice ? I have no answer. To say 
 that God punishes the good in this life, and the bad 
 in the next life, cannot meet with all the objections. 
 Yet a great deal of the mystery will vanish in the con- 
 sideration, that the source of our troubles and cares 
 and shadows is mainly human. On our shoulders 
 rests the blame for the unhappiness and gloom, 
 which like lead sit upon our hearts. Let us see: — 
 I believe that God created man for happiness. 
 Our first home was in Paradise, the land of light 
 and life. Joy is the law in nature, the great work- 
 shop of God. Every single fibre in the universe of 
 matter, thrills with happiness. This globe of lands 
 as it goes whirling through immensity, makes music 
 
Sunshine and Shadow. 181 
 
 in the divine hearing. Yon celestial spheres, poised 
 in mid-air, making a majestic arch of fretted fire, 
 sing as they shine, "the hand that made us is 
 Divine." Put your ear upon the soft heart of the 
 earth, and you will hear the joyful sounds where- 
 with the bud bursts into a flower, the soil cracks and 
 ushers into existence a white lily, a purple-robed 
 rose, or a mighty oak piercing the air and shoot- 
 ing its branches towards the skies. Even the cup 
 of the little insect crawling in the dust and eating 
 away your rose-bud is filled brim-full with joy. 
 The butterfly, springing from flower to flower, is 
 full of glee. All the works of God wear the crown 
 of rejoicing and walk in the shining, glittering garb 
 of happiness. I do not say that there is no suffering 
 in the physical world, but I do say that it is the ex- 
 ception. The rule is happiness, health, sunshine. 
 
 Advancing a step higher we see that in the 
 greater world of man, happiness is the law. Reason- 
 ing independent of all education and prejudice, I 
 say that a good God seeks the welfare of His people 
 and sincerely desires their happiness. 
 
 He has given you a conscience, tender, delicate, 
 sensitive. You can render it a source of peace, 
 courage and sweet calm, or of contention, coward- 
 ice, remorse and shame, a pandemonium in your 
 bosom, a monstrous dragon, howling, hissing and 
 tearing. 
 
 He has given you a mind, a kingdom in itself, 
 an inexhaustible mine, a well of wealth, an ocean 
 
182 Sunshine and Shadow. 
 
 of beauty and truth. You can reap the sweetest 
 pleasures, the dearest joys, the clearest, purest light, 
 from this realm of your mental organism. You 
 can say: — 
 
 " My mind to me a kingdom is ; 
 Such perfect joy tberein I find, 
 That it excels all other bliss 
 Which God or Nature hath assigned." 
 
 But you can also made it a waste, a barren wil- 
 derness, untilled, full of poisonous weeds, destruc- 
 tive and bitter herbs, bruising thorns, and vicious 
 insects, which will torment you and force you to 
 exclaim : " Oh ! full of scorpions is my mind." 
 
 The heart which the Heavenly Father gave you 
 was so white and innocent and angelic! Do you see 
 that little child playing on your knees, throwing his 
 arms around your neck. On his rosy lips dances the 
 sweet smile, in his eyes burns the living fire, with 
 his merry laughter rings the household atmosphere. 
 Ah ! Once your heart was like his, pure, free from 
 guile, whiter than the virgin snow upon the heights. 
 What a fountain of happiness, a heaven of sun- 
 shine, is a clean, pure heart! But you have driven 
 nails into that innocence and softness. You have 
 dried its mysterious springs of joy, gushing night 
 and day, and falling with liquid plash ; you have 
 pierced it with the iron of discontent and of sin, 
 and now it is torn, tattered, shrivelled and shattered, 
 and as you hold it up in the light you see the holes 
 
Sunshine and Shadow. 183 
 
 and scars and deep cuts whence your spiritual life 
 is ebbing away. 
 
 Where is the immortal soul which God. like 
 a spark of his divinity, lodged in that frame 
 of clay ? How warm and sweet is its sunshine 
 when God, the supreme sweetness, is in the em- 
 brace of his arms ; when pure, exalted thoughts 
 and ideas, like white-robed priests, move around the 
 altar and stir the sacred fire, that its flashing flames 
 may arise to the highest heavens ! Oh, what joy, 
 what rapture, when the spacious halls and secret 
 recesses of the soul are filled to overflowing with 
 the fullness of God, shedding rays of sunlight " as 
 fast as the Arabian trees their medicinal gum." As 
 is yon huge burning mass of fire in the physical 
 firmament, so is thy soul in the spiritual heaven. 
 All your sunshine comes from the cloudless summits 
 of your higher life. The nearer you live to God 
 the closer to heaven — the world of light ; the Christ- 
 lier in spirit, the intenser will be the halo of glory 
 and sunshine around your mortal existence. But, 
 alas ! the soul is" too often torn from the 
 heavens and cast into the mire and dirt, 
 covered with the smutch of shame, dragged down 
 and ridden over and crushed beneath passion's iron 
 hoofs. hearers ! conscience, mind, heart and sou], 
 are the ever-burning lamps in our life. If you sin 
 against your conscience, the whisper of God in your 
 bosom, you put out one lamp, and that diminishes 
 the light, and if you put out by violence and ill 
 
184 Sunshine and Shadow. 
 
 use the lamp of the mind, that will create a shadow 
 on one side of your life. Blow out the lamp of the 
 heart', burning so radiantly and so sacrificingly, 
 and that creates a deeper shadow, thickens and 
 lengthens it, — three of the lamps having gone out. 
 And when you smother and choke the glorious lamp 
 of the soul, then is your darkness complete ; then 
 midnight falls upon your noon. " How great must 
 that darkness be." 
 
 Have I succeeded to show you, that in yourself 
 you have the lamps, first kindled by God, which 
 if kept burning by diligently supplying them with 
 oil, you will have light, you will move in a sphere of 
 light, and be a child of light. But if through neg- 
 ligence, worldliness and the cold breath of doubt 
 and scepticism, you blow out this flame in your 
 spiritual nature, then your night will deepen and 
 grow thicker and thicker. From light to darkness I 
 from sunshine to shadow! oh! how horrible the 
 change. You are walking through the fields in the 
 month of June ; the flowers have opened their cups 
 to suck the honey from the soil, the sun and the 
 shower; the birds chirp gaily, and steal the blossoms 
 from the budding branches, the distant blue is ex- 
 quisitely tender, not a cloud floats there, the sun 
 walks majestically through the trackless heavens, 
 and shakes down light, warmth and beauty from 
 His golden urn. Glorious day! Most beautiful 
 sunshine ! To our raptured gaze, — 
 
Sunshine and Shadow. 185 
 
 " A livelier emerald twinkles in the grass, 
 A deeper sapphire melts into the sea ! " 
 
 Suddenly you come to the entrance of a valley. It 
 is no longer Summer, you are in cold, damp 
 December. From the same heavens that sent the 
 sunshine, comes a heavy, almost tangible mist, the 
 valley is filled with subterranean sounds, its rocks 
 look grim and savage. Thunderous is the run of 
 its water, rugged and slippery, and along the sharp 
 precipices is your path, each step is fraught w 7 ith 
 danger, the atmosphere is suffocating, intense is the 
 darkness, and grows intehser with every step. 
 What a sepulchre ! What a night of rayless, joy- 
 less gloom ! What a change ! What tongue can 
 describe its awfulness ! Yet greater is the change 
 from the marvellous sunshine of God's pres- 
 ence in our conscience, mind, heart, and soul, to 
 the total eclipse of faith, the blotting out of every 
 gleaming star from the spiritual heavens. " How 
 great must that darkness be?" 
 
 If you bear with me, I will now go on to tell you 
 how these lamps of life may be kept bright and 
 burning. Feed your conscience with the oil of in- 
 tegrity, honesty, righteousness. Have a conscience 
 void of offence before God and man. Do nothing 
 which will cost your conscience a single pang; noth- 
 ing which will disturb in the least its delicate bal- 
 ance. If the integrity of your conscience is placed 
 in one hand, and in the other, all the wealth and 
 
186 Sunshine and Shadoiv. 
 
 ownership of the round world, take the former a 
 thousand times over. Ah ! did they tell you that 
 you could be rich in a very short time if you would 
 only put this one lamp out, or make it a little dim ? 
 They tell you, that by one single blow at your 
 conscience you would rise in reputation and glory. 
 Curse the advice, curse the allurement, curse the 
 promise ; cling thou to the integrity of your con- 
 science; feed it with this sweet oil and you shall 
 walk in light, and your bosom friend will be a soft 
 pillow for your head in the hour of death. God of 
 Heaven! give others wealth, give others honor, give 
 others pleasure, give me the consolation of a faith- 
 ful conscience. 
 
 Then feed your mind and heart and soul, with the 
 truth, love and holiness of God. Wherever vou find 
 a pure thought, an inspirational idea, a constraining 
 affection, a divine beauty of spirit, appropriate them, 
 make them your own, and deposit them in the ves- 
 sel that holds the oil of these burning lamps. 
 Brighten the flame of your mind, by adding new 
 truths, new desires, new resolutions for God, to your 
 intellect. Be not idle, learn something every day. 
 Trim the lamp frequently and supply it with fresh 
 oil. 
 
 Can you not make the lamp of your heart 
 burn a little brighter ? Here is a candle burn- 
 ing on my table while I am studying, burns its self 
 away in love for me, burns its life out to serve me. 
 
Sunshine and Shadow. 187 
 
 it 
 
 "O humble and yet bright, 
 
 Making thy sacrifice so noiselessly. 
 
 Burning thy lovely life away to light, 
 Diviner light for rue. " 
 
 Can we not make our hearts to burn so royally 
 and generously upon the altar of mankind, that it 
 may add to the happiness, comfort, blessing and 
 sunshine of the w T orld ? Can we not pierce the 
 night of sin with the warm beam of love, shed 
 from the candle of our heart ? 
 
 Then, again, let us see if we cannot purge and 
 polish our souls from every stain and spot that, like a 
 diamond on our forehead, it may flash its brilliant 
 light and reveal the purity, holiness and sweetness 
 of God to this sin-darkened w r orld. Let us beautify, 
 ennoble, sanctify and glorify our souls, through the 
 grace of the Saviour and present it to Him, as a 
 star, to shine in the firmanent forever and ever. 
 And perhaps a poor creature, seeing the kind light 
 of your soul, may find his w 7 ay to the heart of God 
 and become himself an heir of glory. 
 
 Sin is the great shadow of life. Sinning leads to 
 sorrowing. At the time it may give you pleasure, 
 but there is a sting in it, and will give you pain. 
 Remorse, shame, self-condemnation, loss of peace 
 and misery follow hard on the heels of sin. Across 
 this fair earth, lies the black shadow of sin. The 
 immortal soul of man is disfigured by its touch. 0, 
 the curse of sin ! 0, the night and darkness of sin ! 
 Let it enter into your heart and it will carry gloom 
 
188 Sunshine and Shadow. 
 
 and death with it. Let it grow in society and in 
 the world and it will bring in its train a host of 
 curses, destroying the good, slaying the truth, and 
 casting a ghastly shadow upon the sunshine of life. 
 
 What the world wants is more sunshine. How 
 much will you give, and how much will you ? 
 How many of your lamps are burning? Is the sun- 
 shine of your life greater than its shadow ? The 
 wise virgins took oil with their lamps, and when 
 the foolish were left in the dark, their lamps having 
 gone out, the wise with burning lights greeted the 
 bridegroom and with him went into marriage. Soon 
 the same cry may ring in your ears, " behold the 
 bridegroom cometh !" Are your loins girded about 
 and your lamps burning ? 
 
 Is your conscience prepared to meet its God ? 
 
 Is your mind prepared to stand before the " judge 
 of quick and dead." 
 
 Is your heart washed, swept, and purged, ready 
 to face the " searcher of hearts ?" 
 
 Is your soul clothed upon with the beautiful robe 
 of holiness and dwelling far above the corruptions 
 of the world, the temptations of sin, the bondage and 
 the darkness of the flesh ? 
 
 Is it ready to receive the summons and soar to the 
 realms of perennial sunshine? 
 
 Are these lights trimmed and burning with 
 splendid radiance? 
 
 Are you in the dark, struggling and groping in 
 a night of sin ? It is my mission and privilege to 
 
Sunshine and Shadow. 189 
 
 take you by the hand this morning and lead you to 
 Jesus Christ the " light of the world." He will lift 
 His face and shine upon you. He will lead you out 
 of your darkness into the marvellous light of His 
 gospel. " The bruised reed He will not break ; 
 and the smoking candle, He will not quench." 
 Oh! the power of His gentleness, the depth of His 
 compassion. This Jesus I bring to your door. Be- 
 lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ and your sun will 
 reach the noonday hight, illumining every corner 
 and crevice of your life and all the shadow 7 will be 
 swallowed up in sunshine. 
 
 This morning, may we rebuild the fallen altar, 
 rekindle the extinguished fire, strike sparks upon 
 the lamps gone out, and begin a new life with all 
 the glow and sunshine of heaven, fairer than the 
 rosy morning that kisses the cheeks of the sky, and 
 lovelier than the starlight night with a million 
 jewels on its diadem. 
 
M 
 
REASON AND RELIGION 
 
REASON AND RELIGION 
 
 " And be ready always to give an answer to every man that 
 aslceth you a reason of the hope that is in you." 
 
 I Peter iii. — 15. 
 
 The eloquent Chalmers, of Scotland, has said : — 
 " No man, whether learned or unlearned, can have 
 the faith to be a Christian without having a reason 
 for it." An equally eminent Christian philosopher 
 has said, that " To believe in Christianity with- 
 out knowing why we believe in it, is not faith but 
 blind credulity." God has made a revelation not 
 only to the soul, but also to the head and intellect. 
 The Divine Christ stands not only at the door of the 
 heart and knocks for admission, but also at the door 
 of reason. " Love the Lord, thy God, with all thy 
 heart and mind," is the commandment of the Scrip- 
 tures. The foundations of religion are laid not only 
 in the emotional and spiritual, but also in the intel- 
 lectual nature of man. Reason has its own say in 
 matters of religion. Reason and faith are twin sis- 
 ters ; there is no quarreling between them. I am 
 sorry to think that some people separate the one 
 
196 Reason and Religion. 
 
 from the other and create a chasm, a fixed gulph be- 
 tween them. It is affirmed that religion is merely 
 a matter of faith, and has nothing to do with rea- 
 son. Argument and logic are said to be out of place 
 in the domain of the supernatural. You may be- 
 lieve, accept, give your assent, but you must not 
 reason nor argue. For centuries this has been the 
 position of the Latin Church in the Occident and 
 the Levant. Whatever the ecclesiastical heads 
 said, was law and faith for the common people. 
 They could not investigate ; they could not reason 
 for themselves. It was 
 
 " Not theirs to reason why, 
 Not theirs to make reply, 
 Theirs but to do and die." 
 
 The masses had no conscience, no opinion of their 
 own; no freedom of faith. St. Peter's chair ruled 
 their beliefs as readily as their purses. To argue 
 and apply the intellectual method was deemed blas- 
 phemous. 
 
 Science and philosophy could not enter the realm 
 of religion without committing sacrilege. Hence, 
 when a certain Gallileo, a student of nature, comes 
 forth with a new truth in his hands, the Church 
 puts her hand on the philosopher's mouth, crying, 
 " Hush !" " Your discovery," they tell him, " con- 
 tradicts and overthrows our faith ; therefore, you 
 are wrong." Says Gallileo to them : " Revise your 
 
Reason and Religion. 197 
 
 faith and make it reasonable. I cannot help it if it 
 clashes with your theories of the earth ; my discov- 
 ery is a mathematical fact." " But," said the Church, 
 "we will not reason; you must hush." So, they 
 being in power, cast him into a dungeon, and 
 put chains on his lips. Thus with every great dis- 
 covery and movement towards the light, the Latin 
 Church denounced them as hostile to faith and 
 heretical and atheistic in tendency. She com- 
 manded her children to " believe." If anyone had 
 the courage to say, " Well, I cannot accept that arti- 
 cle of the creed, and think it to be unreasonable," 
 the Church cried in his face : " Oh, you sceptic, you 
 heretic, you rationalist ! you want to reason before 
 you believe, do you ? Come with me !" and he was 
 led to the stake and burned alive. Reason was 
 cursed as carnal, and investigation and search held 
 up as impious. The priest pinched the forehead of 
 every Catholic and stamped their brains with re- 
 ligious bigotry. It burned Bruno, reduced Gallileo 
 to silence, and spread the thick night of ignorance 
 over all Europe. It excommunicated every man of 
 genius, every master mind, every broad heart and 
 head. It canonized and made a saint out of every 
 mean bigot and filthy fanatic. In one word, so long 
 as the dead hand of Pope Gregory, with an iron 
 tyranny, ruled Christendom, reason was placed 
 under the ban. 
 
 But the reaction came. Reason gathered her 
 forces and rose in arms against the despotism of 
 
198 Reason and Religion. 
 
 church authority. King and priest were dethroned, 
 the sceptre wrested from their grasp, and the purple 
 torn from the shoulders of St. Peter's successor. 
 Like a rainbow, Reason girdled the heavens with a 
 luminous ring, and led in person the human forces 
 to the field of action. 
 
 It, in turn, thrust her dagger deep into the heart 
 of superstition, fear and blind credulity. It exposed 
 the shame of fanaticism and every fabrication of 
 man. It rang the death knell of witchcraft and 
 priestcraft. Like an irresistible hurricane, it swept 
 away every barrier and gave free course to the 
 Amazonian river of human thought. It shattered 
 to pieces the heavy chains that had bondaged the 
 mind for ages. Like an angel heralding a new 
 day, she stood upon the gilded hill, her feet softly 
 pressing the heights, and in her mouth a green 
 branch. Thus the age of reason was ushered 
 in. 
 
 Again it grieves me to think, that the mistake 
 committed by the enemies of reason, has been re- 
 peated by her friends. Reason has been abused 
 by forcing her to fight faith down. She has been 
 armed to take vengence, and return the blows 
 dealt by the age of priestly misrule. Hence the 
 cry of the present era, very often is : " Down with 
 faith, down with church, down with religion." Thus 
 history presents to us two extremes, dangerous and 
 unreasonable, and with extremes we have nothing 
 to do. 
 
Reason and Religion. 199 
 
 Our position may be summed up in a single phrase. 
 Reason and faith, have each their proper sphere 
 and render incalculable service to each other. I 
 would like to say a word to those who have organ- 
 ized themselves against faith, and aim to banish 
 it altogether from the world. I shall make an asser- 
 tion, it is this : The moment you withdraw faith 
 entirely out of the arena of life, that instant, quick 
 as the flash of lightning, the great wheel of humanity 
 shall come to a standstill. That moment the 
 world's heart shall cease to palpitate ; that mo- 
 ment all aspiration, lofty longing, hoping and proph- 
 ecying shall come to an end. In all the spheres 
 of thought, faith is indispensable. Let us begin 
 with the world of science. Can scientific men afford 
 to part with faith ? Here is an astronomer who has 
 built a telescope for the survey of the stars. He has 
 faith, that the laws of nature will remain the same 
 to-morrow as they were yesterday. He is not sure of 
 it, for what man knows what a day may bring forth. 
 But he has faith, in the honesty and truthfulness of 
 nature. He has good grounds to believe that the 
 shiniug stars will not run away, but be friendly and 
 peep through his leases. He has faith that in his 
 calculations nature's faithfulness will help him. He 
 predicts an eclipse, or the birth of a new star. 
 " Twenty-five years hence/' he says, " there will be 
 a new jewel on the diadem of night." He studied 
 the movements of the celestial bodies, and found 
 that a certain planet, in its movements, was in- 
 
200 Reason and Religion. 
 
 fluenced by an invisible orb. He calculated that so 
 many miles to the right or to the left of it, there must 
 be some other body which, travelling at a certain 
 rate, will be seen on a certain spot at a given date. 
 His prophecy is fulfilled. Now this was not all 
 knowledge, most of it was faith ; not blind and 
 unreasonable, but a rational, intelligent faith in 
 the fixity and fidelity and trustworthiness of great 
 nature. 
 
 Thus, in the commercial world, faith is more than 
 gold, more than thrift, more than pluck. If you 
 had no faith that certain causes will lead to certain 
 results, could you have the courage to enter the 
 arena of toil ? Could you invest j r our money and 
 throw your whole soul into an object without believ- 
 ing that the object was attainable? You believe 
 that honesty, diligence, thrift, economy, will do 
 to-morrow what they have done in the past. You 
 are not sure, but you have the necessary faith to 
 keep you in motion. Infidelity will relax the 
 nerves of commerce. It will shut every shop in the 
 land in the twinkling of an eye. It is faith's ex- 
 haustless breast that gives sustenance to civilization, 
 and spurns our flagging energies. 
 
 Is it not so in the domestic world ? What a large 
 amount of faith is exercised under the family roof. 
 You feel safe and happy because you have faith in 
 the members of the household. Lose your faith and 
 you will be the most worthless, miserable, wretched 
 and unhappy being on earth. Lose your faith, and 
 
Reason and Religion. 201 
 
 your heart within you will fall with a thump. Lose 
 your faith and you lose everything. 
 
 Is it not strange, then, that faith so essential else- 
 where should be banished from religion, and its 
 place usurped by reason ? We are told that it is 
 unreasonable to believe in the supernatural because 
 we cannot see, handle, feel or taste, and because it 
 does not fall under the immediate cognizance of 
 our senses. I charge unbelief with superstition, 
 bigotry and dogmatism. If In affirming a thing, 
 one may be tempted to go to the extreme of fanati- 
 cism, so in denying a thing, there is just as great a 
 danger of being unreasonable, narrow and supersti- 
 tious. 
 
 Let us begin with the first article in the creed of 
 Christendom. " I believe in God" Is that an un- 
 reasonable belief? Does the belief in a supreme, 
 spiritual being contradict reason ? Can you reason- 
 ably deny the being of God? I tell you I have 
 never yet seen an atheist. I have seen people w r ho 
 talk as if they were atheists, but no person can be 
 one in real life. God is so rooted and grounded 
 into human nature, that as David Hume, the cham- 
 pion of English scepticism says : " The human 
 mind naturally believes in God." You cannot divest 
 yourself of the overwhelming thought of the Divine 
 existence filling all space and occupying all time. 
 Invent a hypothesis of the universe without having 
 recourse to a first cause. Say that there is no design 
 in the world of matter and therefore no designer. 
 
202 Reason and Religion. 
 
 Let matter, dead, inert matter, take the place of mind. 
 Let a germ of protoplasm, a speck of jelly, posses- 
 sing the " potency and promise of life " stand in 
 place of God. Then we will ask whence has that 
 original matter, life and motion ? You answer that, 
 " life is the property of organized matter." Very 
 well, but again we ask, " what organizes matter ?" 
 You answer again : " the play of forces in certain 
 directions." Then in the language of science we ask 
 you to tell us, " what directs these forces in one way 
 for order, harmony, design and creation, rather than 
 in another way for discord, chaos, confusion and 
 ruin ?" You hold in your hand the letters of the 
 English alphabet, you throw them up in the air and 
 when they fall upon the ground they spell great 
 names, beautiful ideas, pure thoughts, noble pre- 
 cepts, an excellent advice. What directed these 
 letters in their fall to perform such a task? 
 " Chance," did you say ? Which is more rea- 
 sonable, to say that blind chance is at the world's 
 helm and is the author of all the wondrous 
 phenomena we see, — or infinite wisdom, power, 
 will ? God is the great cause of the life and 
 light 
 
 " Of all this wondrous world we see, 
 Its glow by day, its smile by night, 
 Are but reflections caught from Thee, 
 Wherever we turn thy glories shine, 
 And all things fair and bright are Thine." 
 
Reason and Religion. 203 
 
 " I believe in God is the creed, not only of evan- 
 gelical Christians, but of all men : of Sir William 
 Hamilton and Hume, Bishop Butler and John 
 Stuart Mill ; Pascal and Voltaire ; Massillon and 
 Diderot; Spurgeon and Spencer ; Luther and Hegel; 
 Jonathan Edwards and Thomas Paine. John New- 
 man, the great English catholic has said that — "of 
 all things, the being of God is borne in upon our 
 minds with most power." Ernest Renau says, "God 
 will always stand for the full expression of our super- 
 sensual needs." Vacherot, a philosopher and thinker 
 of the broadest school and finest intellectual grain, 
 thinks that faith in a Supreme Creator is the only 
 inspiration of life, and that when God is gone, all 
 the fire and glow of the soul perish. Atheism, my 
 hearers, is unnatural and unreasonable What ! give 
 up the belief in a Heavenly Father, who cares for me, 
 and follows me with an unslumbering eye, and lifts 
 me up when I am fallen, and binds up my wounds, 
 and treasures up my tears in His bottle to transfigure 
 them into jewels on my forehead in that land of 
 glory. — I would sooner tear my heart out than be- 
 lieve that I am an orphan, a child without a father. 
 
 Again. Let us now see if it be unreasonable to be- 
 lieve in a Divine revelation. I believe that God has 
 spoken. I believe that the Infinite Mind has not al- 
 ways kept silence. I believe that in this book we 
 have a revelation of the Divine Will. Before me is 
 the Book that has made a marvellous history. It has 
 turned the world upside down. It has created a new 
 
204 Reason and Religion. 
 
 epoch, and reared the most glorious civilization. Say 
 what you will. Say it is a ''cunningly devised fa- 
 ble/' Say you do not believe in it, that it is of 
 heathen origin, that it is the fabrication of priests 
 and the work of a superstitious age. Take all that 
 is good and immortal in the utterances of Jesus and 
 fasten them on the cold lips of a Seneca, Antoninus, 
 Cicero, Socrates, Buddha, Confucius or Zoroaster. 
 With the sharpest knife of criticism, play upon its 
 most delicate veins and take it to pieces. Still 
 the indisputable fact remains that no other book 
 has exerted the power and influence which have 
 gone forth from the deathless pages of the Chris- 
 tian Scriptures. To-day it is translated into every 
 human speech, murmured in a thousand tongues, re- 
 peated in a million pulpits, girdling the world with 
 its divine music, and feeding the hunger and thirst 
 of mankind. Oh, Word of God, what attacks have 
 been made on thy pages! What cruel and bitter 
 and malicious slander has been spoken of thee ! 
 What sharp and piercing arrows have been hurled 
 at thee ! But, oh ! not one iota of thy charm or 
 sweetness has been lost. At thy bidding, sorrow 
 and disease and disappointment lose their sting. 
 In thy presence the tears on our cheeks become 
 telescopes of faith ; the burden falls from our shoul- 
 ders ; the thorns weave a crown on our foreheads, 
 and the cross of life becomes a symbol of glory and 
 of immortality ! What power there is in thee 
 to sweeten toil, to rest the troubled breast, to strike 
 
Reason and Religion. 205 
 
 sparks upon the languishing soul, to light the 
 path to the tomb, and thence to the realms of joy 
 beyond ! 
 
 •' Holy Scriptures, Book divine- 
 Precious treasure, thou art mine !' : 
 
 Is it unreasonable to believe that utterances such 
 as those of Jesus, that have outlived the wear and 
 tear of time, — which has swept away the words of 
 other great men, — are the expressions of the imper- 
 ishable, ever-throbbing mind of God ? Is there no 
 reason in the belief that Jesus Christ is chief among 
 ten thousand, and peerless in the world of mind, 
 heart and soul? 
 
 Thus with all the fundamental articles of faith in 
 the creeds of Christendom, is it unreasonable to be- 
 lieve that man is more than perishable dust, more 
 than mere mineral matter, more than bone and 
 sinew and muscle ? Is it unreasonable to believe 
 in the immortality of the soul? I sit beside the 
 dying, and I ask in earnest : "Shall we meet again ?" 
 You tell me I must 'not ask such a question ; that it 
 is unscientific, unphilosophical and unreasonable. 
 I say, perish your science, perish your philosophy, 
 perish your repulsive theory of annihilation ! Let 
 love have its say ; let the heart prophesy ; let my 
 soul believe that, yonder is the Infinite affection; 
 yonder the bosom of eternal love; yonder the ex- 
 ceeding great joy and eternal reward ! To believe 
 that " this is a world without a God, and man is a 
 
206 Reason and Religion. 
 
 body without a soul, and this a present without a 
 hereafter " — can I say that this is more reasonable 
 than faith in God, in spirit, and in immortality ? 
 No ; not till I have lost all my understanding ; not 
 till my mind is divested of every bit of information, 
 my heart a void ; my soul sense-bound and passion 
 driven ; no, not till then. Unbelief is the egg of 
 all sin. Curse on its head ; the tornado's lightning 
 shaft on its head ! 
 
 Let us gather our courage this evening and ex- 
 ercise a larger, deeper faith in the reality of religion. 
 My hearers, all truth is insured at the Bank of the 
 Infinite, and it cannot perish. Jesus rides on the 
 shoulders of mankind ; and unbelief, doubt, and 
 criticism, cannot cast Him off. The Divine Word 
 is inscribed with the point of a diamond upon the 
 walls of the soul, and no deluge of flood can rub it 
 out. The irresistible gravitation of the universe is 
 in the hands of religion. Infidelity is a lie ! and 
 no king, no philosopher, no judge, no supreme court, 
 no army, can make it true. Fear not ! God is, and 
 not a sparrow falleth to the ground without His 
 notice. Fear not! through eighteen hundred years 
 of battle Christ has lost nothing. His cradle still 
 sparkles through the ages of the world, and His 
 cross still towers 
 
 u O'er the wrecks of time, 
 With all the light of sacred story 
 Gathering around its head sublime." 
 
Reason and Religion. 207 
 
 The pierced hand is at the helm ; the feet nailed 
 to the tree; fly with the swiftness of lightning to the 
 rescue of what is noblest in religion. The heart 
 broken by grief, is the inexhaustible source of in- 
 spiration, sweetness and love. 
 
 The curse of man is on this infidel gospel. The 
 curse of God is on the powers of darkness. The 
 heart is up in arms against atheism, and annihi- 
 lation, and the heart will win the day. 
 
 4i If e'er when faith had fallen to sleep, 
 I heard a voice, * Believe no more, ' 
 And heard an ever-breaking shore 
 That tumbled in the Godless deep, 
 
 " A warmth within the heart would melt 
 The freezing reason's colder part, 
 And like a man in wrath, the heart 
 Stood up and answered, : I have felt.' 1 " 
 
 Fast advances the day when reason and faith 
 shall stand together at the altar of religion, " and 
 to the litany of their worship all the people shall say 
 
 Through this dark and stormy night. 
 Faith beholds a feeble light 
 
 Up the blackness streaking; 
 Knowing God's own time is best. 
 In a patient hope I rest, 
 
 For the full day-breaking." 
 
 N 
 
208 Reason and Religion. 
 
 u Two angels guide 
 The path of man, both a^ed and yet young, 
 As -angels are, ripening through endless years. 
 On one he leans ; some call her memory, 
 And some tradition ; and her voice is sweet, 
 With deep, mysterious accords ; the other, 
 Floating above, holds down a lamp which streams 
 A light divine and searching on the earth, 
 Compelling eyes and footsteps. Memory yields, 
 Yet clings with loving check and shines anew, 
 Reflecting all the rays of that bright lamp 
 Our angel reason holds." 
 
NOTES. 
 
ARMENIANS. 
 
 Aram or Armen, was the first king of the Armenians, and 
 his people after him, were called "Armenians." They are 
 also called Haiks, after the great conqueror Haig, who forms 
 the first chapter of Armenian history. 
 
 Gregory the Illuminator, was the apostle of Armenia. He 
 was the son of wicked parents. His father assassinated the 
 Prince and is despised by all Armenians. Gregory, however, 
 is the greatest and brightest name in Armenian history. 
 
 The missionaries laboring among the Armenians, are 
 sent by the A. B. C. F. M. Recently to the disappointment 
 of the Congregationalists, the "Disciples of Christ" and 
 Baptists have also sent their missionaries to this field. 
 
CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 The missionaries do not directly preach to the Moham- 
 medans. If a Mussulman chooses to come and hear the 
 gospel, they are certainly made welcome. I have heard of one 
 Turk who received baptism, but whether from conviction or 
 other motives, am not able to state. The missionaries have 
 failed, as far as the conversion of the Mohammedan is con- 
 cerned. 
 
 Kobert College, was founded through the generosity of 
 Christopher Robert, a merchant of New York. About three 
 years ago, this noble philanthrophist died in Paris. Cyrus 
 Hamlin is the father of the college, as it is the fruit of 
 his earnest labors in the Levant. At present, under George 
 Washburn, it is enjoying great prosperity and has even 
 Mussulman students. 
 
 Eobert College is not a missionary institution, as is the 
 college at Beytout, in Syria. It compares favorably with the 
 best American colleges. 
 
WHAT IS GOD ? 
 
 In the old church at Ainasia, Turkey in Asia, there is 
 a ghastly picture of hell, before which candles are burnt, 
 and men and women kneel tremblingly and pray to be deliv- 
 ered from such torment as shadowed forth by the picture. 
 The motive is purely one of fear, dread of punishment, which 
 is the meanest and basest motive one can have to serve God. 
 
 Calvin was not the friend of Servetus. We must remem- 
 ber the spirit of the age in which he lived, before we judge 
 him too severely. Some people say, that Calvin had no part 
 in the burning of Servetus. It is, however, beyond dispute, 
 that he at least encouraged the execution of the plan pro- 
 posed. 
 
RECOGNITION OF FRIENDS. 
 
 c There is a reaper whose name is death, 
 
 And with his sickle keen, 
 He reaps the bearded grain at a breath, 
 And the flowers that grow between. 
 
 1 Shall I have nought that's fair ?' said he — 
 c Have nought but the bearded grain ? 
 
 Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me, 
 I will give them all back again. ' 
 
 He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes, 
 
 He kissed their drooping leaves ; 
 It was for the Lord of Paradise 
 
 He bound them in his sheaves. 
 
 4 My Lord hath need of the flowerets gay, 5 
 
 The reaper said, and smiled ; 
 c Dear tokens of the earth are they, 
 
 Where He was once a child. 
 
 They shall all bloom in fields of light, 
 
 Transplanted by my care ; 
 And saints upon their garments white 
 
 These sacred blossoms wear. 5 
 
 And the mother gave, in tears and pain, 
 
 The flowers she most did love ; 
 She knew she would find them all again 
 
 In the fields of light above. 
 
 O, not in cruelty, not in wrath, 
 
 The reaper came that day ; 
 'Twas an angel visited the green earth, 
 
 And took the flowers away." 
 
THE MISSION OF WOMAN. 
 
 I will go forth 'mong'men, not mailed in scorn 
 But in the armor of a pure intent ; 
 Great duties are before me, and great aims\ 
 And whether crowned or crownless whern I fall, 
 It matters not, so that God's work is done. 
 I've learned to prize the quiet lightning deed, 
 Not the applauding thunder at its heels, 
 Which men call fame. ' ' 
 
 Florence Nightingale was the sweetest character that 
 walked through the streets of Scutary, on the Bosphorus, 
 during the war with Eussia. The soldier barracks at Scu- 
 tary, are her monument. How much good can a woman do 
 inspired by love ? 
 
 " Beside the bed where parting life was laid, 
 And sorrow, guilt, and pain, by turn dismay'd, 
 The generous champion stood ; at her control, 
 Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul ; 
 Comfort came down, the trembling wretch to raise, 
 And last faltering accents whisper 'd praise." 
 
 cc 
 
 It is not growing like a tree, 
 
 In bulk doth make man better be ; 
 
 Or standing long, an oak three hundred year, 
 
 To fall a log at last, dry, bald and sere ; 
 
 A lily of a day, 
 
 Is fairer, far, in May. 
 
 Although it fall and die that night, 
 
 It was the plant and flower of light. 
 
 In small proportions we past beauties see, 
 
 And in short measures life may perfect be. " 
 
REASON AND RELIGION. 
 
 ''* Yes, Faith will linger in this troubled world, 
 Till earth shall crumble into dust ; 
 Until hope hath her radiant banner furled, 
 Conscience resigned her holy trust. 
 
 " There must be Faith, while there are hearts to beat 
 
 With rapture for another's sake ; 
 . While pulses hurry at the joy to meet, 
 
 And o'er one parting, pause and speak. 
 
 u While there are eyes to kindle and to weep, 
 Or sink beneath another's glance ; 
 Bright visions hover on the brow of sleep, 
 As if the soul lay in a trance. 
 
 " Where love still dwells, there must be holy Faith; 
 How could He watch the loved one die, 
 Without the fervent trust that shows him death 
 Is herald of eternity. 
 
 " Would'stthou reach the farther heaven, 
 Touch the coolness of the blue, 
 Would'st thou bathe thy weary earth-wings 
 In the love of distilled dew ; 
 
 " Woulds't thou gather flowers unfading, 
 From the banks of Jordan's River ? 
 Would'st thou sip the sweet repentance 
 Which destroys the dark forever. 
 
218 Reason and Religion. 
 
 " Cast aside the clogs and fetters from thy naked, shivering 
 
 soul ; 
 Throw away the rags which bind her, fear and hate and 
 
 all control ; 
 Past philosophy and science with their forked divining 
 
 rod, 
 Past the scavengers of reason with their searchings after 
 
 no God ; 
 Past the smoke and din, and clatter of the toiling, moiling 
 
 earth, 
 To the region pure and silent where the springs of truth 
 
 have birth."