......+
BY  I
I (et 5l
R-,7V. SA~t/IUEL  \Vt.' — DUFFIELY-)
SUNDAY             2        9,NIND.   N ark?   a,;
PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.
ANTN ARBOR
COURIER STEAM PRINTING HOUSE
I 8 7 4
I
*.::.. I
I I 
~l
~l
il
- -      /,
I' ~~
",O:
*                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         t..
4 
To THE
CHURCH AND CONGREGATION
WHO HAVE JOINED
WITH ME
IN LABOR AND IN PRAYER
I DEDICATE
THIS
OUR UNITED STORY
OF STRUGGLE AND SUCCESS
SAMUEL  W. DUFFIELD.
DE(C. 1, 1874.
I 
CIVITAS DEI.
" For my brethren and companions' sakes I will now say,
Peace be within thee I "
City of God, grown old zeoith silent faces
Lying benealt  thze shadow of the clay,
Thine are the towers built up in barren places,
Thine the great bastions wailing for the elay.
Dinim lthrough tlhe nig-ht slone after slone arises,
Bold through the dawn step fort/l the peaks of flanie,
Touched with the splendor of those glad surprzses
By wzhich the blessing of tlle Spirit camine.
Toilers of truth are wzve, who at our labor
Keep the sharp sword still gizrded at thie thigh,
Heedinig no suinmions of the pipe and tabor,
Frighting and building till thze end be nigh.
Thus, then, zewe build through stormn  and pleasant weather;
Thus, then, we pray by morning and by nght;
Heart knit with heart, and handis at work together    Beset by foes until Thou givest lizght.
City of God! thy peace is our petition;                _
Cit  of God!  our brethren dwell in thee'
And for thzeir sakes, in true and deep  contrition,
We seek thy good,  0  dwellzig of the free.
S. W. D.
From "WrARP AND WOOF" (187o). 
a",
A FAREWELL SERMON.
"These things have I told you, that when the time shall come ye may
remember that I told you of them.  And these things I said not unto you at
the beginning, because I was with you."-JoHN xvi. 4.
THE loveliest evening often succeeds the stormiest day. An
obscured sun, hidden through many hours by mists and vapors, has at
length shown for a moment the brightness of its light. Far peaks
glow in a level splendor which stays for no descent into the vale between. The distant ocean shines in the new and unexpected glory.
And you and I, pilgrims and strangers, rejoice in the coming and
lament at the going of that sunny ray which
"Smote the white sails of ships that wore
Outward or in, and gilded o'er 
The steeples with their veering vanes."
Thus it must have been in the earthly history of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ.  Hidden  by the veil-" that  is to say,  His
flesh''-the true divinity of light was seldom seen.  The rays which
here and there appeared, were thought by most to be but reflections
or scintillations from a pure character and a noble heart. That this
carpenter's son could be God's son, was hard to comprehend. And
every error which has since prevailed respecting the person and work
of Christ, finds its origin in this short-sighted judgment "after the
outward appearance." Seldom did He declare Himself n actual
words.  A  Samaritan woman of no reputation, a Jewish ruler of the
temple conversing with Him at dead of night, a poor impulsive disciple-such as these heard Him announce His true Messiahship. To
the wise and the learned and the rich-then as now-the face was a
hidden face.
But when the near approach of death renders it fittest for Him to
speak, we have the sunburst and the splendor. Compressed within a
few short pages of a single Gospel, we find those "I thoughts which
breathe an(I words which burn," by which henceforth we may  inter, 
6A.FARE WELL SERMAON.
pret the universe of God. The far-off summits of the truth are
touched from thlis horizon, and the great deep of human wisdom
becomes as brilliant as the ocean of Apocalypse.
And amid all this-just as He had revealed the immense possibilities of His character-He was to "go away."   He was to leave the
conversion of mankind to a few poor fishermen, a couple of publicans,
a woman saved from seven devils, and such other feeble and insignificant folk as had followed Him out upon the road to Bethany, to watch
Him vanish, like a vision, within the morning cloud. If there was
grief because He left them, there was greater grief because of what
was left behind.
Yet He had told them, in essence if not in substance, that after
the night would come the morning-that this sunset of His person
would be succeeded by the dawn of His Spirit. He asked only of
them truth and trust, until the trial should be ended and the cloven
flame should play about their heads. He might have prophesied that
The new day comes, the light
Dearer for night."''
But it would seem that in this, as in almost every event of His
life, He transcended or reversed our human judgment.  He  points
them not to the time to come so much as to the securing of that time
-not so much to glory beyond, as to that tribulation and that persecution which made the glory sure. The light ul)on the peak gave a
lustre even to the low valley.
Better than the wonderful story which the marvelous tinker fashioned in Bedford jail, is the record of this life and this departurethe Progress of the best of Pilgrims back unto His Father's house.
And it is no forced or strained attempt for us to be so involved in His
personality, through all His way in the world, that we too seem, as it
were, to be treading in His steps and "filling up  what is behind of
the sufferings of Christ, for His body's sake, which is the church."
To this that "Follow me! " calls us as well as them; and the occasions and circumstances-the trials and temptations and tears and
pain-of our own existence, can be found interpreted in His.
Even our partings come beneath the same surpassing pattern. For
if we are truly making God's will our rule, and if the word of His
commandment  is on  "fleshly tables of  the heart " which beats
within our bosoms, we too may discover that "all things work for
good," and that the methods of the "Most  Highl" are, like His
6 
A fiA4RE WELL SERMON.
guiding light, invariable and without shadow of turning. And even
as we now perceive that a deeper blessing followed because of the
Christ who was parted from them-so each "good gift" and each
' perfect gift " which we enjoy and which is taken from us, but brings
a better in its place. Yet we all hold with tremulous fingers to the
health or the hope or the home or the loved and dear ones, as God
removes us from them and them from us. We should otherwise sin
with lip and heart, and not knowing that which was for our highest
profit we should simply rest and be at ease. Yet He who makes man's
labor for his mouth to be the basis of all political economy, inspires
in the soul that loves Him a like hunger, not to be appeased until the
beatitude is complete, that "they who  hunger and thirst after rightousness * * shall be filled."
Not impiously, then, nor from any endeavor to compare small
things with great, do I point you in these, the closing services of an
eventful pastorate, to the language of our Lord   If the true pastor be
in the stead of the visible Christ, that he may illustrate by precept
and example that attractive yet unparalleled life, it follows that he
must "have the Spirit of Christ or he is none of His."  Born again
into a regeneration which leaves no room for self-seeking and no moment for repose, he can be at best but "a pilgrim and a stranger "
tarrying over-night, a soldier "fighting the good fight of faith," a
herald at the entrance of the stadium, watchful " lest he himself
should be a castaway."  The lessons of self-dependence we  learn in
almost every matter better than in religion.  We  strangely forget that
in this, preeminently, our souls must seek the wisdom which is from
above, and that we must, with all our love for the brethren, be individual inquirers after that will of God affecting us which is our highest
rule of duty.
Absence has its advantages. It appears to have done everything
for Peter and John-it certainly produced Stephen, and as certainly
accomplished the divine decree. And, in every sundering of human
relations, it bids us remember that "the whole family in heaven and
on earth" are named by one name and are laboring in one love.
I. Three years ago I came among you "because thereto I was
sent."  It was certainly no cheerful prospect.   Here stood a great
unfinished church, with the nail-heads in their naked ugliness and the
walls of the audience-roomn orange-tawny and indescribably depressing
to thle sight.  A cold breeze plunged down upon the head of the
7 
,A FAIRE WELL SERMOn.
preacher, and a mocking echo wandered and played in the angles of
the bare and abandoned ceiling.  Some of you sat upon your own
purchased cushions, and many of you had nothing but the plain pine
boards. As the church stood it was evidently the result of a good
brave purpose, but debt had arisen and debt must be discharged.
This irksome task fell upon my predecessor, and before it was fully
rounded out, he, like others, had been overwhelmed by the weight he
was to carry, and had no longer the heart to bear the load. Nor was
it strange that he should feel as he did.
The disadvantages were thus very great. A prejudice had some
how sprung up-a thing which I now comprehend mnore clearly than
I comprehended it then-and the church was almost deserted by the
students of the University.  Its important situation as the only church
of our denomination by the side of a large and unsectarian institution
of learning, had not been grasped thoroughly by either Presbytery or
Synod. Financially it represented no great amount of capital. Mentally it had enormous demands. Spiritually it required patient and
careful training, that the strong and contemplative piety of individual
Christians might be all brought into one common purpose and turned
toward active work.  Socially it was charged with coldness, formality,
and a predisposition to run into cliques and feuds.
On the contrary, the troublesome debt had been really paid. The
building, so far as it went-truncated tower, paintless stairways, unadorned lecture-room, and fenceless grounds-was, notwithstanding, a
most solid and admirable structure. There had been a revival, even
in the interregnum, and some forty young people, mostly baptized
children of the church, had been received.  The necessity itself had
obliterated many old marks of division, and had developed a fervent
spirit of prayer for God's guidance. The Presbytery had offered
special petitions to this same effect.. 
And  I, myself, hurried by the Spirit, like Philip, into the way
toward Gaza "which is desert," felt that He  who had  brought me
hither could "make the wilderness to blossom as the rose."
II. The very first thing to be done was to secure the blessing of
the great Head of the Church, by giving to Him and to the coinmun
ion of His body and blood, the chief and foremost place. We first
met at that dear Table, and there we have this day parted, and we
have found no sweeter or more solemn pleasure than in commemorating His dying love. It was here that we learned to know each other's
8 
A EiARE WE LL SERMON.
faiLth.  It was here that we were renewed by bread from heaven, and
found that the blood of Christ was life unto our souls. For I have
endeavored to cause this ordinance to be to all of us just what, in
simplicity and earnestness, a plain honest student of God's book perceives it to have been in the mind of Christ. Theology has never
intruded here, to snatch from our lips the cup or to take from our
hands the bread. Art and poetry, and the noblest and highest matters,
have here, in this atmosphere of heart-life and perfect consecration,
found their dearest home. And how often you have come to me, and
with wet eyes gazing into wet eyes and hand warmly clasping hand,
you have spoken of this joyfulness and blessing, you yourselves know
full well. We have often been on the Hill called Clear, nay even we
have walked and talked, beholding the golden streets of the New Jerusalem from Beulah Land itself.
Thus, with this consecration of our entire morning service, once
in two months, to this happiest of all privileges, we began to find
God's blessing among us. We began to pause after prayer-meeting,
and to shake hands. Gradually the quiet and unobtrusive praying
ones made themselves known. And on the principle that " he that
believeth shall not make haste," I preferred rather to follow God's
guidance than to anticipate it-but I dreaded that I might lag behind
the purpose of Providence by so little as a single hour.
The need for change in the very atmosphere of the house and
worship of God, cried out for attention and energy at the start. But
to change an atmosphere requires a change in surroundings. And
surroundings," to begin with, meant new cushions and something
more after the fashion of a pulpit than the existing structure on that
wide waste of platform, over which those curious lanceolate pieces of
wood gazed so ben ignantly into space. To those ladies who then and
since have been identified with every good word and work, 1-aust be
given the praise for our present most comfortable seats.
The pulpit has its own peculiarities.  It aims to offend neither
the lover of the old-time desk, nor the advocate of the new-time lectern. And yet it is no compromise. And it bears in unmistakeable
characters its true commission,' which is to "Preach  the  Vord."
Now and then I have thought that this pulpit, and this platform, are
symbolic of those principles, upon which the preaching of these three
years has been based.  It has been both free and firm, and first of all,
it has been fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Behind this desk have
9 
,4A FARE WELL SERiMOiV.
stood those brethren from abroad-whatsoever their creed —who have
loved Him first and chief. Baptist and Congregationalist and Methodist and Presbyterian, high-church Lutheran and  "broad-church"
Church of England-all, in these three years, have had their representatives, and all have felt at home.  And we never listened to words
of more singular purity, originality, or devout Christliness, than those
which fell from the lips of George MacDonald.
Yet this portion of the work was only premonitory. For, presently-with your good help and encouragement-we set about the reconstruction of the audience-room and building. It did not "rise into
towers," mist-like, in the manner of fabled Ilium, but it rose into one
tower which had never been before. It gathered its galleries about it,
ribbed its ceiling with appropriate and architectural woods, and took
on that new and bright appearance which every visitor so readily
commends.  Thanks to one generous heart, the "fair colors" of the
walls and ceiling are also here, and will remain "in memorial of her"
for many years to come. Presently a band of young ladies made it
possible to "praise God with the organ," and a mighty bell took its
place in the finished tower, and on it was inscribed:
" Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be!"
After a summer of most unclerical attitudes upon scaffolds higher
than Haman's, the work for which we had so long waited was mainly
complete; and at a cost far less than one could have supposed possible
we were in possession of a beautiful and home-like audience-room.
Paint and varnish had done their duty, and the prayer with which we
began our labor had been answered, for amid all the dangers incident
to many portions of the task, no accident of consequence had happened.  There were narrow  escapes, but there was no real injury.
We could look upon it with gladness and thaukfulnes of heart, and
pronounce it "very good."  The poor man is not awed by its magnificence; the rich man cannot criticise its poverty; the man of taste
cannot recoil from its incongruities; and last and best of all, the spiritual worshiper finds within it the air of home, of heart-life and of
heaven. It has done more for us than anything besides the pure
gospel.
Following this came the next summer's work upon lecture-room
and grounds. The same atmosphere crept across them both, and if
to no other care I could trust it, I think I might safely ask of our
IO 
4A FARE WELL SERRMOn.Z
thrifty ivies that they should keep  my memory green.  And thus,
quietly and steadily, we took our station as a power for the truth in
this city.
It may even now surprise you to be told that this reconstruction
was so utter and absolute that it involved new articles of association,
a new method in finance, and a new organization in many ways. But
so it was.
III. In considering this steady line of progress, it is at once
evident as being the result of deliberate and careful purpose; but no
purpose, however deliberate and careful, could have succeeded unless
by the blessing of God and the aid of the church. The prayers of
Presbytery and Synod have been, at one time and another, specially
offered for us. It may, therefore, be wise and well to disclose before
you, not those matters which you accepted and supported as they were
each announced, but the connection of one with the other in the long
chain of events.  For the spiritual and mental history are equally the
result of God's guiding hand, and the relation of this church to great
and grave questions of principle and policy should be by no means
questionable.
I.  When the providence of God called me  to meet the  rumseller at the coffin of his victim, it was high time to speak of Temperance, and I endeavored to conceal nothing of the counsel of God
against this curse. Then and since, the trumpet has given no uncertain sound.
When the demand of blatant sciolists came like the challenge of
Goliath of Gath across the plain, we went against them with sword and
spear, but we much preferred at length no armor of Saul-only the
smooth stone from
"Siloa's brook that flowed
Fast by the oracle of Go(d." 
And we are pretty generally convinced that while science and skepticism must receive attention, and true science and honest doubt deserve
even more than attention, the best assault upon their ranks is not made
from their low level.  To rise above, to better and purer air-to
breathe a strength which is not in the place of battle to know science
and to appreciate doubt, but to soar, singing, beyond them all into the
eye of the day-this is the more permanently powerful work. As
some look upon this method, it becomes but the subterfuge of ignorance calling for "implicit faith" as against reason.   But as we appre
I I 
1A EAIRE WELL SERMON.
hend it, it proclaims faith to be the highest reason, intellect to be
inferior to heart, confidence in God to be the surest road to knowledge, and Christ Jesus to be that wisdom before which this lower
learning pales and fades, as the morning star before the sun. It cannot
be charged upon the teachings of this pulpit, in these three years, that
they have repressed thought, repelled inquiry, or disdained a state of
"honest doubt."   For we have believed that there are, in this community, many such uncertain, dubious minds, ill at ease, and seeking
after rest within the truth. And we have even preferred their partial
faith, to the thoughtless acquiescence in an unknown and unintelligible
creed.
To all such, simple or subtle, we have as a church-in our public
services, in our social and cottage meetings, and in our search of "wit,
eloquence and poesy" in the Young People's Association-held up
only Him who
"Was nailed
For our advantage on the bitter cross."
We have found no convincing argument so good as Christ Himself.
2. Aside from these public questions which from the state of the
public mind must be as publicly met and moved, there have been other
relations of vital value to us as a SoCiety. We are associated with
other evangelical churches in common labor for the common weal.
We have found that by respecting our own rights and the rights of
others, and by sincere and unsectarian desire for the salvation of souls,
we were wallring most nearly in the way of Christ. "As much as in
us lay" we  have "lived peaceably with all"  who were of "the
household of faith." May the day be far distant, when word or act
of this church shall either surrender a single principle of importance
to permanent Christian union. or consent to a false or factitious seml —
blance, in the stead of that reality which now so generally exists!
3. Nor have we been able to overlook another duty-that,
namely, to our own young people and, by example, to the young people of other churches.  It took a considerable time before the way
was clear for the organization of our Young Peoples' Association. But
now it is a factor of the utmost consequence in the fiuture of the church.
Socially, intellectually, and in the matter of Christian training and
aggressive work, it satisfies a want long felt in this peculiar field between
the Church and the University. Here, on some sort of common
ground, it is possible for us to meet all worthy and earnest young
12 
A FARE WE~LL SERMOn O.
people, and to make a strong link between the "stranger within our
gates" and those who dwell at home. A literary element has been
found of admirable service as a cohesive force, and the Sunday evening and Cottage prayer-meetings are religious centres. It is by the
Cottage meetings more especially that the fire of real Christian sympathy and experience is borne from home to home, and from heart to
heart.
4. To an exterior view there is one relation of this church
which is anomalous, and which demands thorough consideration. It
is its position beside the University of Michigan.
Were this Institution denominational, any attempt on the part of
those who were of a different faith and order, to affect or influence
students in a religious point of view, would be a decided impertinence.
Had it an organized Church within its walls, it would be unjust and
unfair to compete with its religious design. Did it make Protestant
Christianity a fundamental article in its method of education, it would
deserve and extend a wide charity. But it happens to be a State Institution in which no religious tests inhere, whose students are under
no personal religious supervision, whose morning-prayers are strictly
voluntary, and whose occasional religious efforts depend for their success upon their nature, season and promoters. That a religious feeling
prevails at all within its halls and class-rooms, can be directly ascribe d
to the personal high character of some of its instructors, and to the
presence of a Students' Christian Association, which, through negation
and chill and discouragement, has seen its work crowned, during the
last winter, with an abundant revival of the power of the Holy Ghost.
When I happened  once to make  a public statement of these
patent facts, I found myself drawn back from the columns of a religious
journal into the columns of the daily press. To your disgust, and my
owv, the issue of fact was forced upon me, and I have seen reason to
hope that Christian people penetrated, even in that short contest, behind the fallacious comparisons of present with past. The exact state
of religion in the University was reached in a single answer to a single
question, asked by one of the famous committee who  came to carry
through that which they felt to be a solemn farce, and to inquire into
"Sectarian instruction in religion and medicine."  The question was
put:   "Does the University teach religion?" and the answer was
given, " lVegatively, yes." Which, if it means anything, can be logically construed as "Affirmatively, No!"  And it is to be noticed that
neither creed nor sect was comprehended in the query.
I3 
A4 FA,RE WELL SERMONV.
Was it, therefore, a misconception of the duty of this Church that
it owed its service to those thus cast upon it? Do we differ in our
feelings from the other churches of the city, when we include this as
one of the main things to be reached in our work?  Or should I have
paid no attention to this mass of Twelve Hundred young men and
women, simply culling out the Presbyterians, and holding forth no
hand of welcome, and saying no word of aid to any of the rest? The
attendance upon this congregation for the past two years, and the
souls who have been saved, and the delight which has filled your own
hearts prove the contrary.
Intangibilities are dangerous foes. To fight them is to fight "as
one that beateth the air." But real and evident things are worthy of
remark. Hence, called out by a desire for facts upon a given question, a word of mine spoken under the elms of Yale, and merely expressing a doubt as to the physical fitness of ladies for masculine study,
was caught up and went echoing backward and forward through the
land. But it encouraged me when I found, in the space of a fortnight
after, that Professor Seelye, of Amherst, and Dr. Bellows, of New
York, and presently, Dr. Clark, of Boston, placed their fingers on the
same weak spot, and for the sake of all concerned called attention to
it as I had done.
And I would be untrue to my own sense of honor, ungrateful to
my remembrance of personal friendship, and dull and dead to any appreciation of deep Christianity, pure and noble lives, and high and
successful endeavor, if I did not pay the tribute of sincere esteem to
the womanly women of this University. That which I feared for
them has been happily averted, and the future story of the Day of
God will reveal that with Woman came into the University of Michigan heart, taste and a religious and social element of inexpressible
importance. 
In the midst of these strivings for the light, there was an unaccountable lack of cordial assistance on the part of the University
authorities. Many saw it, some felt it, and some-though they were
few in number-agonized over it.  When, therefore, to the complete
dismay of those who were nearest to the Christian heart of that institution, we were publicly informed that there was " no sympathy with
this anxious solicitude" as to some of the present tendencies of Higher
Education, and that this "transition-period" of student-life was to be left
to run its course of skepticism that it might end in faith, it cer
I4 
A FA4RE WEI~L SER~IfON.
tainly claimed and obtained a reply. All the warnings and predictions of the Evangelical Alliance as to these tendencies revived at
once, because the evidence was on the ground, and the effects were
present before our eyes. Thus, the case at length demanded, and your
pastor used "great plainness of speech,"  "without  partiality and
without hypocrisy."
Was it because of an unanswering God that from that very n,ight,
the Spirit of all Truth was striving among those students? Was it an
unconscious comment on a certain proud carelessness for the souls
beneath their charge, that the great blast bowed certain members of
the Faculty, as it swept down the skeptic, and gave breath of life to
many a fainting soul?
Since then the old struggle renews itself in another form. Could
there be between these churches and the authorities of that institution,
the friendship and fellowship which now prevail between us and our
student-friends, it would indeed be a happy thing. These faithful,
earnest students, whose zeal gives to the University the best of its repuce, would be educated, not merely technically, but in the love of a
broad, sweet culture, wrought through the spirit of Him of Nazareth,
who "spake as never man spake" before or since.
Yet it is a main part of the intense difficulty, and the source of
the most wearing anxiety of the pastorate in this church of ours, that
this is emphatically not so. And the latter will forever kill-in religion and in learning-for the spirit alone giveth life.
Unsectarian, as it professes to be, there is no outlook for a permanent constituency to the University, except in some way through
religious influence.   And to place any denomination evidently in
power, or to place any denomination evidently under the ban, is to
cast off the sympathy and support of a certain constituency of evangelical christians.
You may remember that Prof. De Volson Wood served us in the
Session and in the Board of Trustees, most admirably well.   His de partment in the University gave it and him renown. But when he left
-and his printed report makes plain why he did leave-we lost the
only professor in the Literary Department who was identified with us.
Our work has, hence, been very trying and perplexing. We ran the
risk of appearing to intrude in every move we made; but it seemed
clear that we must do our full duty, and leave the rest to God. I do not
disguise from you, that in all ordinary expectation of justice, the
x5
* 1.
I I 
,A FARE PWELL SERMOVN.
vacant place thus left in our working force should have been soon supplied.  I refrain from criticism, but I cannot sufficiently express my
regret that many should have been driven to believe that disinclination
and not inability, operated against us. A consciousness of this fact
has largely produced my consent to labor where I shall have, I trust,
the same success without encountering forever the effect of whispers,
hints, detractions, and whatever else might seek to nullify your success
as well as mine. That this is no fancy, I am very sure. [ have too
frequent confirmation of the belief that this church, as it stands to-day
in all its methods, arrangements and prosperity, is to be left to fight
its battle alone for the souls of these young men and women, for me
to be in doubt. I have been compelled, now and then, to step in advance of you and to take a position to which, very soon, I have secured your full consent.   Once more, and for the last time, and in
the presence of the Searcher of all hearts, I take before you the position that if you believe with the heart, if you love with the heart, if
you go forward on your chosen path and do your chosen work, all will
be well.  This path may cross other pathls, but there will be no collision. And if you do not share in a positive misconception of plan
and labor, you shall be set free, finally, from a necessity for change
which comes to whatever will not base itself upon the heart instead of
the head. That this change is inmminent in all education and in all
religion, I have no  fraction of doubt.   Wisdom, whether in Christianity or in the integral clcullu,, is the product of a love for principles which transcends both creed and rule, useful and even necessary
as they both must ever be. On this high plane you are now proceeding.  Go tforward upon it without let or hindrance, undismayed!
IV. This constitutes the outlook of your future work. This institution, wisely planned at the first by Christian men, shall endure undoubtedly to commemorate their christian zeal, But i, may be permitted to a descendant of one of those earliest regents,to announce that the
University as a fact is greater than any man, yea, than any administration or the policy of any administration. It can never remain the
football of a faction, or the bema of a demagogue. Surely and steadily it will crystallize into a clear policy.  The insects in the coral may
perish, but the work shall live. Education is no deluded goddessher name is rather to be called Wisdom.
i6
: —:.1:
:.: I.. 
A FARE WELL SERMON.
"Her open eyes desire the truth,
The wisdom of a thousand years
Is in them; may perpetual youth
Keep bright their light from tears!
Religion and Learning should be hand in hand. It is for you-in
your sphere, and within the true limits of your own demesne-to keep
them truly joined. Hereafter there may be those who will cry, "Give
us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out."
May I not, then, counsel you to " hold fast that which thou hast,
that no man take thy crown." Prayer you have proved to be a power,
and therefore you must pray. Two revivals, and the addition of over
a hundred persons in these three years, demonstate the fact.  You
have learned with gladness the "'more excellent way" of love and
close association, therefore, let none divide you-let  there be  "no
schism in the body."   "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye
do them."
The conscientiousness, developed by our present system of finance,
must not be cast aside. But there will need to be a wiser and more
generous liberality on the part of those whom God has blessed with
means. The kingdom and house of God should be dear to every
worshipper.
But why should I proceed as though you required a charge to do
your duty? Surely, the experience of a church which two years hence
should celebrate its semi-centennial, must suffice to  have established
what is the true way of happiness, the truest mode of peace. The
same Church-Session, who have kindly and firmly administered the discipline and cared for the doctrine of this church, are at your service.
The same Deacons watch over your poor. The same Trustees plan
and provide. You have made it a matter of conscience to select
them wisely, and I do not fear that they will fail you now.
V. And now it is time for us to part. In harmony andl goid-will
we have lived together, in harmony and good-will we separate. We have
rejoiced together with the living, an(l we have often wept together by
the coffin of the dead. Face after face comes out upon the canvas of my
thought-each face full of its story.   You have made me your friend,
your confidant, your counselor. You have conme to me sorrowing for
sin, and I have heard the first crying of your new-born souls. You
have come to me with your burdened hearts, and we have placed the
cares of life on "'Him who careth for us."  You have sought me as your
spiritual physician, and I have administered to you the "Balm that is in
x 7 
A4 /,4,RE HELL SERMON.
Gilead." I have gone after the straying, and helped the hurt, and been
happy with the whole.
Whatever may have been the faults of the preaching, the Lord
has overruled its " foolishness " to the salvation of souls.   I have
striven to give you always the best I had, and the lecture-room has
been as blessed as the room above.  That desire for knowledge which
is so marked a feature of this congregation, and of its Sunday-school
and Bible-classes, has been met so far as in me lay.  I trust that, hid
away within your heart may be here and there a thought which shall
recall mne to you in the days to come.
Let us be thankful, then, for these years which we have spent together-these Passovers which have celebrated our deliverance " out of
the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage."    We may not
forget each other, for we are a part of each others' lives.  Yet now
"I hear a voice you cannot hear,
Which says I must not stay:
I see a hand you cannot see,
Which beckons me away."
In the advancing years, you too, may  comprehend  that shape of
duty which I alone upon my Brocken height can now bellold.  I hardly
hope that you cau. yet perceive it-nor that you can, see as I see, the
clear road of;our own future.  But, when we  are together  beyond
these mists, within the realm of light, we  shall only wonder that we
sighed about the nests that were apart, while forest and blue heaven
were to be filled and thrilled with song.
Like those last words of warning, of love and of regret,with which
we watch our dear ones passing from our side, are these mny words to
you.  It is 1 who am stationary upon that will of God, which bears me
now away. To me, upon my sphere of duity, you are like a known and
lovely orb, whose steadly planetary movement I shall -watch from the
rim of my new earth.  Better than any one else, I shall interpret your
precessions, your retrogressions, and the shifting of your place among
the stars.  For I kinow  you, like myself, to be lighted by the same Sun
of Righteousness, and to hold an unvarying orbit about His throne of
truth.  I shall test you with the spectroscope; I shall follow you with
the telescope.  And I shall hear across dim wastes of air your songs of
salvation, and the pearns of your joy.
They tell us of a mariner who, contrary to the custom of his
class, brought to every new land the best seeds and the choicest plants.
r8 
1A FA.RE WELL SERMON.
He tended them, and saw to their success-he taught the native
islanders to trust him, and to care for what he gave. And then he
sailed away, to renew on other shores his benevolent design. And
thus he scattered Edens across the summer sea, blessing and being
blessed-a true evangelist in the common gifts of God.
And if, to-night. like him, I leave behind me the seeds of truth,
and the plants of goodly plans, I know that, like him, I shall be ever
welcome back. Like him, I shall linger lovingly, now and then, beside some precious growth, and when I go on board my vessel I shall
find her name to be the Good Hope, freighted with generous wishes
and fervent prayers, and bound-beyond all transient harbors-for
the Port of Everlasting Peace.
I9 
ce)