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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 ^ 
 
 ^J^'^.f^^^'
 
 SKTCTCH 
 
 OF TIIU 
 
 LIFE AND WRITINGS 
 
 OF 
 
 A. B. BROWN, DD.LLD, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN RICHMOND COLLEGE, VIRGINIA. 
 EDITED BY 
 
 Dr. and Mrs. WM. E. HATCHER. 
 
 WITH ARTICLES FROM 
 
 IR. JOHN A. ItROADUS, TROF. JOHN HART, DR. H. A. TUPPER, PROF. C. L. COCKE, DR. J. O. 
 
 niDEN, DR. C. TYREE, PROF. B. PURYEAR, LLD., DR. J. WM. JONES, DR. W. W. LANDRUM, 
 
 DR. WM. R. VAUGHAN, DR. ANDREW I3R0ADUS, DK. C. H. RYI-AND, REV. WM. SLATE, 
 
 DR. J. R. TAYLOR, MR. STEIililNS, COL. T. J. EVANS, PROF. H. H. HARRLS, MR. W. 
 
 C. TYREE, DK. W.^r. E. HATCHER, PROF. O. P. HOLMES, DR. A. E. OWEN. 
 
 HALTIMORE: 
 
 II. M. WHARTON & CO., Publishers, 
 
 Nos. 12G AND 128 W. Baltimore St. 
 1886.
 
 COPYRIOIITKD, ISSC, BY H. M. WllARTON & Co.
 
 ^kJ t 
 
 
 PEEFAOE. 
 
 The reader will find in the following pages a simple tribute 
 iVora a loving pupil to the memory of a departed teacher. They 
 have been prepared with no other motive than to embalm some of 
 the fragi'ant influence, and preserve some of the solid work of an 
 eminent Christian and scholar. To those who knew him, one of 
 his greatest charms was his deep interest in living questions, and 
 his incessant activity on present surroundings. As they look 
 back, they most deeply regret that this very habit of mind pre- 
 vented the employment of his pen for the instruction of the 
 future, and makes his literary remains few and meagre in com- 
 parison with the powers of the living man. 
 
 Socrates wrote nothing, yet his influence has been undying and 
 universal, because his mantle fell upon the broad shoulders of a 
 riato, who was not a little helped by the unpretending memo- 
 rabilia of a fellow-pupil, the practical Xenophon. If this 
 memoir shall help to bring out a real successor, its object will 
 have been accomplished. 
 
 The volume has grown in the hands of the compiler far beyond 
 the dimensions of her original purpose. She undertook to prepare 
 a brief memorial for circulation among particuhir friends. When 
 her intention was made known, many valuable and instructive 
 contributions were received, which presented in different lights as 
 many striking views of the character and life of Dr. Brown, and 
 it has been no easy task to compress this wealth of material into 
 reasonable limits. This fact will explain also the somewhat 
 
 iii 
 -J , — ?■■» r"= -^ f^^
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 peculiar structure of the book. For while the papers furnished 
 by others touch the life they portray chiefly at certain points, not 
 a few of them take a much wider range. It has seemed best not 
 to sacrifice the integrity of these tributes to the demands of chro- 
 nological order, as it is observed in the biographical sketch. 
 Therefore even in the earlier chapters will be found some mention 
 of the incidents and allusions to traits that belong rather to the 
 later life. 
 
 Of the sermons and addresses it should be said that Dr. Brown, 
 while he made careful preparation, never allowed his manuscript 
 to fetter his utterance, and rarely wrote out for print what he had 
 spoken. Many of his best discourses are left incomplete, because 
 he safely relied upon the momentum and the excitement of actual 
 delivery, and the sympathy of his hearers, to make a stronger 
 conclusion and one better adapted to the occasion than he could 
 possibly work out in the seclusion of his study. Such of them 
 have been selected as were in the best condition for the printers, 
 and have been given just as he left them. 
 
 It remains for me to say that the engagement with the Publishers 
 
 allowed less than three months for the preparation of the volume, 
 
 and even this short time has been seriously curtailed by sickness 
 
 in the household over which the com2)iler presides. It would 
 
 have been my duty and pleasui'e to render some assistance, but a 
 
 term of sickness and the consequent accumulation of other work, 
 
 have left me opi^ortunity to do no more than assist in selecting 
 
 and editing the material and preparing some portions of the later 
 
 chapters. 
 
 Wm. E. Hatcher.
 
 II^^TEODUOTOET. 
 
 The distiuguishing glory of man is freedom. He possesses 
 the power of choice. He is not a puppet, performing in fixed 
 grooves, under the power of an extraneous force. He is 
 endowed with those gifts which render it possible for hira 
 to mould his own character and shape his own destiny. This 
 quality constitutes the lordly element in his being. And it 
 is not irreverent to say, that God treats it Avith the most 
 tender respect. In all of His transactions with men He never 
 ignores their wills. He imposes no duty which they cannot 
 choose to perform, and accepts no service unwillingly given. 
 
 When in His authority God prescribes a law, it is exactly 
 fitted to human freedom. If we turn to His word, we find 
 that He delights to teach His creatures by example. He 
 throws out before them, men of like passions with themselves, 
 whose lives are illuminated with gleams of His own perfec- 
 tions. When He would set before the world a new edition 
 of the Law, He embodied it in the life of a person, the Son 
 of God. 
 
 Nothing is so ennobling as the contemplation of lofty 
 character. Its subtle influence radiates in every possible 
 direction: but he who would receive most of its self-perpet- 
 uating spirit, must put himself in contact with it. 
 
 Common origin, common interests and a common end, serve 
 
 V
 
 VI INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 to unite mankind in a brotherhood. The eternal bands are 
 around all, binding them closer and closer together. There 
 was a period in the world's history, long after the time that 
 humanity meant a pair, when the parts were diverse and 
 far removed from each other. But the quickening steps of 
 civilization and religion have made them touch elbows in tliis 
 great march of development. 
 
 Once the thoughts of great men were entombed in languages 
 unknown to the rest of mankind, like the buried glories of a 
 Pompeii — now the bursts of eloquence of an inspired speaker 
 may flasli athwart continents in a day — even his very voice 
 may be transmitted to remote sections, if not preserved for 
 future hearers. The connection between one nation and 
 anotlicr, between one man and another, is most intimate. Not 
 more so, is the vital relation in the material body by which 
 one part is brought iu contact with all its powers, by means 
 of the delicate tracery of nervous organisms. One part or 
 another is important in the universal like the material body, 
 in proportion as it influences the whole. 
 
 It is only the one who outstrips the others, the advance 
 guard, who is worthy the attention of the student of nature 
 and ai't. 
 
 Some there are like diamonds in the rough who, on account 
 of certain adverse surroundings, were never set in the kingly 
 diadems that they might have adorned ; and to history it 
 becomes a pleasing task to catcli up the spirit of their lives, 
 and the productions of their genius, to crystallize them into 
 enduring form.
 
 INTRODUCTORY. vii 
 
 History has been often called " Philosophy teaching by 
 example." Every reader who at all comprehended the genius 
 of the subject of this memoir, will see at once, his likeness 
 in the definition. Whether he be regarded as the man with 
 his splendid native endowments; or the man with his great 
 acquisitions gained by close research, and acute analytical 
 processes, he is in every sense a philosopher and a Christian 
 philosopher as well; for Bacon says "the roads to religion 
 and true philosophy are identical ; as the noblest powers of 
 man have to be employed in both." 
 
 In his character he stands forth a man nobly planned, and 
 nobly developed — and as such, he was in some sense the 
 resultant of the various forces that were brought to bear on 
 him— and a fiictor as well in the mighty temple that time 
 erects; just as every effect is the result of two or more 
 causes, and is itself one of the causes of other effects. 
 
 By what processes did he reach his elevation ? What were 
 the influences he put in motion? What did he do for the 
 benefit of mankind? These are pertinent questions, which 
 will be discussed iu the following pages.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Preface, iii 
 
 Introductory, v 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Those That Went Before, 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 His Childhood Home, 15 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 The Mountain Boy, 21 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Entering the Harvest, 55
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Hampton Pastor, 74 
 
 pac;e. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Hrs WoKK IN Charlottesville, 107 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Days of War, 155 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Country Pastor, 180 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The College Professor, 227 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 His Death, 202 
 
 His Character, 291
 
 LIFE AND WKITINGS 
 
 A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THOSE THAT WENT BEFORE. 
 
 OO deeply rooted in the human mind is the con- 
 ^ viction that talent is transmitted, that the 
 presence of it in an individual is at once the signal 
 for a search for its origin, in his ancestry. 
 
 Abram Burwell Brown was the eldest son of 
 Martin Brown and Belinda Seay. 
 
 Of the genealogy of his father, little is known. 
 Sufficient information has been gotten, however, to 
 establish the fact that, for generations, the Browns 
 have been noted for their intellectual ability and 
 love of learning. 
 
 The grandfiither, Jeremiah Brown, was a Revo- 
 lutionary soldier, of English descent ; was born in 
 Stafford, lived in Culpeper and Fauquier Counties, 
 till the begiiniing of this century, when he moved 
 
 A
 
 lU LIFE OF A. B. BKOWX, DD.LLD. 
 
 to Amherst, where he resided till his death, in 
 1846, having attained to the age of ninety 3'ears. 
 He was twice married. His first wife was named 
 Jane Kirk ; and their children were named Willis, 
 Thomas Fielding, Elizabeth, Joseph and Martin, 
 the father of A. B. Brown. 
 
 Jeremiah Brown, and all of his children were 
 apt and eager to learn, and distinguished for their 
 retentive memories. Elizabeth won for herself the 
 soubriquet of Macaulay, on account of her wonder- 
 ful memory, and power of delineating character. 
 Joseph was a gentleman of scholarly habits — 
 devoted to reading and a charming conversa- 
 tionalist. He was a popular citizen and an earnest 
 Baptist. Martin was perhaps the most gifted of 
 this family. 
 
 On the maternal side, A. B. Brown was de- 
 scended from the Huguenots. His great-great- 
 grandfather, Abram Seay, for whom he was named, 
 was born in France, went to England to escape 
 the persecution of the Catholics, and afterwards 
 emigrated to Virginia. 
 
 In order to trace, with minuteness, the influ- 
 ences of heredity, it seems fitting that we look 
 for a moment, at the religious and politicfd con- 
 dition of the country, from which this ancestor 
 sprang.
 
 THOSE THAT WENT BEFORE. 11 
 
 The middle of the sixteenth century witnessed 
 the beginning of religious toleration in Europe. 
 Prior to this, barring the revolt of Henry VIII., 
 the supremacy of the Pope had been absolute 
 and unlimited. But the clarion notes of Luther 
 had rung throughout Germany, and echoed 
 through the other countries, till converts to 
 the reform faith were numbered, from "Finland 
 to tlie Alps, and Iceland to the Pyrenees." The 
 long-suppressed desire for freedom of conscience 
 had voiced itself, in the valiant defenders of the 
 new faith, till the whole country threatened to 
 be Protestant. 
 
 The Pope, realizing the decay of his power, 
 called on the crowned heads, to suppress the 
 religious reformers. Everywhere was confusion, 
 disorder, and often violence. Under the wise 
 rulings of Elizabeth, in England, the opposing 
 parties were kept in abeyance, and for a long- 
 while afterwards it was a safe asylum for Pro- 
 testant exiles. In France, where Calvin had 
 been busy propagating the new doctrines, great 
 numbers became converts, among them, many of 
 the nobility. Here was the scene of the direst 
 conflicts. Religious controversy culminated in 
 civil war — the Protestants being the Huguenots, 
 and the Catholics the Guises. Here the wicked
 
 12 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 Catharine de Medicis — the queen-mother, the 
 mention of whose name sullies the pen that re- 
 cords it, as it blanches the cheek of modern 
 womanhood — resolved to exterminate the Protes- 
 tants at one blow, and having summoned them to 
 Paris to attend a ^vedding feast, had the tocsin 
 sounded, that was the signal for the general mas- 
 sacre, which sent seventy thousand souls into 
 eternity in one night; and all this under the 
 guise of religion. 
 
 Not very long after, there went out from France 
 to Protestant England a young man, Abram Seay, 
 a Huguenot, a scion of nobility, of culture and 
 means. 
 
 Notwithstanding the general uj)heaval caused 
 by the Reformation, literature had steadily ad- 
 vanced in England, and to come within her bor- 
 ders was to feel her quickening touch. 
 
 After the turbulent passions of the Protestants 
 and Catholics subsided, differences as to mode of 
 worship sprung up between the Protestants them- 
 selves, which led to the formation of the party 
 called Puritans, or those who desired to be purer 
 and simpler. Rather than submit to forced regu- 
 lations of worship against their convictions, they 
 set out on the high seas, for a home in the great 
 West, where they might enjoy perfect liberty of 
 conscience.
 
 THOSE THAT WENT BEFORE. 13 
 
 Abram Seay and his wife, formerly a Miss Wil- 
 son, with their three sons, Abram, Isaac and 
 Jacob, with thousands of others who during those 
 years flocked to these shores, sailed for the land 
 named in honor of the Virgin Queen. A trust- 
 worthy tradition informs us that this high-spirited 
 old Huguenot, out of his ample means, purchased 
 homes for his three sons near the James River. 
 The home of Abram, the eldest of the sons, was 
 in Nelson County, Virginia, and was known as 
 the Cove. He married a Miss Loving. 
 
 Joseph Seay, a grandson of Abram, the Hu- 
 guenot, owned a handsome property on the James, 
 near Tye River. He married a Miss Annie Harvey 
 — an English lady who, so far as can be know^n, 
 was the first Baptist in the large circle of the Seay 
 family. It is worth while here to say that her 
 Baptist convictions were very strong, and slie 
 sought to win the family to their adoption. While 
 unsuccessful in making Baptists of her own chil- 
 dren, she has a reward for her fidelity, in the 
 magnificent Baptist character of her grandchil- 
 dren. One of the daughters of Joseph Seay, was 
 Belinda. She was the mother of A. B. Brown, 
 and he honored her memory, by bestowing the 
 same name on his eldest daughter. 
 
 Abram Seay, having brought with him, to this
 
 14 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 country, the native refinements in wliicli he had 
 been reared, and the intellectual quickening he 
 received in England, instilled in his posterity 
 high aims and aspirations. 
 
 The discerning reader, will not fail to perceive 
 in the descendant of this Frenchman, as his 
 characteristics will be delineated, the high-strung, 
 nervous temperament, the hot blood, the high 
 gentlemanly instincts peculiar to the real French 
 nobleman. 
 
 The descendants of Abram Seay, are scattered 
 through the counties of Nelson, Amherst and 
 Fluvanna, and form a part of the honored yeo- 
 manry of the land — respected for their thrift, 
 intelligence and piety. 
 
 Joseph Seay, the grandfather of A. B, Brown, 
 was a man of talents and culture. He w^as a 
 teacher, the most of his life. He educated his 
 children and many of his grandchildren. He and 
 his wife outlived several of their children, and 
 took two sets of grandchildren, to train and to 
 educate. He fought in the War of 1812, and died 
 in 1845, having reached the age of seventy-eight 
 years.
 
 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HIS CHILDHOOD HOME. 
 
 rpHE eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains 
 -*- in Virginia, embracing the counties of Nelson, 
 Amherst and Bedford, has been regarded for gene- 
 rations, as the most fertile spot for the birth of 
 Baptist preachers. The simple habits, honest 
 purposes and pure lives of the inhabitants, to- 
 gether with the inspiration that comes from the 
 beholding of the subhme in nature, conspire to 
 produce this result. The belief that the grandeur 
 of natural phenomena tends to the elevation and 
 expansion of the powers of man, is not simply a 
 poetic idea, but an established truth. A soul 
 brought into habitual communion with God in 
 nature — ^rvdio has the spiritual discernment to 
 interpret Him — will be, in the language of 
 
 another, 
 
 " Haunted forever by the Divine mind," 
 
 and so cannot be utterlj^ debased in life. 
 
 In a farm-house on the mountain-side, near a 
 dashing stream called Allen's Creek, the subject of 
 this memoir was born. He was the eldest of a
 
 16 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 family of five children. A look witliin the walls 
 of that quiet country home reveals to us first the 
 father, Martin Brown, and his wife, Belinda, nee 
 Seay, and five children, viz., Abram, Joseph, 
 James, Margaret and Thomas. 
 
 The father, Martin Brown, was a man of limited 
 education, but of good talents, ambitious spirit and 
 pure life. He was specially gifted in lively wit 
 and brilliant repartee. His devotion to his chil- 
 dren was very marked, and he struggled hard, in 
 the face of untoward circumstances, to elevate 
 them. He was a great lover of reading, and suc- 
 ceeded in exciting in his children a love of study 
 that made all of them attain to some degree of 
 intellectual excellence. 
 
 In one of his addresses Dr. Brown said, " My 
 father loved learning and he loved me, and so he 
 made many sacrifices to give me educational ad- 
 vantages." The schools accessible were few and 
 poor. This country, so young and untried, had not 
 long laid aside its swaddling clothes. The early 
 colonists, having secured their release from Eng- 
 lish rule, had begun to build up an independency 
 worthy of their best endeavors; but the process 
 was slow. Material interests had to precede in- 
 tellectual, forests had to be felled, houses built 
 and mechanical interests encouraged, before much
 
 IIIS CHILDHOOD JIOME. 17 
 
 impetus could be given to literary pursuits. By 
 many, a common English education was all that 
 was deemed necessary for one Avho did not expect 
 to teach, and so high intellectual advancement 
 was exceptional. 
 
 In the quiet country home, there were no child's 
 boolcs ; only the weekly newspapers, Avliich were 
 like the Acta Diurna of earlier days. It is said 
 that Abram, at a very early age, loved to read the 
 newspapers and the political addresses of the day. 
 His reading was better suited to mature minds. 
 He was often sent for, to read the papers to the 
 neighboring farmers. He once said to a friend 
 that in his boyhood, he got a better idea of the 
 condition of the country by reading the advertise- 
 ments in the papers, than in any other way — that 
 from them, he learned both the demands and the 
 supplies of the people. With such a thirst for 
 knowledge as he possessed, it was an easy matter 
 to extract it from surroundings. 
 
 Although his mother died when he was so 
 young, yet she lived long enough to make an 
 ineffaceable impression on her first-born. It is 
 said that the knowledge that a child gains in the 
 first seven or eight j^ears of his life is far in excess 
 of that gained in all the after-life. Cowley, in 
 speaking of the influences of early life on the
 
 18 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 heart and mind of the child, says, " It is like 
 carving j-our name on a young tree, which widens 
 as the tree grows." The mother is the first 
 teacher, and if she does well her duty, there is no 
 power on earth that can blot out the memory- of 
 it. The mother of A. B. Brown was said to be 
 one of the most beautiful women of her day. 
 She was also intelligent and pious. All through 
 life he could seldom speak of her without tears. 
 H^ ever reverenced her memory and spoke of her 
 with peculiar pleasure. The influence of a good 
 and wise mother is illimitable. Some learned 
 man has described a good mother as nature's clief- 
 iTcxmvre. John Randolph, of Roanoke, said he 
 would have been an atheist but for the remem- 
 brance of his mother's teaching him the Lord's 
 Praj^er. What might not Byron have been, with 
 his splendid poAvers under the tutelage of a good 
 and wise mother? Could the son of a woman 
 who died in a fit of anger at an upholsterer's bill 
 do otherwise than give loose rein to passions as 
 she did. 
 
 The following sketch was found among Dr. 
 Brown's papers : 
 
 " I was born in Amherst County, Virginia, on October 
 20th, 1821. ISIy father, quite poor at tlie time of my
 
 HIS CHILDHOOD HOME. 19 
 
 birth, slowly accumulatcHl property, most of which, how- 
 ever, he lost by reverses before the education of his family 
 was completed. He was sober and industrious, of sparkling 
 wit, eminently genial and companionable, and more self- 
 sacrificiugly devoted to the preferment of his children than 
 any other man I ever knew. My mother was thrifty and of 
 that dexterity and skill in household arts in which the par- 
 tiality of her children could discover the marks of genius. 
 Seate<l by her side, I learned to count and learned my 
 letters." 
 
 The death of his mother, occurring when he 
 was eleven years old, caused a breaking up, of the 
 once happy but short-lived home circle. All the 
 children, except Abram, went to live at the home 
 of their grandfather, Joseph Seay, and the mem- 
 bers of that household were never united again 
 under the paternal roof. The grandfather Seay, 
 who w^as a teacher of considerable ability, taught 
 the little ones who had come into his home, while 
 Abram staid at the old place, the sole companion 
 of his father, and went to school to the best 
 teachers in the neighborhood. Without the com- 
 panionship of brothers and sister in his home life, 
 he had recourse to reading works of high order of 
 merit, that he found on the shelves of the family 
 library. His father, discerning in him the marks 
 of genius, and being so ambitious for him to im-
 
 20 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 prove his talents, kept him at school till he was 
 17 years of age, when he began to teach. It is 
 believed that he never did any work on the farm. 
 His physical constitution, in consequence of his 
 Avant of exercise in the open air, did not develop 
 and keep pace with his mental. 
 
 The father, so devoted to learning, and with no 
 mean qualifications himself, kept his children con- 
 stantl\- at school. All of them were gifted, and 
 inherited or imbibed the father's love of books. 
 James Brown, who was thought by some to have 
 eq«al talent with Abram, and might have been 
 equally distinguished if he had had the same tastes, 
 was a physician and a county treasurer in Bed- 
 ford. A few years ago he moved West, and died 
 soon after reaching his new home, with disease of 
 the lungs. Margaret, the only sister, died at the 
 age of 18 years. Joseph distinguished himself as 
 a student at the University of Virginia, and 
 Thomas, who lives now near the old home, is a 
 farmer of decided literary taste and ability. It 
 is said that in after-life, when the brothers 
 would visit each other, they would spend the time 
 together discussing books and theses to the ex- 
 clusion of common-place topics. It would be 
 difficult to find a family with as much literary 
 taste.
 
 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 
 
 TN the old mountain home, young Brown had no 
 -^ sister or mother to care for him. He felt sadly 
 the need of them. An aunt kindly looked after 
 his wearing apparel, and kept it in order for him. 
 He used to say that he was very happy when he 
 begun to make money for himself, so that he could 
 buy his own clothes; that those made for him 
 were always too large — made " so that he could 
 grow to them ; " and, as he would tell of it, and 
 laugh in his characteristic way, he would continue 
 the story, saying, " but I never grew to them." 
 His separation from society gave him the oppor- 
 tunity for fostering those habits of reflection, Avliich 
 drew out to their highest, the powers of his soul. 
 With the majestic old mountains around him, fill- 
 ing his soul with emotions of grandeur and with 
 love for the Maker, his spirit, quickened and ele- 
 vated, reveled in mental and spiritual delights. 
 
 He next tells of his teachers : 
 
 " In my eighth year I was sent to school. Most of the 
 teachers of my boyhood and youth were intelligent and
 
 22 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 conscientious, but immature young men. Yet I was much 
 more indebted to these than to one or two of greater expe- 
 rience. James B. Davidson, then himself a mere tyro, 
 afterwards a very successful teacher in Southwest Virginia, 
 so taught me spelling and reading in one year that any 
 improvement since made has been without conscious effort. 
 The next year he imbedded Murray's grammar in my 
 memory for future uses. Edwin T. Ellett, in teaching me 
 Latin in my twelfth year, incidentally utilized my previous 
 acquirements in English, and made me as good a gramma- 
 rian as I ever became till I was introduced, in middle life, 
 to the more rational and logical methods of Kiihner, 
 Greene and Mulligan. This able and efficient teacher, in 
 two years, so thoroughly grounded me in the Latin forms 
 and syntax, and so carefully trained me in translation, that 
 subsequent improvement was the easy result of continued 
 practice and increasing mental development." 
 
 It is said by his ftimily that he never studied 
 arithmetic at school more than a few months — 
 having ciphered through Pike's Arithmetic when 
 he was ten years old. Being foremost in all his 
 classes at school, he was frequently called on by 
 the boys to work their examples for them. If he 
 declined, they would taunt him by saying : " It is 
 just because you don't know how ; you can't do 
 it." And at that he would yield to their wishes, 
 and solve their examples for them, lest he might 
 be accused ol" incapacity. He was a sort of
 
 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 23 
 
 assistant teacher. He contracted a fondness for 
 teaching then, that grew with his years. He 
 always managed to have some one near to instruct. 
 He frequently made allusions to the fact quoted 
 above, that he committed to memory what he 
 didn't understand. In questioning the wisdom of 
 such teaching, he would say, " but when after- 
 wards I became old enough to comprehend the 
 meaning of the text, it was right there in my mind 
 for use." 
 
 The teacher that he makes mention of, that 
 taught him the languages, was a Frenchman, 
 named Cruiseau, probably a connection of the 
 family. We know that he taught at different 
 times in Nelson and Amherst, and that Mr. Brown 
 followed him up, studying under him while he 
 taught. He was regarded as a fine linguist, and a 
 better teacher than one could usually find in the 
 rural districts. To this rudimentary knowledge of 
 the languages of Latin, French and Greek, that he 
 gained early in life, he was constantly adding. It 
 has been said that a mind that has early been 
 trained in the forms of the Latin and Greek evi- 
 dences it ever afterwards in the complexion of its 
 productions. He was no advocate for specialists. 
 He pleaded for broad and deep foundations and 
 massive structures above.
 
 24 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, i)D. LLD. 
 
 Below is a coiitinuation of the autobiographical 
 sketch : 
 
 " Having added to my acquirements a little Greek, 
 rather more French, a larger complement of geometry and 
 a meagre scantling of other mathematics, I commenced 
 teaching school early in my 18th year. Up to this time I 
 had not known what it was to be a student; but, ambi- 
 tious to show myself competent to what I had undertaken, 
 subjected my mind to intense effort. And it was better 
 for me, perhaps, than for my pupils, that some of them 
 were trying to learn Latin, Greek and French. Unfor- 
 tunately, I divided my leisure hours between preparation 
 for my classes and the study of law, — a study which was 
 not indeed wholly thrown away, but a study for which I 
 Wiis poorly prepared, and which was little related to my 
 future pursuits." 
 
 An incident is related by Rev. Mr. Wm. Tyree, 
 who obtained it from his father, the intimate 
 friend of Dr. Brown, that illustrates his mental 
 ability at this period of his life. He says, — 
 
 " \yhcn a mere boy he and a young companion (Mr. Wm. 
 Tyree) \valkcd to I^iynchburgh to attend a meeting of the 
 General Association. I'lic two youths, who had not often 
 been beyond the limits of their own county, were of course 
 anxious to see all that could be seen. Walking down the 
 street one evening, as they pa.ssed the Catholic Church,
 
 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 25 
 
 the door was open and in they walked. The priest 
 happened to be in the church at the time preparing for 
 some service. After looking around, Mr. Brown's eye 
 was attracted to a picture under which there was a 
 historical quotation. In a moment the thorough know- 
 ledge of history, which he acquired from various sources, 
 enabled him, as he thought, to detect error in the quota- 
 tion; so, unawed by the sanctified air of the priest, he 
 walked up to him, and said the statement was false. 
 The priest, judging him by his personal appearance, at 
 first seemed to think him impertinent, as well as ignorant, 
 to presume to question the correctness of such authority, 
 even in the presence of his majesty; but he soon found 
 that the lad, awkward and ignorant as he supposed, was 
 more than his equal, not only in historical information, 
 but in logic as well, and soon left him and resumed his 
 official duties." 
 
 Those who were intimately associated with him 
 at this period of his Hfe, say that he gave evidence 
 of great mental power. Very modestly, he says of 
 himself that he had not learned to study till he 
 began to teach. He may not have been engaged 
 in such close analytical and synthetical processes 
 as he afterwards subjected himself to, in studying 
 a subject, but he had read widely, and on deep 
 and abstruse themes, such as a boy of his age 
 would have passed by. At that time he read and 
 committed to memory much of the poetry of
 
 26 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 standard authors. He hardly knew the time 
 when he did not know " The Lady of the Lake," 
 some verses of which, commencing, 
 
 " I Httle tliouglit when first thy rein 
 T sku-ked upon the banks of Seine, 
 That liighkiud eagle e'er should feed 
 On thy fleet limbs, my matchless steed. 
 Wo' worth the chase, wo' worth the day 
 That cost thy life, my gallant gray," 
 
 he loved frequently to repeat to his family around 
 the hearth-stone. 
 
 He writes of his teaching, and of his hard 
 studying while a mere boy, and of his reading- 
 law. He did not write of his spiritual condition 
 at this time, and perhaps it were as well to omit 
 any account of it ; l^ut for the sake of truth and 
 honesty, and without any real damage to char- 
 acter, it must be recorded that he came near being 
 an atheist. This is not remarkable when we con- 
 sider that honest doubt is the vestibule to the 
 house of faith ; that a state of uncertainty is often 
 the condition and sign of investigation. One has 
 often to look around to find the true path. He 
 doubted for a while, but it was only the dark- 
 ness before the dawning of the day-star of 
 Hope. When it did appear, it was in all its
 
 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 27 
 
 effulgence — a real, glowing sun, and it never 
 declined. What he gained by investigation, he 
 held to as real truth. 
 
 He made a profession of religion while boarding 
 in an Episcopal family, w^here he taught school. 
 He joined their church, and took deacon's orders 
 with a view to the ministry. His father and 
 mother were both Methodists. He said he felt it 
 to be his duty before preaching the peculiar doc- 
 trines of the church to examine into the scriptural- 
 ness of them, and the result was he became a 
 Baptist. If any book beside the Bible helped him 
 to a change of faith, it was Dr. Carson's work on 
 Baptism. He entertained such a high opinion of 
 the work and man, that afterwards he named his 
 first-born in honor of him. During the investiga- 
 tion of the subject, he had frequent interviews with 
 Dr. Rice, a minister w^liom he loved and revered 
 all through life, and who took a pleasing part in 
 his ordination. It was a sad coincidence that Dr. 
 Rice preceded him to the grave by only a few 
 months, and at the time his last sickness com- 
 menced he was planning a biographical sketch of 
 his old pastor. 
 
 It has not been easy to determine exactly at 
 what point in his life Mr. Brown changed his 
 church relationship. I incline to the opinion that
 
 28 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 it occurred after his return from Washington Col- 
 lege. Concerning his connection with that insti- 
 tution, I find this graphic and comprehensive 
 statement in his papers, — 
 
 " I entered Washington College at an advanced stage of 
 the session of 1840 and 1841, prosecuted with great inten- 
 sity Greek and Mathematics, and felt with perhaps equal 
 benefit the quickening contact of ingenuous and gifted 
 young minds." 
 
 And this closes the only sketch of his life writ- 
 ten by himself that can be found. 
 
 An honored friend and fellow-countyman, (Dr. 
 C. Tyree), one who ranks among the foremost of 
 Virginia's distinguished ministers, furnishes us the 
 following, which, beginning at this j^eriod of his 
 life, gives some interesting facts : 
 
 "In the year 1840 the writer of this sketch first 
 became acquainted with A. B. Brown, while assist- 
 ing Dr. Rice in a series of meetings at Mt. Moriah. 
 Although raised in an adjoining neighborhood, it 
 was not till these meetings, that this writer became 
 acquainted with him. While teaching school in 
 the family of William M. Waller, a prominent and 
 wealthy gentleman of Amherst, he had joined the 
 Episcopal Church ; at the same time he was an
 
 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 29 
 
 attendant on the ministry of Dr. S. R. Rice, at 
 Mt. Moriah Baptist Church. In this church there 
 was a large number of intelligent men ; among 
 these were such as John W. Broaddus, Benjamin 
 Taliaferro, Dr. Gibson and others. These Baptists 
 were more the social and religious companions of 
 vouno- Brown, than the members of his own church, 
 for the latter Avere few and far between. Hence, 
 whether from intercourse with these intelligent 
 and kind Baptists and their pastor. Dr. Rice, or 
 from his own independent investigations, we know 
 not — likely from both — Mr. Brown became a 
 Baptist, and was, to the joy of the Baptist and 
 disappointment of his Episcopal friends, baptized 
 into the fellowship of Mt. Moriah Church by Dr. 
 Rice. 
 
 " He was then regarded as one of the brightest 
 and best j^oung men in his county ; hence his 
 accession to the Baptists was considered a triumph. 
 In after years, Brother Brown gave interesting 
 accounts of the argument that the Episcopal 
 minister, Rev. Mr. Caldwell, would present to him 
 for the scripturalness of infant baptism, and for 
 sprinkling as a mode of baptism ; and how he and 
 the clear-headed Rice would refute these specious 
 pleas for these human innovations. It was, we 
 think, after this noble young man became a Bap-
 
 30 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 tist, that he became a student at the University of 
 Virginia. We do not know how long he remained 
 in our great State college, nor what precise science 
 he studied while there, but we do know that it 
 was in this noble institution he mainly laid the 
 foundation for his future eminence as a scholar, 
 educator and preacher. It was here, more than 
 elsewhere, he acquired his habit of strong, unique 
 thinking. 
 
 "It was about this time, the Mt. Moriah Church 
 licensed him to preach, after which he frequently 
 l^reached to his own, and other surrounding Bap- 
 tist Churches. His first pulpit efforts gave no 
 very promising warrant of the eminence, to which 
 he attained, as a preacher. His person was un- 
 attractive, his gestures awkward and inappro- 
 priate, his voice abrupt and inharmonious and his 
 enunciation indistinct. The first acknowledged 
 proof of his strength of mind, was an address on 
 Foreign Missions, made before the church of which 
 he was a member, and the more discerning of his 
 brethren saw in his first sermons, intimations of 
 his future greatness. 
 
 "In the estimation of all, his Christian character 
 was of a high order. He was singularly free 
 from vanity and over self-valuation. Other young 
 preachers of less learning and intellect, arose at
 
 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 31 
 
 once to distinction, by the helpful adjuncts of 
 good voices, pleasing manners, and self-possession. 
 Abram Brown gradually attained to the highest 
 distinction as a preacher, in the absence of these 
 and other extraneous helps. 
 
 "His brilliant success, without so many adjunc- 
 tive helps, proves that he possessed a rarely great 
 mind and a noble heart ; and both were greatly 
 enlarged by habits of study and habits of devo- 
 tion. 
 
 " God never vouchsafes to any of his preachers 
 all of the elements of preaching power. Robert 
 Hall and George Whitefield were not poweiful 
 preachers in all respects. There are some regards 
 in which even Spurgeon is not a model. 
 
 " He gave A. B. Brown but few constituents of 
 the great preacher, but these few He gave him in 
 such munificent measures as to make him, of his 
 class, tlie peer of any preacher of his own, or any 
 denomination in his State. His power lay in the 
 quickness, richness and originality of his thoughts, 
 the gushing depths of his emotions, with the rare 
 facility of clothing his ideas in the fewest and best 
 chosen words. 
 
 " He was, however, only the greatest of a certain 
 class of preachers. It were not best for the 
 world's religious betterment, that all or most
 
 32 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 preiiclicrs should be great after Dr. Brown's type. 
 The sermons, that gave him his high character 
 were too intellectual, to convert and edify the 
 common hearer. 
 
 "He could, however, preach plain and practical 
 sermons. We recall one he preached at Mount 
 Moriah, during a protracted meeting, from the 
 text * Seek first the Kingdom of God and his 
 righteousness,' etc., that was simj^le and thrilling 
 to all ; but on the day before preached from the 
 text, ' Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ,' etc., a sermon grandly mysterious. It 
 reminded one of the sun, behind a dark cloud, 
 fringing its edges with golden light ; but did not 
 break out in full-orbed plainness till near its close. 
 
 "Dr. Brown was, of his class, one of the greatest 
 preachers of his day, and was in the truest sense 
 a gospel preacher. His great intellect, learning 
 and knowledge, never swerved him in the least 
 from the simplicity of Christ, and while we say 
 this much, say at the same time that he was not 
 a safe model for our young preachers, in his most 
 striking characteristics. 
 
 " Beyond all doubt, he was greatly useful as a 
 preacher. He reached and impressed a few that 
 men of less gifts w^ould not have won to Christ. 
 But he Avould have reached and won a much
 
 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 33 
 
 larger number, had his mind moved in an orbit 
 less brilliant and less extended, and yet we must 
 say he never appeared to us, ambitious to be either 
 profound, learned or original. So far from it, 
 while he was eminent in these regards, he was 
 with all, spontaneously natural and earnest. 
 
 "But we have turned aside from an outline of 
 Dr. Brown's early life as a preacher, into an at- 
 tempt to describe him, as a preacher. 
 
 " Soon after he entered the Baptist ministry in 
 Amherst, he was appointed, we think, by the 
 General Association of Virginia, a missionary in 
 Lewis County. How long he remained in this 
 field, and what Avas his success in it, we have no 
 means of" knowing. 
 
 " After this he settled as pastor of several Bap- 
 tist Churches, in the counties of Pittsylvania and 
 Halifax. While in this field, he became the 
 friend and co-laborer of Kev. A. M. Poindexter, 
 and also of Rev. Wm. A. Tyree, who had recently 
 settled in the latter county as pastor. As yet 
 Mr. Brown, was comparatively unknown to his 
 denomination in the State. Soon after Dr. A. M. 
 Poindexter became acquainted with him, he said 
 to the writer, that he regarded Abram Brown the 
 most talented young preacher in his State. Still 
 it was years before his fame extended beyond his
 
 34 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 field and association, and in these his briUiant star 
 arose slowly. 
 
 " For years he was a country pastor, and then a 
 teacher at Hollins Institute, and again a country 
 pastor before Virginia Baptists knew that they 
 had in this obscure Pittsylvania preacher their 
 mightiest intellect. 
 
 "It is likely, his reputation as our greatest 
 thinker — and, on given occasions, our greatest 
 preacher — was suddenly made by one unexpected, 
 unpremeditated, gigantic speech before the Gene- 
 ral Association of Virginia. 
 
 " It was soon after the late war, when this body 
 met in Petersburg. The report of the Corre- 
 sponding Secretary, Hon. H. K. Ellyson, presented 
 the discouraging fact that the Board was five 
 thousand dollars in debt to its missionaries for 
 the past year. The oldest and best friends of this 
 noble Board were discouraged. 
 
 "Several brethren attempted to come to the 
 rescue of the board in the way of speeches, 
 but the difficulties that environed the board and 
 seemed to threaten it with immediate stoppage, 
 if not dissolution, were so great, that they spoke 
 without vigor or effect. The churches of the 
 State were impoverished, and dispirited in both 
 church and mission work. If ever there was
 
 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 36 
 
 a time, when the noble ship of the State Mission 
 Board, was Ukely to be engulphed, it was at 
 this juncture. 
 
 "At this painful crisis Pastor A. B. Brown, of 
 Pittsylvania, arose to speak. He had spoken be- 
 fore the association before, but never with any 
 marked eftect or ability. For a short while in 
 manner and matter, he Avas labored. Soon his 
 voice became flexible, rich and mellow, his eiuiu- 
 ciation loud, rapid, distinct and ringing. The 
 theme of this great speech, that most likely saved 
 our State Board from collapsing, was, if I can 
 correctly state it, ' The essentiality of the Gospel, 
 as we hold and preach it, to the welfare of Wr- 
 ginia, socially, commercially, politically and relig- 
 iously.' 
 
 " He soon became master of the great assembly. 
 The speaker, in uttering his great argument, 
 w^ept, and so did all who heard him. Nor was 
 weeping all. Many were determining to make 
 extra, and greater pecuniary sacrifices, to put on 
 foot again the State mission work. When Dr. 
 Brown finished his speech. Professor Cocke sprang 
 to his feet, saying, ' Brother Moderator, the argu- 
 ment is finished. This association is now pre- 
 pared to act. I move that subscriptions and 
 pledges be made to relieve the board,' when, in
 
 36 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 less time than was consumed in the speech, the 
 whole live thousand dollars were raised, and the 
 great crowd arose and sang ' Praise God, from 
 whom all blessings flow.' 
 
 " This speech gave Dr. Brown a reputation as a 
 powerful thinker and speaker with the Baptists of 
 Virginia, that never, in the least, waned while he 
 lived ; and all who knew him not only admired 
 liini f(jr his intellectual and scholarly greatness, 
 but loved him for his goodness, and godly sim- 
 plicity of character. They, who knew him most 
 intimatel}^, admired and loved him most. 
 
 "He had, no doubt, his faults; but, now that 
 death has deprived us of him, his character, with 
 its bright assemblage of mental, social and Chris- 
 tian excellencies, looms up for our grateful re- 
 membrance and imitation. His death is a great 
 loss to the Baptist ministry of Virginia, to the 
 college of which he was so distinguished a pro- 
 fessor, to the cause of education, to the General 
 Association of our State and especially to his 
 stricken wife and children. 
 
 "He and the writer were from early life en- 
 deared friends. Our last interview was on the 
 morning after the adjournment of the General 
 Association. A few days before, he had requested 
 me to pray for the recovery of an ill son. He
 
 THE MOUNTAIN ROY. 37 
 
 commenced our last talk by repeating, with tears, 
 the request, ' Don't forget to pray for the recov- 
 ery of my boy.' 
 
 " He then referred to Rev. W. A. Tyree, of their 
 long and mutual attachment, saying, of his early 
 friend, but for ill health, he would have attained to 
 eminence as a preacher. He also expressed his pur- 
 pose to write, for publication, in the minutes of the 
 General Association, his estimate of my brother's 
 character. But, alas ! before he wrote this tribute, 
 and within a few days, the God who gave him, un- 
 expectedly to himself and friends, took him to his 
 griefless home in heaven. 
 
 "Cornelius Tyree." 
 
 Salem, Va., December 30, 1885. 
 
 Dr. Tyree's sketch is marked by the character- 
 istic candor of its author. In what he says of 
 Dr. Brown's lack of popular powder, he is not sup- 
 ported by other distinguished men, whose opinions 
 will appear, in later chapters. It was my privilege 
 to sit at his feet- as his pupil, and also to hear him 
 from Sabbath to Sabbath, as he preached his mas- 
 terly sermons, from the pulpit of the Charlottes- 
 ville Baptist Church. At that time, I was a school- 
 girl, and of course in point of intelligence could 
 claim only a modest place as one of the people. It 
 
 450658
 
 38 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 must be admitted, that sometimes he descended to 
 depths of metaphysical research, and sometimes 
 bounded to heights of eloquence, which were 
 beyond my capacity : also, that the strain upon 
 my powers in attempting to follow him was some- 
 times intense; and occasionally, at the end of his 
 sermons, I felt exhausted b}^ my own mental 
 excitement. To say that he was fully understood, 
 would not be true, but I always understood fully 
 as much as I could carry. I may not have 
 appreciated him, but was consciously exalted, by 
 every contact with him, I cannot ajDpreciate the 
 ocean, but the sight of it alwaj's thrills and 
 expands me. 
 
 The common people did not understand Dr. 
 Brown, but the}^ understood and assimilated far 
 more of thought than they ever gain from com- 
 mon men. He roamed on heights, which they 
 could never scale, but they stood on tip-toe to 
 watch him in his majestic flights. Besides, they 
 caught the subtle and transforming touch of his 
 magnetic character. The presence of a great man 
 is richly educational — and when like Dr. Brown, 
 he is charged with spiritual warmth, as well as 
 intellectual light, he quickens into better life, all 
 who come under the spell of his power. 
 
 Among the many honored sons, who have
 
 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 39 
 
 delighted to honor Virginia, there is not one 
 whom Virginia delights to honor more than 
 Thomas Jefferson. And of the valuable and 
 imperishable work, that he wrought for her, in 
 the legislative halls, the forum, and in the retire- 
 ment of his Monticello home, none can surpass 
 in magnitude and influence, the originating and 
 equipping of the University of Virginia. If he 
 had done nothing else for his state, that Institu- 
 tion Avould have made his name immortal. The 
 extent of its curriculum, the high standard of 
 scholarship required, and variety of its depart- 
 ments, make it an object of worthy pride, to every 
 Virginian. 
 
 But there were not many who could enter its 
 classic halls; not many who could get the pre- 
 paratory training, or who could afford the neces- 
 sary expense, to receive such a course of study. 
 Among the Baptist preachers, with a few excep- 
 tions, it had not been thought necessary for them 
 to have an education beyond a knowledge of 
 Latin and a little Greek, and the most ambitious 
 of these had sought access to Columbian, and 
 later to Richmond College. 
 
 The writer of the following sketch. Dr. John A. 
 Broadus, of Louisville, Ky., and the subject of 
 it, Dr. Brown, were among the first of the Virginia
 
 40 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 ministers to seek a University education. And 
 surely the denomination could not be more honored 
 than to have as its first representatives, at this 
 fountain of learning, such gifted minds, such 
 laborious students, such consecrated characters, 
 as the two mentioned above — and w^ho in paths 
 somewhat divergent, have far outgone the pre- 
 diction of sanguine friends in their subsequent 
 career. 
 
 Dr. Brown, at that time, little dreamed that in 
 after years he would be the Gamaliel with this 
 University learning of him. 
 
 With great pleasure, I leave my readers to be 
 addressed by Dr. Broadus, w^hose pen and voice 
 are constantly inditing words of wisdom to the 
 interested multitude, giving them the result of his 
 accurate scholarship, intricate research and deep- 
 toned piety. He includes in his recollections both 
 the time when he w^as a fellow-student at the 
 University, and the time when he w^as pastor in 
 Charlottesville, a little more than 12 years later. 
 I thank him for turning aside from his engrossing 
 duties as Professor, to do this deed of love : 
 
 " Mr. Brown spent the session of 1846-7 at the 
 University of Virginia, attending the schools of 
 Moral Philosophy, Chemistry and Natural Phil-
 
 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 41 
 
 osopliy. In Moral Philosophy I was his classmate. 
 Before the middle of the session it was apj)arent 
 to me that he was the foremost man of the class. 
 Everybody knows now that he had a remarkable 
 specific talent for that class of subjects. He was 
 extremely undemonstrative, and even diffident in 
 the class-room and in private. But Dr. McGuffey's 
 unrivalled questioning would bring out all that 
 was in a man, sometimes surprising the man him- 
 self into the consciousness of having thoughts that 
 were of real value. We soon began to see that 
 Mr. Brown greatly relished philosophical subjects, 
 and spoke of them with modesty and sometimes 
 hesitation, but with intense interest. He was 
 singularly exact in expression, and at times quite 
 happy. During that or a subsequent session Dr. 
 McGuffey spoke to me about him as an admirable 
 student. 
 
 "As my father was living at the University I 
 had occasion to introduce my friend to the ladies 
 of several families. Not then prepossessing in 
 appearance, and not so felicitous in the adjust- 
 ment of apparel as in fitting a word to a thought, 
 he was also embarrassed in company by his con- 
 stitutional shyness ; yet, notwithstanding these 
 drawbacks — which are worth mentioning only for 
 the sake of this fact — the young ladies saw very 
 
 c
 
 42 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 soon how uncommonly intelligent he was, how 
 elevated in feeling and tone of character, and they 
 liked to converse with him. Before the end of 
 the session I had a great admiration of his mental 
 powers, and his sincerity, simplicity, purity, quiet 
 energy, and thorough conscientiousness. He was 
 also very unselfish, very prompt and cordial in 
 appreciation of others, and even his shyness 
 showed no touch of unpleasant self-consciousness. 
 "In October, 1859, Mr. Brown became pastor at 
 Charlottesville. The 'June Meetings' of that 
 year had been held in Charlottesville, and on 
 Sunday evening (night) Mr. Brown was appointed 
 to preach at the Baptist Church. As he sat in 
 the pulpit while others were conducting the wor- 
 ship, a minister took a seat by his side, and said, 
 'You must do your best to-night. Brown. These 
 people are thinking of calling you as pastor. I 
 know they are — do your best.' Now let us not 
 judge over-harshly the man w^ho made this sug- 
 gestion. It was in very bad taste of course, and 
 showed a sad lack of right feeling about preaching, 
 for a right-minded preacher is at such a moment 
 extremely anxious to rise above all concern as to 
 what people may think of him, to sink everything 
 in the passionate desire to benefit his hearers and 
 honor the Saviour. This was a w^ell-meaning
 
 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 43 
 
 person, however, tind the hint was very kindly 
 intended. But how little he knew his man. One 
 who witnessed the scene said that Brown seemed 
 almost crushed — the very idea of trying to make 
 a display in the pulpit was utterly repugnant to 
 him, and that anybody should expect to stimulate 
 him in this way was humiliating — in fact it made 
 his sermon a comparative failure, which had to be 
 explained afterwards to some members of the 
 church who did not know him. 
 
 " In the summer of 1860 I spent a long vacation 
 in the suburbs of Charlottesville. Being in poor 
 health and almost entirely unable to go about the 
 State and preach, I had the opportunity to hear 
 Brother Brown quite regularly, and to see him 
 frequently in private. Everybody spoke of him 
 with great respect, and now and then one with 
 enthusiastic admiration. He was certainly one of 
 the most blameless men you could anywhere find. 
 The treasurer said he was a most excellent econo- 
 mist, and lived comfortably upon a small salary 
 without ever getting in debt — which at that 
 remote period was thought a very desirable thing 
 in a pastor. His conversation, Avhen with two or 
 three friends who had some metaphysics in their 
 soul, was in the highest degree interesting and 
 profitable. His thought upon many subjects was
 
 44 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 profound and rich — like a geologist revealing mines 
 of treasure beneath a surface over which most of 
 us had walked unknowing and unheeding. The 
 sympathetic reception of his thoughts, or the 
 interest of discussion, would kindle his mind into 
 a glow, and then his expression would be not only 
 exact but often extremely beautiful. While a bold 
 and independent thinker, he was anything rather 
 than abstracted and self-sufficing. His mind was 
 greatly dependent as to its best action upon the 
 sympathy of others wdio might be present, or 
 else their pronounced and kindly antagonism. In 
 preaching, if his hearers seemed dull, he was 
 greatly hampered ; if some of them were markedly 
 inattentive, it was all he could do to go on; but 
 wdth a congenial theme, in which the hearers also 
 were specially interested, he was a great and 
 wonderful preacher. Yet by the bulk of his 
 hearers his ordinary efforts were then not much 
 enjoyed, and his transcendent talents never justly 
 appreciated. His habitual range of thought was 
 far above the heads of people in general, yai it 
 was difficult for him to realize that fact. He did 
 not easily comprehend the W' orkings of a common- 
 place mind, and therefore could not put himself in 
 sympathy with the thinking of average hearers, 
 nor adapt the selection and illustration of his
 
 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 45 
 
 thoughts to their understanding and taste. And 
 while so greatly dependent upon sympathetic 
 listening, he had not the self-asserting, conquering 
 resolution which compels attention. So people 
 often complained that he was '• shooting over their 
 heads,' while John Hart and Lewis Minor Cole- 
 man were rejoicing in an intellectual and religious 
 feast. But when some special topic or occasion 
 brought liim and his hearers into full sympathy, 
 the effect was wonderful. By degrees, as the 
 years went on, truly appreciative hearers gave Dr. 
 Brown something of the reputation he deserved ; 
 people who came to know him well loved him 
 warmly, as it was inevitable they should do ; and 
 so he could more generally command the full 
 attention of all present. It is probable also that 
 through much experience as pastor and teacher he 
 gradually gained more of intellectual sympathy 
 Avitli the mass of mankind. Yet his extraordi- 
 nary ability was never fully appreciated by people 
 in general. Greatly honored and admired by 
 Baptists throughout the State and beyond it, and 
 now widely and deeply lamented, his powers far 
 surpassed his reputation. It appears to me that 
 Virginia has produced few such intellects. And 
 he was a man to be warmly loved. There are 
 many of us who recognize it as among the marked
 
 46 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 blessings of a lifetime to have been frequent hearer, 
 pupil, friend, of A. B. Brown. 
 
 "John A. Broadus." 
 
 Without disparaging in any degree the above it 
 is but just to say that Dr. Broadus did not see 
 much of Dr. Brown in later life. And while it is 
 true that his sermons while pastor in Charlottes- 
 ville were suggested and prepared mainly for those 
 requiring strong meat rather than the pure milk 
 of the word — yet those who knew him later as 
 the country pastor, the army chaplain, and after- 
 wards as the college professor, will bear testi- 
 mony in these pages to the greater simplicity and 
 unctuousness of his preaching. 
 
 Mr. Brown graduated from the University in 
 the schools of Moral Philosophy, Natural Phil- 
 osophy and Chemistry, with certificates of pro- 
 ficiency in Geology and Mineralogy. He returned 
 to his native county and taught a school with much 
 success. At this time he preached to some of the 
 churches in the neighborhood. While the majority 
 of those Avho heard his early efforts did not aj)pre- 
 ciate his ability, yet there were some who saw in 
 him the foreshadowing of his brilliant career. 
 
 It seems well to close this chapter with a por- 
 tion, at least, of an address delivered, in his later
 
 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 47 
 
 life, by the subject of these papers, on Beneficiary 
 Education. The story of his heroic struggle to 
 educate himself, will stand as a striking illustra- 
 tion of the truth and justice of his argument. He 
 knew what it was not to be helped in preparing 
 himself for the ministry, and that fitted him the 
 better to feel for others : 
 
 BENEFICIARY EDUCATION.* 
 
 The Baptist denomination has never admitted, and, we 
 hope and believe, never will admit, that thorough scholar- 
 ship should be an indispensable condition to entrance upon 
 the Christian ministry. Yet the Baptist denomination agrees 
 with almost all Christians, and with almost all men who have 
 at all thought on the subject, that high attainments in 
 literature and science, and especially thorough mental dis- 
 cipline, are very desirable to the preacher of the gospel. The 
 doctrines which it is his mission to expound are, in their most 
 accurate and authoritative form, locked up in dead languages. 
 They have been carefully, conscientiously, skillfully trans- 
 
 * Delivered before General Baptist Association of Virginia, held in 
 Danville, June, 1877. About that time severe strictures upon beneficiary 
 education had appeared in the public prints, and this address of Dr. 
 Brown was made at the request of the Education Board. It was regarded 
 as a triumphant vindication of the Board's work, and was most warmly 
 commended. It was delivered with splendid effect.
 
 48 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD, LLD. 
 
 lated, aud, in the main, successfully. But their precious 
 contents have never been decanted into vessels of other 
 material aud shape, without some damage to flavor, without 
 some loss of subtle aroma. Who that is worthy to be a 
 minister does not long, nay, even aspire, to deal with divine 
 truth in its unshrunken roundness aud its unimpaired fresh- 
 ness? Then the teacher of Christianity, even if he takes the 
 truth at second-hand, has to j^erform upon it functions as diffi- 
 cult and as delicate as those which taxed the cautious sagacity 
 of a Marshall. What a wide range of ancient literature 
 bears on the Bible ! The relation to it of all Hebrew history 
 and antiquitieo is abundantly obvious. And there is scarcely 
 a line of the extant Greek language that has not a more or 
 less important outlook on the meaning and construction of 
 words in the kScriptures. The Bible, with the fearless frank- 
 ness of an honest witness, has committed itself to innumerable 
 allusions to concurrent profane history aud institutions. 
 These are to be studied for their bearing on the Bible 
 authenticity. The intellectual food of beginners, instead of 
 being left to the natural powers of mastication and degluti- 
 tion, is ground into sausages aud cut into bits iu a manner 
 often oflensive to the self-respect and pride of the children 
 themselves. I cannot remember when, in my first regular 
 reading-book, my eyes fell upon the first sentence, " Diligence, 
 industry and proper improvement of time are material duties 
 of the young." Well, it was rather high-pitched for an 
 eight-year old. But I understood something of it, for industry, 
 proper improvement of time and duty, were household words
 
 BENEFICIARY EDUCATION. 49 
 
 with my mother. These threw some gleam of light on the 
 associated words, and, if anything was not understood, it 
 seemed not material. The next thing I remember was the 
 saying of Agesilaus, that boys should learn what they will 
 need to know when they grow to be men. Then, I may 
 remark, they should learn to do hard work, and not to 
 expect too much dandling and sympathy. Toiling along 
 through things mysterious, I reached ten partially intel- 
 ligible chapters. The one containing in brief the noble life 
 and the serene and pious death of the martyred lady Jane, 
 the understood part of which threw much light on their 
 darker environment. The next was the allegory of that 
 plodding application, that, fixing his eye on the temple of 
 knowledge, and steadily pressing onward, distanced the 
 vigorous but desultory flights of genius. I remember that 
 he had stones to remove out of his way, and certainly it would 
 not have been well that they should all have been removed for 
 him. I am sure that not many difficulties were cleared from our 
 path. It was so in grammar, in geography, in arithmetic, 
 in everything. We gained by the hard work we had to do. 
 But we did not have help enough from teacher or text-book. 
 Now all is changed. We have science made easy — we have 
 royal roads to learning. We have dilution and simplicity 
 simplified ; we have notes innumerable, keys, translations. 
 Difficulties, which masters delighted in as developing strength, 
 and even boys rejoiced in as challenging and testing strength, 
 are removed, chasms are bridged, roughnesses smoothed, steeps 
 are gently graded ; and there is luxurious towering where once
 
 50 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 there was toilsome climbing. Mind and heart and will are en- 
 feebled for want of arduous exercise. When too much help 
 palsies the best of all help — self-help — more learning may be 
 acquired, but there is danger that real education, soul-vigor, 
 will be damaged. But let us not do injustice to the educa- 
 tional methods of the latter part of the nineteenth century. 
 The school books, on the whole, are far more rational, pro- 
 gressive, cultured than those of a preceding age, and I must 
 say that I have lately seen some of the most difficult text- 
 books I have ever seen, and, on some subjects, the only really 
 sensible ones that I have found. Yet the verdict of intelligent 
 educators remains on the chief issue. Our predecessors 
 helped too little, we help too much. But do we help too 
 much in furnishing the means of education ? May be we do. 
 My father, uneducated himself, but loving learning and loving 
 me, toiled hard to furnish me, even scantily, with the means 
 of education. May be he ought to have left me to work out 
 an education. And I, why should I rack my brains till my 
 temple aches over the question, How shall I educate my chil- 
 dren? Why should I not help them along as well as 1 can, till 
 they are seventeen or eighteen years of age, and then leave 
 them to work their way ? 
 
 And why should not the Baptist denomination, Avhich, 
 when it had no colleges and no education societies, so in- 
 delibly impressed itself on the legislation, the genius, the 
 spirit of the entire country, leave its poor young men of piety 
 and talent to the stimulating and invigorating influence of 
 self-reliance and hardship and neglect ? There is no reason
 
 BENEFICIARY EDUCATION. 61 
 
 why it should uot, if patronage and pecuniary aid are super- 
 fluous and even injurious. If she did enough for the higher 
 education when she endowed her noble University, when she 
 put generous, intellectual food at a height inaccessible, of almost 
 impossible access to the poor young man, she might have said 
 to him, cultivate your manhood by toiling up to it. She de- 
 cided differently and gave, nearly, for a term of years board 
 and tuition to fifty of her meritorious sons at that institution, 
 thereby giving it the grandest upward impulses it has ever had. 
 The Baptists of Virginia have partially endowed a noble 
 college. Shall they now say to the sons of poverty seeking 
 preparation for the least remuneration of the learned call- 
 ings, find or make a way to the halls ? A rare few might do 
 it. Those irrepressible men of genius and of energy who are 
 awfully discounted as a credit to the Education Board, be- 
 cause they could have succeeded, board or no board, might 
 dispense with your help. But these indomitables, I suppose, 
 do not flourish solely on bread of sorrow and water of 
 affliction. They do not deserve their name, if a smile and 
 lift would soften and paralyze them. We expect, indeed, 
 great benefit to them and to mankind by pushing through 
 these very men of whom there is no fear of losing their feet. 
 Ah, sir, tell us uot to have these men educating themselves 
 till they are thirty or thirty-five years old. Let them get 
 their education at the time, and the only time, in which 
 education is more than material and instrument for the soul, 
 and becomes thoroughly inwrought into the powers, habits 
 and tastes. Let them complete their preparatory education
 
 52 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 by the time they are twenty-five, or, if possible, twenty-one. 
 You may then trust them with those terrible girls, whose 
 influence on the rising ministry seems so much dreaded. 
 Delilah will never shear their locks of strength. 
 
 Our policy, however, is not to be adapted to the cases of 
 extraordinary men ; but I may say before dismissing them, it 
 will not do to predict that every young man of first-class 
 ability who sets his head on making money and getting an 
 education will succeed. It is pure assumption that ability 
 always succeeds. And yet, the percentage of those who are 
 born failures and yet are always prating about what they 
 would have done or would do with a chance, is not greater 
 than the successful men who ascribe their success solely to 
 their pre-eminent ability. Sir, there is far more truth in that 
 saddest and sweetest pathos in literature, Gray's lament 
 over the graves of the obscure and unsuccessful, than in all 
 the plausibilities of the great French philosopher Cousin, 
 about the success of great men. 
 
 And again, great abilities are not always successful in 
 making money. I respect real talent honorably exerting 
 itself in acquiring wealth. Talent and even genius, may find 
 scope for exercise, in financiering. But we may rest assured 
 that all talented men will not prosper in making money. 
 Young men strongly inclined to literature and science, will 
 not always make and save money. It is a very bold figure 
 that makes this land bristle with men who have worked 
 their way through college. Bristles stand quite thick where 
 they belong. The number would probably be much larger
 
 BENEFICIARY EDUCATION. 53 
 
 of men equally able, equally meritorious every way, who 
 have failed, to the irreparable loss of the country and the 
 church. But more than enough has been said of men of 
 extraordinary ability. Can enough men of piety, prudence 
 and of good, well-balanced minds educate themselves without 
 the aid of the denomination ? Let us see, with the present 
 policy of the free schools to exclude from the circle of instruc- 
 tion Latin, Greek, Algebra and Geometry, and with the effects 
 of these same schools, in almost totally annihilating private 
 schools. A country youth of seventeen or eighteen is singu- 
 larly fortunate if he is prepared for the preparatory depart- 
 ment in a college. If he goes through college and seminary 
 it will require not much less than ten years, and from $2,500 
 to $4000. How shall he make the money ? It is a happy 
 accident if at that age he is a skilled mechanic, able to com- 
 mand good wages. His surest j^rospect for raising money, is 
 furnished by that much-honored instrument, the plough. He 
 will receive for ploughing eight or ten dollars a month ; out 
 of this he must clothe himself very cheaply, for it is to be 
 hoped he will postpone being a beau till he reaches college. 
 How long will he be in raising the money? Must he enter a 
 store when so many youths are crowding in, satisfied with 
 board and clothing if they may escape the sun ? The country- 
 store of the period, the only one accessible to him, is almost 
 always a suitable place for the retail of ardent spirits. You 
 will tremble when he enters them for a moment, once or twice 
 a week, in quest of the mail. Here he must sit down amidst 
 cotton cloths and gin and whisky, to raise the money to take
 
 54 UFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLL). 
 
 him through college. The outlook is not encouraging. Oh ! 
 but he may teach school. Well, in the olden times, the 
 examples were not rare of young men who got ready for 
 college by teaching, and then alternated, between going to 
 college and teaching, till, at from twenty-four to twenty- 
 eight, they came out well-educated, often, indeed, among the 
 most solidly educated men of the country. It cannot be so. 
 The examinations of the teachers of public schools presup- 
 pose a general culture and a knowledge of the art of 
 teaching, which will not be exhibited by a youth of eighteen 
 or twenty, of fair abilities, and it will be remembered that of 
 such we are now speaking. If he gets a school, it will rarely 
 be for more than five months in the year, and not often at a 
 compensation of more than thirty dollars a month, out of 
 which his board must be j^aid. If he can get through the 
 year without any new made debt, he will deserve a medal for 
 economy. These remarks sufficiently indicate the appalling 
 barriers in the way of a young man working himself through 
 college without aid. They constitute, I submit, an adequate 
 argument in favor of beneficiary education. 
 
 The reader will observe that this address is 
 unfinished. Dr. Brown never wrote out the last 
 words of his addresses or sermons. He trusted to 
 the inspiration of the occasion to furnish him with 
 an appropriate ending. 
 
 Those who were fortunate enough to hear this 
 address delivered at Danville, not very many years 
 ago, may be able to recall its closing strains.
 
 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 55 
 
 CHAPTER TV. 
 
 ENTERING THE HARVEST. 
 
 A BOUT the year 1848 Mr. Brown accepted the 
 appointment of the State Mission Board to 
 be its missionary, in Lewis County, then Virginia, 
 now West Virginia. 
 
 Pioneer work is always difficult. It is the 
 least attractive of all the various departments of 
 evangelical labor : for the reason that it requires 
 such an outlay of time and strength, and yields 
 such tardy and unsatisfactory results. Other than 
 men of strong faith and intrepid spirit are unfitted 
 to undertake it. The peculiar difficulties of this 
 field may be better understood when are taken 
 into account the facts, that the country w^as rough 
 and wild, the people living at long distances from 
 each other, and in most cases, in houses bare 
 of comforts. The Baptists here, were almost 
 unknown, the Methodists and Presbyterians being 
 the first to occupy the field. The preaching 
 had to be done almost entirely in school-houses 
 and private dwellings. Once when riding through 
 the mountains to one of his appointments, he was
 
 56 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 overtaken in a snow storm, and came near being 
 frozen to death. The snow fell thick and fast, 
 and was so blinding that he soon lost his way, and 
 winding around the mountain passes for several 
 hours, there seemed no hope to him for escape 
 from death by freezing. But late in the after- 
 noon, numb and chilled he rode up to a farm- 
 house — where the kindly attentions of the inmates 
 finally restored him. 
 
 It is rather remarkable that a young man, an 
 alumnus of the University, of strong talents and 
 varied attainments should elect to take on himself 
 a life of so much hardship. In striking contrast 
 is the spirit of this age, that foists the new and 
 inexperienced, upon the largest and most exacting 
 of the churches, onl}^ to see the victim, at first 
 elated at his sudden elevation, wither and shrink, 
 and collapse amid the mortification of himself and 
 friends. 
 
 The details of his work, as missionary have not 
 been obtained. He seldom spoke of what he did. 
 He thought himself among the least. He some- 
 times spoke of the advantages that such a state of 
 discipline afforded him, as he would recall some 
 pleasing memories of his missionary life. 
 
 It was liis first initiation into the life that is 
 useful and far-reaching, in proportion to the
 
 ENTERING THE HARVEST. 57 
 
 extent of its burden-bearing. His life here was 
 the garden that grew that Christian sympathy 
 that went out from him to the young inexperi- 
 enced ministers afterwards, on so many occasions. 
 
 One incident that comes to us, that must have 
 been a source of joy to him — must be mentioned 
 here. The lady with whom he boarded was a 
 widow with several sons. When he applied for 
 his bill, she said, "Mr. Brown you owe me 
 nothing ; your influence over my boys has been 
 so helpful to them and so pleasing to me, that I 
 feel that I am in debt to you." And she could 
 not be induced to receive any money for it. 
 
 It has been said that it is much easier to com- 
 mence at the mouth of a great river and trace it 
 back to its head, noting how different obstacles 
 deflected it from its course, while tributary streams 
 widened and deepened it, than to follow it out 
 from its source. 
 
 Similarly, it is no difiicult matter now to look 
 back over the life of the one under review, and 
 see what helped or hindered his growth. Notably 
 his life of seclusion from society while a mis- 
 sionary, often riding alone the most of the day — 
 afforded him time for much of that abstract think- 
 ing and mental rumination in which he delighted 
 to indulge.
 
 58 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 We must not suppose that motiipliysical as lie 
 was, he was exempt from the ordinary weaknesses 
 of mankind. Cupid had darts in his arrows for 
 him, as for others. While teaching school, he had 
 become engaged to a young lady, with whom he 
 was frequently thrown. Alter going to his new 
 field of labor, she accused him of indifterence, and 
 suggested a termination of the engagement. He 
 expected to meet her again at a certain time, and 
 failing to do so, he regarded it as the changing 
 point in his life. He resigned himself yery phil- 
 osophically to his fate, but he was not destined to 
 remain long outside the bars of female entangle- 
 ments. 
 
 He received and accepted a call to some churches 
 in Halifax and Pittsjdvania Counties, in the year 
 1849. Among his earliest acquaintances, was that 
 of Dr. A. M. Poindexter, a minister of accurate 
 scholarship and high attainments — in certahi direc- 
 tions the leader of denominational work in the 
 State. It was not strange, that two minds with 
 such similar tendencies, should be so companion- 
 able. They soon became fast friends, and were 
 often in each others' society — each filled with 
 admiration for the other. The wife of Dr. Poin- 
 dexter, was born a Miss Wimljish. In their home 
 Mr. Brown met for the first time a cousin of
 
 ENTERING THE HARVEST. 59 
 
 Mrs. Poindexter, a Miss Sallie Wimbish, a fair 
 maiden of 17 years, attractive and winning, 
 who had been a successful student at Charlotte 
 C. H., and Hollins Institute, the daughter of a 
 wealthy merchant farmer, who lived near. Mr. 
 Brown having had his attention called to her, by 
 a Rev. Mr. Scott — became a victim to her charms, 
 and often found it convenient to stop by on his 
 preaching tours, at the elegant home of Mr. 
 Wimbish. Mrs. Wimbish was a niece of Rev. 
 Abner Clopton, and was converted by the reading 
 of a letter from him to her, which appears in his 
 Memoir, written by Dr. Jeter. Their home was a 
 home for Baptist preachers — one of those typical 
 homes, with which Virginia and the South so 
 abounded, before the dark days of the War — 
 when plenty and good cheer filled the homes of 
 so many, and when the guest was ever welcome. 
 Miss Wimbish had some hesitation in deciding to 
 give up a home of wealth and luxury, to cast her 
 lot with the ever changeful fortunes of a preacher. 
 She surveyed the situation calmly, and youthful 
 as she was, took on herself those vows, that made 
 her the most faithful of wives. They were mar- 
 ried in November, 1861, by the Rev. Samuel 
 Mason; the bride being 18 and the groom 30 
 years of age.
 
 60 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 At that time, Mr. Brown was pastor ol" Arbor, 
 Mill Stone and Ellis Creek Churches, in Halifax 
 and Pittsylvania. Those who had met him, and 
 who had heard him preach, had some just esti- 
 mate oi" his worth ; but to the great mass of the 
 people of the State he was unknown. Through 
 the influence of such men as A. M. Poindexter 
 and Rev. Wm. Tyree, his fame was extended, and 
 after preaching for a few years in the country 
 where he was much beloved, he accepted a Pro- 
 fessorship in the HoUins Institute, where he 
 remained two years. 
 
 It seems appropriate at this point, to introduce the 
 following valuable contribution, to these memorial 
 pages, from the pen of Prof. Chas. L. Cocke, LLD., 
 who has been for more than a quarter of a century 
 the President of one of the most distinguished 
 Institutions in the South, for the higher education 
 of women. It is due to this consecrated Baptist lay- 
 man to sa}', that to him attaches the honor of first 
 detecting the imperial gifts and ripening scholar- 
 ship of Mr. Brown, and of utilizing them in the 
 cause of female education. His subsequent career 
 as a teacher abundantly vindicated the judgment 
 of Prof. Cocke, in calling him into this honorable 
 branch of service :
 
 ENTEEING THE HARVEST. Gl 
 
 "My acquaintance with the Late Rev. A. B. Brown 
 commenced in the summer of 1854. At that time 
 he accepted an invitation to conduct the depart- 
 ments of Moral Philosophy and French, in HoUins 
 Institute, and entered upon his labors with us in 
 September of that year. His connection with the 
 Institute continued for several sessions, during 
 which period he filled various positions, the most 
 prominent being that of Professor of English 
 Language and Literature. About the year 1857 
 he received and accepted a call to the pastorate of 
 Hampton Baptist Church, and subsequently to 
 that of Charlottesville. In 18G1 he returned to 
 the Institute and remained two sessions. 
 
 "Although Dr. Brown came to us from labors not 
 altogether congenial with purely critical literary 
 pursuits, he at once j)roved himself as ' apt to 
 teach' from the professor's chair, as from the 
 sacred desk. Falling into the regular routine of 
 school exercises, as though teaching had been his 
 chosen and tried vocation, from the very outset, 
 he gave assurance of ability and success. As the 
 session progressed, all — pupils, teachers and Sab- 
 bath congregations — were impressed with the fact 
 that they had in their midst a genius and a mas- 
 ter; a man of eminent gifts and scholarship, of 
 great originality and grasp of both thought and
 
 G2 LIFE OF A. P.. HROWX, DD. LLD. 
 
 expression, und of inexhaustible resources of apt 
 and pointed illustration. He was, indeed, whether 
 from his chair or from the pulpit, a teacher of no 
 ordinary mould. In his wide reach of thought, 
 soaring beyond the text and the conception of 
 authors, he gave forth views of his own, often 
 original, always elevated, and always sustained 
 by sound logical deduction and brilliant illustra- 
 tion. To intelligent, aspiring pupils he was not 
 only the safest of guides, lighting up the pathway 
 Ijefore their inquiring minds, but a constant inspi- 
 ration to broader visions from the higher eminences 
 of thought. 
 
 "On the methods and mental habits of associate 
 teachers, Dr. Brown's influence was most marked 
 and in a high degree suggestive and stimulating. 
 He seemed to have a general knowledge of all 
 departments of study, and in social converse, or 
 in business meetings, when called out, his views 
 were marked by an originality of conception and 
 comprehensiveness peculiar to himself. His mind 
 seemed to Aveary of the well-worn ruts and nar- 
 row channels of feebler intellects, and reached 
 its conclusions by new and more elevated roads. 
 By language, simple, forcible, and eloquent, he 
 charmed the intelligent listener in the very pro- 
 cess of lifting him to a higher realm. From
 
 ENTERING THE HARVEST. 63 
 
 leadership in any sphere, however humble, his 
 peculiarly sensitive nature caused him instinc- 
 tively to shrink ; but whether in the social circle, 
 in public assembly, or the lecture room, when this 
 reserve was once broken and all restraint removed, 
 words, thoughts, anecdotes, classic allusions, beauty 
 and strength of illustration, flowed in smooth and 
 rapid current, charming, edifying and impressing 
 all so fortunate as to be his hearers. 
 
 " Himself a man of the most tender and earnest 
 sympathies, he constantly craved sympathy from 
 others. Often in the secrecy of private intercourse 
 has he expressed to me this earnest longing of his 
 nature. In the lecture room, in the great congre- 
 gation, in the common intercourse of life, in a 
 moment, in the twinkling of an eye, his quick per- 
 ception could detect the absence of this feeling on 
 the part of his hearers, and it always affected him 
 most powerfully ; so much so that on several occa- 
 sions, in earlier years, he suddenly stopped and 
 gave up wholly the exercise in which he was 
 engaged. But when fully conscious of both sym- 
 pathy and attention, he rose to the full measure 
 of his vast powers — his countenance would light 
 up, his movements become elastic and graceful, 
 and, wholly forgetting himself, with profound 
 thought and 'logic set on fire,' he would hold
 
 64 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 spell-bound the vast multitudes, however intel- 
 lectual and cultured. 
 
 '•' In the year 1870, as I remember, the General 
 Association of Virginia met in the city of Peters- 
 burg, and was largely attended. When the sub- 
 ject of State Missions came up for consideration, 
 the Corresponding Secretary had nothing favora- 
 ble to report. The State was in no condition to 
 respond liberally to appeals for mission work, 
 and it seemed as though the whole machinery of 
 organized evangelization was at a stand-still and 
 likely to remain so. The prospect was gloomy, 
 and the assembly of representative men was bereft 
 of the buoyant spirit of enterprise. At this junc- 
 ture Dr. Brown arose, and commenced a speech of 
 a general character, apparently, directed to no 
 particular point ; certainly not to that of finances 
 and church contributions. If it had a theme at 
 all, it was Christian sympathy. He had uttered 
 but a few sentences before the large congregation 
 came to perfect quiet, and every eye was riveted on 
 the speaker. As he proceeded, he became more 
 and more animated. In tender tones and choice 
 language, he referred to the changes and the trials 
 which, in the providence of God, had come over 
 the Baptist churches and the people of Virginia, 
 the altered condition and relations of society, the
 
 ENTERING THE HARVEST. 65 
 
 rich and cultured, unused to physical toil, brought 
 to poverty, and the poor deprived of those sources 
 of daily supplies which the demands of active 
 capital had always afforded. And then, with a 
 pathos, a beauty of language and an eloquence of 
 both thought and expression I have never heard 
 surpassed, he urged faith and trust in God and in 
 each other, — a universal Christian sympathy and 
 brotherhood, as the only source of comfort and 
 support, amidst the general wreck of material 
 interests and the utter subversion of all business 
 relations. 
 
 "The speech was overwhelmingly powerful and 
 equally appropriate — the effect was marvellous, 
 the fountains of Christian sympathies were stirred 
 to their utmost depths, tears flowed from eyes 
 unused to weeping, faith and hope sprang up 
 afresh in many a heart, and new resolves strug- 
 gled into life. Although the speech made no 
 allusion to money, for nothing was farther from 
 the thoughts of the speaker, it was only necessary 
 for a brother to arise and propose a subscription 
 of five thousand dollars at once, to start the Boards 
 again in their high mission. In a few moments 
 five thousand four hundred dollars were pledged, 
 and every cent of it paid at the appointed time, 
 by a poverty-stricken people. On many other
 
 CjC, 1,1 FK OF A. n. BROWN, DO. r,r,D. 
 
 occasions. Dr. Brown's speeches have produced 
 impressions equally profound, and even more 
 practically efTectivc 
 
 '*^ Though Dr. Brown at different periods of his 
 life filled the pastoral office in several widely 
 separated fields and always left behind him pro- 
 found impressions, on Christian character and 
 intelligent minds outside of the church, yet he 
 never held his true position in life. It is true 
 that for want of means, his early educational 
 advantages were not liberal, and even after he 
 commenced his regular work as a minister, the 
 struggle for the maintenance of himself and family, 
 was so severe and unrelenting, that he found little 
 opportunity for those elevated studies in which he 
 •so much delighted. But even under such condi- 
 tions, had his gifts been recognized in early life, 
 and had he been assigned to a professorship in 
 some Theological Seminary, his career would, 
 doubtless, have been far more brilliant and suc- 
 cessful. Under his influence and guidance, many 
 a young minister would have been impressed 
 with an elevation and breadth of character, and 
 inspired with a holy unquenchable ambition which 
 might have carried him upward to the highest 
 spheres of religious thought and pulpit power. 
 But more than this, what he always desired most
 
 ENTEPJNG THE HARVEST. 67 
 
 to do, he would have produced text-books on 
 Mental and Moral Science, Logic, &c., which 
 would have given him enduring fame, and sent his 
 influence down the ages. In personal character 
 Dr. Brown was, I may say, almost a perfect model. 
 With all his great powers he was as simple as a 
 child — generous to a fault, pure in heart and in 
 life, noble and aspiring, unpretentious and genial 
 in his associations, even with the humblest. He 
 was truly a most lovely character, and truly may- 
 it be said of him that the "bruised reed would he 
 not break, and the smoking flax would he not 
 quench," when by so doing needless pain or sor- 
 row would come to others. 
 
 "In our Israel has fallen a mighty Prince! 
 
 "Chas. L. Cocke." • 
 
 Mr. Brown's life at Hollins Institute was an 
 exceedingly pleasant one. The literary com- 
 panionship here enjoyed as a member of the 
 Faculty, was a life-long pleasure to him. He 
 loved to allude to his life at Hollins, and he never 
 made an address on female education that he did 
 not have something to say about his distinguished 
 friend and co-laborer, Chas. L. Cocke. He warmly 
 championed a liberal education for females, and 
 spent his best energies in furtherance of that object.
 
 68 MFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 Those who were in his chxsses at HoUins, were 
 warmly devoted to him. After his death, from 
 many quarters letters of sympathy came to the 
 stricken lamily, from those who w^ere once his 
 pupils there, testifying to their admiration and 
 affection for him.
 
 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 69 
 
 THE PLACE OF ENGLISH IN THE COLLEGIATE 
 COUKSE. 
 
 If the Colleges of Eugland and America had been asked 
 thirty years ago what place has the study of English among 
 you, the reply would have been unanimous, it has no place. 
 Even now it has gained position in the curriculum of but a 
 few, and in these few, that position is by no means uniformly 
 the same. If I am required to state what is, and not what 
 ought to be, the place of English in the Collegiate course, I 
 can only say, it is new and unfixed. Yet much depends on 
 this obvious statement. The English language till to-day has 
 suffered the lack, and suffered from the lack of academic 
 patronage. Its study has never been preserved according to 
 the severe and scientific methods which have obtained in the 
 higher schools of learning. It is almost universally regretted 
 among scholars that rich and noble as our language is, its 
 more distinctively English element has been to so great an 
 extent overlaid and suppressed by foreign intrusion. 
 
 But this matter of regret is no matter of surprise. When 
 our great writers and speakers were left to the guidance of 
 chance in learning the peculiar riches of their native tongue, 
 and thoroughly instructed in the Latin language, is it sur- 
 prising that they impressed so much of the vocabulary and 
 even of the Syntax of the language which they had carefully
 
 70 l.ll'K OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 Studied, upon that which they can scarcely be said to have 
 studied at all? Edward Gibbon and Samuel, writers of 
 eminent ability, and in many resjjects of conspicuous excellence 
 iiave been censured for the Latin cast of their styles. But 
 their just censure is that where almost all sinned they were 
 sinners above all others. And these great men were more 
 sinned against than sinning, as their reprehensible commis- 
 sions are justly to be charged in large measure to the omis- 
 sions of the schools. 
 
 The formal treatises on English Grammar have suffered 
 much from academic neglect. Ben Jonson, Bishop Lowth 
 and Dr. George Campbell were all fine classical scholars. 
 They had absorbed English as their vernacular. They 
 had carefully read many of the best models of English 
 prose and verse. They doubtless made honest efforts to 
 develop by induction the laws of English Syntax, but being 
 with all these advantages much greater proficients in Latin 
 Grammar than in English, they did what might have been 
 predicted, they translated what Avas really common to the two 
 languages, which was well ; they wrenched English into a 
 forced correspondence with Latin, which was not well. They 
 made some allowances for the absence or meagreness of 
 inflection in English, in which they could not go amiss. And 
 they turned over their valuable, but rather fragmentary, con- 
 tributions to English Grammar. That compiler appeared in 
 the person of Lindley Murray, a man certainly of no great 
 erudition, but of a sagacity, judgment, taste and patience to 
 which Dr. Webster has done scant justice. He built the
 
 ENGLISH IN THE COLLEGIATE COURSE. 71 
 
 fragments, which were ready to his hands, into a skillful mosaic, 
 so adroitly concealing the seams as to make the whole wonder- 
 fully resemble the work of a single organizing mind. If he 
 made any contributions, they are not strikingly inferior to 
 the work of his masters. 
 
 Since Murray's day, with some honorable exceptions in the 
 last few years, no one seems to have made an honest effort to 
 lift himself out of the old ruts. Eoswell Smith in his dia- 
 logue with babies has put the final term to the old system. 
 The failure of Smith was due neither to ignorance nor to 
 weakness, for in another department of authorship, he has 
 shown considerable ability. 
 
 He failed, from attempting to teach Grammar as a science 
 to those who were incapable of learning it. He failed as much 
 greater men have failed in similar circumstances. The rare 
 powers, and the j)re-eminent professional learning of Sir John 
 Herschel, failed in an attempt to popularize astronomy, and 
 only succeeded in producing a treatise midway between the 
 demands of the scientific student and of the general reader. 
 Too meagre and commonplace for the one, and too technical 
 for the other. If the English language had been taught 
 according to the severer methods, which could alone have 
 found favor in a respectable college, there probably would 
 have been no such book as Smith's for any class of students ; 
 it surely could never have been the only work on English 
 Grammar, which many educated persons have examined ; and 
 then could no intelligent Virginia teacher say, Lavater may 
 become obsolete, Newton and Laplace may be distanced
 
 72 LIFE UF A. B. BUOWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 in the future ; but woe to the luua who attempts to alter 
 Koswell C. Smith. 
 
 AVe cau but think that the chief reason why the English 
 language is in general so inaccurately spoken and written, is 
 that its culture is still new to the Colleges and Universities of 
 England and America. The French language receives, in its 
 native landmarks, more academic attention than the English 
 receives in this country. The fact is — may I not say — the 
 result is, that the French vocabulary is much more precise in 
 its use, and its grammar much more fixed and much more 
 loyally obeyed. Yet enlightened Frenchmen complain of 
 their countryman's neglect of study of their noble language. 
 A distinguished French author recently said, with something 
 of humorous exaggeration, " there are in Europe probably 
 as many as a half-dozen men Avho tolerably well understand 
 Latin. Those who understand French are much fewer." 
 Such a man might, in a judgment of charity, give Grant "White 
 the unique place in English scholarship which Hegel gave a 
 single student in the Hegelian philosophy, when he said, 
 " there is only one living that understands me, and he does 
 not understand me. " 
 
 In saying that the English language, both in its words and 
 constructions, is different from what it would have been with 
 diligent academic cultivation, I wish not to be understood 
 as cherishing or encouraging hostility to anything which has, 
 happily or unhappily, become an element of the language. I 
 am far from denying, that while much has been imported into 
 English, which could have been better advantageously sub-
 
 ENGLISH IN THE COLLEGIATE COURSE. 73 
 
 stituted, by the encouragement of home production, the 
 importations on the whole have greatly enriched the language 
 ■with necessaries, with conveniences and with elegant and 
 innocent luxuries. But be this, as it may, it is conclusive 
 to add that every incoming word that has stood the challenge 
 and gained footing, has the full rights of citizenship. I protest 
 against any studied preference of the Anglo-Saxon element. 
 Tros Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine agetur. The two 
 venerable dialects, whose confluence formed our noble speech, 
 were kindred tongues. Their contributions are sometimes 
 hard of distinction. The Romance is now and then, as short 
 and bare as the Anglo-Saxon. The Anglo-Saxon is some- 
 times as stately and sonorous as the Romance. Let alone, 
 they will make a fit and friendly division of labor between 
 themselves. The Latin will be prominent in the higher 
 walks of science and art, and in the more pui-ely intellectual 
 processes of the mind; but the Anglo-Saxon well expresses 
 your auger, your love and your hate, your scoru and your 
 smiles, and your laughter, your tears, your sighs and groans, 
 your outcryings and your wailings. It names our dearest 
 friends, father and mother, brother and sister, son and 
 daughter, husband and wife. It is the speech of the cradle 
 and the play-ground, the fireside and the board, the shop and 
 the market. But it rises and soars — 
 
 [It will be observed that this address is unfin- 
 ished. Dr. Brown seldom wrote his closing sen- 
 tences. He trusted to the inspiration of the 
 occasion for them.]
 
 74 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 CHAPTER y. 
 
 THE HAMPTON, PASTOR. 
 
 TN January, 1857, Mr. Brown dissolved his first 
 connection with Hollins Institute, wdth a view 
 of assuming the pastoral care of the Baptist Church 
 in Hampton, Va. Hampton at that time was one 
 of the most cultivated and delightful towns in 
 Virginia. Located near Fortress Monroe, in full 
 view of Hampton Roads, and enjoying the delights 
 of the sea breezes as well as the boundless produc- 
 tions of the ocean, it was the home of wealth, 
 intelligence and refinement. The Baptist Church, 
 while not large, had a stately house of worship, 
 the larger proportion of the social and financial 
 strength of the community in its membership. 
 Just about the time that Mr. Brown's pastorate 
 commenced, the Chesapeake Female College, 
 situated near the town, began its brief but 
 brilliant career, and added a new attraction 
 to the Hampton pastorate. It was, therefore, 
 under peculiarly auspicious conditions that he 
 first entered on his work as a tow)i pastor. It is 
 universally conceded that his Hampton pastorate
 
 THE HAMPTON PASTOR. 75 
 
 was in the best sense an eminent success. The 
 attachment between the pastor and the people was 
 intimate and devoted. The church possessed an 
 almost boundless admiration for its eloquent and 
 scholarly pastor. Even to this day, wherever you 
 find the remnants of that fine old church, you 
 will find the enthusiastic admirers of the lamented 
 Brown. 
 
 On his part, the devotion was none the less pro- 
 found and enduring. He was wedded in heart to 
 the Hamptonians. It was a notable fact in his 
 subsequent life that whenever he came in reach of 
 any of the old Hampton families, he made it a 
 point to seek them out and kindle anew the fire 
 of their olden love. 
 
 Of his life in Hampton, the reader will find in 
 the subjoined paper a loving and suggestive sketch 
 from the pen of Dr. Wm. R. Vaughan, then a citi- 
 zen of Hampton, but now the accomplished Presi- 
 dent of the Chester Female College : 
 
 "It was early in the month of December, 1856, 
 that the subject of this sketch first came to 
 Hampton. 
 
 " Rev. David Shaver, DD., had been many years 
 the ' under shepherd ' of the flock. His sermons 
 were not only admired because of their clearness
 
 76 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 and point, but owin^ also to the fact that they 
 were invariably delivered in a stjle peculiarly 
 attractive, notwithstanding a phj'sical trouble 
 which much interfered with his otherwise fault- 
 less manner in the pulpit; nevertheless, his dis- 
 courses were instructive, deep, profound. His 
 appropriate, though not studied, gesture, fine per- 
 sonal appearance, and winning countenance, could 
 not fail to make a good impression upon his 
 hearers, of all denominations of Christians and all 
 classes of people. 
 
 " Dr. Shaver preached his best sermons to his 
 own congregation. His preparation appeared as 
 thorough when he stood in the pulpit before his 
 people, as at any other time or upon any other 
 occasion. 
 
 " Dr. Brown succeeded the pastor, so briefly and 
 imperfectly referred to, and entered upon his duties 
 the first of January, 1857. 
 
 "His visit in December, 185G, was made under 
 peculiar circumstances. 
 
 " Perhaps not a meniber of the church had ever 
 seen him, and few of the members had heard of 
 him. Endorsed, however, by that truly great and 
 good man, known and loved by all Virginia Bap- 
 tists — A. M. Poindexter — he received a cordial 
 welcome.
 
 THE HAMPTON PASTOR. 77 
 
 " The weather was by no means propitious. 
 The winter of 1856-57 was the coldest ever ex- 
 experienced in Virginia. The announcement that 
 'A brother Broum would fill the pulpit on the 
 
 Sabbath of ,' did not fail to bring together 
 
 quite a large congregation, notwithstanding the 
 cold day. He preached twice. His first sermon 
 was good, the next better. Comparisons are inevi- 
 table. They are made under all circumstances. 
 The 'out-going' and 'in-coming pastors' often re- 
 ceive their full share. The difference in the per- 
 sonal appearance of the two men referred to, as 
 they walked the church aisles, or stood before the 
 people, can be appreciated by all who have seen 
 them. A more striking contrast is seldom found. 
 
 "You cannot, neither can the reader of these 
 lines, fail to see that our brother experienced no 
 little degree of nervousness, and was by no means 
 at ease. What a trial it must be, when a minister 
 of Christ has to pass through such an ordeal ! 
 
 " From the moment he arose to open the exer- 
 cises of the hour, to the close of his sermon, the 
 greatest attention was given, by a congregation 
 noted for closely following the preacher, from the 
 announcement of his text to the close of his 
 discourse. 
 
 " Upon him all eyes were turned. It did not
 
 78 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 require a vivid imagination to read the thoughts of 
 the old brethren, the middle aged, and the young 
 — sisters included — when our brother preached his 
 first sermon before the Hampton Baptist Church. 
 
 " I did not know" it then, but a closer, more inti- 
 mate acquaintance in after years, clearly j^roved 
 to me the trying ordeal through which this humble 
 man of God was passing. 
 
 " He felt keenly the situation, but proved him- 
 self equal to the occasion, as the subsequent action 
 of the church showed, by extending to him a 
 unanimous call to become Dr. Shaver's successor. 
 
 " During this visit to Hampton, Dr. Brown was 
 my guest. He met many of the brethren at their 
 homes, and wherever he went, it seems, a warm 
 feeling of friendship sprang up, lasting to the close 
 of his pastorate, indeed to the close of life. Go 
 where yow will, in all that country, near Hampton, 
 if any of the brethren or sisters wdio were then 
 alive refer to i\i(Av for-mer pastor — A. B. Brown — 
 or the children of those friends speak of him, you 
 will hear expressions of love and affection seldom 
 heard concerning any man, in any community. 
 To know him was to admire him, to know him 
 well was to sincerely love him. 
 
 " It was a cold, dark daj^, the first Sabbath in 
 January, 1857, when Dr. Brown entered upon his
 
 THE HAMPTON PASTOR. 79 
 
 duties as pastor of the church, and, as such, 
 preached his first sermon. Through the many 
 changes which more than twenty-nine (29) long 
 years have wrought, and hundreds of sermons 
 listened to, in the mean time, as they came fresh 
 from the lips of brethren of the Baptist ministry, 
 the text and sermon of our brother have not been 
 forgotten : ' For I determined not to know any- 
 thing among you save Jesus Christ and him cru- 
 cified.' — 1 Cor. 2d chap., 2d verse. 
 
 " From that day onward our brother had a warm 
 place in the hearts of many brethren. A few, 
 like Thomas, may have had 'douhts.' Some weeks 
 passed before he preached a sermon not equaled — 
 surely not surpassed on the same theme by any 
 minister — the '/S'm of Covetousness.' 
 
 " For more than one hour he held the large con- 
 gregation, as it were, ' spell-bound.' With force 
 and power he told of this subtle sin, presenting 
 it as never before unfolded to us. We did not ask, 
 'Lord, is it I?' but left the house feeling that 
 the time had come for all to cry unto God for 
 forgiveness ! 
 
 "The winter of 1856—57 was the coldest ever 
 experienced in Virginia. Icebergs formed in Hamp- 
 ton Koads. Great ships and steamers could not 
 move because of the mass of ice in the Roads and
 
 80 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 Chesapeake Bay. Two weeks passed before the 
 people of Hampton had communication w^ith friends 
 in Norfolk. Several large immigrant ships, in the 
 midst of the great storm, bound to New York, 
 came into Hampton Eoads. Much suffering oc- 
 curred. Scores of these people landed at Old 
 Point, and some made that vicinity their future 
 home. Among the few persons who could com- 
 municate with these German immigrants, w^as the 
 pastor of the Baptist Church, wdio, while not 
 fluent in speech, yet such was his knowdedge of 
 the language, his remarkable quickness in acquir- 
 ing anything to which he turned his extraordinary 
 perceptive faculties, that, to the astonishment of 
 the citizens and the delight of his brethren, he 
 was often found conversing with, and interpreting 
 for the Germans, as well as for the curious or 
 interested Americans. 
 
 " During Dr. Brown's pastorate, additions, from 
 time to time, were made to the church. It was 
 numericall}^ and financially strong when he took 
 charge of it. Perhaps with the exception of two 
 or three Baptist churches in Virginia, the aggre- 
 gate wealth of the one, at Hampton was not sur- 
 passed, when he resigned to accept a call to 
 Charlottesville. 
 
 " His congregations, generally good, were fre-
 
 THE HAMPTON PASTOR. 81 
 
 quently large. He preached to a people who 
 had been instructed by some of the first men in 
 the Baptist denomination — pious and gifted minis- 
 ters, who have never failed to make their mark 
 wherever they have gone; hence his was an 
 appreciative congregation. It is only necessary 
 to make a brief reference to his eminent prede- 
 cessors, to show that our brother — coming the first 
 time from country cliurches to a town, not city, 
 congregation — well sustained the high opinion en- 
 tertained of him by Dr. Poindexter, who, as above 
 indicated, recommended him to our brethren. Some 
 now alive have not forgotten the grand sermons of 
 that truly great preacher, John Goodall — vide, 
 ' Taylor's Life of Virginia Ministers.' He was 
 succeeded by Joseph Walker, one of the best 
 23astors in our land. Then came the now sainted 
 Jacob R. Scott, who was called to the chaplaincy 
 of The University of Virginia, and was the first 
 minister of any denomination of Christians who 
 was invited to remain two sessions. A young man 
 who has since proved himself capable and worthy 
 to fill any pulpit in this State, succeeded brother 
 Scott — I refer to Rev. Jos. R. Garlick, D.D. His 
 sermons and pastoral work have not been forgotten. 
 Then came Dr. Shaver. Here is a line of pastors 
 covering a period of nearly thirty years — men
 
 82 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 Avhoin the iiaptists of Virginia and of other States 
 have again and again honored. 
 
 " I have referred to these brethren, to show 
 that a pastor following them, remotely or immedi- 
 ately, and yet successful in his icorh, must have 
 been a minister of more than ordinary gifts. Yea, 
 a gifted man. 
 
 " That he maintained a high position as a 
 preacher and pastor, in a church noted for the 
 superior attainments of his predecessors, I have 
 endeavored to show. But there are men now living, 
 so well known, wdio at different times were mem- 
 bers of his congregation, and who will bear testi- 
 mony to his superior attainments, that I feel con- 
 strained to mention their names : President Forey, 
 Col. John B. Gary, and many of the cadets of his 
 Military Academy ; also ReV. Jas. C. Hyden, DD., 
 and Rev. I. B. Lake, DD., both of wdiom were, at 
 the time of which I write, professors in Chesar 
 peake College. 
 
 " The families of teachers, intelligent farmers, 
 merchants, physicians, and lawyers, sat under the 
 preaching of Dr. Brown, and were taught, as few 
 people are instructed from the pulpit, by this emi- 
 nently pious man. 
 
 " Some of our friends who were present at the 
 meeting of the General Association, June, 1858,
 
 THE HAMPTON PASTOE. 83 
 
 may have forgotten the names of those by whom 
 they were entertained, whose hospitality they en- 
 joyed. The grand introductory sermon of Dr. 
 Poindexter may possibly have faded from their 
 memories ; the excellent addresses delivered by 
 Burwell Snead and other laymen and preachers; 
 but one scene, in which our brother was the chief 
 actor and in which he bore the most conspicuous 
 part, was the baptism of seven young peo23le — 
 gentlemen and ladies — this surely will never be 
 forgotten by those who witnessed it. 
 
 " It was a beautiful afternoon early in June, 
 the saline atmosphere was invigorating, the sur- 
 face of the pretty river was rippled by a refreshing 
 summer's breeze. The place may be described as 
 a semi-circle. Gradually rising from the Avater 
 near by, were the inviting and attractive homes of 
 the citizens of Hampton. More than 1000 people 
 had there assembled. Representative men from 
 Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mary- 
 land and from all parts of Virginia, were there. 
 Our brother — then the pastor of the First Baptist 
 Church in Richmond — Rev. J. L. Burrows, DD., 
 was present. As he took his position to address, 
 in his clear ringing voice, the multitude; standing 
 at the river's edge, not noticing that the tide was 
 flowing inward — as the sailors say — he finished
 
 84 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 his eloquent address, during the delivery of which, 
 the incoming tide had hurled his feet in water. 
 The porticoes, even the windows of the adja- 
 cent houses, were all filled with eager spectators 
 of this lovely scene. 
 
 " No blind Bartimeus was there ; but I saw in 
 the top — perched upon the limb — not of a 'Syca- 
 more,' but of a Mulberry tree, the small and Utlie 
 form then, of the now vigorous and 'portly Bishop, 
 of the Church at Wilmington, N. C. 
 
 "Upon the evening breeze was wafted far away 
 across the waters, the songs of the multitude. 
 How appropriate then seemed the words of Judson : 
 
 * Come, Holy Spirit, Dove Divine, 
 On these baptismal waters shine, 
 And teach our hearts in highest strain, 
 To praise the Lamb for sinners slain.' 
 
 And then Dr. Brown in his own peculiar, but im- 
 pressive manner, M^uried these young converts 
 with Christ in baptism.' 
 
 " Who among that vast crowd were not reminded 
 of the precious words? 
 
 "Tis done; the great transaction's done; 
 I am my Lord's and He is mine!' 
 
 While the eyes of scores of Christians were filled 
 with tears of joy, a voice led oft' in a sweet song of
 
 THE HAMPTON PASTOR. 85 
 
 Zion, as the happy souls 'came up out of the water/ 
 in which a grand choir of 500, or a thousand people 
 joined. Truly, 'it was well to be there!' the sun 
 was fast setting when the Christians parted, 
 saying: 'Of all the pleasant hours and days spent 
 during this meeting of the association, the past 
 hour has crowned them all.' 
 
 "When it became known that brother Brown 
 had determined to succeed Dr. John A. Broadus, 
 as the pastor of the Church at Charlottesville, 
 expressions of sincere regret were heard from all 
 classes of our people. A prominent Methodist 
 gentleman said: 'I have often parted with my 
 pastors, but I feel more keenly the departure of 
 the Baptist pastor than of any minister I have 
 ever known.' 
 
 "As further evidence of the high esteem in 
 which he was held, and the friendly relations ex- 
 isting between Dr. Brown and the people generally, 
 the valued work — Olshausen's Commentary on the 
 New Testament, translated into English for Clark's 
 foreign theological library, and revised, etc., by 
 Prof. A. C. Kendrick, of Rochester University — 
 in six large volumes, was formally presented to 
 him by a number of young gentlemen of the town, 
 irrespective of religious afl&liation. 
 
 " Soon after this I parted with my pastor, my
 
 86 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN. DD. LLD. 
 
 friend and, I may add, my teacher. Often did I 
 ^ sit at his feet,' and from him gather knowledge 
 as from no other man. Another parting has been 
 experienced, so unexpectedl}'-, hence the more 
 crushing the blow. 
 
 " You Avill indulcre me — thouirh this letter is 
 longer than I intended it should be — in saying 
 that I knew Dr. Brown loell. Perhaps, his own 
 family circle excepted, I was as well acquainted 
 with him as any one ; our friendship, close, cor- 
 dial, and sincere, lasted nearly thirty years. Often 
 did we confer not only upon church affairs, but 
 upon subjects only mentioned among friends most 
 intimate and enjoying the full confidence of each 
 other. As his family phj^sician, we were brought 
 together under circumstances which draw men 
 into a close communion and afford ample opportu- 
 nities for looking into character. 
 
 " T love to think of Dr. Brown as a brave man ! 
 With unfeigned feelings of admiration, I contem- 
 plate his humility of spirit, kindness of heart, his 
 sympathizing words in the dark hours of affliction 
 and grief, his hospitality, but, more than all, his 
 eminent 2)iety . It is no vain panegyric to add, that 
 Dr. A. B. Brown was one of the most pious men I 
 have ever known. I think I know whereof I write. 
 
 " Some good people did not know^ enough of him
 
 THE HAMPTON PASTOR. 87 
 
 to form correct ideas of his character. By many 
 the opinion has been entertained that he was 
 ' austere ' and not easily approached, that he did 
 not quickly appreciate the troubles of others. 
 Never! never was a greater mistake made in the 
 character of a man ! 
 
 " It was his modesty rather than austerity which 
 caused those slightly, or not at all acquainted with 
 him, to arrive at such a conclusion. 
 
 " Imperfectly, and pressed for time, have I per- 
 formed the task assigned me, of giving my recol- 
 lections of Dr. Brown while the pastor of the church 
 at Hampton. 
 
 " I must be pardoned if while writing, I have 
 occasionally turned from closely following my sub- 
 ject, to pay an humble tribute to the memory of 
 our departed friend. Others will perform this imrt 
 of the work far better than I can hope to do, and 
 by them this pleasant duty will be well performed. 
 
 "Wm. R. Vaughan." 
 
 It seems proper that the foregoing paper should 
 be supplemented by another, furnished by one of 
 Virginia's most devout and gifted sons. In some 
 respects there was a striking resemblance in char- 
 acter and scholarship, as there was also an inti- 
 mate friendship, between Dr. K. B. Brown and
 
 88 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 Dr. J. C. Hiden. It is pleasant, therefore, to 
 present Dr. Hiden's reminiscences of his deceased 
 friend : 
 
 " My first acquaintance with Bro. Brown was 
 formed at Hampton, Va., where he was then pas- 
 tor. In the fall of 1857, I had been elected a 
 professor in Chesapeake Female College. Bro. 
 Brown was president of the Board of Trustees, 
 and took the greatest interest in the work of the 
 College. Our acquaintance soon ripened into a 
 warm, intimate and life-long friendship. He was 
 my pastor, and was a frequent visitor at the Col- 
 lege, where he was always gladly received and 
 warmly welcomed ; and I was, in turn, a frequent 
 visitor at his house, and spent many a happy and 
 profitable hour in the most intimate converse with 
 him in his study. 
 
 " Though he w^as a very close student, and an 
 omnivorous reader in general literature, he never 
 showed the slightest sign of being interrupted by 
 the frequent visits of a raw and inexperienced 
 youth of twenty, who had seen little of the world, 
 and from whose conversation little could have been 
 learned. In more than one particular, Bro. Brown 
 reminded me of John C. Calhoun, but especially 
 was he like Mr. Calhoun in his great fondness for 
 the socictj' of young men.
 
 THE HAMPTON PASTOR. 89 
 
 " At this period I was not sufficiently trained 
 to be able to appreciate, nor even to follow, the 
 great preacher in his best pulpit work. He delved 
 so deep, and soared so high that I was not unfre- 
 quently left behind. He had Lewis Minor Cole- 
 man's " range," but he often overshot mine. Still, 
 I was not always out of range, and was frequently 
 hit by a centre shot: and this happened often 
 enough to convince me that the gun was one of 
 powerful metal, and that the ammunition used was 
 of the best. 
 
 " Now and then I was especially struck with 
 his extraordinary capacity and skill in the use 
 of Scripture quotations. He would bring them in 
 at the most unexpected points, and would choose 
 them from the most unexpected places. As an 
 instance of this, I recall, after twenty-eight years, 
 and I am confident almost verbatim, the language 
 I heard him use in a most earnest and powerful 
 exhortation to the unconverted : ' Sinner, how 
 know you but that even now the recording angel 
 is writing down the last sin that shall fill up the 
 black account of your rebellions against your 
 Maker; and as he closes the book says, in the 
 words of Pontius Pilate, 'What I have written I 
 have written ! ' ' 
 
 " The child-like candor and simplicity of Bro. 
 
 F
 
 90 LIFE OF A. B. BKOWX, DD. LLD. 
 
 Brown's nature was such as now and then to lead 
 him to do or say what seemed to be rather eccen- 
 tric thin2;s. As an instance of his uncommon 
 candor: On a certain Sunday, just after taking 
 his stand to preach, he said, ' I suspect that some 
 of my hearers to-day will think, what I cannot but 
 agree with them in thinking, that the discourse 
 is not even up to my usual imperfect standard of 
 preparation. My excuse is that I have been so 
 engaged during the week that I have not given 
 my usual amount of time to the preparation for 
 my pulpit work to-day.' This sounded a little 
 odd ; but when, a few days after this, I was ad- 
 mitted behind the scenes and learned how he had 
 ^ been so engaged during the past week,' the Avhole 
 thing appeared to be eminently characteristic. The 
 truth was that Bro. Brown had just gotten pos- 
 session of Randall's Life of Jefferson, and to a 
 thorough-going States-rights Democrat, this was a 
 bonanza which so took possession of his mind as 
 to cheat him out of his time and steal aAvay his 
 attention; and then, when Sunday came, he felt 
 so conscious of his lack of preparation, that he 
 was constrained to make the apology recorded 
 above. A day or two after this apology I was in 
 his study, and, pointing to Randall's book, which 
 was lying on his study table, he said : ' Hiden,
 
 THE HAMPTON PASTOR. 91 
 
 there is the fellow that robbed me of my time last 
 week and sent me only half prepared into my 
 pulpit Sunday.' If he had not taken the trouble 
 to tell us that he was not prepared to preach, I 
 have not the least idea that any one woukl have 
 suspected it. Indeed, his mind was so full that 
 its ordinary overflowings, like those of the Nile, 
 were exceedingly fertilizing. 
 
 " After leaving Chesapeake College, I entered 
 the University of Virginia, as a student, and for a 
 year heard John A. Broadus, who was then pastor 
 of our church in Charlottesville. At the close of 
 that year Bro. Broadus resigned the pastorate to 
 enter upon his work as a professor in our Theo- 
 logical Seminary ; and A. B. Brown was called to 
 succeed him in Charlottesville. Then Bro. Brown 
 again became practically my pastor; and it puzzles 
 me even now to tell whether the change from 
 Broadus to Brown was a good thing for me. It 
 would require a much more self-confident critic 
 than I to say anything positivel}^ on such a ques- 
 tion. It is as hard as to say which of the great 
 English classic writers one enjoys most, or to settle 
 the comparative merits of ' Bleak House ' and the 
 ' Caxtons.' I shall make no attempt to compare 
 the two preachers; but I will say that each 
 is the only one that I ever liked to hear follow
 
 92 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 the other, unless Tiherius Jones could be got 
 to do it. 
 
 " Soon after Bro. Brown took charge in Char- 
 lottesville, I happened to drop in at Prof. Lewis 
 Minor Coleman's Study. He had heard Bro. 
 Brown for the first time in Charlottesville, and 
 was enthusiastic in praising his preaching. He 
 said, ' Mr. Hiden, who is this man Brown ? Where 
 did he come from ? I did not know that we had 
 such a man among us;' and from that time on. 
 Brown 'had Coleman's range.' 
 
 "It has sometimes been said that onl}' culti- 
 vated thinkers could follow Browni ; that he w^as 
 ' too metaphysical ' for the common mind. There 
 is some truth in this ; but it is misleading neverthe- 
 less. It is no compliment to any man's style to 
 say that you can follow him ' without thinking.' 
 It is the sjDcaker's business to make you think ; 
 and if you follow him without thinking, then you 
 would do well to go elsewhither and hear another 
 man. 
 
 " Bro. Brown once, while in Charlottesville, 
 heard of some criticism of his ' metaph}- sical ' 
 preaching, and somewhat characteristically men- 
 tioned it from his pulpit. After stating the 
 nature of the criticism, he said : 'A large part 
 of what people have chosen to call metaphysics
 
 THE HAMPTON PASTOR. 93 
 
 comes out of this book/ (laying his hand on 
 the Bible.) 
 
 "About this time, I heard a jDlain, hard-headed 
 mechanic, a member of Bro. Brown's church and 
 an enthusiastic admirer of his preaching, say : ' I 
 hear folks complain that they can't understand 
 Brown ; but I believe it is because they know so 
 little about their Bibles.' 
 
 " However it may be explained, or whether ex- 
 plained at all, it is certainly true, that not a few 
 people, who never read a book on metaphysics, and 
 did not know the meaning of the term, did greatly 
 enjoy, admire and profit by Bro. Brown's preaching. 
 
 " But Bro. Bro^vn was not only a great jDreacher 
 — he was a capital listener. Never shall I forget 
 the help and comfort which, as a listener, he has 
 frequently given me, notably within the last two 
 summers, when I had the pleasure of preaching 
 to him several times in Grace Street Church, 
 Richmond, Va. To see his fixed and eager gaze, 
 as he leaned forward to catch every word ; to feel 
 the warm grasp of his hand when the preaching 
 was over, and to hear his words of sympathy and 
 kindly appreciation — all this was truly inspiring. 
 And thus he listened to every preacher who pro- 
 claimed honestly and in his own way, the great 
 fundamental truths of the gospel of Christ. He
 
 94 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 was a man with an open sense — indeed one of the 
 
 most broad-minded men I have ever known. Never 
 
 did I know any man w4io more fully embodied in 
 
 his own character and conduct the aphorism of 
 
 Terence : ' I am a man, and think nothing human 
 
 foreign to me.' 
 
 "J. C. HiDEN." 
 Lexington, Ky. 
 
 FIRST SERMON DELIVERED IN HAMPTON. 
 
 "I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and 
 Him crucified." — 1 Cor. xi. 2. 
 
 This was the resolution which governed the apostle in the 
 proclamation of the gospel. And this well deserves to be 
 the model of the guiding purpose of every herald of the cross. 
 
 The apostle says, " I determined not to know anything 
 among you save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified," but there 
 seems to be no emphasis on the Avord you, in this connection, 
 to show that the apostle felt it important to use special reserve 
 in his ministrations among this people. The meaning is not 
 that he would not preach anything but Christ Crucified espe- 
 cially among them ; but tliut he would not preach anything 
 else — even among them. Their attachment to philosophical 
 speculations should not influence him to attempt an adjust-
 
 FIRST SERMON IN HAMPTON. 95 
 
 ment of the gospel to Grecian systems, nor to apologize for its 
 want of harmony with them, as though it needed the patronage 
 of human science. The Greeks maintained the most admired 
 schools of rhetoric, and delighted in eloquence. Doubtless 
 the apostle might have conciliated some popularity to his 
 system, by couching it, in the enticing words of man's wisdom. 
 But he was too honest, too manly, too prudent, to gain a 
 temporary advantage for his doctrines, by diluting them with 
 human wisdom, or masking them with human eloquence. If 
 men gave in their adhesion to his system, it should be to 
 the plain, unmitigated, offensive gospel. It should be to the 
 gospel, the whole gospel, and nothing but the gospel. 
 
 The cross was the central test truth of the system. It Avas 
 the shibboleth of the new faith, and no minced shibboleth 
 would answer its purpose. Paul had seen, not what Con- 
 stantine is reputed to have seen 300 years afterwards, the 
 sign of the cross in the heavens ; but he had seen the crucified 
 one himself; he had had the doctrine of the cross revealed to 
 him, and had in effect, heard what Constantino is fabled to 
 have heard ; " Conquer by This." 
 
 No one might say, "There is nothing strange or super- 
 natural in the spread of this gospel. Paul is a great genius. 
 He has convinced men by an ingenuity and speciousness of 
 reasoning, which might have made them accept any absurdity; 
 he has overwhelmed them, with a torrent of oratory which 
 would have given charms, to any cunningly devised fable." 
 No, the excellency should be of God and not of him. The 
 faith of his followers should depend upon the demonstra-
 
 96 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 tiou of the Spirit aud of power. For these reasons Paul 
 determined not to know anything among the Corinthians save 
 Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 
 
 But how shall we understand, his not determining to know 
 anything else? Could he purposely forget, the instructions 
 of Gamaliel, his distinguished master in Jewish learning ? 
 Could he by an act of will, annihilate his knowledge of 
 Grecian philosophy ? Could he erase from his memory every 
 record of experience, and every impress of observation, except 
 the very essence of the gospel ? Certainly not. But he could, 
 and did of set purpose, forbear to avail himself of any aid, 
 he might find in them to lessen the offence of the gospel. 
 Though he might be all things to all men in the manner of 
 his preaching, and in the illustration of his great theme, his 
 subject and his doctrine, he would draw only from Calvary. 
 Whatever else he might know, he did not know officially, as 
 an ambassador of heaven. Our minister at the Court of St. 
 James may be thoroughly acquainted with political and other 
 affairs in our country, but fs the representative of his country, 
 at that court, he will properly restrict himself to knowing 
 only, what is found in his letter of instructions. 
 
 And Paul as an ambassador for Christ, praying men in 
 Christ's stead to be reconciled to God, w'ould know only Him 
 who knowing no sin, was made sin for us, that we might be 
 made the righteousness of God in Him. This renunciation of 
 all otiier knowledge for the knowledge of Jesus, must have 
 cost Paul an effort of self denial. Had he known nought 
 else in any sense, it would not have been necessary to
 
 FIRST SERMON IN HAMPTON. 97 
 
 determine to kuow nothing else. But he had spent his youth 
 in the study of the Jews' religion, and profited above many 
 his equals. 
 
 He would seem to have had some acquaintance, with Grecian 
 learning. Now to have been willing to withdraw himself from 
 fields, in which his mind had long loved to expatiate, must 
 have required an effort, and his piety must have been ardent 
 beyond modern example, if this effort did not amount to a 
 struggle. But, to be willing in the midst of a highly polished 
 people, to be accounted rude and ignorant from failure in 
 disposition to exhibit his knowledge, displayed a moral 
 heroism of the highest order. I have said that Paul appears 
 to have had some acquaintance w'ith Grecian learning, but 
 there is no proof of his eminent proficiency in it, which some 
 claim for him. He was brought up, in a Grecian city, of no 
 mean reputation, but how many reared in Grecian or American 
 cities, fail to attain the polish, for which these cities are dis- 
 tinguished. He was brought up in Jerusalem at the feet of 
 Gamaliel ; but we have no right to interpolate into Gamaliel's 
 course of instruction, anything not authorized by the record. 
 Now, Gamaliel was a teacher of the Jewish law, and so far as 
 we know, a teacher of Jewish law only. But Paul quotes in 
 his writings from Grecian authors These quotations amount 
 in all his speeches and epistles to three. But it would be as 
 illegitimate to infer from these, extensive acquaintance with 
 Grecian literature, as to infer from the same number of 
 quotations from Sliakspeare, Addison and Scott, an intimate 
 knowledge of the English classics.
 
 98 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 Besides, the apostle's style is, confessedly, not pure classic 
 Greek; but the Holy Spirit whilst guiding the mind into all 
 truth, and securing a faithful expression of his (right) meaning, 
 seems throughout the entire canon of the Scriptures, to have left 
 the sacred writers, to their natural and habitual style. Such 
 then was Paul's customary style, and the fact is inconsistent 
 with his being an elegant Greek scholar. Evidently, Paul had 
 considerable learning which might have secured him respect 
 among the Greeks, if in singleness of heart he had not 
 determined to know nothing among them save Jesus Christ, 
 and Him crucified. 
 
 Having considered the temptations which the apostle had 
 to corrupt the gospel; let us now direct our attention, to that 
 doctrine which he resolved at all hazards to proclaim. He 
 would know before them the character which Jesus Christ 
 displayed in His personal history. An intimate personal 
 acquaintance with the Messiah, so as to be brought under the 
 transforming influence of His heavenly example, was thought 
 to be so important to an apostle, that when Peter set before 
 the 120 disciples, who prayerfully awaited the outpouring of 
 the Holy Spirit, the qualifications of an apostle to succeed 
 Judas, he insisted that he should be one who had companied 
 with the disciples all the time, from the baptism of John to 
 the ascension of Jesus. But Paul, who seems never to have 
 seen the face of Jesus Christ till he saw Him in His trans- 
 figured glory, on the journey to Damascus, had the whole 
 character and history of Jesus so fully impressed on his mind, 
 by special revelations that, when after a lapse of years spent
 
 FIRST SERMON IN HAMPTON. 99 
 
 in preaching, he conferred with Peter, James and John, on 
 the doctrine which he had preached, these pillars in the church, 
 who might well seem to be somewhat, added nothing to him 
 in conference. Paul kept in view the character of Jesus 
 as a man, but with all the strength of Jewish attachments, 
 which could make him willing to be accursed from God for 
 their sake, he knew not as a Jew ; " yea," says he, " though we 
 have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know 
 we Him no more." Let us study the character of Jesus to 
 find a precedent, for our own conduct in every imaginable 
 circumstance. AVe have not a master who binds for our 
 shoulders burdens grievous to be borne, Avhich He Himself will 
 not touch with one of His fingers ; but one who shows the 
 practicableness of His commandments, by assuming a nature 
 which brought Him under law, and magnifying law and 
 making it honorable. 
 
 Paul knew only Christ as his Lawgiver. True, the 
 heathen who knew not the law was a law unto himself. The 
 light of nature was his only guide ; but Christ legislated on 
 every subject, on which nature had given law. When the 
 Sun of righteousness arose with healing in his wings, the 
 starlight of nature was not left to throw its glimmer on one 
 tract of duty, w'hile the brighter luminary dispensed his beams 
 on another. The latter swallowed up the former on every 
 field. The minute philosopher might, if he could, adjust the 
 proportion between them, as the minute astronomer may 
 amuse his leisure, by inquiring how much the twinkling of 
 the dogstar helps out the solar blaze. The earnest and practi- 
 cal Paul would know only the all-absorbinglight.
 
 100 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 Moses was a Divine teacher, and he is now a Divine 
 teacher of great value ; but Moses was, and is, but a school- 
 master to bring us to Christ ; he is but the pedagogue that 
 leads on to the great Teacher and King. All the enactments 
 of the old dispensation which are now binding, are condensed 
 and consolidated in this revised code, though the student of 
 Divine law, like the student of municipal law, may find great 
 aid in interpreting the condensed code, by traveling through 
 the previous enactments. The forms and ceremonies of the 
 old dispensation, the shadows of good tliiugs to come, and not 
 the very image of those things, taught like a pictorial primer 
 what is more clearly taught, without the aid of shadows in the 
 new dispensation. All of the cumbrous ceremonies of the law, 
 which constituted a yoke intolerable, were substituted by 
 simple ordinances — baptism and the Lord's supper — expressly 
 commanded by the King in Zion. Everything in the Church 
 of Christ, is fixed by His own commandment, Christ has 
 given it no legislative power; it can interpret and execute His 
 laws — it can go no farther. The outer organization of the 
 Christian Church, given in all its details by its Head, may not 
 be so important as its inner spirit; but God who has given man 
 a body suited to his soul, has given the Church a body suited 
 to its spirit, and no man may alter it in anything. The 
 apostle knew Clirist, as his perfect example ; he knew Him as 
 his absolute prince ; he knew Him as crucified for the sins of 
 the world. It was this last truth, that constituted the burden 
 of the apostle's preaching — Christ Crucified. 
 
 The carnal enmity of men was called out in special fierceness
 
 FIRST SERMON IN HAMPTON. 101 
 
 against this distinguishing and essential doctrine of the Gos- 
 pel. The Jews anxiously longed for the advent of a prince 
 possessed of every title to earthly honor, who should break in 
 pieces the rod of the Roman oppressor ; and this personage 
 who, as they had trusted, was to redeem Israel, had been nailed 
 to the shameful cross. Such a Christ was naturally a stone of 
 stumbling and rock of offence to the Jews. The Greeks felt 
 a lordly contempt, for the reputed Divinity, who had ended his 
 days on the cross. Their whole philosophy, most of it pei-- 
 vaded by materialism, revolted at the resurrection of the dead, 
 as contradicted by experience and abhorrent to reason. But 
 this very doctrine was the only one in which Paul would 
 glory. Christ was a martyr for truth. 
 
 Whilst the common people heard Him gladly. His doctrine 
 was too pure to excite great sympathy, in the mass of men of 
 any generation ; and his unsparing exposures and denuncia- 
 tions of spiritual weakness in high places, brought upon him 
 the inexorable hate of the ruling classes. These cloaked their 
 hellish purposes from others, and perhaps from themselves, 
 under the guise of patriotic concern for the perpetuity of their 
 place and nation, and loyalty to the government of Ctesar ; 
 but Pilate knew that for envy, they had delivered Him. 
 Christ, said of Himself, that He came forth to bear witness of 
 the truth, and He truly sealed His testimony with His blood. 
 But Paul saw in the crucifixion a higher truth than this. 
 
 The first principle in his summary of the Christian faith is, 
 " Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." This 
 precious, fundamental truth, is again and again set forth in
 
 102 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 concise and naked grandeur. Paul does not invite the tears 
 of hearers or readers, by theatrical representations of a Saviour 
 treading in Gethsemane the winepress of the wrath of God 
 alone. He alludes not to tlie traitorous kiss, and the uplifted 
 heel of the familiar friend. He paints not the dark scowl of 
 the midnight inquisitors, ravening for blood. He excites no in- 
 dignation agjiinst the fickle multitude that greeted the Messiah 
 ^Yith hosannas to-day, and were set on to cry, " Away with 
 Him," to-morrow. He forbears to scourge with a scorpion lash, 
 the time-serving politician Avho acknowledged, and as far as 
 he might quietly, contended that Jesus was guiltless, and was 
 still willing to content the fiendish appetite of the populace 
 with innocent blood. He does not detain our attention on the 
 gory cross, the rude spikes, the crown of thorns, the intolei-a- 
 ble thirst and all the horrible details of that grand tragedy, 
 which might have held angels and devils in breathless atten- 
 tion. No, he did not ask sinners to weep over the suflferings 
 of the man of sorrows ; over which many sinners have wept 
 at the prompting of natural sympathy, whilst they were still 
 in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity ; and 
 whilst they would not have the man Christ Jesus to reign 
 over them. No, it was the sacrificial character of the Saviour's 
 death, that was its important feature in the eyes of the 
 apostle. To collate all the texts in the epistles of Paul, which 
 directly assert or clearly imply the vicarious nature of a 
 Saviour's death, would be to transcribe a large portion of 
 these writings. And well may it occupy so much space, for 
 it supports and involves every other truth in the gospel. Did
 
 FIRST SERMON IN HAMPTON. 103 
 
 Christ lead an irreproachable life — it was that He might die a 
 lamb without spot or blemish. Is Christ our king — His title- 
 deed rests not simply on a natural and easy inheritance. His 
 revolted empire was to be redeemed from mortgage to the law 
 of God, demanding the eternal death of every one of His 
 subjects. He hath bought us with His own blood, shed 
 on Calvary. The doctrine of Christ Crucified, involves the 
 original and total depravity of the human race. The offering 
 of Christ on Calvary had been a grand, but empty pageant, if 
 man had been an innocent being. Well might it be asked on 
 this supposition, whence all this waste? Starting from the 
 doctrine of inherent sin, the mind is shut up in hopeless 
 despair, till the rainbow of promise, inscribed Christ Crucified, 
 spans the dark cloud of divine wrath. Well may the Uni- 
 tarian and the Universalist, who have healed slightly the 
 disease of their people, because they have never probed its 
 depths, deny the divinity of Christ, and the vicariousness of 
 His suffering. But he whose conscience has responded to the 
 dark picture of both Jews and Gentiles, drawn by Paul in the 
 first part of the epistle to the Romans, will feel that he needs 
 in God, manifest in the flesh, a Saviour able to save to the 
 uttermost, all who come to God by him. The doctrine of 
 Christ crucified for sin, is the truth which the Holy Spirit uses 
 in the conversion, and sanctification of our natures. Thus, to 
 preach Christ, is to preach the necessity of regeneration ; it is 
 to exhibit the only name, given under heaven among men, 
 whereby we can be saved. It is to hold up Christ as com- 
 manding every duty, whether moral or ceremonial, to urge as
 
 104 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 the great motive to obedience, the love of Christ, which con- 
 straiueth us ; then to preach Christ Crucified, is to preach 
 the entire gospel. The text might seem to be designed as 
 a directory to the minister of the gospel — and you may 
 naturally inquire, why make it the basis of a sermon? I 
 reply, that in the first place, it afforded me as good an oppor- 
 tunity as I could find, to proclaim that gospel which the text 
 binds me to declare. Secondly, it is proper that I should 
 indicate on the authority of the Scriptures, the principles 
 which ought to guide me in my ministrations among you. 
 So that the Church, the highest ecclesiastical authority, may 
 be the better prepared to hold me to a strict accountability 
 for the proper discharge of my office. But lastly and chiefly, 
 I shall be the better prepared to preach the gospel, when the 
 Church is determined to countenance and sustain the pure 
 gospel. 
 
 It is almost incalculable to what extent pastor and people 
 mutually aflx'ct each other. We are all creatures of sympathy. 
 We feel an instinctive and almost irresistible disposition to 
 adapt ourselves to the views and tastes of those, with whom we 
 associate. We do it unconsciously. The people will find it 
 difficult to resist the continual droppings of heresy or formalism 
 from the pulpit. The preacher, when he finds that the simple 
 gospel is not acceptable to his people, will be tempted to begin, 
 before he knows it, to preach to them another gospel. I am 
 the more solicitous to impress this truth, because I fear that 
 with all the outward prosperity of the church and with all the 
 improvement in the machinery of her benevolent operations,
 
 FIRST SERMON IN HAMPTON. 105 
 
 the gospel is losing its hold upon the hearts of the people. 
 Men will hear the gospel now, if it is done up in a way to suit 
 their fastidious tastes. If, at the suggestion of a new order of 
 medical practitioners, you administer very small, infinitesimal 
 doses of the gospel, mixed with other inert and often neutral- 
 izi)ig elements, they will hear it. Brethren, that is no healthy, 
 moral, religious appetite that cannot relish plain food without 
 the admixture of tempting condiments. Men may love able 
 discourses, eloquent discourses, splendid declamations ; but if 
 we come before them, with the plain, robust gospel of the apostle, 
 they will not receive it. Let Jesus come to His own in His 
 gospel and His own receive Him not ; these are the wounds 
 which He receives in the house of His friends. Men think 
 they need something more practical than the doctrinal preach- 
 ing of Christ Crucified. Never was there a greater mistake. 
 The New Testament is full of practical duties, but all connected 
 with the Cross, — all utilized by this head and this heart, and 
 to preach them apart from it, is as absurd as to dissever the 
 running-gear of a machine from the motive power. We may 
 have a beautiful, well-articulated system of morals, but we 
 might as well attempt to move the machinery of a steam engine 
 with the smith's bellows, as attempt to animate them without 
 motives drawn from the spirit-world. The doctrine of Christ 
 Crucified is really adapted to the wants of saints and of sin- 
 ners. What convinces one of sin, is what abases the other 
 still more in humility. What encourages the one to trust for 
 the first time, is what builds up the other, in his most holy 
 faith. Witness the result in well conducted protracted meet- 
 
 o
 
 106 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLl). 
 
 ings, where the gospel is preached, as perhaps it ought to be 
 on other occasions. Do Christians ever seem to grow more in 
 the divine life, than under appliances specially designed for 
 the unconverted ? But finally, to preach Christ Crucified, 
 would necessitate sameness and monotony in our discourses. 
 Perhaps it may in the estimation of the natural man, who dis 
 cerneth not the things, of the Spirit. To the necessary limita- 
 tion of our scope, we would, however, cheerfully submit. Still 
 our theme is rich. Angels desire to look into the great 
 mystery of godliness. Saints in heaven will find unceasing 
 themes in the length and breadth and depth of redeeming love. 
 
 A few colors present all the various tints of the landscape. 
 A few elements in their protean forms of combination make 
 up the almost infinite variety of separate existence. A few 
 truths animated all the varied epistles of Paul : a few senti- 
 ments the multiform Psalms of David. Besides, we miist 
 continue to study this subject. No teacher will interest his 
 pupils, who is not prosecuting inquiries in the branch iu which 
 he teaches. Even Paul is constantly extending his knowledge. 
 He tells us in his epistles that he counted not himself to have 
 attained. There were untrodden heights which he was eager 
 to scale. He was laboring to know Christ, and the power of 
 His resurrection. 
 
 With similar zeal I hope to do something to interest you.
 
 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 107 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 niS WORK IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 
 
 rpHE political agitation that culminated in the 
 -^ war between the States, w^as preceded in Vir- 
 ginia by an era of unusual mental activity — and 
 this was the leojitimate outcome of the marked 
 prosperity of the country. Next to liberty, edu- 
 cation was considered the highest boon of an 
 American citizen. Primary schools, and Academies 
 and Institutes were springing up all over the 
 country. Richmond, Hampden — Sydney, AVilliam 
 and Mary, Washington, and Randolph, — Macon, 
 Colleges, took on new equipments, and yearly 
 poured into the State University, scores of gifted 
 young men. 
 
 Not only from A^irginia, but from almost every 
 State in the Union, came students to this noble 
 Institution of learning. At that time it was 
 in the fulness of its glory. Its matriculates 
 numbered over six hundred annually. No other 
 University South, competed with it, in patronage 
 or scholarship. Its Commencements, on the 29th 
 of June, drew together great crowds of the friends
 
 108 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 of learning from tliis, and other states as well. 
 One of the finest addresses to which the writer 
 ever listened — in point of impassioned eloquence 
 and of popular power — was delivered 29th of June, 
 1860, by Hon. Mr. Voorhees, of Indiana, who was 
 then the orator of the Literary Societies. 
 
 Charlottesville, the seat of the University, was 
 then appropriately styled the Athens of America, 
 if any town, outside of Boston, could justly wear 
 such a title. The very atmosphere of the place 
 was literary. Society, politics, and religion re- 
 ceived the intellectual stamp. Besides several 
 prosperous preparatory schools, there were two 
 large Institutes in the town, in flourishing condi- 
 tion : the E[)iscopal and the Baptist. The latter 
 established mainly by such liberal hearted Baptists 
 of the town, as Wm. P. Farish, A. P. Abell, the 
 Randolphs, the Bibbs, and others. The Principal 
 of the Institute was Prof. John Hart, who had 
 graduated from the University, with the degree of 
 M. A. with distinguished honors. He aimed to 
 make it as far as possible, for females, what the 
 University was for the males. The members of 
 his Faculty, were nearly all M. A.'s of the Univer- 
 sity, and the subjects taught and text books used 
 in many of the schools, were the same. The grade 
 of scholarship, and extent of its curriculum was
 
 HIS WORK IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 109 
 
 not excelled by any female institution, in the land. 
 In the year 1859 the Charlottesville Church called 
 Mr. Brown to be its pastor ; coupled with the call 
 was an invitation from Prof Hart, to fill the chair 
 of Moral Philosophy in his Institute. Pie accepted, 
 and entered on his work in November, of that year. 
 The following, is Prof Hart's estimate of his 
 pastor and co-laborer : 
 
 " In undertaking to furnish some reminiscences 
 of A. B. Brown's pastorate at Charlottesville, I 
 undertake, rather a difficult task. My relations 
 with him, w^ere very cordial and intimate — and to 
 me, perhaps, as much as to any, he revealed his 
 inner self. But the interest of such recollec- 
 tions depends very greatl}^, on striking, personal 
 incidents. Such incidents either were few, or 
 in collision with subsequent agitations, they have 
 been worn from remembrance. Hence, some are 
 entirely lost — others so indistinctly remembered, 
 that to attempt reproduction, was a peril to truth. 
 
 " Dr. Brow^n assumed the pastoral office in 
 Charlottesville in November, 1859. In thatofiice 
 he succeeded Dr. John A. Broadus, wdio had taken 
 a chair, in the newly established Seminary at 
 Greenville. To succeed Broadus was no licfht 
 thing, and Brown fully appreciated the difficulty.
 
 110 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 Really he exaggerated it. He feared that the 
 mai'l-ced difference between his modes of thought, 
 and liis modes of presenting thought, and those of 
 his predecessor, would make him hiil to engage the 
 interest of the congregation. He did not suffi- 
 ciently consider that that very difference, was a 
 factor in his favor. And so he began his work 
 with some trepidation. For a time, he was not 
 enough at his ease to do himself justice. 
 
 " But when the feeling of constraint wore away 
 — when he knew that he had the ear and the 
 sympathy of the thinking part of his audience, 
 the abounding riclies of his intellectual and spirit- 
 ual nature poured themselves forth in a series of 
 sermons, many of which yet live in my memory 
 as unmatched. Hardly a year has passed since, 
 without witness to my debt to him. When I 
 have tried to set forth with some completeness of 
 discussion, an important doctrine of Christianity, 
 I have been surprised to see, with w^hat distinct- 
 ness the struggle of thought brings up what I at 
 once recognize as a residuum of the teaching of 
 A. B. Brown. And when the struggle has so 
 issued, I have felt that I was nearing the inner 
 truth of the matter — that I had fallen into the 
 path of one wdiose thinking went to the marrow 
 of things.
 
 HIS WORK IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. Ill 
 
 " At that time I was at the head of the Albe- 
 marle Female Institute. In this school for years 
 I had the aid of first-rate men, of wdiom all that 
 now live have won distinction in their chosen 
 pursuits. Bronaugli and Thompson, fell in battle ; 
 Louthan died of consumption; Toy, Harris, Holla- 
 day, Johnson, Hiden and Semple still live, and 
 the world know^s them. It does not become me 
 to say what, but for the ruin wrought by w^ar, 
 might have been the place of that school in the 
 work of the real education of w^omen, nor to point 
 out in the ideas and methods now dominant in 
 many of our best schools the evident traces of its 
 brief career. I may, I hope, without suspicion of 
 vanity, record a fact. For the second session, 
 with the assistance of Dr. Toy, I organized a well 
 digested course of study in the English language, 
 in which should be applied to our own tongue, the 
 latest and best methods and results of linguistic 
 science. When I say that C. H. Toy managed 
 the course of study for that session the well 
 informed reader, can give a guess as to the quality 
 of the work. The ' School of English,' thus 
 organized was, so flir as I know, the beginning in 
 this direction. Now such a 'school' is found in 
 almost every college in the country. And if 
 many of them — as there is reason to fear — are but
 
 112 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 sorry schools of Saxon, rather than good schools 
 of English, the fault is not Avith the pioneers of 
 the movement, but with teachers who do not 
 understand their business. 
 
 " Dr. Brown taught the Moral Philosophy course 
 in the Institute dunng the session of 1860-61. 
 Every capable man who knew him recognized his 
 remarkable fitness for just this work. Metaphysics 
 was his mind's native element. Women are usually 
 thought to be disinclined to the severe logical pro- 
 cess, pertinent to this subject. But Dr. Brown's 
 class caught his own enthusiasm. M}^ own engage- 
 ments hardl}^ ever allowed me to be present at the 
 recitations, but I remember very clearly how often 
 the teachings in that class, became the subject of 
 eager and intelligent discussion among its members, 
 during their intervals of leisure. I have said that 
 Brown's mind was metaphysical. He delighted in 
 speculative thought. In this, he stands in marked 
 contrast with another of noble powers and of 
 noble life — one who was long the recognized 
 leader of the Baptists of Virginia. Dr. Jeter 
 Avas singularly free from all tendency to specula- 
 tive thought ; and while it would be unsafe to say 
 that such an intellect as his, lacked that power, 
 the power was held in perpetual abeyance. 
 
 " Not many months after Dr. BroAvn's coming to
 
 HIS WORK IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 1 1 3 
 
 Charlottesville, were the beginnings of the agita- 
 tion that culminated in secession and Avar. To 
 the exciting questions of that time, he carried his 
 characteristic thinking. He was not an ' original 
 secessionist.' The impassioned and scholarly ora- 
 tory of Ilolcombe, while it yielded him intense 
 artistic delight, did not convince his judgment ; 
 not until the actual secession of the State did he 
 let go his allegiance to Federal authority. And 
 then to do so cost him a struggle. His early 
 political view^s, combined wdth deep reverence for 
 the teachings of inspiration concerning obedience 
 ' to powers that be,' made him question if it were 
 not sin to throw off authority, that he had held 
 as paramount. He carefully reviewed the wdiole 
 question of the relations between the State and 
 the Federal Government, and reached a conclusion. 
 The result was a sermon from the w^ords : ' Render 
 therefore unto Cfesar the things which be Caesar's/ 
 in which, with a keenness of logic that would not 
 have discredited a Calhoun, he showed that the 
 immediate Cassar of the people of Virginia, is the 
 State of Virginia, and that the conscientious Chris- 
 tian may follow her voice even if it does not con- 
 cur with the voice from Washington. And this, 
 so far as I remember, was the only sermon from 
 him, even in those distracting times, that with
 
 114 LIFE OF A. B. BllOWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 color of reason could be called political. In 
 another, soon after tlie first battles were fought, he 
 sketched a battle field during the progress of the 
 fight, and after the carnage was over. It was only 
 a rapid sketch, but in vividness and in realistic 
 power, neither voice nor pen has given me any- 
 thing finer. 
 
 " I have said that Brown soon won the attention 
 and full sympatliy of the cultured and thinking 
 people who heard him. But a very large number 
 of the Church and congregation never so far 
 attainted his level as to walk with him on it with 
 pleasure and profit. Hence his pastorate in Char- 
 lottesville was not what would be called in modern 
 parlance, ' a success.' It ended by his resignation 
 near the end of 1861. 
 
 " Allusion has been made to the barrenness of 
 entertaining personal incidents, at least in my 
 recollection. Such as I do remember were mainly 
 connected with what was sometimes called his ner- 
 vous irritability — a peculiarity which no man la- 
 mented more than himself as a serious obstacle in 
 the path to usefulness. I do not believe it was ner- 
 vous irritability. It was old-fashioned, downright 
 anger — anger which for a moment swept every- 
 thing before it — to be followed soon by the keenest 
 regret. The locomotive, were it a being of Intel-
 
 HIS WORK IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 115 
 
 lect and feeling, would doubtless exult as it speeds 
 along carrying its ponderous and precious freight ; 
 but it would quiver with indignant wrath, if some 
 malapert engineer should suddenly pull the revers- 
 ing bar. So with Brown. The rude current of 
 the tide of thought, driving from the field of his 
 mind its busy occupants, made him quiver with 
 an indignation that at once spent itself on the 
 obvious arresting cause. And this I think was 
 substantially his own view of the matter, for he 
 once told me that his outbursts w^ere not confined 
 to public occasions. Sometimes, in the quiet of 
 his study, when his whole being was intent on an 
 absorbing train of thought, the casual entrance 
 of any one, with an innocent question about 
 dinner, wrought the same stormy reaction. This 
 w\as a weakness in Dr. Brown, but a weakness 
 that w^as a token of strength. So, sometimes, a 
 splendid physical nature so fights against disease 
 that its ravages are hardly discernible, until the 
 disease becomes victor and the man falls suddenly 
 dead. The suddenness and completeness of the 
 collapse testify the strenuousness of resistance. In 
 his later years Dr. Brown had, I think, become the 
 master. When his election to the chair of Endish 
 in the College w^as announced, I felt but one appre- 
 hension. His admirable qualifications in all re-
 
 116 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 spects as to scholarship and teaching power — and 
 withal his sensible views as to what teaching 
 English is — I well knew. But I did fear that a 
 college class might re-instate his old tyrant. That 
 it did not is proof that he had become master. 
 
 " In the various notices of Dr. Browni, much has 
 been said about the qualities of his mind. Nobody, 
 so far as I have noticed, has emphasized his most 
 striking gift. This was imagination. I do not 
 mean the decorative fancy that makes forays into 
 other people's gardens to gather the few flowers 
 that may serve to disguise the poverty at home. 
 I mean imagination in its highest function — the 
 personifying function. His mind was a battle- 
 field. Ideas were living things — warriors in pano- 
 ply, that charged and recoiled and charged again, 
 until at last the false w^ere driven in rout from 
 the field. No one who has heard him often, no 
 one who has read attentively Avhat he wrote, can 
 fail, I think, to recognize this power. Many a 
 time he has reminded me of Milton, and more 
 nearly than any other whom I have personally 
 known he approached Milton in imaginative power. 
 
 " In person, A. B. Brown was not handsome. Tall, 
 lean, limber, and singularly given to acute angles 
 in gesticulation, he was yet a remarkable consis- 
 tency. The ponderous, rugged, and stimulating
 
 HIS WORK IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 117 
 
 thoughts he was wont to throw out, could never 
 have suited a pulpit Chesterfield. Very soon his 
 hearers felt the subtle harmony that bound up the 
 man, the manner of the man, and his thoughts 
 into one unique whole — to the integrity of which 
 one part then seemed as essential as another. But 
 a stranger was surely pardonable, wdiose attention 
 was mainly attracted for a time, to the sensible 
 rather than the intellectual. 
 
 " It may be doubted, whether Dr. Brow^n's criti- 
 cal powers, w^ere up to the measure of his general 
 ability. A Butler may tell of plenty of wit with 
 excessive shyness in using it. The two things 
 are not usually together. But if Dr. Brown had 
 the critical gift, he was very shy in using it, at 
 least in the censorious way. I doubt if any man 
 ever heard him make a harsh comment on the 
 sermon of a brother preacher. Occasionally, when 
 some one else occupied his pulpit, he w^as ever a 
 patient and interested listener, and ver}^ commonly 
 almost enthusiastic in commendation — and this, 
 sometimes, when I was obliged to confess that I 
 had been bored. Either his amiability led him to 
 repress any tendency to severity of stricture, or 
 his idea of the purpose of preaching made him 
 think well of any sermon that put before the 
 people, the real doctrines of the Gospel, however
 
 118 LIFE OF A. n. iniOWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 defective it was in logical and literary merit. I 
 know that his deep kindliness of feeling, made him 
 a most lenient judge of the work of a friend. 
 
 " A very noble man is lost. Within a certain 
 narrow circle, the loss cannot be supplied.. But 
 on the wdde field of general activity, no single man 
 is an absolute necessity. The best and noblest 
 fiill, and the vacant places cannot, we think, be 
 filled. But others are called forth wdio take up 
 the fallen mantles and carry forward well and 
 w^orthily, the interrupted work. In that narrow, 
 inner circle, the loss is irreparable. There the sym- 
 pathy of surviving friends counts for much. The 
 true consolation, is the patient and thoughtful 
 waiting for the time of reunion. 
 
 "John Hart." 
 
 The following extract is from "A Pupil's Tri- 
 bute," by the author, that appeared in the Biblical 
 Recorder, of Raleigh, N. C, a few days after his 
 death : 
 
 " In the years of '60 and '61 I sat under his 
 teaching in the class of Moral Philosophy in the 
 Albemarle Female Institute, Va. At that time 
 he was pastor of the church at Charlottesville. 
 Those who sat under his ministry there, will bear
 
 HIS WORK IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 119 
 
 me out in saying that his sermons were marked 
 by extraordinary power. The subjects treated 
 were frequently on the line of those studied in 
 the class. Professors of the University and the 
 more thoughtful of the students came often to 
 hear him. There was much in the appreciation 
 and responsiveness of his audience to stimulate 
 him. 
 
 " It was then that Prof John Hart, the dis- 
 tinguished educator, was at the head of a Faculty 
 composed of that bright galaxy of Virginia alumnaa 
 of the University, as Prof H. H. Harris, C. H. 
 Toy, Wm. P. Lou than, AValter Holliday, Wm. 
 Bronaugh, Thompson, and J. C. Hiden. But for 
 the desolations of war, the broad reaching plans 
 of its Principal would have made long ere this 
 the Albemarle Institute, the foremost female col- 
 lege of the South. I doubt whether any chair was 
 ever more ably filled in this country, than was 
 the one filled by Dr. Brown. He w\as in the full 
 vigor of his manhood. Philosophy was his fa- 
 vorite study. His restless mind roved rampant 
 over the fields of thought, culling flowers at every 
 turn. He read, he compiled, he condensed, that 
 he might give to his pupils the benefit of his own 
 research. It was only a class of girls he taught, 
 but he did not think them unworthy of his best
 
 120 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 efforts. One of that number, our own loved Lottie 
 Moon, is a missionary to China, and others have 
 become distinguished teachers. 
 
 " When he appeared before the class, and began 
 to lecture, he became fired with his subject and 
 unconsciously communicated the magnetic thrill 
 to his students. It was impossible not to feel the 
 contagious power of his intellect. The subjects 
 studied might be metaphysical and difficult, but 
 his mind illumined them with the brilliancy of his 
 own setting, till they glowed and sparkled with 
 ineffable beauty. He so loved the truth and 'the 
 search after the truth,' that Avhcther in a Jouffroy, 
 a Cousin, or a Sir William Hamilton, or any other, 
 he so led on his students by the magic power of 
 his own enthusiasm, as to excite a hungering and 
 thirsting after knowledge that w^as undying. He 
 knew what it was to teach, and magnified his 
 office by the love of it."
 
 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 121 
 
 A PORTION OF A SERMON DELIVERED IN 
 CHARLOTTESVILLE. 
 
 " Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was 
 rich, for your sakes, He became poor, that ye through His poverty might 
 be made rich." — 2 Corinth, viii. 9. 
 
 The contemplation of the grace of God in Christ, is calcu- 
 lated to cultivate in those who have been renewed by the 
 Spirit, two eminent Christian graces, gratitude to God, and 
 benevolence to men. Thankfulness, is excited by a considera- 
 tion of the gift to ourselves, and benevolence, by reflection on 
 the example of the giver. On last Sunday, in a discourse 
 on the text, " We love Him, because He first loved us," we 
 appealed to the first of these affections ; but you will see from 
 the connection, that the doctrine of our j^resent text was 
 presented in an appeal to the latter. The Apostle John makes 
 a similar appeal when he exclaims, " Hereby perceive we the 
 love of God, because He laid down His life for us, and we 
 ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." 
 
 AVithout laboring on this occasion to point the moral of the 
 text, I shall endeavor to unfold the proposition, from which 
 the apostle deduces it as an inference. I think that I shall 
 show the meaning of this proposition by substituting for it 
 
 H
 
 122 LIFE OF A. n. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 these three propositions, wliich taken together are equivalent 
 to it: 1st, Jesus was in one period of His life, rich ; 2d, Strange 
 to say, at a subsequent pcri(xl He became poor; 3d, The object 
 of this voluntary assumption of poverty was, that His people 
 might be rich. These propositions, I shall discuss in the order 
 in which I have announced them. 
 
 The first proposition considered in connection with the 
 New Testament history, clearly involves the superhuman 
 character of Jesus Christ. For His state of richness must, 
 according to the history, have been antecedent to His assump- 
 tion of humanity. In no period of Christ's earthly career was 
 He rich. If the Unitarian alleges that the Messiah's riches, 
 consisted in His power of working miracles, which power He 
 laid on the cross, we deny that He ever thus impoverished 
 Himself Had He not the power of miraculously saving His 
 life from His crucifiers ? Pie declares Himself, " No man 
 taketh My life from Me, I have power to lay it down, and I 
 have power to take it again." He could have summoned twelve 
 legions of angels to crush His murderers. The Redeemer 
 did not on the cross, about the close of His career, alter 
 the principles which had before regulated His working of 
 miracles. Did He refuse to amuse Herod, by the exercise 
 of His supernatural power? He had always refused to degrade 
 His glorious endowment, by doing wonders for the gratifica- 
 tion of sightseers. Whenever, from curiosity, an evil genera- 
 tion sought after a sign. He determined that no sign should 
 be given it. Did Jesus refuse to do anything to save 
 Himself from the cross? It is a most iuterestinff, and most
 
 SERMON IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 123 
 
 characteristic feature in His history, that He never wrought 
 any miracle for Himself. He fed five thousand with a few 
 loaves and fishes, but though He fasted forty days, He would 
 not at the suggestion of Satan, save Himself from pinching 
 hunger, by commanding a stone to become bread. He would 
 enable Peter to walk to Him on the water, but He would not 
 cast Himself down from a pinnacle of the Temple, that the 
 angels might give themselves charge concerning Him. I 
 repeat, that Jesus made no change in relation to miracles on 
 the cross. The riches of Christ here alluded to, must have 
 been, what He possessed before He came into the world. He 
 was rich, before He came into the world. He was above the 
 angels. Yea, He created the highest archangels, for without 
 Him, was not anything made that was made. This explains 
 that He Himself, was not created. He possessed excellencies 
 to which nothing could be added, for in His superhuman 
 character, He is the same yesterday, to-day and forever. Now, 
 this involves His inferiority to men and angels, if He is less 
 than infinite, for both men and angels have, according to the 
 Scriptures, the power of indefinite progression, and would ulti- 
 mately surpass Him. But nothing more is necessary for our 
 present purpose, than the fact, that He was in the beginning 
 with God, and that He was God. 
 
 If then God is rich, Jesus Christ the express image of His 
 Father's person, full of truth and ^'ace, was also rich. "We 
 may not assume to take an inventory of the riches of God. 
 The riches of God are infinite, and the finite cannot fathom 
 the infinite. All conceivable riches, riches of power, riches
 
 124 LIFE OF A. B. BllOWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 of wisdom, riches of holiness, riches of glory, riches of happi- 
 ness are His forever, and in unbounded fulness. 
 
 The highest efforts of our power, are put forth on matter 
 and mind, which we can neither create nor destroy. By the 
 Avord of His power. Ho called out of utter nothing, all the 
 forms of matter and all the gradations of intellectual and 
 sentient existence. AVe act by availing ourselves of the laws 
 of nature, by making ourselves the obedient servants of His 
 law. He made all the laws of matter and of mind. AVe are 
 stewards and tenants at will, of our so called possessions. He 
 is the absolute owner. Our wealth is but a pros])ective supply 
 for the wants of the body. The all pervading and illimitable 
 spirit, intimately present in all things, knows no want, feels 
 no desire. We are often worn down by the cares, and per- 
 plexed by the multiplicity of the engagements which wealth 
 imposes ; and kings harassed to torture by exhausting anxie- 
 ties, cry out in anguish of spirit, 'Uneasy lies the head that 
 wears the crown." But the real and ultimate owner of all 
 wealth, the monarch of an infinite empire, in whose audience 
 chamber, innumerable waiting angels receive their commis- 
 sions and render their reports, now manages all the vast and 
 divine plans, all the minute and amazingly complex details of 
 His boundless system, with all the freshness and vigor which 
 characterized His administration, when first the morning stars 
 sang together, and all the sous of God shouted for glory. He 
 is rich in powers. His voice created matter; His breath 
 created spirit. 
 
 The ocean that swallows in its greed, the fleets of merchant
 
 SERMON IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 125 
 
 princes, and the navies of kings, dares not push a ripple 
 beyond His appointed bounds. Revelling winds ravaging 
 whole provinces in their mad spirit, crouch like chidden 
 spaniels at His feet. And mad comets in all their seeming 
 eccentricity of movement, move like well appointed trains 
 across the tracks of revolving worlds without venturing a 
 collision. 
 
 He is rich in wisdom. Let all architects admire the skill 
 of Hiram, the chief under whose superintendence the materials 
 of Solomon's temple — came from the quarries and the forests 
 of Lebanon, so squared and so fitted, that on that beautiful 
 building no hammer might sound. But let a Universe admire 
 the skill, of the great architect, so working in darkness, the 
 quarry of nonentity, brought forth every atom without mark 
 and without label, and fixed it instantly in the symmetrical 
 fabric of universal nature. No whispered treason, can escape 
 Him ; no open rebellion can surprise Him ; He makes the 
 wrath of man and the wrath of devils to praise Him. 
 
 Devils rebelled. He had foreseen it, and had determined 
 to make it the occasion, on which many angels should feel, 
 and all angels should see the majesty of justice. He had 
 foreknown it, and had purposed to thwart the fiend, by show- 
 ing Himself on this occasion, in the otherwise impossible atti- 
 tude of a God, whose mercy endureth forever. AYe must 
 cease to gaze upon the effulgence of that Being who dwells in 
 light unapproachable, and to whom still the darkness shineth 
 as the light — whose unfailing memory is the perfect record 
 from which shall be judged the secrets of all hearts in a
 
 12(J LIFE OF A. B. HROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 coming day, and before whose all-seeing eye the future of 
 every being looms up in infinite perspective. 
 
 He is rich in glory. Our wealth may secure us a little 
 honor, and much show of respect where thrift may follow 
 fawning. But He is rich in the freewill homage of all pure 
 beings, and richer still, in His sufficiency for Himself. He 
 needs not the worship of man, nor of angels, to add to His 
 gloiy. What must have been the conceptions of that glory, 
 which Christ had with Him before the world was? 
 
 He is rich in holiness. The devout astronomer, like Newton, 
 whilst gazing on the sublimity of nature, Avill exclaim, "Mar- 
 vellous are Thy works Lord God Almighty." The saint contem- 
 plating the scheme of redemption is induced to exalt the riches 
 of the grace of God. But the unfiillen beings of the upper 
 world regard the holiness of God, as the Kohinoor diamond in 
 His crown. " Cherubim and Seraphim continually sing Holy, 
 Holy Lord God of Sabaoth. Heaven and earth, are full of 
 the majesty of thy glory." God is infinitely hup^iy. When 
 the whole creation, passed in review before Him, He pronounced 
 it very good. There was happiness, in this approbation, of His 
 works. He has made all nature, beauty to the eye and music 
 to the ear. Shall He that formed the eye not see this beauty? 
 Shall he that made the ear, not hear this music ? or is He 
 fated to be the only intelligent being who shall see and hear 
 without delight. Away with the thought. The Centre and 
 Source of all happiness must be infinitely happy. If it is 
 more blessed to give than to receive, what must be the happi- 
 ness of that Being whose benefactions, like the rays of the sun,
 
 SERMON IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 127 
 
 are continually going forth, never to return but in tlie clouds 
 of incense which they raise. 
 
 This great almoner of the skies, whom giving could not 
 impoverish, was ever opening His hand, and supplying the 
 wants of every living thing, was ever enjoying the true luxury 
 of wealth, the luxury of doing good. When we consider the 
 riches of this Great Being, well may we say to Him, in the 
 language of David, " What is man, that thou art mindful of 
 him, and the son of man that thou didst visit him, yet for 
 our sakes He became poor." 
 
 II, We do not learn from the Scriptures that Jesus Christ 
 abased all His glories, and parted with all His riches when 
 He was manifested in the flesh. We learn in fact the direct 
 contrary. Jesus Christ as the second person in the Trinity, 
 exercised in the universe ; all the powers of Deity, all the pro- 
 cesses of nature, moved on during His incarnation, as they had 
 from the beginning, yea, even on this battle-field. 
 
 The Captain of our Salvation, travailed in the greatness of 
 His strength. The winds and the waves He spoke, as before, 
 into instant stillness. At His rebuke, the fig tree was scathed 
 as by the lightning of heaven. No malady baffled the skill 
 of the all-healing physician. No lunacy resisted the charm 
 of Him, that loved to minister to the mind diseased. All con- 
 quering death, released at His command, putrefying vic- 
 tims, and routed devils slunk to hell from His presence. 
 Jesus was in some sense still rich. He did not relinquish or 
 forfeit that holiness, which challenges on Galilean plains, the 
 worship of a whole multitude of the heavenly host ; and most
 
 128 LIFE OF A. H. DROWxX, DD. LLD. 
 
 certainly He did not, when He came forth to seek and to save 
 the lost, relinquish the riches of His grace. He did ahate the 
 lustre of His glory. He did become poor in His condition 
 and in His humiliation. 
 
 Whilst Jesus Christ was in the flesh — it is legitimate to 
 infer, that He confined the range of His seen and recogni/.ed 
 action, within the sphere of His bodily presence. He per- 
 formed no deed on earth, of Avhich He received the honor, 
 save where His body was. What an immeasurable abatement 
 of His glory. The light lighted every man that came into 
 the world, but amidst the clouds of ignorance and prejudice, 
 the world saw not whence came the light, and glorified it not. 
 The light shone in darkness, and the darkness comprehended 
 it not. Whether during the hour of the Messiah's humilia- 
 tion, the throne of the second person in the Trinity was 
 shrouded so that the majesty of glory shone not out to the 
 heavenly inhabitants, we may not know now. But we do 
 know that His glory was not fully appreciated, by His own 
 few followers, till after His resurrection from the dead. The 
 intimate union of the Divine and human natures in the person 
 of Christ, so that there might be a close sympathy between 
 them, and so that our great High Priest might be touched 
 with a feeling of our infirmities, was an amazing stoop of 
 condescension. Think of the degradation, that would result 
 to your spirit, by encasing it in the body of a reptile. Think 
 of the humiliation of that, s])irit by intimate union and com- 
 munion, with whatever of spirit the reptile might possess. 
 And then appreciate if you can, the humiliation which the
 
 SERMON IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 129 
 
 great Creator sustained, when He was found in fashion as a 
 man. But in the Saviour's infinite descent from the court of 
 heaven, He did not stop at the upper strata of human society, 
 He did not content Himself with stooping to the poor condi- 
 tion of man, but He farther descended to the condition of a 
 poor man. And oh, how poor ! Many a queen had desired 
 to be His nursing mother. But He reclines His infant head 
 upon the bosom of a Galilean peasant woman. The roar of 
 one hundred and one guns, and the acclamations of all Paris, 
 hailed the birth of the son of Napoleon. Jesus made His 
 unhonored advent, among the beasts of the stall (quotation 
 here from the infant's hymn, " Soft and easy is the cradle.") 
 The Avealthy of His day, made their costly offerings for their 
 first born. Mary, more grateful than any other mother, could 
 only offer a couple of pigeons or turtle doves. AVhilst He 
 prosecuted His ministry. He lived by the charity of His fol- 
 lowers, generally themselves poor. He had not a 2:»enny on 
 earth with which to pay even the temple taxes. A roving 
 missionary of the cross, would indeed be in a pitiable condi- 
 tion if he had no place which he could call his own, and in 
 which he might talk undisturbed with his anxious inquirers ; 
 but when one of Jesus' hearers attracted by the sweetness 
 and purity of His doctrine, affirmed that he would follow Him 
 whithersoever He went, the Saviour replied, " The foxes have 
 their holes, the birds of the air have their nests, but the Son 
 of man hath not where to rest his head." When on the cross 
 His heart filled with the great concern of human redemption, 
 was for a moment saddened by the condition of His bereaved
 
 130 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 tmd needy mother, He could fix on her no annuity, no pen- 
 sion. He made Plis will, but in it He could only lay under 
 contribution the affection of His most faithful and attached 
 disciple, establishing a new and sacred union between them 
 by saying, "John, let my mother be your mother! Mother, 
 let my friend be your son." Yea, His body could be buried 
 in no ancestral vault, it rested in the new tomb of Joseph of 
 Arimathea — honored be His name ! Not only was He poor, 
 but treated with great contempt and indignity, throughout all 
 His recorded life. He was contemptuously expelled from the 
 synagogues as unworthy of a place among His people ; if one 
 who had been healed by Him, dared to plead that it was 
 strange, that if Jesus was a sinner He could have opened the 
 eyes of the blind, he was roughly rebuked for his presump- 
 tion, and summarily excommunicated. He never enjoyed the 
 advantages of extended human learning for His human spirit, 
 and those who attended His ministry were generally among 
 the poor and the despised. Judge my hearers, if a professed 
 minister of Jesus Christ, could heap ridicule on the head of 
 Dr. Carey, the missionary to Hindoostan, as a consecrated 
 cobbler, what nmst have been the scorn of haughty Rabbis 
 and Pharisees, for Him who taught a doctrine not learned 
 in the schools ? Why, it was of such that Jesus says Himself, 
 " They called the master of the house Beelzebub." How poor 
 and despised the man who can have no peace and no respect 
 in his own family. Yet Jesus was treated as a madman by 
 His own brethren according to the flesh. Respectable men 
 like Nicodemus, it would seem, did not dare to visit in the day-
 
 SERMON IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 131 
 
 time, but visited Him as men would now, a despised fortune- 
 teller, at night. If on one occasion His followers would honor 
 Hira with a triumphal procession into Jerusalem, His appear- 
 ance was so humble, the procession so loAvly, as well might 
 excite the derision of the proud. So ruined seemed the 
 fortunes of Jesus that one of His most cherished followers felt 
 so much ashamed of Hira, that he swore bitterly that he knew 
 nothing of Him ; especially during His last hours. How 
 deep was His humiliation. He was publicly scourged. He 
 was crowned with a hastily made mock-crown, clothed with 
 the mock habiliments of royalty, and made to sway, for the 
 amusement of the bystanders, a reed for His sceptre. He 
 was taunted, amidst His agonies by priests wagging their 
 heads and saying, " He saved others, Himself He cannot 
 save." He was reviled by thieves. My hearers, the hour of 
 death, an hour of deep sympathy, the hour of public execution 
 is an hour of silent pity for the meanest. I hesitate not to say 
 that if a murderer in our land, W'ere treated on the gallows 
 with a tithe of the insult heaped on Jesus, the man Avho dared 
 to do it, would be torn in pieces by the honest indignation of 
 the mob. (An effective allusion was here made in Charlottes- 
 ville, to the kind treatment of John Brown in his trial.) Yet, 
 men of like passions with you and me, so treated my Lord 
 and your Lord. Well might angels have exclaimed on this 
 sad humiliation, " How is the mighty fallen." 
 
 Jesus in His humiliation was also deeply sorrowful. The 
 word of God represents Him as a man of sorrows. I know 
 the sorrows of His heart have never been written. He came
 
 132 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 to M'ipe away the tears of others, not to ask their sym- 
 pathy. The daughters of Jerusalem mourned, but Jesus said, 
 " Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for INIe." He breathed 
 His sorrows at night into the ear of Heaven. Once we over- 
 hear Him in Gethsemane, utter a whole volume of sorrow in 
 the exclamation, " My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto 
 death." 
 
 in. But why this poverty? He became poor that we might 
 be rich ; rich in the graces which He never laid aside, rich 
 in the glories which He did lay aside for us. He impover- 
 ished Himself to pay our debts, and to end with an exceeding 
 and eternal weight of glory. Yea, to give in the earnest of 
 the Spirit a foretaste of heaven. Well may the saints exclaim, 
 W'hen considering His inheritance, " How vast the treasures 
 we possess :" 
 
 " How vast the treasures we possess, 
 How rich Tliy bounty, king of grace, 
 This world is ours, and worhls to come, 
 Earth is our lodge and heaven our home." 
 
 [As usual, the manuscript of this sermon is 
 imperfect. It does not contain the discussion of 
 his third proposition. Such as it is, I venture to 
 give it as a sample of his earlier sermons.] 
 
 The personal reminiscences of Dr. J. B. Taylor, 
 the scholarly pastor of Lexington, Va., published 
 below, refer to his life in Charlottesville, and will 
 come in appropriately here :
 
 HIS WORK IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 133 
 
 "Among the pleasant memories of my father's 
 house, are those of the visits of good men and 
 women who were entertained there. What a treat 
 and a blessing to us children, was the coming of 
 these saints. Among these was A. B. Brown, and 
 I remember his kindly interest in us young people. 
 I learned to know him well, and to love him very 
 tenderly, during my last year, as a student at the 
 University of Virginia. It was his first year as 
 pastor of the Charlottesville Baptist Church, of 
 which I was a member. He often came out to 
 the University, and was frequently a visitor at my 
 room. It was my privilege to be much in his 
 company, at his own pleasant home. What a 
 treat it was to hear him talk ! His judgment of 
 books, men and measures, was so simple, wise 
 and common-sense. His conversation, as also his 
 preaching, was always suggestive and stimulating. 
 You could not listen to his discourse in public or 
 private, without hearing that which was to be 
 remembered, and which would be almost uncon- 
 sciously assimilated as a part of your own mental 
 furniture. 
 
 "During the year referred to, the Charlottes- 
 ville Church called for my ordination along with 
 that of three well known and gifted young men 
 who were expecting to go to the foreign field. I
 
 134 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 was not read}' to enter npon the work of the 
 pastorate, and expected to go the next session to 
 our Theoh)gical Seminary. Bro. Brown, appre- 
 ciating the difficult}' a young man naturally felt 
 in deciding such a matter, took much interest in 
 it, and an own brother could not have been more 
 lovingly helpful, as he suggested peculiar reasons 
 why the ordination should take place. I enclose 
 an account of it, written at the time by Dr. Brown 
 himself and published in a Charlottesville paper. 
 For various reasons it may be of interest : 
 
 ORDINATION. 
 
 "At the joint call of the Charlottesville and Mechanicsville 
 Baptist Churches, Eklers J. B. Taylor, D. D., A. M. Poin- 
 dcxter, Charles Quarles, T. G. Jones, John A. Broadus, D.D., 
 James Fife, Wm. P. Parish and A. B. Brown, assembled in 
 Charlottesville, on the 9th of June, 1860, to examine with a 
 view to ordination, brethren C. 11. Toy, J. L. Johnson, J. B. 
 Taylor, Jr., of the former church, and J. W. Jones, of the 
 latter. This presbytery organized itself by calling J. B. 
 Taylor, Sr., to the chair, and appointing A. B. Brown Secre- 
 tary, and, after inviting to its aid a committee from the 
 Mechanicsville Church and all the ministering and private 
 bretliri'ii who were present, proceeded to exniiiiiie the candi- 
 dates with respect to their conversion, call to the ministry and 
 doctrinal views. The rcf^ult of the examination being highly 
 satisfactorv, it was resolved that the t)rdination of all the can-
 
 HIS WORK IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 135 
 
 didates be proceeded Avith on the morrow (Sunday) after the 
 sermon. Elder A. B. Cabaniss had been requested to take 
 part in the public services of the ordination, and those services 
 "were distributed among the members of the presbytery, as 
 will hereafter appear. 
 
 "At 11 o'clock on the Sunday morning, the spacious Baptist 
 Church was densely thronged with an audience embracing an 
 unusually large element of high intelligence and culture, 
 called out by the distinguished reputation of the preacher and 
 by a commendable interest in the youth, the blameless lives, 
 the sound and thorough scholarship, and especially the self- 
 devotion of the candidates for ordination, three of whom have 
 offered for the untried mission among the Japanese. The con- 
 gregation listened for an hour and a quarter with unflagging 
 interest to the noble discourse of Rev. T. G. Jones, on the 
 text, ' Preach the Word.' This was one of the best efforts of 
 its admired author, whose subtlety and logical power few of the 
 ministers of Virginia can surpass, whose width of mental range 
 scarcely one can equal, and whose richness of imagination, and 
 splendor and beauty of diction are absolutely unrivalled. 
 
 " It is still more gratifying to say that many who once feared 
 that this bold thinker would project himself beyond the 
 limits of orthodoxy, or lift himself into the regions of coldly 
 correct speculation, and who have prayed, as Fuller prayed 
 for Hall, ' the Lord keep that young man,' are witnessing in 
 his productions from year to year an increase of spirituality 
 and pathos. At the close of the sermon. Elder J. B. Taylor 
 prayed most devoutly and earnestly for the young brethren, 
 and in the mean time the hands of the presbytery were laid
 
 136 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 on the heads of the candidates. By this time the crowd had 
 received considerable accessions from the other worshiping 
 assemblies just dismissed in the town, and when it was 
 announced that Dr. Broadus would deliver the charge to the 
 ordained, the standing throng around the doors pressed far 
 down the aisles, preserving, however, a breathless silence. 
 The address was replete with mature wisdom, and pervaded 
 by a tenderness befitting the close relations between the 
 speaker and the young men. In a word, it brought out as 
 well as the limits of time and theme would allow, the very 
 high and full-orbed talent, the broad and thorough culture, 
 the deep-toned piety, and the genial sympathies of him to 
 whom this part of the service happily fell. Some difficult 
 discussions would have been necessary to cull forth his rare 
 powers of clear analysis, luminous statement, and forcible 
 argumentation. Any occasion, however, exhibits in him a 
 completeness of view that excludes all half truths, an inimi- 
 table precision and fulness of expression that makes his 
 utterances almost unf/uinmijable, and a style which combines 
 the Saxon simplicity of Bunyan with the elegance of Hall. 
 After the charge, our ardent, sagacious, practical and devoted 
 missionary to China, Rev. A. B. Cabaniss, presented, on be- 
 half of the presbytery, a Bible to each of the new ministers. 
 Rev. Dr. Quarles gave them the right hand of fellowship. 
 Some of us then expected a rare treat from A. M. Poindexter, 
 but he had the singular good sense not to detain the audience, 
 contenting himself with affectionately comnaending the dear 
 young brethren to tlie prayers and sympathies of the pious. 
 
 A. B. Brown.
 
 HIS WORK IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 137 
 
 "Occasionally on a Sunday night, our brother 
 would press one of the ministerial students into 
 service, myself among the rest. Notwithstanding 
 his great ability, it was not a trial to preach in 
 his presence. He was such a kind appreciative 
 listener, that his presence rather helped and stimu- 
 lated than depressed or embarrassed. 
 
 "After leaving the University, I saw little of 
 him for years. I went to the Seminary at Green- 
 ville — then the war came on. During all this 
 time the memory of his purity, unselfishness, 
 gentleness and consecration was often an inspi- 
 ration. 
 
 "In the year 1871, I w^as riding in a carriage 
 with Dr. Brown and the late Dr. A. M, Poindex- 
 ter. We were talking of the future life, and I 
 used the expression, ' If we get to Heaven,' etc. 
 Dr. P. promptly said in substance, ' you should not 
 speak thus ; we are the children of God, through 
 faith in Jesus Christ, and there can be no doubt 
 that we shall reach the heavenly home'. I remem- 
 ber how Dr. Brown seemed impressed, and he told 
 me not long since, that he frequently thought of 
 the incident and that it had been a great blessing 
 to him. He was, as you know, a great friend and 
 admirer of Dr, Poindexter, at whose house in his 
 young manhood he spent much time. He was the
 
 138 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 author of the admimble sketch of that gifted man 
 which appeared in Cathcart's Encyclopedia. One 
 of the most impressive things I ever read from his 
 pen was a tribute to Mrs. P., in which occurs the 
 following beautiful passage, in which there is an 
 incidental reference to his own early life : 
 
 " Farewell to thee, my sister ! Farewell, perhajis for ever, to 
 Poplar Avenue, my much cherished resort ! Thy tall trees 
 are decaying, thy halls are deserted, most of thy former 
 tenants are mouldering to dust ; and the living are tearing 
 themselves away from a residence amid the tombs. Happy 
 hours have I spent around thy hearthstone, to which memory 
 shall flee for refuge, in the dark days of the future. Bright 
 figures have I seen within thy walls ; but the presence which 
 furnished their most favorable and attractive light is gone 
 forever ! 
 
 " The last time we met was in Richmond, at our 
 General Association. I can never forget the ten- 
 der loving Avords which he spoke to me. I shall 
 always be thankful not only that I knew him, but 
 that he was my friend and gave me a warm place 
 in his heart. A nobler, purer or more gracious 
 soul I never knew. 
 
 " 'Pure was his life ; its peaceful close 
 
 Hath placed him with the souls of light. 
 Among the noble host of those 
 
 Who labored in the cause of right.' 
 
 "J. B. Taylor." 
 
 Lexington, Va., Jan. i, 18S6.
 
 HIS WORK IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 139 
 
 The following recollections of Dr. Brown, from 
 the genial and accomplished Professor Holmes, 
 of the University of Virginia, wall be read with 
 interest : 
 
 '' University of Virginia. 
 ''lUh January, 1886. 
 
 " It was my good fortune to become somewhat 
 intimately acquainted w^ith the late Dr. Brown, 
 when he was settled in Charlottesville, in charge 
 of the Baptist Church. I w\as strongly attached 
 to him by his earnestness, simplicity, and intelli- 
 gence. I was favored by him, with as cordial an 
 intercourse, as our constant occupations, difference 
 of duties, and diversity of habits permitted. I 
 frequently attended the services at his church, for 
 the instruction, direction, and consolation derived 
 from his sermons. These were always full of 
 matter, well-considered and suggestive ; and were 
 both a guide and a cardiac. The thoughts were 
 abundant, strong, ^nd closely concatenated. There 
 w^as a novelty, as well as a straightforwardness, 
 in their presentation, w^hich aroused interest, and 
 secured acceptance, after careful examination. 
 Unquestionably, his discourses were too compact 
 and abstruse, to be fully apprehended by an 
 inattentive or unsympathizing audience. Their 
 delivery w^as awk^vard, and at times grotesque.
 
 140 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 This impaired their effect on a promiscuous con- 
 gregation. But the negligence of manner, and 
 the disregard of form, drew attention to the sub- 
 stance of what was said, and won upon the re- 
 gards of those who discerned the value of the 
 gem, without caring for the setting. 
 
 " Dr. Brown was eager and single-minded in all 
 he undertook. There w^as a child's unconscious- 
 ness and self-oblivion in his performance of the 
 work which his hands found to do. He was a 
 diligent and truth-hunting student. What he 
 acquired with meditative toil, he set before his 
 hearers, in the aspect presented to himself, as the 
 imperative fulfilment of his ' high vocation.' He 
 had naturally a mind of wide compass and of 
 tenacious grasp. It w\as a task for any intel- 
 lectual capacity to master, w^eigh and adapt to the 
 furniture of the mind, the grave and compressed 
 conclusions which he propounded in ordinary con- 
 versation. Even a slight acquaintance sufficed to 
 give assurance that he w^as a man, mentally and 
 morally, rounded and complete — lord of himself 
 and of the knowledge which he had won from 
 deep mines. 
 
 " Others, who knew him well in the seclusion of 
 private life, can speak, as I had no right to speak, 
 of the beauty and purity of his character, of his
 
 HIS WORK IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 141 
 
 gentleness and amiability concealed beneath the 
 outward covering, and of the candor and warmth 
 of his whole nature. 
 
 " It is a refreshment to recall the memory of 
 Dr. Brown, after the long interval of 3^ears : and 
 the regret for his loss, in the midst of his useful- 
 ness is a lasting grief. 
 
 "The remembrance of such men is an inheritance. 
 
 " Such is the impression stamped upon my mem- 
 ory by Dr. Brown. The lines are still sharp and 
 undefaced, after a quarter of a centur}^ 
 
 "Geo. Fred'k Holmes." 
 
 There are some people who entertain entirely 
 mistaken views, as to the character of Dr. Brown. 
 They see him, even now, only through the lens 
 of exaggerated statement. While gifted and cul- 
 tured beyond his companions, he was not perfect. 
 He had a weakness that, for a time, seemed almost 
 to paralyze his best efforts, the notoriety of which 
 dimmed his ministerial reputation. Some called 
 it nervousness. Prof Hart has termed it anger. 
 Whatever it was, no one deplored its presence 
 more than he did. 
 
 The writer remembers only one occasion, in 
 which he showed irritation, in a public assembly. 
 
 He was preaching to a crowded house in Char-
 
 142 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 lottesville, and was discussing a metaphysical sub- 
 ject, that required the most subtle elaboration. 
 The whole power of his being, seemed concentra- 
 ted in the effort of eliminating the truth. Just at 
 the critical moment, two young men got up from 
 their seats in the gallery near the pulpit, and 
 stalked all tlie way down the aisle. When they 
 got near to the stairway, he stopped in his ser- 
 mon, his self-command forsook him, and, pointing 
 his hnger to them, as his face blazed with fiery 
 indignation, said : " Young men, if I were a lawyer 
 at the bar, I would resent such conduct." The 
 effect on the audience, as on himself, was painful. 
 Good people wept, and strangers stared and won- 
 dered. His sermon had vanished — his strength, 
 was exhausted. After a feeble attempt to rally, 
 he dismissed the audience, and went away to his 
 home, mortified and distressed. 
 
 The next time the church met in prayer-meet- 
 ing, he appeared before them in tears, apologizing 
 for his conduct, and begging them to pray that he 
 might have grace to overcome his great tempta- 
 tion. He used to say, in speaking of the habit 
 some church-goers have of bowing their heads 
 during preaching, that after having spent a week 
 of preparation for his sermon, he could not bear 
 to preach to the tops of the heads of the people.
 
 HIS WORK IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. 143 
 
 At this period of his life he did some of his 
 hardest work as a student. Ignoring his obliga- 
 tions to build up his physical organism, he was 
 constantly employed expanding his mental forces. 
 Coming from his study, his mind all aglow with 
 burning truth that he had to deliver, it w^as not a 
 difficult matter for him to transfer his emotions 
 from the subject under discussion, to the offender 
 wdio dared put any obstacle in his way. 
 
 Sometimes his wife would say to him, just before 
 going into the pulpit : " Now don't, please don't, 
 notice any disturbance," when he would reply, 
 " You need not tell me that, you know that I 
 wouldn't, if I could help it." 
 
 And yet he did finally slay the tyrant. By the 
 force of his will, and by the grace of God, he 
 became in his latter days, one of the most self- 
 possessed of spirits. Those who knew him in 
 middle life, could hardly believe that such a 
 change could have taken place. In the class 
 room, filled with merry rollicking boys, he was 
 the genial, humorous magnetic teacher, and not 
 the irritable, nervous old man that some predicted 
 he Avould be. 
 
 It is not certainl}^ known where the following 
 admirable address was delivered :
 
 144 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY AND CIVILIZATION. 
 
 Christianity is a system, or rather a complex of truths 
 revealed from heaven to men — truths Avhich the human mind 
 could not discover, but which it can understand and embrace. 
 Civilization, considered apart from Christianity, is the sum of 
 all the truths and institutions which men have without direct 
 divine aid, developed from their intuitions and experience. 
 We are to consider to day, in part the ideal, but chiefly the 
 historical relations of these to each other. We must first 
 slightly modify our definition of Christianity. It is indeed, a 
 revelation to man and not a production of man. But it pro- 
 ceeds upon certain convictions about God and duty, which 
 itself declares to be native to the human mind, but which 
 it unfolds with a new clearness, and sanctions with a higher 
 authority. It is not to be supposed for a moment, that if the 
 heathen by the light of nature, knew enough of God and duty 
 to be without excuse, the advent of Christianity has quenched 
 this native light, or rendered it obsolete and useless. Chris- 
 tianity and civilization therefore, exercise common jurisdiction 
 over the domains of natural theology and of ethics. Here, 
 and here alone, can there — if they understand themselves and 
 each other — be any direct conflict between them. Christianity 
 resents the interference of civilization in the sphere of pure
 
 CHRISTIANITY AND CIVILIZATION. 145 
 
 revelation, and scrupulously avoids intrusion into the pecu- 
 liar department of her sister. Any legitimate, mutual 
 influence that they can exert, must be wholly indirect. And 
 in fact, their interaction has chiefly been of this character. 
 
 The first to be noticed of the indirect influences of Chris- 
 tianity upon civilization, was exercised in the preservation of 
 the Hebrew and Greek, and Roman literature. The most 
 authoritative records of Christian facts and doctrines, are con- 
 tained in the Greek and Hebrew languages. These records 
 cannot be understood apart from the history and general 
 literature of those nations. So Christianity has been com- 
 pelled to preserve and interpret them, in order to understand 
 herself. That modern civiliza,tion is so grounded on antiquity, 
 is so conservative in its character, has drawn from the past 
 so much of the rich material of institutions, and so many 
 pregnant suggestions for its self-development, is due more to 
 Christianity, than to the inherent vitality of the noblest of 
 the ancient literatures. Let those who love to recognize, and 
 even to exaggerate our obligations to Greece, remember that 
 but for the church, Greece would have been living Greece 
 no more. 
 
 Nor is there abatement of this immense debt to Christianity 
 in the alleged fact, that Christianity, while preserving ancient 
 literatures, destroyed ancient institutions. For this is not a 
 fact; Grecian civilization was dying before the advent 
 of Christianity. Its literature was suffocating under the 
 throttling grip of despotism. Its philosophy which once knew, 
 or thought it knew, could now only argue, and doubt and
 
 14(3 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLO. 
 
 deny. Its religion had become the secret scoff' of the priest 
 and the educated classes, and reigned more in the tastes than 
 in the convictions of the populace. Christianity attacked and 
 destroyed only the religions of the Greeics and Romans. If 
 this religion had been the vital element, or the cement of the 
 civilization, of course its removal would have caused the 
 whole structure to crumble. But such it was not. The Greeks 
 themselves generally believed with us, that their religion was 
 not a revelation, but a human production. And more, they 
 did not consider it the root of their civilization, but a graft 
 infixed by priests, at the instance of crafty statesmen. Surely 
 the destruction of a thing so accidental could have hardly 
 resulted in the death, though it might have led to the modifi- 
 cation, of a system of which it formed part. We think, then, 
 that Christianity is fairly to be credited with preservation of 
 ancient literatures, without being debted with the ruin of 
 ancient institutions. 
 
 I have said that legitimate influence of Chri.stianity and 
 civilization upon each, outside of natural theology and 
 ethics, must be wholly indirect. You will admit that if 
 there is to be any mutual influence, this is true. But 
 you will ask, must they have relations? Beyond all doubt, 
 Christianity and civilization come together for consideration 
 in the same human soul. They cannot be entertained at the 
 same time, unless they appear to be demonstrably consistent, 
 or to say the least, not obviously inconsistent. A man first 
 stands face to face with Christianity, having in his mind, 
 memories of personal experience, scientific views, political
 
 CHRISTIANITY AND CIVILIZATION. 147 
 
 theories and prejudices, and what not. These things are in 
 his mind, indeed in some sense are his mind. Must they not 
 fix the extent and mode of his conception of Christianity? 
 Must he not renounce some of the views which are clearly 
 irreconcilable with it, or will he not modify his views of 
 Christianity ? He will not deliberately renounce them. Objec- 
 tive Christianity he knows to be uncompromising. He will 
 not deliberately sacrifice anything of its form, or spirit, to an 
 enforced harmony of doctrines and institutions, which he has 
 already received. But he Avill be very happy if, with so many 
 points of contact between, he does not warp Lis Christianity — 
 his ideas of Christianity — to an accommodation with existing 
 systems and institutions. Notice two important respects 
 in which this has been done. Christianity consists of facts 
 and doctrines. But its facts are not arranged into perfectly 
 regular history. Its doctrines are a beautiful miscellany of 
 principles. Now, we may denounce, or sneer at dogma and 
 systematical theology as much as we please ; but the human 
 mind must, and will reduce the truths which it accepts, to 
 order and logical dependence. Now, Christianity has no 
 system of philosophy, no formal logic. How shall it get itself 
 systematized and codified? The Greeks are at hand, oflTering 
 their philosophy, and especially their rigid logic, as the con- 
 venient mould into which might be run the new Christianity. 
 Men were pressing into the Church fresh from the schools of 
 Antioch and Athens, bringing much method into an institu- 
 tion wherein there was little or none. They did a little 
 excellent work. They defined some Christian doctrines.
 
 148 LIFK OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 uotably that of the Trinity, \vith an sicuteness and precision, 
 which have never been surpassed in connection with this, or 
 any other subject. But they could hardly fail at times to 
 distort or mutilate Christianity, in adjustment to their Pro- 
 crustean bed. Christianity had no system of internal govern- 
 ment ; at most it had only a few definitely fixed regulations 
 for the management of local bodies, called churches, every- 
 thing else being left flexible or adjustable to circumstances. 
 Unfortunately, there was soon substituted for the Scriptural 
 idea of an invisible Sjjiritual, general church, ruled by Christ 
 in heaven, the idea of a great visible organized empire with 
 a human head. Where shall be found the model of this 
 empire ? Christianity itself knows nothing of statesmanship 
 and administration. These belong to the domain of what we 
 have called civilization in one of its departments. Many 
 Christians who were recent importations from the sphere of 
 politics, were ready to point models for its organization. Some 
 hints they got from the synagogues, more from the Sanhedrim. 
 But the Roman government was a rich treasury of suggestions, 
 with its imperial head, and its descending ranks of dependence 
 and responsibility. Hence the idea of an imperial govern- 
 ment for the Church. But a head is lacking to make the 
 system complete. The Christian emperor undertakes himself 
 to supply the deficiency, and an unspiritual, temporal monarchy 
 debauches and then dominates this new external Church. 
 Hence the union of Church and State. But ambitious church 
 dignitaries think it unseemly to have a temporal head for a 
 spiritual body. Hence a pope. As tliere is now a union of
 
 CHRISTIANITY AND CIVILIZATION. 149 
 
 Church and State, and two heads, one must be actually- 
 sovereign. 
 
 For a while the pope and his official body are the 
 dependents and supporters, often indeed the grumbling, 
 reluctant dependents and supporters of temporal power. 
 Then sovereign over the temporal power again, relapsing into 
 dependence on, and support of imperial and kingly govern- 
 ment. And the papacy, the result of the influence of one 
 department of the old civilization, has either exercised or sup- 
 ported absolute government. I think it but just to say that 
 the old undying Christian spirit, silently \Yorking in much of 
 the membership aud even the priesthood of the Catholic 
 Church, has often exerted a very different influence. 
 
 I have spoken so far, chiefly of the influence of civilization 
 on Christianity. I must hereafter speak of Christianity on 
 civilization. I have said that this is mainly indirect — it does 
 not immediately touch any mundane thing. It quickens, 
 purifies, ennobles the individual soul. It feeds the mind on 
 high thoughts of God and Christ. It substitutes for Plato's 
 pleasing thoughts and fond desire, the confident hope of 
 immortality. It exalts the imagination with views of 
 heaven, or rather, it excites an effort to construct a heaven 
 which never can be fully imagined. Above all, it pierces the 
 conscience with more than the sharpness of a two-edged 
 sword ; and mightily taxes and trains the intellect in a 
 grapple with innumerable questions in detail of right and 
 duty, and tones up the will to control without mutilating or 
 destroying the body. In a word, it elevates the man, and
 
 150 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 must elevate society in elevating individuals. The revelation 
 from heaven, is light beaming its calorific rays to beautify the 
 social system, light shedding its warming rays to vitalize it, 
 li"ht beaming its chemical and mechanical rays, slowly to 
 change the whole molecular structure of society. Here is 
 something then better than the philosopher's stone; something 
 that changes wood, hay, and stubble into silver and gold, and 
 precious gems. It afiects forms of government very much, 
 perhaps even more, than the furnisher of building material 
 affects architecture. Christianity, apart from doing anything 
 to affect forms of government in giving society better men 
 for rulers, for subjects and for citizens, has conferred an ines- 
 timable blessing on mankind. I think it does something for 
 modes of government, but in a very quiet and indirect way. 
 It suggests and authorizes no systems. I would not say a 
 word in favor of •democracy here to- day, or on any day. I 
 mit'ht be allowed to say that I should not feel hurt at being 
 called a democrat ; but I should be really grieved to hear my 
 Master called a democrat. He is no democrat. He is no 
 aristocrat, and though king of kings, He is no monarchist. 
 Yet, Christianity tends, slowly tends to develop or change 
 governments into more liberal forms. ISIany great thinkers 
 have said, notably Dr. Wayland, that free government cannot 
 be maintained among men of a low intellectual and moral 
 grade. They will be, they must be governed by the strong 
 hand. As men become w-iser and better, they largely control 
 themselves. The bonds of government will insensibly be 
 relaxed; and administration will spontaneously adjust itself
 
 CHRISTIANITY AND CIVILIZATION. 151 
 
 to the changed conditions, though the tough manacles of 
 inveterate despotism, have sometimes to be dissolved even in 
 Christian nations, amid throes and convulsions. The Puri- 
 tans of England in contending for some portions of the 
 British Constitution, did violently subvert other portions. 
 This resulted, I am confident, from that union of Church and 
 State, which Protestantism had inherited from the papacy, 
 and had not discarded. Religion and political rights were 
 attacked together, and defended. But where freedom of 
 belief and worship is conceded, civil rights among Christians 
 will generally be sought by constitutional remedies, with little 
 or nothing of violent revolution. 
 
 When we come to consider the laws of Christian countries, 
 apart from modes of administration, we find them not so much 
 pervaded by the Christian spirit, as founded on Christianity 
 itself Ethics belongs, as I said at the beginning, theo- 
 retically, to the domains both of Christianity and general 
 civilization. Practically, they have been abandoned, deferred 
 to the patronage of Christianity. And the gospel as it is 
 understood, if not pure ideal gospel, has fashioned the moral 
 ideas of Christendom, and the laws have been founded on 
 them. 
 
 The judicial machinery is of human origin. The construc- 
 tion of the jurymay be borrowed from ancient Germany; but 
 the substance of the instruction of the judge is drawn from 
 the Jewish and the Christian law-givers. 
 
 Christianity originated, and has generally controlled the 
 higher education of the Christian nations. It must have its
 
 ir)2 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 teachers, its'clergy, taught in the Bible, and in the languages in 
 which it is contained and in the literature of those languages; 
 and for the purpose of systematizing, defending and expound- 
 ing its doctrines, it must have its ministers educated in phil- 
 osophy, logic, rhetoric and general literature. It could not 
 safely leave this instruction to aliens and enemies. It must 
 have its own schools. There was no where, but in Church or 
 in State, sufficient organizing power to get up, endow and 
 equip great schools. So the Church, and afterwards Church 
 and State united, but even then chiefly the Church element in 
 the State established all the higher schools; and drew to them 
 instruction in law, in medicine, in the liberal arts so-called, 
 and in a word, all higher education. In very modern times, 
 disintegration has set in law and medicine, set up for 
 themselves. The State parting company with the Church 
 established high-schools, and we are coming to have all sorts 
 of special schools ; many of them, unfortunately, without any- 
 thing of general culturing discipline. We have polytechnic 
 schools, agricultural, art schools, book-keeping schools, and 
 what not. But Christianity, in the Christian denominations, 
 still has the chief control of the higher educatii-n ; it is the 
 breakwater against innovation, the champion of instruction 
 in the ancient languages, the keystone of its whole educa- 
 tional system. If the unwise demand for the 'so-called practi- 
 cal, the immediately useful, prevail, the keystone will be 
 knocked out. The system will fall to pieces; and every youth 
 will go with his untrained mind to an apprenticeship in his 
 chosen trade or profession. But to return. Christianity once
 
 CHRISTIANITY AND CIVILIZATION. 163 
 
 did everything ; still does almost everything for the higher 
 education. What a mighty influence she has exerted in this 
 way on civilization, goes without saying. 
 
 Let us notice some things that it has done. It must 
 teach a high ethics, theoretical and practical. It must give 
 prominence to psychology, the study of the human soul; for 
 with the Christian the maxim, " know thyself" is much more 
 than a beautiful aphorism. Then the higher philosophy, the 
 philosophy of the infinite and the absolute, of cause and 
 effects, touches the very vitals of Christianity, the existence of 
 God. With natural philosophy Christianity would seem to 
 have little to do. Yet it must intervene there to keep in 
 check the spirit of materialism, which seems so native to that 
 department of knowledge. But this is not all. The practical 
 and benevolent interest which modern experimental philosophy 
 takes, in the humble abilities of life, is altogether Christian. 
 There was no chemistry in Plato's day, and almost no 
 mechanical philosophy; and none was desired. Proud ancient 
 philosophy looked with sovereign contempt on the work of 
 sailors, tanners, dyers and builders, and scavengers and 
 washers, and cooks. But Christian philosophy is not proud ; 
 she walks with her beautiful robes unsoiled through filthy 
 alleys, and amid pots and ovens, tubs and suds; cheering, 
 lessening, sweetening, guiding, dignifying labor. 
 
 Christianity has developed into a science "The laws of 
 nations;" the name and some germs of the thing, existed among 
 the ancients. The Romans talked much and practiced little 
 of " Jus Genthun." Virgil expresses Rome's practical con-
 
 154 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 ception whcu he apostrophizes his people in the exclamation : 
 " Do thou, Roman rule the world !" Christianity conceives 
 the sisterhood of the nations ; develops the equity, humanity and 
 courtesy, which should govern their intercourse. And though 
 she has not turned the fury of battle she has done much 
 "to smooth the wrinkled brow of grim-visaged war." Then, 
 what blessed institutions of benevolence she has introduced ; 
 institutions wholly unknown outside of Christendom. In the 
 asylums which she has organized or suggested, ^e has kindly 
 nursed the victim, and sternly exorcised the demon of mad- 
 ness. She has made the lame to Avalk and leap, and praise 
 God. She has been eyes to the blind and ears to the deaf; 
 and she is beginning to teach the dumb literally to speak. 
 She has hovered in the rear of battle with an escort of minis- 
 tering angels, in the form of blessed Christian women, to nurse 
 its wounded and soothe its dying. 
 
 Ah, here I am reminded of an almost unpardonable omis- 
 sion in the body of this address. But how could I have done 
 justice to what Christianity has done by "woman and for 
 woman." I should have utterly failed to represent the sweet 
 and heavenly influence of the Christian mother, or sister or 
 wife. And the most graceful thing which I could have done, 
 would have been to imitate the artist, who despaired of his 
 ability to paint the features of his ideal woman, and simply 
 drew a veil over her face.
 
 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 155 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE DAYS OF WAR. 
 
 TN a former chapter, Prof, Hart tells us that Dr. 
 Brown was not an original secessionist. He 
 was not in sympathy with the extreme Southern 
 men in their attempt to disrupt the Federal Union. 
 He was, however, a believer in the doctrine of 
 States rights, and felt that his allegiance to Vir- 
 ginia was supreme. When, therefore, Virginia, 
 passed the ordinance of secession. Dr. Brown 
 linked his political fortunes with her. It w^as not 
 possible for one of his ardent temperament and 
 burning enthusiasm, to remain an indifferent 
 spectator, in the midst of the stirring scenes of 
 war. His soul caught the warlike spirit of the 
 times, and he watched the deepening conflict wdth 
 inexpressible solicitude. He had neither health 
 nor taste, for the rough life of the soldier, and 
 during the early months of the war, he stood at 
 his post in HoUins Institute. As, however, the 
 war w^ent on, and the religious necessities of the 
 soldiers became more apparent, he felt that he 
 could no longer stand aloof — his place was in the
 
 156 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 camp, — not to handle the carnal weapons of an 
 earthly warfare, but to carry the bread of life to 
 the Southern soldiery. So strongly did this con- 
 viction possess him, that he resigned his Professor- 
 ship, sent his family to their home in Pittsylvania 
 county, and entered the camp as a missionary of 
 the cross. It is fortunate for the reader that Dr. J. 
 Wm. Jones, an old army chaplain, who was asso- 
 ciated with Dr. Brown at this point in his history, 
 has furnished for this volume an interesting sketch 
 of his work among the soldiers. His gifted pen 
 presents a vivid portraiture of the Christian min- 
 ister in camp. 
 
 " Rarely, if ever, since apostolic times, has the 
 world witnessed more precious revivals than those 
 with wdiich the Army of Northern Virginia was 
 blessed. At the very first there was in the ranks 
 of that army, a very large proportion of the effi- 
 cient male members of all of the evangelical 
 churches of the South, and the religious interest 
 grew until in the autumn and winter of 62-63 
 there begun a revival which grew in interest, 
 which the bloody campaign of Chancellorsville 
 and Gettysburg did not check, but which in Au- 
 gust, '63, culminated in the "great awakening," 
 which made every camp vocal with the praises of
 
 THE DAYS OF WAR. 157 
 
 God, and went graciously on until over fifteen 
 thousand soldiers in Lee's army had professed 
 faith in Jesus. 
 
 "No organization was more efficient in laboring 
 in the camps and hospitals of the army, than the 
 Virginia Baptist ' Sunday School and Publication 
 Board,' of which Rev. A. E. Dickinson Avas then 
 the able and efficient Superintendent. At the 
 meeting of the General Association, in June, 
 1861, the Board was instructed to continue the 
 policy already inaugurated, and to confine their 
 labors chiefly to a vigorous pushing of army col- 
 jiortage. 
 
 "At the meeting in 1862, the Superintendent 
 reported that the Board had collected $24,000, 
 published 40 tracts, distributed 0,187,000 pages of 
 tracts, 13,845 copies of 'Camp Hj^mns, (published 
 by the Board,) besides a large number of Bibles, 
 Testaments, and religious books ; the next year 
 they reported $60,027.34 collected, 80 colporteurs 
 and evangelists among the soldiers, 24,000,000 
 pages of tracts published and circulated, 25,000 
 Bibles and Testaments distributed, and many 
 thousand copies of religious papers sent weekly 
 to the camps and hospitals; and for the next two 
 years the Board reported an even larger work 
 performed. Among the most efficient laborers of
 
 158 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 this Board, was our honored and gifted brother, 
 Dr. A. B. Brown. 
 
 " When the war broke out, he was pastor in 
 Charlottesville, and took the most active interest 
 in the religious welfare of the numbers of sick 
 and wounded soldiers congregated in the large 
 hospitals located there. I have no means of 
 knowing the extent and results of these labors, 
 but I distinctly remember that I not unfrequently 
 heard soldiers on their return from these hospitals, 
 speak enthusiastically of Dr. Brown and his w^ork. 
 
 " On the march from the Valley to First Fred- 
 ericksburg, in the latter part of November or first 
 of December, 1862, I ^vas riding one day w^ith 
 that accomplished scholar, brilliant artillerist, and 
 high-toned Christian gentleman, Col. Lewis Minor 
 Coleman (then Professor at the Universitj- of Vir- 
 ginia,) who was so soon to yield up his noble life 
 for the land and cause he loved so well, and we 
 got to talking about the religious welfare of the 
 arm}' and the necessity of having our best men 
 to preach in the camps. Col. Coleman, in a strain 
 of eloquent talk, which he only could command, 
 was very emphatic in expressing the opinion that 
 our ablest pastors ought to spend at least a few 
 months each in army work, and in that connection 
 spoke of his pastor. Dr. Brown, in the strongest
 
 THE DAYS OF WAR. 159 
 
 terms of affectionate admiration, and said that he 
 sliould write and beg him to come. It was in this 
 connection that he said : ' Dr. Brown has my exact 
 range; he hits me everj^ time.' [I remember that 
 when I once repeated this to Dr. Brown, he seemed 
 touched by the compliment of his distinguished and 
 Lamented friend, but added with his usual modesty, 
 ^ Ah ! but I fear that when I had Lewis Minor 
 Coleman s ' range ' that I was shooting ove?-, the 
 heads of everybody else.'] 
 
 " I do not know wdiether Col. Coleman was able 
 to fulfill his purpose, (for two weeks later he fell 
 at Fredericksburg, and lingered for several weeks 
 to show how a Christian soldier could die,) but I 
 do know that Dr. Brown w^as anxious to come to 
 the army to preach, and that in the autumn of 
 1863 or winter of 1863-64 he accepted an appoint- 
 ment from the Colportage Board, and was attached 
 to Carter's Artillery Battallion (of which Col. Thos. 
 H. Carter was Colonel, and Lieut. Colonel Carter 
 Braxton was second in command,) as Missionary 
 Chaplain. I very much regret that I cannot now 
 find certain material which would give me some 
 details of Dr. Brown's army work. But I have a 
 very distinct impression of the earnest zeal with 
 which he threw himself into the work, the ability 
 and power with which he preached, and the gentle
 
 160 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 self-sacrificing spirit with which he labored among 
 the sick and wounded. I had the privilege of 
 hearing him preach a few times, and I remember 
 being surprised and delighted to find that he 
 added to the great ability which always charac- 
 terized his sermons a tender pathos, an unction, 
 and a iiopuJar power which seemed to move and 
 thrill all who heard him. He ' had the range ' of 
 the most intelligent and scholarly men who heard 
 him, (and there were many of them in Lee's army, 
 especially in the Artiller}^,) but he also ' hit every 
 time ' the humblest and most illiterate of his 
 auditors. With a stump for his pulpit, the blue 
 canopy of heaven for his * sounding board,' and for 
 his auditors bronzed veterans of an hundred fights, 
 ready soon, perhaps, to fight their last battle, his 
 very soul seemed stirred within him, and if elo- 
 quence is ' logic set on fire,' then he was eloquent 
 above almost any man I ever heard. 
 
 " I remember hearing him on the text, ' Ye know 
 the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who though 
 He was rich yet for your sakes became poor that 
 ye through His poverty might be rich,' and I have 
 often wished that I had been able to make a ver- 
 batim report of his portrayal to those ragged, bare- 
 footed 'boj^s in gray,' of the riches and the poverty of 
 JesnSj arid the residt to us. Such a report would, I
 
 THE DAYS OF WAR. 161 
 
 am sure, have taken rank among the great ser- 
 mons of the ages. 
 
 "I recall with mournful pleasure now, a week 
 or ten days I spent with him near Frederick's Hall 
 Depot, Louisa County, in the latter part of Feb- 
 ruary, 1864. We were preaching several times 
 every day in the Artillery of Ewell's corps, which 
 was in winter quarters near by, and were being 
 entertained with old Virginia Christian hospitality 
 by those noble Baptist women, the Misses Garland, 
 and rarely did I ever enjoy a greater intellectual 
 and spiritual treat than in my intercourse with 
 this intellectual giant, this humble, devout Chris- 
 tian. He was certainly one of the 'fullest' men I 
 ever met, and I said of him one da}^, after we had 
 been discoursing certain military plans, ' he ought 
 to have been a general.' It was during this vist 
 that the celebrated Dahlgren raid occurred, and 
 Dahlgren dashed up within several hundred yards 
 of the artillery, which he might have captured 
 had he not been frightened off by the false report 
 that there w^as a heavy infantry support there I 
 remember some very ludicrous experiences which 
 Dr. Brown and myself had in tramping around in 
 the rain and mud, acting as guides, carrying our 
 muskets, etc., and I shall never forget the alacrity 
 Avith which he availed himself of every opportu-
 
 162 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 nity to speak a word for Christ to individual 
 soldiers, and to preach to the gathered congrega- 
 tion of brave Ibllows. 
 
 " He spoke to me enthusiastically of his work 
 among the soldiers, and I have frequently heard 
 him since speak very earnestly of the pleasure his 
 labors among them gave him. 
 
 " I have no means at hand of ascertaining the 
 number of professions of conversion in connection 
 with his labors, but I know there were many ; I 
 am sure that many of God's people were strength- 
 ened and built up by the ' strong meat ' he gave 
 them, and I doubt not that he won in this field 
 many 'jewels, bright jewels,' for his Saviour's diar 
 dem — many ' stars ' that now glitter in his own 
 
 'crown of rejoicing.' 
 
 "J. Wm. Jones."
 
 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 163 
 
 A SERMON ON SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 
 
 " And we know that all things work together for good to them that 
 love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."— 
 Romans viii. 28. 
 
 We accept, and intend to maintain this proposition in its 
 obvious, that is its utmost breadth. It manifestly has this 
 extent of meaning, that all the machinery of dead, and all 
 the organisms of living nature, all the simultaneous, and all 
 the successive actions of men, angels and devils, as \\ell as the 
 immediate activities of God Himself, are embraced in a 
 system of unqualified beneficence to Christians. Certain 
 features of the system may be singly harsh, but they are 
 adjusted with infinite skill, as foils, to the benignity of its 
 entire countenance. Some object to the all embracing com- 
 prehension, which we give our passage, on the ground that 
 only the afflictions of the saints are alluded to, in the context, 
 as digested into a system of grim-visaged mercy. The afilic- 
 tions of the saints are indeed in the context, but they are there 
 as the occasions, and not as the grounds of the statement 
 which furnishes our topic. Now, while conclusions cannot 
 legitimately go beyond their premises, nothing is more usual or 
 more allowable than that principles, are pushed beyond the occa- 
 sions of their announcement. Human tribunals often formally
 
 164 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 propose doctrines affecting the most important legal contro- 
 versies in deciding cases directly involving only a few dimes. 
 And a similar extension of principles, so as to out-reach the 
 circumstances in which they are imbedded, is characteristic 
 of Divine revelation. Even if there were (as there is not) 
 anvthing in the original text justifying the rendering "all 
 these things " instead of " all things," the unlimited proposition 
 would still be necessarily implied, though not expressly stated. 
 If sufferings are planned upon a method of disciplinary mercy, 
 they can only form a part of a still more comprehensive sys- 
 tem. For otherwise, events wearing a friendly aspect, or 
 hoisting neutral colors, would ever be thwarting the stern and 
 frowning method. Gleams of sunshine would disturb the 
 salutary effect of clouds freighted with blessings ; and the 
 smile of our Father would interfere with the well-weighed 
 effect of the graver countenance of His love ; it is then as 
 repugnant to reason, as it is revolting to our religious intui- 
 tions to affirm that God's frowns are systematic, and His 
 smiles desultory, and occasional. If then, there is any system 
 of merciful providence over Christians, that system is neces- 
 sarily all-embracing. But you ask why consume time on so 
 clear a matter? And I pass from the statement to the discus- 
 sion of our proposition. 
 
 It is indispensable to a proper decision on the conclusiveness 
 of the arguments, to be submitted, that the basis on which we 
 rest the doctrine be clearly understood. We establish our 
 proposition simply by the authority of Scripture, we confirm 
 it by its beautiful correspondence with what reason teaches of
 
 SERMON ON SPECIAL PROVIDENGE. 165 
 
 the infinitely active beneficence of God towards those who are 
 at peace with Him, and we vindicate it from the charge 
 of being in irreconcilable conflict with the testimony of 
 experience and philosophy, to the prevalence of inflexible law 
 in the Divine government. 
 
 We are sure of commending it to the hearty acceptance of 
 our hearers, when we show that it is a deliverance of the well- 
 attested word of God, and that it is not a square and necessary 
 contradiction of any demonstrated truth. We do not base the 
 minute providence over the Christian, for which we contend, 
 on the experience of individuals, or on history, the experience 
 of the race. Reason may conceive that opposing events, like 
 streamlets gushing from opposite sides of a hill, may be tribu- 
 taries to the same stream of beneficence, and that all the 
 bewildering maze of forces that seems to revel so capriciously 
 around the Christian, is marshaled with exactest method, by 
 the Captain of His salvation. 
 
 But what reason can conceive as possible, experience cannot 
 assert as actual. History maintains with, we believe, a justi- 
 fied confidence that, when masses of men and centuries of time 
 are considered, the course of events is, on the whole, favorable 
 to virtue. It is, however, utterly unable to assert that out- 
 ward prosperity is, with any approach to uniformity, meted 
 out to individuals according to merit. 
 
 If modern novelists, wish to make nature their standard, 
 their closing award of exposure and frustration to the wicked, 
 and of vindication and happiness to their favorites, temporarily 
 hindered of good, is a justice altogether too poetical. The
 
 166 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 grand old Greek dramatists, orphaned of God and of hope, 
 were scarcely on a greater extreme when they arrayed their 
 highest conceptions of human excellence in unequal contest, 
 with unjust gods and inexorable fate. So dark was their 
 picture of human life that tragedy, the name of their more 
 serious drama, has become the current word for an act that 
 curdles the blood, and catastrophe, its close, is the usual 
 designation of a startling explosion of horrors. History 
 presents innumerable facts, hardly less sombre than their 
 melancholy fiction. 
 
 The pioneers of human progress, have generally led the van 
 through dreary deserts, and have often died uucheered by 
 even a sight of the promised land. Miltons have lived in 
 blindness, and died in poverty and neglect, while blaspheming 
 triflers and libertines were surfeiting on exactions wrung 
 from the toiling million. Antichrist fattens on human blood, 
 and the souls of the martyrs cry from under the altar, " How 
 long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge 
 our blood on them that dwell on the earth ? " 
 
 How indifferent would God seem to be to the interests of 
 His church. Infidels at eighty, with natural force unabated, 
 belch forth their horid ribaldry, when men like Dr. Bagby 
 fall just as their lives are beginning to yield the full fruitage 
 of a half-century's skillful and diligent culture. It is not sur- 
 prising that those who read only the surface of facts, should 
 misconceive God's attitude toward the struggles of truth. No 
 wonder that Epicurus thought God took no side in the con- 
 flicts of life, and that Napoleon thought He took the side of 
 the heaviest artillery !
 
 SERMON ON SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 167 
 
 It would argue a causeless jealousy in the irreligious to 
 accuse the Almighty of partiality to Christians simply as such, 
 from the marked character of His external favors. Temper- 
 ance, and the prudent management of the body, generally 
 lead the worldling and the Christian alike to health. The 
 skill, industry, and economy of each, equally conduces to 
 wealth. Not only, does not the unskilful Christian prosper in 
 business beyond the sagacious man of the world, but the obe- 
 dience of the one to the laws of accumulation seems as likely 
 as that of the other to be rewarded with the good that lies in 
 that line ; and extraordinary events to fiivor or to thwart the 
 attainment of material good, appear about equally to befall 
 each. We must then have better proof of the truth of our 
 text than the facility with which we can show that the fertili- 
 izing showers, are singularly partial to the fields of the saints, 
 and that the destructive thunderbolt is manifestly signaled 
 away from churches and aimed with special frequency at 
 brothels and gaming saloons. 
 
 Yet there is nothing in all this to show that the Christian is 
 not in the midst of a system whose minutest details are regu- 
 lated mercies. A chaos of events is apparently beating upon 
 his soul. But this event brings spiritual food — this is a merci- 
 ful blister for his fevered passions — this is cautery — this is 
 soothing lotion — all is graciously timed and graduated. This 
 seeming jumble of influences that address the soul, is a well- 
 ordered succession of types charged to make a most gracious, 
 but invisible, imprint for eternity. 
 
 Christian, you have not for this the evidence of sense, but
 
 168 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD.LLD. 
 
 you have the clear and abundant testimony of Scripture. 
 " Your shoes shall be iron and brass, and as your day so shall 
 your strength be." "Thine eyes did see my substance yet 
 being imperfect, and, in Thy book, all my members were written 
 which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there were 
 none of them." " The hairs of your heads are all numbered." 
 " Our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us 
 a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Kot to 
 multiply passages, we cite only in addition the clear and ex- 
 plicit text of the present discourse. 
 
 Who will affirm on the mere negative testimony of sense, 
 that God has not arranged the uuiverse of matter and of 
 mind, in whole and in detail, with most beneficent regard to 
 each saint and to the whole church ? Is the material creation 
 too vast and complicated — is matter too sullenly inert to 
 become, even at the fiat of omnipotence, instinct with order 
 and animation to this end ? Will any one deny to Him who 
 holds the keys of the bottomless pit, the power and the purpose 
 to more than defeat the schemes of devils and lead them forth 
 a scowling chain-gang to work on the highway that leads the 
 saints to glory ? 
 
 We have said that our proposition established by Scripture, 
 is corroborated by our strongest and holiest religious institu- 
 tions. It is the great problem in the moral government of 
 God, for which we are probably no better prepared than a 
 child is to comprehend capital punishment in the administra- 
 tion of a ruler of acknowledged benevolence, that such stern- 
 ness is threatened against God's persistent enemies. But this
 
 SERMON ON SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 169 
 
 very difficulty commits our heart and intellect still more to the 
 iudubitable persuasion of His abounding grace to his friends. 
 Shall we put any limits to His overflowing grace to the good, 
 •when we find it so hard to realize His severity towards the 
 wicked ? 
 
 Men are puzzled at God's rigor to Satan. Still they cannot 
 know that everything in His original nature, the whole 
 material universe, if it then existed, and all the angels of 
 heaven did not, unite in one solid friendly remonstrance 
 against His first conception of sin. Shall we puzzle too, over 
 the assertion that the resistance of the unfallen angels to His 
 temptation, strengthened and developed their holiness, enrich- 
 ing Heaven with all, or even more than all that was lost in 
 Hell ? Surely the fall of Adam has worked good to those 
 who called, according to the Divine purpose, have obeyed the 
 overtures to repentance and reconciliation. It has revealed 
 God in the otherwise impossible attitude of mercy, it has 
 furnished the conditions of the cross. It has been the occa- 
 •sion of the mission of the Holy Ghost, and of securing to the 
 Christian, an impregnable position in having his life hid with 
 Christ in God. 
 
 Will you fix your eye on the system of peril through which 
 so much mercy has been dispensed, and not consider distinctly 
 the grace, which in the reign of a God of love must be its 
 counterpart. Even the peril in the case of the lost, you are 
 too prone to construe into an inevitable doom to destruction. 
 When you transport yourselves to the beginning of the present 
 order of things, and attempt to look through the perspective
 
 170 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 glass of the Divine foreknowledge, you illude yourselves with 
 hideous unrealities ; you seem to see men and devils gravi- 
 tating down the slopes of necessary thought, and running the 
 channels of fateful habit, and dizzying along in the boiling 
 ■waves of passion, and finally shooting the rapids of irresistible 
 temptation. Oh, sirs, use the more manageable glasses of 
 memory and conscience. Look at some slighter cascade of 
 temptation, which you have recently leaped, and see if con- 
 science does not testify you might have resisted, and if reason 
 does not affirm, that you might not only have repulsed evil, 
 but conquered it and enriched yourselves with its spoils. It 
 may be, that the power of resisted trial to lift the victor to a 
 higher plane of excellence, fully vindicates God's stern proba- 
 tion of moral agents in locating, on the brink of a precipice, 
 the spring-board on Avhich they train for glory. Risks, so rich 
 in the possibilities of virtue and honor, are even blessings to 
 those whose wilfulness or neglect, converts them into curses. 
 And to complain of them, may, for aught we know, be as 
 absurd, as for a son to complain of his father for giving him. 
 an opportunity to cultivate his mechanical ingenuity, by 
 putting into his hands the pocket-knife, with which he might 
 carelessly cut his fingers. 
 
 Sinners, you are still in the region of uudecided risks ; the 
 Lord has not settled upon you your rich endowment of talents 
 by fixed entail ; you are not hampered in freely putting the 
 Lord's money to the exchangers. 
 
 In the exercise of your freedom, commit your treasure to the 
 Redeemer, and exchange peril fur absolute safety. You are
 
 SERMON ON SPECIAL PEOVIDENCE. 171 
 
 offended by probation ; forfeited, you are puzzled by proba- 
 tions, pending your best conceptions of God, then unite with 
 Scripture in pointing to a people abiding in full security, and 
 on whom the whole scheme of providence bends a direct and 
 benignant gaze. Sinner, come to the place of safety. Your 
 soul is in peril ; forces now in motion are converging by the 
 shortest lines for your investment ; the great king holds them. 
 The heralds come forward with terms of peace, and seek with 
 steadfast importunity, to fix your eyes on white-winged mercy, 
 hovering over you a moment in breathless interest before she 
 weighs her pinions for her eternal flight. Come to where all 
 things work together for good — where Divine providence 
 envelops you in an atmosphere of life and light, and 
 fragrance, and sits to you all around as a girdle of strength, 
 and a garment of beauty. But upon you. Christian, that 
 dwell under the shadow of the wing of the Almighty, and 
 upon you only this precarious truth, sheds its full light and 
 warmth. It assures you that all the material and all the 
 spiritual forces, that have been in motion since first, " the 
 sons of God shouted for joy," converge in lines of mercy on 
 your present position. And whether you are flooded with the 
 radiance which beamed on the Mount of Transfiguration, or 
 buried in the darkness which shrouded the three disciples in 
 Gethsemane, it is good to be here, and here you should raise 
 vour Ebenezer. It reveals most beneficent stings in the 
 thistles that luxuriate around you. It warrants that the 
 fields which you are now sowing in tears, shall yield richer 
 fruits and rarer flowers, than Eden bore.
 
 172 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 We come now to consider objections to this doctrine ; and 
 here we explicitly insist on what has been suggested, that 
 simple difficulties in realizing all the applications of the doc- 
 trine, by no means explode it. If difficulties should justify 
 a reflection of statements about God we could safely divest 
 Him of each of His attributes, and even deny to Him 
 existence. Difficulties that legitimate even a doubt of the 
 well avouched teachings of inspiration, must be demonstrated 
 impossibilities or contradictions. 
 
 "NYe confidently deny this character to the difficulties which 
 men of science find in our doctrine. The doubts of philoso- 
 phers will be found impotent not to disprove, while their posi- 
 tive and certain truths, go far to demonstrate. Philosophers 
 love to proclaim that " all things work together." They find 
 then that God works on a most comprehensive plan. We 
 contend, on the authority of Scripture, that God marshals 
 everything that affects the Christian according to a most 
 exact method. They are the champions of the principle that, 
 " Order is Heaven's first law." 
 
 Having created a presumption in favor of its widest extent, 
 will they abandon it just where it affects our most important 
 interests? We think the man of science goes far towards 
 establishing our position. We are right sure that he is utterly 
 unable to overthrow it. "All things work together," he 
 admits. Then farewell to atheism ! For what think you of 
 whole codes of natural law, self-enacted, and innumerable 
 bodies self-moved, each adjusted to each, with exactest sym- 
 metry, each performing its appropriate work, and furnishing
 
 SERMON ON SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 173 
 
 collateral employment to every other. Some creeping like the 
 shadow of the dial, some winged with lightning, yet each 
 delivering to each, its prescribed task at the appointed time ? 
 What an exaggerated compliment to the movements of 
 armies, and the intricate organization of states, to compare 
 them to clock work ; but what halting justice to the mechanism 
 of God ! Here is the great organizing mind. " All things 
 work together." The atmosphere draws upon the oceans in 
 favor of the ftiiling fountains, and the parched fields. The 
 rivers roll back the surplus. " All its rivers run into the sea, 
 yet the sea is not full." What exquisite adjustment. 
 
 While scores of illustrations, equally striking, solicit men- 
 tion, let us for brevity, restrict ourselves to one more, and 
 that too, connected with the air. Every animal is inhaling 
 oxygen, and breathing out carbonic acid. Every vegetable 
 is absorbing carbonic acid, emitting oxygen. A very slight 
 increase of oxygen would be to men as intoxicating as brandy, 
 and fire their brains into frenzy, while a little deficiency would 
 lull them into lethargy. Now, so admirable are the count- 
 less tribes of vegetable creation, balanced against the varied 
 hosts of the animal kingdom, that the atmosphere is pre- 
 served without appreciable change. So precise is the balance, 
 that it would seem, neither a sparrow could fall to the ground 
 on this side, nor a blade of grass be cast into the oven on 
 that side, without its disturbance. The tests of scientific 
 men in this case, rather suggest than refute, the specialty of 
 providence for which we contend. Where they find some 
 departures from a method which delights the sense, they.
 
 174 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 themseU'CS dcnioustrate a still higher method which satisfies 
 the mind. Discovering some irregularities in the motions of 
 the heavenly bodies, and alarmed lest remorseless, law should 
 dash together the revolving worlds, they make intricate cal- 
 culations, and find these disturbances consistent with, yea, 
 even necessary to the stability of the system. They meet 
 everywhere in nature, arrangements like the governor of a 
 steam engine, tending to make the very acceleration of motion 
 reduce the moving force. 
 
 Everywhere in nature they point us to certain superior 
 limits, above which its elements cannot rise ; and certain in- 
 ferior limits below which they cannot fall. All the move- 
 ments of science are in the direction of the doctrine that 
 everything is especially calculated in the Divine plan. But, 
 in the interests of the laws of nature which she worships, 
 science recoils from the doctrine which she has almost demon- 
 strated. We deny that there is any necessary conflict between 
 the widest and most rigorous reign of natural law and the 
 most specific provision for every event in the life of the Chris- 
 tian. The sparkling satire which Mr. Pope hurls at the doc- 
 trine of special providence, totally misrepresents it as requiring 
 the suspension or reversal of law. Hear him : 
 
 " Think we, like some weak prince, tlie Eternal Cause, 
 Prone for Ilis favorites, to I'everse His laws; 
 Shall burning .Etna, if a sage requires. 
 Forget to thunder and recall her fires ; 
 On air or sea new motions be impressed, 
 Oh, blameless Betliel, to relieve thy breast? 
 AVhen the loose mountain trembles from ou high, 
 Shall gravitation cease if you go by ? "
 
 SERMON ON SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 175 
 
 Certainly not. But is it quite impossible tluit God should 
 provide against our passing at so dangerous a moment, unless 
 we can thus die at the ripest time for our good and His 
 glory ? We admire the fixedness of Heaven's laws as much 
 as Mr. Pope. AYe could >'0T live a moment in a world of 
 chance, and a world of continued miracle would be entirely 
 nnadapted to our mental economy. But we demand the 
 proof that the minutest end of Divine tenderness requires the 
 slightest suspension of the order of nature. 
 
 Dr. M'Cosh, we think it is, who first suggested the fruitful 
 idea of the accomplishment of special ends, by the exquisite 
 adjustment of bodies and of laws. Let us embody his hint 
 in a conception somewhat different from his own. Conceive, 
 then, the material universe as consisting of an indefinite num- 
 ber of moving forces, or rather moved atoms. What hinders 
 that any particle or collection of particles should have been 
 created at such a moment of infinite duration, and impelled 
 from such spot in infinite space in such direction and with 
 such energy of movement as to reach any chosen point at any 
 given time ; and that any number of particles, or collective 
 bodies, should have been so moved as at any required moment 
 to maintain any desired mutual relation, and to assume as a 
 whole any desired aspect ? One body may be moving in a 
 bee-line to the destruction of another ; a third, charged with 
 the orders of the Ancient of days, may so wing its measured 
 flight as to cross the track of the assailant and lift away the 
 victim in the very crisis of its fate ! Several forces may meet 
 at a required angle and change their rigid lines of motion
 
 ] 70 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 iuto graceful curves, or any number of tliem may assemble 
 as relays at appointed stations, and, like steeds of varying 
 strength and speed, wheel the Lord's artillery or the Lord's 
 cars, freighted with mercy, in labyrinths that mock the Calcu- 
 lus. But our conception is too simple. All action, mechan- 
 ical, chemical, or physiological, produces, indeed, or destroys 
 motion ; and, however numerous the impacts on a single body, 
 there is only a single resultant movement. But the bodies in 
 nature are diverse, each order having many-sided and pecu- 
 liar relations to every other. Some brought into new prox- 
 imities, develop sympathies or antipathies that have slumbered 
 from eternity. There will, therefore, be not only the innu- 
 merable original jorojections, of which we have spoken, but the 
 immensely more numerous perturbations due to the action of 
 body on body. The question is not whether it is hard to 
 imagine hoAV God keeps all things in motion without any 
 natural collision, except such as suit a definite purpose towards 
 all, and towards each ; but is it impossible to conceive that w'ith 
 absolute command of time, and space, and degree of motion, God 
 can execute a definite purpose in regard to every particle of mat- 
 ter. It is hard for some to imagine their heads pointing with- 
 out inconvenience in all directions which the rotation of the 
 earth demands. It is harder still to picture a nail in a cart- 
 felloe as never going backwards in absolute space, while the 
 wheel revolves. It is extremely hard to imagine the moon as 
 passing in every revolution directly between the earth and the 
 sun, and its orbit still, as always, concave to both these bodies ; 
 yet all these things so hard to imagine are demonstrably true.
 
 SERMON ON SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 177 
 
 It is certainly unpliilosopliical to deny a well authenticated 
 statement, which cannot be disproved, because a faculty, so 
 easily bewildered in trying to follow the track of demonstra- 
 tion, cannot realize it. 
 
 Philosophers assure us that the perturbations of the planets 
 conduce to the stability of the solar system. Can they assure 
 that these disturbing actions of substance on substance have 
 not been planned Avith a view to flexibility ? The man of 
 science tells us " the Lord's steps are all ordered and they are 
 all steady and strong." " Yes," says the man of faith, " and 
 they are likewise all graceful and lithe." His flexible hand 
 guides the blind atoms through their mazy gropings to their 
 predetermined station in the body of the forest oak. His deli- 
 cate strokes have fashioned the light armor of the electric 
 warriors, and His voice summons by name the picked aerial 
 squadrons that hurl on the devoted tree their resistless charge. 
 You are to-day constituted of innumerable atoms that since 
 the dawn of time have been on their march to their present 
 rendezvous in your bodies ; and notwithstanding their appa- 
 rent revelry of motion, every step has been taken under the 
 eye of the commander and with more than military precision. 
 This, you say, is assertion. But it is assertion, founded on the 
 Word of God, and within the limits of the conceivable. Can it 
 be shown against us that God has not numbered the hairs of 
 the heads of His people ? that He has not guided to its place 
 each droplet of moisture which lends to their gloss, and each 
 molecule of light which contributes to their color ? Is it too 
 much for God to have moved by general laws every minutest
 
 178 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 thing to its present altitude in the face of nature, and to have 
 given to the whole face and each most delicate feature an 
 aspect of benignity to the Christian ? 
 
 There might be suppo.-ed still greater difficulty in admitting 
 that, the minute plans of Divine mercy to the saints, are not 
 in danger of being disconcerted by the action of rational 
 beings. Shall they not in misguided affection, or in the 
 malignity, or caprice of their wills, thwart the details of the 
 Divine scheme ? Discarding all subtleties about fate and free 
 will, let us take the testimony of analogy on this question. 
 You foresee the movements of great masses of men (quite as 
 well as you do those of great masses of matter). You predict 
 the actions of individuals even more confidently than you do 
 the courses of the winds. And shall not God adjust His 
 plans with reference to the conduct of intelligent beings? 
 You can count upon the actions of men, quite as confidently 
 as upon the operations of those parts of nature, with which 
 you come immediately into contact. General Lee, who with 
 such wonderful prescience, anticipated for so long all the 
 movements of his enemy, doubtless understood General Grant 
 better than he did the weather. A skilful player, not only 
 foresees, but compels the moves of his antagonist. In the 
 light of these illustrations, where is the difficulty of conceiv- 
 ing God as controlling, without direct coercion some steps 
 of enemies, and defeating others? Whether then, God 
 brings wicked men and devils under close investment, 
 or allows them the largest liberty of the field, there is no 
 reason to doubt that He will weave their narrow and
 
 SERMON OX SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 179 
 
 malignant wills into the web of His comprehensive and 
 gracious designs. 
 
 It is delightful to think how God works in our own 
 wills towards inditing our petitions. You will probably 
 pray to-night. God we think, will not absolutely and irre- 
 sistibly, coerce your wills to certain petitions. Yet, He will 
 so flood your mind with light, so quicken your desires, so 
 distinctly present to you what you need, and ply you with 
 such gentle importunate, almost imperious persuasion, that 
 you will say we could scarcely help praying. Certainly if 
 you are to pray ; He knows your petition in advance. He 
 has understood your thought afar oft'. The trains have already 
 been long on the way loaded, with the presents which God's 
 children are yet to ask fur. And my Lord will not delay 
 His coming !
 
 180 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN. DD. LLD. 
 
 CHAPTER VIIT. 
 
 THE COUNTRY PASTOR. 
 
 rpilE older reader will readily recall the eol- 
 lapsed and desolate condition in wliich Vir- 
 ginia was left by the Civil War. For four years her 
 fields had been trampled by contending armies, 
 and her air had trembled with the roar of con- 
 tinuous battle. Her towns had been transformed 
 into barracks and hospitals. Not only had there 
 been the great battles in which vast armies strug- 
 gled for the mastery, but the raider, the barn- 
 burner and the deserter, had penetrated in almost 
 every nook and corner of the State, carrying waste 
 and wreck everywhere they went. The Southern 
 soldiers, scattered over every part of the State, 
 bleeding with wounds, famishing for bread, and 
 sometimes reckless in their necessities, had joined 
 with the invader in consuming the substance of 
 the old Dominion. When the end came, it was a 
 tragedy ; the star of Southern hope went down in 
 blackest night. The days which followed were 
 so full of bitterness and despair, that many of the 
 older people, stripped of strength and fortune, sank
 
 THE COUNTRY PASTOR. 181 
 
 broken-hearted to their graves. In almost every 
 family grave-yard, there was a soldier's grave ; 
 sometimes it was the father, sometimes the brother, 
 sometimes the son, and sometimes the husband. 
 Many sat down amid the ruins of the Lost Cause, 
 penniless and dejected, and felt that there could 
 be no future for them. 
 
 The country home, as if in sympathy with the 
 destructiveness of the times, had sunken to decay. 
 The farms were fenceless and overrun with briars, 
 and reluctant to yield to the touch of its owner, 
 just returned from the war. Slavery was gone, 
 the State was without government or resources ; 
 the people were reduced to penury ; the barns, if 
 not in ashes, were emptied ; the conquered soldier 
 was not permitted to bring home his sword that 
 he might transform it into an implement of hus- 
 bandry. It is enough to melt one to pity and 
 tears, even now, to recall the discouragements 
 under which our men undertook in the late spring 
 of 1865, without suitable utensils or stock, to 
 break up their grounds and set their crops. It 
 is due to them to say, that with heroic alacrity, 
 many of them promptly accepted the situation, 
 went to work, and by indomitable energy, wooed 
 prosperity back to their homes and fields. Those 
 who sulked in despondency and cherished bitter
 
 182 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 memories, lost their chance, sank out of sight and 
 left Virginia as an open field to her nobler sons. 
 
 It has alread}'- been mentioned that A. B. Brown 
 married in Pittsj'lvania County. At the time of 
 this event, the father of his wife, was according to 
 the estimate of those times, quite a wealthy gentle- 
 man. In a partial division of his property, Mr. 
 Wimbish, the father of Mrs. Brown, in accordance 
 with her owai choice, gave her portion in money, 
 which was deposited in a Richmond bank; ten 
 thousand dollars of which, were subject to her 
 husband's order. Sharing the hopefulness of the 
 times, they allowed this money to remain in the 
 bank, and it was lost in the general ruin which 
 came at last. Mr. Brown entered the army in 
 1863, and continued in the camp until the autumn 
 of 1864, when he was summoned home by the 
 illness of Mr. Wimbish. lie did not return to the 
 army ; but remained quietly Avith his family till 
 the end of the struggle. 
 
 His home was situated on the border line of 
 Pittsylvania and Halifax counties, and as his 
 social and pastoral relations connected him with 
 both counties, he usually spoke of the two together 
 as equally his home. 
 
 For, generations these counties have ranked 
 among the most prosperous and influential in the
 
 TPIE COUNTRY PASTOR. 183 
 
 State, and have been distinguished for the respec- 
 tability and intelligence of their citizens. They 
 form an important part of that wonderfully fer- 
 tile tobacco garden, so widely celebrated for pro- 
 ducing the yellow leaf tobacco. 
 
 Owing to their location on the southern border 
 of the State, these counties were not so utterly 
 wasted by the war, as were many other sections. 
 In Mr. Brown's absence, his farm had been 
 cultivated by his servants ; and at the end 
 of the war, he had supplies sufficient for the 
 opening year. His slaves, although liberated in 
 April, 1865, remained with him till the end of the 
 year, and, by their help, he was enabled to refill 
 his storehouses in part at least. To this he added 
 something by teaching a small school. The next 
 year brought upon him severe trials. His former 
 servants, naturally enough, grew weary of their 
 confinement, and went forth to taste the sweets of 
 their new liberty. This left him in an awkward 
 dependency. He was not accustomed to the work 
 of the farm. On account of his fragile constitu- 
 tion, he was poorly fitted for enduring the hard- 
 ships of the plantation, and all of his habits and 
 tastes allured him in another direction. 
 
 As best he could, and largely without help, he 
 undertook the care of the farm. To those who
 
 184 LIFE OF A. B. BEOWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 knew him, there would be something incongruous 
 and ludicrous, if there was not so much that 
 was manly and pathetic in the picture of A. B. 
 Brown turning away from his companionship 
 with Plato, Hamilton, and his Greek Testament, 
 that he might make bread, by the sweat of his 
 face, for his famil3^ It will bring a pensive 
 smile even yet to the cheeks of many readers, to 
 think of him as he followed the plow, dropped the 
 corn, planted the tobacco, sowed the oats, fed his 
 stock, watched the weather, and communed with 
 his more practical neighbors about the knotty 
 problems of the plantation. We doubt not that 
 many of the old farmers chuckled in quiet glee 
 at his awkwardness and blunders in his new 
 avocation. They mistook greatlj^ if they im- 
 agined that he did not understand the agricul- 
 tural art. He knew the science of agriculture 
 with a thoroughness that was extraordinary, and 
 while he shrank from the details of a farmer's 
 life, his native wit, enriched by ample culture, 
 formed in his character the basis for success in 
 agricultural life. 
 
 His temporary divorce from books was like the 
 enforced absence of a lover from the chosen of his 
 heart. He practiced many a pious fraud upon his 
 agricultural enthusiasm by whipping out his Greek
 
 THE COUNTRY PASTOll. 185 
 
 Testament at the end of the furrow, and taking 
 a sip at the fountain of truth. 
 
 His old passion for teaching speedily revived, 
 and young men whose education had heen belated 
 by the war, flocked to his house and sat at his feet. 
 The impress which he put upon those youths abides 
 even yet, and is plainly seen in their noble charac- 
 ters and commanding influence. The grade of 
 intelligence in his old community is higher to-day 
 because of the fact that many of its citizens had 
 A. B. Brown for their teacher in their boyhood. 
 
 But above his love of teaching, was his devotion 
 to the pulpit. Few men ever possessed such sub- 
 lime views of the Gospel of Christ as he had. He 
 walked the mountain heights. It was not long 
 before the Baptist churches in his reach began to 
 call him from his retreat, and he was not unmind- 
 ful of their summons. 
 
 A lack of space forbids anything like historical 
 sketches of the various churches in his two 
 counties, (for he claimed them both,) which from 
 time to time he served. Their names, at least, 
 deserved to be embalmed in this humble tribute to 
 their now glorified pastor. They were. Mill Stone, 
 Arbor, Ellis Creek, Greenfield, Shockoe and Ca- 
 tawba, County Line, and possibly others. 
 
 It may surprise some that a man of such sur-
 
 186 LIFE OF A. B. BIIOWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 passing abilities and almost immeasurable learning, 
 as was A. 13. Brown, sliould be called to minister to 
 country cburclies. 
 
 In that respect he was a favored man. He 
 had in the citizens which constituted his con- 
 gregations, a higher type of thoughtfulness and 
 spiritual maturity, than is usually found in a 
 metropolitan pastorate. Country people do not 
 see so much as do the town people, but they read, 
 and think, and talk together, far more. They ex- 
 tract more from one ripened sermon in a month, 
 than many clattering and noisy townsmen pick up 
 from the elaborate and stilted services, which are 
 tri-weekly rendered in many great city churches. 
 There is in the country people, a candor, and 
 freedom, and responsiveness, which constitute the 
 preacher's noblest earthly inspiration. 
 
 Beside, in consenting to be a country pastor, 
 Mr. Brown only followed in the wake of many of 
 the most gifted and illustrious Baptist ministers, 
 who have advanced the standard and enriched the 
 record of our people. Time would fail to bring 
 out even to momentary view our Baptist chiefs, 
 who, in the past — as indeed, many are doing in 
 the present — have eschewed the fastidious and 
 exacting pastorates of the city, and devoted their 
 whole lives to a well-contented service as country
 
 THE COUNTRY PASTOR. 187 
 
 pastors. There was the Elder Andrew Broaddus, 
 who, in the majesty of his person, greatly sur- 
 passed, as in his graceful and thrilling eloquence, he 
 stood a rival of Robert Hall. He was a country pas- 
 tor, and is it not pardonable to say, that if his son. 
 Rev. Andrew Broaddus, DD., of Caroline County, 
 Virginia, falls below the eagle sweep of his father's 
 eloquence, he is his equal in purity of character, 
 and his superior in biblical learning, perspicuity 
 of speech, and heavenly power to win men from 
 sin to God. He, too, is a country pastor. There 
 was Robert Semple — the counsellor, the organizer, 
 and the historian. And later, in the same region 
 of Virginia, arose Dr. Richard Hugh Bagby — the 
 man of rugged face, but rich in scriptural knowl- 
 edge, and one of the wisest pastors that the Bap- 
 tists of Virginia ever had. There was Barnett 
 Grimsley, the Patrick Henry of the Virginia pul- 
 pit, with a voice of melody, a soul of love, and a 
 tongue touched with seraphic speech ; no earthly 
 inducement could ever allure him from his Pied- 
 mont home and his country churches, to the trying 
 scenes of the city. 
 
 There was Reuben Jones, just translated from 
 beneath the juniper tree, where he often wept, to 
 the shade of the Tree of Life ; a Chesterfield in 
 bearing, a poet in sentiment, with a soul full of
 
 188 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LI.D. 
 
 genial humor, and a man of might with men and 
 with God. For the bulk of his long career he 
 was a country pastor. 
 
 But the forms of brethren now gone, and of 
 those who still live, swarm before my fancy an 
 innumerable host. There they are — the Hern- 
 dons, the Witts, the Leftwiches, the Aliens, the 
 Harrises, the Rices, the Tyrees, the Dickinsons, the 
 Sydnors, the Masons, the Lees, and many, many 
 more not to be mentioned here, whose names are 
 in the Book of Life. 
 
 I may anticipate what is to follow later on, 
 to the extent of saying, that the years spent by 
 A. B. Brown, in his country pastorate, were the 
 most growthful part of his life. While he kept 
 himself abreast of the times in social and political 
 movements; while he was genial and neighborly, 
 and won the trustful affection of his people, his 
 kingdom was in his study, and his King met him 
 day by day in his closet. Occasionally, he sprang 
 forth to public view, and whenever he spoke, his 
 brethren heard him gladly. With each rolling 
 year, his public utterances betokened the breadth 
 of his research, and the freshness of his thoughts. 
 
 As he grew subjectively, he grew in true and 
 righteous fame. The people who had been afraid 
 of him, took his measure anew, and saw that he
 
 THE COUNTRY PASTOR. 189 
 
 was great. Soon after the war, Richmond Col- 
 lege, acknowledged his ability and worth, by 
 conferring upon him, the degree of Doctor of 
 Divinity. Perhaps it will be a friendly relief to 
 the curiosity of the reader to say, that the degree 
 of LLD., was given him by the University of 
 Tennessee, in 1884. 
 
 When he was offered the Professorship of Eng- 
 lish, in our College, his churches were smitten with 
 distress. They lamented his loss and yet, their 
 devotion to him speedily adopted the generous 
 suggestion, that their loss would be for his good. 
 Every summer when his college work was done, 
 he closed his home in Richmond, and hied away 
 to his country home in Pittsylvania. His annual 
 returns were hailed with joyful acclamation, and 
 his successors, in the pastorate, vied with each 
 other in kindly rivalry to bring him to the pulpits, 
 and have him preach for his old charges. So well 
 content was he to linger during the sultry days, 
 in his beloved Pittsylvania, that it was hard to 
 tempt him away for any purpose, except to plead 
 the cause of Christian education. 
 
 But we come now to the time when he preached 
 his farewell sermons to his bereaved churches, 
 and set out for that post at which, so lately, so 
 suddenly, and so gloriously he fell. This chapter
 
 190 LIFE OF A. B. BROW\, DD. LLD. 
 
 must not be closed, until some of those who were 
 closely associated with him during his country pas- 
 torate, have borne their tender tribute to his worth. 
 First in the voices of grief and admiration, 
 which come to us, from the neighborhood of his 
 country home, it seems that, that of his beloved 
 friend and associate in ministerial w'ork, should 
 appear at this point. Tliis is what Rev. Wm. 
 Slate, a man of God has to say : 
 
 "It will be my purpose to write something 
 in regard to his worth and labors since I hrst 
 knew him. I am glad it has been my privilege 
 to know him for twenty-five years. I have 
 been associated with a good many ministers 
 in that time — I have never known a purer, more 
 unsellish man. He w^as exceedingly liberal for his 
 means ; in fact, I thought him too much so. I 
 have been with him in meetings when different 
 objects w^ould come up, and I knew his condition 
 well enough, to know, he was not able to give 
 anything; but after some eloquent appeal he 
 would empty his pockets of the last cent. I 
 remember on one occasion at^a District Association 
 at Black Walnut (directly after the war) ; his 
 noljle wife gave him money to purchase a vest, and 
 after a stirring appeal by Dr. A. M. Poindexter,
 
 THE COUNTRY PASTOR. 101 
 
 in behalf of Foreign Missions, he got up and said: 
 'Here is money my wife gave me when I left 
 home to purchase me a vest, but the vest may go, 
 and I will do without it — and Foreign Missions 
 can have it.' At another time, in the General 
 Association, when an urgent appeal was made for 
 Richmond College, he gave his bond for more 
 than he could aftbrd to do — I told him so at the 
 time — I was fearful it would trouble him to pay 
 it ; and when the note fell due he was unable to 
 meet it, and owing to the condition of the horses, 
 he found it necessary to walk twelve or fifteen 
 miles to look up one of his deacons, more highly 
 favored than himself, for the purpose of getting 
 that deacon to meet his note, and hold it up until 
 his meagre salary was paid in, so that he could 
 refund. Thus, you see he was one of the most 
 earnest and devoted friends of Richmond College. 
 He not only graced the Professor's chair, but every- 
 where he went, he worked for the college; and 
 long years before he was made Professor, he gave 
 his money and labor for its upbuilding. The 
 general sentiment of the Baptists of this section 
 is, that Richmond College never did a wiser 
 thing than when they associated him with the 
 Faculty. 
 
 " Dr. Brown was not like a good many that could
 
 192 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 see the mote in his brother's eye, and not see the 
 beam in his own eye. He saw his own faults and 
 would admit them and try to rectify them. He 
 was naturally an exceedingly kind-hearted man, 
 and tried hard to help everybody, or give them 
 some word of encouragement. T remember dis- 
 tinctly the first time I ever saw him. I was a 
 poor orphan boy in Meadville, at school ; going to 
 school awdiile, and teaching and doing the best I 
 could to obtain my education. Some one told 
 him my condition ; how hard I Avas working to get 
 an education, and that I wanted to be a minister; 
 and he came round to me and placed his hand on 
 my head, and gave me such w^ords of encourage- 
 ment as I shall never forget. The night the sad 
 news reached me that Dr. A. B. Brown was no 
 more, I could not sleep, for thinking about him 
 and the noble ones that had gone before me — and 
 several times that night I felt like I could feel the 
 pressure of that hand on my head; and hear the 
 words of encouragement he repeated to me then. 
 " Brother Brown lived some fifteen or twenty 
 years in Pittsylvania, near his wife's father. We 
 labored together a good deal, have been pastors 
 of the same churches. Shockoe, Greenfield, County 
 Line, Eepublican Grove, were his churches for some 
 time. In all of these his members were devoted
 
 THE COUNTRY PASTOR. 193 
 
 to him ; and I hear some of them express them- 
 selves now — they say, truly, a mighty man has 
 fallen — and they say that they feel almost as if 
 one of their own household was gone. It w^as 
 pleasant to work with Brother Brown, he was 
 always so humble. No matter how^ much his 
 speeches were complimented, or his sermons, it 
 never seemed to puff him — and he was the same 
 Brown — and would often say, 'you may think 
 what I said was so good, but I don't think it 
 much.' But the great and good man has fallen. 
 May we all meet in that better land, where parting 
 is no more. u ^^i. Slate." 
 
 In all the papers that will appear in this volume, 
 this is the only one that comes from the pen of a 
 woman. It is pleasant to introduce Mrs. Mary 
 B. Lacy, the accomplished and consecrated Prin- 
 cipal of South Boston Female Institute : 
 
 "I first met Rev. A. B. Brown in the fall of 
 1874. He was then pastor of Greenfield Church, 
 and it Avas in that neighborhood that I made his 
 acquaintance. I had the opportunity, long desired, 
 of hearing him preach. His subject, was the Prodi- 
 gal Son ; his audience an average country congre- 
 gation. His treatment of his subject was all that
 
 194 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 could be asked even of him. I could not restrain 
 my tears, and there were few there who could. In 
 the family circle, at the house of one of his mem- 
 bers, he showed himself the kind, pleasant, sym- 
 pathizing pastor. It was evident from the affection 
 of this family for him, that he knew how to win 
 the hearts of his flock. Afterwards, my husband 
 removed to lialiftix, and we had the pleasure of 
 an occasional visit from Dr. Brown. His name 
 was a household word throughout that part of the 
 county with which I was acquainted, and but 
 one opinion prevailed — that his talents and learn- 
 ing demanded a wider field, but that 'old Halifax' 
 would sorely miss him, all of which proved true. 
 One would suppose that as a preacher he w^ould 
 not be understood by the mass of the people, and, 
 doubtless, in some of his most exalted moments, 
 when the grand reaches of his imagination could 
 scarcely find words even in his vast range of speech, 
 he could not be followed by the majority of his 
 hearers ; but even then, there was always an 
 abundance of thought which could be appro- 
 priated by minds of every capacity. So even the 
 plainest of his hearers was pleased and taught, 
 and all knew and valued his wortli. I have heard 
 plain practical formers, with no school culture, say 
 that they would rather talk to Dr. Brown and hear
 
 THE COUNTRY PASTOR. 195 
 
 him talk than any other man they knew. He 
 seemed at home on every subject, and he learned 
 from any one who knew more than he did, whether 
 the topic was one of literature, or agriculture, or 
 mechanics. Last summer, at the Roanoke Asso- 
 ciation, the writer heard him at night discussing 
 the difierent modes of flue-curing tobacco, he evi- 
 dently knowing all the theories, and desiring to 
 prove which was the best, from the practical ex- 
 perience of the farmers with whom he was talking. 
 "In conducting family worship, he was often 
 very happy in his remarks on the passage read. 
 I recall now a pleasant scene, his erect figure, 
 his noble head, the kindly glance of his eye, the 
 reverential tones of his voice, as he read the 
 account of Cornelius' vision. How full of encour- 
 agement to our hearts did he show the passage to 
 be. ' We must not limit God's power by time and 
 circumstance. No heart that truly cries to him is 
 turned away.' ' Thy prayer is heard, and thine 
 alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.' 
 Doubtless in many a home in Pittsylvania and 
 Halifax, these seasons of social conversation and 
 worship are remembered with sad joy. Dear, 
 noble, faithful minister of God, thou art endeared 
 to us not by the splendor of thy intellect, nor the 
 treasures of thy learning, but by thy sincere, un-
 
 19G LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 ostentations piety, and thy kindly interest in all 
 that concern the true Avelfare of others. 
 
 "One element of Dr. Brown's influence over 
 others, was the respect he testified towards them. 
 He was courteous, and friendly. He had a 
 'hearty' manner always, and a willing ear even 
 to the plainest, and never seemed conscious that 
 he had a claim to superior attention or respect. 
 Thus he was ' at home ' in the humblest cottage 
 and in the richest mansion. His kindly heart 
 showed itself in his tenderness toward children. 
 The writer has seen him more than once go out of 
 his way to salute most courteously a timid little 
 child, when grown up folks were waiting and 
 pressing to shake his hand. Thank God that such 
 men have lived, and have shown the 'beauty of the 
 Lord' to us. How deliiz:htful the thought that in 
 Heaven we shall have their society, that we plainer 
 folk shall also be glorified, and that we shall be 
 'like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.' 
 
 " Mary B. Lacy." 
 
 Dr. Brown was a conscientious and outspoken 
 Baptist. His convictions w^ere the result of 
 scholarly and prayerful investigation. There was 
 no touch of the temporizing spirit in him. He
 
 THE COUNTRY PASTOR. 197 
 
 was always ready to utter liis opinions, and to fight 
 for them. But he possessed a singularly enlarged 
 spirit of brotherhood and charity. He could speak 
 the truth in love, and toward those who differed 
 from him he bore himself with a courtesy that 
 was real and magnetic. Men who could not 
 agree with him, could not withhold their respect 
 for his honesty and courage. His relations with 
 Christians of other names, were always cordial 
 and fraternal. As a result, he was greatly beloved 
 by Christian people of other denominations. While 
 he lived in Richmond, his pastor, who was slow to 
 ask him to preach, lest he might do so to his bodily 
 injury, sometimes playfully upbraided him with 
 being more ready to preach for the Methodists and 
 the Presbyterians, than he was for his own church. 
 To this he would reply, " I can afford to deny 
 you, but the other brethren might misunderstand 
 my refusal." Since his death, many beyond the 
 Baptist lines have come forward to honor his 
 memory. I gladly give place to the subjoined 
 paper, so chaste and beautiful, from a Presbyte- 
 rian gentleman in South Boston : 
 
 "A few weeks ago, when the sad intelligence 
 came, announcing that that good and gifted man. 
 Rev. A. B. Brown, DD., had passed from his
 
 198 LIFE OF A. B. BllOWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 labors on earth, to the rest and reward of heaven, 
 a memorial nieeting to his memory, was held at 
 the Baptist Church here, at which time it was the 
 writer's privilege to add his feeble tribute to the 
 worth of his departed friend and Christian brother. 
 I consider it a great privilege that I enjoyed the 
 acquaintance and friendship of such a man. 
 Although in the past sixteen years that I have 
 known him we did not meet very frequently, and 
 then only for short periods, from the freedom and 
 cordiality of our intercourse, I think I can claim 
 him for a friend. 
 
 " I have heard him in the pulpit, as with incisive 
 logic and matchless eloquence he has declared the 
 love of Christ for sinners, and pleaded with them 
 to accept Ilim as their Saviour; I have heard him 
 in the Association advocating the various depart- 
 ments of the church's work; and on all these 
 theatres of his usefulness he was a grand man. 
 Whenever he preached or spoke, he at once com- 
 manded the attention of all, and there were none 
 but delighted auditors. But to me it seemed his 
 genius shone out with brightest lustre, and his 
 soul poured out its highest aspirations, in the 
 social family circle. It may be because here I 
 saw him most, here I knew him best, and here 
 he touched the tender chords of my heart that
 
 THE COUNTRY PASTOR. 199 
 
 responded with love and admiration. Thus, when- 
 ever opportunity presented, have I sought him 
 there, and listened for hours as the rich store- 
 house of his mind poured out its choicest fruits in 
 words of purest English. As a conversationalist, 
 Dr. Brown had few superiors. There was nothing 
 superficial about him, and he at once impressed 
 upon you that when he took up a subject he never 
 stopped, until he had entirely mastered it, for he 
 would begin with its inception and carry you 
 logically through all its different stages of develop- 
 ment to its highest results. 
 
 " His ripe scholarship was seen in the fluency 
 of his diction, and appropriate choice of w^ords 
 for the expression of his ideas, and by his wonder- 
 ful powers of illustration. In the discussion of the 
 most profound subjects he could so' simplify that 
 the most ordinary minds could comprehend. While 
 he indulged in no lightness or levity, he could tell 
 a good anecdote with so much point and force that 
 all could appreciate its humor. 
 
 " His death, at the period of his greatest useful- 
 ness, is a loss to the Christian Church; for the 
 influence of a man of his great heart and broad 
 intellect cannot be confined within denominational 
 limits. 
 
 " May his life be an inspiration to others,
 
 200 LIFE OF A. n. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 that we may follow hiin even as he followed 
 
 Christ. 
 
 " ' Soldier of Christ, well done ! 
 Praise be thy new employ ; 
 And while eternal ages run, 
 Rest in thy Saviour's joy.' 
 
 "Joseph Stebbins." 
 
 South Boston, Va., Dec. 16, 1885. 
 
 To the foregoing papers, must be added yet 
 another. It comes from the pen of Rev. S. G. 
 Mason, an aged Baptist minister of Mecklenburg 
 County, Va. It is, indeed, a gentle and graceful 
 tribute, and cannot be read without emotion : 
 
 " I first met Dr. Brown at the General Associar 
 tion, held in Hampton, in the year 1849, and was 
 introduced to him by the late A. M. Poindexter. 
 Bro. P. said to me privately, ' He is a promising 
 young man, and I have secured his appointment 
 as missionary for the Dan River Association.' 
 
 " It was during this period, that I was called 
 upon to marry him, to the dear young sister who 
 became his companion to the end of his life. We 
 were much together on many important occasions, 
 but particularly at the house of Bro. Poindexter, 
 who was our theological instructor for a number 
 of years. It had been my privilege for more than
 
 THE COUNTEY PASTOR. 201 
 
 ten years to be under his training, and now my 
 young brother Brown became associated with me, 
 and he, as well as myself, was greatly indebted to 
 this prince of theologians and preachers, for the 
 instruction which he received, and the liberal 
 hospitality and friendship of Bro. Poindexter and 
 his family. 
 
 "While he was at Hollins we were much to- 
 gej:her also, both at the Institute and in other 
 places. In 1856, during the vacation, I obtained 
 his services to assist me in a meeting at Black 
 Walnut, Halifax. The meeting continued for 
 seventeen days, and was the second best meeting, 
 all things considered, I ever saw. About forty- 
 five of the most valuable and influential people of 
 the community professed conversion, and nearly 
 every one of them has proven, by the fruits of 
 their lives, that their profession was honest and 
 true. Bro. Brown did all the preaching — two, 
 sermons each day, — and they were certainly the 
 finest series of sermons I have ever heard. This 
 was the expressed opinion also of all the people — 
 of all classes and all denominations. We were 
 together all through the meeting, day and night, 
 and never have I known one more in the true spirit 
 of preaching than he was all the time. His ser- 
 mons, while so grand and powerful, were still so 
 
 M
 
 202 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 plain that the truths of salvation took hold of all 
 classes, young as well as old, unlearned as well as 
 learned. I think he never preached better. He 
 himself enjoyed the meeting greatly. 
 
 "In 187G we were together at the meeting of 
 the Dan River Association, held with the Winns 
 Creek Church. I was pastor of the church, and, 
 as usual, it devolved on me and the deacons to 
 arrange for the religious services. For the second 
 day we decided that Dr. Curry and Dr. Brown 
 should preach to the crowd at the stand. Brown 
 and myself were together the night before, and 
 during the morning hours of the second day, and 
 I knew he was preparing to preach on some gen- 
 eral subject. Dr. Curry had just preached one of 
 his most eloquent sermons, and w^e wTre all at the 
 stand, waiting for Brown to come on and preach the 
 second sermon. After some delay, I saw him coming 
 np, stepping nervously, and when he reached the 
 stand he said to me, trembling with excitement, 
 * Sing a song, and give me some time to collect my 
 thoughts. They have torn me all to pieces.' The 
 Association had just passed a resolution requesting 
 him to deliver a memorial address, at that hour, 
 upon the life and character of A. M. Poindexter, 
 and he had just been informed of the resolution. 
 I felt the deepest sympathy for my friend, as he
 
 THE COUNTRY PASTOR. 203 
 
 was SO suddenly called on, without time to pre- 
 pare, and to follow such a powerful discourse as 
 was Dr. Currv's. I was really afraid he would 
 fail. But he had not proceeded far before all my 
 fears were allayed. Well, I will not say that he 
 excelled Dr. Curry in power and eloquence. But 
 certainly he did not fall below him. I refer to 
 this circumstance to illustrate the quickness and 
 power of his intellect when roused by an emergency. 
 "I suppose, as the result of our long and intimate 
 associations, I knew him better than any living 
 man, (if we except, perhaps, Charles L. Cocke,) 
 and I desire to say some things about him. First — 
 as a friend : The man was favored, indeed, who 
 had secured his special friendship; modest and 
 kind, just and true, communicative and confiding, 
 and unchanging. Second — As a gentleman : I 
 have but seldom met with his equal, and certainly 
 never with his superior. Third — as a Christian : 
 so humble and modest, so spiritual and holy, 
 and yet so cheerful and hopeful ; such a lover of 
 Christ and the brethren, such a lover of truth and 
 righteousness, — so self-denying and cross-bearing. 
 Fourth — feut, if I had time and ability, it is of 
 him as a preacher that I would like to speak. I 
 have often said, and still think, that he was the 
 strongest and most talented preacher v/e had in
 
 204 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 the State, next to A. M. Poindexter, and proba- 
 bly his equal. His sermons abounded in the most 
 extensive and accurate learning, the clearest and 
 soundest logic, the most polished rhetoric, and 
 sometimes the most powerful eloquence ; while the 
 subjec1>matter was always the purest theology, and 
 the soundest orthodoxy. In the figures and illus- 
 trations of his sermons he certainly excelled all 
 that I have ever heard : always brief, but as 
 clear as light : no redundancy, and no lack. The 
 view of his hearer was always held to the thought, 
 while the figure and illustration were unnoticed. 
 As when looking on an object through a perfectly 
 clear glass, the object is seen in all its proportions, 
 while the glass is not noticed. 
 
 "S. G. Mason."
 
 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 205 
 
 FEMALE EDUCATION. 
 
 The most appropriate topic for the occasion is unfortunately 
 very trite. It has often been discussed with great keennesss 
 of analysis, with the widest comprehensiveness, with the utmost 
 minuteness, and with the amplest wealth, and beauty of illus- 
 tration. 
 
 My experience in practical education might have been much 
 greater without giving me any special qualification to discuss 
 these topics. The farmer's business makes him very familiar 
 with corn, yet he knows very little better than any other what 
 corn is, and hardly at all better what it is intrinsically worth. 
 The physician has precious little advantage over any other 
 man in defining health, or in exhibiting its value. He would 
 have no eminent fitness to deliver an oration on the blessings 
 of health, though he might in his quiet way do much to pre- 
 serve, promote or restore health, to remove or mitigate pain. 
 
 The teacher maintains a similar attitude towards education, 
 and has no special adaptation to explain, or urge, or indicate 
 education. I shall not try to escape the triteness of the sub- 
 ject, by limiting myself to the consideration of female education. 
 Indeed I know not, whether there is any other female educa- 
 tion, than the application of a common sexless education to 
 females. The Romans had no word that named an individual, —
 
 206 LIFE OF A. B. BPvOWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 gender. It is the^atiire which underlies the use of this word, 
 that is the object, or, if you prefer, the subject of education. 
 
 What if it were true that man's relative stature or weight 
 any individual of the human race, — a word of the common 
 is the ratio of his intelligence to that of woman? It no more 
 follows from this, that he should have another education, than 
 that he should have another diet. What if it is true, that the 
 average male intellect is more characterized by strength, and 
 the female more by grace and beauty, though I incline to think 
 this is not true to the extent those would insist who hastily 
 make the physical form the type or the exponent of the mind. 
 There is much poetry, there is doubtless some truth, in the 
 position, that the mind of woman is in some vague sense the 
 complement of that of the man. It is not true, that either 
 has a fticulty, that the other wholly lacks. Their ultimate 
 faculties, absolutely the same, therefore male aptitudes may be, 
 probably are, slightly varied, so as not only-beautifully to 
 blend, their different contributions in the drawing-room, but 
 to render their interaction at the fireside an almost indispensa- 
 ble utility and not a mere luxury. 
 
 But whatever differences may exist, will assert, and the 
 more healthily manifest themselves, when these so closely 
 kindred minds are nourished by the same generous pabulum. 
 I confess I never could see the differences, that some seem to 
 find, between the mental organizations of the sexes. 
 
 It may be owing to a mental defect wliich I have to lament, 
 a want of equal capacity, or even ec^ual inclination, to read 
 the broad label of a class. Take a favorite distinction between
 
 FEMALE EDUCATION. 207 
 
 man, as a logician and a woman as an instructionalist. If it 
 existed to any great extent, then, indeed the development of a 
 logical power is one of the great designs of education — there 
 would be the less need, and the less hope of female culture. 
 AVoman, it is maintained, seizes a truth by intuition, or an 
 indefinable instinct — does not get by logic, and cannot logi- 
 cally explain it. Man sets out to his object on the logical road, 
 goes often grandly, gloriously wrong. He takes note of his 
 error, tries again in the same highly respectable manner, often 
 exhausts all the possibilities of mistakes, and at least marches 
 regularly, proudly to the truth. The woman is less certain to 
 get there at all. If she anticipates him, as is not unlikely, she 
 reaches the point by a happy guess or divination, if she clearly 
 apprehends it as absolutely true. Now there is precious little 
 truth in all this. 
 
 Ladies, intelligent by reading, observation and experience, 
 have seldom tite training, in the statement and elaboration of 
 their processes of thought, of highly educated men. 
 
 But in this they do not materially differ from sagacious, 
 practical men. It was not a woman, it was Andrew Jackson, 
 that said to a friend, " I always knew I was right, but till you 
 explained it, I could never see how." It was not to a woman, 
 but to a strong-minded English squire, that Lord Mansfield 
 said, appointing him to a magistracy, " Pronounce your opinion 
 with confidence, it will most probably be right ; forbear its 
 development and vindication, which will almost certainly be 
 wrong." If there is any essential difference in the reasoning 
 powers of the sexes, if with equal discipline they do not reason
 
 208 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 and elaborate reason with nearly ccjiial patience, dexterity and 
 success, I have not made the discovery. The slight diversities 
 in the operations of their respective faculties render it more 
 difficult to apj)ly a common measure, and decide upon their 
 equality or equivalence. Thus much may, I think, very safely 
 be said. It is too early to affirm very confidently, that there 
 never will be a female Bacon, till there has been, and been for 
 some considerable time, a female Oxford. 
 
 Woman has achieved great success in almost every walk of 
 genius. The first great lyric that history records, was the 
 improvisation on the banks of the Red Sea, of stern, high- 
 souled Miriam — honored name afterwards, softened and 
 sweetened into loved and blessed memory. And Sappho, 
 desperate from unrequited love, ending a sad life at the 
 " Lovers Leap " in Epirus. She was, with the enthusiastic 
 Greeks, the first muse. A great Poet pronounced her more 
 golden than gold. About forty lines left here, {fre assigned to 
 the brightest page in the Onthologies. 
 
 For eloquence, most strictly, woman has had no sphere. 
 Though the daughter of Hortensius, pronounced before 
 Tyrannicus an oration, which Quinctilian says, " was long 
 read, and not read as a compliment to the sex." The mother 
 of the Gracchi asserted for women, that superiority in letter- 
 writing, which she has ever maintained ; and she contributed 
 much to the eloquence of her sons. And a similar account 
 might be given of much missing female oratory. 
 
 Woman, in generous self-oblivion, has ever been con- 
 tributing much to the eloquence of her sons. In statesman-
 
 FEMALE EDUCATION. 209 
 
 ship, a woman is nothing, unless she is a queen ; and there 
 have been truly great queens. To say nothing of Semiramie 
 and others, about whom there may be, I know not how much 
 of the fabulous. Think of that unlettered peasant girl, after- 
 wards Catharine of Kussia, who greatly helped in the con- 
 ception, development and the criticism of the schemes of the 
 Czar, and long survived him for their successful execution. 
 
 Think of that great queen who sat on the British throne at 
 the meridian of British enterprise and literature. It has been 
 thought one of the highest gifts of a Washington and a 
 Jackson, that they knew how to form and how to rule a 
 Cabinet. Who has more skilfully constructed, or more 
 sovereignly controlled a Cabinet than Elizabeth, I may not 
 pause, to select a few from the roll of female names that have 
 shone with conspicuous brightness, not in the lighter litera- 
 ture only, but in those more exacting walks of science. It 
 may suffice to say that the time has gone by, when on the 
 appearance of some great work produced by a lady, the 
 remark was made, " She writes very well for a woman." 
 
 But whatever the diversity of gifts and aptitudes, there may 
 be in the sexes, you need never fear educating any true 
 womankind by giving the girl, the very same education in 
 extent and vigor, which you give to the boy. Not more 
 surely will she appropriate the same atmosphere, the same 
 water, and the same food in the structure of her own beautiful 
 form, than she will assimilate her spiritual element in har- 
 mony and into harmony with her feminine nature. The little 
 girl will be guarded and cautioned with a sedulous, sometimes
 
 210 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, l)l>. LLD. 
 
 witli a too sedulous care against tom-boyisiii. And as she 
 grows up into society, her tastes, her interests, her whole 
 nature, are a constant and generally sufficient protest against 
 the simulation — it could be but the simulation of a masculine 
 coarseness. But by all means let us avoid the starving of 
 the female mind into a feeble and sickly beauty. Health is 
 not the cause, but the condition of the highest beauty 
 (changed the final word). This is all I deem it fit to say on 
 tlie matter of sex in education (Interposed 1st, my experience 
 in teaching; 2d, female .) 
 
 What is education ? — I exclude the consideration of physi- 
 cal education — it is the orderly development of the powers of 
 the mind by presenting it to an indefinite extent, with the 
 systematized objects of thought, and fixing in it those objects 
 of thought. You cannot evoke power, without furnishing 
 thought, you cannot exercise power without improving the 
 arrangement and increasing the extent of your knowledge. I 
 fear that certain definitions and descriptions tend to disparage 
 the importance of gaining and retaining the truth. It would 
 appear that everything is to be evolved from within. This 
 view drawn wholly from the etymology, not from the use of a 
 Latin word — is not even, with certainty, suggested by the 
 etymology. A difference of the inflection of the words for 
 educate and educe, though it does not necessarily infer, yet 
 strongly hints a diHerence of radical meaning ; and a very 
 respectable lexicographer does not hesitate to assign to edu- 
 cate, a distinct obsolete root. 
 
 The two words are sometimes employed interchangeably,
 
 FEMALE EDUCATION. 211 
 
 and notably, by one author, not of the highest rank, for the 
 rearing of the young ; but neither of them for what we call 
 education in its highest sense. It was stated, not in the form 
 of a personal opinion, but in that of a maxim : " The 
 nurse educates, the j^^daoogue institutes, the master teaches." 
 Perhaps, however, those who remind us of this etymology 
 mean only, that the literal meaning of the word might happily 
 express the true functions of education. Now I shall admit, 
 and even contend, that the chief end of education, is more to 
 develop, than to store the mind. That it is intended to 
 render the mind more like a fountain of living waters, than a 
 reservoir ; made more like an all-producing factory, than an 
 all containing warehouse. Indeed, there is a sense, in which 
 those who make least of the discipline of powers, and insist 
 most on the communications of facts, and fects as individuals, 
 as they can well be conceived, must admit, that the powers of 
 the mind in whatever development they have for the time 
 reached, must alone be addressed ; and information, strictly 
 speaking, cannot be imparted at all. The simplest fact, the 
 signs of which you present by the living voice, must be con- 
 structed for itself, by the mind addressed. Even the li'orary, 
 which, with sufficient correctness, we term rich in thought, is 
 in vigorous language, rich only in the symbo]s of thought, 
 which cannot be decanted, but must be reproduced and inter- 
 preted by each intellect for itself. The memory which plays 
 so indispensable a part in the slightest and most spontaneous 
 advance from first principles, which cannot be forgotten, and 
 constitutes so much of the mind at rest, and scarcely less of
 
 212 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLP. 
 
 the mind in motion, must indeed be cultivated. But tlie 
 training of the memory bears no necessary ratio to the 
 intrinsic value of the things committed to it. The mother- 
 goose melodies, are in themselves as valueless, as any that 
 can be imagined ; may afford better training for the young 
 memory than a volume of equal bulk, stored with most valua- 
 ble bitter training for the young memory ; than a volume of 
 equal bulk, stored with most valuable recipes for housekeepers 
 and farmers. 
 
 jNIuch of the discipline of the schools, is wisely adapted to 
 stopping the leaks of the memory, and to enlarging rather 
 than filling of its capacity. Yet it would be most unjust to 
 educators, to say that their instructions are mere Avhet-stones 
 of thought and memory ; the difficult trifles of the Greeks and 
 Romans, the sharpening riddles of the puzzlers' realm of 
 the newspapers. Far, far from it. They have among them 
 mapped the whole sphere of present knowledge ; they have 
 traced the lines of growth ; they are putting the youth of 
 the country upon all, or nearly all, the great roads into its 
 departments ; they are training them to rapid and swift-footed 
 movement ; they are preparing them for the widest outlook 
 over all, and the minutest inspection into any. But we are 
 vexed, that their instructions are not more directly available. 
 Now, it is hard to say, what is the most useful^and available 
 form of a large and diversified provision. I suspect that none 
 of us, are inclined to complain, that all the minerals of the 
 earth are not on the surface, all the fertilizers, in the form of 
 products, and all the products of nature and of human skill,
 
 FEMALE EDUCATION. 213 
 
 are uot in readiness for immediate use. Education gives us 
 fundamental truths, the skill in reaching which, prepares for 
 their various applications : Compact, portable, general truths, 
 each of which can rally its cohorts of obedient followers. The 
 epitome of truth which it furnishes, necessarily meagre in 
 some directions, in the aptitudes which it trains, and in the 
 readiness with which it can be expanded, is of far more value 
 in the acquisition and skilful use, than a much larger amount 
 of miscellaneous knowledge gained with less vigorous and 
 systematic exertions. 
 
 The mathematics occupy, and justly, a high position in the 
 general system of education. The vitality of their lowest 
 branches has never been questioned ; their vitality is even 
 much greater as a vigorous drill, in practical logic ; available 
 wherever severe and systematic thinking is to be done, and 
 as furnishing the surest clue for threading the labyrinth of 
 nature. 
 
 The physical sciences, like the mathematics, besides evoking 
 a high discipline of the faculties, bestow invaluable knowledge, 
 by no means magic in amount, and among the most certain of 
 all in kind. The very best work of the schools, both as a 
 discipline and an instruction, is in introducing mind to a better 
 acquaintance with itself. Mind cannot be vigorously exercised 
 in any direction apparently most objective, without throwing 
 important reflex light on itself. But the best discipline, the 
 best knowledge, is acquired when mind is the direct object of 
 the study of mind. Pope has said, with universal approval, 
 that the proper study of mankind is man. The old oracle
 
 214 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 fixed the very centre of Pope's circle, when it uttered the 
 brief apothegm, " Know thyself." Well, that aphorism is the 
 text of true teachers, however seemingly remote, his depart- 
 ment, from the domain of mind. It is especially the text 
 of the metaphysician and the linguist. And I may add, that 
 the knowledge of mind, sagacity in reading mind, is the 
 hi<'hest degree of common sense. Yet how often is it lameut- 
 ingly or sneeringly said, that the educated man lacks common 
 sense. He may lack special education in many common 
 things, and in many phases of human character, as he will 
 lack many other special trainings. But, if with all the 
 instructions of the class-room, all the associations of the mese- 
 hall, and all the encounters of the campus and debating so- 
 ciety, he is really wanting in common sense, he has carried to 
 college a sad feebleness, or a sad eccentricity of endowment. 
 But the complaint is really of a piece with the derision of the 
 city boy's ignorance of many things common in the country, 
 and of the country youth's greenness and awkwardness in 
 town. The schools put the mind on the analysis of itself, 
 and its own products ; the only analysis which is not dissec- 
 tion, the only decomposition that is not death, but more 
 vi^^orous life. They bid it study the only agent which 
 can busily work and leisurely survey its own work ; the only 
 one who can patiently and profoundly feel and at the same 
 time calmly criticize and record its own emotions. They send 
 it forth acquainted with its powers, the better prepared for all 
 its explorations, but to find, save its greater Creator, greater, 
 nobler, than itself. Him it finds everywhere, but not fully
 
 FEMALE EDUCATION. 215 
 
 witnessed and imagined in the organ of thought. The study 
 of language, scarcely inferior to mental science as a revealer 
 of the general attributes of mind, is far superior to that, and 
 to everything else, as exhibitor of the details of mind itself 
 and the delicate and subtle processes of thought. Language, 
 considered as to its contents, is all science and all literature, 
 except the literature, if such it might strikingly be called, 
 that is built into monuments, carved from marble, or cast in 
 bronze, or inscribed on canvas, or evoked from tubes and 
 strings. It cannot be studied apart from all contents, and is 
 generally studied in connection with one of the most precious 
 of them. But language itself is the most precious product of 
 human thought, its richest element, the indispensable instru- 
 ment of all its highest achievements, its fitting dress and orna- 
 ment, the almost exclusive channel of its communication. It 
 is strong enough to weigh the most weighty (and the most 
 heavy) speculations of the philosopher, light enough for the 
 most airy imaginings of the poet, as flexible as human caprice, 
 as harsh as the thunders of indignation, as gentle as the tones 
 of love. And what of all human creatures can compare for 
 grandeur and beauty with the word-buildings of the most 
 admired of the historians, and essayists, and poets, and orators ? 
 Language, that suffices for all human revelation, is the chan- 
 nel of God's revelation to men. This is the true Prometheus 
 that has brought down the true fire from Heaven. We are 
 not surprised that nominalists were betrayed into a sort of 
 idolatry of the human mind as God. Who but feels the 
 value of language as an acquisition, and who that has paid
 
 216 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 any attention to the action of liis own mind, l)ut hi^^lily values 
 the (lidcipliue which the acquisition furnishes and implies? 
 
 My limits preclude further reference to the value of the 
 branches of the commonly received systems of education. I 
 must briefly consider the value of the systems as a whole. A 
 practical view of this value will be gotten by comparing the 
 chances for success — true success — in the life of the man who, 
 thoroughly trained in this system, supplements it, of course, 
 by a special school, an apprenticeship, or an inmiedinte 
 entrance on the practice of a vocation, and the youth who 
 goes with little or none of this general drill to the epecial 
 school, the apprenticeship, or the trade, or profession. It will 
 not be denied that there are educational influences outside of 
 the school, but to all of these the academically disciplined are 
 even more open than to others. Business does not educate 
 dexterities, but evolves mind in all its capacities. But will it 
 do the best ? Let us make a freer comparison. Do not com- 
 pare the boy that goes w'ith enthusiasm into the work of the 
 factory, the counting room, or the farm, and the boy who, 
 feeble or perverse in mind, hearing, a thousand times, that the 
 time spent in school is, for all practical purposes, time wasted, 
 is dragged through a course cursing the day of Caesar's birth, 
 disgusted with Euclid, and all the mathematicians, nauseating 
 all poetry and all science. Of course the boy in business will 
 get immeasurably the best training, mental and moral. Let 
 it be admitted that the average youth, full of mental activity, 
 does not accept the restraints of a business with the highest 
 alacrity, yet, encouraged by its more obvious utilities, he will
 
 FEMALE EDUCATION. 217 
 
 more heartily prosecute the work of the shop than of the clas?- 
 room. Oh, if the love of science were as easily developed as the 
 love of gain, if the professor had altogether as docile a pupil 
 as the merchant, what might not our schools accomplish ? 
 
 Sometimes, indeed, there will be awakened a literary ambi- 
 tion, intense above all other passions. But though the aver- 
 age student takes less kindly to his work than the young 
 specialist or apprentice, we may well abide by the results of a 
 camparison between them. At first the recipient of the prac- 
 tical education, so-called, has the advantage The girl who 
 has been reared to industry in the household, will right off sur- 
 pass her who has passed three or four years in the seminary, in 
 every branch of housekeeping. The young farmer of fifteen 
 or eighteen will distance his brother, fresh from college, in all 
 practical matters, from the harnessing of a buggy horse to 
 the pitching of a crop. The young clerk will easily outstrip 
 the young algebraist in adding a column, in calculating interest, 
 in stating an account. Many a lad, with scarcely one hun- 
 dredth part of your graduate's knowledge of mathematics, 
 will bring him to blush in his first efforts in surveying and 
 civil engineering. Only wait a little, and the graduate will 
 manifest his decided superiority. If the business or profession 
 be of any considerable extent, he will have completed his 
 general education, his professional training and gained practi- 
 cal skill before his rival has much less successfully accom- 
 plished the two last. And his knowledge will be more 
 comprehensive and accurate, and, moving less in the ruts of 
 formula and tradition, he will adapt himself more readily to
 
 218 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 the changes now occurring more rapidly than ever, in tlie 
 business of life. He will triumph, in the purely professional 
 contest. And he will do, with less danger of filing himself 
 down, to a narrow and sharp instrument. His skill in his 
 specialty, will be a necessary but small part of a full and sys- 
 tematical development, as a citizen and man. AVe are not 
 imwilling, to compare the scholastically educated man with 
 the so-called self-made men. We might question the justice 
 of the application of the term. The man who uses books and 
 professors to fashion himself, is as well entitled to use names 
 as he who forms himself by any other means. Better, certainly, 
 than he who is drifted by the waves of faction into some 
 especial prominence, or than he who is moved by social cur- 
 rents and ground like a river rock into shape by social col- 
 lisions. But there are many truly great men, who are nothing 
 to the colleges. And America is the paradise of such self- 
 made men ; with its atmosphere exciting universal aspiration, 
 its institutions offering impartially unrestricted opportunities, 
 its primary schools, its pulpit, its bar, its hustings, its newspa- 
 pers, its travel, all kindling and cultivating mind. 
 
 Now, much the larger amount of original talent must be 
 receiving the extra academic discipline. Almost all the trea- 
 sures of human wisdom are accessible to the self-taught in 
 English; I may not say plain English, for our half- Latin 
 language is not specially plain. Is it not a convincing evi- 
 dence of the superiority of the college discipline, that so much 
 larc^er a proportion of the collegially trained, have successfully 
 appropriated and utilized these treasures. Make the most of
 
 femal£ education. 219 
 
 the number of wrecked and sunken collegians. Survey for a 
 moment, it can be but for a moment, the multitudinous habits 
 of the self-making. Then count, for you can count the rare 
 few of the self-made whose heads are still above the Avaters of 
 oblivion. And when you find the really great self-made man, 
 does he so tower, as it is sometimes claimed, above all rivalry ? 
 Political life, is the most favorable arena of the self-made man. 
 Here he has some advantages. He is the recognized leader, 
 or rather, representative of the masses. He is what so many 
 men would have been if only fortune had smiled. AVhile it 
 cost almost any body an effort of reflection, to repress a feeling 
 of contempt for the simply average college-bred senator; 
 so many would have outstripped him, if they had had his 
 opportunities. But getting more easily into positions of trust, 
 does he fill them more to his country's good and his own 
 honor? In ordinary times where statesmanship is more a 
 routine, he is less acquainted with precedent, and more a slave 
 of what he does know. In times of revelation and new 
 departures, this original man is less original, and less a master 
 of the situation. It is then that the regularly educated, the 
 Jeffersons and the Madisons, compare most favorably with the 
 most favorable specimens of the self-made — the Shermans and 
 the Franklins. As our industrial, professional and political 
 life, becomes more and more highly organized, highly educated 
 mind is coming more and more to the point. 
 
 Education mainly develops powers, and trains to their 
 facile employment ; so far as it communicates truths they are 
 truths of wide generality. If the acquisitions of the schools
 
 220 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DP. LLP. 
 
 barely lived in the iiiind, till it t(K)k hold on the practical 
 employments of life ; after five years of commercial, agricul- 
 tural or professional life, nothing remained but the vigor once 
 acquired, and most applied to different objects, and the better 
 facilities for interpreting other minds, living and departed, 
 the education they impart would be of very great value. It 
 is to be feared, that many quite well educated men content 
 themselves with this simple benefit. Men of great powers 
 immersed in business, suffer even their professional knowledge 
 to lose its roundness and philosojihic arrangement, and keep 
 themselves bright in the facts and doctrines of which they 
 have f. equent need. The scholar finds it at first, less easy than 
 when he left school, to read his Horace ; after a while, too 
 great a labor, to make the reading other than an irksome 
 task, and at last an impossibility, without the renewal of 
 elementary training for which he has no patience, and con- 
 ceives he has no time. Tliis ought not to be. One's education, 
 strictly so-called, ought ever to abide fi»r the needful renewal 
 and completion of his youthful drill. The educated man can 
 no more safely, make the erai^loymcnts of his vocation, or a 
 miscellaneous reading, a substitute for his old curriculum, 
 than the soldier can substitute the battle, or the duties of the 
 encampment and the sentry — fi)r the manual of the cadet and 
 the camp of instruction. 
 
 This course renewed frequently, returned to, does more fully 
 fur the mind, what the Grecian Gymnasium and fine games 
 did for the body, than anything else. I believe that it is an 
 evidence of increasing success in our current education, that
 
 FEMALE EDUCATION. 221 
 
 the graduates of the period return with increasing ease and 
 relish to their earlier studies ; and especially to the classics. 
 As more time is given for the vocabulary to imbed themselves 
 in the memories, and to be as permanent there as the forms 
 and the philosophy of the languages — the return will be more 
 pleasant and profitable. 
 
 What we have once thoroughly learned, if not too long 
 neglected, we rapidly renew, easily retain or easily recover. 
 The second reaping will be scarcely less developing labor than 
 the first, and the aftermath will often be the best crop. 
 Something very like an ideal of what a scholar should have 
 in view, in the preservation and extension of his academic 
 life, is exhibited in the person of Lord Macaulay. After he 
 had long held rank among the ablest debaters and the most 
 brilliant orators of the British House of Commons ; after he 
 had achieved a position above all rivalry, in the foremost 
 literary review of the world ; after he had digested the chaos 
 of Anglo-Hindoo law into a code, which in other merits, and 
 specially in luminousness of method and precision of state- 
 ment, is said to compare favorably with the code of Livingston 
 or the code of Napoleon ; whilst oppressed with the govern- 
 ment of 100,000,000 of India, and under the enervating 
 influence of that climate ; he seizes as a period of only com- 
 parative leisure, and reads from cover to cover. Homer, 
 Herodotus, Xenophon, Plato, Thucydides, all the extant 
 Greek poets; the voluminous writings of Cicero, and all 
 of chief excellence in Roman literature ; much of this he reads 
 again and again. He jots down his impressions at each read-
 
 222 LIFK OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 ing — pronounces his matured judgments, always original and 
 independent, generally brilliant, though not so studiously 
 splendid in his finished composition. Of what incalculable 
 value was an education that made such review possible, and how 
 must the review itself have repaired, polished and tightened 
 up all the machinery of this mighty mind. Compare the 
 course of the same man, in another branch of study. He 
 early took up, and cultivated a disgust for mathematics ; he 
 ■would write to his mother sprightly invectives against a study 
 that would dry up his imagination and convert his mind into 
 an algebraic formula. 
 
 Of course, at Cambridge, he must have learned a good deal 
 of mathematics, and with a good deal of disciplining on his 
 mind. But he failed of the highest honors of Cambridge, to 
 the deep wounding of his noble and affectionate father, who 
 felt that the failure was solely due to a foolish whim. lu 
 middle life, Macaulay reverts to the matter. " I would not," 
 said he, " turn upon my heel for the honor of being senior 
 •wrangler, but I would give a great deal for some of the 
 mental habits which the gaining of the honor would have 
 established." Why did he not go back to mathematics and 
 get these habits? 
 
 Why do we not all do the things which we know we ought 
 to do, but which would now require a great labor, and which 
 ■we have contracted a habit of neglecting and disliking ? The 
 relations between education and religion are very intimate, 
 more so than that between education and any other great 
 practical interest. If we were a mercantile association, or a
 
 FEMALE EDUCATION. 22?> 
 
 state grange of farmers, we should feel that general education 
 concerned us, but concerned us in common with all others, 
 and we might well be content to avail ourselves of such edu- 
 cation as society in general should patronize. But in com- 
 mon with all the denominations we feel that education in all 
 its grades has much more intimate connections with Christi- 
 anity. 
 
 If Christianity is true, scarcely more for its own sake than 
 for the sake of sound culture itself, it should seek to promote 
 the most harmonious relations with education. And certainly 
 it can be most sure of this harmony, when it is most directly 
 the patron of the schools. 
 
 It is the higher education, however, that most notably 
 affects religion. No difficulty emerges in Theology, which is 
 not found converged in philosophy. 
 
 The deep soundings of science, bring it into the plane of 
 theology, whether its altitude there, shall be one of deferential 
 co-operation, or of hostility of supreme importance. It is the 
 younger sciences especially that, like some young barbarians 
 we have heard, vindicate their claims to manhood by vehe- 
 ment, if not vigorous, bloAvs at the bosom which nourished 
 them. Though it is at least a presumption for the truth of 
 the Bible, that it has avoided the committal of itself to any 
 scientific dogmas, j^et it is of consequence that the teachers 
 of science be heartily loyal to revelation. Geology in hostile 
 hands will deride it as of yesterday in comparison with her 
 own vast eras ; and Astronomy, from the perch of her dizzying 
 dimensions, will laugh at the littleness of its theatre. Espe-
 
 224 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 cially will an irreverent and destructive criticism of historical 
 myths, aim to involve Christianity and all the monuments of 
 antiquity, in one indiscrimin:;te ruin. But apart fruui all 
 polemical reason, Christianity has a higher interest than any 
 other institution, in the classical languages, the very centre and 
 support of our present truly liberal system of education. I 
 think it will be admitted, that if the spirit of modernism and 
 intense practicalism breaks down classical instruction, the sys- 
 tem Avill fly to pieces, and we shall have its scattered fragments 
 in the form first of polytechnic schools and the arts, lastly of 
 apprenticeships and trades. Who, is so concerned as Hamil- 
 ton has well suggested in these languages. 
 
 Suppose that the substance of past literature can be decanted 
 into translations, who so concerned as the church in versions 
 of the highest accuracy and in the means of increasing indefi- 
 nitely their accuracy. 
 
 Look at the present attitude of the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, and much of the learning of the Church of England, 
 invoking the scholarship of all denominations in England and 
 America, to assist in improving the version of one single 
 ancient volume. Who but Christians could, or would, or 
 should spend so much time and money, in such an enterprise? 
 Will they finish it? Will they consent to destroy the means 
 of its vindication, its preservation, its indefinite improvement? 
 Never. Christian scholars will ever be laboring to bring 
 themselves, and as far as possible, all others to the nearest 
 earshot.
 
 FEMALE EDUCATION. 22.' 
 
 An extract from an address of Dr. Brown, on 
 Female Schools, made at Warrenton, Va.: 
 
 * * * It is now high time to help those dear women and 
 those friends of women that have been so h)ng and so gloriously 
 struggling, without material aid, in the cause of female educa- 
 tion. Is it not a marvel that, while no male college is attempted 
 to be run without buildings presented gratuitously, and without 
 endowment, there is scarcely a female school in Virginia which 
 does not pay rent for its buildings, and not one which has a 
 dollar of endowment? The success of the female schools has 
 been little short of a prodigy of financial skill. The liberal 
 and patriotic spirit which has characterized the management 
 of these schools has been more commendable, and equally 
 wonderful. It is no secret that tlie literary department of 
 every female school was formerly (indeed, to a considerable 
 degree is yet) dependent for support on the ornamental de- 
 partment. Yet the managers of these schools have been 
 regularly, at a risk and a sacrifice, changing the relative 
 prominence of these two departments, till the solidity of female 
 education compares favorably with any tuition dispensed in 
 the State. All honor to the men and the women, of all de- 
 nominations, who have brought about this result. To the men 
 of my own denomination who have grandly labored in this 
 cause for the last thirty years, I am bound by peculiar ties. 
 I have been the pastor and co-laborer of Cocke and of Hart. 
 I have been the pastor of Averett, Peuick, Vaughan and
 
 '22G LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD.LLD. 
 
 Lake. If I have been committed to impartiality, it is not the 
 impartiality of indifference, but the impartiality of anxious 
 and sorrowing affection. There has been no unmanly or 
 unchristian strife among them, fur they are brethren ; but 
 there is a struggle for existence. And I must stand aloof with 
 melancholy resignation to the doctrine of the survival of the 
 fittest, which — being interpreted according to true Darwinian- 
 ism — is the strongest. 
 
 There is one manager of female schools in Virginia who 
 lies out of this circle of neutrality, and of whom I may speak 
 in terms of highest praise without danger of exaggeration. 
 I mean Miss Sallie B. Hamner, of the Richmond Female 
 Institute. A born ruler, a skilful financier, a consummate 
 organizer, a thorough scholar, an accurate and enthusiastic 
 teacher, a model of grace and majestic beauty, she has sum- 
 moned to her aid the unrivalled teaching ability of Prof. 
 Winston and a corps of accomplished and experienced lady 
 assistants. It is well for her that there is now no interdict on 
 the tree of knowledge ; else she might justly fear the fate 
 which Pope apprehended for Lady Mary Wortley Montague : 
 
 " If our first mother Eve great pain ilid receive, 
 Wlieu only one apple ate she, 
 Wliat punisliment new shall be found out for you, 
 That in tasting have robbed the whole tree ? "
 
 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 227 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE COLLEGE PROFESSOR. 
 
 TN the reorganization of Richmond College, at 
 ■^ the close of the war, the old curriculum w^as 
 abandoned ; and in its stead the sj^stem of inde- 
 pendent schools was adopted. Owing to the w^^eck 
 of its endowment, the college resumed work wdth 
 only five professors. But in 1867, Dr. J. L. M. 
 Curry, who at the time of this writing is U. S. Minis- 
 ter to the court of Spain, was added to the faculty, 
 as Professor of English and Philosophy. This 
 position of double service Dr. Curry filled wdth 
 distinction, until January, 1881, when he resigned 
 to become superintendent of the Peabody fund. His 
 retirement was regarded as a grievous loss to the 
 college, and great anxiety was felt by its friends 
 that satisfactory arrangements should be made for 
 supplying the vacancy. The matter w^as placed 
 by the trustees in the hands of a committee whose 
 report was not presented until the annual meeting 
 in the following June. 
 
 The recommendation of the committee was, that 
 separate chairs of English and Philosophy should be
 
 228 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 establiislied; and that a professor sliould be elected 
 for each. This suggestion of the committee not 
 only commanded the hearty concurrence of the 
 trustees, but found a warm sanction at the hands 
 of the friends of the college all over Virginia. For 
 the chair of Philosophy, Rev. AVm. D. Thomas, D.D., 
 a distinguished alumnus of the college, and of the 
 University of Virginia also, was with great enthu- 
 siasm chosen. The names of several gentlemen 
 of ripest culture, and highest renow^n as teachers, 
 were presented to the Board as peculiarly fitted to 
 fill the chair of English. It so chanced that on 
 the night preceding the election, that Dr. A. B. 
 Brown appeared in the commencement exercises 
 of Richmond College as the final orator of the 
 two Literary Societies. 
 
 It was known, how^ever, that he w^ould speak 
 under disadvantages, having been called upon but 
 a little while before to take the place of one of 
 the most brilliant orators of the country. To 
 some of the trustees Dr. Brown was so well known 
 that he needed no introduction; but there were 
 others who had never heard nor seen him. Per- 
 haps the w^alls of the college never echoed more 
 thrilling notes of eloquence, than rolled from his 
 lips that night. His address was chaste, compact, 
 discriminating, profound, and glow^ed with a fiery
 
 THE COLLEGE PROFESSOR. 229 
 
 passion which lifted the crowd into the wildest 
 enthusiasm. It marked him not only as an orator, 
 but as an accurate and well rounded scholar. 
 Even his admirers felt, that he had never done so 
 well before. There had been some of the trustees 
 who, from the time of Dr. Curry's resignation, felt 
 that Dr. Brown above all men ought to have a 
 place in the teaching corps of Richmond College, 
 and were anxious to have him invited to the chair 
 of English. But they had hesitated to present 
 his name, lest others might not be prepared to 
 appreciate his worth. 
 
 After his magnificent oration, they ventured to 
 bring his name before the Board in honorable com- 
 petition wath others of the highest character. The 
 result was his election — a result which surprised 
 no one so thoroughly as himself. He was no 
 applicant, and had not even received a hint that 
 his name would be mentioned for the place. The 
 new^s of his election was electric. Trustees and 
 other friends of the college were exultant. No 
 man rejoiced over the event more than did Dr. 
 Curry, who expressed the feeling that it was an 
 honor to him to be succeeded in his work by such 
 a noble Christian scholar. It so chanced that Dr. 
 Brown was engaged to dine that day, with others, 
 wdth Dr. Curry; but as the news of his election
 
 230 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 went forth, gentlemen made haste to call upon 
 him to express their satisfaction and urge him 
 to accept the i:)osition. To his surprise, he found 
 himself the lion of the day, and blushed at the out- 
 l)urst of enthusiasm of which he was the subject. 
 
 A homely incident which occurred at the time, 
 will illustrate the popular delight wdiich w^as 
 excited by Dr. Brown's election. 
 
 One of Dr. Brown's old pupils, the wife of a 
 trustee of the college, and a resident of Richmond, 
 was an ardent champion of her old teacher. She 
 never grew weary of telling how he taught her 
 Sir Wm. Hamilton's metaphysics, or of urging that 
 the Baptists of Virginia, ought in some w^ay, to 
 utilize his great scholarship. His name was a 
 houseliold word, and even the children had come 
 to think that Dr. Brown was the mightiest scholar 
 of the day. She had a boy, a little up in his 
 teens, who Avas just ending his first session at 
 college. This youth drove the carriage to the 
 Second Baptist Church, to take his trustee father, 
 with invited friends, to dinner. He slipped into 
 the room, to notify his father that the carriage 
 was waiting for him, as it happened, just at the 
 time the election of Dr. Brown was announced. 
 He vanished like a ghost, forgetful of the message 
 and the carriage, double-quicked home, sprang
 
 THE COLLEGE PROFESSOR. 231 
 
 into the door, threw the house mto consterna- 
 tion, by the wildest shouts — and when called to 
 account, informed his mother of the good news. 
 It has been said, that the announcement, while it 
 quieted the boy, came near to turning the mother 
 to demonstrations equally vehement, if not so 
 noisy. This spirit of rejoicing went afar. The 
 Baptist ministers, and the old pupils of Dr. Brown, 
 the two classes that knew him best, were greatly 
 rejoiced. But after all, perhaps none hailed the 
 event, with such profound satisfaction as the 
 members of the College Faculty. 
 
 I have dwelt more at length upon this seemingly 
 insignificant incident of his election, than may 
 seem to the reader necessary. It has been done 
 to show, that there was a conviction wide-spread, 
 and deep among the people, that Dr. Brown 
 ought to be chosen to some position worthy of 
 his imperial gifts, and his enriched culture. 
 
 Dr. Brown was not, in any technical sense, 
 speciall}^ adapted to the teaching of English. He 
 could have taught (and this is not thoughtlessly 
 said) any other branch in tlie college equally well, 
 and some of them he could have taught more 
 easily, because, they lay along the favorite ranges 
 of his life-long thought. This is j)articularly true 
 of mathematics and philosophy. Some superficial
 
 232 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 critics hinted, that Dr. Brown's introduction into 
 the faculty, might become a source of disharmony. 
 It was known that a score of years before, on 
 one or more occasions, his temper had gotten the 
 better of him, a thing which some people could 
 never forget. How little they knew the man ! 
 How little the}^ had dreamed of the complete 
 conquest which he had long ago made over his 
 natural infirmity. How little they understood 
 that reigning courtesy of his nature — that sweet 
 compound of strong self-respect, personal purity, 
 love for men, and yet, richer love for God. He 
 could never have caused strife anywhere. He 
 carried in himself, a modesty which forbade his 
 trampling upon others, and a gentle dignity which 
 w^ould have disarmed almost any form of hostility. 
 In the gentlemen composing the Faculty of lUcli- 
 mond College he found a congenial brotherhood, 
 and when he sat down at their Board, they took 
 him to their hearts. He entered at once into 
 their plans, and became a cordial co-worker with 
 them, in their labors for the college. In his nature 
 he was conservative and conciliator}^ He was 
 }io champion for innovations; what his brethren 
 advocated, he was always disposed, so far as he 
 could, to promote. In a little while, and by no 
 effort of his own, he rose to the highest seat of
 
 THE COLLEGE PROFESSOR. 233 
 
 honor among them. They were proud to hail him 
 as the greatest of them all — not only in purity 
 and scholarly power, but in the ineffable gentle- 
 ness of his spirit. They saw in him a man, not 
 only wondrously endowed, and amazingly rich in 
 attainments, but yet more wondrously meek, self- 
 forgetful and Chris1>like. The tributes from his 
 fellows, which will appear hereafter, will readily 
 show what the Faculty of Richmond College 
 thought of Dr. A. B. Brown. 
 
 But the class-room was his happiest realm. 
 From the first morning that he stood before his 
 classes and spoke to them his words of greeting, 
 he was the master of his pupils' hearts. Perhaps 
 the first sight of his thin face, his weird form, and 
 his somewhat faltering and awkward step, may 
 have brought a smile to the boyish faces of his 
 audience. But the kindly flash of his eye, the 
 magnetic ring of his voice, the manliness of his 
 words, and the warm, fresh strength of his thought, 
 showed him at once a man, whom they could love, 
 and must respect. In the matter of discipline, in 
 his classes, he had little trouble. Now and then, 
 a stolid and prankish fellow, blind to the stuff of 
 which Dr. Brown was made, would venture to be 
 impertinent. He rarely repeated the experiment. 
 The indignant teacher transfixed him with a look,
 
 234 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 and scourged him into shame, with the little finger 
 of his power. lie never fretted, or higgled, with 
 a noisy or unmannered boy; he simjoly squelched 
 him by a touch of honest rebuke. 
 
 But these cases were rare, indeed. In his classes 
 he met young men, who could not fail to respect 
 a noble character. They loved him for wdiat he 
 was, and heard him for Avhat he said. He had an 
 easy task in winning the attention of his classes. 
 He w^as very genial and accessible. He often 
 regaled the boys with humorous incidents, and 
 3^et oftener with the hapj^y flashes of his owai 
 charming wit. He drew the boys to him by the 
 delicate courtesy and ready kindness with which 
 he treated them. If they had troubles, they 
 knew that he would give them sympathy. If 
 they touched off a little cracker of wit, he was 
 always ready to respond. Betw^een him and the 
 students there speedily grew up a good fellow^ship. 
 He always spoke of them with fondest pride — 
 and they always had the finest things to tell about 
 him. His inlluence, therefore, in the college was 
 healthful and elevating. He talked to the boys 
 on noble themes, and stimulated them to better 
 thinking. 
 
 But, after all, his strength was as a teacher. 
 He knew how to teach, and magnified his office by
 
 THE COLLEGE PROFESSOR. 235 
 
 the love of it. He was the master of his work, 
 and made it attractive. He knew how to impart 
 knowledge, and he knew better how to evoke the 
 knowledge of his students. He drew the students 
 out, giving them confidence, by his sympathy, to 
 tell what they knew. 
 
 He was ardently devoted to his professional 
 work. He was engaged, year by year, in such 
 collateral studies as would help him to broaden 
 and improve his course — and for each recitation, 
 he prepared himself with an ever fresh assiduity. 
 
 Mr. M. S. Wood, one of the ministerial students, 
 who was a member of his class and in whom he 
 was much interested, says of him : 
 
 " No one rejoiced more than I did in the election 
 of Dr. Brown as a professor. He had been a visitor 
 at my father's home when I was a mere boy, and 
 I well remembered the impression he made on me 
 then, by the freshness and vividness with which 
 he clothed an anecdote, and by the fluency of his 
 conversation. 
 
 " Those who did not know him before his com- 
 ing, soon learned to feel for him the affection of a 
 friend, and to regard him as the prince of teachers. 
 
 " To help others seemed to be his great aim. 
 He never seemed happier than when assisting
 
 236 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 some one to master a difficult task. If a question 
 asked by a student was so unimportant and easily 
 answ^ered that it would evoke the smiles of the 
 class, Dr. Brown alwaj's answered courteously and 
 kindly. But if a student — as they sometimes 
 will — asked worthless and irrelevant questions, 
 with the evident purpose of w^asting the time of 
 the professor, no one could more successfully floor 
 him, leaving him with closed lips to lament his 
 folly, than Dr. Brown. He also won a large place 
 in the hearts of the students by his patient hearing 
 of, and kindly sympathy with, any trouble or 
 perplexity they might bring to him. If he could 
 not remove the trouble, he would so tenderly 
 sympathize, that the student always felt great 
 relief. As a counselor he was exceptionally wise 
 and faithful, having wonderful ability for measur- 
 ing the capacity of a student. I shall never for- 
 get, and trust I shall ever profit, by the privileges 
 I have had of meeting him in private and hearing 
 from him words of advice and encouragement. I 
 felt that no one outside of the family circle had 
 sustained in his death a greater loss than I, and it 
 seems that this was the feeling of all who knew 
 him intimately. I shall ever thank God that he 
 w^as my teacher and my friend. As some majestic 
 oak, towering above the surrounding growth, and
 
 THE COLLEGE PROFESSOR. 237 
 
 with sturdy arm resisting the tempest's fury, yet 
 affording sliade for the sporting lambs, and leafy 
 branches for singing birds; so Dr. Brown stood, 
 loftily and grandly, amid the great, the noble and 
 the good, and yet drew around him the humble 
 and less favored — and was to them a comfort, a 
 help, an unspeakable blessing. 
 
 "M. S. Wood." 
 
 Another student, Rev. P. G. Elsom, the popular 
 pastor of Fulton Church, Eichmond, Va., who was 
 then a member of his class, says : 
 
 " I count it an honor and privilege to have been 
 taught by Dr. Brown. I was deeply impressed by 
 his willingness to help others, in proof of which 
 I will give one illustration, and could give others 
 if minded. When selected by my Society to be 
 its final orator, and not being at all satisfied with 
 my oration, he invited me to his study, and gave 
 me kindly helpful criticism, and words of comfort 
 and cheer. What we do for others lives. Many 
 will rise up and call this man blessed for his help 
 
 *° *'"'"^- " p. G. Elsom." 
 
 No man had a better opportunity of watching 
 the career, and measuring the influence of Dr.
 
 238 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 Brown, at Richmond College, than Dr. C. II. 
 Ryland. As financial secretary of the college, he 
 had his office in the institution, and was brought 
 in frequent contact with him. In the subjoined 
 paper, Dr. Ryland gives his estimate of the teacher, 
 and his work. The reader will find the paper 
 strikingly fresh and suggestive : 
 
 " When Dr. A. B. Brown was elected Professor 
 of the School of English in Richmond College, it 
 was universally conceded that the institution had 
 secured a master-workman. 
 
 " Professor Brown was eminently qualified for 
 this position by broad and accurate learning, to 
 which a vigorous and inquisitive mind made con- 
 stant acquisitions. 
 
 "The college was a congenial home, and afforded 
 the mental stimulus he so incessantly craved. If 
 a Greek class was at work upon Thucydides, that 
 father of philosophic history, he delighted to enjoy 
 it with them; if original examples were pro- 
 pounded in higher mathematics, the Professor of 
 English made their solution a pastime; when 
 abstruse and subtle questions puzzled the class in 
 philosophy, he revelled in their discussion and elu- 
 cidation. It was thus, that in the school of 
 ceaseless thought, he kept his mind fresh and
 
 THE COLLEGE PROFESSOR. 239 
 
 vigorous, and from deepening fountains drew that 
 wealth of illustrations which so enriched his 
 instructions. 
 
 " Dr. Brown's thorough knowledge of linguistics 
 made his appointment to the school he accepted, 
 peculiarly appropriate. As teacher of English, he 
 could lay his hand upon the resources of ancient 
 and modern languages, and make them all tribu- 
 tary to thorough training in his mother-tongue. 
 In the practical work of teaching. Dr. Brown won 
 constant laurels. In the Recitation Room he was 
 very popular. He always came before his class 
 the master of the subject in hand, and with a mind 
 overflowing with the richest and ripest results of 
 thorough research. The student felt the mastery 
 and admiration was kindled. But while the pupil 
 saw that his Professor was superbly equipped for 
 his work, and stood before him an intellectual 
 giant, accomplished in the use of every weapon, 
 there was nothing in the professor's bearing to 
 intimidate the most distrustful learner. His man- 
 ner was winning; he treated each man in his 
 class with kind consideration; encouraged the 
 dispirited, stimulated the laggard, and impressed 
 those before him with his genuine and abiding 
 sympathy with them. One of his class said, 'I 
 believe Dr. Brown appreciates a good tliought
 
 240 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 from one of us as much as if he found it in Aris- 
 totle.' This was true, and while there were occa- 
 sionally those who took undue advantage of his 
 kindliness and sympathy, there were many more 
 who were saved from discourao-ement, and stimu- 
 lated to strive for eventual success. 
 
 " Nor was the Doctor's teaching confined to 
 his immediate classes. His wonderful versatility 
 brought all the college to his feet. He was ency- 
 clopedic, and many of the " hard questions " which 
 arose in the multiform relations of student life, 
 were referred with entire confidence to him. His 
 genius was the admiration of the college. 
 
 " Two other attractive elements contributed to 
 his success as a teacher : his enthusiasm and his 
 power of illustration. 
 
 " He loved to soar, but he could plod as well. 
 When occasion required it, he could leave the 
 heights of the philosophy of language for the dull 
 road of rudimentary instruction, — the structure of 
 sentences, the syntactical relation of words — with- 
 out any seeming abatement of interest ; and over 
 both he constantly threw the charm of fresh and 
 appropriate illustration. His philological studies 
 were exhaustive, and he never wearied in tracing 
 the derivation and meaning of words and sur- 
 names. To this he added a fund of anecdote,
 
 THE COLLEGE PROFESSOR. 241 
 
 which seemed inexhaustible and which was used 
 with skilful tact to render his class-room genial 
 and to point the highest moral. 
 
 Professor Brown shared in the general work of 
 caring for the spiritual as well as the intellectual 
 welfare of those under his charge. If one taxed 
 his brain, the other weighed upon his heart. Not 
 infrequently mind and heart united to pay tribute 
 to his high calling of professor in a Christian insti- 
 tution. It is the custom in college to have from 
 the faculty and others, lectures on Biblical and 
 kindred themes. When it was known that Pro- 
 fessor Brown would deliver one of these, not a 
 seat would be vacant. The writer recalls his 
 address on ' The Authority of the Scriptures,' as, 
 perhaps, second to no effort of his life in power 
 and brilliancy. 
 
 " It may not be inappropriate in closing, to 
 say, that in entering upon his college work, Dr. 
 Brown's friends were not without solicitude ; first, 
 in regard to how he would bear the strain which 
 they knew must inevitably come upon his nervous 
 system from laborious, routine work, and daily 
 contact with young men and boys, not always 
 appreciative or studious; and also for his health — 
 never robust. 
 
 "All anxiety, in regard to the first, soon passed
 
 242 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 away. His college-life was marked by rare equa- 
 nimity, purity, unselfisliiiess and beauty. No 
 teacher ever more successfully won and held the 
 respect and affection of Hhe boys,' while a brother 
 professor could say, when his work was done, 
 ' Both by faculty and students, he was the best 
 loved of us all.' 
 
 "It may not be out of place to give an incident 
 which will illustrate the affection and deference, 
 wdth which he was treated by the students : One 
 d;iy as he was borne along by the inspiring theme 
 of his lecture he dropped his spectacles. He 
 picked them up and put them on upside down. 
 The effect was irresistible ; there w^as a titter — 
 then a laugh. For the first, and only time, so far 
 as I have ever heard, the doctor lost his self-pos- 
 session and dismissed the class. The room was 
 cleared, but no sooner was the hall-way reached, 
 than the cry arose : ' It will not do ! It will not 
 do ! Dr. Browm must not think we meant to treat 
 him with disrespect!' Three of the older men 
 were deputed to return at once and explain the 
 cause of their involuntary merriment, and ask 
 their loved professor's pardon. When they went 
 in they found him wdtli a look of indignation upon 
 his usually kindly face. But no sooner had their 
 case been presented than he joined in the laugh,
 
 THE COLLEGE PROFESSOR. 243 
 
 and patting the three upon their shoulders in 
 the most forgiving way, said, ' It is all right — tell 
 them it is all right !' 
 
 "Anxiety in regard to his health was never 
 relieved. He would say, facetiously, ' I am never 
 sick, and j^et never well,' and by strength of will 
 and great prudence, rarely missed a recitation ; but 
 it was painfully evident that his valuable life 
 hung by a very frail tenure. He passed away on 
 the night of November 27th, 1885. 
 
 " A hush, deeper than was ever known before, 
 fell upon the college when it was whispered,, ' Dr. 
 Brown is dead !' His grave, in beautiful Holly- 
 wood, was piled high with flowers, the gifts of 
 trustees, fiiculty, students, friends — a mute, but 
 wholly inadequate expression of the bereavement 
 which has fallen upon Richmond College. 
 
 ''C. H. Ryland." 
 
 The Virginia Baptist Historical Society invited 
 Dr. Brown to be its orator on the occasion of its 
 anniversary, which was held in Grace Street 
 Church, in June, 1881, during the time of the 
 General Association. The following is the ad- 
 mirable address delivered before the assembled 
 hosts of Virginia Baptists :
 
 244 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 HISTORY AND ITS MATERIALS. 
 
 It is a true remark, that all literature is in the widest sense, 
 history. It is barely possible that a poem might contain 
 nothing of actual fact, and nothing true to nature. But its 
 emergence into being, at a certain point in space, and a 
 certain period of time is a historical fact. A writer may mis- 
 represent every one else, and everything ; but he is compelled 
 to paint truly, his own full picture, at least, some features of 
 himself and his epoch. But history, though holding relations 
 to all knowledge, has its peculiar department, as differentiated 
 by its own characteristic works. It essays to paint the moving 
 present, in the very gesture of movement ; and to paint it on 
 a stationary canvass, and to reproduce the dead past in the 
 freshness of life. The artist must dissect in his study, but his 
 picture should not smell of the anatomical hall. He must 
 paint the once agitated sea of human passion, but with the 
 obtrusion of no theory of the winds and tides. The reader, 
 or according to our figure, the spectator wants facts in their 
 contemporary relations, and in their causal dependence. To 
 be sure, whether the facts are related to each other in casual 
 sequence, or in true lineal descent, is to be learned from the 
 clearly expressed features of the facts themselves. A pro- 
 found philosopher severely abstinent in, if not totally abstinent
 
 HISTORY AND ITS MATERIALS. 245 
 
 from philosophizing ; a moralist, whose moral is imbedded in, 
 and not appended to his story ; a witness that gives the truth, 
 the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and never argues 
 a case ; the perfect historian were indeed a prodigy. Lord 
 Macaulay justly says, that we may sooner expect to see 
 another Shakspeare or another Homer. But we have real 
 history and history of priceless value. We should doubtless 
 have had much more history, and history of much higher 
 value, if its materials had been more industriously gathered 
 and more carefully preserved. If in other words, such service 
 as this Historical Society undertakes to render, had been 
 better performed. 
 
 How much richer had the world been, in real historic 
 knowledge, if the marvelous powers of Herodotus and Livy 
 had been exerted on authentic monuments rather than devoted, 
 in so large measure, to the compiling and embellishing of 
 myths and romances ! 
 
 It is the function of history, a function often very inade- 
 quately executed, to interpret all other literature, to fix the 
 time and place of its creation ; to account for its possibility 
 and its peculiar physiognomy, to project background, and to 
 hang it in its just light. It would seem for instance, that the 
 unity of the Iliad ought to be one of the simplest problems ; 
 yet, it is to-day, a vexed question whether the unity of great 
 poems, or congeries of poems, is the unity of individual 
 authorship, or the unity of a school of bards. 
 
 We know further, that Agamemnon and Achilles owed the 
 immortality of their fame to the great heralding, or the great
 
 246 LIFE OF A. B. REOWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 herald. "We know that subsequent ages owe much to the 
 great poem. We can never know how much of Homer's 
 wondrous riches he inherited, and how much he created ; but 
 history, besides illustrating for Milton and Pascal, a wide 
 range of otherwise unintelligible allusion, debits them with 
 almost their precise indebtedness to the past, and audits and 
 avouches their claims to large and precious contributions, to 
 the language and literature of their respective countries. 
 Great writers are the intellectual legislators of mankind. 
 History gives us the occasions, the immediate purview of their 
 statutes, and the usus loquendi of the very words in which 
 these are written. We have said that every author paints at 
 least himself; but this is to be taken with an important limi- 
 tation. Often a small section of his soul finds employment in 
 his work, or his whole soul operates in a field too narrow to 
 give him full expression. We have a scantling, a precious 
 scantling, indeed, of Euclid's mind, only in its severe but 
 prolific logic, exhibited in a single department of thought. 
 His heart, his experience and all but a fragment of his acute 
 intellect is lost for want of history. 
 
 Biahop Butler lives principally in a few sermons, and his 
 Analogy, probably the most sober, judicious, accurate and 
 utterly unassailable of all merely human productions in its 
 class of subjects. That his immortal work is not merely the 
 mechanical product of his cautious and powerful intelligence, 
 but the true reflex of his inmost convictions, we make no 
 doubt. But, how fully his entire life conformed to the truth 
 so powerfully advocated, we know not. Compare with him,
 
 HISTORY AND ITS MATERIALS. 247 
 
 Samuel Joliiison, better known to us in his inimitable biogra- 
 phy, than in his own voluminous writings, far more self- 
 revealing as they are, than those of most authors ; and see the 
 difference between the influence of a great work and a great 
 life, fully presented. It is man that we are most curious to 
 know ; it is man that it is most helpful to know ; man in and 
 beyond his carefully selected self- registrations, in and beyond 
 his more prominent actions. It is man that history attempts 
 to present us ; and for that large class of great workers whose 
 instrument was not the pen, but the tongue of fire ; and Avho 
 have transfused their quickening thought, their constraining 
 will, their kindling sentiment — into other minds and hearts — 
 we must look to history alone. 
 
 The epic poet justly claims an interest in the great scourges 
 and the great benefactors of the human race. Let him im- 
 agine below the lowest depths of human atrocity, still lower 
 depths ; let him gild the gold which has been refined in the 
 fire of trial and persecution. Yet it is the prerogative of 
 stern, sober history to hang beastliness, falsehood and cruelty 
 in the most torturing pillory ; and place genius, and virtue, 
 and courage on their highest pedestal. History takes com- 
 mand of all truth, and marshals it in procession before us. 
 Science, especially the more exact science, presents truth in 
 the light of the reigning fashion, branded Avith no dates, 
 ticketed with no cost marks — all projected on a near plane 
 which faces us. Truth is exhibited not in tlie intricate, cum- 
 brous — sometimes not very rigorous — demonstrations ; but 
 tersely, methodically, in the light of self-evidence, or in that
 
 248 LIFE OF A. B. BrwOWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 of the plainest possible logic. The forward school boy passes 
 over in a few months ground which it took humanity centuries 
 to traverse ; sees clearly what the vanguard of human progress 
 saw dimly, or saw not at all. Doctrines, which are the par- 
 venus of the decade, jostle on terms of intimacy through old 
 fiimilies, compared with which the Howards are of yesterday. 
 We are greatly obliged to science for a method of instruction 
 so much to our profit and enjoyment. History comes forward 
 now to restore every point of this projection to its original 
 place. She arranges these truths into corps, divisions and 
 regiments ; moves them back in sections at a time, halts each 
 individual at its place of emergence ; large divisions are sta- 
 tioned at the doors of certain great men, whole armies ai-e 
 halted at certain productive epochs. The whole host is 
 marched back, resuming on the way its ancient uniforms, 
 platoon and an individual resting for review at the appro- 
 priate station, till the whole field of a continuous civilization 
 is echeloned over with the multitude which had just consti- 
 tuted the dressed line of the present. The mathematical 
 column drops out its calculus, its conic sections, its logarithms, 
 its decimal notation, its trigonometry, its geometry, its arith- 
 metic, till the weakened is reduced to the Pythagorean 
 multiplication, preserving to the last its old Greek nomencla- 
 ture. Chemistry soon loses its dizzying array of facts, its 
 wide generalizations, its batteries, its earths and alkalis, and 
 disappears in its wide search for universal solvent and philoso- 
 pher's stone. Geology soon dismisses her scams, her dips, her 
 strikes, her ligands and lichens, and sinks debating (for it is
 
 HISTORY AND ITS MATERIALS. 249 
 
 the way of the exact sciences to debate), whether she is born 
 of water or fire. 
 
 But time would fail to follow the procession and witness 
 retiring to their assigned posts the spectroscopes and the celes- 
 tial maps of yesterday, the grand generalization of Newton, 
 the patient and invaluable inductions of Kepler. The sys- 
 tems of Copernicus and Ptolemy tell that proud Astronomy, 
 which some think exhibits the glory of La Place more than 
 the glory of God, dwindles into the speculations and observa- 
 tions of Chaldean shepherds. All the arts are distributed 
 over the past, even those which would seem to be the neces- 
 sary products of human skill, telling a story of incalculable 
 toil. All the political and moral truths, even those which 
 now seem the simplest axioms and tritest commonplaces, 
 reminding us of ages when challenged as wild paradoxes 
 and daring innovations — they are now standing ground with 
 tears and blood. Let them now all be bidden back to their 
 present places, and they will come invested with new interest 
 and new charms. They will come attended with that retinue 
 of associations which makes truth easy to the memory and grate- 
 ful to the taste. They will come back exhibiting direction and 
 rate of movement of each department of knowledge, and sug- 
 gesting to every lover of the orderly progress of truth, where 
 to seek employment. And I suspect they will teach as em- 
 phatically as anything else that history, so hateful to every 
 other branch of knowledge, itself n-ust needs to be helped. 
 
 And Clio, the muse of History, is more than ever calling, 
 and calling not in vain, for aid from all her sisters. She
 
 250 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 summous Philosophy as an expert, presents her the names of 
 ancient rivers and mountains, and takes her confirming or re- 
 butting testimony on the migrations and settlements of ancient 
 races. She appeals to Geology and Meteorology to know whether 
 the denuded and barren slopes of Palestine could ever have 
 exulted in a fertility and beauty which extorted the unwilling 
 admiration of the naturalist Strabo, and the prophet Balaam. 
 She studiously examines the models of ancient ships, finds how 
 many points they could sail against the wind, questions wit- 
 nesses on the habits of the capricious currents of the air, 
 inspects the recorded accurate soundings of the British Navy, 
 and then describes with utmost precision the drifting on the 
 Mediterranean of an Alexandrian corn-ship, which could not 
 sink with a greater than Caesar on board, and its going to 
 pieces in a vain struggle with the tenacious anchorages of 
 the harbor of Malta. "We are glad that modern historians 
 are scanning the past with severe criticism. Even their 
 hypercriticism, though not to their honor, is overruled for good. 
 Science and scientific criticism bring out some new truth, cor- 
 roborate much more old truth, and explode much more old 
 error. Of necessity this criticism can more easily tell what could 
 not have been than what was. It is mainly nt^gativc, and has 
 been correctly named destructive criticism. So much professed 
 history, in which truth and fiction mingled in tantalizing pro- 
 portions, invited rigid examination ; and the skeptical criticism 
 developing its methods and sharpening its instruments by prac- 
 tice on the myths of profane history, confidently turned them 
 against the fundamental monuments of Christianity. And Chris-
 
 HISTORY AND ITS MATERIALS. 251 
 
 tianity welcomed the examination with dignified confidence; 
 submitted to pert and irreverent questioning ; courted a search 
 into her inmost sanctities ; pressingly invited a hostile investiga- 
 tion, to walk about Zion, count her tombs and mark well her bul- 
 warks. Her confidence has been justified ; her ancient monu- 
 ments have defied hostile criticism. By this time the world 
 ought to be satisfied that the Church is fiaunded upon a rock. 
 The same opposition to evangelical truth, which assailed it at 
 its birth, is still maintained. But apart from this, mankind 
 appears more determined than ever to know the precise truth on 
 every subject. The physical sciences, which are more than ever 
 studied, furnish mathematical or experimental demonstra- 
 tion. It is not strange that the habit should be formed of 
 demanding in other departments of knowledge, an evidence 
 which the volume of the case does not furnish, and especially 
 the truth of history. A philosophical system utterly ground- 
 less, may as vigorously, though hardly as healthfully, exercise 
 the mind as one embodying the truth. A novel may present 
 us, in a new ideal aspect, facts of human nature familiar to 
 our experience and observation, it may formulate our know- 
 ledge in striking and convenient expression, and even make 
 some contribution to the actual development of that know- 
 ledge. It would be absurd to draw one's facts from a novel, 
 instead of bringing the novel to the standard of known facts. 
 But falser than any romance, except a political novel, which 
 appeals to the prejudices of the distant readers for its general con- 
 formity to truth, and which evades responsibility for the special 
 form of the libel by pleading poetic license, nothing can be
 
 252 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 more misleading than much tliat passes under the name of 
 history. A romance which should project the essential ele- 
 ments of life in its own age upon a distant place and time, 
 would be less erroneous than a grave history recording what 
 neither happened nor could happen at any period. The light 
 which shines upon the present and the near future, issues 
 mainly from the past. If, then, our light be darkness, how 
 fatal is that darkness. False history is a false chart, and 
 false sailing directions — a wrecker holding out deceitful 
 beacons. Yet there have been eras when fictitious or uncer- 
 tain history was followed with a reverence not due to the 
 real. The present is never the servile imitator of the past. 
 History never fully reproduces itself, and therefore much 
 sagacity is needed in adapting its instructions to present use. 
 Yet the precedents of a history in which fable and truth have 
 been indiscriminately blended, have been the rigid formulas 
 according to which the statesmen of routine have essayed to 
 bleed again, and blister again, into health, the body politic. 
 In days not very long since past, mankind seemed to prefer 
 for their guidance as well as their amusement, the legends of 
 heroes and demi-gods to the well-vouched experiences of their 
 fathers. Almost every line which the eloquent and graceful 
 Livy wrote on the traditions of ancient Rome, survives. 
 Almost all the labor he bestowed on its really historic periods, 
 has been labor utterly lost. We rejoice that a new attitude has 
 been assumed toward the past, that while modern civilization 
 is cultivating a most affectionate interest in the explorations 
 of the mounds of western America, and in the excavations of
 
 HISTORY AND ITS MATERIALS. 253 
 
 Babylon and Troy, it is subjecting their revelations to tests as 
 varied and as rigid as those of the la;boratory ; and Ave rejoice 
 that in the nearly hopeless search for the distant past, they are 
 not neglecting as soon as the life is fairly out of the present, to 
 embalm it for eternal preservation. 
 
 The recent movements to organize effort for securing the 
 material of history, are all the more hopeful, as they are but 
 one branch of a much Avider enterprise, whose interaction will 
 help to sustain them. The bureaus of Washington City are 
 plying the farmers of the country with questions calling out 
 facts, in aid of a more exhaustive and scientific treatment of 
 agriculture. They are imploring every old man of leisure to 
 furnish them the daily range of his thermometer, and the 
 hourly shiftings of his weather-cock. They would set every 
 idle boy to recording birds and caterpillars, and forwarding 
 his observations. They supply every vessel, that sails to 
 distant coasts, with bottles to be dropped into the sea Avith a 
 sealed statement of the place and the time, that their floating 
 may indicate the drift of the currents of the ocean. While 
 around us there is the stir of a concerted effort to gather and 
 sift, and co-ordinate and generalize facts, for the guidance of 
 the future ; it is timely, it is seemly, that the Christian Church 
 should take her appropriate part in a great movement. The 
 ship that bears so much precious life, and so much precious 
 freight, should be careful in her sounding, incessant in obser- 
 vations, and scrupulous and accurate in keeping her log- 
 book. And yet, Christianity, Avhich has preserA^ed in her 
 libraries, almost all that has been preserved of Pagan Greece
 
 254 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 and Rome, has been less careful of her own history, thnn of 
 anything else. We find no regular attempt at church history 
 till after the Council of Nice, in the fourth century ; before 
 this, there were great, rapid and wholly silent revolutions in 
 the form and spirit of Christianity. It is really wonderful, 
 that while the Church was engaged in questions about the 
 person of our Lord; questions, many of them altogether 
 frivolous and presumptuous, and questions about the proper 
 time of Easter, as trifling as the Big Indian and Little Indian 
 controversy of the Lilliputians ; a deluge of change passed 
 unrecorded over the early simplicity of religion. We should 
 be compelled to admit, that the Christianity of the fourth, fifth 
 and sixth centuries was primitive Christianity, if this did not 
 involve, that there was in the apostolic age, a body of un- 
 written truth, wholly distinct from the written ; and incon- 
 sistent, indeed incompatible with it. And while it is easy to 
 show that there were innovations, we are at great disadvantage 
 in meeting them, from the silence of history.
 
 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 255 
 
 A PART OF AN ADDRESS ON THE ADVANTAGES 
 OF A COLLEGIATE EDUCATION. 
 
 I PROPOSE to maiutain before you, ray hearers, the supe- 
 riority of thorough collegiate traiuiug over every other, as a 
 preparation for any profession, business, trade — in a word for 
 any legitimate walk in life except, per/iaps, the very lowest. 
 I admit in this statement, that scholastic and collegiate edu- 
 cation is not the only mode of communicating useful know- 
 ledge, and the sole discipline of mental power. The mind 
 is endowed in varying, but generally in large degree, with 
 spontaneous activity. It can never be exerted without the 
 development of power ; and it is surrounded by objects which 
 solicit, encourage, tax and reward it. It thus develops power 
 and gains truth. It scarcely makes any effort without acquir- 
 ing more or less of knowledge. It never acquires any know- 
 ledge without the exercise and increase of its own vigor ; this 
 last statement might seem too strong. Knowledge radiates 
 in upon us ; so quiet and facile at times is the acquisition, 
 especially the youthful acquisition of knowledge, that we are 
 inclined to pronounce it a merely passive absorption. It is 
 never so. The mind must actively construe every sign 
 of thought, interpret every word, judge every utterance. 
 And with whatever apparent unconsciousness, and however
 
 256 LIFE OF A. B. BEOWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 mechanically, the association of ideas may sort out our new 
 impressions, for their places in the memory, the Avill is every- 
 where active in forming our hahits of thought, and in co-ordi- 
 nating our attainments. And this involves that every mind 
 tends to self-evolution, that every man is in some degree, 
 self-made, and that mental training takes care of itself; as 
 the boy's tune whistled itself. But such mental unfolding 
 is quite too easy, quite too feeble to qualify for the stern 
 problems of life. 
 
 Every mind is active, but probably no mind takes naturally 
 to hard work. Repeated instructions, patient inculcations of 
 lessons, along with something of restraint and constraint, are 
 necessary to evoke any mental exercise beyond mere play. 
 And where laborious teaching is done apart from the methods 
 of the schools ; where tasks are imposed and some regularity 
 of exertion, Avithin the competence of early life is required; 
 the teaching is too desultory, occasional and miscellaneous, 
 and the exertion soon becomes too easy to tax any, and too 
 narrow to call out all of the powers of the mind. The school, 
 especially the higher school, presents to the mind lessons 
 which are models of luminous method, arranged on an 
 ascending scale of difficulty — lessons which awaken and repay 
 curiosity, which stimulate and constrain effort, and Avhich 
 suggest unfailing tests of successful effort. And not only does 
 it expand and sharpen the mind by the irapartation of wide 
 spheres of generalized, and systematized truth ; but more and 
 more as the course extends it cultivates those powers of analysis, 
 induction and deduction, which qualify for the independent
 
 COLLEGIATE EDUCATION. 257 
 
 investigation, and elaboration of any and all truth. Let us 
 enter a very little into detail. It teaches more thoroughly 
 than can be acquired anywhere else, the prompt, facile and 
 adequate interpretation of language, in which is recorded all 
 the surviving product of human thought, all the extant 
 experience of the human race. It presents for arduous and 
 invigorating study, language, itself the most wondrous and 
 the most valuable creation of man's skill ; language adjusting 
 with almost infinite flexibility, to every mode and every act 
 of consciousness ; supporting science in every step of her 
 rigorous and subtle reasoning, and in every flight of her 
 soaring speculation ; painting the poet's lightest dream ; 
 launching the bolt and thundering the peal of the orator's 
 indignation, and breathing in gentlest accents the mother's 
 and the maiden's love. What power is involved in the 
 accurate interpretation of another's thought and in the ade- 
 quate expression of one's own ! 
 
 But this is not all. It is not half. If not all thought, 
 certainly all clear and continuous thought, is dependent on 
 language. Language and reasoning are not identical, but 
 they are practically inseparable. Sir William Hamilton has 
 well said that thought may be, indeed must be, a little ahead of 
 language, but language must follow close on its heels to bind 
 its harvests into bundles. Changing the figure. Thinking 
 is like tunneling a sand-bank. The spade reaches a little 
 beyond the supporting framework, but no secure progress is 
 made unless the timber or masonry closely follow to shove up 
 every foot of the advance. Thought may skirmish in front —
 
 258 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 nay, may gain some indecisive victories — but words must follow 
 hard to hold the ground. What a ludicrous but natural mistake 
 in him who supposed that Jemmy O'Toole had merely chated 
 him out of a Sunday sail for idays when he robbed him of his 
 opportunities for education. Language is more than Sunday 
 dress for ideas. It is necessary raiment. I should scarcely 
 go too far if I added, it is the meat, and drink, and vital air 
 of thought. I should insult your intelligence if I should 
 maintain that this invaluable thing is monopolized by the 
 colleges. But I do say, that where fair competency in the 
 teacher, meets fair ability in the pupil, there the highest ad- 
 vantages are likely to be realized. I must not forget that I 
 undertook to show tlie practical advantages of collegiate 
 education for all the higher walks of professional and indus- 
 trial life. I must not then insist on the fact that in the two dead 
 languages taught in college — the Greek and the Latin — are 
 contained, the authoritative standards of Christian doctrine 
 and ecclesiastical history. The original records in the one, 
 the history of doctrine and organization in the other. That 
 the foundations, and more than mere foundations, of our 
 modern philosophy are in them. That they contain the 
 seeds of most of our modern science and literature, I may 
 not pass over the fact that almost all the more comprehensive 
 terms in our language, and nearly half of the terms in even 
 most common use, are better understood by a respectable pro- 
 ficient in those languages. I must insist that the scantling of 
 Ciiesar's Commentaries, Virgil's Eclogues, and Horace's Odes, 
 which even a graduate could bring away from college, might
 
 COLLEGIATE EDUCATION. 259 
 
 prove a very slender outfit of practical knowledge for a lawyer, 
 a merchant, or a farmer. The vigor, accuracy, readiness, and 
 subtilty of thinking developed in their acquisition, are invalua- 
 ble advantages in every department of activity. We can only 
 touch the science of the mathematics. Beginning with a 
 meagre outfit of axioms, forms and definitions, what a magnifi- 
 cent sphere of truth — now it is said, widening more rapidly than 
 ever — has it constructed. Itself simply ideal, a realm of pure 
 abstractions, it allies itself with fact and observation, it 
 locates railroads and canals, levels the hills, tunnels the moun- 
 tains, builds bridges, aqueducts, palaces and temples, con- 
 structs your maps, establishes the boundaries between farms 
 and between nations, fixes time and calends, fashions the ship 
 and guides it with almost unerring certainty over the pathless 
 waters ; not to speak of what it has done in threading the whole 
 labyrinth of nature, in the earth and in the heavens, how 
 practically useful it is to the race. But one says, except some 
 aid in practical work, it is worth nothing to me directly in my 
 office, in my shop, on my farm. Calculus, I admit, is worth 
 nothing directly in most of the pursuits of life. But mathe- 
 matics, as a practical drill. in analysis, as the best known 
 training in continuous and subtle reasoning, is the best disci- 
 pline of mind in deduction and expei'ience. 
 
 The profound and brilliant Macaulay, hardly equalled by 
 any linguist, who has made the languages his special life-long 
 study, was a good mathematician, but formed a capricious 
 distaste to mathematics; he failed to win the highest honors of 
 Cambridge. Many years afterwards he remarked, with a
 
 260 LIFE OF A. H. BROAVN, DD. LLD. 
 
 touch of sadness, " I would not turn over one of my fingers for 
 the honor of being Senior "Wrangler, but I Avould give a great 
 deal for the habits of mind, which the gaining of the honor 
 would have established and avouched," I may not detain you 
 to speak of that science, of know thyself, which itself is the 
 subject, or the object matter, in which the soul minutely 
 inventories, not its products but its powers ; in which it dis- 
 sects itself, and yet lives with increased vigor ; and in which 
 it surveys and enlarges itself in the very act of surveying all 
 things else that lie in the range of its vision. Surely, surely, 
 the study of ourselves and of kindred souls is invaluable, both 
 in its silent knowledge and in discipline. 
 
 Of natural philosophy and chemistry, I need say no more 
 than that the former, is in a great measure, applied mathe- 
 matics ; and that where they differ from mathematics they both 
 furnish knowledge more immediately available ; and establish 
 habits of thought m«re immediately applicable in the so-called 
 productive industries, than any other studies. The whole 
 course is skilfully calculated to make the several studies 
 mutually helpful and complementar}'^, and to furnish the 
 greatest amount of valuable truth, and the highest degree of 
 rounded and symmetrical mental development. Often those 
 studies which afford a minimum of directly available truth, 
 afford the maximum of culture. The college course com- 
 prehends all the great departments of human knowledge, but 
 it presents them rather in the manner of a general school, 
 than of a topographical map. It marks the great thorough- 
 fares into the grand main divisions of truth, indexes the roads
 
 COLLEGIATE EDUCATION. 261 
 
 leading into the lesser territories, and helps to a commanding 
 outlook on the whole. Its wealth consists rather of ingots 
 than of small change, and it requires a supplemental practical 
 tact to coin them for immediate use. It more than any other 
 training, cultivates the power of rapidly acquiring this tact, in 
 converting its own stores into available forms, and in gaining 
 whatever additional stores may be necessary. 
 
 The young farmer who has been five years on the farm will 
 succeed at first, greatly beyond his young neighbor of equal 
 native ability, who returns from a five years' course at college, 
 and goes right ofi* to farming. The old neighbors will laugh 
 at the first eflTorts of the agricultural novice who has no guide 
 at all, or no guide but Liebig and the Southern Planter. 
 
 If the young planter be a Jno. R. Edmunds, they will 
 soon cease to laugh and begin to stare. But what a strange 
 inference they will draw ! When *' Dick " came home from 
 the University he was a great bungler. University education 
 is nothing to a farmer ; practice is everything. Why, we 
 may ask, had not practice done as much for some of them, 
 scarcely inferior in natural endowments to this great states- 
 man, and greatest of farmers ? Ah ! the University education 
 was behind all the practice, in all the practice. The young 
 Collegiate will wrap goods as nimbly, run up a column of 
 numbers as rapidly, post books as skilfully as a rival with less 
 of general, and more of special training. But give the youno- 
 scholar a little time, and he will vindicate the practical Avorth 
 of his studies.
 
 262 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HIS DEATH. 
 
 TT was a remarkable fact, that while through all 
 -*- his life, Dr. Brown was fragile and delicate, he 
 was enabled to say on his death bed that he had 
 never had a serious sickness, and had never known 
 the day when he could not dress himself. Always 
 a victim to constitutional infirmities, he yet seemed 
 to be singularly exempt from ordinary diseases. 
 He endured the hardships and exposures of a 
 country pastorate, and yet escaped the ordinary 
 ailments with which his stronger brethren so 
 often suffered. This was due in part to the sim- 
 plicity of his habits and his unfailing prudence. 
 
 For many years he was the victim of a cough. 
 When, in 1881, he came to Richmond to enter 
 upon his duties as a Professor in the College, he 
 was a guest in the home of the writer during the 
 time of his preparation for housekeeping. I had 
 not met him many times since he was my teacher 
 in the Albemarle Female Institute, and it was one 
 of the sweetest privileges of my domestic life to
 
 HIS DEATH. 263 
 
 welcome him and his loved ones to my board and 
 fireside. His coming was an event fraught with 
 joy to man}^, and my own heart bounded with 
 grateful pride to see my old teacher take his place 
 in that Institution, so deeply enshrined in the 
 aflfections of the Virginia Baptists. But, after 
 seeing him and noticing his wasted form and hear- 
 ing in the night his incessant coughing, my joy 
 changed to anxiety. He was, however, so full 
 of vivacity and showed such marked powers of 
 endurance, that the forebodings of his friends 
 seemed to be unnecessary. He took up his work 
 with surprising energy, and prosecuted it with an 
 ardor so fresh and buoyant, that the question of 
 his health ceased to be discussed. Sometimes, at 
 the end of the sessions, he exhibited signs of pros- 
 tration and exhaustion. But, after his vacations, 
 he would return to his duties renewed in strength 
 and hope. 
 
 The College Session of 1885-86 opened with 
 unusual interest. It had been announced that 
 the exercises would be introduced by a public 
 address from Dr. Brown. His popularity with 
 the students was such that, contrary to their cus- 
 tom of lingering at home until the day on which 
 the recitation bell would ring, they came in large 
 numbers, that they might enjoy the luxury of
 
 264 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 hearing him. In addition to the students and 
 professors, there were present from the city many 
 cultivated people, making one of those apprecia- 
 tive and sympathetic audiences which always 
 called forth his noblest powers. His subject was 
 "Christian Education," and in it he showed by 
 an argument at once compact and masterly, that 
 Christian teaching may be done more effectually 
 by example and silent influence than by formal 
 religious instruction under legislative enactment. 
 The address was witty, unique, richly entertaining 
 and thrillingly eloquent. 
 
 But human life is subject to startling changes. 
 This auspicious opening of the College was soon to 
 be followed by one of the saddest incidents which 
 had ever marked its history. While apparently 
 as Avell as usual, Dr. Brown was evidently anxious 
 about the condition of his health. He consulted 
 physicians, but they gave him no reason for special 
 alarm. 
 
 The General Baptist Association met in the 
 early part of November, in the city of Eichmond, 
 Ya. Dr. Brown attended its sessions, and while 
 he took no part in the public discussions, he greatly 
 enjoyed his companionship with his brethren. He 
 filled his house with delegates, and day by day his 
 parlors were crowded with friends to whom he
 
 HIS DEATH. 265 
 
 extended a delightful hospitality. Little did his 
 brethren dream that his end would come so soon. 
 During the week following the Association, Mr. 
 Carson Brown, the eldest son of the deceased, was 
 married, and brought his bride to his father's house. 
 The marriage was in all respects most agreeable 
 to the family ; and Dr. Brown hailed the coming 
 of his new daughter with many demonstrations 
 of pleasure. He gave himself heartily to the 
 entertainment of the bridal pair. It was noticed 
 that he was facetious and jovial even beyond his 
 wont, and he brightened the home circle with 
 many a flash of his quaint and mirth-provoking 
 wit. Perhaps in all the earth there could not have 
 been found a happier home than was that of Dr. 
 Brown's during the few days when he had Carson 
 and his young wife as guests. He was a prince of 
 talkers, and no where did his colloquial powers 
 show to greater advantage than at his own fire- 
 side, and none enjoyed him more than his own 
 family. 
 
 He was engaged to preach at the First Baptist 
 Church on Sunday, November 22d; but, on rising 
 Sunday morning, he was attacked with a nausea, 
 which so completely prostrated him that he was 
 compelled to recall the appointment. On Monday 
 morning Mr. Carson Brown and his wife left for
 
 266 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 their lioinc, in Pittsylvania, with no serious mis- 
 giving as to the condition of their father, little 
 thinking of the message that was so soon to recall 
 them. 
 
 On Tuesday, the writer called at his home ; and 
 on being invited to the chamber where the sick 
 teacher lay, his parched lips and burning fever 
 betokened too plainly the approach of death. He 
 talked freely of his condition, and said the doctor 
 told him he had engorgement of the liver; that 
 he did not know how serious his case was, but 
 that he had felt for some time that his end would 
 come suddenly, 'Hhat he would pass rapidly away 
 after having lived a life of as much real happiness 
 as is ever given to any man." This w^as said with 
 intense emotion and revealed the fact that he felt 
 that his condition was critical. 
 
 On Friday morning I visited him again, and was 
 greatly pained at the marked change that had 
 taken place. His whole appearance was different. 
 His face was rigid, and his breathing labored and 
 painful. When aroused from his stupor he made 
 an eflbrt to greet me ^^nth his w^onted brightness 
 and cordiality, and said that he felt better. During 
 the morning he not only arose and dressed himself, 
 but prepared the monthly reports of his classes. 
 As tlie (h\y advanced, he grew rapidly worse.
 
 HIS DEATH. 267 
 
 He did not seem to be aware of the nearness of 
 his end ; but his lungs, always weak, had become 
 suddenly and hopelessly congested, and he was too 
 much enfeebled to resist an attack so acute and 
 powerful. After a brief struggle, his final relief 
 came, at nine and a half o'clock, on Friday night, 
 November 29th, 1885. 
 
 No public mention had been made of his sick- 
 ness, and even his own family were not expecting 
 the sad result. The news of his death, therefore, 
 was a great surprise. At the College the Literary 
 Societies Avere holding their weekly sessions, and 
 when a messenger brought the startling tidings of 
 his death, they broke up in the midst of tearful 
 lamentations. 
 
 The next morning the Richmond Despatch an- 
 nounced the event, and the sorrow of the Rich- 
 mond people was widespread and profound. As 
 the intelligence went abroad through Virginia, the 
 general grief, especially among the Baptists, was 
 very deep ; and messages and letters of sympathy 
 came to the family from every direction. 
 
 The funeral took place at the Grace Street 
 Baptist Church on Sunday afternoon. The 
 weather could not have been more unfavorable. 
 All day the rain had been pouring in torrents, 
 and the streets were filled with water. The wind
 
 268 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 was piercing and fierce, and it was well nigh 
 impossible to walk the streets, without being 
 drenched and chilled by the driving rain. The 
 vast congregation, which despite the raging storm, 
 thronged the building was itself a significant 
 testimony to the honor and esteem, with which 
 Dr. Brown was regarded by the Richmond people 
 — and yet it was supposed that hundreds were 
 kept away by the violent weather. The trustees, 
 the fiiculty, the students and many, many friends 
 entered the house with the procession. I have 
 never witnessed a funeral service so tearful and 
 impressive. Nearly all of the Baptist pastors of 
 Richmond were present, and took part in the 
 exercises. The music was in charge of a quartette 
 choir of students, assisted by Richmond's most 
 beloved and consecrated singer, Captain Frank 
 Cunningham. 
 
 Prof. H. H. Harris, the chairman of the College 
 Faculty, was in charge of the exercises, and intro- 
 duced them in fitting words. 
 
 In the place of a formal sermon, there were 
 three addresses. The pastor of the Church, Dr. 
 W. E. Hatcher, who had been summoned hy tele- 
 gram from Culpeper, where he was assisting Rev. 
 C. F. James in a series of revival services, was the 
 first speaker. He spoke as follows :
 
 HPS DEATH. 2G9 
 
 Let me say, dear brethren and friends, that lam not worthy 
 to speak at such a time as this. My lips flaint before their 
 task. They cannot utter the anguish of my own heart, and 
 yet less can they adequately speak the mournful sentiment of 
 this hour. I tremble, lest I speak what ought to remain 
 unsaid, or withhold that which the occasion may demand. 
 
 Who could speak worthily of Israel's peerless prince whose 
 pulseless dust lies before us? What words can frame his 
 eulogy whose worth belittles all praise? Unique, original 
 and majestic when living, he wears in death a vestment of 
 glory, which no tongue can describe. For years he has been 
 enshrined in our hearts, and his presence has been a fountain 
 of joy and strength. Now that God has suddenly taken him 
 away, who can fittingly recite the story of his life, or paint in 
 its lofty spiritual beauty, his character ? 
 
 Such power pertains not to me, and yet you will bear with 
 me, as I stand in my place and offer my feeble tribute to his 
 worth. Our brother was a native of Amherst County. Truly, 
 that rugged and beautiful old county, never bore a princelier 
 son, and no son was ever more proudly loyal to his native 
 hills. Dr. Brown once said, "that God's plant-bed for rearing 
 Baptist preachers, lay along the eastern base of the Blue 
 Ridge Mountains." From that soil he sprang, and in the ful- 
 ness of time. Divine grace plucked him up, and transplanted 
 him into the garden of the Lord, where his leaf never withered, 
 and whatsoever he did, prospered. In his early life he became 
 an Episcopalian ; but a larger and deeper study of God's Word 
 revealed to him a better Avay, and he became a Baptist.
 
 270 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 Heartily accepting the distinctive views of the Baptists, he 
 maintained them \vith gentle and courageous devotion, and 
 was always happy in the ic'llowship of his brethren. Uublest 
 of fortune, and yet inlhimed with a quenchless passion for 
 learning, he had a sharp conflict in seeking an education. 
 But his purpose to attain unto generous culture was ovei-- 
 mastering, and in the end victorious. His scholastic 
 advantages were fragmentary, comprising a year at Wash- 
 ington College in Lexington, Va., and later, a brief term at 
 our State University; but what the schools denied him, 
 his own inflexible energy and tireless personal application 
 achieved for him. He became a chief in the family of 
 scholars. 
 
 It startles us to think of him so frail in body, so wedded to 
 books, and so sensitive to the jars of life, beginning his minis- 
 terial career as a pioneer in the mountains of Virginia. Those 
 who knew him as the youthful missionary are not here to-day, 
 but their testimony abides that his life was spotless, his 
 spirit heroic, and his sermons full of gospel power. In the 
 rugged conflicts of those boyish days, he won the strength for 
 his splendid achievements in other fields. 
 
 Dr. Brown first became conspicuous to })ublic view, as the 
 pastor of the Baptist Cliurch at Hampton, Va. He was then 
 in the freshness of his ripened manhood, and not even the 
 blotting of old Hampton from the earth can ever efface the 
 marks of his influence in that community. 
 
 A lady told me this morning, that she met a grey-haired old 
 man on the street car yesterday— one who was a leading spitit
 
 HIS DEATH. 271 
 
 in the Hampton Church duvuig Dr. Brown's pastorate. He 
 had just heard of his old pastor's deatli, and unmindful of the 
 cold glances of those around him, he was crying like a child. 
 
 Yesterday afternoon, I passed through Charlottesville ; in 
 the thickening gloom of the evening, I saw the tower of the 
 Baptist Church ; it reminded me of those magnificent times 
 when our brother stood in the Charlottesville pulpit, and by 
 his majestic eloquence drew to his feet, as eager listeners, the 
 best brain and culture of that classic community. I saw the 
 Albemarle Institute in which he taught, and thought of his 
 scattered pupils who once ennobled by his magnetic and 
 brilliant life, were now to be saddened by the tidings of his 
 death. 
 
 Dr. Brown loved to teach. Twice he held a professorship 
 in Hollins Institute ; and his memory will forever be indis- 
 solubly linked with the history of that Institution, He helped 
 greatly to give to that school the lofty place which it now has. 
 It was in the dark days of the war that he finally bade adieu 
 to Hollins, and entered the army as a missionary. For 
 nearly two years, of his own accord, and from a conviction of 
 duty, he slept in the camp, preached in the open air, visited 
 in the hospitals and cheered the soldier boys in the midst of 
 their denials and perils. When the end came — the tragic 
 disastrous end of the strife — he returned to his family in their 
 little country home in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. There 
 for fifteen years, sometimes teaching, sometimes working in 
 the fields for bread, all the time the devoted teacher of his 
 own children, he remained. In the midst of these duties he
 
 272 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 ceased not to declare the word of God. As the pastor of 
 country churches he was in the best sense a public benefactor 
 — an example of righteousness — a stimulating, refining, uni- 
 fying, Christian force, and his work so honestly done, will 
 long survive him. In that community, his name is the 
 synonym of purity, honor and fidelity. While he labored, 
 he studied, and studying, grew to the height of his great 
 manhood. 
 
 Now and then he emerged from his rural retreat, and 
 appeared in the councils of his brethren. He came like a 
 prophet, anointed with celestial power and burning with his 
 message. His words fell with almost seraphic power upon the 
 crowds which pressed to hear him. Some of us remember 
 how, that in the strength of the bread which he gave us to eat, 
 we travelled for many days in the wilderness of life. 
 
 Justice is tardy, but always sure. At last the Baptists of 
 Virginia awoke to a sense of his w^orth, and in 1881, sum- 
 moned him to duty in the Faculty of Richmond College. As 
 others are to speak of him as the college professor, I pass over 
 that phase of his life with the single remark that those who 
 were the most active in securing his appointment will always 
 recall the part they took Avith grateful satisfaction. 
 
 It is always painful to me to speak in terms Avhich to others 
 may savor of exaggeration. Those who did not know Dr. 
 Brown Avill hardly forgive the almost boundless enthusiasm 
 and admiration with which his friends regarded him. I say, 
 with a full sense of my responsibility, that in many points Dr. 
 Brown was the greatest man that I ever knew. He was
 
 HIS DEATH. 273 
 
 endowed with a great mind. It was phenomenally, excep- 
 tionally great — great in its grasp, great in its penetrating 
 power, great in its power to hold and surprisingly great in its 
 capacity to recall, combine and utilize what he knew. In the 
 extent, variety, accuracy, and honesty of his learning he was 
 pre-eminent. His shattered nerves made it painful for him to 
 write and sometimes painful to speak. His sensitive modesty 
 often sealed his lips when his soul was on fire to speak. But 
 whether on the platform, or in the class room, or at the fireside, 
 he opened his lips, it was the unsealing of a fountain of wis- 
 dom and truth. 
 
 I do not care to call Dr. Brown an orator. Perhaps he was 
 not. The frailty of his form, the occasional lack of volume 
 and distinctness in his voice, his untrained and sometimes vio- 
 lent gestures may have fallen below the popular ideal of the 
 orator. But what he lacked in studied grace and smooth 
 speech, was more than made up in the fiery and impetuous 
 torrent of his thought, the intense earnestness of his nature 
 and the boldness and honesty of his bearing. If we are 
 to judge men by the effect of their public utterances, he 
 could easily stand the test. His power with the people was 
 wonderful. I stood at the gate of the Baptist Church, in 
 Culpeper, yesterday, when a distinguished Presbyterian 
 lawyer approached me. I informed him of Dr. Brown's 
 death. " Alas ! " he said, " one of our greatest men has 
 fallen. I heard him preach in this church what I verily be- 
 lieve was the most thrillingly eloquent sermon that I have 
 ever heard." I remember well that in his speech on State
 
 274 I.IFK OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 Missions, before the General Association, at Petersburg, in 
 1870, he produced an impression which was unequalled by all 
 I have heard in iuiprcssive and overwhelming power. When 
 he finished, the people sat spell-bound and in tears. As 
 another brother, after a pause, rose to speak, a minister rushed 
 out of the house exclaiming : "Let me get out. After hearing 
 Brown, I can hear nothing else." On other occasions his 
 power over the people was equally great. His eloquence was 
 ripened thought steeped in holy passion. 
 
 It often happened that his noblest speeches were spiced 
 with a humor that was exceedingly chaste and gentle. On 
 one occasion, I remember, his wit broke forth like a flood, 
 and convulsed his audience into surprised laughter. If not 
 an orator in finish and art, he was better than an orator 
 in his sublime power to enkindle high sentiment in human 
 souls. 
 
 Better even than his ini])erial mental gifts, was his nobleness 
 of heart. I know that it has been said that Dr. Brown was 
 passionate, and sometimes yielded to angry excitements. Well, 
 he had a high and impetuous nature. His views of rectitude 
 and propriety were very emphatic. In his youth he spurned 
 evil with a consuming intensity which sometimes set fire to the 
 evil doer, and in his sight discourtesy was a crime. But he 
 saw his fault. He put a chain upon his fiery nature. He sub- 
 dued himself humbly before God. He learned ]iatience and 
 charity, and was gentle. He was like a little child before the 
 Lord. His spirit was candid, forbearing, magnanimous. He 
 knew men. Those who fancied he was unobservant and undis-
 
 HIS DEATH. 275 
 
 criminating were greatly mistaken. He knew what was in 
 men in a very remarkable degree. But he was kindly in his 
 judgments and niarvelously cautious in his speech. He neither 
 spoke roughly to the offender nor severely to the wrong-doer. 
 He loved peace, and sought always to do what was pure and 
 right. He was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 In no relation of life did our brother show to greater advant- 
 age than in his home. In the mercy of God he found in his 
 youth one of the wisest and truest of women for his wife, and to 
 the end of his days he accorded to her that gracefid courtesy 
 and unfailing gallantry which he gave her as a bride. He ruled 
 well his house — always receiving the prompt submission and 
 purest reverence of his children, and that, too, with only the 
 gentlest displays of his authority. In him his children had a 
 constant and entertaining companion. The gate of his home 
 was always ajar for his friends. He dispensed hospitality with 
 a cordiality so easy and informal that his guests were always 
 made hapi)y. Hundreds have tasted his bounty who will now 
 bewail his departure. 
 
 When he came to Richmond I did not ask him to unite 
 with this church ; but when he gave me his letter, I could not 
 refrain from expressing the joy which I felt in his coming. I 
 did not feel that I was fitted to minister to him, but I rejoiced 
 that such a noble counsellor had entered our ranks. Little, 
 indeed, did I know what an unspeakable blessing he would 
 prove to the pastor or the Church. From the first, he won 
 the love of the people. They believed thoroughly in his good- 
 ness and wisdom. They were always glad to hear him. He
 
 276 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LI.D. 
 
 entered thomughly into the work of the Church. His scat 
 was rarely vacant, and never without a cause. While averse 
 even to tlie appearance of conspicuity, he was ready for every 
 good work. Last Sunday week that veteran pioneer of our 
 State Mission Board, M. A. Wilson, was invited to speak in 
 our Sunday School. Of course, he was in quest of money to 
 aid liiin in building a house of worship in the Southwest. 
 "Wlien it was proposed to send out the baskets to receive the 
 gifts of the brethren, Dr. Brown sprang up with his pocket- 
 book in hand, and, halting the*collectors, said, "Brethren, let 
 us do something worthy of us : here is my gift : who else will 
 help?"' His words were electric, and the money poured in 
 from many quarters. 
 
 Since I entered this pulj)it, more than ten years ago, to min- 
 ister to this Church, I have had many discriminating, helpful, 
 responsive hearei-s. Many of my sermons have been saved 
 from failure by sympathetic eyes that are now sealed in death. 
 But I speak the simple truth, when I declare, that the most 
 gracious and insj)iring auditor to wliom I ever preached (ex- 
 cepting, possibly. Dr. Jeter), was Dr. Brown. Not only did 
 he listen well, but almo.st every Sabbath he renuxined after the 
 close of the service, to utter some pleasant criticism upon the 
 sermon — none the less pleasant because it was sometimes 
 adverse. He never failed to yield a cordial sympathy to evei-y 
 enterpri.se of the Church, or to every scheme of the pastor 
 which looked to the honor of Christ. It is not for me to 
 attempt to express a sense of that loss which has fallen on this 
 Church in his death ; but he leaves to us a name that cannot
 
 HIS DEATH. 277 
 
 be forgotten, aud an example whose influence will continue to 
 do its silent work. 
 
 His testimony in favor of the Gospel has been to many a 
 stronghold of faith. He was a philosopher, in the broadest 
 Christian sense. He knew history; he had gone to the bottom 
 of language and of literature. To him, the theories and spec- 
 ulations of men, in every department of thought, were quite 
 familiar. He had measured the depths of skepticism, and 
 knew its strength and its weakness. He was one of the few 
 men who could safely cross the line and personally inspect the 
 grim fortresses from which the enemies of God hurled their 
 deadliest missiles. He had made the round of the enemies' 
 encampments, examined their weapons, and measured their 
 strength. Better than any other mfu, who has moved in our 
 midst during this generation, he was able to study the Christian 
 evidences under all converging lights. This he did, and the 
 end was a cloudless faith in the redemptive work of Christ, 
 the Son of God. He trusted in Jesus as the Living One ; and 
 each day saw him on his knees and in grateful fellowship with 
 his Lord. Many of us are not capable of grappling with the 
 devices of infidelity. It may start questions which we can not 
 answer; but if Dr. Brown, our prince in scholarship, believed 
 the Gospel, we need not doubt it. We can prop our trembling 
 faith with his faith which never trembled. In that faith he 
 has closed his life and gone to be with Christ. Happy Sabbath — 
 unspeakably happy — has this been to him : sitting beneath the 
 Tree of Life with his own beloved Poindexter, Jeter, Taylor, 
 Bagby, and Tyree, and gazing entranced upon the glories of 
 his Redeemer.
 
 278 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 The second speaker was Rev. AA^illiam C. Tyree, 
 of Amherst County, Ya., who was chosen to repre- 
 sent his fellow students on the occasion. Tenderly 
 and appropriately he voiced the feelings of those 
 he represented. In the following will be found 
 the address of this consecrated and promising 
 young minister : 
 
 I cannot tell you kind friends with what trembling em- 
 barrassment I appear before you, at this sad hour. It is with 
 no sense of fitness that I come, but simply that I may voice 
 the sorrow of my fellow-students ; I may be pardoned for 
 saying that one fact, serves to embolden me for my task. I am 
 the son of one who was a life-long friend of Dr. Brown, and 
 I feel that it is an act of filial piety to bring a simple flower of 
 praise, and place it upon this bier. I may add also, that 
 Amherst, the county of Dr. Brown's nativity, is my adopted 
 home, and in no place, was he ever more highly esteemed. 
 The respect which he won as a boy, continued and grew until 
 his death. The news that he has passed away, will sadden 
 hundreds of hearts in the community, where he was reared. 
 
 But chiefly as a student of Richmond College, am I here 
 to speak. It is a poor tribute to our lamented teacher to 
 say, that he commanded the most jirofouud and affectionate 
 admiration of the students. His princely mind, his varied 
 learning, his gentle spirit, and his transparent goodness, 
 secured for him the highest respect. lie was to us a never 
 failincr fountain of knowledij-e. We never heard him without
 
 HIS DEATH. 279 
 
 being enriched with knowledge — and inspired with lofty jDur- 
 poses. He was a lover of truth, and those who sat at his feet, 
 felt the contagion of his spirit. 
 
 But we loved Dr. Brown as much as we respected him. 
 He was our friend, he was accessible, modest, and always ready 
 to help us. He encouraged us, while he taught us— and 
 quickened our self-respect by his manifest care for our welfare. 
 How sadly we Avill miss him ! How much of that mellow. 
 Christian influence which pervaded the college will depart 
 with him. 
 
 The sweet light of his life will ever be to us a holy memory 
 and a precious incentive. He taught us how to live, how to 
 study, how to work, how to suffer, how to wait ; and now he 
 teaches us how we must die. He has closed his class-book — 
 and will call the roll no more ; but it is pleasant to reflect 
 that he has gone to answer to the roll-call of the skies. 
 
 Fellow-students, around the coffin of our dead professor we 
 bow beneath a common sorrow. Let us catch the falling 
 mantle of the ascending prophet, and wrapping it about us, go 
 forth to the battle of life. 
 
 The third address at the funeral was delivered 
 by Dr. Brown's fellow-professor, Rev. Wm. D. 
 Thomas, DD., and richly deserves a place in 
 these memorial papers. It is to be regretted that 
 Dr. Thomas has not been able to furnish a copy 
 for publication. In its stead, we take the liberty 
 of presenting the subjoined sketch, written for the
 
 280 LIFK OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LI>n. 
 
 College Messenger, hy Prof. B. Puryear, LLD., 
 one of the most tenderly Icved friends that Dr. 
 Brown ever had : 
 
 Our conimuuity has been most painfully shocked by the 
 sudden death of Dr. Brown. The sad event occurred on 
 Friday, the 27th November, at 9:20 P. ]\I. Dr. Brown was 
 on the streets on Saturday, the 21st, in his usual health, and 
 was engaged to preach the next day at the First Baptist 
 Church. But with the day came the last sickness that was to 
 convulse his already wasted and feeble frame. He was too 
 unwell to preach, or even to attend church. No serious appre- 
 hensions, however, were enteilained until a few hours before 
 the fatal issue. Indeed, he was cheerful and talkative on the 
 afternoon of his last day on earth, greeting his friends with a 
 grateful smile, and begging them to prolong their stay. But 
 his vital energies had been well nigh exhausted before sickness 
 came, and when it came, he fell, therefore, an ea.sy prey. 
 
 We shall attempt no sketch of the life of our departed 
 friend and instructor. That task we leave to other and more 
 competent hands. "NVe shall speak of him only as a college 
 professor, and as he appeared to us in his daily work and walk. 
 
 Dr. Brown was indisputably the most intellectual man we 
 have ever known. His mind was always actively at work. 
 We believe that his physical system was weakened, and, at 
 length, undermined by his high intellectuality. He belonged 
 to that noblest type of philosophers who seek knowledge at all 
 times and everywhere because they love it. To study and to
 
 HIS DEATH. - 281 
 
 learn was a necessity of his nature. The truth was lovely in 
 his eyes, and he sought it eagerly because he loved it with a 
 burning passion. Whether his intellectual achievements would 
 bring him fame, or wealth, or dignities, were matters that did 
 not occur to him. Not these did he seek, but simply and only 
 what was true. And when he discovered Truth, he clasped 
 her as Goddess fair, and was thrilled and electrified by the 
 embrace. Though he might not hear, yet in his inmost soul 
 he felt the " music of the spheres." To discover the causes of 
 things, to trace the connections and dependencies of events, to 
 build solid theories upon established facts, were the constant 
 and necessary occupations of his mind. And when an intel- 
 lectual triumph rewarded his labor, what warmth, and glow, 
 and ecstacy suffused his face and tingled along his nerves ! 
 What seraphic joy must thrill his now unfettered soul as it 
 sweeps the boundless Universe, and . contemplates, in its multi- 
 plied relations and magnificent amplitudes, the truth he loved 
 so well ! 
 
 With a mind so vigorous, so inquisitive and active, and de- 
 voted through life to scholastic pursuits. Dr. Brown was, as 
 must needs be, a prodigy of learning. He Avas at home in the 
 ancient and modern languages, in belles-lettres, in history, in 
 philology, in sociology, in metaphysics, in the positive and 
 exact sciences, not excluding the abstruse mathematics.* Nor 
 did he simply make forays into all these fields of learning. 
 His acquisitions were not only varied, but accurate, thorough, 
 and profound. His aim was to know, not to seem to know. 
 Hence, when he grappled with any subject, he did it exhaust-
 
 282 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 ivcly, never relaxing his grasp until he had conquered it. 
 Hence, when he ■wrote, or spoke, or lectured, he put the whole 
 domain of learniug under tribute. Facts, illustrations, prin- 
 ciples, from every department of science and of literature, 
 came trooi)ing in marshalled ranks, and ready for effective 
 service. His difficulty was not what to say, but what not to 
 say ; not what to take, but what to reject. And whatever his 
 theme, and how familiar soever with it, he threw into it all his 
 powers at their utmost tension. It was impossible for him, 
 when before an audience, to think slowly or to think languidly. 
 Facts and arguments whic-h, falling from other lips, would 
 seem stale and dull, in passing through the glowing alembic 
 of his mind, came out warm and throbbing with life, and rich 
 and radiant w'ith beauty. And when the effort is over, he is 
 left pale, limp, exhausted. He could do nothing except by 
 doing it with all his might, and hence the prostration which 
 attended all his intellectual efforts. His body suffered in these 
 fierce convulsions, and finally succumbed to the terrific strain. 
 Dr. Brown never made money. It was impossible for him 
 to do it. His thoughts were too intent on other and higher 
 things. He made fame, it is true, but equally without intending 
 it. It followed him ; he sought it not. To his intimate friends 
 he was known to be shrinking and tremulous to a surprising 
 extent, and hence he sought no occasions of display. He had 
 none of that vulgar ambition which seeks the front and thrusts 
 itself into notice. When he appeared before the public, it was 
 with a worthy purpose, and was satisfied if only his object was 
 successfully accomplished.
 
 HIS DEATH. 283 
 
 With his towering intellect and his great learning, Dr. 
 Bro^YU Avas as simple, as transparent, as artless as a child ; 
 "an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile." In his 
 dress, manners and conversation, he was utterly unpretentious, 
 and was as accessible, therefore, as the plainest man in the 
 work-shop or the field. Men, and all sorts of men, talked 
 with him freely on all sorts of subjects. There was nothing 
 repellent about him ; but his unassuming manner and won- 
 derful resources of thought and knowledge made him a 
 delightful companion to all classes of people. Nor was it 
 difficult to find his guileless heart, his tender sympathy, his 
 overflowing generosity and love. He practiced no tricks, he 
 knew no arts, he never deceived nor betrayed a friend. In 
 what heart has ever arisen, from what lips has ever fallen, a 
 sentiment unfriendly to Dr. Brown? 
 
 He is gone; gone to the bosom of his God, whom he served. 
 We have lost our " guide, philosopher, and friend." A void 
 has been made in our midst, which none can fill. In the lonely 
 vigils of the night, we recall our friend, and bemoan our loss. 
 
 Quis desiderio sit piidor aut modus 
 Tarn cari capitis. 
 
 At the request of the family, the burial was 
 deferred until ten o'clock next morning. At that 
 time, accompanied by the family, the faculty and 
 the students, it was borne to Hollywood, and 
 found its resting-place in the college section. His 
 grave is but a small distance from the hill-top,
 
 284 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 which is crowned with the monuments of James 
 B. Ta3'lor, and the gallant General J. E. B. Stuart. 
 As the body was lowered to its resting-place, 
 the pastor spoke briefly of the resurrection ; and 
 prayer was offered by Prof. Edmund Harrison. 
 After the grave was filled, the saddened company 
 sang the sweet " Bye-and-Bye," and were dis- 
 missed. 
 
 Dr. Brown was greatly beloved by the Baptist 
 ministers of Richmond. His delicate courtesy, 
 , and never failing alacrity, in serving them, as well 
 as his wisdom as a counsellor, gave him a warm 
 place in their hearts. At a meeting of the Rich- 
 mond ministers' conference, a few days after his 
 death, Dr. W. W. Landrum, the eloquent pastor 
 of the Second Baptist Church, was appointed to 
 voice their sorrow in appropriate resolutions — of 
 which, extracts appear below : 
 
 " 1. The departure of our brother leaves a wide gap in our 
 ranks. Like Saul, the magnificent proportions of his stature 
 as a preacher of the word, lifted him head and shoulders above 
 us all ; his were royal faculties, and his a princely mind. His 
 eloquence threw its spell over every audience of every grade 
 of culture, from the rudest to the most polished assemblies. 
 
 " 2. As an educator, our brother stood among the foremost. 
 He was in all his methods didactic by nature. He never
 
 HIS DEATH. 285 
 
 made an exhortation till he had first expounded a doctrine. 
 He was abundant in proof, of any position he felt called upon 
 to assume, and as fecund in illustration to make clear his 
 demonstrations to the comprehension of the meanest intellect. 
 * * * * We deeply sympathize with Richmond College 
 in its irreparable loss — as well as the cause of sound learning 
 throughout the land. 
 
 " 3. It was, however, most of all, his life as a simple-hearted 
 believer in Jesus, which drew the cords of our affection closest 
 about the form of Dr. Brown. We shall never forget that 
 life. One prominent element of his power lay in his broad 
 sympathies ; his great heart gave a quick response to every 
 cry of joy or sorrow, which came up from the soul of the race.' 
 Another secret, of his forceful personality, inhered in the 
 strength of his convictions. A profound philosophy couches 
 in the declaration of the Psalmist, ' I believed — therefore have 
 I spoken.' Dr. Brown was mighty in the fi\ith of Christ and 
 the Gospel, and spoke his belief with commanding emphasis ; 
 he had the courage of his convictions. * * * 
 
 " 4. He tenderly loved his brethren, and in honor preferred 
 them. In him was no bitterness, nor jealousy, nor vaulting 
 ambition, but instead, a warmth of fraternal love that would 
 have made an enemy to be at peace with him. His modesty 
 sometimes approached a painful diffidence. He would blush 
 with confusion at the slightest mention of praise, and declare 
 with another, whom in this respect he resembled, ' I am not 
 what I might be — I am not what I ought to be — I am not 
 what I hope to be, but by the grace of God I am what I am.'
 
 286 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLP. 
 
 We beg to offer the bereaved wife and children of our dear 
 brother, our siucerest sympathy, and fraternal petitions at the 
 throne of the heavenly grace. * * * 
 
 " 5. We i)\iice these expressions on record for preserva- 
 tion," etc., etc. 
 
 Dr. Brown was one of the most useful and inter- 
 ested Trustees of the Richmond Female Institute. 
 It was a pleasant custom with him to bear public 
 testimony to its usefulness, in the higher education 
 of girls. This he did in almost everj^ public gath- 
 ering in which education was discussed. After his 
 death, a memorial service was held at the Institute, 
 and a paper prepared by the accomplished Presi- 
 dent of the Board of Trustees, Dr. II. A. Tupper, 
 was read and adopted, expressing their appreciation 
 of his worth, and suggesting that a leaf of the 
 records of the Institute be appropriately dedicated 
 to him. It is to be regretted that want of space 
 prevents its appearance in full in these pages. 
 Below will be found a j^^i't of this admirable 
 paper : 
 
 "Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this 
 day in Israel ?" 
 
 In the death of Dr. A. B. Brown, a Trustee of Richmond 
 Female Institute, the cause of woman's higher education has 
 lost one of its earliest friends in the South, and perhaps its
 
 HIS DEATH. 287 
 
 most sympathetic and powerful advocate in America. During 
 thirty years, this great and good man was identified, in various 
 ways, with institutions of learning for girls and young women ; 
 and his advocacy of this cause, on many public occasions, was 
 marked by originality, forcefulness, and eloquence, rarely 
 equalled, and perhaps never excelled, in the discussion of 
 woman's claim to severer mental discipline and broader scholas- 
 tic culture. Born himself with an exquisite nervous structure 
 which gives quick appreciation of the keen sensibility and the 
 subtile intellection of that same delicate and superior nervous 
 structure in woman; confirmed in his convictions by long 
 experience in studying and teaching her, of woman's adapted- 
 ness to the highest development and acquisitions of mind, and 
 her peculiar ability to apprehend moral truth and apply it to 
 the problems of social and religious life; and rejoicing in the 
 success which has crowned female students in competitive tests 
 in celebrated universities of the United States and Great 
 Britain, he entered con amove into the defense of woman as a 
 momentous factor in the world of thought, and a controlling 
 element in the world's social and spiritual civilization. There 
 was a chivalric generosity of nature, also, that inclined him to 
 such vindication, and made him lean, if he leaned from the 
 perpendicular of exact justice, to the side of female excellence. 
 Listening to that matchless tribute to woman, worthy of an 
 appreciative student and competent judge of the sex that pro- 
 duced a George Eliot and an Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 
 not to name others nearer home, made at Warrentou, before 
 the Baptist General Association of Virginia, the auditor was
 
 288 LIFE OF A. B. BUOWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 at a loss to know wliicli to admire more, the fair extolled, or 
 the gallant extoller whose deference to his subject suggested 
 the greatness of that master of logic, J. Stuart INIill, ^vhcn 
 he protested that his own best thoughts were derived from a 
 -woman ; and the greatness of the nobler Apollos, mighty in 
 the Scriptures, and eloquent when he gladly submitted himself 
 in Ephesus to be led more perfectly in the way of the Lord 
 by the Paul disciplined Priscilla of Rome. 
 
 And who that followed Dr. Brown, on such occasions, need 
 be reminded of the profound impressions made by that mar- 
 velous combination of analytical acumen, philosophic accu- 
 racy, breadth of research, and wealth of illustration ; all fired 
 by intense earnestness which characterized his grand utter- 
 ances, and embalmed them in the life-long memory of his 
 hearers ? It is said that the author of the Iliad and Odissey left 
 unused no figure furnished by physical nature for the original 
 use of his successors in the divine art. After one of those 
 splendid creations of oratorical genius, which came from the 
 lips of our now speechless Chrysostom, like full armed Minerva 
 from the brain of Jupiter, who ever thought that he had a 
 word to add by way of argument, embellishment, or appeal ? 
 
 Yet, the great things he did seemed unconsciously done, as 
 the converse of Carlyle's principle, that consciousness is the 
 test of imperfection; and in resemblance to the tapestry- 
 workers of Paris, who, Avith eyes fixed on the pattern above 
 their heads, do not see the glorious work in silver and gold 
 wrought by their skillful hands. 
 
 But, Dr. Brown was not luerely a champion of woman and
 
 HIS DEATH. 289 
 
 of woman's culture — a kind of clerical "ladies' man," that 
 may have given rise to the witticism of England's most caustic 
 wit, that there are three sexes, men, women and preachers. 
 Dr. Brown was a manly man — the manliest of men — a king 
 among men. Though angular in frame — alas! too frail for 
 the titanic machine it encased — he was in character many- 
 sided and Avell rounded. He was a philosopher, a divine, a 
 Professor in Richmond College. He was a college ! One of 
 the most intellectual, brainiest, and fullest men of Richmond 
 has said, that Dr. Brown was the most brain-stimulating, 
 brainy, and brimful man he ever knew. When one touched 
 him intellectually, it was like touching a galvanic battery. 
 The severest charge that could be brought against him — 
 already suggested — was the charge that Charles II. brought 
 against a distinguished contemporary, that he had the unfair- 
 ness, in his consideration of all subjects, of leaving nothing io 
 be said. But, Dr. Brown was, withal, a courtly, Christian 
 gentleman. 
 
 And, was there not something unique in the greatness of 
 this man? He was a power in himself and in his God, without 
 the factitious abetment of popular notoriety or reputation. 
 The most prominent hotel proprietor of Halle had never heard 
 of the world's most illustrious Hebraist, after the death of 
 Gesenius, Dr. Tholuck of Halle University. * * 
 
 In the far South, there is a tree that ranks the live-oak in 
 majesty, and yet is covered with flowers spotless as the driven 
 snow and fragrant as the breezes wafted over the fields of 
 Araby. This magnolia is nature's fit emblem of the united
 
 200 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 powers and graces of such a planting of Jehovah as that lately 
 transplanted from earth, and planted in the garden of the 
 Lord. "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of 
 water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also 
 shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." 
 Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper; for his life, "hid with 
 Christ in God," is identified with the tree of life that flourish- 
 cth on the banks of "the river of life proceeding from the 
 Throne of God and of the Lamb,"
 
 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 291 
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 
 
 An eminent historian has said that the biosrra- 
 
 a 
 
 pher ought first to ascertain what the world did 
 for the man, and then what the man did for the 
 world. 
 
 In pursuance of this order, as indicated in the 
 introductory of this volume, I have endeavored to 
 show the reader how the influences of heredity 
 and environment on the gifted A. B. Brown, 
 helped him to attain, by successive gradations to 
 the synthesis of his development, as the devout 
 and scholarly Professor of Richmond College. It 
 now only remains to show, what return he has 
 made in contributing to the betterment of man- 
 kind. And in order to do this faithfully, it wdll 
 be necessary to take a view of the man as he 
 was — w^ith his peculiarities, his powers and his 
 influences — to make of his character, at least a 
 partial analysis. 
 
 It is to be regretted, that although he became 
 a leader in the intellectual world in which he 
 moved, and was one of those representative men
 
 292 LIFE OF A. n. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 of which Macanhay speaks, who occupy the front 
 rank of the age — he did not leave to posterity 
 any memorial of his genius, save his addresses 
 and sermons, some of which appear* in this volume. 
 His power for good was so thoroughly the out- 
 come of his character, that in order to estimate 
 the value of the former, we must understand the 
 latter. 
 
 Of the dual nature God gives to man — the ma- 
 terial and the spiritual — Dr. Brown possessed much 
 more of the latter than the former. The one was 
 out of all proportion to the other. If his ability 
 had been gauged by his pounds avoirdupois, it 
 would have been below mediocrity. 
 
 In stature, he was tall and slender. His face 
 rather dark in complexion, and rugged in his fea- 
 tures, Avas ridged with marks of intense thought- 
 fulness. His dark auburn hair displayed few 
 streaks of gray, though his thin beard was tipped 
 with snow. His movements were remarkably 
 nervous and decisive. To strangers, his appearance 
 was not attractive ; but to those who once felt tlie 
 tlnill of his power and the gentleness of his char- 
 acter, there was always a spiritual beauty in his 
 countenance. 
 
 The late Dr. Richard Fuller said of a distin- 
 guished Southern preacher, that God gave him a
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 293 
 
 great soul, and he gave him a great body to keep 
 it ill. The same could not have been said of Dr. 
 Brown. There seems to be truth in the remark 
 of Dr. Puryear, that his spiritual forces were con- 
 sumed by the spiritual fires of his being. Burns, 
 Byron, and Poe degraded their higher natures by 
 yielding to the sordid cravings of their lower ; but 
 Dr. Brown sacrificed his body at the altar of the 
 soul. 
 
 In manner, he was exceedingly courteous and 
 respectful to all — notably so to those who were his 
 inferiors. He had a cordial grasp and a hearty 
 shake for the child or the student, as well as the 
 professor. His sense of honor was exceptionally 
 high ; and in early years he could not brook the 
 want of it in others. His nature was full of sen- 
 sibility and tenderness ; his heart and purse were 
 ever open to the sorrowing and unfortunate. He 
 could be melted to tears, in recounting the evi- 
 dences of God's favor to him, in reciting a favorite 
 poem, or in listening to a plea for help from the 
 worn missionary, whose labors he so well appreci- 
 ated. It is said of him, that once in his English 
 class, while reading of the treatment of King Lear 
 by his children, he was so overcome with emotion, 
 that he had to stop. 
 
 Underlying the colossal structure of character
 
 294 LIFE OF A. 13. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 that Dr. Brown erected for himself, were the basal 
 stones of simplicity, transparency, and honesty of 
 pnrpose. llis habits as a young man were above 
 reproach, and when he attained to old age, he had 
 no bitter memories. Blameless and guileless, none 
 could ever accuse him of double-dealing. He 
 sometimes stumbled and fell into pitlalls, but it 
 only made him the more watchful afterwards. 
 
 Conspicuous in the galaxy of his shining traits, 
 was his humility. He felt himself the least among 
 his brethren. 
 
 It seems strange that a man of such wondrous 
 gifts and graces did not receive a more grateful 
 reception at the hands of the w^orld. This, per- 
 haps, is explained in part by his lack of self-assert- 
 iveness. It was impossible for him to enter the 
 unseemly struggle for place. Had he courted pro- 
 motion, he might have won it : though it must 
 have been at the expense of that unsullied modesty 
 which w^as one of the crowns of his life. Then, 
 too, he was always ready to sacrifice himself in 
 the interest of others. At one time, he w\as prom- 
 inently mentioned in connection with a vacant 
 professorship in one of the most distinguished 
 institutions in the State. The position was pecu- 
 liarly attractive to him, and he did not disguise 
 his hope of securing it. It came to pass, that he
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 295 
 
 learned that a beloved friend of his was an appli- 
 cant for the same position, and instantly he deter- 
 mined to withdraw, and gave his influence in favor 
 of the appointment of his friend. He was an 
 expert and an enthusiast in advancing others to 
 honor; but he never understood the art of pro- 
 moting himself. 
 
 To give the reader a fair estimate of Dr. Brown's 
 mental capacity, is a task far beyond the ability 
 of the writer, yet something must be undertaken 
 in that direction. He was liberally endowed with 
 mind. The intellect, the sensibilities and the 
 will seemed to exist in perfect harmony, and 
 almost equal proportions. Some men are gifted 
 in one or two of these departments ; few in all. 
 And in intellect itself, when we come to analyze 
 it, we find it difiicult to decide whether he was 
 greatest in perception, reason, memory or imagina- 
 tion. Gifted above many, his great intellect 
 reached out in every direction for mental pabulum 
 — upon which to subsist. He developed sym- 
 metrically and rapidly, but not without great 
 hindrances. 
 
 It is said of Ruskin that he was born in wealth, 
 trained in the best schools and colleges, and that 
 he traveled all over the country by rail and in 
 carriages, visiting cathedrals, palaces, etc.; and
 
 296 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 living too, at a time of a great art revival, he 
 would have been grossly culpable if he had failed 
 to be a master in his chosen profession. Not so with 
 Dr. Brown, though helped in early life by a self- 
 sacrificing father to a good academic training, he 
 struggled hard to obtain the means for a college 
 and university course. 
 
 By dint of energy, and the vigor of his faculties 
 he became one of the most profound scholars of 
 the age. The theoretical question discussed by 
 Sir Wm. Hamilton, as to whether ''Truth" or 
 "Search after truth," yielded the most happiness 
 was ever a moot point with him. The greater 
 part of his studying was done after he left school; 
 he was a student all of his life. There prevails 
 among the immature, and uncultured, and with 
 some degree of plausibility, the idea, that the 
 beginning of life is for acquiring, and the latter 
 part for enjoying what has been acquired, and 
 for dispensing it to others. While this is a truth, 
 it is only a partial truth; the whole of this life 
 is but a preparation for another ; time is but a 
 training-school for eternity. Yie are all pupils in 
 the school of providence. But few recognize this 
 fact; and fewer still, put Ibrth the special efforts 
 to make constant advancement in every depart- 
 ment of being. We cannot repair, except to a
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 297 
 
 limited extent the constant wastes of the physical 
 constitution, but we can make real progress in 
 the mental and spiritual, through the whole pro- 
 gress of the journey. Dr. Brown in one of his 
 sermons quoted as his talisman, the words of 
 Paul, "For I count not myself as having attained." 
 His wife says of him that in their early married 
 life, he was such a constant student, she would 
 sometimes take his books from him ; but she soon 
 found that his habit of study was so essential to 
 his happiness, that she ceased to attempt an 
 estrangement between him and his books. When 
 he had no new books, he reread his old ones. 
 During the war, he lost the most valuable books 
 of his library — the very cream of it. This was a 
 great sorrow to him, but he said that it became 
 the means of his being more familiar with those 
 he had left home. 
 
 His craving for knowledge knew no bounds. 
 He loved only what was pure. He carefully 
 avoided the sensational and unhealthy. His love 
 of books grew in intensity; he never ceased to 
 enjoy the works of the ancient writers, and was as 
 conversant Avith their views as with many of the 
 authors of the present day, Cicero, Homer, Thu- 
 cydides and Plato, were familiar friends. Those 
 who have read the addresses in this volume must
 
 298 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD, 
 
 have noticedj'the ease with which he makes classi- 
 cal quotations. 
 
 Dr. BroAvn was not a poet, but if he had lived 
 in the age of poetry, it is likely that he would 
 have composed blank verse. Some of his sublimest 
 strains were poetry in all, except "poetry's metri- 
 cal music." His vivid imagination, his delicate 
 sensibilit}^, his sjanpathy with nature in all her 
 moods, his keen appreciation of "the true, beau- 
 tiful and good " — his classical learning and great 
 genius, would have needed only the touch of 
 inspiration to make him a great poet. His love 
 of nature was marked ; especially of mountain 
 scenery. Not many years before he died, he went 
 again to his old mountain home in Amherst. Tlie 
 friend who accompanied him said, that it was 
 with difficulty he could get him to proceed on the 
 journey, that he would halt the driver at almost 
 every turn of the road to get another mountain 
 view. He said that Dr. Brown's joy was so great 
 on seeing his native hills again, that he exclaimed, 
 "If I could live among these grand old mountains, 
 I would live ten years longer." Though he was a 
 master, he counted himself a student. 
 
 Stone, the celebrated mathematician, was the 
 son of the gardener of the Duke of Argyle. When 
 he was asked how he acquired so much of mathe-
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 299 
 
 matics and of the languages, with such poor oppor- 
 tunities, he said, " that he knew the alphabet, 
 and that all the knowledge he gained afterwards, 
 was a natural sequence." Chatterton said, " God 
 made men's arms long enough to reach everything 
 in the world." The alphabet is the key that 
 unlocks the storehouse of all knowledge. Given 
 it, and the love of truth, with a steady industry, 
 and success is assured. Dr. Brown was an inde- 
 fatigable worker — but his mental labor was no 
 drudgery, it was one of the sources of his happi- 
 ness. He was a great lover of poetry, and entered 
 into the conceptions of the author w^ith a keen 
 relish. Milton, seems to have been his most 
 admired poet. He loved to follow him in his 
 loftiest flights, and gaze with him from the watch- 
 towers of human learning, upon the rich fields of 
 truth spread out to view. It was his custom to 
 read at family worship on Christmas day — the 
 " Ode on the Nativity of Christ." 
 
 As a metaphysician. Dr. Brown stood without a 
 peer among his brethren. He loved to grapple 
 abstruse questions — to cast them into the crucible 
 of his own master mind, subjecting them to the 
 most severe analysis — passing by the dross of 
 error for the refinings of truth, which, when ob- 
 tained, were like ingots of gold, that would pass
 
 300 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 current anywhere in the marts of thought-exchange. 
 With the ancient systems of philosophy he was 
 wonderfull}^ conversant. Not less so Avith the new 
 doctrines of infidelity. He was invited once to 
 make reply to a certain blatant, notorious public 
 lecturer. He armed himself for the task, but on 
 account of the feebleness of his health, he begged 
 off from the performance of it. Concerning evolu- 
 tion, he used to say, that there was not a particle 
 of proof given in its favor; that it was an unproved 
 proposition, and not a demonstration; and that 
 the dogmatic assertions of the evolutionist prove 
 nothing. 
 
 He was greatly distinguished as a metaphysi- 
 cian, but not less so as a linguist. Without the 
 aid of a teacher, he learned the languages of 
 German, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Anglo-Saxon, Spanish, 
 and Italian; having learned French, Latin, and 
 Greek at school. He read in the different tongues, 
 not only to learn the construction of the language, 
 but to get at the literature of the people. He 
 loved language, and was an accomplished philolo- 
 gist. It was a favorite pastime with him, when 
 his children would gather around him in his library, 
 to interest them in some word, and occupy them 
 in tracing its etymology. He knew the laws gov- 
 erning all languages — how that they proceeded
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 301 
 
 from the same roots — and it was an easy matter 
 for him to learn a new one. The Italian language 
 was the last one learned. The writer remembers 
 to have seen him, a few weeks before his death, 
 reading from an Italian Pilgrim's Progress. He 
 remarked that he had learned the language with- 
 out the use of a dictionary, and when one was 
 offered him, he replied, " No, thank you ! I do 
 not need it now." One of the finest novels ever 
 written, "I Promessi Sposi," was taken from the 
 library to be carried to him, when it was found 
 that he was too sick to read it. His taste was so 
 discriminating, that his judgment on books was 
 often sought. 
 
 It is said that when his brother Joseph, who 
 had decided literary tastes, would visit him in his 
 country home, it Avas his wont to read Hebrew 
 and Greek with him, under the shade of the Avide- 
 spreading oaks. He loved to get the truth in its 
 "unshrunken roundness," as he expressed it. He 
 took great pains to instruct his children in the 
 languages. He did not often trust them to any 
 one else ; at least till he had thoroughly grounded 
 them in the rudiments. It is said that those he 
 first instructed in Latin, never had any trouble 
 with it afterwards. 
 
 For mathematics, he had special aptitude and
 
 302 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 peculiar fondness. He loved so much to solve 
 difficult problems, that he would get the students 
 to give him their originals, that he might have the 
 pleasure of working them. He turned to mathe- 
 matics for recreation when tired of other mental 
 labor. His mind went through the steps so rapidly 
 and so naturally, that it was with difficulty one 
 could be made to believe that in mathematics he 
 was not a specialist. It had such a fascination for 
 him, that sometimes he would work on a difficult 
 problem far into the night before being aware of 
 it. It was his delight to assist the struggling stu- 
 dent. If he did not ask his help, he would seek 
 him out, and offer it. In his last sickness, he sent 
 for one of the boys he had been accustomed to 
 help, to come to his chamber, that he might assist 
 him in his lessons. 
 
 If we would probe to the bottom of a man's 
 character, we must draw aside the curtain, and 
 study him in the retirement of his home. There 
 he drops the arts and conventionalities of society, 
 and reveals his inner life. In that realm he is the 
 master ; and masters wear no masks. In his de- 
 portment toward wife and child he will inevitably 
 expose the reigning elements of his character. If 
 he is gentle toward his inferiors, patient in the 
 midst of the jars and disorders of the home ; if he
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 303 
 
 is strong even when chafing under the cruelties of 
 unprincipled men, and if he is cheerful under losses 
 and afflictions, we know at once that the spirit 
 that is in him was born from above. 
 
 Mr. John B. Williams, a ministerial student at 
 Richmond College, who boarded in his family a 
 part of two years, says : 
 
 Dr. Brown was one of the most indulgent fathers I ever 
 knew. He was gentle and affectionate, both to his children 
 and his wife, whom he so tenderly loved. He spent much 
 of his time in prayer. It was no uncommon thing to see 
 him in his library on his knees. It was his custom to pray 
 at family worship for his absent children by name. At 
 such times he never prayed for himself The hour for 
 worship Avas always an interesting one. He would read 
 the text in different languages — sometimes Greek, sometimes 
 Hebrew, Latin, or French — and would usually comment 
 on it as he read. 
 
 The servants always liked him. He never allowed any- 
 thing to excite or worry him. He lived above the ordinary 
 frictions that beset household machinery. An old colored 
 woman who had lived with him a long time, said the reason 
 why " Marse Abram," never troubled about anything was that 
 thoughts were " way up yonder." He seemed to find most ot 
 his enjoyment in spiritual and mental exercises. My life in 
 his home was a most happy one, and his help to me was 
 invaluable, both as a friend and teacher.
 
 304 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 Thanks are clue to Miss Linda Brown, Dr. 
 Brown's eldest daughter, an accomplished gradu- 
 ate of the Richmond Female Institute, for valuable 
 services rendered the writer in collecting details, 
 arranging manuscript, etc. She was much in the 
 companionship of her father, often reading for 
 and studying with him, and the j^icture she pre- 
 sents of his home-life is not in the least overdrawn. 
 Eead what she says : 
 
 What my father said of his father's devotion to the interests 
 of his children, can be said most truthfully of him. He was 
 as kind and sympathetic as a mother, and at the same time 
 exacted implicit obedience. He rebuked very sharply at 
 times, but I think he never had to correct one of his children 
 for disobedience. Never Avas a father more tenderly loved 
 and revered. He used to tell with a great deal of fatherly 
 pride about his eldest son, Carson. When he was only a little 
 over three years old he would take him out to look at the 
 new building at Hollins, but during its erection he was called to 
 Lynchburg, and told Carson not to go near the building whilst 
 he was gone. So the little fellow would go and sit on the 
 stile, which separated the yard from the new building, and 
 watch the men at work, but could not be induced to go out in 
 the yard. One of the workmen told father on his return, that 
 he tried his best to persuade him to come over near the house, 
 but he would only shake his head and say, " No, papa said 
 I must not go there whilst he was gone."
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 305 
 
 He enjoyed having his children around him ; and even when 
 they were quite small, preferred sitting in mother's room to 
 occupying his study. Their talk and noise never disturbed 
 him as long as they were in a good humor; but crying he 
 never allowed. He thought fretting was injurious and useless : 
 and we knew by the time we were two years old that he 
 wouldn't stand that. 
 
 He was a great lover of nature, and would take his children 
 to walk, when he would call their attention to the beauties of 
 nature, to the forms of the leaves of the different trees, and to 
 the flowers ; also to the animals. 
 
 He would take part in their games, one of which he was 
 particularly fond, called Logomachy, or word making. 
 
 He was considered as homely by most people, but such was 
 the admiration that his children had for him, they could not bear 
 to hear any one say that their father was not goodlooking. 
 
 Father was at home with all the poets, and must have read 
 a great deal of poetry in his earlier days, as he repeated from 
 memory, very frequently, line after line, and was very happy 
 in his quotations. 
 
 His children thought he had a splendid voice, and loved 
 dearly to hear him sing. He used to sing some of Burns' 
 national songs with so much pathos, it was impossible to listen 
 to him and not be melted to tears. One of his favorites was 
 
 "Scots wha hae wi' "Wallace bled, 
 Scots wham Bruce has aften led, 
 . Welcome to your gory bed. 
 Or to victory," etc. 
 
 In this connection, it must be stated that he 
 always sang in the morning, on awaking, some
 
 306 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 familiar hymn. It was usually a hymn of thanks- 
 giving and praise. He was very happy in his 
 home-life. His children were named Alexander 
 Carson, Willie, Wimbish, Eddie, Linda, Fannie, 
 Luther, and Minnie. Devoted to his wife, always 
 ready to tell of her good qualities, he gave her the 
 courtly attention of a lover. lie desired no affilia- 
 tion with the details of housekeeping. And it was 
 a blessed relief to him that his wife relieved him 
 of all care in that line. He furnished the means, 
 but she invested it. She was the financier of the 
 household. He was so much occupied with the 
 '' pursuit after truth," that the making of money 
 was a matter of secondary importance to him. 
 Gold had less glitter for him than any one I ever 
 saw. Like Agassiz, he was content for others to 
 make it. He said, not long before he died, in a 
 public speech, near his home, " that the lines had 
 fallen to him in pleasant places." He rejoiced 
 that he had never had a death in his family. He 
 looked for the most of his earthly enjoyment 
 within the folds of his own family circle. He 
 never liked to have his children stay long away 
 from home. One of his daughters was pressed to 
 take a position to teach, and when asked as to his 
 views about it, said, " Why, my child, do you want 
 to go ; are you tired of home ?" No doubt he felt, 
 at tim3s, the tightening hold of disease on him,
 
 HIS CHAEACTER. 307 
 
 and that his time with his family was limited, and 
 appreciated them all the more on that account. 
 
 It is a matter of regret that so few of Dr. 
 Brown's letters have been gotten. These are only 
 given as specimens. 
 j^ ,y ^ Peytonsburg, July 10th, 1883. 
 
 I congratulate you on your marriage ! All that 
 I know of your wife is altogether in her favor. Bring her 
 down to see us as soon as possible. Assure her that my son's 
 wife shall be treated as my daughter. 
 
 You know how I have rejoiced that my family circle has 
 so long been unbroken by death. You know, too, with what 
 reluctance I have submitted to the partial relaxing of home 
 ties by the unavoidable separations which business necessities 
 have required. Please write to us frequently, and visit us as 
 often as you can. I have long prayed for you as a member 
 of my own household absent on business. I shall not cease to 
 pray for you, but you have now your own household, and 
 must rear your own altar. You will need prayer and Chris- 
 tian principle to sustain you in properly discharging your new 
 duties. May you be a faithful and affectionate husband. 
 
 * ^ * :^ ^ :{(. :^ 
 
 Be sure to bring Lillie to see us as soon as you can make 
 an opportunity. Express my parental love to her. 
 Yours with unaltered and unalterable affection. 
 
 A. B. Brown. 
 
 Richmond, Va., March 26th, 1884. 
 My Dear Daughter : 
 
 I thank you sincerely for your truly filial 
 letter, and I welcome you most heartily into your new relation.
 
 308 LIFE OF A. B. BEOWN, T)D. LLI). 
 
 Eddie lias been a most dutiful son. Pie has in him, in large 
 measure, all the elements of the best of husbands. I im- 
 plicitly rely on your affection, your interest and your sound 
 discretion to aid in evoking and develoi)ing them. 
 
 Usually, and I suppose, altogether properly, the most inti- 
 mate relations of a young husband and wife are with the 
 wife's family. But you have no near relatives, and you will 
 naturally seek father and mother, sisters and brothers in my 
 family. I trust you will find them. 
 
 Tell Eddie, and ask him to inform Willie, that Carson is 
 suffering from rheumatism ; I hope not seriously, but I know 
 not to what extent. He is in solitude and his spirits are 
 probably low. I hope that they will keep themselves informed 
 about his condition. * * :^ H^ * 
 
 In conclusion, I hope you will win Eddie to a more pro- 
 nounced and decided Christian life. The elements of true 
 religion, I doubt not, are in him, but they have been less 
 active, certainly less manifest than I could wish them to be. 
 
 You and he would greatly delight us by an early visit. 
 Notify us of it, if you can; but if an opportunity suddenly 
 exhibits itself, be not afraid of taking us by surprise. 
 
 Your father, A. B. Brown. 
 
 It seems appropriate to introduce here the 
 subjoined paper from the Professor of Greek, 
 H. H. Harris, who is also the Chairman of the 
 Faculty of Richmond College. Among the many 
 friends of Dr. Brown, none knew him better or 
 enjoyed more of his friendship.
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 309 
 
 When Dr. Brown came to Charlottesville, in 1859, there 
 was in his congregation a certain University student, who was 
 a graduate in the school of Greek, and had pursued a course 
 of post-graduate study. The new pastor somehow heard of 
 the student, sought him out, and with complimentary allu- 
 sions to his supposed attainments, stated that he himself had 
 some little knowledge of Greek, but would like to refresh his 
 acquaintance and get up with any recent advances in philology. 
 The young collegian was highly flattered, and readily accepted 
 an invitation to spend an hour at the parsonage every Thurs- 
 day afternoon. 
 
 One of Plato's Dialogues — a grand discussion by the most 
 sublime of ancient philosophers — was selected to begin with, 
 and on the appointed day the student, having taken the pre- 
 caution to read over a few pages, went down with a comforta- 
 ble sense of his own importance. After a little pleasant 
 bantering as to whether teacher or pupil should begin the 
 recitation, the so-called teacher was induced to commence 
 turning the Greek into English. But stop a moment, a 
 question, presently another, and then another. " Why is this 
 tense used ? why this peculiar position ? what is the meaning 
 of this root, and what are its forms in the cognate tongues ? 
 Is this sound philosophy? what led Plato into it? how might 
 he have escaped? How does this form of expression com- 
 pare for excellence with Hamilton's close-fitting sesquipedalian 
 terms, or Kant's cumbrous compounds, or Cousin's clear-cut 
 analyses? " Such are samples of the queries which came thick 
 and fast. Some pertained to the usual lines of grammatical
 
 310 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 study, more "vvere entirely new, and many as bright and 
 startling as a flash of lightning. In less than half an hour, 
 as any one who knew the two men might have anticipated, the 
 relation of teacher and pupil was entirely reversed. The one 
 had, indeed, more familiarity with the forms, a sort of speaking 
 acquaintance, as it were, with the Greek words, and could make 
 fair progress on the beaten track of the scholastic curriculum ; 
 the other knew far better what he did know, saw deeper into 
 all he learned, and was ever leaping over the strait bounds of 
 school routine to revel in the rich fields of original research, 
 or roam the breezy heights of speculative thought. At the 
 end of the hour, not more than two dozen lines had been 
 read, but one of the two had learned a great deal. The 
 readings were kept up several months, and usually followed 
 by tea and an hour of social conversation. 
 
 Thus began a friendship which deepened and strengthened 
 through two years of residence together in Charlottesville, was 
 knit by occasional meetings after our paths diverged in 1861, 
 and ripened into intimacy when they brought us together again 
 alter twenty years. Then was true to the letter what Tennyson 
 had sung : 
 
 " The path by which we twain did go, 
 
 Which led by tracts that j)lcascd us well, 
 Through four sweet years arose and fell 
 From flower to flower, from snow to snow ; 
 
 " But where the path we walked began 
 To slant the fifth autumnal slope 
 As we descended, following Hope, 
 There sat the shadow feared of man."
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 311 
 
 We had met almost daily in his class-room or in mine, at 
 my home or at his, had sat together in the house of God and 
 taken sweet counsel about the common faith, and our com- 
 panionship ended only when it was my sad privilege to catch 
 his last words and close his glazing eyes. Ended? Nay, 
 rather was it not merely interrupted for a little while, 
 to be resumed in that true spiritual converse which as far 
 transcends the dreams we read in Plato as the dim starlight 
 of heathen hope is surpassed by the full-orbed rays of the 
 Sun of Righteousness ? 
 
 Others have written of Dr. Brown as a man, a citizen, a 
 Christian ; as scholar, and teacher, and preacher. My part 
 will be to add to the wreath a modest flower, by mentioning 
 some of his prominent characteristics as a personal friend. 
 They will be found worthy of all imitation. 
 
 First, then, he was critical. Some men cannot see either 
 faults in a friend, or excellencies in an opponent. Dr. Brown 
 saw both in every man. This will seem hardly credible to 
 many who enjoyed his acquaintance. They never heard him 
 speak ill of his neighbor; they never knew him to criticise. 
 But a moment's reflection on his keen insight and his judicial 
 habit will make it evident that he must have discerned in our 
 poor humanity weakness as well as strength, faults intermixed 
 Avith virtues. 
 
 That he entertained a real respect f<ir men whom he felt, 
 nevertheless, bound to oppose, and that he gave them full 
 credit, both for sense and for sincerity, was patent to all who 
 ever heard him in public debate or in private discussion. His
 
 312 LIFE OF A. B. BllOWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 uniform courtesy was phiiiily not the mere tinsel of external 
 and acquired politeness ; that would have been torn to shreds 
 by the impetuous torrent of his emotions. His p >liteness was 
 the sterling, hearty, Christian grace of esteeming others better 
 than himself. He always sought, and therefore always found, 
 good in everybody, and habitually talked rather about the 
 good than about the evil that might be with it. Like the 
 miner digging for gold, he allowed no shining grain to escape 
 his notice, but gave little heed to the sand or the mud in which 
 it was embedded. This it was that made his eulogies so appro- 
 priate and so satisfactory to friends, without the addition of 
 any flattery. 
 
 That he also saw the faults and foibles of his friends is 
 equally true. He did not talk about them to others, but to 
 themselves, on proper occasions ; and this so gently, that his 
 reproof was an "oil upon the head." When Aveakness or 
 mistake had caused a fall and made a wound in the character 
 of one he loved, he would not entrust it to the slow medication 
 of time, to leave an ugly scar ; nor would he plaster over the 
 surface, and expose the system to pysemia. With womanly 
 tenderness he probed to the bottom, poured in the healing 
 balm, and then closed the gash. Oh, for more of such friends, 
 able to see our faults, and yet not make them worse by rude 
 and painful prodding ; but to give us real help in getting rid 
 of them. 
 
 Secondly, he was sympathetic. With far more truth and 
 depth of meaning than Roscius could conceive, Dr. Brown 
 miuht have said : Homo sum et nil humanum a me alienum
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 313 
 
 puto. " I am a man, and nothing human count I as alien to 
 myself." No matter what his engagement, he was ready to 
 listen to a cry for help, and no matter what the trouble, he 
 could enter into it. What another might have laughed at as 
 weakness, he pitied, as being himself also weak. What to 
 another might have been unintelligible, and would therefore 
 seem imaginary, he could fully realize. His own lot was, in 
 some outward respects, a hard one ; sometimes misunderstood, 
 often unappreciated, never blessed with a competency of 
 worldly goods, always having to struggle, he was yet not at all 
 soured, but only led to driak deeper of the spirit of the Man 
 of Sorrows, and to become as many-sided in heart as he was 
 in mind. Few others who girded on the lamb-skin, as the 
 badge of a Free and Accepted Mason, ever learned more 
 fully, or practiced more completely, " the principles of our 
 order — friendship, morality and brotherly love." Few were 
 ever more ready to heed the signal of distress, in whatever 
 form or from whatever source it might come. 
 
 A touching testimony was borne to the universal love in 
 which he was held by the students of Richmond College. A 
 solemn stillness fell on all when the news of his unexpected 
 death spread through the halls. There were no sports, no 
 merry laughing for days ; but all spoke with teai'ful eyes and 
 bated breath, and all followed in sad procession to his burial, 
 each feeling that he had lost a personal friend. 
 
 Lastly, he was eminently helpful. This follows, of course, 
 from what has been said already. His purse, though never 
 Avell-filled, was never so empty that he would not relieve the
 
 314 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 bodily ^vants of the poor. In his pastorates his advice was 
 sought on all sorts of questions, and proved singularly valuable. 
 In the Faculty of the College there was no better adviser of 
 young men, in the perplexities that often involve them, nor 
 any more frequently called on for help out of difficulties with 
 a Latin construction, a Greek etymology, an equation in 
 conic sections, or a moot point in metaphysics; and the 
 aid he gave Avas free, and at the same time judicious and 
 helpful to a habit of self-reliant work. Nor was there any 
 other to whom his colleagues would apply with more free- 
 dom, or more certainty of valuable aid. One of them 
 used to say that he earned his salary, even if he had done 
 no teaching, simply by his constant stimulation of the other 
 professors. 
 
 But his chief delight, and his greatest excellence as a friend 
 was in helping any who might be clouded with fears about 
 their spiritual condition, or tossed with doubts about the 
 authority of revelation. Restless as the billows on the surface 
 of the ocean was his tireless activity of mind, running to every 
 zone, catching every breeze, washing every shore ; calm and 
 serene as its unshaken depths were the foundations of his 
 simple-hearted trust in Christ Jesus. From this standpoint 
 he marked the currents of opinion and estimated the 
 winds of doctrine, and so could point out a sure reck- 
 oning for the tempest-tossed, a firm anchorage for the 
 unstable. 
 
 Let me close by appropriating another canto from England's 
 laureate, in memoriam of his friend :
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 315 
 
 Heart affluence in discursive talk 
 
 From household fountains never dry ; 
 The critic clearness of an eye, 
 
 That saw through all the Muses' walk ; 
 
 Seraphic intellect and force 
 
 To seize and throw the doubts of man ; 
 Impassioned logic, which outran 
 
 The heaven in its fiery course; 
 
 High nature amorous of the good, 
 
 But touched with no ascetic gloom ; 
 
 And manhood fused with female grace 
 In such a sort the child would twine 
 A trustful hand, unasked, in thine, 
 
 And find his comfort in thy face ; 
 
 All these have been, and then mine eyes 
 Have looked on : if they looked in vain 
 My chance is greater who remain, 
 
 Nor let thy wisdom make me wise. 
 
 As a conversationalist, he was the charm of 
 the social circle; like Addison, he preferred to talk 
 to a single individual at a time ; but, like Dr. 
 Johnson, could entertain a room full, when drawn 
 out from his hiding-place. His conversation was 
 always instructive and suggestive, often gleaming 
 with bright flashes of wit, and sparkling with the 
 efflorescence of truth. If he was talking in a 
 room where there were other talkers, by degrees
 
 316 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 the liiini would subside, and he -would remain the 
 only speaker. At times he would become so 
 deeply absorbed in the topic under discussion, 
 as thought after thought would come trooping up^ 
 to his mind's eye, that he w^ould entirely forget 
 liis surroundings. After one of these intense 
 mental excitements, he would suddenly awake to 
 find that his extraordinary vehemence was an 
 occasion of merriment. Sometimes when he and 
 Professor Hart were on a high controversial tilt, in 
 the dining-hall of the Albemarle Institute, he 
 would pile his plate with biscuits, taking from 
 every servant that offered them ; and sometimes, 
 he would stop in the street with a friend, and 
 gesticulate in the most decisive manner, to the 
 amusement of passers-by. I never knew one to 
 be so completely the slave of thought as he was. 
 Rev. John B. Williams gives the foUow^ing inci- 
 dent which illustrates this fact : " The last time 
 the Dan River Association met with the Hunting 
 Creek Church in Halifax, Dr. Brow^n reached the 
 Church but a few minutes before the introductory 
 sermon was to be preached. It was soon ascer- 
 tained that the one appointed to preach the 
 sermon would not be present, and it was decided 
 to invite Dr. Brown to take his place. He tried, 
 .as usual, to show that almost any body suited
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 317 
 
 better than he did, but all in vain. At last he 
 consented, with the understanding that he should 
 be allowed time enough to take a little walk, 
 and collect his thoughts before the sermon. He 
 started, and while walking, was so absorbed in 
 his sermon, that he forgot where he was, and was 
 lost in the forest. Some of the brethren suspected 
 that to be the trouble and set out to look for him. 
 They soon found him and brought him back. He 
 walked right up in the pulpit, and preached one 
 of the finest sermons ever listened to." 
 
 The reader has had abundant evidence in the pre- 
 ceding pages, of Dr. Brown's ability as a preacher. 
 As a theologian, he was sound and logical. He 
 was invaluable to the students of Richmond Col- 
 lege, who came under his influence. He sought 
 to indoctrinate them scripturally, and watched 
 them, as they entered on their fields of labor, with 
 eager interest. He believed in the Bible, in its 
 entirety, and had no sympathy with the new 
 theories that seek to mutilate it. Surely the tes- 
 timony of one so thoughtful, so discriminating, 
 and so learned, is not to be despised. The Bible 
 was his daily text-book, which he studied with 
 ever-increasing assiduity. He read it in many 
 languages, but his Greek Testament was perhaps 
 his favorite book. It is said that no accurate
 
 318 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 estimate can be made of the number of Greek 
 Testaments he wore out in his saddle pockets 
 when a country pastor. Ofttimes, just before 
 leaving home, he would put the different mem- 
 bers of the family to hunt up the etymology of 
 some word that he had neglected to search for in 
 the preparation of his sermon. 
 
 Read what Dr. Andrew Broaddus, of Caroline, 
 Va., whose style as a writer is as pure and trans- 
 parent as his own Christian character, says : 
 
 Dr. Brown's mind was pre-eminrutly analytical, and, at the 
 same time, it Avas distinguished by an acumen — a power of 
 penetration and a comprehensiveness of grasp uuequaled in 
 the ministry in any denomination in the State. 
 
 The thread of his reasoning followed a proposition with 
 unerring accuracy, through the most intricate windings of a 
 laljyrinth, to its ulliuiute conclusion, while, as he went on, his 
 keen eye penetrated to its depth every side passage that opened 
 into the main track of thought. He saw a subject in all its 
 bearings, and could trace it in all its connections, and for- 
 getting that others were not gifted with his intellectual acute- 
 ness, he sometimes pursued an abstruse line of reasoning along 
 which many of his hearers could not follow him. His style 
 Avas eminently didactic. It was copious, but not diffuse ; 
 elevated, but not stilted; accurate, but not formal. Public 
 speakers maybe divided into tliree classes: first, those who, 
 while speaking are thinking only of themselves — who are all
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 319 
 
 the time sayiug to themselves, " Didn't they think that was 
 sublime!" "They must have regarded that as very eloquent;" 
 " They cannot but think I am a great wit," and so on. Then, 
 there are those who think only of the effect of what they are 
 saying on their hearers, and who are constantly asking, in 
 their own minds, " Will they accept that truth?" " Will they 
 be convinced by that argument?" "Will they be moved by 
 that appeal ?" etc. Then, again, there are those who become 
 so absorbed in the subjects they are discussing, that they 
 are rendered almost entirely oblivious of their hearers, and of 
 their surroundings. This was frequently the case with Robert 
 Hall, and I think, not uufrequently the case with Dr. Brown. 
 Though he was very much annoyed by any disturbance in the 
 congregation, yet, when the people were orderly and attentive 
 he sometimes became so swallowed up by his subject, as to 
 forget where he was, and what he was doing. On one occa- 
 sion I saw him, while preaching, come from behind the desk 
 and stand in front of it on the narrow moulding at its base, 
 holding on to the desk behind him with both hands, so as to 
 keep from falling, and continuing to preach as if he had been 
 standing on the floor of the pulpit. 
 
 In character and deportment. Dr. Brown was the most 
 unassuming man of prominence I ever knew. He always 
 took the "lowest room," and hence his brethren always 
 delighted to urge him to "go up higher." He never lost the 
 engaging simplicity of childhood, and of him it might be said 
 as truthfully as of any one the writer has ever known, " behold, 
 an Israelite iudeed, in whom there is no guile." It is thought
 
 320 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 by some, that superior intellectual gifts are usually coupled 
 with a cold heart ; that the light of the intellect dazzles, but 
 does not warm. If this be generally true (and on that point 
 I here express no opinion), Dr. Brown's case certainly formed 
 a marked exception. His heart was as warm as his intellect 
 was brilliant. His hearty grasp of the hand and his cordial 
 words of greeting furnished an index of his genial, loving 
 nature. A lady of my acquaintance, who is herself adorned 
 with no ordinary attractions of person, mauneis, mind and 
 heart, says she always liked to meet Dr. Brown on the street, 
 because, instead of bowing or lifting his hat, as he passed on, 
 after the manner of most town-people, he stopped, and, seizing 
 her hand in his cordial grasp, he accosted her with a beaming 
 smile and pleasant words of greeting. 
 
 In intellect and heart, in motive and aim, in character and 
 conduct, Dr. Brown was a man among a thousand. 
 
 A. B. 
 
 Spakta, Va., December 23. 
 
 He aimed at thoroughness in everything he 
 undertook. His own thoughts, though fresh and 
 suggestive, had to be supported by undisputed 
 authority. On this account his sermons abounded 
 with gems of thought and vivid illustrations of the 
 classic and recondite order. Prof Hart says his 
 imagination was his highest gift. Certain it is, that 
 his thoughts were often lit up by brilliant imagery 
 that captivated the hearei by its forceful applica-
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 321 
 
 tion. One not accustomed to close consecutive 
 thinking might not always follow him entirely; 
 but he was so eminently a Gospel preacher, that 
 the listener was sure to gain real benefit. His 
 gestures, considered in the light of all prede- 
 termined lines of grace, were awkward — though 
 his most appreciative auditors thought them en- 
 tirely fitted to his thoughts. His appearance to 
 the stranger hearing him for the first time, might 
 not be specially attractive ; but to those who could 
 receive real truth as it came freshly hewn from 
 the quarry of God's providence and grace, no 
 greater intellectual and spiritual feast could be 
 offered than to listen to one of his thoroughly pre- 
 pared sermons. It is a matter of real regret that 
 none of his printed sermons or addresses do him 
 justice, for, though he wrote the line of thought he 
 was to follow, he always trusted to the inspiration 
 of the moment for help in his closing sentences ; 
 and often his best thoughts came to him fresh 
 while on his feet. 
 
 The following, furnished by the eloquent pas- 
 tor of Court Street Church, of Portsmouth, is a 
 brilliant extract from the celebrated Petersburg 
 speech : 
 
 Dr. Brown was not only a profound scholar, but he was a 
 profound thinker. He had mastered a vast army of other
 
 322 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 men's thoughts ; but he marshaled, and disciplined, and uni- 
 formed them by his own genius, so that when he led them 
 forth they were as irresistible as the Macedonian phalanx. 
 He discovered many solid and beautiful stones, out of which 
 he built the temple of his thoughts, but the architecture was 
 his own conception, and the polishing and carving were the 
 work of his own hands. 
 
 Dr. Brown was especially felicitous and impressive in his 
 illustrations. His illustrations were not only strikingly beau- 
 tiful, but they were clothed in the purest and grandest 
 language. One I remember with especial pleasure, as, at the 
 time I heard it drop from his lips, it thrilled me with an 
 ennobling emotion. He was delivering an address on the work 
 of the State Mission Board, before the General Association of 
 Virginia, during its session in the city of Petersburg, in 1871. 
 The idea he desired to impress upon his brethren was that of 
 mutual support. The missionaries were at the front; those of 
 us in the rear should freely give them our support, and he 
 said: "Mr. President — I suppose the battle of Gettysburg 
 decided the fate of the Confederacy. At the time that 
 Pickett's Division made its splendid charge, the angel of 
 history hovered over the scene to write down, a nation is born; 
 but the division which was to support Pickett's failed to 
 respond, and the broken squadrons of the Northern army 
 rallied, and plucked from their hands their hard-earned 
 victory ; and that angel turned away with tears of iron, and 
 
 with a pen of fate, wrote, the lost cause." 
 
 A. E. Owen.
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 323 
 
 But the best has not been told. His strength 
 lay in his inner life. His soul drank deep and 
 copious draughts from the well of salvation. He 
 was not only a Christian in name, but a living 
 embodiment of the religion of our Lord. He spent 
 much of his time in prayer. It was no unusual 
 thing for one of his familj^ to enter his library and 
 find him on his knees. The influence of his piety 
 pervaded the household, calming and subduing all. 
 It is indeed rare to see intellectual and spiritual 
 attainments existing in the same individual in 
 equal proportions. Those who knew him best, 
 hardly knew which to admire most, his mighty, 
 ripened intellect, or his devout, unselfish spirit. 
 The one heightened the other. Hugh Miller says 
 that the literary world would never have known 
 a John Bunyan if his religious emotions had not 
 been so powerfully stirred. Activity of religious 
 feelings quickens intellectual activity. 
 
 Col. Thomas J. Evans, one of Richmond's most 
 popular lawyers, writes of him in the church and 
 home. It is a loving tribute from one of his best- 
 loved friends : 
 
 Some men are great ouly ou great occasions and on great 
 subjects. Dr. Brown was great on these occasions, and on 
 what are considered small, as well. 
 
 This paper will treat of him briefly — and, oh, how imper-
 
 324 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. ' 
 
 feotly — in the Sunday-school, in the pew, in the social circle, 
 and in his liorae. 
 
 Great man as he was, he regarded it no condescension to 
 teach a class of young men in the Sunday-school. Always 
 punctual in his attendance, his class followed his example. It 
 is no exaggeration to say, that no class ever had better 
 instruction. 
 
 He was regularly in his pew, and joined heartily in all the 
 public exercises of the church. No better listener was ever 
 seen in the church. He seemed to drink in everything that 
 was said and done, from the giving of the notices to the bene- 
 diction, inclusive. While others criticised, he always found 
 something good in the sermon, and it seemed a pleasure to 
 him to speak of that good. In going down the aisle, after the 
 congregation was dismissed, he has been often heard, in a short 
 sentence, to make a most valuable application of some point 
 made by the preacher. Yes, in going down the aisle! It was 
 not his habit, as the manner of some is, to rush out of the 
 church, as if anxious to get rid of the preacher, the people. 
 and the house of God. No! He delighted to linger awhile, 
 and then walk slowly down ; stopping, now and then, and 
 shaking the hands of the brethren and sisters, and speaking 
 words of kindness to them. 
 
 His contributions to the church, and the various boards 
 and organizations connected with it, were systematic and 
 liberal ; and whenever the public collection, for general or 
 extra purposes, was taken, he never allowed the basket to pass 
 by him unnoticed. Though not blessed with wealth, he was
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 325 
 
 ever generous in his gifts. The last act of his life, in' the 
 House of God, was a generous gift. 
 
 In the social circle he was charming. Here, as in church, 
 he was a good listener, never monopolizing the conversation. 
 When drawn out, however, he was a wonderful talker. He 
 was not a speech-maker in conversation ; he talked. Full of 
 information and original thought, he never failed to interest 
 and instruct any company of which he formed a part. The 
 writer of this humble tribute remembers to have been in a 
 social gathering, a few years ago, at which there were present 
 two professors from the Theological Seminary (then at Green- 
 ville), two professors from Richmond College, three pastors of 
 Richmond, and one pastor from South Carolina, all of them 
 good talkers. Di\ Brown took part in the conversation. He 
 had to leave earlier than the others, and after he left the 
 opinion was universally exjDressed that he was head and 
 shoulders above them all in conversational power. 
 
 He enjoyed a joke, even if told on himself. The following 
 was told on him in a small company at his own house, at Avhich 
 he laughed heartily, and said the old sister was right. He had 
 preached for the congregation of another denomination in 
 Richmond, The people were greatly pleased with the dis- 
 course, and as they came out of the house were speaking 
 admiringly of it. On the side walk, just at the church door, 
 some ladies stopped and were praising the effort of the preacher. 
 A young sister said to an older one, " Was not that a power- 
 ful sermon ? " The response was, " Yes, powerful long." 
 
 He Avas remarkably well posted about public men and pub-
 
 326 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 lie measures, and took pleasure in talking about them to 
 his friends in the private circle. Had he been in Congress 
 he could have discussed, with credit to himself and profit 
 to the country, the tariff or any other revenue question, 
 or public measure, with Tucker, or Randall, or Sherman, 
 or Beck. 
 
 In his home he "was the Christian patriarch, ruling and 
 reigning with love and intelligence. He was a pattern of a 
 Christian husband and father. He regarded the hearth-stone 
 as the corner-stone of the commonwealth. Others besides his 
 immediate family often enjoyed his home. He was "given to 
 hospitality." He greatly enjoyed the presence of a few 
 friends at his table, which never groaned with a profusion of 
 viands, but displayed frugality and plenty, dispensed with a 
 hearty and unostentatious generosity. 
 
 He enjoyed his friends. But, oh ! how his friends enjoyed him. 
 The little company would retire to his study, (he was not much 
 of a parlor entertainer,) and there around the cheerful fire 
 draw him out in conversation. It was interesting to see him 
 smoke his pipe, which he did most awkwardly. It was edify- 
 ing and interesting to hear his words, which were well-chosen 
 and flowed freely. He never gave his views upon subjects 
 with which he was not familiar. On these, he would seek the 
 views of others. On a subject which he had mastered, he 
 would go to the very bottom roots, however far below the 
 surface — give us the trunk, then the branches, then the 
 leaves, and the blossoms and the fruit. If the wit and wisdom 
 of Dr. Brown given to such friends on such occasions, co"uld
 
 HIS CHAlRACTER. 327 
 
 have been published, we should have a book superior to that 
 of Sydney Smith. 
 
 His library was not large, but was well selected, and the 
 books inside and outside showed that they had been handled 
 and read. He was once asked how it was that he had so 
 small a library. He replied, "I never buy books to ornament 
 the shelves, and I have more books now than I can read with 
 profit to myself or benefit to others. The truth is, that more 
 than half of the books that are published ought to be burned. 
 They are either useless or hurtful ; and yet if men would read 
 even half the books they have they would be wiser if not 
 better men." 
 
 Dr. Brown was a Free Mason, and was not ashamed of it. 
 He was once asked by a distinguished DD. of his Church — 
 " Brown, how is it that a man of your good sense can belong 
 to the Masons ? " He answered, " Doctor, the feelings of my 
 heart prompt me to unite with any organization of my fellow- 
 men which has for its object the amelioration of human 
 suffering, the cultivation of fraternity among the human 
 race, the elevation of human character, and which teaches 
 
 and practices lessons of charity." 
 
 Thomas J. Evans. 
 Richmond, Va., March 4, 1886. 
 
 In reckoning the work wrought by Dr. Brown, 
 we cannot call to our aid any statistical record 
 which he ever kept. He never kept a diary, and 
 rarely furnished for the press any record of his 
 work. How many sermons he preached, how
 
 328 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 many souls were led to Christ by his ministrations, 
 how many saints were inspired with loftier pur- 
 poses, how many ministers were quickened by 
 contact with him, in all the powers of their being, 
 how many youthful minds were kindled into noble 
 aspirations, and how many scholarly men were 
 cheered in their studies by the force of his exam- 
 ple — these are questions which it would be vain 
 to attempt to answer. 
 
 Dr. Brown was not a pushing, noisy man. He 
 did his part restfully, and not under the whip of 
 popular a})plause. In estimating his contribution 
 to the improvement of his race, we must look 
 mainly to his character. He set in motion influ- 
 ences which, while silent, were potent and undy- 
 ing. If it is impossible to estimate witli statistical 
 accuracy the actual amount of work which he 
 performed, it is yet more impossible to calculate 
 the influences which silently flowed from his 
 strono; aiid well-rounded life. He wrouorht on the 
 character of his fellow-men with a power, so gentle 
 and silent that not even those who felt it knew 
 its full worth. He always seemed to be uncon- 
 scious of his own strength. He retired from the 
 most thrilling performances of his public life 
 seemingly insensible to the impression he had 
 produced on others ; and that too while they were
 
 HIS CHAKACTER. 329 
 
 completely overmastered by his power. If he 
 was oblivious of his strength at his greatest 
 moments, it is easy to believe that he was utterly 
 forgetful of those gracious influences which went 
 out from him like convection currents from a 
 heated body. He was not a popular leader. In 
 public enterprises, he rarely took a conspicuous 
 part. 
 
 He was too sensitive to endure the clash of 
 high debate, and was wanting in that art which 
 is so often found among men ambitious to lead. 
 His strength was in his simplicity and honesty of 
 nature. Like a holy Magnet he attracted to 
 himself the best elements of the community in 
 which he lived, and breathed upon them his own 
 excellent spirit. Weak men drew near to him 
 because they instinctively felt that he could love 
 them. He had so much of the Saviour's kindli- 
 ness of temper and openness of manner that they 
 believed in him with a sort of transforming faith. 
 Bad men were afraid of him, they knew that in 
 him thc}^ could find no sympathy with their evil 
 ways. And so it came to pass that his whole life 
 w^as a sermon — inspiring the good, pouring oil 
 into wounded hearts, and giving rebuke to sin. 
 
 What he did was well done. He never slighted 
 the smallest task. Even Avith ambition as his
 
 330 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 incentive, ho always struck high, but with the 
 love of Christ as his constraining force, he always 
 did his work with thorough fidelity. 
 
 He made the most of himself, and did his best 
 for Christ. In that small circle of God's faithful 
 ones he had a place. For two scores of years he 
 stood at his post with quivering nerve and weary 
 limb, waiting for his Lord's coming. When at last 
 the King's chariot suddenly appeared, he entered 
 it with joy, and went up to his crown.
 
 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 331 
 
 SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE BAPTIST 
 GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF VIRGINIA, 
 
 At Culpepee, on June 1, 1876. 
 
 The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few ; pray ye, 
 therefore, the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into 
 his vineyard. — 3Iatt. ix. 37, 3S. 
 
 Leaving to the more vigorous and the more adventurous, 
 heights inviting rather to the tourist than to the husbandman, 
 I limit myself to-day to the humbler field of Christian thought, 
 which has been longest the scene of fertilizing culture. This 
 field still promises far the most abundant and the mo§t useful 
 products. I should, in vain, solicit the aid of the Graces in 
 my unambitious task. Genius could, indeed, win them from 
 their favorite haunts in woods and mountains to attend and 
 smile upon the useful. For Virgil, after sporting with them 
 awhile in their resorts, persuaded them to follow him to the 
 theatre of humble toil, and to bestow on the tillage of lands, 
 the tendance of flocks, and the rearing of bees, an elegance 
 unrivalled in ancient literature. And the Christian utilities 
 have often furnished them not only an infinitely worthier, but 
 a not less happy employment. Many precious Christian 
 Georgics, unsurpassed models of reason and sentiment, of 
 diction and rhythm, have shown every excellence of composi- 
 tion to be equally at home amid the very commonplaces and 
 simplicities of the faith. And as I go into my labor, uncheered
 
 332 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 by the company of the Graces, I cannot allege, in apology for 
 their uukinduess to the workman, that they disdain the work. 
 
 Our passage follows as a change — not a mixture — of figures 
 on a striking delineation by the great painter of the chosen 
 race as a flock in part misled, in part abandoned by incom- 
 petent and unfaithful shepherds, scattered and torn and 
 famishing. This vivid and tcjuching picture did not ade- 
 quately represent that aspect of His work which was then 
 most deeply moving the Saviour's heart ; its pressing, imperi- 
 ous urgency. The hour on which the Son of God had been 
 at least four thousand years converging all the arrangements 
 of Providence was at hand. The zeal of the Lord's house, 
 which had been burning in the bosom of the Son of Mary 
 with steadily increasing glow from its repression or deferment 
 in his twelfth year, was now at its full intensity. His Father's 
 business was ripe, ready, clamorous. And the richest of all 
 imaginations, which certainly manifested its superiority over 
 every other imagination in didactic precision even more than 
 in grandeur, painted it as a white harvest waving its invitations 
 to the sickle. By this image, the Saviour, it would seem, is 
 seeking to impress upon his followers — aye, and upon himself, 
 immediate, unremitting, intense labor for the present conver- 
 sion of eouls; in other words, the main features of the "now" 
 l)]an. Harvest, less than sowing, or tilling, or anything else, 
 admits of no delay. Harvest, beyond anything else, strains the 
 energies of the laborer to highest tension. The life-long har- 
 vester may not indeed find it possible, or even desirable, to 
 maintain one unvarying pitch of utmost effort. But how high, • 
 my soul, is the tone of ordinary endeavor demanded by this 
 figure of severe and unremitting toil ! 
 
 The labor must be strenuous, for the work is of waitiuir, 
 crying, readiness. The >\ orld is not a wilderness to be cleared, 
 not a fallow, not a plantation, but a harvest. Every human
 
 SERMON BEFORE THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION. 333 
 
 being on eartli, of rational years, is to be reached as soon as 
 possible, and without preliminary, by the herald of the cross. 
 Every human heart should be summoned and assaulted — not 
 besieged — with the claims of the gospel. It is perilous to 
 abandon the child to habits of cold indifference or active 
 resistance to Christianity till the schoolmaster prepares him 
 for an intelligent and (vain hope!) dispassionate investigation 
 of all the subtleties of the Athanasian creed. It is cruel to 
 bid the frontier village wait for the missionary till the chaotic 
 elements of its society stratify — till law and order spread their 
 shield over him — and till Satan sweeps and garnishes and 
 fortifies. It is folly and semi-infidelity to spend your strength 
 in building up for the savage idolater a conscience that shall 
 tremble at the full indictment of the law, and an intelligence 
 that shall gi apple with all the refinements of apologies for the 
 faith designed for polished and fastidious infidels. But how 
 much worse is it to neglect him altogether ? It is as well a 
 violation of sound reason as a recreancy to Christ to wait for 
 heathen systems to die out, whereof they exhibit no very 
 encouraging symptoms, that you may embrace their period of 
 decay as a favorable time for the introduction of the gospel, 
 when it is evident that no time is less favorable to the recep- 
 tion of the truth than that season of indifference or despair 
 which ensues on the disintegration of a national religion. 
 Preparatory work will, in the providence of God, be done ; 
 but work done to-day, with an eye single to the one great end, 
 is the only legitimate preparation for to-morrow. And all 
 waiting to be pioneered by science, or towed along by com- 
 merce —all pusillanimous hovering on the rear of conquest — 
 all pile-driving to lay a foundation for the temple of God, is 
 exploded by the single word harvest. 
 
 Earnest, immediate work, directly expended on human 
 souls, is the only suggestion I find in the figure. A succession
 
 334 LIFE OF A. B. BFvOWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 of sketches from the hand of the Great Des'.Grner prcgen'.s 
 other aspects of Christian kibor, Avhich it would be worse than 
 wasted ingenuity and patience to force upon this passage. It 
 may not, liowever, be superfluous to observe that the Avork 
 couched in this imagery exerts far more of cultural and dis- 
 ci]>liuary influence, both on the laborer and on the field, than 
 is even glanced at in the illustration itself. Labor for the 
 immediate conversion of souls is not the one single and sufil- 
 cient gymnastic of the Christian worker, but it is the exercise 
 most extensively and most liighly conducive to spiritual devel- 
 opment. The gospel, as preached to sinners, is by no means 
 the exclusive aliment of the growing saint, but it is a diet con- 
 taining all the elements of life, and, as is witnessed in all 
 genuine revivals, is ever appetizing and ever nutritious. It 
 furnishes society no forms of government, but materials better 
 than all forms, at home with any form which does not repress 
 it, and quietly tending to crystallize or rather to grow into the 
 best forms. Oh, then, with the sharpest sickles Ave can com- 
 mand, but with no needless loitering about grindstones or 
 plying of paddles, with the very minimum of .shadings and 
 vacations that brain and muscle will tolerate, with no aflTecta- 
 tion of graceful strokes — for who but the giants can be grace- 
 ful in the performance of plain, hard work? — let us move 
 forward in the field Avhite to the harvest. 
 
 But is the demand for evangelistic effort clamorous now as 
 when the Saviour uttered the words of our passage? The field 
 here had in immediate view is Palestine, if not only Galilee ; 
 but this representation, like others constructed Avith divine 
 skill, solicits reference to a Avider sphere. The great commis- 
 sion expressly points to the Avider sphere, and enjoins the 
 precise kind of eff"ort already indicated. The demand of the 
 larger field is certainly as real, it is probably as intense, as 
 that of the section to Avhich attention is here directed. Christ
 
 SERMON BEFORE THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION. 335 
 
 had as yet no official laborers to aid him, the statement in our 
 passage being the preamble to the resohitiou to send forth the 
 apostles. But the whole body of his disciples whom he called 
 laborers, and called to be laborers, was working Avith the ac- 
 tivity of vital, nascent leaven ; or, to speak in accordance with 
 the figure here commended to us, every disciple was busy reap- 
 hooking the corners of the field, or gleaning the straggling 
 heads of grain which escaped the majestic sweep of the Great 
 Toiler's scythe. But I will discount all labor save that of 
 Jesus only. If he had been the only preacher, it is doubtful 
 whether the evangelization of Galilee, to say nothing of its 
 immeasurable superiority in kind, has in extent and degree, 
 ever been equalled. Christ found his nation in the very hush 
 and gaze of eagerest expectancy. He was interviewed by 
 numberless caterers for the public hunger, and his every utter- 
 ance was seized and circulated as the most sensational news. 
 His march was thronged, blockaded, waylaid by anxious list- 
 eners. His teachings were so strikingly original, so wide apart 
 from what man ever spake, so sharply and distinctly pic- 
 turesque, so stinging to the conscience, and yet so grateful to 
 the heart, that every memory became their record, and every 
 hearer could render them with the accuracy of a stenographic 
 reporter. Surely, then, we are entitled to appropriate to the 
 present field, with great if not increased emphasis, the language 
 of our passage : The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labor- 
 ers are few. Pardon the offence against homiletic symmetry 
 in this too protracted explanation and vindication of the 
 Master's imagery, and follow me in further considering the 
 subject which he brings before us as it seems naturally to dis- 
 tribute itself into three divisions, viz. : the vast dimensions of 
 the harvest field, the frightful inadequacy of the laboring 
 force, and the divinely indicated source of supply. 
 
 I. The population of the earth is not in itself immeasurable.
 
 336 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 Fi;_aires may at ?oine day state it with approximate accuracy. 
 But the imagination will never conceive it with full vividness, 
 and the heart will never adequately respond to its peril, which 
 will continue to baHle arithmetic. Perhaps the field rather 
 gains than loses in impressivenet^s on imagination and heart 
 by its stubborn refusal so far to submit to accurate measure- 
 meut. The indefinitely vast is universally recognized as 
 the chief element of the sublime. The grandest master of 
 rhythmic eloquence would have disgusted or amused where he 
 has profoundly awed, if he had subjected the vague hugeness 
 of Satan's figure to the tailor's tape, or had substituted for a 
 wilderness of burning marl, stretching "nine times the space 
 that parted day from night to mortal men," the definite reve- 
 lations of the surveyor's chain. This element of grandeur 
 will, however, alwa3'S remain to our subject; for if definite 
 statement ever be reached, overwhelming indefiniteness in its 
 conception will still continue. Immensely the larger part of 
 tlie bewildering array will be totally lost to heart and fanc)\ 
 Commodore Maury, an authority pre-eminent for ability and 
 painstaking accuracy, states the population of the globe at 
 1,350,000,000. Johnson, the publisher of the mammoth atlas, 
 who certainly had access to able and careful authorities, 
 reduces the estimate to — he is not particular to say what — 
 between 1,000,000,000 — that is ten thousand times ten thou- 
 sand ten times repeated — and 1,200,000,000. Now Maury, 
 the leader of mankind in his department of science, Avas an 
 humble and devout Christian, and an ardent friend of missions. 
 And it is perfectly safe to say that, if he had felt compelled 
 to reduce his estimate to the lower number, neither his prayers 
 nor his pecuniary contributions for the conversion of the 
 world would have been lessened. And that, if Johnson was 
 indifferent to the spiritual interests of mankind, the assurance 
 that he ought to have added from 150,000,000 to 350,000,000
 
 SERMON BEFORE THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION. 337 
 
 to his enumeration would not even have tended to change his 
 indifference into zeal. Nothing strikes and appals me more 
 in the uncompassable proportions of these amazing statistics 
 than that the population of twenty-five New Yorks or five 
 hundred Richmonds, with an aggregate death rate of some 
 ten thousand a week, is summarily dismissed, as if its reten- 
 tion would savor of finical minuteness amid so overwhelming 
 round numbers. 
 
 I call these numbers overwhelming. Ah ! the misfortune 
 from the necessity of their nature is, that they so little stir and 
 overwhelm. The most prodigious of them are pronounced 
 with the tithe of a single breath, and contract themselves into . 
 a linear inch or two on the printed page. They coalesce, they 
 run into each other like the segments of a steamboat table, or 
 like the sections of an extensible fishing rod, each section 
 except the first and last nesting, telescoping into another of 
 ten times its magnitude. To fold them into portable shape, 
 how easy ! Yet we pass over them in their condensed form 
 with much less impression than we would dash across a prairie 
 on a lightning train. To expand them for full impression on 
 sense or imagination is a feat that, in the case of large num- 
 bers, presents almost or altogether insuperable difficulty. The 
 grandeur of the Centennial Exhibition is not half so difficult 
 to grasp. If, disregarding the clear, varied and permanent 
 impressions which weeks of earnest scrutiny alone could give, 
 you would be content with a striking idea of its mere vastness 
 and magnificence, this you might gain in a comparatively 
 short time. You cannot in a short time familiarize your con- 
 ceptions and your emotions with one billion three hundred and 
 fifty millions of immortal souls. The imagination demands 
 time, and, like the reason of the philosopher, dealing with the 
 infinity of God, the more it is exerted, the more time it will 
 demand. The school-boy will go trippingly through his tril-
 
 338 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 lions and quadrillions, and think he knows all about them. 
 But an acute metapliysician tells us that five is as large a 
 number as we can grasp by direct intuition, and that larger 
 numbers are distinctly conceived by piecing together parcels 
 of this or a smaller dimension. And an able writer suggests 
 that the one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six feet 
 Avhich measure the front of the main Centennial building, can 
 only be realized by comparing them with some nearly equal 
 known space, or marking them on the ground If you would 
 realize our work-field, since you cannot fix it before you on 
 actual vision, as Christ did the scattered sheep of bis flock» 
 you must laboriously, and, with meagre success, spread it 
 before your imaginations. Number, l)y long habit, is most 
 easily conceived in association with the measures of space. 
 Then imagine the inhabitants of the world brought together. 
 Twelve hundred times the area of the Centennial grounds, 
 four times the extent of the original District of Columbia, 
 were every square inch of it available, would afford them only 
 scant and thronged standing room. Fancy them — delightful 
 dream ! — all assembled to hear the word of God. The largest 
 county in your State would scarcely contain the houses in 
 which more than one million of preachers should address each 
 more than one thousand hearers of age to attend to the gospel. 
 StiU these millions are running into each other, and the mind 
 glides over them without adhesion with far more than the 
 fiicility with which the cheated eye sweeps across the deceptive 
 face of unbroken w'aters. Yet they exhibit every diversity to 
 awaken our interest and assist our calculations. God marshals 
 them before us clothed in a fadeless livery, recognized at a 
 glance by all who are not perversely color-blind. And they, 
 themselves, indefinitely variegate the procession by their own 
 peculiar titles to recognition in an endless difference of laws 
 and governments, of languages, histories and traditions, of
 
 SERMON BEFORE THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION. 339 
 
 religions and ceremonies, of creeds and opinions, of manners 
 and customs, of diet and dress. Wheel the grand muster of 
 nations through every evolution that fancy can suggest, the 
 scene will grow before you. But especially study the attitude 
 of the world to enlightenment and Christianity. Assemble 
 the nations, diversified as before, and arrange them in ascend- 
 ing ranks according to civilization. Place lowest eighty mil- 
 lions of degraded savages, scarcely above the beasts and reptiles 
 they worship. Place next one hundred and twenty millions 
 of fierce and godless nomads madly surging agaiust each other, 
 and against civilization, in deadly struggle for land and pas- 
 turage. Put still higher some eight hundred millions of half- 
 civilized human beings, most of them in abjectest poverty and 
 misery, groaning under iron despotisms of mind and body 
 which have been growing stronger and harsher for from 
 twenty to forty centuries. Surmount the array with civilized 
 men. Now a division of most painful interest is to be made. 
 A line, inclusive of nearly all the highest level, exclusive of 
 nearly all the lowest, but jag'ged and eccentric as the light- 
 ning's path, shall run through the scene, and separate what, 
 with utmost license of language and in the very extravagance 
 of charity, we call Christian nations from unvaried and unmit- 
 igated heathendom. This line reveals a proportion startling 
 to the extent of dismay. Three-fourths of the human family 
 are still, in this last quarter of the nineteenth century, in utter 
 and ruinous ignorance of the saving truth ! 
 
 With much of sorrow and with something, I trust, of 
 remorse for our former "inhumanity to man" in his greatest 
 need, we dismiss our imaginary assembly, and remand to their 
 respective positions on the earth's surface the millions, most of 
 them starving for lack of the bread of life. Now geographical 
 magnitudes scarcely less prodigious, and much more appalling, 
 confront us. Weeks and months of difficult and often perilous
 
 340 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 journey await us as we set out in any direction from our centre 
 in search of the more distant and the more hopeless. And 
 then for months spent in reaching their abodes, we have years 
 to spend in reaching the understandings, the consciences and 
 the hearts of even a few. Ah ! I have not moved you with 
 numbex-s. I was fearing it. I might have known it. The 
 four hundred millions of China, persistently and skilfully 
 paraded in their tear-compelling plight before Christendom, 
 have been scarcely equal contestants for sympathy and aid 
 with the few thousands of the Sandwich Islands. And this 
 surely has not been because numbering more, the Chinese 
 have, in the scales of spiritual worth and promise, weighed less. 
 Despairing of the attempt to expand reason and fancy and 
 heart to the dimensions of these wide-stretching and bewilder- 
 ing numerals, let us try another course. Let us stand face to 
 face with a single one of their constituent units. And though 
 it presents itself cased in rags, crushed and dwarfed under 
 despotism, and all crimsoned with sin, we feel irresistibly 
 impelled to uncover before it. A soul! It is the image, 
 though the fearfully marred and distorted image of God. A 
 soul ! It is the mirror, if not indeed the constituent of all 
 other grandeurs ; and, save God, grander than all it mirroi-s. 
 It is varied and wide as the earth, and deep as the unfathom- 
 able sea. The certain possessor of immortality, it is the prob- 
 able heir of a constantly and eternally accelerating growth. 
 And, oh, deepest dread ! oh, highest hope ! It shall continue 
 forever to sting itself into racking spasms of keenest remorse, 
 or to thrill under the ever-brightening vision of God. The 
 sons of God shouted for joy when first the material universe, 
 touched into harmony by its great Creator, poured upon their 
 ears its full-voiced anthem. With still higher rapture do they 
 shake the upper welkin when one sinner repenteth. But only 
 the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, the infinitely loving
 
 SERMON BEFORE THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION. 341 
 
 Father of spirits, feels an adequate joy when a single dead 
 soul is made alive and a single lost soul is found. 
 
 From this point of view, my brethren, look out on your 
 work, so dizzying in the multitude, so staggering in the magni- 
 tude of its objects. And remember that while you look, death 
 is reaping and hell is garnering. Men are lost, and lost to 
 deep and eternal perdition, without the gospel. Banish from 
 your minds that fond but wretched delusion, so paralyzing to 
 the zeal of the preacher, so drugged with false and fatal secu- 
 rity to the hearer, that man is saved by anything which he 
 really believes. Men may worship after the manner which 
 some call honesty and sincerity ; their Avay may seem to them 
 right ; but unless it be God's chosen way, their end is death, 
 though they be as sincere as the chief of sinners when he per- 
 secuted the church of Christ. Hero -worshippers may laud 
 and magnify the brilliant spectacle of conspicuous zeal, whether 
 it be salutary or destructive, as boys gaze with delighted won- 
 der on a mighty conflagration, whether it burns out a jungle 
 or burns down a city ; but no zeal shall win the approval of 
 the universal Judge, except zeal according to the knowledge 
 of saving truth. The Saviour did indeed say to a certain 
 individual, "According to thy faith, so be it unto thee." But 
 that faith was perfectly right in object, and astonishing even 
 to himself in degree. Latitudinarians strangely and to their 
 own hurt Avrest this Scripture, when they pervert it into a 
 proposition which stultifies the Redeemer's purpose of living 
 and dying to be the object of a fiiith unto salvation. 
 
 Hesitate not, in the discharge of your duty to Christ, to 
 give the world that without which there is no salvation, from 
 fear of a possible aggravation of its guilt. In preaching the 
 gospel we do not impose, we only present a great and perilous 
 responsibility. In withholding it, we clearly assume responsi- 
 bility for the blood of souls. How strange that men, who
 
 342 LIFE OF A. B. BKOWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 know that every new opportunity and blessing is burdened 
 with new obligations, should shrink from proffering the greatest 
 good, lest it be possibly converted into a curse. But we can- 
 not, in obedience to a craven and cruel fear, which would 
 brand every blessing as a snare, consent that our children and 
 our country shall sink into savagery ; and we will not, in dis- 
 obedience to the gracious Master, deny to the perishing mil- 
 lions of earth the indispensable cup of salvation lest they 
 madly dash it from their lips. 
 
 II. I pass to the second division— the inadequacy of the 
 supply of gospel laborers. This may be the more briefly dis- 
 patched as having been largely implied in the preceding view. 
 If we discount from the three hundred and fifty millions of 
 nominal Christians the millions of the superstitious who have 
 no knowledge of salvation, the infidels who have no belief in 
 it, the grossly criminal and vicious who have no hope of it, 
 the tens of millions of the frivolous and worldly who have no 
 care for it, the array would shrink like Gideon's army when 
 sifted by the Almighty. There need be no hesitation in saying 
 the number of earnest Christian workers, viewed in comparison 
 with the immense field, before which our imaginations and 
 hearts have just now sunk prostrate and discouraged, is alarm- 
 ingly small ; yea, but for the promise of the ever-continued 
 support of Him in whose might one shall chase a thousand, it 
 would be ludicrou.sly inadequate. 
 
 We want earnest preachers of the gospel, wholly devoted 
 to their work — and w^e want them in multitudes — men whose 
 enthusiasm for their mission, and whose facility in their task, 
 shall make preaching a luxury — men to whom, in the seasons 
 and aspects of labor which cannot be a delight, prenching 
 shall be a controlling duty — men whose thorough equipment 
 for their sacred office shall, with the blessing of heaven, make 
 preaching a grand success — men who, laboring exclusively
 
 SERMON BEFORE THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION. 343 
 
 for the spiritual good of their race, shall produce a larger and 
 better effect on the harmony, the purity, the culture, and, 
 finally, the material interests of society, than any other class 
 of agents. Such men will, in their official relations, ahjure 
 politics, only demanding of statesmen, as our Baptist fathers 
 did, full liberty of conscience for all. Thank God, I stand 
 to-day freely enlarged on the very site of the Culpeper prison, 
 from which, a little more than one hundred years ago, Ireland, 
 looking out on the blue hills to the north and the wilderness 
 on the south, put up this only petition to civil government : 
 
 "Ou the mountains LET me labor. 
 In the desert LET me tell 
 How He died, the matchless Saviour, 
 To redeem the world from hell." 
 
 I repeat, we need a great increase of ministers, even for this 
 country and this State. We do indeed want a great increase 
 of the ability and zeal of the Christian ministry of our coun- 
 try — confessedly respectable as that ministry now is. But we 
 should still greatly need more preachers. We do not properly 
 sustain those we have. But preaching must stimulate to the 
 support of the present ministry, and to a demand for an in- 
 creased ministerial force. In this sense, John Kerr's remark 
 is certainly true, that the best preparation for preaching is 
 preaching. I cannot enlarge on this point. I say, on thorough 
 conviction and with a full heart, that there is great lack of 
 the preached word in our beloved Commonwealth ; that I do 
 know our monthly preaching can never fully indoctrinate our 
 people; and that, in a few miles of our country churches, 
 are neighborhoods deplorably in want of the gospel. 
 
 Preaching is teaching. If we would teach, we must have 
 smaller classes of pupils, and get into closer, freer, more fre- 
 quent contact with them. The propagation of the gospel is, 
 in some respects, like the propagation of light by radiation.
 
 344 LIFE OF A. B. BIIOAVN, DD. LLD. 
 
 It is more like the diffusion of heat by convections — the 
 spreading of fermentation by contact. 
 
 We want not hxboring preachers alone. Christ demands 
 the co-operation of the whole Christian body. His few labor- 
 ers at the date of the pronunciation of our passage were all 
 unofficial men and women. Whatever may be the doubt con- 
 cerning an apostolic succession, there can be no doubt of a 
 continuity of the laity, as it is called, or an unbroken succes- 
 sion of believing men and women. If there is a controversy 
 about rank and precedence between this continuous body and 
 lordly prelates, the laity may, without breach of modesty, 
 allege, "Before apostles were we are!" Preceding the apostles 
 in itinerant labors of evangelization on the first persecution — 
 summoning Peter before their tribunal to render account of 
 the first preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles — concurring 
 with the apostles in what is falsely called the first general 
 council at Jerusalem, they may claim that it is now no humil- 
 iation to the tallest of the clergy to bow to the majesty of the 
 people. The great teaching force of this body, when earnestly 
 and consciously exerted, and the greater unconscious influence 
 of their active piety in their churches and in their business, 
 are simply incalculable. I have already deplored the com- 
 parative inefficacy of attacks on sin at long range. The 
 highest effect results from the grapple of man with man. And 
 just here is the advantage and the superiority of the people 
 with what may be disparagingly called their small arms. The 
 world will not be converted till there is a great increase of 
 this laboring force in all lauds. But what crying need of 
 preachers before this high vantage ground shall be reached ? 
 
 I may select from the bewildering and saddening number of 
 l)laces where spiritual laborers are deplorably scarce, a few 
 which we are urged to supply by the highest and dearest 
 immediate interests, or by solemn assumption and committal.
 
 SERMON BEFORE THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION. 345 
 
 The Chinese are streaming into the Western and South-western 
 portions of our country in currents of annually increasing 
 volume. Laborers not a few are needed to convert these por- 
 tentous barbaric waves into an overflow, freighted with spiritual 
 fertility. Sanctified patriotism would further counsel the 
 copious impregnation of the foreign source of so perilous a 
 deluge with the salt of truest conservatism. Here our most 
 precious secular interests unite with distinct committal and 
 solemn pledge to demand a large re-enforcement of the Chinese 
 mission, at present so disproportionate to the work as to move 
 the heathen to derision, and Christendom to humiliation and 
 mourning. Within our midst are millions of half-civilized 
 Africans. Shall we pause till we decide whether jSTorthern or 
 Southern Christians are most able or most bound to minister 
 to their spiritual needs, and stand upon the order of our going 
 to them, till a ground-swell of ignorance, sensuality, agrarian- 
 ism, superstition and fanaticism shall wreck our entire Christian 
 civilization ? Interest and duty combine to urge the sending 
 of laborers to the children of Africa in this country. Duty, 
 philanthropy, and in the case of many of us, solemn engage- 
 ment, concur to demand the support and re- enforcement of 
 David and others on the continent of Africa for the preaching 
 of the gospel to a people that, notwithstanding their deep 
 degradation, receive it with more readiness than any other 
 people under heaven. The laborers are very few who are 
 prepared to meet the hordes of Catholics that are coming to 
 this country, and in yearly increasing numbers to this State. 
 Patriotism appeals to us here again. But when we look 
 towards Italy, how many considerations impel us to heed its 
 cry for the pure gospel. More than half of the law that con- 
 trols us, the history that guides us, the literature that is our 
 delight and our unapproached model, is derived from that 
 classic land. And the Italians of to-day are in their possibil-
 
 346 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 itios greater than the Romans when they marched to the con- 
 quest of the world. Tlie Italians, ■with their infusion of Gothic 
 blood, are in endowments ^vhat the Greeks were in the })ast. 
 They are a ])e()]ile beyond all others beautifvil in person and 
 versatile in genius ; a people beggared by the most splendid 
 church establishment of the world ; a i)eople many of whom 
 are maddened into assassination and brigandage by the most 
 grinding of despotisms; a peojile whose proverbial fraud and 
 dissimulation are not excused certainly, but greatly palliated, 
 by a telegraphic espionage, whose wires all converge in the 
 Vatican, and by the auscultation of the secret throbbings of 
 their hearts in the confessional. Among this people of noblest 
 gifts and possibilities is the centre of the great ramifying can- 
 cer on the body of Christianity. How few are engaged in its 
 extirpation ! Here is the finest strategic point of so-called 
 Chi'istendom, the citadel of the Papacy. AVith what interest 
 do we watch the little forlorn hope as with sublime daring 
 they thunder their defiance at its gates! Ah, let us cultivate 
 this interest. Few of us, my brethren, are susceptible of being 
 greatly stirred by a direct contemplation of the vastly extended 
 harvest field. We are more likely to catch the contagion of 
 zeal from sympathy with those loftier spirits that see, and those 
 deeper and tenderer natures that feel, the necessities of man. 
 Most of us who have heard that exquisitely graceful tribute 
 to Dr. Tupper's recent articles on missions, but not more 
 graceful than just, have felt first a greater sympathy with the 
 workers, and then a deejjcr interest in the work. I confess, 
 my interest in the Chinese has been greatly increased since 
 a former pupil of mine, the heroic, the enthusiastic Lottie 
 !Moon, has consecrated her pre-eminent aptitude for the lan- 
 guages to the blessed office of announcing to the sorrowing 
 Mar}s and Marthas of China, the Master who is come and 
 calleth for them. And my high and warm personal regard
 
 SERMON BEFORE THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION. 347 
 
 for that noble type of the Christian man, Geo. B. Taylor, -who 
 has left his Virginia brethren scarcely his equal in talents and 
 acquirements, in the vigor, the accuracy and the facility of 
 his pen, in the earnestness of his piety, and the depth of his 
 devotion to friends, gives me higher concern for that grand 
 object which appears above every other to concern him. We 
 love heaven itself better, because friends and kindred are 
 triumphant there. Shall we not love the mission fields more 
 because there our friends are earning their croAvus ? And 
 shall we not, must we not, if we are real Christians, rise up to 
 sympathy with Christ who tasted death for every man, and 
 descend with Him to sympathy for every son of Adam for 
 whom He died ? 
 
 III. Whence must come the supply of the fearful destitu- 
 tion of laborers in the world-wide harvest field ? It is eas-y to 
 delude ourselves into reliance on the great economic principle 
 of the spontaneous tendency to the equation of supply and 
 demand. The dominion of this principle is limited to the 
 spheres of imperious material needs, or active natural and 
 cultured desires. But even in these spheres, the political 
 economist will tell us that not simple desire, but ability to pay 
 for its object, constitutes real and effective demand. Where 
 scarcity of bread prevails, and money (or its equivalent) is at 
 command, price ascends and waves its invitation to a wider 
 circle of supply ; where famine rages, the effective demand 
 still existing, price mounts by long and rapid strides to the 
 mast-head, and unfurls the flag of distress to a still more 
 distant horizon. Supply moves to the scene of remote anxietv 
 or urgent suffering in gentler undulations, or in higher climbing 
 billows, according to the violence of the disturbing causes, and 
 then ebbs away after more than meeting the demand. Ah, 
 me ! little or nothing of this takes place in regard to man's 
 great intellectual and spiritual wants. Call man, if you
 
 348 LIFE OF A. B. BilOWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 pleiOse, an iuciiiisitivc being. In his deepest ignorance his 
 quest of knowleilge is capricious, irregular, almost profitless. 
 The ignorant masses Avill not be enlightened till truth is 
 gently urged upon their feeble and blinking vision, by a 
 benevolence which is above them, and which graciously con- 
 descends to them. Man, if you please, is a religious animal. 
 But he is a sinful being, and will not come to the light where 
 it shines upon him, lest his deeds should be reproved. In the 
 case of the heathen, it must be manifested to them -who seek 
 it not. Many of the heathen Indians on our Western frontier, 
 and all the ruling elements in Japan, seek after our secular 
 knowledge. They nauseate our religion, its true support. 
 
 Some iulluences auxiliary to direct effort for the diffusion 
 of knowledge and home evangelization. A man cannot be a 
 Christian at all without exerting some unconscious, uninten- 
 tional Christian influence on the unconverted around him. 
 Christians of a low type of Christianity, and even infidels, will 
 somewhat help to sustain the preaching of the gospel in their 
 own country, because they believe it will conduce to their 
 own prosperity in advancing the general good, because their 
 persons and property will be safer, and their taxation for the 
 repression of crime and the relief of beggary will be lightened. 
 
 But these aids will not help in foreign evangelization. 
 Foreign missions, in their success, do powerfully and favorably 
 react on the material prosperity of Christian nations. But 
 the planter, the manufacturer and the merchant, will not 
 invest with reference to gains apparently so remote. Their 
 plan, whatever ours may be, is emphatically the "now" plan. 
 The chief reliance everywhere, the sole reliance for most of 
 the field, is the highest and purest Christian benevolence, 
 kindled first from heaven, and reinforced continually in 
 answer to earnest prayer. The salvation of the world comes 
 not from the universal spread of primary education. I hail
 
 SERMON BEFORE THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION. 349 
 
 with delight the increase of secular knowledge. It is a possi- 
 bility, yet a perilous possibility of good. It is a great instru- 
 ment which we must hasten to utilize for good, and to save 
 from perversion. General education is no substitute for the 
 gospel. If we would preserve the healthy balance of all the 
 powers of a people, the more education we have, the more and 
 not the less we need the earnest, effective and deeply spiritual 
 Sabbath-school, pulpit and press. Shall we look to the higher 
 education? It is invaluable for the full exposition of divine 
 truth, and for the thorough intelligence of that exposition. 
 But the higher education more needs Christianity than Chris- 
 tianity needs it. The ancient classical languages with all their 
 freightage of history, philosophy and poetry, constituting 
 them the noblest instruments of culture, and the great bulwark 
 of consecration, would, probably, be abandoned to utter neglect 
 but for the interest which the higher Christian thinkers take 
 in them. The relation of Christianity to our higher culture is 
 even still more direct. The main current of modern scepticism 
 is materialistic to the denial of the immortality of the soul. 
 Let it gain ascendency in the higher departments of educa- 
 tion, and the human mind, and its sublime philosophy, become 
 a matter of anatomy and chemistry. The soul will grow to 
 be too mean a thing for severe and serious discipline ; and 
 science, for a while, patronized as an engineer for the con- 
 struction of roads and machines, will finally die of starvation 
 in the house of its false friends. The higher education, then, 
 far from dispensing with Christian laborers, is one of the many 
 applicants for their increase in number and effectiveness. 
 Theological schools will do much to supply the demand for 
 laborers. But they need the highest order of God-given 
 material on which to operate. Then, brethren, we are shut 
 up to prayer as our only recourse. The most candid of the 
 rejecters of revelation tell us, on purely rational grounds, that
 
 350 LIFE OF A. B. BROWN, DD. LLD. 
 
 prayer is the irrepressible instinct, the inevitable necessity of 
 a soul, awake to a great need, and alive to the existence of an 
 infinitely wise and loving personal God. "VVe have reached a 
 point where ])hil()sophy recognizes the necessity, and revela- 
 tion imposes the duty of prayer. Andrew Fuller used to say — 
 perhaps, -with an excess of self-depreciation — that he had little 
 religion or devoutness that was not extorted by distress. 
 Doubtless, he had more of them in that state. Thank God, 
 that Andrew Fuller and C'arcy and their brethren, became 
 sorely distressed about India, and cried to the Lord in its 
 behalf. Great blessings seem to have been bestowed in 
 answer to those prayers. Why should we doubt that He will 
 answer prayer ? • To say that He will not be affected by any- 
 thing we do, is to say that He will neither reward nor punish 
 human conduct. If it must be admitted that He regards 
 anything of our state, what will He be so likely to regard as 
 the heart's desire of His children ? Surely, every right prayer 
 is the reflection of the S})irit from the human soul. Nature 
 mirrors back on God His image ; devout S2:)irits echo back 
 His voice. But they have never sent back the full response. 
 It is just here that advocates of the simple passivity of the 
 human soul under divine influence err in theory, and all the 
 Christian world has erred in practice. Christian hearts have 
 not fully answered the divine touch, else the God who has 
 promised to hear prayer would long since have sent forth the 
 needed supply. He has foreknown from eternity our prayers, 
 and has made arrangements, and pledge to answer every right 
 and enjoyed prayer, without the slightest swerving of the laws, 
 either of spirit or of matter. 
 
 I conclude with two assumptions implied in our prayer : 
 1st. The Lord's harvest is our field, else to ask for laborers 
 Avould be an impertinence. The field is doubly ours. All 
 hnmnn beiufrs are our brethren. The unity of the human race
 
 SERMON BEFORE THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION. 351 
 
 wliich is abundantly established by sober and impartial 
 science, is not, indeed, the foundation, but the necessary con- 
 dition of the whole remedial scheme. Then the work has been 
 committed to us. Faith is to come by hearing the word of 
 God from the lips of men. 
 
 2d. We undertake to act in the line of our petitions. 
 Prayer is desire intensified by its entertainment and expres- 
 sion. To pray, and not to act in the direction of our prayers, 
 would be, if it were not an impossibility, an absurdity and 
 inconsistency. If we pray we must act in response to our 
 prayers. Infidelity will scoffingly say, that this will be the 
 only answer they will receive, just as it mocks at trusting in 
 God on the day of battle, and believes only in keeping the 
 powder dry ; we have a totally different conviction. God 
 moves ; prayer intensifies and insures action. Pray, believing 
 that prayer acts on God, as well as reacts on yourselves. 
 When there shall be much of this kind of prayer, the king- 
 dom of God shall come — " His v^'ill be done on earth as in 
 heaven." 
 
 THE END.
 
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