zoe> 
 
 AMA2 
 
 ADDRESSES 
 
 THE CELEBRATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FORTY-SIXTH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 V 
 
 AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY. 
 
 [REPORTED BY CHARLES.^. COLLAR.] 
 
 AMERICA BIBLE SOCIETY’S PRESS, 
 
 ASTOR PLACE, NEW YORK. 
 
 1862. 
 

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 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
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 The Anniversary exercises were held at Irving Hall, corner of Fif- 
 teenth Street and Irving Place, May 8, 1862, Hon. Heman Lincoln, of 
 Boston, Mass., Senior Vice President of the Society, in the chair. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Potts, of New York, read the forty-sixth Psalm and offered 
 prayer. 
 
 ADDRESS OF THE VICE PRESIDENT. 
 
 This is the Forty-Sixth Anniversary of a Society whose national and 
 anti-denominational character is one in which we ought all to rejoice ; 
 a Society composed of Christians of various denominations, united 
 together in sending the Bread of Life to the destitute in every part 
 of the world, and whose usefulness is constantly and continually in- 
 creasing. Since its formation, the Society has been proud to number 
 among its members many very distinguished and prominent individuals, 
 known to the world as men of science, learning, and best of all, as men 
 celebrated for their patriotism and piety. It is peculiar cause for grati- 
 tude on the present occasion, while our hearts are filled with sadness 
 that this chair is not filled by the distinguished individual who has so 
 lately gone to his rest (Hon. Mr. Frelinghuysen), that he was permitted 
 so long to serve the Society in the capacity of its presiding officer, and 
 that he exerted such a genial and blessed influence throughout the whole 
 community by the exercise of talents so great, piety so distinguished, and 
 by such uniform and unwavering devotion to the Cause of Christ and the 
 institutions of religion, which always had his most earnest and cordial 
 support. He felt it to be a season of peculiar sadness to the Society 
 and the whole community, when he recalled to mind what a number of 
 distinguished individuals, during the short period of little more than one 
 year, had been removed from earth, as he trusted, to heaven. Among 
 others, he might mention the name of Ex. Gov. Briggs, of Mass., whose 
 praises he need not recount, for he was known personally to many of you, 
 a man distinguished for his devotion to the Cause of Christ and the 
 benevolent enterprises of the day, especially the cause of temperance and 
 Sabbath schools. Judge John M‘Lean, of Ohio, and Judge Williams, of 
 Connecticut, had passed away too; men distinguished for their talents 
 
4 
 
 patriotism, and the deep and warm interest they manifested in the fur- 
 therance of all religious and philanthropic efforts to benefit their fellow 
 men. And here he could but pay a tribute of respect to the memory of 
 the late Horace Holden and George Douglas, both influential officers of 
 this Society, who were always among the most earnest of labourers in 
 promoting the cause of Christ. Judge M‘Lean was one of the oldest of 
 the Vice Presidents of this Society. He knew him intimately for 
 nearly forty years ; was well acquainted with his religious character, and 
 knew him to be of the most devotional disposition. He also had the 
 very great privilege to become personally acquainted with the late 
 President of the Society (Hon. Mr. Frelinghuysen), whose loss they so 
 deeply mourn. In 1830, when he was United States senator from the 
 State of New Jersey, it was his happiness to hear from his lips that 
 memorable speech of his, in behalf of the Cherokee Indians, when for 
 three consecutive days he charmed and electrified the Senate, and the 
 large auditory who had assembled to hear him. The effect produced 
 by the speech was great, as indeed his language at all times was of 
 a persuasive and convincing character. There was a Christian cheerful- 
 ness, too, about Mr. Frelinghuysen, deserving of all imitation, 
 which was one of the most prominent traits of his character, and he 
 always considered it to be a privilege to enjoy his conversation. 
 But he has passed away ; yet his influence for good still re- 
 mained behind him. Time would not allow him to dwell so fully upon 
 the many virtues of the deceased as his heart prompted him to do, but 
 before taking his seat he would ask the audience to go back with him to 
 that memorable speech of his, in relation to the removal of the Cherokee 
 Indians, the closing part of which was in these words : — 
 
 “ I have in my humble measure attempted to discharge a public and 
 most solemn duty towards an interesting portion of my fellow men. 
 Should it prove to be as fruitless as I know it to be below the weight of 
 their claims, yet even then it will have its consolations. Defeat in such 
 a cause is far above the triumphs of unrighteous power ; and I had rather 
 receive the blessing of one poor Cherokee, as he casts his eye back for 
 the last time upon his country, for in vain having attempted to prevent 
 his banishment, than to sleep beneath the marble of the Cesars.” 
 
 Theodore Frelinghuysen is not sleeping beneath the marble of the 
 Cesars, but he is sleeping in his quiet and peaceful grave, there to 
 remain until the great resurrection day ; the grateful recollections of the 
 whole Christian church clustering around his blessed memory. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Spring, of New York, offered the following resolution : 
 Resolved , That the Report, an abstract of which has been read, be published and 
 circulated under the direction of the Managers. 
 
 It is a delightful truth, sanctioned by the Providence of God, demon- 
 strated by the powei; of his Spirit, and revealed in his Holy Word, that 
 
5 
 
 every good man being dead yet speaketh, and of this I was forcibly 
 reminded, as I listened to the eulogy pronounced by the presiding officer 
 of this Society upon the bright and distinguished names of those who 
 were, in so marked a degree, lovers of their country and lovers of the 
 Bible. Patriotism and Christianity were delightfully exemplified in the 
 lives of these heavenly men. I go back in remembrance forty-four or 
 forty-five years, when I was a youth, and called upon this platform to 
 address the friends of the Bible Society. I have no recollection of the 
 remarks I then made, but the theme of that day I well recollect, and 
 there is a remarkable coincidence between that theme and the one upon 
 the present occasion. It was the influence of the Bible upon the great 
 principles of civil liberty. The nation stands upon the Bible. Our 
 fathers rested their hopes upon it ; the unity of this land rests upon it ; 
 the success of our arms and the regeneration of the world rest upon it ; 
 and God grant that I — an old man travelling with slow and heavy steps 
 towards the house of all the living — and all of us, may have in our last 
 hours the precious consolation of a holy faith. 
 
 I move, sir, the adoption of the resolution. 
 
 The resolution was seconded by Rev. Dr. M‘Leod, and agreed to. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Taylor, of Philadelphia, offered the following resolution: 
 
 Resolved, That the work of this Society and its branches, the past year, in supplying 
 the army and navy with the Scriptures, is a work which commends itself to the prayer- 
 ful regard and generous support of every Christian and patriot. 
 
 The army and navy of the United States have furnished this Society 
 with interesting fields of labour, almost from its origin. But all our 
 previous efforts put together are outdone by the great results of the past 
 year, which, in this respect at least, bids fair to be remembered as the 
 “ annus mirabilis ” of Bible distribution among our armies and our fleets. 
 The most powerful argument for the resolution just read is, doubtless, to 
 be found in the work itself, by which nearly 700,000 volumes of Holy 
 Scripture have been actually given to the armed defenders of the Union. 
 The details of this vast labour abound in encouraging facts ; but on an 
 occasion like the present we can only generalize, and illustrate some of 
 those great principles which underlie the work, and make its best appeal 
 to our reason and to our hearts. 
 
 First of all, we owe a prayerful and liberal support to this work, be- 
 cause it falls in the line of those great unfinished providences which make 
 the whole history of our country. I say, unfinished providences ; for it 
 would be strange indeed, if, after a history whose great events are second 
 only to those of the Hebrew exodus, pilgrimage, and triumph, we should 
 now be forsaken of God in the very crisis of our destiny. Sir, I believe 
 
that this Union was made, not by men, nor by parties, nor yet by the 
 patriots who formed onr constitution, but by God himself. The adoption 
 of the constitution was but the logical result of causes that lay in the 
 colonization of the land by the heirs and representatives of the great 
 historical principles of civil and religious freedom, and of Protestant 
 Christianity, with its free, open Bible, and its cross of glory. Our liberty 
 is the child of the storm — our Christianity can never lose its martyr-spirit 
 while “the souls beneath the altar” are continually crying, “How long, 0 
 Lord, how long ?” Like our vast fleets which encountered the most ter- 
 rific storms of the season at their departure, and when the enemy were 
 rejoicing in their supposed destruction by the hand of God, we are gath- 
 ering again from the conflict of the elements, to the battle for the right, 
 with streaming banners and thundering broadsides, and psalms of honour 
 to Him “ who remembered us in our low estate,” for his mercy endureth 
 forever. 
 
 But, sir, the providence which has so chastised and blessed us, has 
 summoned the church of Christ to a most important duty in this great 
 crisis. She is the queenly Esther who has “ come to the kingdom for such 
 a time as this,” exclaiming, “ How can I endure to see the evil that shall 
 come upon my people?” She has gone in to the King of kings — she has 
 touched the sceptre. She has come forth from his presence with the de- 
 cree which is to save a nation from death, and hide its multitude of sins, 
 while she has thus strengthened her own seat beside the throne and her 
 place in the royal heart. It is sheer political atheism to ignore the power 
 of a praying and working church with God, and with men, in a country 
 and in a conflict like this. The Divine government, moral and physical, 
 as displayed in our land, is completely identified at every step with the 
 gospel and its institutions. Providence moves on the predestined track 
 through the realms of the kingdom, in whose interest its mighty trains 
 are flying back and forth, freighted with the purposes of God, with the 
 hopes of the race, and with the glories of Christ. 
 
 Sir, “ the uprising of a great people,” which we have lived to see, and 
 which, in a merely political aspect, is the fact of facts in this contest, has 
 also its moral and religious, aspects. Our loyalty had become almost a 
 sentimental thing; now it is a grand idea, a flaming fact, a religious prin- 
 ciple and power, working itself out through countless channels of willing 
 obedience, of princely charity, and of noble self sacrifice. 
 
 Among its best exhibitions must be counted the singular adaptation 
 of the evangelizing power of the church of God to the multiform claims 
 of the emergency. Her pulpits have rung out the voices of a sanctified 
 patriotism — her pews have responded with loud “amens” of word and 
 deed — her solemn litany and her grand Te Deum have swelled the volume 
 of prayers and praises at the throne of the Heavenly Grace. And those great 
 
7 
 
 institutions which combine the forces of Christian unity and enterprise, 
 have been assigned their own place by the same almighty hand which 
 has marshalled our legions, and raised up the heroes of the time. Among 
 these institutions, none has a better place than this venerable Society 
 whose name, nature, and history, are the pledges of that national patriot- 
 ism, and that catholic unity which enter into its very life. Casting aside 
 the political questions of the war, this Society, true to itself, aims to do its 
 appropriate work among the armed defenders of our country both on the 
 sea and on the land. And we owe it our prayerful response, and gener- 
 ous help, as a grateful -recognition of that providence which has preserved 
 and prepared it for its glorious mission. When it was formed the country 
 was yet suffering from the effects of the last war with Great Britain ; but, 
 in the language of its first address to the people of the United States : 
 “ The most heavenly charity treads close upon the march of conflict and 
 blood. Scarce has the soldier time to unbind his helmet and to wipe 
 away the sweat from his brow, ere the voice of mercy succeeds to the 
 clarion of battle, and calls the nations from enmity to love.” To day the 
 deep-toned harp of God is heard above the trumpets and drumbeats and 
 cannonades of contending armies, and its music prolongs the angelic song 
 that floated over Bethlehem’s plain, “ Glory to God in the highest, and 
 on earth peace, good will toward men.” 
 
 Sir, we ought to thank God to day that this is still the American 
 Bible Society ; that amid all the conflicts of the time, while churches are 
 sundered, and states disrupted, and the government itself is struggling for 
 its life, this Society retains its national name and character, and is ready to 
 do more than its old work in every league of our American territory, as soon 
 as “an open door is set before it.” What loyal heart did not beat more 
 joyfully this morning at the sight of the glorious old flag floating from the 
 mast on the top of the Bible House, while every stripe seemed flushed 
 with richer colours, and every star kindled with new lustre in the light of 
 our recent triumphs ! But to us, as a Society, it is doubly dear for the 
 sake of the work which Providence has given us to do for the whole peo- 
 ple. Even of late have our Agents been pressing into the war-wasted 
 regions, where churches are shut, congregations dispersed, and sabbaths 
 are silent, and pastors have left their folds either of will or by force. 
 “ The Bible man” follows in the track of our armies, and the few Chris- 
 tians who remain to pray over the desolations of country, home, and 
 church, welcome him as the bearer of “ good news from a far country,” 
 which “ is as cold water to their thirsty souls.” May we not hope and 
 pray, that in its purely American and Biblical character, our venerable 
 Society remaineth until this day a tall monument of God’s favour to the 
 whole land, and a harbinger of returning peace, unity, and prosperity. 
 On the list of our honourary officers, and auxiliaries, are many noble 
 southern names which we would fain retain upon our rolls of honour, 
 
8 
 
 until death shall summon their possessors to the better land. May 
 God swiftly bring the day when we shall again be one people, with one 
 government, one Bible, and that one holy catholic church in which 
 we all believe; and when the vast domain of the republic shall open 
 its gates, never to be closed again to the sublime work of the American 
 Bible Society ! 
 
 But, Mr. President, we should also devoutly recognize our debt to 
 Him, who, in this time of calamity, has enabled this Society to continue 
 and extend its operations, so that its issues for the year exceed those of 
 any previous year. He has filled its treasury with ample resources for all 
 existing claims. He has opened the hearts of myriads of our people to 
 give liberally for supplying the Word of Life to those who “stand in 
 jeopardy every hour” for us. He has so overruled “ the wrath of man,” 
 that the war has opened up new fields, supplied fresh motives, called forth 
 greater liberality, and stimulated the efforts of private friends, churches, 
 sabbath schools, and auxiliary societies. Chaplains, colporteurs, agents, 
 our Christian young men, the clergy, “ devout women, not a few,” and 
 the very children, have come up to our help ; and even the legislatures of 
 some of the States, and their governors, have officially aided in the sup- 
 ply of our heroic defenders. While all this has been done at home, and 
 while the dangers of foreign war were frowning upon us, came that gen- 
 erous offer of pecuniary help from the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
 which was even more grateful for its Christian love than for its princely 
 amount. Sir, we rejoice that it came as it did, and also that God’s bounty 
 enabled us to decline it ; and yet that it stands recorded upon our an- 
 nals as a munificent token of the same regard which prompted the gift of 
 two hundred pounds sterling to the first Bible Society which was estab- 
 lished in these United States — that of Philadelphia, in 1809 — and which 
 again moved the donation of five hundred pounds sterling to this national 
 institution in the first year of its existence, when it “ had neither Bible 
 houses nor Bibles, nor materials for making them.” May I add here, in a 
 parenthesis, that during the past week tidings reached the Board of For- 
 eign Missions of my own church, that the London Missionary Society had 
 just appropriated the sum of four hundred pounds sterling for the purpose 
 of returning to India, and sustaining him there for a year, one of the sons 
 of the late venerable missionary, Dr. Scudder. They had heard of the 
 depleted treasury of our own Board, aud this was their noble response to 
 the appeal of the devoted missionary, to be sent back with his family to 
 his Hindoo church and mission. 
 
 Sir, we must estimate the strength of the bonds that unite us to that 
 great empire, not by the councils of cabinets, nor by the question of su- 
 perior power for assault and defence, nor by the tone of ignorant politi- 
 cians, and a perverted press. Ho sir, no ! but we will listen to the beating 
 heart of Great Britain’s Christian and widowed queen, and to the voices 
 
9 
 
 of her Christian people, as they are interpreted by this noble action of the 
 British and Foreign Bible Society, and of the London Missionary Society. 
 These are the heraldings of the Prince of Peace. And sir, if the time 
 ever comes for us to “ go and do likewise,” who doubts the return which 
 our American Biblical Christianity will make ? 
 
 But God puts us by his providence under another debt. We owe 
 our prayerful and gracious support of this work to these seven hundred 
 thousand soldiers , and to the hosts that fill our fleets, for whom it is car- 
 ried on. Who are they? Not aliens, not mercenaries, not desperate 
 adventurers, nor “ fighting machines.” They are our “brethren — our 
 kinsmen according to the flesh.” They represent the wealth, the litera- 
 ture, the arts, the productive industry, the intellect, the moral worth, the 
 loyalty, and the piety, of the land. Like Cromwell’s Ironsides, many of 
 them “ have the fear of God before them, and make some conscience of 
 what they do.” They are my soldiers and sailors, they are yours. They 
 are vicarious sufferers too. They are the men of Providence, raised up 
 for the crisis. For God makes nations and heroes — and He gives us 
 leaders and commanders for the people now, just as He gave us that 
 matchless man whose example and history commend to us the eloquent 
 declaration of one of the founders of this Society: “Now he saved the 
 Republic by more than Fabian caution, now he avenged her by more 
 than Carthaginian fierceness ; while at every stroke her forests and her 
 hills re-echoed to her shout, The sword of the Lord and of Washington !” 
 
 When our soldiers come to us as the old helmeted Romans came to 
 John the Baptist, asking, “And what shall we do?” we say with the 
 Forerunner, “ Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be 
 content with your wages.” But we say more. We put in their hands 
 this “book of the wars of the Lord,” which teaches them not to “organize 
 victory,” “ but to be of good courage, and play the man for our people and 
 for the cities of our God.” We give them this “ book of victory,” as Cecil 
 called it, for their own, pointing them to Him “ who teacheth their hands 
 to war and their fingers to fight.” We give them this book of laws , pro- 
 claiming those rules of life and godliness, and laying those broad, deep 
 foundations of civil government and of obedience to it which no human 
 authority can set aside with impunity, and which Providence executes 
 with the rigour and majesty of “eternal judgment.” God has written 
 his ten commandments in the blood of thousands of our fellow-citizens. 
 The pages of our last historic year are crimsoned with the great red let- 
 ters of those laws by which nations live, and by whose breach they die. 
 Over one page might be placed the inscription: “When the host goeth 
 forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing.” 
 Over another I read : “ They shall come out against thee one way, and flee 
 before thee seven ways.” Here are whole chapters with the heading : 
 “Ye shall keep my Sabbaths,” There are the critical junctures over 
 
10 
 
 which Providence wrote, “The battle is not yours, but God’s.” Now we 
 turn a sadder page whose title is, “ The victory that day was turned into 
 mourning.” And again we peruse the immortal record which begins and 
 ends with the doxology, “ Thine, 0 Lord, is the greatness, and the power, 
 and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty.” 
 
 But, sir, the chief value of this precious Word is, that it is able to 
 make our men wise unto salvation. After all, we deal with them far less 
 in their capacity as soldiers, than as men who have souls to be saved, and 
 whose salvation or perdition may at any moment be announced by the 
 stroke of an enemy. “Verily there is but a step between thee and 
 death.” Notwithstanding the dreadful wickedness of the camps, we 
 know that no army in the world has ever been so well supplied with the 
 Scriptures and chaplains, and other means of grace, with which the awak- 
 ened zeal of Christians has endeavoured to meet the spiritual claims of the 
 crisis. And God has greatly blessed the work. Multitudes of soldiers have 
 been reached, in whose distant and secluded homes the church bell never 
 rang out its call to prayer, and many more have come to us from those crowd- 
 ed haunts of our great cities, where the pealing music of a hundred bells 
 and the blessings of an abounding Christianity were passed unheeded by. 
 
 It is no light thing to bring these mixed throngs into daily contact 
 with the living teacher and the written Word, and the little praying 
 circle on the Sabbath worship. “In strains as soft as angels use, the 
 Gospel whispers peace,” amid all the turmoil of the camp, the weariness 
 of the march, and the terrors of the conflict. And after each battle is 
 over, the gentle necessities of humanity and of faith are bestowed by the 
 side of the sufferer, and at the graves of the slain. There, then, this pre- 
 cious Bible offers its best instructions, its gentlest consolations, and then it 
 proclaims the resurrection triumph of Him who bled upon the tree ; and 
 the departing spirit whose head has been pillowed upon the enduring 
 Word, flings out the challenge of apostolic grace, “O death, where is thy 
 sting ? 0 grave, where is thy victory ? But thanks be to God, which giveth 
 us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And then in distant 
 homes, whose costliest sacrifice has be.en laid upon the altar of their coun- 
 try, this same dear Bible speaks the language and perpetuates the love of 
 Him who wept with Mary and Martha at their brother’s grave, and who 
 broke the bondage of that brother’s death. 
 
 We owe it to these men and to their households to see to it that not 
 one of them shall go to the judgment seat of Christ to say, “I gave ray 
 life-blood for my country, but no man cared for my soul.” But what 
 becomes of these books ? It is true that many do not prize the sacred 
 Word, and that the wickedness of the wicked “sets at nought almost 
 every generous effort to save their souls even in the face of death.” Thou- 
 sands of these volumes are lost on the march, left in the camps, injured 
 by fording streams, and by other exposures of war. Many again are sent 
 
11 
 
 home by the soldiers to their distant families on the mountains, the 
 prairies, or the coast, where even the hardy colporteur seldom or never 
 goes. But thus the Society is called upon to keep up the supply, and it 
 does a noble work in places where it never could go before. Thousands 
 of these Bibles and Testaments have gone back to the homes of those 
 who will never see them again. They are priceless legacies, wet with the 
 tears, crimsoned with the blood, loaded with the blessings, of the wounded 
 and the dead — memorials of their patriotism, their piety, and their last 
 best victory. But, sir, if every one if these copies of the Bible were de- 
 spised and destroyed, the mere fact of their distribution would of itself be 
 a blessing to those who gave them ; for the responsibility for their misuse 
 would lie at the doors of those who rejected them, and the blessed Saviour 
 would have rich rewards for those who supplied his Word in his own 
 beloved name. But this is not a possible supposition. Facts prove the 
 usefulness and power of this timely distribution of the Word of God. 
 Every camp and hospital, and regiment and fleet, furnish the proof 
 that God’s “Word shall not return unto him void,” and that it “shall 
 accomplish the purpose whereunto he sent it.” Again , we owe it as a debt 
 of gratitude for the Gospel, to see to it that the great moral and religious 
 issues of this conflict shall be guarded by the spirit that lives in this Book 
 of books. It is well known that many of the officers and men of the 
 revolutionary war were thoroughly infected with the appalling French 
 infidelity of the age, and that they carried its principles from the war to 
 their homes. The memorable purchase of 20,000 copies of the Bible by 
 the Congress of 177 7 was a public acknowledgment of the God of the 
 Scriptures, a permanent protest against the ungodliness of the times, and 
 a pledge of our reliance as a nation upon Him who alone made and can 
 preserve our Union. Those Bibles were carried by act and expense of 
 Congress into the different ports of the States of the Union. In 1781 
 the same body, in view of the impossibility of importing the Scriptures 
 during the war, “recommended the edition published by Mr. Aitkin of 
 Philadelphia to the inhabitants of the United States.” And now sir, in 
 the face of such facts, it has been well asked, “ Who shall deny that this 
 is a Bible nation ? Who will charge the government with indifference 
 to religion, when the first Congress of the States assumed all the rights 
 and performed all the duties of a Bible Society long before such an insti- 
 tution had an existence in the world?” To that honoured work this 
 Society has fallen as the national heir. 
 
 To day we are contending against the infidelity, the radicalism, and the 
 lawlessness of a more active age. We can afford to be taxed, troubled, 
 and humbled, but we cannot afford to lose the benefit of all that this 
 crisis has called forth in money, self sacrifice, and prayers for our country 
 and our God. Much less can we afford to lose those lessons of charity 
 and forgiveness of enemies which the apostle bade us practice in those 
 
12 
 
 gracious words : “ If thine enemy hunger feed him, if he thirst give him 
 drink, for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.” We 
 have now the opportunity of doing this both with “the meat that perish- 
 eth,” and with “ the bread and the water of everlasting life.” If we had 
 not done this we should have been unworthy our reputation as a Bible 
 nation, and if we will not continue to do it, “we must leave our gift at 
 the altar.” Already with such “ coals of fire” have many of our Christian 
 people burned their way into the hearts of our prisoners of war. God 
 forfend the day when our armies shall retaliate the revolting cruelties in- 
 flicted upon many of our own wounded and dead heroes. This book 
 shows us “ a more excellent way.” And when the war is over we shall 
 have but begun a new and more difficult career. As Milton sang to 
 Cromwell, we shall find that 
 
 “Yet much remains 
 
 To conquer still. Peace hath her victories 
 No less renowned than war.” 
 
 The copies of the Scriptures which we now put into the hands of our 
 prisoners of war may become golden links in that strong chain which is 
 to bind the whole nation again together, if it please God. A new era for 
 the gospel and the Bible will then begin, for we shall have more work to 
 do in re-supplying the destitution of the United States and Territories. 
 And the Spirit of God moving upon the hearts of the nation, and the Son 
 of God walking upon the waves of our stormy sea, will make a great 
 calm. So shall we become that happy nation whose God is the Lord. 
 
 The address of our late revered President, at the last anniversary, was 
 an eloquent plea for this blessed volume, which, in the scope of its pre- 
 cepts and breadth of its charity, can reach all the collisions of opinion 
 and pacify the troubled waters of strife. 
 
 We are here to day under the shadow of this great bereavement by 
 which God has taken from us the very Daniel of the times. I was deeply 
 impressed this morning with the design over the frame which encloses 
 the full-length portrait of this our “ man greatly beloved,” which hangs in 
 the Managers’ Hall at the Bible House. It represents an open Bible, and 
 behind it the bursting radiance of the rising sun. Sir, may we not take 
 it as an emblem for our position to day. Our noble President has gone 
 to his rest, but here is still the open Bible, and yonder is that resplendent 
 sun in the heavens above us, while around us is our work for our country and 
 for all people. Let us evince our patriotism not only by the flag that floats 
 above us in the breezes, nor by the honours that we pay to our departed 
 worthy — let us by years of more munificent operations carry out the 
 legacy of his last official utterance. Let us cling to our old principles — the 
 Bible — the Bible without note or comment — the Bible for America — the 
 Bible for the world. And so, by the grace of God, shall we do our part 
 toward the solution of “ the great unfinished problem” of our national life. 
 
 The resolution was seconded by Rev. Dr. Anderson, and agreed to. 
 
13 
 
 Rev. Mr. Kempshall, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, offered the following 
 resolution : 
 
 Resolved, That the co-operation of Christians of different names, for half a century, 
 in circulating a common Bible without note or comment, has been happy in all its 
 bearings, and should be universally encouraged. 
 
 Mr. President: The object of the American Bible Society is to spread 
 the Word of God over the wide world, to bring the knowledge of divine 
 truth to bear upon the mass of fallen humanity, in the firm faith, that in 
 so far as this end is accomplished, by the blessing of God’s Holy Spirit 
 accompanying it, our fellow beings will be elevated in the scale of all that 
 ennobles and dignifies man. I feel that from the want of time I shall be 
 compelled to condense the few remarks I had proposed to make in sup- 
 port of this resolution, as there are those to follow me, who will un- 
 questionably be far more competent to interest an audience than I am. 
 
 The prominent point in the resolution which I am called upon to 
 vindicate, is the fact that the co-operation of this Society is directed to 
 the circulation of a common Bible without note or comment. Upon this 
 point I purpose simply to offer a few words of remark. In the organiza- 
 tion of this Society it was wisely determined to print and circulate the 
 Word of God, so far as it was given to us by divine inspiration through 
 the agency of the holy men of old who spake as they were moved by the 
 Holy Ghost. It may be said, I think, that this original purpose has been 
 wisely adhered to, although from some directions influences have been 
 brought to bear, tending perhaps to divert the Society from the rigid 
 tenacity with which it has adhered to its purpose ; and, sir, the question 
 would seem to present two points. First, is it necessary to add 
 note or comment to the Word of God to make it clear to the understanding 
 of our fellow men, and is it expedient ? Is it necessary then, Mr. President? 
 I think that none here will take that ground. If it had been necessary 
 that man should add his opinion and interpretation of the Word of God to 
 the divinely inspired letter, then, sir, I think that he should have had some 
 divine intimation to that effect ; and may we not suppose that God him- 
 self would have appointed men who should have been directed by his 
 Spirit to give to us an interpretation of his divine will. Was it expedi- 
 ent under the circumstances in forming this Society that these notes 
 or comments should have been added ? In the first place, it might be 
 suggested, that if a society was to be formed in which Christians of dif- 
 ferent denominations were expected to co-operate, and a committee had 
 been appointed, as doubtless there would have been, of able, learned, and 
 eminent divines, to combine their views in these notes or comments 
 which were to be added, I think that at the very outset great difficulty, 
 and perhaps irreconcilable antagonism, would have been encountered in 
 the carrying out of this work. These men, however learned and pious, 
 would have come to this work with their minds deeply imbued with a 
 
14 
 
 love of their own peculiar views of faith, and interpretation of the Word 
 of God. And if it required forbearance, and long and careful comparison 
 of views, in bringing to its present high state of perfection our common 
 translation, how much more time and labour would have been required in 
 combining the views of men, and bringing them to a point in which they 
 could agree to send forth a Bible with notes or comments, purporting to 
 unfold the meaning of the Word of God. And, sir, even supposing that 
 a Bible with notes and comments, valuable as doubtless it would have 
 been, in many respects, had been by the agency of this Society scattered 
 abroad, would it not have met with the prejudices of the masses in the 
 different denominations, would it not unquestionably have tended to 
 thwart this very idea of co-operation ? Some would have been jealous 
 because their own peculiar views were not presented, or because they had 
 been suffered, perchance, to have passed under an eclipse. I think such 
 a volume would have met with somewhat of the same treatment that was 
 encountered by the “ Exposition of the Confession of Faith of the Pres- 
 byterian Church,” in a little incident which I heard related while I was a 
 student at Princeton, and which happened in the experience of one of the 
 students who went forth to circulate the publications of the Presbyterian 
 Board of Philadelphia. In his joumevings through the country he came 
 to the house of a pious mother in Israel, a good old lady, who loved the 
 Word of God, but did not love so well what seemed to her the objection- 
 able features of Calvinism. In looking over his little basket of books 
 she found many that she thought attractive, but she did not discover any 
 thing that seemed to awaken in her mind a desire to purchase, until her 
 eye fell upon the book entitled, “ Expositions of the Confession of Faith.” 
 Her face immediately brightened, and holding up the book she exclaims, 
 “Is this an Exposition of the Presbyterian Confession of Faith?” “Yes, 
 madam,” says the agent. “Well, I will have that; that’s the very book 
 I have been looking for all my life ; I have been wanting to see that 
 thing exposed as long as I lived.” Perhaps these notes or comments 
 might have awakened a desire to see them exposed in the same way. It 
 might be remarked here, that the increased expense of publishing such a 
 Bible would have been very great, whereas the great desire of this 
 Society is, and ever should be, to publish a cheap Bible that shall be 
 scattered as leaves which are for the healing of the nations, the wide 
 world over, so that the soldier going to the battle field, or the sailor 
 carrying the ensign of his country’s greatness all over the earth, shall 
 have his own Bible and his own Testament. 
 
 Mr. President, there might be other reasons offered here why it would 
 not be expedient for this Society to undertake tq circulate the Bible with 
 note or comment ; but I shall pass them by, and proceed simply to offer 
 a few remarks in support of the proposition in this resolution, that the 
 co-operation of all Christian denominations in this blessed work has been 
 
15 
 
 most happy in all its bearings, and should be universally encouraged. I 
 remark, in the first place, that this co-operation, this cordial, cheerful, 
 glorious union of the disciples of the Lord Jesus, our one common head 
 and king, upon this common platform, has been most happy in its effect 
 upon the world. Alas, sir, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ presents 
 too often to the world, which has no sympathy with her in her work, the 
 aspect of a family divided, discordant, and belligerent; and here we 
 rejoice that through the agency of this Society, Christians who love God, 
 and who desire to guide men to that blessed Saviour, and who hope to 
 meet around his throne to sing the song of the redeemed together, can 
 show to the world, notwithstanding all the bitterness and intensity of 
 theological polemics, and controversy about forms of government and of 
 modes of worship, that underlying all this, the heart of the great family of 
 God beats in the high and holy purpose of serving their Master, and in 
 carrying the glad tidings of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ to 
 the uttermost ends of the earth ; that they have something else to do be- 
 sides the work of shouting a party shibboleth, or crying, “ the temple of 
 the Lord are we,” and showing to the world that is too ready to look on 
 with scorn, mockery, and bitter taunts, that all these painful exhibitions 
 of rivalry and contention can be laid aside, and that while we love our 
 own denominations, and believe that under God we can most effectively 
 serve our Master within the sphere to which we are allotted, yet we can 
 all meet, as we do here to-day in this building, with the common flag of 
 our country floating over us, and under the common banner of our great 
 Captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, and with a united, solid phalanx, can 
 move forward in our great and glorious work. We say to the world that 
 we are one in the Lord Jesus, to live and die with him, that we may 
 endeavour to bring men to a knowledge of the glorious privileges con- 
 ferred upon them by the blessed Gospel ; and, Mr. President, the effect of 
 this co-operation is most happy upon the church itself. There is, un- 
 doubtedly, pervading the mass of our Christian people an earnest desire 
 to see a more cordial and effective co-operation ; but while the people 
 desire this, yet often the leaders may stand in the way. It is unquestion- 
 ably true that theories of evangelical union and allegiance, however finely 
 woven and carefully elaborated, have in their practical effects proved 
 oftentimes a failure; still, we rejoice in all the labours of evangelical 
 alliance, in so far as they have proved effective. We have seen the ex- 
 periment tried, and accomplishing but little in its results ; but, sir, here 
 we come to day without the encumbrance of machinery carefully adjusted 
 to prevent the preponderating influence of any one church over another, 
 planting our feet upon the Word of God, the service of our common faith, 
 in so far as we hold to a common Head, to whose blessed fountain, thirsty 
 pilgrims over life’s sandy desert, we love to come and drink, and beyond 
 which we look forward to a home of rest with the people of God in heaven. 
 
16 
 
 It sends a thrill of pleasure through the soul to see in this audience so many 
 of different denominations who love the Saviour, and who unite with us 
 in this work, and their presence here is a significant proof that they love 
 this feature of a common co-operation in the service of our common 
 Master. 
 
 There is another point to which I will allude as I draw to a conclusion. 
 The effect of this co-operation of Christians, of different denominations, in 
 circulating the common Bible, without note or comment, has been most 
 happy in its tendency to soften down the asperities, and subdue the un- 
 kind feelings and suspicions, which sometimes exist between Christians of 
 different lands, and to bring them, although separated by ocean, mountain, 
 and stream, together in heart, if not in actual contact and grasp of the 
 hand, as members of one great family, having in view one common work. 
 This feature of this co-operation has been alluded to this morning ; and, 
 sir, I could not hut remark the response which the allusion to this new 
 historical fact — which will remain historical, I doubt not, so long as 
 the British and Foreign Bible Society, and the American Bible Society, 
 are permitted of God to work together — received from the audience, show- 
 ing how deeply it had touched their hearts. Yes sir, this is one of the 
 great and blessed effects of this co-operation that has been brought about 
 so gloriously in these the dark days of our national trial. I allude to this 
 again, because I wish to mention an incident which occurred in the life of 
 my venerated predecessor (the Rev. Dr. Murray), who, two years ago, 
 while on a tour through Europe, was permitted to be present at the an- 
 niversary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. In the remarks which 
 he made upon that occasion, referring to a remark of one of the speakers 
 preceding him, who had alluded to the publication of a little book 
 called the “ Missing Link,” and stating that the book had been republished 
 in his own country and received a wide circulation ; and, turning to the 
 president (the Earl of Shaftesbury) the doctor said, in his usual happy 
 and courteous manner, “ My lord, there is one link which might be welded in 
 this chain, binding our countries together, and that, I beg permission to 
 suggest, is a visit from the Earl of Shaftesbury to the American Bible 
 Society. This would be received by them as a token from your Society 
 of their sympathy, and as an expression of their regard and co-operation 
 with us, and would be welcomed as a restoration of that which now seems 
 to be a missing link between England and America.” In his re- 
 ply the earl was pleased to say, that he thanked the representative 
 of the American Bible Society for his kind and courteous invitation ; and he 
 responded with all his heart to that expression of sympathy with them ; 
 but while he pleaded the infirmities of accumulating years as an excuse for 
 not undertaking to visit America, yet if he believed that his presence 
 there, at a meeting of the Bible Society, would in any manner tend to 
 cement these two great countries together, and bind them yet closer to- 
 
17 
 
 gether in tlie cords of fraternal love, and prepare the disciples of a com- 
 mon Lord in England and America for the hour when they would be 
 called upon to present an undivided front in opposition to all the popish, 
 neological, and infidel efforts which are being made to dethrone the 
 Word of God from its supremacy in the hearts of men — then he would 
 most gladly undertake that journey, at any expense, at any risk or ex- 
 posure of life or health, “ for,” said he, “ we in England and America” — 
 and these are the words of a distinguished man over whose name there has 
 passed somewhat of a cloud in our recent struggle, in the painful suspicion 
 that he did not sympathize with our country in these dark days as he 
 ought to, and as we might have expected from a Christian man, who loved 
 that Bible which we love, which is the foundation of our civil liber- 
 ties — “ have need to present an undivided front in the days of darkness, 
 contest, and distrust, which are coming.” Two years ago, Mr. President, 
 these prophetic words were uttered. These days of darkness, contest, and 
 distrust, came upon us sooner, perchance, than he dreamed of ; and we 
 have need indeed of a common feeling of love for our common Saviour to 
 sustain us through this terrible trial. Thank God, the opportunity came 
 when the British and Foreign Bible Society made good its offer of sym- 
 pathy, expressed through the Earl of Shaftesbury to Dr. Murray ; and in 
 a day when our souls were depressed, and our hearts were made sad, not 
 only because the waves of trouble rolled over us from the uprising in our 
 own land, but because from across the great Atlantic there came threat- 
 ening words, and a cloud was gathering there, perchance no larger than 
 a man’s hand, but which seemed to be drifting over that broad expanse, 
 threatening to burst with its lightnings and thunders upon our heads in 
 the days of our sorrow ; in that day, amid all that gloom and darkness, 
 there came from the British and Foreign Bible Society this proffer of ten 
 thousand dollars to help us in this hour of emergency, if it were needed. 
 Mr. President, there was the golden missing link. That missing link was 
 proffered at the very hour when we most needed it — a link made of the 
 finest gold ; and sir, may we not trust that through the beautiful, happy, 
 and courteous reply of this Society to that proffer, that that missing 
 link was so welded that it shall stand forever, holding us bound to that 
 Society — yes, to old England still — in love, in respect, and sympathy in the 
 Lord Jesus. 
 
 Upon this point, necessary to complete what I had already said, I 
 proposed to answer the question, “how should it be encouraged ?” as fol- 
 lows : First, by prayer, recognizing entire dependence upon the blessing 
 of God, in order to still more successful effort. Second, by endeavouring, 
 as ministers and laymen, to interest the masses of the people, especially 
 those who have been instructed in the Bible, and who profess to love the 
 Word of God, in the operations of this Society, and so increase the con- 
 tributions. Third, by seeking ourselves to become more thoroughly ac- 
 
18 
 
 quainted with the Bible. Not simply familiar with the letter, but imbued 
 with the spirit of its teachings ; and above all, with the spirit of that bless- 
 ed Redeemer, who for our sakes became poor, and the making known of 
 whom to fallen man as the only Saviour from sin, to the glory of God the 
 Father, is the grand design of the Bible, and of this Society for circula- 
 ting the Word of God. 
 
 The resolution, having been seconded by Hon. E. A. Newton, was 
 adopted. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Studley, of New Bedford, Mass. : The resolution, Mr. Presi- 
 dent, to which I have been requested to make a very few remarks is this : 
 Resolved, That the Bible is adapted to men in all the conditions of life, and partic- 
 ularly to those in affliction, and should have a universal circulation among all families 
 and nations. 
 
 Now, the resolution which has just been read may seem to you and 
 the major part of this audience a simple truism, because you have made the 
 Bible your intimate companion and your supreme counsellor for so many 
 years, that you need no objective attestation of its value. And sir, the 
 man who does not know by actual study, and by the experience of a per- 
 sonal faith in its divine teachings, how precious a thing the Bible is, needs 
 line upon line of argument and of testimony to enable him to see the 
 truthfulness of a proposition which you, and I, and all of us, are ready 
 to endorse. 
 
 Mr. President, I believe fully in the language of the resolution, that 
 the Bible is adapted to the wants of men in all conditions of life. It must 
 be so, for setting aside the fact of its inspiration, it is a book which treats 
 intelligently and instructively of almost every topic that relates to the 
 vital interests of man. It glances backward to the age of chaos and old 
 night, and it looks forward to the coming glory of a millenial morning. 
 It discloses man’s origin ; it prefigures his destiny ; it is made up of history, 
 jurisprudence, poetry, and every thing in fine that can instruct the 
 judgment, control the affections, and embellish the inner or the outer 
 life. The longer I live, the more fully I am persuaded of the intrinsic 
 value of the Bible to mankind universally. Its relations and its precepts 
 are adapted to the moral necessities of every human soul. But the reso- 
 lution intimates — -and this is the principal point of my brief remarks — 
 that the Bible is particularly adapted to those who are in affliction. 
 However much of happiness there is in the world — and I am one of those 
 who believe that in the aggregate there is a good deal — it is unquestion- 
 ably true that there is an immense deal of real trouble and misery. In 
 every house there is an unsightly skeleton of some sort. The ghastly 
 object maybe artfully concealed from the careless or casual observer; but 
 it is there. You may call at any dwelling in any street of this great city, 
 and if you are endowed with the gift of spiritual insight, you will discover 
 something that is afflictive to those who are called to encounter it from 
 
19 
 
 day to day. Indeed, the sources of trial are so numerous and so varied, 
 that, in all the multitudinous throng of men, no heart is left untouched. 
 And because trials and sorrows are thus common, it is necessary for the 
 children of men to have some unfailing but accessible source of trust and 
 comfort — something that shall keep them from black despair, or that 
 which is equally bad, an atheistic stoicism. This very source of trust and 
 comfort, never failing, always accessible, has been furnished for our race 
 by the love of (rod in this Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever 
 takes into his hand this inspired Word of God and reads it with a heart 
 of childlike faith and love, will find it crowded, literally crowded, with 
 exceeding great and precious promises — and those promises are so numer- 
 ous and so varied, so delicately shaded, that they cover every conceivable 
 instance of human suffering. Whether a man’s temperament be sanguine 
 or desponding — whether his mind be severely logical in its habits or under 
 the more immediate control of his emotional nature — there is in the Gos- 
 pel of Christ somewhere, some word of promise that is especially suited to 
 his particular case. In all the ages of the Church of God the demands 
 of all classes of believers have been fully met by the Spirit of God opera- 
 ting through those Holy Scriptures — and, as my brother Kempshall has 
 said — without notes or comments, because they were not needed. If a man 
 has sinned against God, however dark and aggravated his offence, the 
 Scriptures held out to that man in the person of Jesus Christ a solemn 
 pledge of God’s pardoning power, and this pledge is iterated and re- 
 iterated in almost every conceivable shape. There are promises to parents, 
 to those who faithful to the best of their knowledge in promoting the 
 welfare of their children — promises of comfort to the Christian parent’s 
 heart in the day of waywardness in his child. There are promises also 
 that are specially calculated to comfort the widow and the fatherless — 
 promises to the poor, the suffering, and the weary. Indeed, there is no 
 devout believing heart or soul any where that has its trials, that may not 
 find some word of promise in the Scriptures to allay its grief. A simple, 
 loving, trustful spirit towards God is born of the study of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures — a spirit which can make the darkest hour of man’s probationary 
 pilgrimage radiant with joy and blessing. 
 
 Now I will tell you the simple results of what I have seen in my own 
 pastoral relations. I have seen a man that was debased by sin to the last 
 degree of wretchedness of which the human soul was susceptible, raised 
 by the elevating power of the Scriptures to a conscious heirship of eternal 
 life. I have seen a person who was so distorted with physical pain, that 
 almost every joint of her body was displaced from its socket, and yet her 
 comfort in the Scriptures was such, when I read them to her, as to call 
 forth expressions of gratitude and of praise from her lips. I have seen a 
 man who was so poor, that he seemed to have fathomed the lowest deep 
 of poverty — Shakspeare’s steeping a man in poverty to the very lips was 
 
20 
 
 nothing to it — and yet I have seen that man so inspired in his hopes by 
 the Holy Scriptures as to make them more than a match for his earthly 
 deprivations. There is no limit to the strengthening, comforting power 
 of the Scriptures upon the believing soul. I have seen the father of a 
 wayward child, in spite of his trouble, through the operations of this 
 power of trust in the Scriptures, walk tranquilly, hopefully, and peacefully 
 before the Lord. I have seen the wife of a drunkard and gambler, in her 
 trust in God lifted above the indulgence of one murmuring thought ; and 
 I have seen a mother, as loving as any mother in this house this morn- 
 ing, stand by the grave of her infant child without one murmuring 
 thought in her heart towards God, because of the fulness of her trust in 
 those blessed words of the Lord Jesus Christ — “ Suffer the little children 
 to come unto me, and forbid them not” — and because of her trust in that 
 narrative of the Evangelist which says, that when Jesus Christ had spoken 
 those words, he took the little ones up in his arms, laid his hands upon 
 them and blessed them. Not only in this specific case, but in all con- 
 ceivable cases of trial, the Scriptures are a secure hiding place from afflic- 
 tion. They are the wings of God under which the soul may abide in 
 peace and safety. And because the Scriptures are thus adapted to the 
 wants of men in all conditions of life, and particularly in affliction, the 
 resolution before us declares that they shall have universal circulation 
 among the families of nations. I need not argue the point to this intelli- 
 gent audience. It has been announced as the policy of the American 
 Bible Society for forty-six years, as its highest duty to God and man; and 
 I only say to you, and to those connected with you in the Society — those 
 of you who have charge of this holy work or mission — be faithful to your 
 trust, continue to scatter the Scriptures pure and unadulterated by note 
 or comment, all abroad in the earth. Place a copy in every human 
 dwelling, in every traveller’s bedroom, in every ship’s cabin, in every sol- 
 dier’s knapsack, in every sailor’s chest. Our brother from Philadelphia 
 (Rev. Dr. Taylor), in speculating this morning upon the probable fate of 
 many of these Bibles and Testaments, stated that doubtless many of them 
 were lost, that many remained unopened. Yes, there may be weeks 
 and months even, during which these volumes will not be opened, and in 
 which they lie at the bottom of the sailor’s chest, or the soldier’s knap- 
 sack, or upon the table in the traveller’s bedroom, or in the saloon of the 
 steamship ; but there is this blessed difference between the Scriptures and 
 the human teachers, that they are patient waiters for man’s slow and irre-' 
 ligious movements ; and when in the bed of affliction man comes to them 
 with his heart all torn, crushed, and bleeding, instead of chiding him for 
 not coming sooner, they are ready to open their leaves and pour into his 
 bruised heart the oil of divine grace and comfort. These old men here 
 to day could probably narrate a thousand instances, like that of a friend 
 of mine, who, being shut up on a stormy Sabbath day in a country inn, 
 
21 
 
 where there was no book, no newspaper to be had, nothing but the Bible, 
 asked the landlord to let him have that, and by his reading of that blessed 
 Book on that stormy Sabbath day, he made a life-long acquaintance with 
 the fact of God’s fatherhood and love in Jesus Christ, and he was for a 
 long series of years a faithful preacher of the Gospel. 
 
 In view of all that has been said this morning, and in view of the ten 
 thousand things that might be said, I pray, Mr. President, that in years 
 to come, as in years past, this Society may have the substantial sympathy 
 of all branches of the Christian Church, and enjoy the blessings of God 
 upon its endeavours to give the Scriptures of Divine truth a universal cir- 
 culation in all the haunts and habitations of the children of men. 
 
 The resolution was seconded by Dr. Thomas Cock, and agreed to. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Randall, of Boston, offered the following resolution : 
 
 Resolved, That the spirit of the age and the condition of the country demand re- 
 newed and increased efforts in the work of Bible distribution. 
 
 We live indeed in exciting times, in times when the issues of the hour 
 are made mementoes, involving as they do the very destiny of the country. 
 But this is not all. We live in an extraordinary age — an age that is 
 leaving its mark upon the world, and is to make our day distinguished 
 from all the days that have gone before ; and in the calendar of the world, 
 it is an age in which the march of intellect, and the triumphs of art and 
 science, were never more abundant and never more brilliant. It is an age 
 of great progress in every department of life, moral, social, and political ; 
 but it is a fact, not to be disguised here or elsewhere, that this tide of 
 progress has reached a point where civilization is beginning the fearful 
 work of re-acting upon itself. The Bible is the source of all civilization ; 
 all true progress takes its rise in the fountain of inspiration. God’s Holy 
 Book is what the Son of God pronounced it to be, the light of the world. 
 This is not less a philosophical than a historic fact. Who are the nations to 
 day sitting in darkness and death, and grovelling in barbarism ? They 
 are those on whom this light has never shone, who have never read this 
 Holy Book, and who know nothing of its saving presence, nothing of its 
 power. On the other hand, who are the nations on the face of the earth 
 that have reached the highest point of civilization? Who are they, but 
 those where the light of God’s Word has shone clearest and steadiest, 
 and been most universally diffused ? Who are those nations between 
 these two extremes of light and darkness, but those where that Word has 
 been loaded down with tradition, where it has been withheld from the 
 people, and where it has been obscured ? The Bible, then, is the true 
 source of civilization. Take that civilization and divorce the Word of 
 God from it, and what is it ? What are the elements of civilization ? Are 
 they not liberty, learning, and material wealth ? What are the tendencies 
 of these when left to themselves ? What is the tendency of liberty but to 
 
22 
 
 license, of learning but to infidelity, and of material prosperity but to irre- 
 ligion and infidelity ? Therefore the Bible is, and is to be, the great con- 
 servator of civilization. We have an illustration of this in our own land at 
 this very hour. We have become, indeed, a very extraordinary people. 
 God has been pleased, through the influences of this high civilization, to 
 grant to us a degree of wealth and prosperity such as the world has never 
 looked upon. This nation to day is enjoying more power than it knows 
 what to do with. It has more liberty than it can wisely use — more 
 knowledge than it can wisely employ ; — and yet what are the tendencies? 
 He must be blind indeed who does not discover the tendencies to infidelity 
 in politics, in intellect, and in the material power of the land ? 
 
 It has been well said here to day, that in the early struggles of this 
 country for its independence, the first Congress was a Bible Society. 
 While we were a few, feeble folk, while we were greatly distressed, and 
 struggling for the blessings now within our reach, we were comparatively 
 a pious people. How long did we remain so ? How long was that Con- 
 gress a Bible Society ? However long it may have been, it is certainly 
 not one now. When this country made its constitution, it forgot to re- 
 member God. His name is not in it; His being is not recognized there. 
 They forgot Him then, and they have been forgetting Him ever since. 
 What is the tendency of this large liberty which we have enjoyed in 
 every phase of it ? Is it not to licentiousness ? This people have drunk at 
 that fountain of civil liberty until they have become intoxicated, and have 
 come to believe that the people are the god of the government ; that the 
 ballot box, and not Heaven, is the source of all power. What is true in 
 politics is true also in letters. The infidelity of intellect is apparent every 
 where, in high places as well as in low. We see it in that rationalism 
 which, while it would dethrone Almighty God, would erect reason into a 
 deity, and bow down before it — that begets a neology that emboldens men 
 with impious hands to undertake the feeble work of hurling works of sci- 
 ence against the Word of Almighty God. It is the infidelity of material pros- 
 perity that emboldens people to say, as they do — “ Behold, the Babylon 
 which we have built; our hands have gotten this wealth.” Is not that the 
 language of the people through the length and breadth of the land, when 
 you interpret it from their actions? Now, what is the remedy for this? 
 Here, to the eye of the intelligent Christian, the Bible is found more than 
 ever the book for the times. It is, and it is to be, the great conservator 
 of civilization. There is no power whatever in the elements of civilization 
 to sustain itself. If the influence of God’s authority and of his Word be 
 withdrawn, the tendencies are, as I have described them to be ; and it is 
 only, therefore, by circulating this Book, and bringing it immediately into 
 contact with the people, that you can counteract them. I do not believe 
 that the authors of infidel essays and reviews, or that the politicians of 
 his country, will be converted by the American Bible Society sending a 
 
23 
 
 volume of the Holy Scriptures to them. Some of them, I am afraid, are 
 beyond conversion ; but the mass of the people, of men, women, and chil- 
 dren, who are liable to be deceived and imposed upon by these men in 
 the world of letters, and in the world of politics, will be guarded from harm, 
 and preserved by the presence and power of that Holy Word. How is that 
 to be done? I answer: not simply and solely because the Bible is a 
 book pre-eminently distinguished from all other books. Here is a volume 
 of wisdom such as the world has never seen before. Here is a system of 
 jurisprudence such as the world has never produced. Here are lessons of 
 love, and there are none such in the world. Here are exhibitions of holi- 
 ness and descriptions of vice ; here are the rewards of righteousness, and 
 the penalties of sin. We might well say that such a book, with such con- 
 tents spread abroad throughout the community, would conserve that com- 
 munity, and hold it harmless against all the mischief of rationalism, infi- 
 delity, letters, and politics. But, Mr. President, this Bible is not only a 
 book with all these excellencies, with all these pre-eminent distinctions, 
 but it is the handwriting of Almighty God. There is a message from 
 Heaven to earth ; there is a transcript of the Divine mind ; there are the 
 thoughts and the laws of Jehovah himself ; there is what the Holy Ghost 
 has written. It stands here, a revelation, with a glory and a power of its 
 own. When we are born we find it here, and when we die we shall 
 leave it here ; and when the heavens roll away as a parched scroll, and 
 the elements melt with fervent heat, its principles will abide, and that for 
 ever. 
 
 How, that is God’s work, and he has sent it into this world to accom- 
 plish a purpose, and that purpose is to elevate humanity. He has reached 
 down from his throne to the lowest depths of that humanity. He has 
 put his arm of Almighty love under it. He has surrounded it with this 
 arm of his own, and he will lift it up, until it not only reaches the 
 highest point of civilization, but he will continue to raise it up until it 
 reaches heaven, his own throne. The Holy Ghost wrote this Book, and 
 the Holy Ghost has never yet been divorced from it. The seed of eternal 
 life is wrapped up in it, and whatever may become of it to human view, 
 however it may seem to die by man’s neglect or by man’s contempt, it is 
 not lost from the view of God. His eye watches it ; his presence blesses 
 it ; his Spirit accompanies it, and it will effect the work which it has been 
 sent to do, and that work, among others, is the all conservative influence 
 in saving what it produces, in the form of an elevated civilization. This 
 Society, then, should receive a new impulse in prosecuting with renewed 
 efforts this great and glorious work, if it would save the country and the 
 race. 
 
 A remark or two in regard to the conditions of the country. I do 
 not now allude to its condition as involved in this terrible revolution. 
 That has been already sufficiently spoken of ; but there is one point to 
 
24 
 
 which I desire to call your attention, and which I think is a fact that 
 should forcibly second the resolution I have offered. The condition of 
 the old world is such as to produce an expulsive power as felt hv its in- 
 habitants — the condition of the new world is such as to exert an 
 attractive power ; and these two powers together have raised the tidal 
 wave of emigration until tens and hundreds of thousands from the old 
 world have not only reached these shores, but from our eastern coast 
 they have gone to our western prairies. How rapid has that tide been 
 moving ! It has been swifter than the progress of the church, swifter 
 than the march of missionaries, and the men, women, and children, em- 
 barked upon it have been carried away from the church, and from the 
 ministry. Thousands of families may be found in some portions of our 
 country where there is no divi Institution but the Sabbath, and which 
 they have carried in their hearts and memories, but which is fast fading 
 out of both. The church is far behind them ; the missionaries have not 
 reached them, and may never come in the day of many of them. Now, 
 what shall be done? Here is God’s inspired Word, which is the Word 
 of Life. Shall they be left there, immortal souls to die, and be lost for- 
 ever? Shall they be left there to educate their children without a 
 knowledge of the truth, children who are to become citizens, voters, and 
 rulers, in whose hands the destinies of this nation are very soon to be 
 committed ; or shall this Society arise in the majesty of its might, and 
 with a generous liberality such as those who are interested in the welfare 
 of our fellow men will furnish them with, flood that whole land with the 
 Word of God, and give them that which they do not now possess, and for 
 the want of which they are perishing. 
 
 Here I think is a grand opportunity for a grand work. Let the 
 patriot, the philanthrophist, and the Christian, in view of the wants of 
 the country, in view of the signs of the times, in view of the issues 
 that are now upon us, show by his liberality, show by his consistent con- 
 duct, show by his interest in such an institution as this, how much he 
 loves his country, how much he loves his fellow-men, and how much he 
 loves his God. 
 
 The resolution was seconded by Wm. B. Crosby, Esq., and agreed to. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Samuel H. Cox pronounced the benediction, and the 
 meeting adjourned. 
 
II. PUBLIC PRAYERS IN COLLEGES 
 
 BY PROF. F. D. HUNTINGTON. 
 
 In all the principal seats of learning in the United States there is 
 a daily social service of devotion for the students. We are not aware 
 of a single exception to this religious usage. There is doubtless an 
 extensive and spreading impatience of religious forms ; there are ten- 
 dencies in American society and in our political institutions which 
 operate to heighten this jealousy; there are habits of speculation 
 which foster distrust of everything like constraint or fixed ceremony 
 in the concerns of faith ; even among some avowed Christian believers, 
 and in the name of a special spirituality, there exists a theory that every 
 exercise of worship is false which is not strictly spontaneous, and accord- 
 ingly that to compel attendance on a prayer is both an absurdity in ad- 
 ministration and an affront to piety. But, thus far, these views have 
 not, where our knowledge extends, organized any considerable semi- 
 nary, for either sex, in which the inmates are not regularly assembled 
 to own their daily dependence on the Almighty Father, to confess 
 Christ, and to implore the gifts of the Spirit. Whatever the notions 
 or doubts of educators may be, it seems to be practically felt that 
 some sort of moral power is lodged in such an observance. An indis- 
 tinct sense lingers in the mind that somehow the interests most sacred 
 and most prized, in these assemblies of youths, are at least safer with it 
 than without it. Whether its essential spiritual comeliness and dig- 
 nity are generally recognized or not, the venerable traditions of Christ- 
 endom sustain it and demand it. To a literary institution wholly 
 renouncing it, the community would find a grave difficulty in contin- 
 uing its confidence. 
 
 With the right-minded guardians and officers of education it be- 
 comes a vital and important question, how to conduct these exercises 
 so that they shall fulfil the manifest purpose of their appointment ; 
 have a spirit as well as a shape ; bring a devout sacrifice as well as a 
 bodily attendance ; diffuse a hallowing influence over the restless and 
 eager life congregated there ; awaken strong resolves and pure aspira- 
 tions , call down the answer and benediction of Heaven. In many 
 
24 
 
 PUBLIC PRAYERS IN COLLEGES. 
 
 instances, as we have abundant reason to believe, the method is far 
 from satisfactory either to those that listen or those that lead. Some- 
 times the whole performance appears like a performance merely, — a 
 mechanical repetition, a lifeless routine, negative at best, a scenic 
 exhibition, too familiar to be interesting, and too bare to be beautiful, 
 — a simulacrum. But it is instantly known that it cannot be that, 
 without being something worse than that. Professing to be com- 
 munion with Grod, the highest and holiest of all acts of which man is 
 capable, the moment it degenerates into a heartless function it falls 
 below respectability into profanity, becoming as offensive to the Om- 
 niscient Majesty as it is irksome to the compelled participators. 
 Sometimes the occasion is one of listlqssness. Sometimes it is a scene 
 of positive disorder. So many are the elements to be reconciled, in 
 fact, and so delicate the conditions of a sacred success, that it maybe 
 said, we presume, without hazard, that the result is very rarely all 
 that is desired. 
 
 Perhaps the first condition of any adequate benefit from the ser- 
 vice is that it be treated by all that are responsible for it as a reality ; 
 as what it pretends to be ; as real prayer. After all, to a striking 
 degree, the tone and manner of a whole institution will insensibly take 
 their character from the manifest spirit and bearing of its principal con- 
 ductors. Let it be plain to every hearer and witness that in these 
 gatherings there is more than a pretence of praying. Let it be seen 
 that in one at least, in him who is speaking, and in as many as do truly 
 accompany him, man is verily speaking to his Maker, and speaking in 
 an humble expectation that he shall be heard; — telling his real wants, 
 acknowledging sins that he really deplores, breathing requests for helps 
 and blessings that he really desires. A nameless power and impres- 
 sion will inevitably go with such devotions. Artifice will be driven 
 out. The ingenuities of invention, in thought or phrase, will never so 
 pass the line of simplicity as to trespass on the awful sanctity of 
 the Ineffable Presence invoked. Excess of human elaboration and 
 indolent neglect are equally alien from a veritable intercourse with the 
 Father of spirits. And nowhere is either error more likely to be seen 
 through and despised than in an auditory of young men. Their quick 
 moral instincts, and their yet unperverted habit of judging without 
 the bias of a mere current and institutional propriety, render them 
 accurate and searching critics of sincerity. 
 
 Were the modern naturalistic theory of prayer and its effects to 
 be generally accepted, our suggestions would, of course, be imperti- 
 nent. That theory, making all devotion not only dramatic, but illu- 
 sory, and ascribing all its apparent effects to a reactionary excitement of 
 
PUBLIC PRAYERS IN COLLEGES. 
 
 25 
 
 the worshipper’s own faculties, turns the idea of reality into ridicule. 
 We are to go through the genuflexion, the mumbling, the expectant 
 posture, the use of the vocative case, the solemn tone and pleading 
 cadence, and measured form of stately language, just as if God heard 
 and might answer, but with a perfectly cool private understanding 
 of the philosophical mind, all the while, that the display is purely 
 scenic, the Deity himself being as much removed from the transaction 
 as he is from the praying-machine of the Eastern idolater. Indeed, 
 is there a Deity left? Where is he ? What is his care for his crea- 
 tures ? Of what nature are those affections that enjoin prayer as a 
 duty, under a promise that it shall be heard, only to cheat first the 
 credulous intellect, and then mock the disappointed heart? This can- 
 not be the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour J esus Christ, who 
 was so wonderfully and tenderly revealed to his children, when it was 
 affirmed of him that he numbers the hairs of their heads, and notices 
 the fall of the sparrow, and who has compressed the whole mystery 
 and rationale of prayer into the one gracious and eternal pledge, — 
 “ Whatsoever ye shall ask, believing, that shall ye receive.” Nothing 
 can more effectually dissipate veneration and explode worship, whether 
 among the young or the old, than this superficial and impious inter- 
 pretation, which is offered by some nominal teachers of the Bible to 
 their pupils. It justifies the worst sneers that recklessness and infi- 
 delity have thrown at a histrionic, hypocritical priesthood. It is 
 as short-sighted and self-contradictory as it is insulting to our man- 
 hood. If we are to pray only to warm our emotions, kindle our ener- 
 gies, elevate our mood, under the delusion that we are heard, as by a 
 fetch, while He to whom the offering professes to ascend sits with 
 sublime unconcern in a distant chamber of the universe, or slumbers 
 like Brahm, then it is obvious only they will pray who have not yet 
 found out the secret of the trick; and to explain the nature of the exer- 
 cise, or to offer a reason for it, will be to dispel the charm and abolish 
 the practice ! Probably the notion was broached to protect the uniform- 
 ity of what are called the laws of nature, and is a part of the qualified 
 Pantheism that is so apt to attend certain stages of an immature and 
 conceited science. But Nature’s reputation is not to be saved by 
 limiting the freedom or power of God. We shall not vindicate cre- 
 ation by binding the Creator. How it is that the free-will of God plays 
 into the order of his works, and yet that he heareth and considereth the 
 faint cry of the least of his poor offspring, is a wonder tha,t science will 
 not solve, at least till it passes over from its acknowledged province 
 of analyzing, classifying and discovering facts, to define and exhibit 
 the essence of being. No : Education, from its very beginnings, must 
 
26 
 
 PUBLIC PRAYERS IN COLLEGES. 
 
 render unto faith the things that are faith’s. The outward exer- 
 cises of adoration must rest on a serene, immovable confidence in 
 the personality of God, in the communications of his Spirit to man, 
 in his willingness to draw nigh to them that draw nigh to him, in all 
 those emotional attributes that move his Infinite Heart to answer to 
 the sigh of pain, the tremblings of fear, the throb of hope, the anguish 
 of penitence, and the joyful upspringing of love in every tempted 
 and erring child. There must be a reality. Except for this it 
 will be vain to make room, in the curriculum of secular institutions, 
 for sanctimonious addresses to the Most High. To preceptors and 
 pupils alike, the ceremonies of the chapel, so far from being effectual, 
 will not even be decent, but a dismal conspiracy of mutual imposi- 
 tion and make-believe, — an awful initiation not only into the darkness 
 of unbelief, but into the crime of a sacrilegious lie. 
 
 The particular circumstances of a literary institution will naturally 
 impart a somewhat local and special character to the petitions and 
 thanksgivings offered "before its members. Young men are not insen- 
 sible to this direct and peculiar reference to their wants. It touches 
 their feelings and carries them more easily up to the Mercy-Seat. 
 Thorough and relentless despisers of every species of cant, and com- 
 monly sensitive to sentimentalism, no class of persons will be found 
 more readily and cordially to appreciate a kind word or a considerate 
 desire in their behalf. Whatever the negligence of that external air 
 which, in youth, is so often found to be the uncomely and graceless 
 mask of honest gratitude and trust, they still like to know that their 
 teachers care enough for their best welfare really to pray for it. 
 Thoughtless and impulsive in their hours of social amusement, they 
 are yet bound in esteem and affection to those set over them, who 
 remember their troubles, sympathize with their conflicts and discour- 
 agements, and entreat God to bless their life, their homes, their friends, 
 their studies, their reciprocal relations with their instructors, their 
 bodies, their sports. And, therefore, allusions to the passing events of 
 their experience, to the little incidents of the community, and to their 
 individual trials, if made in a manly tone and with some delicacy of 
 expression, are apt to engage their interest, and aid the best impres- 
 sion of the service. The differing usages of sects, as well as early 
 associations, will have much to do in determining the frequency and 
 particularity of such allusions. It is of the utmost consequence 
 to avoid what may provoke comments, excite curiosity, or raise so 
 much as a question of taste. Undoubtedly those are everywhere the 
 best public prayers which at once enlist the most entire and respect- 
 ful attention, by their fitness, variety and earnestness, while they are 
 
PUBLIC PRATERS IN COLLEGES. 
 
 27 
 
 being offered, and are afterwards treated with silence. For, in respect 
 to worship, considered as a product of human thought or original- 
 ity, silence is a higher tribute than the most approving criticism 
 — except, perhaps, in those confidential intimacies where friends take 
 sacred counsel together about the deepest things. And whatever 
 the specific mention of the supplication may be, it will never be 
 invested with so august a dignity, nor raised so completely above all 
 cavil or levity, as when it can be put into some words out of the 
 Inspired Book. 
 
 It is an interesting inquiry, what other exercises should attend the 
 offering of prayer. But in this regard we apprehend there is already 
 a considerable uniformity of usage, and that the simple schedule usu- 
 ally followed is not far from the best. Of course the Scriptures will 
 be read. Here again let there be no formality. Let the passages be 
 selected from different parts of the volume ; and they may be profita- 
 bly selected from almost every part of both the New Testament and the 
 Old. Sometimes a consecutive passage, or even a short book may be 
 read on successive days, with a certain advantage in keeping up the 
 connection in the narrative or argument. But sequences of that sort 
 often fall, we have thought, into a kind of visible mechanism, which 
 young men do not love. It looks like a saving of trouble, and they 
 feel put upon. Further, the Bible is not to be read as if it were an 
 exercise in elocution. The grand object is to bring out the meaning, 
 and get it in contact with the hearer’s soul, with as little showing of 
 self as possible. Whoso has reached into the depths of the Bible’s 
 heart will read it well. Some men’s reading of it is more original, 
 more suggestive of new ideas, than some other men’s sermons. And 
 this is no declaimer’s device. It comes by a profound spiritual ac- 
 quaintance with the inmost sense of that revelation of the mind of 
 Christ. Whether brief remarks could be profitably thrown in, not to 
 convey doctrine, but simply to uncover and explain the text, is worthy 
 of consideration. 
 
 In some of our colleges the Scriptures and the prayer are accom- 
 panied by a hymn, sung by a choir, or, perhaps better yet, by the 
 general body of the students. We are convinced the value of this 
 addition cannot well be over-estimated. In all true, simple sacred 
 music there is a nameless effect of good, against which few exceptional 
 breasts are wholly steeled. It falls in with the better inclinations and 
 hopes. It soothes irritability. It abates appetite. It shames mean- 
 ness and lust. It assists the incipient resolves of the penitent. It 
 comforts grief. It puts the whole mind into a more appropriate atti- 
 tude for the prayer that comes after, unconsciously opening the hidden 
 
28 
 
 PUBLIC PRAYERS IN COLLEGES. 
 
 avenues by which heavenly blessings flow down to nourish the growths 
 of character. Probably this effect lies more with the strain of har- 
 mony than with the words. Hence the greatest pains and discretion 
 are to be used in fixing the style of the music, — seeking to combine 
 the noblest practicable artistic with the purest religious expression, 
 attaining animation without a florid movement, and solemnity rather 
 than surprises or startling transitions. Operatic flourishes and com- 
 plicated fugues are as much out of place in chapel as rhetorical con- 
 fessions of sin. Chants, if there is patience enough for the discipline 
 and practice, are more appropriate for praise than any kind of psalm- 
 ody. If a hymn is sung, let it be a hymn. A hymn is not a chapter 
 of didactics, nor a moral essay, nor a piece of reasoning, nor a precept, 
 nor a creed, nor an exhortation, nor a narrative, nor a catalogue of 
 virtues, nor an inventory of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. A 
 hymn is an aspiration cast into poetical language. Its purpose is to 
 stir devout feeling, — at the same time conducting the soul in a peni- 
 tential or jubilant frame to heaven, and quickening within it those 
 social affections of humanity which prove mankind to be of one blood, 
 in one brotherhood, under one Father. Nor can any group of human 
 beings be anywhere found in whom these sentiments may be often 
 waked to a grander purpose than a band of companions, already asso- 
 ciated in the little commonwealth and the intense politics of their 
 academic economy, and destined soon to take central and command- 
 ing places in the nation, for Christ, or against him. 
 
 Recent debates, in many quarters, have broached the question 
 whether congregational worship is not, in some sense, disowning its 
 own name, by being practically the least congregational of any wor- 
 ship in the world. Even if the sacerdotal idea has gone out, a ser- 
 vice confined exclusively to one officiating individual retains the priest. 
 To what extent a liturgical practice might be advantageously intro- 
 duced into our colleges, where men of all denominations are assembled, 
 is a point to be determined rather by cautious and guarded experi- 
 ment than by preconceived opinion, or precipitate guess-work. We 
 cannot conceive why such experiment should not be freely made, and 
 conducted with forbearance and good-will on all sides. Among all 
 parties there is, as we suppose, a common interest in finding out the 
 best mode. Surely we can afford, at this time of day, to purify our- 
 selves of the sectarian suspicion and the ecclesiastical narrowness 
 which would reject the best, or refuse to search for it, because it 
 might involve the adoption of a neighbor’s way, instead of the pursuit 
 of our own. We confess ourselves inclined to believe that if the 
 Scriptures could be generally read alternately, as according to the 
 
PUBLIC PRAYERS IN COLLEGES. 
 
 29 
 
 Hebrew parallelism, or responsively, between the minister and the 
 congregation, in our colleges as well as in the churches, it would aid 
 the whole object, by giving the laymen something so do, by enlivening 
 the mind, by fixing the eye, by engaging two senses and a tongue in 
 the service, instead of hearing alone. A free use of different methods 
 is better than bondage to any one. Respecting the prayer itself, we 
 feel very sure of this : it should be either expressly and obviously 
 liturgical, or else be strictly extemporaneous, having the natural ver- 
 bal variety of a spontaneous exercise. What pretends to be the latter, 
 and yet consists of a familiar repetition of clauses, whether following 
 in a certain order or not, is almost certain to become subject, at last, 
 to unfavorable notice, and to fix upon the service a reputation of 
 heartless routine. 
 
 Common sense and observation teach that the entire daily service 
 should be short, — not extending over twenty minutes, altogether, at 
 the longest. Fifteen are better than twenty. It is idle to attempt 
 settling this matter by abstract notions, or to chafe at necessity, or to 
 expect a promiscuous troop of boys, or men either,, to be saints, and to 
 keep positions of discomfort all the more quietly because they fatigue 
 the limbs. Edification is the object, and edification should supply 
 the rule. 
 
 And, as to the bodily posture, there is still occasion for experiment. 
 It ought certainly to be uniform throughout the room. Sabbath 
 assemblies may continue to affront decency, by the present mixed and 
 vulgar manners, if they will ; but in the decorum of a college or 
 school such irregularity should be forbidden as an offence. If prin- 
 ciples of absolute adaptation and correspondence were to govern the 
 matter, there could be no doubt that the three appropriate postures 
 for the house of God would be standing during praise (i. e., in all 
 singing and the responsive readings of the Bible), kneeling or inclin- 
 ing the head and body during confession and prayer , and sitting to 
 hear the discourse , or the lessons read, by the minister. In daily 
 chapel services this order may be found impracticable, on the score 
 of the maintenance of stillness, or the supposed necessity of keeping 
 the persons of the pupils exposed to the eye of the government. 
 Certainly the body during the prayer — the most important of the ser- 
 vices — should have the greatest degree of ease consistent with a proper 
 dignity, so as to furnish the least possible disturbance to the mind. 
 Trifling accessories are not to be overlooked. Where it can be done, a 
 palpable help would be gained to the silence, and thus to the just 
 impression of the place, by some sort of carpeting on the floor. 
 
 The chief perplexities attending the subject arise from what was 
 
30 
 
 PUBLIC PRAYERS IN COLLEGES. 
 
 just referred to, — the connection of the devotions with the discipline. 
 Just so far as it can possibly be accomplished, that connection ought 
 to be at once and completely dissolved. That this has not been more 
 generally done in our colleges betokens an indifference to the highest 
 claims of religion, and the laws of the spirit, painful to think of. In 
 this direction, as it seems to us, is the great call for reformation. 
 The secular administration of a college is one thing, and should rest 
 on its own legitimate resources. The worship of God is another 
 thing, and should have no other relation to the former than that of a 
 morally pervasive and sanctifying influence. The chapel is not a con- 
 stabulary contrivance, nor the chaplain a drill-sergeant. The Bible 
 is no substitute for a policeman’s club, nor for a proctor’s vigilance. 
 In some seminaries, it would appear as if the final cause for prayers 
 were a convenient convocation of the scholars, as a substitute for a 
 roll-call. They must be somehow brought together, in order to come 
 under the eye of a monitor and be counted, and so they are summoned 
 to praise God. Now we maintain — and surely it is a case that needs 
 no other argument than an appeal to common Christian feeling — that 
 all this should be forthwith changed. A spiritual approach to the 
 Almighty Source of Truth should not be compromised by an extrinsic 
 annoyance. If any students come to prayers reluctantly, their reluc- 
 tance should not be aggravated by the additional odium of an aca- 
 demic economy put under a sacred disguise. Physical constraint 
 should not thrust its disagreeable features unnecessarily into the 
 sanctuary. And therefore such arrangements should be secured that, 
 by classes or otherwise, the presence of the students on the spot might 
 be certified at the given hour, independently of the chapel service. 
 
 On the other hand, one is easily satisfied that the attendance 
 should be universal, and should be required; and also that entire 
 order and a decorous deportment should be positively enforced under 
 strict sanctions. These are indispensable conditions of any proper 
 effect of the service, whether on the devoutly disposed or the reckless. 
 Moreover, the reasons for them are plain, and find a substantiating 
 authority in every human breast. Let the compulsion be exercised 
 in a kind spirit, and be patiently explained. The reverence that 
 demands it should be evident in the officer’s own soul and bearing. 
 Only, behind the reasonable persuasion — a silent, retiring, but ever- 
 present force — should stand the imperative figure of law, always in 
 abeyance, but always there. And above all, as just urged, let not the 
 cause of this compulsion be mixed up with a secular regulation, but de- 
 pend on its own inherent rectitude and conformity with the Divine Will. 
 The student is to understand that he must come ; but then this “ must” 
 
PUBLIC PRAYERS IN COLLEGES. 
 
 31 
 
 has nothing to do with the local policy. It is the combined dictate 
 of revelation, of history, of human want and welfare, and of the ripest 
 judgment of the best men. So an external order must be maintained. 
 The intrinsic right of the matter is satisfied in no other way. Dis- 
 turbance, levity, whispering, the furtive use of a book or pencil, a 
 slouched dress, or a lounging attitude, should all be prohibited at every 
 cost. If the pupil pleads that his heart is not in the service, and that 
 an outside compliance is an insincerity, the fallacy can easily be shown 
 him. The rule comes to aid his deficiency, and disposes everything 
 to facilitate an interested participation. Besides, there are others 
 close by who are really and thoughtfully worshipping, entitled to deco- 
 rous surroundings. There is not the least hostility to free and cor- 
 dial devotions in such regulations. Every sensible man knows that 
 his strongest and happiest and healthiest labors are braced up and 
 kept in place by law. Every transition from term-time to vacation, 
 or from professional tasks to purely voluntary ones, illustrates that. 
 As we lately heard one of our most faithful and unremitting scientific 
 minds, — one where we should have hardly suspected the existence 
 of any such reliance, express it, — ■ “ Our most spontaneous studies 
 have to be subjected to some form of constraint.” We get our free- 
 dom under a yoke. Almost every busy man who would acquire an 
 extra language must put himself in bondage to a clock or a door- 
 bell, till habit takes the place of the private teacher. The spiritual 
 motions of man are no exception to this peculiarity of his constitution. 
 They are not discredited by being regulated. Besides, the funda- 
 mental idea of a college or a school is that its members are “ under 
 tutors and governors ; ” and the success of every part of the educa- 
 tional process depends on the forming hand of law. Here, then, 
 seems to be the true principle : the secular discipline of an institution 
 has no right to subordinate the devotions to itself, nor to use them for 
 its purposes; but those devotions demand a rational and gracious 
 discipline of their own, in keeping with their dignity, and precise 
 enough for their external protection. 
 
 Though perfect order, or the nearest possible approximation to it, 
 ought to be insisted on, after the form of the exercise is determined, 
 we hold that Christian pains should be taken to remove every burden- 
 some element and circumstance pertaining to it. A principal one is 
 often found in an unseasonable hour. The lessons and lectures of 
 college, especially when the numbers of students are large, require a 
 long day. It is a common impression that the day should begin 
 with public prayers. This often brings that service so early that the 
 prayer-bell acts as a wrench to pull the reluctant attendants out of 
 
32 
 
 PUBLIC PRAYERS IN COLLEGES. 
 
 their beds. This is laying upon a duty, which needs every accessory 
 to make it agreeable and attractive, a foreign and extrinsic load, giv- 
 ing it a bad reputation. During our own college course, rooming 
 nearly half a mile from the chapel, we attended prayers, through the 
 whole winter, at six o’clock, — both that duty and a succeeding reci- 
 tation of an hour being performed by candle-light. The hardship 
 was not at all too great for a vigorous training, and we never got an 
 absence-mark. But, taking the habits of the people as they are, and 
 especially of the more luxurious classes, this hour, or anything like it, 
 would be accounted barbarous and cruel ; and therefore we should con- 
 sider it inexpedient. We account it an irreverence to bring inevita- 
 ble and superfluous dislike on any worship. Morning prayers should 
 be held at an hour when every healthy student may be reasonably 
 expected to be up and dressed. Otherwise, a habit of feeling and of 
 speaking is gradually engendered incompatible with due veneration. 
 
 In Harvard University the . experiment has been tried, within a 
 year or two, of assembling for morning prayers after breakfast, and 
 indeed at two or three different times, in the first part of the day. 
 The result, on the whole, has been favorable to making the prayers 
 the first exercise, before breakfast ; and this appears to be the prefer- 
 ence of the students themselves, both on the score of natural fitness 
 and personal convenience. The subject justifies an extensive com- 
 parison of different judgments and experiences. 
 
 At Harvard, at Brown, and perhaps at other institutions, the cus- 
 tom of an evening service has been suspended. It was thought 
 advisable to concentrate the interest on one daily assembling for 
 prayers. There were various reasons. The appointments of the 
 buildings generally require that, if held at all, that exercise should 
 come at night-fall, and not at the more intrinsically suitable time of 
 retiring to rest. Bat, during the winter, night-fall comes in the 
 midst of the day’s work. At all seasons, that part of the day is 
 commonly appropriated to out-of-door exercise, and by many to dis- 
 tant walks. Frequently the students are engaged, in large companies, 
 in their noisiest and most exciting sports. From these stirring and 
 jovial games, altogether proper and wholesome in their place, the 
 tide of animal spirits running at its height, a stroke of the bell sum- 
 mons them suddenly to a reverential homage of their Maker. It is 
 not in human nature to make that quick transition with entire dignity, 
 and to the honor of the homage. At any rate, it is observable 
 enough that the evening worship is far less impressive and edifying 
 faan the morning. From these and other causes, the change has been 
 instituted, and, so far as we are informed, with such manifest and 
 
PUBLIC PRAYERS LN COLLEGES. 
 
 33 
 
 unequivocal advantage, that the officers in these colleges would be 
 slow to return to the former usage. But here again a longer expe- 
 rience must finally decide. 
 
 This seems to us quite clear, that whatever sacrifices of comfort, or 
 effort of the will, this attendance may demand, the sacrifices and 
 the effort ought to be borne by the board of government and instruction 
 along with the pupils. With a few allowances, the prayers are indeed 
 just as important for the one class as the other. If the officers are 
 absent, it is at least natural that the pupils should tacitly ask why they 
 are obliged to be present. The great law of voluntary self-denial 
 comes into action here, as in so many of the relations of teachers to 
 their scholars. Say what we will about universal principles, the eth- 
 ics of a college and a school are peculiar. They exempt from no 
 general duty, but they impose special and local ones of their own. 
 The great universal principle is to do the most good in all circum- 
 stances. So sensitive are the moral sympathies of these seminaries, 
 that a conscientious, high-principled Christian teacher will put away 
 from him many an indulgence otherwise harmless, and cheerfully take up 
 many a task otherwise needless, solely from a reference to the moral 
 purity of those under his care, and in deference to that grand ethical 
 law so nobly interpreted by Paul in the fourteenth chapter to the Bo- 
 mans. We are persuaded that very much of the present disaffection in 
 these institutions at the exacted attendance would gradually disappear, 
 if it were seen that the officers all regularly came of their own accord. 
 Nor should they come merely to use an oversight of the under-gradu- 
 ates. That may be done incidentally. The prime purpose should 
 be to engage honestly in the worship, to offer praise and supplication 
 to the Lord of life, to learn that august lesson of faith and love 
 toward Him, of whom “ day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto 
 night showeth knowledge,” which is just as necessary for the strong 
 and the wise, as for the weak and simple. 
 
 We come back from the details of method, — none of which can be 
 insignificant where the end is so high, — to the spiritual forces involved, 
 and the infinite object contemplated. Giod, who alone is true, has 
 promised that he will hear the prayers of his people, and has condi- 
 tioned the bestowment of his richest blessings on their being sought 
 in singleness of heart. The history of our country is all bright with 
 evidences how he watches over the nurseries of a pure learning, and from 
 the very beginning has turned the seats of Christian education into foun- 
 tains to gladden the wilderness and the city of God. “ Such prayers 
 as Dr. Dwight poured forth in the Chapel of Yale College, when, in 
 the agony of his spirit, he wrestled with God, as well as struggled 
 No. 10 [Yol. iv. No. 1.] — 3 
 
34 
 
 PUBLIC PRAYERS IN' COLLEGES. 
 
 with men, for the victory over error and sin, never fall powerless 
 on the ear of man or God, never fail to carry the worshippers 
 into the very presence of their Maker.” Nor was it ever plainer 
 than now, that the healing branch of devotion needs to be thrown 
 into the head waters of popular intelligence to sweeten their bitter- 
 ness. Intellectual pride, a cultured self-will, unbelieving science, 
 literary conceit, all lift their disgusting signals to show us that the 
 knowledge of this world is not to be mistaken for the wisdom of 
 Heaven. Knowledge is power, but what kind of power ? A power 
 of beneficence, or a power of destruction ? That depends on other 
 questions. For what is knowledge sought ? To whom is it conse- 
 crated ? Into whose name is it baptized ? Let us save ourselves, if 
 we may, from a brain developed only to be demonized, and from the 
 delusion of mastering the secrets of nature only to be brought into a 
 poor bondage to ambition. Knowledge is not sufficient of itself. 
 Now, as ‘of old, and forever, it must wait reverently on the Unseen, 
 and kneel in lowly faith. Men may talk of the pure and passionless 
 air of scientific research, of the certainties of scientific deduction, of 
 the absoluteness of scientific conclusions, decrying, at the same time, 
 the strifes, and altercations, and fluctuations of theology, as if thereby 
 to affirm some independence of thought on God, or some superiority 
 of the understanding over the heart. It is an impertinent compar- 
 ison and an insane jealousy. Let them explore their own fallacies. 
 Let them not confound theology and religion, nor the processes of 
 science with its ultimate results. Let them read the biographies of 
 scholars, and the history of thought ; let them trace the course of the 
 principal scientific discoveries within the last dozen years ; let them 
 acquaint themselves with the quarrels of authors, and the disputes of 
 schools, and the gossip of cliques. They will soon find that petty 
 contentions are not confined to ecclesiastical councils, though Heaven 
 knows their air is too foul and vexed with them. They will see that 
 everywhere the mind wants the guidance of God’s Spirit ; that educa- 
 tion without piety is only a multiplying of the means of mischief ; 
 and that Christ came into the world as much to teach scholars humil- 
 ity, as to comfort the illiterate. No : those who say such things are 
 not the strong friends of science, nor the true advocates of her dig- 
 nity, but novitiates in her sacred tuition, and flippant champions whom 
 she disowns. Knowledge and faith have one interest, one aim, one 
 God and Saviour to confess and serve ; and therefore over every step 
 in education, every lesson in learning, every day of the student’s tried 
 and tempted life, should be spread the hallowing peace and the sav 
 ing benediction of prayer. 
 
PUBLIC PRAYERS IN COLLEGES. 
 
 35 
 
 Deep down in their souls students feel this. At least in their 
 better moments they realize it. Even the most impulsive and incon- 
 siderate have some dim, instinctive witnessing within them that it is 
 good to call on Grod. Many an earnest believer has felt his first re- 
 newing convictions, the first strong grasp of the hand of remorse, the first 
 touch of penitential sorrow, amidst these apparently neglected entrea- 
 ties. The sure arrow from the Divine Word has there reached many a 
 haughty and obdurate heart. The silent struggle in a young man’s 
 exposed nature, between early principle and fierce solicitation, has 
 often received there the blessed help that secured the victory to vir- 
 tue. Some germ of holy resolution has found nourishment, and light 
 and air to grow in. Some half-formed plan of dissipation or vicious 
 amusement has there risen up in its hideous aspect; and been forever 
 dashed to the earth and broken to pieces. Some yielding rectitude 
 or chastity has been reassured and set on its blameless way again in 
 gratitude and joy. Images of home have come before the closed eyes. 
 The voices of mother and sister, of the affectionate pastor that child- 
 hood had revered, and of many a saint on earth or angel in heaven 
 beside, have seemed to speak and plead in the simple, fervent peti- 
 tions. Could the secrets hid in the hearts of educated men be re- 
 vealed, we have no doubt it would be seen how large a part the college 
 prayers bore in the initiation or the reinvigorating of their best de- 
 signs. Many a man has there, in silence, said honestly and faith- 
 fully to his own conscience, “ To-day I shall live more righteously ; 
 meanness and sin shall be more hateful to me ; generosity and good- 
 ness more lovely ; ” and all the day has answered to the pledge. Ad- 
 monitions, that would have been rejected if offered from man to man, 
 work their effectual plea in the indirect persuasion of a request to the 
 Father of Lights. Noble friendships between young hearts have felt 
 themselves more disinterested and more secure for the holy appeal to 
 the Source of Love. The noble claims of humanity, making each man 
 feel himself a brother in the mighty fraternity, girding him to labor 
 and suffer for his kind as the only worthy calling of his scholarly life, 
 have there pressed their way into the heart of hearts, through a 
 clause of that Bible that speaks to the rich and the poor, or a suppli- 
 cation for sage and slave alike, for bond and free, for the heathen and 
 the helpless. Eminent servants of the best causes, disinterested pat- 
 riots, preachers of Christ, missionaries to the ends of the earth, have 
 taken there the first impulse that bore them on to their places of heroic 
 action or martyr-like endurance, — faithful unto death, awaiting 
 crowns of life. 
 
 Whatever appearances of neglect may attend the familiar repeti 
 
36 
 
 PUBLIC PRAYERS IN COLLEGES. 
 
 tion of these holy oceasions, therefore, there can be no apology for 
 discouragement. As in all cooperation with the vast, slow achieve- 
 ments of the Providence that predestines a spiritual harvest from 
 every seed sown in faith, there must be an unhesitating continuance 
 in well doing, and a patient waiting, for results, on Him who is so un- 
 speakably patient with us. Only let the prayers be real prayers ; 
 such asking as humbly refers each entreaty to the Supreme, Unerring 
 Will, yet with the fearless trust that He who hears in love will answer 
 in wisdom ; let the things prayed for be such things as those then and 
 there assembled most heartily desire, rather than such things as pre- 
 cedent or old tradition have decided it is merely proper to implore ; 
 let Christian care and painstaking be applied to the arrangements of 
 the company and the parts of the service ; let the intercessions of 
 thousands of sympathizing and anxious homes throughout the land 
 arise in unison ; and then there can be no ground of doubt that God 
 will accept our offerings, sanctify our scholarship, lead more of our 
 young men to bring their gifts and attainments to the Saviour’s min- 
 istry, uniting a broad culture with high aspirations and a profound 
 faith in the structure of the civilization that is to be. Then many a 
 man who enters college only with a vague purpose to profit or to 
 please himself, while there shall listen to a higher call, and become a 
 cheerful servant of the King of kings. Then right-minded, pure- 
 hearted youths will not find their collegiate course a perversion from 
 integrity, nor a snare to principle, nor a ruin of honorable hopes, but 
 a confirmation of every worthy desire, and a progress in all manly 
 living. Then the thoughts of parents will not turn to these institu- 
 tions with regret, with maledictions, or with shame, but with confi- 
 dence, gratitude and joy. Then the Republic will not be disappointed 
 when she looks to the University as “ the light of her eyes and the 
 right arm of her strength.” Then the most powerful agency that can 
 be conceived will be inaugurated to make our literature healthful, 
 earnest, humane. And then, not only by the motto of a seal, and not 
 only in the pious hopes of its founders, but in the daily spirit of its 
 administration, and in the characters of its graduates, shall each col- 
 lege be dedicated to Christ and the church.