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 " A Life lived for India." 
 
 THE REV. PHILIP. S. SMITH 
 
 OF THF. 
 
 OXFORD UNIVERSITY'S MISSION, 
 
 VA LCUTTA. 
 
 "He that fincleth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for 
 My Bake shall find it." 
 
 CALCUTTA : 
 
 OXIORT) MISSION PRESS, III, LOWKK CIRCULAR ROAD. 
 1887.
 
 It was thought that the various notices which appeared in Calcutta 
 journals, Brahmo, Hindoo, Christian and others, on the death of the 
 Rev. Philip. S. Smith, would be of interest to our friends. They are 
 therefore reprinted in the following pages together with an introduc- 
 tory note from the Bishop of Calcutta and a Report of the Memorial 
 JVIeeting in the Albert Hall,
 
 Theiie are occasions when we seem to feel and kiWiV as well 
 as believe, (which we are always bound to do) that the deatli of a 
 faithful servant of our Lord and Master distinctly advances the 
 cause he served. His departure awakens sentiments which would 
 have otherwise remained dormant, it gives point to thoughts 
 which otherwise would have remained in a state of flux, it braces 
 individuals to acts which the will would otherwise have had no 
 sufficient strength to perform ; it thus brings on a crisis in the 
 moral and spiritual condition which otherwise would never have 
 culminated, and so we seem to note that it has marked a stao-e of 
 progress. 
 
 Now such an occasion seems indeed to have arisen in the 
 death of our dear brother, Philip Smith. No one can know or 
 read of all that his departure has called forth from the minds and 
 hearts of those wdio knew^ him without recocrnizino- that much has 
 gone forth to the glory of God which the prolonging of his life 
 might never have produced. 
 
 Amongst our non-Christian friends, our brother's death has 
 been instrumental in breaking up the ground of many hearts, 
 such a breaking up of the ground as calls for and invites us to the 
 hopeful task of sowing broadly and freely. 
 
 Strange tlien as it may seem, we may thank God that 
 this death has occurred, offer ourselves with all the more fervour 
 to die in like manner, if only in like manner our death may 
 advance the work we have in hand, and boldly call on others to 
 come on and follow up the advantage gained. When we cry out for 
 help and for more workers, it is not in despair — far from it — it is 
 rather that we may make good our hold upon the ground assuredly 
 gained by the devoted life and death of our brother, and make 
 it more certainly a basis of operations for further advances. 
 
 EDWARD R. CAr.OUTTA.
 
 •^ UlUC ^
 
 t 
 
 fjiE i^EY. ppmip. s. m^w 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ©yfovb niMssion to Calcutta 
 
 Died on S. Peter's Day. 
 
 (2Qf/i Jn7ie, 1 88/.) 
 
 The Epiphany, July 2, 1887. 
 
 Not the least beautiful of the sayings of Him Who spake 
 as never man spoke is the blessing pronounced on those that 
 mourn, "Blessed are they that mourn ; for they shall be comforted/' 
 (S. Matt. V. 4) In this regard our little Brotherhood has had, 
 during the seven years of its life, not a little of the blessing, and 
 the comfort. First, Mr. Argles was taken from us by death ; then 
 Mr. Willis utterly broke down, and has ever since remained entirely 
 incapacitated for any kind of work ; then Mr. Hornby's health 
 succumbed to the Indian climate. And now again we have to 
 write through our tears a few words about our Brother, the Rev. 
 Philip Samuel Smith, who was taken to his rest on the morning 
 of Wednesday last. For the last four or five weeks his health had 
 caused us serious anxiet}^ During a visit which he made to the 
 Hills at Kanikhet shortly after Easter, he was seized by a violent 
 attack of the malady from which he had been suffering for seven or 
 eight years, and which he knew well must one da^^ prove fatal. 
 The best medical skill was obtained for him there, and thoufjh his 
 doctors entertained the gravest fears as to the ultimate result, 
 he so far recovered as to be just fit to bear the difticuU 
 journey from Ranikhet down to the plains. He rested for 
 a week or ten days under the kind care of tiie Chaplain at 
 Allahabad, and when he was strong^ enouG^h he was broucht 
 on to Calcutta. Our Mission House is not a very good 
 Hospital ; and it was essential that Mr. Smith, who, though 
 in many ways far better than when he left Ranikhet, was still 
 very weak, should have perfect quiet. Mr. Billing, whose house 
 lies in the compound at Bishop's College, laid us under a debt of 
 gratitude which can never be repaid, by offering to take him into 
 his house. There, in a healthy part of Calcutta, under the tender 
 and constant nursing of Mrs. Billing, we had good hopes that the 
 disease might be so far checked as to allow of his returning to 
 work with somethingr of his former vigour. But it was not to be. 
 His work here was done. " His soul pleased the Lord ; tijerefore
 
 hasted He to take him away." On Monday night he was seized 
 with an agony of pain for two hours, and from that agony he never 
 rallied. But faint hopes were entertained for his recovery. Mr. 
 Townsend was sent for from the Mission House and remained 
 with him to the end. For many hours our dear brother sat in 
 his chair suffering, after the first paroxysm, little or no pain, 
 ])eyond that which came from difficult breathing and extreme 
 exhaustion. Now and then he would speak a Uttle, sometimes a 
 kindly mention of some friend, sometimes a tender expression 
 of gratitude for any little service done him. It was most 
 touching to see how in t])ese last hours, the unselfishness which 
 was not the least charming trait of his charming character 
 shone out the more brightly. His constant anxiety was lest 
 his brethren should be overworked because he was sick, or that 
 he should give any trouble to those who attended him. As 
 he had lived and worked in the constant sense of the presence of 
 God, and in frequent communion with Him, so now in his weak- 
 ness again and again he would ask that prayers might be said b\" 
 his side, especially that God would give him patience. It w^as 
 always one of his most marked characteristics that he thought 
 liimself most defective in those graces which most endeared him 
 to his friends. His intellectual gifts were considerable, but he 
 always considered every one a scholar but himself His gentle- 
 ness of manner was almost unique, but he believed himself to be 
 the most irritable of men, and the patience with which his large 
 and generous spirit, imprisoned in a body so frail that it seemed 
 as if a puff of wind might shatter it, bore the pain and weakness 
 which he suffered, will not easily be forgotten by those who 
 witnessed it. All through the night of Tuesday the symptoms of 
 the disease became gradually more discouraging. He complained 
 of discomfort in his swollen feet, which was relieved by rubbing. 
 '' Thank you," he murmured, " That is so nice : it is like a 
 touch from another world come to comfort one." These were 
 nearly his last words. Just before seven the last brief struggle 
 came. He was lying back in Mr. Townsend's arms, resting his 
 head on his shoulder. Mr. Townsend did for him the last offices 
 of the Christian Religion and commended his soul to God, as into 
 the Hands of a merciful Creator, and as the words were uttered 
 " and the Lord grant unto thee eternal rest, and may light perpe- 
 tual shine upon thee," the tender, gentle, loving soul had passed 
 into that Presence Which on earth he had loved so well. 
 
 To one like him, whose dominant motive in life was devotion 
 to Christ as a living Person with Whom beheld daily communion, 
 the words of the greatest Christian Missionary, St. Paul, may be 
 reverently applied, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain, 
 having a desire to depart and be with Christ which is far better."
 
 3 
 
 And now liis mortcil remains ba\ e been borne to the grave 
 by Indian hands and hiid in Indian soil, and his hist resting 
 place remains a memorial of that love which in all generations is 
 being reproduced in the lives of those who love and believe in 
 Christ, that love which desires first the glory of God, and then 
 good-will towards men, and yearns, oh ! how passionately, that 
 no man may perish but that all may come to salvation. 
 
 For him we do not mourn, for we have a Christian's hope of 
 re-union, and a Christian's faith in the resurrection of the body 
 and the life of the world to come. But we mourn sadly fur 
 ourselves, who will miss his bright looks and winning ways, his 
 helpful counsels as to what work is most worth the doing and what 
 method the best for doing it. The bonds of nature which bind 
 brother to brother are strong, but the bonds of the supernatural 
 are stronger, and a loss like this is harder to bear up against 
 than the climate. One fruit of our sorrow we would fain hope 
 for, that those amongst whom we have made our home will not 
 doubt that with all our English faults, sins of ignorance, negli- 
 gence, weakness and wilfulness, we do truly love them, seeking not 
 theirs, but them, and desiring to make ourselves their servants for 
 Jesus' sake. To us our brother has left an example of loyalty 
 to Jesus Christ, of humility, gentleness and singleness of purpose 
 not easy to follow, but as our prayer for others is, that the cause 
 to which our brother devoted his life, the bringing of all men 
 "into the Unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of 
 God, unto a perfect Man, unto the measure of the stature of the 
 fulness of Christ," may be prospered by this last offering of his 
 death, so for ourselves we would pray, that having learned to love 
 our brother whom we have seen, we may learn thereby to love 
 more devoutly than hitherto Him Whom not seeing we love. 
 
 A few notes may be added of biograph ical interest. Mr. Smith 
 was born, we believe at or near I^ottingham. He was not sent, as 
 English boys usually are, to a public school, but was, we believe, 
 educated by private tutors until he had nearly attained manhood, 
 when he entered the Scotch University of S. Andrew's. From 
 thence he went to Oxford, and obtained a scholarship at University 
 College. He was even in those days too delicate in frame to take 
 such an active part in the athletic amusements wliich are so 
 popular amongst Oxford undergraduates, but he did not keep aloof 
 from them, and occupied the honourable post of Coxswain, or 
 vSteersman, in his College Evjlit in the annual boat races, when 
 his College had the leading place on the river. It is interesting 
 to remember that the stroke-oar of this same boat was pulled by 
 a man who after having passed well in the Indian Civil Service 
 Examination, gave up his prospect of a successful career in a 
 becular profession and devoted his life to the dangerous uud
 
 difficult work ul' a Missionary in Atiica. In 187G, Mr. Smitli 
 took his degree, being gazetted in the first class in the Final 
 Classical Examination. After leaving Oxford the desire to 
 spread the faith of Jesus Christ began to shew itself in a more 
 marked manner. He became Oriental Fellow of S. Augustine's 
 ( .Allege at C^anterbury, where young men are prepared for the 
 Christian Priesthood, with a special view to Missionary work. 
 Whilst at Canterbury Mr. Smith was ordained, first a Deacon, 
 and then a Priest, by the Archbishop of Canterbury. In lcS8o 
 liis love for tlie souls of his fellow-men led him to give up the 
 post which he held at Canterbury and to throw in his lot with the 
 Oxford Mission. Of his life here we have said enough. It is 
 written we believe on the tender hearts of many of our readers. 
 He is taken early from us : but only to have known him has 
 enriched our lives ; to learn the manifold silent lessons which his 
 life has left us may enrich us more. 
 
 Our readers will perhaps be glad to have the hymns which 
 were sung by the Bengali choir at his grave, as the body was 
 laid in the dust " in sure and certain hope of a blessed resur- 
 rection," through Him wlio has promised and cannot lie, " I am 
 the Resurrection and the Life ; he that believeth in Me, though 
 he were dead yet shall he live ; and whosoever liveth and 
 believeth in Me shall never die." (S. John XL io, 2(5). 
 
 "Jesus saith unto him, Friend, go up higher.' 
 
 " God shall wipe awai/ all tears from their ef/esJ^ 
 
 Ten thousand times ten thousand, 
 
 fn sparkling raiment bright, 
 Tile armies of the ransomed sainth> 
 
 Throng up the steeps of light : 
 'Tis finished I all is finished, 
 
 Their fight with death and sin : 
 -Fling open wide the golden gates 
 
 And let the victors in. 
 
 What rush of Alleluias 
 
 Fills all the earth and sky ! 
 Wliat ringing of a thousand harps 
 
 Bespeaks the triumph nigh I 
 O day, for which creation 
 
 And all its tribes were made ! 
 O joy, for all its former woes 
 
 A thousand-fold repaid I
 
 5 
 
 Oh, then what raptured greetings 
 
 Ou Caiiaau's happy shore, 
 What kuittiug severed friendships up 
 
 Where partings aie no more ! 
 Then eyes with joy shall sparkle 
 
 That brimmed with teais of late ; 
 Or])haus no longer fatherless, 
 
 Nor widows desolate. 
 
 Bring near Thy great Salvation, 
 
 Thou Lamb for sinners slain, 
 Fill up the roll of Thine elect, 
 
 Then take Thy power and reign : 
 Appear, Desire of Nations, 
 
 Thine exiles long for home ; 
 Shew in the heavens Thy promised sign : 
 
 Thou Prince and Saviour, come. Amen. 
 
 Surely lie hath bourne our griefs and carried our sorrows.'" 
 
 When our heads are bowed with woe, 
 When our bitter tears o'erflow, 
 When we mourn the lost, the dear, 
 Jesu, Sou of Mary, hear. 
 
 Thou our throbbing flesh hast worn, 
 Thou our mortal griefs hast borne. 
 Thou hast shed the human tear ; 
 Jesu, Sou of Mary, hear. 
 
 W^hen the solemn death-bell tolls 
 For our own departed souls, 
 W^hen our iiual doom is near, 
 Jesu, Son of Mary, hear. 
 
 Thou hast bowed the dying head, 
 Thou the blood of life hast shed, 
 Thou hast filled a mortal bier ; 
 Jesu, Son of Mary, hear. 
 
 When the heart is sad within 
 With the thought of all its sin. 
 When the spirit shrinks with fear, 
 Jesu, Son of Mary, hear. 
 
 Thou the shame, the grief, hast known, 
 Tliough the sins were not Thine own, 
 Thou hast deigned their load to bear ; 
 Jesu, Son of Mary, hear. Amen. 
 
 I am lie that liretk, and was dead; and, behold, f am all re for evermore, 
 Amen ; and have the kei/s of Hell and of death." 
 
 Jesus lives ! no longer now 
 
 ('an thy terrors, JJeath, appal us : 
 Jesus lives I by this we know 
 
 Thou, U Grave, canst not enthral us. 
 
 Alleluia !
 
 6 
 
 Jesus lives ! heucefuitli is death 
 
 But the gate of life iiii mortal ; 
 This shall calm our trembling breath 
 
 When we pass its gloomy portal. 
 
 Alleluia ! 
 
 Jesus lives ! for us He died ; 
 
 Then, alone to Jesus living, 
 Pure in heart may we abide. 
 
 Glory to our Saviour giving. 
 
 Alleluia I 
 
 Jesus lives ! our hearts know well 
 Nought from us His love shall sever : 
 
 Life, nor death, nor powers of hell 
 Tear us from His keeping ever. 
 
 Alleluia I 
 
 Jesus lives I to Him the Throne 
 
 Over all the world is given ; 
 May we go where He is gone. 
 
 Rest and reign with Him in heaven. 
 
 Alleluia I Amen. 
 
 We caiiiiot go to press without thanking his friends and ours 
 for tlje many touching expressions of grief and sympathy which 
 we have received. Those who did not receive notices of the 
 funeral or received them too late will kindly forgive us. We had 
 unly ten hours for making all the necessary arrangements, and 
 tnany things Ave should much wished to have done were left undone. 
 
 The statesman, (a Calcutta Daily,) June 80, 1887. 
 
 Death has mown down the members of the Oxford Mission 
 very fast, and last evening there was laid in his last rest, not the 
 least cultured, nor the least devoted, of the small group of Mi.s- 
 sionaries, who to tlie manners of English gentlemen have united 
 the saintly living and devotion of an apostolic age. No one who 
 knew the Rev. Philip. S. Smith could help surrendering to the 
 charm of his gentle manners ; and if any reserve mingled in the 
 affection so readily given him, it was because, from those who 
 saw into his mind as well as into his heart, respect claimed no 
 less than affection. Always accessible to all classes, but never 
 more winning than when unconsciously convincing educated men 
 that he was a man of sanctified intellect, consecrated to the 
 noblest and most ennobling of all Missions, he has fallen asleep 
 early in the day of his promising Indian labours, and will leave 
 behind him many sad mourners into whose life he carried light 
 without knowing it, but who will deplore his loss none the less 
 deeply, that his childlike simplicity made him unaware of the 
 brightness of his own character.
 
 The Rev. P. S. Smith of the Oxford Mission, died yesterday 
 morning at 7 o'clock, of heart disease. He came of a Nottingham 
 family and was educated at St. Andrew's University. Thence he 
 went up to Oxford, and obtained a scholarship at University 
 College. In 187(i he was placed on the first-class in the School 
 of Lit. Hum. He then became Oriental Fellow of St. Augus- 
 tine's College, Canterbury, and while there was ordained Deacon 
 and Priest by the Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1883 he joined 
 the Oxford Mission in Calcutta, and is now taken away, after a 
 little more than four years' labour here, at the early age of thirty- 
 three. Such is the outward skeleton of a life which, in its living- 
 reality was a thing to charm and attract all who came in contact 
 with it. His passionate love for the people of India made him 
 an ardent Missionary, but to his ardour he added a rare and 
 wonderful patience, and to his patience the courage of an apostle, 
 and the charity that "hopeth all things." Always carrying within 
 him, from the time of his arrival, the sentence of death from the 
 complaint which has now carried him off, he still ceaseless'ly 
 taxed his strength to the utmost, so that the unselfish soul 
 seemed to shine through his frail and shattered body : in spite of 
 all weakness he could not bear to see any need unrelieved, or to 
 send away any sick soul uncomforted. He leaves none in India 
 who were knit to him by the ties of human relationship, but many 
 a one to whom he was more than a brother in the tenderness of 
 his spiritual affection. He died at the house of the Rev. G. 
 Billing, in the Bishop's College compound, and at 5 o'clock in the 
 afternoon a larger number of friends, than the College Chapel 
 would hold, were gathered within and without its walls. The early 
 part of the burial service was said there, and the hymns " By Jesu's 
 grave on either hand " (128 Hymns A. & M.) and'' Ten Thousand 
 Times, Ten Thousand " (222 Hymns A. & M.), were sung, while 
 the coffin stood in the centre of the Chapel surrounded with 
 lights, and wieathed with flowers. A procession was then formed 
 in the following order : first, a cross-bearer ; then the choir 
 made up of boys of the School and students of the College ; then 
 the clergy ; and finally the coffin borne by other students of the 
 college ; amongst those who followed we noticed most of the 
 clergy of Calcutta, the Sisters of S. John the Baptist, many 
 ladies and other friends, both English and Bengalee ; while at the 
 grave the party was joined by several of the leading Dissenting 
 Ministers, amongst whom we observed the Rev. C. Jordon, Rev. 
 Ct. Kerry, and the Rev. K. S. Macdonald ; Father Jacob, the 
 Armenian priest, walked in the procession, and Baboo Umesh 
 Chunder Dutt, Headmaster of the City College, and otlier 
 Brahmo friends were present. In the cemetery the Hymn 
 '■ When our heads are bowed with woe," and Psalm XC were sung
 
 as processionals, and then the Rev. H. Whitehead, Principal of 
 Bishop's College, proceeded with the service, during which the 
 choir sang two more hymns (122 and 140 H. A. and M.) Thus 
 was laid to rest by native hands, as he would have wished, one 
 who might have said what Sir James Outram said of himself : — 
 "I have loved the people of India, made their country my home, 
 and considered it the one ohject of my life to promote their welfare." 
 
 The Indian Witness, (a Christian paper,) July 2, 1887. 
 
 With very great regret we have to record the death of the 
 Rev. Philip. S. Smith, of the Oxford Mission, at the early age 
 of thirty-five years. He arrived in India in March, 1883, and 
 had been longer among us than any of the present members 
 of the Mission. Mr. Smith was an acute sufferer from some 
 affection of the heart from the time of his arrival, and not 
 many weeks ago was completely prostrated at Ranikhet, where 
 he had been sent in hope of deriving benefit from the 
 change. He rallied from the attack, and was brought back to 
 Calcutta about a fortnight ago, but he continued very weak, and 
 then began to sink, and expired on last Wednesday morning. 
 He was laid to rest in hope of the Resurrection on Wednesday 
 evening, with the ceremonies usual with Ritualists. The Rev. 
 H. Whitehead, Principal of the Bishop's College, read the service. 
 Mr. Smith was one of the most loveable and devoted Missionaries 
 that ever lived. His zeal for the regeneration of India made 
 him wear himself out with work when he was fit for nothing but 
 rest, and fortified him with unconquerable patience in pleading 
 the cause of the Saviour. His mind was open like a child's and 
 he loved the Natives. His feeling towards Dissenters was such 
 that it would lead to complete union in the Church of Christ 
 if it were more common. He was not only perfectly tolerant of 
 their differences of doctrine, but he understood them. We do not 
 know how many thousands of educated Hindoos have heard from 
 his lips, in the clearest manner, the truth regarding sin and 
 justification ; but now^ the faithful voice is silent and those who 
 heard him bear their own responsibility. 
 
 The Indian Messenger, (a Brahmo paper,) July 3, 1887. 
 
 At mid-day on Wednesday last, all the personal friends of 
 the Rev. P. S. Smith of the Oxford Mission of this city, received 
 the mournful intelligence, that their excellent friend, the good and 
 pious Mr. Smith, had suddenly expired. We cannot describe in 
 words the feelings with which we received the news. Calcutta 
 knew no other foreigner of so amiable a disposition and loving the
 
 people of this country with such sincerity. We knew him not 
 only as a preacher of Christianity, but also as a fellow-worker in 
 every noble cause calculated to uplift the people. To us Brahmos 
 he was specially dear. To our young men he was a friend and 
 counsellor in all their needs. His affable manners often added to 
 the enjoyment of our social circles and friendly gatherings. To 
 Calcutta Brahmos his loss is a personal loss, and many of them 
 hastened, even at a short notice, to join the funeral procession 
 as a mark of respect. It will be very difficult to find another 
 Mr. Smith for many years to come. He succumbed at the early 
 age of thirty-three years, under heart-disease, from which he had 
 been suffering almost since his arrival. 
 
 The Indian Xation, (a Bengalee i^oUticrd paper,) JiiJ tj -^^ 1887. 
 
 It is with feelings of deep regret we have to announce the 
 death of Rev. Philip. 8. Smith, of the Oxford Mission. Mr. Smith 
 fell a victim to work. He was a man of slender physique and 
 had been suffering for some time from disease of the heart, to 
 which he ultimately succumbed. To look at him would remind 
 one of Carlyle's description of Stirling — intense feeling, exu- 
 berant energy, great mental power, all confined in a hectic frame 
 which was burnt out by the fire within. A brilliant, beautiful 
 soul, 'with his ever-flowing wealth of ideas, fancies, imaginations ; 
 with his frank affections, inexhaustible hopes, audacities, activities, 
 and general radiant vivacity of heart and intelligence, which made 
 the presence of him an illumination and inspiration wherever he 
 went !' The doctors had advised him rest, but rest he could 
 not have. He gave up long walks, but his mind could not be 
 tied. He was an assiduous, active student and worker to the 
 last. He was a scholar of high accomplishments, but his time 
 was occupied not with mere reading but sustained, practical work. 
 In addition to his duties as a Missionary, he did a vast deal of 
 useful and generous work in private life and social life. To his 
 exertions the Oxford Mission Debating Club owes its existence, 
 and it was due mainly to his loving spirit that so many of our 
 respectable countrymen and such a large number of Hindii 
 students were attracted to the Oxford Mission House. In ad- 
 dition to formal meetings of the Club, social meetings were held, 
 mainly at his instance, in which Hindus felt themselves perfectly 
 at home within the walls of a Christian Institution. He never 
 declined to receive visitors, or to do them such service as it was 
 in his power to render. He had keen interest in every variety 
 of intellectual work. His courtesy to all men, high and low, his 
 attention to boys and children, his sympathy with the distressed, 
 his active charitv will be remembered bv all who knew him
 
 10 
 
 in private life. It is not customar}^ with us to thrust on the 
 public our personal feelings, but we feel that in the present case 
 we should not be doing justice to the memory of Rev. Philip 
 Smith or to ourselves, if we did not express our sense of the 
 deep personal loss we have sustained. Our relations with him 
 commenced under circumstances which brought into relief the 
 magnanimity of his character, which was one of his principal 
 features, and which we shall never forget. Mr. Smith had no 
 enemy ; and he died in peace. 
 
 The S(Wf/ihard, (a vernacular 'paper,) Jvly 2, 1887. 
 (Translated fromi the Bengalee.) 
 
 Last Wednesday the inhabitants of C'alcutta lost an English 
 Clergyman of a lil)oral mind and unimpeachable character. The 
 sudden death of the Rev. Philip Smith of the Oxford Mission 
 has saddened many a heart. It is seldom we find a Clergyman in 
 these days combining such an open and liberal disposition with 
 ?o much personal holiness. Uncompromising Christian though 
 he was, he mixed freely with all sorts of people and conversed 
 with them on religious topics whatever might be their colour or 
 their creed. Crowds of ragged and dirty boys would gather round 
 him in the streets and pull his clothes or plague him in other 
 ways, but he would kindly take them up and kiss them. Many 
 a time we have been delighted to watch a vscene like this. The 
 ideal which his teaching and example implanted in the hearts of 
 many students must act beneficially on their future lives ; who- 
 ever came in contact with him and talked freely to him, for how- 
 ever short a time, was at once struck with the beauty and holiness 
 of his mind and the devoted ness of his character. The more 
 such Clergymen of his type of mind and character are multiplied 
 the more rapid will be the improvement of this country and of 
 society at large. 
 
 llie Bengalee, (a political paper,) July 2, 1887. 
 
 It is wnth a sense of deep regret that the native community of 
 Calcutta have heard the news of the death of the Rev. Mr. 
 Philip Smith of the Oxford Mission. Mr. Smith was a quiet and 
 unobtrusive but enthusiastic worker in the cause of our country's 
 social and moral reform. Above all, he was the staunch friend of 
 tlie student community and won their hearts. We are glad that 
 a large and enthusiastic public meeting was held in honour of his 
 memory at the Albert Hall on Thursday last. Babu Krishna 
 Behari Sen was in the chair. 
 
 We hope the meeting will not end in smoke ; but that the 
 Committee will succeed in raising a Memorial worthy of the good
 
 11 
 
 man, whose iiieiuory they desire to perpetuate. The uieeting ib 
 sigiiiticaut of one fact and it is this — that there is no lack of 
 gratitude among us for those Englishmen who consecrate their 
 lives for our benefit. 
 
 To the Editor of the States taan. 
 
 Sill, — The student community have received a heavy blow 
 in the untimely death of the Rev. Philip Smith of the Oxford 
 M.is.sion. The sad news has taken them all by surprise. It is 
 two months since he left Calcutta for Naini-Tal, an<l he returned 
 to Calcutia only a week ago. Heart disease was killing him for a 
 long time, but he gave no indications of it in his work ; and was 
 untlinching in the discharge of the holy duties for which the 
 Almighty Father liad ordained him. His life was a great example 
 to the students of Calcutta, and the one endeavour of his life was 
 to promote both their intellectual and moral welfare. He left no 
 means untried to improve the moralitv of the young, and he was 
 the life and soul of the " purity movement." The students of 14, 
 College-street, will ever remember how he stood by them in their 
 endeavours to ^et rid of the houses of ill-fame. The Mission will 
 suffer much by his death. He was the most experienced and 
 popular of its Members. 
 
 GIRISH CHUNDER CHAKRAVMRTY. 
 
 Calcutta, June .30, 1887. 
 
 A MEMORIAL MEETING. 
 
 A MEMORIAL meeting for Philip Samuel Smith was held on 
 Thursday, July 5th, at the Albert Hall. There was a very large- 
 number of native gentlemen present, and there were also a few~ 
 European gentlemen, among whom were Rev. C. H. Harrington, 
 Rev. G. Billing, Rev. A. W. Atkin^•on, Mr. J. E. Ferguson, Dr. 
 L. Salzer, &c. Baboo Krishna Behari Sen presided. The Chair- 
 man in opening the meeting said : — The friends and admirers of 
 the late Rev. P. S. Smith have done me the honour to ask me to 
 preside at this meeting. I have felt very great diffidence in 
 complying with this kind request. The chairmanship might 
 have devolved upon a far abler and worthier person than myself, 
 and if I have consented to occupy this dignified post, it is only 
 because 1 feel that I yield to none in my appreciation of the 
 many sterling and solid qualities which adorned the private and 
 public life of the Missionary whose premature departure from the 
 world we come to mourn to-day. When the Oxford Mission came 
 to this country, the journal with which I hai»pened to be connect- 
 ed at the time was the tirst to otf'er a cordi'd welcome to it^s
 
 12 
 
 Members, and it is a sort of melancholy satisfaction tliat so soon 
 after its establishment the Mission has more than justified the 
 expectations that had been formed of it. The best justification, 
 indeed, has been aftbrded by the life and death of the Rev. Philip 
 Smith. Many of you — most of you — did not share in the theolo- 
 gical views of Mr. Smith ; but we are all aware that beneath the 
 hard shell of orthodoxy there lay hidden a heart which was large 
 enough, broad enough, loving enough, to sympathise with all 
 your wants, and with which you also could very largely sym- 
 pathise. It fell to my lot more than once to engage in 
 pleasant passages of arms with him, and J can assure you that 
 fiom every encounter we emerged better friends than ever. There 
 is never a pleasanter duty in this world than to have to deal with 
 a courteous opponent, and Mr. Smith was above all a finished and 
 perfect gentleman. The prejudices against Christian Missionaries 
 are disappearing. Educated men learn to measure a work by 
 the good it can produce, its latent tendencies and high aspirations. 
 For my part I do not care if m}^ neighbour is a Christian, 
 pjovided we have got in him one citizen the more whom we may 
 count upon in the hour of our country's perils as a patriot, well- 
 wisher and benefactor. In the present situation and circumstan- 
 ces of our country there ought to exist a keen competition among 
 various agencies as to who could produce a large number of really 
 g(jod men ; and if Christian Missions are able to produce them, 
 we welcome them for that reason only, if for nothing else. In a 
 country like India where race antagonism exists in all its naked 
 deformity, where wounds are frequently inflicted without the 
 least provocation, we do require the presence of men who will 
 apply to the wounds the balm of Christian charity and consola- 
 tion. The Rev. P. Smith was a man of the type we seek. A 
 man of the broadest culture, he possessed the highest qualifications 
 of a Missionary, and if his life had been spared to us, he would 
 have been a potent factor in the social, moral, and religious 
 progress of our community. Gentlemen, 1 hope that you will 
 carefully consider the resolutions which will be brought before 
 you to-day, for rest assured that in honouring a man like the Rev. 
 P. Smith, we only honour ourselves. 
 
 Mr. Protap Chunder Mozoomdar, in moving the first resolu- 
 tion spoke as follows : — 
 
 " My return to Calcutta was so abrupt and my absence has been 
 so prolonged, that at a mixed meeting like this I almost expected to 
 see the famiUar figure and the delicate outline of the vvell-known 
 face of the late Rev. Philip Smith. Tell me what social meeting 
 was there, what friendly assembly, what gathering for the moral and 
 j'eligious welfare of the vising geiieratioii was there at which hi^
 
 13 
 
 genial presence was not to be met with ( At the house of native 
 gentlemen who had in their heart the great object of promoting the 
 intellectual, moral and religious welfare of our countrymen, he was 
 a frequent, unasked visitor. He never wanted that his visits 
 should be returned. In the uncomfortable lodoinfi^s of students 
 was he not to be seen many times in the day, spending hours in 
 profitable, exalting discourse ? Though his religious views were so 
 uncompromising, and his religious habits so unmistakable, yet 
 his heart was so Catholic, his principles so unsectarian, that he 
 made his usefulness felt throughout the whole community of 
 Calcutta. Now that he has been called home, and his lamp 
 is gone out before the time, it yields us a sad satisfaction to 
 meet together for the purpose of doing honour to his memory. 
 Indeed his place in tlie Christian Mission, far less in the Oxford 
 Mission, cannot be easily filled up. His loss is irreparable. Yet it 
 is some consolation to think that, though his presence is with- 
 drawn from us, his life is still with us. As a friend of Mr. Smith's 
 and as one who had fre([uent opportunities of communing with 
 him, I must say a word about the great loss his death has caused. 
 Tliis loss is the more grievous because he has departed so soon. 
 He was in Calcutta not more than three years. Reflect upon the 
 nmrvellous energy which had to be put forth to earn in this brief 
 period the jDopularity and reputation for usefulness by which he 
 will be always remembered. There are some men in whom the 
 spirit so dominates over the flesh, so tyrannises over the frail 
 (environment, that the flesh cannot bear its burden long. But in 
 these men there burns such a noble passion for all that is good and 
 pure that, though they go soon, yet they live for ever. For he 
 lives indeed who lives in the hearts of others in spirit and in 
 truth. Truly did the Rev. Philip Smith imitate the gloricuis 
 Ideal by whose name he was known, by living in this country a 
 life deep and profound. What shall we say of his life ? It w'as 
 so gentle, so good, that his fccitures have painted themselves upon 
 our mental vision for all time. His zeal, his faith, his activity 
 were so incessant, so fervid, so manly, that it was a wonder how 
 he could combine so much strength with so much tenderness. 
 Aptly may we apply to him those lines of Tennyson, 
 
 "And manhood fused with female grace 
 lu sncli a sort, tlie cliiM would twine 
 A trustful hand, unasked, in thine, 
 And find this comfort in thy face." 
 
 Manhot)d and womanhood, tenderness and strength, blended in 
 liis sweet character. In thinking of him I am reminded of some 
 mediieval saint, overHowing with kindness to bird, and beast, 
 and man. But most kind was he to you young men, who aie
 
 14 
 
 learners of truth, and who want to cultivate the love of God in 
 the heart. It is pleasant to see so many young men present to- 
 day to do him honour. Tliere is one thing about Christian Mis- 
 sions, and specially about Protestant Missions, which often attracts 
 attention. Complaints are sometimes heard that the life of the 
 Missionaries too closely resembles the life of ordinary Englishmen, 
 and that their self-indulgence repels the religious instincts of an 
 abstemious people. The Cowley Fathers and the Oxford Mission 
 have done much to remove the ground of those complaints. For 
 my own part, I have never thought that ^lissionaries taking pro- 
 per precautions for the preservation of their health have sinned 
 against the moral dictates of religious men. But in every country 
 it is necessary to accommodate oneself to the customs and ideas of 
 the people. In this respect the Cowley Fathers and the Oxford 
 Missionaries have set an example which must be productive of 
 much good. In the last few years several noble lives have been 
 sacrificed. There was Father O'Neill. Who does not remember 
 to what privations and hardships he subjected himself. Then 
 there Avas Mr. Argles who in many respects resembled the friend 
 wliose loss we mourn to-day, and who shewed a like example of 
 self-sacrifice, and confirmed the influence of him who had gone 
 before. Then there was Mr. Willis whose health has so completely 
 broken down that he is living a living death to all those things in 
 which he used to take so keen an interest. And then Mr. 
 Hornby's health succumbed to our Indian climate. These men 
 have redeemed Christian Missions from the unjust aspersions 
 which have been cast upon them. In this age the world is suffer- 
 ing from self-indulgence. A far western civilization is teaching us 
 practices which we heartily wish could be swept away. Such a 
 life as that of the Rev. Philip Smith will contribute much to the 
 true welfare of this countr}^ Such Missionaries as he redeem 
 all the faults with which the English character is marred. They 
 hold np to all, the ideal of a noble life sacrificed for the good of 
 their fellow-men. 
 
 I have now only to move the first resolution : — 
 
 That this Meeting express its deep sense of the great loss 
 sustained by the whole community in Calcutta through the untime- 
 ly death of the Rev. Philip Samuel Smith, and its sincere admi- 
 ration of the life and character of one, wlio by his gentle and 
 affectionate disposition endeared himself to all who knew him, and 
 by his humble piety, untiring zeal and devotion to his duty set 
 forth before the people of this country a noble ideal of a life 
 sacrificed for the good of his fellow-men. 
 
 The resolution was seconded by a gentleoian of the. Parsee 
 community, R. D. Mehta, Esq., who said, " I am conscious of the
 
 15 
 
 disadvantao'e at which I am placed in following so distinguished 
 an orator as Mr. Mozoonidar. But even were I possessed of any 
 oratorical gifts you would not ask for these now. My task is a 
 simple though a sad one. We are gathered round the tomb of the 
 gentlest spirit that ever breathed in India. With this tribute to 
 his memory I unite with you all in your heartfelt demonstration 
 of grief at his departure. 
 
 Mr. C. N. Dass, in supporting the resolution, said : — I am only 
 a student, and have to speak before many learned and accomplished 
 speakers. I have not risen from any desire to show oft' my 
 powers, but simply to unburden myself of the feelings of gratitude 
 and reverence with which Mr. Smith inspired me. I say this 
 as the representative of the Students' Association, which Mr. 
 Smith has laid under a deep debt of gratitude. We have 
 lost in him one of our truest and ablest friends. His spirit has 
 soared away, but it still lives amongst us, and his life will remain 
 a sonrce of strength to us to bring us back from our Avanderings 
 and to carry us through temptations. For his morality and for 
 liis piety we admired him. His admiration often gave us 
 strength, and his lessons have not been without effect upon our 
 lives. His life was all unselfishness. For the students he has 
 done much. There was no movement on foot but he was as- 
 sociated with it. There are lives which shine from a distance, 
 and the chief charm that they have is lent by distance. When 
 we approach them we find them merely Dead Sea apples. 
 Not such a life was the simple and unostentatious life of 
 Mr. Smith. The nearer you approached him the more you ad- 
 mired him. And now it has pleased the Almighty to take him 
 away. It is sad to think that his sun has gone down while it is 
 still day. Yet why sad ? He has passed to the heavenly Country. 
 To his bereaved family and on behalf of the students of Calcutta, 
 I offer the most heartfelt condolence. But he is not dead ; in the 
 treasure Home of the Almighty he is amongst God's jewels. 
 
 The Rev. H. Whitehead, then moved the second resolution. 
 *' That the chairman be requested to convey to the family of the 
 Rev. Philip Samupx Smith as well as to the Members of the Oxford 
 Mission the heartfelt sympathy of this meeting with their sorrow 
 for his loss and to forward them a copy of the previous resolution." 
 
 It is a matter of no small regret that even those who lived 
 on the most intimate terms with Mr. Smith can furnish but 
 scanty details of his life. I had hoped that we might have 
 traced the influences which gradually built up the character 
 which was so attractive and so powerful for good. Perhaps the 
 few facts which I know may bring out just the outline of his 
 moral and spiritual history. It is perhaps known to most of you
 
 16 
 
 that he was born at Nottingham in the year 1853. His family 
 was essentially a religious one. From his earliest childhood he 
 was trained in habits of devotion, and he sometimes spoke of the 
 influence which his father and mother exerted over his after-life. 
 His parents sent him first to a private school, and from thence 
 he went to the vScotch University of S. Andrew. In 1872 he 
 went up to Oxford to compete for a scholarship at Balliol, and 
 it was on that occasion that I first met him. I well remember 
 the vivid impression his striking figure left upon my mind. 
 There was the same keen, restless, intellectual vigour which we 
 knew in Calcutta, but I do not remember that he had in tliose 
 days that sweet gentle smile which was characteristic of him here. 
 He eventually entered at University College, and I never met him 
 again to speak to until his University days were over. His life 
 there was an intellectual life and his successes were intellectual 
 successes, and his labours were rewarded by a first class in the 
 final classical schools. His physique debarred him from athletics, 
 and his only claim to distinction in this direction was that he 
 steered his College eight. In that boat he sat face to face with 
 a man who exercised no small influence over him, William 
 Percival Johnson, the most enthusiastic Missionary which Oxford 
 has sent out in modern times, and one who has done as great 
 and heroic work amongst the tribes of Africa as Mr. Smith has 
 done amongst the intellectual people of Bengal. Mr. Smith has 
 told me that he owed much of his Missionary zeal to William 
 Johnson. 
 
 But the most interesting feature is his religious life. What 
 would be the influence of Oxford, with all its manifold currents 
 of thought, upon a character so open to religious impressions 
 as his ? To many of yoii who knew only his simple piety it 
 may be a shock to be told that his fife at College was not 
 religious. Earnest, moral, self-sacrificing it was, but it did 
 not escape that spirit of scepticism which is the danger of a 
 period of intellectual growth. He often used to speak, in after 
 days, of this period with deep self-reproach. We perhaps can 
 take a more lenient view than he allowed himself to take. His 
 early training was devotional, but it was not such a training 
 as would altogether fit him to withstand the assaults of a critical 
 philosophy and an enquiring spirit. When therefore he came in con- 
 tact with a spirit opposed to the teaching of his childhood he was 
 unable to give an answer for the hope that vvas in him. He had, 
 it seemed, to choose between submission to an irrational authority 
 and reason. He chose reason. How long this period of scepticism 
 lasted I do not know, but it was not till after he left Oxford that 
 he returned to the faith of his childhood. But when he did return
 
 17 
 
 the return was complete, and from henceforth the Faith (hjmi- 
 uated his whole life. When his University Examinations were 
 over he was, no doubt, able to enter upon a period of more calm 
 reflection. His faith from this time forth was not merely the 
 faith of an ardent and enthusiastic mind, but it was the deep 
 steady conviction of one who had passed through and emerged 
 from a period of philosophic doubt. It was whilst he was at 
 8. Augustine's College, Canterbury, where he was Oriental Fellow, 
 that he determined to devote himself to the work of his life. 
 He gave himself to the Oxford Mission. In lcS83, before he 
 left England he came and stayed with me at Trinity College 
 in Oxford. I have never seen a soul more aglow with enthusiasm 
 than his was at that time. The speech which he made at our 
 meeting was short, but every word burned with the fiery energy 
 which seemed kindled in his feeble frame. 
 
 What his life was in Calcutta you know. How he worked for 
 all that was noble and pure and true you have witnessed. How 
 unreservedly he gave himself to the people of this country you 
 have seen. Your presence here to-day proves that he did not labour 
 in vain. As he worked for others so they have given back into 
 his bosom full measure, pressed down, shaken together and run- 
 ning over. For myself, I have known him intimately for three 
 years, and seldom have I known a more guileless and lovable 
 soul. He was not one thing in public and another in private. 
 The same enthusiasm which he shewed in public he shewed also 
 in all the relations of private life. He bore the troubles of life 
 with an equanimity which surprised us. He had to endure 
 hardships, privations, and all the depressing influences of a fatal 
 disease, but I never saw him out of temper, nor heard hin) 
 utter a hasty word. He had, indeed, a great power of righteous 
 indignation ; when any story of injustice came to his ears, or 
 if any cpiestion were raised about pul)lic morals, he could use 
 strong and indignant words. But I never heard him utter a 
 hasty speech for any priyate wTong. 
 
 But to understand his charactei' we must go down deeper. 
 If I were asked what was his lea<ling characteristic I should say 
 personal, individual love. Ho was not merely the advocate of 
 a cause or the preacher of a creed, but he sought for the souls 
 of those to whom he was sent. And this is Avhy his death has 
 aroused such widespread sorrow. Some may regard him principally 
 as an earnest Missionar}^ as a zealous and chivalrous champion 
 of the oppressed and the needy, but we shall all feel that in 
 his death we have lost the purest and most lovable soul that 
 it was ever our privilege to meet with. His love was no passing 
 impulse, but the natural outcome of deep religious feeling. Hti
 
 18 
 
 loved because he saw in each with whom he came in contact a 
 being endowed with an immortal soul. He had clear insight into 
 the deep issues of life. For this reason he knew no distinction 
 of race or class, I recollect once his coming to stay with me at 
 Bishop's College. He was in a state of great depression and 
 exhaustion, and it was of the highest importance that he should 
 be kept perfectly quiet. I had left him for a little while lying 
 in my room beneath the punkah where I thought he could get at 
 nobody, but what was my dismay to find him on my return sit- 
 ting in the hottest part of the verandah holding an animated 
 religious conversation with the punkah-wallah. He did not look 
 on men as servants or as punkah-wallahs, but as men, who were 
 destined fur immortality, and made in the image of God. His 
 life, I repeat, was essentially a religious life ; it was from 
 religious love that all the energy of his soul welled up. His 
 religion, as liis work, was founded upon love. Not seldom 
 he was compelled to engage in religious controversy, but 
 even on these occasions he loved rather to dwell upon the 
 practical aspects of life and upon such broad fundamental truths 
 as the existence of God, the certainty of the future life, the 
 judgment to couie, and the authority of conscience. He liked 
 rather to meditate upon the love of God than to speculate upon 
 His ways. 
 
 And now he i^ gone. I have heard many remarks on every 
 side testifying to the greatness of our loss. One laments that 
 he has lost a personal friend ; another says " he was like a brother 
 to me," another "he was more than a father." It is true: we 
 have lost one who was more gentle, loving, peaceable than we 
 have known elsewhere. This being so, we can imagine what his 
 loss is to his own family and to those with whom he was associa- 
 ted in his work. 
 
 Pundit Siva Nath Sastri in seconding the resolution said : 
 I rise to combine my voice with those who have preceded me in 
 condoling with the family of Mr. Smith and with his brethren 
 of the Oxford Mission. It is a pious duty. I came only 
 seldom into contact with Mr. Smith, but I have been much 
 impressed with his sterling qualities of head and heart. From 
 the sorrow which we ourselves feel we may gather what 
 nuist be the grief of his friends in England and of the 
 Members of the Oxford Mission. The balm of human sympathy 
 is tlie only consolation we can offer, but that we give with all 
 our heart. 
 
 Mr. R C. Gopal in supporting the resolution said that the 
 death of Mr. Smith had deprived him of a friend and a brother 
 whose memory must always be respected and loved.
 
 19 
 
 The Rev. Kali Charan Bauerji, of the Free Church of 
 Scotland then moved that the following gentlemen l)e appointed 
 to serve on a Committee for the purpose of raising some suitable 
 Memorial. 
 
 Rev. (x. Billing. 
 
 „ W. Smith. 
 
 „ 0. W. Townsend. 
 Hon'ble A. M. Bose. 
 Rev. K. S. MacDonald. 
 
 „ C. H. Walker. 
 
 „ P. M. Mookerjea. 
 P. C. Mozoomdar, Esq. 
 Rev. A. W. Atkinson. i Babu Sarat Ch. Shorae. 
 
 Babu Joy Gobindo Shome. 
 
 Rev. Kali Charan Banerji. 
 
 Pandit Siva Nath Sastri, 
 
 Babu Umesh Chandra Dutt. 
 
 0. C. Dutt, Esq. 
 
 Rev. H. Whitehead, j 
 
 Babu Krishna Behari ■ Sficretaries. 
 
 Sen. 
 
 Babu Surendra Nath Banerjea 
 N. N. Ghose, Esq. 
 R. D. Mehta, Esq. 
 
 ■I 
 
 Umesh Chandra i 
 Chuckraverti. ) 
 
 " This resolution needs no words to recommend it. I may 
 however take the opportunity of emphasizing some of the 
 remarks made upon the life which has just passed away. When 
 I consider the composition of the proposed Committee, and of this 
 assembly, there is one thought which presents itself vividly to my 
 mind. I cannot but feel that this meeting is one of a singular 
 character, the like of which has never before been convened in this 
 halL What have we met here to do ? To pay honour to a Christian 
 Missionary, whose claim to gratitude lies in the work which he did 
 as a Christian Missionary. He was not an Educationalist, nor a 
 Politician, nor an Author nor a mere Philanthropist, but he w^as 
 essentially and solely a Missionary, and to such an one this 
 assembly of gentlemen professing ver}^ different creeds has met to 
 pay a tribute of gratitude and respect. From this point of view 
 we may, 1 trust, regard to-day's meeting as an Epoch — making one. 
 We have shewn to-day that it is possible for men of various creeds 
 to express admiration for a Christian Missionar}^ 
 
 The speakers who have preceded me have put before you 
 various aspects of his life. Let me emphasize one or two. First, 
 he was a picture of humility. There could be no question as to 
 his abilities. That he had great intellectual gifts goes without 
 saying. But with them all he was humble. In this we in India 
 will do well to imitate him. Pride, and above all the pride 
 of intellect, has been the ruin of our race. There is no wnse 
 man but will endeavour to attain the virtue embodied in the 
 expression " picking up pebbles on the sea-shore." Believe me 
 there is a glory in humility. It does require a true heroism 
 for a man of powerful intellect to bring himself down to the
 
 20 
 
 level of the poor and ignorant. This feat it was the privilege 
 of Mr. Smith, under God, to perform. Could youthful students 
 of poor abilities look up to his high intellect ? He would not let 
 them look up : he himself came down to the level of him whose 
 soul's welfare he sought and made him feel that he was by the 
 side of one who was really for him. 
 
 And secondly, he was a picture of simplicity. There is a great 
 temptation to all of us to be other than simple. Simplicity does 
 not take with the world. The world loves show, and we are 
 often tempted to make a display. But who are those who 
 need to make a show ? Is it not those who are not prepared to 
 shew their w^ork in its nakedness lest it should ])e reproved ? 
 But a writer who knows that he need not be ashamed of his work 
 does not need to cover it up in glitter. He is quite prepared to 
 leave his work to be tested by those who have watched him doing 
 it. If then you wish to honour Mr. Smith imitate his simplicity, 
 for at the bottom of simplicity you have reality. Whilst you 
 entrust to the Committee the task of raising a suitable memorial, 
 remember this one thing ; that it remains with you, here and 
 now, to erect the noblest memorial to his honour. Allusion has 
 already been made to his loving spirit. If you follow his life, 
 nay more if you have the Life of his life reflected in you there 
 will be joy in Heaven among the Angels of God. 
 
 Dr. Salzer, in seconding the proposal said that he quite 
 aoTeed that nothing^ was more striking^ in Mr. Smith's character 
 than his humility. " The first impression which I had when first 
 I met him was that it was a ridiculous thing for the Oxford 
 Mission to have sent out such a man. I had a controversy or two 
 with him, and I treated him as a school-boy. But after a few 
 rounds, I said to my friends, " little Mr. Smith is a great power." 
 And now I hope he will be a great power. This is his true me- 
 morial. I don't like memorials. They are mere vanity. Hu- 
 manity loves to flatter humanity. But I love him. I don't 
 know whether he loved me, but I did love him. I say this 
 because I at first despised him, and I tried to make up for the 
 injustice by loving him all I could." 
 
 Mr. Umesh Chunder Datta, Principal of the City College, said 
 that as a friend and admirer of Mr. Smith's he had great pleasure 
 in supporting the resolution. " It was not I," he observed, " who 
 loved him, but it was he who made one love him. It was his 
 character which made me admire him. His figure was like the 
 ficrure of some s;uardian anoel. Sometimes he miorht be seen in 
 the street amusing the street-boys. That a gentleman of his 
 intellectual attainments, a member too of the ruling race, should 
 shew himself capable of loving the vagabonds of our race is in
 
 21 
 
 my experience iin parallel led. He was a man who loved the people 
 of this country with all his heart, and he delighted to see them 
 improved morally, intellectually and religiously, and in losing him 
 we have not only lost a personal friend, but a friend of the nation." 
 A letter from the Lord Bishop of Calcutta was read expressing 
 sympathy with the object of the meeting and regret at his in- 
 ability to be present. The letter concluded with the following 
 words : " I hope that the da}^ is not far distant when India's own 
 sons will exhibit those qualities for which Philip Smith was so 
 conspicuous." 
 
 The Rev. A. W. Atkinson then proposed a vote of thanks to 
 the Chairman and the proceedings terminated. 
 
 Similar resolutions of sympathy were passed by the Students' 
 Association, the Thuntliunia Reading Room and the Home Club. 
 
 SERVICE AT THE OXFORD MISSION CHAPEL. 
 
 On Sunday July 16, the Service of Vespers was held in the 
 Mission Chapel and was largely attended, the majority of the con- 
 gregation being Hindoos. Shortly before six the choir and clergy 
 formed for procession at the gate of the Mission House, and, with 
 the processional cross before, passed across the quadrangle and up 
 the stairs into the Chapel, singing the hymn 
 
 Through the niglit of doubt and sorrow 
 Onward goes the pilgrira baud ; 
 Singiug songs of expectation, 
 Marching to the promised Land. 
 
 The Address was delivered by the Rev. H. Whitehead, Prin- 
 cipal of Bishop's College, on Some Lesaons from the Life of the 
 Rev. Philip Smith. 
 
 The following is a report of his discourse. 
 
 " In that little history of the beginnings of the Christian 
 Religion called The Acts of the Apostles we read about a great 
 Christian Missionary named Barnabas. Barnabas was sent on a 
 certain occasion to Antioch, and the historian in relating the 
 circumstance of his visit makes no mention of the great and 
 successful labours of the Missionar^^, nor of the eloquent sermons 
 lie had preached, nor of the number of converts he had made, 
 but simply says of him that "he was a good man." These words 
 we may fitly apply to Philip Smith. He w^as not what the 
 world would call a great man. We who knew him vlid not so 
 much admire him for any power of intellect or of oratory, though 
 he had great gifts, but we felt that he was essentially a good 
 man; and that was whv we loved him.
 
 22 
 
 This evening we are to try and learn some lessons from his 
 life and character. For a beautiful character is like a beautiful 
 work of art. It requires to be looked at again and again, and 
 to be contemplated with loving admiration before we can appre- 
 ciate its excellence. When we look at some fine picture by a 
 great artist, we are at first impressed by a vague sense of beauty 
 and form. But as w^e gaze longer and return again and again 
 to study it, the beauty emerges into more definite and clearer 
 outline' Gradually every line and every feature becomes instinct 
 with meaning. It is just so with the character of a really good 
 man. At first we are attracted to it by a general sense of beauty 
 and power, but the more earnestly we contemplate it the deeper 
 becomes the impression, and we see more and more clearly how 
 the governing principles of self-sacrifice and heroism are stamped 
 upon all the smallest actions of life. Beauty and power shine 
 out, not only in the general outlines of the life, but in all its 
 most insignificant details. 
 
 The character of the dear friend whom we have lost was 
 essentially a beautiful character. It was a pleasure to be in his 
 society. His visits were looked forward to as a marked day in 
 the week. He shed around him wherever he went an atmosphere 
 of cheerfulness, unselfishness and love. In his presence we felt 
 that we were in the presence of a great love. And now it is a 
 pleasure — a sad pleasure perhaps, but still a pleasure — to dwell 
 upon his memory. Let us try then and recall some of the chief 
 features of his character, and see what lessons we may learn from 
 his life. 
 
 All those who knew Philip Smith were struck by his humi- 
 lity. He was a man of real ability and of exceptional intellec- 
 tual power ; but he made no display of his gifts. On the contrary, 
 he concealed them. Most people, on first becoming acquainted 
 with him, did not see his gifts. They had to find them out for 
 themselves, and they usually did find them out. But how rare a 
 virtue is true humility 1 Many of us try to be humble, but in 
 the very effort to be humble we become self-conscious and proud. 
 It was said of an ancient philosopher who affected an ascetic 
 garb, that his pride could be seen through the holes of his cloak. 
 He was proud of his humility. But true humility is unconscious 
 of itself, and what we noticed in Philip Smith was just this 
 absence of self-consciousness. His humility was without effort; 
 it flowed naturally and easily from the well-spring of his 
 character. 
 
 What then, you will ask, was the secret of this trait ? The 
 secret lies in two facts, first, he realized the solemnity and great- 
 ness of the facts of life ; and secondly, he realized the greatness 
 of the truths of religion. There are two influences which impart
 
 23 
 
 true humility. One is tlie realization of the great work there is 
 to be done in the world, the sympathetic perception of the needs 
 of humanity, of the sorrows and sufferings, the poverty and 
 degradation of our fellowmen, and die sense of responsibility that 
 it is our work to try and contribute something to the remedy of 
 this mass of evil. This is the first thing ; and the second is to 
 realize the great truths of religion : to see clearly the relations 
 in which we stand to God. When Ave look away from ourselves, 
 out on to the great works of God, we feel how feeble, how frail, 
 how insiornificant a things is man, and vet how condescendin<T[ is 
 the Love of God, and we break out into the Psalmist's cry, " When 
 1 consider the heavens, even the work of 'J'hy fingers, the moou 
 and the stars which 'J'hou hast ordained : Lord what is man that 
 Thou art mindful of him ? And the son of man, that Thou visit- 
 est him ?" 
 
 Such then was the humility of Philip Smith; not assumed, 
 not affected, but the natural result of the fundamental principles 
 of his life. 
 
 But next to his humility we loved him for his unselfishness. 
 Unselfishness may be called the sum of all virtues. Unselfish- 
 ness implies self-control, sympathy, love. Every vice is a form of 
 selfishness, and, conversely, all virtue is a form of unselfishness. 
 We all know how hard of attainment this virtue of unselfishness 
 is. He attained it ; why ? Because his life was a life of high 
 aspirations. His hopes were above and beyond this present 
 world. Selfishness is the child of low desires. The drunkard is 
 selfish ; the avaricious man is selfish ; the ambitious man is 
 selfish : nay even the purely intellectual man is selfish. Why ? 
 Because the aspirations of all these are low. Their ideals are all 
 more or less grovelling, because they are cribbed and confined 
 within the limits of this present life. Philip Smith was unselfish 
 because he had devoted himself to a high ideal of life, which 
 extended beyond the horizon of this world. In the pursuit of this 
 ideal, therefore, there was nothing which he was not ready to give. 
 His first thought was not of himself but of his tvork. Very touch- 
 ingly did this trait in his character come out as death approached. 
 His constant anxiety was lest others should be overworked be- 
 cause he was sick ; and his eagerness to be well again was simply 
 eagerness to be back to his work. 
 
 Wlien, the day before his death, the doctor told him he must 
 give up any thouglits of going back to work, " Oh doctor," he ex- 
 claimed, "do not say that!" 
 
 This is the quality which w^e need so much, this power of 
 devoting ourselves to a noble cause, of devoting ourselves to au 
 ideal for wliich we can give everything.
 
 24 
 
 In these tilings, tlien, we have the key note of that 
 character which attracted us so powerfully, as every noble 
 character does influence powerfully those with whom it comes 
 in contact. There are, in fact, few influences in the world more 
 powerful than character. The life of Philip Smith was not 
 wliat people woidd call a great life. Greatness demands ex- 
 traordinary powers and an extensive sphere of work. He was 
 not a great orator, or a great thinker, nor a great statesman. 
 His sphere of work was limited and obscure. But, though he 
 was not a crreat man, he had a o^reat character. He was o^reat 
 in his humility, great in his unselfishness, great in his devotion 
 to duty, great in his deep and true affection. All this made 
 him a power. From his presence people felt that there flowed 
 out a purity, an unworldliness which made them ashamed of 
 themselves, and set before them a higher ideal of life. We need 
 t> appreciate in these days, more than we do, the power of 
 character. We are dazzled by the show and splendour of material 
 power. We see what wealth can do, what capital can do : 
 how it can cover the sea with ships, and spread its network 
 of railways and telegraphs over a vast continent. The products 
 of such powers are visible and tangible. But the power of 
 character, if more obscure, is not less potent, or its effects less 
 permanent. 
 
 Or again, how great is the power of intellect. When we 
 consider what has been effected by poets, historians, orators, 
 statesmen, and when we think of the intellectual wealth they 
 have contributed to the world, and reflect how they have shaped 
 the destinies of great empires, we are apt to forget that there 
 is a force as mighty as any of these, a force far more sorely 
 needed in these days, the force of simple goodness. For tell 
 me, who are the salt of society ? Who save it from corruption 
 and consequent ruin ? Who preserve to the race that force 
 and energy, that loftiness of purpose which alone makes the 
 growth of greatness possible ? What is that power without 
 wdiich great orators would speak to the air, and great poets 
 sing to the wind ; without which science and politics, art and 
 learning, would be only labour lost ? Who are they, 1 ask, who 
 make all these things powerful for good ? Who, but those thou- 
 sands of noble lives, obscure, unknown beyond a small circle of 
 friends, but which, nevertheless, by simple force of character, by 
 honesty of purpose, integrity, justice, truthfulness and purity, 
 have helped to elevate the little portion of society in which they 
 moved. One of these was Philip Smith. 
 
 And such lives can ill be spared. The multiplication of such 
 characters is the great need of the age,
 
 25 
 
 Never bad the world so rich a store of intellectual power a.s 
 now. Athens was once the centre of a tiny circle of intellectual 
 life. To-day knowledge is a power which has covered the earth. 
 Never was the world so rich in the material products of civiliza- 
 tion. Never before have such marvellous appliances been seen 
 for all the utilities and luxuries of life. But something is want- 
 ing. Why, in spite of this intellectual and material advancement, 
 is the world still steeped in poverty, misery, sin ? There is still 
 one thing, nay the one tklncf needful, to be sought for — character. 
 The world wants fewer brilliant men, and more of the ordinary 
 common-place virtues, self-control, temperance, courage, unselfish- 
 ness, love. For lack of these society is wasting its strength in a 
 hopeless combat against the consequences of its own vices. 
 
 Philip Smith, then, was a power, because he supplied just 
 what the world needs so sorely, the influence of a simpl}' good 
 and beautiful character ; and his example is especially valuable 
 for us just for this reason, that because of its modest simplicity it is 
 an example possible for us to imitate. We cannot all be orators, 
 authors, or politicians, but we can all, if we will, shape each 
 within ourselves a character which, by its simple unconscious 
 influence, will tend to make the society around us also more 
 truthful, more temperate, more charitable, more self-denying. 
 
 But there is another lesson which we may learn from the 
 life of Philip Smith ; I mean the lesson of fidelity to truth. His 
 childhood, as I told you the other day, was passed in a strictly 
 religious home. At College his mind became unsettled, and he 
 passed through a phase of religious doubt. From what cause 
 these doubts arose I do not know ; wdiat I want to impress upon 
 you is, that when the doubts arose he faced them. He was not 
 afraid to probe the foundations of his religion. He was not satis- 
 fied with that shallow scepticism wdiich rejects without patient 
 and painful enquiry. He confronted his doubts and questioned 
 them boldly. 
 
 Now, there are, I think, in the sphere of religion, two opposite 
 phases of mind. There is the spirit which shrinks from enquiry. 
 It feels no pressure from truth. It accepts a traditional creed 
 without asking on what authority or evidence it rests. There is 
 a wide difference, believe me, between accepting a religion and 
 believing in it. Thousands may accept a religion while very few 
 believe in it. Real belief, as contrasted with the mere acceptance 
 of a traditional religion, can only be gained by enquiry. Before a 
 man, who has come to years of reason, can believe in a religion 
 he has to find the answer to many questions. On what authority 
 is it based ? Does it tell us anything beyond what human ex-
 
 26 
 
 perience could by itself discover ? Are its doctrines mere specu- 
 lations or are they based upon facts ? Is its tendency towards 
 the moral elevation of its adherents, or the reverse ? Do its 
 doctrines haruionise with our highest moral intuitions ? Does it 
 set before us a standard of conduct above us, or does it give us a 
 standard below our own highest ideal ? Again, is it reasonable ? 
 Does it interpret the more mysterious facts of our life and nature, 
 and of our inner consciousness ? Does it give any explanation 
 of the world as we see it, and of the puzzles and paradoxes of 
 human society ? Does it supply any key to the hopes and fears 
 of our own inner life ? A religion, whether true or false may tell 
 us many things which we cannot understand, but if it be true it 
 must have some reasonable explanation of the facts without us 
 and within us. If religion is to be a real power within us, we 
 cannot help asking it these questions. For if it is to be a 
 practiced religion, and not a mere sentiment or a pleasing- 
 emotion, but a guide in the daily affairs of life, then we require 
 conviction, 2i personal assurance that the religion which we accept 
 is true. And this personal conviction can only be gained by 
 enquiry. We may shirk the pain and labour and anxiety of 
 enquiry. But such^moral cowardice saps the foundation of belief, 
 and makes religion a hollow unreality. Religion becomes hence- 
 forth a dead thing, a mere mechanical routine. 
 
 But, besides the moral cowardice which shrinks from enquiry, 
 there is another spirit equally fatal to real religion ; I mean the 
 spirit of shallow scepticism. If it be wrong for a reasonable man 
 lightly to accept a religion, it is no less wrong lightly to reject it. 
 Religion is not a matter to be trifled with. Whether there be a 
 God or no ; whether or not there is a life after death — these are 
 not questions about which a sensible man will dare to be indiffei"- 
 ent. " It is well said, in every sense," wrote Carlyle, " that a 
 man's religion is the chief fact with regard to him." To treat 
 religion in a flippant careless way is to insult the dignity of 
 human life. Religion is one of the few things in life about which 
 it is an imperative duty to make up our minds. There are many 
 other interesting and important subjects about which we can aiford 
 to suspend our judgment. There are problems in mathematics, con- 
 troverted statements in history, theories and counter-theories in 
 science about which we may reasonably hold as yet no conviction. 
 Suspense of judgment in such matters is often the mark of a 
 wise and well balanced mind. But religion is a thing we have 
 to live and die by. It is a matter of life and death. We must 
 never rest until we have passed from doubt to conviction. If we 
 are in doubt we must face the doubt, and aim at the solution of 
 it, as the one most serious business of our life.
 
 27 
 
 This was the way in which Philip Suiith treated his d(3Libt.s. 
 He never rested Lmtilhe had found their sokition. And if there 
 was one needful lesson which more than another he tried to 
 preach in his life it was this : '' Ba earnest ; face the great 
 problems of life and do not trifle with them." 
 
 At the close of the Service the choir sang the hymn— 
 
 " Jesus lives 1 uo longer now 
 Can thy tenors, Death, appal us ; 
 Jesus fives 1 by this we know 
 Thou, Grave, canst not oiithral us." 
 
 Alleluia !
 
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