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FAREWELL DISCOURSE

DELIVERED BEFORE THE

Scconb Congregational (Clnivcl) ano Society

DANVERS, MASS.,

JULY 18, 1S52.

BY JAMES DAVIE BUTLER.

SALEM:
PKINTED AT THE OBSERVER OFFICE.
1852.

FAREWELL DISCOURSE

DELIVERED -BEFORE THE

Secono Congregational (Hljurcl) ano Society

DANVERS, MASS.,

JULY 18, 1852.

BY JAMES DAVIE BUTLER.

SALEM:
PRINTED AT THE OBSERVER OFFICE.
1852.

Rev. JAMES D. BTJTLEK, Dear Sir, The undersigned* members of the Second Congregational
Society, in Danvevs, listened with deep emotions to the parting Address of their Pastor on the
afternoon of the 18th inst. Believing that justice to him and the cause of truth demand soma
permanent record of the facts therein stated, they respectfully request, at the solicitation of
many other members of the Society as well as In then- own behalf, a copy of said Address for
publication.

With great regard, your fiiends,
CALEB L. FROST,
HENRY POOR,
LEONARD POOLE,
JOHN A. LORD,

Danvbbs, July 20, 1852.

JOHN W. PROCTOR,
A. A. ABBOTT,
WARREN M. JACOBS,
RICHARD LORING.

Danvers, July 20, 1852.

CALEB L. FROST, Esq.
and others of the Second
Cong. Society in Danvers.

Gentlemen, You are pleased to ask for the publication of my
fareweU discourse, delivered last Sabbath. As you express your belief that a good end will
be thus secured, I am very ready to comply with your cordial request.
With respectful regards to you and all whose wishes you represent,
Your Friend, JAMES D. BUTLER.

SEEMON.

Acts XX : 32. A pari of the verse.
And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word op his
GRACE.
This language was used by Paul when he was on the
eve of parting from those among whom he had gone
preaching the kingdom of God, and who, as he was
assured, should see his face no more. Nor can I select
a text which is a better exponent of my feelings now that
I stand before you, the people of my charge, to utter my
last words and bid you farewell.
My subject shall be one suggested to me by this text,
and pressed on my attention by this occasion, namely,
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE, AND A PASTOR'S RELATION TO HIS
PEOPLE. There is no class of men who are required to be more
self-denying and self-sacrificing than Christian minis
ters. No profession is harder to enter than the christian
ministry. The price of admission is usually years of
exhausting study which weaken the strength of many
in the way, plunge others in sickness, and involve all in
expenses, which none unaided by patrimony or charity,
can defray, without involving themselves in debt. Besides,
the emoluments of no profession are so limited as those
of the ministry. Indeed men in no department of life

6
receive wages bearing so small a proportion to their
services, their preparatory training, and their necessary
expenditures. Seldom is a clergyman, whatever his
economy, enabled by his salary to educate his children as
he was himself educated. Again, no body of men are
more deeply immersed than ministers in toils, cares, and
perplexities, and that while cut off from many recreations
counted innocent for other men. Nor is there any class of
citizens who are reckoned more ineligible to office, or who
through obstacles to their exercising the rights of freemen,
come so near being disfranchised. Whoever then would
preach the gospel must not only turn his back on the
riches, honors, and pleasures of the world, but must wel
come, perhaps, for his children as well as for himself, a
slender and uncertain support through a life of labors,
embarassments, and anxieties.
I thank God that such is the allotment of his provi
dence. The lowness of salaries checks men's aspiring to
the pastoral office from mercenary motives. If some, as
things are, desire, like Eli's posterity, to be put into one of
the priest's offices that they may eat a piece of bread, —
what would be the result were those offices as lucrative as
many political stations 1 Again, to every one worthy of
the sacred calling, the studies leading to it are their own
exceeding great reward. To such a man they are, as a
library to a scholar, or as galleries of painting and sculp^
ture to the artist' — his element, his chamber of quietness,
his home, his rest. Nor can I mourn that clergymen
having given themselves , continually to the ministry of
the word, are so seldom entangled in the nets and pit-falls
of politics. If their children are poor, there is a consola
tion in the fact that more of the young are injured through
having too much, than through haying too little of this
world's goods, — and in the faithful saying, that " the seed
of the righteous have not been seen begging bread." If a
pastor's labors are abundant above measure, and above

o

his strength, lie knows that is belter to wear out than to
rust out — and that, in proportion as he approaches being
the servant of all with whom he has to do, in just that
proportion does he approach being the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven. Whatever worldly infelicities may
sow thorns in the path of the minister, well may every
good man desire, if it be by any means possible, to walk in
that path. The Lord hath given the word — well may the
company of those that publish it be great. He manifests
his word through preaching. How shall there be preach
ing without a preacher? His bidding is, "Preach the
gospel to every creature." Shall men begin to say, one
and all, " I pray thee have me excused?" Who is indeed
Christ's and yet will refuse to cry with all the heart,
"Lord, here am I, send me, for the work of the ministry."
If the preacher's heart, from the beginning to the ending
of his task, knoweth a bitterness all its own, — no stranger
intermeddleth with his joy. What studies so delightful to
every good man as his? "Blessed are they that dwell in
the house of the Lord " — but more blessed are they that
commune with his word. Men in the sacred office,
hearken to that word, watching daily at its gates. They
may, if they will, be conversant with the immediate lan
guage of inspiration — tongues no longer living in the
speech of men, but still bringing us into the ideal presence
of those with whom the Lord talked as a man talketh with
his friend. It is their daily calling to make familiar to
their minds, the law, that "psaltery of ten strings;" — the
prophets to whom the future was plainer than the present
to other men; — the evangelists, those "four rivers of par
adise," not as once guarded by a flaming sword but over
arched by choirs of angels, crying, " whosoever will, let
him take of the water of life;" and the epistles, fitly
framed together by apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief corner-stone.
This word must dwell in them so richly as to enrich
them in all utterance. For adding beauty to its holiness —

8
for elucidating its truths hard to be understood, — for show
ing its correspondences with the works of creation and the
ways of Providence, — for adapting its teachings to all
times and places, persons, ages and occasions, for such di
versified ends they are to contemplate, with all zeal and
perseverance, nature and art, history and passing life;
poetry, science and philosophy. They are to tax all the
world, giving all diligence that the carnal, earthly, tem
poral and human may do homage to the spiritual, heavenly
eternal and divine. For such pursuits, — things which an
gels desire to look into, — who may not well rise early, sit
up late, and eat the bread of sorrows ?
" Yea, scorn delights and live laborious days."
When preachers have thus become thoroughly furnished
with those thoughts and words — not which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, who can
speak, with such authority as they ? Whether they treat
of the law the keeping of which makes heaven, or sin
which has left man no soundness from the crown of the
head to the sole of the foot, or the atoning sacrifice — the
Lord of glory crucified that man might no more be a ser
vant of shame — or sovereign grace renewing, guarding,
guiding, perfecting and glorifying, or faith which worketh
by love, and repentance that bringeth forth fruits meet for
itself; — whatever link in the long golden chain of redemp
tion, they single put — do they not commend themselves to
every man's conscience as they pray him to be reconciled
to God?
When the word preached profits not the hearers, not be
ing mixed with faith, it may still profit the preacher.
Seeing his little utmost to be utterly in vain, he is taught
humility which thinks not of itself more highly than it
ought to think. In like manner is he incited to pray with
all prayer and supplication, even as the husbandman who
has scattered his seed in the thirsty earth prays for rain,
ia its season.

Looking then either at a minister's studies or at his
preaching, we may well pronounce the work which de
volves upon him very good. But how is its toil lightened,
and its joy doubled, when becoming the pastor of a conge
nial, harmonious and charitably- judging people, he stands
in the niche he was ordained to fill. If hearers are inclined
to seek for a preacher's excellences rather than for his de
fects; if mindful that we have the treasure of the gospel in
earthen vessels, they are ready, though he falls below him
self, to say " the spirit is willing;" if when he hath done
what he could they accept his willing mind; if in case he
be overtaken in a fault they restore him in the spirit of
meekness telling him of his fault alone ; if they are so en
grossed in the fundamental truths where they agree with
him as to overlook those fractional truths concerning which
they may differ from him; if they are too much bent on
practising his old lessons to demand that his preaching be
always something startlingly new; to sum up all, — if a
people show their pastor that charity " which suffereth
long, thinketh no evil, and hopeth all things," what shall
be the result ? Some ministers may be emboldened through
negligence or indolence, to do the work of the Lord de
ceitfully; but will not more be thus made to glow with a
reciprocal affection which, lightening every burden, shall
render them instant in season and out of season, as well as
always abounding in their work to their power, yea and
beyond their power?
What relation in life is more pure, tender, and endearing
than that of a spiritual guide to a people who esteem him
very highly in love for his work's sake? What incentives
has their shepherd to feed them according to integrity of
heart and to guide them by skilfulness of hands ! What
is his parish but a larger family ! Nay whenever he joins
hands with any of them the union may seem to be
strengthened by a third hand from above, so that it be
comes the bond of perfectness. Not in vain will he aspiTe
2

10
to be the shepherd who calleth his sheep by name. When
exhausted by private studies and public duties, he will
find it a restorative to go from house to house, taking the
lambs in his arms and carrying them in his bosom. Nor
when he seeks the confidence of his parishioners concern
ing things spiritual will he be repulsed by silence, reluc
tant or evasive answers, or a turning of the conversation
to themes of the earth earthy. Not without effect will he
speak to this one, and that one, alone, like his master talk
ing with the woman at the well of Sychar. Nor in all the
grand soul-subduing crises of life will he seem less than
the angel of the church. As he solemnizes nuptials trans
figured by the gospel even as the water at Cana was trans
formed, as he prays for the sick whose beauty consumes
away while they are chastened with pain upon their beds,
as he proffers strong consolation to the bereaved who refuse
to be comforted by the world, as at burials he shows that
the end of earth may be the beginning of true life, as at
baptism he represents God saying to parents, " Take this
child and nurse him for me ;" amid such scenes what spec
tator's — at least what partaker's heart does not burn
within him? And what pastor finds it less blessed to give
than others find it to receive christian consecrations ?
He that thus dwells among his own people, — he with
them and they with him, — needs not to be spoken for to
the king or to the captain of the host. His is the higher
calling. His ministry may indeed, as man judgeth, be un
successful, for Isaiah was constrained to cry, "tvho hath
believed our report? " Yet may he take sweet counsel to
gether with such as are already disciples, confirming their
souls and exhorting them to continue in the faith. He
may be soothed by his trust, that the seed he sows, and
which seems to die in the ground, may after many days
yield its increase. At all events, if his be the spirit of the
prophet he can adopt the prophet's words, " Though Israel
be not gathered yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the
Lord."

11
But, if he and his church are faithful one to another, his
preaching is likely to open the eyes of sinners, turning them
from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto
God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheri
tance among them which are sanctified. If one and
another thus comes to him, saying, " Thy people shall be
my people, and thy God shall be my God," must not his
joy be full, and his days on earth be days of heaven ?
Must not his be a crown of rejoicing that abideth amaran
thine — since he shall stand in the presence of Christ at his
coming, saying, " Behold me and the children which God
hath given me."
Such a connection is in very deed that of many a pastor
with his people; and such a connection I supposed was
about to be formed between me and this people when I
complied with their invitation to become their pastor.
With this hope I came to you, leaving a state hallowed by
the sepulchre of my parents and endeared as the birth
place of my children. I forsook a region of unrivalled
salubrity and grandeur; I broke away from a people
among whom I have no adversary, not made such by my
departure, a people to whom some of you wrote to ascer
tain my pastoral qualifications, and received for answer an
entreaty that you would but grant them an unmolested op
portunity to make full proof of my gifts in that regard. I
came to you from that highland home, expecting to sacri
fice ease and literary leisure, hoping for no increase in
gains compared with expenses, but expecting exemption
from teaching which had divided my time with preaching,
and hoping to be more useful in a large congregation than
in a small one. " I came hither," as I stated in my first
sermon, " to put myself in a position where I should be
stimulated to investigate, commit to writing, and speak
forth the truth as it is in Jesus more zealously and unin
terruptedly than had been my habit."
As all hearts are prone to whisper what they wish, I

' 12
may have shown credulity in believing that I might be
useful and happy as your pastor. I was drawn into such
a belief partly by my knowledge, and partly by my igno
rance. Knowing that I had been heard in seven sermons,
and in two informal meetings — as well as in four secular
lectures,— by this people, I could not look upon their invi
tation to settle over them, — which was not given till well-
nigh two months after my first sermon, — as precipitate. I
could not anticipate that my bodily presence would seem
more weak, my speech more contemptible, or my tones
more objectionable, than they had seemed. When written
to and informed of my call, I greatly doubted how I should
receive it, inasmuch as, according to the record furnished
for me by the clerk, of the forty- four members of the
church who voted, six voted against calling me.* But
their opposition was explained away by well meaning and,
as I believed, judicious friends. In the judgment of these
friends, the opposition to calling me arose from such causes
that it would not be likely to endanger the tranquillity,
permanence, or success of any ministry. In reply to my
inquiries or those of my friends from abroad, — and in other
ways, it was rung in my ears that my majority was re
markable, — that the minority would make no trouble, —
that there was greater probability of the society's remain
ing united in my favor than in any other man's, — as well
as much more to the same purpose. Moreover, the name
of one who voted against my call appeared among those of
the committee who invited me hither. Another person,
whom I had strong reason to suppose one of the minority,
sent me an anonymbus complimentary poem, which he
termed, " A token of gratitude for the intense pleasure he
had enjoyed while listening to my lectures."
* I use the words " according to the record furnished for me by the clerk,"
because on the day of my installation, it appeared that the negative votes
numbered seven, though I had no previous intimation that such was the fact.

13
In view of considerations of this sort, I underrated the
antipathy which was felt to my entering this field of labor.
Yet had I not remained ignorant of facts known to some
of you before my settlement, — and which might have
taught me to forebode much that has come to pass; espec
ially had not the results of my removal hither been hid
from my eyes, — aye from my suspicions, — I must have
been deaf to your solicitations, and should have either re
mained where I was then sojourning, — or turned to some
of the other avenues of usefulness which opened to me
simultaneously with this.
Misled, however, by partial views or by necessary igno
rance of the future, I cast in my lot with you. From the
first I labored under disadvantages;, As a stranger I was
unacquainted with many local usages, and doubtless gave
offence, by seeming to disregard some time-honored cus
toms, — and that when I least thought of it. Then I was
long houseless, or incumbered by a sick household. It
was more than two months before I could get established
at housekeeping ; during more than four oi the next ten
months, at least one member of my family was seriously
ill ; yea life hung in doubt before more than one of them, —
and after hovering many weeks as if in suspense, the vital
spirit departed from my only daughter. For one month, 1
was myself threatened with pulmonary disease. Might I
not with some reason exclaim, "Have pity on me, O ye
my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me ? "
Notwithstanding these and other hindrances, I was assi
duous in pastoral calls. I have a record of three hundred
and nine which I had made within a year of my settle
ment. On such occasions, some now fallen asleep in Jesus,
with others yet alive,— attested their interest in my words3
by tears, by responses I shall never forget, or by a silence
yet more expressive.
But I deemed it my main business to study and to
preach. So far as my time was not exacted by pastoral

14
duties or by the invalids in my own house, it was conse
crated to the. books of my profession. If at the end of a
year after I was installed, I had preached but sixty-four
written sermons, I had written during that time as large a
number. By availing myself of former labors, I might
just as easily have preached twice as many sermons, but
was often solicited to exchange (much oftener than I con
sented); I supposed exchanges were acceptable, and I
thought it good to keep a store of sermons in reserve. Sev
eral times was I induced by illness or bereavement in my
family, to procure a substitute when I had purposed to
preach myself, but I have never been prevented from hold
ing a meeting by bodily' infirmity of my own.
The themes of my discourses have been ; the reciprocal
duties of Pastor and People, preacher and hearers ; — Infi
delity tested by its tendencies as .to knowledge, freedom,
happiness, and virtue; Revelation as suited to our needs,
mental, moral, and spiritual; — God as a spirit; as just;
his decrees; the existence and functions of conscience;
Life as a probation; Our Temptations as similar to
Christ's ; The temptations of youth ; The guilt of man as
evinced by perverted capacities; and by his cavils at the
evidences of the gospel ; — The Atonement as proved by the
fact that Christ was a man of sorrows ; — as asserted in the
gospel ; as foreshadowed among the Jews and even
heathen ; the crucifixion — the law as leading to Christ ;
the human nature of Christ; and his religious example;
his divine nature; — his mediatorial reign; his legacy to
his children. Moreover I have preached on sin as bringing
forth death ; on piety as the only true freedom ; as the one
thing needful ; and as the secret of happiness ; on Regen
eration as to its reality, nature, author, and antecedents;
on Repentance as illustrated by the prodigal son; as de
manded; as heightening the joys of angels; and as no se
curity against the temporal curses of sin. Then I have
treated of Faith as justifying ; and securing good works ;

15
of the saints' perseverance; and of carefulness concerning
minor duties. Nor have I neglected to discourse on Abra
ham's sacrifice; on the Lord's Prayer; on Slander; on
Profaneness ; on the Lessons of the New Year ; of Winter ;
and of Affliction. Nor have I failed to treat of Sabbath
Schools; the Lord's Supper; and the Baptism of Infants;
the grounds of Religious Fasting; the Christian Church;
the Reign of Death ; the Life of Immortality ; Memory as
an element in future Perdition ; and heaven as a motive to
godliness. On Thanksgiving days, I have contrasted our
condition with that of Europe, and described the exodus of
our Pilgrim fathers to this land of promise. In Sabbath
evening lectures, I began a series of sermons on the inspi
ration, translation, text, and canon of the Scriptures.
Regarding these discourses, from first to last, although
sotae of them have been commended by more than one as
sociation of ministers, — others by;lhe officers and students
of more than one college, — and others by more than one
church in both city and country, — I am free to confess that
they seem to me, in many particulars, faulty, — that they
did not satisfy me when they were written, and that they
now please me less than ever. If I have any pleasure in
them, it arises from my persuasion that dissatisfaction with
present performances is a pledge of future improvement,
or at least of struggles for it. That truth might be above no
age or capacity, my mode of treating several subjects has
been on purpose more superficial than I might have made
it. When I have alluded to my observations in the old
world, I have aimed to vivify and refresh common-place
ideas. When my illustrations have been multifarious my
object has been to arrest the wandering attention — desul
tory and fond of novelty. My diction has been colored
with a tinge of scriptural phraseology, with a view to en
hance its authority and solemnity.
My manner of conducting informal meetings while I
was a candidate, obtained a good report. I adhered to the

16
same manner after I became a pastor. I have expounded
many of the Psalms, aided not only by the best commenta
ries, but by a critical study of the Hebrew original. Nor
have I neglected to search for apposite observations and
applications. At such evening conferences, I did not in
deed aim to bring forward recondite thoughts, or to exhibit
graces of style. I may have shown too little circumspec
tion, for I spoke as standing in a little company who had
obtained like precious faith with me, and my hope was
rather to touch their hearts than to teach their minds.
Have some of you thought my manner on these occasions
indifferent, or not sufficiently emotional? I do not know
as I can make a better vindication of my demeanor, than
in the following language of an eminent Scotch writer,*
concerning the two sisters of Bethany — the one cumbered
with much serving — the other sitting at her Master's feet
• — the one going forth to meet, him — the other sitting still
in the house. "The difference in the conduct of Martha
and Mary is in the style of nature, according to which the
particular temper and feelings of particular persons, give a
very great variety to the language of passion upon occa
sions equally interesting to all of them. A man may
know, he ought to know, every corner in his own heart, — •
how far any part of his conduct proceeds from the defect
of good, or the prevalence of wrong principles. But the
most intimate acquaintance does not give him access to
know all the notions of delicacy and propriety which may
restrain, or urge on others at particular seasons, and may
give to their conduct, in the eye of careless observers, a
very different appearance from that which they would
wish ; and it argues both an uncandid spirit, and very lit
tle knowledge of the world, to say or think this man does
not feel as he ought, because he does not express his feel
ings as I would express mine." Diversities of taste and

* Lectures in Divinity, by George Hill, D. D,, page 56.

17
temperament may with equal reason prompt to such diver
sities of external manifestation that our great Teacher's
bidding is, " Judjge not according to the appearance." We
look not for fire amid snows ; yet
The ice-bound sides of Hecla hold
A molten lava-sea.
As I review my course here, I am pierced with many
sorrows, and soothed by some joys and hopes. Bitterness
as of death passed upon me, when all in one moment 1
was certified of hopes blighted, purposes broken off, and
friends faltering or alienated. But my first feeling and
my last has been, " Thy will O God be done! "
Could I have anticipated that my pastorate here would
be so brief, I would have allowed myself less rest and re
laxation, and I might have studied more for immediate
effect, instead of to lay by me in store a treasure for years
to come. Though my house was a hospital, I would have
been more abundant in labors. Considering how short my
abode among you was destined to be, I wish I had held
more meetings, and that I had both been more indefatiga
ble- in seeking your acquaintance, and that I had made my
calls more strictly religious. I lament that, spite of many
resolutions to be found, though faint yet pursuing, I have
during the last few months felt too much disheartened to
exert myself for your good, either in the pulpit or out of it,
so that my ministry here seems rather broken off than fin
ished. By way of parting counsel to such of you as would have
retained me as their pastor, I will metely quote the lan
guage of President Edwards, on an occasion not altogether
dissimilar to the present. His word's were : "I would! par
ticularly advise those that have adhered to me in the late
controversy, to watch over their spirits and avoid all bit
terness towards others. Your temptations are in some re
spects the greatest, because what has been lately done is
3

18
grievous to you. But however wrongly you may think
others have acted, maintain with great diligence and
watchfulness a Christian meekness and sedateness of spirit,
and labor in. this to excel others who are of the contrary
part. And this will be the best victory."*
To all Christians in this congregation, let me add. Re
member, brethren, that the church of God is set upon a
high place: it is a mark at which the enemies of Christ
cast darts. Forget not that the wicked delight when the
depravity of human nature breaks forth among the follow
ers of Jesus, and when God's appointed organ on earth
sins through the members which compose it. When dis
sensions and strifes arise in the church, the spirit of God
is grieved, devils rejoice, and the wicked take courage in
their sins. But when all in the household of faith is har
mony, the smile of God is there, there the heavenly spirit
makes his dwelling, and angels sing anthems of celestial
joy that sinners crowd the paths which lead to Christ. —
Christians, where rests the responsibility ? Upon the pas
tor alone ? Must he answer for the delinquencies of all
who profess to follow Jesus ? No ! Every one who has
taken up the cross of Christ, must at the great last day
render up his own account as to the manner in which he
has borne that cross. If one by his wilfulness, if one by
his self-conceit, if one by his obstinacy, if one by his un
forgiving spirit, has prevented the peaceful union of God's
people, woe to that man when he stands before God's
throne. Better were it for that man if he had not been
born. These truths, brethren, are of universal application ; but
are there not dissensions among you? Is there here that
concord which God loves and on which he will bestow his
* Works Vol. I, page 79. Extracted from a. discourse, entitled " A Fare
well Sermon, preached at the first precinct in Northampton, after the people's
public rejection of their minister, and renouncing their relation to him as pastor
of the church there, June 22, 1750."

19
blessing? I fervently pray God that each one among you
may lay to, heart his own responsibility, may search him
self with prayers and fastings, and receive abundant mea
sures of grace. Then will God dwell with this church
and this church with him.
I should accuse myself of lacking gratitude, which is the
memory of the heart, could I separate in utter silence from
those of you, who have by way of eminence shown your
selves friendly to me. From the outset, and throughout
my distressful pathway, the loving-favor of such, — never
fully known till needed, — has been the light of my eyes.
Not only have their kindnesses been lavished upon me and
mine, but they have been conferred in a manner which,
while increasing our obligations, has lightened our op
pressive sense of them. Only a small part of my emotions
towards my friends am I able to utter, yet I can bear away
with me all those emotions, living in my memory, and
burning in my heart.
" There are tones that will charm me, tho' lonely
My path be o'er mountain or sea ;
There are looks that will part with me, only
When memory ceases lo be."
Nay, when I consider how many who loved me best, al
ready slumber beneath the clods of the valley, — I some
times feel that, though the places which here know me
shall know me no more, I can live on pleasant memories,
and on trembling hopes that it may be vouchsafed me to
meet them by the river of the water of life, where partings
are known no more.
But while thus speaking of such as are grappled to my
soul with hooks of steel, even as I trust I am to their souls,
I am so unconscious of having given any one cause of hos
tility, and I am so sure that none of you would without
cause be inimical to me, that I will not believe I have one
single enemy in this house, or in this society. Some of
you have indeed from the first opposed me, but I have al-

20
ways admitted, yea, maintained before not a few now in
this presence, that your motives and ends may have been
good, — even as good as my own. Others of you have
changed the favorable opinion which you at first enter
tained regarding my abilities or adaptation to this sphere
of effort, but I have yet to learn that you question my
good will, or that, whatever my mistakes and short-com
ings, you doubt my seeking your good. I cannot but
mourn over my own blasted hopes, and my failure to meet
your wants and satisfy your expectations; but I should be
much more heart-broken were it not for the good will and
even tenderness towards me which some of you have ex
pressed, — and which I willingly believe you all felt — even
in the sundering', of our bond of union. I doubt not, you
lament with me every untoward accident which may have
caused my words or deeds to be misunderstood, — and every
lack of opportunity which may have hid as in a napkin
my single talent. So far as negligence, haughtiness, cold
ness, reserve, — indiscreet speech — or what has seemed any
of these — has made me to-be found by you such as you
would not, you will pardon me. The favors neither few
nor small you have shown me and mine — you may forget —
but I shall not; and you will perhaps remember some sea
sons, — not more rare than rapturous, — when having walked
to the house of God in company, we worshipped him with
hearts knit together even as the heart of one man. Your
prayers, as I cannot but hope, will ascend on my behalf
that if I am allowed of God to be put in trust with the
spiritual guardianship of any other people, I may be saved
from the errors I have here committed — may feel tenfold
sympathy with such as I shall behold in the bonds of any
sorrow, and may discharge all my duties with new-born
hopefulness, zeal, humility and perseverance.
But whatever becomes of me,-— though all my past afflic
tions shall prove but shadows of a worse substance yet to
come, let not the way of truth be evil spoken of, or the

21
name of God and his gospel be blasphemed. Let me wish
no evil to you for whose good I have so long labored and
prayed. That blessing of which I once hoped to be the
almoner, may God give to you through some abler, hap
pier, and better man, who shall reap in joy what I have
sown in tears.
In one ancient nation there was a custom of annually ex
tinguishing all fires throughout the land, and the next day
kindling them only in a chief central temple. When
through lack of its cheering light and genial warmth, the
value of fire began to be felt, swift runners, sent forth
from the sole flaming altar and bearing torches, hurried
with all speed northward, southward, eastward and west*
ward. Whatever the distance of uttermost parts, whatever
the darkness, or season, or stonm or roughness of the way
— well might these messengers make haste. Till they
came, dark was every dwelling,, desolate every hearth
stone, cold the chamber of siekness; and at night no light
house gleamed star-like over the waters, — yea, the agonies
of death were unseen. Now when one of these fire-bearers
stumbled and fell, or sank exhausted in the midst of his
race, what a pang pierced his heart, if his torch fell with
him going out in outer darkness or illumining only a sol
itary wilderness ! Even such would be my anguish had I
any fears that, because my candlestick is removed out of
its place, the light which came into the world to lighten
every man, would cease shining here, and spreading into
surrounding darkness. But as one of those ancient bring-
ers of light, having pressed on till he fell by the way-side,
could calmly close his wearied eyes when having resigned
his precious boon to stronger hands than his,' he saw nim
bler feet glancing as they bore it with fresh alacrity across
a river, up a mountain, or down a valley— ever onward
towards his home,— his kindred ; so can I with equanimity
cease from here holding forth the lamp of the gospel— as
sured that worthier hands are in waiting to take it from

22
my failing grasp,— and that they shall not only cause it to
shine in this sanctuary more brightly than I could, but
shall gladden with its beams many a heart and household
which have been beyond my reach. O may it be no falla
cious vision which shows me such an ambassador of light
who like the desert pillar of fire, that
" Allured to brighter worlds and led the way,"
shall make you right early to possess the better country
which I have only been able to show you beyond the flood.
May I be forgiven that I have so long stood in his way
and delayed his coming. May you welcome his tidings as
they that have long sat in darkness hail the dawn ! For
many of you may his torch turn the shadow of death into
the morning, and you be willing for a long season to rejoice
in its light. God grant that that dispenser of heavenly il
lumination among you may have a good report from them
that are without, —may /behave himself holily, justly and
unblamably, — entreating the elders as fathers, the younger
men as brethren, the elder women as mothers, the younger
as sisters with all purity, — till you all come in the unity of
the faith to be one whole body fitly joined together, and
compacted by that which every joint supplieth, and still
making increase unto the edifying of itself in love.
We talk of our union as short-lived. It seems indeed
but yesterday since, well-nigh two years ago, I stood in
this sacred place for the first time. But as short as has
been the period of our acquaintance it may be longer than
what remains for any one of us, of prosperity, or of health,
— or of life. Alas ! it has proved longer than the endur
ance in this congregation of some of the firmest and dearest
ties on earth ! It has out-lasted the life of many a hus
band, wife, parent, child, brother or sister who were in
high hope of many years in store for them when they be
held its commencement.
But what if our connection had continued as many years

as the weeks it has lasted ? What if we had with one ac
cord resolved to prolong it to the utmost possible limit?
What if I had outlived all my contemporaries ? Still the
relation between us must have had an end, and its term —
however protracted — must in contrast with eternity appear
equally evanescent and insignificant with a few months
and shrink to the little measure of our actual union. All
earthly ties then are unimportant,— one thing only is need
ful, — that, our affections being set on things above, we live
for him who died for us.
The time has fully come for my last words. We ap
proach the close of almost any connection with a sort of
hesitancy, being perhaps obscurely reminded of that parting
from the earth, — those last words and last looks — to which
we are surely though blindly hastening. But when can
we be more feelingly reminded of the end of all things
than while saying concerning a connection that has almost
forty times united us in burying the dead, " It is finished ? "
Never more shall we meet in this sanctuary, never more,
it may be, shall we all meet in this world. But O that we
might so spend the time of our pilgrimage here, that when
we meet again at the judgment, no one of us shall be sev
ered by the angels from among the just. As none of us
are sufficient of ourselves for these things, deny me not
brethren remembrance in your prayers, and I as my fare
well, commend you to God and to the word of his grace,
which is able to build you up and to give you an inheri
tance among all them which are sanctified. Amen.

.YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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