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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029353509 
 
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Uncle John Vassar; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE FIGHT OF FAITH. 
 
 BY HIS NEPHEW, 
 
 REV. T. E. VASSAR. 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION, 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. A. J. GORDON, D. D. 
 "A good soldier of Jesus Christ." 2 Tim. 2 : 3. 
 
 FROM THE PRESS OF 
 
 THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YOKE, 
 
 FOR THE FAMILY. 
 
COPYRIGHT, x879. 
 BY WALTER B. VASSAR. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction PAGE » 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 The Recruit— Parentage— Early Life 23 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Mustered In — Conversion - 28 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Drill — Christian Discipline 33 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Assigned to Service — Goes West - 42 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Off on Furlough — Leaves Tract Society Work for a Time 53 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Going to the Front — Recommissioned for Army Service- - - 82 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 New Campaigns — Work among Freedmen and Miners 112 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 All along the Lines — General Evangelistic Endeavors - 131 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Weapons in the Fight — Personal Characteristics - 159 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The Veteran Disabled — Laid aside by Sickness 184 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Honorably Discharged — Death and Burial - 189 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Service Reviewed — Memorial Services — Press Notices 199 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 We are quite accustomed to think of religious heroes like 
 other heroes, as belonging almost exclusively to a past age. 
 We read with admiration of the lives and labors of such men 
 of God as Rutherford, and Baxter, and Flavel, and McCheyne, 
 and Brainerd, and Henry Martyn, and Judson, and we say 
 mentally at least, " Ah yes, but we have no such workers for 
 God in our age." Doubtless we have but few of them, for 
 they are confessedly rare in any period. But it is our convic- 
 tion, deepened and confirmed by several years of intimate ac- 
 quaintance, that the servant of God whom this volume com- 
 memorates was not a whit behind any one of these great soul- 
 winners whom we have named, either in ardent zeal, or sin- 
 gleness of consecration, or exalted piety. I should not make 
 this statement were I not sure that there are scores of the 
 most thoughtful Christians, both among the ministers and the 
 laymen of our churches, who will be ready at once to endorse 
 it. 
 
 To one who never met him it would be quite impossible to 
 describe the impression which he instantly made on meeting 
 him. He gave one literally a powerful electric shock the 
 moment he touched him. There was such intensity of zeal, 
 accompanied with such a magnetic manner, that the impres- 
 sion was instantaneous and quite overwhelming. It was the 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 lightning-like penetration of a piety that was always charged 
 to the highest pitch. Indeed, it was the first question that 
 occurred to one, how it could be possible for a man to live in 
 such a tense and highly-wrought condition of religious fervor. 
 Yet there was very little apparent variation of temperature. 
 He travelled from Maine to Florida, from the Atlantic coast 
 to the Pacific, on foot, on horseback, by rail, and by steamer, 
 resting not in summer or in winter, in the one intense, eager 
 pursuit of lost souls ; and wherever you found him there was 
 the same burning zeal speaking out in his looks and in his 
 words. He was always moving in his work at a pace much 
 nearer to a run than to a walk. In his humility he named 
 himself " The Shepherd's Dog," and I often thought when I 
 saw him, of the aptness of the name in another sense than 
 that which he intended. For he was not only wonderfully 
 successful in bringing home lost sheep to the good Shepherd, 
 but he followed them with the keen scent and the swift pace 
 of the hound upon the track of his game, tiring not, resting 
 not, till he had won the object of his pursuit. 
 
 It may be permitted, in this introduction, penned by one 
 who was privileged to know this good man intimately and to 
 see much of his work, to point out the most striking traits of 
 his religious character, to indicate his methods of working, 
 and to draw therefrom such lessons as may be useful to 
 Christian workers. 
 
 In the first place I recall with deepest interest his singular 
 consecration and prayerfulness. Is it possible for one to live 
 for a single end — the glory of God in the salvation of souls, 
 and to pursue that end with all the ardor and enthusiasm with 
 which the merchant pursues a fortune or the politician an 
 office ? It is good to find in this skeptical age one life that 
 can answer that question without any qualification. This 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 7 
 
 man knew nothing else, thought of nothing else, asked for 
 nothing else, but this one thing. When he came occa- 
 sionally to work among my flock, he at once took the 
 whole church and people on his heart, and began to travail for 
 them in prayer, as though his very life depended on the issue. 
 This intercession continued " night and day with tears " as 
 long as he was with us. He never said indeed that he had 
 prayed all night. But I could hear him again and again 
 breaking forth in the darkness "with strong crying" unto 
 God, and I knew what the burden was. It was this congrega- 
 tion, strangers to him till to-day. It was this flock, not one of 
 whom had he ever seen till now. So Christlike was the love 
 of this man, whose field was the world, that each lost soul was 
 just as dear to him as every other. With a soul knit into 
 unbroken fellowship with Christ, he had become "baptized 
 into a sense of all conditions." He did not love men with the 
 natural heart any longer. He could say with Paul, " God is 
 my witness, how greatly I long after you all in the heart of i 
 Jesus Christ." This habitual prayfulness was something so 
 wonderful that I wish to emphasize it as furnishing the true 
 secret of his life. A lady at whose house he spent a night 
 told me that in the morning her Roman-catholic servant-girl 
 came down, and with an astonished expression said, " Mrs. 
 
 B , that old man was praying all night ; I could not sleep 
 
 it made me feel so. But I should never be afraid with such 
 a man in the house." It was impossible that he should not 
 pray thus. It was with him as with the devoted John Welch, 
 of whom Fleming says that he used to make his nights such 
 Gethsemane seasons that his family had often to remonstrate 
 with him for losing his sleep ; when he would reply, '' Ah, but 
 I have the souls of three thousand to answer for, and I know 
 not how it is with many of them." And all through the clay 
 
8 1NTR OD UCTION. 
 
 the intercession went on. If he met with rebuffs or discour- 
 agements, he would gird up the loins of his mind with a silent 
 prayer, and then press on undaunted. If he had a moment to 
 spare while waiting for dinner, he would snatch refreshment 
 from his Bible, and then drop upon his knees for a few words 
 with the great Life and Lover of his soul. And such was the 
 unbroken tenor of his life for years. 
 
 Another most impressive and instructive trait of his char- 
 acter was his intense absorption in his labor, so that it was a 
 real and abounding joy for him to do it. It is the truest test 
 of one's devotion to his work, whether he is reluctant to lay 
 it down when the hour comes for dining or sleeping. A most 
 striking illustration of the Master's consuming zeal in labor- 
 ing for the lost appears in his indifference to the claims of 
 hunger and fatigue, as, " wearied with his journey," he sat on 
 Jacob's well talking with the woman of Samaria. To him 
 bodily hunger was not to be thought of, if he could satisfy 
 his hunger for a soul's salvation. To him, the parching thirst 
 begotten by a tropic noonday sun was nothing, if he could 
 give to a famishing sinner to drink of the water of life, that 
 she might never thirst. " Master, eat," was the urgent invita- 
 tion of the disciples. " I have meat to eat that ye know not 
 of," was his reply. And to their incredulous question, " Hath 
 any man brought him aught to eat?" he replied, "My meat 
 is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." 
 That is a consecration to which very few probably attain, to 
 be so utterly absorbed in holy work that the bread of service 
 shall be sweeter than the bread of the table, and the meat of 
 doing the Master's will shall be better than the meat of 
 bodily food. 
 
 The good man of whom we are speaking so loved the 
 service of his Master that it was often quite impossible to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 draw him away from it when the hour for dining came. He 
 would constantly forget the claims of bodily hunger when 
 engaged with an inquiring soul. He had often to be forced 
 away from his work, by those who cared more for his physical 
 needs than he himself could be made to care. Flavel tells 
 how, in one of his rare seasons of communion with God, he 
 became so absorbed in heavenly contemplation that he was 
 lost to the flight of time, to hunger and to all outward things. 
 It was literally so with this great worker's absorption in his toil. 
 He forgot the flight of time ; he heard not the call to rest and 
 refreshment ; he heeded not the gnawings of hunger. Indeed, 
 he seemed at times entirely insensible to every earthly thing, 
 in his overmastering and consuming desire to get the souls 
 saved for which he was laboring. 
 
 We do not say that such indifference to the claims of the 
 body is to be commended to the imitation of all Christian 
 workers. Undoubtedly we can serve Christ more efficiently, 
 as a rule, to be punctiliously careful in attending to all the 
 conditions of physical health and comfort. But it is inspiring 
 to witness such an example of supreme devotion to the Mas- 
 ter's business amid so many sad illustrations of working by 
 measure, and timing service for Christ by the clock and the 
 dinner-bell. There is a quaint passage on this point in Adam 
 Bede, which we have never forgotten. " I can't abide," says 
 the speaker, " to see men throw away their tools i' that way, 
 ' the minute the clock begins to strike, as if they took no pleas- 
 ure i' their work, and were afraid of doing a stroke too much. 
 I hate to see a man's arm drop down as if he was shot, before 
 the clock's fairly struck, just as if he 'd never a bit o' pride 
 arid delight in 's work. The very, grindstone ull go on turn- 
 ing a bit after you loose it." 
 
 And is there not a serious thought here to be taken to 
 
i o INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 heart? How many servants of God stop their work, however 
 pressing it may be, when noontime comes ! How many 
 ministers rush from their pulpits like relieved prisoners of toil 
 the moment the first day of " vacation " arrives ! And how 
 many, on the other hand, are so in the toil of whole-hearted, 
 self-forgetful consecration, that they are borne on past the 
 time of dinner, past the time of sleeping, past the allotted hour 
 of recreation, when the interests of souls are at stake ? Un- 
 doubtedly a great attainment lies . yet before us — that of find- 
 ing it really our meat to do the Master's will, as it was his 
 meat to do the Father's will ; to feed so truly on the " hidden 
 manna " that we can, if need be, put off, for a while, the claims 
 of bodily hunger, to satisfy the more pressing claims of hunger 
 and thirst after righteousness in those to whom the Lord has 
 sent us with the " bread of life." 
 
 It was I think in the work of personal conversation with 
 the unconverted that Mr. Vassar did his greatest work, and 
 exhibited the most remarkable power. The intensity and 
 boldness of his appeals, the tenderness and pathos of his 
 entreaty, the tireless patience of his struggle for conquest was 
 something which I never saw approached, and which I now 
 remember with the greatest admiration. That old Puritan 
 phrase, "Closing in with the sinner," expresses what he 
 invariably did when he approached the unconverted. He 
 grappled with the soul like a spiritual athlete. His whole 
 bearing was that of one who knew himself to be wrestling, 
 " not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers." 
 He had every weapon at instant command, and used each in 
 turn as with the sharpest insight he saw what was needed. 
 It was now the " terror of the Lord " and now " the love of 
 Christ,'' now the freeness of salvation, now the certainty of 
 " the wrath to come," all brought to bear with such tearful 
 
TNTR QI) UCTION. 1 1 
 
 tenderness that the effect was often perfectly overwhelming. 
 And I do not exaggerate, when I say that his subjects gener- 
 ally had either to surrender or to flee, such was the vehemency 
 of his approaches. What always struck me as most remark- 
 able in his personal conversations was their absolute abrupt- 
 ness. In scores of interviews of the sort which I have wit- 
 nessed, I never once remember his introducing his subject 
 with any preliminary remarks. He came at once to the theme. 
 His first question, after the ordinary salutation, was generally 
 the vital question, ."_My friend, will you kindly permit me to 
 ask, have you been born again ?" 
 
 This method I think he adopted deliberately, as having 
 been proved by years of experience the wisest. Noticing the 
 shock and revulsion which this abrupt approach sometimes 
 produced, I used to regret that he was not more circuitous in 
 his advances. But I confess that with larger experience I 
 have changed my mind and come to the conclusion that this 
 directness is one of the most vital conditions of success in 
 personal conversation. It does not require long experience 
 to teach one the danger of starting a train of general conver- 
 sation when dealing with the unconverted. For such a current 
 once started the tide may easily become so strong that it will 
 be found exceedingly difficult to divert it into the desired 
 channel. Indeed, if the person addressed desires to avoid 
 the subject, he will often do his best to prevent this result, by 
 keeping up a strain of rapid and distracting talk and even 
 leading on if possible into light and trivial discussion, to turn 
 aside from which into the subject of personal salvation will be 
 far more abrupt and difficult than it would have been to strike 
 the subject at the outset. 
 
 We must remember that this personal dealing with men is 
 often a duel of wills. And in this duel the strongest and most 
 
1 2 INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 athletic will will be likely to conquer, other things being equal. 
 Hence it is a fair question with the spiritual gladiator, how to 
 get the advantage of his antagonist. He should adopt the 
 best possible strategy, and aim to effect by his alertness and 
 skill what he might fail to accomplish by main force. Hence 
 John Vassar's method was to strike a man at once with the 
 most direct and vital question which could be brought to bear. 
 Instead of hinting by a lengthened introduction what he pro- 
 posed to do, he did it before his subject had time to gather 
 himself up or brace himself against the attack. And no 
 sooner was the battle opened than it was followed up with the 
 intensest rapidity, by appeal, and argument, and warning, and 
 entreaty, all ending in a most fervent and melting plea at the 
 throne of grace that the Spirit would seal his words to him who 
 had heard them. 
 
 The results were various, of course. The person address- 
 ed was always stunned and startled, sometimes made angry ; 
 but in multitudes of cases wounded into life. There was never 
 the slightest tinge of severity, mark you, in the abruptness. 
 If there was a tremendous grappling with the soul, it was a 
 battle in which tears and entreaties were the prevailing weap- 
 ons ; and no rebuffs or abuse could ever draw from him a 
 single impatient utterance. It was not his harshness but his 
 intense earnestness that so roused men. Indeed you can well 
 imagine what would be the result for a man of this sort to go 
 through some street in proud, cultivated, aristocratic Boston, 
 ringing every door-bell and confronting every household with 
 this great question of the new birth. And this is what he did 
 repeatedly when he labored with me. I generally heard from 
 his visits, and sometimes in anything but complimentary terms. 
 But he left an impression which could not be shaken off, and 
 from which fruit, in some cases, was gathered years after. In 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 a very appreciative notice of him by a well-known minister he 
 speaks of the habit of going from house to house with his in- 
 evitable question, and says, " I have known him to set a whole 
 town in an uproar by this spiritual census-taking. But when 
 his sub-soil ploughshare had turned a community upside down, 
 then was the time for fruitful work." And that is true. The 
 very offence which he so frequently gave, was often the open 
 door into hearts hitherto hopelessly closed. 
 
 I must refer again to the method of direct and immediate 
 approach in dealing with souls, in order to emphasize its im- 
 portance. I believe it to be the first and almost the highest 
 condition of success in the work. When a timid and self-dis- 
 trustful Christian engages with a resolute, bold, self-poised 
 unbeliever, there is, humanly speaking, an immense disparity 
 between them. The Christian standing on the word of God, 
 and resting in the might of the Spirit, has a vantage ground of 
 course, which no natural qualities can give a man. But never- 
 theless there comes a grapple between mind and mind, between 
 will and will, between purpose and purpose. The danger is 
 not that the unbeliever will conquer the believer and bring 
 him to his views. But there is danger that he will defeat him 
 in his present purpose, that he will so swing him into the 
 current of his stronger will, that he will so deflect him from 
 his aim by the force of his stronger determination, as to thwart 
 his efforts to deal with him regarding his soul. If we hold 
 two globules of water on the finger, and then let them touch, 
 one "will drink up the other ; and it is generally the larger 
 that absorbs the smaller. If two minds come in contact, one 
 will in like manner often completely appropriate and hold in 
 its embrace the other. But here, while as a rule the stronger 
 will win, it is certainly possible for the weaker to win— -for the 
 timid to sway the bold, for the humble to master the proud. 
 
i 4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 And therefore the secret of victory lies, I believe, in this one 
 thing more than in any other': celerity, a rapid deploying 
 of the mental forces and a brisk and determined advance 
 before the stronger has had time to marshal his resources. 
 This was the invariable method of our friend of whom I 
 am speaking. This is the striking characteristic of Mr. 
 Moody's conversations with the unconverted. It is all in the 
 art of " stealing a march " on the sinner, to use a colloquial 
 phrase. In Mr. Vassar's case I should use a still stronger 
 phrase, only in a tropical sense. His habit was to stun a man 
 at the first blow, and reason with him afterward. 
 
 Of course, in using these expressions it is not implied that 
 the unconverted man is an enemy whom we are to dragoon 
 into the kingdom of heaven. Only as a matter of fact he will 
 often resist our approaches and do his best to thwart our 
 efforts at personal dealing with him. And it becomes us as 
 alert soldiers to strike for the citadel of the heart at once, 
 instead of giving him time to fortify, while we are engaged in 
 the light skirmishing and counter-marching of general conver- 
 sation. 
 
 While we are on this subject of personal conversation with 
 the unconverted, I wish to refer to another point on which Mr. 
 Vassar exhibited peculiar genius, viz., his skill in dropping a 
 brief pungent word into the mind when there was no oppor- 
 tunity for an extended conversation. Jeremy Taylor, in his 
 treatise on Holy Living, has much to say upon the value of 
 "ejaculatory prayer" — the brief pointed petitions interjected 
 between the ordinary and more lengthened seasons of devo- 
 tion. This good man taught me, as I never learned it before, 
 the value of ejaculatory admonition. He was always finding 
 opportunity to interject some pungent text of Scripture, or 
 some startling warning or suggestion into the mind of those 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 whom he chanced to meet casually. And I learned in some 
 instances of great good following these brief words. I recall 
 a simple illustration of this habit. When riding into the 
 country with him to attend a service, a traveller stopped us on 
 a lonely road to inquire his direction, adding that being a 
 stranger in the neighborhood he had lost his way. " How 
 sad it would be," interposed Mr. Vassar, addressing him with 
 great solemnity, " if you .should lose your way to heaven. 
 Strive to enter in at the strait gate. For wide is the gate and 
 broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there 
 be which go in thereat." I could see at a glance that the 
 words made an impression, and that the loneliness of the 
 traveller and his anxiety to find his way were just the circum- 
 stances to enforce most powerfully this wayside message. 
 Perhaps this may seem a small matter for the consideration of 
 the Christian worker. But I am persuaded that in his case it 
 was a very great matter when reckoned in the sum total of his 
 success. We heard a bank cashier describe recently the 
 habits of a millionaire who had just died. " One secret of his 
 success in acquiring his fortune," he said, " was his economy 
 in little sums. He never wasted a sheet of paper, or a pos- 
 tage stamp. He never threw in an odd cent in making change. 
 Every loose fragment however small was gathered up." Well, 
 the children of the world ought not to be wiser in their gene- 
 ration than the children of light. Admonished as we are to 
 "redeem the time," "to be instant in season, out of season," 
 we can not overestimate the importance of economizing stray 
 opportunities. And while volumes have been written on the 
 art of making sermons, let me enforce this lesson on making 
 sermonettes, on thrusting in the gospel brieflet where the 
 occasion will not allow of the lengthened discourse. It is, we 
 venture to say, the hardest chapter in Homiletics to learn. 
 
1 6 INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 Preachers spend so much time in getting inured to Saul's 
 armor with its close-fitting joints of logic, with its burnished 
 ornaments of rhetoric and illustration, that if they do not come 
 to disdain David's sling they have little time to practise with 
 it. But the man of God that will be thoroughly furnished, 
 must learn the value of the humble sling of ejaculatory warn- 
 ing, and the smooth stone of Scripture quotation. And if we 
 imagine that these are only inferior weapons fitted for reach- 
 ing the heart of the simple-minded and ignorant, let us re- 
 member that there is nothing mightier in all God's armory 
 than a text of Scripture, and that one of these may like David's 
 pebble hit the head, when we only expected it to strike no 
 higher than the heart. 
 
 The life of which I am speaking made a profound impres- 
 sion in another direction, viz., by the startling contrast which 
 it presented to the ordinary life of the world, and hardly less 
 to the ordinary quality of piety in the church. I pass in say- 
 ing this from the power and use of Christian conversation to 
 that of Christian example. A humble man who never spoke 
 of himself, except in terms of depreciation, and to whom any 
 suggestion of credit or praise always seemed painful, he at the 
 same time gave the most powerful illustration which I have 
 ever witnessed of utter and unreserved consecration to God. 
 I am sure I do not exaggerate when I say that there was noth- 
 ing in this world, from riches to bodily comfort, from reputa- 
 tion to personal gratification, that had the slightest attraction 
 for him. Instead of being perplexed to acquire money as so 
 many Christians are, he seemed greatly perplexed if any came 
 into his hand to know what to do with it. If a ten-dollar gold 
 piece were slipped into his pocket — as was often done by some 
 grateful convert — he would act like a citizen of heaven won- 
 dering " whose image and superscription " this could be, and 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 what possible value this coin could have for him " a stranger 
 and a pilgrim in the earth." If I were to describe his pecu- 
 liarities in this direction, I fear I should make him appear 
 almost grotesque in his indifference to the things of this world. 
 Suffice it to say he seemed to have become absolutely natural- 
 ized as a citizen of heaven, and to be living in the world for 
 the sole object of getting men out of it, and introducing them 
 into the kingdom of God. 
 
 You will not wonder perhaps that this utter unworldliness, 
 and this entire indifference alike to the praise and to the 
 blame, to the rewards and to the reproaches of men, should 
 have made him very unacceptable to many Christians. We 
 talk admiringly of apostolic zeal and primitive piety, but let a 
 genuine fragment of this piety suddenly fall into the midst of 
 us, and I am not so certain that it will be greeted with unqual- 
 ified applause. Extremes can never meet without commotion. 
 A red-hot enthusiasm for Christ plunged snddenly into an 
 element of lukewarm piety, will inevitably produce a hissing 
 and ebullition. Contrariety of character is sufficient to awa- 
 ken antagonism even if there is no hostility of spirit. This 
 principle holds everywhere, in doctrine, in life, in morals. 
 The bare, silent presentation of a startling contrast is a signal 
 for disturbance. When Edward Irving, at the height of his 
 popularity, was invited to preach the annual sermon before the 
 London Missionary Society, he set himself to work he tells us 
 by profound study and" prayer to reproduce from the gospel a 
 true picture of the Apostolic Missionary. You may study 
 that picture to-day a$ it stands portrayed in his printed dis- 
 course. It is magnificent, eloquent in the highest degree, and 
 yet I do not think any one reading it now can say that it is 
 overdrawn or false to the original. And yet you know, if you 
 have read the story, what a tumult it created when delivered, 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 because doubtless of the startling contrast it suggested between 
 tlie ancient and the modern policy and methods of missionary 
 labor. He was addressing a society that a little before had 
 greeted with applause the declaration of a speaker who had 
 said, " If I were asked what is the first qualification for a mis- 
 sionary, I would say prudence, and the second prudence, and 
 the third prudence." What wonder that when the*picture of 
 the Apostolic Missionary was produced, the man of sublime 
 and dominant faith, "the man without a purse, without a 
 scrip, without a change of raiment; without a staff, without the 
 care of making friends or keeping friends, without the hope 
 or desire of worldly gain, without the apprehension of worldly 
 loss, without the care of life, without the fear of death, of no - 
 rank, of no country, of no condition, a man of one thought, 
 the gospel of Christ, a man of one purpose, the glory of God, 
 a fool, and content to be reckoned a fool for Christ, a mad- 
 man, and content to be reckoned a madman for Christ " — 
 what wonder that such a picture of self-abandoning and sub- 
 limely imprudent faith should have startled, and surprised, and 
 annoyed those to whom prudence seemed the cardinal virtue 
 in a missionary's character. 
 
 But if such a picture could offend, how with a living re- 
 production of the original suddenly presenting himself to the 
 average, worldly, and easy-going Christian? I believe hun- 
 dreds who knew my missionary friend, Mr. Vassar, would say 
 that he filled out every line and shade of Irving's glowing 
 portrait of " the Missionary after the Apostolic School." I 
 cannot think of one particular in which'he came short of it. 
 Well, he did rouse a commotion wherever he went : and the 
 writer whom I have previously quoted, says truly, that " his 
 most vehement opposition came from the class represented 
 by the elder brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son." 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 The respectable, moderate, prudential Christian, whose chief 
 concern is that the religious proprieties be not jostled, was 
 stunned and confounded by his impetuous zeal. The dweller- 
 at-ease in Zion was indignant at the wanton invasion of his 
 comfort which this "hot gospeller" brought. "Yes, we 
 would gladly see men converted," they would say, " but this 
 highly wrought fanaticism, this press-gang method of forcing 
 men into the army of Christ we cannot endure." And so 
 would come charges of insanity made to the face, the old 
 clamor, " Thou art beside thyself." The minister who was 
 harboring this disturber was often warned to send him away 
 lest the church might be driven to mutiny. And thus as he 
 illustrated marvellously one part of Scripture, "the zeal of 
 thy house hath eaten me up," he received the literal fulfil- 
 ment of the other part, " the reproaches of them that reproach- 
 ed thee are fallen on me." 
 
 And yet he did nothing to awaken such opposition except 
 to show himself inordinately zealous for men's salvation. He 
 . was just what the Bible commands, " instant in season, out of 
 season," or, as one has well translated the words, " unsea- 
 sonably in season." What others do measuiredly, he did with 
 all the energy and intensity of an undivided heart. His re- 
 proach, therefore, was justly earned. It was not the dislike of 
 methods, or of the man, but " the reproach of Christ," which 
 may still be esteemed greater riches than the treasures of 
 Egypt. The gospel has a phrase which we dare say is not 
 entirely of primitive application — " the offence of the cross." 
 It is not the preaching of the law with its unsparing penalties, 
 or of the terror of the Lord with its lurid threatenings, that will 
 be most likely to repel men, but the'preaching of the cross. 
 Free grace is a greater scandal in the eyes of the moralist and 
 the formalist, than rigid and exacting law. And so inevitable 
 
2o INTRODUCTION. 
 
 from the nature of the case is the offence of the cr<*ss, that 
 it seems to me that any ministry which is not to some extent 
 stamped with the seal and credential of reproach cannot be 
 true. And just as the power of the cross is exhibited in this 
 life in a self-denying earnestness in saving the lost and a Christ- 
 like surrender of all earthly things for the accomplishment of 
 the one end, there will likely be reproach. It will come from 
 the unconverted, and most certainly from the formalist within 
 the church. For their lives being pitched to no such lofty 
 key, they will not comprehend one who is so keyed. It is the 
 opprobrium of invidious contrast. It is the annoying and 
 startling rebuke, which absolute consecration must inevitably 
 cast upon a worldly and self-indulgent Christianity. 
 
 But when we have witnessed such a life, what a charm it 
 must have for every one that values the heavenly world above 
 the earthly, and has more respect to the recompense of reward 
 which Christ offers than to anything which the world can 
 give. It is not poetry ; it is not romance. It has been proved 
 in a practical, real life, lived among us, that one may take 
 joyfully rejection, dislike, and contempt, who has the testi- 
 mony that he is pleasing God. What matters it to him if he 
 is deemed eccentric, if he knows himself to be moving in the 
 orbit which Christ by his own life and command has fixed for 
 him. All that are out of that orbit will wonder, some with 
 great admiration, and many with great perplexity. This will 
 ' be the inevitable fact. 
 
 " He who far off beholds another dancing, 
 Even he who dances best, and all the time 
 Hears not the music that he dances to, 
 Thinks him a madman, apprehending not 
 The law which moves 'his else eccentric motion ; 
 So he that 's in himself insensible 
 Of love's sweet influence, misjudges him 
 Who moves according to love's melody. 
 
INTROD UCTTON. 2 1 
 
 And knowing not that all these sighs and tears 
 Ejaculations and impatiences, 
 Are necessary changes of a measure 
 Which the Divine Musician plays, may call 
 The lover crazy — which he would not do, 
 Did he within his own heart hear the tune 
 Played by the great Musician of the world." 
 
 I have thus sketched this life, wishing that I might by my 
 description of it produce on others something of the impres,- 
 sion which the reality made oh my own mind. I can truly 
 say that I never received such quickening and inspiration 
 from any living person. And though I cannot follow his 
 steps, I trace those steps with the intensest admiration.- A 
 life so absolutely given up to God that I believe it would have 
 been literally impossible to have given any more : communion 
 with God so unbroken that it may be justly said that the lan- 
 guage of earth, its chatter, its frivolity, its idle speaking, was 
 a foreign speech to him, while the language of heaven was his 
 true "mother tongue." — However far we may confess our- 
 selves removed from it, we shall all doubtless be'ready to say 
 that it is supremely blessed to live such a life : the body, 
 the soul and spirit all given up to God, to win souls to Christ 
 an over-mastering passion, all that earth can offer of joy or 
 contempt but dust in the balance, compared with the far more 
 exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Such we believe to be 
 a true picture of this noble life. If the volume now sent 
 forth shall be used of God to quicken the halting steps of any- 
 sluggish Christian, to kindle fresh inspiration in the bosom of 
 any already zealous and earnest Christian, or to give new 
 courage to any fainting Christian, it will have served the end 
 of its publication. a. j. g. 
 
 Clarendon Stkbet Cht/ech, Boston, Mass., April, 1879. 
 
UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE RECRUIT. 
 
 " I praise Thee, while Thy providence 
 In childhood's home I trace, 
 For blessings given ere dawning sense 
 Could seek or scan Thy grace." 
 
 Who John E. Vassar was, arid what, thousands knew, 
 nor will they be likely quickly to forget. Whence he 
 came, and what were the moulding influences of early 
 days, are less familiar facts, which it may be well to trace 
 and briefly tell. In character, as in creation, what is 
 visible is often the effect of causes working and shaping 
 far away. 
 
 The Vassar family was French. About the beginning 
 of the eighteenth century some of its members crossed 
 the English Channel, and in the rich agricultural county 
 of Norfolk found a home. Here at wool-growing and 
 farming three generations lived, and mainly died. Here 
 Thomas Vassar, the father of John E., was born, and 
 spent nearly forty years. 
 
 But he and his brothers were Dissenters,, of the Bap- 
 
24 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 tist faith, and like other nonconformists winced under 
 the oppressions and exactions and disabilities imposed by 
 the wedded Church and State. Hundreds whose love of 
 native land was sincere and fervent were driven abroad, 
 to gain the religious liberty which a country made cruel 
 by its fears denied. 
 
 It was in this exodus that Thomas Vassar, then un- ' 
 married, and his younger brother James — the father of 
 Matthew — started across the Atlantic, not so much in 
 quest of fame or fortune as " freedom to worship God." 
 
 One October day of 1796 the good ship "Criterion," 
 with the emigrants on board, sailed up New York Bay. 
 The following spring they settled near Poughkeepsie on 
 the Hudson, then a village of some four or five hundred 
 souls. For some time the brothers carried on farming 
 operations together, Thomas meanwhile returning to 
 their native land for implements and seeds. Several 
 years later he established the well-known brickyard on 
 the Dutchess Turnpike, a mile or two out of town. 
 
 He had previously married Joanna Ellison of Flat- 
 bush, Long Island, whose father kept a somewhat noted 
 academy there. The wife was by twenty years the hus- 
 band's junior, and one of those unselfish souls whose life*, 
 spent in bearing others' burdens, is in the home or the 
 community a benediction. Letters written by her when 
 she was seventy-five years of age are models of penman- 
 ship and good terse English, and reveal a heart as tender 
 as a child's. 
 
 The husband was a sunny, cheery, lively man, full of 
 pleasant stories picked up beyond the sea, fuller still of 
 
THE RECRUIT, 25 
 
 Scripture, which seemed to be always dropping from his 
 lips, busy as a bee, honest to the core, ready for every 
 neighborly act or office, and never happier than when, 
 with children or grandchildren on his knee, he talked of 
 the dear old home beyond the deep, or the one holier and 
 fairer far, eternal in the heavens. To their memory he 
 stands out still as one who needed to lay little off to fit 
 him for companionship with the saints in light. From 
 his nineteenth to his ninety-third year he walked with 
 God, and then, while his hands were uplifted in blessing 
 and on his lips lingered some of the great apostle's sweet- 
 est words, he found himself suddenly and safely landed 
 on the shores of immortality. 
 
 Of these parents, John Ellison Vassar, the fourth 
 child in a family of six, was born on the 1 3th day of Jan- 
 uary, 1813. He was named after Dr. John Ellison, his 
 mother's only brother, who, after studying medicine 
 abroad, settled near Paris, practised successfully at his 
 profession, and died there while his namesake was yet 
 young. 
 
 The earlier years of childhood are commonly like the 
 leaves which;, left blank, are bound up next to the covers 
 of a book. : They may not be absolutely characterless, 
 but little is stamped thereon which can afterward be 
 read. Of the boy John Vassar, not much can be remem- 
 bered now. He was wide-awake, impulsive, affection- 
 ate, quick-tempered, and rapidly despatched what was 
 given him to do. All this those who knew him say. 
 Had they not said it, so much might have been inferred. 
 Nature never pieces together contradictions. Out of a 
 
 Jobn E. Vasflar. O 
 
26 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 calm, cool, easy-going boy your man of red-hot earnest- 
 ness cannot come. 
 
 The lad had for three winters the advantages of an 
 ordinary district school. These did not amount to much 
 in those days. The father and mother, both of whom 
 were better educated than the average teacher then, di- 
 rected some further studies in the home. He was not a 
 remarkable scholar, however, and it is doubtful whether 
 he would have been even with larger opportunities. He 
 had a bright, active mind, but patient, rigid application to 
 books would never have suited him so well as hard, heavy 
 work. To that he early bent his back. At twelve years 
 old he is in the brickyard. His body is little, but it is 
 sturdy, and his spirit is plucky ; so while scarcely more 
 than a child he is said to have filled a man's place. While 
 thus employed, and somewhere about his twentieth year, 
 an accident befell him, from the effects of which he was 
 never altogether free. In hurrying across a rude log- 
 bridge which spanned a creek near the house, one leg 
 somehow slipped through, and was so badly broken as to 
 leave him thereafter with a limping limb. 
 
 Laid aside for many weeks, it was the hope and 
 prayer of his parents that the misfortune might bring 
 seriousness and salvation to their child. But trouble 
 does not always work that way. It is one thing to worry 
 over calamity; it is another to weep over sin— how far 
 another many a soul could testify. Recovery came, but 
 not conversion. The ripple of uneasiness settled down. 
 The old life of profanity and prayerlessness came rushing 
 back, and along the old channels it pushed its way. God 
 
THE RECRUIT. 27 
 
 was forgotten. Eternity faded from the thoughts like a 
 passing dream. 
 
 So time ran on till he had begun his twenty-fifth year. 
 Then he married, and moving into Poughkeepsie com- 
 menced housekeeping, and working in the malt-house or 
 brewery there. The wife chosen was one Mary Lee. 
 Like himself, she had been blest with praying parents. 
 Like him, she had not yet learned to pray. He is now 
 started out in life. His home is pleasant ; his health is 
 perfect ; his prospects fair. What more can be asked ? 
 Nothing, if this world were all. Nothing, if there were 
 not a soul which came from God, and can never rest till 
 it comes to God again. So far John Vassar has kept 
 himself an alien from the commonwealth of Israel. He 
 stands on the side that is not the Lord's. And he tries, 
 as many are trying still, to be happy there. But this 
 smooth complacency or self-satisfaction is about to be 
 broken up. Infinite. Love will not suffer a soul to con- 
 tent itself always with the getting and keeping and mind- 
 ing of earthly things. The time has come for him to lis- 
 ten to God's call and throw himself entirely and eternally 
 into the Saviour's ranks. 
 
 To this we pass. So far we have seen the stuff of 
 which the recruit was made. 
 
28 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MUSTERED IN. 
 
 " And the angels echoed around the throne, 
 ' Rejoice, for the Lord brings back his own.' " 
 
 Some incidents of childhood are cut into memory as 
 inscriptions are cut into rock. No lapse of time wears 
 them out, or tones down the sharp deep lines. One such 
 is associated with the conversion of' Uncle John. He 
 had come out to see his parents and tell them what a 
 Saviour he had found. We were at grandfather's when 
 he arrived. What he said we were too young to under- 
 stand, and not one utterance can now be recalled ; but 
 the recollection of the scene that followed is perfectly 
 distinct. All wept while his story was being told. Pres- 
 ently they knelt around the room, and two or three offer- 
 ed prayer. In the old homestead there was a holy quiet 
 joy all day long. It was the history of the prodigal gone 
 through again. Another runaway had come to himself 
 and had returned to the Father's house, and under the 
 earthly father's roof there was gladness devout and deep. 
 Shall we doubt that it was the echo of a delight felt in 
 heaven over the repenting sinner? 
 
 Uncle John's awakening, like everything about the 
 man, was extraordinary. It is doubtful whether John 
 Bunyan's or John Newton's was more powerful or pro- 
 found. In the Baptist church a revival was in progress, 
 
MUSTERED IN. 29 
 
 It 
 
 and early morning meetings as well as evening services 
 
 were being held. He was urged to attend these, but 
 in the most decided way refused. Finally his cousin, 
 Matthew Vassar, Jr., fairly hired him to go "just once." 
 He went, and readily promised to do the same again 
 without reward. Before the second service was over, 
 conviction deep and terrible got hold upon his soul. For 
 a week he was shaken by the powers of the world to 
 come as trees are shaken by mighty winds. Say what 
 we will about what old divines were wont to call " law 
 work " in regeneration, John Vassar quivered and strug- 
 gled for days in its stern grasp. Sin and the woe it mer- 
 its were awfully real to him — so real, that on going home 
 from one of the meetings and finding his wife asleep, he 
 roused her with the cry, " How can you rest when your 
 husband is going right down to hell ?" 
 
 Nor was it the record of a profligate career which 
 stirred shame and fear and pain. He had a fiery, ungov- 
 ernable temper, and had been given to terrible outbursts 
 of profanity when provoked, but from other gross forms 
 of wickedness he had been free. It was the conscious- 
 ness of a state of heart radically wrong that lay at the 
 bottom of his self -abhorrence and alarm ; the persuasion 
 that outside decency was not the holiness of God. The 
 Holy Spirit was dealing with him, and hence he quailed. 
 And when peace and pardon broke in, they did not come 
 as the dawn of day. It was rather as if noonday sunshine 
 were to flash out in the murky night. He got an assu- 
 rance of sonship so bright and clear that nothing after- 
 ward darkened it for an hour. 
 
 3* 
 
3 o UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 In part, perhaps, such an experience would be natu- 
 ral to a temperament keyed so high. There could be no 
 halfway emotion about the man, any more than there 
 could be halfway work. Halfness went against the grain. 
 But it was something more than mere natural intensity 
 which glowed in his face and throbbed in the testimony 
 of his tongue. There was a life hidden with Christ 
 whose pulsations, at the first, as ever afterward, were 
 strong as ocean's undertow. Let this account for those 
 positive ideas he held and urged concerning the doctrine 
 of a new birth. Conversion was to him something defi- 
 nite and discernible. It was not a maybe and maybe- 
 not change. There was in his sight a line where liv- 
 ing for self and Satan ceased, and living for God and 
 godliness began ; and that line he looked upon as sharp- 
 ly drawn. He could not have regarded it otherwise. 
 Divine grace had stopped him as that light from heaven 
 stopped Saul of Tarsus, and as suddenly and as squarely 
 he had turned around. Christ's image had been stamped 
 upon his soul as the eagle is stamped on the bit of gold 
 under the die of the mint ; and whose he was, or what, he 
 could not allow himself to question. That had been once 
 and for ever settled. He was twenty-eight years old 
 when he thus found the Lord ; rather let us say, when 
 the Lord thus found him. It is the Saviour who is the 
 chief seeker, and not the sinner. 
 
 Like every consistent convert he turned to the people 
 of God and asked among them a brother's place. On 
 the 3d of April, 1 842, he was welcomed into the fellow- 
 ship of the Poughkeepsie Baptist church. Rev. Rufus 
 
MUSTERED IN. 31 
 
 Babcock, D. D., who thus became his pastor, and was for 
 many years his counseller and guide, could have told us 
 much about the beginnings of this Christian life, had he 
 been a little longer spared ; but the venerated pastor got 
 to the goal slightly ahead of his younger brother. 
 
 Rev. Edgar A. Van Kleek of Patten, Maine, for many 
 years a most cherished friend, and at the time of Uncle 
 John's conversion himself a new recruit in the army of 
 the Lord, gives us this glimpse of the man when as a 
 rebel against God he was brought to lay down his arms : 
 " I well remember the night when he was in such distress 
 of mind, though I was only a child in the Christian life 
 then. The meeting was in the little prayer-room of the 
 La Fayette street house, and as many were interested it 
 was filled. I sat next to him in the first seat as you en- 
 tered from the door. I never saw a soul in such agony 
 as he. The service closed and most of the congregation 
 had retired. As a few were lingering, he begged them 
 not to go but to stop longer and pray for him. He said 
 he could not go out of the room till forgiveness had been 
 spoken and peace had come. A half dozen of us remain- 
 ed and prayed that mercy might be extended and his 
 burden lifted off. Then he broke out into petitions for 
 himself, and such begging for salvation I never heard 
 from the lips of any other penitent. Dr. Babcock stopped 
 with us and tried to point out Christ. He was more calm 
 before we separated, but not by any means at rest. The 
 next night, however, he was rejoicing in a Saviour's par- 
 doning love. There was rapture on his face, there was 
 glory in his soul. There was glory in that old prayer- 
 
32 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 room, too, as he told us that evening of God's own peace 
 and the preciousness of Jesus. 
 
 "After this a number of us were returning from a 
 neighborhood meeting one night where the interest had 
 been very deep, and we were all so full of joy that some 
 began to sing along the street as we went toward home. 
 This rather unusual manifestation of enthusiasm called 
 out the remark that people would think us crazy if we did 
 not keep more still ; whereupon Brother Vassar — the 
 child in grace father of the man — at once replied, ' Let 
 them think so ; they said the blessed Jesus had a devil.' " 
 
 So we behold Uncle John enlisted for the good fight 
 of faith. How splendidly he fought it we shall see fur- 
 ther along. How to fight it he is now to learn. Years 
 are to be spent in the drill-room now. 
 
 But he has been mustered in. 
 
THE DRILL. 33 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE DRILL. 
 
 " Each of God's soldiers bears 
 A sword divine ; 
 Stretch out thy trembling hands 
 To-day for thine." 
 
 Arms and armor are all-important in secular and sa- 
 cred warfare, but how to wield the one and wear the other 
 must be learned. The God of battles seldom makes a 
 raw soldier into a great leader all at once. Moses tarries 
 in Horeb, and Elijah in the desert, and Paul in Arabia, 
 to get a preparation for their work ; and with forty days 
 in the wilderness even our Lord's ministry begins. The 
 man we are following here was girded and disciplined in 
 various ways. For these experiences eight years will be 
 none too long. 
 
 Naturally enough his voice was quickly heard in the 
 social meetings of the church. But he was a novice in 
 religious things, and needed instruction especially in the 
 word of God. Probably he was more ignorant of even 
 the letter of Scripture than many a half-grown boy to-day. 
 He had not been a member of the Sunday-school, nor a 
 regular church attendant by any means, and little of Bible 
 truth lay in his mind excepting such scraps and fragments 
 as home-training might have fastened there. This defi- 
 ciency he sought, far and fast as possible, to supply. In 
 
34 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 the brewery where he was employed, he would write down 
 on the walls in the morning two or three short texts to 
 be committed and thought over while at his tasks. On 
 a shelf near by, or else in his pocket, was kept a small 
 Bible, and when there was an unoccupied moment that 
 would be in his hands. Evenings, when no religious ser- 
 vice claimed his time, over that same book he would bend 
 for hours, sometimes on his knees. Thus little by little 
 he acquired that familiarity with the written word which 
 he afterward displayed. Many a reader of this page will 
 recall instances where he foiled opposers and silenced 
 cavillers, as his Master did the tempter on the mountain, 
 by quotations apt and irresistible. 
 
 No talent lent him was allowed to rust from disuse. 
 Fast as he got he gave. He believed it as wrong to hoard 
 grace as gold. Communion with Christ was only a holy 
 portal through which to pass to the help of man. He 
 began to talk with individuals about their hope ; not so 
 pointedly or skilfully as in later years, for tact and fidelity 
 such as characterized him must partly be acquired. But 
 from the start no one spent half an hour in his presence 
 without being made to feel that with John Vassar reli- 
 gion was a real thing. In the prayer circle and in revi- 
 val services he became a power. In the schoolhouses 
 out of town,, where meetings were often held, his help 
 was sought. One such visit of his comes up as we write. 
 It probably occurred a year or two after his conversion. 
 It was a cold winter night, and the little old schoolhouse 
 on the hill was packed. . The Spirit of God was working 
 in the district, and many were inquiring or rejoicing in a 
 
THE DRILL. 35 
 
 good hope. Others were ill at ease. Uncle John was at 
 home in such a place ; especially at home on that partic- 
 ular spot and amid the group gathered there. On these 
 very benches he sat in boyhood, and some of these fathers 
 and mothers were then by his side. The exercises of the 
 hour have faded from our mind, but one association of the 
 night remains. When the people had started homeward 
 along the roads or across the fields, out came ringing one 
 of the melodies of those days. Uncle John was leading 
 in the hymn, and half a dozen others were joining in, 
 and though they were probably half a mile away, every 
 word reported itself on the keen frosty air. Some who 
 stopped to listen thought the strains almost sweet enough 
 to be the echoes of celestial songs. Let the worldling 
 sneer or the skeptic smile at the mention of such scenes 
 and seasons, but we will remember the years of the right 
 hand of the Most High. 
 
 But there were to enter into the drill of the soldier 
 experiences of a sterner kind. If there is a land of Beu- 
 lah for the Christian to pass through, there is a valley of 
 Baca too. Uncle John is to see a happy home break up, 
 its lights one by one go out, its members pass away, till 
 he is left utterly alone. He is to say like many anothen 
 
 " And lonely rooms and suffering beds, 
 These for my training-place were given." 
 
 . Two boys, with the wife, made up his household. The 
 younger sickened first. He died in September, 1847. 
 The elder, a lad of nine years, an Uncommonly bright and 
 interesting child, was taken the following autumn, after 
 an illness of but a few hours. He breathed his last in 
 
36 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 parental arms, whispering the dear Lord's words, " Suf- 
 fer the little children to come unto me." 
 
 Under these repeated strokes the wife and mother, 
 never strong, gave way. A year of weary wasting and 
 patient suffering followed, and then, in November of 1849, 
 she found the rest remaining to the people of God. That 
 cheerless autumn night was the only time when we ever 
 saw Uncle John even momentarily cast down. Then for 
 half an hour he did lie down and weep like a heart-broken 
 child. Nor was it strange. Long watching had nearly 
 worn him out. Only four weeks previously he had closed 
 his venerable father's eyes for the last long sleep. The 
 loves of earth had been breaking fast. But faith quickly 
 rose again and rejoiced in God. The eagle flies highest 
 not in serene but stormy skies, and the believer beats 
 heavenward when the hours are dark and the tempest 
 wild. The heart of the lonely man recovered soon the 
 old peace and trust, and exulted in the Rock of his salva- 
 tion. Like the needle of the mariner, deflected for an 
 instant when a storm first strikes the ship, but swinging, 
 right and holding steady soon, the smitten soul turned to 
 its Stay and Rest. For those who had gone it was wor- 
 ship. For the one left it was work yet for a little while. 
 With soul new-braced let him go to it — new-braced by 
 sorrow as well as joy ; disciplined by loss no less than 
 gain. He was to be a son of consolation to many a 
 mourner in coming days. He was to minister to smitten 
 spirits with a woman's tenderness. He was to look into 
 eyes dim with tears, and say, " I have been in this very 
 pass, and know its bitterness and blessedness." 
 
THE DRILL. 37 
 
 It is of these days that his then pastor and lifelong 
 friend, Rev. J. Hyatt Smith, writes : " Brother Vassar 
 was a member of my first charge, and for many Sabbaths 
 at the commencement of my ministry used to help me 
 greatly by looking me right in the eye. One day, as 
 soon as I began my sermon, he put his head down, nor 
 did he raise it till the sermon was finished. What it 
 meant I could not fell. This was repeated the next Sab- 
 bath, and the next. I asked then an explanation. He. 
 replied, ' Beloved, I have a better plan than looking you 
 in the eye. I start even with you, praying while you 
 preach ; and to every appealing truth I say, " Lord, send 
 that home. Lord, send that home." ' He is the only 
 man who ever helped me by putting down his head while 
 I preached. I drove the nail with the gospel hammer, 
 and he clinched it with believing prayer. 
 
 " I shall ever remember how gently he would criticise 
 my sermons, and even his rebukes were so pregnant with 
 the love of Jesus that I was instructed and improved 
 without a hurt. 
 
 " In going out on my first round of parish calls, I was 
 told that I would find Brother Vassar at the brewery. I 
 entered the building, and approaching him unobserved, 
 saw a man standing near a great caldron of boiling hops 
 with a book in his hand. Looking over his shoulder, I 
 noticed that it was 'Fox's Book of Martyrs' that was 
 being read. 
 
 " In going out of the place one of the workmen asked, 
 'Did you find him?' I said, 'Yes.' 'Well,' said he, 
 ' there is one spot in this brewery that is better than any 
 
 John E. Vassar, 4 
 
38 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 church in Poughkeepsie, and that is where that man 
 prays.' 
 
 " Mrs. Vassar was at the point of death. Her disease 
 was consumption, and she feared strangulation. She 
 therefore asked me one day to pray that she might die 
 easily. In the sympathy of the moment I promised, but on 
 meeting Brother Vassar in the next room, I said to him 
 that I had made a hard promise. 'Why ?' was his reply. 
 ' Because I have no faith,' was my answer; 'and I have 
 no faith simply because there is no promise.' 'Why,' 
 said he, speaking as a man to a child (and I was only a 
 child in experience), ' if you were the son of a wealthy 
 father who loved you, and would never deny you any- 
 thing that was for your real good, and you needed a hun- 
 dred dollars, would n't you say, I shall have a hundred 
 dollars, your faith springing from your father's wealth 
 and your father's love ?' God's promise was deduced 
 from the knowledge of God's relation to the saint. In 
 that day such a statement was a revelation to me. We 
 went to prayer. Our prayer was answered. Mrs. Vassar 
 
 died 
 
 " ' As dies a wave along the shore.' " 
 
 Of this same period Mrs. R. A. Thurston, of Pough- 
 keepsie, says : 
 
 " My acquaintance with John E. Vassar began in the 
 spring of 1849. The first thing about the man that sur- 
 prised me was, that, with his daily work and the severe . 
 sickness then existing in his home, he was able to do so 
 much for Christ and for his fellow-men. He was a peace- 
 maker, a comforter, a helper wherever there was need. 
 
THE DRILL. 39 
 
 Were any cast down ? he came with words of hope. 
 Were any indifferent ? so earnest and loving and arous- 
 ing were his words, that the slumbering started into 
 new life. Were any sick, or anxious about salvation ? 
 he quickly found it out, and was at their sides. In the 
 social meetings, hewas wonderful. In remark or prayer, 
 his face seemed to glow as if heaven had come down, his 
 soul and ours to greet. When we heard his clear voice 
 leading in some sweet song of Zion, we thought that 
 never before were so many rich gifts and graces bestow- 
 ed on a single man. 
 
 " I was in the habit of frequently visiting his sick wife, 
 and often carried some little delicacy along. The 
 morning following her death, unaware that the end had 
 come, I went down to the house with a pitcher contain- 
 ing something for her in my hand. At the door I met 
 Brother Vassar, and asked him to take in what I had 
 brought, that I might hasten back. Clasping his hands 
 together, he said, ' Bless the Lord ! my wife is in heaven. 
 She needs nothing more.' I could not understand then 
 how he 'could rejoice while his dead companion lay in 
 the still and darkened house, but I understand it now. 
 He would not be so selfish as to let his loss outweigh 
 her gain. He would rather rejoice and give God thanks 
 that for her sorrow and suffering were over, and the 
 eternal glory reached." 
 
 S. M. Shaw, Esq., editor of the " Freeman's Journal," 
 Cooperstown, N. Y., speaking of this period in Uncle 
 John's life, says : 
 
 " I knew the late beloved John E. Vassar for several 
 
40 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 years previous to January i, 1849. *i e was a teacher in 
 the Sabbath-school which I then superintended, and one 
 of the most prompt, faithful, and successful. 
 
 " If there was a truly ' holy' man in that school or 
 church, he was the one entitled to the appellation. He 
 showed his love to God, not alone by a consistent walk, 
 but by his true-hearted and unselfish love and service of 
 his fellow-men. He was a cheerful, happy Christian, 
 whose ever-welcome presence was sunshine. A cloud 
 was never seen upon his face except when considering 
 another's trials or sufferings, and then he was ever ready 
 with a word of comfort and cheer. In this world's 
 goods he was poor, but his heart was rich in love and 
 tenderness. Of his means he was a cheerful giver. To 
 his pastor he was a devoted friend, and he was as modest 
 and unassuming as he was good." 
 
 Thus, by fidelity in little things, he qualified himself 
 for larger trusts. He did not belong to that clique of 
 religious perambulators who are more useful anywhere 
 else than in their own homes. He took hold with his 
 brethren of the nearest work he found to do, and so fit- 
 ted himself for and grew into bigger tasks and broader 
 spheres. 
 
 Eight or nine years so spent are sufficient, and he 
 goes out now to extensive and efficient service. He has 
 become used to the uniform, and he likes it well. He 
 has learned how to handle the sword of the Spirit, and _ 
 ward off the assaults of Satan on his shield of faith. 
 He has skirmished with the foe, and found out his 
 strength. His armor has been burnished by affliction 
 
THE DRILL. 41 
 
 till it shines. Above all, loyalty to his Captain has be- 
 come the passion of his soul. Now he is looking for a 
 place somewhere in the lines. All he asks is a private's 
 position, and less than a private's pay. He will not be 
 kept looking long. 
 
43 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ASSIGNED TO SERVICE: 
 
 " Prepared the trumpet's call to greet, 
 Soldier of Jesus, stand ; 
 Pilgrim of Christ, with ready feet 
 Await thy Lord's command." 
 
 Home relationships and responsibilities are some- 
 times influential in keeping men in places and at occu- 
 pations for which they feel a growing disrelish or dis- 
 like. It was so with Uncle John. He had been for 
 many years employed in the malthouse and brewery 
 of " M. Vassar and Company," when the light of God 
 dawned on his soul. Soon afterward he began to feel 
 uncomfortable about his position — began to question 
 whether the work he was doing was consistent with the 
 hope he cherished, and the profession he had made. 
 The Washingtonian Reformation, which a little later 
 swept over many portions of our land, deepened the im- 
 pression that as a child of God he ought to be other- 
 wise engaged. Duty, however, did not at once grow 
 clear. With the members of the firm, who were his 
 cousins, his relations had been intimate and kind. 
 The temperance sentiment, though it was growing 
 rapidly, was not then as high, either in the church or 
 out, as it is to-day. Then while the subject was be- 
 ing pondered, the repeated household afflictions 
 
ASSIGNED TO SERVICE. 43 
 
 already noted fell, and they diverted attention from 
 this subject for a time. Soon as he found himself 
 alone in the world, however, the old queries returned. 
 What had been only impressions heretofore deepened 
 into convictions soon, and conviction made obligation 
 plain. He left the place he so long had filled, whose 
 emoluments, present and prospective, were far greater 
 than he could hope elsewhere to gain, and in the spring 
 of 1850 found himself, for the first time in more than a 
 dozen years, unemployed. 
 
 How God could be glorified and his generation 
 served was now the question of the hour. The answer 
 quickly came. The American Tract Society of New 
 York was pushing vigorously the system of colportage 
 in the West. The labors of plain, humble, but godly 
 and earnest men, several hundred of whom were on 
 the field, were being greatly blest — how greatly the 
 revealings of the eternal day alone will tell. 
 
 The committee of the Society recognized in Uncle 
 John one suited to their kind of work. They com- 
 missioned him on the 15th day of May, 1850. He 
 was not promised anything like ease. " Roughing it" 
 was the order of that day, and the demand. He was 
 not promised very heavy pay in the currency of earth 
 — a hundred and sixty dollars a year and travelling 
 expenses ; but he went joyfully to a work that to the 
 last was his delight. For if ever mortal truthfully 
 could say what Christ did, " My meat is to do the will 
 of Him that sent me," he was that man. 
 
 Up to this date we have' had little but scattered 
 
44 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 recollections to put together. Henceforth we have 
 items in his own letters and reports on which to draw, 
 and so can let the laborer himself tell something about 
 his toil. 
 
 His field of operations for a year or more was the 
 northern, or north-eastern, portions of Illinois ; more 
 particularly the counties of Kane, Kendall, De Kalb, 
 and Boone. Stopping in Chicago long enough to meet 
 some old friends, and get a supply of the Society's 
 publications for distribution, he struck out for the new 
 settlements a hundred miles beyond. He was now 
 thirty seven years old, had an almost iron constitution, 
 spirits buoyant as a child's, an all -conquering faith, 
 and a large amount of good sturdy common sense. 
 Add to all this a zeal that never flagged, and it will be 
 seen that he went forth well equipped. 
 
 The summer was one of burning drought. The 
 prairies, which on his arrival looked so fresh and 
 green, by July lay scorched and blasted, and men's 
 hearts were failing them for fear. As a consequence, 
 the books he carried sold slowly, and the sultry days 
 and short nights of harvest-time were not favorable for 
 getting hold of the people, either in their homes or 
 through such evening meetings as were tried. He 
 says; however: "I expected difficulties, and am not 
 disappointed in the least. The Lord is a present help. 
 I pass along the highways contented with any fare, and 
 stop where the night overtakes me, witnessing all the 
 time to small and great that Christ has power to 
 save. ' ' 
 
ASSIGNED TO SEE VICE. 45 
 
 With the autumn and early winter tokens of good 
 appear. The more driving labor of the farm is done, 
 and in spite of frets and fears crops are fair. He 
 writes, " I had a most precious season yesterday. I 
 find the people prepared by God to hear even me, and 
 have been astonished to witness the effect produced by 
 a mere exhortation. Truly our Lord does work by 
 simple means." Before spring has come, the snow- 
 covered prairies that he is tramping over glow re- 
 ligiously, as they do literally, with returning summer. 
 Nor is it the country neighborhoods alone that feel the 
 tinglings of a new spiritual life. Belvidere, St. 
 Charles, Elgin, and other towns in his district feel the 
 kindlings of a sacred fire. Along the Wisconsin bor- 
 der are extensive ingatherings of souls. " I have no 
 rest," says the toiler, " night nor day." 
 
 And yet he does not forget home and friends amid 
 these joys and cares, for in the letter quoted from 
 above he says : " Oh, Sister H., I never felt so much 
 for our own church before. Do all you can to stir up 
 the brethren. Warn them not to sleep while the world 
 is going so swift to ruin. Do all you can for our dear 
 W. and H. We shall meet them in eternity so soon." 
 
 While on this field he makes a brief visit to a fam- 
 ily previously known in the Eastern States. The 
 home was a Christian one, and the first evening passed 
 rapidly and pleasantly in calling up old times and 
 places. The host spoke hopefully of his prospects and 
 talked over his plans, but made little reference to 
 the subject uppermost in the mind of Uncle John. 
 
46 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 Presently a good opportunity was given to introduce 
 the matter, and he turned to it by asking these old ac- 
 quaintance what kind of neighbors they had found. 
 " Really," said the lady, " I scarcely know. I am 
 intimate with almost none of them ; and if the truth 
 must be told, I have not sought to be." 
 
 ' ' How long did you say you had been living here ?' ' 
 
 ' ' Five years next spring, ' ' was the reply. 
 
 " Five years next spring ! Oh, my dear brother 
 and sister, both of you professors of religion and yet 
 living here so long without even informing yourselves 
 about the condition of those nearest to your doors ! 
 What a pity ! what a pity ! What will the Lord say 
 to you ?" 
 
 The man and his wife looked at him, looked at one 
 another, and then looked down. Then as he went on 
 to speak of Christian obligation both asked, " What 
 ought we to have done ? What could we have done ?" 
 As past opportunities were clearly pointed out, the 
 more pertinent query came to their lips, " Well, how 
 can we best take up our neglected duties now?" 
 Definitely he mapped out a plan of labor, and before 
 leaving besought them to put it in operation without 
 delay. 
 
 Weeks afterward he was at their door again. Be- 
 fore he got inside, the woman of the house greeted 
 him with the exclamation, "I am so glad you have 
 come ! You are just in the right time." 
 
 He entered and found several of the neighbors who 
 had come together to talk over measures eyeing the re- 
 
ASSIGNED TO SERVICE. 47 
 
 ligious welfare of the community. These old friends 
 of his had not been so plainly and lovingly dealt with 
 in vain. They had shown how sincerely they deplored 
 past unfaithfulness by vigorously taking hold of re- 
 sponsibilities which selfishly or indolently had been 
 shirked. They had scoured the region round about. 
 They had ascertained by going from house to house 
 how many had once name the named of Christ. These 
 had been got together. Mutual confessions had been 
 made. Old covenants had been renewed. Regular 
 meetings during the week had been established. Oc- 
 casional preaching for the Sabbath had been secured. 
 A Sunday-school had been organized, and it was but a 
 little time before the habits of the neighborhood were 
 revolutionized. 
 
 How many times he set such a train of influences 
 working only God knows. This incident had alto- 
 gether dropped from his mind till some unknown 
 friend put it into a tract for circulation and accident- 
 ally the tract fell under his eye only three or four years 
 before he died. 
 
 In the summer of 185 1 he comes East again, to visit 
 his aged mother, and in the autumn he is sent to Cleve- 
 land, Ohio, a city in which some of his most effective 
 work was done. This arrangement was effected 
 through his old pastor, Rev. J. Hyatt Smith, at this 
 date prosecuting a most successful ministry in Cleve- 
 land. Inclined always to self-depreciation, Uncle 
 John seems apprehensive that his style of labor will 
 not be liked among city circles and cultivated folks. 
 
48 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 He imagines the backwoods his sphere. He regrets 
 that he was not left there, and makes the new depart- 
 ure with earnest prayers for help. Soon, however, his 
 letters undergo a change. They take on a more cheer- 
 ful tone. He finds that human nature is much the 
 same, whether in a log-cabin of one room or a brown- 
 stone front on the avenue. Everywhere he is given 
 the most cordial welcome. His books sell as he had 
 never seen them sell before. The churches make most 
 generous collections for the Society, the Rev. Mr. 
 Smith's contributing six hundred dollars in two days. 
 Nor do they in giving to the service overlook the ser- 
 vant's wants. Thus modestly he mentions a timely gift : 
 " While writing the other evening a gentleman called 
 with a bundle, containing a note from some unknown 
 friend, a very handsome overcoat, and a pair of 
 gloves. The coat is much too fine and fashionable for 
 me, but the note says that I must wear it, so what else 
 can I do?" We shall not misjudge the good man if 
 we suppose that in the new garment he felt more com- 
 fortable in going from house to house than in the old 
 one, which had done prairie service. While his tastes 
 were plain, and fashions of little consequence, he liked 
 to be respectably attired, especially where a rusty 
 garb might excite prejudice and impair his usefulness. 
 More gratifying to him, however, than personal at- 
 tentions and generous collections, or large sales, was 
 the spiritual quickening which was enjoyed. The de- 
 tails are but meagrely given, the most that he records 
 being in these lines : "I visit frequently forty families 
 
ASSIGNED TO SERVICE. 49 
 
 a day, have a meeting somewhere every night, and 
 speak to three Sunday-schools where practicable every 
 Lord's day. I have conversed with over three thou- 
 sand people during the last three months on the sub- 
 ject of personal religion, and feel that for this city a 
 wonderful blessing is in store. ' ' 
 
 Happily the facts and incidents of that memorable 
 winter can, in part at least, be furnished by those who 
 moved amid them, some of whom during it felt the 
 Spirit's touch unto eternal life. What one man did — 
 rather what God through him did — let these in their 
 own way tell. 
 
 Rev. George M. Stone, D.D., of Tarrytown, N.Y., 
 thus writes : " My first acquaintance with Uncle John 
 was in Cleveland, Ohio, in the year 1852. He was 
 visiting from house to house, and in that portion of 
 the city a remarkable religious interest was soon mani- 
 fest. I was then an unconverted young man about 
 eighteen years of age, and engaged in a printing office. 
 A companion in the office, who had heard of the elo- 
 quence of Rev. J. Hyatt Smith, invited me to accom- 
 pany him one evening to the lecture-room of his church, 
 where meetings were being held. I went, and was in- 
 terested in the preaching. As .1 arose to pass out, 
 after the service, I was approached by a person, then 
 a stranger, who asked with mingled earnestness and 
 kindness if I loved the Lord Jesus Christ. He took 
 my hand at the same time, and held it firmly. I can 
 never forget the intense sincerity of that first inter- 
 view. I felt in a moment that I had never before met 
 
 John E.'Vassar. J 
 
SO UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 a man who possessed such a transcendent conscious- 
 ness of divine things. That stranger was John E. 
 Vassar, and from that hour convictions began to stir 
 my heart which in time the Holy Spirit used to lead 
 me to Christ. 
 
 " He assisted me in religious meetings subsequently 
 at Danbury, Conn., and in visitations in Milwaukee, 
 Wisconsin. In this association with him his experience 
 seemed to be a perpetual summer of Christian love." 
 
 Hear again his friend Rev. J. Hyatt Smith : " On 
 his way to Illinois as a colporteur of the American 
 Tract Society, he surprised me by calling at my house 
 one day. I urged him to remain awhile. He refused, 
 and left that same night on a steamer for Detroit. 
 The boat was so crowded that I was afraid to have him 
 go on board. I remember his look as he replied, ' I 
 rejoice that so many are going. I shall have a blessed 
 time working for souls.' Away he went ort an over- 
 loaded steamer in a stormy night, and I went to my 
 home praying for him. 
 
 Through my letters to the Society he was after- 
 ward transferred to Cleveland, and remained there six 
 months. The work that he wrought for the Master in 
 my church, to say nothing of the abundant and effec- 
 tive labors outside of my parish, God alone may esti- 
 mate. I could fill pages with incidents, if the limits 
 of this volume would permit. 
 
 " One day Brother Vassar came to me and said, 
 ' To-morrow I am going through Dives Street (Euclid 
 Street), and I want you to pray for me. ' I promised 
 
ASSIGNED TO SERVICE. 51 
 
 him I would, and requested him to report to me the 
 results of his first day's visit to the houses of wealth 
 on that beautiful avenue. I give a report of his visit 
 to the first house on his journey. At the door of the 
 stately dwelling he met the lady of the house. ' What 
 do you want, sir ?' she asked, as he approached her. 
 He replied, ' I am a colporteur for the Tract Society, 
 and ' — pointing to his basket of books — ' I am selling 
 these.' ' We have a library,' washer reply. ' I don't 
 doubt it,' said Brother Vassar, glancing at the build- 
 ing ; 'but,' he continued, nothing daunted by the 
 rather sharp response of the lady, ' the truth is I am 
 legs for Bunyan, Baxter, Flavel, and others. They are 
 all in the basket there.' The lady, evidently struck 
 with the appearance of the man and the quaintness of 
 his address, asked him into the parlor. Having 
 stormed and carried the house, he began an assault 
 upon the castle of the heart. ' I am not only a seller 
 of books, but I am anxious to know if you love Jesus,' 
 said John. 'I am a member of the church,' the 
 woman replied. ' So am I, ' said Brother Vassar, ' but 
 I fear that God will not take our church records. He 
 counts the names recorded in the Lamb's Book of 
 Life.' The attack was fairly commenced, and the 
 arrows of love flew thick and fast. Heart Castle sur- 
 rendered ; the lady with tears exclaimed, ' I know it is 
 not enough to belong to a church. You talk like my 
 dear mother. Yes, I trust I do love Jesus.' 'Bless 
 the Lord,' said John, ' that makes us brother and sis- 
 ter, If you love the Saviour, and I see you do, would 
 
52 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 you not like a season of prayer ? ' She replied, ' I 
 would be glad to have you pray.' They knelt side 
 by side, and John poured out his soul in supplication. 
 At the close of the prayer the lady asked, ' What is the 
 price of your books ?' ' Which one ?' said Brother 
 Vassar. ' All of them,' was her answer. The calcula- 
 tion was made ; then calling a servant she bade him 
 carry them to the library, paid Brother Vassar for 
 them, gave him something for himself, and with tears 
 in her eyes begged him to forgive her manner at the 
 door. ' Don't mention it, my sister,' said Brother Vas- 
 sar, ' you know what our blessed Master had to- bear. ' 
 
 " His manner in the prayer-meeting, as I remember 
 it in those distant days, and that which I have seen in 
 his later life, was in my judgment much the same. I 
 do not think his character had those stages of growth 
 which mark most Christian men. In Christ Jesus he 
 seemed to have been born a man of full stature. It is 
 said of the river Jordan that, unlike most streams, it 
 does not start with small springs and receive the con- 
 tributions of rivulets by the way, so attaining fulness, 
 but bursts forth from one vast source, a river rolling 
 to the sea. 
 
 " I never met his like in all the varied labors of a 
 saint. He was a master in all the sword exercise of 
 God's Word." 
 
 With this' Cleveland campaign, service in what 
 might be called the Department of the West for a sea- 
 son ended. Years afterward he was again on some 
 of these old camp-grounds. 
 
OFF ON FURLOUGH. 53 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 OFF ON FURLOUGH. 
 
 " Rest is not quitting 
 The busy career ; 
 Rest is the fitting 
 
 Of self to its sphere." 
 
 The summer of 1852 found Uncle John again in 
 his old home. His mother had gone far beyond her 
 three score and ten years, and growing feebleness indi- 
 cated that the end was not far away. The only child 
 remaining with her was a daughter who from girlhood 
 had been frail. It became a question whether duty 
 did not require him to stay where he could smooth the 
 last few months of a parent whose devotion to her chil- 
 dren had been unsurpassed. Satisfied that maternal 
 claims were for the present paramount, he dissolved 
 his connection with the Tract Society, and waited 
 tenderly on the failing steps of the mother till Octo- 
 ber, when he laid her down in hope by the good 
 father's side. 
 
 Friends in Poughkeepsie now insisted that there 
 was work enough for him at home, and especially in 
 the temperance line. In many places the so-called 
 " Carson League" had been organized, the chief object 
 of which was to suppress the unlicensed sale of intoxi- 
 cating drink. This Society pressed him to become its 
 
 5* 
 
54 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 agent in Dutchess County, to bring to justice offenders 
 against law. It is needless to remark that this was 
 vastly less congenial employment than telling "the 
 old, old story of Jesus and his love." But the evil to 
 be fought was a crying one, and what right had any 
 child of God to decline a service simply because it was 
 disagreeable ? He would be withstanding sin and 
 Satan still. So he grappled with the whiskey power, 
 and it never found in that region a foe who dealt it 
 heavier blows, or one whom it was so difficult to scare 
 or beat. As religiously as he ever went to his closet 
 to pray he ferreted out law-breakers in saloons, and 
 groceries, and taverns, and groggeries, nor rested till a 
 number were inside of prison bars instead of liquor 
 bars, and dozens more, alarmed, gave up the illicit 
 trade. As might be expected, " certain lewd fellows 
 of the baser sort" cursed and threatened and reviled. 
 They hung him in effigy in front of the County Court 
 House with the inscription, " This is John Vassar and 
 the Maine Law." They prosecuted him in court on a 
 charge of assault and battery because one day, in an 
 earnest argument, he held a man for a moment by the 
 arm, when he was about to turn away. They followed 
 him on the streets in hooting rabbles. His life was 
 more than once in jeopardy. One of these attempts 
 to frighten, if not to injure him, let one who witnessed 
 it describe — L. T. Perkins, Esq., of Brooklyn, N. Y., 
 then a Poughkeepsie boy. 
 
 " One afternoon he came up Market Street to 
 Main, and up Main to the Gregory House, followed by 
 
OFF ON FURLOUGH. 55 
 
 some two hundred angry men, many of them carrying 
 clubs and threatening his life. He passed through the 
 hotel by a back way, and came down Mill Street to our 
 church, where the usual prayer-meeting was about to 
 begin. I shall never forget the burning enthusiasm 
 of the man as he spoke that night, or the fervor of his 
 prayer. After the meeting I wanted to go home with 
 him, being fearful that he might be harmed. I know 
 it was absurd to think that my five-foot and hundred- 
 pound body could have done much toward protecting 
 him, but I loved him, and so I wished to go along. 
 As we were coming up the basement steps, our pastor, 
 Rev. Thomas Goodwin, said, ' Here, Brother Vassar, 
 take this cane of mine ; I can get along without it, and 
 some of these men may be lurking along the streets 
 and may fall on you.' Uncle John just braced him- 
 self back, held up both hands, and said, ' Brother 
 Goodwin, the Lord has given me these hands for wea- 
 pons, and they are all I need. If my Master wants 
 John Vassar to-night, nothing can save him. If He 
 does not, "all these men combined can't hurt him." 
 
 For two years he thus pushed this work, during 
 which time he saw his steadfast friend, the late George 
 W. Sterling, sent to the State Legislature from the 
 Poughkeepsie district, on a straight-out temperance 
 ticket, and other triumphs won neither few nor small. 
 Concerning these days this is about all the record we 
 have from his own hand : "I look back with wonder 
 to see how much the Lord has brought me through. 
 Blessed be His holy name. I have visited the nineteen 
 
5 6 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 towns of the county, and some of them twice over. I 
 have walked on an average twenty miles a day, and 
 spoken publicly about every night. I believe some 
 good has been done, but I take to myself no praise. 
 I am an unprofitable servant anywhere, and far too 
 little concerned for any good cause. 
 
 Toward the close of these labors — in December, 
 1854 — he was married to Miss Harriet M. Brownson, 
 formerly of Monticello, Sullivan County, N. Y., but at 
 the date of the marriage a very active member of the 
 Poughkeepsie church. In entering into this new rela- 
 tion it was understood that the remainder of his life 
 was to be devoted to evangelistic labor, and that this 
 labor would be likely to make of him literally a pilgrim 
 and stranger, having no continuing city, no permanent 
 or settled home. Animated by much of his spirit, the 
 wife sought in nowise to hold him back, but at the 
 first, as ever afterward, consented readily to such sepa- 
 rations as long absences required, and such an increase 
 of care and duty as they might bring. Bible work, in 
 his native county, claimed his attention for six months 
 or more. The object in securing him was to effect if 
 possible an entrance into every house of the county, and 
 the putting of a copy of God's Word in every home 
 where it was not found. So thorough a canvass of 
 that field no one man has ever made. From the shan- 
 ties of the coal-burners on Fishkill Mountains, to the 
 mansions of the wealthiest in the towns he went, and in 
 almost every instance was well received. A few, irri- 
 tated by his recent temperance work, shut their doors 
 
OFF ON FURLOUGH. 57 
 
 in his face, but several such were melted when he 
 promptly knelt down upon the stoop, and tenderly 
 prayed that in turning him away they might not turn 
 away his Lord. For Romanists who would receive no 
 "other, the Douay version was carried, and so in the 
 autumn he was able to report that there were few fam- 
 ilies in all the district in which the Scriptures could 
 not be seen. 
 
 The wide acquaintance thus acquired led the Dutch- 
 ess Baptist Association to recognize in him the man 
 above all others to undertake mission work within their 
 bounds. This body embraced some twenty or more 
 churches, and amid these for seven or eight years he 
 now moved, aiding by prayer and exhortation in extra 
 meetings, and especially in visiting from house to 
 house. Here it was that he first took on himself the 
 title of " Shepherd's dog," a title which thereafter 
 clung to him, and by which he was almost as well 
 known as "Uncle John." It originated in the fact 
 that he always and everywhere refused to be considered 
 a preacher, declaring that it was his office simply to go 
 around and seek out, and bring under the minister's 
 notice, anxious and troubled souls. These years were 
 years of growth such as his own denomination had not 
 known through that region for a long while, and never 
 since has seen. The revival spirit went from church 
 to church. Drowsy Christians started up where he 
 came,, as sleeping soldiers at bugle call. Formal pro- 
 fessors thawed out into a spring-time of devotion as 
 frozen clods thaw out when April winds breathe across 
 
58 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 the fields. Hundreds bowed as penitent sinners at the 
 Saviour's feet, and rose to walk in newness of life with 
 their risen Lord. 
 
 Many who labored with him in these seasons have 
 passed on with their brother toiler, and entered into 
 rest. Others remain. Let them add their testimony 
 here. 
 
 Rev. W. O. Holman, of Bunker Hill Church, Bos- 
 ton, writes : " I was studying for the ministry in the 
 city of . New York, and was supplying the Baptist 
 church in Amenia, twenty-five miles east of Pough- 
 keepsie, a church which was at the time pastorless, 
 when our acquaintance began. A revival had broken 
 out in our meetings, and Uncle John was soon on 
 hand. One Sunday, while I was preaching, a short, 
 thick-set man, with a genial countenance, came in. 
 He took a seat near the pulpit, and putting his eyes 
 intently on me kept his lips moving, as if in assent or 
 prayer. At the close of the service he grasped my 
 hand, and was so hearty and cordial and enthusiastic 
 that I was almost repelled. He interested me never- 
 theless, and we were soon the best of friends. Blessed 
 be 'God for the hour that brought us together. I have 
 known many a good man after the flesh, but never 
 another such as he. 
 
 " Together we travelled from house to house, over 
 hill and dale, through cold and snow, rain and sun- 
 shine, seeking for sinners to lead to Christ. Never 
 shall I forget his apt, earnest, pointed appeals. The 
 fruits of that meeting were glorious. Old feuds among 
 
OFF ON FURLOUGH. 59 
 
 believers were healed, and from fifty to seventy souls 
 converted to the Lord. A year or more afterward I 
 was ordained and settled at Poughkeepsie, and so be- 
 came the pastor of Uncle John. There we worked 
 together in a most blessed season in the spring of 
 1858. On a single Sabbath I was privileged to give 
 the hand of fellowship to sixty-three new believers, 
 many of whom still survive, and some of whom were 
 permitted to drop the tear of affection over one who 
 helped guide their returning feet to the Shepherd and 
 Bishop of souls. 
 
 " The next August we went to Beekman, where 
 there was a little feeble church, for a four days' meet- 
 ing. It was right in harvest-time, but the people 
 flocked together, and the literal harvest was nothing 
 alongside the harvest of souls which there was gathered' 
 in. The four days' service ran into four weeks, and 
 it really seemed as if Uncle John's heart and head 
 were in heaven, while his feet yet trod the earth. 
 That community will tell of his toils and travels, during 
 those weeks, forever. 
 
 " Thence we went to Fishkill Plains and Shenan- 
 doah, and oh ! the sweet wonders of redeeming grace 
 that were displayed. Uncle John seemed divinely 
 anointed. If ever soul revelled in the love of Christ, he 
 did. He testified to every one who would listen by 
 day, and then far into the night he would wrestle for 
 anxious souls. Winter after winter in Poughkeepsie, 
 during my five years' pastorate, he would come home 
 long enough to labor for a while. God uniformly gave 
 
60 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 His blessing, and the precious revivals of those early 
 years are hallowed in my heart forever. Oh for one 
 more hour with the dear old man, one more prayer 
 together, one more exhortation, one Scripture expo- 
 sition such as he used to give ; but alas ! we shall see his 
 face and hear his voice no more." 
 
 Rev. J. Donnelly, of Ionia, Michigan, says : " In 
 August of 1858 Uncle John came out to Beekman, 
 where I, then a student at Hamilton, was supplying the 
 church. I shall never forget the day he came to my 
 study. I was busy writing out a sermon for Sunday, 
 and was about half done, when a rap at my door 
 brought him in. Greetings were soon exchanged, a 
 season of prayer followed, and in thirty minutes from 
 the time he entered we were out calling and at mis- 
 sionary work. I did not see how I could go, at first, 
 and leave my sermon half done. But I went. That 
 sermon was never finished. Before Sunday came, aye, 
 before the first night, there were anxious souls inquir- 
 ing after Christ, and my subject had to be changed. 
 Over forty-five persons, as the result of the work thus 
 begun, were added to the church, and of the human 
 agencies employed Uncle John must be accounted first. 
 For what I then and there learned, for the breaking-in 
 I got in the matter of dealing with souls, I have 
 thanked John Vassar since a thousand times. During 
 this revival I was much with him, and can testify that 
 the last thing before his eyes closed was prayer, and 
 the first when his eyes opened. After an experience of 
 twenty years I am free to say that I never knew a man 
 
OFF ON FURLOUGH. 61 
 
 who prayed so much, and I never knew a man who 
 lived so constantly in the sunshine of a Saviour's pres- 
 ence and love. If ever a man lived Christ, it was John 
 E. Vassar." 
 
 Of these same meetings Rev. J. L. Benedict, of 
 White Plains, N. Y., a college classmate of Mr. Don- 
 nelly, gives this account : ' ' On entering the village of 
 Beekman on a visit to my friend, who was supplying 
 the little church there, I did not know just where to 
 find him ; so, accosting a man who was nearing me and 
 walking very fast, I inquired. The stranger thus ad- 
 dressed pointed out the place, and in the next breath 
 said, ' ' Are you a Christian, my young friend ?' ' I 
 answered that I hoped I was. A few more words 
 passed, and then he went on, remarking that he was 
 ' in a hurry to look up some sheep. ' After greeting my 
 fellow-student, and being introduced to the family in 
 which he made his home, I remarked that I had just 
 met a crazy man up the road in search of some sheep. 
 The whole group laughed outright, and my friend said, 
 ' Why, that was John Vassar, our county missionary ; 
 and the sheep that he is in search of are the Lord's.' 
 A few days afterward Uncle John wished me to ac- 
 company him to the old Fishkill church, a few miles 
 below, where the venerable Elder Robinson had 
 preached for many years. This aged minister was not 
 friendly to protracted meetings, yet he and his church 
 had confidence in Uncle John, and readily consented 
 to open their house of worship for a week. The very 
 first evening five young men rose for prayer, and within 
 
 John E. Vihii. " 
 
62 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 a month between thirty and forty made a public pro- 
 fession of their faith. One day I accompanied Uncle 
 John in his visits, and we called at the house of Mr. 
 S., where there were several young people, uncon- 
 verted then. On our approach they ran into another 
 room to get out of the way. He saw the movement, 
 and went straight in where they were. Then, with 
 all the tender sympathy of his great heart, he entreated 
 them to yield to Christ, and falling on his knees 
 pleaded for them separately name by name. Before 
 we left the house they were in tears, and were praying 
 for themselves. They all became living witnesses for 
 Christ. During the course of the day we stopped un- 
 der the shade of a large oak to rest, and while stopping 
 there I took occasion to ask him if he always thus fol- 
 lowed up those who sought to avoid him. He replied 
 that he did not, that ordinarily it might irritate them, 
 but that in cases where he believed the Spirit of God 
 was working, and especially in revival seasons, he 
 would so hunt them up. 
 
 ' ' To make more clear his meaning he told me of 
 an instance which occurred not long before, but 
 charged me never to repeat it publicly, lest it should 
 excite a laugh and divert attention from more serious 
 concerns. Somewhere in. a meeting he had met a 
 young man troubled evidently about his salvation, and 
 apparently more than half persuaded to settle the con- 
 flict by out-and-out committal of himself to the Lord. 
 One day Uncle John felt the impression very strong 
 that he ought to go and see this wavering soul. It was 
 
OFF ON FURLOUGH. 63 
 
 nearly noon, and the men on the farm were coming in 
 from the field. All got around the table for dinner 
 save the one that it was desired to reach. The father 
 said that the son would probably be in presently, but 
 he did not come. Uncle John feared that he was keep- 
 ing out of the way purposely, and determined to go 
 out and look him up. Through all the out-buildings 
 he searched and called, but without success, and was 
 about to give up the quest when he chanced to spy the 
 door of a corn-crib open, and entering it, in a large 
 hogshead he found the young man concealed. Climb- 
 ing right over into it by the trembling, confounded, 
 humiliated sinner's side, he began to talk' and pray, 
 and there the penitent settled the question to be for- 
 ever the Lord's. Afterward he confessed to Uncle 
 John that when he saw him hunting around he took a 
 sort of malicious satisfaction in thinking he had evaded 
 him. The devil was making his last effort to retain in 
 his clutch a troubled soul. But when discovery came, 
 then over the fugitive crept such a sense of shame, and 
 meanness, and foolishness, and wickedness, as made 
 him loathe himself, and prepared him to fall as a weak 
 and guilty thing into the Saviour's arms.. Very dis- 
 tinctly Uncle John affirmed that it would not answer 
 to so treat every case, and very solemnly he adjured 
 me as a young preacher never to tell anything in 
 preaching that would make men see me when they 
 ought to see Christ, or think of my adroitness or 
 shrewdness when they ought to be thinking of His 
 love and grace. Then, having thus counselled me, he 
 
64 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 bowed under that grand old oak and wrestled for a 
 blessing as once in the past Jacob did. 
 
 " More than twenty years have passed since I spent 
 those three happy weeks with John E. Vassar, but I 
 learned more practical theology, more about the work- 
 ing of God's Spirit on the hearts of men, more about 
 the way to deal with the impenitent or awakened, than 
 in any like period of all my life. Indeed, the keynote 
 to my life-work in the ministry I got then and there, 
 and his name has been in sacred remembrance from 
 that time to this." 
 
 An aged woman, Mrs. A. B. Minor, of New Haven 
 County, Conn., contributes these items, bringing out 
 several characteristics of the man. 
 
 ' ' One winter, when Mr. Vassar was assisting his 
 nephew, then pastor at Armenia, N. Y., he came over 
 to Sharon, Conn., not more than half a dozen miles 
 away, where was then my home. For my unconverted 
 son, about twenty years of age, he at once became in- 
 terested, facing him with this question soon as they 
 met, 'Tell me, G., do you love the Lord Jesus?' 
 From that interview my child dated his hope. He has 
 been for eleven years now in the heavenly home, and I 
 think with what joy he must have given welcome to 
 the man who did so much to guide him there. 
 
 ' ' There was another man in the neighborhood far 
 from righteousness. Mr. Vassar went over to his 
 house, and taking up a little child belonging there he 
 said, ' I love these little ones, and want their parents 
 to bring them up for God. ' The stout-hearted father 
 
OFF ON FURLOUGH. 65 
 
 melted right down, and soon in our meetings his voice 
 was leading us in prayer. 
 
 Another aged man, very moral and upright, but 
 long oppressed with the fear that he had been given 
 over by God, was, under Mr. Vassar's labors, led out 
 into the light, and brought where he could praise and 
 pray. So God blessed his efforts, and when I think 
 of those days in '58 and '59, and '60, and how the 
 dear young people, as well as those older, were drawn 
 toward him, and not only toward him, but to that 
 Saviour whom he served, I bless God for ever having 
 known him, and for the sweet remembrances that 
 come rising up." 
 
 Rev. G. F. Hendrickson, of Fairview, N. J., sends 
 these recollections : "A week after accepting the 
 pastoral care of the South Dover Church, in the 
 spring of 1857, Uncle John as county missionary came 
 upon that field. At once our meetings began to fill 
 up, for he would pass no one without inviting him to 
 the house of God. Many who rarely if ever attended 
 church were through his efforts brought there, and a 
 dozen or fifteen found Christ, some of whom are with 
 him on the other side of time and death to-day. Dur- 
 ing these labors Uncle John was taken very ill ; and it 
 fell to my lot to nurse and wait upon him ; and never 
 did I see such faith and trust. Again and again he 
 would say to us when recovery seemed improbable, ' I 
 shall not die, but live to declare God's salvation.' 
 Often that sick-room was like the gate of heaven. 
 
 ' ' Two years later he again aided me in what was 
 6* 
 
66 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 the most powerful revival that church has ever known. 
 Among ministers and members of our churches all 
 through that region his memory will long abide a pre- 
 cious and sacred trust." 
 
 Mrs. A. E. Beckwith, of Stissing, N. Y., gives 
 these recollections and impressions of the period lying 
 between 1854 and 1862 : " It was a great pleasure to 
 see Uncle John come into our home, for he always 
 brought so much of heaven along. The all-absorbing 
 passion of his soul was love to God and the perishing 
 around him. In the winter of 1857-58 he began vis- 
 iting in our neighborhood, and evening meetings at the 
 school-house were begun. So intense was the interest 
 developed that the services had to be removed to the 
 church. The whole town of Stanford was aroused, 
 and nearly two hundred are believed to have turned to 
 God. Later, while Dr. Holman served as pastor, and 
 especially in i860 or 1861, a powerful religious awak- 
 ening followed his visits and the preaching of the 
 Word. He would take different localities day after 
 day, appointing in each a meeting for the afternoon. 
 One day — perhaps at one or two o'clock — he came 
 hurrying into our house, asking for something to eat. 
 His boots were all soaked with snow water, and he had 
 eaten nothing so far that day. He had fasted till he 
 could get an assurance of a blessing on the labor un- 
 dertaken, and now it had been given. In these efforts 
 of his he would kneel and pray with the anxious any- 
 where he found them, in the barn, the field, even in 
 the snow along the road." 
 
OFF ON FURLOUGH. 67 
 
 Mrs. E. A. Ketcham, of Dover Plains, N. Y., 
 says : " The world has sustained a loss in his removal. 
 The story of his life and labors, if it could be written, 
 would prove a blessing to thousands. I remember 
 with joy and thankfulness his labors in our church at 
 different times. His last visit especially we all recall. 
 He stopped at my son's to dinner, and two little 
 'prayer-meetings were held in that single hour. 
 
 Uncle John's true yoke-fellow during this Dutchess 
 County work was Rev. C. B. Post, of Dover Plains. 
 With the exception possibly of his own pastor, and the 
 compiler of this book, no other minister knew him dur- 
 ing those years so well. He no longer shares in the 
 struggles and victories of Christ's militant Church, but 
 Mrs. Post from her home near the ' ' Golden Gate, ' ' in 
 the far West, sends these memorials of those years : 
 
 " It is nearly twenty- four years since he first came 
 to our house, and during the seven years followng he 
 and my husband labored together weeks and months in 
 our own or other, towns. Brother Vassar would com- 
 monly go first, talking and praying with the people ; 
 and when he saw the mercy-cloud beginning to 
 gather, he would send for Mr. Post, saying, ' Come, 
 bishop, the Lord wants you to feed the sheep that He 
 shall use me to bring together. ' 
 
 ' ' One winter, when coming to labor with our own 
 church, a heavy snow-storm set in. It continued till 
 the roads were blocked. In this condition they kept 
 for several days. The people could not get out, and 
 meetings were not to be thought of. But he could not 
 
68 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 be snow-bound. He would flounder through the drifts 
 somehow, often kneeling in them to thank God for 
 mercies granted or plead with God for mercies needed. 
 
 " Once when talking with our Sunday-school about 
 the death of his little son he said, ' When I laid Johnny- 
 down out of my arms into the arms of the dear Saviour, 
 this world and I forever parted company.' We all 
 believed that utterance was true, and felt persuaded 
 that the partnership there and thus dissolved had 
 never since again been entered into. 
 
 " He once gave me an idea never to be forgotten. 
 Something was being said about ill-treatment which he 
 had encountered, on a certain visit. He quickly re- 
 plied, ' A sinner cannot abuse old John Vassar. The 
 poor lost soul ! oh, how I love him !' 
 
 ' ' A marked trait in his character was his love for 
 God's ministers. No unjust or severe criticism ever 
 escaped his lips. They were the Lord's chosen mes- 
 sengers, and he loved them for the Master's sake. The 
 affection between Mr. Post and him was mutual and 
 very strong. It is no less strong now that they see 
 the King in His beauty, and are forever with the 
 Lord." 
 
 Of this same period Mrs. Sarah L. Lyon, Pough- 
 keepsie, tells : " It was in the early part of March, 
 i860, that this man of God was directed to my father's 
 house. The winter had been unusually severe, so that 
 the drifts of snow yet lay over the fences, and the 
 road leading up over the hill to our home was fairly 
 blocked. We were therefore surprised to see a stranger 
 
OFF ON FURLOUGH. 69 
 
 on foot pushing along it, and finally making for our 
 door. As he got nearer he was recognized as John 
 Vassar, of temperance renown. To my mother he was 
 a welcome visitor, but not to me. I would have es- 
 caped the interview but for the importunity of my 
 mother, who said, ' Stay and listen to a man who has 
 travelled through this snow knee-deep to do us good. ' 
 I tried to repulse him when he began to plead with 
 me, by talking of universal salvation, which in my im- 
 penitence I had tried to find safety in ; but his clear 
 reasoning quickly swept such arguments away. Then 
 he got us all to kneel while he poured out his soul in 
 prayer. And such a prayer we never heard. We 
 were all melted down. His visit was short, but it was 
 wonderful. Three of our names were added to the list 
 that he called his ' dear children in Christ Jesus,' and 
 a fire of sacred love was kindled in our hearts, never, 
 we trust, to go out. The home-roof of my childhood 
 was long since exchanged for another, to which I have 
 ever esteemed it an honor to give him welcome, and 
 under which children now gather who have been taught 
 to rise up and call him blessed. 
 
 " The benediction was not confined to our house- 
 hold. A revival in the neighborhood broke out, which 
 spread wide, and proved lasting ; and many, I believe, 
 will, to and through eternity, sing love's redeeming 
 song from the work then and there done by this good 
 man." 
 
 Another says : " I cannot now name the date, but 
 about twenty years ago Mr. S. was drawing a load 
 
70 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 along the road when he met a stranger, who stopped 
 and said, ' What may I call your name, sir ?' The one 
 addressed replied, ' My name is S. ' ' Ah, you afe 
 a deacon in the church here, are you not ?' was the re- 
 sponse. ' I am, sir, ' was the answer. ' Well, deacon, ' 
 said the stranger, ' my name is Vassar — John Vassar ; 
 now, is your wife a Christian ?' 'I am sorry to say 
 that she is not.' ' Have you any objection to my call- 
 ing and conversing with your family ?' ' Not the least, 
 not the least. ' ' God bless you, Brother S. Good 
 morning. ' Uncle John passed along, and the deacon 
 went on and turned into a field with his load. He 
 had not got more than thirty rods when the thought 
 came to him, ' How is this ? Here is a stranger more 
 concerned for the salvation of my household than I am. 
 This is not right. This won't do.' Mr. S. jumped 
 off his load, unhitched the horses from the sled, tied 
 them, and started for the house. He got in just in 
 time to hear the prayer. That load was not moved 
 again for six weeks. Mrs. S. was converted, and 
 forty-two others united with the Kent and East Fish- 
 kill Church." 
 
 For obvious reasons the following touching state- 
 ment is given without its author's name : 
 
 " Uncle John came to my father's house for the 
 first time more than a quarter of a century ago. My 
 father was at that time an inebriate, and our home was 
 suffering under the blight of rum. His coming was the 
 beginning of better days. It resulted in the conversion 
 of the father and all seven of us children. Two of the 
 
OFF ON FURLOUGH. ji 
 
 children are now in the ministry, two others, together 
 with the parents, have died in hope, and we are waiting 
 for a happy family reunion on the river's other side. 
 
 " Fifteen years later, in company with my brother, 
 he visited the same house, and that interview resulted 
 in the salvation of the man and his wife then living 
 there." 
 
 To all these memories of twenty years ago we might 
 add dozens treasured up in our own mind, for from 
 1856 to 1862 we labored together in full half the towns 
 of the county we called home. Although settled in 
 the pastorate at Amenia, we went as other ministers 
 around did at that time, to help in neighboring churches 
 as occasion might require. Again and again in these 
 campaigns we have known him to walk twenty miles in 
 a single day, looking up wanderers or seekers, and then 
 come into the evening service showing no sign of weari- 
 ness in motion, or look, or voice. 
 
 Once in trudging along in a snowy road he was 
 overtaken by a gentleman in a sleigh, who was per- 
 sonally a very estimable man, but not a Christian. He 
 knew Uncle John by sight, and like many others did 
 not admire him, but rather regarded him as fanatical 
 or half insane. Whether to ask him to ride or not 
 was the question in his mind. Courtesy said ' ' Yes ; ' ' 
 prejudice said ' ' No. ' ' Courtesy carried the day, how- 
 ever, and the invitation was given. An opportunity 
 like that never was allowed to slip. The ride was not 
 accounted of so much consequence, but there would 
 be such a chance to press home truth as the Master 
 
72 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 had that day at the well of Jacob. It was embraced 
 to the uttermost, and one man heard that hour salva- 
 tion urged as he certainly never had heard it urged be- 
 fore. What the immediate effect was is not known, 
 but a few months later this wayside hearer, then in the 
 very prime of life, came to know experimentally the 
 meaning of those words, " If any man be in Christ he 
 is a new creature." Immediately after old things had 
 passed away the two men met at church, and, deeply 
 moved, clasped hands as brothers beloved in the Lord. 
 The circumstances must be very, very peculiar if they 
 ever hindered him from pressing religion on the mind. 
 He was not indelicate, or rude, or blustering in ap- 
 proaching men, but he remembered that one divinely 
 inspired had said, ' ' In season, out of season, reprove, 
 rebuke, exhort," and so he could not stand "on 
 the proprieties," as many do. Near Fishkill he once 
 made a call that seemed at first inopportune. A young 
 man had just entered the house, who was soon to be 
 married to an excellent Christian daughter in the 
 home. The prospective husband claimed no hope in 
 the Saviour. Either accidentally or purposely, we 
 know not which, JJncle John was shown into the room 
 where the parties sat. He took in the situation at a 
 glance, but, not in the least disconcerted, pressed on 
 one of his two hearers the claims of God, and finding 
 him more than half persuaded to accept of Christ, he 
 closed the interview by proposing that the lady should 
 herself then and there kneel and present the case of her 
 friend to God. For a moment maidenly delicacy led 
 
OFF ON FURLOUGH. 73 
 
 her to hesitate ; then seeing his evident concern they 
 all bowed together, and she pleaded for the salvation 
 of the man with whom she was to walk the pathway of 
 life. He was soon a partaker of her faith and trust, 
 and stood beside her a fellow-laborer in the Church of 
 Christ. 
 
 One day, while walking from Poughkeepsie to Pleas- 
 ant Valley, he overtook a man driving an ox-team 
 along the road. Walking on together in conversation 
 it was but a minute or two before the Name that is 
 above every name was on the lips of Uncle John, and 
 the subject ever uppermost was broached. With the 
 utmost frankness, and with a trembling voice, the man 
 declared that for weeks he had been secretly trying to 
 grope his way to God. He had said nothing to any 
 one, and no one had said anything to him. All was 
 uncertainty with him and gloom. That Saviour who 
 " must needs go through Samaria" so long ago, be- 
 cause there was a lost soul waiting to hear words of 
 life, sent the right man to this inquiring soul that day. 
 Uncle John knew how to meet a case like that. His 
 words fitted that penitent's wants as the notch in the 
 arrow is fitted by the string of the archer's bow. The 
 mode of a sinner's acceptance was seen that very hour. 
 By the roadside they knelt in prayer together, and 
 then they parted, this convert, like one in the olden 
 time, going on his way rejoicing. 
 
 Hardly had they separated before Uncle John saw a 
 man ploughing in a field some distance from the high- 
 way. All aglow with the recent interview the ques- 
 
 John E. Va»ar. / 
 
74 UNCLE JOHN VASS'AR. 
 
 tion started, " May I not find yonder another such a 
 case ? Who knows ?' ' Across the lot he hurried, and 
 strange as it may seem, he did find another soul 
 anxious and ready to accept of Christ. In the freshly 
 turned furrows the two knelt, and either then or very 
 soon afterward the peace of God entered this heart 
 too. 
 
 In this town of Pleasant Valley he saw some won- 
 derful triumphs of redeeming love. His old friend, 
 Rev. B. F. Wile, of the Presbyterian Church, often 
 got him, for a'week or two, when he was not otherwise 
 engaged, to aid him in some of those times of ingather- 
 ing which that church so signally enjoyed. 
 
 In the little Baptist church at Salt Point, in the same 
 town, there were in those far-off years seasons of re- 
 freshing too. Amid them some who are with their 
 Lord now, and some who on earth are useful still, 
 started for the kingdom and the crown. 
 
 In the autumn of 1862 the section of country around 
 Carmel, Putnam County, N. Y., enjoyed Uncle John's 
 labors for some weeks, a very minute and interesting 
 account of which has been furnished by Rev. J. J. 
 Townsend, now of Chester, Vermont, at that time 
 studying for the ministry, but at home on a visit. 
 Only some extracts from it can be given. 
 
 " The evening following Uncle John's arrival in the 
 neighborhood, I had an engagement to lecture in the 
 Nichols school-house, and he met me there. After my 
 little talk he followed in exhortation and prayer. At 
 the close of the service he said, ' You are just the 
 
OFF ON FURLOUGH. 75 
 
 young man I am looking for. Come with me. The 
 Master has work for you. ' 
 
 " The next night we took another neighborhood, 
 he first thoroughly canvassing it by day. The house 
 was crowded. I preached, and he followed in an ex- 
 hortation the most solemn and subduing I ever heard. 
 The Master was there, and sinners were crying for sal- 
 vation before the meeting closed. 
 
 " There were eight of these school-districts within 
 the bounds of the Carmel church. From one to 
 another of these we went, and he from house to house. 
 God triumphed gloriously. The whole field glowed 
 with religious life. The meetings grew so large that 
 they had to be carried to the church. Pastor Clapp 
 then supervised, or, as Uncle John said, became 
 ' Major-General. ' 
 
 " For three months we were together thus by day 
 and night. One day, while out on our rounds, we saw 
 a man in the field husking corn. Untie John said, 
 ' Let us kneel down here and pray, and then go after 
 him. ' We did so. Soon as we began to talk with 
 him we found out that he was a man at whose house 
 we had just called. He had a wife and three children, 
 and none of them entertained a hope of pardoned sin. 
 He was invited first to attend the meeting. He refused 
 flatly, declared he was a Universalist, but admitted 
 that he never prayed. Then Uncle John poured out 
 upon him all the truth of God. I never saw him more 
 valiant for his Master, and think it was one of his 
 grandest hours. With tears streaming down his cheeks 
 
76 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR, 
 
 the man said, ' Pray for me,' and down among the 
 stalks we all three bowed, and all three prayed. He 
 and three others from his family were soon in the 
 kingdom. 
 
 " This scene is one of many. Strong oaks on every 
 hand bowed before the mighty on-movings of God's 
 all-conquering grace. 
 
 " We one day met a man on the road, resting his 
 team, who, on being approached, loudly avowed him- 
 self an infidel. So tremendous was the pressure under 
 which Uncle John put him that in five minutes, with 
 wonder and penitence written on his face, he gladly 
 bowed to have prayer offered in his behalf, and on 
 arising and parting he said, ' I need this Saviour, and 
 will seek him. ' 
 
 " One evening, as we were going into meeting, we 
 met a gentleman near the door. Uncle John ad- 
 dressed him courteously, and said, ' My dear friend, 
 do you love Jesus ?' Said the gentleman, ' I do not 
 know that that concerns you, sir.' ' Oh, yes, it does,' 
 said Uncle John ; ' in these days of rebellion does it 
 not concern every citizen as to which side every other 
 citizen may take ? How much more when a world is in 
 rebellion against God should we be concerned to know 
 who is on the Lord's side.' The man's lips were 
 sealed. Before the meeting was over he rose and 
 asked the prayers of God's people. And, thus it was 
 in every case. I certainly saw him personally ad- 
 dress hundreds, and in no solitary instance was he 
 repulsed. 
 
OFF ON FURLOUGH. 77 
 
 "For myself I can say that this three months' 
 tuition in the school of Christ, with John Vassar as tu- 
 tor, has been worth more to me in winning souls than 
 any like period of my life. His religion was not that 
 of sentiment, but a soul-subduing force, fed at the 
 fountain of almighty and undecaying promise, and it 
 helped me to heights before unknown. 
 
 " As we parted, he to return to his home, and I 
 to go back to Hamilton, after a season of delightful 
 prayer he said, ' Good-by ; God bless you. Keep 
 looking up, my boy, keep looking up. ' 
 
 " When John Vassar was removed from the high 
 places of the field, truly a great man had fallen in 
 Israel. He to whom the King holds out the sceptre, 
 as with him, is an irreparable loss to any church, any 
 community, or any age. ' ' 
 
 Now, what do all these toils and triumphs repre- 
 sent ? They represent homes made happier ; hearts 
 blessed with a heavenly peace ; the wicked turned 
 into penitents ; sick-beds solaced with comforts such 
 as earth is powerless to give ; graves that had other- 
 wise been hopeless bordered with a brighter than 
 noonday light ; a stubborn, unbelieving world yield- 
 ing converts to the Church ; a quickened Church shed- 
 ding on the world a brightness like the resurrection 
 morning's. 
 
 Conversion must be recognized as a constituent 
 power of history. That deep sorrow for sin, that clear 
 and shining sense of God's forgiveness, that unearthly 
 peace and joy, that glowing love for Christ, and for His 
 
 7* 
 
78 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 saints, that glad hope of heaven, that desire to do 
 others good which we call "experience" and the 
 world calls " delusion," all lay at the bottom of that 
 man's life who rang out the old ideas of Greece and 
 Rome, and rang in a new age ; they all lay at the bot- 
 tom of that man's life who lifted his hand in the face 
 of papal Europe and gave the signal for its disruption ; 
 they all lay at the bottom of that man's life who in a 
 corrupt nation and a degenerating Church more than a 
 century ago cried, " The world is my parish, ' ' and 
 went out to awaken it. And revivals, what are they 
 but renewals of the apostolic age ? Even among good 
 men there is a tendency to let the heavenly fire die 
 out — to let the immortal vitality and infinite resources 
 of our holy religion go unfelt and unseen. Christ's 
 churches forget that they are to subdue the world, 
 and quietly settle into their quarters, and then God 
 sends some man with clarion call to bid the slumbering 
 host bestir itself. ' Doubtless there will be in all such 
 awakenings some extravagances. This world is full of 
 weak, ill-balanced, blundering folks. Either they must 
 go unsaved, or else a miracle more stupendous than 
 was ever wrought must keep them from acting extrav- 
 agantly. The second supposition is improbable. The 
 first may. God avert. The composure of death is worse 
 than the exuberance of life. And we may be sure 
 that without these arousings that old Christianity which 
 gave the world apostles, and missionaries, and martyrs, 
 will be replaced by another which will give it only for- 
 mal church-goers. 
 
OFF ON FURLOUGH. 79 
 
 Nor is it any argument against such seasons of 
 quickening as the few last pages have been dealing 
 with, that much of their early promise seems to be 
 blasted, and drop fruitlessly away. That is always so 
 with the literal bud and bloom which May days bring. 
 Multitudes of people are naturally unstable, and their 
 instability will be likely to affect the religious life more 
 or less. We question whether there is any ground for 
 the prevalent idea that persons converted in revivals 
 are less likely to ' ' hold out, " or " hold on. ' ' That 
 will depend on what they have to " hold on" to. If 
 it is nothing but a mere stir of the sensibilities, of 
 course they will drop away. A very sober Christian 
 scholar says, "Let the spring come, though it bring 
 weeds, and let us neither nurse the weeds nor frost-bite 
 the wheat in our impatience to keep them down." It 
 might be added, moreover, that much which accom- 
 panies a revival of religion is not of itself religious, and 
 it will drop away as the husk drops from the ear of 
 corn when ripe ; and much more that is religious is 
 not lost when it seems to be, but simply takes on 
 another shape. Fruit-trees shed their sheets of blos- 
 soms, and for a space thereafter they make but very 
 little show. Ignorant cavillers might sneer and say 
 that their May wealth of promise and beauty was a 
 short lived thing. Exactly. But on those twigs 
 whence the bloom had fallen is forming and maturing 
 what is of far greater worth. And when the more 
 manifest tokens of a religious awakening disappear, 
 
80 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 and the tongue of unbelief talks merrily and flippantly 
 about the change, in many a soul there is quietly de- 
 veloping a devout, consecrated, active life. Anyhow, 
 many an eye running over this page will look back 
 through mists of glad tears to such times of grace and 
 mercy, and many a heart will plead for their repetition. 
 Indeed who is there that under these recitals of con- 
 quering love is not impelled to cry, " Send as Thou wilt, 
 O Lord, only let Thy saints not slumber, nor sinners 
 perish in their sins " ? For us as Christian individuals 
 and churches to go year after year, and see no lives 
 regenerated, no hearts blessed with an unearthly 
 peace, " is it not like standing among the gilded bottles 
 of a dispensary, while death is desolating the town and 
 your skill is inapt and your remedies impotent to save 
 a single victim ?" 
 
 We enter on no defence of modern revivals here. 
 Less than this in passing, however, we could hardly 
 say. 
 
 But by this time some one is ready to ask, what 
 was meant by heading this chapter " Off on Fur- 
 lough " ? They reasonably and naturally ask, where 
 the furlough for Uncle John has come in ? Well, if 
 by furlough is signified resting spell, he has not yet 
 found it, nor did he ever find it till the last months of 
 life were being spent.- But these varied engagements 
 and miscellaneous services came in after retiring from 
 his first Tract Society labors, and before returning to 
 its employ. 
 
OFF ON FURLOUGH. 81 
 
 When his work in the Dutchess Association closed 
 he had sixteen years yet to stay on earth. They were 
 the most eventful and fruitful of his life. He goes 
 to work now on a broader field. We will follow him 
 there. 
 
82 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 GOING TO THE FRONT. 
 
 " Lo, a cloud's about to vanish 
 
 From the day ; 
 Lo, the right's about to conquer — 
 
 Clear the way ! 
 And a brazen wrong to crumble 
 
 Into clay." 
 
 THE dark days of 1861 came on. The nation was 
 drifting into war. Few believed it, however, till the 
 blow was absolutely struck. Then loyal millions arose 
 and with one voice said, " Die who will or may, this 
 land must live." 
 
 Everywhere were heard the shoutings of captains, 
 the rattle of armor, the tramp of marching feet. 
 Uncle John had been opposed to war. He had looked 
 upon it as always a calamity, and frequently a crime. 
 Again and again, regarding it through his strong affec- 
 tions and tender sympathies, he had shudderingly cried, 
 " How long, O Lord, how long?" He had seen in the 
 foe defeated and plundered a man and a brother. He 
 had glimpsed the mutilations and barbarities and butch- 
 eries which war of necessity involved. He had heard 
 the wails of orphanage and widowhood, and so recoiled 
 from every appeal to arms. 
 
 But when the cup of trembling was put into his 
 country's hands, and put into its hands unsought, he 
 
GOING TO THE FRONT. 83 
 
 saw, as others did, that whatever its bitterness it must 
 not be pushed away. For two years he listened, as did 
 many heavy hearts, to tidings of drawn battles or de- 
 feats. Then he felt that his time had come, and that 
 he had found his work. It was not to serve in the 
 ranks : he- was too old for that. It was not to act as 
 an officer : for that he had no training and no taste. 
 Another and a higher call was in his ears. There were 
 sick and suffering men to be ministered to temporally 
 and spiritually. That should be his task. He went to 
 the Tract Society again, and asked if he could not have 
 a new commission, a commission to engage in army 
 labor. It was granted him in June, 1863, and he was 
 soon inside the Federal lines, 
 
 " Amid a wilderness of graves, 
 With death on every hand." 
 
 Lee had started northward on that last invasion 
 which he ever ventured, and whose issues half a dozen 
 States a little later hung breathless on. Hooker's 
 army was in full pursuit. The excitement was at white 
 heat all over Maryland and along the Pennsylvania 
 line. The cloud gathering so blackly was about to 
 break. The rival hosts drew closer together, and 
 finally grappled in one of the deadliest struggles of 
 these latter days, on the ridges and slopes around Get- 
 tysburg. 
 
 It was the Sunday before the fight. The old Army 
 of the Potomac lay stretched from Frederick City south- 
 ward along the Monocacy. The " One Hundred and 
 
84 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 Fiftieth New York," of which the writer was chaplain, 
 had camped on a rough hillside. The regiment had as 
 yet seen but little service ; the march for days had 
 been heavy ; no one knew what moment orders might 
 come to move on : so our meeting had been a short 
 one and a small one that day. As it was closing, who 
 should come in but Uncle John ! These were all 
 Dutchess County men, hundreds of whom he knew. 
 Tired as they were, they were not too tired to wel- 
 come him. Moreover, he was recently from home, and 
 to grasp his hand and listen to his voice seemed half as 
 godd as being there. 
 
 Before daylight the advance was sounded, and all 
 were tumbling out and falling, into line. The columns 
 went pushing along the artillery-rutted roads as if on 
 a race toward those Pennsylvania hills. Uncle John 
 was fifty years old or more, but he kept up with the 
 best. Not only kept up, but often would shoulder for 
 a mile or two the gun or knapsack of some poor fellow 
 ready to give out. We missed him before getting to 
 Gettysburg, and weeks passed before our men again 
 saw his face. After the fight was over he became sep- 
 arated in some way from our troops, and was captured 
 by Stuart's cavalry. " When brought into the pres- 
 ence of the general and questioned as a suspected spy, 
 he instantly dissipated the suspicions of the officers by 
 his frank and fearless words for the Master. ' I am 
 working as a colporteur of the American Tract Society, 
 to try and save the souls of the dear boys that fall 
 around me daily. General, do you love Jesus ? ' The 
 
GOING TO THE FRONT. 85 
 
 courtly general answered, ' I know that good old So- 
 ciety, and have no fear of its emissaries.' ' But, my 
 dear general, do you love Jesus ?' The puzzled officer 
 was relieved by the suggestion of those who hai5 
 arrested Unele John, and who were already restive un- 
 der his close questionings. ' General, ' said they, ' take 
 the man's promise that he will not tell of our where- 
 abouts for twenty-four hours, and let us see him out 
 of our lines, or we will have a prayer-meeting from here 
 to Richmond.' And so it was decided. He made his 
 way back into the Union lines, and was once more 
 among friends." 
 
 He was only inside of the Confederate camp about 
 ten hours, but it is doubtful whether in a like space so 
 much Gospel wa% ever urged upon the men he met. 
 And their supposition that he would have kept it up 
 had he been held longer was perfectly correct. Had 
 he been put in the foulest corner of Libby Prison, or 
 Castle Thunder, the story of salvation would have 
 rung there as it did in the jail at Philippi so long ago. 
 
 How he employed himself in the army one of the 
 chaplains, Rev. E. J. Hamilton, tells us in a racy little 
 sketch of the man which he prepared for publication 
 while the war was yet going on. " Mark him as he 
 enters camp. In his cheery way he says, ' How are 
 you, dear boys ? I am glad to see you. I guess I 
 have got a little something for you ; I was thinking 
 you'd be wanting some paper or needles, for the pay- 
 master has not been around in a good while, has he ? 
 I can't carry much, but just step up, boys, and I will 
 
 John E. Vmh. ° 
 
86 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 give you what I have.' Both his hands are busy dis- 
 pensing sheets of paper, and pens, and thread, with 
 skilful and impartial generosity. After these gifts 
 tracts and religious reading are produced from the 
 black satchel, and distributed to many glad recipients. 
 Now his stock is exhausted, and after some excellent 
 story or terse remark, he adds, " Now, boys, don't 
 forget the prayer- meeting the chaplain is going to have 
 this evening. Come, dear boys, and let us ask God 
 to bless us. ' ' We will, we will, ' is the response of 
 many voices, and possibly the evening hour will show 
 that the invitation has been accepted by many silent, 
 softened hearts that did not dare to speak. In the 
 prayer-meeting he is a great power, for he generally 
 imparts to his fellow-worshippers much of his own 
 spirit. I first met him in the log church of our brigade. 
 On that occasion he moved us all. After this I was 
 going away for ten days, and asked him to look after 
 my boys. He consented. On my return I was pre- 
 pared for something of a revival, but not to learn that 
 the chapel was crowded, and that meetings were kept 
 up three times a day. When I entered it that after- 
 noon what a scene presented itself ! The place was 
 half Babel, half Bochim. Many of the soldiers were 
 kneeling, some praying, some sobbing, some groaning, 
 some loudly responding. Uncle John was seemingly 
 the most engaged of all. After the principal prayer 
 was over he rose and in his sweet tenor voice began a 
 favorite hymn. All joined, and the praise went up 
 through the white trembling canvas roof. He had 
 
GOING TO TUE FRONT. 87 
 
 instituted the morning assembly for inquirers and 
 young converts, that in the afternoon for the prayers 
 and exhortations of Christians generally, while more 
 formal exercises occupied the meeting at night. 
 
 " The evening service was the most important. 
 Generally there was a sermon by one of the chaplains, 
 after which those who loved the Lord and those who 
 desired to do so were requested to remain. Com- 
 monly very few went away, and then Uncle John's 
 work began. After some prayers and hymns he would 
 make a short address, and conclude by asking those 
 who felt themselves in need of salvation and who desired 
 Christians to pray for them to stand up. And then 
 what earnestness in persuading sinners to declare for 
 Christ ! He would look over the assembly sometimes 
 for a minute till some one rose. 'There's one,' says 
 Uncle John, with visible emotion. ' Bless the Lord. 
 There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repent- 
 eth. ' Then after a short pause he would add in the 
 most inviting tones, ' And is there no other precious 
 soul here that wants a Saviour? Yes, there's an- 
 other. God bless you, dear brother. Oh, it was for 
 such that Jesus died. Jesus, the Son of God,' and 
 Uncle John would sing, 
 
 ' He died for you, 
 
 He died for me, 
 He died to set poor sinners free ; 
 
 Oh, who's like Jesus 
 That died on the tree ? ' 
 
 " Another pause. ' And is there not another one 
 
88 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 who wants to love this blessed Saviour ? Yes, I see 
 you, dear brother. I knew there would be more. I 
 feel that God is here to-night. And there's another, 
 and another, and another. Oh, praise the Lord ! 
 Precious Saviour, thy blood cleanses a universe from 
 guilt.* In this way he would go on till perhaps a dozen 
 or twenty had risen ; then the meeting would be dis- 
 missed, and Uncle John and the chaplains would tarry 
 with the anxious, conversing and praying according to 
 the need of each individual case. 
 
 " During such an awakening Uncle John labors 
 night and day. As he set out one morning to follow 
 the impressions of the previous evening I went with 
 him down the company streets. Entering a tent where 
 two out of the four occupants were Christians, he ad- 
 dressed himself to each man and led in a short prayer. 
 Then he asked for a sergeant whom he knew to be 
 under deep conviction. The young man came in. 
 Uncle John read the look of trouble on his face, and 
 sadly and tenderly said, ' O Albert, Albert, my boy, 
 haven't you given your heart to the Saviour yet ? 
 What is the matter ? Why don't you throw every 
 thing else away and trust only in the Lord Jesus ? 
 The young man answered that he was trying to do 
 that, but could not find any peace. We all knelt down 
 in the little shanty which barely held us, and the chap- 
 lain led in prayer. Then Uncle John said, ' Now, 
 Albert, you pray.' The lad offered a few simple, 
 earnest petitions, and we left him. Several days after- 
 ward I met him going to one ^of the meetings with a 
 
GOING TO THE FRONT. 89 
 
 shining face. 'Well, Albert,' said I, 'how do you 
 feel to-day ? ' ' Oh, bright as a shilling, chaplain, ' 
 was the singular but expressive reply. And bright 
 ever since has been his Christian character and course. 
 
 " His fidelity is unsparing. ' Uncle John,' said 
 one captain, ' I try to do my duty, and I think that is 
 all that is required of me.' ' Why, captain,' answered 
 the honest man, in tones of astonishment, ' how can 
 you say so ? No man does his duty who does not give 
 his heart to God, and live in God's service. What 
 would you think of a man brought up by a kind 
 father, and provided by him with every means of hap- 
 piness, who should be a good brother and husband 
 and neighbor and citizen, and yet be a heartless and 
 undutiful son ? Don't you think his wickedness would 
 be unspeakably great ? ' ' But the cases are different, ' 
 rejoined the captain. ' No, they are not,' said Uncle 
 John. 'That man would be condemned by the moral 
 sense of the community ; and the godless sinner, you 
 may depend upon it, will be condemned by the public 
 opinion of the universe. ' 
 
 " Nearly one hundred and fifty — one tenth of our 
 whole brigade — professed faith in Christ during these 
 services thus carried on. Many are in soldiers' graves, 
 some are at home sick or wounded, some are in South- 
 ern prisons, but so far as I know the great majority 
 have shown that their profession was well founded." 
 
 Eev. J. H. Twitchell, of the Asylum Hill Congre- 
 gational Church, Hartford, Conn., who as chaplain was 
 also thrown into such contact with him in the army, in 
 
 8* 
 
go UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 a sermon to his people after the death of Uncle John 
 recalls many interesting incidents. We can quote but 
 a few. 
 
 " One evening a fellow-chaplain brought him to my 
 tent. We had not met before. At once he burst out 
 in such a strain of religious conversation as I had 
 never heard. At first I was repelled. It seemed cant- 
 ing and extravagant. I could not believe it was genu- 
 ine. But that suspicion did not last long. I soon saw 
 that what he said, and his way of saying it, was'the true 
 utterance of the man. I cannot altogether describe 
 the impression he made. I know that when he left I 
 followed him out and yielded to the impulse that was 
 strongly upon me to tell him I feared I knew but very 
 little of what it was to be spiritually blessed, and to 
 ask him to pray for me. His riches convicted me 
 of poverty. And I have heard a good many say that 
 meeting him produced a like effect on them. There 
 was a Unitarian chaplain amongst us who confessed 
 that Mr. Vassar was a new exhibition of Christianity to 
 him. 
 
 "In a merely physical point of view his achieve- 
 ment was prodigious. He began his day at roll-call, 
 and was in a state of intense activity from sixteen to 
 eighteen hours. He ate little, and slept little, yet 
 never flagged, and never gave out. Week after week, 
 and seven days in the week, the same even high rate 
 of energy was sustained. I suppose there were very 
 few of the eight thousand officers and men of our di- 
 vision with whom in the time he was with us he did 
 
GOING TO THE FRONT. 91 
 
 not talk, and with the majority of them more than once 
 or twice. I used to see him running in his eagerness 
 to get about. Yet he was as far as possible from being 
 in a flurry. His restlessness was wholly external. 
 He always knew exactly what he was after. His ob- 
 jects were distinctly before him. 
 
 " Conversing with from seventy-five to a hundred 
 different men a day, he came to the fiftieth or sixtieth 
 just as fresh in his manner, just as much interested, 
 just as tender, as at the first. He wasted no words. 
 He went right to the heart of his errand at once, and 
 his bearing was such that it was hardly possible to take 
 offence. Indeed it was said, and I think truly, that in 
 the entire division he never met with but one positive 
 rebuff, and that in the case of an officer in liquor. 
 And the reason was, he was entirely self- renounced, and 
 showed it. He represented the yearning heart of Christ. 
 It was almost magical the power he had over men. One 
 of our chaplains, taking him to dine with him one day, 
 found no member of his mess present beside himself 
 but the colonel. Now this colonel was irreligious, 
 immoral and low-bred, and the chaplain feared to 
 have Mr. Vassar say any thing to him, and I think had 
 advised him to that effect. For a little while the earn- 
 est man held his peace ; then pausing from his eating, 
 said, ' My dear colonel, this is the first time I ever saw 
 you, and perhaps we shall never meet again. I am 
 sure you will not think it amiss if I ask you whether 
 you have an interest in the great salvation ? ' The 
 chaplain's heart leaped up into his mouth. He ex- 
 
92 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 pected an explosion ; but to his surprise the colonel 
 answered the question as simply as it was asked, and 
 with entire civility, and even thanked him for express- 
 ing such interest in his welfare. Dinner over, the 
 colonel said, ' Sir, would you like to talk to the men ? ' 
 Of course Uncle John said Yes, and the colonel abso- 
 lutely spent half the afternoon in walking with him 
 through the regiment, and introducing him to knots of 
 soldiers here and there, with, ' Here's a gentleman who 
 has something to say to you, and you had better listen 
 to him, for I think he is a good man.' The chaplain 
 followed them around in amazement, and could scarce- 
 ly credit his senses. The colonel was not converted, 
 but for the time he was subdued. 
 
 " And so he passed around among us for a whole 
 season, uttering one voice continually — the voice of the 
 invitations of divine love. It used to be said that he 
 left the print of his knees in every company street of 
 our division. If this was not literally true it was essen- 
 tially so. 
 
 " Such a ministry could not fail to be fruitful. 
 Upon hundreds, probably upon thousands, of men he 
 made his mark for eternity. Dear old man ! How he 
 loved, and how he was loved for Christ's sake ! There 
 were joy and sorrow in all hearts when he parted from 
 us. And when, as we were met together in our log 
 chapel the evening after he bade us good-by, one of 
 our soldiers — a Methodist — prayed in stentorian tones, 
 O Lord, we thank Thee for sending dear Uncle John 
 Vassar to us, and may God bless him wherever he goes, ' 
 
GOING TO THE FRONT. 
 
 93 
 
 a chorus of amens responded, and I saw the tears fall- 
 ing on many a rugged cheek. It is my conviction that 
 few more gracious spirits have been given to the 
 church of Christ in any age than he. The last day 
 alone will reveal how much good he did. ' ' 
 
 Professor G. D. B. Pepper, D.D., of Crozier Theo- 
 logical Seminary, sends these reminiscences of war 
 days : 
 
 " I met your uncle for the first time at Alexandria, 
 Va., in the winter of 1863-64. I had gone there to 
 serve the Christian commission as delegate for the term 
 of six weeks, and to their headquarters Uncle John 
 delighted as often as practicable to resort for Christian 
 fellowship. We saw him, however, far less frequently 
 than we desired, for he was incessantly and intensely 
 active wherever soldiers could be found. At the ' Sol- 
 dier's Rest,' the 'Teamster's Park,' the 'Ambulance 
 Stand, ' the ' Slave Pen, ' ' Detached Regiments, ' 
 ' Garrisons of Neighboring Forts ' — anywhere, every- 
 where, untiringly he went. Though laboring specially 
 for the Tract Society, he worked as cordially with the 
 delegates of the Commission as though he had been 
 one of them. Indeed, so full was he of Christ that he 
 became at once identified with every Christian spirit 
 met by him, and identified with all and every Christian 
 work. Firm in avowing and maintaining his distinctive 
 denominational views when occasion required, neither 
 these views nor their maintenance served as a wall or 
 even bar of separation from any person or thing that 
 was lovely and of good report. He was as intensely 
 
94 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 and completely catholic in heart and word and life, as 
 he was intensely earnest in his convictions and their 
 realizations. 
 
 ' ' More than any other man whom I ever met, or ever 
 expect to meet, Uncle John excelled in the power of 
 free, ready, wise approach to, and entrance into, the 
 hearts of men with personal religious messages. Herein 
 he was no respecter of persons. Professor or non-pro- 
 fessor, privates or officers, black or white, it mattered 
 not to him. Enough that all were men, and his Mas- 
 ter was the Master of all, and had sent him, John Vas- 
 sar, as His servant and representative to all. Not only 
 was he not a respecter of men, but just as little was he 
 a respecter of times, places, or occasions, save to ob- 
 serve those proprieties which few better understood. 
 But he held that all times, and all places, and all occa- 
 sions were the Lord's, not less than all men, and it was 
 never in his purpose or practice to yield God's claims 
 to the claims of men or devils. 
 
 ' ' Yet I never knew that he gave to any man offence 
 by this forwardness. He had such self-revealing, 
 overflowing, outgushing, all-conquering good-will and 
 Christian love, such natural freedom, heartiness, and 
 geniality, all elevated and glorified by his deep Chris- 
 tian experience, and also so much of childlike sim- 
 plicity along with the wise tact and address perfected 
 by years of incessant labor, that he would -have been a 
 strange man indeed who would not have opened all the 
 doors of his heart to Uncle John, and told the dear old 
 
GOING TO THE FRONT. 95 
 
 saint to make himself perfectly at home, and do and 
 say just what he pleased. 
 
 " But while all recognized in him a true friend, no 
 one could ever make him a mere ' hail fellow, well 
 met.' His dealings were always in the clear view of a 
 hastening eternity and its tremendous realities. Here- 
 in he was a pattern to all chaplains, but certainly not 
 a pattern after all. 
 
 " I have a vivid remembrance of one night's ex- 
 perience with him in a revival meeting at the quar- 
 ters of ' The Fourteenth Delaware, ' but rather 
 on my own account than on his. He had for seve- 
 ral nights taken long walks out from the city to aid 
 the chaplain, and had expressed the special desire for 
 me to go with him some evening. I complied with the 
 request at the first opportunity. The meeting tent was 
 crowded. The opening hymn was rung out with 
 mighty power — of lungs at least. Uncle John then in- 
 troduced me to lead in prayer. I thought to lead, but 
 soon found a multitude praying thunderously, each his 
 own separate prayer. Of course I observed, not en- 
 joyed, a short season of private devotion, whose end 
 was as unnoticed by the crowd as had been its continu- 
 ance. Uncle John was busy with inquirers amid this 
 tempest of vociferous exercises. It was nothing to 
 him what form expression took, if he could only find 
 sinners seeking a Saviour, or any one needing advice 
 or encouragement. Of course I was a spectator un- 
 able to adjust myself to the turmoil. At length in 
 the midst of the meeting my dear old friend came 
 
96 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 round to me and said, ' Come, Brother Pepper, come 
 up here in front ; there's a little lull in the meeting 
 now, and I want you to speak to the boys. ' ' All 
 right,' I said, and went with him. He shouted to 
 them a kindly introduction of me, and asked them to 
 listen to his friend whom he had brought along. But 
 even then there was only ' a little lull ' in the storm. 
 I stood for half a minute looking at my audience — 
 ah, not audience — awaiting silence, when a towering 
 shouter just in front, with evident disgust at this tri- 
 fling, this waste of holy time, at once burst into a yell 
 of petition, adoration, or something else, and I in dis- 
 honor fled to a corner of the tent. 
 
 ' ' In such a scene, or any other, that burning spirit 
 wrought on doing the ' one thing ' needful. Blessed 
 is he. Blessed is his memory." 
 
 Among the Christian officers who greatly helped 
 him, and whom he regarded as a brother in the Lord, 
 was General McAllister, of whom he makes frequent 
 mention in his correspondence and reports. 
 
 This testimony General McAllister now sends con- 
 cerning him : 
 
 " He was a man for whom I had the highest es- 
 teem and the sincerest affection ; so I gladly send this 
 slight tribute to his worth. 
 
 " He was constantly going from regiment to regi- 
 ment, from tent to tent, relieving both the temporal 
 and spiritual wants of the soldiers. When he had been 
 absent for a time and returned, there was great rejoic- 
 ing among officers and men that Uncle John was back. 
 
GOING TO THE FRONT. 97 
 
 Upon applying at headquarters for permission to 
 hold meetings, the answer always was, ' Go ahead. 
 We know you are all right. ' 
 
 " In his frequent visits to my tent we had many 
 pleasant conversations about the war and the religious 
 condition of the army, and the intense patriot, as well 
 as intense Christian, shone out in them all. 
 
 ' ' It was his custom before leaving always to pray 
 with us, and in his prayer each individual present was 
 mentioned. One of my officers who was frequently 
 with us said, ' I can stand up under any man's pray- 
 ers but Uncle John Vassar's.' 
 
 " During the winter of 1863-64 there was a great 
 revival, and especially in the Third Corps. Meetings 
 were held nightly, and thousands were converted. 
 Often, not knowing that Uncle John was present, I 
 would be surprised to hear his voice from the rear of 
 the chapel in exhortation. Perhaps that would be the 
 sixth meeting that he had attended that evening. ' ' 
 
 His good friend, Colonel A. B. Smith, of Pough- 
 keepsie, then Major of the 1 50th New York, furnishes 
 this sketch : 
 
 "We were visited by Uncle John several times, 
 and he was always welcome to a part of my tent. He 
 was unremitting in ministering to the sick and disabled. 
 I knew him once to carry a box as large as a good-sized 
 trunk nearly three miles on his back, filled with delica- 
 cies for our sick and suffering men. He was ubiquitous 
 in the army. Came often, and always left his mark for 
 the Master on every one he met. He waited for no 
 
 John E. Vasaar. 7 
 
98 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 formalities. His first remark would be, ' I hope this 
 loyal blue covers a heart loyal to the Lord Jesus. He 
 is the best friend a soldier can have. Tell me, is he 
 your friend ? Come over to the prayer-meeting to- 
 night.' 
 
 " On Sunday, the 9th day of August, 1863, we were 
 at Kelly's Ford, and Uncle John came to us and 
 said, ' Shall we not have a little prayer-meeting to- 
 night about sundown between the 1 50th New York and 
 13th New Jersey regiments? ' It was agreed upon. He 
 was the only man in citizen's clothes in all the Twelfth 
 Corps. All our chaplains were away sick or in hos- 
 pitals, and a hundred or two gathered at the appointed 
 time. We sat around or kneeled upon the ground, and 
 Uncle John prayed as he only could pray. The meet- 
 ing was going pleasantly on when a soldier from Gen- 
 eral Ruger's headquarters stepped into the circle, and 
 touching Uncle John, said, ' The general wants you.' 
 Not the least confused, he said, ' Boys, go right on ; 
 the general wants to see me, ' and he marched at the 
 side^bf the soldier a prisoner over to the headquarters 
 of the brigade twenty rods or more away. He was 
 there accosted with the rough inquiry, ' Who are you, 
 and what are you here for ? You are not the chaplain 
 of either of those regiments. We shot a man as a spy 
 who came into our camp as you have come to-day. 
 By whose authority are you here ? ' ' Oh, I know the 
 whole of the 150th Regiment,' said Uncle John. 'I 
 am an agent of the American Tract Society, and have 
 a pass through the whole army of the Potomac from 
 
GOING TO THE FRONT. 99 
 
 General Patrick and President Lincoln. And now, 
 General, do you love the Lord Jesus Christ ? We can 
 have a little season of prayer right here. ' ' No, no, ' 
 said General Ruger. ' Here, orderly, take this man 
 back, and I will see Colonel Ketcham about him. ' So 
 Uncle John was back before the meeting ended, and it 
 proved one of the best meetings I ever attended in the 
 army. 
 
 ' ' On the resignation of our chaplain, Rev. T. E. 
 Vassar, his Uncle John was unanimously elected to fill 
 the vacancy. Army regulations, however, required 
 that a chaplain should be an ordained minister, which 
 he was not. A strong letter from the officers of the 
 regiment was sent to his church at Poughkeepsie, urging 
 them to call a council for uncle John's ordination, he 
 having been licensed as a preacher some time before. 
 He went home to take counsel touching the step, and 
 found his church fully ready to proceed. Some out- 
 side parties, however — and some who ought to have 
 been the last to whisper it — hinted to him that he was 
 looking to the chaplaincy from sordid motives, the de- 
 sire for paltry pelf. That settled the question. Of all 
 men he was the last to deserve a thrust like that. If 
 ever there lived an utterly unselfish soul it was he. 
 But he would not put himself where his influence 
 might be injured by such an imputation. Back he 
 went to his old work at twenty-five dollars a month, 
 instead of a chaplain's hundred and twenty-five, 
 the same loving, busy, devoted soul that he was be- 
 fore. Our Twelfth Corps was then sent to the West 
 
too UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 and South-west to follow Sherman to the sea, and we 
 never had Uncle John with us again. He sent us, 
 however, occasional letters still, and among those who 
 survive and remember those days his memory is sweet. 
 
 "I have known the man since 1851, and only to 
 love and almost adore him as the most perfect exem- 
 plifier of Christ whom I ever knew. He was one of 
 God's own noblemen. Disciplined, tried, purified, he 
 shone like burnished gold. Often I heard unbelieving 
 officers say that if they could have a religion such as 
 his they would prize it above all price. What he suf- 
 fered and endured in serving Christ and his fellow-men, 
 and what the grand results, the eternal day must be 
 left to tell." 
 
 Rev. E. Owen, of Wyomtng County, N. Y., has 
 something to give us concerning these same years. ' ' My 
 first acquaintance with him was at Alexandria, Va., 
 during the war, where I was then engaged as Superin- 
 tendent of the Freedmen's Bureau. It was the day 
 after I received the intelligence that my son had 
 been killed in the army. Feeling the need of a human 
 sympathizer, after pouring out my grief to the Friend 
 above, I went in the suburbs to look him up. His 
 heart, like mine, was bleeding, for he had just heard of 
 the loss of a dear Christian nephew, a staff officer of 
 Banks', in Texas, who had recently been drowned.* 
 Common grief cemented our hearts from that very 
 hour. 
 
 * Lieutenant A. H. Vassar, of the Thirteenth Regiment, Corps 
 d'Afrique, drowned on duty near Point Isabel, February 6th, 1864. 
 
 .-Jt*: 
 
GOING TO THE FRONT. 101 
 
 After that, as he passed back and forth in his 
 work, we were glad to have him drop in for a few min- 
 utes at our home, or spend occasionally a night. 
 Those were precious hours. There would be intervals 
 during which he would wake from sleep for a few min- 
 utes, and the first conscious breath would be prayer 
 and praise. Soon as ever the day dawned we would hear 
 him say, ' Come, brethren, let us be up and about the 
 Master's work.' In connection with no life have I been 
 so deeply impressed with the truth of that expression, 
 
 ' Prayer is the Christian's vital breath.' 
 He seemed greatly to enjoy the social hour, but if 
 conversation was leading off the track, he would ex- 
 claim, ' Brethren, we must keep praying,' and forth- 
 with drop down upon his knees, and draw all wander- 
 ing thoughts back to God and duty at the mercy seat. 
 One remarkable feature of his prayers, and which, 
 apart from their special unction, made them so inter- 
 esting, was the fact that he remembered the names 
 and condition of those whom he had met, and formed 
 them into petitions so forcible and appropriate as to 
 give his supplications a freshness and variety seldom 
 witnessed, and to fasten them as a nail in a sure place 
 to produce effects likely to be lasting. 
 
 "After taking his long and weary tramps from 
 regiment to regiment, literally loaded with books, 
 tracts, papers, and other necessaries for the soldiers, . 
 he would sometimes return with his shoe-soles worn 
 through to the very feet, but he scorned to rest while 
 the neccessities of the times were so great." 
 
 9* 
 
102 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 But it is time we let the intrepid toiler tell us a 
 little concerning his work, and tell it in his own words. 
 There are letters and reports in his handwriting which 
 would fill a volume such as this touching the labors 
 of these days. 
 
 When in the autumn of 1863 the advance on the 
 Rapidan was made, he says : 
 
 " We followed the poor boys out part of the way 
 to the Rappahannock, and as they cried, ' Good-by, 
 Uncle John,' the big tears rolled down many of their 
 cheeks. We felt deeply for them, and soon the roar 
 of cannon told us they had met the enemy in mortal 
 combat. In the morning ambulances of wounded men 
 came in calling for food and nursing. We joined the 
 Christian Commission in its labor of love for two days, 
 and passed through many affecting scenes." 
 
 A month later he is back at Alexandria in the 
 " Soldiers' Rest," and thence he writes : "I have 
 helped in two meetings a night for some time. The 
 attendance is large, and many are serious, while a few 
 have confessed Christ." 
 
 Here he meets the venerable Jeremiah H. Taylor, 
 of Connecticut, a brother of James Brainerd Taylor, of 
 saintly memory, a man who as this sentence is flowing 
 from the pen is entering on his eighty-third year, but 
 was then laboring for the bodies and souls of the 
 soldiers with great diligence and success. These mis- 
 sionaries, thus brought together, were true yoke-fel- 
 lows, and when the younger entered upon rest the 
 elder toiler traced with trembling hand this testimony 
 to his departed friend. 
 
GOING TO THE FRONT. 103 
 
 " It was my blessed privilege to be a fellow-laborer 
 with this dear brother in the war. I never saw one on 
 whose tongue the precious name of Jesus dwelt so 
 much. It was the key-note to every utterance, it was 
 the mainspring of all toil. How he unites now in that 
 anthem of Paradise ' unto Him who loved us !' " 
 
 Hear the toiler again: " Last evening we heard from 
 several converts in Battery H. It was worth all my labor 
 here to listen to the story of what grace had done for 
 them. At the Soldiers' Rest one fine young man cried 
 out, ' O that God would have mercy on me.. My 
 mother died but a few days since, and begged me to 
 meet her in heaven. ' Another told me that he had 
 left home to get rid of his mother's entreaties and 
 prayers, but the Spirit had followed him and rung 
 them in his ears. He has had a hard struggle, but 
 I believe has submitted his heart to Christ. ' ' 
 
 Later in the winter he is down among the huts and 
 tents of the Third Army Corps. 
 
 Rejoicingly he reports to the rooms in New York 
 marvels of saving grace. " I have never seen such a 
 work since coming out. There are crowded meetings 
 every night. Christians are all aroused. Converts 
 are being multipled; In the spring the entire com- 
 mand will move, and many of these will go out to die 
 on the bloody field." 
 
 A chaplain at the same date writes to the Society : 
 " We are greatly indebted to you for sending Uncle 
 John here. We wish he could have remained all winter. 
 When he bade us good-by it was with prayers and 
 
io 4 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 tears that reminded me of the elders parting with Paul 
 at Miletus. He went away with his knees all ragged, 
 like a scarred veteran. ' ' 
 
 He runs home for a few days, and on getting 
 back to Washington finds that he cannot get at once 
 inside our lines on account of some new orders which 
 have just been given. No time must be lost, so he 
 goes to work among the troops around the capital. 
 We can imagine how he would enjoy a service such as 
 this : " Sunday afternoon General Briggs, who has 
 charge of all volunteers passing through here to the 
 front, went with me to a meeting in a Pennsylvania 
 regiment, where we had present a thousand officers 
 and men. I wish you could have seen the General as 
 he faced these men, and heard the words he pressed 
 upon their hearts. I have not met such another Chris- 
 tian officer excepting General McAllister. Old Mas- 
 sachusetts may well be proud of such a son. He is a 
 tower of strength to Christian laborers here. ' ' 
 
 After the terrible battles in the "Wilderness" he 
 got down to Fredericksburg, where the wounded had 
 been brought in, and thence he writes : " I am sur- 
 rounded by the dying and the dead. From morning 
 to night, and often through the night, I am called to 
 aid temporarily or spiritually those who are nearing 
 eternity. I have not passed by the poor rebel sol- 
 diers. Some of them were very grateful for little kind- 
 nesses shown. 
 
 " I have been detailed with several others to nurse 
 and care for some five hundred of our wounded men. 
 
GOING TO THE FRONT. 105 
 
 Many of them knew me, and a number, when under- 
 going amputation, would beg me to come and stand by 
 their sides. Thank God for our holy religion. In the 
 midst of so much suffering I see some great triumphs 
 of grace." 
 
 Next he is with General Butler's army at Point of 
 Rocks, ministering to those in the convalescent camps 
 injured in the attack on Petersburg, and this is the 
 story that he tells : " I cannot describe what my eyes 
 have seen, my ears heard, and my heart felt these ten 
 days past ; feeding men whose mouths have been 
 torn by bullets, or whose throats so injured that they 
 could hardly take nourishment sufficient to sustain 
 life, distributing the stores of the Sanitary and Chris- 
 tian Commissions, praying with the dying, relieving 
 men who for six weeks have been over the suffering or 
 burying the dead — this has been my work. ' ' 
 
 From before Petersburg, where the Sanitary Com- 
 mission finds in him a valued helper and puts large 
 supplies at his disposal, he reports : " The firing is 
 almost continuous along portions of our line. Many 
 of the dear converts of last winter are falling, and are 
 being laid to their long rest. One of them I had 
 looked to as chosen of God for great good'. Talented 
 and generous, courageous, yet childlike, I have not 
 often met his like. I saw him after he had fallen, the 
 stars and stripes yet in his hands. His face was as 
 radiant as when we last sang with him his favorite 
 hymn, ' There is an hour of peaceful rest. ' 
 
 "Another dear spirit was cut down in a recent 
 
io6 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 charge. I saw him after the amputation of his leg, and 
 before he died. He seemed calm, cheerful, and full 
 of delight in Christ. Speaking of his part in the en- 
 gagement, he said, ' I did all I could. ' These and 
 many others are buried close up to the enemy's lines, 
 but the loving Jesus watches over them as though 
 they slept in the old family burial ground. . . 
 
 " One of the converts, after the explosion of the 
 mine, came out badly hurt. He was placed among the 
 wounded, and when I got there he lifted up the stump 
 of a missing limb and cried, ' Uncle John, . I have lost 
 my arm, but I have not lost my hold on Jesus.' " 
 
 At City Point, amid the trenches, he was completely 
 prostrated, and lay for days very ill. Ex-Mayor Fay, 
 of Chelsea, Mass., took him to his tent and showed 
 him such attention as a brother might. By Thanks- 
 giving (1864) he is able to work again, and thus men- 
 tions the observance of that day : " We had religious 
 service in all the forts and trenches, and at the hospi- 
 tals and headquarters. The turkeys and pies arrived. 
 Many thanks to all who so remembered our brave 
 men. 
 
 " Several more good boys belonging to our Chris- 
 tian brotherhood are gone. Sergeant L was 
 
 brought in dead while I was standing in the fort. A 
 ball passed through his body. He never even groaned. 
 
 When they picked him up Chaplain H told him 
 
 to look to Jesus. He looked up, and calmly said, 
 ' Jesus is with me now. God's will be done.' " 
 
 On the first Sabbath in February, 1865, he writes 
 
GOING TO THE FRONT. jo 7 
 
 from Patrick's Station : ' ' We had expected to dedicate 
 several new log chapels and have some very interesting 
 services to-day, but as we were getting ready the men 
 were suddenly ordered to move to the left. For the 
 last half hour the roar of cannon has been very hard. 
 Some of the men who were so happy in our meeting 
 last night, and who went out so cheerfully this morn- 
 ing, have been brought in dead. My heart sickens as I 
 look on the bloody ground and remember what sorrow 
 will be brought to many a home by this day's fight." 
 
 After the battle of Hatcher's Run comes this strik- 
 ing incident : "At one of the recent meetings this 
 fact came out. In the last move a Christian young 
 man in the camp was detailed to remain behind for some 
 service while an impenitent tent-mate was ordered on. 
 Anxious for the yet unsaved comrade, and fearing that 
 the engagement might be a serious one, the pious sol- 
 dier offered to change places with his chum, saying 
 frankly that he believed he was prepared for whatever 
 might come. The offer was accepted, and in the 
 bloody battle that followed the friend who went was 
 three times hit, but not seriously hurt. The impression 
 made on the other soul was so deep as to send him at 
 once to Christ." '*,; 
 
 Another, then a chaplain, Rev. L. R. Janes, now 
 of Jefferson County, Tennessee, thus witnesses of 
 Uncle John's services in the camp : 
 
 " I first met him in a field hospital at City Point, 
 Virginia, and must confess that I did not immediately 
 understand the man. I saw at once that he was a de- 
 
io8 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR: 
 
 cided character, and very quickly discovered that he 
 was all on fire with love to Jesus and his fellow-men. 
 
 " Learning of my position, he sought to secure my 
 co-operation in a plan of work embracing the entire 
 brigade. I entered into the arrangement, though with 
 little of his faith. Wickedness was peculiarly rife, 
 drinking, gambling, and the like prevailing all along the 
 line. He knew that well, but he walked not by sight. 
 
 " Through the Christian Commission he secured for 
 our use a chapel tent, nightly services were com- 
 menced, and for several weeks, until the army moved, 
 a glorious and sweeping revival was enjoyed. Brother 
 Vassar was very modest through it all. Although the 
 prime mover, he invariably sought to bring the regular 
 chaplains to the front, so that the most scrupulous 
 sticklers for propriety could not have complained. 
 
 " Of course the worldly minded could not appreci- 
 ate his consecration. Jome of them insisted that the 
 good man was partly crazed. My colonel was quite 
 reluctant on this account to have him come before our 
 regiment. It was not long, however, before he 
 changed his mind. While lying in a hospital wound- 
 ed, Brother Vassar called on him, and so won him over 
 that, on returning to his command, he said, ' Uncle 
 John's about right after all.' " 
 
 Sunday morning, April ist, 1865, was what might 
 be properly called the last Sabbath of the war. Of 
 that day, and those immediately following, let us hear 
 what he has to say. 
 
 " Sunday morning dawned on a field of strife and 
 
GOING TO THE FRONT. 109 
 
 blood and death. Such a Sabbath I had not in all my 
 army experience seen. For three miles I passed along 
 the lines amid roaring cannon and bursting shells, where 
 the ' gray ' and the ' blue ' often lay close together, 
 mingling their life-blood and dying groans. We little 
 realized in the confusion and horror of that day that 
 the God of our fathers was using our men to strike 
 the blows which should bring the long conflict to an 
 end. 
 
 " Monday morning found our great army in pur- 
 suit of Lee and his troubled host. We followed with 
 out sanitary wagons until we reached Burkesville. By 
 that time so many had been wounded that the sur- 
 geons decided to establish a hospital there. In that I 
 have busied myself for days. As we moved along the 
 roads the colored people flocked out to see the 
 ' Yankees, ' as they called us, and in many queer ways 
 they expressed their joy. One shouted, ' Ole Vir- 
 ginny neber tire, but now she tire. ' 
 
 ' ' Now we have the glorious news that General Lee 
 has surrendered. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Many 
 of our poor wounded boys have almost forgotten their 
 sufferings in their joy over the report." 
 
 Immediately on the occupation of Richmond the 
 Tract Society sent Rev. G. L. Shearer there to take 
 charge of its work in Virginia, and for some months 
 Uncle John was his efficient ally in trying to repair, 
 morally and religiously at least, the ravages of war. 
 To a later chapter these labors properly belong.- 
 
 His army work was done. He had lived to see an 
 
 John E. V«nar. * ° 
 
no UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 honorable peace shed its light on the banner of stars. 
 He ' had lived to see the monstrous evil, which had 
 been his abhorrence always, and which had lain at the 
 bottom of the struggle, not only shattered, but torn 
 up root and branch. He saw guns stacked and 
 swords sheathed, and battle-flags bullet-rent and pow- 
 der-blackened hung up for a later generation's wonder- 
 ing eyes. He saw the white tents folded, the wards 
 of suffering empty, and the lines of blue-coats melt 
 noiselessly away. And nobody rejoiced more than he 
 that the red river of blood had ceased to flow, that 
 no more harvests would be trampled down, no more 
 beds littered with the worn or maimed, no more 
 households darkened and shivered, no more graves 
 opened and filled. And yet with something like a 
 pang, too, he saw the old regiments mustered out. A 
 thousand memories, some bitter, some bright, 'linked 
 him and them — with whom he had tramped and camp- 
 ed and messed and bunked, and suffered and prayed 
 and praised. Long isolation from home had drawn 
 their hearts together. From the fierce charge he had 
 brought some back bleeding, and bound up their 
 wounds. In the fever ward, where they had tossed and 
 moaned, he had come to others and watched with the 
 tenderness of a woman's love. With hundreds he had 
 plead and wrestled when as penitent sinners they were 
 looking and longing for the light, and rejoiced with 
 them when as converts they saw the new and living 
 way by which a contrite soul returns to God. With 
 older believers there had been seasons of blessed 
 
GOING TO THE FRONT. in 
 
 communion ; times when the fellowship of kindred 
 minds had indeed been "like to that above." And 
 beside the living there were the dead who had been 
 left lying all along the line of march. Hours very 
 sweet and precious he had spent with some of them. 
 For a few he had even dug a grave, and wrapping their 
 blankets around them, had lowered them into it, telling 
 those helping meanwhile of that Christ Jesus who is 
 the Redeemer and the Resurrection. 
 
 What wonder, if with devout gladness, and yet a 
 trace of sadness, he saw this work end ! 
 
 The results of these years it would be impossible to 
 compute or calculate. We believe it perfectly safe to 
 say that no single man ever performed in like space 
 more personal labor, or amid like surroundings ever 
 made a deeper or better mark on men. 
 
 For any thing more definite we must wait the dis- 
 closures of that all-judging day, whose reckonings will 
 be correct. 
 
ii2 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 NEW CAMPAIGNS. 
 
 " Where our Captain bids us go, 
 'Tis not ours to murmur No ; 
 He that gives the sword and shield 
 Chooses too the battle field. ' ' 
 
 THE armies of the nation vanished as suddenly as 
 they emerged, leaving but ' ' the blessed memory of the 
 rights they vindicated, and the honorable scars of the 
 wrongs which they redressed." Chaplains who had 
 been granted leave of absence from their flocks went 
 back to lead them as aforetime through the green pas- 
 tures and beside the still waters of Gospel peace. 
 Uncle John did not follow the disbanding regiments 
 northward. He saw a new field for operations opening 
 in the States which war had stripped and torn and 
 gashed. To enter it would require great tact, and 
 grace. Sectional animosities could hardly fail to be en- 
 gendered during a four years' struggle, costing the 
 lives of half a million men — animosities lasting and 
 bitter and deep. This incident, given by Rev. G. S. 
 Mott, D.D., of Flemington, N. J., would probably be 
 a fair illustration of the temper of those times : 
 
 " Soon after hostilities ceased, Uncle John was 
 sent by the Tract Society into a certain section of 
 Virginia to ascertain what the public feeling was 
 
NEW CAMPAIGNS. 113 
 
 with reference to the Society and its work. Among 
 those called upon was a prominent Presbyterian clergy- 
 man, whom he met on entering the yard, or at the 
 gate. On making known his errand the minister re- 
 plied, ' Do you know what is in my heart ? ' 'Of 
 course not,' said Uncle John, ' but I hope it is good.' 
 ' Not at all,' was the reply. ' My feeling is to kill 
 you. I hope God gives me grace to prevent me 
 from carrying that feeling out, but now you know just 
 how I feel toward the North.' 
 
 " Before the interview ended the angry preacher 
 was thoroughly melted down, but the wrathful and 
 vindictive spirit with which he greeted a brother 
 Christian was a sample of the disposition dominant in 
 those days." To overcome it would require calmness, 
 readiness, self-control, and in a sevenfold degree that 
 charity which suffereth long and is kind. 
 
 Those who did not know the man whom we are 
 tracing may think it almost incredible that he should 
 have possessed these qualities. To them he has been 
 represented as an excitable, impulsive, emotional en- 
 thusiast, rushing hither and thither all aflame ; and 
 they cannot understand how such a character could 
 ever have been , a peacemaker, how such a zealot 
 could have poured oil on troubled waters, how one so 
 positive and even turbulent could have dealt effect- 
 ively with fractious tempers and stubborn wills. We 
 may not pause here to harmonize these apparent in- 
 compatibilities. The two sides of an arch toward the 
 base seem opposing columns, but up above they lock 
 
ii4 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 together, forming one perfect whole. Human nature 
 often wraps up what looks like incongruities, but sym- 
 metry is the outcome still. Certain it is that John 
 Vassar was the very incarnation of fervor ; it is just as 
 certain that under the sorest provocations he with per- 
 fect patience possessed his soul. 
 
 As was intimated in the last chapter, the Tract 
 Society opened a depot for its publications in Rich- 
 mond in May of 1865. Rev. Geo. L. Shearer, as Dis- 
 trict Secretary, was put in charge. Uncle John was 
 to push out as opportunity might offer, organizing 
 Sunday-schools, establishing meetings, and circulating 
 religious reading matter to such an extent as the 
 Society might be able to provide. 
 
 Secretary Shearer gives this idea of the demand : 
 
 " All the churches are exceedingly destitute of any 
 thing like religious literature. Their denominational 
 publishing houses were consumed in the late fire. Sab- 
 bath-schools shared their libraries with the soldiers, 
 and the usual wear for four years leaves little stock on 
 hand. Seventy thousand dollars' worth of publications 
 could be judiciously distributed on this field, and the 
 need of colporteur labor from house to house is great." 
 
 Dr. J. M. Stevenson, who had been instructed by 
 the Committee of the Society to make an exploring 
 tour of the South in the early summer, gives these im- 
 pressions through the columns of the Messenger. 
 " There are yet difficulties in the way of a cordial in- 
 tercourse with the people, and many still refuse fra- 
 ternal greetings, but the better minds and hearts are 
 
NEW CAMPAIGNS. 115 
 
 flowing together. There are more than a million of 
 whites and blacks in Eastern Virginia living on planta- 
 tions, and these, if reached at all by the Gospel, must 
 be reached by colportage for some time to come. In 
 many places they have no money. One man said to 
 me, ' I have not had half a dollar for two months. ' An 
 able and honored professor in college has sold his fur- 
 niture piecemeal to get bread. Many once wealthy are 
 pensioners upon the Government. Three thousand 
 colored children are in the freedmen's schools at Rich- 
 mond, and perhaps four thousand in Sabbath-schools." 
 
 These glimpses of the condition of things will show 
 us what was now to be Uncle John's work for a sea- 
 son ; what was to be the character of his new cam- 
 paigns. 
 
 His first communication opens thus: "Reached 
 Richmond Saturday, and the next day went into Dr. 
 Jeter's Sabbath-school, where the reception was warm 
 and kind. Afternoon went among the colored people, 
 and got a cordial welcome. Evening had a good meet- 
 ing among the soldiers yet remaining here. The next 
 Sabbath went down to Petersburg, and there heaven 
 was brought nearer to me than for weeks before. The 
 remembrance of the days when we lay in the trenches 
 here, and of the prayers that went up from lips now 
 still in death, stirred me up to magnify the Lord. I 
 spoke to a large gathering of colored people, and many 
 hearts seemed touched. Eight asked prayers, and I 
 felt that a work of grace had begun with many more. 
 
 " In the First African Church, Richmond, we had 
 
n6 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 another precious and powerful meeting. More than 
 thirty were greatly troubled, and some wept aloud. A 
 great awakening, I believe, is near. Oh, for youthful 
 strength and heavenly grace to labor for my dearest 
 Lord." 
 
 The prediction was quickly verified. This First 
 African Church, which had been for years the rendez- 
 vous or headquarters of the colored Baptists of the city, 
 and had a membership of over three thousand, was visit- 
 ed by a most remarkable outpouring of saving grace. 
 At its height the body of the house was mainly filled 
 with inquiring souls, and frequently its nearly twenty- 
 five hundred sittings were all occupied before the ex- 
 ercises of the hour began. While the interest prevail- 
 ed Uncle John met the members for prayer at day- 
 break. Till noon he visited and prayed in their fami- 
 lies. At twelve he went into the colored schools and 
 spent an hour with those who were specially concern- 
 ed. At four o'clock he met inquirers along with the 
 pastor. At seven o'clock he addressed the crowds 
 that assembled from night to night. Nearly five hun- 
 dred were added to this single church. 
 
 From Richmond he pushed out into the country 
 around, Danville, Lynchburg, and other large places 
 engaging him for a few days each. In the midsummer 
 of 1865 he was travelling southward in the State, and 
 stopping at a station on the railroad, learned that in 
 some coal mines near there were large companies of 
 freedmen who had no school, and for whom no one 
 seemed to care. Such a statement was enough to in- 
 
NEW CAMPAIGNS. 117 
 
 terest him in their behalf.* He found a planter three 
 miles away who agreed to superintend a Sabbath- 
 school. A little further searching, and a building was 
 obtained in which to meet. Notice was circulated as 
 widely as possible, and the next Lord's Day a hundred 
 came together to be taught. He scattered among 
 these spellers and primers, and put up a card large 
 enough for all to see, from which he gave them their 
 first lesson. So eagerly did the people avail them- 
 selves of the help thus proffered that the school proved 
 a marked success at once. Inspired by it, they even 
 started a day-school, taught by one of their own race. 
 Out of that soon came a church ; out of the teacher 
 came a pastor, and on a subsequent visit Uncle John 
 found a hundred converts ready to confess Christ. Is 
 it surprising that he wrote, ' ' I feel thankful that I was 
 ever permitted to visit this place. I wish the friend 
 that gave fifteen dollars to purchase the books that 
 started that school could see it now, and into what it has 
 grown. Surely he would praise God as we did yester- 
 day. 
 
 Hear him again report : " Last Sabbath I visited the 
 country near Powhatan Court-House, and established a 
 Sunday-school in the woods. A hundred of the young 
 and old attended, some of whom came five miles. 
 A number of planters were present, who admitted they 
 had never seen persons more anxious to learn. A 
 log-house for the school will at once be built. I can 
 get up such schools every week if you can give the 
 cards and books. We cannot ask the colored folks to 
 
n8 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 pay for them. They have all they can do to get bread. 
 At Dover, where I established a school a few weeks 
 ago, I stopped on my return. Some of the scholars 
 ran to meet me, shouting, ' Uncle John, T have learned 
 to read a heap since you were here. ' Better still, more 
 than fifty have turned to Christ." 
 
 As a slight rest from these exhausting labors, Uncle 
 John several times came North, and in the larger 
 towns of the Eastern and Middle States sought to raise 
 funds for the Society wherewith to prosecute its 
 Southern work. This was never, however, the service 
 which he preferred, and perhaps it would be but the 
 simple truth to say that it was not the service in which 
 he specially excelled. He could sell books, and he 
 could collect money. He did both. But he was not a 
 great salesman, nor a remarkable financier. He had 
 royal gifts, but they were of quite another sort. 
 Sometimes one of his warm-hearted statements of 
 Southern destitution would move many and secure a 
 large contribution. This incident of the kind seems 
 authentic: "In Northern New York a country Sun- 
 day-school, after listening to his portrayal of the state 
 of things in Virginia, and the demands of the hour, 
 poured all their available funds into his handkerchief, 
 class after class contributing till more than eighty dol- 
 lars had been given. ' ' 
 
 With the closing days of 1866 he gets over the line 
 into North Carolina, where black and white alike give 
 him the kindest of welcomes. On Christmas day he thus 
 reports : " I have just returned from the Moravian set- 
 
NEW CAMPAIGNS. ti 9 
 
 tlement at Salem. I made the journey of sixty miles 
 on horseback, through more than fifty of which I did 
 not see a single school-house. Bishop Bahnson and 
 his brethren were very cordial. They are a grand mis- 
 sionary church. Their mark can be seen in all that 
 region. Numbers are coming to Jesus. Hundreds 
 within a few weeks have made their peace with 
 God." 
 
 South Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky he re- 
 connoitres to see what prospects offer for educational 
 and evangelistic work. He reports prejudices soften- 
 ing everywhere, but sore poverty amounting often to 
 absolute distress. In the latter State he makes the 
 acquaintance of an earnest Christian woman, concern- 
 ing whom he tells this story : "In 1863 one of 
 Morgan's raiders was thrown from his horse near Lex- 
 ington and mortally injured. He was taken to the 
 house of this lady, who, while doing all she could to 
 relieve his bodily suffering, labored assiduously for the 
 salvation of his soul. After several days of keen dis- 
 tress Christ was revealed, and peace came. Before he 
 died his kind hostess promised that his body should be 
 taken for burial to his Georgia home. At the close 
 of the war she fulfilled her pledge, and laid him in a 
 grave by his father's side. While on this errand she was 
 touched by the extreme destitution prevailing in that 
 portion of the State. Many were going literally hun- 
 gry, and of the means of grace there was an utter lack. 
 She sent back to her own neighborhood an appeal for 
 food, and vast quantities of corn were gathered up and 
 
120 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 forwarded to her for the relief of their more pressing 
 wants. While superintending the distribution of these 
 supplies she organized among whites and blacks nine- 
 teen Sunday-schools, and secured books and papers for 
 their use. She now proposes to go into the mountain 
 regions of her own State, where it is said that there are 
 twelve thousand families without- the Word of God, 
 and make a similar effort. Who will help this self- 
 sacrificing, heroic woman ?" 
 
 What large results may be realized from small be- 
 ginnings another letter of his, written about this time, 
 tells. " In a neighborhood of Stafford County, Virginia, 
 where there was no Sabbath-school when I first visited 
 it, and where I could at that time get no one to engage 
 in the enterprise, a 2ady tells me how God led her 
 husband into the work. When he went home from 
 our meeting he told her that he had lived fifty years 
 without Jesus, but could do so no longer. He sent 
 for a minister to come to his house and preach. The 
 truth was blessed to his own salvation. Fifty others 
 soon followed in his steps. A church was organized. 
 A meeting-house holding two hundred has been built, 
 and I remained and organized a Sunday-school in it, 
 which will have a hundred children enrolled before the 
 summer ends." 
 
 Toward the autumn of 1868 he starts for Florida, 
 and, while stopping at Savannah, he goes out to Be- 
 thesda, where under the grand old oaks Whitefield so 
 often preached, and where he established his Orphan's 
 Home. We can easily imagine how his heart would 
 
NEW CAMPAIGNS. 121 
 
 be thrilled on such ground, and what prayers there 
 burst from his lips. 
 
 In Florida his good friend Dr. Bronson, of St. Au- 
 gustine, formerly of New York, gives him a warm sup- 
 port. Uncle John here finds experiences rather rougher 
 in some respects than any encountered heretofore. 
 Let him describe some of the difficulties met. " I 
 have concluded that I was led here to learn the apos- 
 tolic mode of evangelization. I cannot say with the 
 apostle that ' a day and a night I have been in the 
 deep,' but I can say that I have waded through the 
 water for miles, and often knee-deep, to reach the 
 scattered settlements. 
 
 " Last week, with James Middleton, an old pioneer 
 Methodist preacher, as guide, I attempted to reach St. 
 John's County to establish a few schools. Sometimes 
 for two miles at a stretch we went through water in the 
 swamps and on the savannas from six inches to two 
 feet deep. We kept up our courage, however, by sing- 
 ing, 
 
 ' No foot of land do I possess, 
 No cottage in the wilderness.' 
 
 We made ten miles in five hours, and got to the 
 end of our journey well soaked. How delightful is this 
 work for Jesus ! As I lay out all night last week I felt 
 like praising Him aloud. Who would not gladly spare a 
 few years out of heaven's bliss to gather jewels for the 
 precious Saviour's crown ? ' If we suffer we shall also 
 reign with Him.' Oh, that we all might know the 
 meaning of these words." 
 
 John E. V»u»r. * I 
 
122 UNCLE JOHN V ASS AH. 
 
 Stopping for a few hours with Dr. Bronson in his 
 pleasant Southern home in the spring of 1870, we 
 heard his testimony to the wonderful labors performed 
 by Uncle John all up and down the St. John's, the 
 heartiness with which the humbler classes welcomed 
 him, and the blessings which everywhere crowned his 
 toil. And at Green Cove Springs and Magnolia and 
 Pilatka and Jacksonville black and white alike re- 
 membered him, and warmed up at the mention of his 
 name. 
 
 In 1868 he spent some time in Central and West- 
 ern New York, of which we get glimpses such as 
 these : 
 
 ' ' There was a revival in the Brick Presbyterian 
 Church of Rochester, and Uncle John, accompanied by 
 one of the elders, went from house to house. 
 
 The elder felt quite nervous at the first for fear 
 that something might be said or done which would be 
 out of place or in bad taste. He was afraid that Uncle 
 John, who was a plain man and fresh from army and 
 freedmen's work, might be out of his element in mix- 
 ing with a higher social class. But after the first two 
 or three calls every fear of this sort was dissipated. 
 He found Uncle John was equal to any place or class. 
 He made no blunders, and was above and beyond criti- 
 cism. To him it was a wonder that this man, untu- 
 tored in social etiquette or conventionalities, struck so 
 nearly right every time. Two or three things account- 
 ed for it. He had naturally the instincts of a true 
 gentleman. He was quick to read human nature, and 
 
NEW CAMPAIGNS. 123 
 
 he had a large amount of sanctified common-sense 
 which never forsook him. 
 
 " I once saw him ask a man if he loved Jesus. The 
 man was a German, and could not understand a word 
 said. Uncle John was not to be baffled by such a fact 
 as this. He pointed with his finger upward, and with 
 an expression on his face that spoke more than words, 
 he caused his German friend to comprehend his mean- 
 ing. 
 
 " One day while in Rochester he happened to be 
 in the store of one of our leading business men, and, as 
 was his wont, took the opportunity to speak a word on 
 the subject of religion with those who came in. Some 
 were evidently surprised, but none seemed offended. 
 After Uncle John went out, a railroad conductor came 
 in, who was rough and sometimes violent, especially if 
 his prejudices happened to be crossed. What had 
 been going on in the store was causally mentioned, 
 whereupon this conductor exclaimed, ' Well, neither he 
 nor any other man would dare try that on me. If he 
 did he would get a piece of my mind. 
 
 ' ' The very next day the two men chanced to meet 
 there. Uncle John, all ignorant of what had been said, 
 edged around to the conductor, and presently out came 
 the inevitable question, ' My friend, may I ask if you 
 love Jesus ? ' The proprietor of the store now expect- 
 ed a scene. Instead of that the man only stammered 
 out a few words of explanation or apology over the 
 fact that he did not. When Uncle John left, the con- 
 ductor asked, ' Who was that man ? ' The storekeeper 
 
i2 4 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 replied, ' Uncle John Vassar, the man I told you of 
 yesterday.' ' Is it, indeed ? ' he said. ' Well, he is a 
 good fellow any way. ' ' 
 
 Now he goes to minister to still another class. In 
 the summer of 1869 the Tract Society determined to 
 put its system of colportage in operation along the 
 Pacific Railroad, among the mining regions of the 
 Rocky Mountains, and up and down the country's 
 sunset slopes. Mr. Shearer, so long in charge of the 
 Richmond agency, was intrusted with the work, and to 
 his assistance he called the man who had shared with 
 him other trusts and toils. 
 
 In the cabins of Colorado miners we next find 
 Uncle John. It's hard material that he here comes in 
 contact with and seeks to mould for holiness and 
 heaven. He takes in the situation at a glance, and 
 says, " No man of weak faith and little love can succeed 
 here. It will take a soul of the John Knox stamp to 
 get hold of the men who venture here for silver and 
 gold." But undaunted by what is unpromising, he 
 strikes right in. Before he leaves, these adventurers 
 and fortune-seekers are melted under the truth of God, 
 as voiced by loving lips and energized by the Spirit's 
 might. Hear him tell again the old story : " We had 
 four meetings on Sunday, and I have not seen more 
 tears shed for a long time. Strong men broke down 
 as they were plead with, or while prayer was being 
 offered in their behalf. A few very devout souls are to 
 be found here, and I have enjoyed a rich feast of love 
 with them." 
 
NEW CAMPAIGNS. 125 
 
 He finds a little English lad in the boarding house 
 who has recently given his heart to Christ, and he sets 
 him to work distributing religious reading, and begs 
 the brethren at the rooms on Nassau Street to send the 
 young disciple longing to be useful twenty copies of 
 the Messenger monthly to circulate. 
 
 At Virginia City, Sacramento, and at Stockton he 
 labors for a few days with different pastors, and Mr. 
 Shearer reports that this wayside sowing everywhere 
 bears fruit. 
 
 In the first-named town on Sunday afternoon he 
 exhorted in front of a noted gambling saloon. " The 
 attendance was large and the attention good. Some 
 at the close returned to their games disappointed that 
 with such a crowd there could not have been so much 
 as a dog fight ; others wondered where the margin for 
 profit could be, inasmuch as both the talking and the 
 tracts were free ; but in many ears the familiar, yet 
 long-forgotten, words of entreaty, invitation, and warn- 
 ing came with an almost melting power. 
 
 In San Francisco an agency of the Society is estab- 
 lished, and some stirring meetings held there, as well 
 as at Oakland and other towns in the interior, or up 
 and down the coast. The Chinese, that now vexing 
 factor in the national problem, were then beginning to 
 crowd over to our Pacific slope, and they greatly inter- 
 ested Uncle John. With one or two who had recently 
 been converted he had protracted and pleasant inter- 
 views, for every redeemed soul his heart went out to 
 as a brother's, whatever the nationality or name. 
 
i26 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 An influential pastor of the city, in communicating 
 with the " Roams," says : " The people are greatly in 
 love with Uncle John, and I do not wonder. Wher- 
 ever he goes the Lord is sure to be with him. He is 
 now among Dr. Scudder's people, and the elders are 
 going from house to house with him with tears." 
 
 While in San Francisco friends plan for him a little 
 trip for rest. They arrange that he shall visit the Yo- 
 semite Valley, and see God's wonders in nature there. 
 Always thinking of toil, and not of sight-seeing or ease, 
 he doubts at first whether it will be right for him to 
 go ; whether it will not be misappropriating time — time 
 which should be given to saving souls. His scruples 
 finally are overcome, and with congenial companions he 
 spends a week surrounded by what is stupendous and 
 sublime. Mere recreation, however, by no means en- 
 grosses his time or thought. All the grandeur and 
 beauty that meet his eyes are a mirror glassing the per- 
 fections of their Author, and his Father and Friend. 
 All the while he is breaking forth in praise. When the 
 Sabbath comes he and his brethren worship with a 
 group of Digger Indians gathered around and looking 
 curiously on. Oh, how Uncle John yearns for the 
 ability to tell these degraded specimens of human 
 kind of Jesus and His love ! If he could have seen one 
 of these stupid imbruted savages accepting Christ it 
 would have delighted him more than the glories of 
 towering cliffs and plunging cataracts. All he could 
 do toward reaching them, however, was to pray God to 
 speak to them by a tongue that they could understand. 
 
NEW CAMPAIGNS. 127 
 
 On this Western trip he makes a brief halt at Salt 
 Lake City, of which we have no record, but another 
 Christian laborer subsequently appointed to that hard 
 field found traces of his fidelity, evidences that he vig- 
 orously tilled a bit of that stubborn soil, and that the 
 effort was not altogether vain. 
 
 Florida now claims him again for the winter. And 
 the next summer Kansas is stirred by him as he pushes 
 from city to city, and from town to town, seeking to 
 interest Christian women especially and get them to 
 organize local societies for the visitation of families 
 and the distribution of tracts and books. A regular 
 system is in many places introduced. The larger cen- 
 tres of population are districted, and delegates found 
 for each section or street. Stated meetings are ar- 
 ranged for, with reports. 
 
 These in brief were the engagements and undertak- 
 ings of what we have called his new campaigns. The 
 freedmen, the poor whites of the South, the miners of 
 Nevada and Colorado and California, the Mormons of 
 Utah, the new settlers on the plains of Kansas and 
 along her streams, the hardy mountaineers of Kentucky 
 and East Tennessee — all were plied with whatsoever 
 Gospel truth could awe or win, attract or alarm, and 
 upborne on the strong arms of wrestling prayer. 
 
 The variety of incident entering into years of such 
 service eventually becomes thin and dreamy. It fades 
 out of sight as the shore does to the receding voyager. 
 Standing on the vessel's deck as it leaves port, the 
 passenger sees object after object disappear, till finally 
 
128 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 even high-topped hills and the light-house on the rock 
 are no longer visible. Time and its experiences so sink 
 away. Occurrences which impressed us deeply at the 
 first cease to be remembered as we travel on and they 
 are left further off. If a tithe of what Uncle John has 
 told us about the days just reviewed could be recalled 
 and repeated here it would be of thrilling interest. 
 Much of it would make the eye moisten and the heart 
 glow. If forgotten by us, however, all these details 
 and circumstances God remembers, and keeps them 
 working in the wide scheme of an unsleeping provi- 
 dence toward the foreseen and foretold dominion of His 
 Son. How vast may be the range of a blessing drop- 
 ping first in a negro hut or a prairie cabin ! Who can 
 calculate the final issues of an influence for good start- 
 ing on its line of march with a tract left at a door, or a 
 prayer offered within ? Who can limit the effect of an 
 interview like this which we have heard Uncle John 
 describe? We think it happened during his earlier 
 labors in the West. 
 
 In one house that was entered the praying wife of 
 an infidel husband begged that a Bible might be given 
 her, as there had been none in the home during all their 
 married life. One was furnished her, and the missionary 
 went his way. Hardly had he got out of sight when 
 the husband came in, and instantly his eye lit upon the 
 book. One glance aroused all his rage. Seizing the 
 volume with one hand, and his axe with the other, he 
 hurried out to the wood-pile, and laying it on the chop- 
 ping-block, he cut it through and through. Coming 
 
NEW CAMPAIGNS; 129 
 
 back to the cabin with the two pieces, he hurled one 
 toward the wife, saying in a mocking tone, " As you 
 claim a part of all the property around here', there is 
 your share of this." The other half was pitched up 
 into a niche wherelools were sometimes kept. Months 
 passed. The timid wife could only pray. One wet or 
 wintry day, when the man was indoors, with little to do, 
 finding the time hang heavy, he looked around for some- 
 thing to read. Reading matter in that home was 
 scarce. While rummaging around in this nook in search 
 of some old newspaper, what should turn up but his half 
 of the mutilated book. To while away the monotony 
 of the hour he took it up. Was it by accident that he 
 opened at the parable of the prodigal ? He did not 
 remember having seen it before. By its simplicity he 
 was charmed. Presently the narrative was broken off. 
 To finish it he must have the missing piece. Unwilling 
 to ask for it, and so acknowledge that even his curiosity 
 was stirred, he cast stealthy glances here and there to 
 see if it would not appear. But its wary owner had 
 safely hidden her fragment of Scripture, and his hunt 
 was vain. Pretty soon inquisitiveness conquered pride, 
 and at his request the wife produced her piece. The 
 story was finished. It was read over again and again. 
 Need the outcome of the whole be told ? Another 
 wanderer fell at the Father's feet. Another penitent 
 was folded in the Father's arms. Another bitter op- 
 poser became the champion of a faith which all his life 
 he had labored to destroy. 
 
 Had Uncle John emptied out that day on the cabin- 
 
130 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 floor bags of gold, that had been a smaller gift. Money 
 might have wrought the godless settler's ruin. It might 
 have helped perpetuate unbelief in his own and other 
 souls. It might have blotted his name out of every 
 promise and put it into every curse of heaven. The 
 Book of God put into that home, with its blood of re- 
 demption, sealed his title to a celestial inheritance, and 
 made the man the pioneer of other scoffers back to 
 God. 
 
 Again we ask where the influence of one such occur- 
 rence is to end. Surely " the shock of the archangel's 
 trumpet will not break it, nor the gulf of eternity 
 swallow it up. ' ' 
 
 We are brought now down to 1871. Uncle John 
 has seven years remaining in which to war the good 
 warfare. It will be carried on in what might be called 
 ' ' the Department of the East. ' ' 
 
ALL ALONG THE LINES. 131 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ALL ALONG THE LINES. 
 
 " Every battle I shall win, 
 Triumph over every sin, 
 ' What ! ' you say, ' a victor be ?' 
 No, not I, but Christ in me." 
 
 If there is any one part of our country which more 
 than another might seem to have little use for such a 
 man as Uncle John it is the New England States. 
 Settled by men characterized to a pre-eminent degree 
 by regard for religious things, populated still chiefly 
 by their descendants, studded with churches whose 
 pulpits are occupied by preachers inferior in ability 
 and devotedness to no others in the land, blessed with 
 revivals reaching wide and deep, it would look as 
 though these ancient Christian commonwealths would 
 have little work for a colporteur anywhere within their 
 bounds. 
 
 It is a fact, however, that old-established churches, 
 and communities long leavened by gospel truth, some- 
 times need to have their decorous and conventional 
 ways broken in upon as the smooth religious life of 
 eighteen hundred years ago was broken in upon by 
 " the voice of one crying in the wilderness." 
 
 There is such a tendency to get into ruts of creed 
 and conduct, and go jogging monotonously along 
 
132 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 them, that every now and then something needs to 
 occur that shall start us out of them, and make religion 
 seem an awfully earnest thing. Hence it was that 
 Uncle John was invited to labor in strong churches of 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut, the history of some of 
 which runs almost back to the coming of the May- 
 flower, as well as amid their rural neighborhoods in 
 which, on account of removals westward or the concen- 
 tration of population in the manufacturing towns, 
 gospel influence had to some extent declined. In these 
 States he spent a large part of his last half dozen years ; 
 but as Maine, Rhode Island, New York, and New 
 Jersey shared his labors during that period to some 
 extent, we attach to these scattered operations the 
 caption, ALL ALONG THE LINES. 
 
 Christian brethren in the various communities 
 thus visited send accounts more or less complete of 
 the way God wrought through him and by him to 
 arouse and save. 
 
 Rev. J. C. Messerve, of New Haven, Conn.: " I 
 had just entered upon my ministry when I first saw 
 him. He came to my study to see me, and at first I 
 thought him some harmless but decidedly crazy man. 
 In less than an hour, however, the truth broke in 
 upon me that a Christian was in my house of a type 
 hitherto unknown. He stayed a few days with me and 
 we then formed a friendship which death has not sev- 
 ered and which I count one of the richest treasures of 
 my life. 
 
 ' ' Two or three incidents occurred that most admir- 
 
ALL ALONG ■ THE LINES. 133 
 
 ably illustrate his spirit and his methods. This as 
 showing the temper with which he met rebuff. One 
 day we met a prominent church member. I introduc- 
 ed them, and the conversation was not long in reach- 
 ing the plainly but kindly put question, ' Are you a 
 child of God, and how is it with you ?' The angry and 
 unexpected answer was, ' I don't answer any such ques- 
 tions. I don't do business that way, sir.' Uncle 
 John took no offence, 1 but simply explained that as a 
 member of the Lord's kingdom he wished to com- 
 municate in the language of that kingdom with any 
 fellow-member whom he met. 
 
 " We passed on and soon saw a man approaching 
 who was not a believer in a personal devil. I so inform- 
 ed Uncle John, who, on being introduced, went on to 
 state that he was a colporteur of the American Tract 
 Society, travelling over the country fighting the devil ; 
 ' And do you know, brother, I find some people who 
 don't believe there is any devil ; but you and I know 
 that these are his greatest dupes. ' It was a master 
 stroke of policy and tact and skill. 
 
 " I saw him with an old man of more than eighty 
 who had resisted gospel influences all his life, and ap- 
 parently was totally unconcerned. In ten minutes his 
 indifference melted, and with flowing tears he confess- 
 ed his need of Christ. I wat«hed that encounter with 
 intense interest, for it was like a duel of wit and argu- 
 ment, arid discerned that the rarest powers in soul- 
 searching were possessed by Uncle John. 
 
 ' ' For three successive winters he helped me when I 
 
 John E. Vuur. I2 
 
134 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 was pastor of the little church in State street, Brook- 
 lyn, N. Y., and under God I believe he saved it from 
 disbanding in despair. Such praying and pleading in 
 public and private — my heart grows hot with the 
 memory of it. 
 
 " I saw him on his knees one day in our lecture-room 
 at the close of Sunday-school, pleading for the children, 
 some of whom were gathered around. I watched to 
 note the effect of the prayer. Presently a boy a dozen 
 or more years old dropped on his knees, then he 
 crawled ' under Uncle John's uplifted arm, and finally 
 threw himself sobbing upon that broad breast, as true 
 a Christian from that hour forward as I ever met. 
 Others followed, and the dear old man was presently 
 surrounded by a group who were led to the very foot 
 of the cross by that prayer. And it was not undue 
 excitement either. I want to bear witness to the fact 
 that those who were converted under his labors were 
 as reliable in their after lives as any Christians whom 
 I have known. The lad spoken of became a power in 
 the church, and in his own home too. 
 
 " And I want to speak here of a prayer-meeting in 
 my own house one night, in which I came nearer real- 
 izing heaven upon earth than ever before or since. 
 We had been having a blessed time„ at the church that 
 night, and from it came back — my wife, my brother 
 (then preparing for the ministry), and myself. After a 
 few minutes' conversation Uncle John suggested a 
 season of prayer together before going to the night's 
 rest. The memory of those next minutes will only 
 
ALL ALONG THE LINES. 135 
 
 fade with life. With melted hearts and streaming 
 eyes by way of Calvary we drew near our Lord. 
 Uncle John seemed to me .that night like a guide who 
 knew every inch of the road and took us right into the 
 secret place of the Most High. 
 
 " After I came to New Haven to take charge of 
 the Davenport Church, he labored with me between 
 two and three weeks. The number of converts was 
 large, but the impetus given to the spiritual life of the 
 church, and especially the type which its character 
 took on was so marked that its progress has been 
 wonderful. Hundreds have been attracted to it, and 
 I am confident that it was largely because of Uncle 
 John that these blessed results came. 
 
 " Of one more fact let me tell. He went by invita- 
 tion several winters ago to one of our Connecticut 
 towns, and was met by a spirit of decided opposition. 
 Some threatened to personally maltreat him if he ven- 
 tured into their homes. So wonderfully, however, did 
 God work that in a few days he was in those very 
 houses, and greeted with a ' Come in, Uncle John, we 
 have been waiting and wanting to see you here. ' The 
 witnesses of his power over the minds and consciences 
 and hearts of men are numbered by thousands in New 
 England, and all because he was, as much as any pro- 
 phet of old, ' a man of God.' " 
 
 Rev. Mr. Zabriskie, now of Wollaston, Mass., fur- 
 nishes the following graphic sketch : 
 
 " One afternoon, in the summer of 1872, I receiv- 
 ed a call at my parsonage at Old Saybrook, Conn. I 
 
136 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 did not catch the name of my visitor so as to recognize 
 it, and on entering the reception room I looked with 
 some suspicion on the travel-stained man whom I 
 found waiting there. I received so many itinerants of 
 various degrees of dubiousness, that I had come to 
 throw the burden of proof on them in the establish- 
 ment of their genuineness and respectability. But by 
 and by as it dawned on me that this was Uncle John 
 Vassar, the modern successor, if not of the apostles, 
 yet of the ' seventy,' and the latchets of whose dusty 
 shoes I was not worthy to stoop down and unloose, 
 there was a sudden and decided revolution in my men- 
 tal attitude and reception. He had been laboring 
 with Dr. Goodell, then of New Brighton, and elsewhere 
 in that region, and was passing through Saybrook to, 
 take the night-boat to New York, and having a little 
 time to spare he as usual paid his respects to the min- 
 ister to inquire concerning the spiritual condition of 
 the place. When he left it was with the promise that 
 if the Tract Society would so arrange it he would come 
 and work with me. I directed him to the boat, but 
 hardly had I closed the door than it occurred to me 
 that I had not shown him the attention belonging to 
 the carrier of the King, and that I ought to see him 
 further on his way. Hastily donning my out-door 
 attire, I started after and overtook him about half way 
 to the wharf, which was something like a mile away. 
 
 " My heart burned within me while we talked to- 
 gether on the road. I took occasion to introduce him to 
 several whom I met, even stopping two or three wagons 
 
ALL ALONG THE LINES. 137 
 
 for the purpose. Of course every one got a word in sea- 
 son, and most of them wore a puzzled look at this Philip 
 starting up beside their chariots among the desert sand- 
 heaps of Saybrook Point. As some time would elapse 
 before the boat would sail, I left him at the Point and 
 returned home. But these waiting hours were not 
 wasted ones, for not a few laborers and loungers heard 
 the Gospel from his lips even there. 
 
 " He was detailed by the Society to work in Say- 
 brook, and made his first appearance in our church on 
 Sabbath morning, November 10th. After the sermon 
 he arose in the midst of the congregation to say a few 
 words by way of greeting and preparation for what he 
 was there to undertake. His movement was so unex- 
 pected and so unprecedented in that staid old com- 
 munity, his appearance so plain, his speech so search- 
 ing, that the general impression was unfavorable. 
 Many afterwards confessed that it took them a long 
 while to get over their prejudice. Possibly the time 
 and mode were not well chosen. Mr. Vassar always 
 contended that he was best adapted to personal effort. 
 But the real ' offence' was that he spoke to Christian 
 professors in such an uncompromising way about their 
 duty, and in such a startling way about their state, 
 that every one whose heart was not honest with itself, 
 or whose peace was a false one, was sure to be stung 
 and irritated. 
 
 " As he went through the town I was greatly inter- 
 ested to observe his progress as a kind of touch-stone. 
 He was a veritable sword of the Spirit, discerning the 
 
 12* 
 
138 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 thoughts and intents of the heart and laying bare its 
 secret. The ' poor in spirit' were sure to be revealed. 
 T think he could hardly have encountered more odium 
 and opposition anywhere, especially among the mem- 
 bers of the churches. Many of my own people regard- 
 ed him with great disfavor. The part of the town 
 which had once been the source and centre of revival 
 work, but which had fallen into formalism and routine, 
 was the part in which he found least sympathy and 
 encouragement. Those parts, on the contrary, which 
 were regarded as the most hopeless and God-forsaken, 
 were those where he was most welcome and successful. 
 The poor and prodigal felt the beatings of his great 
 heart as seeker for souls. The most unexpected people 
 in every rank of life ' took' to him, and there were 
 equally unexpected cases of revulsion or dislike. I 
 said that his first public appearance in Saybrook was 
 November 10th. Really it was on the 9th, for on that 
 evening, at his request, I rallied a little group in my 
 parlor to pray. These brethren were completely won 
 to him and to the work. Had there been time to 
 gather a larger number that night, his sudden appari- 
 tion in the guise of an Elijah in our decorous church 
 the next day might have produced a different effect. 
 
 " On Sunday afternoon and evening Mr. Vassar 
 attended all the Sunday-schools and prayer-meetings 
 he could reach. During the week he attended and 
 addressed the district schools. One young man who 
 was teaching declared that he would not allow it, but 
 the old veteran stormed the castle and took possession. 
 
ALL ALONG THE LINES. 139 
 
 He was a big child everywhere, and could sway and 
 win a group of children at his will. 
 
 " On Monday morning he started out, with his dis- 
 tricts and families all designated, and began to button- 
 hole every one he met with the characteristic question, 
 ' Are you sure that you have been born again ?' As I 
 was able I went with him. Some remarkable scenes 
 took place. We saw a young man chopping wood in 
 his back-yard. We stepped across the road and Uncle 
 John plied him with sword thrusts. The effect 
 was such that he felt prayer was needed, and there by 
 the fence, the youth on one side and we on the other, 
 we took off our hats and prayed. The young man 
 was one of the converts soon. 
 
 " At a store we found another young man alone. 
 He found himself cornered, and submitted to the in- 
 terview with an ill grace, and a sort of dazed look ; 
 but he, too, quickly came to regard that interivew with 
 a very different mind. 
 
 ' ' At another place — the post-office I think it was 
 — a group was assembled around the stove. He there 
 knelt and prayed and called on me to follow. The 
 town was soon in a blaze over it, and not all of fire 
 from above. 
 
 " We had a season of great quickening and many 
 were converted to the Lord. I regard this work, how- 
 ever, as chiefly valuable for its preparatory, and I 
 might almost say revolutionary) effect. That fallow 
 soil needed just such a sub-soil plow, and I had calcu- 
 lated on it when I engaged him to come. It was a hard 
 
140 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 fight, but the question was settled. The whole theory 
 of religion and policy of work were changed from rou- 
 tine to revivalism, and the fruits have been ripening 
 and been gathered ever since. 
 
 "What prodigous labor the good man did ! He 
 did not realize it himself. Tramp, tramp, from dawn 
 to dark, with such a continuous draft upon his nerv- 
 ous vigor and vitality. I have often marvelled that 
 he held out so long. Oh, how rich I have always felt 
 in the special love and recognition of this great and 
 saintly soul. My children loved him dearly and remem- 
 ber him to this day. There is one tune he used to sing 
 which we call ' Vassar ' still. The words he used to 
 put to it were, ' Alas ! and did my Saviour bleed. ' 
 There was a Catholic woman who would not listen to 
 him or take a tract from his hand, but she did finally 
 suffer him to sing. And to this tune, whose proper 
 name I do not know, he raised the verse : 
 
 ' But drops of grief can ne'er repay 
 The debt of love I owe, ' 
 
 and at its close she was utterly subdued and ultimately 
 became a true Christian. Her experience she used to 
 sum up in the words, ' Ah those drops of grief, those 
 drops of grief — I couldn't get over them.' 
 
 " Perhaps I ought to add one incident showing that 
 Uncle John was capable not only of heroic treatment, 
 but of righteous indignation where the circumstances 
 of the case required it. At a house where we had been 
 holding a neighborhood prayer-meeting one night a 
 man was visiting who was a stranger to us all. As he 
 
ALL ALONG THE LINES. 141 
 
 was one who remained at the close of the service Uncle 
 John approached him with his tender earnestness and 
 searching questions. But the man in a dogged and 
 discourteous way opposed a flat denial to every state- 
 ment made, especially those touching his accountabil- 
 ity and danger. I shall never forget the change which 
 came over Uncle John's manner. He rose to a Sina- 
 itic attitude above the wretched caviller, and his cap- 
 tious and blasphemous speech, as if for the moment he 
 was wielding the divine thunderbolts, then suddenly 
 softening into an almost equally awful tenderness he 
 fairly dragged him to the mercy-seat, and called on us 
 to pray. Whether the fellow was savingly affected or 
 not I cannot tell, as he left the place the following 
 day, but he was morally cowed that night, and crouched 
 speechless before Uncle John. ' ' 
 
 Rev. J. W. Tuck, now of Middletown, Conn., tells 
 of labor at Jewett City, in the same State, in connec- 
 tion with the Congregational church there. 
 
 " He came to my house on Saturday evening, 
 November 29th, 1873. The way had been measurably 
 prepared among us by an increased number of meet- 
 ings, and a prevalent expectation of coming good. 
 The next day he listened to the usual preaching in the 
 morning, and in the afternoon the order of the service 
 was left chiefly in his hands. After the reading of a 
 few verses from the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah and brief 
 comments thereon by the pastor, he came forward and 
 in earnest words falling from lips touched as with a liv- 
 ing coal addressed the church for thirty minutes, ex- 
 
i4z UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 horting them to let their light shine and live above the 
 world. He then proposed that they should publicly 
 renew their covenant vows by coming out into seats 
 which he indicated. The request at first seemed in- 
 judicious. The congregation was a most conservative 
 one, the proposition was unexpected, and the man who 
 made it was almost unknown. There was a moment 
 of painful suspense, a silence that could almost be felt. 
 Then a pew door near the front swung open, and one 
 family walked out and complied with the request. 
 Another and another followed until the desired separa- 
 tion was complete ; then to both parts of his audience 
 were addressed other ringing words, and so the first 
 meeting closed with tokens of good. In the evening a 
 large assembly met in our conference room. The meet- 
 ing was remarkable for its solemnity, but no new de- 
 monstrations on the part of saint or sinner were pro- 
 posed. The next night there were greater numbers 
 still, and a deeper interest could be read on every face. 
 It was at this time that many of the new gospel songs 
 began among my people to be introduced. Uncle 
 John was a sweet singer in Israel, and those pieces 
 known as ' Wondrous Love, ' ' Sweet By and By, ' 
 ' Whiter than Snow, ' and many like them he rang out 
 with marvellous effect, and they will be associated 
 with his name and work for a long time to come by 
 the hundreds who first heard them from his lips. 
 
 " On this second evening five rose for prayer. The 
 next night fifteen thus responded to the invitation, 
 and now the revival broadened and deepened, over- 
 
ALL ALONG THE LINES. 143 
 
 coming opposition, or holding it in check, till scores 
 had been converted to Christ. 
 
 ' ' The special meetings continued only two weeks 
 though they were kept up partially all the winter, but 
 forty were added to our membership and the whole 
 body lifted up to a high plane of Christian life. 
 
 ' ' The name of Uncle John to the young people of 
 my former charge — and I might say to the elders also 
 — is to this day an inspiration, and his memory is a 
 sweet savor never to be lost. 
 
 In the course of his evangelistic labors he entered 
 the town of Otis, in Western Massachusetts, and what 
 happened there let Rev. O. L. Leonard, who spent a 
 week with him on that ground, tell. 
 
 ' ' It was a cold dark time spiritually when Uncle 
 John arrived. The pastor was feeling much disheart- 
 ened, and said to him, ' The place is dead, the church 
 is dead, we are all dead ; if you can do anything to 
 help us, do it.' Uncle John went out and began to 
 visit. It was right in the heat of summer, and the 
 people, who were mostly farmers, were busy in the 
 fields. ' No time for a revival now ;' that was 
 what they said right to his face. 
 
 " He believed that the dry bones could live. The 
 church was opened. It was soon filled. Soon the old 
 cry began to be heard, ' What shall I do to be saved ?' 
 and the town was shaken by the mighty power of God. 
 About fifty souls were converted in that farming region 
 right in the heat of summer. 
 
144 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 Another who was led to Christ during these meet- 
 ings reports them more at length. 
 
 " For many days after coming to Otis Centre, 
 Uncle John saw almost no result from the efforts put 
 forth. Even his courage seemed somewhat shaken, 
 but not enough to make him let go or even relax en- 
 deavor. And presently the blessing came like the 
 rush of many waters. The writer well remembers the 
 evening when the first token of giving way appeared. 
 The meeting had been more constrained than usual, 
 and Uncle John was perceptibly cast down. Before it 
 closed one arose and requested prayers. The effect 
 was electrical. From that point concern took the 
 place of apathy, and salvation moved right on. The 
 whole town was shaken, and ultimately the towns 
 around. It was spoken of by the religious press as the 
 midsummer revival, and the scene of the farmers work- 
 ing in the hay field all day and attending the meeting 
 at evening day after day certainly was wonderful. 
 
 " The tact of Uncle John seemed almost supernat- 
 ural. Many instances of his unerring judgment in 
 approaching people might be given, but two or three 
 must suffice. One man had arranged for an argument 
 with Uncle John if he should be addressed, which he 
 felt sure would settle the whole case. Uncle John 
 gave him no chance to speak. He came up all smil- 
 ing, invited the man to meeting, told him he knew his 
 duty, and before an answer could be given was off. 
 The man began to think, and was led to Christ. 
 
 "Another had arranged for a ridiculous scene if 
 
ALL ALONG THE LINES. 145 
 
 Uncle John came. He did not go near the man, and 
 this unlooked-for way of disconcerting the carefully- 
 laid scheme set reflection -working, and this man and 
 his wife both turned to the Lord. 
 
 "All too soon came the time for him to leave 
 our vicinity, but his influence remained, and for a long 
 time yet his name will be revered in Otis, and his 
 memory be a power." 
 
 From North Blandford, where he wrought the fol 
 lowing summer, these reminiscences come. 
 
 " I was at work in my garden in the summer of 
 1875, when I observed an odd little man walking 
 rapidly toward the parsonage, and thinking him to be 
 some book agent I continued my work. As he came 
 up he said in a pleasant voice, ' Watchman, what of 
 the night ? ' I replied, ' Glory to God, the morning 
 cometh.' He extended to me his hand, and I knew 
 John Vassar. He was taken at once into the parson- 
 age and quickly into all our hearts. 
 
 ' ' The work contemplated during the few days he 
 could remain was fully discussed ; and here he exhib- 
 ited that trait of Christian character which was every- 
 where so manifest, his humility. He began his labors 
 with me Sunday, July 18th. It was a pleasant day, and 
 many came to hear the strange man of whom so much 
 had been said. He read the first psalm and gave a 
 beautiful exposition of it, showing how mighty he was 
 in the Word of God. All through the week services 
 were kept up and the awakening was great. Those who 
 never came to the sanctuary were hunted to their hid- 
 
 John E. Vaiisr. O 
 
146 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 ing places and led out. Stumbling blocks that seemed 
 in the way were removed, and though his stay was 
 short he prepared the way for the rich revival that fol- 
 lowed. In our community he was emphatically a John 
 the Baptist, sent to prepare the way of the Lord." 
 
 Of these labors in, Western Massachusetts Rev. 
 George L. Ruberg, then a pastor in that section, also 
 gives a report. " Uncle John's introduction to this 
 part of the State was through the kindly interest of 
 Homer Merriam, Esq., of Springfield, who was so 
 deeply concerned about the low state of religion pre- 
 vailing that he felt constrained to assume the expense 
 of evangelical labor for the field. Arrangements were 
 made for Uncle John to visit Otis in May, 1874. A 
 series of meetings were held in the Congregational 
 Church, and many of the leading citizens of the village 
 and surrounding community were led to Christ. 
 
 " During the work the hotel was even opened for 
 prayer-meetings, and the power of God was most 
 graciously displayed. 
 
 " So manifest was the good accomplished that Mr. 
 Merrian determined to send Uncle John on a summer 
 campaign amid the Berkshire hills ; so after leaving 
 Otis, Sandisfield secured his services for a week. In 
 this town there had not been for a long time any gen- 
 eral revival of religion, and there was not in any of the 
 churches a resident male member under thirty years of 
 age, though we had a larger number of young men liv- 
 ing there than in any town around. 
 
 " Uncle John's visit here had been but briefly an- 
 
ALL ALONG THE LINES. 147 
 
 nounced, yet the church at Montville village was ready- 
 to receive him. I went with my own carriage to meet 
 him, and found him out calling still, so anxious was he 
 to improve even the last moment of his stay. Hardly 
 had we finished dinner before he said, ' Are there no 
 places we can visit yet this afternoon ?' The inquiry 
 impressed me, for it was now three o'clock or later, 
 and I had expected he would want to rest so as to be 
 ready for the meeting at night. We immediately 
 started out. Our first call was at the post-office. 
 Found two persons beside the postmaster in. One 
 was a Christian, and the others were not. All were 
 tenderly addressed ; then with his hand resting on the 
 counter and standing he offered a short but most fer- 
 vent prayer. I shall never forget that scene, and what 
 subsequently occurred. 
 
 ' ' One lady on whom we called was considered a 
 woman of devout piety. In answer to the question, 
 ' Do you love Jesus ? ' She said, rather despondently, 
 ' Not half so well as I ought. ' ' Dear sister, ' said 
 Uncle John, ' I wish you would tell me how I can love 
 Him more ? ' 
 
 ' ' From the first day of his coming the revival went 
 steadily on. Although for a farming community it 
 was the busiest season of the year, none tried to ex- 
 cuse themselves from being seen. Men not at all in 
 sympathy with religious things would lay down the 
 hoe in the field, or suspend any other labor, and go 
 into the house for conversation and prayer. Uncle 
 John seemed unwilling to pass any house. 
 
148 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 " The last night he was in our place, as the bell 
 was ringing and we were on our way to church, we 
 noticed a group of men on the steps of a store oppo- 
 site the post-office. Among them was a loud-mouthed 
 and low-mouthed scoffer. He beckoned from the 
 crowd, saying, ' Captain, I want to speak to you ? ' 
 
 ' Do you mean me ?' asked Uncle John. ' Yes, ' was 
 the reply. Uncle John told me to go on and open the 
 meeting, and promptly crossed the street where the 
 blasphemer stood. The man's first remark was that if 
 Uncle John did not leave the place within twenty-four 
 hours he would ' give him a thrashing.' Uncle John 
 kindly but fearlessly replied that his engagements would 
 compel him to go the following day, but that if the 
 arrange/nents were not already made he would cer- 
 tainly remain. Some of the best citizens witnessed 
 the interview and were deeply impressed, when Uncle 
 John, taking the abusive fellow's hand, plead with him 
 and prayed till he was subdued to perfect silence. A 
 number came over to our meeting that night for the 
 first time, declaring that if they had any moral influ- 
 ence they wanted to cast it on that side. 
 
 "Among those who so sought to express their 
 opinion of this transaction was the postmaster of the 
 village and another prominent citizen, both of whom 
 were converted ; and another who had previously led 
 a reckless life in relating his experience said that his 
 conviction of sin started when he heard Uncle John so 
 attacked. That exhibition of depravity convinced him 
 of the exceeding ' sinfulness of sin. ' Satan sometimes 
 
ALL ALONG THE LINES. 149 
 
 blunders fearfully. That night and there he over- 
 leaped himself. 
 
 " For months Sandisfield, Colebrook, Conn., Lee, 
 Tyringham, and Monterey felt the effect of Uncle John's 
 incessant labors, or perhaps we should put it — the power 
 of God. He who called himself ' legs for Baxter and 
 Bunyan ' was a voice for Homer Merriam as well. The 
 accessions to the churches following his labors were 
 more than three hundred, and the man will be lovingly 
 remembered in many a household for years to come. 
 Even the children of tender age will long remember 
 one who so much loved them and whom they so much 
 loved." 
 
 Of this same memorable summer, and of this same 
 vicinity, let a Christian woman speak, mentioning 
 briefly a special case or two. 
 
 ' ' In one family in Otis there were nine conversions, 
 and most of them have been earnest workers in the 
 good cause ever since. In another there were four 
 brought to accept of Christ, and hardly one household 
 was there some member of which did not come to sing 
 the wonders of redeeming grace. Often I heard Uncle 
 John say, ' I can never doubt any more, so wonderful 
 have been the answers to prayer. ' 
 
 Only once do I remember seeing him introduced 
 to a stranger to whom he did not say something about 
 the great salvation. This one was an elderly lady who 
 happened to be in the room when he called on busi- 
 ness. He left the house and got perhaps as far as the 
 
 13* 
 
ISO UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 gate when the omission occurred to him, and back 
 again he came and talked with her and prayed." 
 
 Another Christian woman tells of a man in Sandis- 
 field seventy-four years of age, profane, and of drink- 
 ing habits, who declared that he had never felt himself 
 a sinner till Uncle John got hold of his hand and be- 
 gan to plead with him. For days he passed through 
 agony of mind much like that which uncle John him- 
 self experienced, but at last came into the peace of 
 Christ and demonstrated the genuineness of his hope 
 afterward by an upright life. 
 
 Of his labors in Boston and vicinity Rev. Drs. Gor- 
 don and Fulton will elsewhere tell. Enough to say 
 just here that his sterling worth and efficient services 
 were recognized and appreciated by cultured Christian 
 men as well as by a humbler class, and that to their 
 homes and churches he was welcomed as a brother be- 
 loved in the Lord, and a laborer esteemed for his 
 work's sake. Henry F. Durant, the founder of Wel- 
 lesley College, in inviting him to his elegant home for 
 a week, said to a mutual friend, " I consider myself 
 more honored to entertain this man of God than to 
 have a king for my guest." 
 
 In the Charlestown district, where for two winters 
 he aided different pastors, one of them already quoted 
 says, "The meetings we held were foretastes of 
 heaven. Uncle John was at his best. He had great 
 physical infirmities, but he rose above them, as he 
 often said, ' by mighty faith and prayer. ' Oh, what 
 days those were ! Would God we might see their like 
 
ALL ALONG THE LINES. 151 
 
 again. Hundreds entered into covenant with Christ 
 and His church." 
 
 Of a week spent at Keyport, N. J., Rev. J. K. 
 Manning, with whom he labored, has this to say : 
 
 " We were in the midst of a powerful revival when 
 he came, and his first words after learning our con- 
 dition were, ' I am not needed here. My chief work 
 is among churches that are measurably cold or dead.' 
 With difficulty he was persuaded to remain, and with 
 the deacons go from house to house. The service he 
 rendered in this way was grand. 
 
 " For three characteristics especially he is remem- 
 bered here. 
 
 First, his resort to prayer when met by cavilling 
 or gainsaying tongues, and his readiness to plead with 
 men, and for men, in any place, and in every circum- 
 stance. 
 
 " Second. His persistent holding of the penitent 
 and inquiring soul to the promises of God as the means 
 and source of comfort. He was the most faithful to 
 the Word of God of any man I ever knew. 
 
 " Third. The impression made on all minds that 
 doing good was the mission of his life. Many speak 
 of him yet as the man who knew nothing excepting 
 the seeking and saving of souls." 
 
 To another New Jersey pastor anxious to secure his 
 services for a few days he writes : 
 
 Dear Brother Love : 
 
 " I have your kind letter, and rejoice to hear of the 
 salvation of souls at Croton. God grant the work may 
 
iS2 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 be deep and widespread. I would come and help you 
 if I could, but I have been four months with Dr. Tyng, 
 who has received more than seven hundred this year 
 into the membership of his church, and am now en- 
 gaged elsewhere for a season. My heart is with you." 
 
 The " tent work" of Dr. Tyng's referred to above 
 he will tell us of elsewhere. One who was with Uncle 
 John all through it says, ' ' Let me speak of one little 
 prayer-meeting in the street. After the tent service 
 one night a group of us were returning home together, 
 our hearts full of joy over the scenes of grace and 
 mercy from which we had just come, and on the corner 
 of Thirty-fourth Street and Madison Avenue we stop- 
 ped beside an iron railing and began to sing and pray. 
 It was a precious season, and the wandering street 
 sweepers dropped their brooms and gathered quietly 
 around, as under the stars declaring the glory of God 
 in creation we sang of His greater glory in redemption 
 through Christ our Lord." 
 
 Rev. S. L. Bowler, of Machias, Maine, now secured 
 Uncle John's services for some of the more destitute 
 regions of that State. In a single county there were 
 a score of churches that had no pastor, most of them 
 being too feeble to maintain one. The Maine Mission- 
 ary Society cordially co-operated with the lay evange- 
 list, and the results everywhere else witnessed were 
 here quickly seen and felt. 
 
 From one of the churches thus visited and blest a 
 Christian man sends these lines : 
 
ALL ALONG THE LINES. 153 
 
 " His labors here were crowned with great success. 
 The church was quickened ; souls were saved ; every 
 house in the place I think was visited, and he con- 
 versed with nearly every person in the town. One 
 young sea captain who was evidently failing with con- 
 sumption interested Uncle John very much. He had 
 not been married long, and neither he nor his wife had 
 the Christian's trust. Oh, how he did entreat them ! 
 and even when praying elsewhere, especially at our 
 family devotions, he would break out with ' Oh, God, 
 bless the captain and his wife. ' The prayer was fully 
 answered. Both were happily converted. He died soon 
 after, and she has followed him now to the other side. 
 " While he was with us our only child first mani- 
 fested an interest in religious things, and the very walls 
 of our house seem to have been made sacred by his 
 many prayers. 
 
 " I can never forget our last interview. He had 
 gone on board the steamer after commending us ten- 
 derly to the Lord and bidding us good-by, when I 
 had occasion again to see him at nearly eleven o'clock 
 at night. Quietly I went to his berth thinking he 
 might be asleep, and found him repeating over the 
 names of persons in our place. He said he was doing 
 it that he might carry them individually to God in 
 prayer. As the parting hand was finally given he said, 
 ' I am an old man, and shall probably go before you, 
 but by the grace of God I shall expect to meet you 
 again in heaven.' His prediction has proved correct. 
 God grant his hope may find its realization." 
 
iS4 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 The following account of one of the most extensive 
 ingatherings of souls in which for the last year or two 
 of life he shared, is from the pen of Mr. J. C. Tiffany, 
 who was with him through it, and in later labors in 
 Greene County, N. Y. 
 
 "About the first of February, 1877, a revival of 
 God's work was progressing in the M. E. church of 
 Coxsackie, N. Y. Its pastor, Rev. Gideon Draper, 
 becoming weary under prolonged efforts, requested 
 the writer to see if he could not obtain some help from 
 abroad. I arrived in New York in the evening, and at- 
 tended service at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Dr. 
 S. H. Tyng, Jr., Rector. There I heard Uncle John 
 Vassar pray with great unction and power. I applied 
 to Dr. Tyng for aid, and out of the largeness of his 
 heart he arranged to send his then assistant, Rev. Mr. 
 Humpstone, for a few days, and Uncle John for a 
 longer time. They went up to Coxsackie at once. 
 The pastor and official board were at a store waiting to 
 meet us. They began to lay plans of work. Uncle 
 John took off his hat and said, ' Let us pray about it. ' 
 This was something new to us, and the customers in 
 the store had whereof to talk. 
 
 ' ' Before night came he had struck in among the 
 people in his usual way, and many were saying that we 
 had got a crazy man to help us. He called right up to 
 meeting time, stopping only to get a hasty meal. The 
 effect was seen the first evening in an increased at- 
 tendance. Seeing the backwardness of many Chris- 
 tians, a consecration meeting among them was pro- 
 
ALL ALONG THE LINES. 155 
 
 posed. It was a season never to be forgotten. Cold- 
 ness melted away, denominational lines were broken 
 down, and the people of God were ready for their work. 
 A daily noon prayer-meeting was started. Christians 
 of all names came into it. Many young men came in 
 and turned to God. Strong men bowed themselves at 
 Jesus' feet, and many hardened sinners found a 
 Saviour. It was no unusual thing to have from eight 
 to fifteen conversions in a single day. Some answers 
 to prayer were wonderful. 
 
 ' ' After four weeks thus spent at the Land- 
 ing we went to the upper village, and the First 
 Reformed Church opened its doors for the service. 
 The work of salvation started the first day. Old 
 difficulties were reconciled, and estranged neighbors 
 or brethren made one. Old grudges and animosities, 
 which had gone so far as to prevent those sharing 
 them from speaking to each other, were swept away. 
 At one of the noon prayer-meetings a divine power fell 
 on the people such as Uncle John himself confessed 
 that he had never seen displayed, and such as Coxsackie 
 had never known the like of. 
 
 " The apparent result of the work was that over 
 three hundred were added to the churches there, while 
 some joined elsewhere. More than one hundred of this 
 number were young business men between eighteen 
 and thirty years of age, the most of whom are active 
 working Christians still. School-house meetings were 
 started in the country round about, which are yet 
 kept up, and in which conversions are from time 
 
iS6 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 to time occurring now, resulting from seed then 
 own. 
 
 " Many who were then converted have already 
 entered into rest. They have again met the dear old 
 man, but this time at the feet of the Master, where 
 they will part no more. We who remain are going on 
 to join the heavenly throng saved by grace divine." 
 
 These attacks " all along the line" were coming to 
 an end. There is but one more that we shall mention 
 in this chapter or give the details of. It was at Green- 
 ville, Greene County N. Y., where it was made, and 
 Rev. W. P. Gibson reports it thus : 
 
 " My first impression on seeing Uncle John at my 
 gate was that he was some old wide-awake farmer 
 turned book-agent, who had come to the parsonage 
 having a special axe to grind ; but as he had been at 
 my house once when I was absent, my family recog- 
 nized him, and he was soon perfectly at home. 
 Seven weeks we spent together travelling those hills, 
 talking, preaching, praying ; and it was nearly his last 
 work here below. 
 
 " On one occasion he was seen praying with a group 
 of men along the road, and was published as an es- 
 caped lunatic in our village paper. Sometimes his kind 
 approaches were repulsed, but never, so far as I am 
 aware, by a non-professor of religion. In one or two in- 
 stances nominal Christians declined having any conver- 
 sation with him, or any prayer offered in their homes, 
 asserting that they belonged to the church and had no 
 need of such service." 
 
ALL ALONG THE LINES. 157 
 
 " His modesty forbade his leading the meetings 
 unless specially requested, but his stirring exhortations 
 and moving petitions told upon the audience power- 
 fully at times. I remember a few impassioned appeals 
 that were truly eloquent with lofty and well-expressed 
 thought. His singing too was a great help. Though 
 his voice was somewhat weakened and roughened by 
 age, he sang with the spirit, and his selections inva- 
 riably fitted the places where they came in. On one 
 occasion we were singing at family worship, 
 
 " Oh, why was He there as the bearer of sin 
 If on Jesus my sin was not laid ? ' 
 
 As the thought took possession of him he ex- 
 claimed, 'Sure enough,' and repeating the lines he 
 laughed and wept for very joy. 
 
 " Dear Uncle John ! his stay with us was like an 
 angel's visit, and we cherish his words and looks in 
 memory, as of one very intimate with Jesus, and dwell- 
 ing even here ' quite on the verge of heaven.' " 
 
 During these meetings one who roomed with him 
 many nights says : "At this time he was suffering 
 severely from the disease which caused his death, and 
 the pain at intervals was fearful. During one of these 
 intervals, when he supposed me sleeping, after being 
 up for a while he came back to bed and laid down as 
 carefully as a mother would by her sick child for fear 
 of disturbing me, and then in an underbreath I heard 
 him say, ' Dear Lord, how much better this than sin !' " 
 
 Another, writing of a date perhaps earlier, says : 
 ' ' A little incident occurred which pleased me very 
 
 John B. VMnr. M 
 
158 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 much the night he stopped with us. When I went to 
 show him to his room I said on entering it, ' We call 
 this the prophet's chamber. Many ministers have oc- 
 cupied it, but it is doubly hallowed to us since in it our 
 dear old pastor laid off his robe of flesh and went to 
 God.' Uncle John's face fairly beamed with delight 
 as he exclaimed, ' Oh, I am so glad to know that there 
 is a passage direct from here to heaven !' " 
 
 He was ripening now rapidly. He was soon to see 
 the King in his beauty. 
 
WEAPONS IN THE FIGHT. 159 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 WEAPONS IN THE FIGHT. 
 
 " His was the saint's high faith. 
 And quenchless Hope's pure glow, 
 And perfect Charity, which laid 
 The world's fell tyrant low. 
 In him the Father shone ; 
 In him the Son o'ercame ; 
 In him the Holy Spirit wrought, 
 And filled his heart with flame." 
 
 It is exceedingly difficult to analyze what men call 
 personal power. It is easily recognized and readily 
 confessed, but its elements are not easily discovered or 
 described. John Vassar struck blows that fell heavy 
 and cut deep. What were the weapons used ? Drop- 
 ping the figure, what made him the man he was ? 
 
 Certain constitutional peculiarities probably helped : 
 natural ardor, vivacity, persistency, sympathy, had 
 something to do with the work. We will not leave 
 them altogether out of the account. But the real 
 springs of character were not in these. The palm of 
 the desert, fruitful and beautiful, does not find its 
 supplies in itself. Nor does it find them in the burn- 
 ing, blistering sand out of which it grows. The sources 
 of its life lie deeper down. Far underneath are veins 
 of water at which its rootlets drink and from which 
 they draw up nourishment which keeps the uppermost 
 
160 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 and outmost leaves fresh and fair when sultry suns are 
 smiting. A consecrated life depends on unseen and 
 eternal sources for what it is and what it gives. Some 
 of Uncle John's characteristics have of necessity been 
 brought in sight, and the secret sources of their strength 
 have been glimpsed as we have gone along. They need, 
 however, to be set in a stronger light, and all eyes 
 turned on them ; for the practical effect of this book 
 will be short-lived and superficial unless Christian men 
 can be made to see what are, and must ever be, the 
 elements as well as the sources of personal spiritual 
 power. 
 
 Though it may involve more or less repetition, then 
 let the strong points of the man be stated and empha- 
 sized, and further illustrated. 
 
 Unflinching loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ, based 
 on an adoring love, was the mainspring to all he was 
 and all he did. 
 
 Somebody has said of Arnold of Rugby that " the 
 central fact of his experience was his close, conscious, 
 and ever-realized union and friendship with the Lord 
 Jesus ; and that in the ever-flowing fulness of his heart 
 every expression of affection that might pass between 
 earthly friends passed between him and the Divine 
 Man whom as a friend he had in heaven, and to whom 
 with an exhaustless enjoyment he clung." A picture 
 in words this of Uncle John. An irreverent mention 
 of the Saviour's name would cause him keen distress. 
 While we were residing in Lynn, Mass., he made us 
 several flying visits, on one of which a Unitarian gentle- 
 
WEAPONS IN THE FIGHT. 161 
 
 man of the city said to him, in a flash of irritation, 
 " Sir, to pay divine honor to this Jesus of Nazareth of 
 whom you talk so much is in my opinion insulting to 
 the Almighty. " It was hours before Uncle John got 
 over that. It pained him more than if child or brother 
 had received a cruel thrust. 
 
 And he was just as sensitive if there was no recog- 
 nition of that Name where he thought it ought to have 
 
 a place. One day he came out of W Street church, 
 
 where a noted minister had preached, and with a 
 grieved, disappointed look and a quivering voice he 
 
 said, "Oh, T , he never mentioned the name of 
 
 Jesus once." 
 
 "And in all this there was not a particle of pretence 
 or cant. This love of Christ was not a fancy or a senti- 
 ment. It was a principle, a passion, an abiding mo- 
 tive. It was the antidote against worldliness. It was 
 the incentive to action which this world could not un- 
 derstand, and for which it sometimes had nothing more 
 than scorn. Heavy loads and hard toils grew light 
 when with this affection the heart glowed. Poverty, 
 reproach, death even — what were they but the passing 
 flurries of an April day ? Who that was intimate but 
 has heard him say : 
 
 " One smile, one blissful smile of Thine, 
 My dearest Lord, outweighs them all." 
 
 When they were probing among his shattered ribs 
 for the fatal bullet, the French veteran exclaimed, " A 
 little deeper, and you will find the emperor." In 
 Uncle John's heart the deepest emotion was love for 
 
 14* 
 
i6 2 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 his Saviour. Deeper than the love of home, deeper 
 than the love of kindred, deeper than the love of coun- 
 try, aye deeper than the love of life, was his affection 
 for that Redeemer who had first loved him and given 
 Himself for him. He did not talk so much of heaven 
 as many Christians do. He talked of being with the 
 Lord and like Him. That was his ideal of the coming 
 blessedness. 
 
 Out of this attachment grew what was probably the 
 next most prominent feature of his life, and one of the 
 mightiest forces in his work — his habitual and almost 
 unbroken intercourse with God in prayer. 
 
 A man who came so near a literal compliance with 
 the apostolic charge, " Pray without ceasing," few 
 Christians in these latter days have known. One long 
 his pastor, and longer still his friend, bears testimony 
 on this point that a stranger might think too strong, 
 but every word of which hundreds would indorse. 
 
 " He absolutely prayed day and night. Prayed 
 about every thing. Prayed over every thing. Prayed 
 for almost everybody, and prayed with almost every- 
 body whom he met. He prayed when he went out, 
 and when he came in. He prayed before every re- 
 ligious service, and then prayed all the way through it. 
 I have roomed with him night after night, and rarely 
 went to sleep without hearing him at prayer, or awoke 
 without finding him at prayer. He seldom, if ever, 
 came into my house or study that he did not propose 
 a season of prayer, no matter how brief might be the 
 call, or what the errand that brought him there. ' ' 
 
WEAPONS IN THE FIGHT. 163 
 
 His gift in prayer was very remarkable — more re- 
 markable, we think, than his giftof speech, though that 
 was sometimes wonderful, and always of a more than 
 ordinary kind. Several special supplications of his 
 have already been referred to, and prayers very like 
 them others will recall. 
 
 William N. Sage, Esq., of Rochester, N. Y., 
 speaks of one such which he offered in that city a 
 dozen years ago. The First Baptist Church had just 
 finished a "memorial chapel" on Lake Avenue, and 
 before its formal dedication Uncle John and the late 
 Deacon Oren Sage — a kindred spirit — went into it alone, 
 and there on bended knees wrestled with God that 
 His awakening and converting Spirit might so fill those 
 courts that of many of the finally redeemed it might 
 be said, " This man and that were born there." He 
 further adds that most signally and graciously God an- 
 swered that request, and by displays of His salvation 
 made the place of His feet glorious. 
 
 In a prayer-meeting he was a host. If a spirit of 
 dulness or heaviness pervaded it, somehow it seemed, 
 as he began to wrestle, to be lifted off. One of the 
 members of his own church who has already been 
 quoted tells what animation his simple presence gave 
 to the little company that met there in the usual de- 
 votional meetings of the week. 
 
 " He was often sent home to rest by the Tract So- 
 ciety, but before he would go home even he would stop 
 into the prayer-meeting of his church if it happened 
 to be going on. If we did not see him enter we would 
 
164 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 quickly know that he was there. Oh, how he would 
 wrestle for the dear old church in which he was born 
 again ! Then how he would recount recent wonders of 
 redeeming grace, keeping himself all the time in the 
 background and giving God the glory. No matter 
 how truthfully we might have been singing 
 
 " Hosannas languish on our tongues, 
 And our devotion dies," 
 
 it seemed as we listened to him as good to be there as 
 it was to the apostles to be on the mount of transfigu- 
 ration, and the Lord granted us such revelations of 
 Himself as made our place of prayer something like 
 that hilltop for radiance. ' ' 
 
 Few phrases are more common among Christian 
 men than this, "the privilege of prayer;" but it is 
 greatly to be feared that many who use it would more 
 correctly represent their own personal feeling if they 
 were to say ' ' the drudgery of prayer. ' ' At least an 
 honest conscience would compel them to say that it 
 was a dull duty ; uninviting often, and sometimes posi- 
 tively irksome, and engaged in as much to keep a 
 sense of obligation quiet as for any thing else. Now to 
 John Vassar prayer was a privilege, a blessed privilege, 
 and a real deep delight. It was a lament of the 
 prophet over the degeneracy of God's people, " None 
 stirreth himself up to take hold of Thee. ' ' That is, de- 
 votion was a droning, drawling thing. There was no 
 holy energy about the exercise. This was not true of 
 Uncle John. He seemed to know the meaning of 
 those mysterious expressions, " Praying in the Holy 
 
WEAPONS IN THE FIGHT. 165 
 
 Ghost," " With all prayer in the Spirit ;" and so his 
 supplications were intense. There was a specific ob- 
 ject to attain. Coming to the throne of grace was 
 not a romance or a pious farce. He could not ap- 
 proach it "with easiness of desire." He could not 
 tamely beg. There were " deep-swelling sensibili- 
 ties, ' ' as Dr. Phelps calls them, to be relieved. It was 
 deep calling unto deep. 
 
 Whether the repeated instances given us of his 
 praying along the roads, and in stores and shops, are 
 to be commended and held up for our example, is a 
 question concerning which good men may disagree. 
 Circumstances would have to decide the case. In 
 many instances it might be a perfectly proper thing to 
 do ; at least a perfectly proper thing for him. We 
 should not feel warranted to urge such a course on all. 
 A brother pastor near us voices about our own opinion 
 in the case : "It seems to me that it would be a fatal 
 mistake for many to venture on the ground which 
 Uncle John trod with so much success. Very few- 
 could say or do what he did without making ' a mess ' 
 of it. There must be the man, the character ; so much 
 depends on that. The tone, the manner, the evident 
 sincerity, may command respect in one case where it 
 would be very offensive in another. What is heroic 
 boldness in one man might be insolent rudeness in 
 another, and do vastly more harm than good. 
 
 Obviously enough, the besetting sin of good men 
 to-day is not to "violate the proprieties" in their 
 efforts to save souls ; so while not insisting that Uncle 
 
166 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 John's example is a model in every particular for all 
 who would win the wandering to Christ, the question 
 may well be asked, and seriously pondered, whether we 
 are not in danger, by our over-nice notions concerning 
 means and methods, of letting men perish whom we 
 have been commanded to pull out of the fire. 
 
 Interwoven with these other qualities there was in 
 Uncle John a mighty faith. 
 
 No place and no case seemed too hard or too hope- 
 less for him to grapple with. Forbidding circum- 
 stances and a gloomy outlook never shook his trust nor 
 tied his tongue. Indeed, he saw no gloomy outlook, 
 for he did not look out so much as up. If asked what 
 the prospect was in any direction, he would have said, 
 with Adoniram Judson, " As bright as the promises of 
 God," He did not believe simply in the God of ages 
 ago. He believed in the God of to-day. He could 
 not be persuaded that the wonder-working Spirit fin- 
 ished His operations at Pentecost. He could not be 
 convinced that the supernatural was no longer to be 
 looked for. He could see no reason why the modern 
 Saul of Tarsus should not be as sharply called and as 
 suddenly turned as the ancient persecuting zealot was. 
 When going on what others regarded as "a forlorn 
 hope," he would go into the closet and beg for a 
 special anointing, an enduement of power from on 
 high, and then with a deepened confidence start out. 
 ' ' One day he went to call on a lady whose husband 
 was a skeptic and a bitter opposer of religion. The 
 man saw him entering the gate, and stepping to the 
 
WEAPONS IN THE FIGHT. 167 
 
 door, said, ' You are coming here to pray with my 
 wife, I presume. Now let me tell you I don't allow 
 any prayer in this house. Leave at once, and never 
 show your face here again. ' Uncle John hesitated a 
 moment, then left, and going to his stopping-place 
 plead long and earnestly for help to reach that case. 
 Rising from his knees, and ' nothing doubting,' he 
 went straight back to the house from which he had been 
 less than an hour before repulsed. The man again met 
 him, and after a moment's parleying told him that if 
 he would not pray he might come in. Uncle John 
 refused to make any such promise, but nevertheless 
 got in. An urgent message from God was soon ring- 
 ing in the unbeliever's ears, and before the interview 
 ended, humbled and subdued he was bowing by the 
 side of Uncle John listening to supplications for his 
 own salvation. ' ' 
 
 Again and again, when assured that a contemplated 
 effort would be fruitless, that it would be the sinking 
 of a bucket in a dry well, and the bringing of nothing 
 up, he would beg the privilege of trying. He would 
 get a church or a school-house open, and then explore 
 the region to invite the people out. Almost invariably 
 a revival would commence. Often God would triumph 
 gloriously. Converts would be multiplied. Dull 
 churches or dull Christians would get aglow. There 
 would be apostolic work because it was underlaid and 
 pushed with apostolic faith. 
 
 It would be foolish, and even false, to say that re- 
 ligiously there are no hard fiel'ds and no hard souls. 
 
1 68 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 There are both. When Christ appointed the Seventy, 
 the record is that He sent them " into every city and 
 place whither He himself would come." It sometimes 
 looks now as if there were places where He did not 
 come. They seem as dry, spiritually, as those moun- 
 tains of Gilboa would have been, literally, had David's 
 desire been granted and neither rain nor dew had 
 dropped upon their slopes. There are hearts that do 
 appear almost unimpressible. Warnings and appeals, no 
 matter how faithful or how pungent, seem to glide off 
 like hail from a slated roof, and leave traces as faint 
 and few behind. 
 
 In such circumstances one needs the faith Elijah 
 had when, with the brazen skies hanging over Carmel, 
 he bade Ahab hurry homeward before the rain should 
 overtake. Uncle John had it in an eminent degree. 
 He never forgot what grace had done for him. He 
 believed it could do as much for any other man. 
 
 His acquaintance with the Bible was very intimate 
 and tlwrough, every promise and penalty and precept 
 and prophecy being apparently at his command. 
 
 To him Scripture was the one standard of Christian 
 truth. To its teachings nothing was to be added ; 
 from its decisions there could be no appeal. In deal- 
 ing with errorists, the only question he would allow 
 himself to look at was, What has God said ? The mo- 
 ment any thing like quibbling or cavilling was heard, 
 out would come his well-worn Testament, and text 
 after text would be turned to till captious lips were 
 closed. The inspired Word was the book he studied 
 
WEAPONS IN THE FIGHT. 169 
 
 most. It was to him exactly what it claims to be — 
 " the sword of the Spirit ;" and what was the hilt, and 
 what the blade, and how to get hold of the one and 
 smite with the other, was what he sought to know. 
 The authenticity of Scripture he never stopped to 
 argue. He boldly assumed that, and then by its utter- 
 ances every opinion must be hewed and squared. 
 
 We shall make a great mistake, however, if we get 
 the impression that he studied the Bible chiefly as a 
 controversialist. It was not so much an armory 
 whence to draw weapons as a well whence to draw 
 waters for a thirsty soul. The daily draught was a 
 refreshing and delight. Out of the divine testimonies 
 he got help and comfort in' every case. If he found 
 himself after a day of hard labor with half an hour of 
 spare time before an evening meal or meeting, he would 
 seize the inspired volume as eagerly as he would a let- 
 ter from home, and some sweet promise, read perhaps 
 for the thousandth time, would bring a smile to his 
 face, and put audible praise upon his tongue. 
 
 Nor was it only the doctrinal and devotional por- 
 tions of Scripture that he pored over and enjoyed. 
 The prophecies were a mine of wealth that he dug into 
 as a treasure-seeker might dig into beds of precious 
 ore. Along their dimmest passages, and in their ob- 
 scurest recesses, he traced the footprints of his Lord. 
 Christ coming or Christ to come again, and the fortunes 
 of His cause between the first and second advents, he 
 saw promised and presaged at every step. And it is 
 but just to say that while all might not accept his inter- 
 
 John E. Vuaaar. l 5 
 
170 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 pretations of prophecy, or the views to which they led, 
 none could doubt that his knowledge of their letter was 
 extensive and exact. 
 
 This exhaustive acquaintance with God's word 
 could not fail to make itself felt. Men saw that he 
 was not dogmatically insisting on his own notions or 
 impressions or conceits. They were asked not to lis- 
 ten to him or to believe him, but the message which 
 God had sent. The very reverence with which he 
 treated the message showed that he regarded it as God- 
 sent. And when he came with comfort, though the 
 manner might be human, the matter was divine. It 
 was not the weak, uncertain words of earth he spoke ; 
 it was the strong, infallible words of heaven. Such 
 utterances must carry weight. What man may think 
 or feel is perhaps of little consequence ; what God 
 says is of vital importance to a thoughtful soul. 
 
 Perhaps the quality that would be noticed soonest 
 and most deeply felt was the man's burning zeal. It 
 glowed in the awful earnestness with which he pressed 
 his personal appeals. We use the word " awful" advis- 
 edly and deliberately, for no other would be as exact. 
 
 The Watchman, of Boston, in an article by Dr. 
 Gordon, thus refers to it in this story — a story so char- 
 acteristic that any one who knew Uncle John would 
 have inferred that he was the man referred to had no 
 name been given. 
 
 " While laboring with me a few years since in Bos- 
 ton, he wished to call on a Christian gentleman who 
 was living at one of our fashionable boarding-houses. 
 
WEAPONS IN THE EIGHT. ,171 
 
 A young friend of mine who went with him to show 
 him the place reported what occurred. While waiting 
 in the parlor to be shown to the gentleman s room, he 
 opened conversation with a very fashionable and 
 proud-looking lady who was sitting in the room. With 
 great concern he began to urge the necessity of the 
 new birth and immediate acceptance of Christ upon 
 her. She was thunderstruck, and protested that she 
 did not believe in any of those things. Then followed 
 a most fervent appeal, texts of Scripture, warnings 
 against rejecting Christ, the certainty of a wrath to 
 come for any found in impenitence, till at last my 
 friend said he was fairly alarmed at the boldness of 
 the assault. Suddenly the gentleman came in for 
 whom he was waiting and called him out. The friend 
 sat watching from behind his newspaper for the effect 
 of the interview. In a moment the lady's husband 
 came in. ' There has been an old man here talking with 
 me about religion,' she said. ' Why did you not shut 
 him up ? ' he asked gruffly. ' He is one of those per- 
 sons you can't shut up,' was her reply. ' If I had been 
 here,' he said, ' I would have told him very quickly to 
 go about his business. ' ' If you had seen him you 
 would have thought he was about his business, ' was her 
 answer. No truer tribute could be paid to him than 
 that. Never did I see one who could ' close in with 
 a soul, ' as the old Puritans used to phrase it, like him. 
 
 See the same trait shine out in such an incident as 
 Rev. S. B. Almy, of Mattewan, one of Uncle John's 
 dear friends in the younger ministry, relates. 
 
172 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 " In the winter of 1872, while at home on a brief visit 
 from Florida, he spent a few days with the pastor of a 
 Presbyterian Church in his native county. Some be- 
 gan to be concerned about their salvation, and special 
 meetings were appointed at the church. One day the 
 minister was taken ill. There was an appointment out 
 for preaching that very night. Nine miles Uncle John 
 walked through snow and slush to get some one to fill 
 the gap, and then kept on with his calls from house to 
 house to get the people out to hear the Word. 
 
 " This is the way he spent the vacation given him to 
 rest in ! Well might his pastor say on the day of his 
 burial, ' More truthfully than any other man I ever 
 knew he might have said, " the zeal of Thine house 
 hath eaten me up. 
 
 Nor was this all. He had about him a remarkable 
 persistency of purpose. 
 
 Zeal is sometimes flashy and fitful. It is good for 
 a dash, but not for a siege. It takes hold well, but it 
 does not keep hold. In the heathery turf of Scotland 
 there is a plant whose roots run but a little distance 
 and then terminate as squarely as if they had been 
 chopped off. The superstitious country folks around 
 assert that great medicinal virtue originally dwelt in 
 these roots, and that to destroy it the great enemy of 
 man once bit them off. A quaint fancy, of course, but 
 something very like it is the fact in many a life. Good 
 plans are frustrated ; praiseworthy schemes issue in 
 nothing ; pious activities result in failure, because an 
 inconstant will is allowed to bite them off. 
 
WEAPONS IN THE FIGHT. 173 
 
 Uncle John's tenacity was wonderful. It was hard 
 to shake him off. We entered a house of our congre- 
 gation with him one day where we met a young man 
 from Virginia who had come North to attend school. 
 The others present being Christians, Uncle John soon 
 fastened all the conversation upon him. We never saw 
 him so press and push a soul. He had found a lost 
 sheep, and seemed determined, " shepherd's dog" 
 that he was, to keep at it till he had worried it home. 
 Again and again we feared that he was crowding too 
 hard and too far. But he had been out on many such 
 a service before, and what he was about he knew very 
 well. Before the house was left, a sincere penitent 
 was on his knees pleading for mercy, and was soon re- 
 joicing in Christ as his portion. Three or four years 
 have gone since then, and the one so wrestled with, 
 a useful and earnest Christian now, has many a time 
 blessed the Lord that he was not given up that day. 
 
 His tact was a characteristic that should not be 
 underestimated or left unnamed. 
 
 " He seldom made a blunder. His knowledge of 
 human nature seemed almost intuitive. He read men 
 at a glance, and pierced the surface of things as by 
 magic. He knew how to approach men, what to say 
 to them, and when to have done with them. He 
 adapted himself to all classes and conditions when 
 talking of Christ. The school-girl or the college pro- 
 fessor, the millionaire or the hard-handed son of toil, 
 a sailor or a soldier — with equal readiness and skill he 
 met them all. His mind was a perfect storehouse of 
 
 IS* 
 
174 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 Scripture, and he had a verse on his tongue's end to 
 serve him at every time." It must be a very dull man 
 whom he could not make to see, a very hard man 
 whom he could not make to feel, a very stubborn 
 man whom he could not to some extent bend, and a 
 very sharp one whom he could not match. When any 
 one attempted to foil him he would head him off by a 
 move that might be called a piece of strategy. " On 
 one occasion" {this from Dr. G. M. Stone) " he' went 
 to visit a young lady for religious conversation. She 
 saw him approaching, and went up stairs to avoid him. 
 Uncle John, upon coming in, comprehended the 
 situation at a glance, and requested that the door of 
 the stairway might be opened. He then knelt at the 
 foot of the stairs and sent up a melting petition to God 
 in behalf of the person named." 
 
 He was equal to any emergency that might arise. 
 If any imagined that, because his heart was so ten- 
 der, he could be easily outgeneralled that, because he 
 was guileless and unsuspecting, he could be taken at a 
 disadvantage and put in an awkward place or plight, 
 they would quickly find out their mistake. The Chris- 
 tain Intelligencer must be held responsible for this story 
 — a story which illustrates this feature in his character, 
 and is too good to be lost : 
 
 "While laboring in the Army of the Potomac he 
 was called out of bed one night by a messenger, who 
 represented that a soldier in a certain tent was in great 
 distress of mind. On reaching the tent indicated he 
 found several officers seated around a keg of beer which 
 
WEAPONS IN THE EIGHT. 175 
 
 had been brought from Washington, and he was in- 
 vited to join them and take a drink. Taking in the 
 situation at a glance, he told them he could not do it 
 without first asking the blessing of God. So, grasping 
 the arm of the principal man, he fell on his knees and _ 
 poured out an ardent prayer for the company, after 
 which they were glad to let him go. The story got 
 out, and for months afterward one of those men could 
 hardly show his face without being asked about the 
 prayer-meeting they had set up. Uncle John was too 
 much for them." 
 
 Another who tells the story says that there were 
 two prayers, and singing and exhortation beside. 
 
 This other trait was most remarkably manifest in 
 the man : Under all inequalities of circumstance or 
 condition he saw a soul to be saved, and realized its 
 worth. When he went to call on the President of the 
 United States he paid him the respect due to his high 
 office, but did not let go of his hand till he had spoken 
 to him of the Lord Jesus and put to him most courte- 
 ously the question that was ever on his lips. 
 
 When he was introduced to Brigham Young in his 
 Salt Lake City home he made the same appeal, and 
 pressed the same searching inquiry on his soul. A 
 distinguished Liberal Religionist of our day has taunt- 
 ingly said that " evangelicals" had shown a remarkable 
 indifference about his "salvation." Once only had 
 anybody ever exhorted him to repentance, and then he 
 himself drew the exhortation out. He never could have 
 met John Vassar and afterward have truthfully said that. 
 
176 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 But Uncle John was just as solicitous for a private 
 in the army, a negro in his cabin, a child in the Sun- 
 day-school. There was no difference between them in 
 his eyes. 
 
 This is the story which his friend Rev. Mr. Hazard 
 tells : " Uncle John and myself occupied adjoining 
 rooms in a boarding-house near the Capitol at Wash- 
 ington in the winter of 1867. On going down stairs 
 to breakfast one morning I found him standing there 
 in earnest conversation with one of the colored ser- 
 vants, and it needed but a hasty glance to see that he 
 was urging a most tender and affecting appeal for im- 
 mediate attention to the concerns of the soul. Class 
 or color was of little consequence to him. He was a 
 ' winner of souls,' and I doubt if he left one his equal 
 in this land when he passed away." 
 
 He was a man of deep and tender sympathy. 
 
 No matter what indifference, ingratitude, or even 
 imposition he encountered, nothing could freeze over, 
 nay, even chill, the generous sensibilities of his soul. 
 Suffering of any sort would touch him to the quick. 
 Nor would he show it only by words and tears. A 
 sympathy that had nothing but sentiment in it he rated 
 cheap. He was emotional, but' he was practical as 
 well. Pity did not glisten in his eye and drop from 
 his tongue only. It sent his feet running on errands, 
 and his hand helping wherever there was need. When 
 Dr. Tyng had him at the Gospel Tent work in New 
 York City he carried not only the Bread of Life to starv- 
 ing souls, but many a literal loaf to hungry mouths. 
 
WEAPONS IN THE EIGHT. 177 
 
 Having access to our lines in war time to an extent 
 which few enjoyed, he would fairly load himself down as 
 he returned from Washington or Alexandria with par- 
 cels for the men. More than once he went from " the 
 front" to the national capital when they were fifty 
 miles apart to get some delicacies for suffering men, 
 walking both ways, nor counted it a hardship as he 
 trudged along. 
 
 In a time of affliction his heart went right out to- 
 ward the smitten and sorrowing. He had gome 
 through sore straits of anguish himself, and when 
 others were in them he went to their sides to weep 
 with those that wept and whisper of the Comforter. 
 
 While the body of Dr. Babcock lay in the house 
 awaiting burial, Uncle John called, and was taken by 
 the family into the room when the dear old pastor 
 rested as if asleep. Approaching the casket, and look- 
 ing down upon the face which death had so little 
 changed, he exclaimed, " My Father, my Father, the 
 chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof." Then 
 recalling the time of his conversion and the guiding 
 counsels given by these now still lips, he said, " Under 
 God I owe all that I am to this man. ' ' The prayer 
 that followed we can imagine, not describe. The 
 household group, bowed with him, say that while it 
 was being offered they got such glimpses of the com- 
 ing glory as lifted them on eagle's wings, and brought 
 the deep peace of paradise very near. 
 
 Many a reader of this book will remember some 
 similar scene. When the shadow of bereavement hung 
 
178 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 heavily over the heart and home, when the coffin or 
 the new grave seemed somehow to have come between 
 their souls and heaven, he carried them up to his Lord 
 so lovingly, and laid them so feelingly in the Everlast- 
 ing Arms, that the sorrow was half lifted and the 
 shadows more than half swept away. 
 
 He was a man of marked humility. 
 
 We are quite sure that no one ever heard him utter 
 a boastful word. " Unto me, who am less than the 
 least of all saints, is this grace given ; ' ' this was the 
 spirit in which he lived his life and did his work. He 
 never sought to put himself forward or take the lead. 
 No chaplain, preacher, pastor whom he was aiding ever 
 felt that Uncle John was seeking to take the command 
 or put the properly commissioned leader back. He 
 was particularly careful to magnify the office of the 
 Christian minister. In the agencies for bringing a lost 
 world back to God he always put the living preacher 
 first. Nor did he parade his personal piety, nor trum- 
 pet his attainments in the Christian life. Judged by 
 all the standards that we know any thing about, the 
 mark he reached was very high ; but no one would 
 have learned that from his lips. 
 
 Dr. Stone says, ' ' I once asked him what he thought 
 of the doctrine of perfect sanctification in this life. 
 His answer was, ' I do not doubt we may have high 
 experiences of Christ's love, and great degrees of sub- 
 mission and joy, but the difficulty is to keep there.' 
 Many times since I have felt the wisdom and spiritual 
 insight of his words." 
 
WEAPONS IN THE FIGHT. 179 
 
 So anxious was he to avoid even the appearance of 
 egotism that it was difficult to get him to speak of 
 details and results of work which many, when he was 
 talking publicly and privately, would have been pleased 
 to hear. 
 
 And there was no affectation in this. There is n 
 assumed humility which is more disgusting and unbear- 
 able than outspoken, arrogant conceit. Any thing but 
 a sanctimonious, abject air put on for effect's sake ; a 
 depreciation of self for the purpose of getting higher 
 compliments. You can laugh at overweening vanity ; 
 the other thing excites contempt and scorn. Men saw 
 that Uncle John's humility was genuine. Sincerity- 
 shone out in every word. He had no selfish ends to 
 accomplish. He had no ambitious projects to carry 
 out. The test he had to stand was searching. When 
 a man emerges from obscurity to be recognized as a 
 positive force in the religious movements of his age, 
 the retaining of an unmagnified self-estimate is difficult 
 indeed. But here was a man who bore the test. Let 
 others say what they might, he knew that he was just 
 John Vassar, nothing more and nothing less. Self- 
 seeking of every sort he scorned ; nay, more, he ab- 
 horred it from his veiy heart. All who came in con- 
 tact with him saw that he was not striving for honor 
 or grasping for money ; he had just one object, and that 
 was to save their souls. 
 
 This enumeration of characteristics would be incom- 
 plete if we failed to mention the broad and catholic 
 spirit of the man. 
 
i8o UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 Denominationally he was a Baptist. The peculiar 
 views and practices of that branch of the Saviour's 
 church he intelligently and conscientiously held. In 
 the proper place he would maintain and defend them. 
 He refused, however, again and again, to leave the ser- 
 vice of the Tract Society to engage in purely denomi- 
 national work. He felt he could reach more men on 
 its union basis than he could if laboring in the interests 
 of a particular sect. And to turn men to righteousness 
 was more important in his estimation than the gather- 
 ing of them around this peculiar standard or that. He 
 rendered a loyal allegiance to the ensign of his own 
 particular corps, but the one flag on which the cross 
 was blazoned he would lift over all. Around that first 
 he would rally men, and then afterward have them 
 go into such church relations as each might choose. 
 
 This being his great aim, he went among all 
 churches holding an evangelical faith, little caring what 
 the name might be. And we doubt whether the sharp- 
 est-eared or the keenest-eyed critic would have detected 
 the slightest difference in the testimony which he bore. 
 One message he everywhere voiced. One need he em- 
 phasized. One Helper he pointed out. And it might 
 be added that the style of working and the results wit- 
 nessed were everywhere much the same — the same in 
 kind at least if not in measure. We have in this vol- 
 ume statements from representative men in the Metho- 
 dist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Congregational, 
 Episcopal, and Reformed churches, touching this man 
 and his labors, and so much alike are the opinions 
 
WEAPONS IN THE FIGHT. 181 
 
 which they pass, and the affection they express, that 
 all of them might have been written by any single 
 hand. 
 
 The strongest points in the man's character have 
 now been sketched. It will seem like a poor, dull pic- 
 ture to those who knew the original when he was at his 
 best. It may help, however, to show what made him 
 such a power. Give to any man such qualifications in 
 any such degree, and he will make himself felt. Noth- 
 ing so gets hold upon the world, nothing so keeps hold, 
 as an unselfish, consecrated life. 
 
 One who has furnished some of the incidents men- 
 tioned here in a private note says : " You and I, and 
 all who knew the man, have before us an evidence of 
 the truth of the Gospel and a proof of its power. 
 Whatever else may be quibbled about or argued away, 
 the power which kept that man going, doing, praying, 
 that cannot be disposed of either by logic or a sneer." 
 
 Mrs. John H. Ketcham, who was familiar with his 
 army work, as well as many other labors, writing from 
 Washington and speaking for herself and the General, 
 says : 
 
 "Wherever his name was known it was the 
 synonym for godliness— that is, Christlikeness ; and 
 ' greater honor hath no man than this. ' 
 
 " He will always live in the 'hearts of those who 
 knew him, and who beheld in him one without guile 
 or thought of self, who gave his life to men and to the 
 Master. 
 
 " Our recollections of him are of the pleasantest, 
 
 John E. Vaaiar. 
 
182 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 and we are glad that the loveliness of his character and 
 the grandeur of a life so full of toil and sacrifice are to 
 be set forth." 
 
 It is very evident that men of this stamp are the 
 gieat need in all our Christian work. The age is posi- 
 tive,' active, driving, and its wickedness is of a similar 
 type. Men of God who are going to meet it must 
 match it in resoluteness and aggressiveness. The 
 question once asked by the Master must be the ques- 
 tion of those who follow in his train, " Wist ye not 
 that I must be about my Father's business?" The 
 motto for the hour is, " At it, and ever at it, till He 
 comes." The prevalent piety is not of such a tone. 
 Most of it is of a lower grade. It is decent, moderate, 
 quiet. Spiritual indolence is in these times the worst 
 foe our holy religion has to encounter. It is not that 
 men openly reject and make war upon it, but that they 
 drowsily sleep around its altars. It is that they are 
 content with such paltry satisfactions and tinsel com- 
 forts as the senses can bribe them with, heedless of 
 what bids them claim communion with the skies. It 
 is that eternity has no awfulness to them, life no depth 
 of meaning, enjoyment no obligations, bereavement no 
 solemnity, suffering and sorrow no prophetic sugges- 
 tions of an hereafter, conscience no echo of God, Christ 
 no enrapturing beauty, holiness no pledge of heaven." 
 Next to the Holy Spirit in its sevenfold energies the 
 great want of the church is godly men : men girded 
 with awful zeal ; men who beg no favors of worldly 
 policy ; men who have the staunch, uncompromising 
 
WEAPONS IN THE FIGHT. 183 
 
 sincerity of old confessors, and yet whose speech is the 
 benediction of charity. Men who will thrust in the 
 unwilling face of darkness all the light of God, and 
 whom no disappointments can palsy, no opposition 
 embitter, and no misgivings keep back. Given such 
 men, and they will have influence. Skeptics, mor- 
 alists, easy-going religionists, will feel it. They may 
 not understand it, they may not like it, but there 
 will be something real about it ; and, after all, reality 
 is what this world wants. When it sees a man who 
 acts as if this earth was a show and a dream, and his 
 home over in " the blue eternities," somehow it will 
 feel that he has something which it lacks. Uneasiness 
 begins to stir. There is a disposition to say, ' ' After 
 all, this is what we want. We are not satisfied. We 
 are not happy. We are not at peace. It's all a make- 
 believe, a cheat, a lie. Tell us how we can be made 
 better, holier ; how we can front God, and look the 
 splendors of His judgment in the face. ' ' 
 
 We have plenty of machinery for the doing of evan- 
 gelistic work, but machinery will accomplish no more 
 toward bringing in Christ's kingdom than draining 
 sand-deserts would do toward making them fruitful. 
 Men of the right stamp — this is the crying want. These 
 multiplied, and the cause of the Master might speedily 
 move on to those victories which in Scripture are 
 prophesied and pledged, 
 
1 84 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE VETERAN DISABLED. 
 
 " He holds me when the billows smite, 
 I shall not fall. 
 If sharp 'tis short, if long 'tis light ; 
 He tempers all." 
 
 James Hamilton says that old age is a sort of 
 Terra del Fuego, a region where the weather never 
 clears. Cloud and drizzle darken and dampen many 
 of its days, and there is little reason to expect that it 
 will be otherwise while life shall last. 
 
 Uncle John could hardly be called old when he be- 
 gan to break. Before he had seen sixty years infirmi- 
 ties were pressing heavily, and thereafter he saw few 
 hours altogether free from pain. It is not strange that 
 it was so. The only wonder is that his bodily vigor 
 was retained unimpaired so long. Had he not come 
 of sturdy stock he could not have borne the strain of 
 the previous five-and-twenty years. His unflagging 
 spirit constantly overlooked the body, or overestimated 
 and overtaxed its powers. Nature will ultimately ex- 
 act the penalty for such violation of her laws. No 
 matter how good the object in the attainment of which 
 strength is overtasked, the effect is not likely to be 
 averted or escaped. God wrought no miracle to save 
 
THE VETERAN DISABLED. 185 
 
 his servant from the consequences of his exhausting 
 and almost superhuman work. 
 
 For the last three or four years he was much of the 
 time really unfit to keep about. Mind and body had 
 been kept on the tightest stretch. They now needed 
 rest. But rest was precisely that of which he would 
 not hear. His soul was as alert and eager as in his 
 prime. Flesh and blood must serve it still. The feet 
 must not stop running if they were tired. Let him 
 keep right on till he dropped in the harness. That 
 was the way he wanted it arranged. His Lord did not 
 so order it. 
 
 A year before he entered on the rest that re-, 
 maineth, the physical system got so utterly out of 
 order that it stopped short, unable longer to obey the 
 still resolute spirit that sought to urge it on. 
 
 The last public work undertaken was at Minden, 
 Montgomery County, N. Y., the following account of 
 which is given by Rev. J. H. Weber : 
 
 " In the summer of 1877, while visiting Coxsackie 
 on the Hudson, I heard much of the labors which 
 Unc4e John had performed there the previous winter. 
 It immediately occurred to me that he was just the 
 man I had been praying for and looking for to assist 
 me in meetings on my own field. 
 
 Arrangements were made with the Tract Society, 
 and on the third of December a letter came telling me 
 to meet him at Fort Plain. When the train arrived 
 the first man to step off was Uncle John. On the way 
 to my house I saw he was sick, and determined to 
 
 16* 
 
186 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 make it as comfortable and easy as possible by pro- 
 viding a warm room to stop in by night, and a horse 
 to carry him around by day. He wanted to start out 
 that very afternoon, but I persuaded him to rest. 
 
 " The next day we started out from house to house, 
 and a day or two later he said to me, ' Brother Weber, 
 we have not got hold of the right string yet ; but keep 
 on praying, and the Lord will show it to us yet, before 
 long.' That day I had a call for a funeral service at 
 Bethel, and when he heard of it he appeared to feel 
 impressed that the Lord would open the way there, 
 and that that would be the place to take hold. During 
 the funeral I was convinced that the Spirit was working 
 there beyond a doubt, and so appointed meetings for 
 the following week. The first night Uncle John did 
 not get there, as he had a meeting fixed for else- 
 where ; but when an invitation was given nine rose for 
 prayer. 
 
 ' ' The next night he arrived and appeared to be in 
 his element at once. He prayed, he sang, he talked, 
 and the whole congregation seemed melted into tears. 
 In his visitations no shop or store or house was passed. 
 
 " In one yard he saw a man of more than seventy 
 chopping wood. Uncle John stopped and began to 
 question him about his hope. He frankly avowed that 
 he was a spiritualist, that he did not believe the Bible, 
 but added that he was willing Uncle John should do 
 all the good to others that he could. A few more 
 words of entreaty were pressed on him, and then we 
 passed along, Uncle John praying that God would 
 
THE VETERAN DISABLED. 187 
 
 ' save that dear old man. ' To-day he is a consistent 
 Christian, and a member of the Lutheran church. 
 
 " Into the stores and shops he would often run for 
 a few minutes, and talk to those there found, and 
 sometimes offer prayer. One man since his death has 
 said to me, ' I don't believe that I should ever have 
 been converted if he had not come into my shop and 
 prayed for me and plead with me as he did.' 
 
 " Sometimes a group of thoughtless or reckless 
 young men would come into the evening service, and 
 by talking and laughing disturb the meeting. Soon 
 as anything of the kind was begun, Uncle John would 
 quietly move that way, and getting into the knot 
 would drop down and offer such a prayer as would 
 shame them, and sometimes solemnize every soul. 
 
 " So for two weeks the work went on, till the last 
 night came that he was to be with us. Such words of 
 encouragement to the converts, such exhortations to 
 the ungodly, it seems to me I never heard, nor do I 
 expect ever to hear their like again. When the ad- 
 dress was finished he fell upon his knees and offered 
 the last prayer we were ever to listen to from his lips. 
 When the service was over all crowded around him, 
 anxious for one more grasp of his hand. To each 
 there was a word of personal advice and a ' God bless 
 you,' to which many a heart sent back a like response. 
 
 " When we parted the next morning, he said, 
 ' The Lord be with you, my dear brother, and with 
 this people ; and remember old Uncle John Vassar 
 sometimes in your prayers.' " 
 
1 88 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 When he reached his home, with the last days of 
 1877, the labors of love which for more than a quarter 1 
 of a century he had pushed so unremittingly were sub- 
 stantially at an end. For more than six months he 
 lay entirely prostrate, passing through frequent par- 
 oxysms of pain that were pitiful to behold, and that 
 medical skill was powerless to prevent or greatly 
 lighten. When midsummer came he began to rally, 
 and for a time it seemed not impossible that he might 
 yet do a little light work in the vineyard of the Lord. 
 He got upon the streets once more, and filled occasion- 
 ally his seat in the sanctuary on the Sabbath or in the 
 social meetings of the week. His once quick step had 
 grown slow, but his voice was clear, and something of 
 the old smile again lit up his face. It was only the 
 brief brightening of the lamp, however, preparatory to 
 the going out. 
 
HONORABLY DISCHARGED. 189 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 HONORABLY DISCHARGED. 
 
 " His soul to Him who gave it rose ; 
 God led it to its long repose, 
 
 Its glorious rest. 
 And though the warrior's sun has set, 
 Its light shall linger round us yet, 
 
 Bright, radiant, blest." 
 
 When fruit is altogether ripe it drops readily from 
 the bough. Till then it clings with a tenacious hold. 
 Uncle John did not at once let go of life. In spite of 
 sufferings that at times were terrible, he was in no 
 hurry to shake off mortality and have the battle done. 
 Not only was the life instinct strong, but he saw much 
 yet remaining to be done, and in the doing of it he 
 would fain bear a part. 
 
 In the early autumn of 1878 the tokens of im- 
 provement noticed in the previous chapter were quite 
 marked. He regarded them as indications to buckle 
 the harness on again, and began to lay plans for the 
 weeks ahead. 
 
 Under date of October 1st, to Rev. Mr. Owen, of 
 Wyoming County, N. Y., he thus writes : 
 
 " Dear Brother Owen : I am getting better every 
 day, and can work some. Please write to New York 
 to the Secretary, Rev. G. L. Shearer, and see if I can- 
 
190 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 not come to you at once. I think the Lord will work 
 for His glory in your place. How can I reach you, 
 and what will be the railroad fare ?' ' 
 
 October 9th he sends another postal, reading 
 thus : 
 
 "The Society and my doctor both say I cannot 
 come to you ; but I want to come and see the salva- 
 tion of our God once more. Send me a card and tell 
 me the route." 
 
 The Society now interposed its authority, and per- 
 emptorily forbade him to engage in any kind of work. 
 They saw the ruling passion so asserting itself, and 
 were so fearful it might hurry him into engagements 
 that he was utterly unfit to fill that they even requir- 
 ed him for his own protection to sign a paper obli- 
 gating himself for the present to keep still. The en- 
 forced idleness was painful to him, and but for the 
 giving of such a promise he would probably have made 
 some feeble and futile attempt to gird on the old re- 
 sponsibilities. 
 
 October came toward its close, and though weak 
 he was tolerably comfortable. With the last days of 
 the month the Prophetic Conference was to meet in 
 the church of his good friend, Dr. S. H. Tyng, Jr. He 
 felt sure he might venture to attend this gathering, 
 and the family, seeing his anxiety, assented to his plans. 
 Accompanied by his eldest son, he went to New York, 
 visited again those with whom he had been so long as- 
 sociated in the Tract House, and spent a pleasant Sab- 
 bath among dear Christian friends. The meetings of 
 
HONORABLY DISCHARGED. 191 
 
 the Conference in Holy Trinity, where he had enjoyed 
 some blessed seasons previously, were to him a great 
 delight. He was a firm believer in the general doc- 
 trines there discussed, and had been for many years. 
 His saintly father had held to "that blessed hope," 
 and to Uncle John it was just as sweet. Concerning it 
 we are not here called upon to speak. Only this in 
 passing should be said, that if the doctrine — as is 
 sometimes urged — does relax the hand of pious effort, 
 and weaken faith in the Gospel's power to save, it cer- 
 tainly did not produce in him its natural fruits. 
 
 This reunion with old brethren and friends seemed 
 to act like a tonic. He was more like himself than he 
 had been for months. Dr. Tyng says that as he went 
 out from the church for the last time he looked up at 
 it, and thinking of the great numbers who in it, or 
 through its services, had been led to Christ, he lifted up 
 his hands and said, " God bless the dear old soul-trap." 
 
 Inelegant the term, but blessedly expressive. 
 
 For a week or more after reaching home he seemed 
 better than before his trip. He was able to attend 
 one or two of the evening meetings in his own church, 
 and those who listened to him said that almost the old 
 fire and fervor appeared to flash. Then came a most 
 distressing relapse. All the favorable symptoms dis- 
 appeared. The two elder boys— one from New York, 
 and one from St. Louis — were summoned home. 
 
 Three weeks of intense suffering followed, com- 
 pletely exhausting his little remaining strength. There 
 were no spiritual raptures such as many supposed 
 
i 9 2 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 would be given him on a dying bed. As the body- 
 wasted, the quick, active mind declined. The strong, 
 earnest spirit seemed to share in the prostration of the 
 earthly house it so long had lived in. The mortal 
 tabernacle was falling, and the immortal tenant felt 
 the jar. 
 
 We might have wished it otherwise, but the Lord 
 makes no mistakes. It is best to say about it or look 
 at it as Paul did when he said, " The good and accept- 
 able and perfect will of God." Even had he been 
 granted the most triumphant death-bed, that could 
 have added little to the testimony which had for thirty 
 years been borne. 
 
 The last day came. It was Friday, December 6th. 
 His faithful medical attendant, Dr. A. B. Harvey, 
 came in to make his usual call. For more than a 
 quarter of a century he had been the family physician, 
 the firm friend, the loving Christian brother. His 
 practised eye saw that the end was not far away, and 
 a few hours later he came again. Then frankly he told 
 the sinking man that the parting time had come. 
 Tenderly he recalled their past experiences, joyfully 
 he spoke of their common hopes, tearfully he bade him 
 good-by till they should meet again in the house of 
 many mansions. The departing veteran seemed sur- 
 prised. He had not thought the change so near. 
 Even when so plainly told that he was at the river's 
 brink and soon must go across, only partially did he 
 appear to realize the fact, and parted with the doctor 
 as if fully expecting to see him the following day. 
 
HONORABLY DISCHARGED. 193 
 
 In the afternoon the household became convinced 
 that only a few hours remained. All gathered around 
 his bed — the wife, who for twenty-four years had been 
 his companion and counsellor, Walter, Albert, Hattie, 
 Johnnie — the living children of his love. He knew 
 them all, and seemed pleased that they were near. 
 That was about all he appeared to note. The brief 
 December day darkened into night. The group of 
 watchers was enlarged by the arrival of a sister, a 
 niece, and one or two other friends. Gently, pain- 
 lessly, but silently, he was passing into the presence of 
 the holy God. An hour before the end came the lips 
 moved, and the wife, bending over him, caught the 
 word " farewell — farewell." Once again there was a 
 faint whisper. It was " Hallelujah !" just that, and 
 nothing more. 
 
 A little after seven o'clock the last breath fluttered 
 from between the whitening lips. The soldier had 
 received his discharge. The victor had gone to get 
 and wear his crown. 
 
 One day, his voice was heard in Israel 
 Amid her bannered legions, crying Cheer ! 
 To God's elected hosts in holy war ; 
 Another, and he dropped his tempered blade, 
 And hushed his battle-cry, his warning note, 
 And trailed his standard in the dust of death. 
 But 'twas a glorious exchange for him ! 
 His sword laid down, he took the sceptre up ; 
 His call to arms, changed to the victor's song ; 
 His war-worn banner, to triumphant robes ; 
 His dying bed, to an undying throne. 
 
 The roof which sheltered his dying head was- the 
 
 John E. Vaaiar. 7 
 
194 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 gift of some loving Christian friends. He left nothing 
 besides to the widow and the children, save a spotless 
 name, and a record of heroic devotion and saintly sac- 
 rifice which this generation has yetto see surpassed. 
 
 On Monday afternoon, December 9th, those who 
 loved the man bore his body to its rest. The day was 
 dark with storm. Early there was a heavy snow-fall, 
 later came on a drenching rain. The church on Mill 
 Street nevertheless was filled. Taking into account 
 the condition of the streets, it was as large a funeral 
 gathering as Poughkeepsie has often seen. The city 
 of his birth and lifelong residence kept a sacred me- 
 morial day. Uncle John's favorite Psalm, the one 
 hundred and third, was read by his long-time friend, 
 Dr. Stone, of Tarrytown. 
 
 Dr. Kendrick, his pastor, then dwelt briefly on the 
 man's career. " If I were preaching a funeral sermon 
 over Uncle John," he said, " this should be my text : 
 ' The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. ' 
 
 " If he had a coat of arms, the proper device for it 
 would have been a burning heart. Though zealous, 
 he was not censorious. He lived in a higher sphere of 
 spiritual life than his brethren, but he was always most . 
 patient with them. ' He allured to heaven and led 
 the way. ' Though his zeal was not properly one-sided 
 or narrow, it still took very much the direction of 
 anxiety for souls. And his efforts always kept* even 
 pace with his intense desires. If no opportunities 
 
HONORABLY DISCHARGED. 195 
 
 offered for doing gpod, he went in search of them. In 
 this respect I have never known his like. ' ' 
 
 Dr. Stephen H. Tyng, Jr., of New York, followed 
 Dr. Kendrick. He said : " I parted with Uncle John 
 at the throne of grace ; I expect to meet him next at 
 the throne of glory. He was like Bunyan in the origi- 
 nality and depth of his experience ; like Harlan Page 
 in his personal endeavors ; like Hedley Vicars in his 
 soldierly firmness. He might have been a capitalist, 
 but he chose to live for Christ. His history will stand 
 out as a representation of all unselfishness. ' ' 
 
 Rev. Dr. Fulton, of Brooklyn, said : " In this life 
 now closed I hear the echoes of that apostolic shout 
 of triumph, ' Thanks be unto God who always causeth 
 us to triumph in Christ. ' Uncle John took no glory 
 to himself ; he found in the Lord Jesus the source of 
 his power, and the earnest of his victory. He started 
 as a humble colporteur. He grew to be a master in 
 Israel. It was in Boston I first saw him. There was 
 a meeting in Tremont Temple, and God was there. 
 Uncle John was in the city, and having a spare hour, 
 dropped in. I obtained his help for a while. How 
 he took hold ! I hardly saw him, but how he did pull 
 sinners out of the fire ! Day after day he brought in 
 trophies and laid them at the Master's feet. Once I 
 got him on a Sunday afternoon to take my place in the 
 pulpit at the ' Temple ' and address the crowds that 
 filled those seats. It was one of the most impressive 
 discourses I ever heard. 
 
 " In the school-houses and country churches of 
 
i 9 6 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 New England his face has been seen. Over its bleak 
 hills and through its valleys his feet have carried him 
 as he sought the wandering sheep. He is now with 
 Jesus, and is crowned a hero evermore." 
 
 Rev. Dr. Stevenson and Rev. George L. Shearer, 
 Secretaries of the Tract Society, were on the platform, 
 and the former spoke of the traits of character which 
 made Uncle John " the most laborious and the most 
 useful Christian layman of his age." He was declared 
 to have been " undisguisedly frank and straightfor- 
 ward, fearless in reproof, unflinching in maintaining 
 the right, gently firm in reclaiming the erring, mag- 
 netic in action, fervent in prayer, convincing in argu- 
 ment, resistless in appeal, wise in all necessary worldly 
 wisdom, undisturbed in emergencies, and, above all 
 and beyond all, had all these characteristics so suffused 
 and energized and directed by the Spirit of Christ as 
 to make him the most successful lay missionary of 
 modern days." 
 
 Rev. J. Hyatt Smith uttered the closing words. 
 He said: "John Vassar illustrated more fully than 
 any man whom I ever knew the apostle's ideal, ' dili- 
 gent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. ' ' ' 
 Tenderly and touchingly he dwelt upon the intimacies 
 and memories of thirty years, and the ties which during 
 those years had not only been preserved unweakened, 
 but had steadily grown stronger. 
 
 Dr. Wheeler, of Poughkeepsie, pastor of the Pres- 
 byterian Church, then led in prayer, thanking God for 
 the man, and the grace that had made him what he 
 
HONORABLY DISCHARGED. 197 
 
 was ; and then the choir, as a fitting close to what had 
 been a joyful and triumphant service, sang : 
 
 " I know not the hour when my Lord shall come 
 To take me away to His own dear home ; 
 But I know that His presence will lighten the gloom, 
 And that will be glory for me. ' ' 
 
 After the singing, hundreds passed around to look 
 upon the well-known face — "a face that, despite the 
 storm, despite suffering, despite death, was in perfect 
 peace. ' ' 
 
 It was a mixed company that passed by the casket 
 for a parting look. The most honored citizens of the 
 community were in it, and every intermediate social 
 grade between them and the poorest blacks, and by all 
 he was sincerely mourned. 
 
 The afternoon was far spent when his beloved 
 brethren, Richard Brittain, Thomas Hull, Stephen 
 Hull, R. E. Lansing, Christian Mattern, James 
 Smiley, and Adam Caire, as bearers, laid the body in 
 the receiving tomb on the Hudson's banks, resting in 
 the blessed trust expressed in Christian prayer for 
 ages, that " through the grave and gate of death" he 
 should " pass to a joyful resurrection." 
 
 Another has sweetly voiced the feelings with which 
 we left the worn-out tabernacle for a little season 
 there. 
 
 From north and south, from east and west, 
 
 Bring flowers, a wreath to twine 
 Above the soldier laid to rest, 
 
 This friend of thine and mine. 
 17* 
 
198 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 O'er hill and vale, with tireless feet, 
 
 Glad messages he bore — 
 The story of the cross so sweet : 
 
 He told it o'er and o'er. 
 
 That voice is hushed in silence now, 
 
 The folded hands at rest ; 
 Soft pillowed is the weary brow, 
 
 In dreamless slumber blest. 
 
 Then twine a wreath of sweetest flowers, 
 
 And place it o'er his brow : 
 The sadness and the grief are ours ; 
 He's " more than conqueror" now. 
 
 M. H. W. 
 Southfield, Mass., Dec. 17, 1878. 
 
SERVICE REVIEWED. i 99 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 SERVICE REVIEWED. 
 
 " Champion of Jesus — man of God, 
 Servant of Christ, well done ! 
 Thy path of thorns hath now been trod, 
 Thy red-cross crown is won." 
 
 THE natural limits of this memoir have been already- 
 reached. The story of this humble, godly, useful life 
 has been told, and it might properly be left to go be- 
 fore men's eyes without the addition of another line. 
 
 But in Dr. Tyng's and Rev. Mr. Brouer's churches 
 in New York, in Dr. Fulton's and J. Hyatt Smith's 
 in Brooklyn, in Rev. Mr. Twichell's in Hartford, 
 Conn., in Rev. Mr. Holman's, Bunker Hill, Boston, 
 and elsewhere, memorial sermons were preached, or 
 memorial services held, the Sabbath following the 
 burial of Uncle John ; and these unusual, perhaps 
 unprecedented, marks of affection and respect demand 
 some recognition here. 
 
 Articles, moreover, from at least fifty different 
 papers, secular and religious, are in our hands, all pay- 
 ing tributes to the man such as fall to the lot of few. 
 
 The material thus furnished has been largely drawn 
 on in the preparation of this book. The commemorative 
 meetings in the Holy Trinity and North Churches, of 
 
200 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 New York, however, have not been referred to in these 
 pages, and several newspaper articles, graphic and 
 beautiful, have been left unused, because of an un- 
 willingness to insert them in fragments or parts. 
 
 To these tributes let us devote a few leaves. 
 
 Of the gathering in Dr. Tyng's church on Sunday- 
 evening, December 15th, we have only the meagre 
 press report. The night was unpropitious, but the 
 attendance was very large. 
 
 " The pastor in opening the service said that he 
 had thought of draping the pulpit in mourning, but 
 on reconsideration he concluded that it would be out 
 of harmony with the cheerful spirit of him who had 
 just entered into his rest. He would therefore ask 
 the congregation, instead of lamenting, to unite in 
 singing a hymn of triumph — ' Whom have I in heaven 
 but Thee.' 
 
 " The singing over, Dr. Tyng remarke'd that Rob- 
 ert Hall, in conversation with Wilberforce, said that 
 his idea of heaven was that it was a place of rest. 
 Wilberforce replied that his idea was that it was all 
 love. In the faith of John Vassar the ideas of rest 
 and love were about equally blended. 
 
 "The Rev. G. L. Shearer, of the Tract Society, 
 speaking of his army labors, said that he seemed to be 
 everywhere where he was most wanted. He marched 
 with the soldiers and bore all their hardships, carrying 
 often the guns and knapsacks of younger men whose 
 strength had failed. In the hospital he was as tender as 
 a mother to the wounded men. When too weak to feed 
 
SERVICE REVIEWED. 201 
 
 themselves, he would feed them, and sometimes take 
 a spade and dig their graves. His labors among the 
 miners of the West, the Mormons, and the freedmen, 
 were also illustrated and described. 
 
 " General Clinton B. Fisk said : In camp and 
 march and bivouac, in field and fight and hospital, 
 Uncle John was a true soldier of the cross. He was a 
 Moody and Sankey combined. His sweet voice could 
 be heard at all times sounding the praises of Jesus. 
 When, after hard days in the field, the officers would 
 say, ' Uncle John, you're tired,' his cheery voice 
 would reply in song : 
 
 ' One more day's work for Jesus ! 
 How sweet the work has been ! ' 
 
 " Dr. J. D. Fulton said : ' Uncle John Vassar is 
 to me the marvel of the age. I know of at least three 
 services in memory of the man which are this hour 
 being held, and tears are falling over his departure in 
 the pine woods of Maine, among the mines and moun- 
 tains of California, and the cotton fields and savannas 
 of the South. He was a wonderful illustration of re- 
 ligion, pure and undefiled. It is with unfeigned grati- 
 tude to God that this statement can be made in this 
 and any other presence, and have it stand unchallenged 
 as an admitted truth. ' The reverend doctor briefly 
 referred to the talking gifts of the old veteran, and 
 concluded by saying that America would yet venerate 
 his name as England venerates the name of Bunyan. 
 
 " At the North Baptist Church the pastor, Rev. J. 
 
2C2 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 J. Brouer, and Dr. A. S. Patton, gave many facts to 
 illustrate his deep humility and thorough consecration. 
 Among the reminiscences of his pious and unaffected 
 ingenuity in commending Christ to men, Dr. Patton 
 referred to having introduced him to the proprietor of 
 a noted summer resort who was a pronounced Unitari- 
 an. Uncle John broke forth into a strain of eloquent 
 admiration of the beauty of the surrounding scenery, 
 made all the more charming to him because displaying 
 the wisdom and power and goodness of his heavenly 
 Father. ' But,' said he, ' His great love, manifested 
 in giving His dear Son to die for sinners, eclipses 
 every thing else.' And then, with tremulous voice and 
 tearful eye, he added, ' How the dear Lord Jesus did 
 love us ! ' " 
 
 Of the newspaper articles we select three or four 
 from representative men in various branches of Christ's 
 church. 
 
 The first is from the pen of Rev. A. J. Gordon, 
 D.D., of the Clarendon Street Church, Boston. 
 
 " The record of John E. Vassar's death will awaken 
 little comment, perhaps, in the world ; but I venture 
 to say that it marks a welcome into the presence of 
 Christ in Paradise such as few saints have received in 
 modern times. I am sure that hundreds will concur 
 with me in the opinion that since the days of Harlan 
 Page the world has had few, if any, such workers for 
 Christ as this dear man of God. His zeal and conse- 
 cration were so intense, indeed, that it astonished 
 moderate Christians, and often compelled him to hear 
 
SERVICE REVIEWED. 205 
 
 even from the lips of Christ's professed disciples the 
 charge, ' Thou art beside thyself.' But often as he 
 met that reproof it never offended him. His reply 
 was ever that of the great apostle : ' For whether we 
 be beside ourselves, it is to God ; or whether we be 
 sober, it is for your cause. For the love of Christ con- 
 straineth us.' Those of us who knew him intimately 
 know how blessedly sane he was on all high themes 
 of divine love and holy obedience to Christ Jesus 
 the Saviour ; how rational he was when judged by the 
 text, 'For me to live is Christ.' He was eccentric 
 only as the orbit of the sun is eccentric to that of a 
 wandering star. He kept the orbit in which Christ 
 his Master had put him so steadily and so un- 
 swervingly that easy-going, half-hearted Christians were 
 amazed and perplexed. Indeed, far beyond any man 
 whom I ever knew, was it true of him that his citi- 
 zenship was in heaven ; and so filled was he with 
 the glory and the power of the heavenly life, that to 
 many he seemed like a foreigner speaking an un- 
 known language. 
 
 " But how good it was to be with him, and to be 
 kindled by the intense ardor of his consecration ! 
 
 " If any one would like to know whether there is 
 any thing practical in living in the power of ' that 
 blessed hope, ' looking daily for the return of the Lord 
 Jesus from heaven, let this life answer. The immi- 
 nence of Christ's coming, the possibility of living to 
 see the Lord appearing in glory, was with him a daily 
 inspiration and a most powerful motive. Often have 
 
204 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 I heard him speak of this theme, and express the long- 
 ing that all Christian might 'love His appearing.' 
 From waiting on earth, he has gone to wait in Para- 
 dise. 
 
 " Farewell, dear man of God. Hundreds of Chris- 
 tians, while sorrowing that they shall see thy face no 
 more for the present, will bless God, as long as they 
 live, for the quickening and inspiration which they 
 received from thy devoted life." 
 
 Rev. John W. Harding, of Longmeadow, Mass., 
 contributes this equally appreciative sketch : 
 
 "Multitudes who have been greatly indebted for 
 spiritual help to this beloved disciple tenderly lament 
 his departure, and rejoice in his glorious welcome to 
 the nearer presence of his Lord. Soldiers who wore 
 the blue and gray ; Christian- and Sanitary-Commis- 
 sion men and women ; many repenting sinners and 
 returning backsliders ; others to whom he has been a 
 son of consolation in their poverty and affliction ; many 
 wavering ones whom he has brought to decision ; many 
 pastors whom he has edified and instructed in needed 
 points of spiritual experience and pastoral deficiency — 
 rise up now, with swift accord, to call him blessed. 
 
 " What a good fight was his ! Despised, rebuffed, 
 persecuted, he held right on, meekly and joyfully, in 
 his simple, earnest, faithful way, his little worn Testa- 
 ment in hand, his single eye fixed on Jesus, Master, 
 Saviour of lost souls ; his lips moving, even when no 
 voice was heard, in unceasing prayer ; ready to break 
 forth in some familiar song ; his spiritual intuitions, 
 
SERVICE REVIEWED. 205 
 
 quick to discern the real soul-needs of others, and just 
 so quick to impart in searching, yet loving, words the 
 remedy. 
 
 " Uncle John, while most persistent in seeking 
 after souls, was at the same time the humblest of men. 
 He esteemed ministers very highly in love, for their 
 work's sake. It has rejoiced many a pastor's heart to 
 know how he was praying, and getting others to pray, 
 for the success of the next sermon, and to look from 
 the pulpit into his earnest, tearful, observant eye, 
 taking in every word with such appreciative interest, 
 glancing over the congregation to measure if he could 
 the effect of the discourse, his prayers meanwhile going 
 up unceasingly for particular souls. 
 
 " Rebuffs, coldness, insults, were nothing, save 
 that they made him sad for others' sake. He passed 
 on to another house, and soon forgot the momentary 
 sting or smart. No harshness could quench the ardor 
 of his affection. No one had any need to ask his for- 
 giveness. It had already beamed in joy over the re- 
 turning sinner, not for his own, but for Jesus' sake. 
 
 " It was my inestimable privilege in the earlier part 
 of my ministry to sit at the feet of Uncle John as he 
 taught more effective methods of pastoral work in the 
 care of souls. I met him for the first time at the rail- 
 road station one lovely day in April, he having come 
 to spend a week with me in pastoral visitation. While 
 the hands were yet grasped there was established a 
 bond of sympathy. There was no time, he thought, to 
 lose. We must begin our work right there. The family 
 
 John E. Vnssar. 1 ° 
 
206 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 of the depot master was nearest, and before ten min- 
 utes had passed one lonely and discouraged soul, a 
 wanderer from the fold, was giving out with quivering 
 lip and moistened eyes her heart's secret and confiding 
 depths, and we had knelt together at the heavenly 
 throne. And so we went from house to house as they 
 came in order, my heart fuller and fuller of sweet sur- 
 prises at the swift access which the stranger friend 
 acquired as by some talismanic power. 
 
 " No professorship of pastoral care has ever taught 
 our theological students what John Vassar would have 
 taught them in one day's experience from house to 
 house. How sad the ignorance with which our youth- 
 ful ministers often go out from their long years of 
 scholastic training into the common life of the people 
 whose souls are committed to their charge '! 
 
 " What a glorious power would our Christianity 
 put on if in every church there should be even one 
 man or woman with the spiritual energy, and motive 
 and tact to use it that Uncle John possessed !" 
 
 Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, D.D., gives us this, in 
 the Evangelist : 
 
 " John Vassar was one of the remarkable characters 
 who came to the front during the civil war. With its 
 religious history his name is as indelibly linked as 
 the names of Chaplain McCabe, or D. L. Moody, or 
 George H. Stuart. Hundreds of soldiers, when they 
 read the tidings of his death, will recall the beloved old 
 man, in his brown coat and soft felt hat, who used to 
 tramp from tent to tent with a satchel of Bibles and 
 
SERVICE REVIEWED. 207 
 
 tracts- on his back. Nor did he only carry good books 
 in that well-known satchel. He always had a supply 
 of envelopes and postage stamps, and a needle and 
 thread to mend a ragged uniform, or some knick-knack 
 which soldiers always need. 
 
 " One thing he was sure to have, and that was a 
 word in season. A negro in the army gave a capital 
 description of the veteran colporteur when he said, ' I 
 just tell you what I think of Uncle John ; he is a real 
 Christianity. ' 
 
 " And so he was. You could not meet John'Vas- 
 sar on a steamboat, or in a street car, or anywhere, 
 without being kindled by his fresh, earnest talk. Even 
 as Jacob brought the smell of the barley-field and the 
 vineyard in his garments, so this good old man carried 
 the flavor of his religion with him wherever he went. 
 
 " Sometimes during his visits to Brooklyn he used 
 to drop into our church prayer-meeting and modestly 
 take his seat by the door. We were always sure to 
 hear from him, and his words were nails in a sure 
 place. He always illustrated what power there is in 
 Christian laymen when they will ' witness ' freely and 
 on all fit occasions for their divine Master. To-day 
 this land needs a hundred thousand VassarS to supple- 
 ment the work of the pulpit and the Sabbath-school. 
 
 " Dear old Uncle John has reached his last bivouac. 
 The tireless frame that scoured the prairies of Illinois, 
 and the camps of the Union armies, and the rural 
 regions of North Carolina and Virginia, and the ever- 
 glades of Florida, is smoothed to its last quiet sleep. 
 
2 o8 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 The soldiers and the negro freedmen will bless his 
 memory. And many a polished pastor and profound 
 scholar may at the last great day envy the crown and 
 the reward of that sturdy minister in homespun — brave 
 John Vassar." 
 
 Rev. Charles S. Hageman, D.D., of Nyack, N. Y., 
 but long pastor of the Second Reformed Church, 
 Poughkeepsie, has this to say : 
 
 " John Vassar was known to me personally for at 
 least twenty-five years. I have been with him often 
 and much in Christian work. We have labored to- 
 gether in revival work, and talked and planned for the 
 extension of that work. He was always the same — ' a 
 man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,' never de- 
 spondent, always hopeful. 
 
 " One thing seemed to occupy his thoughts and to 
 engross his life, and that one thing was the salvation of 
 sinners and the glory of God. You could not meet 
 him even on the street for five minutes without seeing 
 what was the great absorbing interest of his soul. 
 
 " He was very careful and prudent in what he did. 
 He had great respect for the ministry, and always 
 sought on entering a place to secure first of all their 
 counsel and co-operation. ' Brother Hageman,' he 
 would say, ' the ministry is God's appointment for 
 saving men, and nothing can take its place. Whatever 
 other evangelistic agencies may be employed, the 
 preached Word is and will remain the great power 
 unto salvation. ' He frequently came into my study to 
 talk with me about the Lord's work, and always before 
 
SERVICE REVIEWED. 209 
 
 parting he would propose a season of prayer. I was 
 always glad to join in it, his heart was so mellow with 
 love to Christ and for souls, and he so wrestled at the 
 mercy-seat in my behalf. 
 
 " All the glory of every thing accomplished he gave 
 to God. I never heard a. word from his lips that could 
 be interpreted to mean the glorifying of himself. Self 
 was lost in love for Christ. 
 
 "In parting from him I cannot but say, ' Well 
 done, good and faithful servant.' May the mantle of 
 the father fall upon the children. May I not add, 
 upon the ministry of Christ ?" 
 
 Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, Jr., D.D., rector of the 
 Church of the Holy Trinity, New York, and one of 
 Uncle John's warmest friends, adds the following tes- 
 timony : 
 
 "The Gospel Tent," New York City. 
 
 " Uncle John Vassar in the Gospel Tent ! Who 
 can describe him ? Who among us was able to com- 
 prehend him ? What memories of his fidelity and ten- 
 derness still abide among us ! Wonderful old man ! 
 ' When shall we see thy like again ? ' His was an 
 almost inconceivable zeal, an unflagging energy, and 
 these were connected with a temper as tender as that 
 of a child. 
 
 " This special work to which I am about to allude 
 was really begun in the fall of 1875, as an effort pre- 
 paratory to the Hippodrome services of Messrs. Moody 
 and Sankey. But it long survived its occasion. At 
 the close of the Moody meetings the same kind of 
 
 18* 
 
210 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 labor was employed in the Church of the Holy Trin- 
 ity, and Uncle John was our leader. But as summer 
 approached we purchased and pitched the Gospel Tent. 
 It was circular in form, one hundred feet in diameter, 
 and forty-five feet high at the central pole. It had a 
 seating capacity of two thousand persons, though by 
 the use of the " much grass" in the adjoining lots, addi- 
 tional hundreds were often brought under the influence 
 of the'Gospel as preached from its platform. During 
 four months our friend and brother continued his min- 
 istry in connection with this tabernacle. Its seals re- 
 main with us to this day. Scores were by him led to 
 the Lord, and hundreds were helped and comforted by 
 his apt words of encouragement and. consolation. 
 
 " I shall never forget the early morning prayer- 
 meeting on June nth, 1876, when we dedicated the 
 tent to the worship of Jesus. The day was bright and 
 cool. There was a benediction in the breath of the 
 morning air. Uncle John seemed to perceive it. 
 When I asked him to make the prayer of dedication — 
 before we ran the flag bearing the words ' The Gospel 
 Tent ' to the perch of the central pole — his heart was 
 greatly enlarged. I have no doubt that he had spent 
 a large portion of the previous night in intercession for 
 the work. His words were mighty as he implored a 
 Divine blessing. But when his voice was toned to 
 thanksgiving, it seemed to us as though we should lose 
 him in a rapture. With wonder we were led with 
 Elisha to say, ' O my father ! my father !' 
 
 " At every succeeding daily service, noon and 
 
SERVICE REVIEWED. 211 
 
 night, he was always on the platform and in the in- 
 quiry room. His keen eye watched the congregation 
 during preaching, and immediately at its close he was 
 by the side of some anxious soul whose interest he had 
 through spiritual discernment detected. And how 
 gentle was he with such ! No shepherd ever carried 
 lambs more tenderly in his arms. During the day- 
 time he spent the hours in visitation. The thermometer 
 marked 90 very often, but he was undaunted. His 
 physical disorders might well have excused him, but the 
 spirit compelled the flesh to ' go about doing good. ' 
 The success of this tent work, under God, was largely 
 due to his untiring labor. 
 
 " The quaint things which he said and did have 
 their place among our memorabilia. I remember his 
 criticism upon a very devout woman who had aided 
 us greatly in the work of the tent. The epithet is 
 always suggested by a sight of her face. ' Beloved,' he 
 said, ' that good woman is a chunk of rock salt. 1 On 
 the only occasion when an Episcopal minister of High 
 Church tendencies preached in the tent, Uncle John was 
 very much excited. He rejoiced in spirit that Christ 
 was preached in any way. A true Pauline joy he had. 
 His ejaculations through the sermon somewhat dis- 
 turbed the preacher, but the good man could not repress 
 them. And when the sermon was concluded, Uncle 
 John prayed — and such a prayer ! It gathered up 
 every possible want, and especially wrestled for a 
 blessing upon the preacher, who was greatly overcome 
 by its sincerity and intensity. But it was such a shock 
 
2i2 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 to the preacher's churchly prejudices that he disap- 
 peared as soon as the prayer was concluded. To the 
 day of his death Uncle John had no truer admirer 
 than that man. 
 
 " This sketch of a noble and self-sacrificing work is 
 most unsatisfactory to me, but the space at my dis- 
 posal permits nothing more. Heaven is to me more 
 real since this good man has gone. He lived in heaven 
 even while he walked on earth. The savor of his 
 holy life among us is a most sweet and sanctifying 
 memory. May God grant us grace to live and 
 labor like him, and then join him in his well-earned 
 rest. ' ' 
 
 It is eminently fitting that a resident of Pough- 
 keepsie should tell of the estimate put upon the man 
 and his work at home ; so let the senior pastor of the 
 city, Dr. F. B. Wheeler, put the following testimonial 
 on the closing pages of this book. 
 
 " Poughkeepsie is honored in having been the 
 birthplace and residence of John E. Vassar — the 
 place where he was born into the kingdom of God's 
 grace, and whence he went into the kingdom of God's 
 glory. 
 
 " This city caught the first fervor of his new life, 
 and witnessed the earnest, heroic sacrifices of his first 
 consecration. Here he began to pray. Here he put 
 on the armor of a true Christian knighthood. Here 
 began those labors which widened with the years into 
 the most substantial and blessed results. From this 
 city the sower went forth to sow beside all waters, and 
 
SERVICE REVIEWED. 213 
 
 from it the sower and reaper ascended laden with 
 sheaves. 
 
 We feel that we have been like the two disciples 
 to whom the Lord joined Himself in their morning 
 walk. ' Their eyes were holden that they should not 
 know Him.' So we, though we saw the shining of 
 His face, and were stirred by His words, and were 
 borne on the breath of His prayers, and were made 
 familiar with His simple and unworldly life, scarcely 
 knew the man till he vanished from our sight. We 
 find ourselves dwelling upon his character with feelings 
 akin to reverence, and marvel at that grace of God 
 which made possible and real such a life — a life so 
 closely patterned after our blessed Lord that, as we 
 think of it, it rises before us as an incarnation of saintly 
 tenderness. The writer of these lines knew him in- 
 timately for the last twenty years of his life, and knew 
 him as a man of clean integrity, catholic in spirit, an 
 enthusiasm that many waters could not quench, and a 
 piety of wonderful fervor and fragrance. 
 
 ' ' Love for the Lord Christ and for souls was the 
 master, consuming passion of his life. During these 
 years of our acquaintance he was occupied in fields 
 remote, but from his exhausting labors he would fre- 
 quently return to gather up and rebind the activities 
 which had been so severely taxed, in the quiet of his 
 Poughkeepsie home. But the man of God, instead 
 of resting, would throw himself into our religious 
 movements with such a flame of devotion as to make 
 his presence like the'Shekinah of God's glory. Again 
 
2i4 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 and again at such times my knowledge of his return 
 would first be had by his presence in my study, with 
 the earnest inquiry, ' How is it with dear old Pough- ♦ 
 keepsie ? ' And then, after a few words of his grow- 
 ing experience and enlarging views, he would say, 
 'Let us have a season of prayer,' falling upon his ( 
 knees, pouring out such utterances as lifted one into 
 the very presence of God. From these interviews he 
 would go forth into the streets and homes of the city, 
 beseeching men to be reconciled to God. With us, as 
 elsewhere, he was the man of one idea, to which all 
 things were subordinated. The Lord Christ was ever 
 in his thoughts, and His praise upon his lips. For 
 reasons that are obvious, he labored more abundantly, 
 and with larger success, abroad than in Poughkeepsie. 
 Measurably of him it was true as of others, ' A pro- 
 phet is not without honor save in his own country ; ' 
 but for all that, there was no man in Poughkeepsie 
 more respected and beloved than John E. Vassar. He 
 lived and died among us as a man of unquestioned 
 piety, to whom all gave honor. 
 
 ' ' It was not hard for him to get at men — he found 
 his way straight to their hearts. His words awakened 
 no opposition, and roused no argument, such was 
 the tenderness of his appeals and the manly consist- 
 ency of his life. I think the general conviction here, 
 for years, ever- since his conversion, has been that, 
 however it might be with other men, piety with John 
 E. Vassar was a living fact. And yet there was noth- 
 ing morose and forbidding about the man. Loving 
 
SERVICE REVIEWED. 215 
 
 and gentle in all his ways, he drew you to himself in 
 the sweetest and most perfect of confidences. Better 
 than this, he so put the loving Lord before you that 
 you felt you could almost see the face that once was 
 marred, and grasp the dear hand that was pierced for 
 your sins. 
 
 " His religion had none of the weakness of mere 
 sentiment, rhapsody, or cant about it, but came upon 
 you like a strong, fresh breath from the everlasting 
 hills of God. In it strength and beauty were so 
 mingled as to constitute a sturdy and attractive char- 
 acter. 
 
 " But it was the simplicity of the man, and his self- 
 renouncing, that commended him to all and made him 
 a wonderful force. Whatever came from his efforts, 
 he was accustomed to speak of it as God-produced, 
 through the feeblest instrumentality — all of God and 
 through God — he nothing but a poor sinner saved by 
 grace. Whatever formulated religious belief he had 
 was pre-eminently Biblical in matter and form, for 
 with him the Word of God was ultimate and supreme 
 authority. The type of his religion was apostolic from 
 core to surface. As to the Lord Jesus, he crowned 
 Him Lord of lords and King of kings, giving to Him 
 without stint the homage of an undivided and loyal 
 heart. 
 
 " He was not a great man in the ordinary reckon- 
 ing of greatness. His education was limited, his per- 
 sonal presence not commanding, and in intellectual 
 grasp and genius he was inferior to many men ; but in 
 
2i 6 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 those spiritual characteristics which make a man a 
 prince with God, few were his equals. 
 
 " Among the pleasant memories of my life is my 
 acquaintance with this saint. Among the sweet and 
 lifting hopes that reach beyond the shadows is that of 
 greeting him again. Poughkeepsie will cherish the 
 memory of that Vassar whose munificence founded a 
 college, and it will not forget that other Vassar who 
 lived and walked with God — the man who has turned 
 many to righteousness, who has given to the world a 
 most signal illustration of the power of a Christian 
 faith. He was twice born in Poughkeepsie ; he lived 
 here, here he died, and here his mortal dust sleeps. 
 Herein is honor for which we thank God, counting this 
 honor inferior to none other which God has given us. 
 ' The Lord shall count, when He writeth up the peo- 
 ple, that this man was born there. ' 
 
 " Gone at last, to be with Jesus, 
 
 Lord of life, and Prince of peace ; 
 Through his loving-kindness precious, 
 
 Found from sorrow glad release. 
 Darkness all now disappearing, 
 
 Comes the bright eternal day, 
 With its light forever shining 
 
 Cloud and night have passed away. 
 
 " Lo, the King in all his glory 
 
 Greets the servant in the skies ; 
 Visions of surpassing beauty 
 
 Flash upon him in surprise. 
 Oh ! the beatific meeting 
 
 Of the glorified above, 
 One, who long in labor serving, 
 
 Wrought with zeal and burning love. 
 
SERVICE REVIEWED. 217 
 
 " Brother, hail ! forever ransomed 
 
 From the thrall of earthly care ; 
 
 Cross and burden now abandoned, 
 
 Robes majestic thou dost wear ; 
 
 Royal harvests yet shall greet thee 
 
 From the fields that thou hast wrought — 
 Souls arrested, brought to glory, 
 By the lessons thou hast taught. 
 
 "F. B. W." 
 
 " POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y., 1879.'' 
 
 And now this life thus outlined we leave to speak. 
 To speak for Christ, to speak to men. Many hands 
 have helped to sketch it. Possibly some features may 
 appear to have been overdrawn. To eulogize, how- 
 ever, or in the last degree exaggerate, has been neither 
 the desire nor the design. To present the man just as 
 he was has been the steady aim. And that not that 
 he might be magnified, but " to the praise of the glory 
 of His grace." 
 
 It has been the hope and prayer that through the 
 man his Master be seen — that Master who made him 
 what he was. 
 
 The beauty of holiness, and the blessedness of ser- 
 vice, and the grandeur of sacrifice, are the lessons of 
 his life. 
 
 This is the call which it sounds in the ears of every 
 soldier of the Lord : Sink self out of sight in Christ. 
 Warn, persuade, entreat men to be reconciled to God. 
 Pray, wrestle, believe, and through the might of the 
 indwelling Spirit turn others from sin to righteousness, 
 and thus thin perdition and people Paradise. 
 
 John E. Vassar. *9 
 
si8 UNCLE JOHN VASSAR. 
 
 So shall the heart keep full of holy joy, 
 
 So shall life look bright from a dying bed, 
 
 So shall the wandering and the lost be found, 
 
 So shall the Father be glorified, 
 
 So shall the Son see of the travail of His soul. 
 
 " Let us draw their mantles o'er us 
 Which have fallen in our way. 
 
 Let us do the work before us 
 Calmly, bravely, while we may ; 
 
 Ere the long night-silence cometh 
 And with us it is not day." 
 

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