FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D. 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
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 MAY 16 1932 
 
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 AT THE MEETING OF 
 
 ^INITARIAN Society, 
 
 January 12, 1875, 
 
 TOGETHER WITH THE DISCOURSE DELIVERED BY 
 
 REV. W. H. FURNESS, D.D., 
 
 Sunday, Jan. lO, 1875, 
 
 #n lljc (Occasion of tlje ^iftictb gmnibcrsarn of bis 6rbmatiou, 
 
 January 12, 1825. 
 
 PV\\\a^el qVv\ a. Vk > Fvys\ Cc^NgvegAti on al llMvVarVaK 
 
 P H I L A D E L P n I A : 
 
 SHERMAN & CO., PEINTERS. 
 1875. 
 
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 On November 3d, 1874, the Trustees of the First Cod- 
 gregational Unitarian Church of Philadelpliia issued the 
 following notice to the members of the parish : 
 
 First Congregational Society of Unitarian Christians. 
 
 Philadelphia, November 3d, 1S74. 
 A meeting of the members of this Society will be held at the 
 Church on Monday, the 9th inst., at 8 p. m., to devise an appro- 
 priate plan for celebratinc; the completion of the fiftieth year of 
 Dr. F URN ess' pastorate. 
 
 As his half century of faithful and distinguished service calls 
 for fitting commemoration, and as the members of this Church 
 must rejoice at an opportunity of giving expression to their 
 love, admiration, and respect for him, a meeting that concerns 
 such an object will commend itself, and prove of interest to 
 every one, so that the bare announcement of it, it is deemed, 
 will be sufficient to insure a full attendance of the parishioners. 
 Bj' dirc^ction of the Trustees, 
 
 Charles II. Coxe, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
In pursuance of this notice, the members of the Society 
 held a meeting in the Church on the evening of Novem- 
 ber 9th, 1874, to consider the subject proposed. 
 
 The meeting was organized with Mr. B. H. Bartol as 
 Chairman, and Mr. Charles H. Coxe as Secretary. 
 
 After stating the object of the meeting, the Chairman 
 called for the opinion of the Society. It was voted that 
 a committee of nine be appointed, who should, together 
 with the Trustees of the Church, constitute a committee 
 to take entire charge of the celebration of Dr. Furness' 
 Fiftieth Anniversary as Pastor of the Church ; should 
 have full power to add to their number, and make such 
 arrangements as might seem to them suitable to the 
 occasion. 
 
 The Chair appointed on this Committee, 
 
 Mrs. E. S. Sturgis, Miss Duhring, 
 
 Mrs. J. E. Kaymond, Mr. John Sartain, 
 
 Miss Clark, Mr. B. H. Moore, 
 
 Miss Koberts, Mr. David Brewer, 
 
 And at the request of the meeting, Mr. B. H. Bartol, the 
 Chairman, was added. 
 
 On November 14th, 1874, at 8 o'clock p. m., the Com- 
 mittee appointed by the Society held a meeting at the 
 residence of Mr. B. H. Bartol, to make arrangements for 
 the fiftieth anniversary of Dr. Furness' pastorate. 
 
 The Committee consisted of the following persons : 
 
 Trustees. 
 
 Mr. Henry Winsor, Mr. Lucius H. Warren, 
 
 Mr. John Sellers, Jr , Mr. Joseph E. Kaymond, 
 
 Mr. Enoch Lewis, Mr. D. E. Furness, 
 
 Mr. Charles H. Coxe. 
 
Appointed hy the Society. 
 
 Mrs. R. S. Sturgis, Miss Ddhring, 
 
 Mrs. J. E. Raymoxd, Mr. John Sartain, 
 
 Miss Clark, Mr. B. H. Moore, 
 
 Miss Roberts, Mr. David Brewer, 
 
 Mr. B. H. Bartol. 
 
 Mr. Winsor was chosen ChairmaD, and Mr. Charles 
 H. Coxe, Secretary. 
 
 It was voted, that on the evening of January 12th, 
 1875, there shoukl be a commemorative service in the 
 Chui^h, and ministers from other cities should be invited 
 to be present. 
 
 The Chair appointed as the Committee on Invitations, 
 
 Mr. L. H. Warren, Mr. Enoch Lewis, 
 
 Mr. B. H. Bartol, Mr. David Brewer, 
 
 Mr. B. H. Moore, 
 
 And at the request of the Committee 
 
 Mr. Henry Winsor. 
 
 It was also voted, that the Church should be hand- 
 somely and appropriately decorated on that occasion. 
 
 The Chair appointed as the Committee on Decora- 
 tions, 
 
 Mr. Joseph E. Raymond, Mrs. R. S. Sturgis, 
 Mr. L. H. AVarren, Miss Clark, 
 
 Miss Roberts, Miss Duhring. 
 
 It was also voted, that the Choir on that occasion 
 should be increased, if it should be deemed expedient 
 by the Musical Committee of the Church. 
 
 It was further voted, that a marble bust of Dr. Furness 
 should be obtained, and placed in tlic Churrh. 
 
6 
 
 Also, that gold and bronze medals should be struck 
 off, commemorative of the fiftieth anniversary of the 
 pastorate of Dr. Furuess, 
 
 And also, that a suitable and handsome present should 
 be given to Dr. Furness, in the name of the Society, as 
 a token of their affection and gratitude. 
 
 Also, that photographs of the Church should be taken 
 as it appeared on the day of the anniversary. 
 
 The Chair aj^pointed as the Committee on Fine Arts, 
 
 Mr. John Sartain, Mr. B. H. Moore, 
 
 Mr. Henry Winsor. 
 
 It was also voted, that the exercises at the ordination 
 of Dr. Furness should be reprinted, and that the anni- 
 versary sermon and the exercises at the commemorative 
 service should be printed in pamphlet form. 
 
 The Chair appointed as the Committee on Publication, 
 
 Mr. Dawes E. Furness. 
 
 And as the Committee on Finance, 
 
 Mr. B. H. Bartol, Mr. Enoch Lewis, 
 
 Mr. Charles H. Coxe. 
 
On Sunday, January 10th, 1875, Rev. Dr. Furness 
 preached his fiftieth anniversary sermon. 
 
 The following account is taken from the Ckridian 
 Register of that week : 
 
 "Yesterday was as perfect a wdnter day as can be 
 imagined, cool, clear, and bright. The Unitarian church 
 was filled before the hour of worship with an eager and 
 deeply interested throng. All the pews were occupied, 
 and the aisles and the space around the pulpit were filled 
 with chairs. The church was beautifully decorated with 
 laurel wreaths, and in front of the pulpit the floral array 
 was very rich yet very chaste. On the wall in the rear 
 of the pulpit was an exquisite ivy cross. Among the 
 festoons which overhung the pulpit were the figures 
 ' 1825 ' and ' 1875 ' in white and red flowers. 
 
 " Dr. Furness seemed to be in excellent health, and 
 took his part in the rare and touching semi-centennial 
 service without any apparent exhaustion. After a brief 
 recital and paraphrase of appropriate passages of Scrip- 
 ture, he read with great beauty and tenderness the hymn 
 beginning, ' While Thee I seek, protecting Power,' and 
 after a prayer full of love, trust, and gratitude, he read 
 from the twentieth chapter of the Book of Acts, begin- 
 ning at the seventeenth verse. Then the congregation 
 sang Lyte's beautiful hymn, 'Abide with me ! fast falls 
 the eventide,' etc. The discourse had no text, excepting 
 the impressive occasion itself. Tiiere was less of narra- 
 tion of interesting incidents than in previous anniversary 
 sermons, yet the half century was reviewed in a simj)lc 
 and masterly way. The preacher's manner was (juite 
 subdued until he reached his studies of the life of Jesus, 
 
when his face became radiant, his tones fuller and 
 firmer, and his gestures frequent. The allusions to 
 other denominations and to the anti-slavery struggle 
 were exceedingly fair and magnanimous. The people 
 gave rapt attention, and there was evident regret when 
 the sermon closed. 
 
 " The singing by a double quartette choir was highly 
 creditable. Mr. Ames' church at Germantown was closed, 
 and pastor and people came to express their sympathy 
 with Dr. Furness' society, and to enjoy the uplifting 
 service. Dr. Martineau's new hymn-book was used, Dr. 
 Furness having presented his parishioners with a suffi- 
 cient number of copies to supply all the pews." 
 
X 
 
DISCOURSE 
 
 DKI.IVKRKD 
 
 SUNDAY JANUARY i o, 1875, 
 
 ON THE OCCASION OF THK 
 
 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 ORDIiNATION, JANUARY 12, 1825, AS THE PASTOR 
 
 Jirst Congregational Unitarian (Tljnrcl) 
 
 W. II. FUENESS D.D. 
 
DISCOURSE 
 
 It is in vain, dear friends, that I liave tried to set in 
 order the thoughts that come crowding upon me as the 
 fiftieth year of my service in this place draws to a close. 
 I cannot tell what direction they will take. But for the 
 uncertainty of life, I might have reserved for this occa- 
 sion the Recollections in which I indulged on the last two 
 anniversaries of my Ordination. All I told you then and 
 countless other memories come vividly to mind and heart 
 now. They almost hush me into silence, so hopeless is 
 the endeavor to give them utterance. I must needs talk 
 about myself. How can it be avoided on an occasion like 
 this? I trust in the kind indulgence on your jmrt which 
 has never failed me in all these years. If I should prove 
 only garrulous, you will not forget that I have passed the 
 allotted boundary and am now one of the borrowers from 
 eternity ; although it hardly becomes me to make claim 
 to the privileges of age in a community where dwells 
 one, known and revered of all, who has entered his ninety- 
 sixth year, and is not yet old. 
 
 First of all, most humbly and heartily do I acknowledge 
 and adore the good Providence that, for no deserving of 
 mine, has blest me so bountifully and so long, and given 
 me such a dear home among you. What friends, kith 
 and kin to me, have always surrounded me ! At the first 
 here were my fathers — I have followed them all to the 
 grave. And now, behold ! my brothers, my sisters, my 
 
12 
 
 children. What a gift of God the filial, the fraternal, 
 the parental trust which I have been encouraged to 
 cherish ! It has been my chiefest treasure, the dearest 
 sign of Heaven's grace, my support, my well-sj)ring of life. 
 
 During my ministry I have received from you, from 
 time to time, not a few unlooked-for, substantial tokens 
 of your kind thoughts for me. They shall never be for- 
 gotten. But it is not the remembrance of any special 
 proofs of your regard that now moves me, but the hearty 
 faith in your good-will upon which you have always given 
 me reason to rely. This has been my crowning privilege. 
 
 Even when differences have arisen between us, my trust 
 in your personal regard has never been allowed to be 
 shaken. Were there exceptions, they are as good as for- 
 gotten now. Even those who have taken such offence at 
 my words that they withdrew from the church, still gave 
 me assurance of their friendship. There nsed to be times 
 of painful excitement among us, you remember, when I 
 was helpless to resist the impulse to plead for the op- 
 pressed. I can never forget how cheered I was by one 
 friend, still living, but not now dwelling in this city, who 
 came to me and said that he had at the first disapproved 
 of my course, but that he was then in full sympathy with 
 me, and that, as to the church's being broken np, as was 
 predicted, if I persisted in speaking for the slave, that 
 should not be, if a contribution to its support from him 
 (and he named a most liberal sum), could prevent it. Of 
 course I never thought of availing myself of his generous 
 aid, or of permitting the contingency to occur that would 
 make it needful. If it had come to that pass I should 
 have felt myself bound to withdraw. 
 
 You will not think that I offend against propriety in 
 mentioning such a private experience when you consider 
 what an encouragement it was, what a joy to know that 
 I had such friends. 
 
13 
 
 Indeed, I would not refer now to those painful times at 
 all, could I not in all honesty say that I look back upon 
 them with pride, not on my own account, oh no ! but on 
 yours, dear friends, on yours. How I feared and trembled, 
 and with what a faltering voice did I deliver the mes- 
 sages of truth that came to me ! You resisted them too. 
 I tried to liold my tongue and you to shut your ears. I 
 would fain have run away and hid myself from the sum- 
 mons of Humanity. But I could not do that. I could 
 not resign my position without putting you in a false one, 
 in a position which I did not believe you were willing to 
 take. And you were not willing. This church, I say it 
 proudly, never committed itself to the AVrong. You never 
 took any action on that side. On the contrary, when, in 
 the midst of that agitation, I was honored with an invi- 
 tation elsewhere, and you had the opportunity of relief 
 by my being transferred to another church, you asserted, 
 at a very full meeting, with decisive unanimity, your 
 fidelity to the freedom of the pulpit. And now it may 
 be written in the annals of this Church that in that try- 
 ing time, it stood fast on the ground of Christian Liberty, 
 and its minister had the honor of being its representative. 
 
 While I gratefully acknowledge the friendship which 
 has been my sjDccial blessing for half a century, I gladly 
 repeat what I have said on former anniversaries of my 
 ministry, that the kindness I have received has not come 
 from you alone. How little has there been in all this 
 time to remind me that we of this Church bear an obnox- 
 ious name! How many are there wlio are not of this 
 little fold, but of other denominations, who have made 
 me feel that they belonged to me ! O friends, it is not all 
 bearing the same religious name, but all bearing different 
 religious names and yet each respecting in others the 
 right of every one to think for himself, — this it is that 
 
14 
 
 illustrates most impressively the broad spirit of our com- 
 mon Christianity. I had rather see this fact manifest 
 than a hundred churches agreeing exactly with me in 
 opinion. 
 
 I preached my first sermon in the fall of 1823, in Water- 
 town, Massachusetts. And then, for a few months, I 
 preached as a candidate for settlement in Churches in 
 Boston and its vicinity needing pastors. Kind and flat- 
 tering things were said to me of my ministrations, but I 
 put little faith in them, as they came from the many rela- 
 tives and friends that I and mine had in that quarter, and 
 their judgment was biased by regard for me and mine. 
 I was strengthened in my distrust when friends, fellow- 
 students, and fellow-candidates, were preferred before me. 
 I never envied them their success. I felt not the slightest 
 mortification, such a hearty dread had I of being settled 
 in Boston, whose church-goers had in those days the repu- 
 tation of being terribly critical, and rhetoric then and 
 there was almost a religion. I felt myself utterly unequal 
 to that position. All my day-dreams had been of the 
 country, of some village church. 
 
 In May, 1824, I gladly availed myself of the oppor- 
 tunity that was offered me of spending three months in 
 Baltimore as an assistant of Mr Greenwood, afterwards 
 pastor of the Stone Chapel, Boston. Before I left Bal- 
 timore, the last of July of that year, I received a letter 
 from this city, inviting me to stop on my way home 
 and preach a few^ Sundays in the little church here. I 
 accepted the invitation as in duty bound, but rather re- 
 luctantly, as I had never before been so long and so far 
 away from home, and I was homesick. I spent the 
 month of August here. I do not recollect that I had any 
 thought of being a candidate for this pulpit. Such had 
 been my experience, my ill success, — I do not wonder at 
 
15 
 
 it now, — that I was surprised and gratified when, upon the 
 eve of my departure, I was waited upon by a committee of 
 four or five, — I have had a suspicion since, so few were 
 the members of this Church then, that this committee 
 comprised nearly the whole Church meeting from which 
 they came, — and they cordially invited me to return and 
 become their pastor. As I had come here a perfect 
 stranger, and there were no prepossessions in my favor, I 
 could not but have at the very first a gratifying confi- 
 dence in this invitation. Although I asked time for con- 
 sideration, I responded at once in my heart to the kind- 
 ness shown to me. Thus the aspirant to a country parish 
 Avas led to this great city. 
 
 The three hundred miles and more that separate Phila- 
 delphia from my native Boston were a great deal longer 
 then than they are now. It took then at least two days 
 and a half to go from one to the other. A minister of our 
 denomination in Boston and its neighborhood had then a 
 great help in the custom then and there prevalent of a 
 frequent exchange of pulpits. One seldom occupied his 
 own pulpit more than half of the time. But this church 
 in Philadelphia was an outpost, and the lightening of 
 the labor by exchanges was not to be looked for. There 
 was no one to exchange with nearer than AVilliani Ware, 
 pastor of the church in New York. The i)lacc to be 
 filled here looked lonely and formidable. I accepted, 
 however, the lead of circumstances, moved by the confi- 
 dence with which the hospitable members of this church 
 inspired me. I was drawn to this part of the vineyard 
 by their readiness to welcome me. 
 
 My ordination was delayed some months by the difli- 
 culty of obtaining ministers to come and take part in it. 
 It was a journey then. The days had only just gone by 
 when our pious New England fathers who made it had 
 prayers offered up in their churches for the protection of 
 
16 
 
 Heaven (or rather in their meeting-houses, as all places 
 of worship except the Catholic and Episcopal were called ; 
 we never talked of going to church, we went to meeting). 
 Ordinations have ceased to be the solemn occasions they 
 were then. Then they were sacramental in their signifi- 
 cation, like marriage. As our liberal faith was then 
 everywhere spoken against, it was thought necessary that 
 my ordination should be conducted as impressively as 
 possible. It is pleasant now to remember that with the 
 two Wares, Henry Ware, Jr, and William, and Dr 
 Gannett, came one of the fathers, far advanced in years, 
 the venerable Dr Bancroft, of AVorcester, Mass., the 
 honored father of a distinguished son, to partake in the 
 exercises of the occasion. They are all gone now. 
 
 This Church had its beginning in 1796, when seven 
 persons, nearly all from the old country, shortly increased 
 to fourteen, with their families, agreed, at the suggestion 
 of Dr Priestley, who came to this country in 1794, to 
 meet every Sunday and take turns as readers of printed 
 sermons and prayers of the Liberal Faith. These meet- 
 ings were occasionally interrupted by the yellow fever, 
 by which Philadelphia was then visited almost every 
 year, but they were never wholly given up. 
 
 In 1813 the small brick building was built in which I 
 first preached, and which stood on the southwest corner 
 of the present lot, directly on the street. A charter was 
 then obtained under the title of " The First Society of 
 Unitarian Christians." So obnoxious then was the Uni- 
 tarian name that the most advanced men of our laith in 
 Boston, the fountain-head of American Unitarianism, 
 remonstrated with the fathers of this church, and coun- 
 selled them to abstain from the use of so unpopular a des- 
 ignation. But our founders, being Unitarians from Old 
 England and not from New, and consequently warm ad- 
 
17 
 
 mirers, and some of them persoual friends, of Dr Priestley, 
 whose autograph was on their records as one of their 
 members, felt themselves only honored in bearing with 
 him the opprobrium of the Unitarian name. The title 
 of our Church was afterwards changed to its present de- 
 nomination, to-bring it nominally into accord with our 
 brethren in New England. In 1828 this building took 
 the place of the first. 
 
 It was about ten years before I came here that the 
 Trinitarian and Unitarian controversy began. One of its 
 earliest forms appeared in published letters in 1815 be- 
 tween Dr Chanuing, the pastor of the Federal Street 
 Church in Boston, and Dr Samuel Worcester, an able 
 orthodox minister of Salem, Mass. In 1819 Dr Chan- 
 ning preached a sermon at the ordination of Mr Sparks 
 in Baltimore, which was then and ever will be regarded 
 as an eloquent and felicitous statement of the views of 
 the liberally disposed of that day. It commanded great 
 attention far and wide, and gave occasion to a verv able, 
 learned, and courteous controversy between Dr Woods 
 and Mr Stuart, professors in the Orthodox Theological 
 School in Andover, Mass., on the one side, and Pro- 
 fessors Henry Ware, Sr, and Andrews Norton, of the Cam- 
 bridge Theological School on the other. The controversy 
 spread mostly in Massachusetts. In the small towns 
 where there had been only one church, there speedily ap- 
 peared two. Families were divided, not Avithout heats 
 and coolnesses, to the hurt of Christian fellowship. As 
 a general rule, fathers took the liberal side, mothers the 
 orthodox. 
 
 When I came here in 1825, the first excitement of the 
 controversy had somewhat subsided. It had lost its first 
 keen interest. It was growing lather wearisome. It had 
 snowed tracts, Trinitarian and Unitarian, over the land. 
 Accordingly, although I was a warm partisan, full of con- 
 
18 
 
 fidence in the rational and scriptural superiority of the 
 Unitarian faith, I did not feel moved to preach doctrinal 
 sermons. And, furthermore, as I was on my way hither 
 in the mail coach, in company with my friends, ministers 
 and delegates from Boston and New York, I was greatly 
 impressed by a remark made by one of my elders to the 
 effect that people were bound to their several churches, 
 not by the force of reason and the results of religious in- 
 quiry, but by mere use and wont and affection. 
 
 Of the truth of this remark, by the way, I had a 
 striking instance some years ago. One of our fellow- 
 citizens, now deceased, an intelligent, respectable man, a 
 devoted member of one of our Presbyterian churches, 
 used to come to me to borrow Theodore Parker's writings, 
 in which he took great pleasure. But he said he never 
 dreamed of withdrawing from his Church. As Kichter 
 says, his Church was his mother. You could not have 
 weaned him from her by telling him hoAV many better 
 mothers there were in the world. This truth impressed 
 me greatly, and was a comfort to me in my younger days. 
 Although I have rarely preached an outright doctrinal 
 discourse, yet I had many interesting experiences in ref- 
 erence to the spread of liberal ideas. I regret that I 
 have not done in my small way what that eminent man, 
 John Quincy Adams, as his Memoirs now in course of 
 publication show he did in his wonderfully thorough way, 
 — kept a diary. Very frequently has it occurred that per- 
 sons have come to me who had chanced to hear a Unita- 
 rian sermon, or read a Unitarian book for the first time, 
 and they declared that it expressed their views precisely, 
 and they did not know before that there was anybody in 
 the world of that way of thinking. 
 
 Once, many years ago, I received a letter from a 
 stranger in Virginia, bearing a well-known Virginia 
 name. She wrote to tell me that a year before, she was 
 
19 
 
 in Philadelphia, aucl, much against her conscience, had 
 been induced by her husband to enter this church. Al- 
 thouo-h there was nothiusj of a doctrinal character in the 
 sermon, the effect was to move her when she returned 
 home to study the Scriptures for herself with new care. 
 The result was that she now believed upon their au- 
 thority that there was only one God, the Father, and 
 that Jesus Christ was a dependent being. There were 
 some texts, however, that she wished to liave explained, 
 and therefore she wrote to me. The texts she specified 
 showed that she could not have met with any of our 
 publications, for, had she done so, she would certainly 
 have found the explanations she desired. Of course I 
 did what I could to supply her wants. 
 
 I think this incident would have passed away from 
 my mind or been only dimly remembered if, twenty-five 
 years afterwards, and after the war of the Rebellion, I 
 had not received another letter from the same person. 
 In it she referred to our correspondence of five-and- 
 twenty years before, and said that she wrote now in be- 
 half of some suffering people, formerly her servants 
 (slaves, I presume). Through the kindness of Mr John 
 Welsh, chairman of a committee that had been chosen 
 by our fellow-citizens for the relief of the Southern people, 
 I was enabled to send her a sum of money. A quantity 
 of clothing was also procured for her from the Freed- 
 men's Kelief Association. My Southern friend returned, 
 with her thanks, a very minute account of the disposi- 
 tion she had made of the supplies sent to her. She ap- 
 peared to have accepted with a Christian grace the 
 changed condition of things in the South. INIay we not 
 give something of the credit of this gracious behavior to 
 the liberal faith which she had learned to cherish? 
 
 It was cases like this that caused me to feel less and 
 less interest in doctrines and religious controversies. I 
 
20 
 
 have been learning every day that, much as men differ 
 in religion and numberless other things, they are, after 
 all, more alike than different, and that in our intercourse 
 with our fellow-men it is best to ignore those differences 
 as much as possible, and take for granted that we and 
 they are all of one kind. 
 
 And furthermore, in free conversation with educated 
 and intelligent persons of this city, with whom I have 
 become acquainted, I long ago found out that it was not 
 orthodoxy that prevailed; it was not the doctrines of 
 Calvin and the Thirty-nine Articles that were rampant, 
 but that there was a wide-spread scepticism as to the 
 simplest facts of historical Christianity. To persons of 
 this class, numerous, years ago, and not less numerous 
 now, it mattered little whether the Bible taught the 
 Trinity or the Unity of the Divine Nature. The ques- 
 tion with them is, whether it be not all a fable. 
 
 It was this state of mind that I was continually meet- 
 ing with that early gave to my humble studies a very 
 definite and positive direction. It was high time, I 
 thought, to look to the very foundations of Christianity, 
 and see to it, not whether the Christian Records, upon 
 which we are all resting, favor the Trinitarian or the 
 Unitarian interpretation of their contents, but whether 
 they have any basis in Fact, and to what that basis 
 amounts. As this seemed to be the fundamental inquiry, 
 so, of all inquiries, it became to me the most interesting. 
 In studying this question I could not satisfy myself 
 that any external, historical argument, however power- 
 ful, in favor of the genuineness and authenticity of the 
 Christian Records, could prove decisive. For even if it 
 were thus proved to demonstration that we have in the 
 Four Gospels the very works, word for word, of the 
 writers whose names they bear, there would still remain 
 untouched the question: How, after all, do we know 
 
21 
 
 that these writers, honest aud intelligent as they may 
 have been, were not mistaken? 
 
 There was only one thing to be clone : To examine these 
 writings themselves, and to find out what they really are. 
 With the one single desire to ascertain their true char- 
 acter, that is, whether they be narratives of facts or of 
 fables, or a mingle of both, they were to be studied, and 
 the principles of reason, truth, and probability were to be 
 applied to them just as if they were anonymous frag- 
 ments recently discovered in some monastery of the East, 
 or dug up from under some ancient ruins. 
 
 On the face of them, they are very artlessly constructed. 
 Here was one good reason for believing that, though it 
 might be difficult, it could not be impossible to determine 
 what they are. Since Science can discover in any com- 
 pound the simples of which it is composed, although 
 present in infinitesimal quantities, surely then it can be 
 ascertained of what these artless works of human hands 
 are made : whether they be the creations of fancy or the 
 productions of truth. 
 
 Then, again, as obviously, these primitive Records 
 abound in allusions to times, places, and persons. Here 
 was another ground of hope that the inquiry into their 
 real character would not be in vain. When one is tell- 
 ing a story not founded in fact, he takes good care how 
 he refers to times, and persons, and places, since every 
 such reference is virtually summoning a witness to testify 
 to his credibility. 
 
 Encouraged by these considerations, I have now, for 
 forty years and more, given myself to this fundamental 
 inquiry. It has been said that only scholars, far more 
 learned men than I pretend to be, can settle the his- 
 torical claims of the Four Gospels. But the fact is, the 
 theologians in Germany and elsewhere, profound as their 
 learning is, have busied themselves about the external 
 
22 
 
 historical arguments for the truth of the Gospels. They 
 have been given, it has seemed to me, to a quibbling 
 sort of criticism about jots and tittles. But it is not 
 microscopes, but an eye to see with, that is the one thing 
 needed for the elucidation of these Writings. 
 
 When we first occupied this building, I read courses 
 of Expository Lectures every Tuesday evening, in a 
 room which was fitted up as a vestry, under the church, 
 for some four or five months in the year, for five seasons. 
 The attendance was never large; some thirty persons 
 perhaps gave me their presence. But my interest in the 
 study came not from my hearers, but from the subject, 
 in which, from that time to this, I have found an in- 
 creasing delight. Continually new and inimitable marks 
 of truth have been disclosed. Unable to keep to myself 
 what I found so convincing, I have from time to time 
 published the discoveries, or what appeared to me dis- 
 coveries, that I made. The editions of my little pub- 
 lished volumes have never been large. Many persons 
 tell me they have read them. I can reconcile the fact 
 that they have been so much read with their very limited 
 sale only by supposing that the few copies sold have been 
 loaned very extensively. Do not think, friends, that I 
 am making any complaint. As I have just said, my in- 
 terest in the subject has not depended upon others, either 
 hearers or readers. The subject itself has been my abun- 
 dant compensation. 
 
 To many of my brothers in the ministry I have ap- 
 peared, I suppose, to be the dupe of my own fancies. 
 What I have offered as sparkling gems of fact have been 
 regarded as made, not found. Some time ago I came 
 across an old letter from my venerated friend, the late 
 Henry Ware, Jr, in which he expostulated with me for 
 wasting myself upon such a barren study as he appears to 
 have regarded the endeavor to ascertain whether this 
 
23 
 
 great Christendom be founded on a fable or on the ada- 
 mant of Fact. 
 
 So dependent are we all upon the sympathy of others, 
 that I believe my interest in this pursuit would have 
 abated long ago had it not been that the subject had an 
 overpowering charm in itself, and that one great result 
 of the inquiry, becoming more and more significant at 
 every step, was to bring out in ever clearer light the 
 Godlike Character of the Man of Nazareth. As he 
 has gradually emerged from the thick mists of super- 
 stition and theological speculation in which he had so 
 long been hidden from my sight, his Person, as profoundly 
 natural as it was profoundly original, has broken upon 
 me at times as " the light of the knowledge of the glory 
 of God." Not in any alleged miracle, not in any nor 
 in all His works, wonderful and unprecedented as some 
 of them were, not in His words, immortal as is the wis- 
 dom that he uttered, but in that reserved fulness of per- 
 sonal power of which His works and words, — His whole 
 overt life gives only a hint, significant, indeed, but only 
 a hint— there, in himself, in what He was, in the native, 
 original power of the Man, the secret of His mighty in- 
 fluence has been laid bare to me. That it is that ex- 
 plains the existence of the wondrous stories of His life. 
 They had to be, and to be just what they are, with all 
 their discrepancies, mistakes, and somewhat of the fabu- 
 lous that is found in them, born as they were of the irre- 
 sistible force of His personal truth. And that it is, also, 
 which is the inexhaustible fountain of Inspiration, of 
 Faith, and Love, and Hope, which the Infinite Mercy has 
 opened in the world, and of which men, fainting and per- 
 ishing in their sins, shall drink, and from witliin ihrni 
 shall flow rivers of healing and of health. 
 
 As I have intimated, friends, there have l)ecn times 
 when I have felt somewhat lonely in this study. But 
 
24 
 
 some ten years ago a marked change came over the 
 course of religious thought occasioned by the appearance 
 of a Life of Jesus, by an eloquent and learned man in 
 France, who, belonging to the sceptical school, scarcely 
 believing that such a person as Jesus eyer had an exist- 
 ence, went to Syria upon a scientific errand, and when 
 there was struck by the evidences that he beheld of the 
 geographical truth of the New Testament. So strong a 
 conviction was born in him of the reality of Jesus that 
 he was moved to write his life. It is true there is little 
 else in the book of Ernest Renan recognized as fact, be- 
 yond the actual existence and the great sayings of Jesus. 
 This was something, coming from the quarter it did. 
 And, moreover, with all the doubts which it suggests as 
 to particular incidents in the Gospel histories, its publi- 
 cation has been justified by the efiect it had in turning 
 attention to the human side of that great life. It has 
 created a new interest in the Man. 
 
 And further. Science, becoming popular, is impressing 
 the general mind so deeply Avith the idea of the inviolable 
 order of Nature, that it is not to be believed that men 
 will look much longer for the credentials of any person, 
 or of any fact, in his or its departure from that order. 
 Nothing can be recognized as truth that violates the laws 
 of Nature, or rather that does not harmonize with them 
 fully. Deeply impressed with the entire naturalness of 
 Jesus, I believe that the time is at hand when the evi- 
 dences of His truth, of His divinity, will be sought, not 
 in any preternatural events or theories, but in His full 
 accord with the natural truth of things. As the one Fact, 
 or Person, in whom the highest or deepest in Nature is 
 revealed. He is the central fact, harmonizing all nature. 
 
 Never, never, from the first, has it been more important 
 that the personality of Jesus should be appreciated than 
 at the present time. The Darwinian law of Natural 
 
25 
 
 SelectioD aud the Survival of the Fittest is in all men's 
 minds, and in the material, organized world of plants and 
 animals, we are all coming to consider it demonstrated. 
 As an animal, man must be concluded under that law. 
 In the physical world, as Professor Tyndall tells us, " the 
 weakest must go to the wall." 
 
 But man is something, a great deal more than an ani- 
 mal. He has an immaterial, moral, intellectual being, 
 for which he has the irresistible testimony of his own 
 consciousness ; and as an immaterial being, it is not at 
 the cost of the weak, but it is by helping the weak to 
 live that any individual becomes strong. This, this is 
 the great law of our spiritual nature. The highest, the 
 elect, they whom Nature selects, the fittest to live, are 
 those who are ready to die for others, sacrificing their 
 mortal existence, if need be, to lift up the weakest to 
 their immortal fellowship. In the unchangeable order 
 of things, not only is it not possible for a moral and in- 
 tellectual being to become great by sacrificing others to 
 his own advancement, his greatness can be secured only 
 by giving himself for them. 
 
 Let Science, then, go on pouring light upon the laws 
 and order of the material Universe. But let it stand by 
 its admission that the connection between that and the 
 immaterial world, however intimate, is not only inscru- 
 table, but unthinkable; and reverently recognize, stand- 
 ing there on the threshold of the immaterial world, one 
 Godlike IMgure, surrounded by the patriots and martyrs, 
 the great and good of every age and country, holy angels, 
 but high above them all in the perfectness of his Self- 
 abnegation. No one took His life from him ; He gave it 
 up freely of himself And thus is He a special revelation 
 of the law that reigns in the moral world, as surely as 
 the law of natural selection reigns in the physical. 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 What renders the character of Jesus of still greater 
 interest at this present time is the fact that there are 
 thoughtful and enlightened men who aver that they 
 would fain be rid of Him, since He has been and still is 
 the occasion of so much enslaving error. They might 
 as well, for the same reason, join with Porson and "damn 
 the nature of things," for what has occasioned greater 
 error than the nature of things? It can be got rid of 
 as easily as the Person of Jesus. 
 
 For some twenty years or more before the war of the 
 Rebellion, the question which that war settled interested 
 me deeply. But on the last anniversary of my ministry 
 I dwelt chiefly upon the experiences of that period. I 
 need not repeat what I said then. It was a season of 
 severe discipline to us all, to the whole people of our 
 country. 
 
 I will only say here, that so far from diverting my 
 interest from the great subject of which I have been 
 speaking, it harmonized with it and increased it. As I 
 read the events and signs of that trying time, they be- 
 came to me a living commentary upon the words of the 
 Lord Jesus. Precepts of His, that had before seemed 
 trite, began glowing and burning like revelations fresh 
 from the Invisible. The parable of the Good Samaritan 
 seemed to be made expressly for that hour. That scene 
 in the synagogue at Nazareth, when all there were filled 
 with wrath at what Jesus said, — how real was it, read by 
 the light of the flames that consumed Pennsylvania Hall ! 
 As the truths of the New Testament, simple and divine, 
 rose like suns and poured their light upon that long 
 conflict, so did those days in return disclose a new and 
 pointed significance in those simple pages, giving life to 
 our Christian faith. 
 
27 
 
 What a time, friends, has this been, the latter half of 
 our first national century ! It was a great day in history 
 which gave the world the Printing-Press and the Protest- 
 ant Reformation. But does not the last half century 
 rival it? The railroad and the telegraph, mountains 
 levelled, oceans and continents united, time and space 
 vanishing, the huge sun made our submissive artist, 
 the establishment of universal liberty over this broad 
 land, — are not these things responding with literal obedi- 
 ence to the command of the ancient prophet : " Prepare 
 ye the way of the Lord ; make his path straight?" 
 
 It is a wonderful day, a great day of the Lord. "We 
 are stocks and stones if we do not catch the spirit, the 
 generous spirit, of the Almighty breathing and brooding 
 in countless unacknowledged ways over this mysterious 
 human race. All things, like a host of prophets, are point- 
 ing us to an unimaginable destiny. The authority of the 
 human soul over the visible Universe is becoming every 
 hour more assured. We are not here to walk in a vain 
 show, to live only for the lust of the eye, so soon to be 
 quenched in dust, or for the pride which feeds on what 
 withers almost at the touch. Our nature bears the in- 
 eradicable likeness of the Highest. Tlie mystery of it is 
 hidden in the mystery of all being, and the laws of our 
 minds are revealed in the laws which hold the whole Cre- 
 ation together. We are not servants, we are sons, heirs 
 of God ; joint heirs with Jesus and all tlie good and 
 great. And all is ours, ours to raise and enlarge our 
 thoughts, to set us free from the corrupting bondage of the 
 senses, to deepen our hunger and thirst for the only Liv- 
 ing and the True, for the beauty of Holiness, the im- 
 mortal life of God. And all our private experience; all 
 our conflicts, our victories and our defeats ; all the joys 
 and sorrows which we have shared together, — the sacred 
 
28 
 
 memories that come to us to-day of parents, sons, daugh- 
 ters, and dear ones departed, — do they not throng around 
 us now, and kindle our hearts with unutterable prayers 
 for ourselves, for our children, and for one another? 
 
 NOTE 
 
 On the last anniversary of my ordination (the forty- 
 ninth) I was led to dwell upon the Anti-slavery period 
 of thirty years before the war of the rebellion. It was a 
 period of intense interest, a great chapter in the history 
 of our country. 
 
 There was one incident of those times to which I par- 
 ticularly referred a year ago, which I wish to record here, 
 not on account of any great part that I had in it, but for 
 the interesting character of the whole aflfliir; and be- 
 cause, thinking it of some historical value, I am not 
 aware that it has ever been recorded save in the daily 
 press of the time. From a MS. record made some time 
 ago of " Eeminiscences," the following extract is tran- 
 scribed : 
 
29 
 
 " The most memorable occasion in my Anti-slavery ex- 
 perience was the annual meeting of the American Anti- 
 slavery Society held in the 'Tabernacle,' as it was called, 
 in New York, in May, 1850, 1 believe it was. I accepted 
 an invitation to speak on that occasion, holding myself 
 greatly honored thereby. 
 
 " Having no gift of extemporaneous speech, I prepared 
 myself with the utmost pains. I went to New York 
 the day before the meeting ; saw Mr Garrison and Wen- 
 dell Phillij^s. Mr Garrison said there would be a riot, 
 as the Press had been doing its utmost to inflame the 
 public mind against the Abolitionists. 
 
 "When the meeting was opened, the large hall, said 
 to be the largest then in New York, capable of holding 
 some thousands, was apparently full. The vast majority 
 of the audience were doubtless friendly to the object of 
 the meeting. 
 
 "Mr Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Edmund Quincy, 
 Isaac Hopper, Francis Jackson, Frederick Douglass, and 
 other faithful servants of the cause, were present on the 
 platform. 
 
 " I saw friends here and there among the audience. I 
 was surprised to recognize there a son of Judge Kane of 
 this city (afterwards Col. T. Kane). I had some previous 
 acquaintance with him, and knew him to be a young man 
 of ardent temperament, open to generous ideas. I sup- 
 posed then, and still suppose, that he was drawn there 
 accidentally by curiosity. After a prayer by the Rev. 
 Henry Grew, Mr Garrison made the opening speech, 
 strong, bold, and characteristic. 
 
 " He had spoken only a few moments when he was in- 
 terrupted by what sounded like a burst of applause ; but 
 as there was nothing special to call it forth, and as it 
 proceeded from one little portion of the audience, I asked 
 Wendell Phillips, who sat next to me, wliat it meant. 
 
30 
 
 ' It means,' he said, * that there is to be a row.' The 
 interruption was repeated again and again. A voice 
 shouted some rude questions to Mr Garrison. 
 
 "Mr Garrison bore himself with the serenity of a 
 summer's evening, answering : ' My friend, if you will 
 wait till I get through, I will give you the information 
 you ask for,' He succeeded in finishing his speech. I 
 was to speak next. But the instant Mr Garrison ended, 
 there came down upon the platform from the gallery 
 which was connected with it, an individual, with a com- 
 pany of roughs at his back, who proved to be no less a 
 person than the then well-known Isaiah Rynders. He 
 began shouting and raving. 
 
 " I was not aware of being under any apprehension of 
 personal violence. We were all like General Jackson's 
 cotton-bales at New Orleans. Our demeanor made it 
 impossible for the rioters to use any physical force against 
 us. Young Kane, however, leaped upon the platform, 
 and, pressing through to me, in a tone of great excite- 
 ment, exclaimed : ' They shall not touch a hair of your 
 head !' Mr Garrison said to Rynders in the quietest 
 manner conceivable, ' You ought not to interrupt us. We 
 go upon the principle of hearing everybody. If you wish 
 to speak, I will keep order, and you shall be heard.' But 
 Rynders was not in a state of mind to listen to reason. He 
 had not come there for that, but to break up the meeting. 
 
 " The Hutehinsons, who were wont to sing at the Anti- 
 slavery meetings, were in the gallery, and they attempted 
 to raise a song, to soothe the savages with music. But it 
 was of no avail. Rynders drowned their fine voices with 
 noise and shouting. The chief of the police came upon 
 the platform, and asked Mr Garrison whether he desired 
 him to arrest and remove Rynders & Co. Mr Garrison 
 answered : ' We desire nothing of you. We can take 
 care of ourselves. You probably know your duty.' The 
 
31 
 
 officer did nothing. In this scene of confusion, young 
 Kane became intensely excited. He rushed up to 
 Rynders, and shook his fist in his face. He said to me 
 with the deepest emphasis : ' If he touches Mr Garrison, 
 I'll kill him !' But Mr Garrison's composure was more 
 than a coat of mail. Rynders, indisposed to speak him- 
 self, brought forward a man to speak for him and his 
 party. Mr Francis Jackson and I were, the while, hold- 
 ing young Kane down in his seat to keep him from 
 breaking out into some act of violence. He was the most 
 dangerous element on our side. Kynders's substitute 
 professed a willingness that I should speak first (I was 
 down on the placards to follow Mr Garrison), provided 
 I did not make a long speech. 
 
 " Accordingly, I spoke my little, anxiously prepared 
 word. I never recall that hour without blessing myself 
 that I was called to speak precisely at that moment. At 
 any other stage of the proceedings, it would have been 
 wretchedly out of place. 
 
 " As it was, my speech fitted in almost as well as if it 
 had been impromptu, although a sharp eye might easily 
 have discovered that I was speaking memoriter. Rynders 
 interrupted me again and again, exclaiming that I lied, 
 that I was personal, but he ended with applauding me ! 
 Rynders's man then came forward, rather dull and tire- 
 some in speech. It was his own friends who interrupted 
 him occasionally, Mr Garrison calling them to order. 
 
 " His argument was, that the blacks are not human 
 beings. Mr Garrison whispered to me while he was 
 speaking, that the speaker had formerly been a com- 
 positor in the office of the Liberator. 
 
 " He ended at last, and then Frederick Douglass was 
 loudly called for. Mr Douglass came forward, cxcpii- 
 sitely neat in his dress. 
 
 " ' The gentleman who has just spoken,' ho began, ' has 
 
32 
 
 undertaken to prove that the blacks are not human 
 beings. He has examined our whole conformation, from 
 top to toe. I cannot follow him in his argument. I will 
 assist him in it, however. I offer myself for your exami- 
 nation. Am I a man?' To this interrogatory instantly 
 there came from the audience a thunderous affirma- 
 tive. Ryuders was standing right by the side of Mr 
 Douglass, and when the response died away, he exclaimed 
 in a hesitating way : ' But you're not a black man !' 
 'Then,' retorted Douglass, 'I'm your brother.' 'Ah, — 
 ah,' said Eynders, hesitatingly, ' only half brother.' The 
 effect upon the audience need not be described ; it may 
 readily be imagined. Mr Douglass then went on, com- 
 plaining of Horace Greeley, who had recently said in his 
 paper that the blacks did nothing for themselves. ' When 
 I first came North,' said Mr Douglass, ' I went to the 
 most decided Anti-slavery merchant in the North, and 
 sought employment on a ship he was building, and he told 
 me that if he were to give me work, every white opera- 
 tive would quit, and yet Mr Greeley finds fault with us 
 that we do not help ourselves !' This criticism of Greeley 
 pleased Kynders, who bore that gentleman no good will, 
 and he added a word to Douglass's against Greeley. ' I 
 am happy,' said Douglass, ' to have the assent of my half 
 brother here^ pointing to Rynders, and convulsing the 
 audience with laughter. After this, Rynders, finding how 
 he Was played with, took care to hold his peace; but some 
 one of Rynders's company in the gallery undertook to in- 
 terrupt the speaker. ' It's of no use,' said Mr Douglass ; 
 ' Tve Captain Rynders here to bach me.' ' We were born 
 here,' he went on to say, ' we have made the clothes that 
 you wear, and the sugar that you put into your tea, and we 
 mean to stay here and do all we can for you.' ' Yes !' cried 
 a voice from the gallery, ' and you'll cut our throats !' 
 ' No,' said the speaker, ' we'll only cut your hair.' When 
 
33 
 
 the laughter ceased, Mr Douglass proceeded to say : 
 * We mean to stay here, and do all we can for every one, 
 be he a man, or be he a monkey,' accompanying these 
 last words with a wave of his hand towards the quarter 
 whence the interruption had come. He concluded with 
 saying that he saw his friend, Samuel Ward, present, and 
 he would ask him to step forward. All eyes were instantly 
 turned to the back of the platform, or stage rather, so 
 dramatic was the scene, and there, amidst a group, stood 
 a large man, so black that, as Wendell Phillips said, 
 when he shut his eyes, you could not see him. Had I 
 observed him before, I should have wondered what 
 brought him there, accounting him as fresh from Africa. 
 He belonged to the political wing of the Abolition party 
 (Gerritt Smith's), and had wandered into the meeting, 
 never expecting to be called upon to speak. At the call 
 of Frederick Douglass, he came to the front, and, as he 
 approached, Rynders exclaimed : ' Well, this is the origi- 
 nal nigger!' ' I've heard of the magnanimity of Captain 
 Rynders,' said Ward, ' but the half has not been told me !' 
 And then he went on with a noble voice, and his speech 
 was such a strain of eloquence as I never heard excelled 
 before or since. 
 
 " ' There are more than fifty people here,' said he, 
 ' who may remember me as a little black boy running 
 about the streets of New York. I have always been 
 called nigger, and the only consolation that has been 
 offered me for being called nigger was, that, when I die 
 and go to heaven, I shall be white. If — and here, with 
 an earnestness of tone and manner that thrilled one to 
 the very marrow, he continued — ' If I cannot go to heav- 
 en as black as God made me, let me go down to hell, and 
 dwell with the devils forever !' 
 
 " The effect was beyond description. 
 
 " * This gentleman,' he said, ' who denies our humanity, 
 
34 
 
 has examined us scientifically, but I know something of 
 anatomy. I have kept school, and I have had pupils, 
 from the jet black up to the soft dissolving views, and 
 I've seen white boys with retreating foreheads and pro- 
 jecting jaws, and, as Dickens says, in Nicholas Nickleby, 
 of Smike, you might knock here all day,' tapping his 
 forehead, ' and find nobody at home.' In this strain, he 
 went on, ruling the large audience with Napoleonic power. 
 Coal-black as he was, he was an emperor, pro tempore. 
 
 " When he ceased speaking, the time had expired for 
 which the Tabernacle was engaged, and we had to ad- 
 journ. Never was there a grander triumph of intelli- 
 gence, of mind, over brute force. Two colored men, whose 
 claim to be considered human was denied, had, by mere 
 force of intellect, overwhelmed their maligners with con- 
 fusion. As the audience was thinning out, I went down 
 on the floor to see some friends there. Rynders came 
 by. I could not help saying to him, 'How shall we 
 thank you for what you have done for us to-day ?' ' Well,' 
 said he, ' I do not like to hear my country abused, but 
 that last thing that you said, that's the truth.' That last 
 thing was, I believe, a simple assertion of the right of the 
 people to think and speak freely. 
 
 "Judging by his physiognomy and his scriptural name 
 Isaiah, I took Captain Rynders to be of Yankee descent. 
 Notwithstanding his violent behavior, he yet seemed to 
 be a man accessible to the force of truth. I found that 
 Lucretia Mott had the same impressions of him. She 
 saw him a day or two afterwards in a restaurant on 
 Broadway, and she sat down at his table, and entered 
 into conversation with him. As he passed out of the 
 restaurant, he asked Mr McKim, who was standing there, 
 waiting for Mrs Mott, whether Mrs Mott were his mother. 
 Mr McKim replied in the negative. ' She's a good sen- 
 sible woman,' said Rynders. 
 
35 
 
 " Never before or since have I been so deeply moved 
 as on that occasion. Depths were stirred in me never 
 before reached. For days afterwards, when I under- 
 took to tell the story, my head instantly began to ache. 
 Mr Garrison said, if the papers would only faithfully 
 report the scene, it would revolutionize public senti- 
 ment. As it was, they heaped all sorts of ridicule upon 
 us. I cheerfully accepted my share, entirely willing to 
 pass for a fool in the eyes of the world. It was a cheap 
 price to pay for the privilege of witnessing such a triumph. 
 I was taken quite out of myself. I came home, stepping 
 like Malvolio. I had shared in the smile of Freedom, 
 the belle and beauty of the world. 
 
 " A day or two after my return home, I met one of my 
 parishioners in the street, and stopped and told him all 
 about my New York visit. He listened to me with a 
 forced smile, and told me that there had been some 
 thought of calling an indignation meeting of the church 
 to express the mortification felt at my going and mixing 
 myself up with such people. I had hardly given a 
 thought to the effect at home, so full was I of the interest 
 and glory of the occasion. I ought to have preached on 
 the Sunday following from the words : ' He has gone to be 
 a guest with a man ivho is a sinner !' " 
 
MEETING 
 
 OF TIIK 
 
 IN PHILADELPHIA, 
 
 HELD IN THE CHURCH, TENTH AND LOCUST STREETS, 
 
 JANUARY 12, 1875, 
 
 IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 
 
 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSAEY 
 
 OF 
 
 Eev. W. H. FURNESS, D.D., 
 
 AS PASTOR OF THEIR CHURCH. 
 
39 
 
 On the evening of January 12th, 1875, the meeting 
 of the First Unitarian Society, in commemoration of the 
 fiftieth anniversary of the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Fur- 
 ness, was held in the church. 
 
 The following ministers were present : 
 
 Key. Dr. John H. Morison, Key. K. R. Shippen, 
 
 Rev. Dr. S. K. Lothrop, Rev. Wm. O. White, 
 Rev Dr. James Freeman Clarke.Rev. J. F. AV. Ware, 
 
 Rev. Dr. James T. Thompson, Rev. Wm. C. Gannett, 
 
 Rev. Dr. C. A. Bartol, Rev. E. H. Hall, 
 
 Rev. Dr. H. W. Bellows, Rev. J. W. Chadwick, 
 
 Rev. Dr. A. P. Putnam, Rev. Thos, J. Mumford, 
 
 Rev. F. Israel, Rev. C. G. Ames. 
 
 The church was profusely but tastefully hung with 
 festoons of evergreen ; on the wall, behind the pulpit, 
 was a large cross ; among the festoons which overhung it 
 were the figures " 1825 " and " 1875 " in white and green 
 flowers ; while in front of the 23ulpit, covering the com- 
 munion table and all the approaches to it, were growing 
 tropical jjlants, amid which was a profusion of vases, 
 baskets, and bouquets of natural flowers, with smilax 
 distributed here and there in delicate friuaes or festoons. 
 
40 
 
 The regular quartette choir of the church, consisting 
 
 of 
 
 Mrs. W. D. Dutton, .... Soprano, 
 
 Mrs. Isaac Ashmead, Jr., . . • Contralto, 
 
 Mr. E. Dillingham, .... Tenor, 
 
 Mr. F. G. Cauffman, .... Bass, 
 
 was on this occasion assisted by 
 
 Miss Cassidy, Miss Jennie Cassidy, 
 
 Miss Cooper, Mrs. Egberts, 
 
 Mr. a. H. Kosewig, Mr. W. W. Gilchrist, 
 
 under the direction of Mr. W. D. Dutton, organist of the 
 church. 
 
PROCEEDINGS, 
 
 At half-past seven o'clock the exercises of the evening 
 commenced, as follows: 
 
 Music. 
 
 Tenor solo and chorus, Mendelssohn. 
 
 "Oh, come, let us worship," from 95th Psalm. 
 
 Mr. Henry Winsor, Chairman of the Committee of 
 Arrangements, in opening the meeting made the follow- 
 ing remarks: 
 
 The occasion of our meeting here this evening is so 
 well known to all present that there is no need of any 
 formal announcement of it. We thought some time ago 
 that this anniversary of our pastor's ordination, when 
 the half century of his ministration here is complete, 
 ought to be in some way marked and commemorated ; 
 and as one of the things for that purpose, — as the best 
 means perhaps to that end, we invited friends in Now 
 England and elsewhere to l)e witli us liere to-night ; and 
 I am glad to say that some of them liave come ; as many 
 perhaps as we had reason to expect at this inclement 
 season. 
 
 6 
 
42 
 
 And now, speaking for this Society, I want to say to 
 them that their presence is a special joy to us ; a greater 
 joy than it could be on a similar occasion to any society 
 in New England; for there Unitarians are at home, and 
 each society has many neighbors with whom it can com- 
 mune, and to whom it can look for sympathy, and, if 
 need be, for assistance. But this Society of Unitarian 
 Christians has long been alone in this great city, having 
 no connection with any religious society here and com- 
 muning with none. And so, as I said, your presence on 
 this occasion is a real joy to us, and, on behalf of the 
 Society, I heartily thank you for it. But we are here — 
 we of the congregation are here — not to speak but to 
 listen ; and I will now ask Dr. Morison, of Massachusetts, 
 to pray for us. 
 
 Prayer by Kev. Dr. John H. Morison. 
 
 Almighty and most merciful Father, Ave beseech Thee 
 to open our hearts to all the gracious and hallowed asso- 
 ciations of this hour. Help us so to enter into the spirit 
 of this hour, that all holy influences may be around us, that 
 our hearts may be touched anew, that we may be brought 
 together more tenderly, and lifted up, with a deeper grati- 
 tude and reverence, to Thee, the Fountain of all good, the 
 Giver of every good and perfect gift. We thank Thee, 
 most merciful Father, for the ministry which has been mod- 
 estly carrying on its beneficent work here through these 
 fifty years. We thank Thee for all the lives which have 
 been helped by it to see and to do Thy will, and which 
 have been made more beautiful and holy by being brought 
 into quicker sympathies with whatever is beautiful in the 
 world without, and whatever is lovely in the world within. 
 We thank Thee for the inspiring words which have been 
 here spoken, brought home to the consciences of this con- 
 
43 
 
 gregation by the life which stood behind them, to make 
 men more earnest to search after what is true and to do 
 what is right. We thank Thee, our Father in heaven, for 
 all the sweet and tender and far-reaching hopes, too vast 
 for this world, Avhich have been opening here, begun upon 
 the earth and fulfilled in other worlds, in more imme- 
 diate union with the spirits of the just made perfect; and 
 we thank Thee for all the solemn memories here, through 
 which the dear and honored forms of those to whom we 
 who are aged now looked up once as to our fathers and 
 teachers rise again transfigured and alive before us. We 
 thank Thee for all those who have been with us in the 
 ministry of Christ, and under the ministry of Christ, 
 gracious souls, rejoicing with us in the work which they 
 and we have been permitted to do, and now, as our trust 
 is, numbered among Thy saints in glory everlasting. And 
 while we here render thanks to Thee for the ministry so 
 long and so faithfully fulfilled in this place, so allying 
 itself to all that is sweet in our human affections, to all 
 that is beautiful in the world of nature and of art, to all 
 that is holy in the domestic relations, to all that is strong 
 and true in the defence of human rights, to the deepest 
 human interests and to thy love, uniting in grateful rev- 
 erence for the past, we would also ask Thy holy Spirit to 
 dwell with Thy servant, to inspire him still with thoughts 
 which shall keep his soul always young, his spirit always 
 fresh, for long years yet to come, Avith increasing rii)e- 
 ness and increasing devotedness ; and that he may long 
 continue to walk in and out here amid the silent benedic- 
 tions of those who have learned to love and honor him. 
 
 Our Father in heaven, help us that whatever may be 
 said at this time may be in harmony witli the occasion. 
 While we here rise up in prayer and thanksgiving to 
 Thee, grant that Thy heavenly benediction may rest on 
 pastor and people, that Tliy loving spirit may turn our 
 
44 
 
 human wishes into heavenly blessings, and that the words 
 and example of Him who came into the world, not to 
 do his own will but the will of Him that sent him, may 
 comfort and strengthen us ; and that the life which has 
 been such an inspiration and joy and quickening power 
 to our friend may be to all of us still an incentive to 
 holiness, and an inspiration to all pure and heavenly 
 thoughts. 
 
 And now, most merciful Father, grant to us all, that 
 it may be good for us to be here — so gracious and so 
 hallowed is the time — and Thine, through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord, be the kingdom and the power and the glory 
 forever and ever. Amen. 
 
 Music. 
 
 Soprano solo and chorus, .... Spohr. 
 
 " How lovely are thy dwellings fair !" 
 
 Mr. Winsor then spoke as follows : 
 
 At the ordination of Dr. Furness, fifty years ago, the 
 sermon was delivered by one eminent among Unitarian 
 Christians, by whom his memory will be long cherished 
 and honored, Henry Ware, Jr., and for this reason I ask 
 to speak first of all here to-night his son, Rev. John F. 
 W. Ware, of Boston, Mass. 
 
 Address of Rev. John F. W. Ware. 
 
 Friends of this Christian Society: I have no 
 other claim to be standing here to-night and participating 
 in your service than the one just mentioned — that I am 
 the son of the man who, fifty years ago this day, preached 
 the sermon at the ordination of his friend, William 
 
45 
 
 Henry Furness, aud what may seem to you my fitness is 
 indeed my unfitness. Proud as I am in being the son of 
 a man so much honored, loved, and remembered, I never 
 feel it quite right in any way to try to represent him, and 
 had I known that this was to be a part of the conse- 
 quences of my journey I think I should have stayed at 
 home. 
 
 But during the hours that I have been on the way my 
 thoughts have been busy with that fifty years ago, think- 
 ing of the goodly company who, "in the winter wild," 
 came down here from New England that they might 
 plant this vine in the vineyard of the Lord. And none 
 of them who came at that time to plant are permitted 
 to be here to-night to help us gather the rich and ripened 
 clusters. It showed, I think, the love that these men 
 had for, and the confidence that they had in, their young 
 friend, that they should have come, in that inclement 
 time, this long journey by stage, taking them days and 
 nights of discomfort as it did. I think that there was 
 no sweeter household word in that dear old home of mme 
 than " Brother Furness " — the old-fashioned way in which 
 ministers used to talk of one another, which we of to- 
 day have forgotten. In those times it meant something ; 
 to-day we don't feel as if it did, so we have dropped it. 
 I think there was no name so sweet outside of the closest 
 family ties as that name, and we children grew — my sis- 
 ter and myself— to have always the deepest love for the 
 man that our father loved ; and as time went by, and 
 young manhood came, I looked forward to the hearing 
 of the tones of that voice, and the seeing of that smile, 
 and the touching of that hand, as among the bright and 
 pleasant things— a sort of condescending, it always seemed 
 to me to be, of one who was in a sphere higher up than I 
 ever hoped to climb to. Then, as I grew older, 1 re- 
 member the audacity with which I offered him "a labor 
 
46 
 
 of love " in this church, and I remember I trembled after 
 I had done it ; and I remember how he thanked me, and 
 how he criticized me, and the criticizing was a great deal 
 better than the thanking. It was very deep ; it meant a 
 good deal, and it has not been forgotten. 
 
 Fortunate man ! he who came into this city fifty years 
 ago ; fortunate in the place, and the time of his birth ; 
 fortunate in the education he had had and the faith he had 
 imbibed ; fortunate in the place he had gone to, not to be 
 coddled among friends, emasculated by being surrounded 
 by those Avho thought just as he did, but thrown out by 
 God's will into this outpost, where he could grow, as we 
 cannot where we are surrounded by those of our own 
 preference and method of thinking; fortunate in the 
 bent of his study, in the opportunity to unfold the beau- 
 tiful life of Jesus ; fortunate in being of those who 
 stood up for the slave; fortunate in having lived to see 
 the issue of the work that his heart was engaged in ; for- 
 tunate in being now crowned by the love and benediction 
 of his people, and retiring calmly and sweetly from the 
 work of life, still to dwell among those \vho have loved 
 him these years long. Oh, fortunate man! God bless 
 him, and continue him here many years yet, your joy, 
 your companion, your guide, and your friend. 
 
 Not many of us shall see our fiftieth anniversary, for 
 more and more this profession of ours becomes a thing 
 of yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow alone. Very few oc- 
 casions there will be again to meet together to celebrate 
 the fiftieth anniversary of a minister's settlement. 
 
 Let us treasure the memory of this occasion. Let it 
 go with us who are here to our homes and our w^orks, 
 and may it remain here with you a thought and memory 
 and a help ; and as, in the beginning, this church drew 
 its life and its first impulse through a little band of 
 sturdy and steady and upright laymen, so in the time 
 
47 
 
 that lies before you, lay friends of this Society, remem- 
 ber that it is not the past upon which you can lean — the 
 work that has been done by the servant who retires. It 
 is the future in which you are to hope, and the charac- 
 ter of that future must be largely your work. With 
 this simple word, knowing that there are many gentle- 
 men here who are to speak, and will speak more wisely 
 and properly than I, I ask Mr. Gannett to follow me. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Furness then came forward, and said : 
 
 My dear Friends : I am very doubtful about the 
 propriety of my being present on this occasion, not be- 
 cause any deserts of mine would call forth any extrava- 
 gant eulogium, but because I know the kind hearts of my 
 friends. They would say things which would make me 
 very uncomfortable. But just before I came from home 
 I got a letter from our friend, Mr. Weld, minister of the 
 church in Baltimore. He has sent us from the churcli in 
 Baltimore two communion cups — silver cups — as a token 
 of kind fellowship and recognition of this anniversary 
 from the church in Baltimore. They wished to have an 
 inscription placed on them, but they had no time ; in- 
 dicating that they were gifts from the church in Balti- 
 more. So I thought I would bring them down without 
 delay, and put tliem upon the table, if tlicre was any room 
 for them. 
 
 In all the kind words which my brethren say al)()ut 
 me, I think there is a good deal put in. Just like the old 
 man who took notes of his minister's sermons, and when 
 he read them over to the minister, the minister said, 
 " Stop ! stop ! I did not say that." " I know you didn't," 
 he said ; " but I put it in to make sense of it." So, I 
 think, on this occasion, there will be a good deal put 
 
48 
 
 in. If you will allow me, I will go and sit down at 
 the other end of the room, and if they get a little too 
 strong I can run out. I was entreated to come here 
 and show myself I am very grateful to you for your 
 kind attention. 
 
 Address of William C. Gannett. 
 
 Like Mr. Ware, I only speak as the son of the right 
 man. The right man stood by Dr. Furuess' side fifty 
 years ago, and gave him the right hand of fellowship. I 
 know not whether there are any here that saw the sight 
 or heard the words ; perhaps of all he only. The air 
 seems full, to me, at least, of the memories of the other 
 one. And to you who sit and listen, the air must seem 
 full of the very spirit of communion that these cups just 
 given symbolize. There ought to have been a white head 
 here ; there ought to have been dark eyes ; there ought 
 to have been a ringing voice ; there ought to have been 
 a voice that would have been full of tenderness as he 
 stood at this side of the fifty years, — as he then stood at 
 the other side, — and said the words of an old man's fel- 
 lowship. He would to-day, as then, have been just six 
 months Dr. Furness' senior in the work. I suppose 
 one can imagine anybody, any old person, as young, 
 easier than he can his own father or his own mother. I 
 cannot conceive the one whom I call father standing here, 
 or in the place which this church represents, as a young 
 man of twenty four speaking to a young man of twenty- 
 three, and bidding him welcome into the work which he 
 called partaking in the work of heaven ; bidding him 
 welcome into its pleasures ; bidding him welcome into 
 its pains, — for he had been six mouths a minister, and 
 in those first six months of a minister's life he knows a 
 
49 
 
 great deal of the pains that accompany it. It so hap- 
 pened that just after I got your kind invitation to come, 
 I happened to lay my hand upon the manuscript of that 
 right hand of fellowship, and not having time to read it 
 then, I brought it with me in the cars ; and only three or 
 four hours ago I was reading the very words, and read- 
 ing from the very paper which, fifty years ago, was held 
 and read from, and to which Dr. Furness listened. It 
 does seem to me as if the reader were here now to say, 
 " God bless you, old friend, for having stood ever faithful 
 to the end." I almost think he is saying it ; and if he 
 is, I know it comes with just that feeling: "God bless 
 you, old friend, for having stood faithful to the end ; for 
 having fulfilled all and more than all the words that then 
 I said to you." And that is all I have to say. I was 
 asked to pass the word along to another boy of the old 
 men. Your father and my father and Dr. Hall were 
 classmates. Will Edward Hall speak for his father ? 
 
 Address of Rev. Edward H. Hall, of 
 
 Worcester, Mass. 
 
 I hardly know to what I owe this pleasure, for it is a 
 great one to me, of joining my thoughts with others to- 
 night, at so early a point of our gathering. I believe 
 my claim is a double one, and I am willing and anxious 
 to make it as large as possible, both as the successor of 
 one who, fifty years ago, was present to give the charge 
 to the people, and, still tenderer to me, the claim which 
 has just been presented by the friend who i)receded me. 
 In that class, which I suppose stands eminent among the 
 graduating classes of Cambridge for tlie number of men 
 it has sent into our ministry, to say notliing of tlieir 
 quality, were the three whose names have just been 
 
 7 
 
50 
 
 brought together, who had no greater pride, I believe, 
 than to have their names in common. And it is for me 
 one of the pleasantest memories which this hour brings 
 that they were not only classmates — my father and our 
 father to-night — but that for so long a time, through their 
 college course, they were in closest intimacy as room- 
 mates. And yet I should be sorry to think that this was 
 my only connection with this occasion. It was said, I 
 remember, of one of the finest and noblest of our officers 
 killed in the war, that of the many who had met him, 
 each one seemed to feel that he had made a special dis- 
 covery of that man's noble character and fine traits, so 
 did the discovery overpower him, and so sure Avas he that 
 to no one else had it come as it did to him ; and I am in- 
 clined to think that there is no one of these ministers 
 here to-night who does not feel as if his connection with 
 him whom we meet to-night to honor was something 
 special, as if the inspiration which he had drawn from 
 that source was one which no one but himself had got. 
 No qualification for our profession, I suppose, is higher 
 than the power of historic intuition ; the power of seeing 
 things as they were ; of reading the w^ords and seeing be- 
 hind them; the power that reproduces the past. Our 
 great historians are those who read the past in that way ; 
 our great theologians are those who read the past as if 
 it were present, and feel a personal intercourse with those 
 who walked and spoke in those early days. They are 
 the holy men and apostles of to-day ; they will always 
 be the apostles to the end of time, and I am glad to feel 
 that out of our numbers has come one whose power of 
 divining the past has shown itself so fine and true. 
 
 I can hardly help speaking about another feeling. 
 I am impressed to-night by the difference, the vast dif- 
 ference, between our fathers of a generation ago and 
 us who are upon the stage to-day. We look back rev- 
 
51 
 
 ereutly to them ; perhaps ehildreu always do to their 
 fathers. It is barely possible that our children may look 
 upon us in the same way. We look upon them as a 
 group of men set apart by themselves — a kind of priest- 
 hood, conscious of the sanctity of their work. A sort of 
 moral halo encircles their heads as we think of them, and 
 we group them in just that affectionate way to which our 
 friend before me has alluded, as a band of brothers. Will 
 this generation of ministers ever look to their successors 
 as they appear to us ? I cannot believe it. That will not 
 be our claim upon their honor or their regard. Happy 
 for us if we can have any claim upon it ; if men shall 
 see that the second generation of ministers took bravely 
 up the work that was half done, uttered the words that 
 were still unspoken, continued in the path which the 
 fathers cannot longer tread, and proved that it takes 
 more than one generation to do the work which Uni- 
 tarianism is born to accomplish. 
 
 But I have no more claim upon your time, and close 
 by introducing to you, as I have been asked, the Rev. 
 Dr. Lothrop, of Boston. 
 
 Rev. Dr. S. K. Lothrop spoke as follows : 
 
 My Christian Friends : I have but a few words to 
 say, and I rise to say these simply that I may more 
 fully express what my presence here implies, my deep 
 sympathy and interest in this occasion. 
 
 There are scenes and events in life which, from their 
 simplicity and beauty, and the moral grandeur whicli 
 always mingles more or less with everything sim])le and 
 beautiful, can gain nothing from human lips. Eloquence 
 can coin no words that shall impress them upon the heart 
 and conscience more deeply than they impress themselves. 
 This occasion is one of these events. We meet here to- 
 
52 
 
 night — this company, the members of this church, these 
 brethren from distant and different parts of the country 
 — to commemorate fifty years of faithful and devoted ser- 
 vice in the Christian ministry, and rhetoric can add 
 nothing to the moral dignity and grandeur of this fact, 
 that is not contained in the simplest statement or expres- 
 sion of it. We meet to do honor and reverence to one, 
 who, from the earliest aspirations of his youth to the later 
 aspirations and ever enlarging service of his manhood, 
 has known no object but truth, no law but duty, no 
 master but conscience, and who, under the inspiration and 
 guidance of these has wrought a noble work in this city, 
 made full proof of his ministry, and given a glorious 
 illustration of the power of that faith, " which is the vic- 
 tory that overcometh the world." 
 
 The Unitarian Congregationalists recognize a large 
 personal freedom and individuality. Among the brethren 
 present and all called by our name who are absent, there 
 are wide differences of theological thought and opinion ; 
 and some of us may not entirely concur in all the con- 
 clusions — the result of Christian thought and study — 
 which our honored brother, the pastor of this church, in 
 his fifty years of noble service, may have presented in 
 this pulpit or given to the public through the press. But 
 however he may differ from him on some points, no one 
 who has read what he has published, can fail to perceive 
 or refuse to acknowledge the spirit of devout reverence, 
 love, faith, the large and glorious humanity that every- 
 where breathe in his words ; while every one familiar 
 with his long life-work in this city, every one who has 
 known him intimately, had opportunity to study and ob- 
 serve his character, to mark its mingled firmness and 
 gentleness, sw^eetness and strength, its martyr spirit ad- 
 hering to conscientious convictions and carrying them 
 out at whatever cost or sacrifice, its loyal spirit, faithful 
 
53 
 
 to Christ and truth accordiog to honest and sincere con- 
 viction, every one who knows and has witnessed how 
 these things have pervaded and animated his life, char- 
 acter, work, cannot fail to cherish toward him a senti- 
 ment of reverence and honor; and amid all differences of 
 opinion there may be between us, I yield to no one in 
 the strength and sincerity with which I cherish this sen- 
 timent in my own heart. When I visited him at his 
 house to-day, I could not but feel that while years had 
 not abated one jot of the vigor of his intellect or the 
 warmth of his heart, they had added largely to that 
 something, I know not what to call it, that indescribable 
 charm, which has given him a place in every heart that 
 has ever known him, and made us his brethren (I am 
 only uttering what they will all acknowledge) always 
 disposed to sit at his feet in love and admiration. 
 
 I am one of the oldest, probably the oldest of our min- 
 isters present. Dr. Furness' ordination antedates mine, 
 which occurred in February, 1829, only by four years 
 and a month. As regards term of service my name is 
 close to his on our list of living clergymen, and I remem- 
 ber, as if it were but yesterday, his ordination fifty years 
 ago to-day, and can distinctly recall the deep interest 
 with which it was spoken of that evening in the family 
 circle of the late Dr. Kirkland at Cambridge, of which I 
 was then a member. I had but slight personal acquaint- 
 ance with Dr. Furness, however, till thirteen years after 
 this, in 1838, when sufiering from ill health he was unable 
 for several months to discharge his duties. His pulpit 
 was supplied by clergymen from Boston and the neigh- 
 borhood, and as he had many loving friends and warm 
 admirers in Brattle Square Society, they were very will- 
 ing to release me for six weeks, that I might come to 
 Philadelphia and preach for him. This visit and service 
 brought me into more intimate acquaintance with him tmd 
 
54 
 
 this Society. The pleasant memories of that period, fresh 
 in my heart to this day, were prominent among the mani- 
 fold recollections that prompted, nay, constrained me to 
 come and unite my sympathies with yours on this occasion. 
 It is a glad occasion, yet there is something solemn and 
 sad about it. Like all anniversaries, it has a double 
 meaning, makes a double appeal to us. It gives a tongue 
 to memory, calls up the shadows of the past, brings be- 
 fore us the forms of those we have loved and lost ; we see 
 their smiles ; we hear their voices ; and as I stand here 
 to-night, and look back upon those fifty years, and call 
 to mind the venerable fathers of our faith, whom I knew 
 and loved and honored in the early days of my profes- 
 sional life, Drs. Bancroft, Ripley, Thayer, Harris, Pierce, 
 Nichols of Portland, Parker of Portsmouth, Flint of 
 Salem, and bring before me the Boston Association when 
 it numbered among its members Channing, Lowell, Park- 
 man, Ware, Greenwood, Frothingham, Pierpont, Young, 
 and last, though not least, that great apostle who has 
 just departed. Dr. Walker, I feel as if I had lived a 
 century, and was a very old man. I feel, however, that 
 life is not to be measured by years, and I hope, mean al- 
 ways to try to keep as young, bright, joyous, and buoyant 
 as Dr. Furness seemed this morning when I greeted him 
 in his own house. 
 
 I sympathize in all that has been said here this even- 
 ing, especially in all that has been said in relation to the 
 future of this Society and its honored and beloved pas- 
 tor. It is no longer a secret, I believe, that he intends 
 to ask a release from further service. I am sure, my 
 friends, that all the brethren present will leave with you 
 their loving benediction, and the hope that something of 
 his mantle may fall upon whoever comes to try to fill his 
 place. The whole of that mantle, in all its beauty, 
 grandeur, and simplicity, you cannot expect any man to 
 
55 
 
 have or wear ; if you find a successor wearing a goodly 
 portion of it you will have great reason to rejoice, to 
 thank God and be of good courage. As for Dr. Furness 
 himself, we leave with him our gratitude and reverence, 
 and our devout wish that the sweetest serenity and peace 
 and moral glory may mark his remaining years ; and for 
 ourselves, who have come from far and near to hold this 
 jubilee with him, we all hope to gather here to-night 
 and carry away with us on the morrow memories, in- 
 spirations, influences that shall quicken us to fresh zeal 
 and efibrt in our several spheres of work, determined to 
 be faithful and persevere unto the end, whether that end 
 cover twenty, thirty or forty, or, as may be the case with 
 some of us, fifty years of professional service. 
 
 Kev. Dr. James Freeman Clarke, of Boston, being 
 called upon to read a j)oem written for the occasion, 
 spoke as follows : 
 
 A great many years ago I was journeying from Ken- 
 tucky to Boston, and passing through Philadelphia, I 
 could not deny myself the pleasure of going to see our 
 dear friend, Mr. Furness, and he was then full of the 
 thoughts which were afterward published in his first 
 book, concerning Jesus of Nazareth. I spent the whole 
 morning talking with him, and when the morning was 
 through, said he, " Stay a little longer ;" and I said, " I 
 will wait till night before I go;" and I spent the after- 
 noon talking with him, and when the night came, he had 
 not finished speaking, and I had not finished listening. 
 So I spent another day. We talked in the morning, we 
 talked in the afternoon, and we talked in the evening. I 
 still had not heard all I wanted to, and so I stayed the 
 third day, and, of course, Brother Furness is very much 
 associated in my mind with his studies on this subject. 
 
56 
 
 which has led me to take the tone which you will find in 
 these lines : 
 
 Where is the man to comprehend the Master, 
 The living human Jesus — He who came 
 
 To follow truth through triumph or disaster, 
 And glorify the gallows and its shame? 
 
 No passive Christ, yielding and soft as water ; 
 
 Sweet, but not strong ; with languid lip and eye ; 
 A patient lamb, led silent to the slaughter ; 
 
 A monkish Saviour, only sent to die. 
 
 Nor that result of Metaphysic Ages ; 
 
 Christ claiming to be God, yet man indeed — 
 Christ dried to dust in theologic pages ; 
 
 Our human brother frozen in a creed ! 
 
 But that all-loving one, whose heart befriended 
 The humblest sufferer under God's great throne ; 
 
 While, in his life, humanity ascended 
 
 To loftier heights than earth had ever known. 
 
 All whose great gifts were natural and human ; 
 
 Loving and helping all; the great, the mean ; 
 The friend of rich and poor, of man and woman ; 
 
 And calling no one common or unclean. 
 
 Most lofty truth in household stories telling. 
 Which to the souls of wise and simple go ; 
 
 Forever in the Father's bosom dwelling — 
 Forever one with human hearts below. 
 
 Not in the cloister, or professor's study 
 God sets the teacher for this work apart, — 
 
 But where the life-drops, vigorous and ruddy, 
 Flow from the heart to hand, from hand to heart. 
 
67 
 
 He only rightly understands this Saviour, 
 
 "Who walks himself the same highway of truth ; 
 
 Unfolding, with like frank and bold behavior, 
 Such earnest manhood from such spotless youth. 
 
 Whose widening sympathy avoids extremes, 
 Who loves all lovely things, afar, anear — 
 
 Who still respects in age his youthful dreams. 
 Untouched by skeptic-doubt or cynic-sneer. 
 
 Who, growing older, yet grows young again. 
 Keeping his youth of heart ;— whose spirit brave 
 
 Follows with Jesus, breaking every chain, 
 And bringing liberty to every slave. 
 
 To him, to-night, who, during fifty years, 
 For truths unrecognized has dared the strife, 
 
 In spite of fashion's law or wisdom's fears. 
 We come to thank him for a noble life. 
 
 He needs no thanks, but will accept that love. 
 
 The grateful love, inevitably given 
 To those who waken faith in things above, 
 
 And mingle with our days a light from heaven. 
 
 And most of all, who shows us how to find 
 The Great Physician for all earthly ill— 
 
 The true Reformer, calm and bold and kind. 
 Who came not to destroy but to fulfil. 
 
 And thus this church grows into holy ground 
 
 So full of Jesus that our souls infer 
 That we, like Bunyan's Pilgrim, must have found 
 
 At last " The House of the Interpreter.'' 
 
 Dr. Clarke called upon Ucv. Dr. Bartol to .<peak, who 
 said : 
 
 My Friends: I certainly ought in all .•sincerity, and 1 
 certainly do in all humility, thank the coniinittee for in- 
 
 8 
 
58 
 
 viting one, so devoid of all conventional virtue, with no 
 place in any conference, standing for the desert — yet not 
 quite, I think, belonging to the tribe of Ishmael, for my 
 hand is against no man, and no man's hand, I think, is 
 against me, — to say even one word. But let me tell you 
 there is good ecclesiastical blood in the family. I throw 
 myself on one who is worthy, I am sure, and ^^opular in 
 this church, a cousin by blood. I think there is a good 
 deal of vicarious atonement in him; and I hope his 
 righteousness will be imputed to me, thoagh I do not 
 mean to make him a scapegoat for my sins. 
 
 Notwithstanding what my brother has said, I shall call 
 him not only brother but John Ware; and because of what 
 he said we shall all be convinced that this is a real 
 brotherhood in spirit as in name after all. I call it a 
 very goodly fellowship, not only of the prophets but of 
 the people to-night. And that is the thought that comes 
 into my mind in regard to it. Here our brother and 
 father Furness, your minister, has brought all these 
 brethren together who stand in thought so wide apart. 
 Is it not a real fellowship? I need not mention the 
 names to show you how wide a space of thought they 
 measure, and the beauty and power of a man's fellow- 
 ship. It is not to be determined by the number of his 
 disciples or followers, by the largeness of the congrega- 
 tion he can gather, or the crowds that hang on his lips ; 
 but by the measure which all those men, be they more or 
 fewer, make in the world of ideas, which is also the world 
 of love ; for a man's parallax, that twenty friends may 
 make for him, is a larger parallax than a million friends 
 may make. And I think it is, in spite of our dear friend's 
 utter modesty, an occasion of joy with him. It should 
 be an occasion of joy that he reaches so far out on either 
 hand, and gathers such a company together. It is a real 
 fellowship, a real brotherhood, a real fatherhood ; and while 
 
59 
 
 these young men have been speaking — and we have not 
 begun with the eldest, even to the Last, but have begun 
 the other way— it seemed to me as if the almond blossoms 
 from the old heads which we remember, as well as see, 
 have been dropping upon some of our heads, and that 
 they have shed them upon us. AVe are glad for that fel- 
 lowship. It is rich beyond measure. 
 
 I had a letter from our dear Brother Dewey. He says 
 in this letter, speaking of the death of Dr. Walker, " He 
 seems to say to me, * Your turn next.' " Ah, " sad r Did 
 I hear that word? No, not sad. Death is not sad; 
 departure is not sad ; ascending is not sad. Death is 
 nothing. But what is meant by our thought? I said to 
 my dear friend, Dr. Bellows, last night as we were talking, 
 " How strange it would be, when we came each one of us 
 to die, to find that death, which we have thought so much 
 of, is nothing to think of! Death at last and for the 
 first time takes everlasting leave of us. Death will just 
 so surely depart from us as we come to die. And in the 
 article of dying it will depart." 
 
 It is well that I should close with this single thought 
 of fellowship. Providence has been working very won- 
 derfully and very mightily, with all these great causes 
 which have had great sway in the modern world, through 
 this gospel of free thought. I call it a gospel,— a gospel 
 of humanity, this loving gospel to bring people together. 
 I do not like the word fellowship as an active verb. I 
 never could speak of felloivshipjnng one. Fellowship is 
 the result of being true to our own conviction one to 
 another ; coming and sitting in the circle that takes m 
 the heaven as well as the earth,— and I will finish my 
 little talk with what perhaps is as yet an unedited fact 
 or story, of one of those other elders, not so very old, who 
 have gone to the majority. Samuel Joseph May illus- 
 trated this bond of fellowship ; how God will have it, that 
 
60 
 
 we must be brethren and fellows, whether we will or not. 
 He told me that one day, a great many years ago, it must 
 now be between thirty or forty years, he was returning 
 from an anti-slavery meeting, on a steamer, when a theo- 
 logical conversation arose between some parties, and one 
 man was pleased to denounce Unitarians very severely ; 
 and perhaps some of you remember what that denuncia- 
 tion was of the Unitarian Doctrine. It was infidel, it 
 was atheistic, it was all that was bad. Mr. May listened 
 quietly until the man got through, who had the sym- 
 pathy of others, and then frankly, like himself, said, "I 
 must tell you, sir, that I am myself one of those dreadful 
 Unitarians." " Indeed, indeed," said the man. " I have 
 listened to you with great pleasure at the anti-slavery 
 meeting ; would you allow me to have a little conversa- 
 tion with you at the other end of the boat, privately?" 
 " With the utmost pleasure," said Mr. May. They took 
 their departure from the little circle to the bow of the 
 boat. As the man was about to open his converting 
 speech, Mr. May said : " Now before we proceed to our 
 little controversy, I wish to ask you one question. Do 
 you believe it is possible in this matter of theology, I 
 after all may be right and you may be wrong?" "No, 
 I don't believe it is possible," said the man. "Then, 
 then," said Mr. May, " I think there is no advantage in 
 our having any further conversation." Mr. May had 
 his place nevertheless in that man's heart: for we do not 
 choose our fellows. God chooses our fellows for us. A 
 man said one day : " I heard that transcendental lecturer 
 speak. He got his thought into my mind, and the worst 
 of it is, I can't get it out." Be true to your conviction ; 
 for that is the charm, the beauty, the holiness ! And 
 then — I must say it, yes, I must say it in spite of Dr. 
 Furness' presence — not your thought alone, but you will 
 get into the heart of every man or woman who has the 
 
61 
 
 Ionian 
 
 slightest kuowledge of you. Aud the nmu and the ^\ 
 will love you, and the time will come when they will 
 not want to get you out of their mind. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Thompson, of Jamaica Plain, Mass., then 
 addressed the meeting as follows : 
 
 My Friends : I feel a good deal of embarrassment in 
 taking my place on the platform, having received no 
 hint that any word would be expected of me. 
 
 If I were as old and gray as some of the brethren who 
 have preceded me, I might perhaps follow in their 
 severely sober strain, but you will have to take me as I 
 am. Before touching on what more immediately con- 
 cerns the occasion, let me frankly confess to having 
 brought with me a slight pique against the venerated 
 pastor of this church, and you shall know how it hap- 
 pened. About ten years ago — it will be ten in April— the 
 Sunday after the first National Conference in New York, 
 I was seated in this church. Three or four of us ministers 
 had come on to attend the worship ; by what attraction 
 you can well imagine. Robert Collyer preached the 
 sermon, one of the best he ever preached, that on "Hurting 
 and Healing Shadows." Now you all know Dr. Furne<s' 
 great fondness for conferences and such like, only he 
 never goes to them ! Well, I think he must have been 
 a little uneasy while Collyer was preaching from having 
 heard of the great enthusiasm which prevailed in the 
 recent conference, and from regretting, though lie did 
 not say so, that circumstances, or something, had ])re- 
 vented his being there to share it. While he sat in the 
 pulpit under this "hurting shadow " he was thinking very 
 likely— but I do not assert it as a fact— how he could 
 extemporize something here that would bear a resemblance 
 to what we had been doing and enjoying in New York ; 
 and he hit on a plan. So, immediately after Brother 
 
62 
 
 Collyer had finished, our excellent friend arose, looking 
 exactly as he does to-night, and, with that peculiar 
 twinkle under his spectacles and expression about the 
 mouth which none of you will ever forget, said, that it 
 had occurred to him that, as a number of ministers were 
 present who had attended the New York conference, it 
 might be interesting to the congregation to hear an ac- 
 count of it from their lips ; and without further ceremony 
 he would call upon them. When it came my turn he 
 introduced me in this fashion ; (and here comes in the 
 pique of which I am going to free my mind). " This 
 gentleman," said he (giving my name), "some of the 
 older members of the society may perhaps remember to 
 have heard preach here, I will not undertake to say 
 precisely when, but it was some time within the present 
 century !" Do you wonder that I have" had a feeling 
 about this insinuation ? It was true that I had preached 
 for him while yet a young man, and he about as old to 
 my appreciation as he is now. It is also true that in the 
 abundance of his kindness he wanted to say a pleasant 
 thing about the sermon ; and he did say it. And what 
 do you think it was ? I hope it is not too flattering for 
 me to repeat after having carried it so long in my memory. 
 He said : " Thompson, there was one capital word in your 
 sermon, a capital word." " What was it ?" I asked, 
 surprised. "It was the word intenerated; where did 
 you get it?" " From the dictionary," I meekly replied ; 
 " and you will find it there." And now I wish to say 
 that if at any time within the last forty years you have 
 heard that word " intenerated " from the lips of your 
 minister you may know where it came from. 
 
 Dr. Furness : I have never used it once. (Laughter.) 
 What delightful reminiscences of my connection with 
 this church ! 
 
 And now let me come to the matter of the jubilee. 
 
m 
 
 It happened to me less than a week ago to walk into the 
 sanctum of our Brother Mumford, the accomplished 
 editor of the Christian Eegister. I entered expecting to 
 see my welcome in the generous smile with which he 
 usually meets his friends. But instead of this, his face 
 wore a most solemn expression, and he seemed to find it 
 hard even to look at me. " What now ?" thought I ; 
 "what have I been doing?" After a minute or two of 
 suspense, I was relieved by his lifting his eyes pleas- 
 antly and saying : " I am doing up Dr. Furness," or 
 words to that effect. I instantly remonstrated, say- 
 ing it would spoil every man's speech who goes to 
 Philadelphia, for they are all doing just w^hat you are. 
 They are all searching the volumes of the Christian 
 Register and Christian Examiner, and other newspapers 
 and periodicals to find out all they can in relation to the 
 man and the ordination fifty years ago. But he was in- 
 flexible, saying that " he didn't mean that the Christian 
 Register should be behind any of them." So he went on, 
 and the result was the excellent notice of our friend which 
 appeared last Saturday. 
 
 However, he did not give quite all the facts that link 
 themselves in my mind with the ordination of Dr. Fur- 
 ness. It was a very remarkable year of ordinations in 
 our Unitarian body, remarkable as to the number of 
 them, and as to the character and future eminence of the 
 men ordained, and the reputation of the ministers who 
 ordained them. Let me refer to a few of them. Six 
 months before the ordination here, June 30th, 1824, our 
 beloved Brother Gannett had been ordained as the col- 
 league of Dr. Channing ; and, on the same day, his lifelong 
 friend in the closest intimacy, the Rev. Calvin Lincoln, 
 was ordained at Fitchburg. Then came this ordination ; 
 and in just a week after, January 19th, followcnl that of 
 the Rev. Alexander Young, over the New South Church 
 
64 
 
 in Boston, Such highly distinguished ministers as Pier- 
 pont, Palfrey, Ware Sr., Chanuing, Upham, and Harris, 
 took the several parts. Of these, two only survive, Dr. 
 Palfrey, whom several of us here remember as our teacher 
 in the Theological School, and, rememberiug, have be- 
 fore us the image of a man as remarkable for method, 
 industry, learniug, and accuracy as a teacher, as he was 
 for a conscientious fidelity in the discharge of every duty, 
 the least as well as the greatest ; and Charles W. Upham, 
 who had been ordained but a mouth before, over the First 
 Church in Salem. Mr. Upham, after twenty years in the 
 ministry, retired and became for a time a servant of the 
 country in the National House of Kepresentatives. In 
 his advanced age he has pursued his favorite historical 
 studies, and has, as you know, recently published a Life 
 of Timothy Pickering in four volumes, which has been 
 received with great favor by the public. 
 
 The week following the ordination of Dr. Young, came 
 that of the Rev. Edmund Q. Sewall, at Amherst, New 
 Hampshire, a man of rare abilities and virtues ; no longer 
 living. At this ordination we find our friend Palfrey 
 taking part with Pierpout, Lowell, and Thayer of 
 Lancaster. This was followed the next week, February 
 2d, by the ordination of Rev. John Flagg, of West 
 Roxbury, in the exercises of which we find the names of 
 Palfrey again, the lately deceased Dr. Walker, and Drs. 
 Pierce, Lowell, Gray, and Lamson, all well known by 
 those of us who are far advanced in the journey of life, 
 and all, but the first, now gone on out of sight but not 
 beyond the reach of our affections. The week following 
 Mr. Flagg's, came the ordination of that true man and 
 faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Rev. 
 Samuel Barrett over the Chambers Street Church in 
 Boston; a man of clear, strong mind, devoted to his 
 work, exercising his ministry in great patience, in great 
 
65 
 
 cheerfulDess, with great joy in God and great love for the 
 brotherhood. Then followed in the very next week, 
 February 16th, the installation of the Rev. Henry Cole- 
 man in the Barton Square Church, of Salem, at which, 
 among others, Messrs. Frothingham, Pierpont, and Brazcr 
 officiated. I ought to mention that at the beginning of 
 the same year, 1825, if not a little earlier, our eminent 
 brother, the Rev. E. B. Hall, a particular friend of Dr. 
 Furness, received a call to the then new parish in North- 
 hampton, which the state of his health did not permit 
 him at once to accept. But the parish would not give 
 him up; and in the August ensuing, his health being 
 partially restored, he became their minister; the venerable 
 Dr. Ware preaching the sermon, and Pierpont, Willard, 
 Lincoln, and Brazer, assisting in other exercises. 
 
 Said I not truly that the year which gave Dr. Fur- 
 ness to Philadelphia, was memorable for its ordinations 
 in our denomination ? Certainly no other has been so 
 fruitful. And all these eminent brothers ordained, with 
 two or three exceptions, were the coevals and intimate 
 personal friends of him whom we have come here to- 
 night to honor wath the outpourings of our respect, 
 gratitude, and affection. 
 
 Now there is one other event relating to our good 
 friend, which I hope it will not seem improj^er for me to 
 refer to, having been for twenty-seven years of my life a 
 minister in the city where it occurred ; a very important 
 event in the history of his singularly happy life. It 
 occurred in the year following his ordination ; and it has 
 probably had quite as much to do with his comfort and 
 happiness here as your unfailing kindness and sympathy. 
 The event was of so much importance that it was chron- 
 icled in the Salem Gazette in this wise : 
 
 "In Salem, August 29th, 1825, by Rev. Mr. Emerson, 
 Rev. William Henry Furness, IMiiladelphia, to Miss 
 
 9 
 
66 
 
 Annis Pulling Jenks, daughter of the late Mr. John 
 Jeuks." 
 
 I don't dare to tell all I have heard about the bride, 
 though I think from what you now see, you would find 
 no difficulty in believing it. I refer to the event because 
 of its influence and its Jong-continued charm ; and I hope 
 the few lines from Kogers' " Human Life," with which I 
 close, if I can join them to what I have been saying, will 
 not inappropriately relieve your attention. 
 
 •' Across the threshold led, 
 And every tear kissed off as soon as shed, 
 His house she enters there to he a light 
 Shining within when all without is night; 
 A guardian angel o'er his life presiding, 
 Doubling his pleasures and his cares dividing ; 
 Winning him back when mingling with the throng, 
 Back from a world we love, alas, too long. 
 To fireside happiness, to hours of ease, 
 Blest with that charm— the certainty to please." 
 
 I am requested to introduce our Brother Chadwick, of 
 Brooklyn. 
 
 Rev. John W. Chadwick, of Brooklyn, N. Y., spoke 
 as follows : 
 
 Dear Friends: It seems to be the order of the 
 evening for each speaker to justify in some way his 
 presence on this sacred and beautiful occasion, and I, 
 knowing that my turn was coming, have been not a little 
 troubled as to what I should say for myself. But Dr. 
 Thompson has helped me out. In the accounts of 
 various ordinations which he has read to you, you 
 must have noticed how few old men had anything to do 
 with them, from which it would appear that, whether 
 there is or is not less respect for age now than formerly, 
 there was formerly much more respect for young men 
 than at present. Nowadays we never take up with any 
 
67 
 
 young men at ordinations and such times, till there are 
 no more old men to be had. I suspect, therefore, that I 
 have been invited to speak here this evening as a sign 
 that respect for young men has not entirely died out. 
 
 Dear friends, I saw this occasion while it was yet a 
 great way off. When Robert Collyer said to me up at 
 Saratoga last September, "John, we must all go to 
 Philadelphia next January," I answered, " I have been 
 meaning to this three years." After your invitation 
 came, thinking it might possibly mean that I should say 
 something, I began to think what I would say, and all at 
 once I found my thought was going to a sort of tune. I 
 couldn't account for it except by the fancy that my 
 thought was sympathizing with the music of Dr. Furness' 
 life, which has been a sort of symphony — a " Pastoral 
 Symphony " — for has not the thought of the Good Shep- 
 herd been the central thought and inspiration of it all 
 from the beginning until now ? 
 
 Here is what came to me. 
 
 W. H. F. 
 
 January I2th, 1825. January 12th, 1875. 
 
 Standing upon the summit of thy years, 
 Dear elder brother, what dost thou behold, 
 
 Along the way thy tireless feet have come 
 
 From that far day, when young and fresh and bold, 
 
 Hearing a voice that called thee from on hif!;h, 
 
 Thou answeredst, quickly, '' Father, here am I." 
 
 Fain would we see all that thine eyes behold, 
 And yet not all, for there is secret store 
 
 Of joy and sorrow in each private heart, 
 To which no stranger openeth the door. 
 
 But thou canst speak of many things beside, 
 
 While we a little space with thee abide. 
 
68 
 
 Tell us of those who fifty years ago 
 
 Started thee forth upon thy sacred quest, 
 
 Who all have gone before thee, each alone. 
 To seek and find the Islands of the Blest. 
 
 To-day, methinks that there as well as here 
 
 Is kept all tenderly thy golden year. 
 
 Tell us, for thou didst know and love him well. 
 Of Channing's face,— of those dilating eyes 
 
 That seemed to catch, while he was with us here. 
 Glimpses of things beyond the upper skies. 
 
 Tell us of that weak voice, which was so strong 
 
 To cleave asunder every form of wrong. 
 
 Thou hast had good companions on thy way ; 
 
 Gannett was with thee in his ardent prime. 
 And with thee still when outward feebleness 
 
 But made his spirit seem the more sublime. 
 Till, like another prophet, summoned higher, 
 He found, like him, a chariot of fire. 
 
 And that beloved disciple was thy friend, 
 
 Whose heart was blither than the name he bore. 
 
 Who yet could hide the tenderness of May, 
 And bleaker than December, downward pour 
 
 The tempest of his wrath on slavery's lie. 
 
 And all that takes from man's humanity. 
 
 And thou hast walked with our Saint Theodore, 
 Our warrior-saint, well-named the gift of God, 
 
 Whose manful hate of every hateful thing, 
 Blossomed with pity, e'en as Aaron's rod, 
 
 And lips that cursed the priest and Pharisee 
 
 Gathered more honey than the wilding bee. 
 
 All these are gone, and Sumner's heart beneath 
 Should make more pure the yet untainted snow ; 
 
 Our one great statesman of these latter days, 
 Happy wert thou his other side to know. 
 
 To call him friend, whom ages yet unborn 
 
 Shall love tenfold for every breath of scorn. 
 
69 
 
 All these are gone, but one is with us still, 
 So frail that half we deem she will not die, 
 
 But slow exhale her earthly part away. 
 
 And wear e'en here the vesture of the sky. 
 
 Lucretia, blessed among women she. 
 
 Dear friend of Truth, and Peace, and Liberty. 
 
 And one, whose form is as the Son of man. 
 
 Has been with thee through all these busy years, 
 
 Holden our eyes, and He to us has seemed 
 As one seen dimly through a mist of tears ; 
 
 But thou hast seen him clearly face to face, 
 
 And told us of his sweetness and his grace. 
 
 Standing upon the summit of thy years, 
 Dear elder brother, thou canst see the day 
 
 When slavery's curse had sway in all the land, 
 And thou art here, and that has passed away. 
 
 We give thee joy that in its hour of pride. 
 
 Thy voice and hand were on the weaker side. 
 
 But from thy clear and lofty eminence 
 
 Let not thine eyes be ever backward turned, 
 
 For thou canst see before as cannot we 
 
 Who have not yet thy point of 'vantage earned. 
 
 Tell us of what thou seest in the years 
 
 That look so strange, seen through our hopes and fears 
 
 Nothing we know to shake thy steadfast mind ; 
 
 Nothing to quench thy heart with doubt or fear ; 
 But higher truth and holier love revealed, 
 
 And justice growing to man's heart more dear. 
 And everywhere beneath high heaven's cope, 
 A deeper trust, a larger, better hope. 
 
 There are some here that shall not taste of death 
 Till they have seen the kingdom come, with power. 
 
 O brave forerunner, wheresoe'er thou art, 
 Thou wilt be glad with us in that glad hour. 
 
 Farewell ! Until we somewhere liieet again. 
 
 We know in whom we have believed. Amen. 
 
70 
 
 Rev. Mr. Chadwick, in turn, introduced the Rev. 
 R. R. Shippen, of Boston, Mass., who said : 
 
 My dear Friends : Amid these memorials of your 
 Christmas rejoicing, and these fresh flowers and ever- 
 greens of tropical luxuriance with which you would 
 symbolize the fragrance of the memories that cluster 
 round this aniversary, and your desire to keep them 
 green, it is my pleasant privilege to speak for the 
 Unitarian Association a word of greeting, giving you 
 congratulations on this your golden wedding, with best 
 wishes for the coming years. Yet as I speak for the 
 Association, I remember that some of our noblest and 
 best, from Channing through the list, have been some- 
 what fearful of ecclesiastical entanglements, and of 
 hard, dry machinery, and have deemed the truest and 
 best work in life that wrought by character and personal 
 influence ; even as Jesus himself did his work, not by 
 organizations, but by his own personality. Permit me 
 then to touch two or three lines of personal influence 
 flowing forth from this pulpit, that are but representatives 
 of many more. Let me speak for one in your city, now 
 in her ninety-third year, kept from this meeting only by 
 the feebleness of old age, who this afternoon told me of 
 her fresh remembrance of the occasion of fifty years ago, 
 vivid as if but yesterday, who has been a lifelong friend 
 of our cause, a generous worker in this church and bene- 
 factor of the Meadville Church and Theological School, 
 who recognizes this pulpit as the source of some of the 
 choicest inspirations of her life. Shall I speak for one 
 who in a large home-circle of many brothers has been a 
 loving, sisterly influence of sweetness and light? who in 
 her youth was here a worshiper, and caught the inspira- 
 tion of this place, and in her greeting sent me to-day 
 writes that she is with us here in spirit to-night ; that no 
 one present can join in these services with a more deep 
 
71 
 
 and tender gratitude, and no human thought can fully 
 know what her life owes to the ministry we now com- 
 memorate ? Shall I speak for another, a younirer 
 brother, the brightest of the seven, whose youth and 
 early manhood were spent in this city in study and 
 practice of law? who Sunday by Sunday learned here 
 that blessed faith that, when in the full promise of his 
 manly prime his last hour came, enabled him to go 
 bravely to death full of a cheerful hope of immortality ? 
 As to-night he makes heaven more real and more attrac- 
 tive to my thought, in his name I pay the tribute of 
 thanks for the inspirations of this pulpit. Shall I speak 
 for myself? In my early home I remember your pastor's 
 familiar volume of "Family Prayer" as a household 
 word. At the outset of my ministry, at the Portland 
 Convention, just twenty-five years ago, I first heard the 
 genial, charming, gracious word of your minister in his 
 prime. And as in Boston one may, day by day, correct 
 his own timepiece by Cambridge observations of the sky, 
 whose electric communications give us every passing hour 
 the celestial time true to the second, so in my young 
 ministry at Chicago, — a lonelier frontier post then than 
 now, — when the barbarous Fugitive Slave Law passed 
 through Congress, and the Northwest Territories were 
 opened for slavery, and the dark days came upon the 
 nation, if, as I tried, I bore any worthy testimony for 
 freedom, I rejoice that I was aided in setting my con- 
 science true to the celestial time by this observatory in 
 Philadelphia. The blessed influences of your pulpit have 
 run their lines through our land and through the world. 
 And, friends, what does our Association seek but to 
 extend and multiply these lines of personal influence, to 
 enable Boston and Philadelphia to join hands in the 
 same noble work? When I asked your pastor for the 
 last book of Whittier, that 1 might quote a forgotten 
 
72 
 
 line, he replied, " All good books have feet and wings 
 and will find their way at last." But our Association 
 only desires to quicken their speed, and by the people's 
 generosity to enlarge their wings ; that as we are now 
 sending Channing through the land, we should gladly 
 send the noble words of Dewey and Furness flying on 
 the wings of the wind. 
 
 And what do our Association and Conferences stand 
 for but for fellowship ? for the good-will and helpfulness 
 of brotherly greetings ? Pennsylvanian as I am by birth 
 and ancestry, with you I rejoice that these Boston 
 brethren have been brought to Philadelphia. It will do 
 us all good to know more of each other. This meeting 
 to-night is just like our Conferences, where our hearts 
 are warmed by words of brotherly kindness. As I recall 
 your minister's inspiring word at the Portland Conven- 
 tion, it has been one of the regrets of my life that we have 
 not heard him oftener among us. But it is never too late 
 to mend. On behalf of the Association and the Confer- 
 ence I invite our Brother Furness and all of you to at- 
 tend our meetings henceforth every time. 
 
 And now, my friends, when Brother Mumford wrote 
 that editorial last week, I said, " You are a generous 
 fellow; why didn't you keep that to make a speech 
 from?" I am sure I don't know what he is going to say. 
 I am requested to ask him to speak. 
 
 Rev. Thomas J. Mumford. Dear Friends : On account 
 of the lateness of the hour I will only say that that luas 
 my speech. The next speaker will be Brother White, 
 and when I say Brother White, I mean brother just as 
 much as they did in the days of Henry Ware. 
 
 Rev. William O. White, of Keene, N. H., then ad- 
 dressed the meeting as follows : 
 
73 
 
 There is one comfort, dear i'rieud.s, a.s I thank you at 
 this late hour, for giving me the pleasure of hcing with 
 you, and that is, that Philadelphia time is a little more 
 generous than the time which I carry in my pocket; but 
 I will not abuse even Philadelphia time. The word that 
 Brother Mumford just mentioned brings up very dear 
 and tender associations with men so closely united in my 
 memory with our friend and brother, Dr. Furness. But 
 I will not carry out the thought that comes to me. I 
 would gladly help along one or two strains that vibrate 
 in our hearts, as the words are spoken, that "the time 
 will come when we shall take a last farewell of death," 
 and that other word of a younger speaker who almost 
 felt, and almost knew that one of the long-departed 
 friends of our Brother Furness was here. 
 
 I am glad to feel that I am here, just as some of my 
 younger friends were, because I am the son of a friend 
 of Dr. Furness, a layman whose tastes led him to the 
 study of theology, and who, I think, was more attached 
 to the studies of the ministry than many of us ministers 
 are. I say this, because as soon as I saw Dr. Furness 
 this morning I was greeted as my father's son. 
 
 And I would not have spoken here at all at this late 
 hour, but to try to fasten to those one or two sweet 
 thoughts that have been uttered to-niglit, to which I 
 have alluded, a line of the poet-sculptor "Michael 
 Angelo." He is contemplating the wasting block of 
 marble upon which he is working ; the block lessens ; 
 lessens, lessens, continually in size ; and so the years of 
 our friend's sweet, earnest ministry here, are fast j^ass- 
 ing away before our eyes. But the great lesson that I 
 have found, as I go back to tlie time when I remember 
 to have heard Dr. Furness' voice in my father's house, 
 and in the old pulpit in Salem, and as I remember the 
 week that I spent with him more than a score of years 
 
 10 
 
74 
 
 ago, and as I recall the tenderness of his voice, in his 
 supplications and his preaching, only last October, the 
 great lesson I have taken with me about him fastens 
 itself to the line which I am now to quote of " Michael 
 Angelo." As the poet and sculptor contemplated the 
 wasting marble, he said : 
 " The more the marble wastes, the more the statue grows." 
 
 So, with our friend, the years are passing away ; pass- 
 ing away, soon they must be gone ; but the statue grows 
 with tenderness of heart deeper than ever ; that sweet 
 voice, rich with varied experience of the joys and sorrows 
 of those friends of his in his flock, year after year, has 
 acquired an added tenderness ; and we feel 
 
 "The more the marble wastes, the more the statue grows," 
 
 and we can welcome the time when he, or any of us, who 
 try to live in a like spirit of devotion to the Master, shall 
 " take an everlasting farewell of death." 
 
 I am requested to call on our friend Brother Putnam, 
 of Brooklyn, New York. 
 
 Rev. Dr. A. P. Putnam made the following address : 
 
 My dear Friends : I think it must have been for a 
 larger number of years than Brother Chadwick said for 
 himself, that I have been looking forward to this occasion, 
 meaning to be here not with a set speech, as you will very 
 soon see, but because I wished to come and to say from 
 ray heart, I thank you. Dr. Furness. 
 
 I remember when I was a bookkeeper in Boston, how 
 my elder brother, who was in the divinity school at that 
 time, used to bring me the volumes of Chauning, Buck- 
 minster, and Ware, and also various pamphlet sermons of 
 Dr. Furness. I recollect well the delight with which I read 
 Dr. Furness' pages, and the gospel of liberty they taught 
 me, and the new revelation they seemed to give me of 
 
75 
 
 the Christ. I have been a disciple following far off. Yet 
 I know I have not lost during all these years the strong 
 conviction I had then. It has deepened and deepened 
 from that time until now. I have gathered his pamphlets 
 wherever I could find them, and with not a little zeal 
 I have searched for all his books, many of which are out 
 of print and are not easily to be found, until, some years 
 ago, I completed the whole list, and I cherish them as 
 among the most precious treasures in my library. The 
 argument which he draws from the naturalness, the 
 simplicity and artlessness of the gospel records for their 
 truth, and the uplifting of the curtain so that tiie Christ 
 may be seen in his higher spiritual beauty! what a 
 debt do we owe him for that. Does he know ? can he 
 know? can we tell him how much the members of our 
 churches feel of gratitude and love to him for all that 
 he has done for us in this way ? Perhaps in some far off 
 time he may know it more fully ; but it is right, dear 
 friends, that we should come together thus and say these 
 words which are uttered here to-night, and before he 
 has gone away tell him how much we do love and 
 honor him, and why it is we do love and honor him, and 
 why it is that we shall always revere and bless him. 
 When I have thought what words have gone forth Ironi 
 that desk in behalf of liberty and right in this land, 1 
 have wished that the church might remain just as it is 
 to-night, and that pulpit just as it is for years and 
 generations to come. It speaks a lesson for all ; those 
 words abide with us still ; they have come home to our 
 hearts, and kindled in our souls new zeal for the truth 
 as it is in Jesus. How many chains they have broken, 
 and oh ! what a welcome, in comparison with wiiich these 
 congratulations of the hour are small indeed, is reserved 
 for our venerable father and friend, from tiie spirits of 
 
76 
 
 the ransomed freedmen who have ascended to heaven, 
 and who will greet him there. 
 
 Let me say that forty years ago it was, that Dr. 
 Furness preached the installation sermon of the first 
 minister of the church which I represent here ; the first 
 society of our faith in Brooklyn. It seems a long, long 
 while indeed. I have been over ten years there myself. 
 Dr. Farley preceded me, and he was there twenty years 
 or more. Mr. Holland was there several years before 
 him ; Mr. Barlow several years before Mr. Holland. Dr. 
 Furness preached the installation sermon of Kev. Mr. 
 Barlow, who was the first minister of our faith in 
 Brooklyn, forty years ago the 17th of last September. 
 Of the ministers who took part in the services of that 
 occasion, all except your pastor and my immediate pre- 
 decessor, who was then of Providence, R. I., have passed 
 away, — William Ware, John Pierpont, Caleb Stetson, 
 E. B. Hall, and others. Nearly ten years later. Dr. 
 Furness was present at a convention held there at the 
 time of the dedication of our church, and preached the 
 closing communion sermon. His is a familiar name with 
 my people, who are all with you here in the spirit, and 
 would join me, I know, in heartily saying, "God bless 
 him and you, and the cause of humanity and righteous- 
 ness, which is so dear to you." 
 
 I am requested to call upon Rev. Mr. Ames to address 
 you. 
 
 Rev. C. G. Ames, of Germantown, Pa., said : 
 As I am one of the younger brethren, and very much 
 at home, I feel that I should deny myself, and take up 
 my cross, and introduce a brother from a distance, espe- 
 cially as you have met to hear from these patriarchal 
 ministers who can offer things which I cannot. But I 
 may boast one advantage; they cannot see Dr. Furness 
 
77 
 
 every day. Nor can I speak freely of what I feci ; it is 
 too much like being one of the family. I live too near, 
 and can easily be excused. My voice is very frequently 
 heard in this house. With a heart brimmiug: full, I 
 have the painful pleasure, therefore, of holding it down, 
 knowing it will keep. 
 
 I will introduce Rev. Dr. Bellows, of New York. 
 Rev. Dr. Bellows made the following remarks : 
 I am sure both modesty and discretion would suggest 
 the wisdom of my being taught by my junior and friend, 
 and in releasing you from any further attendance on this 
 interesting service. As for myself, I feel tired as a child 
 with the pleasures of the evening ; and I can conceive that 
 you all must be so tired that you would welcome as your best 
 friend him who would permit you to go home and think 
 over all the kind things you have heard here. And yet 
 I think it is a kind of duty to say a word in behalf of my 
 own people and city, and all that great community which 
 I am privileged to represent here. New York speaks 
 to Philadelphia ; and to a good many of us in New York, 
 Brother Furness is more than half of Philadelphia. 
 When we think of Philadelphia we think rather of him 
 than of anything else, and it is not for anything he has done 
 either; not for all that great service to freedom, not for 
 all that valuable contribution to theological speculation 
 or criticism, but for being what he cannot possibly help, 
 and that is, himself. It is so much more to be than to 
 say, or even to do, that I have not always a great deal 
 of praise for the bright tilings he does, or tlic bright 
 things he says, — only because lie is what he is and can't 
 help it, and deserves very little thanks for it ; for God is 
 the being we must thank, not him. It is, therefore, that 
 I am by force compelled to thank God for him, and not 
 thank him. 
 
78 
 
 Good fellow! he has had it all himself. God gave 
 him all his precious gifts ; he gave him his broad and 
 generous humanity ; made him a harp for all the winds 
 of heaven and earth to play on, not a fife, to be stopped ; 
 gave him that benignant smile which he doesn't know 
 anything about himself; and gave him that delicious 
 voice which is in itself a harmony of all his sweetest 
 powers, an expression of the depth and clearness of his 
 spirit. 
 
 Poor fellow ! he cannot help it ; he has carried it with 
 him all these seventy-two years. And, surely, the first 
 time I ever saw him his voice was the thing that spoke 
 to me. I didn't care what it said ; there it was, and I 
 have often thought if a soft voice be an excellent thing 
 in woman, such a voice as his is, is one of the most 
 magnificent and significant gifts that God ever gives to 
 man. Well, let us thank God for him, and then let us 
 thank him for using those talents so well. Now let me 
 thank you in behalf of the denomination, dear brethren, 
 for not being able to be otherwise than so generous, so 
 kind and faithful to a man who, for all I know, never 
 used one particle of machinery to keep you together, has 
 taken no particular pains to keep you together, but just 
 stood like a kind of magnet, and drawn you to his 
 heart. We don't understand it all, but God does ; and 
 we see how with a witchery he has done more than most 
 of us are able to do by getting every sort of instru- 
 mentality at work that we can possibly use to supple- 
 ment the defects of our natural constitution. I wish I 
 could work just as Dr. Furness does, and have that same 
 influence and power, without seeking any. If I could 
 stand up in naked simplicity and majesty, and then win 
 the people without using all this painful labor, this 
 fatiguing desperately drudging machinery, I should be 
 very glad indeed ; but for most of us poor fellows, it is a 
 
70 
 
 necessity to resort to these matters, to sup})lomeiit the 
 defects of our natural constitution and faculties ; but I 
 think Brother Furness can do without it. One thing 
 further I will say of Dr. Furness. It is a subject of 
 special congratulation that he has been always himself; 
 that no theological or critical studies have given an 
 ecclesiastical tinge or twist to his character, or prevented 
 the people from seeing him in his native outline. He 
 has been a preacher and minister, but still more, a man, 
 and although no man less deserves, in the depreciating 
 sense, the name of a man of the world, yet in a noble 
 sense he has been a man of the world ; for he has made 
 the world tributary to his growth ; drawn in its widest 
 culture, enjoyed its largest freedom, entered into its every- 
 day feelings and joys, and made it his own by his great 
 enjoyment of it, and insight into its meaning. Neither 
 ecclesiasticism nor dogmatism has been able to quench 
 his native originality, and that is one of his chief charms 
 to-day. 
 
 Dear brethren, let me congratulate you at tlie close of 
 this half century of your minister's labors, u})()n what we 
 now behold in the magnificent development of the theologi- 
 cal ideas and religious temper for which our branch of the 
 church has meanwhile stood. We expected great things, 
 but we have seen larger ones, although of a diHereut 
 kind. We looked for a multiplication of our ehurches, 
 which we have not seen, but how vast has been the si)read 
 of our ideas and principles? We expected to be the 
 chief instruments in the work of liberalizing Christian 
 thought and feeling, but Divine providence took u}) tlie 
 work with larger methods and new agencies, and made 
 us rather sharers than leaders in theological rclorm. Wc 
 happened to be the first wave of what turned out to be 
 an incoming tide, whicli has swept the whoh- chun-lj on. 
 I think Luther did not see in his day a greater, a more 
 
80 
 
 important reformation in theological ideas than we have 
 realized in the last half century. 
 
 Whether there be one Unitarian church in Phila- 
 delphia or more, or whether our churches in New York 
 and Brooklyn, Baltimore and Washington, New Eng- 
 land and the West have multiplied as fast as we hoped or 
 not, there is more liberal Christianity preached in this 
 country to-day, than the boldest prophets could have 
 foreseen when our enterprise started. It has advanced, 
 and it has triumphed, by whatever way. God has taken 
 it up, and brought the aid of a broad science, a broad 
 philosophy, a broad reformatory influence in society, 
 during all these last years, to bear powerfully upon it. 
 We have seen results which may cause many of us to 
 say, " Mine eyes have seen thy salvation ; let now thy 
 servant depart in peace." I feel no further anxiety 
 about the spread of liberal Christianity. It now spreads 
 by a necessity. It is a glorious privilege to work in it 
 and for it. But the business is essentially done. The 
 leaven is at work, and it is working everywhere, just as 
 much in the orthodox churches, so-called, as in our own. 
 And very little free thinking is done in our denomination 
 which is not just as fully represented in the old ortho- 
 doxy. We are no longer the sole ofiicers in that great 
 army. I thank God that the business of fighting is 
 pretty much over, and that we are now beginning to 
 think more of cultivating religiously the area which has 
 been left for us specially to take care of. Let us now 
 look to it, as churches and ministers and parishes, and 
 see that we produce workmen, and, finally, spiritual 
 fruit, in the particular area over which we are set as 
 husbandmen and gardeners. That you may succeed 
 in cultivating your own soil, and in making the vine- 
 yard a nobler and grander one, and in bringing forth 
 more clusters of grapes of the particular vine from which 
 
81 
 
 you are set, is ray earnest prayer. And tluit we may all 
 return from these services bearing your blessin<rs and 
 Brother Furness' blessing with us into our own several 
 fields of labor, and that we may be abler and nobler and 
 more careful shepherds, and more faithful husbandmen, 
 is the best thing I can ask, that we may be j^ermitted to 
 carry away from this hour and this blessed assembly of 
 Unitarian Christians and friends. 
 
 Musk. 
 
 Duet for Two Sopranos and Chorus, . . Mkndelssohn. 
 
 "I waited for the Lord," from " Hymn of Praise." 
 
 Chorus, SponR. 
 
 " Happy who in Thy House Eeside." 
 
 Dr. Furness then addressed the meeting. 
 
 Dear Friends : While I am very glad to meet here 
 my brothers in the ministry, and am not at all insensible 
 to their kind words, I call you all to witness that they 
 are not here by my invitation. I never invited them 
 to come here and talk about me. But as long as they 
 have done so, I congratulate you all, and all who are in- 
 terested in the success of the good cause. It is, you see, 
 in the hands of young men. Although some of your 
 guests here show gray on their heads, they are very 
 young men evidently, fond, especially brother Bellows, 
 of romancing. I use the words that Dr. Bancroft used 
 at my ordination : " It was a comfort to him to feel thai 
 as he was going away the cause would be left in hands 
 that would carry it on a great deal better than he could." 
 Some of my friends told me I had bi'tter not come here 
 to-night; but brother Bellows intimated to uw that by 
 staying away I might seem to be bidding for praise. So 
 I thought I would come and see whether some restraint 
 
 11 
 
82 
 
 could not be put upon the speakers by my presence. But 
 I don't think I have availed much. 
 
 The day that I was ordained — but I am not going to 
 tire you with old time stories, — when an old minister 
 begins telling his experiences we never know when he 
 will stop — we were all invited, — the gentlemen of the 
 clergy, and the delegates from Boston and New York, — 
 to dine at Mr. Thomas Astley's, who lived at the corner 
 of Ninth and Walnut Streets, a wealthy Englishman of 
 our persuasion. While we w^ere sitting w^aiting for dinner, 
 the report came that the kitchen chimney was on fire ! 
 One of the gentlemen suggested that the fire could be 
 put out very readily by putting a blanket before the 
 chimney, and throwing some sulphur into the fire-place. 
 After dinner, when the w^ine was passed around and the 
 toasts were given, one of the gentlemen proposed " the 
 Furnace that had been kindled in Philadelphia." And 
 another added, " May it never be put out with brim- 
 stone." 
 
 The meeting was closed by a benediction pronounced 
 by Dr. Furness. 
 
LETTERS. 
 
THE FOLLOWING LETTERS WERE RECEIVED BY 
 
 THE COMMITTEE FROM PERSONS WHO 
 
 WERE UNABLE TO BE PRESENT. 
 
SiiEFFiFXD, January 4th, 1875. 
 
 To THE Committee of the First Congregational Society 
 OF Unitarians. 
 
 Gentlemen : I am obliged and gratified by the invitation. 
 I wish that I could comply with it. It would have been a 
 great pleasure to me, to join the friends of your honored pastor, 
 in commemorating a ministry, not only so long, but otherwise 
 equally remarkable. I should like to be in your church on 
 that interesting evening of the 12th, to hear the pleasant things 
 that will be said, and to say some, perhaps, myself. 
 
 But I cannot, that is, I cannot take so long a winter journey. 
 I am not sure enough of my health and strength to venture 
 upon it. Will you give my love to Dr. Furness and his family, 
 and accept for yourselves and the society, the congratulations 
 
 with which I am. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 Orville Deavey. 
 
 IIazklwood, Cambriixji;, January r,th, 187.5. 
 
 Gentlemen: I feel very much honored and gratified by 
 your invitation to be present at the commemoration of Dr. 
 Furness' settlement in the ministry in Philadelphia, but the 
 state of mv health forbids me to accept the invitation. My 
 interest in your society dates from a still earlier period. 
 
 I have listened in your old Octagon Church to the prcaciiing 
 of Mr. Taylor, and I believe of Mr. Yaughan, as well as 
 preached there repeatedly my.self. For more than fifty year.. 
 I have been your pastor's admirer and warm friend. 
 
 I heartily wish him future happy years of earthly life, and 1 
 pray God that after his retirement from your service another 
 pastor may serve you with an ability and zeal not too inferior 
 
 to his. 
 
 1 am, gt'iith-mt-n, 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient ,-crvant, 
 
 John G. Palfrey. 
 
Cambkidge, January 1st, 1875. 
 Gentlemen : I regret very sincerely that college duties 
 render it impossible for me to accept your invitation. Kegard- 
 ing your pastor with equal reverence and affection, I should 
 deem it a great privilege to be present at the commemorative 
 services, from which imperative necessity alone would detain 
 me. 
 
 I am, gentlemen, 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 A. P. Peabody. 
 
 HiNGHAM, January -Ith, 1S75. 
 Gentlemen : I thank my dear friend, Dr. Furness, and the 
 committee for thinking of me at this time. I should be so very 
 happy to be with you, and join in all the expressions of respect 
 and love for one whose long and faithful ministry has earned 
 the esteem and confidence of all who know him. Beside this, 
 Dr. Furness and I alone continue in the ministry, of those who 
 were classmates in the Divinity School and, I think, in College. 
 Give my love to your pastor. I need not wish him a happy 
 old age. That blessing is assured to him by his fidelity to his 
 convictions of truth and duty through life. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Calvin Lincoln. 
 
 Cambridge, January 5th, 1875. 
 
 Gentlemen : I received your invitation to be present at the 
 observance of the fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of your 
 pastor, Dr. Furness. It would give me great pleasure to attend. 
 But I do not feel at liberty to be absent from my regular duty 
 so long as would be required. 
 
 No occasion of the kind so significant has occurred for many 
 years. For fifty j^ears Dr. Furness has stood at his post, and 
 manfully defended the cause of what he deemed Divine Truth 
 and Divine Eight. He has never failed to hold up the highest 
 standard of private and public duty. He has made no abate- 
 ment from the truth in his utterance of it, nor deformed it by 
 an immoral spirit. For fifty years he has been an untiring 
 student of the life of Jesus Christ in the four gospels, seeking 
 
87 
 
 to bring to light tlie reality of that life, tho internal evidence 
 of the truthfulness of the original record of it, and the moral 
 grandeur and spiritual beauty of the life itself. He has followed 
 in no servile spirit, but with original force of thought, his great 
 teacher, Mr. Norton, from whom, difiering in many things, lie 
 caught the impulse to this line of inquiry, this work of love, in 
 which his merit has been unique, his service one never to be 
 forgotten. To this it maj' be added, with universal consent, 
 that his living example has been in harmony with the great 
 subject of his studies, and has done as much as that of any 
 minister to show the worth of the oflSce of spiritual instructor 
 to a generation too ready to distrust those who exercise it. 
 Though not many years younger, I have the habit of looking 
 up to him, and he is one of those from whom inspiration and 
 strength have flowed into my soul when most needed. 
 
 I am, brethren, yours in Christian fellowship, with thanks 
 for your kind invitation, and full sympathy with you in all 
 that belongs to a most memorable occasion. 
 
 Oliver Stearns. 
 
 RoxBURY, Mass., January 7th, 1875. 
 Dear Sirs : I very much regret that the state of my health 
 forbids ray being present at the commemoration, not of the 
 close, thank God ! but of the close of the first fifty years of the 
 ministry of Dr. Furness. I regret it not only on account of my 
 personal affection for the minister, but because it has been a 
 ministry eminently after my own heart, one that I admire ex- 
 ceedingly. "What I know of it is derived only from glimpses 
 and intuitions, and will be filled out and corrected by the fuller 
 face-to-face knowledge of the parishioners. It has looked to me 
 at this distance as a ministry of a mild and quiet type, as of one 
 that doth not strive nor cry, neither doth any man hear his 
 voice in the streets. Other ministries have been more effective 
 as the multitude measures eflSciency, dealing with larger crowds, 
 using more complex agencies, and touching society at more 
 numerous points of interest and with intonsor action ; but within 
 its own sphere it has dealt with a profoundness and fidelity not 
 elsewhere surpassed with the soul's greatest interests, uncom- 
 promising in its absolute loyalty to truth and right, always 
 taking the highest ground, always elevated and elevating. 
 
88 
 
 always searching, quickening, soothing, sanctifying to heart 
 and conscience, a lifelong dispensary of Sermons from the 
 Mount. 
 
 The specialty of this ministry, it seems to me, has been the 
 unfolding of the personality and character of Jesus of Nazareth. 
 I do not believe there is a pulpit in Christendom that has done 
 so much to penetrate the heart and life of the Master to its 
 inmost depths, and open its riches to the sympathies and ac- 
 ceptance of men, as that Philadelphia pulpit for the last fifty 
 years. Every shade and turn of thought, every gleam of 
 emotion heavenward and earthward, all the sweet humanity 
 and grand divinity of that wonderful soul, have been discerned 
 and delineated there as never elsewhere, I think, and dwelt on 
 with all the earnest zeal and affectionate faith of a disciple, and 
 all the enthusiastic appreciation of an artist — dwelt on almost 
 too exclusively one might think, were it not done by one who 
 knew how to draw all living waters from that one well, and 
 bring up all the gold and gems of the moral and spiritual uni- 
 verse from that one mine. I have no doubt this has been done 
 in this case, so far as any single mind can be comprehensive 
 and all-sided enough to do it. 
 
 The ministry which you commemorate has been singularly 
 self-contained, that is, has been carried on apart from all official 
 and organic connection with other ministries, without denomina- 
 tional bonds, with no outside ties except those of a fraternal and 
 genial spirit. I sympathize with the characteristics of Dr. 
 Furness' ministry ; my own has been conducted on a similar 
 plan, though I fear with less fixedness of principle, and less 
 consistency of action. Most of our brethren will call this our 
 fault, our limitation. Well, they are the majority, and must 
 decide that point ; only I am sure they will have the charity to 
 own that we, being such as we are, could do no otherwise. 
 
 You of Philadelphia do not need reminding; but I want to 
 express my own appreciation of the manner in which the ministry 
 you celebrate has all along been adorned, refined, deepened, and 
 broadened by literary studies and artistic taste and culture, 
 bringing to that ministry contributions, or rather an aroma 
 and innumerable subtle and sweet influences from all realms of 
 spiritual beauty and fragrance and sunshine. 
 
 Shall I dare in such a letter as this to make allusion to the 
 way that looks to me so felicitous, in which the church in the 
 
89 
 
 sanctuary has been supplementeil by "the church in the house?" 
 To my eye and my remembrance the homo in Tine Street, and 
 the church on Locust and Tenth, in the hospitabh', genial, cheer- 
 ful, affectionate, and ever gracious spirit that pervaded them 
 both, were always the counterparts and archetypes of one an- 
 other, each reflecting what was best and brightest and holiest 
 in the other. 
 
 Though this long ministry lias been characteristically so quiet 
 and even and suave, it has had ei)ochs and aspects, or one at 
 least, of the kind, in presence of which the earth is shaken, and 
 principalities and powers are prostrated. We may have doubted 
 the wisdom and necessity of the course taken by our brother; 
 but we cannot fail to recogni/e the sublime moral grandeur of 
 clear and strong convictions adhered to and acted on, with im- 
 movable persistence, at all risks and at all cost, and though the 
 heavens fall. We should be blind not to discern there the stuft' 
 of which martyrs were made, and the spirit that bore the meek 
 and gentle Jesus to his cross. 
 
 Perhaps my mind has dwelt more on the jubilee from the 
 fact that if all had gone well with me, I should have been the 
 next among the liberal ministers, so far as I know, to have been 
 entitled to such an occasion for myself. I have had my nine 
 lustra, and if the tenth fail why should I complain ? I can still 
 rejoice with all my heart in the well-earned honors and haj.pi- 
 ness of my well-beloved friend and brother in Philadelphia. 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 George Putnam. 
 
 106 MARLBOROrr.u Stiikkt, 
 
 Boston, January 4tli, IS?."). 
 
 Deak Sirs: I am deeply indebted to you for the very kind 
 invitation to be present at the fiftieth anniversary of Dr. Fur- 
 ness' settlement. I regret to say that I cannot leave my work 
 at that time. 
 
 I am sure that you have reason t<. thank (Jod and take courage 
 as you look back upon the half century. Dr. Furness has served 
 nobly both in Church and State, and has done mucli to show 
 that the two are indeed one. My warmest wishes accompany 
 him as he enters upon his green old ag.', whieli surely lacks 
 nothing that should go along with it. 3Iay he have the out- 
 
 12 
 
90 
 
 ward strength, as he is sure to have the inward desire, to speak 
 to you and for you these nnany years. 
 
 Gratefully and sincerely yours, 
 
 EuFus Ellis. 
 
 Portland, Maine, January 4th, 1875. 
 
 It is with great regret that I find myself unable to accept 
 your kind invitation to be present at the fiftieth anniversary of 
 the settlement of the Kev. Dr. Furness. - 
 
 During the whole of that fifty years, and it embraces all my 
 life excepting the seven years of infancy, I have had near rela- 
 tions and friends among the parishioners and lovers of Dr. Fur 
 ness, so that my interest in the occasion is almost personal. 
 But I am obliged to be in Philadelphia a fortnight later, and 
 cannot possibly spare the time for both journeys. 
 
 With the most cordial congratulations for both pastor and 
 people, and the hope of many happy returns of the season, I 
 remain, 
 
 Very respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 Thomas Hill. 
 
 Cambridge, Mass., January 2d, 1875. 
 
 Gentlemen : I am very sorry that I cannot accept j^our kind 
 invitation to be present at the fiftieth anniversary of the settle- 
 ment of Dr. Furness as your minister. 
 
 The fact of so long a pastorship is itself noteworthy in these 
 days of change ; but, in this case, we have all a special right to 
 be sharers in your joy, since we have received our part in the 
 fruit of your minister's labors during these fifty years. Dr. 
 Furness has set an example, rare in these days of divided and 
 superficial work, not only by his devotion to a single parish 
 during so long a period, but also by his consecration to one 
 chosen line of thought. He selected the noblest theme and 
 gave his life to it, and made us all his debtors. With thanks 
 for your kind invitation, and congratulations for minister and 
 
 people, 
 
 I am, yours very truly, 
 
 C. C. Everett. 
 
91 
 
 Boston, January 9th, 1875. 
 
 Gentlemen: Since I heard that your jubilee was proposed I 
 have hoped to be able to be present, but I am, at the hist moment, 
 disappointed. I think our friends in Philadelphia must under- 
 stand that they are only a very small part of the multitude of 
 people who are grateful to Dr. Furness for the labors and the 
 love of his wonderful life. So soon as we who were then 
 youngsters found out how he preached, we used to say we would 
 walk fifty miles barefoot to hear him, if there were no other 
 way to enjoy that privilege. But even more than the preaching, 
 it was the reading of the books, and the living picture which 
 the}'- gave us of the Saviour's life, that set us on a track of 
 preaching and of thought wholly new. 
 
 Let me congratulate the congregation on his health and 
 strength, and pray express for a multitude of us our love and 
 gratitude to him. 
 
 Trul}'- yours, 
 
 Edward E. Hale. 
 
 Dorchester, Mass., January 10th, 1875. 
 
 Gentlemen : I have delayed replying to your letter of in- 
 vitation to be present with you on the 12th instant, because, 
 while my very earnest desire was to accept it, and my heart 
 spontaneously said "yes," there were circumstances making it 
 questionable whether I could. Those circumstances, I am sorry 
 to have now to say, have decided for me that I must deny my- 
 self the hoped-for pleasure. 
 
 I can do no less, gentlemen, than express to you, and those 
 for whom you act, m\" sincere thanks for this thought of me in 
 such connection, and for including me among the friends of 
 your minister who were considered worthy to bo gathered 
 around him on such an occasion. 
 
 Though I can hardly believe that my presence would add 
 anything to the enjoyment of it, I think no one will enter more 
 heartily than I should into all that belongs to it for mrmory 
 and sentiment and affection and benediction. 
 
 Your minister seems very near to me as he is very dear. My 
 acquaintance with him dates back to his boyhood. He is most 
 intimately associated in memory, as he was in fact, with those 
 nearest to me of my early home, whose love for him I shared ; 
 
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 of impt»M^tt\M\ 10 «^ )^Mn\|i: w>«n Uko «\y!eoll\ nuri \ hoj>o th^l 
 Kv«n(\i\\\ Ut^^ \\hi\'h h»^» i»<N b\oiiiR<M you th\>NUjih ih^veo ^\tv«r)^, 
 
93 
 
 may be spared to repeat, in your midst, that old story, which 
 he has made so living, of God's great mercy and love made real 
 in the divine life on earth. With greetings and congratulation.", 
 
 I am most truly, 
 
 C. K. AVkld. 
 
 St. Louis, January 4th, 1875. 
 
 Dear Sirs: Your kind invitation to be present at the com- 
 memoration of the fiftieth anniversary of Dr. Furness' settle- 
 ment in Philadelphia was to-day received, and I wish for my 
 own sake that I could accept it. But my engagements here 
 are such as to make it impossible for me to leave St. Louis, and 
 I must be content to stay at home. Dr. Furness was one of my 
 earliest friends and guides, to whom I have always looked up 
 with sincere affection and respect. He officiated at my mar- 
 riage with the best woman that ever lived, and 1 associate him 
 with all the purest happiness and success of my own life. 
 
 William Henry Furness : For fifty years of faithful service, 
 the brave and consistent advocate, in good report and evil re- 
 port, of Freedom, Truth, and Righteousness : :May his last days 
 still be his best days. 
 
 I remain, very truly yours, 
 
 W. Ct. Eliot. 
 
 CuiCAco, January Vdh, ISTf). 
 
 Gentlemen : When you sent me an invitation to be pres«'nt 
 at the fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of my dear friend 
 and yours, I felt sure I should be able to come. My youngest 
 boy had been sick then for some weeks, so that 1 could only 
 leave him a few hours at a time, and for the most imperious 
 reasons. But on the Saturday he was so much worse that 1 
 had to telegraph I feared I could not leave him at that time. 
 
 There can be but few reasons in a man's whole lifetime so 
 strong as mine was then for coming to Phila.ielphia, but the 
 poor little fellow begged I would be with him through a very 
 dano-erous operation tlie surgeons had t.) perforn. on the day I 
 should have been with yo„, from whieh we were not sure he 
 
 could rally. 
 
 Pardon me for touching with this private .orrow your ex- 
 
94 
 
 ceeding joy, and accept this for my reason why I have not 
 written sooner. 
 
 I did not want to intrude these things at all even into the 
 blessed after-taste of your festival. But as it seems to me no 
 man on the earth could be so strongly drawn to that festival as 
 I was, from any distance, I cannot say another word until you 
 know the whole reason why I was not with you. 
 
 For my debt of gratitude to Dr. Furness takes precedence of 
 my love for him as one of the truest friends a man ever had, 
 and as my peerless preacher of " the truth as it is in Jesus," 
 some years before I emigrated to America, my soul clove to 
 him as I sat one day in a little thatched cottage in the heart of 
 Yorkshire and read " The Journal of a Poor Vicar." 
 
 I never expected to see him in the flesh then, but I remember 
 how I cherished that exquisite little thing among my choicest 
 treasures ; read it over and over again ; spoke of it to other lads 
 of a like mind with my own, and got a worth out of it I had 
 not then begun to get out of sermons. 
 
 I knew also, when I got to Philadelphia, that I could hear 
 my man preach if I wanted to, and made out where the church 
 was ; but I had been taught from my childhood to give such 
 churches a wide berth, and had not the sense to see that the 
 well, out of which I had drawn such sweet waters in England, 
 must still be flowing with some such blessing in America. So 
 that mighty movement that ended in breaking the fetters from 
 the slave, had to break mine, and then it was not very long before 
 I stole into the church one dismal Sunday night, when being- 
 good Unitarians, all but about a dozen of you, you had your 
 feet in slippers on the fender. 
 
 It was not a sermon, but a talk about Jesus; and how he 
 washed their feet, and what they saw, and what he said, and 
 how it all came home to the preacher ; but as I went home I 
 thought, as so many have done time and time again, if that is 
 Unitarianism I am a Unitarian. 
 
 When again I met my author and preacher at the house of my 
 friend, Edward M. Davis, it did not take long for my gratitude 
 to grow into love. He was positively the first minister of the 
 sort we call " ministers in good standing," except Mrs. Lu- 
 cretia Mott, who had not tried to patronize me, and put up the 
 bars of a superior social station. 
 
 If I had been his younger brother, he could not have been 
 
96 
 
 more frank and tender and free of lioart and hand. T siipjiose 
 he never thought of it for an instant, and tliat was where ho 
 had me, or I should have put up my bars. For, in those days, 
 I guess I was about as proud as Lucifer. So, it was a great 
 pride and joy in 1857, to be invited to preach in his pulpit, 
 while he went off to marry another son in tli<' failh, Moncure 
 D. Conway, to be the guest, for that day, "f your minister's 
 family, to have Mrs. Furness and the children treat me like 
 a prince and a preacher all in one, and to have a glorious good 
 time altogether, as any man ever iiad in tliis wcirld. 
 
 Being good Unitarians again in those days, at least half of 
 you ran off to hear Brother Chapin in the morning, who was 
 preaching somewhere round the corner, just as my people run 
 now to hear Brother Swing when I am away, and have to sup- 
 ply with some man they never heard of. I have never quite 
 forgiven Chapin for preaching there that Sunday. 
 
 But Annie Morrison was there, and the very elect, who are 
 always there, and on the next Sunday, when I preached again, 
 the rest were there, and the glory of the Lord seemed to me to 
 fill the house, and so your church is to me one of the most 
 precious places on earth, I came to it as the men of Israel 
 went to Zion, and all these years have but deepened and purified 
 my love for the good old place. Where I first iieard the truth 
 which met at once my reason and my faith, and where, within 
 a church, for the first time I felt I was perfectly free. 
 
 And so it is, that I dare not write down the sum of my love 
 for my friend and his family, as 1 could not have told it if I 
 had come down. I feel I am under bonds not to do it ; I can 
 only hint at it. 
 
 He got used to blame in the old sad days, when he could not 
 count such hosts of lovers and friends outside his own church 
 as he can now, but he will never get used to praise. Some men 
 don't. I must say, however, that I do not see how I should 
 ever have made my way into our blessed faith, had he not opened 
 the door for me; or found my way to Chicago but for his failh 
 that I was the man they wanted here ; or done anything I have 
 ever been able to do half so well, but for his generous encour- 
 agement, or found my life at all .so full of sunshine, as it has 
 been so many years, had he not given me of his store. 
 
 Now and then, the ways of God do visibly strike great liur- 
 monies in life and history, and this perfecting of the circle of 
 
96 
 
 fifty years in the ministry of my dear friend, is one of the har- 
 monies of life. He has seen the travail of his soul for the slave, 
 and is satisfied. 
 
 He has lived through the days when the majority of Uni- 
 tarians were content with being not very unlike the Orthodox, 
 into the days when the Orthodox are not content, if they are 
 not very like Unitarians, and he has done one of the heaviest 
 strokes of work in bringing this resolution about. 
 
 And he has lived to prove to those of us who may wonder 
 sometimes, what is coming when we have preached to our 
 people a few more years ; and it gets to be an old story, how a 
 man may preach right along, just as long as he can stand, and 
 then sit down to it as Jesus did on the Mount ; grow better all 
 the time ; win a wider and truer hearing at the end of fifty 
 years than he has at the end of twenty-five ; and then, when he 
 is " quite worn out with age," may cry, " Lord, now lettest thy 
 servant depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes 
 have seen thy salvation." 
 
 Surely yours, 
 
 Robert Collyer. 
 
97 
 
 The following extracts are taken liom the Liberal 
 Christian and Christian Register : 
 
 "On Tuesday of next week, Jaiiimry rjtli, Ukm-l- will he a 
 very simple celebration of a deeply interestinj^ occasion. It 
 will then be fifty years since Kev. Dr. Furness was installed as 
 pastor of the First Congregational Unitarian Church in riiila- 
 delphia. Next Sunday the venerable pastor will delivca- an 
 appropriate discourse. Tuesday he will receive callers at his 
 house, and in the evening there will be a meeting at the church. 
 Brief addresses are expected from friends, whose homes are in 
 Missouri, Illinois, Maryland, New York, and New England. 
 
 " At the installation on the I'ith of January, 1825, Kev. Wil- 
 liam Ware, of New York, aged twenty-seven years, oflered the 
 introductory prayer and read from the Scriptures ; Kev. Henry 
 Ware, Jr., of Boston, aged thirty years, preached the sermon, 
 most of which we intend to reprint next week ; Kev. Dr. Bancroft, 
 of Worcester, in his seventieth year, offered the ordaining prayer 
 and gave the charge; and Kev. Ezra S. Gannett, aged twenty- 
 three years, gave the fellowship of the churches and offered the 
 concluding prayer. Dr. Furness himself was twenty-two years 
 old, having been graduated at Harvard College when he was 
 only eighteen. None of those who took the prominent })arts in 
 the service are now living on earth. Dr. Gannett and the 
 Wares, though then in all the strength and i)romise of their 
 early manhood," have followed good old Dr. Bancroft to the 
 heavenly home. 
 
 " Dr. Furness was installed a few weeks before the ordinations 
 of Rev. Drs. Alexander Young and Samuel Barrett. The ser- 
 vices were reported in the first number of the second volume of 
 the Christian Examiner, and in the lourtli volume of the Chris- 
 tian Register. It was four months before the organization of 
 the American Unitarian Association. James Monroe was Pres- 
 ident of the United States. Bost(»n had been a city only three 
 years, and had about fifty thousand inhabitants ; New York had 
 about a hundred and sixty thousand, and Philadeli.hia about a 
 hundred and forty thousand. It was the same year in which 
 the first public railway in England was opi'iied, the passengers 
 being drawn by horse-power, although loc«>motives were soon 
 introduced. It was five years before Dr. Putnam's settlement 
 
 13 
 
98 
 
 in Eoxbury, nine years before Dr. Lotlirop was called to Brattle 
 Square, ten years before Kev. N. Hall became junior pastor of 
 the Dorchester First Parish, and twelve years before Dr. Bartol 
 became Dr. Lowell's colleague. Dr. Bellows, aged ten years, 
 and James Freeman Clarke, fourteen, were school-boys. Kev. 
 E. E. Hale was scarcely old enough to go to school, and Prof. 
 C. C. Everett had not been born. It was less than half a century 
 since the battles of Lexington and Concord, and Thomas Jeffer- 
 son and John Adams did not die until eighteen months after- 
 wards. President Grant was then two years old. 
 
 " During the whole of the last half century Dr. Furness has 
 remained faithfully at his lonely post. He has had no colleague 
 and no very long vacation, we believe. In addition to his pul- 
 pit work he has written some admirable books, besides trans- 
 lating others. Great changes have occurred in public opinion. 
 Eight years after the beginning of his ministry in Philadelphia 
 the American Antislavery Society was formed in that city. 
 He did not join it immediately, but before long he enlisted in 
 the ranks of the abolitionists, and neither blandishments nor 
 threats ever caused him to desert from the forlorn hope of free- 
 dom. For many years, when almost every other pulpit of that 
 great town, so near the borders of Slave States, was dumb 
 concerning the national sin, Dr. Furness' silver trumpet gave 
 no uncertain sound. Whoever might come, and whoever might 
 go, he was resolved to be faithful to the slave. The despised 
 and rejected champions of liberty were always sure of his sup- 
 port. When Charles Sumner, struck down by the bludgeon of 
 the slave power, needed rest and healing, he sought them in the 
 neighborhood and society of Dr. Furness. Together they visited 
 the hill country, and mingled their congenial spirits in high 
 discourse of truth and righteousness. We are glad that at last, 
 with grateful ears, our venerated brother heard liberty pro- 
 claimed throughout all the land to all the inhabitants thereof. 
 To know that he contributed to this blessed result must be the 
 grand satisfaction of his life, more precious than any pride of 
 authorship or professional success. His whole soul must respond 
 to Whittier's declaration that he set a higher value to his name 
 as appended to an early antislavery declaration than on the 
 title-page of any book. ' I cannot be sufficiently thankful to 
 the Divine Providence which turned me so early away from 
 
99 
 
 what Koger Williams calls " the world's groat trinity, pleasure, 
 profit and honor," to take side with the poor and oppressed. 
 Looking over a life marked by many errors and shortcomings, 
 I rejoice that 
 
 " ' My voice, though not the loudest, has been heard 
 Wherever Freedom raised her cry of pain.' 
 
 "But while Dr. Furnoss must look back with profoundost 
 gratitude upon the groat triumph of justice which he lielped to 
 secure, he cannot be inditforent to the theological progress which 
 has led to wide and cordial acceptance of many of bis dearest 
 opinions. Once he was one of a small number of Humanitarians 
 associated with a great majority of Arians. Now the Arians 
 are nearly extinct, and the divine humanity of Jesus is almost 
 orthodox Unitarianism. No other individual has done more 
 to bring this about than the Philadelphia pastor who bas made 
 it the stud}' of his life to understand the spirit and to ]K>rtray, 
 in glowing yet truthful tints, the matchless character of the Son 
 of man. He has been well entitled 'the Fifth Evangelist.' 
 None of the ancient narrators ever lingered so fondly over 
 every trait of him who was touched with a feeling of our in- 
 firmities, and made perfect through suffering. He has rendered 
 the sympathy of Christ so actual and available that it is a 
 familiar help to thousands of tried and lonely bum:in >.)ul-, t<» 
 whom traditional dogmas could give no comfort or strengtb. 
 
 " We have heard that Dr. Furnoss is about to retire from the 
 professional responsibilities which he has borne so long and so 
 well. It will be a richly earned repose, and yet we cannot 
 endure the thought that ho is to desist wholly from preacbing 
 while his eye is undimmed and his natural vigor scarcely 
 abated. Wc heard him last summer witb rare satisfaction and 
 delight, and we wish he could be induced to speak oftcnor at 
 our general gatherings. We have thougbt a great many times, 
 and perhaps we have said so before, in these columns, that, 
 owing largely to force of circumstances. Dr. Furnoss lias borne 
 too close a resemblance to Wordsworth's Milton whose *.<;oul 
 was like a star, and dwelt apart.' It is too late now for him 
 to bein the slightest danger of becoming tooi^ocial or gregarious. 
 We wish, most heartily, that he would sometimes moot with 
 the thousands of our lavmon and tbc IniiKlrcds of our ministers 
 
100 
 
 to whom he is personally a stranger, never seen, and never 
 heard, and yet they regard him with affectionate gratitude and 
 veneration which it would do them good to express, and not 
 harm him in the least to receive. Let us fondly hope, then, that 
 at the semi-centennial celebration of the American Unitarian 
 Association, or at the next National Conference, we may hear 
 from this beloved father in our Israel some of those words of 
 wisdom, truth, and beauty which it is still his mission to speak." 
 — Christian Reglstei'. 
 
 " Philadelphia, January 12tb, 1875. 
 
 " It is safe to predict that not even the powerful attractions 
 of the National Centennial Exposition will call to this city as 
 many of our Unitarian clergy as gathered here to-night to cele- 
 brate the semi-centennial of the settlement of Dr. William H. 
 Furness. It is an event to which for some time past many of 
 his absent friends have looked eagerly forward in anticipation 
 of its peculiar interest and significance. Pastorates of fifty years 
 can never be common, and have rarely furnished the necessary 
 materials for the heartiest and sincerest sort of congratulation. 
 But here was an occasion of which the anticipations were all of 
 the pleasantest and most unclouded kind, where everybody felt 
 that it would be a personal privilege to say a congratulatory 
 Amen with everybody else, and to say it heartily and sincerely. 
 
 " Dr. Furness' quiet but intensely individual ministry in 
 this city of Brotherly Love is too widely known among Uni- 
 tarians to make any mere mention of the fact at all necessary, 
 but to speak of it at length and justly would be to write a vol- 
 ume ; ample materials for which, however, are, we are glad to 
 say, not wanting. But our word must be only of the event of 
 to-day. 
 
 " The celebration began, we hear, early in the morning at the 
 pastor's house, where he was delightfully surprised by the sweet 
 carols of children's voices. In the afternoon a large concourse 
 of friends went to greet him at his home, where beautiful flow- 
 ers scented the air and smiling faces vied with each other in the 
 expression of sincere respect and love. 
 
 " This evening the old church is beautifully and richly dressed 
 with evergreens. Below the pulpit is a solid mass of rare trop- 
 ical plants most tastefully arranged, the whole surmounted by 
 
101 
 
 baskets of the choicest flowers. The most conspicuous features 
 of the decorations are the sii^nilicant numbers 1825-1875, worked 
 in small white flowers on either side of the pulpit. 
 
 ''The old church is full of the Doctor's parishioners and 
 friends, the front seats being occupied by the invited guests from 
 abroad. Among the clergy present we noticed Drs. Lothrop, 
 Morison, Clarke, Bartol, Bellows, Thompson, A. P. Putnam, 
 and Pvev. Messrs. White, E. H. Hall, Shippen, Ware, Ames, 
 Israel, Mumford, Gannett, Chadwick, and several others. 
 
 " Dr. Furness had protested against his personal participation 
 in this elaborate and deliberate feast of Praise, but the timely 
 suggestion that his absence might be interpreted as a quiet ' bid ' 
 for unlimited adulation proved too amusing for the equanimity 
 of even his modesty, so he came and occupied a retired seat near 
 the door. 
 
 "The proceedings wore of the simplest and most informal 
 kind— a genuine love-feast, with more fullness of heart than of 
 utterance. Yet there was no lack of pleasant, hearty words. 
 After an anthem, with solo, by the accomplished choir, which 
 seemed to have been augmented and specially drilled for the 
 occasion, the Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements wel- 
 comed the guests and assembled company, and asked Dr. Mor- 
 ison to oflfer prayer. After a soprano solo, the first speech of 
 the evening was made by Rev. J. F. W. Ware, whose father, 
 Henry Ware, had preached Dr. Furness' ordination sermon. 
 Dr. Furness then came forward, bearing two communion cups 
 which had just been received as a token of remembrance from 
 our church in Baltimore. He expressed his pleasure at this 
 expression of aftectionate sympathy, referring, incidentally, to 
 thepeculiar method of celebrating the communion in his church, 
 bread and wine not being partaken of, but being placed on the 
 table only as symbols of the precious things they stand for. 
 
 " William Gannett, whose father gave the right hand of fel- 
 lowship at Dr. Furness' ordination, said that this was the 
 principal reason for his presence here to-night. His modest 
 cordial words were followed by others, from Rev. E. H. Hall 
 and Dr. Lothrop. Dr. J. F. Clarke then read an original 
 poem, in which, in strong and elo-juent words, he commended 
 Dr. Furness' earnest and persistent eftort'^ to i)res..nt more 
 clearly to the world the living Jesus as distinguished from the 
 
102 
 
 theological or sentimental Christ. Dr. Bartol and Dr. Thomp- 
 son then added their cordial testimony of appreciation. Mr. 
 Chadwick read a lovely original poem, full of appreciative 
 references to some of Dr. Furness' more distinguished cotem- 
 poraries. Messrs. Shippen, Mumford, White, and Ames, each 
 said a few words, and Dr. Bellows finished the sweet symphony 
 of praise with a genial portraiture of Dr. Furness, thanking 
 the Lord that no amount of culture had in any respect weak- 
 ened the vigorous manhood of his friend, and that God made 
 him just what he is. 
 
 " After music, and a benediction by Dr. Furness, the large 
 company separated, evidently deeply pleased by the many 
 hearty testimonies of the evening." — Liberal Christian. 
 
 "Yesterday morning, at seven o'clock, the pupils of Madame 
 Seiler, an accomplished teacher of music, and author of several 
 excellent text-books, gave a serenade to Dr. Furness and his 
 household. It must have been a delightful surprise to the 
 awakened family when the sweet sounds began to ascend from 
 the hall below, where the singers, according to the Bulletin, 
 stood 'candle in hand,' and paid this delicate and welcome 
 compliment, in the good old German style. Between the hours 
 of twelve and six, hundreds of parishioners and friends called 
 to congratulate the honored pastor upon the successful comple- 
 tion of his half century of service. Most of the time the rooms 
 were thronged, and such an array of bright and happy faces is 
 seldom seen. Among the guests who were present during our 
 brief stay we noticed the Doctor's children and grandchildren. 
 Prof. Goodwin, of Harvard University, and Mrs. Eustis, 
 daughter of Rev. Dr. W. E. Channing. 
 
 " Last evening there was a driving storm of sleet and rain, but 
 the church was packed again. The floral display was equal to 
 that of Sunday. Among the changes we observed that the 
 large figures ' 1825 ' and ' 1875,' above the pulpit, were made 
 of pure white flowers instead of white and red as before. After 
 prayer by Rev. Dr. Morison, Mr. Henry Winsor, Chairman of 
 the Committee of Arrangements, made a felicitous welcoming 
 and introductory speech. 
 
 "The first clerical speaker was Rev. J. F. W. Ware, son and 
 nephew of the young Wares who, fifty years before, had taken 
 
103 
 
 prominent parts at the installation service. His remurUs were 
 full of the warmest affection for Dr. Furncss, and the tenderest 
 allusions to the love cherished for his Philadelphia ' brother ' 
 by Henry Ware, Jr. Agreeably to the request of the com- 
 mittee, Mr. Ware asked Kcv. W. C. Gannett to follow him. 
 Mr. Gannett's father gave Dr. Furness the right hand of fellow- 
 ship, and Mr. Gannett had just been reading the manuscript 
 copy of that earnest address, on his way to Phihidelphia in the 
 cars. His speech was eminently appropriate and impressive. 
 He was followed by Kev. E. H. Hall, of Worcester, suc- 
 cessor of Kev. Dr. Bancroft, who gave the charge at the in- 
 stallation half a century before, and son of Kev. Dr. E. B. Hall, 
 who was Dr. Furness' townsman, friend, classmate, and room- 
 mate. After most appreciative mention of the noble labors of 
 our fathers, Mr. Hall spoke eloquently of the peculiar work 
 which each generation has to do for itself and the world. Kev. 
 Drs. Lothrop, Clarke, Bartol, Thompson, A. P. Putnam, and 
 Bellows, and Messrs. Chadwick, Shippen, White, Mumford, 
 and Ames were called upon, and the most of them responded ; 
 but we have no space for their remarks this week. Next week 
 we hope to find room for a report, but now we must content 
 ourselves with copying from the Bulletin the poems which 
 were read. 
 
 " Before quoting thom, however, we must not forget to say 
 that Dr. Furness spoke twice in the course of the evening, the 
 first time acknowledging the gift of some communion cups 
 from the church in Baltimore to the church in Philadelphia. 
 It was hard to believe that this graceful and liappy speaker, 
 with as fresh a voice as that of the youngest man heard that 
 evening, and saying the brightest and merriest things of the 
 hour, could.be the venerable pastor whose semi-centennial we 
 were celebrating ; but we presume that there is not the slightest 
 doubt of the fact. And we must also remember to state that 
 among the gifts from parishioners and friends were some elegant 
 mantel ornaments, and the complete and original manuscript 
 of Charles Lamb's ' Dissertation on Koast Pig.' The Bulletin 
 says that this unique and interesting present was ' secured as a 
 Christmas gift at a recent sale in London, and handsomely 
 mounted and bound in large folio form.' ''—Christian Register. 
 
104 
 
 W. H. F. 
 
 " THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY." 
 BY WM. C. GANNETT. 
 
 FiFTr times the years have turned 
 Since the heart within him burned, 
 AVith its wistfulness to be 
 An apostle sent of Thee. 
 
 Closely in his Master's tread 
 Still to follow, till he read, 
 Tone of voice and look of face, 
 Print of wound and sign of grace. 
 
 Reading there for lifty years, 
 Pressing after, till the tears 
 And the smiles would come and go 
 At the self-same joy and woe — 
 
 Sharing with him shouts of " Mad ! 
 When the bold front to the bad 
 Bent to pluck the " little ones" 
 From the feet of fellow-sons — 
 
 Sharing in his inner peace. 
 But not sharing the release, 
 He is with us wliile the chimes 
 Ring his " Well done" fifty times. 
 
 Listening boys across the iicld 
 Pledge a hope they may not jneld : 
 Are they listening from the air — 
 Boys who started with him there? 
 
REV. DR. FURNESS' RESIGNATION. 
 
 1-1 
 
On Thursday, January 14th, 1875, Dr. Furness sent the fol- 
 lowing letter to the Society, resigning the charge of the pulpit 
 into their hands — 
 
107 
 
 TO THE ^[EMBEPvS OF THE FIRST CONGREGA- 
 TIONAL CHURCH. 
 
 My very dear Friends : While the measure of healtli and 
 strength still granted me demands ni}^ most thankful acknowl- 
 edgments, and while I am inexpressibly grateful for the re- 
 cent manifestations of your affectionate regard, I am admon- 
 ished by the ending of fifty years of service as your minister, 
 and by the time of life that I have reached, that only a little 
 while remains to me at the longest. I am moved, therefore, 
 to resign the charge of the pulpit into your hands. How could 
 I have borne it so long but for your patience and steadfast 
 friendship? I recognize a salutary discipline in the necessity 
 which I have been under all these years of weekly preparation 
 for the Sunday service. It is good, as I have learned, for a 
 man to bear the yoke in his youth, and even in middle ago; 
 but now, when only a fragment of life remains to me, I would 
 fain be released from that care, which neither time nor custom 
 has rendered any lighter than in my earlier years. 
 
 With the surrender of the pulpit you will understand of 
 course that I decline all further pecuniary support. I beg leave 
 respectfully to suggest that for some time to come the pulpit be 
 supplied by settled ministers, so that nothing shall be done 
 hastily in the matter of deciding upon my successor. More- 
 over, for all other pastoral offices, 1 shall be at your service, 
 remaining always your devoted friend, and in undying aflec- 
 
 tion, 
 
 Your pastor, 
 
 W. H. Furness. 
 .January 14th, 1875. 
 
108 
 
 At a meeting of the Society held in the church Saturday 
 evening, January 23d, 1875, it was voted that the following 
 letter should be sent to Dr. Furness, accepting his resignation, 
 and that the Trustees should sign the same on behalf of the 
 Society. 
 
109 
 
 FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UNITARIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Philadelphia, January 25th, 1875. 
 
 Dear Dr. Furness : The members of this Society have re- 
 ceived with sorrow your letter of the 14th inst., in which you 
 resign the charge of the pulpit which you have filled so long, 
 with so much ability and so much to their satisfaction. 
 
 Although we deeply regret the existence of the circumstances, 
 which in^your opinion have made the step necessary, we ac- 
 knowledge the justice of permitting you to judge freely of the 
 force of the reasons in its favor, Avhich have governed you in 
 coming to your decision ; and though we feel it would be a 
 great privilege to us to have the pastoral relation continued 
 through the coming years, during which we fondly hope you 
 may be spared to us, yet we acquiesce in the propriety of promptly 
 acceding to the wish for relief which you have so decidedly ex- 
 pressed both in your letter and verbally to the committee ap- 
 pointed at our meeting on the 19th inst., to ask you to recon- 
 sider your action and to withdraw your resignation. It would 
 be ungrateful for us to do otherwise, and would show on our 
 part a want of proper appreciation of the value of your long- 
 continued labors thus to make what must be to you in itself a 
 painful act still more ])ainful. 
 
 We cannot fully express in words our thankfulness that the 
 relation between us has remained unbroken through so many 
 years, and that, though the formal tie may now be severed, 
 we are yet permitted to see you face to face, to hear your voice, 
 to press your hand, and to know that you arc among us. 
 
 For the reasons which you have presented, and because you 
 so earnestly desire it, because it is our wish to do, at whatever 
 loss to ourselves, that which will be most grateful to you, and 
 thus to manifest in the strongest way we can our appreciation 
 of our privileges in the past, and with the hope that for years 
 
110 
 
 to come you may be with us and of us, we regretfully accept 
 your resignation, and remain, on behalf of the Society, 
 Your affectionate friends, 
 
 Henry Winsor, 
 Lucius H. Warren, 
 Dawes E, Furness, 
 Joseph E. Katmond, 
 John Sellers, Jr., 
 Enoch Lewis, 
 Charles H. Coxe, 
 
 Trustees. 
 
 This letter was read at the meeting of the congregation, held 
 on Saturday evening, January 23d, 1875, was approved, and 
 the Trustees were instructed to sign it on behalf of the Society 
 and forward it to Dr. Furness. 
 
 Charles H. Coxe, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Preliminary Meetings, 
 
 Dr. Eurness' Fiftieth Anniversary Discourse, 
 Extract from Forty-ninth Anniversary Discourse 
 Commemorative Meeting, 
 
 Prayer of Kev. John H. Morison, D.D., 
 Eemarks of Kcv. J. F. W. Ware, 
 " " Rev. W. C. Gannett, 
 
 " Pvev. E. H. Hall, . 
 " " Pvev. S. K. Lothrop, D.D., 
 " " Rev. J. F. Clarke, D.D., 
 " Rev. C. A. Bartol, D.D., 
 " " Rev. J. F. Thompson, D.D 
 " " Rev. J.W. Chadwick, 
 " " Rev. R. R. Shippen, 
 " " Rev. T. J. Mumford, 
 " " Rev. W. O. White, . 
 " " Rev. A. P. Putnam, D.D., 
 " " Rev. C. G. Ames, . 
 u a Rev. H. W. Bellows, D.D., 
 
 '« " Rev. W. H. Furness, D.D., 
 Letters, ..••••• 
 Extracts from the " Liberal Christ 
 
 " Christian Register," 
 Poem, by W. C. Gannett, ... 
 Resignation of Rev. W. H. Furness, D.D., 
 Letter of the Trustees, . . . • 
 
 PAriE 
 
 3 
 
 9 
 28 
 41 
 42 
 44 
 48 
 49 
 51 
 55 
 57 
 61 
 06 
 70 
 72 
 72 
 74 
 76 
 77 
 81 
 
 97 
 104 
 105 
 109