^/^^ 
 
 Cibrarjp of €he theological ^eminarjo 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 The Estate of the 
 Rev* John B. Wieclinger 
 
 BV 4930 .G63 1911 
 Goodell, Charles 1854-1937 
 Followers of the gleam 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 OR 
 
 MODERN MIRACLES OF GRACE 
 
JOHN S. HUYLER 
 
5P 
 
 FOLLOWERS OF TH 
 
 OR 
 
 MODERN MIRACLES OF GRACE 
 
 7 
 
 CHARLES L.XiOODELL, D.D. 
 
 PASTOR OF CALVARY METHODIST CHCRCH, NEW YORK 
 AUTHOR OF "pathways TO THE BEST/' "THE OLD DARNMA-V," " MY 
 
 mother's bible," "pastoral and personal evangelism," 
 "thk price of winning souls," btc. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK AND LONDON 
 
 1911 
 
Copyright, 1911, by 
 
 FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 
 
 {Printed in the United States of America] 
 
 Published November, 1911 
 
TO 
 
 WILLIS McDonald 
 
 A king's son and a follower of the gleam 
 
 IN TOKEN OP 
 A LONG AND SPIRITUAL TELLOWSHIP 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 Prolog 13 
 
 I. Christed Lives 23 
 
 II. The Conversion and Life of John S. 
 
 HUYLER 43 
 
 III. A King's Daughter, and Her Sons and 
 
 Daughters — Margaret Bottome . 73 
 
 IV. JiMMIE 99 
 
 V. Kid Hall of Joliet 115 
 
 VI. A Skeptic's Conversion .... 148 
 
 VII. Daniel Webster and John Colby's Con- 
 version 165 
 
 VIII. The Challenge ...... 183 
 
 IX. The Finding of Andrew .... 201 
 
 X. Christ and the Boys 217 
 
 XI. A Business Man's Call 233 
 
 XII. The Silver Case 241 
 
 XIII. A Little Child Shall Lead Them . . 251 
 
 XIV. Epilog 263 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 John S. HuyleR Frontispiece 
 
 Mrs. Margaret Bottome 73 
 
 Bishop Robert McIntyre, D.D 143 
 
 Daniel Webster 165 
 
PROLOG 
 
" No, there is no fit search after truth which does not, 
 first of all, begin to live the truth it knows. Alas! to 
 honor a little truth is not in the doubters, or they do 
 not think of it, and so they dishonor beforehand all the 
 truth they seek, and swamp it, by inevitable consequence, 
 in doubts without end." Bushnell. 
 
 I do not know what glorious light 
 
 Makes this heart thus to glow. 
 And why my spirit longs and cries, 
 
 I vow I do not know. 
 But when my Saviour touched my sight. 
 My slumbering soul awoke in light, 
 And since that day I've known no night. 
 
 McOirt. 
 
 Strange that when we once find out how a thing is done, 
 we at once conclude that God has not done it. 
 
 Pra/ncis Power Cohb. 
 
PEOLOa 
 
 This book will be found to differ from most 
 books on conversion — notably those of Mr. 
 Begbie, — in that it contans the record of 
 Christian experience as voiced by representa- 
 tives of all classes and ages. The miracles 
 of grace which are seen in the transforming 
 of the vilest lives will never cease to hearten 
 the Church and give hope to the profligate 
 and the abandoned. The Church will be right 
 in saying : " A Gospel that cannot reach the 
 last man is not adequate for any man." It 
 will remind itself how frequently the Savior 
 used the words " the least, the last, the lost/' 
 and will make no mistake in preaching salva- 
 tion to the uttermost. Thrilling examples of 
 that Gospel will be found in this book. In 
 the rounds of pastoral labor, however, this 
 fact has been imprest upon me; that the 
 number of such cases to which one is called 
 to minister, is comparatively small. For 
 every one whom we seek to rescue from a 
 life of shame or debauchery, there will be a 
 score and possibly a hundred for whom the 
 
 [13] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 language and experience of such a conversion 
 as we have indicated, is an unknown tongue 
 and the facts are unreal and almost incom- 
 prehensible. 
 
 This book is an attempt to put into lan- 
 guage the spiritual experiences of the aver- 
 age individual, to the end that those who find 
 themselves so circumstanced may hear in 
 their own tongue the wonderful works of God. 
 It is the story of those who followed the 
 Gleam; "which is the Light which lighteth 
 every man that cometh into the world.'' 
 Then, too, the need of the hour seems to be 
 some inspiration toward the formation of 
 character, which shall make reformation un- 
 necessary. The best treasure house for re- 
 ligious experience is the mind that has never 
 lost its purity. The more we have known of 
 evil, the less our capacity to know God is 
 likely to become. The wounds of the soul 
 may be healed, but to eradicate the scar is a 
 long process. " The mind that has shunned 
 evil may not be able to testify to startlingly 
 definite crises, but the settled conviction of 
 such a life is to the reality of the presence 
 of God as a superlative evidential value.'' 
 
 [14] 
 
PROLOG 
 
 " Broken Earthenware " is the figure which 
 Begbie uses to describe those who have 
 marred in themselves the image of God. It 
 is an unspeakable comfort to feel that a shat- 
 tered vessel may yet be so mended that it 
 may be fit to bear the water of life, but ah, 
 if some hand could have been outstretched 
 before it fell, if only the fair vase had never 
 been shattered! 
 
 In the incidents which are related here, 
 those of childhood and the home have a large 
 place, and this with the definite purpose to 
 accentuate in every way possible, the relig- 
 ious life of the home and of the young. Our 
 parents must realize that they cannot dele- 
 gate to the pastor or the Sunday-school 
 teacher the work which is peculiarly their 
 own. In the place of all places where they 
 should be helped, many of our young people 
 find the negative influence of a careless relig- 
 ious life, — if not a life of outbreaking wicked- 
 ness. We cannot look to our public schools 
 for any religious training. The Sunday- 
 school has but a few minutes out of the week 
 to exert whatever influence it may have for 
 good. Of the young people who come under 
 
 2 [15] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 its influence only two out of five are won to 
 Christ. The pastor is even more limited in 
 his personal relation with the children. So 
 that the Church must put greater emphasis 
 on the home life and must set itself with def- 
 inite purpose to influence the motherhood and 
 the fatherhood and the childhood of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 I am quite aware that many of the incidents 
 which I shall relate are almost wholly lack- 
 ing in spectacular interest. We do well to 
 remind ourselves that after all most of life's 
 truest experiences are not spectacular. Oc- 
 casionally a thunderstorm disturbs the ordi- 
 nary course of events, and the heavens are 
 riven by fiery bolts. The hearts of men are 
 terrified as the awsome battalions of the 
 sky ground their arms among the mountains. 
 But there is no commotion attendant upon 
 the rising of the sun; the day breaks noise- 
 lessly, and night sounds no " Taps " when it 
 is time for the bivouac. The dew and sun- 
 light fall gently, to enliven and replenish the 
 earth. We will, therefore, be interested, not 
 so much in the form of the conversion, as in 
 what flows out of it. But we will still insist 
 
 [16] 
 
PROLOG 
 
 as to the value of that experience. *^ Blame 
 not the word conversion," says Carlyle. 
 " Rejoice, rather, that such a word, signify- 
 ing such a thing, has come to light in our 
 modern era, though hidden from the wisest 
 ancients." There has been no religion with- 
 out conversion, and where philosophy re- 
 placed religion, you still have conversion. 
 But it is impossible to standardize conver- 
 sion, because you cannot reduce human na- 
 ture to a uniform level. As long as a man 
 has an individual history and individual char- 
 acteristics, there will be differing forms of 
 conversion. 
 
 So Professor James, in his "Varieties of 
 Religious Experience," sounds the whole 
 gamut, from the experience of the matter-of- 
 fact soul, to that of the mystic ; tho it is fair 
 to say that the Professor is not so much in- 
 terested in the religious, as in the psychologic 
 side of that experience. We will not find 
 serious fault with him, even when he says: 
 " If the fruits for life of the state of con- 
 version are good, we ought to idealize and 
 venerate it, even tho it be a piece of natural 
 psychology; if not, we ought to make short 
 [17] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 work of it, no matter what supernatural being 
 may have infused it." 
 
 In the cases which are here presented, we 
 shall not have much to say about the psychol- 
 ogy or philosophy of them. A little by way 
 of prolog, and a little by way of epilog, will 
 be sufficient. These are, for the most part, 
 personal incidents which have come within 
 the range of the writer's experience, and they 
 are offered for what they are worth. Each 
 reader is at liberty to have a philosophy of 
 his own, and to get out of these events such 
 teaching as he is able. All we vouch for is 
 the fact of the changed life which grew out 
 of the events here described. In each case we 
 bear testimony to the "expulsive power of 
 a new affection," whether it was in the case 
 of the child or the prison bird, or the banker's 
 clerk. Each man is bound to look at the 
 whole matter from the standpoint of his own 
 experience, and hence, of his own capacity. 
 
 It may be objected that the writer has 
 given too much time to what follows after 
 conversion, and that he has been rather more 
 interested in the development than in the be- 
 ginning of the Christian life. To that soft 
 
 [18] 
 
PROLOG 
 
 impeaclimeiit, we must plead guilty, for we 
 are quite convinced that the value of the ex- 
 perience which we call conversion, is to be 
 wholly rated by what flows out of it of spirit- 
 ual and ethical power. In some of these 
 cases, therefore, we have given larger space 
 to the fruit than to the seed; to the harvest- 
 ing, than to the sowing. 
 
 There will always be some who think of 
 the world itself as the product of purely nat- 
 ural causes; and some who will even go so 
 far as to speak of life as " struck out by im- 
 pinging worlds " ; or " the product of the for- 
 tuitous concourse of atoms." It will always 
 be true that 
 
 " Some call it Evolution 
 And others call it God." 
 
 Let me give a parable to the critics. " Yes- 
 terday," says Kepler, "when weary with 
 writing and my mind quite dusty with con- 
 sidering these atoms, I was called to supper, 
 and a salad I had asked for was set before 
 me. ' It seems, then,' said I aloud, * that if 
 pewter dishes, leaves of lettuce, grains of 
 
 [19] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 salt, drops of vinegar and oil, and slices of 
 eggs had been floating about in the air from 
 all eternity, it might at last happen by chance, 
 that there would come a salad ! ' ' Yes,' said 
 my wife, ' but not so nice and well-dressed as 
 this of mine is ! ' " To the critic of conver- 
 sion I need but add : " He that hath ears to 
 hear, let him hear ! " 
 
 [20] 
 
I 
 
 CHRISTED LIVES 
 
The truth in God's breast, 
 Lies trace upon trace on ours impressed; 
 Though He is so bright and we so dim, 
 We are made in His image to witness Him. 
 
 " Chbistmas Eve " — Browning. 
 
 " We must work out our own salvation. There is a 
 Promised Land, but God is in no hurry to have it occupied, 
 except by people of the right sort/* Boivne. 
 
 " Have we not a right to know and to know that we know ? 
 Faith is not credulity. Our hope is not a brilliant and beau- 
 tiful and shadowy ' perhaps.' It is an assurance, a conviction. 
 We are in the grip of a great unyielding certainty. ' We 
 have doubts enough, now,' said the old Scotch farmer to his 
 new minister ; ' tell us, mon, what you do know.' " 
 
 Malcolm J. McLeod. 
 
I 
 
 CHEISTED LIVES 
 
 The most colossal and unbending thing to 
 face is a fact. So long as the matter in dis- 
 pute is a theory, one opinion may be as good 
 as another. A man may guess at half and 
 multiply it by two, and stand by the product 
 against all comers. But when a fact strides 
 into view, every theory that opposes it must 
 at last bite the dust. The realm of religious 
 experience is not a realm of theory, but a 
 realm of fact. St. Paul was as certain of 
 that as he could be of anything. We pre- 
 sume he was accustomed to say about many 
 things, " I knowJ^ And no one has any fault 
 to find with that. But Paul insisted that 
 there was one thing which he knew with 
 greater assurance than anything else, and we 
 must let him finish out his sentence without 
 interruption and without criticism : " I know 
 whom I have believed." 
 
 The source of all spiritual knowledge is 
 Christ. The Christian religion is not a phi- 
 
 [23] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 losophy nor a system of ethics; it is not 
 founded upon a dogma nor even upon a book. 
 It has its Alpha and Omega in Jesus Christ. 
 We have been treated in the past with great 
 discussions between Science and Eeligion, 
 like a discussion between Poetry and Math- 
 ematics, carried on for the most part as has 
 been well said, " between religious people 
 who knew little about science, and scientific 
 people who knew less about religion." But 
 neither religion nor science was much bene- 
 fited by the discussion. Jesus Christ stands 
 in religion where no man stands in science. 
 In religion He is able to say the last word. 
 The world has never had but one Jesus 
 Christ and it will never need another. 
 
 It is interesting to note what changes and 
 improvements have been made in art and in 
 science, in philosophy and psychologj^ The 
 world has outgrown one after another of its 
 systems, but Jesus Christ is still supreme. 
 " No word of His has fallen to the ground, 
 and as we look over the threshold into the 
 next era, we can see the end of our perplex- 
 ities, our plans and our desires, only in the 
 better following of the counsels that He gave 
 
 [24] 
 
CHRISTED LIVES 
 
 in the beginning. In Him God speaks, and 
 we listen." The problem of doubt is solved 
 in the word of Jesus Christ. It has been the 
 coming of Christ into the life that has trans- 
 formed it — the consciousness that in some 
 way a power not its own was working within 
 the soul. If a bee builds its cell according 
 to a wisdom greater than its own little ken, 
 why should it be thought a thing incredible 
 that tlie soul itself should feel a divine in- 
 stinct and illumination which it may pro- 
 foundly realize, tho it cannot explain? It 
 is only the life which has been Christed that 
 becomes superior to earthly temptations and 
 vacillations, and that to the extent to which 
 the Christ-life dominates it. To the reality 
 of this fact, all ages since the days of the 
 Nazarene bear testimony. By the might of 
 their own feebleness, the early Church con- 
 quered, and in every age the anvil broke the 
 hammer, and the things which were not 
 brought to naught the things which were. It 
 would be sad if the assurance of His presence 
 grew less with the passing years, and that 
 those who were nearest to Him in point of 
 time were also most assured of His presence. 
 
 [25] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 But the reverse of that seems rather to be 
 true. The multiplication of the happy expe- 
 riences of men and women seems never to 
 have been so wonderful as now. Much is 
 made by some people of the miracles record- 
 ed in the Gospels. Some others will have it 
 that the Gospels float the miracles rather 
 than the miracles the Gospels. There are 
 many of us who have never been disturbed 
 above measure with all that materialism has 
 had to say against the miracles of Jesus' 
 time. For at almost any time we have had 
 a few fresh miracles of our own that were 
 sufficient to make possible to our thought 
 any miracles which might have preceded 
 them, and were so blest and real in them- 
 selves as to give us infinite heart and courage 
 for any future exercise of faith. 
 
 All literature is being filled with the glori- 
 ous testimony of miracles of grace. There is 
 no question as to the possibility of degen- 
 eration. It is everywhere, in nature and in 
 human life. We see how men can regenerate 
 the face of nature ; is there no way of regen- 
 erating the soul? Is the path to ruin the 
 only one open? Has God ordained that men 
 
 [26] 
 
CHRISTED LIVES 
 
 may go freely in that path but never turn, 
 to set their faces toward the blest heights 
 of perfection? Washington Gladden force- 
 fully says : " The fact that man can deterio- 
 rate is a fact that sometimes calls loud for 
 explanation. If you would couple with that 
 the belief that improvement is impossible, 
 that there is no turning back from the down- 
 ward road, the stars would be blotted from 
 the sky. No right-minded man would want 
 to live in such a world as that." He gives 
 us many reasons for believing that it is pos- 
 sible for men to turn from the ways of death 
 to those of life. — There is a God, and He is 
 good ; all literature and language assume the 
 possibility of such a change; it is the witness 
 of consciousness. But one of the great rea- 
 sons for believing it, he says, is that "we 
 have seen the thing taking place. We have 
 seen men under the influence of the high- 
 est motives, with the expression of trust in 
 God and prayer to Him, turning from evil 
 courses and beginning lives of faith and vir- 
 tue." Some of us have the record of scores 
 and hundreds of such cases ; we have seen the 
 
 [27] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 better life, thus consciously begun, go on with- 
 out interruption, till the day of death. 
 
 Conversion, as we shall show in this book, 
 takes many forms. It may come from a sin- 
 gle word, as in the case of Savonarola; or 
 from a sunrise, or a sunset, or the tear of a 
 friend. Whatever the act was, it was the 
 door through which Christ came into the life, 
 and ever after a man is changed. To be used 
 of God to open the closed doors of the hearts 
 of men is a dignity and promotion high 
 enough for man or archangel. It is some- 
 thing to snatch a child from the hot breath 
 of the flame and give him back alive and well 
 to his mother. It is something to rescue man 
 or maid from the rushing train ; or, breasting 
 the billows at the risk of one's life, to save 
 from a watery grave the dear object of hu- 
 man love and devotion. But, measured by 
 consequences, seen in the light which will not 
 go out when the stars have paled and the 
 heavens are no more, the greatest business 
 into which a man can venture, is to put him- 
 self in the hands of God, to be used of Him 
 when the lives which will tread the eternities, 
 are wavering in the balance. 
 
 [28] 
 
CHRISTED LIVES 
 
 In her ^' Scenes of Clerical Life," George 
 Eliot has written the story of " Janet's Ke- 
 pentance." It is a good story for both the 
 lovers and critics of evangelism to read. 
 George Eliot, we may suppose, was not much 
 in love with what she calls " evangelicalism." 
 But the record she gives of the humble labors 
 of Edgar Tryan, Curate, is enough to make 
 conversion real to every reader and to heart- 
 en every man who is willing to throw his life 
 away in the rescue of his kind. While she 
 thinks it possible that some of Mr. Tryan's 
 hearers had gained a religious vocabulary 
 rather than a religious experience ; that folly 
 mistook itself for wisdom; ignorance gave 
 itself airs of knowledge; and selfishness, 
 turning its eyes upward, called itself relig- 
 ion ; " nevertheless," she says, " evangelical- 
 ism had brought into palpable existence and 
 operation in Milby society that idea of duty, 
 that recognition of something to be lived for 
 beyond the mere satisfaction of self, which 
 is to the moral life what the adoption of a 
 great central ganglion is to animal life." She 
 admits, what we are all willing to do, that 
 it is possible some men make the idea of a 
 
 [29] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 heaven in reserve for themselves, a little too 
 prominent. But they at least believe that fit- 
 ness for that heaven consists in purity of 
 heart, Christ-like compassion, and the sub- 
 duing of selfish desires. Perhaps in their 
 Puritan zeal they called some things sin 
 which were not so, but when they thought 
 a thing was sin, they let it alone. " Color- 
 blindness, which may mistake drab for scar- 
 let, is better than total blindness, which 
 sees no distinction of color at all." Con- 
 cerning the criticism which fell like a flood 
 upon the Curate and his methods, she says, 
 *' the blest work of helping the world for- 
 ward happily does not wait to be done 
 by perfect men; and I should imagine that 
 neither Luther nor John Bunyan, for esJ- 
 ample, would have satisfied the modern de- 
 mand for an ideal hero, who believes noth- 
 ing but what is true, feels nothing but what 
 is exalted, and does nothing but what is 
 graceful." Even George Eliot will not be a 
 critic of such a man. " I am on the level and 
 in the press with him, as he struggles his 
 way along the stony road through the crowd 
 of unloving fellowmen. He is stumbling, 
 
 [30] 
 
CHRISTED LIVES 
 
 perhaps ; his heart now beats fast with dread, 
 now heavily with anguish. His eyes are 
 sometimes dim with tears, which he makes 
 haste to dash away. He pushes manfully on 
 with fluctuating faith and courage, with a 
 sometimes failing body. At last he falls. 
 The struggle is ended, and the crowd closes 
 over the space he has left . . . yet surely, 
 surely, the only true knowledge of our fellow- 
 men is that which enables us to feel with 
 them, which gives us a fine ear for the heart 
 pulses that are beating under the mere 
 clothes of circumstance and opinion. Our 
 subtlest analysis of schools and sects must 
 miss the essential truth, unless it be lit up 
 by the love which sees in all forms of human 
 thought and work, the life and death strug- 
 gles of separate human beings." 
 
 It is not necessary to give the details of 
 the changed life of Janet Dempster. It 
 was the old miracle, which, thank God, will 
 always be necessary and always possible, 
 so long as ruddy drops visit the sad hearts 
 of men, and the dust of the flying years 
 and the mists of doubt do not obliterate 
 from human eyes the truth of the deathless 
 
 3 [31] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 page : " For God so loved the world that 
 He gave His only begotten Son, that who- 
 soever believeth in Him should not perish, 
 but have everlasting life." This is the way 
 George Eliot closes the story of "Janet's 
 Eepentance " : " There is a simple grave- 
 stone in Milby Churchyard, telling that ' in 
 this spot lie the remains of Edgar Tryan, 
 for two years officiating curate at the Paddi- 
 ford Chapel of Ease, in this parish.' It is a 
 meager memorial, and tells you simply that 
 the man who lies there took upon him, faith- 
 fully or unfaithfully, the office of guide and 
 instructor to his fellowmen. 
 
 " But there is another memorial of Edgar 
 Tryan, which bears a fuller record: it is 
 Janet Dempster, rescued from self-despair, 
 strengthened with divine hopes, and now 
 looking back on years of purity and helpful 
 labor. The man who has left such a memo- 
 rial behind him, must have been one whose 
 heart beat with true compassion, and whose 
 lips were moved by fervent faith." 
 
 Dr. Jackson, in his " Cole Lectures," " The 
 Fact of Conversion," makes the Church his 
 debtor by a most interesting array of the 
 
 [32] 
 
CHRISTED LIVES 
 
 facts which cluster about the phenomena of 
 conversion, and differing somewhat from the 
 point of view presented by Professor Will- 
 iam James, in his " Varieties of Eeligious 
 Experience." He reminds us that Mr. Stead, 
 the well-known journalist, describes in detail 
 the definite religious experience through 
 which he passed when a school-boy twelve 
 years of age. He says, "It is forty-three 
 years since that revival at school, and the 
 whole of my life has been influenced by the 
 change which men call ' Conversion,' which 
 occurred to me when I was twelve years old. 
 That potent thing, whatever you may call it, 
 and however you may experience it, which 
 enables me to resist temptation and bear bur- 
 dens which otherwise might have crushed me 
 with their weight, came into my life then, and 
 abides with me to this hour." 
 
 Every man who knows anything about re- 
 vival work has seen men come to the altar, 
 anxious and restless, feeling after God in 
 the darkness and give testimony, as Dr. Dale 
 did at Birmingham, "they went away at 
 peace with God, and filled with joy. I have 
 seen the sun rise from the top of Helvellyn 
 
 [33] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 and the top of Riglii, and there is something 
 very glorious in it; but to see the light of 
 heaven suddenly strike on man after man in 
 the course of an evening, is much more thrill- 
 ing.'^ These men are to be found in all the 
 churches and their experiences are not the 
 least part of the case which Christianity pre- 
 sents to science for inquiry and for judg- 
 ment. John Henry Newman, near the close 
 of his life said that he was as conscious of his 
 conversion at fifteen as of any fact of his life. 
 He said, '' I look back at the end of seventy 
 years on what I was, as if I were looking on 
 another person." 
 
 The great scholar, Delitsch of Leipsic, said, 
 in his " Last Confession of Faith," " My 
 spiritual life finds root in the miraculous soil 
 of that first love which I experienced with 
 Lehmann and others ; still to me is the reality 
 of miracles sealed by the miracles of grace 
 which I saw with my own eyes in the con- 
 gregation of this blest valley." The great 
 professor, Gaston Frommel, speaking of his 
 own conversion, says, " That day lies a long 
 way behind me in the past ; but it shines there 
 as the day of a new birth." One of the great 
 
 [34] 
 
CHRISTED LIVES 
 
 historians wrote years ago, ^' It is not un- 
 common for men and women suddenly to 
 awake to the fact that they have been sinners 
 and to determine tliat henceforth they will 
 keep God's commandments, by the help of 
 Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. And 
 they did it." 
 
 A man who knows the life of John Wesley, 
 cradled from his youth in every virtue, would 
 be inclined to ask what was the need of con- 
 version for John Wesley. The answer to 
 that is that John Wesley himself says if it 
 had not been for that one golden hour on 
 May 24, 1738, when his heart was strangely 
 warmed with what he calls his " conversion," 
 there would have been no world-wide Meth- 
 odism, and the eighteenth century would 
 never have known its greatest power for 
 righteousness. Mr. Augustine Birrell asked 
 a Cornish miner how it happened that his 
 people were all temperate. His answer was, 
 " There came a man among us once, and his 
 name was John Wesley." 
 
 We talk about the evidence of Christianity. 
 Christianity is its own evidence. It proves 
 itself. It is a demonstration, not by argu- 
 
 [35] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 ment but by what it does. Christianity will 
 hold its own in the study or in the witness 
 box. But if you wish to see it in its great- 
 ness, you must see it at work. Now, as of old, 
 the record is written : " And beholding the 
 man which was healed standing with them, 
 they could say nothing against it." There 
 is a great deal of flippant and critical talk 
 about the Gospel records and the Gospel 
 story, but the Gospel itself remains the one 
 thing on earth which has power to cast out 
 devils, to tame the wild lusts and passions of 
 the human heart, and no weapon that is 
 formed against it can prosper. 
 
 Here are two men as wide apart in train- 
 ing and experience as men could well be. 
 But their testimony is in substance the same. 
 Samuel H. Hadley of Water Street fame, 
 gave almost the last testimony of his life 
 standing at the altar of our church. He 
 quoted the words of a Lancashire drunkard, 
 who said : " Eeligion has changed my heart, 
 my home, and you can all see it has changed 
 my face. I hear some of these Londoners 
 call themselves ' Positivists.' Bless God, I 
 am a ' positivist.' I am positive God for 
 
 [36] 
 
CHRISTED LIVES 
 
 Christ's sake has pardoned my sins, changed 
 my heart and made me a new creature." 
 
 Far removed from such men in critical acu- 
 men, was George Eomanes. When he was 
 slowly feeling his way back to Christian 
 faith, with a scientist's instinct for facts, 
 he said, St. Augustine, after thirty years of 
 age and other fathers, bear testimony to a 
 sudden, enduring, and extraordinary change 
 in themselves called " conversion." This ex- 
 perience has been repeated and testified by 
 countless millions of civilized men and wom- 
 en in all nations and all degrees of culture. 
 It is a great comfort to know that Eomanes 
 came himself to admit, that it was reasonable 
 to be a Christian believer, even before the 
 activity or habit of faith had been recov- 
 ered ; but it is a greater joy to be assured that 
 before his death, he came into the full, delib- 
 erate communion with Jesus Christ, for 
 which his soul yearned. With him " the pure 
 in heart," after a long period of darkness, 
 was allowed to " see God." But greater than 
 even the testimony of men, is the reality of 
 conversion in their own consciousness, in the 
 altering of human thought and judgment and 
 [37] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 action. For conversion has a life to show 
 as the result of it. We are concerned not so 
 much as to what conversion is, as to what 
 it effects. The best thing that history has to 
 show is that conversion, in the words of Ro- 
 manes, "is not a mere change of belief or 
 opinion. The point is that it is a modification 
 of character." Browning paints again and 
 again the transformation which comes from 
 a gleam of God, and he is the great poet- 
 apostle of conversion. Hear him say ; 
 
 " So may the truth be flashed out by one blow, 
 And Guide see one instant, and be saved." 
 
 *^ Conversion is the soul's return to God. 
 Therefore let every man journey by the road 
 that lies open to him." 
 
 It is Christ in you that is the "hope of 
 glory." The knowledge which we are to seek 
 after is " that we may know Him, whom to 
 know aright is life eternal." The only life 
 which waves the banner of triumph over the 
 world, the flesh and the devil, is the Christed 
 life. Well says Borden P. Bowne: "Chris- 
 tianity is a religion for all sorts and condi- 
 
 [38] 
 
CHRISTED LIVES 
 
 tions of men, for all ages and temperaments. 
 There is a bright and cheery religion for 
 childhood and youth, and a more somber and 
 deeper-toned religion for later years. It has 
 matin bells for life's morning and vesper 
 songs for the night. Work and prayer, con- 
 templation, obedience, aspiration, commun- 
 ion, all mix and mingle in the complex ex- 
 perience of the Christian community ; but the 
 one thing common to all, the one thing with 
 which all may begin and which none may ever 
 outgrow, is obedient loyalty to the spirit and 
 commands of our Lord." 
 
 [39] 
 
II 
 
 THE CONVERSION AND LIFE OF 
 JOHN S. HUYLER 
 
Goodness outranks goods. A bursting barn and a godless 
 heart proclaim a fool without hope. Life is more than 
 meat and the body than raiment, and a soul outweighs the 
 world. So character must come before comforts and God 
 before bread. " Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his 
 righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." 
 
 M. D. Bah cock. 
 
 It is really not so wonderful that religion should trans- 
 form character and give new birth to personality as that it 
 should inspire pure and holy people with a love for the 
 degraded, the debased, and the lost. That is, it seems to me 
 the great testimony of conversion, the love and the faith 
 of those good and gentle souls who gave their lives in 
 rescuing the outcasts of society. Religion alone can create 
 this sublime impulse. Bighie, 
 
n 
 
 THE CONVEESION AND LIFE OF 
 JOHN S. HUYLER 
 
 It is probably true that never in the his- 
 tory of Methodism has there been a layman 
 whose gifts to the Church and humanity have 
 been so many and so varied as those of John 
 S. Huyler. I shall be glad if I may help to 
 inspire, by the record of his life, other lay- 
 men to imitate, according to their ability, his 
 consecration and benefactions. 
 
 Measured by its influence upon the world, 
 it was a great day when John S. Huyler gave 
 his heart to God, and felt the transforming 
 power of a new affection. So deep was his 
 sense of obligation to God that he only 
 thought of himself as a steward, called for a 
 little time to use for His glory, and for the 
 good of men, that which God put into his 
 hand. For years his gifts aggregated more 
 than a thousand dollars a day. He felt that 
 he was trusted of God, and often said that he 
 
 [43] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 feared to be recreant to the great trust. He 
 was peculiar among philanthropists in that 
 he looked through the cause, to the individual. 
 With his money he gave himself. He fairly 
 wore himself out day after day, listening to 
 individual cases of sorrow and of want. If 
 a man had a cause that promised to help 
 humanity, it seemed almost impossible for 
 Mr. Huyler not to help it. Often, when I 
 had apologized to him for presenting some 
 cause to his attention, he would respond: 
 "Never feel troubled about that: God has 
 called me to the work of helping people, and 
 I am glad to do it." 
 
 We are all of us especially interested in 
 how such a great life and influence came to 
 be; and before I give further illustration of 
 the beneficences of his life, I must speak of 
 that in which we are especially interested — 
 the experience by which he was transformed 
 so that the things he once loved he hated, 
 and the things which had no charm for him 
 became his chief concern. 
 
 It is true that John S. Huyler, before he 
 was converted, had a kindly heart. It is true 
 that he loved to help everyone who was un- 
 
 [44] 
 
THE CONVERSION AND LIFE OF JOHN S. HUYLER 
 
 fortunate; that he could not bear conflict; 
 that he would do almost anything rather than 
 fight. But it is true that he never found him- 
 self, never opened his heart to the needs of 
 the great world, until God touched it. His 
 remedy for all weakness and wickedness was 
 conversion. He believed in the cleansing 
 power of the grace of God, the transforming 
 power of a holy affection. There were no 
 men at the Water Street Mission so far gone 
 that he did not believe that the grace of God 
 could reach them. There were no men so 
 cultured, so cold, that he did not believe 
 that a miracle of grace should be wrought 
 and could be wrought in them, if only the 
 blessed Christ might touch their hearts. His 
 favorite and crafty prescription for men 
 whom all the world had forsaken, was to tell 
 them that he would give them two dollars a 
 day if they would go down every night to 
 the McAuley Mission on Water Street, see 
 the service through, and write him the next 
 morning what happened, and what their im- 
 pressions were with regard to the value of the 
 services. Again and again what they saw 
 smote them to the heart and they who went 
 
 [45] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 as critics came away converted. They went 
 to make a scanty living, they found a new and 
 abundant life. 
 
 Mr. Huyler was born in a godly home. His 
 father, David Huyler, and his mother, were 
 devout Methodists, of large influence in the 
 Methodism of New York. For many years 
 they were connected with Jane Street Church, 
 where Mr. Huyler went in his youth. They 
 moved later to the Harlem district of the city, 
 and at once identified themselves with the 
 religious life of the community. " Mother 
 Huyler " was long known as a woman of deep 
 piety and consecration. Mr. Huyler loved to 
 tell how the keeping of the Sabbath had really 
 been at the bottom of his success in business. 
 His father had a bakery and in connection 
 with it, sold candy and ice-cream. At last 
 Lis customers requested that they might have 
 their ice-cream delivered on Sunday morn- 
 ing. He refused to do that, and some of his 
 customers said : " We are sorry to leave you, 
 but other men will deliver us the cream on 
 Sunday, for our Sunday dinner, and if we 
 buy of them the cream, we shall also buy of 
 them the cake." So he saw many of his cus- 
 
 [46] 
 
THE CONVERSION AND LIFE OF JOHN S. HUYLER 
 
 tomers leaving him. Eather than give np his 
 principles with regard to the observance of 
 the Sabbath, he gave up the ice-cream busi- 
 ness. 
 
 On one occasion, as we were passing the 
 door of a most successful ice-cream company, 
 Mr. Huyler said to me, " We might have had 
 that business if it had not been for keeping 
 the Sabbath.'' Trained in such a home as I 
 have indicated, Mr. Huyler grew up with 
 strong ideas as to the value of a Christian 
 life. He had no question that there was such 
 a life, for he had seen it exemplified day by 
 day in his own home, where they would stand 
 by a principle at any cost. Altho he had 
 been accustomed to church attendance, and 
 felt the solicitude of an anxious father and 
 mother, the temptations of the city had en- 
 snared his feet and as he came to manhood, 
 he had drifted away from the teachings and 
 practises of his father and mother, altho he 
 still went to church. It was a great sorrow 
 to their hearts, but they never ceased to pray 
 for him, and they never ceased to believe that 
 God would answer their prayer. His own 
 
 4 [47] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 conversion, as lie related it to me more than 
 once, was after tMs fashion. 
 
 A generation ago, New Year's was a great 
 day with the young men of New York. There 
 was a round of festivities which began with 
 New Yearns eve and did not terminate until 
 New Year's Day had passed. Mr. Huyler 
 always had plenty of money. He was phe- 
 nomenally successful, even as a boy, in any 
 business venture. Before he was out of his 
 teens, he was getting a salary which many a 
 man in his maturity might have envied. As 
 he left his store on the afternoon of the last 
 day of 1886, the bookkeeper handed him a 
 check, which represented his profits for the 
 year. He was so careless with regard to its 
 amount that he put it in his pocket without 
 reading it. Some of his friends joined him 
 on the street, and he came up to Harlem in 
 jolly company. After he and his friends had 
 spent some time together, they parted, hav- 
 ing made arrangements to meet downtown 
 and pass the old year out in the same fashion 
 in which they had celebrated it for years. 
 
 A little later, as he passed along One 
 Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, he re- 
 
 [48] 
 
THE CONVERSION AND LIFE OF JOHN S. HUYLER 
 
 called the check which had been given him, 
 and, taking it out of his vest pocket, stopt 
 under a street lamp to read it. When he 
 saw the amount, it was so great that it 
 fairly staggered him. Up to that time he 
 had not cared particularly to lay up money. 
 The size of this check brought home to his 
 consciousness the fact that he was now stand- 
 ing at the crisis in his life. With so much 
 money at his disposal, he felt that nothing 
 but the grace of God could save him from 
 the awful temptations which wealth pre- 
 sented. It seemed to him that it was the 
 turning point of his life. He became so 
 much imprest with this idea that, instead 
 of going downtown as he had planned, he 
 went to a Watch Night Service which was 
 being held in a hall on One Hundred and 
 Twenty-fifth Street — the beginning of what 
 is now Calvary Church. There he found his 
 mother with others kneeling at the altar, 
 praying for him. He went and knelt beside 
 her. That was the beginning of his Christian 
 purpose. 
 
 There was nothing spectacular in the 
 change of life of which that Watch Night 
 
 [49] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 Service was the beginning. He had expected 
 a conversion after the manner of St. Paul's, 
 but it did not come that way. At the close 
 of the service, he felt, still more profoundly 
 that he had reached the turning-point in his 
 life, and prayed that he might have power 
 over temptation and that God would lead him 
 to a clearer understanding of His will con- 
 cerning him. Perhaps he owed, in part, to 
 his ancestry and to his training, his strong 
 sense of his obligation to God. Very fre- 
 quently, when I exprest to him my surprise 
 at the extent of his benefactions, he said : " I 
 cannot do otherwise. My sense of duty will 
 not allow me to shirk a responsibility which 
 I feel.'' The responsibilities which were upon 
 him in a business way, demanded the utmost 
 of his time and energy. For the next few 
 months, he seemed to be dwelling most 
 thoughtfully on his religious condition. It 
 was a great thing to turn from his life- 
 long associations and habits. Conviction and 
 purpose were gathering and strengthening, 
 which one day would rise up, by the help of 
 God, to take a stand which no temptation of 
 self could overthrow. In the following sum- 
 
 [50] 
 
THE CONVERSION AND LIFE OF JOHN S. HUYLER 
 
 mer he went to Europe with some friends. 
 His partner, who was, perhaps, more closely 
 in touch with him than any of his compan- 
 ions, tells me that the real crisis in his life 
 came one day in Paris. A proposition was 
 made that they should witness the usual 
 round of gaieties in Paris to which travelers 
 are frequently taken. When the time for de- 
 cision came, Mr. Huyler said : ^' I will not 
 go : I have decided that henceforth, by God's 
 help, I will be a godly man.'' His partner 
 bears testimony that from that hour he never 
 changed his purpose or lowered the standard 
 which he had set up. 
 
 On February 5, 1888, he was received on 
 probation in Calvary Church, and on January 
 6, 1889, was received in *'Full Connection." In 
 his religious life, he was throughout, the most 
 modest of men. He constantly depreciated 
 his own attainments, and shrank from any 
 publicity. He believed the one essential for 
 all Christian service was a change of heart. 
 He often wished that he had had an ex- 
 perience as striking as that of some men 
 whom he knew. It always gave him delight 
 when men testified with definiteness to a 
 
 [51] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 certain place and a certain hour, and cele- 
 brated the anniversary of that kind of a re- 
 ligious experience. It may strengthen some 
 other heart to know that he often experienced 
 times of religious depression when he would 
 say to me : ^^ I sometimes wonder if I have 
 been really converted." But that mood would 
 soon pass, and he would speak with great 
 assurance of the mercy of God, which had 
 been exercised so blessedly in his behalf. 
 Nothing seemed to give him quite so much 
 comfort religiously as to take a hand him- 
 self in bringing Christ to some discouraged 
 man or some man whose life had been thrown 
 away in the service of evil. 
 
 One beautiful result which seemed born of 
 the mercy of God in his own behalf, was that 
 Mr. Huyler seemed to get the spirit of the 
 " seventy times seven " of his Master. I 
 never knew a man whose faith in men sur- 
 mounted so many obstacles, or continued so 
 long after the faith of others had reached 
 the breaking point. When I spoke to him 
 about it, and sometimes queried whether, in 
 the language of the street, he was not allow- 
 ing them to "work'' him, he would smile, 
 
 [52] 
 
THE CONVERSION AND LIFE OF JOHN S. HUYLER 
 
 and reply : " God bore long with me, and we 
 must bear long with such poor fellows as 
 these." You might think he would say to a 
 man who had abused his kindness thrice over, 
 and gotten into trouble besides, " I told you 
 what to do, and you refused to do it. Now 
 you must lie in the bed which you have 
 made." But he never said that. In connec- 
 tion with his experience, I often thought of 
 Ian Maclaren's " Doctor of the Old School." 
 You remember how Drumsheugh prays over 
 the dying doctor: 
 
 "Almichty God . . . dinna be hard on Weelum 
 MacLure, for he's no been hard wi' onybody in 
 Drumtochty. ... Be kind tae him as he's been tae 
 us a' for forty year. . . . We're a' sinners afore 
 Thee. . . . Forgive him what he's dmie wrang, and 
 dinna cuist it up tae him." 
 
 So Mr. Huyler would never twit a man on 
 his mistakes. He would never " cast it up " 
 to him. He loved to tell everybody there was 
 a chance, and it was a great gospel he 
 preached by his life. One could tell by the 
 hour instances showing how he refused to 
 give up men in whom he had once become in- 
 
 [53] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 terested. His family tells an interesting 
 story of a man whom Mr. Huyler took from 
 his cups and gave a position in his factory. 
 Soon the man said that his wife was sick and 
 must be taken to the hospital and it would 
 cost ten dollars a week to keep her there. 
 Mr. Huyler paid for the taking of the woman 
 to the hospital, and contributed regularly 
 each week ten dollars, for several months. 
 One day the man told him, with tears, that 
 his wife was dead, and he had no money to 
 bury her. Mr. Huyler gave him a liberal al- 
 lowance to cover all funeral expenses. A 
 few weeks afterward, the man said that his 
 wife's sister was sick and must be taken to 
 the hospital. Mr. Huyler started in with the 
 usual contribution for hospital treatment, 
 when it was suggested by his family that he 
 go to the house and see how the man was 
 getting on at home. When he rang the bell, 
 he was surprized to find the man's wife at the 
 door. " Why, woman," he said, " I buried 
 you three weeks ago ! " Then she learned for 
 the first time, the deception that had been 
 practised by her husband. Instead of throw- 
 ing off the man who had imposed upon him, 
 
 [54] 
 
THE CONVERSION AND LIFE OF JOHN S. HUYLER 
 
 he continued him in his employ, with the 
 stipulation that his wife should come each 
 week and get his wages. 
 
 He was accustomed to have men go around 
 to his house and get a ticket which would en- 
 title them to a supper and lodging. The 
 number of these men so increased that the 
 policeman called upon him and told him that 
 the people in the neighborhood of his ele- 
 gant home were objecting to the presence of 
 so many of those rough fellows, and he 
 must make other arrangements to meet their 
 needs. On a cold or stormy night he would 
 often go to the window of his beautiful home 
 and, instead of turning to say to himself: 
 '^ How nice and comfortable we are in here ! 
 We ought to be very happy and enjoy our- 
 selves together," he would press his face 
 against the window-pane and say : " This is 
 a bad night for the boys on the street ! God 
 help the poor fellows without a home. What 
 will the poor tramps do who have no place to 
 sleep! " Then he would call up the missions 
 and make arrangements so that every poor 
 fellow who came within their reach could be 
 accommodated with food and shelter. 
 
 [55] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 John S. Huyler was a born gentleman. He 
 was at home in any society, and knew the 
 amenities of social life. Instinctively he did 
 the kindly and gracious thing. Through 
 many years of intimate personal relation 
 with him, I never heard him say an unkind 
 thing, or knew him to do anything that would 
 not befit a gentleman. In his personal ap- 
 pearance he was the soul of neatness and 
 good taste. Now, to see such a man throw 
 himself with utter abandon, into the work of 
 bringing a poor, lost soul to Christ, was a 
 beautiful thing : to see him put his arm over 
 the shoulder of a poor wretch with the filth 
 of the street still upon him, and to tell a man 
 whom all men seemed to have forgotten, that 
 God was interested in his behalf, and that 
 good men still loved him and wanted to help 
 him to his feet, gave to some of us a new 
 sense of the yearning of soul which ought to 
 characterize the true Christian. 
 
 It was no less beautiful to see him at the 
 altar of his own church, bowing with those 
 who were seeking Christ and urging upon 
 them the need and the blessedness of a Chris- 
 tian life. He loved to see the young people 
 
 [56] 
 
THE CONVERSION AND LIFE;:0F JOHN S. HUYLER 
 
 gathered there, and often said to me : " How 
 I wish I had given my heart to God in my 
 early youth ! " When any invitation was 
 given for church members to come to the al- 
 tar to speak with those who were seeking 
 Christ or to pray for them, he was always 
 among the first to respond. He arrogated no 
 superiority to himself, but often said, "I wish 
 they would pray for me." He did not like 
 to be called upon for public prayer, but very 
 frequently his heart cried out to God most 
 tenderly for those who were seeking Him. 
 
 In showing how a Christian faith was the 
 basis of every beautiful thing in Mr. Huyler's 
 life, perhaps I cannot do better than to give 
 a fact which is to me one of the most signifi- 
 cant and typical in his career. Those who 
 have received checks from him in recent 
 years, to assist in any Christian and phil- 
 anthropic work, have noticed, after the name 
 to whom the check was made payable, the 
 note " M. P. Account." " Write it large," he 
 said to his secretary, " and write it on every 
 check ! " If the recipient noticed the mystic 
 letters and ventured to inquire to what they 
 referred, he was told that " M. P." stood for 
 
 [57] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 *^ My Partner," and this was a check that was 
 turned over to that account. " My Partner " 
 was He who loved him and who gave Himself 
 for him, and who had said : " Inasmuch as ye 
 did it unto these, ye did it also unto me." 
 When I exprest my marvel at the volume 
 of the checks in that account, he said : " That 
 is no virtue of mine ; the money is my Part- 
 ner's and I am only giving it for Him." 
 
 A very large amount of his giving was 
 done in such a way that he hoped nobody 
 would know who had made the gift. He 
 seemed constantly to fear that he might be 
 found lacking in some way : that he might not 
 measure up to the fulness of his duty. Per- 
 haps I could not give a better illustration 
 than tliis simple incident. He was very much 
 interested in a book which I was writing, 
 "Pastoral and Personal Evangelism." He 
 was anxious that I should urge upon all pas- 
 tors and churches, the importance of special 
 evangelistic work. When I asked him if I 
 might dedicate the book to him, he gave his 
 consent, and I wrote what seemed to me to be 
 the simplest possible dedication. It read : 
 
 [58] 
 
THE CONVERSION AND LIFE OF JOHN S. HUYLER 
 
 " To MY DEAR Friend 
 JOHN S. HUYLEE. 
 
 A LOVER OF MEN AND A GOOD 
 STEWARD OF THE MANIFOLD GIFTS OF GoD." 
 
 He was with me when the proofs came from 
 the office, and I passed over the first pages 
 with the remark that perhaps he would be 
 interested to read them. His eye fell upon 
 the dedication, and he said : " Doctor, you 
 will have to change that. ' A lover of men ' 
 — ^yes, but *a good steward of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ ! ' — when I think of all His gifts 
 to me, I do not feel that I could lay claim to 
 that ! " And so I was obliged to leave that 
 page with the simple inscription : 
 
 " To MY DEAR Friend 
 JOHN S. HUYLEE." 
 
 With the beginning of his active Christian 
 life, his idea of his stewardship became 
 strong and commanding. How that idea 
 grew until it dominated his life, may be seen 
 
 [59] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 from the Eesolutions which were adopted by 
 the New York City Church Extension and 
 Missionary Society. These state that in 
 1891 Mr. Huyler paid fifty dollars to its cur- 
 rent funds. The next year, to clear off an 
 indebtedness, he paid five hundred dollars. 
 A few months later he was one of several who 
 subscribed five thousand dollars to the For- 
 ward Movement, and he increased his regular 
 offering from fifty to fifteen hundred dollars. 
 A few years later he gave twenty-five thou- 
 sand dollars to make possible the Jefferson 
 Park Italian church. When the Century 
 Thank Offering Movement began, he made a 
 gift of a hundred thousand dollars. In an- 
 other place where he cared for children in a 
 Home which he named after his mother, he 
 sustained a work which cost him over forty 
 thousand dollars a year. 
 
 As God prospered him, he continued to en- 
 large the proportion of his gifts. He told me 
 that in the early days he heard the preachers 
 say that a man ought to give a tenth of his 
 income to the Lord, and he began that way. 
 After a while it seemed to him too small an 
 offering to make, in the face of God's abun- 
 
 [60] 
 
THE CONVERSION AND LIFE OF JOHN S. HUYLER 
 
 dance, so lie increased until it was a fifth, and 
 a little later it was a quarter, and after a 
 while he was giving half of his income. One 
 day, when he was telling me how he came 
 to give proportionately, a sweet smile crossed 
 his face, and he used a phrase which was so 
 modest and unique that I cannot forbear to 
 quote it. It was the only thing I ever heard 
 him say which had in it the least expression 
 of contentment over his gifts. He said : " I 
 really believe. Doctor, if I should die to- 
 morrow, the Lord would say to me, * Well, 
 John, you are a few dollars ahead ! ' " He 
 meant to say that he had kept religiously 
 every contract which he had made with his 
 Lord, as the steward of His gifts. 
 
 There were a few great principles which 
 were born within him when God transformed 
 his own life, and which molded that life to the 
 use of men and the glory of God. 
 
 First of all was the feeling that he must 
 himself be the steward of the wealth that 
 God had given him, and that with that wealth 
 he must give his own life and service. Many 
 a man has given his money, but he gave him- 
 self. For years the greater part of every 
 
 [61] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 business day was spent in listening to the 
 story of the unfortunate, the sinful and the 
 broken-hearted. And it is not too much to 
 say that in that work, as in the case of his 
 Savior, " Virtue went out of him." No man 
 can bear that strain and not suffer physically, 
 as well as mentally ; and in some sense he was 
 a vicarious sacrifice to the love he bore to 
 men. 
 
 When he desired to know how best he could 
 follow in the footsteps of the Master, he read 
 his Bible. It was of no use to tell him that 
 God did not care for humble folk for he read 
 in the blessed Book how, when Jesus set up 
 His " Temple of Fame," He put on its chief 
 pedestal a poor widow with two mites in her 
 hand. It was of no use to tell him that God 
 did not care for the footsore and the weary, 
 for he had seen Jesus with a towel around 
 His loins, washing His disciples' feet. It was 
 of no use to tell him that God did not care for 
 the prodigal and for the wayward, for he 
 read how Jesus painted the picture of a 
 bad boy coming home, his father waiting for 
 him and refusing to begin the feast until the 
 
 [62] 
 
THE CONVERSION AND LIFE OF JOHN S. HUYLER 
 
 prodigal was clad once more as his father's 
 son, and seated at the head of the table. 
 
 Second; because of this personal element, 
 he loved the Church of Christ and felt that 
 its influence was the one saving thing in a 
 weak world, and it was the pastoral side of 
 the ministry of the Church which most deep- 
 ly imprest him. No layman was ever kinder 
 to his pastor; no one ever more helpful by 
 kindly suggestion and personal solicitude. 
 
 To see the children giving their hearts to 
 God; to see families coming together to the 
 House of the Lord, made his heart glad. And 
 it was an unspeakable comfort to him to 
 feel that every member of his own family was 
 a member of the Church. 
 
 Third ; tho he himself had not had the ad- 
 vantages of a liberal education, he was a 
 great friend of all educational institutions. 
 He was especially interested in those who 
 were seeking, in the formative period of their 
 lives, to lead our cultivated youth to the 
 joys of Christ. Many of our Seminaries re- 
 ceived large gifts from him, and they will 
 sorely miss him now that he is gone. He not 
 only gave his money, but he visited the in- 
 
 5 [63] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 stitutions, and was full of helpful suggestion 
 for the carrying forward of their work. 
 Years ago he heard a sermon on " Higher 
 Education," which profoundly imprest him, 
 and aroused a new interest in educational 
 matters of the highest grade. He sent two 
 of his own sons to college, and another is 
 now fitting. Many thousands of dollars were 
 given by him annually for higher educational 
 work. 
 
 Fourth ; among spiritualizing influences, he 
 gave the chief place to the Word of God. Of 
 late years he had grown increasingly fond of 
 the Bible. To him it was the Book of books. 
 He often said to me that he would like to have 
 a Sunday-night service every now and then, 
 when there should be nothing done except 
 reading selections out of the Good Book 
 without note or comment. It seemed to him 
 that God had supplied all wisdom and direc- 
 tion in His Book, and that human words were 
 needless where God had spoken. He never 
 packed his traveling bag that he did not put 
 in the blest Book, and no night passed, in 
 car or hotel, where the Bible was not pro- 
 duced and some passages read, as a pillow 
 
 [64] 
 
THE CONVERSION AND LIFE OF JOHN S. HUYLER 
 
 on whicli, one might rest his head in peace 
 as he conunitted himself to slumber. Very 
 frequently, in his own home, when sleep re- 
 fused to come to his eyes, he would take the 
 blest Book and read far on into the night, 
 often quieting his spirit and falling to sleep 
 with the Book lying upon his breast. 
 
 Fifth; it was comparatively recently that 
 his thought went out to the great Foreign 
 Mission Field. It is to him that we owe the 
 beginning of Methodist Missions in France, 
 and to write the story of his helpfulness in 
 Italy, Africa, and in the Far East, would be 
 to write a chapter which might, of itself, well 
 be the epitome of the gifts and interests of 
 a great life. 
 
 In tliis description of the beautiful charac- 
 ter of John Huyler, as it flowed out of that 
 great central experience in his life, trans- 
 forming all his soul, I am aware that I have 
 drawn but a partial picture of the man. With 
 all his devotion to God and every holy thing, 
 he was yet a man among men. No one ever 
 had a friend more alert, more interested in 
 everything, or with a deeper sense of fun and 
 humor. His bright eyes flashed, and he was 
 
 [65] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 easily the center of any group where he hap- 
 pened to be. He showed in his life that deep 
 piety and every human interest could go 
 hand in hand. His religion was the happiest 
 and merriest thing in life. He was brother 
 to all men : at the same time one of the most 
 human and one of the most religious I have 
 ever known. To such a man there could come 
 no harm, living or dying. As he neared the 
 end of his life, he said : " I should like to live. 
 But it will be all right in any case. The 
 Lord's will be done." When his wife sug- 
 gested to him that the Lord might have some 
 work for him in the future life, he said, with 
 a smile, " I shall be glad to undertake it." 
 
 I should like to have seen John Huyler 
 when he met his blessed Lord in Heaven. I 
 should like to have seen his wide-eyed won- 
 der when Jesus said : " Come ye blessed of 
 my Father. I was an hungered and ye gave 
 me meat. I was thirsty and ye gave me 
 drink. I was a stranger and ye took me in ; 
 naked and ye clothed me; I was sick and ye 
 visited me." I should like to have heard him 
 doubtfully questioning: "When saw I Thee 
 sick and in prison and came unto Thee?" 
 
 [66] 
 
THE CONVERSION AND LIFE OF JOHN S. HUYLER 
 
 And it would have been blessed to see his 
 face as the Savior said : " Inasmuch as ye 
 did it unto one of the least of these, ye did 
 it unto me." 
 
 It is lonely since he went away, and the 
 days drag on with added sense of loss. It 
 is true that he has 
 
 "Fallen like some giant cedar, 
 And left a vacant place against the sky." 
 
 In spite of all his attainments, his intellectual 
 ability, and his high position, I think he 
 would be quite inclined to adopt for himself 
 the words of Sam Walter Foss, and say: 
 
 "Let me live in my house by the side of the road, 
 Where the race of men go by. 
 They are good, they are bad, they are foolish and 
 weak, 
 And so indeed was I. 
 Then why should I sit in the scomer's seat, or wield 
 
 the cynic's pen? 
 Let me live in my house by the side of the road, 
 And be a friend of men." 
 
 From the standpoint of his fellow-workers 
 this man's great value to the world lay in 
 
 [67] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 this, that while he gave much he asked little 
 or nothing in return. Some there are who 
 give much and require much. Their opinions 
 must be acted upon and their suggestions 
 considered as imperative. It was not so 
 with him. No man ever had more plans and 
 suggestions than he. He thought enough 
 about good things to have well-formed opin- 
 ions, but while he had opinions he was not 
 opinionated. To his pastor he would say, 
 " I am full of plans ; some are good and some 
 are bad ; some may work and some may not. 
 I will tell you fully all that is in my heart, 
 you can think them over. If you turn down 
 any of them or all of them it will not abate 
 a jot of my interest in His work or my con- 
 fidence in you." His action throughout the 
 years proved that he meant exactly what he 
 had said. It would be a heartening thing 
 for pastors and workers if all men of wealth 
 and power were so considerate and unselfish 
 as he. 
 
 He was so tender, and at the same time so 
 strong and true that he evermore stands 
 before us as the lineal descendant of Mr. 
 Valiant-f or- Truth. 
 
 [68] 
 
THE CONVERSION AND LIFE OF JOHN S. HUYLER 
 
 In his great allegory Bunyan tells us how 
 Mr. Valiant-f or-Truth went home. Said he : 
 " I am going to my Father : and tho with 
 great difficulty I am got hither, yet noiv I do 
 not repent me of all the trouble I have been 
 at to arrive where I am. My sword I give 
 to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrim- 
 age, and my courage and skill to him that can 
 get it. My marks and scars I carry with me 
 to be a witness for me that I have fought His 
 battles who will now be my rewarder." When 
 the day that he must go hence was come, 
 many accompanied him to the riverside, into 
 which, as he went, he said, " Death, where is 
 thy sting? " And as he went down deeper, he 
 said, "Grave, where is thy victory?" So 
 he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded 
 for him on the other side. 
 
 Hail and farewell, my brother ! When the 
 trumpets sound for you on the other side 
 may they be blown by lips which you have 
 taught to pray, and may I be there to hear! 
 
 [69] 
 
Ill 
 
 A KING'S DAUGHTER AND HER 
 SONS AND DAUGHTERS- 
 MARGARET BOTTOMS 
 
We may learn to walk by faith more steadily by perceiv- 
 ing that in this universe in which we live only he who is 
 willing to walk by faith can walk at all. 
 
 Prof, William North Rice. 
 
 "Talk faith. The world is better off without 
 Your uttered ignorance and morbid doubt. 
 If you have faith in God or man or self 
 Say so; if not, push back upon the shelf 
 Of silence lower thoughts till faith shall come. 
 
 " Though time may dig his grave of curds 
 And dogmas wither in the sod, 
 My soul will keep the thought it words — 
 Its swerveless faith in God." 
 
 But still I feel that His embrace, 
 
 Slides down by thrills through all things made. 
 Through sight and sound of any place. 
 
 As if my tender mother laid 
 On my shut lips her kisses, pressure 
 
 Half waking me at night, and said; 
 Who kissed you through the dark, dear guesser? 
 
 Mrs. Browning. 
 
MRS. MARGARET BOTTOME 
 
Ill 
 
 A KING^S DAUGHTER AND HER 
 SONS AND DAUGHTERS- 
 MARGARET BOTTOME 
 
 I HAVE had much to say during the years 
 of my ministry on the matter of home re- 
 ligion. The great discovery of the fifteenth 
 century was printing. The great discovery 
 of the eighteenth century was the appli- 
 cation of steam. The great discovery of 
 the nineteenth century was the application 
 of electricity. We are told that the great 
 discovery of the last generation was the dis- 
 covery of childhood. I wish that this gen- 
 eration might be the discoverer of the home. 
 As I have elsewhere said, the greatest influ- 
 ence in the life of a child is not the school, or 
 even the Church : it is the home. The kind of 
 religion that we need to-day is not so much 
 a doctrinal religion, or a formal social or 
 ethical religion ; it is a home religion, applied 
 and illustrated by those who love and serve 
 
 [73] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 in the tenderest and dearest relations of 
 earth. Anything that looks like religious 
 instruction is banished from our Public 
 Schools, and the religious instruction of the 
 Sunday-school is so limited and so partial, 
 and — as we who are trying to do our best 
 there, must sorrowfully admit — often put 
 into the hands of religious bunglers, to say 
 nothing of those who are unfit, either by char- 
 acter or training, to do the work. If we have 
 any adequate training of our children, it 
 must be the training of home. It has pained 
 my heart to realize that when the Church 
 had done her best in the few hours in the 
 week that she could come in touch with her 
 children, they must then be turned over to 
 the influence of a degenerate home, where 
 every action nullifies the teaching of the 
 Church, and all its tempers and purposes 
 work out the ruin of any high and noble 
 character. The seeds of grace, like the seeds 
 of the garden, must be sown in the Spring. 
 
 In his lecture on " The Religious Conquest 
 of the Child's Mind," President G. Stanley 
 Hall says : " Childhood is the very best pe- 
 riod of human life. Then all faculties are at 
 
 [74] 
 
A KING'S DAUGHTER 
 
 their best. It is the Paradise from which 
 growth is always more or less of a fall. In 
 all its activities, physiological and physical, 
 a child is nearer the type of the species and 
 has less of the limitations of the individual. 
 The doors of the prison house have closed 
 upon him far less tightly than they have 
 upon us. You will remember how Words- 
 worth puts the same thought, and Words- 
 worth is the master-interpreter of childhood : 
 
 ''Hence in a season of calm weather, 
 Though inland far we be, 
 Our souls have sight of that immortal sea 
 Which brought us hither, 
 Can in a moment travel thither. 
 And see the children sport upon the shore. 
 And hear the mighty waters rolHng evermore." 
 
 The home is the guardian of childhood. 
 Every student of psychology and pedagogy 
 understands the marvelous richness and pos- 
 sibilities of those early years. If parents 
 only knew, and would consider ! Now is the 
 time when life takes on whatever form you 
 will for it. Now is the time when you can 
 mold and fashion it in such a way as to bless 
 
 [75] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 it and the world. Now is the time to make 
 a strong constitution; a pair of lungs that 
 will help to make pure blood ; a stomach that 
 will nourish a great brain, and a great heart ; 
 a heart that will bear the strain of the dusty 
 valley or the mountain climb, and not break 
 down in middle life to leave its owner a wreck 
 on the shore, or a Hercules in a rotten boat. 
 Now is the time to form habits — those gos- 
 samer threads which will one day harden to 
 steel. Now is the time when devotion can be 
 nourished, when holy things can be set in the 
 sky of a child, like stars which go not out 
 forever. 
 
 When they asked Napoleon what was the 
 great need of France, he said, " Mothers." 
 If you ask me what is the great need of 
 America, I answer, " Homes." A home im- 
 plies a loving mother and a faithful father. 
 It implies a tender solicitude and yearning 
 which will follow with infinite patience the 
 footsteps of the child, and will not be satis- 
 fied until they are turned into the paths of 
 peace. You may board and clothe your chil- 
 dren ; you may give them a place to sleep and 
 a place to come in out of the storm, but you 
 
 [76] 
 
A KING'S DAUGHTER 
 
 have not given them a Jwme until you have 
 surrounded them with such blessings as will 
 bring to birth all the graces of a spiritual 
 life. I make my plea for Christian homes 
 where a family altar is set up and the day is 
 bounded on the East by supplication, and on 
 the West by thanksgiving to God. We must 
 give more time to our children. They will 
 soon be gone from us. Strange, as says 
 Socrates, that we spend so much time to 
 gather property and so little time on those 
 to whom we shall leave it. While the clay 
 is plastic we must mold it. 
 
 That is a beautiful story which ex-Presi- 
 dent Roosevelt tells of his own father's home, 
 and how he gave himself to his children, with 
 such splendid success. Here in our city to- 
 day, is a man, well born, and who in his early 
 manhood came into a large business inherit- 
 ance. There seemed to open up to him a 
 great field of opportunity, but he was the 
 father of four sons. If he went into his busi- 
 ness ventures, he might gain a great for- 
 tune, but it would require his frequent ab- 
 sence from home, and would engross his time 
 and strength to their fullest capacity. He 
 [77] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 debated in his own mind whether he wonld 
 give himself to the amassing of a fortune, so 
 that each one of his sons might have enough 
 to start well in the race of life; or whether 
 he would give himself to the personal care 
 and training of his sons, doing the best he 
 could to form good habits intellectually, 
 morally and religiously. He decided to take 
 the second course. He retired from business 
 and in all their studies and sports, he was the 
 companion of his boys. He watched them at 
 every point, that they might develop a true 
 and noble character. He has lived to see 
 them universally respected in the city. They 
 have gained fortunes, quite as large as any 
 he would probably have won for them, and 
 they gained them by virtue of their own abil- 
 ity and character. He will insist that he 
 made a wise choice, when he decided that to 
 develop a noble character was a wiser thing 
 than to give a fortune to a child whose char- 
 acter had been neglected. 
 
 All that I have said thus far may pass as 
 a twice-told tale, a homily trite and common- 
 place. But I have a story to tell which I wish 
 might be heard and heeded m every home in 
 
 [78] 
 
A KING'S DAUGHTER 
 
 America. My story is most impressive to 
 myself, because most of those whom I shall 
 name were my personal friends, and some of 
 them my parishioners. We have discust to- 
 gether the deep things of the kingdom, and 
 I know the spirit which has animated their 
 hearts, and I am bound to say that there have 
 been few families in all my experience, in 
 which the things of God were so vital, and 
 devotion to the noblest things in life so truly 
 without struggle or affectation. I question 
 if there has come from any home in Amer- 
 ica influences which have so shaped the wom- 
 anhood of the nation, as the influences which 
 came from this home, and in the field of busi- 
 ness activity, achievements have been made 
 which satisfy all human needs and which 
 leave a record which any might envy, and all 
 this flowed in large measure from the life of 
 one well-balanced, clear-headed, pure-hearted 
 Christian mother. 
 
 The home that I shall describe was a hum- 
 ble Scotch home, the home of the McDonalds. 
 On a cold, bleak night in February, 1852, in 
 Brooklyn, New York, a widow folded the 
 
 6 [79] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 hands of her dead husband and knelt to pray. 
 Seven children knelt with her, their ages run- 
 ning from three to fourteen years. When the 
 widow rose from her knees, her face seemed 
 transfigured. She had little money, but she 
 had love, and she had courage, and she had 
 faith ; and with seven children clinging to her 
 skirts, she turned to face the world. Dr. 
 Daniel Curry was her pastor. He comforted 
 her heart as best he might, with those conso- 
 lations which are eternal, and she took up her 
 lot without complaint. The funeral was held 
 on Saturday; and Sunday morning, before 
 breakfast, as was her wont, she gathered her 
 children about her, read a chapter out of the 
 Good Book, and led in prayer. When the 
 hour for service came that morning, instead 
 of spending it in agonizing grief at home, 
 she took her seven children and filed into her 
 accustomed pew. 
 
 Is it not a mistaken custom which keeps us 
 from the house of God when we most need 
 the help of worship I 
 
 Her faith failed not, for in the quaint 
 translation of Martin Luther, she "held 
 
 [80] 
 
A KING'S DAUGHTER 
 
 on to Him whom she saw not, as if she 
 saw Him." And, as her son says of her, 
 " she never let go." Her faith held her until 
 she looked into the face of her Lord in the 
 New Jerusalem. 
 
 I shall have much to say about this Chris- 
 tian mother, but I wish to say here, that the 
 man who had fallen on sleep was worthy of 
 her. While not a man of large means, he 
 was a man who was interested in many im- 
 portant matters, an Alderman of the city for 
 many years, and interested in all civic mat- 
 ters. At the time of his death he was 
 a candidate for the mayoralty of Brooklyn. 
 He married early in life, his wife being 
 eighteen and he only two years older. She de- 
 ferred to him in general matters, and he de- 
 ferred to her in matters of the religious life. 
 As the children came, these parents devoted 
 themselves and their household to God, and 
 " built an altar unto the Lord," where they 
 evermore worshiped, they and their children. 
 Mr. McDonald was hardly forty-five years 
 of age when he died. He had gone on a mis- 
 sion of mercy for a poor man who lay under 
 
 [81] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 sentence of life imprisonment. Evidence 
 which was secured later, sent Mr. McDon- 
 ald to Albany to intercede for the man. He 
 returned, bearing the Governor's pardon for 
 the man, but had himself taken a cold which 
 passed into pneumonia, and the day on which 
 the prisoner was liberated, opened the gates 
 of another world for him who had set the 
 prisoner free. Special prayers were offered 
 for him in many of the churches of the city, 
 but he saw his end approaching, and set his 
 house in order. In " The Old Arm Chair," 
 his daughter gives a touching description of 
 his last hours. " Mary," said he to his wife, 
 " get the children together and let me see 
 them alone. I have something to say to them 
 before I go." The summons was quickly an- 
 swered, and the family drew to the bedside 
 and took the family Bible, for which he 
 had asked. He opened to the first Psalm, 
 and with full, rich voice read with great 
 unction the whole of it, and then said: 
 " That is true, my children. I have proved 
 it in my own life." Eeturning again to it, 
 he commented on each paragraph, remarking 
 
 [82] 
 
A KING'S DAUGHTER 
 
 with great fervor, "How the Lord has 
 blest me! And it will be so with you, my 
 children, if you follow the instructions of this 
 Psalm." Then, as they each knelt by his side, 
 commencing with the eldest (Margaret Bot- 
 tome), he put his hands on their heads and 
 blest them, giving to each his special bene- 
 diction. Then dismissing them, he wished to 
 be alone with his Mary, and going over all 
 the past, he again reminded her of God's 
 great goodness to them and their mutual 
 benefits under His grace. The poor broken- 
 hearted wife, for the first time completely 
 overcome, threw her sobbing head upon his 
 bosom, exclaiming, " Oh, William, what shall 
 I do when you are gone ! " " Mary," he 
 said, " I give you God's promises, and He will 
 keep them. And remember He has said, ^ I 
 will be a father to the fatherless and a hus- 
 band to the widow.' " His priestly duties 
 were ended. For a few hours he seemed to be 
 standing at the gate of heaven, pausing on 
 its very threshold, to pour out exclamations 
 of ecstacy, in parting salutations to the 
 throng of dear friends who prest around him 
 for the last time, till the word came from 
 
 [83] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 within, and with a whisper of glory on his 
 sealing lips, he passed away. 
 
 From that hour she was a changed woman. 
 Not that a revolution had taken place, but 
 the hour had wrought sudden development 
 and decided manifestation of a strength of 
 character which few would have credited her 
 with, if they had not seen her as she came 
 from her Gethsemane to bear the heaviest 
 cross of human experience, the days of wid- 
 owhood. It was then that the decided pos- 
 itiveness of mind, which was really the un- 
 derlying element of her character, exhibited 
 itself, and rose to support her under the cir- 
 cumstances which bereavement had thrown 
 around her. 
 
 Among the sweetest memories of life to 
 those devoted children are the recollections 
 of the dear old home. Theirs was a happy 
 home. When they gathered about the piano, 
 singing the sacred songs of the Church, the 
 mother was the most pleased and satisfied ob- 
 ject of the group, and the special admiration 
 of her children. As the evening advanced, 
 the old family Bible was placed in the hands 
 of one of the number and family prayer in- 
 
 [84] 
 
A KING'S DAUGHTER 
 
 dicated the rule of tlie household, an early 
 retirement. And so her children grew 
 around her, held by her without knowing it, 
 and keeping close to her side because they 
 loved her better than anything else. They 
 had no disposition for amusements or fellow- 
 ships which were questionable. They had 
 better at home. She held a firm hand in her 
 government, but it was a soft hand. Strong 
 and dominant though she was, there was no 
 spirit of contradiction in her, and no one 
 ever heard her speak ill of another, or even 
 uncharitably. As her children passed to 
 homes of their own, this woman of sorrowful 
 heart lived not only in her own children, but 
 in their husbands, their wives, and their chil- 
 dren. And she reaped what she had sowed, 
 the universal love of her children and her 
 children's children, and of anyone who came 
 by any means within her circle of unselfish 
 relationships. 
 
 She had a playful humor in her early days, 
 and when her years multiplied, and she be- 
 gan to feel that it was almost time for her 
 to go home, she was so happy at the thought 
 that she made merry with those who came 
 
 [85] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 to see her, and crowded such an element of 
 gladness into her sick-room that it was more 
 like a bridal chamber than a place of death. 
 Shortly before she passed over, she said : " I 
 must give something to each one of the chil- 
 dren." One of them said, "I wish I could 
 choose mine." And when she asked what it 
 would be, the daughter replied, " Oh, Mother, 
 if you could leave me your patience ! " 
 " Ah," said she, " I cannot do that. You will 
 have to learn patience, as I did!" Wlien 
 Dr. Buckley, visiting her, said, alluding to 
 God's legacy to the righteous, "Your chil- 
 dren's children will be blest." "Ah," said 
 she, " it's further than that. It's not only to 
 the third and fourth generation, I have great- 
 grandchildren on the sea." 
 
 Her passing over was unspeakably sweet, 
 and it warms one's heart like a breath from 
 heaven. "Your head is clear. Grandma," 
 said a friend. " Yes," said she, " but that's 
 nothing. It's the heart you want clear; a 
 clean heart and clean hands." When some- 
 one remarked how very feeble she was, she 
 quickly responded: 
 
 [86] 
 
A KING'S DAUGHTER 
 
 "In age and feebleness extreme 
 Who shall a helpless worm redeem? 
 Jesus, my only hope Thou art, 
 Strength of my failing flesh and heart, 
 Oh, could I catch a smile from Thee, 
 And drop into eternity." 
 
 To another who remarked how rapidly she 
 was sinking, she said : ^' I am romiding the 
 cape, soon to drop anchor; and when I do, it 
 will be home ! " And so, surrounded by those 
 who loved her, whose lives she had helped to 
 make beautiful and useful in the world, she 
 closed her eyes to the scenes of earth and 
 passed, with a smile upon her face, over the 
 stormless sea, into the ageless land. The city 
 was moved at her going out. Many of the 
 leaders of the Church came to bring their 
 personal tribute to her splendid character. 
 There were scores besides her children who 
 could have taken the stand of the mourners 
 by the side of Dorcas, who showed in their 
 own characters, the beauty of the garments 
 which she had helped to weave. It is be- 
 cause she was the fountain-head of such 
 streams of blessedness for the Church and 
 
 [87] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 the community, that I have written at such 
 length concerning her life and work. 
 
 Now let me call your attention to the chil- 
 dren which came forth from such a home. 
 There were eighteen of them — only one less 
 than came from the home of Susanna Wesley. 
 The eldest was Margaret, Margaret Bot- 
 tome ! At the time of her father's death, she 
 had just married the Eev. Frank Bottome. 
 The influence of the home had culminated in 
 the conversion of Margaret at the altar of 
 Sand Street Church, when she was a girl of 
 twelve. She began an active Christian life 
 at once, and gave herself, as a girl, without 
 stint, to Christian work. At twenty-one 
 years of age she became the wife of an itin- 
 erant Methodist preacher. 
 
 Is there any woman since the days of Su- 
 sanna Wesley and Hester Ann Eogers and 
 Lady Huntington, who has done more to de- 
 velop the spiritual life and character of the 
 womanhood of the world? Or did even these 
 great names accomplish as much by personal 
 touch, by voice or pen, or personal power at 
 first hand, as did she? For nearly thirty 
 years the wife of an itinerant Methodist 
 
 [88] 
 
A KING'S DAUGHTER 
 
 preacher, giving herself to that work as a 
 helpmeet for her husband, inspiring him by 
 her splendid devotion, making the parsonage 
 a holy place and at the same time a happy 
 place, with infinite vivacity and humor, 
 smoothing out the rough places in life, and 
 showing religion to be not a thing for the 
 ascetic, but something for the happy heart 
 and busy life, a thing for boys and girls, for 
 young men and young women, the most nat- 
 ural thing in the world. Her own son con- 
 verted in youth is now an Episcopalian rec- 
 tor. After almost a generation spent in that 
 work, God led her out to still greater fields 
 of privilege and toil. She became the found- 
 er of The King's Daughters. AYhat a power 
 that organization has been; and she was the 
 heart and inspiration of it. She had the en- 
 tree of the best homes of our great cities, 
 and there she gathered about her not only 
 those who were known as interested in Chris- 
 tian work, but she gathered the petted daugh- 
 ters of fortune and talked to them until they 
 grew ashamed of a selfish life, until the no- 
 blest thing on earth seemed to them to be the 
 discipleship of Christ. In hundreds of cases 
 
 [89] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 where they were never known outside as 
 Christian workers, it marked a new era of 
 consecration, so that the women of wealth 
 took np work for the unfortnnate, and they 
 dedicated millions of dollars and hundreds, 
 probably thousands of lives to the blessing 
 of the world. God had touched her lips as 
 with a coal from off his altar and she had a 
 prophetic message. What a speaker she was, 
 and how contagious was her enthusiasm! 
 And then he touched her pen. In the column 
 of the " Ladies^ Home Journal " she gave her 
 " Heart to Heart Talks " to millions of read- 
 ers throughout the world. In many other 
 publications, as well as in the literature of 
 the King's Daughters, she gave her thrilling 
 message to the souls of men. Her work is 
 so well known, and is so vital in the lives of 
 the present generation that we need not dwell 
 especially upon it. Enough to say that she 
 gave a new significance to the words, " Saved 
 for service." She showed the world that it 
 was the disciple's business to be as his Lord. 
 She proved that the inspiration of every 
 noble endeavor was to be found in Christ 
 Himself, and so she sent out the motto : " In 
 
 [90] 
 
A KING'S DAUGHTER 
 
 His Name," as the talisman of victory. The 
 little cross with its " I. H. N." has gone into 
 hospitals and prisons, into hovels, and into 
 palaces, into Africa and India and China and 
 Europe, into every civilized and every mis- 
 sionary State on earth, carrying unconscious- 
 ly additional seed to sow for the harvest 
 which will yet come forth from a consecrated 
 mother's life. 
 
 But Mrs. Bottome, glorious as was her life, 
 was only one of that consecrated household. 
 There was another, the wife of Dr. Peame, 
 a Methodist minister of wide reputation in 
 Ohio, who by her devotion and interest in 
 Christian work, was a fit sister of Mrs. Bot- 
 tome. She too, gave her heart to God as a 
 little child. Her twin sister, Mrs. Moore, the 
 embodiment of the combined strength and 
 tenderness of father and mother, the head 
 of a beautiful Christian home, also came to 
 God as a little child. Her seven children all 
 united with the church at a very early age. 
 Two of them are preachers, all successful. 
 Mrs. Tate, for many years one of our most 
 faithful workers in the Methodism of Brook- 
 lyn, is another sister, who shows the charac- 
 
 [91] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 "And if our fellowship below 
 In Jesus be so sweet, 
 What heights of rapture shall we know 
 When round His throne we meet!" 
 
 So the children of this noble father and 
 mother all came into the fellowship of the 
 Church of Christ and into vital connection 
 with the things of the kingdom. But I am not 
 quite through with the story of this family. 
 What has been true of two generations still 
 follows on. The children of those children 
 have also given their hearts to God in their 
 youth, and are taking up the burdens in their 
 manhood and womanhood, which their par- 
 ents and grandparents bore so nobly. Nor 
 is this all. Their children have given them- 
 selves to God, nearly every one before they 
 were ten years of age, and are enrolled in the 
 fellowship of the Church of Christ. So here 
 is the story of four generations that signally 
 fulfil the promises of God. 
 
 The annals of criminology show us fam- 
 ilies that have filled our prisons from one 
 generation to another. For five generations 
 the Jukes family in England, out of 709 de- 
 
 [94] 
 
A KING'S DAUGHTER 
 
 scendants sent seventy-six to prison for one 
 crime or another. If vice is hereditary let 
 us thank God that virtue also perpetuates it- 
 self. And let every father and mother be 
 tremendously imprest by the fact that un- 
 born generations are to come into the world 
 blest or curst by their example and ten- 
 dency. Our scientific studies are making 
 more and more certain and overwhelming the 
 part which heredity plays in the program of 
 the individual and the world. While there 
 are doubtless those who would so far overes- 
 timate its power as to make any struggle 
 against it seem useless, we cannot go astray 
 if we insist on having every child so well 
 born that he may be at least capable of a 
 new birth. There will be few skeptics and 
 no atheists in such a home as I have de- 
 scribed. Faith in God and in all things good 
 will come easy then. Tho the children may 
 sometimes stray there will always be a tug 
 at the soul which cannot go unheeded, and I 
 have seen it draw so strongly across the 
 continent of the years that it brought the 
 boy back to the feet of his mother's God. 
 Over against the Jukeses I put the McDon- 
 7 [Q5] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 aids. Sin carries in its bosom the seed of its 
 own undoing, but righteousness hath God at 
 the heart of it. In .the end the McDonalds 
 will win, and the Christian home will pro- 
 duce a Christian nation and a Christian 
 world. 
 
 [96] 
 
IV 
 
 JIMMIE 
 
Conversion is the soul's return to God; wherefore let 
 every man journey by the road which lies open to him. Many 
 will come by the Slough of Despond and the Wicket Gate 
 and the Hill Difficulty; but that is not the only road to 
 the Celestial City. Many will come by ways worn by the 
 feet of multitudes and some by a lonely way, pilgrims of 
 whose progress no man has yet written. But any road is 
 the right road that reaches the goal at last. 
 
 Prof. George Jackson. 
 
 The stronger the form of temptation the stronger char- 
 acter you will be. The people in this world who are doing 
 the best work for humanity are people who have known the 
 power of temptations. 
 
 "The mark of rank in nature 
 Is capacity for pain, 
 And the anguish of the singer 
 
 Makes the sweetness of the strain." 
 
 Fight your fight, gain your victory, and wear your crown 
 of triumph. Be kingly! Walk the earth a conqueror! 
 Stand with those who have overcome. 
 
 Margaret Bottome. 
 
IV 
 
 " JIMMIE " 
 
 James Noble was well brought up, and he 
 was by nature a gentleman. He was in touch 
 with the best representatives of Methodism 
 in the days when the old cockerel stood high 
 on the spire of Hanover Street Church, and 
 such men as Samuel Upham stood in the pul- 
 pit, and such men as E. E. Dunn sat in the 
 pews of that historic church. He was one of 
 a company of men who gave a good account 
 of themselves in the days when Methodism 
 went forward with leaps and bounds. There 
 was a social life at Hanover Street which 
 challenged the attention of the clerks and 
 young professional men of the city, and E. 
 E. Dunn had a Bible Class of those splendid 
 young men. He trained them to be pillars 
 in the Church, to accept the responsibilities 
 which were laid upon them in the providence 
 of God, and to this day Methodism feels the 
 impulse which came from that Sunday-school 
 
 [99] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 class almost half a century ago. Among 
 those splendid young men there was no one 
 more genial and companionable, and whose 
 fellowship was more sought by his associates, 
 than James Noble. In joke and repartee, as 
 reader and elocutionist, he was among the 
 brightest and the best. He was full of sjrm- 
 pathy for the unfortunate, full of ambition 
 to do his best socially and in business life, 
 and altogether he was a young man who 
 promised well and had hosts of friends. But, 
 as is the case with many a strong character, 
 his very excellencies became his stumbling- 
 block; his good fellowship led him into com- 
 pany that was not always helpful to him. 
 Flattery pleased him, and there were not 
 wanting those who took advantage of this 
 fact to lead him to the excesses which were 
 at last his undoing. He went rapidly ahead 
 in his business, and had plenty of money. He 
 was a wholesale fish-dealer, and his name was 
 well known on the wharves where the fisher- 
 men of the Cape brought the returns from 
 their ventures on George's Banks ; and on the 
 wharves which were the Mecca of the mack- 
 erel fishermen. Men took advantage of his 
 
 [100] 
 
JIMMIE »' 
 
 genial nature and his full pocket. He had 
 friends by the hundred who were willing to 
 enjoy his good fellowship and his affluence no 
 matter at how great cost ultimately to him- 
 self. In after years Jimmie once said to me, 
 as he threw back his head and opened his 
 mouth, and a quizzical look came into his eye : 
 " Look down my throat, Doctor, and see what 
 you discover." I complied with his request, 
 but said, " I see nothing unusual or abnormal, 
 Jimmie." " Well," said he, '^ you didn't look 
 far enough. If you had looked a little farther 
 and a little more carefully, you could have 
 seen fourteen schooners and as many fishing- 
 smacks, two pairs of horses, and half of T — 
 "Wharf, and other things too numerous to 
 mention; for they all went down that way 
 and I never could get them again." What 
 Jimmie said was all too true. He drank him- 
 self sick, and he drank himself poor, and he 
 almost drank himself friendless. After he 
 lost one fortune, his friends rallied about him 
 and steadied him, his old associates of the 
 Sunday-school put their arms about him and 
 set him once more upon his feet. After a 
 while he rehabilitated himself. More than 
 
 [101] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 one fishing-vessel was named after him, and 
 once more he stood well in society. But in 
 an evil hour the same temptations and evil 
 friends assailed him, and he lost his fortune 
 a second time. For years he drifted around 
 the wharves, picking up a little something to 
 do now and then, and subsisting for the most 
 part on the friends of his better days. 
 
 In moments when his better self asserted 
 itseK he would turn to the old friends of the 
 Church and Sunday-school. First Church, 
 Boston, is a lineal descendant of Hanover 
 Street, and it was here, on the occasion of one 
 of his periodical returns to the old friends, 
 that I met him. The once dapper young man 
 had grown gross and heavy, but much of his 
 old-time suavity and good manners remained. 
 He had an ingratiating way, and I found my- 
 self very much interested in him. He liked 
 to sing, and the Friday-night prayer-meeting, 
 as well as the Sunday-night service, found 
 him on the back seat singing lustily when 
 he was sober enough to do it. I often 
 passed him as I went into the service and 
 spoke kindly to him. But for a year or more 
 he only smiled when I urged him to give him- 
 
 [102] 
 
" JIMMIE " 
 
 self to a better life. He had more than once, 
 through the kindness of friends, taken the 
 " gold cure." One Sunday night, during 
 special revival services, I saw him come into 
 the church, and instead of sitting on the back 
 seat, as usual, he came nearly half way up the 
 aisle. I saw from his movements that he had 
 more of a load on than he could well care for. 
 But I was imprest that he was not so much 
 under the influence of liquor but that he real- 
 ized the nature of the service and the force 
 of much that was being said. As I went on 
 with the sermon, I felt especially impelled 
 to speak of the wasting of a life such as his, 
 and the best I knew how, I laid emphasis on 
 the necessity and possibility of an immediate 
 change through the grace of God. He seemed 
 to listen attentively, and I hoped that some 
 impression had been made. It was our cus- 
 tom, after the singing of the last hymn, to 
 pass to the vestry for an after-service, the 
 congregation passing down at one end of the 
 church and I at the other end. As I was go- 
 ing down the stairs to the vestry, I said to 
 myself, " If Jimmie goes down and comes up 
 past the middle of the room, I shall feel that 
 
 [103] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 he is under conviction and sliall have hope 
 that this may be the night of decision for 
 him." When I reached the desk in the vestry 
 I began singing, and as the audience came in 
 I was surprized to see Jimmie making his 
 way to the front as best he could. At last 
 he threw himself heavily upon the front seat. 
 After some testimonies and a brief exhorta- 
 tion, I asked those who desired to begin a 
 new life to come forward to the altar. Jim- 
 mie was among the first to move. He fell 
 upon the altar railing, e\ddently deeply 
 moved. I did not know how much was the ef- 
 fect of his drinking, and how much the re- 
 sult of real spiritual interest. At the altar 
 were several others to whom I wished to 
 speak, and I asked a friend of Jimmie^s to 
 speak to him and hold him until after the 
 service was over, so that I could have a 
 chance for a full talk with him. When the 
 altar service was over, I dismissed the con- 
 gregation, and found Jimmie seated on the 
 front seat. I sat down beside him and threw 
 my arm over his shoulder. I looked him in 
 the face with much concern, and simply said : 
 " Jimmie ! " He turned toward me and said : 
 
 [104] 
 
" JIMMIE " 
 
 " Doctor, I meant it, every bit of it, and I 
 have made up my mind to be a different man. 
 But,'^ lie said, " before I begin a Christian 
 life, I have got to have just one more drink. 
 Now," he said, " I want to ask you a question. 
 Which do you think would be better ; for me 
 to go down here to the Kevere House where I 
 should find a lot of my old cronies? They 
 would ask me to drink and I would ask them 
 to drink, and it would end by my getting as 
 full as a tick and being carted off by my 
 friends to my room, or being carted off by 
 the police to the lock-up. Now, which do you 
 think would be better, for me to do that or 
 for you to slip out and get me a drink? '' 
 My surprize at the proposition can be better 
 understood than exprest. As a matter of 
 argument, I saw that Jimmie had made out 
 a strong case ; but an inspiration came to me, 
 and I said : " Jimmie, you don^t want any- 
 thing to drink, you want something to eat." 
 He started up as if he had a new idea and 
 said rather thickly : " I guess you are right 
 about that. Doctor ; to tell the truth, I haven't 
 had anything to eat to-day. I got up this 
 morning and took a ^ nipper ' before I was 
 
 [105] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 out of my room. Then I called a cab and 
 started to see the boys out at the ^ gold cure/ 
 I took a drink on the way out, and another 
 after I got there. When I was coming back 
 I took still another, and yet another after I 
 got into town, and I really have not had any- 
 thing to eat to-day." "Just what I sup- 
 posed," I said. " Now come with me and you 
 shall have a square meal." I called one of 
 his friends and we started out with Jimmie, 
 one on either side. When we reached the 
 sidewalk he said : " Wliere are you going to 
 take me for a square meal? " " Oh," I said, 
 " I know a nice clean place where they keep 
 open late. We'll go there." He said, "Do 
 they have anything to drink? " I said, " Noth- 
 ing but tea and coffee and milk." " Well," he 
 said, " you can't get me to go there ; I won't 
 go ! " He pulled away from us and started 
 in the opposite direction. It took some time 
 to coax him to go with us, but at last, by dint 
 of some argument and a little physical con- 
 straint, we got him along to the door of the 
 restaurant we were seeking. As we entered 
 the door he pulled away from us and went to 
 the cashier and asked if they had anything 
 
 [106] 
 
JIMMIE " 
 
 to drink. She assured him they had only 
 temperance drinks, and he started for the 
 door. But at last we got him to a table and 
 ordered for him steak and black coffee. He 
 covered the steak with pepper and salt and it 
 seemed to furnish an agreeable surprise to 
 his stomach. After he had finished his steak 
 and two or three cups of coffee he said he felt 
 fine, and seemed to be quite himself. After his 
 appetite had been satisfied, we went out, and 
 as we reached the sidewalk he said : " Now 
 this has been a good night for me, and I am 
 glad you came down here with me. I think 
 I will be all right now. Good night ! " But 
 I said, " No, Jimmie, if it is all the same to 
 you I will go up with you to your boarduig- 
 place and see you safely home." He mildly 
 objected that it was not necessary, but finally 
 yielded to my persuasion, and I accompanied 
 him to the house. When we reached the door 
 he said, " Good night " again, but I said : 
 " Jimmie, I have never been to your room, 
 and if you don't object, I would like to go up 
 with you." He said, " It is very late now, 
 and you have already given me too much 
 time. I have only a little side room. Don't 
 
 [107] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 bother to come up." But I still insisted that 
 I would like to go up with him, and he re- 
 luctantly consented. As we entered the room, 
 I saw he was rather clumsy about taking off 
 his coat, and I said: "If you don't mind, 
 Jimmie, I will help you a little and see you 
 safely in bed." So after a little he was nicely 
 tucked in and I bade him good night and went 
 downstairs. What follows is his own story. 
 
 He says that as soon as he heard my foot- 
 steps echoing up the deserted street, he 
 jumped out of bed and said to himself : " Now 
 for a good time. I will go down and meet 
 the boys and we'll have a lot of fun before 
 the break of day." Then he stopt and 
 thought : " I had no claim on this man. He 
 came home with me and would not leave me 
 until he had tucked me nicely in bed. I am 
 a mean man, but I am not mean enough to go 
 back on a fellow who has been as kind as that 
 to me." So he went back to bed and fell 
 asleep. "When he awoke in the morning, 
 strange to say, for the first time in years he 
 felt no longing for drink. He went to his 
 breakfast and to his work and did not take a 
 drop. He finished the day as sober as he 
 
 [108] 
 
" JIMMEE " 
 
 began it. What was true of the first day was 
 true of the second and the third, and the days 
 that followed. He came to the prayer-meeting 
 and the class-meeting, and exprest his as- 
 tonishment at the change which had taken 
 place within him. He said that he was a new 
 man ; that a new life had taken possession of 
 him. And he looked it. His very face 
 seemed transfigured by the light which shone 
 within. Many months thereafter he contin- 
 ued with unabating zeal to give his testimony 
 and to show forth in his life " the peaceable 
 fruits of righteousness." In the following 
 autumn he was taken seriously sick, and the 
 doctors prescribed some alcoholic stimulant. 
 This seemed to stir up the old demon that 
 was in him. As soon as he was able to get 
 out of the house he went off on a debauch 
 that lasted nearly a week. Then he came 
 back — back like a prodigal and penitent. He 
 told in the public service how he had fallen, 
 and blamed nobody but himself. He said he 
 felt that God had forgiven him and asked if 
 the Church could also forgive him. I had 
 changed meanwhile, to another pastorate, 
 
 [109] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 and he wrote to me, telling me all about it and 
 asking my forgiveness. 
 
 In the months that followed, he rarely 
 spoke that he did not tell his experience — 
 told how he had fallen and how Christ had 
 lifted him up. He seemed painfully con- 
 scious of his frailties, and in his prayers 
 ceaselessly acknowledged his weakness, and 
 importuned the saving power of God. One 
 Friday night in June he rose and gave his 
 testimony, as usual, and then said : " I am so 
 helpless of myself that I dare not boast. I 
 don't know what may befall me in the future, 
 but my hope is in God. Whatever may come 
 in future days, I want to bear testimony now, 
 that at five minutes to nine o'clock on the 
 fourteenth of June, Jimmie can read his title 
 clear to mansions in the sky." The next 
 day he went to Providence on his usual 
 round of business. At noon he went to a 
 restaurant where he was accustomed to 
 go, gave an order for his lunch to the 
 waiter, and sat thoughtfully in his chair. 
 The waiter heard a noise, and, looking back, 
 found that Jimmie had slipt from his chair 
 to the floor. They raised him up, but the 
 
 [110] 
 
" JIMMEE 
 
 vital spark had fled. They brought back all 
 that was mortal of him, and his old friends 
 gathered to pay their last tribute of respect. 
 To this day they talk of Jimmie in that old 
 historic church, and his memory is " as oint- 
 ment poured forth." Whatever were the 
 mistakes of the sinful years, it is an imspeak- 
 able comfort to those who loved him, to know 
 that on the last night of his life he could read 
 his " title clear to mansions in the skies." 
 
 [Ill] 
 
KID HALL OF JOLIET 
 
We must believe in the reeoverability of man at his 
 -worst. \Mien we declare " Jesus Christ came into the world 
 to save sinners," it must be with no kind of reserves. To 
 falter here will be to find our sword arm wither when we 
 are in the hottest of the fight. Unless we can be sure that 
 we have a gospel for everybodv, we can never be sure that 
 we have a gospel for anybody. 
 
 Prof. George Jackson. 
 
 Let me live in my house by the side of the road. 
 
 Where the race of men go by; 
 They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong. 
 
 Wise, foolish. So am I. 
 Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat. 
 
 Or hurl the cynic's ban? 
 Let me live in my house by the side of the road, 
 
 And be a friend to man. 
 
 Sam ^V alter Foss. 
 
 O, this mortal house 
 Which we are bom into, is haunted by 
 The ghosts of the dead passions of dead men 
 And these take flesh again with our own flesh 
 And bring us to confusion. 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
V 
 
 KID HALL OF JOLIET 
 
 The story which I am about to relate is one 
 
 which in many important particulars differs 
 from any which I have ever read or expe- 
 rienced. I shall relate it as nearly as possi- 
 ble, in the words in which it came to me. It 
 gains a chief part of its value from the fact 
 that it is a real chapter from the underworld, 
 and it is a citizen from that world, almost 
 an alien and foreigner in the ordinary walks 
 of decent life, who speaks. The language is 
 his own, the mental processes, facing a mar- 
 velous and hitherto incomprehensible expe- 
 rience, are a corroborative lesson in the 
 power of the spiritual upon the human soul, 
 which might put the best of us to school and 
 strike the simple solemn. I would give much 
 to know how it all came out, but I saw and 
 bare witness that, face to face with the gnaw- 
 ings of hunger and the anxieties of self-pres- 
 ervation, the gleam did not fade out of his 
 
 [115] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 life, and that lie went out of my presence 
 in the strength of the same purpose which 
 took St. Paul to the block, Huss to the flames, 
 and has sent men and women in all the Chris- 
 tian ages to face, unblanched, the worst that 
 could be brought against them, and to hail 
 the sword and the fagot and even wild beasts 
 as a bridegroom might hail his bride. I have 
 nothing now to say about the psychology 
 of conversion. I have been so busy all my 
 life among the marvels of the grace of God 
 and have felt such holy triumph in the trans- 
 formations which grace has wrought that I 
 have been but slow to enter the laboratory 
 to analyze and dissect the emotions which 
 have culminated in these wondrous trans- 
 formations. The lessons which it teaches, I 
 shall not take time to indicate. Each man 
 who is sufficiently interested to think at all 
 concerning them, will get lessons of his own. 
 I simply show the fact. Let each man take 
 it from his own angle. But any angle will 
 furnish evidence enough that it is a fact. 
 You shall judge for yourself as I tell my 
 story. 
 It was a day in the springtime. I was busy 
 
 [116] 
 
KID HALL OF JOLIET 
 
 at my desk, and the sexton, who stood guard 
 at the study door — may his tribe increase ! — 
 was anxious to keep me from needless and 
 useless interruption. He opened the door 
 and stood for a moment, questioning and 
 irresolute, but a moment later said, with 
 some diffidence : " There's a fellow here who 
 wants to see you. I tried to see if I couldn't 
 save you from interruption, but there's some- 
 thing about him that makes me think that you 
 had better see him if you can. I am almost 
 afraid of him, but I think he will not do you 
 personal harm." I answered, " Show him in, 
 George, at once." George returned after a 
 minute or two, bringing with him a short- 
 haired, red-headed, thick-set young man, as 
 fine an animal as I had seen in a long time. 
 There was a sinuosity in his movements com- 
 bined with a certain speed and deftness, 
 which arrested my attention at once. He was 
 large-framed, and there was not a spare 
 ounce of fat upon him. He was built for 
 business, and his whole movement of eye and 
 face and body reminded me of some beast 
 seeking to evade or foil an antagonist. " Is 
 this a Gospel shop, and be you a man who 
 
 [117] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 peddles out the goods? Somebody told me 
 about you, and told me as how you was a 
 good-natured guy as wouldn't blow on a fel- 
 ler, and would give him a chance. So I made 
 up my mind Pd size yer up and see if I could 
 trust yer. I guess you'll do." All this while 
 he was looking, part of the time at me, and 
 part of the time with a restive glance he 
 swept the room. He seemed to be calculating 
 as to its dimensions and the facility with 
 which its windows could be opened or closed. 
 And he seemed to be running me over and 
 sizing me up, physically as well as otherwise. 
 " You don't know me," says he, " But I am 
 Kid Hall. I'm just out of prison. Was you 
 ever in prison?" I assured him that I had 
 occasionally visited prisons, but didn't pre- 
 tend to any intimate relations. " I have got 
 to talk with somebody," said he, " and I am 
 going to tell you how I came to be in prison, 
 and how I came to be here. You never seen 
 my kind before, but there's lots of us. My 
 father and mother sent me out to steal when 
 I was three years old, and I was a buster at 
 it. I swiped things right along and nobody 
 ever thought of suspecting a little kid like 
 
 [118] 
 
KID HALL OF JOLEET 
 
 me. But by and by they got on to me. They 
 took me up for one thing and another, and 
 because I was so little they let me go. But 
 when I was eleven years old they sent me to 
 the reform school to stay there till I was 
 growed up. You don^t s'pose I did that, do 
 yer? Not much! I was good for a little 
 while and then, when they trusted me, I 
 skipt. 'X little while later they took me in 
 again, and this time they sent me to prison. 
 My father and mother both died in prison 
 under life sentence. I had a brother, and he 
 was the only one I ever cared about anyway, 
 but I shot him. We stood at a bar drinkin' 
 a social glass. Neither of us were ever in- 
 toxicated, and we weren't drinkin' nothin' 
 strong that time ; just a little beer. He said 
 somethin' I didn't like. I said, ^ Bill, have 
 you got a gun V ' 0^ course I've got a gun ! ' 
 ' Pull it, then ! ' We pulled together, but I 
 got the drop on him. I shot him and he fell, 
 and I put three bullets into him as he lay on 
 the floor. He got well and died years after 
 with consumption. After I got out of jail 
 one time, I went back to the house where we 
 used to live. I don't know why I did it, as 
 
 [119] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 there was nothin' pleasant that ever hap- 
 pened to me there. I guess my mother loved 
 me: I don't know about that. Had a queer 
 way o' showin' it. Somethin' seemed to kind 
 o' tug in me. I just don't know what it was. 
 Don't know as I ever felt it before, but I 
 looked up at the windows of the old house 
 and thought of all the damnable rackets that 
 had gone on there, and thought of all I had 
 suffered on account of them, and all other 
 folks had suffered on account of them, and 
 somehow I made up my mind that I would 
 try to live a decent life and be honest. I 
 could steal — steal cents from dead men's 
 eyes or a billy from between a policeman's 
 knees. It seemed pure waste not to use a tal- 
 ent like that, but I really made up my mind to 
 play fair. So I went across the street to the 
 priest's house. My father was a friend of 
 the priest. Part of the time he sold liquor, 
 and he almost always had a thousand dollars 
 about his clothes. Once when they raised a 
 big purse for the priest, my father gave three 
 hundred dollars toward it. I thought the 
 priest would know me and be interested in 
 me. So I rang the bell. The priest came to 
 
 [120] 
 
KID HALL OF JOLIET 
 
 the door and I said, ^ Can't you get me a 
 chance to work?' *Work?' said he, ^you 
 don't want to work, you want to steal. That's 
 all you ever did and that's all you want to do.' 
 He started to shut the door. I put up my 
 hand to keep it from closing. As he shut it my 
 finger was caught in the jamb and crusht. 
 Then I felt an awful feeling right here inside 
 o' me. I s'pose it was the devil. It seemed 
 to come up in my throat as big as a baseball 
 and stuck there, and something seemed to 
 say, ^Kill! Steal! Nobody cares for you; 
 make everybody hate you and fear you ! ' 
 And I started in to do it. I have often walked 
 my room nights grinding my teeth, a pistol 
 in each hand, wishing somebody would come 
 to the door that I could kill them, or get 
 killed, I didn't care which. 
 
 " I am a crook. My name and my picture 
 are in all the Rogues Galleries. Once a re- 
 porter wrote me up. He covered the side of 
 a newspaper with his story. In one corner 
 he had my picture, and in the opposite cor- 
 ner a picture of a bulldog. That did me 
 more harm among the police than any- 
 thing that ever happened to me. He tried 
 
 [121] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 to make out that I was not a man; only 
 a beast. He compared my jaw and eye and 
 everything with the dog's, and made me out 
 more brutal than the dog. Maybe he was 
 right. I guess I am more of a brute than a 
 decent dog. Six weeks ago I was pardoned 
 out of Joliet prison. I was sent in for four- 
 teen years and was pardoned at the end of 
 five and a half years. When I left jail and 
 went to Chicago, the police told me that I bet- 
 ter move on, so I went to H , a small city. 
 
 Going through the depot I met the Chief of 
 Police. He recognized me and said, ' Hello, 
 Kid ! ' I said, ' Haven't you made a mis- 
 take ? ' I had been in his care more than 
 once, and he said, ' Well, I guess not ! Who 
 are you going to crack here ? ' ^ Not you. 
 Cap,' I said, *you always used me fair.' 
 * Well, Kid,' he said, ' about next Monday 
 you'd better move on.' *Is that an order?' 
 I asked. ' Yes, you may consider it that 
 way.' I went out of the depot and met a man 
 well dressed and good looking, who stopped 
 me and said : * Well, you Kid, where did you 
 come from? ' I was mad to see a well-dressed 
 guy like him make fun, and I said, ' What do 
 
 [122] 
 
KID HALL OF JOLIET 
 
 you know about me? Better be careful how 
 you talk to folks as you don't know ! ' ^ Well, 
 I ought to know you. Don't you remember 
 Jack who was two years with you in Joliet ? ' 
 
 * You ain't Jack ; Jack was no guy like you ! ' 
 But I seen pretty soon as it was Jack sure 
 enough, so I says, * Well, what are you at 
 now? ' ' I'm in a bank.' ' How much is there 
 in it? ' ' There's sixteen a week in it for me.' 
 
 * Oh, come off ! when are you goin' to crack 
 it ? ' ' Never. I am trusted and respected. 
 I carry thousands of dollars for them safely 
 every day. I have given up all the life I used 
 to live. I've got a wife.' ' Oh, maybe you've 
 got some other man's wife, but you ain't got 
 any that belongs to you, that was married to 
 you, have you? ' ^ Yes, and I've got a little 
 boy two years old. Come with me and see 
 them and have dinner.' I didn't believe him, 
 but I went. His wife met him at the door 
 with the little boy, and they all seemed 
 happy. I couldn't understand it. I thought 
 there must be something crooked somewhere, 
 but I couldn't find it. So, while I ate my din- 
 ner I was looking and guessing. When we 
 got through I said, ^ Now, Jack, is this all 
 
 [123] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 straight, or are you just kiddin' me? ' ^ Yes, 
 Kid, it is all straight and right. I am just 
 what you see. This happy home is mine 
 and all our love is pure and true.' ^ Tell me, 
 then, how did you come to thisV * Well, 
 when I came out of prison the last time I 
 made up my mind I would do differently. 
 One night I went to church and heard about 
 a chance for such men as I had been. The 
 minister said that a man whose heart and 
 hands had been stained with sin might yet 
 be cleansed and his evil heart become tender 
 and pure. That seemed too good to be true, 
 and I thought there must be some mistake 
 about it. But I went the next night and the 
 night after, and he seemed so sure about it 
 and sang the old hymn 
 
 The dying thief rejoiced to see 
 
 That fountain in his day, 
 And there may I, though vile as he, 
 
 Wash all my sins away. 
 
 You know what a thief I had been and I 
 thought I knew something about that other 
 thief and that seemed as if it were written 
 for me. So I went again and again, and at 
 
 [124] 
 
 I 
 
KID HALL OF JOLIET 
 
 last the blessedness of it all came upon me 
 like a great light, and I felt that I had lost 
 all my old desires, and I had a new set of 
 longings, and I hardly dared to go to sleep 
 at night for fear they would slip away from 
 me before morning. 
 
 " * But my life was really changed ; and 
 that is just what you need, Kid. If you 
 had what I got at the church you would 
 be another man.' * Well, I would like to 
 be another man, sure enough. I hate to 
 think of the past, and there is nothing to 
 hope for ahead; but a poor fellow like me 
 nobody wants. The decent people all turn 
 from me and I have to go back to the old way. 
 Do you really think there is any chance that 
 I could get what you have got ? ' ' Oh, yes, 
 I'm sure you could.' ' When do you s'pose 
 I could get it ? ' * Well, I think you could get 
 it now if you really want it. If you are really 
 willing to pray and to give up the old life. 
 Will you pray now with me ? ' That made 
 me laugh to hear the man talk about my 
 praying. What would God care about my 
 prayers? But I finally said if he thought it 
 was any use, I would. So we got down on 
 
 [125] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 our knees and prayed. He prayed first, and 
 then I said a few words myself. I don't re- 
 member just what they was; couldn't say 
 now; just asked for help for a man as was a 
 beast. I don't know what happened to me, 
 but when I got up that baseball had gone out 
 of my throat, and for the first time since 
 the minister crusht my finger, I felt kind to 
 folks. But I said : ' Jack, it ain't no use. 
 Two days after I got out of prison I robbed 
 a store. I got $750 there, and the next night 
 I robbed another and got $1,400. Now what 
 would you do ? ' ^ Don't ask me what I'd do. 
 I might be weak, but you and I know what 
 you ought to do. You ought to send it back.' 
 'But I haven't got it all: I spent $500.' 
 'Well, send back what you have.' I had a 
 few diamonds and I pawned them and some 
 other things, and I got together enough to 
 pay the full amount except $61. And Jack 
 took that out of the little he had saved, drew 
 it out of the bank and gave it to me. Then 
 Jack wrote to the men I had robbed, told 
 them the whole story, sent a check and asked 
 if they would let up on me. They both said 
 they would never bother me and hoped I 
 
 [126] 
 
KID HALL OF JOLIET 
 
 would do well. Then Jack said, ^ I'll get you 
 a place to work.' But I said, * It's no use. 
 The Chief told me to move on next Monday.' 
 But Jack said, * I have a friend who is rich, 
 a millionaire maybe, and the officers do what 
 he says. I'll ask him to get the Chief to let 
 you stay.' I knew it was no use, but Jack 
 wanted to try, so I let him. His friend told 
 the Chief that he must let me stay, but the 
 Chief said ^ I would be glad to do anything 
 you want, but I can't do this. I know the 
 Kid. He's only coddin' you. He'll be decent 
 a few days and then some night there'll be a 
 big bank robbery and the Kid will do it, and 
 folks will say the Chief knew he was in town 
 and let him stay, and I shall lose my office 
 and everybody will say it served him right, 
 he is too old to be a tenderfoot. No, Kid 
 can't stay.' I knew it would be so ; my name 
 is on the books in a dozen States, as an habit- 
 ual thief. When I strike a town the police 
 know me, and it is ' Move on ! Move on ! ' I 
 tried three times to get to Canada, once at 
 Buffalo, but the police were on to me and I 
 could not get over. Then I tried it in a little 
 town on Lake Ontario, but when I got on the 
 
 9 [127] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 boat they sent me back to land, and I could 
 not get across there. Now here I am. I can- 
 not go toward Chicago, or toward Philadel- 
 phia, and here I am in New York, where they 
 have given me till noon to-day, and my time 
 is up this minute while I am talking to you. 
 I can go back to my old life and make money. 
 I can make more money in a night than you 
 can make in a year. Only yesterday I saw a 
 man in Jersey City. He was full as a tick and 
 I saw him count out several hundred dollars 
 and put the roll in his outside pocket. I could 
 have got it in a minute, and he would never 
 have known. My old longing seized me, and 
 I followed him three blocks. I thought one 
 spell I would simply have to rob him, but I 
 finally went up to him and put my hand on 
 his shoulder. * My friend,' I said, ^ I saw you 
 put some money in your coat. Somebody will 
 steal it if you don't look out.' That seemed 
 to bring him to his senses, and he clapped his 
 hand on his pocket and said, ^ Maybe some- 
 body did steal it.' But he found it was still 
 there and he put it in the inside of his vest. 
 Now look at me. See how nervous I am. I 
 shake as if I was seventy-five years old. I 
 
 [128] 
 
KID HALL OF JOLIET 
 
 don't know what is the matter with me. I am 
 not afraid of anything when I am at my 
 work. I can get out of any place, and if I 
 don't I don't care. Once in Virginia I had 
 a rope aronnd my neck. A hundred men 
 were around me, but I wasn't afraid. I kept 
 my wits, and soon my chance came. While 
 my captors were planning what they would 
 do with me, I cut the rope and beat the 
 crowd." 
 
 " Tell me," I said, " did drink have any- 
 thing to do with your keeping on in crime ? " 
 "Drink? Wliat would a man in my work 
 do with drink? He wants all his wits in his 
 fingers and his heels. He has to walk a chalk 
 mark, or stand on his head on top of a fence. 
 Drink? I haven't had a glass of liquor down 
 my throat in years. Once in a great while 
 a glass of beer, but never but one, and that 
 seldom. I don't drink, smoke, or lie, and see 
 how nervous I am. Now if I was back it 
 would be different Twenty-five years a 
 crook, and a few weeks an honest man, and 
 more trouble in those few weeks than in all 
 the other years." 
 
 He began to grip me, and my heart went 
 
 [129] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 out to liim, and I said, " Have you had any- 
 thing to eat to-day f "I have not had a 
 mouthful to eat for forty-eight hours. I met 
 an old pal on the street yesterday and he 
 said, * How is trade? ' and I said, ' No trade/ 
 He said, ' Got any swagf ' I said ^ No.' He 
 pulled out a fifty-dollar bill and offered it to 
 me. I said, ^ I am done with this business. 
 I just sent back two thousand dollars that I 
 stole, and I won't take fifty dollars that you 
 stole.' I left him, but I heard him say, 
 ' What's done Kid Hall? ' " 
 
 I said to him, " It's too bad for you to have 
 to face such a condition. I know people here 
 and I think I can get a chance for you." And 
 he said, "You? You're only a little one 
 'longside o' the big fellers ! What could you 
 do? The big fellers know me. I could send 
 some o' them to jail for life. Some o' them 
 would help me, but they can't. I am marked. 
 I've got to move on. There's no other way. 
 It's always the same old story, move on! 
 move on ! move on ! Sol shall move on. To 
 what, God knows. Boston is the only direc- 
 tion I can go in to-day and I must leave now." 
 
 While we were talking, the deaconess 
 
 [130] 
 
KID HALL OF JOLIET 
 
 stept on a register overhead, and he noticed 
 that it had been open. He sprang into the 
 middle of the floor, clenched his hands and 
 said, ^' Am I traptl Are you going to run 
 me in!" I assured him that he was per- 
 fectly safe and that only friends were about 
 him. In a few minutes the deaconess ap- 
 peared at the study door and asked about 
 some sick people who were to be visited. He 
 seemed to be reassured and satisfied. " You 
 are a guy," said he, " but you are a good one ; 
 I can see that. I believe I could trust you. 
 I haven't asked you for anything, have I! " 
 And I was obliged to say " No, you haven't 
 asked for anything, and you have refused 
 every offer of help that I have made." He 
 said : " I don't want any help. Do you 
 know why I came here to see you? Well, 
 I'll tell you. When I left Jack he gave 
 me forty dollars. I had borrowed sixty, 
 so I owe him a hundred. He said to me, 
 ^ Kid, if it comes hard with you and you 
 have to move on and can't find work, I 
 want you to promise me that when you are 
 at the end of your wits, instead of giving up 
 and going back to the old life and taking out 
 
 [131] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 of your heart the peace that you feel, that 
 you will go to some minister and just talk it 
 over with him and tell him how you feel. 
 Even if he can't help you, it will give you 
 strength. He will be glad to see you, and 
 then you will feel more like being a man at 
 any cost.' I promised him Pd do it, and the 
 only reason I came to you was that I'd got 
 to the end of my rope. I've kept my promise 
 to Jack, and now I'll move on. You can't 
 help me, and I don't want anything. I will 
 keep straight as well as I can." He pulled 
 a plain gold ring out of his pocket and said : 
 " That belonged to one of my prison pals. 
 He was a crook like myself. There are less 
 than fifty of us in the country. Plenty of 
 thieves, of course, but we don't associate with 
 thieves. It takes some brains to crack a bank 
 and get away with the loot, and there aren't 
 more than fifty of us that are up to the job. 
 This pal o' mine was a good one ; nerve like a 
 steel bar. One day he shot his guard and 
 vamoosed the ranch. They got after him 
 quick. The whole yard full of men chased 
 him hard. He shot at sixteen men, wounding 
 some and killing some. It was up against 
 
 [132] 
 
KID HALL OF JOLIET 
 
 him hard. They got a hundred men around 
 him in a swamp, and he knew there was death 
 at both ends as well as in front of him. So 
 at last, rather than go back at the end of a 
 halter, or be riddled by the guns of those he 
 hated, he sent a bullet through his own heart. 
 His folks gave me this ring. Whenever I 
 look at it I think of Jack." And then a far- 
 away look came into his face and he said, 
 more to himself than to me : " If worse comes 
 to worst I can follow Jack, and I will do it 
 rather than go back to the old life." 
 
 All the time he had been talking to me he 
 had walked up and down the study, his face a 
 picture of conflicting emotions. As he told 
 some story of the old life of sin, his face 
 would blaze with the old passion and his 
 hands would work convulsively, as if they 
 were still clutching the jimmy. But that 
 emotion would pass when he recalled the new 
 stand he had taken, and his exultation was 
 changed, not so much to remorse, as to a look 
 of wonder at the transformation of his own 
 soul. At one moment he would throw back 
 his head and look down at me as if he pitied 
 a man who had never killed anybody and car- 
 
 [133] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 ried no lead in his tissues as a reminder of 
 some wild scrape. But in another moment 
 that look faded out and he seemed to be won- 
 dering how a man could go through life un- 
 scarred and uncondemned. The old pride of 
 his profession gleamed in his eye as he told 
 me of his hair-breadth escapes and how he 
 had outwitted the keenest detectives and 
 evaded the hottest pursuits. But all that was 
 only the involuntary rush of the past. It 
 was plain that I was looking into the face of 
 'a man who was a new creature by the grace 
 of God, not made into my model or yours ; as 
 strange to the surroundings of a pastor's 
 study as a pastor might be in Leadville when 
 '' Left-handed Jack " mounted the table in 
 the barroom and the rest hid behind the bar 
 and under the table, or went out to shoot up 
 the town. 
 
 Kid Hall had told me his story and I be- 
 lieved every word of it. No man could have 
 looked into his face and doubted him. But 
 the evidence which men cannot simulate, the 
 message of one yearning soul to another, 
 smote me full in the face and struck my ques- 
 tioning dumb. When a man who is at his 
 
 [134] 
 
KID HALL OF JOLIET 
 
 wits' end comes to you for help, there is only 
 one kind of help that is worth while; and 
 that is not man's but God's. So I said to him : 
 *^ I wish I could help you." I reached out 
 my hand to shake hands with him and in 
 my palm was a bill. As soon as he felt the 
 touch of it he drew back, and I said: "It 
 would be a comfort to me to feel that I had 
 helped you on." But he said : " I didn't come 
 to you for money, and I won't take it. I am 
 keeping a pledge which I honestly made. I 
 have been a thief but I am not a liar, and I 
 won't take money from a guy like you. I 
 know you mean it well, but I'll go out as emp- 
 ty-handed as I came." It was then that I re- 
 minded him of a help higher than mine, and 
 I said : " Let us pray." He went to his knees 
 and buried his face in his hands, and I felt 
 that the heavens were bending low. I prayed 
 for him, and, I presume, gave God some in- 
 formation about him which was altogether 
 unnecessary. The great burden of my prayer 
 in his behalf was that his hope and courage 
 might not fail and that his faith might not be 
 overwhelmed. Then I asked him if he would 
 pray. I have wished many times that I had 
 
 [135] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 written down that prayer. I cannot quote it, 
 for most of it was in a vocabulary that 
 neither you nor I have ever mastered. Part 
 of it was like the language of a thief talking 
 to a judge ere he sent him to merited pun- 
 ishment ; and part of it was like the language 
 of a thief who was talking with a brother 
 who had been tempted in all points like him- 
 self, but had not sinned; and part of it was 
 like the cry of a home-bound prodigal who had 
 caught sight of a yearning father and real- 
 ized, though late, that the father had loved 
 him even when he was a prodigal. The trans- 
 formation of his own face was beautiful to 
 see. Before he finished he had lifted his face, 
 which was buried in his arms as he began, 
 and he was looking up toward the heavens 
 with his eyes open as if he saw the throne of 
 God and the scarred Brother of suffering 
 men sitting on the throne. When he rose to 
 his feet there was a new light in his eyes and 
 a spring in his step that betokened a hope 
 that could not be quenched. He said : " I'm 
 late. The Chief told me I must be out of the 
 town before now, and perhaps I'll get in 
 trouble by staying." 
 
 [136] 
 
KID HALL OF JOLIET 
 
 As I thought of what he had said to me, 
 my indignation was in a blaze. Because a 
 man has done wrong is he never to have an- 
 other chance? And when a man comes out 
 of prison does he have the mark of Cain on 
 him? Is he to be forsaken of all men? For- 
 ever crying as he hastens toward a hopeless 
 grave, lashed by those who are more success- 
 ful but less soulful than himself : '' My pun- 
 ishment is greater than I can bear " ? When 
 the law and society have exacted punishment 
 to their hearts' content on a transgressor, is 
 not that enough? When a man is sent to 
 prison for ten years or twenty years, cannot 
 society be content with that awful price and 
 waste? Must they make every prisoner a 
 leper? and must he cry "Unclean! Un- 
 clean? " Is there no door of honest toil open 
 to him? Will the good and the pure give him 
 no chance for uplifting fellowship ? Will the 
 church say : " I am sorry. Be ye warmed and 
 be ye fed," but not touch him with so much 
 as the tip of its lean and spotless finger? 
 Would it not really be better to make every 
 sentence a life sentence, so that every trans- 
 gressor may be at least sure that he will not 
 
 [137] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 starve, and he will not have to face the scath- 
 ing contumely of the sleek-faced and full- 
 waisted souls, " the unco' guid " I These are 
 some of the thoughts that were with me then 
 and are with me still. 
 
 I went with him to the door. I begged him 
 once more to let me help him. He shook his 
 head sadly, but with determination. As I 
 opened the door he peered out for a moment 
 and the habit of a lifetime took possession 
 of him. He cast a furtive glance up and 
 down the street and stept back. He waited 
 a minute or two and then stept forward 
 for another look, and almost instantly re- 
 treated. Then he pulled his cap lower over 
 his eyes, and seemed to settle his head a little 
 lower on his shoulders. He looked at me with 
 a mute appeal, but did not answer my " Good- 
 by ! " As he stept to the sidewalk he glanced 
 up and down the street, and walked away. I 
 watched him until he turned the corner and 
 disappeared. I had asked him to write to me 
 and tell me how he got on, but I have never 
 heard from him since. I would give much 
 to know how it fared with him. I have 
 thought of him these years as the '^ Wander- 
 
 [138] 
 
KID HALL OF JOLIET 
 
 ing Jew," forever told to " Move on ! " I 
 have never had any question as to the genu- 
 ineness of his conversion, and I have never 
 doubted that he is faithful now, or was faith- 
 ful to the end. I have wondered how he stood 
 the strain 
 
 "Left to the fate of the darkening years 
 And the little mercy of men." 
 
 When I have read in the papers of some un- 
 known body cast up by the sea, or when I 
 have read of some body unclaimed at the 
 morgue, I have wondered if it was he. And 
 if he has really gone on and the body which 
 was scarred has gone to the same place where 
 the body of Lazarus went, I am sure his soul 
 has gone to the place where the dying Lord 
 promised to keep tryst with a man whose lips 
 were parched like his own on the fateful 
 cross, and I should like to have heard the con- 
 versation between that thief and mine when 
 they met in Paradise ! 
 
 [139] 
 
VI 
 
 A SKEPTIC'S CONVERSION 
 
 THE EXPERIENCE OF 
 BISHOP EGBERT McINTYRE 
 
The ordinary agnostic has got his facts all wrong. He 
 is a non-believer for a multitude of reasons; but they are 
 untrue reasons. He doubts because the Middle Ages were 
 barbaric, but they weren't; because Darwinism is demon- 
 strated, but it isn't; because miracles do not happen, but 
 they do; because modern science is moving away from the 
 supernatural, but it isn't; it is moving toward the super- 
 natural with the rapidity of a railroad train. 
 
 Chesterton. 
 
 Jesus is not the door into a little life; He leads us into 
 the largest, fullest life. To live for ourselves is to die. To 
 make life an end in itself is to end life; to love your life is 
 to lose it. But lose your life and you save it; lay it down 
 all at once, if God should so will, or a little at a time 
 every day, for Jesus' sake and the Gospels, and you will 
 find it lifted up in power to draw men to Jesus. 
 
 Bahcock. 
 
BISHOP ROBERT McINTYRE, D.D. 
 
VI 
 A SKEPTIC'S CONVERSION 
 
 THE EXPERIENCE OF BISHOP ROBERT McINTYRB 
 
 As I was walking up Seventh Avenue on a 
 recent Sunday, with Bishop Mclntyre, who 
 was to preach that morning in my pulpit, our 
 conversation turned to the great work of 
 saving men. We were speaking of the va- 
 rieties of Christian experience. I told the 
 Bishop that I had in mind the preparation of 
 a book which would contain the life-story of 
 men who had come by different paths, to find 
 the same peace, through faith in our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. I said : " I have read some- 
 where of your experience, and I wish I had 
 it in form, so that I could present it with 
 others." The Bishop said : " I should be 
 pleased to give it to you, and I shall be glad 
 to have you spread it as widely as possible, 
 to the end that men who are naturally skep- 
 tical, as I was, may be led to make the ven- 
 
 10 [143] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 ture, as I did. I am sure they will find the 
 satisfaction and conviction which I found. 
 Soon after my election to the Episcopacy, I 
 was asked to give an after-dinner speech at 
 a large gathering in St. Louis. I had gone 
 to the meeting with the usual round of pleas- 
 antries in my mind and a purpose to make 
 a conventional speech of that sort. But my 
 mind was ill at ease, and I thought of the 
 opportunity and of my duty. All at once it 
 occurred to me that the best thing I could do 
 would be to turn entirely away from such a 
 line of thought and give my own Christian 
 experience. When my turn came, that was 
 the thing I did. It was a great comfort to my 
 own heart, and I have reason to believe that 
 it was a blessing to others, and I shall be glad 
 to send my message out as widely as pos- 
 sible." 
 
 He then told me where I could find a re- 
 port of his address, and what I give now is 
 his experience as he has spoken and written 
 it. As a preface to his message, " From the 
 Trowel to the Pulpit," the Bishop says: 
 ^' Here is my religious experience, as shaped 
 by the spirit. My heart, hot with love, lying 
 
 [144] 
 
A SKEPTIC'S CONVERSION 
 
 on the anvil of the law under the hammer of 
 the Word was fashioned amid the swinging 
 rhythm of Methodist hymns into the likeness 
 of our Lord. In talking to wage-earners, I 
 feel like the cross-eyed teacher when a bad 
 boy vexed his soul till it spilled in the stern 
 command, " Let the lad I am looking at come 
 forward at once " ; whereupon thirteen boys 
 rose and came slowly to the front. If those 
 who knew me as a mechanic would rise and 
 come out on the Lord's side, how glad I would 
 be. I helped build Chicago after the fire, 
 worked on the Palmer House and Madison 
 Block and others; also in Philadelphia and 
 St. Louis I am known among the dinner-pail 
 brigade. My story herein is not a new one, 
 but it is an authentic one. Love's tale was 
 told under the palms, in the purple dusk of 
 Eden, yet every twilight it is retold, as new 
 now as then. The miners of '49 hid the 
 golden grains cradled from the gravel of El- 
 dorado in queer places; fit receptacles were 
 few. Even a wrinkled boot-leg often held a 
 store of yellow dust. He who reads will find 
 this story full of the precious " truth as it is 
 in Jesus." 
 
 [145] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 '^ I was reared in a Presbyterian family. 
 My parents were very careful about my re- 
 ligious education, and sought to bring me up 
 in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 
 It became such a strong habit with me to say 
 my prayers before going to bed, that even 
 after I became an infidel I could not shake 
 off the practise. I accepted without question 
 the faith of my father and mother, but had 
 no personal experience to confirm it. When 
 death took them both from me and I was left 
 head of a household of little children, while 
 only a boy in years, my hereditary religion 
 was too weak to bear the strain. This was 
 the first great calamity of my life, and had a 
 marked effect both upon myself and upon my 
 brother, who was four years my junior. It 
 made us both very thoughtful, but the result 
 of our meditations was decidedly different. 
 My brother's heart was softened, and his 
 thoughts turned toward religion, but I be- 
 came rebellious and was soon plunged in 
 skepticism. I grew rapidly in self-conceit 
 and soon imagined myself a youth of unusual 
 discernment. I fortified myself with the ar- 
 guments of Tom Paine, and succeeded pretty 
 
 [146] 
 
A SKEPTIC'S CONVERSION 
 
 well in persuading myself that religion was a 
 humbug. I lapsed into blank atheism for a 
 time, and declared that a God who would rob 
 a poor, helpless family of its natural sup- 
 port was no God at all. In bitterness I re- 
 nounced all my mother's teachings and de- 
 nounced as hypocrites or deluded fools all 
 who worshipped my father's Savior. For 
 years I scoffed at the Bible, scorned the 
 Church, and tried to hinder others in the way 
 of life. I was utterly miserable in my soul, 
 even while uttering my Pharisaic boasts that 
 I was morally clean and far superior to the 
 weak Christians whose limitations and de- 
 fects I decried. Shame flushes my face as I 
 recall my mean censure of struggling church 
 members, and a sinking sense of my igno- 
 rance and cruel misjudgment of humble folk 
 far better than myself comes over me as I 
 think of it. Oh, the spiritual tragedies all 
 around us ! Oh, the pitiful struggles unseen 
 by us in the hearts of those we meet ! Good 
 people prayed for me all this time, but I re- 
 buffed all efforts to lead me aright, and glo- 
 ried in my godlessness, but His loving-kind- 
 nees endureth forever. Slowly I was forced 
 
 [147] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 out of my atheism by the proofs of design in 
 Nature, and became a Deist. I fell under 
 the spell of Thomas Paine. I carried his 
 book ' The Age of Reason ' in my pocket, and 
 was ready for a debate with anyone. Work- 
 ing as a bricklayer, I infected my fellow- 
 toilers with infidelity and in our boarding- 
 houses was the leader in spreading the 
 poison of doubt and denial. When the light 
 broke on my darkened reason my first strong 
 cry in prayer was that I might undo this evil, 
 and bring as many into the Kingdom as I had 
 turned away from the gates, and to this day, 
 I beseech the Lord to nullify my unholy in- 
 fluence and cancel all the harm I did to my 
 young companions in those black days when 
 Satan led me captive at his will. 
 
 "Depths of mercy, can there be 
 Mercy still reserved for me?'' 
 
 Soon after father's death, my brother was 
 converted in a Methodist revival, and I was 
 enraged over it almost to frenzy. Busybod- 
 ies came to me with exaggerated accounts of 
 the meetings my brother had been attending, 
 
 [148] 
 
A SKEPTIC'S CONVERSION 
 
 and made me believe that everything accom- 
 plished there was the result of an over- 
 wrought excitement. I didn't believe in any- 
 thing of the kind, and was indignant that my 
 brother's fears had been worked upon until 
 the poor boy had been induced to regard him- 
 self as a great sinner. I reasoned that his 
 mind was disturbed and probably somewhat 
 out of balance from having brooded so much 
 over father's death, and I thought that relig- 
 ious fanatics had taken advantage of his con- 
 dition to produce the sad effect which I wit- 
 nessed in him. His old-time cheerfulness and 
 buoyancy of spirit was all gone, and he had 
 suddenly become extremely sober and 
 thoughtful. I watched him closely, and daily 
 grew more and more alarmed at his condi- 
 tion. I felt sure the boy was going crazy, and 
 felt it my duty, as the natural head of the 
 family, to do all I could to save him. I there- 
 fore had a brotherly talk with him on the sub- 
 ject, freely confest my fears, and told him 
 that he must not attend any more of the meet- 
 ings. He replied in a very meek spirit, that 
 he was ready to obey me in all things except 
 in matters of conscience which concerned the 
 
 [149] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 safety of the soul, but in these he did not 
 think I had any right to interfere. He 
 therefore continued to go to the meetings, in 
 spite of my protest. At this stage of the 
 Christian experience, he fell into the habit 
 of putting a too-literal construction upon 
 scriptural matters, such as, for instance, re- 
 tiring to an actual closet and closing the door 
 whenever he wanted to pray. 
 
 At that time we were both apprentices, 
 learning our trades, he in a printing-office, 
 and I upon the scafTold of a bricklayer. He 
 would come home in the evening from his 
 work, wash and dress himself, and then after 
 supper set out for the church. One evening 
 I got permission from my boss to quit at five 
 o'clock. That night I kept my brother at 
 home from the meeting by sheer force. The 
 next night I again quit at five o'clock, but 
 that evening he did not come home ! He re- 
 mained at the printing-office, without his 
 supper, and went to church in his every-day 
 clothes. I can't tell you how devilish and un- 
 comfortable I felt in my mind all that even- 
 ing. I began to be almost angry with my 
 poor brother. The hours dragged along 
 
 [150] 
 
A SKEPTIC'S CONVERSION 
 
 slowly, and after what seemed a very long 
 while my brother came home from the meet- 
 ing. I then took him into our room, and pro- 
 ceeded to talk to him in a very stern and dig- 
 nified manner. I said, " You have defied my 
 authority and refused to obey me, and now 
 you must suffer for it. I cannot permit you 
 to indulge in such gross insubordination 
 without punishment, and I must therefore en- 
 force my control over you by giving you a 
 thrashing." And I did. I gave him a hard 
 drubbing, but he did not even raise his hand 
 in remonstrance. It was a hard thing for 
 me to do, and I am satisfied that every lick 
 I struck him hurt me a great deal more than 
 it did him. It was only through the strong 
 sense of duty that seemed to rest upon me 
 that I was able to do it. After the whipping, 
 we went silently to bed, but I could not sleep. 
 My thoughts troubled me a great deal, and 
 my conscience upbraided me for what I had 
 done. I couldn't understand why my brother 
 had behaved so patiently. I knew that I 
 would have acted quite differently had I been 
 in his place. After a while my brother, 
 thinking I was asleep, crept softly from the 
 
 [151] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 bed, and went to a large closet which he had 
 been using for his devotions, and, closing the 
 door he lifted up his voice in soft but dis- 
 tinctly audible supplication for me. I could 
 hear every word of his prayer, and it was so 
 full of touching earnestness and uncomplain- 
 ing submission to the will of God that it 
 melted my heart, and I resolved never to put 
 another straw in the way of his being a 
 Christian. He talked to the Lord as tho He 
 was right there in the closet with him, and 
 prayed that He would have mercy upon me. 
 He said that I did not mean to do anything 
 wrong in trying to prevent him from going 
 to church, but that I had done what I had 
 because I thought it was right and best. 
 He prayed that God would open my eyes 
 so that I might see what I really had 
 been doing, repent and be forgiven. A 
 long time he communed with his Heavenly 
 Father in that closet, and then quietly re- 
 turning to bed he soon sank into peaceful 
 sleep. It was a long time before I could join 
 him in the land of dreams. I have never yet 
 told my brother that I overheard his prayer 
 for me, and the effect it had upon my after 
 
 [152] 
 
A SKEPTIC'S CONVERSION 
 
 conduct toward him. He, too, is now preach- 
 ing the blest Gospel of the Son of God. 
 
 But altho my brother's prayer that night 
 touched my heart, I was not converted for 
 several years afterward. I continued to 
 glory in unbelief, and found delight in get- 
 ting the best of weak-kneed Christians in 
 argument. At the places where I boarded I 
 always had a good deal to say against Chris- 
 tians, and must have caused a good many 
 heart-pangs to such Christians as were 
 obliged to listen to me. "When Chicago was 
 laid in ashes I was among those who went 
 there to help rebuild the destroyed city. I 
 often went to church, but it was only to hear 
 men of intellect and known ability. I was 
 never at any time a dissipated or openly im- 
 moral man. In fact, I prided myself upon 
 this fact, and used to boast of it in a most 
 vainglorious manner. ^^ Look at me," I would 
 say ; " I make no pretensions to being good, 
 and yet I am head and shoulders higher than 
 a good many of your so-called Christians. I 
 never drink. I never swear. I never lie. I 
 never cheat. I behave myself and pay my 
 debts. That's what I do. Why don't all you 
 
 [153] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 Christians do that ? " And then I would strut 
 around like a peacock, with my head so high 
 I couldn't see that my feet were very black. 
 One day I went into a tent where a mission 
 worker was holding forth, and responding 
 to a challenge which he threw out, I openly 
 contradicted him, and brought upon him such 
 confusion from the arguments I advanced, 
 that he had to close his meeting. 
 
 Time passed on and I at length found my- 
 self in St. Louis. I promised a friend, with 
 whom I had had a good many controversies 
 on religion, that I would attend the first re- 
 vival I heard of every night, for at least a 
 week, including Sunday. One cold Febru- 
 ary night in 1877, as I passed First Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church, South, on Wash- 
 ington Avenue, near Eighth Street, I heard 
 singing and went in. There was a revival 
 service going on and only about fifty people 
 present. The pastor of the church was Dr. 
 Finney, but Dr. Bushong, of Central Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church of the same city, hap- 
 pened to be there, and Dr. Finney asked him 
 to preach. He consented to do so, and as I 
 sat listening to this stranger, a curious sen- 
 
 [154] 
 
A SKEPTIC'S CONVERSION 
 
 sation crept over me. I had heard many 
 sermons, but this one was addrest to me. 
 The Holy Spirit had given the speaker a map 
 of my wanderings, and he swiftly opened my 
 stubborn mind. For the first time I saw sin 
 as it is, and the sight shook me like an aspen. 
 When he presented Christ to us, tears wet 
 my face and divine love gloried within me. 
 A man who knew me, and sat near said, " Go 
 to the altar," but the mood of rebellion was 
 dominant, and I whispered, " No." After re- 
 peated calls I was still rebellious, and as the 
 congregation went out my friend said, " Come 
 up and meet the preacher." I did so. He 
 noticed my agitation and asked if he could 
 help me. I said, " I would like to talk with 
 you." He said, " Come to my study at three 
 P.M. to-morrow." 
 
 I was there and we two discust the prob- 
 lems of salvation for a long time. As the 
 short winter day closed and darkness crept 
 into the room, he rose and said, " How do you 
 feel now?" I said, " Doctor, I feel worse than 
 when I came here." He had allowed me to 
 use my familiar arguments and I had talked 
 myself back into my bewildered and muti- 
 
 [155] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 nous frame of mind. I said sadly, " There is 
 no hope for me." He said, " Have I failed, 
 then? " I said, " You have." Serenely he re- 
 plied, " Very well, I have a Friend who never 
 fails in a case like this." I thought he in- 
 tended to send me to another man and said, 
 " AVhere is he 1 " He said, " He is here ; kneel 
 down with me." I did so, and in one moment 
 realized I had lost my battle and was in an- 
 other sphere of teaching. I could not speak, 
 or make reply, quote scriptural difficulties, 
 or recite shortcomings of others. I could 
 only listen, and oh how he pleaded for the 
 sinner, and entreated God to help me, and 
 when I began to pray, too, the Friend came 
 into the twilight place where we bowed and 
 both were deeply affected. When we rose he 
 said, " Are you saved? " I said, " No, sir, but 
 I must go farther in this matter. Will you 
 be at the church to-night? " He said, " I will 
 be there if you attend." He was there, and 
 as I recall the scene, he preached that even- 
 ing. Dr. Cunningham of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church, South, was present and thinks 
 he preached the sermon. This may be, as, my 
 
 [156] 
 
A SKEPTIC'S CONVERSION 
 
 mind being highly wrought up, I may have 
 forgotten. It is possible both men spoke that 
 night as it was the custom then for one to 
 preach and another to exhort after him. At 
 any rate, Dr. Cunningham was there and well 
 remembers all the facts. God bless them both 
 for their aid to me ! When the call for peni- 
 tents was made I was deeply convicted, yet 
 in stiffnecked defiance, I refused to go ; I had 
 often ridiculed the " altar " and would not 
 surrender. I was violently exercised, a psy- 
 chological storm raged within, my deepest 
 nature seemed rent and torn. I held fast to 
 the seat and said, " If I get out to the street 
 I will keep away from this place." Thus I 
 struggled pale and trembling, until the 
 preacher raised his hands for the benediction. 
 Then I heard a voice saying, " Young man, 
 if you leave this place unsaved, you are for- 
 ever lost." Then the flood of pent-up feeling 
 burst the dike, and I ran to the chancel and 
 fell prone. I recall nothing for some mo- 
 ments, but soon heard above my sobs the 
 sweet old hymn, 
 
 'Come to Jesus just now." 
 [157] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 A mountain of guilt prest me to the floor. 
 I could scarcely live; my spirit seemed to 
 rive my very flesh; with laboring breath I 
 prayed the Deist^s invocation, " God, help 
 me ! " A saintly, white-haired woman heard 
 my plea, and divined my difficulty, which was 
 to accept Christ as Lord and Savior. She 
 said to me, "You don't pray right, young 
 man. God can never hear you while you 
 pray that way. Pray this way and God will 
 hear you : Lord, help me for Jesus' sake ! '' 
 I did it, and on the word the mountain fled 
 away and a sea of heavenly love swept over 
 me. I, even I, was pardoned, reborn, 
 adopted. I saw the Father's face over me, I 
 knew the Father's arms under me, I felt the 
 Father's heart against mine. All the world 
 seemed new and all the dear ones round me 
 rejoiced as with streaming eyes I tried to tell 
 in my first stammering rapture what a glori- 
 ous Eedeemer I had found. I slept but little 
 for joy that night, and the next morning I 
 preached my first sermon in my boarding- 
 house, while we waited in the sitting-room 
 for the breakfast-bell. I said to the men who 
 knew me as foremost in opposition to the 
 
 [158] 
 
A SKEPTIC'S CONVERSION 
 
 Gospel, '' Friends, you know my past, how 
 outspoken I was against religion. Now I am 
 a Christian, converted last night, and re- 
 solved to serve Jesus with a glad spirit and 
 obedient will. I hope I have your good 
 wishes, and that you will go with me on the 
 heavenly way." Some wished me well and 
 shook my hand fervently, some scoffed at me, 
 even as I prayed for them. Then I tasted the 
 bitterness I had given others, and thus began 
 the pilgrimage of one who goes " sorrowful, 
 yet always rejoicing." 
 
 In a few days after my conversion it began 
 to look to me as tho I would have to give up 
 all my cherished plans for life. A short time 
 before the way had opened for me to begin 
 
 the study of law. Judge , who had heard 
 
 me speak a time or so, had become interested 
 in me, and made me an offer to come into his 
 office and read law, and this thought just then 
 was the day-star of my life. Already fancy 
 was busy in constructing some very commo- 
 dious and highly ornamental aerial castles 
 for future occupancy. But one night, when 
 I was talking in the church, the old lady who 
 had taught me how to pray, came to me as I 
 
 11 [159] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 sat down, and taking me by tlie hand said im- 
 pressively, as she looked me straight in the 
 eyes : " The Lord wants you in the ministry. 
 He calls you for a preacher." 
 
 This came to me almost like a clap of thun- 
 der, altho faint thoughts of that kind had 
 already come to me, tho I had hardly 
 dared to entertain them. The remark of the 
 old lady made me think on the subject more 
 deeply than I wanted to. It seemed a great 
 cross to give up my cherished plans to go 
 into the ministry ; I tried to persuade myself 
 that I had no gifts for the calling, and would 
 be sure to make a failure in it, but I couldn't 
 drive the subject from my mind. It would 
 keep coming up, in spite of all I could do to 
 keep it out. In going home from church one 
 night, I found myself saying that the ques- 
 tion must be settled. Just then I was in front 
 of the Polytechnic Institute building, on 
 Seventh and Chestnut streets. It was a 
 building with large stone columns along the 
 front, somewhat close together. Between 
 the columns and in front of them the street- 
 lights shone brilliantly, but behind them it 
 was very dark. Going up and concealing my- 
 
 [160] 
 
A SKEPTIC'S CONVERSION 
 
 self in the darkness, I kneeled down on the 
 cold stone, and proceeded to consecrate my- 
 self to God in a fuller sense than I had yet 
 done. The last barrier of resistance was 
 overcome, and I said, " Lord, I am yours for 
 whatever you will. If you want me to preach 
 I'll do it the best I can, if you'll only open the 
 way.'' A sweet peace came into my soul, and 
 I had the assurance that God was going to 
 put me in the Christian ministry. I don't 
 think I was ever happier in my life. Instead 
 of finding it a cross to give up my cherished 
 plan of becoming a lawyer, it suddenly be- 
 came a joy for me to do so. Very soon after- 
 ward the way opened for me to go to school 
 and prepare myself for the pulpit, and in due 
 course of time I found myself in the ministry. 
 I never expected to stand before large audi- 
 ences. All I wanted was to be where God 
 would have me to be, and I felt that the poor- 
 est circuit was more than good enough for 
 me. It has pleased God to cast my lines in 
 pleasant places, and to continually make His 
 face shine upon me, and for all His great 
 mercies I hope I shall never cease to be 
 grateful. My chief desire now is to stand by 
 
 [161] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 the well of the water of life, as in boyhood 
 I stood by the wayside spring where the 
 ferny runnel broidered the dusty road, and 
 cool catalpas showed their blossoms in the 
 pool, offering a cup of the refreshing water 
 to those who came that way. 
 
 I give this simple recital of the old, old 
 story, hoping to hear some one say, "He 
 seems sincere, I will try that religion my- 
 self "; then looking to Jesus cry, "Lord, I 
 believe ; help thou mine unbelief." 
 
 [162] 
 
VII 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER AND 
 JOHN COLBY'S CONVERSION 
 
The supreme danger of the Christian religion comes not 
 from outside but from within. No attack of a merely imag- 
 inative materialism could so undermine and totter this 
 heavenly edifice as the inclination of those inside to sponge 
 away from its internal walls the ancient testimony of a 
 divine origin. Christianity is either the first essential of 
 life or it is a poor philosophy. It is either a Revelation or 
 a Theory. It is either the Spirit of God or the dream of 
 men. It is either superhuman or a mere guess. 
 
 " Souls in Action " — Bighie. 
 
 In a general way, then, and, on the whole, our abandon- 
 ment of theological criteria and our testing of religion by 
 practical common sense and the empirical method leave it 
 in possession of its towering place in history. Economically, 
 the saintly group of qualities is indispensable to the world's 
 welfare. Professor Ja/mes. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
VII 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTEE AND 
 JOHN COLBY'S CONVERSION 
 
 The friendship between Daniel Webster 
 and Peter Harvey was most interesting and 
 intimate. Harvey's devotion to Webster was 
 touching in the extreme. He was a Boswell 
 to Webster's Johnson, but he was something 
 more. While he did not lay claim to great 
 intellectual abilities which might in any wise 
 match those of Mr. Webster, he was his faith- 
 ful friend to the very last, and Webster 
 leaned upon him and gave him every mark of 
 personal affection. In Harvey's " Eeminis- 
 cences of Daniel Webster," there is a chapter 
 on Webster's religious thoughts and feelings, 
 which to me is most interesting and touching. 
 We may be sure that we have here the real 
 Webster. With all the restraint thrown off 
 in the intimacy of the most fraternal rela- 
 tions, he talks out of his heart. 
 
 By the kindness of Little, Brown & Com- 
 
 [165] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 pany, the publishers of that interesting book, 
 I am permitted to use a part of the chapter 
 to which I have referred. It serves a double 
 purpose. It gives an account of the conver- 
 sation of a man who had been a swearing, 
 reckless, godless farmer, known as, in some 
 respects, the wickedest man in town; and it 
 also gives the testimony of Daniel Webster 
 concerning the reality of that change. Dan- 
 iel Webster was accustomed to examining 
 witnesses. He knew an argument when he 
 saw it or heard it, and both the experience 
 and the testimony are to me most impressive. 
 The account, as Mr. Harvey gives it, is as 
 follows : 
 
 The year before Mr. Webster died, in the 
 autumn of 1851, I was spending a few weeks 
 with him at his place in Franklin. One pleas- 
 ant morning he said to me : 
 
 " I am going to take a drive up to Andover, 
 and I want you to go with me." 
 
 Andover was about ten miles from his 
 place in Franklin. He added : 
 
 " We can start after breakfast and it will 
 take us about an hour and a half or two hours 
 to go. We shall only want to stay there an 
 
 [166] 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER AND JOHN COLBY'S CONVERSION 
 
 hour or so, and we will return in time for din- 
 ner. When we get into the wagon I will tell 
 you whom I am going to see." 
 
 The horse was harnessed, and we started 
 off. As we rode along, Mr. Webster had a 
 great many reminiscences called to mind by 
 different objects that we passed. Such a 
 man used to live here, he would say, and such 
 a man lived in such a house, and there I re- 
 member such a man lived ; and here he him- 
 self lived when a boy, and there he used to 
 pitch quoits, and in another place he used to 
 play with John Holden's boys. 
 
 After Mr. Webster had recounted various 
 pleasing reminiscences of this kind, he said: 
 
 " Now I will tell you the object of this trip 
 to-day. I am going to see a man by the name 
 of Colby. John Colby is a brother-in-law of 
 mine. He married my oldest half-sister, and 
 was, of course, a good many years older than 
 myself, — as she was. I have not seen him 
 for forty-five years, as near as I can recollect. 
 My sister, his wife, has been dead many, 
 many years ; and any interest I may have had 
 in John Colby has all died out; but I have 
 
 [167] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 learned some particulars about his recent life 
 that interest me very much, and I am going 
 to see him. I will tell you something about 
 him. When I was a lad at home, on the farm, 
 John Colby was a smart, driving, trading, 
 swearing yeoman, money-loving and money- 
 getting. In that rather rude period, when 
 there were not many distinctions in society, 
 when one man was about as good as another, 
 and when there were very few educated per- 
 sons, he was considered a very smart, active 
 man. I remember him, however, with a sort 
 of terror and shudder. He would pick me 
 up when I was a little fellow, throw me 
 astride of a horse bareback, and send the 
 horse to the brook. The horse would gallop, 
 and I had to hold on to his mane to keep from 
 being pitched into the river. Colby was a 
 reckless, wild, harum-scarum daredevil sort 
 of a fellow. Well, John Colby married 
 my oldest half-sister. She was a relig- 
 ious, good woman; but beaux were not 
 plenty, and John Colby was a fine-looking 
 man. His personal habits were good enough, 
 laying aside his recklessness; he was not 
 a drinking man, and he was, as the world 
 
 [168] 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER AND JOHN COLBY»S CONVERSION 
 
 goes, a thrifty man. Any of the girls in town 
 would have married John Colby. After he 
 married my sister, I went away to college, 
 and lost sight of him. Finally, he went up to 
 Andover and bought a farm; and the only 
 recollection I have about him after that is, 
 that he was called, I think, the wickedest man 
 in the neighborhood, so far as swearing and 
 impiety went. I used to wonder how my sis- 
 ter could marry so profane a man as John 
 Colby. I think she herself was very much 
 shocked ; and I know her father was, who was 
 a religious man. And still Colby was consid- 
 ered ^ a good catch.' I came home from col- 
 lege during vacation, and used to hear of him 
 occasionally ; but after a few years — perhaps 
 five or six years — my sister died, and then, 
 of course, all the interest that any of us had 
 in John Colby pretty much ceased. I believe 
 she left a child — I think a daughter — who 
 grew up and was married, and also left a 
 child. 
 
 " Now I will give you the reason why I am 
 going up to-day to see this John Colby. I 
 have been told by persons who know, that, 
 within a few years, he has become a convert 
 
 [169] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 to the Christian religion, and has met with 
 that mysterious change which we call a 
 change of heart; in other words, he has be- 
 come a constant, praying Christian. This 
 has given me a very strong desire to have a 
 personal interview with him, and to hear 
 with my own ears his account of this change. 
 For, humanly speaking, I should have said 
 that his was about as hopeless a case for 
 conversion as I could well conceive. He 
 won't know me, and I shall not know him; 
 and I don't intend to make myself known at 
 first." 
 
 We drove on, and reached the village — a 
 little, quiet place, one street running through 
 it, a few houses scattered along here and 
 there, with a country store, a tavern, and a 
 post-office. As we drove into this quiet, 
 peaceable little hamlet at midday, with hard- 
 ly a sign of life noticeable, Mr. Webster ac- 
 costed a lad in the street, and asked where 
 John Colby lived. 
 
 " That is John Colby's house," said he, 
 pointing to a very comfortable two-story 
 house, with a green lawn running down to 
 the road. We drove along toward it, and 
 
 [170] 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER AND JOHN COLBY'S CONVERSION 
 
 a little before we reached it, making our 
 horse secure, we left the wagon and pro- 
 ceeded to the house on foot. Instead of steps 
 leading to it, there were little flagstones laid 
 in front of the door ; and you could pass right 
 into the house without having to step up. 
 The door was open. There was no occasion 
 to knock, because, as we approached the door, 
 the inmates of the room could see us. Sitting 
 in the middle of that room was a striking fig- 
 ure, who proved to be John Colby. He sat 
 facing the door, in a very comfortably fur- 
 nished farmhouse room, with a little table, 
 or what would perhaps be called a light- 
 stand, before him. Upon it was a large, old- 
 fashioned Scott's Family Bible, in very large 
 print, and of course a heavy volume. It lay 
 open, and he had evidently been reading it 
 attentively. As we entered, he took off his 
 spectacles and laid them upon the page of 
 the Book, and looked up at us as we ap- 
 proached, Mr. Webster in front. He was a 
 man, I should think, over six feet in height, 
 and he retained in a wonderful degree his 
 erect and manly form, altho he was eighty- 
 five or six years old. His frame was that 
 
 [171] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 of a once powerful, athletic man. His head 
 was covered with very thick, bushy hair, and 
 it was white as wool, which added very 
 much to the picturesqueness of his appear- 
 ance. As I looked in at the door, I thought 
 I never saw a more striking figure. He 
 straightened himself up, but said nothing un- 
 til just as we appeared at the door, when he 
 greeted us with — " Walk in, gentlemen." 
 
 He then spoke to his grandchild to give us 
 some chairs. The meeting was, I saw, a lit- 
 tle awkward, and he looked very sharply at 
 us, as much as to say, " You are here, but for 
 what I don't know: make known your busi- 
 ness." Mr. Webster's first salutation was : 
 
 " This is Mr. Colby, Mr. John Colby, is it 
 not?" 
 
 " That is my name, sir," was the reply. 
 
 " I suppose you don't know me," said Mr. 
 Webster. 
 
 "No, sir, I don't know you; and I should 
 like to know how you know me." 
 
 " I have seen you before, Mr. Colby," re- 
 plied Mr. Webster. 
 
 " Seen me before ! " said he ; " pray, when 
 and where?" 
 
 [172] 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER AND JOHN COLBY'S CONVERSION 
 
 " Have you no recollection of me? " asked 
 Mr. Webster. 
 
 " No, sir, not the slightest " ; and lie looked 
 by Mr. Webster toward me, as if trying to 
 remember if lie had seen me. Mr. Webster 
 remarked : 
 
 " I think you have never seen this gentle- 
 man before ; but you have seen me." 
 
 Colby put the question again, when and 
 where ? 
 
 "You married my oldest sister," replied 
 Mr. Webster, calling her by name. (I think 
 it was Susannah.) 
 
 '^ I married your oldest sister ! " exclaimed 
 Colby; " who are you? " 
 
 " I am ' little Dan,' " was the reply. 
 
 It certainly would be impossible to describe 
 the expression of wonder, astonishment, and 
 half -incredulity that came over Colby's face. 
 
 " You Daniel Webster ! " said he ; and he 
 started to rise from his chair. As he did so, 
 he stammered out some words of surprize. 
 " Is it possible that this is the little black lad 
 that used to ride the horse to water? Well,. 
 I cannot realize it ! " 
 
 [173] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 Mr. Webster approached him. They em- 
 braced each other ; and both wept. 
 
 " Is it possible," said Mr. Colby, when the 
 embarrassment of the first shock of recogni- 
 tion was past, " that you have come up here 
 to see me ? Is this Daniel ? Why, why," said 
 he, "I cannot believe my senses. Now, sit 
 down. I am glad, oh, I am so glad to see yon, 
 Daniel ! I never expected to see you again. I 
 don't know what to say. I am so glad," he 
 went on, " that my life has been spared that 
 I might see you. Why, Daniel, I read about 
 you, and hear about you in all ways ; some- 
 times some members of the family come and 
 tell us about you; and the newspapers tell 
 us a great deal about you, too. Your name 
 seems to be constantly in the newspapers. 
 They say that you are a great man, that you 
 are a famous man ; and you can't tell how de- 
 lighted I am when I hear such things. But, 
 Daniel, the time is short — ^you won't stay 
 here long — I want to ask you one important 
 question. You may be a great man : are you 
 Si good man? Are you a Christian man? Do 
 you love the Lord Jesus Christ? That is the 
 only question that is worth asking or answer- 
 
 [174] 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER AND JOHN COLBY'S CONVERSION 
 
 ing. Are you a Christian? You know, Dan- 
 iel, what I have been. I have been one of the 
 wickedest of men. Your poor sister, who is 
 now in heaven, knows that. But the spirit 
 of Christ and of Almighty God has come 
 down and plucked me as a brand from the 
 everlasting burning. I am here now, a mon- 
 ument to His grace. Oh, Daniel, I would not 
 give what is contained within the covers of 
 this Book for all the honors that have been 
 conferred upon men from the creation of the 
 world until now. For what good would it 
 do 1 It is all nothing, and less than nothing, 
 if you are not a Christian, if you are not re- 
 pentant. If you do not love the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, in sincerity and truth, all your world- 
 ly honors will sink to utter nothingness. Are 
 you a Christian? Do you love Christ? You 
 have not answered me." 
 
 All this was said in the most earnest and 
 even vehement manner. 
 
 " John Colby," replied Mr. Webster, " you 
 have asked me a very important question, 
 and one which should not be answered light- 
 ly. I intend to give you an answer, and one 
 that is truthful, or I won't give you any. I 
 
 12 [175] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 hope tliat I am a Christian. I profess to be 
 a Christian. But, while I say that, I wish 
 to add — and I say it with shame and confu- 
 sion of face — that I am not such a Christian 
 as I wish I were. I have lived in the world, 
 surrounded by its honors and temptations; 
 and I am afraid, John Colby, that I am not 
 BO good a Christian as I ought to be. I am 
 afraid I have not your faith and your hopes ; 
 but still, I hope and trust that I am a Chris- 
 tian, and that the same grace which has con- 
 verted you, and made you an heir of salva- 
 tion, will do the same for me. I trust it ; and 
 I also trust, John Colby — and it won^t be 
 long before our summons will come — that we 
 shall meet in a better world, and meet those 
 who have gone before us, whom we knew, and 
 who trusted in that same divine, free grace. 
 It won't be long. You cannot tell, John Col- 
 by, how much delight it gave me to hear of 
 your conversion. The hearing of that is 
 what has led me here to-day. I came here 
 to see with my own eyes, and hear with my 
 own ears the story from a man that I know 
 and remember well. What a wicked man you 
 used to be ! " 
 
 [176] 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER AND JOHN COLBY'S CONVERSION 
 
 "Oh, Daniel!" exclaimed John Colby, 
 " you don't remember how wicked I was ; how 
 ungrateful I was ; how unthankful I was ! I 
 never thought of God ; I never cared for God ; 
 I was worse than the heathen. Living in a 
 Christian land, with the light shining all 
 around me, and the blessings of Sabbath 
 teachings everywhere about me, I was worse 
 than a heathen until I was arrested by the 
 grace of Christ, and made to see my sinful- 
 ness, and to hear the voice of my Savior. 
 Now I am only waiting to go home to Him, 
 and to meet your sainted sister, my poor 
 wife. And I wish, Daniel, that you might be 
 a prayerful Christian, and I trust you are. 
 Daniel," he added, with deep earnestness of 
 voice, " will you pray with me? " 
 
 We knelt down and Mr. Webster offered a 
 most touching and eloquent prayer. As soon 
 as he had pronounced the " Amen," Mr. Col- 
 by followed in a most pathetic, stirring ap- 
 peal to God. He prayed for the family, for 
 me, and for everybody. Then we rose ; and 
 he seemed to feel a serene happiness in hav- 
 ing thus joined his spirit with that of Mr. 
 Webster in prayer. 
 
 [177] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 "Now," said he, "what can we give you? 
 I don't think we have anything that we can 
 give you." 
 
 "Yes, you have," replied Mr. Webster; 
 "you have something that is just what we 
 want to eat." 
 
 " What is that? " asked Colby. 
 
 " It is some bread and milk," said Mr. 
 Webster. " I want a bowl of bread and milk 
 for myself and my friend." 
 
 Very soon the table was set, and a white 
 cloth spread over it; some nice bread was 
 set upon it and some milk brought, and we 
 sat down to the table and ate. Mr. Webster 
 exclaimed afterward: 
 
 " Didn't it taste good? Didn't it taste like 
 old times?" 
 
 The brothers-in-law soon took an affection- 
 ate leave of each other, and we left. Mr. 
 Webster could hardly restrain his tears. 
 When we got into the wagon he began to 
 moralize. 
 
 " I should like," said he, " to know what 
 the enemies of religion would say to John 
 Colby's conversion. There was a man as un- 
 likely, humanly speaking, to become a Chris- 
 [178] 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER AND JOHN COLBY'S CONVERSION 
 
 tian as any man I ever saw. He was reckless, 
 heedless, impious; never attended church, 
 never experienced the good influence of asso- 
 ciating with religious people. And here he 
 has been living on in that reckless way until 
 he has got to be an old man ; until a period 
 of life when you naturally would not expect 
 his habits to change; and yet he has been 
 brought into the condition in which we have 
 seen him to-day — a penitent, trusting, hum- 
 ble believer. Whatever people may say, 
 nothing," added Mr. Webster, " can convince 
 me that anything short of the grace of Al- 
 mighty God could make such a change as I, 
 with my own eyes, have witnessed in the life 
 of John Colby." 
 
 When we got back to Franklin, in the even- 
 ing, we met John Taylor at the door. Mr. 
 Webster called out to him : 
 
 "Well, John Taylor, miracles happen in 
 these later days as well as in the days of 
 old." 
 
 " What now, squire ? " asked John Taylor. 
 
 " Why, John Colby has become a Christian. 
 If that is not a miracle, what is ? " 
 
 [179] 
 
VIII 
 THE CHALLENGE 
 
Look after a sinner's gospel, one that brings you God 
 Himself. Understand the tragic perils of your sins and 
 think nothing strong enough for you but a tragic salvation. 
 Eequire a transforming religion, not a pleasing. Refuse to 
 sail in the shallows of the sea; strike out into the deep 
 waters where the surges roll heavily, as in God's majesty, 
 and the gales of the Spirit blow. Man your piety as a 
 great expedition against God's enemies and yours, and hope 
 for no delicate salvation, not to be won by great sacrifices 
 and perils. Bushnell. 
 
 That is the most urgent necessity of our day, a Church 
 of the superlative order immeasurably heightened and en- 
 riched — a Church with wings as well as feet, her dimness 
 changed into radiance, her stammering changed into bold- 
 ness, and presenting to the world the spectacle of a per- 
 manent marvel which will fascinate and allure the inquir- 
 ing multitude drawn together, not that they might see 
 Jesus only, but Lazarus also, whom He hath raised from 
 the dead. J. H. Jowett. 
 
VIII 
 THE CHALLENGE 
 
 An event which happened in the early 
 years of my ministry, when I was hardly 
 more than a boy, has come back to me 
 through the experiences of later years with 
 gracious and reassuring force. It is possible 
 that I would hesitate now to take such a pub- 
 lic, spectacular risk, and I am not sure that 
 I would advise another to follow in my foot- 
 steps. But all the circumstances that sur- 
 rounded it made it such a challenge to me 
 that I did not stop to measure what might 
 be the possible outcome. I was in the midst 
 of what was, up to that time, the greatest re- 
 vival I had ever experienced as pastor. Not 
 far from two hundred had already professed 
 their purpose to lead a new life. These peo- 
 ple were from various walks in life. Several 
 were students in school and college. Some 
 were people of wealth and position, and some 
 were from the ranks of the vilest and most 
 
 [183] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 abandoned. A few of these cases were so 
 remarkable as to be the talk of the street. 
 There the opinion seemed to differ, as to the 
 possibility and the value of such conversions. 
 Some said such men were too far gone to be 
 saved; that what was left was really not 
 worth saving. And others said that the pro- 
 fession of Christ was a sham. I was very 
 decided in my own conviction as to the need 
 and the power of the grace of God. I was 
 very sure that unless we have a Gospel for 
 everybody, we could never be certain that we 
 had a Gospel for any particular case. I could 
 find, nowhere in the New Testament, any 
 suggestion of a class of incurables. I had 
 noticed that Jesus seemed to have a passion 
 for " hard cases," and that that passion had 
 been shared by those whom the world ad- 
 judged the most faithful followers of Him. 
 Some one has said that in Wesley's Journals 
 " every page is bordered with a pale edge 
 of fire, the spiritual passion of the great 
 Apostle's soul." It was because John Wesley 
 had faith in the power of God to save unto 
 the uttermost, that, by God's help, he wrought 
 such a transformation among the English 
 
 [184] 
 
THE CHALLENGE 
 
 miners, that four generations liave not blot- 
 ted it out. 
 
 Was there ever a man who shared the 
 yearning of his Master more truly than Spur- 
 geon? Hear him say, " Tho thou hast raked 
 in the very kennels of hell, yet if thou wilt 
 come to Christ and ask mercy. He will ab- 
 solve thee from all sin." " The next day," 
 writes Wesley, " I went to the condemned 
 felons in Newgate and offered them free sal- 
 vation." There seemed to him nothing in- 
 congruous in this, but, on the other hand, the 
 depth of their need made him a supreme 
 debtor unto them, until he had brought what 
 he had to offer, and what would meet their 
 need. This incident of Wesley in Newgate 
 leads me to the story of my challenge. 
 
 It was a Sunday night in a crowded serv- 
 ice. Every seat in the auditorium was taken 
 and many were standing, filling all the avail- 
 able space in the rear of the church. I had 
 preached from the text : " Whosoever cometh 
 unto me, I will in no wise cast out." I was 
 giving an impassioned invitation to every 
 one to make the supreme test for themselves. 
 Several had already risen and come forward 
 
 [185] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 to the altar, when a man with close-cropped 
 hair stept out from the mass of people who 
 were standing, and, walking half way up the 
 aisle, stopt and addrest me. He seemed to 
 be perfectly sober, but was evidently stirred 
 by deep emotion. He said: "I am just out 
 of State's Prison. I have finished a sen- 
 tence of several years. I was guilty of all 
 that was charged upon me and of other things 
 which were never found out. I took all that 
 was coming to me and I did not complain. 
 I made my bed, and it was right that I should 
 lie in it. I have no vindictiveness toward 
 anybody. I am now a free man. I have a 
 good trade and a fairly good education. I 
 can make my way. I came here out of curi- 
 osity. I saw the crowd coming in, and I fol- 
 lowed. I do not know much about religion. 
 My people were not Christian people; but I 
 have often felt that there must be a different 
 kind of life from what I have lived. I have 
 envied people who kept the laws and seemed 
 to be happy. And then, I have felt within 
 me something which I did not understand. 
 I never went to church as a boy, and I won- 
 dered what the churches were for. I heard 
 
 [186] 
 
THE CHALLENGE 
 
 the chaplain in prison, but much of the serv- 
 ice was a ritual, which seemed to me only 
 a matter of form. Something within me has 
 been telling me that I ought to be a different 
 man — a good man. But something else said : 
 ^ You cannot be a good man, you are a crim- 
 inal. Nobody will trust you ; nobody will be- 
 lieve in you; nobody wants you, and God 
 does not want you. You have sinned against 
 Him, and He is done with you.' I never felt 
 as I feel now. You have been saying things 
 here which are either tremendously true, or 
 terribly false, and the matter about which 
 you talk is a matter of life and death to me 
 and I must speak up. You have been talking 
 about Someone who could save people from 
 their sins. You said He was able to save to 
 the uttermost, and it made no difference how 
 weak or how wicked a man had been if he 
 sincerely repented; that his sins would be 
 blotted out, and he would love to sin no more. 
 You said he would know he was forgiven, and 
 the sense of condemnation and guilt would 
 be gone. Now, if you are saying what you 
 do not know to be true, you ought to be 
 ashamed. If you are holding out to a man 
 
 [187] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 like me a hope, when there is no hope, you 
 ought to stop it. And if what you say is true, 
 and can be shown to be true, every man here, 
 whether he is a vile sinner like me, a thief 
 and a reprobate, or just an ordinary, godless 
 man ought to settle it for himself." 
 
 By this time the air was fairly electric. 
 Those who were standing prest up the aisles 
 a little farther, and many who were seated 
 rose to get a view of this strange man, 
 while others were leaning forward to catch 
 every word of his thrilling speech. Then, 
 coming a little nearer to me, the man 
 stretched out his right arm with a gesture of 
 appeal, and said, with a voice that was vi- 
 brant with supprest emotion : " I want to 
 know, sir, whether you believe that this re- 
 ligion which you are preaching can save a 
 man like me? Do you think there is any 
 chance for me? You said that Jesus saved 
 a thief when He was on the Cross. Do you 
 believe that Jesus is still alive and that He 
 can save a thief now ? " My man stood there 
 in the aisle, his eyes fairly aflame with anxi- 
 ety, and his arm still outstretched. I did not 
 hesitate an instant. I leaned over the chan- 
 
 [188] 
 
THE CHALLENGE 
 
 eel rail and stretched out my hand toward 
 him. I said : " My brother, I have honestly 
 declared a message in which I believe. I am 
 as much interested in the truth of it as you 
 are. I have witnessed the transformation 
 which the grace of God has wrought in many 
 lives, and I believe there is no case so hard 
 that God will not forgive a truly repentant 
 man. I cannot afford to preach a Gospel that 
 is not true, and I will not. I am ready to 
 make this contract with you. If you desire to 
 be saved from your sins, and are willing to 
 pay the price, the matter can be settled here 
 and now. If you will meet the conditions 
 which are laid down in the Bible, by which 
 a man may come to God, and you do not 
 find salvation, I will never go into this pulpit 
 again to preach ! " The man and the congre- 
 gation were convinced that I meant what I 
 said, and the tension of the moment was al- 
 most unspeakable. I thought of Carmel, and 
 I also thought of the epileptic and the faith- 
 less disciples. There was also a vision of the 
 Blind Bartimeus and the sick of the palsy, 
 and the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of 
 the temple, and the returning prodigal, and 
 
 [189] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 other prodigals that I had known. I have 
 been in many hours of crisis, in public and 
 in private, but I am not sure that I ever 
 passed through quite such an hour as that. 
 The prisoner walked up toward the chancel 
 rail and said : " I will do anything that you 
 ask me to do. God knows I am honest and in 
 earnest." I turned to the congregation, say- 
 ing : " Brethren, I mean just what I have 
 said. If God cannot save this man there 
 must be many others like him, and I have 
 been preaching a Gospel that saves to the 
 uttermost. If God can save this man and 
 does save him, it ought to increase the faith 
 of every person here, and it will mightily in- 
 crease my own faith. Now we are going to 
 prayer. If anybody here has faith, let him 
 exercise it ! " I turned to the man and said : 
 " Kneel with me here at the altar." I asked 
 the entire audience to kneel and to unite their 
 petitions with mine. Then I prayed for the 
 man, under circumstances such as I had 
 never prayed before. My soul was greatly 
 moved. I do not know just what I said. I 
 only know I cried to God for help in that 
 man's behalf. If it had been the case of a 
 
 [190] 
 
THE CHALLENGE 
 
 man about to be shot, and the one who had 
 power of pardon stood before me, I could not 
 have prayed with greater earnestness. I felt 
 in my heart a strange peace and holy confi- 
 dence, in spite of the great test that was upon 
 me. When I had finished, I asked the man 
 to pray. It was the prayer of an honest but 
 benighted soul. He had evidently seldom, 
 if ever, prayed. It was a groping after God, 
 but there was the spirit of the publican in 
 it, and I could ask no more. When we arose 
 from our knees, I asked him if he had any 
 message for me or for the people. He said : 
 " It is all strange. There is something within 
 me which I never felt before, and which I do 
 not understand. I know there is a God, in 
 a sense in which I never knew it before. But 
 I do not see clearly — I do not understand. 
 I see Christ as the Savior of the world, but 
 I am not sure that He is my Savior, and this 
 is the one thing that I must have." I talked 
 with him more at length and explained to 
 him as best I could, the way of faith, and 
 dismissed the congregation, saying that there 
 would be a service the next night, as we had 
 planned, but that I would not preach that 
 
 13 [191] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 night, or ever again, until this man saw all 
 things clearly, and knew for himself that he 
 was a saved man. After the meeting was 
 over, I talked with him and prayed with him, 
 and he seemed to be drawing a little nearer 
 to God. But he left, without entering into 
 the joy of the saved, promising me that he 
 would seek God ceaselessly and without re- 
 serve, and would be present at the service 
 the following night. I let him go, saying only 
 to him in substance: 
 
 "Who comes to God an inch through doubtings 
 
 dim . . 
 In blazing light; God will advance a mile to 
 
 him.'' 
 
 That was a hard night for me. Some of 
 the brethren thought I had acted impetuous- 
 ly and had taken a position which I might be 
 forced to give up, but I assured them that 
 nothing short of that man's conversion would 
 absolve me from my vow. I went to bed, but 
 not to sleep. At first I was conscious of a 
 strange peace, and then, later, all sorts of 
 questions presented themselves. Something 
 said that I had been very foolish, if not abso- 
 
 [192] 
 
THE CHALLENGE 
 
 lutely sacrilegious in my act. I began to 
 question what I would do if worse came to 
 worse. And I questioned whether I had 
 taken a stand which might do harm in the 
 community to the Christian faith. Was this 
 man really honest? and would he make a sin- 
 cere test? Numberless questions of this sort 
 presented themselves. But at last my own 
 faith had triumph in my own soul, and I was 
 so certain of the result that before morning 
 I fell into a quiet and dreamless sleep. When 
 I went out upon the street, I found that the 
 news of the night before had spread among 
 the people, and I was questioned as to 
 whether I knew the man. When I told them 
 that I did not, many good people looked at 
 me with a kindly commiseration for my folly. 
 But " none of these things moved me." All 
 day long I was conscious of perfect repose, 
 and as the day wore on, I found myself get- 
 ting ready to preach. I had my theme se- 
 lected, and it was a note of triumph. When 
 the time came for the evening service, I went 
 to church, but I did not go into the pulpit. I 
 sat inside the chancel rail, directly in front 
 of the aisle where most of the people entered. 
 
 [193] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 We sang a few hymns and the people began 
 to crowd in. We had not had so many people 
 present at any week-evening service during 
 the revival. There was a tense atmosphere 
 that seemed to pervade the gathering. My 
 man did not appear, but I still felt perfectly at 
 ease. We had a season of prayer. It was time 
 to preach. I gave out the hymn, " There is a 
 fountain filled with blood," and we were in 
 the midst of the singing, my eyes riveted 
 upon the door, when it swung open, and in 
 strode the man for whom I was looking. 
 Altho it was winter, his face was covered 
 with sweat and his hair disheveled. He 
 walked quickly up the aisle, and one sight of 
 his face settled my questioning. As soon as 
 he could catch his breath, he cried out : " The 
 car broke down, and I thought I should never 
 get here. But you can go ahead and 
 preach ! " When the people saw his face, 
 they knew what I knew, and some one broke 
 out in singing : " Praise God from whom all 
 blessings flow ! " Then, as soon as he could 
 be heard, he told, in a few sentences, what 
 had happened. He had taken home with him 
 a New Testament, in which I had marked 
 
 [194] 
 
THE CHALLENGE 
 
 some passages that I thought would help him. 
 He spent the hours after he reached home in 
 alternately reading and praying. He said 
 that the thing which brought him light was 
 the thought that he could be bom again, so 
 that a new life would be within him, and he 
 would be no more the man he was than the 
 fruit and the grain on the stalk would be the 
 dull husk hidden in the ground. With tears 
 and with smiles, he told how at last all his 
 fears passed away and the sense of his guilt ; 
 and a peace unspeakable came into his heart. 
 He was certainly a new creature in Christ 
 Jesus. He was a good illustration of La- 
 cordaire's words : " I was unbelieving in the 
 evening; on the morrow a Christian. Cer- 
 tain, with an invincible certainty." James 
 Martineau will not be accused of irrational 
 bias toward conversion, but he states a great 
 truth when he says: "It is quite true that 
 instantaneous regeneration of the mind is not 
 a phenomenon of the commoner sort, espe- 
 cially in the present day; but it is also true, 
 that of all the remarkable recoveries that 
 occur (alas! too few at best), almost the 
 whole are of this kind. It is quite true that 
 
 [195] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 the upward effort of the will, when it ex- 
 changes the madness of passion for the per- 
 ceptions of reason, are toilsome, and, if suc- 
 cessful, tardy; and if all transformations of 
 conscience were of the deliberate and reason- 
 able sort, philosophers could not say too 
 much about their infrequency and slowness. 
 But the process springs from a higher and 
 more powerful source ; the persuasion is con- 
 ducted by some new and intense affection, 
 some fresh and vivid reverence, followed, not 
 led, by the conscience and reason. The weeds 
 are not painfully plucked up by the cautious 
 hand of tillage reckoning on its fruits, but 
 burnt out by the blaze of a divine shame and 
 love. That which is impossible to the man 
 within us, may be altogether possible to the 
 God. The denial of such changes under the 
 affectation of great knowledge of man, shows 
 an incredible ignorance of men." He further 
 says, " The history of every great religious 
 revolution, is made up of nothing else, the 
 instances occurring in such number and vari- 
 ety, as to transform the character of whole 
 districts and vast populations, and to put 
 all skepticism at utter defiance. And if some 
 
 [196] 
 
THE CHALLENGE 
 
 more philosophic authority is needed for the 
 fact, we may be content with the sanction of 
 Lord Bacon, who observed that a man re- 
 forms his habits either all together or not at 
 all." 
 
 Whether my action in this matter was a 
 wise one, there may be difference of opinion. 
 But there could be no question as to the ef- 
 fect of this conversion both on myself and on 
 the people. The question will be asked, 
 What was the effect on the man himself? 
 With him it was " the transforming power 
 of a new affection." He set up a home which 
 his evil course had broken down, and he 
 dwelt therein in peace. His wife, who had 
 loved him in the early days, and been driven 
 from him by his wickedness, came back to 
 him, to be so cared for and treasured, as to 
 make her unspeakably happy. She said it 
 was marvelous to see the transformation in 
 his disposition, as well as in his habits. He 
 came to be a careful student of the Bible, 
 for he was a man of more than usual intel- 
 lectual ability. So long as I ministered with- 
 in reach of him, he was faithful to his high 
 
 [197] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 calling, and the last I heard of him, he sent 
 me a message of Christian faith, and ex- 
 prest his gratitude to God for the challenge 
 which brought us together, and which made 
 him a free man in Christ Jesus. 
 
 [1©8] 
 
IX 
 THE FINDING OF ANDREW 
 
Uncounted hosts of human beings — men of the loftiest 
 intellect side by side with men of the most lowly heart and 
 the most saintly life — have what may be scientifically de- 
 scribed as a personal verification of the existence and of 
 the divinity of Jesus Christ. They are conscious of being 
 saved by Him. They feel every moment the pulse of a 
 life that beats direct from Him. 
 
 Fitchett. 
 
 He taught me all the mercy, for He showed me all the sin, 
 Now though my lamp was lighted late, there's One will 
 
 let me in; 
 Nor would I now be well, mother, again if that could be. 
 For my desire is but to pass to Him that died for me. 
 
 "May Queen" — Tennyson. 
 
 He rises, and it is as if he had gotten wings. The whole 
 sky is luminous about him — it is the morning, as it were, 
 of a new eternity. After this all troublesome doubt of 
 God's reality is gone, for he has found Him! A being so 
 profoundly felt must inevitably be . . . Tliere is a story 
 lodged in the little bedroom of one of these dormitories 
 (Yale College) which I pray God His recording angel may 
 note, allowing it never to be lost. 
 
 Horace Bushnell. 
 
rx 
 
 THE FINDING OF ANDREW 
 
 In some of the incidents which are related 
 in this book we shall simply tell the story as 
 it was told to us by the person most deeply 
 interested. In others we shall attempt to de- 
 scribe the unfolding of the spiritual life as 
 we saw it and had some humble share in that 
 unfolding. We would make them all imper- 
 sonal but for the fact that the personal ele- 
 ment is often of great importance in the im- 
 pressiveness of the incident and is a voucher 
 for the effects which have followed. In such 
 incidents our own concern and importunity 
 have been simply those which every faithful 
 pastor feels and we are sure that these in- 
 cidents could be duplicated by the thousand in 
 the lives of those who have been called into 
 the Christian Ministry, and who have felt that 
 the winning of souls was the supreme evidence 
 of the reality of that call. The miracle which 
 takes place when a man of a notoriously 
 
 [201] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 wicked life becomes sober, true, and pure, is 
 a matter of astonishment to every beholder 
 and strikes the simple solemn. But there are 
 those who are telling us that such things are 
 to be looked for; that we might expect a 
 wicked man would sound the whole gamut of 
 wickedness, and at last cloy of the very abun- 
 dance of his iniquity. However ill-considered 
 such a statement is, there are to be found 
 those who make it. 
 
 I am one of those who are glad to believe 
 that the transformations of Grace which are 
 wrought in more quiet ways, and upon sub- 
 jects whose outward life has been above re- 
 proach, may still exemplify in most potent 
 force the transforming power of a new devo- 
 tion. The incident which I am about to relate 
 falls into this latter class. I shall give names 
 and places, and in doing that, I shall be ful- 
 filling a promise which I made long ago. 
 
 One Monday evening, during my pastorate 
 in Brooklyn, a young man somewhat under 
 the influence of liquor, came to the parson- 
 age. He seemed anxious to do better. He 
 asked an opportunity to sign the pledge, and 
 just as I was about to pray with him, the 
 
 [202] 
 
THE FINDING OF ANDREW 
 
 doorbell rang. As I opened the door, a fine- 
 looking young man touched his hat and asked 
 if he could have a few minutes' private con- 
 versation with me. We went to the back par- 
 lor and he said : " I was at your service last 
 night. You were preaching on the respon- 
 sibility which we have for others, and if I 
 understood you correctly, you said in sub- 
 stance, that the example of a man of upright 
 life, morally, who did not acknowledge 
 Christ, might by virtue of that very up- 
 rightness, turn others from an open acknowl- 
 edgment of the Christ, and his example be 
 more harmful to young men than the exam- 
 ple of a drunkard in the gutter. That 
 seemed a very strange statement to me, and 
 at first I was inclined to be angry over it. 
 But the thought has laid such hold upon me 
 that I cannot shake it off, and I slept very 
 little last night on account of it. I mean to 
 be an upright young man, but I have never 
 acknowledged Christ as my Leader, or come 
 into any vital connection with the Church by 
 membership." 
 
 I tried to explain to him that a man who 
 depended upon his morality was really say- 
 
 [203] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 ing to every young man that Christ was not 
 a necessity in any successful and well-or- 
 dered life, and that others, seeing that such 
 a man stood well in society, might be con- 
 vinced that if he could get along without the 
 Christian life, they could. And so many 
 might be turned away from vital Christianity 
 to their life-long detriment and sorrow. 
 What I said seemed to impress him, and he 
 told me his story. He said he was the secre- 
 tary of the Sunday-school in Cuyler Chapel, 
 and he could not bear to think that in such 
 a position he could be doing harm by his ex- 
 ample. He said : " I have tried to live a life 
 beyond reproach. I have honestly desired to 
 do the things that are right, but when I have 
 heard men talk about Divine help and a con- 
 sciousness of the nearness of God; when I 
 have heard them say they have experienced 
 religion, all that has been an unknown tongue 
 to me. I confess I have rather looked down 
 on some of my friends who have made such 
 profession. But I have also been conscious 
 of a real lack in my life. I could not under- 
 stand the ardor of my friends, and I have 
 been indifferent about all this matter of 
 
 [204] 
 
THE FINDING" OF ANDREW 
 
 Church fellowship and interest. Is there any 
 way that I can be satisfied in my own soul? 
 Is there some great need of my nature that I 
 have not met? And is there a personal real- 
 ity to be had by me in this matter of ^ ex- 
 periencing religion' of which I hear you 
 speak? " I told him I was certain that there 
 was just as great a possibility before him, 
 religiously, as before any of his friends. I 
 gave him instances of those I had known 
 whose life had been largely as his own, and 
 who had shared his feelings, but who had 
 come at length to a most profound religious 
 experience. I told him that the method of 
 that experience greatly varied. For some 
 there was tragic intensity, profound convic- 
 tion for sin, followed by heights of ecstasy. 
 To others again, an experience as valid as 
 the first, but unaccompanied by great emo- 
 tional disturbance; a calm surrender, fol- 
 lowed by a perfect satisfaction and trust. I 
 tried to show him that each man could have 
 that which fitted his own nature, making the 
 experience complete for himself, and that I 
 was so satisfied that there was a complete- 
 ness of that sort for him, that I would be 
 
 [205] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 willing to surrender my ministry if he did 
 not come into that experience, provided he 
 would comply with the plain conditions which 
 God had set forth in His Word. 
 
 I then called the man who was waiting in 
 the other room, and, after introducing them, 
 I said : " You are both here on the same er- 
 rand, tho you have come by very different 
 paths. However wide apart you may be so- 
 cially, and however little either of you can 
 enter into the experiences of the other, you 
 now need an experience which will vary one 
 from the other in form, but which must come 
 to each of you by full surrender to God." I 
 asked them to kneel with me in prayer. I 
 prayed earnestly for each of them by name. 
 I tried to make plain to them in prayer the 
 condition of their own surrender to God, and 
 asked God to show them the sole conditions 
 of surrender and faith. The importance of 
 the hour fell upon my own soul with smiting 
 force and I was greatly moved as I prayed. 
 The profligate followed with the publican's 
 prayer, and " as he prayed the fashion of his 
 countenance was changed." As he lifted his 
 heart to God, his faith began to kindle. He 
 
 [206] 
 
THE FINDING OF ANDREW 
 
 seemed to feel the Infinite love and sacrifice 
 of Him who died between the thieves, and 
 he appropriated that sacrifice for himself. 
 It was beautiful to see how he brushed past 
 all the doubts and difficulties of life and laid 
 hold on Christ by living faith. Before he had 
 gone far, his praying had changed to prais- 
 ing. He showed that he had been in touch 
 before with Christian truth and the glorious 
 affirmations of the songs of faith ; for, before 
 he had finished he quoted with deep feeling, 
 and in the present tense, 
 
 "The dying thief rejoiced to see 
 That fountain in his day; 
 And there (do) I, though vile as he, 
 Wash all my sins away!" 
 
 So the shadows fell from off his soul, and the 
 praise of God was on his lips. 
 
 It was different with Andrew Herlin, the 
 gentlemanly bank clerk. I do not think he 
 quite liked it to kneel there with the prodigal 
 and seek for mercy on the same terms. 
 There was something of the Pharisee's spirit, 
 which he struggled hard to keep out of sight. 
 "We were still kneeling, and in silence. After 
 
 14 [207] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 a pause that seemed to me quite too long, I 
 asked him gently if he had not a word of pe- 
 tition to offer in his own behalf. After a 
 moment he began, timidly, as if afraid of the 
 sound of his own voice. At first, his prayer 
 seemed to be very much like the Pharisee's 
 prayer, a justification of himself in the sight 
 of God. He told God, without very much of 
 expectancy in his voice, that if there was any- 
 thing which God had for him, he would be 
 willing to take it. But the prayer did not 
 reveal any especial conviction or any deep 
 longing. When it was over I offered a short 
 petition, and we rose. The first man was 
 fairly radiant, but Herlin was distrait and 
 troubled. He glanced at the other man with 
 a questioning look which seemed to have 
 aversion in it, and his eyes dropped to the 
 floor. "Is there any light?" I asked. "I 
 hardly know. I do not feel like this man, but 
 I never felt before quite as I do now. There 
 is something very strange about it all. I 
 wish I could feel as you do, but I don't. But 
 I shall have to go on somewhere and some- 
 how, for I can't be comfortable or at peace 
 any more until I know about this. I feel 
 
 [208] 
 
THE FINDING OF ANDREW 
 
 worse than I did when I came here." I made 
 the way of faith as plain as I could. I as- 
 sured him that it was not a matter of emo- 
 tion at all, but a matter of honest surrender 
 to the will and purposes of God; that he 
 needed to reach a place where love should be 
 supreme — ^love for his fellows and love to 
 God : that a heart of flesh must take the place 
 of the stony, unresponsive heart. And so 
 we separated, he promising that he would 
 come to the parsonage after bank hours the 
 next day. He kept his promise, and for more 
 than an hour we talked about the necessity 
 of the Christian life. At first he seemed to 
 have buttressed himself afresh against the 
 idea of any necessity on his part to have a 
 change of heart. The supernatural element 
 in religions seemed to disturb him, and his 
 arguments were the old arguments in favor 
 of an ethical rather than a spiritual life. I 
 tried to show him that the spiritual should 
 be the foundation of the ethical ; that without 
 the ethical the spiritual would prove itself 
 spurious ; and without the spiritual the ethi- 
 cal would have no adequate and abiding foun- 
 dation. Before we were through, it seemed 
 
 [209] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 to me that the fog had lifted a little, but he 
 was by no means satisfied. We prayed to- 
 gether, and his prayer disclosed more of the 
 open mind than he had displayed at first, so 
 that I felt encouraged for him, but I was in- 
 creasingly anxious lest something should 
 turn him from the path before the day should 
 break. I exacted from him a promise that he 
 would play the part of an earnest man in this 
 whole matter and be satisfied with nothing 
 short of a decision of some sort that would 
 carry conviction with it. I was glad to find 
 that he was a young man of such strong na- 
 ture and so utterly honest that he would not 
 be satisfied with anything short of absolute 
 conviction and assurance, and that he would 
 not shade, by so much as a hair, the expe- 
 rience through which he was passing. He 
 was evidently thinking much and reading 
 much, and later I saw that he was praying 
 much. There were two other interviews in 
 which we talked the matter over with perfect 
 frankness, and at last the gray of the morn- 
 ing broke into the day, and he had what 
 Thomas wanted. When conviction did come, 
 it was a profound one. There was a new joy 
 
 [210] 
 
THE FINDING OF ANDREW 
 
 in his face ; the sad look had gone. He moved 
 eagerly, like some one about some high and 
 imperative business. He was as quiet as be- 
 fore, so far as any emotional expression was 
 concerned, but anyone could see that he was 
 living a new life. Physically, he was tall and 
 spare, and I had wondered whether his 
 health was of the best, altho no word had 
 passed between us in reference to it. For 
 two weeks I did not see him. One day a 
 messenger came hurrying to me and told me 
 that Herlin was dead. It seems that he was 
 taken with a sudden hemorrhage. It had come 
 entirely unexpected and was an unspeakable 
 shock to his family. He lingered for a few 
 days and passed away. The messenger told 
 me that his father had a message for me, 
 which he would come the next day to deliver. 
 And this was the message : " Tell Dr. Good- 
 ell," said the dying man, " that I was never 
 able to go to the Chapel and tell the young 
 people how I found Jesus and ask them to for- 
 give me for being so long a stumbling-block 
 in their way. I want to be buried from the 
 Chapel and I want Dr. Goodell to stand by 
 me and say for me what I would have said 
 
 [211] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 if I had been permitted. I wish yon wonld 
 ask him, for the sake of other yonng men 
 who are morally good bnt do not know Christ, 
 to please tell my story each year at his re- 
 vival meetings." I may add that this last re- 
 quest of Herlin's has been religiously kept 
 by me to this day. When the day of the fu- 
 neral was come I went to the service from 
 another meeting, and was a little late. The 
 chapel was a room one flight up from the 
 street. Every inch of standing-room seemed 
 to be taken. The stairs were crowded with 
 people standing and the crowd extended into 
 the street. It was only after I was recog- 
 nized that I was able to press my way 
 through the crowd and reach the casket. 
 Never in my life had I stood quite so literal- 
 ly between the living and the dead. And 
 never had I been more overwhelmed with the 
 message that I bore. I found that Herlin 
 was universally respected and beloved. He 
 had been a leader, by virtue of his ability 
 and spotless character. He attached his 
 friends to himself by bonds that could not 
 be broken. Every person present seemed to 
 be a mourner, and each felt he had lost a per- 
 
 [212] 
 
THE FINDING OF ANDREW 
 
 sonal friend. I told the simple story of his 
 conversion to the hundreds of young people 
 who had loved him, and delivered to them 
 his thrilling message. I described the steps 
 which he himself had taken and which he 
 urged them to take. I made expression of his 
 own conviction concerning the Source of the 
 peace which filled his life, and delivered to 
 them his dying exhortation. The great com- 
 pany, the banks of flowers, the silent form 
 resting there, the peace of God in all his 
 looks, and the deep personal message, all 
 combined to make the hour one of the most 
 impressive of a lifetime. The only fitting 
 thing to follow such a service, actually took 
 place. A revival began at once among the 
 young people, and went on until the great 
 majority of those connected with the school 
 had yielded themselves to Christ. Tho years 
 have passed, the pastor recently told me that 
 the influence of Herlin's testimony was still 
 felt throughout the community, and that a 
 splendid company of young men and women 
 came to feel that it was their duty to give 
 that life an immortality among them. They 
 
 [213] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 went to their work with a conviction which 
 has borne most remarkable fruit. 
 
 This type of experience is as far as pos- 
 sible removed from such experiences as are 
 to be found in such books as " Twice Born 
 Men," but I believe that it appeals to the 
 young men of to-day with great power, and 
 presents an experience which it is possible to 
 duplicate by tens of thousands. I trust the 
 incident may influence many another splen- 
 did young man to accept for himself the par- 
 don and peace which come from honest sur- 
 render to the will of God as revealed in his 
 own soul, and that whether by little emotion 
 or by much, he may move his friends and his 
 times up to God! 
 
 [2X4] 
 
X 
 
 CHRIST AND THE BOYS 
 
Then there came a new minister, a young man of simple 
 ways. He asked me to his home and inquired concerning 
 my religious state. I told him that I had come so ^'ar that 
 I did not know how to go further. He told me what to do. 
 Under his instruction, I went to my home, and there, in a 
 boy's own room, I knelt by a yellow chair and said a word 
 like this : " Here, Lord, I give myself away : 'tis all that 
 I can do." The answer quickly came: "My dear boy, that 
 is all you have to do." It was all. I felt that I was 
 Christ's boy — a new feeling was in my soul. I went down 
 the street the next morning repeating words for which I 
 had not cared before : " Bless the Lord, my soul." It 
 was the new song, and I have sung it ever since. I have 
 taught others to sing it. To this teaching I have given my 
 life. 
 
 Alexander McKenzie, D.D. 
 
 I remember a time when I was very idle. ... Of 
 that great change of campaign which decided all this 
 part of my life and turned me from one whose business 
 was to shirk into one whose business was to strive 
 and persevere, it seems to me as though all that had been 
 done by some one else. ... I came about like a well- 
 handled ship. There stood at the wheel that unknown 
 steersman whom we call God. 
 
 Robert Louis Stevenson. 
 
X 
 
 CHEIST AND THE BOYS 
 
 Among the stories in which the marvelous 
 power of God is revealed to strike men down 
 in the highway of their sin or to bring men 
 who had passed on into the years and into 
 what might seem to be a final fixedness of 
 habit and character, it gives me pleasure to 
 place at least one in which I may tell of the 
 sweet unfolding of that spirit which hath not 
 left itself without witness in the lives of all. 
 This will take form as a religious awakening 
 rather than conversion, in the form in which 
 we are accustomed to see it in the lives of 
 men and women. When will the Church 
 come to understand that the child belongs to 
 God, that it is as natural for him to love God 
 as to love his own parents, and that a re- 
 ligious life is not a creed to be understood, 
 but a life to be lived? When a boy or a girl 
 stands at the altar and the pastor solemnly 
 says : " Dost thou believe in God the Father 
 
 [217] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and 
 in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord," and 
 so on through the full declaration of the 
 Apostles' Creed, you will see men and women 
 shaking their heads and saying to one an- 
 other: "Poor child! he doesn't understand 
 what he is assenting to. The minister ought 
 to know better than to ask him such ques- 
 tions, and he really ought not to receive any- 
 one into the Church who does not understand 
 them ! " The answer to that is not far to 
 seek. The poor critic himself does not un- 
 derstand the Creed. And it really makes no 
 difference whether he understands it or not. 
 Most men know more truth than they act 
 upon. We are not saying that it might not 
 be better to have a simpler method of recep- 
 tion into the Church. It is no doubt true that 
 much theological baggage has come down 
 out of the past ages and still acts as impedi- 
 menta to the Church. But, as a matter of 
 fact, those who make the most crooked paths 
 in the Christian life are not children, but 
 adults. The child needs a child religion. 
 When he is an adult he will change the form 
 of it^ but he will be fortunate indeed if he 
 
 [218] 
 
CHRIST AND THE BOYS 
 
 keeps througli all his years the same sin- 
 cerity and purity which characterized the re- 
 ligion of his youth. The Kingdom of Heaven 
 in the soul, as well as in the world, is the 
 problem of the mysterious seed: a problem 
 of growth. Let the child understand that the 
 happiest work in the world is the growing 
 of a Christian character, that it has in it 
 laughter and song, as well as stress and 
 struggle, that true religion has as much for 
 youth as for age, and that the best recipe 
 for a blest old age is a pure and useful 
 youth. Teach them that the period of the 
 blade and tassel is beautiful chiefly because 
 of the prospect of harvests which they fore- 
 tell. If, perchance, some child shirks re- 
 ligious duty and does not seem to enjoy God's 
 work, if he gets angry and is not always 
 truthful, it is well to ask : " whose child is he, 
 and how came he by such inclinations 1 " Are 
 not some ministers selfish and wilful? Do 
 not some officials get angry? Are there not 
 many Church members who are careless of 
 the truth? Do all official meetings minister 
 to growth in grace? This is not offered as 
 apology for un-Christian conduct in children 
 
 [219] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 or adults, but simply as a reminder tliat we 
 must not expect more of the child than he sees 
 in the example of his elders. We have been 
 long enough in the Christian ministry to see 
 the unfolding of the characters of the chil- 
 dren whom we took into the Church. It is 
 true that not all the thousands we have re- 
 ceived into the Church as children, have re- 
 mained faithful, but the percentage of faith- 
 ful ones among those who gave themselves 
 to Christ in their youth is far beyond that 
 of those who broke through the habits of a 
 misspent life and in the fulness of their years 
 tried to begin where they ought to have be- 
 gun as little children. Not only so, but the 
 type of Christianity which they have shown 
 to the world is the best type that we know. 
 There is a stedfastness about it which is the 
 comfort of every pastor. If there is less of 
 exultation, there is also less of depression. 
 In point of attendance upon the means of 
 grace and of devotion to the interests of the 
 Church, social, financial, and spiritual, the 
 very best results, as a class, come from those 
 who have been trained in Christian homes 
 and in the Sunday-school, and early gave 
 
 [220] 
 
CHRIST AND THE BOYS 
 
 themselves to the fellowship of the Church. 
 Through many years of association with chil- 
 dren and youth, the conviction is forced upon 
 me that when a child is old enough to love 
 father or mother, he is old enough to love 
 God. Samuel and John were sanctified unto 
 God from their birth. Timothy knew the 
 Scriptures from a child. Polycarp, dying 
 at ninety-five, had served God eighty-six 
 years. Baxter was converted when a child; 
 Jonathan Edwards at seven years of age; 
 Isaac Watts at nine ; Matthew Henry at elev- 
 en, and Eobert Hall at twelve. Many of the 
 mightiest of God's servants to-day were re- 
 ceived into the Church before they were 
 twelve years of age. Language precedes 
 grammar; flowers precede botany; life pre- 
 cedes biology. So a Christian experience 
 precedes theology. And the question is not 
 How much do you know^ but How truly do 
 you love and obey? To illustrate these con- 
 victions, I wish to tell the story of three coun- 
 try boys who in a most simple and natural 
 way, after training in Christian homes, gave 
 themselves to Christ and His Church. 
 
 I tell this story the more eagerly because it 
 
 [221] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 is a story which I would like to see multiplied 
 by the thousands among the young people 
 of our Church and time; and especially be- 
 cause it is in part my own life-story and 
 therefore of supreme personal interest to me. 
 These boys were born in a New England 
 village not far from one another and were 
 accustomed to go to school together. They 
 attended a little Methodist church where 
 were a band of men and women of deep and 
 earnest spiritual life. When Zion prospered 
 they were happy, and when Zion languished 
 they were disconsolate. They went with the 
 pastor to the schoolhouses of the town 
 and held weekly meetings. They tramped 
 through miles of drifted roads in the chilly 
 winters, that they might reach some hearts 
 and bring them to Christ. They were known 
 far and near as past masters in the art of 
 bringing men and women to God. Often 
 hard cases were brought from the neighbor- 
 ing towns that they might show them the way 
 of Life. I have never forgotten those spir- 
 itual clinics, the sharp, clear diagnosis of the 
 case, and the application of the infallible 
 Eemedy — and the Eemedy did the rest. 
 
 [222] 
 
CHRIST AND THE BOYS 
 
 They long ago fell on sleep, but I can see 
 them coming in, as of old, to the great farm- 
 house kitchen, knocking the snow from their 
 feet, while the leader stands at the door with 
 radiant face, and, rubbing his hands together, 
 shouts with glee, " Glory to God ! See the 
 troops gather ! " 
 
 It was under such circumstances as these 
 that these three boys were bom and bred. 
 To be Christ's seemed the most natural thing 
 in the world. So, at eight or nine years of 
 age, without any great emotion, but with a 
 sweet sense of God's presence, and with the 
 understanding that religion was a thing for 
 a little child, they gave themselves to their 
 blest Lord. The only thing which was mani- 
 fested in their lives was an eagerness for 
 the means of grace and especial delight 
 in all the services of the Lord's house. To 
 have stayed away from a prayer-meeting or 
 class-meeting, they would have felt was a 
 personal affliction. And nothing short of the 
 positive action of their parents forbidding 
 them, on account of sickness or for other 
 reason, to go, would keep them away from 
 these gatherings which were so delightful to 
 
 15 [223] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 their souls. "With the beginning of their 
 Christian life, they seemed to feel an in- 
 creasing desire to make the most possible of 
 their time and opportunities. As the years 
 passed, each one of them gave himself a care- 
 ful preparation for his life-work. The means 
 of each of them was limited, and they were 
 obliged to work their way through college. 
 Two of them took the full college course and 
 one the theological course. Their religious 
 experience had never been marked by a spe- 
 cial exuberance of spirit, or outward mani- 
 festation of religious life. In fact, the re- 
 ligious life had been with them a growth. 
 Perhaps neither of them could tell the exact 
 moment or place of his conversion, but lit- 
 tle by little, the consciousness was borne 
 in upon them that a new relation between 
 them and God was formally established. 
 There were also periods of special religious 
 experience, when they seemed to come into 
 new and more vital experiences of the grace 
 of God. 
 
 They were in love with everything that 
 made up the life of a wide-awake eager 
 young man. In all games and sports they 
 
 [224] 
 
CHRIST AND THE BOYS 
 
 were at the front. They kept in touch with 
 the latest things in the field of baseball and 
 football, of athletics and aquatics. They had 
 no sympathy with the pale-faced type of 
 Christian, who spends his time writing homi- 
 lies, and who only reads Young's " Night 
 Thoughts," " Thomas a Kempis," and St. 
 Augustine's " Confessions." So far as I 
 know, everybody counted them sincere and 
 the effect of their honesty and devotion was 
 seen among their fellows. 
 
 A little incident will serve to illustrate that 
 influence upon others. It so happened that 
 the annual social which was held by the 
 Academy which one of them attended, fell 
 on the night when the class, of which he was 
 a member, in the little Methodist church, was 
 accustomed to meet. The social was the one 
 occasion of the year for the young people. 
 They looked forward most eagerly to it, and 
 nothing would keep them from it. The ques- 
 tion presented itself : " Which shall it be, the 
 social or the class-meeting?" On one side 
 it could be said that the class-meeting came 
 every week and the social but once a year — 
 that if he was absent from the class-meeting 
 
 [225] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 that nigM, it would be something that could 
 be remedied the next week ; but absence from 
 the social would mean a self-denial which 
 must cover an entire year. On the other side, 
 a principle seemed to be involved. Would 
 he choose the secular in place of the spirit- 
 ual? The latter thought seemed to carry so 
 much weight with it that the young man 
 made up his mind that he would go to his 
 class -meeting, spend there the full time, and 
 then, that he might not seem to be discour- 
 teous to his teachers or his mates, he would 
 go to the social, if he was in time, and greet 
 his teachers and mates as they were separat- 
 ing. He went to the class-meeting and en- 
 joyed it. It was a little longer than usual, 
 so that when it was over there seemed to be 
 a question whether he would be able to reach 
 the hall before the exercises were over. But 
 he went, and as he entered the hall door, the 
 principal of the Academy stood near the door. 
 He came to him and grasped his hand most 
 warmly. The principal was not a member of 
 the Church, and was of a skeptical turn of 
 mind. But the young man heard afterward 
 that he said : " I knew that his class-meeting 
 
 [226] 
 
CHRIST AND THE BOYS 
 
 was held on the same night as the social, and 
 I was looking to see what he would do. I 
 knew how eager he was for all sports and 
 how he had looked forward to the social. 
 We missed him greatly at our gathering, but 
 he not only raised himself immeasurably in 
 my estimation by the course he pursued ; he 
 also imprest me with the reality of religious 
 convictions which I had doubted before." 
 
 During, or before their seminary or col- 
 lege course, each one of these young men felt 
 a great impression that he ought to give him- 
 self to the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 That call came in different fashion to each 
 of them. One of them felt profound convic- 
 tion which amounted to a "Wo is me if I 
 preach not the Gospel ! " But to the other 
 two the call came differently. Each of the 
 young men had been brought up in a home 
 where high ideals of the Christian ministry 
 were set forth. They often heard it said 
 that a man must have a call from God strange 
 and powerful, before he could venture to en- 
 ter the ministry. They were also taught 
 that the measure of man^s power to reach 
 others was the measure of his success in the 
 
 [227] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 ministry. That was, in fact, the only stand- 
 ard of success. Two of them did not have 
 that call in the solemn, tremendous fashion 
 that they longed for. But they still felt they 
 could be happy in no other work. One of 
 them went very tremblingly to his first 
 charge and was not even sure that he was 
 in the ministry for a life-work. All his 
 yearnings and longings seemed to point that 
 way, but he was not yet satisfied. He said, 
 " Lord, if this is my work, give me souls 
 for my hire ! If souls are saved I shall take 
 that as evidence that God wants me in the 
 ministry.'^ He wished to know whether he 
 had power to win the hearts of men, or 
 whether he had simply power to win their in- 
 tellectual approval, as they might give it to 
 an essayist or lecturer. God was pleased to 
 give him some souls as the result of his la- 
 bors for the first year. But he was not yet 
 satisfied. He said : " This may have hap- 
 pened so, but if God will send me more mar- 
 velous manifestations next year, then I shall 
 be certain that I have a call from Heaven." 
 God was pleased to send that second year a 
 great outpouring of His Spirit. But, like 
 
 [228] 
 
CHRIST AND THE BOYS 
 
 Gideon, our young preacher wanted yet an- 
 other test. He had accepted a call to a city 
 church, and he said : '' If God shall bless me 
 there, I shall take it beyond all question that 
 He wants me in the ministry." The Holy 
 Spirit gave him yet a larger manifestation 
 of His favor and blessing, and many came 
 into the kingdom of grace. Then it dawned 
 upon him that what he had been asking for 
 these three years was, after all, the thing he 
 was to expect every year in his ministry. And 
 in all the years of that ministry the blessing 
 of God in this particular, of especial and 
 divine outpouring of grace, has not failed. 
 
 For more than twenty-five years each one 
 of these three boys has gone steadily forward 
 in his ministry. Year after year God has 
 given proofs of His blessings, and at the end 
 of these years, in the fulness of their strength, 
 each one is still giving himself to the min- 
 istry of the Lord Jesus Christ. One is a 
 member of the Board of Control of the Ep- 
 worth League, another is Principal of one of 
 our large academies, and the third is the 
 humble disciple "which beareth witness of 
 these things." 
 
 [229] 
 
XI 
 
 A BUSINESS MAN'S CALL 
 
The expectation that blessedness lies in what a man gets 
 is the deadly superstition of the market place, more harmful 
 than any theological vagary. Larger tenements for labor- 
 ers? Yes! But it would be better for many a family to 
 move into a smaller rather than a larger home if more 
 hope, faith, and love should issue from this domestic 
 change. Automobiles for all ? Yes ! But it would be better 
 for everyone to go afoot in righteousness than to ride far 
 and wide with a dying conscience and a hardening heart. 
 
 J. H, Crooker. 
 
 "God above looking down in condescending grace and 
 loving invitation, and men below looking up in filial sur- 
 render and aspiration, and then the soul's Godward flight 
 forever and ever — ^there is no other salvation." 
 
 Bowne. 
 
XI 
 
 A BUSINESS MAN'S CALL 
 
 To Matthew the call of his Master came 
 as he sat at the receipt of customs. It was a 
 business man's call, answered, apparently, 
 without emotion, moved by the impelling call 
 of present duty and need. The fashion of 
 it differed a little, but in substance it was the 
 same call which came to fisherfolk like Peter 
 and John. It was reinforced by no miracle, 
 but it met with ready acceptance and with a 
 devotion which was as true as that of the 
 men who heard the Master's voice over Gali- 
 lee. I, too, have overheard the call of Jesus 
 to Matthew, again and again, the business 
 man's call. 
 
 In one of my pastorates was a man with 
 a large and interesting family. The wife and 
 children were members of the Church, but 
 he was not. He had come to the city as a 
 young man, absolutely penniless. From a 
 humble position as a clerk in a furniture 
 
 [233] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 store he advanced by energy and persever- 
 ance until he was able to start a little busi- 
 ness of his own. His wife worked with him, 
 and at night he delivered with his wheelbar- 
 row the goods he had sold during the day. 
 Men saw his energy and devotion to business 
 and gave him their patronage and encourage- 
 ment. They gave him credit where men of 
 larger means were unable to secure it, and 
 his advance in business success was rapid. 
 When I knew him he had a large building, 
 many stories high, packed with furniture on 
 which he did not owe a dollar. He delighted 
 to tell me of his early struggles, and asked 
 me to come and look over his plant. I took 
 the invitation as a call from God, and went. 
 After a chat with him in his office, he asked 
 the privilege of showing me the entire build- 
 ing in detail. So we began at the basement, 
 and went up, story after story, to the top of 
 the building. He grew more and more eager 
 as we passed from floor to floor and told me 
 the details of his successes and pointed out 
 his possessions. The spirit which he showed 
 with every new revelation was : " Is not this 
 great Babylon which I have builded? " I had 
 
 [234] 
 
A BUSINESS MAN'S CALL 
 
 gone for a purpose, and as we passed one 
 floor after another, my anxiety increased to 
 know just how I could bring home to him the 
 message which I felt God wanted me to deliv- 
 er. At last we reached the top floor, and I 
 felt it must be then or never. The floor was 
 crowded with refrigerators, but my heart 
 was hot. "While I was musing, the fire 
 burned. Then spake I with my tongue." " I 
 am amazed to see the great success which has 
 come to you. You say this is all yours. You 
 have no partners and you do not owe a dol- 
 lar. You tell me that you came to the city 
 friendless and poor. Why is it that you have 
 succeeded when so many other men around 
 you have failed? Here is your nearest com- 
 petitor. His business was just sold out. 
 Why did he fail?" "Well, poor fellow, he had 
 been here only a little while when he was 
 taken sick. He did the best he could, but 
 everything was against him. Then after a 
 while, the pressure was so heavy upon him 
 that his wife undertook to help him. One 
 financial loss after another struck him. At 
 last his wife became insane and his own 
 health utterly broke, and now he is dead and 
 
 [235] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 his business sold out under the hammer." 
 " You say your competitor was your supe- 
 rior in training and experience, but things 
 were against him. So it seems that the great- 
 est factor in your success has been not your- 
 self, but God. He gave you health and a 
 good wife and fortunate surroundings. What 
 have you ever done to show your gratitude? 
 You do not even ask a blessing at the loaded 
 table in your elegant home, much less call 
 your children about you for family prayers. 
 If a friend had helped you in business, how 
 eager you would be to own that help and to 
 make what return you could for his kindness. 
 But drawing every day the breath which God 
 gave you, and every day made happy and 
 fortunate by His care, you have yet done ab- 
 solutely nothing to show your appreciation 
 of His mercies. Is such a course manly or 
 honest ? And if it is neither, about how long 
 do you plan to keep it up ? " There was si- 
 lence in the refrigerator loft, and the strong 
 man was moved. I could see that a tremen- 
 dous struggle was going on within him. 
 Then I said tenderly : ^' I am sure that at 
 heart you are grateful for God's mercy. I 
 
 [236] 
 
A BUSINESS MAN'S CALL 
 
 am sure you mean some time to acknowledge 
 His help. Here we are alone. Isn^t it a good 
 time to settle this question once for all, and 
 to have done with a course of action which 
 you feel in your heart is not the course you 
 ought to pursue 1 " He looked me full in the 
 eye for a moment, and then, reaching over 
 a low refrigerator which stood between us, 
 he took my hand a viselike grip and said: 
 " I never saw it that way before. I never 
 realized how much I owed to God. If He will 
 forgive me I will own Him before the world 
 and serve Him as long as I live." I came 
 around to his side of the refrigerator and we 
 knelt on the bare floor and prayed together. 
 The ice was all melted and there were scald- 
 ing tears on his cheeks. The promise which 
 he had made in private he publicly kept, and 
 I shall never forget how the great congrega- 
 tion was moved, as they saw that strong 
 man, known throughout the city as a most 
 successful business man, go forward humbly 
 to the altar and take upon himself the vows 
 of the Church of the living God. He has since 
 " fallen on sleep," but he never ceased to be 
 grateful to God for the decision of that day. 
 
 [237] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 There had apparently been little or no prep- 
 aration, but his whole soul seemed to go with 
 his choice. God sends His call in different 
 fashions to different men, but the call which 
 each man hears is the best call for him. And 
 the only thing that is necessary is to say: 
 " What wilt Thou have me to do ? " 
 
 [238] 
 
XII 
 
 THE SILVER CASE 
 
 16 
 
The Bible is the book above all others to be read at all 
 ages and in all conditions of human life; not to be read 
 once or twice through and then laid aside, but to be read 
 in small portions every day. 
 
 John Quincy Adams. 
 
 "The old Bible is getting to be to us literary men of 
 England a sealed book. We may think that we know it; 
 we were taught it at home; we heard it read in church; 
 perhaps we can quote some verse or even passage; but we 
 really know very little of it. I wish, Reade, that you 
 would take up the Old Testament and go through it as 
 though every page were altogether new to you — as though 
 you had never read a line of it before. I think that it will 
 astonish you." He did it and was converted. 
 
 Matthias Arnold's Advice to Charles Beade. 
 
 Open the door of your heart, my lads. 
 
 To the angel of love and truth, 
 When the world is full of remembered joys 
 
 In the beautiful dawn of youth. 
 Casting aside all things that mar. 
 
 Saying to Wrong, Depart! 
 To the voices of hope that are calling you 
 
 Open the door of your heart. 
 
 Edward Everett Hale. 
 
XII 
 THE SILVER CASE 
 
 Aftee I had preached at one of the great 
 summer hotels, an elderly gentleman, whom 
 I afterward learned was a leading official in 
 one of the large New York churches, ap- 
 proached me and entered into conversation 
 concerning some matters which had been re- 
 ferred to in the sermon, with relation to the 
 study of the Bible. After speaking quite at 
 length, and giving many interesting inci- 
 dents, he said : " There is one illustration of 
 the power of the Word of God to hold a life 
 that is so impressive that I would like to 
 have you know the facts, and they can be eas- 
 ily verified in this hotel. It is now nearly 
 forty years since a young man was waiter in 
 the old hotel that stood where the present 
 splendid hostelry now stands. An old man 
 had been a guest at the hotel for several 
 years and had formed quite an attachment 
 for the young man who had waited upon him. 
 
 [241] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 One day he said to him at dinner : ^ I would 
 like to see you a few minutes this afternoon 
 when you are at liberty.' The young man said 
 he would meet him at the time and place ap- 
 pointed. When he came the guest said : ^ I am 
 an old man now, and perhaps have not many 
 years longer to live. I wonder if you would 
 be willing to do an old man a favor — one that 
 would be a source of great pleasure to him? ' 
 The young man said that if there was any- 
 thing in reason which he could do, he would 
 be very happy to do it. Then the old man 
 said : * The favor that I would like to have 
 you do me is to promise that every day dur- 
 ing your life you will read some portion of 
 the Word of God. I do not ask that you shall 
 read a whole chapter. You may be busy, 
 hard-prest with many cares, and not feel 
 that you could even spend time for that, but 
 I think you could always find time to read 
 a single verse. I have read God's Word 
 morning, noon and night for many years, and 
 I can say, as great men have said before me, 
 that I have been a better man for such read- 
 ing. I first began to read the Bible because 
 a friend of mine asked me to do it. I soon 
 
 [242] 
 
THE SILVER CASE • 
 
 became so deeply interested in it that it has 
 been a great delight to me all these years. I 
 have gained enough of this world's goods to 
 indulge every reasonable desire. God has 
 blest me in many ways. My family grew 
 up about me in touch with good things, and 
 I think the reading of the Bible in the forma- 
 tive period of my life had more to do with 
 my business success and my domestic hap- 
 piness than any other thing. I have become 
 much interested in you. I would like to have 
 you make a success of life, and I am satisfied 
 that if you will follow my habit in the reading 
 of the Bible, that you will feel when you are 
 as old as I am, that it has been a blessing to 
 your whole life. I don't wish to burden you, 
 but I would like to have you grant this favor 
 to an old man, if you feel free to do so.' The 
 young man said, ' I am sure, sir, that is a 
 very proper request for you to make, and I 
 am sure you have only my good at heart in 
 making it. If you are that much interested 
 in me I think I ought to be sufficiently inter- 
 ested in my own good to do as you request. 
 I am not known as a Christian young man, 
 but I will do this for your sake.' " 
 
 [243] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 As we had been talking I noticed the pro- 
 prietor, one of the chief owners of the hotel, 
 walking in the corridor. At this point my 
 friend beckoned to him to join ns. When 
 he had reached ns my friend addrest him 
 
 and said ; " Mr. , have you a copy of 
 
 the Bible with you?" He replied: "Oh, 
 certainly, sir; would you like to see it?" 
 Beaching his hand into the pocket where 
 most men carry a purse, he produced a 
 silver case approximating three by four 
 inches in dimensions, and half an inch or 
 more in thickness. My friend took it in 
 his hand, opened it, and took out a copy of 
 the Bible. Then he said, " I wish you would 
 tell Dr. Goodell the story of this Book." He 
 then told, in substance, the incident, as re- 
 lated by my friend, and said that as soon as 
 he had made that promise, he bought himself 
 a small copy of the Bible, so that he might 
 have it with him, as he was frequently away 
 from home, and was not always able to find 
 a Bible where he went. He said that he had 
 worn out several copies of the Scriptures, 
 carrying them loosely in his pocket. He was 
 never without a copy at his daily work, and 
 
 [244] 
 
THE SILVER CASE 
 
 it soon became marked and stained by his 
 daily toil. After several years bad passed, 
 it was evident to bim tbat tbe only way to 
 preserve tbe Book would be to bave some 
 suitable case. " Therefore," be said, *^ I se- 
 cured tbis silver case. It was elaborately en- 
 graved wben I bought it, but you will see 
 that it is now worn almost entirely smooth. 
 For more than twenty-five years this little 
 silver case has been my constant companion. 
 Wben I change from my workaday clothes 
 to evening dress, tbe first transfer I make is 
 the transfer of this silver case. I bave never 
 been to a day's work and I bave never been 
 to an evening party or entertainment that I 
 did not carry this Book with me. I bave 
 religiously kept my promise from tbe days 
 of my youth until this day. No day has 
 passed that I bave not read some passage 
 or chapter out of the Holy Scriptures. Often 
 when traveling by train, I bave grown weary 
 of other reading and bave opened my silver 
 case and read chapter after chapter out of 
 tbe Good Book. What the reading of tbe 
 Bible did for tbe old man who led me to begin 
 it, it has done for me. It seemed to bave a re- 
 
 [245] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 straining influence upon me in the days when 
 I was inclined to go with those who were 
 gay and thoughtless. Little by little it has 
 entered into my very life. I am not as good 
 a man as I wish I was, but I am a great deal 
 better man than I would have been without 
 the Bible. Years ago I gave myself to the 
 service of Christ, and the most potent influ- 
 ence in that surrender was this little Book. 
 I am sure you will understand what I mean 
 when I say that I could not live without it. 
 It would seem as if a most vital part of my 
 life was gone if this Book were taken from 
 me. In a long business life many proposi- 
 tions have been made to me that seemed ad- 
 vantageous, but the more I studied them in 
 the light of this Book, the more I became im- 
 prest that there was something radically 
 wrong in them and that I could not afford to 
 sacrifice my convictions or go contrary to the 
 Book which had been * a light unto my path ' 
 for so many years. I shall carry this Book 
 as long as I live, and if the little silver case 
 wears through, I shall get another. What- 
 ever time may do with the cover, I am sure 
 that the Book will never wear out. Its prin- 
 
 [246] 
 
THE SILVER CASE 
 
 ciples are as true and as safe to-day as they 
 ever were, and whatever changes the critics 
 may make in the form of the Message, the 
 spirit of it will remain unchanged. I have 
 proven the wisdom of the words of the 
 Psalmist: * Wherewithal shall a young man 
 cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto, ac- 
 cording to Thy Word ! ' And for myself I 
 still say, as I have said so many times : ' I will 
 delight myself in Thy statutes ; I will not for- 
 get Thy law.' I keep in the safe yonder the 
 copies of the Bible I have worn out." 
 
 [247] 
 
XIII 
 
 "A LITTLE CHILD SHALL 
 LEAD THEM" 
 
A woman in Glasgow walking along a street where poor 
 children were running barefooted, stooped to pick up some- 
 thing, which she rolled in her apron. A policeman saw her 
 and, thinking she might have found something valuable, 
 demanded to know what she had concealed. She refused 
 to tell, but the policeman threatened to arrest her. She 
 opened her apron and disclosed some broken bits of glass. 
 He upbraided her for picking up such rubbish. In defence 
 she gave this beautiful reason : " I thought I would take 
 them out of the way of the bairns' feet." 
 
 Margaret Bottome. 
 
 I had a vision when the night was late, 
 
 A youth came riding toward a palace gate. 
 
 He rode a horse with wings that would have flown. 
 
 But that his heavy rider kept him down; 
 
 And from the palace came a child of sin. 
 
 And took him by the curls and led him in. 
 
 " The Vision of Sin " — Tennyson. 
 
XIII 
 
 "A LITTLE CHILD SHALL 
 LEAD THEM" 
 
 I HAVE frequently said that no one has so 
 many cords drawing them to Christ as has a 
 mother. God has given her unspeakable dig- 
 nity. He has allowed her to kindle a spark 
 which shall shine on after the stars have 
 burned down to their sockets and gone out. 
 Once your child was not ; he will never cease 
 to be, and what he is for all the ages depends 
 more upon the mother than upon any other 
 agency in the world. God gave you a soul to 
 train, not for yourself, but for Him : not for 
 time, but for eternity. You are concerned to 
 know what he will do, but the thing which 
 interests God and the angels is, What will 
 he he. Character is greater than place. 
 Your child is not here to make a living, but 
 to grow a soul. What you can do to help in 
 that work must be done now. A little while 
 and it will be too late. If you have not given 
 
 [251] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 your own heart to God, how can you train 
 another life for Him? If, by and by, you 
 should stand outside a grated door and your 
 boy from the inside of his prison-cell should 
 say, " Mother, you never showed me the way 
 of a Christian life by your own example, you 
 never guided me into the path which would 
 have kept me from this shame," what would 
 you say? Absolutely nothing. You knew the 
 Christian path was the path of safety, but 
 you did not take it. You knew the snares of 
 the fowler were spread for the feet of your 
 sons and daughters, but you did not warn 
 them of their danger nor lead them to Christ, 
 their only Helper. And now it is too late! 
 May God in His mercy, save you from a 
 shame like that! As I have seen hundreds 
 of boys and girls in the church and Sunday- 
 school and have also seen what their home 
 life was, I have felt that there was little 
 chance that they would grow up in the fear of 
 God. There is no greater need in this or any 
 other country than the revival of home re- 
 ligion. If the children are to fear God and 
 serve Him, they must find an example in 
 their own father and mother. There are 
 
 [252] 
 
"A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM" 
 
 some of us who count as the greatest agency 
 in our development, the influence of a godly- 
 home ; a place where the day was begun with 
 supplication and ended with thanksgiving; 
 a home from which we went into the duties 
 of life with the consciousness of God's bless- 
 ings resting upon us and with an honest de- 
 sire to do His will. Such a life is doubly for- 
 tified, and the memory of such a home is 
 among the sweetest treasures which life 
 holds. In these days when pleasure and lust 
 and greed are making such shipwrecks of 
 love and home, our fathers and mothers need 
 to realize their tremendous responsibility, 
 and to feel that the only home which is fit for 
 the training of a child is the home where 
 Christ is honored and where father and 
 mother accept the responsibility of personal 
 allegiance to Him and of loyalty to His 
 Church. 
 
 In one of my pastorates I was called to 
 christen a child in a home of great wealth. 
 When I alighted from the automobile which 
 had been sent for me, and entered the beau- 
 tiful home, I found a large company waiting 
 for me. They were arrayed in richest gowns 
 
 [253] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 and wore jewels enough for a king's ransom. 
 The home was beautifully decorated and 
 every preparation had been made which love 
 could think of, or wealth procure. The 
 young mother, as she stood with the little 
 baby in her arms, was a dream of beauty and 
 rich attire. As the father looked at them his 
 eyes exprest the devotion of his heart. As 
 the couple took their places and the company 
 gathered as a background, I thought I had 
 never seen, in point of wealth and beauty, 
 such a splendid gathering. I read the Eitual 
 of our Church, and formally named the little 
 stranger, dedicating her to a Christian life 
 and praying Grod's richest blessings upon 
 father and mother and all their household. 
 And the service was over. Little groups 
 gathered in congratulation around the father 
 and mother and the beautiful baby. As I saw 
 the sweet little face and realized the future, a 
 great anxiety laid hold of my heart that that 
 little one should be trained up for God. But 
 neither father nor mother were members of 
 the Church, and as I thought of the demands 
 of society and all the temptations which 
 would press upon a child of wealth, I could 
 
 [254] 
 
"A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM" 
 
 not bear to think that the little one should not 
 have the restraining and uplifting influence 
 of a father and mother confessedly given up 
 to Christ and His Church. And with these 
 thoughts in my heart, I followed the father 
 and mother as they took the baby a little 
 apart and were smiling into its face. I said 
 to them : " I never saw a sweeter child than 
 yours and I am sure you would leave nothing 
 undone that would bless this little life. I 
 wonder if you realized just what you were 
 promising to do when you gave assent to the 
 questions I asked as we dedicated this little 
 life to God? I know you were anxious, fear- 
 ful lest the baby would cry or behave in 
 some way unseemly, and now that we are 
 here by ourselves, may I read you once more 
 the covenant which you have taken? " And 
 so I read slowly the pastor's exhortation as 
 set down in the Eitual of our Church; the 
 solemn admonition that the child should be 
 taught the nature and end of this holy sacra- 
 ment; that she should be taught to give 
 " reverent attendance upon the appointed 
 means of grace, such as the ministry of the 
 Word and the public and private worship of 
 
 17 [255] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 God, and, further, that she should read the 
 Holy Scriptures and learn the Lord's Prayer, 
 the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, 
 the Catechism and all the other things which 
 a Christian ought to know and believe, to her 
 soul's health, in order that she might be 
 brought up to lead a virtuous and holy life, 
 remembering always that Baptism doth rep- 
 resent unto us that inward purity which dis- 
 poseth us to follow the example of our Savior 
 Christ ; that as He died and rose again for us, 
 so should we, who are baptized, die unto sin 
 and rise again unto righteousness, continu- 
 ally mortifying all corrupt affections, and 
 daily proceeding in all virtue and godli- 
 ness." "And then I asked you, *Do you 
 solemnly engage to fulfil these duties, so far 
 as in you lies, the Lord being your helper ? ' 
 And you answered, * We do ! ' Now," I said, 
 " I am very anxious about this little darling. 
 If it had a fair chance in life I might not be so 
 anxious, but the fact of the case is, things are 
 very much against this beautiful little child." 
 I saw the father stiffen a little and his eyes 
 begin to flash. " If this little baby had been 
 bom in the straitened home of the poor, 
 
 [256] 
 
"A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM" 
 
 or even in a home where great self-denial 
 were necessary to meet the daily wants of life, 
 it would have had a better chance. But your 
 little child has come into life with a thousand 
 temptations waiting for her unwary feet. 
 She can satisfy every longing, and every in- 
 dulgence in pleasure or appetite will be with- 
 in her reach. As she gets older, designing 
 men will be attracted to her because of her 
 position and wealth. And the temptations of 
 social life will beat upon her in their fury, 
 and the very elegance of her surroundings 
 and the abundance of your means will make 
 more difficult for her the path of self-denial 
 and Christian virtue." I noticed the fire had 
 gone out of the father's eye and there were 
 tears in the eyes of the mother. " So now 
 you understand what I meant when I said 
 that this beautiful little girl of yours would 
 not have a fair chance in life. She is handi- 
 capped at the very beginning by the very 
 abundance which surrounds her. And now, 
 with all these things against her, and the 
 need that she should have a steady hand 
 and a clear mind and a consecrated heart 
 and a holy example before her, I want to 
 
 [257] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 ask you whether you think that one who 
 has never acknowledged Christ and who does 
 not live a life of devotion and pray, is 
 qualified to guide an immortal soul in the 
 midst of such dangers, to a port of peace and 
 safety? " They looked each other in the face 
 and were speechless. I saw that a greater 
 than human power was moving upon their 
 hearts, and when they could trust themselves 
 to speak, the mother said : " We would like 
 to talk this matter over when we can talk 
 freely. Would it be possible for you to call 
 soon? '^ I said it would be a great pleasure 
 if I might have that privilege. Two days 
 later I called, and was most cordially re- 
 ceived. I found that the Good Spirit had 
 prepared the way for my coming, and we had 
 a heart-to-heart talk about a Christian home, 
 and about the need of Divine help in so im- 
 portant a matter as the training of an im- 
 mortal spirit for an everlasting kingdom. 
 There were some questions to be answered, 
 and I tried to make the way of life as plain 
 as I could make it. I saw the seed was fall- 
 ing into receptive and honest hearts. Before 
 I left, we made an appointment for another 
 
 [258] 
 
"A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM" 
 
 interview, and in that second interview tlie 
 father and mother said: "We have thought 
 this matter over ; we have prayed much about 
 it, and we have decided that ours must be a 
 Christian home. We long to have the con- 
 sciousness of our acceptance before God." 
 I said : " Let us ask God for that here and 
 now." So we knelt together and lifted up 
 our hearts to God. The light broke, and 
 two hearts, by personal choice of the blest 
 Christ, entered into the joy of the Christian 
 life. The following Sunday they were re- 
 ceived into the fellowship of the Christian 
 Church. In the years which followed, as I 
 saw them kneeling at the altar in the House 
 of God, and thought of the way which God 
 had used to sanctify a home and make pos- 
 sible the training of the dear children in the 
 kingdom, I quoted to myself with great com- 
 fort : " And a little child shall lead them ! " 
 
 [259] 
 
EPILOG 
 
Let us agree, then, that Heligion, occupying herself with 
 personal destinies and keeping thus in contact with the only- 
 absolute realities we know, must necessarily play an eternal 
 part in human history. Professor James. 
 
 Do your joys with age diminish, 
 When mine fail me I'll complain; 
 
 Must in death your daylight vanish. 
 My sun sets to rise again. 
 
 "At the ;Mebmaid" — Brovming. 
 
 I bring to you that — the reality of sin and the reality of 
 a personal saviour, " through Jesus Christ." The deliver- 
 ance can be effected by a personal covenant, by the union 
 of two lives, by the mutual surrender of your life and of 
 the life of the Prince of Glory, the now exalted Christ of 
 God. Jesus Christ, who liberated the palsied, who freed 
 the Magdalen, is alive, exercising universal sway, and can 
 come into vital revitalizing, emancipating relationship with 
 every child of the race. J. E. Jowett. 
 
EPILOG 
 
 Now that we have considered together 
 these cases of the special manifestation of 
 the power of God in the lives of men differ- 
 ing widely in social position and intellectual 
 life, it remains for us to estimate the value 
 of these experiences in the light of the new 
 social science which forms so large a part of 
 social and religious discussion at present. 
 
 We shall certainly be met by a statement 
 that men are generally quite prepared to be- 
 lieve in the possibility of a changed life, 
 under the influence of some high ideals, and 
 that these cases of conversion are entirely 
 credible on such a basis. The question, then, 
 which arises is not as to the fact of these in- 
 dividualistic experiences, but as to their rela- 
 tive value. 
 
 There is a protest much in vogue against 
 all individualism. The preaching and prac- 
 tise of the Church has been growing more 
 
 [263] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 and more impersonal. In many quarters, to 
 ask a man to make an immediate choice of the 
 Christian life, or in any public way to sig- 
 nalize his desire to lead that life, is judged 
 an unwarranted breaking into a man's pri- 
 vate affairs, and it is called ill-mannered, if 
 not an absolute impertinence. Instead of a 
 discussion of the old personal question of a 
 man's relation to his Maker, there has come 
 a consideration of such social questions as 
 tenements, and parks and sweat-shops, trusts 
 and trade-unions and pensions. The preach- 
 er and the lecturer, the magazine and the 
 newspaper, are interested in man, not in 
 men; interested in his city or his nation, but 
 not in the individuals with whom he shakes 
 hands and who are looking up to him on Sun- 
 day, if he be a preacher, for some spiritual 
 message. 
 
 Few of our churches have made an increase 
 in membership equal to the increase in popu- 
 lation. One might wonder why this should 
 be, in an age when we are speaking not of 
 units, but of citiesf ul ; in a time when things 
 are done by wholesale. It has seemed to be 
 small business to spend a half -day finding 
 
 [264] 
 
EPILOG 
 
 Andrew and Peter and Philip, when we might 
 have addrest a large company on Indus- 
 trialism or the Conservation of National 
 Eesources. If we look about for the dispar- 
 ity between such wholesale efforts and such 
 infinitesimal results, shall we not realize that 
 there is some principle here at issue, which 
 we have not as yet quite understood? Of 
 course, it is always possible for us to say that 
 while results do not appear as yet in magni- 
 tude, we are doing foundation work. Some 
 day the foundation will be laid. Some day 
 the superstructure will lift itself in the eyes 
 of all men, and we shall realize the wisdom 
 of our toil. Or, to change the figure, the 
 mine is being laid. By and by the connec- 
 tions will be made and the explosion will 
 come which will overwhelm the giant wrongs 
 which for centuries have afflicted the people. 
 The question at issue in religion and the 
 church, as well as in society and the state, 
 is the question of Individualism vs. Collec- 
 tivism. There is much to be said on the side 
 of Collectivism. Dr. Charles W. Eliot, Pres- 
 ident Emeritus of Harvard University, re- 
 minds us in his lectures before the Univer- 
 
 [265] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 sity of Virginia, that all through the nine- 
 teenth century a conflict was going on in all 
 civilized nations between two opposite ten- 
 dencies in human society : Individualism and 
 Collectivism. Until about 1870 Individualism 
 had the advantage in this conflict; but near 
 the middle of the century Collectivism began 
 to gain on Individualism, and during the last 
 third of the century Collectivism won decided 
 advantages over the opposing principle. In- 
 dividualism values highly not only the rights 
 of a single person, but also the initiative of 
 the individual left free by society. Collec- 
 tivism values highly social rights, objects to 
 an individual initiative which does mischief 
 when left free, holds that the interest of the 
 many should override the interest of the in- 
 dividual, whenever the two interests conflict, 
 and should control social action, and yet does 
 not propose to extinguish the individual, but 
 only to restrict him for the common good, 
 including his own. 
 
 Individualism has a strong natural hold on 
 American democracy. In the first place, the 
 early settlers on American soil were in the 
 main Protestants, inheritors of the deep- 
 
 [2G6] 
 
EPILOG 
 
 seated individualism of the Protestant Eef- 
 ormation. In the next place the first Amer- 
 ican colonies on the Atlantic shore of the 
 great territory now called the United States 
 brought with them from the Old World only 
 the slightest traces of the feudal system — 
 the earliest successful colony, that of the Pil- 
 grims at Plymouth, none at all. The early 
 settlers were individualistic in their make-up 
 and temperament, as all pioneers are apt to 
 be, and their occupations were of the inde- 
 pendent, individualistic sort. The teachings 
 of Franklin and of Jefferson were intensely 
 individualistic. The town meeting, manhood 
 suffrage, and representative government, all 
 emphasized the potency of the individual and 
 the sanctity of his rights. 
 
 Now it would be interesting to take up the 
 principles involved in the individual and col- 
 lective life of society and government. But 
 that is a question too large to venture upon 
 here, and quite irrelevant to the theme in 
 hand. Nothing, however, could be more im- 
 portant in the work of saving the world to 
 God and to service, than a clear understand- 
 ing of the proper relation of the individual 
 
 [267] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 to his time and race. It is true that the old 
 Puritan was individualistic to the last degree. 
 It is true that Calvinism gloried in the in- 
 dividual. And it is one of the interesting 
 facts of human history that " the old teutonic 
 reverence for the individual came to its coro- 
 nation in the theology of a Frenchman." Dr. 
 Jefferson writes in a glowing sentence, 
 " Englishmen, fired with the belief that every 
 man of them was a son of God, answerable 
 to God alone, picked up the Bible, and with 
 it, as with a battle-ax began to hack and hew 
 the i3rerogatives of those who had lorded it 
 over them in the Church. The miters were 
 torn from the bishops' heads, and when good 
 Queen Bess and bad King James used their 
 power to oppose Christ's freeman, these men 
 resisted unto death. The men who made New 
 England what she is stood each man alone 
 in the presence of the Eternal. ^ Leave me 
 alone,' said John Cotton to his attendant, as 
 he started down into the valley of the great 
 shadow. The curtains were drawn about the 
 bed, his wife and children retired from the 
 room, and alone the greatest of New Eng- 
 land's early preachers met his God." 
 
 [268] 
 
EPILOG 
 
 It is doubtless true that too much empha- 
 sis was laid in the olden time on the saving 
 of a man's own soul. Much of the religious 
 literature of the time exhausted itself in per- 
 petually taking to pieces the souPs experi- 
 ences and analyzing them over and over. It 
 seemed like taking up the good seed daily 
 to see if it had sprouted. The question asked 
 by godly men when they met each other was 
 not " What have you done to-day to build 
 up the kingdom! " but, " How does your soul 
 prosper? " We frankly admit the mistake of 
 that sort of individualism. But, as a matter 
 of fact, there was a great deal less of it than 
 the modern advocates of socialism or col- 
 lectivism, in the Church or out of it, would 
 lead us to think. The Church began with the 
 rankest kind of individualism, and Christ's 
 teaching was, first of all, an individual teach- 
 ing. He had but few large congregations, 
 and some of those He sent away. He was 
 content to talk to individuals and to put in 
 most of His time for the three greatest years 
 the world ever saw, in the training of twelve 
 men, who were but poor students at the best. 
 But how did these men understand His in- 
 
 [269] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 dividualistic teaching? The Church was 
 founded because individuals laid hold of the 
 fact that, having themselves received that 
 which was a world-gift, they were debtors 
 to Jew and Greek, to bond and free, until they 
 had presented to them that which they were 
 commissioned to bear. The Church, in every 
 successful period of its history, has sung, and 
 loved the song: 
 
 "Oh, that the world might taste and see 
 The riches of His grace; 
 The arms of love which compass me, 
 Would all mankind embrace.'' 
 
 And so the disciples and their followers went 
 everywhere. They opened the baptismal reg- 
 ister of Europe with the names of those 
 whom they sought one by one. Their com- 
 mission was, " Go quickly, everywhere ! " and 
 " Lo, I am with you, even unto the end." 
 
 Who talks with a sneer, of the individual- 
 ism of Peter or Paul or Savonarola or Lu- 
 ther or John Knox or Bunyan? Was not 
 John Wesley constantly preaching that per- 
 sonal salvation was only a dedication for 
 
 [270] 
 
EPILOG 
 
 sendee? Did that little Oxford don refuse to 
 concern himself about the affairs of men? 
 What question are we interested in to-day 
 that did not stir his heart? Do we talk about 
 hospitals and schools and dispensaries, about 
 prisoners and paupers, about toilers and un- 
 fortunates? In every such question Wesley 
 interested himself with most practical con- 
 cern, and to the extent of tens of thousands 
 of dollars, a century and a quarter ago. So 
 far as Individualism ends with the individual, 
 it is a mistake and a crime. But when we are 
 told that you cannot redeem an individual 
 until you change the structure of the world, 
 I answer back, you will never reform society 
 until individuals go about the work of that 
 reformation, and individuals will never go 
 about that work until they themselves have re- 
 ceived a commission to do it from the King of 
 kings and the Lord of lords. In this world a 
 man does not come into the relation of a 
 brother to any man, according to the flesh, by 
 his own volition. His advice and consent is 
 never asked. He is a brother to the members 
 of his family because they have a common fa- 
 ther. And history shows us that the men who 
 
 18 [271] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 have most truly shown themselves brothers to 
 their kind were those who realized that God 
 was their common Father, and that they must 
 be true to their fellows because of their rela- 
 tion to Him. It is well to be interested in 
 communities and classes; to talk about the 
 rich and the poor, the capitalists and the 
 laborers, but we shall accomplish little 
 enough that is vital and far-reaching, until 
 our interests are in men rather than in man, 
 and our effort for individuals, that we may 
 reach the mass. We ought to do everything 
 to keep the atmosphere clear; we ought to 
 drain every swamp; we ought to clean out 
 every cesspool; we ought to stop every pol- 
 lution in our streams; we ought to hold in 
 the firm hand of the law every transgressor 
 against the comfort and peace of his neigh- 
 bors ; we ought to preach the rights of men. 
 But we ought also to preach, with tremen- 
 dous emphasis, the duties of men. We ought 
 to make more personal instead of less per- 
 sonal, more individual instead of less indi- 
 vidual, the duties and obligations which rest 
 upon men. We ought to be interested in a 
 certain rich man and in a certain beggar. If 
 
 [272] 
 
EPILOG 
 
 we fire at some definite object, we shall know 
 when we hit the mark. Many a preacher is 
 discouraged and broken-hearted because peo- 
 ple come no more to listen to him. The 
 trouble with him is that the personal note 
 has dropt out of his preaching. It is the man 
 who knows the personal needs of his con- 
 gregation that most helps them. Anything 
 which tends to make impersonal the work 
 of the Church will really militate against his 
 success with the community in the mass. 
 Men are not ready to fall into a great mass 
 of manhood, as a drop of water falls into the 
 sea ; they will always claim their right to in- 
 dividual consideration. 
 
 We make our plea for a more intense 
 rather than a relaxed individualism. Men 
 must be converted one by one. The cry of the 
 soul for personal attention, for individual 
 consideration, must be met by the Church. If 
 she fails to do it, she will reap a fearful 
 harvest. But we hasten to say, and to say 
 with all emphasis, that if the Church teaches 
 that every individual be saved from his sins 
 and made the heir of some future good, as 
 all there is of the Christian life, God will re- 
 
 [273] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 move her from her candlestick, for she has 
 no light for the world. Individualism and 
 Collectivism are not opposed to each other in 
 principle, and should not be in fact. When 
 a man talks of being saved, he must realize 
 that he is saved for service. He must realize 
 the full force of the Savior's words : " Here- 
 in is my Father glorified, that ye bear much 
 fruit. So shall ye be my disciples." 
 
 Is it the wretchedness of the home that 
 causes the saloon to flourish! Then, visit the 
 homes one by one. You cannot reform them 
 by resolutions passed at Cooper Institute or 
 Carnegie Hall. Is it the landlords that are 
 responsible for the slums of the city? Then 
 labor with the landlords, not through a maga- 
 zine, but by personal interest and solicitude. 
 What men need is some great djmamic that 
 shall be inspiration to their souls, which shall 
 strengthen their arms and quicken their feet. 
 That dynamic is to be found alone in the pres- 
 ence and power of Jesus Christ in the individ- 
 ual life. The liabilities of the Church of God 
 are unspeakably great. She is to be the salt 
 of the world. She is to be the light of men. 
 Her debt is to each individual who does not 
 
 [274] 
 
EPILOG 
 
 know the fatherhood of God and the brother- 
 hood of men. To meet that enormous liabil- 
 ity, her only available asset is the presence 
 and the power of the Son of God. If she does 
 not realize the first and has not felt the sec- 
 ond, she is a bankrupt, and the world will 
 face ages as dark as any which colored the 
 centuries in the long ago. The form of re- 
 ligious experience may change, but we must 
 know the fact of it. There is only one way 
 to reach a glorified socialism and that is by 
 the way of a sanctified individualism. It is 
 quite the fashion for men who think careless- 
 ly and speak loosely, to deride all thoughts 
 of a future life. We are constantly told that 
 this is the only life that we are interested in, 
 the only one that we know anything about; 
 we have no mission for ghosts. A preacher 
 almost feels like apologizing if, in a care- 
 less moment, the word " Heaven " falls from 
 his lips. 
 
 It is true that we are concerned about 
 the day which now is; that we are in the 
 formative period; that the eternities are de- 
 pending upon the days which fly like a 
 weaver's shuttle. But is there any good 
 
 [275] 
 
FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM 
 
 reason why we should forget the eternities 
 toward which all men hasten? It is true 
 that no evil can happen to a good man, 
 living or dead, but is there any reason why 
 every purpose of the present should not be 
 buttressed by the reality of the endless life 
 which is just ahead? Men may sneer as 
 much as they choose about the future, and 
 seek to cloud it with the dust of the fleet- 
 ing years and to drown its low call and ten- 
 der harmonies by the mad echoes of the 
 market, but history shows that the men who 
 have made the straightest path in this world, 
 were the men whose eyes were kindled upon 
 the eternities. Many men who were sad and 
 homeless here, who were bitterly disap- 
 pointed, who sought for that they did not find 
 and were sore buffeted, have comforted their 
 hearts and steadied their faith by the words 
 which Jesus thought it worth while to leave 
 as the solace of the comfortless in all ages: 
 '' In my Father's House are many mansions. 
 I go to prepare a place for you." So we may 
 be sure that until headache and heartache, 
 until tears and death, until temptation and 
 passion and ambition go out of fashion, it 
 
 [276] 
 
EPILOG 
 
 will be worth our while to interest ourselves 
 in the individual contest and struggle of the 
 men about us, and to deliver men, one by one, 
 from the sad and wicked things which press 
 upon the soul. The way of deliverance for 
 every man will not be to listen to the voice 
 of the crowd, but to follow the "gleam" 
 which God sets in each man's sky to lead him 
 by a straight path to certain victory and 
 peace. 
 
 [277] 
 
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