It is understood that the design of this anniversary does not confine the speaker to that theme which is at first naturally suggested, but permits as wide a range of topics as would be proper for any Christian educational institution. On some past occasions, able lessons have been given on female education, in discourses that will long be preserved and read by the friends of this enterprise; exhibiting the excellent and now tried principles on which it is based, and enforcing the right of the daughters of our land to the best opportunities for intellectual improvement. A consciousness that I can add nothing valuable on this subject forbids me to resume the discussion. The practical results of the plan here adopted, invite examination, and render unnecessary any additional speculation or defence.
This seminary is deeply planted in the sympathies of the people, not only because of the intrinsic excellence of its organization, but because it is directly connected with the moral and religious interests of the country and of the world. It counts its monuments in the many useful minds it has trained to occupy the ordinary relations of life; in a catalogue of others fulfilling the high vocation of teachers in different parts of the land; and still in others, already a noble band, who have given themselves to the heathen. It is making its delightful progress on a broad Christian foundation, identifying itself with the designs of a sanctified benevolence. It has been adopted as an important agent in elevating mind and in multiplying sound moral influences in the nation. I will hope, then, that it will not be out of place to introduce to your attention as the subject of this address, - Christian love, the essential element of moral power.
Man has long studied his moral position, and made various appliances to rectify it. His failures : have often resulted from ignorance or misapplication of the true principle of improvement. A scheme designed for this end must stand or fall by this test, - Does it contain in itself the principle of regeneration? The question is not - Is it something new or something old? - Has it received the seal of the reputed philosopher? or - Does it meet with the patronage of the rich and great? These are accidents that may or may not belong to it. The essential question is - Does it contain the regenerating power? In this day of multiplied agencies for the promotion of human welfare, it is important to determine and exalt that principle which is indispensable to success. Omitting to do this, we may spend much time in vain in constructing and working the machinery. We would seek after the true element of power. We would find out and magnify, as we may be able, the principle that must originate and control a successful enterprise for the recovery of man.
The philosopher long sought that principle in nature on which depended the harmony of the material creation. The fact itself and its phenomena were visible, but the interpretation was long desired in vain. The discovery formed an epoch in the history of mind. Ever since, man has been an admiring believer in that principle on which depends the harmony of nature. God made the world of mind with capacity for harmony. A part of it has fallen into disorder; but a great work of restoration in reference to man is ultimately to be accomplished. The perfection of mind will be seen when it moves around its centre true to its orbit; all parts of the moral sphere balanced in undisturbed attraction, and reflecting the radiance of the central source of light. What is this principle of moral gravitation? What is that emanation of the Infinite mind, which, acting on other minds, will hold them in union with the Infinite? What is it that binds holy angels to the throne, and wings them to the distant post of service? What is that which, fixing its grasp on human mind, will link it with angels and with the throne? The answer of Christian philosophy and the Bible is, love. Love as a principle to be the spring of action. Love as an affection, having for its first object, God; for its second, man - man everywhere, in his entire being and interest. It has been denominated philanthropy, sympathy and benevolence. But the name by which it is known in heaven is, love. Its author brought it to earth and called it, love. Here it remains, the same divine, controlling element of mind - that which is to be the chain between earth and heaven, when earth shall move again in harmony with heaven. We believe it is written, not only in the hopes of human hearts, and in the results of philosophical speculation, but in the decisions of eternal truth, that this part of the moral world will be brought again into its sphere, and be hung with the beauty of Eden. We as firmly believe that whatever may be the aspirings of human wisdom to a supremacy of influence, and whatever may be the inventions of a proud philosophy, we have the grand element of this moral restoration in Christian love. The machinery is left for the wisdom of man to construct and apply, but as the moving spring of that machinery, we must have this vital principle.
The student of the middle ages went into his laboratory to work out the grand renovator of the world, the philosopher's stone. The object of his search floated in his imagination, and inspired him with a purpose above the influence of delay and disappointment. He feasted his soul with the expected fruits of his discovery, when he should have produced that which would renew the face of nature, clothe the world in primeval beauty, and be a cure for all the evils which afflict the race. We gaze with wonder at the mystic configurations in the cell of the philosopher; we hear the noise of the explosion in which he and his instruments have perished. As we walk among the fragments, holding in our hands the true philosopher's stone, we involuntarily wish for the moment we could revive that spirit, rekindle that inquiring eye, and greet it with the object of its search.
The folly of men did not end with the dark ages in the schemes devised for the improvement of our race. It is true the same delusions do not reign. Mind is free. Its province and destiny are better understood. Under better nurture it has gathered new vigor and hope, and multiplied its resources. Suspicion and fear are no more aroused at the investigations and discoveries of a Galileo and a Roger Bacon. But our age, pronounced the age of light and independent thought, is distinguished by conflicting theories of moral effort. Freedom of mind has not secured uprightness of mind. With the increase of light many have not learned how to use it to the best advantage. It is difficult for some men to be satisfied with principles long tried and settled, and make them the basis of their exertions. They pretend that the old foundations are imperfect, so that they cannot get a purchase to advance. Their zeal is, instead of making a wise and earnest application of well established principles, to discover some new doctrines and erect a new foundation. If the results of their discovery possess but a seeming conformity to truth, they are easily made current. Hence, with many discoverers we have many systems, which necessarily involve a vast waste of energy.
It might not be difficult, if it were needful to do it, to find out the causes of these mistakes in the application of moral power. Doubtless a fundamental cause is a want of faith in the simple principle of Christianity which has been announced. Its power is not appreciated, because it works silently and gradually like the leaven. It is set down as tame and powerless. That is sought which is more visible and imposing. Turning away from a principle so little worthy of confidence in their own judgment, men have adopted the results of their own speculation. Now it is said that there is a virtue in law to reform humanity and deliver it from depressing and corrupting agencies. Zeal and energy have been employed in creating, by the force of law, the desired elevation of society - as if the unextinguished elements of corruption would long obey the simple voice of the statutes - as if there was an inherent power in law to accomplish its end, though opinion, will, and passion, are not trained to revere it. It has been judged that if government would withdraw the objects that excite avarice and feed luxury, establish a system of education that would level all the inequalities of social life, the deeply-rooted evils of society would be eradicated, and the millennium of human happiness be ushered in. By others, the constitutions of states and kingdoms are pronounced intrinsically wrong, as not having proper regard to the nature of man and the demands of his being. They make him better than the provisions of human authority suppose him to be. The relief they propose is, to remodel the political system - organize a new the social economy - break up existing educational systems - erase the family constitution - for there, it is said, are lodged the elemental evils of society. Man, in one word, is bad, because you doom him to be the child of circumstances which forbid his becoming better. Remould your external system, and then man will come forth renewed. This same spirit assumes the form of infidelity, and pronounces man a slave, under the restraints of Christian precepts and institutions: it would take away from him the Sabbath, and the peaceful light which it sheds on the moral landscape, that thus, with a more unrestrained existence, he may elevate himself to purity and bliss: it aims, without the aid of the "Father of lights," to reason out a scheme for man's emancipation from evil, on the basis of a divinity within him, of which he only needs to become conscious, and a voice proclaiming liberty to his captive soul is made effectual.
These and such as these are the theories that have now and then come up on the surface of the common mind, like bubbles on the water, and floated awhile, soon to vanish. None of them have settled down among the deep and intelligent convictions of the people. In their most popular garb and with the strongest advocacy, their utter emptiness has been discerned. But these experiments have not been in vain. They have demonstrated that the necessities of man demand something more than the devices of a superficial philosophy, which overlooks the foundation of all his woes. If for a time they have diverted attention from the truth, that attention has been recalled to it, in many cases, with new convictions of its value. It is an easy thing to kindle a light which many for a season shall regard as a light from heaven, and showing the way to bliss. Such are the susceptibilities of man and the connections of his social existence, that it is an easy thing to circulate a scheme which proposes for its end the welfare of the human family. But it is strange that experience has not taught the world long ago to plant its hopes on something better than the novelties of the schemer, or the plans which, though good as far they go, do not include the Christian principle. After looking at man laboring so long with his alembic and crucible and processes of moral distillation, to find the principle which, in the faith of the ancient philosopher, resided in nature, it is refreshing to turn to the simple Gospel element as the mainspring of power for the recovery of man. Simple as it is, philosophy never dreamed it. The philosophy that now rejects it proclaims its own folly. The importance of this regenerating principle to the designs of philanthropy deserves illustration.
The influence of the love of Christianity is requisite to form the best type of philanthropic character. In the work of philanthropy, character, in an eminent degree, is power. Its controlling element is a vital point, both in respect to the end sought and the method of prosecuting it. Rightly-toned character is your capital. You will be bankrupt without it, whatever be your extraneous securities and pledges. Though you are able to presume largely on public credit, and to levy a heavy tax on public sympathy, after a few paroxysms of effort your resources must fail. For want of careful oversight here, the world has wept over many failures. Organizations may operate largely for a time, even with such a deficiency; but they must at length come to nought, leaving their ruins to be repaired by the next generation, under all the disadvantages of an impaired public confidence.
The character of the philanthropist must combine those elements which will secure the direction of its power to the best ends in the use of the best means. Ambitious and selfish men may assume his title and his offices, but in view of the motives that govern them, you have no security that their resources will not be misapplied. Their controlling passions will be very prone to warp the conscience, and leave the mind to rush to its achievement unsustained and unguided by a calm, clear-sighted intellect. The moral tone of such a character is defective. No place is found for meekness of wisdom, reverence for principle and experience, or for attractive condescension. The voice that speaks is likely to have the emphasis of simple will, naked and stern, rather than that of intelligent, unyielding conviction. Hence it is not adapted to bring under its sway the convictions of others.
Character sends forth its influence in silent streams. When it is known and read of all men as pure and true, it encompasses argument with unwonted force. It stamps the seal of commendation on the scheme with which it is allied. It is the source of conviction in the unbelieving, and of a fixed purpose in the doubtful mind. Almost all our great enterprises in education and in morals which stand the test of time, struggled into being amid many difficulties. Their claims did not command the favor of the people, on account of their popularity. Where they were not openly disputed, they generally encountered a cold indifference. They were indeed adapted to secure approbation when honestly canvassed. But they would never have received a general response but for the wisdom, discretion, energy and disinterestedness of those who advocated them. Experience has taught us that an enterprise may have the air of a blessed instrumentality, and yet, for want of the guidance of pure, pervading principle in its origin and progress, it may come to nought. An intellect may be capable of a fruitful devotion to human weal, and seem bent on such a design, and yet corruption in the heart may disguise its motives and aims, and thus become fatal to healthy effort.
The character of the philanthropist puts on the moral tone and symmetry which qualify it for successful enterprise in the proportion in which Christian principle moulds it. Under its prevailing power the mind is brought into harmony with the spirit of Him who is the model of "vicarious charity." In one form of its development it is the spirit of humility, which, instead of assuming to itself a superiority of wisdom, and embracing the work before it with affected condescension, hides the man behind the glory of his achievements. It is the spirit of one who would not be great, but who would do something great. It is also the spirit of disinterested devotion, which resists the influence of corrupting passions. Being inspired with love to true excellence and chastened into subjection to right principle, it advances towards its object in a path far above that of a mere mercenary philanthropy. Exalting that which is right, it moves with a firm and upright purpose. It is the spirit of confidence in the true source of help, and is thus fortified against obstacles. It knows where to look for success, and how to wait for it; so that it is not prone to mistake a delay of victory for a total defeat. Sometimes, like Him to whose spirit it is conformed, it performs its greatest work and makes its greatest sacrifices when unsustained by the sympathy and support of others. This principle of which I speak goes far to rectify the moral disorder out of which irregular manifestations of energy so often spring. It does much to purify the moral vision, and thus aids in forming a proper estimate of the relations of the work to be done, and of the means of accomplishing it. It is a permanent source of power in the character; so that its efficiency does not depend on ever-changing circumstances. The energy awakened and controlled by it has a support that carries it triumphantly over difficulties, and leads it to attempt still nobler deeds amid disasters.
Such a philanthropic character embraces the blended conviction of privilege and obligation. While it is not wanting in the robust constitution requisite to carry burdens and breast the storm, it unites with it a true humility, a graceful meekness, and a holy facility of effort. The spontaneous compassion of nature, sometimes fitful and misdirected, becomes the steady flow of a benevolence which has its source in enlightened principle. The slumber and exhaustion are avoided which so often occur when the energies are set in motion only by a constitutional fervor.
We want such a philanthropy. We want not that which is tall and bulky, by reason of the inflation of pride and ambition, but that which has taken its lessons at the feet of the Great Teacher. We want that which wears the humility and sincerity growing out of the sentiment of moral obligation. We want not that unsteady philanthropy which depends on the temporary emotions of an occasion; nor that sentimental benevolence which is fed by the imagination; but that which is vigorous and steadfast, being based on knowledge and principle. We want not that which reasons out its schemes on the basis of a moral code constructed in ignorance, and wanting the imprint of the Divine Lawgiver; but that which recognizes the principles of the divine economy, and gives the law and the providence of God the place which belongs to them. We want that which "lives and moves and has its being" in the atmosphere of truth and love. Such a philanthropy will blend in the character "awful serenity and gentle mercy." Dignity of principle will go forth clad in well-proportioned zeal. In the place of spiritual arrogance and the zealot's fire, there will be found the modest and bland spirit, in which energy, without being prostrated or enfeebled, obeys the voice of wisdom. Such are the qualifications of character imparted by the great principle of Christianity for moral effort.
It is a characteristic of this Gospel principle that it directs our efforts to the foundation of man's ruin and debasement. A finished achievement in the enterprise of the world's regeneration will never be witnessed until this is recognized as the guide to our exertions. The ruin of man is moral. His errors in opinion, and departures from rectitude in practice, are the consequence of a radical defection of his nature. The foundations of his moral being are out of place. It follows that any power which does not reach these foundations will never restore him to truth and uprightness.
The attention of the age is turned to education as the source of elevation to the race. There is much becoming inquiry in respect to systems of education; so that the reporter on this subject from Scotland or from Germany is heard with great eagerness. It will be well if some things which are old are not forgotten amid the coming in of things which are new. The confidence reposed in an educational system may be wholly unjustifiable, with reference to moral achievements. It will be inefficient in this respect if it does not so embody the pure Gospel element as to give it a direct agency in the formation of character. It is true, a system would not be regarded with favor for a moment which was studiously separated from all religion. But it is possible to distinguish it with only a sickly, tame and negative theology, which entirely overlooks the wants of man. A system of education may be made universal in a nation; it may be comprehensive in science, thorough in physical and mental discipline; it may stamp its impress on one whole age, and yet fail to accomplish the moral regeneration of the people, by omitting to employ the true regenerating principle. It may greatly improve the habits and taste, and refine the coarse and rampant passions; but it brings no agency to bear on the young which will elevate them to moral purity. It wants the power which awakens our nature to a consciousness of its necessities and responsibilities, while it purifies the elements of character. The Institution on whose anniversary we now attend, was planted under the deep conviction of the necessity of having such a power infused into it. It is for the daughters of our country a happy example of the moral power of an educational system. May it live to spread its benign influence through many generations!
Under the name of religion, a religion of forms, a religion of ecclesiastical manoeuvre and dictation, of invested rights for the few, and of subjection or imitation for the many, you may propound a system promising hope and life to the world. With wealth, industry and device you may sweep an entire people within its enclosure - holding down the energies of mind under massive forms - putting conscience and interest and destiny in the keeping of a human representative and mediator; and yet man be made nothing better, but rather worse. He is not restored to his true manliness, either in his principles, habits or hopes. You take away more than you give. You shut his eyes, bind him hand and foot, and make him believe that you are carrying him to bliss, instead of pouring upon him the light that reveals his duty and happiness, and laboring to plant within the elements of freedom, peace and excellence. You exclude him from the sphere of privilege and action in which, as a creature of God and a child of immortality, he ought to live.
You may construct a system of external morality. In point of rigor, its laws may be all that can be asked. Disobedience to them may involve severe temporal penalties. They may be enforced on human regard by most earnest pleas. Under such a system you may rally your forces to the attack of social evils in their different forms, and, so far as you demolish them, accomplish a good work; but in that accomplishment you have not laid the foundation of permanent social purity and elevation. Having applied your agency only at the extremity of current of evil, the fountain of it is not dried up, but is ever ready to break over the barrier and fill the old channel. The evils to be removed are not simple masses of corruption, to be gathered up by a mechanical force and thrown away; they are the outflowings of an inward corruption. If not checked at their source, the work done is temporary. External restrictions are not to be cast aside as useless; but they are not to be relied on for penetrating to the centre of social evils with an eradicating power.
We come, then, to that in which consists the philosophy of a sound moral reformation. It is found in the application of Christian principle to the heart of man. Let his nature speak, and it tells you what he wants. It utters the truth, in the light of which the scheme should be constructed which is designed for his benefit. It reveals the secret of the evils from which you would deliver him. They have their root within him. They are not generated by the relations of society, nor by the defective arrangements of the social economy, nor by imperfect systems of education. These may be the causes of a bolder development of them. They may swell the stream, but they are not the fountain. Let them receive most diligent investigation and all possible improvement, so that instead of aggravating man's woes they may contribute to his intellectual and moral elevation. But his nature remonstrates, because you do not consider what he is, and apply the power that will reach the heart of social evil. Many a council held on this great subject has come to nought by not calling in the simple teachings of Christianity, which furnish the true method of attaining the desired object. Human wisdom has overlooked it. Human pride has disdained it as powerless. But if the law of adaptation is worth anything in reference to moral means and ends, then we must mainly rely on the great Christian principle, because it strikes at the foundation of human debasement and misery.
This element of moral power is not recommended by its novelty; yet it demands a most earnest consideration. On the application of it depends the successful prosecution of the work committed to our hands, especially in the cause of education and sound morality. It may be proper now to consider some illustrations of the action of this principle.
The moral revolution which, distinguished the first three centuries of the Christian era is an example worthy of our study, both in the characters of the men engaged in it, and in the means by which it was achieved. What is that element of power, the presence of which will interpret the wonderful movement? I ask not merely for the names of its instruments, for their toils and sufferings, or their skill and courage in action. As you see them moving forward triumphantly, the gates of cities thrown open to them, the Gospel banner waving from the towers, Christian temples erected, and thronged with worshippers, you learn the courage of the men, the divinity of truth, and the omnipotence of its Author. You behold a zeal which came forth in such manly proportions, and spake in such tones of energy, as will make it an inspiring example to the latest ages.
But is there not an essential principle involved in this experiment, that can be traced through its whole progress, in the men who conducted it, and in the method of their operation? It is well said by Neander, "The spiritual atmosphere was pregnant with ideas which served to prepare a more susceptible soil for Christianity and its leading doctrines, and to form a background for giving relief to the exhibition of the divine transactions which it announced." We give this fact its proper place and consideration in relation to the movement; but we still inquire after the principle of life and power that pervaded it. This movement was not superficial and trackless, leaving the body and heart of things as it found them, such as would be created by a gust of passionate zeal, expending its force at hap-hazard. It struck down at the roots of old systems, compacted and settled. It penetrated to the centre of frozen masses, and melted them. There was a power not merely to change opinions long planted and deeply rooted, but to change the soil in which they grew; not to wrench mind into new shapes, but to work it over as by a leavening process into new and beautiful proportions. What was it moving in and through the men which enabled them to move so effectively on the minds of others? It was love. Every energy was pervaded and warmed by it; every step was guided by it; every tone was mellowed by it. Its very atmosphere was made to pervade the scene of action. The result flowed from the action of individual minds controlled by it. It was an action which no temporary policy nor conventional laws could awaken or repress. Truth in love first wrought in them, "as a gentle spring or water-source, warm from the genial earth, and breathing up into the snow-drift that is piled over and around its outlet, turning its obstacle into its own form and character, and as it made its way increasing its stream." It was something back of the eloquence of human tongues which made that eloquence burn. It was the deep-stirring passion which truth had awakened which sent those men forth with truth to the world. One writer has remarked, "When a man acquires a new truth, when his being, in his own eyes, has made an advance, has acquired a new gift, immediately there becomes joined to this acquirement the notion of a mission." This is said in relation to truth in general. Such in an eminent degree is the nature of Gospel truth, that the experiment of' its efficacy by the individual creates an impelling power "to carry out of himself the change which has been accomplished within him." This power is love. Such a process was evidently wrought in the men who headed that revolution; and love, as the moving power, is continually apparent. The infidel has analyzed their character, believing that he should discover in it fanaticism, or some other earthly principle, as the basis of that moral revolution. But there is the unforced development of mind, under the power of Christian love, too plain to be mistaken.
Paul was a fanatic when an opposer of the truth. But that is not the temper with which he seeks to deliver men from sin. His maddened zeal is subsided. The blaze of reckless passion is gone out. His strong arm is not lifted to wield the sword, but the truth in love. He devotes a well-tempered energy to the work of making plain the great principles of truth, and commending them to the faith of the people as the foundation of right character and practice. His energy remains unabated. He fearlessly opposes human corruption. The blow he strikes falls with all the weight derived from the presence of' love, so strong and pure, that he could not help striking that blow. He evolves truth in strong light. His mind now strides on with rapid step, and now pauses on some elevation of truth, and there discourses, in the full consciousness of the claims of his mission. But he always plants himself in the shadow of the cross, and enforces a morality possessing as its very life the principles of the Gospel.
Mark the manner in which the work of that period was conducted. It was not a systematic attack upon men in masses by a combination of forces. There was no scheme to conquer a nation based on the calculations of earthly policy. It was not an organized assault on external structures of society, in which government and public customs were interwoven. It was not a crusade against Judaism, or the mere forms of Gentile idolatry. It was the action of mind on mind, with the love of Christianity as the source and conductor of power. Truth was made to speak to the heart of the Jew, striking at the root of his blindness and prejudice. Spiritual truth was poured into the Gentile mind, whereby it was brought to throw off the chains of its bondage. It was a conquest over mind wedded to error and lust, and a destruction of sin, under the agency of the vital principle of Christianity. The men who achieved it were fitted for the work by the influence of that principle on their own minds; and it was in the enforcement of it that they had power over others.
In the reformation of the sixteenth century we may trace the working of the same fundamental principle. The evidence of its power is presented in somewhat different relations from those in which it was manifested in primitive triumphs. Here the mind receives the infusion of the pure Gospel element while clinging with servile devotion to the lessons and forms of a corrupt Christianity. It is met in its bondage with the voice of truth from the skies, and made to exchange a system of cold ceremonies for a free, glowing and intelligent devotion. But the power of that truth is illustrated as it entered the heart, aroused the energies, and made eloquent the utterance of those who led in that onset against corruption in faith and practice.
The historian presents the successive events in that moral revolution, and the instrumentalities that achieved it. He points you to the theses and the sermons of Luther, to his daring, his diligence and his prayers. You trace with interest the effect of every new treatise sent forth in defence of the truth, the history of Diets and Councils, and the edicts of kings. This is the chapter for history. This is the body of the thing. This is the order of the battle, the courage and skill of the leader, the number of the army, the noise of the onset, and the fall of the foe. But what is the presiding spirit in that conflict? We must look beyond the actors and events that meet the public eye and fill the page of history. It has been truly said, "The key to the Reformation is in the history of Luther's mind and heart and inward development. The different phases of this work succeeded each other in the mind of him who was to be the instrument of it before it was publicly accomplished. It is only by studying the work in the individual that we can comprehend the general work. They who neglect the former will know but the form and exterior signs of the latter. They may gain knowledge of certain events and results, but they will never comprehend the intrinsic nature of that renovation; for the principle of life that was the soul of it will remain unknown to them." We must begin with Luther in the education of his youth. We must go with him to the monastery and into the library, when he takes the Bible from the shelf, glances over its pages with astonishment, and says within himself, "Oh, if God would give me such a book for my own!" We must sit down with him as the developments of his heart take place under the power of the truth, as they are furnished in simple dialogue with his spiritual teacher, until he exclaimed, "How blessed are all God's precepts, when we read them not in books alone but in the precious wounds of the Saviour." This is the stand-point, Luther at the cross, from which you discern the principle that compassed the Reformation. Here you discover the secret of the power which, in words written and spoken, spread abroad with such vast results.
As the world asks what originated and urged onward the wave of influence which rolled over so large a portion of Europe, before which the pillars of Papacy rocked, corruptions were swept away, and mind was awakened to assert its rights on a new foundation, some are satisfied to refer it to the Art of Printing and the revival of learning, which so eminently facilitated effort, but which do not touch the philosophy of the movement. Many are content with the answer, that it was the courage of Luther, who feared not the Pope nor his anathemas - his courage in saying hard things and blunt things in defiance of the powers of earth and hell - as if in this they had reached the secret of the great reformer's power, they had found in it the model characteristic of successful effort in moral reformation. There was, doubtless, a demand for such an element of character; but it was also happy for the enterprise that Luther had coadjutors of another temper.
It is needless to say that we do not make little of the boldness and heroism of the great leader in the Reformation. His words are arrows - his sentences are thunderbolts. The portrait of that man, which every mind has before it, is that of one remarkably endowed by Heaven for his work. But in making the loftiest estimate of his gifts, of the very power of his presence, of the iron muscle of his mind, and of his exhaustless energy, we have not solved the problem, where lies the philosophy of the Reformation. The solution is not found in the first sermon that Luther preached against indulgences, important and timely as was that stroke. It is not found in the gradualness with which the work was carried forward. It is not found in his mental strength, moral daring or theological learning. You have the solution as you see that strength and daring and learning glowing and interpenetrated with the love of the cross. You have it when Luther, at twenty years of age, found that Bible, went through the process of reformation, and came forth with the simple, unquenchable love which the truth inspired.
In the modern enterprise of missions, we have a beautiful illustration of the power of love. Some have assigned to the philosophy of missions no other principle than the love of enterprise and achievement, kindred to that of ambition for power and conquest. Perhaps it is not strange that this has been mistaken as the basis of the scheme. In the language of man, there is much of venture in the work. There is an expansion of mind to compass a great object. There is a baring of the bosom to danger; a nerving of the soul to grapple with difficulty. There is a calculation of hazards, which hangs the future in uncertainty. It is a grand and bold enterprise. But it is not an enterprise attended with earthly glory, which addresses that passion in man by which he is urged into the schemes of a mercenary ambition. In its means, its designs, its difficulties, its whole economy, it makes its appeal to Christian principle. If you must have in the character of the missionary a native daring, a power of endurance amid sacrifices, in a word, those qualities which would cause him to be felt in whatever field he acted; yet he does not enter this field to apply his energies simply because they will find exercise here. Paul was made to attempt great things. He would have moved in a burning career of' achievement in whatever path he had selected. There were irrepressible elements in the man which stirred him to take hold of things not easily done. But why not hold himself to his dying day the champion of the invaded system of his fathers, in supporting which, he might have taken commission from thrones, and entered the lists with mighty minds? A spirit entered and controlled him which sought not simply a field of daring enterprise. It was the spirit of devotion to human welfare.
Study the history and analyze the character of John Ledyard. It was not in his nature to endure that which is calm and monotonous. He must look at some distant, imposing object; and the more troubled and perilous the tide of circumstances on which he moved towards it the better. The path of obstacles, of hazardous adventure, was the path for him. It was the fond hope of his mother that he would be educated as a missionary. The light of Brainerd was then just added to the light of Eliot; and the Mayhews, attracting attention to the Indian, and exciting sympathy with his lot. The educational scheme of Wheelock, in the forests of New Hampshire, looking directly to the welfare of the Indian, was just commenced. Young Ledyard, the child of novel enterprise, is soon enrolled in that Institution, a candidate for the missionary work. It is not strange to see him early embrace an opportunity to survey the field on the borders of Canada, among the Six Nations, and thus cultivate an acquaintance with the Indian. And is it strange that then and there the flame of his missionary zeal was quenched? It was not the field to gratify the mere love of enterprise. Follow him from the time he launched his canoe on the Connecticut, when he bade farewell to the College hall, through his enlistments, his journeys and perils, until he found his grave in Egypt, and if you are at a loss to discover a reason for his purpose to be a missionary, you can be at no loss to discover a reason for his resigning it.
It is true of the principle of love, that in its operation on the heart, it is remarkably adapted to meet the difficulties which attend the scheme of missions. It brings the faculties into subjection to its own commanding object. It begets a purpose that trembles not at opposition, and becomes, even in woman, the element of a sublime heroism. How far is it exalted in this respect above common ambition. Contemplate Napoleon on his Russian expedition, when his devotion to his object presented some of its most interesting developments. His master passion recoiled upon himself. His bosom was the scene of conflict and perplexity, which for a season not only rocked his frame, but shook his purpose. Enter his apartment at Borodino. As he is supporting his head between his hands, listen to the involuntary breathings of his heart: "What is war? A trade of barbarians, the whole art of which consists in being the strongest on a given point." Well might the passion of the man fall back and leave him to tremble before he lifted his arm to strike the contemplated blow. The object was not to him in that moment of light worthy of such a hazard. But what is the power of love over the mind ? It intermingles its influence with the energies of the soul, harmonizing and consolidating them for action. The ambition of the earthly conqueror made him tremble when it led him to hazard the lives of eighty thousand for the exaltation of one man. The love of the missionary makes him walk with bold step into the midst of obstacles, when he puts but one life in peril that he may carry eternal life to thousands. Its power is not dependent on the nature of the ground that intervenes between it and its object. The hazards through which it pushes to its achievement, cannot overshadow that object; and though it is noiseless in its action, and asks no banner nor trump, its victories are glorious. I have stood on the spot where Brainerd wielded the armor of truth, with the hearts of the poor Indians bowing before him, and felt an incomparably higher sense of sublimity than when standing beneath the tree, not many miles distant, where Mercer fell a lamented sacrifice for his country in the war of the Revolution.
The power of the missionary over heathen mind is found in the love of Christianity. This is the charm which dissolves the spell of delusion: by which that mind is bound. He discards the aid which men have invented, addressed to the senses and a darkened imagination. Christianity has no inhabited groves, no magic symbols, no mysterious incantations, no chest of ancient relics. She at once with her simple armor aims to break the power of superstition, and throws cords of love around the heart, to bind it to the true object of devotion. The objects in nature, clothed in the savage mind with a sacred awe, are disrobed of their false terror. The eye that sees "the forms of deities looking down on the earth in the beams of the aurora," is directed to the God who made the light. The hand that is dyed in the blood of victims slain for a sin-offering, yet trembling and uplifted, in dread of unappeased wrath, is taught to rest on the Divine sacrifice; while the voice of the humble missionary, in a tone of sweetest eloquence, pronounces the doctrine of redemption. He imparts no effective teaching until he strikes on this central truth. This is the voice that reaches the heart, answers its desires, calls it back from its gloomy imaginings to the true resting-place.
The Gospel herald soon learns what is the element of his power. It is love, when it is made the theme of his tongue and the genius of his living. "Now abideth faith, hope, love; but the greatest of these is love." Faith is an indispensable source of power in him who labors to recover this world from sin. It unites him with heaven. It imparts a steadfast mind in the presence of opposition. It is an eye to discern light through the darkness which surrounds him, and a hand with which to take hold of eternal strength. It was present with Luther when, that he might revive discouraged hearts, he said, substantially, "I looked out at my window, and lo! thick clouds like a mighty ocean, which I saw nothing to contain, nothing to hold up, rolled above our heads. Yet they descended not upon us; but after presenting a threatening aspect for a little time, they passed away, and a brilliant rainbow succeeded them. This was our protection." Yes, there is faith; and there is hope. It is a hope that rests on a firm foundation, and has the best of all warrants. Possessing a never-failing energy, it lives beyond the disasters of to-day, bright and undecaying. It hangs in the horizon of the distance like a brilliant star that never shuts in its rays, beckoning onward the toiling spirit, and nerving the soul for new effort. Now abideth faith and hope; but a greater than these is love. Love alone will touch misery and handle wretchedness. Love is the rod that strikes the rock and makes the waters flow out. Love embraces the object about which faith and hope are exercised. Faith and hope have no tears, but love can weep. This is the element of power in the moral recovery of man. When the history of the moral regeneration of the world comes to be written, in this principle will be found the normal character of the enterprise - its central, vital element. It will be to its very close a history of redemption. It must not be simply a gathering of insulated facts, when over the surface of the field the spots are marked on which important events occurred; and the men are named who were prominent in those events. The work must be described as the progress of mind, of truth and holiness, under the agency of Christian light and love. Not a naked historical statement, but the great pervading law must be developed; which is at once the law of interpretation and the principle of power.
This principle is put to the test in the movement now in progress for the conquest of the world. We will substitute no other. No intellect, learning or wisdom will work effectively without it. Rocks have melted before it, and walls crumbled to dust. We will still exalt it as the mighty instrument of success. To this a regenerated world will look as the means of its recovery. If the truth advance to universal triumph, its throne, its sceptre, its crown, must be love.