CHAPTER XI.

CLOSE OF THE CHAMPLAIN PASTORATE.

Set yourself earnestly to see what you were made to do, and then set yourself earnestly to do it; and the loftier your purpose is, the more sure you will be to make the world richer with every enrichment of yourself.-Phillips Brooks.

In the summer of 1874 Edward's father was appointed a delegate to the Peace Congress, at Geneva, where he delivered an address on the "Progress of Peace Principles." It was a great satisfaction to Edward that this address was so kindly received, being published in London as well as in this country and widely circulated. His mother accompanied his father, and his long-absent sister met them at Geneva and returned to America with them, reaching Marblehead in November. It was soon arranged that Edward's father should take his place in Champlain for a time and give him the opportunity to visit his home. Being there at Christmas, he got up a musical entertainment as a welcome to his birthday sister. His playful programme, which has been preserved all these years, was very like him:

A Christmas Parlor Concert will be given on Dec. 25th, 1874. 2-3 p. m., by Mlle. Anna D. Lawrence, (just returned from Berlin), and Mr. Edward A. Lawrence, Jr., Pianist, Basist, Flutist, Preachist.

Champlain, Jan. 7th, 1875.

The lightning express train that I took from Boston proved to be more thunder than lightning, for we had hardly been under way half an hour, when something about the engine broke, and we had to wait an hour before they could get another. At New Haven,

I called on a number of friends. . . Mrs. Hume read me letters from Robert, who is actively at work in India. I took the boat for New York, reaching there early the next morning, and was at cousin John Cotton Smith's, at the Ascension Rectory, before breakfast. I had a very cordial welcome from him and his wife. They are a charming family. Nellie is very attractive, and Rolie most kind and attentive. Wednesday morning, I called on Mrs. Field, who was expecting King Kalakaua. She said many pleasant things about Anna, and wanted us both to visit her in Stockbridge... I spent Thursday night with John Lockwood, who has a fine boy of seven months. Friday night, I was at Alf Myers's. Champlain, Jan. 25th, 1875.

Father left this morning, for Concord, where he will lecture_at the Insane Asylum to-morrow, reaching home the next day. He has left a vacant spot in many hearts. It has been delightful to have his friendly counsel, always ready when needed, and his example to quicken my efforts. I have learned a great deal from his stay with me.

Of his sister, who was spending the winter in Marblehead, Edward writes: "It is pleasant to know that Anna is getting on so well. I think it would do her good occasionally to read an aphorism from Aids to Reflection. The time she spends with you now will be among the most valuable of her life. . . I must tell you of Gracie's prayer the other night: 'Bless papa and mamma and Willie, amen. I can't bless the babies because they haven't got any names.'

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I preached, yesterday, from the text, "What doth it profit, my

brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works? Can faith save him?" presenting the power to make men better as the ultimate test of the truth of Christianity, the only proof that it can do what it claims to do. There is in The Nation a review of Fiske's Cosmic Philosophy, which I should like to have father read.

To his sister:

You want to do something for Christ, but do not know how. In just this way you must work for him, that you live him; then you are doing something for him every moment. And every time you do anything to help any human being, and every little act of thoughtfulness is something done for Christ. And so you may like the world, not because it makes you happy,— long happy it cannot make you, but because it gives you an opportunity to help others and to live Christ. And you may love your studies, because they can make you wiser in helping others, and good music, because it can take you away from a common, selfish life, and make you purer and better. And when you love all these things in the right way, you will love Christ above everything else, and will never lack opportunities to serve him. Men judge only according to what is really done, but if you have a sincere wish to serve him, he regards that as something done for him. And thus beginning to live Christ here, you can never stop living him. But this great duty of loving all men-I wish you would write me, why you think we should do it, and what it means. Thunder storms, horses, all other fears, how shall they be overcome? Not all at once. Not by denying or ignoring the element of danger, for that lurks in all our life, but by steady discipline and increasing self-mastery on the one hand, and by simple, childlike trust on the other, which, in all danger, feels itself in the Father's care and lets his peace keep the soul calm.

The following is an instance of the many taxes on Edward's sympathy and shows what a hold he gained in the hearts of his flock.

But he had a sad task to discharge. A sick woman, whom he had visited, became delirious. She refused all medicine, thinking it was poison, but said she would take it if Mr. Lawrence would give it to her. He could hear her in the street, calling his name. He went in once or twice, but she rapidly failed and died the next morning.

The Glorious Fourth at Clinton Prison. Such was the head

ing of one of the papers. The account represents it as a notable gathering in the prison. After various vocal and in

strumental performances, and the reading of the Declaration of Independence, the prison chaplain, Rev. Mr. Ransom, introduced the Rev. Mr. Lawrence of Champlain. "The orator stood before us, and, without circumlocution, delivered an address which was pertinent, witty and moral. 'Independence,' he said, 'was in the air; everything was filled with it, even the pinwheels and fireworks of the boys cracked out independence.' (And, as he was speaking, the report of a mammoth fire-cracker resounded through the adjacent grounds, producing the greatest merriment.) . He deprecated spread-eagleism and expediency as substitutes for principle; ‘but,' said he, 'let the individuals who are the constituent part of our nation get right ideas, and become true men and true women, and as surely as day succeeds night, our nation will be prosperous, glorious and happy.' I have only to say that the orator would be creditable to any nation under heaven."

Later, Edward writes:

I have had a call from the church in Malone, which Dr. Bulkley has just left, and where Dr. Herrick was. It is a fine church, the strongest in Northern New York. I have no idea of going, however. So long as I remain in this region, I am satisfied to stay here. When I remove, I should like to go either West or East, with the stimulus of energetic life, or of cultivated thought. I am now translating articles of Christlieb's for the Christian Union.

On Nov. 30th, Edward gave a tea party at Mr. Cook's, his Champlain home. Of this Mrs. Stetson writes: "Mr. Lawrence invited some of the neglected young men that were going astray, saying to one and another of the ladies, 'Will you come and do your best to make it pleasant for so and so?' The result was a delightful evening and one to be long remembered."

She adds: "I never talked with Mr. Lawrence without feeling elevated. It was one of his gifts to put himself on a level with those with whom he conversed, making them feel that there was something higher worth striving for.

Then he was so earnest in pushing forward the repairing of our shabby church, that it resulted in making it one of the prettiest churches in northern New York. He was also greatly interested in the singing, and taught us to love a higher line of music than that we had been accustomed to. Oh! there were many, many things that were a help to us all, and his memory is precious."

About this time Edward writes:

We are seeing the results of our temperance work last spring. For the first time there is no place in Champlain where liquor can legally be sold. A year ago, there were twelve. Drunkards too have been saved.

To-morrow, I start an evening school for our French people, from which I hope a great deal.

One of his church members speaks of this school as being very successful, several old people learning to read under his teaching.

Friday evening, I go seven miles, to give a lecture on Germany, for the benefit of the Sunday School there. Thanksgiving Day we had a fine audience. People came who had not attended a thanksgiving service for twenty years.

March 1st.

I have had a letter from some one in Virginia, who has heard father preach in Orford, N. H., and writes:-"I enjoyed hearing him so much. A grand example of a holy life, he hardly seems to be of this earth. He always reminded me of John, the beloved disciple. I could sit for hours and hear him tell in his affectionate, childlike way of the love of Christ, and of God's mercies." It does me good to find tather so appreciated. I value such words about him more than any praise to myself. May I only be a worthy son!

There is no translation of Rothe's Ethics. It would be almost impossible to translate. But he has been meat to me. You may remember that I studied him with Dorner, in Berlin. Kant and Schleiermacher and Rothe are the German thinkers to whom owe most, but particularly Schleiermacher. I am studying the history of the Israelites, in connection with the Sunday School lesson, and grow more and more impressed with my subject. I mean to begin with the very beginning and in the next two or three years study carefully down to the time of Christ. I see more and more how necessary is a careful study of the history and geography to a fair understanding of the Old and New Testament, and that the study of Exegesis really depends on this preliminary or connected study of history. Ewald is grand, a complete master