do not seem to me a part of the Christian Faith, which are not my views and are in no Catholic Creed.

I have written at length because I have written in haste. It is now one A. M. and I seldom sin in this way. But your letter was kind and good, and you will understand my reply. I go to my new work in Baltimore in a week and do not know when I could write after to-night. But I sincerely hope that I may hear again from you with more questions or explanations. My address after leaving here will be "The Altamont," Baltimore, Md.

I know the pleasure that is in store for my mother during her visit with you, and wish I could share it.

Dear Mr. Lawrence:

Sincerely yours,

Edward A. Lawrence.

Northampton, June 15th, 1889.

Your letter, with its clear statement of views and its kindly spirit, was received on the morning of the day on which your mother came to me. You can understand how fully that week was occupied. I think I understand fully your principles of faith. They are such as have been familiar to me from my early years. My stand-points are different now, but, by different paths, I think we lead up to the same spiritual results. I think we must, each and all, be faithful to our convictions of truth, after first seeking, with our best powers, to know what is truth. My views in regard to Jesus differ from yours. I do regard him as a "revelation of God," but in no exceptional sense, as differing from other great souls that have appeared upon earth, and, of course, as giving him no authority differing in kind from that of others. And so I regard Christianity as only another form which the religious sentiment in man has taken -higher and purer, certainly, than any other, but not the ideally perfect which the world may be yet destined to see. It has had the advantages of connection with a higher civilization. But, as science reveals more and more of God, with the eternal laws of the universe, both moral and spiritual, as well as physical, religious views, it seems to me, must be greatly enlarged and generalized, and freed from the limitations of one globe, or one man upon that globe.

Mr. Abbott has a printed discourse, entitled The God of Science. He has also a volume, Scientific Theism. Both are mere fragments of a work on which he is laboring, a comprehensive Scientific Philosophy, which leads up to the most high and adoring conception of God as the all-pervading, immanent Life, Spirit, Intelligent Principal and Person of the whole Universe.

With appreciation of your truly catholic spirit,
Yours sincerely,

Arethusa Hall.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE NEW FIELD OF WORK IN BALTIMORE.

"He most lives who thinks most, feels noblest, acts best."

Edward had been urged to supply for a Sunday the First Congregational church in Baltimore, but under the circumstances had declined to do so. Then a delegation came up to hear him, and as the result of their report, he received the following letter from one of the Committee:"Baltimore, Wednesday Eve, 10 P. M.

Dear Mr. Lawrence.

Our meeting just adjourned. Call unanimous. Not a vote against you. Closed meeting with doxology, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow."

Edward decided to spend a few weeks there, and then, if everything proved satisfactory on both sides, to accept the call.

The following letter is from one of the delegates to Sing Sing, Mr. D. M. Henderson, a deacon in the Congregational church:

My Dear Mrs. Lawrence:In what I may say about your son you will allow me to dispense with his title. I knew him best as "Mr." Lawrence, and in his modesty I think he preferred that style of address. I first heard of Mr. Lawrence just after the close of Mr. Slocum's pastorate here. Some friends of his mentioned his name to our Committee of Supply, but, learning that he would not come to preach as a candidate, as we then thought the proper thing to do was to hear everybody who wanted to preach and then make a selection, we dismissed him from our thoughts. But our experience of candidating was a sad one, and we learned that to investigate first and hear afterwards was the better method. In this sober second thought we remembered the man who would not be a candidate. Mr. Lawrence was then preaching at Sing Sing. The committee asked me to go up and investigate. I went and heard Mr. Lawrence preach twice, and noted the kind and amount of work he was doing. I liked

his appearance and manner. He struck me as being self-possessed, but not self-conscious, not too careful to appear clerical, and careful not to appear too unclerical. His unconventional style of prayer, with its entire absence of the rhetorical element so noticeable in most public prayers, could not fail to strike any one. His morning sermon seemed meant to baffle the "trial sermon" hearer, as it was wholly an Easter Allegory, and of course, could give no idea of his usual pulpit ministrations. One could gather from it, however, impressions of a good literary style, fine imaginative powers, and a still finer spiritual insight. The evening discourse on the "Golden Rule" showed that power of lucid presentation and illustration, and the gift of practical application, which after years proved to be strong points in his character. I made such inquiries as I could without making known the object of my visit, and received uniformly favorable responses. I was particularly struck with the remark of an Irishman, not officially connected with the church, "Mr. Lawrence beats any man I ever saw for making himself at home with everybody-the rich and the poor, the dirty and the clean." With what I had already seen and heard, this was the one word needed to decide me to report favorably. A second delegate from the Baltimore church visited Sing Sing, and his report agreeing with mine, Mr. Lawrence was called to the First Congregational Church in this city. Before accepting, he visited Baltimore, preaching on Sunday and conducting the mid-week services. His investigation was most thorough, including everything about the church building, from the basement to the roof. He questioned the church officers about their ideal of a church and its work; as to what reason, if any, the First Congregational Church in Baltimore had for existing, and what work it was doing, or was fitted to do, which could not be equally well done by the other churches in the neighborhood. Having, by observance and study of the field for several weeks, satisfied himself that there was work to be done, he consented to become pastor.

The

Immediately his genius for organization began to make itself felt. There was a general stock-taking of the material and spiritual assets of the church. The roll of membership was carefully revised, committees, which had existed but in name, were quickened by having definite work appointed for them and regular reports called for. young people found that there was work for them to do; the latelyformed and not fully pledged Y. P. C. E. took a vigorous start forward, and the children of the church were gathered together as a band of Little Pilgrims, the nucleus of the first Junior Endeavor Society in the state.

He had rare talent for using unpromising material. Persons, whom no one else had ever thought of looking to for help in any department of church activity, were asked to undertake certain things, and, doubtless to their own surprise, as well as that of other people, they did it well, and, from having a place to fill, came to have a new interest in the church and its work.

The pulpit ministrations of Mr. Lawrence proved very acceptable. The most remarkable thing about him as a preacher was his versatility. When you had heard him twenty times you could not guess what kind of sermon he was going to give you next. His exegeti

cal discourses showed him the thorough, open-minded Bible student, his sermons on questions of Christian sociology showed at once a wide reading and a personal knowledge of the subjects considered; his treatment of questions of the hour was always vigorous, without sensationalism, and passed unerringly from the apparent effects to the hidden causes. In the pulpit and the prayer-meeting he had a genius for making things clear. Here, as in his daily conversation, his nearness to and childlike reliance on his heavenly Father were apparent.

I need not write of the work he did for the city. Wherever charitable and philanthropic work is done, his name is known and his memory loved and honored. His work in the tenements was undertaken from a clear conviction that the salvation of a city could only come through such personal contact with the needy. This that he hath done shall be told as a memorial of him.

It was not to be expected that everything which such a man should undertake would meet with universal approval. There were those who differed from him, and in the latter days some things were said that may as well be forgotten. I only recall the fact because my admiration for Mr. Lawrence was greatly increased as I marked the way in which he bore himself in very trying circumstances. I found that he could meet on equal footing not only "the rich and poor, the dirty and the clean," but also the friendly and the unfriendly. Forbearing, charitable, yet manly and uncompromising where duty called, such a mingling of sweetness and strength in one man was something I found myself envying. As he honored me with his confidence at the first, I count it a privilege that I had still more of it in those last days.

Baltimore, The Altamont, June, 1889.

I have been through the leave taking of Ossinning Institute on the beautiful hill and of the dear ladies in it. I said good-bye to the girls in the hall right after breakfast, then in the library to the family and the teachers, going through it quickly that it might not pull too much on my heart-strings. Then I went up stairs for my satchel. As I passed out I found the household gathered on the porch waving good-byes. When I stepped down, the flowers began to fly, of which I gathered what I could and ran off, waving hat and handkerchief. I brought with me memories which I shall always cherish, of the teachers, the beautiful view from my window, my friends in the church, the Society of Christian Service, and the large, stimulating congregations.

At a meeting of the session, a minute was adopted in reference to Edward's removal to Baltimore, from which a few sentences are taken:-"Mr. Lawrence came to us under peculiar circumstances, to supply what was regarded as the temporary absence of our pastor. He took up the lines as they fell from Mr. Dwight's enfeebled hands. He has proclaimed the Gospel from the pulpit with decided

ability and spiritual earnestness; he has organized the young people into systematic effort for Christian service, and has commended himself to all classes of the church as a Christian workman that needeth not to be ashamed."

The writer adds, "The above would have been made. more full, but that we did not want to seem fulsome in our praise."

A few extracts follow from two or three letters by friends in Sing Sing. The first is from Miss Fuller, the present principal of Ossinning School.

He struck the

Mr. Lawrence seemed a very part of Ossinning. key-notes of all our life. No one who was favored by being here during his year's stay will ever lose the inspiration of his presence. And his visits to us after he left were always the most welcome events that came into our years.

Mr. Truesdell writes:

Mr. Lawrence was so dear to us all at Sing Sing, and the year of his pastorate here was such a bright page in the history of our church, that we have felt ourselves drawn near to you. You will remember that he came to us shortly after his trip around the world, his whole being aglow with enthusiasm in view of the work in the foreign mission field, so that it is not strange that his stay with us was marked by a largely increased interest in the great cause. He had seen and knew, and he helped us to see and know.

His work among the young people in Sing Sing was also notable. He had a peculiar power of adaptability, and before long, under his leadership, the Society of Christian Service was organized. The Christian Endeavor name was afterwards adopted in order to bring the society into closer relationship with similar societies through the country. The Christian life to him meant service, and no one that knew him could fail to see how unselfish that service was in every thought and act of his life. It was a rare life in its broad minded philanthropy and devotion to everything that was true and good.

I cannot close without speaking of what Mr. Lawrence was to us in our home circle. We loved to hear his voice at the door, and the children were always looking for his coming. He seemed to be quite as much a companion for them as for the older ones, and they frequently received the most of his attention. There were sad faces when we heard that he had gone from us forever, but what a wealth of comfort we all have in every remembrance of him!

Rev. Edwin Fairley, of Roseland, N. J., who was a teacher for some time in Mr. Holbrook's Military Academy in Sing Sing, and who attended the Presbyterian church there, sent the following letter: