Life and letters of William Fleming Stevenson, D.D., Minister of Christ Church, Rathgar, Dublin

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Life and letters of William Fleming Stev

3 1924 012 529 073

LIFE AND LETTERS

OF

WILLIAM FLEMING STEVENSON,
D.D.

^^c?

^-^C^-^-t-W^.^-v^

Life and Letters

OF

William
Fleming Stevenson

D.D.

MINISTER OF CHRIST CHURCH, RATHGAR,
DUBLIN

By his wife

NEIV EDITION.

THOMAS NELSON AND SONS
London, Edinburgh, and New York

1890

PREFACE.

In bringing out this record of my husband's life and work,
I wish gratefully to acknowledge the help I have received
from many friends, and especially from the Rev. A. C.
Murphy, D.Lit., by whom originally it had been my desire
that the book should be edited. Circumstances, however,
prevented this, and I would here express my indebtedness
and gratitude to him for the time and labour he generously
expended in preparing and arranging materials, and for his
kind advice and assistance throughout.

To the Rev. Adolph Saphir, D.D., the Rev. W. S. Swan-
son, the Rev. G. T. Rea, and Thomas Sinclair, Esq., I am
also under deep obligation, as well as to those friends who
have kindly furnished letters and reminiscences.

E. M. STEVENSON.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE I.

EARLY YEARS.

1832-1848.

Birth and parentage — Early education — A great sorrow. 13

CHAPTER II.

STUDENT-LIFE.

1848-18.54.

Undergraduate days in Glasgow — Love of literature and music — Theo-
logical study in Edinburgh — College friendships — A missionary
union — Kingsley's lectures — Reminiscences by Dr. Saphir 20

CHAPTER III.

STUDY AND TRAVEL IN GERMANY.

1854-1855.

Hamburg — Visit to Wichem and the Bauhe Haus — At the University of
Berlin — Nitzsch — Hengstenberg — The Wingolf Chor — Strauss — A
German Christmas — Gossner — In Wittenberg and Halle — Tholuck
— To Erlangen — Hoffmann — Delitzsch — In Nuremberg — Study in
Heidelberg — Chevalier Bunsen 36

viii Cmtents.

CHAPTER IV.
EARLY MINISTERIAL LIFE.
1855-1859.
Return to Ireland— Death of his father —Mission work in Belfast-
Dangerous illness— Work at Bonn— Visit to Holland— Ministry at
Alfred Place, Belfast— Letters 67

CHAPTER V.

PASTORAL WORK IN DUBLIN.

1860-1886.

Call to Rathgar— Ordination— Origin of Christ Church, Rathgar — Growth
of the congregation — Church work and methods — Children's services
— Missionary enthusiasm — Letters — Pastoral visiting and sympathy
— Dr. SmyUe Robson 92

CHAPTER VL

LITERARY WORK.

1855-1886.

Contributions to Ediriburgh Christiwn Magazine, Good Words, Contem-
porary Beview, etc. — "Praying and Working " — Hymnology — Letters
from Norman Macleod and Dora Greenwell — Dr. Saphir on " Hymns
for the Church and Home" — "The Dawn of the Modem Mis-
sion" 119

CHAPTER VII.

VISIT TO AMERICA.

1873.

Death of his mother — Invitation to the Conference of the Evangelical
Alliance in New York — First impressions — Niagara — Chicago — Salt
Lake City — San Eranoisco — The Yosemite Valley — ^Account of the
Conference. 131

Contents. ix

CHAPTER VIII.

THE FOREIGN MISSION.

1871-1886.

Appointed Assistant-Convener — Origin of the Mission to India — The field
of work — Gujarat and Kattiawar — Statistics of the Mission — Mission
to China — Occupation of Manchuria — Letter from Dr. Morgan, the
Convener and founder of the Mission — His death — ^Foimding of the
Zenana Mission— Letters to the missionaries and to friends, of the-
Mission. 148

CHAPTER IX.
MISSIONARY JOURNEY ROUND THE WORLD.

1877-1878.

Widespread desire that the Convener should visit the Mission-field —
Resolution of the Board of Missions — Valedictory meeting — Across
America — Typhoon in the Pacific — Landing at Yokohama — ^Tokio —
Japanese Missions — Daibuts at Narra — ^The Inland Sea — ^Nagasaki —
Shanghai — Newchwang — Tientsin — ^A Chinese inn — Pekin — Southern
China — Landing in India — Through Travancore — Madras — Among
the Irish Missions in Gujarat and Kattiawar — Calcutta and the cities
of the North- West — Cairo — Return to Ireland — Reception and wel-
come by the General Assembly — His speech in reply 183

CHAPTER X

PUBLIC LIES.

1878-1886.

Abundant labours — ^Moderatorship — Royal University — Degree of D.D.,
Edinburgh — Inaugural address as Moderator — List of offices held in
1886 — Public lectures — Evangelistic theology — The Smith Lecture-
ship — Duff Missionary Lectureship — Appointed Honorary Chaplain
to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland — Burden of correspondence-
Overwork 223

Contents.

CHAPTEE XI.

HOME LIFE.

1865-1886.

Marriage — Orwell Bank — The father in his home— Letters to his children
— Pamily prayers — Bright Sundays — Holiday-time — Letters- to his
son at school 235

CHAPTER Xn.

THE END.

1886.

The last winter's work — Unconscious windings up — Death of his brother —
Last sermons in Christ Church— Sudden illness— Visit to Wales— Letter
to Mr. Swanson — The last days— Called home — The funeral 252

CHAPTER XIIL

IN MEM OH I AM.

Universal sympathy— Memories and letters from the Rev. W. S. Swan-
son; the Right Hon. the Earl of Aberdeen; the Rev. William
Beatty ; the Rev. Hamilton Magee, D.D. ; the Rev. Alexander
R«ntoul^ M. A. ; the Rev. George Shaw ; the Rev. Principal Paton,
D.D. ; the Rev. Professor Charteris, D.D. ; the Rev. Theodore
Cuyler, D.D. ; the Rev. John HaU, D.D. ; the Rev. J. S. Macin-
tosh, D.D 265

CHAPTER I.

EARLY YEARS.

William Fleming Stevenson was born on the 20th Septem-
ber 1832 in Strabane, a pleasantly situated and important
town of County Tyrone. He was partly English by descent,
the Stevensons having come from Cheshire to Ireland with
Cromwell, while the Flemings, the family of his father's
mother, as well as his mother's ancestors, the Mortons, were
originally Scotch ; but as his character ripened he became
an Irishman, with sympathies and aspirations wholly divested
of provincial prejudice. To this twofold descent he doubt-
less owed the tenacity of purpose, the unconquerable perse-
verance, and the lofty sense of duty which have combined to
render the Ulster Irish race such a remarkable factor in the
progress of English-speaking peoples.

His father was an exceptionally intelligent, capable, and
well-educated man, a lover of books, of music, and of scenery.
He had the faculty of making companions of his children
(rarer in those days than it is now), conversing with them
freely, reading aloud to them in the evenings, and taking
them for afternoon strolls through the glens and lanes of the
neighbourhood, calling their attention to anything strange or
beautiful in nature — a flower, a flight of birds, a rainbow, a
rising or setting sun. Thus their powers of observation and
sense of sympathy with aU natural objects were called forth

14 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

at an early age, and the result ■was, that the literary and
artistic tastes of the father were not only inherited by the
children, hut woven through the whole custom of the house ;
and, better still, the germs of a deep, reverent, and loving
confidence were implanted in the children's hearts. Mr.
Stevenson was more than a man of genial spirit, sound under-
standing, and literary culture ; he was an eminently godly
man, loyal to the Presbyterian Church of which he was a
member, and liberal-minded towards all other Churches.
Believing that the Church of Christ was not limited by the
bounds of any one denomination, he eagerly sought the bread
of life wherever it was to be found. His sympathies (as
became the father of the man who was one day to give such
a missionary impetus to the Christian life of his generation)
were most widely drawn out by the needs of the great
heathen world; and when the Irish Presbyterian Church
established its Indian Mission in 1841, he was among those
who most heartily welcomed the new enterprise, both for its
own sake and as a proof of the quickened life of the Church.
His house was always open to the deputations of the London
Missionary Society and other kindred agencies who visited
Strabane from year to year. The names of Williams, Moffat,
and Duff were household words among parents and children ;
and to the boy's acquaintance with these heroes of missionary
enterprise of different Churches and of various creeds may
be traced the beginning of that noble catholicity of spirit
which was so characteristic of the man.

Mrs. Stevenson was a woman of a most quiet, sweet, un-
selfish spirit. A devoted Christian, her religion took hold
of a character already beautiful and transfigured it. Her
influence and example were an abiding blessing to her chil-
dren while she lived, and at her death she bequeathed to
them the memory of a life of singular unselfishness, of
womanly tenderness, and of rare saintHness. She prayed
much for her children, and she prayed much with them : it

Early Years. 1 5

was at his mother's knee that the child first began to develop
that power in prayer which was through life one of his con-
spicuous gifts. Her mother was a remarkable woman, of
a highly emotional and imaginative turn of mind, and of
great power of endurance. In her later years she seems to
have lived abidingly in the presence and fellowship of God.
Many of her qualities — her enthusiasm, her sensitive sym-
pathetic temperament, and her strong force of will — were
inherited by her grandson ; while to his mother he owed his
gentle, loving disposition, his marvellous patience and. self-
denying consecration.

William Fleming was the youngest of five children, having
two brothers and two sisters older than himself. He was a
bright -minded and affectionate boy, gentle, sensitive, con-
siderate, but full of vitality and sparkle. He had a strong
and lasting love for an old Roman Catholic nurse who served
the family for thirty years ; and no home-letter was closed,
as long as she lived, without some kind message or reference
to her. From his earliest childhood he delighted in poetry,
and reading a passage once or twice to him was quite suffi-
cient to imprint it on his memory. When a mere infant he
could repeat an extraordinary number of poems and hymns
without ever being at a loss for a word. He often regretted
in later years that this power had passed away as he grew
up.

He inherited all his father's love for scenery. One day,
when a "little tiny boy," his nurse suddenly missed him.
The garden and all his favourite haunts were searched in
vain. At last he was found in an attic window utterly
absorbed, looking at a neighbouring knoll through a tele-
scope as large as himself. When asked what he was doing
there, he said he was "busy watching the cows grazing and
the shadows chasing each other among the rocks and over
the grass."

It was their father's strong wish that his two youngest

1 6 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

sons should be trained for the office of the holy ministry,
and in his plans for their education he kept this desire in
view. Accordingly, when Willie, who was four years younger
than his brother, was considered old enough, a resident tutor
was chosen to direct their studies. Mr. MacKeown, after-
wards minister of a church in Ballymena, and whose early
death cut short a career of brilliant promise, was rather
taken aback to find that one of his pupils was a boy not six
years old. On being set up on a stool, however, before a
blackboard, the child soon showed that he could draw maps
of various countries with the greatest ease and correctness ;
and his tutor discovered, to his great relief, that, thanks to
the broad and generous home discipline, the boy both knew
many things and could do many things not usual in a child
of his age.

He was educated by private tuition till 1844, when he
and his brother were sent to Belfast to live under the care of
their tutor, and attend the Belfast Royal Academical Insti-
tution. A number of letters written at this time have been
preserved. They are simple, artless, outspoken effusions,
giving full account of school-work done and holiday pleasures
and country walks, overflowing with affection to every mem-
ber of the family, the old nurse never forgotten; genuine
boy's letters from first to last, full of the warm heart and
open eye and gathering wonder of life.

The following extract from a letter to his father, written
in the round, unformed hand of a boy of twelve, shows how
susceptible he was to aU the impressions of nature :

"We drove to Cammoney last Sunday to hear Mr. M'Dowell
preach. The drive was the pleasautest I ever had, and the view the
most delightful I ever saw. On the one side was the Cave Hill,
with its dark, precipitous sides frowning over us, and beyond it the
rugged and higher Mount Divis ; while on the other lay the sea,
stretching away down between Holywood and Carrickfergus, imdis-
turbcd by a single ripple and studded with numberless ships fixed

Early Years. 1 7

immovably at ajiohor, while all around was quiet and peaceful, true
emblem of the day."

The two brothers were for the first time separated in 1845,
when Samuel became a student of the University of Edin-
burgh. He was a bright, high-spirited boy, clever at games
and boyish exploits, and idolized by his little brother, who
looked up to him with the unbounded admiration due to his
four years' seniority, and his greater prowess in all feats
requiring strength and muscle.

Willie felt the separation very keenly, kept up a close
correspondence with his brother, and was constantly looking
forward to the day when he would join him at the Univer-
sity. But that day was never to dawn. On the 17th March
1847, Samuel, who had already begun to make his mark in
the University, and who was at this time working hopefully
for the Greek and mathematical prizes, went out to spend
the evening with some friends of the family who lived near
the Calton Hill. He never reached their house, and not-
withstanding the most patient and persistent efibrts to trace
him, no clue to the awful mystery was ever obtained, and
the elements for forming even a distant conjecture as to his
fate do not exist. An occurrence so dark and tragic cast a
gloom over the family gladness, which was never afterwards
to be entirely lifted. Down to the end of her days, the heart
of the mother refused to accept the alternative that her boy
was dead, and she was always wistfully watching for some
token that he was still alive and would yet return to her.
The father's life was without doubt shortened by this agon-
izing suspense. The shock was felt most acutely by his-
brother Willie. From being the merriest boy, brimful of
fun and frolic, he became grave and thoughtful as a man.
His whole life seemed lifted into another groove, as if by the
heave of an earthquake, and the unseen world was made
very real and near to him from that day forward. The fol-

1 8 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

lowing extract from a letter writteii years afterwards, when
visiting his old homestead, shows what abiding impressions
the old home-life had left upon his mind : —

"Home is a relative word, and may mean two or three places in
one's life ; though I hold the first to be the sacred one, aa I feel this
evening, returning after a year and a half's absence. The old home
feeling rushes back, full of thoughts of the joy and gladness of child-
hood, of the early loving ways, of my mother's stories ; of games and
walks and playfellows, school and tutors ; the river frozen for weeks
at. a time, and the wonderful sUdes ; the contracted thoughts, con-
tracted to the narrowness of a child's world, but deeper and happier
often than the man's ; the intensity of pleasure and pain ; thoughts
of my noble-minded father, his delighted love for his children, the
strangeness with which I used to watch the occasional careworn
look, the pride I took in the respect which everybody paid bim ; the
household word he had become in the town for whatever was honour-
able, spirited, intelligent — above all, Christian. These thoughts
rushed upon me as I stepped out on the platform at the station, and

kept rushing in like a full stream the whole evening I paid two

visits to-day — one to the garden, my father's pride, a place that
educated his children in the love of flowers and in such culture of
thought as the love of be&utiful things produces ; and the other to
his grave. It seemed as if it were yesterday that I stood by it when
it was open, the tears and the duU drizzling rain falling together.
That is the most awful moment of life — the opening and closing. of a
grave. I felt his spirit close to me. I used to worship his character,
and he remains for me a perpetual type of a true man. "

After his father's death his mother resided chiefly in Italy,
and a few lines written on the eve of a visit to her, in 1863,
seem fittingly to close this record of his early years : —

" My mother writes the most picturesque letters, fuU of genuine
photographs of Italian life and manners. Costume, scenery, charac-
ter, all come under her notice, and are described with such a simple,
observant, graphic force that I tell her she has become a genius in
her old age, and is blossoming into youth among the orange groves
of the Adriatic. We have never been so long separated before, and
I grow very restless to see her. She is one of the most beautiful

Early Years. 19

types of the Christian woman : all the depth of a woman's self-
sacrifice ajid forgetfuhiess, elevated by love and dedication to God ;
very simple and unused to the world ; very shy, and blushing like a
child when noticed ; with a pious faith that flows over all her heart ;
with the simplest tastes ; she goes about the rooms like a silent
prayer, the prayer of a happy heart that shrinks from everything
but sympathy, and reveals itself only to God. Clever people may
attract us, but the good dwell with us ; the very thought of them is
fragrant like a wind that has blown over a garden. I never pray or
visit the poor without my mother."

CHAPTER II.

STUDENT-LIFE.

In the autunin of 1848, Fleming Stevenson entered the Uni-
versity of Glasgow as a student in arts, the intention of send-
ing him to Edinburgh having been abandoned after the loss
of his brother. He threw himself with great eagerness into
the work of the several classes, and the range of his study
went far beyond the subjects taught in them. His whole
student-life — and he never ceased to be a student — was
marked by intense application, painstaking accuracy, and
thoroughness. He had the rare power of being able to do
with little sleep, and, what is still rarer, he could command it
when he wished. This habit was acquired when he became
an undergraduate, and but too faithfully adhered to through
life. After a month's experience of college work, he writes
to his elder sister Mary : —

" This student's life is fearfully hard work — little sleep, long quick
walks, and close, continuous, never-ending study. Some one says a
student should sleep three hours and study seventeen. I go as near
to this as I can without injury to my eyes. "

During the three years of his undergi-aduate course, his
professors were Buchanan, Lushington, Sir William Thomson,
Eamsay, Reid, and Fleming. There is little to record of his
college work ; he did not aim so much at distinction in any
special branch as to lay a good foundation for acquiring com-

Student- Life. 2 1

prehensive and many-sided knowledge. In his first year he
began the study of German, and was fascinated by the wide
range of literature opened up to him by the acquisition of
that language ; and his extensive acquaintance with it helped
to enrich his thinking and to form his style.

To his sister Jane, with whom during his whole coUege
course he kept up a lively correspondence, interchanging ideas
on books read, and keeping her abreast of all his doings, he
writes : —

" I cannot well tell how I am learning German. I study it very
little, only about an hour each evening, and I am sometimes amazed
when I think it is scarcely a month since I began, and that now I
can read ' Faust ' with comparative ease, about eight or nine pages
in two hours. 'Faust,' indeed, is most captivating, at least so far
as a blending of all that is most horrible with all that is most sweet,
and delicate, and pure can be said to be captivating. My tutor is
not a disciple of the school of which Goethe was an eminent master,
indeed he holds strong views on the other side ; so that we fight
many a battle over Coleridge and Wordsworth, Groethe and Shelley.
I never learned a language — that is, tried to learn it — with so little
difficulty and so much pleasure. "

In another letter to his sister he gives an account of his
holiday readings : —

"Of my studies I cannot report very favourably since the com-
mencement of the holidays. I am much more inclined than I should
be to read Macaulay instead of Potter, Wordsworth instead of
Thomson, ' Philip van Artevelde ' and ' Faust ' instead of Comstock,
and even Gesenius. Tennyson's ' In Memoriam ' is magnificent'

\To the same.]

" February 1850.
"I have been quite absorbed in Talfourd's 'Final Memorials of
Lamb.' All week I have felt overtasked, so tried the experiment of
light reading. Fortunately I have a sort of yielding elasticity in my
nature, and a light-heartedness which rises over every depression, so
that I can endure this hard labour with tolerable good humour ; and

22 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

the moment the weight is the least degree upraised, my indiarubber
temperament pushes it a little fiu1>her on its upward way. I admired
Lamb's letters greatly, though sometimes there runs through them a
vein of light sarcasm on religious subjects, rendered more painful by
the recollection of beautiful lines written on the sad anniversary of
his mother's death. And poor Mary Lamb ! All the sympathies of
the reader are enlisted in her favour wherever she makes her appear-
ance ; and her chequered life, sweetness of character, and gentleness
of disposition must leave a lasting impression on the coldest heart,

and will survive as long as the ' Essays of Elia.'

"But 'Chapter the Last' is his triimiph. How admirably he
draws the portraits of the eminent men who formed the reunions at
the Temple ! and with what vividness he paints the ' suppers of the
Lambs ' and the dinners at Holland House — vividness so nearly
approaching to reality, that you can fancy yourself listening to the
'gentle voice of Coleridge undulating in music,' or to the outpourings
of Wordsworth's noble soul, the dazzling beauty of Hazlitt's- criti-
cisms, or the sparkling conversation of Moore, the delicate wit of
Sydney Smith, or the severe logic of the melancholy Lloyd. "

In a similar vein, of criticism he writes of " YUlette " and
" Moore's Journal and Letters " : —

"February IS, 185S.

" I wish I could sketch you the child with which ' Villette ' opens :
so slim, maidenly, precocious, at times positively unnatural, yet
somehow always a child. There is a rare power in this, though
after all a useless display of it ; it reminds you of a man who will
walk on the brink of a precipice to show what strength of head he
has. Be sure you read it by the fireside, for it abounds in winter
scenes that need a cozy corner, ajid the red curtains close drawn,
thoroughly to enjoy their admirable reality. Besides, there is in it
a good deal of what a late writer fancifully terms the winter of the
soul.

" ' Moore's Journal and Letters ' have just made a sensation, con-
taining as they do a vast collection of the most refined scandal, told
in the wittiest and happiest style. Every booby will now know how
he ate, and drank, and dressed, and will believe himself vastly
advanced in an appreciation of genius by his knowledge. Bessie,
shy as ' a violet by a mossy stone half hidden from the eye,' will be
the common talk of the nation. The veil will be drawn away from
the private life of a very happy, affectionate couple, and their in-

Student- Life. 23

most thoughts and feelings, known to and only to be known by each
other, will be paraded before the heartless curiosity of the world.
A man's genius may be the property of the public, but surely not his
home. If an Englishman's house is his castle, ten times more sacred
and Inviolable should be his affections."

His love of music was intense. His whole soul seemed to
be possessed by it as by a spell. The wild enthusiasm of
the lad of seventeen on hearing Catherine Hayes (the Irish
singer, whom few wUl now remember) shows the power music
exerted upon him then. Years never lessened it ; in after-
life, when most weary and overpowered by work, no rest
or refreshment could ever equal that given by an evening's
music. He thus writes : —

" Up and down she wavered, performing a, series of the most
difficult runs with the most exquisite skill, and then higher and
higher and higher rang out her clear sweet tones, till we seemed to
be listening to some of the fabled

* Heaven-born symphonies, those bright-eyed things
Ttiat float about the air on azure wings.'

Her voice is like the ringing of a silver bell, and maintains in the
highest notes all its beauty and aU its softness, and one low shake of
great pathos was really, in the words of Keats,

* More subtle-cadenced, more forest-wild,
Than Dryope's lone lulling of her child.'

The effect upon me I can hardly express. Were I a Mohammedan,
I should say she transported me to Paradise ; and as it was, her
voice sent a thrill through my whole frame, and I was actually all
trembling with excitement. "

In 1851 he finished his studies in Glasgow, and took his
degree of M.A. It was during his first winter there that he
met Adolph Saphir, the now well-known preacher and writer,
who had come from Germany to study at the University.
There was a strong intellectual and spiritual affinity between

24 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

the students, and they became life-long friends. Mr. Steven-
son always delighted to acknowledge how tnuch of the im-
pulse of his life he owed to his friend. Mr. Saphir spent the
summer with him at Strabane. There they read books
together, discussed problems, sang songs, and talked over the
arrangements for their theological studies at the New College,
Edinburgh, then under the presidency of the late Principal
William Cunningham, who was at the same time Professor of
Church History. It was probably under the teaching of this
distinguished man that Mr. Stevenson acquired that love of
the study of Church History which afterwards characterized
him, and the fruits of which he turned to such good account
in his missionary lectures. He spent three sessions in the
New College, during the whole of which he enjoyed the close
companionship of his friend, Adolph Saphir.

The same enthusiasm that marked his undergraduate years
was carried into the study of theology. Exegesis did not
then occupy the prominent place in theological teaching that
it does to-day. But he recognized its true value, and he
writes to his father : —

"We are endeavouring to form a select exegetical society of otu-
own, to meet once a week : a passage of the Bible to be given out ;
one to read what Luther says, another what Calvin says, another
what De Wette says on it, and so on ; and then each to read an
abstract of the conmientary he has read. Afterwards, we talk over
the passage and arrange our own views. Exegesis is lamentably
neglected in this country, and consequently one finds the people
resting on the form, the minister preaching from the form, texts
distorted, and Scripture misapplied."

\To the same.]

" December 10, 1851.
"ExegesU is the other study which I have set apart chiefly for
this winter, and a most valuable one it is, though, unfortunately, apt
to be neglected where a pure form of religion has for a, lengthened
period prevailed, and the people, accustomed to the form, have grown
more careless about the spirit ; where Christianity has been drawn

Student-Life. 25

away from the inexhaustible well of the Bible, and emptied into the
pitchers of Confessions and Catechisms and Church constitutions,
from which alone the people have drawn until the supply heis been
exhausted, and now when they go for water the pitchers stand
empty. In many countries and in many ages of the Church this has
been more or less the case. Happily, the restless spirit of inquiry
which is now prevalent gives promise that it may not occur again, at
least in our day. "

The third member of the trio who lived together at 18
South Castle Street was Charles de Smidt, who was Dutch
by descent, but had been bom at the Cape, his father holding
an honourable Government appointment there. Writing of
him to his sister, Mr. Stevenson says : — " His character is so
honest, open, and child-like, that no one could help liking
him. We get on very happily together, not a single flaw in
our unity, the most harmonious, merriest, studiousest 'klee-
blatt' that ever was."

De Smidt's career was a short one. After leaving Edin-
burgh he studied in Utrecht, was ordained by the Free
Church of Scotland, and resisting every temptation to remain
in Europe, where he would have had a more congenial and
comfortable sphere, he went back to devote his energies to
his native country. He died young, after a few years' good
and promising work in a country parish at the Cape.

In allusion to their birthplace or lineage, the three dubbed
themselves Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They possessed quali-
ties, intellectual and moral, which so admirably harmonized
with or supplemented one another, that their joint Edinburgh
life seems to have been joyous, stimulating, and fuU of benefit
to all.

Living in Edinburgh naturally brought many sad thoughts
with it of the great and mysterious sorrow of Mr. Stevenson's
young life ; and with that quick reaction that only belongs to
the young, he passes from the most lively descriptions, full of
fun and frolic, to deep undertones of yearning for the brother
who was gone :—

26 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

\To his Sister.]

" MurOi 18W.
"I am not merry just now, though this letter may lead you to
think so ; none of us can be. And to me there is no flower calls up
so many painful associations as the shamrock on St. Patrick's Day
(but don't let the children think so). "

And again : —

"Much there is certainly to sadden me. Associations there are
here in every street, in every view, in the sky, in the air, for every-
thing in Edinburgh speaks of him. There are dark shadows that
cross me often, and they make me very gloomy and melancholy, and
I go up to my own room and walk about there alone and cry. The
other night I went out by myself, and foimd my way to the Univer-
sity, and walked round and round it as if I should have seen some-
thing there, I could hardly tell what ; and I came home tired and
sad, because I had seen nothing, yet I could not say what I expected.
That Adolph is here is my greatest comfort, for I feel sometimes
that I must talk of our lost one to somebody ; and I tell him of all
our happy childhood and our schoolboy life, and how we planned to .
live together happily in Edinburgh, and how dififerent everything is
now. I cannot write you more of this now. I am not able to do it
calmly. "

It was in Glasgow he first made public profession of his
faith in Christ by joining the communion of the Church
under the ministry of the gifted William Arnot. In Edin-
burgh he became a member of Dr. Charles Brown's congrega-
tion, and writes in November 1851 : —

" He has impetuosity, energy, and earnestness ; but what struck
me most about him was his remarkable familiarity with Scripture
and the correctness of his applications. He was never at fault in
this respect ; and his Bible illustrations admirably harmonize with
and complete the sermon. Altogether I think liim not only the best
but the most fascinating preacher I have heard. "

[To his Sister.]

" December 5, 1851.
" I heard Saphir preach in German last Sunday. He expresses his
ideas with great force, earnestness, and pietoriality. He will be a

Student-Life. 27

celebrated preacher. His piety is deep, earnest, overflowing ; it is
not stuck on or into his nature, it is his nature. Not without
struggle has it become so. He reminds me often, in his tolerant
Catholicism, of Jeremy Taylor, and as with him God-love and
human-love go hand in hand : ' Let us love one another, for God is
love ; ' ' Let him that loveth God love his brother also. ' This La the
main feature in his piety — this, and its straightforwardness and anti-
sham. I intend, God helping me, that it shall be my motto also. "

His high ideal of the perfect brotherhood and unity there
should be among those who serve the same Master, without
shackling in the smallest degree individual freedom, made
him peculiarly sensitive to any bitterness of feeling among
Christians.

\To his Father.]

" October S, 1851.
' ' It makes me sometimes very sawi to think that nearly two thou-
sand years after the establishment of Christianity its spirit should be
so little understood and practised ; that the external, the doctrine,
the shell, the pulpit dress of the gospel, should be so studied in the
closet, and so preached in the church, but that of the spirit you only
see faint glimmerings. Men have put ugly, ill-fitting habiliments on
the Christ-spirit, and under such an uninviting cold exterior one has
great difficulty in finding out the divine, the true, the Life."

l^To the same.]

" December 11, 1861.

" But I most sincerely hope that, while expressing my dislike

to narrow, one-sided Christianity, I may always be enabled to look
beyond the boundaries of a particular Church, and see and gladly
embrace the gospel-spirit wherever manifested. "

\To tlie same.]

"I'm afraid, however, the Church will never have peace until
those who now steadily contend for distinctive principles wUl as
eagerly strive for the Spirit of Christ. It is most miserable when
men prize the shell as of higher value than the kernel, thus under-

28 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

valuing earnest devotion, fulness of spiritual Ufe, deep, intense love
of Christ. I feel how much more easily one may slip into tempta;
tions when isolated from Christian sympathy and feelings, and lost

ground is ever hard to recover

"What a relief it is to turn from all the party bitterness, con-
tracted ^dews, and sectarian excrescences, which have grown on Chris-
tianity, and bury oneself in the glowing pages of Jeremy Taylor, and
his scarcely less eloquent disciple. Archdeacon Julius Haj'e — ^glowing
with love, with zeal, with faith, with charity for all, with hatred
only for the devil ! "

Mr. Stevenson was an omnivorous reader on all subjects,
and possessed the rare faculty of getting the gist of a book
and carrying away all that was best worth remembering,
while apparently only dipping into it.

Books were the necessity of his life. He could readily
give up many things the loss of which would be a great
sacrifice to most men; but his zeal in collecting books yielded
to no obstacles, and no self-denial was considered too great
which enabled him to procure some much-coveted volume.

\To his Sister.]

" Febraary U, 1S5Z.

" I have been reading a medley this week, feeling that the remain-
ing time is short — the usual books for the classes, Carlyle's ' French
Revolution,' Grote's 'History of Gi-eece,' Spenser's 'Faery Queen,'
Thackeray's 'Vanity Fair,' Maurice 'On the Hebrews,' Jeremy
Taylor — all of them, you will see, fine books. Grote is in magnitude
the greatest undertaking, with the notable exception of Gibbon.
The first of the ten published volumes, which I have nearly finished,
is altogether occupied with the early legendary history of Greece,
and the myths of that period and the chivalric tales and legends of
the ' Faery Queen ' harmonize delightfully. In spite of my expecta-
tion, I can enter fully into the interest which Spenser throws about
his 'Knights of the Round Table,' and find the 'Faery Queen' one
of the most fascinating of poems. I feared I had outgrown the age
when it could be thoroughly enjoyed, and I am quite happy that I
am still in the romantic epoch. ' Maiirice ' is an answer to Father
Newman's development theory."

Student-Life. 29

Those Tp-ho have enjoyed the privilege of Mr. Stevenson's
letters, so natural, tender, and sympathetic, -with vivid pic-
tures of his surroundings and doings, or it may be telling of
his inner thoughts and fancies, wiU be amused at his own
description of the troubles of letter-writing : —

\To his Sister. '\

"March 19, 185S.
"I would not for all the friendships in the world have to write
your two letters a day. It would kill me. There would be written
in friendly warning on ttiy grave, 'Died of friendship.' But then
you throw off your easy epistles as you unwind a skein of sUk ; it
gives you no trouble ; what you wish to say flows from your soul to
your fingers, and thence along the pen, without effort, almost with-
out will ; you can think of fifty things while you write of one, or vice
versd. But with me it is different. I cannot write without severe
and concentrated thought ; it is a business to me, something which
taxes and strains my powers, just as the unwinding of the silk
would. "

It was one of his fixed beliefs that, were sufficient pains
taken to give fuU, accurate, interesting information about the
needs of the heathen world, and the results of what had been
already done, there would be little difficulty in firing the
enthusiasm of the people, 'and raising their gifts to an incred-
ibly high standard. His becoming secretary to the Irish
Prayer Union and Missionary Association gave him an oppor-
tunity of putting in practice this belief : —

' ' I have been able to carry into effect a proposal made at our last
meeting, that one of the members should at each meeting read an
abstract of missionary intelligence, chiefly Irish of course, but in-
cluding also such noble evangelistic work as is carried on by the
Inner Mission in Germany, the Church Pastoral Aid Society in En-
gland, the colporteiirs in France, Switzerland, and Lombardy, and
the Missionary Society in China, etc. What we felt was our igno-
rance of missionary operations; though we are professedly a missionary
association. "

30 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

In the spring of 1854, Charles Kingsley delivered four lec-
tures in the Philosophical Institute, Edinburgh, on "The
Schools of Alexandria." The enthusiasm he evoked kindled
a responsive glow in the heart of the young student, whose
whole soul was stirred by the influence, strong yet subtle, of
that brilliant genius, and with whose abhorrence of cant and
lofty conception of the manliness of true Christianity he had
such deep, instinctive sympathy :— =•

\To his Sister.^

" February 18, 1851.

" Kingsley speaks with the fire amd energy of a man in earnest,
possessed by a message which above all things he must deliver.

" His open, clear eyes of bluish brown ; his thin, almost hollow
cheeks ; his delicate, fine lips ; his sweet, gentle smile ; the melancholy
voice soft and low and sad ; the stooped shoulders ; the full, intense
earnestness, the brave, fearless truth, the singleness and unaffected-
ness, I had almost said innocence, but should say entire absence of
self -consciousness, which they who would might read in his fine, ex-
pressive, though not handsome, face — these are a living picture to be
hung up in the picture-gallery of one's brightest memories.

" That there is a truth deeper than all falsehood ; that things are
not right or wrong according to our mutable opinions, but as they are
in themselves ; that we have a craving for wisdom, and teaching, and
light, and must find that which answers this our craving ; that the
fountain of this eternal truth, wisdom, light, the measure of this
righteousness, is God ; that He alone can answer our cravings, satisfy
our hopes, end our fears ; that in the manifestation of the Son, the
God-man, these cravings, hopes, and fears find a ready solution and
end; that by it they are excited in those who have stifled them; that
through it God is brought nearer to man, and man nearer to God — this,
whether you contemplate it as one truth or many, was the beginning
and end, the constant though outwardly varying burden, of all he said.

"It is far from the least proof of his great genius that he could
make a, very mixed, though, on the whole, intellectual audience
familiar, more or less, in four lectures with a subject so knotty,
hard, dry, extended over many centuries, entangled in a succession
of events of world-wide importance, involving a disovission of the pro-
f oundest problems with which the human mind has ever puzzled itself,
stretching on either side into the mysteries of our being and God's.

Student-Life. 3 1

"Mrs. C said to me as we came out, 'It is not often our

thoughts are raised here above earth ; but I never heard a preacher
who brought heaven so close to it, and set us so face to face with
God. ' Yet it was a lecture on the downfall of Alexandria, the rise
of Mohammedanism, Arabian metaphysics, and the like ; it had in-
vestigations into astronomy and decimals, and the burning of the
great library, and facts, figures, and quotations from Carlyle. So
true it is that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh ;
not that it was a sermon substituted for » philosophical dissertation,
but that, as it was said Whitfield could move an audience to tears
by saying 'Mesopotamia,' so u man whose heart is with God will
show you God in the dustiest, mouldiest, sterilest epoch, in the most
insignificant and commonplace of every-day realities."

Dr. Saphir gives the following reminiscences of his college
friend ; —

" My acquaintance with Stevenson commenced in the winter of
1848-9, when we attended the same classes in Glasgow University ;
and, living in the same neighbourhood, had almost every day long
conversations on oiir way to the college. Perhaps the fact that
Stevenson was Irish attracted me to him, as it was a new nationality
to me. I very soon discovered his kind and genial nature. When
we parted in the month of May, we had become friends, though
neither of us, I think, was aware of the depth and strength of the
bond which united us. Stevenson wrote very characteristic letters,
describing Dublin and its attractions, his quiet life in the country,
and his varied reading. He was very happy and sanguine, and
tried to cheer me, who felt very lonely in a strange country, and
depressed by iU-health and other trials. I remember distinctly the
time when we, as it were, looked into each other's soul and felt that
we were one. That was in reply to a letter in which I had told him
of the peace and sunshine which had come to me from the eighth
chapter of Romans, when I saw clearly the consolation and firm
foundation of election, that they who believe in Jesus know that God
is for them, and that all things work together for their good. The
experimental view of this doctrine struck him very much, and his
reply was fuU of sympathy. From that time began our real friend-
ship. When in 1850 he repeated to me his invitation to spend the
summer holidays with him, I gladly accepted it. I was received by
his parents with the greatest kindness, and soon felt at home in that

32 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

truly Christian and peaceful household. Stevenson and I were in-
separable, reading and talking. He was preparing for entering the
Divinity Hall, but general literature had great attractions for him.
I was then full of German literatnre^Schiller, Goethe, Tieck, etc. ;
he was steeped ia the English classics ; and so we exchanged thoughts
and information. I noticed during that siimmer many characteristics
which distinguished him all his lite. His favourite poet was Words-
worth. His taste in poetry was very catholic. He already possessed
the calmness, patience, and humility which recognize the merits and
beauties of authors who were not congenial to him. But Words-
worth was the poet whom he loved, who both expressed and devel-
oped his own individuality. Stevenson had an intense and living,
love of nature, and a warm appreciation of true human nobility in
every form and shape, even the simplest and most unpretending.
Another feature that was very prominent in his character was his
unselfishness, and his great joy in doing acts of kindness. He thought
nothing of an immense amount of labour, involving often self-denial,
if he could afiford help or pleasure to any of his friends, or comfort
and aid any sick and suffering. His anxiety to do this in the best
and most effective manner, his minute forethought and skilful arrange-
ment, and the delicate and unobtrusive way in which he accomplished
his object, had something feminine and touching in them. It was only
during this visit that Stevenson told me the sad story of his brother's
disappearance. It made me feel, it possible, stUl more attached to
him, and I looked upon him, as I have done throughout my life since,
as a gift of God's love to me, who had been separated from brother
and sister and relative of every kind since my seventeenth year. It
was settled that we, joined by Charles de Smidt, should live together
during our divinity course in Edinburgh. Our circle was varied and
somewhat cosmopolitan, owing to De Smidt's Dutch and Cape fellow-
students, and to my Jewish and German friends. I have no doubt
that the missionary spirit which afterwards distinguished Stevenson
was nourished by this contact with missionary and Church news from
different parts of the world. Our most intimate friend was the Rev.
Theodore Meyer, who was Assistant-Professor of Hebrew in the New
College. He came over in the year 1848 to Scotland, after having
witnessed the exciting scenes of the Revolution in Berlin. Mr. Meyer •
came to Christianity out of- Judaism and rationalism. Having been
brought into contact with the various forms of neology in Berlin he
had a very sympathetic and genial manner with young men who were
passing through similar phases and conflicts ; so that, while we looked
up to him on account of his experience and learning, we felt quite at

Student-L ife. 3 3

home in his society, and he frequently joined our Saturday expedi-
tions. Stevenson continued bis general reading with great diligence
while at college ; and as he was at the same time a very conscientious
and laborious student, the only time at his disposal for his more
severe studies was at night. He often sat up till three o'clock in the
morning. He was able to do with very little sleep, and he seemed
determined to do a great many things, and to do them leisurely ; and
somehow it was maiTvelloua how much he could pack into the short
time : for he availed himself of the many social invitations which we
received ; and concerts and lectures at the Philosophical Institution
(such as Buskin and Kingsley delivered) had great attractions for
him. So he went on cheerily, without any of the features of the
hard student, apparently always at leisure, and interested in every-
thing that referred to humanity. He was full of earnest purpose to
avail himself of all the opportunities afforded him to prepare for the
work of the holy ministry. He never lost sight of' this purpose, and
sought to make everything subservient to this great object. His
faith in Scripture as the word of God, in Christ as the Saviour, and
in the work of the Holy Spirit, was clear and strong. He greatly
valued the ministry of the late Dr. Charles Brown ; and this fact
alone shows that he appreciated spiritual. Scriptural, and experi-
mental preaching. While he was inwardly rooted in the truth, and
living a life of communion with God in prayer and study of Scripture,
his theological views were as yet undeveloped, and he felt, as most
thoughtful students do, the disturbing effect of modern speculation
and of neology. His mind was candid and active. His tempera-
ment was calm. He was determined to examine carefully and slowly,
and to collect material diligently. The writings of Archdeacon Hare,
of Trench, Maurice, and Kingsley exerted a great influence on him.
He was keenly alive to the culture, breadth, and manliness which
characterized them, and fascinated by the power and vividness of
their mode of thought and expression. On the other side, there was
much in the old-fashioned representations of so-called orthodoxy
which repelled him, or at least offered difficulties to be overcome.
He was very sensitive to any want of justice and candour in the
treatment of divergent views, and still more to any want of reality
or delicacy in the expression of spiritual experiences. But the real
conflict was occasioned by his mind now coming iuto close contact with
the solemn and mysterious doctrines of revelation, with the question
of revelation itseH, of the authority and inspiration of Scripture, of
sin, of atonement. He read more largely than the average student,
and perhaps with more sympathy with what I may call vaguely the

3

34 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

modern theology ; and those who did not know him intimately might
have fancied that he had become one of its disciples, while in reality
he had a deep conviction that the simple Scripture truth which he
had embraced in his childhood would in the end shine forth to his
mind more clearly ; and that, while many misconceptions and un-
essential additions in the old mode of thought would be removed,
applications of greater breadth would be educed and a more healthy
tone imparted. Although his time was so fully occupied, he under-
took the visitation of a district in the poorest part of Edinburgh —
the Canongate. Most diligently did he fulfil his duties ; and I have
known him, when suffering severely from rheumatism and unable to
walk, take a cab to his district and climb with difficulty steep stairs
to see the sick and suffering people. Stevenson thought that he was
called to the work of evangelization in the west of Ireland. He was
very fond of his native country. He loved to remember the bright
light of the missionary heroes who in olden days went forth from the
Isle of Saints. He sometimes spoke of his possible future missionary
labours in the west of Ireland, and of the difficulties and hardships
they might involve, and had the idea that he ought therefore to pre-
pare himself to endure privation and poverty."

CHAPTER III.

STUDY AND TRAVEL IN GERMANY.

On completing his theological course in. Edinburgh, Mr.
Stevenson set out for Germany, where, in contact with
various forms of Christian activity and in converse with
many eminent Christian men, he spent the most spiritually
eventful year of his life. He entered by way of Hamburg,
spending a month with his friend Mr. Saphir, who was then
engaged in mission work among the Jews. In a letter to his
father (written October 4th) he notes aU that he sees with
the fresh, keen enjoyment of a first glimpse of foreign ways
and foreign life. Starting from Leith in brilliant moonlight,
he describes the passage and the passengers j the quaint dress
of the pilot who, on boarding the steamer at the mouth of
the Elbe, brought news of the fall of Sebastopol ; the softly-
wooded rich green bants, the innumerable windmills, the
red-roofed and green-gabled old farmhouses peeping out of
their clusters of trees, the pretty villas of Blankenese
creeping up the hills, nestKng in every hollow and standing
out on every projection, green, black, gray, and blue, with
high-peaked roofs twisted into fantastic curves, and windows
peeping out from the oddest comers. Shrubberies, brilliant
gardens, summer-houses, aU suggestive of life lived out of
doors; the German boatmen with their red headkerchiefs
and aprons and blue jackets, the delightful sensation of
being in a new country, all come under his descriptive
pen. Finally : —

36 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

" Through a forest of shipping we slowly sail up the middle of the
river — stop and swing round — anchor. Meanwhile many little boats,
each paddled by one man, come round the ship. I get a lady's lug-
gage and my own into one of these ; lastly, with much trouble, the
lady and myself. We pull in for the quay, are nearly nm through
by an iron-beaked gig, wind tortuously till we come off the floating
custom-house. Etwas contrahandisch ? Nothing, say we, and pass

on. On a low jutting pier are A and S waving hats and

handkerchiefs. We are whirled off in a cab to the Hdtel de Saxe.
My little room opens off their sitting-room on one side, theirs on the
other. We are happy beyond measure. "

But far beyond picturesqueness or novelty of the country
was the attraction that lay in the marvellous mission work of
Immanuel Wichern ; and two days after his arrival he writes
to his sister : —

" Yesterday we went out to Horn to visit the famous Kauhe Haus.
After a pleasant drive of about three miles, we got out and turned
into a well-trodden path shaded by chestnuts, and in five minutes
reached a wooden gate, through which we entered a broad avenue
bordered by flowers, grass, and trees, leading straight up to a quaint-
lodking, red-gabled house, reminding me in its effect (the approach
included) of Hawthorne's ' Old Manse,' except that there was no
settled gloom, but, on the other hand, a pleasant light and cheerful-
ness. We foimd that Dr. Wichem had set off that morning for
Berlin, so my introduction was useless. However, we were shown
into the strangers' room, and, as it was dinner-hour, amused ourselves
by looking over the names in the visitors' book, where we found those
of Elihu Burritt, the Bishop of Bipon, Hengstenberg and Hoffinann the
celebrated theologians. We were told that a candidal (licentiate)
would hurry over his dinner and be with us ; and presently he ar-
rived, looking frank and intelligent. He knew the place well, was a
sensible Christian man, up in statistics, and very ready with all his
information.

" When Dr. Wichern was a young candidal, twenty -one years ago,
he conceived the plan, which he has here by degrees developed, of
reclaiming the outcasts of society— thieves and low characters of
every kind who were not so old and hardened in crime as to make
their reform altogether hopeless by such means as he had in his
power. He had no money, and few friends ; but he had energy.

Study and Travel in Germany. 37

strong love, faith, and was possessed with a noble idea. One by one
he gathered about him young reprobates from the worst quarters of
Hamburg, took a little house at Horn in a pleasant situation, edu-
cated these \mfortunate and neglected boys vmder his own roof as
members of a family, and gathered friends about him through whose
assistance he was enabled gradually to enlarge his plan, to which he
very soon added a house for the reception of deserted children. This
was the beginning. ' At present the ground which his Institution
occupies is as much as a peasant with four horses will plough in a
day,' said the candidal, who did not know our land-measures. There
are twenty-one detached houses, containing eighty -five boys and
twenty-five girls who are under training, besides ten ccundidaten who
act as general superintendents, and are so trained for taking charge
of similar institutions elsewhere, or for some other o£Bce in the Inner
(Home)' Mission. We visited the workshops, where the male inmates
are taught carpentry, shoemaking, etc., so that, when they leave the
Institution, they can gain an honest livelihood, and where all the
trades-work needed on the place is done, including wooden soles for
the boys' shoes, making clothing, and such like. Next to the stables,
tenanted by cows and pigs, as the horses were all out at work ; then
to the printing-house, where we found the types of three or four
works in progress. In the last two years four hundred thousand
sheets were issued. Near this is the bookbinding shop ; and a con-
tinuation of it is devoted to lithographic printing, for many of their
books are illustrated — exceedingly well, too. Passing through the
vegetable garden we came upon a newly-built house, the gift of a
German prince. In the under part waa a very neat bedroom with
thirteen beds, on the other side of the passage a sitting-room with
bookcases, slates, etc. , and a kitchen ; above was a sitting-room of
rather nicer appearance and better furnished (I noticed three violins
hanging against the wall), and a bedroom opening off it contained five
beds. So that here lived eighteen people. Dr. Wichern, in develop-
ing his benevolent schemes, held strictly to what might be called his
fundamental idea, the training up of these outcasts in family life.
Consequently, instead of being, as is the case with us, brought to-
gether into one large establishment, and there herding in a public
gregarious fashion, he has divided them among several houses, each
containing twelve boys, one cavdidat who sleeps with them, and five
' brothers ' — elder ones who have been brought to Christ through the
instrumentality of the Institution. Each little household is thus
complete in itself, and is surrounded by its garden ground, where
every boy has his vegetable and flower plot, and also some little spot

38 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

for play, independent of the general playground. The house was
kept daintily clean. We then looked in at one of the girls' houses,
where there were about a dozen young girls with bright, happy, in-
telligent faces sitting round a desk writing. The neat laundry and
kitchen followed in due course ; and then the chapel, a large room,
simple and tasteful, with ivy running up and down and across the
walls, and a Uttle orchestra-gallery facing the pulpit. Over the latter
there is the usual (in Lutheran churches) crucifix, and on each side of
it a small statue of Christ. In front of the gallery there are three
beautiful, simple statues of children : the central one playing a harp,
with the inscription below, ' Praise and sing unto the Lord ; ' on one
side a figure holding out a little plate, and with a lovely childlike
expression, ' Blessed are the merciful ; ' and on the other a kneeling
figure, the hands clasped, the face upward-looking, ' Ask, and ye shall
receive.' The seats in the chapel are plain forms. One is struck by
the extreme simplicity, the absence of all pretension and ornament,
and the homely air which pervades the whole place. It is a real
country life the inmates live, and they have fine scenery, noble trees,
a wood on a small scale, fields, flowers, everything to contribute to
the development of healthy tastes and to innocent enjoyment. There
is service in the chapel every morning and evening, and also on Sun-
day for the smaller children. The elder attend one of the churches.
In every room a verse for the year, as well as a text for the day, is
hung up and framed. It may give you some idea of the class of
people who are admitted if I tell you that one boy of nine years old
attempted twice, a few months ago, to bum his father's house, and
afterwards to commit suicide ; now he goes about among his com-
panions telling them of ' the dear Lord Jesus Christ,' and urging them
to come to Him. The houses are all separated from each other by
trees, gardens, and shrubbery. I intend returning to the place on
Tuesday to see Dr. Wichem, and probably then I shaU glean some
further particulars of this most interesting Institution and its founder. "

" October 19, 1854^ JoumaZ.— Set out this morning for the Rauhe
Haus, accompanied by Saphir. On reaching Dr. Wichem's house,
which was buUt for him by the King of Prussia, and is separated by
a shrubbery from the rest of the grounds, we awaited the reception
of my introduction. Presently we were taken upstairs and through
three rooms, furnished with desks, presses, and bookcases, to a fourth,
where some clerks were sitting, and where Dr. Wichem cordially
welcomed us. He led us by the hand into an inner room, and there
we sat down for talk. I was greatly attracted by his frank, genial

Study and Travel in Germany. 39

beaxing, his warmth, cordiality, and enthusiasm. His face is fvdl of
benevolence and practical wisdom ; he has a fine forehead and a well-
shaped head, clustered over with a mass of gray, almost white, hair ;
a clear, searching, honest eye ; and a mouth that when at rest is
firmly compressed, and a key to the extraordinary energy, will, in-
fluence, and controlling power of the man, but when he smiles has a
sweet, innocent, childlike expression. He is of a slight, well-knit
figure, and about middle height.

" Our conversation turned at once on Germany, he maintaining
strenuously that ' no Englishman, Frenchman, Scotchman, or North
American can understand Germany, either socially, politically, or
ecclesiastically, unless by personal observation during residence in
the country, if even then ; but that without leaving his home the
German can enter into, and sympathize with, the standpoint of other
nations. ' I was amused at the energy with which he supported this
proposition, and the practical application he was continually making
of it to me, evidently fearful lest I should carry away as wrong im-
pressions of the nation and literature as one-sided people usually
do. 'Archdeacon Hare,' he says, 'is among the few Englishmen
who understand and fairly judge us.' Of the united Church of
Prussia, on which I anxiously questioned him, he does not
seem sanguine, does not even profess to like it. It is still in the
pangs, he says, and there he evidently thinks it will remain. Nor
would he acknowledge any part of it Calvinistic. ' In Switzerland
you find Calvinism ; here, in Germany, we are Lviheriich und Me-
lancMhonisch. ' Of the Inner Mission he spoke with remarkable modesty
and sobriety. ' It is an institution altogether difierent from what
you are accustomed to. You must not bring to bear on it English
notions and English experiences. You must allow for its novelty,
for the state of the country, for the general absence of a missionary
spirit. There is no central committee governing, managing every-
thing ; the Inner Mission is rather a pulse beating in many societies,
and linking them to one another ; it is the common life that circu-
lates through all and each. Our work is very noiseless, but still we
work. Even here, in Hamburg, we have five weekly Bibelstunde, and
good is doing ; yet most people in Hamburg wiU tell you we are not
there at all.'

"Before we separated he asked me what introductions I had to
Berlin ; and oh hearing, said they would do excellently — I did not
need others. I felt it exceedingly kind of him to take such interest
in a stranger. Throughout our interview he was, as they say here,
' very friendly ; ' before we were five minutes together he was rap-

40 , Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

ping his fingers on my knee, or catching me by the arm, as he said,
' yersteTwn, Sie? '

"It was amusing to observe the pains he was at to hunt up the
simplest German for me. His own language is, however, remarkably
simple, his sentences short and telling, and he speaks German with a
purity and clearness and music as rare here as it is delightful. With
children he must be irresistible : his gentle, playful ways would quite
win their love ; his strong self-command and resolution would win
their respect and obedience.

"After a memorable hour and a, half we parted. I could have
looked for hours at the beautiful play of his expressive face. "

Berlin was reached by the middle of November, and
having matriculated in the University, he settled down with
the most buoyant enthusiasm to a steady winter's work.
"Exegesis will be my chief study," he writes. "With
Hengstenberg, Tweesten, and Erdmann for exegesis, and
Nitzsch for dogmatics, one must be a sad dolt not to get a
lift for life that will carry one on through theology and into
the inner meaning and connection of Holy Scripture."

His letters give bright descriptions of his pleasant rooms
"looking out over the woods of the Thier-Garten," of the far-
famed " Unter den Linden " with its Gate of Victory, the
palaces and public buildings, statues and paintings, the
churches and their preachers, the enormous distances, the
striking preponderance of the military element ; and he enters
fully into all the minutias of German student-life, its simplicity
and brotherliness. He became a member of the "Wingolf
Chor," one of the many University guilds, but one which had
the distinction of being avowedly a Christian society. He
had with him introductions from Edinburgh, which, here as
elsewhere, proved most valuable, bringing him into contact
with several of the greatest thinkers of the day. Every
moment that could be spared from study was ' spent in
investigating the state of the poor, the working of the "Inner
Mission," with its many plans for aggressive action on the
evils of our modem social life. The noble Christian devotion

Study and Travel in Germany. 41

of the Brethren of St. John fired him with the enthusiasm
which, when describing the conception of their mission in the
pages of "Praying and Working,"* breaks out into these
burning words : —

"But why should it be a dream? Our young men are thirsting
for excitement ; the exuberant life of our age seems to find no suffi-
cient outlet ; old and quiet forms, traditional habits and limits are
forsaken, burst through with impatience ; the spirit of the time is
for adventure. Why should there not be a Christian chivalry?
Why should there not be hearts to join in the new crusade ? Why
should there not be life-service for the good of your poor neighbour
as much as for war or travel, as heroic spirits to fling themselves into
the battle against sin as into the strife of a kingdom? Bomance,
adventure, action, sacrifice, a purpose worth living for, the springs
of generous minds are touched here, and the delicate subtle springs
of religious feeling which the clumsy fingers of the world can never
reach. "

The following extracts are taken from his home-letters : —

\To his Father.]

" Berlin, November 15, I85I4..
"There are about fifteen hundred students in the University, some
Americans, several English, Egyptians, Malays, French, Japanese,
etc. The University is a noble pile of buildings, and seems every
way well adapted to its objects ; has fine lecture-halls, museums,
grounds. The lectures are from 8 A.M. tiU 7 p.m. There are in all
ninety-two professors and three hundred and fifty courses of lectures.
Here a professor may lecture on any subject which he is qualified to
teach, instead of, as with us, having a definite subject allotted to him.
When a student joins the University he becomes a citizen of it, what
is called a University Burgher. With his matriculation paper he
receives a copy of the statutes, and he then finds that the senate has
over him a civil authority ; has the power not only of inflicting heavy
fines, but imprisonment ; that there is a distinct University police,
and that they only have the power to arrest him. His. passport (if
he is a stranger) is deposited with the senate. He is removed from

* For a full acconnt of this Brotherhood, their origin and aim, see " Praying and
Working," chapter v.

42 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

all jurisdiction on the part of the city ; he has become a member of
a distinct corporation. I don't apprehend much difficulty from the
lectures being in German, as I can now follow an ordinary lecturer
or preacher with comparative ease. I am tolerably sure of making
pleasant acquaintances among the students — ^they seem a very frank,
hard-working, hearty, bespectacled set of men."

\To his Sister.]

" November iS, 1851.
"The professors address the men as 'fellow-students.' In that
simple form of address you have one of the great points of the
relation subsisting between the two great classes of the University.
The professor puts himself at once on your footing. That he has
a title and an office does not interpose any barrier. He is still, and
must to the end of his life continue, as he believes, just what the
young man entering college is, and resolves to be — a student. We
are all students, he knows, and when we die we have most to learn.
So these German professors think, and in this spirit they lecture.
Elected as the best of us, they strive to ' impart the gift of seeing '
to the rest of us : a nimbler nmner may take the torch they carry,
and bear it further than they were able to go. In that hope they
teach, and when it is fulfilled they rejoice for the truth that is won ;
they do not murmur that another is the winner. It is this principle
that guides their conduct to the University men. They are happy
and willing to afford them any help and sympathy it is in their
power to bestow ; they feel no shame to confess that problems which
are now troubling the mind of their students once troubled, perhaps
stiU trouble, theirs ; that the same doubts have thrown a dark
shadow over days and weeks ; that they have had the same strug-
gles and fought the same battles ; and even the absence of a profes-
sional dress, of all that might mark a distinction between the teach-
ing and the taught student, is not followed by want of respect on
the part of the latter to the former. On the contrary, the professor
here is infinitely more respected than with us. He is looked up to
with both reverence and affection. You never hear hiTn carelessly
or contemptuously spoken of; never but as if the heart of the
speaker paid him the involuntary homage due to an earnest seeker
after truth. You don't see them sleeping during the lecture, or
laughing over caricatures of the lecturer, or reading 'green-books ;'
you don't hear them talk in the class, or when they come out yawn
and abuse it. If they don't take notes they pay large attention, or
if not they are very skilful at deceiving an onlooker ! "

Study and Travel in Germany. 43

\To his Sister.^

"Nitzseh comes in noiselessly like a spirit, and with a slow,
solemn step glides up the room and to his desk. An elderly man,
spare, of middle height, with grayish hair, and an eerie look about
him, as if he were not of this world, as indeed he scarcely is. With
his manuscript lying before him, he rests his chin on his hand and
begins to speak in a low thoughtful voice, perhaps two fingers play-
ing with his imder-Iip, his small bright eyes looking far away as it
he saw visions, as if he were receiving like an old prophet from the
Invisible the thoughts he uttered. Though his voice is low, and
passes frequently between his fingers, it is remarkably distinct, and
one wishes that his meaning were as easily intelligible as his lan-
guage. He is the 'hardest' theologian in Germany, but also the
profoundest ; and when one understands him, which indeed is oftener
than I have expected, it is a rare delight. Always you can pick up
multitudes of detached and profound thoughts that drop from him
with a marvellous prodigality ; but the difficulty is to find the link
that binds them to each other, and which, evidently clear and
present to his own mind, is too often present to no other. He re-
minds me of what De Quincey says of Coleridge, that when in his
conversation most people thought he was wandering, and gave up
following him, he was then most strictly logical, and was pursuing
relations and consequences which, plainly seen by him, were in-
visible to his less gifted audience ; and that those could perceive
this who, though unable to soar with him, kept fast hold of his
point of departure, and compared it with his point of return to their
comprehension.

" Hengstenberg, again, is a stout, short man, with brown hair.
He is active and bustling, speaks slowly, and with a loud voice ; and
when reading Hebrew is fond of intoning in the Jewish style. "

[To the same.]

"I have tried, and successfully, to introduce English theology to
the notice of the students. It annoys and vexes me to find them
here so ignorant of our great and right noble divines, quite as well
worth study in their own place as the Germans. Ignorance of their
writings would not grieve me so much, but there seems to be a pre-
valent ignorance of their names. Now, certainly, any respectable
student at home, if not well read in the theology of this country.

44 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

possesses some familiarity with its eminent names, from Luther
down to the recent time ; and one might fairly add also with their
theological opinions and influences. We not only know of Bengel,
and Eambaoh, and Spener, and Amdt, of Sohleiermaoher and
Neander, and the mighty host which this century has produced, but
they are read by us, and many of their writings are translated and
widely circulated. But of all the 'bright particular stars' among
our theologians, from Hooker and Jewel down through the golden
chain which binds these to Hare and Hampden, "Whately and
Trench, Alford and Treffry, and the many other men of great
ability and depth in our own day, they profess the most entire
unconsciousness. They take a deep interest in our Church matters,
but they pass over our divinity. It is quite true that in scientific
exegesis, in the history of the Church, in the philosophical develop-
ment of doctrines and systems, and in systematic theology, we are
but children playing at their feet ; that, instead of writing on these
most important subjects, we translate or pirate or ' crib ' from what
they have written, or make as clumsy and rickety a castle as any
child of five ever made by the seashore ; but in the systematic
theology of the good old Elizabethan and Jacobite eras, in practical
exegesis, and in all that pertains to the upbuilding of the Christian
life in family. Church, and State, we are no whit behind them, and
ill the clear exposition of Biblical truth through sermons we are at
all times vastly superior. And so I try to induce the men here to
read our books, for I know, if they read, it is their noble peculiarity
that they have sufficient candovir, admiration of genius, and love of
truth to admire. I am already beset with applications for the loan
of what I can offer, and I am sanguine enough to hope for better
things, tlirough the very limited means I can command. Of course,
when our theology is held so cheap by the students, it is scantily and

at haphazard represented in the libraries

" As to ' Kneipes ' I am no judge, having seen none but that of
our ' Wingolf ' in Berlin. I believe in Heidelberg and Bonn they are
more like drinking revels than social meetings. The beer in itself,
indeed, must be pretty harmless ; for, with the exception of the
cabmen, who drink brandy and carry their bottles constantly in
their pouch, I don't remember having seen any one intoxicated since
I came to Berlin. As to the genial character of the ' Wingolf -
Kneipes ' I can bear pretty competent witness. The conversation is
not merely such as ought to be heard on any subject from Christian
students, but it is predominantly about the very heart and essence
of Christianity itself— about the struggles that beset Christian men.

Study and Travel in Germany. 45

the thoughts that are stirring in them, the difficulties that beset
their path, the practical duties that belong to it. All through the
room in the intervals between the songs the members may be seen in
earnest little knots of two or three, and if you passed from one to the
other you would hear in each a chord on the same keynote, and that
keynote the purpose to know nothing but Christ and His cross, since
all things find their true meaning there. Of course there is much
social relaxation ; the great majority smoke, a third have thrown off
their coats, many have on their quaint little caps ; there is plenty of
loud, men-y laughing at times, and the older members are occasion-
ally' called on for humorous speeches. The intention is generally
better than the wit, but a bad joke provokes more risibility here
than a good one anywhere else. The nation seems inexhaustibly
good-humoured, and disposed to be on the best terms with every-
body and everything. We have occasionally part-singing, quartette
or sextette. At the end of the regular ' Kneipe ' — eleven o'clock —
there begins, for as many choice spirits as choose to remain, what is
called the ' Gemiithlichkeit,' for which there is a particular song to
the melody of ' Wohlanf Cameraden ! ' This lasts an indefinite time,
but not usually longer than twelve, I am told. We had an inter-
esting ceremony on Monday week. Moehring, who had been five
times successively elected president (presidentship is for four weeks),
was suddenly called home. We had a special ' Kneipe ' in his
honour, and near the close the new president, after making a most
brotherly address, full of sympathy and kind feeling, and urging
him throughout to hold fast the profession of his Christian faith in
the changed circumstances of his life, in his active struggle with the
world and its temptations, presented him with a New Testament m
name of the ' Wingolf. ' The songs sung that evening were admirably
chosen; among others, ' Es ist bestinunt in Gottes Rath,' and ' Juchhe
vallera, juchhe vallera. ' On Friday last Moehring went off, and half
the ' Wingolf ' accompanied him to the first station — fifteen miles
from this — on the Stettin railway, where, as he was detained, they
made up their minds to remain with him in the little village all
night. What men would do as much for one of their nimiber in
Scotland ? But the life in the ' Verbindung ' is so open and brotherly
that a friendship, or many, may be rapidly formed, and by the
hearty intercourse of each ' Semester ' deepened and ripened. The
friends a man has here he hnows ; they are the confidants of his most
secret thoughts, and his counsellors and sympathizers in all times of
difficulty and distress. The attachment is stronger than a similar
one with us, and more romantic ; partly because of the greater

46 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

opportunity it has for being developed through the peculiar character
of the stndent-life. "

\To his Father.]

" I have had a most satisfactory interview with Otto Strauss. He
received me in the friendliest, kindest manner. He is one of the
three deacons of the cathedral — a Grecian cathedral (the Dom Kirche)
— ^for which there are, besides, four preachers, of whom his father
and Hoffinann are chief. As there are twenty-two thousand in the
parish, the deacons and a number of ca/ndidats have formed them-
selves into a sort of religious order, their employment being to visit
the people parochially ; their time is portioned out, and they have
regular religious exercises. David Brown of Glasgow,* who spent a
fortnight with Strauss during his recent visit to the Continent, calls
it an evangelical monastery. Of this monastery Otto Strauss is the
resident governor and inspector ; Hoffinann is the president. Strauss
at first talked in German, but turned over to English with a com-
pliment to my 'excellent German,' and a wish that I would speak
English, as he was afraid of forgetting what he had learned from
Dr. Brown, and knew I would pardon his mistakes. He certainly
did make some odd ones — talking more than once of the ' ghost ' of
God resting on a man — but on the whole spoke with remarkable
correctness and fluency. He is one of the ' Hiilfprediger ' in the
Dom. To-morrow, between eight and nine, I am to see him again ;
also his father, with whom he begs me to walk between three and
four every fine day I like. What a droU thing to see me arm-in-arm
with the courtly old professor ! He is to take me with him to-
morrow to see his brother, a University lecturer and a ' Divisions-
prediger.' He is an exceedingly pious, fine-spirited young fellow I
should say from what I saw of him. I think it wiU be my own fault
if I am not happy and if my stay here does not prove a blessing, as
Strauss prayed it might

"This was actually a fine day, and in the afternoon I went to
have a walk with Professor Strauss. These walks are curious and
characteristic of the country. The Thier-Garten is turned into an
academic grove, where scholars walk up and down the alleys with
their teachers in friendly familiar intercourse, discoursing of all
things great and small. The old man has sometimes four or five
student companions, sometimes only one ; but nothing makes him so

* Now Principal Brown of Aberdeen.

Study and Travel in Germany. 47

happy as to feel he is not permitted to walk alone. We -wander
through by-paths of the wood, ' through bush, through brier, through
water, through mire ; ' stop here to listen to a story of Schelling, or
there to be told to admire the sunset through the trees ; when the
path is broad, arguing theology ; when it is narrow, foUowing in
silence the commentaries of our master on nature and on trees, where
he is not quite as wise as Solomon. To-day, for instance, we were
three students, and left Lenne-Strasse about half-past three o'clock.
We had only to cross the street in order to be in the free forest. At
first the roads were wide and dry, so we could walk together and
hear Strauss's exposition of the reading of the Psalms in the different
liturgical Churches, varied occasionally by little general conversa-
tions and remarks of ' the master ' suggested by any passing object
or thought. By-and-by, however, we got into solitary narrow foot-
paths, muddy and slippery, and here he could only roll round an
occasional wise saying on ua, to keep us in thought or in talk until
the briers gave him leisure to utter another. At last, after wading
through mud and predestination-from-the-Baptist's-standpoint, we
emerged, a little after sunset, on an open space hedged round by tall
fir-trees, over which the moon rose, and through whose bar-like
branches came the afterglow of the evening sky. Eetuming, we passed
a walk that he told us now bore the name of the ' Philosopher's AUey,'
from Hegel and Schelling both making it their daily haunt. This
led on to reminiscences of the latter, and of Neander, 'his dear
colleague, and frequent companion in the Thier-Garten.' This is a
fair specimen of our walk, except that when I am alone with him the
conversation is more connected and less didactic."

The approach of Christmas was signalled by all the joyous
preparations that mark its celebration in Germany : the
Christmas fair, with its toy and sweetmeat markets, that
were like a carnival ; the universal demand for Christmas-
trees, which converted some of the chief squares for the
time being into fir forests ; . the feasts and distribution of
gifts to the poor; and the merry revelries for the chUdren.
Mr. Stevenson entered into the spirit of everything with
keen enjoyment. " What a marveUous hold the festival has
over the people !" he writes. " How beautifuUy the child-
life shines through, and becomes the central point of all !
'Eupreckt' and the ' Weilmachtsrmmn' (Father Christmas)

48 Life of Williain Fleming Stevenson.

carry you back into the dimmest antiquity of the Norsemen
and of the old hero-world of Scandinavia ! I almost feel
about Christmas as a German, and that, I can assure you, is
a great deal."

He was invited, with his friend Hengstenberg, to be present at
a " Bescheerung '' (a distribution of gifts from a Christmas-tree)
for fifty poor children at the house of the then prime minister.
Baron ManteuffeL Passing up a wide staircase and through
several anterooms, they found themselves in a large salon
filled almost exclusively by members of the German nobility.

" There are but few seats. Most of the ladies stand, but we, vic-
tims of gallantry and good nature, must stand in front of the stove-
like tea-kettles, as Hengstenberg says, simmering over a strong fire.
Souohon is with us, so is his fellow-clergyman. The lights are burning
round the table and on the trees like innumerable stars ; the gifts
make a fine show ; and the servants are passing in at every available
door. Presently the children come thronging in, little and tall, plain
and pretty, but all neatly dressed, and gazing at the tables and the
Christmas-trees and the people with a long intense look of happiness.
They fill up the side of the room opposite us. When they are
settled there is a hymn given out. It is one of Luther's — the
beautiful old ' Vom Himmel hoch da komm,' ich Iter.' All sang, even
those that could only croak ; there was a devotional enthusiasm
kindled that passed from heart to heart, and gave a new beauty to
the words and the melody, which is also Luther's ; and one felt that
the angels with their golden wings overshadowed the room, announc-
ing to these poor children now, as to the poor shepherds of Beth-
lehem, the birth of the holy child Jesus. The hymn over, the chil-
dren were all placed round the table opposite the presents that bore
their names. How their eyes sparkled, and what a joy lightened
over their features, as they turned over the shoes, the apples, and
the pictures, and examined the pattern of their dresses ! How the
talking and the merry laughing waxed louder and louder ; how the
parents came forward from the shadow of the door to share in their
children's joy ; how the little lights were put out that the leaves
might be packed in the white handkerchiefs, into which anxious
mothers and children were endeavouring to stuff the abundant gifts ;
finally, how entirely happy everybody looked, and especially, I am
told, your brother, sinmiering worse and worse by the stove !— aU

Study and Travel in Germany. 49

this I can't describe to you. One little child drew my attention par-
ticularly. It was near us, was a tiny thing about four years old,
and not very steady on its feet when walking ; but during the entire
hymn it stood with its small hands clasped and its great, full, deep
eyes gazing upwards, sometimes with an abstracted expression un-
common in a child, sometimes fixed on M. Souchon's face. It was a
little poem. And before it was taken up by these charitable ladies
it was, I've no doubt, a very dirty little poem. "

Though absorbed in his studies, and deeply interested in
all the phases of life to which his residence in Berlin had
introduced him, he was yet a watchful observer of everything
that concerned the home-land he had left. During the winter
of 1854, the Crimean War was the foremost topic in men's
thoughts, and one can enter into the pride of the young
student in the blessing God gave his country in the person of
Florence Nightingale : —

" What a noble spirit EngUshmen inherit ! Is anything in history
finer than the self-sacrifice and devotion during and after the battle
of Alma ? Can any crusading or pre-orusading era point to a woman
of so fine yet purely feminine a type as Miss Nightingale ? Elizabeth
of Himgary was devoted to the poor, but after a Middle Age fashion,
and not till stricken by the death of her husband. Margaret Fuller
nursed in the hospital at Rome, and with a woman's tenderness, but
her life was not given to it. Caroline Fry had not so much to
sacrifice, and by no means so painful a situation. But that a young
girl of cultivated tastes, of most liberal education, richly endowed
by nature and fortune, idolized in the love of her numerous friends,
should quietly visit one hospital after another, in one country after
another, nurse in them all, and after three years' experience in St.
John's Hospital, London, listen to the call of her country and leave
kindred and home for a military hospital at Scutari ; going quietly
and unobtrusively, with a feminine delicacy and sensitiveness that
shrinks from publicity, so that till she has gone scarce any one
knows that she has the intention of leaving ;— this is grand ! Thank
God for this noble spirit.

"Went to-day to hear old Pastor Gtossner, a marvellously hale and
hearty man in his eighty-third year, of good height and erect air,
who himself trains his own vines, and lives quite alone, and who this
morning not only read out the hymns line by line with a, powerful

4

50 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

voice, but the Liturgy, and, besides, had his own prayers and a ser-
mon of forty minutes, delivered, it is true, sitting. He wears a little
black skull-cap, and his white hair streams out from under it on each
side of his head. He has a sweet, intensely cahn and peaceful, lov-
ing, and spiritual face. On eveiy Sunday and feast-day he holds a
service at nine o'clock in the Elizabethan Eranken-Haus, chiefly for
the deaconesses, though others may attend ; and I am told through
the last severe winter he never missed a Sunday. His address was
on the epistle for the day — the preachiag of repentance by John the
Baptist. It was beautifully simple and affectionate, like the voice of
a man whose heart was Uf ted up to God. Dear old man ! one could
fancy it was a little room in Ephesus eighteen centuries ago, and that
St. John WEis addressing his little flock. "

His many engagements were never allowed to interfere
with deeper spiritual interests. The following extract from
a letter to his sister shadows forth the yearnings of his
inner life, and shows also his high ideal of the Christian
ministry : —

" I feel sometimes a strange unmanly shrinking from the Church,
as if the work were too high and noble, or too arduous and painful
for me to attempt, forgetting that we can do all things through
Christ who strengtheneth us. But my dear mother's perfect trust
and confidence that God has a work for me to do has greatly strength-
ened my weak faith and helped to banish these perplexing misgiv-
ings. What a riddle and strange hybrid we are, a cross between
heaven and earth ; sometimes the one uppermost, sometimes the
other — ^now utterly prostrate before God in deep hulnility and self-
negation, and again filled with the one idea of ourselves, <mr powers,
OUT thoughts, our work, as if God were not working in us, as if
the blessed Holy Spirit were not ever moving in the chaos of our
hearts to shape them into some god-like order, to bring our wills
into harmony with the all-perfect will of our heavenly Father ! Oh,
it Ss, fearful sometimes to wake as if from a dream and find how you
have been tossed about by the devil as a play -ball, and to have your
good resolutions and pious purposes brought before your face and see
how there is not one of them that has not been broken and tr^tmpled
upon ! And yet how often one has such a waking ! But then the
joy to find a higher strength and wisdom than yours ; to be ' an
infant crying in the night, and with no language but a cry,' and to

Study and Travel in Germany. 51

have that cry for help answered by all the might of the Almighty ;
to sink one's whole being into Christ and be lost in Him ; to have our
dear Saviour standing by us, to feel the grateful shadow of His
presence on our burning souls, to be shielded by His love, soothed by
His sympathy, upheld by His grace ! Surely there is nothing so
wonderful as this infinite, ever-flowing, never-failing love of Christ.
And love with no upbraiding — ^love as rich and full in the misery of
our wayward wanderings from Him as in the height of our com-
munion with Him. May we ever be kept warm in the folds of that
Divine Love, daUy pressing closer to Christ, and further from the
world, the flesh, and the deviL I do hope and believe that if God
spare me I shall be able to do something for the establishment of His
kingdom. I am trying to concentrate all my energies and studies on
that one end (with what weakness and unsatisfactoriness is known
only to God and myself), and I have a firm conviction that if, in His
providence and goodness, permitted to join the holy ministry, my
present experience, and whatever knowledge of books, of the world,
myself, and of the blessed evangel I may gain in Germany, will be
among the more material helps to my usefulness as a pastor. I don't
feel disturbed by the thought that meanwhile the Church may want
a labourer, and that precious time is quickly slipping by unimproved ;
the Church has no need for raw, unskilled labour, and such, I feel, at
present is all I can offer. It is no light office that is vmdertaken ; it
is hedged round with the weightiest responsibilities ; what prepara-
tion it requires must precede it, for after it is assumed it admits of
no interruption, scarcely of breathing-time to recover lost strength ;
and to rush into it while conscious of such unfitness as a little time
and study might go far to remove seems little less than to insult the
Church and the Church's Head. God will show me what is right ;
and I pray that He may keep me mindful that, as what talents I
have are given me of Him, so in His service it becomes me to use
them with the least possible delay. "

\To the same.]

" Bbelut, May 11, ISSS.
" It is now being tolled from the neighbouring bells, and shrilly
piped by the watch, the last midnight I am to spend in Berlin. To-
morrow morning, a few minutes after eight, I set oflf for the south
and the spring. The leave-takings are mostly over. I have parted
from all the friends to whom it is hardest to say ' Good-bye,' though
I daresay many of them will be good-natured and romantic enough
to come to the railway station. I shouldn't like to repeat two such

52 Life of William. Fleming Stevenson.

weeks as these last have been — visit has succeeded visit, and parting
parting, in such rapid succession. One evening has been my last
with old Dr. Strauss, another with the Hengstenbergs, with younger
friends, and with the ' Wingolf . ' Very rich and blessed by God have
I been in warm and kind friends. I never had so many real Chris-
tian friends, men to whom to speak of and work for Christ is their
greatest happiness, who are so earnest, so grafted into deep and
living union with the Saviour, while they retain all the cheerfulness
and light-heartedness of children.

" On Monday the ' Wingolf ' had a special ' Kneipe ' to take leave
of one more their guest than member. We had speeches and fare-
well liedeir, and I received a Testament from the president. They
are aU turning out, — Foxes, Bursche, and Philistines, — to the nmn-
ber of thirty -five, to see me to the railway. I am fairly done up. I
have walked, on the lowest average, fifteen miles a day ; and the
exhaustion is not merely physical, but I assure you when in visiting
one passes from Steffan to Lepsius, and Lepsius to Nitzsch, and Nitzsch
to Hengstenberg, the strain of keeping up a conversation with these
men, though pleasant and invigorating while it lasts, is yet in the
end more fagging than walking from end to end of the town. Such
is the close of what, with full acknowledgment of all my faults and
shortcomings, has been the most valuable winter of my life. "

After leaving Berlin, and before entering upon his studies
in Heidelberg, Mr. Stevenson spent the intervening time in
visiting the Luther country, Leipzig, Dresden, and the Saxon
Switzerland. He returned to Leipzig, and thence visited
Erlangen, Nuremberg, and Frankfurt on his way to Heidel-
berg. Though nominally alone in this journey, yet the
warm, brotherly kindness of the " Wingolf " followed him all
through. In the cities he was usually met on arrival by
some of the members, with plans arranged so as to enable
him to make the best use of the short time at his disposal ;
and often one of tlieir number was deputed to speed him on
his way by accompanying him to his next stopping-place.
He fraternized with the country-folk wherever he went, and
gives quaint little sketches of some of the peasant com-
panions he picked up on his long walks, as well as of his
interviews with the men of note to whom he was introduced

Study and Travel in Germany. 53

by his Berlin friends. On looking over the letters of this
period, one is struck by the bright happiness of his disposi-
tion and the power he had of finding enjoyment in every-
thing, also his rare quickness of observation and the care
with which he noted even trifling details. We give a few
extracts : — -

" After being whirled by the train through the uninteresting, flat,
sandy, pine-covered country that radiates in every direction from
Berlin, and discharged at the station half-a-mile outside the town,
and huddled up into a high cawpi of an ancient vehicle drawn by two
lank, uneven-paced horses, we wound through the tedious fortifica-
tions, passed a church with the air of being both ill-used and vener-
able, and clattered up a narrow street, to the delight of some ragged
urchins, into a market-place crowded with buxom peasant women in
their national dress, where I was deposited at the door of the ' Black
Eagle. ' I was in Wittenberg ; and there in the centre of the market
is the great bronze statue of Luther, portraying him as he may have
stood before the Diet of Worms, sublime in his noble earnestness.

"Accompanied by a Wingolfite, my first pilgrimage was to the
Schloss-Kirche, which, however, is not the old church that resounded
to the blows of Luther's hammer when he nailed up his theses on the
door on the night of the 31st October 1517, for the church has twice
since then been gutted by fire, and little remains of the original but
the old flagging.

"It is with the strangest thoughts tossing in your mind, with a
strange confusion of past and present, that you pass under that
portal and in a few minutes stand by the grave of Luther. For
better preservation the tablet over the tomb hais been let down some
feet into the floor and covered with a heavy stone : when that is
lifted the inscription is fresh as if newly cut ; and that stone is all
that separates you from the dust of the reformer.

"Luther lies to the right, Melanchthon to the left, and on the
opposite wall hang their full-length portraits, carefully drawn by
their warmest friend, old Cranaoh. Luther's is not very good ; but
Melanchthon's, the quiet, gentle scholar, with the placid and yet
sufiering face, his slight stoop, long nose, and reddish hair — Melanch-
thon's is a perfect likeness. I don't think any accurate drawing of
Luther would satisfy one now ; we seek too much for our ideal in the
man. He had an honest, somewhat animal and full Bavarian face,
prominent cheek-bones, and small eyes deeply sunk in his head. It

54 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

is true they are a beautiful hazel, and as clear and honest as the sun,
and his mouth has a dignity and a mighty energetic will about it
that belong to the great hero j'but his features have no element of
beauty, and the total expression of his face seems to me summed up
in an honest purpose and manly integrity and firmness. Cranach
has painted him over and over again, but I have never found any
head risiag higher than this in expression.

" Two other great men rest here, though perhaps greatest by their
association with Luther — John the Steadfast and Frederick the
Wise. They lie before the altar, and their figures and the record of
their lives are embossed on the chancel wall — records that would
take a day to spell through. This is what the Schloss-Kirche has
got to show ; and for those to whom the battle of life is beginning
these men have a mighty living voice, and from the dust of the four
great heroes who fought in the van of the Reformation their battle-
cry sounds, ' For Christ and our Fatherland ! ' Would that that
were the thought of our heart of hearts in Ireland now !

"At the corner of the market-place farthest from Luther lived
Lucaa Cranach, in a fine old house. Not far from the cloisters we
passed the house where Melanchthon lived, laboured, and died. We
entered Luther's house by a faded and ruined courtyard, the re-
mains of what had once been a garden making it look still more
desolate. It is a large, imposing building, three stories high, and
six or seven windows broad — a present from the Elector — and in the
centre there juts out a, tower with odd, sloping windows. When
Luther was alive this tower used to be tenanted by the poor students.
His own rooms are kept precisely as when he used to sit in them,
pouring forth his table-talk at the simple dinner, or dancing Hans
upon his knee and telling hun what heaven was like, or writing his
wonderful books, or making whatever other use a quiet family man
might make of his library and study. We saw his massive deal
writing-table, and the enormous stove with porcelain figures of his
own designing. Two volumes of the Latin missal lay on the window-
sill which his hands had often turned over, and from which he had
sung many a chant. Prom the window in his time he could see the
green fields and trees of which he writes so feelingly — a Wordsworth
in the guise of a reformer. On the upper part of a closed door in
the room is a great sprawling ' Peter,' written roughly in chalk, and
carefully framed with glass, for it is the autograph of Peter the
Great^a characteristic memento of the man. In a large carved press
at one side are preserved several objects of great interest, among
them a relic of Catarina, the sampler in which she worked a portrait

Study and Travel in Germany. 55

of the doctor, faded now and tarnished, but in its day no doubt very
precious, especially to the little Hans and Margaret, who would
think their mother a very great woman indeed.

"Descending to the courtyard, I sat down on one of the rough
stone seats placed at each side, and hollowed out by Luther for him-
self and his wife, that they might enjoy the bahny air and flowery
perfumes of the summer evenings. How long I might have sat here
would be hard to say, but we had to hurry back to the ' Seminar '
where my ' Wingolf ' friends live — once an Augustinian convent, now
one of those preaching seminaries common throughout Germany for
the instruction of the speculative theologian fresh from the luiiver-
sity in his practical duties. The members receive instruction from
distinguished men, regular courses of lectures on practical theology
and kindred subjects are delivered, the students preach publicly in
rotation in the church, and after about two years of this excellent
preparation, they are thought to be tolerably well fitted for the
active duties of a parish minister. Twenty -four is the number which
can be accommodated at Wittenberg ; each haiS a private room in
the cloisters, and receives 200 thaler — about £30 — a year, together
with free lodging and firing, and except under peculiar circumstances
they cannot remain longer here than two years

" To Halle from Wittenberg is like a journey from the dead to the
living. In HaUe you think only of the present — of the men who,
having their tendencies shaped by that present, are in their turn
shaping and guiding those of the future. There is a speU in the
names of Muller and Tholuck that is wanting in names of the same
reputation at home. A master theologian in Germany not only in-
fluences the German mind, but by it America, England, France 5 for
these countries, unable at present or unwilling to create a scientific
theology for themselves, borrow that which is laboriously fashioned
here, and if they do not always follow it in its wanderings, at least
m general accept its results.

"Tholuck has not a speculative mind. His popularity here as
well as in England springs from his practical common-sense and well-
balaaiced mind. We respect him because he introduces to us the
results of the higher German theology in that mode of thought and
treatment with which we are familiar. He is respected in Germany
because, from the German standpoint, he looks at theology in a
practical common-sense way. If he has helped us to understand the
theology pf this country, and has made us tolerant of it by beguiling
us into an interest in it, he has no less made our English method
known here, and won for it a hearing it could have obtained at the

56 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

hands of no Englishman. The little, keen man in his study, his face
set in an expression of constant pain, his manner brusque and abrupt,
his caustic remarks, his intolerance of ' mere ideas,' his biting satire
applied as readily to a first visitor as to any one else — ^this is no ideal,
but a real, every-day man, living in an every-day practical world.
When I first saw him, he did not, beyond the coldest greeting, show
that he was aware of my presence, but talked fitfully for half an hour
with two young trembling students sitting on the sofa. Once, indeed,
he turned round, after a fit of absence, to ask how long I had been
in Berlin, and when he heard, said quickly, ' Hope you learned some-
thing there,' and continued his oateohisation of the two youths. By-
and-by he relented, his coldness thawed, and before we parted he was
even genial, and had asked me to accompany him on one of his walks
the next day. When I called again I found him writing a letter of
introduction for me to Heidelberg ajid singing over his work. When
he had finished his letter and the song together, we went out, first
into his garden, along one wall of which runs a covered arcade to
serve as walking-ground in wet weather. He takes immense, quick
strides, and might be known at the distance of a mile by his long
coat, old hat, and peculiar gait. We walked furiously about the
suburbs, and the conversation became more and more animated.. At
last he fell Into a vein of meditation, of thinking aloud, that was
very like hearing him read a new chapter in the ' Hours of Devotion.'
With his blessing and a hearty shake of the hand I parted from him.
He has the most distinctly marked individuality of any man I have
met in Germany ; and his great amiability and geniality when he
chooses and when he takes to his companion make his company much
Bought after by the students. He walks twice a day, each time for
nearly two hours, and never unaccompanied. It is one of the neces-
sary sacrifices he must make to secure even tolerable health, and he
uses it as a means of doing all he can for the students and of bringing
them into contact with him. His lecture is not scientific in the strict
sense of the word. It is more a higher class of conversation, in which
he is the sole speaker. He sits comfortably in his chair and works
out of the ends of his fingers quaint and excellent remarks, with
which he interweaves either a fine thread of poetry or a number
of personal stories illustrative of his point and full of peculiar
humour.

"Among the other living names of interest in Halle are :^
"Miiller, whom I heard dictate a lecture on ' <Sy»i6oM/fc,' giving a
remarkably succinct and intelligible account of the early EngUsh
creeds, grouping them together and stating their mutual bearing in

Study and Travel in Germany. 57

a, philosophical spirit and with a fine criticism that bore out his
reputation.

" Jacobi, who lectures on Church History, his whole countenance
and bearing animated almost to inspiration. In the study he is a
quiet, thoughtful, gentle student, who when he speaks says something
suggestive, and who has the knack of managing the conversation
without perceptible effort.

" And Moll, whom I heard speak admirably, with sound piety and
common-sense, on practical visitation of the poor.

"In Halle I saw a good deal of the students, who have a much
jollier, merrier, and, as they delight to say, more historical life than
in Berlin. The ' Chors ' (student unions or corporations) here are
numerous ; one often sees them marching together thirty strong or
more, and feels that being a student here gives one a position in the
town, places one among the privileged classes. I was the guest of
the ' WingoK ; ' the men were very kind, planned all sorts of amuse-
ments for me, including a ' Kneipe. ' But, after all, the most interest-
ing building in Halle is the Waisenhaus (Orphan Home), with which
the name, and to us in England the life and labours, of Francke are
for ever associated, and where upwards of two thousand children are
at present educated. In one of the large courts which intersect the
building stands Francke's monument, with these pregnant words,
'He trusted God.'"

After visiting the Saxon Switzerland in all the freshness
of its spring beauty — Dresden, with its glorious pictures;
Meissen, with its cathedral and china factory ; and Leipzig,
with its records of battles stamped upon its walls, and its
remiuiscences of Luther and Schiller — he reached Erlangen,
where he met, among others, the great theologians Delitzsch
and Hoffmann. Of the latter he writes : —

"He received me very kindly, even warmly, and we were soon
deep in an animated conversation over his 'Princip.' How strange
it seemed to be quietly talking over his theories with such a man in
his study, a man whom at home I had set up on a pinnacle, where he
shone like a star and dwelt apart. One by one the diflSculties with
which I had contended in his book vanished before the clearness with
which he unfolded his views in conversation, and I felt halt inclined
to prefer a petition to him that he would write as intelligibly as he

58 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

spoke ! He was greatly interested in what I told him of Bishop
Hampden's opinions in his learned book on the Scholastics, which are
almost identical with his own. "

He thus describes his last visit to Delitzsch : —

" He had left directions that I was to follow him to the ' Harmonic, '
should he not be at home when I called. I was rather amused at
this new insight into German life, and went to the inn with some
curiosity. There he was reading his papers, his glass of beer beside
him, in a room where thirty or forty others were sitting and smoking,
and among them the most famous names of our classical literature, an
eminent astronomer, a pair of philosophers, etc. Insensibly we fell
into close earnest talk, and the conversation ranged over so many
interesting subjects that I look back upon the hour or two in the
'Harmonic' as among the pleasantest I have spent in Germany.
Hoffinann had been expected to join us, but did not return to town iu
time.

"After we got into the street Delitzsch took me by the arm, and
we walked about for nearly an hour. I parted from him with great
regret. He was so hearty, friendly, and unaffected that it was im-
possible not to love him. More than this, he is one of the most pious
of men. His spirit is something like Baxter's, not so liberal, but
every day makes bim more catholic. The depth and tenderness of
his love for Christ, and the childlikeness and maiveJbi which accom-
pany it, are very beautiful. I learned more from biTn in on evening
than I would from sermons and commentaries in a year. And let me
not forget to add that he is at present the first commentator on the
Old Testament in Germany. His hair is almost white, though he is
not much above forty. He has a beautiful, loving, gentle expression,
in which one soon forgets his plain features. "

Thence to Nuremberg, escorted by a "Wingolfite," who
had been told off to attend him. He gave himself up to the
spirit of the place, which BtUl lies under the speU of the
Middle Ages, never wearied of exploring the ancient Gtothic
architecture, endless in its variety, but always picturesque,
and delighted in the irregular, straggling old gables and
peaked turrets, with rich decoration of dark, carved wood
and massive stone, the exquisitely -delicate tracery of its

Study and Travel in Germany. 59

ironwork castings, the many wondrous memories of departed
greatness, and the mixture of real and unreal, that seemed
almost like the illusion of a vivid dream.

He passed from reminiscences of Hans Sachs, the cobbler-
poet, to traces of Albert Dtirer, the impress of whose genius
is stamped on the entire city ; inspected the houses where
they lived, and then wandered in the evening to the quiet
"God's Acre" where they rest in death — a quaint spot lying
on a little platform below the castle, where the flat stones
covering the graves are laid side by side in long unbroken rows.

" As I read the maoriptions I felt face to face with the past, and I
lingered till the last glimpses of red had died away in the western
sky. I was only anxious lest the wind should rise : not that it would
howl mournfully through the trees, for trees there were none ; nor
that it would drift clouds quickly across the moon, and chase their
shadows over the bare white stones, for the sky was cloudless ; but
lest it should touch one particular tomb. An old Nuremberger has
got screwed into the stone that covers his ashes a metal skull, and
the under jaw is made so loose that, when the wind creeps about and
touches it, it clatters violently against the upper. Is it not horrible ?
Think of the fearful shrill rapping of that black skull in a storm,
gnashing its hideous iron jaws in a rage that rises with the fury of
the blast !

" Just as the flash of the sunset was vanishing in the dull evening
gray, as the moon was rising over the Heidenthurm, as the stars
began to peep and twinkle one by one, all the bells rang out slowly
nine, and then began the sweetest chiming I ever heard : the great
deep bell of St. Lorenz, and the clear mellow bell of St. Sebald, and
many another bell from tower and spire far and near, all ringing in
soft harmony and tune, filled the air with their dreamy music. Over
the quiet town, that lay already indistinct in the fading twilight, the
sweet tones came and went and came again, till the whole air vibrated
with a delicious melody that ' lingered wandering on as loath to die,'

' Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof
That they were bom for immortality.'

This welcome to the night, or this lullaby to the day, whichever you
choose to call it, lasted ias about fifteen minutes, and then died gently
as one bell after the other softly ceased.

6o Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

' ' I sat down on the low parapet wall and wondered what the
twelve statues meant in the garden below, and watched the moon
sailing slowly through the faint, pale stars. Suddenly the quiet
light fell on one of the stiff white figures, and I saw by the key it was
St. Peter, and St. Peter was the key to the rest. The twelve apostles
stood in silence among the sweet flowers in the garden, and above
was the Heidenthurm, thrown into darker shadow by the same light
that revealed them. It was Whitsuntide. Eighteen centuries ago
another light streamed down on these twelve as ' they were all with
one accord in one place, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. '
On a summer evening eighteen centuries ago three thousand were
gathered into the Church by one sermon. How vividly the whole
story grew on one ! "

But Heidelberg and work lay before him, and he could
not long indulge in day-dreams in romantic Nuremberg.
A summer night's journey through a rich country, here pass-
ing by steeply-terraced vineyards, and there through thickly-
wooded valleys, brought him to Frankfurt. All along the
route the number of smaU principalities was a novel feature.

"It is incredible how many grand-dukes' territories you may pass
through in a few hours. Between Leipzig and Bamberg, for instance,
you may have been lost in thought for five minutes, and when you
turn to your guide-book you find during your reverie you have shot

through an hereditary kingdom. If A had purchased in Middle

Gerfliany instead of Ireland, yoimg A would be hereditary gramd-

duke, own a regiment, a theatre, a museum, a lottery, and a minis-
try ; marry a princess, have a daily bulletin of his movements circu-
lated among his tenantry through the court journal, and probably
would have felt called on to send Atty M'Swiggin as his special
ambassador to the Court of St. Petersburg to offer his condolences on
the death of the Emperor Nicholas. "

Dannecker's "Ariadne,'' and all the reminiscences of
Goethe, from the house where he was born to his statue in
the town library, were religiously visited and their impres-
sion fully noted ; but coming from the " delicious, irregu-
lar, old-world Nuremberg," he felt "out of tune" with the
bustle and gaiety of the busy town, and was glad to leave it

Study and Travel in Germany. 61

behind him and reach the last stage of his foreign life. At
Heidelberg he writes : —

" The charm of the place began in the station, where every traveller
is struck by the profusion of lovely trailing creepers, clematis, wood-
bine, and vines that adorn it. Then came the old red castle, with
its background of soft, green; wooded hills, all aglow in the western
sun. Heidelberg is the most romantic city in the world : it is girdled
round with the beautiful. I have not matriculated in the University
here, and will not, having received permission from the professors to
attend, as a guest, all the lectures they give. "

One of the principal subjects of his study during the two
months he spent here was the Roman Catholic controversy.

[To his Father.]

" Heidelbero, June SI, 1855.
"I am delighted with the University library. I have free access
to it, to roam among the book-shelves two hours daily, and to carry
away as many books as I choose. This is a high privilege, for the
library is one of the most extensive and valuable in Germany. My
reading is at present confined to the Roman Catholic question, and
the grounds of difference between that Church and the Protestant,
and I find it takes up much time, but is a most interesting study. I
had my attention directed to a number of books bearing on it by
Professor Hengstenberg, and here Eothe and Schoeberlein have told
me of others. I am sometimes in despair when I think of what a
huge work it is, and how little of it I can accomplish with the best
will and the greatest zeal before August. The greatest man in
Heidelberg is undoubtedly Rothe, who also stands at the head of
speculative theology in Germany. He is a very ciurious little man,
with a small face, and he speaks in a finnikin way, like a precise old
maid — ^like the birds in 'David Copperfield.' There is a peculiar
contrast between the little sharp speech, in which all the words have
the ends cut oflf, and the profound, wonderfully comprehensive, and
deep-searching views he utters and develops. His eye is remarkably
fine, full, gentle, benevolent, and sparkling with a restless light."

He received much kindness from the Chevalier Bunsen,
with whom he had many interesting conversations, of which

62 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

he gave full -accounts in his home-letters, the topics being
such as were naturally suggested by meeting an English
student of divinity in Germany. He thus describes his first
reception : —

"This evening I drove out with his cousin, who lectures on chem-
istry, to see Bunsen. When we arrived at the house we walked in
past a huge dog that lay sleeping on the steps, up a flight of stairs
to the lobby, past the servants, without ceremony to the drawing-
room, where I was introduced to the lady, and a daughter, who
proposed we should seek her father in the garden. We walked out
through pretty grounds, climbed up higher and higher, and at last
caught sight of Bunsen, hat on, waiting with a gentleman, and some
distance above us. By-and-by we neared him, and he waited for us
at the head of a small flight of steps, where I was Introduced to him.
He said he had heard of me, and that my friends in Berlin were the
last people he would wish me to come from, but nevertheless he
reached me his hand warmly enough, saying jokingly, ' Well see. '

" At a Uttle arbour on the summit he paused and began to point
out the great beauty of the view, regretting it was not clear enough
to see Speyer. ' Ah ! ' he cried, ' why weren't you here half-an-
hour ago, when the setting sun shone on these hills ? It was gSttiich.'
Going down the hiU again to the house, he took me by the hand
aside and began a theological discussion at once, making his con-
versation brilhant and intensely interesting.

"We afterwards went into the house and enjoyed a quiet English
tea very much ; his wife and four daughters who joined us were very
pleasant and agreeable, one of them serving as tea-maker. During
the whole time he talked philology and of the Taeping rebeUion in
China. After tea we adjourned to the drawing-room, where, he
assigned us our places, and whUe he talked every one was expected
to listen. His conversation ranged over hieroglyphics, the early
modes of speech, the telegraph, etc. Humboldt, he says, has a re-
markable talent for languages, and his skill in them is very great — ■
wonderful for a man of eighty-five. He told how he had lately had
a long letter from him about a view he had stated in a work written
when he was young, which, as well as the ciu-ious experiment in con-
nection with it, had struck Humboldt, and been most accurately
remembered by him. ' He views men and things in relation to the
cosmos,' said Bunsen, ' but the cosmos is not wider and freer than his
views are.'

Study and Travel in Germany. 63

"We began to speak of my studies. He recommended me espe-
cially De Wette for New Testament exegesis. ' Exegesis and philo-
sophy are the two pillars of dogmatics. ' We passed on to speak of
Isaiah in connection with Hengstenberg's lectures. This led ua on
to the Books of MoseSj the first of which he declared was not written
by him, nor the last ; and as for the second and third, they were
probably drawn up from materials he left behind. This brought ua
at once to Egypt and its chronology. And here for a long time he
continued, with the nicest exactness and without pause, to explain
his recent investigations and their result.

" Bunsen had always something good and apropos ready to say, and
seems to possess a remarkable knowledge on almost all subjects ; yet
where he has not obtained it, is not only willing but most anxious to
seek it. He has a very fine face, a glorious face, kindly, and full of
thought and cultivation ; snowy hair in abundance. His eyes are
fuU, prominent, and keen j his manner genial. His daughters and
he usually speak English together. He rises at four and works till
nine. His daughters seem to know almost as much as himself. When
he is at a loss for the name of a man or for a date or fact, he says,
' Kinder ! ' aiid ia at once gracefully supplied.

"We spoke of England in general. 'There is not so much a
want of science,' he said, 'as of religious life. How little genuine
Christianity there is here, in England, in the world ! In England
there are formalism, empiricism, materialism. And yet there it is
best. So long as England has its Christian family life and its free
citizenship, it is safe. Why, from its constitution it learns a moral
discipline and dignity ; every EngUshman learns it, unconsciously.
And how much there is in the family life of England ! It is the germ
of the Christian life.' We spoke of the troubles and discords now
prevailing m London. ' This irnrest, and the miserable immorality
in high places, and the materialism in low, are only a boil on a
healthy body. There is no fear for England, sir.' We spoke of
difficulties in signing creeds. I said there were three ways— literally,
historically, and esoterically. He said a creed must be signed in the
way accordant with your own belief ; you must explain it so, and
you must not above all things strain at gnats and affect difficulties.

" We spoke of Maurice. I said I had heard him called an atheist.
' No man wUl dare to print it,' he replied eagerly. ' Yes, yes ;
there are people who will talk madly both before and after dinner.
" Dear Maurice ! don't mind them," Kingsley said at the time, and
I have been always saying it since. But the good man, he minds it
far too much for his own peace ; he cannot bear that he should be

64 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

reported for a teacher of evil, and it grieves and depresses his gentle
spirit cruelly to be so misunderstood. ' We talked of Red Lion Court.
' Ah, yes ! Julius Hare wrote to him to remind him of how Paul,
when put out of the synagogue at Corinth, cried, " Henceforth I will
go unto the Gentiles ; " and Maurice took the counsel earnestly to
heart, and foimded the Red Lion University. He is an inexpressibly
gentle, earnest, humble, and most holy man. He is as noiseless as
charity, and unobtrusive to excess ; but I have no doubt be will
overcome in the end. He has already won a great influence over the
thinking young men of England. He is gentle and unassuming, and
so the people attack him ; but Kingsley comes with his club, and
they run frightened into their holes and caves. Kingsley attacks
them — he is aggressive.'

" We talked a, good deal over ' Westward Ho ! ' ' It is a splendid
book — ^magnificent,' he said. 'As to the Catholics, Kingsley only
shows a picture of the time, and it would have been historically un-
just to paint them as other than those who planned the infamous
Armada. He protests against their lying spirit and Jesuitry, against
what is foul and detestable in them, and he protests like a manly,
honest Christian ; but in an epilogue he explains for those of weaker
capacity that he does not mean to say the Catholic of to-day was not
so brave at Alma as the Protestant. Kingsley is right : we must
protest against the foolery that Puseyitism has brought in during
these last twenty years. " Westward Ho ! " you should by all means
read.' '"Hypatia,"' I said, 'seems to me the most artistic of his
works after the "Saint's Tragedy."' 'Yes, you are right: the
" Saint's Tragedy " is the most finished of his writings ; " Hypatia " is
very noble. Too bad that it is not yet in a second edition. It will
make its way, and take my word for it, thirty or forty years after
this it will be read as a classic. Have you read that fine article by
Kingsley on Raleigh in the North British Beview ? '

" When we were speaking of the struggle liberal opinion on theology
had in England — a struggle for the bare lite — Bunsen said it would all
go right soon, and spoke of the great advance that has been made in
the last forty years. ' I have talked with many of your stiffest men,
and when they were excellent, sincere Christians, I found strong
opinions and narrow enough, but candour and a wish to see what was
good in mine. As M inspiration, they have argued it with me step
by step, but I hope have found in the end that those views they call
loose, if by no harsher name, can coincide with as warm a love for
Jesus Christ as their own. They say, "But if you don't believe the
Bible in our sense you reject much that is true." I reply, " My circle

Study and Travel in Germany. 65

of truth is wider than yours. You hold that every word of the Bible
is inspired ; beyond that, nothing. I may hold with you ; but I go
beyond the Bible, and say God has inspired much more. Which em-
braces the most truth, your circle or mine 1 " They find that argu-
ment won't hold, but they can't be persuaded to give it up.' "

[^To his Sister.]

" Heidelbbbg, Jv/ne 1855.

"In R 's dangerous illness I can't but read a warning and

lesson for myself. What if it should come to my turn ? What then
could I think of that I had done to make others rejoice in the same
blessed Saviour 1 How have I used these past precious years ? What
fruit has grown out of them for others, nay, even for myself ? And
I feel that to answer these questions better I must look to the future
rather than the past ; that my work has not yet begun ; that I have
been one of our dear Master's most unprofitable servants, and I dare
no longer trifle ; that there are solemn duties the sad neglect of
which is to be redeemed by double zeal. I have rested too much in
the want of office to do that which, more or less, it is the office of
every Christian to do. Christ has not so many preachers that He
can afford to let one follower of His idle. We must all be His mes-
sengers ; and we must be His messengers all our life long, not merely
from twenty -one years old or twenty-three. Would that I had felt
this earlier, that I had not been satisfied with the mere routine of
Sunday school and Bible class ! How many opportunities we thought-
lessly miss — the common daily speech, the casual visit, the friendly
intercourse, even the chance companion on the road! With God's
help it must not continue so. How many little ways we can find in
which that most wonderful message of peace and goodwill may be
proclaimed! It need not be noisily in meetings, but silently as love
itself; the quiet influence of an earnest life revealing itself uncon-
sciously in manifold forms of Christian activity, noiseless, persistent,
gentle, yet full of power. This should be our aim. May we not be
more earnest in Sunday-school teaching, strive more to bring Christ
before the children, Christ the living friend, teacher, keeper. Savi-
our ? There is a good deal in preparing the lesson, but there is more
in giving it a centre in Jesus, in making Him the heart of it that
sends the warm life beating through it all ; making it felt that He is
not the awful, ineffable, mysterious Being who was once very near
people on this earth, and whose divinity we prove by texts cut and
dry out of the Catechism, so much as the infinitely tender and loving
Jesus Christ, who is as near and real to us, nay, more, than to the

5

66 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

apostles — to Peter when he was sinking in the sea, to Thomas when
he cried, ' My Lord and my God.' I have confided to yon my inmost
thoughts for you and for myself ; may they at least serve to remind
us that we are all labourers in Christ's vineyard, and that it is a
shame to be idle there.'

[To his Father.]

" Heidelbebo, June 21, 1855.
"How noble and full of dignity and duty, how solemn in its
responsibility, the pastoral office is, I feel the more deeply, sometimes
even awfully, the nearer I approach it, and can only rest on God's
sJmighty support, and on Him who, our Lord promises, will lead us
into aU truth, to give me the courage to enter upon it, and the ability
and wisdom to discharge it. I know that you also, my dear father,
pray earnestly for me that I may not shame the blessed Master ;
that, striving to follow in Christ's footsteps, I may be the means of
leading many others on the same holy road ; and I cannot tell. you
what comfort I have in the consciousness that those who are dearest
to me, and who know and love me best, are beseeching God on my
behalf."

CHAPTER IV.

EARLY MINISTERIAL LIFE.

In July 1855, Mr. Stevenson left Heidelberg and returned
to Ireland. Several months were then spent at home in
quiet study and preparation. At this time his mind was in
a somewhat unsettled state regarding some elements of the
creed in which he had been brought up, and to which he
clung with loyal reverence. It was by plunging into prac-
tical mission-work that light was to come to him upon these
thorny points of theology. Meanwhile he brooded over the
mysterious system of truth of which he was about to become
the exponent, and lost no opportunity of gathering guidance
from those in whom he had confidence. Especially to his
friend Adolph Saphir he wrote fuUy and freely, but these
letters have not been preserved.

In 1856 he received Kcense from the Presbytery of Stra-
bane, and preached occasionally in vacant charges. It was
when preaching in Dervock, on the 22nd March 1857, that
he received the news of the second break in the home-circle.
His father was then a hale man of sixty-five. He had a
wonderful love of flowers, and his garden was his special
pride and pleasure, being considered one of the show-places
in the county. He had only returned from morning service,
and was taking his usual Sunday walk with his wife among
his flowers, when in a moment the call came, and he was
summoned from earth to be for ever with the Lord. His
sudden death brought grief to the whole neighbourhood.

68 Life of William. Fleming Stevenson.

The sorrow extended far beyond his own circle, and could
only be measured by the love and reverence in which he was
held by rich and poor. Their sympathy was deepened by
the fact that at the time all the members of the family were
from home, and their mother had to bear the first shock of
desolation alone. Mr Stevenson hurried back, and wrote on
the 24th to the Rev. Theodore Meyer (afterwards his brother-

" The change which that brief minute has brought to us ! The
centre of the family life, one in whom we all confided all our joys and
sorrows, whose laugh made us all merry, whose trouble made us all
anxious, never more to be seen among us ! There was scarcely a
family, I think, so happy as ours ; none happier. And how much of
that happiness rested in him who is now among the saints in light we
shall only realize now that he is no longer here. "

The absorbing labours which were to solve for him many
a perplexing question in theology began in the autumn of
1857, when the missionary impulse that had commenced
to move within him impelled him to ofier himself to the
directors of the Belfast Town Mission, for work among the
poor and outcast in the lanes and alleys of that busy town.
At that time the town missionaries were selected by a local
committee from among the ablest and most devoted licen-
tiates of the Church ; and the Brown Square district, which
was that assigned to Mr. Stevenson, opened up peculiar
opportunities to a man who was prepared to spend and be
spent in the service of Christ. It is a densely populated
locality, and in 1857 contained some of the most poverty-
stricken and depraved lanes in BeKast, most of which have
recently been cleared away. It was, however, just the place
for a man who had Immanuel Wichem's faith in the power
of the gospel ; and Mr. Stevenson entered on his work in
the profound conviction that the same story of Diviae love
which had softened the hearts of the thieves and vagabonds

Early Ministerial Life. 69

of Hamburg was able to subdue the outcasts of Belfast.
The poverty and sufferings of the people, however, were
found to be great hindrances to his work. He used to say
how forcibly their reception of his message seemed to illus-
trate the mental condition of the children of Israel when
"they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and
cruel bondage." Nevertheless, with that unconquerable
courage which distinguished him, he went from door to door,
visiting every house in the district, and in each presenting
the gospel of Jesus Christ, in full assurance of the living,
quickening power of the "Word of life. In those days there
was no agency in Belfast such as the society for nursing the
sick poor in their own homes, which now, with its perfect
organization, is introducing relief and comfort into hundreds
of afflicted households. Thirty years ago any labourer among
the poor, whether district missionary or dispensary doctor,
had scarcely an available resource in cases of special sickness
outside his own limited means. Not infrequently Mr. Ste-
venson carried off his entire dinner in order to provide sus-
tenance for some starving family. His work in Brown Square
produced a profound impression on the district. The poor-
law physician no sooner came into contact with him than he
declared, " This missionary is a true man ; he cares for the
people's souls." A lady, whose name is still a household
word among the poor of the neighbourhood, entered one day
the house of a woman crushed by infirmity and want. " The
young missionary has been here," said the woman. "He
talked to me and prayed with me, and I think I feel the
pinches less."

\To his sister Ma/ry.^

** Belfast, Nommhefr 1858.
"I am very busy, of course ; any one beginning a new life will be
awkward and irregular, and wasteful both of time and energy. How-
ever, I have not been allowed here to do even as much as I should.
They are very kind and considerate. There are probably about eight

70 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

hundred Protestant families to be visited ; after these as many
Roman Catholics as will not drive the missionary out with the poker.
In some Roman Catholic houses I have read and prayed, but probably
that could not be done in more than half-a-dozen in my district.
They are very fierce and wantonly irritated by injudicious treatment.
There are some cases of terrible distress, and as the mills go on half-
time from next week, the pressure of this winter will be most terrible
on the poor. It is very hard upon them, and upon the missionary,
who has little power to relieve their bodily wants. The meetings are
tolerably well attended, but many come out With the expectation of
blankets, or coals, or a stray sixpence written on their faces. The
Bible-class is filling up ; more importance belongs to it than to the
Sunday evening service, for it wins a hold over the young, and espe-
cially the mill-workers, who are sorely tempted in many ways. I
would like to have it number sixty or seventy. I visit on an average
about four hours a day, but gradually hope to increase the time.
The visiting is the key to the whole work."

Short as was his connection with the Belfast Town Mission,
it exercised a powerful influence on his after-life. The ex-
perience which he thus gained of human misery and sorrow,
and of the efficacy of the gospel to soothe and assuage it,
affected the direction of his whole subsequent ministry ; and
he always gratefully acknowledged that it was as a town
missionary, and under the direction of the friend of the widow
and orphan, the Rev. W. Johnston, D.D., that he learned his
first lessons in the Christian ministry.

But his labours were soon sharply interrupted. He was
careless then, as always, of securing for himself sufficient
sleep or leisure. He shrank from no exposure or fatigue.
The consequences were such as might have been expected.
Visiting in an alley where typhus fever raged, and where
every case had so far proved fatal, he was seized by the
disease and brought to the very brink of the grave. He
was tenderly nursed by his mother and sister, but more
than two months passed before he could be taken home
to recruit; and even then a severe snowstorm, which
came on during the journey, occasioned so serious a relapse

Early Ministerial Life. 7 1

that he remained some months in a condition of great weak-
ness.

As he tossed in the delirium of the fever, the one theme
traceable through his broken utterances was his beloved
mission work in Brown Square. "Willie constantly offers
up the most beautiful prayers for his poor people, but quite
unconsciously," Miss Stevenson wrote to her sister.

As his strength gradually returned, he was able to take
charge of a little summer congregation at Moville, then only
a pleasant watering-place on the western shores of Lough
Foyle, but now the calling-place for several of the American
lines of steamers ; and before the autumn had set in he had
so far recovered that, at the urgent request of Dr. Morgan,
he accepted the post of temporary minister at Bonn during
the absence of the B.ev. Dr. Graham, who, besides his work
ill connection with the Jewish Mission, was the pastor of a
congregation of English residents. His church and house
had become a meeting-place for earnest Christians of various
countries and creeds, so that Mr. Stevenson was thrown
into intercourse with Christians of many nationalities and
beliefs, and, always catholic in his sympathies, he received
profit and enjoyment from all. Here again, as whenever
he went abroad, his long home-letters throw a steady light
upon his thoughts and movements ; many of them express
longings to return to his poor people and his mission.

"We give a few extracts : —

\To his Mother.']

"Bonn, October 2S, 1858.

" My duties will be light enough : to hold the English service,
attend to the Sunday school, and visit the people ; and during the
week to hold a class for young EngUsh ladies on Wednesday, and a
prayer-meeting on Thursday

"It is not merely that the congregation is composed of men of
better education than myself, but that they are ripe Christians,
among whom I stand up like a child. I have felt often that it was
they who should speak and I hear, and I hope to get more than one

72 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

to share the prayer-meeting with me. As might be expected where
there is warmth of Christian life, there is aji absence of denomina-
tionalism, and there is a deep religious holy tone in many hearts,
and continually manifesting itself. There is a, real Christian sym-
pathy, intercourse, interchange of thought, a true Christian society,

such as it would be very rare to meet at home

" Yesterday was an entirely happy day : the service of the morn-
ing sustained by the sympathy and response of feeling which I knew
were in the congregation; visiting some sorely -tried but patient
sufferers; tea with one whose mind is in heaven and with whom
heavenly things are ever uppermost, and the quiet Christian converse
and simple worship at the house of the Countess von Lrmburg-Stirum ;
smd then, on returning here, an hour or two more of interest over
some Bible truths. That is a real rest, and I felt so braced that I
could have begun the day again with a lighter and more vigorous
spirit at the close. "

\To the same.]

"BoKH, Nocanher 19, 1HS8.

" The work here continues to prove a great blessing to myself, and
God has vouchsafed me many tokens of its blessings to others. Many,
indeed, have begged that I would remain, and forget Ireland. And
Dr. Graham is very cinxious for that also. But it is impossible for me
to entertain the idea for a moment. I feel that I must soon go back
to Belfast, and probably remeun there. It was where I was happiest
and felt most that I was doing God's service, and where my mind and
hope have continuaJly turned me since I left it.

" Surely when we follow God's plan it is best. There is very much
missed often in the Christian life by looking too much to our feet in-
steeul of to Jesus our light. If we keep only watching over ourselves,
we shaU have no time for anything but mourning over ourselves ; and
that is weary work, and makes us stumble. How much there is to
be learned from the way in which the apostle (Heb. xiL) joins the
riddance of our besetting sins with the looking unto Jesus ! It is
perplexing how little, though risen with Christ, we dwell with Christ,
for this means daily, hourly looking to TTim ; it shows us how feebly
we know Him when the world can so draw off our thoughts.

" At the prayer-meeting I have already taken up Abraham and
Conmmnion with God ; Jacob and Wrestling with God ; for next day
it is Moses and Intercourse with God— all in Old Testament prayers,
you see; and on the 9th I think I wiU read the 'News of the
Churches.'"

Early Ministerial Life. 73

\To the same.]

" Bonn, January 17, 1859.

" As there are so many Indians here, I am trying to establish a
united prayer and mission meeting for India. Help is given me by
many. One is preparing a large map, another personal recollections,
and smother will give accounts of such missionary operations as have
come under his own knowledge

"Unions for prayer are the very centre-point of Christian com-
mimion, energy, and action here. On Sunday I have now two ; they
have existed, indeed, for the last two months. On Tuesday next, in
the afternoon we begin another. Thursday evening is our regular
meeting, and on Monday we hope to have the prayer-meeting for
India I have had so long at heart. Thus there is a true vitality and
fellowship with one another because it is with the Father and the
Son. To gain this blessed experience I would gladly have made any
sacrifice — this deeper knowledge of the life that is in Christ Jesus,
this higher faith and power and clearer sight of the things that are
eternal."

[I'o his brother James.]

" April It, 1859.
" Last Monday I took my first holiday : went up the Bhine with a
cloudless sky overhead as far as St. Goar ; spent the evening, and
especially the sunset, gazing from the ruined windows and ramparts
of the great Rheinstein ; went on early the next morning to Lorch,
and taking the down-boat there, arrived in Bonn for our Bible-reading
on Tuesday afternoon. As Monday is the solitary free day of the
week, I have taken advantage of it to visit Kaiserswerth again. It
is about six miles nearer than Dusseldorf, washed by the Bhine, but
very unromantic — £is noticeable, however, for the rarity of its Chris-
tian charity as it is wanting in natural beauty. Twenty-five years
ago the pastor received a poor fellow out of prison, turned his garden-
house into the first reformatory, and in faith and prayer has gone on
ever since tiU now. His institution numbers more than 400 people,
and has become the parent of others in Germany, Egypt, Palestine,
Syria, and Turkey. His objects are manifold, and embrace the care
and cure of the sick, the treatment of the insane, the support of
orphans, the restoration of fallen women, the reformation of criminals,
the education of servants for Christian households and governesses
for Christian families, and through all this the training of deaconesses
and supply of them to the Church wherever they are needed. Miss
Nightingale was trained here in 1850-51, and the place is now famous

74 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

in the Christian world. Dr. Fliedner is ill, probably dying, of con-
sumption : his son-in-law takes his place, and will probably be his
successor. "

A lady who had much intercourse with him during the
winter he spent in Bonn thus refers to the impression made
upon her by the young minister : —

" Looking through my journal of that time," she says, " I was dis-
appointed to find my records so meagre and inadequate, in comparison
with the impression that my intercourse with Mr. Stevenson had left
on my mind. I know that he opened to me long vistas of thought,
and greatly modified and enlarged my ideas on many subjects, while
I find that I have recorded chiefly the expressions of opinion which
seemed most strange and startling to me. One of the things that
impressed me most was his interest in the working of other minds,
his power of understanding the thoughts and feelings of others ; and
he probably expressed himself strangely sometimes for the sake of
argument, or at least put forward some of his ideas in rather an
exaggerated form to draw out the opinions of others. His knowledge
of books appeared to me wonderful, and I have always felt very
grateful to him for making known to me many of the books that I
have most valued and delighted in ever since. In lending me books,
he sometimes sent interesting notes and criticisms with them. I find
that my records show very little of his helpfulness and readiness to
be useful in every way to those with whom he came in contact at
Bonn, both English and German. However different we might be,
and incapable of sympathizing with one another, each of us found in
him a friend who could understand and sympathize. My Bonn
entries close with the following sentence : ' I could hardly find words
to bid farewell to the friend whose kindness had so often cheered me.
May the help and sympathy he is ever ready to give return to him
abundantly in every time of need.' "

Some extracts from letters written to one of his Bonn
congregation after he had left may fitly be given here ; they
show something of his way of dealing with anxious souls.
He always made the difficulties of each case his own. They
lay on his heart, he thought over them, prayed about them
as if he had no other care, and never ceased tiU God gave

Early Ministerial Life. 75

him the joy of seeing the clouds lifted, driven away by the
sunshine of His presence and peace.

" You are still in a deep, if not deeper anxiety than when we talked
in the long winter evenings at Bonn. You still believe that you are
far from Grod, far from real peace, far from a new and living heart.
You still mourn over unanswered prayer and hope deferred that has
made your heart sick. You remember once telling me you feared
anxiety would pass away and carelessness set in. How little that
corresponds to what you feel ! And I think you see now that your
very fear was a proof that the anxiety was not passing away ; it was
only a new and more terrible form of it. God be praised that we are
kept anxious till we rest in peace ! And the only question, thus
early, is. How far is this anxiety true and well-grounded ? We have
spoken of that previous time when you felt joy and a new world
about you. Now it is possible that we can deceive ourselves in this,
that our own feeUngs, kindled to an unusual intensity, may be taken
for the abiding presence of God's Holy Spirit. It is quite possible
also that, while the work in our heart is genuine, a mysterious dark-
ness may afterwards wrap the glorious thoughts and light in which
we exulted, and we may mourn as if forsaken. How is one to know ?
Best of all by not seeking to know, by going now to our Lord Jesus,
who is saying, ' If any man thirst, let him come unto Me ; ' by testing
His word now, and by asking, not for a state of feeling that is past,
or a state of feeling Uke it, but for His Spirit. It is not our feeling
we are concerned with so much as His gift

" Remember how little the Bible tells us of feeling, how it confines
itself to certain objective realities. These will have their correspond-
ing subjective states of mind and affection. Only we must seek the
former, and the latter wiU follow. Our feelings are very much a
kind of circumstantial evidence, but all we absolutely need is the
direct proof given by the Holy Ghost that what God has said is true
for us. Till we have that we must never stop, though we pass from
agony to agony. Above all, do not grow weary, nor think that God
has closed His ears to your prayer. What you seek, a whole lifetime
of disappointed waiting would cheaply purchase

"It seems that there are natures less susceptible of the feeling of
sin than others, that by their whole organization they are led to look
at sin through a different eye from the rest. Such minds will always
have diflSculty and pain in attempting to reconcile their experience
with that of ordinary religious people ; and much more they will be
perplexed to reconcile it with many passages of the Scriptures, and

jS Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

what seem to be contradictions ot it occasionally rising out of their
own minds. They will often feel a sense of want, and many spiritual
things will lack reality to them.

" The Spirit shows every one his sin as He pleases, and as one is
able to see it. Every one must see it with his own eye ; and every
one who sees it must go to Christ as the only Deliverer. I may not
realize sin as St. Paul did, but then just so far as I do realize it must
I hasten to the cross of Christ. Any one may be sure from one day's
trial that there is more sin behind than has ever been discovered ; yet
one is not to await that discovery, nor to mourn because it has not
been made, but rather to flee to God with whatever one has found,

not only to have it pardoned, but removed Do not mind, then,

what other people, and above all the religious world, say they experi-
ence — do not unduly sorrow because sin is less to you than it seems
to be to them ; but let the sin as it is be brought to Christ, and the
heart purged from the stain. If you steadfastly do that, and so
come regularly into God's holiness and Christ's love, the shadow of
both will fall upon you."

\To his BrotJier.]

"Bonn, April 1859.

" It will not be with unmixed joy that I shall turn my face En-
glandwards, for Bonn has become associated with blessings that are
for life, and friends with whom I have had closer and happier inti-
macy, more fraught with the blessing of God's grace, than I dare look
for again. But I feel only joy when I think of seeing you all again,
and of resuming the work of God among the poor to whom I can
speak in my own tongue. Here one is sorely baffled by ignorance of
the language, so that frequently what is most needful to be said falls
meaningless from the Ups.

" Thank you for sending the funeral sermons. One wonders what
words will be left for use when the highest princes in Israel fall.
If Elijah receives no eulogy but Elisha's, and if Christ says to those
who have most nobly overcome no more than ' Well done, thou good
and faithful servant,' the ringing of our human praises must jar
strangely in heaven, where faults and sins that have escaped us are
seen like a shadow of night across the day. "

[To his Mother.]

" Bonn, April S5, 1859.

" Some good also I have been enabled to do to the glory of

God : there are some who have been comforted and confirmed ; some

Early Ministerial Life. "J "J

whose faith has been quickened ; some who have come confessedly
as open unbelievers, and have thanked me for the words that were
spoken ; some the needs of whose hearts were touched and their
darkness removed by thoughts that seemed to have been framed
especially for them. I waited upon God for His teaching, and His
Spirit gave the words and carried their message. But any review of
the past is mixed with regrets so deep that one looks on it more with
sorrow than with joy, and turns more eagerly to ' forget the things
that are behind, aoad to press on to those that are before.' Our life
should rather be day by day with Christ in the present than either
the past or the future. This wiU keep us in a steadier joy, and more
in the way of doing God's wUl. And joy is wherein we fail. We
are more ready to be overcast with clouds and to mourn over our
hearts than to walk in the light and fight cheerfully against sin. We
should be more calm, happy, peaceful, bright than any ; and that I
am convinced we shall not be so long as we do not spend every
moment looking unto Jesus, reflecting back His image, content to
see our wrong in the mirror of His truth and love, always rejoicing,
and yet always bearing about in us the dying of the Lord Jesus ; for
if we die daily we shall rejoice daily in Him who is the Resurrection
and the Life."

In such congenial work and society the winter months
passed quickly by, and Dr. Graham's two months of absence
became extended to six. It was not till the end of April
that Mr. Stevenson jBnally left Bonn, going to Amsterdam
by way of Elberfeld and Barmen, where he visited the
" Missions Haus," anxious to learn all he could of its man-
agement from Herr von Rothe, the inspector. Among his
warmest friends in Bonn were several families of the old
Dutch nobility, to whose relatives in Holland he carried
introductions. Everywhere he was received with the greatest
kindness and hospitality, passing from one country seat to
another, and enjoying the new life to the full, the music,
the private picture - galleries, meeting poets, statesmen,
and courtiers, and feeling wherever he went the bond of
union was the same — the common love and service of the
Master.

y8 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

[To his Mother.]

" Amstekdam, May 7, 18S9.

" If you hear me describe Amsterdam in the eheerfulest, friendliest,
most laudatory words, you will not think it strange : first, when you
know that the sun has been shining down on the tall gabled houses
and brown canals through the bluest of blue skies ; second, that I
have friends who are very kind, and place their kindness entirely at
my disposal ; third, because everybody is clean, and almost everybody
good-looking — a tall, well-made race of people, with nothing foreign
about them except their speech and a little of the peasant women's
headgear ; and fourth, that the only acquaintances I have are earnest
Christian people, whose pleasure and life lie in Christian activity and
Christian fellowship

"I dined yesterday with the Von W 's, who had invited

some friends to a lecture in the evening. I chose from the seventh to
the seventeenth verse of the third chapter of Philippians, and dwelt
chiefly on the unity of Christian walk through all the diversity of
Christian opinion, showing that it depended on the being 'thus
minded,' and then unfolding all that the apostle included in that
mind. At the close we had animated discussion, and entered fully
into the subject, many pressing me very much afterwards to go to
their houses. Thus God is opening many ways in Holland of speak-
ing for Him. I only feel ashamed that it is ia English, for these
Dutch families speak German, English, and French with the same
facility as their own language. Before separating we sang together
hymns in English and French, and commended one another to the
grace of God."

The condition at that time of the Church in Holland fur-
nished some perplexing problems.

[To his Mother.]

" Ahstsrdah, May 1859.
" This morning I spent two hours with Dr. Hasebrock, one of the
most genial of men, full of heartiness, pleasantry, kindness, and
knowledge. He has a sound heart and a wide mind, enters with
interest into every side of human life and thought, and has a frank-
ness about him that wins a. stranger at once. His picture of the
Dutch Church was quite as gloomy as that given me by everybody
else, though he sees also hope in the future. It has been the custom
since the Reformation for the elders and deacons to elect the minister ;

Early Ministerial Life. yg

but then it has also been the custom for the elders to elect the deacons
and each other, so that the people have actually nothing to say in the
matter; and now, when in many places they are quickened, they
cannot make their life tell directly upon the Church

"All the Reformed Protestants in Amsterdam form one parish
with a population of about 160,000, with twelve churches, and per-
haps twice as many clergy. No clergyman preaches in the same
church two Sundays in succession. Round they go like the sun.
through the zodiac, and their adherents follow them. The conse-
quence is, there is no parochial interest, no attachment to a church,
and no congregational unity. There is some link — at least it lasts
through Simday — between a favourite preacher and his hearers, but
none between pastor and people. Each clergyman, however, has a
district assigned to him, in which he is to visit ; but probably the
greater number of those he sees may hear him preach only once a
quarter, or even once a year, while many may change their residences
to another quarter of the town where he cannot follow them

' ' It is, as you know, of our kith and kin, a Reformed Calvinistic
Presbyterian Church, but dead, unless preachers who deny the re-
surrection of Christ can be called living. Many of the people are
aUve, however, and on the whole far before their clergy ; and if a
faithful and believing clergyman preaches, crowds go to hear him,
Mr. Schwartz speaks Dutch well, and the consequence is that his
church, which holds eighteen hundred people, is crowded to the doors.
The congregation is mostly of the artisan class. Of course that is a
very wide field, and one that it is needful to occupy. And so with
his paper, which, having started in small compass, and with smaller
circulation for the Jews, no sooner took in the Christians than it
swelled up to a portly sheet, and more than trebled its subscribers,
thus, no doubt, exerting a most healthful influence on the future of
the Church here. But by this excessive prominence of what is Chris-
tian, I always dread the swamping of the Jewish element. It is
certainly a hand, fide Jewish Mission field, for there are 30,000 of as
bigoted an Israelitish population as could be found in the whole
world

" I went to hear Da Costa lecture at the seminary, and was intro-
duced by him to his students. Perhaps you do not know that he is
the first living Dutch poet, that his wild and fiery but uncertain elo-
quence is renowned, and that as a commentator he is attracting now
some notice among learned men in Germany. He has a queer way of
slipping out quaint humorous sayings as if they scarcely belonged to
him, and he wondered how they were bom into the world. His

8o Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

reputation as a poet and wit attracts many to his Friday evening
lectures through the winter who would not set foot within a church."

Mr. Stevenson's cherished ideal of Christian deaconesses
banding themselves together to nurse the sick and tend the
dying has now come to be an acknowledged necessity of
Christian philanthropy. Thirty years ago it was thought a
visionary enthusiasm. His first conception of what might
be done dated from his visit to the Rauhe Haus in Hamburg,
but was greatly enlarged and quickened by all that he saw at
Kaiserswerth. In Holland he visited and minutely noted the
details of any similar institution with increasing interest,
and a growing sense of the need that there was for such
work at home. After one of these visits he writes to his
mother : —

" Amsterdam, May 1859.
" This morning we drove to the hospital for deaconesses. It is
somewhat on the principle of Kaiserswerth, but on a much smaller and
more luxurious scale, and there is much less soiling of one's fingers in
it. The building is large and handsome, the rooms airy, comfortable,
and well furnished, the lobbies all softly carpeted, the windows
even in the passage nicely curtained. There are twenty-two sisters
at present on the foundation. There were twelve patients, and there
is room for fifteen. The sick pay for everything — medical attendance
included — five, two and a half, and in the lowest class one and one-
fifth guilders per day. Of course this scale of prices keeps out the
poor and makes the hospital, so to say, select ; and then the small
number taken in is just sufficient to afford practical training to the
nurses. Most of them are of the small farmer class, but there is also
a sprinkling of gentlewomen. Three sisters were in the house attend-
ing the patients, one was sick, and the rest were out nursing. They
are available for every part of Holland, and sometimes go to Germany,
but cannot stay longer with a patient than eight weeks, unless by
special permission. As it was Tuesday, and there was Divine service
in the afternoon, as many of the nurses as were in Amsterdam dined
at the house, and this weekly iinion keeps them linked together. "

From Amsterdam he went to Utrecht.

Early Ministerial Life.

\To Ms Mother.]

"Utrecht, May 1859.
" One of my first visits here was to the deaconesses' establishment.
It is larger than that of Amsterdam, but not nearly so luxurious.
There is more an air of business about it. There are places for forty
sick, and they do not pay so much as at Amsterdam. The total num-
ber of sisters and probationers is thirty-five, most of them out nurs-
ing. They are very particular about admission to the work, and,
unless there is good evidence of Christian life, refuse it, avoiding
those who offer from motives of mere benevolence or self -mortification.
The poorer class lie many in one room, but the rooms are airy enough.
There is a separate kitchen upstairs for preparation of particular
niceties ordered for the patients. Texts are written on blackboards
hung in every room, rubbed out often and changed. In the chapel
some of the sisters were assembled, and I was asked to read and pray
with them. They were to lay the foundation in the afternoon of a
large additional building for children alone, the means for which have
been entirely furnished by one of the sisters, an interesting lady of
not more than thirty, of noble birth and ample fortune, and- who
came in dressed simply in checked linen like the rest. I prayed also
for blessing of spiritual healing in this building when completed, and
as we left was seized by the hand by the deaconesses in turn and
thanked. This shaking hands between gentlemen and ladies is a wel-
come given to foreign Christians, for here even rather near acquaint-
ances would not venture upon it. "

A few extracts from his journal must close the record of
his visit to Holland : —

' ' Dined with Beets, who is, next to Da Costa, the best living poet
of Holland ; as a translator, particularly of Byron's ' Hebrew Melo-
dies,' superior to Longfellow. He is also the writer of the purest
Dutch, the preacher of the best Dutch sermons, and as a Christian
leader in the strife his form is always watched, his word waited for.
His poems are mostly of the affections, and remind one of Words-
worth, who has not been without influence upon him. He has trans-
lated from him also, and among other things the well-known ' We are
Seven ; ' but, as he lamented to me, he had to increase the number to
eight, to preserve the metre. In former days also he wrote some
witty and piquant sketches of Dutch life. And now his real work is
preaching, first by word of mouth, and then through the press. He

6

82 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

is one of the few faithful, fervent men of God in the Dutch
Church

' ' Visiting a large school called the Diaconie, I was much interested
to find among its arrangements a workshop where those who think
of becoming missionaries are taught for two hours daily all kinds of
carpentry, etc., so as to be able to build houses for themselves if need
be when they go abroad ^^

"I was present to-day at the jwienoe of a doctor's degree, one of
those Middle Age customs still in vogue here. On the appointed day
the student, having hired a band of music and placed it in the orches-
tra of the examination hall, and having attired himself in full dress,
laced white cravat, knee-breeches, buckled shoes, and a sword, and
having two friends or supporters, also in fuU dress, appears before as
many professors and students as choose to assemble. His thesis
having been previously printed and circulated, he stands prepared to
defend it against all opposition, for any one in these public defences
(they can also be made privately before professors alone) may stand
up and offer opposition. The professors usually muster strong, since
the student pays each one who is present five guilders, while each one
absent must himself pay a fine. The beadle, in mighty cocked hat,
mace, and broad cloak, saluted us as we went in. The hall was nearly
empty — a few lady friends of the student in the gallery, a few student
friends scattered over the benches. The professors were ranged round
the upper end. They wear high square velvet caps, but all save
one were uncovered. Three bore down upon the poor man, who
took it wonderfully, and, being scarce allowed time to speak, seemed
not ill-pleased. It was all in Dutch : for theology it is in Latin ; but
this was an LL.D. At two a beadle came in with all a beadle's
pomp, and assumed the air which belongs to him of the oldest and
most knowing man present (there are three beadles, whose united ages
are far over two hundred), and advancing to the front of the pro-
fessors' bench, shook his silver mace cunningly, so that all the little
scales above the top rattled. The signal was soon taken, and he
began to march slowly away, but not until the student had read a
brief address of acknowledgment to the faculty, this time in Latin.
So soon as the old beadle turned the band struck up a triumphal
march, the professors moved over to deliberate which of the three
classes of the degree to confer, and the students sprang over the
railings to grasp the hand of the martyred doctor. In the evening the
ceremonies are concluded by his giving a great supper, where even
the professors honour his table. Altogether the expenses cannot be
less than £100

Early Ministerial Life. 83

" The simplicity, earnestness, and interest which they show in
every work of God's Spirit are very genial recollections of the Dutch
I have met. One must remember, however, that they are excep-
tional among the nobility, and also that such people are somewhat
confined to Utrecht. It is the residence of many old families, and
among them there is a good deal of piety ; yet the prevalent tone is
strongly worldly, and on some sides their piety is tinged with aristo-
cratic feeling, ajid they shrink from contact and sympathy with the
popular element. "

\To his Mother.']

" The Hague, May 26, 1359.
" I came here on Saturday, and the kindness of other places has
even been surpassed. Mr. von Hogendorf and the Countess take me
about everywhere, and already I have come in contact with many of
the most notable among the aristocracy and statesmen of Holland.
Tuesday evening Dr. Capadose, with whom I dined, invited a large
party. Most of the gentlemen wore orders. I anticipated an inter-
esting exposition from Capadose, but to my dismay found that they
had been invited to meet me, and that I was to speak to them. God
gave me courage to speak very plainly, and many came up after-
wards and caught my hand and thanked me. I preach in Amsterdam
on Sunday, and then have to return here to stay with the Von
Hogendorfs some days before I leave for Rotterdam and London. "

Early in July Mr. Stevenson reached home again, realiz-
ing with heartfelt gratitude how much his health had been
re-established by the change. He had spent a day at Bristol
with George Miiller, and marvelled at the wonderful work
he was doing, and the faith God gave him. He was the
bearer of a letter to him from the Baron Boetzellar, but un-
conscious of its contents. On opening it, Mr. Miiller found
a thousand guilders (about £80), which came as a direct
answer to prayer in a time of special need. Then followed
a fortnight at South Shields with the Saphirs, where he
writes : —

"I am resting in a deUoious quiet, while our talk flows on from
day to day, and we measure over many a question how much we have
gained, and preach Christ together through the congregation."

84 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

[To his Sisler.]

" Stbabanb, July 29, 1859.
"I arrived here on Wednesday three weeks ago; preached the
same evening, and every evening or day since, sometimes three times,
and often in the open air. You see what a new man I have come
back. We are in the midst of the revival movement, and these are
glorious times on which we have fallen. Immense good has been
done, but not according to the newspapers, which are inflated reports
of nonsense, and worse. Much evil is being done also — ^tares and
wheat must grow up together. The excitement is cooling down, but
the real work is advancing. There is need for great caution and
fervent prayer. Men have been converted whom I should have
thought it hopeless to attack (I speak of what I know), and the seri-
ousness, the Bible-reading, the inquiry, the attendance at pubUo
meetings, are extraordinary."

In the previous autumn the devoted minister of a small
mission -church in Alfred Place, Belfast — the Rev. David
M'Kee — had been most anxious to secure Mr. Stevenson's
services as assistant, his own health having broken down, so
much so that the post was kept vacant for him during his
absence in Germany. Early in August he entered on his
duties with fresh vigour, and great thankfulness to find
himself once more in his element, at work among the poor.
His unstinted labours, the power of making services attract-
ive, which he had manifested so conspicuously in Brown
Square, and his fervent preaching of Christ, soon filled the
unpretending little church to overflowing; while mingled
among its humble worshippers were to be found some of the
most cultured people in Belfast, who discovered in his preach-
ing a spiritual insight and breadth rarely to be met with.

He felt very happy during this period in Belfast, and
could look back and see how much he had gained spiritually
since he had begun his mission work in Brown Square.
The time had come of which he had written to his sister
two years before, in the weary restlessness of long-delayed
convalescence.

Early Ministerial Life. 85

"In about a year Dr. Browne thinks I shall be well and strong
again. As for any settlement, it is less likely than ever ; and as this
is God's way, it is for good. ' Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and
He shall sustain thee.' If He saw fit to employ me, if there was no
need that I should pass through other discipline and training, I know
I should have a fixed charge. But if I look at myself and my abili-
ties for it (no one dare think of fitness), I see quite sufficient reason
for the delay. When God's grace has wrought some mighty changes
in my heart ; when my life is really hid with Christ in God, and not
covered with daily vileness in His sight ; when I am more content to
be taught by His wisdom, and to glory only in the cross of Christ, it
will be time enough to wonder why I am, as it were, hindered.
When I think that I must deny myself, I feel that I am secretly most
ambitious and striving to please the flesh. But God is my helper,
and though it be through much tribulation and bitterness, yet I know
He will give me the ^-ictory. "

How abundantly that confidence was fulfilled those who
know what his after-life was do not need to be told. It was
always a refreshment to him to revisit the scene of his early
labours. In July 1863 he wrote : —

" I had two interesting meetings in Belfast, one at Springfield,
where I had not spoken since the Sunday that the fever struck me
down five years ago. After service a young lad came up and said,
all trembling with excitement, that he wished to beg my pardon for
the way he had spoken to me on that Sunday. It had lain upon him
and been very heavy ever since, and he wondered would Grod ever
send me back that he might confess it, and tell me that now he had
given his heart to Christ. I took also the prayer-meeting in the old
church at Alfred Place. What warm grasps of the hand as they all
came up when the service was over ! Actually there were old men,
hard-featured, hard-handed masons, shoemakers, weavers, with tears
rolling down their cheeks, praying God's blessing upon me, till the
tears came in mist across my own eyes. I never was happier than
among those poor people ; and they stick by me with the most
unwavering affection. I often wish that I were with the poor again. "

A few extracts from letters to his future wife, though of a
later date, may be inserted here : —

86 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

" Those charming morniBgs, those careless musical hours, those
fresh walks, and the merry combats with the children over the poets,
are already a dream before this pressing, toiling, matter-of-fact round
of homely duties — a dream so airy and delicate that it seems ready
to fall to pieces before a, steady look. Yet life without duty would
be worse than duty without dreams, and duty will always be homely, —

' The trivial round, the common task,
'Will famish all we onght to ask.'

Ifor can these be either trivial or common, since Christ has once
done duty in them, and thus made the simplest act of life more glori-
ous to the Christian than the highest heroism without Christ. How
it must nerve one against pain that Christ also suffered ! K we were
but living Christ in the humblest and pettiest of earthly services,
like Him in some ordinary unnoticeable thing, we should have an
inward joy and power that would let no work be hard or grinding,
but would always impel us to fresh efforts

' ' We need to live closely to God in Uttle and indifferent things,
not only because they make up so much of life, but because they
make living to God so much more easy and consistent. The life that
is hid with Chi-ist in God is very sacred ; and when we lower that
sacredness in little things and act for ourselves, we can draw little
comfort out of that life in higher moments — we are left in doubt, and
sometimes in dread. We cannot deviate harmlessly from the strict-
ness of Christ. Sheep that wander ever so Uttle suffer before they
are brought back. But then the strictness of Christ is very different
from what the narrow-mindedness of some good people would make
it. Christ will go with us in whatever belongs to the duties and real
pleasures of life — in study, intercourse, direction and satisfying of
our taste, love of art, enjoyment of nature, all that properly belongs
to life ; for there is a great deal that men think belongs to it, and
that only belongs to the sin of it, to life as it has been spoiled and
changed. But Christ will go with us freely, unless we refuse to take
Him ; ajid His Spirit wiU point out the besetting sins and defend us
from temptation. And we have not reached a healthy and reaJly
satisfactory way of life unless we can look frankly up to Him and
feel the purity of our enjoyment, and the knowledge that nothing
we have done hsks separated us from Him, made us ashamed before
Him

" It is the most curious thing how associations grow over places,
like the layer over layer of our rocks, and how little we can spare
the earlier while we may remain half unconscious of them. I would

Early Ministerial Life. 87

not miss the old merry days here, and what they brought witli them ;
they have faded off into the rest of life, yet I am sure the later days
would never have been what they are without them. It is the upper
strata that bear the harvest, but I suppose the lower have something
to do with it. I came down from Dubbn yesterday, to my mother's
satisfaction. She had begun to think I was a myth. Most of the
Portrush world is as unknown as London ; but there are the old
waves with their familiar cadences, and the old rocks with their
familiar faces, and the glorious free spaces of sea and sky, the most
solemn and wonderful sight on which the eye can rest. And after
the city one is fiUed with a peace that is like the peace of God.
People here would laugh at this ; they believe that the chief end of
the sea is a bathing-machine, that the twilight was created for pro-
menading, and the Giants' Causeway for picnics !

" I met a clever young girl last night. Poor thing, she is lame and
on crutches, and unreconciled to her misfortune. I tried her with
the supreme will of God, and then with His love in Christ, who took
aU these visitations upon Himself. She fought stubbornly, with a,
eavage earnestness, for her right to grumble ; but when leaving she
thanked me for my words, so they may have done her real good.
But I wonder how I would have felt in her place, cut off from so
much of life and all its prospects, and I blessed God humbly that He
had not tried me. Do you ever feel as if it was a piece of hypocrisy
to reason with suffering people while you are not a sufferer ? I never
get comfortably about one of these sad hearts unless I can say, ' I
was almost as bad.'

" If I were a Dissenter I feel I would be proud of it, or else cease
to dissent. But I have so much respect for the unity of the Church
and its visible grandeur, and so much dislike to severance from the
past, that I am glad not to be a Dissenter, but to belong to an older
stock of the Christian body than the Anglican. The Church of
England has material to work on very different from ours, more men
of social standing and familiar with the world, the best intellects and
scholars. But we can keep abreast of it in piety and intellectual power,
and superior to it, I believe, in the excellence of our system. Our
defects in church service are traceable to the dominance of intellect
over feeling. The very language of the EngUsh Prayer-book, the
purity and simplicity of thought, are themselves educating and re-
fining those who use it. I like silent prayer on entering the church,
silent prayer on leaving it ; the prayer of the service to be liturgical
in form, though neither read nor stereotyped; the people to kneel
and respond with a hearty Amen ; the FsaJms to be chanted in prose

88 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

to plain and slow chants ; the Apostles' Creed and Lord's Prayer to
be repeated each Sunday; the 3'e Dewn to be sung; church music to
be purged of all Christy -minstrel airs and accompanied by the organ ;
the Communion to be at least once a month ; young communicants to
be solemnly and joyfully received by the Church ; the real members
of the Church to have frequent opportunities of helping and strength-
ening one another, and meeting in groups for that purpose ; deacon-
esses for nursing the sick and attending the poor ; and bright funeral
hymns. Dislike of some of our customs had almost driven me from
our Church. Saphir gave me up as hopelessly a dean or a minor
canon in a cathedral town ! I am thankful and happy to be where I
am, to escape the shame of having left a noble and historic Church,
with the freest and most workable constitution in Christendom,
merely from wounded sensitiveness.

" A liturgy would be a blessed thing when the minister cannot or
will not pray; just as the want of free prayer is an awful thing
when the minister can. The tendency of prayer is to be liturgical,
and the prayer qf the Church of England is at the head of all litur-
gies. But all the freedom and inspiration of the Christian life revolt
against an absolute form. It is a theoretical denial of the continued
presence and teaching of the Holy Spirit. Our own form demands
personal holiness of the minister ; the effect of the service depends on
that. In theory it is very fine — it is sublime. We ought to demand
that hoUness in the strictest way. We feel it is the power of the
Holy Spirit that has overcome and possessed the speaker, and that
unconstrained power thrills suddenly and immediately through a
congregation. It goes deeper than the most solemn form, beyond the
dim mysteries of feeling, till it enters the very soul. I have a great
love for our worship, for its purity and tmfettered simplicity; a great
thankfulness that I was bom a Presbyterian and can enjoy it

" Your account of B 's end is that of so many — slept peacefully

away. The consciousness of the Hearer of prayer is a great reality
and comfort in such instances ; but greater far, and the only comfort
that is not perplexed with 'doubt, is that of a life for Christ. We
can have no peace like that on a deathbed. The sudden flash of
spiritual intelligence that occasionally lights up the last moments, by
its suddenness induces doubt of its power. But those who walk close
to Christ in their life may on their deathbed make no sign. They
may sleep away, dream off in morphine, or die suddenly or alone;
and yet there remains the undisturbed and blessed faith that God

has withdrawn them to Himself I have a superstition that the

family link in Christ is never broken— that the dead are conscious of

Early Ministerial Life. 89

it — ^that we are still and always seven. My father is never distant ;
he is as living to me as he was. At times the very room seems

charged with him

" No matter how softly death comes into a house, and above all
into a home, it is death still, and a great sorrow that wakens a
hundred slumbering sorrows. It starts all one's craving for sympathy
and whatever is solemn in one's own heart. For the little child itself
one caimot be unhappy. Coleridge's lines come up instinctively, —

' Be, rather than be called, a child of God,
Death whispered ! — with assenting nod.
Its head upon its mother's breast,
The baby bowed, without demur —
Of the kingdom of the blest
Possessor, not inheritor.'

" Did Macleod's ' Mystery of Sorrow ' reach your friend ? I trust
sorrow will be no mystery to her, only a filmy cloud through which
the great light of God falls softly. The hands reached out to us iii
our darkness, blind as we are with tears and pain, are more blessed
than any others. It is blessed to press them, to touch in them
the pulse of feeling hearts. But I think that to miss the hand of
Christ among them is unspeakably awful. Just as the first genuine
comfort comes when He lays His hand upon ours and takes us aside
and says, ' I am the Resurrection and the Life ; ' ' As the Father hath
loved Me, so have I loved you.'

' ' I never hate sin so much as when I come to Christ as one of His
disciples might have come, and watch Him there in Judea day by
day and listen. I never feel so much that it will be a steady, con-
stant fight as when I follow Him to the cross and see the strength of
sin there. But I never feel sin so weak as when I think of Him
risen, and — the very same Jesus — gone into heaven, and from heaven
watching, succouring, strengthening, fighting for me, just as on earth
He prayed and bled for me. I have been betrayed into a sermon,
which you can keep for Sunday if you like ; but tell me how you feel
about this, if you feel at all with me, that one moment's conscious-
ness of the living Christ is worth a thousand sermons upon doctrine ;
that indeed the aim and end of doctrine is to bring us to Christ by
the shortest, truest, most direct way ; and so one might almost define
holiness as companionship with Christ. When we confide our thoughts
to Him and receive His lessons about life, and note what He is Him-
self, and draw towards Him, we are unconsciously growing holy;
not puritanical, not starched, not censorious, not narrow-minded, not
incapable of the brightest enjoyment, but pure, reverent, holy

90 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

' ' If one has so little conception, without travel, of the exceeding
lavishness of heart with which God has arranged the earth, I often
think what surprise the world of heaven will open to us ; for in com-
parison to that kingdom we are here like people that live and die
motionless on the same hillside. And we have not even travellers'
tales of it, but will meet its beauties with a sudden amazement, like
the peasants in fairy tales that are brought by the opening of a door
into the blaze of a palace

" Sunday is to me a very sacred day — ^peculiarly Christ's day ; and
in the practical spending of it this thought is uppermost. Other
days, no doubt, are also His: life is His, week-day and holiday.
But He fills the Sunday in a way unlike any other — with memories
of Himself and great thoughts, with His sacrifice, and resurrection,
and His peace. I feel that whatever would interrupt or weaken
those thoughts should be avoided either in employment, or in reading,
or in conversation — that what we do should be in harmony with
them, as if Christ were present. But conversation and employment
branch off in a hundred directions; our human life has a hundred
interests. Christ is to be met in all those directions : those interests
are sacred to Him ; they cannot be too trivial to escape Him ; they
do not escape Him as God, they are part of Him as man. It does
not foUow, therefore, that we must be naming the name of Christ, or
reading the Bible, or singing hymns all Sunday. There would be
danger of shallowness and deceit and hypocrisy in that. It would
be an undue strain upon thoughts in one direction, a fatal ignoring of
the variety of those thoughts ajid of our life. It is simply the ques-
tion. Are we doing what we would not do, or saying what we would
not say, in Christ's presence, remembering that He is the Christ of
Bethany whom men and women like ourselves called a Friend, talked
with and talked before and consulted as a, Friend ? There is no day
on which one enjoys so much the intimate intercourse of the family
or friends; and when intercourse is broken by distance, no day
on which we have more pleasure or a better right to renew it by
letter. It is peculiarly a home day, and what we would say to others
by our side, why should we not say it when they are all the more
dear by absence ! There are others also who come before us on Sun-
days — sick or Christless friends, or those who have sympathy with us
in our spiritual life. If they were near us we would speak with
them; why should we not write? The quietness and sanctity are
encouragement ; only I would say, do not use the day for ordinary
correspondence.

" We need its peace and withdrawal for ourselves ; we need private

Early Ministerial Life. 91

thought, time and prayer for private dedication. The public services
supply the strength for this, but they can never take its place. It is
a day of our own renewal, and we must not let that suffer. And
again, while we ought to be perfectly natural, it would be a lax rule
to make our conversation the authority for our correspondence.
There are many causes that may prevent our conversation being all
that it might be on these blessed Sunday evenings ; but in a letter
we have more in our own power. I am often ashamed that my
thoughts do not urge me to say more of Christ and the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge in Him. We ought to live so that it would be
more natural and lively to speak of what touches upon Him than that

pleasant gossip that ilows up to the surface of speech

" I should try to make everybody, children above all, take a natural,
lively interest in the day as God their Father's, and even more,
Christ their Friend and Saviour's — litik it with happy thoughts of
God's presence and nearness and love, revealed in the Bible and the
world and in ourselves."

CHAPTER V.

PASTORAL WORK IN DUBLIN.

We have now to follow Mr. Stevenson to the sphere of
work with which his name will ever be associated. The
Master was preparing the place for His servant, and through
the long months of suflFering and discipline was educating
him for a ministry of power and blessing. In the autumn
of 1859 a movement was set on foot for the erection of a
new church in Rathgar, a pleasant and rapidly-increasing
suburb of Dublin. It had its origin in a prayer-meeting
which had been held for some months previously in the ad-
joining district of Rathmines. Dr. Hall, now of New York,
at that time the junior minister of Mary's Abbey, took a
deep interest in the meeting, conducting it for some months
during the summer, and urging the members to form them-
selves into a congregation. At first the feeling that there
did not exist material out of which it could be formed was
so strong that there was no response. But Dr. Hall perse-
vered, and on making a canvass of the neighbourhood, the
two friends who had undertaken the work reported to the
Presbytery of Dublin that twenty-one families were prepared
to join. In November the little meeting was raised into the
status of a congregation, and with constant prayer for guid-
ance step by step, and a deep sense of the responsibility and
far-reaching issues involved in their choice, they began to
look out for a pastor. Dr. Hall directed their attention to
the young minister whose earnest, thoughtful preaching was

Pastoral Work in Dublin. 93

drawing men of all classes round him in Belfast. Careful
inquiries were made. They found that the humble mission-
church was crowded to the doors ; that many had applied for
pews for whom there was no accommodation ; and they found,
what they valued far beyond freshness of thought or beauty
of diction, a man penetrated by the Spirit of Christ, filled
with sympathy for every form of human want and suffering,
and with the conviction of the glorious power of the message
he carried to meet the needs and satisfy the cravings of every
worn and weary heart. Here seemed the very man for the
emergency, if he could but be induced to come. Mr. Steven-
son, on being asked, took some weeks for consideration, re-
quiring much information bearing on the questions whether
there was actual need for a church there, and if work there
would really advance the Redeemer's kingdom and possess a
true missionary element. The courage of the small congre-
gation is very evident from the fact that the unanimous call
was signed by only twenty -seven persons. On the other
hand, it required no small amount of faith and courage on
the part of Mr. Stevenson to leave a post where he was
deeply loved, where his work was so congenial, and was
growing in power and influence, and to enter a field where
the congregation had still to be gathered and a church to be
built.

But once the path of duty was clearly seen, no diSiculty
could ever hold him back ; and after much hear1>searching
he felt that God had called him to this work, and the way
was plain. The consternation among his people in Alfred
Place Church on learning the news was very touching, and
the separation was a sharp trial to his own affectionate, cling-
ing nature. As he was only assistant to their pastor, the
people were not in a position to make any effort to retain
him, and sorrowfully took part in a farewell presentation at
a crowded meeting presided over by Dr. M'Cosh, afterwards
the honoured President of the University of Princeton, in

94 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

America. Three months later their pastor died, and imme-
diately most earnest entreaties were sent to their loved friend
and teacher to return to them ; but the step had not been
lightly taken, and the responsibilities could not be lightly
laid aside. Once convinced that God had called him to work
in Dublin, nothing but the command of the Master would
move him till he could feel that his work there was done ;
and so, as on many a future occasion, even when an income
of six times what he was then enjoying was offered to him,
he quietly put all inducements aside, and set himself to face
the duties and difficulties of the work he had undertaken.

On the 1st of January 1860, Mr. Stevenson entered on
his ministry at Eathgar, but he was not ordained till the 1st
of March. The services were held in a long, low room
known as the "Old Schoolhouse." Twenty years later it
was purchased by the congregation, and became the centre
of their home mission. The arduous work of church-building
and of raising the needed funds had now to be begun. But
never could it be more truly said of any edifice that its
foundations were laid in faith and prayer. Little wonder
that the structure grew to be a blessing to the neighbour-
hood. In the building committee, of which Mr. Stevenson
was the never-absent and most active member, no step was
taken without earnestly seeking for light and guidance, and
more than one of its members have thankfully looked back
to its meetings as fruitful in spiritual blessing.

In July 1860, the foundation-stone of Christ Church,
Rathgar, was laid by the Rev. -Dr. Cooke. It is a simple
Gothic church, surrounded by trees and shrubbery, which
in the spring burst into a blaze of golden laburnum and
sweet-smelling lilac. Standing at the head of the Rathgar
Road, it occupies a commanding position at the meeting-
point of five roads, so that its spire is one of the landmarks
of the neighbourhood. On the 2nd of February 1862, the
church was opened for public worship by the Rev. Norman

Pastoral Work in Dublin. 95

Macleod, D.D. The subjects of his sermons were : " The
Character of Christ as a Test of Christianity," and "The
Selfishness of Man and the Unselfishness of Christ." At a
public breakfast given to him the next morning, Dr.
Macleod, in his own inimitable way, announced that he did
not intend to leave his seat until the entire debt remaining
on the church was cleared ofi". The appeal proved irresistible,
and the sum required was subscribed upon the spot. From
that time the history of the church is a record of steady
progress, quiet, uneventful, and, like all true growth, with
much of its work hidden from sight. It would be tedious to
those not personally interested to give minute details of the
Rathgar pastorate. It will be suflficient to say that the
church, originally seated for four hundred and fifty, had
twice to be enlarged. It became a centre of active spiritual
work, complete in organizations and methods, many of them
new at the time, but now adopted by every working church.
Christ Church and its minister were known far and wide ;
the light burning brightly there cheered many a disheartened
toiler in lonely districts, and the church with its work was
a stimulus to many a young pastor and to not a few con-
gregations. Mr. Stevenson's conception of the pastoral
office was very high, and he brought to the discharge of his
duties every expedient that his varied educational training,
his remarkable fertility of resource, and, above all, his
humble dependence on his Master, could supply. His
preparation for preaching was conscientious and thorough.
Before he began to write, and while his subject was still
simmering in his brain, he read everything within his range
that bore upon it, accumulating round hira, as he worked,
piles of books on tables and chairs, composing slowly, and as
careful in revising as if he were writing for the press. And
when he went to his people it was to teach them what he
had himself been taught, and the solemn tones of his rich,
tender voice, and his whole demeanour, bore the impress of

96 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

one who had a message to deliver from his Master. Veiy
specially was this noticeable at the Communion seasons,
which were often times of great blessing. There was a
peculiar solemnity about them, and the perfect quiet and
stillness in which the services were conducted, with intervals
for silent prayer, were very helpful to thought and com-
munion ; while those who saw the rapt expression of their
minister's face, and listened to the outpourings of his soul in
prayer, felt as if he had come from the very presence of the
Lord.

In the biographical preface to the latest edition of
" Praying and Working," Mr. Sinclair says : —

"The centre of his work was the public worship of the sanctuary.
In conducting it all the spiritual and intellectual force that was in
him seemed to be called into exercise. Conspicuous above every-
thing was the sense of the presence of God which evidently pervaded
his own, spirit, and evoked in the hearts of the worshippers a cor-
responding impression of solemnity. This was felt all through the
service. The annoimcement or reading of a psalm or hymn was not
a formality, but a solemn summons to the people to enter into God's
courts with praise. The reading of the Word was to him the deUvery
of a divine message, and it was a part of the service he never short-
ened. In his prayers he seemed to lead his people into the holy of
hoUes, and there to plead the case of every soul before him. His
petitions were all-embracing. Individual and household histories
were clearly present to him. Each worshipper somehow felt that his
own needs had been specially laid before the Answerer of requests,
and before the prayer was finished even the most troubled heart had
forgotten its sorrows amid the overmastering sympathy with the
burdens of humanity which his pleadings had enkindled.

"In his preaching he seemed to be impregnated with the spirit of
Martin Boos' motto: ' Christ for us, Christ in us.' The secret of his
ministry may be found in his published sermon on the text, ' Other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus,'
in which he enlarges with all his powers of illustration on the success-
ive themes — ' Christ is the foundation of the Church ; He is the foun-
dation of the Christian congregation; He is the foundation of the
Christian life ; He is the foundation of the sinner's hope ; and He is
the foundation of the hope of men.' All his teaching centred in

Pastoral Work in Dublin. 97

Clirist and brought men into close contact with Christ, whether to
find mercy at His cross, or consecration from His life, or constraint
from His love, or sympathy for humanity from His world-embracing
pity. His preaching was not expository, at least not in the old-
fashioned sense of the term. While based on a thoroughly sound
exegesis, its power rather lay in the skill with which he seized on the
great principles which underlay his subject, and in the resistless
force with which he lodged their lessons in the hearts and consciences
of his hearers. It was impossible to frequent his ministry, whether
on the Lord's day or at his week-evening service, without gaining
the most attractive views of the person and character of Christ,
without being fired by a sense of the nobility of a life lived after
Christ and for Christ, and without the conviction of the dignity and
blessedness of being feUow-workers with Christ in His beneficent
purposes towards our race. "

As might be expected' from his catholicity and breadth of
view, as well as from the wide reading which kept his
preaching abreast of contemporary thought, Mr. Stevenson
attracted to his church persons of all shades of religious
belief. And here his ready sympathy, warmth of heart,
and delicacy of spiritual tone brought him into cordial
contact with every honest seeker after truth ; and the pro-
foundness and humility of his spiritual knowledge made his
teaching helpful to many whom any assertion of dogmatic
superiority would have driven from his influence. Men of
the most reserved and reticent natures had often such per-
fect confidence in him, that they opened their minds to him
with a freedom that surprised themselves. Few ministers
were larger recipients of the doubts and difficulties of others,
and none ever guarded the sacredness of their trust more
jealously. His many-sidedness was of unspeakable value in
his private intercourse with those who had speculative
difficulties. He put himself in the place of his questioner,
and tried to get on the same line of thought with him ; and
eternity alone will reveal to how many souls he was per-
mitted to be a means of blessing by clearing away the dark
mists of doubt. Even when they went away unconvinced,

98 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

as one has recorded, they went away the better of having
been with him.

His work among the young was to him a' peculiarly sacred
part of his pastoral oflBce. His conviction of its importance
in moulding the character of the men and women of the
future was intensified by the experience of years. At the
commencement of his ministry, children's services, now so
common, were comparatively unknown ; and when, at the
close of his first year's ministry, he announced that on the
last Sunday of each month the service would be especially
for children, it was regarded as a rather startling innovation.
Soon after that he wrote : — " I still want the faculty of
reaching the child's thoughts, and without that it is a very
random aim one can take at the child's conscience. A child's
thoughts are so subtle and dependent on impulse, that even
if you catch them you may find them slip quickly away.
One must be as subtle and nimble as they are. It would
be a capital school to learn quickness of speech. Whoever
can hold a hundred children in quiet attention for twenty
minutes has the power of becoming a true orator." He
loved preaching to children, however he might feel his own
disqualifications. His intuitive sympathy, his power of
putting great truths simply and entering into the child's
thoughts, and his rich store of illustration and anecdote,
made it a special gift. Further, he believed that the simple
words addressed to the young were often blessed to hearts
that long indifierence had hardened to the ordinary appeals
of the gospel. After some time the service became quarterly,
but usually a part of every morning service was given to the
children, and many of the little ones looked eagerly for their
portion, and felt aggrieved when any special subject interfered
with the usual course. There was always a bright and
happy children's service on Christmas Day, and in summer
a flower-service for the benefit of the Children's Hospitals,
when each child brought its offering and laid it on the great

Pastoral Work in Dublin. 99

pile that rose up below the pulpit ; and the sweet fragrance
filled the church, and the bright faces of the living flowers,
and their quick sympathy and earnest attention, seemed to
touch their dear pastor's words with a new power' and
tenderness, and made the whole service one not soon for-
gotten by any who had the privilege of being present.

The following letter to a young girl, one of his children in
Christ, who had just gone to school in England, may be
helpful to others in similar circumstances : —

" Since you left for school you have been very constantly in my

mind, and I have been realizing many difficulties and temptations
you are likely to meet. By this time it has fairly settled down in
your mind that not only are you redeemed by Christ, but are His
disciple. You have faith that His atonement was needful for you,
that without it you could have no peace, and could not live as you
would like to live. The best wislies to be good and the best efforts
give no comfort until we trust that Christ has reconciled us to God.
Then we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Though your miud may sometimes be swept by shadows, and you
may sometimes suspect yoiirself , I trust you are past aU serious and
profound doubt on this point. Do not think so much of your interest
in Christ as of Christ's interest in you.

" You now accept this position that God has deiined for you : it is
the only safe position, tlwi you are redeemed. That is now to be the
position of your whole life, and you cannot too often dwell on what
it means, for it will give you great comfort. It will also remind you
of your conduct. You know, dear, that you are now a follower of
Christ. That is of more importance to you than anything else in
your life. It means that you wiU act like Him, that you will do
nothing that you would not do if He were with you — ^nothing that
you will be afraid to tell Him ; that your character will grow to be
very like His. You will very likely have to overcome something in
yotir natural disposition ; you wUl certainly have to watch yourself ;
you will have to remember that we unconscioiisly fall into faults and
wrong habits. It is not enough to be sorry when we find out that
we have been doing anything faulty, that our temper and spirit have
been imlike His. We must be as gentle, as obedient, as patient, as
kindly, as meek as He was. That is difficult everywhere, particularly
difficult for a girl at school. You may not find others who think and

lOO Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

believe with you. You may sometimes have hard words and jests to
bear, when it is foimd out that you obey Christ. Other girls' tem-
pers may try you. The want of privacy and retirement you may
feel deeply. Remember all the more that you go to school as a
disciple of Christ. If girls who do not trust Him are obedient, quick,
ready to serve, gentle, thoughtful, unassuming, you ought to be more
so. Meekness, readiness to submit one's own judgment to that of
older persons, readiness to conform to rules, are essential qualities.
You cannot dispense with them ; you ought to excel in them. And I
am sure you will find it hard, because the discipline of a school will
be novel, and may sometimes seem unreasonable. And then beware
of being dissatisfied or feeling the least like a martyr because your
position may not be very comfortable at times. If other girls are
happy, you should be happier than they. They should say, 'Why,
here is a girl who loves Christ and reads the Bible, and she is the
happiest of us all. ' Perhaps they are not tempted to be unhappy,
and perhaps you may have to bear some things that are unpleasant
from them. You surely would not give up because it is difficult ; you
would not desert Christ because it is sometimes unpleasant.

"Keep very close to your sister. Think of your influence over
her, the influence of example, of afiieetion, of the dearest intercourse.
Win her to Christ. If you should have different companions, never
forget that you two are the closest companions ; that you ought to
be to one another what no companion will ever be to either of you.
As you are the elder and the more formed, this wUl fall most on you.
Think of her, consult with her, work with her, help her. Learn as
much as ever you can, and always believe that those who teach you
know more than you. But examine everything you learn ; when you
imderstand it, you will remember it and never be ashamed. Set the
example of perfect order and submission to all the rules of the house.
Implicit obedience is part of the Fifth Commandment, and it is not
confined to home, where it is a great charm of character ; it extends
to ' tutors and governors. '

"Be very careful to read, and read thoughtfully, in the Bible.
Read it regularly, and think well over it as you read. Read much or
little at a time, according as it gives you more or less to think about.
You must make leisure for this at any sacrifice. And make also
some space for prayer. These are absolutely necessary ; you might
rather do without food. Value and use the Sunday. I do not know
to what church you may go. In some of the churches in England
now the service is made everything — there is a feast for the eye and
ear, and hunger for the heart ; and doctrines are taught little difier-

Pastoral Work in Dublin. loi

ent from the errors of the Church of Rome ; and many earnest and
some good people defend all this. At any rate, you wiU attend the
Church of England, mix exclusively with members of it, and perhaps
sometimes hear Presbyterians and Dissenters harshly and contemp-
tuously mentioned. I will tell you again more about the difference
of one Church from another. People who are Presbyterians believe
that the order of their Church and their worship is more scriptural,
that it allows less error than in, let us say, the Church of England. I
believe so firmly ; and I feel thankful to God, and I feel it as an honour,
no matter how men speak, that I was born among Presbyterians, and
I am sure so will you — an hereditary honour. Take notes of the

sermons. It will help you to imderstand them and profit by them

You may find some things hard that I have mentioned — aU of them,
I daresay ; but remember the Holy Spirit is promised to you. You
cannot do one of them without Him. You cannot be good and wise
of yourself. But there is a grace that is sufficient for you. Claim it,
ask for it, trust it.

"May God's presence be very bright to you, dear , and may

you daily fulfil His will, and may you grow as Christ grew, in favour
with God and man. "

When at home he always came to the Sunday school in
time to close it with prayer, and often added a few words of
personal appeal to the lesson of the day, or gave some bright
little bit of mission intelligence. The love between the
children and their minister grew and deepened with the
growing years. To see him among them recalled instinct-
ively our Laureate's picture ; —

" The child would twine
A trustful hand unasked in thine.
And find his comfort in thy face."

Those who went to push their fortune in foreign lands were
seldom lost sight of. They looked on him as their wisest
counsellor, and used to turn to him in times of sorrow or
difficulty ; as far as possible he kept up correspondence with
them, and often through his large circle of friends was able
to be of substantial service.

I02 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

To one who had opened her heart to him, when much cast
down and depressed about her spiritual state, he wrote : —

"You seemed under the impression that I was perhaps making
too little of your depression, and setting it more down to physical
weakness than was just. So I only wajit you to remember that, if
that had been so, I would not have entered into it at all, trying to
show you the stepping-stones across the quagmire, but would hare
tried to laugh you out of it. Besides, whatever influence ill-health
may have, the condition of doubt and misgiving in which one is is
the same painful thing to meet and bear, — ^the same hard thing to he
overcome. And He that overcomes is He that fighteth for us, even
God Himself, our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

" Now, as I have said already, I want to say again that, no matter
what you are or have been, or may think of yourselt, one fact you
cannot change — ^the love of God to you, the wish of God for you that
you should be perfectly happy. What you have done ov may think
you have done in your coldness, or let us even suppose self-deception,

does not change that love. 'God is love' — 'God so loved that

He gave His Son, that whosoever ' — ' I am the Lord ; I change not ' —
that is, in love Jesus Christ is ' the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever.' No matter how long you may feel uncomfortable, and pained,
and restless, and dead, and without response to the love of God, that
condition is no more than a shower of rain to the sun. It hides the
sun from us for a time ; but the sun outlasts, and is bigger than the
shower. And if you mourn that you are so helpless, and worse in-
stead of better, is not that what we ought, each of us, to recognize,
that of ourselves we can do nothing ? God must quicken us. ' Shine
on us with Thy face. ' Only, hard as it may be, we must seek patience.
■ It may not be my time, it may not be thy time, but stiU in His own
time the Lord will provide. ' Our times are in His hand, and one of
our sweetest singers says, ' My God, I wish them there. ' Kemember
Gerhardt's hymn, ' Give to the winds thy fears,' and its companion.

And now, dear , remember you are in Christ's hands ; the Good

Shepherd has you. Leave it with Him. And daily I shall pray for
you, and often probably with you."

For many years he cwiducted a Saturday Bible-class for
young women, and only relinquished it to one of his elders
when the day was changed to Sunday, for the sake of those
who were engaged on week-days. He considered this and

Pastoral Work in Dublin. 103

the similar class for young men as the training-school from
which chiefly to recruit the inevitable blanks constantly
occurring in the ranks of the Christian workers of the
congregation. His personal dealing with those who desired
to make public profession of their faith in Christ, while fuU
of sympathy, was close and searching, and was often greatly
blessed. He had no greater joy than to hear that his
children walked in the truth.

\To , on joining tlie Church.^

"Obwell Bane, 1871,.
"Your note has given me a great pleasure, and I feel very thank-
ful that you have decided to come forward for Christ, the best of all
masters, and the truest of aU friends. A life in Christ is always a
bright, peaceful life, for it does not depend on circumstances outside
of us, but the brightness and peace are within. It is a life of sur-
render to Him, to do His wiU because we love Him ; and we love
Him because He first loved us. It means the confession of our sin-
fulness and the forsaking of our sin ; but it means also that we have
a Father in heaven, and that Jesus died to bring us there. It means
that we walk by faith, joining the great and happy company of pil-
grims who have washed their robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb. It requires wonderful strength, and firmness,
and courage ; but God promises us the entire support of His grace,
and we find that when we lean on God all is easy. It means that we
live a life of conmiunion with God, and know and delight in the
power of prayer and of the Word of God, because we have believed
in the Lord Jesus, and are saved."

[To a tnemher of the Young Menfs Bible-class.]

" Okwell Bake, ISSi,

" Your letter gave me a thankful joy. The step of deciding

for Christ is the happiest in all our life. May He who has drawn
you to it through doubt and difficulty now keep you and make the
brightness and peace of this life to increase ! May He also keep you
steadfast, and earnest, and close to Himself ! Our common danger is
that of growing lukewarm, half in earnest only. Therefore use every
means of His grace to confirm you — the Bible, prayer, the Lord's
day; the prayer -meeting. Seek strength to live out your faith;

I04 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

others will see it. Try to influence others to tium to the same Savi-
our, and so live the same life. Tliank you for letting me know how
it came about. I have been always looking for such fruit of that
class, and know the good it has already done. Those who have
received the blessing, like you, are the best recruiting agents. Try
to get others to join under the same teaching. You will want
strength every hour ; let me give you a strong verse (Isaiah xxvi.
3, 4) : ' Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
Thee : because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever :
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. ' "

He was deeply anxious about the spiritual character of
the Young Men's Association, which was begun in the first
year of his ministry, and when away he often travelled long
distances to be present at their meetings, and never allowed
any home engagement to prevent his attendance.

" Mr. Stevenson's efforts to cultivate a missionary and
philanthropic spirit among his people were unceasing. He
had confidence in the capabilities of consecrated lives. He
believed that every congregation could, in its own measure
and degree, repeat the noble doings of Hermannsburg. And
beyond question Fleming Stevenson brought to his work for
God in Rathgar the same qualities which he has so vividly
portrayed as distinguishing Louis Harms. He had the same
'exceeding faith in God,' the same 'nearness and perfect
confidence of his relation to God,' the same ' perpetual and
most deep communibn with Jesus,' the same ' utter earnest-
ness and consecration.' He became a power in his church
' by giving himself up to the power of God,' and under this
influence he led the way with striking generosity in every
fresh development of congregational energy." *

His enthusiasm for missions so infected his people that
Christ Church, Rathgar, took the first place in the Irish
Presbyterian Church in the comparative liberality of its
members. Once a month the weekly prayer-meeting became

* Preface to "Praying and Working." p. 23.

Pastoral Work in Dublin. 105

a missionary meeting, where a summary was given of all
that was most striking in the mission news of the day ; and
it was characteristic that this was never confined to the fields
in which the Presbyterian Churches are engaged, but took ia
and enabled the people to follow with intelligent interest the
work of all the Churches and missionary Societies throughout
the world. Nor was he in any sense one-sided. He proved
in his own person his favourite axiom, that the most earnest
advocates of the mission abroad are the most diligent workers
in the mission at home. The mission with him was one and
undivided, and a congregation without direct work among
the poor he considered as not living in the spirit of the
Master. A mission Sunday school, a night-school, a band of
district visitors, a Bible-woman, a mothers' meeting, a weekly
evangelistic service, a Band of Hope, a Dorcas society, and
many other agencies were employed. Of one and all he was
the centre, keeping his hand firmly on them, and encouraging
them in every way by word and work.

And so, step by step, the work grew, and God set His seal
of blessing on the labours of His servant. A few extracts
from letters of this period may be inserted here : —

' ' The state of the congregation lately is spiritually more encour-
aging than it ever was. People that it was hopeless to rouse, whose
hardened indiflference used to stab me as I went into the pulpit, are
singularly arrested, and listen with the most fixed attention. One
man, for whom I had prayed in vain for years, came to the Com-
munion to-day, saying that he dared no longer hold hack. One that
was in darkness by miserable doubts has been altogether relieved.
Several have come to a clearer knowledge of their redemption by
Christ."

And again : —

" You don't know what need I have of your prayers before enter-
ing the pulpit. It is unspeakably solemn to realize that you are
speaking for God to men ; that for you almost every distinction will

io6 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

vanish at the judgment day before these two — preacher and hearer

There is an awful tendency to fall into routine, and say right things
without that power that says them to the heart. And there is also
the same tendency in the people — the want of spiritual thought, of
being earnest about unspeakably solemn truths. Daily life seems to
have the power of mesmerizing the forces of our spiritual life, though
we know it ought to brace and develop them.

" One of our elders told me of real good done by these last sermons.
It needs a little encouragement of that kind when the work is so
uphm, and people sit in the same seats for years without believing in
Christ. It gives one a bright hope even when a listless, careless man
lifts up his head eagerly for two sentences, though he should drop it
again. The man was hit at least. But I long to find the secret of
holding these people attentive for a whole sermon, and groan wearily
over my want of skill. Probably they go home and groan over the
stupidity of the preacher; which is true, or he would have made
them think of the sermon instead. I see their faces often on Sunday
night if I lie awake, always in accusation. If they listen to the two
courses of lectures I am planning for this winter, on the ' Sermon on
the Mount ' and the ' Pilgrim's Progress,' I shall feel lightened. Do
you not understand the feeling ? It is this : these people have been
given you by God. You have the power of speaking to them, a power
that angels would covet. They may be indiEFerent or stupid, but
still it depends on you more than on any human being whether they
will be turned from the road they are on to Christ — ^from death to
life. It is a fight with them that ends in tremendous issues ; and
perhaps you have to fight all the time with your own wish to say
fine things and send the people away saying, ' What a brilliant ser-
mon!' I have been preaching the most elementary truths in the

most elementary way ; and, above all, what reaches hearts with most
directness and comfort — Christ Himself. For Christ Himself is the
key to all peace and strength, and there is no way of being happy
but by being His friend.

" I have been busy and specially happy to-day. One of my people,
to whom I had often spoken, told me the simple story of her anxiety
and her rest in Christ. At one of last week's meetings an address of
mine to three classes of sinners seems to have touched- her. She fell
into great trouble of heart, so much so that she 'could not hear a
word of the sermon last Sunday.' Her trouble grew worse untU
yesterday, when, in her own words, ' I saw all of a suddint I was
just to trust myself . to Christ.' I found her busy and happy. She
had often wanted to hide from me ; now she was glad to see me — she

Pastoral Work in Dublin. 107

could understand what I used to say now. About a year ago her
husband was also led to Christ. This is the third instance of the
good that has come out of our meetings, and you may be sure it has
put me in good cheer for our services to-morrow. Our church is
small, but every year has seen some brought into the light. "

In his later years the pressure of public work did not per-
mit of his visiting at stated periods ; but he was keenly alive
to the importance of pastoral visitation, as well as the great
difficulty of making it profitable : —

" For the last fortnight I have been visiting from six to eight hours
every day, pulling up arrears ; and it is hard work, so exhaustive of
all mental and spiritual faculties that after the last visit I am good
for nothing. There is a special gift for visiting. I have not got it.
To study the character of people, to get below the formalism of the
ministerial relations one bears to them, to reach their thoughts when
perhaps they have but few, and to speak to them as an earnest friend
would if roused this is to me the most wearing of all laboiir."

In 1864 his heart was cheered by evidence of a greater
interest and earnestness, and he writes : —

"In visiting it is not such a hard thing, such a sustained and
skilful effort to have Christian conversation. The truth is welcome ;
above all, a few words about the sufficiency of Christ to save : and I
note this because I cannot bear religious commonplaces, and if people
drop into religious phrases and a religious voice I change the conver-
sation to the flattest and most directly secular subject. I determined
from the beginning to wait, no matter how long, until the heart
would be touched and the crust of phrases disappear; for it is an
awful temptation both to me and to them to be satisfied with a gloss
of words. "

To a nature so simple and true the conventionalities and
want of reality in so-called religious life were at all times
most repugnant, and he fought against everything artificial
by every means in his power.

" The attenipted Bible-reading degenerated into a. monologue. I
would only admit those who could and would speak. A stiff religi-

I08 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

oua meeting is horrible, and the absurdity of a set of decent people;
when they come together to speak about their best Friend, sighing
incessantly like so many wheezy bellows, irritates me beyond measure.
Why can't they be frank and natural, as they were ten minutes ago
when you met them in the street, as they would be if you met them
at any social gathering the next evening? And then the awful com-
monplaces that echo grimly across the dull silence of the room. Oh
to banish shams out of such assemblies and make the people and the
evenings more sprightly and comfortable !

" You are thoroughly right in all you say of the responsibility we
bear to others. It meets us every day in some shape. We might
use our relationships and intercourse to such blessed purpose, and we
pass them over as the merest commonplaces of life; and what we
might have done and did not will be as sure to come back to us as
what we did. The feelmg is sometimes awful.

' ' Last night I was called out to see a young fellow who had come
up to town for medical advice, and had become unexpectedly worse
an hour before. Two minutes after I went into the room he died.
His sister had come up to nurse him. It was the saddest scene ; she
could not believe it, and I sat with her till near two, doing what I
could. He was her favourite brother, and her whole heart went out
after him, always returning sadly to the burden of its pain : ' sir !
if I only knew that he was safe ; but there was no time. ' It is start-
ling to come face to face with one whom you never saw till you saw
him die. Macleod, I remember, dilated once on the sudden meeting
of four eyes in carriages going opposite ways. But the meeting on
the ooniines of the two worlds is all over awe. I could not help
sketching it as a possible picture in speaking of repentance at our
prayer-meeting next day. The horrible final 'too late' rushes up
through every other thought. "

It was in times of sorrow and affiction that his people
learned to the full to value their minister : —

"We always remarked in session,'' says one of his elders,* "how
he knew everything about everybody. He seemed to be omniscient,
and we felt it was because he cwred. Wherever there was sickness
or sorrow in any home, there he was to be found; and not only when
first apprised of the trouble, but day after day. He seemed to have

' [Alexander Gray, Esq.]

Pastoral Work in Dublin. 109

the faculty of throwing the whole force of his sympathy and power of
consolation into each individual case. The service required was the
measure of the service rendered, no matter at what cost of time or
trouble ; and though the increasing pressure of work in his later years
made regular pastoral visitation more difficult, I remember on one
occasion, when we were disciissing the question of visitation, his tell-
ing us that he had paid over nine hundred visits in the previous year
(1883). The wonderful charm of his presence, and the unconscious
kindly influence that it shed, gave him, as a pastor, special power.
He was an eminently wise counsellor, as well as a patient, sym-
pathetic listener. When absence made sympathy in person impos-
sible, his letter was never wanting, entering so fully into all the
circumstances that often it would have been difficult to conceive the
pressure under which it was probably penned. "

\To Mr. Norman on ilie loss of his son.]

" MuLLAGHMOKE, September 1878.

" To me it was always a new lesson in patience, cheerfulness,

courage, and faith to see him or to think of him ; and the presence of
such a living sermon among us during these late years has been for
good to every one. There is a great power in such a life. Purified
by discipline, lifted nearer to God and aloof from the business that
engrosses others, it is exercising a continual influence, and every one

in contact with it is the better for it Unconscioxisness may seem a

hard price to pay for immunity from pain, but there was no testimony
that he needed to bear to the Saviour whose love had sustained him ;
and since it is not' a farewell he has taken, but that he has gone a
little sooner than we may beyond the reach of sufi'ering and into the
perfect life where we shall rejoin him, God will enable you even to
bear the loss of what, no doubt, you longed for with a great hunger —
the recognition of his last moments. What you missed then will be

forgotten in the joy of the recognition yet to come I know what

faith, what silent endurance, you will need in these days. It is a
weary blank that is left by one who fills such a space as he did ; and
when the tender occupations that are caused by illness suddenly
cease, and the one for whom every one planned needs no planning, it
is hard, hard to go on and live through the days. It is hard not to
murmur ; and hard to feel so absorbed in the joy he has found as not

to have a thousand painful thoughts about ourselves You will

have very wide and very tender sympathy. And you will experience
that there is no sympathy like that of our blessed Lord, who is

no Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and who, in the secrecy
of our grief, endues us with the strength to say, ' Thy will be done.'
Let us lean all the weariness on Hira. The Good Shepherd has taken
one that He tended to the fold where the sheep are folded for ever-
more. But the eyes of that Good Shepherd look into our hearts ; we
are also His care. He sees the void as clearly as we feel it. Let us
be sure that His thoughts are about us, and let us yield ourselves to
the consolations of His Word. It is there we find there is a God of
all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation. It is there we
find that His grace is suflScient for us. Every comforting word in it
is the voice of the Lord Jesus, whose own sorrows rise before us, not
to drown ours, but to make us certain that He knows what sorrow is,
and that the help and pity He offers are ^uch as only the sorrowful
can offer.

* He sympathizes with our grief.
And to the suiferer sends relief."

And if you are now in the dark chamber of mourning, you cannot but
see how the hand of our Lord has hung it round with visions of heaven.
Let us also feel their brightness ; for He died that they might be bright
to us, bright with reality."

\To William Young, Eiq.\

*' Orwell Bank, February 1880,
"It was with great pain and deeper sympathy that I read your
letter, and found out what a trying and hard road God had been
leading you both. Sorrows of that more intense kind are apt to
make us wonderfully lonely ; and if they only shut us up with Christ,
to whom all power is given over and for us, we shall not murmur in
the end. I have seen it in others ; it has not pleased God yet to try
us in that form, but I can feel what an anguish and burden there
must be in it. And yet at every point of life we have openings into
that glorious kingdom where there is no death, long avenues of end-
less life, down which we look and see our children redeemed, pure
and without pain. Yet the old Hebrew longing for the joy that life
on earth brings us is very near to us all ; and postponements have
their bitterness, while, of course, the exact pleasure the life would
have brought us we lose for ever. But we lose it as some struggling
ray of sunshine, baffled by the clouds, is lost in the flood of sunlight
over a clear sky. Then we go further and remember that our Sun
that gives us all our light is Jesus Christ Himself, Sun of grace and
of glory ; and the sunshine rests also on the grave."

Pastoral Work in Dublin. 1 1 1

The following letters to a girl of fifteen, cut off by rapid
consumption, show how simple he could be when weakness
and suffering made all mental effort difficult. A slight Laci-
dent called forth by her illness reveals the depth and tender-
ness of the love by which pastor and flock were bound to one

another. A was at school in Germany when attacked

by the disease, which ran its course in a very few weeks after
she was brought home. Towards the end of her illness a
multiplicity of engagements detained Dr. Stevenson in Scot-
land, but his anxiety about her was so great that he crossed
in the teeth of a storm, hurrying from the platform _at the
close of one of his Duff Lectures in Glasgow to catch a
steamer for Belfast, and after a couple of hours in Dublin
spent in the sorrow-stricken home, starting back again to ful-
fil his next engagement in Scotland : —

" Southampton, February 1885.

" My dear a , You were not able to bear much yesterday, and

I thought I would like to write you this evening just a line or two.
I saw you were very weak, but in weakness and sickness we are just
as near to our Lord Jesus as in health. I would like to remind you
again of His love, and that He is our Saviour. We all need a Saviour,
for we have all sinned and wandered away from God. Jesus is that
Saviour, and all that He asks us to do is to trust Him. When we are
young, we all look forward to living a long time here, and life looks
so long that we almost forget it will come to an end. We do not think
that our sickness means more than a few weeks in bed ; but some-
times when we lie down sick we are never to rise again. And if we
should not, and if we trust ourselves to Jesus, we may be sorry to
leave those whom we love and so much that is bright in the world,
but we need not be afraid. For those that trust themselves to Jesus
will always live with Him, and will always be happy with Him.
They may feel they have done ever so wrong a great many times, and
they may be full of awe as they think of the great holiness of God ;
but they know that Jesus came to take away their sin, and that Jesus
died for them, taking their place, and that God forgives them for
Jesus' sake, and that His Holy Spirit will give them good thoughts
and a clean heart, and that there is no one in all the world so gentle
and loving as Jesus. 'God so loved the world,' they say to them-

112 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

selves, ' that He gave His only begotten Son, that -whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. '

"Now, my dear A , you know the doctors do not think you

will get better, and I am sure when I spoke of that yesterday as
possible you may have felt it yourself. But if you did not, do not,
dear child, shut your eyes to it now. It is not what you thought life
would be ; and I am sure at first you would find it very hard to give
up the thought of living here. And Jesus knows how hard that
thought may be. But Jesus Himself died that you may not be afraid
to die. And Jesus is now in heaven in perfect joy, and He says He
went there first to prepare a place for \is who believe in Him ; and
when you read about heaven in the Book of the Revelation, and think
how beautiful the life must be there, and that no one there ever is
unhappy, or ever sins, or ever dies, might you not even wish to be
there ? Jesus wiU take you there if you trust Him. And Jesus is
saying to you by this sickness, ' Trust Me, ' ' Come unto Me. '

"And now, dear child, let me entreat you to trust yourself to
Jesus, — yourself, with all you feel is not right in you ; yourself, with
all your sin ; yourself, just as you are. Jesus wiU bring you straight
to your Father, and straight to heaven ; for death cannot divide us
from heaven and from Jesus.

"Ask them to read to you the twenty-third Psalm, and the
fifteenth chapter of St. Luke, and part of the last two chapters in
the Bevelation. I would like to be beside you, to read them to you ;
but I am obliged to preach here [Southampton] and in Glasgow, so I
write now, and I shall write again. Trust yourself to Jesus, and you
will hear Him say, ' Let not your heart be troubled.' "

\To the same.]

"Glasgow, Karchl885,
" My dear Child, — When I said good-bye yesterday I could not
help thinking when I might see you again; and I thought it was
most probable that it would not be on earth. Our heavenly Father
alone knows that. But when we went over the beautiful psalm, and
I said, —

' Yea, though I walk in death's dark vale,
Yet will I fear none ill,"

and you said you were not afraid to die, I felt that it you had
strength you could sing the last words clear and loud, —

And in God's house for evermore
My dwelling-place shall be.*

Pastoral Work in Dublin. 113

We read in Isaiah that the ransomed of the Lord shall come there
with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. Heaven is the
brightest, sweetest place we can think of, and Jesus gave Himself a
ransom for us that it might be our home. 'I go,' He said, ' to pre-
pare a place for you. ' He will have all things ready for us, and He
will welcome us as we enter, and we shall hear and join in the song
'to Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own
blood.' 'Washed from every spot and stain.' Sometimes our
memory shows us all the forgotten wrong things and wrong thoughts.
WiU heaven, the holy place, let us in with all these ? But when we
remember how God made St. John write for us, ' The blood of Jesus
Christ cleanseth from all sin,' we are made white in the blood of the
Lamb, our sins are remembered no more.

' I lay my sins on Jesns,

The spotless Lamb of God.*

Jesus hears us saying that, though we can say it only very softly and
like a child, and we can never praise Him better than by just trust-
ing Him. Give Him up yourself, dear child ; just let Him keep you.
You may feel weaker, but as you say, ' The Lord is my Shepherd,'
say also, ' He said, " I will never leave you. " ' Some day, some hour.
He will come for you, some day very soon. The doctors will say it
is death ; but you will hear the step of Jesus coming to take you
where He is, and you will hear Him saying, ' It is I ; be not afraid. '
And I think you will not be afraid to go away with Jesus to the
home you have above."

\To , on tlie death of his loife.]

" It would not be right to say that the news of to-day has found
us unprepared. I hoped and longed, and hoped because I longed,
until it was sometimes difficult to look for any issue but the one, and
to look forward to anything but a longer life of thankfulness and
service upon earth. A short word blots out that dream, and I feel,
what you must feel like torture, that we and our lives here are all
dream-like, and as against the everlasting future will be only as a
dream when one awaketh — a happy dream that wiU always remain,
and be linked with the heavenly life as a part of it. We cannot dis-
sever the heavenly from the earthly of our life ; the same threads are
in it, only, as they reach near the sun, they glow like gold ; and all
our thoughts and affections are easily carried across the river of
death to gather round those we love as ii they were with us. To us

8

114 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

who know in whom and what we believe the change can scarcely
make a separation. For I cannot conceive there is such a division
that you have not all you ever had, and as much belonging to you
as it ever did, and, indeed, in a more full and tender way. Being
with Christ, close by His side, in the companionship we have longed
for when even faith did not sa/tisfy us, must strengthen as it purifies
our affections until they reflect the tenderness and depth of His own.
It has that eflect here, and much more in heaven, where all the con-
ditions of life must favour the growth of what is pure and holy and
is a part of our better or best self. I do not relish even those words
that speak of death as loss. What have we lost ? Not our beloved
ones — not a, jot of their affection or sympathy, or of the certainty of
their fellowship. The great delight they brought us by their love
and the running of our lives together, nothing can rob us of it. We
shall miss them as we would if they were from home, and therefore
we shall long to see them again ; but the only diflference is on the
side of gain — that when we meet it will be in a fairer house, that
will have more of home about it than the home here. Excuse me
thinking out what is often in my mind. The best of our life is be-
fore us ; and the past is only like ^. porch to the house that will be
really beautiful.

" The passages in the Bible that speak of death are full of a sweet
music ; the words seem striving which shall comfort us the most,
because they are written by those who feel that death is dead in
Christ, and those who have fallen asleep in Jesus are as living as we.
They comfort, however, because comfort is needful, and they will
gather round you now. It must be a great agony to have to bear it,
and it is a great mystery why sorrow should light so soon on some
lives and not on others ; but God thinks of us in our agony, and I
can try to understand with what great love and tenderness He will
deal when I think how tender grief makes me.

"In this long cry we lifted up for life we did not trouble the
Master, we obeyed Him ; and He has been doing something in us all
the time, and carrying out His ministry of sorrow.

"There is a space around you into which even our affection can-
not enter, where every man must bear his own burden — a sacred,
private place, at which we stop ; but Jesus, blessed be His name,
crosses the line and fills even all that vacant space with Himself, so
that we are not left alone. May you find the fulness of His present
comfort, present and abiding ! May you find that His presence links
the dead and the living ! The sting is taken from death, and even
we who remain can say, in a very solemn way, but truly, ' Thanks

Pastoral Work in Dubliti. 1 1 5

be to God that we have so blessed a hope ; ' and after we have borne
our burden we lay it down and join those whom we love, and by our
love of whom we are now drawn more than ever to the throne of God,
where we find them. ' I am persuaded that neither death nor life
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.' "

At the close of twenty-five years of work in Rathgar
he writes to the Rev. Hamilton Magee, D.D., enclosing a
card of invitation to the annual congregational meeting : —

"OnwELL Bank, January 10^ 1885.

" My deab Magee, — It is not simply this formal invitation I send,
but a wish from my heart that you will come out on Wednesday
evening next. You and I now belong to the Old Guard, though I
suspect we are younger than our juniors ; and it would be a grati-
fication after these twenty-five years, so swiftly flown, if you would
be with us — a greater gratification than I can express.

"Now kindly do make an exception for us this time. We are
scarcely likely to meet here after another quarter of a century. —
Yours ever, W. Fleming Stevenson."

*' Orwell Bank, January 16, 188S.
" My dear Magee, — I cannot let a day pass without thanking you
warmly for letting me feel and everybody hear you were at our con-
gregational silver wedding. May God bless us to stand together in
the dear old city for some time longer ! You do not know how often
you ha,ve quietly stimulated and greatly refreshed me. "

[To T. J. Aimers, Esq.]

"Liverpool, March 16, 1885.

" I think there is a good deal in this, that — independent of

the diflSculties in the Confession being no more than in the Word,
save that they are presented more in the form of a theological system
and under needful theological phrases — a confession or creed must
always be interpreted, more or less, as by the mind of the living
Church at the time. It is possible that a Church drawing up a
creed now would vary it a good deal in form, and in the proportion
in which doctrines are stated, from 1643 ; and yet it does not feel
that it should change a Confession which substantially expresses the
theology of the Word of God.

1 1 6 Life of William Fleming Stevensoti.

" I am sorry I looked tired, though I felt it. Yesterday fortnight
I preached twice and lectured once in Glasgow in large churches and
to large congregations. On Wednesday I lectured again, and crossed
immediately after to Dublin, to be with little Annie M , return-
ing same night to Glasgow. Yesterday week the University author-
ities insisted that I should preach before the University of Glasgow,
and I lectured in the evening, and again on Wednesday evening, and
spoke besides at some meeting or other every day I was in Glasgow ;
crossed to Dublin Wednesday night, reached this Saturday night,
and after preaching yesterday for the Moderator of the English
Synod to two crowded congregations, I lecture to-night, and then
catch the 10.30 train for Holyhead.

" You can imagine I am thankful to be from to-morrow onward at
home."

Pre-eminent among the willing helpers who gathered round
Dr. Stevenson was the Rev. SmyKe Robson, D.D., whose
death in 1884 was a sharp sorrow to his pastor. The two
men were curiously complementary in character, and the
affection they bore each other was unique and beautiful. No
one knew so well as Dr. Robson the overwhelming burden of
work that lay upon his friend, and no one could have more
lovingly laboured to lighten it. Dr. Robson had spent many
years in Syria as missionary to the Jews, and his health had
never recovered the trying experiences of the Damascus
massacre in 1856, when his fellow -missionary, William
Graham, was killed, and he and his wife escaped as if by a
miracle. Coming to Dublin in 1872, he settled in Rathgar
for the sake of the ministry there, and became an office-bearer
in the church. His health was delicate, and he suffered from
sleeplessness, but the vigour and acuteness of his mind re-
mained unchanged to the last, and his clear judgment and
wise counsel were always at the minister's service. Knowing
well what late hours were kept at the Manse, it was no un-
common thing for him, if some helpful suggestion occurred to
him regarding any point which was a subject of anxiety at
the time, to appear at midnight or later, with some quaint
apology for housebreaking, and the two would hammer away

Pastoral Work in Dublin. 117

for hours together in the study, regardless of the flight of
time. Quiet and gentle by nature, there was yet in Dr.
Robson a noble indignation against wrong, which, when
roused, showed itself in the flashing eye and reverberating
tone, and sometimes broke out into vehemence of speech, but
always fell back easily and sweetly within the bounds of
Christian courtesy. Every one who knew him mourned for
him, but to Dr. Stevenson the loss was irreparable. Though
usually capable of great self-control, he was quite unnerved
in conducting the funeral service over the remains of his
stanch and loyal friend.

\To Alexander Gray, Esq.\

*' Dublin, Jwn& IGy ISSU-
" Hearty thanks for your thoughtful, comforting letter. It is like
you to have written it. God lent us a blessed gift, and we made full
use of it. Certainly there should be no mourning for him. That has
come which he expected and often wished. But few men will be so
much missed ; and I feel that parting from hini is hard, although it
may not be for long. He was a wonderfully unselfish and inspiriting
helper. One could not dwell on dark sides with him. This is the
first member of the session we have lost by death. "

" No one," says a friend, " was ever more loved by those who knew
him than Fleming Stevenson. From the moment he opened his lips
one felt him to be a man of rare capability, refinement, and elevation
of soul. The soft light in his kindly eyes, the tenderly wistful lips,
which even the full beard of later years did not quite conceal, the
rich resonant voice, the curious felicity of speech, the quickness to
catch not only the meaning of the word, but the quality of the feel-
ing behind the word ; the power to put himself into the speaker's
place, and make all allowances, and say the word that was at once
kindly and wise ; the overflowing humour, never sharp-edged, yet
always dying down in a sort of seriousness, as if to make amends for
its momentary play ; the eager sympathy ; the almost invincible re-
luctance to refuse a favour to a friend ; the singular detachment and
leisureliness of manner by which he disarmed the fears of the most
scrupulous that they might be intruding on his time ; the winning
smile, the lingering clasp of the hand, all conspired to make of him
a man whom it was a distinction and delight to know. "

ii8 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

Such -was the minister who for twenty-seven years lived
and laboured among his people in E.athgar. Their best friend
and human counsellor in trouble and in dark days, the first
to sympathize with their happiness and joys, he was always
to them the same. When the severe strain of work for the
Church at large made heavy inroads on his time, he toiled
late and early, and wore himself out rather than bring to
them the fag-ends of his labours. He stayed by them when
tempted as few men have been by calls to larger and more
influential spheres. He died among them, and was laid to
rest in their midst ; and in generations yet to come his
memory will be fragrant, as the older ones tell the children of
the first pastor of Christ Church, Rathgar.

CirAPTER VI.

LITERARY WORK.

The published works of Dr. Stevenson, do not give a fair
estimate of his literary power. It had always been his
cherished desire to reach men's hearts by his pen, a desire
strengthened by the consciousness that he had the power of
doing so, and that herein lay his special gift. He had com-
prehensive and carefully arranged plans for doing much in
this way, and it was with a weary sigh that he saw the possi-
bility of accomplishing them recede into the distance, and his
literary work become more and more pushed into odd snatches
of time redeemed from other engagements, and too often
taken from the hours of sleep. He always wrote slowly and
carefully, and was most fastidious as to the finish of his com-
position. In later years his contributions to religious litera-
ture were few, and his aspirations reached buoyantly forward
to a time of possible rest in the future, when he might give
to the world a History of Missions from their earliest dawn
down to the present day. This was the dream of his life, and
in preparation for this great undertaking he had collected a
vast number of books bearing on the subject, and had pre-
pared a mass of notes and material which could only be utilized
by himself, fruitless and perhaps wasted work it may seem,
but yet surely this preparation was fitting him to arouse en-
thusiasm for "the mission "all over the Christian Church — a
purpose in which he succeeded beyond almost any other man
of his time. A little incident referred to by Dr. Mackintosh

I20 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

of Philadelphia, in his graceful sketch in "The Church at
Home and Abroad," explains in a single word the non-fulfil-
ment of these high hopes. He says : —

" On a sweet June morning some three years ago I was sitting in a
wide sunny window, looking out on green grassy slopes and garden-
beds fragrant with many a blushing rose, and across the thick-piled
books on the library floor, gazing at a loved friend, who, with his
kindly eyes warm with a brave heart's glow and sparkling with
Irish fun, looks at me cheerily yet steadfastly. ' Stevenson ' — ^f or it
is Fleming Stevenson (who gave the world ' Praying and Working,'
and made himself one of the foremost authorities on Christian Mis-
sions) to whom I am talking — ' Stevenson, when is that big book of
yours to be ready? You remember telling me of it just before I
went to Philadelphia ? ' The broad, honest face saddens just a Utile ;
then it brightens, at last settles into almost stern fixedness — the
hardness of heroic resolve and self-denial — and the answer comes
slow, deep-toned, and short, ' India and China are now my book. ' "

His literary faculty ripened early. After his return from
Germany in 1855 he was asked by Dr. Norman Macleod, who
was not slow to perceive his peculiar gift, to write for the
Edinburgh Christian Magazine, of which he was then the
editor. He contributed several papers on German hymnology,
one or two sermons, and a criticism on the character and
writings of the Rev. Frederick Robertson of Brighton. In
the latter paper he analyzed with acuteness and sympathy the
peculiar features and excellences of Mr. Robertson's preach-
ing. His sketch was so accurate that it drew forth grateful
acknowledgment of its power and perception from his father,
the late Colonel Robertson of Cheltenham, who furnished
him with additional particulars, which were embodied in a
later article in the second number of the Contemporary Review.
From these papers the publishers extracted largely for notices
of Mr. Robertson's sermons, and they are included in the
American edition of his life.

On the establishment of Good Words, Dr. Macleod enrolled
him as one of its regular contributors, and was anxious to

Literary Work. 1 2 1

assign him a more prominent position ; but Mr. Stevenson
felt that his ministerial duties would not permit him to give
up the requisite time. His advice, however, was constantly
sought, and Dr. Macleod used often to call him his " right
arm." The tie between them was very close and tender, and
Mr. Stevenson's admiration of the genius and great loving
heart of "the chief," as the Good Words staff used to call
their editor, deepened a friendship which he regarded as one
of the great privileges of his life.

In the early numbers of the periodical, besides the articles
which were afterwards embodied in "Praying and Working,"
there appeared a remarkable paper on " Matthew Claudius,
Man of Letters ; " a sketch of three young Bavarian Jesuit
priests and the revival they effected within their own Church,
entitled "Three Lives Worth Knowing About;" several
papers on hymns ; a series of mission sketches under the
heading " Devoted Lives," and many others. The later
articles contributed were nine papers on "The Mission-fields
of China and Japan," written after Dr. Stevenson's return
from his journey round the world ; and another series, "Bible
Truths and Eastern Ways." Other magazine articles are to
be found ia the Sunday Magazine, the Day of Rest, the Cath-
olic Presbyterian, and the Contemporary Eeview.

" Praying and Working, being some account of what men
can do when in earnest," appeared in the autumn of 1862.
It consisted largely of papers which had previously appeared
in Good Words, but which were now given to the public in
a fuller and collected form. Without doubt the germ of the
thoughts that issued in this work may be traced in the deep
impression made on Mr. Stevenson by his visit to the Rauhe
Haus when in Hamburg in 1854, and his coming into per-
sonal contact with the remarkable man whose faith and com-
passion lay at the root of the beneficent work carried on
there. Wandering through the narrow lanes and alleys of
Hamburg, he had found the most repulsive forms of sin and

122 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

suffering, childhood tainted with moral leprosy, distorted from
the Divine image in which it had been created ; and side by
side he had found a mighty tree of blessing with its leaves of
healing, that had grown from the tender slip planted by
Wichern on that dim October evening twenty-one years be-
fore, when he and his mother passed under the low thatched
roof of the little Rauhe Haus and began their life of Christ-
like self-sacrifice. During his residence in Germany Mr.
Stevenson studied closely the working of what is known there
as " The Inner Mission." Wherever he went he visited all
institutions aiming at the alleviation of suffering, the rescue
of the fallen, and the elevation of humanity, feeling painfully
how far behind we in England were in the practical develop-
ment of charity involving personal effort and self-sacrifice.
Happily the state of things that existed thirty years ago has
long since passed away, and there is no more striking feature
of the present day than the number of earnest lives, beautiful
in their self-surrender, that have been devoted to the service
of their fellow-men.

The sketches embodied in " Praying and Working " were
written'with a definite aim and earnest purpose to awaken
the Christian conscience of the country. The vivid and pic-
turesque style of the book, its pure and lucid English, keen
analysis of character, accuracy of detail, and the burning en-
thusiasm of the writer combined to rivet the attention of
every thoughtful mind. Alike in religious and literary circles
on both sides the Atlantic it was warmly received and favour-
ably reviewed. A nephew of John Falk translated into Ger-
man the chapter describing his uncle's life and labours, and
had it published in parts in the chief newspaper in Dantzig,
Talk's native town ; and permission was aslied to translate
the book into several European languages. On reading it a
London philanthropist sent a thousand copies to the colonies
at his own expense, and the Bishop of Argyle gave a copy to
each of the clergymen in his diocese. But no appreciation

Literary Work. 1 23

gratified its author so much as the abundant evidence he re-
ceived that the book was the means of stimulus and direction
to other lives. Several philanthropic institutions, as their
founders have cordially acknowledged, owed their inspiration
to these noble examples of faith in prayer.
The Rev. Bowman Stephenson, D.D., says : —

'"Praying and Working' has always appeared to me one of the
most fascinating and fruitful of the many Christian books published
in my time. I met with it early in my ministry, when my mind was
much occupied with the social aspects of Christian church work, and
I trace to its powerful influence much of what is best and most
valuable in the system of Christian philanthropy under my care, and,
indeed, I doubt whether that book was not the most powerful in-
fluence used by Divine Providence in turning my thoughts and
energies towards the work for children with which my life has been
so largely identified. I am still in the habit of urging every helper
in my work to read it, in the hope that they may catch something of
the spirit which breathes through every page."

In many cases it was used by God to change the whole
course of men's lives. One instance may be given here. A
thoughtless young Englishman, stricken by fever in the Aus-
tralian bush, had a copy lent him during convalescence, and
as he read, listlessly at first, in the weary hours of enforced
idleness, he was so fired by the nobility and grandeur of such
lives, and so penetrated with a sense of the uselessness and
selfishness of his own, that he resolved from that day forth
to consecrate all his powers to God and his fellow-men, and
became one of the most faithful and earnest servants of the
Cross.

One of its critics says that " the secret of the power and
persuasiveness with which the author has written, lies in his
having been guided by a simple spiritual purpose, both very
noble and very practical," and introduces the book to "all
who have any tenderness and responsibility of feeling as to
the due worth of Christian life, with confidence that it will

124 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

arouse, direct, and encourage them ; that they will learn from
its facts the great principle 'that prayer never nullifies a
man's wit, or thrift, or counsel, or prudence, but intensifies
and purifies and guides them.'" "No man," says another,
"with one particle of true life within him can peruse the
volume without his conscience smiting him for the little
that he has done for God or for man, or without forming the
resolve that, with God's help, he shall henceforth become
by prayer a worker for the cause of Christ and the good of
humanity."

Six weeks after its publication Mr. Stevenson writes to his
sister : —

' ' ' Praying and Working ' goes on its way, and I hope will do
good equal to its popularity. Already the eighth thousand is ahnost
exhausted. Many notices show that the meaning and spirit of the
book have been caught, and I have cause to feel abundantly thank-
ful. If in any way it spreads the faith and kingdom of Christ, God
will have used a very humble and unworthy servant. "

\To his Motlier.]

" November 1862.
' ' ' Praying and Working ' has met with an extraordinary reception
from all parties — highest of Churchmen, bluest of Presbyterians,
Baptists, and Wesleyans. I enclose some newspaper notices, among
them a Parthenon. I could not help going back to the old boyish
days when the Parthenon was the Literary Gazette, and came in with
breakfast. How little I ever dreamt then of seeing my name in its
pages ; and I thought how glad my father would have been, and felt
how much the pleasure of working, and altogether the pleasure of
being praised had passed away with him, without whose generous ex-
penditure at every step it could not have been written ; and long since,
dearest mother, and all through the writing of it, it was inwardly
and devoutly dedicated to you — your book, indeed, more than mine."

[From Dr. Nortnan MacLeod^

"Adelaide Place, Glasgow, Ocf^i, W6&
" Thanks, dear friend, for your kind words, but I would to-morrow
gladly give up the authorship of the ' Old Lieutenant ' for ' Praying

Literary Work. 125

and Working-.' Therefore more thanks for your delightful volume.
No Presbyterian has before written in such a catholic spirit, and this
I feel to be a great want in our Church. We ignore sixteen centuries
almost. We dig trenches deeper and deeper, which genial nature
was kindly filling up with sweet flowers, to keep up the old division
lines, instead of building bridges to connect ua as far as possible with
the Church Catholic. Judaical separation won't do — far less Phari-
saical. The only separation which is good is that of greater praying
and working, which, like love, is at once the most separating and
uniting element."

The following extracts from the letters of Dora Greenwell
wiU be of interest here : —

"Will you allow me, a stranger, to thank you for your deeply in-
teresting papers in Oood Words, and to tell you how anxiously I,
with others, am looking for their appearance in a collected form?
The very look and name of one of them before I begin to read it
always gives me a feeling of comfort and inner joy, and I find others
in our Church read them with the saijie interest, and the wish to be
^ble to say of our own country, ' Like as we have heard, so have we
seen. ' I believe, however, that bright days are yet in store for the
various branches of Clirist's family — days such as we have not yet
seen. We have certainly more light to work by, and the warmth
will come, and we shall help on both the light and the warmth by
communications such as these you are now engaged with; passing
them on from hand to hand as in an Athenian torch-race — no matter
who is first so that we run all. I am sure you have quite an un-
usual gift for this peculiar line of writing — that of engaging the .heart
and passing by, maybe, without ignoring vexed questions. But you
must tell us a great deal more about Sailer and these good Bomanists.
We must now hope and pray much for that branch. It is so won-
derful and interesting to a Christian thinker to find such a core of
vital religion in such a system as theirs is. In them too there must
soon be a great change, breaking up, and renovation, when once the
power of Rome is gone ; and we may siirely say now, ' Delenda est
Carthago.'

" I do not feel so much Inclined to thank you for your book as to
tell you how delighted I am to see it ; its arrival has made quite a little
holiday in my heart, connected with so much warmth and gladness,
and so many cheering hopes for our own Church and nation. I can-
not tell you how much I admire the preface; it seems to me so full of

126 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

wisdom and Christian discretion, touching as it does upon points
where a delicate yet firm hand is needed. How I love, too, all that
you say about the raikmaXe. of prayer, viewing it as De Maistre does,
as the dynamic force of spiritual life. My own thoughts have been
led far of late in this direction, but you have the gift of bringing
forward these deep and, if handled scientifically, difficult truths in a
way that is at once both common-sense and affecting. I sent the
book ofl^ before nightfall to a friend in the country, who of all persons
I know will the beat appreciate it, so that my own reading of it was
necessarily very hasty; but when I awoke this morning my mind
seemed full of happy and hopeful thoughts. I wondered at first
where they had aU come from, but soon traced them all to one place.
I must congratulate yon again and again on having brought home
such a blessing to many, many waiting hearts. I hope you will yet
make us many more presents

"I mean from time to time to stick a pin into you, or a thorn (!),
until I get you stirred to write a history of the Moravian Church,
that ' dove in the rock,' so blameless and harmless, and continually
abiding in the wounds of her Lord. I never lose the idea of this,
and of your doing it ; it would be a present to the universal Christian
Church, part of its great Saga to stir a pulse of heroism in the hearts
of the young. In addition to the two great branches of missionary
interest in Greenland, and those of such affecting beauty to the
North American Indians described in Came's book, I met with an
account of a Moraviaji settlement in Africa, begun by a solitary man
among the Hottentots, and (I think) nearly fifty years after his death
and the decay of almost all his pious labour, continued by the
Brethren with success. I found an account of this, full of touching
poetry, imder the head of 'An African Valley,' in a now old-
fashioned book of miscellanies, by J. Montgomery, called ' Prose by
a Poet.' The Church of England wants stirring and stimulating to
missionary enterprise. Do think of this. Have you done much
more at the ' Hymns and Hymn- writers ' ?

" I find Mr. Strahan has mentioned my idea to you, and that you
are disposed to receive it favourably ; so I wish to send you a few
desultory thoughts on the subject, that you may revolve them at
your leisure. I feel that you are rich in accumulated materials ;
rich, too, in that peculiar turn of thought which would remove the
work out of all that is dry and external into its true spiritual region ;
so that perhaps you only need some outward impulse to make you
begin. Two thoughts press greatly on my mind. To begin with
perhaps the least important^that in my opinion the German hymns

Literary Work. 127

ill themselves are not such valuable contributions to our devotional
literature as we are apt to consider them in these days, when they
have become a sort of fashion, — not so valuable, I mean, to us. A
hymn, above all other compositions, is a flower that must be plucked
on the spot where it grows. It has its roots in the heart, entwined
with all manner of individual and social associations. A translated
hymn is an exotic flower, fair to the eye, but far less eloquent to the
heart than those we have cherished in our own little gardens. Then,
too, the peculiar merit of the German hymns is one which realizes the
truth of the Latin proverb, ' It is more easy to paint the rose than to
convey its odour.' I could dwell much longer on this point, but you
wiU see how it is that I am inclined to lift the weight and value of
the book on to another basis — to make the hymns illustrative of a
deep religious national life, as Madame Guyon's hymns, in her Life
lately published, sweetly and fuUy illustrate a wonderful individual
life. Oh, how valuable a contribution this will prove in your hands
to the true Church History, in which there are so many blanks ! "

The last reference is to a work of considerable magnitude
which both had at heart, and which they had planned to
undertake jointly, "The Hymns and Hymn-writers of
Germany." Various circumstances, however, caused delay,
and the work was never completed. Hymnology was a
favourite study of Mr. Stevenson's, and was the subject of
his first published articles. Very early in his pastorate he
printed a collection of hymns for the use of his own con-
gregation, a forerunner of the larger volume which was
given to the public in 1873, under the title of "Hymns for
the Church and Home.'' In reference to this work Dr. Saphir
says : —

" When he commenced his ministry, the Presbyterian Churches of
Scotland and Ireland did not use hymns in their public services, but
only psalms and metrical Scripture paraphrases. From his child-
hood he had known "the hymns in which the Christian experience
and devotional feeling of England have found expression. He had
learned to love them, and they had been helpful to him in his spirit-
ual Ufe. His interest in hynms was much increased during his stay
in Germany, where he became acquainted with the wonderfully rich
treeisure of Christian song which the German Church possesses, and

128 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

which has proved an important and powerful element in the pre-
servation of Christian doctrine, and in the promotion of Christian
life in the individual, the home, and the Church. The study of
hymnology had great attractions for him, both on account of his love
for poetry and on account of his great interest in aU that -referred to
the development of the inner life, personal and congregational. He
began to collect hymn-books and books bearing on the writers, the
history, and the editions of hymns, and he was in possession of most
ample and valuable material for the production of a book which was
ultimately published in 1873. It was entitled ' Hymns for the Church
and Home. ' Dr. Stevenson's primary object was to furnish his con-
gregation with a hymn-book adapted not merely for the public ser-
vices of the Church, but also for private and domestic use, and for
the Sunday school and children's meetings. The selection and ar-
rangement of the hymns are admirable. The book is divided into
three sections: Hymns for Public Worship, Hynms for Private
Worship, and Hymns for Children. Eeich division is arranged alpha-
betically. Both these points are very practical. The first, because
many hymns which do not reach the objective grajideur and dignity
which ought to characterize the hymns of the Christian congregation
met for worship are suitable and helpful either for private devotional
reading or in the family circle. The second, because the first line of
a hymn is almost always remembered, and thus the use of the book
is greatly facilitated.

"A copious Index of Subjects is prefixed to the book, and shows
how very comprehensive and fuU the compiler's view was of the
doctrine and experience which should be expressed in his selection.
The hymns are chosen with great care, the text restored to its
original form with wonderful accuracy ; and while the classical
catholic hymns of English Churches constitute the chief portion of
the book, some of the most excellent German and Danish hymns are
added. The twofold appendix is particularly valuable, and the result
of great industry and research. The first, entitled 'Notes,' is in-
teresting to the student of hymnology, containing much bibliograph-
ical information and criticism of various readings; the second is a
Biographical Index, and supplies information which before was access-
ible only to a few. Dr. Stevenson had made the lives of the hymn-
writers a study, and sometimes in his Sunday evening services he
would illustrate the truths of the hymn sung by a sketch of the life
of the author.

"This hymn-book attracted much notice, and was the admiration
of some of the most competent authorities on church praise. It has

Literary Work. 1 29

proved a valuable book to the student, and is highly appreciated in
many congregations. It ia a book very characteristic of its author —
of his devputness, catholicity, large sympathies, as well as of his
culture and taste. It reminds us of that inmost worship in spirit and
in truth from which alone ' praying and working ' can emanate. "

No one who is not acquainted with the labour involved
in verifying the accurate text of even the commonest hymns,
or balancing the merits of the various renderings, could
form a conception of the painstaking research required in
compiling such a book ; for example, no fewer than thirty
variations of the well-known hymn " Rock of Ages " had to
be examined. The hymnals in various languages which he
acquired during the preparation of this work exceeded five
hundred, and. have been for the most part preserved in the
" Fleming Stevenson Memorial Library " in the Assembly's
College, Belfast. He revised the entire volume eight times
with the most punctilious minuteness and thoroughness ; and
his reputation for accuracy was so well established, that in
most of the hymnals since published by the leading Protestant
Churches of the United Kingdom the text found in his
collection was accepted as the correct version. He was asked
by Mr. Murray to undertake the subject Hymnology for a,
forthcoming Encyclopaedia, and had procured a number of
new works on the subject and begun his preparations at the
time of his death.

The posthumous work, " The Dawn of the Modem Mission,"
which was the subject of his Duff Lectures, published in 1887,
is only a fragment of what he had meant it to be, the pres-
sure of engagements at the time causing him to give a great
part of these lectures extemporaneously from the briefest notes.

This chapter may seem to be almost as much a record of
unfulfilled plans as of work accomplished. Engagements
multiplied with the years, and the time of leisure for which
he longed never came.

And yet we cannot speak of failure, though we may wish

9

I30 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

the literary record had been greater. The faithful servant of
his Master does the work as it is laid to his hand, and waits
patiently for time to undertake what is less pressing. If the
literary record is small, another record has been written in
the outcome of a life busy in every good and great enter-
prise of his time. It can be read in the revival of the
missionary spirit in his own and other Churches, and traces
of it are to be found in India and far-away China. And so
the Master gave him his reward. He conquered his longings
for more leisure by anew buckling of himself to the work
before him and a cheery acquiescence in what God had
appointed for him. With him we join and say, " lie doeth
all things welL"

CHAPTER VII.

VISIT TO AMERICA.

Mant events combined to make 1873 a marked year in
Mr. Stevenson's life. Early in the spring a unanimous
call to a church in London caused him weeks of anxious
deliberation, intensified by the distress of his people at the
possibility of his removal. Scarcely had the decision to
remain brought relief, when his mother, who for some time
had been in failing health, was called to her rest, and her
death cast a deep shadow over the circle of which she had
so long been the centre. What she had been to him his
early letters abundantly testify ; and her love and example,
which had done so much to mould his character, never
ceased to be a living power within him. His friends
rejoiced when a pressing invitation from the American
branch of the Evangelical Alliance to take part in the
Conference which was to be held in New York in October
gave him the opportunity of a complete change of thought
and scene.

The prospect of a visit to America was full of pleasant
anticipation. With his inborn love of travel and keen en-
joyment of nature and scenery, he had many inducements to
visit the glorious new country, with its unsolved problems,
its magnificent future, and the marvellous growth of its
past. There were dear friends and relatives of his wife
whose home in the far West he longed to see ; and by this
time his name and work were well known in America, and

132 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

had made for him many friends who urged his coming,
and whose warm-hearted welcome and hospitality when he
arrived remained a grateful recollection to the end of his
life.

A few extracts from his journal and letters to his wife will
give some idea of his tour, and the impressions made by the
three months' visit. He left Dublin on the night of the 31st
July ; the next morning the little tender steamed out from
Queenstown in brilliant sunshine to meet the American
steamer on its way from LiverpooL

" Suddenly a gruff voice at my elbow exclaimed, 'By King

George and King David, that's a clipper ! ' How two such saints got
coupled together in his mind has never been clear to me since ; but
the speaker used the strongest language at his command, and evi-
dently considered that no one would dispute their testimony to the
undeniable beauty of the Celtic as she approached Queenstown har-
bour with d, svrift, easy grace like a waterfowl. We had sailed for
about twenty minutes, until Queenstown behind us looked a white
glare of stone along the hill-face. As we turned a point the harbour
opened out to the sea, and there was the steamer gliding along in
soft curves, apparently with as little purpose as a skater on the ice.

" Two forts guard the passage to the ocean — one with slopes of
that hard, yellow grass that is dear to fortifications, and the other
on the left putting a steeper and greener front to the sea. We
steamed all day along the coast, near enough to see the few houses,
and the surf beating gently on the shore ; a flat, duU land at first,
then higher and rising into mountain ranges that gathered their mass-
ive folds together to sleep among the evening shadows. As the
shadows deepened we left them, but first passed right below a rough
pyramid of rock two hundred feet high, and crowned with a Ught-
house— a curious, lonely spot, miles from shore ; then in the misty
distance some narrow rocky islands slanting landwards, and with a
waU-like face to the west to meet the dash of the rough Atlantic, and
then water, and water only

"To-day the wind blows from the N.-W., and the sight is mag-
nificent. The waves grow long and stately. They march like an
army, crest after crest ; their bulk grows enormous, and for the first
time dwarfs the ship. As far as the eye can reach, they advance line
tipon line ; they tower fifteen or twenty feet above the deck ; but it is

P'zsz't to America. 133

all in play, for as they swoop down with curling ridges and streaming
plumes they catch the vessel in their arms, raise it gently up, and rush
with a hiss of foam and a smooth black ridge away on the other side,
and toss and play with their companions, leaping, dancing, and fling-
ing jets of water up in sport till they are out of sight. "

The restful sense of quiet and leisure to read, and the
invigorating sea-breeze " damp with brine,'' made the voyage
a rare enjoyment, and he landed in New York in high
spirits on the 10th of August.

" The real perils," he wrote after his return home, " did not begin
till we were well in sight of land, and most of us passed by them un-
consciously. The peril of being ' interviewed ' is perhaps the chief.
I heard of only one who came safely through this trial. ' We are so
glad, sir, to find you arrived,' said one of the interviewing party to
Mr. Amot of Edinburgh, not knowing but determined to find out
his name. ' Your writings have gone before you, sir, and prepared
B. place for you in the hearts of our countrymen. You will receive
quite an ovation among us. We were scarcely prepared to see you
so young. You are — ^you are — ?' The Scotchman was not to be
taken oflf his guard. 'Yes,' said Mr. Amot, 'I am — I am — .' No
place, indeed, seems safe from the reporter. The man who politely
shows you the missed street may put your innocent remarks in the
morning paper. Reporters haunt the houses, the steps of public
halls, the churches, the trains, the cars. They are like the frogs that
covered the land of Egypt. When crossing the plains by the Pacific
Railway and making some entries in a note-book, I observed that a
fellow-passenger winced uneasily, shifted his seat, and was after-
wards suddenly taciturn. 'I beg your pardon, sir,' he said the next
day, ' but I thought you were a reporter for the New York Heraid. '
On Sunday morning in New York, about eight o'clock, a gentleman
was ushered in. ' Excuse me, sir, but I have come to report your
sermon. I have four on my list, and I find they are all preached at
the same time. Kindly give me your leading thoughts. If I have
the skeleton, I can put on the flesh and blood. Never fear, sir ; you
may feel perfectly safe with me. ' "

Leaving the city, which at that season was deserted by
all his friends, he started immediately for Niagara, making
a detour to visit some relatives at Pocasset. He spent

134 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

three days at Niagara, giving himself up to the fascination
of the mighty rush of waters, and enjoying in every variety
of light and shade the exquisite beauty of the colouring.
Thence to Chicago. All along his route the rapid growth
of the cities he passed was one of his most striking impres-
sions. " They want," he writes, " the picturesqueness, the
quaintness, the beautiful irregularities, the colouring, the
rich and stately histories of Europe. They want all the
mellowed tone, the subtle and powerful charm, the glory
even in decay, which only time can bestow. They are
uniform in character, repeating the same broad and rectan-
gular streets, the same shops, the same suburbs and public
buildings, the same spick-and-span newness. But for
stately modern streets — streets where the eye is content
with the rich and long succession of lofty and decorated
buildings piled up of marble or granite as high as the
Old Town houses of Edinburgh — there are none in Europe
that surpass some of the avenues in New York and the
thoroughfares of Chicago that have been built since the fire."

" Palmer HoufjE, Chicago, August SI, 1S7$,
" This is a city of magic. Burned three years ago? Not a bit of
it ! It is as old as London or Methuselah. I have walked through
street after street to-day of the stateliest houses I have ever seen, not
broken into by mean ones as in New York, nor run up in a hurry ;
but tail, solid, dignified buildings, row after row, about uniform in
height and seldom less than seven stories, but delightfully varied in
design. London and Paris have nothing to show Uke it in continuous
stateliness, street crossing street. And these are the shops of a city
in the middle of the prairies. I can understand Pahnyra and Tad-
mor now. "

At Cedar Rapids there was the happiness of a meeting
with his brother-in-law, Mr. Thomas M. Sinclair, and of
seeing something of the many-sided usefulness of a life that
had become interwoven with all the interests of that growing
city.

Visit to America. 135

"It is curious,'' he writes, "how our home feelings grow up.
Cedar Kapids is his home, and his associations and likings are clus-
tering round it as well as his interests. It is the settled place for
wife and child ; that is the secret. Given this, we begin to weave
our web of home ties, affections, and preferences. And how well for
him and for us all ! We bring the sunshine and the rest to the spot
where we pitch our tent, and do our work in peace without the
hungry longing to be elsewhere. "

Then past Omaha, over the rolling prairie sea, with its
gray grass and dwarf cactus, its prairie-dogs and buffalo
skeletons, through desert alkali plains, where nothing seems
to live but the sage brush, over low spurs of the Rocky
Mountains, and down through canons and gorges to Ogden,
where nearly half the passengers turned out of the train for
Salt Lake City, which is reached by a rough side-line of
thirty-six miles, running between the Lake and the range of
mountains that rise up steeply and encircle it. The neat
comfortable houses, the orchards and greenery, the air of
tidiness, the visible thrift and order, the Swiss-like effect of
the mountains glowing in the glorious purple and gold of
the setting sun — all combined to make a most favourable
impression, which was confirmed next day, so far as externals
go, by the beauty of the situation and the marvellous
fertility of the gardens and the trees laden with fruit which
surround every house, the clear streams of fast-flowing water
that take the place of our gutters at home, the handsome
residences, the utter absence of poverty. " Such was the out-
side of life ; but vdthin, what horrors ! " He visited the
Tabernacle, " inside like a soup-tureen, with the lid forming
the roof;'' and chanced to hear the annual sermon on polygamy
delivered by Orson Pratt, " a blasphemous rhodomontade, but
considered by the saints superb and overwhelming. There
were no intellectual faces ; humble origin and present comfort
were stamped on nine-tenths of the male portion of the con-
gregation, while the women either look bold and hardened,

136 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

or have a crushed, soulless expression, as if nothing waa
left but the animal qualities. Inquiring of an elder with
whom I got into conversation if the women liked it, ' No,
sir,' was the answer. ' You see, it goes against their training ;
and I may say there is something in the grain of a woman
that it goes against ; but many of them get to see it as a
Divine doctrine, though of course it is a cross ; but you know
our life here is in the wilderness, and the cross must be borne,
and they come to look at it in that light. ' " When, four years
later, he was again in Utah, Mr. Stevenson visited Brigham
Young about a month before his death. " I found him less
repulsive in appearance than I had been led to expect," he
writes ; " with a firm mouth, a look of great determination,
and some dignity and command of manner. He admitted
that they had but few Irish in their community." Mr.
Stevenson, however, found his countrymen ubiquitous. " In
the dusk, as the passengers stepped out among the crowd at
a busy station in the desert, it was refreshing to hear a
burly voice and an Irish tongue — ' Boys, we're at Oorinne.'
I could have shaken that rough, coatless fellow by the
hand. And in Salt Lake City, as a polite Mormon elder
explained that ' Holiness to the Lord ' was not inconsistent
with the after-part of the signboard above our heads, which
ran, ' Licensed to sell spirituous liquors,' because they were
only allowed as a drug in case of sickness, there was no mis-
taking the nationality of the voice that rolled in unceremoni-
ously behind us, ' Bedad, then, there's a power of sickness in
Salt Lake.'"

Four hundred miles had now to be traversed before begin-
ning the ascent of the Sierra Nevada. An unbroken desert
lay between, varying in character from baked mud to dry
sand, with distant mountain ranges forming the horizon.
As the train slowly crawled up to the summit the views were
magnificent, but constantly interrupted by aggravating snow-
sheds. Then down seven thousand feet in nine hours, through

Vz'sz'i to America. 137

pine forests, past Cape Horn, a thousand feet above the val-
ley, down into tropical luxuriance of growth and magnificent
trees, recalHng an English park (save that at this season the
grass is burnt brown and the dancing streams are dry beds of
sand), through a flat country with the comfortable cultivated
look of a brown England, past Sacramento and Stockton and
Lathrop, ascending by a wooded and beautiful gorge a low
range of hiUs. At the top they caught the first glimpse of
the waters of the Pacific.

San Francisco was reached by a huge ferry-steamer from
the station, which at that time was built out in the bay on
an island formed by wooden piles, at a distance of two miles
from land, and approached by a narrow wooden jetty about
two feet above water, along which the train rushed out into
the Pacific at the rate of thirty miles an hour.

Among the chief points of interest to Mr. Stevenson in
this Western capital, besides the Chinese settlements, which
he thoroughly explored, from the " Joss House " or Temple
to the theatre and the opium dens, were the beautiful ceme-
tery, " the brightest resting-place of the dead that I have ever
seen," and the great public school which perpetuates the
memory of Lincoln.

On the 8th of September he started for the Yosemite
Valley-, feeling with a joyful heart that he had turned his
face homewards. At Lathrop he changed the rail for a
stage-coach.

' ' We toiled over the plains ; and then among curious low humps,
like sand drifted by the wind, and covered with thin withered grass,
occasionally plunging into a drift of loose stones down which in wet
weather some river runs, wheels up and down, out and in, jolting
intolerable. Then passing the foot-hills, we came to a loftier range,
where pines began to show themselves, and up which we climbed
with a weary, dust-smitten crawl, seeing them rise higher, while our
waggon creaked and strained after them till we reached the half-way
house, kept by a woman and a savage dog. More climbing, more
dust, and we turn the summit among the firs, and whirl down, the

138 Life of William Fleining Stevenson.

horses flying ofiF at a gallop, until half an hour after sunset we run
across a meadow in the dark, and pull up at the lights of White and
Hutching's."

The Big Trees in Mariposa Grove were reached two days
later. "The gigantic character of their vegetation," he
writes, "can be felt. You dream of the stillness in which
these trees have grown for a thousand years, and feel as you
look round you are in the forest primeval."

Altogether nine days were spent in the enjoyment of this
wonderful Californian valley, sometimes riding on horse-
back for twelve hours at a stretch, and then wandering out
alone to some point of special beauty, " where I experienced
the most intense sense of stillness and solitude I have ever
felt." On the Sunday he arranged with some difficulty
to have a service in a small room at " Hutching's," the
only service they had had that year. " About thirty people
collected — one or two students from Yale, some coloured
people, a few Indians or half-breeds, some of the helpers
about, and a sprinkling of the other folk in the vaUey.
I gave out the hundredth Psalm. Nobody knew it, and I
had to sing it alone ; so I read the remaining hymns,
choosing the most simple and those most expressive of the
gospel. It was by no means an ideal service, but it affected
me peculiarly, — the motley congregation of careless people,
the various races represented, the secluded spot, the still
night (for the hush of all nature is very deep), the sense of
being walled in by rock, the only voice lifted up there for
Christ that whole summer, and to me the solitude of feeling
so far from home."

Rejoining the railway at Lathrop, his next stopping-place
was Denver, then a rough mining centre whose population
had increased in four years from 4,000 to 20,000.

"Dekveb, StpUmberil, 1873.
" Forty-one years old to-day ! and what to show for it ? Well, I
f oel as if there was more to come than has been. Perhaps the years

Visit to America. 139

already spent have been seed-time. I hope so. I am often planning
better things for this winter, but not sanguinely, knowing how one
hard necessity will bowl down a hundred plans. I would like to
have some free time for chat and rest and music and fun with the
children from dinner-time till nine. Perhaps some evenings that can
be managed. How the birthdays get intertwined, yours and mine
and the children's, all to be woven together with the fadeless lilies of
heaven ! Our thoughts are busy crossing to-day, mine hastening to
you from the Rocky Moimtains, now spread out in panorama before
me. I have a growing, gnawing hunger for St. Louis and letters —
and then for home !

" This country is the paradise of advertisers. The rocks that rise
■■'■ few inches above water are gay with annoimcements of ' Bitters '
and ' Blacking.' As we entered Fall river the tide was out, and on a
huge piece of wrack-covered stone there stared us in the face, ' Closer
than a brother sticks Spalding's Glue.' The rail fences for thousands
of miles exult in 'Sozodont' and 'Hall's Cough Candy.' On the
great divide between the Atlantic and the Pacific a few masses of
sandstone stand out to the left. On every side the rolling prairie
stretches away to the foot of the mighty hills. It is a place of soli-
tude and almost awe. But the sandstone is painted over with ' Ris-
ing Sun Stove Polish,' and ' Plantation Bitters ' glares out from the
wild red cliffs that border Echo Canon."

From 8t. Louis to Louisville, and thence by Cincinnati to
New York, which he reached in time for the Conference of
the Evangelical Alliance, which began on the 1st of October.
The meetings were most remarkable, and left an impression
on those who were present that could never be eflfaced. The
essential unity of Protestantism was demonstrated most un-
mistakably. Mr. Stevenson felt stirred to his inmost soul,
and entered with enthusiasm into the work of the Alliance.
Of his own paper, of which the subject was, "The Working
Power of the Church, and how to utilize it," he writes to his
wife : —

"The papers were all of an unusually high character, and this
made me sufficiently nervous about my own ordeal, which was to
come off on Saturday, at the very end, when everybody would be
tired and exacting. It turned out better than my fears

I40 Life of William Fisming Stevenson.

" It must have struck some chord of which I was unaware, since
there was no merit in itself, and I have said it in substance in Rath-
gar twenty times. Many persons have since come up and introduced
themselves to express their thanks."

All through his journey ings he wrote long, bright, strength-
ening letters to his congregation, and we give some extracts
from an account he gave them of the Alliance after his
return : —

" The meetings were held in the rooms of the Young Men's Chris-
tian Association, itself the youngest creation of the busy Christian
life of that young world. The Lecture Hall was the central point of
the Alliance. Its motto, 'Unum corpus sumus in Christo,' hung
above the platform ; underneath ran the other ancient words, ' In
Necessariis Unitas, In Dubiis Libertas, In Omnibus Caritas ; ' while,
as if smothering the asperities of their difference under sweetness
and light, masses of flowers were heaped round the names of Luther
and Calvin, Knox and Wycliffe, Wesley and Edwards and Bunyan,
and Jesus shone down upon them all. In mere size the Conference
was not remarkable, for there were not quite five hundred delegates ;
nor had they the stamp of any special rank, nor was there any
show of dress to lend dignity to the assembly. The impression made
upon the mind was of a dignity that was in no way derived from ex-
ternal accidents, but depended solely on the object for which these
men were met. They had come, many of them, from the other side
of the sea, to testify that the body of Christ is one, and in that unity
' to discuss the great matters of Christian faith. Christian life. Chris-
tian work, Christian hope, and Christian destiny. ' The proceedings
were very simple. Every morning there was a united prayer-meeting
in a neighbouring Presbyterian church — a crowded meeting, earnest,
hearty, and effective, as such meetings are in America. There is
magnificent swing and impulse about American Christian life — a
mingled enthusiasm and practical good sense that are very beautiful
together. There is energy in it, but not mere rude, reckless force ;
it is the energy of passionate" conviction of men whose Christian im-
pulses act at once upon their Christian conduct. Their enthusiasm
does not evaporate, but, as far as one may judge, is a steady force.
If their religious life exceeds ours in warmth and impulsiveness, it
is not inferior in the more solid and staying qualities that we reckon
our best. From this meeting, and bearing something of its fervour

Vz'sti to America. \a\

away, the Conference adjourned to the halls where the sections met,
each presided over by its chairman. The reading of papers followed
until one, when there was an hour's adjournment for luncheon, lav-
ishly provided in the rooms of the Association. On reassembling at
two, the sections 'continued at work till after four, and in the even-
ings there were public meetings.

"As the business and the audience increased it was found needful
to have various sections meeting simultaneously, and occasionally a
paper that had attracted notice in one was re-delivered in another.
The attendance was quite as striking as the rapid growth of interest.
As many as three large buildings were occasionally occupied at the
same time, and some of them crowded. Yet on the very eve of the
Conference there were well-informed persons who mistrusted its suc-
cess. There was little apparent public interest, and a financial panic
was running its course. The country shook under the monetary
storm. One strong house went down after another. Banks began
to close. The millionaires of yesterday were the paupers of to-day.
Nothing could be more unpromising than the outlook of the Alliance.
Even the newspapers were filled with the panic to the exclusion of
almost every other topic. Yet by the Friday of the first week they
were filled with the Conference.

"The reporting of the Conference was a wonder by itself. One
paper (the Trihune') devoted as much type to the meeting as would
print half the Bible. Essays which occupied several hours in delivery
could be read with leisure in the morning issue. There was nothing
left unreported, down to the prayers and the benediction. The
Tribune, was said to have increased its circulation by forty thousand
a day, and a greater and more immediate publicity was secured than
at any similar meeting in any country. There was not a town in
the United States to which a daily summary of the proceedings was
not telegraphed. The halls were so crowded that it was a favour
even to stand, and political associations were held so slight at the
time that one of the largest assemblies was packed into Tammany
Hall and presided over by a well-known republican. It was impos-
sible to keep pace with the interest, which grew with every sitting,
and the number of men always present was very striking.

" For the rest, the Conference was like those that had preceded it,
with some salient and characteristic features that lent it distinctness,
and with the old features enlarged, as befitted the vast continent
that had welcomed and, it might be said, imported it. Generous
and exceeding hospitality had never been wanting; but in New
York, and in New York no more than everywhere else, the hos-

142 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

pitality was unbounded. Merchants shortened their summer trip
to Europe that they might receive their guests ; public institutions
■were thrown open ; the Mayor and Corporation placed a steamer at
the disposal of the delegates, and conveyed them round the famous
municipal charities. One day they were driven in open carriages
through Greenwood, another day through Central Park ; one evening
it was a dinner at Brooklyn, the next a reception in a Fifth Avenue
palace ; there were excursions up the Hudson, and first-class railway
passes to and from Niagara, and special trains to Washington ; hotel
bills and ferry-boats were paid, and return tickets were given, not
only free, but usable to the remotest period ; and all this was due as
much to the spontaneous kindness of individuals and companies a.8 of
the general committee. No more thoughtful courtesies could be ren-
dered than were at the service of every deputy. The kindness had
even its ludicrous side, for photographers tendered applications for
sittings, and an enterprising dentist offered to draw the teeth of
members at halt-price. But, these trifles apart, it might fairly be
said by those who looked on, ' See how these Christians love one
another.' No promise was ever more strictly fulfilled than that
which greeted the strangers as they entered Association Hall, ' We
bless you in the name of the Lord, and welcome you most heartily
to our country, our churches, our pulpits, and our homes.'

" The subjects were also on a larger and more comprehensive scale
than had been attempted before. Starting from a discussion of the
true unity of Christendom, they included a survey of Protestantism
as it is, both in its settled Churches and in its missions, a keen and
many-sided examination of the prevalent forms of unbelief, and a
distinct attempt to grapple with not only the problems of the Church,
but the weighty social problems that demand solution.

" The Protestant Churches defiled before the spectator, marching
like troops on review, some strong, others only a handful, with
banners that had been borne in many a battle, faded and ragged and
never lowered, the names of their glorious and imperishable dead
flashing out through the mists of history as they passed. They came
from English Canterbury and the heather braes of Scotland ; Wal-
denses from their valleys of the Alps, and Spaniards from the cities
of the Inquisition ; from Holland with its memories of Orange, and
Belgium with its memories of Alva; Huguenots from France, and
Genevese from the city of Calvin ; from sunny plains of Italy and the
white snow-fields of the North ; from Ireland, that had once covered
Europe with its missionaries, and from the Mission Churches that are
now covering India; from the stately German Empire that has sprung

Vz'sii to America. 143

of Martin Luther, and the statelier Republic of the children of the
Mayflower. As the spectacle swept by there was no possibility of
misreading the lesson. The vital energy of Protestantism was there.
The powers of the world had been hurled against it ; it had been
chained, tortured, butchered, burnt ; it had been wasted by incessant
strife, and crushed by its own carelessness and formalism. If it had
flourished in some countries, it had been almost stamped out of
others ; it had been a prey to contending political factions, and had
no visible unity to bind and control it. Yet it was there in its old
undaunted power. If there were districts where its forces were
small and scattered, it was bravely labouring to attack sin over as
large an area as elsewhere. If there were states disordered and dis-
organized, it was the sound and healthy and stable element in them.
There could be no doubt about its intense and abundant earnestness.

"It is impossible to review the proceedings in detail. Nearly a
hundred and fifty papers were read, and there were almost as many
addresses at extra public meetings. Discussion was rarely possible,
and the exchange of views was confined to private intercourse — a seri-
ous loss of the real gain that siich a Conference may be expected to
secure. The range of papers covered every question of moment that
is at present agitated in the Christian Church. The various forms of
unbelief, and the relations of the Church and of Christian thought to
scientific truth, were treated with abundant care, and by so skilful
oversight that even the local forms assumed by unbelief in particular
countries came under notice. It was impossible not to be struck by
the masterly power with which these subjects were treated, the
thorough, painstaking way in which men of brilliant reputation went
into each, the absence of all superficial, perfunctory work, so that
what was done was evidently done from a sense of duty that was
more than usually earnest, in some intensely earnest. The writer of
the most briUiant paper in this section, and indeed at the Conference,
spent, I have learned, many months in its preparation, and simply
because he felt he was discharging a debt to the doubting; and
scientific as it was, wrestled over it in prayer as a. message to the
souls of men ; while just as noticeable were the breadth and dignity
of these papers, without a trace of that fretfulness and dogmatism
that often mark the scientific apologetics of Christianity, perfectly
manly, honestly fair.

" The most noticeable was an essay on modem scepticism by Pro-
fessor ChristUeb of Bonn. In. spite of the variance of country and
language, it was remarked that every speaker used English, that it
was the bond of a common tongue not only between the cities of

144 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

Europe, but between Europe and America, and between Asia and
them both ; but this German student, by long residence in London,
had made himself maater of English idiom, and by study and prayer
had devoted himself to his subject with a really beautiful enthusiasm,
that it might not end in an intellectual triumph, but ' be a message
of God to wounded consciences.'

" If another point may be singled out of many, it would be the
appearance of the Old Catholics, though it was only by letter and
not in the person of their representatives, of whom Von Schulte,
Huber, Friedrioh, and Hyacinthe were unable to attend. Already
meeting for worship in many of the Protestant churches of Germany,
and claiming the Reformation right for every man to search the
Scriptures, and by them to prove all things, it was the less difficult
for them to hail the members of the Alliance as brethren. Yet it was
with strange and solemn feelings that an assembly of Protestants re-
ceived a greeting and a God-speed in their work of union from the
members of the Church of Rome, and possibilities of a great return
and crowning victory of truth and love rose to the mind in response
to their prayer for ' that object unto which we should all strive — that
under one Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, the members of His holy
Church may form a single flock. '

" But the clearly outstanding features of the Conference were two —
the evening meetings and the common communion. It was announced
that on the first Lord's-day meetings would be held in the Academy
of Music or Opera-House, and in the large Steinway Concert-Hall.
Had it not been for my companion, an eminent Irish and now New
York minister, it would have been impossible to obtain footing in
either building, vast numbers having been turned away from both ;
and a more impressive spectacle could not easily be foimd than these
huge areas as seen from the orchestra or the stage. There was the
dense mass of faces eagerly bent upon the platform, and so close to-
gether that the audience, look where one might from the pit to the
upper gallery, seemed one enormous face ; the burst of song that
swept over it when some familiar tune was sung, like CoromUUm;
the stillness with which it listened ; the reverent hush of prayer,
more like the quiet of a private room. And there was the knot of
earnest men gathered from every part of the world, some of them the
foremost theologians, philosophic thinkers, and brilliant scholars of
the time, but all addressing the multitude in language as simple as it
was affecting, urging upon them the claims and majesty and the sweet
tenderness of Christ, taking up one pleading of the gospel after an-
other and pressing it close to the weariness and misery and emptiness

Vtsi'i to America. 145

and hunger of human hearts — men of the most various speech, nation-
ality, culture, and gift, yet all, as at a Pentecost, pointing to the same
Lamb of God, and declaring the -wonderful work of His redemption.

" On the next Lord's day these scenes were repeated on a larger
scale. Additional public halls were taken, and churches were pressed
into the service, but even this accommodation was insufiScient. Eager
crowds beset each building before the doors were opened, and poured
in until every inch of ground was occupied, and yet it was computed
that almost as many were disappointed as had been fortunate enough
to secure admission. The addresses were of the same character as
before, touched then, indeed, with the brightness of welcome, and
now with the sadness of parting — a sadness that lent them a pathetic
solemnity. There was no more attraction than then ; and it was
now everywhere known that nothing was to be expected but plain,
brief, simple preaching of Jesus. By this time the novelty had worn
oflF, and most of those who cared had seen the strange faces, while
the very brefvity and simplicity of the services forbade any expecta-
tion of oratory, or even much freshness in the statement of old truth.
But there is no magnet to attract men like ' the old, old story,' and
the Churches that are content, humbly and in faith, to hold up Jesus
will find the truth of His divine Word : ' /, if I he lifted up, will
draw all men unto Me.' It was, perhaps, the most impressive lesson
of the Conference, the one of which men have thought the most since.
And these meetings were not the only illustration it received.

' ' It happened that the two Lord's days on which the Conference
fell were those usual for the communion of the Lord's Supper in some
of the prominent Presbyterian congregations, and when ministers of
the various Churches were invited to take part in these several com-
munions, they gave a hearty consent. The form was the simple one
of Presbyterian use. Episcopalian, Baptist, Wesleyan, Moravian,
Congregational, Conformist and Nonconformist, Germany and France,
England and America, white and black, took part after this ancient
ritual. And as the bishop and the Scottish minister, the subject of
Emperor William and the citizen of republican France, drank of the
same cup and broke the bread together, there was a thrill of union
so touching that no one might wonder when those who shared in it
said they had not expected to be so near heaven on this side of the
grave. The Dean of Canterbury and his brother deputies, and Bishop
Cummins and others of the Episcopal Church in America, were carry-
ing Christian union a, great stride forward when they dispensed the
sacrament under the presidency of a Presbyterian minister and within
the walls of a Presbyterian church.

10

146 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

" Though the Conference formally closed its sessions in New York,
it was compelled, by the pressure of American hospitality, to prolong
its existence and make a stately progress to Washington. The rail-
way companies furnished trains of palace-cars, and the cities over-
flowed with practical courtesies. The first haltmg-place was Prince-
ton, flooded with sunshine and buried in its beautiful trees, that
were now all crimson and gold, and looking, in the pleasant autumn
weather, the ideal of a studious retreat. The long procession wound
up from the cars between rows of students, who discharged, as it
passed, volleys of the famous Princeton ' tiger ' with a gravity that
was irresistibly comic ; and under the guidance of President M'Cosh,
who within a few years has received for his college over £220,000,
the little university town was thoroughly explored, almost every
step of the way revealing some new building among the many that
have risen up, like palaces of fairyland, since his accession — among
the rest, a library, hall of science, and gymnasium that would not be
unworthy of any European academy. After a few hours the train
was again reached, and the Alliance left for Philadelphia, Princeton
lying midway between it and New York. A reception was accorded
here in the historic hall from which had issued the Declaration of
Independence ; but the real reception was in the huge halls and
churches, crowded by thousands who came to listen to such simple
and earnest addresses as had been already spoken in New York, and
by merging all denominations in their welcome to act out the happy
appropriateness of their motto, ' The. Chubch of Philadelphia saluteth
you. ' Early the next morning the trains swept the delegates away
to Washington, where they were received at the White House by
the President and his Cabinet. The prayer by the Dean of Canter-
bury before the members were presented, and the speeches called for
afterwards, were novel features to most of those present, and marked
a simplicity and an elasticity of form peculiar to American people.
Their directness, frankness, freedom from routine, and quickness to
seize and act upon a salient thought, so that a single word will gather
to it the simultaneous response of a vast multitude, were nowhere
more noticeable than at Washington. Whether it was the singing of
a hymn under the dome of the Capitol, or when the crowd swarmed
on the steps, and a clear voice cried, ' Jesus shaU reign where'er the
sun,' the hand of the speaker pointing at the same time to the sun
in the cloudless sky overhead, and with a sudden burst the song
leaped out from every lip ; or even when, with inimitable earnest-
ness, ' three cheers ' were given ' for the whole world,' there was the
same absence of conventionality, the same swiftness of infectious im-

Vt'szt to America. 147

pulse. The eager welcome to the Alliance spread as fast and wide
as the telegrams that flashed the news of its meetings, until the
entire country was up with open arms of welcome, and invitations
poured in so incessantly and with ofi'ers of such reckless generosity,
that but for the difiBoulty of time, the delegates might have made
the tour of America, and been the guests of every city and railroad
board of the States. The final leave-taking, however, was to be
among the dignities, and magnificent buildings, and lavish hospitali-
ties of the capital. There were not only the reception by the Presi-
dent, and the dinner by the Governor of Columbia, and the inspection
of the Government offices, where the heads of each department re-
ceived the strangers ; but, as before, the densely packed churches,
the warm, loving, earnest addresses, enthusiasm, a sense of unity
more vivid and more practical and abiding than men had yet felt,
welcomes and farewells."

The 3rd of November saw the joyful return to the dear
home-circle at Orwell Bank, to which Mr. Stevenson had
looked forward so longingly during the months of separation.

America, in its religious and social aspects, had deeply
impressed him, and he spoke of the country and the people
with admiration and love. And he, in his turn, had im-
pressed them, for again and again they tried to wean him
from the mother-country, and to get him to settle among
them ; and though his loyalty to duty made such efforts
fruitless, he never ceased to feel that among his warmest
friends he could count those he had made in the great Western
Republic.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE FOREIGN MISSION.

Tub early life and training of Mr. Stevenson's home fostered
his interest in everything connected with Foreign Missions,
which in later years grew into a supreme conviction of the
importance of the Mission as regarded the Church itself. He
felt that the Church of Christ must be aggressive, and that
if she was to grow in spiritual power, the Mission, in its
widest sense, must be kept in the forefront of her work —
that, in the last words of her Lord on earth, the command
and the promise joined together by Him must never be put
asunder : " Go ye and teach all nations," and " Lo ! I am
with you alway." When he became the pastor of a congrega-
tion he spared no effort to fire his people with the same
enthusiasm. He believed that at the bottom of much of the
half-heartedness and lukewarmness of Christian people lay a
want of reality in their conception of the state of the heathen
world. And so in the preparation for his monthly mission-
ary meeting he took infinite pains to make his information
interesting, throwing into it all the picturesqueness of de-
scription of which he was master, and .by side-lights drawn
from all sources — the newspapers of the day or the latest
book of travels — making his audience realize intelligently
the need and the remedy. By lectures, missionary sermons,
letters, and special appeals, he kept this subject before his
congregation. His home had a warm welcome for the mis-
sionary, and he never was happier than when he could bring

The Foreign Mission. 149

some labourer fresh from the field to tell his people what he
had seen, and how God was fulfilling His word.

He made himself thoroughly acquainted with the details
of the history and development of the mission-work in which
the Irish Presbyterian Church was engaged, and ere long he
was recognized by a wide circle outside his own Church as
an authority on all missionary subjects.

The conduct of the entire mission- work of the Presbyterian
Church of Ireland at home and abroad is intrusted to a Board
or committee appointed by the General Assembly. Each
separate mission is represented by its " convener," who is
virtually the director of the mission, and the medium of
communication between the missionaries and the board, and
between the board and the Church, holding the post (which
is honorary) by appointment of the Assembly. Such a posi-
tion demands from its occupant gifts of organization and
administration of no common order. It requires tact and
judgment, firmness and discrimination, patience and sym-
pathy. For thirty-one years the venerable Dr. Morgan
held this office, and his administration of it commanded the
esteem and gratitude of the whole Church. In 1871 he felt
that advancing years and the growing responsibilities of the
work were making it impossible for him to continue longer
in a post that demanded all the vigour and energy of the
strongest man, and when the Assembly met in Dublin in
June, he asked to be allowed to retire. The Church refused
to dissociate his name from the mission with which it had
been so long identified, but proposed to relieve him of the
burden of work by appointing a coadjutor. When asked if
there was any one to whom his mind had been turned as
suitable for this post, Dr. Morgan replied that there was one
man whom he considered pre-eminently qualified, and that
for years it had been his prayer that Mr. Stevenson might
be chosen as his successor. No sooner was the name of Mr.
Stevenson mentioned than the Assembly assented to the

ISO Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

proposal by an outburst of acclamation. A friend who was
sitting near him at the time, turning to congratulate him on
the honour so spontaneously and enthusiastically conferred,
was struck by the solemnity of his countenance and the
words of deprecation and misgiving which followed. Never
was a charge less lightly assumed. Had it not been for the
pressure exercised by those whose pleading it was difficult
for him to resist, it is probable that he would have given a
courteous but firm refusal ; but after earnest prayer and due
deliberation, he felt that he could not disobey the call of the
Church so heartily given. In it he heard the voice of the
Master bidding him go forth to new labour and a fresh
sacrifice of self, and he loyally acquiesced, bringing to his
work all the enthusiasm which such a conviction inspired.

The following is an account of the beginning of the Mission
to India in Dr. Stevenson's own words : —

"It is a little more thaji half a ceutiiry — it was in September 1S33
— since the Synod of XJlater held a special meeting 'in the Soots'
Church, Mary's Abbey, Dublin.' The object was to consider the
moat efficient means of promoting a missionary spirit. Four sermons
were preached, the Report of the Synod's Mission was read, speech
followed speech upon the great question, and the Rev. Duncan
Maofarland and the Rev. Norman Maoleod were present to bring the
blessing of the Church of Scotland. The meeting stood out with a
happy prominence. In 1811 Dr. Hanna had shrunk from proposing
so simple a motion as that the Synod should support the London
Society for promoting the Conversion of the Jews. The very next
year missions were denounced in the Synod as absurd and impious,
and a hearing could scarcely be obtained for Dr. Waugh to plead for
the London Missionary Society. Those who now took part spoke of
the Church as 'experiencing some degree of revival,' and as 'im-
pressed with the grandeur of the missionary cause. ' No one, it was
said, could have dared to predict such a meeting in the capital. The
venerable Dr. Horner declared that 'his delight , almost stifled his
powers of utterance ; ' and the interest was sufficiently great to induce
the separate publication of the proceedings, in the hope that the profits
of the sale would be of advantage to the cause. It was resolved that,
' though the attempt may be difficult, it is within the power of the

The Foreign Mission. 151

Church to extend her missionary operations to other lands ; ' and the
Presbytery of Dublin was ' instructed to prepare a plan for the for-
mation of a Foreign Missionary Society. '

' ' The resolution was a. great advance, but for some years it was
the point at which advance was stayed ; and it was not till 1839 that
the directors of the Home Mission were instructed to take steps to
have this work carried out. Letters were written to twenty of our
ministers, who were thought qualified for the work, and when six
had placed themselves without reserve at the service of the Board,
two were finally chosen, the Rev. James Glasgow and the Rev.
Alexander Kerr.

' ' The principle that underlay this method of selection is important,
and it waus emphasized at the time. ' We have proceeded,' it was
said, ' on the principle that all the ministers of the Church are the
servants of the body, and are bound to labour wherever the Church
may think proper to send them.' It was the assertion of the true
theory of missions, in which there is no room for rivalry between
Home and Foreign fields, and which regards all the work as one, the
various expression of the same response to the love and authority of
Christ, and the various fulfilment of the one divine plan which is
represented by the idea of the Church.

"It was on the 10th of July 1840, that two processions, issuing
from two of the churches of Belfast and mingling their ranks as they
met, defiled through crowds of spectators up to the Presbyterian
Church in Rosemary Street. They were the Secession Synod and the
Synod of Ulster, each headed by its Moderator ; and on that summer
day, under the venerable presidency of the Rev. Dr. Hanna, they
consummated their union into the General Assembly of the Presby-
terian Church of Ireland. It was only fitting that an occasion of such
high and solemn service should become the beginning of the Foreign
Mission that we find to-day, and that the first public act of the new
Assembly should be the dedication of its first missionaries to India.
Those who were present still recall the enthusiasm with which the
Mission thrilled that meeting. The ministers subscribed £500 upon
the spot ; the people of Belfast soon added £600 ; ' our Secession
brethren had a little stock of near £200, which they cast into the
common treasury ; ' an appeal made to all the congregations in the
November of the same year was met by £1,700'; and the support of
the enterprise became a matter of certainty.

"No time was lost. The Assembly met in July, and on the 29th
of August the missionaries sailed from Belfast. They went out on a
wave of prayer. Those who wished to commend them to God crowded

152 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

one of the largest churches of the town ; and half an hour before they
left the quays, the cabin of the steamer was turned into a. prayer-
meeting, where Dr. Cooke's fervour so moved men who usually
resented the signs of emotion that the tears ran down their cheeks.

" The work of our Church began upon historic ground. Bombay
had been occupied by Scottish missionaries since 1827, and Dr. John
Wilson (already rising to his place of the foremost European in
Western India) had cherished the hope that some Church would
commence a Mission towards the north, and was on the point of
urging it upon the Synod of Ulster, when he received a letter from
Dr. Morgan askmg his consent to the new enterprise. It was easy
to forecast his answer, and before our missionaries sailed, they were
aware that their destination was the Gnjarati-speaking district of
Kattiawar.

"Gujarat lies north-west of Bombay, and is separated only by
Scinde from the famous and mighty Indus. It is a fertile and well-
watered region, directly south of the tropic of Cancer, ' one of the
richest and most populous districts of Hindostan,' covered with
groves of mango, guava, cocoa-nut, and plantain, and, besides growing
cotton for the English market, yielding rice and other sustenance for
about five millions of people. The Tapti and the Nerbudda, the
Sabarmathi and the Mahi, pour their waters across a level plain that
varies from thirty to sixty mUes in width, and the breezes from the
Gulf of Cambay temper to some extent the excessive heat.

" The towns of Gujarat were once far better known than the capitals
of modem India. Surat and Ahmedabad, Gogo, Broach, and Baroda
were places of note when Bombay was so insignificEuit that the map-
drawers spelt it with a small ' b.' Broach was a famous seaport when
Christ was bom, and Broach cloth has been prized in the market
since the second century. Two hundred years ago Surat was ' the
prime mart of India, all nations of the world trading there ; ' its
brocades and coloured cottons were famous over Asia ; two of its
merchants were once said to be the richest men then living, and its
population rose to nearly half a million.

" It was not to Gujarat itself, however, although to a people speak-
ing the Gujarati tongue, that the first missionaries directed their steps.
As it reaches the west, this district runs into the broad hanmier-
headed peninsula of Kattiawar, less wooded, but also fertile and
populous, and broken up into a multitude of native and independent
states. There were a million and a halt of people in it, and towards
this point the Irish Church directed its slender Christian army ; and
others looked on with the more interest because 'up to this time

TJie Foreign Mission. 153

there had been no instance of a Christian mission in a native state,'
and the new venture was to solve a new problem of religions liberty.
Dr. Wilson eagerly used his influence with the chiefs, the people,
and the Government, and he was able to enclose to the Assembly a
permission from the Governor's CouncU ' for these gentlemen to pro-
ceed to and reside in Kattiawar, so long as they conduct themselves
according to the principles set forth in your communication.'

"The stations chosen were Rajkot, a military settlement, almost
in the centre ; Poorbundur, on the west coast ; and Gogo, a, port on
the shore of the Gulf of Cambay, nearly opposite the mouth of the
Xerbudda, and a ' nursery of seamen. ' Since the sixth century the
Mohammedan element has been dominant at Poorbundur ; the com-
mon Hindu faith prevails at Rajkot and Gogo ; and the Jains have
their points of pilgrimage at Joonaghur and on the curious mountain
that towers above Palitana, and where, from every part of the broken
and precipitous summit, there spring the walls and pinnacles of some
fantastic temple. It was into this unknown territory that Mr. Glas-
gow and Mr. Kerr ventured with implicit faith ; and Dr. Wilson
wrote, with characteristic kindness and eagerness, 'I propose to
accompany your dear brethren to Kattiawar, and to give them such
advice and assistance in the formation of their plans as the experience
of twelve years may warrant me to offer. ' "

The early work of the Mission was similar to that of all
snch enterprises at their beginning. At the close of the first
ten years a large portion of the Scriptures had been trans-
lated, sixteen vernacular schools established, twenty-one con-
verts baptized, and although Poorbundur, where the first
baptism took place, had been abandoned, the large and
influential town of Surat had been occupied. Gradually the
Mission was extended to the magnificent old capital of
Ahmedabad, and to Borsad, which became the chief centre
of its country work, the London Missionary Society having
generously handed over to it, for a nominal money considera-
tion, their valuable buildings there and at Surat, on the
condition that they should carry on the work already begun
in these places. The little Christian settlement at Borsad
increased and threw out colonies into new neighbourhoods,
while the villages all around became more or less pervaded

154 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

by Christian influence. Six agricultural colonies have been
founded, for which the Government granted laud on very
reasonable terms, and in them there is growing up a popu-
lation of robust and independent farmers, who will be the
supporters of the Church of the future.

And so from small beginnings the Mission grew, and year
by year new means of usefulness were devised. The following
summary may give some idea of its extent at the time of
Dr. Stevenson's death : —

Stations T:. 16

Native evangelists 19

, , colporteurs 6

,, Christian school teachers 43

,, non-Christian school teachers 67

Nalive church —

Commimicants 299

Baptized, but not communioants 1,174

Unbaptized adherents 797

Vcmobcvlar schools —

For boys, 21, with 1,309 scholars.
For girls, 15, with 828 scholars.
Orplums — Boys 49, girls 56.

There were thus 2,270 native Christians in Gujarat, 36
vernacular schools with over 3,000 scholars, and 2 high
schools at Surat and Ahmedabad with 900 on the rolls, where
students are instructed up to the standard of matriculation
in the University of Bombay. Over 320 children have been
cared for in the orphanages, the majority of them girls ; and
from the ranks of these many of the mothers of Christian
families and best helpers of the missionary have been derived.
The press at Surat employs from thirty to forty hands,
printing some three million pages annually, which comprise,
besides the Bible, of which the original Gujarati version of
the New Testament has been revised, a large number of
religious tracts and books. By the report of 1886-7 the
income from all sources, includincr the women's association,

The Foreign Mission. 155

amounted to £12,728. Twenty-four missionaries had been
sent out since the foundation of the Mission, of whom ten
were still at work, nine having died and five retired.

Where the Lord's Supper was celebrated by five or six
in an upper room some five-and-twenty years ago, it is cele-
brated now by hundreds in separate churches. Congrega^
tions have sprung up in the country districts, not strong in
themselves, yet large enough to require separate places of
worship, of which eleven have already been built. Their
members are for the most part poor and scattered, but they
have already begun to face the problem of a self-supported
native miaistry.*

But, in addition to the work in India, there was also the
burden of the more recently established Mission of the Irish
Church to China. Dr. Stevenson realized, as few men did
twenty years ago, the unlimited possibilities that would lie
before a Christian China, and the corresponding importance
of mission-work in that country. Of its origin he wrote in
1855 :—

" Our mission to China has been sustained for over fifteen years.
William Bums and Carstairs Douglas urged the occupation of Man-
churia on the Irish Chiu-ch ; the prayer was granted, and the Church
sent out two missionaries, one of whom was a medical man. Some
years after, the missionaries of the United Presbyterian Church came
to the same region. It was at the port of Newchwang that Bums
closed his brilliant career, the most northerly of those open trading
towns, and certainly the most depressing. A collection of mud
houses spreads along the river, large enough to house fifty or sixty
thousand of a population. The shores are flat and oozy ; the nearest
hills are two days' journey ; the outer world is shut off by ice during
half the year. A migratory character is stamped upon the people ;
for, in some aspects of it, Manchuria is to the rest of China like
Australia to Great Britain, a field for emigi-ation. Yet there is a
vast region to which the port is the key, and there are cities in the
interior with 70,000 and 80,000 inhabitants, and one at least with a

* In February 1888 the first two native pastors were ordained over practically
self-supporting congregations.

156 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

population of about 250,000. The land is moderately fertile, the
scenery often beautiful, and the people are fairly well to do. Long
journeys have been made over it, sometimes by the seller of Bibles,
sometimes by the missionary. Dr. Hunter of the Irish Mission was
up as far as the Amoor, has shaken hands with Bussian soldiers, and
found the books of the Greek Church in the houses. He wrote that
he had carried one end of the gospel chain until he put it into the
hands of those who met him from the other side, and thus put a
blessed girdle round the globe. The response to the gospel has not
been great, and the apparent lack has tried the faith of the Church.
But there is a huge territory to evangelize, and although we have
had but five missionaries, only three of whom remain, it seems as it
a reaping-time had come. "

In the face of discouragement and difficulty, of disappoint-
ment and almost despair, occasioned by failing health and
by death, the Mission held on its way. The dawn was just
breaking when Dr. Stevenson went to his rest. That dawn
is now brightening into day ; and although he has not lived
to see its brightness, yet his name will be associated with
the rise and early progress of the Mission to Manchuria.
The missionaries there yielded nothing to those in India in
their love to him when living, and their mourning for his
early removal.

It was to this great work that, for fifteen years, Mr.
Stevenson consecrated all his powers with unflagging energy,
and an ever-increasing desire for the spread of the kingdom
of Christ in the dark places of the earth. What incessant
labour that work involved when added to his previously
busy life ; what thought, and care, and anxiety it brought,
only those within the home-circle fully knew. But they
also knew how willingly and unreservedly the sacrifice was
made — rather how the sense of sacrifice was lost in the joy it
brought him to be able to help on the work so dear to the
heart of his Lord.

At the close of the meeting of Assembly Dr. Morgan
wrote to the missionaries in 1871 : —

The Foreign Mission. 157

"You will be desirous to know what arrangements were adopted
at the Assembly in reference to my proposal to resign the office of
Convener to the Foreign Mission. I did as I intended, and asked
the Assembly to accept my resignation. The greatest kindness and
deepest interest were shown toward the Mission and its interests, as

well as to myself personally I was requested to accept a coUeagiie

and continue to appear with him as representative of the Mission.
To this I was willing to consent, if I was satisfied with the fellow-
labourer they would give me. I had made reference to Mr. Steven-
son of Rathgar as a brother into whose hands I could gladly transfer
the work. He was offered to me, and I may say this was all I
wanted. I agreed to the offer, and all was spttled harmoniously and
pleasantly. He accepted the appointment as the resolution was con-
veyed to him, and all, I trust, is now arranged in a way that promises
well for the Mission. I do not know any minister so well acquainted
with the subject of Missions as Mr. Stevenson. I believe he is pre-
paring a volume as a History of Missions, so that the work is most
congenial to him. Professor Wallace proposed his election and Dr.

Smyth seconded, and it was carried unanimously and heartily I

have thus reason to be thankful that I stand to the Mission in the
same relation as I do to my congregation, having a colleague in whom
I can confide, and in whose hands I am satisfied all will be well when
it pleases God to separate me from both."

An extract from Mr. Stevenson's first letter to the mis-
sionaries in thefield reveals the spirit in which he approached
the work : —

"You have already heard from Dr. Morgan of the decision to
which our Church has come at his request, and that the General
Assembly, at its last meeting, agreed to relieve him of some of the
burden and responsibility of his work by appointing me to assist him
in whatever way he should deem needful. To this proposal I could
offer no objection but one. It is a happiness and privilege to assist
the father of our Mission in any way, and to be associated with the
Foreign Mission is not only the highest honour the Church could
bestow, but it is work round which all my sympathies and longings
gather at once ; and I wish to throw myself upon your sympathy
and to ask of you your constant prayer that such grace and wisdom
and energy may be given me as the Lord can abimdantly bestow.
With some of you I may claim a, personal acquaintance and fellow-

158 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

ship, and for you all I have learnt a profound regard, and cannot feel
as if I was writing in any way to strangers. May our God strengthen
and sanctify our intercourse ! Some of you are my fathers in age
and experience : remember me as Paul remembers Timothy. You
will be as glad as I am relieved to know that Br. Morgan continues
to occupy his post and hold relation to the Mission ; that I am simply
his helper ; that we reap all the benefit of his tried wisdom and per-
sonal interest ; and our prayers will unite that he may be long spared
such health as to make the help rendered chiefly nominal and in
matters of detail. Of the Mission, or of the relation of the Chm'oh
to it, I do not trust myself to speak in this letter. We need a mighty
kindling of the missionary spirit, and God will surely send it. May
He greatly bless you in your daily work, and in every place may your
faith to God-ward be spread abroad ! "

Two years after the appointment of his successor the
venerable Convener, after many months of weakness and
suffering, was called home, and the sole conduct of the
mission devolved upon Mr. Stevenson.

" JVosemSer IS, 1S7S.
" My deak Brethren, — Since my last letter, Mr. Wallace's death
has been rapidly followed by that of the father and founder of our
Mission. The tidings did not reach me for many weeks, and tUl I
was on my way back from the far West. A day or two before I
sailed I was with him to say good-bye, and, though in pain, he was
as full of the Mission as ever. We both looked forward to meeting
again before he joined the saints in glory, but it was to be otherwise.
He had been spared to hear and rejoice in the blessed tidings from
Borsad, and happy thoughts of the victory of Christ's kingdom must
have been with him in his death. Dearly beloved brethren, left as
we are without his counsel and sympathy and continual prayer, let
us be cast more and more upon God. Pray much for me, unfit and
unworthy to bear the burden which he bore. Pray much for our
Church, that to her may be given the spirit of grace and of supplica-
tion for you and for the bringing of the heathen unto Christ. Pray
for the breath of a divine spring that will break through the crust
of our indifiference and unwillingness at home. Let us pray for our
own spiritual life, that it may be heightened and purified, and made
richer in self-sacrifice and all real power to the glory of Jesus. —
Yours affectionately in the Lord,

W. Fleming Stevenson."

The Foreign Mission. 159

With the exception of a single annual meeting in Dublin
and in Derry respectively, the ordinary bi-monthly and all
special meetings of the Board of Missions were held in
Belfast. Nothing but illness prevented Mr. Stevenson's
attendance, or induced him to relegate his business there to
another. Even when in Cornwall for much-needed rest, he
insisted on taking the long and weary journey thence to
Derry and back, involving four days' continuous travel by
land and sea. The business he had to bring before the
Board was arranged beforehand with the most scrupulous
exactness, that no time might be lost. Seldom was any paper
or letter required which he could not instantly produce. To
gain the unanimous assent of so large a body of men to any
proposal required no little tact and judgment in the presenta-
tion of his case; and to those who, on the one hand, knfew the
intensity of his anxiety on various points that he believed to
be vitally important to the welfare of the work, and, on the
other, saw the unruffled patience with which he bore delay
or disappointment, it will be no surprise to learn that often
much of the preceding night was spent wrestling in prayer
for the presence of the Holy Spirit at the next day's meeting,
and that " his own impatience might be curbed " and seeming
mistakes over-ruled for the good of his beloved Mission.

On assuming the sole responsibility of the Convenership,
the stirring up of the Church at home appeared to him to
be his first and most imperative duty, and he wrote to the
missionaries : —

"It rests much with us to cry in earnest prayer, 'Thy kingdom
come ! ' Would that the Lord would fill our people with this holy, in-
tense desire, that they might give Him no rest day or night, and tha t
we might be bold to ask for signs and wonders to be done in the name
of Jesus ! It is so easy for us to get satisfied with a little, with the
regular average progress. We want the faith to go forward and
conquer, the restless faith that hurries us into the future for greater
things, and laughs at impossibilities: we want this, as well as the
patience of the husbandman that waiteth for the precious fruit. Maj-

i6o Life of Williain Fleming Stevenson.

God give it to His Church and servants everywhere, a faith that
groweth exceedingly, a zeal that will bum like fire ! The immediate
future of India is a pressing problem. The Mission is only one of
many forces at present operating to loosen the attachment of the
people to their faiths ; and with the advance of European culture and
the development of commerce and the spread of the knowledge of
English, this process of detachment from ancient beliefs is sure to
be accelerated. But the Mission is the only force that can create
a future for the people, and preserve the country in the time of
danger. Statesmen can see this. May the Church not be blind to
it!"

He was always eager to get missionaries from other
Churclies to stimulate his own by accounts of what God had
wrought through them, and he felt specially grateful to the
Presbyterian Church of England, who, in 1874, gave him for
six weeks the valuable services of the Rev. W. S. Swanston,
one of their foremost missionaries from China. Together
they visited numbers of the churches, not only in the towns
but in the country districts, where the interest awakened
was so great that Mr. Stevenson looked back with the
liveliest gratitude to his friend's rousing addresses ; and one
of his last efforts on behalf of the Mission was the endeavour
to arrange for a repetition of Mr. Swanston's visit in the
winter of 1886-7.

In May 1874 there were good tidings to send to the field.

"Three candidates for India will be proposed at the Board on
Monday— the Rev. Mr. Hewitt of Whitehouse, Mr. W. Wallace
Brown, and Mr. John ShUlidy. They are all oJFering themselves
with their whole heart, and are sacriiiciug the certainty of high
distinction and rapid advancement at home. Mr. Hewitt is a tried
young minister, who will move the adoption of the Foreign Mission
Report at the Assembly. Mr. Brown and Mr. ShUlidy are two of the
most distinguished students in our Church, and their resolution has
caused no small stir. There is little doubt but that one or two of the
same stamp could be sent each year for the next two or three, and
thus not merely the Mission sustained but enlarged. Meanwhile,
we should be glad to hear from you of new stations, it you think it
desirable that any should be opened."

The Foreign Mission. i6i

Two years later came the shadow of a great sorrow.

' ' The illness of our beloved brother, Mr. Hewitt, is a heavy trial
that has been making our hearts sore. An extract from a letter that
reached me this morning gives a more alarming account of the fever
than I had been at all prepared for. The Lord restore him ! is our
constant prayer. When, just on the eve of the Assembly, I had a
bright, happy letter from him, there was no anticipation that almost
the next news would be that he was brought so low. My heart
aches all day from the news of this morning. A darkness seems to
gather over the summer, and I write more by way of relief than for
anything I can say

' ' Your letter lies like a dead weight upon me that I cannot shake off.
Until to-day I had had great hope that the fever, if not conquered,
was on the way to be conquered ; and still I cling to hope, but with
the impression that hope has been long over even while I write.
There is the widest and keenest anxiety everywhere. So much was
built upon Mr. Hewitt, so much was known of the proof he had
made of his ministry at home, and so much affection was entertained
for him, that this tragic illness has excited universal sympathy
throughout our Church. Here we wrestle in prayer, but at this

distance we wrestle in the dark, and we ask for faith and Ught

We rejoice to think of the wonderful care our brother has experienced.
Such tender, brotherly consideration as Mr. Conder's, and such un-
wearied and loving attendance as Dr. Macdonald's, cannot be
measured by our gratitude. "

" It was difficult, when I wrote a fortnight ago, to surrender the
hope that our brother, Mr. Hewitt, would be spared; it was also
difficult to resist the impi'ession that made way against all hope.
The letters received have put all uncertainty to rest, and you and
we at home are alike bearing the burden of a personal sorrow and a
heavy trial to the Mission. The letters were read by the Directors
with the most painful interest and the deepest sympathy. The good-
ness of God has been wonderful, and another illustration of how
precious in His sight is the death of His saints. It was touching
and it was a comfort to read of the kindness of every one, and to
realize the genuine brotherhood of the missipnaries of every Church,
from several of whom we have had letters. The burden of all is the
same — a lament for the early loss of promise so great. When Mr.
Hewitt resolved to go to India, it was only after long and deliberate
reflection, and much questioning of himself, much weighing of cir-

11

l62 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

cumstances, and much argument with friends. But when he had
decided, there was no after hesitation, and his heart went straight
out into his work ; and what his work was you know. His letters
about it reflected his character. The last I had was written just
before going to Bombay, from that tent at ELhadarna, where, speak-
ing of the heat, he said he was passing through a baptism of fire.
It is we, the Mission and the Church, that are passing through that
baptism now, to be tried, we shall pray, as silver is tried. When he
was sixteen he made a covenant with God that he would do His will,
follow His call, and be entirely in His hand. It was in that spirit
he met the summons from India. The sorrow has produced a deep
and widespread impression ; it has been felt as a very solemn mes-
sage The Board has authorized the sending of more missionaries

as soon as they can be found. Pray for us that the best men may be
moved to go."

Far and wide over the Church his influence was felt. By
lectures and sermons, by public circulars and private letters
to individuals, by securing the generous help of friends in
scattering broadcast Mission literature and giving large sums
for special objects, by direct and pointed appeals, and by
urgent and passionate pleadings — by all the force of all
the faculties God had given him, he sought to rouse the
congregations to a sense of the glorious possibilities before
them in the conversion of a people to whom, in the provi-
dence of God, theirs was the only mission throughout the
length and breadth of a district equal in area to their own
Ireland.

" July 10, 1S76.

"I am hoping during this simimer and autumn to reach some
districts where the work of the Mission has been halting, and to stir
up the churches, and will try to use in this way the usual rest I take
in summer. Trade is still so bad that it has seemed hopeless to
laimch the Medical Mission circulars; but I am only waiting the
opportunity. I have hopes that our Sabbath schools alone may raise
£1,000 this year for the Mission in India and China; and when these
children grow to be men, the Foreign Mission will meet a proportion-
ate response.

"I am staying at Finaghy, near Belfast, and trying to overtake
work in a quieter place than Dublin. Next Sunday I hope to address

The Foreign Mission. 163

two congregations for the Mission, and the Sunday following I hope
to be in the neighbourhood of Coleraine. Little by Uttle, as the
Jews drove out the Canaanites, I hope God will spare me to do
something to drive out the narrow spirit that shuts its love against
the Mission."

The following graphic picture is taken from the bio-
graphical preface to the late edition of " Praying and
Working " : —

"He was an intense believer in the reflex benefits conferred at
home by the cultivation of the missionary spirit. Consequently his
appeals on behalf of the heathen were unceasing. His yearly state-
ments preliminary to the annual collection were marvels of industry,
presenting in striking and compact form information and statistics,
both as to his own Mission and as to those of the leading Churches of
Christendom. Illustrations, maps, diagrams, were freely used ; the
local religious press was enlisted on his side ; his brethren in the
ministry were earnestly urged to plead the cause, and a wealth of
missionary literature was placed at their disposal. But not alone at
collection-time was he thus energetic ; his enthusiasm burned all
through the year. He was constantly preaching and lecturing on his
all-absorbing theme. To-day he is found in some provincial town
forming an auxiliary for the Zenana Mission ; to-morrow he turns up
at a sewing-party to communicate the latest intelligence ; next day
he spends the forenoon among the students in Belfast or Derry,
pressing the claims of the heathen, and at night he is delivering
stirring appeals to a crowded gathering of the young men of the city.
No foreign missionary ordination took place without his being present
to deliver the charge ; no missionary band left our shores without his
assembling them to address to them, amidst the anxieties of parting,
brave and cheery words of farewell. He seemed to work for the
Mission as if he had no other work to do. And ere the banner fell
from his hands he thought he saw marshalled under it a company
and an enthusiasm greater than at any period of the history of the

The difficulty of getting suitable men was at times a heavy
burden ; but nothing tempted him to lower, by the smallest
degree, the high standard of qualifications he deemed essen-

164 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

tial. " Better starve the Mission by want of men," lie often
said, "than send out any but the best."

" Jun-. 25, 1879.
"I have been trying to secure suitable missionaries all spring, but
as yet without success. The men sxiitable decline to go ; and unless
men are suitable, increase of numbers is no strength. "

" Dtceniber 11, 1S79.

" The Day of Intercession for Foreign Missions was observed by
all the Presbyterian Churches of the kingdom, and, as far as I can
learn, very generally observed in Ireland, and many sermons were
preached on that day on our duty to the heathen. Meanwhile there
are no new missionaries at present ; but let us be earnest and cease-
less in prayer that God will raise them up by next autumn. It is
melancholy to find such a continual repulse and timidity.

' ' The Lord has been trying us lately ; and I feel it has been good
for me to be driven back to the very foundations of the Kingdom, to
the Rock on which it is built. The necessity of privacy in some of
these trials, the consequent sense of isolation and want of sympathy,
have all driven me back to Christ, and enabled me to realize more
powerfully that He is able to stay and comfort His servants and to
maintain His work, and that the work itself rises above all the tempor-
ary embarrassments and moments of failure in its history ; and I do
not doubt that, e^ far as it has been needed, the same blessed assurance
has been quickened, dear brethren, in you. "

" Xarcli If, 1880.
' ' Our students in Belfast asked me to meet them on Friday last,
when about forty came, and for two hours we had a constant fire of
questions and answers about Missions, specially our own ; so that I
was very reluctant to break off the conference. There are some ex-
cellent men among them bent on the Mission, but unfortunately none
in the last year. "

The following letter to a young minister who had some
thoughts of the foreign field is very characteristio. The
need of men, and men of the right stamp, pressed on him
continuously, and he lost no opportunity of pleading with
those who seemed to him to possess the spirit and the
necessary qualifications.

The Foreign Mission. 165

" Augiist lit, 1S!9.

" My dear Sib, — When I wrote last, it was only to ask the favour
of your preaching in my pulpit. There is another pulpit that I am
anxious to bring under your notice now. I do not know if the ser-
vice that can be done for Christ in the East has already crossed your
mind with anything like a personal application, but it is of that I
wish to speak. We have vacancies at home ; and I catch myself
always looking beyond them to the wide gaps rather than vacancies
in India, gaps which remain year after year. Our Church has a
noble Mission to Western India — a Mission that will be well dis-
charged in proportion as our best and most vigorous men respond to
it with warmth and self-sacrifice. Our field of work has many ad-
vantages, and not the least the variety of method by which the mis-
sionaries endeavour to approach the people. We have room there for
almost every gift of the Church, and the powers and grace that a man
has received are drawn there into a more quick and many-sided, and,
1 do not hesitate to add, a happier activity than in any but the rarest
places at home. Our Mission in India has in it, moreover, something
of a national as well as a Christian summons, and the vast population
there is so bound up with us to whom its welfare is committed, that
it seems as if the cry from India were irresistible. Home work is
sure to be done ; but men postpone the work yonder, apparently,
until there is no more to do here. All the while God is opening up
so many opportimities, that it is like treason to Him if we let them
pass ; and thus this Mission work, which is the crown of Christian
service, gathers to it a great intensity at present. I need not pursue
that line of thought, but come at once to what I beg of you to con-
sider as fully and as fairly as you can. Would you allow me to sug-
gest your name as a missionary to India ? I mention India because
we are sorely crippled there for want of workers. But there is China
as well. I am simply putting it for your consideration ; not ignormg
nor making little of what it may seem to involve, sacrifices and sepa-
rations that it may demand. Work for Christ is worthy of these.
And I question if there is much nobler or more inspiriting work than
out in India and beside our brethren who are building up the Church
there. Pardon me if I beg you wiU weigh it earnestly in the light of
God, and if you will be so good, write frankly your mind on the
matter to yours very truly, W. Fleming Stevenson."

Equally typical of his care for those who had decided to
join the Mission is the following letter to a young missionary

i66 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

on the eve of embarking for India. Though of a. later date,
it may fitly be inserted here.

\To the Rev. Robert Boyd. ]

" Okwell Bank, November lly 1880.

' ' You have enjoyed, I hope, your days in London ; and now the
work that lies out in India will be bulking before you. The voyage
will give you a quiet time to think over it and pray for strength and
guidance, and for entire surrender to it. Whole-hearted makes
strong-hearted. You will be met, of course, on arrival at Bombay,
and I dare say you will spend a day or two there and make your
first acquaintance with India. Keep a, record of expenses, extra
charges, etc., and send me the memorandum when you are settled
down. Write at least three times a year ; oftener if you can. Don't
think of laboured epistles, but tell about what you see. Incident,
quiet talk, what runs off the pen, these are what I want. Don't
think there must be a given length. What I suggested before I
repeat, that if you jotted down anything that struck you, or any
piece of pleasant news, and just put the loose leaves of jottings together
into an envelope, you wUl have an excellent letter. You need not
mind writing about what Hinduism is, but tell as much as you like
about the Hindus.

"Pray much. If ever you prayed in your life, pray now. Pray
for consecration to Christ in the work. Pray to be content with
nothing but soul- winning.

"Cultivate and profit by the other missionaries. They are men
you can thoroughly trust. Trust them, and take their advice. The
Mission had its time of trial a few years ago ; you go to strengthen it.
Feel that you are among brethren, and be brotherly. You can won-
derfully help by the power of God ; but keep out all lower motives.

" Be always frank with me ; be frank with the brethren. Be care-
ful in the acquaintances you make outside the Mission. Christian
acquaintances, spiritual men, will help you ; others wUl not. If you
cultivate them, they will draw you down towards themselves.

"Make the preaching of the gospel first. There are indirect
methods, but lay all the stress on the direct. Keep up the fire ; do
not be ashamed to be enthusiastic. It is easy for a man to drop into
routine ; keep out of it. The Lord bless you, and fill you with His
Spirit, and make you His messenger. Ask for converts, for the souls
of men. ' They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the
stars.' Eph. vi. 10."

The Foreign Mission. 167

In 1879 permission was granted to establish Congrega-
tional Associations. Mr. Stevenson had long and anxiously
desired this. It seemed unwise that a work involving such
heavy expenditure should depend chiefly for its support on
a single yearly collection, which might be afiected by the
weather to the extent of hundreds of pounds. There were,
however, many difficulties to be overcome, and he wrote : —
" It will need to be used at first gently and judiciously ;
ultimately it will no doubt work a great improvement in the
annual income." It was a great disappointment to him that
the danger of confusion with the auxiliaries of the newly
started Zenana Mission prevented this scheme being freely
launched, and as yet it has only been very partially
adopted.

The pitiful wail of hopeless, down-trodden, heathen women
sounded in his ears, and the thought of their imprisoned,
colourless lives weighed heavily on his heart. In 1873 he
arranged that two of the deputies from the Free Church
of Scotland, the Rev. Dr. Murray Mitchell and the Rev.
Narayan Sheshadri, should address a meeting of ladies on
the work of Female Missions in the East, and at the close
of the meeting it was resolved to establish a Female Asso-
ciation in connection with the Foreign Mission, with the
aim of taking the gospel to the women of the East. It
was proposed to carry on four forms of work, teaching in
private families and in schools, together with orphanages and
a medical agency ; the funds to be raised by a system of
branch auxiliaries in central places, and local auxiliaries in
connection with these branches. India was to be the first
field occupied, but it was hoped that the blessings of its
ministry would be extended to China, and that ere long the
Female Association would spread its agencies over the area
covered by the Foreign Mission of the Church. The success
of the new undertaking exceeded all expectation ; and Miss
Brown, its first missionary, was sent out in 1874.

1 68 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

[To the Missionaries.^

" June S3, 187S.
' ' On Saturday we had the first annual meeting and report of our
Women's Association. It has not only to show a receipt of £1,227,
but has done very much to stir up interest in the Mission, and, re-
garded from that point of view alone, is of the utmost importance.
We have done nothing in this work (which is promising to become
very popular) without the co-operation and advice of our brethren
from the field at home, who take part with us at all meetings of our
executive committee. They have strongly approved of the medical
department of our work, and urge its extension ; and we should be
very grateful if you would let us know your further thought upon the
subject — your opinion on the multiplying of this form of agency, on
the places that might be occupied, and on house accommodation. It
might not be desirable that a lady visiting constantly among the
sick, and practically a nurse in many illnesses, should reside under
the same roof as a missionary's household. Some of the societies
arrange for the missionaries living two together in a detached
house."

And again : —

"The Female Association, which our missionaries at home are
busily planting in new districts, helps us greatly ; and we find, as is
natural, that what makes the people think and talk of the Mission,
though it be only of one department, strengthens the hold it has on
them."

A sentence may be given here from the closing paragraph
of the first annual report : —

' ' In many — and they are the most accessible — parts of India the
strong desire among all the native educated gentlemen is for the
education of their women. They say it is the hope of India. We
say so in a far profouuder sense than they. 'There is not in the
whole world,' cried Martin Luther, 'a sweeter thing than the heart
of a pious woman.' And we labour that the bitter waters of female
hfe in heathen lands may be touched and transformed by that sweet
and holy potency. There are no more efiectual nurses of the fanati-
cism of the Mussulman and the superstition of the Hindu than the
women of India ; and there will be no more effectual propagators of
Christianity. Ambrose was the son of a Gothic prefect ; Chrysostom

The Foreign Mission. 169

of an imperial general ; Augustine's father was a heathen. It was
by the daily influence, it was in answer to the constant prayers of
Christian mothers, that the early Church gained these bearers of its
standard. We want to win the mothers of India. We are not too
bold ; it is simple faith to expect that India too will have its Chry-
sostom, its Ambrose, its Augustine ; and when the Church of India
recalls her past, there will be none remembered with more gratitude
than those who sought to bring the gospel to the women of the
East."

In 1879 he wrote :— "

"We had a successful meeting, though the day was wildly and
mournfully wet. It is still undecided whether we can recruit our
small female force this year ; but if not, there will be no difficulty in
supplying the want next year, if God spare us all ; and at present
our Christian women have more of a missionary spirit than their
brothers. "

In the last year of his Convenership the income of the
Association had risen to £2,600. Of the eight ladies in the
field, two were medical, one being a fully qualified medical
practitioner. There were fifteen girls' schools, with 828
pupils, and in the two dispensaries, one of which had only
been opened for a few rnonths, over 10,776 cases had been
treated.

After Dr. Stevenson's death one of the zenana missionaries,
who had been highly honoured by God in the success of her
work, wrote : —

" I have lost my best earthly friend. His letter, which I enclose,
was the means of deciding my mother to let me go to India. I hesi-
tated oh account of her feeble health, and wrote Dr. Stevenson to
that effect. I read his reply to her, and when I had finished she
took it in her own hand and repeated slowly and firmly the text he
quoted: 'He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not
worthy of Me,' and added, 'or son or daughter;' then in a few
minutes she looked up and said, ' You must go.' "

The following is an extract from the letter referred to : —

I/O Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

" Illness is not sent or suffered to treak off our -Hrork for Christ,

but to purify and strengthen us in it. The missionary leaves his
wife behind him ; though the minister's wife may be in sore illness,
the minister must, as a shepherd, care for the sheep all the same.
And though the wrench is hard — and I know something of the pain
of it — I would say that, unless there is immediate danger, your way
was plain to return. Work for Jesus will be done the more solemnly
when it is done under the shadow of the illness of those we love ; and
this seems to me just one of the instances where our Lord's words
operate: 'He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not

worthy of Me.' The Lord sustain and guide you now, that He

may be glorified, and that you may walk in light and peace. In all
present and coming sorrow, may you find Him the Grood Shepherd
that oalleth His own sheep by name and loveth them, so that He laid
down His life for the sheep."

But his earnest desire to advance the cause never blinded
his judgment. The following letter to a young girl eager to
enter on Mission work in China shows with what wisdom he
weighed conflicting duties : —

"Jwml9, 1885.

"But that you have some notion how busy I get among perhaps
often little things, but of which not one can be put off, I would feel
myself in deep disgrace not to have acknowledged long since the
pleasure of your letter, and continued the conversation which it
suggests

" Our conduct, as we follow Christ, will always be shaped more or
less by the reconciling of often apparently opposite counsels. We
are to care first for our own ; are to begin at Jerusalem ; are to seek
the fullest work within the relationships immediately round us. We
are, at the same time, to leave father and mother, to deny ourselves,
to wrench ourselves away from home ties, to go into all the world.
Each has to decide how these opposing but yet not really opposed
views may be reconciled in his own circumstances ; and it is here we
need the greatest care, so as to act, not from impulse or craving,
however generous, or under the impression of a need, however vivid,
but from duty and from Christ-like love

"There are certain difficulties being taken out of the way, and I
do not disagree with the interpretation you put upon them, that their
removal is one of those finger-posts that God places for us in His
loving and guiding providence; but it is perhaps premature to agree.

The Foreign Mission. 171

We have to be very careful, in construing these signs, not to let
them wear even a, little the complexion of our own desire ; and self-
denial and taking up the cross may sometimes mean crushing back
for a season our most cherished hopes and expectations, just as much
as giving up a career at home or going into foreign service. There is
always a large and pressing duty for the time, and we have each to
discover what that is "

\To the same.]

" Jwne as, U85.

" I have been disappointed at not being able to continue my letter
before now ; and even yet, of much continuance there is some doubt.
I feel like a top that has been set spinning, and a dozen small boys
gather round it — Congregation, Meeting, Mission, Zenana, Com-
mittee, and such other chappies — and every one gives a scourge to
keep the top going

" But if the Mission is to be the end, God will take His own way
to train you for it, very likely a way of unexpected and unwelcome
disappointment about the how and the when of the matter. Dis-
cipline of that kind may be just as needful as the first strong enthusi-
astic thought of dedication. If I had had time, it would have been
spent writing that I thought you were going too fast in one or two
of the things you mentioned — at a pace that took the wind out of
your old-fashioned friend, who, like 'panting time,' 'toiled after you
in vain.' Looking frankly out on the circumstances, I do not see
that the way is yet clear for you to go, or that the time has come to
make any arrangements about going. Now, you will be vexed with
me for saying that, and were I in your place I would be vexed with
anybody who said it to me. For, God be praised ! the longing to
cany the gospel to the heathen is upon you, and you feel that while
you and they are waiting time steals away with a horrid noiseless
certainty. Now, if that longing is deep and true enough to carry
you helpfully and not simply enthusiastically out to the East, it will
outlast the delays and broken hopes that prevent you from immedi-
ately fulfilling your design. If I could make so violent a supposition
as that circumstances would arise that would hinder you from ever
going, it would still be the brightest and strongest passion of your
life ; and though you never went, your desire, burning brighter as
you drew nearer the source of it, would inspire a crowd of others to
do what you would have done if you could,

" But as I am not making violent suppositions, but contemplating
you in the Mission, you will say, ' What about age ? ' A young age

1/2 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

is thought desirable because we are all more plastic then, both in the
acquiring of a new speech and in the power of submitting to new
conditions of life ; and there are those who profanely say that this
is specially true of women. It is also desirable from its greater
eagerness and enthusiasm ; though I believe, if Adam and Eve had
lived to the same age, Eve would have preserved her enthusieams
when Adam was only a shrunken old bagful of dry bones. They say
it is also desirable because of the greater ease with which it bears
the change of climate. No society observes rules as to age strictly,
and many of those who have gone out in full womanhood, or even m

gray hairs, have served splendidly

"Now, shall I venture to say what I would do, and try to do, in
your place? In such leisure as I had, work up China, if China it
was to be ; marking out my course of reading so as to get from it the
most good. Also, come in contact as much as I could with those
here who need teaching about even the elementary truths of (Jod's
kingdom. That is the work of the missionary ; and the better we
can do it, and the larger the variety of our experience, the better for
the Mission. Further, interest all others in this blessed work of the
Mission. Quietly propagate its enthusiasms. It keeps our own en-
thusiasm warm, and it stirs the Mission sympathy in this inert and
unreflecting mass of the Philistine Christian public. I should get all
the mastery of the Word that I could : that comes first — that sword
of the Spirit which is the Word of God. But I would take no other
preparatory step ; when the time is ready the arrangements will all
fit into their places. My dear child, you must be weary of this end-
less letter, and I have not said a twentieth part. Am I not longing
for the sands of New Quay and the talks ! Till then I break off, like
a story, with ' to be continued. ' "

In the number of the little quarterly paper called WomarCs
Work which appeared immediately after his death, the editor,
now for the first time no longer Dr. Stevenson, writes : —

"Nowhere, perhaps, was he seen to better advantage than in the
Zenana committee-meetings. So wide, so sympathetic, so ready to
take the best and kindliest view of everything, so full of information
on all points of Mission work, we felt that Dr. Stevenson was the
very heau ideal of a missionary Convener. "

And in the same strain the Missionary Herald* says : —

» The organ of the Mission work of the Irish Presbyterian Church.

The Foreign Mission. 173

"The-band of zealous men and women who surrounded him in the
enterprise felt they owed everything to his ceaseless industry, his
unquenchable courage, trust, and enthusiasm. Of Dr. Stevenson and
our Zenana Mission it may be truly said, 'Si mamumentuin queens,
drcumspice.' "

It was Dr. Stevenson's custom to write long monthly
letters to the Mis-sion staff generally, which were passed on
from one missionary to another. But sickness or trial always
drew forth the special letter that, as one of their number
■wrote, "showed a perfect comprehension of our difficulties,
and a brotherly sympathy in our sorrows." Another says,
" He seemed to come close to us then, to write as if he were
one of us; and so, indeed, he was." His thorough master-
ship of details was a striking characteristic ; while the clear
perception he had of the individualities of character, and the
delicacy with which he arranged points of difficulty and
soothed over-sensitive feelings, keeping at the same time a
firm hand on the reins of government, were no less valuable.
A few extracts taken at intervals from the mass of corres-
pondence which has been kindly furnished by the missionaries
are all that the necessities of space will allow us to add to
those already inserted : —

" O WELL Bank, Ajiril 1873.
"Our hearts, and the heart of our Church, have been greatly
cheered by the news of the blessed awakening and ingathering at
Borsad ; and not the less because it is so evidently linked with the
impulse by which the Church was moved to pray for the mission-
field. We have reaped almost as soon as we sowed, and we ask, in
this merciful and gracious rebuke of our little faith, that we may be
quickened to pray much more often and fervently for the blessing to
descend upon your labours. The admirable narrative of the Allaha-
bad Conference which has just come to hand, has also greatly cheered
us, and filled us with fresh and glorious hopes for India, And the
tidings of literary work have been very gratifying. We have also
been noticing indications of a Government policy more favourable to
missions, and that the mission schools and colleges are receiving the
very highest tribute to their eflBcacy and influence. All these signs

174 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

must be as encouraging to you as they are to us. May they draw us
more and more together to the throne of grace, to wrestle there till
the breaking of the day ! Now from China Dr. Hunter writes to us
of the free access that he has, of the chapel filled, of the Bibles sold,
and of journeys he has made to distant markets and fairs. And yet
the Church is unwarrantably slow in sending help. One after an-
other has declined the call, and the general reply is, ' Our sphere is
at home.' There is, no doubt, a want of the true, burning missionary
spirit, of enthusiasm for Christ, of the self -sacrifice and willingness of
hearts wholly consecrated to the Lord. And you must pray with us
for a mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost, that our Church may be
lifted up into higher things, and may experience the drawing power
of Christ lifted up upon the cross. But you will also take into
account that there were never so many good openings into fields of
great usefulness in the Church at home as now, and that there are
few more likely students than will fill the vacant places here. It
may not be that the missionary spirit is less, but I fear it is no
greater. Yet our students are volunteering ; and when God is
pleased to quicken us as a Church, no doubt the flower of our youth
will embark for India and China. There have been but few applica-
tions for the office of lay teacher. StiU, we do not bate one jot of
our faith that in the autumn we shall be sending you the sorely
needed recruits, and meanwhile cheer you with words of faith to
hold on under your double burden. Whatever ebb there may have
seemed to you in the missionary afiection and sympathy of the
Church, the tide is now again in the flood. In many ways the Lord
continues to prosper us. The Sustentation Fund has reached £26,000
this year, so that its equal dividend to the ministers is £20 beyond
the Eegiwm Donum; and yet all other contributions have increased,
although the harvest in the north is unusually bad. Evangelistic
services, of which I wrote you already, are multiplying. One very
interesting series was arranged, by which the ministers of the Dublin
Synod (which met at Galway) evangelized on their several i-outes, and
reached their meeting warm from that work ; and the meetings were
crowded and blessed. And here and there over the north of Ireland
there is the breath of a spiritual spring. Near Randalstown between
eighty and a hundred persons have been converted within the last
few months in one of our congregations ; and the capacious old
church, which is in a district that seemed hard and cold enough, is
crowded with frequent assemblies. The converts have stood a severe
test for some months, and stood it well. They are mostly young,
but the old are also brought in ; and one evening there was the

The Foreign Mission. I'ji,

touching scene, in one of the pews, of an aged -woman stiff and ahnost
rigid in her seat as she thought of her sins, and unable to speak or
stir, while at her side a grandchild was artlessly praying that
' Granny might see Jesus.' This good work sprang from a little knot
of praying people ; and similar knots have lately been tied all over
Ulster, and often in places marked by revival in 1859, but from
which the spirit of prayer had decayed. Then the College in Belfast
has been furnished with a new library at a cost of nearly £2,000 by
Mrs. Gamble, the widow of one of our ministers ; and, besides a
bazaar last month that produced nearly £700, an anonymous friend
ha,s just sent it a donation of £1,000. And large donations are made
to various objects, such as £1,000 to the Sustentation Fund, another
£1,000 to the China Mission, and from one gentleman £1,500, divided
equally between the Orphan Society, Sustentation Fund, and a new
work projected by our indefatigable Moderator (now kindly sen-
tenced to a second year of office) for the education of ministers'
children.

"For myself I have little to say; though it may interest you to
know I have accepted an invitation from the Evangelical Alliance to
read a paper at their Conference in New York in October, and hope
to leave for America in August. But let me close by assuring you all
of the warm interest of the Church in your work, and asking of you
often to remember ua at home, dear brethren, whose hearts are
wounded by carelessness, as yours are by idolatry. ''

" JvM n, 187B.

"Three persons have undertaken to build and furnish each an
entire church for the Dherds at their own cost, so that there ' is now
a church-building fund of over £1,000 at home. A friend in America
has sent me £70 to place seven of our missionaries as life members on
the Society for the Orphans of Ministers and Missionaries, thus secur-
ing a preference for their children. May the Lord give us all to walk
in the light as He is in the light, and may He abundantly bless our
labours, and bear our burdens in the dark time of trial !

"And here let me say how much I feel indebted for the letters
that have lately reached me. It may not be possible to put them
entirely in print ; but even if not, it is putting me in possession of
a far clearer knowledge of Gujarat and of the Mission than I could
otherwise hope to have. Incidents and conversations — anything of
detail — are eagerly read, but I find that people with us, as a rule,
skip general statements. I wo'ild also at all times be grateful for
any intelligence of local interest, local reports that may fall in your

1/6 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

way, papers or paragraphs from the local press. Conveners have a
huge digestion. "

•• AvTil HO, 1876.

" We would gladly have welcomed fuller news from Mr. Taylor of
what must have been his most interesting visit among the Dherd
villages with Mr. Hewitt. It is details and incidents that quicken
the interest of our people ; and I do not mean by that glowing de-
scriptions or coloured narratives, but the simple experiences of such
a missionary journey, with now encouragement and then discourage-
ment. How is the old Patidar ? What led some of these people to
profess being Christians ? Are they still evangelizing of themselves ?
About how many are there altogether of this Dherd people ? "

" December 11, W9.
"This evening I heard from Mr. Rea of the death of Kimchund.
We both here feel this blow keenly. Kimchund had so marked a
personality that he was very often before me as I thought back over
India, and recalled his manly, energetic figure moving about Shaha-
wadi, his quick and eager ways, and heard him (as at Neriad with a
group that he had gathered round him in the veranda) reading the
Bible to them by the light of a dull-burning oil-wick, or preaching in
the bazaar. You will all feel this loss deeply, and together we can
realize that the Lord is able to raise up many more of the same stamp,
and no doubt He is, though unseen by us, raising them up even now."

" October 7, 1880.

"We enjoyed our stay in Cornwall to the end as much as you
enjoy Mahableshwar. Nor were Missions absent. Two of the great
English Societies were represented by deputations while we were
there, the S.P.G. and the C.M.S., and I found a house where
Sherring (who had been in the town for his own Society) was bitterly
lamented.

' ' I was asked to be one of the deputies at the Church Missionary
Meeting, and had the opportunity of telling of the work of other
Missions, and rambled on for, I fear, an unconscionable time. There
was no clock in the room, and when I looked at my watch, which
had been laid on the table, it had disappeared, the chairman having
quietly put it in his pocket, so that I had simply to go on until my
conscience grew mutinous. At an evening service last Sunday, and
at two meetings, they raised about £30 in this quiet country place,
and I noticed that ladies went round every house beforehand leaving
papers about the work of the Society."

The Foreign Mission. lyy

In 1880 the Rev. Robert Montgomery, one of the fathers
of the Indian Mission, and one of the most loved and revered
of all the missionaries, died.

" TrELL Bank, Nmemher h, 1880.
"My dear Brethren, — The heavy tidings I must write to-day
will fall upon you with as little preparation as they came upon myself.
Our beloved father, Mr. Montgomery, has passed from us into the
presence of God and to his everlasting rest. The only news I have
is by telegram, and letters will not come until too late for me to
catch the mail. All we know is that, after a brief illness of only
thirty minutes, he died peacefully last night at twelve o'clock. The
suddenness of this loss has overcome us with awe. On Tuesday I
went down to Belfast to see him. We were meeting with the Pres-
bytery of Kattiawar, for there were five of the members in the room
besides Rama Kalyan; and as I drove up he was walking in with
Rama, and looking more active and bright than when I had last seen
him. We were two hours together, and he struck me as wonder-
fully cheerful and animated. When we parted, it was to meet again
on Saturday, for he was coming up to spend some days with us, and
our parting greeting was more an anticipation of our meeting. The
meeting on earth will never take place, but the long heavenly inter-
course is before us. I remarked on Tuesday that it was evident that
his heart was fuU of joy to see the old faces round him. It was like
a dream of the India he was never to see again ; and I like to think
that in those last days he had the companionship that he liked the
best. Elisha's cry may well befit us; horsemen and chariots of
Israel were with us while he was spared. His ripeness of wisdom,
his intense and affectionate nature, his passion for India, and the
universal regard and even honour in which he was held, were a
strength to the Mission that pervaded the whole Church. There was
something in his spirit that was infectious of good ; and while there
was no lack of the old fire, a wonderful sweetness was the character-
istic that drew men to him. I do not think there was a more welcome
guest in our house, and in the congregation every one loved him.
And it was all because he was so true to Christ, and so full of Him.
I think of the sorrow that will pass over every part of our Church as
the news makes its way ; I think of the sorrow that will be felt in
India among those to whom he was a spiritual father ; and then I
think of the home that has been smitten so often, and the shadows
darken over the thoughts imtil Christ breaks through them with His
words of comfort and power. The mystery of sorrow is deep and

12

178 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

full of awe. A sorrow like this is unspeakably trying, and perhaps
perplexing to our faith. We must look for grace, and wait. One
day we also shall be behind the veil. May we oateh his spirit, that
true prophet's mantle. Like him, may we be ready, our work finished
and without arrears. He lived and died for the heathen: so may

Among those on whom Dr. Stevenson felt he could always
rely for sympathy, counsel, and help in any case of difficulty,
there was one who stood out pre-eminently as the friend to
whom he could confide all his anxieties, and who was always
ready to second him in any cherished enterprise. This was
his brother-in-law, Mr. Thomas M. Sinclair, of Cedar Rapids,
whose sudden death by accident, in the spring of 1881, cut
short in its prime a life of rare beauty and usefulness. In
the previous year Dr. Stevenson had written to him : — ■

"Our Mission work in India goes bravely forward. Letters last
week reported twenty-seven more baptisms, the founding of another
Christian village, and the very high and spontaneous testimony borne
by Government officials to the wisdom of the methods by which the
Mission pursues its work. It is now drawing in about a hundred
every year to the Church, and is making its influence felt as a power-
ful element in the district. You ask. Is there anything that could
be further done ? Well, I have an old plan. The experiment I tried
of inducing the annual collection to run up to £4,000 by the offer
(anonymously) of £200 of your money has been tried for two years,
and failed to elicit the full advemce. We shall now, however, be
able to manage it by the permission of the Assembly to create auxili-
aries. Our greatest want is a Medical Mission With about £600

or £700 I would undertake to float the project upon the support of
the Church, and all I wish is to know if you would approve of this
use of what I still have unapplied of your former donations."

In his first letter to the missionaries after Mr. Sinclair's
death, he says : —

" May H, 1»81.
"My brother-in-law was forming many plans with me for the
development of our Mission, in which he took as much interest as if

The Foreign Mission. 179

he did not live in America. Many of those plans must now be de-
ferred, for the papers will have carried you the news of his death,
and I write crushed by the sorrow of a great loss. His early death
is spreading the perfume of an vmselfish, Christ-like life, yet I miss

mournfully the sympathy that was always encouraging us to go on

' ' I see the Free Church raised for foreign missions this year £7,000
more than last, an increase more than double our whole collection.
In our own little congregation the people respond heartily. They
sent £160 to the Foreign Mission, and £140 to the Zenana. I would
like to see the time when we could support a missionary for each
Society. "

But, brave as was the spirit in which he braced himself
up to meet new duties, increasing cares, and growing restric-
tions, the loss of one so like-minded, and whose heart for so
many years had beat in unison with all his aspirations and
responded with unwavering fidelity to every demand upon
its sympathy, was a searching trial, which left traces of
depression that were never quite to pass away. He seemed
to have lost something of the old vitality which rebounded
after the strain of overwork, and in many of his letters the
weariness is all the more pathetic because it is forced back
by the iron will that would not give in. Had it not been
for his power of sleeping soundly for hours after a long spell
of work, his brain could not have stood the ceaseless labour
imposed upon it.

" Jaivwary 5, 188S.
" I am writing, as you may recognize, hurriedly, not knowing in
these days of office anything but the distressing tendency of over-
work ; so much of the lahora that it is sometimes perplexing to find
time for the ora. May God give you daily the grace of patience and
the hopefulness of faith ! and may you see the work grow ! Dear
brethren, while we pray for you, do not forget to pray for the Church
at home, for her spiritual power and missionary outcome.'"

His usual answer to frequent appeals made to him to take
more care of his health was, " God has laid the work upon
me, and I must do it.'' He had an impression that he was

i8o Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

slower in doing work than most people, the fact being that
he was more painstaking, and less content with anything
done hurriedly or without careful research.

The statistics he compiled on all sorts of subjects connected
with the Mission were marvellous in their minuteness and
accuracy, and are a valuable legacy to those who come after
him. Scarcely had the yearly circular gone its rounds, till
his mind was full of some new idea that might be worked
up for that of the next year. The following letter to his dear
and valued friend, Mr. Young of Fenaghy, is typical of his
energy in this direction :—

" Dublin, October IS, tSSS.
"All offer was made to me last week, and required to be promptly
seized. It was of Christlieb's admirable book on foreign missions, at
about 6d. a copy. The one I have cost me 2s. 6d. I have accepted
the offer with a view of sending a copy to each of our ministers in
the end of January next, so that they might get a little inspiration
before their missionary sermons. Now, would your 'Uncle Ben's
Bag ' be in a condition to bear the cost ? I have many plans simmer-
ing in my lazy head, and shall write you soon, perhaps, of one or two
of them. One is a scheme for auxiliaries, which is almost matured.
I shall also send you our Presbytery scheme as soon as ready ; and I
am busy with a project- for getting single congregations to support
each a missionary.* I have had our three men, who are to be ordained
in a fortnight, successively with me, and thank God for such mis-
sionaries ! In November it may be possible to go down among the
students and secure men for next year, but it becomes increasingly
difficult to work a mission in Belfast and a congregation in Dublin ;
and then we are facing the necessity of enlarging our church. The
last news from China is the most encouraging for years. It would
seem as if we were at last striking root. I write this before going
down by the early train to Belfast, a journey which church-meetings
of many kinds have made an almost weekly necessity for a long time.
But the constant round of work is keeping back the lectures on
Missions, which ought long since to have seen the light."

In the beginning of 1885 he was greatly touched by a
spontaneous contribution sent him for the Foreign Mission
by the members of a working-men's Bible-class which he

The Foreign Mission. i8i

had addressed a few weeks previously. The following is his
reply : —

" January 188S.
"Thank you very warmly for the good cheer contained in your
letter, and thank your men warmly from me for so generous a contri-
bution to our Mission to the heathen. It lies very close to my heart,
and I am glad to find that it lies close to theirs, for it certainly lies
close to the heart of our blessed Saviour. I know something of what
this large amount must mean to those who gave it — ^that it represents
a great deal of thought and saving ; that sacrifice lies away behind it.
Is it not pleasajit that we can make sacrifices and show our love to
Jesus, and that He can use what we give Him to help our brother-
men ? I am sure a blessing will go with their money out to India,
and I will consult with Mr. Beatty, who is just now reaching England,
how it may be best spent, and will let you know. Wish your men
from me a very happy New Year. Some of them will find it the hap-
piest year they have ever spent, because there is more of Jesus in it.
If there are any who have not yet put their trust in Him, may they
take Him as their Saviour now."

And the last extract we can give will show how, busy as
he was, he sought to make the missionaries sharers in what-
ever of special interest was going on at home. He realized
how sorely those who labour in heathen lands must often
miss the stimulus there is in Christian fellowship.

" Belfast, July 10, 1881,.
" We have all greatly enjoyed the meeting of the Pan-Presbyterian
Council. Belfast outdid itself. There was not a hitch in the ar-
rangements, and a happy impression has been left. Those who have
been prominent at previous Councils tell me this was decidedly the
best. It was felt to be the critical meeting, which would greatly
help to make or mar the Alliance; and the conviction is universal
that there has been a consolidation and a practical outcome that
insure vitality to the organization. The debates were admirable,
the leaders of difierent Churches taking part, and sometimes realizing
what one has thought one of the early Councils may have been.
Those of you who studied under Dr. M'Cosh would have been glad
to see his face once more and witness the heartiness of his welcome.
But the striking feature of the Council was this, that the Mission

1 82 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

became the centre of it, and that men of all parties, schools, and
Churches were one in the conviction that the strength of the Council
lay in developing missionary activity. A long step was also made
forward in the direction of co-operation, and, where possible, cor-
porate union in Mission territories, and by the expressed conviction
that the largest freedom must be allowed to the missionaries while
building up the kingdom of Christ. The missionary evening — when
St. Enoch's Church was crowded, and missionary followed missionary
from seven till half-past ten o'clock — was not only a touching spec-
tacle, but has left the deepest impression. The next Council is ap-
pointed for London in 1888, two centuries after the Revolution. It
has been very refreshing to meet Mr. Jefirey, the Murray-Mitchells,
and your still later visitors, the MacDonalds. It is the next best
thing to being in Gujarat, where I often wish we both were once
more.

"Mr. Balfour gives us the pleasant news that a lady, formerly a
member of his congregation, has handed him £150 to found a scholar-
ship for our girls in the Normal School. To-day I was sent another
brooch. God does not forget His work nor us. We are just found-
ing a prayer union, where you will all be remembered before the
throne. May you all find the riches of His grace, and may the
infant Church grow in graciousness and spiritual pow^er, and spread
itself over all the land \ "

CHAPTER IX.

MISSIONARY JOURNEY ROUND THE WORLD

At the first meeting of the missionaries after the appoint-
ment of Mr. Stevenson as Convener, they expressed their
strong desire and hope that he would visit them and their
work. In 1875, "with one mind" they again urged the
matter on the Board of Missions, stating that, though the
expense might be an obstacle, "the fruits would many times
repay the outlay ; " and so strong had the wish become that
one of their number, at home on furlough, pleaded in their
name for its fulfilment in the meeting of Assembly. Mr.
Stevenson, however, could not entertain the proposal. He
felt that it was surrounded with difficulties ; that his own
congregation could not safely be left until it was further
consolidated and strengthened ; and while fully realizing the
value of such experience in the future conduct of the
Mission, he could never consent to allow the expense of this
journey to be a charge on the funds of the Foreign Mission.
He was, moreover, convinced that, if such a visit was to be
practically useful, it should not be limited to a survey of the
work of his own Church, but should include as far as possible
the fields of work of other Churches and Societies, so that he
might be able carefuUy to study their methods and observe
their results. Much as he desired to visit scenes already
familiar by description, and to see face to face men whom
he loved and honoured, as well as to acquire, by personal
acquaintance with the work, additional fitness for carrying

184 Life of Williafn Fleming Stevenson.

on his own part in it, he felt the time had not come, and he
put the idea away from him with a strength of will that had
often been of substantial service when duty and inclination
pointed different-ways.

But the time came sooner than he anticipated, and friends
who saw the immense benefit to the Mission of such a visit
urged it on. Early in 1877, the Rev. George Shaw brought
the matter up again, enforcing his appeal by the assurance
that the means would be furnished without any expense to
the Mission funds. At the meeting of the Directors of the
Mission Board, on the 21st of February, the proposal was
submitted to them, when the following resolutions were
unanimously and cordially passed : —

"I. That the Board have received with very great satisfaction the
proposal now made to them by the Rev. George Shaw and Mr.
Charles Finl^, that the Convener of the Foreign Mission should be
requested to visit the stations in China and India, believing it would
promote the highest interests of the Mission in these foreign fields,
and be of special advantage in stimulating the missionary spirit at
home ; and that, by observation and intercourse with the various
agents and members of the native churches, Mr. Stevenson would
obtain that thorough acquaintance with all the departments and de-
tails of the work which can only be acquired by a personal visit.
The Directors all the more readily approve of the proposal, seeing it
has been coupled with the assurance that some generous friends of the
Church will defray the pecuniary expenses of the journey, and they
earnestly make the request desired, and recommend it to the favour-
able consideration of their beloved brother. They also agree to ask
the General Assembly to sanction whatever arrangement may be made
with the Convener.

"II. That this minute be communicated by letter to the Presby-
tery of Dublin, and to the session and congregation of Rathgar by
deputation, with the expression of the earnest wish of the Board that
they will kindly facilitate the object which the Directors have in view.

" The Moderator of the General Assembly, the Rev. George Bellis,
General Secretary of the Board of Missions, the Rev. W. B. Kirk-
patrick, D.D., and the Rev. Charles L. Morell were appointed as the
depxitatiou. "

Missionary Journey Round tlie World. 185

In accordance with this resolution the deputation, accom-
panied by the Rev. George Shaw, met with the congrega-
tion, and laid before them the desire of the Board and its
assurance that, should they consent to this temporary
separation, the Board would wiUingly undertake all arrange-
ments necessary for sustaining the services of his church
during the absence of their minister. The congregation
loyally and unanimously consented, no small sacrifice on
their part ; but they made one distinct condition — that his
wife should accompany him. The idea was new to both, and
at first sight seemed impracticable ; but the wisdom of the
suggestion commended itself to every one, as it was felt that
in making it the congregation had taken the best possible
means to preserve their pastor's health. When it was
finally arranged that their children were to be left in the
loving care of their grandmother, Mrs. Sinclair of Beech
Lawn, Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson felt that the last difficulty
had been taken away, and that they could hear a voice
bidding them "go forward."

" Okwell Bane, JvmA S, 1877.
" Since I wrote, I decided on the proposal made by the Board, and
was able to mention at our communion on the 1st of April that my
mind was made up to go, if the Assembly agreed to the Board's
request. I was unstrung at the time by the thought of so long an
absence and of all that might take place in the interval ; but ever
since I have been in perfect peace about it, the peace of fulfilling a
clear duty to which God has led me. The decision also affects Mrs.
Stevenson, who heis made up her mind to do what has been from so
many sides urged upon her, and to part with the children that she
may accompany me. It will be a hard struggle yet, I have no doubt,
for both of ua ; but it may help us to sympathize more truly with
your struggles. If I went, the following is pretty much the outline
that is before me : — Reach Ceylon from China about the middle of
November; from Ceylon visit the Travancore and Tinnevelly Mis-
sions, and work up by rail to Madras, and from Madras on to Surat,
to be there by Christmas, if possible ; stay as long as practicable in
our own field, and learn all I can be made to learn from you all ; then
to Calcutta by Central India ; from Calcutta visit the North-west

1 86 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

Missions ; and then from Bombay to Suez. The undertaking is large,
but I feel that I would not be justified in this serious separation if I
did not try to get acquainted with the characteristic Mission-fields
of every important Church in India, wherever there may be time to
reach them. "

The proposed journey was a matter of interest not alone
to the Presbyterian Church of Ireland, but to all the other
Protestant Churches engaged in missionary work. All the
great Societies that have missionaries in the East, English,
American, and German, furnished warm letters of intro-
duction and commendation. Letters were also received from
the Marquis of Salisbury, Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, and from the Earl of Derby, Secretary of State for
India, as well as from the Government of the United States,
" all of which," as Mr. Stevenson acknowledged in his speech
before the Assembly on his return, " not only enabled me
to receive the most valuable information, but led to many
courtesies that have laid us under the pleasantest obligation."

On the eve of their departure from Ireland, a valedictory
service was held in the largest Presbyterian church in
Belfast, to commend them to the loving care of God during
their long journey. The sympathy with the travellers and
their mission shown by the numbers who came to the
meeting was very cheering, and the fervent prayers that
God would watch over their children during their absence
strengthened them to face the long separation.

On the 23rd of June they sailed from Liverpool for New
York in the Cunard S.S. Abyssinia. With the long journey
before them, they found in America little more than the
shortest route by San Francisco to Japan ; but the rapid
progress across the great continent realized in a fresh and
striking way the vastness of the area covered by the rule of
the President, and how like, and yet unlike, the land was to
their own. Even four years had added considerably to the
belts of farming that line the road for hours after passing

Missionary Journey Round the World. 187

Omaha, but the loneliness, and the absence of cities, houses,
and villages, were as striking the second time as the first.

The extracts which follow have been taken from various
sources, and Dr. Stevenson's impressions are, as far as
possible, given in his own words.

" There are no people in the fields ; there is no highway ; we miss
the carter's whip and the ploughman's whistle. When the train
stopped once and a man got down and walked off across the gray
plains, we watched him with a curious pity as if he must get lost. "

"On the 8th of August, with hearty God-speed from a crowd of
friends, we sailed out of the stately harbour of San Francisco, in the
S.S. City of ToHo, past the ends of successive streets that climbed in
painfully regular straight lines up the hill, past the mountain slopes
that ran with rough bare face down into the sea, out between the
pillars of the •Golden Gate into the rough swell that rolled before the
stormy coast wind."

" Our cabin passengers were not numerous, but we carried twenty-
five returning Chinese in the steerage, as well as the coffins of some
more, that their bones might rest in their native soil. The anxiety
to die at home is so great that people in the last stage of illness
are sometimes helped up the gangway, and one who was in this con-
dition died before we reached Japan, and was embalmed by the ship's
doctor, according to contract. It was a lonely journey, for we never
saw a sail. We might have been ' the first that ever burst into that
silent sea. ' Every day a few albatrosses fiew round the ship with
heavy wings, but as swift as arrows ; now and then there were por-
poises, at the end some flying fish — and that was all. As we crossed
the parallel, there was the excitement of the lost day. Sunday
should have been dropped out, but our commodore declared that
Monday would be sacrificed instead. One captain is so scrupulous
that he contrives to have two Sundays on the return journey, when
the days allow it ; we were content not to lose, and bade each other
good-night on Sunday evening, to meet again on Tuesday morning,
with the puzzled sense of a loss that was not deserved. We had been
taking the northerly course through rough and foggy weather, which
disturbed all our ideas of Pacific warmth and calm, ami made us
thankful for ulsters and wraps, when, on the 23rd, we burst into a
sudden heat, the thermometer rising twenty-three degrees during the
night, and the air feeling clammy with moisture. That evening there
was a wondrous sunset. To the left three-fourths of the heavens

1 88 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

were covered by a curtain of cloud, extending in soft folds from the
zenith to the horizon in a golden drapery, each fold distinctly marked
and flushed with a, marvellously rich and pompous glow, which re-
mained for nearly twenty minutes, deepening in warmth to blood-
colour, and then fading down, till the last we saw of it was only the
red light upon the lower folds, as if a host of angels had lit up the
sky with their wings, and were slowly passing in a long procession
out of sight. To the right the unclouded belt of sky assumed the
most exquisite and tender hues, from pure deep blue to dainty pink,
and at the horizon the faintest apple-green. That night the moon
looked sickly, and had a huge ring ; we felt that it boded ill. Be-
fore morning every sail was down, every boat made fast, the sailors
hurrying here and there, preparing for the fight. The wind had
freshened to a moderate gale, and the scud flew along the sky ; the
sea looked angry, and the rumour spread that we were 'in for a
typhoon.' Up till luncheon we amused ourselves watching the lively
gambols of over a hundred porpoises tossing over and over in the
w^hite caps of the waves, leaping out of the crest of a sea and touch-
ing the water in the trough with giant springs, sometimes fifty in the
air at once. They seemed the very spirits of the storm. But about
two o'clock the wind suddenly burst upon us. It shore the white
top ofl the sea and smote it into a sheet of foam. It hurled a furious
rain along the decks ; it howled in the rigging. Till after seven in
the evening it kept increasing in force. The sight was magnificent ;
all around us a dense curtain of storm, and white seas dimly seen
through the gloom, while about the ship the masses of water rose ten
to fifteen feet above the bulwarks. At sunset the sky was a mass of
glowing, uniform, blood-red — like pandemonium, the captain said.
The barometer was still falling one-tenth of an inch every hour. The
sea leaped up in pyramidal heaps that mocked the great ship they
overlooked, and the wildness and height of the waves defied descrip-
tion. Everybody had been ordered below, after the crashing of some
furniture which broke loose from its screws in the deck saloon, and
injured some of the passengers. The heat below was insufferable,
sind it was only by constant exertion that any one could keep either
on sofa, berth, or chair. From nine in the evening till 2 a.m. the
wind almost ceased, though the sea retained all its motion. We
were then in the centre of the cyclone. About 3 a.m. it commenced
with redoubled fury from an opposite quarter, and was at its height
by about seven in the morning. That afternoon it had all passed
away like a frightful dream ; we were in smooth water, the sails were
spread ; and as we joined in the thanksgiving service in the evening.

Missionary Journey Round tJie World. 189

to some of us at any rate the 107th Psalm came with a depth of
meaning it had never had before. Two days later we neared the
coast of Japan. Bight before us^ flushed with the rosy sunset,
Fusiyama, the sacred mountain of the islands, rose 14,000 feet into
the air, clearly seen from base to summit, though ninety miles away.
To the south a tall island cone flung a column of smoke from its
volcanic peak high into the sky. The ship glided through the still
water ; the stars shone out brilliantly ; the phosphorus bubbles
danced on the dark, warm sea. We turned the lighthouse point, and
sailed up the Gulf of Yeddo, while the moon shone like a soft sun,
putting out the stars, and the shadowy ranges of the mysterious land
slipped by on either side. We ran out the anchor ; the engines
ceased, leaving a stillness that might be felt. Yokohama was three
miles away, and at daybreak we were to steam up to the town,

through the crowded shipping that lay between

" ^September 5, 1877.'] Safely packed in the hotel boat, the rowers
chanting an incessant mournful groan, as if expiring from want of
breath, we threaded our way between monitors, gimboats, swift
China clippers, and such picturesque but ungainly junks as might
have been built before Columbus. We landed at a custom-house, and
had our luggage inspected, while the coolies who carried it withdrew
attention from their want of clothes by the rich colour of the marvel-
lous patterns with which they were tattooed in blue and red. We
walked through streets bordered by tall stone buildings, and past
shop-windows that would have been no discredit to a European city ;
then in a moment turned into a region of dark, brown, low-roofed
houses, gay with coloured signs, while the road between was filled
with figures that had walked ofi' fans and tea-trays. No one would
recognize the fisher-village of yesterday in the Yokohama of to-day,
with its fifty thousand people, its broad streets lighted by gas lamps,
its handsome public buildings, and the lines of charming villas along
its bluffs. But the population of the fisher-village is still about the
town, and Europe and this primitive Asia meet at every comer. The
watering-cart was a man with a pair of wooden buckets slung one to
each end of a bamboo pole across his shoulders, a slight aperture
where the bottom joined the side allowing the water to splash out
while he gently ran and sang. Sweetmeats could be purchased from
another coolie, whose pole suspended a deep lacquer-box as brilliant
as vermilion. Sounds of smothered entreaty drew near, and a heavily
laden cart lumbered up, drawn by two men and pushed by two more,
who were chanting a quaint sad refrain that seemed to express the
weariness of life. A policeman, in dark frock-coat and white trousers,

I go Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

loitered in the shade; soldiers went past in the baggy trousers of
Zouaves, and sailors in the garb of the British navy.

" We strolled through the crowd of gay, lazy, curious folk, full of
good nature and politeness ; then drove along the bluffs and out
among the rice-fields. The carriage — little bigger than a child's per-
ambulator and of the same shape — was almost too large for the mud
causeways that led through the farmers' lands. Here and there a
light brown house ; here and there a village of them. Then, at the
summit, the paper lanterns were lighted, and we dashed down the
steepest of lanes among a multitude of other lanterns, brilliant and
restless as fire-flies, and past rows of quaint interiors apparently illu-
minated, shops and family parties, artisans at their trade and students
at their books, some men writing accounts, and others tramping oil
and flour — down this interminable lane and past the railway station,
with cabs drawn up in front.

" We drove one morning to the station. It was not in a cab exactly,
but in ' man-power carriages,' the perambulator already mentioned,
and known as a. jinrikisha, with hood and apron of oiled paper, and a
man to run between the shafts at six miles an hour, for two cents a
mile. This man-power wears a solitary garment, which, as he warms
to his work, is hitched up, tuck after tuck, like reefs in a sail, until
presently he is running under bare poles. If he is tattooed he is an
art exhibition, and by judicious change a new picture may be studied
every day. There are fifty thousand of these vehicles in the large
cities of Japan, rushing about in aU directions, swift, cheap, and con-
venient. We took tickets for Tokio, more familiar by the old name
of Yeddo — tickets that were printed in English and French, as well as
in Japanese. They were taken at the orthodox ticket-window, and
nipped by the inevitable porter. As the luggage was checked we had
leisure to look round the waiting-room. One comer was sacred to the
bookstall, with its newspapers, cheap books, and time-tables, the
latter either with a map or on a fan. There were also the odds and
ends of things that belong to this institution in other parts of the
world, and a pile of little cushions, from which a third-class passen-
ger could hire one for a trifle, and return it at the station where he
stopped.

"Close to the suburbs of Tokio we come upon the Tokaido, the
great thoroughfare that for centuries has connected the eastern and
western capitals. The sea stretched to the right, and the boats,
with their heavy sails, lay becalmed in the soft autumn haze; to
the left ran old Japan, this street of shops and tea-houses and ceaseless
traffic, that for picturesqueness has perhaps no rival in the world.

Missionary Journey Round tlie World. 191

"Friends met us at the station ; man-power coolies drew lots for
our persons ; and in half an hour we were sitting in the room of a
former dai-mio's home, in the native quarter of the modem capital of
Japan, and with a missionary for our host. The house was sur-
rounded by a trim grass lawn, crossed at more than one point by
large stepping-stones that connected the walks and kept the feet dry.
Big, vulgar, impudent crows pushed about here with a perpetual
caw-caw that was dictatorial. A small basin of rockwork, where a
few pretty ferns hung over the waters, was filled with goldfish ; the
rockwork, the fish, and some attempt at green, or perhaps a grotesque
and twisted root or two, or a dwarfed tree, are a universal arrange-
ment for the house-yard ; a walk along any street will reveal a hun-
dred such interiors, sometimes of the tiniest and poorest, but always
neat and clean. Broad eaves projected round the house, and covered
a wooden ledge that ran outside and made a passage to the rooms,
which were formed at will by sliding panels of paper and bamboo,
that could be pushed aside at any point ; so that it was impossible
to tell where one person might enter or another emerge, or at what
moment an inadvertent hand might reveal the strictest privacy.
These frail and movable walls were hung with narrow scrolls, six or
seven feet long, charmingly painted in faint colours, and varying in
subject with the season of the year. The floor was formed of mats
deftly woven of fine straw, and tightly stretched on frames about two
inches thick that fitted closely together, soft, pleasant, and spotless ;
for Japanese rooms are not to be entered with the reckless muddy
boot of Britain, but in slippers or on stocking-soles ; and as these
mats are of a uniform length and breadth throughout the country,
they serve as a convenient measure,* and a house or a room is simply
so many ' mats. '

" The men in power would have no objection to Christianity, but
they have no great wish for it, and they will certainly not hurry in
that direction. The bulk of the converts belong to the middle class,
and are persons of education ; and there is freedom to teach the
gospel, and no actual persecution. Few, however, of those who have
been educated in Europe and America stand by Christianity when
they return. They have little depth or moral courage, and are
Romans in Home

" The heads of the present Government would have exterminated
the Christians, and intended it ; but pressure was applied by foreign
Governments, and as the people made no stand against tolerance,

* Six feet by three.

192 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

tolerance gained the day, tolerance even of their old enemy the
Church of Eome. Yet, though the edicts against Christianity are no
longer hung up at Nihon, the Government would say they are taken
down only hecause the boards on which they were written are de-
cayed ; and in point of fact, the edicts against murder and other
crimes were taken down at the same time. Until the Japanese learn
to distinguish between the men who can serve them and those who
cannot, there is nothing certain. They have an absurd notion of
their own superiority and their power to absorb and master what they
learn ; but they skim over their instructions, as quick and shallow
people skim the pages of a serious book

" These are the opinions expressed to me by two of the shrewdest
men in Japan, and who have had the best opportunity of forming an
opinion. They are not sanguine opinions, and they may be erroneous ;
for, after a revolution so recent and complete as that which has taken
place, there is room for little but conjecture. They have a use, how-
ever, beyond their own value, that they may help to moderate the
expectations which sanguine people entertain at home. It is natural
that the large changes which have taken place should breed large
hopes, and that they should encourage dreams of a Christian conquest
that may be remote ; and it is, perhaps, impossible to state these
changes as they fall under the eye of a traveller without suggesting
as probable what is only possible. All that the Government implied
in the creed of 1872 might run, ' Fear God, honour the king, keep the
fifth commandment, and obey the laws of nature.' Japan may even
return to its exclusiveness, as some of the residents are bold enough
to think ; but at present Christian teaching has a singular vantage-
ground, and Christian missionaries have not been slow to seize it.

' ' It needs to be remembered, however, that much of this advance
may be only apparent, that in many directions it is recent, and that
there are thoughtful and well-informed men who say it is only skin-
deep. It is a coimtry where a stranger, taken by surprise at what
he sees, may easily form erroneous impressions, and especially in
noticing Christian progress. Foreign sermons and foreign doctrines
will be listened to with apparent eagerness ; for the Japanese is
polite. Politeness is almost his present creed. He would not wound
a foreigner by not hearing what he has to say. He will often veil
his real indifference, and even hostility, under courteous phrases.
For months, and perhaps longer, a crowd will gather round a mis-
sionary, cheer his hopes, and then disperse ; and he may be forced
to remember that Japan is proverbially fickle, a land out of which
religion has almost died, where religious yearning scarcely exists,

Missionary Journey Round the World. 193

and where there is a reign of indifference, for the religious heart of
the people has withered till it is dry

"While we were at Tokio, a conference of all the missionaries in
that city was assembled at the house of our host. They were of
several Societies — the Church Missionary Society and the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel, the United Presbyterians of Scot-
land and the American Presbyterian Board, the Episcopal Metho-
dists of the States and the Wesleyan Methodists of Canada, the
Dutch Reformed and the American Lutherans — so that there were
about thirty-seven in all, men and women. From four o'clock until
aiter nine we were together, hearing and answering questions,; en-
joying practical unity, which at home we always pray for and yet
never seem to reach ; feeling (for I can use no other word) the fine,
brave, humble, patient, confident spirit of all these workers, and
recognizing in their unity the room and mission for the special gifts
and temperament of each. There were thus eight Protestant Socie-
ties represented ; but there are others in Japan, besides the Greek
and Roman Churches, so that the staff of missionaries is large. The
head of the Russian Mission is a man of singular earnestness and a
most striking appearance, with a face that is full of dignity, suffering,
and love. He holds the principal service in a chapel simply fitted
up in his own house, reading the liturgy from a manuscript transla-
tion. We found his little chapel crowded, and his day occupied by
incessant work, among which a Bible-class, is well spoken of ; but he
has helpers serving in different parts of the town, and his official
position in the Russian Embassy has given him influence over many
of the official Japanese.

" The oldest Missions are the American, and, on the Sunday we
were in Tokio, one of the native chapels was opened after its enlarge-
ment, of which the cost (about £100) was defrayed by the effort of
the Christians themselves. The buUding would accommodate more
than three hundred, and was crowded with a reverent and earnest
congregation. Two of the native elders assisted at the communion ;
and the communion addresses, the passing of the bread and wine
among the dusky worshippers, the bowed heads of young and old,
and all the quiet of the solemn service, so natural, and yet, in the
very centre of this heathen people, so. unlikely, stirred many deep
and blessed thoughts. Ten minutes' walk from this spot, and ten
minutes of a very hot day, there was another native service, where
the sermon was preached by a native, and where the church, a school-
room adjoining, and rooms for residence and an orphanage, have all
been built by a native Christian at his own expense. The next ser-

13

194 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

vice we attended hacl not been long begun, but from forty to fifty
persons were present, and many of them are communicants. It was
late in the afternoon before I was able to return to the Union English
Church. One of the native congregations has permission to use the
building tUl it has completed one for itself. Here also there was the
communion, and had we been able to arrive a little earlier we should
have had the joy of seeing six adults baptized. We closed a very
happy day by accompanying our host to his final service. It was
rather a free talk than a service, and was held in a low room that
opens directly off a crowded and, as usual, a narrow street. A lamp
hung above the door bears on one of its sides an invitation to enter.
The room could hold about sixty people. They squatted on the
matted floor as they entered, men from their work (for, except in
Government offices, there is no Sabbath in Japan), and women with
children at the breast. They filled up all the space, and then a
crowd of figures, just visible through the semi-darkness, blocked up
all the room about the door. Some would move away, but others
always took their place. First the oatechist spoke, and then the
missionary. All listened, though in the gloom there could sometimes
be seen little but the sparkle of the dark eyes. One old man of
eighty-two, clearly visible under the light of the lamp, was absorbed
and happy. He had been a physician and a keen student of Con-
fucius, and after a struggle had yielded to Christ, and waa baptized
the week before. Near him sat three jinrikisJia-meD, who were en-
treating baptism for themselves and their families. After the service
was over, a number remained for conversation, and it was late when
we got to rest, wearied, but beyond measure thankful

"Although some of the congregations I had visited were among
the most characteristic and the largest in Tokio, there were many
other points in the city where there were bands of worshippers, and
beyond the city there were meetings in the neighbouring villages, so
that there were probably twenty voices proclaiming on that day and
in that district the blessed gospel of our Lord.

" The number of hearers at some of these stations was no doubt
small, and of thoughtful hearers smaller still ; yet it was impossible
to forget that five years ago, for example, there were only eight
members in the congregation that has now a hundred and seventy-
five, and that most of these additions have been led to Christ through
the earnest persuasion of their converted neighbours.

"Preaching plays a large part in these services, for the Japanese
are great sermon-hearers, even when heathen, and the sermons of
some of their own priests are justly celebrated. The sermon is ir-

Missionary Journey Round the World. 195

regular in form — a frank and inartistic but not unstudied talk over
the topic that has been in the preacher's mind. He takes a passage
for a text, and then probably passes on to some cognate passages as
he proceeds. Beginning with the soft low voice of his people, he soon
warms, and often uses much gesture and eager rhetoric ; but one of
his strong points, as it is of the old Buddhist sermons, is his power
of illustration. To take an example or two only from the sermons I
heard. Speaking of the impatience of the Christian under trial:
'Summer and winter are each hard ti bear; but they are soon over,
and we take them as they come. Let us also take trial as one of
God's seasons, and believe that it is only for a season. ' Of faith and
works : ' A hawk and a crow ' (the two common birds here, and the
former the model of the Japanese kite) — ' A hawk and a crow, you
know, can fly away when they have two wings. And if one wing be
maimed or shot off, the bird flutters to the ground and cannot fly.
We also have two wings on which we fly to heaven : the one is faith
and the other works. But we can only fly thither with two ; and if
we try with one we fall to the ground, and flutter and crawl there
like a maimed bird.' Of the hopes of heaven: 'When you fly a
kite ' (a universal amusement in Japan), ' if you tie the string to one
place the kite will fall ; it to another, it will whirl and tumble un-
steadily in the air, but never mount; if to another, it will rise a
little way, and then flutter and begin to descend ; but if to the right
spot, it will soar into the sky. So, if we tie our hopes to anything
earthly, they come to nothing, though they sometimes seem, by our
afiections and aspirations, to mount unsteadily for a little space ; but
when we tie them to heaven, they soar into the sky, and dazzle us
with the sunshine of God. '

" Among the courtesies received at our Embassy in Tokio, not the
least were the suggestions of what it was best to see, and what, with
our limited time, it was needless to attempt. The ride to Nikko
would have given the best impression of the country; and finding
that impossible, we did as we were told, and chose the ride to Narra,
with its temples and its great bronze Daibuts, or image of the sitting
Buddha. Narra lies twenty-seven miles out of Tokio, and as we
proposed going and returning the same day, we started early, long
before it was light, hurrying through the sUent streets, the brown
houses all shut up and lying in dark shadows, fragile, and indeed
rickety-looking, now that the gaiety of life had deserted them. A
young student from the Christian College was our companion, and no
one could have a more thoughtful or a better. We crossed the long
bridge at Fujimi half an hour before the dawn, and full twenty

196 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

porters, their bundlea slung from bamboos, stood to watch us pass.
We had made the first seven miles in an hour, and our thoughts
wandered back to Xavier, who reached Fujimi walking, with a wallet
on his back, frozen feet, and a body covered with ulcers. As the
light broadened, we found all round us a sweep of lofty mountainf ,
and from the woods that clothed them the smoke of charcoal-burning
rose straight into the sky. The road was irregular, sometimes on
the top of an embankment that divided the waters of a still lagoon,
where tall white cranes and Japanese fishermen vied in their motion-
less watch ; and sometimes between fields, or bounded by the curious
glint of the bamboo groves that spread their feathery crowns fifty
feet above our head. We ran for miles between tea plantations, and
noted how the shrub took the place of the cabbage in the peasant's
plot at home, and that it was not shy of even winding in and out
between the open spaces of a village, and making the hedge round a
villager's garden. Rice shared the culture with tea, and at some
points the freshly-picked cotton was spread upon a mat or a tray
for sale. As the sun rose, so did the people, and, like children of
the sun, came out into the light. The paper screens disappeared,
and the quaint, neat, modest interiors came into view. Women
cooked the early meal, the father dandled the baby in front of the
door, and made him laugh to see the white-skinned strangers, and
toilets went on without reserve. Endless shops revealed their wares,
for in Japan every one has something to sell, yet so little that a
pound would buy up a large establishment. There were pots and
pans, vessels of wood, kerosene lamps, blouses and sandals, hats and
umbrellas, books and stationery, and mysterious forms of cookery;
while fox-like curs haunted the doorsteps.

"Our men sped on with their ceaseless chant, steering carefully
among the ruts in the sandy track, and when a plunge was made,
looking round with a merry ^mile. We crossed wooden bridges, and
passed Shinto shrines with the priest's house beside them like a
manse; we climbed low hills where the mosses and ferns were as
vivid as at home; we ran by the bank of a rapid river, then dis-
appeared among narrow paths through the weedless fields, wound in
and out among the walls and houses of a village as if we proposed to
visit every family in turn, and without warning emerged on a country
road as wide as one of our own. There were few birds and few
flowers, and of the latter little more than some patches of chrysan-
themums, the purple bell of the egg-plant, and coxcombs that stood
six feet high and were sometimes broad in proportion. We met
perambulators packed with vegetables on their way to market, and

Missionary Journey Round the World. 197

men with the bamboo Bhoulder-pole inmimerable ; one carried sixteen
barrels, presumably empty, eight to each end, and another rose up
from a well with seventeen small kegs of water : if one basket was
full, a, baby, an umbrella, or a hat was slung into the other. Mes-
sengers met us; a parcel-post swift as Mercury, and no better
clothed; porters pushed their loads; and farmers with broad hats
pressed forward on business to the nearest town ; bands of pilgrims
clothed in white, long staff in hand, and wearing huge rosaries and
scallop-shells, with usually one that had a bell about his neck to
keep the rest from straying, would stop as we went by. Every one
was good-humoured, and every one said, ' Good-morning ' (Ohaio) ;
and the boys from school courtesied low as they did this pretty piece
of manners. Only the yellow-robed priests, with shaven crowns and
sly small eyes, looked at us askance, as if some evil speech was in
their heads. And all the way it seemed as if every one was bent on
doing the opposite of what we do at home. The cows had bells on
their tails instead of their necks; the horses are clothed in winter,
the men naked; the draught bullocks wear straw shoes, carry an
extra pair, and leave the worn ones untidily about the streets ; the
horse stands in his stable with his head from the stall, and when he is
brought out the rider moxmts him from the right ; when acquaintances
meet each tenderly shakes his own hand; people write down the
page, and they kneel at dinner; the tailor sews from him, the car-
penter planes to him; the teeth of the saw and the thread of the
screw run in the opposite direction to ours, and their locks turn to
the left ; the blacksmith pulla the bellows with his foot, the cooper
holds the tub with his toes; house-contractors begin to build from
the roof; gardens are watered from a little pail with a wooden spoon;
it is not the nightingale but the crow that is their bird of love ; the lamb
is an emblem of stupidity ; suicide is a pleasure which has to be pre-
vented by royal decree ; and it is a compliment to be called a goose

"We were sailing among the three thousand islands of the Inland
Sea. The islands were often little more than » single rock, with
probably one tree peering over the summit ; but there were numbers
of them big enough to allow the brown-roofed villages to nestle
among the rice-fields, or to lie at the foot of steep hillsides terraced
up to the very top ; and sometimes there were glorious mountains,
range behind range, till the highest had a delicate crown of cloud,
superb moimtain amphitheatres, and masses of tumbled hills, and the
soft light of the grass upon them all, like Blillamey on a summer
day, blended with the mighty sweep from Mull to Ben Cruachan.
It was the most shifting view I ever saw, and sky and sea and land

198 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

all shared the inconstancy. Kow a calm strait that reached for miles
between two islands on our right, speckled with boats, and fringed
with woods and little bays of pure white sand fit for the feet of
fairies, and the heaven above a clear pearl gray; then a blue sky
and a merry breeze, scattering foam over the sea, and sweeping on
the ungainly junks, with their white, full-bellied sails, the hills gray
and blue and purple, and dim and mighty islands like clouds in the
far distance : now ao close to the shore that we were under the
shadow of the cliflf, the rocks and wooded points narrowing in on
both sides till we could believe we were sailing on some Eastern
Khine ; then, in a moment, out into an open sea with space and
light and far-off land. And this procession passed us unceasingly
from sunrise until sunset. It might have been Loch Linnhe or Boss
Island, Arroohar or Windermere, until we rubbed our eyes and saw
the junks at anchor, the spectral fringe of trees along the hilltops,
the brown roofs, and the curves of country temples. Then, in the
late afternoon, we ran below a lighthouse rook, and the light-keeper
ran up his flag ; and, looking back, we saw long stretches of the
loveliest green water, changing, as we looked, under every play of
light and shade and colour ; then a line of telegraph poles, and &
green point jutting out on the left to meet the hills upon the right,
so that the steamer has little more than room to pass in the clear,
still water, and we were in a land-locked bay, anchored off the pretty
town of Simonasaki, and the setting sun lit up the woods and sea and
sky with crimson and gold. When the evening falls and the sea is
calm, the fishing-boats crowd it with the sparkle of their lights ; but
away from shore there are many junks that carry no lights, and are
slow to answer their helm, and a cause of much explosive speech
among sea-captains. In the morning the sea was smooth, the sky a
lovely blue, broken with motionless spots of soft white cloud, and
the bays and hills, the low cliffs, and the gaps into narrow glens and
upland valleys, the pebbly beaches and sandy bays of yesterday,
were repeated ; until, at last, through a passage seemingly not wider
than a hundred yards, we entered another harbour girt about with
pleasant mountains, and glided by swards of vivid green that wan-
dered up into a maze of wooded heights and knolls ; then swung
round among the men-of-war, and before us there was Nagasaki,
stretching its streets up the steep spurs, and behind the streets in-
numerable gravestones, and behind the gravestones meadows and

trees and the dark shadows of the mountain

" The captain had run us close by an island rock. It was scarcely
picturesque ; a steep slope of grass upon the landward side, and si a-

Missionary Journey Round the World. 199

ward a precipitous fall of perhaps fifty feet to a beach that dipped
rapidly into the water ; but every one looked at it with interest, for
it was Pappenberg, the Rock of Martyrs. How many hundreds or
thousands of native Christians were flung over that sea-wall we may
never know. It was a cruel death, for they must first have been
mangled on the sharp ledge below before they were drowned. But
two hundred and forty years ago that islet of modern picnics was
spattered with blood, and one of the most painful and perplexing
episodes of Christian Missions came to an end.

" Nagasaki was our last peep at Japan, and we wandered through
the streets reluctant to bid them good-bye. Two men with a huge
drum-like tambourine beat a long tattoo, and when they stopped, a
third man called out in a loud voice the name of the play at the
theatre, and invited the people to come. A blind man passed along
blowing a shrill, plaintive note upon a reed, and thus clearing the
way. We had not seen any tubbing of this much-bathing people in
the open street, nor that promiscuous washing of their person which
appears in travellers' tales. We missed here the light-hearted cour-
tesy of other Japanese towns, where no man ever seems rude to his
neighbour, where common porters will salute one another with an air
of perfect breeding, and where a cabman helps his weaker fellow up
a stiflf bit of hUl and is repaid by a charming ' Ohaio.' But the shop-
keepers were as busy with their smallwares ; the children toddled
about as happily, sisters carrying brothers as big as themselves, and
every one of them with a shaven head on which the hair grew in four
black tufts— the forehead, the crown, and above each ear ; their
fathers laughed with them as they flew dragon-flies like kites, tying
a Ught thread round the body of the unfortunate insect so as to let it
up or down; the women walked about painted and powdered like
their own dolls ; peasants came in from the country thatched from
head to foot in a mantle of straw against some passing shower ; broad
umbi'ellas (each stamped with the owner's name) la,y out in the street
to dry, and the sun streamed through their oUed paper of every shade
of brown ; paper wares were vended of every kind — parasols, over-
coats, and carriage-aprons, fans and twine, and paintings on paper
instead of canvas, and paper pocket-handkerchiefs, which as a lady
uses she throws away ; and anxious people chewed paper prayers well
in their mouths and spat them at their god.

"Then we lingered about Desima, the little scrap of artificial
island or 'made land,' covered to the water's edge with Dutch ware-
houses and native churches, the tiny foothold which the Dutch niain-
tained with such magnificent patience, and surely the strangest of all

200 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

trading factories or sea-prisons. It waa impossible not to think of
what Japan had been till thirty years ago. Then it was absolutely
shut off from the world, now it is represented at every European
capital ; then it was a capital crime for a Japanese to leave his
country, now he studies in a dozen foreign colleges ; then it was death
to a foreigner to be seen on the public road, now he takes his seat
beside the Japanese in a railway train ; then their only ships were
junks, pierced by a hole in the stem that was to warn them against
pushing out to sea — junks that occupied months in a journey between
two of their ports — ^now they own steamers that trade along the coast
as steamers trade along the Clyde, and they have a line to Cluna ;
then the sea was their bulwark, now it is their pathway ; the taxes
were then collected iu kind, now in money ; then Buddhist temples
made the bravest show, now hundreds of them have been suppressed,
their revenues diverted to the State and their bells sold for old
bronze ; then there was a perfect feudal tyranny, now there is a
limited monarchy, a responsible cabinet, and the Code Napoleon ;
then the emperor was absolutely invisible, now the people are not
even compelled to kneel as he passes ; then there was the bitterness
of caste, now even the outcast Ainos have received citizenship ; then
the edicts against Christianity were posted up at the street-corners,
now there are over a hundred missionaries, and Christian men are in
the employment of the State

" In the evening we sat in the veranda of our host's house, some
hundreds of feet above the sea. The harbour was brilliant with the
lights of the shipping, and through a fringe of flowers and tropical
trees we could see them gleam distinctly in the water, and a misty
moonlight in the air revealed the soft mountains beyond. We were
talking of the Missions and the converts. The next day we steamed
past Pappenberg once more, and passed the lonely rocks through
which successive storms have worn the stateliest archways, fifty or
sixty feet in height, the hills seen through them looking like pictures
in a frame. We coasted all day below the woods and mountains ;
the blue islands that had been far ahead were now far astern ; and
there was at last nothing but sea. It was long after sunset when the
captain called us to take farewell of JapEin : it was only a solitary
rock, scarcely visible among the shadows of the evening ; but Japan
claimed it, and would have the honour of crowning it with a light-
house."

" September no, 1877.

" We reached Shanghai to-day, eifter some unfriendly tossing in
the Yellow Sea. We start to-morrow for four days' similar tossing

Missionary Journey Round the World. 201

lip the coast water to Newchwang. Wonderful storms are predicted,
as it is the equinox, but no other ship will sail for ten days, and we
could not miss the chance. They are planning to have two meetings
here on our return — a conference with all the missionaries, and a
general meeting of all the native Christians. But now for the north ;
for the home faces of our own missionaries, and for our own Mission.
As yet it is a tiny speck upon the map, but it lies with the Church
at home how big that speck will grow."

"Off Nbwchwang, Scpte7»6er «S, JS77.
" We left Shanghai on Friday, and it is now Tuesday afternoon.
We have just crossed the bar, with its heavy rollers and dirty yellow
water, and are in a broad river bordered by reedy banks. The China-
men have come upon deck, gorgeously arrayed in wonderful leggings
and armless overcoats quilted with blue satin. Thirty or forty miles
away there are ranges of blue mountains to the east, but the view at
hand is of low, swampy, featureless ground, made inexpressibly dreary
by a few melancholy hovels. We pass endless ranges of junks,
anchored in rows, eight and ten and twelve deep, faded and dirty-
looking, with pennants flying, and some with tall bamboos at the
stem covered over with coloured balls, while a broad crimson flag
droops over the water. The setting sun makes a ruddy glow behind
the forest of low masts and the tall spars of the foreign ships. Some
meagre trees rise from the muddy shore among low-roofed foreign
houses, in compounds surrounded by mud walls. The evening wind
is cold, the sky looks chill, the shore dull and friendless. The
anchor-chains run down, and we are at Newchwang, the most
northerly of the treaty-ports, not long since only a village, though
now a bustling town, with -& population of sixty thousand. The
principal street runs parallel with the river for more than two miles ;
but to call it a street might convey an erroneous impression. We
reached it by a number of what we should call lanes lined with mud
walls. At frequent intervals the walls were pierced with doorways,
opening into vast, irregular courts, of perhaps three to four hundred
feet square, and littered over with carts, mules, dogs, pigs, and men —
great inn-yards, which in winter present a curious spectacle, thronged
with the traffic from places hundreds of miles away. Now these
streets or lanes were deserted, often filled with water, and elsewhere
. deep in mud. But once in the main thoroughfare, a crowd was always
coming and going. The street was lined with substantial shops —
shops for the sale of clothes and shoes, caps and furs, tobacco-pipes
and opium. Carts wandered up and down, drawn by five to eight

202 Life of Williavi Fleming Stevenson.

mules apiece, and absorbing all the room, most of them freighted
with merchandise, but some with people. Men stood at the fruit
and vegetable stalls with bamboo tabes in their hands, rattling the
dice ; and people stopped to buy, for a Chinaman would rather pay
double for his food than not gamble to have it for nothing. Huge
mangy dogs were everywhere. An awful drain crosses the thorough-
fare, six feet wide and twelve or fourteen feet deep, black with the
most horrid filth, and polhiting the air. Manchus and Cantonese,
Buddhists and Mohammedans, people of Shanghai and people of
Amoy, people with turbans and people with skull-caps, the coolie
and the merchant, the long rough dray and the blue-covered country
cart, donkeys and oxen, junk-sailors and Tartar soldiers, jostled each
other in the narrow way, where one Irish cart would scratch the wall
on either side. Beggars followed in tattered garments, asking for
alms with a leer ; and here and there n, temple lifted its carved and
storied roof high above the crowd. The foreign settlement lies at the
upper end, made up of the usual four elements of society — consular,
customs, mercantile, and missionary. The houses are placed upon a
bare bank of mud ; a mud square interposes between them and the
native quarter ; little rough causeways, raised above the yielding
mud, lead from one house to the other ; melancholy trees struggle
out of the muddy soil. It is the broad road to the north, and mules
flounder and carters swear in this Slough of Despond. Close by
where the traffic runs to the lower temples is our chapel, which often
quickly fills when a foreigner begins to preach. In the foreign settle-
ment are the houses and compounds of our missionaries, with the dis-
pensary and another chapel. The United Presbyterian Mission is not
far off, and their chapel for preaching is in the middle of the busy
part of the town.

"It was here that William Bums spent his last days. At the
lower part of the town, not far from a temple, there is the house he
lived in, already considerably changed, and tenanted by people who
never heard his name : they were merely two little rooms in a Chinese
house, for he had adopted many of the Chinese habits as well as dress,
and could live on eggs and Chinese scones that to any one else have
the flavour and consistency of putty. The families change rapidly
at these ports, ten years effecting more than forty would at home ;
but there are a few that preserve the pleasant traditions of the man,
his earnestness and holiness, his genial ways and bright smile. He
did not lay much stress upon his costume, though they tell that long
habit had rendered it natural, and that his face had wonderfully
caught the Chinese expression. He used to say that he was content

Missionary Journey Round the World. 203

if it allowed him to pass among men without notice. He was revis-
ing his trajislation of the ' Pilgrim's Progress,' and would slip into a
quiet corner of a tea-house, sip the tea, and listen eagerly to the
conversation. As soon as he had heard a new colloquial phrase he
was content, and would withdraw rejoicing, and the first greeting
that his friends had would be, 'I have got a new phrase,' as he
repeated it in high glee. There is no personality, apparently, so
marked as his among the Christian missionaries. Men spoke of him
everywhere with regard and admiration, and the impression he left
upon Chinese whom he did not win to Christianity seems to have
been profound. It was mainly the impression of a noble and un-
selfish character, of a pure and single-minded and intensely earnest

man

"We were thirteen days in Newchwang before a steamer came to
take us off, and I was thus able not only to visit the out-stations,
but to form an acquaintance with all the families of the settlement.
The territory that is open to the missionary from this point is enor-
mous. A great part of it is thick with villages and towns. The
population is orderly, industrious, and thrifty, and one may travel
with as much safety, and be sure of as much civility, as at home.
So far the conditions of missionary work are extremely favourable,
and judging by the analogy of other Missions, they are the condi-
tions of success. We have since seen several Missions that for more
years than we have laboured bore no fruit, and have now groups of
powerful native churches. The same man has had ten years of dis-
couragement, and nearly twice ten years of plentiful return. These
all sowed in faith, and we must sow likewise ; and when the day of
harvest comes, there will be no richer grain than that from the
Chinese of Manchuria. "

Tientsin, where some pleasant days were spent, and where
there were many glimpses into the busy Mission Ufe and its
powerful influence, was reached after three days of sea
travel, and two more of impatient detention among the mud-
banks of the river Peiho.

"For himdreds of miles round Tientsin, it may be said, there is
a Christian boundary— a track marked by the villages where there
are Christian families, villages never so far apart but that one holds
easy communication with the next. This roadway is of recent years,
and every year will now add to the villages in the line of it and the

204 ^if^ "f William Fleming Stevenson.

roads that will branch oflf it in every direction. Our Protestant
Missions are no longer a fragment of fringe along an enormous coast.
The fringe is extending so steadily that it will soon be complete, and
already lines of stations are pushing off from it into the interior.
Few of us probably have any more definite conception of Tientsin
than that it is a treaty -port and the scene of an ugly massacre. Yet
Manchester and Liverpool together have not so large a population,
and it is the great mart of Northern China. We attended several
services here. There are now many congregations that support their
own pastors, and build their churches, and look after their church
property, just as we do.

" We heard a sermon there, preached in the ordinary coiirse by a
young native clergyman, which, if preached in English, would have
produced a very striking impression anywhere at home — such a ser-
mon as is rarely heard from any pulpit. We found devout congre-
gations, and had delightful meetings with them ; and there, as well
as elsewhere, we had meetings with all the missionaries, and learned
more of the character of the work than could be gathered from years
of correspondence and sending of reports. Nor has this been the
only gain. We have learned many lessons of faith and patience, and
carried away a constant stimulus from the unselfish, unsparing, try-
ing, yet always cheerful, work of hundreds of men and women who
are not known beyond their own Mission, but whose names are writ-
ten in heaven."

The journey to Pekin can usually be made in a comfortable
house-boat, but the state of the river at the time of our
visit, owing to a strong north-west wind, left no choice, and
the ride of eighty-seven miles in a Chinese mule-cart, spring-
less and seatless, was a never-to-be-forgotten experience. For
seven-and-twenty hours it jolted over roads that were a suc-
cession of ruts often a foot deep, or made tracks for itself,
bumping across the hard furrows of a field, while the unfor-
tunate occupants, stiff and aching, held wearily on by the
sides, and felt as if every joint was being dislocated.

" At last, when the sun had gone down, the mules, which had
once or twice iiitruded their noses into inns, wero turned into a
large courtyard, about sixty feet long and not half as wide, and
filled with carts, waggons, and beasts of burden. Hotels vary in

Missionary Journey Round the World. 205

China, and one or two in Manchuria had a spacious dignity about
them, and rooms that were bright and fairly kept ; and some are
worse than that we entered now, for we were on a highroad where
foreigners are becoming frequent. At the upper end was a small
building for superior guests. It was divided into three compart-
ments with earthen floors : the eating-den had a broken table and a
broken chair ; the other two were for sleeping, and a lamp cast a
dim light iuto the darkness — a tiny wick that floated in a sea of oil
in an iron saucer crusted with the dirt of centuries. A meal under
such circumstances was not exhilarating. The beef we had carried
with us was so manipulated in the cooking that it looked exactly
like a dish of caterpillars ; there was egg-plant stewed in pork broth
— but pigs and dogs are the scavengers of China ! There was season-
ing of sea-slugs, and of other condiments that were spread at an open
window in reach of the cook's brawny arm ; there were messes in
bowls, balls of soft cakes, like putty from a glazier's shop, and there
was musty rice. The trusty Li changed the xmeaten courses with
evident concern. At last, in triumph, he carried in hot water for the
tea ; but against the bowls which he oflered for tea-cups, lip, nose,
and stomach revolted, and we withdrew to bed, cold and supperless,
like naughty children. A mattress was stretched upon the hollow
brick counter which serves as bedstead, and underneath which we
forbade the usual fire, afraid of what the heat might bring forth.
We shivered through the early hours of the night, with our feet to
the bare, repulsive wall and our heads to the passage. In the dull
light it seemed as if hideous things crept along the ceiling, shining
things rested on the walls, and crawling things gnawed among the
paper and straw on the floor ; fingers were thrust through the paper
panes of the little lattice-window, and curious eyes peeped in, and
the rush of chill air was welcome because it was pure ; and as we
dozed and watched, the mules munched outside, and the carters
talked, and the querulous song of some gayer spirit rose above the
other voices. There was a patter of little feet, a squeak, a rat — more
rats : ' They sometimes fall down through the thin ceiling,' a friend
had said. We could stand it no longer. The ' Hall of Ten Thousand
Felicities ' had become to us a ' Temple of Horrors ; ' and in the third
watch of the night we had taken to the road once more, and saw
below the frosty stars the lamps of other carts as they sparkled over
the plain. "

Owing to many previous delays, a week was all that could
be given to Pekin, where the travellers were the guests of

2o6 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

the American Legation, and where every facility was afforded
them of making the best use of their time. One day was de-
voted to the sacred Temple of Heaven, which Mr. Stevenson
explored with especial interest. An exciting expedition was
made to the ruined Summer Palace, forbidden ground to all
barbarians, and where entrance was only made possible by
the fortunate accident of a gap in the wall not having been
repaired. Among other places, the Observatory, with its
gigantic astronomical instruments, some of which have with-
stood exposure to the elements for six hundred years, the
great Llama monastery, and the temple of Confucius were
visited, as well as all the Mission schools and agencies.

"We met one evening, at the invitation of our host, more than
thirty missionaries, and there were some who could not come. Some
of these men have pushed on their journeys as far as Thibet, others
occupy the districts round the capital, and there was not one of them
but was encouraged by the prosperity of the Mission, by the feeling
that its iniluenoe was increasing, and by the character of many at
least of the native Christians among their people. They belonged to
half-a-dozen Societies, and they were a friendly brotherhood, meeting
together every Sunday evenmg, and preaching to this little company
in turn. They had more than one native congregation. The church
of the London Mission, where I heard a striking sermon from the
native pastor, was formerly a temple in a public street ; and on the
Sunday of our stay a pretty chapel was opened for the American
Presbyterian Mission, when all the other missionaries joined in the
dedication, and the native Christians from other quarters flocked to
the service, so that the church could not hold nearly all the people.
There are schools and medical missions and meetings for instruction
scattered over the city. It was evident that the Christian doctrines
had gained some substantial hold — that the work was at least a stage
further advanced than at Newohwang. It was a thoroughly inde-
pendent work, making way by its preachers and books, its schools
and hospitals, and asking nothing from the Government but tolera-
tion. And there were two features in it that were certainly en-
couraging — that it had grown in a few years, and that part of the
secret of its growth waa that it had extended to and not from the
capital. It was not sixteen years since the first foreign lady had been
seen in the streets, and Christian ladies were now not only freely

Missionary Journey Round the World. 207

moving through the eity, but teaching the girls and even practising
medicine ; and the Christian doctrine, with the Bible well in front,
was advancing from the coast-line as its base deliberately and steadily,
and preserving its communications by the way."

Coasting southwards to Hong-Kong, the travellers halted
to inspect the Mission work in Chefoo, Shanghai, and Foo-
Chow, and some delightful days were spent with the mis-
sionaries of the English Preshyterian Church at Amoy and
Swatow.

" It would be impossible to tell you now of the wonderful street in
Foo-Chow which runs in a narrow tortuous course for three miles,
past every variety of shop and handicraft, and with every unutterable
form of evil odour, boimded, it may be said, by a missionary settle-
ment at one end and a theological college at the other ; or of the
conference of almost 200 native Christian workers that met in this
same city ; or of the view from the highest point of the island at
Amoy, where village and river and mountain pass lie under the eye,
each with its own story of the widening of the kingdom of God ; or
of the Christian hospitals that are rising at Swatow, and the Christian
Bible-women that are trained there for patient, wise, and welcome
service in many a native town ; or of the nineteen chapels that, almost
every day, are open in Canton ; or of the Missions among the rude
people that, like similar Missions elsewhere, have been wonderful in
their perseverance, and then wonderful in their success

"While we were at Canton an intimation was received from the
Anti-Opium Society that if I could fix a time to meet them, it would
be esteemed a great favour. This Society is, strictly speaking, only
a department of a general association which has been formed chiefly
by the gentry and literati to protect the faith and morals of the
people. The activity of Christian Missions has called it into exist-
ence, and it has borrowed from them its mode of action. For some
years it has maintained halls in the city, and supported literary men,
who there expound the popular faiths and defend them from the new
doctrine. The audiences are considerable, and I am told the ad-
dresses are often clever and so full of gossip and droll stories that
they can scarcely fail to be entertaining. A missionary who had
gone to hear one was amused at the dexterity with which the speaker
turned his presence into an admission that Confucianism was right :
'Even the missionaries are coming over to us.' The work of the

2o8 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

Society (which ia supported by voluntary contributions) covers a
wide field, and allows of this anomaly that, while the members were
drawn together by hostility to Missions, in the reform or anti-opium
section the missionaries are honorary members.

" At the close of a service of the London Missionary Society I was
requested to speak. When concluding, I told them that we in
England believed China would be given to Christ. Was I to carry
back the message that they also believed it ? To my surprise, one
man, almost stopping me, cried out what meant, ' We do ; ' another
held up his hand, and then every man present did the same, and I
held up both mine. One of them asked leave to speak : ' That was
the message they returned,' and then added some of the usual warm
words of welcome and thanks."

The night before they left China, all the missionaries in
Hong-Kong were invited to meet them at the Basel Mission-
house. During the evening a number of Hakka girls from
the school came into the veranda and sang some German
chorales deliciously in parts, led by one of their number who
was blind ; and as the music floated in with the moonlight
through the open window, Mr. Stevenson was obliged to
reverse his opinion of the musical capabilities of the Chinese.

India was reached on the 11th of December, the three
weeks' journey from China having been broken by a day or
two at Singapore, Galle, and Columbo. Wherever he went
the Mission work was his first interest, and his visits, though
brief, cheered many a lonely worker. Taking a coasting-
steamer from Ceylon, they were landed in a native bunder-
boat, and carried through the surf to the little village of
Allepey, whence they rowed along the backwater to Trevan-
drum, and were the guests of the London Mission : —

" It seems as if one day we had fallen asleep off the coast of China,
and on the next awoke off the coast of India. There is no proper
bridge between the two, but an almost violent contrast, affecting
both land and people. The bare and hard moimtain range, the weary
miles of featureless sand, the turbid and trc^ubled waters yellow
with the muddy deposit of vasli rivers, are all gone ; and instead we
have shores that are fringed with feathery palms, broad-shouldered

Missionary Journey Round the World. 209

hills clothed -with woods of the most glorious green and streaked
with the white foam of falling waters, and seas so lovely and trans-
parent that the sand and stones at the bottom are like the floors and
jewels of a palace. The change of feature, habit, and costume is
quite as great. Instead of the vague roads and narrow streets
crowded with a throng of busy, eager, bustling Chinamen, sullen-
faced, and dressed in a universal dull blue, we had got accustomed
to, there are lithe and graceful forms, brilliant with every gay
harmony of colour, and with all bustle quenched in them by the hot
sunshine and languid air. Only, you will remember that .these are
simply the contrasts of the coast-line, and the impressions of first
sight

"We have not yet been more than a week or two in India; but
the number of Christian congregations, the high and manly type of
many of the native Christians, and their genuLae acquaintance with
the Bible, have made it a time of singular interest. It is with a
curious sensation that one finds in part of Travancore and Tinnevelly
Christian churches as near each other as in Ulster, Christian men
giving a tenth of their income to further the kingdom of God,
Christian mothers better acquainted with Bible truth and more
familiar with Bible language than a vast majority of professing
Christians at home, and a meeting for worship on a week-evening in
a country village drawing hundreds of people. Not that this would
be a fair picture of missions over India, or that where we found it
there are not dark shadows to be filled in. But this is what has
come among a large class of people after more than half a century of
patient toil saddened often by disappointment; and this, if we are
resolute and have faith, is what VriU come in Gujarat.

" Trevandrum is the capital of a spirited native state, Travancore,
ruled by a Maharajah who speaks excellent English, and who was
dressed when he received us in English costume. It is so much in
the power of bigoted Brahmins that a foreigner dare not enter into
the temples, and there is even trouble about walking through some
of the Brahmin streets. Yet in the Government High School the
Bible is taught to eight hundred natives, mostly Brahmin lads ; the
Prime Minister was educated in a Christian school, and the First
Prince,* one of the ablest men in India, gives public lectures in the
College Hall. Like all the towns we saw in Southern India, Trevan-
drum, seen from one of its high places, is a mass of foliage, out of
which a, tower or a roof projects at one point or another, and the

* The title of the heir apparent.

14

2IO Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

streets, even when one is in them, are like shaded roads in a pleasant
suburb. It has a museum, an observatory, a reading-room and
people's library, and a charming botanical and zoological garden,
where a native band plays European waltzes and the airs of the last
opera. Native ' society ' drives about in open carriages on broad and
well-kept roads that rival any in England. The Government has its
inspectors of schools, and even experiments in female education; it
publishes Blue-books and makes an annual statement to the country;
it has its public works, canals, and tunnels, that would draw notice
anywhere, and telegraph-wires run below the cocoa-nuts to the sacred
shrine at Seohundram. Yet we could never forget we were in India.
Tigers lurk in the glorious folds of hills which the Maharajah pointed
out with pride from his country villa ; advertisements were up offer-
ing a handsome reward, besides the tusks, for the capture of a
'rogue' elephant; our hostess had killed a snaJte in her bathroom
the morning before we arrived ; while we sat at breakfast a monkey
chattered and gambolled behind the chair. Beyond the veranda lay
the hot sunshine, like something tangible, on scarlet and purple
flowers, heavy-winged moths as large as wrens, and broad glossy
leaves that covered the ground like a tent. Out on the road, dusky
forms slightly clad in white moved softly past; the streets were full
of Brahmins with the sacred cord over the shoulder and the broad
streaks on the forehead that marked the worshipper of Vishnu or
Siva. There were the spacious tanks where only Brahmins bathed,
and the spacious caravansary where only Brahmins were fed, but
where the State must feed as many of them as may come ; the pagoda
towered high above the arch through which a stream of worshippers
poured into their sacred place; hideous and battered figures of stone
lay below some tree where these gods were served; and now and
then an ascetic, or faUr, with matted hair and filthy body, would

glare at us from the depths of his fierce eyes

"We were to leave Trevandrum by moonlight. An hour or two
before the time some figures issued out of the dark and came on the
veranda. One of them had a violin, and presently, to this accom-
paniment, a number of voices joined in a plaintive air. We could
distinguish the word ' Stevenson,' which came in at regular intervals ;
and when the song was over the leader presented us with a copy of
this MalayaUm poem which he had composed in our honour. It was
a deputation of the native Christians (and all round among the trees
we could see the white turbans of others who did not venture so
near) to thank us in their fashion for our visit. They recounted in
these irregular stanzas every address, lecture, and sermon of the

Missionary Journey Round the World. 2 1 1

three busy days we had spent among them, and commended us to
the care of God. The poet is a, man of culture, several of whose
hymns are sung at Christian worship all through North Travancore ;
and as we found in many more striking and picturesque, as well as
very touching, instances afterwards, the native Church in the south
of India is rich in Christian poets, and the way in which they sing
Christian lyrics to their popular airs suggested what one might
imagine of Luther's hymns on which he floated Reformation truth
among the people

" A page or two out of these past days must be all that I can give ;
and time even for this is by no means easy to find. To travel all
night, sometimes through a wild tropical thunderstorm, in a leaky
boat — or in a bullock-cart without springs, and jolting over a muddy
road, where, perhaps, the bullocks lie down or the cart overturns —
or in a loose hammock carried by bearers, not a word of whose
language one can understand, and over roads that have been swept
away for perches by the rains, and are still mostly under water — or
in a railway train, where the dust never ceases to vex the eyes or
the mosquitoes to vex the ears ; and then all day, from early morning
till night again, to visit schools, examine classes, pass from institu-
tion to institution, lecture, preach, and in the interval to talk with
perhaps thirty men, and weigh, or try to weigh, the answers to a
hundred questions ; and then to wind up with a dinner at one house,
and an evening meeting at another — when all this is put together, there
is not much time or strength for correspondence

"Much of what I would fain write must be passed by with but a
word. Edeyengoody, where we passed the days about Christmas
with its noble-minded and primitive bishop, to whom, as Dr. Cald-
well, all that is good in India looks up, and in whose simple church
I had the privilege of preaching to the people of his Christian village;
Palamcottah, where we could make but the briefest stay with Bishop
Sargent, whom we found presiding over his Church Council (and both
these missionary bishops, with their European but mostly native
clergy, care for » Christian population of nearly fifty thousand) ;
Tranquebar, where the waves have swallowed many a spot on which
the first Protestant missionaries in India preached, but have spared
their church and their graves ; Tanjore, where we found the native
Christians on New Year's Eve following their own poets through the
streets, singing hymns by torchlight, and then crowding into the
church which holds the tomb of Schwartz; Arcot, where, in the
Relief Camp, we saw awful traces of the famine, and pictures of
misery that can never be described ; Madras, where we had a de-

212 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

lightful conference with seventy missionaries, men and women, where
the mission of a Christian education is wrought out in its highest
form, where we renewed and formed acquaintance with the ministers
of the native churches, the Kajahgopauls, and others, and where such
a pleasant network of kindness was cast round us by everybody, from
Government House down, that it seemed hopeless to get away. And
then from Madras we swept for hundreds of miles right across the
Dekkan by mail-train into Bombay, joined at Poonah station, one
morning before dawn, by Mr. Taylor of our Mission, who had kindly
come so far to meet us, and with whom I have since travelled more
than two thousand miles, chiefly through Gujarat and Kattiawar.
We spent Sunday in Bombay, and then pushed on to Surat, reaching
our own stations and our own people, among whom we spent nearly
five delightful weeks

"At Borsad, as elsewhere, our missionaries had kindly planned
out what was to be done, and filled in every comer of every day,
from even before sunrise till long after sunset, with work ; and there,
as elsewhere, the native Christians gave us a welcome which had a
peculiar value in its spontaneity and purely native character, and
which testified to the aflection cherished for the Church at home.
Torches and illuminations marked our way to the Mission-House ;
and we were scarcely seated there when the native Christians came
singing to the door, and at midnight led us away in procession under
triumphal arches bright with mottoes from the Bible and strung with
little lamps of cocoa-nut oil. They led us to the church, where a
short service was extemporized. We were presented with an address
of welcome, and a hymn of greeting, composed for the ocCEision, was
sung steadily through twenty-six stanzas. All the members of the
Presbytery, except those in Ireland on furlough, were present, and
for five days there were incessant meetings and addresses ; for majiy
Christians had assembled from the neighbouring districts, and all the
native workers that could be spared from the Mission field. There
were as many as five hundred, besides the people of the Christian
village, on the spot ; and it was a striking sight, and very touching
to those who could remember the Mission in its infancy, to look at
the upturned faces with which the church was crowded. As the
people sat together on the floor, and so close that one touched the
other, the eye took in a greater number in the same space than would
be possible with us.

" The people filled up the passages, flowed out of the porch upon
the sandy walk, and looked in at the windows. Though most of
them belong to the poor and despised, there are many fine faces and

Missionary Journey Round the World. 213

fine men. One has mastered the principles of a, somewhat obscure,
yet in many places powerful, Hindu sect ; there is a native poet
whose versions of the Psalms are sung in all our churches ; there are
blind musicians who wander about singing native hymns ; some are
gray-headed in Christian service, and many are the children of Chris-
tian parents. We had meetings of Presbytery, conferences, evan-
gelistic services, ordination of elders, street-preaching, baptisms, and
even a marriage ; and whatever time was not thus occupied was spent
in visiting the surrounding villages, seeing the people, and inspecting
the schools.

" One evening the Christians of Khasawadi, the native Christian
quarter of Borsad, entertained us. We walked under an avenue of
trees and up the village street, between brilliant rows of lights. A
band preceded us, entirely native, and marked by the fitful blasts of
a gigantic horn, that wound like a serpent high above our heads.
Rockets and other fireworks were discharged at every step, and their
glittering stars fell back through the soft moonlight. A slight barrier
of wood kept off the dense mass of people on either side. When we
reached the entertainment, we found it was spread under the open
sky and in the open roadway. The heads of the city and the Parsee
judge had been invited, and there was the curious spectacle of Dherda,
whose touch was supposed to be pollution, entertaining high-caste
men, while high caste and low caste crowded outside the barrier,
pushing patiently against each other to catch a view of the strange
sight. It was an assertion by the Christian community of its own
free and casteless life, and we are told it produced a deep
impression

"Ahmedabad is the literary centre of the province, the place of
education and culture, and a place of august memories and of ruins
(mostly mosques) of the most exquisite beauty. I gave a lecture
here, which was attended by the principal natives of the town, who
filled the room tUl it overflowed, and most of whom, with the En-
glish students in our own and the Government High School, attended
the Englisb service which I was asked to take next day in the com-
mon hall of our school. What a stranger realizes most forcibly in
the cities is the enormous growth of the changes which are spreading
among educated men in India, the result of influences that are not
directly Christian, and to which a thousand causes outside the Mis-
sion contribute, but to which the Mission has contributed the largest
share of aU. That these influences are playing a great part at present
no man doubts whose opinion has any weight in India. There is no
fixed direction which the change is taking— certainly not towards

214 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

Christianity ; but it is the Mission alone that proposes to lead and
control it to a definite end, and were the Mission on as large a scale
as the Churches of Great Britain could easily place it, one can
well believe that that end would be reached, and at no great dis-
tance of time. A few miles from Ahmedabad there is an illustra-
tion of the more direct change wrought through preaching of the
gospel ; for there, at Shahawadi, we saw one of the thriving Chris-
tian villages of our Mission — the houses numerous and comfortable,
fat oxen and good horses in the compound, wells from which the water
is drawn to irrigate the farms, and English ploughs in the fields. In
the middle of the village is the Christian school, and at one end of it
the Mission bungalow and the church, of which you have read already
in the Herald. These people, with their industry and comfort, are,
one may say, the creation of our Mission : they have grown to be
what they are through the preaching, and the anxious, wise, and
kindly care of our missionaries ; and though, compared with one of
our country congregations, they are few and poor, yet they give to
the kingdom of Christ with a liberality larger than our best. I had
told them One day that they must be prepared to take up the burden
of Christian manhood and maintain their own ministry, and, as the
wind swept through an empty belfry above our heads, I suggested
that they might gain courage for the larger by attempting the smaller
work of procuring a bell. The next morning we drove out to see
their farms, and the people met us in their schoolroom. A few words
from our missionary at Ahmedabad, and one man offered twenty
rupees for the bell ; another followed ; promises of fifteen, tens, and
several fives came dropping in as one neighbour stood up after an-
other, till every one had given something, and the total was above
two hundred and forty rupees. Presently one or two of the women,
at a hint from their husbands, and being not only good wives but
faithful bankers, stepped out and brought the money subscribed.
The example was infectious, and in a few minutes almost the whole
amount was shining in silver rupees on the table. It was consider-
ably more than the cost of the bell, and (relatively to the means of
the people and the value of money to the native) it probably repre-
sented at least five times the amount that it would at home. I dare-
say it was a sacrifice, and made with what might be called a spurt,
but it was a willing and generous spurt. For not only has the church
here not cost our Mission funds one penny, but the congregation has
largely subscribed to it ; and this incident shows the fine Christian
temper into which, through patient years, our missionaries are mould-
ing the native Christiana

Missionary Journey Round the World. 215

' ' Northern and Central Kattiawar were visited on the way to our
pleasant old station at Rajkote, which, on a small scale, without
ruins, and with nothing like the same pretensions, occupies a similar
relation to Kattiawar that Ahmedabad does to Gujarat — a scholastic
centre, and possibly a centre of intellectual life to that curious pro-
vince of feudal chiefs and feudal customs. Like many another jour-
ney we have had, it was fagging, an endless ride at two miles an hour
in lazy, jolting bullock-carts, on and on, night and day, with now a
hasty meal in a caravanserai among camels, buffaloes, and donkeys^
and now in the open road, with only the stars above us, the soft
thick dust below, and from the neighbouring hamlet the voices of
children at play, singing idol-hymns that float over a land of idol-
stones and idol-temples, where the eye searches for a church spire in
vain. The last Sunday we spent in Gujarat most of the missionaries
were able to be with us at Neriad, some under canvas, and some in
rooms off the new church, which attracts the eye of every traveller
who passes the railway station. The day might be said to have been
spent in public worship ; for we had not only frequent services, the
people, as at Borsad, crowding the building and sitting out in the
open, but they themselves spent the intervals sitting in a picturesque
circle, under the shade of the great trees, while one evangelist ad-
dressed them after another ; and when the last service was over we
sallied out into the town, a place larger than Derry, where, in the
twilight, preaching was commenced in the bazaar or market-street,
and soon turned into an animated discussion on the respective merits
of Siva and Christ. At Neriad, as at other halting-places, the day
was marked by the solemn joy of baptisms, between thirty and forty
persons having been baptized during these weeks ; and to me it was
most affecting to have the privilege of seeing so many received into
the Church of Christ, and of pronouncing over them the ancient words
that have been taught us by the Lord of Missions. The next day we
spent at Anund, a rural district, which is likely to be one of our
strongest missionary centres, and where Mrs. Stevenson had the honour
of laying the foundation-stone of the Children's Church. Before the
ceremony, which was a novel one in the district, very touching words
of gratitude to the Church at home and for our visit were spoken by
some of the native Christians, words which no one could hear un-
moved. If the children could see what we have seen and hear what
we have heard, they would not only try who would be first in giving
most to build this house of prayer, but every household would have
its own treasury-box, where ofi'erings would be kept for India and
China."

2i6 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

Leaving the Irish Mission at Surat and returning to
Bombay, they went by rail to Calcutta, stopping near the
top of the Ghauts at Nassick to see the work of the Church
Missionary Society there ; and from Nandgeon, a station two
hours farther on, branching off to Jalna, to visit the Chris-
tian village built by the Rev. Narayan Sheshadri.

In Calcutta, where they were received everywhere witli
unbounded hospitality, and entertained by the Viceroy, Mr.
Stevenson wrote : —

' ' We have been in Calcutta for more than a week, staying in an
honoured house (for our host tells us the room we occupy was Dr.
Duff's); visiting schools and Missions and missionaries; talking with
native students, editors, clergy, and professors; visiting zenanas
(that is, Mrs. Stevenson) with the devoted women who make this
their work; preaching, attending meetings, seeing idol-worship of
the most repulsive kind side by side with a culture like the best at
home ; wearily peeping at the lions ; and as wearily dining out after
each hard day

"Now, at a bound, we have got into one of the wildest spots, and
to me the most intensely interesting, in modem India. We are at
Ranchi, in the heart of Chota Nagpore, the seat of the German Mis-
sion which the faith of Gossner planted thirty-three years ago and
sustained through fruitless years of trial, where there are now forty
thousand Christians, and where three to four thousand were baptized
last year. Yet all this has happened so rapidly, that I have been talk-
ing with the first missionary who came out, and who was five years
without a convert. To gain leisure at each place, we have had to
travel harder than is the custom in India. Small ponies, changed
every few miles, took Mr. Taylor and myself to Jalna at a constant
gaUop through the day and through the night. They were har-
nessed to a tonga, where you have scanty support for your back, sit
upright all the time, and bear the jolting of the gallop with philo-
sophy. A missionary who has roughed it for sixteen years here told
me that nothing but a solemn sense of duty would take him by the
mail tonga on that road again

"As we return by another route, we have to time our leaving so
as to pass an ugly spot by daylight; for a man-eating tiger has
haunted it these two yeajs, and killed between a hundred and fifty
and two hundred people, lately carrying off even » bearer from a

Missionary Journey Round the World. 217

palanquin, so that the men, I suppose properly, decline to be there
at night. Seventeen hours of palanquin, then seven hoars' rest in the
afternoon, two-and-twenty hours in another vehicle, what is called a
gha/rry, drawn by men instead of horses, the rest of a short night,
twenty hours of rail, and then we shall be among the missionaries at
Benares.

"You can imagine how weary one often is, and how wistfully we
look to home. But work like this can be done only once, and must
be honestly faced and not shirked as long as strength and health
hold out."

Nearly a month was spent among the cities of the north-
west, going from the dense superstitions of Benares to
Cawnpore, Lucknow, and Delhi, with their memories of the
Mutiny. Prom Agra a detour was made into Rajpootana
to inspect the Mission stations of the United Presbyterian
Church; and before reaching Lahore, the farthest limit
of their journey, they spent a happy Sunday among the
hearty workers in the Church Missionary Society's Mission
at TJmritzar, visiting, on their return to Bombay, the
American Missions at Dehra Doon, Missouri, and Allahabad.

The long strain of incessant labour had taxed Mr. Steven-
son's energies to the utmost, and, weary and exhausted, he
was ill-fitted to bear the shock of the news that awaited
him at Jubbalpore of the death by accident of his, brother-
in-law, Mr. John M. Sinclair. After a short farewell visit
to Surat, the Bombay doctors imperatively ordered him to
Mahableshwar, to await the sailing of the homeward-bound
steamer.

A letter to the missionaries after his return closes this
slight record of a missionary journey which covered 47,000
miles.

"Orwell Bank, July SI, 1878.
" My DEAR Bketheen, — Although I have been able to write brief
notes to one or two of you, I have not been able to return to the good
old habit of a regular letter, and I seize the opportunity now, just to
tell you how it fared with us since we parted. Every day we were
on board we had a Bible-reading, to which as many as eighteen of

2i8 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

the passengers were willing to come. The American Mission in
Egypt seems admirably manned, and its success is at present very
cheering to the missionaries. In Cairo they are raising a building
which is almost as substantial as the citadel, and which will be the
largest block in the handsome street which it adorns : judging by the
stone and lime, it is certainly like taking possession of the land. The
Mohammedan University in Cairo was also full of interest. Dr.
Lansing kindly procured us the necessary firman to visit it, and was
himself our interpreter and companion. I do not know that anything
in my journey produced on me a more profound impression than to
see that enormous crowd of evidently eager and attentive students
grouped around their professors, and to see the teachers, each ab-
sorbed in his own subject, and seeming to carry with him the full
attention of the class ; and then to realize that these students came
from every part of the world (the Mohammedan world), and were

being moulded there into future teachers of the great system

"Taking passage by the Eubhatino steamer from Alexandria to
Genoa, we got out at Leghorn to save time, having first enjoyed, as
we sailed on a perfect day along the coast of Sicily from Catania to
Messina, the most lovely views, I think, that I have ever beheld, or
rather the most lovely succession of views, unfolding themselves in
every variety of beauty as we steamed slowly past. From Leghorn
we went, for the only real rest that I had enjoyed since leaving
home, to Bellagio, on the Lake of Como, o, lovely spot about four
hundred feet above the lake, where, though the house was full, there
was, except at meal-times, a sense of being absolutely alone, and
where the rest consisted in trying to read and write up old note-
books in our bedroom, which from its window commanded ", view
of the Lecco arm of the lake ; but then in two minutes one was
among gardens and woods, where the songs of the countless nightin-
gales vied with the songs of the blackbird and the thrush, and where
roses, a triumph of the gardener's art, seemed to grow wild among
thorns and in shrubberies. I had scarcely begun to feel the benefit
of stopping when it became necessary to push on for home ; and by
travelling all night for three or four nights in succession, we reached
our children near Belfast on Friday, the 31st May. Our thankfulness
to find them well was deepened when we found that a letter had
been written during our absence to announce that by the next mail
we must be prepared for tidings of the death of our youngest, of
whose recovery, after a long illness, the doctors had given up all
hope. God, however, had mercifully spared them all ; and even in
my own congregation the only two deaths recorded wei e of persons

Missionary Journey Round the World. 219

who had been hopelessly ill before I left home, and to whom I had
then bidden farewell. On the Saturday we went up to Dublin, and
our first Sabbath in Bathgar was, like the last Sabbath we had spent
before leaving, devoted to the communion of the Lord's Supper. You
will readily understand what a joyful and what a touching meeting
it was, and how many thoughts came crowding on one's mind. You
will scarcely understand, however, how the sight of faces that seemed
exactly as they had been left a year before, and under exactly the
same circumstances, produced an impression that the twelve months
of constant travel were only a dream, from which one had awoke ;
and sometimes still I feel as if it had been a strange and wonderful
dream, until the edge of a note-book or the sight of a pile of Govern-
ment blue-books reminds me to the contrary.

"On Monday we returned to Belfast, and on that evening there
was begun one of the happiest Assemblies, one of the most brotherly
in spirit, one of the most important in its appointments, and one of
the highest in its tone, at which I remember to have been present.
You will already have received, I trxist, papers that I sent contain-
ing the report of the evening devoted to the Foreign Mission. I
suspect that the effort, and the wonderful warmth of welcome offered
by the Assembly, and the sight of so vast a multitude, were too
much for one already overwrought. The next Sunday was unwill-
ingly spent in bed. I returned to Dublin again towards the end of
the week, and have been here ever since ; not, however, that I have
been doing much work. Fagged and weary and listless, both in
body and mind, almost incapable for the present of exertion, and
having tried to fight down the feeling of intense lassitude and pros-
tration, I have been at last compelled to consult the doctors in Dub-
lin, who have agreed in their description of what is astray, and in
the imperative remedy that they prescribe ; and by their orders we
have to start again this week for the seaside, the moat bracing place
and the quietest that can be found, and to stay there, short or long,
until there comes perfect restoration of tone. You will be glad to
know that, after the closest examination, the heads of the profession
here agree independently that I have contracted no organic disease,
and tell me I should consider myself particularly fortunate in that
condition of things, since such a journey, so undertaken, ought to
have left some organic wrong behind it ; and they also say that, if
their instructions are rigidly carried out and work absolutely stopped
during this time of change, I shall be able for even the additional
burden that must be expected during the coming winter. I have
scarcely yet even thought of taking the rems from the hands that

220. Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

have held them so prudently and with so great advantage to the
Mission during the twelve months of absence,* not feeling in any
way equal to the task ; but I suppose I shall gradually fall into the
old groove, although with a wonderful change of scenery and thought
when thinking of the East.

" I dare not begin in this letter, or it would never end, to tell you
of all the deep and happy and solemn thoughts that have been Ifeft
by our visit to not only the broad fields of Missions in the East, but
especially to Gujarat. Every day we feel more thankful that it was
put into the hearts of any in our Church to think of this visit, and
that God so wonderfully prepared the way ; and we shall carry with
us, almost as freshly as we feel them at present, those recollections
of all that you and we witnessed together. The memory of those
delightful talks and interviews, and the sight of those congregations
of Christian worshippers — first-fruits of the Mission work^-oan be
now renewed every day as we talk round our table

"Our work is a spiritual work where every qualification that a
Christian man may have is needed, but all else sinks low beside spir-
itual fitness and spiritual power. Let us for our Church at home,
let us for those who may propose to serve in the Mission-field, let us
for ourselves covet this earnestly as the best gift — a gift for which we
will pray without ceasing. It is the impression that, deep already,
has been made deeper than any other, that only through the right-
eousness and power of spiritual life, a life that is very holy because
it is very close to Jesus Christ, will the real work of the Mission be
ever done. Intensity of spiritual life, intensity of spiritual fervour,
let us ask for these ; and surely, as we ask in the spirit of the Master,
we shall receive.

"It is, I suppose, somewhat irregular in a letter like this to
introduce any one but myself as correspondent ; but this time at
least I must bring Mrs. Stevenson along with myself in the most
cordial remembrance to every one of you, and in the prayer that all
we saw of the Mission in Gujarat, much blessed and in many ways
wonderful as it is, will soon be far eclipsed by what you on the spot
v?ill see. — With warm regard, affectionately yours,

"W. Fleming Stevenson."

At the meeting of the General Assembly, on the night set
apart for Foreign Missions, the large building in which the

* The Rev. Kobert Montgomery, senior missionary to India, who acted as tem-
porary Convener. ■

Missionary Journey Round the World. 221

Court met was filled to overflowing. As Mr. Stevenson
entered the Assembly the whole house rose and greeted him
with an outburst of welcome, which was repeated again and
again. The enthusiastic reception took him by surprise,
and it was only by a strong effort he was able to master his
emotion. His account of his mission had been eagerly looked
forward to, and the expectations of the vast audience were
not disappointed. Many, after an interval of years, have
said that his speech was the noblest piece of Christian
oratory to which they had ever listened. The address, when
printed, had a circulation of nearly 40,000 copies, and one
who read it forwarded anonymously £500 to the Mission.

Mr. Stevenson began by enumerating the general im-
pressions produced by his contact with the strongholds of
heathenism. Among these were the enormous populations of
India, China, and Japan, amounting to at least 700 millions,
the traces he met everywhere of a high culture and a forward
civilization, and the antiquity of the religious systems' and
religious life. Over against all this he had an ever-gathering
sense of the vast and beneficent forces which were being
brought into play by the Church of Christ. With few ex-
ceptions, the Missions in these countries were of quite recent
origin, scarcely dating back further than to the beginning
of the century. The work already accomplished had quite
surpassed his expectations. Nor was it only the direct re-
sults which were to be regarded; almost everywhere faith
in heathenism had been weakened. The first rough work of
making grammars and dictionaries and the grand task of
translating the Bible were over, and the missionary proper
was rapidly replacing the pioneer. The Home Missions were
not to be neglected for the Foreign. Once the heart of the
Church was touched, the strength of her quickened pulse
would be felt in every Mission ; and there was need of that
quickening power. He had borne away with him from the
field the painful and universal impression that the Mission was

222 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

undermanned. On the other hand, the catholicity of spirit
and frank co-operation subsisting among the missionaries of
the different Churches formed a delightful spectacle, and one
that might be better imitated at home. In the face of an
infidel English press, and the growing indifference towards
the old idolatries, he was convinced thfit the Christian Mission
was the one power that would keep India loyal and make
India great.

CHAPTER X.

PUBLIC LIFE.

Before his long journey Mr. Stevenson had become widely
appreciated. On both sides of the Atlantic his earnestness,
eloquence, and ^Christian devotedness had won for him an
honoured name among aU the Churches. The demand for
his services in the management of Christian and other public
institutions was widespread and incessant. He never coveted
publicity, and yet no man was better known. The duties
that fell to him as pastor and as Convener of the Foreign
Mission of his own Church were more than sufficient for
any man, as has since been recognized.* If to these be
added the innumerable calls for lectures and services of all
kinds, which came from England and Scotland as well as
Ireland, some idea may be formed of the pressure under
which he was working. All these conditions were intensi-
fied after his return from his missionary tour. His life then
became one of labour and toil without end. It almost appals
one to look at its details during these last years, and to find
that he went through it all. It was the pathetic efibrt of a
strong and noble nature to do the work of two men, and to
do it perfectly ; and to the very end he united the instincts
of a student and the ideals of an artist -^vith the dogged per-
severance of a practical worker.

These busy years may by some be regarded as hastening

* These duties are now shared b7 the Rev. William Park, M.A,, the Rev. Wm.
Bogers, D.D., and D. G. Barkley, Esq., late Judge of the Chief Court of the Punjaub.

■224 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

the end ; but one can easily see how, with the sense of his
serviceableness, the compass of his engagements widened and
their grasp tightened, while to spend and be spent in the
service of Christ he accepted as a postulate of his Christian
calling. He worked through them with all his energy and
power, and all the while kept planning for the future, how-
ever long or short it might be. Even under such continued
pressure, his mind was clear and his spirits buoyant. It is
not possible to detail all he did ; we can only touch on some
of his a"bundant labours. He had fulfilled the aspiration of
an earlier day, when, in 1864, he wrote to his brother-in-law,
Mr. Thomas M. Sinclair : —

" The life of a clergyman is not the life of a man who fills his bams
and dies in plenty, but of one who trusts in. God to satisfy very
moderate wants, whose first wish is to do His work, and who sets an
example of humility and faith. It might please God to keep me
poor, but I trust it will never please Him to keep me idle. "

During his absence in India there was a very widespread
desire that on his return home he should be elected Moderator
of the General Assembly, the highest honour the Presbyte-
rian Church has in her power to bestow. On hearing of this
intention, although deeply touched by the sympathy with the
Mission which it indicated, Mr. Stevenson at once telegraphed
from India to request that it should not be carried out, feel-
ing that, after so long an absence from his own congregation,
it would not be fair to subject them to a year of such irreg-
ular service as would have to be given by one occupying a
position charged with so many duties as the Moderator's chair
entails. The Church submitted to his wish, and his friends
felt all the more thankful for his decision when, soon after
his return home, it became evident that the long strain of
unremitting toil and incessant travel had completely over-
taxed his strength, and he was imperatively ordered a period
of absolute rest.

Public Life. 225

In 1879 the Government appointed Mr. Stevenson a Sen-
ator of the Royal University of Ireland, which was founded
in that year.

Thirty years before, to meet the needs of the Roman
Catholic population, as well as of all Protestants outside the
Episcopal Church, who were at that time excluded from any
share in the government or emoluments of the University
of Dublin, Sir Robert Peel's Ministry founded the Queen's
University, to which were affiliated the three colleges of Bel-
fast, Cork, and Galway. This University had no religious tests
whatever, denominational instruction being given by Deans of
Residence belonging to the various Churches in the country.

After some years, however, the University had become un-
popular with the more ultramontane section of the Roman
Catholic Church, and it was to meet their demands that the
Royal University was founded, to take the place of the
Queen's University. The new body was, like London Uni-
versity, purely an examining board for the purpose of
granting degrees to students of all denominations, wherever
educated ; while the three Queen's Colleges, as well as the
denominational colleges in Ireland, continued to exist merely
as teaching institutions, a number of their professors being,
however, selected to be the fellows and examiners of the new
University. A large number of the candidates for ordina-
tion of the Presbyterian Church had received their educa-
tion in arts through the Queen's University ; while Magee
College, Derry, an institution under the control of the Gen-
eral Assembly, possessing complete faculties both in arts and
divinity, now sent up its students to receive their degrees
from the Royal University. Apart, therefore, from the
general interests of education in Ireland, it was of the high-
est importance to the Presbyterian Church that a man of
Mr. Stevenson's experience and character should have a seat
on the Senate.

In 1881 the Universify of Edinburgh conferred upon him

15

226 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

the degree of D.D. ; and in June of the same year, when the
General Assembly met in Dublin, he was unanimously elected
Moderator. The following passage from the inaugural address
shows his wide vision and high ideal : —

" We have flourished by the reading and preaching of the Word of
God. If we have any moral firmness and reUance, if we have made
any prosperous advance, we owe it to the freedom and the love of
that blessed Book. We make no secret that we wish that Book to
be as free to all our countrymen as it is to us. As Irishmen, we can
do Ireland no greater service. It is the spiritual conquest that we
keep before us, not the prevailing of one special Church, though we
may think it the purest and best, not even the prevailing of Protestant
over Roman Catholic, but the prevailing of Christ over all. That is
the Irish mission, the Home mission, to which all our history seems
to point ; that is the mission which it is the province of this Assembly
to foster, till the spirit and ambition of it seize on all our members,
and we ' rise on stepping-stones of our dead selves to higher things. '
The very strife of these discordant times is summoning us ; the sense
of past neglect is urging us. There is a legend that lingers in the
wilds of Donegal, that, before Columba, the founder of lona, was
born, his mother saw in a vision a fair robe that an angel took from
her and flung into the air, and as it floated there it grew until it
covered the mountains and all the country round, and there was a
voice that spoke of innumerable souls that would be gathered to their
heavenly home. May our history fulfil the dream ! May the fair
robe of primitive doctrine and the primitive simplicity of worship and
order that our fathers brought with them from Scotland — the robe
that has been always spreading wider its folds of royal blue — grow
until it cover every mountain, valley, and plain in this dear Ireland,
and may the voice that is heard be the voice of a living Church ; the
one great eminence that we covet, the witness of innumerable lives
that God has redeemed by His grace ! There is one mission which,
by its overwhelming magnitude, overtops the rest. Twelve centuries
ago there was a gigantic problem to be solved. Christianity had
conquered the races of culture. It had found the world like a weary
spendthrift, sated, dissatisfied, and in want, and the fulness of its
message had fallen on the emptiness of life. But the vast hordes of
the North had swept down from their forests in Gaul and beyond the
Danube. Would the same power cope successfully with these bar-
barian races, full of rude joy and strength ?

Public Life. 227

"It was left to a little speck of land in the outer fringe of the
Roman Empire to lead the -way in settling that question then ; and
this narrow island of ours, beset with the restless breakers of the
Atlantic, became for three hundred years a starting-point of mission-
ary impulse, its surface studded with missionary colleges, its princes
not disdaining to be missionaries, and from its moors and mountains
a race of brave and large-souled men issuing in a stately and unique
procession to scatter the pagan shadows that brooded over Europe.
That Irish Church sowed its workers with a lavish hand, reaping as
it sowed. It was not a Church supporting a mission, which is our
modern innovation, but a missionary Church. Its schools of theology
and its peculiar constitution pointed mainly in that direction ; and I
would ask you, fathers and brethren, to keep up the repute of that
old Irish mission.

" In an eager and impetuous age, an age of fervour and triumph,
we stand perplexed and full of shame that we should be confronted
by thick belts of heathenism, representing a larger population than
was in all the world when Christianity began, and, if we add Moham-
medans, a, population vastly larger. If it needs, apparently, the
presence of forty thousand clergymen, with a countless company of
other Christian workers, to maintain Christianity in Great Britain
and Ireland, what provision are we making to reach a pagan world
as huge as if thirty kingdoms like our own lay side by side ? What
we are to do with these thousand millions of heathen is the gravest
and greatest problem of our time. History teaches us that there is a
force capable of solving it, that that force lies in the Word of God.
The Word of God teaches us that the Church is, in one respect of it,
H, vast missionary institution, planted, sustained, and ministered to,
that it may subdue the world under Christ. The roots of this divine
idea twine round the roots of revelation. It is as essentially in the
one Testament as in the other. Abraham is the father of the mission,
the prophets are its seers, the psalmists its poets. And when the
command, 'Go and teach all nations,' is at last uttered in its mag-
nificent breadth, the new dispensation is only bursting like a flower
from the restraining sheath of the old. Lines of promise run through
the Bible from the beginning to the end of it, promises that can be
fulfilled only when the passion for this conquest seizes on the whole
Church of God. Lines of prophecy lie beside them— lines of prophecy
ever widening with the suns, prophecies that can only be fulfilled
when forces of some divine intensity will break up the crust of things
at home. There are other lines that we can trace to-day converging
upon the same point— lines of the intellectual energy and the rush of

228 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

commerce and the enterprise that are characteristic of bur time, and
along which, as we hear of new lands uncovered, and of how the
East and West are touching at innumerable points, we hear also a
voice that cries, 'Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make His paths
straight.'"

The pressure upon his time and thought was greatly in-
creased by the new and by no means idle dignity conferred
upon him. To his pastoral duties and mission work, not to
speak of the numerous committees on which he served, was
now added that of Chairman of the Church and of all the
Church's Boards, and the necessity of representing her on
all public occasions, opening new churches, preaching anni-
versary sermons, corresponding with the Government, plead-
ing for charities, and addressing public meetings. Into this
work, common to all Moderators, Dr. Stevenson threw him-
self with an energy that made him seem almost ubiquitous.
His previous life had been so busy, that it was only by short-
ening the hours of rest that more work could be done. He
was seldom able to take more than four consecutive hours of
sleep during his year of office. The multiplicity of commit-
tees or boards on which he served made dire inroads on his
time. It may be interesting to insert a list of the offices he
held in 1886, taken from his pocket-book : —

Duff Lecturer, "WTiitsun 1882 to Whit-
sun 1886.

Senator of the Royal University.

Member of Standing Committee, Koyal
University.

Examiner, General Assembly's Theo-
logical Committee.

Member of Dublin Libraries Committee.

Honorary Secretary, Hibernian Bible So-
ciety.

Honorary Secretary, Dublin Social Pur-
ity Society.

Convener, Foreign Mission.

Convener, Zenana Mission.

Trustee, Magee College.

Trustee, Orphan Servants' Home.

Vice-President, Dublin Y.M.C.A.

Vice-President, Hibernian Band of Hope.

Vice-President, Indian Vernacular Edu-
cation Society.

Vice-President, Sunday-School Society.

Vice-President, Presbyterian Associa-
tion, Sackville Street.

Director, Presbyterian Orphan Society.

Member of Committee of —

United Services Committee, Dub-
lin.
Conventions Sub-committee.
Evangelical Alliance.
Bible and Colportage Society.
Turkish Missions Aid Society.
British and Foreign Sailors' Society.
Pan-Presbyterian Council on Mis-
sions.
Pan-Presbyterian Council on Wo-
man's Work.

Public Life.

229

Member of Committee of —

Waldensian Aid Society Consulting
Committee.
Member of General Assembly's Com-
mittee on —
Elementary Education.
Higher Education.
Home Missions.
Psalmody.

Systematic Beneficence.

Aged and In&rm Ministers' Fund.

Committee in Correspondence with

Government.
Mission Board.
Member of Dublin Presbytery's Com-
mittee on State of Beligion.
Secretary of Dublin Presbytery's Com-
mittee on Missions.

From the time of his return from India it was his ardent
desire to be able to preach or lecture for Missions in every
congregation of his Church in Ireland. The demands of
his own congregation and other duties naturally made the
accomplishment of this plan a work of time, but he kept
it steadily before him ; and when an engagement to preach
on the Sunday took him to some country district, he often
arranged to deliver four or five lectures in different places
before returning home.

In June 1879 he wrote to the missionaries : —

" I am, EiiS usual, overworked, but see no way to work less. At
the urgency of the United Presbyterian Synod and of the Free Church
Assembly, I addressed both those bodies upon Missions, the one in
the beginning and the other in the end of May, and was refreshed to
see those vast audiences which ' only Missions ' drew together in the
Synod and Assembly Halls. Since then the College Committee of
the Free Church have written with such frequency and urgency, that,
after refusing, I must probably yield to their request to deliver the
lectures of the Duff Evangelistic Chair to their students in Edinburgh
and Glasgow during this winter. They can be compressed, I hope, into
a few weeks, and of course it is delightful to have a try at these young
feUows, and perhaps stir them up for the Mission. We have as yet
no chair of that kind in our colleges ; but having been appointed to
deliver the first course of lectures on the Richard Smyth Foundation
— a course of ten, to begin in December 1881 — it may be that it will
be possible for me to deliver them in Belfast as well as Derry, and I
have chosen as the subject, ' The History and Methods of Christian
Missions.' Of course, I have been pleading for the Mission in many
of our congregations, and will be continuing this work during the
autumn ; and as these are all extra labours, it is sometimes rather
fagging, though the cause is worth it all. "

230 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

The enthusiasm with which he was received in Edinburgh
and the interest his addresses excited were quite remarkable.
Soon after, the Rev. Hugh Macmillan, D.D., wrote : —

" It will be an honour to preach in the pulpit of one whose praise
is in all the Churches, and a gratification to show in this way, in a
small degree, the sense of gratitude which I feel, as a member of the
Free Church, for the most valuable services which you are about to
render to her. I was thrilled by the most admirable and eloquent
address which you gave at the last meeting of our Assembly, and felt
inclined to go up and almost wring your hand off at the close ; but
you were borne off in a whirlwind of applause and a chariot of tri-
umph, Emd I saw you no more."

The allusion in this letter to future services refers to a
request which had been preferred, that for one winter he
would undertake the lectures in coiuiection with the Chair
of Evangelistic Theology in the New College, Edinburgh, a
chair instituted and endowed by the friends of Dr. Duff, who
was the honoured occupant of it tUl his death.

In reference to these lectures Mr. Stevenson wrote to the
missionaries in the following spring : —

" Dublin, March 18, 1S80.
" I need not repeat what I have already written about Scotland.
Since the death of Dr. Duff his chair has been put into commission.
Dr. M. Mitchell, Dr. Thomas Smith, and Mr. Wilson of the Barclay
have all given lectures in connection with it. This winter I was
asked to give twelve lectures to the first-year students in Edinburgh
and Glasgow. In Edinburgh the professors sacrificed their own
lectures that the students might attend, and, to my discomfiture,
there were always professors, ministers, and elders among the audi-
tors. Nothing could be warmer than the welcome given, or greater
than the kindness shown ; and the feeling among the men was de-
lightful. A good many seem bent on Mission work, and they include
some of the best students in both the Colleges, while I understand
there are others in Aberdeen. The lectures were delivered daily
(except Saturday) for five weeks, and a student was scarcely ever
absent. But as there were public addresses besides, one in Edin-
burgh, where even the passages were crowded in the Assembly Hall,

Public Life. 231

and one in Glasgow to over 4,000, and missionary sermons, I was
fairly tired out ; yet have now a requisition to return in April and
give at least half the lectures to the public, a requisition signed by a
very Evangelical Alliance, for it includes a Moderator of the Free
Church, the leading ministers of the Established, the Bishop of Edin-
burgh and the Dean, the Principals of the various Colleges, the
Provost, and laymen as well as ministers of every denomination. It
is plain, from the interest in Mission subjects, that Missions have got
a mighty hold upon the Scottish people ; and yet if the interest were
analyzed it would be found that it is meagre, and that it does not
yet affect the bulk of the Church members ; and if that is true of
Scotland, we are much further behind."

Among the subjects chosen were — " The Helplessness and
Hopelessness of Heathenism," " The Mission of the Church
of God," "Missionary Epochs and Methods," "The Apos-
tolic and the Modern Mission," " The Mission of the Church
at Home." On the conclusion of the series the Senatus of
the New College passed the following resolution : —

"The Senatus, in taking leave of Mr. Fleming Stevenson, record
their very strong sense of the thoroughly able manner in which he
performed the duties of the Evangelistic Theology Chair, the admir-
able character of the lectures he delivered, and the interest which he
excited in the minds of the students. They believe that the impres-
sion produced by the lectures and by the personal intercourse with
the students is likely to bear abundant fruit in years to come."

In forwarding this resolution, the secretary, Professor
Duns, added : —

"Your visit has been of the very greatest profit to us all. I have
seen its influence in my class. We have a half hour of prayer weekly,
conducted by the students of the class — ^my part being only to give
out a psalm — and I have been much impressed by the directness and
earnestness of the cry for blessing on Mission work. "

The immediate practical result of these lectures was, that
a large number of students resolved to devote themselves to
Mission work. With these he came afterwards into personal

232 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

contact, inviting them to meet him, and dealing lovingly with
them one by one. After his return, the requisition already
referred to followed him. The catholicity of its spirit, em-
bracing so many representatives of all Churches and schools
of thought, gave it a peculiar value iia his eyes, and he felt it
to be an opportunity that he dared not put aside, though the
pressure of other engagements was so great that, in order to
lessen as much as possible the period of absence from home,
the lectures, which were to be delivered in Glasgow as well
as in Edinburgh, were most of them given in both cities on
the same day. Many friends were anxious he should be
appointed permanent successor to Dr. Duff in this chair, and
he was nominated by a number of Presbyteries in the Free
Church ; but more and more he felt that God had given him
a work to do for the Missions of the Irish Presbyterian
Church, and he gratefully but firmly put their proposals aside.

In the winter of 1881-2 he delivered eight lectures in
Derry in connection with the Lectureship founded as a memo-
rial of the labours of Dr. Richard Smyth. They were con-
cluded in the spring of 1883. The subjects were — "The
Kingdom of God," "The Mission of the Church," "The
Working of the Leaven," " The Ages of Delay," " The New
Era," "The Church and the World," "Problems in Solution,"
" The Work before TJs."

Dr. Alexander Duff, the missionary to India, whose devo-
tion and labours have left an imperishable monument in the
triumphs of the gospel among the people to whom he conse-
crated his genius and his life, died in 1878, and, in accordance
with his wishes, the Duff Missionary Lectureship was founded
by his son, and committed to trustees of various denomina-
tions representing the catholicity of his own spirit and life.
The Lectureship was to be held for four years, and the subject
of lecture was to come "within the range of Foreign Missions."
In 1882, Dr. Stevenson was offered the appointment. The
overwhelming amount of work to which he was pledged made

Public Life. 233

him hesitate to accept an honour which, for many reasons, was
peculiarly gratifying to him ; but through the courtesy and
consideration of the trustees, represented by their chairman,
Lord Polwarth, several difficulties were removed, and in the
winter of 1884-5 he delivered a series of lectures in Edinburgh
and Glasgow, repeating them in Aberdeen in 1886. One of
the conditions of the trust required the publication of the lec-
tures; and this condition has been fulfilled, so far as was pos-
sible after his death, in the little volume bearing the title of
the first lecture, "The Dawn of the Modern Mission."

The General Alliance of the Presbyterian Churches, which
meets every four years, and represents twenty-two million
of Christians throughout the world who have adopted the
Presbytierian form of Church government, assembled in Bel-
fast in June 1884. Dr. Stevenson read a paper on "The
Missionary Consecration of the whole Church,"* which at the
late meeting of the council in London was characterized by
Professor Charteris of Edinburgh as the nearest approach to
inspiration of any paper he had ever listened to.

In April 1886, the Earl of Aberdeen, then Lord-Lieutenant
of Ireland, appointed him one of his honorary chaplains, the
first Presbyterian clergyman in the present century selected
for such an ofiice. Lord Aberdeen has recorded with touching
affection his impressions both of the man and of his ministry.

More and more, as the Christian public recognized his
capabilities, he was pressed into service far beyond his
strength. Seldom was any philanthropic work started in
Dublin without his assistance being sought. Only his indomi-
table energy, coupled with his ready spirit of self-sacrifice,
could have enabled him to accomplish what he did ; but it
was at a terrible cost, a cost of which those who each in turn
pressed him to undertake some fresh duty had no conception.
Urgent appeals to preach anniversary sermons, to lecture on

* See "Report of the Third General Council of the Alliance of the Keformed
Churches holding the Presbyterian System," page 173.

234 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

all subjects and for all conceivable charities, to attend mission
conferences, to help forward this or that sorely needed work,
were constantly pouring in, and, with his boundless sympathy
and his readiness to help any work for the Master, were un-
dertaken, when a more careful and less generous character
would have hesitated. The eflfort to overtake work which
had accumulated during absence ; the meetings, night after
night, both at his own church and in the city, from which he
would return wearied, to find a pile of letters on the study
table waiting to be read, many of which required answers to
be written till far on into the night (since the busy hours of
the next day were all filled up) — all this, and much more,
combined to break down a naturally strong constitution.

The burden of his correspondence was very heavy, and was
constantly increasing. Once, in reply to the incredulity of a
friend, he kept an account of the letters written and received
during a year, and found that in 1885, they considerably ex-
ceeded 11,000. It is true that, as one of his brother ministers
in Dublin* has written, —

"He did not suffer from sitting up late and early, as most men
would. He could fall asleep in a railway carriage or in his easy-
chair; he could start from lecturing In Limerick, catch the night
mail for Dublin, cross to Holyhead, and lecture the next evening in
Edinburgh or London. But it was killing work. It was such work
tha,t killed him. Only, to me it is a relief to think that it was pos-
sibly not the burden, oppressive as it was, laid on him by the Church
that killed him. It was his own determination to work while it was
day, his own idealism, his spirit of consecration. I do not say it was
right ; I do not even excuse it ; but he had looked at the whole
question on every side of it. He had counted the cost, as he believed ;
and I for one have not the heart to say a word against it. He was,
in splendid labour and in grand spirit of consecration, so much above
the best of us, that possibly the best of us cannot quite understand
him. I have my own view of it. But I am just forced to bow my
head and to whisper, ' I am dumb, opening not my mouth, because
Thou didst it."'

* The Eev. Alexander Eentoul, M.A., Sandymount.

CHAPTER XL

HOME LIFE.

On the 1st of June 1865, in the church erected to her
father's memory,* William Fleming Stevenson was married
to Elizabeth Montgomery, eldest daughter of the late John
Sinclair of the Grove, County Antrim. The family of the
Sinclairs had long been loyal members of the Irish Presby-
terian Church, and generous supporters of all her enter-
prises. After their marriage some weeks were spent wander-
ing through Switzerland and by the Italian Lakes, over the
Apennines to the shores of the Adriatic at Ancona, where
Mrs. Stevenson was then living, " to crown our happiness,''
he wrote, " with my mother's blessing." The holiday wound
up with the Handel Festival in London — an unspeakable
delight to one whose love of music was a passion which in
after-life he could only indulge in very rare intervals of
leisure. During the first years of Mr. Stevenson's ministry
in Dublin he had lived in Leinster Road, Rathmines ; but
the place with which his memory will always be associated
by those who knew him in the innermost circle of his home
life is Orwell Bank, the birthplace of his children, for twenty-
one years his dearly loved home, and, since 1878, the Manse
of Christ Church, Rathgar. It stood on a high, wooded
bank, at the foot of which the little river Dodder sped on
its way — a quiet, sluggish stream in fair weather, but often
rising in a few hours into a foaming mountain torrent, which

• The Sinclair Seamen's Church, Belfast.

236 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

burst its bounds and flooded the fields and rushed down the
high weir close to the house -with a noise of thunder, to the
infinite delight and excitement of the Manse children, who
in very early days regarded it as a second Niagara. Beyond
the river to the south stretched the long range of the Dublin
mountains, with the clear outlines of the Three-Bock and
Glendhu, and the rounded curves of Tibradden, and Mont-
pellier crowned by its ruined castle ; while away to the west
lay the far-famed "green hills of Tallaght.'' The lower
slopes were thickly wooded, from the beautiful demesne of
Killakee to the glen of the little Dargle, whose deep hollow,
as seen from the Manse windows, proved an unfailing
weather-prophet. In the valley to the right was Rathfarn-
ham Park, with its fine old trees and "wilderness walk," and
the picturesque entrance-gate, said to be copied from the
triumphal arch of Constantine in Rome. It was a rarely ex-
tended and beautiful view to be enjoyed so near a great city,
especially when the hills were touched with purple and gold
in the evening lights, or when, on bright autumn days, the
shadows came and went across them in fitful beauty. To
one with Mr. Stevenson's love of scenery, the view from his
study window across a foreground of dark fir, holm-oak,
copper-beech and lime trees was a constant inspiration and
refreshment, to which he returned from the multiplied
absences of later years with an ever-increasing sense of rest-
ful enjoyment. The place was very dear to him ; he had
watched the growth of every shrub and tree on the steep
bank which divided the grass terrace, with its flower-beds and
shrubbery, from the low-lying garden by the river side. It
was to this bright home that Mr. Stevenson brought his wife
on a dark November evening in 1865. Into tlie tenderest,
deepest side of his nature we dare not enter, nor touch on
the passionate devotion, the strong, chivalrous, and self-
forgetful love that blessed the life of her " who is so proud
to have been his wife," and will bless it through all eternity.

Home Life. 237

Such memories are too sacred to be laid bare to the public
eye, and yet only through them could be fully understood
what that nature was in its innermost depths — how joyous,
sympathetic, earnest, and pure, how full of "sweetness and
light.'' In the spring of 1866, the home was gladdened by
the birth of his first child, a daughter. Two years later a
son was born, named after his grandfather, John Sinclair,
and the after years added two daughters and another son,
who was but a little child of three when his father died.
Busy as was their father's life, the time sacred to the children
was the last to be encroached upon. He had the power of
being able completely to throw aside his own cares or business,
and to enter with all his heart into their games and pleasures,
no matter how trifling they might seem to others. A very
child among children, delighting in fun and frolic, it went
hard with him to pass the nursery door without looking in
for a romp, or, if time failed, for a bright greeting. Each
child's character was carefully studied, and their difi'erent
traits watched over and guided. Absolute obedience and
truthfulness were expected as a matter of course, but their
father depended chiefly on the love and trust and perfect
friendship between him and them ; and although he defended
corporal punishment as a last necessity in certain cases, he
would have felt deeply humiliated had he ever been obliged
to resort to it himself. After all, his deepest teaching lay
in the influence of his own life of unselfishness. Scolding in
any form was a thing unknown : if anything went wrong, a
quiet, loving talk in the study, and the pain the child felt as
well as saw in its father's face, made a far more lasting im-
pression. When absent for a year on his Mission tour, he
wrote to them regularly, simple little letters such as they
could understand by themselves.

" On board the ' Abtbsinia,' JiAy S, 1877.
"My dear Ethel,— If you were here now you would see the
ocean all round. It is all tossing water as far as we can see on any

238 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

side. Some days we have seen a steamer a great way off, rising and
sinking on the waves, and almost every day we have seen sailing-
ships with all their sails spread, and they looked like beautiful birds,
and in the setting sun they shone like gold. There were birds about
the ship every day. I do not know where they slept, nor if they
ever rested; but whenever they were seen, they were flying round
us and after us ; and I suppose they rested on the waves when they
were very tired. They could fly a good deal faster than the ship,
though they were so small ; and though man can make many things
that are wonderful and strong, some little creature that God has
made is more wonderful than them all. We are always feeling how
God must keep the people who are at sea, for some of these waves
are a great deal larger than the ship,"

" New Yokk, Jvly S, 1S!7.
" My dear Clair, — One day your mother and I were taken down
by the engineer to see the steam-engines of our ship, down steep iron
ladders slippery with oil, into a large room, as large as a church, and
quite dark, except for the light of huge fires. There were four-and-
twenty of these, twelve on each side, and a great many men who did
nothing else but pour shovels full of coal in upon the fires, so that
in one day every one of those fires bums as much coal as would be
burned in Orwell Bank from Hallow-eve till Christmas. The flames
roared, and the fire was scorching, and the men and all things were
black with coal-dust, and we were glad to get up on deck, where the
wind blew across the sea. But first we saw a beautiful little marker
that is connected with the screw and writes down in iron figures the
number of times the screw goes round. There were more than five
hundred thousand times when we saw it. And I was thinking how
the angels watch over us, and write down all we say and do, so that
it is always kept in an open book in heaven. And if they write
down many naughty things, how ashamed and sorry we shall be !
Let us try how many kind and gentle and unselfish and brave things
we can give them to write, and every morning let us give our hearts
to God to keep. — Ever your affectionate Father."

" NiAOARA, July 7, 1877.
" My dear Lilian, — I wrote to Clair about the dark fires and the
boiling water on board the steamboat; but we saw a much more
wonderful boiling of water to-day— a great river, that is a great
many times broader than the Liffey in Dublin, and is so deep that,
if you were to put five men one on the top of the other, the head of

Home Life. 239

the topmost would only reach the surface of the water. This river
comes to a great rocky wall, a great deal higher than the spire of
papa's church, and with a great rush it leaps over it down to the
bottom. The water boils so much that a great steam rises from
it, through which you can scarcely see, and it makes so much noise
that you can scarcely hear. But what we did see was very wonder-
ful and beautiful, like all the works of God. We saw the clear
green mass of river-water tumbling over; and rainbows upon rain-
bows that the sun wove in the white steam ; and water that came
down in soft streams like a faU of feathers ; and as far as we could
see the water seemed falling. We went down to the river to a little
house, and though the sky was blue, the spray of the fall dashed
against the windows and made everything dark like the heaviest
rain in November. Then we went out into the spray in flannel dresses,
and in a moment we were wet ; and we crawled along the rooks with
a guide, and walked into the rushing water, and lay down in it till
it came tumbling over our heads and carried papa's spectacles quite
away. Afterwards we crossed the river lower down in a little boat,
and were tossed up and down like a bit of cork. We felt how help-
less and small we were, and how mighty and glorious God must be,
who could make such marvellous things ; and we thought how good
it was of Jesus Christ to come down and die for us, that we might
be kept from all that is wrong, and might live in heaven. And papa
is quite sure that Lilian will often think of Jesus Christ, who loves
her. — Ever your affectionate Father. "

" Cedar Eapids, JuVu 21, W7.
"My dbak Ethel, Claib, Lilian, and MnBiEL, — We are now
staying at ' The Farm ' with all your merry cousins. It lies on the
slope of a hill, and down below it is the river, and beyond the river
fields of Indian-corn and wooded hills. There is a wood behind the
house where there are wild raspberries, and in front there is an
orchard. The cows wear bells round their necks, and the pleasant
tinkle, with the fresh odour of the woods and the cool air, makes us
think we are in Switzerland. Yesterday a family of nine little pigs
came tumbling in and began to eat the grass, and when they were
put out, they ran as fast as if they had been dogs. There are also
dogs and sheep and horses here, so that it is a very lively and merry
place. There are also Bohemians here and Germans, and a German
pastor will preach to-morrow in a box-factory. We have been seeing
new towns and new people almost every day, so that you may think
this is a very large country. One town that we saw on Wednesday

240 Life, of William Fleming Stevenson.

was nearly all burnt down six years ago ; but when we drove through
it, the houses were so large and beautiful you would think they had
always been there. This town (Chicago) is on the banks of a beauti-
ful blue lake, that stretches away as far as the eye can see ; and when
you are on this lake in a steamer you can see no land, and indeed you
could nearly put all Ireland into it. There is a liver there that is
about fifty feet deep. It ran into the lake, but the people wished it
to run another way, so they turned it back, and now its waters run
into the Gulf of Mexico, which you will find on the map. Tell nurse
that she could walk through green corn here, and if Clair was on- the
top of her head and baby on Clair's shoulders, it would cover them
all. We kept mamma's birthday at a place where there were a great
many waterfalls and a lake, and it was very quiet, and we wondered
where you would think we were. Now, dear little ones, good-bye.
When you get this we shall be on the Pacific Ocean perhaps, or in
San Francisco, and we shall have seen the first Chinese people. Pray
that they may all become Christ's people. Kiss each other ever so
many times, and say, 'This is mamma's hug,' and 'This is papa's.'
God bless you, dear children. — Your very afiectionate papa,

"W. Fleming Stevenson."

" S.S. ' Zambesi," December S, 1877.

"My Dear Lilian, — If grandmamma -was to cut a line just round
the middle of an orange, it would be like the equator, which runs
round the middle of the earth, near which we have been sailing in
our steamer for many days. Indeed we were one day as near the
equator as you are to Dublin when you get to Drogheda. Now this
is the hottest part of the earth ; but just here it is the open sea, and
cooler than if we were on land. It should be very bright, clear,
sunny weather, with a cool wind from the northward ; but the
weather with us has never been as it should be, so we have a warm
wind from the south, and heavy rains, and the fog-whistle. We shall
be very glad to-morrow to see the land again. It will be a beautiful
island that you often sing about, called Ceylon, and I suppose we
shall see the groves of cinnamon and cloves that make the 'spicy
breezes. '

"But a great deal rather than see Ceylon, we would like to see
four dear little faces that are in Beech Lawn ; and the happiest day
of all these months will be when we do see them. But every day we
ask God for the little people that wear these faces, that they may
have pure and happy hearts, and be kind, loving, obedient, and
gentle, true in every word, and never selfish. Won't you ask God

Home Life. 241

every day, my dear little Lilian, to make you all that ? What story-
telling we shall have when we get home ; for the stories are all too
big for these little sheets of paper, that just leave room to say how
much mamma and papa thank their little girl for the letters she
wrote. — Your affectionate father,

" W. Fleming Stevenson."

Many visitors to the Manse have recalled the simple
service at morning prayers. The formal way in which
family worship was conducted in many homes was a matter
of great concern to Dr. Stevenson. He felt how seldom the
children were considered in the service, and how often they
became careless and inattentive because they were not in-
terested ; and he tried to plan for his own home a service
that would be bright and helpful to old and young, children
and servants. First came the singing of a hymn and read-
ing a portion of Scripture. Then the Psalms were read
responsively, after which each one present repeated a verse
in turn, and the brief prayer was closed by all joining in the
Lord's Prayer. In his prayers he generally embodied one
or more of the verses given that morning, and was always
careful to use the very plainest words. Any sorrow in the
household or the congregation was tenderly remembered, and
the little special needs of the children, it might be a journey
in prospect, or a difficult lesson, or an examination ; and while
he taught them that nothing was too trivial to bring "as
children to a Father,'' yet there breathed through his simplest
prayers the spirit of deep reverence. One of the earliest
problems the parents had to solve was how to make Sunday
a genuinely happy day, and yet keep its sacredness very
distinct. The children had special Sunday games, drawing
Bible subjects or filling in texts. A favourite one was to
tell a Bible story, giving all the details, but leaving the
names to be guessed by the listeners, at which even the little .
ones grew expert. The greatest treat was when their father
turned story-teller, and held them breathless over some

16

242 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

thrilling incident, or chose some quaint character that no one
else had thought of, but through which he always led their
thoughts up to the Christ-life he desired they should make
the pattern of theirs. It was a real joy to him when he
once overheard one of them telling a friend, " We call
Saturday our silver day because we have a holiday then, but
Sunday is our golden day." It exactly expressed the feeling
he had so earnestly tried to implant. The afternoon ended
with hymn-singing, till it was time for evening church, and a
skilful choice of his known favourite hymns seldom failed to
draw him from the study to join the young voices at the
piano. Their father was essentially the centre of all their
pleasures. He read aloud delightfully, with admirable feel-
ing and emphasis, and among tlie children's happiest recollec-
tions of holiday-time are those of long summer afternoons
spent lying on the deep, springy beds of sea-pink that cover
the Cornish cliffs, or among the heather braes of Ross-shire,
while they rested after some long expedition listening to
one of Scott's novels, or to some poem or story from the
collection that was so carefully made by their father for this
purpose before leaving home. He realized the ideal of which
in early years he had written : —

"There must be some susceptibility to poetry in all but a few;
and I have often dreamt, if any one would place me with a group of
children, of educating them in simple and natural ways to feel the
poetry there is in nature, to watch the colours in the sky and the fall
of the leaf, teaching them simple reverence for the Father who cares
for all His creatures, encouraging them to observe the harmony and
regularity in all His common works, quickening in them a watchful-
ness and love of outward things, and they would soon turn of them-
selves to our written poetry, and would understand before they could
parse it."

While his children were very young, his ideal relaxation
was a ramble among the Swiss mountains ; but as soon as
they were old enough to join in walks, his enjoyment was

Home Life. 243

bound up in theirs. MuUaghmore, on the west coast of
Ireland, and various places in Wales, Scotland, and Corn-
wall, were successively visited, and have furnished those old
enough to remember with a priceless legacy of happy memo-
ries. From New Quay he writes to his brother-in-law, Mr.
Sinclair of Oedar Rapids : —

" An^vxt 1880.
" Since we came here not a day has passed, nor has a spot been
visited, without a chorus of wishes, ' If everybody from Cedar Rapids
were only here ! ' Of all the seaside places I have seen or tried, this
bears away the palm for a children's holiday, and for the weary seek-
ing rest in the most unsophisticated enjoyment of nature. Situated
on the north-west coast of Cornwall, about forty miles north of the
Land's End, facing the restless surge of the Atlantic, on a coast-line
which presents for innumerable miles a level of the smoothest and
hardest sand, divided by promontories on which the moss is a foot
thick into numberless bays, and backed by a wall of cliflf from three
to four hundred feet high, where the rocks are shining with all the
colours of the rainbow, and where at every few hundred yards there
is some magni0cent cavern or group of natural arches ; a sea excep-
tionally clear and exceptionally lovely in its hues ; charming wooded
valleys and -country walks inland; so quiet and primitive, that you
are constantly the sole figure on the headland where you stand, that
the rabbits scamper about your feet, that there are no bathing-boxes
and you dress in caves, — yet with rail direct to London ; in fact, as
quiet, and more quiet, than MuUaghmore, as bracing, and with a
still grander sea and far finer sands — what more could one want?
I came pretty tired, but resolving to overtake work that I never
could touch at home ; and the only troxible is that the glorious fresh
air and views have continually beguiled me from books and writing.
The children now swim pretty well, thanks to your early lessons
and their present practice, and if we were to return another season
here the family would be amphibious. If yours and ours were to-
gether, the sea would be as lively as if there was a shoal of mackerel.
You must be enjoying life still more primitive among the Indians,
and the sense of doing good as well. Would I not like to be with
you ! Your last letter was a plea that deserved any notice the Ob-
server could give it ; and I expect, between your Assembly speeches
and newspaper correspondence, the Indians will find you one of their
best friends."

244 L^f^ °f William Fleming Stevenson.

YPo Miss Sinclair.^

"New Quay, Cornwall, August ISSh-
"Your 'Rondo Capriccioso' round by Loch Maree seems to have
been a moat successful performance, and it did us almost as much
good to think of you all enjoying it as we have had from the sight
and air of this delightful spot. With an ocean as open as ocean
can be, a surf more constant and high than at Portrush or Mullagh-
more, air as bracing as a tonic, more lovely colours in the sea than
anywhere outside the Mediterranean, a primitive and independent
population ; sands, oaves, cliffs, and bare feet for the children ; one
or two charming drives and wooded valleys for their elders ; a rail-
way to London, the daily papers, lawn tennis, and clotted cream —
what more could weary minister want? Besides, as things go, it is
not expensive, and we cannot grumble if the holidays bring us here
when the season and the prices are at their height. Well, what are
we wishing you ? Health and pleasure, the one that you may have
the other, and that highest form of pleasure which you enjoy of
working for Jesus. So may our heavenly Father crown the year
with His goodness, and make it the best of years, the sunniest with
the Sun of Righteousness, the sweetest with the fragrance of grace."

His thoughtfulness in little things was characteristic.
On his wife's return after any absence her room was always
filled with flowers, which he arranged himself, to welcome
her back. Birthdays and all family festivals were held
peculiarly sacred by him. It was part of his household
creed to make much of them ■ he held that much of the
brightness and joy of family life lay in these apparently
trivial things. He had great sympathy with the young in
their eager activity and high spirits ; they never wearied
him, and he believed that in a joyous, sunny childhood
they would best gain strength for the graver duties of life.
Especially he delighted in all the joys and pleasures asso-
ciated with Christmas-tide. As a student he had written to
his mother : —

" I like the festival of Christmas far better than New Year's Day,
which is always associated in ray mind with gloomy, melancholy
thoughts of duties neglected, time misspent and wasted, and such

Home Life. 245

sad statistics as are the results of, I suppose, every one's yearly
retrospect. Be that as it may, I had rather welcome in the birth
of Christ than bid farewell to an old year. Dearest mother, you will
join me in praying that He may be born in very many hearts during
the year that is advancing, and born again in each of ours."

\To a child on lier thirteenth birthday.^

" My dear L , — So your age has grown by almost a year since

last I saw you. And I hope it will grow on, dear L , on and on

by one at a time, and every year happier than another. For I would
like you every birthday to say, ' Oh, how happy I am ! how good
God is ! ' God has all the years in His hand — thousands of them ;
and He has all the gifts that make life happy ; and so you and I will
ask Him to-morrow to open His hand and let the years and the gifts
fall down upon you like May -blossoms. The secret of being happy
is to love God, and the secret of loving God is to trust in the Lord
Jesus and not to love ourselves ; and that is a secret which I hope
you have found out already, and which will be far better to you than
any birthday present in the world. Thirteen ! and you will be very
thoughtful and Vise and diligent, and try to learn and know a great
deal ; for it wiU soon be fifteen ! — seventeen ! — so there is not much
time to spare. And if one grows tall, one must grow wise and good,
and not be like a tree that shoots straight up and has no leafy
branches, where the birds can sing, and the sun hides his arrows."

\To one of his nephews.l^

" Obwell Bank, Eathoak, Jidy IS, 1881.
" My dear Bot, — You may be sure we were astonished to hear of
your being so suddenly berthed, and yet you will only reckon it good
fortune to be in so fine a ship. We had hoped to have you with us
before you sailed to anywhere, but we must be content now to wait
until your return from your first voyage. Last summer seems won-
derfully near, with all our pleasant boating and fun, and watching
the big ships saU along the horizon. It is perplexing to think that
you will be dropping out of sight in one of those white-winged crea-
tures within a few days I am sure you will be a good sailor and

will like it (after you have been sea-sick), and if you live, will rise
high in the service. But mind there is one thing I would like to
hear about alongside of all that. Of course we all know that steady
men are the only men that are sure to rise ; and I predict that you

246 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

•will be what many men would call steady. But the only really steady
man, in my judgment, is the man that honestly fears and loves God —
fears Him with reverence, loves Him because He is so good. There
are captains and captains ; and I would like to see you a captain that
was not ashamed of being a Christian.

"Of course there are plenty of fellows who will tell you not to
mind the parsons. But you know better than that ; and if there
were no parsons in the world, there would still be sin, and conscience,
and God, and the love of Jesus Christ, and the future.

"Stick to the Bible. It will never lead you astray. If you do
what it tells you, you will never do what you would be ashamed of ;
you will never do an unrighteous or unkind or a mean thing, and
nobody will ever be ashamed of you.

" Best of all, if you would take Jesus Christ for your own Saviour,
and let Him be your pattern. It wiU never be right till it comes to
that. You will be strong then, because He will make you strong.
And all your strength will be to do what is right and manly and
noble, and to help others to do the same. I don't like to make
people promise, but I just ask you sometimes on the voyage to think
of this.

"Supposing anything was to happen to you, as it befell your
friend last winter, just think of the difference it would make if at
home (and we are part of home) they knew you had behaved like a
Christian, God-fearing lad when you were on board ship. ' Wait on
the Lord, and keep His way : behold the upright man, for the end of
that man is peace.'"

As his children grew older and went to distant schools,
however busy he might be he never allowed anything to
prevent his driving with them to the steamer, making all
arrangements for their comfort, and giving the last cheery
words of advice and guidance.

\_To one of his daughters while at school.'\

"My DAELiNO Child, — Your letter gave me unmixed joy, and
made for your mother and me one of the happiest days through which
we have lived.

"You have just suggested what we talked over — that, as you
could not be here before the class for young communicants was held,
we should correspond about it. I would have made the suggestion

Home Life. 247

to you when the time came ; but, dear child, you have made me far
happier by proposing it yourself.

" This sunmier has been far more than pleasant for us all. God has
been doing His own work in His own way behind our pleasant holi-
day. I am sure you have felt Him very near you, and that He has
been drawing the trust of your heart to Himself. And if you feel
sometimes weaker than others, ' Trust ye in the Lord for ever : for in
the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.'

"I shall write to you very soon more particularly of the Lord's
Supper. Meanwhile I shall pray for you, that God may make you
more and more to feel how good it is to trust Him, and how surely
His good Spirit will keep us doing right, and make us choose always
the better side. "

Some of his letters to his son while at school at Clifton
College will show the minuteness of his interest in all his
boy's doings, and the perfect confidence existing between
them.

" Okwell Bank, Odtdber S, 188$.

" Mt dear Claik, — Your letter gave us a very bright day. It was
as welcome aa the sun would have been at Gairloch, and your details
help us to understand your daily life and surroundings. We keep
them very constantly before us, and you need never be afraid of
writing too much of them

"I would like (if you had time) you would sometimes mention the
text and subject of the head-master's sermon. Of course the Sunday
will be very different from ours. You will also be left more to your
own judgment in spending as much of it as is free. Your comrades
may not help you much to be true to Christ, or sympathize with what
they might think your greater strictness. Do not be ashamed of
your old Sundays and their old ways, for all that ; and if others do
not help you up, perhaps, without being at all a prig, your firmness
and your honest love and reverence for God's Word may help them.
You may not have the support of finding others in sympathy with
you, the support that makes our Sunday life so easy ; but we must
often walk without other support than the grace to be true to what
we believe to be right. Keep to Sunday reading. You will find
Geikie's ' Hours with the Bible ' a help, and you might make your
own Bible-reading on Sunday be what he writes about. Never take
what even the best writers say on trust ; you will always find some-
thing fresh in your own reading of the Bible passage. You may

248 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

sometimes find it difficult to get a quiet comer, but there Is a key to

it and patience turns the look. ' Seek, and ye shall find. '

"Now remember, my dear old Clair, how much pleasure it is to
hear everything about your life. If you are in any perplexity, write
to me or mother. Keep true to God, to prayer, to the Bible. Be sure
you tell us all about your ways and doings. God will strengthen
you to be the manly, truthful, unselfish, high-minded boy that we
pray for ; to resist temptation, and, when necessary, to dare to stand
alone. — Ever, with all our love, your affectionate father,

"W. Fleming Stevenson.

" P.S. — The old cat now walks with me at night to the Orwell
post-office box, usually in front, grave and steady, with uplifted

tail."

" January US, 1883.

' ' We are having a very lonely time, and after to-day it will be
still lonelier. It makes the time at Christmas wonderfully bright, my
dear boy, to have you with us. May God guide you now smd always,
and give you strength always to stand up for what is right, and for
Him!"

" Febnmry S, 188k.

"My dear Clair, — A bright greeting on your birthday! May
God spare you, my dear boy, to see very many of them, and us to
greet you

" We have been full of interest in all you have told us about your
promotion, duties, and place both in house and chapel. May you
long be able to hold, not your owU, but God's gifts to you, and to
hold them against all comers, by His grace ! My dear, dear boy, I
do not think you will forget that our highest promotion is in the
kingdom of God — the promotion to be a humble, faithful, self-denying
citizen in the unchanging city of God. If you have more freedom
and privilege now in school, you have also more responsibility and
are more noticed by others.

"It is lonely not to greet you here, but our love loses no warmth
by crossing the Channel. Write often ; every scrap from you makes
the day brighter. — Ever your affectionate father,

" W. Fleming Stevenson."

" Orwell Baite, Nmemher 1881,.
"My dear Clair, — The days have gone by and gathered into
weeks since I wrote, and I am sure you would know it was nothing
but hard work postponed the pleasure

Home Life. 249

' ' I see you are finding the comfort of the library and the Times
and the illustrated papers. I only say, have a care. Nothing dis-
sipates the energy of work like a newspaper, and next to that an
easy luxurious seat by the fire. One of the worst temptations is the
temptation to be desultory, to find an interesting book and read in
it, and then turn to another. The only way to distinction at Clifton
will be downright hard work while yon wre at it, and I feel sure you
are bent on distinction. Overwork would be too dear a price to pay
for it; but hard, intense work for the time need not be overwork

" Now this is a very long letter, but you hear too seldom from your
affectionate father, W. Pi,EMiNa Stevenson."

" September 21, 18S5.

"My dear Claib, — Thaiik you for card and letter; for that de-
lightful greeting that I had on Sunday morning, smothered in a
wreath of flowers and fruit. For the day was kept thus in royal
fashion. It was a very bright day. And now I have turned the
road past the fifty-third milestone, not knowing how much further
there may be to walk, but wishing that along the road there may be
more seeking of the things that are above, and more work done for
Christ. Thank you for the card and for the verses and for the
thought.

" Our two subjects yesterday were — in the morning, our work for
Ireland (Ex. iv. 2), ' WhM is that in thine hand?' We have always
the means, if we will use them, for every work to which God calls
UB. In the evening we were thinking, as at New Quay I sometimes
used to think, of the converse of Mark vii. 24, where we read that
Jesvs could not be hid. It is so easy when we have received Jesus
and He dwells in us as the very light and spirit of our life, to hide
Him. We may effectually hide Him by our worldliness, our self-
seeking, our low morality, our want of courage, our choice of company.
May we never be tempted to hide Christ !

"I am very thankful (as were we all) for your calm passage.
To-day I suppose you are in the swing of business. We are getting
into the lonely epoch. Our united, hearty, constant love is always
about you, my dear boy. And Jesus is by your side.— Ever your
affectionate father, W. Fleming Stevenson."

" February S, 1886.
" My dear CLAra,— So to-morrow will be your birthday. I used
to rush for some engagement far from Dublin when that day would

250 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

come round (at least all you naughty people at home said so), and
now the rush of school has swept you away from us. Well, my very
dear boy (for you seem to grow dearer every year), absent or present,
it will be a strange fourth of February that does not fill our minds
with thoughts and love of you. So, whatever else may be in this
letter, a scent of Irish love — home-made — should pervade the room
when you open it. May God continue all His blessings to you, and
may He add all that He thinks for your good ! You are moving
steadily up out of boyhood, and will soon be crossing the border-line
among the ' men ' at the university. If you can say to-day, as we
were saying here all last year, 'Hitherto hath the Lord helped us,'*
so you will be able to say then, as we are saying now, ' Be strong
and of a good courage. 't You will be saying it to yourself; rather
God will be saying it to you, which is far better. And we need it
said, ringing out cheerfully among our disappointments and fears.
As the years steal thus quietly over us, is it not pleasant to think of
the seed that is all the while growing in us, ' one knoweth not how,'

but growing over more of our life ?

"From 's repute, I am scarcely surprised at the views he

expresses on Genesis. You have come close to the time when you
will meet many such opinions, and many that will seem to you more
strange. They are not new. Under one form or other they are
almost as old as the time of the Apostle John. At present a great
many men of influence hold them, and during the last eighteen
centuries there have been several periods when this happened. But
the prevalence of such opinions never lasted long. The hearts of
men grew restless, their consciences unsatisfied, and the old truths,
as you have been accustomed to them, resumed their place, and have
been always growing in power. The more you read and think over
the Bible, I am persuaded you will find it a clear and simple book,
and the book described in the Catechism as telling us what man is
to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.
Such opinions, however, openly expressed, show you that you must
read and think for yourself. If you are puzzled, or are following
out any thoughts in these directions, write to me all about them.
Geikie's 'Hours with the Bible,' vol. i., and Saphir's 'Christ and the
Scriptures/ would help you. Keep to your own steady reading and
to prayer. The closer we keep to God, the closer God seems to
keep to us. — Your very loving father,

"W. Fleming Stevknson."

* The Christ Church motto for 1885. t The motto for 1886.

Home Life. 251

" Jnly a, J8S6.

" My DEAR CliAlB, — How the time flies, and without bearing you
a letter from me ! And how I long for a line from you, but feel I do
not deserve it.

"It has been very helpful and bright for you, I have no doubt, to
have had the meetings so often, and to feel that good was being done
to leave behind you. For we must think twice of others for once of
ourselves. We must remember also to be true to our own character,
Eis David was to his sling. Christ lives in us and works Himself out
through us by the channels of our own individuality.

"I am looking forward constantly to August, when you will be
back. I am sure you are rather down-hearted about leaving. It has
been a genuinely pleasant term of years. More of character has
been built up in them than you are aware of ; and happily that up-
building has been in far more than what is taught at school. Then,
if the school gates are closed behind you, the college gates are open-
ing, and, God sparing you, there are happy years to come for real
joy of spirit, and development, and friendships the richest in a man's
life. Aiid for serving Christ there are no finer opportunities."

CHAPTER XII.

THE END.

During the year 1885 two series of evangelistic services
were held in Christ Church, Rathgar, one in May and the
other in November. Dr. Stevenson was extremely anxious
that the spiritual gain from these meetings should be definite
and lasting. In the winter he began a Bible-reading, in
which all who came were expected to take part, and which
occupied the half -hour preceding the Wednesday evening
service. The first subjects of study were the letters to' the
Seven Churches. Prizes were also given by the pastor to
the young men of the congregation for essays on Scriptural
subjects.; but though his efforts never relaxed, he had often
during the winter a great sense of weariness and longing for
rest. Little wonder, since, between the pastorate, the Mis-
sion, and the multitude of other public duties, the work of
two lives was being crowded into one.

The spring of 1886 saw the beginning of the various
improvements and additions in the church buildings which
he had so long desired ; but strange and mysterious as
it may appear to us, the year which left the instrument
perfect took away the agent for whose hand it was prepared.
As the operations involved considerable outlay, he determined
that the autumn should not close till the entire sum needed
had been secured. It was to be a year of unconscious
windings up ; and many things which his friends would
have wished otherwise were best as they were;, considering

TJu End. 253

the nearness of the end. In the spring he concluded the
delivery of the Dufif Lectures at Aberdeen, and he intended
to devote the autumn to preparing the lectures for the press,
and collecting for the new building fund. During the summer
he was urged by many who believed he had peculiar fitness
for the post to become a candidate for the vacant Chair of
Sacred Rhetoric in the Assembly's College, Belfast. He
deeply felt there could be no higher work than that of mould-
ing the future ministry of the Church. He was aware also
that the long summer vacation would provide a much-needed
rest, and allow him to realize his old literary dream of a
history of Christian Missions. But his allegiance to the
duty of the day proved a barrier which nothing short of the
unanimous call of the Church would have been sufficient to
remove, and he quietly stood aside. The same principle
induced him to refuse a very generous and tempting invita-
tion to himself and two of his family to spend his holiday in
America.

The last meeting of the General Assembly he was ever to
attend was a wonderfully happy time. As usual when the
Assembly met in Belfa,st, he stayed with his wife's mother,
Mrs. Sinclair, who had been living for several years at Beech
Lawn, Dunmurry, and whose improved health enabled her
to gather around her, in the old generous way, friends who
were attending the meetings. Dr. Stevenson's eminently
sociable nature opened out to his friends in the full en-
joyment of intercourse which the press of intervening
years had largely interrupted. " That week at Beech
Lawn,'' he said, "had a flavour of the old Grove days
about it."

But the clouds were gathering. Early in August he at-
tended the Mission Board in Derry for the last time, going
sadly from the new-made grave of his last surviving brother,
Mr. James Stevenson of Strabane. Shortly afterwards, in
sending a birthday greeting to a dear relative, he wrote : —

254 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

"I am not to be outdone by other scribblers, and, like them,
acknowledge the inspiration of this day. If I were to fashion my
own wish, it would be that when they each came round we might
not be farther from each other, and I hope often nearer. It does me
good every time I think of your work, and how God has blessed it
and encouraged you. It often strengthens me in mind. Then I feel
you are only at the beginning, and that as it has been, so it wUl be,
and that God will show you fresh work, and give you the strength
and the wisdom for it. Is there not a wonderful refreshing stimulus
in working for Christ ? The permanence of it, reaching into eternity,
and the thoroughness of it, as it influences the whole nature and
colours all the springs of lite, make it delightfully different from all
other work. Sudden death like my brother's makes no difference in
the plan of life, but I feel it has emphasized many things. We stand
very near the edge, and we must see that our work is done ; and
when Christ says there are twelve hours in the day, perhaps He
means there is time enough to do it all, and that there should be
no flurry or pressure ; and I do not intend to work at pressure any
more."

Many years before, he had written to his wife : —

" Death itself should be no shook to us. It is only the beginning
of life ; a great change indeed for all who are still spared, but one of
hope and joy. And our turn will come, perhaps, the next, and the
better we do our duty it is the more likely to come. God grant us
to be ready and waiting ! "

On the 22nd of August he preached in Kilkenny on behalf
of the Foreign Mission. That afternoon a young man, who
had strolled into the church to hear the stranger, met his
death by being thrown from a car a few minutes after the
close of the service. The incident was made the basis of a
very solemn appeal in his own church the next Sunday even-
ing, when he referred to it, pleading with those who had not
yet come to Christ to accept Him without delay, and adding,
" To some of you also I may now be speaking for the last
time.''

While preaching in the morning, he had so sharp an at-
tack of pain that only his strong power of self-control enabled

The End. 255

him to close the service. It yielded, however, to home re-
medies, and he made light of it, declaring that he was quite
able for the evening service. Afterwards, as they walked
home together in the bright moonlight, in reply to his wife's
anxious questioning, he assured her he had felt quits well
all the time he was preaching, adding with eager emphasis,
" Oh, it's a grand thing to speak for Christ !" All arrange-
ments had been made to start next morning with the elder
children for a ten days' ramble in Wales, and he was speak-
ing cheerily of some of the preparations, when suddenly the
pain returned with such increased intensity that it was with
great difficulty he reached home. His kind friend and phy-
sician, Dr. Henry Kennedy, remained all night with him,
trying one remedy after another. It was not till the morn-
ing that the agonizing pain abated, but his family were
relieved to learn that the cause was simply acute indigestion.
For a day or two he was very weak and prostrate from the
efiects of such extreme suffering ; but even while confined to
bed he worked incessantly, keeping his wife and daughter
busy writing letters to his dictation.

He was restlessly anxious to get off to Wales, having the
feeling that he could not get well till he had left the atmos-
phere of work behind him. On Thursday he was able for a
country drive, and felt so exhilarated by the fresh air that he
determined to leave next morning. The start was accordingly
made, and the party reached Beddgelert in the afternoon, after
an easy journey. While waiting for a carriage at Rhyddu,
where the railway ended, he began to make inquiries about
guides to Snowdon ; and so sanguine was he of being able to
make the ascent, which had been a long-cherished plan, that
he did not relinquish the hope till a few days before he left.
It was a great pleasure to find Beddgelert such an unsophis-
ticated little village. Here they were soon established in
comfortable quarters facing the rugged heights of Moel
Hebog, and looking across the village down the pass of

2S6 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

Pont Aberglaslyn ; while below the windows a mountain
stream ran by with a pleasant murmur, and the birds sang
in the apple-trees, laden with fruit, in the little rock-crowned
garden. Dr. Stevenson declared he felt better already, and
it was with a sense of lessened anxiety and good hope for
the future that they all joined in the evening prayer, into
which, as was his custom, he gathered all the events of the
day with heartfelt thanksgiving. On Saturday he dictated
several letters, among them the following to Mr. Alexander
Gray, one of his elders : —

" Beddqelert, September h, 1886.
"I am keeping rigidly by the doctor's directions, and, though
absurdly weak as yet, am certainly stronger than he expected I
should be. I had a short walk, or rather saunter, and am now rest-
ing. Very sorry not to see you after your return from, I hope,
health-giving holidays. God willing, I shall be back for Wednesday
the 15th, for, though this will be my only breathing-space this sum-
mer, there are important engagements that cannot possibly be post-
poned over that week. To-morrow week I have to fulfil a long-
standing engagement to preach at Sefton Park in Liverpool, and for
which I hope this invigorating mountain air will make me able. I
felt it very solemnly, the awe of preaching last Sunday evening — awe
of responsibility, I mean — and still more when illness seized me with
such a sudden grip as I was going home, and I was only thankful that
it had remitted its grasp so as to allow of the service. "

In the evening Miss Sinclair arrived from Ireland. Her
coming was a great joy to her brother-in-law, and he was
full of interest in all her home news, bright and merry in
spite of his weakness and the evident shake he had received.

Next day he felt equal to writing himself the bulletin that
was so eagerly watched for in Eathgar.

[7'o John GaUey, Esq.'\

," Beddoeleet, September C, 1836.
" You were kind in coming so often ; it was like the medicine in
Proverbs ; but I was very sorry not to be allowed to see you. Yet it

The End. 257

was right — I was not able, an unusual condition for me. I am writ-
ing you my first letter ; it must be brief, but will report progress.
Indeed, it would be a sin not to feel better in a spot like this ; and I
am positively gaining something every hour. Last night we had one
of the fiercest thunderstorms known for many years. The flashes lit
up every mountain to the summit. This morning there is perfect
Sabbath peace. We have had an hour's delightful Bible-reading
over John xiv. and xv. If you saw me, you would admire my
caution and obedience, and though I must be back next week I shall
still rest. Our sicknesses are clouds with a very broad silver lining ;
and I see so much of the silver, I have lost sight of the cloud."

All through the week that followed he was the life of the
party, reading aloud in his old way the usual medley, making
light of his wife's anxieties, enjoying long drives without
fatigue, and rebelling against her strictness in insisting on a
day's rest between each excursion. He revelled in the wild
mountain scenery and freedom of the country, the clear
rushing streams fringed with moss and fem under the fir
trees, and the quaint simplicity of the people, with whom
he loved to get into talk as he sauntered along. One after-
noon, when they had wandered as far as Lake Dinas, they
were obliged to seek shelter from a shower in a shepherd's
cottage. A little blind girl sat by the fire, to whom he
spoke with the wistful tenderness that suffering childhood
always drew from him. That little child was lovingly re-
membered in the evening prayer. On Tuesday they made
an expedition to Harlech Castle and Criccieth, driving to
Port Madoc through the beautiful pass of Pont Aberglaslyn.
The day was so clear that Snowdon was seen for the first
time free from cloud. As they drove home, the changing
colours of the mountain -tops before them filled him with
delight, and he joined the children in their singing. So fresh
was he, notwithstanding the long drive, that for over two
hours in the evening he read aloud " Christmas Rose,'' a poem
by his son's house-master at Clifton, and sang with the rest,
" Lobs mich gehen, lass mich gehen, doss ich Jesu moge sehen."

17

258 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

Thursday was devoted to another excursion, driving to
Llanberis through the wild rocky pass by Pen-y-gwryd.
Next day they left Beddgelert very regretfully. It had been
a most happy week. Before starting, Dr. Stevenson wrote in
his landlady's book that he had come there an invalid, but
was now leaving almost well. Each day there had been the
morning Bible-reading which had latterly become associated
with the leisure of holiday-time, and in the evening, among
other things, he had read aloud the " Life of Henry Bazely,
the Oxford Evangelist " — a book which had so strongly at-
tracted him that he wished all to share the great pleasure he
had had in reading it.

They went to Bettws-y-coed by Ffestiniog for the sake
of the lovely views of the valley beneath, seen through the
trees that clothe the steep banks of the Toy railway. In
the evening they drove to the Swallow Falls sind Capel
Curig, Dr. Stevenson having determined to visit the latter
place, that he might give Mrs. Sinclair a description of it,
as she had stayed there on her wedding-tour fifty-one years
before. That evening, Bazely's Life was finished, and before
they separated all joiaed in repeating the 121st Psalm. On
Saturday the pleasant holiday came to. an end. His wife,
whom all week he had constantly rallied on her "morbid
anxiety" about him, had done her utmost to prevent his
fulfilling his engagement in Liverpool, but in vain. As two
of the party were going into Yorkshire, and the remaining
children with their mother returning to Dublin, they se-
parated at the station, little conscious that they were never
all again to meet on earth. It was like his thoughtfulness
that, when the travellers reached Orwell Bank late in the
evening, they found a telegram awaiting them to welcome
them home, giving also a cheery report of himself, to lessen
his wife's anxiety. On Sunday, the 12th of September, he
preached the anniversary missionary sermons in Sefton Park
Church ; and though he was terribly exhausted at the close

The End. 259

of the services, he was able to telegraph that he had had
less difficulty, than he had apprehended. The morning text
was Psalm xxxvi. 8, and in the evening his last sermon
was preached from Isaiah Iv. 3. One who had often been
his auditor said he had never heard him preach with more
mastery and power than on the evening of this his farewell
Sabbath on earth. He reached home next evening, and as
he came up the steps, the little child of three, who more
than any other member of the family recalls the features
of his father, darted across the hall and ran sljraight into
his arms. All his children, except his eldest daughter, had
returned, and two of his nieces were with them on a visit.
He was thankful and happy to be at home again, and as
he lay resting in an arm-chair, his niece playing from his
favourite Bach and Beethoven to refresh him, he entered, in
spite of weariness, into all their fun with the greatest zest
and enjoyment.

Early on Tuesday he was busy putting his study into
order lEor his winter's work. The Rev. Mr. Buchanan,
Secretary of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland,
came to the Manse by appointment to arrange about various
missionary matters affecting their common work in Man-
churia, and Dr. Stevenson wsis closely engaged with him
for three hours. In the afternoon he proposed a drive to
one of the lovely wooded glens that run in among the
Dublin mountains. On the way home he joined the young
people in walking down the hill, talking hopefully about
Ireland and the spread of the Bible through the country.
As the sun set among rosy clouds, he said softly, "The
crimson of the sunset skies," leaving it to his companions
to finish the verse for themselves. That night he was dis-
turbed by a ticklish cough for half-an-hour, but slept well
afterwards.

On Wednesday he dictated twenty-one letters, most of
them about engagements for the next two or three weeks.

26o Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

and wrote one with his own hand to the Rev. Mr. Swanson.
It was his last letter.

" SepSemScr U, 1886.
"Clair has just written twenty-one letters as amanuensis for his
father (he goes to Oxford next month, gravitating there "through a.
scholarship he took at Lincoln), but I must write to you myself.
Sunday fortnight, after evening service, I had a savage attack of
indigestion : the doctor waB up with me all night and a good deal
of the next day ; and it has left some complications which may be
tedious and will hinder me from work — I mean for some time from
a good deal of the work I have been in the habit of doing. As soon
as I could crawl from bed I felt an irresistible impulse to be away
in some absolute quiet, and persuaded the doctor that, as I had an
old engagement to preach at Sefton Park, Liverpool, on the 12th,
I might be allowed to rest in Wales. So Mrs. Stevenson and the
three elder children came with me ; and at Beddgelert, under Snow-
don, I found the place I wanted —a trout-stream hurrying past the
window, the mountains stretching into the sky, absolute privacy and
quiet. It was broken weather, but the place was so restful that
after a week, on Saturday last, I said I would face Liverpool. So
Mrs. Stevenson, Clair, and Lilian turned towards Holyhead, Ethel
went with her aunt to Ilkley, and I encamped under Mr. Guthrie's
care at Moasley Hill until Monday. I found it was Foreign Mission
Sunday, and used a little liberty in preaching. Now there is a good
deal of autobiography in all this ; but you drew it on yourself, for
your letter found us at Beddgelert just before we moved, or would
have been answered sooner. What a joy it was to hear from you t
You see all my plans about our stumping Ireland together broke
down; and I really had not the heart to tell you. After fifty, »
good many of one's plans break down, and I sometimes wonder, as
one thing gets postponed after another, whether any of my plans
will work out to the end. I thought I would have ready for the
press this summer the old Edinburgh lectures. But with the thou-
sand-and-one things that must be done, it is still 'to-morrow and
to-morrow and to-morrow.' Just now I want to get off my hands
an article on Irish Hymnology for Murray's ' Cyclopaedia of Hymns. '
And then I have promised Dr. Charteris to prepare a lecture for the
Young Men's GuUd in Edinburgh, on (whatever the title may be)
the mission of the Church — an appeal to young men to organize and
carry out the plan of Christ and redeem as much of the world as
He means to be redeemed, every man round about his own door

The End. 261

and his own life, and then crusading to the ends of the earth as
well.

"Autobiography still ! I may as well go on with it and finish.
If able, I have to give the charges at the ordinations of two splendid
young fellows for India (we are looking out a medical man for China,
which would give us four in Manchuria) within the next three weeks ;
then to be at the Conference in Edinburgh on the 6th of October ;
and the last two Sundays of October in Cambridge. The dream of
conquering the heathen is steadily making way. What a year of
Conferences on Foreign Missions ! They crowd upon each other in
October ; and prayer seems going before this revolution of the Church,
as it went before that of a century ago

"What else? My dear Swanson, I can write no more, neither

sense nor nonsense. But now do tell me about yourself and your-
selves, and all that interests you and me."

In the afternoon he sauntered about the garden watching
his children play tennis. He took the evening service
himself without much apparent effort, but ■w'ith a weaker
voice than usual. The subject was " Christ, our Great
High Priest," taken from the seventeenth chapter of St. John.
Discussing some of the thoughts started by the address as
they walked home, his son recalls with what deep solemnity
he repeated the words, "This is life eternal, that they might
know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent." At prayers that evening he chose Char-
lotte Elliott's hymn, "Let me be with Thee where Thou
art," read part of the First Epistle of St. John, and prayed
very tenderly for his brother's sorrowing family in Strabane.

Thursday the 16th was a lovely, bright morning, and he
came down to breakfast full of plans to give his nieces a
long day in the country. With some difficulty he was
induced to abandon a long drive to the foot of the Sugar-
Loaf, on account of the fatigue, and the wild valley of
Glen-na-smoil, beyond the hills of Tallaght, was decided on
instead. The party was a very merry one, and Dr. Steven-
son took his full share in all the conversation, and read aloud
several interesting newspaper cuttings which he had brought

262 Life of Williatn Fleming Stevenson.

with him. As they descended the valley, they were all
quieted down by the extreme beauty of the sunset, which
flooded the whole landscape with golden light. On his
wife's expressing her uneasiness lest he might be too much
tired, he replied he only wished she was as well as he felt.
When they returned, he had a romp with his little boy who
was going to bed, chasing him round the room tUl inter-
rupted by the summons to tea, when he bade him good-
night, saying, " Never mind. Will, we must finish the game
to-morrow." Later the Rev. Wyndham Guinness and his
son called and spent part of the evening. The conversation
turned chiefly on Ireland, and on different aspects of foreign
missionary work. At prayers he gave his niece the choice
of a hymn in reward for her music, which he said was his
best doctor, and seemed pleased when she repeated his choice
of the night before. He read the third chapter of the First
Epistle of St. John. The opening sentences of his prayer
were about heaven and habitual readiness for it; then he
prayed for ministers of all denominations, and finally for his
own beloved Ireland. After prayer, an interesting conversa-
tion arose out of the hymn. Characteristically enough, he
began to criticise the scansion of the last line, maintaining
that the version given in his own Hymnal was correct, and
arose from the author's desire to give the hymn a personal
reference. The discussion then turned on the resurrection,
and finally, as if the ruling passion of the missionary enthu-
siast as well as of the hymnologist must be strong in death,
it wound up with the Mission-field; and almost his last
words were expressions of strong confidence in the ultimate
triumph of Christianity over the nations. "He seemed to
me," said Mr. Guinness afterwards, "like one just waiting to
enter into his rest." After their friends left, he begged some
more music from Bach and Schumann, and the family parted
for the night in the cheeriest way, making plans for the
next day.

The End. 263

What followed his wife has tried to recall : — ■

" We were chatting as usual in our room. He stood a good while
watching haby, who looked so rosy as he lay asleep ia his little cot ;
then kissed him and said, ' Dear Uttle man ! ' I told him of a talk
I had had with a young girl who was perplexed as to whether her
present occupation was the life Clirist meant for her, and who had
said to me, 'If I knew the Lord Jesus were coming next week, I
would not go on teaching.' 'That is simply a morbid feeling,' he
replied. I said, 'Why, would you?' He answered very emphati-
cally, ' I would go straight on doing my business.'

"He had only been a few minutes in bed when the slight cough
that had disturbed him two nights before again began. He rose to
walk up and down the room, but the cough changed immediately
into asthmatic breathing. I asked had he any pain? He said,
' None whatever ; don't be foolish, it's only a touch of asthma, and
will soon pass oflf.' I brought various remedies, but he would not
try anything, nor hear of my sending for the doctor. Presently he
consented, to please me, adding, 'Perhaps a doctor could suggest
some temporary relief.' I ran to call Clair ; he had not gone to bed,
and was off in a second.

"When I came back my husband was sitting in the arm-chair,
leaniag forward a little. His breathing seemed to be getting worse.
Up to that time it had been comparatively but slightly affected, and
he could speak quite easily. I told him that I had sent for the
doctor. He said, ' Don't be so anxious,' and made light of my un-
easiness. Presently he began to walk up and down again, and asked
if the windows were open. One was. I threw open the other, and
pulled up the blinds. His breathing was now much worse. Sud-
denly he stopped in his walk, his voice quite changed, and there was
the most wonderful look in his face. It had come to him as if by
a lightning flash that God was calling him ; yet his first thought was
for me. With an almost superhuman effort to speak, he put his
arms around me, and in a few words said good-bye. Then he sat
down on the sofa, lying back in my arms. His breathing grew
gentler and gentler, and in about ten minutes more I knew he was
with Christ.

"It was a lovely, clear, still, moonlight night, and it seemed as if
one could almost see into heaven."

All day long, on the following Sunday, a constant succes-
sion of mourners passed through the Manse, taking a last

264 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

look at the dear face of their pastor, as he lay asleep,
surrounded by the flowers he had so loved in life.

On Tuesday, the 21st September 1886, he was laid to rest
in Mount Jerome Cemetery.

After a brief service in the Manse for the members of the
family, public service was held in the church so identified
with his life,* and few eyes were dry, as the coffin, covered
with tokens of love and affection, was laid before the pulpit,
where for nearly seven-and-twenty years he had faithfully
proclaimed the gospel of Christ. An immense concourse of
all classes had gathered to pay the last tribute of respect to
his memory, not alone from his own Presbyterian Church,
which sent her members from every part of Ireland, but
representing the sympathy of the Irish Episcopal Church,
through the Archbishop of Dublin and numbers of her'
clergy, as well as that of almost every other Protestant
denomination in the country. Deputations were sent by
the Royal University and many other public bodies ; while
outside the church a group of Roman Catholic clergy and
laymen waited to join the sad procession as it moved slowly
away through the crowd of sympathizers who had been
unable to gain admission. All along the route to the ceme-
tery the blinds were drawn, a spontaneous tribute from rich
and poor. The brave, strong words of the 23rd Psalm rose
high above the broken sobs of men boWed by grief; and
sorrow and bereavement were written on every face as the
grave closed over all that was mortal of William Fleming
Stevenson.

* The service in the church was conducted by the Moderator of the General
Assembly (Rev. Robert Ross, D.D.), the Rev. J. Whigham, D,D., and the Rev.
Hamilton Magee,' D.D., and thut at the grave by the Rev. W. Johnston, D.D., and
the Rev. George Shaw.

CHAPTER XIII.

IN MEMORIAM.

The intelligence of his death, so sudden and so unexpected,
brought gloom to many hearts. To his own Church the
loss was felt to be irreparable; and the Church of Christ
everywhere mourned the removal of one whose heart's sym-
pathies were as wide as the world. Letters of sympathy and
sorrow poured in from every quarter of the globe : from
high and low ; from his smitten congregation ; from dear
friends and fellow-workers ; from those who regarded him as
their father in God ; from many who only knew him by
his writings ; and not a few tributes came from those
whose lives he had unconsciously quickened and influenced.
For six months they never ceased to come, till they numbered
nearly a thousand : from America and Germany ; from
Italy and Holland ; from India and China and Japan, where
• the memory of his visit and his sympathy was still tenderly
cherished ; and from lonely toilers in distant corners of
Australia.*

* Addresses of condolence were sent to his family from many public bodies,
including, among others, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of
Ireland ; the Synod of Dublin ; the Presbyteries of Dublin, Gonnaught, Gujarat, and
Kattiawar ; the Foreign Missions Committees of the Pan-Presbyterian Council,
the Church of Scotland, the Free Church, the United Presbyterian Church, and
the Presbyterian Church of England ; the Koyal University ; the Hibernian Bible
Society; the Evangelical Alliance; the British and Foreign Sailors* Society; the
Female Missionary Association of the Irish Presbyterian Church ; the White Cross
Association (Dublin branch) ; the Hibernian Band of Hope Union ; the Dublin
Y.M.C.A. ; the Belfast Y.M C.A. ; the Bible and Colportnge Society; the Dublin
United Services Commitcee ;' the ilathmines Young Men's Services Committee ; the

266 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

A few of his friends have desired to add their memories to
this record of his life and labours.

The Rev. W. S. Swanson says : —

"It is difficult to picture to others your dearest friends. They are
yours by an indissoluble tie, and they are so endeared that it seems
almost sacrilege to attempt to tell why they are so. It is not pos-
sible to have many such friends. Their place in your heart is sacred
to them, and it can hardly ever be filled by others. In one sense it
can never become vacant. And such a friend was Dr. Stevenson to
me. I met him first many years ago, and I admired him then for
his own sake and for the work he had done. But the friendship
arose at a subsequent meeting, and sprang into an intensity that was
a joy and a strength to me. I only knew the measure of that in-
tensity when I was stunned and broken by the startling intelligence
of his sudden death. More than twelve years ago I spent some days
with him in Orwell Bank. That visit opened up to me the full flood
of a sympathy strong and tender, and so sweet and restful in some
conditions of life's battle. And this was the foundation on which
the friendship was built up. It began as if by a flash, and we knew
each other. At any rate, he read in me what I would fain have con-
cealed, but to reveal which to him soon became a privilege. And
tender and true I ever found him ; and while I loved him dearly as
my friend, I looked up to him as a master.

"It did not take long to learn that one was dealing with a man
penetrated by the purest and noblest Christian principle, and also

Waldensian Aid Society ; the Sinclair Seamen's Church Sunday School ; and from
the following organizations in connection with Christ Church, Eathgar:— the
Session ; the Congregational Committee ; the Zenana Mission Auxiliary ; the
Sunday-schoolteachers; the Bathgar Y.M.C.A.; the Eathmlnes Mission ; the Band
of Hope, etc., etc.

On the Sunday following his funeral, many touching references were made
throughout the kingdom to his life and work, and kind notices of the press
in reference to his death were very numerous, both in this country and in America.

A memorial fund has been started by friends who sought to honour his memory,
and, by the wish of his family, it is to be devoted to training a native pastorate in
India.

From his library, which had grown to be one of great value, over 6,000 volumes
were presented to the General Assembly's College, Belfast.

In the south transept of Christ Church, Bathgar, a stained-glass window of
great beauty has been placed, in loving memory, by the past and present members
of the congregation. The subject is St. Paul taking leave of the elders of the
Church at Ephesufl. Of this window it has been said that "in the boldness and
vigour of Its design, and in the wonderful depth and richness of Its colouring, it is
unapproachably beyond anything that has yet been seen iu Ireland.''

In Memoriain. 267

with one possessed of the moat powerful intellect. I wondered at
the extent of his scholarship and the breadth of his thinking. Trained
in the very best schools in this country and in Germany, of wide and
varied reading in general literature and theology, with an exquisite
literary taste and a complete literary furnishing, one soon felt that
he was no ordinary man, that he towered above the ordinary run
even of those distinguished in the special departments named. For
there was with him such a perfect unconsciousness of his own supe-
rior powers as I have never met — ^no spurious humility, for he was
too noble and manly for that, but the transparent simplicity of a
truly great man.

" And this was the man whose heart the Lord toiiched, and whom
He thrust forth into His own harvest-field with an education and
equipment rarely possessed, with the very simplicity of Christ, will-
ing ever to be the servant, fired with the conception of the true
mission and ideal of the Church of Christ, as bearing to men the
knowledge of Him who alone could meet human wants and cure
human woes. And this conception fiUed his heart and moulded his
life. He was true to it with a zeal ever growing, a love ever widen-
ing, an intentness of purpose never wavering, and an energy and
activity that wore him out.

"To myself this soon became the main factor in our friendship.
We were one here. For us the Church existed for the Mission. And
I gathered strength of purpose and readiness for sacrifice from the
enthusiasm that was filling him and infecting others. With him
this was no fancy idea, no mere romantic pursuit. His acquaintance
with missionary literature and missionary history was unequalled,
and his enthusiasm was the outcome of what he knew the Mission
had done and was certain to do. He looked at these matters with
no narrowed vision, but over the broad sweep of past history, and
he felt confident as to the future. la all his writing and speaking
on this subject he seemed to have a remarkable faculty of seizing on
those very details that involved advance. His range was as compre-
hensive as his sympathy.

" This is not the place to speak of his public work and of his power
of impressing his fellow-men. He was a man fitted to be a leader,
but not a leader in Church politics or Church courts. In these he
took his own place, and his words were always highly valued. In a
wider and freer sphere he found his congenial place. In every enter-
prise that involved the well-being of man his heart was engaged.
The Mission, in its widest sense, was his sphere for action. He was
one of the most eloquent men of his time. He had a richness of

268 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

diction I have never heard equalled ; not diction without thought,
but packed with richest thought. His style was simple and forceful,
brimful of the fire, that burned in him, and he swept his audience
along with him. Few who were present can ever forget the spell of
his marvellous address on the Mission at the meeting of the Pan-
Presbyterian Council in Belfast, and his sermon preached before the
General Assembly of his own Church at the close of his Moderator-
ship. It was worth living to hear him on such occasions.

' ' He was to me the very embodiment of a pure-minded, chivalrous,
Christian gentleman. He was tender as the tenderest woman, and
as brave as he was tender and gentle. Against meanness, selfishness,
and duplicity I have seen him blaze out with a force that astonished
me. And when it passed, I felt it was but another evidence of the
great and brave Christian soul of my friend. I learnt some new les-
sons of Christian heroism in his quiet and sweet patience, and in his
warm and keen resentment of everything that was mean and untrue.

" In the quiet of his own home and at his own fireside he shone
most brightly : where the light was keenest on him he came out
best. It would be presumptuous in me to picture that home ; it
would be wrong if I did not testify to its beauty and charm. The
union of hearts and aims in the heads of that household was perfect ;
and while it was never obtruded in expression, its depth and inten-
sity were most marked. He was brimful of fun and frolic, had a
merry infectious laugh, and his inexhaustible store of story and of
legend was ever ready. He had rare conversational powers, and
with them he never failed to charm. But these powers were never
allowed to run to excess ; and he stood out as the Christian head of
one of the happiest homes. To go there was joy and rest ; and Or-
well Bank, to those who knew it, was ever fresh and green. I go
back to it now in memory as one of the brightest spots of my own
experience, and I reckon it a privilege to have ever had a joyous wel-
come there. And the brightness of the light that was there is the
measure of the darkness to those who knew and loved and have lost
him for a while.

' ' Within the bounds of his own Church he was honoured and
loved, and he served her with rare devotedness and self-denial. He
consumed himself with the energy and zeal that kept him working
as few men have ever worked. While a Presbyterian of strong con-
viction, he was a man of the broadest catholic spirit. So single was
his aim, so transparent his motives, so filled was he with the grand
ideal of the great mission of Christianity, and so unsparing of him-
self in its prosecution, that sectarianism and narrowness found no

In Memoriam. 269

quarter with him. His aim was so high and his range so sweeping
that every one saw in him a true Christian man and minister. He
was the property of all the Churches; and when he passed away,
the representatives of all joined to mourn for a common loss.

' ' I part from him now, thanking God that I ever knew him. I
cherish his memory as one of my most precious possessions. He has
gone, but he lives ; lives in the work that he has done, in the lives
he has influenced, in the impulse he has given to the mission of
Christ, and in the hearts of many of us who loved him deeply and
love him still. We shall not see his like till we see himself again ;
and we regard it as one of the rich and precious treasures of our life
that he gave us a place in his own large Christian heart, and won
from us our tenderest, deepest love. "

The Right Hon. the Earl of Aberdeen writes : —

" The circumstance of Dr. Fleming Stevenson having been an
honorary chaplain to the Viceroy of Ireland when I occupied that
post, gave me the great privilege and advantage of frequent inter-
course with him, leaving memories which can never be efiaced ; and I
feel a melancholy satisfaction and a sense of privilege in undertaking,
however inadequately, to contribute anythiag to the memorials of
that bright and noble life.

' ' My personal acquaintance with him was brief, but long enough
for the formation of a warm friendship, and, on my part, a sincere
admiration of his gifts, and a deep sense of the value of his work
and influence. I first saw him in the' pulpit of his church at Bath-
gar, Dublin. The impression produced by the sermon and whole
service led me to remark, on leaving the church, that we were ap-
parently fortunate in having been present on that particular Sunday,
as it could hardly be supposed (although we were, of course, aware
of his high reputation) that the sermon was not, even for him, more
striking, more deeply spiritual than usual. Subsequent experience,
however, soon showed us that this high standard, both as to sermon
and prayers, was uniformly maintained. He was shortly afterwards
appointed an Honorary Chaplain to the Lord-Lieutenant.

"His mode of receiving the offer of the post was characteristic.
He replied that he regarded it as intended to convey a mark of
courtesy and respect towards the Church to which he belonged, and
in that sense accepted it with appreciation. Certainly no better
representative of any Church could have been found. We had
various opportunities of hearing him, both at his church and at the

?.70 Life of William Fleming' Stevenson.

private chapel of the Vice-Regal Lodge ; and I wiU only add that
his ministrations were, as Principal Brown once remarked in a letter
to myself, 'a combination of spirituality and culture.' It is im-
possible to overestimate the lastingly beneficial influence of such a
sympathetic and, in the best sense, tolerant spirit and disposition as
that manifested by Dr. Fleming Stevenson, combined as it was with
great firmness of purpose as well as gentleness of manner.

"No one could know much of him without observing his great
love for children, and it is brought out in the large number of hymns
for children contained in the valuable Hymnal which he compiled.
Our own children treasure many tokens of his love and kindly thought
for them. We were present at his last annual ' flower-service ' for
children. In the course of his address, he afiectingly illustrated some
lesson by alluding to the fondness of children for flowers, and the
eagerness with which they cultivated little gardens of their own.
And in a few short weeks some of those young hearers, who were
then intently listening to his wise and tender words, were sending
flowers from their own gardens far away to deck the last honoured
resting-place of that form then so full of lite and vigour.

" The amount of work accomplished by him must have been im-
mense ; but, like some other men whose whole time is filled up, he
never seemed to be hurried or restless. His letters had usually a
graphic force and character of their own. When reading them it
often seemed to me that one could imagine that the living voice was
uttering the words. Doubtless this was the unconscious exercise of
that literary ability which he so largely possessed.

"I must not now linger on the attractiveness and value of his
society personally. It is with regretful sadness that I think over
the many projects for future work which we discussed together. In
all such conversations he seemed to impart a peculiar strength and
inspiration, always impressing one with a sense of a life ever lived in
the presence of a loved Master. He set a bright example of Christian
cheerfulness, courtesy, and unselfishness, and even those who kneW
little of him will have known enough to lead them to deplore his
loss, though we may well mingle with our sorrow a true thankfulness
concerning all that he was enabled to accomplish during his com-
paratively brief but intensely active life ; and especially will all wish
to join in the feeling of profound and deferential sympathy towards
her who so nobly and brightly helped him in all his life-work.

"But 'he being dead yet speaketh.' This is emphatically true
with reference to his vigorous and long-sustained labour in connection
with the great work of Foreign Missions. His large experience, his

In Memoriam. 271

energy, and, above all, his broad and sympathetic catholicity of
spirit must have been invaluable ia the furtherance of that work,
surrounded aa it so often is by peculiar difl&oulties and perplexities ;
and in that, as with all the home-work in the country which was so
dear to him, and in oonneotion with which hia last prayer was uttered,
we must surely believe that his influence and example will remain as
a permanent heritage towards the promotion of the kingdom of the
Lord and Master whom he loved and served so well. "

Prom the Rev. William Beatty, senior Missionary in India
of the Irish Presbyterian Church : —

•' While I speak for myself, I believe my personal views of Dr.
Stevenson are those of all the brethren, and would be subscribed by
them all.

"He was a man of unusual ability, and of great intellectual power.
His mind was broad and deep. There was no narrowness about him.
He combined qualities usually dissociated in other men. He was
many-sided and all round. Whilst extremely cautious, he was full
to overflowing with enthusiasm. His mastery of details, which was
unrivalled, never prevented him from seeing the important and
salient features of a subject. He hated conflict, and, rather than
encounter it, would wait patiently for an open door through which
he could enter without opposition. He would yield much for peace ;
but when peaceful means were exhausted, and the stand had to be
taken, he was immovable.

"He was quite an artist. He beautified everything he touched.
All his letters were written in chaste and charming English. He
gave expression to his ideas clearly, and yet with the sweetness of a
saintly Christian, a master painter, and a true poet.

" There was a great charm in his manner. He put strangers at
once at their ease, and made them satisfied with themselves and with
him. He was naturally kind, and could not bear to hurt the feelings
of any one.

'.' He was the brother of the missionary more than an ofiicial of the
Assembly, the friend rather than the Convener. We missionaries
were perfectly sure of one thing, that the Mission, in all its aspects
and concerns, was as dear, ay, far dearer, to the Convener than to
any one of us, and I think it is the passion of all our lives. We felt
that no matter how much we loved it, he loved it more : it was the
supreme, the absorbing passion of his life. There was nothing he
could do to advance it which he was not ready to do, even to the

272 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

minutest detail ; and his whole family shared his spirit. If there was
one place in the world where we were welcome it was Orwell Bank,
and we all knew that. He would never deny us anything for our
work or ourselves he could possibly do for us. We depended on
him, indeed, so much, that when we heard of his death we felt as if
a strong pillar had given way beneath us. In our prostrate condition
we did not see how we were to rise again, and we felt as if the life
and the glory of the Mission had been extinguished.

"The central point of his Convenership seems to me to have been
the organizing of the Mission abroad in such a way as to make it self-
supporting. He held that the aim of the missionaries should be to
train the natives to be missionaries to their fellow-countrymen. A
Divinity School for the training of a native ministry and native
missionaries through the medium of their own language he believed
to be a prime necessity. That the memorial to his name should take
this form will appear exceedingly apposite to all who knew his aims
and hopes.

"He strove to bind the workers in the field together in fraternal
bonds. There is, perhaps, no Mission in India where there is greater
harmony among the workers than in ours, and much of this no doubt
is due to the example of Dr. Stevenson. And his letters were written
so as to fill them with hope, courage, and genuine enthusiasm, and
make them feel the grandeur and nobility of their calling.

" Dr. Stevenson never underrated the difficulties of the field. He
knew more of the paganism of the world than any living man. He
had a high ideal of the qualifications needed in a missionary. He
looked for a solid basis for enthusiasm in true piety, sound judgment,
and a fully educated and well-balanced mind.

' ' Knowing the great systems of religion to be encountered, and the
absolute necessity of able and thoroughly educated men, he would
accept none but the very best our Church could produce. I look
upon his insight in selecting and his power in inducing such men to
volunteer for the Foreign Mission as showing a remarkable judgment.

" Dr. Stevenson was careful to know every detail of Mission work.
He knew the field by personal inspection, had met many of the
native agents, was aware of the needs of every spot, could under-
stand every missionary's references to his work, and thus provide for
the wants of every station.

" He always encouraged the missionaries to confide their troubles
and difficulties to him. They could do so with perfect trust. He
was extremely cautious lest injury might be inflicted on a, cause so
precious, and yet bold and daring in his plans to advance.

In Memoriam. 273

"Another thing ever present to his mind was the blessing Missions
conferred on the Home Church. Missions were to him signs of life
in the Church which originated them and carried them on, and not
only so, but means of grace ; and just in proportion as individuals
and Churches engaged in this blessed work, might they expect the
strengthening and developing of their Christian life. As he loved
the Home Church, he wished her to rise to the height of her responsi-
bilities and privileges.

" Other Missions were proud of our Convener.; he belonged to the
Church Universal. He was a source of power to all. We were proud
of having such a man at our head. He honoured our Church and
Mission. His very name was a tower of strength.

" We have had no man like him in the past, and we may not see
his like again. He was unique. We can thank and praise God for
the honour and privilege he gave our Church in conferring such an
eminent servant on her. I, for my part, will ever esteem it one of
the highest privileges a man and missionary can have had to have
known him as a friend, and to have laboured under his guidance and
leadership for the beloved Master whose right it is to reign."

One of his oldest friends in Dublin, the Rev. Hamilton
Magee, D.D., says : —

" I never knew a man so immeasurably raised above petty personal
pique, and the disturbing influences arising out of it. I often con-
sulted him in difficulty, and ever met with brotherly sympathy, and
with advice characterized by great caution and great breadth.

"He was the life of our ministerial meetings. To the pleasant
evenings thus spent socially together once a month the remarkable
brotherliness prevailing in the Dublin Presbytery is to be largely
attributed. No matter how busy he was, he generally cheered us by
his bright and genial presence. So far back as 1862, I remember Dr.
Norman Macleod's saying to me that for information, versatility, con-
versation, and literary power, he regarded Fleming Stevenson as one
of the most remarkable men he had ever known.

"Though capable of the loftiest flights of pulpit oratory, he would
sit at the feet of an unordained evangelist as a learner ; and his
sympathy and help could always be counted on in any kind of true
evangelistic or mission work. He latterly showed a marked advance
in the spirit of consecration in his prayers, letters, addresses, work,
and entire intercourse with others.

" Though a member of the Presbyterian Church by intelligent con-
viction, he was an utter stranger to all narrow and selfish bigotry.

18

274 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

He rejoiced to recognize the image of Christ wherever it was to be
seen. Perhaps no man had a wider range of Christian brotherhood
in all the Churches, and it is not too much to say that the choicest
spirits in all branches of Christ's great family on earth felt themselves
enriched by being privileged to regard William Fleming Stevenson as
their personal friend. It is a touching evidence, too, of his large-
hearted catholicity, that, while some might have concluded from his
unparalleled devotion to the cause of Foreign Missions that he had
little care for mission-work at home, the Irish Mission collection was
wrought up in Bathgar better, perhaps, than in any other congrega-
tion of the Church, and the last audible prayer that passed his lips
was a prayer for Ireland.

" Humanly speaking, he would have been with ua to-day if he had
been able to spare himself more. But where there was work to he
attended to, he must be up and doing. He laboured constantly, ' in
season, out of season,' and, like the Master, never for himself, ever
for others. He undertook too much work for others. He could not .
say 'No,' when most others would have had no difficulty. His con-
gregation lay close to his heart. The cares and difficulties of his
brethren in the ministry he made his own. But above all he carried
about with him everywhere the mighty load of the great world's
heathenism. His soul was straitened for the redemption of India and
China."

Another Dublin minister, the Rev. Alexander Rentoul,
closes a short sketch, to which reference has already been
made, in these words : —

"When I took up the evening paper of the 17th September and
read the news of his death, I remembered the words he used at the
first induction at which I ever heard him speak — ' When some great
one falls, we are inclined to cry with Elisha, " The chariots of Israel,
and the horsemen thereof," as if Divine power had vanished from the
Church. A great rush of fear, the dread uncertainty of all things,
comes on us, and we hardly know on which side to look for help.'
It is under such feeling that I write even now. I know not how the
loss can be made up. God knows, and we must leave it to Him,

" On the Saturday, as I uncovered the face, it seemed to me that,
but for the great brown beard, it might have been the boy's round
face over which his mother bent long ago. A strange look of inno-
cent childhood seemed to come back again. God grant that we who
are left, when, in the last sleep, the pain leaves our hearts and the

In Memonam. 275

trouble vanishes from our brows, may have passed with spirits as
truly childlike to ' see Him face to face.'

" For the thought struck me then, and clings to me now, that this
man was of so childlike a spirit that he permitted the Church to lay
on him a burden greater than he could bear. It ia little to me that
he would have worked as incessantly in any case.

"And yet all highest work is done thus, with a blessed childlike
unconsciousness, and with no true appreciation from others till, in
the after-time, they see more clearly. I am not sure that his friends
would have it otherwise. Possibly even the nearest can rise into
that glorious atmosphere of martyrdom in which all God's worthiest
witnesses live and die. When we think of the nights spent over the
Foreign Mission, or with some wakeful invalid who could sleep in
the day but lay sleepless all the night-watches ; when we think of
the gray dawn breaking on him as he sat in his study or walked home
after his watching ; when we remember the crowded church and the
great Idirong with sorrow-stricken faces, the long sad procession to
the cemetery, and the bowed heads and great sobs of strong men
around the open grave, we are inclined to think it was better that
William Fleming Stevenson died at the age of fifty-four, leaving
behind him an orphaned home and a bereaved congregation, and a
bereaved Church and a bereaved Mission, than to have died at eighty,
leaving behind what work he might have done as other men work —
better for the Mission and for the whole Church, better even for what
lay nearest his heart, in his own home. For as the fallmg leaf of
September is but the preparation for spring's emerald green, so I am
sure his life and death are the sure precursors of such gifts of liberality
and such deeds of consecration and of sacrifice as our Church has
never yet imagined in her most blessed hours. "

In a letter to Mrs. Stevenson the Rev. George Shaw,
Belfast, says : —

"I need not speak to you of that strange, sweet attractiveness
which drew all hearts to your beloved husband. What rests upon
my memory most, I think, was his wonderful sympathy — sympathy
not in kindly and fitting words only, but in that great tenderness of
spirit which made you feel instinctively that he truly shared your
sorrows or your joys. Hardly ever did I meet one to whom I felt I
could so fully and so freely speak of the deep thoughts that lie within.
In truth, he seemed to have so much of the blessed Master's spirit,
that one felt one had got away into a purer, serener atmosphere when
conversing alone with him. So gentle, so pure, so much of Christ,

2/6 Life of William. Fleming Stevenson.

so emptied of self, is it strange that many, like myself, felt the power
and the charm of so lovable a nature, that wondrous unconsciousness
that drew us closely to him ? Often did I urge him to spare himself.
But it seemed a hard thing to do. One and another and another were
gently laying hold of him to urge their suit, or sought some kind,
brotherly advice, and well they knew how ready he was to respond
to such appeals

' ' Let us not forget that a true life is not measured by days or
years. Fain would we have kept him here ; but is it not something
for the Church, and for the world too, to have the example of a noble
life consumed with the love of Jesus, and whose history may be
summed up in the words, ' To me to live is Christ ' ? The holy radi-
ance of that short life will not soon fade away. Coming generations
will, I believe, thank God for the memory of one who seemed to
reflect so much of the light which comes from fellowship with Jesus.
For myself, I count among the blessings of my life the sweet hours
spent with your loved husband, and the times when, in the quiet of
my study, we two knelt in prayer. Never shall I forget those hours,
when I felt as though we had entered within the veil ! Our converse
was often on Missions — ^that cause which lay so near his heart. I
was much impressed by the calm, clear judgment and thorough know-
ledge of men, combined with enthusiasm, which glowed in his public
addresses. He was no visionary. His faith in the ultimate and
universal triumph of ' the glorious gospel ' was based upon the sure
Word of the living God. His soul yearned to see this unfaltering
faith taking fast hold of the whole Christian Church. For this he
lived ; for this he worked ; for this he prayed. Who of us can fail to
see how, in the growth of the missionary spirit throughout our Church,
that word is abundantly verified : ' He being dead yet speaketh ! '

" India was much in his thoughts, and he longed for the strength-
ening and enlarging of our Indian Mission. But China was not for-
gotten, and he earnestly desired to see our little band- in that vast
empire greatly increased by the addition of gifted, true-hearted, and
devoted men. Often, when we got on the missionary theme, it was
hard to separate, though the midnight hour was past, and I well
knew that rest was sorely needed. Many a time I have gone with
him to his room after a long day of exhausting work, when he looked
weary and spent ; and when about to say good-night, some thought
about India or China would come up. In the fuhiess of his large,
loving heart, he seemed wholly to forget himself and the sleep that
was so needful, and again and again one more word was spoken, until
at last we parted, one at least refreshed in spirit."

In Meinoriam. 277

The Rev. Principal Paton, D.D., of Nottingham, writes : —

" It always seemed to me that the German heroes and saints whose
life-histories Dr. Fleming Stevenson had so brightly sketched were
his own spiritual kindred. He had been attracted to them, and had
so clearly interpreted and pictured their aims and methods, because
of his profound sympathy with them and likeness to them. Like
them he had the Teutonic passion for labour, which, in his preface to
'Praymg and Working,' he tells us, belongs to this age, 'probably
the quickest and busiest of any the world has seen ; ' but he also had
that peculiar grace of patience, of inward peace and victorious per-
sistency, which so wonderfully impresses us in all these calm German
workers with whom he has made us familiar. By faith he saw, like
them, the spiritual root of all the world's wrongs and woes in sin, and
therefore he felt and knew that only the Divine power of a salvation
which forgave and subdued sin would avail for the true redemption
of the world ; and the secret of his strength and peace lay in his com-
munion by faith with the Almighty Saviour from sin. But, like
Wichem, Fliedner, and other wise master-workers of his book, he
also saw that the business of the kingdom of heaven needed the' con-
summate power of true statesmanship, instinct with the spirit and

life of the King they sei-ved And 'Praying and Working' was

thus to me not only a portraiture of great heroes of faith, it was a
self -revelation. My friend there unconsciously, but most faithfully.
disclosed himself

" Dr. Fleming Stevenson had three great endowments which I did
not at first recognize, but which soon impressed and interested me.
His subtle and critical sense of music, in speech and in song, made
him one of the best judges of hymns and of psalmody. I might in-
deed have conjectured his eminence in this sacred art from his pure
literary taste, the rhythmic beat of his style, his true ' Church ' feel-
ing, and his impassioned sympathy with the grander impulses and
movements of faith which always ring out in reverberations of song ;
but as I knew him better, I learnt to admire his fine inner sense for
the 'harmonies' of spiritual thought in the ancient and modern
hymns, and in the chorales and tunes which they have inspired. He
had joy in the grand rhythmic march of words and sounds so in-
breathed into one another as to make one music, which is in all its
cadences the voice of faith.

"Then there was the bright ionhomie, the unfailing spring of
cheerful energy and affection, the loving sympathy that touched and
opened the heart like sunlight, and the willing helpfulness that sought

278 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

and carried the burdens of many ; these made Dr. Fleming Stevenson
tlie beloved pastor of a large congregation, formed under his ministry.
Other gifts made him an eminent preacher ; but these several qualities,
blending in a most happy unison, attracted multitudes like myself
who -were not privileged to hear him preach. A wide circle in many
lands knew and loved the friend who had always a pastor's heart in
his friendship.

"And finally I was enabled, during many years of acquaintance,
to discern the powerful gifts for organization, the capacity for busi-
ness, the knowledge of men, and the instinct to catch the fluctuating
movements of opinion in a public assembly or a church, which gave
him so great influence and won him such gratitude and honour in the
Irish Presbyterian Church. He was a true ecclesiastic in the noblest
sense of that word, a man who embodied and governed the catholic
life of the Church of which he was a member and a leader. And few
' churchmen ' have kept their devotion to the Church, and their
power within the Church, so blamelessly pure from the least stain of
selfishness. Laboriosus et diviurnus ecdesicB miles — he died, as he
lived, for the Church of his Lord.

"The 'Inner Mission,' which first united us in brotherly bonds,
continued to be the watchword till the last. And we both hoped
that we might be associated in drawing together all Christian Churches
in our country in the fellowship of this Mission, even as they are
united in their Missions in foreign lands. Reunion may not at present
be obtained by any act of comprehension, or by any agreement in ritual
or polity or creed ; but all our Churches might unite in the practical
service of man without any unworthy compromise or sacrifice

" How often have we together, and with other deeply pledged con-
federates, prayed that God might lead us and help us thus to estab-
lish the ' Inner Mission ' in this country. He is gone — his aspiration
and vow remain. May they inspire others to fulfil that task he
wished to be his own ! And may the Church of Christ realize her
unity in spirit and in life as she realizes her one mission to preach
good news and heal the world, sick unto death with divers diseases ! "

In answer to a request for letters, the E.ev. Professor
Oharteris, D.D., writes : —

"You know that he and I had little time for writing letters; so,
though I had known him personally for five-and-twenty years, our
intercourse in the last few years of his life was not by letter, but in
times of respite and recess, when we had something like a holiday

In Memoriam. 279

together. He was all but overwhelmed by the multitude of letters
to missionaries and on Missions which he was writing day and night,
and often in the train, on his way to hold missionary meetings
through the country. I do not mean that he gave less of his strength
to his pastorate than other people give. I think he gave more ; for
his living force was so great, and he so completely did all his work
with all his might, that, alike in preaching and in visiting, he exerted
an umisual influence at great cost of his vital energy. I scarcely
understand how he stood the strain so long. It was doubtless be-
cause of his peace of mind and purity of heart. There was little
inward friction, except when some one disappointed him.

" I had few letters from him except notes fixing appointments. I
remember one he sent me in answer to an intimation that the Univer-
sity of Edinburgh proposed to confer on him the degree of D.D. It
was very lively. He was pleased that he had been thought of ; but
assiu'ed me that his gifts were not academical, that the greater part
of his time as a student had been occupied with practical subjects,
that his work as an author was not dignified or learned, and that it
would be absurd to make a doctor of so desultory a man. But then
he bethought him that, in his modest disclaimer, he was in danger
of being ungracious, and so he assured me that he was very proud of
the ofiered honour, although too much surprised to understand how
it had come about that our staid Scottish University had proposed to
lay its hand on a restless Irishman. In answer to this delightful bit
of thinking aloud, he was told to appear to-be capped on a certain
day in April, because the University was quite able to judge of his
worthiness. And he came, and ever afterwards was an enthusiastic
member of the University. During our Tercentenary rejoicings, he
threw himself with characteristic fervour into all our proceedings.
On one occasion he not only joined a student procession by torchlight,
but prevailed on an Anglican theologian, who was our guest along
with him, to follow the rejoicing lads till the last lights were put out
(on the Calton Hill, if I remember rightly) about midnight.

"It was at that time, and in your dear mother's house, and in
your own Orwell Bank, that I saw him and knew him as he was.
What humour there was in him, as there is in aU men whose pathos
is true ! What quick Irish wit he had ! What wealth of information
from his wide reading ! And how inevitably all things were seen by
him to bear on the twin objects of his life— to raise the neglected poor
at home, and to call in the heathen in foreign lands. After an even-
ing with him one wanted to build a Rauhe. Ham in every British
town where rough boys need to be broken in, and to send -^ mission-

28o Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

ary — or oneself to go — to every heathen city where men and women
live and die without Christian hope. I do not wonder that he moved
so many ; my wonder is, that any one could resist him, and that all
of us have not grown more like him.

" If I were asked to say what he was, I know not . how to describe
what rises in my mind. He was so strong and tender, so bright and
patient, a man of such wide knowledge and deep feeling, a man with
his heart so true to home, while sensitive to every movement of
Christ's Church in the distant mission-field ; so powerful, therefore,
as a pastor, while so truly a missionary to the heathen, that the
titles of his own books strike me as an epitaph on himself : ' Praying
and Working,' a ' Hymn of the Church and Home.'

" I always think of him as of music and light and love, for he was
full of all God's best things. No one who did not know him well had
any true idea of what he was. He could have done so much greater
things, and let all men better know how richly he was endowed.
But then he would not have been so great as he was in self -repression,
in quiet helping of others, in leading a life that was like Christ's, falling
into the soil of other hearts to grow up with eternal harvest joy when
they are reaped. I never knew any man with half his gifts so de-
livered from self. You and your children have a great. possession
in having had him. "

From America also came touching tributes to Ms memory.

From the Rev. Theodore Cuyler, D.D., Brooklyn : —

" I regret exceedingly that I cannot lay my hands on any letter of
my beloved friend, Dr. W. Fleming Stevenson, but I send you in-
stead some brief reminiscences of his visits to America in 1873 and
1877. In the autumn of the first-named year he came over as a dele-
gate to the Evangelical Alliance. The paper which he read before
that distinguished assemblage in New York was one of che finest
that was presented during the whole week.

' ' During the month which brought so many distinguished ministers
to the Evangelical Alliance (October 1873) I determined to give my
congregation a taste of royal dainties. And so I invited four repre-
sentatives of as many different nationalities to occupy my pulpit on
four successive Sabbath evenings.

"After my people had listened to an Italian, an Englishman, and
a Scotchman, I told them I would give them a chance to hear one of
the princes of the Irish Presbyterian pulpit. The spacious church was
packed to the door, hundreds standing in the aisles and the vestibule.

In Memoriam. 281

"Dr. Stevenson was that evening at his best. He was inspired
by the vast assemblage. Wishing to give him also a hjfmnological
treat, I selected two of his favourites, ani they were sung with
immense enthusiasm by the audience. Under the quickening in-
spiration of this grand burst of sacred song, he rose and announced
his text. It was Paul's answer to Agrippa (Acts xxvi. 27 and 29).
Although his discourse was written, yet he was not pinioned by his
manuscript, and for nearly an hour he enchained the crowd with a
most fervid, direct, and powerful presentation of the pure gospel.
It was argument made red-hot with holy enthusiasm.

"Four years afterwards I was startled one evening by the appari-
tion of Brother Stevenson ! He was on his way through America to
India, and had halted overnight at Saratoga Springs. Hearing that
I was in the town, he kindly came up and bestowed the evening upon
me. It was my last interview with him, and he was charged with
the electricity of Foreign Missions like a walking battery. Of that
memorable tour to the harvest-fields of Asia, and of the magnificent
and unrivalled oration on Foreign Missions which he delivered to
your General Assembly on his return home, I need not write.
Thankful I am, and ever shall be, that I have' been permitted to
see and hear, to know and to love, that beautiful combination of
manhood and modesty, and that consummate fruit of the Christian
graces, William Fleming Stevenson. Beautiful and beloved herald
of the Cross ! How fervently I loved him, and how deeply thousands
will mourn him ! He has made a deep, broad mark on the religious
history of his native land ; he has influenced many a life and inspired
many a Christ-loving heart by his ' Praying and Working : ' his will
be the brightness of the firmament, and of the. stars, of them who
turn many souls unto righteousness. "

From the Eev. John Hall, D.D., New York :—

"For true eloquence in preaching and true earnestness in pastoral
effort the country had no superior to Dr. Stevenson ; and for chaste,
exact, scholarly, dignified, and attractive presentation of the cause
of Missions it had no equal. Many remember his appearance at the
meeting of the Evangelical Alliance in New York in 1873. Modestly
taking his place at the desk, with nothing remarkable to arrest at-
tention but a striking face and an impressive voice that betrayed no
provincialism — that might have been English, Irish, or American-
he laid his manuscript on the desk and proceeded to read. As his
own feeling, and that of the audience, which kept pace with it,

282 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

warmed, an energetic swinging motion of his hatid, becoming more
and more vehement as he proceeded, recalled the descriptions one
gets of Chalmers, and certainly the riveted attention, the sympathy,
the enthusiasm of the audience, as he painted picture after picture
and flashed out appeal after appeal, realized the accounts we have
of the effects of Chalmers's influence on an audience. Many a time
the like triumph was achieved by him since, in his own land and in
Scotland, where he again and again rendered brilliant service to the
cause of Missions. His preaching was no less attractive than his
speaking, thoroughly scholarly in style, evangelical in its substance,
delivered with entire forgetfulness of seU and complete absorption
in his subject. But behind his preaching, speaking, and writing,
there was the man — ^generous, loving, large-hearted, and noble, whom
to know was to admire, whom to know closely was to love with an
affection mingled with enthusiasm.

"While his presence and his efforts will be widely and sadly
missed, they who loved him the most will rejoice in the blessed
memory he leaves behind, will try to believe that the Master will
provide for the continuance of the work, and will hope for renewed
fellowship by-and-by."

From the Rev. J. S. Macintosh, D.D., of Philadelphia,
formerly of Belfast : —

" I was first introduced to Dr. Stevenson in 1862 ; in 1865 I came
to know him well ; 6nd in 1867 we grew close and confiding friends.
As I met him in Church courts, in committees, in evangelical conven-
tions and public meetings, he continued to grow in every sense a
larger and more lovable man. It was not by any means a man of
one phase or a single feature who was laid down, at fifty-three years
of age, in Mount Jerome Cemetery, a willing sacrifice to the exhaust-
ing work of Missions. Dr. Stevenson was, in all truth, many-sided.
A student — ^yes, all his life. There were few departments of appro-
priate knowledge with which he had not intermeddled. His library
was large, carefully selected, and well read. In the many literary
societies of which he was a specially honoured member, his words and
papers were always hailed with gladness ; for lawyer, minister,
teacher, and journalist were forced to feel that those simply spoken
utterances were the fresh thinking of one never forgetful of the past,
yet ever abreast of the present, literature. His reading was all laid
under contribution to advance Missions. A student — yes, but also a
wise man of affairs. Year after year I sat beside him in the Psalmody

In Memoriam. 283

Committee and on the Mission Board, and I saw, as all others did,
how painstaking, self-possessed, judicious, and practical he was with
all his enthusiasm. A man of affairs — yes, and a power on the plat-
form, a foremost authority on hymnology, a brilliant journalist and
writer, and an eagerly welcomed preacher. A decided Churchman of
the strongest Presbyterian frame, one who loved his Church to the
last fibre of his being, gloried in her God-sealed history, strove to
hold her where the Master placed her, in the very van of His host,
and magnified all in her and of her ; yet lived so true and gentle and
generous a brother in the common family of the common Father,
that, as the good men bore him to his burial, seventy ministers of the
Episcopal Church, including the Archbishop of Dublin, and honour-
able representatives of all denominations, followed the large-hearted
presbyter, on whose coffin lay the flowery tributes of three lands.
All Churches felt that it was the strongest of arms from which death
had taken the banner with this high device — 'The World for Christ ! '

"Yes ; and only death could take it. Nothing in life could move
him to lay it down. For the sake of Missions, as represented in the
work of the Irish Presbyterian Church, he resisted every temptation
to change, and refused to hear the loudest summons from man. The
public was ever seeking him for large spheres and important posi-
tions. Literature courted him eagerly, and with no stinted doles of
tribute. Professorial chairs again and again were within his easy
reach. Foremost churches called him frequently and with force.
Great cities set before him influential seats of far-reaching oppor-
tunities. But Missions had mastered him. Behind the heathen he
seemed always to see Christ, and to hear Him say, ' Do not forsake
them. Too few care for their souls.' And he had come to say, with
aU a Scotch-Irishman's dogged determination, and with, what is far
holier and more constraining, the deepening conviction of a Spirit-
taught man realizing more and more the love of Christ and the value
of souls, ' This one thing I do.' Fleming Stevenson came back from
his great life-taxing Mission pilgrimage, from his personal contact
with actual heathenism and with the noble men and women fighting
it for Christ, an intensely moved and fully consecrated man. Stir-
ring ambitions and sacred aspirations cherished beforetimes and
stimulating him as he toiled in certain lines of study and fields of
action, had all yielded to the expulsive power of a not wholly new,
but a wholly renewed and now overmastering, affection.

"The day after the news of his death reached us, I was stopped
by a gentleman — 'Is it the Stevenson who wrote "Praying and
Working" who is dead — the man who made that splendid speech

284 Life of William Fleming Stevenson.

at the Evangelical Alliance in New York ? ' ' Yea, sir.' Then came
a pause, and then, ' It was that man first made me really believe in
Missions and work for them. I heard him in Edinburgh. ' It was a
noble tribute. How easily it might be multiplied ! All the younger
missionaries in the GuJEirati field of India and in the Manchurian dis-
trict of China, where our Irish brethren labour, are the trophies of
his glowing appeals to college men. How many consecrated youth,
called forth by him, are to-day in the seminaries at Belfast and Derry,
I know not. Not a few devoted men and women from Scotland and
England are doing good service m Mission-fields because he stirred
them to go forth. Scores of aroused pastors and quickened Churches
trace their new life of zeal and labour for Missions to his unstinted
work. Elders in Belfast and Dublin, in Derry and Cork, in Edin-
burgh and even New York, date their new departures in honest giv-
ing to his forceful statements, Stevenson had come to take Duff's
place in Britain, the great authority on Missions, the gieat orator
and worker for them. The whole man went into his work. The fire
burned purer and hotter. Some of us saw that the fire was eating
him up. He was often spoken to about rest in his weariness, and we
ever got the answer, ' I have no time to be weary.' So the life flamed
on and flamed out. But that life told, and mightily. And now he
is not, for God took him. But this so fast-sped life reads afresh and
sharply to Presbyterian Churches the old lesson so often taught us
by the Church of Rome — set apart the special man for special work ;
make him do that special work with all his might ; let him do no
other ; and thus save waste and gain completeness. Keep the God-
sent man for God-set work."

On the simple stone which marks his resting-place in
Mount Jerome Cemetery is written the prayer of liis life : —

" thy kingdom come."
Amen.

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