"There is a religious stupidity among us at the Seminary which is truly alarming. Science has its

votaries, pleasure pleads successfully, and worldly intellectual ambition enthralls many hearts; but religion, bearing to us the great lessons, the great aspirations and hopes of life, revealed by the blood of Immanuel, is forgotten. My soul, arouse thy dormant energies, awake and gird thyself for thy arduous task. Not only thy own destiny but that of a thousand others may depend upon thy activity or indolence.

On the evening of his twenty-first birthday, after recounting, with deep gratitude, the many mercies which had crowned his life, among which he specially mentions the prayerful love of Christian parents, and the helpful solicitude of brothers and sisters, he concludes his reflections with these devout words:

“And what shall I do but dedicate myself anew to God, consecrate myself afresh to his service, and devote my life to the work of aiding the cause of righteousness in promoting the highest present and future welfare of mankind? Holy Father, confirm and seal these resolutions of faithfulness, that my life may tell to some good account. And when I shall have fulfilled all thy will on earth, may 1 be permitted an inheritance among the sanctified, through the merits and sacrifice of an atoning Redeemer. "

It was often remarked by his friends that "He

ought to go to college." This question of a collegiate course, after giving it considerable attention, he decided in the negative, although specially encouraged by one of his brothers, and also by others, to pursue a liberal course of study. His advanced age, together with an ardent desire to enter, soon as possible, upon active life, was allowed to influence his decision unduly. Cherishing somewhat erroneous ideas of the nature of a true culture,-ideas which in after years were greatly modified,—he believed he could obtain what he wanted and need ed, in the way of discipline and actual attainments, easier and better by foregoing collegiate privileges.

This decision, with its consequences to mind and body, he regarded in his mature years with regret. During the entire four years of his first pastorate, at Grafton, he buried himself in his books, and attempted by intense study to supply what a limited attendance upon the schools had denied. It can not be questioned that he succeeded in gaining a more thorough and intelligent acquaintance with English literature than the graduates of colleges usually reach, and a wider and more comprehensive theological knowledge than the majority of graduates from our foremost theological seminaries, but his victory was won at too great a cost.

At the time of entering his pastorate at Olneyville, in 1852, his daily hours of actual, severe study had become reduced, by mental and physical inability, from twelve to two. This lower limit he rarely, afterward, was able to exceed, although his power of application, in the easier forms of literary service, continued for many years the day long, save in time of actual prostration. His after life of almost continual pain,-often of intense suffering,was chiefly born of the unwise, but absorbing devotion to study in the ten years succeeding his entering Smithville Seminary. His change of feeling with reference to collegiate education, is partly evinced by his direction of the life of his son, whom, at no small sacrifice, he placed within the reach of college privileges.

Having decided to enter upon a course of theological study, he left Smithville in the spring of 1845, and entered the F. Baptist Theological School at Whitestown, N. Y. His examination for admission showed an independence of thought which was well nigh arraigned by one of the examining committee as heresy. It was certainly an advance in knowledge, and power of thought, beyond what had been usually witnessed on similar occasions. He became not only a student, but an ornament of the school, giving it new acceptability and higher rep

utation in the community of which it was the

center.

Rev. Dr. Butler speaks of his "marked ability and originality of thought."

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Throughout the course of study he was diligent, earnest, courteous, and eminently successful. My remembrance of him in the class - room, is unexceptionally pleasant and endearing; he commended himself to other teachers also, and to the students, in a manner to obtain a large place in their hearts."

Thoroughness and promptness characterized his exercises in the class room; a spirit of devotion and activity marked his attendance upon the meetings for prayer. He was courteous in social intercourse, free from sharpness in debate, and abstained from decided expressions of approval or displeasure.

The students were accustomed to hold extemporaneous debates, in which he took a lively interest. At such times a question would be proposed, and speakers called at once to discuss it. His impromptu arguments at these debates, were a source of constant surprise to his class - mates. He would open the question systematically, and argue with a clearness and effective rhetorical arrangement that seemed the fruit of long study upon it. His language was grammatical, eloquent and forcible.

"The critics had a lean subject when he was upon the floor. "

For a number of years he held substantially the position of his early religious guide, Martin Cheney, upon the Peace question: that all wars are wrong; that armies and navies are excluded by the spirit of Christianity; that Government has no right to resort to force of arms to restrain vice or to punish criminals; that capital punishment is totally unallowable; that "to control, or attempt to control the actions of men by a resort to force, is a practical refusal to recognize them as moral beings.

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He frequently discussed this question at Whitestown; and having studied it more than his opponents, he maintained his position to their discomfiture. His opinions on this subject were either greatly modified or abandoned, as he came in more direct and serious contact with questions of morals and government, especially when the stern logic of events, the hand of Providence, laid the fearful issues of life and death before the nation, at the inauguration of civil strife.

Toward the close of his studies, Nov. 4, 1846, he delivered an address of signal ability, entitled "The reign of Force and Reason," before the Rhetorical Society. In this, his Peace principles received an ornate setting, and somewhat thorough presentation.