womanliness of woman.

Is it strange that men thus stunned by misery
should feel that it were better for tliem that they had
never been born ; that they should be tempted to
curse God and die, or that they should turn savagely
upon those above them I Between these two ex-
tremes of society there is a great gulf fixed. Who
can throw a bridge across it f Who can make the
first approach to reconciliation? Not the poor, for
they have nothing to ofi'er. Any advance must come
from the side of the rich, who, as long as they are
left in ease and luxury, are not much troubled by
the sufferings of the poor. How, then, is it possible
to negotiate a treaty of peace ?

One heroic eifort has been made to dredge the
bottomless pit of society, and to bring up to the
surface the forgotten portions of humanity. The
Salvation Army has marched into the slums of Lon-
don, and catching the eye with the show of a military
organization, forming in ranks, to the sound of trum-



ADDRESS. 87

pet and drum, by the waving of banners and the
tramp, tramp of a mighty host, it has sought to
rally the outcasts of society, and to restore them at
least to the level of decent poverty, — a poverty that
is not inconsistent with self-respect, which gives hope
that these poor, battered creatures may yet become
true men and women, of whom society need not be
ashamed.

But where is the place for the college ? Our Eng-
lish friends have taught us by setting us an example ;
planting in the heart of London, or rather at the
East End, in the centre of its poverty and wretch-
edness, what is called an University Settlement,
and is, what its name implies, a translating, not of
college life, but of college men, from the quiet
shades of Oxford and Cambridge into the midst of
the vice and crime of the greatest city in the world.

But what do these scholarly men go there for?
To patronize the lower classes, to make them feel
their inferiority f If that were their object and their
method, they would make themselves more hated
than ever. But they do nothing of the kind. They
come among the poor, not as masters among slaves,
nor even as teachers among pupils, but simply as
friends and brothers, standing on the level of a com-
mon humanity. Their doors are open, and all can
enter. Tliere the weary can find rest. Even the
wooden bench is not quite so hard as the stones of
the street. Is it bitter cold? ''Come in and be
warmed before the open fire ! " Here the naked
can be clothed, and the hungry can be fed. Yet



88 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

this relief is given with care, lest it foster a spirit
of dependence, and so degrade the self-respecting poor
to the level of paupers and beggars.

But the chief thing that is given, and that is worth
all the rest, is personal sympathy. When a man clad
in rags comes to the open door, he is not driven away
by a stony look or a sharj) voice. Perhaps he is in
an angry mood, sour and sullen with a sense of wrong.
No matter ! His bitterness may dissolve in this soft
atmosphere. Even though it were a man just out
of prison, who presented himself like the convict to
the bishop in Victor Hugo's " Miserables," a wild
affrighted creature, he is calmed by a greeting that
in act, if not in words, repeats the immortal salutation
of the bishop : '' I know who you are. I know your
name. You are my brother!" '^ Brother ! Brother ! "
It is years since he heard that word. Instantly there
comes a memory of one who loved him when he lay
as a child upon her breast, and a tear trickles down
his cheek. That word tells him that, poor and
wretched as he may be, he is not wholly despised
and forsaken by his fellow-creatures, nor forgotten
by his Maker. That may be the turning-point in
his history, the beginning of a new life.

Such was the beautiful charity which I saw in
London a few months since. Nowhere could there
be more need of such places of refuge than in the
capital of England; for it is a sad truth that the
greatest barbarism, nay, the blackest heathenism,
may lie close alongside of the highest civilization.
I shall never forget one night many years ago that



ADDRESS. 89

I was taken by tvvo police-officers tlirougli tlie
Seven Dials, then the most notorious haunt of vice
and crime. It was midnight, and yet the streets
were ablaze with flaring gas-lights, and the gin-
palaces were in full blast, crowded with drunken
men and women. As they poured out into the
streets, I saw an endless succession of the most
horrible figures that ever bore the shape of human-
ity ; and it seemed to me that the very earth was
quaking, that the fires of hell were burning under
our feet, and that these poor creatures, bloated with
drunkenness or pale and haggard, were the spirits of
the lost, walking about by the light of the flames.

Scenes like that may be witnessed in our own
largest cities. They are not pleasant to look upon,
and I would advise no one to go to see them from
idle curiosity ; but to a young man who is pure and
strong, I would say. Go once, and once for all, and
then come back and lay the question on your soul, if
there be not something that you can do to abate all
this wickedness and woe.

If you desire to do it, this University Settlement,
which has been reproduced in this country, fur-
nishes you the opportunity ; and I do not hesitate to
recommend this form of service to those who go
forth from institutions like this, as a post-graduate
course, believing that a few months spent in mis-
sion work in one of our great cities, in daily contact
with the poor, would be of more value to a young man
at the beginning of his career, than if spent in a law
office, a medical school, or even (begging the pardon



90 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

of my brethren) in a theological seminary. It would
teach him what he could never learn within these
walls. He would be a student, not of books, but
of human nature, degraded and fallen. He would
see the dark side, the night side, of our gilded city
life, and would appreciate, as never before, the liollow-
ness and rottenness that underlie our boasted modern
civilization. Out of all this sad experience he would
come with ideas somewhat subdued, but with a knowl-
edge that would make him a better citizen, a better
Christian, and a better man.

With this suggestion, we who are passing off the
stage leave it to the 3'oung and the brave who are
coming on, to answer the question, what part edu-
cation is to play in the future relations to one another
of the American people. Is it to be a wall that shall
separate class from class, — the rich from the poor, the
learned from the unlearned, — or the bridge that unites
them all ? If our country is not to go the way of all
the earth, it can only be because the abyss is spanned
by the splendid arch of education and religion, across
which men can pass to and fro, having a common
inheritance in knowledge, and in all that is for the
benefit of mankind.



ADDRESS.

BY THE KEY. W. M. GROSVENOE.

TT is surely most natural and fitting- that the sons
of Williams should always, and especially at such
a time as this, seek to be faithful to the spirit of Mark
Hopkins. Our great teacher, were he here to-day,
would, I am sure, tell us at least three things : to be
absolutely true to our own convictions ; to be widely
tolerant of the convictions of other people ; and to
be very simple and direct in any statement of our
opinions that we may wish to make.

In the letter containing the Committee's invitation
to me the subject was given as '' The Modern College
and Church Unity ; " and these further words occur :
^'It was thought felicitous that this address should
be taken by a clergyman of the Episcopal order."
As a clergyman of the Episcopal Church I am
here, and as a son of AVilliams I shall hope to
state my convictions with sincerity, tolerance, and
simplicity.

We are the more willing to discuss the subject
assigned because the Church to which we belong
believes in unity so heartily, and deems it so impor-
tant that she has offered to give up many most
precious but non-essential things, that she might fur-



92 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

ther its accomplishment. She wins her right to speak
by the things she is willing to sacrifice.

The subject assigned asks us to think primarily of
Church unity ; not simply the sentiment or spirit of
unity found in the hearts of Christian people, but that
oneness of life and organization which without con-
tradiction was the characteristic of the earliest days
of the Christian Church. The final aim and end of
what we seek is that, through mutual understand-
ings and the reign of love, we fulfil the prayer of
Saint Paul to the divided church at Corinth : " Now
I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing,
and that there be no divisions among you ; but that
ye be perfected together in the same mind and in
the same judgment."

As one looks out into the confusion of our modern
religious world, this day of unity seems to be far
distant. There are so many prejudices to be erased,
so many hereditary traditions to be overcome, so
much sectarian spirit to be eradicated, that for many,
many years we may struggle on, simply creating the
spirit and love of unity out of wliich the united
Church, the body of Christ, will finally grow. But it
can avail us very little to lose any high ideal out of
our life because it seems at the present impossible,
— much less the greatest ideal of all, of one king-
dom of Jesus Christ.

In the practical efi'orts and difficulties inseparable
from realization of any such ideal, men are asking
two questions: Is the ideal of Church unity worth



ADDRESS. 93

seeking! and, By what method do you propose to
reach it ?

1. Men in college and out ask, Is not emulation,
rivalry in good works, on the whole a good thing 1
However much of special pleading we may use as an
apology for our present religious chaos, surely the
doctrine of " the most for the least " and ^' every man
for himself," the law of competition, has never yet
helped us to solve our great social problems, and
that law of competition cannot be the law of the
kingdom of love. The sect spirit is the competi-
tive spirit. It is not the spirit of the Master Cln-ist,
nor of the Apostle who said, " Let no man seek his
own, but every man another's wealth." Rivalry in
good works very often means the establishment of
institutions that interfere with rather than supplement
each other, and the multiplication of valuable mate-
rial properties that in no way realize satisfactory
spiritual results.

Tliere also seems to be a most persuasive reason
for the present condition of things and its continu-
ance. You say that '' diiferent natures need different
aspects of truth, and seek varying modes for the
expression of their religious life." Granted, but that
is just what the sect spirit denies. It says that the
truth is too narrow to include all sorts and condi-
tions of men. The reason for the sect is to gather
into exclusive communion those who hold like views ;
it denies that the Church, as such, must contain dif-
ferent natures, and offers room for divergent opinions.
This argument of diversity is an argument for a true



94 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

catliolicity in the one universal Clmrcli of Jesus
Christ, not for any dividing- whatsoever.

2. And now, for a moment, we must turn to the
question of method. By what means do you propose
to reach this great ideal ?

When we were in college, we remember studying
with great interest Lord Bacon's Essay on Unity in
Religion, and since then we have found no better
method than he suggests. The harmony may be
reached, *' if the points fundamental and of substance
in religion were truly discerned and distinguished
from points not merely of faith, but of opinion, order,
or good intention." In otlier words, our method must
be one of doctrinal and ecclesiastical sifting, because
all through the ages of Christian history " men have
been creating oppositions which are not." In any
attainment of the deep underlying unities of the life
of the Church, we have always to subordinate the
ten thousand non-essentials, and discern between the
accretions of opinion which the ages have brought
and the simple faith of Christ and the simple creed of
His disciples, without which there can be no Christian
Church. In any such process we reach at last, of
course, profound convictions which demand expres-
sion. Here, among essentials, there are vital differ-
ences which we must honestly face, and try to find
their ultimate harmony ; but the spirit of unity would
help to rid us of the wasteful organizing of mere self-
willed opinions.

The relation of the modern college to this great
ideal, and the facility with which it can use this



ADDRESS. 95

metliod, make us very hopeful. We look to the
college with great confidence, because there are so
many conditions in its life that cannot but assist
us in our problem. Will you permit me to consider
this relation from the student's standpoint, and to
speak somewhat for him I

In spite of all past traditions, the successful modern
college, however religious and Christian it may be,
is forced to be more and more unsectarian. What-
ever may be the cause, the fact remains that our
largest and most successful universities and colleges
are subordinating the sectarian principle. However
dominant the original religious impulse, and how-
ever persistent the force of their hereditary traditions,
you cannot say that Harvard is Unitarian, nor Yale
Congregational, nor Princeton strictly Presbyterian,
nor Columbia Episcopalian. In the Boards of Trus-
tees, in the Faculties, and always in the body of stu-
dents there exist religious elements of the greatest
diversity, and they profess that they love to have it so.
Surely in this college to which we belong, certain
very marked religious influences have powerfully
shaped its life. Never would we wish to lose any
valuable truth which the earlier faith gave us ; never
would we seek to rid ourselves of the good things
which these hundred years, so rich in blessing, have
brought us; and yet none the less shall we always
rejoice as we see Williams College moving out of
any narrowness of policy or any ungracious secta-
rian prejudice to meet with progressive hopefulness
the new issues of our religious life.



96 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

This new relation of the college to religion is often
lamented by those who think they see in it the secu-
larization of the college. There may be somewhat of
danger here ; but to those who are waiting for the
unity of the Church, this seems to be that necessary
emancipation of the college from inadequate forms of
religious truth which must precede the larger life
found only through freedom. After all, it is putting
Religion where she can work out her own great
mission, which is not the enforced submission of un-
willing minds, but the winning of unfettered souls,
constrained only by the wondrous power of Christ
the Master.

The democratic character of the modern college is
another thing that helps us in our reachings after
unity. Here, in these days of ardent impulse, is a
democracy of friendship. The social life in our towns,
if not in our cities, is very apt to be divided by
its churcli affiliations. Instead of the social life of
the community unifj^ing divergent religious tenden-
cies, the churches become the centres of sets and
kinds and classes of people, and so intensify the
divisions which social causes have produced. We
hear with burning shame, and confess with deep con-
trition, that it has been and is true that the Clnu'ch
is a dividing force in our common life, — one body of
Christians rich and influential and learned, another
composed of the middle class, still another of the poor
and ignorant; one church built and managed entirely
for the rich, another for the poor. Even politically its
divisions persist. The Mason and Dixon's Line, blot-



ADDRESS. 97

ted out forever by our nation's blood, is still seen in
churches Nortli and churches South. Now, all this
is lost in the true democracy of college life. In
spite of the attempts at exclusiveness made by some
very immature individuals, the whole spirit of the
college is democratic, — men of all kinds not simply
meeting occasionally, but living together for four long
years. Our friendships nothing can ever efface, be-
cause they are the friendships of a true democracy.
We came from homes so very different ; we brought
with us influences, prejudices, convictions, manners,
that had come to us from our fathers. We came
with peculiarities and notions and conceptions, and
we were thrown at once into a life all new and
unknown. Here we met influences, prejudices,
convictions, manners unheard of in our experience ;
and these were held, not by some abstract imaginary
being, but by our own familiar friends, whom we
saw day by day. However positive our convictions,
or vigorous our opinions, we could never look with
tlie same intolerance at those opposing views, had
we never known these men so well. It is wonder-
ful how the touching of one life with another, one
personality with another, dissipates false judgments.
Entering into the life of a friend always means
entrance into a more living sympathy. All that
is good in a man and all that is bad in him un-
covers itself at the bidding of such friendship, and
the larger knowledge is a pei-petual challenge of re-
ligious professions and the sincerity of a man's faith ;
so we go into the world understanding at last how

7



98 WILLIAAIS COLLEGE.

those otlier convictions are possible, and able to meet
them in the future with an intelligent and sympathetic
judgment.

This democracy is not only characterized by friend-
ship, but it is a democracy of young men. The young
man is alive to present issues. "We might not be so
willing to trust our problem to the Boards of Trustees
or to tlie Faculties. But the college man is all unfet-
tered by the prejudices that the many and far-reaching
associations of life will bring in the after years. His
convictions are more plastic, more capable of being
moulded by new elements of knowledge and larger
aspects of truth. His habits of thought are not har-
dened. Past defeats have been few, and sturdy an-
tagonisms almost unknown ; so his judgment has not
been warped by preconceived errors. He has not
yet committed himself to the dictation of any party
leader. He has not closed the doors of his intel-
lectual life, but they are flung wide open, waiting
for new liofht and life. All that he is waits on what
he is to be, and so we can be quite sure that with a
larger independence he is able to receive and work
out any great problem.

This democracy contains another element ; it is full
of manliness. In college as elsewhere we meet with
types of weak piety and religious officiousness. We
have known religion made ridiculous, and maudlin
sentiment masquerading as goodness, and faith lost
in mere profession quite as much in college as in
the world. But the scorn with which it is greeted is
lost in the world, while here, in the intimate associa-



ADDRESS. 99

tion of our life, that scorn is most effectually felt.
It is said that the college pulpit is difficult to fill
satisfactorily, because the congregation is most exact-
ing. It may be so ; but I believe that any vigorous
man of sincere convictions may wholly trust his fate,
if he but utter a straightforward gospel of living
value, and having uttered it, knows when to stop.
Nowhere will religious truth be more respected and
pious platitudes be more completely ineffective than
in the midst of that freedom of criticism inevitable
in the democracy of college life. The sense of man-
liness demands that everj^ question shall have an
honest hearing; every man shall have fair play. It
is perfectly willing to be proved wrong, if the proof
be satisfactory. It is willing to suffer, provided the
defeat be just. In other words, it estimates the whole
problem of life and of faith from its own peculiar
standards, and uses its own unconventional tests. Here
among these elements of this democracy the ideal of
the unity of the Church may more easily win its
way.

A critic of Church unity called it an iridescent
dream. Many of you, no doubt, to whom the whole
thing seems utterly impossible, have said, " Behold,
this dreamer cometh." But where better could a
dreamer come than into college life, the home of
dreams I Take up your schedule of lectures and
studies. What is it but the contemplation of the
perfect f Your physiology is the study of the perfect
body. You deal with the perfect logic, where every
premise that is assumed excludes feeling, and every



100 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

conclusion moves to its absolute certainty, forget-
ting life. You must tliink of the perfect political
economy, where the laws of trade move smoothly
to their own results, unmindful of all selfishness.
Sociology deals not wdth refractory exceptions, but
with the ideal society, where peace and plenty are
always found. All art is seen in its completeness ;
music, in its harmonies. In science it is the perfect
form, the resistless movement, the unhindered pro-
cess, the unbroken evolution of the world which we
see. The philosophy that you are taught is the
perfect life of man fulfilling the ''law of love" and
of the completed universe, where love as law reigns
supreme.

Not only is every intellectual pursuit the study of
the ideal, but here, too, come the dreams of life. All
is future. Here, in the quiet resting days that lie
between the thoughtlessness of youth and the anxious
cares of our life work, come visions of what we hope
to be. We think of the days of triumph, when every
ambition shall find its crown. We linger thought-
fully over careers issuing forth into great rewards.
We build our future on foundations of living hopes.
Here, in these college days, come great surging
thoughts of work and its glory. Here, too, some
sweet face imprints itself upon our hearts, until with
fluttering hopes and fears we dare to shape for our-
selves bright pictures of homes all beautiful, built and
ruled by love supreme.

Here, among these visions and ideals and far-reach-
ing hopes, may we dream of everything except the



ADDRESS. 101

perfected kingdom of our Lord? Shall we never
dwell upon the ideal Church'? Must religion alone
be the study of its poor fragments, the contempla-
tion of its imperfect systems ? May we cling to our
ideals, that they may help us to be valiant and full of
hope in the midst of the prosaic duties of our daily
life ; may Ave find our visions very useful and very
needful in industrial enterprises and social reforms,
where the great concept bears us through the storm
and stress of opposition ; and yet are we never to
be permitted to use our visions in the prosaic duties
of our religious world ? May we stand upon moun-
tain-tops here in this mountain-land, and see the
kingdoms of tliis world and the glory of them, and
yet never stand upon the highest peak of all, where
we may see the heavenly glory of the kingdom of
our God!

Nay, but we will " lift up our hearts." We will
go with Saint Paul, until we can see, with him, " the
Church, which is Christ's body, the fulness of Him that
filleth all in all." We will be carried with Saint John
to a great and high mountain, and see with him that
great city, the holy Jerusalem, not waiting in the
heavens for this world to pass away, but descending
from God, that here upon our earth we men may
know its glory.

We are going back to our old work. The anxious
problems of our own household of faith will soon
engross us. The claims of sect and party will soon,
too soon, assert their power. Once more the push
of jostling interests will separate us, and lead us



X.02 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

often far apart ; but never will the old narrowness be
quite so strong, nor the uncharitable bigotry be half
so powerful, if we have been willing to gaze, even
for a moment — and how much more if for the years
of college life — into the vision of Christ's all-perfect
Church.



ADDHESS.

BY THE EEV. DR. C. A. STODDARD.

' I "HE college is the nursery of men, the training-
school of men, the place from which men, with
their powers increased and disciplined, go forth into
the world.

Go forth — to be what are called home and foreign
missionaries.

Every man is one of the two. He lives, and
builds, and uses his powers and capacities and influ-
ence, in his own country or in other lands.