ministers regarded the American Colonies with hatred and contempt. Great Britain for more than a hundred years cherished the same feeling towards the people whom they had cast aside. When the war of the Rebellion broke out the walls of the Parliament House echoed to the joyful cry, "The great republican bubble has burst!" But now a mighty change has come over the spirit of Britain's dreams. She is now the isolated nation. Her hand is against every man and every man's hand is against her. There is not a nation in continental Europe that would not rend her in pieces, if it dared. Sometimes it looks as if all the nations of continental Europe would combine and rend her in pieces, if they dared. If such a contingency should ever arise, where would Jonathan stand? Would he not take his place beside his father John? Joseph, the great Hebrew sage, said to his brethren, "As for you-ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to save much people alive." So in a great international crisis America would stand with England, to save much people alive; to save what is infinitely more precious even than men's lives, the principles that were planted at Runnymede, that had their gorgeous flowering at Plymouth and whose fruits we are gathering in such rich abundance today. For this new attitude of the Republic we are in no small measure indebted to the good sense, wisdom and patriotism of the man for whom this welcome is meant. once more. We are truly glad to have him amongst us It will be a real comfort to see him climbing again the court house hill with his green bag under his arm. While such men, representing the noblest traditions of the American bar, practice law in our courts, we feel a sense of added security and know that the law will be preserved as the noblest instrument of liberty and justice among men. . We are glad to have him in our gatherings of citizens for various objects, meeting every one with that democratic simplicity which is characteristic of him. He is a transcendent type of American manhood, and we are thrilled with a new pride in our citizenship when we look upon him. We are glad to receive him again at our table. There is only one regret about it and that touches what I can scarcely help feeling is a weak spot in our republican institutions. When a man has given evidence of a great natural aptitude for public affairs, and when that aptitude has been increased and strengthened by thorough training and wide experience, it is a pity that he should be relegated to private life, and that hands, unproved and with less experience, should take up the burden. There ought be be some way devised by which men who have given demonstration of fearless and incorruptible integrity, of transcendent ability and highest patriotism, might remain in the service of the state so long as they live. Nevertheless we welcome him. You who sit around these tables will bear witness, that, however warm the greeting may be that he will receive in other parts of the old Bay State or of the country at large, nowhere can he command a warmer and more cordial greeting than we give him in this old Massachusetts Club. Gentlemen, I have the honor of presenting to you our fellow-member, John Davis Long. ADDRESS AT THE UNIVERSALIST CLUB CELEBRATING THE ATTAINMENT OF 80 YEARS BY Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Club: I am glad of the privilege of taking part in the exercises of this evening in honor of the attainment of eighty years by Dean Leonard. You have limited me, sir, in your invitation to from seven to ten minutes. I should need two or three times that number of minutes in which to speak fittingly of my personal relations to the Dean, and when it comes to a consideration of his official relations to the College and the Divinity School I could use the entire time of this evening and not begin to say all that might be said properly on so large a subject. There are three or four things that I must try to mention without transcending the limits of time allotted to me. I have enjoyed an intimate friendship with our honored guest for nearly forty years. There are few men, either among the living or the dead, for whom I have a warmer regard or to whom I am under greater obligations for favors received. When I entered the ministry in 1865 I was without special theological preparation. I needed counsel and help in the difficulties that confronted me, and I received them in fullest measure from Mr. Leonard. The homiletical suggestions which he gave me were of incalculable value. I feel to-day that I am profoundly indebted to him for whatever success I have achieved as a preacher. I presume that there are at least a score of men who began their ministerial work while Charles Leonard was in Chelsea, who would gladly give the same testimony. Indeed, I suppose that Starr King, if he were alive, would bear confirming witness to the value of his homiletical advice, long before he became a Professor of Homiletics. If we turn to the Church at large I think it would be just to say that Charles Leonard was the real leader in what may be called the new Universalism. His place as a parish minister was in the transition period between the controversial methods of the fathers and the more positive constructive work of the later time. Everybody knew what this quiet, |