Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-06-05
The Address of John 8. Ward. Esq.
20 the Sabbath school Of Dr. Batrd's


10 the Sabbath school of Dr. Baird's
Church.
To the Editors Of the Union and Dispatch.
Knowing Mr. Ward to be too modest to
write complimentary report Of his own
speech, we believe those who heard him on
Sabbath evening last, and many who did
not, will thank us for notice OF his
effort.
His subject was Sunday School Teach
ers-Their Duties and Influence, and the
Great Book they Teach" The duties OF
such teachers were elaborated with rare
powers of augmentation, and illustrated
in the happiest manner we have ever
heard. In speaking of the influence ofthe
mother on the mind Of the child, ne said
"The mother stamps the impress of her
own mind on that of her child. She writes
the first lessons on the blank tablet OF his
mind, and though they may, as be ad-
vances in life, seem to be erased, and marreu
by evil associations, yet, like seed sown IN
fertile soil, though they do not spring up
in day, will, under the genial influence OF
her teachings, come forth to halloW his
manhood and age with golden harvest
1t is settled principle in mental phIloso-
ply that nothing is ever forgotten The
mind is a vast store.house, filled with
thoughts and impressions received through
the medium of the senses. The lessons
which a fond mother breathed into the ears
of her cherubboy while laughing in the nur-
sery are written on hisplastic mindin charac-
tiers which time can never dim. That boy
around whose early life the incense Of
mothers prayers is flung, though his erring
feet may tread the gay paths Of sin, and
the syren voice Of dissipation lure him TO
scenes Of frivolity and vice, yet time will
come when reflection will throw her man
tie about him, and the recollection Of
mothers love and mothers farewell tears
will steal over his troubled mind speaking,
peFchance, through the cooling of the dove
in the lonely forest, or through some faded
flower given by her hands, and the limo
cencv Of his boyhood's home will rise up
before him, causing him TO return, like the
prodigal son, TO his long-left home"
He spoke eloquently Of mans influence
living after him, and charmed his audience
with the following beautiful simile: " 1t is
said by astronomers that il takes the light
of the nearest fixed star six thousand years
10 reach our earth. IL that star were 'un-
sphered and exiled, and that bright eye
through which the angels look down from
above were blotted from the sky, its soft,
trembling rays would continue TO shine
upon us for six thousand years to come.
Thus il is with every life. When the
marble mausoleums which affection shall
place over our graves shall have
crumbled into dust, the good and
the bad deeds of our lives will 60
singing on their errands of hope ordespair
through the endless cycles of the coming
future"
The parallel between the Bible and the
religion of mythology exhibits high order
Of scholarship, and was a powerful defense
of the religion, poetry and literature of the
Bible over all the systems of human genius.
Il is impossible in a short notice, TO give |
any one who did not hear the address, al
idea of the glowing imagery, the profound
logic and graceful rhetoric which abounded
throughout the address.
Images lay thick on his talk
As shells on oceans sand.
In closing his discourse, Mr. Ward
alluded to having addressed an audience
from that pulpit eight years ago. He closed
with the following touching and beautiful
eulogy on Rev. Wiley NJ. Reed, who was
the pastor at that time Conc name ! would |
recall-a grateful church has erected that |
tablet. (pointing 10 a tablet on the wall, |
10 his memory. You all do remember his |
majestic form, his flashing eye, his noble
brow. When warning the sinner to flee the |
wrath TO come, you remember how his voice |
swept like a thunder storm over this audi |
ence, melting the coolest hearts with its |
lightning flashes. But, when Mercy was
his theme, as oft ii was, his voice
was as soft as the murmur of Pascagoula's /
wave: anon, grand as the organ-chant for
ever yelling up from Orinoco's cliffs. In /
whatever light we may behold him, we see
the dignity and grandeur Of his character.
Whether in the social circle, or, as IN days
Of yore, in the pulpit, with radiant face and
upliited finger, pointingthe sinner through
Mature up to Natures God; y or clustered
in the shady hooks, where Philosophy
holds her courts; or flaming, like an arch
angel of war, through the sulpurous smoke
Of battle, he was always the same grand,
intrepid hero-the same noble christian
gentleman. lie has left Us a name, one of
the few IN mortals names not born 10 de.
lie has left his church and his children an
legacy in the splendor of has
deeds He was truly
"One cf those great spirits
Who went down like suns,
And LEFT on the mountain tops
Ofdeath, ID light that made them lovely |
EwELL.