The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-03-15

the English novelsts has ever drawn any high or
adequate character of the clergyman! Walter
Scott never gave lis anything beyond the re-
pectable official. GOldsmiths Dr. Primrose is a
good man. the best we have in English fiction,
but odd and amusing, rather than otherwise.
| Then Dickens has given US Chadband and Stlg
gins, and you. Charles Honeymoon. Can you
not conceive" Mr.. Dewey went on to say, that
a man without any chance of worldly profit, for
a bare stipend giving his life to promote what
| you must know are the highest interests of man
kind is engaged i'll noble calling, worthy of
| being nobly described! Or have you no examples
| in England to draw FROM
Mr.. Dewey adds that the last question touched
! Thackeray, and that he meant it should. But
since that time may note that the life and
writings of Canon Kingsley have eliminated
and are type of the power that may
from the pulpit, the lecture platform, the profess
sor's chair the naturalists standpoint, and even
in the novel, reach and permeate not only his
own parish and church, but every fireside where
| the English language is spoken or read. The
| life and memoirs of Canon Kingsley are more
interesting than any of his literary works, and
as a stimulus to right living and the formation
| of high character are especially for young men,
not surpassed by the story of any life in modern
literature either real or fictitious. DR.. Dewey S
charge to Thackeray, of the low place assigned
by English novelsts to the clergy, is Indicative
of the high place they should occupy in social
life and in literature. Their place still stands
! the Methodist itinerant and the Jesuit monks on
gather in and preach the gospel to
! the poor and wTetched of city Five Points,
alike with the polished and scholarly preach
| ers who can reach out and touch the classes
who have in a measure outgrown the gospel, and
regard themselves the products of either science,
civilization or natural progression alone, have as
definite work TO do as the monks of the middle
ages to whom Kingsley devotes powerful lee
ture in his course on the Roman and Teuton,
under the title of 'The Monk Civiiizer.'
Mr. Dewey stands among the preacher essay
| ists-social philosophers by nature-preachers
by accident or profession merely For the last
| twenty years retired from active life by reason
of weakness and advanced years, this simple and
earnest life went on in the quiet of his Sheffield
| home. His correspondence with William Cullen
| Bryant, with Rev. II. w. Bellows who succeed
ed him in his pulpit at the Church of the Mes
| siah, was kept up with the latter, Who for forty
| years, had been to him as both son and brother,
until this fair companionship" was broken
by the unexpected death of DR.. Bellows,
Jan. 30, 1882. For five years Mr.. Dewey had
| trod the weary path of invalidism, and the
shock of Bellows death FASTENED his own, which
| followed on March q of the same year. His
DEATH says his daughter, twas like the fall of
an aged tree in the vast forests of his native
| hills when the deep thunder OF the crash IS
| heard afar and a new opening is made toward
heaven for those who stood near but when, to
| the general eye, there is no change in the rich
| woodland that clothes the mountain side" The
last work from his pen, the 1.-TWO Great Com
second year, and was warmly accepted by the
! public as a last tidings from this man who once
| had been the foremost figure in the world from
! which he had so long been withdrawn.
Aside from his lectures on the Problem of
| Human Destiny" which awakened such wide in
! terest when first delivered and which have not
| yet lost their pertinency and attractiveness,
| Mr.. Dewey is the foremost example of what is
known as the modern school of preaching. The
| characteristic feature of this school, says DIR.
Bellows, sis the effort to carry the inspiration,
/ the correction and the riches of Christian faith
| into the whole sphere of human life to make re-
| ligion practical without lowering its ideals to
proclaim our present world and our mortal l1fe
as the field of its influence and realization, trust
| ing that what best fits men TO live and employ
| and enjoy their spiritual nature here is what
! best prepares them for the future life This was
| Dewey's peculiar skill. Poets had already done
it for poets and in a sense neither strictly re-
| ligious nor expected to be made practical But
! for preachers to carry the vision and faculty di
vine of the poet into the pulpit, and with the au-
thority of messengers of God demand of men in
mechanical labors, their necessary tasks,
| to see Gods spirit and feel Gods laws
everywhere touching, inspiring and elevating,
their ordinary life is something glorious
| But let us sum up the life of this, our David
| (1Ir Dewey was of Welsh origin, and was
! pleased to find when in Wales that his ancestors
derived the name from Saint David, the patron
saint of Wales), in his own words:
|
men are pupils in this school; God is its builder
and ordainer, and He has raised up for its III
struction sages and seers teachers and guides;
aye, martyred lives, and sacriicial tolls, and
tears and blood have been poured out for it.
| The greatest teaching, the greatest life, the
most affecting, heart-regenerating sacrifice was
| that of the Christ. From Him have clearer
| guidance and a more encouraging reliance upon
the helpful mercy of God than from all else.
This school of life l regard as the in
| FAINT school of eternity. The pupils,
l believe will go on forever, learning.
| There is solemn retributon in this system, the
future must forever answer for the past. ]
! would not have it otherwise. l must fight the
battle if would win the prize; and for all fail
ure, for all cowardice for all turning after ease
and indulgence in preference to virtue and sane
| tity, l must suffer. l would not have it other
! wise,
There is help divine offered to me; there is en-
enlargement, wise and gracious. l welcome it.
There is blessed hereafter opened to prayer
and peniAence and faith; lift my eyes to that
immortal life. This view of the system of things
speaks a new light for me over the heavens and
the earth. 1t is a foundation of strength, and
peace, and happiness, to be valued in my
account than the title-deed of all the world"
A w BRAYTON