The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-12-04

nothing in the whole volume is more
deeply interesting than his correspond
ence with that beautiful and gifted
soul, Mrs. S. G. E. Mayo, after he made
the discovery of the jewel. She, and
some few other women, gifted writers
for the Repository, came upon him like
stars stealing meekly and modestly
through the mists of the evening sky.
And they seemed to him to be, as the
poet says of real stars
"And some we're bright in beauty,
And some were faint and small,
utthese might be in their greatest height,
The noblest of them ALL"
Such soul as that of Henry Bacon
was not well made to go out and thun-
der like that Of Chaplin and S. r. Smith
and some others, the great gospel truths
in the unwilling ears of a bigoted and
enslaved world. His mission was
elsewhere, and for another purpose.
He says of himself at one time, that if
God sent him into the world for any
thing, it was to be comforter. And
hence, with great pain which none
but he could feel, how he shrank from
the tempest of the Dorr war, in Provi-
dence. 1t was torture and anguish to
his soul. How careful, how prudent
he was, and how well he managed to
keep his vessel from being wrecked.
We say his mission was not here in
political storms and conflicts. To see
him and know him best, we must go
with him out into the fields of nature,
to the homes of the poor, the sick, the
bereaved to the silent inner-chambers
ofhis own soul; to the house of prayer,
to the conference room, to the Sabbath
school, to the sorrowful, the broken
hearted and the dying. In any, in all
these places he was in his element, and
his soul was then itself like the star
of Bethlehem, and shone thing apart.
He seemed to know just what to do and
to say and to throw himself in the
light, and beauty, and loveliness of
Christ, the Saviour, into the hearts and
souls of those around him; for his
words soothed, and his touch healed,
and his benedictions made whole. In
deed he seemed to have always been
with Christ in the days of the Masters
earthly pilgrimage, and no word, or
deed, or expression Of the great Teach
er, ever escaped him, or lost one parti-
Gle of its significance to his gifted and
willing soul. The Marys, and the
Marthas, and. the Johns, were all re-
pgQdneed in him, for he. sat at -aIesus,
feet, or leaned on the Masters breast
all the time.
And it was beautiful to see how the
soul of womanhood seemed to open at
his word and touch, and to pour out its
richest gems to the magnetism Of his
nature. 1t is not saying too much to
say that many of the articles on the
pages of the Repository for years, from
his lady correspondents, and particu-
larly those from s. G. E., Charlotte"
Mrs. c. M. S., and several others, were
equal to the best literature of that time.
Gems of the finest lyrics and occasional
poetry lie scattered for period of fif-
teen years, through its pages; and oc-
casionally a criticism sharp as from the
pen of Margaret Fuller. Many of these
gems were from S. G. E., some from
G. M. S., and some from. his own pen,
and some from a gifted poetess, the
ever memorable Julia III. Scott, whose
sweet name and premature death bring
sigh of sorrow to the soul.
Perhaps none of these writers equall-
ed Mrs. Hemans i'll the splendor of their
imagery and the matchless pathos
and grandeur of her diction. Yet they
were not carried away and overborne in
judgment with the vain and empty
pomp of the warrior and the battle
field. The armor that glittered most
in their imaginations, was the "whole
armor" Of the good soldier of Christ,
as Paul speaks Of it in his lofty and
matchless way, 1.-THE helmet of saliva
tion, the breast-plate of righteousness,
and sword of the spirit"
Henry Bacon filled, as we have said,
a place no one could fill so well as
himself. Though the style of the litera-
ture in the Repository was sometimes
thought to be too effeminate, yet we
remember with pleasure, that some of
the finest thinkers and writer's of
the denomination were seen upon its
pages. Such men as Starr King, E. H.
Chaplin, j. G. Adams, and many others,
were surely writers of whom any de-
nomination might justly be proud. And
as for Henry Bacon himself, no man
could give more masculine vigor to his
pen than he, when he chose, and the
occasion demanded.
We never shall forget with what a
zest he called our attention at one time,
to that mighty work, Charnock on the
Divine Attributes, and urged us to
buy it and study it carefully, which we
did. Nor can we forget the manly,
powerful discourse we once heard him
preach before the Pennsylvania State
Convention, at Reading. His judg-