Morning journal and courier., 1892-03-07
Ex.PREs1DENT PORTER.
Remarks in the United Church Kes
 terday by Rev. 1T. IT. Munger.

EX.PRESIDENT PORTER. Remarks in the United Church Yes-
 terday by Rev. 1T. 1T. Munger.
 President Porter was not member of his church, but he often worshipped with IS, and bore closer relation to it's fortunes turing the last six years than many of you Ire aware of. It is due to him and to his 1 powerful advocacy that I stand in this l pulpit to-day-an advocacy not based on l personal and friendly considerations, though he was prompt enough to respond to such motives, but on princi- ples that underlis and cover all ecclesiastical procedureAnd all theologi- cal judgments, namely, ,toleration, breadth, and personal faith and character as out dogmatic belief. Twice had he stood to me in this peculiar relation of de- lending through me the new order of thought and the broader and more dis eliminating tolerance that are now seeking for expression. The North Adams council, which installed me in 1877, followed imme- diately the Indian Orchard council whose decision threw the Congregational churches into ferment which has hardly yet wholly ceased, decision that refused ordination to a young minister on the score of his unwillinguess to pronounce dogmatically on the fate of the heathen who had never heard of the gospel. The decision at North Adams reversed this decision and asserted still broader tolerance on the subject and served, 50 far as decisions of councils can, to establish precedent that has gradually come to prevail. Small credit was due to the candidate who had only personal fortunes at stake, but i'm mense credit is due to President Porter, whose influence carried the council and made it's action nearly unanimous; and not only credit for rendering great serv- ice to the Congregational churches of New England, but praise for taking stand which exposed him to criticism as the head of 8 university-criticism which he did not escape. The same thing was re- peated at the installation here in 1885, when virulent opposition growing out of the same questions was met and quelled by the same powerful voice, and with a cer- tain lofty chivalry of which the man was largely capable. When it was urged that the installation of the candidate by a council of which the president of the uni versity was the moderator would be in- furious to the institution, he replied: 'If it be question between the welfare of the college and the performance of duty, let the duty be done and let the col l.. I Iie .-q- ,% out through thi- council, tending to en- | large the bounds of our Congregational l liberty, and to secure that toleration which has come so slowly into the American | churches.
 While feel depth of gratitude to him | that I cannot express, it is overborne by my admiration for his courage-displayed l in the very highest form in which it is
 called into exercise at the present day
 namely, the courage of the head of s
 great university in standing by his convic
 tions when his interests pointed in another I direction.
 l I have never before in this pulpit made l any reference to myself so personal al
 this, but I cannot let the death of my
 great friend and my defender and upholdel
 in the two most important crises O.
 my professional life go by withou
 giving voice to mysgratitude, especially a
 the occasion of it in part is so closely con
 nected with this church.
 ! Chiefly, however, I speak of Dr. Porte ! because he was our first citizen. The fore
 most man in such community as OUTS i
 is not alway the man who chances to hold
 the highest office.
 The leading American citizen is a mar
 of character, of wisdom, of intelligence
 and cultivation. He must have those
 large and commanding qualities that vii | respect and confidence; and if he happens
 to occupy an exalted position and to hav
 name in wider circles, as did uur friend
 then we turn to him with that loyalty ant l homage which citizens of free countr,
 may render to one of their number.
 President Porter lived in this city forty
 six years. Though holding no public of
 fee, he let the full influence of his nam
 and character and thought and effort b
 felt OF all occasions when the public inter
 ests seemed to demand it. He had tn
 traditional, New England conception o
 citizenship, and if there was any place fo
 which he was ideally fitted it was the tow
 meeting. do not know that he ever par l ticipated ill one, but his nature wonld hay l made him at home and a master in it. H
 was thoroughly saturated with New Eng
 land ideas, understood it's institutions ant
 was one of it's very highest and truest pro ducts. He was fine combination of prac
 tical, everyday common sense and tn most highly refined and rational wisdom
 Hence he was most valuable ma
 in all places of deliberation and de
 bate. His large resources of knowledge
 his keen, discriminating intellect, his com
 prehensive grasp, his unfailing good tenn per, and a certain intuitive glance b
 which he pierced at once to the center c the subject, combined to make him , ! leader in deliberative bodies. At time l one would think of him as the embody , ment of New England common sense, an a a l then as a Greek, by reason of the firm an s subtle play of his mind. It was the mos
 alert and rapid I have ever known. W
 have had in this country few better critic l than he; none more largely endowed wit :; the critical faculty. He lived to be eighty but I doubt if the word old-fashione He was as fully abreast of the age in a I leading respects as any man among u
 Less than almost any one I have eve 3 known did he live among the prejudice s and outworn opinions of the past. E t early outgrew the provincial narrowne, of New England in philosophy and thu {: ology, and fell into the larger stream :. the worlds thought. He was keen to req
 the signs of the times, to detect tendencie P and to mark whither they led. He neve 5 settled back into any set of opinions
 fixed and final, but grew to the end wit
 the growing and developing work
 And yet no one ever suspecte . him of unsteadiness as thinke or as rash in assuming new position ) In theology think he rationalized an enlarged the old doctrines instead of di. :, carding them for new ones. His min 1 was rich, aff1uent, generous, hospitabl ] and tolerant in the highest degree. A ce tain sweetness of temper, or perhaps t were better to cali it rich humanity, WI , one of his largest characteristics. It pc vaded his thought, gave tone and tempe , to his opinions, overspread his manner 8 and speech and conduct, and made hil , the delight of his pupils and friends.
 His services to the university have bee great-greater than have yet been a. : knowledged. Hs found Yale college wit
 several professional schools attached to i
 he left it a university If, in some r
 spects, the great transition was made wit
 haltings and friction, who would hay It made it better? l imagine that in tho n days there were more critics than helper e The tranSjtion was made slowly, and u It enlargement and variation of the cours ,e of study were marked by conservative he e itation, but how much potter than ras n speed! When the history of the universi E is written it will be seen that the two cri
 ical administrations in the century we = those of the elder Dwight and Dr. Porter not necessarily showing more greatnes 5. but as covering periods of difficulty a1
 danger.
 Another change was effected by Dr. Pc a. l tar If diffarant ch aranfar bnt ha rd1u To