The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-12-07


ply to the quick-eared souls who
have heard the great tidings of the
universe before it is hawked abroad
by the newsboys. But he sometimes
was permitted to enjoy the revenges
OF time. He early perceived the
truth in regard to the final holiness
of the race; and he lived to see the
tacit admission Of that truth in the
growing sentiment of sects where
once it was hated and scorned. He
asserted the right of the State to
prohibit the sale of intoxicants,
against brilliant and powerful legal
advocates; and he lived to see Mass
achusetts concede that right to every
town which chooses to exercise it.
He used to declare that the laws reg
ulating the liquor traffic could be
enforced by any official who would
be true to his oath of office; and he
lived to see his words proved by that
courageous man who has forced the
entire liquor interest of New York
City to capitulate. Let those who
called DIR. Miner a fanatic and Wis
ionary, because he was so confident
of the moral order of the universe,
stop and think how many of his posi-
tions have been justified, proved
demonstrated in the lapse of the
years. A mind whose thinking in
such signal instances proved SO true
to the great trend of advancing en-
lightenment does not deserve to be
called narrow.
Nor was his mind a mere logic
mill, grinding premises into conclu-
sions, without any reference to the
quality of the grist. He took coun-
sci with his heart in all his thinking
and never let his logic do injustice to
his better sentiments. His thought
was often upborne on the wings of a
high imagination which took him and
them who tried to follow him into
those rare atmospheres where the
mind divines greater truths than it
can grasp and hears things which
cannot be uttered.
There are memories dear to those
who knew him in the class room, of
moments when he seemed to be think
ing as it were, under inspiration, when
he kindled with his theme, and, gath
ering power and momentum, as he
talked, swung off into daring meta
physics and thrilling vaccinations
which made the dullest heart beat
quicker and the most sluggish i'm
agination stir with faint suggestions
of great ideas. An hour with him in
lecture or recitation was like run in
the stimulating air, mental refresh
ment, an intellectual tonic. Butthese
episodes of his more brilliant think
ing were like the ascent of some
mountain height, when, after the
hard climb, came quickened energy
along with visions of a TRANSPORTED
, world. I suspect that few people
realize how really great he was as a
teacher. He had the three qualities
which give power and distinction in
this noble sphere. He had grasp,
and enthusiasm, and inspiration. He
held his theme with strong grip; he
made it glow with his own vitalizing
thought, and he kindled the fire of
thought in other minds. The men,
DRY of his teaching is one of the most
precious legacies to those who shared
it.
How many times, too. it was the
delight of undergraduate days to
watch him as he followed his thought
through those intricate sentences in
which he sometimes involved himself.
We used half to expect that he would
trip and waver and go hopelessly as
tray, as ordinary men surely would
have done. But he never failed to
lead his subject straight to its pred
icate and keep his pronouns on the
best of terms with their antecedents.
And by and by we learned to know
that he who had such command of
long and complex forms of speech
was just ae great in other modes. In
the heat of invective against evil, in
the passion of the advocacy of great
reforms, his words rung like the axe
in the forest. He could be as terse
as Tacitus and as Saxon as the Bible.
The fruits of the thinking which he
so carefully matured and SO stirringly
presented, he himself embraced with
deep and immovable faith. He was
man of profound convictions. The
truths he held he held with all his
soul. He was cautious and he was
careful in forming opinions. He had
many tests of truth, and many lights
in which to search it out. He knew
| the real world and he knew the men