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

SIIdct interest IN man; he was the
friend and helper Of men in particu-
lar. Who was ever more accessible
than he to the plea of need, the cry
OF distress, the appeal of the wronged
or the penitent? How many times
have we seen him spouse the cause
OF men with grievance, or excuse
and extenuate the wrong doer seeking
reinstatement, or plead for charity and
mercy! How many times has that
liberal purse relieved financial dis
tress and helped out private shortagel
How many students could tell of his
quiet but substantial aid, which open
ed the way to education or to profess
sional life. In him we saw again that
old-time priority of good works SO
famed since Chaucer's day:
This noble ensample to his sheep he gave,
That first he wrought and afterward he taught"
1t is splendid monument of him
which stands on College Hill, the
beautiful hall he reared for the train
ing Of young men in the ministry
Noble in its architecture, admirable
in its appointments, refined in all its
belongings, it is memorial such as
any man might covet, as witness of
his love of the highest things, and his
desire to spread them among men.
But the finest thing about that build
ing is not the one public beneficence
it stands for, but the thousand unre-
corded charities of which that was
only the elimination and the CROWN
Into those walls are built the unselfish
impulses of lifetime. 1t is the en-
bodiment of his helpfulness and hui
mainly.
This meeting is not to pronounce
any final word about him; it but be-
gins the strain of eulogy and honor
which will last long after our voices
are as still as his own. His name will
gain upon the hearts of men with
every year that passes. For Alonzo.
Ames Miner was greater man than
his contemporaries realize. He was
not merely the great man OF small
church. He was one of the great men
of great city, of great common
wealth, of great nation. He was the
peer of Phillips and of Sumner, of
Horace Mann and Phillips Brooks, of
Hosea Ballou and Lyman Beecher.
He was great in intellect and great in
heart; great in affairs and great in
faith. He was an orator who could
bear comparison with Phillips. He
was teacher in the rank of Mark
Hopkins. Men schooled in the law de-
clared that he would have been an or
nament to the bar. Great merchants
counted him their peer in business
acumen. That he took all these great
gifts and consecrated them to the
Office of the Christian minister shows
how he held that Office in honor, and
how strong was his spirit of devotion.
Nor did the standards of the ministry
suffer at his hands. He brought to it
a character against whose honor and
whose purity no breath of suspicion
ever came. He pursued it with
faithfulness and unselfish love which
never tagged till deaths hand was
laid upon his frame. And there are
thousands today for whom he will be
the one pastor of a lifetime. He had
a Christians unfailing courtesy, a
dignity which bent to any level, yet
without condo cension, kindliness
of heart toward all classes and con-
ditions of men. He was indeed man
to be dreaded as an antagonist in the
battles of ideas and principles. But
if he struck hard it was not at men,
but at the uniforms they wore and
the banners they carried. He was
stern and Incorporating only
against evil things and principles and
those who represented them. He was
cautious in the conservation of the
good; in the attack on wrong he knew
neither fear nor reserve. Because he
threw himself with all his soul into
the causes he loved, weak men, who
never knew the enthusiasm of a
hearty devotion to anything, called
him Puritan and bigot. But the 10y
atty which never swerved, the zeal
which never cooled, the love which
never waned, will justify themselves
at last, and men will yet praise him
for this unfaltering righteousness and
this immovable faith. The church he
served will love him equally for the
devotion he gave and the honor he
brought her. The city in which he.
wrought his life work will count him
among her grandest sons. Boston has
had many great ministers: Cotton
and Mather; Beecher and Taylor;
Eastburn and Brooks; Claiming,