The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-02-16


love reared, and gave to her, Castle
Rest, On one of the islands of the
river st. Lawrence, dear to her heart
for its associations of more than three
decades With family reunions. Here
she spent several happy summers.
The delight of ownership enabling
her to send forth invitations to the
children to come home for a little
rest from the worlds care and toll,
and the assurance that in her name,
after she had passed away, invita-
tons should go forth year by year,
gave her strength to endure the pain
and discomfort Of her invalid condi-
ton.
But at most, we say again, the
slime is short" Love could keep her
no longer; its voice was divided and
from "over the river" it called and she
passed from the embrace that would
hold her here to the hearts that
yearned for her "over there"
But by some wonderful law, and
in the same sense in which the father
''came again" she is here. Her touch
is sweeter, gentier and holier now,
and more potent. Her life sanctified
by death, rises before us in a grace
of beauty that casts the charm and
spell of heavenly vision upon our
hearts. We know her now as we never
could have known her,-a mother
whose love was the altar upon which
she gave herself for her children, and
for the world through them.
These two lives, the fathers and
the mothers, glorified and united in
union complete, touched the springs
of action by a dream, vision, and
behold the naturalization in the
splendors of this Memorial What
mean these stones2
They mean the conversion of the
father to the truth as it is in Jesus,
and faithful devotion to that truth;
they mean the coming of the mother,
drawn by the power of the beautiful
in religion into sweet accord with her
husbands convictions and faith; he
made the argument, she sang the
song; he examined the foundations
of hope and reached the logical con-
clusion of universal salvation; she
stood entranced before the vision of
glory; he studied the Scriptures aud
was ever ready to give reasons for his
faith; with poets instinct she read
between the lines and found the I'M
speakable; he grasped the principles
of the divine government by which
and through which every soul shall
reach it's high destiny; like ST. John
lying upon the bosom of the Master,
she heard the heart beats of the In
finite Love telling the story of heaven.
What mean these stones?
They mean a home sanctifed by
religion; they mean the family altar
intelligently and ioyfully served; they
mean humble lives of honesty, of
truth, of fidelity, of love and faith
lifted up and exalted by death into a
majestic force that, accomplishing
this work here today, will sweep on
and on while these walls shall stand !;
and after these lines of beauty shall
fade away and these stones crumble
to dust and the memory of this day
be forgotten and the honored names
here memorialized lost to history this
force of influence like an angel of
grace will bless the world, and the
wondering world will know not
whence came the blessing.
Surrounded as we are here, Love
cries out, ooh, if they-the father
and the mother-could have seen this
dayl" If they could have known that
two of the little boys kneeling there
on that eventful evening when the
father offered his first prayer, would
have become ministers of the Gospel
in the church they loved; and that
all the sons and daughters would
grow up in the same beautiful and
holy faith and become communicates
in the same church, their cup of
happiness would have been an over
flowing measure.
And could they have known that
another one of these little boys kneel-
ing there at that family altar, would
grow up and in the great struggle of
business life, would accomplish what
he has accomplished, and would make
his name honorable among honora-
BILE men, dedicating both himself and
his fortune, as all truly great men
dedicate themselves, to the true SER
vice of humanity; and could they
have known that the influence Of their
humble lives would touch his own,
| deepenipo flial love as the wears null