New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-04-08


,,,h tho same keen sympathy for truth In all
i,s msny-sided forms and the same humility OF
Judgment that comes only to those VINO nave
the hest right 10 Judge with severity. Nothing
could better sum I'D what Drummond did for
the world than this passage by his biographer'
perhans the most conspicuous service whicn
Henry Drummond rendered to his generation
was TO show them Christianity which was per
fectl,, natural You met him somewhere
graceful well-dressed gentlemen. tan ana IN n
with swing in his walk and brightness ""
his face who seemed TO carry no cares, anu W
know neither presumption nor umluity. ~
spoke and found him keen FOR any OF "u u Ten
interests He fished, he shot. he skated as re"
can he PLAYED cricket he would go any distance
TO see a fire or a football match he mao neM
story a new puzzle or new JOKE every I'M
he met YOU Was 1t on the street! he Grew
Won 10 watch two message boys meet. grln'
knock each others hats off, lay down tneii paS-
kets and enjoy a friendly chaner OF haroiss
Was it In the train? He had dreoseo t.o,'i vas
bookstall every paper and magazine tnat was
new to him: or he would read you fresh tale
Of his favorite. Bret Harte. Had you seen uie
Apostle Of the Tules' or Freoerlc ip,,sr,n
article in The Nineteenth Century on Ruskln
as Master Of English Prose or Qs Conspll-
acy Aboard the Midas. or the Baomih NJ
Cricket" II II was rainy afternoon IN
country house he described new game anu
IN five minutes everybody was in the thick OF
it, II II was a childrens party. they claloreu
for his seight- hand. He smoked, ne pla!eu
billiards: loungtng in the sun. ne Coulu w '"o
LATEST you ever saw.
If YOU were alone with him. he was sure 10
find out what interested you and hsten ny the
hour The keen brown eyes got at your heart'
and YOU felt you could speak your best 10 them
Sometimes YOU would remember that ne was
Drummond the evangelist. Drummond the au-
thor Of books which measured their clrculauoh
by scores of thousands. Yet there was no as
sumption Of superiority any ambition TO
gain inhuence-nothing but the interest OF one
healthy human being In another. II the TAIN
slipped among deeper things. he was as I'M
troubled and as enforced as before there was
never a glimpse OF a phylactery nor snuoge
Of JUNCTION about his religion. He was one OF
the purest. most unselfsh. most reVerent Souls
YOU ever knew but you would not nave calieu
him saint The name he went by among young
@, men was The Prince: there was distinc-
ton and radiance upon him that compelled
the title.
Drmmond had none Of the self-conscious.
self-centred ways characteristic OF so many peo-
ME associated with religion He lived his life in
the white light Of nature. The dim religious
light had no attraction for him. Nor did he
ever once assume any Of the stained-glass atu-
tudes that many otherwise good men uncon-
sciously assume when they pass for Inspection
afore the world. He never made the mistake
of confoundng morbidity with vital pletE'
Deeply conscious though he was Of what Is 50
vaguely called the spiritual life. he had no desire
70 dissect his soul and examine its hidden ac-
tivities Through the radiance Of his presence
and the familiarity Of his talk there sometimes
stole out upon those who were becoming his
friends the sense Of a great loneliness ana
silence behind as when you catch a snow peak
across the summer fragrance and music OF
Swiss meadow For he always kept silence
concerning his own religious struggles. He
never asked even his most intimate friends for
svnpathv nor seemed to carry any wound how
ever slight. that needed their fingers for its
healing.
He was an altruist who never made altruism
q dra wing-room or platform fad. He was in
terested in the welfare Of others because he
couldn't help IT, He literally found his highest
life by losing It in the lives Of his fellow7men
The altruism of many. even good, people is
poor dollhouse plant that dies at the first cold
breath of the workaday world. II lives best in
the hectic atmosphere Of conventions, and eX-
presses itself most truly In the carefully
wrought periods Of the essay read 10 a picked
gathering Of kindred souls. But Drummonds
altruism a very part Of his life. He carried
It with him in the street the workshop and in
all the activities Of the common life. There are
many Christians whose talk of Christ seems an
unreal thing. We do not doubt their sincerity,
but we do doubt the reality of the experiences
they so confidently take for granted. 1t was not
so with Drummond The Christian experience
was most real thing with him, and the teach
lngs Of Christ to him the only explanation
Of the puzzle Of existence.
It was certainly such grounds that in the
prime OF his teaching he sought TO win the rea
son Of men for religion. This always his
first aim He had an ill-will-one might say
horror-at rousing the emotions before he had
secured the conviction Of the intellect. do not
mean that he a logican. for his logic-wt-
ness the introduction to his first book-was often
his weak point But he always began by the
presentation OF facts by the unfolding of laws.
and trust in these and obedience 10 them was.
in his teaching. religion He felt that they lay
open 10 the comm On-sense and natural con-
science Of man. Those blind fools who
did not follow them. Yet he never thought OF
were love and the will that men should be holy.
and he spoke Of their power and Of their ton
derness they who sing. Underneath are the
everlasting arms" He had an open vision %
love wrought into the very foundation Of the
world: all along the evolution Of life he
that the will Of God was our sanctifcation. In
these two then, his interest In other men and
his trust in the great laws Of the universe, we
find the double secret Of that detachment--that
distance from self at which he always seemed
to stand.
The death Of Drummond in the plentude Of
his influence and power seems at first sight
calamity But after all. he did his work and
did II well. II may be that all his arguments
will not endure cold criticism and the
changing relations Of religion and science will
take something from the value Of his books. But
nothing can change the fact that his influence
on the men and women Of his day uplifting
and ennobling.
n