Russell H. Conwell, Founder of the Institutional Church in America Part 24

"Before Dr. Holmes resumed his seat, Mr. Emerson whispered in my ear, in his epigrammatic style, 'This is holy Sabbath time.'"

Among the books which Dr. Conwell has written are:

"Lessons of Travel."

"Why and How Chinese Emigrate."

"Nature's Aristocracy."

"History of the Great Fire in Boston."

"The Life of Gen. U.S. Grant."

"Woman and the Law."

"The life of Rutherford B. Hayes."

"History of the Great Fire in St. Johns."

"The Life of Bayard Taylor."

"The Life, Speeches, and Public Service of James A. Garfield."

"Little Bo."

"Joshua Gianavello."

"The Life of James G. Blaine."

"Acres of Diamonds."

"Gleams of Grace."

"The Life of Charles H. Spurgeon."

"The New Day."

The ma.n.u.script which he prepared most carefully was the "Life of Daniel Manin," which was destroyed by fire when his home at Newton Centre was burned. He had spent much time and labor collecting data on Italian history for it, and the loss was irreparable.

"Joshua Gianavello" is a biographical story of the great Waldensian chieftain who loved religions liberty and feared neither inquisition nor death. It is dedicated to "the many believers in the divine principle that every person should have the right to wors.h.i.+p G.o.d according to the dictates of his own conscience; and to the heroic warriors who are still contending for religious freedom in the yet unfinished battle."

The same powerful imagination that pictures so realistically to his lecture and church audiences the scenes and people he is describing, makes them live in his books. His style holds the reader by its vividness of description, its powerful delineation of character and emotion.

His latest book, "The New Day," is an amplification of his great lecture, "Acres of Diamonds." It is not only delightful reading but it is full of practical help for the affairs of everyday life. For no matter in what field Dr. Conwell works, this great desire of his life--to help his brother man--s.h.i.+nes out.

CHAPTER x.x.xV

A HOME COMING

Reception Tendered by Citizens of Philadelphia in Acknowledgment of Work as Public Benefactor.

One more scene in the life of this man who, from a barefoot country boy with no advantages, has become one of the most widely known of the preachers, lecturers and writers of the day, as well as the founder of a college and hospital holding an honored position among the inst.i.tutions of the country.

In 1894, acting upon the advice of his physician, Dr. Conwell went abroad. It is no unusual thing for pastors to go abroad, nor for members of their church and friends to see them off. But for Grace Baptist Church personally to wish its pastor "Bon voyage" is something of an undertaking. A special train was chartered to take the members to New York. Here a steamer engaged for the purpose awaited them, and twelve hundred strong, they steamed down the harbor alongside the "New York" that Dr. Conwell's last glimpse of America might be of the faces of his own church family.

On his return six hundred church members met him and gave him a royal welcome, and a large reception was held in The Temple to show how glad were the hearts of his people that he was restored to them in health.

But it was not enough. The people of Philadelphia said, "This man belongs to us." In all parts of the city, in all walks of life, were men and women who had studied at Temple College, whose lives were happier, more useful because of the knowledge they had gained there, for whom he had opened these college doors. The Samaritan Hospital had sent forth people by the hundreds whose bodies had been healed and their spirits quickened because his kindly heart had foreseen their need and his generous hands labored to help it. Everywhere throughout the whole city was felt the leaven of his work, and the people as a body said, "We will show our appreciation of the work he has done for Philadelphia, we will show that we recognize him as one of the city's greatest benefactors and philanthropists."

A committee of twenty-one citizens was formed, of which the Mayor, Edwin S. Stuart, was chairman, and a reception was tendered Dr. and Mrs. Conwell and the others of his party in the name of the citizens of Philadelphia. It was given at the Academy of Fine Arts. With its paintings and statuary, its broad sweeping staircases, it made a magnificent setting for the throngs of men and women who crowded to pay their respects to this man who had lived among them, doing good.

The line of waiting guests reached for two blocks and more and for hours moved in steady procession before the receiving party. At last the final farewell was said and on toward midnight Dr. Conwell stepped into the carriage waiting to take him home.

But the affair was not over. The college boys felt that shaking hands in formal fas.h.i.+on did not express sufficiently their loyalty and devotion, their joy in the return of their beloved "Prex." They unharnessed the horses, and with college cheers and yells triumphantly drew their president all the way from the Academy of Fine Arts to his home, a distance of two miles. As they pa.s.sed Temple College, their enthusiasm broke all bounds and they drew up the carriage at the Doctor's residence, two blocks beyond the College, with a yell and a flourish that fairly lifted the neighbors from their beds.

It was in every way a homecoming and a welcome that proved how wide-reaching has been the work Dr. Conwell has done, how deeply it has touched the lives of thousands of people in Philadelphia. This spontaneous act of appreciation was but the tribute paid by grateful hearts.

CHAPTER x.x.xVI

THE PATH THAT HAS BEEN BLAZED

Problems that Need Solving. The Need of Men Able to Solve Them.

"O do not pray for easy lives Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for Tasks equal to your powers. Pray For powers equal to your tasks.

Then the doing of your work shall be No miracle. But you shall be a miracle, Every day you shall wonder at yourself, At the richness of life that has come to you By the Grace of G.o.d."

wrote that great preacher, Phillips Brooks.

The world does not want easy lives but strong men. Every age has its problems. Every age needs men with clear moral vision, strong hands, humane hearts to solve these problems. Character, not the fortune of birth, qualifies for leaders.h.i.+p in such a work. And such work ever waits, the world over, to be done. In every large city of the country are thousands crying for better education, the suffering poor are holding up weak hands for help, men and women morally blind, are asking for light to find Christ--the Christ of the Bible, not the Christ of dogma and creed, religion pure and undefiled, the church in the simplicity of the days of the apostles, the church that reaches out a helping hand to all the needs of humanity.

Inst.i.tutional churches are needed, not one, but many of them, in the cities, churches that help men to grapple with the stern actualities of everyday life, churches that preach by works as well as by word, churches in which the man in fustian is as welcome as the one in broadcloth, churches whose influence reaches into the highways and byways and compels people to come in by the very cordiality and kindness of the invitation, churches that help people to live better and more happily in this world, while at the same time preparing them for the world to come.

"In no other city in the country is there such an example of the quickening force of a united and working church organization as is given by the North Broad Street Temple, Philadelphia," says an editorial writer in the Philadelphia "Press." "Twenty such churches in this city of 1,250,000 people would do more to evangelize it and re-awaken an interest in the vital truths of Christianity than the hundreds of church organizations it now has. The world is demanding more and better returns from the church for the time and money given it. Real, practical Christian work is what is asked of the church. The sooner it conforms to this demand, the more quickly it will regain its old influence and be prepared to make effective its fight against evil."

Hospitals are needed that heal in the name of Christ, that heal ills of the body and at the same time by the spirit of love that permeates, by the Christian spirit that animates all connected with them, cure the ills of the soul and send the sufferers away rejoicing in spirit as well as in body, with a brighter outlook on the world and increased faith in humankind.

Colleges are needed the length and breadth of this land, wherever the poor and ignorant sit in darkness. In every town of five thousand or more, a college for working people on the lines of the Temple College would be thronged with eager, rejoicing students. And the world is the better for every man and woman raised to a higher plane of living. Any life, no matter how sordid and narrow, how steeped in ignorance, if swept sweet and clean by G.o.d's love, if awakened by ambition and then given the opportunity to grow, can be changed into beauty, sweetness and usefulness. And such work is worth while.

The way has been blazed, the path has been pointed out, it only remains for those who follow after to walk therein. And if they walk therein, they will gain that true greatness and deep happiness which Phillips Brooks says comes ever "to the man who has given his life to his race, who feels that what G.o.d gives him, He gives him for mankind."

ACRES OF DIAMONDS

Dr. Conwell's most famous lecture and one of his earliest has been given at this writing (October, 1905) 3420 times. The income from it if invested at regular rates of interest would have amounted very nearly to one million dollars.

PERSONAL GLIMPSES OF CELEBRATED MEN AND WOMEN

Is Dr. Conwell's latest lecture. It is a backward glance over his own life in which he tells in his inimitable fas.h.i.+on many of its most interesting scenes and incidents. It is here published for the first time.

ACRES OF DIAMONDS.[A]