MINOR TOPICS

SABBATH-BREAKING AND THE CLASH OF THEOLOGICAL STEEL

TRAVELING ACROSS KANSAS TERRITORY TO THE LAND OF GOLD, 1849

One party had procured mules and the other oxen for motive power. The experiences in hitching up, starting, and driving these wild animals afforded much amusement as well as many hard knocks, mingled with the western vernacular which was learned and adopted by the drivers with remarkable alacrity. As the steers had no Yankee schooling, and had not learned the definitions of the terms whoa, haw, and gee, the members of the party marched in irregular order on both sides of the teams, thus guiding them in the way they should go. At the short turns in the road, and the crossing of creeks and ravines, there was usually a revolt that sometimes lasted half a day. At night the steers would be unhitched from the wagons, but not unyoked, as to unyoke and yoke these teams on the open prairie at first would require twenty out of the twenty-four hours, leaving but four hours in which to eat and sleep, and no time for travel. On the first Saturday of the journey (from Kansas City) darkness came on before reaching water, and the party camped on a high prairie. The next morning, on investigation, it was found that the Wakarosa creek was some two or three miles away, and the teams must be hitched up and driven that distance, at least, although it was Sunday. So much was a work of necessity, and the strictest Puritan in the party acquiesced. But after reaching the creek and watering the stock the question arose, shall the party go farther? Here was the first clash of Yankee theological steel. The discussion was, however, brief, and a vote of the party settled the question in favor of farther travel. But the triumph of the Sunday travelers was brief, as going through a depression near the place where the town of Franklin was afterward located, the chain between the cattle became slackened and twisted about a steer's leg. When the chain was straightened it gave such a twist to the leg as to disable it. Here was a judgment of God for breaking the sabbath. No further progress could be made that day, except in theological discussion. One party claimed that it was a direct interposition to punish sabbath breaking, while the other put the accident to the account of too long coupling-chains and bad driving. One party appealed to the Decalogue, and the other called for its reading. When it was found that the seventh day instead of the first was enjoined to be observed and that for a special reason which applied only to the Jews, an appeal was made to the New Testament, where it was claimed the command was made applicable to the first day of the week. The discussion was closed on one side by offering a dollar for

VOL. XXVIII.-No. 2.-10

every word in the New Testament enjoining the observance of any day as sabbath, and on the other by devoting the remainder of the day in searching the Testament. No claim was ever made for the prize money, and these sticklers for sabbath observance were afterward seen betting at monte in Sacramento, having evidently lost their Puritanic scruples.

GOVERNOR ROBINSON'S The Kansas Conflict.

PROFESSOR THEODORE W. DWIGHT

In the death of Professor Theodore W. Dwight the Magazine of American History has lost a firm friend, and its readers a contributor whose writings were of the first moment and value. He long since made a reputation as one of the most successful living teachers of law. He was born in Catskill, New York, in 1822, and was graduated from Hamilton college in 1840. He was a son of Dr. Benjamin W. Dwight, grandson of the late Timothy Dwight seventh president of Yale college, and a cousin of Theodore Woolsey ex-president, and Timothy Dwight now president of Yale. He studied law at the Yale law school two years, and returned to Hamilton college as a tutor. In 1846 he was made professor, and then started the Hamilton law school, over which he presided until 1858. In the latter year he came to New York and established the Columbia law school, and was its sole instructor until 1873 when the faculty was enlarged.

In 1891 Professor Dwight retired from the law school and was made professor emeritus. In the thirty-three years that he was at the head of the school over ten thousand students were under his instruction, and many of the most prominent members of the New York bar were his pupils. He was a member of the Century club and the Bar Association, a trustee of Hamilton college and the American Geographical Society, and had been first president of the University Club, besides being vice-president of the board of state charities and for many years president of the New York Prison Association for helping discharged convicts. He had been also a member of the committee of Seventy, and for some time chairman of its committee on legislation. He had delivered many literary addresses and was master of the Greek, Latin, German, and Italian languages. The Dante club, organized a few years ago, chose him as its first president. He was an active member of the Madison Square Presbyterian church and liberal in subscribing to its charities.

A man of wonderful capacity for work and most methodical in his habits, he had been counsel and referee in a large number of important cases and was a valuable contributor to legal literature, being the author of several legal works which are in constant use, especially in suits involving charitable uses and trusts. At one

time he was one of the state commissioners of appeals and had held other appointments of great responsibility. He was a Christian gentleman of many gifts and graces, and commanded to an almost unlimited extent the confidence and affection of all with whom he came in contact, and his pupils and clients became his loyal and devoted friends.

THE CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR CONVENTION, 1892

New York awoke one midsummer morning to find her streets and avenues, her hotels and boarding-houses, her great audience halls and churches, filled with a host of bright, cheerful-looking young men and women wearing badges! "What is all this-where did all these people come from-what are they doing here?" asked a sporting man of his companion as they sauntered along Fifth avenue. "I cannot exactly explain," was the reply, "but it is a lot of Christians from everywhere on the continent, and some from Europe, who are here to pray for us, I am told," and the two men looked at each other with curiously expressive faces. The first speaker, after thinking a moment, remarked: "Well, really, if that is true I am glad of it, and I wish they would come often-I wish they would stay altogether."

These forty-five thousand delegates, more or less, came into New York so suddenly and with so little heralding that few of the citizens realized the fact of their presence until they pervaded the whole length and breadth of the metropolis. Thirty-eight states were represented by their delegates, and never before in the history of conventions did an invading army of enlightened people make themselves more thoroughly welcome. They were gentle-mannered, moving about with the confident air of those who believe in something, who know they are engaged in good work, and intensely earnest in its prosecution. They hurried to the morning prayer-meetings with the early dawn, they attended religious services at nearly every hour of the day and evening, they marched in and out of the hotels singing sweet hymns, they astonished and held passengers spell-bound in the streetcars in Broadway with " Nearer, my God, to Thee," and "Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine," and there was no pushing or crowding or complaint in any of the emergencies where positive discomfort was encountered.

The meetings in the Garden embraced not less than fourteen thousand delegates at every regular session, and overflow meetings were held simultaneously in various churches, in the Carnegie Music Hall, in the Metropolitan Opera House, and at other convenient places. Large numbers stood on the sidewalks and streets at the entrances to the Garden through every service, hoping apparently to get in, and singing meanwhile. Notwithstanding the fatigue of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the meetings on Sunday exceeded all others in numbers and in enthusiasm.

The streets were alive with the delegates from seven o'clock on, and their badges were to be seen in almost every evangelical church in the city at the morning services. A large number of pastors had prepared sermons specially appropriate to their presence, and the day will never be forgotten. Dr. Philip Schaff of the Union Theological Seminary presided over the second service of prayer at the Garden in the morning, and was very much impressed with the earnestness of his congregation. He said, "The convention is a sight which should move all thinking Christians to the depths of their souls. The birth and the growth of Christian Endeavor marks a new era in the history of the Christian Church." This remark was considered very significant, coming as it did from a Church historian, and the convention applauded Dr. Schaff with much fervor.

An incident of the evening is worth recording in this connection. Some prominent New Yorkers who had been absent from the city and unable to attend any of the meetings decided to do so on their return, and selected Sunday evening. On arriving at the entrance to the Garden at seven and one-half o'clock they found it closed, fourteen thousand having been seated within its walls before seven. Two or three thousand of the "Endeavorers" stood outside singing. The party in search of a place of worship proceeded to the Madison Square Presbyterian church, and found it crowded to the top of the pulpit stairs, and a large number standing by the entrance doors. The Marble Collegiate church in Fifth avenue was also crowded to its fullest extent. The audience hall of the Young Men's Christian Association at Twenty-third street was filled; and the party then proceeded to the Metropolitan Opera House, only to find that every seat there was occupied even to the remotest part of the auditorium and to the roof, while hundreds had gathered in the aisles. How many thousands were in the building it was difficult to estimate. When the entire meeting sang, the refrain was taken up by those outside, and passers-by listened and wondered. The policemen here as elsewhere who had been appointed to preserve order had nothing to do. At the Music Hall two or three thousand were present, and not even standing-room left for the baffled New York church-goers. Therefore they drove back into Madison avenue, in front of the Garden, and from their carriage witnessed the impressive scene when the convention finally closed, and the delegations emerged from the audience room, singing with unwearied voices as they passed on toward their hotels, while the waiting thousands in the streets joined in singing the hymns of praise.

The general committee has provided for a most unique, interesting, and important feature of the Columbian Exposition, in a ten days' parliament of religions, at which, for the first time in history, the representatives of the leading historic faiths will meet in fraternal conference over the great things of human life and destiny. The parliament of religions is not to be a mass-meeting, but rather an orderly school of comparative theology, where those who worthily represent the great historic faiths will be invited to report what they believe and why they believe it. The programme will be determined and carefully arranged by the general

committee, most of whom are evangelical Christians, assisted by an able committee of women and by the wisdom of the advisory council numbering already more than two hundred of the leaders of religious thought. It will be a great moment in human history when for the first time the representatives of the world's religions stand side by side.

All right-minded people will regard with warmest sympathy an organization formed as this is of the young people of the Christian Church, banded together for the purpose of helping on the practical work of the Church. In so far as the local societies hold their meetings for worship and social converse, they do useful work among their own members, for these meetings are calculated to elevate and strengthen lofty purposes, and to bring together those who may be inspired and encouraged by association to improve their own characters and better their lives. It helps them to resist evil influences and to combat the difficulties that beset the young in modern society. So far as they are engaged in active efforts to benefit the condition of the community at large, they are pledged to a cause that is invaluable and that is calculated to remove from the Church the reproach of devoting itself too exclusively to matters of faith, to the neglect of good works. Moreover, it is destined to bring closer together those who have a common ground in the underlying principles of Christianity. The growth of the Christian Endeavor movement has been so normal that few have realized its astounding rapidity or deep significance. It was founded eleven years ago, in Portland, Maine, and its membership now numbers one and one-half millions. Its object is to promote an earnest Christian life among its members. It is a purely non-sectarian movement, including all of the evangelical denominations. The fact has been recognized that there is a unit of principle and endeavor in all the churches, and that there is a larger incentive in a world community and much greater enthusiasm than individual communities can produce in themselves without union. Its history is one of the most remarkable of any religious movement since the country was settled.

The presence of this great international convention of young Christians in New York has produced most agreeable impressions. It has given new life to the assurance that the great body of the people of this country consists of honest, Godfearing citizens. With open purse and inquiring minds they have come from every part of the country to give this testimony. That they are able to do so is in brief assurance of the prosperity of the country. While here they have warmed the hearts of the hotel proprietor and boarding-house keeper, and have given life to the merchants' dull season. There has been a magnificent gathering, the greatest religious convention ever held in North America or in any part of the world.