itself felt, and spreads itself as by a general sympathy
through a congregation profoundly moved by great thoughts filled out and
made alive by deep and uplifting emotions. The exercises in the church
were often followed by lasting convictions. The Sunday's sermon was
the topic, not of curious discussion or indiscriminate eulogy, but of
serious conversation among the young, who looked forward to the coming
Sunday as offering privileges which it would be a misfortune to lose.
The services of the church were remembered and anticipated as the most
interesting and important event of the week."

"I shall never cease to think with gratitude of Mr. Dewey's preaching.
In common with other great preachers of our denomination,--Dr. Channing,
for example, Dr. Nichols, and Dr. Walker,--he spoke as one standing
within the all-encompassing and divine presence. He awakened in us a
sense of that august and indefinable influence from which all that is
holiest and best must come. He brought us into communication with that
Light of life. He showed us how our lives, our thoughts, and even our
every-day acts, may be sanctified and inspired by it, as every plant and
tree is not only illuminated by the sun but vitally associated with it."

"If, in the light of later experience, I were to criticise [151] the
preaching I then heard, I should say that it was too intense. The
writing and the delivery of such sermons subjected the preacher to too
severe a strain both of body and mind. No man could go on preaching in
that way, from month to month, without breaking down in health. And it
may be questioned whether a mind acting under so high a pressure is in
the best condition to take just views, to preserve its proper equipoise,
or to impart wise and healthful instruction. The stimulus given may be
too strong for the best activity of those who receive it. They whose
sensitive natures are most deeply affected by such an example may, under
its influence, unconsciously form an ideal of intellectual attainments
too exacting, and therefore to them a source of weakness rather than of
strength."

"The danger lies in these directions. But Mr. Dewey's breadth of
apprehension, his steadfast loyalty and devotion to the truth, the
judicial impartiality with which he examined the whole field before
making up his mind, saved him from one-sided or ill-balanced
conclusions. And the intense action of all the faculties not only
enables a man of extraordinary intell