The night before Christmas--year 1894--brought with it joy, brightness, and brotherly kindness even more than that which pertains, in the ordinary course, to the festival of good will. It was a time to be remembered.

Then, at the Holy Cross, began the celebration of a triple Jubilee--fiftieth anniversary of the dawn of this pastorship, of the opening service of the Church, and of the establishment of the Choral office in America.

Already at half-past six the light shines cheerily through the Gothic windows, streaming out into the darkness. Bells are chiming in the tower. The organ tone is swelling, jubilant, reaching far abroad, where multitudes are crowding to enter in; soon they fill the place.

Happiness was in the air. Faces glowed with enthusiasm. The sacred precincts were made sweet with roses, fair with lilies, and fragrant by the branches of evergreen. There were to be seen loving cups and other lasting testimonials--silver and golden--likewise resolutions, graven upon parchment, of imposing proportions.

The clock strikes seven. After a sudden hush; the distant sound of voices signalizes the prompt beginning of the office. A long line of choristers marches in, singing Henry Smart's melody, ever young, set to the wording "Angels from the realms of glory." There is a crucifer at the head, a youth of fixed devotion, who is habited in red cassock and white cotta. In the like manner are robed the men singers all. Their vestments are in harmony with the red cloaks and white dresses of the girls. An onlooker remarks the appearance of these many maidens, as they journey on, turning to enter the chancel, and likens them--in after writing--to a joyful singing band of Little Red Riding Hoods gathered together especially for Christmas eve. At the end of the great line walks a band of clergy, among whom two personalities had been assigned to the post of honor; the one was the Bishop of the Diocese, the other--at the Bishop's side--"a man of fourscore years less five, whose name will be remembered and whose life-work will be honored when most of those who pray and preach today have been forgotten."

As it is a night unforgettable, it will be well to recall the names of some of the eminences appearing in procession. Here were the Rev. Doctors Enos, Rector of St. Paul's, and Maxcy of Christ Church; the Rev. Messrs. H. W. Freeman of St. John's, James Caird of the Ascension, G. A. Hoi-brook of St. Barnabas', and E. De G. Tompkins, formerly of St. John's; the Rev. Mr. Silliman, Grace Church, Albany, and Dr. Nickerson of Lansingburgh. From the Cathedral of All Saints' at Albany came Dean Robbins and Canon Fulcher, while the Bishop and Rector--the one for whom thanksgivings were to be offered--were preceded by Gen. Selden E. Marvin, chairman of the General Committee.

Doctor Tucker intoned the office. Dean Robbins read the lessons. The Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis had been composed especially for this Jubilee by Dr. E. J. Hopkins of London.

At the close of Evensong the choir sang--in worshipful manner--an Anthem, including the Recitative "Comfort ye," also the chorus, "And the glory of the Lord," from Handel's "Messiah." Then followed prayers and Mendelssohn's setting of the Christmas hymn, "Hark, the herald angels!"

During the Offertory Dr. Enos presented a set of resolutions in behalf of the clergy. In obedience to an order given by the Diocesan Convention, which had assembled in November, he read:

Those who were your companions in the old Diocese of New York, and stood with you when the Diocese of Albany was born and cradled, have already put on record their appreciation of your high character and distinguished services. The Bishop in his annual address, and eminent priests and laymen in congratulatory resolutions on the floor of Convention, have eloquently voiced what I am charged to assure you is the universal thought and sentiment of the Diocese, viz., that the primacy of honor which you earned and enjoyed so long ago is still yours in more abundant measure, if possible, than ever before.

This festival to-night in the crescent glow of Christ's nativity, is a triple Jubilee. It marks, first, the formal opening, fifty years ago, of Holy Cross Church; secondly, the beginning of your pastoral relations here, and in this connection your mastership in the Mary Warren Institute; and, thirdly, the introduction into this country of the ancient Choral Service, in its correct form and as a settled parish use. . . .

For half a century, by the simple law of fitness, you have been a leading figure in the religious, educational, musical and social life not only of Troy and Albany, but of those territorial divisions of the State of which these cities are the centre. When the time came, you assisted efficiently in the erection of the new Diocese of Albany; you were a member of its primary Convention; and have been a full sharer in the burdens and joys of its eventful history.

But the influence of a life like yours cannot be confined within the boundaries of a single city, or diocese; it reaches forth and stirs the world outside. Especially in the field of ecclesiastical music, the whole Church is your debtor. Not only has "the word of Christ dwelt in you richly in all wisdom," but you have "taught and admonished in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," until your name is a household word throughout the land.

Testifying to the graciousness and worth of your personal character, fifty changeful years agree. They tell of your modesty, consideration for others, unswerving loyalty, high sense of honor, chivalric courage.

After the reading, he continued:

With these greetings I present to you, in the name of the Convention, this silver testimonial, a gift from the Bishop and clergy of the Diocese. It bears an inscription dictated by your Bishop, in a tongue you know and love so well.

"JOHANNI IRELAND TUCKER, S.T.D. . SACERDOTI FIDELI. PASTORI PRAECLARO, DOCTORI DOCTISSIMO. SACRAE SYMPHONIAE MAGISTRO. VIRO VERE VENERATO. FRATRI IN CHRISTO DILECTISSIMO. IN GRATAM MEMORIAM CULTUS DIUTURNI AC DEDITI PER L. ANNOS.

D. D. D.

EPISCOPUS ET FRATRES SUI IN DIOCESI ALBANIENSI. VIGILIA NATIVITATIS DOMINI JESU CHRISTI.

MDCCCXLIV. MDCCCXCIV."

I also hand to you the official copy of the resolutions of the Convention in the matter of your Jubilee.

These and this to you, dear Dr. Tucker, with the Convention's affectionate congratulations.

The Bishop then presented to the admired Doctor a purse of gold, offered as a tribute of affection by the Woman's Guild of the Parish. Afterward the Diocesan ascended the pulpit and delivered one of his always graceful and fitting addresses. In part, the speaker said:

The mystery of the manufacture of headlines in a newspaper office is one that must always puzzle the brains of a layman, not admitted into the secrets of that most astonishing profession. But sometimes their reason is clear and good. And when a newspaper writer of this city, last April, described this Church, in which we are gathered to-night, as "a Church of the First Things," I am inclined to think he builded better than he knew.

Dr. Tucker said to me just after the last Diocesan Convention, "Please remember that Christmas eve is the Jubilee of the Church of the Holy Cross and not of the pastor," and I must remember it. I would not dare to say, in his presence, what I feel about him as a man, what I owe to him as my brother in the ministry, what he has been as a priest in this Diocese of Albany, or what I know the congregation, the city and the Diocese would have said, if my tongue were free. His presence, his wish, this place, and the proprieties of the service make it impossible. Only this much is true, that not even the holy purpose of the saintly foundress of this work, not even the loving service of her life, not even the devotion of her children, not even the true hearts and helping hands of other helpers, not all these together could have accomplished the great and gracious results of these fifty years, without the leader whom God sent here; fearless and faithful, with his untiring devotion, his invincible courage, his inexhaustible patience, his unusual gifts, his incomparable character. Let us note with reverent thankfulness, in the glance backward which we take to-night, how this is "a Church of the First Things."

It has been always a Church, whose sittings have been free to all, with no demand of money equivalent, for the right to, or the choice of, seats.

Secondly, the Choral Service was first really introduced in America, actually reintroduced into this century, in this House of God. . . .

I believe I am not an extremist in this matter either. I recognize the intense solemnity of the simplest and plainest "use "in this great act of worship. I deny that it can be made either "high "or "low," by lights or music or the number of officiants. I deprecate profoundly the tuneless and discordant distractions of attempts and imitations, when the music is beyond the reach of the choir. I greatly dislike the twisting and turning of English words, to fit Roman Catholic mass-music, no matter how beautifully written for a foreign tongue, and a purpose of devotion as foreign as the language. And I deplore the mutilation of the Liturgy by organ interludes, by the "vain repetition "of words, by the prolonged elaborations of ornate services. But I believe that the consecration to the worship of Almighty God of the art of music, and the dignifying of our great act of worship, with a wealth of sacred harmony, is an act of devotion acceptable to God, and conducing to the adoration of man. And I thank God for its cradling here, under the guidance of this true Precentor, whom we have well called to-day "magister sacrae symphoniae," master of holy harmony.

More even than this, there began here the due observation of the Holy Days of our Lord and of His Saints. The pastor of this Church was one of the leaders, if not the leader, in this State at least, in the recognition of the Church's purpose, to make the Celebration of the Holy Communion a frequent, and not an unusual act. The observance, with a Celebration, of Ascension Day is now, thank God, so practically universal, that it seems difficult to believe that fifty years ago it was almost unknown in America. The careful and niggardly economy of the Holy Communion, which omitted the Celebration on the first Sunday of the month if Easter or Whitsunday came just before or after it; the neglect of the plain requirement for a Celebration whenever a Collect, Epistle and Gospel were provided, have passed out of the memories of most of you, and were never known to our younger clergy. And the leaven which was hid, which has wrought out the blessed change, was in large part first used here. Through what suspicions, criticisms, distrusts, estrangements, oppositions, these unusual, because disused, customs of Catholic worship were introduced and maintained here--when every minor act of ritual that accompanied them, like preaching in the surplice, or turning to the east in the Gloria, was popularly considered popish--only one can realize, who remembers, as I do, the attacks and the assaults, the abuse and accusations heaped upon my father, who was doing just this sort of work in St. Mary's Church in Burlington, half a century ago. And it is proof enough, that these were only the loyal carrying out to their fulfilment of the spirit and the letter of the Book of Common Prayer, to note, that everywhere now, in the deepened and enlarged life of the Church, they are the prevailing custom and rule. But the first promoters of it, the men who were ahead of their time, the men that caught and comprehended the revival of Catholic truth and worship before their fellows, are the men to be held in honor for their insight and their farsight, their convictions and the courage in which they held them.

But this is "a Church of First Things" in other ways than these. This Church is really the chapel of the Mary Warren Free Institute. There is intense pathos in the story. . . .

Behind and underneath the outward and visible signs of the character and conduct of service, lies another element, another "first thing," the holding and maintaining of the Catholic faith. Here the old truths and doctrines, which indifference and ignorance had overlaid, whose utterance was well nigh drowned in the babel of the discordant and dissenting voices of those who held half truths, and in distorted proportion to each other; here, the "first things "of the faith were proclaimed--when to preach them was counted disloyalty to the Reformation-- the mystery of the Incarnation, the grace of Sacraments, the visible reality of the Church, the Communion of the saints on earth and in Paradise, the apostolic authority and the apostolic power of the ministry; "the first principles of the doctrine of Christ." And the power of all that has been wrought out here, the salt that saved it, the leaven that quickened it, the light that made it incomprehensible (unable that is to be swallowed up by darkness), was in the fast and firm holding, the clear and constant proclaiming, of the Catholic faith.

There are some "first things" that come home, to me, personally here to-night, with an overwhelming flood of recollection: associations from young childhood with Mount Ida; my father's warm affection and admiration for dear Mrs. Warren; his sense of sorrow, which spread itself through our home, in the sharp and sudden passing into Paradise of the only daughter of this house; his English visit, made, as his diary reads, "With N. B. and S. E. W., two sons of my dearest friends"; the lifelong romance, with infinite pathos in it at times, through which this house was builded as it was begun; failing eye sight, lasting just long enough to draw the plans of the Church, at whose consecration they so fitly chose and sung for the anthem that true Eucharistic Introit, "O send out Thy light and Thy truth that they may lead me and bring me unto Thy holy hill and to Thy dwelling"; an Advent Sunday in my diaconate and very early married life, when I preached here; and then an interval of fifteen years, when, before the Northern Convocation, I preached a sermon in this Church, about which my brother said to me, "That ends my hope of your election as our Bishop"; and since then five and twenty years of close companionship, of constant sympathy with my plans of work, of generous hospitality and helpfulness; with the looking forward on my part to my official or casual visits to this Church, as a chief pleasure, in the enjoyment of the unique beauty of the service, which has come to have the same finish and completeness that the English gardener described in his grass as due to constant care and a thousand years.

And so I come, not Bishop only, but loving brother and old friend, to speak to you, and to speak for you, on this festal evening, when the old Glastonbury legend repeats itself in spiritual reality; and the staff, that was set here fifty years ago, blooms with the fresh and fragrant flowers of hope and happiness en this Holy Night.

The Jubilee idea, as we get at it in the old Hebrew customs and laws, had varied meanings. It had its root in the old purpose of God to make a social system, in which inevitable injustices should heal themselves; by the equalizing of possessions every fifty years; by the opportunity given to reclaim whatever had been lost by misfortune, and to redeem what had been mortgaged in an hour of trouble, and by the freeing of all slaves who asked for freedom. These were its chief characteristics. But you began, and have held on to equal rights and privileges in this House of God, which have never been lost. There has been never any servile bondage here, but the free rendering of mutual service, from which no one asks relief. And inasmuch as the old Jubilee law expressly exempted, from the duty of restoration to its original owner, land that lay within walled towns, this property is safe from any danger of reversion to its gracious givers. What is there left to us then of the thought and spirit of the Jubilee, whose wonderful seven times had in it the thought of completeness, and the essential idea of rest, crowning the Sabbatical month and the Sabbatical year? Just this: Wherever the word comes from (and that is not clear) it has sometimes, as its alternative expression in the Septuagint, "Voices and trumpets." And the trumpets which usher in our Feast of Restoration and Renewal shall set their silver voices to the words of the Psalm for the sons of Korah, singing of this House of God, "The singers also and trumpeters shall He rehearse: All my fresh springs shall be in thee." And then we will add our voices to the trumpet notes and say to this true and Holy House, "Peace be within thy walls, and plenteousness within thy palaces"; and to its beloved Priest, for all who are gathered here tonight, in person or in heart, I say, "for my brethren and companions' sakes, I will wish thee prosperity."

After the Bishop's address. Dr. Warren's Festival Te Deum was sung, a true voicing of the feeling of each thankful heart.

At the close of all, the procession retraced its steps, singing H. W. Parker's lovely carol, "All my heart this night rejoices."

That was the way the people felt, all of them, as they retired from the holy place. The service in which they had been absorbed was referred to by a local secular paper as "making perhaps the most remarkable epoch in the Church history of this city."

Let it be noted that up to the time of service the ground had been green, not covered by snow; but when the congregation came out at the close of the first Jubilee office, they found the air white with falling flakes; and so the Christmas picture had been completed while they worshipped.

At once all repaired, through the snow, to the rooms of the Young Women's Association, where a reception was tendered to Doctor Tucker by Mrs. George Henry Warren. Christians of many diverse titles were in attendance, pressing forward to shake hands with the one remembered. There was an abundance of flowers and music. The Committee of St. Stephen's Guild proved themselves competent managers of a social function.

Among the many gifts offered to the Rector there was a massive gold loving cup from the children of the late George Henry Warren and a surplice of fine linen from the Mary Warren Guild. A large floral offering had been sent to the Church, which carried the inscription:

Symbols, dove with branch, peace; circle of white flowers, purity; "'44" in white flowers, youth; "'94" in yellow flowers, ripened age; "'50" in white and yellow flowers, saintly life. To Rev. Dr. J. Ireland Tucker from the corporation and members of St. Barnabas' Church.

On the Saturday preceding the Jubilee the trustees of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute had waited upon the Rev. Dr. Tucker and presented a handsome engrossed copy of congratulatory resolutions adopted by that body..

On Christmas morning the splendid exercises of the triple Jubilee were resumed. Bishop Potter of New York had left his home, travelling throughout the night, that he might be present and preach at this especial Celebration.

After the office, Doctor Tucker gave a luncheon to the Bishop, to Mrs. George Henry Warren, and a few invited guests. Among the gifts late in arriving was a silver loving cup from old friends in St. John's parish, including Bishop Potter and others.

The Christmas tree festival, given by Mrs. George Henry Warren and Dr. Warren, fell in with the mood of the time.

Thursday evening--in accordance with his custom--the Doctor entertained his young friends at a Christmas feast held in Harmony Hall, for which cards of invitation were issued. An orchestra was secured, and the young men and maidens were partners in the dance.

In connection with the fiftieth anniversary, the vestry of St. Paul's--mother Church of the entire region, which had once invited Doctor Tucker to become its Rector--took action, paying their tribute to the priest--then living in their midst--revered both in his own city and throughout the land. There was always a singular unanimity in the exercise of good will, having reference to him. St. Paul's vestry passed a minute which included the following:

We speak only simple truth when we designate him as the brave, courtly., Christian gentleman. In earlier years he brought into his worship what must then have seemed startling innovations, yet steadily retained the respect of Churchmen, even though they followed him but slowly. He was a pioneer in the restoration of forms and accessories of worship of the earlier Church; yet none less than he ever sacrificed the substance of true worship to the mere form. The personification of priestly dignity, no trace of affectation is found in him. In social position the peer of the highest, the humble citizen has no warmer friend than he. And this is by no means confined to his parish or his communion. . . . He was a priest, a sage, and a man. Through his good deeds and gentle manners, he had filled the town with a sort of tender and filial veneration.

On the Sunday following the Jubilee the Rector himself had something to say. Taking for his topic the song of the Christmas angels, at first he recited reasons why glory should be given to God. Then he continued:

Glory to God in the highest that He put it into the heart of that saintly woman, Mary Warren, to build this house of prayer for poor and all people; and glory to God in the highest that the same divine impulse, touching filial love and reverence, inspired the hearts of her children to hallow her memory and their own affection by enlarging and beautifying the Church which the mother built, and maintaining it now for fifty years by their devotion and munificence. Glory to God in the highest that those children had the means and the willingness to fulfil a mother's wishes, and even to transcend in their affection and endeavors that good, loving and wise mother's most ardent wishes and fondest anticipations.

"Peace to men of good will." I have read and heard with mixed feelings of pleasure and humility the encomiums that have been written, printed and spoken about the clergyman who has completed the fiftieth year of his pastorate in this Church of the Holy Cross. With pleasurable emotions I have read and listened to the kindly expressions of men of good will, men, friends and acquaintances, prompted by a generous impulse to say, write or print what the heart felt and wished publicly to express to a friend upon a memorable epoch of himself and of the Church in which, by God's providence, he ministers. It would be churlish to reject or depreciate such heart-offerings of love and respect. My own heart most keenly sympathizes with tender hearts that "rejoice with those that do rejoice and weep with them that weep." I warmly and thankfully appreciate all the kind words of commendation and respect which I have read or heard. I cherish with pride and pleasure the eulogiums of my reverend father in God the Bishop of Albany, and the loving tribute of affection of my friend the Bishop of New York. What man would not be moved by such expressions of love and honor? I cherish with gratitude and respect the proofs of confidence and regard offered so generously by my brethren, clerical and lay, of the Diocese of Albany. I cherish most heartily with the sacred associations of this Jubilee the friendly and cordial greetings of other ministers of "the everlasting Gospel," that love our Lord Jesus in sincerity, and with us can rejoice in the birth of "a Saviour which is Christ the Lord."

I cherish, too, with proud and grateful feelings the congratulations of the citizens of Troy, irrespective of religious designations, who by their good willingness or good pleasure inspire my heart with fresh energy, zeal, love and courage, and I take the utterance of their good willingness as a kind of "God speed."

My heart responds, like the strings of the harp to the gentlest touch of the musician, to every expression or look of love or respect awakened by this strange and happy Jubilee. But I must confess that after letting my heart beat and vibrate with every word and look of good will, while thoroughly, most sincerely, most heartily appreciating the motives or the feelings that prompted kind words and the gentle and generous offices of love--when I come, as it were, to myself and look sternly at facts, I feel as if the picture has been, to say the least, as I am prompted now to say, somewhat too highly colored. The artist with his cultured eye and cunning hand can idealize nature, so that while every feature of the landscape is traced truthfully upon the canvas, yet the picture merely shows that the painter chanced or chose those particular features. Thus it happens not infrequently that the picture is even more striking and beautiful than the scene or place depicted. This seems to be the modern style of writing history and biography.

But to drop imagery, I feel as if my good-willing friends, the men of pleasure, have unwittingly, no doubt, bestowed more praise and commendation than I indeed deserve. I am not disposed at the present moment through any mock or false delicacy to disclaim any fair share of praise and congratulations which I feel belongs to me; nor am I tempted by the occasion to grasp at honors which I know, and here I am glad to confess, may be rightly claimed by others. This let me frankly state: I had nothing to do with the inception and building of this Church of the Holy Cross. The idea originated with Mrs. Mary Warren. This Church, which we trace back to its origin, the heart, or the faith, the charity and devotion of a loving and saintly woman, was built by that good and charitable woman. It was afterward enlarged and embellished by her children. I had little to do with the introduction of the Choral Service in this Church, and its consequences throughout this country in connection with the musical and ritualistic proprieties in the order of the divine service in the offices of public worship throughout the whole extent of the spiritual domain of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States. The credit and honor of the introduction of the Choral Service into this country belong, without dispute, and must be frankly and gratefully conceded, to my much revered and devoted friend and parishioner, Dr. Nathan B. Warren.

I have had the opportunity, offered rarely to my clerical brethren, of conducting a service conformable to my own conviction, the usages of the Holy Catholic Church and the Liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in this country. I accept, then, the commendation which I have received, so far as I have shown the desire and endeavor to use the opportunity for the glory of God and the diffusion of peace and good will among men. I have had my ideal, and I now find out by the experience of fifty years how imperfectly I have tried to work up to that ideal--like the artist who, when he is putting the last touches on the canvas, with feelings of disappointment, with sadness and regret, feels as no one can feel, how poorly, how imperfectly he has embodied in figure and color the conception of his genius, his great thought, his mighty purpose.

"Peace on earth to men of good will." I have received congratulations and testimonials of respect from the Diocese of Albany, from the Vestries of St. Paul's Church, Christ Church and St. Barnabas', from Bishop Potter and his former parishioners of St. John's parish accompanied with a beautiful and costly piece of plate, from the President and trustees of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and from the trustees of the Church Home.

Extract from a letter addressed to me by Colonel LeGrand B. Cannon: "Your jubilee reminds me of the origin and early days of your parish and my great-aunt's 'Saturday Sewing-school' for the children of the poor--culminating in your parish with its parish school and thus perfecting a great mission work, which through its hundreds of educated girls, not a few now mothers and grandmothers, has through their agency influenced in no small degree the growth of the Church throughout the nation. It is rarely that one is permitted for half a century to continue his labors in one locality and direction, and I beg the privilege to add my congratulations and that you will accept the chalice and paten as an evidence of my great personal regard for your admirable life."

Extracts from a letter of Bishop Knickerbacker (who died Monday, December 31):

"Indianapolis, Ind., Dec. 21, 1894.--My first impressions of the Church as a boy I received in the beautiful services of Holy Cross. I rejoice that you have been spared to see the wonderful advance in the Church's growth and that you have been permitted to see great results from your own faithful ministrations. I pray that you may be spared many more years of usefulness. I can envy your blessed Christmas, believing that you are remembered in more households in Troy than any living man; that you have the good wishes and benedictions of many Bishops and clergy of the Church. May God bless you and your work is the prayer of your old friend, D. B. Knickerbacker, Bishop of Indiana."

I have received letters of congratulation from former pupils residing in Michigan, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and our own State, and a kind letter and a gift from the husband of a former Sunday-school scholar and parishioner of many years, now residing in Colorado.

Extract from a letter received from C. Rowland Mason, Baltimore: "As one of your old scholars, who nearly forty years ago had the privilege of singing in the Church at Troy, I could not refrain from adding my word of congratulation and good wishes on this anniversary. In many wanderings in the past forty years I have often looked back to the pleasant days spent in Troy, and have always felt the benefit which I derived from your instruction and example."

It seems strange to me that in the many notices of the Jubilee of the Holy Cross and the fifty years' pastorate of its Rector there have appeared but two or three allusions to the time and labor which I have devoted for nearly forty years to the instruction of the young. As I view things, looking back through many years and out toward the never ending future, my best and most lasting work as the pastor of this Church was done, as I believe, in the Girls' and in the Boys' School. I am now weighing things by their results. It is a great privilege and honor, fraught with the most solemn and anxious responsibility, as I feel, to mould boys into high-minded and generous-hearted men and fashion girls into gentle, companionable, modest and Christian women. To train and teach boys and girls and fit them to meet life's work, temptations and trials I count as higher art and skill than to sculpture marble with the genius and the deft hand of a Phidias or Praxiteles. Besides, what I have done as a teacher, burdensome as it might seem, has been lightened by the impulse of love and hallowed by the restraints and incentives of duty. I have been willing now for many years to take as my daily motto "Feed my lambs." My reward is the affection of my pupils, their obedience to my precepts, their virtues or moral conduct in the world and their hopes and confidences for the future, as "members of Christ and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven."

Extract from a letter from F. E. Hale. M.D., Providence, R. I. After offering congratulations he asks for my photograph as a special favor which he would cherish beyond expression, and he adds: "It is hardly necessary to have the picture to remember the face, as it is imprinted indelibly upon my brain. I should like it as a memento, to make me a better man. I have not forgotten you and the interest you took in me by teaching me to write between your knees. May God keep you for many years to come is the earnest prayer of your former pupil, 'Neddie.'"

In conclusion I wish peace on earth to all men, but my subject and the text prompt me to salute with the benediction of Christian peace the men of good will.

The great God of truth
Fill all thine hours with peace.

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

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