On  the  cold  cheek  of  death  smiles  and  roses  are  blending,
And  beauty  immortal  awakes  from  the  tomb."

There  have  been  many  saviors  of  the  old  Institution,  either  self-
styled  or  pronounced  so  by  others.  It  has  no  single  Saviour  but  God,
who  used  various  agents  for  the  purpose,  some  for  this  kind  of  work,
and  some  for  that.  In  a  vast  complicated  machinery,  many  different
parts  may  be  termed  essential  in  ■  the  sense  of  their  necessity  to  the
right  working  of  the  whole  combination.  But,  if  called  on  to  point
to  a  single  event  as  an  index  to  the  turning  tide  in  the  history  of  the
downward  course  of  affairs,  and  an  earnest  of  a  glorious  future,  I
should  point  to  the  extraordinary  demonstration  of  the  Alumni  on  that
memorable  night.  It  decided  the  Board  to  proceed  at  once,  to  com-
plete arrangements  to  go  on  with  the  affairs  of  the  University  and
Theological  Seminary,  confidently  relying  on  the  solemn  pledges  of
sympathy  and  co-operation  by  such  a  body.  I  was  permitted,  in  the
providence  of  God,  to  do  something  to  defeat  removal,  and  save  the
Institution  from  its  disastrous  effects.  But,  beloved  alumni,  gathered
on  that  night  and  gathered  here  to-day,  with  your  ranks  broken—
(John  Newton  Brown  is  in  heaven,  and  others  of  that  sacred  band  are


HISTORICAL   DISCOUESE.  105

with  him) — ^I  lay  any  claims  I  have  on  that  score  at  your  feet.  It
was  you  that  saved  your  Alma  Mater  on  that  ever-to-be-remembered
night.  After  all  my  exhausting  labors,  with  those  of  faithful  co-work-
ers through  years  of  weai-y  conflict,  seemed  likely  to  prove  vain,  you
did  it,  or  rather  it  was  God  through  you.  You  put  your  shoulders
to  the  falling  fabric,  and  in  the  strength  of  the  divine  arm,  restored  it
to  its  original  firmness  and  stability.  This  leads  me  to  pass  to  the
last  group  of  facts  in  order.
