Dr. Miller, of Princeton,
said to Mr. Rice—“ I know you are accustomed to take large views of
things.” Of the truth of this remark, the plans laid while he was tutor
at Hampden Sidney College, and those he followed through his whole life,
are full proof.
1st. He was characterised
as a man indefatigable in his efforts. Neither in mind or body was he
rapid in his motions. But however slow, his investigations once begun,
were never given over till his judgment and conscience were satisfied.
He saw clearly, resolved strongly, and then acted with a vigor, equalled
only by his patience. He had an enduring will, a firm physical
constitution, and strong feelings ; and was capable of deep emotions. He
loved strongly, and but for the gospel would have hated strongly. The
grace of God made him kind and gentle. As pastor, in Charlotte, the.
most unceasing effort, never losing sight of the great business of life,
characterised him. His compeers had not thought him splendid, or looked
upon him as promising remarkable things. He was rather retiring, and
never appearing to have brilliant thoughts. But they saw him moving on,
surely though slowly, with prodigious strength,—that he was an improving
man ; that there was an excellency in his success,— an enterprise
without ambition in his efforts,—a doing good without ostentation. In
Richmond, he was always at work. Like the improvements in the
city,—digging down hills, filling ravines, paving streets,—the work went
on slowly but surely. He preached, he visited, he wrote, he was editor
of the Magazine, he published pamphlets. How did he find time for all?
When did he rest? is it possible his mind moved slowly? In what lay the
secret of his strength? He was not found doing things slightly, or
laying again and again the first principles of doctrine and action. He
moved cautiously, and went on and on, seldom retracing his steps. He
never abandoned a project he had once undertaken, till something better
was offered in its place, as when he gave up the printing-press in
Richmond, and looked to the Bible Society and Sunday School Union for
the books he desired. He was diligent in business, fervent in spirit,
serving the Lord. The best seven years of his life were devoted to the
Theological Seminary. His friend, Dr. Alexander, said —“he did every
thing in his power to promote the success of the work, but was long
incredulous about its success.” Assisted by the Rev. Robert Roy, he
obtained by personal effort the principal donations by which the
Seminary and Professors’ houses were commenced ; and with the aid of Mr.
Goodrich and others, the funds by which they were finished. When the
instalments on the subscriptions became due, he visited the subscribers,
or their neighborhood, and with a few sermons, and some visiting, made
the collections. Many of the donors reckoned the visit a good offset to
their assistance in money. These visits consumed time: sometimes
cheering him greatly, and at others, particularly the last, oppressing
him. His name with an agent did much—his presence more.
2d. He was always
thirsting for intellectual improvement and spiritual advancement. In
Charlotte, where, in the course of his numerous avocations, strong
reasons could have been given for not reading much, or for pursuing new
studies, we find him writing to his friend Alexander, July 15, 1810 — “I
am zealously engaged in the study of Hebrew this summer. I am determined
to master it, if possible. Would I could get a Syriac New Testament,
such as yours! I am anxious to be an orientalist.” Again, Sept. 4th —
*If it pleases God to give me health and strength, I am resolved to be
master of those languages in which the truths of divine revelation were
originally recorded; and I am very anxious to get all the helps in these
studies that can possibly be procured. I must beg your assistance in
this business. If you will accept it, I hereby give you a carte blanche,
a full commission to buy for me at any price you think proper to give,
any book that you can find that will, in your opinion, be important for
me to have.” The first desire or inclination to leave Charlotte came
upon him after a visit to Philadelphia, and observing the great
advantages of his friend Alexander for study. He began to long for a
place where preaching, and the studies connected with it, might be his
sole employ. Some efforts were made to remove him to Philadelphia. But
those made in Richmond were successful, coming nearer his heart. Of
Richmond, he says to his friend Alexander, January 3d, 1811 — “Have you
heard of Mr. Lacy’s trip to Richmond last month, and of the -effects
which his preaching produced? I have understood that a number of
persons, since that time, have determined, if possible, to get some
evangelical preacher to live in the place. The plan laid by Major
Quarles is, to subscribe and rent a house for an academy^ to the charge
of which the minister of their choice is to be invited, and he is to
build up a church, from the pew-rent of which a salary is to be raised
for him ; and then, if he chooses, he may drop his school. Quarles,
Watt, and a few others, who are most deeply interested in this business,
are very sanguine in their expectations of success. From some late
communications that have been made to me, I have reason to believe that
they depend on me to do the work for them. And indeed, could I establish
a church in Richmond, built on the foundation of the prophets and
apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone,’ I should
do well. But I fear that this is a task not easy to be accomplished.” He
did go to Richmond, and improved in knowledge and wisdom, his study
forming always an important part of his house ; he did build a church,
the corner-stone of which was Jesus Christ; and in the study and
improvement and exercise of all his powers he became fitted for the work
of building the Union Theological Seminary. Who else but a man of strong
desires could have done that work. He schemed for himself a liberal
course of study, and pursued it with untiring industry, seizing all
opportunities for information, listening to able men, reading the best
books he could get, always keeping some subject before his mind for
study and reflection, and pursuing the investigation till the subject
was exhausted. The acquisitions he made were kept securely, and were
ready when necessity demanded. Often small as the dew drops, like the
dew they covered the fleece, till a bowl-full might be wrung out. In the
habit of using his mental armor, he knew all his shafts; he counted his
treasures as. he laid them by. When he. drew his bow, it was because he
thought he had a polished shaft for the occasion; and seldom was he
mistaken. When he brought out his treasures, their richness and present
fitness were apparent to all. When he declared that, on some subjects,
he was not prepared for the Presidency of Nassau Hall, he placed a less
estimate on his qualifications than did his most intimate friends.
3d. Dr. Rice was a true
friend of the colored race. On the subject of emancipation, he writes to
his friend Maxwell, February, 1827, and says — “ The problem to be
solved is, to produce that state of the public will, which will cause
the people to move spontaneously to the eradication of this evil. Slaves
by law are held as property. If the church, or the minister of religion
touches the subject, it is touching what are called the rights of
property. The jealousy of our countrymen is such, that we cannot move a
step in this way without waking up the strongest opposition, and
producing the most violent excitement.” To Dr. Alexander, in April of
the same year, he says — “It is physically impossible for any decision
of the church to be carried into effect, because, taking the members
generally, three-fourths are women and minors, persons not acknowledged
by law. What could they do? Of the remaining fourth, three out of four
are in moderate circumstances, without political influence.” Dr. Rice
hoped for an amelioration of the condition of slavery by the influence
of religion on the holders of slaves; and he believed that in a course
of years, Virginia, if undisturbed by foreign influences, would throw
off the system entirely. The interference from without made him almost
despair. He knew his fellow-citizens must do the work voluntarily, or
never do it at all. No external force, or argument from abroad, could
work that revolution in public sentiment from which should come the
freedom of the slave.
Dr. Rice expressed
repeatedly to his wife, during his last illness, his wishes respecting
the final disposition of the servants she inherited from her father. He
expressed his dislike to their being sold, or to their remaining in
servitude after her death ; but left the decision to her, to whom it
properly belonged. At his death, but one instalment on the Boston house
had been paid. The second had been due some months. The executors, Mr.
James, Dr. Wood and Dr. Morton, proposed to meet the demand on the
Doctor’s estate, for the payments still due on the house, by a sale of
his negroes. Mrs. Rice objected strongly, partly from her own feelings,
and partly out of respect to her husband’s request. The night after this
proposition she was sleepless. Rising from her bed, she wrote to Dr.
Woods, of Andover, the whole matter. He, sympathizing with the widow,
immediately repaired to Boston, and laid the subject before the friends
of Dr. Rice and the cause of theological education at the South; and in
a little time the whole remaining instalments were sent forward to Mrs.
Rice. The servants were retained by his widow until the spring of 1853.
To assist her in the accomplishment of an expressed desire — that her
servants might be sent to Liberia before her death—some friends in New
York purchased, for one thousand dollars, the husband of her principal
serving woman, that the whole family might emigrate together. The
servants set free were twelve in number; four stout, able-bodied men,
part of them good carpenters, two hale boys, nearly grown, her valuable
serving-woman, with five children, the oldest large enough for a
waiting-maid; all considered exceedingly valuable servants. They might
have been sold at about fifteen thousand dollars. Thus, many years after
his death, the wish of Dr. Rice met its accomplishment. The widow
preferred doing in her lifetime what is commonly left to the executors
of an estate; intending to send them to Liberia, she attended to the
emigration of her slaves while still in the enjoyment of health and
strength.
4th. Dr. Rice was fond of
his pen. Besides the various publications in the Magazine and in
pamphlet form, he found time to write out, in a fair hand, part of his
lectures on Didactic Theology, viz.— The Scriptures a Revelation; the
Being and Attributes of God; Creation; Mans nature ; Christ in his
person, character, and works; His Atonement in its nature and effects.
Here the complete series was interrupted. Soon after his death, some
friends of Dr. Rice proposed the publication of the Lectures; and
preparatory to such an event, the manuscripts were submitted to Dr. A.
Alexander, of Princeton, the firm friend of the author. The following
extracts from a prefatory paper, he returned with the manuscript
Lectures, express his opinion of their merits. “When my judgment was
requested on this point, (that of publishing), I acknowledge that
previously to an examination of the work, I was strongly inclined to the
opinion that it was altogether inexpedient. I knew that Dr. Rice had
been but a few years in the Professor’s chair; and that during that
period he had been oppressed with a weight of cares and
responsibilities, and had so many avocations, that I concluded his
Lectnres must of necessity be mere skeletons; or in so rude a state that
it would be a high injustice to his memory to permit them to be
published. I had not proceeded far in this examination, before I was
fully convinced that this unfinished system of theology ought by no
means to be withheld from the public. I found that the lamented author
had entered much more elaborately and profoundly into the discussion of
several of the most important and difficult subjects of theology, than I
had supposed possible in the embarrassing circumstances in which he was
placed. Indeed, I scarcely know a writer, on Systematic Theology, who
has more learnedly and thoroughly discussed the main points in the
system than is done in these Lectures; and that which is especially a
recommendation is, that the investigation is throughout scriptural. I
mean that the doctrines maintained are founded on a careful exegesis of
those texts which are considered as teaching them. No man can, I think,
rise from the perusal of this work without entertaining a very exalted
opinion of the learning, the candor, and the diligence of the author.
And I anticipate that those ministers who enjoyed the privilege of
sitting at the feet of Dr. Rice, when he delivered these Lectures, ex
cathedra, will esteem them a treasure more valuable than gold or silver.
“A. Alexander.
“Princeton, New Jersey,
Oct., 1833.”
Unfortunately the project
for publication failed; and these lectures still remain in manuscript in
the hands of his widow. The opening sentence of his Introductory Lecture
is — “Theology teaches the true doctrine concerning God. Christian
Theology teaches the doctrine concerning God, as it is revealed in the
Bible. This doctrine is the foundation of all true religion. Religion is
the worship of God according to his nature, and his purposes, and works
among men. It is feeling as God requires us to feel, and acting as God
requires us to act. Hence Theology is the foundation of religion. It
teaches the principles which in being religious we receive; and the
conduct we pursue. Hence, also., Theology as a science, and religion as
a system of practice, embrace all that can be known of the purposes and
works of God; the whole range of human relationship, and the whole
extent of human duty. Of all objects of human knowledge, it is most
important; and on this subject it becomes every human being most
diligently to seek for truth.”
Dr. Rice’s Lectures will
show his kind of orthodoxy. And the fact that many in different parts of
the country looked on him with suspicion as not caring for the clear
truth of the gospel, because he did not adhere to either of the parties
into which the church was, at that time, much divided, but appeared to
think lightly of some subjects of discussion, would seem to require that
those Lectures should now be published, that all may know the ground he
occupied. His early life had been spent in a region of country in which
the ministers were discussing and contriving a platform on which
believers in the gospel might unite in action, as was afterwards done in
the Sunday School Union, the American Tract Society, and the Bible
Society. The Republican Methodists united with Hanover Presbytery ; and
had their congregations in his vicinity. In Richmond he offered peace to
all, and wrote Irenicum, that the peculiarities of denominations should
not destroy Christian love. In his visits to New York, Boston, and
Philadelphia, he was a lovely man somewhere in the centre of good men;
not entirely on the side of any one, but between those who were
opposite. When he wrote against Bishop Ravenscroft, he declared it was
not for the love of w^ar or personalities, or against the Episcopal
Church as a branch of the Church of Christ, but against the exclusive
pretensions of some of her members. He loved his own church and her
peculiarities, without wishing to multiply them. He would go far for the
sake of peace; but when peace could not be had on fair and honorable
terms, and a clear conscience, he buckled on his armor, and no opponent
that met him ever doubted his courage, his firmness, or his vigor. Had
his life been spared a few years, he would, in the commotions which rent
the Presbyterian Church, have been one of the centres of action, around
whom many would have gathered; but where, in the South and in the North,
the circumference would have been, no mortal man can now tell, nor is it
necessary to conjecture.
5th. Dr. Rice had a quick
sense of the becoming and of the ridiculous, in actions and in words. In
early life he was ready to use his power of sarcasm with misanthropic
force. The power of the gospel, and the kindness of woman, subdued that
spirit to playful, humane, and gentle repartee. Ingham was taking a
likeness of Dr. Rice for J. b. James, at the same time Dr. Milner was
sitting for his picture. Greatly interested in both his subjects, Ingham
used to tell of them, that Dr. Milner, one day, on leaving the studio,
threw his gown and bands across the chair, and said, pleasantly, “Tell
my brother Rice, I leave these for his benefit.” When Dr. Rice came in
soon after, and heard Dr. Milner’s message, looking at them archly, he
said, “Tell Dr. Milner, it is a long time since I have quit wearing
women’s clothes.” Sometimes he forgot his moderation, particularly in
his earlier ministry. While yet a coun-.try pastor, he. visited
Philadelphia as a delegate to the Assembly, and was commissioned to
purchase some books for the incipient [ Theological library at Hampden
Sidney, for which he, with others, \ had_ collected about $1200. While
in the bookstore one day, a ministerial brother came in, and began to
talk rather pompously about books. At length turning to Mr. Rice—“Have
you any books in your wild woods, away out in Virginia?” “Some, sir.”
“Well, what?” “Why, we have,” said the Doctor, “Dillworth’s
Spelling-book, and an almanac, in almost every house. Some people have
the Seven Wise Masters and Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. That is a
curious book, sir.” Walking to the other end of the store, Mr. Earrand
showed him the list of books made out. The young man looked it over, and
repeated, “Walton’s Polyglott,-Walton’s Polyglott, what can he want with
that?”
6th. Dr. Rice was happy
in his domestic relations; and much of his usefulness through life was
connected with the enjoyments of his fireside. Not having children to
demand his care, he enlivened his heart with the children of his sister
Edith, some of whom were kept constantly as members of his family. Under
the bereavements of Providence his nieces looked to him as a father, and
shared in the tenderness of his heart. They were to him in place of
children ; and the honorable positions they held in society evidence the
faithfulness with which he discharged his important trust. Given to
hospitality, he seldom was without some strangers in his house ; and
their society at meals and his few spare moments, was a source of
exquisite enjoyment. By his’ fireside, and at table, he was cheerful,
never light; sociable, but never talkative; slow in speech, and often
delighting with his polished wit, sent out to please and not to harm; he
maintained a benevolent feeling that drove all slander from his roof.
Never speaking unfavorably of the absent, if others in-his presence
ventured to report some faults, he was wont to say —
“What good did you hope
to gain by telling me that?” His friends at the North used to insist on
his bringing his wife with him. He could make the public speeches; and
she could tell in the social circle the thousand little things they
wished to know, and would never get from him in company. The assistance
he derived from his wife in building the seminary is inestimable. This
he ever acknowledged, joyfully, when proper to allude to it.
7th. Dr. Rice ever made
it a subject of meditation, desire and prayer that the students should
feel and exhibit the exalted principles of pure and undefiled religion
before God and the father. While absent upon the duties of the agency,
his letters to Mrs. Rice, through whom, as correspondent, it was most
convenient and agreeable ''for himself and the students and professor to
communicate with each other, he sends messages to the students to
cultivate most assiduously personal holiness ; he charges his wife and
the professor and teachers to impress the importance of holiness in
heart and life upon the students, saying he could see the difference in
congregations of holy and careless-living men; that the church must have
a holy ministry, or be undone. His sentiments were expressed more at
length in a letter to the Rev. Francis M’Farland, copious extracts from
which exhibit his feelings and principles in his own words:
“Union Seminary, July
13th, 1830.
“My Dear Sir — I thank
you for writing it — (a letter to Mr. Goodrich, stating some reports in
circulation), but should have been more thankful if you had written to
me, and more thankful still if you had spoken to me in Philadelphia. I
feel that I am a poor, frail creature, and I do hope that I shall always
receive fraternal fidelity in a fraternal way. I know that when I am
wrong it is the greatest kindness to set me right; and every friendly
attempt to do this I trust I shall always acknowledge with affectionate
gratitude. It is no affectation of humility in me when I say that I feel
myself to be very poorly fitted for the office which I sustain. I never
would have accepted it if another person would have undertaken to build
up this seminary. And now, if the institution could go on without any
shock, I would willingly give place to a man better qualified than I
feel myself to be. When I left Richmond my favorite object was to get
the South all united in the seminary, and Dr. Alexander at the head of
it. I had sanguine hopes that this plan might be carried.
But that event broke it
up root and branch. That is, it convinced me that it was in vain for me
to make the effort. And since then I have just been waiting to see what
direction the Lord would give to affairs, that I might know my ultimate
duty. If it is the will of the head of the church that I should stay
where I am, I am willing to stay. If it is his will that I should go
elsewhere, I am willing to go. But this is not said in reference to any
particular place or plan, for I have none whatever in view, nor have I
had any, but what all my brethren know — to do what I could for this
seminary while it should be the Lord’s will to keep me here. I do with
my whole heart and mind agree with you that the improvement of the
students in piety is the most important object to which we can turn our
attention. And I rejoice, my dear sir, that you feel on the subject so
as to write to us about it. I should rejoice if every member of the
Board were feeling on the subject so as to write not only to us, but to
the students also. And I should be delighted to learn that the members
of the church were making it a subject of daily prayer, and that the
ministers pray about it privately and publicly. But I have travelled
five times from New Hampshire to the borders of South Carolina, and I
have heard very few prayers for the seminaries of the church, and almost
all these have been official prayers — not expressions of the abiding
feelings of the heart; but called for on special occasions. And this is
one of the topics on which I intended to write to you.
“I have made the business
in which I am engaged a matter of much earnest thought; and have laid
down a plan for the regulation of my conduct. I have no doubt it is
defective, and imperfectly executed. But as well as I can I will detail
it to you — and if you can suggest any practicable amendment, I shall
hold myself greatly your debtor for communicating it. In the first
place, the burden is too heavy for my shoulders ; and I have been, and
am now, pressed beyond my strength. My discharge of duty necessarily has
reference to my capacity of endurance — and many a thing is done by me
with an express design of enabling me to hold on until the Lord shall
please to send more help. If I had not made daily efforts to keep up a
cheerful spirit, I should have been done over long ago. In reference to
the students, I have had in view these things: — 1st, and I hope
principally, a fervent spirit of piety, and a high standard of
ministerial holiness; 2d, a spirit of study, and an earnest desire of
intellectual improvement; 3d, the preservation of the health of the
students, that they may be prepared to labor when they leave the
institution; and 4th, their manners and modes of intercourse with their
fellow-men.
“As to my success, as far
as the opinion of students (and others also) has been Concerned, I have
heard only two general remarks of an unfavorable character. One is, that
sufficient pains are not taken to cultivate a spirit of piety: the other
is, that at this seminary there is nothing like a literary spirit, but a
general feeling that piety is the only thing necessary. An excellent
young man, disposed to be grave, and perhaps rather melancholy, on
account of dyspepsia, with a reference to his own health, has been
spoken to, or before, in a tone of cheerfulness and jocularity, and it
has not Suited his humor — he has been offended. Another, apparently
more desirous to be a scholar than a very holy man, has been urged to
pray more, and read his Bible with a more devotional spirit, and he has
said that, at the Union Seminary, it was expected to make preachers by
prayer. Perhaps, in each case, there is some truth. As to the measures
to promote piety, I have not visited the rooms of the students for the
purpose of personal conversation, because I did not see how, if I
undertook that thing, I could go through with it; because I daily meet
the classes, and spend four hours with them. I feel it to be my duty to
make daily preparation for that work, and in this I spend at least four
hours more. Besides this, I feel it to be my duty to aim at a general
extension of my little stock of knowledge; also, I have to receive much
of the company which the seminary brings to our house; and every day I
am obliged to answer letters on seminary business. I work in my vocation
at least twelve hours every day, and often more, and this in addition to
the calls of the students on various matters which concern them. But, I
do not know that one day passes by, without something being said to
impress on the students the necessity of deep personal piety.
It is always a subject of
prayer at every recitation, and frequently in private conversation — not
indeed in a dry and formal manner, but in the way of free, affectionate
intercourse, which is held between us. It is true, that often when we
meet in our parlor, and also in the class, there is a good deal of
cheerfulness, and in the recitation there is sometimes jocularity, and
that designed and of purpose — yea, on principle; because I am fully
convinced myself, that the sombre, fixedly solemn and sanctified
behaviour, which some seem to approve, is by no means beneficial to the
character of the clergyman, or the Christian. Cheerfulness and piety can
go together, and indeed ought not to be separated; for my observation
has convinced me, that if young men at study are not encouraged to
unbend their minds, and indulge in innocent mirth, they will become
gloomy, desponding, and morose: a state of mind far less suited to the
growth of that sort of piety which I wish to see cultivated, than
anything I have yet observed here. Besides, I have many a time done what
perhaps some disapprove, on account of its value to the health of the
students — a subject which I have studied much, and regard as very
important — but I have no more room.
“As I said before, I have
no doubt both of the defects of my plan, and of the deficiency of its
execution. But, this I can say, that no student has staid here a year,
without giving what I thought manifest tokens of improvement in piety;
and there are now here seven or eight bright Christians, who, when they
came, could hardly be admitted, because they knew so little of religion.
One of these is just now rising up from the very brink of the grave, to
which he was brought by his excessive labors in distributing the Bible.
He thought and we all thought he would die; and, when my last hour
comes, I can hardly desire to be more peaceful and happy than he was. He
lay perfectly easy in mind, and said, “Let the Lord do what he pleases.”
Another, who came here last winter, near the close of the session, has
found religion here so much beyond anything he had seen before, as to
feel that he knew nothing about it; and he is just getting through a
very fearful struggle, which will do his soul good.
“I wanted to say much
more, but I cannot. I wished to tell you of a conversation had by many
of us on board the steamboat, the day after the Assembly rose. It was on
the subject of the increase of piety among ministers and candidates; and
on the meeting of the next General Assembly, we pledged ourselves to one
another to write and talk to our brethren — to mention the matter in
Presbyteries and Synods — to do everything, in a word, which we could
do, to send a delegation next spring, which should, from the very first
day, lay hold of this great matter as the principal business of the next
General Assembly. In this letter, I have said nothing about my
colleague, because I take it for granted he will write to you. But I
must remark that I believe him to be alive to the great matter on which
you are justly solicitous, and I know his influence is very valuable in
the seminary.
“With sincere, fraternal
love, J. H. Rice.”
8th. In the class-room,
Dr. Rice was kind in manner, patient in teaching, rich in instruction,
always interesting, giving forth in abundance the fruits of accurate
investigation, carried on through his whole pastoral life. Slow in his
enunciation, his thoughts seemed sometimes unwieldy, as if he could
scarce manage to give them utterance, and they finally were announced
with a clearness and precision becoming their magnitude and worth. He
had some lectures written out in full, and was every year adding to
them, in a fair hand and pleasing style, fit for the press and the
library; he had copious notes of his full course, which he was
constantly enlarging and enriching, and has left a syllabus of his whole
course, and a full copy of a part. His recitations were close,
continued, particular, almost severe, presupposing and compelling close
investigation in the preparation for the class-room. To prevent
weariness, he interwove playful remarks, cheerful personal anecdotes,
pertinent pieces of history, references to common-life, scraps of his
own experience with men and things. Diligent students found his
recitations happy interviews, improving the mind and the heart, not
neglecting personal \manners. Rudeness in bearing and vulgarity met no
approbation, with whatever other qualities they might be conjoined. The
spirit of Dr. Miller’s volume on Clerical Manners and Habits, was
inculcated by Dr. Rice in his recitation-room, by precept and example,
and in his domestic circle by the example of the Doctor and his wife,
examples as charming as could be furnished, North or South, the North
itself being judge. When the Doctor and his wife were in Andover,
Massachusetts, the best way of improving the manners of the students of
theology, was a subject of earnest and repeated discussion with the
professors and their wives. It was evident the students at Andover were
too secluded. “ Let us have conversation-circles, or little levees
occasionally; that would do very well, if not too prolonged. Let Us have
some subject chosen, on which the conversation shall turn.” “No,” said
Mrs. Rice, “that will degenerate into formal speech-making. Let each one
come ready to do his share of the conversation, on what subject he
pleases, and let the ladies make the meeting cheerful, and let it break
up before the interest passes away ; or, what is better, let the
students spend a few moments at some proper hour each day, in a
well-regulated family, in cheerful intercourse, and cultivating the
amenities of life.” Dr. Rice ever bore in mind the moulding influences
of his mother, the Malvern Hills, and Willington.
9th. The language of Paul
--- “in labors more abundant,” may be applied to Dr. Rice in his
pastoral office — in Charlotte with a school---in Richmond with the
press, and in his Professor’s chair in Prince Edward. He rejoiced in
labors that consumed the very fountains of his life. His error, if we
should judge him strictly, was, that he suffered his love of labor for
the church to surpass his physical powers. On his death-bed he had some
solemn reflections on this subject, and felt some dark hours. Not that
he had done absolutely too much as the sum of life; but that in doing it
he had overwrought himself, and perhaps cut short his days. He trembled
lest God was angry. He feared that in his bodily service he had
neglected his private communion with God. Far from looking, very . far
from expecting justification by the deeds of his hands, he appealed to
mercy and that was triumphant. His strong and abiding | conviction had
been for years — “I have become fully convinced that the work necessary
to be done to build up our seminary must : be done by me, or that it
will never be done.” In his opinion he ' was probably right; for his
excessive labor who will blame him? while all mourn the event.
The friendships formed
for Mrs. Rice were strong, numerous, and abiding. Her kind manners, and
Christian conversation, and cheerful use of her full treasury of
important facts, and amusing incidents about the seminary and the
Virginia people, won the hearts of gentlemen, merchants, and ministers,
and the ladies generally, to that degree that the friends of the
seminary used to say that when she accompanied him on a tour to the
North, it was hard to say which was the better agent. And yet she was
never importunate ; she never solicited, never addressed companies in a
set speech. All things of that kind she left to the Doctor and others.
But she was always bringing up, when fit opportunities occurred, the
seminary; giving some amusing account of the Doctor’s labors and the
trials they had gone through, some graphic sketch of the wants of the
South, and the interest taken in the Seminary, some cheerful relation of
Christian experience, and hopeful conversions, and triumphant death —
all embued with a spirit of inexpressible kindness. She reigned in the
social circle as the Doctor did in the pulpit. He often said to her —
“If your cheerfulness and health give out, I shall sink at once under my
burdens.” To her he gave his youthful affections ; in his manhood he
said — “ I love you more than words can express:” in his dying hours, he
said — “I never loved you more than at this hour.” To her he gave his
last look, his last embrace, and his last words from the midst of
Jordan.
Resolutions in the
hand-writing of Dr. Rice, found in his pocket-book with his will,
without date, or his name.
What I resolve that I
will endeavor to do.
1st. To keep under my
body; and change my physical constitution. Take food for nourishment and
not for pleasure. Take no more than is necessary, and be indifferent as
to the quality. Sleep for refreshment and not for indulgence. Endeavor
to do as much useful work every day as I can. Dress as cheaply as
comports with decency.
2nd. To use all my
property for benevolent purposes. Pay every thing I owe as soon as
possible. Save all that I can by practising self-denial. And give all I
can in the exercise of sound discretion to objects of benevolence. Never
spare person, property, or reputation if I can do good. Necessary that I
should die poor.
3d. As to my disposition
and conduct towards others. 1st. Endeavor to feel kindly to every one;
never indulge anger, malice, envy, jealousy, towards any human being.
2nd. Endeavor to speak as I ought, to, and about, every one, aiming in
all that I say to promote the comfort, improvement and happiness of
every one who lives. 3d. Endeavor to act so as to advance, (1) the
present comfort, (2) the intellectual improvement, (3) the purity and
moral good of all my fellow-men.
As to my Creator. To
endeavor to fix more deeply in my mind, all truth that I can possibly
discover respecting him; and to feel, think and act in correspondence
with that truth.
Finally. When I have done
all, to acknowledge that I am nothing, that I deserve nothing, and that
my Creator has a right to do with me as seems good to him. |