The Project Gutenberg EBook of Russell H. Conwell, by Agnes Rush BurrThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online atwww.gutenberg.netTitle: Russell H. ConwellAuthor: Agnes Rush BurrRelease Date: March 3, 2004 [EBook #11421]Language: English*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUSSELL H. CONWELL ***Produced by Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.[Illustration: RUSSELL H CONWELL]RUSSELL H. CONWELLFounder of the Institutional Church in AmericaTHE WORK AND THE MANBYAGNES RUSH BURRWith His Two Famous Lectures as Recently Delivered, entitled "Acres ofDiamonds," and "Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and Women"With an Appreciative Introduction by FLOYD W. TOMKINS, D.D., LL.D.1905TO THE MEMBERSOFGRACE BAPTIST CHURCHTO THOSE WHO IN THE OLD DAYS WORKED WITH SUCH SELF SACRIFICE AND DEVOTION TO BUILD THETEMPLE WALLS; TO THOSE WHO IN THE LATER DAYS ANYWHERE WORK IN LIKE SPIRIT TO ENLARGETHEIR SPHERE OF USEFULNESS,THIS BOOK IS DEDICATEDAN APPRECIATIONThe measure of greatness is helpfulness. We have gone back to the method of the Master and learned to test men not bywealth, nor by birth, nor by intellectual power, but by service. Wealth is not to be despised if it is untainted andconsecrated. Ancestry is noble if the good survives and the bad ...
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Russell H.
Conwell, by Agnes Rush Burr
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at
no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever.
You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the
terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Russell H. Conwell
Author: Agnes Rush Burr
Release Date: March 3, 2004 [EBook #11421]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG
EBOOK RUSSELL H. CONWELL ***
Produced by Josephine Paolucci and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team.
[Illustration: RUSSELL H CONWELL]RUSSELL H. CONWELL
Founder of the Institutional Church in America
THE WORK AND THE MAN
BY
AGNES RUSH BURR
With His Two Famous Lectures as Recently
Delivered, entitled "Acres of
Diamonds," and "Personal Glimpses of Celebrated
Men and Women"
With an Appreciative Introduction by FLOYD W.
TOMKINS, D.D., LL.D.
1905TO THE MEMBERS
OF
GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
TO THOSE WHO IN THE OLD DAYS WORKED
WITH SUCH SELF SACRIFICE AND DEVOTION
TO BUILD THE TEMPLE WALLS; TO THOSE
WHO IN THE LATER DAYS ANYWHERE WORK
IN LIKE SPIRIT TO ENLARGE THEIR SPHERE
OF USEFULNESS,
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATEDAN APPRECIATION
The measure of greatness is helpfulness. We have
gone back to the method of the Master and
learned to test men not by wealth, nor by birth, nor
by intellectual power, but by service. Wealth is not
to be despised if it is untainted and consecrated.
Ancestry is noble if the good survives and the bad
perishes in him who boasts of his forebears.
Intellectual force is worthy if only it can escape
from that cursed attendant, conceit. But they sink,
one and all into insignificance when character is
considered; for character is the child of godly
parents whose names are self-denial and love. The
man who lives not for himself but for others, and
who has a heart big enough to take all men into its
living sympathies—he is the man we delight to
honor.
Biographies have a large place in present day
literature. A woman long associated with some
foreign potentates tells her story and it is read with
unhealthy avidity. Some man fights many battles,
and his career told by an amiable critic excites
temporary interest. Yet as we read we are
unsatisfied. The heart and mind, consciously or
unconsciously, ask for some deeds other than
those of arms and sycophancies. Did he make the
world better by his living? Were rough placessmoothed and crooked things straightened by his
energies? And withal, had he that tender grace
which drew little children to him and made him the
knight-attendant of the feeble and overborne
amongst his fellows? The life from which men draw
daily can alone make a book richly worth the
reading.
It is good that something should be known of a
man whilst he yet lives. We are overcrowded with
monuments commemorating those into whose
faces we cannot look for inspiration. It is always
easy to strew flowers upon the tomb. But to hear
somewhat of living realities; to grasp the hand
which has wrought, and feel the thrill while we hear
of the struggles which made it a beautiful hand; to
see the face marked by lines cut with the chisel of
inner experience and the sword of lonely
misunderstanding and perchance of biting criticism,
and learn how the brave contest spelt out a life-
history on feature and brow;—this is at once to
know the man and his career.
This life of a man justly honored and loved in
Philadelphia will find a welcome seldom accorded
to the routine biography. It is difficult for one who
rejoices in Dr. Conwell's friendship to speak in
tempered language. It is yet more difficult to do
justice to the great work which Church and College
and Hospital, united in a trinity of service, have
accomplished in our very midst. God hath done
mighty things through this His servant, and the endmighty things through this His servant, and the end
is not yet. To attend the Temple services on
Sunday and feel the pulse of worship is to enter
into a blessed fellowship with God and men. To
see the thousands pursuing their studies during the
week in Temple College and to realize the
thoroughness of the work done is to gain a belief in
Christian education. To move through the beautiful
Hospital and mark the gentle ministration of
Christian physician and nurse is to learn what
Jesus meant when, quoting Hosea, He said: "I will
have mercy and not sacrifice." And these all bring
one very near to the great human heart, the
intelligent and far-reaching judgment, the ripe and
real religion of him whose life this volume tells.
May God bless Dr. Conwell in the days to come,
and graciously spare him to us for many years! We
need such men in this old sin-stained and weary
world. He is an inspiration to his brothers in the
ministry of Jesus Christ, He is a proof of the power
in the world of pure Christianity. He is a friend to all
that is good, a foe to all that is evil, a strength to
the weak, a comforter to the sorrowing, a man of
God.
He would not suffer these words to be printed if he
saw them. But they come from the heart of one
who loves, honors, and reverences him for his
character and his deeds. They are the words of a
friend.
[Illustration: Floyd W. Tomkins Church of the HolyTrinity
Philadelphia, Oct. 6th 1905.]