bjects seem to occupy his entire mind. Like his own Tauler,
he walks abroad, constantly

"Pondering the solemn Miracle of Life;
As one who, wandering in a starless night,
Feels momently the jar of unseen waves,
And hears the thunder of an unknown sea
Breaking along an unimagined shore."

His poems are so thoroughly imbued with this religious spirit that they
seem to us almost like the sacred writings of the different times and
nations of the world. They come to the lips upon all occasions of deep
feeling almost as naturally as the Scriptures do. They are current coin
with reformers the world over. They are the Alpha and Omega of deep,
strong religious faith. Whoever would best express his entire confidence
in the triumph of the right, and his reliance upon God's power against
the devices of men, finds the words of Whittier upon his lips; and to
those who mourn and seek for consolation, how naturally and
involuntarily come back lines from his poems they have long treasured,
but which perhaps never had a personal application until now! To the
wronged, the down-trodden, and the suffering they appeal as strongly as
the Psalms of David. He is the great High Priest of Literature. But few
priests at any time have had such an audience and such influence as he.
The moral and religious value of his work can scarcely be overstated.
Who can ever estimate the power which his strong words had in the days
that are now but a fading memory,--in the great conflict which freed the
bodies of so many million slaves? And who can ever estimate the power
his strong words have had throughout his whole career in freeing the
minds of other millions from the shackles of unworthy old beliefs? His
blows have been strong, steady, persistent. He has never had the fear of
man before his eyes. No man has done more for freedom, fellowship, and
character in religion than he. Hypocrisy and falsehood and cant have
been his dearest foes, and he has ridden at them early and late with his
lance poised and his steed at full tilt. Indeed, for a Quaker, Mr.
Whittier must be said to have a great deal of the martial spirit. The
fiery, fighting zeal of the old reformers is in his blood. You can
imagine him as upon occasion enjoying the imprecatory Psalms. In his
anti-slavery poems there is a depth of passionate earnestness which
shows that he could have gone to the stake for his opinions had he lived
in an earlier age than ours. That he did risk his life