and property of our ancestors, they set themselves in opposition, and, whether we should like to live with them or not, they saved the liberties of England, and have moulded the character of all the generations which have followed-in England as well as in America-to a far greater extent than is generally supposed.

There are crises in the history of all nations when the old race characteristics are either intensified or greatly modified. You are aware that among the theories which have been proposed by those who have advocated the doctrine of evolution, one of the most ingenious is that at certain intervals during the countless aeons of the world's early history, there has been, for some reason, a sudden and astonishing development in living organisms, "per saltum" as it has been called, or by a leap. The theory is that ages have passed in which the different species have remained substantially the same, till they have come at last perhaps under the influence of some new force, when a change has been made “per saltum," or at once, the effect of which has been perceptible ever after in their organization. Whatever may be true in the domain of natural science, it is certainly true in human life, and in the history of nations. I need go no further than to our Civil War for an illustration, though it is on a comparatively very limited scale. The terrible experiences of those four years produced an effect on the spirit of the whole American people which will be felt in their political action for centuries. The same thing is true, on a still smaller scale, in the life of every individual man. This is too obvious to need illustration.

Now the Puritan age was one of those crises in the history of the English people, when, as the historians tell us, a definite change was made in the English character. But the Puritans who came to this country, in addition to all the experiences through which they passed in England, endured such hardships here, made such sacrifices, and struggled with such new conditions of life, that among the people of this branch of the Anglo-Saxon family many very marked modifications were brought about in our characteristics as a people. There are more of these than I have time to speak of on the present

occasion. I shall be obliged to pass by several that I consider of even more importance than those I mention. I will confine myself to a very few.

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It seems to me that that age was so peculiarly an age selfish work for the good of others, and particularly for the good of the succeeding ages, that its effects are to be seen in every descendant of the Puritans, whether he maintains the Puritan faith or not. I am not speaking of the underlying race characteristic of loyalty to duty. No Anglo-Saxon is without that feeling. When Nelson hung out his signal at Trafalgar: "England expects every man to do his duty," he knew that the heart of every cabin boy in the fleet would respond and that he would be roused to do his best. No AngloSaxon, however far he may have wandered from the right, but will at least try to convince himself that he is still loyal to duty, in order that he may maintain his own self-respect. I do not refer therefore to this characteristic, or even to that other characteristic of working for the mere sake of satisfying the desire to be employed about something.

Some years ago I accompanied a gentleman who belonged to one of the Latin races, to the library of the Yale Theological School. On entering, my companion went at once and stood before a painting that hangs on the walls which represents two children, descendants, I may be excused for saying, of one of the original founders of this town. After looking at the picture for some time, he said: "By no possibility could any one suppose that those children were of any Latin race." I asked him his reason. After a moment's reflection, he said: "the Latins are always looking within themselves and thinking how they appear to other people. The AngloSaxons, forgetful of themselves, look out on the world to see what they can do in it." That this is measurably true has just been recognized in an interesting way by Father Hecker, one of the most accomplished of the Paulist Fathers in New York. In a book, published within the present year, he undertakes to give a philosophical explanation of the fact that the Protestant nations have exerted more influence in the world than the Roman Catholic nations. I quote from his book with no idea

of controversy, but in the same liberal spirit in which he writes. The question is simply one of fact. Father Hecker declares that the race characteristic of the Latins is a disposition to submit to authority, and he says the Roman Catholic church has made the mistake of devoting its effort to strengthening this race characteristic which was already sufficiently strong, and has tried to resist rather than develop among the Latins independent action. It has sought to encourage the passive virtues, rather than the active. On the other hand, he says, the race characteristic of the Teutonic nations is personal independence, and an eagerness for action, and Protestantism has developed still further this race characteristic, already so strong, and has directed it especially against the authority of the church. Here, he says, is the explanation of the fact that "fifty millions of Protestants" have so long exerted and still exert a more controlling influence over the movements and destinies of nations than "two hundred millions of Catholics."

Now this predisposition among all Teutonic races to be on the lookout for something to do, and something to work for, has been modified in this country among the descendants of the Puritans by the experiences through which their ancestors passed. It has been expanded and diverted from mere selfish ends, and directed towards the good of others, and especially the good of succeeding generations. The aim which the Puritan proposed to himself as a practical object of life has been expressed by the poet in the "Golden Legend." "Let all men's good be each man's rule." No descendant of the Puritans, of any religious denomination, or even though he be without Christian faith, but feels it to be a natural instinct, in imitation of the example of his ancestors, to labor in some way for the public good, and especially for those who are to come after him. It is the very nature of the descendants of the Puritans to be public spirited and to plan for the generations that are yet unborn.

We owe also to the Puritans the estimate which is placed in this country on manhood. The Anglo-Saxons were always characterized by high ideas of personal independence. But a

new conception was joined with those ideas for the first time by the men who took the Bible for the rule of their conduct, and sought to make their lives correspond to its teachings. It was because the Bible taught them that all men are equally the objects of the special care of God, and that all men are brothers in Christ, that the whole conception of the respect that is due from man to man was changed, and no Puritan was so high in rank that he did not recognize a spiritual equality in the humblest Christian. Of a Puritan of that period it was said as something new: “He never disdained the meanest, nor flattered the greatest." "He had a loving and sweet courtesy for the poorest." No descendant of the men who settled Plymouth, Boston, or New Haven, is worthy of his ancestry, of whom this is not true to-day.

But perhaps more important still was the new self-respect that was taught those who belonged to the humbler classes of society. Nehemiah Wallington has given a beautiful sketch. of his mother, who was the wife of a London Puritan mechanic. He says: "She was very loving and obedient to her parents, loving and kind to her husband, very tender-hearted to her children, loving all that was holy, much misliking the wicked and profane. She was a pattern of sobriety unto many, very seldom seen abroad except at church. When others recreated themselves at holidays and other times, she would take her needle-work and say, 'here is my recreation.' God had given her a pregnant wit and an excellent memory. She was very ripe and perfect in all stories of the Bible, likewise in all the stories of the martyrs, and could readily turn to them. She was also perfect and well seen in the English chronicles and in the descendants of the Kings of England. She lived in holy wedlock with her husband twenty years, wanting but four days."

This was the kind of respect for manhood which grew up in New England, and if any where in this land, or in the wide world, there is a human being who has been cheered in his lowly condition by knowing that there is one country where it has ever been an acknowledged fact that "a man is a man for all that," let him thank the Puritans, who learned it from the Bible, and made it here a reality.

The Puritans also gave to the world a new idea of what it is to be a gentleman. With the views respecting manhood which they received from the Bible, they conceived a new idea as to what is the proper way to treat others. Polished manners and a gracious deportment to one's equals is not enough, according to the Puritan ideal. A man may smile and smile and be a villain. There should be such delicacy of perception of the rights and feelings of others as to lead a person not only to avoid giving offense to any, high or low, but this perception should be accompanied by such a treatment of all as reveals a friendly feeling. This idea of a gentleman did not exist before the time of the Puritans. I do not say that there were not persons who had such a character. But Shakespeare uses the word "gentleman" more than five hundred times, and not once to designate anything more than a person of high social position.

A man who is habitually thoughtless of the feelings of his inferiors is not a gentleman according to the Puritan idea. One of the most eloquent of English essayists of modern times, Rev. Charles Kingsley, a dignitary of the Anglican church, says that "The Puritan and not the cavalier conception of what a British gentleman should be is the one accepted by the whole British nation at this day." And yet it is unquestionable that in this country, among gentlemen, there is a distinct quality perceptible, which has come to us from our Puritan ancestors, which is higher and nobler than anything that is common in England. I do not doubt that there are thousands of persons in England who are gentlemen in the Puritan sense of the term. It is also very probable that in that country there is a much larger number of men than in this country who possess polish of manner and high culture of every kind. But it is not intended as any disrespect to English gentlemen when I say that there is an element of what in this country we should call rudeness in the way in which English gentlemen habitually disregard all the prepossessions and tastes of even their equals with whom they come in contact, and exhibit a calm assumption of superiority, which to an American is simply ludicrous. Mr. Richard Grant White, who carried his admiration of everything English to such an extent that his name