Prime Ministers and Some Others: A Book of ReminiscencesRussell, George William Erskine
History
Prime Ministers and Some Others: A Book of Reminiscences
Russell, George William Erskine
Great Britain -- Biography
First and foremost, it must be said--truth demands it, and no
conventional reticence must withhold it--that the predominant feature
of his character is his religiousness. He belongs to a higher world
than this. His "citizenship is in Heaven." Never can I forget an
address which, twenty years ago, he delivered, by request, in Stepney
Meeting-House. His subject was "Other-worldliness." The audience
consisted almost exclusively of Nonconformists. Many, I imagine,
had come with itching ears, or moved by a natural curiosity to
see the man whose bold discrimination between the things of Cæsar
and the things of God was just then attracting, general attention,
and, in some quarters, wrathful dismay. But gradually, as the high
theme unfolded itself, and the lecturer showed the utter futility
of all that this world has to offer when compared with the realities
of the Supernatural Kingdom, curiosity was awed into reverence, and
the address closed amid a silence more eloquent than any applause."
"That strain I heard was of a higher mood."
As I listened, I recalled some words written by Dr. Pusey in 1879,
about
"One whom I have known intimately for many years, who is one of
singular moderation as well as wisdom, who can discriminate with
singular sagacity what is essential from is not essential--C. Wood."
The Doctor went on:
"I do not think that I was ever more impressed than by a public
address which I heard him deliver now many years ago, in which,
without controversy or saying anything which could have offended
anyone, he expressed his own faith on deep subjects with a precision
which reminded me of Hooker's wonderful enunciation of the doctrine
of the Holy Trinity and of the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ."
After so solemn a tribute from so great a saint, it seems almost
a profanity--certainly a bathos--to add any more secular touches.
Yet, if the portrait is even to approach completeness, it must be
remembered that we are not describing an ascetic or a recluse,
but the most polished gentleman, the most fascinating companion,
the most graceful and attractive figure, in the Vanity Fair of
social life. He is full of ardour, zeal, and emotion, endowed with
a physical activity which corresponds to his mental alertness, and
young with that perpetual youth which is the reward of "a conscience
void of offence toward God and toward man."
Clarendon, in one of his most famous portraits, depicts a high-souled
Cavalier, "of inimitable sweetness and delight in conversation,
of a glowing and obliging humanity and goodness to mankind, and
of a primitive simplicity and integrity of life." He was writing
of Lord Falkland: he described Lord Halifax.
IV
_LORD AND LADY RIPON_[*]
[Footnote *: George Frederick Samuel Robinson, first Marquess of
Ripon, K.G. (1827-1909); married in 1851 his cousin Henrietta Ann
Theodosia Vyner.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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