1885.] -^-^ [Agnew. 



into human character, which constituted one of the foremost character- 

 istics of the man. It is impossible to overestimate the value of such an 

 experience to either the professional or the business man ; it is often the 

 potent personal equation which imparts point and practical power to cul- 

 ture and learning. 



In 1835 Mr. Beadle was licensed to preach, and from this date com- 

 menced his career as a minister of the Gospel. 



During his sojourn at Utica, he formed the acquaintance of the Rev. 

 Asa T. Hopkins. Their friendship ripened into a strong attachment, so 

 real and sincere, that when the latter was called to the First Church at 

 Buffalo, Mr. Beadle, on the earnest solicitation of his friend, was induced 

 to take up his residence in the same city, where he discharged the duties 

 of City Missionary during the week, at the same time becoming, practi- 

 cally, co-pastor with Dr. Hopkins, whose pulpit he occupied during a por- 

 tion of each Sabbath. It was here that the power of Dr. Beadle as a 

 preacher began to attract public attention. Crowds flocked to hear him, 

 and it was at one of these morning services, when with eloquent speech 

 the young preacher had unfolded the treasures of his text, that the appli- 

 cations of its lessons were made with a pungency and power so startling, 

 as not only to electrify the spell-bound audience, but to bring the old 

 pastor in the pulpit to his feet, who, grasping the hands of the speaker in 

 his own, and with tears streaming down his cheeks, exclaimed with deep 

 emotion, "Young man, you have gifts which will yet make you one of 

 the foremost preachers in America." On another occasion, while address- 

 ing a vast audience composed of young men, from the text of the prodigal 

 son, and while delineating in vivid colors the spiritual poverty of the 

 sinner, of which the prodigal was a type, and when a felt silence per- 

 vaded the whole assembly, a young man, who saw in the dreadful picture 

 a portraiture of his own condition, under irrepressible feelings of convic- 

 tion, rushed into the aisle, and moving down towards the speaker, cried 

 out in tones of the deepest distress, "I am tliat man, I am that man." 



No fact in history is more true than that early studies or occupations 

 give a coloring and a drift to the whole future work of a man's life. 

 Gray's poetic career was inspired by reading Virgil. It is said that the 

 peculiarity of shadow which belongs to the pictures of Rembrandt, was 

 due to the direction of the light under which he wrought in the composi- 

 tion and execution of the first productions of his brush. 



And so with the subject of our sketch, his early itinerancy in the ser- 

 vice of the Sunday School Union, and his labors in the city of Buffalo, 

 had naturally attracted his thoughts towards the missionary field. 



This bias was no doubt strengthened by the additional circumstance of 

 having assisted in the preparation of Dr. Asahel Grant for labor among 

 the Nestorians, and probably what was equally influential, the close corres- 

 pondence which had been kept up between himself and Mr. Alfred North, 

 then engaged in missionary work at Singapore, India. The motives which 

 carried the thoughts of Mr. Beadle to distant lands, were not that he might 



