EARLY IMPRESSIONS-1832-1851 515 



this young missionary. He was honest, fearless, self- 

 sacrificing, and these qualities soon gave him a strong 

 hold upon his flock, the hold of a mediaeval saint upon 

 pilgrims seeking refuge from a world cruel and perverse. 



Seeing this, sundry clergymen and influential laymen 

 of what were known as the evangelical denominations 

 attempted to refute his arguments and discredit his prac 

 tices. That was the very thing which he and his congre 

 gation most needed: under this opposition his fervor 

 deepened, his mediaeval characteristics developed, his 

 little band of the faithful increased, and more and more 

 they adored him; but this adoration did not in the least 

 injure him: he remained the same gentle, fearless, nar 

 row, uncompromising man throughout his long life. 



My first recollections of religious worship in the little 

 old church take me back to my fourth year; and I can 

 remember well, at the age of five, standing between my 

 father and mother, reading the Psalter with them as best 

 I could, joining in the chants and looking with great awe 

 on the service as it went on before my admiring eyes. So 

 much did it impress me that from my sixth to my twelfth 

 year I always looked forward to Sunday morning with 

 longing. The prayers, the chants, the hymns, all had a 

 great attraction for me, and this although I was some 

 what severely held to the proper observance of worship. 

 I remember well that at the age of six years, if I faltered 

 in the public reading of the Psalter, a gentle rap on the 

 side of my head from my father s knuckles reminded me 

 of my duty. 



At various times since I have been present at the most 

 gorgeous services of the Anglican, Latin, Russian, and 

 Oriental churches ; have heard the Pope, surrounded by 

 his cardinals, sing mass at the high altar of St. Peter s; 

 have seen the Metropolitan Archbishop of Moscow, sur 

 rounded by prelates of the Russian Empire, conduct 

 the burial of a czar ; have seen the highest Lutheran dig 

 nitaries solemnize the marriage of a German kaiser; 

 have sat under the ministrations of sundry archbishops 



