IN LATER YEARS-1856-1905 561 



sion overspread the elder s face and he said, &quot;The most 

 singular experience I ever had was with a French Catho 

 lic priest in Monroe. Being in that town and having a 

 day or two of vacation, I felt it my duty to go and remon 

 strate with him. I found him yery polite, especially after 

 I had told him that his bishop had received me and dis 

 cussed religious questions with me. Presently, wishing 

 to make an impression on the priest, I fixed my eyes on 

 him very earnestly and said as solemnly as I could, Do 

 you know that you are leading your flock straight down 

 to hell? To this the priest made a very singular answer 

 -very singular, indeed. He said, Did you talk like that 

 to the bishop T I answered, Yes, I did. Did n t he 

 kick you out of his house? No, he did n t. Then, 

 said the priest, I won t. &quot; And the good elder, during 

 the whole of this story, evidently thought that the point 

 of it was, somehow, against the priest! 



As a professor at the University of Michigan lectur 

 ing upon modern history, I, of course, showed my feelings 

 in opposition to slavery, which was then completely domi 

 nant in the nation, and, to all appearance, intrenched in 

 our institutions forever. From time to time I also said 

 some things which made the more sensitive orthodox 

 brethren uneasy ; though, as I look back upon them now, 

 they seem to me very mild indeed. In these days they 

 could be said, and would be said, by great numbers of 

 devoted members of all Christian churches. These ex 

 pressions of mine favored toleration and dwelt upon 

 the absurdity of distinctions between Christians on ac 

 count of beliefs which individuals or communities have 

 happened to inherit. Nothing like an attack upon Christi 

 anity itself, or upon anything vital to it, did I ever make ; 

 indeed, my inclinations were not in that direction: my 

 greatest desire was to set men and women at thinking, 

 for I felt sure that if they would really think, in the light 

 of human history, they would more and more dwell on 

 what is permanent in Christianity and less and less on 

 what is transient ; more and more on its universal truths, 



II.-36 



