29 Mr. Randall In Pen-Picture

29 - MR. RANDALL IN PEN-PICTURE

HAVING followed Mr. Randall through his early life and public labors, we may now consider him in his person-in what he was as a man, and in some of the conditions of his success in the ministry. In stature Mr. Randall was about five feet nine inches, of an erect, compact build-well formed in every way. His hands were small and delicate; chest, full; forehead, high and broad; eyes, dark gray, approaching hazel in color; nose, Grecian in form; mouth, expressive of firmness; hair, dark auburn, worn long as was the manner of the times-especially with clergymen. Mr. Randall threw his hair back in negligee, but it had a tendency to part in the middle and curl, which he deplored, as he thought it might be regarded by some as savoring of vanity on his part. His movements were energetic but graceful. His mind was quick to comprehend, of a meditative turn, inclined to look thoroughly into things. He was not given to credulity, believing only on conclusive evidence. His order, as the phrenologists would say, was prominent; taste, delicate; conscientiousness, large; will, when once convinced by evidence, unyielding. He was firm to dictates of duty and fearless of danger. In short, the prominent characteristics of Mr. Randall were such as combine in heroes and martyrs. As to clothing, Mr. Randall selected good material, and would be satisfied with nothing short of a perfect fit. His coat was of clerical cut. Till late in life he wore trousers of the colonial style, buckled at the knee, with long hose and broad-buckled shoes.

Before failing health required an easier mode of travel, Mr. Randall rode on horseback. But during his last years, except in winter, when he used a sleigh, he rode in a chaise. This allowed his wife to accompany him, which was at times a necessity. When riding on horseback, he wore a kind of over-alls to protect his clothing from dust and mud. At the end of his journey he removed this outer garment and then, with but little attention to his person, he appeared presentable.

Himself a model of neatness, he could hardly see how a real sloven could enter the kingdom of heaven. We are not to regard this carefulness about dress as the outcropping of vanity, but rather as arising from his natural love of order. That trait would have compelled him to the same course if, like Robinson Crusoe, he had been the sole occupant of an island.

Naturally kind-hearted, frank, and generous, Mr. Randall was inclined to make all about him happy. His influence was like that of the gentle dew--unobtrusive but refreshing. This nature, supplemented by the grace of God, gave him access to the hearts of all ages and all classes.

One element of personal power was the fact that, like Savonarola, he knew his Bible and believed in his divine mission. Another element was his strong, unwavering faith in God. What was said of another great religious leader, with slight adaptation, is equally applicable to Mr. Randall:

He was a man of audacious courage because of absolute faith. He believed that Christianity was adapted to the universal needs of humanity. He believed that humanity had a capacity, God-given, to apprehend and accept Christianity. His courage carried with it a great hope. He believed, really believed, that one with God was a majority; and he constantly acted on that belief. With all this intensity of spiritual conviction, and consequent courageous hopefulness, he resembled neither the mystics nor the monks. He belonged neither to the Pietists nor the Puritans. He was intense without being narrow, bold without being pugnacious, and spiritual without being ascetic.

If Mr. Randall had been a college graduate the fact would have been much more gratifying to a not altogether unjustifiable pride on the part of his disciples. As it was he had fair school privileges, considering the times, and he improved them. He collected all available literature and was an omnivorous reader. What Dr. Newell Dwight Hillis said of Horace Greeley has equal application to Mr. Randall:

God gave him a hungry mind, which if literally consumed facts of nature and life. Like a locust, he consumed every dry twig and every green branch of knowledge. He was trained in the school of experience, and graduated at the university of hard knocks. In addition to a large stock of general information, Mr. Randall was mighty in the Scriptures; and his logical turn of mind gave his message homiletical order. But the most important factor of his furnishings was the enduement of the Holy Spirit. Without this he felt himself utterly unfit for sacred service. But "after that the Holy Ghost had come "upon him, he could say with Isaiah:

"The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season."

Mr. Randall systematized the religious doctrines of the Bible as he understood them, and sustained each with the strongest proof-texts bearing upon it. He did not wrench any of these doctrines out of their proper relations to others, but held and taught them as a harmonious whole. As a matter of fact, it may be said that, as to essentials, Mr. Randall projected that system of doctrines a hundred years beyond his times, and the churches are now busy pushing them over the world.