He has always looked with joy on the advance of the human race, and he has had uncompromising faith in actual and triumphant progress. Nothing has made his crowning years more bright than the thought, ever present with him, that the good is gaining a gradual ascendency, and that man's lot, already a happy one, is becoming more happy. He has seen nations that have sat in darkness rising to stand in the joy-bringing light, and he has trusted the future will bring mature fruit. This buoyant hope has not only made his life joyous, but has pervaded all the messages of his later years, and he has shown that optimism which every true Christian must feel, for his Master "doeth all things well."
He felt called above everything else to preach the gospel, but he was sent to preach not only from the text which John the Baptist gave, but also he has "spoken unto men to edification." He has held up the perfect mark, the goal, "a life hid with Christ in God." Every power of man, physical, moral, mental, spiritual, is to be developed and expanded to its fullest extent, and then brought into strict obedience to the will of God. We are not in our place until we yield the same obedience to the celestial laws that we yield to the laws of gravitation. Character—which implies integrity, purity, unselfishness, love, patience, self-forgetfulness, and temperance—means the truth we have received, made our own, and put in action. Hence Eli Jones has spent his life telling all people to seek first of all the kingdom of heaven, which is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost—to give their whole lives and beings to the Lord, and to build up pure Christian characters. The strength and manliness of his life have made his messages weighty, and the clearness of his thought, with his abundance of strong English words forcibly arranged, has caused his speaking on whatever subject to be effective. His speaking has always been from the fulness of his heart and with all the energy of his individuality. Never has he been known to speak weakly or unemphatically. If he had no message, he kept his seat, and if he rose to speak it was because he had something which he deeply felt and which it was important for those present to hear.
Of medium height, possessing a very large head, penetrating, earnest eyes, and impressive in his movements, his rising always gained him attention. His voice, which in childhood had been imperfect, grew clearer and more emphatic with use, and by constant attention to careful enunciation he gained the power of distinct expression to such a degree that after having on one occasion found it necessary to speak continuously in the Newport meeting-house for three hours, he was told by those in the farthest galleries that not a word had been lost. In his most earnest appeals he is decidedly eloquent, and many there are who have heard in his vigorous words that call which lifts souls from dreamy thought to action. Not one of his sermons has been put on paper, for he spoke as the words came to his mouth, and reporters were not present; but there was a clearness and connection as marked as was the strength of the individual parts, so that his utterances if printed would be highly valued. If those men do us the greatest service who give us the clearest view of our relation to God and our duty to man, then we owe him gratitude, for he successfully helped feet that were failing to find a surer foothold on the abiding base of the Rock of Ages.
Further, he performed the true part of the citizen of a democracy, the part of one who sees the brother and sister mark on every forehead. Every person who hopes and prays for the highest success of the principles of our government will have moments of trial for his faith as he sees the multitudes of responsible citizens who exercise their high privileges in town and State moved by no higher thought than the accomplishment of a selfish aim; he will feel a deeper gloom still when he learns in how many hearts respect for pure men and sacred principles and reverence for the Ruler of men and nations have been obscured by the mists of party schemes and personal self-love. Eli Jones as a Quaker has clearly proclaimed the only basis on which a democracy can build with a reasonable hope of a beautiful and permanent structure. In a nation where every man is a legislator, every man must
"Feel within himself the need
Of loyalty to better than himself,
That shall ennoble him with the upward look;"
nor can he be a safe sharer in the rights of government who has not intimate converse with the Voice which calls for an inward look. Through a life of over eighty years he has sought to act at the ballot-box so that the largest number of human beings might feel the good effects of his vote.
Again, his life is an interesting example of continuous development. Though beginning early to obey the voice of duty in regard to public speaking, he had reached nearly the age of forty before he was really at work. Year after year since he has seen with clearer vision, and, catching the teaching of the nautilus, he has made
"Each new temple, nobler than the last,