The Jubilee Year—A Visit to the Frontier

Chapter 27, 1910-1911

Few men live to see their lives rounded out to any degree of completeness. When the end comes they seem to have accomplished so little and frequently feel that they are just beginning to learn how to live. This was in some degree the feeling with which Dr. Pierson viewed his own life when he came to look back over the seventy-four years, which included a half century of public ministry. But his friends formed a different estimate of his career and the closing year marked, in a unique way, the completion of a cycle of service, a fullness of testimony and an attainment of ideals that formed a fitting conclusion to his life. The divine plan stands out with wonderful clearness.

Anniversaries were ever red-letter days in the Pierson calendar, and this closing year was singularly rich in such celebrations. In May, 1910, came the commemoration of Dr. Pierson’s fifty years as a minister of Jesus Christ and in July he and his wife passed the golden milestone in their wedding journey. These jubilee celebrations presented a threefold opportunity—for bearing witness to the loving faithfulness of God; for tributes of affection and esteem from friends all over the world, and for reunions with family, with classmates and with sympathetic fellow workers. During this last year, he also found opportunity to gather