Dr. Babcock received immediate recognition in the front rank of his denomination, his first settlement being at Lockport, N.Y. It was not only his brilliant intellect and his stirring oratorical powers that commanded admiration, for his ministry was ideal and no pastor in the land was more beloved. Everywhere he was regarded as a personal friend, so cordial, so frank, so cheerful was he always, and so thoroughly unselfish. His influence became in the best sense national. His theology was like his vocal delivery, simple and direct. It was one soul speaking to another. His prayers voiced the cry of a man who wanted help from his Father.

Dr. Babcock would not do anything just as would anyone else. "To divide burdens and centralize responsibility is the ark of accomplishment," this was his rule in doing his work and it gave him his almost supreme executive ability. Perhaps there was no greater tribute to his power and consecration than the fact that he was invariably turned to as a sort of last resort in the attempt to bring a wandering soul to Christ. Often men said:--"Let us get him under Dr. Babcock's influence; he can surely reach him."

Dr. Babcock was a very versatile man, exceedingly attractive in physique, pleasant in manner, with a soul that reflected God. He was a clear thinker and a fluent speaker, noted for his broad and impartial charity and had a vast array of friends amongst the young men of his country. He reached the people in many ways. His personal magnetism was marvelous. Those who heard him were entranced and he was called upon to speak at all religious gatherings, from one end of the country to the other, and crowds, young and old, hung upon his words. Taught of the Spirit, he revealed to them the open heaven and the message of Jehovah.

Dr. Babcock never published a book. He lived or sang his thoughts. He was a great lover of music, played many instruments extremely well, improvised delightfully, also wrote many songs which have been published and won instant recognition as splendid work. But the watchword of his life was: "This one thing I do" to honor his Master and to save souls. His poems are of unquestioned excellence and have been said to resemble those of Emerson. They have been published in connection with a memorial volume of extracts from sermons and addresses, gathered by his grief stricken widow, entitled: "Thoughts For Every Day Living." His foreign letters, written while last abroad, to the Vicar of the Brick Church, in New York City, were also published.

What Dr. Babcock's work was in Baltimore, it is simply impossible to estimate in an article as brief as this or speak of the breadth and reach of that wonderful pastorate in New York (The Brick Church). His acquaintance was cosmopolitan and it knew no denominational bond, and was met by a distinguished hospitality to which his wife, the daughter of a prominent Poughkeepsie lawyer, added both beauty and charm. What Dr. Babcock was in his home only those who lived with him and loved him, upon whom his devotion was showered, can tell. At the time of his death, at Naples, Italy, May 18, 1901, in his forty-third year, the papers, both religious and secular, teemed with statements proving in every way his remarkable power.

One who knew Dr. Babcock intimately, said: "The only relief in the mystery of his untimely death, it seemed to me, was in the fact that his character and work were of such potency that they must reproduce themselves in the living."

(Written in loving memory, by his aunt, Annie Catherine Maltbie, (Mrs. Armstrong Maltbie) in 1909).

Dr. Babcock's picture is undoubtedly known to many of the Maltbie descendants as it is on the cover of his "Thoughts for Every Day Living."

He wrote the words for the song "This Is My Father's World" in 1901.

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