\\ 
 
 
 '^ PRINCETON, N. J. <3* \ 
 
 She{ 
 
 BR 1700 .L59 v. 3 
 Zeugen der Wahrheit. 
 Lives of the leaders of our 
 church universal 
 
 1 
 
 
 — . — . _ — _ . 
 
 1 
 
LATER LEADERS. 
 
 AMERICA, ASIA, AFRICA, AND OCEANICA. 
 
LIVES 
 
 THE LEADEES 
 
 OUR CHURCH UNIVERSAL, 
 
 FROM THE DAYS OF THE SUCCESSORS OF THE 
 APOSTLES TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 THE LIVES BY EUROPEAN WRITERS EROM THE GERMAN, 
 
 AS EDITED BY 
 
 DR. FERDINAND PIPER, 
 
 PROFESSOK OF THEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN. 
 
 NOW TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH, AND EDITED, WITH ADDED 
 LIVES BY AMERICAN WRITERS, 
 
 HENRY MITCHELL MACCRACKEN, D. D. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 CONGREGATIONAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY, 
 
 Congregational House, Beacon Street. 
 1879. 
 
CopyTight, 1879, 
 Br H. M. MACCKACKEN. 
 
 BIVERSIDE, OAMBKIBGE : 
 
 8TBKE0TYPED AND PRINTED BY 
 
 H. 0. HOUOnlON AND COMPANY. 
 
PHIITCSTO 
 
 AUG IbbU f 
 
 PEEFAOE. *»**irT*^^i^ 
 
 Some three years since, while I was seeking in New York city material 
 for a volume asked of me by a "Western publisher, I was met by the sug- 
 gestion that I should undertake the translation into English and the 
 editing of the lives of Christian leaders for all the days of the year, re- 
 cently published in Germany under the editorship of Dr. Ferdinand Piper, 
 of the University of Berlin. 
 
 The fact that the suggestion was made by Dr. Charles A. Briggs, of 
 Union Seminary, to whom the work had been transmitted by Dr. Piper, 
 with a view to its publication in America, and that both he and Dr. Philip 
 SchaflF, in repeated conversations, recommended it to me as deserving a 
 place in every Christian family, inclined me to take up the task suggested.. 
 After letters had been exchanged with the German editor, and his con- 
 sent obtained to my bringing the work out in the English language, with 
 such changes as might seem advantageous, I began to apply myself, as 
 my other engagements permitted, to the labor of presenting these popular 
 yet scholarly life-stories of Christian witnesses to English readers. 
 
 The task thus entered upon presented two parts. First, the translating 
 and editing of the lives published in Germany. Second, the adding of 
 the life-stories of leaders in the church in America, and in certain pagan 
 lands, passed over by Dr. Piper. To make plain what I have done under 
 the first head, I will state briefly the origin, scope, and form of the work 
 in the German. 
 
 In the year 1850, Dr. Ferdinand Piper offered, in a church-diet at 
 Stuttgard, the following thesis : " The whole evangelical church in Ger- 
 man lands is interested in forming a common roll of lives for all the days 
 of the year, to be settled on the foundation of our common history, and 
 thus to be made a bond of union of the churches in all the countries." 
 
 In relation to the thesis, let it be noted that the Christians of Germany 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 did not, at the Eeformation, cast away as many of the old usages as did 
 reformers in other countries. They did not cast away organs ; nor, al- 
 though they uttei'ly put aside prayers to saints, did they abolish the con- 
 nection of the names of Christian worthies of past ages with the days of 
 the year, but preserved it even as Americans maintain the association of 
 the name of Washington with February 22d. The forming of the roll 
 of Christian worthies was left, however, very largely to accident. Every 
 little German land made its own calendar. There arose great diversity, 
 and often names were inserted upon local or political grounds. Martin 
 Luther's was the only name universally adopted in addition to the men of 
 the early centuries. Thus, it may be seen, there was an opportunity and 
 also a call for such a movement as that suggested in Dr. Piper's thesis, 
 which should present German Christians a new roll of names for their 
 almanacs, and also a new book of lives for their Christian households, 
 thus stimulating them to fulfill the precept, " Remember them who have 
 spoken unto you the Word of God." 
 
 A powerful argument for giving to Germany such a roll of lives was 
 the necessity of meeting Romanist assertions that the honored fathers and 
 leaders of early days were papists, in the present sense of the term papist, 
 and not rather, with all their mistakes and superstitions, evangelical or 
 TBible Christians. 
 
 The chief argument for the book, however, was that next to God's 
 Word, Christians, for their own edification, ought to know (to use the 
 words of Dr. Piper) " the doings of God in the history of his Church," 
 and " the manifestations of his Spirit in the witnesses commissioned and 
 enlightened by Him ever since the day of Pentecost." 
 
 These and like considerations impelled Dr. Piper and other scholars to 
 give to the German church the "improved" roll of names, and the new 
 book of lives of church leaders. Their medium for this was at first a 
 periodical established for this special end in 1850. This "Year Book," 
 as it was called, presented new and correct lives of the leaders from the 
 pens of able and eloquent writers. Dr. Neander, who died that same 
 year, left several lives for the book, as will be seen by the present vol- 
 ume. The array of authors, as the table of contents will show, includes 
 many of the most celebrated Christian scholars of Germany as well as 
 some of France, Britain, Holland, Switzerland, and Scandinavia. For 
 twenty-one successive years the " Year Book " continued the presentation 
 of the lives. Finally, the roll was ended. Dr. Piper then edited the 
 
PREFACE. vii 
 
 completed biographies, which were published by Tauchnitz (1875). The 
 work has been met with great favor by the church. The roll of names 
 contained in it has been officially published and commended by the Ger- 
 man government. 
 
 The considerations which weigh with German Christians are, perhaps, 
 to be equally regarded by men of English tongue. The call for com- 
 bating a false definition of the Church comes to us also. Bewildered souls 
 seeking a house of God on earth are too often guided to an edifice whose 
 keys are kept in Rome by the chief of an ancient, self-perpetuated corpo- 
 ration. Knowing as we do that the true Church has been seen ever, 
 where any body of men has risen, " a pillar and a stay of the truth " (1 
 Timothy iii. 15, marginal reading), ought we not to keep this visible 
 form of all the centuries before men's eyes, and pointing to it say. Here 
 is the Church, the true succession of " John and XlJephas, who seemed to 
 be pillars " in every circle of faithful upholders of essential Christianity ? 
 
 Do we omit from the roll of church pillars since the Reformation the 
 Roman Catholic, the Greek, the Copt, and the Nestorian? It is not 
 that we would deny such a place in the Church Universal. Like the 
 Ephesian wonder of the world (which, perhaps, rose before the mind of 
 him who, in writing to his friend in Ephesus, gave us the simile just 
 quoted), and like its forest of shafts, each a pillar and a stay of the shel- 
 tering roof of rock, this edifice, the Church of God, incloses uncounted 
 varieties of pillars, and all of them are truly parts of it if so be they up- 
 hold the truth of the living God. Yet Greeks, Romanists, and the rest 
 are hardly " leading " supports of truth, nowadays, conti'asted with evan- 
 gelical Christians. Nor will they become so till they are cleansed of 
 the moss and decay of the centuries. The safe rule for all who will find 
 the Church in any age is. Find men who uphold the truth as it is in 
 Jesus, and who gather clustering groups of columnar Christians around 
 them, supporting the same. Here is the Church, beyond controversy. 
 
 But the main object of our German brethren, namely, to familiarize 
 Christians " with God's doings in the history of his Church," is the chief 
 end for us also. It may be safely affirmed that by far the larger half of 
 Christian families have in their libraries not a word as to their church or 
 its leaders from the end of the Acts to the annals of the Reformation, 
 unless perhaps in some such caricature of Christianity as the volumes of 
 Dr. Gibbon. This ignorance respecting fifteen Christian centuries is not 
 altogether a contented ignorance. This I have proven by the following 
 
Viii PREFACE. 
 
 experiment. Setting up a third church service at an unusual hour upon 
 the Sabbath afternoon, in which besides the usual devotions was offered 
 a brief discourse presenting " God's doings in the history of his church,'' 
 I have for forty successive Sabbaths in a year seen assembled out of a 
 new and busily occupied city population more hearers than attend upon 
 the average service of Sabbath evening. Moreover the themes presented 
 were received with marked expressions of interest from Christians of vari- 
 ous names, and even from those not Christians. I have thus been led 
 fully into Dr. Piper's view that the edifying of the Church may be pro- 
 moted by ministers speaking from time to time to their people of " the 
 manifestations of God's Spirit in witnesses commissioned and enlightened 
 by Him all the way from Pentecost." Whatever commendations of our 
 Divine cause may be found in the notable lives of each century the wise 
 believer will not neglect to offer, especially in days when if the founda- 
 tions be not destroyed it will not be because they are not assailed in every 
 mode and from every quarter. 
 
 The editor does not present in his English work all the lives included 
 in the German. He wished to keep the book of a popular size. He 
 considered, too, that as we are better acquainted with the Church in the 
 Acts of the Ajiostles from our introduction to but a few of its leaders, 
 so it might be here. There have been omitted, therefore, first, all lives 
 of leaders in Bible times, a large company ; second, all those peculiarly 
 local or German ; third, other lives which, hardly less interesting or 
 important than those now offered, have been left out to make room for 
 lives in America, Asia, Africa, and Oceanica. These last it is hoped may 
 one day be called for by readers, and along with them others, especially of 
 English, Welsh, and Scotch leaders, in recent centuries, which many will 
 be surprised to miss. They are not here because not in the German. 
 Should the call arise, the editor will strive, with help from writers in 
 Great Britain and Ireland, to present the Lives of the Leaders in a 
 second series. 
 
 The life-stories offered are in every instance given entire. The follow- 
 ing changes have, however, been made to render the book more attractive. 
 (1.) For the numerous divisions of time in the German, five periods have 
 been substituted by the editor, of his own choosing. (2.) Portions of the 
 lives which seemed parenthetical or of secondary importance have been 
 placed in footnotes. (3.) At the head of each life have been set the date 
 of the birth and of the death of the person commemorated, and also a 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 word indicating his position in the church, clerical or lay, or his denom- 
 ination. 
 
 The title of the book I have translated very freely, preferring the sec- 
 ond word by which Isaiah describes the servant of God to the first word 
 in the same verse (Isaiah Iv. 5, " A witness .... a leader .... to 
 the people "), and so calling the work the Lives of the Leaders rather 
 than the Lives of the Witnesses, the last word being somewhat worn in 
 English literature. 
 
 For the cut-in notes, which are not in the German, I alone am respon- 
 sible. They promise aid to the reader as well as add attractiveness to 
 the page. 
 
 It remains to say something concerning the second part of my task, 
 the adding of life-stories of leaders in America, and of pioneers in other 
 great regions passed by in the German, namely, Africa, China, and Bur- 
 mah. 
 
 The suggestion that in adding American lives I should regard denom- 
 inations was given me by Dr. SchafF, and was at once accepted. To es- 
 tablish a fair and good rule I laid down the following: (1.) In every 
 denomination in the United States with five hundred parishes to find one 
 " leader." In every denomination with over three thousand parishes to 
 find " three mighty men," and if such denomination prevailed in colonial 
 times, to add to the three, one, two, or three others. (2.) To take no 
 account of the division of denominations into northern and southern, and 
 yet when taking three mighty men, to apportion them between the East, 
 and the West and South. These rules have been followed strictly, save 
 that the Lutheran body is given but one leader on the ground that it is 
 so largely rejiresented in the German.^ The Episcopal Church is given 
 but one, because it did not reach three thousand parishes in the statistics 
 
 1 At the time of sending the last manuscript to the press, I found myself disappointed in 
 reference to an expected life-story of a United Presbyterian leader. To supply its place I 
 prepared the story of Isabella Graham. After this had been stereotyped came unexpectedly, 
 through the courtesy of the United Presb3'terian Publication House, the life of John Tay- 
 lor Pressly, by his long-time associate. Rev. Dr. David R. Kerr, a- theologian whose labors 
 in church history have received a recent recognition in his election to preside over the 
 Historical Section of the First General Presbyterian Council in Edinburgh, 1877. 
 
 This life I gladly added, as supplying what was lacking. Further, it was proposed by 
 the secretary of the house named, that Isabella Graham be inserted as a representative of 
 the Associate Reformed body, now merged in the United Presbyterian. At risk of seem- 
 ing to transgress my rule, I therefore retain this storj', moved to its retention in part by a 
 desire to recognize woman leadership in the Church in America, as the present work recog- 
 nizes it in the other hemisphere. 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 of 1877, though now it reports more than that number. Four denom- 
 inations are each given three or more leaders, while ten have each one 
 leader. These fourteen bodies include, as will be seen by the Table of 
 Statistics (Appendix III.), forty-nine fiftieths of the evangelical church 
 in the United States. 
 
 In choosing American leaders I have followed less my own judgment 
 than that of eminent men in the respective denominations, having had 
 correspondence upon the subject with, perhaps, fifty distinguished schol- 
 ars, exclusive of the many who appear as writers. 
 
 In choosing a leader in China and other lands I have in like manner 
 sought competent tribunals of opinion. To the many eminent men who 
 have lent me aid in this, I here express my very great obligations. 
 
 And now in closing what has been these three years a labor of love and 
 a recreation from other toils, I find an especial source of pleasure in the 
 thought that this book may prove a new bond of love in the church in 
 America, the more from the fact that it will go out bearing the imprints, 
 each on a distinct edition, of a large portion of the denominational pub- 
 lication houses of this continent. In agreeing to take a part in its 
 simultaneous issue, each of these houses courteously introduces to its 
 own communion the leaders of other churches not as "strangers and 
 foreigners," but as dear brethren. " Such a work " (I quote the words 
 of the venerable Dr. Whedon, in his letter to the Methodist house ap- 
 proving of the plan of this book) "will be a symbol of the Church's 
 
 true spiritual unity." 
 
 H. M. M. 
 
 Orange Place Study, Toledo, Ohio, 1879. 
 
-^OPEflf?^ 
 
 PHniCETOLI 
 CONTEf TS.iiEC. AUG 1860 
 
 THEOLOGIC.V.L 
 
 
 LATER LEADERS. — AMERICA, ASll^'Af^A, 
 AND OCEANICA. 
 
 PERIOD FIFTH. THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. 
 
 CENTUEIES XVII. -XIX. 
 
 Amer'ica. — Colonial Period. 
 
 Life I. William Brewster, Congregational. 
 
 Pagb 
 His English Home. — Who the Puritans were. — The Church in Brewster's 
 House. — Brewster in Holland. — The Mayflower. — Brewster's Great 
 
 Work 541 
 
 By Dr. Hopkins, of Auburn, N. Y. 
 
 Life II. Jonathan Edwards, Congregational. 
 
 Colonial Disadvantages. — Edwards's Parents. — His Religious Development. 
 
 — Begins to Preach. — Marries Sarah Pierrepont. — His Noted Sermons. 
 
 — His Adversities. — Displaced from Northampton. — His Great Books . . 547 
 
 By Dr. Humphreys, of Cincinnati. 
 
 Life III. Samuel Hopkins, Congregational. 
 
 Early Life. — Title to Fame. — Antislavery Books. — Projects Liberia. — Leads 
 
 in Foreign Missions. — Hopkinsian Theology 557 
 
 By Dr. Hopkins, of Auburn, N. Y. 
 
 Life IV. Francis Makemie, Presbyterian. 
 
 Reaches America. — Labors for Religious Liberty. — In Prison in New York 
 
 City. — His Eight to Fame 565 
 
 By Dr. Blackburn, of Chicago. 
 
 Life V. Jonathan Dickinson, Presbyterian. 
 
 A New Englander. — His "Five Points" of Calvinism. — Father of the College 
 
 of New Jersey. — Leader of Union . 569 
 
 By Dr. Blackburn, of Chicago. 
 
xn CONTENTS. 
 
 Life VI. John Witherspoon, Presbyterian. 
 
 Descended from John Knox. — At Thirty-one stirs Scotland. — Chosen by 
 Princeton. — Zeal for Independence. — Work in Congress. — Opens First 
 
 General Assembly 574 
 
 By Dr. Blackburn, of Chicago. 
 
 Life VII. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, Lutheran. 
 
 First Lutherans in America. — Muhlenberg guided. — Reaches America. — 
 His Picture of the Country. — Paul-like Activity. — Catholicity of Spirit. — 
 
 Presides over First Conference. — A Patriotic Old Man 584 
 
 By Professor Prince, of Sj^ringfield, 
 
 Life VIII. Michael Schlatter, German Reformed. 
 
 The Home of the German Reformed. — Their Children in America. — Schlat- 
 ter's Early Life. — Lands in the New World. — The First Synod. — In Europe 
 for America's Sake. — His Labors. — His Death at "Sweetland" . . 590 
 , By Dr. Good, of Tiffin, 0. 
 
 Life IX. Philip William Otterbein, United Brethren. 
 
 Early Life in Germany. — Call to America. — Awakened in Spirit. — The 
 Name "United Brethren." — Remains in the Reformed Church. — The New 
 
 Denomina,tion. — His Memorial Sermon by Asbury 599 
 
 By Bishop Weaver, of Dayton, O. 
 
 Life X. James Manning, Baptist. 
 
 His Predecessor, Roger Williams. — Baptist Progress. — Manning a Leader. 
 — He founds Rhode Island College, now Brown University. — His Work in 
 
 Providence. — Personal Gifts. — Patriotism 608 
 
 By Dr. S. L. Caldavell, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
 
 America. — National Period. 
 
 Life XI. Francis Asburt, Methodist Episcopal. 
 
 Sufferings as a School-Boy. — Enters upon Religious Life. — Chosen by Wesley 
 for America. — Reaches Philadelphia. — Hardships during the Revolutionary 
 
 War. — Becomes Bishop. — Abundant Labors 614 
 
 By Dr. Webster, of Newbury, Canada. 
 
 Life XII. William MacKendree, Methodist Episcopal. 
 
 Methodism in the South and the West. — Its Standard-Bearer. — A Soldier in 
 the Revolution. — Lives in the Saddle. — Exciting Episodes. — Made Bishop. 
 — "All's Well" — Solemn Reinterment in Centennial Year .... 623 
 
 By Dr. Summers, of Nashville, Teun. 
 
CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 Life XIII. Wilbur Fisk, Methodist Episcopal. 
 
 Parentage and Early Training. — Itinerant Life. — His Great Work as an Edu- 
 cator. — President of Wesleyan University. — Anxiety for a Trained Minis- 
 try. — Zeal for Missions. — Declines the Episcopate. — Closing Scenes . 632 
 
 By Dr. Bennett, of Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
 Life XIV. John Henrt Livingston, Dutch Reformed. 
 
 Dutch and Scotch. — Studies in Holland. — In New York City. — Unites the 
 Dutch Reformed. — In the War. — Professor of Theology. — Father of the 
 Dutch Reformed Constitution. — Portrait of the Man, of the Preacher and 
 
 Professor 639 
 
 By Dr. Clark, of Albany, N. Y. 
 
 Life XV. William White, Episcopalian. 
 
 Seeks Ordination abroad. — Returns to America. — A Patriot. — Father of the 
 American Episcopate. — Views of Doctrine and Order. — Catholicity. — la 
 
 sung by Wordsworth 647 
 
 By Bishop Stevens, of Philadelphia. 
 
 Life XVI. Jacob Albright, Evangelical Association. 
 
 Early Business Career. — Called to his Life- Work. — Compassion for the Scat- 
 tered Germans. — Organizes the Evangelical Association. — Albright's Ideal 
 
 of a Bishop. — His Personal Appearance 657 
 
 By Bishop Yeakel, of Naperville, HI. 
 
 Life XVIL Robert Donnell, Cumberland Presbyterian. 
 
 The Great Revival in the Southwest. — In School Nine Months. — Leader of the 
 Cumberland Presbyterian Church. — Founder of noted Churches and of Col- 
 leges. — His Last Sermons 661 
 
 By Dr. Beard, of Lebanon, Perm. 
 
 Life XVIII. Alexander Campbell, Disciples of Christ. 
 
 Studies in Scotland. — Foimds the Church of the Disciples. — His Account of 
 his Belief. — His Books and Great Debates. — His College. — His Private 
 
 Life 668 
 
 By Dr. Pendleton, of Bethany, W." Va. 
 
 Life XIX. John Mason Peck, Baptist. 
 
 Early Difficulties. — An Apostle of the West. — In St. Louis, — Father of the 
 Home Mission Society. — Founds the first Religious Newspaper by the Mis- 
 sissippi. — His Books. — His Blessed Death 677 
 
 By Dr. Pendleton, of Upland, Pa. 
 
 Life XX. Francis Watland, Baptist. 
 
 An Era in his Life. — A Pastor in Boston. — In Providence. — Leader of Col- 
 lege Reform. — His Publications. — A Model Pastor. — Faithful to the End. 
 
 — Oration upon Lincoln's Assassination 686 
 
 By Dr. Lincoln, of Newton Centre, Mass. 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 Life XXI. Richard Fulleh, Baptist. 
 
 Converted under Daniel Baker. — Finds his Life-Field in Baltimore. — His Per- 
 sonal Appearance. — As a Preacher 697 
 
 By Dr. Jeter, of Richmond, Va. 
 
 Life XXII. Timothy Dwight, Congregational. 
 
 Grandson of Edwards. — Twelve Years a Pastor. — President of Yale. — 
 Makes of the College a University. — Championship of the Faith. — His 
 
 Theology. — Personal Gifts 704 
 
 By Dr. Dwight, of New Haven, Conn. 
 
 Life XXIII. Lyman Beecher, Congregational. 
 
 In Connecticut. — His Theology. — Leads the Temperance Reform. — Opposes 
 Unit:u•iani^m. — Removes to Cincinnati. — A Leader of the Antislavery 
 
 Cause. — In the Presbyterian Schism. — Dying Vision 711 
 
 By Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, of Hartford, Conn. 
 
 Life XXIV. Charles Finney, Congregational. 
 
 Buys his First Bihle. — Begins to Preach. — A Whole Community Converted. 
 
 — Work in Philadelphia. — In Rochester. — " The Evangelist." — His Work 
 
 in England. — President of Oberlin. — His Theology 730 
 
 By Mrs. Helen Finney Cox, of Cincinnati. 
 
 Life XXV. Isabella Graham, Associate Reformed. 
 
 Covenanters and Seceders. — Their Characteristics. — Sees New York City for 
 the First Time. — Finds Friends in the West Indies. — Vicissitudes in Scotland. 
 
 — Welcome to New York City. — Great Work as a Teacher. — Her Interest in 
 
 a Tlieological Seminary. — A Leader in Missions. — Her Patriotism . . 740 
 
 By Dr. MacCracken, of Toledo, 0. 
 
 Life XXVI. Archibald Alexander, Presbyterian. 
 
 By Birth a Virginian. — His Conversion. — The Great Revival. — A Mission- 
 ary. — At Hampden Sidney. — The Father of Pi-inceton Theological Semi- 
 nary. — A Peacemaker 749 
 
 By Dr. Alexander, of Hampden Sidney, Va. 
 
 Life XXVII. Charles Hodge, Presbyterian. 
 
 His Mother. — Studies in Germany. — Founds the " Princeton Review." — As 
 a Controversialist. — As a Teacher. — His Books. — Trains Three Thousand 
 
 Clergymen. — His Motto for Princeton 760 
 
 By Dr. Hodge, of Princeton, N. J. 
 
 Life XXVIII. Albert Barnes, Presbyterian. 
 
 His Birth. — His Conversion. — Objects of his Enthusiasm. — Temperance. — 
 Antislavery. — Sabbath-Schools. — Theology. — His Great Work through 
 
 his Commentaries. — Fidelity to Truth 767 
 
 By Dr. Johnson, of Auburn, N. Y. 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 Life XXIX. Thomas Hewlings Stockton, Methodist Protestant. 
 
 His Father. — Forming of the Methodist Protestant Church. — His Labors in 
 East and West. — His Characteristics. — Marked Features of his Denomina- 
 tion 773 
 
 By Dk. Webster, of Baltimore. 
 
 Life XXX. John Taylor Pkesslt, United Presbyterian 
 
 The United Presbyterian Communion. — His Family. — In the South. — In 
 Western Pennsylvania. — As a Pastor. — Personal Appearance. — As a 
 
 Preacher. — As a Teacher ' 778 
 
 By Dr. Kerr, of Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 Mission Lands. — Greenland. 
 
 Life XXXI. John Egede, Lutheran. 
 
 His Family. — Ten Years' Waiting. — An Esquimau to the Esquimaux. — His 
 
 Wife Gertrude. — His Son Paul 783 
 
 By Dr. Kalkar, of Copenhagen, Denmark. 
 
 Indians of North America. 
 Life XXXII. David Zeisberger, Moravian. 
 
 A Eunaway Boy. — By Lake Oneida. — By the Ohio. — Near Lake Erie. — In 
 
 Michigan. — Closing Days in Eastern Ohio 788 
 
 By Dr. Frommann, of Petersburg, Germany. 
 
 India. 
 
 Life XXXIII. Christian Frederic Schwartz, Lutheran. 
 
 India Missions. — At Halle. — Leader of Christianity in India. — In Tanjore. — 
 
 Dies while Singing 796 
 
 By Dr. von Merz, of Stuttgart, Germany. 
 
 Africa. 
 Life XXXIV. John Theodosius Vanderkemp, Reformed. 
 
 An Army Officer. — Called at Fifty. — Lands at the Cape. — Meets the King of 
 Caffres. — Hunts Elephants. — Founds Bethelsdorp. — Deliverer of the Op- 
 pressed 803 
 
 By Dr. Grout, of Brattleboro', Vt. 
 
 Persia. 
 
 Life XXXV. Henry Martyn, Episcopalian. 
 
 In Madras and Calcutta. — In Persia. — The Per.'^ian Bible. — The Shah is 
 
 given his Bible. — Lonely Death at Tokat 814 
 
 By Dr. von Merz, of Stuttgart, Germany. 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 China. 
 
 Life XXXVL Robert Morrison, United Presbyterian. 
 
 Leader of the Church in China. — Lands in China as an American. — With 
 the East Lidia Company. — Baptizes tlie First Convert. — Completes the Chi- 
 nese Bible. — Reception in England. — Last Prayers 819 
 
 By Dr. Williams, of New Haven, Conn. 
 
 Burmah. 
 
 Life XXXVII. Adoniram Judson, Baptist. 
 
 The Founding of the American Board. — Judson in Burmah. — First Convert. 
 — In Prison in Ava. — Nobly seconded by his Wife. — Completes the Bur- 
 mese Bible. — Home after Thirty-three Years. — The second and the third 
 
 Mrs. Judson • .837 
 
 •By Mrs. Helen Kendrick, of Rochester, N. Y. 
 
 Oceanica. 
 
 Life XXXVIIL John Williams, Congregational. 
 
 An Excellent Mechanic. — His Quiet Church Training. — Sails for the South 
 Seas. — His Broad Plan, — His Father's Message. — His Martyrdom . . 849 
 
 By Dk. Ahlfeld, of Leipzig, Germany. 
 
THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS 
 
 IN AMERICA, ASIA, AFRICA, AND OCEANICA. 
 
 PERIOD FIFTH. COMPRISING CENTURIES XVII.-XIX. (OR FROM THE END 
 OF THE REFORMATION ERA TO THE PRESENT TIME). DIVISIONS OF 
 THE PERIOD : CENTURIES XVII., XVIII., THE CHURCH'S REFORMED 
 PROGRESS THROUGH EXTENDED INSTRUCTION IN DOCTRINE AND 
 THROUGH THE BUILDING UP OF DENOMINATIONS ; CENTURY XIX., 
 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS THROUGH ENLARGED EFFORT 
 IN MISSIONS, CHARITIES, SCHOOLS, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL RE- 
 FORMS, AND EVANGELICAL UNIONS. 
 
 LIFE I. WILLIAM BREWSTER. 
 
 A. D. 1574-A. D. 1644. CONGREGATIONAL, — AMERICA. 
 
 It is an old popular error in America that, while the first settlers in 
 Virginia were persons of rather high social standing and culture, the 
 New England colonists were somewhat low and underbred people. They 
 have been described as sincere and pious in then- way, but as belonging 
 to the humbler class in society. The gentlemen colonists found homes 
 in Virginia, with broader and more generous aspects of nature aroimd 
 them, suited to their finer natures ; the bleak and narrow coast of Mas- 
 sachusetts received a comparatively poor and uncultured immigration. 
 
 The point would scarce be worth discussing, even if it were well taken. 
 But opposite to this, the fact is that while the Plymouth colonists had 
 what was far more valuable, and what the Southern planters too often 
 lacked, namely, high principle, martyr heroism, and the fear of God, 
 they were by no means lacking in the external advantages of good birth 
 and liberal culture. As for Miles Standish, we know that 
 
 " He was a gentleman born, could trace his pedigree plainly 
 Back to Hugh Standish of Duxbury Hall, in Lancashire, England, 
 Who was the son of Ralph, and the grandson of Thurston de Standish." 
 
 Another of the Mayflower's crew was Stephen Hopkins, who brought 
 over with him two " servants," and who set the " gentlemanly " exam- 
 ple of fighting the first duel on record in America. Isaac Johnson, 
 of the Salem colony, was husband of " the Lady Arabella," daughter 
 of the Earl of Lincoln. Not to mention other cases, the subject of the 
 
542 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 present sketch, William Brewster, the " Elder of Plymouth," was by birth 
 „. ,. ^ and education a gentleman. The old manor-house where he 
 
 His English o . . -n, 
 
 home. spent his early days, at Scrooby, on the Lincolnshire Flat, 
 
 was a stately mansion in its time, and not unfrequently received dis- 
 tino-uished visitors. It stood near the high road from London to York ; 
 royal personages had rested there for a night on their journey, and Car- 
 dinal Wolsey, when dismissed, under the displeasure of the king, to his 
 own diocese in the north, lingered some weeks at the manor of Scrooby. 
 The father of William Brewster held some post under the queen's gov- 
 ernment, and lived in easy circumstances ; and the son was sent at so 
 early an age to pursue his studies at Cambridge that (1584) in his 
 twenty-first year we find him already entered upon active life and a 
 public career in London. He was employed by William Davidson, " the 
 excellent and unlucky secretary " of Queen Elizabeth, and accompanied 
 him on a mission to the Netherlands at the time the queen was tanta- 
 lizing the suffering province with her ungracious and grvidging assistance. 
 
 Brewster, while at the university, had entered on that experience of 
 religion which was the element in which his whole remaining life moved ; 
 and it was probably not more the evidence of marked talent than of 
 early piety that led the devout Davidson to select him for his confiden- 
 tial private secretary. The official career of both was terminated in an 
 abrupt and, as to the queen, most disgracefully characteristic manner. 
 Anxious to get rid of her chronic terror, the Queen of Scots, and failing 
 to procure her taking off by secret assassination, Elizabeth at length 
 ordered secretary Davidson to bring her the death-warrant, which had 
 been for some time ready, and with a . jesting remark on her lips aflSxed 
 her signature. The council, who thought the death of Mary Stuart nec- 
 essary to the safety of the realm, persuaded Davidson to send ofi" the 
 warrant at once, promising to stand between him and all harm. 
 
 When the object on which Elizabeth's heart had been so long set was 
 accomplished, and her fears laid to rest by the axe of the executioner, 
 she flew into one of her artificial paroxysms of grief : raved and wept ; 
 disavowed the act she had ordered ; threw Davidson into prison and ru- 
 ined him with a crushing fine of ten thousand pounds. Brewster re- 
 turned to his home in the north, where he found himself in the midst of 
 congenial associations. 
 
 Whether arising from the relation of physical conditions to the de- 
 velopment of the religious sentiment, if it be possible that such exists, 
 or from personal and historic influences alone, it is at all events true 
 that there have often been associated with certain localities peculiar 
 tendencies in religion. The Puritanical sentiment in England had gath- 
 ered itself around three or four central points. It had little footing 
 in. either the extreme north or the extreme south. Outside the great 
 city of London it had found acceptance chiefly in the midland counties. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] WILLIAM BREWSTER. 543 
 
 Its strength lay in the heart of the kingdom, between the Humber and 
 the Thames ; among a people of more unmixed Anglo-Saxon race than 
 was found in the coast shires, and speaking the English language with 
 far greater purity than the Kentish of Devon men on the Channel, or 
 the Cumbrian and Yorkshire boors on the border. It was in Scrooby 
 and the neighboring towns of Lancashire that the Puritan movement 
 found its most vigorous impulse. Here was the cradle of that infant 
 emigration which was cast out to perish in the wild North Sea, and then 
 gained strength to seek, of itself, a home beyond the still wilder At- 
 lantic. 
 
 Let us understand who these Puritans were ; for they are often mis- 
 understood. They were Protestants of the intensest type ; -^/^^ ^;^^^ p^j. 
 Calvinists in faith, Presbyterians in principle, but devout **°^ ^®'^^- 
 and loving members of the Church of England. Brownism — separation 
 from the church of their fathers — they abhorred, both name and thing. 
 But they desired a perfected reformation, as many of the best members 
 of the Anglican Church had done. They wanted a reasonable liberty in 
 the use of indifferent things in worship, a relief for tender or perhaps 
 morbid consciences in the matter of rings and robes and crosses. Could 
 they but have had even moderate indulgence they would have wished to 
 draw the sincere milk of the word from no other breasts than hers. 
 They waited upon her altars on Sundays and festivals. But they asked 
 the small privilege — small it might seem in itself, but precious to them 
 — of meeting by themselves, from time to time, for the study of the 
 Word and the worship of God in their own bare Puritanical fashion. 
 
 But this was more than Archbishop Whitgift and his like-minded 
 clergy could allow them ; they were watched, informed against, dogged 
 by pursuivants, dragged before justices, fined, and thrown into prison for 
 the crime of presuming to be more pious than their betters. 
 
 The first rendezvous and meeting-house of these " Protestant non- 
 conformists " was the manor-house at Scrooby, whose spa- 
 
 . . \ The church in 
 
 cious chambers gave them for a time sufficient accommoda- Brewster's 
 tion. But new brethren flocked in, and they outgrew the 
 dimensions of a single house. They were forced to colonize ; a portion 
 of them formed a second congregation at the neighboring town of Gains- 
 boro'. Persecution had gradually opened their eyes, while it thrust them 
 further and further out towards the border line of the establishment. 
 At length they were driven across into actual separation ; they organized 
 churches of their own ; elected their own officers, plain elders and dea- 
 cons of the Scriptural type ; and administered the ordinances with apos- 
 tolic simplicity. Against their will they renounced the national church, 
 and from Puritans became Brownists. Of the Scrooby church, William 
 Brewster was made ruling elder, and — another name equally sacred to 
 the history of religious liberty — John Robinson became teacher. 
 
644 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 By the year 1607, the bishops had made it so warm for them that 
 they reconciled their minds to the sad alternative of exile. England 
 was dear, but freedom to worshijj God was dearer ; they looked about 
 for an asylum. Just across the German Ocean, two days' sail or less 
 distant, struggling for existence against nature and against man, lay the 
 little confederation of Belgic provinces. Distracted by political and re- 
 ligious jealousies, cursed with an intolerant state-church establishment, 
 and still facing, half in terror, half in fury, with sword unsheathed, the 
 relentless and deadly hatred of Spain, the seven provinces offered the 
 Brewster in Hoi- ^^^^ P^^^ ^^ ^^® storm of religious persecution that beat 
 ^'^^^- upon the Puritans in their native land. With great diffi- 
 
 culty and suffering two ship-loads of them made their escape and landed 
 at, Amsterdam ; not long after they removed to Leyden. 
 
 It was an hour of great convulsions and great struggles in Europe. 
 The twelve years' truce between Spain and her revolted provinces had just 
 been signed ; and the Netherlands were at this moment in the still cen- 
 tre of the cyclone, which was rapidly moving eastward to burst with such 
 awful fury upon Germany. Henry the Fourth of France, their cool and 
 selfish friend, had still three years more of broad political scheming and 
 disgraceful private pleasures, before the dagger of Francis Ravaillac 
 should reach his heart. The Thirty Years' War, the last frantic attempt 
 of the Romish powers to smother Protestantism in blood and ashes, was 
 ready to break out ; ai^d " all Germany stood with hand on sword, fright- 
 ened at the shaking of every leaf." Maurice of Nassau, with still and 
 obstinate determination, was nursing his own plans of ambition or re- 
 venge. The bitter Arminian controversy was convulsing the Dutch 
 churches. In the midst of the hurly-burly, this little colony of English 
 exiles settled down almost unnoticed in the ancient city of Leyden. The 
 snarling polemics who were battling for sublapsarian or supralapsarian 
 Calvinism, the ambitious princes bent on their own private ends, even 
 the wise and far-seeing statesmen of the day, might be excused for not 
 perceiying that this feeble plant embodied the germs of a far mightier 
 and more eventful revolution than any with which state or church had 
 ever yet been called to grapple. They came with naked hands ; having 
 saved scarce anything from the harpy talons of the bishojis' jiursuivants. 
 But they had among them education, professional knowledge, mechanical 
 skill, and a thrift and industry that knew how to make a little go a great 
 way. They betook themselves to their various possibilities. Brewster's 
 university education now served him well as a means of earning, bread 
 for his eight children. He taught school ; he published a Latin grammar 
 and other books. He set up a printing office and sent out various works, 
 polemical and practical. Some of them came to the knowledge of the 
 crowned pedant who was making England contemptible and ridiculous in 
 the eyes of Europe ; and orders were sent to Sir Dudley Carleton to 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] WILLIAM BREWSTER. 545 
 
 effect his arrest and surrender for suitable punishment. Various things 
 concurred to make the colonists uneasy in Holland ; they had been twelve 
 years there as exiles and strangers. At length they made up their minds 
 to seek a home in the New World, where meddling despotism and usurping 
 church authorities could not reach them. Companies had already been 
 formed in England for the promotion of settlements in Virginia. The 
 James River colony was still struggling with its early disasters. The 
 Virginia company laid claim to all the coast from the Spanish possessions 
 in Florida to the mouth of the Hudson. Another company, formed at 
 Plymouth, in the county of Devon, procured a charter for the district 
 lying north of the forty-first parallel, which Captain John Smith had in 
 1614 baptized " New England." 
 
 At length, after much unsatisfactory negotiation with the jealous and 
 grasping " merchant adventurers," the Mayflower put out 
 to sea from Plymouth harbor, and, passing Land's End, be- 
 gan forcing her way against the strong western gales across the Atlantic 
 She started with one hundred passengers ; and on the 21st of November, 
 1620 (one death and one birth having occurred on the voyage), she 
 dropped her anchor in the sheltered hook of Provincetown harbor. 
 
 A month later the exhausted and half starved colonists landed in a- 
 body on the wild and wintry solitude of Plymouth. 
 
 It was while coasting along the low shores of Cape Cod, and in the 
 immediate prospect of setting up as a " civil body politic " by themselves, 
 that this little company of tempest-tost exiles, in the cabin of their shat- 
 tered bark, subscribed that immortal document, the first written compact 
 the world ever saw for the organization of a self-governed community.. 
 The fourth name signed to this agreement is that of " Mr. William 
 Brewster." 
 
 The venerable teaching elder, or pastor, of the church had been left 
 behind at Ley den, unable from family and personal circumstances to em- 
 bark with the colonists. He gave them his j^arting charge and benedic- 
 tion, and remained to care for the remnant of the flock, and to die five 
 years after at Leyden. The only pastor and spiritual guide of the Pil- 
 grim church was Brewster, who, being merely a ruling elder, was incom- 
 petent in the judgment of Robinson to administer church ordinances.. 
 They had been accustomed at Leyden to attend weekly on the Lord's 
 Supper ; but they now went for years without a sacrament. A feeble 
 and, as it turned out, unprincipled Puritan minister named Lyford — one 
 of the kind that still looked back to the flesh-pots of a state church es- 
 tablishment — had joined them ; but the Pilgrims distrusted him, and re- 
 fused to recognize his episcopal orders. They had by this Brewster's great 
 time developed into thorough separatists, and had learned '^°^^- 
 that the right to minister among the people must proceed from the 
 people themselves. Elder Brewster therefore continued to be their sole 
 
 35 
 
546 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 religious teacher, preaching to them regularly on the Lord's day. While 
 he expressly disclaimed the authority of an ordained teacher, he watched 
 over them in respect to life and doctrine. He healed their dissen- 
 sions, and encouraged them in their sore trials. When the first dread- 
 .ful winter swept off half their little company, and nearly all the rest 
 were prostrate from disease and starvation, he was one of the handful 
 who went from house to house nursing the sick, comforting the dying, 
 and carrying out the dead for burial. Wise, humble, hopeful, strong in 
 faith, never losing courage even in the darkest of the many dark days 
 that lowered on the suffering colony, he was the great type of that heroic 
 and unquenchable religious sentiment that inspired and sustained the 
 whole enterprise. 
 
 " In teaching he was very stirring, and moving the affections ; also 
 very plain and distinct in what he taught ; by which he became the more 
 profitable to the hearers. He had a singular good gift in prayer, both 
 public and private, in rijoping up the heart and conscience before God, in 
 the humble confession of sin, and begging the mercies of God in Christ 
 for the pardon thereof. He thought it were better for ministers to pray 
 oftener, and divide their prayers, than to be long and tedious in the 
 same," — in which sentiment we cordially concur. 
 
 So the elder of Plymouth labored and suffered on, thinking affliction 
 with the people of God greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. 
 Some of his puritanically baptized children, Jonathan, Love, Fear, Pa- 
 tience, Wrestling, came over to cheer his old age, and stand by his death- 
 bed. His pilgrimage had been long and weary. Of his eighty years of 
 .life, nearly half had been spent in suffering and exile for conscience' sake. 
 His release came on the 16th of April, 1644.^ Giving up everything for 
 Christ, storm-tost and buffeted by sea and land, stripped of his worldly 
 goods and hunted like a felon, he saw the community he had done so 
 much to found safely past the period of its feeble infancy, and entering 
 on its irresistible march across the continent ; and he died in a vigorous 
 old age, calm and peaceful, amid the tears and benedictions of his fellow- 
 citizens. 
 
 " To a youth of ease and affluence, familiar with ambassadors and 
 statesmen, and not unknown to courts, succeeded a mature age of ob- 
 scurity, deep study, and poverty. No human creature would have heard 
 of him had his career ended with his official life. Two centuries and a 
 half have passed away, and the name of the outlawed Puritan of Scrooby 
 .and Leydeu is still familiar to millions of the English race." ^ — S. H. 
 
 1 Although in the space between the end of Life I. and the beginning of Life II. more 
 than half a century is comprised, no person of that period seems to claim a place when 
 three Congregational leaders are called foroutof colonial times. Cotton Mather (1062-1728) 
 was "honorable," but "attained not unto the first three." John Eliot (1604-1690) de- 
 serves to he termed Leader, for his work in the field of Indian missions, but (since only one 
 such can have place in this volume) he must yield to David Zcisberger, the Moravian. — 
 H. M. M. 
 
 2 John of Barneveld, ii. 289. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JONATHAN EDWARDS. 547 
 
 LIFE 11. JONATHAN EDWARDS. 
 
 A. D. 1703-A. D. 1758. CONGREGATIONAL, — AMERICA. 
 
 America is indebted to New England for many of its greatest names. 
 A few of these names belong to the colonial period of our history. 
 Among these few, none is more conspicuous than that of Jonathan Ed- 
 wards. Of all the religious thinkers of modern times, he is one of the 
 best known on both sides of the Atlantic. He was born in a century 
 fruitful in men of philosophical genius, but he was the peer of each of 
 his contemporaries. One would have scarcely expected so colonial disad- 
 great a man to rise in a British colony as yet but imper- ■vantages. 
 fectly developed. " Emigration," said Dr. Horace Bushnell, " tends to 
 barbarism." In a colony which is still young, one looks for a vigorous 
 but crude civilization. He is not surprised to find there men of unusual 
 powers, but he expects to see those powers applied to trade, to politics, 
 to husbandry, to the mechanical arts, rather than to scholarly reflection. 
 Or if a leader of thought rise in a new people, it is presumed that he 
 will exhaust his energies in resisting downward tendencies rather than in 
 drawing men to lofty ranges of thought and to new explorations. 
 
 The life of Edwards we shall find in some sense exceptional. There 
 was indeed far less of " barbarism " in New England, when he was born, 
 than the aphorism just quoted would suggest. Many a wide tract of 
 wilderness was there, but also many a town and city, where the best cult- 
 ure of Great Britain found a congenial home. Nevertheless, the New 
 England student of that day was required to pursue his studies at a 
 distance from great libraries, and without contact with the most of the 
 great minds of the period. He was obliged also, if he would make his 
 influence felt upon the society by which he was surrounded, to expend 
 much of his force upon questions of local and temporary interest. Jon- 
 athan Edwards must be studied in the shadow of the outward conditions 
 of his life, as well as in the light of liis natural genius and of the grace 
 of God. 
 
 He was born in Windsor, Connecticut, October 5, 1703. Windsor, 
 which has never risen above the rank of a village, was, at the date 
 named, a settlement of farmers attracted to the valley of the Connecti- 
 cut by its fertile soil. The pivotal point of the community was the 
 church, which was presided over by a man of eminent abil- E^^'ards's par- 
 ities,' Timothy Edwards, a graduate of Harvard, who had ^''*^- 
 enjoyed the singular honor of receiving the two degrees of Bachelor 
 and of Master of Ai-ts in the same day, in testimony of his " extraor- 
 dinary proficiency in learning." The wife of this pastor was a daughter 
 of Solomon Stoddard, of Northampton, Massachusetts, one of the most 
 cultured and influential clergymen in the land. 
 
548 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Pkriod V. 
 
 Jonathan Edwards, therefore, had no mean parentage. He was an 
 only son, but the brother of ten sisters, some of whom became the wives 
 of distino-uished men. As may be supposed, the influences which sur- 
 rounded him in his boyhood were both pure and powerful. He was re- 
 markably precocious. He blossomed long before most of the children 
 of his ao-e were in the bud. He began to study Latin under the direc- 
 tion of his father when he was six years of age, and became a profi- 
 cient in that language whilst some of his companions were droning over 
 their lessons in the spelling-book. At the same time other branches of 
 study, equally advanced, were eagerly pursued. He very early showed 
 a tendency to philosophical speculation. What is the soul, and what are 
 its relations to the body ? This was a question which interested him 
 whilst other boys were feasting their imaginations with the " Arabian 
 Nights." When he was ten years of age, one of his acquaintances ad- 
 vanced the idea that the soiil is material, and remains with the body until 
 the resurrection. Young Edwards at once wrote him a letter, which 
 though without date or punctuation, or even division into sentences, 
 runs the theory to the reductio ad absurdum. At twelve years of age 
 he composed some remarkable papers upon questions in science. Just be- 
 fore he was thirteen he entered Yale College, and during the nest year, 
 his favorite recreation was the study of Locke's " Essay on the Human 
 Understanding," in the reading of which, he afterward declared, he " had 
 more satisfaction and pleasure than the most greedy miser in gathering 
 up handfuls of silver and gold from some new-discovered treasure." 
 Here was no common stuff out of which to make a student. The col- 
 lege was then in its infancy, and presented few of the advantages which 
 as a great university it now holds forth, but the student was produced, 
 nevertheless. Edwards was graduated in 1720, with the first honors of 
 his class, and with a reputation for deportment as high as for scholar- 
 iiis religious de- ^'^P* ^is religions development, indeed, was as early and 
 veiopment. ^g remarkable as his mental. When he was about seven 
 
 years of age, one of those powerful revivals, so many of which are 
 recorded in the history of New England, occurred in his father's parish. 
 He was not at that time a stranger to serious questions as to the state of 
 his soul, or to habits of devotion. But now he was filled with anxiety, 
 and was " abundant in religious duties." He resorted to secret prayer 
 five times a day. He spent much time with his companions in religious 
 conversation. He united with some of his school-mates in the erection 
 of a booth in a very secluded part of a swamp. This they made their 
 oratory. Besides this, he had his favorite spots in the woods, to which 
 he was accustomed to retire for solitary prayer and thought. " My af- 
 fections," he says, " seemed to be lively and easily moved, and I seemed 
 to be in my element when I engaged in religious duties." Yet in ma- 
 turer days he looked with doubt upon this early religious experience, as 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JONATHAN EDWARDS. 549 
 
 neither genuine nor deep. " I am ready to think many are deceived 
 with such affections, and such a kind of delight as I then had in religion, 
 and mistake it for grace." This shows the severe self-examination to 
 which he accustomed himself from the first, yet perhaps his verdict in 
 this case was warranted, since he goes on to record, " In the progress 
 of time, my convictions and affections wore off, and I entirely lost all 
 those affections and delights, and left off secret prayer, at least as to any 
 constant preference of it, and returned like a dog to his vomit, and went 
 on in the ways of sin." It is noteworthy, as showing the thoughtful 
 turn of his mind, that even in these tender years of childhood, he re- 
 volted against " the doctrine of God's sovereignty, in choosing whom He 
 would to eternal life, and rejecting whom He pleased." He was stiU a 
 mere boy when this difficulty vanished, as he believed under the influ- 
 ences of the Holy Spirit. Then the character of God assumed to him 
 a new aspect. Even the works of God seemed to his nature-loving eyes 
 suffused by a new glory. It was like the change we often notice in con- 
 nection with a summer sunset. The clouds which just now were black 
 and frowning are lighted with splendor, not merely bathed with radi- 
 ance, but seemingly transfigured, filled with rosy light from centre to 
 surface. " The appearance of everything was altered ; there seemed to be, 
 as it were, a calm, sweet cast, or appearance of divine glory in almost 
 everything. God's excellency, his wisdom, his purity and love, seemed 
 to ajDpear in everything : in the sun, moon, and stars, in the clouds and 
 blue sky, in the grass, flowers, trees, in the water and all nature, which 
 used greatly to fix my mind." All this shows the vividness of his im- 
 agination, as his previous doubts showed the unfolding of his reasoning 
 faculties. The grace of God is doubtless to be recognized in these ex- 
 periences, but as the workings of grace are individual, we get glimpses 
 of the constitution of the soul through its spiritual experiences. 
 
 After graduation, he spent two years at Yale as resident, pursuing his 
 theological studies. He was then licensed to preach. This geginj, to 
 was several months before he was nineteen. He next spent P^^each. 
 about eight months in preaching to a small Presbyterian church in New 
 York city. It was no small compliment to the young preacher that his 
 hearers became so fascinated by his eloquence, and by the deep sincerity 
 of his life, that he was urgently invited to become their pastor. He de- 
 clined, however, and returned to Yale to accept a tutorship, the duties 
 of which he discharged for two years. Whilst at New York, his habits 
 of solitary thought continued. He used often to walk alone on the 
 banks of the Hudson, looking sometimes into and through the sky ; 
 sometimes into and through his own heart ; discovering God above and 
 sin within. In the solitary hours at home, he studied himself again. 
 As the result of these studies we have a series of seventy resolutions for 
 the government of heart and life ; which, afterward published, have be- 
 
550 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 come a sacred heritage of the world. The spiritual and ethical charac- 
 ter of these resolutions is of the most exalted type. The ideal of holiness 
 which they disclose is poetically expressed by himself in these terms : 
 " The soul of a true Christian, as I then wrote my meditations, appeared 
 like such a little white flower as we see in the spring of the year, low 
 and humble on the ground, ojjening its bosom to receive the pleasant 
 beams of the sun's glory; rejoicing, as it were, in a calm rapture ; diffus- 
 ing aroimd a sweet fragrancy ; standing peacefully and lovingly in the 
 midst of other flowers round about, all in like manner opening their bo- 
 soms to drink in the light of the sun." 
 
 His tutorship at Yale ended, he accepted an invitation to the pastorate 
 in Northampton, Massachusetts, and was there ordained in February, 
 1727, as colleague of his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. No pastorate 
 in New England could have been more attractive to him. Northampton 
 was a beautiful town, whose environing meadows, conforming them- 
 selves to the windings of the Connecticut River, were fertile enough for a 
 modern Eden. If Edwards was tempted by his love of nature to fre- 
 quent wanderings on the shore of the Hudson at New York, he must 
 have been gratified by the carpeted floors of these meadows, furnished 
 then, as now, by the lordly elms whose grace and dignity have made 
 them famous. Standing beneath one of these elms, he could see the 
 river at his feet, and the wooded heights of Mount Holyoke and of its 
 sister hills before him, holding up the sapphire dome above ; whilst in 
 place of the " little white flower " of the Hudson he would see in the 
 waving grass the " lily of the field," reminding him at once of the Sav- 
 iour's teaching and of the Father's care. Northampton was also the 
 home of many cultured families. It was no place in which to find illus- 
 trations of the tendency of emigration to barbarism. As the grandson 
 of an honored and justly celebrated pastor, Edwards was received with 
 the more interest, and his great abilities made the more profound impres- 
 sion because of the favor with which he was regarded. 
 
 Before his ordination, he had already found in New Haven a young 
 Marries Sarah ^^^1 ^f great personal beauty, of superior mind, of unusual 
 pierrepont. accomplishments, and of devoted piety ; towards whom his 
 
 heart went out so warmly that he asked her to become his wife. Her 
 name was Sarah Pierrepont. This is a part of his characteristic descrip- 
 tion of her, written on a blank leaf in 1723: "They say there is a 
 young lady in New Haven, who is loved of that Great Being who made 
 and rules the world, and that there are certain seasons in which this 
 Great Being, in some way or other invisible, comes to her and fills her 
 
 mind with exceeding sweet delight She has a strange sweetness 
 
 in her mind, and singular purity in her affections ; is most just and con- 
 ^cientious in all her conduct; and you could not persuade her to do any- 
 thing wrong or sinful, if you would give her all the world She 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JONATHAN EDWARDS. 551 
 
 loves to be alone, walking in the fields and groves, and seems to have 
 some one invisible always conversing with her." In this sketch, his de- 
 scription sets forth one of soul so kindred to his own, that both color and 
 outline seem to be taken from his own heart. He was married to her 
 in July, 1727, and found in her all that his hopes had promised, not only 
 as a companion, but also as an assistant. After the fashion of the day 
 she took upon herself the oversight of everything connected with his 
 pecuniary expenditures, leaving him wholly unembarrassed in the pros- 
 ecution of his professional work. She was the mother of eleven chil- 
 dren — three sous and eight daughters — of whose names several occupy 
 distinguished places in New England history. 
 
 Soon after his ordination, Edwards obtained a wide celebrity as a 
 preacher. Many of his sermons were carefully written and somewhat 
 closely read. He sometimes preached without manuscript ; yet even 
 then he seldom made a gesture, and the tones of his voice were not com- 
 manding. But his thought and language were so powerful, and his words 
 were sometimes so surcharged with feeling, that eloquence has seldom ac- 
 complished more than when it poured from his lips. He was especially 
 powerful in presenting the divine law, the sovereignty of God, the sin- 
 fulness of man, and justification by faith. By the prevailing theology of 
 his da} , a " law-work " in the conscience producing deep conviction of 
 sin, and leading the sinner to cast himself upon the sovereign mercies of 
 God, was one of the prominent ends of preaching. In promoting this 
 " law-work," much use was made of the doctrine of future endless pun- 
 ishment. This doctrine was perhaps never more powerfully ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^_ 
 brought to' bear than by Edwards in a sermon celebrated in ^om. 
 homiletic annals, upon the text, "• Their foot shall slide in due time " 
 (Deuteronomy xxxii. 35). This sermon was preached at Enfield, Connect- 
 icut. Tradition says that such was its effect that men grasped the rail- 
 ings of the pews as if about to sink into perdition. One says, " There 
 was such a breathing of distress and weeping that the preacher was 
 obliged to speak to the people and desire silence that he might be heard." 
 It was on this or on some similar occasion, that a brother minister, sit- 
 ting behind Edwards in the puljiit, appalled by his eloquence, grasped 
 the coat of the preacher and cried, " Mr. Edwards ! Mr. Edwards ! Is 
 not God merciful ? " 
 
 Edwards had been the colleague of his grandfather about two years, 
 when the latter died. The new burdens thus devolved upon the young 
 pastor proved for a time too much for his strength ; but a brief period of 
 repose restored him, and he resumed his work with his wonted energy. 
 His ministry was characterized by several revivals. During 1734 and 
 1735, in fact, a wave of religious interest swept over all New England. 
 In Northampton its results were most beneficent. Edwards promoted 
 the prevailing interest in all safe ways. His preaching at this time, as 
 
552 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 always, was eminently doctrinal, and is described as " of the most pun- 
 gent, heart-searching, and often terrific character." The whole commu- 
 nity wore a new aspect, presenting the appearance of a moral renovation. 
 In many places, however, where weaker minds were in control, extrav- 
 agance and fanaticism prevailed. But as in the Reformation Luther, 
 who had fed the fires of reform, broke out of the Wartburg to check the 
 fanatics of Zwickau, so also Edwards, " terrific " at Northampton, be- 
 came conservative among the radical revivalists abroad. He opposed 
 erratic movements with all his might. He talked, wrote, and preached 
 against them ; striving to guard against a spurious religion as earnestly 
 as he strove to promote that which was genuine. The |:^rmanent issue 
 of the controversy was his work on " The Religious Affections," which, 
 long after his day, was widely used as a standai-d test of piety. 
 
 For sixteen years, that is, until 1744, the ministry of Edwards was 
 eminently successful. During this period he gave a number of sermons 
 and treatises to the press, and began to be known and honored even 
 across the sea. But now a change came, which, whilst it 
 drew a shadow over his life, made that life more useful 
 than ever. His fidelity to the truth was so great that he could bear 
 nothing which seemed to compromise it. He was prudent ; but his cour- 
 age was equal to any emergency in which a selfish prudence would sug- 
 gest taking counsel of fear. He discovered that immoral jjractices were 
 prevailing among some of the young people of his congregation. Before 
 he came to Northampton his grandfather Stoddard had " witnessed a far 
 more degenerate time among his people than ever before. The young 
 became addicted to habits of dissipation and licentiousness ; family gov- 
 ernment too generally failed," etc. Great imjDrovement took place under 
 the preaching of Edwards ; but when he saw the signs of a relapse to- 
 ward old habits, he at once raised the alarm. He preached a most im- 
 pressive sermon on the subject, and then, stating the facts which had 
 come to his knowledge, requested an investigation. His request was 
 complied with ; but the investigation implicated so many belonging to in- 
 fluential families, and, justly or unjustly, cast suspicion upon so many 
 more, that the discipline proposed wholly broke down, and in its fall Ed- 
 wards's influence among the young was greatly weakened. A few years 
 afterward, when a more serious difficulty arose, he was himself broken 
 down by the storm. 
 
 This difficulty, like the other, grew out of his fearless conscientious- 
 ness. The church at Northampton had, during his grandfather's min- 
 istry, adopted the practice known as that of the " Halfway Covenant." 
 This practice was then common in New England. To understand it we 
 must turn a leaf of history. The Puritan colonies were distinguished, 
 from their earliest period, by a peculiar union of church and state. The 
 theory was not, as in England, that the state should rule the church, but 
 
Cknt.XVII.-X1X.] JONATHAN EDWARDS. 553 
 
 rather that the state should be the supporter of the church, and carry out 
 its principles by legislation. It was a modified theocracy. Hence every 
 citizen was required to contribute to the support of the church. Each 
 township inclosed a parish, and was incorporated with a view to con- 
 venience in attending public worship and to the support of the ordi- 
 nances of religion. A regular tax was irajDOsed upon each resident of a 
 township for the supjjort of its minister and for the other expenses of 
 the sanctuary, which was styled a " meeting-house," in true Puritan par- 
 lance. It was, moreover, enacted by the colony of Massachusetts Bay, 
 in 1631, that "no man shall be admitted to the freedom of the body 
 politic but such as are members of some of the churches within the lim- 
 its of the same." In other words, no one should hold civil office, or 
 vote at the ordinary elections, unless a church member. This provision 
 was later adopted by the Connecticut colonies, and throughout Massa- 
 chusetts, Maine, and New Ilampshire. The result was an expedient by 
 which persons not considering themselves Christians, in the higher sense 
 of that term, might be counted as members of the church, and thus be 
 enfranchised. This expedient, adopted by a synod in Massachusetts 
 in 1662, was styled the Halfway Covenant. It was provided that all 
 baptized persons might publicly " own the covenant " without entering 
 into full communion, and thus be enrolled in the church, promising to 
 pass the other half way on their spiritual regeneration. This filled the 
 churches, but brought into them many pei'sons of ungodly character. 
 The standard of piety became thereby gradually but surely depressed. 
 Stoddard had pressed the theory to a conclusion never designed by those 
 who framed it. In 1704 he openly avowed the opinion that those who 
 had taken the Halfway Covenant might be admitted to full communion ; 
 " that unconverted persons, considered as such, had a right, in the 
 sight of God, or by his appointment, to the sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper ; that thereby it was their duty to come to that ordinance, though 
 they knew they had no true goodness or evangelical holiness." This 
 principle, though at first opposed, was finally adopted in Northampton, 
 and by degrees spread through various parts of New England. Ed- 
 wards, when first settled at Northampton, doubted the soundness of this 
 principle, but did not then feel prepared to oppose it. As time passed 
 on, his doubts increased, and finally settled into the conviction that the 
 principle was wholly wrong. It was not his habit to conceal his con- 
 victions when they were fully matured. In the spring of 1749, it be- 
 came generally known in his parish that he was opposed to a practice 
 which, by its long continuance, had become dear to his parishioners. A 
 great excitement followed. His dismissal was loudly demanded. He 
 held his ground. He preached and published upon the subject. A mi- 
 nority of the people were convinced that he was right. The cogency of 
 his arguments affected in his favor the minds of mo'st spiritual Chris- 
 
554 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 tians far and wide. But the local opposition was too strong for him. He 
 Displaced from ^^^ obliged to relinquish his pastorate. He preached a 
 Northampton. farewell sermon which for solemnity, pathos, and fidelity has 
 rarely been equaled. He retired with dignity to private life, occasion- 
 ally preaching for his former people, when they had no other supply, 
 until even that became intolerable to the majority, and they formally 
 voted that he should not again be permitted to enter the pulpit. The 
 minority wished to form a new church and install him as pastor, but he 
 magnanimously declined to favor their plan. Without income, with a 
 large family, being then forty-six years of age, and considering a reset- 
 tlement as pastor improbable, he cheerfully faced the future, looking up- 
 ward. His friends rallied for his support. His wants became known in 
 Scotland, where he was already revered for his talents and piety. His 
 friends there sent him a liberal donation. Yet this did not save him 
 from hardship and privation. Joseph Cook, in one of his Boston lect- 
 ures of 1877, thus spoke of him at this period : — 
 
 " I know where in Massachusetts I can put my hand on little irregu- 
 lar scraps of brown paper, stitched together as note-books, and closely 
 covered all over with Jonathan Edwards's handwriting. Why did he use 
 such coarse material in his studies ? Why was he within sight of star- 
 vation ? Because he had opposed the Halfway Covenant. Why did that 
 man need to accept from Scotland funds with which to maintain his fam- 
 ily ? Because he opposed the Halfway Covenant. Why did his wife and 
 daughters make fans and sell them to buy bread ? Because he opposed 
 the Halfway Covenant ; because he defended with vigor, as Whitefield 
 did, the idea that a man should not be a minister unless converted, or a 
 church member unless converted, and so set himself against the whole 
 trend of this huge, turbid, hungry, haughty wave of secularization that 
 had been rising smce 1631. Of course, he was abandoned by the fash- 
 ionable. Of course, his life was in some sense a martyrdom. His note- 
 books were made from the refuse of brown paper left from the fans. 
 There is nothing Massachusetts so little likes to be fanned with as those 
 fans Jonathan Edwards's wife and daughters made and sold for bread." 
 
 To him, looking upward, the future soon opened ; but not as man 
 would have chosen to have it open. No large church was ready to give 
 him a pulpit and a competent salary. But in 1751 a little congregation 
 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, invited Edwards to become its pastor. 
 At the same time a missionary society in London offered to appoint 
 him missionary to the Housatonic Indians, then residing at Stockbridge 
 and in its vicinity. The field to which he was called was literally in the 
 wilderness. There, as man would say, this mind of gigantic powers, 
 this heart of exalted sanctification, were to be buried. The grandest 
 theologian of New England was to spend his days in preaching to a 
 handful of settlers, and in expounding the gospel through an interpreter 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JONATHAN EDWARDS. 655 
 
 to an Indian tribe. Edwards did not hesitate. This was to him the call 
 of Providence. He obeyed ; and the world has long acknowledged that 
 this " exile " was, under Providence, for the flowering of his genius, and 
 for the consummation of that work which could have been done only in 
 the solitudes. Edwards was led into the wilderness that he might thence 
 send out his influences round the earth and down the centuries. 
 
 He remained in Stockbridge about six years. During those years he 
 composed his treatises upon " The Freedom of the Will," 
 '^ The Christian Doctrine of Original Sin," " The End for ™' ^''''* ^°°^'' 
 which God created the World," " The Nature of True Vu-tue," and " The 
 History of Redemption." These works were not compilations of other 
 men's thoughts ; they were original. He had but few books. The 
 room in which he wrote was a mere closet, opening out of one of the 
 apartments of his dwelling. At each end of the closet were a few nar- 
 row shelves for his library. Between them was a window. Beside this 
 window was a desk, leaving room only for the chair on which the writer 
 sat. The house still stands, and visitors still resort to this closet and 
 wonder over what came out of it. Of his outer life in Stockbridge there 
 is little to record. Of his pastorate and his mission labors there is noth- 
 ing to be written which might not have been written had he been but an 
 ordinary man. Possibly an ordinary man would have effected more as 
 merely pastor and missionary during these six years. 
 
 The great work of Edwards's life had already been accomplished when, 
 in 1757, he was elected president of the College of New Jersey at 
 Princeton. His predecessor was his own son-in-law, Aaron Burr, who 
 died two days before Commencement, in 1757. The trustees met on 
 Commencement day, and made choice of Edwards as his successor. His 
 reply to their communication was not favorable. With great modesty, 
 and with the simplicity of a boy, he gave his reasons for believing himself 
 unfitted for the ofiice. He had an '' unhappy constitution, attended with 
 flaccid solids, vapid, sizy, and scarce fluids, and a low tide of spirits." 
 He was often afflicted with a " childish weakness and contemptibleness 
 of speech, presence, and demeanor." He was dull and stiff in conversa- 
 tion, and thought he could not, in his dyspeptic moods, govern a college. 
 His friends, however, thought otherwise. He yielded to their judgment, 
 was dismissed from his pastorate in January, 1758, and immediately re- 
 moved to Princeton. Very soon after his inauguration, in consequence 
 of the prevalence of the small-pox, he adopted the protective measure 
 of the day, was inoculated with the disease, recovered from the first 
 effects of the inoculation, was then attacked by a secondary fever, and 
 died March 22d, having resided in Princeton about nine weeks. His 
 age was fifty-four years, five months, and seventeen days. 
 
 Notwithstanding his brief term of office, he has passed into history as 
 President Edwards, in distinction from his son Jonathan, who became 
 
556 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 famous as a theologian, and bears the title of " Dr. Edwards " among 
 the students of theology. 
 
 Our limits will not permit us to describe in detail the great works of 
 Edwards on the Pi'Gsident Edwards, the titles of which have been already 
 ^'^^- given. The most important of these works is the treatise 
 
 on the Freedom of the Will. Its occasion was the pressure brought to 
 bear upon Calvinism in England, by such writers as Dr. Samuel Clark 
 and Dr. Whitby, who held that Calvinism logically denies human free- 
 dom. This objection was considered so formidable in Great Britain 
 that to meet it some of the most spiiitual of the Calvinists, such as Dr. 
 Isaac Watts and Dr. Philip Doddridge, felt themselves obliged to affirm 
 that the will is self-determined. President Edwards regarded this po- 
 sition as fatal to the doctrine of divine sovereignty, since it limited God's 
 power ; and to the doctrine of grace in conversion, since it made con- 
 version dependent on the will of man. Interpreters vary as to the 
 precise manner in which he met the difficulty. His radical principles 
 may be stated as these : The faculty of the will is that power of the 
 mind which renders it caj^able of choosing ; the choice of the will is inva- 
 riably determined by " that motive which as it stands in the view of the 
 mind is the strongest," the connection between the greatest apparent 
 good and the act of the will being fixed. God foreknows and can pre- 
 determine all human acts ; the will in choosing is free, — that is, the 
 mind in choosing has the physical ability or natural capacity to choose 
 otherwise ; its inability to choose in a holy manner is therefore moral 
 only. " The thing wanting is not a being able, but a being unlling." 
 Out of these principles is evolved the conclusion that man is perfectly 
 free and responsible, yet God is absolutely sovereign in his control. 
 Whatever may be said in criticism of this work for or against it, no one 
 denies that it moulded the thinking of many generations. President 
 Edwards was the founder of what has, ever since his day, been dis- 
 tinguished as New England theology. His son, Dr. Edwards, and his 
 pupils, Bellamy and Hopkins, doubtless modified his system ; but they 
 professed to get the materials with which they wrought largely out of 
 his quarry. The estimate of him made by the j^rofoundest thinkers 
 abroad is, if possible, higher than that of the thinkers of his native land. 
 Dugald Stewart spoke of him as equal " in logical acuteness and sub- 
 tlety " to any writer of his day. It will be affirmed by none of his ad- 
 mirers that he reached the utmost limits of human philosophy ; but if to 
 take hold of the greatest questions of philosophy with a master hand 
 and to hold them with the grasp of a giant, to draw with him along the 
 track of his inquiry the strongest minds of his time, and to color all 
 theology for a century is to win a title to greatness, that titk belongs to 
 him. Of his intercourse with such men as Whitefield and Brainerd, the 
 missionary, we have said nothing. To his influence in promoting and 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] SAMUEL HOPKINS. 557 
 
 directing the wonderful revivals of his day we have only alluded. 
 Hundreds of thousands have been assisted by him in the divine life. 
 His work on the Religious Affections is now less used as a test of piety 
 than it was a generation since. His theory of Original Sin is generally 
 abandoned by theologians ; indeed, it was never very widely adojited. 
 But he will long be regarded as in many respects first among the re- 
 ligious thinkers of America. Very few have ever put so much into a 
 mortal life as did he ; very few have ever brought so much out of a 
 half century of mortal existence. Always feeble in body, his soul had 
 the wing and the eye of an eagle. We can only guess what it must be 
 now that it has more than the wing and the eye of an angel. — Z. M. H. 
 
 LIFE III. SAMUEL HOPKINS, OF NEWPORT. 
 
 A. D. 1721-A. D. 1803. CONGREGATIONAL, AMERICA. 
 
 It may justly be regarded as a characteristic fact, illustrating the all- 
 subduing and subsidizing power of Christianity, that wherever it is intel- 
 ligently and heartily received it lays under contribution the entire nature 
 of its disciples ; not their intellect alone, nor their sensibilities alone, but 
 the whole force and potency of their being. The great Christian doctors 
 of past ages were not mere closet theologians, but laborious and enthusi- 
 astic preachers, bold reformers, zealous philanthropists. The eminent 
 Christian fathers, the mediasval divines, the modern scientific theologians, 
 have been, many of them, as distinguished for active benevolence as for 
 the successful prosecution of sacred lore ; making good in the sphere of 
 Christianity the old adage, Aheunt studia in mores. 
 
 The popular idea of a Christian polemic is a man of narrow mind and 
 perverted sensibilities, who sets the projiagation of his dogma above all 
 human nterests, and is quite willing to burn men here and damn them 
 hereafter for presuming to dispute it. But a polemic, or Clu'istian the- 
 ologian, is usually a man of profound beliefs and intense loyalty to the 
 truth, whose enthusiasm is kindled by the conviction that the acceptance 
 of his dogma is essential to human happiness and welfare. He may be 
 blinded by mere love of disputation or eagerness for victory ; his zeal 
 may degenerate into dark fanaticism ; he may be led to employ most un- 
 happy and mistaken methods ; his views themselves may be utterly des- 
 titute of foundation in philosophy or in Scripture ; but in the great major- 
 ity of cases they have been maintained under the persuasion that they 
 were intimately linked with glory to God in the highest, with peace on 
 earth, and with good-ivill to men. Many are the instances in which a life 
 of self-sacrificing benevolence has been the direct outgrowth of philosoph- 
 ical or theological systems elaborated in the closet. 
 
558 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 Near the close of the fourteenth century, a gentleman resident in the 
 household of the king of the Balearic Islands, a gay and dissipated court- 
 ier, was brought under the power of religious truth, and led to enter 
 on a life of earnest piety. Abandoning his career of pleasure, he de- 
 voted himself to the service of God and humanity. The object on which 
 his heart became fixed was the conversion of the Mohammedans ; and he 
 set about preparing for this work in the most deliberate and judicious 
 manner. Wiser than many modern missionaries, he did not propose to 
 throw himself among a joeople to whose language and manners he was an 
 utter stranger, trusting to some vague and unpromised divine assistance 
 for success. He proceeded, in the first place, to make himself familiar 
 with the Arabic language and literature. He purchased in the Major- 
 can slave-market a Moorish captive, and adopted him as his teacher. 
 With him he read and studied the Koran until he had thoroughly mas- 
 tered its contents. His next step was to jDrepare an elaborate refutation 
 of it; and then, satisfied that the MoUahs could teach him nothing con- 
 cerning their own Scriptures that he did not already know, he began to 
 build up what he regarded as an absolutely irrefragable demonstration of 
 the truth of Christianity. This was the famous " Ars Generalis," by 
 which Raimund Lull flattered himself that he should overcome all the 
 possible resistance of unbelief ; and backing up his logic with his life, he 
 went single-handed, again and again, to the coast of Africa, preaching the 
 gospel to the Moors, till he was at length called to receive the crown of 
 martyrdom as the reward of his disintei'ested benevolence. 
 
 Not unlike Raimund Lull in his spirit of mystical devotion and prac- 
 tical philantlu'ojjy was the humble yet illustrious American divine of" 
 Hopkins's early whom we are now to speak. Samuel Hopkins was born at 
 ^^- Waterbury, Connecticut, September 17, 1721, of a Puri- 
 
 tan family in which, from the first immigration, the Scriptural names 
 of Samuel, Stephen, Mark, etc., had been perpetuated. He graduated 
 at Yale College in 1741. Hopkins had been educated in a home of sim- 
 ple piety, and imbued from the cradle with the principles of religion. 
 While in college he passed through that religious crisis common to a 
 large portion of those who have composed the evangelical ministry of 
 America, in which he became impressed with a sense of sinfulness, and 
 after a somewhat protracted period of struggle and doubt was brought 
 to the experience of a clear and solid hope in Christ. He devoted him- 
 self to the ministry, and after graduating proceeded to Northampton, 
 where he was domesticated in the house of President Edwards, and en- 
 joyed the instructions and friendship of that preeminent theologian. It 
 cannot be said, however, that his education, whether academical or the- 
 ological, was of a high order. He passed only respectably through col- 
 lege at a time when the standard of scholarship in Yale College was not 
 high, and his reading in theology was brief and interrupted. Of any 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] SAMUEL HOPKINS. 659 
 
 knowledge of rhetoric and elocution he was utterly destitute. He had a 
 great and brawny frame, a monotonous voice, a dull and ponderous manner. 
 With these qualifications he began his ministry in a little village of thirty 
 families, called afterwards Great Barrington, and at a salary of less than 
 one hundred and twenty dollars a year. Here he was ordained the 28th 
 of December, 1743. 
 
 In this humble parish Mr. Hopkins continued for a quarter of a cent- 
 ury ; studying, preaching, elaborating his theology, even publishing tracts 
 and sermons, but making almost no impression on the community. In a 
 quarter of a century he received less than three persons a year to the 
 church. The state of morals in the place was bad, and became worse. 
 He had a wife and eight children, and his salary was no better than when 
 he began. It was agreed on all hands that it was wise for him to resign 
 his charge; and he was dismissed by a council in January, 1769. 
 
 This step proved happily introductory to his removal to the far more 
 important and promising field of Newport, Rhode Island, where he was 
 installed pastor of the First Congregational Church in April, 1770. 
 Newport was at the time a flourishing little city of about ten thousand 
 inhabitants, composed of Jews and Gentiles, politicians and people of 
 fashion, Quakers and slave-dealers. It had a large mercantile marine, 
 engaged chiefly in the African trade. Out of two hundred slave-ships 
 bringing their human cargoes to the American continent, Newport fitted 
 out more than a quarter ; the merchant princes of the city had made 
 their fortunes by this legalized man-stealing, and there was no respect- 
 able family in the place but owned at the least one slave. Christians, 
 church officers, and ministers of the gospel were involved in the iniquity. 
 The reasons for the traffic found in the demand for labor, especially in 
 the Southern colonies, in the unceasing intertribal wars in Africa at- 
 tended with the massacre of prisoners, in the missionary character of the 
 enterprise, since it brought the blacks within the influence of Chris- 
 tianity, etc., reconciled the people of England and America in a body to 
 the slave-trade, notwithstanding its admitted cruelties in every stage of 
 the process. The most eminent Christian ministers held slaves, then and 
 long after, without one twinge of conscience, or a suspicion of its inconsist- 
 ency with the law of God or the principles of the gospel. The subject of 
 this story, while residing at Great Barrington, had himself owned a slave ; 
 and his teacher in the faith, Jonathan Edwards, left one by will as a part 
 of his " quick " or live stock, at a valuation of one hundred dollars. 
 
 Up to the time of Mr. Hopkins's removal to Newport hardly any pub- 
 lic or influential protest had been made in any quarter against the slave- 
 trade, and still less against the unrighteousness of slavery itself. The 
 Quakers had indeed long before lifted up a feeble note of remonstrance 
 against the former ; and Anthony Benezet in Philadelphia, and Granville 
 Sharp in England, had published tracts against it as early as 1769. In 
 
560 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 1772 the latter secured, in the famous Somerset case, the memorable de- 
 cision that " the moment a slave touches the sacred soil of Britain, that 
 moment he is free." 
 
 It is not claimed for Samuel Hopkins that he was the first to protest 
 His title to fame ^^ *^^^ name of humanity and religion against the traffic in 
 as a leader. human fiesh. All honor to those kindly drab-coated enthu- 
 
 siasts in England and in America who had already exerted themselves to 
 rouse the sentiment of Christendom against the inhuman business ! His 
 just praise is that with little or no knowledge of what had been or what 
 was being attempted by others, single-handed and alone, in the midst of 
 a community deeply involved in slavery and the slave-trade, he put every- 
 thing at hazard, and stood forth as the champion of the oppressed and the 
 pioneer of African evangelization. A very brief sketch of his labors in 
 this direction is all our limits will allow. Slavery in the rural districts 
 of New England was a mild and harmless institution. Little or no dis- 
 tinction of caste was known. The slave wrought by the side of his mas- 
 ter in the field, ate with him at the same board, and worshiped and 
 communed with him in the same sanctuary. None of the cruel incidents 
 connected with that system of labor in the Southern colonies, such as the 
 slave-coflie, the driver, or the auction block, were ever known in New 
 England. It was in Newport that Hopkins first witnessed the traflUc in 
 men reduced to a system. He saw the miserable remnants of the " mid- 
 dle passage " disgorged from the fetid hold of the slaver, and the wild- 
 eyed barbarians distributed among their various purchasers. He knew 
 that ships fitted out by Christian men, by members of his own congrega- 
 tion, were carrying thousands of such victims to the far worse bondage of 
 the rice and cotton plantations of the South. He lost no time in unbur- 
 dening his conscience in the matter. It was in April, 1770, that he was 
 installed pastor at Newport. Before the close of the year he stood up 
 in his pulpit and, to the amazement of his hearers, denounced in unspar- 
 ing terms the business of kidnaping, buying, or holding slaves. All the 
 circumstances taken into consideration, it was the most heroic protest 
 against this iniquity ever uttered. He ventured the loss of all things, 
 of friends, of living, of home ; but he reaped the reward of his fidelity. 
 
 The conscience of his hearers sided with the truth ; his congregation 
 stood by him, and he went deeper into the battle for humanity. He 
 corresponded with Granville Sharp and other friends of the slave at 
 home and abroad. He preached again and again on the subject. In 
 His antisiavcry 1776, he published his "Dialogue on the Slavery of the 
 books. Africans." Its entire title is, " A Dialogue concerning the 
 
 Slavery of the Africans, showing it to be the Duty and Interest of the 
 American Colonies to emancipate all the African Slaves ! Dedicated to 
 the Honorable Continental Congress." 
 
 The boldness, force, and thoroughness of tliis treatise, together with 
 
Cent. XYII.-XIX.] SAMUEL HOPKINS. 561 
 
 its poiiiilar method, gave it great currency and influence. Nothino- con- 
 taining any material advance on the argument here presented has ever 
 been brought forward in the whole course of this controversy. Every 
 plea in favor of the system was anticipated and refuted : the pretense of 
 necessity and of humanity, the arguments from Scripture and expediency, 
 were all of them thoroughly exploded. 
 
 The colonists were just entering on their struggle with the mother 
 country for their rights and liberties as British subjects. Dr. Hopkins 
 exposed with great severity the monstrous inconsistency of rising up in 
 arms against British oppression, and continuing to hold thousands of our 
 fellow-men in a far more intolerable bondage. He predicted that the 
 frown of God must rest on such hypocrisy ; and when the cause of the 
 colonists continued to be signally prospered he was obliged to resort to 
 the explanation that it was due to God's blessing on the incipient meas- 
 ures they had already taken for the abolition of the slave-trade. 
 
 Directly after the establishment of American independence, a manu- 
 mission society was established in the city of New York, of which sev- 
 eral eminent patriots were members, among them Alexander Hamilton 
 and John Jay ; they published a large edition (for the times) of this pam- 
 phlet, and presented a copy to each member of Congress. Other emanci- 
 pation societies were formed in different parts of the country ; and while 
 slavery strengthened itself in the Southern States, a strong sentiment be- 
 gan to be formed throughout the North in favor of its early and entire 
 abrogation. 
 
 But this was only a part of the work which Dr. Hopkins undertook ini 
 behalf of the African race. His plans reached much beyond ^^ projects Li- 
 the emancipation of the slaves in this country. If not in ^^"*- 
 advance of all others, yet contemporaneously with the foremost, and. 
 unprompted by any, he conceived the idea of extinguishing the slave- 
 trade in its source by evangelizing the African continent, — the same idea 
 that animated the labors of the heroic Livingstone in recent times. He 
 began by securing the freedom of two native Africans of hopeful piety 
 and promise, contributing for this object liberally from his own scanty 
 means. He provided also for their education. As early as 1773 he suc- 
 ceeded in organizing a missionary and colonization society for the es- 
 tablishment of Christianity in Africa. His scheme was to achieve the 
 freedom of as many blacks, especially native Africans, as possible, and 
 to plant them at some point on the slave coast, with competent white 
 men as their guides and helpers, until they should be sufficiently ad- 
 vanced to take their affairs entirely into their own hands ; in short, it 
 was precisely the germ from which the American Colonization Society 
 was subsequently developed. 
 
 No great reform, any more than any great invention, is wrought out 
 at a blow. There is that general, unconscious sympathy of mind with 
 36 
 
562 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 mind, even across broad tracts of sea or land ; there is that common 
 and simultaneous advance of thought among enlightened nations that 
 leads many persons to be occupied, unknown to each other, at the same 
 time with the same problems. "When at length brought into communica- 
 tion each adds something to the other ; difficulties are got rid of ; condi- 
 tions necessary to success are supj^lied ; the mass of material out of 
 which the perfect contrivance must be wrought is gradually accumu- 
 lated. Then there is lacking only the providential crisis and the organ- 
 izing mind to select and combine the proper elements, and the plan is 
 perfected. So it was that while Hopkins in Rhode Island was busy 
 elaborating his scheme for introducing Christian civilization into Africa, 
 Granville Sharp in England and Thornton in Virginia were working at 
 the same problem. 
 
 The English philanthropist, aided by larger pecuniary resources and 
 greater commercial facilities, was first in the field. The colony of Sierra 
 Leone was established in 1787. Dr. Hopkins organized his society in 
 1773, collected funds, and had his first native missionaries in a course of 
 training ; but the country was poor and distracted with the convulsion 
 of the Revolutionary War. Of the two candidates for the African mission 
 who were sent to Princeton to be educated under Dr. Witherspoon, one, 
 Bristol Yamma, died ; the other, John Quamine, entering on board a 
 privateer, both from motives of patriotism and in the hope of securing 
 means to purchase the freedom of his wife, was slain in the first battle. 
 
 Dr. Hopkins further proved his faith by his works. In 1793 he pub- 
 lished in two volumes his system of theology. For the cojDyright of 
 this work, which had cost him ten years of labor, he received the sum of 
 nine hundred dollars ; he gave eight hundred of this on the instant in aid 
 of the African mission, with other considerable sums at other times. But 
 it was not till he had been nearly twenty years in his grave that- his be- 
 nevolent scheme for the evangelization of Africa was successfully carried 
 out. On the 4th of January, 1826, a colony of Christian blacks, — all 
 from Rhode Island, — led by two native Africans, Newport Gardner and 
 Salmar Nubia, who, under Dr. Hopkins's influence, had gained liberty 
 .and education, sailed for the Liberian colony. 
 
 The immediate impulse to the modern missionary work is also unques- 
 tionably due to him. The father of Samuel J. Mills, the 
 
 Leader in Amer- "^ . . „ . 
 
 ican foreign first missionary sent by an American society to foreign 
 shores, was the friend and correspondent of the Newport 
 reformer. Young Mills's attention was first of all directed to a mis- 
 sion among the Africans ;' and his earliest public employment after enter- 
 ing the ministry was an agency for the American Colonization Society. 
 
 1 close this sketch of Dr. Hopkins as a philanthropist with a single 
 anecdote, which, though often published, will bear repetition. Being 
 ' once on a visit at the house of his distinguished theological friend, Dr. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] SAMUEL HOPKINS. 563 
 
 Bellamy, who then owned a slave, Hopkins pressed upon him the objec- 
 tions against that relation. Bellamy defended the system with the usual 
 arguments. Hopkins refuted them, and then called on him to free his 
 slave at once. Bellamy replied that the slave was a most faithful and 
 judicious servant ; that in the management of the farm he could be 
 trusted with everything, and was so happy in his servitude that he would 
 refuse his freedom were it offered him. " Will you consent to his libera- 
 tion," inquired Hopkins, "if he really desires it?" "Undoubtedly," re- 
 plied Bellamy, " I will." The slave was then at work in the field. 
 " Call him," said Hopkins, " and let us try." The man came at the 
 summons. " Have you a good master ? " said Hopkins, addressing him. 
 What could the man answer but " yes " ? " Are you happy in your pres- 
 ent condition ? " How could the slave deny that he was ? " Would you 
 be more happy if you were free ? " " Oh, yes, massa, me be much more 
 happy." " You have your wish," said Bellamy ; " from this moment 
 you are free." 
 
 This consistent and enthusiastic zeal for humanity in the subject of 
 the present sketch may be traced in him, as in other good men, to the in- 
 fluence of his religious character. Loving God, he could not fail to love 
 his brother also ; and he recognized a brother in every suffering fellow- 
 being. But it may also be traced to the principles of his theology ; and 
 although we have, in this brief monograph, placed his philanthropy first 
 in order, it is as the author of a theological system that he is far best 
 known to the world. Multitudes who have not heard, unless, perhaps, in 
 some page of fiction, that Dr. Hopkins was ever brought into contact 
 with slavery have heard that he was the author of a theological system 
 which taught that " men ought to be willing to be damned for the glory 
 of God." 
 
 It is necessary, therefore, to expound in a few words the principles of 
 his theology. He was a Calvinist, and, as he believed, Hopkinsian the- 
 one of the few consistent and unflincliing disciples of that o^ogy- 
 school. He held that all sin consists in selfishness, and all virtue in dis- 
 interested benevolence. Disinterested benevolence teaches us to love the 
 whole more than a part, to love the aggregate of being more than an 
 individual, even though that individual be ourself ; and since God in his 
 infinitude exceeds the whole mass of created being, whatever may tend 
 to the glory of God is to be sought, no matter what results it may in- 
 volve to rational or irrational creatures. The happiness of the greatest 
 sum is to be desired by every virtuous being ; and since the sum of hap- 
 piness in God is greater than in all that is not God, if it were for God's 
 happiness or glory that the entire human race should perish in hell for- 
 ever, this ought to be joyfully acquiesced in by every loyal subject of 
 God's government. 
 
 The happiness of any individual is, according to this doctrine, a matter 
 
564 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 relatively of very little consequence. A race, a nation, a state, even a 
 family, may have claims greatly transcending those of any one person ; 
 and for a single man to set his own happiness against the happiness of a 
 greater mass of being would be of the essence of selfishness. Self-sac- 
 rifice, therefore, for the good of others is essentially virtuous. It was 
 under the imj^ulse of this principle that Dr. Hopkins stood forth at New- 
 port alone, in the presence of a slave -holding and slave-trading com- 
 munity, and ventured the loss of every worldly interest to plead the cause 
 of the friendless and oppressed. He was merely making his own welfare 
 subordinate to that of a greater sum of being. 
 
 In no conscious inconsistency with this principle, Dr. Hopkins held an- 
 other which might well have tended to chill his philanthropy by recon- 
 ciling him to the existence of any and every form of evil. He held that 
 this is the best possible among all supposable worlds, and has been or- 
 dained as such by the benevolence of God. Sin, though in itself an evil, 
 is, relative to the entire system of the universe, good, — better than virtue 
 would be in its place. God chose it and ordained it, because^ He saw that 
 by means of sin He could produce a higher degree of happiness to being 
 in general. The existence, therefore, of sin, with all that it involves of 
 suffering here and of retribution hereafter, is on the whole well pleasing 
 to God. There is then no absolute evil in the universe. Evil, as taught 
 by Mr. Emerson, is " only good in the making ; " an epigrammatic dic- 
 tum which precisely expresses the spirit of Hopkins's theology on this 
 point ; or as earlier set forth by Alexander Pope, 
 
 "All discord 's harmony not understood, all partial evil universal good." 
 
 This tender-hearted, benevolent man had schooled his intellect to the 
 conclusion that the infinite torment of untold millions in hell was to be 
 rejoiced in, as a necessary means to the happiness of " being in general." 
 Dr. Hopkins taught the doctrine of the absolute, unconditional decrees 
 of God in its most rigid form, and carried it out to its last results with 
 remorseless logic. The sins of all men, with all their circumstances, are 
 expressly decreed by God as better and more pleasing to Him than vir- 
 tue in their place ; and yet men are absolutely free in sinning, and will 
 be eternally punished for the very sins God so decreed. Dr. Hopkins 
 was a rigid Calvinist, but regarded himself, together with Edwards, Bel- 
 lamy, and a few others, as a reformer and improver of the Calvinistic 
 theology. Holding the doctrine of total depravity, he denied the impu- 
 tation of Adam's sin to his posterity. Teaching the election and salva- 
 tion of only a select portion of the human race, he denied the dogma of 
 a limited atonement. Maintaining that the unregenerate ought to use 
 the means of grace in order to their conversion, he yet held that their 
 using these means while unconverted is an aggravation of their guilt, and 
 peculiarly hateful to God. He taught that every child of Adam is born 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] FRANCIS MAKEMIE. 565 
 
 loaded with the guilt of damning sin, and yet that all sin consists in vol- 
 untary rebellion against God. Those modifications of the Calvinistic sys- 
 tem which were introduced by Edwards, and elaborated by the Newport 
 divine, are known by the name of " Hopkinsianism." 
 
 Dr. Hopkins died at Newport December 20, 1803, in the eighty-fourth 
 year of his age. He was an indefatigable student, writer, and preacher 
 to the last. Samuel Hopkins deserves to be held in lasting memory as 
 a profound tliinker, a great theological writer, a generous and self-sacri- 
 ficing friend of mankind. — S. H. 
 
 LIFE IV. FRANCIS MAKEMIE. 
 
 A. D. ?-A. D. 1708. PRESBYTERIAN, AMERICA. 
 
 To be the right man in the right place was the happy lot of Francis 
 Makemie. He was needed by the Presbyterian families who had been 
 settling in the American colonies during forty years. They were widely 
 scattered through the provinces from Boston Bay to the Savannah River. 
 They had their well-read Bibles, and their oft-sung psalms ; their elders 
 holding fast to the Westminster Confession of Faith; their healthful 
 children, whose souls were girded with the catechism, and their morning 
 and evening worship at home. But they were long without a ministry 
 and a church. 
 
 In 1636, the Eagle Wing sailed from a harbor near Belfast, having 
 on board about one hundred and forty Presbyterians. Their leaders 
 were a band of Scots who had preached a few years in Ireland, been 
 persecuted, and some of them deposed by a bishop for non-conformity. 
 Two of them were the famous Robert Blair and John Livingstone, so 
 eminent in the great revivals of their day. These pilgrims had built the 
 little ship, thinking of Him who said to the Hebrews, " I bare you on 
 eagles' wings." They now looked to New England for a refuge and 
 field of labor. But the mid-sea storms drove them back. In Latin 
 verses a bishop derided the return of " the Puritanical Argos without 
 the golden fleece." These ministers recovered courage, privately taught 
 in Irish neighborhoods, or openly preached in Scottish pulpits, and thus 
 helped to rear a church which would send many of her sons hither as 
 the founders of Presbyterianism in America. One of these was young 
 Makemie, evidently a " Scotch-Irishman," born (we know not when) at 
 Rathmelton in Donegal. A devout school-master led him to a jjersonal 
 belief in Christ. While a student at a university in Scotland, he must 
 have listened often for the news from the battle-fields of faith. In 1669 
 he must have felt an interest in the organization of the presbyteries in 
 Ireland. But there was no peace yet granted anywhere in Western Eu- 
 
566 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 rope to men who thought as he did. It was the critical age of Presby- 
 terianism. Its si3irit of liberty was offensive to tyrants. Under the later 
 Stuarts and Louis the Fourteenth were Covenanters and Huguenots 
 who scarcely found a door of escape. Ship-loads of them were landed 
 in America, where they were sold into servitude for a few years to pay 
 for their passage. A few noblemen sent over freer bands. They built 
 their cabins in the forests. There were small communities, but no 
 strong colony of Presbyterians in this country. About 1680 one little 
 flock, near Norfolk, Virginia, had its pastor, who was soon in his grave. 
 A few ministers came and went, or died in lonely settlements. The 
 efficient organizer had not yet come. 
 
 In 1680 the Irish presbytery of Laggan heard a renewed voice from 
 America. It received a letter from Judge William Stevens, a member 
 of Lord Baltimore's council, entreating that ministers be sent to Mary- 
 land and Virginia. The next year it licensed Francis Makemie, and 
 probably ordained him soon afterwards as an evangelist for the distant 
 Reaches Amer- colonies. He preached for a time in Barbadoes. About 
 ica, 1684. 1684 he began his labors on the continent. In the south- 
 
 east corner of Maryland there were three or four " meeting-houses," and 
 in the one at Snow Hill he organized a church. The brogue of his kin- 
 dred was there. An elder and merchant, Adam Spence, had j^robably 
 signed the Solemn League and Covenant in Scotland, and a descendant of 
 his, reciting the traditions of a hundred and thirty years, thus writes of 
 Makemie : " One generation has uttered his praises in the ears of its 
 successor, and you may even yet hear their echo. Parents made his sur- 
 name the Christian name of their chikben, until in the neighborhood of 
 Snow Hill it has become a common one." This hill was his base of mis- 
 sionary operations. 
 
 Maryland was remarkably tolerant so long as Lord Baltimore gov- 
 erned it. Makemie was free to go wherever he might find the dispersed 
 Presbyterians and organize churches. For six years he seems to have 
 had no fixed home. He resided chiefly on horseback, in the cabins 
 where he lodged, and in rude pulpits. Among his hearers at Rehoboth 
 must have been Judge Stevens, whose letter had brought him into the 
 far West. Meanwhile he had ventured down the peninsula into Vir- 
 ginia, whose laws and rulers were far from tolerant. Lord Berkeley was 
 usually severe upon all dissenters from the established church of Eng- 
 land. He admitted the pressing need of a clergy, sound, earnest, and 
 pure, but he did not favor public schools, nor the press. Makemie 
 found " a poor, desolate people," and comforted them. Beverly wrote 
 thus : " 'T is observed that those counties where the Presbyterians are 
 produce very mean tobacco, and for that reason can't get an orthodox 
 [Episcopal] minister to stay amongst them." Bettel" tobacco elsewhere 
 brought larger salaries. But there was a soil for spiritual harvests, and 
 the xmselfish Makemie sowed and reaped. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] FRANCIS MAKEMIE. 567 
 
 There were restraints upon his liberty of preaching. Relief came 
 from two sources. One was his marriage with Naomi Anderson, who 
 brought him a share in her father's wealth and extensive lands. He 
 seems to have resided thenceforth at Accomac, Virginia. He had other 
 dwellings, and had store-houses in which he preached. Of salaries to 
 him we hear nothing. He was now a prosperous ship-merchant support- 
 ing himself as a missionary. He prepared and published a catechism, 
 which led to a controversy with the erratic George Keith. His other 
 source of relief was the Toleration Act (1689) of King William Third, the 
 eminent champion of religious liberty. But it was ignored Labors for reiig- 
 in Virginia for ten years. If Makemie caused its recogni- '°^ liberty. 
 tion, his noble service deserves high praise. The tradition is that he 
 was arraigned for preaching, and that his powerful defense before the 
 governor prompted the legislature to enter the act as a law of the prov- 
 ince. He obtained his license as a dissenter, and two of his dwelling- 
 houses were registered as the places of "his constant and ordinary 
 preaching." 
 
 He was gathering more flocks than he could feed. Failing to secure 
 help from Boston he went to England in 1704, and there published "A 
 Plain and Loving Persuasion to the Inhabitants of Virginia and Mary- 
 laud," in behalf of a higher civilization. It was full of good sense. He 
 notes as " an unaccountable humour and singular to most rationals, that 
 in those provinces no attempt was made to build up towns." He urges 
 that towns would benefit lands and trade, give employment to the poor, 
 and be of great advantage to religion, education, and the general wel- 
 fare : they would not promote drunkenness, for " if there were towns, 
 there would be stocks, and sots would be placed in them." A London 
 society granted him funds to support two missionaries, but Ireland fur- 
 nished the men. In 1705 John Hampton and George Macnish began 
 their work in Maryland. 
 
 Philadelphia had become a new centre of Presbyterianism. In 1698 
 Jedediah Andrews, a native of Massachusetts, had there collected the 
 elements of a church. He went on preaching tours in Pennsylvania and 
 New Jersey. He and Makemie were kindred spirits. They knew how 
 to advance the cause they loved. They saw the need of further organ- 
 ization in a presbytery. They wisely chose the place. In 1705 Talbot, 
 an Episcopal clergyman, wrote, " There is a new meeting-house built for 
 Andrews, and almost finished, which I am afraid will draw away great 
 part of the church, if there be not the greatest care taken of it." We 
 infer that the first presbytery in America met in that house. The first 
 leaf of the records is lost, but the second page shows that the presbytery 
 was sitting in October, 1706, with Makemie as moderator. In it were 
 eight ministers, and the elders of a larger number of churches. 
 
 In 1707 Makemie and Hampton were in the city of New York, where 
 
568 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 Lord Cornbuiy had no respect for the Act of Toleration. He forbade the 
 use of the Dutch church to Makemie, whose friends secured him a private 
 house. There he preached " in as public a manner as possible, with 
 open doors." Hampton was granted a church by the people of New- 
 town, on Long Island. They were arrested. In the presence of Lord 
 Cornbury, Makemie argued that the Toleration Act extended to all the 
 colonies, and that the license taken in Virginia was good in New York. 
 The answer was, " You are strolling preachers ; you shall not spread 
 your pernicious doctrines here." " As to our doctrines," said Makemie, 
 with admirable dignity, " we have our confession of faith, which is known 
 to the Christian world ; and I challenge all the clergy of York to show 
 us any false or pernicious doctrines therein. We are able to prove 
 that its doctrinal articles agree with those of the Church of England." 
 But all argument was in vain. The accused were sent to jaU. After 
 inprisoBinNew ^ long trial they were acquitted by a jury, four of whom 
 York city. were Huguenots. But Makemie was not released until he 
 
 paid the costs, amounting to eighty-three pounds ! This injustice was 
 soon denounced by the legislature. Makemie preached in the French 
 church, and narrowly escaped arrest in New Jersey. At Boston he pub- 
 lished the sermon which had caused his imprisonment. One of the texts 
 was, " We ought to obey God rather than men." The Latin motto 
 meant that " Prayers and tears are the weapons of the church." Corn- 
 bury described him as a man of all trades. " He is a preacher, a doc- 
 tor of physic, a merchant, an attorney, a counsellor-at-law, and, which is 
 worst of all, a disturber of governments." The truth is, Makemie had 
 genius and versatility of talent. In his valuable library there were many 
 works on law, and by his study of them he contributed no little to re- 
 ligious freedom. 
 
 He died in 1708 at his own home. After the death of his two daugh- 
 ters he was without a descendant on earth. Much of his property went 
 to churches which he had nurtured, and to the relief of the poor. The 
 cause for which he had zealously labored was not widely extended in 
 Virginia until the spirit of toleration grew stronger, new emigrants 
 settled in the valleys, and the work of Samuel Blair (1740), and that 
 " prince of preachers," Samuel Davies, was blessed with a wondrous re- 
 vival. We cannot record any marked successes in the Carolinas, which 
 he visited. But in that peninsula where he was most at home, we still 
 Makcraie's title ^^^ " Makemie's churches." They are his eulogy. If he 
 to fame. jj^d traveled up the Chesapeake Bay and the Susquehanna 
 
 River to Harrisburg, thence to New York, and thence along the coast 
 back to his house, he would have measured the triangle in which Presby- 
 terianism was then flourishing. Within those limits the pioneer was soon 
 followed by the educator and the theologian, for whom he had prepared 
 the way with his zeal, diligence, wisdom, piety, and generous spirit. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JON A THAN DICKINSON. 569 
 
 Without sectarianism lie loved his church. Dr. Sprague says, " His 
 grand distinction is, that he was undoubtedly the first regular and thor- 
 ough Presbyterian minister in this country ; and he may justly be re- 
 garded as the father of the (American) Presbyterian Church." — W. M. B. 
 
 LIFE V. JONATHAN DICKINSON. 
 
 A. D. 1688-A. D. 1747. PRESBYTERIAN, AMERICA. 
 
 The year in which Makemie ceased from his labors there came into 
 New Jersey a young man who fairly represents the New England ele- 
 ment, the jDOsitive theology, the vigorous intellect, the independent 
 thought, and the educational forces in the early Presbyteriauism of 
 America. He was Jonathan Dickinson, born in 1688, in Hatfield, Mas- 
 sachusetts, and reared in the traditions of his Puritan ancestors. At the 
 age of eighteen he received the diploma of Yale College. He studied 
 theology, and in 1708 went to Elizabeth, New Jersey, with a license to 
 preach. There he married Joanna Melyen, and reared a large family. 
 There he taught young men, sometimes j^racticed medicine, and ceased 
 not to labor as a jjreacher and jjastor until he died in the sixtieth year of 
 his age. 
 
 He began his ministry as a Congregationalist, ordained in Connecticut, 
 and favorable to the doctrine and polity of the Westminster Confession. 
 He had charge of six churches in and near Elizabeth. They seem to 
 have been independent in government. Nearly all the early churches 
 of northern New Jersey and Long Island, except the Dutch, were colo- 
 nies from New England. Dickinson was soon well known ^ j^g^ j^ 
 among them and their pastors. Most of them went with lander. 
 him into the Presbyterian Church. Thus were Scots, Irish, and Puritans 
 harmoniously joined in brotherhood. 
 
 Ten years of growth had so enlarged the original presbytery that it 
 was divided into four, and in 1716 a higher organization was effected 
 under the name of the Synod of Philadelphia. " It was the openiug 
 germ of one of the goodliest growths of Christendom. Its branches, 
 high and strong, reach now from ocean to ocean, scattering more and 
 more the seeds of piety, learning, freedom, and social order." In 1717 
 Dickinson united with the presbytery of Philadelphia. He was subse- 
 quently included in the presbytery of New York, and no man did more 
 to unify its various elements. In the synod he was a leader, highly 
 esteemed for his manliness, spirituality, powerful mind, uncommon wis- 
 dom, and calm judgment. He was firm in his beliefs and convictions, 
 yet forbearing amid differences of opinion. His pen was sometimes in 
 controversy, his heart was always full of charity, and he seemed the 
 
570 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 model of a Christian gentleman. In him were combined strong thought, 
 warm devotion, and strict integrity. If the wicked trembled in his pres- 
 ence, it was because they respected his apostolic character and bearing. 
 His varied talents met the needs of his place and time. His successes 
 refuted the notion that a man of versatile powers and many employ- 
 ments cannot be efficient. He maintained honorably and quite contem- 
 poraneously the several characters of a profound theologian, a mighty 
 preacher, a diligent pastor, an active and wise churchman, the warm ad- 
 vocate of missions and revivals, an eminent educator, and an earnest 
 peace-maker. 
 
 The synod had its controversies. It saw the need of a constitution 
 to preserve the unity of the church, of which it was the highest court. 
 For this purpose the members generally were willing to adopt the West- 
 minster standards, except the articles which related to the civil power. 
 But the question rose, whether the synod should require a personal adop- 
 tion of the Confession of Faith. Many were unwilling to subscribe to 
 the very words of every doctrinal article. Dickinson led the opposition, 
 but went to an extreme. He yielded to none in his thorough Calvinism ; 
 he zealously advocated the doctrines of the confession ; yet he opposed all 
 creeds drawn up by uninspired men, lest they should become a substi- 
 tute for the Word of God. He thought that a general acknowledgment 
 of a doctrinal system was a sufficient bond of union ; that the church had 
 her true defense against laxity and error in other means ; that she should 
 carefully examine candidates for the ministry in Scripture truth and 
 piety, revive the ancient discipline, and diligently set forth the pure gos- 
 pel ; and that subscription would cause disunion. On this path he had 
 few followers then, and he has none now, in the church that he loved. 
 But his conciliatory spirit was manifest five months iater, in 1729, when 
 he served on the committee which reported the Adopting Act. It was 
 harmoniously passed. It disclaimed all " authority of imposing our faith 
 upon other men's consciences." It required every candidate and every 
 minister to declare " his agreement in opinion with all the essential and 
 necessary articles of said confession." It provided for the honest scru- 
 ples and the mistakes which did not pertain to articles " essential and 
 necessary in doctrine, worship, or government." Thus the constitution 
 was adopted, and Dickinson cordially adhered to it. 
 
 He was not the man to cherish lax views upon any important subject. 
 He had no sympathy with " the latitude-men " of England and Ireland, 
 who held positions in the Presbyterian Church and drew their salaries, 
 while they rejected her essential principles and met in coffee-houses to 
 talk flippantly against all tests of personal faith and jjiety. The same 
 mental disorder, in the guise of moderatism, was entering the church of 
 Scotland. It took the vitality from Christian faith, regeneration and 
 holy living. Personal religion melted away under its breath. The 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JONATHAN DICKINSON. 571 
 
 epidemic threatened America. Dickinson was one of the most earnest 
 men in resisting it. While pleading for the " Reasonableness of Chris- 
 tianity," in a timely volume, and for the right use of human reason in the 
 study of divine revelation, he w^as strongly averse to rationalism. He 
 would not divorce liberality from truth, for in holy truth genuine charity 
 has her greatest power and highest joy. 
 
 In his scientific mind he carried a definite system of theology and 
 church polity. He believed them to be thoroughly Script- Dickinson's 
 ural. He defended them in j^ublished sermons, pamphlets, "^'^e Points." 
 and small volumes, whose terse style and compact arguments adapted 
 them to popular use. The best of them were republished in Edinburgh, 
 Scotland, where Dr. John Erskine said that the British Isles had pro- 
 duced no wi'iters on divinity, in the eighteenth century, equal to Dick- 
 inson and Jonathan Edwards. The little book, often reprinted, with the 
 title of " Dickinson on the Five Points of Calvinism," is but one of sev- 
 eral treatises on the subjects involved in that system of theology. 
 
 The ministers of that time did not forget the heathen at home. Since 
 the days of John Eliot the gospel had won triumphs among the red men 
 of the forests. In New England there were more than thirty Indian 
 churches. Why not labor for the conversion and civilization of the 
 Indians between the Hudson and the Delaware rivers ? The tribes 
 were friendly. Dickinson was one of three Presbyterian ministers 
 who wrote in their behalf to the society in Scotland for propagating the 
 gospel in foreign lands. The reply authorized them to employ mission- 
 aries. But where find the men ? David Brainerd had been a shining 
 light among his fellow-students at Yale College, during the great revival 
 of 1741, and had lamented the coldness of certain teachers. For saying 
 privately of a tutor, " He has no more grace than this chair," he was 
 required to do more than freely admit the fault and promise to refrain 
 from improper censures. He must make public confession of a private 
 remark. This he refused to do, and he was expelled. The pleas of the 
 Hartford ministers could not secure his restoration, but they directed his 
 studies in theology and were active in his licensure to preach the gospel. 
 In November, 1742, he was engaged for the work among the Indians. 
 During his remaining five years of earthly life he labored among them 
 as an ajDOstle, often seeking rest and health in the house of Dickinson. 
 His toils, travels, endurances, successes, and journal of spiritual experi- 
 ences form one of the brightest chapters in missionary enterprise. His 
 biography by Jonathan Edwards, to whose daughter he was betrothed, 
 was read in the British Isles, and it contributed greatly to the Christ-like 
 spirit which ushered in the grand era of Protestant missions throughout 
 the world. 
 
 Three schools added powerfully to the extension and vigor of early 
 Presbyterianism in this country. In his academy at New London, Ches- 
 
572 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 ter County, Pennsylvania, the accomjDlished scholar. Dr. Francis Alison, 
 won high distinction as an educator. In the wilds of Neshaminy, about 
 twenty miles north of Philadelphia, William Tennent built " that eagle's 
 nest, the Log College." Out of it went those two famous Samuels, 
 Blair and Finley, to establish other schools ; and those ardent preachers, 
 
 the younger 
 
 " Tennents, four worthies of immortal fame, 
 Brothers iu office, birth, and heart, and name." 
 
 At Elizabeth was Dickinson, instructing young men in the classics, nat- 
 The father of ^^^'^^ scienccs, and theology. The expulsion of David Brai- 
 Princeton. nerd from Yale caused a general indignation, which was 
 
 favorable to his enterprise. The Rev. Aaron Biirr and other Presbyte- 
 rian ministers felt convinced that they must have a college for their own 
 denomination. In 1746 a charter was obtained for " Nassau Hall," the 
 original of the College of New Jersey. It was Dickinson's school, en- 
 dowed with new privileges. He was its first president. He lived but 
 one year longer to impress his character upon it. Then it wandered, 
 like Israel's ark, until it rested j^ermanently at Princeton. To be the 
 founder of such an institution, with its national glory, is an enduring 
 honor. 
 
 The great revival which moved the whole realm of Protestantism was 
 an unspeakable blessing to the American colonies. It brought out the 
 vitality of religion. It gave fresh life to all churches. To them it added 
 thousands of converts. It gave evangelical Christianity the force of a 
 common law. It prepared the jjeople for the Christian independence in 
 which they afterwards asserted and won their free nationality. But 
 with the good results there were some evils. A strife arose concerning 
 means and methods. Whitefield and the Tennents employed a few meas- 
 ures which history has not justified. The eminence of Jonathan Ed- 
 wards in promoting the revival gave him a public right to j^rotest against 
 undue excitements. He sent forth his book on the " Religious Affec- 
 tions " to correct those emotional fervors which came not from the Spirit 
 of God. Thus a controversy ran through the whole land. It was not 
 limited to any one body of Christians. Certain ministers preached 
 against the revival ; others replied with burning censures upon Meroz 
 and all who came not up, in their way, to the work of the Lord. Thus 
 fell the hot rebukes of Gilbert Tennent in his famous Nottingham ser- 
 mon. 
 
 Dickinson kept his soul in patience and moderation. He agreed with 
 Edwards, and also gave welcome to Whitefield, for both were " laborers 
 together with God." It pained him to see two parties in the synod, di- 
 vided upon questions which calmer times would settle. They differed 
 mainly in regard to revival measures, the classical education and examina- 
 tion of candidates for the gospel ministry, the right of one minister to 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JONATHAN DICKINSON. 573 
 
 preach uninvited in the parish of another, and the constitutional author- 
 ity of the synod. The new side, or the New Brunswick men, among 
 whom were the Tennents, asserted too extremely their freedom. The old 
 side, in which were Andrews and Alison, was charged with an anti-re- 
 vival spirit. The New York presbytery took conciliatory ^ j^^^^gj^ ^^ 
 ground ; in it Dickinson stood as a peace-maker. But di- u°ion- 
 vision seemed inevitable. In 1741 the new side withdrew from the 
 synod. Dickinson still labored earnestly to restore harmony. He and 
 his presbytery remained in the synod of Philadelphia until 1745, when 
 they withdrew in a fraternal spirit, joined the new side, and with them 
 formed the synod of New York on the basis of the Adopting Act. They 
 were certainly true Presbyterians. The extreme leaders of the new side 
 virtually admitted some of their jjrevious mistakes. Their zeal became 
 purified, their charity expanded, their extreme views modified, and they 
 were as earnest as Dickinson for a thorough education of ministers. 
 When the venerable founder of the Log College was in his grave (Will- 
 iam Tennent died in 1746), they brought its spiritual coals to glow afresh 
 on the new hearthstone of Nassau Hall. 
 
 During the seventeen years of separation the old synod declined from 
 twenty-six ministers to twenty-two ; the new synod increased from about 
 twenty to seventy ministers. But the proper spirit was not rivalry : it 
 was reunion. For this Dickinson was earnest so long as he lived. No 
 one had more friends in both bodies. No one did more to loosen the 
 bonds of past controversies, and fix the minds of men upon the vital 
 principles of Presbyterianism. Each side discovered the merits of the 
 other to be far greater than its mistakes. Gilbert Tennent preached no 
 more censorious and fiery Nottingham sermons. Robert Cross no longer 
 was regarded as unfriendly to revivals. The two men had parted as 
 battling cavaliers in the disunion : they came to be neighbors when Ten- 
 nent was a pastor in the city of brotherly love. " Its civilization capt- 
 ured and tamed the lion." When the old synod sent Dr. Alison and 
 others to herd the scattered flocks in Virginia and North Carolina, they 
 were urged to promote peace and unity, to avoid all party spirit, " and 
 to treat every minister of the gospel from the presbytery of New York, 
 of the like principles and peaceful temper, in a brotherly manner ; as we 
 desire to promote true religion, and not party designs." Thus time, 
 grace, good sense, and work in new fields were effecting wonders. Con- 
 troversies about measures must die ; it is the greater truth that lives. 
 
 Both synods were moving towards the path of reunion which Dickin- 
 son was earnest to make straight, when he was called to the eternal 
 home (upon the 7th of October, 1747). Nearly half of the ministers 
 of 1741 were in heaven ; others were near its gate. In 1755 the old 
 side proposed that the two bodies should unite " as though they had never 
 been concerned with one another before, nor had any differences ; which 
 
674 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 is the truth as to a great part of both synods." And thus they did unite 
 in 1758, in Gilbert Tennent's church, and with him as moderator, joining 
 their two names in one, and combining their forces to advance the king- 
 dom of Christ. One of the last acts of these fathers in this joyful ses- 
 sion was the appointment of a day when all the churches of the reunited 
 synod should pray for God's blessing on the armies which were to decide 
 whether their land was to be an English or a French domain. It was 
 decided the next year by the British conquest of the Canadas. Men 
 have thought that a divine Providence then assigned to Protestantism 
 and to Christian liberty the best part of the New World. Men now 
 think that if it shall be thus retained, there must be more union in heart 
 and effort among all the Christians who value freedom, law, literature, 
 the public schools, and the Protestant churches. — W. M. B. 
 
 LIFE VI. JOHN WITHERSPOON. 
 
 A. D. 1722-A. D. 1794. PRESBYTERIAN, AMERICA. 
 
 This star was sliining in a distant sky when first seen by an Amer- 
 ican. That prince of preachers, Samuel Davies, was appealing to the 
 British churches in behalf of the college at Princeton, New Jersey. He 
 was seeking golden sovereigns and not a president. In 1754, when rest- 
 ing at a Scottish town, he made this entry in his journal : " The nobility 
 and gentry, who are lay-elders, are generally high-flyers ; and have en- 
 croached upon the rights of the jjeople, especially as to the choice of 
 
 their own ministers There is a piece published under the title of 
 
 the Ecclesiastical Characteristics, ascribed to one Mr. Weatherspoon, a 
 young minister. It is a bui-lesque upon the high-flyers under the name of 
 moderate men; and I think the humour is nothing inferior to Dean Swift." 
 
 In 1759, Davies, whose eleven years of brilliant successes began the 
 flourishing era of Presbyterianism in Virginia, removed to Princeton as 
 the fourth president of the college. He lived to preside over it but six 
 months. The chair was ably filled by Dr. Samuel Finley until his 
 death in 1766, when the trustees looked to Old Scotia for a successor. 
 
 John Witherspoon was born in 1722, at Tester, about fourteen miles 
 Descended from ^^^^ ^f Edinburgh. Ilis father was an accurate scholar and 
 John Knox. influential pastor. His mother traced her lineage, through 
 an unbroken succession of ministers, to John Knox. She had much of 
 his spirit, firmness of opinion, and love of fatherland. She takes rank 
 with the devoted mothers of Timothy, Augustine, Anselm, and the Wes- 
 leys. It was largely through her faithfulness that her son John, proba- 
 bly the youngest child, became a steadfast Christian in his youth. In 
 the public school of Haddington, he evinced a powerful grasp of mind- 
 
Cent. XVII.- XIX.] JOHN WITHERSPOON. 575 
 
 At the age of fourteen he entered the University of Edinburgh, and in 
 his twenty-first year he was licensed to preaeh the gospel. There he 
 was the associate of William Robertson, the later historian and leader 
 of moderatism ; also of John Erskine, the later theologian who heard 
 speeches in the general assembly of 1796 against foreign missions, and 
 rose indignantly, saying, " Moderator, rax [reach] me that Bible," and 
 then proved that the gospel was intended to be sent to all nations. 
 
 With an independence of thought and action he declined to be the 
 assistant of his honored father, and away in the west of Scotland he set- 
 tled in the large parish of Beith. He married Elizabeth Montgomery, 
 of Ayrshire. In a time of great excitement he went to Falkirk to see 
 the battle there, in 1746, when the young pretender, Charles Stuart, won 
 a victory over the royal army, and hoped to gain the British throne, 
 which his grandfather, James Second, had lost by an unpatriotic devo- 
 tion to Rome. The young pastor was captured by the rebels and held 
 in prison for two weeks. He must have remembered what his ancestors, 
 such as John Welsh and his brave wife (the daughter of Knox), had en- 
 dured from the Stuarts. When released he duly appreciated the civil 
 and religious liberties established by William Third, maintained by his 
 royal successors, and still guaranteed by the utter defeat of the rebels. 
 
 But he saw another danger to religious liberty. In its rankness it 
 was growing into an extreme liberality of doctrine. It was reducing 
 personal faith to mere opinion. Too many pastors, and even professors 
 of divinity, were not pronounced in their views ; they glossed their laxity 
 with the name of moderation. They were moderate in their theology, 
 their preaching, their piety, and their efforts to check the skepticism of 
 David Hume. Pleas for orthodoxy were ridiculed. To meet all this 
 Witherspoon published anonymously, in 1753, the "Ecclesiastical Char- 
 acteristics, or the Arcana of Church Polity." It made a ^j. thirty-one 
 great sensation. It was universally popular. In ten years ^''^^ Scotland. 
 it reached a fifth edition. Men were as eager to find out the name of this 
 Pascal of the north, as more admiring Scots of the next century were to 
 identify the author of Waverley. 
 
 While suspicion was still clutching at him he was invited in 1757 to a 
 church in Paisley. But the presbytery objected to his settlement, al- 
 though his recent essay on justification gave him high rank as a practical 
 theologian. The people brought their complaint to the synod. He sup- 
 ported them. Without denying or admitting the authorship of the scath- 
 ing and irrepressible book, he employed his fine humor in showing that 
 the writer of it was doing good service to truth and moral honesty, and 
 his masterly speech forced his opposers either to confess their laxity, or 
 avow their soundness in doctrine. They yielded, placed the call in his 
 hands, and installed him at Paisley. The next year he was chosen mod- 
 erator of the synod. In due time he put forth his " Serious Apology " 
 
576 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 for the offensive book, avowing the authorship and still defending it. 
 Assailing the evils of his age, he raised another commotion. When the 
 " Tragedy of Douglas," written by Rev. John Home, was filling the Ed- 
 inburgh theatre, he sent forth his exposure of the " Nature and Effects 
 of the Stage." One result was that the clerical tragedian retired from 
 the ministry and devoted himself to literature. 
 
 In his fidelity to the pastoral office Witherspoon laid bare a reported 
 evil in his own parish. Certain young men of the socially higher ranks, 
 thinking that infidelity was the newest fashion, imitated the London 
 clubs. On the night preceding an administration of the Lord's Supper 
 in the church, they met and turned their festivity into a profane travesty 
 of that sacred ordinance. A rumor of it soon spread through the town. 
 The people talked with abhorrence of " the mock sacrament." Perhaps 
 the reports made to Witherspoon were too highly colored. Laudably 
 zealous for good order, moral decency, and the honor of the Redeemer, 
 and sufficiently prudent to wait a fortnight, he preached a sermon on 
 "■ Sinners sitting in the Seat of the Scornful." The pointed allusions 
 were clearly understood. His discourse went out from the printer's 
 hand in an Address to the Public, and with the names of the young men 
 accused. They prosecuted him and won the case, subjecting him to a 
 fine and to expenses which greatly embarrassed him until he was relieved 
 by generous friends. Aiming to act rightly he had incautiously stepped 
 into a costly school wherein he was taught a lesson against rashness. 
 
 There were in him practical abilities, scholarship, fortitude, and in- 
 creasing greatness of soul which all thoughtful and magnanimous minds 
 recognized. The University of Aberdeen in 1764 conferred on him the 
 degree of doctor of divinity. Among his publications of that year was 
 his celebrated Treatise on Regeneration. It broadened his reputation. 
 He soon had calls from a church in Dundee, and two foreign churches 
 in Dublin and in Rotterdam. He declined them all. 
 
 Scarcely were his parishioners assured of retaining him, when a voice 
 Chosen by across the ocean reached his ear. The College of New 
 Princeton. Jersey had elected him to fill the chair made vacant by 
 the death of Dr. Finley. The patriotic Richard Stockton, Esq., of 
 Princeton, who was then in London, visited him and thus wrote in 
 March, 1767 : " It is a matter absolutely certain, that if I had not gone 
 in person to Scotland, Dr. Witherspoon would not have had a serious 
 thought of accepting the office, because neither he, nor any of his 
 friends with whom he would have consulted, had any tolerable idea of 
 the place to which he was invited, had no adequate notions of the im- 
 portance of the College of New Jersey, and, more than all, would have 
 been entirely discouraged of thinking of an acceptance, by an artful, 
 plausible, yet wickedly contrived letter sent from Philadelphia to a gen- 
 tleman of Edinburgh I certainly have succeeded in removing aU. 
 
Cknt. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN WITHERSPOON. 577 
 
 the objections which have originated in his own mind. Those of Mrs. 
 Withers2)oon I could not remove, because she would not give me an op- 
 portunity of conversing with her, although I went from Edinburgh to 
 Paisley, fifty miles, on purpose." Still further he wrote quite amusingly 
 of his earnest diplomacy : " I have taken most effectual measures to 
 make her refusal very troublesome to her. I have engaged all the emi- 
 nent clergymen in Edinburgh and Glasgow to attack her in her intrench- 
 ments, and they are determined to take her by storm, if nothing else will 
 do. This has a favorable aspect, and is, at the same time, surprising, 
 because they were, upon my first coming, so unwilling to part with her 
 husband, but the light in which I have set the affairs of the college has 
 made them perfect proselytes." 
 
 Nevertheless the good woman held her fortress against this array of 
 clerical forces. She did not yet surrender. The doctor's admirable af- 
 fection overcame his usually indomitable will. The college trustees de- 
 spaired of conquest. They chose the Rev. Samuel Blair as president. But 
 while he was considering the acceptance of such an honorable position, 
 he learned that Mrs. Witherspoon had quite repented of her triumph, 
 and attained the heroism to leave her native land for a distant home. 
 Perhaps her heart had been attached to the graves of five children ; per- 
 haps she now looked forward to the welfare of the remaining three sons 
 and two daughters. She was just the woman America needed. With a 
 magnanimity that touched the doctor's heart, Mr. Blair cleared the way 
 for the reelection of Witherspoon, who accepted the office. Twenty- 
 four years of pastoral faitlifulness entitled him to publish his farewell 
 sermon on " Ministerial Fidelity in Declaring the whole Counsel of God." 
 
 Thus he " relinquished home, relatives, friends, and the advantages 
 and comforts of advanced cultured surroundings, to come over to this 
 new land, where Presbyterianism was yet in its infancy, and institutions 
 of learning were struggling for support. He came to accept the presi- 
 dency of Princeton College and to promote the cause of learning and 
 religion here. Such was his purpose alone, but unconsciously to him, 
 the Almighty intended to enlarge the sphere of his usefulness, and make 
 him a founder of the republic." 
 
 On an evening in May, 1768, all Princeton was in a fervor of delight. 
 Nassau Hall was brilliantly illuminated. The residents were not more 
 happy than were the people who rode in from the surrounding farms 
 and villages. If a stranger got out of the stage-coach to look about in 
 wonder, it was enough to say that Dr. Witherspoon had arrived.-^ The 
 whole province shared in the joy. Already had he begun his work, for 
 in London he had collected some funds and three hundred choice books 
 for the college. At his inauguration, in the next August, he delivered 
 
 1 In 1868, Dr. James McCosh, as genuine a Scot, was honored with a similar welcome to 
 the same presidency. 
 
 37 
 
578 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 au address in Latin on the " Union of Piety and Science." To promote 
 that union was his steady eflPort during the twenty-six years of his presi- 
 dency. He looked upon every student as having, not only an intellect, 
 but an immortal soul. He trained young men, not only to advance 
 truth, but to serve their country and live for God. He was an educator 
 of all the human powers. 
 
 Ever willing to render praise for all the wise measures of his prede- 
 cessors, he was earnest for progress. He made no violent changes in the 
 college. He sought improvement rather than innovation. He quietly 
 introduced such measures as would more fully qualify his pupils for 
 active life. The American colleges seem to be indebted largely to him 
 for the method of teaching by lectures. With such a wide range of 
 subjects, he could hardly be a specialist in his very profitable lectures on 
 rhetoric, taste and criticism, moral philosophy, history, and divinity. 
 Advantages were offered for the study of the Hebrew and French lan- 
 guages, in which he was an adept. When he assumed, in addition to his 
 other duties, the chair of theology, his salary was increased to four hun- 
 dred pounds. He visited New England, and the churches, particularly 
 those of Boston, contributed about one thousand pounds to the college. 
 Other funds were donated by the southern colonies. 
 
 To these various engagements were added the duties of a pastorate. 
 The Presbyterian church of Princeton was under his care for about 
 twenty-six years. It was blessed with a remarkable revival of religion, 
 in which many students were converted and prepared by divine grace for 
 the coming " times that tried men's souls." It is worthy of notice that 
 great spiritual revivals preceded the great political Revolution. 
 
 The mighty movement of that period did not spring from one creed 
 His zeal for in- ^■lone, nor One form of church polity. No writer can 
 dependence. justly claim for any religious denomination a monopoly of 
 patriotism. Let all lovers of freedom be duly honored. The historian, 
 George Bancroft, affirms that the first voice publicly raised for the com- 
 plete independence of the colonies came from the Presbyterians. As soon 
 as they heard of the Puritan blood shed at Lexington, they were willing 
 to make their resistance a revolt. The month of May, 1775, was remark- 
 able for their assemblies and utterances. Those who met in the counties 
 ■of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, and Mecklenburg, North Carolina, com- 
 mitted themselves fearlessly to the cause of liberty. That same month 
 the synod — then the highest court of their church — sent forth a pas- 
 toral letter drawn up by a committee, of wliich Drs. Witherspoon and 
 Eodgers were leading members. It was wisely adapted to " this impor- 
 tant crisis." It brought the practical truths of the gospel to remem- 
 brance. It urged loyalty to the king, but the union of the colonies ; 
 mutual esteem and charity among all religious denominations ; vigilance 
 in social government and morals ; a careful maintenance of the rights of 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN WITHERSPOON. 579 
 
 conscience ; humanity and mercy, especially among all who should be 
 called into the field of war. " That man will fight most bravely who 
 never fights till it is necessary, and who ceases to fight as soon as the 
 necessity is over." Thus the synod stood abreast of the Continental 
 Congress in the advance to a higher freedom. At that date even Wash- 
 ington " abhorred the idea of independence." But the greatest men grew 
 rapidly in those days. 
 
 During the long struggle Witherspoon said, " When I first came into 
 this country, nothing was farther from my expectation than the contest 
 that has now taken place between Great Britain and the colonies." In 
 his view revolution was a last resort, but not then a repulsive crime. 
 He was of a blood that loved freedom. His heart beat warm for hu- 
 manity. Against the " divine right of kings " he placed the diviner rights 
 of honest people and of enlightened conscience. In an age when republics 
 were limited to Switzerland and the Netherlands, he dared to be a repub- 
 lican. He valued all the relations of a common language and blood, a 
 common religion and life, between the old country and the new. But 
 these only made the British injustice more glaring and the oppression 
 more intolerable. With his strong convictions of right, " he soon com- 
 prehended the nature of the dispute and its blessings, and not only ar- 
 dently espoused the cause of the colonies, but early believed and urged 
 that they should unite for defense and declare for independence. Natu- 
 rally he found himself an advocate of the rights of the colonies, and the 
 people of his adopted State, seeing in him the qualities necessary for the 
 times, called him for a leader." 
 
 He was not a politician in any other sense than that of a high-toned, 
 honest, unselfish, Christian statesman. The first time that he ever car- 
 ried a political subject into the pulpit was May 17, 1776, the day ap- 
 pointed for a public fast by the Continental Congress, He then preached 
 a sermon which helloed to make the history of a critical period. It was 
 upon the " Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men." All 
 patriots saw marvelous wisdom in it, for therein he affirmed that the 
 cause in which America was then in arms was the cause of justice, of 
 liberty, and of human nature, and earnestly exhorted the people to union, 
 firmness and patience, industry and economy. Among the gems that 
 sparkle in it are these : " He is the best friend of American liberty who 
 is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion. An 
 avowed enemy to God I do not scruple to call an enemy to his country. 
 I do not wish you to oppose any man's religion, but everybody's wicked- 
 ness. The cause is sacred, and its champions should be holy." 
 
 In this country the sermon was received from the press with marked 
 approval and great effect. Its author was known to be " as high a son 
 of liberty as any in America." It was republished in Glasgow, and care- 
 fully guarded with notes by editors who wished to expose the preacher 
 
580 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 'as a traitor, rebel, and " a chief promoter of the American revolt." They 
 wrote that " the scheme of independence, it is said, was first planned by 
 him, and success to the independent States of America, we are told, was 
 a favorite toast at the doctor's table when entertaining a number of del- 
 egates before it was resolved on by the Congress." They were glad to 
 publish rumors that might disgrace him in Scotland ; we are glad that 
 the rumors grew from the simple fact of his being one of the most ad- 
 vanced patriots. Heroes like him took their place at the front, as if re- 
 sponding to the call of the hour : — 
 
 " God give us men ! A time like this demands 
 Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands : 
 Men whom the lust of office does not kill; 
 Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; 
 Men who possess opinions and a will; 
 Men who have honor ; men who will not lie." 
 
 In a few days he was elected a delegate to the Congress of New Jer- 
 His work in ^^J' ^* Burlingtou. In it he sat but ten days, yet this was 
 Congress. time enough for him to take a zealous part in the expulsion 
 
 of the royal governor as an enemy to the country, in ending the rule of 
 King George Third over that province, and in the formation of a new 
 government. It was not a time to discuss the right, but to achieve the 
 fact, of a revolution. If he did not assist in framing the original consti- 
 tution of that State, " he was a master spirit in giving it an impetus, and 
 in securing the independence of the colony." 
 
 This provincial body sent Dr. Witherspoon, Richard Stockton, and 
 three other delegates to the Continental Congress, then in session at 
 Philadelphia. They took their seats during the warm debate on the 
 question of American independence. They found that many members 
 doubted whether any delegates were empowered to vote for such an ex- 
 treme measure. But these five Jerseymen had been fully authorized to 
 assume this moral courage. They were already accomplished revolution- 
 ists. On July 2d, "Witherspoon insisted that the country was not only 
 ripe for independence, but was in danger of decay for the want of it. In 
 one of his eloquent speeches he said, " For my own part, of property I 
 have some, of reputation more ; that reputation is staked, that property 
 is pledged, on the issue of this contest. And although these gray hairs 
 must soon descend into the sepulchre, I would infinitely rather that they 
 should descend thither by the hand of the executioner than desert at this 
 crisis the sacred cause of my country." 
 
 Among the signatures to the Declaration of Independence is the name 
 of one minister of the gospel. It is that of John Witherspoon, the only 
 clergyman in the general Congress. The weight of his opinions, ex- 
 pressed by voice and pen, was acknowledged in every session during 
 four years. Near the close of 1779 he resigned his seat, lest its reten- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN WITHERSPOON. 581 
 
 tion should involve him in debts which he could never cancel, but chiefly 
 because the college at Princeton was in desolation. 
 
 The students very generally had enlisted in the war. The college 
 had been captured and held by British troojjs as a barrack. Washing- 
 ton had regained it, and made it the temporary home and hospital of 
 patriotic soldiers. The library and philosophical apparatus, which Dr. 
 Witherspoon had been so diligent in collecting, were sadly injured. 
 " The church where he preached was also rifled of its pews for fire- 
 wood, and his farm was plundered of its stock. It cost something to be 
 a patriot in those days, and he paid for it dearly. During the disper- 
 sion of the college the trustees met once in May, 1777, at Cooper's 
 Ferry, ojjposite Philadelphia, and authorized Dr. Witherspoon, if the 
 enemy removed out of the State, to call the students together at Prince- 
 ton, and proceed with their education in the best manner he could, con- 
 sidering the state of public affairs, and, if more students could be col- 
 lected than he could instruct himself, to obtain such assistance as might 
 be necessary. As soon as circumstances allowed, but gradually, the 
 college buildings were cleansed and rej^aired, and by his efforts, with 
 the assistance of Professors Stanhope Smith and Houston, the institu- 
 tion struggled along with a feeble existence." 
 
 In 1781 he was reelected to Congress, for his constituents felt that his 
 wisdom and energy were needed in the hall of national councils. His 
 dress showed that he was there as a " minister of God," in both a sacred 
 and a civil sense. The calls for the public observance of days of fasting 
 and prayer were usually, if not always, written by him. Many of the 
 most important papers on national affairs and measures came from his 
 hand. Neither his courage in the strife nor his confidence in God ever 
 faltered in the darkest day. He was six years in Congress. When he 
 returned, in 1782, to his more professional duties in college and church, 
 the sky was brightening with victory and the promise of advantageous 
 peace. The next year the United States were recognized by Great 
 Britain as an independent nation. His visit to his native isle, on a com- 
 mission to solicit donations for the college, was not favored by a people 
 who were still sore over defeat and loss. Some of them could not for- 
 get the Scotch edition of his sermon on the Dominion of Providence, and 
 they could not yet believe its doctrine of national liberty. It is not 
 known that he was invited to preach, except at Paisley. On the voy- 
 age one eye was sq injured that it became sightless. He toiled on, lead- 
 ing the college to a national reputation, reuniting the ties between the 
 Presbyterian churches of Great Britain and America, and adding to his 
 publications. After his death his works were collected in six or more 
 volumes, and published at Philadelphia and Edinburgh. Not then was 
 he stigmatized by the notes of an editor. There were admirers abroad 
 to read an American book. 
 
582 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 Dr. Witherspoon was conspicuous in the circle of eminent men who 
 elevated the Synod into the General Assembly of the Pres- 
 
 Opens the first . ^, i t't t • •• i 
 
 American gen- bytcrian Church, and adjusted its constitution to the state 
 assem y. ^^ affairs in the republic. The federal constitution was 
 adopted almost contemporaneously with it. He opened the first assem- 
 bly, in May, 1789, with a sermon, and was glad to see Dr. John 
 Rodgers as the first moderator. He was the chairman of a committee to 
 di'aft an address to President "Washington. In it were these golden sen- 
 tences, worthy of a thousand repetitions : " Public virtue is the most 
 certain means of public felicity, and religion the surest basis of virtue. 
 We therefore esteem it a peculiar happiness to behold in our chief mag- 
 istrate a steady, uniform, and avowed friend of the Christian religion. 
 .... We shall consider ourselves as doing an acceptable service to 
 God, in our profession, when we contribute to render men sober, honest, 
 and industrious citizens, and the obedient subjects of a lawful govern- 
 ment. In these pious labors we hope to imitate the most worthy of our 
 brethren of other Christian denominations, and to be imitated by them." 
 The reply of Washington showed his high appreciation of these senti- 
 ments, and of the j^rayers offered for the country and for liimself. 
 
 When the next autumn leaves were falling, the excellent Mrs. With- 
 erspoon passed into the better world. The doctor was left quite alone. 
 One son of great promise had given his life to the cause of liberty ; the 
 other two had homes in the South. One daughter was the wife of Prof. 
 Stanhope Smith, who would be the next college president ; the other 
 married Dr. David Ramsay, the historian. In 1791 Dr. Witherspoon 
 wedded Mrs. Dill, who was more than forty years his junior. Soon after 
 this event he was riding through Vermont in search of lands which had 
 sadly reduced his finances ; his horse fell, and the remaining sound eye 
 was so injured that he became totally blind. Yet with a secretary he 
 did a vast amount of work. He still preached every third Sabbath until 
 his days were almost ended. His descent to the grave was that of a 
 patriarch who was leaving a tribe of spiritual sons to heed his noble 
 example, and who had sublime views of the heavenly land. His spirit 
 crossed the border in November, 1794, and he was beyond the reach of 
 sin and blindness. 
 
 Men who knew and loved Dr. Witherspoon as a teacher, associate, or 
 counselor thought him worthy of full description. What the brush of 
 the elder Peale did for his manly features the pen of Ashbel Green at- 
 tempted for his character. He was of medium height, rather corpulent, 
 with a presence almost as majestic as that of Washington. He assumed 
 nothing ; his noble bearing was natural. He did not think about it, and 
 yet he never forgot it. He tried no arts of Chesterfield. The plain man 
 in dress was seen to manage his Tusculum farm with dignity. His fond- 
 ness for agriculture was quite equal to his failure in it. He jocosely 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN WITHERSPOON. 583 
 
 said that scientific farmers could generally assign good reasons for their 
 want of success. In his garden he won richer triumphs. 
 
 Until he was blind he usually traveled in the saddle. The students 
 admired his dignified horsemanship. He said that in Scotland it was 
 very indecorous to put a horse on the gallop. He never did it there, and 
 only once in America : it was when the British army was marching on 
 Philadelphia, and Congress adjourned to Lancaster, riding thither post- 
 haste to escape seizure by the enemy's cavalry. Like Washington, he 
 regarded punctuality as a cardinal virtue. On the man who failed to 
 keep an engagement at the hour he rarely wasted any more time or 
 confidence. 
 
 When he was roused by injustice, his indignation was that of gentle 
 natures, honest and tremendous, but not many suns went down upon his 
 wrath. His temper may have been naturally high, and flaming at times 
 against wrong, but it came to be subdued by reason, grace, and vigilance. 
 His keen satire usually fell only on those who deserved it, and then to 
 scourge arrogance or vice. His wit, fine humor, and aptness in telling 
 a good story were kept for his more intimate friends in the social circle, 
 and for those who enjoyed his hospitality. They did not appear in his 
 sermons. 
 
 Prayer was an element in his daily life. He sought to walk with God 
 and to commend the gospel by a solid example. Scholar as he was, he 
 was " more a man of genius than of learning." He read choice books 
 and digested them. He was a deep thinker, a close investigator of im- 
 portant subjects, a treasurer of valuable knowledge. He paid the drafts 
 upon his information at sight, and had no mental panics. He wrote his 
 discourses, and delivered them from memory with such grace that he 
 seemed to speak extemporaneously. He cared little for the merely ex- 
 ternal forms of oratory ; he manifested the heart and reality of it. 
 When it was known that he was to preach, he had large and attentive 
 audiences. His object was to set forth the word of God, to make plain 
 the way of eternal life, that the hearers might be saved and glorified 
 together with Christ. 
 
 It was peculiarly fitting that his name should be prominent in the lit- 
 erature and honors of the centennial year, and that the Church, whose 
 spii'it he so ably represented in his civil career, and citizens, whose rights 
 he advocated, should erect to him a monument. His statue of bronze, 
 colossal in size, was reared in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. There 
 he appears in the picturesque costume of that olden time, — the ample 
 coat and vest, the neat cambric neckerchief, the short clothes and low 
 shoes, and the Geneva gown in exceedingly graceful folds hanging from 
 the shoulder. There the magnificent statue, for years we cannot num- 
 ber, will attract the gaze and evoke the admiration of the millions who 
 will pass along the beautiful Lansdowne drive. — W. M. B. 
 
584 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 LIFE VIL HENRY MELCHIOR MUHLENBERG. 
 
 A, D. 1711-A. D. 1787. LUTHERAN, AMERICA. 
 
 In common with other Protestants, the first Lutherans who emigrated 
 to this country came to escai^e persecution at home. In the central and 
 southern portions of Germany, the influence of the Reformation failed to 
 rise superior to the Roman Catholic power ; so that whatever cities or 
 districts within that territory had received Protestant doctrines became 
 the objects of Catholic vengeance. Many and severe were the hardships 
 and sufferings which their inhabitants had to endure for conscience' sake. 
 Their towns and provinces were dejjopulated, their property was confis- 
 cated or laid waste. England, Holland, and the northern states of Ger- 
 many offered homes to the fugitives ; and the New World, which was 
 just opening, became an asylum for these unfortunate people. 
 
 The first Lutherans who settled in this country were from Holland. 
 First Lutherans They Came in 1626, and settled in New York. While this 
 in America. territory remained under the control of Holland, they were 
 compelled to worship in private, being forbidden by the laws of the 
 mother country to hold public services. When, in 1664, it became a 
 province of England, permission was obtained from James, duke of 
 York, for the conducting of worship in public. They were also granted 
 the privilege of sending to Germany for a pastor who should minister to 
 them in religion. 
 
 In the year 1644, the first Lutherans from Germany arrived. Vari- 
 ous detachments came during the remainder of this century, to which 
 large numbers were added in the first half of the next. They were gen- 
 erally from the Palatinate and other states in which intolerance did not 
 allow any mode of worship contrary to the established religion. These 
 early emigrants, who were fidly consecrated to a holy and pious life, 
 could not be driven into submission against their convictions. 
 
 In 1733, the Salzburgers, a body of Lutherans called after Salzburg, 
 their native country, came to Georgia, settling about twenty miles above 
 Savannah. Thirty thousand of these people had been driven from their 
 homes by persecution. Georgia had just been chartered as a colony, and 
 it had been stipulated that it should become the asylum of " distressed 
 Salzburgers and other Protestants." The " trustees " of the colony and 
 " The Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge," one of the 
 noble institutions of England, took a deep interest in the wandering 
 Salzburgers. They invited them to find homes in the New World, and 
 furnished them with passage money ; and upon the arrival of the emi- 
 grants they gave to each one a certain amount of land, with the privi- 
 leges of English citizenship. These people were under the spiritual 
 
Cent. XVII. -XIX.] HENRY MELCHIOR MUHLENBERG. 585 
 
 guidance of several devoted pastors, and they became noted for their 
 piety, faithfulness, and prosperity. 
 
 Numerous detachments of Lutherans came, in like manner, to nearly 
 every colony from Maine to Georgia. Pennsylvania, how- Lutherans in 
 ever, was the province which attracted the largest number. Pennsylvania. 
 Its climate was genial ; so was the welcome extended by William Penn. 
 He threw wide open the doors of his colony, and invited all men " who 
 believed in God and lived jDcaceably with their neighbors, to come and 
 find a home." 
 
 Many years intervened between the arrival of the first Lutheran emi- 
 grants and that of the first Lutheran ministers, except in the Swedish set- 
 tlement in New Jersey. The Holland Lutherans were in this country 
 nearly fifty years before they had among them any one authorized to 
 exercise the functions of the ministerial office. Jacob Fabricius, who 
 arrived and began his labors in 1669, was their first pastor. Previous to 
 his coming, they had depended altogether on lay supervision and instruc- 
 tion. 
 
 The time between the arrival of Lutherans in Pennsylvania and the 
 coming of Muhlenberg, the first minister, was almost a hundred years. 
 As his training and his coming grew out of one of the most important 
 movements that ever affected the Protestant church in Germany, it will 
 be profitable to revert to it. 
 
 Spener and Francke produced in their country a genuine revival of 
 piety.-^ They saw the dead formalism into which the church of the 
 seventeenth century had fallen, and labored to arouse her from her 
 lethargy. They urged the necessity of regeneration, and of true piety 
 in both the ministry and the laity. They insisted on the better ob- 
 servance of the Sabbath day and the duty of all Christians to labor for 
 the kingdom of God. 
 
 Spener based his theology on the Bible as confirmed and explained by 
 personal experience, while the orthodox party based its theology on the 
 Bible as explained by the symbolical books. Orthodoxy regarded the 
 observance of the "Word and of the sacraments as the basis of the church, 
 while Pietism, as the views of Spener were called, declared the church 
 to exist in its true believers. 
 
 The methods of church work which Spener and Francke practiced were 
 revolutionary. The former instituted classes for instructing the young ; 
 he established prayer-meetings and conventicles for the study of the 
 Scriptures. The latter became a professor in the University of Halle, 
 where he began to lecture to his students in theology on the different 
 books of the Bible, instead of the various forms of philosophy, that he 
 might prepare them to make practical exj)Ositions of divine truth. Both 
 preached against worldly dissipation and amusements, against dancing, 
 
 1 See pp. 400-420. 
 
586 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 against the theatre, and against card-playing. Under their preaching and 
 influence missions were established. The University of Halle sent mis- 
 sionaries to every part of the world. Out of such a spirit was the Amer- 
 ican Lutheran Church born, for its founder, Henry Melchior Muhlen- 
 berg, was a disciple of Francke, and was trained under his influence. 
 
 Muhlenberg was born in 1711. His parents were poor. The father 
 Muhlenberg ^^^^ whcn liis SOU was but twclvc years of age. The boy 
 guided for work, early studied the German and Latin languages, and was dil- 
 igently instructed in the doctrines of the Christian religion. After the 
 death of his father, he was compelled to engage in manual labor until 
 he reached his twenty-first year. He now applied himself to the study 
 of Latin, Greek, French, and Hebrew. He attended the University of 
 Gottingen at twenty-four. Though confirmed at twelve, his real religious 
 experience did not commence until this period. When awakened and 
 converted he at once gave himself up to the solemn duties of a Christian 
 life. In connection with some fellow-students he gathered together the 
 poor, neglected children about the streets, and taught them the element- 
 ary branches of learning and religion. Tliis was regarded as an irreg- 
 ularity by some of the clergy and school-masters, and the young men were 
 brought to trial. Being ably defended they were acquitted. 
 
 In 1738, Muhlenberg was sent to Halle, where he "had committed to 
 him the instruction of the primary classes, whence he was regularly trans- 
 ferred, until he had passed through all the departments successively, and 
 was finally placed in charge of the classes in theology, Hebrew, and 
 Greek." At the University of Halle he became fully imbued with the 
 spirit and devotion of the Pietists. 
 
 In 1741, Dr. Francke was requested by the Germans in Pennsylvania 
 to send them a minister. The mission was proposed to Muhlenberg, 
 who, after due consideration, accepted it. At the close of the year 1741, 
 he resigned his position at home, and by the 13th of June, 1742, he was 
 Reaches Amer- ^^'^ ^^^ ^^1 ^^ *^^® Western World. He sailed to Charleston, 
 i'^a- South Carolina, for the purpose of examining the condition 
 
 of the Lutheran church in Georgia, for he had been made the overseer 
 of all the German Lutheran settlements in this country, and it was part 
 of his mission to report year by year the welfare and progress of the 
 church to the University of Halle. He spent a month with the Salz- 
 burgers, and then set out in a sloop for Philadelphia, where he arrived 
 in the latter part of November, 1742. 
 
 His coming was most opportune. There were none to minister to the 
 religious wants of the people, except several self-constituted pastors, who 
 were men without education and without piety. Though the first Ger- 
 mans in America were men of earnest devotion, they could not, without 
 religious advisers, retain their piety, or transmit it to their children. They 
 consequently declined rapidly in spirituality. When Muhlenberg came 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] HENRY MELCHIOR MUHLENBERG. 587 
 
 he found their religious condition most deplorable. There were no 
 churches and no school-houses, save one building in New Hanover, and 
 that too poor for occupancy. He at once undertook to build churches 
 and school-houses for the religious and secular instruction of both old 
 and young. Very few of the young could read, and teachers of suitable 
 character and qualifications could not be procured. So Mulilenberg be- 
 came both pastor and teacher. " Necessity," he says, " has compelled 
 me to become a teacher of children. One week I keep school in Phila- 
 delphia, the next in Providence, and the third in New Hanover ; and I 
 think God's grace is visiting us. It was, however, high time that I should 
 come. If affairs had remained a few years longer in the same state in 
 which I found them, our poor Lutherans would have been scattered, or 
 turned over to heathenism." Describing the religious con- jjjg picture of 
 dition of the country, he says, " Atheists, deists, and natu- America, 
 ralists are to be met with everywhere. I think that there is not a sect in 
 the Chi'istian world that has not followers here. You meet with persons 
 from almost every nation in the world. God and his Word are openly 
 blasphemed. Here are thousands who by birth, education, and confir- 
 mation ought to belong to our church, but they are scattered to the four 
 winds of heaven. The spiritual state of our people is so wretched as to 
 cause us to shed tears in abundance. The young people are grown up 
 without instruction and without knowledge of religion, and are turning 
 to heathenism." This sad condition did not appal the heart of our noble 
 missionary, or make him sigh for the more desirable field he had left, but 
 he set about energetically to supplant this moral desolation with spirit- 
 ual life and activity. 
 
 He was elected pastor of three churches, one at Philadelphia, one at 
 New Hanover, and one at New Providence. These were almost forty 
 miles distant from each other. For two and a half years pastor Muhlen- 
 berg was alone in his work in Pennsylvania, but in 1745 other ministers 
 arrived from Halle, who came at the earnest request of the missionary 
 and the jseople. New congregations were at once organized, the circle 
 was enlarged, and efforts were made to reach every German community. 
 Muhlenberg was the leading spirit in every movement ; his eye was on 
 every church ; his counsel was sought in every difficulty. The congre- 
 gation at New York having become divided, he was sent for to bring 
 about a reconciliation. He made them a visit, proposed a solution of 
 their troubles, and succeeded in restoring peace and harmony. 
 
 The work of bringing the scattered Germans under religious training 
 was so well carried on that at the beginning of the second half of the 
 eighteenth century, eight years after the arrival of the first missionary, 
 there were eight ministers laboring in Pennsylvania, having twenty-three 
 organized churches under their charge. 
 
 Muhlenberg never consulted his own ease in his work. As soon as he 
 
588 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 was relieved at one point he sought another. He traveled far and wide, 
 responding to the call of duty among the churches from 
 activity. New York to Georgia. He preached in churches, in pri- 
 
 vate houses, in the open air, and carried the gospel from house to house 
 in pastoral visitation. He adapted himself to the wants and tastes of 
 the people. He was able to preach in either the German, Dutch, or 
 English language,. sometimes using all three the same day. Had his 
 wise policy been pursued by his immediate successors, so much of the 
 work performed by him and his co-laborers would not have been lost to 
 the church of which they were members ; but those coming after them, 
 confining their ministrations to the German language, were not able to 
 hold those who were growing up under the influence and training of 
 the English language and customs. 
 
 Every means by which piety could be cultivated was practiced by pas- 
 tor Muhlenberg. Immediately on his arrival in this country he organized 
 prayer-meetings for the edification of* the church ; these he could seldom 
 attend. They were held often, three times each week, some pious lay- 
 men presiding. Prayers were offered, the Bible and books of religious 
 value were read. So marked were these meetings that wicked men some- 
 times made it an object to disturb them by casting stones against the door, 
 His catholicity ^^^ ^J reviling the worshipers as pietists and hypocrites, 
 of Bpirit. jje Yras a promoter of revivals of religion. He and Dr. 
 
 Helmuth speak of " protracted meetings " with great satisfaction. The 
 interest which the people took in their preaching during such efforts was 
 manifested by the " audible weeping of the congregation, and the advice 
 sought in private concerning the salvation of their souls." 
 
 Muhlenberg had no stated forms h^ which worship should be invaria- 
 bly conducted. When he used a liturgical service it was short and sim- 
 ple, but he believed that a minister should be bound to no system. In 
 all his services his object was to lead men to Christ, so he adopted any 
 method that would bring about the desired end. His preaching was plain 
 and simple • he used both the formal discourse and the more practical 
 method of question and answer. Sometimes, immediately after the ser- 
 mon, the congregation was questioned on the leading points presented 
 in it ; they were requested to find the proof texts, which led them to 
 bring their Bibles to church. The afternoon hour was frequently em- 
 ployed in question and answer, the subject being either the morning 
 sermon or some other portion of the Bible, or the catechism. He ex- 
 pressed his notion of preaching as follows : " In our discourses we ought 
 to make no ostentatious display of learning, but study simplicity. We 
 should neither strike into the air, nor employ low and vulgar expressions ; 
 not introduce too much matter into a sermon, but discuss the subject fully, 
 and apply it to the heart. Our sermons should not be dry, but practical. 
 Religion should be presented not as a burden, but as a pleasure. Let us 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] HENRY MELCHIOR MUHLENBERG. 589 
 
 sow with tears, let us aim at the edification of each individual soul, and 
 give heed to ourselves and to our doctrines." 
 
 Muhlenberg, with his co-workers, was never satisfied until he had 
 brought those under his instruction into full Christian experience. He 
 everywhere insisted on rigid discipline. His strict views concerning the 
 sanctity of the Sabbath in many places brought him into trouble with 
 those who looked upon it as a day for general recreation and amusement. 
 Of the general results of their labors he and his associates in the min- 
 istry declare that with the middle-aged, who had grown up without in- 
 struction, they were unsuccessful, but that from the young they derived 
 great encouragement. 
 
 A serious difficulty had arisen among the pastors who labored amid 
 the Lutherans of Georgia. Muhlenberg made a journey to that prov- 
 ince in 1774, for the purpose of effecting a reconciliation. He met 
 pastors and people, and exhorted them to mutual forbearance and for- 
 giveness. He finally obtained an agreement that they would bury all 
 former contentions and offenses. On his return from this meeting he 
 wrote the following words : "I was so tortured and worried in body and 
 spirit that I had to lie down. O Lord, how much has not the enemy of 
 man already won, if he can effect a breach between ministers and col- 
 leagues in a church ! What hateful mischief he does to the sheep when 
 he has disarmed the shepherds ! How despised is the holy office and its 
 dignity in the sight of Hamites and Canaanites, when they have seen the 
 nakedness of the fathers, and scoff at it ! " 
 
 Li 1748 was held the first conference of Lutheran ministers in Penn- 
 sylvania. Six were present, with a correspondinor number 
 
 X o Fr6si(l6S over 
 
 of laymen. As the leading spirit, Muhlenberg was made the first con- 
 president. At this meeting, John V. Kurtz was set apart 
 to the gosjjel ministry, being the first Lutheran minister ordained in this 
 country. 
 
 Conferences or synodical meetings continued to be held with more or 
 less regularity by the fathers of the Lutheran Church. These meetings 
 were turned to great profit. Muhlenberg speaks of one in this lan- 
 guage : " After the close of public worship all the ministers convened at 
 my house, and held a Biblical colloquy on the essential characteristics of 
 genuine repentance, faith, and godliness, in which they endeavored to ben- 
 efit each other, according to the grace given them, by communicating the 
 results of their own experience and self-examination, so that it was a 
 cheermg and a delightful season. The residue of the evening was spent 
 in singing spiritual hymns and psalms, and in conversation about the 
 spiritual condition of our churches ; and so short did the time appear 
 that it was three o'clock in the morning before we retired to rest. Oh, 
 how delightful it is when ministers, standing aloof from all political and 
 party contests, seek to please their Lord and Master Jesus Chi'ist, and 
 
590 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 have at heart the welfare of their churches and the souls intrusted to 
 their care, and are willing rather to suffer reproach with the people of 
 God than choose the treasures of Egypt ! " 
 
 During the Revolutionary War, the Germans generally were strong 
 supporters of the colonies. Though thousands of them had taken the 
 oath of allegiance to England, they still felt that for their own sake and 
 for that of their children they must sustain the colonial cause. Conse- 
 A patriotic old q^cntly many of them were among the proscribed. Muh- 
 ™^'^- lenberg was included in that number. He retired from 
 
 Philadelphia during its occupancy by the British troops. Some of his 
 friends crossed the lines into the city, and when they returned he said, 
 " They report that the name of Muhlenberg is made very suspicious 
 among the Hessian and English officers in Philadelphia, who threaten 
 bitterly with prison, torture, and death, if they can catch the old fellow." 
 One of his sons, a Lutheran minister, left the pulpit for the camp, and 
 after the organization of the government he was elected speaker of the 
 first three houses of Congress. 
 
 In 1782 Dr. Muhlenberg was compelled to retire from the active 
 ministry. He died in 1787, in the full triumph of an inspiring faith. 
 His life was one of pure devotion to the cause of Christianity. He was 
 practical and direct in all his teachings ; he taught a religion that touched 
 not only the head, but also the heart. He fraternized with all Chris- 
 tians, no matter what name they bore, for with them he recognized but 
 one Lord, one faith, one baptism. His mind was born to command and 
 inspire ; while his piety and exemplary character made him in his ad- 
 vanced years an object of veneration to all with whom he came in con- 
 tact. Those who came immediately after him did not adopt his method 
 and spirit, which however have been taken up and pursued by later 
 leaders of the Lutheran Church in the United States. — B. F. P. 
 
 LIFE VIIL MICHAEL SCHLATTER. 
 
 A. D. 1716-A. D. 1790. REFORMED (geRMAn), AMERICA. 
 
 All know the story of the Pilgrims and Puritans of New England : 
 how that in order to carry out in peace their conscientious views in re- 
 spect to church order they crossed the ocean and founded here new com- 
 monwealths, that have been so favored by Providence as to grow far 
 beyond their original expectations. The story of the first settlement of 
 the Germans in large numbers in the colony of William Penn is not less 
 interesting than the well-known story of the Pilgrims. They left their 
 beautiful liomes in consequence of religious persecutions, and many of 
 them found a welcome refuge first in England before coming to America. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] MICHAEL SCHLATTER. 591 
 
 They were more severely persecuted than were the non-conformists of 
 England. Not only were they not allowed to worship in peace, accord- 
 ing to their reformed faith, but active, violent, and persevering efforts 
 were made to compel them again to become Romanists. In 1686 the 
 great Augsburg league was formed by the emperor and many princes, 
 which undertook to defend the borders of the empire, in pursuance of 
 which the western frontier of Germany was sorely oppressed. In 1689 
 the Palatinate was given over to pillage and plunder by the French. The 
 commander, Melac, laid a great portion of the city of Heidelberg in 
 ashes. Cities and villages shared a similar fate. Many of the inhab- 
 itants perished in the cold, and many others who tried to rescue their 
 goods were slain. In consequence of a long-continued series of persecu- 
 tions, there now followed such an exodus as is without a parallel in the 
 history of Europe, excepting the ancient migration of the Germanic peo- 
 ples, and the Saxon invasion of England in the fifth century. We are 
 told " that the traveler who to-day visits the Palatinate will often hear 
 the fixrmer call his dog ' Melac,' ' Melac,' in detestation of the memory 
 of the inhuman butcher who nearly two hundred years ago made the 
 castellated Rhine run red with innocent blood." 
 
 Nothing in history is more beautiful than the warm sympathy and love 
 that existed in the post-Reformation age between the diiFerent branches 
 of the reformed churches in the different parts of Europe. When the 
 Palatines were driven out of their homes, thousands of them fled to 
 England, where they were kindly received, protected, and aided, as John 
 de Laski and his brethren from Friesland had been previously. When 
 Knox and thousands of the best men of Scotland and England were com- 
 pelled for a time to flee to the Continent, they found a safe refuge and a 
 Christian reception in Frankfort (Germany) and in Geneva (Switzer- 
 land). When, in the days of the infamous Alba, more than two hundred 
 thousand families fled in terror from Holland, they were received with 
 open arms by the neighboring German provinces (now included in West- 
 phalia) and in the distant Palatinate. When the Huguenots were driven 
 in such great numbers from France, they found brethren of the same re- 
 formed fiiith ready to help them in Germany and England. And it was 
 the powerful voice of Cromwell speaking from England that stayed for 
 a time the persecutions of the Waldenses. 
 
 The original emigration from Germany, which forms the root of the 
 two denominations in America known as the Reformed and _ . 
 
 The home of the 
 
 the Lutherans, came from that province in Germany then German Re- 
 
 . •' formed. 
 
 known as the Palatinate. It is the most fertile and most 
 beautiful part of Germany, lying on its frontiers over against France, 
 through which contending armies have for ages passed and repassed. It 
 has long since ceased to be a separate kingdom. A portion of it (Rhen- 
 ish Bavaria) belongs now to Bavaria ; another portion, with the ducient 
 
592 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 capital, Heidelberg, forms the sovithern part of Baden ; aud a third por- 
 tion has recently been annexed to Prussia. 
 
 Soon after the territory of Pennsylvania was granted to William Penn 
 by the king of England (on the 4th of March, 1681), the Germans com- 
 menced to settle in this new colony. As early as 1730 a report made to 
 the synod of South Holland states, " Not long after the first settlement' 
 many of the oppressed inhabitants of Germany, and particularly out of 
 the Palatinate, and the districts of Nassau, Waldeck, Witgenstein, and 
 Wetterau, emigrated to Pennsylvania, with their wives and children. 
 .... At this time the Reformed, holding to the old Reformed Confession, 
 constitute more than one half of the whole number, being about fifteen 
 thousand." From this tim^ on German emigration increased, so that in 
 a single year more than thirty thousand left the Palatinate alone, to seek 
 a Patmos in the New World. They settled at first near Philadelphia, but 
 later mainly in the fertile valleys of Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, 
 Maryland ; thence along these same valleys into Virginia, North and 
 South Carolina. Those Palatines who had first gone to England at the 
 invitation of Queen Anne, numbering about seven thousand, presented a 
 petition whose opening words will best describe their condition : " We, of 
 the distressed Palatinate, whose utter ruin was occasioned by the fnercUess 
 ci'uelty of a bloody enemy, the French, whose prevailing powers some 
 years ago, rushing like a torrent into our country, overwhelmed us at once, 
 and who, not being content with money and with food necessary for their 
 occasions, not only dispossessed us of all suj^port, but inhumanly burnt 
 our homes to the ground, — we, being deprived of both shelter and food, 
 were turned into the open fields, and driven with our families to seek what 
 shelter we could find, being obliged to make the frozen earth our lodging, 
 and the clouds our covering." These settled first in Scho- 
 
 The German Re- ° 
 
 formed in harie, New York, where they were ill treated by the author- 
 
 ities, so that about tlie year 1712, under the leadership of 
 Conrad Weiser, they constructed rafts, floated down the Susquehanna to 
 the mouth of the Swatara, and took up their abodes near the waters of 
 the Tulpehocken, in Berks County, Pennsylvania. 
 
 These Germans formed in many instances the outposts of civilization, 
 and served to protect not a few English communities from the incur- 
 sions of the Indians. But the people were mostly poor. They were not 
 able to bring ministers of the gospel with them, but they brought over 
 their Bibles, catechisms, hymn books, and devotional works. In many 
 settlements they had pious and excellent schoolmasters. In most cases 
 they formed congregations, built churches, and by their side at once planted 
 school-houses, each with a dwelling and land for the occupancy of the 
 schoolmaster. These often, when there was no minister, conducted a reli- 
 gious service by the reading of sermons and prayers, and the people sought 
 and found spiritual edification in these services, and in singing the grand 
 
Cent. XVIT.-XIX.] MICHAEL SCHLATTER. 593 
 
 old hymns and chorals of the fatherland. As early as 1726 a log church 
 was built in Skippack, Pennsylvania. A few ministers came from Ger- 
 many, and extended their labors with considerable success over the vari- 
 ous German settlements. The man who was to organize these congrega- 
 tions into a compact whole, and thus to lay a stable foundation for future 
 growth, was the Rev. Michael Schlatter, the story of whose life and labors 
 we are now to tell. 
 
 Michael Schlatter was born in Switzerland (the cradle of the Re- 
 formed Church), in St. Gall, then a large city, lying in a Schlatter's early 
 beautiful valley on the bank of the Steinach, on July 14, ^'^'^• 
 1716. His parents were pious members of the Reformed faith, and he 
 was early consecrated to God in the covenant of baptism. He grew up 
 under the ministrations of a devoted pastor. Rev. Christopher Stahelin. 
 He made a public profession of religion at the age of fourteen, received 
 a superior education at the university, made a tour through Holland 
 and Northwestern Germany, and as a candidate for the ministry spent 
 some years in Holland, where he was also ordained. Returning to Switz- 
 erland, he became a vicar in 1745, assistant pastor in St. Gall for a 
 time; and then on January 9, 1746, he again went to Amsterdam, in 
 order to offer his services to the synods of Holland for supplying the des- 
 titute German churches in Pennsylvania, whose cry for help had been 
 for some years heard, especially in Holland. "In 1731, while the Hol- 
 land synod was in session in Dortrecht, eight hundred exiled Palatines 
 passed through the place to take ships at Rotterdam for America. They 
 were visited by the whole synod in a body, and were furnished by them 
 with provisions and medicines. After exhortation, prayer, and singing, 
 they were dismissed, with the assurance that they might rely upon the 
 church of Holland for support in their new homes." There is extant a 
 letter from Rev. Jedidiah Andrews (Presbyterian), of Philadelphia, to 
 Rev. Thomas Prince, of Boston, dated 1730, in which he says, "There 
 is besides in this province a vast number of Palatines, and they come in 
 still every year. Those that have come in of late years are mostly Pres- 
 byterians, or, as they call themselves. Reformed, from the Palatinate, 
 about three fifths being of that sort of people. They did use to come to 
 me for the baptism of their children, and many have joined with us in 
 the other sacrament." In another letter he says, " There is lately come 
 over a Palatine candidate of the ministry, who has applied to us at the 
 synod for ordination. The matter is left to three ministers. He is an 
 extraordinary person for sense and learning. We gave him a question 
 to discuss about justification, and he has answered it in a whole sheet 
 of paper in a very notable manner. His name is John Peter Millen : he 
 speaks Latin as well as we do our vernacular tongues, and so does an- 
 other, Mr. Weiss." 
 
 Mr. Schlatter's services were accepted ; on the 23d of May, 1746, his 
 38 
 
594 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 instructions were made out, and on the 1st of June he sailed for the New 
 World. His work was to include the following: (1) to visit Reformed 
 settlements, to organize congregations, to preach to them, to baptize their 
 children, and to prepare proper church records ; (2) to ascertain what 
 each congregation would pledge itself for toward the support of a min- 
 ister, and to unite weak congregations under one pastorate ; (3) to enlist 
 the cooperation of the ministers already in America, and to form a 
 synod ; (4) to visit the ministers annually ; and (5) after this work had 
 been accomplished to preach as the other ministers. 
 
 After a voyage of two months he lauded at Boston, and by the 6th of 
 Lands in the September arrived overland at Philadelphia, where he was 
 New World. most affectionately welcomed by the elders of the Reformed 
 church. He found Philadelphia to be a city of ten thousand inhabitants 
 (being next largest in size to Boston). It had, at this time, the fol- 
 lowing churches : (1) the English (or Episcopal) church ; (2) the Swed- 
 ish church ; (3) the German Evangelical (or Lutheran) church ; (4) the 
 Old Presbyterian church ; (5) the German Reformed church. Besides 
 these, there were two Quaker meeting-houses, one Baptist, one Roman 
 Catholic, and one Moravian church. At once he commenced his work, 
 and in the brief space of ten days accomplished what would have re- 
 quired most men almost as many weeks. With intense activity he pros- 
 ecuted his missionary journeys among the new settlements in Pennsyl- 
 vania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, preaching, administering the 
 sacraments, encouraging ministers and people, organizing congregations 
 and forming them into suitable fields of labor. He found four regular 
 German Reformed ministers laboi'ing in Pennsylvania (Boehm, Weiss, 
 Reiger, and Dorstius), and upon his invitation they, for the first time, 
 met together in Philadelphia, on the 12th of October, 1746, to prepare 
 Organizes the ^he wav for a formal organization of the synod. This took 
 .first synod. pj^ce the next year, September 29, 1747, in Philadelphia, 
 
 at which time thirty-one ministers and elders were present. Rev. J. B. 
 Reiger opened the synod by a sermon based on Psalm cxxxiii., a very 
 ; appropriate text for such an occasion. 
 
 Besides acting as superintendent, Schlatter labored as pastor in the 
 ■churches in Philadelphia and Germantown. A few incidents from this 
 early period of his labors will interest the reader. On the 6th of De- 
 cember, 1747, the new church in Philadelphia was used for religious 
 service, although it had as yet neither windows nor pulpit. The reason 
 was that the number of hearers had so far increased that the old church 
 ^could contain only one half of those who attended. A crowd of people 
 worshiping in the dead of winter in a building without windows manifests 
 stern earnestness in the worship of Almighty God. In August, 1748, 
 Schlatter was greatly encouraged by the arrival of three ministers sent 
 •out by the Holland synod. In October he was deeply saddened to hear 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] MICHAEL SCHLATTER. 595 
 
 from his home that one of them had there accidentally lost his life by 
 the discharge of a gun in his own hands. After laboring for nearly two 
 years, Schlatter says in one of his reports, " I cannot refrain from refer- 
 ring briefly to the fact that these three congregations [in New Jersey], 
 from gratitude for the services I have rendered them, handed me a pe- 
 cuniary reward ; and this is the first money which, since my arrival in 
 America up to this time, I have received from any congregation for my 
 labor and pains. Also in my own congregations, up to the present time, 
 I have drawn no salary. I must state, however, that different congrega- 
 tions have offered me some money, but I declined receiving it, in order 
 to convince them that I did not seek theirs, but them; while in the mean 
 time God has provided for me in a way that calls for devout praise, and 
 has also enabled me to be content with little." 
 
 After laboring thus, with most intense activity, for five years, Schlatter, 
 at the request of the synod, made a visit to Europe, in 1751, j^ Europe for 
 a mission from which flowed vast results for good to the America's sake. 
 churches in America. He had arranged sixteen fields of labor (or 
 charges), including forty-six congregations ; but of these only six, com- 
 posed of fourteen congregations, were supplied with ministers. Making 
 a final visitation to the churches, attending the sessions of the synod, and 
 partaking of the Lord's Supper once more with his people on Christmas 
 day, Schlatter embarked on the 5th of February, 1751, at New Castle, 
 and on the 12th of April landed in Holland. He at once attended the 
 meeting of the Classis of Amsterdam, and in conjunction with a com- 
 mittee of the same drew up and printed an " Appeal " in behalf of the 
 American churches. This was soon after translated and printed in Ger- 
 man, and also in English. The synod of North Holland appointed him 
 to visit Switzerland and Germany, to secure ministers for the American 
 field. He spent four months in this work. This Appeal bore good fruit 
 in each of these countries. The immediate result of his labors was that 
 he was enabled to sail from Holland, on his return way, March, 1752, 
 with six newly-ordained, learned, and pious ministers, together with sub- 
 stantial aid in money and seven hundred German Bibles, five hundred of 
 which were in folio, which were presented to him by members of the 
 churches of Amsterdam. After a protracted voyage of four months he 
 arrived again in the midst of his brethren in Pennsylvania. We will 
 here introduce some interesting extracts from this Appeal of Schlatter. 
 
 In the introduction, the committee of classis say, " This man, worthy, 
 learned, and gifted of God with many talents, after he became acquainted 
 with one and another of the members of our classis .... was recom- 
 mended to the deputies of both synods These saw in him so 
 
 many evidences of firm and correct judgment, peculiar fitness, and glow- 
 ing zeal to serve the church of God also in those distant regions, that 
 they regarded it good and proper, not only to send him into this field as 
 
596 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 a regular shepherd and teacher, but also, with the full consent of both 
 synods, to invest him with one of the most important commissions." 
 
 " As regards the condition of the churches in Pennsylvania, we have 
 received so much light from the extensive diary in which Mr. Schlatter 
 has given an account not only of his frequent journeys to many con- 
 gregations, near and remote, but also of his acts and labors in them, 
 that we were in the highest degree surprised at the unwearied and almost 
 incredible labors which this faithful servant of God — whom in this re- 
 spect we may call an apostolical man — has devoted to the churches in 
 Pennsylvania, and rejoiced in view of the divine support which he has 
 experienced in them." 
 
 Schlatter himself says, " During the winter months [of 1747], when I 
 for the most part remained at home, I received many soul-stirring letters, 
 from large and small congregations in remote regions. Besides this, 
 delegates came to my house daily, among whom were some who had 
 come two hundred, yea, three hundred miles. Among others, there 
 were two men who came from Virginia, three hundred miles from here, 
 bearing a most urgent and moving letter from the destitute congregations 
 
 in those parts The recollection of this scene even now again 
 
 affects me in the tenderest manner, and it seems to me that a heart of 
 stone would have been moved to sympathy in witnessing the many tears, 
 and in reading and hearing the touching petitions, with which they so 
 humbly presented their case. Oh, that the church in the blessed Nether- 
 lands, where the chief Shepherd, by the hand of a host of faithful under- 
 shepherds, makes his people feed in green pastures, could have before 
 them a full picture of the true condition of so many congregations in a 
 widely-extended country ! " " My intercession is not for a handful of peo- 
 ple, for one or another poor family, for a little flock that has fled from 
 popery, but for more than thirty thousand of the Reformed household of 
 faith, living in the land of their pilgrimage, — in a land that is large and 
 wide-spread, yea, fully twice as large as the United Netherlands." 
 
 " I reject with disgust all ill-odored self-praise, and I cannot glory 
 save in my infirmities ; but if it may serve to the awakening of others 
 who may be able to come to our aid, I will, in all lowliness, and to the 
 praise of that God who supported me and gave me the will and the 
 power to labor, say that from the year 1747 till the beginning of the 
 year 1751 I have traveled in this part of America, in the service of 
 the lost sheep, to collecl: them together, to bring them into order and 
 edify them, a distance of more than eight thousand miles, — not reckoning 
 my passage across the ocean ; and this, for the most part, on my own 
 horse, by day and by night, without respect to heat or cold, which is 
 often alike severe in this country, — yea, without avoiding danger, as not 
 counting my life dear unto myself. .... Amid all this traveling about, 
 I preached six hundred and thirty-five times, and through all these lar 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] MICHAEL SCHLATTER. 597 
 
 bors God has spared my health and strength, and has not suffered my 
 desire and zeal to serve the churches to be extinguished, but rather to 
 be increased." 
 
 An address to the Swiss cantons by Rev. H. B. Hudmaker, minister 
 at the Hague, and one of the deputies of the synod, says : " Mr. Schlat- 
 ter, who in the past years was sent thither from hence, has laid before 
 our synod the fact that there are thirty thousand Reformed scattered far 
 and wide through that region ; that they have hardly six ministers, and 
 need at least six more, besides an annual addition to the salary of all ; 
 and that there is most of all a great nded of school-masters and support 
 for them Our synods resolved to lend them assistance, but, bur- 
 dened as we are with the care of more than one hundred oppressed 
 churches in Europe, we felt that we were not in a condition to bear this 
 burden ourselves, and found it necessary not only to apply to our civil 
 authorities, but also to call in the aid of foreign civil and ecclesiastical 
 help, especially from those who externally stand in a nearer relation to 
 
 the Pennsylvania brethren than we ourselves We hope that you 
 
 also will cheerfully lend your aid by a general collection in money, which 
 you will send to us for them, that thus our hands may be made strong 
 and effective by your state and church contributions, so that we may 
 firmly erect and sustain the standard of the gospel in those regions. To 
 this end we have also invited the brethren in England to make common 
 cause with us, and not without the hope of a happy result. So that 
 .... there may be found in that land a pleasant place of refuge for the 
 
 oppressed Reformed who fly thither from Europe And may the 
 
 mutual cooperation of the Reformed Swiss, Germans, Hollanders, and 
 English, in the establishment of the American church, and the fraternal 
 correspondence occasioned thereby, he a testimony that we are one, and, 
 at the same time, prove a blessed means and incentive to a still more in- 
 ward brotherly union." 
 
 H. M. Muhlenberg (Lutheran) wrote to Halle : " Yea, when this rep- 
 resentation of Mr. Schlatter, first published in Dutch, had been translated 
 into English by an English preacher in Holland, it made such an im- 
 pression upon the English nation that even his majesty, the king of Great 
 Britain, and the royal family were graciously moved to contribute a large 
 sum, who were followed by rich assistance, also, from the principal lords 
 and dignitaries. These gifts, which, it is said, amounted to twenty thou- 
 sand pounds sterling, were, by order of his majesty, placed in the hands 
 of certain trustees, constituting ' A Society for Propagating the Knowl- 
 edge of God among the Germans,' from the interest of which free schools 
 are here to be established and sustained under the inspection of Mr. 
 Schlatter." 
 
 From 1752 to 1755 Schlatter continued his labors as pastor and as 
 superintendent of the work of missions among the German churches of 
 
598 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 the Reformed faith. Immediately after this he was appointed agent and 
 Schlatter's va- superintendent of the London Society for the Establishment 
 Tied labors. pf gchools in Pennsylvauia. He accepted the office, because 
 
 the position would require him to travel through the country, and, as the 
 synod affirmed, he could still maintain a certain supervision over the 
 scattered congregations, and labor for the advancement of the church- 
 He continued in this work from 1755 to 1757. In the latter year the 
 French war broke out, aud, as a portion of the royal army was composed 
 of Germans, he accepted the post of chaplain in the fourth battery, which 
 was operating in Nova Scotia. As such he was present at the siege 
 of Halifax, and the seven weeks' siege of Louisburg. After 1755 his 
 residence was on Chestnut Hill, ten miles from Philadelphia, where he 
 had a small farm which he named " Sweetland." Here, after the war, 
 he dwelt in comparative quiet and retirement, respected by the whole 
 community and the public men of the state, preaching frequently at 
 Barren Hill and other places. A quaint anecdote, illustrating his patri- 
 archal character, comes down to us from this period : " It was customary 
 in those days for the female worshipers at Barren Hill to wear short 
 gowns and neat aprons. On occasions when he preached there, as he 
 proceeded up the aisle toward the pulpit, — which he always did in a very 
 hurried manner, — he would suddenly stop, and without saying a word 
 would seize hold of one of these clean aprons to wipe the dust from his 
 glasses, which he usually carried in his hands when not in use." 
 
 Dr. Harbaugh speaks of one trait in his character as follows: "Prom- 
 inent amid every other trait in Mr. Schlatter's character is his extraor- 
 dinary industry and perseverance. He was a man of astonishing energy 
 of character. In a review of his life, nothing strikes us so forcibly as 
 this. It seems as if no obstacles in the path of duty could make him 
 hesitate. No difficulties discouraged him ; no trials disheartened him ; no 
 failures could break down his courage, or take away his elasticity. What- 
 ever he believed ought to be done he was willing to undertake. A true 
 Swiss, he was not to be subdued ; nor would he cease pursuing his path, 
 though difficulties rose before him, like hills on hills, and Alps on Alps, 
 in the land of his birth." 
 
 He retained his mental and bodily vigor in a remarkable degree in his 
 old age. His death took place in the month of November, 1790, in the 
 seventy-fifth year of his age, at his home on Chestnut Hill. His remains 
 were taken to Philadelphia, and now lie buried in the beautiful Fi'anklin 
 Square of that city. — J. H. G. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] PHILIP WILLIAM OTTERBEIN. 599 
 
 LIFE IX. PHILIP WILLIAM OTTERBEIN. 
 
 A. D. 1726-A. D. 1813. UNITED BRETHREN, AMERICA. 
 
 The history of past ages, and especially that which relates to the 
 church of God, most clearly indicates that when God wants a man for a 
 certain purpose He will raise him up. The very circumstances with 
 which such a man may be surrounded will be so controlled by an ever- 
 present and ever-working Providence that each and all will assist in 
 preparing him for his work. The history of Luther, Calvin, Wesley, 
 and their coadjutors will verify this. So will the life of William Otter- 
 bein, founder of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, who, when 
 God wanted a man to awake the Germans in America, was made his 
 honored instrument in accomplishing that work. 
 
 In studying Otterbein and his times, it will be well to note here and 
 there the clear manifestations of the hand of God. When we study the 
 lives of men, we are prone to seek clear conceptions of their characters. 
 This is as it should be. We do not err in that we find too much in the 
 men whom we study, but in that we see in their lives too little of the 
 hand of Him who is everywhere at work. Whatever, therefore, may be 
 said of the learning, eloquence, zeal, and success of Otterbein as a re- 
 former, he deserves no credit save in that he submitted himself to the 
 will of God. It was God in him that gave him whatever success he had. 
 He alone is able to raise up men for his work. " Foreseeing what will 
 be needed at a particular juncture. He selects and prepares the means He 
 designs to use. His plans and purposes for the most part are hidden from 
 the world ; even they whom He intends to use are not aware of the part 
 they are to perform." 
 
 Philip William Otterbein was born in Dillenberg, in the duchy of 
 Nassau, in Germany, on the 4th day of June, 1726. His j. . jj^^ j^^ 
 father, John Daniel Otterbein, was rector of a Latin school Germany. 
 in Herborn, and subsequently pastor of a congregation in Fronhausen 
 and Wissenbach. He was a minister in the Reformed Church, and was 
 noted for his learning, piety, and zeal. His son, Philip William, was 
 educated for the ministry, and solemnly ordained at Herborn in 1749. 
 He was well instructed in Latin, Greek, tiebrew, philosophy, and divin- 
 ity. Soon after his consecration to the office of the ministry he com- 
 menced his pastoral work in Dillenberg. He was then about twenty-four 
 years of age. It certainly speaks well for him that he was so soon 
 chosen as pastor in his native town. 
 
 Although Otterbein was well instructed in theology, he had not at this 
 time experienced a change of heart. But withal he was a man of con- 
 science, and earnestly desired to enter into the possession of all there was 
 
600 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 in the gospel for him to enjoy. With him there was nothing of such 
 importance as the Word of God. What he believed to be the truth he 
 would expound and enforce with great earnestness. His sermons were 
 remarkable for their plainness, spirit, and evangelical power ; and God 
 owned the truth, for the truth's sake. And whilst nothing could be said 
 against the character of Otterbein, nor against the truths he taught, yet 
 some of his friends advised him to use greater caution in his exhortations 
 and reproofs. But, even as Daniel, when he knew that the writing was 
 sealed, went to his chamber and prayed as aforetime, so Otterbein went 
 to his puljait and preached as aforetime. Owing to this plain and ear- 
 nest manner of preaching the truth, both the clergy and the magistrates 
 were turned against him, and the authorities were privately solicited to 
 arrest his preaching. When his pious mother learned that there was such 
 opposition to his preaching she said to him, " Ah, William, I expected 
 this, and give you joy. This place is too narrow for you, my son ; they 
 will not receive you here ; you will find your work elsewhere." She did 
 not think that slie was uttering a prophecy which would be fulfilled in 
 the manner it was. She seemed only to realize that her son was emi- 
 nently fitted for the work of the ministry, and her faith in God was to 
 the elFect that a way would be opened for him. 
 
 While Otterbein was undergoing this severe ordeal in his native town 
 His call to word Came to him from what was then called the New 
 
 America. World, that the people were perishing for want of the bread 
 
 of life. This turned his attention to America. Here we see the hand 
 of God. If he would have adopted the policy the clergy and magistrates 
 desired, he would have found a lucrative and easy field at home. But 
 God wanted a man to come to America to break the bread of life to the 
 famishing Germans, and the very opposition that was raised against him 
 in his native town was made the means of thrusting him out over the 
 wide sea, to become one of the standard-bearers of the cross of Christ in 
 a foreign land. 
 
 In the year 1751, Michael Schlatter returned from America, after 
 having spent several years as an exploring missionary. He represented 
 the wants of the people as being very great ; in council with the synods 
 of North and South Holland, he made a call for six young ministers to 
 go to America as missionaries. Otterbein immediately responded to the 
 call, and was accepted. He at once set about making the necessary ar- 
 rangements for his departure. His separation from his mother was a 
 severe trial to both. She had given her son to the Lord, yet when the 
 hour drew near for him to depart it was a greater trial than she had 
 anticipated. She retired to her closet, and there importuned God for 
 courage and strength to bear up under the ordeal. Returning from her 
 devotions, she took her son by the hand, and said, " Go, my son ; the Lord 
 bless thee, and much grace direct thy steps. On earth I may not see thy 
 
Cent. XVn.-XIX.] PHILIP WILLIAM OTTERBEIN. 601 
 
 face again, but go." " With what strange and beautiful courage and grace 
 can a mother's love bind its sacrifice upon the altar ! " " On earth I may 
 not see thy face again, but go." It was even so : on earth she saw his 
 face no more. Upon the evening of July 27, 1752, he landed in New 
 York. 
 
 In August, 1752, Otterbein entered upon his labors at Lancaster, 
 Pennsylvania. He gave himself wholly to*the pastoral work, fjr he be- 
 lieved that it could engage all his powers. He was a man of order, and, 
 finding almost everything out of order, he resolved to bring order out 
 of confusion. It is but just to state that at this time (1752), both in 
 Germany and in America, the doctrine of the new birth was well-nigh cov- 
 ered up with forms and ceremonies. But few of the clergy knew any- 
 thing about it experimentally. Otterbein himself, though regularly or- 
 dained, had never been a subject of this change. 
 
 There was a remarkable coincidence in John Wesley's experience and 
 that of Otterbein. In his journal Wesley says, " I went to Awakened in 
 America to convert the Indians, but oh, who shall convert ^pint. 
 me ! " Otterbein came to America to convert the Germans, and was not 
 himself converted. He had studied the Word of God, and obtained a 
 pretty clear idea of the nature of conversion. Its power he was led 
 to feel ia the following manner : On a certain Sabbath he preached one 
 of his pointed sermons on the necessity of a new heart and life. At 
 the close of the sermon one of his congregation, who had been touched 
 by the power of truth, came to him in tears, and asked what he must do 
 to be saved. The question was brought to Otterbein as it had never been 
 before. Paul could tell the jailer in a few words what to do, but here 
 was a learned, eloquent minister who could not tell a poor penitent soul 
 what he must do to be saved. He looked upon the man, and with deep 
 emotion said, " My friend, advice is scarce with me to-day." This inci- 
 dent brought him to a crisis. He had for a long time felt the necessity 
 of a new heart, but had not sought it with full faith. He had often 
 preached it to others, and now another preached it to him. He imme- 
 diately repaired to his study, and there remained in earnest prayer until 
 God in mercy gave him a new heart. If his preaching up to this time 
 had been plain and logical, it was none the less so now, and, besides, was 
 accompanied with an unction which neither he nor his people had felt 
 before. Having now entered into a new life, he was eminently fitted for 
 a leader. He was calm, dignified, humble, and devout. 
 
 Otterbein remained sis years in Lancaster, during which time he 
 experienced no small degree of trouble. His people were disorderly, 
 not willing to endure the restraints which the gospel imposed. The 
 majority of them knew nothing about a change of heart. They relied 
 upon forms and ceremonies. This grieved the pastor, for he most ear- 
 nestly desired to lead them into a higher and better life. Those acquainted 
 
602 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period Y. 
 
 with the history of the churches in America a hundred and twenty-five 
 years ago, especially among the Germans, will understand how diliicult 
 it must have been to lead them away from the mere forms of religion 
 into a life of faith, purity, and love. Still his work at Lancaster was by 
 no means a failure. His name by tradition is to this day in honorable 
 mention by many in that city. The author of the " Fathers of the Re- 
 formed Church " thus speaks of Otterbein : " Under his [Otterbein's] 
 ministry the old small wooden church which stood in the back part of the 
 grave-yard was superseded by a massive stone church on the street, which 
 was built in 1753, and was not taken down till 1852, having stood almost 
 a century. Internally the congregation greatly prospered. Evidences 
 of his order and zeal look out upon us from the records in many ways, 
 and enterprises started in his time have extended their results in the 
 permanent features of the congregation down to this day." 
 
 Like many earnest and faithful servants of God, he could not accom- 
 plish what lie desired, because he preached and insisted upon a change of 
 heart. Many of his brethren in the ministry, as well as in the laity, were 
 turned against him. But he was not to be diverted from his purpose. 
 Jesus Cbrist and Him crucified was his all-absorbing theme. He had 
 launched his vessel, and would not put into port until the Master bade 
 him. Near the end of the year 1758 he resigned his charge with a view 
 of entering a field where he hoped to find a people more willing to receive 
 the Word of Life. 
 
 From Lancaster he went to Tulpehocken, where he took charge tem- 
 porarily of two congregations. Here he found less opposition and more 
 freedom. His purpose was not only to fill the pulpit on the Sabbath, but 
 to win souls to Christ. To accomplish this he went from house to house, 
 like a true pastor. It was a new measure, and the people were sur- 
 prised to see a man so in earnest. Here for the first time he introduced 
 evening meetings, at which he would read portions of Scripture, sing, 
 pray, and exhort the people. This was another new measure, and the 
 people were not a little astonished at it. For one to be so concerned 
 about the souls of others was new and strange. At this time there was 
 not a Methodist society in America. Those who were church members, 
 especially among the Germans, were mere nominal Christians. Otterbein 
 understood the situation, and, like Isaiah, would not rest nor hold his 
 peace until the people were aroused. " What does this mean ? " said some ; 
 " the minister and men and women kneel and pray and weep, and call 
 ujion God, for Jesus' sake, to have mercy upon them. Who ever heard 
 of such procedure ? " These prayer-meetings afforded important aid to 
 the blessed work of reformation. 
 
 While Otterbein was scattering the precious seed in and around Tul- 
 pehocken, another link was being formed, which, under tlie hand of God, 
 was to be welded into the chain which was being wrought out. It was 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] PHILIP WILLIAM OTTERBEIN. 603 
 
 not by accident oi' chance ; God did it in his own way. It is wonderful 
 how God will sometimes brin^ together elements which in their nature 
 are altogether dissimilar. Otterbeiu was well educated and regularly 
 ordained to the office of a minister, and if it had been left to men to 
 select a co-laborer no doubt the choice would have been from among 
 men of high culture in a literary sense. But God's ways are not man's 
 ways, nor his thoughts their thoughts. 
 
 Martin Boehm was the son of a farmer, and a farmer himself. He was 
 a minister elect in the Mennonite society, of which his parents were mem- 
 bers. Whilst it is doubtless true that the Mennonites in former times 
 were among the most enlightened and spiritual peojole in Europe, it is 
 also true that in America, at the time of which we are now writing, they 
 were devoted to forms, having lost their spiritual power. 
 
 Soon after Boehm was elected preacher he made an effort to preach, 
 but failed, and so for a number of times. This distressed him very much. 
 To be a preacher, and yet have nothing to preach, was, to his sensitive 
 nature, very humiliating. To teach others the way of salvation, and not 
 know the way himself, finally drove him to earnest prayer. " I felt con- 
 strained," he said, " to pray for myself, and while praying my mind be- 
 came alarmed. I felt and saw myself a poor sinner. I was lost. My 
 agony became great. I was plowing ;n the field, and kneeled down at 
 each end of the furrow to pray. The word Lost! Lost! [Verlohren ! Ver- 
 lohren !] went every round with me. Midway in the field, I could go no 
 farther. I sank down behind the plow, crying, ' Lord, save me ! I am 
 lost ! ' Then came to me the thought or voice, ' I am come to seek and 
 to save that which is lost.' In a moment I was filled with unspeakable 
 joy, and I was saved." 
 
 Here now were two men brought into the light and liberty of the sons 
 of God, who up to this time had not seen each other. They were mem- 
 bers of churches widely different from each other. But religion is a 
 unit, — one thing. All are baptized by one Spirit into one body. Two 
 precious revivals were now going on : one under the labors of Otterbein 
 at Tulpehocken, and the other under the labors of Boehm among the 
 Mennonites. 
 
 A meeting (called in the German language a grosse versammlung) was 
 appointed to be held in Isaac Long's barn, near Lancaster, 
 
 •^ "^ . » ' The occasion of 
 
 Pennsylvania. It was to be a general meeting for all who the name 
 desired to attend. It is not known by whom this meet- 
 ing was appointed, most probably by Boehm. The time came, and with 
 it the members of the various churches : German Reformed, Mennon- 
 ites, Tunkers, and Lutherans ; possibly other denominations were repre- 
 sented. Some came for one thing, and some for another, but nearly all 
 were drawn together out of curiosity. They were anxious to see what 
 would grow of such a meeting, for it was new and strange. Here these 
 
604 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 two evaugelical ministers met for the first time. Boelim was a small 
 man, and was dressed in the plain style of a Mennonite preacher. Ot- 
 terbeiu was a large man, and dressed in the ordinary clerical style of 
 his church. There was a striking contrast in the personnel of the two 
 men. 
 
 Boehm, in his plain and neat attire, preached the opening sermon. All 
 eyes were turned upon him as he stood expounding the Word of God. 
 No one listened with greater interest than did Otterbein. As the heart 
 of the preacher warmed with his subject, it kindled and fed a flame in 
 the heart of the other. At the close of the sermon, and before Boehm 
 had time to resume his seat, Otterbein arose and, folding him in his arms, 
 exclaimed with a loud voice, " We are brethren ! " This was a strange 
 and unexpected turn of affairs, — the scholarly Otterbein holding in his 
 arms the plain and unassuming Boehm, and this, too, upon their first meet- 
 ing. It was not the result of education, nor of any natural affinity ; it 
 was simply a proof of the unity of religion, — baptized by one Spirit into 
 one body. Boehm lived for many years, and was the honored instrument 
 of winning many precious souls to Christ. After their first meeting, these 
 two evangelical preachers often met, and were fast friends until death sep- 
 arated them. 
 
 In 1760, Otterbein accepted a call from the Reformed church at Fred- 
 erick, Maryland. Here, as at Tulpehocken, he entered upon his labors 
 with all the zeal and ardor of a man who felt the worth of perishing souls. 
 The salvation of souls was to his mind paramount to everything else. 
 During his stay at Frederick he extended his labors into the regions round 
 about, holding services in barns, private houses, and often in the open 
 air. Scores of precious souls were awakened and brought to Christ 
 through his labors at and around Frederick. 
 
 Dr. Zacharias, pastor of the Reformed church in Frederick, in a cen- 
 tenary sermon makes the following remarks concerning Otterbein : " Dur- 
 ing Mr. Otterbein's labors here the church in which we now worship was 
 built ; also the parsonage which has been the successive residence of your 
 
 pastors ever since A few letters ai'e still preserved in our archives, 
 
 written by Mr. Otterbein, while at York, to members of this charge. 
 From these letters, brief as they are, you may easily gather the spirit of 
 the man. Though laboring in another field, he remembered with afi^ec- 
 tionate kindness and concern the people whom he had recently left. He 
 mourned over them, and endeavored to profit them by imparting to them 
 his godly council, and offering up in their behalf his earnest prayers." 
 
 This testimony, coming from such a man as Dr. Zacharias more than 
 eighty years after Otterbein had served them as pastor, shows the very 
 high esteem in which he was held among the people. But no wonder, 
 for " he was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and faith." 
 
 An educated German gives this testimony concerning the appearance 
 
Cent. XVIL-XIX.] PHILIP WILLIAM OTTERBEIN. 605 
 
 and preacking of Otterbein : " Nearly half a century has passed since I 
 became acquainted with Otterbein, and never will I forget the impression 
 made upon my mind when I first saw and heard him. It was on Good 
 Friday, in the forenoon, when by the persuasion of a friend I entered 
 the church where he officiated. A venerable, portly old man, above six 
 feet in height, erect in posture, apparently about seventy-five years of age, 
 stood before me. He had a remarkably high and prominent forehead. 
 Gray hair fell smoothly down both sides of his head, on his temples ; and 
 his eyes were large, blue, and piercing, and sparkled with the fire of love 
 which warmed the heart. In his appearance and manners there was 
 nothing repulsive, but all was attractive, and calculated to command the 
 most profound attention and reverence. He opened his lips in prayer to 
 Jehovah. Oh, what a voice, what a prayer ! Every word thrilled my 
 heart. I had heard many prayers, but never one before like this. The 
 words of his text were these : ' Thus it is written, and thus it behooved 
 Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day ; and that repent- 
 ance and remission of sins should be preached in his name, among all 
 nations, beginning at Jerusalem.' As he proceeded in the elucidation of 
 the text and its application, it seemed that every word was exactly adapted 
 to my case, and intended for me. Every sentence smote me. On the 
 followiiig Sabbath I again went to his church, when he took special notice 
 of the young stranger, and gave me an invitation to visit him on the fol- 
 lowing day. I complied with the friendly request with some reluctance, 
 it is true, but was received with such unaffected tenderness and love, and 
 addressed with so much solicitude for my salvation, that my heart was 
 won." 
 
 In 1765 Otterbein closed his labors at Frederick, and accepted a call 
 to York, Pennsylvania. Here he labored for nine years 
 
 "^ Pursues his 
 
 with his usual zeal and success. During all these years at work in the Re- 
 Tulpehocken, Frederick, and York, he was continually being 
 joined by additional laborers, most of whom had been awakened and 
 brought into the true light through his and Boehm's instrumentality. 
 But it was no part of Otterbein's purpose to organize a new church. 
 He only sought to win souls to Christ, and impress upon the consciences 
 of the people, and especially the formal professors of religion, " that a 
 vital union with Christ was essential to a religious life." But God in- 
 tended him for a leader, and so controlled the circumstances that without 
 his own choice he was soon placed at the head of a new denomination. 
 From York Otterbein removed to Baltimore. This was in the year 
 1774. He was in the forty-eighth year of his age, and the twenty- 
 fifth of his ministry. " Nearly twenty years had passed since he had 
 entered fully into the light and liberty of the sons of God; and during 
 all that period he had labored incessantly, in public and private, to pro- 
 mote in the churches a revival of Bible religion." If he had been in- 
 
606 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 fluenced by the love of ease or money, he would doubtless have remained 
 in charge of some of the more wealthy and popular congregations. But 
 he had a higher and nobler aim. He was after souls for the Master; and 
 many a poor wanderer was led by him into the fold of Christ. 
 
 About this time it was that he formed the acquaintance of Francis As- 
 bury, and they remained firm friends up to the time of Otterbein's death. 
 When Asbury was to be ordained to the office of bishop (1784) such 
 was his confidence in Otterbein that he requested that he should assist in 
 his ordination. Otterbein, many severe conflicts past, finally organized 
 n • „ o ^o^ at Baltimore " The United Brethren in Christ," a church in 
 
 Organizes a new ' 
 
 denomination. doctriue and discipline distinct from and independent of all 
 other denominations. This, as already intimated, was not his own choice ; 
 there was a combination of circumstances, over which he seemed not to 
 have any control, that forced him into this measure. This organization 
 was perfected September 25, 1800. The new communion, in its formal 
 existence, began, therefore, almost contemporaneously with the new cent- 
 ury. Otterbein was chosen to lead the new body in the ofiice of bishop, 
 Boehm being associated with him. 
 
 "The great meetings which had been so happily inaugurated at Isaac 
 Long's had been attended from year to year by the richest blessings. 
 They had become an institution of no small value. Thither went up 
 the people of God from all quarters and churches, as the tribes of Israel 
 flowed together at the feast of tabernacles." Otterbein was nearly always 
 present at these meetings. Many there were who bitterly opposed this 
 work, but still it went on. "When one had tasted the precious word of 
 truth, he would say, " Oh, this precious gospel must be preached to my 
 neighbors ! " 
 
 Otterbein continued in Baltimore for nearly forty years. Here, as at 
 Tulpehockeu, Frederick, and York, his work was attended with tokens 
 of the divine sanction. Scores and hundreds of souls were brought to 
 Christ. " The little wooden church in which his congregation first wor- 
 shiped gave place to a larger structure, and that in turn to the spacious 
 edifice which now stands on Conway Street." 
 
 At length, after spending sixty-two years in the ministry, the end was 
 reached, and on the 17th of November, 1813, he fell asleep in Jesus. 
 The last vocal prayer offered up at his bedside was by an evangelical 
 Lutheran minister, the Rev. Dr. Kurtz, a personal friend of Otterbein. 
 The last words of Otterbein were these : " Jesus, Jesus, I die, but Thou 
 livest, and soon I shall live with Thee." Turning to his friends who had 
 come to see how their pastor and leader would meet death, he continued, 
 " The conflict is over and past. I begin to feel an unspeakable fullness 
 of love and peace divine. Lay my head upon my pillow, and be stUl." 
 
 " He taught us how to live, and oh, too high 
 A price of knowledge, taught us how to die 1 " 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] PHILIP WILLIAM OTTERBEIN. 
 
 607 
 
 The remains of Otterbein were buried in the church-yard on Howard's 
 Hill, in the city of Baltimore. The grave is adorned with two plain 
 marble slabs, the upper one resting on four pillars of marble, with the 
 following inscription : — 
 
 HIER KUHEN 
 DIE GEBEINE DES VERSTORBENEN 
 
 WILLIAM OTTERBEIN. 
 
 GEBOREN 4 JUNI, 1726 ; 
 GESTORBEN 17 novp:mber, 1813. 
 
 SEINES ALTERS, 
 87 JAHRE, 6 MONATE, 13 TAGE. 
 
 " Selig sind die Todten die in dem Herrn 
 sterben; sie ruhen von ihrer Arbeit; denn 
 ihre Werke folgen ihnen nach." 
 
 HERE REST 
 THE REMAINS OF 
 
 WILLIAM OTTERBEIN. 
 BORN JUNE 4, 1726; 
 
 DEPARTED THIS LIFE NOVEMBER 17, 1813 
 
 AGED 
 
 87 TEARS, 6 MONTHS, 13 DAYS. 
 
 " Blessed are the dead tliat die in the 
 Lord; for they rest from their labors, and 
 their works do follow them." 
 
 Four months after the death of Mr. Otterbein, the Methodist confer- 
 ence met in the city of Baltimore. On the last day of the conference 
 Bishop Asbury, who was a warm personal friend of Mr. Otterbein, 
 preached a sermon in Otterbein's pulpit. Referring to the occasion in 
 his journal, Asbury said, " By request, I discoursed on the character 
 of the angel of the church of Philadelphia, in allusion to William Otter- 
 bein, — the holy, the great Otterbein, — whose funeral discourse it was 
 intended to be. Solemnity marked the silent meeting in the German 
 church, where were assembled the members of our conference and many 
 of the clergy of the city. Forty years have I known the retiring mod- 
 esty of this man of God towering majestic above his fellows in learn- 
 ing, wisdom, and grace, yet seeking to be known only to God and the 
 people of God." 
 
 Otterbein was not a partisan. " A man of a more catholic spirit never 
 lived," — pure in character, simple and easy in his manners, benevolent 
 in heart, and humble in spirit. Though persecuted through the most of 
 his ministerial life, he did not murmur nor complain. When denounced 
 as an " enthusiast," " false prophet," and " fanatic," he would weep over 
 his enemies. " But it was as a preacher and as an evangelist that he 
 most excelled." When he was eighty years old. Bishop Newcomer heard 
 him preach, and thus speaks of it : " Oh, what feelings penetrate my soul 
 whenever this old servant of Christ declares the counsel of God ! In 
 depth of erudition and in perspicuity of thought he is unique and match- 
 less." Two generations have passed since that sainted father in Israel 
 fell asleep in Jesus, but his works still follow him. — J. W. 
 
608 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 LIFE X. JAMES MANNING. 
 
 A. D. 1738-A. D. 1791. BAPTIST, ^ AMERICA. 
 
 James Manning has been selected to represent the Baptists of the 
 colonial period in American history ; not that he represents them alto- 
 gether, but rather that, rising from among them, he led them into the 
 new era which followed. He closed the first volume of their history and 
 opened a new page. The son of the earlier time, he was the father of 
 a new generation of better training and ampler fortune. His active and 
 public life covers the period between 1762 and 1791, during which the 
 colonies became a nation, and many new paths opened to American life 
 and religion. He thus belonged to both periods, and to the transition 
 from the one to the other. 
 
 There is another name, of earlier date, related, indeed, to the very 
 His predecessor beginnings of colonial history, and illustrating the same 
 Roger Williams, towu of Providence and colony of Rhode Island where 
 Manning spent his years, which might for some purposes take the first 
 and representative place. The history of the Baptists in America begins 
 with Roger Williams. He had not always been of them, and was not 
 long with them. He came from England a Puritan and a Separatist. 
 At Plymouth and Salem he had been an accepted minister of the Word, 
 but his advanced opinions gave offense, and provoked the authorities to 
 banish him from the colony of Massachusetts Bay. He passed beyond 
 its borders, and planted a colony and a state on the shores of Narragan- 
 sett. Most of his companions, like himself, were dissenters from the 
 ecclesiastical order in Massachusetts Bay, and had taken refuge with him 
 for sake of a larger liberty of opinion. He says, " Having, in a sense of 
 God's merciful providence unto me in my distress, called the place Prov- 
 idence, I desired it might be for a shelter for persons distressed of con- 
 science." ^ Here he received lay baptism at the hands of one of his 
 associates, and with eleven other persons joined in the formation of a 
 Baptist church, the first in America, with but one other like it, as far as 
 we know, in England. This was in the year 1638-1639. In a short 
 time he separated himself from all churches, becoming a " seekex-." 
 
 Williams, not only as the progenitor of a long and numerous line of 
 Baptists in America, but on account of his early and courageous advo- 
 cacy of entire freedom in religion, and his establishment of a colony and 
 a state, the first in the civilized world to incoi'porate these principles into 
 its law and practice, is an illustrious figure in our early history. The 
 Baptists have always counted his among their honorable names, and have 
 set him forward as their representative. And yet he gave them no con- 
 
 1 Deed of R. Williams to his associates in 1638, Rhode Island Colonial Records, i. 22. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XTX.] JAMES MANNING. 609 
 
 scious impulse, and would have disclaimed all praise of leadership. In 
 fact, prior to 1740, the Baptists had had small growth, and only such as 
 comes of itself, without the championship of leaders, or the strength 
 and prodiactiveness of association. In that year George Whitefield 
 landed at Newport, in Rhode Island, and became for thirty years one of 
 the principal agencies in a mighty spiritual movement, one of whose 
 issues was a more rapid multiplication of the churches of the Baptists. 
 In 1734, at the time of the great awakening under Jonathan Edwards, 
 there were but fifteen Baptist churches in New England ; -^ and in 1740, 
 when Whitefield began to lift up here his trumpet, there were only 
 thirty-seven, with less than three thousand members, in all 
 
 . , . Baptist progress 
 
 North America. Fifty years later, in 1790, when Man- in the days of 
 ning was just closing his life, there were eight hundred and 
 seventy-two churches, with nearly sixty-five thousand members,^ they 
 having multiplied twenty-fold. 
 
 The early Baptists were inconsiderable in numbers, their ministry had 
 little learning, and they suffered the manifold disabilities of a dissenting 
 minority. But before the Revolution, indeed, on the heels of the Great 
 Awakening, their more rapid growth began. An acute and learned writer 
 in the "North American Review"^ (1876), in reviewing religion in 
 America for the first century of the republic, ascribes this growth to 
 " two distinct causes : " One was, that they insisted on a personal ex- 
 perience of religion as the absolute condition of admission to the 
 church of Christ, the characteristic doctrine of the Great Awakenings 
 But besides this, there was another and perhaps more potent reason : 
 " A distinctive characteristic of the Baptists was the energy with which 
 they extolled the gifts of the Spirit, and advocated an unlearned minis- 
 try. On this latter point, as we have already seen, the Congregational- 
 ists took high ground. Even Edwards, the most powerful promoter of 
 the revival, woxild not allow that a man should enter the pulpit ' who 
 had had no education at college.' Against what seemed to them an un- 
 righteous prejudice in favor of ' the original tongues,' both Separatists 
 and Baptists strenuously maintained ' that every brother that is qualified 
 by God has a right to preach according to the measure of faith.' 
 ' Lowly preaching ' became their favorite watch-word, and it marked 
 the beginning of a popular tendency destined to make itself deeply felt 
 in the religious institutions of New England. The Baptists not only 
 gained a controlling influence with a devout but humble class, who had 
 little appetite for the elaborate discussions of the Congregational divines, 
 but they were powerfully helped by the prejudice which exists, in every 
 community, against the exclusiveness of superior culture. The rapid 
 growth of the Baptists was, in large part, a democratic protest, and it is 
 
 1 Hovey, Life of Backus, 261. 
 
 2 Cramp, Baptist History, 527. 
 
 8 North American Review, January, 1876, art. i., by Prof. J. L. Diman. 
 
 39 
 
610 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 a noticeable fact that even during the war their numbers steadily aug- 
 mented." Whatever truth there may be in this view, it is also true 
 that at the same time with the expansion of this denomination of Chris- 
 ManniDga tians, there appeared among them a movement towards a 
 
 leader in educa- higher education, in which James Manning was a leader. 
 He was born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, October 22, 
 1738, and graduated at the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, Sep- 
 tember 29, 1762. At the time of his graduation there were but six col- 
 leges in the country. Of these, two were in New England under the 
 control of the Congregationalists, one in New Jersey under the Presby- 
 terians, and three under the Episcopalians iu New York, Pennsylvania, 
 and Virginia. It was natural, with a rising desire for better education 
 among a growing Christian communion, that they should desire a college 
 of their own. This desire came to the surface most strongly among the 
 Baptists of Pennsylvania, who had organized an association of churches, 
 which was the only one in the country for nearly sixty years. The 
 Philadelphia Association had taken action and started a movement to- 
 wards a college, looking to Rhode Island- as the colony where, from the 
 religious persuasion of a large number of the people, and the liberal 
 spirit of its government from the beginning, they would be most likely 
 to find an open field and friendly encouragement. Manning went there 
 in July, 1763, Undoubtedly under the impulse of this action, and by his 
 efforts the project of " a seminary of polite literature subject to the gov- 
 ernment of the Baptists " was set on foot, and a liberal charter obtained 
 from the General Assembly. It was called Rhode Island College, re- 
 ceiving its present name of Brown University in honor of its greatest 
 benefactor forty years later, in 1804. Manning had been previously 
 ordained to the ministry, and in the spring of 1764 he removed to War- 
 ren, a town not far from Providence, where he combined the offices of 
 •pastor of the church and president of the college for a number of years. 
 The church had been formed as a result of his preaching,. and he had 
 'been appointed president of the college, having first undertaken a school 
 which proved to be the beginning of the college. The transfer of the 
 college to Providence, a step which proved of the greatest advantage 
 to the infant institution, was a great trial to him. " So affectionately 
 desirous," says Professor Goddard, "was Dr. Manning of the people of 
 his care, many of whom had, through his instrumentality, exjjerienced 
 the transforming efficacy of the religion of Christ, that he could not find 
 it in his heart to leave them. To avoid a separation so painful to his 
 sensibilities, he even proposed to resign the elevated position to which 
 he had just been appointed. To this proposition his infiuential friends 
 would not listen, and they persuaded him to abandon all thought of re- 
 signing the presidentship. While we are compelled to think that his 
 decision was a wise one, we honor the feelings which well-nigh betrayed 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JAMES MANNING. 611 
 
 his judgment. Under similar circumstances, how few men would have 
 faltered ; how few would have sought to renounce the pathway to literary 
 and social distinction for the unambitious career of a village pastor ! " 
 
 Bnt in Providence a larger opportunity was prepared for him, and he 
 found ample scope for his gifts as a preacher as well as an Manning's work 
 educator. For three quarters of a century the church ^° Providence, 
 founded by Roger Williams had been the only one of any persuasion. 
 When Manning removed to Providence, in May, 1770, it was more than 
 one hundred and thirty years old, and yet in a population of four thou- 
 sand people it had but one hundred and eighteen members. For all this 
 time it had been going on, receiving neither from within nor from with- 
 out any vigorous impulse. Its ministers had been natives, bred on the 
 spot, and were generally in advanced years, at work for their daily bread, 
 and without special training. Like the early Baptists and Quakers in 
 England, they discarded singing and music in worship.^ Moreover, very 
 early, and almost from the start, the church had adopted the rite of im- 
 position of hands in connection with baptism, and insisted upon it as 
 prerequisite to the communion of the Lord's Supper. It had been ex- 
 tremely rigorous as to this rite, and refused prayer or communion with 
 those who did not conform to the practice. This singular tenacity for 
 an essential rite was the sign of a contracted spirit, and very likely the 
 reason for a contracted influence. Whatever more liberal views may 
 have existed were suppressed. But the advent of President Manning 
 emancipated the more liberal tendencies, and started the church on the 
 higher career which it has followed for more than a century. His com- 
 ing was like a fresh breeze. The old torpor began to stir. The old 
 strictness relaxed. Religion was powerfully revived. The college came 
 bringing fresh impulses and new demands. It joined itself to the church 
 in many ways. A meeting-house was erected " for the public worship of 
 Almighty God, and also for holding Commencement in," so spacious and 
 elegant that it still stands, five years more than a century old, the most 
 notable structure for religious purposes in a city with a hundred thou- 
 sand people, though built in a village with no more than four thousand 
 inhabitants. Manning found congenial spirits, men of enlarged views, 
 who could appreciate a minister of more liberal training, and whose 
 hands were ready for works of improvement. His very first iSunday 
 brought to a crisis the differences of opinion in regard to the imposition 
 of hands as requisite to communion. The minister and a section of the 
 church holding the narrower and stringent view withdrew, and he was 
 at once invited to take pastoral charge. Thus his love for the active 
 ministry of the Word was gratified, while he was called to the front as 
 leader in an enterprise of education most important to that growing 
 
 1 W. Tallack, George Fox and the Early Baptists; R. Barclay, The Inner Life of the 
 Religious Societies of the Commonwealth. 
 
612 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 brancli of the Christian church to which he belonged. He became at 
 once the minister of the oldest church of the Baptists in America, and 
 president of their first college, and no position could be more command- 
 ing- 
 
 And he had admirable fitness for the position. He was of impressive 
 Manning's per- pi'^seuce, of large and handsome person, of elegant and 
 sonai gifts. genial manners. His learning, if not extensive, was suf- 
 
 ficient, and his eloquence in all public address very effective. He was 
 the first clergyman of liberal education who had ministered to the con- 
 gregation. To all his gifts was added the dignity of his office. And 
 above all was an ardor of piety and an excellence of character which 
 allayed prejudice and won respect. Though he was but thirty-two years 
 old, his talents and his attainments gave him prominence at a time when 
 there were few educated clergymen in his denomination, and few persons 
 equal to leadership in an educational enterprise, while his youth lent a 
 charm and a power quite inspiring in such a community. 
 
 In the winter of 1774, while the people were engaged in the erection 
 of the large meeting-house modeled after St. Martin's-in-the-Fields in 
 London, a power greater than Manning's was felt among them. He 
 writes to a friend in England, "In the beginning of the winter of 1774, 
 it pleased the Lord in a most remarkable manner to revive his work in the 
 town of Providence, and more especially among the people of my charge. 
 Such a time I never before saw. Numbers were pricked to the heart. 
 Our public assemblies by night and by day were crowded, and the audi- 
 tors seemed to hear as for the life of their souls. It was frequently an 
 hour before I could get from the pulpit to the door, on account of the 
 numbers thronging to have an opportunity of stating the condition of 
 their minds. Never before did I experience such happy hours in the 
 pulpit. Day and night my dear people resorted to my house to open to 
 me the state of their souls, insomuch that it was with difficulty I could 
 at any time attend to secular business ; and I think I may say with truth 
 that I had as little inclination as leisure for it, further than absolute 
 duty required. And what added peculiarly to my happiness was that 
 the Lord visited the college as remarkably as the congregation. Fre- 
 quently, when I went to the recitation room, I would find nearly all the 
 students assembled and joining in prayer and praise to God. Instead of 
 my lectures on logic and philosophy they would request me to speak to 
 
 them of the things concerning the kingdom of God In the space 
 
 of about six months I baptized more than one hundred persons 
 
 Thus the glorious work continued, and rather increased, until the fatal 
 19th of April, when the affair at Lexington happened, which, like an elec- 
 tric shock, filled every mind with horror and compassion." ^ 
 
 The war of the Revolution, precipitated by " the affair at Lexington," 
 
 1 Guild, Manning and Brown University, 2'46. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JAMES MANNING. 613 
 
 through all its hard years of public distress, arrested the springing life 
 
 of church and college. Fortunately, the meeting-house had 
 
 been finished and dedicated between the battles of Lexino^- triot in political 
 
 life 
 
 ton and Bunker Hill, and the church had a home, though 
 its members were scattered and its life languished. The college was 
 closed, and its building was used for a barrack or a hospital for soldiers. 
 There were no students and no Commencements. No degrees were con- 
 ferred till 1786. It was in that year that Dr. Manning was elected a 
 delegate to Congress. He had few inclinations for political life, but he 
 ardently sympathized with his struggling country, and his position and 
 character drew to him the spontaneous confidence and suffrage of his fel- 
 low-citizens. The proceedings of the Congress were not public, and what 
 part Dr. Manning took in its deliberations we do not know. That he 
 filled his place with the dignity of a gentleman, the uprightness of a 
 Christian, and the fidelity of a patriot is clear from the whole tenor of his 
 life. 
 
 His life was now near a sudden and premature close. He seems al- 
 most to have expected it, although he was only in his fifty-fourth year, 
 and bearing upon his person the signs of undecayed vigor and health. 
 In April, 1791, he notified the corporation of the college of his desire to 
 be relieved from his office when a successor should be appointed. On the 
 last Sabbath of the same month he also preached a sermon of farewell to 
 the church. On the 24th of July following, while engaged in prayer in 
 his home on Sunday morning, he was taken with apoplexy, and with no 
 revival of consciousness soon passed to his eternal rest, as "universally 
 lamented," says the historian of the Baptists, Isaac Backus, " as any man 
 that I have known." 
 
 For nearly thirty years he had been in Rhode Island, devoting his 
 life to the highest interests. He had given a new impulse to an an- 
 cient church, which became one of the first as it was the oldest of the 
 communion to which it belonged. In the birth and beginnings of a 
 college which for two generations was the only one belonging to Amer- 
 ican Baptists, he had the principal part. His learning, his powers, 
 his character, his fidelity in all trusts, his sympathy with the depressed 
 and feeble churches of his own religious persuasion, his leadership in 
 their aspirations after liberal education, gave him great honor in his 
 own day, and a position of singular eminence, if not of primacy, in 
 the generation of Baptists which closed the colonial and began the na- 
 tional period of our history. In the long time between Williams and 
 Manning there arose among them no name more illustrious, and no per- 
 son who more fitly and more nobly represents them. One imagines that 
 if Williams had remained among them and of them, with his genius, his 
 university training, his enthusiasm, so strong in the courage of his opin- 
 ions, so magnetic in his influence over others, devoting the fifty years 
 
614 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 of his life in America to the propagation of their sentiments and the in- 
 crease of their churches, the future would have been different, and Man- 
 ning might have entered on quite another inheritance, and found his work 
 in a good measure anticipated. But Pi'ovidence is wiser and stronger 
 than any man, or any number of men, and takes its own hours and ways, 
 and waits till it is ready, and times and locates, arrests and hurries, pre- 
 cedes and follows, according to a wisdom and a will of its own. These 
 men both served its jjurpose, and made a way for others, a way for the 
 conception of Christianity which they had embraced to advance to a 
 wider dominion and a history in missions, in education, quite beyond 
 their dreams. — S. L. C. 
 
 LIFE XII. FRANCIS ASBURY. 
 
 A. D. 1745-A. D. 1816. METHODIST EPISCOPAL, AMERICA. 
 
 Francis Asbury, the pioneer bishop of America, was born in the 
 parish of Handsworth, Staffordshire, England, August 20, 1745. He 
 was of humble extraction, his father being a gardener by occupation. 
 Both the elder Asbury and his wife were members of the Established 
 Church, and they were careful — the mother especially — to indoctrinate 
 their son in the fundamental truths of the gospel. There were but two 
 children in the family, Francis, and a sister, who however died in in- 
 fancy. But though he thus came in for a double share of tenderness on 
 the part of his mother, he does not seem to have become in any sense a 
 spoiled child because an only one. Perhaps this is to be attributed to 
 the truly religious atmosphere of his home, which was sanctified by 
 daily reading of the Scriptures and prayer. As soon as he was old 
 enough he was sent to .school, his father affording him every opjiortu- 
 nity within his means, to acquire a good common English education, but 
 His sufferings as ^^^ succcss as a Student was not what could have been de- 
 a school-boy. sired. The teacher " was a great churl," and beat the lad 
 so unmercifully that he conceived a dislike not only for him, but for his 
 books as well, and at length became quite discouraged. The religious 
 tendency of the boy's mind became quite apparent at this time. After 
 suffering from some fresh cruelty inflicted by the master, oppressed with 
 the shame and sorrow consequent upon the punishment, he used to re- 
 tire, as soon as he could, to some unfrequented place, and there pour out 
 his heart to God in prayer. He became quite pensive and retiring, a 
 trait of character for which he was, in some measure, distinguished 
 through life. 
 
 Finding that he did not make the advancement in his studies which 
 he desired, his father removed him from school, and set him to work 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] FRANCIS ASBURY. 615 
 
 under the direction of a person who appeared to understand him better 
 than the teacher had done, and who treated him kindly. The change of 
 treatment had a beneficial eflFect upon the boy, which soon became ap- 
 parent; for, while he did not neglect his work, he also soon commenced 
 to apply himself to reading duriiag his hours of leisure, and rose rapidly 
 in the estimation of those with whom he was associated. No better 
 proof is required of the carefulness with which his parents had in- 
 structed him in religion, or of his own docile disposition and religious 
 bent of mind, than the fact that, no matter how provoked, he never 
 uttered " an oath," and always scrupulously adhered to the truth. A 
 moral, upright boy, young Asbury's religious principles may be said to 
 have been firmly established by the time he was fourteen years of age. 
 
 About this time he became very much interested in the conversations 
 of a pious man who occasionally visited at his father's house ; but, as in 
 the case of the Wesleys, he seems to have been more indebted to his 
 mother than to any one else for the religious impi'essions made ujjon his 
 susceptible mind. Having become anxious for his personal salvation, he 
 now entered more fully on a life of constant prayer and serious reflec- 
 tion. 
 
 The fame of John "Wesley and the Methodists had reached this hum- 
 ble StaiFordshire home, but as the new people were everywhere spoken 
 against, young Asbury was somewhat doubtful as to the propriety of 
 going near them. Upon consulting his mother, however, he found that 
 she entertained a favorable opinion of them. Indeed, she recommended 
 her son to attend their meetings and judge for himself, as to whether 
 the influence they exerted was for good or ill. An opportunity soon pre- 
 sented itself. The Methodists were to have a meeting some miles dis- 
 tant from his father's house, and thither he went in company with a 
 friend. Arrived at the place of worship, everything he saw excited his 
 surprise. From beginning to end the entire service was altogether dif- 
 ferent from any to which the lad had hitherto been accustomed. The 
 preaching place, instead of being a church or chapel, was a private resi- 
 dence, the people knelt at time of prayer, and in response to the earnest 
 petitions of the preacher, many of them said "Amen;" the congrega- 
 tion sang without a choir, and the peculiar melody of the tunes, and the 
 adaptation of the words of the hymns to the tunes, not merely surprised, 
 but delighted him, and, to cap the climax, the preacher " prayed without 
 the use of a prayer-book," and preached without " a sermon-book." But 
 though all this appeared very strange to the young listener, he never- 
 theless considered it a very good way, particularly as the preacher not 
 only spoke readily but clearly as well, pointing out the plan of salvation, 
 the necessity of faith in Christ, and the " confidence and assurance " of 
 the children of God. The inquiring mind of young Asbury at once 
 grasped this idea of the confidence and assurance of God's children, and 
 
616 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 he determined not to rest till he obtained it. Upon his return home with 
 Enters upon a *^^^ purpose in view, he went with a young friend, of like 
 religious life. frame of mind with himself, into his father's barn to pray 
 for the desired blessing, and in answer to the petition, he says, " I believe 
 the Lord pardoned my sins and justified my soul." He was then about 
 sixteen years of age. About a year after his conversion he began to ex- 
 ercise his gifts as a local preacher, and when between twenty-one and 
 twenty-two years of age, he commenced his regular ministerial careei 
 under the direction of Wesley. 
 
 From the beginning it was evident to a person of Wesley's discern- 
 ment that Asbury had within him the elements of true greatness. 
 Though no collegian, not even an educated man, as the term is under- 
 stood, his pulpit efforts were from the outset highly appreciated by the 
 people. Crowds attended his preaching, and competent judges were sur- 
 prised at his ready utterance and his power in moving his audiences. 
 He was therefore gladly received on the various circuits to which Wes- 
 ley appointed him ; and so characteristic of the man, and of the times too, 
 was the zeal with which he entered on his ministry, that for some years 
 he would not distract his mind from what he believed to be his legitimate 
 work, or leave his flock long enough to attend the sessions of the con- 
 ference. If his seniors devised and planned the work, he was content to 
 carry out those plans though he had no hand in the planning. 
 
 He was unassuming in manner, and quite prepossessing in his personal 
 appearance. Though always sedate, as was the manner of the early 
 Methodist preachers, he was nevertheless cheerful. In dress he was neat, 
 without any appearance of foppishness. In demeanor he was courteous, 
 and always ready to evince his sympathy for those who were cast down 
 in feelings, or who were afflicted or oppressed ; and so far as can be ascer- 
 tained, he appears to have been impartial in the administration of disci- 
 pline. Such being the characteristics of the man, it is not surprising that 
 Chosen by Wes- Wesley should have considered him competent to fill the 
 ley for America, position which he shortly after assigned to him in America. 
 Accounts of the religious destitution of the American colonies had 
 reached Asbury in his English home and fired him with a zealous de- 
 sire to go to their relief, so that when Wesley approached him upon 
 the subject, he was as willing to go upon the mission as Wesley was to 
 send him. 
 
 In 1771 Wesley, in compliance with the earnest solicitations of the 
 American societies for more missionaries, laid their case before his con- 
 ference, and asked for volunteers ; and in response to this call, Francis 
 Asbury and Richard Wright offered themselves. They were accepted, 
 and the supervision of the entire work in America was entrusted by Mr. 
 Wesley to Mr. Asbury. Then they immediately commenced to make 
 preparation for their voyage. 
 
Cent. XVIL-XIX.] FRANCIS ASBURY. 617 
 
 And now commences a new epoch in the life of Francis Asbury. He 
 goes to America as Mr. Wesley's I'epresentative there, and is to enter 
 upon a new and altogether untried field of operations. In many respects 
 the old methods and plans of working, so well adapted to the people of 
 the Old World, will be utterly impracticable in the New. Hereafter, 
 in most cases his plans must be determined by the exigencies of the case 
 in hand ; he will have no precedent by which to be guided. In short, it 
 may be said his actual career is but now begun. 
 
 But short time was spent in leave-taking ; a few of his more intimate 
 friends were visited, an affectionate and final earthly farewell was taken 
 of his parents, and then he set out for Bristol, where he remained from 
 the latter end of August till the 4th of September, when he and his as- 
 sociate, Mr. Wright, set sail. Such unwavering faith had Asbury in 
 God's providential care for him, and in the genuineness of his call to 
 the work, that though so insufficiently supplied with means that by the 
 time he reached Bristol he had not one penny in his purse, he neverthe- 
 less felt assured that funds for his journey would be provided in due 
 time. Nor was he disappointed, for some friends in the city supplied 
 him with the necessary clothing, and ten pounds. " Thus," says he, 
 " I found by experience that He will provide for those who trust in 
 Him." 
 
 During his protracted voyage, however, lasting nearly two months, 
 Mr. Asbury found that what was sufficient clothing for comfort in Bristol 
 was very insufficient for one exposed to the cold blasts of the boisterous 
 Atlantic ; but in mid-ocean no oversight on this point could be remedied, 
 and he endured the discomforts of his position with a spirit befitting one 
 who had resolved to " endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." 
 The captain treated both him and Wright courteously, permitting them to 
 preach on board when they desii-ed to do so, which they accordingly did 
 several times. The responsibility resting upon him in view of the mis- 
 sion he had undertaken to an unknown people occasioned him consider- 
 able anxiety, but he wrote, " I have great cause to believe that I am not 
 running before I am sent." 
 
 On the 27th of October the missionaries landed at Philadelphia, where 
 Asbury preached, and after spending a few days in the city jjgaches Phiia- 
 and vicinity, where they were treated very kindly, they pro- <ieiphia. 
 ceeded to New York, visiting Staten Island, en route. In New York, 
 too, they were cordially received, and Asbury at once set to work to gather 
 accurate information concerning the strength and requirements of the so- 
 cieties, in order that he might send a correct report to Wesley. At this 
 time (1771) the Methodist societies on the entire continent of America 
 numbered only about six hundred members, with ten jDreachers. Of 
 churches there were very few, and those far apart. Their principal preach- 
 ing places were court-houses and occasionally private houses, barns, or 
 
618 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 the woods, according as they had friends or influence. How widely dif- 
 ferent this from the status to which Methodism had attained long before 
 Asbury's death, and largely through his instrumentality. 
 
 But though Asbury had been so very cordially received by his breth- 
 ren on his arrival, his path was nevertheless very far from being strewn 
 with roses. His view of administering discipline and of a general plan 
 of working was in some slight particulars different from theirs, and 
 occasionally his judgment on these matters was questioned ; but while 
 courteous to his brethren, he was also firm where he was sure he was 
 right, as will be seen in the following extracts from his journal : " I am 
 
 fixed to the Methodist plan, and do what I do faithfully as to God 
 
 At jjresent I am dissatisfied. I judge we are to be shut iip in the cities 
 this winter. My brethren seem unwilling to leave the cities, but I think 
 I shall show them the way. I am in trouble, and more trouble is at 
 hand, for I am determined to make a stand against all partiality." That 
 he did make such a stand, and that he was successful in preventing 
 many irregularities from creeping into the church at this period, is 
 mucli to his credit and to the credit of those associated with him, even 
 though they sometimes differed from him in judgment. His preaching 
 was quite as acceptable to his American hearers as it had been to his 
 English hearers, and he was quite as zealous in the discharge of his 
 ministerial duties upon this side of the ocean as he had been upon the 
 other, and even more laborious. To make up for lost time he became a 
 diligent student ; and that his studies might not interfere with the per- 
 formance of other duties, and also because it was one of the good old 
 " Methodist plans," to which ■ he was fixed, he became an early riser. 
 When well he was seldom found in bed after five o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, and he often rose at four. The hours between rising and breakfast 
 were given to prayer, meditation, and reading, and in order to utilize 
 each instant he often continued his reading on horseback, while going 
 from one appointment to another. Being still a young map, compara- 
 tively speaking, with his mind in full vigor, he in this way acquired a 
 large amount of very valuable information, which he wisely funded for 
 future use. By carefully economizing every leisure moment in this way 
 he was able to carry on an extensive correspondence, and post his jour- 
 nal from time to time. 
 
 But a new era in the history of the nation was at hand, and the events 
 connected therewith very materially affected Asbury, and influenced his 
 after life. 
 
 It had been a work of time to get all the societies into the exact me- 
 „ ^ ^. , thodical working order which both he and Wesley desired, 
 
 Hardships dur- => . 
 
 ing the iievoiu- and Scarcely was this object attained when the Revolutiou- 
 
 tiouary War. "' •' , , • a • 
 
 ary War began to loom upon the horizon. At its com- 
 mencement a few of the leading preachers determined to return to Eng- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] FRANCIS ASBURY. 619 
 
 land at once, but while Asbury was still an honest Englishman, he was 
 also too true-hearted a missionary to leave his flock in such perilous 
 times. The Methodist societies were dearer to him than even Old Eng- 
 land, or his much-loved kindred ; and beside this, his own utterances 
 show that he was in sympathy with the colonists in their struggle ; so 
 he determined to remain and await the issue. But neither zeal nor 
 heroism saved him from reproach, misaj^prehension, and annoyance. lu 
 some of the States he was forbidden to preach at all, in others his mo- 
 tives for remaining were aspersed, and for a year he had to take refuge 
 with Judge White in Delaware, by whose hospitable family he was 
 treated with every mark of respect. Nor did he alone suffer obloquy. 
 Freeborn Garretson and others of his heroic associates, being native- 
 born, hoped that they might be allowed to continue their labors, and 
 attempted to do so, but they were persecuted and imprisoned. While 
 Asbury was secreted at Judge White's, what he considered his legitimate 
 work, that for which he lived, was of necessity almost entirely given up ; 
 though when he dared he would venture out to pray with and preach to 
 the families in the vicinity of the judge's mansion. 
 
 At last the terrible storm of war was over, and Asbury was free once 
 more to go where he would about his Master's business, and indefatiga- 
 bly as ever he traveled north and south, east and west, far as the set- 
 tlements extended, striving to gather in again the flocks which had been 
 scattered so widely during those long years of bitter strife between the 
 two countries. Most ably and faithfully did he discharge the duties of 
 the position which had been assigned to him by Wesley. 
 
 The Revolutionary War svpept away every vestige of church and state 
 connection in the colonies now become an independent nation, and also 
 left the Methodist societies in an undesirable condition in regard to gen- 
 eral organization. In consequence of this, Wesley, who now felt him- 
 self untrammeled, so far, at least, as America was concerned, by his con- 
 nection with the state church in England, proceeded to make provision 
 for the organization of the societies into a regular independent church. 
 To this end, thei-efore, he ordained Messrs. Whatcoat and Vasey elders, 
 and Dr. Coke general superintendent, giving him letters of episcopal 
 authority, and commissioning him and his associates named above to pro- 
 ceed to America and ordain Asbury to the office of bishop, and also to 
 ordain deacons and elders, — in short, to organize the church so that the 
 people might receive the sacraments from their own pastors. 
 
 As soon as possible after Dr. Coke's arrival a general conference of 
 the American preachers was called, which convened at Baltimore De- 
 cember 25, 1784, when Wesley's scheme was heartily con- Asbury becomes 
 curred in and Asbury was unanimously elected by his ^i^hop. 
 American brethren themselves, as well as appointed by Wesley one of 
 the bishops of the newly organized church, which was entitled the 
 "Methodist Episcopal Church." 
 
620 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 Dr. Coke, who had been ordained by Wesley, aud who had also been 
 elected bishop at the same time with Asbury, now proceeded to ordain 
 him to the office and work of a bishop, and who that has carefully traced 
 Asbury's subsequent career will say that his was not truly an apostolic 
 episcopate, in the proper sense of the New Testament term ? Had he 
 traveled weary miles undeterred by summer's heat or winter's cold, by 
 hunger or by fear of danger, had he crossed wild mountains and forded 
 unbridged rivers, wooed sleep unsheltered in the wilderness or on the 
 naked floors of rude frontier cabins, and in every way labored diligently 
 for the advancement of his Master's kingdom, before his ordination ; 
 after it he was in travels and in sacrifices and in labors yet more abun- 
 dant. Formerly his oversight and jurisdiction had been somewhat cir- 
 cumscribed, and his labors, even then Herculean, were sometimes fol- 
 lowed by a brief season of rest ; but now his responsibility for the over- 
 sight of all the societies upon the continent was unshared by any one 
 during the absence of Dr. Coke, and hereafter there would be no season 
 of rest as long as the physical frame would bear the strain. 
 
 January 3, 1785, he says, " Rode fifty miles through frost and snow to 
 Fairfax, Virginia, and got in about seven o'clock." Two days after : 
 " We had an exceedingly cold ride to Prince William, little less than 
 forty miles, and were nearly two hours after night in getting to Brother 
 Hale's." Again next day : " We passed Fauquier Court-House and came 
 to the north branch of the Rappahannock, which we found about waist- 
 high and frozen from side to side. We pushed the ice out of the track, 
 which a wagon, well for us, had made, and got over safe." Nor were 
 such toils and dangers rare incidents in his experience. On one occa- 
 sion he made a tour of three hundred miles on horseback in nine days, 
 and rode forty miles of the route without food for man or beast. He 
 was in peril from robbers, and sometimes fi'om false brethren. His ab- 
 horrence of slavery and his manly protests against the " sum of all vil- 
 lanies " brought down upon him the enmity of those in favor of the 
 peculiar institution. It is little wonder that nature would from time 
 to time assert herself, and let even a bishop know that her laws were 
 not to be broken with impunity, that after all he must care a little 
 for the health of his own body, as well as for the health of the church. 
 In consequence of his constant overwork and exposure, he was fre- 
 quently prostrated by severe attacks of illness, but as soon as he was 
 able to sit upon his horse he was up again and off. His one object — if 
 we may be allowed to count three in one, as he united them — appeared 
 to be the salvation of the people, the glory of God, and the extension 
 of the church. 
 
 Asbury was possessed of uncommon shrewdness, aud could generally 
 read the characters of those he met at first sight, but not being infallible 
 he sometimes found himself mistaken, to his cost. He was a rigid dis- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] FRANCIS ASBURY. 621 
 
 ciplinarian of a military cast, and occasionally made enemies of those 
 who ought to have been his friends. 
 
 Being a bachelor himself, he had not as much sympathy for the mar- 
 ried preachers, or those desiring to be married, as he ought, perhaps, to 
 have had, for they certainly endured very great hardships. His remarks 
 on the marriage of some of his preachers veere occasionally quite amusing. 
 A case or two in point will suffice as illustration. " I went," says he, 
 " to see brother Hartley under his confinement, who is in jail for preach- 
 ing, and found him determined to marry. He thought it his duty before 
 God. I could only advise a delay till he was released from impris- 
 onment." Later on, " Brother Hartley is now married and begins to 
 
 care for his wife I find the care of a wife begins to humble my 
 
 young friend, and makes him very teachable. I have thought he always 
 carried great sail, but he will have ballast now." Several years after, 
 writing of another, he says, " Jonathan Jackson is married. thou 
 pattern of celibacy, art thou caught ? Who can resist ? Our married 
 man was forty years of age." Again, six years later than the date of the 
 last extract, " At the chapel I found preachers in abundance, and a 
 
 larger congregation than I had expected Here are eight young 
 
 men lately married ; these will call for four hundi'ed dollars per annum 
 additional, — so we go." After all, his excessive admiration of celibacy 
 resulted from an ardent desire for the extension of the work. 
 
 As the years came and went, after his elevation to the episcopacy, 
 there was no abatement of his labors. Little wonder then ^sbury's abun- 
 that he was impatient of laxity in others. But at last dant labors. 
 these years of unremitting toil and care, accompanied by the frequent 
 attacks of illness consequent upon them, told so seriously ujDon the phys- 
 ical energies of the now aged bishop, that it was deemed imprudent for 
 him to pursue his journeyings alone ; accordingly he was allowed a trav- 
 eling companion, whose business it was to care for him and preach when 
 the bishop was unable to do so himself. 
 
 In due time, as the work extended, first. Bishop Whatcoat, and at his 
 death, Bishop MacKendree, were elected as his associates, and ordained 
 to the same office. But no subdivision of labor, no amount of care or 
 attention, could prevent the infirmities of old age coming on apace. By 
 the beginning of the year 1815, Bishop Asbury was so worn down with 
 years and ill health, that it was with great difficulty he could walk from 
 his carriage to the pulpit, yet notwithstanding his extreme debility he 
 continued to preach, and to plan for the well-being and extension of the 
 church. At Cincinnati he and Bishop MacKendree had " a long and 
 earnest talk," relative to the prospects of the work in the West, and his 
 shrewdness and remarkable foresight, even in advanced age, are proved by 
 the following extract, very nearly among the last in his voluminous jour- 
 nal. He says, " I told him [MacKendree] my opinion was that the 
 
622 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 western part of the empire would be the glory of America for the poor 
 and pious ; that it ought to be marked out for five couferences, to wit : 
 Ohio, Kentucky, Holston, Mississippi, and Missouri, in doing which, as 
 well as I was able, I traced out lines and boundaries." 
 
 He attended the Ohio conference held in September, 1815, and also 
 the conference held in Tennessee the following October, Concerning 
 the business of this last conference he makes this note : " My eyes fail, 
 I will resign the stations to Bishop MacKendree — I will take away my 
 feet. It is my fifty-fifth year of ministry, and forty-fifth year of labor 
 in America. My mind enjoys great peace and consolation. My health 
 is better, which may in part be because of my being less deeply inter- 
 ested in the business of the conference." Yet weakened as he was by dis- 
 ease and the infirmities of age, he still cherished the hope of being per- 
 mitted to meet once more with his brethren in the general conference 
 which was to assemble in May, 1816, in Baltimore, the city where a little 
 more than thirty years before he had been ordained to his responsible of- 
 fice, the duties of which he had so well and faithfully performed. It 
 was not to be. What little strength he had had began to fail him rapidly 
 now, but his indomitable will still kept him up. Journeying from place 
 to place, as he was able, he, with his traveling companion, J. W. Bond, 
 at length in March, 1816, came to Richmond, Virginia, where on the 
 24tli of that month he preached his last sermon. By this time he was 
 so weak that Mr. Bond and other friends entreated him not to tax his 
 little remaining strength by attempting to preach, but to no purpose ; he 
 said he must deliver his message to the people of that church once more. 
 So, finding further entreaty useless, they carried him from the carriage — 
 he could now neither walk nor stand — to the pulpit, where, seated on a 
 table previously arranged for him, he addressed his deeply moved con- 
 gregation. His message delivered, he was carried back to the house of 
 his friend, where he rested over Monday. Tuesday, Thursday, and Fri- 
 day he continued his journey until he reached Spottsylvania, where in 
 the house of his old friend, George Arnold, he calmly and peacefully 
 passed away on Sabbath, March 31, 1816. How truly it might be said 
 of him that he ceased at once to work and live. Some little idea may 
 be gained of his travels and labors from the following brief summary 
 contained in the preface of the " Life and Career of Francis Asbury," 
 by the late Bishop Janes. 
 
 " In his annual or semi-annual journeys he visited Massachusetts twenty- 
 three times after 1791, the date of his first visit, and during the forty -five 
 years of his ministry in America he visited the State of New York fifty- 
 six times, New Jersey sixty-two, Pennsylvania seventy-eight, Delaware 
 thirty-three, Maryland eighty, North Carolina sixty-three, South Caro- 
 lina forty-six, Virginia eighty-four, Tennessee and Georgia twenty times 
 each, and other States and Territories with corresponding frequency. 
 
Cent. XVIL-XIX.] WILLIAM MA CKENDREE. 623 
 
 .... In his unparalleled itinerant career he preached about sixteen thou- 
 sand five hundred sermons, or at least one a day,' and traveled about two 
 hundred and seventy thousand miles, or six thousand a year, presiding 
 in no less than two hundred and twenty-four annual conferences, and 
 ordaining more than four thousand preachers." The numbers in society 
 at his death were two hundred and fourteen thousand two hundred and 
 thirty-five, with six hundred and ninety-five preachers, which, compared 
 with the membership when Mr. Asbury came to America, forty-five years 
 before, under the direction of Mr. Wesley, namely, six hundred members 
 with ten preachers, shows accurately what God had wrought through the 
 instrumentality of that truly apostolic bishop. — T. W. 
 
 LIFE XIII. WILLIAM MACKENDEEE. 
 
 A. D. 1757-A. D. 183.5. METHODIST EPISCOPAL, — AMERICA. 
 
 Few events in the history of the church in modern times have ex- 
 cited more interest than the marvelous growth and development of Meth- 
 odism in the Southern and Western States of the American Union. 
 This is attributable, under God, to the peculiar adaptation of its econ- 
 omy to the character of the country and its population, and to the agents 
 who were called to labor in this vast field in the cause of Christianity. 
 The church could not have been organized throughout the length and 
 breadth of this immense territory, sparsely populated as it has been dur- 
 ing the greater part of its history, by the ordinary appliances of the ec- 
 clesiastical bodies which were in existence at the time of the American 
 Revolution, The population was too widely scattered and the people 
 were too much divided in their religious opinions and proclivities — to 
 say nothing of the general unconcern about religion — to call ministers, 
 if they could have been procured, and to place them in settled pastorates, 
 if .they could have been supported. In a few of the cities and other 
 centres the old regime obtained ; but this was mostly confined to offshoots 
 of the churches of England and Scotland, which could do but little in 
 the work of evangelizing the rural populations. 
 
 But Methodism had both the economy and the men for the work. It 
 did not wait for its ministers to be called by the people, and to be guar- 
 anteed a support ; it sent them forth among the people, whether they 
 wanted them or not ; whether or not they would receive the evangelists 
 thus sent, and minister to their wants. It did not wait till ministers 
 could be educated in science, literature, and theology, as taught in the 
 schools. Methodism never undervalued these attainments, but it never 
 considered them a sine qua non for the ministry. It demanded certain 
 qualifications which were considered indispensable. Concerning all can- 
 didates for the ministry these questions were asked : — 
 
624 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 " 1. Do they know God as a pardoning God ? Have they the love of 
 God abiding in them ? Do they desire nothing but God ? And are 
 they holy in all manner of conversation ? 
 
 " 2. Have they gifts (as well as grace) for the work ? Have they (in 
 some tolerable degree) a clear, sound understanding, a right judgment in 
 the things of God, a just conception of salvation by faith ? Do they 
 speak justly, readily, clearly ? 
 
 " 3. Have they fruit ? Are any truly convinced of sin and converted 
 to God by their preaching ? " 
 
 If these questions were answered in the affirmative, the candidates 
 were admitted to the ministry, and employed in work to which they were 
 adapted, in the judgment of those who were placed over them in the 
 Lord. They were of the j)eople — a plebeian ministry — and they 
 found no difficulty in adapting their style of address, their social in- 
 tercourse, modes of life, etc., to the people whom they served. 
 
 They went forth like the primitive evangelists, — " taking nothing of 
 the Gentiles." They were, indeed, allowed to receive entertainment 
 from the people, " eating and drinking such things as they gave," and 
 thirty-two pounds Virginia currency, or twenty-four pounds Pennsylvania 
 currency, if they could get it, and the same for their wives, with eight 
 pounds for each child under eleven, and six pounds for each child under 
 six years of age ; subsequently it was raised to sixty-four pounds, and 
 then to one hundred pounds and their traveling expenses. But this 
 " allowance " they seldom realized. 
 
 Methodism was a flexible system ; hence it underwent all necessary 
 changes to adapt it to the altered conditions of society. It was fortu- 
 nate in having at its head, for over thirty years of its early history, a 
 man of strong common sense, varied attainments, good executive ability, 
 and apostolic zeal, — the venerable Bishop Asbury. This remarkable 
 man was a keen judge of character ; he read men as we read books ; 
 and he gathered around him those who were like-minded with himself ; 
 and of these he put in prominent positions those whom he could trust to 
 execute all his well-laid plans. Among these, and the standard-bearer 
 among them, was William MacKendree, eminently a man after his own 
 heart. 
 
 William MacKendree was born in King William County, Virginia, 
 July 5, 1757. He came of worthy and pious parentage, but received 
 A soldier in the '^'^^Y ^"^^ ^ limited education as was common in those days 
 Revolution. j^ ^jjg Qj^j Dominion. He entered the army, as a soldier, of 
 the Revolution, and served the last two years of the war under General 
 Washington. Shortly after he entered the service he was made an ad- 
 jutant, and because of his great business qualifications and remarkable 
 energy he was placed in the commissary department, where he did much 
 to support the allied forces of Washington and Eochambeau at the siege 
 
Cent. XVn.-XIX.J WILLIAM MACKENDREE. 625 
 
 of Yorktown, where Coruwallis surrendered his sword. But he seldom 
 alluded to this military episode in his life, and could not be induced to 
 apply for a pension for his services. He said he contended for liberty ; 
 that gained, he asked no more. 
 
 From a youth be was under serious impressions in regard to religion, 
 and in 1787 he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. At a conference 
 held in Amelia County, Virginia, June 17, 1788, he was admitted on trial 
 into the Virginia Conference, and stationed at Norfolk and Portsmouth. 
 The next year he was sent to Petersburg, but at the end of the first 
 quarter he was transferred to Union Circuit, South Carolina. He was 
 sent the next year to Bedford Circuit, Virginia, but the third quarter he 
 was sent to Greenbrier Circuit, the fourth quarter to Little Levels, on 
 the western waters. The next year he was sent to four circuits, to serve 
 each one quarter ! He was the next year presiding elder of the Rich- 
 mond District, and the year after he was placed on a mountain district 
 of the Baltimore Conference. The next year he was returned to the 
 Richmond District, but after one quarter he was sent by the bishops to 
 take charge of what was called the Western Conference, embracing Ohio, 
 Kentucky, Tennessee, all Virginia west of New River, and one circuit 
 in Illinois. 
 
 These i-ajiid and sudden changes furnish a pregnant illustration of the 
 ease with which the great Methodist army was mobilized in those early 
 days. Paul's Epistles abound in military metaphors, and the fathers of 
 American Methodism seem to have studied them to great effect. Every 
 itinerant preacher was trained to " endure hardness as a good soldier of 
 Jesus Christ." Those who joined the sacramental host were pledged tO' 
 obey orders, to submit to the military discipline without which such a 
 ministry could not be made available. "When they were admitted into full 
 connection in the conference, among other charges this was given them : — 
 
 " Act in all things not according to your own will, but as a son in the 
 gospel. It is therefore your duty to employ your time in the manner 
 which we direct : in preaching, meeting the classes, visiting from house 
 to house, and especially visiting the sick ; in reading, meditation, and 
 prayer. Above all, if you labor with us in the Lord's vineyard, it is need- 
 ful you should do that part of the work which we advise, at those times 
 and places which we judge most for his glory." 
 
 If any one found it a test too severe, he was allowed without blame 
 to retire into the ranks of the local ministry (as many did), and preach 
 when and where he listed. The local preachers, in time, outnumbered 
 the itinerants, as they do now ; and immense service they have done to 
 the cause. 
 
 For twenty years MacKendree labored assiduously, and with great suc- 
 cess, in these important fields, especially while he was in charge of the 
 Western Conference. He was the very man for this work. Like Na- 
 40 
 
626 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 poleon he lived in the saddle. On his trusty steed he scaled high mount- 
 He lives in the ^^^^, forded deep streams, waded tlirough mud and mire, and 
 saddle. penetrated pathless forests and jungles. He headed his noble 
 
 band of co-laborers, and was " in labors more abundant," — " in journey- 
 ings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by his own 
 countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in 
 the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren ; in 
 weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in 
 fastings often, in cold and heat, if not in nakedness, — besides those 
 things that were without, that which came upon him daily, the care of 
 all the churches." 
 
 That which gave him so much power and efficiency was the singular 
 capacity and tact which he had observed in his great model, Asbury, of 
 gathering around him noble, heroic men, like himself, who heartily en- 
 tered into all his evangelistic plans, arid executed them like loyal and 
 valiant soldiers of the cross, with a spirit 
 
 " Such as in the martyrs glowed, 
 Dying champions for their God." 
 
 One of them, Jesse Walker, was usually sent forward as engineer to 
 reconnoitre, select suitable positions, and then report to the general in 
 command. MacKendree would then bring his heavy ordnance and his 
 light arms into the field ; the former wielded by such heroes as John 
 McGee, William Burke, John Page, Lewis Garrett, and others ; and the 
 latter by Thomas Wilkerson, Larner Blackman, James Gwin (who was 
 at one time General Jackson's army chaplain), Samuel Dowthett, and 
 others ; who upon occasion could wield the heavy ordnance too. 
 
 All these noble pioneers have gone to their reward. I did not enjoy 
 the personal acquaintance of many of them ; but my late glorified friend, 
 the Rev. A. L. P. Green, D. D., often described them to me, so that I 
 seem to know them all, and their great leader as well. Dr. Green was 
 familiar with them, and with MacKendree, whose " minister " he was in 
 the latter part of the patriarch's life. He served him " as a son in the 
 ^gospel," and he never grew weary in conversing about him and his asso- 
 ciates. Dr. Green at one time lived with James Gwin, and he was the 
 traveling companion and intimate friend of MacKendree. He had a 
 singular faculty — transcending that ascribed to Papias, but he was more 
 trustworthy than that father — of treasuring up the incidents in the lives 
 of these venerable men. He gives an account of the pioneer work of 
 MacKendree and his associates, extending through a few weeks in the 
 year 1807, as a sample : — 
 
 " Jesse Walker was sent to Illinois, there being at that time but one 
 circuit in that State, and a young man by the name of Travis was sent to 
 Missouri. In the summer of this year, William MacKendree, who was 
 Ihen in charge of what was called the Cumberland District, which ex- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] WILLIAM MACKENDREE. 627 
 
 tended to Illinois and Missouri, took with him James Gwin and A. God- 
 dard (Gwin was then a local preacher, and Goddard was traveling what 
 was then called Barren Circuit), and set out to visit Walker and Travis. 
 They crossed over the Ohio, and entered into the State of Illinois, trav- 
 eled all day, and, finding no house to stop at, passed the night in the wil- 
 derness. Next day they shared a like fortune, camping out at night 
 again. During this night their horses got away, and they did not find 
 them till about noon the next day ; but that night they found a lone 
 settlement, and tarried with a poor family who were living in a tem- 
 porary hut or camp. Next night they reached the house of a Mr. B., 
 who received them kindly. The Mississippi was not far off, and there 
 being no way to get their horses across it at that point, they left them 
 with Mr. B., took their baggage on their shoulders, and went on foot to 
 the river, which they crossed in a canoe, and after walking twelve miles 
 they came to the house of a Mr. Johnson. Here they met young Travis, 
 who had gotten up a little camp-meeting in the wilderness. At this 
 meeting their labors were greatly blessed. When it closed they returned 
 again to Mr. B., and went to a camp-meeting in the bounds of brother 
 Walker's work called the Three Springs. 
 
 " Here they found a few faithful members of the church, but hosts of 
 enemies. One individual, in particular, who was a leader of a band of 
 persecutors, had called a council among them to form a plan to drive the 
 preachers off. He stated to his clan that if the preachers were permitted 
 to remain, and could have their way, they would break up all the gam- 
 bling and racing in the country, and that they could have no more pleas- 
 ure, or fun, as he called it. So the determination among them was to 
 arm themselves, go to the camp-meeting en masse, take the preachers 
 and conduct them to the Ohio River, carry them over, and let them know 
 that they were to keep on their own side, and never trouble them again. 
 This purpose was made known to the preachers in advance of their ap- 
 pearance on the encampment. On Sunday, while Mr. MacKendree was 
 in the midst of his discourse, preaching to a large and interested con- 
 gregation, on the text, ' Come now, and let us reason together,' etc., the 
 major, as he was called, and his company, rode up and halted near the 
 congregation. The major told his men that he would not do anything 
 until the man had done preaching. Mr. MacKendree was then in the 
 prime of life, his voice loud and commanding, his bearing that of un- 
 daunted courage, while a supernatural defiance seemed to shoot forth 
 from his speaking eyes. He was sustained by the presence of Gwin, 
 Goddard, Walker, and Travis, who sat near him. The prayers of the 
 faithful were being sent up to heaven in his behalf, and, above all, the 
 divine presence was with him. Such was the power of his reasoning, 
 that he held the major and his party spell-bound for an hour. During 
 his remarks, he took occasion to say that himself and the ministers that 
 
628 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Peiuod V. 
 
 accompanied him were all citizens of the United States and freemen, 
 and had fought for the liberty which they enjoyed, but that their visit to 
 that place was one of mercy, their object being to do good to the souls 
 of men in the name of Christ. As he drew his remarks to a close, aw- 
 ful shocks of divine power were felt by the congregation. At length 
 mourners were called for, and scores crowded to the altar. At this mo- 
 ment, the major undertook to draw off his men and retreat in good order, 
 but some were already gone, others had alighted, turned their horses 
 loose, and were at the altar for prayer. He led off a few of them to 
 the spring, and after a short consultation, none of them seemed inclined 
 to prosecute their purpose any further, and at once disbanded. Several 
 of the number were converted before the meeting closed, and became 
 members of the church. ' 
 
 " On the same evening, about the going down of the sun, a man came 
 up to Mr. Gwin, and said to him, ' Are you the man that carries the 
 roll?' 'What roll?' said Mr. Gwin. 'The roll,' said he, 'that peo- 
 ple put their names to that want to go to heaven.' Brother Gwin, sup- 
 posing that he had reference to the class-book, referred him to brother 
 Walker, who took his name. The wild look and novel manner of the 
 man indicated derangement. He left the camp-ground, and fled to the 
 woods, with almost the speed of a wild beast. Nothing more was seen 
 of him until the next morning, at which time he returned to the encamp- 
 ment, wet with the dew of the night, in a state of mind which was dis- 
 tressing beyond description ; but during the day he was happily and 
 powerfully converted to God, and was found sitting, as it were, at the 
 feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. He afterward gave the 
 following account of himself. He lived in what was called the Amer- 
 ican Bottom, was very wicked, and professed to be a deist. A short time 
 before, he dreamed that the day of judgment was coming, and that three 
 men had been sent on from the East to warn him of his danger, which 
 had distressed him greatly ; and when he saw the three preachers, Mac- 
 Kendree, Gwin, and Goddard, pass his house, he recognized them as the 
 same persons whom he had seen in his dream, and he had followed 
 them to the camp-meeting, and they had warned him of his danger, sure 
 enough. It was said of this man that he possessed a large estate, was 
 very influential in his neighborhood, and was ultimately instrumental in 
 doing much good. 
 
 " At the close of this meeting, one hundred persons connected them- 
 selves with the church." 
 
 It is no marvel that when another bishop was needed to supervise the 
 MacKcndrce Connection, William MacKendree was selected for the office, 
 made bishop jj^ was placed in this responsible position by the general 
 conference of 1808, and remained in it for nearly twenty-seven years. 
 The work which he performed in that long period is almost incredible. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] WIILIAM 3IACKENDREE. 629 
 
 Like Asbury, he never married, so that he was at home everywhere. It 
 took very little to support him, so that he was never embarrassed with 
 temporal matters, — never "entangled with the affairs of this life." 
 
 As an executive officer he was rarely excelled. He presided in con- 
 ference with great dignity and impartiality. His keen insight into the 
 characters of men, and his perfect familiarity with all parts of the con- 
 nection, eminently fitted him for the delicate and difficult task of " sta- 
 tioning the preachers." 
 
 He was a strict constructionist in regard to the constitution and laws 
 of the church, and would lay down his office, or, for that matter, his life, 
 before he would sanction any serious infringement of them. There were 
 occasions when he showed his unwavering and invincible regard to the 
 old landmarks, as may be seen in that excellent work, " The Life and 
 Times of Bishop MacKendree," by one of his great admirers, — one of 
 his sons in the gospel, on whom his mantle has fallen, — • the Rev. Bishop 
 Paine. But I have no occasion to enlarge on this point in the present 
 sketch. 
 
 I would not have the impression made that Bishop MacKendree did 
 not labor in the North and East, as well as in the South and West, or 
 that he was not held in as high esteem there as here. He traveled, and 
 preached, and presided, as a bishop, all over the Union, and he was 
 everywhere regarded as " a chosen vessel," exceeded by none as an able 
 minister of the New Testament, and a faithful ruler in the Church of 
 God. 
 
 By so much exposure and toil Bishop MacKendree, in his old age, be- 
 came the victim of asthma and neuralgia, from which he suffered much ; 
 yet he continued to preach till within a few weeks of his death. His 
 last sermon was preached in the church which bore his name in Nash- 
 ville, and which, before this story shall be published, will give place to 
 another on the same sacred spot, bearing the same time-honored name. 
 The writer preached a watch-night sermon, the last in the sacred fane, 
 December 31, 1876, when the bishop's last attendance at a watch-night 
 service, in the same place, forty-two years before, was spoken of by one 
 who was present on the occasion. His last sermon was preached there 
 in 1834. Dr. Green heard it, and in speaking of it says, " I can in my 
 imagination see him this moment, as he last stood on the walls of Zion 
 with his sickle in his hand ; the gray hairs thinly covering his forehead, 
 his pale and withered face, his benignant countenance, his speaking eye ; 
 while a deep undercurrent of thought, scarcely veiled by the external 
 lineaments, took form in words, and fell from his trembling lips, as, by 
 the eye of faith, he transcended the boundaries of time and entered 
 upon the eternal world. But he is drawing to the close of his sermon. 
 Now, for the last time, he bends himself, and reaches his sickle forth to 
 reap the fields ripe for the harvest. How balmy the name of Christ as 
 
630 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 be breathes it fortb, standing as it were midway between heaven and 
 earth, and pointing to the home of the faithf nl in the sky ! I look again : 
 the sickle sways in his hand, his strength is measured out, and he closes 
 up his ministerial labors on earth with the words, ' I add no more,' while 
 imagination hears the response from the invisible glory, ' It is enough ! ' " 
 
 Shortly after this, the bishop rej^aired to the house of his brother, Dr. 
 James MacKendree, in Sumner County, Tennessee. 
 
 He suffered much from an inflammation of his index finger, and this 
 was the apparent, proximate cause of his death, illustrating the senti- 
 ment, — 
 
 "An earthquake may be bid to spare 
 The man that's strangled by a hair." 
 
 But it matters not when or how we die, if we die in the Lord. 
 
 "A thousand ways hath Providence 
 To bring believers home." 
 
 He was very patient and cheerful during his illness, and grateful for 
 the unceasing attentions of his friends. Once when he 
 
 His closing days. ^ n t l • i ^ • r • • KT 
 
 awoke from sleep, he said to his favorite sister, JNaucy, 
 and his nieces, who were watching by his bedside, " You are like lamps 
 burning while I sleep, to cheer me when I wake ! " 
 
 Dr. Green spent a night with him just before his death. At one time 
 the doctor said to him, " Bishop, I may live when you have passed away, 
 and wherever I go your friends will want to hear from you ; what shall 
 I say to them ? " He replied, " Tell them for me, that whether for time 
 or for efeernity. All's well!" This, his favorite saying, was the last con- 
 nected utterance that fell from his lips. These dying words became the 
 burden of a song, which has gained great popularity, and has cheered 
 the heart of many a dying saint. It was composed by R. Jukes, and is 
 Hymn 495 in the writer's " Songs of Ziou : " " What 's this that steals, 
 that steals upon my frame? " Bishop MacKendree died March 5, 1835. 
 
 I may add a word or two respecting his personal appearance. Dr. 
 Green describes him as about five feet ten inches in height, and weighing 
 on an average one hundred and sixty pounds. He had fair skin, dark 
 hair, and blue eyes. Some say his eyes were of another color, but a 
 venerable matriarch of Columbia, Mrs. Porter, a step-daughter of one 
 of the bishop's sisters, told me the other day they were light blue. He 
 had a faultless form, regular features, great strength. His countenance 
 evinced deep thought, but upon occasion it would kindle into a very 
 lively expression. He was exquisitely neat in his person. He was gen- 
 erally clean-shaved and well-dressed, his favorite costume being a long- 
 waisted, single-breasted black coat, black vest, breeches, and long stock- 
 iugs, polished shoes with silver buckles, a white stock, and broad-brimmed 
 hat. He was a most venerable and dignified personage. He was very 
 methodical and punctual and exact in all things. He usually retired at 
 
Cent. XVn.-XIX.] WILLIAM MACKENDREE. 631 
 
 niue o'clock, and rose at five. He was remarkable for the ease and affa- 
 bility with which he accommodated himself to all classes of society, high 
 and low, rich and jDOor, learned and rude, bond and free, and this was 
 one secret of his great success. He was calm and collected in the pulpit, 
 though he sometimes rose with his subject to a high pitch of oratory. 
 His sermons were usually short, especially in his later years, thereby 
 differing from those of many old preachers. His public devotions were 
 also concise, and withal simple, comprehensive, humble, and greatly edi- 
 fying. 
 
 On Tuesday, October 3, 1876, I took part in a very solemn service, 
 at the translation of the remains of Bishops MacKeudree and Soule. 
 Bishop MacKeudree had been interred in the family burying-ground. 
 Fountain Head, Sumner County, Tennessee. During the late war his 
 tomb had been desecrated by soldiers, and was desolate and exposed. 
 Bishop Soule, who was in some respects the successor of Bishop Mac- 
 Keudree, — a man of similar heroic cast and apostolic zeal, — died in 
 Nashville, Tennessee, March 6, 1867, and was buried in the old Nash- 
 ville cemetery ; I officiated, with others, at his funeral. It was thought 
 advisable to translate the remains of both bishops (the consent of rela- 
 tives being granted) to a suitable sjiot in the grounds of the Vanderbilt 
 University, near Wesley Hall, and to place a monument over them. 
 
 On opening the coffins Bishop Soule was not distinguishable, except by 
 the frontal arch, which marked him in life as a man of towering intellect ; 
 and of Bishop MacKeudree nothing remained but a few bones and 
 "dust," scarcely to be separated from the mother-earth in which he had 
 lain ! But these remains ai'e sacred and precious ! 
 
 With due solemnity, devout men, ministers of Christ, bore them to 
 their last resting-place, followed by the officers and students of Vander- 
 bilt University, and a large company of interested friends. Suitable de- 
 votional exercises were conducted by the writer, the Rev. F. A. Owen 
 leading in prayer, hymns were sung, and an impressive discourse was 
 delivered by Bishop Mactyeire, who drew the characters of the two 
 bishops, — one, of the chivalrous South (Virginia), the other, of the Pu- 
 ritan North (Maine), a descendant of the Soule who came over in the 
 Mayflower ; yet both of one heart and of one mind, true yoke-fellows in 
 cultivating the gospel field and spreading Scripture holiness over these 
 lands. The Rev. Dr. J. B. McFerrin followed with a brief address. 
 The double grave was then covered in by the students of Vanderbilt 
 University. 
 
 What America, and especially the Southern and Western States of 
 the American Union, owe to these heroic, self-sacrificing, and laborious 
 apostles of the church, no pen can describe ; " the day shall declare it." 
 — T. S. 
 
632 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 LIFE XIII. WILBUR FISK. 
 
 A. D. 1792-A. D. 1839. METHODIST EPISCOPAL, AMERICA. 
 
 Great moral revolutions have ever been accompanied by powerful in- 
 tellectual quickening. Religious energies will soon be expended in aim- 
 less struggle unless they are directed and controlled by a cool judgment 
 and a cultured reason. Religious zeal may arouse the multitude from 
 sloth and indifference, and even push the people to a height of endeavor 
 truly sublime, but abiding good can be secured only by careful cultivation 
 of the regulative faculties of the whole man. 
 
 Hence true reformers have ever been foremost in their careful interest 
 for the education of the young. No men of the sixteenth 
 
 The great re- . . 
 
 formers were ccntury wcre more deeply imbued with the spirit of reform 
 
 true educators. , '^ . i-ari i ttt- 
 
 in education than were Luther and Melancthon. Indeed, it 
 may be truly said that Protestantism gave to the people the common 
 schools, and furnished to the masses an education for its own sake. John 
 Wesley, also, placed in the front rank of importance the question of the 
 education of the people who had been converted through his own instru- 
 mentality and that of his preachers, so that the earnest question pro- 
 posed at the very first conference of his preachers was, " Can we have 
 a seminary for laborers ? " Therefore it was but in accord with a spirit- 
 ual law that when the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized on 
 these western shores the chiefest concern of its first bishop, Asbury, 
 should be in the education of the people. He distinctly declares in his 
 " journals " that the question of education caused him more serious 
 thought than any other single interest. This concern is evidenced by the 
 fact that as in England, so in America, in the very year of the organiza- 
 tion of the church. Coke and Asbury projected a college whose founda- 
 tions were laid within a year. Various efforts were made to establish 
 academies and seminaries in different portions of the country. While 
 these attempts were only partially successful, they nevertheless afford an 
 index of the desire of the leading thinkers of the church to steady the 
 great revival movement by appropriate literary and scholastic training. 
 
 Methodism must be counted especially fortunate in the choice of her 
 first representative educator in the North, and must attribute much of her 
 subsequent success in academic and collegiate education to the spirit and 
 eminent ability of Wilbur Fisk, the first president of Wesleyau Univer- 
 sity, Middletown, Connecticut. 
 
 He was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, August 31, 1792, of respect- 
 Parentage and ^^^® ^"^ pious parents, who were of genuine Puritan stock, 
 early training, xhe son early received careful religious instruction by read- 
 ing the Scriptures, by the study of the catechism, and most of all, per- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] WILBUR FISK. 633 
 
 haps, by the mild and cheerful spirit which the virtuous parents ever 
 manifested in their home. Upon the boy's character and life were 
 early seen the blessed eifects of this parental solicitude. Naturally of 
 an ardent temperament, and sometimes yielding to the influence of 
 self-will, young Fisk was, nevertheless, conscientious, and early acquired 
 great aptitude in the narration of his religious experience in the neigh- 
 borhood meetings. Even in academic life his marvelous ability to in- 
 fluence and control mind was manifest. With a calm self-possession 
 and an easy poise which he had acquired, he was seldom overwhelmed 
 with surprise or found off his guard in the presence of an opponent. 
 His collegiate life at Burlington, Vermont, and at Providence, Rhode 
 Island, was brilliant in the line of scholarly attainment, but the brightness 
 of his iDiety had' grown dim, and, like too many others who coiicgiateand 
 have become careless of early instruction, young Fisk, on ^^sai traamng. 
 graduation, cherished the ambition of occupying a chief seat in the councils 
 of the nation, and had thus somewhat stifled the voice of duty which had 
 earlier so clearly pointed out the way in which he should walk. As the 
 surest stepping-stone to future political preferment he began the study of 
 the law with great vigor and success. 
 
 But God had other and, as we must believe, holier work for him in 
 store. The ministry of reconciliation was to be preached by this man of 
 power and grace. The struggles which he underwent in relinquishing 
 his legal studies and in entering the itinerant ministry of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church (then a most despised body of religionists), in the face 
 of strong opposition from his early and most cherished college friends, 
 and from the woman to whom he had become betrothed, were such as 
 well-nigh to rend asunder his troubled soul. But when the decision 
 was once reached, such was his spiritual organization that no reservation, 
 mental or moral, was possible. With a zeal and energy truly wonderful 
 he gave himself to the work of saving souls. 
 
 The hardships and exposure of this itinerant life were very trying, 
 and it is hardly possible to conceive how any dishonest itinerant life 
 man of cultiare could be induced to give himself to such and experiences. 
 a work. Yet Fisk did not escape these imputations of an unsanc- 
 tified ambition, even from the side of his professed friends. But his de- 
 votion and success in saving the souls of the people soon silenced all op- 
 ponents. His study of the law had given him added cogency of argument 
 with the people, and his style of preaching at this time resembled the 
 earnest plea of an advocate who was laboring to convince a jury who 
 had in their hands an issue of infinite moment. This portion of his 
 public career made him entirely familiar with the polity and life of the 
 church of which he was a minister, and thus eminently fitted him to un- 
 derstand the peculiar training needful for the young men who were after- 
 wards to enjoy his instructions in collegiate life. The mission of the 
 
634 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Church to the settlements which were so rapidly 
 made by the hardy pioneers demanded an exceptional education on the 
 part of her preachers. These settlers were as a class possessed of a ro- 
 bust good sense and a strength of will which must be directed by equal 
 good sense on the part of those who would lead them to a knowledge of 
 the truth as it is in Christ, and by men who could easily adapt them- 
 selves to the rude conditions and homely fare of frontier life. The itin- 
 erant who was compelled to travel hundreds of miles to compass his wide 
 circuit, and to preach from six to twelve times each week, must neces- 
 sarily carry his library in his portmanteau, and prepare his sermons in the 
 saddle. With this border work the cultured, polished Fisk became en- 
 tirely familiar. Hence he was prepared later to say to the most gifted 
 young man who might come under his instruction, " God's vineyard is 
 broad, and abundant harvests will be garnered by your faithful service. 
 Small earthly rewards you may expect ; even sacrifices and hardships await 
 you, but you have better companionship than that of kings, — ' Lo ! I am 
 with you.' " While he thus knew the trials of border life, he knew also the 
 delights and comforts of the best New England homes, and found a wel- 
 come reception to the families of the most opulent of other churches 
 than his own. 
 
 He began his work as an educator at Wilbraham Academy in Counecti- 
 Begins his work *^"t, in 1826. This infant seminary had thus a giant for its 
 as an educator. gj,g^ principal. Well docs his biographer remark that Fisk 
 was now in a position for which he was admirably qualified. His natural 
 talents and liis education, his great facility in the transaction of business, 
 his knowledge of men and quick insight into character, his affability, 
 sound judgment, and practical good sense, were all important qualifica- 
 tions for his new position of usefulness. His government was eminently 
 paternal. He carried the students and their interests on liis heart, and 
 his efforts in their behalf were truly amazing. Amid all the toils inci- 
 dent to the founding of an academy for the growing church, Fisk was 
 ever planning for better things and grander results. No man had a 
 clearer view of the necessity of blending culture with piety in order to the 
 future triumph of the church, and the permanent security of the state. 
 It is not strange, therefore, that the eyes of the whole church were 
 turned towards him as their natural and acknowledged leader. 
 
 To invitations to high stations in other institutions of learning and in 
 ecclesiastical work, he returned a firm declinature, convinced as he was 
 that the honor and prosperity of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the 
 North were most intimately connected with the success of this rising 
 academy. No posts of honor or of ease could for a moment swerve him 
 fi'om his purpose to direct the educational movements of the church. To 
 the success of this darling enterprise were consecrated all his choicest 
 powers. To such heroic men, who have so nearly achieved this victory 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] WILBUR FISK. 635 
 
 of self-abnegation, has the church ever turned in its hours of peril and in 
 its determining crises. The Methodist Church in America had reached its 
 educational crisis. Two colleges in name had already been commenced ; 
 several academies and seminaries had done much good in their several 
 spheres. But she had already outstripped all other churches in the num- 
 ber of her communicants ; wealth had greatly multiplied in their hands, 
 and a strengthening conviction was felt by the leading men of the North 
 and East that in order to meet the increasing responsibilities and achieve 
 the largest success in the future, Methodism must also provide for the 
 higher and liberal education of her sons. 
 
 Acting upon this conviction, the New York Annual Conference, at its 
 session of 1829, adopted measures for the early establish- 
 
 ^ . . . . Elected presi- 
 
 ment of an institution of collegiate grade, and in 1830 Fisk dent of Wesiey- 
 was elected first president of Wesleyan University, founded 
 at Middletown, Connecticut. Of all men in American Methodism he 
 then occupied the very foremost place. He brought to this new position 
 ripened powers and a national reputation, and thus he directed public at- 
 tention to this enterprise from the very beginning of its history. He 
 was acknowledged the peer of the ablest collegiate presidents of the 
 country, and his counsels were sought in the settlement of many impor- 
 tant questions which were pressed upon the management of the higher 
 institutions for solution. 
 
 Notwithstanding her financial endowment was necessarily limited and 
 inadequate, Wesleyan University attracted some of the best talent of the 
 church, and her students compared most favorably with those of the 
 older colleges. The supreme desire of Dr. Fisk was to send forth a 
 body of men who should exemplify a sanctified manhood, and become 
 important forces in properly moulding public opinion. Hence he spared 
 no pains to foster in the university a controlling religious influence. His 
 holy life gave great weight to his earnest personal appeals to consecrate ' 
 the powers to the service of Christ. The revivals of religion among 
 the students gave him inexpressible delight ; " These young men," said 
 he, " are training and girding themselves for the great enterprise of sub- 
 duing the world to Christ, and how strongly does this commend our lit- 
 erary institutions to the patronage of the Church ! " 
 
 It was to the great West of the American continent, which was being 
 so rapidly populated, and which he saw was in the near fut- 
 ure to hold the balance of power in the nation, that Fisk 
 frequently turned his most anxious thought. This belt of population 
 would be a belt of barbarism unless the churches should throw into its 
 midst the leavening influences of the gospel. Preachers and teachers 
 could with the greatest difficulty keep pace with the restless enterprise 
 of the immigrants. He saw that to save these new empires to an en- 
 lightened Christianity, and to lay firmly the foundations of their institu- 
 
636 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 tions, political, social, and educational, a host of young men properly 
 trained and burning with zeal for the salvation of souls must be pre- 
 pared in his own college. Hence his untiring industry to supply this 
 pressing need ; hence his wide correspondence with the foremost men of 
 his own and other churches on a subject which so constantly pressed 
 upon his attention. The results have fully justified these anxieties and 
 these sacrificing labors. Much of the wonderful success of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church west of the Alleghanies, and much of the broad 
 and enlightened policy adopted in her work, have been the immediate 
 result of the advice of Wilbur Fisk, and of the laboi-s of the alumni of 
 'Wesleyan University. " I wish we could fill that country with sound, 
 pious teachers," said he. " Indeed, I want to send out enough to set the 
 world on fire ! I have done educating youths for themselves ; my sole 
 object, I think, will be hereafter to educate all I can get for the world." 
 This accounts for the fact that during the first twenty years of its his- 
 tory so large a proportion of the alumni of Wesleyan University became 
 preachers and teachers. 
 
 A man of superior culture and broad views, whose sympathies were as 
 wide as humanity, and yet under the direction of a sound 
 
 Anxiety for a j ^ j _ , n r- • • 
 
 trained minis- judgment, could uot but be keenly alive to the deficiencies 
 ^^' of the ministry of his church in order to the most effective 
 
 work in the future. Hitherto the preachers of the Methodist Church had 
 accomplished marvelous results by virtue of an untiring industry and an 
 Tinquenchable zeal. Other churches had been thereby greatly stimulated, 
 and yet they had yielded nothing of their former intellectual and profes- 
 sional preparation. Fisk, therefore, clearly saw that unless more gen- 
 erous provisions were made for theological training, the Methodist clergy 
 must soon work at a fearful disadvantage, and the influence of that com- 
 munion must steadily decline. Consistently with its history, the Meth- 
 odist Church had hitherto done what was possible to instruct its can- 
 didates in doctrines and polity. Their theological seminary had been in 
 the field, their professor of theology had been the senior preacher, under 
 whose direction the junior was to study and work ; the examinations 
 were held at the session of the annual conference, and thus a not insig- 
 nificant degree of knowledge and mental discipline was secured. The 
 great defect of this system was its inability to prepare raw material for 
 the responsibilities of the Christian pulpit and pastorate, since the cir- 
 cumstances were often very untoward, and the senior preachers them- 
 selves were frequently insufiiciently prepared to be guides to those who 
 were under their supervision. It was no uncommon thing for the young 
 itinerant to painfully study out his Greek Testament by the light of the 
 pitch-pine fire in the cabin of the pioneer, and master his systematic 
 theology in the saddle while hurrying forward to his distant appoint- 
 ment. But however zealous, and however industrious, these preachers 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] WILBUR FISK. 637 
 
 could not be thus fully prepared for ministering to a more settled and 
 intelligent society, which must soon succeed to this initial period. Fisk, 
 in common with a few other broad-minded men, was deeply anxious 
 to supply this felt deficiency in the training of the ministry. He did 
 not, however, favor the founding of separate theological seminaries. His 
 opposition came from lack of funds, from want of properly qualified 
 professors, and, most of all, from a fear that the instruction in these ex- 
 clusively theological schools might be too speculative in character and 
 result in mere dogmatism, or that, by being excluded for a term of years 
 from the activities of Christian work, the ardor of the piety of the can- 
 didates might be unhappily lessened and chilled. It is well known that 
 many of the ablest men of other churches still share this feeling. It 
 was his custom to foi'm voluntary classes in theology ; by this means the 
 leisui'e hours of the students could be occupied by such subjects, and 
 their reading directed to such topics, as would more especially fit them 
 for the responsibilities of the Christian ministry. It is not too much to 
 say that many who now occupy foremost places in American Methodism, 
 received their strongest impulses and caught their burning enthusiasm in 
 these theological classes of Dr. Fisk. 
 
 Closely related to theological education was the subject of missions. 
 " The field is the world," said the Divine Christ, " The j^eai for mis- 
 world is my parish," said John Wesley. From the hour of *'°°^- 
 his consecration to the work of the Christian ministry, Fisk had flamed 
 with missionary zeal. Two classes of missions had specially interested 
 him, namely, that to Liberia, on account of its connection with the 
 scheme of African colonization, whose cause he had heartily espoused, 
 and that to the native Indian tribes both in Upper Canada and in Ore- 
 gon. For the former mission he had offered himself in person ; for the 
 use of the Mohawks he had urged the translation of a portion of the 
 Scriptures ; and the Flathead mission in Oregon was his own origination. 
 Hence his great concern as an educator was to keep the wants of the 
 missionary work ever prominently before the thought of the students of 
 the uuiversity, and his platform efforts at the conferences and on an- 
 niversary occasions were always powerful and effective. 
 
 The arduous labors and the constant anxieties attendant on founding 
 the university, tofjether with his consuming zeal for every 
 
 ... V , ., , . , , T T • . 1 Tour to Europe. 
 
 religious and philanthropic work, had made serious inroads 
 upon a constitution naturally delicate and now terribly overworked. It 
 was, therefore, a necessity that he leave his work for a time and seek 
 recreation in the Old World. Consequently in the autumn of 1835 he 
 embarked in company with a few friends for Europe. He was charged 
 with duties in themselves onerous and honorable, which he discharged in 
 a manner entirely satisfactory to the great church whose delegate he was, 
 and with a dignity and an unction which proved a blessing to the British 
 
638 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 Wesleyan conference which received him. On this entire tour his was 
 the same inquiring mind, the same tender heart, the same loving solici- 
 tude for the students and for the philanthropic and religious enterprises 
 to which he had consecrated his life. 
 
 During his absence in Europe he was elected a bishop of the Method- 
 ist Episcopal Church by a very lar2;e majority ; indeed, his 
 
 Elected bishop , 5 , ., ■, .,-,,./,, . , , , .1 
 
 of the M. E. election was hailed with delight by the entire church botn 
 North and South. To this expression of confidence and 
 esteem Dr. Fisk felt that he must return most careful and deliberate an- 
 swer ; but after mature study he concluded that his was a mission of 
 Christian education rather than a mission of general superintendency in 
 the entire church. While this decision was a matter of surprise to many, 
 and of earnest protest on the part of some of his most loved friends, to 
 Fisk himself the way of duty seemed plain. 
 
 On his return from Europe he brought the increased power coming 
 Devotion to stu- ^"01^ travel and wide observation to bear upon the univer- 
 dents. gity of his own Creation, and now of his strengthening and 
 
 almost consuming love. The piety, humility, and simplicity of this truly 
 saintly man had become well-nigh perfected. No one could be more 
 free from all assumption of superiority in his intercourse even with the 
 most lowly ; none could be less careful of that dignity which so many 
 believe should be thrown over men in high official station. From this 
 time his preaching became even more warm and evangelical than ever 
 before. During a most precious revival with which Middletown was 
 blessed under the pastorate of the recently deceased Dr. C. K. True, in 
 1837, the students of the university became deeply interested for their 
 own salvation. This noble and holy president now became an angel of 
 guidance to many a young man, who afterwards successfully proclaimed 
 to others that gospel which had there saved his own soul. Fisk's pul- 
 pit and chapel ministrations during this period of refreshing were di- 
 vested of all those stately forms of art with which too many delight to 
 clothe their thoughts, and were in simplicity aad in the demonstration of 
 the Spirit ; thus they were a powerful means of arousing, comforting, 
 encouraging, and instructing the young men who have since occupied 
 the foremost stations in the educational and ministerial work of the 
 Methodist Church. It is probable that no college president ever se- 
 cured a more complete respect and love of his students and faculty, 
 or a more constant affection and confidence of the church at large. His 
 piety was so deep, vigorous, and uniform, yet so natural, cheerful, and 
 utterly lacking in officiousness and cynicism, that it became diffusive and 
 pervasive, and warming like the sunlight. His gentle dignity and grace, 
 his total unselfishness, his delightful simplicity, exalted even common 
 duties to the dignity of holy opportunities. 
 
 The sunset of such a life must be glorious. As with the early Chris- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN HENRY LIVINGSTON. 639 
 
 tians in the Roman catacombs, so Fisk's dying day was his true dies 
 natalis, and the anticipations of his happy spirit left their impress on 
 its former dwelling-place : for 
 
 "Living light had touched the brow of death." 
 
 He died February 22, 1839. A plain shaft, rising in the little college 
 cemetery at Middletown, bears the simple inscription, — 
 
 WILBUR FISK, S. T. D. 
 
 FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE WESLEYAX UNIVERSITY. 
 
 Him American Methodism reveres as her true saint in the work of 
 Christian education. — C. W. B. 
 
 LIFE XIV. JOHN HENRY LIVINGSTON. 
 
 A. D. 1746-A. D. 1825. REFORMED (dUTCH), AMERICA. 
 
 Among the ministers of the Reformed (Dutch) Church in America, 
 no name is held in higher veneration, esteem, and gratitude than that 
 of John H. Livingston. The circumstances under which he was led to 
 enter the ministry ; the valuable services which be vpas able to render 
 to this branch of the Christian church at a most disturbed and critical 
 period in its history ; the eminent qualifications of heart and intellect 
 that he brought to every position he was called to occupy, and with 
 which he adorned every relation of life ; his success in impressing others 
 with the divine truths and spiritual influences that filled his own soul, 
 — all endeared him to the hearts of the people, and attested the divine 
 guidance that signally marked his career. 
 
 Like many another of the most devoted and useful servants of God, 
 he was connected with an honorable and pious ancestry, and pf Dutch and 
 thus shared in the rich promises of a covenant-keeping Scotch imeage. 
 God. He was a descendant, in the fourth generation, of the Rev. John 
 Livingston, the eminently devoted and successful minister of the gospel 
 in Scotland, and the ancestor of the Livingston families in this country. 
 Upon his death (August 9, 1672), at Rotterdam, Holland, whither nine 
 years previous the bold and earnest preacher had removed to escape the 
 intolerant spirit that prevailed in his native country, his son Robert 
 came to America, connecting himself by marriage with the distinguished 
 Schuyler family. He was given three sons, Philip, Robert, and Gilbert.-^ 
 
 1 Among the children of Philip were Philip Livingston, Esq., one of the noble patriots 
 who signed the declaration of American independence, and devoted his best energies to the 
 serviceof his country, and William Livingston, LL. D., for several years governor of the 
 State of New Jersey, a man distinguished for remarkable intellectual force and ardent piety. 
 To the branch represented by Robert belonged the late celebrated Chancellor Lmngston. 
 (See the memoir of Livingston, by Rev. A. Gunn, D. D.) 
 
640 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 John Henry Livingston, the grandson of Gilbert, and son of Henry 
 and S. Conklin Livingston, was born at Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, 
 New York, on the 30th of May, 1746. After studying in a school at 
 Fishkill, and under a private tutor at home, he entered the Freshman class 
 in Yale College in September, 17/)8, at the early age of twelve years, 
 and graduated with honor in July, 1762. 
 
 Being ambitious to obtain worldly distinction, he decided to devote 
 himself to the legal profession. After studying two years his health 
 failed, and, fearing that his sickness might i^rove fatal, he became anxious 
 for his salvation, and earnestly sought pardon and peace through faith in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. Though favored with the advantages of a re- 
 ligious education, and occasionally impressed with the transcendent im- 
 portance of the claims of God and eternal realities, still, up to this time, 
 the prizes of earthly ambition and the fascination of worldly success had 
 filled his imagination and absorbed his thoughts. But God had a higher 
 and nobler work for him to do than his own plans had compassed, and 
 through suffering and bodily weakness drew him to Himself. 
 
 On recovering his health, he resolved to prepare for the Christian min- 
 istry. Under the advice of the Rev. Dr. Laidlie, of New York, from 
 whom he received the warmest encouragement in the prosecution of his 
 theological studies, he determined to enter one of the universities of 
 Holland. He was greatly influenced to take this step by the hope that 
 his residence in Holland might help him to be the instrument of heal- 
 ins: the sad dissensions that existed at that time in the Reformed Dutch 
 Church in this country. Accordingly, on the 12th of May, 1766, when 
 suidies in Hoi- ^^ ^^^ scarcely twenty years of age, he sailed for Amster- 
 ia°'i- dam, bearing with him letters to distinguished individuals, 
 
 by whom he was cordially received. He pursued his theological studies 
 with diligence for four years at the University of Utrecht, winning the 
 love and respect of many. On the 5th of June, 1769, he was examined 
 for licensure by the chassis of Amsterdam, and became a candidate for 
 the ministry. Soon after he was invited to become the second English 
 preacher of the Reformed Dutch Church in the city of New York. 
 Having received the degree of doctor of divinity from the faculty of 
 the University of Utrecht, after a most rigid examination conducted in 
 the Latin language, and having been ordained by the classis of Amster- 
 dam, the young divine returned to his native country, and arrived in New 
 York September 3, 1770. 
 
 His personal friends, and the officers and members of the church over 
 which he had been called to preside, welcomed him home with the warm- 
 Labors in New ^^^ affcction, and with deep gratitude to Almighty God. 
 York city. j)j.. Livingston at once entered upon his ministerial work 
 
 with renewed physical health, with mental powers disciplined to careful 
 study and laborious investigation, with earnest zeal tempered with great 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN HENRY LIVINGSTON. 641 
 
 discretion, with a heart warm with love to Christ. Pie possessed a broad 
 catholic spirit and intense desires for the harmony and unity of the 
 church with which he had cast in his lot. 
 
 His first sermon was preached in the Middle Dutch Church, in Nas- 
 sau Street, to a large and deeply interested audience, from 1 Cor. i. 22- 
 24. Although he was associated with colleagues of established char- 
 acter and pulpit ability, yet he manfully assumed his full share of labor, 
 preaching twice on Sunday, visiting the people, and attending two, and 
 sometimes three, catechetical exercises every week. It was soon appar- 
 ent that he was rapidly gaining the confidence and aiiection of his peo- 
 ple, and the respect and esteem of the entire community. The fervor 
 of his piety, manifested out of the pulpit, as well as in it ; his jjrudence 
 and Christian courtesy in private intercourse ; liis earnest and attractive 
 style of jireaching, presenting as he did, to saints and sinners, the truths 
 and promises of the gospel with great clearness, force, and persuasive 
 eloquence, secured for him a wide popularity, based upon the best feel- 
 ings of the human heart. 
 
 Soon after liis settlement in New York, he directed his efforts towards 
 effecting a reconciliation between .the famous Coetus and Conferentie 
 parties, that had so long and so seriously divided the church, — an object 
 that he had in vain attempted to accomplish while residing in Holland. 
 To ajjpreciate the magnitude of this undertaking, and the value of the 
 services rendered to the church by the settlement of the difficulties, 
 mainly tlirovigh the instrumentality of Dr. Livingston, we need to have 
 before us the details of the unhappy schism that had destroyed the 
 peace of the Dutch churches in America, and had raged so violently as 
 to thi-eaten the destruction of the denomination. But our limits will 
 only allow us to quote Livingston's words, in connection with the mo- 
 tives that prompted him to remain in the church in which he had been 
 baptized and reared : " There was another motive that imperceptibly, 
 yet powerfully, inclined me to this determination. An unhappy schism 
 and controversy had for several years subsisted in the Dutch churches 
 in America, which, unless soon suppressed, threatened the annihilation 
 of that whole denomination. The precise grounds of the dispute, or the 
 best means for reconciling the contending parties, I had not then com- 
 pletely surveyed. The existing facts, however, were notorious and afflict- 
 ive; and I understood enough to convince me of the inevitable ruin that 
 was imjjending, and must soon be experienced if those dissensions were 
 not healed. For the restoration of peace and prosperity in this distin- 
 guished portion of the Lord's vineyard I felt an ardent desire, and it was 
 powerfully impressed on my mind that God would render me, however 
 unworthy and unfit for that arduous work, an instrument in his hand to 
 compromise and heal these dissensions, and to raise the reputation and 
 establish the dignity and usefulness of the Dutch Church in America. 
 41 
 
642 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 In what way these great objects were to be effected, or how the Lord 
 would prepare and afterwards employ me for that purpose, I did not 
 know ; nor did this excite any difficulty or uneasiness. The point was 
 settled in my mind, and I was fully persuaded that it would be accom- 
 plished. This removed all further hesitation, and fixed my determina- 
 tion to abide in my own church." 
 
 In about two years after he began his efforts to effect a reconciliation, 
 it was accomplished, and he adds, " The posterior dealings 
 
 Unites the . . . f i^ni n 
 
 Dutch Re- of divinc Providence, and the gracious fulfillment of my 
 
 expectation, have afforded me abundant evidence that my 
 choice has been crowned with the divine approbation." 
 
 In October, 1775, Dr. Livingston was married to Sarah, the youngest 
 daughter of Philip Livingston, at Kingston, whither the family had re- 
 moved from New York, on account of an apprehended invasion by the 
 British forces. A more happy connection could scarcely have been 
 formed, as the lady was distinguished for all those qualities of heart and 
 character that constitute the tranquillity and joy of a Christian home. 
 As many families had left New York, which was in a defenseless con- 
 dition, and the congregations were greatly broken up. Dr. Livingston re- 
 mained for some time with his father-in-law, visiting New York as often 
 as was practicable, and preaching (alternately with Dr. Laidlie, who had 
 removed to Eed Hook) to the remnant of the flock until September, 
 1776, when the British forces took possession of the city. 
 
 Soon after, he was invited by the consistory of the Dutch Church in 
 Albany to preach for them during his exile, or as long as it might suit 
 his convenience. He removed to Albany with Mrs. Livingston and his 
 infant son, and labored in conjunction with the devoted and excellent 
 Dr. Westerle for three years, when, owing to the feeble state of his 
 wife's health, he retired to the Livingston manor. By the people of 
 Albany he was highly appreciated and beloved for his faithful and at- 
 'tractive presentation of gospel truth, his ardent piety, and his elevated 
 (religious conversation. In April, 1780, a call was extended to him to 
 settle permanently in Albany ; but he declined it, deeming it best to re- 
 main at the manor, and preach to the destitute churches in the vicinity. 
 Wherever his lot was cast, he exercised the greatest diligence in the serv- 
 ice of his divine Master, laboring to strengthen the faith and brighten the 
 hopes of God's people, and to win souls to Christ. The national troubles 
 weighed heavily upon his heart, and he fervently prayed for the success 
 of the American cause, and rejoiced in every victory that liberty gained 
 • over oppression. 
 
 After remaining about eighteen months at the manor, he removed to 
 his father's residence in Poughkeepsie, and sujiplied the pulpit of the 
 church, at that time in want of a pastor, until the evacuation of New 
 York by the British troops, in November, 1783, when he returned to re- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN HENRY LIVINGSTON. 643 
 
 sume his pastoral charge in that city. The seven eventful years since 
 his departure had wrought sad changes in his congregation and wide 
 circle of friends, and traces of the outrages committed by the enemy 
 were visible in many pajts of the city. Several churches 
 
 1 • • 1-1 1 T.T-in His churches at 
 
 were m a rumous condition, among which were the Miadle the close of the 
 and North Dutch churches, that had been used as prisons, 
 the interior having been entirely destroyed. His bosom friend and wise 
 counselor, the excellent Laidlie, had passed away from the earth, and 
 of the four ministers of the Collegiate Church, connected with it at 
 the beginning of the war. Dr. Livingston was the only one who returned 
 at its close to resume his ministerial work. Girding himself anew for 
 service, and seeking guidance and strength from above, he undertook the 
 sole charge of the congregation, and was indefatigable in his labors to 
 sustain and advance its interests. 
 
 After the unhappy difficulties in the denomination, already mentioned, 
 had been removed, and harmony was restored, a plan was adopted of ap- 
 pointing a professor of theology ; and the requisite funds having been 
 raised, application was made to the classis of Amsterdam, and by them to 
 the faculty of the University of Utrecht, to recommend a suitable person 
 for the position. They at once referred to Dr. Livingston as possessing 
 higher qualifications than any one they could send from Holland, and 
 advised his appointment. But the storm of war that had already begun 
 interrupted the project, and the matter was deferred until peace was re- 
 stored to the nation. 
 
 In October, 1784, a convention of ministers and elders was held, and 
 the honorable office of professor of theology was unani- Tj^gQ^ogj^j^i p^p. 
 mously conferred upon Dr. Livingston, who, after prayer- lessor. 
 ful consideration, declared his acceptance of the same. The 19th of 
 May, 1785, was the time fixed for his inauguration. The exercises were 
 held in the old Dutch church in Garden Street, and the inaugural oration 
 was delivered in Latin, before the General Synod, the name that the 
 convention had now assumed. The subject selected was " The Truth of 
 the Christian Religion," which was treated with liis usual argumentative 
 force and clearness and elegance of style. 
 
 But the duties of this position, added to the care of a large congrega- 
 tion, which previous to the war had been served by four ministers, broke 
 down his health, and for change of air and necessary exercise he re- 
 moved in the spring, or early in the summer, of 1786, to Flatbush, Long 
 Island, whither his students followed him. Since his appointment he 
 had lectured to the class five days every week, and much of his time 
 at this period was necessarily, yet delightfully, employed in gather- 
 ing into his church a rich harvest, as the fruit of the divine blessing 
 upon his faithful labors. During the nearly three years that he was sole 
 pastor of the church he received over four hundred persons to the com- 
 
644 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 munion on profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was 
 " one joyful revival season," in which his mental energies were strength- 
 ened and his soul encouraged and stimulated by heavenly influences, 
 while the strain upon his physical powers was unavoidably severe. He 
 was willing, however, to spend and be spent for the Master who af- 
 forded him such signal tokens of his favor and approbation. 
 
 The rare combination of natural gifts and varied acquisitions of this 
 devoted servant of the Lord enabled him to serve the church in nearly if 
 not all the departments of its work. In 1787 he was appointed chairman 
 of a committee to prepare and publish a selection of Psalms for the use of 
 the church in public worship. He also proposed that a constitution of 
 the church be drawn up, presenting in a condensed form its doctrine, 
 worship, and government, and was a prominent member of the commit- 
 tee appointed to prej^are it. His associate, Dr. D. Romeyn, rendered 
 most efficient and important service in this work. It is regarded, how- 
 ever, by Dr. Gunn as no injustice to the memory of this able and most 
 ^ .^ X .^ useful divine to give to Dr. Livingston the title of " father 
 
 Father of the . ^^ =" 
 
 Reformed Dutch of the Constitution of the Refornied Dutch Church in the 
 
 constitution. tt-io i- k • ti rr\ 
 
 United otates of America. This constitution was sol- 
 emnly ratified by the General Synod held at New York on the 10th of 
 October, 1792. 
 
 Although Dr. Livingston was at this time in a measure relieved of his 
 arduous labors by colleagues who were associated with him in his minis- 
 terial work, yet in the summer of 1809 it was evident that his health 
 was becoming impaired by his constant toil. In consequence of this, he 
 was excused from preaching more than once on the Sabbath. On the 
 revival of Queen's College, at New Brunswick, arrangements were made 
 between the trustees of that institution and the General Synod that the 
 professorate should be united with the college, and in October, 1810, Dr. 
 Livingston was transferred from New York to New Brunswick to fill 
 the double office of professor of theology and president of the college. 
 It was a great sacrifice for him to sunder the tender ties that had so 
 long bound him to his work and friends in New York ; but his noble 
 spirit was accustomed to make sacrifices, and after forty years' service 
 in the ministry, and twenty-six in the professorship (the latter without 
 compensation), he yielded to the stern necessity that took him to another 
 field. Under his administration, which continued fifteen years, the col- 
 lege prospered, and during his ministry of fifty-four years nearly two 
 hundred students were trained under his instruction for the gospel min- 
 istry. 
 
 "While in apparent health, and discharging his official duties with vigor 
 and unwonted cheerfulness, his career was suddenly brought to a close. 
 Probably the last letters that he wrote were addressed to his son under 
 date of January 13 and 15, 1825, to express his sympathy in the death 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN HENRY LIVINGSTON. 645 
 
 of an infant member of his family. His tender domestic affection ap- 
 pears throughout these letters, as may be inferred from the closing words 
 of the last : — 
 
 " Now, my dear, my sweet, my beloved children, I mourn with you. 
 I help you to bear your burdens ; my heart and love are with you. I 
 bless you both most tenderly, and all the precious flock, and am your 
 loving father, J. H. Livingston." 
 
 On the 19th of January he made several visits in the morning and 
 delivered a long lecture to the students on Divine Providence. The even- 
 ing he spent with his colleague in conversing with great animation and 
 delight upon divine themes. After engaging in family worship, in which 
 he seemed to draw specially near to God, and to remember every object 
 dear to his heart, he retired at the usual hour, and in the morning was 
 found asleep in Jesus. His tranquil countenance and natural jjosition 
 indicated that he had passed away without a struggle to the realms of 
 celestial light and everlasting blessedness. 
 
 Livingston's presence, in public and private, was commanding and dig- 
 nified, and awakened a feeling of reverence in the minds poj-jrait of the 
 of strangers and those who were most intimately associated °i'^°- 
 with him. He was tall and erect, with a noble person, and a countenance 
 beaming with intelligence, affability, and kindness. His manners were pol- 
 ished and courteous, and for the members of his family and his intimate 
 friends he manifested the most tender regard and affection. 
 
 His conversational powers were remarkable, and, like all his other 
 gifts, were consecrated to the good of man and to the glory of God. 
 One of his earliest students, who enjoyed the intimacy of private inter- 
 course with him, says, " I never knew him, in any circle in which he 
 might be found, to hold a conversation of any length which he did not 
 turn into some channel for religious improvement. This was done in a 
 manner so discreet, appropriate, and gentle as not only to avoid awaken- 
 ing prejudice, but t-o conciliate respect and good-will. It was not uncom- 
 mon for him, in mixed companies, when the secular concerns of the day 
 were the theme of conversation, to interweave religious sentiments and 
 reflections so naturally deduced, so wisely stated, and so courteously and 
 kindly api3lied that even those who were generally most indifferent to 
 religion could not but reverence it as it thus appeared to its venerable 
 representative and minister. In his intercourse with Christians his con- 
 versation was like ointment poured forth, and his pupils will testify, one 
 and all, that they never enjoyed an interview of any length with him in 
 which the Lord Jesus Christ was not brought prominently before them, 
 and valuable hints were not given, bearing upon the culture of the spiri- 
 tual life." 
 
 As we may naturally suppose from a testimony like this, he was regu- 
 
646 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 lar and devout in his private religious duties. He spent much time in 
 prayer and in holy meditation. He sought strength and guidance from 
 above, and lived near to God. He daily walked in the light of divine 
 truth, and drank from the fountain of living waters, and streams of be- 
 nign influences flowed from him in every direction. His piety gave tone 
 to his whole demeanor, rendering him eminently discreet in the manage- 
 ment of ecclesiastical matters, tender of the feelings of others, and wise 
 in the selection of the best means for the best ends. He was cautious 
 rather than bold and adventurous in proposing and advocating measures 
 for the good of the church, and yet ever evinced the greatest courage in 
 sustaining its doctrines and discipline, and persevering in the support of 
 whatever he deemed vital to its welfare and prosperity. He loved and 
 maintained with the warmest affection and unwavering determination the 
 cardinal truths of Christianity, receiving with implicit faith the words of 
 inspiration, and accepting Christ as the centre of theology, the mediator 
 between God and man, the only source of pardon and eternal life. 
 
 As a preacher, Dr. Livingston attained to a distinguished rank. His 
 Of the reacher Commanding personal appearance, his striking elocution 
 and professor. ^nd characteristic gesticulation, his deep convictions of the 
 absolute truth of God's Word, and his vivid apprehension of the tre- 
 mendous consequences of accepting or rejecting the gospel message ren- 
 dered his preaching most impressive. The success attending his public 
 ministrations in the city of New York and elsewhere, when in the full- 
 ness of his vigor, abundantly attest his superior pulpit power. He usu- 
 ally preached from carefully prepared copious notes, but was able, with 
 very little preparation, from his large intellectual resources and liis ac- 
 curate knowledge of the Scriptures, to instruct and edify his hearers. 
 His appeals to the impenitent were often very powerful and search- 
 ing, but he specially loved to revive the hopes of the desponding, and to 
 cheer the weary pilgrims in their struggles to overcome sin and the 
 world, and win the rewards that were set before them. He loved to un- 
 fold the exceeding great and precious promises, that make the blessed- 
 ness and glories of the future a present consolation, stimulus, and 
 power. 
 
 To the professor's chair Dr. Livingston brought a knowledge of the 
 Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, a rich fund of theological learn- 
 ing, and the varied and choice acquisitions he had gained during his 
 four years' connection with the university at Utrecht, of whose distin- 
 guished theologian, Bonnet, he had been a favorite pupil. His manner 
 of giving instruction was calculated to awaken the earnest attention and 
 interest of his pupils. He delivered his lectures with ease, clearly pre- 
 senting the topics in logical order, showing the authority and harmony 
 of the doctrines of the Bible, and their relations to human belief and 
 practical life. With his students he sat as a father among his children, 
 
Cent. XVIL-XIX.] WILLIAM WHITE. 647 
 
 and their respect and affection for him prepared them to receive his in- 
 structions to their hearts as well as their intellects. Their subsequent 
 faithfulness in preaching " the truth as it is in Jesus," their adherence 
 to the doctrines of the church, and their success in the ministry, bear 
 testimony to the value of his training and teachings, and the moulding 
 influence of his godly character and life. 
 
 While the Reformed (Dutch) Church has an existence, the name of 
 John H. Livingston will be held in the highest veneration, and in most 
 affectionate and grateful remembrance. — R. W. C. 
 
 LIFE XV. WILLIAM WHITE. 
 
 A. D. 1748-A. D. 1836. EPISCOPALIAN, — AMERICA.^ 
 
 William White, the son of Colonel Thomas and Esther White, was 
 born in Philadelpliia, on the 4th of April, 1748, New Style. He gradu- 
 ated at seventeen from the then College of Philadelphia (now the Uni- 
 versity of Pennsylvania), and, yielding to the call of the Holy Spirit, he 
 determined at that early age to devote himself to the Christian ministry. 
 Accordingly, he began his theological studies. The exercises which most 
 interested and benefited him were those held by himself and four other 
 young men looking forward to the ministry, under the direction of the 
 Rev. Dr. William Smith, the provost of the college. During the Sun- 
 day evenings of a few months for three successive years, these young 
 men wrote out and delivered notes and exegesis upon Bible history. 
 These exercises, having been first submitted to the provost for correction 
 and approval, were then delivered in public in the hall of the old college, 
 two speaking in turn each evening, and the provost at the conclusion en- 
 larged on the themes discussed by these youths. 
 
 " Although," says Bishop White, " this was far from being a comjjlete 
 course of ecclesiastical studies, it called to a variety of reading and to a 
 concentration of what was read." " There was also use," he adds, " in 
 the introduction to public speaking." 
 
 Five years of this kind of study were passed in this city, prolonged 
 
 in his case, because he had graduated so early from college. There were 
 
 then no schools of the prophets, wherein the candidates for the ministry 
 
 could prepare themselves for their sacred office. The desultory teaching 
 
 of i^rivate and ii'responsible ministers was all that could be obtained 
 
 after the pupil had taken his college degree. 
 
 1 Of this life story, by the Rev. Dr. William Bacon Stevens, bishop of the (P. E.) dio- 
 cese of Pennsj'lvania, only the opening and closing sentences were prepared by its au- 
 thor for this work. The remaining portions, with other interesting matter, were read on 
 the occasion of the reinterment of the remains of William White in the chancel of Christ 
 Church, Philadelphia, in 1876, and were published in pamphlet form for a limited circula- 
 tion. — H. M. M. 
 
648 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 Having pursued his studies diligently and conducted himself with so- 
 briety and discretion, young White was ready for his ordination. But 
 here another difficulty rose before him. There was no bishop in Amer- 
 ica, and to obtain orders he must cross the Atlantic and seek 
 
 Obliged to seek i i i c t-^ t i mi • 
 
 ordination them at the hands of liinglish prelates. Ihis was a griev- 
 
 ous hardship for the ministerial candidates, and was a se- 
 rious drawback to the prosperity of the church in the colonies of Great 
 Britain. A voyage across the Atlantic then was quite a different thing 
 from a voyage now. One fifth of all the candidates who set sail for 
 England perished abroad. 
 
 When to this danger of the seas was added the loss of time and the 
 expense of the voyages to and fro, costing usually one hundred pounds, 
 a sum equivalent to the yearly salary of most of the clergy at that time, 
 we can easily understand what a formidable barrier existed against the 
 increase of the ministry, and how much moral courage and firmness of 
 purpose were requisite before a young man would resolve to take up such 
 heavy crosses in order to become a minister of Christ. 
 
 These colonies were then under the episcopal jurisdiction of the lord 
 bishop of London, who superintended them by means of certain clergy- 
 men who were termed commissaries, and to whom was committed a cer- 
 tain amount of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. This arrangement, however, 
 only partially remedied the evil arising from their not having any bishop. 
 Churches were unconsecrated, the baptized were not confirmed, candi- 
 dates could not be ordained, and the wholesome regimen of the episco- 
 pacy was altogether wanting.^ Such was the condition when the youth- 
 ful White, unable to get orders in his native land, was about to proceed 
 to England for them. 
 
 He sailed from Chester for London on October 15, 1770, in the ship 
 Britannia. Of the incidents of his voyage we know nothing, but can 
 well imagine the discomforts and dangers which at that period, and with 
 such comparatively small and ill-furnished ships, he must have endured. 
 
 1 Yet both clei-gy and laity, over two hundred years ago, saw the necessity of bishops 
 and sought earnestly to secure their appointment. When the plan was proposed in 1638 
 to send a bishop to the American plantations, it was thwarted by the outbreak of troubles 
 in Scotland. When in 1673 the Rev. Dr. Alex. Murry was nominated by Lord Chancellor 
 Clarendon, and approved by King Charles Second, and even a draft of letters-patent was 
 prepared, the plan was defeated because the endowment was to be out of the public customs. 
 
 When again in 1713 Queen Anne responded favorabl3^to the request of the Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel, that bishops should be appointed for the colonies, and the so- 
 ciety actually fixed upon and purchased, a residence for the bishop at Burlington, New Jer- 
 sey, the death of the good queen again 'frustrated the design. George First was also fa- 
 vorable to the plan, but the rebellion in Scotland absorbed the public mind, and Sir Robert 
 Walpole discountenanced the project. Later still, Edmund Gibson, bishop of London, re- 
 newedly pressed the matter upon the attention of the government, and memorials were sent 
 to him from the clergy of JNLaryland, of New England, of Christ Church, Philadelphia, and 
 St. Ann's, Burlington, urging the sending of a bishop to America. The plan was sustained 
 and advocated by Bishops Seeker and Tennison, b}^ Bishops Lowth, Butler, Benson, Sher- 
 lock, and Terrick; but the rising difficulties between the colonies and the mother country, 
 and the extreme opposition and jealousy of the opponents of the Church of England in this 
 country, prevented the execution of the design, and so the church for a hundred and fifty 
 years had existed here without a local episcopate. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] WILLIAM WHITE. 649 
 
 Nor will it be difficult for us to surmise the joy which he felt when the 
 cry of " Land ho ! " was sung out from the mast-head, and then watched 
 with ever increasing delight the unfolding panorama of the shore, until 
 the ship cast anchor in its destined port, and he trod, for the first time, 
 the soil of the dear old motherland. 
 
 He was received in England by his aunts, Miss White and Mrs. "Weeks, 
 and though he took lodgings in London, he spent a considerable portion 
 of his time with them at Twickenham, ten miles from Westminster, 
 where he said he " took pleasure not only in the society of an agreeable 
 circle of friends to which I was admitted in that earthly paradise, but in 
 rambles in the neighborhood." 
 
 He had come to England for a solemn purpose, and he at once set 
 about the work of securing his ordination. Several obstacles, however, 
 were in his way. First, he was not of canonical age. The thirty-fourth 
 canon of the Church of England requires that a person desiring to be a 
 deacon shall be three and twenty years old. William White lacked sev- 
 eral months of being three and twenty, and was thereby obliged to ob- 
 tain a faculty or dispensation from the archbishop of Canterbury grant- 
 ing ordination infra cetatem for persons of special abilities, before the 
 canonical age. 
 
 Another difficulty lay in the fact that he was not a graduate of either 
 of the two great universities, Oxford or Cambridge, as specified in the 
 thirty-fourth canon. While, however, the usual formal testimonials were 
 drawn up ujjon a supposition that the candidate was a B. A. of some col- 
 lege of Oxford or Cambridge, yet the same canon made provision for such 
 cases as had not these degrees, and under this exceptional clause William 
 White became eligible for holy orders. Having obtained the various 
 letters testimonial and presented them to the bishop through his secre- 
 tary or chaplain a mouth before ember week, he was then requested to 
 present himself for examination by the bishop and three clergymen. 
 This he successfully passed, so that the examining chaplain told a friend 
 of his aunt, " that his examination would have been an honor to either 
 of the universities," and then he subscribed, according to the requisition 
 of the thirty-sixth canon, a declaration of allegiance and of the royal 
 supremacy ; of conformity to the use of the Book of Common Prayer, 
 and an acknowledgment of the binding authority ex animo of the thirty- 
 nine articles, " taking them in the true literal usual and grammatical 
 sense." 
 
 These and all other preliminaries having been complied with, he was 
 ordained deacon, December 23, 1770, in the Chapel Royal of St. James's 
 Palace, Westminster, by Dr. Philip Yonge, bishop of Norwich, acting 
 in behalf of Dr. Richard Terrick, bishop of London. The aim of years 
 of study had been reached, and he stood trembling on the threshold of a 
 ministry which stretched itself onward sixty and five years. 
 
650 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 Not being of canonical age to obtain priest's orders, he remained in 
 His two years in England uutU he could do so. He had no special clerical 
 England. dutj to perform, and hence was left free to pursue those 
 
 studies which fitted him for a higher ministry, and make that acquaint- 
 ance with England and Englishmen which his means and time enabled 
 him happily to do. Pie took several journeys to different parts of Eng- 
 land and passed some weeks at Oxford. His visit to this university he 
 greatly enjoyed, making friends of tlie fellows and tutors of its several 
 colleges, and enjoying the public exercises not only in the preaching 
 which he heard in St. Mary's, but also in the convocations and exami- 
 nations at which he was present. 
 
 The religious condition of the Church of England at this time was lam- 
 entably relaxed. Error of doctrine of a subtle kind had been broached 
 by men in high positions. Worldliness had so invaded the church that 
 routs and balls were held even in the palace at Lambeth, a fact which 
 drew down upon Archbishop Cornwallis the rebuke of George Third. 
 There was a fearful latitudinarianism in the opinions of the clergy which 
 led to continued controversy. The discourses from the pulpit were mostly 
 of a philosophical or moral character. Church peojDle, and even the 
 clergy, indulged, with but little restraint, in the so-called pleasures of the 
 chase, the ball-room, and the theatre, and the general tone of morality 
 throughout the land was low and doubtful. As a consequence, infidelity 
 grew apace and became fashionable and popular. That this statement is 
 not too broad is evident from the words of Archbishop Seeker, who died 
 in 1768, who says in one of his sermons: "It is a reproach, I believe, 
 peculiar to the Christians of this age and nation, that many of them seem 
 ashamed of their Christianity, and excuse their piety as others do their 
 vices." ^ 
 
 The great doctrines of grace so strongly set forth in the liturgy, the ar- 
 ticles, and the homilies, and which were exjjounded so forcibly by the 
 divines of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were weakened and 
 altered into almost another gospel ; and hence had arisen stronger dissent 
 on the one hand, and that remarkable Wesleyan movement on the other, 
 which was at that very time sapping the strength of the church and 
 raising up against her and out of her very midst some of her strongest 
 opponents. 
 
 Such was the state of the Church of England when William White 
 was there for deacon's and priest's orders. To one coming from such a 
 remote and quiet colony to the bustle and excitement of London, and to 
 one educated under a system so diverse from that in the great schools 
 and colleges of England, there was much to dazzle and lead asti'ay. It 
 is therefore the more to be thankful for, that one so young as William 
 White was enabled to bear up against all these adverse and misleading 
 influences, and not only to maintain an unblemished moral character 
 
Cent. XVn.-XIX.] WILLIAM WHITE. 651 
 
 amidst so many alluring temptations, but also to retain his Christian 
 faith unswayed by the theological and ecclesiastical errors then rife and 
 freely broached. 
 
 April 25, 1772, he was ordained to the priesthood by Dr. Terrick, 
 the bishop of Loudon. The same bishop also licensed him to officiate 
 in Pennsylvania. He was now ready to return. He sailed Returns to 
 from England in June, on the ship Pennsylvania Packet, -^-merica. 
 Captain Osborne, but owing to calms, light winds, and the bad sailing 
 qualities of the ship in which he embarked, he did not reach Philadel- 
 phia until the 19th of September, when he once more entered the home 
 circle which he had left over two years before, and now stood before 
 them an ordained minister of Christ. 
 
 Before he left England he had been invited by the vestry to become as- 
 sistant mmister of the " united churches," but action was deferred until 
 the 30th of November, 1772, when, with his friend and college-mate, the 
 Rev. Thomas Coombe, he was formally elected to that office, and he at 
 once entered upon its duties, at a salary of one hundred and fifty pounds 
 per annum. 
 
 There were then but three Episcopal churches in the old city, namely, 
 Christ Church, St. Peter's, and St. Paul's, and but little over two hun- 
 dred Church of England clergymen in all the thirteen colonies. There 
 was no bishop, no organized diocese, no church academy or church col- 
 lege, no church periodical, no Sunday-school, no missionary society, and 
 no hospital. At the end of a century there are seventy-three Episco- 
 pal churches in Philadelphia, the clergymen of our church number nearly 
 three thousand, comprised in forty-eight dioceses and missionary juris- 
 dictions, while ninety-seven bishops have been consecrated for service 
 in our branch of the Holy Catholic Church in these United States. There 
 are a score of church colleges and theological schools, an equal number 
 of church periodicals, while our great societies for missions, for Sunday- 
 schools, for church publications, for educating young men for the minis- 
 try, and our hundred asylums, orphan-houses, church homes, and church 
 hospitals, like a net-work of holy charity cover the land. 
 
 White had been an assistant minister of the united churches not four 
 years, when the Declaration of Independence was made, and the po- 
 litical distractions and turmoils of eleven years' restiveness under King 
 George culminated in the birth of a free nation. To the Episcopal 
 clergy in this country, that act was fraught with disaster. At their or- 
 dination they had taken the oath of allegiance to the king ; in their lit- 
 urgy, which they had solemnly vowed to use, were prayers for the king 
 and royal family and the Parliament of Great Britain, and with few ex- 
 ceptions they derived their support from the stipends paid to them by 
 the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts. 
 
 They were thus j^laced between the upper and the nether millstone ; 
 
652 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 for, if tliey yielded to the American spirit, cast oflF the supremacy of the 
 crown, and renounced praying for the king, they violated their ordina- 
 tion vows and lost their stipends, and if they continued to use the liturgy 
 as it was, they compromised themselves before the public. As a conse- 
 quence, most of the clergy embraced the royal side, and they were per- 
 His course as a secuted, fined, beaten, expatriated, and in one instance at 
 patriot. least slaiu. William White, living in Philadelphia, then the 
 
 political centre of the country, and knowing the sentiments of the most 
 wise and thoughtful men of the colonies, was ready to cast in his lot 
 with the fortunes of the new republic, and at once acquiesced in the 
 change which the vestry of the united churches, on the very day when 
 independence was declared, required its rector and assistant ministers to 
 make, namely, " to omit those petitions in the liturgy wherein the king 
 of Great Britain is prayed for." 
 
 That this was not the result of a momentary impulse, under the po- 
 litical excitement of the time, is evident from what he says in his MS. 
 Autobiography, where he records his careful study of English history 
 and the English Constitution, from the times of the Saxons to the Revo- 
 lution of 1688 ; his thoughtful reflections on the causes of American 
 discontent, and his deliberate choice of adherence to the policy and acts 
 of the Continental Congress. His firmness and courage were tested by 
 an incident connected with his taking the oath of allegiance to the United 
 States, in 1776. " When he went to the court-house for the purpose, a 
 gentleman of his acquaintance standing there, observing his design, in- 
 timated to him, by a gesture, the danger to which he would expose him- 
 self. After having taken the oath, he remarked, before leaving the court- 
 house, to the gentleman alluded to, ' I perceive by your gesture that you 
 thought I was exposing my neck to great danger by the step which I 
 have taken. But I have not taken it without full deliberation. I know 
 my danger and that it is the gi-eater on account of my being a clergy- 
 man of the Church of England. But I trust in Providence. The cause 
 is a just one and I am persuaded will be protected.' " 
 
 The next year he was chosen chaplain to Congress, then sitting in 
 York Town. " He continued chajilain until that body removed to New 
 York. When, after the adoption of the existing Constitution, the Con- 
 gress of the United States returned to Philadelphia, he was a^ain chosen 
 one of their chaplains, and continued to be so chosen at each successive 
 Congress by the Senate until the removal of the seat of government to 
 Washington, in 1801." He was thus officially brought into close rela- 
 tionship with the leaders of American thought and action, as well as 
 personally, through his brother-in-law, Robert Morris, the great financier 
 of the war of the Revolution. 
 
 In 1779, Mr. White was unanimously elected rector of Christ Church 
 and St. Peter's. This placed him virtually at the head of the church in 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] WILLIAM WHITE. 653 
 
 Pennsylvania^ and put him in a commanding position as to all eccle- 
 siastical affairs. So soon, therefore, as the American successes secured 
 to us a distinct nationality, he, in company with a few others, took counsel 
 ton^ether, looking to a union of all the Episcopal clergy in all the States ; 
 and it shows the hiffh estimation in which he was held, that ^ , 
 
 '^ _ _ ^ Father of the 
 
 at the first meeting in New Brunswick in May, 1784, he American Epis- 
 
 . , -,..■, X copal body. 
 
 presided at the meetmg, and opened it with a sermon. It 
 is not necessary to detail the steps which led to the formation of our 
 American church, but no one mind was more directive and controlling 
 in all the assemblies than William White's. 
 
 He was the first to suggest the introduction of the laity into the coun- 
 cils of the church, the first to suggest synodal or diocesan action, and 
 the first to suggest a general convention made up of representatives 
 from the lower assemblies ; and the first draft of the constitution was 
 from his pen. 
 
 In this constitution there were engrafted certain principles of eccle- 
 siastical law, which were unknown in the Church of England, and which, 
 though partially appearing in some of the older constitutions of the 
 Saxon church, and of the primitive eastern dioceses, had, for more than 
 a thousand years, been kept out of sight in the ascendency which the 
 priesthood had claimed and exercised over lay people. Those principles 
 were : (1) the organization of the church as an ecclesiastical body, with 
 full and perfect power of self-government, and entirely independent of 
 secular control; (2) the introduction of the laity as joint councillors 
 and legislators, with equal voice and vote with the clergy in such church 
 conventions ; (3) the giving to the several dioceses the right to elect 
 their own bishops, subject to confirmation by the whole church, and in 
 which election and confirmation the laity have equal voice with the 
 clergy ; 4th, the full and equal liberty of each national church to model 
 and organize itself and its forms of worship and discipline in such man- 
 ner as they may judge most convenient for their future prosperity. 
 
 Accustomed as we have been, all our lives, to these principles, we 
 cannot understand what a really great advance was made in the then ex- 
 isting order of things, when Dr. White boldly brought them out and had 
 them incorporated in the fundamental constitution of his church. The 
 English " convocation," the nominal voice of the Church of England, 
 had long been silent, and the functions of that clerical assembly were so 
 restricted by parliamentary act as to stifle its power. With a political 
 sagacity that grasped at once the sound maxims which the framers of 
 our civil government embodied in the Constitution of the United States, 
 and with a foresight which saw that for a free people, with free institu- 
 tions, the church, as an organism, must conform so far as possible to the 
 liberal views of the body politic ; he, with his few companions, in his study 
 in Walnut Street, above Third, drew up that instrument which is the 
 
654 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 churcli's Magna Charta. And what is the result ? That document, 
 brief as it is, has been everywhere hailed as one of the wisest ever 
 penned by man for the jjurposes for which it was made. Not only has 
 it worn well in the working machinery of the church, for more than 
 fourscore years ; not only has it been reproduced in its general princi- 
 ples in the constitutions of forty-four organized dioceses, not only has it 
 kept us together amidst all the strain and severances of civil war, but 
 it was copied in its essential features in the new constitution of the 
 Church of Ireland, when that ancient church ceased to be established by 
 law, and became on the first day of January, 1871, self-governing and 
 free. 
 
 On the 14th of September, 1786, he was unanimously elected bishop 
 of the newly formed diocese of Pennsylvania, and the sum of three hun- 
 dred and fifty pounds, currency, was voted to defray the necessary ex- 
 penses of the voyage of the bishop elect to and from England. 
 
 On the 2d of November, the same year, he sailed with Dr. Provost, 
 who had been elected bishop of New York, from New York, and, eighteen 
 days after, landed at Falmouth, making the shortest passage across the 
 Atlantic then recorded. 
 
 Through the kind offices of John Adams, then the American minister 
 at the court of St. James (afterward the second president of the United 
 States), and his grace, the lord archbishop of Canterbury, the prelim- 
 inaries of his consecration were arranged. On the 4th of February, he 
 and Dr. Provost were consecrated bishops in the chapel of 
 
 Becomes bishop. 
 
 the palace of Lambeth. They left London the next day 
 for Falmouth, sailed from that port on the 17th of February, and on the 
 afternoon of Easter Sunday landed in New York. The day of their 
 return to America was the emblem to their church of its resurrection from 
 the deadness of the past to the life and hope of the future. 
 
 Of the three bishops consecrated in England, namely, William White, 
 Samuel Provost, and James Madison, Bishop White was the most prom- 
 inent and active. His position as presiding bishop gave great weight to 
 his opinions ; and his thoughtful, calm, and judicious views, quietly ex- 
 pressed and firmly held, may be said to have shaped the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church in the United States for nearly half a century. He is 
 the only one of the early bishops who has left behind him published 
 works, unfolding the proceedings of those early efforts to organize the 
 church, and the only one who has expounded the theological sentiments 
 of our creed and catechism and ordinal. 
 
 It is most fortunate for his church that Bishop White, with that pru- 
 dence and foresight which always distinguished him, wrote out his 
 " Memoirs of the Prptestant Episcopal Church," his *' Lectures on the 
 Catechism," his commentary on " The Ordination Offices," his ten " Pas- 
 toral Letters of the House of Bishops," and sundry other valuable and 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] WILLIAM WHITE. 655 
 
 important publications. He was frank in tlie expression of liis views, 
 and manfully defended what he regarded as the sound doctrines and pure 
 worship of the church over which he presided. As we look back to the 
 difficult times in which he exercised his functions as one of the founders 
 and legislators and subsequently rulers in the church, we cannot but 
 thank God that so blameless a man in his Christian life, so scholarly a 
 man in his mental culture, so calm a man in times of popular excite- 
 ment, so forecasting a man amidst threatened perils, and so firm a 
 ma,n amidst the unsteady opinions of the day, was given to the church 
 at that time, to be to it, in its separation from the mother church, and 
 its erection into an independent one, what Washington was to the civil 
 movement of the Revolution. Both were men of marked characteris- 
 tics ; each eminently fitted for his respective work, each saw it carried 
 into completion, and each ruled as the first president of the organ- 
 ization. 
 
 I should feel myself derelict in duty did I not state, in a few words, 
 the sentiments of Bishop White, so far as they bear on some of the ec- 
 clesiastical and doctrinal issues of to-day. These views are found in his 
 carefully prepared volumes, in his correspondence, and in MSS. left 
 ready for the press, but which have never yet been given to the public. 
 
 From these sources we learn that Bishop Wliite would have had no 
 sympathy whatever with those radical views which are held His views of doc- 
 and taught by some persons, whereby episcopacy is decried, *"''® ^^^ °'^'^®'"- 
 the prayer book reproached as teaching error, the canons of the church 
 disregarded, the language of the offices of the church omitted or altered, 
 and schism and secession openly urged, if certain claims are not author- 
 itatively conceded. For this spirit he had no favor. 
 
 On the other hand, we learn from his writings that he would discoun- 
 tenance and reject those tractarian and ritualistic teachings and doings, 
 which now, alas, are so stealthily or openly proclaimed. 
 
 I cannot better set forth his ideas than by quoting his own language. 
 " As to our church, although she commemorates a great sacrifice in 
 the Eucharist, yet she knows of no offering of anything of -this descrip- 
 tion, except in the figurative sense in which prayers and alms are sacri- 
 fices. She calls the place on which her oblation is made, not an altar, 
 but a table ; although there is no impropriety in calling it an altar also, 
 the word being understood figuratively. And so as to the minister in 
 the ordinance, although she retains the word priest, yet she considers it 
 as synonymous with presbyter, which appears from the Latin standard 
 of the Book of Common Prayer and is agreeable to etymology." 
 
 In his conducting of public worship he was exact, but simple and un- 
 ostentatious. He regarded the service as a worship, not as a spectacle ; 
 to be rendered with reverence, not with pompous parade ; to inspire de- 
 votion in the soul, not to minister to the mere sensuous and a3sthetic ele- 
 
656 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 ments of our nature. So much did he act upon these principles that he 
 never bowed at the name ■ of Jesus in the Creed, and even wrote two 
 articles in defense of his not doing it. He never turned to the east 
 to say the Creed or the Gloria Patri. He never in the pulpit turned 
 his back upon the congregation during the ascription after the sermon. 
 He never preached in a surplice, but always, when not engaged in 
 episcopal duties, in the black gown. He never required the people to 
 rise up as he entered the church, and at the close of the service to re- 
 main standing in their pews until he had left the chancel. He never 
 asked the congregation to stand up while he placed the alms basons, 
 with the offertory, on the Lord's table, or notified the communicants 
 to continue in their places, after the benediction, until the clergy had 
 reverently eaten and drank what remained of the consecrated bread and 
 wine. These and other like jiractices, the outci'oppings of sacerdotal 
 assumptions, were utterly foreign to his wise and benign views and 
 teachings. 
 
 He magnified his office, not by arrogant claims, or by extolling unduly its 
 sacred functions, but by a loving discharge of its duties, un- 
 der the eye of God, in the humility of a servant, and with 
 the fidelity of an apostle. His loving nature, sound judgment, and en- 
 lightened mind also kept him from holding intolerant or unchurching 
 dogmas in reference to other Christian bodies. Throughout his long life 
 he carried out the spirit and letter of his ordination and consecration 
 vows, — " to maintain and set forward quietness, peace, and love among 
 all Christian people." His views upon this point were well defined in 
 one paragraph of the instructions which he gave to the first missionaries 
 of our church to China in 1835. Addressing the Rev. Messrs. Hanson and 
 Lockwood, the bishop says : " In the tie which binds you to the Episco- 
 pal Church, there is nothing which places you in the attitude of hostility 
 to men of any other Christian denomination, and much which should 
 unite you in affection to those occupied in the same cause with yourself. 
 You should rejoice in their successes, and avoid as much as possible all 
 controversy and all occasions which may provoke it, on points on which 
 they may differ from our communion, without conforming in any point 
 to what we consider as erroneous." 
 
 Acting himself in this spirit, he became one of the founders of the 
 Bible Society of Philadelphia, and was its president until his death. 
 
 He presided at its annual meetings when held in other than Episcopal 
 churches, and when its anniversaries were held in our churches, ministers 
 of different denominations stood before him in the chancel, and addi'essed 
 the people. He was also one of the founders of the Society for the 
 Institution and Support of First Day or Sunday Schools, an organization 
 made up of Christians of different religious bodies. Thus, while he never 
 compromised his principles as a churchman, or sacrificed a single convic- 
 
Cent. XVIL-XIX.] JACOB ALBRIGHT. 657 
 
 tion of duty, he yet secured the respect of all classes of the community ; 
 and all denominations united at his death to do honor to this prince and 
 father in Israel. 
 
 Let us thank God for the life and labor of such a man. " He being 
 dead yet speaketh." In the beautiful language of Wordsworth in one of 
 his Ecclesiastical Sonnets, — 
 
 " To thee, saintly White, 
 Patriarch of a wide-spreading family, 
 Eemotest lands and unborn times shall turn, 
 Whether they would restore, or build, — to thee. 
 As one who rightly taught how zeal should burn, 
 As one who drew from out Faith's holiest urn 
 The purest stream of patient Energy." 
 
 (Partiii., Son. xv.) 
 
 He died in Philadelphia, at his residence in "Walnut Street, on Sunday 
 the 17th of July, 1836. " His end," says his biographer. Dr. Bird Wil- 
 son, " was marked by the serenity and by the deep-seated and sweetly 
 calm religious consolation and trust in the mercy of God through the Re- 
 deemer, which were in perfect consistency with his own declared prin- 
 ciples of religion and with the uniform character of his feelings, con- 
 versation, and life." — W. B. S. 
 
 LIFE XVL JACOB ALBRIGHT. 
 
 A. D. 1759-A. D. 1808. EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION, — AMERICA. 
 
 Jacob Albright, the founder of the " Evangelical Association of 
 North America," was born in the year 1759, near Pottstown, Mont- 
 gomery County, Pennsylvania, of Pennsylvania German parents. He 
 was baptized in infancy by a German Lutheran minister, and at a later 
 period catechised and received into the membership of the Lutheran 
 Church. In his neighborhood, experimental and practical religion was 
 then at a low ebb among the German churches, and there was also- 
 very little of enterprise and business among the people of that section. 
 Young Albright, however, was possessed of considerable talent and' 
 energy, and hence found himself embarrassed by his surroundings. The 
 schools of those days were " home-made " private enterprises. Penn- 
 sylvania did not adopt the public-school system until many years after- 
 ward. In such a school Jacob Albright learned to read and write Ger- 
 man, and a little of arithmetic. The reading and writing exercises were 
 quite bare of grammatical and elocutionary instruction. Jacob's mind 
 did not feel at home amidst the siirroundings of " Fuchsberg " (Fox's 
 Mountain), as that section was popularly called; so when he had married 
 Miss Elizabeth Cope, he moved away about seventy miles into Lancaster 
 42 
 
658 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 County, Pennsylvania. In that naturally rich county, he found that bricks 
 Early business were needed, and tiles much in demand for roofing pur- 
 career, poses ; even large barns as well as houses were thus roofed in 
 those days ; so he started a " Ziegelhlitte," or a tile and brick yard, having 
 learned that business when he lived at home. He was quite success- 
 ful in this occupation, and was highly respected by his customers and the 
 peoj^le generally, who called him the " tiler," which title some prefaced 
 with the valuable adjective " honest." In the midst of a successful busi- 
 ness career, and surrounded by a prosperous family, Albright saw death 
 enter his household in the year 1790, and carry off several of the little 
 ones in quick succession, which deejily pained and affected him. The 
 pungent funeral sermons delivered by Rev. Anton Howtz, a German Re- 
 formed minister, so touched his conscience that he considered these 
 deaths as a loud call of God upon him to repent and turn to the Lord. 
 For until that time he had lived careless about spiritual and eternal 
 things that pertain to the salvation of the soul, in moral darkness and sin, 
 as did others around him. He now fell into a deep trouble on account 
 of his sins. Strange yet true it was that he could not find any one who 
 was able to point him to Christ and explain the simple way of salvation 
 through faith in Him. The fact was that in his chm'ch, and other Ger- 
 man churches around him, justification by faith, regeneration by the 
 power of the Holy Spirit, and the assurance of adoption into God's fam- 
 ily were unknown, at least experimentally, and Christianity consisted 
 of a mere outward form and profession. The Methodists, it is true, had 
 come into Albright's neighborhood by that time, but as they were much 
 despised and misrepresented, Albright did not go near them. Finally, 
 he met a lay-preacher named Adam Ridgel, who was evidently a truly 
 pious man. He showed Albright the way to the cross of Christ, and they 
 met and prayed together^ until Albright could claim the atonement as 
 availing for him, and thus he realized that Christ died for him, yea, even 
 him, and was filled with peace and joy in believing. With a heart full of 
 gratitude towards God, whom he now could address as " Abba, Father," 
 he wanted to tell to sinners round what a dear Saviour he had found, 
 but to his surprise he found opposition, yea, even persecution, rising 
 against him. He now looked around to find kindred hearts with whom 
 he could unite in spiritual fellowship, " for," says he, " I needed some 
 •experienced Christians to watch over me, and assist me in fighting the 
 good fight of faith, and working out my soul's salvation." He soon saw 
 the necessity and advantage of being under good church discipline ; he 
 had no sympathy with such as wanted to be free from the " yoke," as 
 they called it, of a proper church organization. However, in his own 
 church he met with opposition and persecution ; so he went to his next 
 neighbor, who was a Methodist class-leader, and inquired into the dis- 
 cipline and government of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JACOB ALBRIGHT. 659 
 
 he became higUy pleased. He was led soon to join himself to this com- 
 mimion. He thus had found a congenial church home, and went forward 
 serving the Lord with a joyful, willing heart. By and by the Methodists 
 gave him an exhorter's license, and he now and then delivered a public 
 address to his fellow-Christians and fellow-men which was not without 
 good effect. He had, however, as yet not the least thought of becoming 
 a preacher of the gospel. 
 
 During the first few years of his Christian course he learned to under- 
 stand that the Germans in America were in a deeply depraved condition, 
 and he earnestly prayed for their salvation with an increasing sympathy. 
 He now asked God to awaken and send forth good shepherds to seek 
 these wandering sheej), and lead them to the great Chief-Shepherd, who 
 laid down his life for them. One day, while he was thus praying, a light 
 shone upon his soul, and a question arose within : " Was it caued to his 
 mere chance that the deplorable condition of your fellow- life-work. 
 men so touched your heart that you were led thus to pray ? Or is the 
 hand of Him who guides the steps of a man, as well as the course of 
 nations, in this matter ? How would it be if his infinite love had chosen 
 you to lead your brethren into the way of saving knowledge, and into a 
 participation of the mercy of God ? " In his soul this light shone clearer 
 still, and he heard an inward voice : " Go, labor in my vineyard. Trust 
 in me for strength and help and success in saving souls." But now 
 arose a number of objections in his mind. He said, " Lord, there are so 
 many talented and learned men who are better qualified for such a work, 
 and have greater resources and influence ; behold, I am so feeble and 
 incompetent ! " When he looked at himself and the greatness and the 
 difficulties of such a work, he became discouraged, and asked God to ex- 
 cuse him and send another one. But then his conscience would tell him 
 that he must obey the voice of God, that his grace would be sufficient, 
 that He would grant him the sufficiency from above. The great peril 
 and loss resulting from disobedience, and also the great reward that awaits 
 the faithful servant, were clearly portrayed before his mind. These 
 cogitations troubled him greatly, but he was not willing to go into the 
 vineyard. Finally, a severe sickness befell him, which brought him to 
 the brink of death, and he recognized herein the chastising hand of his 
 heavenly Father. He humbled himself under the mighty hand of God, 
 asked for mercy, and solemnly promised the Lord if He would restore him 
 he would go and preach the gospel. He then rapidly recovered, and his 
 mind was again filled with light, and his heart with peace and joy in the 
 Holy Ghost. He now speedily arranged his temporal affairs, and started 
 out as an evangelist and itinerant preacher of the gospel, which he 
 preached wherever he found hearers and open doors, in houses, churches, 
 market-places, barns, on the roadside, and in the woods. He preached 
 more particularly such doctrines as involve Christian experience and 
 
660 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 practice, as repentance, faith, conversion, regeneration, and inward and 
 outward holiness according to the Methodistic view of these doctrines, 
 which appeared to him to be in accordance with the Holy Scriptures. 
 His labors were blessed with good results in the salvation of sinners, and 
 soon a little flock claimed him as their spiritual father and looked to him 
 as theii" God-given pastor. 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church at that time did not intend to enter 
 upon the German field in America, and hence the labors of Mr. Albright 
 were not regarded by her, and so it happened — perhaps providentially, 
 for Providence often " happens " — that Albright was, by the course of 
 events, separated from that church, while he was following a divine call, 
 of which he was fully persuaded. 
 
 It was in the month of October, 1796, that he commenced preaching 
 the gospel; in 1800 three classes or confifresations were 
 
 Organizes the . . o o 
 
 Evangelical As- Organized; in 1803 a council was held by the chief mem- 
 bers of the society to consider what steps might be neces- 
 sary to give the work something more of form and organization. The 
 members of this council consisted of some of the most respectable citi- 
 zens of Pennsylvania, who by the grace of God had been led to Christ 
 through the labors of Albright. They adopted a declaration in which they 
 firmly testified to the good character of Jacob Albright as a man and 
 a Christian, and recognized him as their pastor, and a true minister of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. Before the close of the meeting he was or- 
 dained as a minister of the gospel by united prayer and the laying on of 
 hands, in accordance with Acts xiii. 1-3. 
 
 Albright continued henceforth to labor zealously and successfully for 
 the salvation of souls, amidst great hardships and difficulties and bitter 
 persecutions, until 1807, when the first regular conference was held in the 
 month of November, by which he was unanimously elected bishop, and 
 also requested to compile articles of faith and a discipline for the guid- 
 ance of the then so-called " Albright people," but he soon afterward sank 
 into consumption, and died happy in the Lord, in the spring of 1808, — 
 the result probably of extreme hardships, severe labors, and over exer- 
 tion in the work. Shortly before his decease he expressed to one of his 
 co-laborers some uncertainty in his own mind whether God intended the 
 work which was now commenced to continue as a separate organization, 
 but said that if Providence designed it should continue. He would raise 
 up competent men who would carry it on ; and God did raise such 
 men ! 
 
 Several years thereafter this branch of the Christian church adopted 
 the following as their proper church name : " Die Evangelische Ge- 
 meinschaft von Nord Amerika," which was translated into The Evangel- 
 ical Association of North America. The work has since grown wonder- 
 fully every way, even beyond all expectation and belief. This denominar 
 
Cent. XVII. -XIX.] ROBERT DONNELL. 661 
 
 tion now numbers nineteen annual conferences, about one thousand itiner- 
 ant preachers, and one hundred and ten thousand members. It has spread 
 over many States of the Union, into Canada and into Europe, and has also 
 missionaries in Japan. All this, together with an exceedingly prosper- 
 ous book establishment at Cleveland, Ohio, an orphan institution at Flat 
 Rock, Ohio, the Northwestern College, and a Biblical Institute at Naper- 
 ville, Illinois, a well-organized missionary society, a Sunday-school and 
 tract union, etc., and above all the assistance of the Holy Spirit, gives a 
 promising prospect for the future. 
 
 The labors of the Evangelical Association are now conducted in both 
 the German and the English language. 
 
 From the foregoing paragraphs it is already evident that this de- 
 nomination is Methodistic in both doctrine and church polity. However, 
 in the latter respect some important variations exist which some very 
 sensible men have regarded as improvements. The bishops are elected 
 every four years by general conference ; the presiding elders, likewise, 
 every four years by the annual conferences. The bishops have no trans- 
 ferring power, and the presiding elders, who are practically bishops on 
 a smaller scale, are the assistants in stationing the preachers. To the 
 office of bishop is, however, attached a high ideal. He must excel every 
 way, — li^e holier, work more, and preach better than other preachers, 
 and be a pattern to all. 
 
 In conclusion, we add a brief personal description of Jacob Albright, by 
 whom God pleased to bring about such a work as this. He was nearly 
 six feet high, had smooth black hair, a high clear forehead, small, deeply 
 set, piercing eyes, aquiline nose, mouth and chin well proportioned, a 
 symmetrical form, a white complexion, the sanguine and choleric tem- 
 peraments well combined. Hence he was a beautiful man, graceful in his 
 movements, cheerful and yet determined, and altogether adapted to make 
 a favorable impression. When he preached, from a heart filled with the 
 love of God, people hung upon his words, and were overwhelmed by the 
 power and attractions of the gospel of Jesus Christ ; and those whom 
 he led to the Saviour loved him as their spiritual father. He was, in- 
 deed, " a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." — R. Y. 
 
 LIFE XVII. ROBERT DONNELL. 
 
 A. D. 1784-A. D. 1853. CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN, AMERICA. 
 
 What is called the great southwestern revival of 1800 commenced in 
 1797 under the ministrations of the Rev. James MacGready. MacGready 
 was educated at Canonsburgh, in Pennsylvania, under the direction of 
 Dr. MacMillan. Having finished his academical education he also studied 
 
662 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 theology with Dr. MacMillan. The Presbyterian ministers who coojjer- 
 ated with MacGready in the revival were also regularly educated men, 
 but their number was small. The work soon extended itself over South- 
 western Kentucky, and what was then called the Cumberland country, 
 which lay adjacent. Congregations were multiplied, and calls became so 
 numerous for the preaching of the Word and for the ordinances of the 
 gospel, that it was soon found impossible to supply the demand. 
 
 In their exigency the revival preachers — as they were called — were 
 advised to select out promising men from among the subjects of the 
 revival, or others, and encourage them to prepare for the ministry, al- 
 though they might not have, and might not be able to acquire, the quali- 
 fications customary in the Presbyterian Church as a preparation for that 
 work. At fu'st three were selected and recommended to the presbytery. 
 With some difficulty they obtained licensure, and at length ordination ; 
 still the number was not sufficient for the increasing demand. Congrega- 
 tions were multiplying a great deal more rapidly than the laborers. Oth- 
 ers were called out to meet the growing want. Amongst these was the 
 subject of this present story. 
 
 Robert Donnell was the son of William and Mary Bell Donnell, and 
 was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, in April, 1784. William 
 Donnell, the father, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and partici- 
 pated in the battle at Guilford Court House, in 1781. The Donnell 
 family seem to have been originally Seceders (as a part of the United 
 Presbyterian body were once called), but to have joined the Presbyte- 
 rian Church some time previous to 1784, as Dr. Caldwell is represented 
 as having baptized their son, Robert, in his infancy. 
 
 In October, 1789, William Donnell started with his family for the 
 Cumberland country, and made his final settlement in Wilson County, 
 Tennessee, about eight miles from what is now Lebanon. Here Robert 
 Donnell grew up to manhood. In the manuscript which is one of my 
 guides in this story, it is stated that the whole of his school education 
 His school life Consisted of what he acquired in nine months, and that he 
 of nine mouths, acquired this before he was thirteen years old. The ac- 
 count is not improbable, owing to the condition of the coimtry at that 
 time. Flavel's " Husbandry Spiritualized," his father's Bible, and Rus- 
 sell's " Seven Sermons " were his text-books in learning to read, and 
 these were carried on pack-saddles over the mountains when the family 
 came to Tennessee. 
 
 In 1800, when he was in the seventeenth year of his age, Mr. DonneU 
 professed religion. His own account of his religious experience, after- 
 wards narrated to his friends, was substantially the following : " I had 
 been," said he, " for some time in great distress of soul on account of 
 my sins, and after having spent several hours, late one afternoon, in the 
 secret grove, seeking rest and finding none, I returned to my mother's 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ROBERT DONNELL. 663 
 
 house ; and just as I was setting my feet on the threshold I was enabled 
 to put the rope around my own neck, to prostrate myself before the 
 cross divested of all self-dependence, and to rely alone upon the merits 
 of Jesus Christ." This account is characteristic. He soon became an 
 efficient helper in holding prayer-meetings, and in otherwise promoting 
 the interests of religion in his neighborhood. He would often exhort his 
 friends and neighbors, " with melting heart and streaming eyes, to flee 
 the wrath to come." 
 
 At what time his thoughts began to be directed to the work of the 
 ministry we do not know. Such thoughts, however, would be a natiu-al 
 outgrowth of the feelings and exercises which have been mentioned. 
 We may judge, therefore, that it was not long after his profession of re- 
 ligion, that the necessities of the times began to press themselves upon 
 him, and he began to consider the question seriously of offering himself 
 as a candidate for the ministry. 
 
 The Cumberland Presbytery, which included the Cumberland country, 
 had been dissolved, but the informal " council " had taken its place. As 
 soon as he heard of the formation of the council, he resolved to put 
 himself under its care with a view to the sacred office, and stand or fall 
 with the revival party. It will be understood that there was great con- 
 fusion in the Presbyterian Church in the West during these times, and 
 older men hardly knew how to direct then* steps. This young man, how- 
 ever, was in earnest, and he looked beyond himself and the wisdom of 
 men, for guidance. The following is his own account of the final strug- 
 gle of his mind upon the question of duty. It occurred at a camp-meet- 
 ing near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He says, " While the sacrament of 
 the Lord's Supper was being administered, I looked over the large con- 
 gregation, thought of the scarcity of preachers, the distracted state of the 
 church, and became so affected that I retired to the woods to i^ray, and 
 there remained all night. The burden of my prayer was, ' Lord, what 
 vrilt Thou have me to do ? ' I thought I saw the path of duty jjlainly 
 marked before me, and resolved to pursue it." 
 
 Accordingly he presented himself before the council in 1806, and 
 was received, as far as they felt authorized to receive him. 
 
 T 1 . • f 1 • 1 TT cii 1 Joins the new 
 
 in theu- miormal capacity they did not leel themselves at Presbyterian 
 liberty to transact presbyterial business. He was encour- '^°^®™®'' • 
 aged, however, to exercise his gifts as an exhorter and catechist. With 
 this authority he entered upon his work, and soon became practically and 
 really an efficient preacher, although he had received no formal license. 
 He was at first directed to occupy a portion of the country lying between 
 the Ohio and Cumberland rivers, and labor as he could for the promo- 
 tion of the kingdom of Christ. It required three months to go round 
 his circuit. Of course open houses, hard beds, and rough fare otherwise 
 often awaited him, together with trials perhaps still more severe. But 
 
664 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Periob V. 
 
 the account is that " God in a very remarkable manner crowned his la- 
 bors with success." 
 
 In 1809 he penetrated into Northern Alabama, and commenced the 
 work of collecting and, as far as he felt himself authorized, of organizing 
 congregations in what was then a new but rapidly opening country. He 
 was in this country when he received intelligence of the reorganization 
 of the Cumberland Presbytery in 1810. This presbytery, it may be 
 remarked by the way, thus organized as an independent presbytery, be- 
 came the nucleus of what has grown into the Cumberland Presbyterian 
 Church. The following is his own account of his labors, hopes, and 
 fears : — 
 
 " I was traveling," says he, " in Alabama Territory, when I heard of 
 the constitution of the Cumberland Presbytery by Messrs. McAdoo, 
 Ewing, and King. If I ever was free from sectarian feelings, it was at 
 that period. I often thought within myself, For what am I laboring ? 
 I am connected with no church, and know not that I ever shall be. 
 For what, then, do I labor if I cannot build up a church ? My answer 
 to myself was, Only for the glory of Gk)d, and the salvation of precious 
 souls. But what will become of the few so strongly united in the bonds 
 of love ? This could only be settled by the great Head of the church. 
 Of Him I often sought an answer, and I am persuaded He did answer ; 
 as for some time before the presbytery was constituted, I became quite 
 calm on the subject, under a firm persuasion that the Lord would open 
 a way for us. I was in this frame when the intelligence reached me 
 which caused me to feel truly thankful to God who had thus opened a 
 way for us, a feeble handful of his followers, to become more exten- 
 sively useful." ^ 
 
 Donnell was licensed to preach at the Big Spring meeting-house, in 
 Wilson County, Tennessee, in 1811. He had been really 
 
 Formally iden- •" ' . "l 
 
 tified with the preaching, howcvcr, siucc 1806, and had already acquired 
 Presbyterian some eminence. The following year he was set apart to 
 the full work of the ministry with the usual formalities, 
 at the Three Forks of Duck River. 
 
 On the 17th of March, 1818, he was married to an estimable lady of 
 Jackson County, Tennessee. It was a marriage in the Lord. Previous 
 to his marriage Donnell, as we have seen, labored chiefly as an itiner- 
 ant minister. He traveled extensively, especially throughout the south- 
 ern portion of his church. It may be safely asserted that the labors of 
 no man in any of the denominations were more signally blessed. He 
 possessed vigorous health, a fine constitution, and in all his labors a feel- 
 ing was manifested that he belonged to God. After his marriage he 
 settled in Alabama, and became nominally a farmer. It was his family, 
 however, that was settled ; he himself still contiaued the most active and 
 1 Life and Times of Finis Ewing. 
 
Cext. XVII.-XIX.] ROBERT DONNELL. 665 
 
 laborious minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Many con- 
 gregations were collected through his agency in Tennessee and Alabama. 
 A number of them are still flourishing, yielding fruit from the precious 
 seed sown by his ministry. 
 
 The General Assembly of 1831, in conformity with several petitions 
 from that country, appointed five missionaries to Western Pennsylvania, 
 of whom Donnell was one. Their mission was eminently successful, 
 his labors with those of the others being greatly blessed. 
 
 Having lost his wife in 1828, he was married a second time, to Miss 
 Clara M. Lindley, in 1832. Miss Lindley was the daughter of Rev. 
 Jacob Lindley of Pennsylvania. She had been engaged for some years 
 as an instructress in the South. 
 
 Sometime about 1830, he commenced a series of efforts in the city of 
 Nashville. The result was the introduction of Cumberland -^^^^^^ ^0^^ 
 Presbyterianism into that city. As the fruits of seed thus churches. 
 sown are two congregations, one in the city proper, the other in Edge- 
 field, The former is one of the largest and best in the city ; the other 
 is promising. 
 
 In 1845 he went to Memphis for the purpose of organizing a con- 
 gregation and aiding in building a house of worship. After spending 
 some months there, and accomplishing the object of his visit, he returned 
 home, and in a short time was called to the pastorate of the congrega- 
 tion of Lebanon, Tennessee. He remained in Lebanon until February, 
 1849, when he moved to Athens, Alabama, which became, as he ex- 
 pected, his last earthly home. He had now passed half through the 
 seventh decade of his life, a period when serious men begin to think of 
 setting their house in order. He built a mansion, comfortable rather 
 than otherwise, as a home for his family, and from tliis mansion he en- 
 tered into his rest. 
 
 His last years were spent mostly in quietude. He preached occasion- 
 ally when he was able. On the third Sabbath in November, 1853, he 
 officiated at the funeral of three aged Christians a few miles from his 
 home. His text on the occasion was, " These all died in faith." It was 
 his last sermon. He lingered, however, to the 24th of May, 1854, 
 when he died. Thus he came to his grave in a " good old age," like a 
 shock of corn gathered in its season. His death occurred in his seventy- 
 second year. 
 
 At the time of his death he was the oldest vice-president of the 
 American Tract Society. He had been for years a devoted friend of 
 the American Bible Society, and a promoter of its interests. In favor 
 of temperance he was outspoken, and a temperance man from principle 
 long before there were temperance societies. 
 
 He was a member of the Cumberland Synod in 1825, when the de- 
 cisive step was taken towards the establishment of Cumberland College, 
 
666 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 and gave his unqualified support to the institution while there were 
 hopes of its success, and in 1842 was a member of the commission 
 appointed for the location of Cumberland University. Of the latter 
 institution he continued a steadfast friend and supporter through his 
 remaining life. 
 
 An authority says, " He was perhaps instrumental in the conversion of 
 as many sinners, organized as many congregations, assisted in building 
 as many houses of worship, and brought as many young men into the 
 ministry, as any contemporary minister of his own or any other denom- 
 ination of Christians." This is, no doubt, a faithful testimony. 
 
 Donnell preached the opening sermon at the meeting of the first gen- 
 eral assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The meeting 
 was held at Princeton, Kentucky, in 1829. The subject was "Solomon's 
 choice of wisdom and understanding, that he might be able to judge the 
 people of God, and go in and out before them in a becoming manner." 
 The sermon was characteristic. 
 
 From the time of Donnell's maturity in the ministry, he was regarded 
 Leader of his ^^ ^^^ leader of the southern portion of the church to which 
 people. }jg belonged. No other man contributed so much towards 
 
 directing its theological inquiries or its practical policy. For thirty years 
 he was the highest human authority in these matters. He was a great 
 natural man. Furthermore, by extraordinary application and industry 
 in his early ministry, he had made himself a respectable scholar. It used 
 to be said that he carried his English grammar and other elementary 
 books in his saddle-bags on his circuits, and studied them on horseback 
 between his appointments. This was probably true, as it was the cus- 
 tom of those days. He possessed great administrative abilities, and 
 could hardly have been otherwise than a leader. At the same time it is 
 to be remarked that no man seemed less anxious to be a leader. If he 
 was ambitious, the world never knew it. 
 
 Personally, he was a man to be observed anywhere. His figure was 
 commanding. He was something over six feet in height ; his usual 
 weight in later life was about two hundred and twenty. He was always 
 neatly dressed, stood erect in the pulpit, delivering his message in an 
 imusually solemn and impressive manner. He never descended to what 
 are called the arts of elocution. Nature Kkd done enough for him in 
 that respect. His voice was like the voice of a trumpet ; he never lacked 
 words, and notwithstanding the- defects of his early education, his words 
 were always well selected. His thoughts were very clear, and his 
 method of utterance unusually distinct. No man needed to misunder- 
 stand him. Above all, there were a spirituality and an unction in his 
 pulpit ministrations which subdued, while his mind and manner led. 
 He seemed often to be absolutely overwhelming. He was not always so, 
 it is true, but he was always interesting. Donnell belonged to a race of 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ROBERT DONNELL. 667 
 
 men in the Southwest which has passed away. We may not expect to 
 see their like again. 
 
 A few brief personal recollections will close this sketch. I saw Rob- 
 ert Donnell for the first time in my early boyhood. He called at my 
 grandfather's, with whom I then lived. He was accompanied by his 
 mother, an aged lady of serious and quiet appearance. But one thing 
 occurred in this visit which made any impression upon my mind. My 
 grandfather had a large family Bible which he had carried over the 
 mountains from Virginia to this country. This, with the hymn-book, 
 Confession of Faith, and the "Travels of True Godliness," made up the 
 principal part of his library. Donnell, in walking over the house, found 
 the Confession of Faith, and made some jocular remark about it. The 
 controversy was then raging which gave rise to the Cumberland Pres- 
 byterian Church. The old gentleman relished a joke, and retorted in a 
 very pithy one. I shall never forget his words, but they were too anti- 
 quated for such a story as this. 
 
 I saw him no more until the fall of 1817. He had then become one 
 of the most popular preachers in the church. The occasion was a camp- 
 meeting at the Beech church in Sumner County, Tennessee. He de- 
 livered a sermon occasioned by the death of Rev. "William McGee, one 
 of the old revival ministers who had given in his adhesion to the new 
 organization. Mr. McGee had once been the pastor of the Beech con- 
 gregation. It was an exceedingly tender occasion. The preacher him- 
 self wept freely, and but few eyes were dry in the great congregation. 
 I was then a very young Christian. 
 
 In 1820, he preached at the same Beech camp-ground. It was late 
 in October, and the weather was unusually cold for the season. He was 
 then in the prime of life, and was certainly a noble specimen of human- 
 ity. He preached in the open air ; there was no shelter, and snow was 
 falling during most of the time of the sermon. But the large concourse 
 of jjeople kept their places, and heard with unflagging attention, and ap- 
 parently with deep interest. The text was, " That as sin hath reigned 
 unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eter- 
 nal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." I had been licensed to preach but 
 a few days before, and was perhaps in a good frame of mind for hearing. 
 It is certain that I never heard a sermon with more intellectual interest. 
 " Sin hath reigned unto death " in throwing darkness into the under- 
 standing, in perverting the judgment, in controlling the will, in impair- 
 ing the memory, in depraving the affections, in subjecting the body to 
 the power of disease and death. Grace reigns in enlightening the un- 
 derstanding, in correcting the errors of the judgment, in persuading and 
 enabling the will, in rendering the memory more tenacious of what is 
 good, in renewing the affections, and, finally, in restoring the body to 
 life and immortality in the resurrection of the just. This is an outline 
 of the sermon wliich was delivered that cold day. 
 
668 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 In 1823 the Cumberland Synod met at Russellville, Kentucky. At 
 the close of the sessions a camp-meeting was held at a place about four 
 miles from town. Donnell preached on Saturday evening. His text 
 was, " I speak as unto wise men ; judge ye what I say." Of course, 
 such a text was chosen because it afforded any degree of latitude. The 
 sermon consisted of an exposition and vindication of the doctrines of the 
 youthful church. On one topic he gave a direction to my own thoughts 
 which they have still kept. I had entertained a confused notion that 
 regeneration was a sort of physical change. The sermon of that even- 
 ing relieved my mind on that subject. It seems to me now that he was 
 very distinct and satisfactory, and the wonder is that with the means of 
 information which Cumberland Presbyterians then had, he could have 
 been so much so. The next day he preached a funeral sermon. It was 
 a massive discourse. 
 
 It has been stated already that he preached the opening sermon of the 
 first general assembly. In 1843 he delivered a sermon at the general 
 assembly at Owensboro, Kentucky, upon the life, character, and death 
 of the Rev. Samuel King, one of the three who constituted the inde- 
 pendent Cumberland Presbytery in 1810. In his latter years he showed 
 in his efforts in the pulpit something of the effects of age. He was al- 
 ways heard, however, with interest. He continued to preach, too, while 
 he had physical strength for his work. Both nature and grace had 
 fitted him for the pulpit. It was his thi-one. He loved its labors, and 
 would have stood in the front rank of preachers in any Christian com- 
 munion. — R. B. 
 
 LIFE XVIIL ALEXANDER CAMPBELL. 
 
 A. D. 1788-A. D. 1876. DISCIPLES, — AMERICA. 
 
 Alexander Campbell was born in the county of Antrim, Ireland, 
 September 12, 1788, in sight of Shane's Castle, the ancient ruin of which 
 still stands on the northern shore of Lough Neagh. On his mother's 
 side he was descended from the French Huguenots, and on his father's 
 from ancestors originally from the west of Scotland, and claiming bo,th 
 clanship and kinsliip with the race Dearmid — the Campbells of Argyle- 
 shire. His father received both his academical and liis theological edu- 
 cation at the University of Glasgow, — the latter in the school of the 
 anti-burgher Seceders, under Dr. Archibald Bruce, of Whitburn. Both 
 father and mother were eminent for piety and the most earnest devotion 
 to the study of the Scriptures, and but few sons ever enjoyed finer ad- 
 vantages in literary instruction and religious training than they diligently 
 labored to afford their son Alexander. He was, indeed, from a very 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ALEXANDER CAMPBELL. 669 
 
 early age, marked by rare and remarkable gifts of body and mind, and it 
 required a high order of wisdom in discipline and of skill in instruction 
 to give proper direction and guidance to his expanding powers. Fond of 
 all manner of sport, by flood and field, he was nevertheless constantly 
 and firmly held to his studies, and carefully cultured in all that could 
 draw out and expand his powers, and fit him for the high walks in intel- 
 lectual pursuits to which nature so evidently destiaed him. 
 
 Speaking himself of his father he says : " His family training and dis- 
 cipline were peculiarly didactic, Biblical, and strict The Bible was, 
 
 during the minority of his family, a daily study and a daily recitation. 
 .... I can but gratefully add that to my mother as well as to my father 
 I am indebted for having memorized in early life almost all the writings 
 of King Solomon, his Proverbs, his Ecclesiastes, and many of the Psalms 
 of his father, David. They have not only been written on the tablet of 
 my memory, but incorporated with my modes of thinking and speaking." 
 With such prejjaration of discipline as this was the powerful nature of 
 Alexander Campbell nurtured through its period of formation. Not, 
 however, without strong tendencies of resistance and counter-struggling, 
 which under other masters, and a less divine and devoted guidance, might 
 have made the " reformer of Bethany " only a great barrister, or an Irish 
 agitator, — the peer of O'Connell in the House of Commons, or a patriot 
 statesman, by the side of Webster, Clay, and Calhoun, in American pol- 
 itics. For nature had given him the elements of greatness, and fashioned 
 him for a ruler and leader of men. 
 
 From his father's academy at Rich Hill, where he had labored both as 
 pupU and as teacher, he passed to the University of Glasgow, gj^jigg j^ g^^^. 
 Professors Young and Jardine were his favorites in the de- i^"''- 
 partments of philosophy and logic and belles-lettres, — and Dr. Ure's 
 lectures and experiments in the Anderson Institute, just then founded, 
 introduced him to the very fountain-head of modern physics. For seven- 
 teen hours per day he bent his vigorous powers to his tasks. In after 
 years, while president of Bethany College, he was fond of telling his stu- 
 dents that though his name came among the first on the alphabetical class 
 rolls, he never failed to return his " adsum " to the call of the professor. 
 Outside of the university he formed " a very happy acquaintance with Dr. 
 Greville Ewing, and Dr. Wardlaw, then prominent actors among the Scotch 
 Independents, as well as with Dr. Moultre, Dr. Mitchell, and others of 
 the Presbyterian faith." From such influences as these he received im- 
 pressions that gave both impulse and direction to his after life, and had 
 much to do, doubtless, in preparing him for his extraordinary career. 
 
 In 1809 he migrated to the United States, and hastened to join his 
 father, Thomas Campbell, who had preceded him, and was already settled 
 at Washington, in Western Pennsylvania, whither he had been sent by 
 the Associate Synod of North America as a Seceder minister, under 
 
670 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 the Presbytery of Chartiers. He found his father already engaged in 
 an attempted " reformation," — and scarcely recognized on terms of ec- 
 clesiastic fellowship by the Seceders, because of his persistency in reject- 
 ing " all human authority in matters of religion," and his " plea for union 
 on the simple basis of the Scriptures." The princijile and the object of 
 this movement at once commended it to the judgment and religious con- 
 victions of Alexander Campbell. It was in harmony with the deepest 
 convictions of his mind as to the divine origin of all that is binding on 
 the human conscience in matters of faith and religion, and his strong, 
 positive intellect and resolute will accepted its fundamental proposition, 
 with the absoluteness of an axiom. But there was nothing in the scheme 
 to inspire ambition, or to tempt selfishness. Seemingly, it was a barren 
 and impractical dream. 
 
 They were strangei-s in a new world, without position or wealth. The 
 country was yet almost a wilderness, and they were removed from the 
 busy centres of social, political, and ecclesiastical influence. What but 
 isolation and proscription could a secession like this promise to the act- 
 ors ? Evidently, for a young and gifted pioneer, there was not a ray of 
 promise of either honor or wealth on the side of dissent and secession. 
 But on the other hand, the way was open and inviting. Pittsburgh, not 
 far off, was already a growing and busy city of four or five thousand in- 
 habitants, and soon tempting offers came to Alexander Campbell to em- 
 ploy his fine education in the conduct of a literary and classical acad- 
 emy in that city. A thousand dollars was at that time a tempting salary 
 to a young man just starting in life, and especially to one who had been 
 accustomed in Ireland to see old and gifted Seceder ministers paid only 
 from one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars per year. 
 Besides, there was the open way to large circles of friendly influence and 
 avenues of honor and promotion. But his heart had already passed 
 through an experience that prepared it to choose ", the better part," and 
 the decision was promptly and firmly made. 
 
 Speaking of himself when seventeen years old, he says : " From 
 Experience of ^^^ ^^^^ '^^^ ^ could read the Scriptures, I became con- 
 reiigion. vinccd that Jesus was the Son of God. I was also fully 
 
 persuaded that I was a sinner, and must obtain pardon through the merits 
 of Christ, or be forever lost. This caused me great distress of soul, and 
 I had much exercise of mind under the awakenings of a guilty con- 
 science. Finally, after many stragglings, I was enabled to put my trust 
 in the Saviour, and to feel my reliance on Him as the only Saviour of sin- 
 ners. From the moment I was able to feel this reliance on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, I obtained and enjoyed peace of mind. It never entered 
 my heart to investigate the subject of baptism or the doctrines of the 
 creed." Tliis was the beginning of his public profession of religion, as* 
 a communicant with the Seceders. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ALEXANDER CAMPBELL. 671 
 
 Later, when sailing out of Lough Foyle with his father's family for 
 America, the vessel was caught in a storm and di'iven to pieces on the 
 reefs of the island of Islay. " Sitting on the stump of a broken mast, 
 .... and musing upon the vanity of the aims and ambitions of human 
 life, he thought of his father's noble example, devoted to God and the 
 salvation of his fellow-beings, and in that solemn hour resolved that, if 
 saved from the present peril, he would give his life to the ministry of the 
 gospel." And still again, when his voyage was renewed, and he was 
 brought into a like peril, this sacred vow of self -consecration was re- 
 peated. It was a covenant which, calm amid the fury of the elements, 
 his soul had made with his Maker and Redeemer, and the new situation, 
 in the midst of safety and the brightening hopes of worldly advantage, 
 could not temjst him to break it. The crisis of his life seemed to have 
 been prepared for him by his Heavenly Parent, and he did not hesitate 
 as to his choice. 
 
 Under his father's gaiidance, therefore, he gave himself industriously 
 to special preparation for his chosen work, and on the 15th of July, 
 1810, he preached his first sermon. It was in one of nature's stately 
 groves, rudely seated for the purpose, and to an audience naturally curi- 
 ous to hear the " young scholar from Glasgow." Even his critical father 
 pronounced it " good," and calls from many quarters were soon made to 
 hear the " young man who was a better preacher than his father," so that 
 it is reported that during the remaining six months of that year he de- 
 livered one hundred and six sermons ; some in private houses, some in 
 barns, a few in churches, but the greater number in selected groves of 
 the native forest. His ministry soon took a wider range, and he made 
 missionary tours into the neighboring parts of Virginia and Ohio, 
 preaching wherever he could find an audience : to individuals of prom- 
 inence, — like Philip to the eunuch, — to fireside groups, in court-houses, 
 and occasionally in such pulpits as were opened to him, — " to mixed 
 audiences of Presbyterians, Unionists, Methodists," and others. 
 
 So far, his father's movement for a larger union of Christians had only 
 resulted in a complete isolation of himself and his associates from the 
 fellowship of all existing ecclesiastical organizations. This was contrary 
 to his hopes and expectations. " He would have liked," as D'Aubigne 
 says of Calvin, " to see all the churches transformed, rather than set 
 themselves apart and form a new one." But this could not be. An 
 earnest overture had been made to the Presbyterian synod of Pittsburgh, 
 but it was distinctly refused. Hitherto, they had cooperated under the 
 name of " The Christian Association," but laid no claim to independent 
 church organization ; but now no other course seemed left 
 them, and " The Christian Association " was organized into pies' church.'' 
 the "Brush Run Church," with Thomas Campbell as its 
 elder, several deacons, and Alexander Campbell as its licensed preacher. 
 
672 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 His preaching, during these years, was in no characteristic sense po- 
 lemic. Still, it was a firm, practical protest against much that was dear to 
 the existing parties, in that it refused to be subjected to their control. 
 " Am I asked," said he, " why I am not a party man, — why I do not 
 join some party ? I ask in return. Which party would the Apostle 
 Paul join if now on earth? Or, in other words, which party would re- 
 ceive him? I dare not be a party man. (1.) Because Christ has forbid- 
 den me (2.) Because no party will receive into communion all 
 
 whom God would receive into heaven (4.) Because all parties 
 
 oppose reformation. They all pray for it, but they will not work for it. 
 None of them dare return to the original standard." 
 
 Having adopted the principle that he would conform his religious life 
 in all things strictly to the precepts and precedents of the sacred Script- 
 ures, it was not long till he was led to challenge the authority of pjsdo- 
 baptism. The question indeed came to him in a i^ressing practical form, 
 not to be evaded. In 1812 he married a Miss Brown, who with her 
 father's family was a member of the Presbyterian Church. The ques- 
 tion rose, " Shall we baptize our first-born ? " This led to further ques- 
 tions respecting baptism. The discussion, thus begun, was engaged in by 
 the whole of the Brush Run congregation, and the result was that in a 
 short time not only Alexander Campbell and his father and their families, 
 but nearly all the members of the organization, were immersed. Those 
 who did not follow in the action soon withdrew their fellowship, and the 
 Brush Run Church became, so far as this institution could character- 
 ize it, a Baptist church. They reserved, however, their independent 
 position as to creeds and confessions of faith. " I have set out," said 
 Alexander Campbell to the Baptist minister whom he requested to im- 
 merse him, " I have set out to follow the Apostles of Christ and their 
 master, and I will be baptized only into the primitive Christian faith." 
 
 Hitherto he had preached as a licentiate of the Brush Run congrega- 
 tion, and now the question of his " ordination " was raised, and this like 
 everything else was brought to the test of the Scriptures. " Utterly re- 
 pudiating the claim of apostolic succession, of priestly supremacy, and the 
 communication of any official grace by superiors to inferiors, or that the 
 clergy had any inherent or transmissible power in them, as it respects 
 ordination," he nevertheless saw that it was a clearly established apos- 
 tolic custom, and accepted it as a solemn and Scriptural mode of setting 
 persons apart, and of committing them, when chosen by the church, to 
 the discharge of official diaties. He believed himself "called to the 
 ministry by many tokens ^ of the divine purpose ; " he had already, by 
 solemn vows, consecrated himself in heart to the work, and it was right 
 and Scriptural that he should be formally set apart by " ordination." 
 
 1 In an entry made by him at the time, he states twelve separate " instances of divine 
 power which he considered bound him under special obligations to devote himself to this 
 service of God." 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ALEXANDER CAMPBELL. 673 
 
 According to his light was his obedience. As he represented it, " This 
 band of reformers had engaged themselves to be, not a sect, with its 
 truths and its errors equally stereotyped and equally immutable, but a 
 party of progress, as learners in the school of Christ." Soon they were 
 brought into a j^rominence that excited attention, discussion, controversy, 
 and bitter opposition. 
 
 For a number of years, from his immersion in 1812 to his debate with 
 McCalla in 1823, his labors in the ministry, though zealous and arduous, 
 were confined to the limited region round about his home in "West Vir- 
 ginia. He managed a farm, toiling arduously with his own hands ; con- 
 ducted the Buffalo Seminary, which he established in his own house ; 
 and preached whenever and wherever he could get an audience, without 
 charges on any one. In a letter written to an uncle in Ireland during 
 this period, he reveals in a few bold strokes his views of the country and 
 his own religious status. " I have had," he says, " my horse shod by a 
 legislator, my horse saddled, my boots cleaned, and my stirrup held by 
 a senator. Here is no nobility but virtue ; here there is no ascend- 
 ency save that of genius, virtue, and knowledge. A farmer here is 
 lord of the soil, and the most independent man on earth. I would not 
 exchange the honor and privilege of being an American citizen for the 
 
 position of your king After long study and investigation of 
 
 books, and more especially the sacred Scriptures, I have, through clear 
 convictions of truth and duty, renounced much of the traditions and er- 
 rors of my early education. I am now an Independent in ^jj^ account of 
 church government ; .... of the faith and view of the ^^ belief, 
 gospel exhibited in John Walker's seven letters to Alexander Knox, and 
 
 a Baptist as respects baptism What I am in religion, I am from 
 
 examination, reflection, and conviction, not from ipse dixit, tradition, 
 or human authorities ; and having halted and faltered and stumbled, I 
 have explored every inch of the way hitherto, and I trust through grace 
 ' I am what I am.' Though my father and I accord in sentiment, neither 
 of us is a dictator or an imitator. Neither of us leads ; neither of us 
 follows." 
 
 His views and his course as to baptism excited very general inquiry in 
 the sphere of his influence, but both he and his father had hitherto ear- 
 nestly deprecated the thought of giving their investigations a controver- 
 sial cast, and these inquiries were mostly restricted to the private circles 
 of fireside examination of the Scriptures. But in 1820, John Walker, 
 of Ohio, a Presbyterian, made offer to a Baptist preacher by the name of 
 Birch to debate the question of baptism either with him or with any one 
 he might select. Mr. Campbell was urged to meet this challenge. The 
 correspondence shows that he did so with great reluctance, but, as he 
 says, his " unwillingness to appear, much more to feel, afraid to defend " 
 his position on the subject overcame his scruples. The discussion was 
 43 
 
674 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 oral, but it was afterwards written out and published by Mr. Campbell. 
 It had a large circulation, and excited an interest beyond all expectation. 
 It seems to have been the first step in his course which suggested the 
 use of the press for a wider diffusion of his plea for a return to "jirim- 
 itive order " in all things relating to faith and practice in religion. 
 
 The combined cares and labors of the farm, the Buffalo Seminary, 
 and the increasing and widening calls upon him in the ministry, had 
 somewhat impaired his health, and he determined to change his method 
 of work, and to employ the power of the press in the propagation of 
 his own views. The result was the establishment of a printing press 
 at his retired home in the hills and forest solitudes of West Virginia, 
 and the issue of a monthly periodical which he called the " Christian 
 Baptist." The first number was issued on the 4th of July, 1823. It 
 was literally a child of faith and hope, for there was as yet no sub- 
 scription list, no backing of authority, and no ecclesiastical affiliation 
 to afford promise of patronage. But many circumstances concurred to 
 give it a speedy introduction to the public. It was in the boldest sense 
 aggressive, especially upon the " clergy " and all humanisms in religion, 
 and marked by an energy in the positive assertion of the " primitive or- 
 der of all things in religion," that won for it a notoriety unparalleled in 
 religious journalism. Simultaneously with its issue Campbell made his 
 first visit to Kentucky to debate on baptism with the Rev. Mr. McCalla, 
 a Presbyterian divine, by whom he had been challenged. This created 
 among the Baptists, who were numerous in Kentucky, a profound admi- 
 ration for Mr. Campbell, and they eagerly sought his " Christian Bap- 
 tist," that they might learn something more of their " admired cham- 
 pion," and in a short time the ecclesiastic circles all over Kentucky were 
 ablaze with the excitement which the debate and his writings produced. 
 This unpretentious monthly was continued for seven years, and its influ- 
 ence was widespread. Mr. Campbell was earnestly invited to make ex- 
 tensive tours, and Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee were all visited by 
 him. Wherever he went multitudes poured out to hear him, and his life 
 was one unremitted " labor in word and doctriiae." It has been computed 
 that in these seven years he printed and circulated forty-six thousand vol- 
 umes of his writings in the defense and dissemination of his views. The 
 " Christian Baptist" was in 1830 superseded by the " Millennial Hai'- 
 binger," a monthly of sixty pages, which was continued till 1864. 
 
 The limits of this article forbid more than a passing allusion to the 
 His books and ^ig^^y labors of this extraordinary man. His published 
 his great debates, -yyori^g amouut to about sixty volumes. He held, besides 
 the debates with Walker and McCalla, already mentioned, other discus- 
 sions, in all which he displayed the remarkable powers of memory, 
 wit, ridicule, sarcasm, and repartee for which he was distinguished ; but 
 these were ever subordinated to the defense and elucidation of truth, 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ALEXANDER CAMPBELL. 675 
 
 the reproof and discomfiture of tradition and authority, and the exposure 
 of superstition and delusion. His great learning, ready invention, adroit 
 skill as a dialectician, and keen penetration by which he saw at a glance 
 into the heart of all questions, and drove the point of his javelin straight 
 to the vital point of controversy ; these, with a coolness and self-posses- 
 sion that no fire of assault could excite, nor artifice of sophistry embar- 
 rass, constituted his irresistible power as a debater. He always thoroughly 
 understood his subject, — both sides of it, — always entered into its dis- 
 cussion with a deep conviction of its importance, always subjected it to, 
 with him, the one test of verity, the sacred Scriptures, always thought 
 himself right, and never doubted that with the truth on his side, he 
 could debate successfully with any antagonist. 
 
 His devotion to truth was chivalric. His soul rose like David's against 
 any champion who defied the cause of Christ. When he first saw the 
 arrogant and unaccepted challenge of Robert Owen, the socialist, to dis- 
 cuss with any of the clergy his infidel doctrines, Mr. Campbell replied, 
 " I have felt indignant at the aspect of things in reference to this infidel 
 and lawless scheme," and immediately took up the gauntlet, " relying," 
 as he exjiressed it, " on the Author, the reasonableness, and the excel- 
 lency of the Christian religion." And when, in the College of Teachers, 
 Bishop Purcell afiirmed that " the Protestant Reformation had been the 
 cause of all the contention and infidelity in the world," Mr. Campbell im- 
 mediately challenged him to make good his calumny in public debate, and 
 so brought on the most notable and powerful exposure of Romanism that 
 has ever been made. In 18-43 he held the most comprehensive, learned, 
 and famous discussion of his life, the debate with Dr. Rice at Lexington, 
 Kentucky. Almost every controversial topic in the wide range of the- 
 ology came under consideration, directly or indirectly, in this discussion, 
 and the comprehensive sweep of Mr. Campbell's learning and genius 
 never shone more conspicuously than in the majestic power with which 
 he handled the sublimest and the profoundest questions ever grappled by 
 the human mind. 
 
 He was the friend and patron of every enterprise that had in it the 
 purpose and the promise of enlightening and civilizing the masses of men. 
 The cause of education stood, in his esteem, next to Christianity, at once 
 its product and its ally ; and to bring its powerful agency to her aid 
 was his cherished object in the founding of Bethany College. 
 He had labored long and earnestly to excite the people to '^ "^ ^^^' 
 the study of the Word of God ; had compiled, revised, and published 
 and circulated widely new versions of the Holy Scriptures ; had taught 
 multitudes of people how to study the Bible, and excited whole commii- 
 nities, all over the land, to the formation of Bible classes, and the in- 
 vestigation of divine truth for themselves ; had claimed for it its jjlace 
 and agency in the conversion of the world to Christ; and his thought 
 
676 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 was still further to honor the sacred oracles, and incorporate their power 
 with the elements of our public life, by founding a college in which the 
 Bible should be a text-book. No man understood better the power of 
 education, or believed more fully in the maxim that whatever is to ap- 
 pear in the life of a people should be put into the studies of the schools. 
 A college founded upon the Bible was but . the natural offspring of his 
 life-long struggle to bring all things in religion to the one standard of the 
 Word of God. 
 
 His reverence for the Bible, his faith in the power of the Word to 
 work out the revolution of the world, his constant and unremitted study 
 of it, his ability to repeat it and run the long chain of sequences in its 
 mighty arguments, his comprehension of its meaning, his grasp of its 
 wondrous system and scheme, his sympathy with its all-comprehending 
 philanthropy, his lofty admiration and conce2:)tion of the majesty, dignity, 
 and glory of its Christ, his humility and his confidence before this pres- 
 ence as revealed in our nature, his power to magnify and exalt in the 
 minds and hearts of men the love of God as manifested in the gift of 
 his Son for their redemption, his power to grasp and model into shape 
 and hold up before the imagination in vivid and sublime pictures the 
 deep things of God, — the great mystery of godliness, — these are some 
 of the points in which Alexander Campbell stood out among men, con- 
 spicuous in his generation. 
 
 Socially he was one of the most genial of men. The abounding buoy- 
 ancy of his spirits lifted all men out of their despondency, 
 
 His private life. J 1 l JJ 
 
 and imparted to them, for the time, an energy and heart 
 above themselves. In his family his presence was a perpetual benedic- 
 tion. Severe as he was in the religious discipline of his household in 
 the study and knowledge of the Scriptures, there was nothing of the 
 ascetic in his life or bearing, and cheerfulness shone as a blessed atmos- 
 phere wherever he went. In converse he was a discourser. You could 
 not, you did not want to interrupt him by replies. No matter what the 
 topic might be, he soon struck off some grand analogy that led him to 
 Christ and his redemption, and the current of his thoughts became too 
 deep, the soarings of his imagination too high, the majesty and sweep of 
 his thought too sublime and wide, for you to feel like interrupting him, 
 or to wish to arrest him. In his many and long tours, his intercourse with 
 the thousands who thronged to hear liim, whether in the pvxlpit, in the 
 stage-coach, or by the fireside, was, as it were, an unbroken monologue 
 on the one sublime but myriad-sided theme of the gospel. 
 
 As he lived so he died. He gradually blossomed into a beautiful old 
 age, just forgetful enough of the concerns of this world to feel no an- 
 noyance from them, just mindful enough of them to throw over them the 
 sweetness of a most divine charity ; and with respect to the objects of 
 the future life, lifting up to them a clearer vision and a more rapturous 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN MASON PECK. 677 
 
 joy of anticipation, as he day by day drew nearer to their possession. 
 " Heaven seemed to lie about him," as ' he walked in holy meditation 
 among the trees of his own planting ; and when in his eighty-eighth year, 
 at the close of a lovely Sabbath day in March, his eye rested upon the 
 light of the setting sun as it streamed into his chamber, almost his last 
 words were, " Yes, the setting sun ! It will soon go down. But unto 
 them that fear his name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with heal- 
 ing in his wings." — W. K. P. 
 
 LIFE XIX. JOHN MASON PECK. 
 
 A. D. 1789-A. D. 1857. BAPTIST, AMERICA. 
 
 The fact, though humiliating, should be salutary in its influence, that 
 very few persons are remembered for any long period after they die. 
 Of almost all " born of women " it may be said, they live, they die, and 
 are forgotten. Here and there a name is found on the page of history, 
 but the names of countless millions are not there, and were never there. 
 
 As there is this general tendency to oblivion, — a tendency which can- 
 not be arrested, — the only thing the living can do is to rescue, as well as 
 they can, the names of a few from forgetfulness. These names must 
 obviously be few. The many cannot be remembered. As Protestant 
 Christendom is divided into different religious denominations, it is well 
 for these denominations to preserve a record of some, of their represent- 
 ative men, if not of all. Such men are to be found, and among them, in 
 the Baptist denomination, is John Mason Peck, who, in his generation, 
 was a zealous laborer in the kingdom of his Lord. 
 
 Of Puritan descent, he was born in Connecticut on the 31st of Octo- 
 ber, 1789, a year signalized by the inauguration of George Washington 
 as the first president of the United States. The only child jjj^ ^^^^ ^^_ 
 of poor parents, he was required, when about fourteen fi^^i^es. 
 years of age, through the physical disability of his father, to perform 
 the chief labor of cultivating their small farm. Devoting the largest 
 part of the year to the pursuits of agriculture, he availed himself during 
 the winter of the advantages of the common school. These advantages 
 were quite limited as compared with those of the present time. Boys 
 and girls were tavight spelling, reading, writing, and arithmetic. Geog- 
 raphy and grammar were not included in the regular studies of the 
 common schools. Dr. Peck in after years may have disparaged himself 
 at this period of his life, for he referred to himself as " more stupid and 
 sluggish than ordinary lads." When at eighteen years of age he taught 
 school, for a time he felt and deplored his deficiencies, but, as is often 
 the case, a consciousness of ignorance stimulated effort in pursuit of 
 
678 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 knowledge. He was constantly adding to his stock of information, and 
 became more intelligent than most young men of his age. 
 
 Like many boys, John had religious impressions at an early age, which, 
 however, were only occasional and transient. It was not until he 
 reached his eighteenth year that his impressions became deep and per- 
 manent. He was induced to attend a meeting where a revival was in 
 progress. " Here," to use his own words, " I was brought to see myself 
 a guilty sinner before God, deserving his wrath. These exercises con- 
 tinued and increased for about one week. I viewed myself lost without 
 the interposition of God's mercy. My distress increased, and my bur- 
 den became heavier, until the end of the week, when I was delivered, 
 and found a peace of mind and a joy in God which I had never felt be- 
 fore. Insensibly, my heart was drawn out to love and praise the Lord. 
 .... My hope was not at first as clear and bright as it afterwards be- 
 came, when a fuller discovery was made of the way of salvation through 
 the merits of Christ." 
 
 From this epoch in his life Mr. Peck seems to have been recognized 
 as a member of a Congregational church to which his parents belonged. 
 The change which had taken place in him involved jjreeminently his 
 spiritual nature, but a wonderful impulse was given also to his mental 
 nature. His mind became more vigorous and active. It was quickened 
 and strengthened by contact with the glorious truths of the gospel, 
 though his literary attainments were very meagre. It appears strange 
 now that Mr. Peck did not seek the advantages of thorough scholarship, 
 but instead of doing so he married when nineteen years of age. It is to 
 be supposed that at the time he did not expect to become a minister of 
 the gospel, for with such an expectation it is scarcely credible that he 
 would entangle himself with the cares of a family, and preclude himself 
 from the benefits of a suitable education. We must not, however, be 
 severe in our judgment, as we know not all the circumstances surround- 
 ing him. 
 
 Bringing his bride to the paternal home, where he was born, he lived 
 there with his parents for about two years. The birth of the first 
 child of the young married pair led to important results, — results which 
 changed Mr. Peck's denominational relations for life. It was expected 
 that the child would, as the common phrase was, be " dedicated to God 
 by baptism," but the mother saw no Scriptural authority for the baptism 
 of infants, and while the father did not agree with her he was induced 
 to examine the subject, and became greatly perplexed concerning it. 
 
 In his perplexity he had numerous interviews with the Rev. Lyman 
 Beecher, whose name was afterward known throughout Christendom. 
 Mr. Beecher was of course as able as any other man to present the ar- 
 guments in favor of infant baptism, but they did not satisfy Mr. and 
 Mrs. Peck. Their child was not baptized. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XTX.] JOHN MASON PECK. 679 
 
 Having remained with his father for two years, Mr. Peck decided to 
 remove to the State of New York. Leaving his native Connecticut, 
 which he ever loved, he found a home in Green County, New York. 
 Here he had a better opportunity than before of b.ecoming acquainted 
 with Baptists. Nor will it surprise any one that he with his wife 
 became Baptists. Their renunciation of infant baptism led them of ne- 
 cessity to believe that the rite as administered to them was null and void. 
 Regarding themselves unbaptized, and believing baptism to be not a 
 parental but a personal act, they began to inquire, What is baptism? 
 After due examination they found but one answer to this question. 
 They were immersed on a profession of their faith in Enters the Bap- 
 Christ. Having become members of the New Durham '^'®' church. 
 Baptist Church, it was not long before the church, according to the usage 
 of the Baptist denomination, gave license to Peck to preach the gospel. 
 He "conferred not with flesh and blood," but the next day made his first 
 attempt at expounding a text. His missionary impulses led him to dis- 
 cuss Mark xvi. 15, " Go ye into all the world, and pi-each the gospel to 
 every creature." He seems to have preached with great jjersonal enjoy- 
 ment, and, like many young preachers, he thought the light and glory of 
 that day would never be followed by darkness or gloom. Alas for him, 
 one week did not pass away before he had what he calls " sore trials." 
 Having as a licensed minister preached acceptably for about two years, 
 his ordination was called for by the church in Catskill, New York, and 
 was granted by a council met for the purpose on the 9th of June, 1813. 
 From that time forward he preached the gospel and administered the 
 ordinances as he had opportunity. In 1815 he became acquainted with 
 Rev. Luther Rice, who was performing almost superhuman labor in 
 traveling tlu-ough the North and the South, and in appealing to the 
 churches in behalf of foreign missions. Rice found in Peck a congenial 
 spirit and received important assistance from him. Indeed, the soul of 
 Peck was so imbued with the spirit of missions that he was contemplat- 
 ing a personal consecration to the enterprise. Often he found himself 
 secretly saying, " Here am I, send me." A moment's reflection, how- 
 ever, convinced him of his lack of qualifications for so important a work. 
 His zeal in the missionary cause led him to acquaint himself with the 
 plans and purposes of the Baptist Triennial Convention for Foreign 
 Missions, formed in the year 1814, of which Rev. Dr. William Staugh- 
 toil was corresponding secretary. Dr. Staughton was pastor in Philadel- 
 phia, and was thought by many to be the most eloquent man of his 
 generation. His energy and industry were almost incredible. He often 
 preached four and five times on the Lord's day, lectured in schools and 
 academies on week-days, visited the sick and attended the funerals of 
 the dead, maintained an extensive correspondence, and had theological 
 students under his instruction. 
 
680 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 The further Mr. Peck prosecuted the work of the ministry, the more 
 conscious he was of his need of theological training. He was no doubt 
 drawn by his missionary sympathies to Dr. Staughton, and amid many 
 difficulties arrangements were made for him to' opend about two years in 
 Philadelphia. There was not at that time a regular theological school 
 amono- the Baptists of America, and it was thought a great privilege to 
 have the instruction of Dr. Staughton. It was a severe trial to Peck to 
 leave his family in their New York home, but it seemed to be a neces- 
 sity. He sacrificed domestic comfort for the sake of qualifying himself 
 as well as possible for the great work of his life. He visited his family 
 once or twice a year. 
 
 Very soon after the formation of the triennial convention, in 1814, 
 the policy of sending missionaries to the Missouri Territory was dis- 
 cussed by the board of managers. This immense region lying west of 
 the Mississippi was a part of what was called the " Louisiana Purchase," 
 Ana ostieof made by President Jefferson from France in 1803. Peck 
 the West. ^nd One of his fellow-students, Rev. James E. Welch, were 
 
 appointed missionaries to this territory on the 17th of May, 1817. Peck 
 wrote, " The long agony is over. The board have accepted Mr. Welch 
 and myself as missionaries to the Missouri Territory during our and their 
 pleasure, and have appropriated the sum of one thousand dollars to de- 
 fray our getting to St. Louis and for the support of the mission. In 
 this I think I see the hand of God most visibly." 
 
 At once Peck made arrangements to start with his family for his 
 Western home. He left his father's house on the 25th of July. His 
 mode of conveyance to his place of destination was " a little one-horse 
 wao-on," in which was found room for the father, mother, and three chil- 
 dren. The journey to the Mississippi, now requiring less than two 
 days, demanded then several months of laborious travel and no little ex- 
 posure to danger. Almost a month was spent in getting from Philadel- 
 phia over the Alleghany Mountains to Pittsburgh. Thence Peck made 
 his way through the State of Ohio, passed into Kentucky, where he 
 joined his colleague Welch, and on the 6th of Noveraber they crossed 
 the Ohio River at Shawneetown. They were then in Illinois, at that 
 time a Territory, but admitted into the Union as a State the next year 
 (1818). There had been very heavy rains and the Ohio River had risen 
 rapidly, and many parts of the country were submerged. The mission- 
 aries were in great perplexity, and it was finally decided that Mr. Peck 
 and family should go by boat to St. Louis and leave Mr. Welch to make 
 his way by land as soon as the subsidence of the waters would permit. 
 The only boat available was called a keel-boat, afterward desci-ibed by 
 Mr. Peck as follows : — 
 
 " A keel-boat in shape very nearly resembled a canal boat, but with a 
 gunwale on each side twelve or fifteen inches in width. Besides hoisting 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN MASON PECK. 681 
 
 a sail in a favorable wind, especially when going down stream, there 
 were three modes of propelling a keel-boat in passing up stream. These 
 were the use of the cordelle, the setting pole, and occasionally bush- 
 whacking. Except in crossing a river, when oars were used, the boat 
 had to creeji along shore." 
 
 The splendid steamboats which now ply on the Ohio River, with their 
 luxurious accommodations, present a gratifying contrast to the keel-boats 
 of other days. Indeed, the " bushwhacking " operation, which consisted 
 in catching hold of the limbs of trees and dragging the boat along, is now 
 regarded as something to laugh at, but there was nothing laughable in 
 the effort to get the keel-boat up the Mississippi, though it may have 
 gone down the Ohio with but little difficulty. This Mr. Peck fully as- 
 certained, and had his patience severely tested. In addition to the dif- 
 ficulties of the navigation he was, when near Cape Girardeau, assailed 
 by disease, which for a time threatened a serious pulmonary affection. 
 The little boat reached St. Louis the first day of December, more than 
 four months from the time Peck set out on his laborious jom-ney. He 
 had traveled over twelve hundred miles. Having landed at St. Louis, 
 the first thing was to j^rocure accommodations for himself and family, 
 and the best he could do was to rent, for twelve dollars a month, " a 
 single room." He found some resj^ectable families, but the most of the 
 people were wicked and of vulgar tastes, while many of them were blas- 
 pheming infidels. The latter had been known to engage in " a mock 
 celebration of the Lord's Supper," and in "burning the Bible," while 
 they openly said that " the Sabbath never had crossed, and never should 
 cross, the Mississippi." These were discouragements, but they pro- 
 claimed in trumpet tones the great need of missionary labor. As soon 
 as possible Peck and Welch began to prosecute the objects of their mis- 
 sion, " They rented a school-room and commenced teaching, while for 
 want of better accommodations they occupied the same room on the 
 Sabbath and on Wednesday evening for preaching. In February they 
 constituted a small church. In April they baptized several candidates, 
 using for the first time, as they thought, the great river for this solemn 
 Christian ordinance. Very soon they opened a subscription for building 
 a church edifice, and were greatly cheered by obtaining on it nearly 
 three thousand dollars In the mean time, they opened a Sunday- 
 school for the instruction of colored children and adults, and were soon 
 cheered with finding nearly one hundred names enrolled as pupils." I 
 presume there can be no doubt that this was the first Sunday-school for 
 colored children west of the Mississippi, and it therefore has a chrono- 
 logical distinction worthy of remembrance. 
 
 It would be agreeable to dwell in detail on the various labors of the 
 missionaries in St. Louis. This, however, cannot be done. 
 
 Peck could not long resist his desire to explore certain parts of Mis- 
 
682 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 souri and Illinois, and he therefore, as he found it practicable, made 
 preaching excursions from St. Louis, and learned the religious state of 
 things in many places. The bi'ethren whose missionary he was received 
 from him the first trustworthy information from im^^ortant parts of the 
 Great West. In one of his excursions Peck had an interview with " the 
 veritable Daniel Boone, the pioneer and hunter of Kentucky." He was 
 very favorably impressed by the conversation of the old man, who 
 " spoke feelingly and with solemnity of being a creature of Providence, 
 ordained by Heaven as a pioneer in the wilderness to advance the civil- 
 ization and extension of his country." Boone was then (1818) more 
 than eighty years old. 
 
 At the present time, in reading Mr. Peck's diary, we are almost forced 
 to the conclusion that there was too little concentration in his labors. 
 His motives were imquestionably pure in traveling and preaching through 
 a large extent of country, and no doubt some of the seed which he sowed 
 in so large a field sprang uj) and bore fruit. Indeed, to this day there 
 are delightful reminiscences of his labors of love, and when he was im- 
 portuned by those who had not heard a sermon for years to repeat his 
 visits it was well-nigh impossible for him to decline compliance with re- 
 quests so earnestly made. Still, it might have been better if, for several 
 years, he had concentrated his efforts as a missionary at St. Louis. The 
 brethren under whose appointment he was acting most probably thought, 
 so, for it is obvious that results at St. Louis did not equal their expecta- 
 tions. They seem to have beeup rather impatient of speedy results. It 
 is often the case that missionary boards indulge hopes destined to jDartial 
 disappointment. There does not seem to have been any serious com- 
 plaint of the St. Louis missionaries, but they were informed July 9, 
 1820, that the mission was closed. Two of the reasons influencing the 
 action of the board were these : (1.) " The want of ample funds for a 
 vigorous prosecution. (2.) A supposition on the part of the board that 
 this region would be soon supplied by the immigration into it of preach- 
 ers from the Middle and Eastern States." Peck was directed to remove 
 to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and join Isaac McCoy in his labors among the 
 Indians. The board was earnestly requested to reconsider the subject, 
 and such reasons against his going to Fort Wayne were assigned by 
 Peck as induced a compliance with his wishes. His connection with the 
 board of the triennial convention was, however, dissolved. 
 
 In the year 1822, Peck received an appointment from the Massachu- 
 setts Baptist Missionary Society. His commission bears the signature 
 of two honored names, Thomas Baldwin, j^resident, and Daniel Sharp, 
 secretary. We must consider the state of things then, or it will appear 
 incredible that the society agreed to pay the missionary only " five dollars 
 a week " while engaged in actual service, and he was " to raise as much 
 as practicable of this amount on the field of his labors " ! It is not 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN MASON PECK. 683 
 
 strange that the life of a missionary is proverbially regarded as one of 
 trials and privations. Peck's meagre support did not diminish his zeal 
 nor paralyze his energy. He was obliged, however, to consult economy, 
 and in doing so removed to Rock Spring, Illinois, which thenceforth was 
 his home. Obtaining a half section of unimproved land, and aided by 
 his neighbors, he erected suitable buildings, and began to till the soil to 
 supplement a support which could not otherwise be secured. His con- 
 genial work was preaching the gospel, and to men of lethargic tempera- 
 ment the extent of his ministerial labors seems scarcely credible. " In 
 season and out of season," in town and country, by day and by night, 
 he proclaimed the glad tidings of salvation. To quote from one of his 
 letters : — 
 
 " With sincerity of soul I can say there is no pursuit that affords such 
 exquisite satisfaction as activity and success in measures to promote the 
 gospel. I might dwell upon the difficulties attendant on an itinerating 
 life, as absence from home, exposure to sickness, storms, cold, mud, 
 swimming rivers, and not unfrequently rough fare ; but these are trifles 
 not worthy of one moment's anxious concern. To live and labor for 
 Him who died for the redemption of man is the highest favor we need 
 seek after in this transitory life." 
 
 This extract breathes the missionary spirit ; and the missionary spirit 
 would be the martyr spirit, should the days of martyrdom return. Peck 
 was the ardent friend of missions, and while laboring in the good cause 
 learned to his sorrow that many families were without the Word of God. 
 He did not hesitate, therefore, to undertake the formation of Bible soci- 
 eties, that the people might be supplied with the Scriptures. During the 
 next year (1823) he accepted an agency from the American Bible So- 
 ciety, and engaged actively in the organization of auxiliary societies. In 
 connection with this work, he became impressed with the necessity of a 
 society to jiromote Sunday-schools, and arranged his plan of operation. 
 It is worthy of remark that this was a year before the formation of the 
 American Sunday-School Union. There was in that day no man in Illi- 
 nois or Missouri so devoted to the circulation of the Bible and the pro- 
 motion of Sunday-schools as was Mr. Peck. It was his deep interest in 
 the Sunday-school enterprise which induced him, twenty years later, to 
 accept, for a time, the secretaryship of the American Baj)tist Publication 
 Society, whose head-quarters are in Philadelphia. The success of this 
 organization was not for some years after its formation in 1824 very satis- 
 factory ; but it is now a great power in the denomination that sustains it. 
 Its business and benevolent receipts are not far from half a million of 
 dollars annually. Peck regarded it as a grand means of doing good. 
 His prayers for its prosperity were frequent and fervent. 
 
 Though by no means a perfect literary or theological scholar. Peck felt 
 a profound interest in the cause of education. Very soon after his re- 
 
684 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 moval to the West he began to consider the project of founding a semi- 
 nary, chiefly with a view to the education of young ministers. The diffi- 
 culties in his way were so great that they yielded only to his heroic 
 energy and unfaltering perseverance. In 1827 the institution which he 
 styled Rock Spring Seminary was established, which, in process of 
 development, became the Alton Seminary, and is now ShurtlefF College, 
 where the advantages of collegiate and theological training are enjoyed. 
 Truly, the seed sown by Mr. Peck is bearing fruit, " some thirty, some 
 sixty, and some an hundred fold." 
 
 It was during a visit to the Eastern States, in 1826, that Peck had an 
 interview with Jonathan Goinjj, of Massachusetts, and im- 
 
 Father of the n , . i V . ^ a 
 
 Home Mission pressed him most deeply with the importance of an Amer- 
 ican Baptist Home Mission Society. Six years after, such 
 a society was formed in New York, and Dr. Going was appointed its 
 first secretary. The formation of the society had special reference to the 
 preaching of the gospel to the destitute thousands of the "West, and it 
 was Peck who gave information as to their condition. It seems, there- 
 fore, that a society now employing three hundred missionaries is histor- 
 ically traceable to the active mind and benevolent heart of John Mason 
 Peck. If this had been the only work of his life, it was well worth while 
 for him to live. 
 
 From what has been already said, it will be inferred that Peck had 
 enlarged views of the power of the press. This is true, and it is to be 
 said in honor of his enterprise that he became " editor and publisher of 
 the first religious newspaper in that wide region, where so many have 
 since flourished." It was very appropriately called " The Pioneer." It 
 was jDrinted first at Rock Spring, afterward at Alton, and styled the 
 " Western Pioneer ; " but it was subsequently united with the " Baptist 
 Banner " of Louisville, Kentucky, and the two papers are perpetuated 
 in the " Western Recorder." Peck's was a prolific pen. He wrote ex- 
 tensively for religious papers, and, strange as it may seem, amid his mul- 
 tiform labors he published two volumes, " Guide to Emigrants " and 
 " Life of Daniel Boone." Of the former volume Dr. Lyman Beecher 
 expressed a very high opinion, and it is enough to say of the latter that 
 it was published in Dr. Sparks's American Biography. While Peck was 
 a laborious preacher and a forcible writer, it is useless to attempt to de- 
 cide whether he accomplished more good by the living voice or by the 
 pen he wielded so industriously. This is a question which can find 
 no accurate answer till the light of eternity dispels the obscurity of our 
 present conceptions. 
 
 In the year 1852 Peck received from Harvard University the title of 
 Doctor of Divinity. No man cared less for such honors, and few men 
 were so worthy of them. He appreciated the compliment as coming from 
 an institution whose religious views were not congenial with his own. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN MASON PECK. 685 
 
 Too often the distinctions of title are conferred by denominational col- 
 leges for denominational reasons, and comparatively young men aspire 
 to and obtain the coveted doctorate. Harvard honored Dr. Peck when 
 he had reached his threescore years, when his stores of knowledge were 
 unquestionable, and the powers of his mind were in full maturity. 
 
 The reader of this story will have seen that Dr. Peck was remarkable 
 for originating plans of doing good. It was therefore characteristic of 
 him when, in 1853, he projected the American Baptist Historical Soci- 
 ety. This institution has its head-quarters in Philadelphia, and its chief 
 object is to gather up and preserve the writings of Baptists in times past 
 and present. In carrying out this object much has been done and more 
 will be done. Dr. Peck, at the formation of the society, could scarcely 
 have thought that in after years his friend and fellow-student. Rev. Dr. 
 Howard Malcom, would so zealously espouse and promote the interests 
 of the organization. 
 
 But the most active and the most useful life must have an end. The 
 best men are frail and mortal. Dr. Peck, after many years spent in mul- 
 tifarious labors to advance the cause of Christ, perceived that the time 
 of his departure was at hand. Mrs. Peck died October 24, 1856, and he 
 survived her but a few months. His death occurred March 14, 1857. 
 Their wedded life embraced a period of nearly half a century. When 
 husband and wife have borne together for long years the burdens of life, 
 it is a merciful providence when they die about the same time, so that the 
 survivor does not long weep at the grave of the dead. Mrs. Peck had 
 been, dui'ing her religious life, troubled, more or less, with doubts as 
 to her acceptance with God ; but on her dying bed she " had gained 
 clearer views of the all-perfect righteousness of Christ, and all doubts 
 were gone." 
 
 Dr. Peck, when asked how he felt in view of death, said, " I feel as I 
 always have felt since relying on Christ. If I were not ready for death, 
 this would be a poor time to prepare. But I have no fear of death at 
 all. I assure you I am a stranger to any such feeling as fear in refer- 
 ence to dying. Tell this to all these kind friends I have never 
 
 done anything that can save me. All my works could never rescue 
 me from destruction. Only Christ is my Saviour, my whole depend- 
 ence." 
 
 There is perfect consistency between unreserved reliance on grace for 
 salvation and zealous activity in the performance of good works. This 
 fact was exemplified in Paul. The grace that saved him stimulated him 
 to abundant labor. It was so with Dr. Peck. Saved by grace, he was 
 obliged, under the impulses of sanctified gratitude, to abound in the 
 work of the Lord. He now rests from his labors, and his works do fol- 
 low him. '• Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." John, the be- 
 loved disciple, heard a voice from heaven uttering these precious words. 
 
686 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 I am glad he listened to a voice from heaven, for if he had listened to 
 any of the ten thousand voices of earth he would have recorded a very 
 different sentiment. He would have written, Blessed are the living, — 
 those who live in circumstances of worldly affluence and splendor. He 
 hearkened to a voice from heaven, which said, " Write," — commit it to 
 the imperishable pages of inspiration for the comfort of the saints in all 
 ages, — " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth ; 
 yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors ; and their 
 works do follow them." 
 
 LIFE XX. FRANCIS WAYLAND. 
 
 A. D. 1796-A. D. 1865. BAPTIST, AMERICA. 
 
 Francis "Watland may stand for a typical American, grown from 
 American soil, formed by American institutions, and j^enetrated by the 
 American spirit. He abhorred oppression and injustice, and the wrongs 
 inflicted by monarchs and nobles and social castes. He sympathized 
 with the people, and with all institutions that guarded their rights and 
 strengthened their manhood. He was practical in aim and self-reliant 
 in spirit, and believed that a nation can prosper only as every man 
 makes the most of himself. 
 
 He was born in New York, March 11, 1796. His parents, of good 
 English stock, emigrated to this country in 1793. They had little cult- 
 ure, but possessed robust common sense, sterling integrity, and sincere 
 piety. The father, by trade a currier, soon amassed a competent fortune 
 for those days, and retired from business to become a preacher of the 
 gospel. In the war with Great Britain, in 1812-1815, most of his prop- 
 erty, invested in marine insurance companies, was lost, and he was able 
 subsequently to give little aid to his children in acquiring a liberal edu- 
 cation. The sou always cherished a j^rofound reverence for the memory 
 of his parents, especially of his mother, and ascribed his success m life 
 to their precepts, example, and counsels. 
 
 His education, apart from the home training, was of little value, till he 
 came under the influence of Dr. Nott in his college course. Most of his 
 teachers he thought incompetent for their work. One of them, who had 
 some reputation, " never taught anything," requiring only a repeating of 
 the text. Others asked no questions, nor made suggestions beyond the 
 text-book. For a little time he was under the instruction of Mr. D. H. 
 Barnes in the classics, an extraordinary teacher, for whose inspiring in- 
 fluence he felt a profound gratitude through life. 
 
 But to Dr. Nott, the honored president of Union College, he always 
 ascribed the most potent hafluence in forming his intellectual character. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] FRANCIS WAYLAND. 687 
 
 He loved this great teaclier with a reverence bordering on idolatry. He 
 asserted that " attendance upon Dr. Nott's course of instruction formed 
 an era in the life of every one of his pupils." He thought Dr. Nott 
 " decidedly the ablest man he had ever known intimately." 
 
 He graduated with distinction at the early age of seventeen, and en- 
 tered on the study of medicine, at first in the office of Dr. Moses Hale, 
 and six months later in the office of Dr. Eli Burritt, of Troy, New 
 York. The latter was a man of remarkable logical power, and an en- 
 thusiast in his profession. He took great interest in his young student, 
 and stimulated ambition by wise appeals. " Now, Wayland," said he, 
 " if you will bone down to it, and give your time and strength to your 
 studies, I will make a man of you." The appeal was effective, and the 
 promise was fulfilled. 
 
 At this time occurred a curious change in young Wayland's intellect- 
 ual tastes. He had been an inveterate reader of novels and books of 
 travels, taking no interest in more solid reading. He suddenly lost all 
 love for novels. He describes the change : " I was sitting by a window, 
 in. an attic room which I occupied as a sort of study or reading-place, 
 and by accident I opened a volume of the Spectator, — I think it was to 
 one of the essays forming Addison's critique on Milton ; it was, at any 
 rate, something purely didactic. I commenced reading it, and, to my 
 delight and surprise, I found that I understood it and really enjoyed it. 
 I could not account for the change. I I'ead on, and found that the very 
 essays which I formerly passed over, without caring to read them, were 
 now to me the gems of the whole book, vastly more attractive than the 
 stories and narratives that I had formerly read with so much interest. 
 I could explain it on no other theory than that a change had taken place 
 in myself. I awoke to the consciousness that I was a thinking being, 
 and a citizen, in some sort, of the republic of letters." ^ From that time 
 he abandoned novel-reading, and his reading was restricted to works of 
 standard excellence. 
 
 During this period he came also under the influence of a woman of 
 remarkable character and culture, Mrs. Lavinia Stoddard. He always 
 regarded her as a person of extraordinary power, possessing " an intel- 
 lect capable of any amount of acquisition, and able to master with ease 
 any conception. With these endowments were united a power of ex- 
 pression, and an ability to do anything which she determined to accom- 
 plish. She was withal a perfect woman ; all was delicate and refined, 
 while all was true and pure and lovable." He looked upon the inti- 
 macy with her and her husband as worth more to him than his college 
 education. 
 
 Towards the close of his medical education he passed through the 
 great change which shaped his life. The son of religious 2)areuts, he 
 1 Life and Labors, vol. i., p. 42. 
 
688 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 had never become a Christian by personal conviction. Of a religious 
 • ^- nature himself, he had never exercised faith in Jesus, or 
 
 An era in nis ' ' 
 
 life. submitted his will to God's will. But God had chosen him 
 
 for eminent service, and summoned him now to a new course of life. 
 He describes the change : " I had never for a single day in my life laid 
 aside all other business, and earnestly sought of God the renewing in- 
 fluences of the Holy Spirit. I resolved that, dismissing every other 
 thought, I would devote one day to reading the Scriptures and prayer, 
 that I might be able to say that I had at least done something for the 
 salvation of my soul. 
 
 " I at once put my resolution into practice. I retired to my chamber, 
 and spent a day in this way. I perceived very little change in my feel- 
 ings, save that a sense of the importance of the matter had so grown 
 upon me that I resolved to spend the next day in the same manner. At 
 the end of the second day, I determined to spend still a third day in the 
 same employment ; and at the expiration of that day, I determined to 
 do nothing else until I had secured the salvation of my soul." ^ 
 
 With the entrance on the Christian life came a change of profession. 
 He turned from medicine to theology, feeling that God called him to the 
 ministry of the gospel. In the following autumn he entered the theo- 
 logical seminary at Andover, then in the ninth year of its existence. 
 Moses Stuart, the most learned Biblical scholar in the country, was there, 
 in the vigor of his manhood, inspiring young men with his own en- 
 thusiasm. Young "Wayland soon felt the power of this great teacher, and 
 was aglow with zeal in the study of the Scriptures. He spent but a 
 single year at Andover, but he never lost the imjDressions received under 
 Professor Stuart ; and at the semi-centennial anniversary of the sem- 
 inary, in 1858, he paid a glowing tribute to the memory of his early 
 friend and instructor. A warm friendship continued through life. 
 
 The year was one of sore pecuniary trials. The father had just lost 
 both his property and his pastorate, and could afford no help. There 
 were no influential friends to give the needed aid, and educational socie- 
 ties were not yet born to assist the deserving. He was pinched for 
 money to buy needed books, and even to obtain clothing and board ; and, 
 though eager to return and complete his course, he saw no way of meet- 
 ing the inevitable expenses. 
 
 With great reluctance he abandoned theological study to accept an 
 appointment as tutor in Union College, by which he could earn his daily 
 bread. It was a good position for mental growth. Daily association 
 with Dr. Nott and Dr. Yates, and with younger men, like Wisner and 
 Potter (afterwards Dr. Wisner and Bishop Potter), kept him at his 
 best, while the broad range of studies he was obliged to teach compelled 
 incessant toil. He always looked on the four years spent at Union as 
 
 1 Life and Labors, vol. i., p. 51. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] FRANCIS WAYLAND. 689 
 
 of great service to him intellectually, and spiritually as well ; for in the 
 latter part of the period he was brought into intimate relations with 
 Dr. Nettleton, the famous evangelist, and received a new unction for the 
 work of the ministry. He began to preach occasionally in destitute 
 neighborhoods ; and it may encourage young men to know that the ser- 
 mons cost him prodigious toil. " It took me weeks — I know not but I 
 might say months — to write a discourse of moderate length. I wrote 
 and rewrote with endless care and anxiety. How men prepared two 
 sermons a week I could not conceive." 
 
 In 1821 he accepted a call to the pastorate of the First Baptist 
 Church, Boston, and began his labors in that city in August ^ pastor in Bos- 
 of the same year. Few ministers in this day would dare *°''- 
 accept such a call from a divided church. The vote stood in the church 
 fifteen to ten, and in the society seventeen to fifteen. A strong minority, 
 favoring a candidate of more popular gifts, but of slender intellectual 
 furniture, determined to annoy him and drive him from the pulpit. But 
 his unaffected humility and large charity, combined with a rare tact, 
 soon made them ashamed of their unworthy aims, and converted many 
 of them into warm friends. For more than five years he remained in 
 Boston, quietly and faithfully doing his work as preacher and pastor ; 
 loathing all display, courting no popularity, but gradually winning the 
 ear of the public as one of the profound thinkers and great teachers of 
 the American pulpit. His sermon on the " Moral Dignity of the Mission- 
 ary Enterprise," preached in October, 1823, and soon after published, 
 placed him at once among the foremost American preachers, and made 
 his name familiar on the other side of the Atlantic. Successive sermons, 
 also published, on the " Duties of an American Citizen " and on the 
 "Death of Ex-Presidents Adams and Jefferson," added to his reputa- 
 tion, and convinced the public that a young man of rare originality and 
 force was coming to the front in Boston, to whom the world would do 
 well to listen. Had he remained in the pulpit for life his name might, 
 perhaps, stand at the head of American preachers. It would be hard, 
 at least, to find four sermons from any other preacher, under thirty 
 years of age, worthy to be compared with those mentioned in breadth 
 and grandeur of thought and in simple majesty of style. They will 
 long hold their place among the classics of the American pulpit. 
 
 One almost regrets that he did not continue in the calling he was so 
 well fitted to adorn, recalling the criticism of Robert Hall on his mis- 
 sionary sermon : " If he can preach such a sermon at twenty-seven, what 
 will he do at fifty?" But in 1827 he accepted the presi- 
 
 c 1-1 TT • • T ^ • PI- IT Over the univer- 
 
 dency of Brown University, and the vigor of Ins manhood sityatProvi- 
 
 d6UC6> 
 
 and the ripeness of his attainments were given to the cause 
 of Christian education. The fortunes of the college were at a low ebb. It 
 had lost, in a large measure, the confidence of the Baptist denomination, 
 44 
 
690 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 which was its chief patron. Discipline was neglected ; a love of sports 
 superseded the love of study ; and the college was deficient alike in phil- 
 osophical apparatus, in library, and in endowments. It was soon evi- 
 dent that the corporation had made a wise choice of a leader. A new 
 life and energy pervaded the college. Disorderly students felt the strong 
 hand of a master, and submitted to the new discipline. Sluggish minds 
 caught the spirit of an earnest teacher, and lovers of study were stirred 
 to an intense enthusiasm. The young j^resident jjut equal vigor into 
 instruction and administration. No droning was tolerated in the recita- 
 tion room, and no mischievous pranks went undetected or unpunished. 
 His keen eye and firm hand were everywhere, and Brown University 
 under Wayland passed through changes as rapid and marked as Rugby 
 under Arnold. The citizens of Providence and the friends of the college 
 welcomed the revolution, and responded cordially to the calls of the pres- 
 ident for funds to carry out his broad views of education. New buUdr 
 ings were erected ; a moderate endowment was raised ; ample apparatus 
 was furnished for instruction in chemistry and natural philosophy ; and a 
 liberal fund was obtained for the enlargement of the library. The col- 
 lege took its place among the best institutions of the country, and its 
 president was recognized as one of the great educators of the age. 
 
 The early years of the presidency were years of intense mental toil. 
 A singleness of purpose governed his entire life. He indulged in no recre- 
 ation, even in vacations, nor even in a wide course of liberal studies. He 
 aimed simply to become master of the studies in his own department ; to ac- 
 quire eminent power as an instructor ; to make the college worthy of public 
 confidence, and a place of thorough intellectual discipline for its students. 
 His lectm-e-room was a throne, where he ruled with an imperial majesty 
 iby divine right. Socrates wielded no higher power over the young men 
 •of Athens than Francis "Wayland over the senior classes of Brown Uni- 
 versity. Many men of eminence in the state and in liberal professions 
 trace their intellectual birth to his words, and his eulogy of Dr. Nott is 
 equally true of himself: "Attendance on his instructions formed an era 
 in the life of every one of his pupils." ^ His own enthusiasm inspired his 
 
 1 On Dr. Wayland's retirement from the presidency, Judge B. F. Thomas, of Jlassachu- 
 setts, in presenting some resolutions of the alumni, paid to his former teacher the following 
 tribute : — 
 
 " It has been my privilege for three years to be your pupil. I have seen and have had 
 • other eminent masters : Joseph Story, whose name is identified with the jurisprudence of 
 his country ; John Hooker Ashman, who, an invalid for vears, and dying at the early age 
 of thirty-three, left behind him no superior in Massachusetts, whose mind had the point of 
 a diamond, and the clearness of its waters; Pliny Merrick, who graces the bench on which 
 I have the honor to sit, but of whom my near relation forbids me to speak as I would. A 
 quarter of a century has passed since I left these walls with j'our blessing. I have seen 
 somelliing of men and of the world since. I esteem it, to-day, the happiest event of my 
 life that brougiit me here ; the best gift of an ever kind Providence to me that I was per- 
 mitted for three years to sit at the feet of }'our instruction. If I have acquired any consid- 
 eration in my own beloved commonwealth, if I have worthily won any honor. I can and 
 do, with a grateful heart, bring them to-day and lay them at your feet. Ttucro dace et 
 <Misj)ice Ttuci'o.^' 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] FRANCIS WAYLAND. 691 
 
 associates in the faculty, and they emulated him in zeal, and adopted his 
 motto that the only road to success lies through every day's hard work. 
 
 His experience in teaching soon created discontent with the text-books 
 in use, and compelled the attempt to supply others of better quality. 
 His works on moral philosophy and political economy were welcomed by 
 instructors as model text-books, and still hold their place in many col- 
 leges after a period of forty years. 
 
 As he acquired a conscious mastery of college duties, the energy of his 
 nature asserted itself in important labors for the improvement of the 
 city and State which had become his home. He did much philanthropic 
 to re-organize the system of public education, to establish ■'^°'"'^- 
 the Providence Athenteum and many noble institutions of benevolence, 
 and to carry into effect reforms in prison discipline. He taught a Bible- 
 class in the First Baptist Church on Saturday afternoons, for the ladies 
 of the city from all denominations. He had a similar class at his own 
 house one evening in the week, to discuss personal difficulties in relig- 
 ious matters. One of his class gives a striking testimony to the fidelity 
 of his instructions, and to his great power over young women, by affirm- 
 ing that many members of the class were belles in the city, belonging to 
 wealthy and fashionable families, but they resolutely excluded dancing 
 from their evening companies. He was profoundly interested in a class 
 in the state-prison, teaching it for many years, and making it a fountain 
 of spiritual life to wretched convicts. He came gradually to be regarded 
 as the first citizen in Rhode Island, whose counsel was to be sought for 
 every public enterprise, whose sympathy could be relied on in every phil- 
 anthropic movement. Nor were his labors confined to his own State. 
 He was a trusted leader in the missionary societies of his own denomina- 
 tion, and a counselor whose advice and help were sought by educational 
 and scientific and benevolent institutions in all portions of the United 
 States. 
 
 In 1840, when in his forty-fifth year, he went abroad for a few months 
 of rest and travel. This tour brought into prominence two traits of 
 his character: the one an incapacity for rest; the other an intense love 
 for his native country. He did not enjoy foreign travel, though it gave 
 him an opportmiity for familiar intercourse with distinguished men, who 
 welcomed him as an honored guest. His heart turned with eager long- 
 ing to the home he had left, the friends endeared by long association, 
 and the chosen work of his life. Nor could he content himself with 
 repose or recreation. His mind was incessantly busy, reviewing the 
 past to discover its failures by the new views oi^ened in Europe ; plan- 
 ning for the future to do wiser and more effective work. This constant 
 study abroad led to the publication, in 1842, of a little volume entitled 
 " Thoughts on the Present Collegiate System in the United States," in 
 which he gave utterance to new opinions which he had adopted on the 
 
692 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 need of a radical reform in the curriculum of study, to adapt it to the 
 practical wants of a vigorous nation. 
 
 The views thus early expressed took definite shape in the reorganiza- 
 tion of the college in 1850. In a report to the corporation he gave a 
 clear statement of the changes he thought needful, and received both 
 the authority and the means to carry them into effect. It is simple jus- 
 Leader in col- ^^^® ^^ ^^^ memory to Say that the special lines of study 
 lege reforms. [^ scicnce and the arts now established in the leading col- 
 leges of the country are due, in a large measure, to the suggestions of 
 Dr. Wayland in this report to the corporation, and to the changes intro- 
 duced 'Into Brown University. To him belongs the honor of remodeling 
 collegiate education, and adapting it to the practical needs of the nine- 
 teenth century. 
 
 The prodigious amount of labor required to introduce the new system, 
 and the pressure of responsibility in insuring its success, proved too 
 great a strain on the constitution of Dr. Wayland, already worn by over- 
 work, and his physician enjoined the necessity of rest. In 1855 he ten- 
 dered his resignation as president, which was accepted with great reluc- 
 tance by the corporation. He retired to a new and beautiful home in 
 the eastern part of the city, near the bank of the Blackstone, where he 
 intended to spend the evening of his days in quiet, devoting his leisure 
 to such literary religious work as Providence might bring to his hands. 
 He could not be idle, and several published works belong to this period 
 of his life. " The Apostolic Ministry," a sermon preached at Roches- 
 ter, made a profound impression by its criticisms on the current style of 
 preaching, and excited a sharp controversy. A similar result followed 
 a little volume entitled " Notes on the Principles and Practices of Bap- 
 tist Churches," in which he expressed views differing from those of many 
 of his brethren. " Sermons to the Churches " were rich in wise counsels 
 and practical lessons ; and in " Salvation by Christ " he put into perma- 
 nent form some of his sermons notable for simplicity of style and richness 
 of thought. A brief " Life of Dr. Chalmers " laid special emjjhasis on 
 the single-mindedness of the great preacher, and his pastoral fidelity in 
 laboring for the salvation of souls. 
 
 In 1857, Dr. Granger, the pastor of the First Baptist Church, Prov- 
 idence, died ; and the church invited Dr. Wayland to perform pasto- 
 ral service until a permanent pastor could be obtained. He accepted 
 the invitation, regarding it as a providential call to illustrate in practice 
 the views of preaching and pastoral work which he had recently de- 
 veloped in theory, and which liad given offense to some of his breth- 
 ren. For sixteen months he filled the office, and it is 
 
 A model pastor. 
 
 not extravagant to say that in no pulpit in the country was 
 the truth preached with more simplicity and directness, and in no parish 
 was pastoral labor done with more systematic fidelity, and with more 
 
Cent. XVir.-XIX.] FRANCIS WAYLAND. 693 
 
 singleness of desire to save men. History can hardly furnish a finer 
 illustration of the morally sublime than the devotion of this great man 
 to liis accepted work. With a stern self-denial, born of conscientious 
 conviction, he crucified his literary tastes in the pulpit, laid on the shelf 
 all his elaborate sermons, and aimed to preach so simply- that children 
 could not fail to understand the truth, and so j^ungently that every 
 hearer should feel a personal need of salvation. He alludes to this 
 victory over himself : " I had held some important offices of a literary 
 character. I ha'd published some things which were more than usually 
 successful. I had had some reputation as a good writer. All these antece- 
 dents would seem to point to a mode of preaching in harmony with them. 
 I could not but feel that to preach otherwise would appear to many a 
 falling oflf, a sinking away ; that it would, in a word, induce many per- 
 sons to think less of me." The self-crucifixion was heroic and com- 
 plete. In the sixteen months of service he attempted to preach no great 
 sermons, but only those fitted to do immediate good. 
 
 The self-denial in pastoral work was more sublime. It is affecting to 
 read, in the " Life of James Hamilton," of his cheerful surrender of liter- 
 ary ambition to his duty as pastor. He had collected ample material for 
 a Life of Erasmus. He was familiar with the times, with the men and the 
 movements of that stirring period, and longed to put into permanent form 
 the studies of a life-time. But the routine of parish life, apparently trivial, 
 absorbed his energy, — calling on old women to comfort them, meeting his 
 elders for humdrum talk. He weighed the matter in the scales of con- 
 science. The routine was accepted, and, with a single sigh, the precious 
 manuscripts were laid on a shelf, never to be taken down again. Dr. 
 Wayland's sacrifice was more complete. " The moment I assumed the 
 duties of pastor I relinquished every other engagement and occupation. I 
 laid away my manuscripts, put aside all labor for myself, and devoted my- 
 self to the service of the gospel." His son adds the comment, " Not 
 only did he give up all authorship ; he relinquished all reading. He did 
 not, we believe, even read a review during the period of his pastoral la- 
 bors. He employed in studying the Bible and in prayer all the time 
 not consumed in needful exercise, in prej^aration for the Sabbath, or in 
 visiting the congregation." 
 
 He visited the entire parish during his brief term of service, and this 
 involved prodigious labor. His own home was at one extreme of the 
 city, far removed from the larger part of the congregation. He was 
 now past sixty years of age, with physical energy impaired by long and 
 severe mental toil. The parish being an old one, the people were scat- 
 tered in all parts of the city. It required great diligence to find them, 
 and long walks to reach them. He went always on foot, fearing that 
 some of the poor would take offense at a pastor visiting in a carriage, 
 and spiritual good would be liindered. Day by day he threaded the 
 
694 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 streets of Providence, and climbed its high hills, to find the scattered 
 sheep of his flock, and to bring in tender lambs into the fold. Begin- 
 ning his visits in the later houi-s of the forenoon, when morning work 
 might be finished, he continued them till evening, often reaching his 
 home again only when an evening meeting was ended, and not always 
 partaking of regular meals. As he did not find the male members of 
 families at their homes, he sought them at factories and stores and offices, 
 determined that no one should be overlooked. He resolved to visit no 
 house without introducing the subject of religion as a personal matter, 
 and that in every case, unless it was manifestly best to omit it, he would 
 pray with the family. He held personal religious conversation with 
 nearly every member of the parish, finding many who confessed that no 
 one had ever before talked with them directly on their spiritual needs. 
 
 Such systematic and earnest labor could not fail of results. The con- 
 gregation increased on the Sabbath ; the lecture-room was often crowded 
 during the week ; the spiritual life of the church was quickened, and 
 many converts were gathered. The revival was neither so extensive nor 
 so fruitful as he had hoped to see it, but he had reason to believe that at 
 least seventy in his own parish began a Christian life, while many in 
 other congregations were led to Christian character by his earnest words. 
 These sixteen months always lingered in his memory as the pleasantest 
 part of his ministry. 
 
 Refusing an earnest call from the church to become a permanent 
 pastor, from a conviction of inability to fulfill the duties, he retired again 
 to private life. A delightful kind of recreation was found in his garden, 
 which became famous in Providence for its extreme neatness, and for 
 the choicest flowers and fruits. In it he spent several hours each day, 
 with the same energy and enthusiasm which were given to brain work 
 in the study. He took great pleasure in showing the garden to visitors, 
 and in sending specimens of its fruits and flowers to friends. 
 
 It was perhaps an inevitable penalty of retirement from public duties 
 that his spirits drooped, and he became more familiar with clouds than 
 sunshine in his closing years. In middle life, when brain and heart were 
 at highest tension, and each day was crowded with public duties, his 
 cheerfulness was electric, and misanthropes and Cassandras went from 
 his presence constrained to take more cheerful views of life and of hu- 
 man progress. But when the pressure of public duty relaxed, and the 
 mental powers, relievetl from the long strain, brooded in meditation in- 
 stead of working for practical results, a curious morbidness colored the 
 old views of life, and his familiar talks with friends were generally in a 
 minor key. Like the Grecian Nestor, he deplored the growing degen- 
 eracy of the age. He could see few signs of advance, many of retro- 
 gression, a decaying piety in the churches, a loss of fidelity and earnest- 
 ness in the pulpit, and a decline of moral vigor in college faculties and 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] FRANCIS WAYLAND. 695 
 
 students. John the Baptist, in his prison cell, cut off from active labor, 
 lost faith in the Messianic work of Jesus. And it is not surprising that 
 , Francis Wayland, in the mental reaction consequent upon a life of lei- 
 sure after intense toil, looked often on the darker side of tilings, and was 
 tortured with doubts if the Messianic kingdom was making progress 
 among men. Nor is it improbable that fatal disease had already begun 
 its work by clouding the intellect and benumbing the heart. Declining 
 health and anxieties incident to the long civil strife might naturally 
 create gloom and forebodings even in a hopeful mind. 
 
 But personal piety ripened, and made his home radiant with Christian 
 peace, when clouds obscured the spiritual horizon without. As he drew 
 near to the end of life, his love for the Bible deepened, and prayer be- 
 came more real and helpful. He wrote to a friend, " I have lately read 
 the Bible more than ever in my life, in the same space of time, and at 
 every new reading I find more to love and admire." The hour before 
 breakfast was always given to secret prayer and reading the Scriptures. 
 During this hour he read the Bible for devotion, not at all for criticism. 
 The day closed, as it had begun, with communion with God. " After 
 family prayers," writes his son, " were his own devotions, and those who 
 occupied the room above the study heard his voice last at night, as it 
 had been the first sound in the morning." A young friend asked him, 
 " Can you always feel, when you pray, that prayer is a reality ? " His 
 answer was prompt : " Almost always I can ; and the older I grow, the 
 more fully I am convinced that it is a real thing to ask God for bless- 
 ings, and to receive them in answer to prayer." 
 
 The civil war caused him many hours of gloom. He saw in it the 
 divine retribution for national sins, and bowed meekly to faithful to the 
 the stroke, choosing rather to fall into the hands of God ®"'^- 
 than into the hands of man. But in the darkest hours of national ca- 
 lamity, when the hopes of leaders drooped, he never doubted the final 
 issue. His faith was unfaltering that slavery would be overthrown, and 
 justice and freedom would triumph. His voice and pen responded freely 
 to his country's call; his counsels inspired the wavering, and his courage 
 kindled new hopes in the desponding. 
 
 The assassination of President Lincoln brought him once more before 
 the 23ublic, and furnished a striking proof of the esteem in which he was 
 held by his fellow-citizens. When the sad news reached Providence, a 
 general wish was expressed that Dr. Wayland .might appear in some 
 church or public hall, and give counsel suited to the solemn hour. A 
 delegation of leading men conveyed to him the public wish. He de- 
 clined the task, but consented to address in a quiet way any friends 
 who would gather at his house towards evening. The afternoon closed 
 with a heavy rain, and no public notice had been given of the projjosed 
 service ; but a company of fifteen hundred men, comprising the first 
 
696 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 citizens of Providence, gathered at even-tide, and marclaed in procession 
 more than a mile through the falling rain, to stand in close ranks before 
 his dwelling. Raised upon a rude platform, hastily erected, Dr. Way- 
 land talked to his fellow-townsmen in a strain of dignified eloquence 
 never surpassed in his hest days. The virtues of the martyred presi- 
 dent, the atrocious crime, the cloud overshadowing the country, and the 
 delicate tribute of his neighbors stirred mind and heart to highest activ- 
 ity, and the crowd retired awed to reverent silence by the grandeur of 
 the man no less than by the grandeur of his words. It was a fit per- 
 oration to his long life of public service. 
 
 A few months later, in a less public manner, he uttered his last relig- 
 ious counsels. The Warren Association, with which he had been con- 
 nected for nearly forty years, met on September 13th and 14th, in the 
 Central Baptist Church, Providence. The jiastor had sent him a special 
 request to be present, and, though the church was two miles from his 
 home, he attended promptly every service, excepting that of Wednesday 
 evening. On Thursday afternoon he took part in the conference 
 meeting, with which the association closed, and no one who was present 
 can ever forget the solemnity of his words, or the tender earnestness of 
 his appeals. He spoke as if already loosed from this world, and await- 
 ing the svimmons to a better life. Many listened tearfully, with a 
 foreboding that they should never hear his voice again. On Friday of 
 the following week he felt strangely listless, and on Saturday did not 
 leave his bed. On the next Tuesday the stroke of paralysis, long 
 gathering, suddenly fell. He lost the power of motion, and articulation 
 became difficult. The disease could not be arrested, and on Saturday 
 evening, September 30, 1865, after some days of unconsciousness, the 
 end came. 
 
 During the week of sickness a general anxiety had pervaded' the city. 
 The inquiry was on hundreds of lips every day, "How is Dr. Wayland?" 
 And when the tolling bell of the First Baptist Church announced, on 
 Sunday morning, that the struggle was over, the grief was universal, for 
 all felt that Providence and Rhode Island had lost their greatest 
 citizen. 
 
 An immense crowd gathered at the First Baptist Church on Wednes- 
 day, October 4th, to look on his lifeless face and follow him to burial. 
 The large edifice could not hold the company of mourners. Clergymen 
 from other States and from other denominations, statesmen, educators, 
 authors, and personal friends in all walks of life united in a tribute of 
 loving homage. Dr. Caswell, an associate and friend of forty years, 
 made an address, simple but beautiful ; and Dr. Caldwell, his pastor, and 
 Dr. Swain, a Congregational clergyman, conducted the devotional serv- 
 ices. 
 
 A year later, at the commencement of Brown University, September 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] RICHARD FULLER. 697 
 
 4, 1866, Professor Chace, one of the earliest graduates under Wajland's 
 administration, and for many years a colleague in instruction, delivered 
 a memorial discourse to the alumni of the college. It was a worthy 
 tribute to the great teacher, whom all his pupils revered, and to the great 
 man, whom they all loved. — H. L. 
 
 LIFE XXL RICHARD FULLER. 
 
 A. D. 1804-A. D. 1876. BAPTIST, — AMERICA. 
 
 Many men are good ; few are great, and they are great only in a com- 
 parative sense. Human greatness is the i-esult of vast intellectual en- 
 dowments, large educational advantages, close application to study, and 
 wide opportunities for the exercise of talents. The lack of any one of 
 these elements of greatness, though it may not preclude eminent useful- 
 ness and honorable distinction, will prevent those high attainments which 
 dignify the leaders of human thought and win the admiration of intel- 
 ligent and discriminating observers. 
 
 Richard Fuller, the subject of this story, was a great as well as good 
 man. He was descended of a highly respectable family of the State of 
 South Carolina, noted for the number of able and distinguished men 
 born within its limits. His birth occurred in the town of Beaufort, on 
 the 22d of April, 1804. It was his good fortune to receive his early in- 
 struction from that ripe scholar and eloquent preacher, the elder Dr. 
 William T. Brantly, equally well known and esteemed in the South and 
 in the North. In the seventeenth year of his age, young Fuller, having 
 mastered his preparatory studies, entered Harvard University, Massa- 
 chusetts, soon proving himself to be one of the best scholars of his class. 
 Fixing his ambitious eye on the highest honors of the institution, he re- 
 solved, by the most intense application to study, to secure them. When 
 they seemed to be almost within his grasp, he was seized with symptoms 
 of a pulmonary disease, which compelled him reluctantly to abandon his 
 studies, and betake himself to the use of means for the recovery of his 
 health. So satisfactory, however, had been his progress in learning that 
 he graduated with his class in 1824, being about twenty years old. 
 
 Fuller had chosen the profession of law, for which his genius and taste 
 peculiarly fitted him. Returning to his native town, he entered at once 
 on his professional career, and was not long in finding clients. At a 
 bar whose members were distinguished for their legal knowledge and 
 their eloquence, he immediately, by the force of his genius, placed him- 
 self in the front rank of advocates. He soon acquired a lucrative prac- 
 tice, and the richest emoluments and the highest honors of the legal pro- 
 fession were spread before him. 
 
698 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 At this period aa event occurred deeply affecting the after life of the 
 rising barrister. A young widow, of amiable disposition, refined manners, 
 and excellent judgment, having her ample estate involved in litigation, 
 employed him as her counsel. He not only vindicated her rights, but 
 won her heart, secured her hand, and became the manager of her val- 
 uable property. Mrs. Fuller survives her husband, and it is now only 
 proper to say that a more congenial and happy union was never formed. 
 To the close of his life, on all suitable occasions, he continued to speak 
 of her in terms of the highest commendation, and with all the ardor of 
 a young lover. 
 
 A still more important event in his life was approaching. Daniel 
 Converted under Baker, a Presbyterian, well known in those days as a suc- 
 Daniei Baker. cessful evangelist, held a series of meetings in Beaufort. 
 Fuller was among the converts on the occasion. He had been for some 
 time nominally a member of the Episcopal Church, making no profession 
 of piety. Very soon after his conversion he was baptized by the Rev. 
 Henry 0. TVyer, of Savannah, Georgia, and united with the Baptist church 
 in Beaufort, of which his parents were members. His conversion and 
 call to the ministry seem to have been simultaneous. Immediately, like 
 converted Saul, he " conferred not with flesh and blood," but entered on 
 his life-long work of persuading sinners to be reconciled to God. In the 
 year 1832 he was ordained to the ministry, and became the pastor of 
 the church of which he was a member. The general truth stated by 
 Jesus, that a prophet is without honor in his own country and among his 
 own kindred, was signally reversed in the case of Fuller. He was no- 
 where more admired, more loved, or more useful than in the town where 
 he drew his first breath and engaged in his boyish sports. Nor did he 
 limit his labors to his native village, but preached the gospel among the 
 slaves of the cotton plantations on the sea-coast, as well as to refined 
 audiences in the cities and towns of his native State and of Georgia, 
 everywhere attracting great crowds, who, whether they were rich or 
 poor, learned or rude, hung with equal delight and profit on his minis- 
 trations. 
 
 It was not possible that so bright a light as the pastor of the Beaufort 
 Baptist church should be long concealed. The time for the manifesta- 
 tion of his powers to the large denomination of Christians with which 
 he was connected was at hand. In the year 1841, the Baptist Triennial 
 Convention of the United States was held in the city of Baltimore. It 
 was largely attended by the representative men of the churches. Fuller 
 had been appointed at the previous meeting to deliver the introductory 
 sermon. Few persons present had heard him, but his fame had preceded 
 him, and the congregation was on tiptoe to hear his sermon. His text 
 was, " I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me ; " 
 and his theme was " The Power of the Cross." It was heard with pro- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] RICHARD FULLER. 699 
 
 found attention, great admiration, and intense feeling. I afterwards 
 heard him deliver sermons much superior to it in richness of thought, 
 genuine pathos, and commanding eloquence, but this discourse estab- 
 lished his pulpit reputation, and gave him a place in the front row of 
 American Baptist preachers. 
 
 He received many tempting invitations to settle with wealthy city 
 churches ; but as salary was no object with him, and he 
 
 -, , . 1 ^ , 1 . TmAs in Balti- 
 
 greatly loved his field of labor, his removal seemed improb- more his life- 
 able. He was elected, however, to the pastorate of a new 
 church (the Seventh) in the city of Baltimore ; and for strong and pe- 
 culiar reasons, which need not here be mentioned, he accepted the office, 
 and entered on its duties, in a new and spacious building which had been 
 erected for his reception, in August, 1847. Here, for nearly twenty-five 
 years, he continued his earnest and faithful ministry, attracting crowds by 
 his eloquence, adding largely to the membership of the church, and ex- 
 erting a most excellent influence in the rapidly growing city. No pastor 
 was more loved and honored by his flock than he. He commanded their 
 admiration in the pulpit by the splendor of his gifts, and won their 
 hearts in private by the gentleness and simplicity of his manners. 
 
 "In the spring of 1871," says Dr. Brantly, his companion in labor 
 and life-long friend, " a handsome marble house of worship, one of the 
 ornaments of Baltimore, was completed by the church of which Dr. 
 Fuller was pastor, and he was invited to take charge of a colony of some 
 two hundred persons, who within a short time were dismissed from 
 the Seventh Church to prosecute the new enterprise. According to our 
 figures, the doctor was then sixty-seven years of age ; and it would or- 
 dinarily have been a hazardous experiment for so old a man to embark 
 in the work of building up a new interest. But his success was remark- 
 able. The congregations were at once large; additions by experience and 
 letter were numerous ; so that in the few years that elapsed between the 
 dedication of the house and the death of the pastor the number of mem- 
 bers had been more than doubled, and the indebtedness of the church fully 
 provided for." 
 
 The most brilliant life must end, " In the midst of his usefulness 
 and vigor, his form erect, his mental vision unobscured, and when friends 
 were hoping for other years of usefulness in addition to the many he had 
 lived, a malignant carbuncle appeared on his right shoulder, detaining him 
 from his pulpit and confining him to his bed. The disease progressed so 
 rapidly that in a short time his medical attendants despaired of his recov- 
 ery. The Christian hero promptly accepted the providence with sub- 
 mission, and even with joy. He calmly disposed of all earthly interests, 
 then dictated a letter to his church, assuring them of his ' perfect peace 
 in Jesus,' and calling upon them to be faithful to God and his truth. 
 Never did a death-bed afford sublimer illustration of the power of the 
 
700 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [PKPaoD V. 
 
 gospel to sustain the soul in ' the supreme struggle,' as he spoke of his 
 last moments to a friend. ' To one,' said he, ' in my situation, the most 
 important question is. If a man die, shall he live again ? The world does 
 not believe that he will. The church only half believes it. But I know 
 it, and I rejoice in it. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ stamp 
 eternal verity on this doctrine. I have fought a good fight ; I have fin- 
 ished my course ; and there is a crown laid up for me.' Love to Christ 
 was the ruling passion of his life, and it was the dominant passion in his 
 dying hour. Knowing that his tongue would soon be silent, he asked in 
 most plaintive tones but a short time before he died, ' Who '11 preach 
 Jesus ?' — thus indicating his concern for the glory of his ever-dear Lord. 
 He died on Friday morning, October 20, 1876, and was interred by the 
 side of two of his daughters, in Greeumount Cemetery." 
 
 " Never," says Dr. Brantly, " have I seen a large city so thoroughly 
 moved as was Baltimore when, last fall, it was announced that the elo- 
 quent and beloved Fuller was critically ill. And when it was under- 
 stood that he was no more, the grief was profound and universal. On 
 the day of his interment it seemed, such was the thronging on every 
 street which the funeral cortege passed, that the whole community had 
 turned out to offer the tribute of tears." 
 
 Dr, Fuller was a remarkable man, and would have been so considered 
 
 His personal ap- ^^ ^^J ^§®' ^^ ^^J country, and in any department of human 
 pearance. ]ifg_ jjg ^^g gg^gj; jj^ q^^q q^ nature's finest moulds. He 
 
 had " a sound mind in a sound body." No one saw him without being 
 impressed by his appearance. Tall, well proportioned, vigorous, and com- 
 manding in person, he moved as a prince among men. His open coun- 
 tenance, beaming eyes, and pleasant but not handsome features gave in- 
 dication of the noble intellect dwelling within. His mind, clear and 
 discriminating, was equally original, logical, and imaginative. If he had 
 not genius, which too frequently shines only to dazzle and mislead, he 
 bad what was far better, masculine sense, a well-balanced intellect, and 
 a ready command of all his j^owers. His mind and body were well fitted 
 to each other, constituting him a man thoroughly developed, and suited 
 for arduous labors, physical and intellectual. 
 
 Fuller was a man of earnest and consistent piety. Converted in his 
 maturity, he furnished, by the abandonment of his lucrative profession, 
 the devotion of his powers to the ministry, and the consecration of his 
 ample income to pious purposes, such proofs of the sincerity of his love 
 to Christ as few ministers have been able to do. None doubted, or could 
 doubt, the genuineness of his conversion, for he left all to follow Christ. 
 His piety was not only sincere, but consistent, free alike from asceticism 
 and from levity, from bigotry and from latitudinarianism. Faith was 
 probably the most prominent trait in his piety. He had a firm and un- 
 wavering conviction of the truth of Christianity, which did not fail him 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] RICHARD FULLER. 701 
 
 iu his " supreme struggle." His humility was little less conspicuous than 
 his ftiith. With greater cause for self-exaltation than any minister I have 
 known, he continued throughout life a plain, unostentatious preacher, 
 free from the jealousy and envy by which inferior minds are so often 
 afflicted. Prayer was the natural breathing of his pious heart. At any 
 time and in any place, when circumstances would permit, he would say, 
 " Let us pray ! " and his prayers were usually brief, tender, and ear- 
 nest. 
 
 Fuller would have attained to eminence in any art, science, or profes- 
 sion that called for the exercise of a clear and vigorous intellect and 
 unwearied industry. He was an excellent writer, considering that author- 
 ship was merely incidental to his profession. Had he devoted himself to 
 composition, he would have attained to distinction and enduring fame. 
 As it was, he reached no mean rank as a wi-iter. His published sermons 
 would be an honor to any pulpit, in any age and in any country. Many 
 of his articles in the " Religious Herald," of which he was an associate 
 editor, were rich in thought, brilliant in illustration, and equally graceful 
 and nervous in style. His controversy with Dr. Wayland on the subject 
 of slavery, while he was comparatively young, was conducted with ad- 
 mirable courtesy, and with no little skill and vigor. No careful reader 
 of the discussion, whatever might be his views of the questions at issue, 
 could doubt that the New England dialectician found in the Southern 
 preacher " a foeman worthy of his steel." 
 
 It was, however, as a speaker rather than as a writer that Dr. Fuller 
 excelled. Like him many could write, but like him few g-j^ excellence 
 could speak. He had rare gifts for platform speaking. His ^^ ^ preacher. 
 addresses were remarkable for their combination of argument, illustration, 
 pathos, humor, wit, and sarcasm, delivered with inimitable grace and 
 power. It was equally difficult to listen to his best strains without laugh- 
 ter and without tears. Some of his speeches, in which he gave free 
 course to his wit, the sallies of his imagination, and the glowing bursts 
 of his eloquence, were both attractive and overwhelming. Many years 
 ago, he spoke at an anniversary of the American Colonization Society, in 
 Washington city, with Clay and Webster; and the preacher, in the es- 
 timation of an intelligent hearer, bore away the palm from the illustrious 
 statesmen. 
 
 In the pulpit, not on the platform. Dr. Fuller gained his highest repu- 
 tation. The pulpit was his throne. From the hour of his entrance on 
 the ministry to the close of his life, he was wholly consecrated to it. 
 All posts of honor and of profit deemed suitable for ministers were 
 open to him. His extensive learning, his resplendent talents, his popular 
 manners, and his high social position eminently fitted him to succeed as 
 a professor or president of a college, or as a lecturer i-n any department 
 of art, science, or philosophy, or indeed in any employment for which 
 
702 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 knowledge, judgment, and industry were required ; but, like the late 
 Dr. Witt, of Virginia, lie was, and he desired to be, " nothing but a 
 preacher." To the success of his ministry he devoted not only himself, 
 with all his powers and time, but his wealth also. To him no toil and 
 no sacrifices seemed great, if they but secured the object of his ministry, 
 — the salvation of sinners. 
 
 More than any other prominent minister I have known. Dr. Fuller 
 confined his preaching to " Christ and Him crucified." Others might 
 preach science, or philosophy, or moral reform, or politics, or introduce 
 largely into their discourses sensational topics ; but he preached Christ, 
 only Christ. It must not, however, be supposed that his sermons were 
 comprised within a narrow range. To him the theme was inexhaustible. 
 Before his capacious mind it spread out into a boundless field for instruc- 
 tion and exhortation. No thirsty sinner ever went to hear him without 
 being led to the fountain of living waters. Whether he preached to a 
 refined and fastidious city audience, to a large representative assembly of 
 ministers and theologians, or to the illiterate negroes of the rice planta- 
 tions of South Carolina, his subject was the same, — Christ, the only and 
 all-sufficient Saviour of sinners. No doubt, the power, influence, and 
 usefulness of his ministry were greatly increased by the transcendent 
 importance of the topics of his sermons. 
 
 In debate or in counsel. Fuller might have been equaled or excelled ; 
 but in the highest order of pulpit power, he had no peer within the range 
 of my observation, and that has been extended through a period of more 
 than half a century, and among English-speaking preachers on both sides 
 of the Atlantic. He had a rare combination of pulpit talents. To an 
 imperial presence he added a clear, sonorous, mellow, flexible, and power- 
 ful voice, lively and tender sensibilities, a mind well disciplined and richly 
 stored with divine truth, a perfect command of language, and an imper- 
 turbable self-possession. He was a born orator. That he possessed pul- 
 pit power in an extraordinary degree none who ever heard him preach, 
 under favorable circumstances, will question. The proofs of this power 
 were seen in the crowds, of all classes and in all places, that attended his 
 ministry ; the delight with which they heard his words ; the deep, tender, 
 and persuasive impression usually made by his sermons ; the multitudes 
 converted, edified, and comforted by his ministrations ; and the churches 
 founded or built up by his labors. 
 
 I attended meetings with Fuller in the South and in the North, in the 
 East and in the West, in which were gathered the best talent of the de- 
 nomination in this country, with distinguished preachers from foreign 
 lands, and I recollect not a single instance in which he was not, by com- 
 mon consent, appointed to fill the most important pulpit, and at the most 
 important time ; and rarely did he fail to meet the excited expectation of 
 his crowded audience. 
 
Cknt. XVII.-XrX.] RICHARD FULLER. 703 
 
 Of all sermon-writers, ancient or modern, James Saurin, pastor of the 
 French church at the Hague, was one of the most profound and brilliant. 
 He was evidently Fuller's model, especially in his early ministry. On 
 hearing him frequently, one conversant with the writings of Saurin could 
 not fail to notice the striking resemblances between their discourses. 
 Fuller had closely studied the works of the French pastor, and, con- 
 sciously or unconsciously, had imbibed his spirit and copied his style. More 
 than twenty years ago, I heard Fuller preach a sermon on God's Contro- 
 versy with his People, founded on Micah vi. 2. It was a grand effort. 
 I was, however, haunted by the impression that it was substantially a 
 repetition of Sauriu's sermon on the same subject. On returning to my 
 library, I took down his work and read the sermon. It is one of the finest 
 productions of his glowing intellect. It was evident that Fuller had read 
 the discourse, and was indebted to it, in part, for the plan of his own ; but, 
 while the subject was fresh in my memory, I felt convinced that the Amer- 
 ican had excelled the French preacher. There was in the sermon of 
 Fuller a range of thought, a sublimity in description, a brilliancy of il- 
 lustration, a beauty of style, and a pathos in expression to which the 
 masterly discourse of the pastor at the Hague — at least, as it appears in 
 the translation — could not lay a just claim. 
 
 Only the preaching of Jesus was faultless. Dr. Fuller, in his best 
 sermons, often overstepped the modesty of nature. His constant aim to 
 be imjDressive led him occasionally to be theatrical and extravagant in 
 manner and declamatory in style. His desire for immediate results some- 
 times led him to neglect instruction to secure efficiency ; to deal less 
 with the understanding and the conscience, and more with the sympa- 
 thies and the passions, than was demanded to secure the highest meas- 
 ure of usefulness. Still, take him all in all, he was, within the limits 
 of my acquaintance, if not unrivaled, certainly not excelled, in pulpit 
 power. 
 
 This portrait will be ended with a single remark : Few ministers can 
 reasonably hope to rival Dr. Fuller in gifts and reputation, but all may 
 cherish his spirit, follow his example, preach the gospel that he pro- 
 claimed, honor the Master that he served, and share in the rewards that 
 he sought ; and let them remember that piety is better than talents, 
 prayer can accomplish more than eloquence, and diligence can outstrip 
 genius. — J. B. J. 
 
704 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 LIFE XXII. TIMOTHY D WIGHT. 
 
 A. D. 1752-A. D. 1817. CONGREGATIONAL, — AMERICA. 
 
 Among the theologians of New England and of America during the 
 period which extended, over the latter part of the last century and the 
 early part of the present one, no man was more eminent than President 
 Dwight, of Yale College. A grandson of Jonathan Edwards, he inher- 
 ited great intellectual power and a tendency towards theological study 
 and thought. He was also naturally brought, in consequence of this re- 
 lationship, under the influence of the philosophy and the doctrinal views 
 of Edwards. But, with the clearness and force of an independent mind, 
 he rose above mere imitation, and became a teacher who, modifying and 
 advancing the system of his master, brought a new inspiring influence to 
 those who followed him. In the progress of thought on all the great 
 subjects within the field of Christian truth, from the beginning of our 
 country's history until now, he was, in a peculiar sense, a connecting link, 
 binding the jiast and the jaresent. He was also a grand motive power, 
 impelling earnest scholars to press forward in their investigations, and to 
 follow boldly and freely wherever the light of revelation might lead 
 them. 
 
 The story of his life, like that of all men who find their home in a 
 university, is mainly a narrative of a thoughtful, earnest working for the 
 truth. But his great executive ability, his large-minded interest in all 
 that was good, his magnetic influences upon those around him, his far- 
 seeing outlook into the future, made him a constant energizing force in 
 public life ; so that scarcely any man in America has ever had a wider 
 fame or a more commanding personal power. 
 
 He was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, May 14, 1752, where 
 Grandson of ^"^ father was a prominent citizen, and where his maternal 
 Edwards. grandfather, Edwards, had, until within a short time, been a 
 
 pastor and religious teacher of the church. By descent he was connected 
 with some of the noblest families in the laud, — the Hookers and Stod- 
 dards and Winthrops, — as well as with the two of which he was the im- 
 mediate offspring. He was the heir of both intellectual and moral power 
 of a high order, and was gifted by nature with a large mind and with a 
 large heart. From his earliest years he exhibited extraordinary qualities. 
 His memory was remarkable. He is said to have learned to read before 
 he was four years of age. In his early boyhood he became an attentive 
 reader of books. Treasuring his knowledge thus gained, and being inquisi- 
 tive, with the eagerness of a wakeful and open mind, he made rapid 
 progress in learning. When he was only eight he was largely prejaared to 
 enter Yale College, and though he was too young to pursue the course at 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] TIMOTHY DWIGHT. 705 
 
 that time, be was graduated at the early age of seventeen. Two years after 
 graduation he became a tutor in the college, and continued in this official 
 position from 1771 until 1777. At this time there were but two profess- 
 orships in the institution, so that the instruction of the students was for 
 the most part in the bands of the president and three or four tutors, who 
 were young men. The classes were thus very dependent on these young 
 men, and were brought under their influence to a degree which at pres- 
 ent can scarcely be appreciated. Mr. Dwight, from the beginning of his 
 work as a teacher, gained the respect and admiration of his pupils. He 
 stimulated their minds and awakened their enthusiasm. It is said that he 
 so greatly impressed the friends of the college, as well as the students, 
 that even from his early manhood he was regarded as a person em- 
 inently qualified to be the head of the institution. While holding the of- 
 fice of tutor, and largely occupied with his duties of instruction, he car- 
 ried forward his own studies energetically in various lines. He read law, 
 with the intention of devoting himself to it as his life's work. He also 
 gave himself, with much earnestness, to the study of the Principia of 
 Newton. At the same time, with the many-sided tastes and mental apti- 
 tudes which characterized him, he cultivated literature and poetry. As is 
 well known to all who are conversant with the early history of American 
 literature, he was one of the first poets who appeared on this side of the 
 ocean. Though not a poet of a high order, or one who can be compared 
 with those of a later day, he accomplished something in that time of 
 small beginnings and of small things. He pointed the way, at least, 
 in the darkness of that period, towards the light in the distance, and was 
 as far beyond those who preceded him, perchance, as he was behind those 
 who followed. In a word, he had a love for everything that the mind 
 can enjoy, and an inspiration to impart to every pupil who came under 
 his influence. 
 
 On leaving the tutorship in the college he entered the army of the 
 Revolution as a chaplain, but by reason of the death of his father he was 
 constrained to resign this office in 1779, and to take up his residence in 
 Northampton, Massachusetts, in order that he might assist his mother in 
 providing and caring for her large family. Having re- Twelve years a 
 mained there a few years, he became pastor of the Congrega- pastor. 
 tional church in Greenfield Hill, Connecticut, in 1783. In this quiet, 
 rural parish he continued for twelve years, working with energy for the 
 good of his people, and preaching the gospel with great power. His fame 
 immediately extended over the whole region where he lived. Strangers 
 from abroad were attracted to the village to listen to his sermons. Very 
 soon he was recognized everywhere as a leading minister. His' counsel 
 was sought on every side, and the public mind was directed more and 
 more towards him as one from whom the country could hope great 
 things. He was, we may say, by his very nature a teacher. He was 
 45 
 
706 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 deeply interested in the young, and enjoyed nothing more than the work 
 of educating and training them to a high intellectual and moral life. For 
 this reason, as well as because of the limited support which his ]-)arish 
 could afford him, he established very soon after removing to Greenfield 
 Hill a school for young persons of both sexes. This school soon be- 
 came quite celebrated. Pupils resorted to it from all parts of the coun- 
 try. It was so successful and won so high a reputation that students are 
 said to have left Yale College for the purpose of connecting themselves 
 President of with it. The feeling became a very general one that the 
 ^*'^- presidency of the college should be offered to him as soon 
 
 as a vacaucy occurred. Accordingly, when Dr. Stiles died, in 1795, the 
 trustees of the institution immediately elected him to the office. He ac- 
 cepted it, and very soon removed to New Haven. 
 
 The college was at that time just closing the first century of its ex- 
 istence. It was a very critical period in its history. The eighteenth 
 century was passing into the nineteenth. The new age was opening new 
 thought, new studies, new opportunities. A man of great force and en- 
 ergy and wisdom, a man who could foresee the demands of the coming 
 years and could devise and carry out plans to meet them, was called for. 
 If ever the right man appeared at the right moment, it was in this case. 
 The unanimous testimony of all who were associated with him in the 
 instruction and government of the college is that he was the originator 
 of its prosperity and growth during the last eighty years. Immediately 
 on assuming his office he became an energizing influence in every line of 
 needed action. He inspired all his colleagues and helpers with his own 
 large ideas and unquenchable enthusiasm. No branch of study seemed un- 
 important to his mind. No new science began to open itself but he in- 
 stantly turned his thoughts to the providing of means for its cultivation in 
 the institution. With a wonderful insight into character, he selected young 
 men of especial fitness for the new chairs of instruction. These young 
 assistants not only became earnest cooperators with him in the carry- 
 ing out of his plans, but, being in his society constantly, were infused 
 with his ideas, and borne on in their individual working by his sympathy 
 and friendshij). He had so wide-extended knowledge and such a true esti- 
 mate of every department of learning that all could turn to him for 
 counsel and aid. The value of such a man to an institution at such a 
 point in its history cannot be too highly aj^preciated. 
 
 His official life as president of the college continued for twenty-two 
 years, from 1795 to 1817. Before the close of this period the college 
 had more than doubled its number of students. It had established pro- 
 fessorships in the leading branches of study. It had enlarged its organ- 
 ization so as to prepare for and include schools of professional instruction 
 in medicine, law, and theology. Of these schools, one had begun a flour- 
 ishing existence, another had been unfolded in its germ within the col- 
 
Cent. XYII.-XIX.] TIMOTHY DWTGHT. 707 
 
 lege curriculum, and the means had been secui'ed for the beginning of 
 the third within a few more years. The college, which for a hundred 
 years before had been little more than an academy of a high order, had 
 begun to develop itself towards a university. The plans were all pre- 
 pared, the possibilities all well considered, the growth was actually com- 
 menced, the future made secure, before his work was finished. The 
 period of his presidency was a creative period. When it came to its 
 close such results had been accomplished that bis successors had only to 
 go forward in the line of his own action, in order to reach all the grander 
 achievements of the present day. He determined who his successors 
 should be in the time immediately following his own by imparting his 
 thoughts and the energy of his soul to his associates. They grew up 
 around him with a love and reverence, a devotion to him as a teacher, 
 and a belief in his wisdom, such as have rarely been surpassed. They 
 knew that he moved in the right course, because they saw how steadily 
 and safely the institution advanced from year to year. They felt, when 
 they had themselves passed into later life, and he was no more among 
 them, that the same course was the wisest and best. His influence thus 
 remained, though his presence was gone. It passed down from those who 
 succeeded him to those who succeeded them, and has not ceased, even to 
 this day, to be a power exerting itself in the traditions and character 
 and spirit of the university. New men have arisen, but the old life and 
 the old impulse, in their measure, still linger. Every great institution has 
 its peculiar character, — the genius of the place, as we may say, — which 
 remains the same from generation to generation. This peculiar character 
 which marks Yale College is due to President Dwight in a greater degree, 
 probably, than to any other man who has been connected with it during 
 its whole history. 
 
 When Dr. Dwight became president of the college, the influence of 
 French infidelity was very powerful. The young men of ^ . , 
 
 •' . . . ' . Dwight's cham- 
 
 the country turned aside froin the Christian faith, and even pionship of the 
 arrayed themselves in opposition to it. In the college there 
 were scarcely any professing Christians. It is said that at one time 
 there was only a single member of the church among the students. The 
 condition seemed almost a hopeless one, and the prospects were very dis- 
 heartening. But the president entered into the conflict with skepticism 
 with his characteristic energy and ardor. With powerful sermons in the 
 college pulpit, and with earnest and convincing arguments in the lect- 
 ure-room, he pressed upon his pupils the claims of the religion of Christ. 
 He stood forth in the institution as a defender of the faith, victorious in 
 his assaults upon the enemy, and,, by the force of his reasoning and the 
 nobleness of his charactei", he led those who listened to his teaching to a 
 firm belief in the gospel. The whole college was revolutionized in this 
 regard. Revivals of great power were experienced. The church was 
 
708 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 filled with earnest Christians. The moral influence of the place was 
 made to bear upon all who came to it. The reign of infidelity was ended, 
 and the students were settled upon firm foundations. Perhaps no more 
 striking or happier change has been accomplished by a single man within 
 the last one hundred years than was here seen. 
 
 But not only as a defender of the faith did Dr. Dwight affect the relig- 
 ious character of his pupils. He was a preacher of unusual ability. He 
 commended the claims of the divine law to the minds and consciences of 
 the young men. By his eloquence, his profound thought, his tender 
 sympathy, his manifest sense of the invisible things, his elevated views 
 of duty and of life, his concentration of all his faculties in devotion to 
 Christ, he had, as he spoke from the pulpit, an overmastering power. 
 The impression produced by his preaching on the Sabbath was deepened 
 as he met the students in his daily exercises with them. In the rec- 
 itation-room he unfolded before them and urged upon them the great 
 truths of life, and in his private intercourse he was always, like a faith- 
 ful friend and father, pointing them upward to higher things. Gifted 
 with extraordinary powers as an extemporaneous speaker and as a con- 
 versationist, he was able to carry the influence of his public efforts as a 
 minister of the gospel and a professor of theology into the hours and 
 work of every day, and thus to give continually an impulse and stimulus 
 to the whole student community towards the service of God. 
 
 He discharged during the whole term of his presidency the duties of 
 the college preacher. In this way he was enabled to set before the suc- 
 Dwi ht's " The- cessive classcs the system of theological truth which is em- 
 oiogy." bodied in his " Theology," a work of four volumes, which 
 
 was published soon after his death. This work has had great influence 
 both in Great Britain and in our own country. It presents, in the form 
 of sermons, elaborate discussions of the various doctrines of the Chris- 
 tian system. With great clearness, calmness, and moderation, with noth- 
 ing of the wild vehemence of a too ardent advocate, yet with great rhe- 
 torical force and with all the qualities of the best discourses of the age, 
 these sermons set before the reader, as they did before the hearers when 
 they were originally delivered, a very full and admirable statement of the 
 truth. It is a matter of no surprise to us when we learn that they have 
 been made a text-book in theological science in England and Scotland, 
 and that the clergymen of the non-conforming churches, who are now in 
 middle life or beyond it, have very generally known and studied their 
 pages in the days of their preparatory education. These volumes will 
 mark an era in theological thought in American history. They will be 
 treasured in libraries after they have passed beyond the notice of the 
 general reader, and will be a guide to the investigator as he attempts to 
 gain a knowledge of the opinions of the age that gave them birth. 
 
 In his sermons and his religious teaching, however, Dr. Dwight aimed 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] TIMOTHY DWIGHT. 709 
 
 especially at practical results. He felt that his work, in the position 
 which he was called to occupy, was that of an educator of young men. 
 But education, he thought, could reach its highest development and real- 
 ize its noblest end only when it should bring to the mind the knowledge 
 of spiritual truth. He accordingly consecrated his energies and his ef- 
 forts to the securing for all who came under his teaching such an educa- 
 tion. He was not, therefore, a mere speculative philosopher ; nor was 
 he a man who could dwell alone in the abstractions of theological sci- 
 ence. Whatever depth and profoundness of thought characterized him, 
 be brought everything to bear upon the elevation of the minds of others 
 and the purification of their hearts. Though he was an influential theo- 
 logian, and as such carried forward theological knowledge to new stages of 
 advancement, he did not, for the reason mentioned, take such a position 
 among religious thinkers and philosophers as President Edwards did. 
 That eminent man was, in the truest and highest sense, an originator 
 and a discoverer. His was one of the great creative minds of the world. 
 The genius of President Dwiglit was of a different order. He had the 
 clearest apprehension of truth ; admirable powers of statement ; a free 
 spirit of inquiry, which bore him onward to new views ; an open, honest, 
 courageous soul, which waited for further revelations, and believed that 
 more light was to come from God. He was therefore qualified in a re- 
 markable degree to present the truth, as he had learned it fi'om those 
 who preceded him, in the best form ; to add to it, as imperfectly appre- 
 hended in former days, the greater symmetry and fullness which his own 
 thought and studies discovered to him ; and to guide his followers in the 
 way which should lead them not only beyond the earlier teachers, but 
 even beyond himself. In this field, as in others, he was a heroic leader, 
 taking all the good which was handed down to him, and pressing on with 
 it to all the good which the future held in its own possession. He was a 
 leader who impressed all about him with his ability, his sincerity, his 
 heroism, and his love of truth, and thus a leader whom younger men 
 were glad to follow. He gained the universal respect of his contempo- 
 raries, the universal reverence of his pupils. He made, as far as was 
 possible, every man who was brought under his influence a thinker. By 
 his example he rebuked narrowness and intolerance. By his precejDts 
 he urged men to follow the truth, whithersoever it might lead them. By 
 the magnetism of his personal presence and his spoken words he incited 
 them to be fearless, large-minded, confident, believing theologians. He 
 accordingly affected the theological thinking of the country in as great a 
 degree as any one except President Edwards himself, and must be reck- 
 oned among those who have accomplished great results in this divine 
 science. Indeed, it was due to him especially that the theology of Ed- 
 wards, as distinguished from the old Calvinism of the early days of New 
 England, became established as the commonly accepted system. He had 
 
710 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 the remarkable power of taking the great thoughts of a man like Ed- 
 wards, of holding them freely and intelligently iu his own mind, without 
 being bound in fetters by them ; of rejecting all injurious additions and 
 outgrowths connected with them by the speculations of others, and de- 
 veloping them healthfully for himself; and of leading the best minds to 
 accept them as thus held, and to make them the basis of their own opin- 
 ions. It was in this way that he became, in a sense, the originator of 
 theological thought as it has unfolded itself in New England since his 
 death. 
 
 As a man, Dr. Dwight was tall of stature, commanding in person, with 
 a countenance evincing both strong intellect and benevolent character. 
 He was interested in all things which interested other minds. He knew 
 His personal much of a vast number of subjects, and thus was fitted to 
 S'*'^- meet men of every class within their own fields of thought 
 
 or of business. His gift of eloquent discourse was even more strikingly 
 manifest as seen in conversation, according to the testimony of very 
 many who knew him, than it was iu his public efforts. In social life, 
 therefore, he was admired greatly. He was full of kindness, ready al- 
 ways to help otliers, abouiiding in sympathy and charity. Like all men 
 of his order, he held his opinions strongly, and was positive in his expres- 
 sion of them. But he had a generous spirit, and showed hospitality to 
 new ideas. In his Christian character he was humble, earnest, loving, 
 devoted. He trusted wholly to Christ, and preached Him as the power 
 of God unto salvation. 
 
 In a brief story like the present, no complete view of the man and 
 no complete narrative of his career can be given. It is only possible to 
 set forth his character and work in some aspects, and let this imperfect 
 representation speak to the reader of what he did. The great monu- 
 ment commemorating his life of mental and moral activity is Yale Col- 
 lege. He was its second founder, as it were, to whom is due its origin 
 as a university. The extent of his influence can be measured only when 
 all the good can be computed which has been accomplished by his pupils 
 in every sphere of life, all of whom — however widely they differed in 
 other respects — were united in ascribing to him a wonderful influence 
 on their minds and hearts. The results for theology which came from 
 him were the admirable presentation of Christian doctrine in liis pub- 
 lished volumes, and the inspiration .to honest study of the truth and to 
 freedom iu Christian thought which he gave to his contemporaries and 
 successors. The best testimony to his worth and nobleness and power 
 as a man is found in the love of those who knew him personally and are 
 still in life, and in the honorable reputation in which his name is held 
 wherever the English language is spoken, or the hymns of the church 
 are suns. — T. D. 
 
Cext. XVIL-XIX.] LYMAN BEECHER. 711 
 
 LIFE XXIII. LYMAN BEECHER. 
 
 A. D. 1775-A. D. 1863. CONGREGATIONAL, AMERICA. 
 
 Few men have exerted a wider and more powerful influence upon 
 their country and times than Lyman Beecher. The eighty-eight years 
 of his life cover a period in which some of the most important move- 
 ments, moral, theological, and political, were in progress in America, and 
 in all these he was intensely interested and widely efficient. 
 
 Like that of many of the strong men of New England, his early 
 youth was spent upon a farm, and he was inured to daily labor, and bred 
 up in all the economies and frugalities of a Connecticut farmer's life. 
 But the uncle who adopted him soon perceived the workings of a mind 
 and spirit which needed a larger sphere, and of his own accord offered to 
 him the opportunity of a college education. 
 
 In the year 1793 he left the village of North Guilford and entered 
 Yale College, at New Haven. At that early period the advantages of 
 this institution, as respects library and apparatus, were inferior to those 
 of many high schools and country academies in these days. But in his 
 Sophomore year the college was reinforced by the accession of Dr. 
 Dwight to the presidency, and from that time Mr. Beecher's whole mind, 
 character, and education came under the formative influence of this dis- 
 tinguished man. When Dr. Dwight took the college, its condition was 
 one of great demoralization. The college church was almost extinct. 
 Most of the students were skeptics. Wine and liquors were kept in many 
 rooms, and intemperance, gambling, and licentiousness were common. 
 In the class before Beecher, the leading students were professed infidels, 
 calling each other Voltaire, Rousseau, D'Alembert, and glorying in the 
 writings of the encyclopedists. In the pride of their new-found philos- 
 ophies, these young disciples boasted that the faculty would never dare 
 to meet them in free discussion. Quite to their surprise, however, when 
 they handed to Dr. Dwight their subjects for class disputation, he selected 
 this, " Is the Bible the Word of God ? " and told them to do their best. 
 He heard all they had to say, and answered them, preaching a course of 
 lectures every Sunday morning for six months ; and by the end of that 
 time the whole public sentiment of the college was changed and purified. 
 In his Junior year young Beecher became the subject of a deep personal 
 religious experience, in which, for a long time, he struggled alone and 
 unaided with all the mysterious problems of theology. As light gradu- 
 ally dawned on his mind, he embraced the Christian ministry as his ap- 
 pointed vocation, with a humility, a single-heartedness, and a sincerity 
 somewhat in contrast to the ambitious views with which some modern 
 young men enter this field. 
 
712 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 He feared that he might not get a settlement, and accepted thankfully 
 a call to the quiet village of East Hampton, on the southeast extremity 
 of Long Island. A place more humble, obscure, and out of the great 
 world could scarcely be found : there was not a store in the town ; it 
 was seven miles from a post-office ; and the main street of the village 
 showed strips of green turf in the middle of the road, marking the rarity 
 of travel. 
 
 Mr. Beecher, however, threw himself into his work in this place with 
 as much zeal and energy as if it were the only place to be thought of 
 upon earth. A letter from his wife, shortly after their settlement, gives 
 the following picture of his labors : — 
 
 " Mr. Beecher has preached seven or eight times a week all winter. 
 Last week, for example, he preached twice in town and gave two lect- 
 ures, besides a funeral sermon on Gardiner's Island and five sermons to 
 the Indians and whites down on Montauk Point. He lectures every 
 week at some of the adjoining villages, Wainscott, four miles, Amaghan- 
 sett, three miles, Northwest, seven miles, The Springs, seven, and an- 
 other place with an ugly Indian name. Some weeks he lectures at two 
 or three of these places, and when not at these places, has held meetings 
 afternoons and evenings, and sometimes forenoons." 
 
 In the central village of East Hampton, the prevalent spirit of skep- 
 ticism had found a foothold. There was in the place an infidel club, 
 not large in point of numbers, but con^posed of men of talent, education, 
 and indefatigable zeal. Two of the teachers employed in the village 
 academy had proved to be skeptics, and their influence had done great 
 evil. When Mr. Beecher came upon the stage, he says, " I did not at- 
 tack infidelity directly, not at all ; I preached right to the conscience. 
 Every sermon with my eye on the gun to hit somebody. Went through 
 the doctrines, showed what they did n't mean, what they did, knocked 
 away objections, and drove home on the conscience." This sentence gives 
 an idea of what was the peculiarity of Dr. Beecher's preaching through 
 life. It was individual, the result of close observation of the personal 
 character and needs of his hearers. He cultivated the society, the inti- 
 macy, and the friendship of those of the most adverse views. His people 
 were amazed to hear of him as dining with a deist and going out hunting 
 with another deist ; but while mingling as a man among men, he was 
 always studying character and watching his opportunities, if by any means 
 he might save some. Those most opposed to the doctrines he repre- 
 sented were often warmly attached to the man. In time his ardent zeal 
 and burning energy woke up the still and quiet community about him, 
 and a powerful religious awakening was the result, in which many con- 
 verts were added to the church. 
 
 His expenditure of vital energy began to tell upon his strength. He 
 was seized with an illness followed by a long period of ill-health ; he 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] LYMAN BEECHER. 713 
 
 was laid up, unable to preach, for nine months. After a while, by vigorous 
 out-of-door exercise, he recovered his strength and resumed his labors. 
 During this time, he prepared for the press his first published sermon, 
 " On Dueling," a sermon called forth by the celebrated and fatal duel 
 between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. It was first preached 
 before presbytery at Aquebougue, and at their request prepared for pub- 
 lication. A stray copy of this sermon by a nameless young minister found 
 its way to New York, where an effort was being made in the ministry 
 to get up an association against dueling, and the sermon was shown to 
 the great Dr. Mason, who then stood at the head of the Presbyterian 
 Church. Dr. Mason reviewed the sermon with approbation, drew up a 
 constitution, and publicly recommended the object. At the next synod, 
 at Newark, Mr. Beecher brought up the resolution of forming an anti- 
 dueling society, but in the mean time certain politicians had raised an op- 
 posing party. For the first time, young Mr. Beecher poured out his 
 whole soul in that powerful, vigorous, and condensed style of impas- 
 sioned oratory which marked his after life, bearing down opposition and 
 carrying all before it. The opposition was overruled, and the resolu- 
 tion carried. The synod started forthwith a series of efforts that perma- 
 nently affected the whole Northern mind. When Henry Clay was up as 
 candidate for the presidency in after years, forty thousand copies of 
 this sermon were printed and distributed as a campaign document ; it 
 never ceased to be a power in the politics of the country. In 1808 he 
 preached before the synod, at Newark, his sermon on the text, " Thy will 
 be done," which was by request printed, and atti'acted great attention in 
 the theological world. The title of the sermon was " The Government of 
 God Desirable." It was a statement and a vindication of the principles 
 of the divine administration in this and all worlds, its whole tone insjDir- 
 ing, cheerful, and triumphant, like the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the 
 Romans. Dr. Bacon, of New Haven, says of this sermon, that '• it is well 
 worthy to be ranked with the greatest discourses of the elder Edwards, 
 which it resembles in its solid massiveness of thought and terrible ear- 
 nestness, while it excels them in a certain power of condensed expres- 
 sion, which often makes a sentence strike like a thunderbolt." 
 
 A mind of such energy and vigor could not long be allowed to rest in 
 an obscure situation, and in a few years Mr. Beecher accepted an invita- 
 tion to the town of Litchfield in Connecticut. Litchfield was a rural 
 town, in a hilly, picturesque region, a county seat, and a place of great 
 importance and influence. It united more intelligence, culture, and edu- 
 cation than could be found in any other town in the State, excepting the 
 collegiate seat of New Haven. The law school, under the care of the 
 celebrated jurists. Judge Tappan Reeve and Judge Gould, drew to the 
 place young men of the finest minds from every State of the Union. 
 The female academy, under Mr. I. P. Brae and Miss Pierce, attracted 
 
714 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 an equal number of young ladies from all parts of the country. The 
 governor of the state for some years resided there. Colonel Talmage, 
 the friend and associate of General Washington, was a leading member 
 of the church, and a number of distinguished lawyers and civilians of 
 wealth and family made Litchfield their residence. Besides these, there 
 was an extensive outlying, rural population of farmers, who from a cir- 
 cuit of seven or eight nailes round came in their farm-wagons every 
 Sunday to attend church. 
 
 But with this variety of education and position, there was never any 
 occasion given to feel that the sympathies of the new pastor were more 
 with the rich and the cultured than with the rural and laboring portion 
 of his flock. Brought up as a farmer's boy, he always retained in his 
 heart the sympathies of that wholesome life; his illustrations and images 
 were largely drawn from it, and in every farm-house he was felt by its 
 inmates to be as one of themselves. 
 
 As before, in his little parish at East Hampton, he preached three times 
 every Sunday, and four times in the week, in the school-houses lying north, 
 south, east, and west of the town hill.^ 
 
 1 Here it may be in point to give a brief view of that system of doctrine which he 
 preached. We extract a summary from a sermon published during his Litchfield pastor- 
 ate, entitled, The Faith once Delivered to the Saints. 
 
 "The faith once delivered to the saints includes in it, among other doctrines, the fol- 
 lowing: — 
 
 "1. That men are free agents, possessing such faculties, and placed in such circum- 
 stances as render it practicable for them to dn whatever God requires, making it reason- 
 able that He should require it, and fit that He should inflict literally the entire penalty 
 of disobedience. 
 
 "2. That the divine law requires supreme love to God and impartial love for men, to- 
 gether with certain overt duties by which this love is expressed, and that this law is sup- 
 ported by the sanctions of eternal life or death. 
 
 " 3. That the ancestors of our race violated this law, and that as a consequence of their 
 apostasy, all men as soon as they become capable of accountable action do, of their own 
 accord,'most freely and most wickedly withhold from God the supreme love, and from 
 man the impartial" love, which the law requires, besides violating many of its practical 
 precepts. 
 
 "4. That according to the principles of moral government, obedience, either antecedent 
 or subsequent to transgression, cannot avert the penalty of law; and that pardon, on con- 
 dition of repentance merely, would destroy the efficiency of moral government. 
 
 " 5. That an atonement "for sin has been" made by Jesus Christ, with reference to which 
 God can maintain his law, and forgive sin upon condition of repentance towards God and 
 faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and" that all men are sincerely invited to return to God with 
 an assurance of pardon and eternal life if they comply. 
 
 "6. That compliance with these conditions "is practicable in the regular exercise of those 
 powers and faculties given to man as an accountable creature, and is prevented only by the 
 exercise of a voluntary criminal aversion to God, so inflexible that by motives merely men 
 are never persuaded to repent and believe. 
 
 " 7. That God is able by his Spirit to make such application of truth to the mind of man 
 as shall unfailingl}' convince of sin, and render him joyfulh' obedient to the gospel. 
 
 "8. That this special influence of the Holy Spirit is 'given according to the supreme dis- 
 cretion or good pleasure of God, and yet ordinarily is so associated with the use of the means 
 of grace, as to create ample encouragement to attend upon them, and to render all hopes 
 of conversion while neglecting or rejecting the truth, or while living in open sin, presump- 
 tuous. 
 
 "9. That believers are justified through the merits of Christ, received into covenant with 
 God, which insures their continuance in holiness forever; while those who die in their sins 
 will continue to sin willfully and be punished justly forever. 
 
 "10. That God exercises a providential government which extends to all events in such 
 a manner as to lay a just foundation fur resignation to his will in afliictions brought upon 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] LYMAN BEECHER. 715 
 
 The preaching of Dr. Beecher was never abstractly metaphysical or 
 dry doctrinal statement. The doctrinal statement was only a foundation 
 on which he based a strong personal urgent plea with the hearers to do 
 something immediately, and with all their might. Nothing was reckoned 
 success by him that did not result in the conversion of souls to God, — 
 the radical change of heart and life. 
 
 The New England mind in his day was thoroughly possessed and 
 leavened by Calvinistic metaphysical theology. Often the absolute su- 
 premacy of the Divine Being was asserted in forms which practically 
 nullified human ability, and left the impression that man was subject to 
 the commands of a hard master, who required what he had received no 
 ability to perform. Dr. Beecher asserted that perfect free agency was 
 the only proper foundation of just government. His children still re- 
 member that he would never permit them to commit to memory the an- 
 swer of the Assembly's Catechism which says, " No mere man since the 
 fall is able perfectly to keep the commandments of God." This dec- 
 laration he altered into the statement, " No man since the fall is will- 
 ing to keep the commandments of God." This style of preaching and 
 appeal was of a kind fitted to produce results, and consequently the 
 active years of Dr. Beecher's labors in Litchfield were largely taken up 
 in revival labors in that and the neighboring towns, in gathering in con- 
 verts, and building up churches. One of the family letters in the earlier 
 part of his ministry speaks of a " continual revival " as going on in 
 Litchfield. 
 
 Besides this. Dr. Beecher's attention was early called to the subject 
 of public reform. When he went to Litchfield intemperance prevailed 
 through society to a fearful extent. The habit of drinking spirituous 
 liquors pervaded all ranks of society, and was countenanced by the ex- 
 ample of ministers, at whose stated ecclesiastical meetings the brandy 
 bottle and the tobacco pipe held a prominent situation. Here and there 
 in all ranks of society might be counted hapless victims lost to themselves 
 and their friends, through the curse of intemperance. In the year 1812 
 Dr. Beecher moved in the general association that a committee be ap- 
 pointed to report on the ways of arresting the tide of intemperance. As 
 chairman of that committee, Dr. Beecher presented a report recommend- 
 ing the following measures : — 
 
 us by the wickedness of men, and for gratitude in the reception of good in all the various 
 modes of liuman instrumentality ; that all events shall illustrate his glory, and be made 
 subservient to the good of his kingdom ; and that this government is administered by a pur- 
 pose or plan known and approved of by Him from the beginning. 
 
 "Finally, that the God of tlie universe has revealed Himself as existing in three persons, 
 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, possessing distinct and equal attributes, and in 
 some unrevealed manner so united as to constitute one God." 
 
 This short statement contains the sum of that S3'stem of doctrines on which Dr. Lyman 
 Beecher founded his ministry, and upon which he grounded his pungent appeals to men 
 to repent and turn to God at once. Full ability to accept the gospel as offered, and obliga- 
 tion to accept immediately, — those were the salient points of his ministry. 
 
716 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 1. That all ministers in the Association should preach upon the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 2. That the District Associations should abstain from the use of ardent 
 spirits at ecclesiastical meetings. 
 
 3. That members of churches abstain from the unlawful vending or 
 purchase and use of ardent spirits, exercise vigilant discipline, and cease 
 to consider the production of ardent spirits a part of hospitable enter- 
 tainment. 
 
 4. That parents cease from use of ardent spirits in the family, and warn 
 their children of the danger. 
 
 5. That farmers, manufacturers, and mechanics substitute palatable and 
 nutritious drinks, and give if needful additional compensation to those in 
 their employ. 
 
 6. To circulate documents on the subject among the people. 
 
 7. To form voluntary associations to aid the civil magistrates in the 
 execution of the laws. 
 
 In one year, by the vigorous prosecution of these measures, the tem- 
 perance reformation was aroused in full force in New England. In 
 1813 the Massachusetts Temperance Society was founded, and since then 
 by correspondence, preaching, lecturing, and organization, the work has 
 been kept up in America, and its example spread to England, Scotland, 
 and the Continent. Dr. Beecher's six sermons on the nature, causes, and 
 cure for intemperance were the offspring of a great personal anxiety and 
 affliction for two noble and much beloved men in his parish who had 
 fallen under the dominion of this fatal tyrant. They produced an im- 
 mense impression at the time, and have been among the most efficient, 
 permanent documents of the temperance reform in both this country and 
 Europe. They have been translated into many foreign languages, even 
 into that of the Hottentots, carrying with them the burning energy which 
 first gave them birth. 
 
 The remedy for intemperance, as proposed by Dr. Beecher in that 
 early period, was that which in later days originated and gave efficiency 
 to the Maine law : It is the banishment of ardent spirits from the list 
 of lawful articles of commerce by a correct and efficient public sentiment, 
 Buch as has turned slavery out of half the land, and will yet expel it 
 from the world." 
 
 In this same year, 1812, also, Dr. Beecher attended the first meeting of 
 the American Board of Foreign Missions, and returning full of zeal 
 called together several laymen and clergymen from various parts of the 
 county, who organized the Litchfield County Missionary Society, the 
 first auxiliary of the American Board. The missionary enthusiasm thus 
 awakened had a decided effect in enlarging and strengthening the piety 
 of the New England mind. It widened the field of vision, enlarged sym- 
 pathies and charities, and taught noble lessons of self-sacrifice and self- 
 
Cent. XVIL-XIX.] LYMAN BEECHER. 717 
 
 devotion. The first missionaries to foreign lands bore with them the heart 
 of the American churches, and an influence constantly came back from 
 those mission fields to enrich the piety of those who sent laborers thither. 
 
 The general state of the country in the years immediately following 
 the war of 1812 was such as to create in Dr. Beecher's mind grave anx- 
 ieties. Political parties were intensely bitter ; the experiment of a free 
 representative republic was yet a new and untried one ; the war brought, 
 as wars always do, some demoralization and disturbance, and the old set- 
 tled foundations of New England morality were threatened on all hands. 
 The Congregational ministers of New England, however, were a very 
 able and united body, fully aware of the dangers of the times and prompt 
 to meet every exigency. As yet, the Congregational Church was the 
 form of religion supported by law. Every property-holder was by law 
 taxed for its support. But French infidelity, which at this time breathed 
 a poisonous atmosphere across the Atlantic, began to excite in the popu- 
 lar mind a secret uneasiness and resistance which made itself felt in 
 society. Dr. Beecher, with the instinct of a sagacious foresight, per- 
 ceived an impending change in the institutions of New England, and 
 exerted all his influence in preparing for it. He published a sermon on 
 the "Building of Waste Places," of which he says in his biography, " The 
 churches did not understand all I meant by the sermon. I foresaw what 
 was coming. I saw the enemy digging at the foundations of the standing 
 order. I went to work with deliberate calculation to defend it, and to 
 prepare the churches, if it fell, to take care of themselves." 
 
 The sermon on the " Building of Waste Places " resulted in forming: a 
 domestic missionary society, for the work of home evangelization ; churches 
 were thus built up everywhere through the State. 
 
 In due time, however, the standing order fell ; the years in which this 
 change was working in society were years of great anxiety and activity 
 to Dr. Beecher and the Congregational ministers of Connecticut. By a 
 union of all the minor sects with the democratic party, a complete sepa- 
 ration of church and state was finally attained. All laws ]3rotecting relig- 
 ious institutions, or securing the suf^port of the ministry, were repealed, 
 and the whole field was flung open to the free guidance of moral in- 
 fluence. Of this time Dr. Beecher says in his biography : — 
 
 " It was as dark a day as ever I saw. The odium thrown on the min- 
 istry was inconceivable. The injury done to the cause of Christ was, as 
 we then supposed, irreparable. For several days I suffered what no 
 tongue can tell for the best thing that ever happened to the State of 
 Connecticut. It cut the churches loose from their dependence on state 
 support ; it threw them wholly on their own resources and upon God. 
 They say ministers have lost their influence ; the fact is they have gained. 
 By voluntary efforts, societies, missions, and revivals, they exert a deeper 
 influence than they could by cocked hats and gold-headed canes." 
 
718 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 In a letter written at the close of the struggle, he says, " On the whole 
 I have concluded to give up the ship, not to enemies who have deter- 
 mined to take it, but to Christ, who, I doubt not, will save it." 
 
 In the very midst of the darkest part of the struggle, Dr. Beecher was 
 called to encounter the heaviest possible affliction, in the death of a wife 
 who had hitherto been to him a guide, a reliance, and an inspiration. 
 She was one of those rare human beings who seemed always to live in 
 the love and living presence of God, and who saw all things in the light 
 of heaven ; never disturbed, discouraged, or dismayed ; her last words, 
 even in the shadow of death, were words of triumphant faith and cheer- 
 ful hope. Her departure was a terrible blow, yet hers was one of those 
 natures whose influence never dies, and to the latest hour of his life, her 
 spiritual presence was ever with her husband. 
 
 Gradually, through faith and prayer and the habit of constant activity, 
 cheerfulness and hope returned, and Dr. Beecher formed a second con- 
 nection, which secured to his large family the cares of a faithful, affection- 
 ate mother. His influence, widely extended through New England, caused 
 him to be heard of as a power in Boston. He was first invited there to 
 labor in a revival, and this in due time was followed by an invitation to 
 take the charge of the Hanover Street Church, a new enterprise in the 
 north part of the city. He removed to Boston in the spring of 1826. 
 
 At the time Dr. Beecher commenced his ministry in Boston Unitarian- 
 ism was dominant not only in the city but in the State. Harvard Col- 
 lege was under that influence, and it was familiarly stated that all the 
 elite of intellect, of family, rank, and fashion, were of that way of think- 
 ing. The church that Dr. Beecher took was in an unfashionable part 
 of the city, and numbered only thirty-seven members. In his reminis- 
 cences of this period he says, " I made no attack on Unitarians. I car- 
 ried the state of warm revival feeling I had had in Litchfield for years. 
 I knew nobody there. I took those subjects that were unquestioned, but 
 solemn, to make them tell on the conscience. I began with prudence, be- 
 cause a minister, however well known at home, however wise and suc- 
 cessful, has to make himself a character anew, and find out what material 
 is around him ; people came to hear ; there was a great deal of talk about 
 me, great curiosity. They would hear and then run me down, and declare 
 they would never go again ; but they did go, and many who came to scoff 
 remained to pray." 
 
 It was Dr. Beecher's custom to follow his public appeals by immedi- 
 ate private labors with such as they affected. Soon tlie number of these 
 was so great that a specific meeting for those who wished personal re- 
 ligious instruction was appointed. The first week fifteen came, and 
 twenty the second ; but the fourth time there were three hundred, and 
 for many months the weekly inquiry meeting numbered four or five hun- 
 dred. Dr. Beecher has left a record of how he conducted these meetings. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] LYMAN BEECIIER. 719 
 
 " It was singultar to see the changes of language and manner as I 
 passed from one class to another. A large portion would reveal their state 
 easily, and need only plain instruction. Another class would Iiave diffi- 
 culties ; could not see, realize, or feel anything ; did not know how to 
 begin. To such a careful course of instruction was given. Another 
 would plead inability, could not do anything. Many of these said 
 their ministers told them so. Now I rose into the field of metaphysics, 
 and began to form my language for purposes of discrimination. Next 
 came the infidel and skeptical class, whom I received with courtesy and 
 kindness ; but after a few suggestions calculated to conciliate, I told 
 them that the subject was one that could not be discussed among so 
 many, but that I should be happy to see them at my house, and in that 
 way I succeeded many times. While I was in the inquiry room the 
 church held a prayer-meeting in a room near by, and as conversions hap- 
 pened every night, — ten, twenty, or thirty, — I went in and reported to 
 them. That was blessed. They waited in hope and prayer, and I went 
 in to carry the good tidings." 
 
 At the first season appointed for the reception of members seventy 
 new converts united with the church, more than doubling its numbers. 
 From this time for four years, a constant revival extended not only 
 over Boston but through the State. Churches were built up, and con- 
 verts gathered, and religious topics became the leading subjects of inter- 
 est and thought through the community. 
 
 Dr. Beecher's pastorate in Boston was extended only through six 
 years, being the shortest of his life ; but it was the most active, powerful, 
 and efficient. Besides the constant revival in his own church, bringing 
 incessant personal labor with individual seekers after religion, there was 
 the " care of all the churches," in the sympathy and zeal with which he 
 took into his heart the fortunes, successes, and trials of all the other 
 churches of the State. 
 
 It was a time of intense excitement. The decision given by the su- 
 preme court of Massachusetts in the Groton case had spread dismay 
 among them. In this case a society worshiping in the church had out- 
 voted the communicants, and taken possession of the church funds and 
 building and the communion service. The church appealed to law, and 
 a decision was rendered in the supreme court of the State that " the 
 church, as the body of communicants were called, had no existence in 
 law, and that the church property and funds belonged to the society who 
 habitually worshiped in the building." This opened a wide door by 
 which any number of persons, of all characters and views, by taking 
 pews in a church might control its property and settle whatever minister 
 they chose. As a consequence the orthodox churches in several places 
 were dispossessed of their property, and obliged to take the burden o' 
 building new churches. 
 
720 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 The so-called liberal party, which held it as a prime tenet, " that it was 
 no matter what a man believed if he only were honest," nevertheless, in 
 the stress of religious controversy, showed themselves as capable of in- 
 tolerance as the most orthodox, and instances were not unknown where 
 families were divided, and the member who had united with an orthodox 
 church was cast out of the home circle. In this white heat of contro- 
 versy all sorts of opprobrium rained down upon the orthodox. Their 
 doctrines were caricatured, their conduct slandered. Dr. Beecher himself 
 came in for a large share of this abuse, which he accepted with the most 
 vigorous cheerfulness. He says of this time, " I cared no more for it 
 than for the wind. I knew where I was and what I was doing, and that 
 I was right. I used to think sometimes, as I walked the streets, If you 
 could know anything vile about me, you would scream for joy ; but you 
 don't. All sorts of vile letters were written to me by abandoned people, 
 but all this malignity did us no harm." About this time, a caricature of 
 Dr. Beecher was exhibited in the shop-windows of Boston, representing 
 him with two faces on one head : on one side black and with a fierce and 
 threatening scowl, grasping thunderbolts and forked lightnings, while on 
 the other side he exhibited a meek, fair ftice, and held out in his hand 
 an olive branch. When Dr. Beecher preached his six sermons on intem- 
 perance preparatory to a series of temperance efforts among the churches 
 of the State, the indignation of all the makers, venders, and drinkers of 
 ardent spirits was arrayed against him. 
 
 As an indication of popular feeling at this time, it is remembered that 
 when Hanover Street Church was destroyed by fire, the firemen sat on 
 their engines around the blazing ruins and sung a parody of a well- 
 known hymn — 
 
 " While Beecher's house holds out to burn 
 The vilest sinner maj' return." 
 
 Besides Dr. Beecher's constant preaching, three times every Sunday 
 and several evenings every week, he wrote and published various ser- 
 mons, essays, and reviews in the " Spirit of the Pilgrims," which cost him 
 much research, study, and care. He attacked the decision in the Groton 
 case, and exhibited its inconsistency with the spirit and history of Massa- 
 chusetts law from the founding of the State. Subsequent judges have 
 so modified this decision that churches are no longer exposed to this 
 form of intolerance. 
 
 Dr. Beecher also preached a series of sermons exposing the designs of 
 the Roman Catholic Church in taking possession of America, and rous- 
 ing the churches to conti'ary efforts. In addition to all the other excite- 
 ment about him, these sermons roused the wrath of the Irish population, 
 and threats of violence were freely showered upon him, without in the 
 least disturbing his equanimity. 
 
 The last one or two years of his Boston pastorate, there gathered in 
 
Cext. XVII.-XIX.] LYMAN BEECHER. 721 
 
 the moral firmament signs of an approaching controversy, which was 
 subsequently to divide the orthodox ranks. Dr. Beecher saw the first in- 
 dications, feared and deplored them, spent much time, and wrote many 
 letters to avert such an evil. 
 
 It will be seen from the whole history of Dr. Beecher's ministry, that 
 the bent of his mind was more for practical efficiency than for dogmatic 
 construction. To persuade men to become Christians and lead the Chris- 
 tian life was his one object, and he valued doctrines only as means to 
 that end. With a mind strictly logical and keenly perceptive, he no 
 sooner came to apply the received doctrines of Calvinism to individual 
 cases, than his modes of presentation and statement varied often from 
 the formulas of old standards. The views wrought out by an attempt 
 to apply the teachings of the gospel to living souls were soon felt to be 
 different from the technical and metaphysical statements which had been 
 spun into systems by theologians in their closets. 
 
 His intimate friend and fellow-laborer. Dr. Taylor, now stood at the 
 head of a new school of theology in ISew Haven, Connecticut, which 
 was exciting great sensation in the theological world, and before long 
 Dr. Beecher began to find himself an object of suspicion and solicitude 
 among brethren who had hitherto only admired and approved. 
 
 The whole basis of religious thought and controversy has now so 
 shifted its ground, that it is difficult for the modern student to appreciate 
 the intensity of feeling which, for some years, convulsed all the theolog- 
 ical mind of the United States, concerning the doctrines of man's free 
 agency and ability and God's sovereignty. 
 
 On the one side, men of action, who worked for results, contended that 
 man was absolutely free, and able at all points to fulfill all the require- 
 ments, of both law and gospel ; and on the other side, the metaphysi- 
 cians asserted that these views destroyed the divine sovereignty. The 
 men who worked for results exhorted people to study the Bible, pray, 
 attend the ministry of the "Word, with good hope of thereby attaining 
 to Christian life ; while the opposite party mustered in alarm all the old 
 statements of confessions of faith, which one and all are similar in spirit 
 to this of the Protestant Episcopal Church : " Works done before the 
 grace of Christ and the inspiration of his Spirit are not pleasant to 
 God, forasmuch as they spring not from faith in Christ, nor do they 
 make men meet to receive grace, yea, rather, forasmuch as they are not 
 done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not 
 but they have the nature of sin." 
 
 The theological mind of America was at issue on these points, one 
 part insisting on man's absolute inability to good and dependence on the 
 Spirit of God, and the other side insisting that God never commanded 
 man to do what he was not fully able to perform. Princeton taught the 
 extreme form of the old conservative side, and New Haven the extreme 
 46 
 
722 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 of the advanced New England theology, while Andover held a middle 
 ground between the two. Meanwhile a design had arisen in the hearts 
 of some Christian men to establish, at Cincinnati, a theological seminary 
 for supplying ministers to the Western States, and they made overtures 
 to Dr. Beecher, as the man of all others to conduct this enterprise. 
 
 Speaking of this time, he says, " There was not a place on earth but 
 that that I would have opened my ears to for a moment. But I had felt 
 and thought and labored a great deal about raising up ministers, and the 
 thought that I might be called to teach the young ministry of the broad 
 West flashed through my mind like lightning. I went home, ran in and 
 found E alone in the sitting-room. I was in such a state of emo- 
 tion and excitement that I could not speak, and she was alarmed. At 
 last I told her. It was the greatest thought that ever entered my soul ; 
 it filled and displaced everything else." 
 
 The state of his people, whose church had just been burned down, 
 and who were depending on him to assist in rebuilding and gathering to- 
 gether in a new location, made it impossible at this time to entertain the 
 project. But after the church had been rebuilt, and the affairs of the so- 
 ciety were in prosperous order, the jjroposal was made again. It was an 
 application to leave a situation where he enjoyed every worldly advan- 
 tage. He had conquered a position in Boston. He was sure there of 
 an ample and generous support for his family, he was surrounded by an 
 admiring and loving church and congregation, associated with brethren 
 in the ministry whom he ardently loved, and who loved and respected 
 him in return. All this he renounced for missionary work in founding a 
 new institution in a Western State hundreds of miles away. 
 
 Among Dr. Beecher's private papers was found a most affecting and 
 solemn appeal to God, written at this time, in which he poured forth all 
 his feelings as a child to a parent : " Thou knowest the burning desire 
 of my heart for the West, and the burden of my soul for the millions of 
 my countrymen there are not hid from Thee. To my tears Thou hast 
 been witness, and to my great heaviness and continual sorrow, which 
 cannot be uttered, for my country and for this whole, most miserable 
 world, — Thou Lord knowest. I do, therefore, now consecrate myself to 
 Thee, O Lord my Saviour and my God, in the service to which I trust 
 Thou hast called me, in raising up the foundations of thy kingdom at 
 the West. I accept in thy sight, and for thy sake and thy kingdom, the 
 call to Lane Seminary, and the call to the church in Cincinnati, which 
 Thou hast purchased by thy blood : and I resign to Thee the church 
 and people whom Thou hast given me here, who are ineffably dear to me, 
 and this city, the scene of many conflicts, where Thou hast guided, sus- 
 tained, and defended me ; all these churches, some of which have risen 
 by my instrumentality, and all those ministers whom I have loved and 
 who have loved and aided me, — especially those dearly beloved brethren 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] LYMAN BEE CHER. 723 
 
 iu the ministry, with whom I have seen eye to eye. Lord, at thy bid^ 
 ding I resign them all to thy care and keeping." 
 
 It was in this spirit that he laid before the church his decision to re- 
 move to the West. 
 
 In this address he thus states the ground of his acceptance : " The 
 exigencies of our country demand seminaries, expositions of doctrine, 
 and preachers of such zeal and activity as guarantee, by the grace of 
 God, the continued effusion of his Spirit. And the question whether 
 the leading seminary of the West shall be one which inculcates ortho- 
 doxy, with or without revivals, is, in my view, a question of as great im- 
 portance as was ever permitted to a single human mind to decide. If I 
 accept, I consider the question settled, that a revival seminary takes the 
 lead, so much as probably to give a complexion forever to the doctrines 
 and revivals in that great world." 
 
 In estimating his fitness for the work he reviews his ministerial career: 
 " For the first ten years preaching to a congregation of implicit believers 
 in the doctrines and revivals, .... but in the presence of a crafty cavil- 
 ing infidelity, which had led away nearly the whole generation of young 
 men ; the greater portion of whom I left members of the church, and 
 nearly all of them rescued from infidelity and settled in the doctrines of 
 the gospel ; the next sixteen years, in a field where my predecessor had 
 pushed the unexplained points of hyper-Calvinism to the confines of Anti- 
 nomianism, throwing off some to Arminianism, and embodying others 
 into a band of doubting, chafed murmurers, — all of whom, during my 
 ministry, or since, have become convinced of the truth, and become mem- 
 bers of the church. The last six years I have been explaining and vin- 
 dicating the same system where, to a fearful extent, all definite belief in 
 the Bible and its doctrines had ceased, and where all the great elements 
 of moral government and all efficient sense of responsibility had passed 
 away, and if I may trust my own observations, and that of others, not 
 without marked indications of a return of public sentiment to the Bible, 
 its doctrines and institutions. 
 
 " The result has been, that, though I have never been immured with 
 books in my study, or occupied as a disputant in theological controversy, 
 yet my mind has been constantly exercised and disciplined in the exposi- 
 tion for popular apprehension, and the application for saving purposes, of 
 the great doctrines of the Reformation ; and when I look back and see 
 that one third of my ministry has been occupied in the labors of revivals 
 among my own people, I have dared to hope that in my mode of ex- 
 plaining and applying the doctrines of the Bible I have been guided by 
 the Spirit, and the call now made upon me to write upon the minds and 
 hearts of a new generation of ministers the results of an extended ex- 
 perience leads me to inquire whether He, who sees the end from the be- 
 ginning, may not have been preparing me for the self-same thing by the 
 unusual vicissitudes of my ministry." 
 
724 THE CHURCirS REFORMED PROGRESS. [Peuiod V. 
 
 lu conclusion, Dr. Beecher alluded briefly to the threatened controver- 
 sial division among the orthodox of New England. He expressed his 
 belief that the dilfereuces between the two parties had been exagger- 
 ated ; that " though there were shades of difference among ministers, they 
 respected circumstantials, not fundamentals, and are not inconsistent with 
 revivals and the blessing of God on either side." 
 
 " And when," he added, " I see the cause of temperance, and missions, 
 and revivals, all moving the right way, and such dark clouds dispelled as 
 just now threatened over a great portion of the churcli, .... I cannot 
 believe God intends to give up the ministers of New England to the in- 
 fatuated madness and folly of rushing into an angry controversy ; and if 
 they should do it, I could not perceive it to be my duty to remain and 
 wear out my strength and spirit in contending with good men. 
 
 " Against the enemies of the Lord I can lift up the spear with good 
 will, but with the friends of the Lord Jesus Christ I cannot find it in my 
 heart to enter into controversy, — no, I cannot do it — I cannot do it." 
 
 Dr. Beecher's church, trained by their pastor in missionary spirit, ac- 
 knowledged the needs and superior claims of the great West, and resigned 
 their beloved pastor to the work in a spirit of love and prayer. 
 
 On the 14th of November, 1832, Dr. Beecher with his family arrived in 
 Cincinnati. Here he assumed at the same time the position of pastor to 
 the Second Presbyterian Church, and president of the new theological 
 seminary, situated on Walnut Hills, about two miles from the city. 
 Here Dr. Beecher spent nineteen years, — the most trying, perplexing, 
 laborious, and stormy period of his life. 
 
 It would seem as if every element of discord and debate were let loose 
 like the winds from the cave of iEolus, to swoop down upon the infant 
 enterprise. 
 
 Lane Seminary was upon the borders of a slave state, and the slav- 
 ery controversy was even then shaking the land as with an earthquake. 
 The Presbyterian Church, a large proportion of whose Southern mem- 
 bers were slaveholders, was surging and heaving with wild excitement 
 upon this subject, and every meeting of a general assembly was dis- 
 tracted and almost convulsed by it ; and it was during Dr. Beecher's first 
 seven years of labor that the crisis came which finally rent the Presby- 
 terian Church in twain. 
 
 The theological controversy which Dr. Beecher had dreaded, and from 
 which he had hoped to withdraw, burst out immediately with renewed 
 vigor on his arrival at the West. The new school doctrines and the old 
 school doctrines began to array their lines of battle through the whole 
 United States. The old school party formed an alliance, offensive and 
 defensive, with the proslavery party in the South to resist the agitating 
 efforts of the abolitionists. The new school body, preaching imme- 
 diate repentance and forsaking of sin, denounced slavery as sin against 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] LYMAN BEECHER. 725 
 
 God, calling for immediate repentance, and requiring ecclesiastical dis- 
 cipline.^ The antislavery party at this time was in tv70 divisions : — 
 
 (1.) Those outside of all existing organizations who denounced the 
 Constitution of the United States as a covenant with death, and an agree- 
 ment with hell, and the church as a den of thieves. At the head of this 
 party stood Garrison and the " Liberator." 
 
 (2.) Those who, like Charles Sumner in the state and Dr. Albert 
 Barnes in the church, deemed it their duty to remain in existing organ- 
 izations, and endeavor to use them for the purpose of promoting eman- 
 cij^ation. In this party Dr. Beecher was a leader. 
 
 Immediately on his arrival in Cincinnati he was beset on one side by 
 the theological attack of the " old school " party, and on the other by the 
 no less dangerous attacks of the radical abolitionists. Dr. Joshua Wilson, 
 of the First Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, brought charges of 
 heresy against him in the Cincinnati Presbytery, and he underwent a 
 public trial. He was acquitted in presbytery, and the case appealed 
 to synod ; acquitted in synod, it was appealed to the general assembly, 
 where at last Dr. "Wilson was induced to withdraw his charges, and Dr. 
 Beecher was suffered to go clear. Thus, for a space of three years, 
 the controversy with good men which he deprecated was forced upon 
 him, and the time which he had hoped to give to revivals of religion 
 and the conversion of souls was consumed in writing theological state- 
 ments and defenses. 
 
 Meanwhile slavery agitation was introduced into the youthful seminary, 
 by the inception of a large class of pupils of the Oneida Manual Labor 
 Institute, under the leadership of Theodore Weld. This class discussed 
 the subject of slavery for nine consecutive nights, and began immediate 
 labors among the free colored population of Cincinnati. 
 
 As only a river separated that city from slave territory, the reaction 
 was immediate. Lane Seminary was threatened with demolition, and at 
 that period there was the best reason in the world for believing that the 
 threat would be executed. In those days a mob from across the Ohio 
 twice destroyed the antislavery printing-press of Dr. Bailey, throwing 
 his types into the Ohio River. They promenaded the streets of Cincin- 
 nati, abusing and threatening the free colored people, so that respectable 
 families found it difficult to save the lives of their own servants. There 
 was no efficient interference of city authorities ; no retribution in courts 
 of justice for such acts, and had the mob fulfilled their threats of burning 
 down Lane Seminary there would have been no legal redress. 
 
 Under these circumstances it cannot be wondered at that the trustees 
 of the seminary, as legal guardians of the property, took the matter into 
 their own hands, and, in the absence of Dr. Beecher and the faculty dur- 
 
 1 Chiefly true of the Southern old school and the Northern new school. But many 
 Northern old school, as Drs. MacMaster and Thomas, were for abolition, and most Southern 
 new school, as Dr. Ross, were strongly for slavery. 
 
726 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 ing a summer vacation, passed votes whose eifect was designed to stop 
 the antislaveiy discussion in the seminary, and the antislavery labors of 
 its students in the community. 
 
 These laws, passed during Dr. Beecher's absence, caused the secession 
 from the seminary of a class of forty young men. His utmost powers 
 of mediation were used on his return with both parties in vain. The 
 young men left, and went to Oberlin, and there formed the nucleus of a 
 new theological seminary ; and thus in fact Dr. Beecher's removal to the 
 "West was the means of founding two theological schools instead of one. 
 
 Dr. Beecher's conduct on this occasion has been severely criticised. 
 The extreme abolitionists contended that he and his fellow professors 
 ought to have followed the example of the students and resigned their 
 professorships. But this in effect would have been to surrender the insti- 
 tution to the defenders and allies of slavery. Dr. Beecher felt it his duty 
 to hold the fort for better things. 
 
 The landed endowments of the seminary were rich, but they were in 
 great part the gift of a family who, with one exception, then belonged 
 to the old school party, and bitterly repented the donation, and only 
 waited for some legal pretext to recover the possession. Had they 
 been able to prove that the institution, instead of fulfilling the purposes 
 stated in its charter, had been in effect changed into an abolition propa- 
 ganda, they could have brought suits with a fair pretext ; and there was 
 at that time little favor to be hoped from the decision of courts. Dr. 
 Beecher was at all times an open and avowed antislavery man. Lane 
 Seminary, from tlie first, received colored students on equal footing with 
 whites ; and a former slave, named James Bradley, was a member of the 
 very first class, and treated with especial consideration by faculty and 
 students. 
 
 Those professors who were especially called by Dr. Beecher to his 
 side were also outspoken and decided antislavery men ; and he soon had 
 laboring with him, as ministers in the Presbyterian Church, five sons, 
 all outspoken and determined abolitionists, and each in his sphere doing 
 their utmost in pulpit and ecclesiastical meetings to intensify the anti- 
 slavery feeling in the Presbyterian Church. It may well, therefore, be a 
 question whether the antislavery influence of Dr. Beecher and his family 
 was not in their chosen line and sjDhere quite as efficient a factor in the 
 final result, as those of the radical abolitionists. 
 
 For a while, however, the interests of Lane Seminary suffered on 
 all hands. The attacks on Dr. Beecher's orthodoxy alarmed some ; the 
 ultra abolitionists were disgusted because the seminary did no more in 
 the cause of the slave ; the proslavery party threatened its destruction 
 because it did so much. The classes from 1836 to 1840 were sensibly 
 diminished in numbers, and in 1837 tlie failure of Arthur Tappan de- 
 prived the institution of the divinity professorship, on the income of 
 which Dr. Beecher's salary depended. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] LYMAN BEE CHER. 727 
 
 In one of tlie doctor's commonplace books was found entered the fol- 
 lowing memorandum : " I have this morning received a letter from New 
 York, informing me that my draft on Mr. Tappan has been dishonored 
 on account of his suspension of payment. Thus has the ground of my 
 
 support failed But my confidence that it was the will of God 
 
 that I should come here has not failed, my confidence that the end of 
 my coming would be the establishment of Lane Seminary has not failed, 
 and my confidence that God was well pleased with my coming, and ap- 
 proved my motive, and will sustain me in my life of dependence on Him 
 as He has done, has not failed. And though one half a needed income has 
 suddenly stopped, and I know not precisely in what manner my wants 
 are to be supplied, I desire to praise Him who has clothed and fed me 
 and mine to this day, that I do not distrust Him, but am cheerful and 
 happy in my confidence in Him, whose I am and whom I serve." 
 
 Meanwhile the great under-current in the Presbyterian Church was 
 steadily drifting towards disunion, for in this same year, 1837, the gen- 
 eral assembly, meeting in Philadelphia, passed a resolution to cite before 
 them all those presbyteries and synods that were suspected of heresy, 
 the ministers and the elders of all such synods to be deprived of a seat 
 in the next general assembly. By this method four synods, covering two 
 thirds of New York and part of Ohio, were " exscinded," numbering five 
 hundred and ninety-nine churches and fifty-seven thousand communicants. 
 While heresies in doctrine were the nominal cause of this attack, it is to 
 be remarked that the synods thus indicated were those that had been in 
 the front ranks of the antislavery protest. Private letters from leading 
 Southern clergymen had already explained that Southern members could 
 not and would not longer tolerate a union with abolitionists, and this 
 bigh-handed proceeding was the means of effecting a separation. 
 
 In 1838, therefore, Dr. Beecher was at the decisive meeting of the 
 general assembly. The roll of the assembly was called, omitting the 
 four synods. Their representatives offered their commissions, which 
 were refused without explanation. Immediately the new school portion 
 rose and read a declaration to the effect that whereas, contrary to law, 
 certain synods are denied a seat in the assembly, " We now proceed to 
 organize the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United 
 States of America with as little disturbance as possible." Moderator 
 and clerks being elected, the new school proclaimed that the General As- 
 sembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States was now or- 
 ganized, and would proceed forthwith to the First Presbyterian Church. 
 The new school assembly marched down the aisle, the greater part of the 
 throng following them, and walked in procession to the First Church. 
 Thus were the new and old school assemblies divided, and so com- 
 pletely was it a question other than that of doctrine,^ that there remained 
 in the new school church only three presbyteries in slave-holding States. 
 
 1 The "Minutes" make it largely a question of church order. Thus regarded the ex- 
 scinding, however severe, may not have been "highhanded," but constitutional. — H. M. M. 
 
728 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 It was a dramatic and striking attendant on this event, that the day of 
 the disunion Liberty Hall was in flames, set on fire by the proslavery 
 mob, and the next day the African Hall on Thirteenth Street was on 
 fire, the mob cutting the hose to prevent its destruction. 
 
 As usual, in those days, there was no efficient resistance of the author- 
 ities to these outrages, and the blame of the whole ti-ausaction was 
 thrown upon the abolitionists. 
 
 The decision as to which body was to be recognized as the Presby- 
 terian Church was appealed to the courts in the State of Pennsylvania. 
 The first decision in the Nisi Prius term, under Judge Rodgers, was in 
 favor of the new school. The court in bank, however, reversed this de- 
 cision in favor of the old school. A suit of ejectment was now com- 
 menced against the officers of Lane Seminary, as not belonging to the 
 Presbyterian Church of the United States. The Hon. S. P. Chase argued 
 the case in favor of Lane Seminary, and succeeded in obtaining a decision 
 that placed the institution on firm legal grounds for all time. From this 
 time the difficulties in the establishment of the seminary were substantially 
 overcome. 
 
 In 1839 Dr. Beecher returned with enthusiasm and success to his 
 labors as a revival preacher. He visited Oxford College, and spent there 
 two happy weeks preaching and conversing with religious inquirers. It 
 was estimated that at this time there were over one hundred converts, 
 eighty from the college. In his private memoranda Dr. Beecher thus 
 speaks : " The Lord has permitted the accumulation upon me for the last 
 few years, in domestic and public cai'es, anxieties, and labors, a greater 
 pressure of responsibility and suspense, of baffled plans and hopes, than 
 ever before in my life ; and withal in a state far distant, among strangers, 
 and remote from the cheering sympathy of that host of friends who had 
 grown up around me, and on whom the slanders and misrepresentations 
 of alienated friends and the conspiracy of religious party spirit could 
 have no influence to embarrass my success. In the mean time my mind 
 and body were tasked by responsibilities sufficient for the time and re- 
 sources of two men Often has been the time when I thought the 
 
 last cord was broken, and my last work on earth done ; and now if any 
 man can say it, I can say. Having obtained help of God I continue to 
 this day. I trust God is preparing for me at the West a more open 
 door with less distraction from adversaries, .... where the cooperation 
 of cordial friends will affisrd me opportunities of cheerful efficient ac- 
 tion." 
 
 From this time, the course of the seminary became every year more 
 prosperous. Two professors had resigned during the season of discour- 
 agement, and their places were filled by young men who brought vigor 
 and strength to the institution. The lines being now thoroughly drawn 
 between the old and new school parties, the theological controversy 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] LYMAN BEE CHER. 729 
 
 ceased, and tbe churches set themselves quietly to the culture of spiritual 
 religion. The young colleges of the West, Jacksonville, Marietta, Craw- 
 fordsville, Oxford, and Western Reserve, were in sympathy vrith the 
 seminary, and sent a yearly increasing number of students. Powerful 
 revivals of religion began to be heard of through the churches, and the 
 students from Lane exhibited a truly evangelical enthusiasm in meeting 
 the labors and hardships incident to establishing new churches in a new 
 country; so that Dr. Beecher, writing to a friend in 1842, says, "The 
 Lord has delivered and prospered, so that I look back on all, as the ship 
 looks back on squalls and head winds past, when favoring gales give her 
 a prosperous course." 
 
 The difficulties which Dr. Beecher encountered during these seven 
 stormy years that established Lane Seminary were enough to have wholly 
 broken down a less determined man. In the very midst of the ecclesias- 
 tical trial, his wife, the mother of four of his children, sunk under the 
 debilitating Western climate, and died. Rumors most unfavorable to him 
 were circulated through all the circle of his Eastern friends, exposing him 
 to a constant galling fire of letters of alarm, inquiry, and remonstrance; 
 The foundation of his pecuniary support gave way ; students were indus- 
 triously prevented from joining the seminary ; some of the professors left 
 in despair ; and in all this stress of weather the only man who did not for 
 an instant lose hope and courage, or admit the thought of abandoning the 
 enterprise, was Dr. Beecher. 
 
 He worked, said Professor Stowe, during all these years like a Her- 
 cules. Disappointment followed disappointment, obstacle was piled on 
 obstacle. Ossa piled on Pelion, and Olympus on Ossa ; friends fell off, 
 foes multiplied ; endowments diminished, and salaries ceased ; prejudices 
 were inflamed, and students kept away. Still he was hopeful and jovial, 
 always good-natured and never irritated. If students would not offer 
 themselves he would go after them ; if regular income failed he would 
 beg ; if he could not clamber over an obstacle he would go round it or 
 dig through it ; disappointed in one thing he would hope for another that 
 would surely be better when he got it. He was not only hopeful and 
 cheerful, but a spring of hope and cheer to all around him, and the sound 
 of his rapid elastic footstep, and the ring of his confident tones, seemed 
 to inspire courage wherever he came. 
 
 He fulfilled to the letter his own advice to his students : " When things 
 are so bad and so dark that it seems as if you could n't hold out another 
 minute — don't let go then — you may be sure a change is coming, and 
 many a cause has been lost because a man could n't hold on." 
 
 In May, 1851, Dr. Beecher resigned the presidency of Lane Seminary, 
 which he left well established and prosperous, and returned to New Eng- 
 land, where he devoted himself to the labor of preparing his works for 
 the press. For several years he continued to preach occasionally, and to 
 
730 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 labor in revivals. When he was no longer able to do this he settled in 
 Brooklyn, and became a constant attendant on the preachings and prayer 
 meetings in Plymouth Church. To hear his own son continuing in the 
 course begun under his teachings was almost as good as to be young 
 himself. 
 
 Gradually his power of expression failed, and his mind was overclouded 
 and wandering, but the ruling passion was still strong in him. A friend 
 seeing him sitting as he often sat, as if in deep thought, said, " Dr. 
 Beecher, you know a great deal ; tell us what is the greatest of all things." 
 His eye flashed, his face kindled, and he said, " It is not theology, it 
 is not controversy, but it is to save souls ! " To save souls had been 
 from first to last the passion of his life. 
 
 A short time before his death the veil that had settled over his mind 
 was suddenly rent, and he had a full enjoyment of the Beatific Vision ; a 
 vision not of earthly glory or physical brightness, but of the perfections 
 of God. His face became radiant, his utterance strong. He said, "I 
 have begun to go. Oh, such scenes ! I have seen the King in his beauty ! 
 Blessed God for revealing Thyself. How wonderful that a creature can 
 appi-oach the Creator so as to awake in his likeness ! " He spoke of each 
 of his children, and left his parting blessing upon them. From this ec- 
 stasy he fell into a sweet sleep, his face still illumined with a solemn and 
 divine radiance, and so in his eighty-seventh year he entered into rest. — 
 H. B. S. 
 
 LIFE XXIV. CHARLES FINNEY. 
 
 A. D. 1792-A. D. 1875. CONGUEGATIONAL, AMERICA. 
 
 There was nothing extraordinary about the circumstances attending 
 the birth and early life of the subject of this story, to warrant the ex- 
 pectation that he would be a man of special mark, or wield any unusual 
 influence. But the most casual reader of this brief record of a life abound- 
 ing in labors rewarded with peculiar success will not fail to be impressed 
 with the fact that Providence raised up this man, and endowed him with 
 rare gifts for a special and great mission. Charles Finney was born in 
 Son of a New ^.he little town of Litchfield, Connecticut, August 29, 1792. 
 England farmer. Hjg f.^^her, Sylvcster Finney, was a farmer in a rather small 
 way, and a good neighbor, a happy, jolly man, beloved by every one. 
 He brought up a large family, every member of which became au honest, 
 law-abiding, and respected citizen ; only one, however, besides Charles, 
 entering a i)rofession. George, the youngest of the sous, was also a 
 minister. 
 
 Tlie family removed to Oneida County, New York, when Charles was 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] CHARLES FINNEY. 731 
 
 about two years old, and a few years later moved again into the wilder- 
 ness on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. Remaining at home until 
 about twenty yeai-s of age, assisting on the farm, and attending such 
 schools as were occasionally in session in the neighborhood, Charles 
 rarely heard a sermon, and knew little of religious teaching. Then he 
 went into New Jersey, near New York city, and commenced teaching. 
 For six years he continued to teach and to study, intermitting the teach- 
 ing at two or three different times to attend a session of a New England 
 high school, and in 1818 entered a law office in Adams, New York, as 
 a student. 
 
 In studying elementary law, he found frequent reference to the Script- 
 ures, especially to the Mosaic Institutes, as authority for many of the 
 principles of common law. Consequently he bought a Bible, 
 the first he ever owned, which he read and pondered a good buys his first 
 deal in connection with his law studies, but with very little 
 comprehension of much of it. He now attended religious services reg- 
 ularly on the Sabbath, and sometimes the weekly prayer meeting, when 
 his duties did not require his attention at the office. He became more 
 and more interested in religion, and in the teachings of the Bible ; 
 holding long and frequent conversations with his pastor on the doctrinal 
 points of the gospel ; reading diligently, and finally praying earnestly 
 that he might know the right way, and have courage to walk in it. Sud- 
 denly, as the light from heaven shone upon Saul of Tarsus, the gospel 
 plan of salvation, complete and full, dawned upon his mind, and he ac- 
 cepted the sacx'ifice Christ had made for him with a heart overflowing 
 with love and gratitude. At once he said to himself, " I will preach the 
 gospel." He gave up a law case which was to be tried the next morn- 
 ing after this experience, saying to his client, "• I have a retainer from 
 the Lord Jesus Christ to jolead his cause, and I cannot plead yours," and 
 immediately set about talking with all whom he met on the great impor- 
 tance of their souls' salvation. He went from house to house the whole 
 day, and several persons professed conversion from the hour when Mr. 
 Finney talked to them in his simple, direct, and earnest way, of their duty 
 to God. The time was ripe for the man, and God raised him up. The 
 whole village was awakened, and almost every one in it, young, middle- 
 aged, and old, was converted. 
 
 After some weeks spent in daily and hourly labor among the people, 
 he went for a brief visit to his father, who lived in the small town of 
 Henderson. His father met him at the gate and asked after his health. 
 He replied, " I am well, father, but how is it that I never heard a prayer 
 in my father's house ? " The old man dropped his head, and tears came 
 into his eyes, as he answered, " Come in, Charles, and pray yourself." 
 Both father and mother, and some of his brothers and sisters, became 
 converts, and the religious feeling spread all through that community 
 also. 
 
732 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 In the spring of 1822 he put himself under the care of the presbytery, 
 
 and as he had not means to go to Princeton, his pastor, the Rev. Mr. 
 
 Gale, was appointed his instructor. In March, 1824, he was 
 
 Begins to preach. . 
 
 licensed to preach. Although frankly acknowledging that 
 he did not subscribe to all the doctrines of the Presbyterian denomina- 
 tion, he did not fail to convince all that he was called to preach, the 
 numerous conversions attending his lay labors corroborating the evi- 
 dence. Many men have preached effectively, and swayed masses with the 
 force and earnestness of their speech, but to few has been given such an 
 array of physical advantages to aid them in their work, as was granted 
 to this young man, now about to go forth to do battle against sin and evil. 
 Pie was of tall figure and majestic presence ; he had a noble head, a keen 
 blue eye, that could transfix with its sharp, penetrating gaze, or melt with 
 its tenderness, a voice sonorous and clear, without harshness, and capable 
 of stirring the heart like a clarion, or of bringing tears to the eyes with 
 its pathetic pleading; above all, a magnetism which fascinated and heM 
 in closest attention all in his presence. His peculiar mental characteris- 
 tics were quickness of perception, clearness of discrimination, and logical 
 acuteness. 
 
 With these advantages, physical and mental, and a soul imbued with 
 the love of God and of immortal souls, wholly devoted to his work, what 
 was lacking to make sure his success ? He himself tells us that he had 
 always felt that the great need in the preaching of the gospel was the 
 " baptism of the Holy Ghost poui-ed out on the preacher." " This," he 
 says, " is not the gift of tongues, nor the power to work miracles, but a 
 divine purifying, an anointing, bestowing on its subjects a divine illumi- 
 nation, filling them with faith and love, with peace and power," This 
 " baptism " he sought and found, and then he went forth armed and 
 equipped, beginning his modest labors in a little place called Evans's 
 Mills, in Jefferson County, New York. From this time on for a period 
 of fifty years, the record is one of constant labor ; in season and out of 
 season, in church and by the way-side, in city and country, in this coun- 
 try and in England, with an activity and intensity that never faltered, 
 and a zeal for God and the souls of men almost without parallel. After 
 preaching a short time at Evans's Mills he was urged to go to Antwerp, 
 an adjacent town. He accordingly divided his time between the two 
 places, allowing an occasional evening for a sermon at a German settle- 
 ment near by. Nearly every soul in Evans's Mills was brought into the 
 church, and among the Germans the work was surprising, several middle- 
 aged persons learning to read that they might read the Bible. The whole 
 . , , community was converted. Mr. Finney says, " I preached 
 
 A whole com- *' j j ' r 
 
 munity con- the atonement of Jesus Christ, his divinity, his divine mis- 
 verted. . , . „ •' 
 
 sion, his perfect life, his vicarious death, his resurrec- 
 tion, repentance, justification by faith. I insisted upon the voluntary 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] CHARLES FINNEY. - 733 
 
 total moral depravity of the uuregenerate, and the unalterable necessity 
 of a radical change of heart, by the Holy Ghost, and by means of the 
 truth." 
 
 At this time he was ordained by the presbytery, and for six months 
 labored in that same region of Western New York, going on horseback 
 from town to town, visiting from house to house, attending prayer meet- 
 ings, preaching day and night. He says, " I preached out-of-doors, I 
 preached in barns, I preached in school-houses, and a glorious revival of 
 religion spread all over that new country." One element of his success 
 among this uneducated population was the simplicity of his language, 
 and the use of numerous and common illustrations. It was his study so 
 to present the truths of the gospel, which were made for every soul of 
 man, that they should reach the humblest and most illitei-ate, to make 
 them clear to the comprehension by illustrations such as would be most 
 familiar to those addressed. He was blamed at times for using too much 
 repetition, but he contended that it was necessary, especially in dealing 
 with minds unused to consecutive thought, to repeat the same truth over 
 and over again, at first to attract attention, then to still repeat, until the 
 subject was fixed in their memory. That there are now persons living 
 who can not only tell the texts from which he preached in those days, 
 but give a clear synopsis of the discourse, proves the wisdom of his 
 course. 
 
 At Antwerp he found a very wicked and profane community, with 
 only three pious women in it, one of whom opened her parlor for the 
 first meeting. In walking about the town, a sort of terror took hold of 
 him, hearing the cursing and swearing in the streets, and at every place 
 of business. He appointed a preaching service in the school-house on 
 Sunday, and on Saturday, while praying for help to reach and save these 
 godless people, this text of. Scripture came home to his heart to comfort 
 him : " Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace ; for I am with 
 thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee." When he went to the 
 school-house on the Sabbath morning, he found it packed to its utmost 
 capacity, and without any preparation he opened his pocket Bible, and 
 read the text that offered itself, " For God so loved the world, that He 
 sent his only begotten Son," etc. The people listened with awed atten- 
 tion ; they quailed when he told them how they requited God's love with 
 blasphemy, and at last nearly the whole audience was in tears. In the 
 afternoon he was invited to come into the church, and from that time the 
 good work spread in all directions. Afterward he preached in Gouver- 
 neur. Western, Eome, Utica, Auburn, Troy, New Lebanon, and many 
 smaller places. Everywhere the same deep interest was manifested ; 
 everywhere the gospel presented in its simplicity, and with earnestness, 
 wrought wondrous things, and thousands turned from evil courses and 
 became persistent Christians. Preaching morning and evening, holding 
 
734 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 inquiry meetings after each service, visiting from house to house, some- 
 times preaching twice a day in one place and then riding several miles 
 to preach a third time, left no time for the preparation of sermons. 
 Never was the promise, " For it shall be given you in that hour what ye 
 shall speak," so remarkably fulfilled. The man seemed inspired each 
 day, and the text from which he should speak and the points to make in 
 each instance appeared to be given him directly from above. He went 
 into a little village where the houses were almost all on one street, strag- 
 gling along for a mile or two, and it was told him that there was not a 
 religious family on the street. He preached in a school-house on the 
 same street from the words, " The curse of the Lord is in the house of 
 the wicked." A profound impression was made on the villagers, many 
 were converted at once, and the feeling spread rapidly, until not a flimily 
 remained impenitent. In one family sixteen children and grandchildren 
 united with the church at one time, and seventeen of one family at an- 
 other. Of course, there was opposition ; such revivals were contrary to 
 all precedent, and many expostulated, some earnestly opposed. But the 
 preacher had no time to quarrel with any, his only answer being, " God 
 seems to bless my efforts ; while He does, I shall believe that I am right, 
 and never cease my labors." 
 
 In this way the time passed until 1828, when he was invited to go 
 His work in ^^ Philadelphia and labor. He accepted the invitation, 
 Philadelphia. preaching in different churches as they were opened to him 
 for several months, until urged to take a central position, and preach 
 steadily in one place. The largest church then in the city was a Ger- 
 man church on Race Street, and this was the place fixed upon for the 
 continuance of his labors. It was said to seat three thousand persons, 
 and nightly it was crowded to its utmost capacity. He preached here 
 for a year and a half, and there was no abatement of the revival during 
 the entire period. Tlije converts were numerous in all parts of the city, 
 and they united with all the different denominations, for there was noth- 
 ing sectarian uttered or countenanced at any time by their teacher. In 
 the spring of 1829, when the Delaware River was high, the lumbermen 
 came down with their rafts from the lumber regions of Pennsylvania. 
 In that section of country were large tracts of forest, through which 
 were scattered the log-cabins of the lumbermen and their families. They 
 were there, without schools, without churches, without teaching of any 
 sort. Some who went down to the city with their floating lumber 
 strayed providentially into the evening meetings on Race Street, and be- 
 coming much interested went again, until many were convei'ted, and 
 went home carrying the good news ; and the work of conversion spread 
 in all that wild region, over a tract of country eighty miles in extent, 
 until it was reported that five thousand persons had been converted, and 
 that without a minister, or a single sermon, through the instrumentality 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] CHARLES FINNEY. 735 
 
 of the few who carried the blessed story as they heard it in Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
 Afterward the preacher labored in New York city for several months, 
 and in the fall of 1830 he went to Rochester. The city great work in 
 contained then a population of about ten thousand, and Boci»ester. 
 during the revival which followed eight hundred persons wei-e converted. 
 A revival of like proportion now would number six or seven thousand 
 converts. In commencing his labors in Eochester, he began, as was his 
 custom ever after, to preach to the church, first trying to revive it, and 
 bring it into a proper frame of mind to assist in the work among the 
 unconverted. An eye-witness of those labors says, " The duties and re- 
 sponsibilities of a Christian life were so portrayed as absolutely to amaze 
 and frighten the cold and backslidden professor. The sins of worldli- 
 ness, lukewarmness, and neglect of duty were set in startling colors ; the 
 atmosphere of the place seemed surcharged with the solemnity of eter- 
 nity, and there was in the speaker the dignity and majesty of one of the 
 old prophets. His words were like flames of fire. False hopes were 
 consumed, backsliders were brought trembling and astonished to the feet 
 of the Saviour. Reconciliations were effected between estranged breth- 
 ren. The sermon from the text, ' Am I my brother's keeper ? ' and that 
 from ;;he words, ' Others save with fear and trembling, pulling them out 
 of the fire,' made a prodigious impression. Christians being thus aroused, 
 he was prepared to preach to sinners. He began with the law, showing 
 what its requirements are, and what its penalty, and the justice of them ; 
 how absolutely necessary to the order and stability of the moral uni- 
 verse, and how fearful a thing it is then to sin against the law-giver and 
 all the interests of the universe." When persons were awakened by 
 these presentations, and tremblingly asked, " What shall we do to be 
 saved ? " then with great pity and tenderness they were pointed to the 
 cross, to the Lamb of God, who bore our punishment for us; and his ex- 
 ceeding love was opened to their view, in all its fullness and power, and 
 with tears and entreaties they were urged to accept it until a heart of 
 stone could resist no longer. 
 
 All the towns in the vicinity were aroused. The preacher went from 
 one to another as he could find time, and taught and helped them. Over 
 twelve thousand members were added that year to the churches of the 
 Rochester presbytery alone, besides the great ingathering into churches 
 of other denominations. But it was not by members alone that the good 
 results were shown ; the only theatre in the city was converted into a 
 livery stable, and a circus into a factory ; grog-shops were closed, the Sab- 
 bath honored, and men seemed to live to do good. Among the converts 
 were lawyers, judges, physicians, mei'chants, bankers, and master mechan- 
 ics ; and as all the leaders of society had changed their modes of life and 
 feeling, social life, business, and civil affairs, all had a different tone. 
 
736 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 Even the courts and prisons felt the change ; the jail was nearly empty 
 for years afterwards. The preacher visited Rochester again in 1842, a 
 third time in 1856, and each time one thousand souls were given him as 
 his hire. One of the converts of the first revival says feelingly, " It is 
 not too much to say that thousands are indebted to that wonderful man 
 for their success in life, for position, competence, influence, home, kin- 
 dred, friends, and daily joys ! What miserable shipwreck many of them 
 might have made, both for this world and the next, had he not met them, 
 and moved them by his mighty influence, it is not difficult to conject- 
 ure." 
 
 In 1832 he went for a second time to New York, where the Tappan 
 brothers and others purchased the Chatham Street Theatre 
 city. " The and fitted it up for a church. Here he preached to throng- 
 ing thousands for two or three years, until the site of the 
 Broadway Theatre, which was destroyed by fire, was for sale, when his 
 friends bought it, and erected, after plans suggested by himself, the 
 Broadway Tabernacle. During the years at Chatham Street Chapel, so 
 many were the converts, that they were urged to go into different parts 
 of the city and establish new churches. The result was the springing 
 up of seven young churches, which all flourished and grew, without how- 
 ever diminishing in the least the crowd that worshiped in the chapel. 
 About this time need was felt of a religious newspaper, which should 
 represent the advanced ideasin religious teaching, and aid Charles Fin- 
 ney in his work. Accordingly the New York " Evangelist " was estab- 
 lished. Finney's morning sermons were reported for this paper ; and 
 when he could find time, he contributed other papers, on theology, practi- 
 cal piety, etc. These papers were afterward printed in a volume, under 
 the title, " Finney's Lectures on Revivals," and twelve thousand copies 
 were sold at once. They were afterward reprinted in England and 
 France, and translated into Welsh and German, one London publisher 
 issuing eighty thousand copies. The Congregational ministers of the 
 principality of Wales appointed a committee to inform the preacher of 
 the great revival that had resulted from the translation of this book into 
 Welsh. 
 
 Those who built the " Tabernacle," and who were the leading members 
 of the church, decided that it should be governed as a Congregational 
 church. Accordingly, Finney took his dismission from the presbytery, 
 and became pastor of that church as a Congregational ist. He was ever 
 ' after identified with this denomination, although, as has before been 
 stated, very liberal in his views, and shunning anything like sectarianism 
 in teaching and in feeling. In 1835, the college at Oberlin, Ohio, was 
 founded, and Charles Finney was urged to take the chair of theology ; 
 th.e plan being to make the school ultimately a university, but prox- 
 imately to fit young men for the ministry. He hesitated for some time ; 
 
Cent. XVII. -XIX.] CHARLES FINNEY. 737 
 
 his work seemed to him peculiarly that of an evangelist ; but at last he 
 consented to spend a part of each year teaching in this Western semi- 
 nary, with the privilege of carrying on his labors in New York iu the 
 winter. This arrangement was carried out for two or three years, but 
 was found to be too great a tax upon his strength, and the number of 
 students greatly increasing in OberHu, the duty to the college seemed 
 paramount, and he resigned his pastorate in New York. He became 
 pastor of the church in Oberlin, which for more than twenty years was 
 the only church in the town, and finally numbered nearly two thousand 
 communicants, so that it became necessary to divide it. For a number 
 of years he thus increased in labors, as pastor of so large a church, as 
 professor of theology, and during the vacation in college when his strength 
 would at all allow, as preacher, toiling in other towns and cities, some- 
 times in the East, then again in the West, at Cincinnati and other 
 places. 
 
 Twice during this time he went to England, where he preached in: 
 Houghton, Birmingham, Worcester, and in Whitefield's Tab- yhs work in 
 ernacle, Finsbury, London. This last place of worship England, 
 could seat three thousand persons. It was constantly filled, although'^ 
 week-day religious services were then almost unknown in London. 
 Upon the first call for those who would like personal conversation upon 
 the subject of the soul's salvation, to repair to a certain hall in the 
 neighborhood at the close of the preaching, some fifteen or sixteen 
 hundred persons thronged in, and filled the room to its utmost capacity. 
 There was weeping and audible sobbing all over the house, as the- 
 preacher in the simplest and clearest way pointed out to them the duty 
 of immediate and entire submission to God. This was only one of many 
 evenings that followed in that large church in the midst of London, 
 where he labored for nine mouths. He was often accosted in the streets,. 
 when walking in different parts of the city, by perfect strangers, who 
 would say, " Beg pardon, Mr. Finney, but I can't pass you without stop- 
 ping to thank you for the great good your sermons have done me." A 
 rector of an EpiscojDal church attended the meetings several times, and 
 then went to preaching with all his might to promote a revival in his. 
 own parish. He established meetings at twenty different places in the 
 parish, and in a short time fifteen hundred persons were converted as a 
 result of his efforts. When Finney left London, four or five Episcopal 
 churches were holding revival services, and the number of converts was 
 increasing. It was ten years before Finney went again to England. 
 He found to his astonishment that the work had never ceased, but had 
 been spreading in all directions. In 1858, after preaching a few weeks 
 in Houghton, he went to Borough Road Chapel, London. Here he met 
 with the same large success, and what is better, left the church so awak- 
 ened and in earnest, that, for years after, they expected, and really did 
 47 
 
738 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 have, conversions every week. Before returning home he visited Edin- 
 burgh, and also Aberdeen, with blessed results. After this he returned 
 to England for a few months, preaching in Bolton and in Manchester. 
 In the former place sixty mill-hands were converted in one evening, at 
 a meeting held for their especial benefit in the mills. After two years 
 of this constant and wearing labor, he returned to Oberlin, and resumed 
 his teaching and preaching there. 
 
 On returning from the first visit to England, Finney had become pres- 
 ident of the colleije, without, however, resigning any of his 
 
 President of xt • -i ^n i • f -i 
 
 Oberlin ; his other duties. He contmued to nil this place until a very 
 eo ogy. ^^^ years before his death, when advancing years, and their 
 
 usual infirmities, made it necessary for him to be relieved from some of 
 his cares. He taught his classes until the end of the college year pre- 
 ceding his death, and preached but a very short time before the close of 
 his life, with much power and earnestness. In the language of one of 
 his pupils and friends, " He was for more than a generation the best 
 known representative of Oberlin abroad, and its constant inspiration at 
 home." He elaborated a system of theology which, while it was essen- 
 tially the same as that taught by the advanced school of New England 
 theologians, was yet so modified, and as he regarded it improved, as to 
 deserve its cognomen, " Oberlin theology," and he upheld its doctrines 
 with potent logic and earnest zeal. The principal characteristics of this 
 system, as distinguished from those of other schools, cannot be better 
 stated than in the language of an Andover (Massachusetts) theologian, 
 in a " Critical Eeview of President Finney's Theological System." He 
 says the tenets are : " (1.) The human will is self-determining in its action. 
 (2.) All obligation is limited by ability. (3.) All virtuous choice termi- 
 nates upon the good of beings, and in the ultimate analysis on the good 
 of being in general. (4.) The will is never divided in its action, but is 
 at each instant either wholly virtuous or wholly sinful." The fitness of 
 President Finney for this new field of work will be apparent if we recall 
 the description of his mental traits already given. They were quickness 
 of perception, clearness of discrimination, and logical acuteness. In ad- 
 dition to these he had an earnest determination to know nothing but the 
 truth. On all these points there has been much discussion and difference 
 of opinion, but the subject which excited most opposition, and on account 
 ■of which many of his early friends and co-laborers withdrew their sym- 
 pathy from him for a number of years, was the doctrine of sanctification. 
 As regards exactly what he taught, there has been widespread and per- 
 sistent misunderstanding. The doctrine grew naturally out of the position 
 that the will is altogether sinful or altogether virtuous in every act. He 
 claimed that when we obey God wholly, we are then as perfect as we 
 can be, at that moment, in that act. But he never taught that a man 
 was made holy by one act, so as always to remain so. He held simply 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] CHARLES FINNEY. 739 
 
 that it is our duty to obey perfectly now, and to aim also to obey God 
 the next moment, to watch and pray, to depend upon the Holy Spirit, 
 to continue in obedience, and that this state of constant obedience is 
 sanctification, and that by prayer and watchfulness, and the help of the 
 Spirit, man may hope to attain to " the stature of a perfect man in Christ 
 Jesus." 
 
 In teaching he encouraged discussion and inquiry in the freest manner, 
 and if in the j^rogress of the discussion he obtained any new light on a 
 vexed question, he cheei'fully admitted it, and made the change in his 
 subsequent statements. At one time when his own words were quoted 
 against the position he was maintaining, he smilingly replied, " "Well, I 
 don't agree with Finney on that point." He was always cordial and 
 cheerful in the class-room, impressing upon all, however, the fact that his 
 most earnest wish was for their spiritual insight into truth, and their per- 
 sonal growth in the divine life, that so they might teach others that which 
 they themselves knew and had experienced. Later he compiled his the- 
 ological lectures in a volume called " Finney's Systematic Theology." 
 It was republished in England, and in the preface. Dr. Redford, a prom- 
 inent theologian of Worcester, England, says, "As a contribution to 
 theological science in an age when vague speculation and philosophical 
 theories are bewildering many among all denominations of Christians, 
 this work will be considered by all competent judges to be both valuable 
 and seasonable." 
 
 The pastorate of so large a church, whose members were scattered 
 over several miles of territory, would, in itself, seem occupa- ^^ ^ pastor • his 
 tion enough for one person. The pastor was necessarily tenderness. 
 obliged to i^lace some limit to his efforts. He never made social visits, 
 he never went out to dine or take tea with a neighbor. All his time 
 and his utmost strength were fully taxed by his duties. Yet no call for 
 sympathy or help was ever neglected. The sick could testify to his daily 
 visitation, to the support afforded by his brief prayer at their bedside, 
 and his kindly mterest in their recovery. Up to the last day of his life, 
 his horse and carriage were brought to the door whenever the weather 
 was fine, that he might go to drive some hopeless invalid, or frail conva- 
 lescent, out for the air. He was in every sense of the word the father of 
 his people. He baptized their children, he married the young men and 
 maidens, comforted the dying with strong words of faith and cheer, and 
 buried the dead, not without tears of sympathy with the bereaved, but also 
 with such assurance of hope and immortal life that they could not but 
 be consoled. Two or three years before his death, at nearly eighty years 
 of age, he resigned his pastorate, which he had wished to do for some 
 time, but had been prevented by the universal protest of the church and 
 of all his friends. 
 
 But he still preached occasionally, as he had strength, and to no one 
 
740 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 would be ever delegate his mission to the poor, the sick, or those suffering 
 under any affliction. The writer vividly recalls the fact of his coming in 
 one afternoon about two weeks before his death, very tired, and much 
 heated, and when asked where he had been, he replied, " To visit that sick 
 
 girl away over on Street." He walked about two miles on a warm 
 
 Au<yust afternoon, because a sick girl wished to see him. It might readily 
 be imagined that a man of such ready sympathies and strong enthusiasm 
 would often be imposed upon, and much of his time wasted by unworthy 
 calls ; but his strong common sense always prevented that. One night, a 
 little after midnight, the household were startled by the loud ringing of 
 the door-bell. Mr. Finney himself arose and opened the door. A tall 
 black man stood there, who said, " Mr. Finney, dey hab got de debil ober 
 hyar in de school-house, and de Lord wants you to come ober and drive 
 him away ; de Lord wants you to come." Mr. Finney replied quickly, 
 " Not JHe, at this time of night," and shut the door. 
 
 One lonely Sabbath afternoon, in the latter part of August, 1875, he 
 spent with some of his children and grandchildren gathered about him, 
 in sinmuo; sacred music and in loving converse. His voice seemed al- 
 most as strong and musical as ever ; it was sweet and clear, and not at 
 all tremulous. The little party broke up about five o'clock, with fare- 
 well kisses, and calling back from the gate, "We'll come over again in 
 the morning, father." He retired about eight o'clock. Between ten and 
 eleven he awoke in great pain, and after a few hours of suffering he en- 
 tered Paradise, just as day dawned on the world which he had done so 
 much to bless. To those standing about his bedside, who had been wit- 
 nesses of his long, earnest, and laborious life, it seemed that through the 
 pale dawn they heard a voice from heaven saying, " Well done, good and 
 faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of th}' Lord." — H. F. C. 
 
 LIFE XXV. ISABELLA GRAHAM. 
 
 A. D. 1742-A. D. 1814. ASSOCIATE REFORMED, — AMERICA. 
 
 The American metropolis, unlike the great Old World centres in so 
 many things, differs from them in this also, that in affairs of church she 
 never has dominated the surrounding population. Leaders of religion 
 have none the less abounded here, noble men and devoted women. Of 
 the latter none better deserves to be remembered than Isabella Graham. 
 The grandchild of one of the founders of the Secession church of Scot- 
 land, she justly belongs to the United Presbyterian household. Among 
 all American leaders sprung of Seceder lineage, she may fairly be called 
 the foremost woman, even as her pastor and almost son, John Mitchell 
 Mason, whose name will often appear in this story of her life, may be 
 reckoned the foremost man.^ 
 
 1 For other leaders of Seceder lineage see Lives XVII. and XVIII. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ISABELLA GRAHAM. ("^l 
 
 To acquaint ourselves with the Christian body, in whose membership 
 in New York city she will be found for more than a score covenanters, 
 of years, it will be necessary to return to events occurring i^socfate *Re- 
 in Scotland some years before her birth. In 1688 the Re- formed, 
 formed, or Presbyterian, communion became again the established church 
 in Scotland. The rights granted to it did not, however, include as much 
 as was desired by many who had maintained their covenant with God 
 and their bi-ethren even unto blood. Yet the establishment of the church 
 on the terms offered by the government was accepted by the vast major- 
 ity. The few who rejected it set up an independent organization, calling 
 themselves the Reformed Church, though better known as the " Cove- 
 nanters" (1706). A few years later (1733), others, ministers and mem- 
 bers of the state church, found its rule too oppressive to be borne. For, 
 instead of giving the Christian people of a parish the election of their 
 pastor, the state gave it to a " patron " who possessed property in the 
 parish, and, perhaps, titled position. Besides, opposition was made by 
 the state to freedom of doctrine. For these reasons, Ebenezer Erskine, 
 with his brother and other ministers, and with many people, seceded from 
 the state church, and set up the Associate presbytery. Like the Re- 
 formed body, they, and other detachments who joined them afterwards, 
 bad a second name, and were popularly called " the Seceders." They, 
 too, as Dean Stanley says, stood essentially upon the Covenant. Both 
 Covenanters and Seceders were, for evident reasons, well prepared to be- 
 come emigrants from home and fatherland at a fitting opportunity. In- 
 deed, not a few of their fathers had already, in the time of the last Stu- 
 arts, been sent for religion's sake across the ocean, doomed to hard labor 
 in the colonies. When the war of independence began, there were in 
 America a Reformed Presbytery, an Associate Presbytery of New York, 
 and an Associate Presbytery of Philadelphia. By the close of the war 
 these had grown very near to one another. The father of John Mitchell 
 Mason, Dr. John Mason, of New York city, who had left his pulpit to 
 serve in the army of Washington as chaplain, became an active agent in 
 their union. All the Reformed ministers and all the Associate save two 
 came together, constituting the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.^ 
 The two who held out, receiving help from Scotland, continued as an As- 
 sociate church until 1858, when a further union took place, forming the 
 present United Presbyterian Church of North America. This commun- 
 ion, in its early and grand characteristics, — deep religious ct^j^rj^pt^risties 
 enthusiasm ; heart hatred of bondage, whether ecclesiastical °^^^^f^"j|Jf^^^^ 
 or personal ; extended intellectual culture for both men and 
 women, and especially for ministers j strict Sabbath observance ; strong 
 
 1 This was in 1782. Reformed ministers coming from Scotland continued the Reformed 
 oricanizrttion, which endures to this day, numbering, however, less than two hundred mm- 
 ihters in its two divisions. 
 
742 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 church discipline; and scriptural as opposed to frivolous psalmody, — will 
 be found nobly exemplified in the life of Isabella Marshall Graham. 
 
 Isabella Marshall was born in Lanark, in Scotland, July 29, 1742. 
 From her mother, Janet Hamilton,^ of whom she says, "Never was there 
 such a mother, — her delight was with God, her closet was a Bethel, her 
 Bible was her heart's treasure," Isabella early received religious im- 
 pressions. In the woods of Elderslie, an estate (near Paisley) which 
 her father had rented, she knew a bush under which, as she believed, 
 she gave herself to God before she was ten years old. Upon reaching 
 her eleventh year, having received a legacy of a hundred pounds, she 
 asked that it might be applied to her education. She was sent (1752) to 
 a boarding-school, in which she spent seven winters, receiving a training 
 far above common for that day. At the end of her course of study she 
 entered the communion of the Paisley church, of which John Wither- 
 spoon (see Life VI.) was then pastor. At twenty-three Isabella married 
 a physician of Paisley, John Graham, who was already, by a former 
 marriage, father of two sons, both of whom became, at a later day, dis- 
 tinguished officers of the British army. " I was the wife," she wrote 
 thirty-five years afterwards, " of a man of sense, sentiment, and sensibil- 
 ity, who was my very first love and lover, and that love ripened and im- 
 proved with years." 
 
 When, two years after marriage, her husband was made a surgeon of 
 the British army and ordered to Canada, she attended him on his jour- 
 ney. An infant son was left with her parents, who planned to follow 
 and to find a home in America. The five years following, ever looked 
 upon by Mrs. Graham as outwardly the most joyous days of her life, 
 were spent in garrison in Quebec, Montreal, and Fort Niagara, four of 
 them at the last place, near the mighty cataract. The husband receiving 
 She sees New Orders to Antigua, in the West Indies, the wife bravely fol- 
 York city for lowed him throush the forests, taking three infimt daugh- 
 
 the first time. * ' o o 
 
 ters (the child left in Scotland having died there) and two 
 Indian captives, their servants, by the way of the Mohawk and the 
 Hudson to New York city. She then, for the first time, beheld the 
 scene of her future labors. 
 
 Severer discipline than she had yet known was still to educate her for 
 her career in this New World metropolis. Within a year after reaching 
 Antigua she was stricken by two profound sorrows, the death of her 
 mother and that of her idolized husband. " At one blow," she writes, 
 *' He took from me all that made life dear, the very kernel of all my 
 earthly joys, my idol, my beloved husband." A widow on a strange 
 shore, with but slight resources, not amounting in all to a thousand dol- 
 lars, Mrs. Graham resisted the urging of her friends that she sell her 
 
 1 Her mother's father, a "ruling elder," the grandparent named above (page 740), was 
 with the Erskiues in forming the Associate Church of Scotland. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ISABELLA GRAHAM. 743 
 
 servants. A few months before she had uttered her mind on slavery in 
 a letter to her husband, then away upon military service : " I am told 
 that you have taken a number of prisoners. I know not if you have 
 any right to entail slavery on these poor creatures. If any fall to your 
 share, do set them at liberty." Now she writes of her two slaves to a 
 friend in Antigua, " If it should please God to take me away in my 
 approaching confinement, let Diana be sent with my children. As for 
 Susan, I am at a loss what to do with her ; my heart tells me I have no 
 right to entail slavery upon her and her offspring. I know I shall be 
 blamed, but I am about to be called to account by a higher power than 
 any in this world for my conduct, and I dare not allow her to be sold. 
 I therefore leave it to herself, either to remain here, or, if it be her de- 
 sire, to accompany the children. She wrote at the same hour to her 
 father in Scotland, commending to him her little ones. She included in 
 her message her step-sons, saying : " Though I did not suffer a mother's 
 pangs for them, Heaven knows how equally I love them with those that 
 cost me dearer." She charged him : " Remember to give my love to all 
 my dear children." To her brother, also, she sent tender words. 
 
 The widow, in her trial, found friends in Christians, even in some 
 whose church names were very strange to her. " Do you -^^^^^ friends in 
 remember," she writes to a. friend, long afterwards, " how ^^^ ^^"'^^'^ Indies. 
 much I used to say about our dear Methodist society in Antigua, and the 
 three holy, harmless, zealous Moravian brethren ; and how the preachers 
 gave each other the right hand of fellowship ? . . . . The Lord brought 
 me into their fold a straggling lamb. These poor people nourished me 
 
 with tenderness Never, never shall I forget the labors of love of 
 
 that little society. How many such stragglers as I may be wandering in 
 both East and West Indies, and may be restored by these precious mis- 
 sionaries ! I owe them of my labors more than others. I send you a bill 
 of fifty pounds." 
 
 Instead of death Mrs. Graham found in Antigua a higher and better 
 life. She became, too, the mother of a son, and with her babe and her 
 girls took ship to Scotland. Hastening to her father, she found him not 
 in the " large ancient mansion in which she left him, but in a thatched 
 cottage consisting of three apartments." By being surety for friends he 
 had lost all his property. His health, too, had gone. His daughter added 
 him to her family of four, and supported all of them, first at her father's 
 house at Cartside, making butter and selling it, feeding her vicissitudes in 
 children on porridge, and clothing them in homespun. Aft- Scotland. 
 erwards for two years she taught a small school in Paisley, near by. Her 
 slender earnings, with a widow's pension of sixteen pounds, were all her 
 income. The little capital brought with her she had invested, by the 
 advice of a friend, in muslins, to be carried in his vessel and sold in the 
 West Indies ; but the ship was taken by the French. Of her situation 
 
744 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 at Paisley she says, a few years after, "" To this same towu I returned 
 a widow, helpless and poor, neglected and forgotten. I taught my little 
 school, and earned my porridge, potatoes, and salt. I found myself totally 
 neglected by some who once thought themselves honored by my acquaint- 
 ance." 
 
 In the midst of her poverty it was suggested to her by the wife of an 
 army officer to open a school in Edinburgh. In want of means, she was 
 surprised by a remittance from the gentleman who had taken charge of 
 her muslins, he having, without her knowledge, insured them, and recov- 
 ered the insurance. She was thus enabled to remove to Edinburgh (1779)^ 
 and to open a school. This she conducted with success for eight years. 
 Among her near friends were the mother of Sir Walter Scott, then 
 a mere boy, and the Viscountess Glenorchy. The death of the latter, 
 her active patron and that of her father, helped sunder Mrs. Graham's 
 ties to her native country. Her heart went out, especially since the war 
 of independence was over, to America. She welcomed the suggestion of 
 her old pastor, Dr. John Witherspoon, favoring her removal to the United 
 States. " She had entertained," her daughter writes, " a strong partiality 
 for America ever since her former residence there, and had indulged a 
 sweet expectation of returning. It was her opioion and that of many 
 pious people that America was the country where the church of Christ 
 would preeminently flourish. She was therefore desirous to leave her 
 offspring there." One serious mistake she seems to have made : she left 
 her son, now fifteen, behind her, without his mother's care or sisters' re- 
 straint. The boy grew up with impetuous and roving spirit, after two 
 years turned sailor, and five years later was last heard of upon a vessel 
 which was taken by a French cruiser. Another child which was left by 
 Mrs. Graliam in Scotland prospered. This was the Penny Society, 
 formed at her instance, composed of poor people, who laid aside each a 
 penny a week as a fund to help them in sickness. It afterwards became 
 endowed as " The Society for the Relief of the Destitute Sick." 
 
 Mrs. Graham's apprentice work in schools and charities in Great 
 Britain well fitted her to be a master workman in the New 
 welcome in New World, and in its greatest city. She reached New York 
 York city. September 8, 1789, and was welcomed by John Mason, by 
 
 whom the church of her mother was nobly represented in America. In 
 that church she at once found a home, and ties of love which she never 
 sundered. 
 
 Although the chief reasons for the setting up of the separate bodies of 
 the Associate and the Reformed had been left behind when Great Bi'itain 
 was left, yet there remained many arguments for clinging to the " testimo- 
 nies " of two centuries. So John Mason and his friends maintained their 
 denomination, and Isabella Graham labored in it, in the city of New York 
 over twenty years. The Associate, the Reformed, and afterwards the 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ISABELLA GRAHAM. 745 
 
 United Presbyterian churches became a reservoir into which precious 
 streams from the " old country " flowed, and from which they have poured 
 forth to bless all the communions and all the states of this land. Mrs. 
 Graham worked by the side of John Mason three years, and then mourned 
 his death as that of a brother. She had seen her two daughters (one 
 having entered the church in Scotland) received into his communion. 
 " Dr. Mason," she says, " was a city set upon a hill. He was delations to her 
 with the army during the war after the evacuation of New P'ls'ors. 
 York, and had great influence over the soldiers ; preached the gospel of 
 peace uniformly, but never meddled with politics, though he was fully 
 
 capable I had the honor to close his dear eyes, and to shut those 
 
 dear lips from whence so many precious truths have proceeded, and to 
 mix with the ministering spirits who attended to hail the released." 
 
 If Mrs. Graham lost a brother in John Mason, she found an almost 
 son in John Mitchell Mason, the successor of his father. He was now, 
 at twenty-four, just completing his studies in Edinburgh. That they 
 were after Mrs. Graham's heart, we cannot doubt, for his father had 
 charged him, " Read Boston, Erskine, Harvey, the Marrow of Modern 
 Divinity, and the Synod's Catechism " (all of them strong diet, approved 
 of United Presbyterians). The young student, called home by his fa- 
 ther's death, was accepted by Mrs. Graham and the rest as their pastor 
 (1793). " Our young Timothy, John Mitchell," she writes, " is a per- 
 fect champion for the gospel of Jesus. The Lord has well girded him 
 and largely endowed him. He walks closely with God and preaches 
 like a Christian of long experience. He was ordained about two months 
 ago in his father's church, and a few weeks after married a lady of emi- 
 nent piety, and preached all day, both the Sabbath before and after. 
 There is probably no church in New York where discipline is so strict, 
 nor one which has so many communicants. He is reckoned a lad of 
 great talents, and many, even of the idle and careless, go to hear him." 
 Side by side with Mason, Mrs. Graham walked all her active years, and 
 when at last she fell asleep, her fame was first sounded by the notes of 
 his golden eloquence. 
 
 Mrs. Graham's New York school for young ladies was from the first 
 a success. After three years she writes that " business " is good, " a 
 house full of boarders and about sixty scholars." A description of her 
 school says, " Her little republic was completely governed by a system 
 of equitable laws. On every alleged offense, a court martial, as they 
 termed it, was held, and the accused tried by her peers. There were no 
 arbitrary punishments, no sallies of capricious passion. The laws were 
 promulgated, and obedience was indispensable. The sentences of the 
 courts martial were always approved and had a salutary Her great work 
 efl'ect." Mrs. Graham's work as a teacher may be dis- »« a teacher, 
 missed with the statement that George \yashington admired and patron- 
 
746 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 ized her school, and John Mitchell Mason said of it at her death, 
 "Twenty-five years ago she opened in this city a school, the benefits of 
 which have been strongly felt and will be long felt hereafter in different 
 and distant parts of our country. She succeeded in that most difficult 
 part of a teacher's work, the inducing youth to take an interest in their 
 own improvement, and to educate themselves by exerting their own fac- 
 ulties." After retiring from her school Mrs. Graham's home was with 
 her two daughters (the eldest having died). She felt always an exceed- 
 ing tenderness to her children, as strikingly appears in her letters to her 
 son and in her memorial of her departed daughter. 
 
 Mrs. Graham's philanthropy overflowed in her school. It was even 
 more plainly visible in her connection with enterprises outside of her 
 life profession. First may be named Dr. John Mitchell Mason's theo- 
 logical seminary, the first entitled to the name upon this continent. 
 Receiving unexpected profit by an investment in city lots soon after 
 coming to New York, Mrs. Graham writes, " Quick, quick, let me ap- 
 propriate the tenth before my heart grows hard." Half of the tenth 
 she sent to missions, as already described, the other fifty 
 
 Her interest in ' . i • a i • 
 
 a theological pouuds she gave for a theological seminary. As this was 
 eemmary. .^ 1796, the year which Dr. Mason's biographer names as 
 
 that when he conceived the idea of the seminary, Mrs. Graham's gift must 
 have been one of the very first sums given to theological schools on 
 this continent. Her pastor's anxiety for trained preachers, says his son- 
 in-law, came from the fact that " the seceding portion were deeply im- 
 bued with evangelical spirit and earnestly desired to strengthen and 
 perpetuate it." This sent Mason to Great Britain to seek aid. Mrs. 
 Graham speaks of his mission in a letter to a friend (1801) : " I wrote 
 you that our dear IMr. Mason leaves us next month for Britain. His 
 errand is to state the situation of this country, so greatly in want of min- 
 isters and of the means of educating ministers. Many of his people 
 are dissatisfied, as he has two congregations to supply and a large family 
 of his own. "Why should he be the man ? For my own part I think he 
 is the very man. Though I love my minister, value his ministry and his 
 person, I hope the general interest of Christ's body is more dear to me, 
 and of infinitely more importance than my private comfort." Mrs. Gra- 
 ham followed closely her pastor's journey as he established " articles of 
 correspondence" with the Scotch Seceders, and thus secured preachers 
 for America, and as he gathered a thousand pounds, mostly in London, 
 for his seminary, enough to secure its successful opening. This school, 
 let it be noted, became the training place of such fatliers of the United 
 Presbyterian Church as Dr. John T. Pressly of Allegheny, who calls 
 Mason "one to whom I am under inexpressible obligations," and Dr. 
 David MacDill of Ohio, who as valedictorian took leave of Dr. Mason's 
 school with the words, " To the seminary we say, If I do not remember 
 
Cent. XYII.-XIX.] ISABELLA GRAHAM. 747 
 
 thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth." How deeply 
 MacDill, who was in New York city in Mrs. Graham's time, and others 
 of the students esteemed her may be concluded from one of the brill- 
 iant editorials of MacDill in the " United Presbyterian." He says, 
 treating of " Woman's Rights," " We admit no intellectual inferiority 
 
 of the sex But the Christian church was designed to train up 
 
 not a Semiramis, nor yet Queen Elizabeths nor Madame de Staels, but 
 .... Isabella Grahams." 
 
 Not only in education, but in missions, Mrs. Graham was by her pas- 
 tor's side, or ahead of him. Even while he was abroad, ^ leader in mis- 
 meeting Wilberforce and the great English leaders of for- "°"^- 
 eign missions, and winning by his sermon on " Messiah's Throne " the 
 declaration from Robert Hall, who heard him in London, " I can never 
 preach again ! " he was still receiving impulse from the quiet woman in New 
 York. He writes from Great Britain : " I have just seen a letter from 
 Mrs. Graham. She is up riding on her high places, but it is all from the 
 expectation that glorious successes are about to attend the gospel. She 
 reckons much on the commotions in Kentucky " (see Life XVHL). As 
 early as 1796 Mrs. Graham had obtained from England missionary 
 periodicals, and had secured a score or so of subscribers for them. She 
 writes that year to a friend of the forming of the New York Missionary 
 Society. AVas not this, which was for the Indians, the first foreign 
 missionary society, strictly speaking, in Amei'ica ? ^ Moreover, she raised 
 up a woman in her pupil and assistant, Miss Farquharson, who became 
 (1805) " the first American missionary to foreign lands." How fully 
 she was trained by Mrs. Gi'aham may be concluded from the fact that 
 after they both had left teaching they were for six years close compan- 
 ions in missionary work in New York city. Morrison, the leader of 
 Christianity in China (Life XXXVL), when in New York was under 
 the roof of Mrs. Graham, and wrote her afterwards as " My ever dear 
 mother Graham." Vanderkem^i and other leaders of missions were 
 known to her through their correspondence with her pastor. As an 
 important event she noted in a letter to a friend that upon " the second 
 Wednesday of February (1798), we commenced our first monthly 
 meeting for prayer." Her zeal for foreign missions may be left with the 
 inquiry, What woman was more eminently a pioneer of all the vast 
 organized " woman's work for woman " throughout America ? 
 
 Mrs. Graham's charity began, however, at home. In 1797 her house 
 saw the forming of the Society for the Relief of Poor Wid- Her works of pM. 
 ows with Small Children, of which she became first direc- ^^-"ti^'^opy- 
 tress. She certainly could feel tor such widows if any could. In the 
 
 1 It is of course to be understood that more than one denomination had, as such, engaged 
 in missions to the Indians, the Moravians having done so most notably. But had any as- 
 sociation been formed within the American church before 17'J6 for evangelizing pagans as 
 its sole or primary object ? 
 
748 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 spring of 1806 she presided at the organization of the first asykim for 
 orphan children in the city of New York. Without waiting for a build- 
 ing the ladies hired a house, and Mrs. Graham or one of her daughters 
 taught every day until means were raised to pay for a teacher. The next 
 year a building was begun. She was throughout life one of the trustees 
 of this asylum property, which was afterwards exchanged for the present 
 beautiful property at Bloomingdale. In 1811 a Magdalene Society arose 
 under a board of ladies which elected Mrs. Graham to the office of presi- 
 dent, which she filled until her death. 
 
 Her efforts were called out not merely by the holding of office. She 
 gave an afternoon each week for a time (1812) to teaching the catechism 
 to the children of the Lancasterian School. She was for years a visitor 
 of the New York Hospital, especially of the insane in it ; also of the sick 
 female convicts in the State's prison. She joined (1814) in a Society for 
 the Promotion of Industry among the Poor, which employed several hun- 
 dred women, paying them for their work. Of this she became a manager. 
 She helped organize (1814) the young people working in factories near 
 her home into a Sabbath Morning Adult School, which continued after 
 her death as a Sunday-school. She visited in a season of distress upwards 
 of two hundred poor families (1804-5). Besides looking after their bodily 
 wants she distributed to them Bibles, and this before the time of the 
 Bible Society, whose institution she afterwards joyfully recorded (1809). 
 " I am not dealing in romance," exclaimed Mason, recounting in his fu- 
 neral discourse her works ; " the night would be too short for a full enu- 
 meration of her worthy deeds. Suffice it to say that they ended but with 
 her life!" 
 
 To the spirit of a philanthropist Mrs. Graham added that of a patriot. 
 Yet even in the moment when the nation was lauding the 
 
 Her patriotism. „ -, n 
 
 departed W ashmgton, she did not lorget the deepest need of 
 her country. While she joined to declare " great things were due him," 
 she yet hoped little from adulators who were " bursting with gratitude to 
 a creature, with enmity to a Saviour God." She was ever intent on mak- 
 ing America a land pleasant to dwell in, depending much for this upon 
 the ministry. " In this New World," she asked, " shall such men be reck- 
 oned of none account, and their labors of no value? No ! The wealth 
 of the Indies cannot balance their work! " At Rockaway Beach, Long 
 Island, where she spent the last five summers of her life, and in different 
 churches in New York city, she lent strength to her pastors. 
 
 She was approaching her seventy-second anniversary and was within 
 ten days of it when taken severely ill. Two days before (Sabbath) she 
 had taught in her school of adults, and sat at the Lord's table. The 
 day before she had given religious lessons at the orphan asylum. Upon 
 the fifth day of her illness she sent for an old friend, with whom she had 
 an agreement that one should attend the other's dying hours. With a 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER. 749 
 
 sweet expressive smile Mrs. Graham welcomed her, saying, " I am going 
 to get the start of you. I am called home before you. It will be your 
 office to fulfill our engagement." Three days she sank, ever full of joy. 
 " Yet I could weep," she said, " for sins against so good a God." When 
 very low and able to say but one word, that word, accompanied with a 
 smile, was " Peace." Within two days of her anniversary, July 27, 
 1814, she fell asleep. Her burial was without eulogy.-^ A month later 
 Dr. Mason celebrated her memory in noble words, which were published 
 under the title of " Christian Mourning." 
 
 Although Isabella Graham was a genuine product of the Secession 
 churches of Scotland, cherishing their communion and their psalms, car- 
 rying in her pocket, as a part of her " Provision for Passing over Jor- 
 dan," one always used by her pastor upon sacramental occasions, the 
 tender one hundred and third, "0 thou my soul, "bless God the Lord;" 
 she was nevertheless not the property of the "psalm-singing" churches 
 only, but was given by them to the Church Universal, and especially to 
 the women of the church in America, who look back to this Christian 
 daughter, sister, wife, mother, lover of her kind, not indeed as a " saint," 
 yet as " a witness and a leader." — H. M. M. 
 
 LIFE XXVI. ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER. 
 
 A. D. 1772-A. D. 1851. PRESBYTERIAN, AMERICA. 
 
 The overflow of Scottish population into the northern parts of Ire- 
 land, which took place at various times, but reached a climax in the sev- 
 enteenth century, resulted in the formation of what was virtually a new 
 race, known as the Scotch-Irish. There was doubtless, in some instances, 
 admixture of blood, but in many cases, as in that of the Alexanders, 
 there seems to have been none whatever ; yet the new settlers, whilst 
 retaining the most strongly marked peculiarities of their ancestral stock, 
 unquestionably laid aside some of the traits of their Caledonian fore- 
 fathers, and acquired some of the characteristics of the southern Celt. 
 Thus there were combined in happy proportion in the character of this 
 stalwart people the best qualities of both the older races. There was 
 one thing above all others, in which the Scottish immigrant refused to 
 
 1 Funeral addresses were distasteful to her pastor. Dr. Mason. " When his son James 
 died at Carlisle," says Dr. MacCartee, " I went there to attend the funeral and was re- 
 quested by some members of the family to beg the doctor to allow an address to be made 
 at the grave for the sake of his son's young companions in college. I did so. He at once 
 replied, 'No, no, these things are so often abused.' Of course, I did not urge the mat- 
 ter. As the young men who served as pall-bearers lifted the coffin, the afflicted father ex- 
 claimed, in tones wliich those present can never forget, ' Young men ! tread lightly, j'e 
 bear a temple of the Holy Ghost! ' Then, overcome by his feelings, he dropped his head 
 upon my shoulder and said, ' Dear MacCartee, say something, which God may bless, to 
 his young friends.' " An address was made, and very soon a revival, powerful and pre- 
 cious in its fruits, began in the college and the town. 
 
750 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 walk in the steps of the man of Donegal or Tipperary, and that was 
 his religion. If it is true that the denizen of Southern Ireland is inflex- 
 ible in his adhesion to the Church of Rome, it is equally true that his 
 northern neighbor is not a whit less firm in his hold upon the tenets and 
 usages of Protestantism. Indeed, wherever it has been carried, the name 
 Scotch-Irish has come to be regarded as a synonym for the word Presby- 
 terian. 
 
 Not content with their translation from one to another of the British 
 Bv birth a vir- Islands, large numbers crossed the Atlantic and joined the 
 g'"'"'"- colonies that had effected settlements in America. One of 
 
 these settlements was in the Valley of Virginia. Archibald Alexander 
 was born near Timber Ridge, in Augusta (now Rockbridge) County, 
 Virginia, on the 17th of April, 1772. His father was of an honora- 
 ble lineage, being a scion of the ancient house of the MacAlexanders 
 of Tarbert, in Kentyre. His mother was Ann Reid, the estimable 
 daughter of a wealthy land-holder of the same colony. Both of Archi- 
 bald's parents were reputable and pious people. The house in which 
 Archibald first saw the light was, like most others of that day, built 
 of square logs, and was situated not far from a little mountain-stream, 
 familiarly styled South River. When he was about three years old his 
 father removed, to the south of the North River, to what was known 
 as the Forks, a name given to the whole territory lying between the 
 James River and its north branch. The scenery of the fertile region 
 in which the future theologian's boyhood was passed was in a high de- 
 gree picturesque and romantically beautiful. Not many miles away was 
 the famous Stone Bridge, or " Natural Bridge," as it is universally de- 
 nominated, and in plain view rose the cerulean outlines of the House and 
 the Jump Mountains. Archibald's father inherited from his ancestors a 
 love of books, and in common with his Scotch-Irish neighbors knew the 
 value of learning. Archibald was, like young David, " ruddy and of a 
 beautiful countenance." From the first he showed signs of intellectual 
 vivacity, and was selected out of a family of nine children as the one 
 who was to receive a liberal education. Like the rest he was early put to 
 school. His first teacher was " Jack Reardon," an English convict, who 
 had been transported for crime and was a servant of his father. From 
 him he learned little more, he says, than how to exercise his lungs. 
 Then he fell under the tuition of one Stevenson, and afterwards of an- 
 other Englishman and " redemptioner " of the name of Rhodes. He 
 looked back upon the year under them with much satisfaction. 
 
 At ten years of age Archibald was placed under the guidance of the 
 His masters Grar ^^^- William Graham, a graduate of the College of New 
 ham, Priestly. Jersey, who had set up, at Timber Ridge Meeting-House, 
 the Liberty Hall Academy, a chartered institution which had been taken 
 under the care of Hanover Presbytery, and was afterwards developed 
 
Cext. XVII.-XIX.] ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER. 751 
 
 into Washington College. The school had existed before Mr. Graham 
 came into the State, but at a point some six or seven miles to the east. 
 It was now situated on the edge of Mr. Alexander's estate. The build- 
 ings had not yet gone up, and meanwhile studies were carried on in one 
 of the upper rooms of Mr. Graham's house. Here it was that the bloom- 
 ing boy was admitted to some intimacy with classical learning. His 
 master taught few books, and was in the habit of warning his pupils 
 against the danger of forming their opinions from the number, or even 
 from the weight, of the authorities that could be cited in their support, 
 instead of adopting them as the result of their own independent re- 
 flection. Some of the young men took this advice kindly and profited 
 by it, among whom was Archibald Alexander. To others it proved a 
 stumbling-block. 
 
 Another of his masters, and the one with whom he was brought into 
 the closest daily contact, was James Priestly, the usher, a man equally 
 remarkable in his way, and one who stimulated to the utmost young 
 Archibald's dawning genius and slumbering love of learning. Some- 
 times he would take the boys to a romantic spot, where a large spring 
 breaks from the hill-side and pours itself noisily into the river below. 
 Here Priestly would harangue his pupils in the words of Demosthenes, 
 and with all the fire that could have been looked for in the Grecian ora- 
 tor. His wondering disciple, from whose recollections we make this 
 report, says that when the sentiments he uttered were sublime, the gifted 
 usher would be raised to such heights of enthusiasm as to be transported 
 beyond himself. 
 
 Notwithstanding the advantage of such teachers, our young scholar 
 made at this time what he conceived to be but humble attainments. 
 This does not seem to have been the usher's judgment, though, for he 
 spoke of him to his father as a boy of great promise. The school had 
 become very corrupt, and Archibald had fallen into several doubtful (or 
 more than doubtful) practices, though restrained by bashfulness or timid- 
 ity (as he says) from going to the point of excess that had been reached 
 by other of the boys. He also was favored about this time with the in- 
 structions of a new usher, Archibald Roane, afterwards governor of Ten- 
 nessee. This was when he was entering uijon the study of- Horace. On 
 the departure of Mr. Roane, Archibald fell more constantly than before 
 under the tuition of Mr. Graham. The curriculum of studies was the 
 same as Dr. Witherspoon's at Princeton. They had the same text-books, 
 and transcribed Witherspoon's lectures on moral philosophy and criti- 
 cism. It was the desire of the principal that Archibald should take a 
 regular degree ; and there was no doubt entertained of his ability to do 
 so, as he had always been placed in the first grade, though he himself 
 modestly ascribed the favor shown him more to his youth and small stat- 
 ure, and to his prompt answers, than to any solid desert. It turned out, 
 
752 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 however, when his father came back from a journey to Fredericksburg, 
 that he had made an engagement for him as tutor in the family of Gen- 
 eral Posey, of the Wilderness, twelve miles west of that city. 
 
 In this situation Mr. Alexander did a great deal of hard reading, and 
 acquired at this time the foundation of all the accuracy he afterwards 
 gained in the Latin language. In his latter years he has been heard to 
 say that for half a century he had read more Latin than English. His 
 reading of authors in the vernacular was miscellaneous and discursive. 
 He addicted himself much to history and travels, and indeed everything 
 that could give him information. His thirst for knowledge was at all 
 periods of his life unquenchable. He tried to interest himself in Locke's 
 Essay, but failed to comprehend it ; and it was not till long afterwards 
 that he disclosed his extraordinary proclivity for the science of the mind 
 which became his favorite branch of study. 
 
 At General Posey's he met an aged Christian lady, Mrs. Tyler, a 
 
 member of the Baptist Church, who gradually succeeded in 
 
 the agent in his turning his thoughts more and more into religious channels. 
 
 conversion. i-ii- ii- t • t i ^ 
 
 bhe conversed with hmi, put books into his hands, and went 
 with him to hear preachers. She was a lover of the writings of John 
 Flavel, and naturally wished to put his books in the hands of her Pres- 
 byterian friend. Learning that Flavel was a Presbyterian he sought at 
 once to discover what were his views of regeneration. He was a total 
 stranger to works on the evidences of Christianity. He was not even 
 aware that any such works had been written ; though he had often heard 
 of the infidel arguments, he had not hitherto paid any attention to them. 
 Now he calmly interrogated himself as to the ground of his belief. 
 This he felt all the more urged to do, as so large a number of intelligent 
 Virginians, and others, had embraced the deistical views that had been 
 propagated from France. Into a trunk of classical and scientific books 
 that had been sent to him from home some kind lady had thrown a cheap 
 pamphlet which he had often seen tossing about the house, and which he 
 was now displeased to recognize. On opening it, however, he was at 
 once arrested by the title, " Internal Evidences of the Christian Religion, 
 by Soame Jenyns, Esq." The family had gone to church, and he sat 
 down to read. The effect upon his mind was overwhelming. When he 
 ceased, the room had the appearance of being illuminated. He had not 
 been without transient religious impressions while yet a little boy in Au- 
 gusta. Once the seriousness vanished instantly from his mind on hearing 
 his parents speak slightingly of the sermon. Now he began to be in 
 concern. Before this he had often prayed mentally at critical times, but 
 was not in the habit of secret prayer. Now, every fair morning, he went 
 out into the fields to meditate. Having found some plots of green grass, 
 fchut in by thickets, and overhung by great beech trees, he made a booth 
 or arbor with his knife ; and used to resort to this sequestered spot 
 
Cext. XVIL-XIX.] ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER. 753 
 
 with his book on the Lord's Day. On a particular Sunday evening the 
 place became solemn and delightful to such a degree that he was loatlj to 
 return home. This was not accompanied by a radical reformation of char- 
 acter. Mrs. Tyler was accustomed to make use of his services as a reader. 
 One Sabbath evening he had been led to select Flavel's " Method of 
 Grace," and the sermon on Revelation iii. 20, " Behold, I stand at the 
 door and knock." The discourse was upon " the patience and forbear- 
 ance and kindness of the Lord Jesus to impenitent and obstinate sin- 
 ners." As he read on, his voice began to falter, and at length he laid 
 down the book, rose up hastily, and with a full heart repaired to his 
 little sylvan oratory. There he threw himself upon his knees ; and after 
 some minutes was overwhelmed with a flood of joy. He did not after- 
 wards remember that he had at this moment any distinct views of Christ. 
 
 For a few days he walked carefully ; but in a week his former feelings 
 returned, and when he was tempted he transgressed as before. The rec- 
 ollection filled him the next day with unutterable anguish. The inter- 
 course with Flavel and good Mrs. Tyler enabled him to comprehend better 
 than he had done the cardinal doctrines of the Christian system. A little 
 book, " Jenks on Justification by Faith," which fell into his hands about 
 this time, had an effect not unlike the perusal of Soame Jenyns. Before 
 he had been leaning on the old covenant ; now everything appeared 
 clear as if written with a sunbeam. A good sermon was a feast now to 
 the ardent young inquirer. This year, 1788-1789, he afterwards re- 
 garded as an epoch in his spiritual history. If not actually regenerated, 
 he was at this period much enlightened and savingly awakened. He now 
 began to seek for the truth as for hid treasure. To John Flavel, he was 
 wont to say, he certainly owed more than to any uninspired writer. 
 
 At the end of a year he returned to his native haunts among the 
 mountains of Rockbridge. This was the era of the " Great Religious expe- 
 Revival," as it was called, and the Presbyterians of the day thr'''Great°Ie. 
 were divided into the Old Side and New Side, agreeably to vivai." 
 their inclination to frown upon or to encourage the awakening. The 
 friends of Mr. Alexander belonged as a general thing to the Old Side. 
 His pastor and old preceptor, Mr. Graham, had been invited across the 
 mountains to witness the revival scenes, and took his former pupil along 
 with him. On the way a novel and impressive sight presented itself. A 
 large company of young people moved slowly by on horseback, sing- 
 ing hymns. Most of them were young converts, who had attended the 
 Rev. Nash Legrand from Caswell County, North Carolina. They had 
 traveled fifty or sixty miles in order to attend the sacrament, and were 
 full of zeal and of solemn and tender feeling. 
 
 As soon as nearly all the people who were returning had passed, they 
 espied the imposing figure of Dr. John Blair Smith, the son of the ven- 
 erable Dr. Robert Smith, of Pequea, Pennsylvania, and a brother of 
 48 
 
754 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 tlie famous President Samuel Stanhope Smith, of Princeton. The two 
 clergymen saluted one another heartily. Mr, Graham was soon induced 
 to cooperate with the movement ; and his pupil never knew a man to 
 be more transformed. They visited Prince Edward, and were hospita- 
 bly received at Hampden Sidney, of which Dr. Smith had resigned the 
 management into the hands of the Rev. Drury Lacy, of " the silver 
 hand." Hearing much whilst on this journey of bodily convulsions, Mr. 
 Alexander was much perturbed at the want of these physical manifesta- 
 tions in his own case. The travelers journeyed to the verge of " the 
 mountain " again, into Bedford, and when they had arrived at Liberty 
 were joined by a large party of friends from Rockbridge, among whom 
 was Mr. Alexander's eldest sister. While at Liberty he went a little out 
 of town to a thicket near a wood for meditation and prayer. Suddenly 
 there came over him such a melting of heart as he never knew before or 
 after. In looking back upon this experience in after life, the subject of 
 these pleasing emotions was disposed to ascribe it to a quick change in the 
 animal system, and to the relief arising from a flow of pent-up tears. 
 This gush of feeling was succeeded by a sweet composure of spirit. He 
 could not recall any thought of Christ, or much contrition for sin. In a 
 few hours everything was as it had been before. He was gradually 
 brought to the conclusion that his case was desperate, and that he would 
 certainly be damned. This was a sober and deliberate influence, and pro- 
 duced no agitation. The justice of God, it seemed to him, could be satis- 
 fied in no other way. 
 
 On their return to Lexington the young disciples, in the simplicity of 
 their hearts, fully expected an immediate outpouring of the Spirit among 
 their neighbors and friends ; nor were they wholly disappointed. Some, 
 however, opposed the work of grace, and some good men looked coldly 
 upon it. Much extravagance and some fanaticism had been mixed up 
 with the revival, though in Virginia the preaching had been uniformly 
 sound, and the measures resorted to were commonly Scriptural. One day 
 in the forest, at the foot of a projecting rock in a dark valley, Alexander 
 tasted the bitter cup of despair. He knelt upon the ground, and poured 
 out a broken cry for help, when in a moment he had such a view of the 
 crucified Redeemer as was without parallel in his after experience, filling 
 his mind with joy and even transport. For a few days he was full of 
 serenity, and yet he soon fell back into darkness. In the autumn of the 
 year 1789. he made an open profession of his faith. His first communion 
 was not on the whole a comfortable one. He greatly feared, lest he had 
 eaten and drunk damnation to himself. The second approach that he 
 made to the Lord's table was, however, an occasion of delightful peace 
 and assurance. 
 
 In subsecjuent controversies about what were styled " new measures," 
 there were some who called Dr. Alexander a cold recluse who had nevei 
 
Cent. XVH.-XIX.] ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER. 755 
 
 felt the glow of revival warmth in his own heart, little imagining in the 
 midst of what scenes he had been awakened and converted. Soon after 
 becoming a communicant he began to study for the ministry, and was sent 
 as a ruling elder to Philadelphia, to the meeting of the general assembly, 
 where he first saw Witherspoon and other leaders, and attended upon the 
 debates with the keenest interest. 
 
 After the completion of his theological studies, he was licensed as a 
 probationer for the gospel ministry, and was sent out by the , a i 
 
 synod of Virginia as a missionary into the sparsely occu- sipnary through 
 pied territory within their bounds. He was accompanied 
 on this errand by a classmate, a young man of talents and piety. For sis 
 months they journeyed on horseback, going from house to house in the 
 hospitable country. One night they had much conversation with James 
 Shelburue, an old mill-wright, wearing a leathern apron, who (though an 
 unlettered man) had become a Baptist preacher. They felt it to be their 
 duty to question him as to his call to the ministry ; but before he was done 
 with them, the old man made them look with some doubt on their own 
 call. Their way lay through Charlotte and Prince Edward, and after 
 their separation Mr. Alexander took charge of the churches of Brien's 
 and Cumberland. 
 
 This region had enjoyed the pastoral services of the Rev. William 
 Robinson, one of the pioneers, the Rev. Robert Henry, whose ministry 
 had been greatly helpful to the blacks, and of that great man, the Rev. 
 Samuel Davies, afterwards president of the College of New Jersey ; and 
 there were some who still remembered the incomparable eloquence of 
 Whitefield, who had passed through the country. The conditions of life 
 in the new settlements east of the Blue Ridge had produced many re- 
 markable characters, some of whom are not unknown to fame. Others 
 lived in greater obscurity. Col. Samuel Venable used to be likened by 
 Mr. Alexander to Benjamin Franklin, and the Rev. Samuel Brown to 
 Jonathan Edwards. In this region lived two of the greatest orators 
 whom America has produced, — Patrick Henry and John Randolph of 
 Roanoke. It so chanced that the subject of this memoir was present at 
 Charlotte Court on the occasion of the meeting of these distinguished 
 men for the first and only time of their lives at the same hustings. He 
 was already acquainted with Henry (then old and infirm), and afterwards 
 numbered Randolph among his hearers, he having been known to make 
 a detour for the purpose of hearing Alexander preach. Among the in- 
 timate friends of this period were the eccentric but gifted Conrad Speece, 
 a preacher of great originality and force, and the Rev. John H. Rice, 
 one of the foremost men in the roll of the Virginia ministry, the founder 
 of the Union Theological Seminary in Prince Edward. 
 
 For a short time Mr. Alexander was president of Hampden Sidney 
 College, which had fallen into a very low state. He was chosen by 
 the Presbytery of Hanover a commissioner to the general assembly 
 
756 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 which adopted the famous " Plan of Union," the repeal of which led to 
 the disruption of the old church. Before returninor he 
 
 President of ^' , „ , , ,,/,•, 
 
 Hampden-sid- went as a delegate irom the general assembly (which at 
 "^^' this period always met in Philadelphia, then the chief city 
 
 of the land) to the general association of Connecticut, and took the oc- 
 casion to make an extensive journey through New England, where he 
 formed the acquaintance, and received the hospitable courtesies, of the 
 venerable Samuel Hopkins, and others equally noted. Mr. Alexander 
 engaged in amicable discussion with some of the leaders of the new the- 
 ology, and seems to have made a favorable impression on the people with 
 whom he was brought in contact. He preached everywhere, and always 
 in the free and hearty style to which he had accustomed himself in Vir- 
 ginia, never taking a note into the pulpit. He had schooled himself to 
 follow trains of premeditated reasoning, and was prone to indulge in 
 graceful rhetorical embellishments. He was small, with a dark, piercing 
 eye, and a flute-like voice that vibrated with emotion and penetrated to 
 any distance. 
 
 Declining the appointment of Phillips professor in Dartmouth College, 
 on his return to his native State, he was married to Janetta Waddel, a 
 daughter of the celebrated James "Waddel, of Louisa County, the 
 " blind preacher " of Mr. Wirt's " British Spy," and an orator the ac- 
 counts of whom seem almost fabulous, and remind one of the stories of 
 Patrick Henry and Whitefield. In 1801 he had been invited to a pas- 
 torate in Baltimore, but did not accede to the call. A few years later he 
 became the successor of Dr. Milledoler, in Philadelphia, with the pas- 
 toral care of the Third Presbyterian Church, in Pine Street. The peo- 
 ple he ministered to were of simple manners, and contained many from 
 fhe neighborhood of the navy yard, with a considerable proportion of 
 shipmasters and pilots. The predominant ingredient was the good old 
 Scotch-Irish element he was so fimiliar with. His labors here were 
 faithful and most acceptable, though irksome, and were pursued in a 
 climate unfavorable to Mr. Alexander's health. The studies of his ear- 
 lier days were now much enlarged, and a goodly number of volumes 
 began to fill the shelves of his library. Among other linguistic studies 
 he took lessons in Hebrew, under a learned Jew by the name of Hor- 
 witz. During a great part of his life Mr. Alexander was in the habit 
 of reading at least one chapter daily in the Hebrew Bible. 
 
 In the year 1812, Archibald Alexander was appointed by tlie general 
 assembly professor of the theological seminary that had 
 
 At forty is ., -r-,. -i-i -iii i 
 
 fatherof Prince- just been set up at Princctou. I' or a time the whole work 
 of organizing the institution, under the plan of the assem- 
 bly, was in the hands of Alexander, then just forty years old. He had 
 no predecessor, and had scarcely a precedent. He devoted himself, not 
 only to the outward administration, but to Hebrew, Greek, criticism, her- 
 meneutics, and theology, including dogmengeschichte. This was the year 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER. 151 
 
 of the war with England, which was carried on, however, almost exclu- 
 sively on the high seas. Late in the following year he was joined by 
 Dr. Samuel Miller, who was his colleague for nearly forty years, and 
 with whom, dui-ing that entire period, he lived in unbroken harmony and 
 tender love. Dr. Miller assumed the chair of history and polity. Never 
 were two men more unlike. Dr. Miller had been formed on the stately 
 model of President Stanhope Smith. He was not only a perfect speci- 
 men of the Christian gentleman, but was regular as a clock in all his 
 habits, and singularly punctilious in his regard for all the niceties of the 
 social rubric. He was a truly aifable, learned, godly man, and a man 
 of excellent ability. As time brought its changes, others were added to 
 the faculty, as notably Dr. Charles Hodge, who was to exert such a 
 mighty influence on the church, and whom his theological preceptor and 
 associate likened to Calvin without his severity. Yet the older race of 
 students naturally thought first of the two original professors. Dr. 
 Alexander was now exactly at his meridian. He was at this time, as at 
 all times, severely bound down by no rules, except such as are dictated 
 by Christian propriety. Scrupulously clean, he seemed to give no thought 
 to his dress. Though his study door was open to anybody and every- 
 body, he was sometimes known to show amiable signs of weariness. He 
 was in all things preeminently a child of nature as well as of grace. In 
 the pulpit he was at his best when purely extemporaneous. A learned 
 chief justice once styled him, jocosely, " the prince of Methodist preach- 
 ers." Just at this point, a memorable change took place in his genei'al 
 mode of life. Although in his youth a bold and expert horseman, and 
 one who lived much in the open air and in the saddle, he now con- 
 fined himself strictly to exercise in his carriage, and as the years ad- 
 vanced became a voluntary prisoner to his study, and almost literally to 
 his well-worn elbow-chair. A corresponding change occurred in his 
 preaching. Until near seventy he did not take paper into the pulpit, ex- 
 cept on the occasion of his trials before presbytery. Now he took to 
 reading, and with a marked decline in the power of his delivery. At the 
 close he used to push up his spectacles on his forehead, cast those light- 
 ning glances about him, and launch out untrammeled as if upon his na- 
 tive element. The raising of his glasses always acted on his auditors 
 like a sudden burst of sunshine. The March winds preyed fearfully on 
 his nervous system, and he was urged by Dr. Rice and other of his Vir- 
 ginia friends to consult his health and return to the South. He con- 
 sented so far as to revisit the scenes of his more active experience, where 
 he was received with open arms by attracted crowds, and where his 
 preaching made an impression that is remembered to this day. Some- 
 what later he reluctantly declined an invitation to a chair in the Virginia 
 Union Theological Seminary. 
 
 Mr. Alexander, from this time onward, buried himself more and more 
 among the Latin theologians of the seventeenth century. His method 
 
758 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Pkriod V. 
 
 of teaching was partly by text-book and partly by lecture ; partly, also, 
 by animated criticisms upon the written theses of the students, as well 
 as upon their oral discussions. He was surprisingly versed in geography 
 and the exact sciences. His topograj^hical faculty was something mar- 
 velous. He never forgot a road or a way-mark, and had the charges of 
 his widely scattered jDupils, and indeed the minutest localities of the 
 entire country, so far as he was acquainted with it, mapped off in his 
 mind with all the particularity of a drawn chart. He was still devoted 
 to metaphysical inquiries, and paid great attention to the evidences and 
 the canon, and brought out popular works on these subjects, as' well as on 
 the history of the Jews and the history of the colonization of Liberia, 
 and in his later years an admirable treatise on ethics. The Rev. Dr. 
 MacGuffey, long the brilliant professor of mental philosophy in the 
 University of Virginia, once remarked to the writer, that whenever Dr. 
 Alexander touched an intricate question in intellectual or moral science, 
 it was " with the spear of Ithuriel." His elaborate reply to Dr. Murdoch 
 on the " Atonement," and to Dr. .John Brown, of Edinburgh, on the 
 " Nature of Cause," were greatly admired for the fairness, the lucidity, 
 and the cogency of their argument. Dr. Alexander was to some extent 
 implicated in the ecclesiastical movements connected with the division of 
 the Presbyterian Church in 1837 and 1838, into the branches known as 
 Old and New School, but always deprecated the agitation 
 
 A peacemaker. -,• . ■ • ^ i 
 
 which made that division a necessity, and pursued a course 
 
 throughout in his relations with both parties, that was marked by his char- 
 acteristic prudence and wisdom. The position he occupied was a pecul- 
 iarly trying one, and it is generally allowed that in his conduct he united 
 candor and fairness with delicacy and Christian affection. 
 
 The last years of his life were uneventful, but abundant in labors in 
 the professor's chair and among the congregations. In the class-room 
 and in the conference on Sabbath afternoon, his eye would kindle and 
 his face shine, and he sometimes, on these occasions, in reasoning and 
 power of analysis, in lucid statement and ripe spiritual wisdom, seemed 
 raised above himself, and spoke like one almost inspired. His sermons 
 lacked much of the earlier pictorial quality, but if less graphic were, if 
 possible, even more perspicuous and accurate, and certainly more pro- 
 found. His forte was clearly in experimental theology. His knowledge 
 of fallen human nature, especially when under the workings of the Holy 
 Spirit, was so amazing that President Woolsey, late of Yale College, 
 one of his pupils, has even ventured so far as to call him " the Shake- 
 speare of the human heart." In person and manner he was said to re- 
 semble William Wilberforce, the English philanthropist and Christian 
 author. Tlie most obvious trait of his preaching was its simplicity. 
 Children and servants could understand all he said. This was also the 
 distinguishing trait of his whole character, " his utter simplicity." His 
 modesty and self-forgetful naivete were those of a little child. 
 
Cent. XVU.-XIX.] ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER. 759 
 
 ■ "When in his prime he was thin, though he afterwards grew more stout, 
 with an inclination to corpulence ; his complexion was clear, jj;^ personal ap- 
 and his soft brown hair already beginning to be silvered, P<=arance. 
 albeit it never became altogether white ; his countenance was wonder- 
 fully mobile and animated, and his eye that of an eagle. Latterly he 
 had a stoop of the shoulder and a characteristic swaying, irregular gait. 
 A broad cloak hung at an angle on one side, and he would dart sudden 
 downward glances to the right or left. He was of mercurial spirits, and 
 in the social circle and at the home fireside often full of vivacity, affec- 
 tionate gayety, and banter. In his best moods it would be hard to find 
 his equal as a raconteur} He was however subject to fits of silence and 
 depression. Few men were ever more deeply reverenced or widely 
 loved. His life was hid with Christ in God. For an hour at twilight 
 every evening, he suffered no interruption of his privacy, and was be- 
 lieved to be then engaged in devotional or serious meditations. His 
 face came to show unmistakable traces of a mellowed Christian expe- 
 rience. His very appearance was that of a holy as well as aged and 
 benevolent man. His colleague, Dr. Miller, preceded him to the other 
 world ; and Dr. Alexander, with all the solemnity of the eternal state in 
 his manner, preached the funeral sermon on the occasion of his interment. 
 He announced his own departure as near at hand, and made his prepara- 
 tions for the great journey as calmly and methodically as if he had 
 been going back to Rockbridge, among his native mountains in old Vir- 
 ginia. It was a blessed sojourn in the land of Beulah. His influence 
 was by this time second to that of no man in the church. The cloud of 
 his distinguished and undistinguished pupils rose up to praise him in at 
 the gate. The hour of his euthanasia was not long postjjoned. After 
 the most impressive and gratifying testimonies of his composure and as- 
 surance, he was gathered to his fathers, and was buried by the Synod of 
 New Jersey, then in session in Princeton, on Friday, the 24th of Oc- 
 tober, 1851, in the eightieth year of his age. And the whole church 
 joined in the cry, " The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof."^ — 
 H. C. A. 
 
 1 Dr. Alexander left behind hira, besides his devoted widow, who did not long survive 
 him, six sons and a daugliter: James Waddel, William Cowper, Joseph Addison, Archi- 
 bald, Samuel Davies, Janetta, and Henry Martyn. Of these, three are now gone, who 
 once added to the indescribable charm of the circle at Princeton. James was the accom- 
 plished professor, in both the college and the seminarj', where he succeeded Dr. Miller, 
 and the gifted and beloved pastor of the Duane Street and the Fifth Avenue and Nine- 
 teenth Street churches. He was also a distinguished author. William was an able law- 
 yer and legislator, and then the first president of a large insurance company. Addison 
 was the well-known professor in the seminary and commentator on Isaiah, Acts, Matthew, 
 and Mark. He was a rare linguist and brilliant genius. As a preacher he at times ex- 
 celled most of his contemporaries. The two last named had a vein of original humor, and 
 both were endowed with powers of memorj' that were almost unexampled. Dr. Alexander 
 never appeared to better advantage than when chatting with his wife and children. 
 
 2 See the charming narrative of his conversation in his last hours with the pastor of the 
 church of his family, the Rev. Dr. William E. Schenck. (Sprague's Annals, vol. iv.) 
 
760 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Pekiod V. 
 
 LIFE XXVII. CHARLES HODGE. 
 
 A. D. 1797-A. D. 1878. PRESBYTERIAN, — AMERICA. 
 
 The jjaternal grandfather of Charles Hodge, with his two brothers, 
 emigrated from the north of Ireland in 1735, and settled in Philadel- 
 phia. They were by education Presbyterians, and by grace pious men, 
 and gladly cooperated in the great revival which soon after visited the 
 city of their adoption under the preaching of Whitefield. They were 
 among the founders and first office-bearers of the Second Presbyterian 
 Church, founded in 1740, whose first pastor was the apostolical Gilbert 
 Tennant. Charles Hodge's father was a godly physician, whose health 
 was broken by the exposures incident to his disinterested labors through- 
 out the yellow fever epidemics occurring from 1793 to 1795. His mother, 
 a descendant of French Huguenots, was born and educated among the 
 orthodox Congregatioualists of Boston. He thus writes of his own earli- 
 est life : " When my father died in 1798, he left a widow, little more than 
 thirty years of age, and two children, Hugh Lenox, aged two years, and 
 Charles, aged six months. It is no marvel that mothers are sacred in the 
 eyes of their children. The debt they owe them is beyond 
 
 His mother. *' ^ j 
 
 all estimate. To our mother, my brother and myself, under 
 God, owe absolutely everything. To us she devoted her life. For us 
 she prayed, labored, and suffered. 
 
 " Our early training was religious. Our mother was a Christian. She 
 took us regularly to church, and carefully drilled us in the Westminster 
 Catechism, which we recited on stated occasions to Dr. Ashbel Green, 
 our pastor. I think that in my childhood I came nearer to the apostolic 
 injunction, ' Pray without ceasing,' than in any other period of my life. 
 As far back as I can remember I had the habit of thanking God for 
 everything I received, and asking Him for everything I wanted. If I 
 lost a book or any of my playthings, I prayed that I might find it. I 
 prayed walking along the streets, in school and out of school, whether 
 playing or studying. I did not do this in obedience to any prescribed 
 rule. It seemed natural. I thought of God as an everywhere present 
 Being, full of kindness and love, who would not be offended if children 
 talked to Him. I knew He cared for sparrows. I was as cheerful and 
 happy as the birds, and acted as they did." 
 
 He received his classical education in Somerville, and at the academy 
 in Princeton, New Jersey, and entered the college in th« latter place in 
 the fall of 1812, just after the inauguration of his old pastor. Dr. Ashbel 
 Green, as president of the college, and of Dr. Archibald Alexander as 
 the first professor of the new theological seminary of the Presbyterian 
 Church. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] CHARLES HODGE. 761 
 
 His religious experience having gradually ripened, he, with his friend 
 Kinsey Van Dyke, made a profession of faith in the Presbyterian church 
 in Princeton, January 13, 1815, in the middle of their Senior year. The 
 afternoon of the Saturday jjreceding there was a sergeant with a drum- 
 mer in the town enlisting recruits for the then pending war with Great 
 Britain. One student abruptly hailed another with the announcement 
 that " Hodge had enlisted." " Is it possible ! " was the 
 
 ^r 1 1 1. n -■ , , ,. -r-. lie enlists. 
 
 response. " Yes, he has enlisted under the banner of Kmg 
 Jesus." This stand, as Dr. Green judged, cooperating with other provi- 
 dential events, was influential in bringing to a crisis the great revival in 
 the college which immediately ensued. One half of the previously un- 
 converted students were brought to a knowledge of Christ, and among 
 these several who were eminent in the Christian ministry, and life-long 
 intimate friends of Charles Hodge : as John Johns, bishop of Virginia, 
 Charles P. Mcllvaine, bishop of Ohio, W. J. Armstrong, secretary of the 
 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, William James, 
 Charles Stewart, etc. 
 
 Mr. Hodge entered the theological seminary under the instruction of 
 those eminent servants of God, Drs. A. Alexander and Samuel Miller, 
 in the fall of 1816. At the close of his course in 1819 he was selected 
 by Dr. Alexander to be his assistant in teaching the original languages 
 of Scripture. After having spent t|,ie winter of 1819-1820 in Pliiladel- 
 phia, preparing for his work under the instruction of the Rev. Joseph 
 Banks, D. D., of the Associate Presbyterian Church, and having been 
 licensed by the Presbytery of Ploiladelphia, he commenced his work in 
 the seminaiy in midsummer, 1820. In 1822, having been ordained by 
 the Presbytery of New Brunswick, he was elected by the general as- 
 sembly professor of Oriental and Biblical literature in their seminary at 
 Princeton. 
 
 In this department he labored with great diligence, and laid the foun- 
 dation of considerable learning in the various special branches connected 
 with it. But conscious of his need of greater advantages of instruction 
 than were at that time afforded in America, with the permission of the 
 board of directors, he left his family and his work in the seminary, and 
 spent two years in special studies in Paris, Halle, and Berlin, gju^iies in eu- 
 from the fall of 1826 to that of 1828. He attended the '"p*^- 
 lectures, among others, of De Sacy in Paris, of Gesenius and Tholuck 
 in Halle, and of Hengstenberg, Neander, and Humboldt in Berlin. By a 
 blessed providence he was thrown, in Halle, and yet more in Berlin, into 
 a circle of most gracious and loving young Christians about his own age, 
 as Tholuck, Otto and Ludwig von Gerlach, and others. Among these 
 congenial spirits he was permitted to give as well as receive liglit and 
 comfort. The intimacy and endearing tenderness of these Christian 
 friendships is proved and illustrated by the letters he continued to receive 
 for many years. 
 
762 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 On his return to America, in the autumn of 1828, Mr. Hodge conse- 
 crated himself with renewed enthusiasm to his work as professor of Ori- 
 ental and Biblical literature. He prepared extensive courses of lectures 
 on Biblical criticism, hermeneutics, special introduction, sacred geog- 
 raphy, etc. He delivered to the Junior class exegetical lectures on 
 Paul's Epistles, an exercise which he continued twice a week without 
 interruption for fifty years, to the end of his life. 
 
 In 1825 he had commenced editing a quarterly publication, entitled 
 the "Biblical Repertory," desired to furnish translations 
 
 Founds the ^ . n ^ ^ / . j. • 
 
 " Princeton Ke- and repmits of the best contemporary foreign essays upon 
 theological and religious subjects. On his return from 
 Europe he enlarged the scheme by making it the vehicle for original con- 
 tributions to the same class of literature, adding to the former title that 
 of " Princeton Review." He continued to be the editor and principal 
 contributor of this review until 1868, having, as far as can be now as- 
 certained, contributed one hundred and thirty articles, many of which 
 gave to the review the larger share of its reputation and influence among 
 the churches of America and Europe. The most important of these 
 have been republished in Great Britain, and have been gathered into 
 volumes and published in this country under the titles " Hodge's Essays," 
 " Princeton Essays," and " Hodge's Church Polity." 
 
 These articles cover the whole field of theology and ecclesiology, and 
 of the great practical, ecclesiastical, and moral questions of the day. 
 From 1835 to 1868 he wrote every year a review of the action of the 
 general assembly, which series all parties acknowledge have exerted a 
 very powerful influence upon the current opinion and history of the 
 church. 
 
 A writer on the "American Press" in the "British Quarterly Review" 
 for January, 1871, says of the " Princeton Review: " " It is, beyond all 
 question, the greatest purely theological review that has ever been pub- 
 lished in the English tongue, and has waged war in defense of the West- 
 minster standards for a period of forty years, with a polemic vigor and 
 unity of design without any parallel in the history of religious journalism. 
 If we were called to name any living writer, who to Calvin's exegetical 
 tact unites a large measure of Calvin's grasp of mind and transparent 
 clearness in the department of systematic theology, we should point to 
 this Princeton professor." 
 
 Professor James McGregor, in the " British and Foreign Evangelical 
 Review " for July, 1874, says: " Greatness of nature has been exhibited 
 in remarkable measure from first to last by the Princeton school in gen- 
 eral, and by Dr. Ilodge in particular. They have in their controversies 
 been earnest, eloquent, warm, even passionate, but they have invariably 
 spoken as true Christian gentlemen, who in relation to adversaries make 
 due allowance for human infirmities. They have shown themselves to be 
 manly men of the heroic type." 
 
Cent. XVII-XIX.] CHARLES HODGE. 763 
 
 Dr. Charles P. Krauth, of the Lutheran Church, said at Dr. Hodge's 
 semi-centennial commemoration, April, 1872, that he (Dr. Hodge) had 
 always treated of the doctrines of churches differing from his own, " with 
 candor, love of truth, and perfect fairness." 
 
 As a controversialist, for forty-five years. Dr. Hodge was characterized 
 by preeminent self-consistency, persistence of convictions, ^^ ^ controTer- 
 and a uniformly consistent expression of them ; by great siaiist. 
 clearness of style and thoroughly logical arrangement of material, and 
 consequent development of the principles adopted ; by absolute fidelity to 
 truth as he conceived it, and devotion to its maintenance, for the glory 
 of Christ and the good of souls, without a shadow of a thought as to the 
 approbation or the offense of men. 
 
 As a preacher he was instructive and edifying, but not popular. His 
 sermons were elaborate expositions of some fundamental doctrine of the 
 gospel, often exhibited on the side of experience and practice. He read 
 them quietly, without gesture, but with great solemnity and tenderness of 
 tone and manner. • . ■ 
 
 As a man in all the manifestations of his inward life in his family, and 
 with his intimate friends, he was a Christian of the type of John. He 
 was reverent, tender, joyous, full of faith and hope and love. He spon- 
 taneously cast off whatever tended to depress him, and always looked on 
 the bright side of things. When he looked Godward his attitude was 
 adoring love ; when he looked manward his face radiated benevolence. 
 He was a life-long controversialist, because he believed that the truth as 
 he held it was essential to the glory of God and the salvation of men. 
 Yet he was devoid of all personal animosities, and he truly loved all, 
 except in the few cases in which it appeared to him beyond doubt that 
 the persons not loved were judicially given ujd to be identified with the 
 lies they taught. 
 
 As a teacher he had great power, which resulted in part from his 
 character, and the reverence that excited, partly from the 
 
 . As a teacher. 
 
 fullness of his knowledge and the clearness of his statements, 
 and partly from his method. He possessed an almost perfect skill in 
 practicing the Socratic method, in eliciting thought, and leading to con- 
 clusions by questions. He stimulated thought, and taught his students 
 how to use their faculties, and brought them to fixed convictions through 
 personal experience of the truth, and its relation to the conscience and 
 the life. 
 
 In all these relations and functions his distinguishing attributes were 
 great tenderness and strength of emotion, and power of exciting it in 
 others ; an habitual adoring love for Christ, and absolute submission of 
 mind and will to his word ; a chivalrous disijosition to maintain against 
 all odds, and with unvarying consistency through all the years of a long 
 life, the truth as he knew it ; crystalline clearness of thought and ex- 
 
764 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 pression ; and an unsurpassed logical power of analysis, and of grasping 
 and exhibiting all truths in their relations. As he sat every Sabbath 
 afternoon in the conference of students and professors, he spoke on all 
 questions of experimental and practical religion, freely, -without paper, 
 in language and with illustration suggested by the moment. The mat- 
 ter presented was a clear analysis of the Scriptural passage or theme, 
 doctrinal or practical, chosen for the occasion ; an exhaustive statement 
 and clear illustration of the subject ; a development of each doctrine on 
 the side of experience and duty, and a "demonstration of the practical 
 character of all doctrine, and of the doctrinal basis of all genuine relig- 
 ious experience and practice. As to the manner, the entire discourse was 
 in the highest degree earnest, fervent, and tender to tears ; full of con- 
 viction and full of love. 
 
 In 1835 he published his " Commentary on the Ejjistle to the Eo- 
 mans;" in 1839 and 1840 his "Constitutional History of 
 
 His books. 1 -I-. T • /~\^ 1 • 1 TT • T o I, • "-11 
 
 the 1 resbyterian Church m the United States ; m 1841, 
 the " Way of Life," intended to instruct inquirers and young Christians as 
 to the true nature of Christian doctrine on its practical and experimental 
 side. It has been republished in England and translated into other lan- 
 guages, and thirty-five thousand copies have been circulated in America. 
 Christians of all denominations have acknowledged their indebtedness to 
 it. Dr. Hodge published his "Commentary on Ei^hesians " in 1856, 
 that on First Corinthians in 1857, and that on Second Corinthians in 
 1859. His great life-work, " Systematic Theology," in three large oc- 
 tavo volumes, aggregating two thousand two hundred and sixty pages, 
 was published between 1871 and 1873. These have had a large circu- 
 lation in America and Great Britain, and are text-books, or books of 
 primary reference, in many theological seminaries. In 1874 he pub- 
 lished a small book entitled, " What is Darwiuianism ? " in opposition to 
 the prevailing atheistic theory of evolution. 
 
 He was made Doctor of Divinity by Rutgers College, New Jersey, in 
 1834, and LL. D. by Washington College, Pennsylvania, in 1864, and 
 moderator of the general assembly in 1846. 
 
 From 1830 to 1840 he was afilicted with an obscure affection of the 
 nerves of the right thigh. It was the cause of great pain immediately 
 from the nature of the affliction itself, and mediately from the remedies 
 resorted to by his physicians. He was for several years confined to a 
 horizontal position, part of that time with his limb in an iron splint. He 
 was lanced, and burned with the actual cautery, and treated with electric 
 and cold baths. For some years his classes gathered round his couch in 
 his own room. Afterwards he went to meet them, first on crutches, and 
 then leaning on a cane. He used one reclining chair, occupying a fixed 
 spot in his study for more than forty-five years, and his writing was done 
 until comparatively recent days on a board supported by his left arm 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] CHARLES HODGE. 765 
 
 and hand, while he was extended in an almost reclining position on his 
 chair. 
 
 This affliction was acquiesced in by him with the utmost cheerfulness, 
 and doubtless contributed much to deepen and sweeten his religious ex- 
 perience. It was by such means that his faith strengthened and became 
 in appearance as vivid and as certain as sight, and that his sanctified 
 affections went out in an ever-increasing flame of adoring love toward 
 his Lord, and of holy brotherly kindness toward all Christians. 
 
 In 1840 Dr. Hodge was transferred to the chair of didactic theology, 
 hitherto occupied by his venerated preceptor, Dr. Archibald Alexander. 
 His special adaptation to this new chair had been strikingly demonstrated 
 by his articles in the "Princeton Review" on doctrinal subjects, and by 
 his " Commentary on Romans." His singular power in analysis, logical 
 exposition, and effective polemics had become universally recognized. 
 But it was one of the most conspicuous of the many favoring providences 
 which distinguished his life, that he was at first constrained to turn his 
 attention against the natural bent of his tastes and talents to the study 
 of the original languages of Scripture, and to the practice of extended 
 exegesis. It was doubtless largely due to the fact that for twenty years 
 he was thus professionally engaged with purely exegetical studies that 
 his subsequent theological writings were so predominately Scriptural in 
 their form and spirit. The result has been that while his commentaries 
 and exegetical lectures have been, to a marked degree, dominated by the- 
 ological ideas, it is true even to a greater extent that all his theological 
 statements and arguments are controlled by and suffused with the in- 
 spired Word. 
 
 From the date of his employment as assistant teacher of Oriental and 
 Biblical literature in 1820 to his death in 1878, over three ^ ^ ^ 
 
 Teaches three 
 
 thousand candidates for the ministry of the various evangel- thousand cier- 
 
 ffviueii. 
 
 ical churches had passed under his instruction. The influ- 
 ence of such a man, exerted through so many channels for so long a time, 
 must have been immense. It was, however, directly exerted through the 
 class-room and through the press, especially through his numerous articles 
 upon all the great matters of current ecclesiastical interest which ap- 
 peared in the " Princeton Review ; " and the ministry, through which 
 class he reached his entire generation throughout the Christian world. 
 
 On the 23d of April, 1872, the fiftieth anniversary of his election as 
 professor, there was observed in Princeton a semi-centennial commem- 
 oration or jubilee. Four hundred of his former students enrolled them- 
 selves as having come up from every part of the land to pay their respects 
 to their aged professor. The faculties of all the Presbyterian theolog- 
 ical seminaries, and several of those "belonging to the Episcopal, Meth- 
 odist, Congregational, Lutheran, and Reformed churches, were repre- 
 sented. All branches of the Presbyterian churches of Great Britain 
 
766 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 and Ireland saluted him by letter or representative with expressions of 
 their respect, confidence, and love. Episcopal bishops, venerable profess- 
 ors, and pastors of all communions sent him congratulatory addresses. 
 Dr. Joseph T. Duryea, of Brooklyn, delivered an oration on " Theology 
 as a Science." Dr. H. A. Boardman, of Philadelphia, delivered to Dr. 
 Hodge, in the name of the directors and alumni of the institution, a con- 
 gratulatory address. 
 
 " That you should live to see this mighty mechanism in motion, to 
 guide into so many of its countless channels this broad stream from the 
 Fountain of living waters, is a distinction so rare and so exalted that we 
 cannot but look upon you as a man greatly beloved of God, and honored 
 
 as He has scarcely honored any other individual of our age We 
 
 render the praise to Him whose providence and grace have made you 
 
 what you are, and given you to us and to his church Again, 
 
 with one heart, and voice do we the directors and alumni of the semi- 
 nary, the faculties and graduates of sister institutions, the represent- 
 atives of the other liberal professions, and your friends of every name 
 and calling here assembled, congratulate you on this auspicious anniver- 
 sary, and pay you the tribute of our grateful love." 
 
 In his reply, while defining the life-long principles of his senior col- 
 leagues, and of himself, he said : " When I was about leaving Berlin on 
 my return to America, the friends whom God had given me in that city 
 were kind enough to send me an album, in which they had severally 
 written their names, and a few lines as remarks. Wliat Neander wrote 
 „. ,, , was in Greek, and included these words : OvSiu Iv iavTw, 
 
 His motto tor ' "■ 
 
 Priuceton. nothing in ourself; iv Kvpiw navTa, all things in the Lord; 
 
 <S fxovta SovXeveiv Sofe'a Kai Kavxwa, whom alone to serve is a glory and a 
 joy. These words our old professors would have inscribed in letters of 
 gold over the portals of this seminary, there to remain in undiminished 
 brightness as long as the name of Princeton lingers in the memory of 
 man." 
 
 The singular perfection of such a life-work is due to the remarkable 
 combination of a variety of elements : natural endowments of intellect 
 and conscience and affections, divine grace, great diligence and supreme 
 moral courage, felicitous circumstances, eminent position, and length of 
 days. 
 
 He died June 19, 1878, in his eighty-first year; his nervous system 
 exhausted, his physical life ran gently out, while his mind was as clear 
 and his spirit as free and strong as ever. He died with all his family 
 around him, as the setting sun glorifying the lower heavens, with the 
 peaceful brightness of his faith and love. To a weeping daughter he 
 said, " Dearest, don't weep. To be absent from the body is to be with 
 the Lord. To be with the Lord is to see Him. To see the Lord is to 
 belikeHim." — A. A. H. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ALBERT BARNES. 767 
 
 LIFE XXVIII. ALBERT BARNES. 
 
 A. D, 1798-A. D. 1870. PRESBYTERIAN, AMERICA. 
 
 Albert Barnes was born at Rome, New York, December 1, 1798. 
 He died in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Decem- 
 ber 24, 1870. These two dates mark the earthly limits of 
 an eminently nsefid and godly life. The life was begun in skepticism. 
 It grew toward golden completeness under a profound conviction of the 
 truth as revealed in the Word of God. It ended in full, unshaken faith. 
 Its early years were uneventful. Its young and vigorous manhood was 
 given to Christ. Its maturity marked a period of rare interest in the 
 history of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, linked itself in- 
 dissolubly with that history, gave to the church one of the truest and 
 purest of her living epistles, and gave to the world " The People's Com- 
 mentator." Its eventide was a beautiful sunset; the Christ-like spirit 
 seemed bathed in the glory streaming through the oj^en gates of the city 
 of God, as if he stood just this side the river, looking into the other 
 country, " beholding the King in his beauty," and " seeing Him as He 
 is." 
 
 Doubtless the early skepticism of Albert Barnes gave him, ever after- 
 wards, that characteristic of clearness in perceiving, and of fairness in 
 stating, the difficulties and objections of the disbeliever, which in so 
 marked a manner appears in his published works. He was accustomed 
 to say that doubts and difficulties born of his own questioning and skep- 
 tical heart had seemed to him to be of far greater force and magnitude 
 than any he had ever seen suggested by rationalism and infidelity. An 
 article in the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, by Dr. Chalmers, entitled " Chris- 
 tianity," first commanded his assent to the truth and divine origin of the 
 Christian religion. But he resolved to yield to its claims no further than 
 thenceforward to keep alOof from its active opposers, and to lead a 
 strictly moral life. One year later, in Hamilton College, 
 
 _,-, ^-. _-. , , . His conversion. 
 
 at Clmton, New York, he experienced the deeper change 
 that set in entirely new channels the currents of his life. He became a 
 Christian, gave up his fondly cherished plan of preparation for the legal 
 profession, consecrated himself to the work of the ministry, and, upon 
 graduating at Hamilton College in 1820, pursued a four years' course of 
 theological study at Princeton, New Jersey, and was ordained and in 
 stalled as pastor of the Presbyterian church at Morristown, New Jer- 
 sey. After nearly five years in this pastorate, he was called to tho 
 charge of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, with which 
 church he retained official connection to the day of his death. 
 
 Upon the ministry of this man of God was set early and abundant 
 
768 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Pkriod Y. 
 
 seal. A revival of remarkable extent and power occurred during his 
 ministry at Morristown. The windows of heaven were opened over that 
 place, and all the region round about was refreshed with the copious 
 shower. His pulpit and pastoral ministrations were also greatly blessed 
 of God in Philadelphia, and frequent revivals marked the history of that 
 long pastorate. These seasons of special interest were never superficial 
 excitements. While always marked by deep feeling, it was rational emo- 
 tion, born of profound conviction by the truth. For throughout his 
 entire ministry, this Scriptural preacher held firmly to the persuasion, 
 publicly avowed and acted uj)on in his first charge, " that injury is not 
 done in a revival by a full exliibition of God's plan of saving men, ac- 
 cording to his sovereign will and pleasure." The pulpit ministrations 
 of Mr. Barnes were characterized by Scripturalness, clearness, fullness of 
 treatment, faii'ness in dealing with objections, and thoughtful spiritual 
 power. 
 
 There were four great movements that either originated or were 
 brought to prominent public notice about the time of Albert Barnes's 
 opening ministry. Upon each of these he left a powerful imjjress. The 
 history of two of them cannot be written without conspicuous reference 
 to his influence. 
 
 Of these four great movements, the temperance reformation was one. 
 The temperance Promptly and decisively Mr. Barnes sprang to the advo- 
 reformation. ^acy of its great leading principle, entire abstinence from 
 all intoxicating beverages. There were nineteen distilleries within the 
 limits of his first parish when he began to preach. Liquor was exten- 
 sively manufactured and sold in the region of country about Morristown. 
 Drinking customs widely prevailed. What Mr. Barnes understood to be 
 the truth of God on this subject, he fearlessly preached, and with such 
 bold fidelity and persuasiveness as to effect a complete revolution in 
 some of the most cherished and most fortifying habits of social life ; 
 while in nearly every one of the distilleries within his influence the fires 
 were put out, to be rekindled no more. 
 
 To the principles thus early avowed, he adhered unswervingly, giving 
 them public advocacy on all suitable occasions till he died. 
 
 Another of the great movements that came to conspicuity in the first 
 The antisiavery ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ 2^^'^^^"*^ ccutury, and wliicli at last culminated in 
 movement. gjyj^ war and emancipation, was the antisiavery movement. 
 
 Mr. Barnes's first critical study of the New Testament, there in the quiet 
 of his home at Morristown, led him to feel and to say that the gospel 
 was an epistle of deliverance to the captives ; that to give liberty to the 
 slave and restore him to freedom was to confer the highest benefit and 
 impart the richest favor ; and that by the freedom of the truth all prison 
 doors would finally be opened and all chains of slavery broken. From 
 that time onward he never hesitated, from the pulpit and by the press, 
 
Cent. XVIT.-XIX.] ALBERT BARNES. 769 
 
 in the clearest and most unmistakable terms to express his convictions 
 on the evils, the (3rimes, the wrongs of slavery. He was no enthusiast 
 or fanatic in this matter. He was not in anything. Behind his boldest 
 and freest and most radical utterances there was no passionate excess of 
 feeling, — only the calm, sober conviction of a trixth-loving, earnest, con- 
 scientious man of God ; and to give that conviction embodiment in 
 speech on fit occasion, at whatever risk and at whatever cost, was as 
 much a matter of course, with him, as to eat his daily bread. He never 
 uttered a word in public or in private in favor of any illegal interfer- 
 ence with the institution where it existed. What he did and all that he 
 did, beyond endeavoring to secure a constitutional change of the laws, 
 was done as a preacher and a commentator, by a candid and thoughtful 
 exposition of the Word of God in its application to the duties and the 
 rights of man. In his pulpit and in his notes, he never sought pojiular- 
 ity by silence. Turn to any page of his commentary, where there is a 
 passage regarded as bearing ujiou the subject of slavery, and there it 
 will be seen that he ever consistently entered a calm but vigorous Chris- 
 tian protest against this at that time strongly buttressed and gospel de- 
 fended, but in his judgment most abominable, institutional iniquity. 
 
 He lived to see America without a slave, and he entered heartily into 
 the work of educating and elevating the long-enthralled race. 
 
 A third great movement, assuming importance in the early years of 
 Mr. Barnes's ministry, was the Sabbath-school. His dis- ,j^^ sabbath- 
 cerning mind saw that an emergency had arisen in the es- school. 
 tablishment and rapid spread of this new institution. He was struck 
 with the need of a plain and simple commentary on the gospels, which 
 could be put into the hands of teachers, furnishing them an easy ex- 
 planation of the sacred text. He at once, while still at Morristown, 
 entered upon those Scripture studies, the fruits of which j,jj,g(. conimg^. 
 were subsequently given in " Notes Explanatory and Prac- *'^'"y- 
 tical on the Gospels, designed for Sunday-School Teachers and Bible 
 Classes." This first venture bore date, Philadelphia, August 25, 1832. 
 It is perfectly safe to say that no single book has gone into so many 
 hands as a help to the understanding of God's Word in the instruction 
 of the Sabbath-school. He little dreamed then that the purpose thus 
 formed, and upon the prosecution of which he thus early entered, would 
 make his name a household word wherever the English tongue is 
 spoken. He had no thought, in the unambitious effort to give simply 
 the results of the critical study of the gospels, and by avoiding all ab- 
 struse and scholastic discussion to afford a useful interpreter to the 
 young and the unlearned, that he was to jjlace himself foremost among 
 Bible commentators in the number of his readers, and to go around the 
 world like the beautiful feet of morning, publishing in various languages 
 his exposition of the word and work of Christ. He gave the early 
 49 
 
770 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 hours of morning to this work of exposition. Promptly at nine o'clock 
 every day, he left it and turned to his more direct pulpit and pastoral 
 duties. By the preparation of these first notes, the steps of this good 
 man were established in that quiet path where he " prevented the dawn- 
 ing of the morning " in communion with God and in the careful and 
 prayerful study of his holy Word for well-nigh forty years. 
 
 The habit of spending a small portion of each day in annotating the 
 Scriptures grew to be a pleasure and a preference, and he continued it 
 until in 1834 appeared his " Notes Explanatory and Practical on the 
 Acts of the Apostles," and on the Epistle to the Romans. One book 
 after another followed, as this man of method persevered year by year 
 in his study of the Word, until, to his own surprise, he found himself at 
 the end of the New Testament. During these years he had also written 
 his annotations successively on Isaiah, Job, and Daniel. Subsequently 
 his "Notes on the Psalms " appeared. Meanwhile other works in the line 
 of his ministerial labors were given to the press. His pen was never 
 idle. Among his more important published works are, " The Way of 
 Salvation," " The Atonement," " Lectures on the Evidences," and " Life 
 Circulation of ^^ ^^- P'^iil-" He lived to see edition after edition of his 
 commentaries, commentaries exhausted, until more than half a million of 
 volumes were sold in his own country, and perhaps even a greater num- 
 ber in England, Scotland, and Ireland, while translations of many of his 
 notes were made into the languages of France, Wales, India, and China. 
 This remarkable result is the fullest proof that the life-labor of Mr. 
 Barnes met a wide necessity. The man needs no other monument com- 
 memorative of his faithful toil. Without any original design on his 
 part, when no eyes were turned to him in expectation of any grand 
 achievement, an overruling Providence selected the instrumentality, 
 prompted to the conception of the early task, insjiired a love for its en- 
 larging way, guided the steps of the faithful expositor, and led to the 
 completion of a work which, in extent and fidelity and beneficent influ- 
 ence, is one rarely allotted to man. He ended his exposition of the 
 Book of God, February, 1868, with these memorable words : " I cannot 
 close this work without emotion. I cannot lay down my pen at the end 
 of this long task, without feeling that with me the work of life is nearly 
 over. Yet I could close it at no better place than in finishing the ex- 
 position of this book ; and the language with which the book of Psalms 
 itself closes seems to be eminently appropriate to all that I have expe- 
 rienced. All that is past, all in the prospect of what is to come, calls 
 for a long, a joyful, a triumphant Hallelujah ! " 
 
 It was indeed a long task, and the Christian world, with one voice, 
 says it was well done. 
 
 His commentaries are adapted to the people. They meet, as they 
 were designed to meet, the common mind. They are charged with com- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ALBERT BARNES. 771 
 
 mon sense. They are free from the processes of critical study, yet they 
 furnish ample proof of it in its results. They are eminently spmtual 
 and practical. With faithful exposition of the letter of the Word is 
 woven a hai3py discerning of the mind of the Spirit. They bear abun- 
 dant witness to that true communion with God which, their author testi- 
 fied, if he ever had it in his life, was closely connected with those calm 
 and quiet morning hours when his mind was brought into close contact 
 with the truth inspired by the Holy Ghost. They are pervaded by those 
 qualities, and they possess those characteristics which made them the 
 best — as they were deservedly the most widely appreciated and most 
 generally used — Scriptural expositions in any language for the ordinary 
 reader. 
 
 A fourth great movement, with which Mr. Barnes's whole ministerial 
 life was influentially connected, was that which led to the Theological 
 division, and at last to the reunion, of the Presbyterian movement. 
 Church. It looked toward such an adjustment of human liberty and 
 divine sovereignty as would secure for personal responsibility a profound 
 emphasis, while still exhibitive of man's absolute dependence upon God's 
 sovereign will and pleasure for salvation. It was aggressive and yet 
 conservative. It involved a change in the methods of presenting gospel 
 truth, and a change in traditional terminology. 
 
 Some men saw in it a grave peril to sound theology, threatening the 
 integrity of the entire Calvinistic system. Others viewed it as a whole- 
 some effort so to state the great doctrines of grace as to be loyal to the 
 truth on the divine side, while giving the human will a more responsible 
 activity. Beyond a doubt, the extreme of the movement as seen in New 
 England, and possibly in other quarters, swept men to an assertion of 
 human ability, and of related truths, out of all harmony with the recog- 
 nized teaching of Calvinistic theology. 
 
 The controversy within the Presbyterian Church was long and bitter, 
 culminating in the division of the church in 1837. These were painful 
 years to Albert Barnes. But through them all he bore himself with a 
 firmness that never passed by its excess into obstinacy ; with a gentleness 
 that never degenerated into weakness ; and with a patience that was 
 never rufiied. Tenaciously holding to what he believed to be the truth, 
 expressing with no " bated breath " his own convictions, condemned by 
 a lower judicatory, but acquitted at last by the highest court known in 
 the church, he came out of the conflict as he had entered it, with a char- 
 acter ixntarnished and a name above suspicion or reproach. However 
 men may have differed as to the soundness of some of his doctrinal 
 statements and positions, they did not differ as to the purity of his mo- 
 tives and the guilelessness of his spirit. 
 
 Mr. Barnes remained conspicuously connected with what was known 
 as the New School Branch of the Presbyterian Church, until in 1869 
 
772 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 the separate bodies came together again, in substantial and catholic 
 unity, on the basis of the common standards — the Westminster Confes- 
 sion of Faith and the Catechism. With pen and tongue, through press 
 and 2)ulpit, this laborious and able man of God unquestionably contrib- 
 uted largely, by his temperate and balanced presentation of the agency 
 of God and man in redemption, to that state of things which made the 
 reunion of the Presbyterian Church possible, and which so happily 
 characterizes the union as actually accomplished. And whether or not 
 all would ex^jress themselves as in accord with his " views " and termi- 
 Fideiity to ^ology, all will most certainly believe this public avowal 
 
 truth. which he made late in life : "I have aimed in:my ministry 
 
 to declare the whole counsel of God. I have embraced the Trinitarian 
 system of religion and the Calvinistic system, and have not concealed 
 the features of these systems from the world. I have endeavored to set 
 forth the doctrines of human depravity and of the atonement and of the 
 necessity of regeneration by the''Holy Ghost. I have defended the doc- 
 trine of decrees, of election, of justification by faith, and of future ret- 
 ribution. I have endeavored to show to men that they could be saved 
 by no merit of their own, and that their own works will avail them noth- 
 ing in the matter of justification before God." Surely, he not only 
 " fought a good fight," but he " kept the faith." 
 
 As he approached the close of his life, his own testimony was that 
 " the objects of eternity became overpoweringly bright and grand." Yet 
 he did not lose his interest in this world, as the scene of the develop- 
 ment of the great plans of God. He cherished to the last the cheer- 
 fullest views of the world, of the certain progress of the race, of the 
 destiny of man. " Never," said he in his seventieth year, " never in 
 the history of the world, did young men enter on their career with so 
 much to cheer them, to animate them, to inspire them with hope, to call 
 forth their highest powers for the promotion of the great objects which 
 enter into the civilization, the progress, and the happiness of man. The 
 opinions of a man at seventy years of age have been long maturing, 
 and he is not likely materially to change them. I shall cherish these 
 views till I die, and I shall close my eyes in death with' bright and glo- 
 rious hopes in regard to my native land, to the thurch, and to the 
 world." 
 
 He was full of years and full of honors when God called him to the 
 higher honors of the skies. What shall we say of such a man ? He was 
 distinguished by a rare balance of faculties. He had also a rare com- 
 mand of his faculties. He was " conscience incarnate," a man for the 
 stake, if need be, but not for a compromise of what he believed to be 
 the truth. Yet his heart was full of charities withal. His affectionate- 
 ness and childlikeness won for him a peculiarly tender regard. As a 
 friend he knew no guile, there being deep-rooted in his heart every ten- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] THOMAS HEWLINGS STOCKTON. 773 
 
 der and sympathetic virtue. As a man, he was singularly regardful of 
 the rights of man, and was always the champion of all that were op- 
 pressed and that were of low degree. As a patriot he loved his country 
 too well to defend her in wrong. As a pastor he won and kept his peo- 
 ple's hearts. As a reasoner he was calm, comprehensive, logical. As a 
 commentator he was remarkable for simplicity, clearness, and fidelity. 
 As a preacher he was instructive, convincing, balanced, and bold, never 
 breaking faith with truth. As a man of God he witnessed a good con- 
 fession, and dying the death of the righteous, he passed into " the better 
 country." The fragrance of his name fills the whole earth. — ■ H. J. 
 
 LIFE XXIX. THOMAS HEWLINGS STOCKTON. 
 
 A. D. 180S-A. D. 1868. METHODIST PROTESTANT, AMERICA. 
 
 This eminent Christian was born at Mount Holly, Burlington County, 
 New Jersey, June 4, 1808. His ancestry was respectable, intelligent, 
 pious. His religious views were decidedly Methodistic, his inclinations 
 and preferences having been influenced by his social surroundings, as his 
 grandfather's family, his father's family, and his early associates were 
 connected with that denomination of Christians, himself uniting in that 
 church fellowship in early life. His attachment to the Wesleyan doc- 
 trines and means of grace was ardent, unfaltering, throughout his life ; 
 nor did his dissent from the Methodist Episcopal Church order ever 
 dull his affection for the denomination, or interfere with his pure love -for 
 those who preferred and sustained its ecclesiastical arrangement. 
 
 His opinions of church order, that led him into dissent from the ec- 
 clesiasticism in which he was trained, grew out of the peculiarity of his 
 mind, and his close observance of the Scripture history, impressed as 
 he was with the evident facts that our divine Lord forbade ^^. ^ ^^ 
 
 His father. 
 
 mastery, requiring brotherhood, rejecting hierarchy, and 
 demanding ministry, service. Accordingly, when "his father, William S. 
 Stockton, son of two of the earliest Methodists in the State of New 
 Jersey, — ' a simple-hearted, active-minded, observant, thoughtful, honest, 
 earnest, zealous, sanguine American freeman and Christian, desiring and 
 aiming only to do good, and setting so much value on all great rights 
 and interests as to be willing to toil and make sacrifices in their behalf,' 
 — originated in 1821 the 'Wesleyan Repository,' open to the discussion 
 of such reforms as were deemed desu-able in the ecclesiastical polity of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, at a time when the son was of an age 
 to become deeply interested in such matters, this publication and the con- 
 troversy growing out of it led to radical views by Thomas Stockton on 
 church government." ^ 
 
 1 Memorial Discourse, by Eev. J. G. Wilson. 
 
774 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 In the same tender, loving, excellent discourse from which we have 
 just quoted, we have the views of Stockton as to the comparative mer- 
 its of spiritual and ecclesiastical Methodism. " Primitive Methodism ap- 
 pears to have been the purest and most useful revival of the truth as it is 
 in Jesus, ever known in the history of the church. Even in its present 
 numerous and diverse forms, I think it may be said of it, with entire 
 propriety, at least in relation to our own country, that, if Providence 
 should decree that only one of the existing systems of Christian agency 
 should remain in existence after this night, there is reason to desire that 
 it might be, and to believe that it wofild be, the great Methodist system ; 
 the most hopeful of all, by far, in view of the salvation of the people at 
 large. But originally Methodism was only spii-itual. Since then it has 
 become ecclesiastical. Its spiritual character has always been its glory. 
 Its ecclesiastical character has always been its shame. From the begin- 
 ning, its government has been an intermitting volcano, starting, at va- 
 rious intervals, into flaming eruption, and filling the circuit of its power 
 with saddest devastations. Alas, for all man's governments ! Alas, for 
 all over-government; all unyielding government, all idolized govern- 
 ment ! Would to God that Christ might be confessed all in all, that 
 the time might be hastened in which ' the government shall be upon his 
 shoulder ' and nowhere else, in which his people shall be ' not without 
 law to God, but under the law to Christ,' and to no one else." -^ 
 
 He was no partisan ; party spirit, machinery, schemes, he held in utter 
 abhorrence. His mind, his heart, he knew to be open to the eye of God, 
 and he never concealed them from the eye of man ; any one who wished 
 might know his aims and desires. Honestly endeavoring to be instructed 
 by the divine word, he was never ashamed of what he had learned, but 
 was ever ready to impart the sacred lessons to others, in the firm faith 
 that true wisdom was to be derived from no other than the holy, copious 
 source of all truth. 
 
 Having selected medicine as a profession, he commenced the study of 
 it under Dr. Thomas Dunn, of Philadelphia, where he was then residing, 
 but Providence had made a different selection ; for the " Wesleyan Reposi- 
 tory " having attracted the attention of Revs. N. Snethen, Asa Shinn, 
 Samuel K. Jennings, Alexander McCaine, John S. Reese, and many 
 others of the Methodist Episcopal ministry and laity, a reform in the 
 government, so as to admit lay representation, in connection with the 
 previous demand for an elective presiding eldership, and diminution of 
 the episcopal prerogative, was insisted upon ; terminating in 
 Methodist Prot- the expulsion of some of the reformers in Baltimore and 
 
 estant Church. ^ . . . „ 
 
 elsewhere, and compellmg a distinct organization or an- 
 other church, known as the Methodist Protestant Church, with lay rep- 
 resentation and elective presidency, and without bishops. 
 1 Memorial Discourse, page 21. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] THOMAS HEWLINGS STOCKTON. lib 
 
 This movement involved "William Stockton and his sou, of course, 
 and they identified themselves with and took part in the moulding and 
 outset of the new organization, of which they were sincere and self- 
 sacrificing supporters, their pens, purses, and persons surrendered in 
 hearty allegiance, as might have been expected of men of their integrity 
 and piety. Young Stockton, after preaching a few times in Philadelphia, 
 in 1829, was received as an itinerant into the Maryland annual confer- 
 ence of the Methodist Protestant Church, and appointed to a circuit on 
 the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where his deep piety, his innate gentle- 
 ness of manner, his extraordinary eloquence, and his inimitable style of 
 preaching, secured the affection, admiration, confidence of the crowded 
 audiences who attended his wonderful ministry of the glorious gospel of 
 Christ. His pure Christian character, his exact truthfulness and integ- 
 rity, his affectionate disposition and fraternal bearing, with his transcend- 
 ent ability in the pulpit, — in connection with the prudence, talents, and 
 marked ability of the superintendent of the circuit, Rev. Dr. John S- 
 Reese, of sainted memory, and the meekness, pious deportment, learning, 
 and ample ministerial endowments of their youngest colleague, the so 
 much regretted Rev. Charles W. Jacobs, — fixed the eyes of very many 
 upon the young church in which these excellent and gifted men minis- 
 tered, and won for it popularity and support. The public saw that these 
 ministers were true Christians, true Methodists, differing from others of 
 that name not at all in doctrine, but only in ecclesiastical order, and gave 
 them respect and support. 
 
 In 1830, Stockton, then but twenty-two years of age, was ap- 
 pointed a delegate to the convention which formed the constitution and 
 discipline of the Methodist Protestant Church, and was stationed in Bal- 
 timore, superintendent of the two churches there comprising the station ; 
 his ministry drawing crowds of intelligent, appreciative auditors, and oc- 
 casioning the conversion of many, and their adhesion to the young de- 
 nomination. In 1832 he was returned to the Eastern Shore, and made 
 his home in Easton, Talbot County, where his memory is still cherished 
 by his surviving contemporaries. In 1833-1834 he was stationed in 
 Georgetown, District of Columbia, and elected chaplain to Congress, 
 where vast multitudes attested his popularity and unsurpassed jDOwer as 
 a proclaimer of the gospel, which glowed in his heart and gushed in 
 wondrous sweetness from his lips. He was pronounced to be nature's 
 orator, and his gifts were regarded as extraordinarily eminent. 
 
 He was again stationed, 1836-37, in Baltimore, at St. John's, which 
 had become a distinct charge. It was thought at this time by the best 
 medical skill that his lungs were so much diseased that his stay upon 
 earth would be limited to a few months. It is remarkable that when 
 this opinion was communicated to him by his sympathizing and faithful 
 physician, he could not credit it ; he appearing to feel within him a 
 
776 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 decided contradiction, an instinctive assurance that more days would be 
 allotted him ; and this remarkable experience re-occurred twice in other 
 cities. 
 
 The general conference of 1828 elected him editor of " The Method- 
 ist Protestant," the official paper of the church, published weekly (as at 
 this day) in Baltimore ; but he could not consent to certain rules of pub- 
 lication established by the book committee, the controlling authority, and 
 he declined the position, resigning his superintendeucy of St. John's, and 
 removing with his family to Philadelphia. Here he preached in the 
 hall of the Philadelphia Institute, Filbert Street, with his accustomed 
 power and success; organized the First Methodist Protestant Church, 
 1839 ; dedicated their house of worship, a fine structure built at the cor- 
 ner of Wood and Eleventh streets ; and ministered therein with great 
 popularity and usefulness, until 1847, when he was invited to the Sixth 
 Street Methodist Protestant Church, Cincinnati, where he remained the 
 greater part of three years, exerting his usual commanding influence. 
 Early in 1849 he was elected president of INIiami University ; but, while 
 that position was very desirable for many reasons, he decided that duty 
 required him to decline it, which he did, and remained at his post. Cer- 
 tain great plans for extending his influence beyond the limits of the 
 specific church he was serving, and the Methodist Protestant Church gen- 
 erally, occasioning dissatisfaction, he resigned his superintendency De- 
 cember 24, 1849, and commenced services in the Unitarian chapel, where, 
 thouo-h known to be a clearly pronounced Trinitarian, he was treated 
 with a kindness that he ever after spoke of with grateful recognition. 
 He next occupied the Masonic Hall, where he had more space, and for 
 the use of which he had cause to express his sense of obligation ; for he 
 was the open opposer of all secret associations, although some of them 
 embraced many of his most esteemed and beloved brethren and friends. 
 
 In the midst of his efforts in these unusual pulpits and engagements 
 with the press, he received an invitation from St. John's, Baltimoi-e, then 
 an independent Methodist Protestant church, under the pastorate of 
 Rev. A. Webster, D. D., to the position of co-pastor, with no other obli- 
 gation than to preach in the evening of each Sabbath. He accepted, 
 went on, commencing his labors to crowded congregations, and continued 
 among those loving, admiring friends, with much usefulness, until 1856 ; 
 when, after having aided in sustaining the pulpit of the Fayette Street 
 Reformed Presbyterian Church, after the death of Rev. John M. Dun- 
 can, D. D., until they could find a pastor, he again returned to Philadel- 
 phia, where he continued to try to be useful, preaching and publishing, 
 until 1860; when he was once more elected chaplain to Congress, and 
 reelected in 1862. 
 
 In 1865, after a happy union of thirty-seven years, he was separated 
 by death from his beloved, faithful wife, the mother of his eleven chil- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] THOMAS HEWLINGS STOCKTON. Ill 
 
 dren ; to which last fact he thus alluded, upon presenting her with a 
 copy of Mrs. Welby's Poems : " Your poems, my dear Anna, are in 
 eleven volumes. Two of them the Lord was so pleased with that He 
 has put them, in gold binding, on a pearl shelf in his own library in 
 heaven. The other nine are yet with us, awaiting his approval. May I 
 stand by your side when you see them there, in one complete and beau- 
 tiful collection." 
 
 The few years of his own further earthly stay were passed in great 
 physical debility, but with no failure of his intellectual force or brilliancy. 
 He bore clear testimony to the excellency of the gospel and the power of 
 divine grace ; conversing with his children and Christian friends, in his 
 usual serene and instructive manner, until October 9, 1868, when he de- 
 parted to his rest. 
 
 His intellectual endowments were wonderful ; equally so were his 
 oratorical gifts ; the exact sympathy between his soul and body consti- 
 tuting him the most graphic and overpowering of preachers. His imagi- 
 nation was apparently inexhaustible ; equal, as his auditors felt, to any 
 demand upon it : from any high point, from which it might be supposed 
 further ascent was imiiossible, he gracefully rose with the ease and fresh- 
 ness of an incipient Hight. The same might be said of his logic and 
 rhetoric ; and to use those great powers, he had the most suitable instru- 
 mentality, in his tall form, dignity of manner, large expressive eye, clear 
 voice of wonderful compass and force, perfect enunciation, the most pli- 
 able .facial muscles, and such angelic sweetness of expression in his coun- 
 tenance, that at times he seemed to be unearthly. 
 
 The church in whose organization he took the deepest interest con- 
 tains the elements that lie approved, and in its commun- characteristics 
 ion he continued throughout life. Methodistic in its doc- oaist Protestant 
 trines, means of grace, and modes ; but in its order, non- church, 
 episcopal, with an elective presidency, a regular itinerancy, balanced by 
 a full lay representation ; so that both the lay and ministerial delegates to 
 the general conference, the legislative body, are elected by the votes of 
 the ministers and laymen of the annual conferences, voting by order; 
 a majority of each order being necessary to the election of any delegate, 
 lay or ministerial. The progress of the church was embarrassed awhile, 
 as in the case of others, by the slavery agitation, causing a serious divis- 
 ion from the Southern conferences ; but since the war this has been 
 all harmoniously adjusted, and tlie several sections are once more acting 
 in happy and prosperous union ; their statistics entitling them to rank 
 among the leading denominations of American Christendom. This re- 
 sult Dr. Stockton did not live to see ; but though the Methodist Protestant 
 Church was never just what he, or any of its founders, desired, yet he 
 deemed it the most liberal form of Methodism, and continued his iden- 
 tification with it to the close. His heart longed for a union of all the 
 
778 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 denominations of Christians, that the unity of spirit might be manifested 
 in a unity of form ; sectarianism disappearing, vanishing out of sight, 
 substituted by blessed Christian unity ; " that they all might be one ; " 
 the one Church of the one Lord ; Christ the Master, Christians breth- 
 ren : as it will be in the end, and as is now the tendency, evidenced by 
 the mutual attraction of all evangelical denominations, as they pleas- 
 antly and efficiently cooperate in active exertions for the sjjread of the 
 gospel, at home and abroad. — A. W. 
 
 LIFE XXX. JOHN TAYLOR PRESSLY. 
 
 A. D. 1795-A. D. 1870. UNITED PRESBYTERIAN, ABIERICA. 
 
 The United Presbyterian Church of North America represents a type 
 of Calviuistic Presbyterian ism in close resemblance to that of the earlier 
 history of the Church of Scotland. It was formed by a union of ele- 
 ments of secession from that church whose aim it had been to preserve 
 some of its best attainments. The Reformed Church of Scotland, or, 
 as sometimes called, the Covenanter, was constituted of those who refused 
 to acquiesce in the Religious Settlement of 1688, mainly because of its 
 annulling some of the covenant obligations of the church and kingdom of 
 Scotland. The Associate Church of Scotland, sometimes called the Se- 
 ceder, came into existence by the secession of 1733, in maintenance of 
 the rights of congregations and the interests of the " marrow doctrines " 
 of the gospel as endangered by the patronage and moderatism of the 
 times. Men of both these churches appeared in this country before our 
 Revolutionary War. After the independence of our nation had been 
 secured, most of the ministers and members of these churches entered 
 into the union which gave origin to what became known as the Associate 
 Reformed Church of North America. Two ministers and several con- 
 gregations of the Associate Church did not enter this union, but kept up 
 its continued organization. They were soon strengthened by large ac- 
 cessions from the mother church in Scotland, and speedily grew into a 
 strong and influential body. Both of these churches prospered — the 
 Associate and the Associate Reformed — and worked each by the side of 
 the other, sometimes talking and negotiating for union, but without avail 
 until 1858, when they united on the basis of the Westminster standards 
 in connection with a specific testimony for such doctrines of them as had 
 suffered perversion or neglect, and against some of the more flagrant 
 errors and evils of the times. 
 
 Thus came into existence what is now known as the United Presby- 
 terian Church of North America. And nothing more is needed to indi- 
 cate its distinctive character than the brief statement made of its origin 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN TAYLOR PRESSLY. 779 
 
 and the ecclesiastical elements from which it was formed. It is stoutly 
 Calvinistic in faith and Presbyterian in order of govern- united Presby- 
 ment. The Psalms of the Bible, in the best possible version, terians. 
 are its authorized system of praise. Its laws of fellowship guard care- 
 fully the purity and good order of the church. In old-fashioned fortitude 
 it arrays itself against all flagrant immoralities and evils, of whatever 
 form and however formidable. It is uncompromisingly antislavery, and 
 was so when slavery so dominated the land as to make even churches 
 foster and defend it. And now it arrays itself with like faithfulness and 
 fortitude against the scarcely less formidable evil of oath-bound secret 
 societies, the great social evil of the times, demoralizing the church as 
 well as society at large. In all respects it seeks to maintain the claims 
 of God, the supremacy of his law and authority in all the relations of 
 life. 
 
 Among those who acted a leading part in organizing this church, and 
 in maintaining the principles it represents, no one was more „ , , . 
 
 <s i^ i- >■ ' _ Presslys family 
 
 conspicuous than John Taylor Pressly. He was born in 
 Abbeville District, South Carolina, March 28, 1795. His ancestors were 
 among the best people and most influential in the early history of his 
 native State. It has been truly said of him, " He was an honored mem- 
 ber of an honored family." In a large connection of such families his 
 father and mother, David and Jane Pressly, were distinguished for. intel- 
 ligence and godliness. Their home was one in which the Lord dwelt and 
 in which bis name was honored. In such a home, where Christian in- 
 struction and Christian example were combined in forming the best home 
 influence, the subject of this memoir was born and grew up to manhood. 
 Every member of the family, including three brothers who became min- 
 isters of the gospel and two others who became distinguished physicians, 
 and two sisters, one of whom became the wife of a minister and the 
 other of a physician, gave to the world a useful and honored Christian 
 life. 
 
 John, however, was the central figure of the family, and became the 
 most distinguished. In early life he gave promise of his after eminence 
 in piety and learning. He made a profession of religion while quite 
 young, and as early manifested a love of study. His first church mem- 
 bership was in the Cedar Spring congregation, in connection with the 
 Associate Reformed Synod of the South. He began his studies in an 
 academy in the immediate neighborhood of his home. Afterwards he 
 entered Transylvania University, Kentucky, where he was graduated in 
 1812, in the eighteenth year of his age. Long before this his mind had 
 been turned to the ministry of the gospel. Determined to have the best 
 theological training then to be had in this country, he repaired to the 
 seminary in New York, at the time under charge of the famous Dr. John 
 Mitchell Mason [see Life XXV.]. There he completed a full course of 
 
780 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 three years' study, and returning home in the spring of 1815, he was 
 licensed by the Second Associate Reformed Presbytery of South Caro- 
 lina, as a probationer for the ministry. 
 
 For a year he devoted himself to missionary work, traveling on horse- 
 His work ia the ^'>^^^ through several of the Southern States, and so far 
 South. north as Pennsylvania and New York. On his return home, 
 
 in the early summer of 1816, a call awaited him to take pastoral charge 
 of the congregation in which he was born and was baptized, and in which 
 he had made a profession of religion. This he accepted, and on the 3d 
 of July of that year was ordained and installed as its pastor. 
 
 His pastoi'ate of this Cedarville congregation continued for fifteen 
 years, peaceful, pleasant, and prosperous. He had done his work as a 
 preacher and pastor in a way to bind his people to him in the strongest 
 and tenderest bonds of respect and aiFection. His heart was bound just 
 as strongly to them. God had blessed his relation to them, and blessed 
 his work among them. He would have been satisfied and glad to close 
 his life in their service. But God had other work for him of more im- 
 portance, and with a wider range of influence, and made the call to it so 
 clear and conclusive as to be imperative. Hard as it was for him to be 
 separated from a people endeared by so many precious associations, he 
 could but obey. 
 
 He had become widely known, not only as a great preacher himself, 
 but as one eminently qualified to educate preachers. The brethren of his 
 own synod had recognized this, and had invited him to become their 
 theological professor. He did not see his way clear to give consent. Soon 
 after the Associate Reformed Synod of the West had its attention turned 
 to him for a similar work. It had established a theological seminary at 
 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1825, that had begun a work of great prom- 
 ise. Its chair of theology had been made vacant by the death of its first 
 professor. Dr. Joseph Kerr. After searching diligently and prayerfully 
 for one to fill this vacancy, the synod with entire unanimity elected this 
 rising man of the Synod of the South. In all the proceedings which 
 resulted in his election, and in the manner of it, the leadings of Provi- 
 dence were manifest. Deeply impressed with a sense of the divine call 
 to this work he obeyed, and at once began his preparations to engage in 
 it. He was elected on the 10th of October, 1831, and at the opening of 
 the next year, the 5th of January, 1832, appeared in Pitts- 
 in westi-nT" burgh, and the week after entered on the duties of his pro- 
 ennsj Tama. fessorship. His singuhu' fitness for the work was soon rec- 
 ognized and widely known, and added a new and great attraction to 
 the seminary. Students were drawn to it from all parts of the church, 
 North and South. 
 
 His powers as a preacher were as soon and as generally felt, and caused 
 no little rivalry among the vacant congregatious in the vicinity of the 
 
Cent. XVn. -XIX.] JOHN TAYLOR PEE SSL Y. 781 
 
 seminary for his pastoral services. A congregation recently organized in 
 the neighboring city of Allegheny was the most convenient, and, although 
 at the time among the youngest and feeblest of the congregations seek- 
 ing his services, was preferred. Its call, made October 15, 1832, was ac- 
 cepted. At the next meeting of the synod the seminary was located in 
 Allegheny, instead of Pittsburgh. 
 
 The pastorate now begun was one of the most successful of modern 
 times. The audiences increased week by week. The membership mul- 
 tiplied correspondingly. In a short time, the little congregation had 
 grown into one of the largest and most influential of its denomination, or 
 indeed of any denomination, in the vicinity. A new and larger church 
 building was soon required to accommodate the swelling numbers ; and 
 still another, larger and more commodious, with the finest auditorium in 
 the twin cities, was built before Pressly's death. His pastorate of this 
 congregation, covering thirty-eight years, was remarkable for an unbroken 
 confidence and affection between pastor and people. They were a mut- 
 ual joy and rejoicing to each other. To his people there was no preach- 
 ing like his, or deportment so truly and nobly Christian. His influence 
 over them seemed unbounded. We cannot wonder at the success of his 
 ministry among them. So strong in the hearts of his people, so strong 
 in his own character, so mighty in the Scriptures as he proved himself 
 to be, and withal so watchful, faithful, and tender as a pastor, the wonder 
 would have been if the results had been less. And not in his own con 
 gregation merely did the effects of his work appear. 
 
 While it so prospered, other congregations by overflows from it were 
 gathered around it, which have since become large and influential. The 
 present strength of his denomination in and around the two cities of Pitts- 
 burgh and Allegheny is largely due to the power he put forth for it. 
 And it is, perhaps, not claiming too much to say that other evangelical 
 denominations owe much to the influence of his life and work. He im- 
 pressed himself on the whole religious community in which he lived. 
 When he died people of all the denominations felt that a great man had 
 fallen in Israel. 
 
 He died on the 13th of August, 1870, in the seventy-sixth year of his 
 age and the fifty-fifth of his ministry, leaving a memorial in his work and 
 a fragrance in his name through which his memory has been made dear 
 to countless hearts. 
 
 A man of such prominence among his brethren and such usefulness in 
 the church, it must be believed, had some uncommon elements of power. 
 Everything in him and about him as he stood among men, ^^ personal ap- 
 and in every sphere in which he moved, marked him as a pearance. 
 man above the general average of men. He had a commanding per- 
 sonal appearance. He was blessed with great bodily strength in stately 
 form, and moved with a dignity, even majesty, that commanded attention 
 
782 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 and admiration wherever he appeared. In social life his presence was 
 always felt as that of a great roan, above all as a man of God. 
 
 His mind seemed to be formed on a corresponding scale, and capable, 
 with ease, of an amount of work under which most men would have 
 sunk. The magnitude of the mental work through which he went, with- 
 out any apparent difficulty, was wonderful. For sixteen years he had 
 the whole work of the seminary in connection with the most arduous 
 pastoral labors. Part of this time he edited a religious newspaper. And 
 all this time he had a leading part to act in the councils and the manage- 
 ment of the general work of his church. And with all this, done with 
 scrupulous punctuality and completeness, he found time to contribute 
 largely to the periodical literature of the times, and to prepare several 
 volumes on disputed points in theology. The man who could do with 
 ease all this work must have had no ordinary power. Something, it is 
 true, must be credited to his order of working, so systematic as to have 
 a time and place for every part of it, each part receiving the needed 
 attention at the proper time. This was a mental habit with him, into 
 which his naturally strong and facile mind readily fell. It shows the 
 value of system, but it also shows the greatness of the mind that so 
 worked and to such grand results. 
 
 His preaching was of the best style of the pulpit, that which threw 
 its whole force into the exposition and application of the Word of God. 
 There was nothing of the sensational or rhapsodical in his style. It 
 made no pretense of meeting the ideals of those who think of pulpit 
 powers as made up of dazzling human thought set in the forms of a fas- 
 tidious rhetoric and delivered with the studied arts of oratory. It was 
 the simple, clear, earnest preaching of a man who knew and felt that it 
 was the truth of God that was the means of saving souls, and who gave 
 all his power to explain and impress this truth on the minds and hearts 
 of his hearers. He was remarkable for clearness of conception and ex- 
 pression. Here, perhaps, was his great power as a preacher. But he 
 had also a good delivery. His fine personal appearance, his strong, so- 
 norous, and well modulated voice, and his action, always dignified and 
 solemn, gave to his delivery power approaching the magisterial. He ex- 
 celled in expository preaching. While no man knew better than he how 
 a sermon should be constructed to best bring out the truth and force of 
 a text, he delighted in explaining the Word of God in its connection and 
 continuity, and much of his preaching was of this kind. He has left i-ich 
 products of his expository studies, which, it is hoped, will yet be given 
 to the public. 
 
 As a professor of theology he had few if any superiors. It was here 
 His work as ^^^^ ^^^ clcar, comprehensive, richly furnished, and finely 
 professor. disciplined mind appeared at its best. He was a master in 
 
 every department of the course of study, and made his instruction so 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN EGEDE. 783 
 
 clear that only the veriest dullard could fail to understand him. The 
 great princi2)les of theology, as taught by him, appeared as verities not 
 to be questioned. So they were seen, at least, by his students ; with 
 them he was oracular. They venerated him as a teacher, and loved him 
 as a father. Some among them have finished their work and have gone 
 to the reward of the labors for which he trained them. But hundreds 
 of them still live, holding his name in most affectionate remembrance, 
 and showing in their work the impi'ess of his teaching. Through them 
 he being dead yet speaketh. It is as if his voice were still sounding in 
 the church. It is more. It is the influence of his life and work going 
 out in varied and multiplied channels in the interest of sound doctrine 
 and the saving power of the gospel. 
 
 It is not for us to know now how far that influence will yet reach ; 
 how many, in its widening circle, it will bring into the kingdom as the 
 ages pass ; or how many will be in the world of glory as the grand result. 
 All that must be left to the revealings of eternity. It is enough now 
 that we have the instruction and animation of the example of a man who 
 lived such a life and left such a living memorial of himself. — D. R. K. 
 
 LIFE XXXI. JOHN EGEDE. 
 
 A. D. 1686-A. D. 1758. LUTHERAN, — GREENLAND. 
 
 "Whenever anything notable has been done for the kingdom of God, 
 it will be found that the task has been performed through a single indi- 
 vidual. Some one person has conceived the enterprise, having been 
 equipped and prepared for the work in some peculiar way. This is true 
 of the mission in Greenland. Its never-to-be-forgotten leader, like Von 
 Westen, the pioneer of the mission to Lapland, was a Norwegian. 
 
 In the southern part of Seeland island, a region noted for its beautiful 
 forests, green coves, and glassy lakes, lived in the sixteenth ^ , , , ., 
 
 ' ° 1 b J ' Egede's family. 
 
 century, in the parish of Egede, a preacher of some note, 
 named Hans Colling. His descendants adojited the name Egede (from 
 Eich, or oak) from the village in which the family resided. A son of the 
 house, Paul Egede, moved at a later period to Norway. He was a civil 
 officer in the Nordland district, and the parish of Tenjen. His wife bore 
 him a daughter and three sons. The eldest one was the renowned John 
 Egede, born January 31, 1686. 
 
 As a youth, John studied in Copenhagen. When twenty-one (1707) 
 he preached in Waagen, in the parish of Salten, and in Nordland. He 
 there married his excellent wife, Gertrude Rask, who has won with him 
 an immortal name. He now first heard of the settlement in earlier days 
 of Greenland by emigrants from Iceland, of the establishment there of 
 
784 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 a church with bishops, and that for centuries the country had been sep- 
 arated from the civilized world and had sunk back into heathenism. 
 Egede supposed that the present inhabitants were descendants of Nor- 
 wegians or Icelanders. He was filled with the thought of rekindling 
 in Greenland the quenched flame. He could not rest. This was the 
 day of the new dawning of mission activity in the evangelical church. 
 Frederick Fourth, of Denmark, had sent missionaries to Tranquebar, to 
 lead the heathen there to Christianity. Thomas von "Westen had begun 
 his blessed work in Lapland. The Moravians had been awakened to 
 think of missions through the visit of Zinzendorf to Copenhagen. Mis- 
 sion efforts, it is true, were detached, and in a measure unintelligent. 
 Yet the seeds which were to grow to the great tree had already been 
 planted in the soil of the church. 
 
 How long Egede carried in his heart the thought of his enterprise, 
 what obstacles he met in his home or in his neighborhood, how often his 
 hopes were frustrated and himself laughed at as a fanatic or dreamer, 
 how often doubts entered his own heart whether his burning zeal for the 
 reviving of dead souls in Greenland was not a device of the devil, and 
 how frequently he went for supj^ort to the Word of God, there is not time 
 to tell. The sweetest victory which God gave him was in his wife, 
 Gertrude Eask, who had detained him from his enterprise through con- 
 siderations such as flesh and blood had presented to her. Her will was 
 changed so that she was filled with as great longing to go to Greenland 
 as was her husband. She grew to be his staff, arousing his courage ; his 
 comrade, never desponding, never fainting even in the sorest of life's 
 emergencies. 
 
 At last we find Egede, after ten years of enduring trials, oppositions, 
 After ten years ^^^ disappointed expectations, with his wife and four little 
 land ^°' ^"^°' children setting sail. May 2, 1721, from the harbor of Ber- 
 gen. Three vessels and forty-six persons now, after hard 
 enough effort, accompanied him to the land of his desire. The 12th of 
 June they could descry the coasts of Greenland, but they were surrounded 
 by fearful icebergs which threatened to crush their ships, nor could they 
 find any way through. The shipmasters lost courage. The sailors wanted 
 to turn and go home, the peril was so great. It seemed, even to Egede, 
 that God had forsaken him. In this hour of need Egede appropriated 
 the promise of the one hundred and seventh Psalm to those " that go 
 down to the sea in ships." He got comfort too from the story of Paul's 
 shipwreck. His prayers were answered. The vessels found their way 
 through. The land of his heart and his prayer was reached. They 
 landed July 12th, on the island of Imeriksok, at the west extremity of 
 the district of Baals. He named the place Good Hope (Godthaab). 
 
 With what eyes must Egede have looked upon the poor inhabitants of 
 this ice-encircled coast, in whom he had expected to find the descendants 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN EGEDE. 785 
 
 of the old heroic Northmen ! For he had before him an entirely strange 
 race, with a peculiar language, of a construction different from every 
 other known tongue. There is not space here to describe the Esquimaux. 
 Subsisting upon the coasts of Greenland and Labrador by the taking of 
 seals and of fish, and by hunting, they, happy in their conceit, called 
 themselves men (Inuit), all others aliens (Kablunat). Their conceptions 
 of things spiritual were very limited. They had few names for all that 
 could not be seen by the eye. Their "Angekokks," or "medicine-men," 
 shrewder than the others, wielded a kind of rule over them. Other 
 government was unknown. Communism in earnings and enjoyments 
 was everywhere the rule. Their dwellings were low huts of mud in the 
 winter, and tents of skin in the summer. 
 
 Egede, with the untiring industry which had distinguished him at 
 home, labored for the poor souls for whose sake he had left , „ 
 
 ^ _ _ An Esquimau 
 
 his fatherland and his office. With immense labor he mas- to the Esqui- 
 tered the Greenland tongue. He brought his children up 
 with the Greenlanders that they might acquire the language and the ac- 
 complishments upon which the people prided themselves. He found an 
 especial helper in his son Paul, who was afterward his successor, and the 
 maintainer of the mission. There is something very affecting in the way 
 in which he dealt with the Greenlanders in reference to divine truths. 
 He had his son draw pictures of Bible personages and events. He 
 would then explain them as well as he could to the attentive listeners- 
 He received Esquimaux children into his family to gain through them, 
 the language and the affection of their parents. He did not shrink from 
 staying in the fearfully stinking huts of the people. He and his faithful 
 wife knew nothing save love and patience, the fruit of their faith in Hinx. 
 who had loved and called them. What tiials of faith did Egede not have 
 to undergo ! His circumstances at home had compelled him to seek the 
 stipport of the Bergen trading company, and of the Danish government. 
 This connection of trade with the mission, of an established church au- 
 thority with a work of Christian love, became a scandal from which the 
 mission in Greenland has even now hardly recovered. When business 
 was unprosperous, the merchants threatened to withdraw their support. 
 At last this actually came to pass. Commerce had no thought of pro- 
 moting Christianity, and often sent to Greenland immoral, depraved peo- 
 ple, who tore down by their scandalous lives what Egede had builded 
 up. The government had undertaken both the Greenland commerce and 
 the Greenland mission. It knew as little about one as about the other. 
 One grand plan of colonization after another, unsuitable every way, was 
 projected, and soon came to an end. The colonists sent over were men 
 and women from houses of correction, who soon put an end tp them- 
 selves. King Frederick Fourth dying (1731), his successor Christian 
 the Sixth, seeing no material returns from Greenland, at the commence- 
 50 
 
786 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 ment of his reign issued the strict command that all the colonists should 
 
 be withdrawn, and that all Europeans should come home. This was to 
 
 Egede a fearful blow. The germs and blossoms which even now were ap- 
 
 , „ , , pearing would all be desti-oyed ! He could not bring him- 
 
 Gertrude Egede s r^ » •' . 
 
 great faith. gg]f jq agree to forsake Greenland, neither could his dear 
 
 wife. Lying upon a bed of sickness, she strengthened her husband, and 
 persuaded from eight to twelve persons to remain with him. Resting on 
 God, who is rich to all who call upon Him, Egede's faith was not put to 
 shame, though it had many a trial. Terrible inward struggles came upon 
 him ; his soul was beset with anguish. He thought that he was forsaken 
 of God. Though comforted by his comrades and children, he could not 
 find repose " till his God pitied him, rescuing him from hell, and bringing 
 him again to life." It was a misfortune too that the king, again inclin- 
 ing to the mission (1733), gave permission, at the entreaty of Count Zin- 
 zendorf, to the Moravian Brethren to settle in Greenland. Their cording 
 was a blunder, not only because the ways o\ the Moravians, who gathei- 
 the people about them in one spot, were ill suited to the Greenlanders, 
 who as nomads must go from place to place in order to get a living, for 
 which cause the Moravian colonies are still the very poorest ; but also 
 because Egede, who at first welcomed the Brethren, became suspicious of 
 the orthodoxy of the Moravians, as did many in that day. Out of this 
 grew an unedifying correspondence between Egede and the Moravians, 
 the latter taking his well-meant words angrily. Even till to-day there is 
 no hearty union of the Danish and Moravian missions in Greenland. 
 They labor not with each other, but alongside of each other. 
 
 Still God's Word made quiet progress. Many souls were won by the 
 Great Fisher of INIen through the hand of his faithful servant. Two 
 losses, however, affected Egede's heart very painfully. A Greenland 
 boy, the only survivor of six who had been sent (1731) to Copenhagen, 
 came back, alas, bringing with him the small-pox. One of Egede's dar- 
 lings. Christian Frederick, sickened and died, as did the boy. Quickly 
 the disease spread, raging fearfully among the natives, who had never 
 known such a plague. There died at Good Hope five hundred within 
 a few months. Those infected hurried from place to place, in spite of 
 every entreaty and warning, and carried the pestilence north and south. 
 From two to three thousand were sacrificed to sickness, despair, and ill^ 
 ways of living. At this period of fearful trial, the love and patience of 
 Egede and his wife shone forth in the clearest light. Who can avoid 
 being amazed, seeing husband and wife nursing the sick, taking them 
 into their home, seeking out everywhere the poor, giving them bodily 
 help and Christian consolation, and putting the dead in their graves ? 
 Egede lived as it were in a graveyard. "Was he right in not leaving 
 the country in 1731 ? Was not the trial a divine chastisement ? " This 
 question came to him when he beheld the great desolation which the 
 
Cent. XVII. -XIX.] JOHN EGEDE. 787 
 
 sickness had produced. The sorrowing laborer was comforted of God 
 by finding so many of the dying who in their last hours thanked him for 
 their souls' salvation, and so many of the living who now opened their 
 stubborn hearts to the gospel. Thus this sorrow was made a door 
 through which many entered into the kingdom of God. 
 
 A still severer trial came to Egede before he was able to lay down his 
 pastorate in Greenland. His faithful companion in joy and in sorrow, 
 Gertrude Rask, succumbed to the fatigues of the hard life and the sea- 
 sons of severe sickness. She fell asleep in the arms of her dear ones, 
 happy in her faith in her Saviour. Egede felt deeply her loss. He 
 knew what she had been to him in times of struggle and of want, of suf- 
 fering and of trial. He was thankful though afflicted, for he comforted 
 himself in the departure of his wife by the sure hope of their joyful re- 
 union. 
 
 Meantime his son Paul had finished his studies in Copenhagen, had 
 been ordained, and had come back to Greenland (1734). j^^g^g.^g^^ 
 Eeede could commit the work into his hands. The govern- tales up the 
 
 ® , , , . work. 
 
 ment granted leave to the weary wayfarer to lay down his 
 oflSce and come back to Denmark. He gave a farewell address (from 
 Isaiah xlix. 4), under which the hearts of the Greenlanders, who flocked 
 from all sides, grew warm. He felt that he could do something at home 
 for his cherished field, and with his weakened strength could do nothing 
 more in Greenland. With the remains of his wife, of one son, and of 
 two daughters, he left the scene of his care and sorrow on August 9, 
 1736, and reached Copenhagen September 9th, where in the Nicolai 
 Church he found his faithful companion a grave. 
 
 He toiled in Copenhagen for the Greenlanders in many ways. Labor- 
 ers for the mission were needed. At his motion a Greenland seminary 
 was begun, in which those who would go to that land as missionaries could 
 be instructed especially in its language. He was given the oversight of 
 the mission. The mission college was supported by the state. We will 
 not here consider how little his enterprise was promoted by this college. 
 The dear old Egede found his labor in it repugnant. He asked and re- 
 ceived his dismissal (1747), and settled in Stubbekjobing, on the Island 
 of Falster, with his married daughter. He there spent the evening of 
 his life, till upon November 5, 1758, he was called to his Master. He 
 was buried in Copenhagen by the side of his first wife, for he had mar- 
 ried a second time (in 1740). His funeral discourse was preached by 
 pastor Dorph from the significant words, " There was a man sent from 
 God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear wit- 
 ness of the light, that all men through him might believe." Egede had 
 labored for half a century, and at his death was seventy-two years of 
 age. 
 
 The memory of the just is blessed. Egede's children labored in 
 
788 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 Greenland a long time. We find among them Paul Egede, a name 
 never to be forgotten, John Egede Saaby, Henry Christopher Glohn, 
 and others. In the closing decade of the last century and the first of 
 the present, the love felt to the people so far away was chilled by the 
 cold wind of rationalism. The mission college slowly died. With few 
 exceptions, the men sent out were youths who had passed their examina- 
 tions in Copenhagen only tolerably, and went to Greenland to establish 
 a claim to some place at home. The indestructible power of the gospel 
 is shown in that Christianity which was preserved and advanced in 
 Greenland chiefly by simple native catechists, who united fishing and 
 hunting with their work, yet struck its roots deep into the soil. The 
 poj)ulation has not diminished, but increased. There are from nine thou- 
 sand to ten thousand souls, who through God have become a changed 
 people. When life was reawakened in the church at home, it sent fresh 
 germs of life to Greenland. The laborers there, now, according to the 
 judgment of the present writer, who knows them well, are faithful serv- 
 ants. At eight stations, four in North Greenland (Upernivik, Omanak, 
 Jacobshavn, Egedesminde) and four in South Greenland (Holsteinborg, 
 Godthaab, Frederikshaab, and Julianehaab), there are ten ordained Dan- 
 ish ministers, and about forty native catechists. The Moravians also 
 have five stations. Though the mistakes may have been many, yet the 
 faithful founder of the mission shall join one day with a great multitude, 
 saved in Greenland, to sing, " Unto Him that loved us, and washed us 
 from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests 
 unto God and his Father ; to Him be glory and dominion forever and 
 ever. Amen." — C. H. K. 
 
 LIFE XXXII. DAVID ZEISBEEGER. 
 
 A. D. 1721-A. D. 1808. MORAVIAN, INDIANS OF AMERICA. 
 
 Christian missions seem most successful when they raise a strong 
 nation out of savagery, giving it new life and Christian civilization, thus 
 introducing it to history. Yet they deserve our sympathy as well when 
 they turn their love to a people near extinction, though they achieve 
 little save to brighten at least its life evening by the trust and love of 
 the gospel. 
 
 Such a people are the various tribes of American Indians. To Ger- 
 many, to the brotherhood of Herrnhut, especially, accrues the merit of 
 having shown them the kindness of Christ. This mission had, however, 
 to contend with peculiar difficulties. These sprang far less from unsus- 
 ceptibility or opposition on the side of the Indians, than from the feuds 
 which prevailed in the period of which we have to speak. For not only 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] DAVID ZEISBERGER. 789 
 
 a constant strife existed between French and English for the mastery in 
 America, but there arose also the great war in which the colonies struck 
 for independence. In addition came the intrigues of European traders, 
 who found that the conversion of the Indians hurt their business, and 
 took advantage of military disturbances to calumniate the Moravians 
 and to make them suspected by the English government. Thus on their 
 missions there came frequent storms ever and again, wasting their field 
 of toil when it stood out in fairest bloom. Such was the scene of the 
 activity of the remarkable man of whom our story tells. 
 
 David Zeisberger was the son of a wealthy and pious farmer in the 
 village of Zauchtenthal, in Moravia, where he was born April 11, 1721. 
 Like many of their faith, his parents sought escape from the persecu- 
 tions then waged by the Romanists of Bohemia and Moravia. They 
 found refuge and welcome in Herrnhut, the newly founded colony of 
 Count Zinzendorf [see page 472]. Soon, however, they journeyed on 
 to America, whither many of their country people had gone before them. 
 Their little son David they left behind under the care of the brethren 
 in Herrnhut. When he was fifteen years old, Zinzendorf took him 
 upon a journey with himself to Holland and placed him in the Moravian 
 settlement of Herrndyk. The boy felt hampered by the 
 
 -,..,. ,\. __ A runaway boy. 
 
 strict disciplme prevauing. He ran > away, accompanied by 
 a youthful relative of like feeling, and embarked for America, the cap- 
 tain of a vessel giving him his passage. He gave his parents a surprise, 
 not wholly pleasant, by his unexpected arrival. 
 
 The Brotherhood, engaged since 1733 in evangelizing the Indians, had 
 in 1743 established a colony named Nazareth, some sixty or seventy 
 miles to the north of Philadelphia. Two years earlier (1741) they 
 had founded Bethlehem, on the Lehigh, a tributary of the Delaware. 
 Thither David traveled, little impelled by that holy trait of love to the 
 Master which so characterized his people. Yet even there, being asked 
 if he would not be a Christian, he answered decidedly, " It will come, and 
 all shall see that I am a converted person." But in his twenty-second 
 year he gave no evidence of conversion. He was counted of no use for 
 the purpose of- the mission. 
 
 When, therefore, Zinzendorf, who had visited the Brotherhood in Penn- 
 sylvania, was returning to Europe (1743), it seemed advisable to let 
 Zeisberger go also. He was moved to accompany the count ; already 
 the travelers were on board ; the anchor was weighed. A companion of 
 the count, David Nitschmann, asked Zeisberger if he were glad that he 
 was going to Europe. " No," was the decided answer, joined with the 
 confession that nothing was such a heart-desire to him as to be a Chris- 
 tian. " Then stay," was the advice of the kind brother. Zeisberger at 
 once left the ship and returned to Bethlehem to remain in the forests of 
 America. 
 
790 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 Not long was it till the glimmering spark in the heart of the youth 
 was kindled into a glow. Once there was sung in a meeting of the 
 Brethren, — 
 
 "Abyss of love! eternal, blest, revealed in Jesus Christ profound! 
 How burns, how flames each fiery crest, whose measure mind has never found ! 
 What lov'st Thou? Race of sin and shame. What sav'st Thou? Sons who curse thy 
 name." 
 
 The words vanquished the young man's heart. Tears of penitence and 
 gratitude rolled from his eyes. The love of God to sinners made on 
 him a living indelible impress, turning his soul newly and jjowerfully to 
 Christ. 
 
 His resolve was quickly taken. He would carry the gospel to the sav- 
 ages. To them — poor, hopeless, despairing heathen — he would an- 
 nounce the comforting message of God's grace, which blesses all who by 
 faith embrace the Crucified. In an incredibly short time he acquired, 
 with help given him by a missionary, the language of the Mohegans. 
 With a little trouble he learned, by going among the Iroquois, the dialect 
 of that widespread and powerful nation. Thus prepared, and full of the 
 courage, perseverance, and patience of one whom Christ's love con- 
 strains, he began the work which he had made his life's task. It was 
 not his design to take a settled station. His view was a broad one. He 
 would labor among the tribes as such, and thus give his work perma- 
 nence. He had found that the Indian races, especially the Delawares 
 and the Iroquois, or "Six Nations," though frequently hostile to the 
 whites, maintained treaties and friendly relations among themselves, and 
 showed to missionaries living with them toleration and kindness. 
 
 Zeisberger was fitted, by his knowledge of the languages and customs 
 of the Indians, for dwelling among them. In his love for them he 
 adopted their way of life. In the hunt he killed the game with ready 
 and skillful hand. He applied himself to their household arrangements 
 and to Indian arcliitecture. He thus gained everywhere among them 
 immense regard and peculiar influence. 
 
 The mightiest among their tribes was the Iroquois, whose national 
 zeisbereer by affairs Were treated in a gathering of chiefs held in Onon- 
 Lake Oneida. daga, ou the south bank of Lake Oneida. There was the 
 council-house, an edifice reared of lofty forest trunks, interlaced with 
 bark of trees. In this, around a blazing fire, the chieftains gathered for 
 consideration of their public matters after certain solemn forms. Thither 
 we see Zeisberger journey oft repeated times, in the first period of his 
 activity, through pathless wildernesses without inhabitants, going through 
 a thousand dangers to mediate treaties and alliances by the council fires 
 of Onondaga. He was assigned a place of honor among the chiefs, and 
 as he knew by his mighty gift of language how to touch their hearts, 
 his judicious counsels usually jjrevailed. 
 
Cext. xvii.-xix.] da vid zeisberger. 791 
 
 His first journey to Onondaga was with Bishop Spangenberg, who in 
 1745 visited the Moravians in America. One day, all means of sub- 
 sistence in the forests failed the pilgrims. They were exhausted by hun- 
 ger and fatigue. Sjiangenberg turned to Zeisberger, and said affection- 
 ately, " My dear David, get your fishing tackle ready, and catch us a 
 mess of fish." The other declined, since there could be no fish in such 
 clear water, especially at that time of year. Spangenberg said, " Inas- 
 much as I ask it, my dear David, fish ! Do it this once, if only out of 
 obedience." " Well, I will do it," he said, but thought in his heart, 
 " The dear brother knows just nothing about fish ; and, indeed, it is out 
 of his line of business." But when he cast his net, how was he surprised 
 at once to find it full of a multitude of great fishes ! The hungry men 
 not only supplied their hunger, but by drying the rest at the fire made 
 quite a provision for their fui-ther journey. " Did I not say to thee," 
 Spangenberg asked with a smile, " that we have a good heavenly 
 Father ? " 
 
 Zeisberger strove with untiring zeal to Christianize some Indians whom 
 he had gathered into a flourishing settlement. Telling them of God's 
 love in Christ, and supporting his words by his love, he found his way to 
 the hearts of the poor children of the forest. They heard their teacher's 
 voice, even when it scourged them. They obeyed it as it called them, 
 as was sometimes necessary, from relapse into their former mode of liv- 
 ing. Once as he thus spoke, " as fathers talk to their children," a chief- 
 tain owned his instant overwhelming power, and said, " My brother, I 
 feel subdued even as a little child." The glowing apostle-like fervor of 
 Zeisberger forced him into the deepest forests and remotest wilds. Thus 
 he reached Goshgoschink on the distant Ohio. The people Zeisberger by 
 were credited with having no equals in blood-thirstiness and *^® ^^'°- 
 wickedness. They put captives to death by the most refined cruelties. But 
 even over them Zeisberger, through Christ's love, gained an influence. 
 True, his counsels were at first little heeded. His life was sought. He 
 had to dwell, his adherents with him, one whole winter in a blockhouse to 
 escape their attacks, and at last was driven from this also. But the seed 
 of the gospel which he had sown rooted itself even in such soil as this. 
 The Goshgoschink council in solemn assembly agreed that every one in 
 the village should be allowed to hear the gospel ; that Zeisberger's jJ^r- 
 don should be asked for the injuries inflicted on him, and that he should 
 be assured of all friendship. They said, proud, blood-thirsty warriors, 
 that they were his bretliren ; his God should be then* God ; they were 
 ready, too, whithersover he would go, to go with him. 
 
 Zeisberger's quiet labors in converting and training the Indians were 
 often hindered. Through traders from Europe hostile tribes were stirred 
 up against the mission settlements. Attacks occurred more than once, 
 ending in horrible massacres. Calumnies against the missionaries were 
 
792 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 carried to the government, bringing on them legal persecution. More 
 than once Zeisberger felt constrained to flee with his newly won church, 
 like a second Moses, through endless wildernesses, deep into the densest 
 forests of America. He would save his people from perdition at the 
 hands of Christian civilization. The hardships of such journeys were 
 unspeakable. The wanderers jjress through pathless wilds, climb mount- 
 ain ridges, cross rushing rivers, often exposed to sore dangers from hos- 
 tile Indians. Victuals failing, the adults allay hunger by ill-tasting roots, 
 the children by the peeled-oif bark of the slippery elm. They obtain 
 help of God even in these extremities. Often they are strangely deliv- 
 ered. At last the wanderers reach a resting-place, under Zeisberger's 
 leadership ; a new settlement is made by the industry of his flock. Neat 
 cabins, fields, and gardens, with a little church, meet the gaze. Leisure 
 is granted the preacher to train the community, instructing them by 
 Scriptui'al selections, and by hymns in the Delaware and the Mohegan. 
 Thus, for more than a quarter of a century, Zeisberger labors, with un- 
 speakable efforts and invincible energy of mind, to plant Christianity, by 
 means of love, among the poor natives, and to guard it when planted 
 from growing dangers. 
 
 In 1771 Zeisberger met Netawatmis, chief of the Delawares, a remark- 
 able man, of strong and decided character, and was invited 
 
 Zeisberger settles . 
 
 in what is now by him to form a new settlement on the Muskingum, far 
 beyond the Ohio. The invitation was accepted. The col- 
 ony of Schonbrunn rose (1772) and throve splendidly. Netawatmis then 
 invited the Indian communities elsewhere established, of which some 
 stood in rich bloom, to join Schonbrunn. So under Zeisberger's lead a 
 little Chi'istian state was erected in the deepest forest, an oasis in the 
 spiritual waste of Indian heathendom. The number of converted Indians 
 reached four hundred and fourteen. A new and joyous life of faith and 
 love prevailed. The chief's family became Christian. Netawatmis him- 
 self, although he attended divine worship constantly, to his sorrow could 
 not decide to acknowledge Christ. Another chief of the Delawares, 
 Killbuck, also called White-Eyes, resemblmg his comrade in valor, mag- 
 nanimity, judgment, and moral character, was won to the gosjjel side. 
 The new converts grew in spirit, in knowledge, and in strength of be- 
 lieving. Zeisberger was and continued the soul of all, flourishing among 
 these sons of the forest as a patriarch in the midst of his family, respected, 
 loved, and reverenced by all. He was wont to name these the golden 
 days of his life. 
 
 They were of short duration. Netawatmis died in 1777. When he 
 felt his end near, he summoned the chiefs and counselors of the Dela- 
 wares. He expressed to them his wish that all the Delawares receive 
 the gospel, and suffer not the name of Christ to perish from their nation. 
 They promised him to fulfill, as far as possible, his desire. Then he called 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] DAVID ZEISBERGER. 793 
 
 Zeisberger, and begged him to tell something more of the love of Christ. 
 In the midst of the missionary's prayers, offered with tears and deep 
 groans, the old man closed his eyes. All the chieftains stood tremblingly 
 about the couch of their dead leader ; then White-Eyes spoke, the Bible 
 in his hand : — 
 
 " My friends, you have just heard the last wish of our dead chief. 
 Let us obey him. We will kneel down before God who created us, 
 and pray Him that He will be gracious to us and reveal his will. As we 
 cannot tell to those yet unborn the holy covenant which we have sworn 
 by this corpse, we will pray the Lord our God that He will make it known 
 to our children and children's children." 
 
 To the funeral of the chief came a numerous embassy of the Iroquois. 
 Tribe jealousy was forgotten. Iroquois and Hurons approached with 
 Delawares in silent grief the place of burial. The chief of the L-oquois 
 embassy wrapped the body in clean buckskin, and strewed the grave with 
 oak leaves. Zeisberger was among the mourners, wearing a Delaware 
 dress. As the earth covered his friend's body he wept bitterly, before 
 the eyes of all, an outburst of feeling to which the others by their rules 
 were strictly forbidden to give way. 
 
 After this the war of American independence broke out. The mission- 
 aries, led by Zeisberger, employed every means to keep the Indians neu- 
 tral. Nevertheless parties rose among them, creating variance between 
 the tribes. An English governor at Detroit, below Lake Huron, incited 
 the Indians against the Americans. Thus the missions were in danger 
 from different sides. 
 
 Zeisberger, with his people, quitted the sweetly flourishing Schonbrunn, 
 having first destroyed the dwellings and the church to save them from 
 pagan outrage. For a time he dwelt in a settlement near by. His life 
 was threatened, and was saved as by miracle. He made a journey to 
 Bethlehem with this result, that at the desire and request of the brethren, 
 he took in his sixtieth year a wife, Susanna Lekron. Returning, he and 
 two helpers were taken by a British agent, named Eliot, and were put in 
 chains. All the villages of the Christian communities were destroyed, 
 their churches thrown down, and the dwellings burned. Only on the 
 pledge that they would promptly emigrate with the Christian Indians to 
 the Sandusky River, were the missionaries set at liberty. With sorrowful 
 hearts the little persecuted band looked back at the wasting of their dwell 
 ing-place on the Muskingum, where the grace of God had been so richly 
 shown them, and the gospel had made so blessed a progress, and arrived 
 after an endlessly painful and perilous roaming of four weeks on the 
 southwest bank of Lake Erie. Here a place of dwelling zeisberger by 
 had been assigned them by the British commandant. It Lake Erie. 
 was sterile and inhospitable. Winter was at the door. Yet the perse- 
 cuted band did not lose courage or cast away hope. 
 
794 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 Soon the missionaries were summoned to Detroit before the British 
 governor to answer accusations. With three associates Zeisberger, in 
 this inclement season, had to undertake the laborious journey. Benumbed 
 by cold, tormented by hunger, with clothing rent and soiled, carrying 
 their luggage upon their backs, the messengers of Christ entered Detroit. 
 They had to wait for hours before the governor's door. They were then 
 directed to a French family, by whom they were kindly entertained. 
 
 An Indian chief named Pipe was set up by the governor as Zeisber- 
 ger's accuser. He came into court, carrying in his left hand a stake, 
 upon which were two human scalps all bloody ; but he and his comrades 
 failed in the work of accusation. He explained rather that the mis- 
 sionaries were good men. The father (the governor) should speak good 
 words to them. The missionaries were acquitted by the governor, and 
 assured by him that their Christian labors pleased him. They were al- 
 lowed to return to their people, were supplied with clothes and other nec- 
 essaries, and told that a door of welcome would ever be open to them. 
 
 The much-tried men gladly turned to their abode on Lake Erie. Deep 
 distress was soon after experienced. The cold had greatly increased. 
 Their provisions were almost exhausted. They were in danger of dying 
 from the rigors of the climate. Some of their number were sent off to 
 their former home on the Muskingum to collect some grain left there, 
 and to bring it. They fulfilled their errand, and were returning when an 
 American scoutmg party of several hundred white men made their appear- 
 ance. The Indians, since they were peaceful, thought that they had 
 nothing to fear. The whites seeming friendly, the Indians joined their 
 ranks. But scarcely had they approached when the others claimed them 
 as prisoners, and bade them prepare within a few hours to die. In Chris- 
 tian resignation the Indians asked one another's forgiveness for wrongs 
 which they perchance had done ; then kneeled down and prayed fer- 
 vently together. Resolutely they said to the inhuman mob, " We have 
 commended our spirits to God, and He has given us firm confidence of 
 heart that He by his grace will receive us into his heavenly kingdom." 
 Thereupon a daring villain snatched up a heavy hammer, and dashed in 
 the skulls of fourteen of them. He reached the hammer to another with 
 the words, " My arm gives out, do you make haste." And so were miser- 
 ably slain ninety poor victims, reddening with their martyr-blood the earth. 
 A few only escaped to carry the news of this act of infamy to their 
 brethren. The heathen Indians, stirred deeply by this horrible murder, 
 swore bloody revenge, which they also took. To Zeisberger it was the 
 heaviest blow that ever befell him. 
 
 Meantime the British governor had assigned the missionaries a suitable 
 Zeisberger lives ti'act of land ou Lake Huron, for their settlement. The 
 m Michigan. gospel there found an entrance into the surrounding tribes, 
 the savage Hurons and Chippewas. The hostility of the Huron chiefs 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] DA VI D ZEISBERGER. 795 
 
 prevented, however, the secure carrying on of these mission efforts. 
 When, therefore, the American Congress, at the making of peace vrith 
 the Indians, expressly reserved for the Christian converts the lands on 
 the Muskingum possessed by them before, Zeisberger with his entire 
 community, which had again increased to the number of three hundred 
 or four hundred souls, decided to emigrate to the old loved residence. 
 Twelve years lasted the journey, which was hindered now by the fury of 
 the elements, now by disturbances breaking out anew. At last it was 
 permitted our hero, the old man of seventy-six, after seventeen years' 
 absence to set foot again upon the place of his love and his longing. He 
 now called it Goshen, because he viewed it as the preparation place for his 
 heavenly Canaan. There, in unbroken peace, he lived from this time on, 
 honored and beloved of the poor Indians whose souls he had won for 
 Christ, a teacher and model also for the younger missionaries. 
 
 Gently, yet perceptibly, the marks of an advanced old age came upon 
 him. First, his feet refused him service, a sore trial to one who was 
 accustomed by their help to carry about the bread of life. He yet had 
 strength at eighty-seven to exchange letters with distant friends, and to 
 undertake corrections of his writings upon the Onondaga and Delaware 
 languages. At last he could not do even this. He became blind. Kow 
 he could only from his adoring heart exercise his mind upon the manifold 
 grace of God which he had experienced in his eventful pilgrimage. 
 
 In October of 1808 he felt that the end was nigh. His sickness was 
 painless. But one thing caused him unrest, the spiritual ciosino- days in 
 condition of the Indians. His children in Christ, clinging to ^^^' o^'°- 
 him so fervently, entered in small companies to his couch. " Father," 
 they said, " forgive us everything whereby we have caused thee pain. 
 We will yield our hearts to the Saviour, and live for Him only in the 
 world." The venerable man believed, exhorted, and blessed them. " I 
 now depart to rest from all my labor, and to be at home with the Lord. 
 He has never yet left me in need, and now, too. He will not fail me. I 
 have reviewed my whole course of life, and have found that there is 
 much here to be forgiven." After a silent prayer, he exclaimed, " The 
 Saviour is near. He will speedily come to bear me home." In the 
 midst of the singing of spiritual melodies which the Indians began, he 
 gave up his spirit. 
 
 Zeisberger lived to almost eighty-eight. Sixty -seven years he devoted 
 with marvelous love, perseverance, and power to his ministry among the 
 Indians. By his natural gifts, by his acquirements in the speech of the 
 Indians, by the great influence he gained among them, by his decided and 
 energetic disposition, fitting him to rule, he could easily have controlled 
 the Indian tribes, and, by taking part in the war, have won fame and 
 power. He preferred the quiet triumphs of the gospel, amid peculiar 
 poverty and obscurity. 
 
796 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 By the love of Christ which moved him, by the power of the Word, 
 by zeal and courage, by self-denial and endurance, he became a truly 
 apostolic character. As we look over the results of his preaching the 
 gospel to the unfortunate Indian folk, the sorrowful question forces itself 
 upon us : Were these poor aborigines of the New World so utterly un- 
 fitted for civilization through Christianity and religious training ? Or 
 weighs not their destruction as a sore crime on the soul of European 
 Christian humanity ? — K. F. 
 
 LIFE XXXIII. CHRISTIAN FREDEEIC SCHWARTZ. 
 
 A. D. 1726-A. D. 1798. LUTHERAN, — INDIA. 
 
 This German name, with its memories, takes us away to the East 
 Indies, that ancient land of wonders in nature and in art. Since the 
 year 1000, its allurements and treasures have stirred blood-stained con- 
 querors and greedy merchants from western lands to every art of deceit 
 and violence. It was also to learn from those lands how beautiful upon 
 its noble mountains and over its fertile valleys " are the feet of him 
 that briiigeth good tidings, that publisheth peace ; that bringeth good 
 tidings of good, that publisheth salvation ; that saith unto Zion, Thy God 
 reigneth." The Apostle Thomas, Christian tradition says, was the first 
 apostle of the Indies. From him the " Syrian " Christians, who were 
 found by the Portuguese explorers upon the coast of Malabar, traced 
 their descent. It appears certain, that for more than fifteen hundred 
 years there existed along the coast, from the northern extremity of India 
 up to Malabar, a Christian church in the midst of the heathen. It re- 
 ceived its bishops from the patriarchs of Babylon and Antioch, until the' 
 Portuguese and Jesuits (1599) brought them by their artifices under the 
 Church of Rome, which was before unknown to them. Christian Arme- 
 nians, too, were early found doing business as merchants in India. Rome 
 and her Jesuits, led by Francis Xavier, a great man of his kind, " con- 
 verted" the Hindoos by hundreds of thousands, to the papal church. 
 They adopted the garments, manners, and customs of the pagan priests 
 in order to achieve their end the more easily. The Portuguese were com- 
 pelled to give way to the Dutch. But these, too, used secular means to 
 make Protestants of the people rapidly and superficially. The seed of 
 the life everlasting was not sown. 
 
 A genuine gospel mission was begun in India for the first time through 
 Modern missions '^^ '^g^^cy of Frederick Fourth, king of Denmark, when 
 in India. that nation obtained from the rajah of Tanjore the city of 
 
 Tranquebar, upon the eastern coast. Bartholomew Ziegenbalg, a German, 
 was recommended by August Francke, of Halle, to conduct a mission 
 
Cent. XYIL-XIX.] CHRISTIAN FREDERIC SCHWARTZ. 797 
 
 in that territory. Supported by Denmark, Halle, and England, he per- 
 formed great labors there from 1706 until 1718. His work was further 
 carried on by Schultz, who completed a translation of the Bible into 
 Tamil, which had been commenced by Ziegenbalg. After 1740 it was 
 aided by Fabricius. Between 1 706 and 1750 some eight thousand souls — 
 Hindoo, Moslem, and Romanist — were brought to the evangelical faith. 
 This success gave encouragement for pushing the work forward. A new 
 instrument for this end was already chosen of God in Germany. By him 
 the object sacred to the friends of Christianity in England, Denmark, and 
 Germany was to be promoted in a most blessed way through almost half 
 a centui-y, and through the period of the first triumphant advance of the 
 British flag in that large population of one hundred and twenty millions. 
 His name was Christian Frederic Schwartz. 
 
 He was born October 26, 1726, at Sonnenburg, in Prussia. His parents 
 were persons of estimation. His mother, dying when he was a child, 
 consecrated him to the service of God. The excellent teacher of the 
 Latin school in his town trained the boy early to the fear of God, and to 
 silent prayer. Christian would often go away from his comrades to a 
 solitary place to seek of God the forgiveness of his sins. The father, an 
 intelligent and devout man, strictly exhorting his son to be sincere and 
 self-denying, went with him on foot to the high school at Kiistrin, where 
 Christian became a diligent student, though chiefly with a view to secular 
 ends. The impressive sermons of Pastor Stegmann counterbalanced the 
 influence of frivolous companions. The family, especially the daughters, 
 of a lawyer who was a friend of the leaders of the University of Halle, 
 directed the youth to religion and to reading of a beneficial kind. He 
 was attracted especially to August Francke's " Blessed Footprints of the 
 Living and Almighty Creator " (as these were seen in the work of his 
 famous Orphan House in Halle. See page 464). At two different times, 
 when attacked by serious illness, Christian resolved to give himself en- 
 tirely to God. His good resolutions were, however, not yet firmly estab- 
 lished. When twenty years old he went to Halle University. Elected 
 as a teacher of the Orphan House, he was strengthened in mind by the 
 evening prayers which he was asked to conduct, and by the devotional 
 meetings, led by Pastor "Weiss. He now was enabled, with help from 
 Francke, to resolve to live wholly for God. The text of his first sermon, 
 " Master, .... at thy word I will let down the net," was in harmony 
 with the profound humility of soul and childlike trust in God's Word 
 which he afterwards exhibited. 
 
 The youth was at this time led by Schultz, the missionary, who was 
 then putting through the press at Halle the Bible in Tamil, 
 to engage in the study of this southern Indian language. Haiie; becomes 
 Little by little Christian entertained the thought of becom- ^ ^'ssionary. 
 ing a missionary. He heard with pleasure that Francke was looking 
 
798 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 about among the students for new recruits for the Indian mission. The 
 resolve was awakened within him to offer himself for the work, if he 
 could gain his father's consent. The elder Schwartz had different plans 
 for his first-born. Yet after brief reflection he yielded, contrary to gen- 
 eral expectation, and gave to his son, who had come to entreat him, his 
 blessing, bidding him in God's name to forget the father's house and the 
 fatherland, and to go and bring souls to Christ in the far-off country. 
 
 Schwartz came back with joy to Halle, having resigned magnani- 
 mously all claim to his patrimony in favor of his brothers and sisters. 
 A few days after this he was offered a lucrative pastorate in Germany. 
 But he had put his hand to the plow, and would not look back. He 
 was ordained in September, 1749, with two others, in the Lutheran con- 
 sistory at Copenhagen. In December, he went over to London, and by 
 February 1, 1750, was ready to sail. For a whole month his ship was 
 kept in the harbor of Falmouth by adverse winds. Other ships, which 
 were at that time on the open sea, were in many cases wrecked. Schwartz 
 recognized the first of his deliverances from danger. He was enabled to 
 overcome seasickness and a severe attack of fever. He passed the months 
 in study of the Scriptures, in other useful studies, and in prayer, till, on 
 July 17th, he saw the coast of Cuddalore lying before him in all its glory. 
 Not long after he had landed, his ship went down in a tempest. Schwartz 
 and his comrades, in excellent health, i-eached Tranquebar July 30th, and 
 were heartily received by the brethren. He there acquired the Tamil so 
 rapidly that he was able in four months to preach his first sermon in the 
 language in the church of Ziegenbalg. He plunged into his work. He 
 began simple catechetical lessons with the youngest children in the Tamil 
 and Portuguese schools. He carefully instructed two classes of candi- 
 dates for church membership. The same year he introduced four hun- 
 dred of these inquirers into the church through baptism. He addressed 
 himself immediately afterwards to those journeyings which he so long 
 continued throughout all southeast India as far as Ceylon. He published 
 the glad tidings of salvation among Hindoos, Moslems, and Christians, in 
 city and in country, to friend and to foe, in cold and in heat, in war and 
 in peace, day and night, with a thousand-fold return of blessed results. 
 
 There we behold Schwartz sitting and teaching onfe day under the 
 shadow of a majestic banyan of seventy paces circumference ; another 
 day under a little hut builded by himself of the leaves of the palm-tree ; 
 now upon a turf seat by the wayside, now in front of a pagoda, chafing 
 in spirit at the wild excesses of superstition, while he addresses the de- 
 luded devotees in friendly way, adjuring them, " not as contemned, but as 
 brothers, children of a common Father," to think upon making their 
 peace with God ! Again we hear him speaking upon the rampart of a 
 fortress, amid the whirling clouds of dust, of repentance and of belief in 
 the Lord, or singing in the palace of a mighty prince, whom he wins by 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] CHRISTIAN FREDERIC SCHWARTZ. 799 
 
 his Christian friendliness and frankness of address, the German hymn, 
 " My God, to Thee my heart I give." Again he is standing at a thresh- 
 ing-floor, speaking to the natives busied in threshing out their rice, or is 
 teacliing the keeper of a garden to cultivate spiritual fruit, or he is in the 
 hospital with the sick, or with the Brahmins on the bank of the sacred 
 river, in the city gate, in front of the great mosque of the Moslems, or 
 among the wounded in the English camp, where he hears an English sol- 
 dier, who has followed his flag thirty-two years, in reply to the question, 
 " How long hast thou followed the Lord Jesus Christ?" answer, "I have 
 not yet entered his service." To-day Schwartz is on shipboard, and Mos- 
 lem sailors listen to his stories of the life of Christ. To-morrow he is 
 among Romanists, and they lend an ear to the man of peace. A prom- 
 inent Hindoo, in conversing with him, said, " Thou art a priest of God 
 to all kinds of people." He did indeed contrive, as did Paul, to be made 
 all things to all men, that he might by all means save some. 
 
 The talents of Schwartz for mission work were so evident from the 
 beginning that he was soon intrusted with the oversight and 
 leadership of all the Christian congregations and schools of missions in 
 south of the River Carery. Amid the noise of the war 
 that was raging between England and France, he pushed on his work 
 in and around Tranquebar. The pagans in many places received him 
 with marked respect, and of their own accord contributed toward his sup- 
 port. But the Danish colony of Tranquebar was too narrow a place for 
 his eflTorts. He went on foot, a friend with him, to the populous city 
 of Tanjore, and there obtained leave to preach the gospel in the palace 
 of the prince. Aided by British officers he builded in the great city of 
 Trichinopoli a chapel and a school as the beginning of a station. In 
 the year 1766 this charming and well-situated place was made his espe- 
 cial field of labor. Only eternity can unfold all the work done by him 
 here or from here as a centre, all that he became to natives and Eu- 
 ropeans, from Madura and Madras, even to Tinnevelly, attracting co- 
 laborers to him and imparting blessing to all ages and classes. His cor- 
 dial nature, his affable address, his stores of information, his eloquence 
 upon both religious and worldly matters, was for decades afterwards a 
 delightful remembrance in the minds of those who met him. One man, 
 who had been greatly prejudiced against Schwartz, furnished, after years 
 of acquaintance and friendship, the following description : " The very 
 first sight of the man made it necessary to lay aside prejudices. His 
 clothing was generally px'etty well worn, and out of the fashion. His 
 form was above the average in height, well built, erect, and unassuming 
 in its carriage ; his complexion dark but wholesome, his hair black and 
 curly, his look full of strength and manliness, gleaming with sincere 
 modesty, straightforwardness, and benevolence. You may conceive the 
 impression which even the first sight of Schwartz would make upon the 
 
800 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 minds of strangers." When he had fully mastered the copious, difficult 
 language of the ancient intellectual and wealthy Tamil folk, he for five 
 years studied thoroughly their entire mythology and literature, which 
 proved incalculably useful to him in instructing and convincing the peo- 
 ple of Malabar. He also acquired the Portuguese at Tranquebar, so that 
 he might approach the large numbers of this nation scattered over India. 
 In Trichinopoli, where Schwartz was cut off from all outside society, 
 except for a time that of the missionary Dame in Tanjore, he accom- 
 plished a great deal with but very small means. Content with an apart- 
 ment in an old Hindoo edifice, in which there was enough room for him- 
 self and his bed, he accepted with a cheerful countenance as his daily 
 bill of fare a dish of boiled rice with a few vegetables. A piece of dark 
 cotton cloth, woven and cut after the fashion of the country, was the 
 ■clothing of his body the year through. Free from every care of earth, 
 his only wish was to do the work of an evangelist among the poor Hin- 
 doos. The catechists, whom he raised up from among them, ate at his 
 table, supported out of his yearly income of six hundred guilders. The 
 great English garrison of Trichinopoli having no religious instruction 
 or worship, Schwartz became interested in them. It must astonish every 
 one who knows the English soldiery in India, to know that the mission- 
 ary succeeded in winning over the entire force to the side of the gospel. 
 At first he gathered them to public w^orship in an old out-building. But 
 they soon decided that they could afford a part of their j^ay to erect a 
 church edifice. Only a man like Schwartz could, with the small sum 
 given him, have erected a beautiful, lofty, roomy structure. Besides, he 
 builded a mission-house and an English and Tamil school, to which he 
 applied the year's pay given him as chaplain of the garrison by the gov- 
 ernment of Madras. He declined a considerable legacy left him by an 
 officer to whom he had imparted religious instruction. He refused the 
 jjresents of the prince of Tanjore. For a missionary must show under 
 all circumstances that selfish ends do not control him in his labors for the 
 gospel. 
 
 Schwartz enjoyed good health the most of the time in this torrid coun- 
 try. The peace of heart which won him no boisterous delights, but a 
 quiet, profound, constant joy, upheld and strengthened his body as it grew 
 old. Under the Almighty's protection, he again and again was saved 
 from great peril. Once, for example, when he had risen before daylight, 
 he sat down near a very venomous serpent, but was not touched by it. 
 At another time (1772), when the powder magazine of the fortress blew 
 up and the ground was strewn with ruins and with dead bodies, he with 
 his catechists, pupils, and church members remained unharmed. It was 
 to be expected that Schwartz should turn to Christ thousands of people, 
 tender children, rough soldiers, gentle youths, and hoary old men. He 
 was found everywhere with comfort and aid, hastening to the wounded 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] CHRISTIAN FREDERIC SCHWARTZ. 801 
 
 and sick in body or in soul, and that in trying times and amid the terrible 
 devastations of war. In Trichinopoli he lived to see how first twenty 
 and then thirty soldiers covenanted to give themselves truly to Christ, 
 and then supported their spiritual father by visits to the sick, but espe- 
 cially by an upright life among the heathen. After the year jjj^ ^^^^^ j^ 
 1778, Schwartz made his permanent residence in Tanjore. Tanjore. 
 This city, built on what was counted holy ground, was a favorite abode of 
 Hindoos, and was adorned with the most splendid pagoda in India, as well 
 as with the wealthiest pagan institutions. Befoi'e this period Schwartz, 
 from his knowledge of the language and public affairs of the country, and 
 also from his disintei'estedness and courage, had been made a mediator 
 between the English government and the pagan princes. He was now 
 most respectfully solicited by the English to go (1779) on an embassy to 
 the rude conqueror, Hyder Ali of Mysore. Schwartz turned the journey 
 to Seriugapatam to account everywhere, preaching peace through Jesus 
 Christ. At the court of the terrible foe of the English, he immediately 
 won the public confidence. When, upon his return, a present of money 
 was forced upon him by Hyder Ali, he gave it to the English govern- 
 ment. When he was bidden keep it, he asked that it should be appro- 
 priated to the building of an English orphan asylum in Tanjore. He 
 also builded a church in that city for the Tamil congregation. When 
 Hyder Ali, deceived and enraged by the British, ravaged with an army 
 of one hundred thousand men the province of the Carnatik, bringing all 
 the horrors of war, famine, and death upon the field of Schwartz's labors, 
 the latter proved himself an angel of deliverance to both soldiers and 
 citizens. For seventeen months more than eight hundred hungry people 
 came every day to his door. He collected money, pi-epared and distrib- 
 uted provisions to both Europeans and Hindoos, at the same time seeking 
 to administer to them spiritual consolation. Such an impression had been 
 made by him personally upon the terrible Hyder Ali, that the latter, amid 
 his bloody victories, gave the strictest orders td his ofiicers " to suffer the 
 venerable Father Schwartz to go about everywhere without hindrance, 
 and to show him all kindness, since he is a holy man, and will not injure 
 me." Thus " the good father," as the pagans called him, could continue 
 his peaceful seed-sowing among the hostile camps which had spread over 
 the whole country. It was his intercession which protected the city of 
 Cuddalore, in the face of the savage hosts of the enemy. 
 
 Schwartz was chosen by the English government (1785) a member of 
 the council of administration for Tanjoi'e. For his noble services in this 
 office he was granted a British pension of one hundred pounds annually. 
 When the old prince of Tanjore was given an heir to his crown, Schwartz 
 was proffered the guardianship of the prince. He declined, naming in- 
 stead the father's brother, Ameer Sing. The latter, in acknowledgment, 
 gave him the revenues of a village for his Christian schools and orphan 
 51 
 
802 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 children. When Ameer Sing behaved badly towards Sersudscha, the 
 crown prince, Schwartz was obliged to become guardian, and 
 
 Guardian of the , . , n i «- • /. i tt 
 
 prince of Tan- to take a large snare in the unsettled anairs oi the state. He 
 ^°^^' brought about an improvement in the administration of law 
 
 and of finance, and an increase of the revenues. He was surrounded from 
 morning till night by natives of every condition, whose disputes he settled ; 
 by needy widows, whom he employed in spinning and in other labor ; by 
 poor girls, who did knitting while he instructed them ; by young catechists 
 and missionaries, to whom he gave wise counsels. Besides all this, he 
 engaged in preaching and in founding and conducting the schools of the 
 province, the means for which he received from the old rajah of Tanjore, 
 whose confidence he retained undiminished through a space of thirty years. 
 Thus Schwartz at seventy years of age remained in his full strength, 
 a German oak in the land of the palm. His position grew ever more 
 lonely ; his old friends were gone ; he was forewarned of his departure 
 through a disease of the feet. Schwartz had remained unmarried (would 
 that other missionaries could consent to forego marriage, at least at the 
 start), and yet was most thoroughly adapted by his social, loving nature 
 to enjoy the married life. He was prostrated for three months by a pain- 
 ful sickness connected with the trouble in his feet, and was thus prepared 
 for the end of life. Still he was able to join with strong voice in the 
 hymn, " Christ is my Life," and to say that he was ready either for 
 further labor or for a speedy departure. He submitted everything to the 
 will of God. He commended his spirit to Him who had redeemed him. 
 Then singing, in concert with his brethren about him, the hymn, " O 
 Dies while sing- Sacred Head now "Wounded," with head erect and lips 
 '°s- oj^en, he expired in the arms of a faithful and affectionate 
 
 native assistant, at four o'clock on the morning of February 13, 1798. 
 The court of his home resounded with loud weeping, when the people 
 gathered there heard of the death of their comforter and fathei". Prince 
 Sersudscha hastened thither to behold the form of his loved guardian. 
 At the grave the sobs of the multitude hindered the singing of the burial 
 hymn. The prince erected in the city where he lived a marble monu- 
 ment " to the revered Father Schwartz." Upon a granite tablet in the 
 chapel of the mission he placed also an inscription in English verses, 
 praising his " father" and expressing a desire to be worthy of him. In 
 later years the i^rince, though lacking courage to become a Christian, en- 
 deavored to honor the memory of the deceased missionary by pious insti- 
 tutions for the young and the sick. The East India Company in 1807 
 erected a monument to the patriarch of Christian missions in Hindostan, 
 in St. Mary's Church of Fort George at Madras. But the most precious 
 memorial of his work for the missions in Southern India, to which he left 
 all his property, was the multitude whom he led to a Christian life, and 
 the company of valiant men whom he trained to carry on the work. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN THEODOSIUS VANDERKEMP. 803 
 
 When Gericke as missionary went to South India in 1803, he saw the 
 fruits of the seeds sown by Schwartz. Whole villages came to him for 
 instruction. He baptized thirteen hundred pagans, while his catechists 
 formed eighteen churches, and baptized twenty-seven hundred persons. 
 There have since been found, in sixty-two villages surrounding a church 
 erected by a Hindoo woman whom Schwartz baptized, more than four 
 thousand Hindoo Christians. — H. VM. 
 
 LIFE XXXIV. JOHN THEODOSIUS VANDERKEMP. 
 
 A. D. 1747-A. D. 1811. REFORMED, AFRICA. 
 
 In the latter part of the last century great interest began to be awak- 
 ened in England in mission work among the heathen. This led to the 
 forming of the London Missionary Society in 1795. Their first efforts 
 were directed to one of the South Sea Islands. Their attention, how- 
 ever, was soon turned to South Africa. But how and where could they 
 find a suitable man to lead the way into those trackless wilds, and under- 
 take to introduce the gospel to the most barbarous and degraded of human 
 beings ? While the directors of the society were asking this question, 
 the Lord was preparing an answer by raising up for them, in the person 
 of John Theodosius Vanderkemp, of Holland, a pioneer who should be 
 worthy of the grand and Christlike enterprise they had in mind. 
 
 He was born in 1747, at Rotterdam, where his father was a minister 
 of the Reformed Dutch Church. For the first five years of a liberal 
 training, John went to the university in Leyden. He then 
 
 T 1 1 /. • 1 ■*■'! army officer. 
 
 entered the army, where he served for sixteen years, and 
 rose to be captain of horse and lieutenant of the dragoon guards. Leav- 
 ing this service, he went to Edinburgh to pursue his studies in the univer- 
 sity there. Thus helped he became distinguished in the study of philos- 
 ophy, chemistry, indeed in all the sciences, and made himself acquainted 
 not only with the ancient classics but also with many of the best lan- 
 guages of modern Europe. Returning from Scotland, he entered upon the 
 practice of medicine, wherein he rose to great repute and esteem. From 
 this time on, the hand of the Lord becomes more manifest in preparing 
 the way for his entering upon one of the most arduous and self-denying 
 enterprises to which, in those days, man could be called. 
 
 During his studies, though a member of the church of his fathers, he 
 became much tinctured in mind with infidelity. Having come now to 
 maturity of years, he retired with his wife and only child to a residence 
 in the country, where he sometimes amused himself in sailing with his 
 family on the river. On one of these occasions a sudden storm burst 
 upon them, upset the boat, and left only himself to be barely rescued 
 
804 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 from the watery grave into which his two nearest relatives sunk to rise 
 no more. His faith in infidel sentiments was now shaken ; he got new 
 views of Christ, and heartily embraced the entire gospel system. 
 
 Being now called to the charge of a large hospital, during a war with 
 France, he ministered alike to the bodies and the souls of his patients, 
 with great acceptance and success. The sick esteemed him as their father, 
 and the servants obeyed as children. The hospital closing at the end 
 of the war, he began to lead a retired life and devote himself to his 
 Oriental studies, and to the completing of a commentary he was writing 
 on the Epistle of Paul to the Romans. 
 
 In this way was the Lord raising up one who, by great firmness of char- 
 acter, distinguished talents, much knowledge of human nature, and eminent 
 attainments in general culture and religious experience, should have his 
 soul kindled to a glow with a desire to raise the standard of the cross in 
 one of the wildest, darkest parts of the earth. Reading an address which 
 the London Missionary Society had put out, he became deej^ly interested 
 At fifty called ^^ ^^ subject of missions. Parts of the address made such 
 to his hfe-work. qj^ impression upon his mind that he fell upon his knees 
 and cried, " Here am I, Lord Jesus ; Thou knowest that I have no will 
 of my own, since I gave myself to Thee." And again he says : " I heard 
 the voice of the Lord saying, ' Whom shall I send, and who will go for 
 us ? ' Then said I, ' Here am I, Lord, send me.' " 
 
 He wrote to the directors of the society in London, offered his serv- 
 ices, was examined and at once accepted, and on November 3, 1797, 
 was ordained a missionary to South Africa. Returning to Holland to 
 settle his affairs, he was the means of forming two missionary societies 
 in his own country, — one at Rotterdam, called the Netherland Mission- 
 ary Society, and another at Friesland, both to cooperate with the society 
 in London in the cause of African evangelization. Meantime, three other 
 men, Messrs. Kicherer, Edmond, and Edwards, became interested in the 
 subject, offered themselves, and were accepted and appointed as fellow 
 laborers with Dr. Vanderkemp. 
 
 On the 23d of December, 1798, all embarked for Africa. The Hills- 
 boro, in which they took their passage, was a convict ship, and chosen 
 by them for this reason, that they might have opjjortunity to render hu- 
 mane and Christlike service to some of the most wretched and abandoned 
 of men, on their way to their mission field. And for such service there 
 was much occasion. When a pestilent fever broke out among the con- 
 victs, this man of God and friend of humanity, with his intrepid brethren, 
 ceased not, day or night, to minister to their wants and distresses, both 
 temporal and spiritual, exposing themselves to all the dangers of infec- 
 tious and putrid disease to alleviate distress, and pluck, if possible, the per- 
 ishing as brands from the burning. Nor were the prayers and labors vain, 
 for ere they reached the Cape several gave evidence of a saving change, 
 
Cex\t. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN THEODOSIUS VANDERKEMP. 805 
 
 while some who died ou the passage went hence in the hope of a blessed 
 immortality. 
 
 March 31, 1799, Dr. Vanderkemp landed at Cape Town, and was 
 kindly received by the governor and the other Europeans ^j^^^g ^^j ^j^^ 
 whom he found there. During his stay at the Cape, a ^^^p*^- 
 deep interest was awakened in mission work, and a society, called the 
 South African Society for Promoting the Spread of Christ's Kingdom 
 at the Cape of Good Plope, was formed. Here, too, the doctor gave 
 a portion of almost every day to Christian work among the slaves, Mo- 
 hammedans and Hottentots, '• some of whose hearts," says he, " were evi- 
 dently baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire, though the customs 
 and rules of this country did not allow them to be bajitized with water." 
 
 The London society had committed the direction of the mission to 
 the doctor himself ; but his good sense, humility, and generous nature 
 soon led him to ask to be released from this distinction and exclusive 
 responsibility, as he believed that the cause which was to him most pre- 
 cious could be best served by having a perfect equality established be- 
 tween himself and the brethren associated with him. 
 
 Having procured the needed oxen, wagon, driver, leader, and other 
 outfit for a long journey and continued abode in a wild and barbarous 
 region, received the presents and best of benedictions from the slaves 
 who had enjoyed his ministry, and been encouraged and strengthened 
 by the prayers of all the good whose acquaintance he had made, on the 
 22d of May, 1799, the doctor took a tender and gracious leave of the 
 Cape. For a few days, the route of the four missionaries was the same, 
 and took them through a most delightful region. But coming to Rode- 
 zand, Messrs. Kicherer and Edwards went to the Bushmen, while the 
 doctor and his coadjutor, Edmond, set off anew and alone. May 29th, for 
 Caffraria. They soon entered the Carrow, where, for eight days, jour- 
 neying through a dismal wilderness without ever seeing a human habita- 
 tion, they were exposed to a great variety of perils ; now from the strait- 
 ness and roughness of the passage between mountain ridges, now from 
 the savage Bushmen who lived by plunder, and now from the wild beasts 
 that often disturbed their slumbers and kept them on the alert at night. 
 
 Arriving at Gamka River, June 12th, they passed a restful night and 
 joyous day with a Mr. De Beer. Their journey from this place onward 
 was very fatiguing, and fraught, too, with no little danger. The weather 
 was cold, the country was infested with wild beasts, and their lives were 
 often impei'iled by pillaging men, Bushmen equipped with poisoned ar- 
 rows, and more to be feared than the leopard and lion. They reached 
 Graaf Reinet June 29th, and had a most hearty welcome. And here, 
 too, as in every place, they failed not to reward the hospitality shown 
 them by earnest, loving labor in preaching Jesus Christ, day by day, 
 publicly and from house to house. 
 
806 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 The shorter the pendulum, the quicker and stronger the beat ; so the 
 nearer the doctor drew to his long-sought field, the more his zeal and 
 courage enlarged. And well it was so, else the now rapidly increasing 
 difficulties and dangers had been too great for his triumph over them. 
 Having spent a few days of delightful intercourse and labor with Christian 
 friends at Graaf Reinet, on the 10th of July he set forward for the dark 
 places that lay beyond, which, just now, were overflowing with deeds of 
 cruelty. Colonists, Hottentots, and Caffres were in a state of anarchy 
 and strife, so that the danger of the missionary's being waylaid, robbed, 
 and murdered was constant, often imminent. Yet nothing daunted, he 
 pursued his journey with the utmost diligence, and took every opportunity 
 to preach the gospel to the different races and classes he met, sometimes 
 in crowds, along the way. Ten days' travel brought him to the Great 
 Fish River, which at that time was the southern limit of Caffre land. 
 
 From this point he sent a delegation of three men to ask permission 
 Meets the king ^^ ^^^ Caffre king, Geika, to come and visit him. After a 
 of the Caffres. week's abseuce the messengers returned with a favorable 
 reply, bringing the king's tobacco-box for a passport to him. But such 
 were the hostile movements of the rebel Caffres, stealing the doctor's oxen, 
 and threatening his life and the lives of all his company, that he was 
 compelled to wait for more peaceful times. After a mouth's delay he 
 started again, though the perils of the way still remained. " But," says 
 the doctor, " the more the difficulties and dangers were mentioned, the 
 more I was excited in mind to go forward, and found my faith increased." 
 Three weeks of eventful and wearisome travel brought him to Geika's 
 residence. After some delay his Caffrarian majesty made his appearance, 
 having his ministers of state by his side. His lips and cheeks were painted 
 red, his body covered with a long robe of leopard skins ; in his hand he held 
 an iron kiri, while on his head he wore two diadems, one of copper and 
 one of beads. Receiving the tobacco-box, which had been sent for a pass- 
 port, now filled with beads, he gave it to his attendants, but spoke not a 
 word, and hardly winked an eye. After half an hour's mute audience, an 
 interpreter appeared, and the king, taking his seat upon the ground, with 
 his captains by his side, deigned to open his mouth. Dr. Vanderkemp 
 stated to him the object of his mission. Geika replied that the time of his 
 coming was very unfavorable, as all the country was in a state of confusion, 
 and advised tlie missionary not to think of remaining with him, yet gave 
 him permission to unyoke his oxen and pitch his tent. The king had been 
 prejudiced against the missionaries, being told that they were spies and 
 assassins, and had enchanted wine with which to kill him. For more 
 than a fortnight they waited in suspense and pressed their suit, but got no 
 permission to remain. Indeed everything seemed forbidding, and vio- 
 lence began to be feared. " But," says the doctor, " I found my rest and 
 strength in the Lord, and got much comfort from his Word," 
 
Cent. XVH.-XIX.] JOHN THEODOSIUS VANDERKEMP. 807 
 
 One more attempt being made, the king yielded, confessed Ins neglect, 
 said he was at fault, but had been very much occupied with the festivals 
 of his marriage ; adding that he was glad that God had put it into the 
 hearts of these men to come into his country. "So then," said he, "let 
 Tinkana [Dr. Vauderkemp] take the field on the other side of the Keis 
 Kammer River, and be free to go and come in my country as he may 
 please." The missionaries immediately set off for the station assigned 
 them, and reached it October 20, 1799. Having selected a spot for a 
 house, felled a few trees, and cut some thatch for building, " I kneeled 
 down on the grass," says the doctor, " thanking the Lord Jesus that He 
 had provided me a resting-place before the face of our enemies and Satan, 
 praying that from under this roof the seed of the gospel might spread 
 northward through all Africa." 
 
 The doctor soon opened a school in which he taught the English and 
 Dutch languages to eleven pupils of various nations. And now, early in 
 December, just as he is beginning to get fairly settled in his work, a dep- 
 uty from the governor at the Cape arrives at Geika's, sends for the 
 doctor, and begs him to withdraw from Caffre land till more jjeaceful 
 times can be restored. But Geika will not consent to his leaving, and 
 is so offended with the messenger from the Cape that he is barely pre- 
 vented by his mother and uncle from killing him on the spot. 
 
 Soon after this, December 29th, the doctor's colleague, Edmond, took 
 his departure and went to the Cape for the purjjose of pros- ^^^^^ j^ caffre 
 ecu ting a design he had long cherished of going to India, ^'^'^<^- 
 thus leaving Dr. Vanderkemp to struggle alone with the many difficulties 
 that beset his work. The parting was very fraternal and tender. Hav- 
 ing gone together over the river, they knelt and wrestled for a time with 
 God, in prayers and tears, after which Mr. Edmond departed ; while the 
 doctor, having given him his last and best benediction, went upon a hill, 
 and with a lingering eye followed his wagon for about half an hour, till, 
 as he says, " It sunk behind the mountains, and I lost sight of him to see 
 him no more." 
 
 The doctor returned to his cheerless home with a sad yet resolute and 
 hopeful heart. His labors and dangers during the succeeding year were 
 many ; but his faith and courage were set in God, by whose watchful prov- 
 idence he was saved more than once from impending death, and through 
 whose gracious aid he was joyously permitted to see his labors blessed. 
 Teaching school and preaching the gospel continued to engage his time 
 and strength. The king himself sometimes expressed a desire to be in- 
 structed, and once remarked that " he imagined one time or another he 
 should be a Christian," adding also that " his mother and another woman 
 wished to be instructed in the Christian religion." For a time he put 
 himself under mission teaching, and attended school with the children. 
 But he was still the slave of superstition, ignorance, and caprice, so that, 
 
808 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 in April, after the doctor's situation had come to be somewhat comfortable, 
 and his labors more apparently effective, he ordered him to remove. This 
 broke up the school, aud interrupted important plans, but was in some 
 respects overruled for good. 
 
 His attendants and pupils now included the three races of Hottentots, 
 Caffres, and colonists. At length, one of the former, a Hottentot woman, 
 named Sarah, began to give evidence of a work of grace in her heart, 
 and was in due time baptized, together with three children. " And oh," 
 says Dr. Vanderkemp, " how did my soul rejoice that the Lord had given 
 me in this wilderness, among tigers and wolves, and at such a distance 
 from Christians, a poor heathen woman with whom I could converse con- 
 fidently of the mysteries of the hidden communion with Christ. Oh, 
 that I may not be deceived ! Lo, my winter is past ; the voice of the 
 turtle is heard in the land." Others expressed an interest in the Christian 
 faith, and some gave such evidence of a change of heart as greatly en- 
 couraged him in his work. 
 
 But this development of interest in the gospel seemed to arouse all the 
 greater opposition aud prejudice against the missionary and his work. 
 More than once did Geika determine on the doctor's death ; and it was 
 known that, on one occasion, he actually came with an armed force to 
 murder him and his people. Forbearing, however, to narrate the accounts 
 we have of the bloody deeds which the cruel and freakish king aud his 
 servants were instigating and perpetrating, it is enough to say that the 
 lives of all who indicated attachment to Dr. Vanderkemp, or had taken 
 up their abode near his station, whether native or European, were so 
 much endangered that at the close of the year they determined to leave 
 the country and seek a place of more security. As there was reason to 
 doubt if this could be safely done by any open or direct move, those who 
 Hunts elephants ^^^ ^^ enterprise in charge resolved to go out privately, 
 to save his life. Qp under the guise of hunting elephants. They invited the 
 doctor to accompany them. To this he was at first opposed ; but seeing 
 all his people bent on leaving, he finally consented to go with them, and 
 so continue his labors among them. The company numbered some sixty 
 souls, all more or less under instruction, besides many of the wild yet well- 
 disposed Caffres, who, however, eventually turned back to the old homes. 
 
 This wandering mode of life, men and women, flocks and herds, being 
 generally on the move during the day, and passing their nights, if pos- 
 sible, where grass, woods, and water could be found, continued for more 
 than four months. But the doctor rested not from his mission work ; 
 nor did he fail to find repeated manifestations of religious interest among 
 the people of his charge. And now, as ever, the doctor showed himself 
 no respecter of persons, having under instruction men, women, aud chil- 
 dren from some four or five tribes and nationalities, — English, Hottentot, 
 Caffre, Tambookee, and some of a mixed blood, Dutch and native. In 
 
Cent. XVn.-XIX.] JOHN THEODOSIUS VANDERKEMP. 809 
 
 this and in other ways, during these wanderings, the doctor had the best 
 of opportunity for prosecuting his study of the natural, social, and civil 
 history of that new and hitherto unexplored field, — the soil, climate, 
 animal and vegetable life of the country, as also his study of the language, 
 religion, manners and customs, population, and government of the people. 
 For broad and valuable research in these fields, his taste, genius, and 
 varied learning gave assurance of eminent fitness, while the rich results 
 achieved gave proof of great industry and perseverance. 
 
 Arriving at length at Graaf Reinet, May 14, 1801, the doctor had a 
 cordial reception, and was rejoiced to meet several missionaries, among 
 whom was Mr. Read, who had just been sent out from London to assist 
 him. The doctor was soon invited by the elders of the church in this 
 place to settle over them in the ministry. But he declined the call and 
 continued to give himself to mission work, especially among the wretched 
 Hottentots, many of whom, in constant danger of being seized in their 
 defenseless and secluded homes and held as slaves by the Dutch colonists, 
 had fled thither for protection. The doctor's congregation soon came to 
 number about two hundred. But his attention to this class of heathen 
 roused a spirit of speedy and violent opposition among the colonists in 
 the vicinity, many of them resorting to arms and threatening to burn and 
 destroy the town, unless the government would put a stop to the pro- 
 ceedings of the missionaries. The doctor promptly interposed his con- 
 ciliatory offices, and was at length instrumental in having the rebellion 
 brought to an end. 
 
 His congregation of Hottentots kept up and continued " to increase 
 in number, knowledge, and grace." The school which he was teaching 
 increased also, so that by September it had come to number sixty-two. 
 The situation was now so promising that the missionaries resolved to 
 erect the buildings necessary for making this a permanent station. The 
 government gave a piece of land for the purpose, and the buildings were 
 erected. But another rebellion being set on foot because of the privi- 
 leges afforded the natives at Graaf Reinet, Dr. Vanderkemp proposed to 
 have some new place selected for a Hottentot settlement, to which this 
 wretched and persecuted people might be removed, where they could be 
 effectually shielded from the wrongs which the envious and wicked Boers 
 were continually practicing upon them, and where, too, they could be 
 not only educated and Christianized, but also taught industrial habits 
 and useful pursuits which would procure a better means of subsistence and 
 make life more comfortable. This plan was approved by the government 
 of the colony, which granted for the settlement a piece of ground near 
 Algoa Bay. So hearty and generous was the approval which Governor 
 Dundas gave the plan, that he sent a shipload of articles from Cape 
 Town, to be used in laying the foundation of the institution, and in sup- 
 port of the people for a time on their first arrival at the new settlement. 
 
810 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 On the 20tli of February, 1802, Dr. Vanderkemp and Mr. Read took 
 their departure from Graaf Reinet, with a part of their congregation, 
 which, as they journeyed on, was somewhat increased, so that when they 
 arrived at the chosen settlement, " Beta's Phxce," March 5th, it numbered 
 one hundred and sixty Hottentots. The station, or farm, was about three 
 miles from the bay and seven from Fort Frederick. It combined many 
 advantages, and the buildings were such as to allow of the missionaries 
 entering at once upon the work of instruction. Very soon, however, it 
 was found that the stagnant water of the place was injurious to health. 
 Dr. Vanderkemp was so affected by this and by a severe rheumatism as 
 to be laid aside from active service and confined much of the time to his 
 bed for nearly a year. The principal care of the station now devolved 
 upon his f^iithful and indefatigable coadjutor, Mr. Read. 
 
 But this new settlement, like the former, was subject to much hardship 
 and peril from the malice and assaults of the colonists. Such were the 
 tumults and injurious reports raised, that Governor Dundas eventually 
 forbade the missionaries receiving any more natives into the institution. 
 In September, the governor visited them, and was so much impressed 
 with the good they were doing and the danger they were incurring, that 
 he advised them to take quarters in Fort Frederick, from which he was 
 just then removing the garrison. They at first declined; but having 
 been repeatedly attacked by their enemies, and had many of their cattle 
 stolen and some of their people killed, they retreated, with their people, 
 into the fortress, and remained there for some months. Yet the work 
 of the Lord went on, so that from September to April the missionaries 
 reckoned more than twenty hopeful conversions among the Hottentots, 
 some of whom Dr. Vanderkemp baptized sitting in his bed. At the time 
 they were compelled to take up their abode in the fort, the institution 
 had increased to three hundred souls; but this number was somewhat 
 diminished by the removal. 
 
 About this time the colony passed from the rule of the English into 
 Founds Bethels- ^^^ hands of the Dutch again, and the new governor, Jan- 
 doi^P- sens, went through the country, inquiring into the causes of 
 
 its calamities. On this tour his mind was much prejudiced against the 
 missionaries, but on meeting them and seeing their work, he became at 
 once convinced of the utility of their labors, and proffered assistance in 
 the way of forming a new station. The place chosen was about seven 
 miles north of the bay, and took the name " Bethelsdorp," or village of 
 Bethel. The missionaries and their people took possession of their new 
 station about the 1st of June, 1803, and now for the first time after his 
 long sickness, the doctor began to enter upon active duties and take 
 charge of public worship. The station was laid out in the form of a 
 parallelogram, and the borders were marked off into squares for Hotten- 
 tot dwellings. In the centre they built a church, to which were attached 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN THEODOSIUS VANDERKEMP. 811 
 
 four wings for the use of the mission families. On the 2d of July, just 
 a month from their entering upon the new field, the church was ready for 
 religious service and for the school. Much success attended their efforts, 
 so that at the close of the year the missionaries say, " The Lord's work, 
 to the glory of his name, has this year been conspicuous. Heathen dark- 
 ness has fled before the gospel light, and the power of converting grace 
 has triumphed over the power of Satan, in the hearts of these pagans to 
 whom we have been called to preach the gospel of Christ." 
 
 During the next year, 1804, the work went on with less of interrup- 
 tion, yet the malignant opposition of the Boers, though restrained, was not 
 much abated. Under date of April 2d, the doctor writes, " The congre- 
 gation of our church increases continually, also the power of grace, by 
 which the Lord from above gives evidence that our preaching is not in 
 vain." And again, under date of November 1st, "The work of converting 
 grace still continues, and now and then, as we trust, a pearl is added to 
 the crown of Jesus. In the course of this year, I have baptized twenty- 
 two adults and fourteen children. The whole number of our church 
 members is forty-three." The number of people at Bethelsdorp, at this 
 time, was three hundred and twenty. 
 
 The following year, the loud and long-continued clamor of the Boers 
 against the mission was such that early in March the doctor was sum- 
 moned to the Cape, and there detained till it seemed probable that the 
 missionaries would be compelled to leave the colony. For this they had 
 begun to make preparation, purposing to go to Mozambique or Mada- 
 gascar ; when early in January, 1806, the colony came back into the 
 hands of the English. The missionaries were now allowed to remain 
 and resume their labors, and the doctor was sent back to Bethelsdorp, in 
 one of the wagons which the English general, Sir David Baird, had 
 taken from Governor Jansens. Arriving at the institution, " We find," 
 says the doctor, " to our joy and comfort, the work of converting grace 
 going on prosperously and with power." 
 
 Some of the more advanced of the Hottentots now began to go out 
 and labor, as mission helpers, among their countrymen in the colony, and 
 in so doing were much blessed of God. In 1807 a good religious inter- 
 est began to be manifest among the CafFres, who had now been brought 
 under the teaching of the missionaries at Bethelsdorp. The following 
 year, 1808, an outstation was formed at Stuurman's Kraal, and put 
 under Mr. Read's care. The population at Bethelsdorp had gradually in- 
 creased until a second and now a third square had been carried round the 
 first. The fields were covered with cattle, which numbered some twelve 
 hundred head, besides sheep and goats. The number of houses in the 
 squares was between seventy and eighty, each house averaging not less 
 than ten souls. The people, men and women, became industrious, the 
 children were trained to diligence and to useful habits, the girls were 
 
812 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 taught knittiug, among other things, and in one year earned in this way 
 no less than two hundred and seven dollars. In short, the institution 
 now attained to such a growth, solidity, and strength, that the doctor 
 began to consider the question of leaving it soon to the care of some 
 other missionary, that he might devote the remainder of his own days to 
 the work of the Lord in some nation as yet ignorant of the way of life. 
 One plan he had in mind was to make a tour to the northeast, beyond 
 the limits of CafFraria, for the purpose of commencing a chain of mis- 
 sion settlements, which should extend along the east coast of Africa, the 
 first of which, after Bethelsdoi'p, should be among the Tambookees, on 
 the north of the CafFres. Or, failing to find the way open in this direc- 
 tion, his desire was to attempt a mission in Madagascar. 
 
 Waiting instructions from England, Dr. Vauderkemp continued his 
 work at Bethelsdorp, meantime projecting a jilan for an asylum where 
 neglected children might be cared for in a proper manner. During the 
 year he made a visit to Stuurman's Kraal, when many were deeply af- 
 fected by his preaching, and gathered to hear him in such numbers that 
 the meetings had to be held in the open air. The population at Bethels- 
 dorp had now become a thousand, and many who had been enemies to 
 the missionaries now came to receive instruction at their lips. The gov- 
 ernor of the colony, Lord Caledon, also took a deep interest in the work 
 and offered every possible assistance. 
 
 In 1810 Mr. Read made a journey into Caffraria, where the people 
 gave him a joyous reception, and asked him to send them a missionary. 
 Kind inquiries were made concerning " Tinkana," and a strong desire ex- 
 pressed to see him. To the discerning, reflecting Caffre, still untaught 
 as he was, the doctor's good name seemed all the more fresh and fragrant 
 for the years that had passed. 
 
 In one of Mr. Read's letters to the directors in London, he refers to 
 A deliverer of ^^^® great Cruelty which the Hottentots are continually suf- 
 the oppressed, fgring at the hands of the Boers, and tells how Dr. Vau- 
 derkemp had been so affected by a knowledge of it, in several instances, 
 that within a period of three years he had paid about five thousand dol- 
 lars out of his own pocket to redeem some of these wronged and wretched 
 creatui'es from bondage. In this and in every other possible and proper 
 way did the doctor give his voice so eloquently against oppression, and 
 so earnestly did he plead the cause of humanity, as to inaugurate a strug- 
 gle which, though long continued, yet, through the subsequent persever- 
 ing efforts of Dr. Philip and others, finally culminated triumphantly in 
 the Hottentots' effectual deliverajice from their chains. When a com- 
 mittee was appointed by Lord Caledon to investigate the numerous 
 charges of cruelty and murder brought against the colonists in the vicin- 
 ity of Bethelsdorp, Dr. Vanderkemp was summoned to the Cape to testify 
 as to what he knew of the matter. The result was that his excellency 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN THEODOSIUS VANDERKEMP. 813 
 
 had no doubt as to the truth of the charges, and appointed commission- 
 ers to visit the several districts where the bloody crimes had been perpe- 
 trated, and bring the guilty to the punishment they deserved. This 
 effective exposure of the grievous wrongs so long practiced upon the 
 Hottentot race was one of the last public services which the doctor was 
 able to render that people, whose deliverance from thraldom, both tem- 
 poral and spiritual, had now been the object of his solicitude for more than 
 a decade of years. 
 
 Missionaries having arrived from England to take charge of the work 
 at Bethelsdorp, Dr. Vanderkemp began to prepare for the new mission 
 he had long had in mind, and was directed to the choice of Madagascar 
 as the more open of the two or three fields to which his thoughts had 
 been turned. But while he was waiting an opportunity to engage a pas- 
 sage thither, the great Head of the Church accepted the will for the deed, 
 and turned his thoughts to another region. Having had about a week's 
 intimation that his end was drawing near, on the 15th of December, 1811, 
 after having briefly testified to the assurance of his faith in the grace 
 and providence of God by saying, " All is well," he went to enjoy the 
 eternal rest and bliss the Lord had prepared for him in heaven. The 
 number of his years was about sixty-four, the last thirteen of which he 
 had devoted with great fidelity to the service of his Master, in one of the 
 most self-denying fields within the knowledge and reach of God's people 
 at that day. 
 
 Doubtless it would be saying too much — more than can be said of 
 any man in this life — to claim that in the memorable subject of thia 
 narrative the critical eye could never have seen any imperfection. To 
 err is human ; the sun itself has its spots. On the other hand, who 
 will question the opinion which one well acquainted with his life, charac- 
 ter, and labors has expressed, that, "for combining natural talents, ex- 
 tensive learning, elevated piety, ardent zeal, disinterested benevolence, 
 unshaken perseverance, unfeigned humility, and primitive simplicity, Dr. 
 Vanderkemp has, perhaps, never been equaled since the days of the 
 Apostles " ? Well does the venerable Moffatt say of him : " He came 
 from a university, to stoop to teach the alphabet to the poor naked 
 Hottentot and Caffre ; from the society of nobles, to associate with beings 
 of the lowest grade in the scale of humanity ; from stately mansions 
 to the filthy hovel of the greasy African ; from the army, to instruct 
 the fierce savage in the tactics of a heavenly warfare under the banner of 
 the Prince of Peace ; from the study of medicine to become a guide to 
 the balm in Gilead and the physician there; and, finally, from a life of 
 earthly honor and ease, to be exposed to perils of waters, of robbers, of 
 his own countrymen, of the heathen, in the city, in the wilderness." 
 
 Thus lived, wrought, prayed, and prevailed the untiring, unselfish Van- 
 derkemp, the great apostolic pioneer in African missions. — L. G. 
 
814 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 LIFE XXXV. HENEY MARTYN. 
 
 A. D. 1781-A. D. 1812. EPISCOPAL, — PERSIA. 
 
 " Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile" is a description in 
 few words of Henry Martyn, one of God's soldiers, who was made per- 
 fect through suffering, and now shines forth as one of the noblest and 
 most lovable characters in the whole missionary history of the church in 
 modern times. Nature and grace combined to make his character beau- 
 tifully symmetrical, and to stamp it with a completeness such as is rarely 
 seen. He was an acute mathematician, and yet a great lover of poetry ; 
 an accomplished scholar, and yet a simple Mary-like spirit ; thoroughly 
 versed in the master-works of Greece and Rome, and yet more thoroughly 
 a master of the Holy Scriptures ; a loftily soaring, and yet a deeply pene- 
 trating mind ; at ease in his work, yet always pressing forward ; earnest, 
 yet cheerful ; withdrawn from the world, yet delighting in existence ; ex- 
 tremely conscientious, yet not painfully so ; of ardent affections, and yet 
 chaste ; a man of thought, but just as truly a man of action ! After he 
 had once found the peace of God which passeth understanding, he lived 
 every day penitently and prayerfully studying the Scriptures, devoted to 
 the honor of his Redeemer and the salvation of his fellows, rejoicing with 
 them that rejoiced, weeping with them that wept, harmless and simple as 
 a child, high-spirited and strong as a man complete in Christ Jesus. He 
 therefore lived a precious life within a few years ; filled not with deeds 
 outwardly dazzling, but with labor the glory of which is hid with Christ 
 in God, and will be revealed in his own good time. 
 
 Henry Martyn was born in 1781, at Truro, in the county of Cornwall, 
 England. Of hopeful promise, he was set apart to be a scholar. He 
 acquired learning with great facility and with an increasing ambition. 
 Boasting himself, as a youth, of having never lost an hour, he was disposed 
 to be jealous and quarrelsome whenever he failed of the principal prize. 
 The gentle endeavors of a Christian sister were of no avail. The reminder 
 of a friend that we must learn first of all to honor God seemed to him 
 mere foolishness. Invitations to repentance and humility only vexed him, 
 until the sudden announcement of the death of his loved father came upon 
 him like lightning out of a clear sky. His sister wrote him that the last 
 words of the dying- man were, " All is vanity ; the only excellence is 
 humbleness and child-like belief upon God's grace in Christ Jesus." She 
 told him how their father had thought especially of his absent son, and 
 had implored for him a humble heart and the favor of God. The light- 
 ning entered Henry's soul, and burned up with clear flame the wood, hay, 
 and stubble, heaped togetlier in the mind of the youth so full of worldly 
 knowledge. In his humility he began to cry to God. His open Bible 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] HENRY MARTYN. 815 
 
 presented to him the command, "Enter in at the strait gate." His* soul 
 in fear resolved from that day onward to seek life along the narrow path. 
 
 When not twenty years old he passed his public examinations with 
 great credit, especially in mathematics. He was kept of God from en- 
 slaving himself anew to his wicked foe, selfish ambition. He retired from 
 school, and entered the higher school of prayer and of study of the Script- 
 ures, in the quiet of his home, under one of his" father's friends, with a few 
 excellent young men as his companions. He resolved to be a clergyman. 
 But he was not content to labor as such at home. Through descriptions of 
 the apostolic zeal of Brainerd, the valiant American missionary, of the 
 achievements of Schwartz, of Germany, in the East Indies, in near half 
 a century of effort, and of the deeds of Carey, who rose from a shoe- 
 maker's bench to be a doctor of divinity, Martyn came to feel that he 
 too must enter upon the work of foreign missions. Through Martyn becomes 
 conflict of soul and fervent prayer he became assured that ^ m'^^sionary. 
 he was appointed of God to this labor. He placed himself under the 
 society recently established in the Church of England for missions iu 
 Africa and in the East. In the mean time, by devoting himself to the 
 work of preaching, he gained experience in the care and comfort of 
 souls, and in the relief of the poor. He filled his places of preaching to 
 overflowing. He was kept from self-exaltation not only by prayer, to 
 which he gave half his nights, and by meditation, to which he gave all his 
 Sabbaths, but also by temptation, which Martin Luther once called the 
 third fountain of strength to a disciple. He, with his sisters, lost their pat- 
 rimony, so that his heart's desire to be a missionary seemed overthrown. 
 Yet his prayer was, " Not as I will, O Lord, but as Thou wilt." At last 
 he saw the longed-for yet trying hour when he was to leave his father- 
 land and his friends, to go to the land which God should show him. 
 
 He received ordination in London, being in his twenty-fourth year. 
 With deep emotion and holy purposes he took leave of his parish. He 
 used the time at his disposal to acquire the necessary foreign languages. 
 When he embarked at Portsmouth his people gave him a compass as a 
 keepsake. On his knees he prayed that the Word of God might be their 
 guide and his through the wilderness of earth to the home in heaven. 
 He spoke a last farewell, having formed his purpose to live and to die on 
 distant shores. He did not forget upon the voyage his obligations to his 
 fellow-voyagers. In the face of contempt and indifference he gathered 
 about him every day a little company whom he awakened and strength- 
 ened. In tempest and in pestilence he stood by his post. At the Cape 
 of Good Hope the troops landing had to go to meet the enemy. Mar- 
 tyn joined himself to one of the divisions, to tend and to comfort the 
 wounded. The unfortunate ones were helped by his encouragements and 
 prayers. Having remained for a time with loved companions in Cape 
 Town, now held by the British, he sailed on to India. He went to work 
 
816 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 in Madras, glad in God, though deeply burdened by the condition of the 
 people. " Oh that one soul might be led by my agency to Christ," was his 
 In Madras Cai- single request. The rays of the Indian sun, to which he 
 cutta, Dinapore. ^^g ^qj uscd, and the deep death shadows in which the people 
 of the beautiful land were reposing, tried Martyn severely. Only his faith, 
 overcoming the world, could have upheld him in soul and in body. Mad- 
 ras was not to be his abiding home. He had to go to Calcutta. After 
 a stormy passage he was received by friends there gladly. They gave 
 him shelter in a forsaken idol temple, which was turned by Martyn into 
 a chapel. He was called to pay his tribute to the hot climate in a severe 
 sickness. Afterwards he began his work of preaching, with courage. The 
 story of the cross made him both friends and foes. He got encouragement 
 from the former and discipline from the latter. He soon removed to his 
 own especial field of labor, Dinapore, a city of forty thousand inhabitants. 
 
 Martyn made use of every opportunity to acquire the living language 
 of India and also the old Sanskrit, intending, with the help of a native, 
 to prepare a version of the Bible. His first effort in Dinapore was for 
 setting up schools for the Hinddos. He soon had five schools, attended 
 , by a great number of children. Four times every Sunday he taught 
 Europeans and natives the Bible, either in public or in private. The free 
 feast was loathed by " cultivated " Christians and Moslems. Among the 
 poor and the sick of the hospitals was there some longing for the bread 
 of life. The Hindoos seemed dull and almost unfitted for a pure Chris- 
 tianity through the erroneous lessons of Romanist missionaries. These 
 ^ beginnings in hope and in fear were very arduous. The far-away, soli- 
 tary man rarely heard from his friends. From home came distressing 
 news. His best loved sister, his helper in Christian attainments, had 
 died. A young lady, very dear to him, whom he with the advice of 
 friends sought for his life's companion, did not yield to his desire. Yet 
 he now only the more completely and exclusively gave himself to think 
 of God, forgetting all beside, and to conform his life wholly to the dying 
 of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 The finishing of his translation of the New Testament into Hindoo 
 gave Martyn great delight. He at once devoted himself with all his 
 might to the Persian and Arabic, in order to translate the Bible into 
 these languages. He read the Koran in company with an Arabian 
 scholar. He wished to fight Islam with its own weapon, for which there 
 was abundant opportunity. 
 
 Though frail in body, he listened to a call to a field yet farther re- 
 moved. He journeyed thither day and night even in the exceeding heat. 
 He had little bodily strength left him. But the strength of God was 
 made perfect in his weakness. He began his labors without wearying. 
 His time was filled up with preaching, praying, Bible exposition and 
 translation, and visits to the hospitals. His first jjublic sermon to hea- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] HENRY MARTYN. 817 
 
 thens was delivered at the close of the year 1809. A crowd of begging 
 Hindoos had gathered about him. Martyn read the first part of Genesis 
 to them in his Hindoo version.. Speaking to them simply of God, the 
 Almighty Father, Creator, and future Judge, he was received with loud 
 approbation. At times as many as eight hundred persons would gather 
 about his door. One time they were deeply moved by a sermon on re- 
 pentance, which he based upon the destruction of the city of Sodom. 
 
 The translation of the Bible into Persian, made under Martyn's direc- 
 tions, did not satisfy those who were iudges. He therefore 
 
 ' -^ •' ° ^ .To Persia to 
 
 resolved to go to Persia and to Arabia, in order to subject finish the Per- 
 his Persian version which was finished, and his Arabian 
 which approached completion, to a thorough revision, and to correct mis- 
 takes in accordance with the judgment of learned natives of the two 
 countries. With his weak frame holding his stout soul, he took leave of 
 India in his longing to carry the gospel to the Persians and Arabians. 
 Upon June 9, 1811, he arrived at Shiraz, the Persian literary capital. 
 Hardly recovered from the exceeding fatigues of the journey, he began 
 a new translation of the Bible into Persian. He was lent assistance in 
 this by Said Ali, a member of the self-deifying sect of Mohammedans,, 
 known as the Sofis. With him and his comrades Martyn held many 
 discussions upon grace and truth. He reached All's heart especially 
 when they were going through the twelfth chapter of John. The Per- 
 sian involuntarily exclaimed in wonder at Jesus loving his disciples so 
 dearly. Tears filled his eyes as to him — a seeker, as he said, "from his- 
 youth up " — Martyn imparted the true religion, and bade him yield his 
 soul to his dear Lord and Redeemer. Beneath the budding vines, by the- 
 clear river, under the shade of the citron, Martyn, in the stillness of the 
 Sabbath, meditating upon the Scripture and singing holy songs, with- 
 drew himself from the cares and toils of his witness-bearing, which he 
 purposed continuing as long as his tongue could move. His presence in 
 Shiraz excited great noise. The scholars resorted to him, and he re- 
 ceived them. He was at hand for a public discussion with the most 
 noted masters of the Koran and the leader of the Sofis. His noble 
 character, his fearless frankness, his profound and clear replies, left abid- 
 ing marks in the souls of many of his hearers. His words exerted quiet 
 power even at banquets. When the chief of a Persian school wrote 
 a work in defense of Mohammed, Martyn met him at once with a bold 
 reply. The impressions made by this and others of his writings cannot 
 be described. Long after, it became evident for the first time how many 
 had been led by Martyn to direct their thoughts to Christ, 
 
 As soon as his translation of the New Testament was sufficiently ad- 
 vanced, Martyn began to turn the Psalms into Persian. After he had 
 succeeded in this he went from Shiraz by way of Ispahan to the court 
 of the Persian sovereign, to present to him the two volumes. On the 
 
 52 
 
818 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V, 
 
 way some stout conflicts arose with learned Mollahs. Martyn bore wit- 
 ness fearlessly. Not a hair of his head was hurt, although the others 
 cried in rage, " See, he has blasphemed God." Sick in body he reached 
 Tabriz and found the English ambassador. The latter pre- 
 
 The Shah re- 
 
 ceiTes Martjn's sented the translations to the Shah, by whom they were well 
 received, and afterwards carried them to St. Petersburg. 
 . Printed in that city, the books came back to Persia in a thousand streams 
 of life and blessing. 
 
 It was Martyn's choice to live and to die among the pagans for whom 
 he labored. But his frame, sjiattered by toil and by the climate, refused 
 to serve him. He therefore resolved to build himself up in his native 
 air, and afterwards with new strength to go preparing the way of God 
 among the heathen. With great difficulty summoning up his energies, 
 he left Tabriz for Constantinople and far-off England. Passing Mount 
 Ararat robed in green, he thought, as he looked upon its sides, of Noah, 
 and prayed for a propitious voyage through life's rude storms, and for a 
 happy landing upon the everlasting hills. He reached Erivan. In the 
 Armenian cloister of Etschmiadschin, he strove to stir one brother, Se- 
 rafino, to a reform of the church in Armenia. He passed by Kars in 
 the land of the rude Koords, and came to populous Erzeroum. As he 
 journeyed he sent touching letters home. His cherished diary, also, was 
 a silent witness to his precious spiritual life and aspiration. When op- 
 pressed by disease in Erzeroum, he heard the flying news that the plague 
 was in Constantinople, and in the cities on his way. With death in 
 front of him, and death behind him, he cried, " God, thy will be done, 
 be it life or death, if Thou only remember me ! " He could not remain 
 still. When racked by fever he was obliged to follow his merciless guide 
 in a rapid ride through forests and swamps, mountains and vales, not a 
 soul near him, in that strange land, in whom he could put confidence. In 
 a little village where the horses were changed, he took a seat in a garden, 
 thinking quietly and joyfully of his God, his companion in loneliness, his 
 friend and comforter. " Ah, when will time make place for eternity ! 
 When will appear the new heavens and the new earth, in which dwelleth 
 righteousness ! There nothing unclean shall enter. No evil such as has 
 made men lower than wild beasts. There shall be seen or heard none 
 of those vicious things which increase and embitter here below the sor- 
 row of one who is dying." These were the last words which he wrote 
 in the diary which he left behind him. Reaching Tokat, near Sinope, 
 IDs lonely death ^e had to lay down his pilgrim staff in the midst of his 
 in Tokat. ^jg^yg g^^^j of ijig joumcy. He died October 16, 1812, when 
 
 not thirty-two years old. His lonely grave is marked by a simple stone 
 with an inscription. More enduring than stone or bronze is the memo- 
 rial which he established in hearts — how many they were! — which he 
 led in the way to heaven. Every New Testament and every Psalter 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ROBERT MORRISON. 819 
 
 which the Hindoo or the Persian reads in his own language is a remem- 
 brancer of the confessor and faithful witness, who spared not himself nor 
 counted his life dear to him as he stood true to his Master until death. 
 Evangelical missions, when asked for martyrs, can quietly and securely 
 point to the hero whose bones whiten in Tokat. — H. VM. 
 
 LIFE XXXVI. ROBERT MORRISON. 
 
 A. D. 1782-A. D. 1833. UNITED PRESBYTERIAN, CHINA. 
 
 The scattered notices found in the writings of the peoples in "Western 
 Asia concerning the civilization, numbers, power, and arts of the Chinese 
 are too fragmentary to enable us to gather a clear idea of the real knowl- 
 edge which was undoubtedly possessed of that race up to the time of 
 Christ. The distance between the valleys of the Euphrates and the 
 Yangtse was so enormous that the difficulties of travel by land or sea 
 prevented direct trade and intercourse between their inhabitants ; and 
 hence vague and absurd rumors and notions of each other's manners and 
 resources came to be received as authentic history. These notices on 
 the part of the Occidentals generally indicate a high ideal of the Chinese, 
 while the few records extant in their books show a profound ignorance 
 of the Caucasian nations. It is with this exalted conception in mind, 
 therefore, that the remarkable prophecy respecting the land of Sinim, 
 found in Isaiah xlix. 12, foretelling the introduction of the gospel into 
 China, should be read. It seems meet and proper, too, when we reflect 
 on the antiquity, populousness, and institutions of this land, that this ear- 
 liest certain mention of it should be a promise of its belonging one day 
 to the Redeemer's kingdom. 
 
 In the earliest days of the Christian Church, the labors of the Apostles 
 and their near disciples were directed to the lands lying beyond Parthia, 
 into Bactria and India, if we may trust the early Syrian records collected 
 by Assemanius ; but it was not until the Nestorian Church had separated 
 from the Eastern as a distinct branch, in the fifth century and afterwards, 
 that any systematic efforts to preach the gospel among the Chinese were 
 commenced. What j^lans those churches adopted to maintain the mission- 
 ary societies, select or train their agents, support and guide them when 
 in the field, and keep up that mutual knowledge and sympathy in them- 
 selves and their missionaries, without which both would become disheart- 
 ened and fail, we have no satisfactory records. The probabilities are 
 that the risks of travel through Central Asia, along the valley of the 
 river Tarim, and across the Desert of Gobi into the regions of the Yel- 
 low River, interfered with regular intercourse, and compelled the mis- 
 sionaries to depend chiefly upon their own resources and converts to 
 
820 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 keep up their work. Yet it is a little strange that the records and results 
 of the labors of the Nestorian missionaries among the Chinese for a 
 period of nearly eight hundred years, between the sixth and fourteenth 
 centuries, should be confined to a single tablet, erected at Si-ugan fu in 
 A. D. 781, containing a few thousand characters; and to scattered notices 
 by Marco Polo, Abu Said, and Carpini, of some weak churches in Pe- 
 king, Chinkiang, and Hangchau. No translations of any part of the 
 Scriptures, no tracts, apologies, hymns, or creeds used by them, and few 
 or no quotations by native heathen authors from such writings, have yet 
 been met with in China. No ruins of churches or monasteries, nor any 
 vestiges of tombs of eminent men, have yet been pointed out as having 
 once belonged to the Ki7ig Kiao, or Illustrious Religion, as this faith was 
 called. The most reasonable explanation is that both priest and people 
 gradually fell away into the form, from having lost the power, of the 
 Cross. Possessing no version of the Bible from which they could learn 
 their duty and their hopes, they relapsed into idolatry. 
 
 The extent of the missions commenced in Northern China by the 
 Roman Catholics under Corvino and his successors, A. d. 1300-1369, 
 during the Mongol dynasty, need not be detailed ; for their churches 
 seem to have been swept away amidst the troubles ensuing on its de- 
 struction by Hungwu, founder of the Ming dynasty. The meagre ac- 
 counts left to us indicate that their work was chiefly confined to the 
 Mongols, into whose language the New Testament was translated ; but 
 no permanent traces existed when Matthew Ricci and his associates 
 arrived in Canton, in 1581, and resumed the work. That work has been 
 carried on since Ricci reached Peking, in 1601, to the present time, with 
 the skill, energy, and perseverance which characterize the papal church, 
 and the number of the converts is now to be reckoned by hundreds of 
 thousands. Their cathedrals, churches, convents, chapels, schools, asy- 
 lums, and workshops, suitable to their plans and needs, are scattered 
 throughout the eighteen provinces of China. 
 
 But with our ideas of what constitutes the essential elements of the 
 mission enterprise as commanded by Christ, we cannot select Ricci as the 
 typical name to be associated as leader with the church of God among 
 the Chinese. In all the human qualifications of a leader, he will bear 
 comparison with any name which can be mentioned as connected with 
 the cause of Christianity in China ; but neither he nor his associates or 
 successors have distinctly preached the evangel of a free salvation through 
 faith in Christ. They have never prepared and systematically given the 
 "Word of God to the people in their own language ; have never put it in 
 front as the revelation of God to man, which he must read and obey, 
 because it contains the only and sufficient law, guide, and sanctions for 
 his conduct here, and the foundation of his hopes hereafter. Besides 
 this initial defect in their plan of missions, the Roman Catholics there, 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ROBERT MORRISON. 821 
 
 as elsewhere, have put forward the names of Mary and various canon- 
 ized saints so prominently that the converts hear and think more of them 
 and their virtues than they do of Jesus ; and this misplacement is further 
 strengthened in ignorant minds by the images and pictures set up in all 
 places of worship. The second commandment having been expurgated, 
 the converts know no prohibition restraining them from paying the same 
 worship to these new images which they had paid to their old idols ; and 
 this notion of the essential likeness between the two is confirmed by the 
 similar ceremonies conducted by the Buddhist priest in his pagoda to the 
 foreign priest in his church. 
 
 Notwithstanding the inculcation by the Roman Catholics of most of 
 the great truths of revelation, we must still decline to look upon them as 
 having laid the foundations of the church of Christ in China. They had 
 the field wholly to themselves up to about 1845, and during nearly two 
 hundred and fifty years spread themselves over the land, acquiring power, 
 wealth, and official jaosition, to a degree which alarmed the government, 
 and often led it to adopt harsh measures to repress their schemes and 
 diminish their converts. Judged by their fruits, however, they have all 
 along, in a few most vital i^oints, laid aside the commandments of God to 
 hold the traditions of men ; and their work must therefore be tested by 
 that righteous trial to which God will bring it at last, and show whether 
 it has a place in the living temple of his redeemed. 
 
 It is for these reasons that we have selected the name of Robert Mor- 
 rison to lead this notice of the foundation of the church of „^ ^ , , 
 
 The true leader 
 
 Christ in China. Though he died only a comparatively of the church in 
 short time ago, the interval is long enough to judge his life- 
 work candidly ; for the subsequent changes there have been so great as 
 to throw his life and times back into the past almost as much as if he had 
 lived a century ago. He landed at Canton when the restrictive policy 
 of the Chinese government was in its full strength, and its spirit of se- 
 clusion was upheld by the equally restrictive system of the British East 
 India Company. The open propagandism of Christianity was impossible 
 at that date, and its profession entailed suspicion, imprisonment, perhaps 
 death, on a native. The simulacrum of imperial power at Peking began 
 at that date to show in every part of its organization that the energetic 
 hand of the Emperor Kienlung no longer guided and strengthened the 
 showy bark of state, which, in the next generation, would collide dis- 
 astrously with the successor of that same East India Company. It was 
 time for the preparatory work of making translations and dictionaries 
 to begin, and for proof to be given that the Chinese language could be 
 made to convey the message of God to that race. 
 
 Robert INIorrison, the son of James and Hannah Morrisofi, was born 
 January o, 1782, at Buller's Green, Morpeth, in Northumberland, and was 
 the youngest of eight children. His youth was spent at Newcastle-upon- 
 
822 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 Tyne, and he was early apprenticed to his father in the trade of a last 
 and boot-tree maker, until he began his regular studies for the ministry. 
 He enjoyed the counsel, example, and constant nurture of godly parents 
 while at home, and was a favorite of his mother, who looked to him 
 for her support in declining years, and whom he dutifully served until her 
 death in 1802. His parents were not numbered among the learned or 
 honorable, but they taught him the Holy Scriptures from a child, and his 
 pastor explained their truths, and catechised him in his knowledge of 
 them. On one occasion, in his thirteenth year, Mr. Hutton tried him on 
 the Scottish version of the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm, which 
 Robert repeated throughout without making a mistake, although not al- 
 lowed to do this at one eifort. A memory so retentive was well adapted 
 for acquiring the Chinese language. 
 
 In 1798, at the age of sixteen, he joined himself with the church in 
 which his father was an elder, and soon after turned his thoughts toward 
 the ministry. His op^jortunities at that time for study were very limited. 
 His daily labors in the shop were continued from six in the morning till 
 the same hour in the evening, in order to gain an hour in the forenoon 
 for recitations in the classical languages. His tutor, Mr. Laidler, a minis- 
 ter of the town, so cordially seconded his efforts to fit himself for his 
 work that eighteen months after he was able to enter Hoxton Academy 
 with creditable preparation. 
 
 A youth spent in such an uneventful manner furnishes no striking in- 
 cidents for the biographer. It is like the natural and steady growth of 
 an oak, which by and by endures and resists the storms and winters be- 
 cause its roots have struck deep in the earth. During the time young 
 Morrison was at this academy, his purpose matured to become a mission- 
 ary ; and the record of his feelings and hopes shows how honest and 
 earnest he was in his studies and devotions, all bringing him to one con- 
 clusion. His offer was accepted by the directors of the London Mission- 
 ary Society in May, 1804, and the next month he was taken into their 
 training institution at Gosport. 
 
 An extract or two from his letter to them is worth quoting : " About 
 His account of seven years ago, I was brought to rest my soul on Jesus 
 his call. Christ for eternal salvation. I should say that about two 
 
 years after I was filled with an ardent desire to serve the Lord Jesus and 
 the spiritual interests of my fellow-men in any way, however humble. 
 It was then I formed the design of engaging as a missionary. I can 
 scarcely call it a design ; it was only a wish, an ardent desire. I was 
 then in an obscure situation, nearly three hundred miles from town, and 
 had no one to encourage or second me. For a long time I thought of 
 it ; the crying necessity for missionaries dwelt upon my mind. I prayed 
 to the Lord to dispose me to that which was well-pleasing in his sight, 
 and if agreeable to his will to fulfill the desire of my heart. I conceived 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ROBERT MORRISON. 823 
 
 that nothing could be done without learning. I therefore saved a little 
 money from what my father gave me, to pay a teacher of Latin, which I 
 learned in the mornings before six o'clock, and in the evenings after seven 
 or eight 
 
 " I am afraid I should sin were I to keep back. I do not consider it 
 as good and laudable only, but as my duty. Knowing that Jesus wills 
 that his gospel shall be preached in all the world, and that the i-edeemed 
 of the Lord are to be gathered out of every kindred and tongue and 
 people ; recollecting, moreover, the command of Jesus to go into all the 
 world to preach the gospel to every creature, I conceive it my duty, as a 
 candidate for the holy ministry, to stand candidate for a station where la- 
 borers are most needed." 
 
 It was true in Morrison's case, as it has been with so many other men, 
 that the power of princi{)le can sustain, and the obligations of duty can 
 impel, the human will to form and carry out high jjurposes, irrespective 
 of religion ; but when a filial fear and ardent love for Christ are super- 
 added, the highest stimulus to action is found. One radical difference 
 between ancient and modern civilization springs from the harmonious co- 
 operation of these three elements working in human society ; and the 
 missionary cause aims to apply the love of Christ as a renovating power 
 to all phases of pagan, Moslem, and papal civilization by putting God's 
 law and truth underneath the elementary principle and sense of duty al- 
 ready in them, but which are too weak alone to elevate them. 
 
 Soon after Morrison's acceptance, two of the lay directors of the soci- 
 ety, Messrs. Hardcastle and Reyner, proposed that a mission Appointed to 
 to China should be begun, limiting its immediate objects to ^Wna. 
 acquiring the language and translating the Bible. Their proposal was 
 agreed to, and Mr. Morrison was designated as their agent to commence 
 it. A version of the Word of God appeared to these men all-important 
 in their scheme ; and they justly saw in that initial work the basis and 
 assurance of everything requisite to the evangelization of China. "We 
 may fairly ask the advocates of all other plans of missionary labor to 
 show that any of them have ever succeeded in saving souls or elevating 
 human society. 
 
 During his course at Gosport, Mr. Morrison endeavored to learn some- 
 thing of the spoken Chinese language from a Cantonese named Yong 
 Sam-tak, then in London ; and of the written language by copying a 
 manuscript Latin and Chinese dictionary, and a version of the New Tes- 
 tament as far as Hebrews. Both these manuscripts proved of great as- 
 sistance in his future labors. If we could ever learn who had made this 
 translation, his name and labors would deservedly be held in esteem ; but 
 we can recognize a providence in placing the manuscript where it came 
 into good use, and thereby honoring the work of the unknown scholar, 
 who was probably a Roman Catholic. 
 
824 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 In addition to the usual studies, Mr. Morrison took a course iu medi- 
 cine, and also acquired some insight into astronomy, with a view to their 
 future use. It is not surprising that he wished to seek and intermeddle 
 with all wisdom, as he surveyed the vast field he was about to enter, of 
 which so little accurate knowledge for his guidance was at hand. At 
 this time the East India Company was so strongly opposed to the resi- 
 dence and work of missionaries throughout their dominions that they not 
 only refused them a passage to India, but, as in the case of Mr. Morrison, 
 would not even take them as passengers to a country like China, in which 
 they had no territory. It is hard, at this distance of time, to appreciate 
 the force of their sordid fears, and still less to sympathize with the un- 
 sound, selfish arguments which they urged to fortify their unchristian 
 position, — a position from which they were not finally dislodged until the 
 mutiny of 1857 swept them and their policy away like chaff on the thresh- 
 ing-floor when driven by a winter's wind. It was in vain to ask them 
 for a passage to Canton, and the society sent Mr. Morrison to New York, 
 hoping there to find a ship to take him to his destination. 
 
 He was ordained in London, January 8, 1807, in company with Messrs. 
 Gordon and Lee, two missionaries going to India by way of New York. 
 Qn the 26th Mr. Morrison received a letter of instructions, signed by 
 Joseph Hardcastle and George Burder, the secretary and treasurer of the 
 society, in which they gave an outline of their purpose in sending him 
 forth, and stated the two great objects to be kept in view after he had 
 learned the language. " When this is done," they remark, " you may, 
 probably, soon afterwards begin to turn this attainment into a direction 
 which may be of extensive use to the world. Perhaps you may have the 
 honor of forming a Chinese dictionary, more comprehensive and correct 
 than any preceding one, or the stiH greater honor of translating the 
 sacred Scriptures into a language spoken by a third part of the human 
 
 race We hope that you will experience all the beneficial eflTects 
 
 that can be expected to flow from a course of action which is unbljxmable, 
 discreet, and conciliating. We confide with much cheerfulness in your 
 conduct as the representative of our institution, the character and reputa- 
 tion of which depend greatly on the disposition and proceedings of the 
 persons to whom its countenance is afforded." 
 
 With these high objects in view, and a heart full of zeal and patience, 
 Robert Morrison left England January 31, 1807, the first Protestant mis- 
 sionary to the Chinese. More than a thousand years before, the Nes- 
 torians had preached the outlines of Christianity to them ; and so had 
 their successors in the Papal and Greek churches. The Jews and Mo- 
 hammedans had likewise both declared the existence and power of the 
 one true God. Their teachings and example had all failed to turn the 
 Chinese from idolatry, for neither of them had yet put fortli the Book, 
 the revelation of God's law and salvation, and based all their teachings 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ROBERT MORRISON. 825 
 
 on its sanctions and promises, as tliey pointed erring souls to the cross of 
 Christ. 
 
 On arriving in New York, after a rough passage of eighty days, Mr. 
 Morrison and his companions were received by Divie Be- j^ j^ j^^^^ -^^^^ 
 thune. Rev. Dr. Mason, Robert Ralston, and other friends '^^^y- 
 of missions, who assisted them all in getting other ships, and courteously 
 entreated them during their stay in America. Mr. Morrison was favored 
 by a letter from James Madison, then secretary of state, to Mr. Carring- 
 ton, the United States consul at Canton ; and the agreeable acquaint- 
 ances whom he made during his sojourn did not forget him when in 
 China. He obtained a passage in the Trident, whose captain charged 
 him only for his proportion of the stores. An anecdote is recorded 
 of him on the day of his departure, which exhibits the view generally 
 taken of his enterprise by worldly men, and his own sense of it. "When 
 he was going down to the wharf to embark, he stopped in at the counting- 
 house of the ship-owner. After all business matters were arranged, the 
 latter turned to Morrison with a sardonic smile, saying, 'And so, Mr. 
 Morrison, you really expect that you will make an impression on the idol- 
 atry of the great Chinese empire ? ' ' No, sir,' said Morrison, with more 
 than his usual sternness, ' I expect God will.' " 
 
 He sailed on the 12th of May, and the leisure of the long voyage al- 
 lowed him opportunity to progress in Chinese, with the help of Yong 
 Sam-tak; so that he arrived in Canton, September 7th, with rather more 
 knowledge of that language, probably, than any of his successors. His 
 coming in an American ship enabled him to land there as an j^^^^^ m China 
 American; and his friend. Sir George Staunton, advised as an American. 
 him, under the circumstances, to remain where he was in the American 
 factory of Messrs. Milnor and Bull, on the terms they offered him. This 
 was partly to avoid the notice of the Chinese officials and Ilong-mer- 
 chants, and also to relieve the British authorities in the East India Com- 
 pany of the duty, (as they thought it) of immediately inquiring into his 
 objects ; for no British subject was allowed to stay there but on account 
 of trade. 
 
 Mr. Carrington also gave him valuable assistance and good counsel as 
 to his course. Thus both Great Britain and the United States aided him 
 from the time he left home till he settled down in his own lodgings at 
 Canton ; and through them he was enabled to begin his work in peace, 
 and secure such countenance in it that he had no feai-s of being imme- 
 diately sent out of the country. These two nations have ever since 
 cooperated in their direct efforts to promote the same good end. 
 
 At that time Chinese officials put many obstacles in the way of learn- 
 ing the language, and a native scholar who ventured to assist a foreigner 
 in doing so ran the risk of being branded as a han hien, or traitor, and 
 exposed to heavy exactions. Mr. Morrison's ability to talk a little Latin 
 
826 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 served liim in good stead, and ha obtained the aid of two or three schol- 
 ars, one of whom spoke Latin fluently ; but their high charges and other 
 great expenses of living were a source of anxiety, lest it should discour- 
 age his friends in England. The Romish clergy in Macao would not 
 permit him to reside there to carry on his work. He therefore lived for 
 three months very quietly in two rooms on the ground-floor of Messrs. 
 Milnor and Bull's factory, in Canton, dressed in the native costume, 
 associated almost entirely with the natives, ate with his teacher, and 
 devoted himself so assiduously to his studies that his health began to 
 suffer. His good sense, however, soon taught him that such things were 
 more likely to attract unpleasant attention than to promote his object, 
 and he laid them aside. The propriety of adopting the Chinese dress 
 has since been often discussed. The Roman Catholics are all required 
 to put it on, and many of the German Protestant missionaries prefer it; 
 but now that foreigners openly travel over the country, it rather attracts 
 than eludes popular observation, and has simply its cheapness and con- 
 venience to recommend it. 
 
 Morrison now obtained rooms of his own above the ground-floor, 
 and was freed from anxiety about the adverse action of the company's 
 committee in respect to his being allowed to live at Canton, of the pro- 
 priety of which they claimed to be the sole judges. At this time, and 
 for nearly forty years after, all foreigners residing there were restricted 
 by the Chinese authorities to certain houses along the river-side, called 
 collectively the Shih-san Hang, or Thirteen Factories ; so that he had no 
 choice of getting cheaper lodgings among the natives in the city or sub- 
 urbs. The chief and members of the company aided him with books, and 
 in many ways individually showed their sympathy with his objects ; pro- 
 cured rooms for him at Macao during the summer months, when he had 
 become so weak that he could hardly walk, and intimated their willing- 
 ness to ask for aid in printing his contemplated dictionary. He was fur- 
 ther actuated by a desire not to implicate his servants or teachers with 
 their own officials, and thus carried his habits of economy and seclusion 
 to such a degree as to hazard his mission and life by his extreme pri- 
 vacy. 
 
 In October, after having settled himself for the winter on his return 
 from Macao, he was obliged suddenly to leave Canton, owing to the pro- 
 ceedings of Admiral Drury in his attempt to protect Macao as a Portu- 
 guese colony against the expected attacks of the French fleet, which 
 irritated the Chinese rulers, and led to the Committee ordering all British 
 subjects away from Canton to Macao as a precautionary measure. His 
 disappointment was great at this interruption, but he found opportunity 
 still to continue his labors, keep up his Sabbath services with his ser- 
 vants, and take better care of his health. He became acquainted also 
 with the family of John Morton, from India, whose daughter Mary he 
 
Cent. XVH.-XIX.] ROBERT MORRISON. 827 
 
 married on the 20th of February, 1809. On that clay, too, he received 
 and accepted the .offer made by the East India Company interpreter of 
 to become their official interpreter at Canton on a yearly c'jimpan ^""^^ 
 stipend of five hundred pounds. 
 
 These two events changed the whole aspect of his life, and relieved 
 him from the harassing uncertainty as to his ability to remain in China, 
 or commence his mission anew in Penang or Malacca, to which he was 
 even then looking. His lonely life was now enlivened by the comforts 
 and company of a household ; his honest fears of involving the society 
 in expense were removed by a liberal allowance ; and his anxiety lest 
 his native assistants should leave him, or become implicated by helping 
 him, was abated by his position as official translator to the company. 
 
 His unsolicited appointment to this responsible position within eight- 
 een months after his arrival is the best possible testimony to his scholar- 
 ship, prudence, and consistent character. He himself thought that his 
 acceptance of the post might tend to remove any aversion of the direct- 
 ors of the company to missionaries, when they found that they were 
 ready to serve their interests ; but in this he was quite mistaken. The 
 same policy which in India led them to uphold idolatry actuated them 
 against all missionary efforts, and no favor was ever shown Morrison or 
 his associates, in China; nor was he himself ever rated as a covenanted 
 sei'vant of the company, but kept in the inferior grade of a hired trans- 
 lator. He was once curtly dismissed, in 1815, without the least chance 
 being given of explaining his conduct, on the charge of having printed 
 and published in China the New Testament, together with several relig- 
 ious tracts, which, being effected in defiance of an edict of the emperor 
 of China, might, they apprehended, give rise to serious mischief (!) to the 
 British trade in China. However, the order was not carried into effect 
 in China till he had defended his course, when it was silently withdrawn. 
 He continued to serve the company for twenty-five years, till their 
 Chinese establishment was dissolved. At this time, and ever after, this 
 same company was doing all it could to introduce opium into China, in 
 contempt of repeated edicts of successive emperors, by raising and pre- 
 paring it in India for smugglers to take out. 
 
 Mr. Morrison's subsequent course showed the same diligence, pru- 
 dence, and piety which we have already seen to characterize him ; and 
 in this way he was daily preaching to the natives around him in a prac- 
 tical manner most intelligible to them. The moral habits of most for- 
 eigners there exhibited great disregard of the precepts which he was 
 inculcating; but his example had its influence, while he himself lamented 
 the little success of his labors. It should be stated that he was not by 
 nature calculated to win and interest the skeptical or the fastidious ; for 
 he had no sprightliness or pleasantry, no versatility or wide acquaint- 
 ance with letters, and was respected rather than beloved by those who 
 cared little for the things nearest his heart. 
 
828 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 Though now much occupied with official duties, he never ceased to 
 explain and urge t-he claims of the gospel upon all natives who were in 
 his employ, but even to the end of his life he had no opportunity to 
 preach them publicly. These private ministrations gradually became 
 well known throughout the limited circle of natives connected with for- 
 eigners, and during a course of years gave his household a religious char- 
 acter, the more noticeable from its peculiarity. 
 
 It is not easy to convey a just idea of the contemptuous treatment 
 with which the officials of that day " managed " foreigners at Canton. 
 They saw that one way to maintain their authority was to j^revent them 
 from learning the language by punishing all natives who assisted them 
 in any way, sold them books, or cut blocks to print their translations. 
 Even the bishop of Macao issued an anathema against those who should 
 have intercourse with Morrison, or give him Chinese books ; and the 
 company's committee would not have hesitated to deport him, if the local 
 authorities had complained against him for propagandism. The great 
 object to be gained at first was to keep a footing in the country ; and 
 under such circumstances his faith and patience were best exhibited by 
 proving in his conduct that he was " inoffensive and harmless," as he 
 says, in a letter of December 4, 1809, he had been reported to be among 
 the heathen. 
 
 The directors of the society, when alluding to his officinal position, 
 remark, " We do not wish that honorable and even apparently advan- 
 tageous connections of a political nature should be pursued and enjoyed 
 by our missionaries, if they at all be found to interfere with their des- 
 ignation and proposed exertions for the spiritual good of the heathen 
 among whom they dwell ; but there appears to be a peculiarity in your 
 situation and circumstances which makes a degree of political patronage 
 and support almost essential to the existence of your mission, and to the 
 facility and support of its operations." 
 
 This principle has been adopted by all missionary societies, and its 
 propriety cannot be disputed. Mr. Morrison, about this time, printed 
 one thousand copies of the Acts of the Apostles, followed by a version 
 of Luke and some tracts to explain Christian truth. A grammar of 
 the language was prepared in 1811, but not printed at Serampore until 
 1815, owing, among other things, to the want of Chinese type; and 
 progress was made in the translation of the Bible and preparation of the 
 dictionary. On the 4th of July, 1813, he was cheered by the arrival 
 of Mr. and Mrs. William Milne, the only colleagues from Great Britain 
 who ever joined him in China. Their arrival was reported to the Por- 
 tuguese authorities, who in full senate decreed that they should not 
 remain. The governor sent for Mr. IMorrison, and announced that the 
 court had ordered him to send Mr. Milne away, that it was contrary to 
 their religion for him to stay in Macao, and that the East India Com- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ROBERT MORRISON. 829 
 
 pany had requested the court not to allow Englishmen in the colony.^ 
 A written application to the chief of the company for Mr. Milne to be 
 regarded as assistant translator for a limited time was rejected. He 
 therefore set out for Canton sixteen days after lauding, as the Chinese 
 authorities were not so obstructive as the Portuguese or British. He 
 remained there four months, when he started on a voyage through the 
 Indian Archipelago to find the best place to establish a mission and carry 
 on its work jjublicly and unopposed. He returned to China in Septem- 
 ber, 1814, and soon after settled at Malacca. This excellent man wore 
 himself out, laboring beyond his strength, and shortening his life by 
 attempting too many things. He died in June, 1822, leaving behind him 
 an admirable resume of the outlines of Christianity in a tract called 
 " The Two Friends," through which he yet speaketh to myriads of Chi- 
 nese. 
 
 In 1814, the first part of the Chinese and English Dictionary was 
 in such a state of forwardness as to warrant Mr. Morrison to begin print- 
 ing it, under Mr. Thom's superintendence, as soon as the necessary Chi- 
 nese type could be made. This type was all cut by hand with chisels 
 on small blocks of tin or type-metal cast in suitable sizes, and the font 
 was added to as the work required. It was employed in many books, 
 and gradually increased, till it contained nearly twenty-five thousand 
 characters and about a hundred thousand separate types of two sizes. 
 After constant use for forty-two years, half the time in possession of Mr. 
 S. W. Williams, then printer of the American Board at Canton, to whom 
 it had been given by the British superintendent of trade, it was burned 
 theie in December, 1856. It was by far the most expensive font of 
 type ever made. 
 
 On the IGth of July, 1814, "at a spring of water issuing from the foot 
 of a lofty hill by the sea-side in Macao, away from human 
 
 : . . . Morrison bap- 
 
 observation," jMorrison baptized Tsai Ako, the first convert tizes the first 
 to the Christian religion whom he had welcomed to the fel- 
 lowship of the faith. He had this happiness only a few times afterwards. 
 In the early part of that year he sent a copy of the New Testament in Chi- 
 nese to the Bible Society in London, which made a grant of five hundred 
 pounds for printing it. In his letter he fully acknowledges the aid he 
 had received from the manuscript copied at the British Museum in trans- 
 lating the Acts and Pauline epistles, the other books being entirely his 
 own work. At this time he was also occupied in superintending the 
 printing of the dictionary, in addition to his ofiicial duties and mission 
 labors on the Sabbath. His constraint in the latter branch led him to 
 
 1 To show the change since that date, it may be stated that in 1857, when the clergy 
 objected to the American missionaries opening chapels in the Bazaar, the governor replied 
 that they had a perfect right to preach to the Chinese in any way they pleased, and he 
 should not interfere. Many of the Portuguese dropped in from time to time at the serv- 
 ices. 
 
830 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 cast about for some means of enlarging their sphere, and in October:, 
 1815, he issued proposals to Christians in Great Britain to establish by 
 and by a college, a press, a missionary society, and a theological seminary 
 at Malacca. There had been, at that date, no opportunity for the trial, 
 and he could not understand, as we can now, that the basis of a Christian 
 people was first wanted to furnish such institutions with a suitable soil 
 for their natural growth. 
 
 On the 13t.h of July, 1816, he started for Peking as interpreter to 
 Lord Amherst's embassy, in which the chief labor of the correspondence 
 and interpreting devolved on him. On the return to Canton overland, he 
 had an opportunity to see the Chinese people in their own country, and 
 ascertain the views of the officials on many points connected with foreign 
 countries. He resumed his varied labors on his return, January 1, 1817, 
 and went on with them far removed from his wife, then in England for 
 her health, and from his two children. He was this year honored by 
 the University of Glasgow with the degree of Doctor of Divinity. 
 
 Mr. Milne was now able to assist him in the translation of the Old 
 Completes the Testament, which was completed on the 29th of November, 
 Bible in Chinese. 1819; Milne translated ten books, and each revised the 
 other's work. The Bible Society defrayed the cost of printing it, and 
 then, as now, evinced a lively interest in aiding its distribution. In a long 
 letter of this date to the directors of the London society, Morrison 
 modestly recounted the difficulties of his work, described the principle he 
 had adopted in rendering the original, and acknowledged his consciousness 
 of its imperfections as a first translation. He ends his letter with an ex- 
 pression of his " trust that the gloomy darkness of pagan skepticism will be 
 dispelled by the day-spring from on high, and that the gilded idols of 
 Buddh and the numberless images which fill the land will one day assur- 
 edly fall to the ground before the force of God's "Word, as the idol Dagon 
 fell before the ark. These are my anticipations, although there appears 
 not the least opening at present." His hopes were well founded ; for 
 since his death the distribution of the "Word of God has reached the ut- 
 most bounds of the empire, and its truths are discussed by people of 
 every rank and condition. 
 
 The dictionary was finished in November, 1823, at an expense of twelve 
 thousand pounds for seven hundred copies, generously defrayed by the 
 East India Company. It consists of six quarto volumes, numbering in 
 all four thousand five hundred and ninety-five pages; it is arranged in 
 three parts, namely, one Chinese-English part according to the radicals 
 and one according to the syllables, and an English- Chinese part. The 
 undertaking was commenced on too great a scale, and towards its close 
 the author was obliged to hurry through his task ; so that in fact the syl- 
 labic part proved to be the only really useful portion. This was re- 
 printed in 1855 in one octavo volume at the mission-press in bhaughai. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ROBERT MORRISON. 831 
 
 Both these important objects had been proposed to him on his depart- 
 ure from England in 1807 ; and by the goodness of God in preserving 
 his health, and the hberal aid of the Bible Society and the East India 
 Company in printing the two books, he was enabled, on his return in 
 1824, to bring complete copies with him. Other minor publications in 
 Chinese and English, issued during the same period of sixteen years, at- 
 tested his industry and erudition. 
 
 While pursuing his own labors, he sought to interest his personal 
 friends and the Christian public in his enterprise of establishing the 
 Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca, under the supervision of the London 
 Missionary Society and the personal care of Dr. Milne. The foundation 
 was laid November 11, 1818, by Colonel Farquhar. Dr. Milne repre- 
 sented the founder of the college, delivering an appropriate speech, and 
 mentioning the chief object in view in opening it to be the reciprocal 
 cultivation of Chinese and European literature by students of either lan- 
 guage, especially those designed for mission work. Malay was subse- 
 quently introduced to some extent. To this end Dr. Morrison gave lib- 
 erally himself (he told his brother more than half of his property), and 
 induced others to aid his philanthropic views. Buildings were put up, 
 and a promising beginning was made ; but a few years' experience proved 
 that the project was premature in that region, and the institution never 
 rose above a grammar-school up to the time of its dissolution and of tlie re- 
 moval of the mission to Hongkong (1845). It accomplished enough, 
 however, to reward its founders and teachers for their labors, and several 
 works for aiding in the study of Chinese and Malay were printed by its 
 professors. The number of native students seldom exceeded thirty, one 
 of whom, named Show-teh, was afterwards employed at Peking as inter- 
 preter. In January, 1823, Dr. Morrison visited Singapore and Malacca, 
 and cooperated with Sir Stamford Raffles, the governor of the former 
 colony, in starting the Singapore Institution, which has existed with 
 varying degrees of efficiency to the present time. 
 
 On reaching Malacca, he thus gives expression to his feelings : " The 
 college and the native students gave me great satisfaction ; the Chinese 
 youths sang the one hundredth Psalm, which was composed in Chinese 
 by my former assistant Koh. Finding the good use which had been 
 made by my dear William of my Chinese books and my funds, and the 
 freedom of worshiping the blessed God without mandarin interference, 
 altogether produced on my mind a most pleasing effect. Oh, how grate- 
 ful should I be ! I hope this work will never cease till China be evan- 
 gelized, and then it will be useless." 
 
 While at these two British colonies, he diligently aided in giving greater 
 efficiency to the college by encouraging its officers and students, and pre- 
 paring books for the latter. He also lifted up his voice with the governor 
 for the abolition of licensing gambhng shops and of the slave-trade, both 
 
832 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 of which were upheld before that time. His return to China was to a 
 lonely home, for Mrs. Morrison had died in June, 1821, and the two 
 children had been sent to England. This induced him to find opportunity 
 to visit his native land. Few missionaries have ever gone home who 
 had better earned the respect and approval of the Christian world. The 
 mission work in China was left in the hands of a newly ordained native 
 evangelist, Liang Afah, a convert of Dr. Milne's, whose piety and zeal 
 were proved during nearly thirty years of faithful service among his 
 countrymen, sometimes at the risk of his life, preaching and itinerating, 
 as well as composing, printing, and distributing tracts. 
 
 Dr. Morrison reached England in March, 1824, bringing with him ten 
 Reception in thousand volumcs of Chinese books, which were, after con- 
 Engiand. siderable detention, released from bond without duty, and 
 
 finally placed in University College, London. Fie was honored by the 
 court of directors with a public dinner, and soon after presented to the 
 king, George Fourth, to whom he offered a copy of the Bible in Chinese 
 and a map of Peking. The authorities of Newcastle gave a public din- 
 ner in honor of his visit ; and his time, strength, and abilities were all 
 taxed to the utmost, to reply to and satisfy tlie demands made on him. 
 Before he left England he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, 
 and, what he regarded as more honorable, one of the directors of the Lon- 
 don Missionary Society. It was at the annual religious anniversaries in 
 Loudon that the heartiest congratulations on the results of his labors 
 were extended to him ; and probably no missionary ever received so 
 marked an ovation by all classes of his countrymen as did Robert Mor- 
 rison in the year 1824, owing, no doubt, to the combined religious and 
 political duties he had fulfilled in China. In Paris distinguished men 
 paid him attention, and in Ireland and Scotland, too, he successfully ad- 
 vocated the cause of missions and the college at Malacca, to which 
 Lord Kingsborough gave fifteen hundred pounds as a permanent fund. 
 He also set forth the desirableness of establishing a professorship of 
 Chinese in one of the universities, urging as one argument for it that 
 as the British possessions in the East gradually approach the Chinese 
 empire and Cochinchina, a knowledge of the Chinese language seems de- 
 sirable to his majesty's government. 
 
 In November, 1824, he was married to Miss Eliza Armstrong, and with 
 his two children was preparing to return to Canton, when he was urged 
 to remain in England another year in order to assist in starting a lan- 
 guage institution, at which all the living languages were to be studied, 
 in aid of the propagation of Christianity throughout the world, a project 
 which met with favor among good men acquainted with India. The so- 
 ciety was formed June 14, 1825; suitable buildings were rented in Hol- 
 Itorn for students, and Dr. Morrison lectured and taught three months 
 on the Chinese language to fourteen students. It did not, however, en- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ROBERT MORRISON. 833 
 
 dure, and within three years was given up. The objects were too general 
 and vague to meet the wants of any one class, and it is better, on the 
 whole, for a missionary to learn a language where he is to speak it. A 
 special society for training and supporting women in mission work in pagan 
 lands was advocated by him, and he taught three young ladies in Chinese 
 while in London, to show his earnestness in the project, and to fit them 
 for their life work. Such a society was formed a few years afterwards, 
 and the example of these young ladies aided materially in encouraging 
 its founders. 
 
 In such labors and others of a kindred sort two years passed away, 
 when the time approached for him to embark on his return to China. 
 His visit had aroused and increased the interest in the spiritual welfare 
 of China throughout the Christian people of England, and at his depart- 
 ure he was assured by words of counsel and sympathy from public bodies 
 and private individuals that his efforts had not been in vain. He sailed 
 on the 5th of May, 1826, and reached Macao September 19th, having 
 spent a fortnight at Singapore. Here he found that the buildings of the 
 Siugajjore Institution were not so far finished as to admit of receiving 
 pupils, that insufficient funds remained to complete them; and, what was 
 worse, that little interest was taken in the object. He felt this failure 
 deeply, as in it he saw the loss of five thousand nine hundred dollars 
 which he had contributed to the establishment of the school. When he 
 reached China, his colleague, Liang Afah, was glad to greet him, and 
 showed him three publications prepared during his absence. After a few 
 days he gathered around him those who had formerly served him ; others 
 known in earlier days also came to his services. He concluded, from 
 what he could gather, that the influence of divine truth on their minds 
 had deejjened, and no serious obstacle had prevented Liang Afah from 
 making known the truth. The members of the company, unsolicited, con- 
 tributed five hundred pounds for the college at Malacca ; and he soon 
 found congenial work and society, though the old endeared friends had 
 mostly departed. His official duties in the factory, his efforts to extend 
 his missionary influence, correspondence with the brethren in other sta- 
 tions, and work on a projected commentary on the Scriptures and revis- 
 ion of his translation, together furnished occupation for all his time. His 
 letters to his wife at Macao all indicate his sense of the paramount im- 
 portance of the mission work, and he was happy in seeing its beginnings 
 in Java, Siam, and Sumatra. 
 
 In February, 1830, he welcomed Messrs. Bridgman and Abeel as the 
 first fellow-workers from the American churches, who were Welcomes the 
 succeeded by Messrs. Stevens, Tracy, and Williams, before ^m' frim Tmer- 
 he died ; his English colleagues were all distributed in the ■'='*■ 
 Archipelago. His reflections upon the arrival of the first two indicate 
 the longing of his heart for congenial society : " My own health and 
 53 
 
834 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 strength begin to fail ; but as I am going off the stage, I rejoice that it 
 has pleased the Lord to send others to continue the work." His jjosi- 
 tion in the factory had been made so irksome by his superiors that he 
 wrote out his resignation as an alternative of relief from their interfer- 
 ence. He had also recently lost six thousand dollars by a failure. Still 
 he continued at his Chinese writings, and prepared a series of Scripture 
 lessons as a compend of Biblical truth, and a miscellaneous compilation 
 of knowledge called the " Domestic Instructor," the type of both being 
 cut at Canton. He issued from the company's press a small^ English- 
 Chinese vocabulary in the Canton dialect, which was of some use to the 
 trading community. The commentary was never completed. He also 
 aided Mr. Bridgman in filling the pages of the " Chinese Repository," a 
 monthly magazine devoted to the diffusion of information about the far 
 East, and wrote translations from the Chinese for newspapers at Canton 
 and Malacca. These comprise all the important works he published dur- 
 ing the eight years after his return. 
 
 As his strength declined, he was assisted in his translating labors by 
 his oldest son, John Robert, whom he had trained for his successor, and 
 cheered by the brightening prospects of the diffusion and reception of the 
 gospel in China. The Bible, in whole or in part, and other books, had 
 been distributed along the coasts of China and in the Indian Archipelago, 
 and thus he saw that the field was gradually opening. His liberality 
 was constant, and his plans for doing good found a few co-woi-kers among 
 the foreigners. One such plan was to open a coffee-shop in Canton 
 for sailors coming up from the ships, to prevent them going to the Chi- 
 nese grog-shops, where they were poisoned by the drugged samshoo 
 offered them for drink. In reply to a letter from the treasurer of the 
 London Missionary Society, inquiring how Christian knowledge could be 
 diffused through the Chinese Archipelago, he details his scheme for the 
 establishment of central and local mission stations, schools, and presses, 
 with vessels, crews, and itinerating preachers to carry out the design. 
 It was an impracticable and costly plan, and shows an earnest desire for 
 the extension of the truth rather than much sagacity as to the practical 
 details. A more encouraging pape'r was drawn up by him and Mr. 
 Bridgman on the 4th of September, 1832, which day completed twenty- 
 five years since he landed, stating the direct and indirect results of mis- 
 sionary labors during that period, and looking hopefully to a vast expan- 
 sion of the work. The eleven foreign and native preachers, the ten 
 converts and score of pupils, the Scriptures and tracts issued as mentioned 
 in it, have, under God's blessing, since multiplied to hundreds, thousands, 
 and millions. 
 
 One last exhibition of the petty spite of the company's committee in 
 China against his missionary efforts appeared in June, 1833, when he 
 was peremptorily ordered to " suspend the issue of any further publica- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ROBERT MORRISON. 835 
 
 tions from the printiug-press in his house at Macao." This press had 
 issued four numbers of a religious newspaper and a sermon preached at 
 Whampoa, all in the English language, which the vicar-general thei'e 
 complained of to the governor as contrary to the doctrines of the Roman 
 Catholic Church ; and he, in his turn, to the president of the committee, 
 who willingly became their tool to suppress this publication. Dr. Mor- 
 rison stopped it, therefore, protesting " against the whole proceeding as 
 an act of usurped authority, tyranny, and oppression on the part of both 
 Portuguese and English at the bidding of a popish priest." 
 
 In July, 1834, the arrival of Lord Napier as British superintendent 
 of trade confirmed Dr. Morrison's appointment as Chinese iuterjireter 
 to the crown, on the dissolution of the company, at a salary of one thou- 
 sand three hundred pounds. He entered on his duties immediately, and 
 prepared to accompany the commission to Canton. On the passage from 
 Macao he was exposed to heat and rain during one night, and reached 
 Canton completely exhausted. Sharp discussions arose between the Chi- 
 nese and British authorities, as soon as the latter refused to call their 
 dis23atches pin, or petitions, and employ the Hong-merchants as their 
 official medium of communication. Thus began a quarrel which has 
 not yet altogether ceased. The controversy gave Dr. Morrison much 
 anxious concern, and prevented his taking needed rest. On the Sab- 
 bath evening after his arrival he gathered his domestics and others for 
 worship, and strained himself to conduct it. His son says, " A greater 
 than usual degree of solemnity appeared to pervade the little congrega- 
 tion, ^s we received from those lips the words of everlasting life." 
 
 During the week, his feebleness increased so that he decided to return 
 to Macao, where the heat was less oppressive. One who was with him 
 the afternoon before his death says, " After his arrival, about a week 
 before his decease, he left his house but two or three times, though he 
 continued to attend to his official duties almost to the last hour. Though 
 weak, he could walk into another room, talk feebly, and unite in sup- 
 plicating the divine mercy. He said that he thought his life was in 
 danger, but I did not, and I think he did not anticipate so speedy a 
 change. I sat by him, and he repeated many passages of Scripture : ' I 
 will never leave thee nor forsake thee,' ' We have a house not made 
 with hands, eternal in the heavens,' and such like. He then prayed 
 aloud for all of us, if he should be taken away ; that God would be mer- 
 ciful to Eliza and the dear children, and bless them with his protection 
 and guardian care ; that the Lord would sustain him, and forsake him not 
 now in his feebleness ; and for the Chinese mission, that grace and jieace 
 might rest on all the laborers. And having said these things, he lay 
 down to rest." 
 
 That night, August 1, 1834, he was released from sickness and suffer- 
 ing, almost before his son and those standing around were aware of his 
 
836 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 departure, aod while they were devising restoratives preparatory to his 
 sailing in the morning for Macao. He was fifty-two years six months 
 old, and almost twenty-seven years had passed since he landed in Canton. 
 His remains were buried beside those of his first wife, in Macao. Nine 
 years afterwards those of his gifted son, John Robert, were laid near by. 
 Whoever writes the history of Christianity in China must turn to the Prot- 
 estant cemetery in Macao with reverence, for there are the graves of the 
 Morrisons, of Samuel Dyer, Dr. Morrison's colleague and pupil, who came 
 to China only to die, and of two or three American female laborers. 
 
 On my arrival in Canton, in October, 1833, I made the acquaintance 
 of Dr. Morrison and his son, and saw him many times during the winter, 
 where he mostly remained till February. He appeared prematurely old, 
 and his person had become so corpulent that moving about was a great 
 exertion to him. He was able, however, to keep at his desk, and was 
 devising plans for work to the last. On his return from Macao, in Au- 
 gust, he expressed more solicitude about the result of the negotiations 
 then beginning with the Chinese than fears as to the condition of his 
 health. It was a gratifying sight to me, who had so recently reached the 
 field, to see this pioneer in mission work, after a lonely service com- 
 menced amid obscurity and doubt, cheerful in his daily duties, and ready 
 for whatever the Master willed, whether life or death. As he had ex- 
 pressed himself when leaving New York, twenty-seven years before, sure 
 that God would make an impression on the idolatry of the Chinese em- 
 pire, he now saw that his hope had not been in vain ; his work had in- 
 deed been far different in its details from what he had planned in his 
 mind, but the aim had been unwavering and the results jjromising. 
 
 Dr. Morrison's writings attest his industry, care, and erudition. The 
 list of his published works in Chinese amounts to twelve books, of which 
 the translation of the Bible, the " Family Instructor," and a few geo- 
 graphical and religious tractates are the chief. In English there were 
 nineteen separate works, including his dictionary, grammar. Canton 
 vocabulary, and " View of China for Philological Purposes, for the Use 
 of Chinese Students," a Life of W. Milne, four volumes of sermons, 
 miscellaneous translations from the Chinese, and minor pamphlets called 
 forth by passing events or discussions. All of them are now difficult to 
 procure. 
 
 The dawn of China's regeneration was breaking as his eyes closed on 
 the scene of his labors, and these labors contributed to advance the new 
 era, and his example to inspirit his successors to more and greater tri- 
 umphs. His name, like those of Carey, Marshman, Judson, and Martyn, 
 belongs to the heroic age of missions. Each of them was fitted for a 
 peculiar field. Morrison was able to work alone, uncheered by congenial 
 companions, and sustained by his energy and sense of duty, presenting 
 to foreigners and natives alike an instance of a man diligent in business, 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ADONIRAM JUDSON. 837 
 
 fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. His life was mostly passed in the 
 midst of those who had no sympathy with his pursuits, but his zeal never 
 abated, nor did he compromise his principles to advance his cause. His 
 translations and his dictionary have been indeed superseded by better 
 ones, built up on his foundations, and guided by his experience; but his 
 was the work of a wise master-builder, and future generations in the 
 Church of God in China will ever find reason to bless Him for the 
 labors and example of Robert Morrison. — S. W. W. 
 
 LIFE XXXVII. ADONIRAM JUDSON. 
 
 A. D. 1788-A. D, 1849. BAPTIST, BURMAH. 
 
 Adoniram Judson, the first American Baptist missionary to Burmah, 
 was born in Maiden, Massachusetts, August 9, 1788. As a child he gave 
 promise of unusual ability, reading in the Bible at three years ; at four, 
 preaching to his little sister ; at seven, found lying on the ground, with 
 a hole in the hat which covered his eyes, proving by a method of his 
 own the self-originated problem, " Does the earth or the sun move ? " 
 in his fourteenth year, prepared for college ; in his sixteenth, entering 
 Brown University a year in advance ; in his nineteenth, graduating with 
 the highest honors. Acute in intellect, with great powers of acquisition, 
 and unfaltering perseverance and persistence, the boy gave indications 
 of the future man. Recognizing his own abilities, and assured by the 
 confidence of his father in the future which was before him, his ambition 
 was stimulated by the expectations of a brilliant career ; but his attain- 
 ments, thus early, as through life, were the result of unflagging dili- 
 gence. 
 
 At the time of his leaving college, infidelity, like a black wave, was 
 sweeping over the land. Free inquiry in matters of religion was re- 
 garded by the young man of independent thought as a part of education. 
 Young Judson, like many another, cutting loose from the moorings of 
 traditional faith, drifted, he knew not whither. But the Spirit of God, 
 whose instrument he was to become, watched over him on the illusive 
 waters, and saved him from the shipwreck which he courted. 
 
 The death, under peculiar circumstances, of a brilliant and talented 
 young man, his companion in intellectual pursuits and relig- -^ spiritual 
 ious doubts, forced back upon him the truths he had tried to conaicts. 
 abandon. Having no fixed faith, he was well-nigh in despair. Still 
 clinging at heart to his deistical sentiments, and doubting the authen- 
 ticity of revealed religion, he yet recognized his personal sinfulness and 
 the need of some great moral renovation. His moral nature became 
 thoroughly aroused, and he was deeply in earnest. 
 
838 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 With this conflict going on in his heart and mind, he turned, with 
 the candor which during his whole life marked his pursuit of truth, to 
 a calm and careful examination of the grounds of Christian faith. To 
 aid him in his investigations, he entered the theological seminary at 
 Andover, then under the care of men eminent for learning and piety, 
 and in its seclusion he gave himself up to undistracted attention to his 
 spiritual interests. He opened all the doors- of his soul to the light of 
 truth, and it gradually came in. With his whole nature he surrendered 
 himself to the will of God, recognizing Christ in his atoning character, 
 and accepting Him as his Saviour. The change was so deep and radical 
 that no shadow of misgiving or doubt ever clouded his future. From 
 this time forth the trusting and appropriating " My Lord, and my God," 
 was the expression of his unquestioning faith. His dreams of ambition 
 vanished ; his plans of life were changed ; he simply asked, " How shall 
 I so order my life as best to please God ? " With earnest striving after 
 personal holiness, he joyfully consecrated himself, all that he was and 
 all that he was to be, to the service of Christ. 
 
 In December, 1808, a few weeks after going to Andover, he made a 
 solemn dedication of himself to God. In May, 1809, he united with the 
 Congregational church in Plymouth, of which his father was pastor, and 
 decided to continue his studies at Andover. Almost without a question 
 he had decided upon the ministry. When he saw Christ as the only way 
 of salvation for his own soul, he accepted it as his obligation and choice 
 to devote his life to the salvation of lost men. 
 
 In September of this year he read Buchanan's " Star in the East," 
 which made so powerful an impression on his mind that after several 
 months of serious consideration he gave himself, in enthusiastic but 
 thoughtful consecration, to the evangelization of the heathen. At a later 
 period the reading of Symes's " Embassy to Ava " fixed his desires on a 
 mission to Burmah, which, in the providence of God, was to be his future 
 field. 
 
 Almost simultaneously, the minds of three or four young men in Will- 
 iams College and in Andover became similarly impressed with regard 
 to their duties to the heathen in this and other lands. Their sentiments 
 became known to each other, and the faith and purposes of each were 
 strengthened. 
 
 This point in the history of American missions is a most interesting 
 one. As years have passed since the beginning of the American foreign 
 missionary enterprise, we see that this was a prepared time ; we see the 
 purposes of God running like a thread of light through the thoughts of 
 men's minds and the' tendencies of the times ; and minds and times were 
 shaped for the events which were to follow. God builded better than 
 these young men knew. 
 
 Already the English missionary societies had made successful begin- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ADONIRAM JUDSON. 839 
 
 nings in India, but the spots of light were few and small. Drs. Ryland, 
 Fuller, and Sutcliffe had kindled the flame of missionary zeal in Eng- 
 land ; and in this country, Drs. Worcester, Stoughton, and others, men 
 of enlarged views and deep and earnest piety, were praying and elo- 
 quently preaching our duties to the heathen world. As has been said, 
 "it was the sun on the mountain tops, which showed that the sun bad 
 risen," but the light was mostly on ihe mountain tops. Missionary soci- 
 eties of a limited character had been formed, but there was as yet no 
 general organization uniting the churches of the country for supporting 
 missions to the heathen. The churches were widely separated, commu- 
 nication was difficult, and they were ignorant of their strength. It wanted 
 the occasion to call out, and call together, the scattered ele- „ 
 
 . . . *5 ' One of four to 
 
 ments. This occasion was given when four young men of occasion the 
 
 41 1. • ^ /~^^ • • i ti n i founding of the 
 
 Andover, glowing with Christian ardor and love tor souls, American 
 
 offered themselves, upon the 2Sth day of June, 1810, to go 
 
 to the uttermost parts of the earth to tell of the love of Jesus. 
 
 In this new emergency, which they had not anticipated and for which 
 they were not prepared, the American churches naturally turned for 
 direction and aid to the London society, with its larger experience, and 
 would gladly have united with it in the support and conduct of the 
 new mission. 
 
 Although regarding the proposition with the utmost kindness, the Eng- 
 lish society did not deem it practicable. Thus thrown back upon them- 
 selves, to meet the exigency the American Board of Commissioners for 
 Foreign Missio.ns was formed, which timidly but determinedly took up 
 the support of its own missions. 
 
 In February, 1812, Jndson married Miss Ann Hasseltine, the noble 
 and heroic woman who shared with him, with a devotion and a faith 
 equal to his own, the vicissitudes, the trials, and the self-denials of those 
 early years of suffering and solitude in which the mission to Burmah was 
 planted. They sailed soon after, with Rice, Nott, Newell, and others, 
 — whose names have become household words, — the first American 
 missionaries to India. 
 
 The hand of God led Judson on the water as on the land, preparing 
 him in a peculiar manner for the execution of his purposes. On ship- 
 board, the minds of himself and his wife were led to a reexamination of 
 the subject of baptism, as also of the Scriptural proofs. An earnest ex- 
 amination of these points led them to a change of views, and, on arriv- 
 ing at Calcutta, they requested immersion at the hands of the English 
 Baptist missionaries. Their changed views necessitated a change in their 
 future plans, and the separation in labor from their associates was painful 
 in the extreme. 
 
 Alone in a heathen land, cut off from support by the board which sent 
 them out, they turned to the Baptists in the United States, then a com- 
 
840 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 paratively feeble body, with no adequate missionary organization, but with 
 a deep interest in missions existing throughout the denomination. The 
 appeal met with an enthusiastic response, and resulted in forming the 
 American Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, an organization which 
 in 1845 assumed the present name of the Baptist Missionary Union. 
 Thus were formed two noble institutions which have dotted with their 
 missions almost the whole extent of heathendom, which have witnessed 
 results the most sanguine could hardly have anticipated, and whose be- 
 neficent influences eternity alone can unfold. 
 
 The little company of the Caravan, which embarked at Salem for Cal- 
 cutta, amidst the doubts of their friends and the sneers of those who 
 were not, had hardly set foot on Indian shores when a barrier stronger 
 than that of paganism opposed them. The East India Company, then 
 in the flush of its power and intolerance, either from avarice or from 
 antagonism to their object, peremptorily forbade their settling in any of 
 the company's territory, and resisted, by every means in their power, 
 the introduction of Christianity among the millions of its subjects in 
 Bengal. 
 
 After many delays and dangers, while attempting to find a home in 
 judson in Bur- ^^^® ^^^^ ^^ France, they were driven by fresh persecutions 
 ^^^- and adverse seas to Rangoon, where, out of the reach of 
 
 Christian power, they were permitted, but not by man, to teach the gos- 
 pel of love and grace. From the intolerance of a nominally Christian, 
 they had escaped to the intolerance of a truly heathen government. 
 
 The government of Burmah was an unmitigated despotism, and en- 
 mity to the spread of the new religion was bitter in the extreme. Forced 
 to pursue their work secretly, Mr. Judson gave the first years to the 
 acquisition of the language, a language rich in its sacred literature, but 
 having no known affinities to any other Indian tongue, and, to the first 
 foreigner attempting to acquire it, one of unusual difficulty. 
 
 His purpose was so to master its construction and peculiarities that 
 he might think in it as in his vernacular ; that he might thus be able to 
 render with exactness, into the language of a people who had no knowl- 
 edge of it, the word of the living God. So persistent was his assiduity, 
 that he acquired in a few years such a knowledge of it that he was said 
 to write and speak it with the familiarity of a native and the elegance 
 of a cultivated scliolai-. Nothing but absolute mastery limited his de- 
 sire for command over a language which was to be the vehicle of the 
 lively oracles, and with which he was to assail an idolatry grown vener- 
 able by antiquity. Buddhism, the religion of Burmah, possessed a moral 
 code remarkable for the purity of its precepts, and recognized the strict- 
 est system of future rewards and punishments. Reeking with law and 
 penalty, it contained no allusion to repentance, no hint of forgiveness. 
 How was he straitened within himself, till he could proclaim the holy 
 
Cent. XVIL-XIX.] ADONIRAM JUDSON. 841 
 
 doctrines of forgiveness and peace, through an atoning Saviour, Jesus 
 Christ, the Son of the only God ! 
 
 During these years of silent labor, the churches at home became im- 
 patient of results. Doubtless the echoes of this impatience reached him 
 when he penned those words of faith and trust, words as sublime in their 
 trust and faith as were ever penned by the hand of man : " If they ask 
 again, ' What prospect of ultimate success is there ? ' tell them, As 
 much as that there is an almighty and faithful God, who will perform 
 his promises, and no more. If this does not satisfy them, beg them to 
 let me stay and try it, and to let you come, and to give us our bread ; or 
 if they are unwilling to risk their bread on such a forlorn hope as has 
 nothing but the Word of God to sustain it, beg of them at least not to 
 prevent others from giving us bread, and if we live some twenty or thirty 
 years, they may hear from us again." He adds, further, after speaking 
 of the degradation of the people, and the comfortless life of missionaries, 
 — except what was found in each other and in their work, — " How- 
 ever, if a ship was lying in the river ready to convey me to any part of 
 the world I should choose, and that too with the approbation of all my 
 Christian friends, I should prefer dying to embarking." Such faith, such 
 fidelity, such zeal, such holy devotion ! Do we wonder that the windows 
 of heaven were opened, and the blessing came down like a gracious rain 
 on the seed-sowing ? 
 
 Having acquired facility in the use of the language, he began what he 
 would gladly have taken as the labor of his life, — the oral preaching of 
 the gospel to the few inquirers he could gather round him. A zayat 
 was opened by the road-side, and a few timid inquirers came stealthily 
 to hear the strange new story. The thoughtful, cautious, philosophical 
 Burmese heard such words as no Buddhist books contained. They heard 
 of a God, eternal, unchangeable. They came again; they inquired; they 
 pondered ; they believed ; they received the instantaneous pardon of re- 
 pented sin. How beautiful the simple story of the cross became to those 
 ears which had heard only of ajons of hopeless suffering for unatonable 
 sin ! How satisfying the confidence in a God who could not change, in 
 place of Guadama, the synonym of change ! Such was his hope for the 
 whole Burman people. 
 
 Few instances of clearer faith can be found than in those early con- 
 verts in Burmah. Of Moung Shuay-Pau he says, " He is a ^^^^ gj.,^ g^.. 
 fair specimen of a cautious Burman, who turns a thing over '^^^^^ converts. 
 ten thousand times before he takes it, but when he once takes it, he holds 
 it forever." Of Moving Bo, " He has relinquished Buddhism, and got 
 through with Deism and Unitarianism, and now appears to be near the 
 truth." Of Myat-Kyan, " He has been an inquirer after truth many years, 
 and has diligently investigated the systems of Buddh, of Brahma, of 
 Mohammed. At length he has embraced the religion of Jesus Christ, 
 
842 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 with all his mind and soul." A little church was gathered around them 
 in Rangoon. The Burmese government had made one long step in 
 progress. Foreigners were allowed to worship according to the dictates 
 of their own conscience, undisturhed, hut it sacredly guarded its own 
 people from the proselytism of religious teachers, and the native Chris- 
 tians embraced the new faith in the face of persecution and death. 
 
 In the hope of obtaining tolerance and protection for them, Mr. Jud- 
 son resolved upon a visit to Ava, the capital of the empire. He pro- 
 cured an interview with the king, but in his effort he was unsuccessful. 
 Of this failure he says characteristically, " The result of our toils and 
 travels has been the very best possible ; a result which, if we could see 
 the end from the beginning, would call forth our highest praise. O 
 slow of heart to believe and trust in the constant presence and overruling 
 care of our almighty Saviour ! " 
 
 Still the work continued to spread, and prospects were brightening, 
 when the alarming illness of his wife made it necessary for her to return 
 to America. Left entirely alone Judson devoted himself with redoubled 
 energy to the translation of the New Testament and the labors of the 
 zayat. When persecution relaxed he employed most of his time in re- 
 ligious instruction ; when the sky darkened, he turned with earnestness 
 to the work of translation. The mission had been reinforced by Mr. 
 Hough, a printer, and the press was beginning to do its work. 
 
 Two years later, 1832, his new associate, Dr. Price, was summoned by 
 an imperial order to Ava, on account of his medical skill. Mr. Judson, 
 regretfully leaving the few faithful disciples in Rangoon, accompanied 
 him as interpreter at court, hoping, with better facilities, to continue his 
 labors on the Testament. Both were favorably received by the king ; 
 they were recognized in their character as religious teachers, and a grant 
 of land was given on which to build a " kynuug." Mrs. Judson returned 
 after a two years' absence, in improved health ; the translation was near 
 completion, and the long-indulged hope of a successful establishment in 
 the capital of the empire seemed about to be realized. 
 
 There had been faint rumors of war, and while there was but a speck 
 in the sky, the war-cloud burst upon them. The Burmese emperor had 
 cherished the ambitious design of invading Bengal, and while Bandoola 
 was on his march of conquest into Cambodia, Rangoon was unexpectedly 
 taken possession of by the English. Amazement and dismay spread 
 through the capital. All foreigners were under suspicion. Judson and 
 Price were thrown into prison as spies. 
 
 We will not relate the heart-sickening sufferings of those twenty-one 
 In prison in months of captivity, or the almost superhuman devotion and 
 •^''*- fortitude of that heroic woman who walked sublime amid 
 
 the terrible scenes of Ava and Oung-pen-la; whose character rose to the 
 height of the morally grand ; whose heroism and heroic endurance drew 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ADONIRAM JUDSON. 843 
 
 tears from the eyes of Christian soldiers and barbaric men ; whose elo- 
 quence softened hard hearts ; who, begirt with the power of her own 
 moral atmosphere, beautiful in person and superior in intellect, walked 
 unscathed amid the pollutions of barbarism, and became the " author of 
 those eloquent and powerful appeals to the Burman government which 
 prepared them by degrees for submission to terms of a sincere peace." 
 
 Success crowned the English arms, and those dark prisons were opened. 
 After the order of release came, Judson was forcibly retained as inter- 
 preter in the Burman camp. Exposures threw him into a violent fever. 
 Six weeks more of suffering and cruelty, and he was permitted to return 
 to Ava and his home. What was his anguish, on entering that home, 
 to find his little emaciated baby, born amid the horrors of those prison 
 days, in the arms of a squalid Burmese nurse, and the wife who had 
 followed him from prison to prison in noonday heat and midnight dews, 
 lying as one dead, where she had fallen, the Burman neighbors saying, 
 " She is dead, and if the king of angels should come in, he could not re- 
 store her." But the touch of lips and the sound of a voice dearer to her 
 than any other on earth brought her back again, and they were permit- 
 ted another brief j^eriod of suttering and service together. 
 
 The government had learned Judson's value, and it was with great dif- 
 ficulty that he was released from its service. The time came at length. 
 Sir Archibald Campbell demanded it, and sent him and his family down 
 the river surrounded by eight gilded boats. It was with reference to this 
 that in later years he said to friends comparing the most exquisite joys 
 they had experienced, "But what do you think of sailing down the Ir- 
 rawaddy on a cool moonlight evening, with your wife by your side and 
 your baby in your arms, free — all free ? I can never regret my twenty- 
 one months of misery when I recall that one ever delicious thrill," 
 
 On reaching Rangoon they found the little church scattered, the mis- 
 sion-house destroyed, and it was thought better to find another place of 
 missionary labor. Amherst, in tlie Tenasserim district, under British 
 protection, was selected, and thither tliey went to rebuild their hearth- 
 stones and their altars. They gathered some of the disciples and began 
 teaching. An important treaty was to be concluded at Yendabo. At 
 the earnest desii-e of the commissioner, and with the assurance that, if 
 possible, the treaty should contain articles of toleration toward the native 
 Christians, and with Mrs. Judson's added persuasions, he made it his 
 duty, and went. Toleration was not secured, and what was the bitterness 
 of his grief to find on his return that death had removed his wife, for- 
 ever. A grave by the hopia tree, the precious memory of what she was, 
 and the little emaciated Maria, were all that was left him of her love and 
 loveliness. 
 
 Smitten to the earth, the bereaved husband turned to the source of 
 strength that had never failed him, and labored on. The manuscript of 
 
844 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 the New Testament, which Mrs. Judson had kept secreted in the prison 
 at Ava, was saved to him. Dr. Bennet had arrived to take charge of the 
 mission press at Maulmain, whither the mission had been removed soon 
 after the death of Mrs. Judson in 1826. Still directing inquirers to the 
 truth, and superintending the piinting of the New Testament, he gave 
 himself especially to the completion of the Old. Seven years more of 
 labor, and on the 3 1st of January, 1834, h^ wrote that memorable 
 " Thanks be to God, I can now say I have attained. I have knelt down 
 Completes the with the last leaf in my hand, and imploring his forgiveness 
 Burman Bible. fQj. ^H the sins wbich have polluted my labors in this depart- 
 ment, and his aid in future efforts to remove errors and imperfections 
 which may necessarily cleave to the work, I have commended it to his 
 mercy and grace, I have dedicated it to his glory. 
 
 "May He make his own inspired Word, now complete in the Burman 
 tongue, the grand instrument of filling all Burmah with songs of jiraise 
 to our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 
 Touching as were the records of his heart during these lonely years, 
 we must pass them by. 
 
 The visit of Mrs. Judson to America, the sufferings through which they 
 had passed, and their own faith had quickened the flame of missionary 
 zeal throughout the American churches ; money poured into the treasury ; 
 new missionaries were sent out ; new fields were opening, near and dis- 
 tant ; the Karens, a new {people, were being gathered in ; the East India 
 Company, which at first drove them from its borders, covered them with 
 its protecting wing ; native converts were increasing ; a native ministry 
 was being raised up, of men strong in character and strong in faith ; the 
 Bible and other religious writings had been scattered broadcast, and car- 
 ried or blown leaves of the tree of life, God knew whither ; and these 
 years had been to Dr. Judson years of unusual growth and rii^ening of 
 Christian character. 
 
 Again, after years of loneliness, the fires were rekindled on his deso- 
 lated hearthstone. Little Maria had long slept under the hopia tree. 
 George Dana Boardman had entered upon and closed his brief but fruit- 
 ful missionary labors. His widow had for years carried on his unfin- 
 ished work in the Karen jungles, until a church of two hundred members 
 crowned their seed-sowing. It was fitting that two such lives should 
 be united, and in 1834, at Yarry, God gave his benediction on their mar- 
 riage vows. In her new home Mrs. Judson aided, cheered, and strength- 
 ened her husband, the worthy successor, intellectually and morally, of 
 Ann Judson. 
 
 In 1834 the churches in Burmah numbered six hundred and sixty-six 
 members. The following year seven hundred and eighty-six were added; 
 the next year eleven hundred and forty-four. The wilderness was blos- 
 Boming. 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ADONIRAM JUDSON. 845 
 
 It had been Dr. Judsou's most intense desire during all the years of 
 his missionary life to give himself to the preaching of the gospel, but 
 the preparation of a Burman dictionary was urged upon him, and in 
 1843 he writes : " Several years were spent in translating the Bible, and 
 several more in revising it and carrying the last edition through the 
 press. After which, in May last, I commenced a dictionary of the lan- 
 guage, a work which I had resolved and re-resolved I would never touch, 
 but as the Board and my brethren urged it, and as Burmah continued 
 shut against our labors, and there were several missionaries in this place, 
 I concluded I could not do better than to comply. 
 
 " We are apt to magnify the importance of any undertaking in which we 
 are warmly engaged. Perhaps it is from the influence of that principle 
 that, notwithstanding my long-cherished aversion to the work, I have 
 begun to think it very important ; and that having seen the accomplish- 
 ment of two objects on which I had set my heart when I first came out 
 to the East, — the establishment of a church of converted natives, and the 
 translation of the Bible into their language, — I now beguile my daily toil 
 with the prospect of compassing a third, which may be compared to a 
 causeway designed to facilitate the transmission of all knowledge, relig- 
 ious and scientific, from one people to the other." 
 
 Repeated and severe attacks of sickness had come to Dr. Judson, and 
 to his laborious and faithful wife. Mrs. Judson's health, for some time 
 declining, had been so thoroughly prostrated that there seemed to be no 
 hope but in a journey beyond the tropics. Strong as were his domestic 
 affections, tender as was his love for his wife, much as he longed to see his 
 native land, nothing but an imperative duty would have drawn him from 
 his post. Medical skill had been exhausted, and he embarked with his 
 almost dying wife in July, 1845, for Boston. A temporary improvement 
 raised the hope in both that he might return to his work, while she should 
 pursue the homeward journey alone. But the disease returned with new 
 violence, and as they were nearing St. Helena, her spirit passed away. 
 
 Again the light of his home had gone out, and a precious form was laid 
 to sleep in a lonely grave in St. Helena, to await, with that other at Am- 
 herst, the resurrection of the just. 
 
 Mrs. Judson had given India twenty years of successful service. She 
 had blessed the home and carried on the labors of the sainted Boardman ; 
 she had acquired the language in such perfection that Dr. Judson said of 
 her, " There is scarcely an individual foreigner who speaks or writes the 
 Burman language so acceptably as she does." She was the author of 
 valuable books, tracts, and hymns, and in many ways had been a most 
 efficient helper to her husband in their home, in their missionary labor, 
 and in their Christian lives. 
 
 Her work was finished, and leaving the precious dust, he reembarked 
 with his motherless children, and after an absence of thirty-three years 
 
846 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 again set foot on his native shores. Hardly was his arrival known, when 
 a spontaneous outburst of welcome from all denominations 
 
 In America after '■ 
 
 thirty-thiee Surprised and almost bewildered him. He who on shipboard 
 had questioned where he would find lodgings, found a hun- 
 dred homes opened to him as an honored guest, and the hearts of mill- 
 ions of American Christians did him. reverence. The humble missionary 
 who had labored on, heedless that any eye saw him but that of the One 
 he served, could not recognize in himself the object of these demonstra- 
 tions ; he was surprised, humbled, almost offended at what was really the 
 involuntary tribute of Christian hearts to Christian heroism. He seemed 
 to himself to have done nothing, and he shrunk from public assemblies 
 in his honor. 
 
 Dr. Wayland, whose guest he was while in Providence, thus recalls 
 his spirit at family worshiij, which he conducted after a meeting of wel- 
 come in that city : " His prayer on that occasion can never be forgotten 
 by those who heard it. So lowly abasement in the presence of unspot- 
 ted holiness, such earnest pleadings for pardon for the imperfections of 
 those services for which men praised him, so utter renunciation of all 
 merit for anything he had ever done, so entire reliance for acceptance 
 with God only on the merits and atonement of the gospel sacrifice for 
 sins, I think it was never my happiness to hear. Such, I believe, was the 
 habitual temper of his mind that the more his brethren were disposed to 
 exalt him, the more deeply did he seem to feel his own deficiencies, and 
 the more humble was his prostration at the foot of the cross." 
 
 The thirty-three years of absence had made great changes. Well 
 might he say, " Where are the well-known faces of Spring, of Worces- 
 ter, and Dwight? Where are Lyman and Huntington and Griffin ? And 
 where are those leaders of the baptized ranks who stretched out their 
 hands to me across the waters and welcomed me to their communion ? 
 And where are my early associates, Newell and Hall and Rice and 
 Richards and Mills ? But why inquire for those so ancient ? Where 
 are the succeeding laborers, and those who succeeded them ? And where 
 are those who moved amid the dark scenes of Rangoon and Ava and 
 Tavoy ? Where those gentle yet firm spirits which tenanted forms del- 
 icate in structure, but careless of the storm, now broken and scattered and 
 strewn ?" 
 
 There were great changes, not only in the workers but in the work, 
 which was making its beginnings well-nigh over the whole earth — Europe, 
 Asia, Africa, the wilds of North America, and the islands of the seas. 
 
 Delightful as was much that he saw and felt and enjoyed at home, 
 he turned to his little orphaned children left behind, to the native church 
 in Maulmain, to his brethren over the water, and to his heavy work on 
 the dictionary, with longing lieart. He desired to be gone. 
 
 In July, 1846, he married Miss Emily Chubbuck, — Fanny Forrester, 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] ADONIRAM JUDSON. 847 
 
 of literary fame, the gifted lady who cheered his last years with the gentle 
 ministries of love and affection, — and sailed ae;ain for Burmah. Findinsr 
 the work advancing in all departments in Maulmain, he determined to go 
 to Rangoon, where he might avail himself of learned men and books in the 
 prosecution of the dictionary, and might be in the way of new openings 
 into the heart of the country. A new king was on the throne, more in- 
 tolerant than his predecessors, and he was forced to return to Maulmain. 
 He continued his labors unremittingly until November, 1849, when he 
 was attacked by a violent fever. He partially recovered, but it was the 
 beginning of the end. Every resource was exhausted, the disease was 
 reaching the springs of life. The only hoj^e lay in a sea-voyage. He 
 was carried on shipboard on the 3d of April, and in a little more than a 
 week after he embarked, on the 12th of April, 1849, he closed his earthly 
 labors, and entered on the rewards of the just made perfect. 
 
 We cannot forbear giving some extracts from Mrs. Judson's account of 
 his last days. "As his health declined his mental exercises mg closing 
 at first seemed deepened, and he gave still larger portions '^^y^- 
 of his time to prayer, conversing with the utmost freedom on his daily 
 progress and the extent of his self-conquest. One day he said earnestly, 
 ' I have gained the victory at last. I love every one of Christ's re- 
 deemed, as I believe He would have me love them, and gladly would I 
 prefer the meanest of his creatures, who bears the name, before myself.' 
 .... From this time no other word would so well express his state of 
 feeling as that one of his own choosing — peace. He remained calm and 
 serene, speaking of himself daily as a great sinner who had been over- 
 whelmed with benefits, and declaring that he had never in all his life 
 before had such delightful views of the unfathomable love and infinite 
 condescension of the Saviour as were now daily opening before his eyes ! 
 ' Oh, the love of Christ ! the love of Christ ! ' he would suddenly exclaim, 
 while his eye kindled, and the tears chased each other down his cheeks. 
 We cannot understand it now, but what a beautiful study for eternity ! " 
 
 At another time, on being told that it was feared by most of the mis- 
 sion that he could not recover, " I know it," he replied, " and I suppose 
 they think me an old man, and imagine it is nothing for one like me to 
 resign a life so full of trials ; but I am not old, at least in that sense. 
 Oh, no man ever left this world with more inviting prospects, with 
 brighter hopes, with warmer feeling." His face was perfectly calm, even 
 while the tears broke away from the closed lids and rolled one after 
 another down to the pillow. To some suggestion which his wife vent- 
 ured to make, he replied, " It is not that, I know all that, and feel it in 
 my inmost heart. Lying here on my bed when I could not talk, I have 
 had such views of the loving condescension of Christ, and the glories of 
 heaven, as I believe are seldom granted to mortal man. It is not that I 
 shrink from death that I wish to live, neither is it that the ties that bind 
 
848 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 me here, though some of them are very sweet, bear any comparisons 
 with the drawings I at times feel toward heaven ; but a few years would 
 not be missed from an eternity of bliss, and I can well afford to spare 
 them, both for your sake and for the sake of the poor Burmans. I am 
 not tired of my work, neither am I tired of the world, yet when Christ 
 calls me home I shall go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from 
 school. Perhaps I feel something like a young bride resigning the as- 
 sociations of her childhood for a yet dearer home ; though only a very 
 little like her, for there is no doubt resting on my future." " Then death 
 would not take you by surprise if it should come even before you got 
 on shipboard ? " " Oh, no," he said, " death will never take me by sur- 
 prise, do not be afraid of that, I feel so strong in Christ. He has not led 
 me so tenderly thus far to forsake me at the very gate of heaven. No, 
 no, I am willing to live a few years longer if it should be so ordered, 
 and if otherwise, I am willing and glad to die now. I leave myself en- 
 tirely in the hands of God, to be disposed of according to his holy will." 
 And with such peace he passed into the holy presence. 
 
 " If," as Kingsley says, " in the shallowest natures there are unfath- 
 omable depths," what may we expect from natures endowed to affluence, 
 and enriched by culture and Christianity ? Judson's intellectual endow- 
 ments were of a rarely high order, and his Christian character was ripe 
 and remarkable. The key-note of this character was struck at the outset 
 of his religious life. The question, " Is it pleasing to God ? " decided all 
 his religious actions. In his conversion he gave himself without conscious 
 reserve to God ; and it was his constant endeavor to become conformed 
 to his will and likeness. And God led him by a royal highway, through 
 sacrifices of ambitions, through imprisonments, through sickness, through 
 sufferings, through the rending of the tenderest ties, over the graves of 
 loved ones, through appalling views of his own sinfulness ; and volun- 
 tarily abasing himself before God, the Most High exalted him. He 
 walked on the mountain tops of holiness. 
 
 Judson was a man of strong convictions. To believe that a principle 
 was right, and not to embrace it; to see that a course was duty, and not 
 to pursue it ; to hesitate in accepting the consequences which his convic- 
 tions involved, was impossible to his mental and moral constitution. He 
 believed in God and in sin, in eternal life and in eternal death ; he be- 
 lieved it his duty to save souls from that death, and it was his purpose 
 to live for that life. With these convictions he cheerfully yielded his 
 ambitions, he voluntarily turned his back on paths in which he might 
 have won success. Gifted in many ways he might have excelled in many 
 things. He made high attainments as a scholar, he was brilliant as a 
 writer, he was eloquent as a speaker, the English government acknowl- 
 edged his capacity for statesmanship. But none of these things turned 
 hiui from the direct work of giving the gospel to men. He mastered 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN WILLIAMS. 849 
 
 the Barman language, and the results are among the most remarkable 
 in the field of philology, and mastered it to give to the Burman peo- 
 ple our sacred writings in such a form as might convey the precise mind 
 of the Spirit. To do this, no effort was too great. He added the Pali, 
 a difficult language, because it contributed its aid, but we hear no word 
 of it from him. He could repeat Burmese and Pali poetry by the hour, 
 but he would not deviate from his one purpose to transcribe it. He en- 
 joyed its literature, but he would not give one hour to selfish gratification 
 in the acquisition of it. 
 
 It was the requirement of his nature to do everything in the best 
 manner. As our natural character gives direction and color to our relig- 
 ious character, so, in him, this law within gave direction and complete- 
 ness to his religious life. 
 
 To do jierfectly was the necessity of his mind ; to be pure within was 
 the demand of his inner soul. To do perfectly, with a pure heart, the 
 will of God made his life a grand unity; his death, a triumph over death; 
 the life beyond, unspeakable glory. — H. H. K. 
 
 LIFE XXXVin. JOHN WILLIAMS. 
 
 A. D. 1796-A. D. 1839. CONGREGATIONAL, — OCEANICA. 
 
 John Williams, the apostle of the islands of the South Seas, was 
 born June 29, 1796, at Tottenham High Cross, near London. His father, 
 a business man, troubled himself but little about the education and the 
 inner life of his children. Williams must be numbered with that great 
 company of God's workmen whose hearts their mothers nurtured in the 
 faith through prayer and precept and a quiet walk with God. Yet Will- 
 iams's mother was not unaided. A loving grandmother was allied with 
 her in her devoted labors. A Timothy-like picture rises then before us, 
 with a Eunice and a Lois, who led to God a gifted, lively boy in his ear- 
 liest years, and sowed the seeds of holiness in his heart. Their sowing 
 took root. The times of devotion in the boy's home became his glad 
 hours. Falsehood grew to be to him like poison. In his school years, 
 without his mother knowing it, he composed a morning and an evening 
 prayer, — the one in prose, the other in poetry. They were a beautiful 
 reflection of his fervor of spirit. When he was fourteen, he left home, 
 his parents apprenticing him to a well-to-do iron manufacturer of London, 
 named Tonkin. He was expected to learn only the business of selling 
 the goods, and not the theory or practice of making them. Yet he ac- 
 quired both the latter. His talent and liking for the practical part of 
 the work was so great that he spent all his leisure hours in the smithy. 
 He learned to fashion some articles so aptly and neatly that they went 
 54 
 
850 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 from his hand direct to the shop or to the show-window. How this dex- 
 An excellent terity was to serve him later on in life was hid from him, 
 mechanic. |ju|; ^as known to God. The way in which He trained 
 
 Williams so wisely and well moves our wonder. Nothing was wanting in 
 the preparation of the future missionary. Even the errors of the youth 
 were made by God to serve his purpose. There are brooks which, from 
 their source to their end in sea or river, remain pure, clear, and trans- 
 parent. They are detained in no slough, toiling through it with difl&- 
 culty. Of few men can the like be affirmed as to their spiritual career. 
 Few go in undistui'bed course from childhood on through youth to true 
 manhood in Christ Jesus. Even Williams's life found its way, which 
 was prepared by a mother's and a grandmother's prayers, lost amid the 
 unclean waters of the world and the flesh. God's Word was forgotten, 
 prayer neglected, the church abandoned. DrinkiDg-places were fre- 
 quented. Loose company was sought, to the reproach of the name of 
 Christ. Yet his life outwardly was honest. 
 
 God's workman was not to be ruined by Satan. His career in sin was 
 quietly yet effectively checked. Sunday, January 30, 1814, Mistress 
 Tonkin went in the evening to a religious meeting. By the light of a 
 street lamp she recognized her apprentice walking to and fro in front of 
 a drinking-place, and asked him what he was seeking. Young Williams 
 answered frankly that he was waiting there for his friends, with whom 
 he was expecting to pass a jolly night. He was out of humor that they 
 were not prompt at the hour, but were making him wait for so long a 
 time. The good woman, knowing that she ought to act a mother's part 
 to the youth, very decidedly asked him to attend her and go to church 
 instead of to a drinkiug-shop. After some resistance, the youth gave 
 himself up to be her prisoner. He little thought that this very evening 
 he should become a prisoner and a bondman of Jesus Christ. The 
 preacher, who was named East, expounded the saying, " What shall it 
 profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ? " 
 He spoke from the heart to the heart. The eyes of Williams were opened. 
 He saw his need, but he saw at the same moment God's royal way of 
 safety prepared and opened through Christ Jesus. To-night the brook 
 burst forth from the stagnant slough, and began flowing on in its fixed 
 channel to the sea of Eternal Love. Williams turned to God's Word 
 with diligence and zeal. The church and the sacrament became dear to 
 him. The whole gospel, the God-Man, his deeds and his words, became 
 to him living realities. The Holy Spirit illumined his heart with glad- 
 ness. He grew in the grace and in the knowledge of his Lord and Sav- 
 iour Jesus Christ. His mother's love had sown the seed, his mistress's 
 His quiet church faithfulness had saved it, the preacher had nourished it. 
 training. Other help now came to give the youth his full growth and 
 
 to prepare him for his labors as a missionary. In the parish of which 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN WILLIAMS. 851 
 
 "Williams was a member, there was a young people's association, whose 
 chief workers were thirty young men. The leader was the pastor, 
 Browne by name. It met every Monday evening at eight o'clock, and 
 opened with prayer and singing, after which followed a discussion upon 
 a subject announced eight days before, introduced by an address from 
 one of the members. Several of the evenings during the year were 
 reserved wholly for prayer. Williams was one of the most gifted and 
 efficient members of this society, which proved to him his university, 
 preparing him in part for his future efforts. He learned here to take up 
 a Scripture topic and to analyze and present it in free, unhackneyed lan- 
 guage. As a teacher in the Sabbath-school he employed the talent in- 
 trusted to him, gaining by fidelity and aptness the affection of his pupils 
 and the respect of his associates. 
 
 From one society he passed into another. Already mission societies 
 were in active existence in London and vicinity. Besides the anniversa- 
 ries, quarterly meetings were held in small districts, in which, by ad- 
 dresses founded on the Bible, by prayer, and by reports from mission- 
 aries, the members strengthened themselves to persevere in their work. 
 Williams belonged to such a circle. And here it was that the thought 
 arose to him whether he could not be used of God among the heathen. 
 It grew into a most profound desire. Then followed a childlike prayer, 
 " Lord, if it is not thy plan and will that I become a missionary, then 
 tear the wish with all its roots out of my soul." But precisely the op- 
 posite came to pass. The longing of Williams for missionary service 
 became ever more active. He searched his heart with all diligence, ask- 
 ing whether his old nature had not ensnared him ; whether he was not 
 self-seeking, or if indeed the saving of poor lost souls was the aim of 
 his labors. The longer he inquired, the more boldly he could say, " I 
 will present myself a sacrifice to Him who gave Himself for me." 
 
 So, in the year 1816, he proflPered his services to the London Mission- 
 ary Society, addressing a letter to the directors, narrating with exact 
 care his inner and outer life. He made the request, " Should you con- 
 scientiously find no opening to accept me, I pray God, and ask of you, 
 that for my soul's good you will not in the least wise encourage me to 
 seek the missionary office." It is the language of an upright man, and 
 one to whom God will send good-speed. 
 
 Williams passed the required examination, and was accepted (July, 
 1816). That he might at once be unhindered in his new calling he was 
 given, by his master, the seven months remaining of his apprenticeship. 
 Men being in demand, this young man, so gifted and so apt for every 
 work, was to be sent out speedily. South Africa and Polynesia were the 
 lands to which the eyes of the mission society were directed. Williams 
 was chosen for the latter. The laborers in the Society Islands especially 
 needed helpers. The new converts there without guidance would fall 
 
852 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 back into paganism. The youth of twenty years should, within a few 
 months, go thither in the service of his Master, accompanying other mis- 
 sionaries. 
 
 The interval before departure was employed by Williams in conscien- 
 tious preparation. The best hours of each day, and his chief strength, 
 he gave to training in theology under his pastor. All his remaining time 
 he spent in the shops of joiners, carpenters, weavers, and ship-builders, 
 in printing offices, and in all of them he was actively at work. He pur- 
 posed being an intelligent guide of the pagans in external civilization. 
 
 On the 30th of September, 1816, he was ordained in Surrey Chapel, 
 at the same time with eight comrades, to the service of God among the 
 heathen. A Bible was put into his hand with the words, " Go hence, 
 loved brother, and be faithful to the trust that is given thee ; faithful in 
 season and out of season, faithful in proclaiming the precious truths 
 which this book contains." Following these words, another said, " Go 
 hence, loved youth and brother, and though thy tongue cleave to the roof 
 of thy mouth, let it still witness to poor sinners the love of Jesus ; 
 though thine arm fail thee and threaten to fall from its socket, let it yet 
 knock at the hearts of thy fellow-sinners till they open to the Saviour 
 of the world." Upon this day the heart of Williams, already offered, 
 was sealed to the service of God. 
 
 Before leaving England Williams was joined in marriage with a Chris- 
 tian young lady who faithfully, to his death, fulfilled her promise to be 
 his helper in his external and in his soul life. The 17th of November, 
 Sails for the 1816, he left England, sailing by Rio Janeiro to Sydney. 
 South Seas. Here he came to know the missionary Marsden, who served 
 Christ with great self-sacrifice in New Zealand. A protracted delay in 
 Sydney was employed by Williams in service as a preacher and a 
 teacher, and in gaining knowledge regarding the people of Polynesia. 
 At last, November 17, 1817, a year after leaving England, he landed in 
 Eiraeo, one of the Society Islands. His field of work, assigned him in 
 common with missionary Threskeld, was Rajatea, an island which longed 
 for the day, but had not yet seen the sunrise. Two years before, mis- 
 sionary Wilson, of Tahiti, with nineteen native Christians, King Pomare 
 among them, were cast uppn this island. The king, Pomatoa, with his 
 whole people received them cordially. In return they opened their treas- 
 ures, preaching to them a Saviour. After the departure of Wilson and 
 his party to Tahiti, a longing for instruction remained in Rajatea. Will- 
 iams labored here by himself from 1817 to 1823. This island was his 
 training school, and the land of his first love ; a love which never cooled 
 during his life. First of all he threw himself energetically into the work of 
 learning the speech of the country. After ten months he could preach in 
 it. Pomatoa and the rest of the chiefs met him with assistance and friend- 
 ship. In Williams's view the gospel and culture were to advance to- 
 
Cent. XVII.-XIX.] JOHN WILLIAMS. 853 
 
 getlier. He builded a chapel. He erected a neat little house for him- 
 self, and to serve as a model of better dwellings to the natives. Around 
 it a well-planned garden soon bloomed with flowers and food-plants, 
 European and Polynesian. Near it was a school-house in which young 
 and old were given to drink the water of life. Its blossoms were soon 
 more lovely than those in his garden. The Word fell on receptive soil. 
 Chiefs and common people, old men and lisping children, mothers carry- 
 ing nursing babes in their arms, priests of Oro who wanted cleansing 
 from shed blood, came into the school. The king and the queen seated 
 themselves in the row with the rest as learners and inquirers. 
 
 Rajatea was the chief seat of the idol Oro, to whom for centuries, be- 
 fore and after battles, countless human offerings had been devoted. Will- 
 iams, zealous as he was, was very careful of making wild assaults on this 
 or other idols. The wooden images would be thrust down from their 
 seats when they had fallen from their places in the hearts of their wor- 
 shipers. Here in Raiatea. a plan was developed in Will- 
 
 . , . , « '. , . . , ^ , , His broad plan. 
 
 lams s mind for a systematized mission to be extended over 
 the maze of surrounding groups of South Sea Islands. Three helpers 
 were wanted in the service of the Master, a printing-press, a mission- 
 ship, and native agency. Primary books and eleven hundred cojjies of 
 Luke's Gospel, which had been brought out in the language of the re- 
 gion through a missionary (Ellis), were soon sold upon the island. By 
 and by the entire New Testament was printed. Williams bought the 
 first mission-ship in the South Seas, and established a connection between 
 New South Wales and the islands. Himself, the London society, and 
 Governor Brisbane, of New South Wales, bore the cost. Later, he 
 builded a ship of his own, in order to have it entirely at his own dis- 
 posal. Before long he drew his converts into mission-work. Not only 
 was a mission aid society founded, but pious and gifted youths were 
 trained by him for service in the schools, and for evangelizing labors 
 on the neighboi'ing islands. The islanders proved themselves intelli- 
 gent, admirable servants of God, joyful even unto death. By his advice 
 the king of Rajatea gave this and other islands ruled by him a law- 
 book grounded upon God's Word. To secure a more certain sustenance 
 for the people, who hitherto had depended upon fishing and upon the 
 fruits of the islands, sugar plantations were begun. A great church was 
 builded under Williams's leadership, to serve as the cathedral of this 
 group of islands. And for all these activities the toiler drew strength 
 and wisdom from the unfailing fountain of the Divine Word. All who 
 beheld Williams, either here or later in his work upon the Harvey and 
 the Samoa Islands, were amazed at his freshness, his elasticity, and his 
 firm hold upon his work. 
 
 Amid this comprehensive activity, which, during his stay upon Rajatea, 
 reached to Baraboa (of the Society Islands), Rurutu, Raratonga, Aitu- 
 
854 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 taki (of the Harvey or Tubuai Islands), Williams heartily and tenderly 
 cherished his connection with his home. , A real treasure lies before us 
 in his precious letters to his kindred. This correspondence reached its 
 acme when he heard of the death of his mother, so far away from him. 
 With thanksgivings for this, that such a mother had been given him of 
 God, with sorrow and tears for her loss, are mingled fresh praises for 
 her entrance into glory. He knocks, too, how softly, at the hearts of his 
 loved ones with admonitions and with prayers that they abide true to 
 God, so that their deaths may be like hers, the death of the righteous. He 
 ventures — a hard task for a son — to preach repentance and salvation to 
 his father, beseeching him to yield his heart to the Master who so long has 
 wooed him, especially through his beloved life-companion. The letters 
 show a wondrous delicacy. What joy to Williams when missionary Nott, 
 His father's ^^^^ visited his father on his dying bed, sent his last greeting 
 message to him. jq i^jg gQ^ ^j^h the following message, " Tell him, oh tell 
 him, that the sou has been the means of the saving of the father." 
 
 In the years from 1823 to 1830 Williams had journeyed several times 
 to the Harvey Islands. The native teachers did excellent service there. 
 He himself, by his meekness, love, truth, and unfailing faith, exercised 
 an almost incredible influence over the people. After a few years the 
 idols fell, and the entire people were either baptized or under instruc- 
 tion for baptism. Upon Raratonga a church was builded, which was 
 thronged on Sundays by some two thousand Christians. Yet this serv- 
 ant of God pressed restlessly forward. His i^rogress was from east to 
 west. While other missionaries with native helpers labored on Rajatea 
 and the Harvey Islands, he, the pathfinder, turned to the Samoa group 
 (Sawaii, Upolu, Tutuila, etc.), and sailed thither May 24, 1830. First 
 he visited the Friendly Islands (Tongatabu, Wawau, Eua, etc.). He 
 found there the missionaries of other societies, who gave him the hand 
 of friendship. It was resolved that no one should interfere with another's 
 field of labor, and that the Samoa Islands should be left to Williams. 
 God's blessing went with him. On Sawaii, he met a welcome from Chief 
 Melietoa, and after a few years, out of sixty or seventy thousands of na- 
 tives, fifty thousand were either bai^tized or under preparation for bap- 
 tism. He was aided here by the fact that the people had no idols except 
 the god of war. Yet there was no lack of pagan cruelties and unholy 
 superstitions. Everywhere around Williams found the fields white, while 
 the laborers were few. Sore wars, too, were prevailing. If a king be- 
 came Christian, some chief made use of the spite of the pagan element, 
 collected it about him, and sought with its aid to displace the king 
 and to enthrone himself along with his idols. Several petty wars were 
 carried on, which through the clemency of the Christian kings redounded 
 to the glory of Christianity. False teacliers sprang up among the young 
 Christians, who were often disposed to receive their strange messages. 
 
Cent. XVIL-XIX.] ■ JOHN WILLIAMS. 855 
 
 European liquor-sellers and deserting sailors proved pests to the volatile 
 islanders. Williams, with his faithful comrades (Pitman, Barf, and Biiza- 
 cotte), kept watch and removed obstacles. It was easier, then, to awaken 
 souls to religion than to preserve them in a religious course of life. 
 
 Williams, to promote his work, returned home. He wished to kindle 
 the zeal for the Polynesian mission into a clearer flame, and Hjsfour ears at 
 he succeeded. Arriving in England June 12, 1834, after 'lo™- 
 eighteen years' absence, he remained at home for four years. They 
 were years when the love of missions in England and in all evangelical 
 Europe was greatly increased. Williams magnified the works of God by 
 enthusiastic speeches, ever bearing the stamp of genuineness, which he 
 delivered in great assemblies before the high and the low. He also 
 wrote a book, " Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands." He 
 received from all sides favorable reports from it. Thirty-eight thousand 
 copies were sold within nine years. His chief desire, to have a suitable 
 mission-ship, fit for any sea, was granted. With free-will offerings he 
 was able to purchase the Camden for ten thousand pounds sterling. By 
 especial providence a pious and skilled captain was given him, — Captain 
 Morgan. Nine new jmissionaries were to accompany him on his return. 
 On the day of his departure, April 11, 1838, London was in a commo- 
 tion, as if a conquering king was going out to war. The very pilot, who 
 was entitled to twenty or twenty-five pounds, wished to add his services, 
 in taking the ship out, to the contributions of the multitude. Williams, 
 having for the last time taken the Lord's Supper in a home church, went 
 his way joyously with his wife and his new comrades. In his soul was 
 engraved the motto, " Neither count I my life dear unto me." He went 
 round the Cape to New South Wales. In Sydney he formed a mission 
 aid society for Australia, who gave five hundred pounds as their first 
 contribution for his work. He left Sydney October 25th, and arrived 
 prosperously at Tutuila, one of the Samoa Islands. 
 
 The following year was for Williams a most glad time. He visited 
 again all the groups, the Society, Harvey, and Samoa Isl- 
 
 °T . in . . ., His joyous re- 
 
 ands. As corn and flowers grow m warm sprmg nights, so tum to the 
 the work of God had grown in his absence. Everywhere 
 beautiful white churches gleamed from the island upon his sight, builded 
 during the four years. Everywhere the young societies extended to him 
 a welcome as to a father coming home, and such he was. It was a jubi- 
 lee which almost overwhelmed him. Many a one, who at his departure 
 was a stubborn pagan, met him as a happy child of God. His path was 
 through a lovely harvest field. He saw that the work was in good hands 
 and was growing abundantly. He wanted to go beyond. Before him 
 lay the New Hebrides and New Caledonia. Upon November 8, 1839, 
 he kept, on Upola, along with his Samoans and his own family, his last 
 Sunday. He preached from Acts xx. 36, " And when He had thus 
 
856 THE CHURCH'S REFORMED PROGRESS. [Period V. 
 
 spoken, He kneeled down and prayed with them all." He had asked the 
 teachers of the Samoa congregation who of them would go in the Mas- 
 ter's service among the people of the New Hebrides. Thirty chosen 
 men proffered themselves. Williams selected twelve of them, and or- 
 dained them as evangelists. With them went missionary Cunningham 
 and a young Englishman named Harris, who was staying at the islands 
 for his health, but was so taken with Williams that he wished to go with 
 him to the west before returning to England, to fit himself for mission 
 duty. They sailed westward November 4th ; on the islands Roturna and 
 Tanna they left two teachers, having first satisfied themselves of the 
 friendliness of the people. November 20th they cast anchor off the coast 
 of Erromanga. The dwellers on this island were the last to whom Will- 
 iams offered the pearl of great price. They came down to 
 
 His martyrdom. . ^, 
 
 the shore of Dillon Bay. Williams, with Cunningham and 
 Harris, went in a boat near the land. The chief brought at their request 
 
 — which they made known by signs, for the speech of the islands was 
 strange to all three — a vessel of water. Confiding in the favor thus 
 shown, the three stepped ashore. When they thought they had won the 
 hearts of the islanders, by making some little presents, they went some 
 distance inland. Suddenly the natives attacked them with their war 
 clubs. Harris was struck down upon the land ; Williams in the shallow 
 water, thi'ough which he was escaping to the boat. Cunningham alone 
 escaped. This was November 20, 1839. The real murderers of Will- 
 iams were perhaps the sandal-wood merchants, who had shed much in- 
 nocent blood on that coast, and had stirred the natives to revenge them- 
 selves upon all white men. The body of Williams was eaten by the 
 savages. His fate was mourned by the young ChiistianS in Samoa and 
 other islands, as by children. The blessing which he had brought 
 to them remained. He still lives a model missionary in his faith and 
 love and hearty devotion, in his plans of raising up native helpers, in his 
 union of external culture, such as may suit the circumstances of a people, 
 with the culture of the heart through Christ Jesus. With right has he 
 been named the Apostle of the South Seas. No other man exerted so 
 deep and so blessed an influence upon the lives of that far-away people. 
 
 — F. A. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 I. 
 
 IIOLL OF WRITERS OF THE LIVES OF THE LEADERS OF OUR 
 CHURCH UNIVERSAL. 
 
 EUKOPEAN WKITERS. 
 
 F. A. The Rev. Dr. F. Ahlfeld, Pastor in Leipzig John Williams. 
 
 F. A. The Eev. Dr. Fkiedeich Aendt, Pastor in Berlin .... Anxie Askew. 
 
 C. B. The Rev. Dr. C Becker, Pastor in Konigsberg Wishart. 
 
 C. B. The Rev. Dr. C. Bindemann, Church Superintendent in Grim- 
 men Monica, Augustine, 
 
 B. The Rev. Dr. Bouterwek, Director of Gymnasium, Elber- 
 
 feld Columba, Aidan. 
 
 The Rev. J. C. F. Bukk, Pastor in Echterdingen Bengel. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. David Eedmann, Church General Superintend- 
 ent, Breslau Baxter. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. A. E. Fkohlich, Professor, Aarau, Switzer- 
 land Zioingle, Lahorie. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. K. Fkommann, Church General Superintendent in 
 
 Petersburg Zeisherger. 
 
 Tlie Rev. Dr. K. R. Hagenbach, Professor of Theology, Basel, 
 
 Switzerland . . . Clement, Athanasius, QHcolainjiadius, Renata, Beza. 
 
 The Rev. J. Hartmann, Dean in Tuttlingen Brentz. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. K. Hase, Professor of Theology in Jena .... Savonarola. 
 
 The Eev. Dr. F. R. Hasse, Professor of Theology in Bonn . . Anselm. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Feed. Haupt, Pastor in Gronau Eildegard. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. P. Henry, Pastor in Berlin Calvin. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. H. Heppe, Professor of Theology in Marburg, 
 
 Cranmer, Ifooper, William of Orange. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. L. Heubnee, Director of Seminary, Wittenberg . Luther. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Wilhelm Hoffmann, Church General Superin- 
 tendent, Berlin John of Monte Corvino. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Hundeshagen, Professor of Theology in Bonn . Ursinus. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Christian H. Kalkae, Pastor in Copenhagen . Egede. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Che. Fe. Kling, Dean in Marbach Origen. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Fred. W. Krummacher, Court Preacher in Pots- 
 dam Lawrence, Chrysostom, Huss, Gerhardt, Oherlin. 
 
 G. L. The Eev. Dr. Gotthakd Lechlee, Professor of Theology in 
 
 Leipzig Bede, Wiclif, Oldcastle, Ridley. 
 
 H. L. The Rev. Dr. H. Leo, Professor of Philosophy in Halle . . . Patrick. 
 
 P. L. The Eev. Dr. Peter Lorimer, Professor in Presbj'terian Col- 
 lege, London Hamilton. 
 
 F. L. The Rev. Dr. Feed. Lubkee, Director of Gymnasium in Flens- 
 
 burg Columban, Boniface, Alfred. 
 
 C. 
 
 F. 
 
 B. 
 
 D. 
 
 E. 
 
 
 A. 
 
 E. 
 
 F. 
 
 K. 
 
 F. 
 
 
 K. 
 
 R. 
 
 H. 
 
 J. 
 
 H. 
 
 
 K. 
 
 H. 
 
 
 F. 
 
 R. 
 
 H. 
 
 F. 
 
 H. 
 
 
 P. 
 
 H. 
 
 
 H. 
 
 H. 
 
 
 L. 
 
 H. 
 
 
 W 
 
 . H 
 
 
 H. 
 
 
 
 C. 
 
 H. 
 
 K. 
 
 C. 
 
 F. 
 
 K. 
 
 F 
 
 W. 
 
 , K. 
 
H 
 
 . F. M. 
 
 H 
 
 . V'M. 
 
 C. 
 
 B. M. 
 
 A, 
 
 , M. 
 
 A. 
 
 , N. 
 
 E. 
 
 N. 
 
 J. 
 
 J. V'O. 
 
 J. 
 
 C. T. 0. 
 
 R. 
 
 P. 
 
 F. 
 
 P. 
 
 T. 
 
 P. 
 
 F. 
 
 R. 
 
 A. 
 
 R. 
 
 L. 
 
 R. 
 
 J. 
 
 D. R. 
 
 K. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 K. 
 
 H. S. 
 
 C. 
 
 S. 
 
 868 APPENDIX. 
 
 T. M, The Rev. Dr. Thomas MacCrie, Professor in Presbyterian Col- 
 lege, London John Knox, 
 
 Dr. H. F. Massmann, Professor of Philosophy in Berlin . . . Ulfilas. 
 
 The Rev. H. Von Meez, Church Prelate in Stuttgart, 
 
 Roussel, Schwartz, Martyn, Wilberforce, Fry. 
 C. B. Moll, Church General Superintendent, Konigsberg . . Wessel. 
 
 The Rev. Adolf Monod, Pastor in Paris, France Blandina. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. August Neander, Professor of Theology in Ber- 
 lin Bernard, Aquinas, Melancthon. 
 
 E. NoELDECHEN, Head Teacher, Magdeburg Claudius. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. J. J. Van Oosterzee, Professor of Theology in 
 
 Utrecht Thomas a Kempia. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. J. C. T. Otto, Professor of Theology in Vienna . Cyril. 
 
 Dr. Reinhold Pauli, Professor of Philosophy in Gottingen, 
 
 Alfred the Great. 
 The Rev. Dr. Ferdinand Piper, Professor of Theology, Berlin . Polycarp. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. T. Pressel, Dean in Schorndorf Rabaut. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. F. Ranke, Director of Gymnasium, Berlin, 
 
 Perpetua, Hans Sachs, Peterson. 
 
 The Rev. A. Rische, Pastor in Schwinkendorf King Louis. 
 
 The Rev. Louis Rognon, Pastor in Paris CoUgny. 
 
 The Rev. J. D. Rothmund, Pastor in St. Gall Gall. 
 
 The Rev. K. G. Von Rudloff, Cathedral Preacher in Nisky, Guthrie, MacKail. 
 The Rev. Dr. K. H. Sack, Chief Consistory Councilor, Bonn, John Wesley. 
 The Rev. Dr. C. Schmidt, Professor of Theology in Strassburg, 
 
 Remy, Tauler. 
 H. E. S. The Rev. Dr. H. E. Schmieder, Director of Seminary, Witten- 
 berg . Paphnutius, Spiridion, Ambrose, Jerome, Austin, Waldo, Magda- 
 
 lena Luther, Palearlo, Zinzendorf. 
 K. S. The Rev. Dr. K. Semisch, Professor of Theology in Berlin, 
 
 Ignatius, Justin, Irenmus. 
 C. W. S. The Rev. Dr. C. W. Starstedt, Professor of Theology in Lund, 
 
 Sweden Ansgar. 
 
 A. T. The Rev. Dr. August Tholuck, Professor of Theology in 
 
 Halle . . . i Spener, Francke. 
 
 F. T. The Rev. F. Trechsel, Pastor in Berne, Switzerland .... Farel. 
 
 J. O. V. The Rev. J. 0. Vaihinger, Cathedral Preacher in Cannstadt, 
 
 Gustavus Adolphus. 
 L. W. The Rev. L. Wiese, Church Counselor in Berlin Cyprian. 
 
 AMERICAN WRITERS. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. H. C. Alexander, Professor in Union Theological 
 
 Seminary, Hampden-Sidney, Va Alexander, 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Robeht Beard, Professor in Theological Semi- 
 
 navy, Lebanon, Tenn Donnell. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. C. W. Bennett, Professor in Theological Depart- 
 ment of Syracuse University, Syracuse, N. Y Fisk. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. W. M. Blackburn, Professor in Theological Semi- 
 nary of Northwest, Chicago, 111. . Maiemie, Dickinson, Witherspoon. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. S. L. Caldwell, President of Vassar College, 
 
 Poughkeepsie, N. Y Manning. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Rufus W. Clark, Pastor in Albany, N. Y. . . Livingston. 
 
 Mrs. Helen Finney Cox, Cincinnati, O Finney. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Timothy Dwight, Professor in Theological School, 
 
 Yale College, New Haven, Conn Dwight. 
 
 J. H. G. The Rev. Dr. J. H. Good, Professor in Theological Department, 
 
 Heidelberg College, Tidin, Schlatter 
 
 H. 
 
 C. 
 
 A. 
 
 R. 
 
 B. 
 
 
 C.W. 
 
 B. 
 
 W 
 
 . M 
 
 . B. 
 
 S. 
 
 L. 
 
 C. 
 
 R. 
 
 W. 
 
 , C. 
 
 H. 
 
 , F. 
 
 c. 
 
 T. 
 
 D. 
 
 
APPENDIX. 859 
 
 L. G. The Rev. Dr. Lewis Grout, late Missionary to South Africa, W. 
 
 Brattleboro, Vt Vanderlcemp. 
 
 A. A. H. The Rev. Dr. Arch. A. Hodge, Professor in Theological Semi- 
 
 nary, Princeton, N. J Hodge. 
 
 S. H. The Rev. Dr. Samuel Hopkins, Professor in Theological Semi- 
 nary, Auburn, N. Y Brewster, Hopkins. 
 
 Z. H. The Rev. Dr. Zephaniah Humphreys, Professor in Lane 
 
 Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, O Edwards. 
 
 J. B. J. The Rev. Dr. J. B. Jeter, Editor of the Religious Herald, Rich- 
 mond, Va Fuller. 
 
 H. J. The Rev. Dr. Herrick Johnson, Professor in Theological Serai- 
 nary, Auburn, N. Y Barnes. 
 
 H. K. Mrs. Helen Kendrick, Rochester, N. Y Judson. 
 
 H. L. The Rev. Dr. Heman Lincoln, Professor in Theological Semi- 
 nary, Newton Centre, Mass Wayland. 
 
 H. M. M. The Rev. Dr. Henry M. MacCracken, Pastor in Toledo, 0., 
 
 Isabella Graham. 
 
 J. M. P. The Rev. Dr. J. M. Pendleton, Pastor in Upland, Pa. . . . Feck. 
 
 W. K. P. The Rev. Dr. W. K. Pendleton, President of Bethany College, 
 
 Bethany, W. Va Campbell. 
 
 B. F. P. The Rev. B. F. Prince, Professor in Wittenberg College, Spring- 
 
 field, Muhlenberg. 
 
 W. B. S. The Rev. Dr. W. Bacon Stevens, Bishop of the Pennsylvania 
 
 Diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Philadelphia . White. 
 
 H. B. S. Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Hartford, Conn. . . . Lyman Beecher. 
 
 T. 0. S. The Rev. Dr. Thomas 0. Summers, Professor of Theology in 
 
 Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn MacKendree. 
 
 J. W. The Rev. Dr. J. Weaver, Bishop of the United Brethren, Day- 
 ton, Otterbein. 
 
 T. W. The Rev. Dr. Thomas Webster, Pastor in Newbury, Canada . Asbury. 
 
 S. W. W. The Hon. S. Wells Williams, LL. D., Professor of Chinese Lit- 
 erature, Yale College, New Haven, Conn Morrison. 
 
 R. Y. The Rev. R. Yeakel, Bishop of the Evangelical Association, 
 
 Naperville, 111 Albright. 
 
 D. R. K. The Rev. Dr. David R. Kerr, Professor in Theological Sem- 
 inary, Alleghany, Pa Pressly. 
 
 A. W. The Rev. Dr. A. Webster, Pastor in Baltimore, Md Stockton. 
 
860 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 n. 
 
 COMPLETE EOLL OF LIVES.i 
 
 JANUARY. 
 
 FEBRUARY. 
 
 ^ MARCH. 
 
 1. 
 
 New Year 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1. 
 
 IGNATIUS . . 
 
 A. D. 
 
 107 
 
 1. 
 
 Suidbert . . . . 
 
 A. D. 
 
 713 
 
 2. 
 
 Martyrs of the Books 303 
 
 2. 
 
 !Mary [Purification] 
 
 Bible 
 
 2. 
 
 JOHN WES- 
 
 
 3. 
 
 Gordius, Martyr . 
 
 303 
 
 3. 
 
 ANSGAK . . . 
 
 865 
 
 
 LEY . . . . 
 
 1791 
 
 4. 
 
 Titus 
 
 Bible 
 
 4. 
 
 Rabanus Maurus . 
 
 856 
 
 3. 
 
 Balthilde . . . 
 
 680 
 
 5. 
 
 Simeon .... 
 
 Bible 
 
 5. 
 
 SPENER . . . 
 
 1705 
 
 4. 
 
 WISHART . . 
 
 1546 
 
 6. 
 
 Christ and Wise 
 
 
 6. 
 
 Amandus 
 
 679 
 
 5. 
 
 AQUINAS . . 
 
 1274 
 
 
 Men .... 
 
 Bible 
 
 7. 
 
 Geo. Wagner 
 
 1527 
 
 6. 
 
 Fridolin . . . . 
 
 514 
 
 7. 
 
 Widukind 
 
 785 
 
 8. 
 
 Mary Andreii . . 
 
 1632 
 
 7. 
 
 PERPETUA . 
 
 202 
 
 8. 
 
 Severinus . . . 
 
 482 
 
 9. 
 
 HOOPER . . . 
 
 1555 
 
 8. 
 
 URSINUS . . 
 
 1583 
 
 9. 
 
 Catharine Zell . . 
 
 1562 
 
 10. 
 
 Oetiuger . . . . 
 
 1782 
 
 9. 
 
 CYRIL . . . 
 
 869 
 
 10. 
 
 Paul the Hermit 
 
 340 
 
 11. 
 
 Hugo St. Victor . 
 
 1142 
 
 10. 
 
 Martyrs in Armenia 
 
 320 
 
 11. 
 
 Fructuosus .' . . 
 
 259 
 
 12. 
 
 Jane Grey . . . 
 
 1554 
 
 11. 
 
 Hoseus . . . . 
 
 1566 
 
 12. 
 
 John Chastellain 
 
 1525 
 
 13. 
 
 SCHWARTZ . 
 
 1798 
 
 12. 
 
 Gregory . . . . 
 
 604 
 
 13. 
 
 Hilary of France 
 
 368 
 
 14. 
 
 Bruno . . . . 
 
 1008 
 
 13. 
 
 Itoderick . . . . 
 
 857 
 
 14. 
 
 Felix 
 
 256 
 
 15. 
 
 Von Loh 
 
 1561 
 
 14. 
 
 Matilda . . . . 
 
 963 
 
 15. 
 
 John Laski . . . 
 
 1560 
 
 16. 
 
 Desubas . . . . 
 
 1746 
 
 15. 
 
 CRANMER . . 
 
 1556 
 
 16. 
 
 Geo. Spalatin . . 
 
 1545 
 
 17. 
 
 HAMILTON . 
 
 1528 
 
 10. 
 
 Heribert . . . . 
 
 968 
 
 17. 
 
 Antony the Hermit 
 
 356 
 
 18. 
 
 SYMEON . . . 
 
 107 
 
 17. 
 
 PATRICK . . 
 
 460 
 
 18. 
 
 Jno. Blackader . . 
 
 1686 
 
 19. 
 
 Mesrob . . . . 
 
 441 
 
 18. 
 
 Alexander . . . 
 
 251 
 
 19. 
 
 t Babylas . . . 
 j Isabella . . . 
 
 250 
 1526 
 
 20. 
 21. 
 
 Sadoth . . . . 
 Meinrad . . . . 
 
 346 
 863 
 
 19. 
 20. 
 
 Mary and Martha 
 Ambrose of Siena . 
 
 Bible 
 1287 
 
 20. 
 
 ( Fabian .... 
 j Sebastian . . . 
 
 250 
 304 
 
 22. 
 23. 
 
 Didymus . . . . 
 Ziegenbalg . 
 
 395 
 1719 
 
 21. 
 22. 
 
 Benedict . . . . 
 Nicolas the Hermit 
 
 543 
 1488 
 
 21. 
 
 Agnes .... 
 
 304 
 
 24. 
 
 Matthew . . . . 
 
 Bible 
 
 23. 
 
 Wolfgang 
 
 1566 
 
 22. 
 
 Vincentius . 
 
 304 
 
 25. 
 
 Olevian . . . . 
 
 1587 
 
 24. 
 
 Floreutius . . . 
 
 1400 
 
 23. 
 
 Isaiah 
 
 Bible 
 
 26. 
 
 Haller . . . . 
 
 1536 
 
 25. 
 
 Mary [Aimuncia^ 
 
 
 24. 
 
 Timothy .... 
 
 Bible 
 
 27. 
 
 Bueer 
 
 1551 
 
 
 tion] 
 
 Bible 
 
 25. 
 
 Paul [Conversion] 
 
 Bible 
 
 28. 
 
 JOHN OF 
 
 
 26. 
 
 Liudger . . . . 
 
 809 
 
 26. 
 
 POLYCARP . 
 
 167 
 
 
 MONTE COR- 
 
 
 27. 
 
 Eupert . . . . 
 
 718 
 
 27 
 
 CHRYSOSTOM 
 
 407 
 
 
 VINO . . . . 
 
 1306 
 
 28. 
 
 Von Goch . . . 
 
 1475 
 
 28 
 
 Charlemagne 
 
 814 
 
 29. 
 
 Ethelbert [assigned 
 
 
 29. 
 
 Eustace . . . . 
 
 625 
 
 29. 
 
 Juventus, etc. . . 
 
 363 
 
 
 also to 24th Feb- 
 
 
 30. 
 
 Ileermann . . . 
 
 1647 
 
 30. 
 
 Henry Miiller . . 
 
 1675 
 
 
 ruary]. 
 
 
 31. 
 
 Ernst of Saxony . . 
 
 1675 
 
 31 
 
 HANS SACHS 
 
 157G 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 As edited in Germany by Dr. Ferdinand Piper, corre.«ponding with the names for all the days of 
 the year in the Improveil Evangeliral Calendar, The lives translated into English and edited in the 
 present work are printed in capitals. The figures after names indicate the year of some principal 
 event in the life referred to, usually of its beginning or close. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 861 
 
 COMPLETE ROLL OF JA\Y.^ — Continued. 
 
 APRIL. 
 
 MAY. 
 
 JUNE. 
 
 1. 
 
 Fritigil . . 
 
 A. D. 
 
 . . 400 
 
 1. 
 
 Philip and James . 
 
 A. D. 
 
 Bible 
 
 1- 
 
 OBERLIN 
 
 A. B. 
 
 . 1826 
 
 2. 
 
 Theodocia 
 
 . . 307 
 
 2. 
 
 ATHANASIUS 
 
 373 
 
 2. 
 
 BLANDINA 
 
 . 177 
 
 3. 
 
 Tersteegen 
 
 . . 1769 
 
 3. 
 
 MONICA . . . 
 
 388 
 
 3. 
 
 Clotilda . . 
 
 . 540 
 
 4. 
 
 AMBROSE 
 
 . . 397 
 
 4. 
 
 Florian .... 
 
 300 
 
 4. 
 
 Quirinus . 
 
 . 300 
 
 5. 
 
 Scriver . . 
 
 . . 1693 
 
 5. 
 
 Frederick the "Wise 
 
 1525 
 
 5 
 
 BONIFACE 
 
 . 755 
 
 6 
 
 Albert Diirer 
 
 . . 1528 
 
 6. 
 
 John of Damascus . 
 
 754 
 
 6. 
 
 Norbert . . 
 
 . 1134 
 
 7. 
 8. 
 
 PETERSON 
 
 Chemnitz 
 
 . 1552 
 . . 1586 
 
 7 
 
 I Domatilla . 
 
 j Otto .... 
 
 300 
 973 
 
 7. 
 8. 
 
 GERHARDT 
 FRANCKE 
 
 . 1676 
 . 1727 
 
 9. 
 
 Von Westen 
 
 . . 1727 
 
 8. 
 
 Stanislaus 
 
 1079 
 
 9. 
 
 COLUMBA 
 
 . . 597 
 
 10. 
 
 Fulbert . . 
 
 . . 1028 
 
 9. 
 
 Gregory Nazianz . 
 
 390 
 
 10. 
 
 Barbarossa . 
 
 . 1190 
 
 11. 
 
 Leo the Great 
 
 . . 461 
 
 10. 
 
 Heuglin .... 
 
 1527 
 
 11. 
 
 Barnabas . 
 
 . Bible 
 
 12. 
 
 Sabas . . . 
 
 . . 372 
 
 11. 
 
 John Arndt . . . 
 
 1621 
 
 12. 
 
 RENATA . 
 
 . 1575 
 
 13. 
 
 JUSTIN . 
 
 . . 101 
 
 12. 
 
 Meletius .... 
 
 381 
 
 13. 
 
 Le Febvre 
 
 . . 1702 
 
 14. 
 
 Eccard 
 
 . . 1611 
 
 13. 
 
 Servatius .... 
 
 383 
 
 14. 
 
 Basil . . . 
 
 . . 379 
 
 15. 
 
 Dach . . . 
 
 . . 1659 
 
 14. 
 
 Pachomius . . . 
 
 348 
 
 15. 
 
 WILBER- 
 
 
 16. 
 
 WALDO . 
 
 . . 1197 
 
 15. 
 
 Moses 
 
 Bible 
 
 
 FORCE . 
 
 . 1833 
 
 17. 
 
 MappaJicus . 
 
 . . 250 
 
 16. 
 
 Five Lausanne Stu- 
 
 
 16. 
 
 BAXTER . 
 
 . 1691 
 
 18. 
 
 Luther [at "Wor 
 
 Qis] 1521 
 
 
 dents .... 
 
 1553 
 
 17. 
 
 TAULER . 
 
 . 1361 
 
 19. 
 
 MELANC- 
 
 
 17. 
 
 Joachim .... 
 
 1202 
 
 18. 
 
 Pamphilus . 
 
 . 309 
 
 
 THON . 
 
 . . 1560 
 
 18. 
 
 Martyrs under Valens 370 
 
 
 / PAPHNU- 
 
 
 20. 
 
 Bugenhagen . 
 
 . . 1558 
 
 19. 
 
 ALCUIN . . . 
 
 804 
 
 19. 
 
 ) TIUS 
 
 . 325 
 
 21. 
 
 ANSELM . 
 
 . . 1109 
 
 20. 
 
 Herberger . . . 
 
 1627 
 
 
 ( Council of Nie 
 
 e . 325 
 
 22. 
 
 ORIGEN . 
 
 . . 254 
 
 21. 
 
 Constantine and Hel- 
 
 
 20. 
 
 Martyrs of Pragi 
 
 le . 1621 
 
 
 f George, kille 
 
 r of 
 
 
 ena 
 
 337 
 
 21. 
 
 CLAUDIUS 
 
 . . 1815 
 
 23 
 
 / Dragons 
 
 . . 200 
 
 22. 
 
 Castus and Emilius 
 
 300 
 
 22. 
 
 Gottschalk . 
 
 . . 1066 
 
 
 ( Adelbert . 
 
 . . 997 
 
 23. 
 
 SAVONAROLA 
 
 1498 
 
 23. 
 
 Gottfried Arnold 
 
 . 1714 
 
 24. 
 
 Wilfrid . . 
 
 . . 709 
 
 24. 
 
 Cazalla .... 
 
 1559 
 
 24. 
 
 John the BaptisI 
 
 . Bible 
 
 25 
 
 Mark . . . 
 
 . . Bible 
 
 25. 
 
 AUSTIN OP 
 
 
 25. 
 
 Augsburg Con 
 
 'es- 
 
 20. 
 
 Trudpert . . 
 
 . . 043 
 
 
 ENGLAND . 
 
 008 
 
 
 sion . . . 
 
 . 1530 
 
 27. 
 
 Catelin . . 
 
 . . 1554 
 
 26. 
 
 BEDE .... 
 
 735 
 
 26. 
 
 John Andreii 
 
 . 1654 
 
 28 
 
 Myconius . . 
 
 . . 1546 
 
 27. 
 
 CALVIN . . . 
 
 1564 
 
 27. 
 
 Seven Sleepers 
 
 . 250 
 
 29 
 
 Berquin . . 
 
 . . 1529 
 
 28. 
 
 Laii franc .... 
 
 1089 
 
 28. 
 
 IREN^US 
 
 . 202 
 
 30 
 
 Calixt . . . 
 
 . . 1656 
 
 29. 
 
 ZEISBERGER 
 
 1808 
 
 29. 
 
 Peter and Paul 
 
 . Bible 
 
 
 
 
 30. 
 
 Jerome of Prague . 
 
 1410 
 
 30. 
 
 LuU . . , 
 
 . 1315 
 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 Joachim Neander . 
 
 1780 
 
 
 
 
862 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 COMPLETE EOLL OF JAYY.^ — Continued. 
 
 JULY. 
 
 AUGUST. 
 
 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 1. Martyrs at Brussels 
 
 2. Mary [Visitation] 
 
 1 Otto of Bamberg 
 ^- ] PALEAKIO 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1523 
 Bible 
 1139 
 1570 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1. Maccabees . Apocrjpha 
 
 2. Martyrs under Nero 64 
 
 3. Thorp 1407 
 
 4. Kliser 1527 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1. Anna Bible 
 
 2. Mamas .... 274 
 
 3. HILDEGARD 1197 
 
 4. Ida von Herzfeld . 820 
 
 4. Ulrich of Augsburg 
 
 5. OLDCASTLE 
 
 6. HUSS .... 
 
 7. Willibald . . . 
 
 973 
 1418 
 1415 
 
 786 
 
 5. Salzburgers . . . 
 
 6. Christ [Transfigura- 
 
 tion] 
 
 7. Nonna .... 
 
 1731 
 
 Bible 
 374 
 
 5. MaUio . . 
 
 6. Waibel . . 
 
 7. Spengler . . 
 
 8. Corbinian 
 
 . 1553 
 . 1525 
 . 1534 
 . 730 
 
 8. Kalian .... 
 
 689 
 
 8. Hormisdas . . . 
 
 421 
 
 9. Paschal . . 
 
 . 1560 
 
 9. Ephraim of Syria . 378 
 r Canute .... 1036 
 10- \ WILLIAM OF 
 ' ORANGE . . 1584 
 
 9. Numidicus . . . 258 
 -^Q (LAWRENCE 70 
 
 1 Jerusalem Destroyed 
 11. Gregory of Utrecht 775 
 
 10. Speratus . . 
 
 11. BRENTZ . 
 
 12. Peloquiu . . 
 
 13. FAREL . 
 
 . 1551 
 . 1570 
 . 1553 
 . 1565 
 
 11. Placidus .... 
 
 12. Henry of Germany 
 
 630 
 1024 
 
 12. Anselm of Havelberg 
 
 13. ZINZENDORF 
 
 1158 
 1760 
 
 j^ ( CYPRIAN 
 
 ■ 1 Dante . . 
 
 . 258 
 . 1321 
 
 13. Eugenius .... 
 
 505 
 
 14. GUTHRIE . . 
 
 1661 
 
 15. Grumbach . 
 
 . 1554 
 
 14. Bonaventura . . 
 
 1274 
 
 15. Mary 
 
 Bible 
 
 16. Euphemia 
 
 . 311 
 
 15. Ansver .... 
 
 1066 
 
 16. John the Wise . . 
 
 1532 
 
 17. Lambert . . 
 
 . 709 
 
 16. ANNE ASKEW 1546 
 
 17. Martyrs of Scillita . 200 
 
 17. Gerhard .... 
 
 18. Grotius .... 
 
 1637 
 1645 
 
 18. Spangenberg . 
 
 19. Thomas St. Pau 
 
 . . 1792 
 . 1551 
 
 18. Arnulf .... 
 
 640 
 
 19. Sebald .... 
 
 800 
 
 20. MAGDALEN 
 
 A 
 
 19. Louisa Henrietta . 
 
 1667 
 
 20. BERNARD . . 
 
 1157 
 
 LUTHER 
 
 . 1542 
 
 20. Marteilhe .... 
 
 1723 
 
 21. Moravian Missions 
 
 1732 
 
 21. Matthew . . 
 
 . Bible 
 
 21. Eberhard . . . 
 
 1496 
 
 22. Symphorianus . . 
 
 180 
 
 22. Mauritius 
 
 . 302 
 
 22. Mary Magdalene . Bible 
 
 23. Gottfried of Hamelle 1552 
 
 23. COLIGNY . . 
 
 24. Bartholomew . . 
 
 1572 
 Bible 
 
 23. LABORIE [I 
 Martyrs] 
 
 Ive 
 . 1555 
 
 24. THOMAS A 
 
 
 25. LOUIS .... 
 
 1270 
 
 24. Moser . . . 
 
 1785 
 
 KEMPIS . . 
 
 25. James 
 
 26. Christopher 
 
 27. Palmarius . . . 
 
 1471 
 Bible 
 
 1200 
 
 26. ULFILAS . . 
 
 27. Jovinian .... 
 
 28. AUGUSTINE . 
 
 29. John Baptist Be- 
 
 388 
 400 
 430 
 
 ( RABAUT 
 2^- ] Peace of Augsb 
 
 26. Lioba .... 
 
 27. Graveron . . 
 
 1795 
 
 urg 1555 
 
 779 
 
 1557 
 
 28. Bach 
 
 29. Olaf 
 
 1750 
 1030 
 
 headed .... 
 30. CLAUDIUS . . 
 
 Bible 
 839 
 
 28. Cologne Martyrs 
 
 29. Michael . . . 
 
 . 1529 
 . Bible 
 
 30. WESSEL . . 
 
 31. Schade .... 
 
 1489 
 1698 
 
 31. AIDAN . . . 
 
 651 
 
 30. JEROME . . 
 
 . 420 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 863 
 
 COMPLETE EOLL OF UY^^ — Continued. 
 
 OCTOBER. 
 
 NOVEMBER. 
 
 DECEMBER. 
 
 1. BEMY .... 
 
 A. D. 
 
 545 
 
 1. All Saints 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1. Eligius . . 
 
 A. D. 
 
 . 659 
 
 2. Schmid . . . 
 
 15G4 
 
 2. Victorinus . . . 
 
 304 
 
 2. Euysbroeck . 
 
 . . 1381 
 
 3. Ewalds .... 
 
 695 
 
 3. Pirmin .... 
 
 753 
 
 3. Groot . . . 
 
 . . 1384 
 
 4. Francis .... 
 
 1226 
 
 4. BENGEL . . . 
 
 1752 
 
 4. Gerhard of Ziitphen 1398 
 
 5. Carnesecchi . . 
 
 1507 
 
 5. EGEDE . . . 
 
 1751 
 
 5. Crispina . . 
 
 . . 304 
 
 6. Henry Albert . . 
 
 1651 
 
 6. GUSTAVUS 
 
 
 6. Nicolas of Myra 
 
 . 400 
 
 7. BEZA . . . 
 
 1605 
 
 ADOLPHUS . 
 
 1632 
 
 ( Odontius . 
 ■^•■JHiller . . 
 
 . 1605 
 
 8. Grosthead . . . 
 
 1253 
 
 7. Willibrord . . . 
 
 739 
 
 . 1769 
 
 9. Dionysius . . . 
 
 Bible 
 
 8. Willehad .... 
 
 789 
 
 8. Rinkard . . 
 
 . 1649 
 
 10. Jonas .... 
 
 1555 
 
 9. Staupitz .... 
 
 1524 
 
 9. Schmolck . . 
 
 . 1737 
 
 11. ZWINGLE . 
 
 1531 
 
 10. LUTHER . . . 
 
 1546 
 
 10. Eber . . . 
 
 . 1569 
 
 12. BuUiiiger .... 
 
 1575 
 
 11. Martin of Tours 
 
 400 
 
 11. Henry of Ziitphen 1524 
 
 13. ELIZ. FRY . 
 
 1845 
 
 12. Von Mornay . . 
 
 1623 
 
 i SPIBIDION . 325 
 
 14. BIDLEY . . . 
 
 1555 
 
 13. Arcadius .... 
 
 437 
 
 12- -j Vicelin . 
 
 . 1154 
 
 15. Amelia .... 
 
 500 
 
 14. Vermigli .... 
 
 1562 
 
 , Odilia . . 
 13- j Berthold . 
 
 . 720 
 
 16. GALL .... 
 
 635 
 
 15. Keppler .... 
 
 1630 
 
 . 1272 
 
 17. Edict of Nantes 
 
 
 16. Creuziger . . . 
 
 1548 
 
 14. Dioscurus 
 
 . 250 
 
 [revoked] . . 
 
 1685 
 
 17. Bernward . . . 
 
 1022 
 
 15. Christiana . 
 
 . 330 
 
 18. Luke 
 
 Bible 
 
 18. Gregory of Armenia 
 
 331 
 
 16. Adelheid . . 
 
 . 999 
 
 19. Bruno of Cologne . 
 
 965 
 
 19. Elizabeth of Hesse 
 
 1231 
 
 17. Sturm . . 
 
 . 779 
 
 20. Lambert . . . 
 
 1530 
 
 20. JOHN" WILL- 
 
 
 18. Seckendorf . 
 
 . . 1692 
 
 21. Hilary the Hermit . 
 
 372 
 
 IAMS . . . 
 
 1839 
 
 19. Clement of Egyp 
 
 t . 220 
 
 22. Hedwig . . . 
 
 1243 
 
 21. COLUMBAN . 
 
 615 
 
 20. Abraham 
 
 . Bible 
 
 23. HENRY MAR- 
 
 
 22. CECOLAMPA- 
 
 
 21. Thomas . . 
 
 . Bible 
 
 TYN .... 
 
 1812 
 
 DIUS .... 
 
 1531 
 
 22. MACKAIL 
 
 . 1666 
 
 / Arethas . . . 
 
 522 
 
 23. CLEMENT . . 
 
 100 
 
 23. Du Bourg . 
 
 . . 1559 
 
 24. \ Peace of Westpha- 
 
 
 24. JOHN KNOX 
 
 1572 
 
 24. Adam, Eve . 
 
 . Bible 
 
 ( lia . . . . 
 
 1648 
 
 25. Catharine of Egypt 
 
 306 
 
 25. Christmas 
 
 . Bible 
 
 25. John Hess . . . 
 
 1547 
 
 26. Conrad of Constanz 
 
 976 
 
 26. Stephen . . 
 
 . Bible 
 
 26. Frederick the Elector 1576 
 
 27. Margaret Blaarer . 
 
 1541 
 
 27. John . . . 
 
 . Bible 
 
 27. Frumentius . . . 
 
 356 
 
 28. BOUSSEL . . 
 
 1728 
 
 28. Innocents 
 
 . Bible 
 
 28. Simon and Jude 
 
 Bible 
 
 29. Saturninus . . . 
 
 250 
 
 29. David . . . 
 
 . Bible 
 
 29. ALFBED THE 
 
 
 30. Andrew .... 
 
 Bible 
 
 30. Christopher [Du 
 
 ke] 1568 
 
 GREAT . . . 
 
 900 
 
 
 
 31. JOHN WICI 
 
 IF 1384 
 
 30. Sturm . . . 
 
 1553 
 
 
 
 
 
 31. Luther's Theses . 
 
 1517 
 
 
 
 
 
864 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 III. 
 
 STATISTICS OF OUR CHURCH UNIVERSAL 
 
 BY DENOmNATIONS AND COUNTKIES, SHOWING, FOB, THE WHOLE EARTH, THE 
 NUMBER OF CONGREGATIONS PROFESSING THE CHRISTIAN NAME. 
 
 AMERICA, OCEANICA, AND 
 
 AFRICA 
 
 
 
 
 United 
 States. 
 
 Canada. 
 
 Other lands 
 of N. A. 
 
 South 
 America. 
 
 Oceanica. 
 
 Africa. 
 
 1. Lutheran . . 
 
 2. Reformed (German) . 
 
 3. Reformed (Dutch) . 
 
 4. Presbyterian . . . 
 
 5. Presbyterian, United 
 
 6. Presbyterian, Cumb. 
 
 
 3,883 
 
 1,347 
 
 506 
 
 7,157 
 
 783 
 
 1,872 
 
 2,980 
 
 tl4,954 
 
 tl8,304 
 
 t2,010 
 
 S,.333 
 
 1,354 
 
 1,442 
 
 2,000 
 
 1,000 
 
 140 
 t733 
 
 t546 
 710 
 
 t267 
 1,385 
 t90 
 t50 
 130 
 
 tioo 
 
 100 
 
 t25 
 
 no 
 
 166 
 
 tl9 
 8 
 
 398 
 
 200 
 135 
 
 t301 
 100 
 
 j 112 
 
 207 
 20 
 
 50 
 
 8. Baptist 
 
 9. Methodist Episcopal . 
 
 10. Methodist .... 
 
 11. Congregational . . 
 
 12. Evangelical Association 
 
 13. United Brethren . . 
 
 14. Disciples 
 
 All others .... 
 
 64 
 
 100 
 1000 
 
 
 
 
 
 UNREFORMED ORGANIZATIONS. 
 
 
 
 1 Roman Catholic . . . 
 
 6,920 
 
 tl,012 
 
 *5,000 
 
 *8,000 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 2. Greek Catholic 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 — 
 
 3. Old Catholic . 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 _ 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 4. Armenian . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 5. Nestorian . . 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 6. Jacobite . . . 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 - 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 - 
 
 7. Copt .... 
 
 8. Abyssinian . . 
 
 
 
 
 ~ 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 ~ 
 
 \ *3,000 
 
 EUROPE. 
 
 
 England 
 
 and 
 Wales. 
 
 Scotland. 
 
 Ireland. 
 
 Holland 
 
 and 
 Belgium. 
 
 Denmark, 
 
 Norway, 
 
 and 
 Sv?eden. 
 
 Russia. 
 
 1 Lutheran 
 
 2. Reformed (German) . . 
 
 3. Reformed (Dutch) . . 
 
 4. Presbyterian .... 
 
 5. Pi'esbyterian, United 
 
 6. Presbyterian, Cumb. 
 
 7. Episcopal 
 
 8. Baptist 
 
 9. Methodist Episcopal . . 
 
 10. Methodist 
 
 11. Congregational . . . 
 
 12. Evangelical Association. 
 
 13. United Brethren . . . 
 
 14. Discii)les 
 
 All others 
 
 1,356 
 
 4,000 
 2,501 
 
 5,238 
 3,069 
 
 437 
 
 _ 
 
 2,555 
 
 626 
 
 _ 
 
 134 
 
 90 
 
 82 
 192 
 
 601 
 
 400 
 29 
 
 1208 
 30 
 
 *320 
 *1,700 
 
 *115 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 *7,754 
 3 
 
 289 
 
 *2,000 
 '40 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 UNREFORMED ORGANIZATIONS. 
 
 
 
 1. Roman Catholic . . . 
 
 »1,261 
 
 117 
 
 3,600 
 
 *6,378 
 
 *3 
 
 *6,700 
 
 2. Greek Catholic 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 *55,000 
 
 3. Old Catholic . 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 4. Armenian . . 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 170 
 
 5. Nestorian . . 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 6. Jacobite . . . 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 7. Copt .... 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 8. Abyssinian . . 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 The t denotes number of pastors, instead of number of congregations. 
 
 The * denotes number of congregations estimated one for every thousand of population. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 EUROPE ( Continued). 
 
 865 
 
 Lutheran 
 
 Reformed (German) . . 
 Reformed (French) . . 
 Presbyteriaa . . . . 
 Presbyterian, United 
 Presbyterian, Cumb. 
 
 Episcopal 
 
 Baptist 
 
 Methodist Episcopal . . 
 
 Methodist 
 
 Congregational . . . 
 Evangelical Association 
 United Brethren . . . 
 
 Disciples 
 
 All others 
 
 Austria. 
 
 *1,250 
 2,075 
 
 Italy. 
 
 56 
 
 20 
 
 Switzerland Germany, 
 
 •1,000 
 *oOO 
 
 1 1 19,700 ) 
 ) 230) 
 
 450 
 
 12 
 
 Other 
 Lands. 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 UNREFORMED ORGANIZATIONS. 
 
 1. Roman Catholic 
 
 
 
 
 *27,904 
 
 *26,725 
 
 *1,085 
 
 12,000 
 
 *38,500 
 
 21,309 
 
 2. Greek Catholic 
 
 
 
 
 *3,053 
 
 *5 
 
 _ 
 
 5 
 
 - 
 
 12,022 
 
 3. Old Catholic . 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 121 
 
 - 
 
 2,000 
 
 4. Armenian . . 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 5. Nestorian . . 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 6. Jacobite . . . 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 7. Copt .... 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 8. Abyssinian . . 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 ASIA, 
 
 Lutheran 
 
 Reformed (German) . . 
 Reformed (Dutch &Fr"ch) 
 Presbyterian .... 
 Presbyterian, United 
 Presbyterian, Cumb. 
 
 Episcopal 
 
 Baptist 
 
 Methodist Episcopal . . 
 
 Methodist 
 
 Congregational . . . 
 Eyangelical Association. 
 United Brethren . . . 
 
 Disciples 
 
 All others 
 
 West Asia 
 
 and 
 
 Persia. 
 
 27 
 
 India, 
 Burmah, 
 
 China. 
 
 Japan. 
 
 Rest of 
 Asia. 
 
 and Siam. 
 
 
 
 68 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 18 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 
 13 
 
 _ 
 
 80 
 
 45 
 
 5 
 
 _ 
 
 10 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 - 
 
 526 
 
 20 
 
 2 
 
 27 
 
 43 
 
 (51/ 
 
 5 
 
 - 
 
 40 
 
 30 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 75 
 
 50 
 
 - 
 
 ~ 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 35,425 
 2,722 
 3,384 
 
 15,362 
 1,359 
 1,872 
 7,360 
 
 17,968 
 
 18,665 
 9,299 
 7,984 
 1,383 
 1,472 
 2,537 
 
 *2,000 
 
 Grand Total 128,452 
 
 Total. 
 
 UNREFORMED ORGANIZATIONS. 
 
 1. Roman Catholic 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 *201,000 
 
 2. Greek Catholic 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 »71,000 
 
 3. Old Catholic . 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 121 
 
 4. Armenian . . 
 
 
 
 
 *30 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 *12,022 
 
 5. Nestorian . . 
 
 
 
 
 »165 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 *165 
 
 6. Jacobite . . . 
 
 
 
 
 200 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 
 *200 
 
 7. Copt .... 
 
 8. Abyssinian . . 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 ~ 
 
 j *3,000 
 
 1 Of these, all but 1,500 are " Evangelical," and include both Lutheran and Reformed. 
 
 The * denotes number of congregations estimated one for every thousand of population. 
 
 The above Table of Statistics of the church throughout the earth by denominations and congre- 
 gations has been constructed (no similar table being known) on the latest denominational reports at 
 hand, or upon the statements of cyclopaedias. It of necessity is very imperfect, yet may serve to 
 show in what lands each denomination prevails, and also to indicate the slight degree in which some^ 
 portions of the globe have been possessed by the church. Possibly it may serve beside to suggest to 
 some student cf statistics the preparation of a like table of greater fullness and accuracy. — H. M. M: 
 
866 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 IV. 
 
 INDEX OF ONE THOUSAND BIOGRAPHICAL ILLUSTRATIONS, FOR 
 THE USE OF THE PREACHER AND OF THE TEACHER IN THE 
 SABBATH-SCHOOL. 
 
 NOTE FOR THE ASSISTANCE OF THOSE HAVING THIS WORK IN THREE PARTS. 
 
 All references to pages 1-264 are to Part First. — Earlier Leaders. 
 All references to pages 265-540 are to Part Second. — Later Leaders — Europe. 
 All references to pages 541-856 are to Part Third. — Later Leaders — America, Asia, Africa, and 
 Oceanica. 
 
 Absent-Mindedness, 215. 
 
 Absolution, 248. 
 
 Adaptiveness, 189, 538. 
 
 Adventures, 299, 331. 
 
 Adveesitt, 147. (See Trials.) 
 
 Affliction, 307. (See Trials.) 
 
 Ajvibition, 81, 432. 
 
 Angels, 277. 
 
 Anger, 583. 
 
 Anti-Popery, 38, 131, 158, 161, 166, 198, 
 
 220, 221, 225, 241, 248, 253, 266, 285, 
 
 298, 720. 
 Antislavery, 529, 530, 559, 561, 724, 
 
 743, 768. 
 Apostles, 3, 14, 15. 
 
 Asceticism, 8, 57, 202. (See Monkery.) 
 Authorship, 26, 111, 146, 189, 215. 
 
 (See Books.) 
 
 B. 
 
 Backsliding, 102. 
 
 Baptism, 103, 275. 
 
 Beauty, 432, 481. 
 
 Benediction, 121, 124, 194. 
 
 Bereavement, 275, 278, 319. 
 
 Bible, 13, 2.3, 73, 156, 159, 165, 175, 182, 
 204, 210, 218, 243, 244, 253, 260, 266, 
 268, 280, 310, 324, 327, 382, 383, 388, 
 400, 410, 462, 466, 816, 823, 844. 
 
 Bible Study, 25, 95, 97, 204, 235, 237, 
 293, 470. 
 
 Blessedness, 198. 
 
 Books, 136, 152, 191, 216, 225, 227, 253, 
 
 272, 282, 293, 294, 305, 343, 357, 373, 
 415, 458, 513, 522, 528, 555, 829. 
 
 Boyhood, 170. 
 
 Brothers, 195, 517, 523. 
 
 Brotherhood, 604, 656. 
 
 Bravery, 126, 254, 267, 268, 271. 
 
 Burials, 278, 300, 341, 421, 446, 533, 
 607, 631, 787. 
 
 Business, 229, 466. 
 
 Call to Life Work, 292. 
 
 Call to the Ministry, 87, 109, 170, 
 
 176, 186, 195, 603, 663, 731. 
 Cards, 262, 475. 
 Catechism, 269, 294, 297, 301, 303, 304, 
 
 305, 450, 463, 512, 567, 588. 
 Celibacy, 57, 325. 
 Charity, 120, 124, 125, 151, 179, 196, 
 
 464, 528, 534, 537, 538, 539, 597, 748. 
 Chastity, 71. 
 Cheerfulness, 296. 
 Childhood, 63, 86. 
 Childlikeness, 272. 
 Children, 276, 277, 494. 
 Christian Communion, 20. 
 Christian Love, 199. 
 Christmas, 98. 
 Christ's Person, 1, 3, 6, 31, 64, 98, 154, 
 
 158, 191, 200, 374,473. 
 Christ's Righteousness, 197. 
 Christ's Work, 6, 98. 
 Church and State, 145, 156, 171, 174, 
 
 190, 192, 241, 249, 256, 260, 268, 286, 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 867 
 
 288, 307, 311, 319, 355, 381,390,417, 
 
 422, 424, 444, 499, 501, 545, 741, 785, 
 
 717. 
 Church Corruption, 210, 211, 250, 519, 
 
 553, 650. 
 Church Creeds, 284, 299, 302, 310, 382, 
 
 385, 389, 440, 443, 476. 
 Church Disputes, 27, 65, 75, 110, 154, 
 
 220, 223, 283, 285, 288, 313, 442, 457, 
 
 641. 
 Church Government, 173,192, 306, 311, 
 
 318, 339, 416, 429, 471, 478, 483, 521, 
 
 522, 569, 570, 606, 653, 774. 
 Church Unity, 35, 42, 166, 238, 289, 
 
 334, 343, 459, 471, 513, 521, 573, 589, 
 
 597. 
 Civilization, 163, 167, 345, 368, 496, 
 
 497, 541, 547, 567. 
 Commentaries, 159, 470, 770. 
 Compromise, 286. 
 Confessing Christ, 54, 60, 72, 248, 
 
 271, 285, 351, 358, 376, 387, 396, 408, 
 
 409, 485. 
 Confessing Sins, 1 12, 248, 257, 264, 395. 
 Conflict, 239, 415. 
 Conscientiousness, 444. 
 Consecration, 94, 202, 219, 266, 292, 
 
 338, 364, 462, 494, 510, 518, 527, 533, 
 
 557, 601, 784. 
 Consolation, 28, 225. 
 Conversion, 11, 40, 102, 108, 114, 176, 
 
 195, 266, 327, 509, 519, 534, 615, 670. 
 Courage, 51, 68, 149, 164, 254, 267, 271, 
 
 314, 324, 366, 370, 396, 401, 405, 406, 
 
 417, 418, 454, 495, 498, 503. 
 Courtesy, 272. 
 Covetousness, 16. 
 Crosses, 160. 
 
 D. 
 
 Deacons, 46. 
 
 Death, 125, 206, 232, 245, 276, 290, 300, 
 
 308, 315, 319, 334, 362, 439, 460, 546, 
 
 582, 802. 
 Devotedness, 577, 589, 595, 600, 683, 
 
 797, 804. 
 Diligence, 146, 336, 674. 
 Discipline, 91, 157, 318, 333, 552. 
 Dishonesty, 62. 
 Distress, 197. 
 Doubt, 474, 510. 
 Dream, 277. 
 Dbinking, 716. 
 
 Dying Courage, 55. 
 
 Dying Testimonies, 21, 56, 85, 92, 103, 
 113, 121, 138, 180, 193, 200,206,2-39, 
 249, 258, 264, 270, 314, 320, 340, 341, 
 351, 367, 378, 387, 394, 397, 420, 446, 
 472, 482, 490, 504, 507, 508, 516, 524, 
 533, 606, 630, 685, 749, 847. 
 
 E. 
 
 Egotism, 8. 
 
 Eloquence, 82, 88. 
 
 Episcopacy, 8. 
 
 Evangelists, 11, 169, 624. 
 
 Exile, 592. 
 
 Exposition op the Bible, 310. 
 
 F. 
 
 Eaith, 7, 165, 204, 236, 270, 277, 474, 
 
 506, 507, 518, 825. 
 Faithfulness, 69, 80, 228, 229, 268, 273, 
 
 306, 361, 461, 480, 492, 514, 529, 553. 
 Fasting, 61. 
 Fathers and Children, 23, 53, 76, 86, 
 
 142, 204, 206, 265, 276, 277, 297, 298, 
 
 308, 315, 321. 
 Fearlessness, 83. 
 Fellowship, 19. 
 Firmness, 273. 
 Fleeing Evil, 18. 
 Foreign Missionaries, 163, 166, 169, 
 
 176,474. (^e Missions.) 
 Frankness, 234, 237, 255, 261, 270, 330, 
 
 417. 
 Freewill, 342, 556. 
 Friendship, 227, 257, 281, 287, 333, 339, 
 
 396, 413. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gentleness, 458. 
 God, 162, 200, 549, 563. 
 Good Works, 246, 270. 
 Grief, 278. 
 
 H. 
 
 Habits, 390, 523, 582, 583. 
 Heaven, 195, 508. 
 Holy Spirit, 183, 184, 191, 271. 
 Home, 180, 275, 279, 440, 523, 529, 536. 
 Home Missions, 196, 328. 
 Honesty, 270. 
 
868 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Humility, 118, 125, 226,237, 271,272, 
 
 281, 465, 555. 
 Husbands, 100, 203, 269, 347, 348. 
 Hymns, 90, 440, 446, 447, 448, 471, 523. 
 Hypoceisy, 366, 542, 561. 
 
 I. 
 
 Idolatry, 438. 
 
 Image, 155, 158, 160, 426. 
 
 Incarnation, 191. 
 
 Independence, 179, 479. 
 
 Industry, 110, 120, 135, 179, 188, 194, 
 
 196, 215, 229, 235, 240, 291, 322, 437, 
 
 544. 
 Influence, 233, 259, 264, 468, 523, 524, 
 
 531, 540. 
 Introspection, 196. 
 Intolerance, 199, 566. 
 
 J. 
 
 Jesting, 296. 
 Joy, 395, 447, 808. 
 Justice, 205. 
 Justification, 281, 327. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kingdom of God, 150. 
 Kingliness, 129, 201, 207, 212, 215, 324, 
 500. 
 
 Labors, 596, 620. 
 
 Last Will, 147. 
 
 Law and Gospel, 259. 
 
 Laws op Moses, 145, 159. 
 
 Lay Work, 220, 224, 243, 246, 247, 291, 
 
 294. 
 Learning, 279, 294. 
 
 iLEGENDS, 140. 
 
 Letters, 459. 
 
 Letter- Writing, 276, 277. 
 
 .Lewd Books, 262. 
 
 Liberty, 59, 302, 428, 430, 526, 563, 575, 
 
 578, 579. 
 Libraries, 293, 309. 
 Licentiousness, 96, 105, 107. 
 Life, Love of, 193. 
 Literature, 296. 
 
 Longing for Heaven, 290, 411, 420. 
 Lord's Prayer, 239. 
 
 Lord's Supper, 244, 283, 289, 297, 305, 
 311, 313, 319, 332, 342,357,359,392, 
 402, 443, 451, 477. 
 
 Loss OF Children, 275. 
 
 Love, 7, 166, 273, 277, 467, 476, 563. 
 
 Love to God, 200, 204, 236, 237, 473. 
 
 M. 
 
 Magnanimity, 387, 390, 457, 554. 
 
 Marriage, 269, 275, 291, 307, 339, 354, 
 406, 433, 447, 459, 476, 481, 487, 496, 
 523, 535, 550, 621, 742. 
 
 Martyrs, 2, 5, 13, 20, 45, 48, 52, 55, 74, 
 175, 178, 258, 378, 407, 409,412,413, 
 488, 490, 504, 841, 843, 856. 
 
 Mass, 401, 417. 
 
 Meditation, 194, 231. 
 
 Meekness, 214. 
 
 Memory, 17. 
 
 Metaphysics, 222. 
 
 Miracles, 456. 
 
 Missionary Ship, 177, 545, 565. 
 
 Missionary Spirit, 206, 217. 
 
 Missions, 117, 123, 127, 128, 149, 163, 
 166, 169, 171, 175, \J,\, 182,208,217, 
 218, 466, 467, 478, 479, 515, 538, .5.54, 
 562, 566, 571, 575, 586, 594, 747, 838. 
 
 Money, 290, 341. 
 
 Monkery, 57, 67, 78, 96, 97, 105, 115, 
 214, 241, 251, 265. 
 
 Morality, 12, 294, 490, 527. 
 
 Mothers, and Mother's Influence, 
 23, 53,76, 86, 101, 142, 186, 194, 203, 
 213, 214, 227, 251, 297, 301, 315, 321, 
 485, 517, 533, 574, 577, 600. 
 
 Motives, 151. 
 
 Mourning, 278, 294. 
 
 Munificence, 26, 43, 89, 301. 
 
 Music, 3, 90. 
 
 Mysticism, 223. 
 
 N. 
 
 Names, 363. 
 
 Nature, 30, 195, 335, 542, 549, 550. 
 
 Noted Sermons, 168. 
 
 0. 
 
 Old Age, 288, 290, 296, 334, 532, 598, 
 
 629, 740, 836. 
 Organizing Talent, 196, 219. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 869 
 
 Orphans, 464. 
 overwokk, 197. 
 
 P. 
 
 Paganism, 10, 71, 853. 
 
 Paintings, 99, 262. 
 
 Pantheism, 216. 
 
 Parents and Children, 201, 203, 204, 
 206, 207, 265, 274, 276, 279, 319, 320, 
 327, 337, 339, 349, 352, 365, 372, 379, 
 380, 435, 445, 472, 473, 489, 491, 500, 
 509, 513, 524, 533, 547, 551, 593, 744, 
 854. 
 
 Pastors, 145, 243, 360, 450, 455, 484, 
 493, 500, 512, 576, 587, 739. 
 
 Patience. (See Affliction.) 
 
 Patriotism, 89, 144, 241, 274, 295, 297, 
 309, 418, 487, 498, 502, 526, 579, 580, 
 590, 613. 
 
 Penitence, 175. 
 
 Persecution, 178, 222, 245, 247, 249, 
 252, 262, 263, 298, 307, 328, 344, 346, 
 37r, 386, 391, 395, 399, 403, 423, 427, 
 480, 483, 486, 490, 503, 505, 519, 591, 
 608, 809. 
 
 Philanthropy, 492, 560-562. 
 
 Piety, 469, 509, 550. 
 
 Pilgrimage, 161. 
 
 Plain Speaking, 61. 
 
 POETET, 292. 
 
 Poor, 48. 
 
 Popery, 38, 156, 248, 261, 393, 412. 
 
 Prayer, 119, 178, 197, 215, 231, 248, 
 249, 257, 267, 297, 359, 361, 396, 408, 
 436, 451, 461, 476, 480, 546, 548, 588, 
 846. 
 
 Prayer Answered, 108, 113, 269. 
 
 Preaching, 78, 119, 123, 137, 215, 220, 
 223, 224, 243, 251, 260, 269, 299, 309, 
 316, 318, 322, 330, 336, 387,410,414, 
 418, 420, 442, 451, 463, 488, 493, 495, 
 514, 518, 546, 548, 588, 605, 745. 
 
 Predestination, 289, 599. 
 
 Presentiments, 87. 
 
 Prophecy, 12, 178, 262, 471. 
 
 Purity, 296. 
 
 R. 
 
 Reason and Faith, 284. 
 Rebuking Sins, 252, 261, 333, 358, 360, 
 419,454.494,552, 560. 
 
 Reform, 193, 221, 243, 245, 250, 251, 
 253, 260, 262, 270, 279, 298,312,316, 
 318, 322, 324, 330, 332, 339, 384, 416, 
 425. 
 
 Relic Seeking, 181. 
 
 Religious Debates, 154. 
 
 Renown, 226, 832. 
 
 Resignation, 257, 263, 277, 278. 
 
 Rest, 167, 174, 193, 598. 
 
 Restfulness, 189, 193, 231. 
 
 Revenge, 149. 
 
 Revival, 411, 452, 453, 477, 548, 551, 
 572, 585, 588, 602, 604, 609, 733-735, 
 744. 
 
 Ritualism, 150, 398. 
 
 Romance, 32. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sabbath, 536. 
 
 Sabbath-Schools, 88, 528, 769. 
 
 Sabbath Study, 93, 316, 320. 
 
 Sacraments, 244, 283, 289, 383. 
 
 Saint Worship, 297. 
 
 Saving Faith, 237. 
 
 Schools, 105, 116, 134, 146, 153, 155, 
 
 168, 174, 177, 187, 206, 208, 234, 280, 
 
 292, 303, 309, 319, 356, 465, 493, 572, 
 
 576, 610. 
 Science and Religion, 146, 187, 199, 
 
 216. 
 Scriptures, 155, 159, 165, 17.5, 179, 
 
 182. 
 Self-Conquest, 146, 165, 203, 231. 
 Self-Devotion, 9, 195, 202, 259, 266, 
 
 445, 475, 517. 
 Self-Inspection, 196, 510. 
 Selfish Motives, 151. 
 Self-Will, 197. 
 Separation, 452, 543, 545. 
 Sermons, 168. 
 Servants, 99. 
 Shepherds, 59. 
 Sin, 84, 204, 256, 564. 
 Slanders, 66, 288. 
 Social Life, 458. 
 Song, 292, 293. 
 Soul, 181, 550. 
 State and Church. (See Church and 
 
 State.) 
 Strange Providences, 299, 800. 
 Strange Superstitions, 263, 266, 327. 
 Subduing Self, 165, 220, 233, 279. 
 Suffering fob Christ, 164, 617. 
 
870 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 SUPEENATURAL, ThE, 198. 
 
 Superstition, 172. 
 Swearing, 299. 
 Sympathy, 591, 596. 
 
 Talents, 4.33. 
 
 Teaching, 155, 188, 353, 464, 465, 472, 
 
 578, 587. 
 Temperance, 24, 716, 768. 
 Thankfulness, 83, 92, 147. 
 Theological Seminaries, 303. 
 Theology, 282, 708, 714, 738. 
 Thirst for Truth, 236, 238, 322. 
 Toleration, 491. 
 Tombs, 326. 
 Torture, 50, 506. 
 Tradition, 36. 
 
 Transubstantiation, 244, 402. 
 Travel, 96, 301, 449. 
 Trials, 230, 258, 265, 269, 271, 283, 287, 
 
 315, 347, 351, 375, 411, 445, 463, 510, 
 
 511, 530, .532, 786. 
 Tribulation, 230, 254, 255, 287, 307, 
 
 325. 
 Trust in God, 163, 350, 435, 446, 
 
 462. 
 
 TUENING-POINTS IN LiFE, 164, 167. 
 
 u. 
 
 Unfaithfulness, 106, 210. 
 
 Visions, 176, 209, 210, 456, 499, 508, 538. 
 Vows, 150. 
 
 W. 
 
 War, 428, 434, 436. 
 
 Wat of Life, 221, 223, 236, 238, 375, 
 
 519. 
 Weakness, 288. 
 Widows, 100. 
 Wills, (^ee Last Will.) 
 Wisdom, 155, 235, 419, 497, 537. 
 Wise Counsels, 123, 130, 205, 212. 
 Wives, 100, 275. 
 Woman's Work, 124, 172, 208, 212, 213, 
 
 234, 265, 276, 369, 370, 371, 400, 401, 
 
 489, 747. 
 Women Missionaries and Leaders, 
 
 122, 172, 178. 
 Works, 165. 
 worldliness, 40, 79. 
 Worship, 297, 611. 
 
 Y. 
 
 Youth, 77, 142, 153, 188, 234, 259, 265, 
 297, 280, 301, 308, 337, 423, 431, 441, 
 449, 469, 473, 526, 548. 
 
 Zeal, 172, 202, 329, 333, 404, 475. 
 
INDEX 
 
 NOTE FOR THE ASSISTANCE OF THOSE HAVING THIS WORK IN THREE PARTS. 
 
 All references to pp. 1-264 are to Part First. — Earlier Leaders. 
 
 All references to pp. 265-540 are to Part Second. — Later Leaders — Europe. 
 
 All references to pp. 541-856 are to Part Third. — Later Leaders — America, Africa, and Oceanica. 
 
 A. 
 
 A Keiupis, 226-234, 517. 
 Abelard, 200. 
 Adamnan, 116, 117. 
 Adeodatus, 103. 
 Africa, Church of, 563. 
 Aidan, 122-126. 
 Albigenses, 201. 
 Albret, Joanna, 357, 358. 
 Albright, 657-661. 
 Alcuin, 152. 
 Alesius, 404. 
 Aleth, 195. 
 Alexander, 749-759. 
 Alexandria (see Egypt). 
 Alfred, 141. 
 Alypius, 107. 
 Ambrose, 47, 85-93, 189. 
 America,. Church of, 541, 
 
 etc. 
 America, Indians of, 788- 
 
 796. 
 American Board, 839. 
 Aniicletus, 30. 
 Anderson, 322-325. 
 Anglo-Saxons, 142-148. 
 Anicet, 19. 
 
 Anne Bolevn, 379-382. 
 Anselm, 18"6. 
 Ansgar, 176. 
 Antichrist, 35. 
 Antioch (see Syria). 
 Antony, 67. 
 Apostles, 1, 3. 
 Apostles' Creed, 6. 
 Aquinas, 213. 
 Arians, 69, 87, 102. 
 Arius, 64-66. 
 Arndt, 449, 461. 
 Asbury, 614-623. 
 Asia Minor, Church of, 14- 
 
 22. 
 Askew, Anne, 400-403. 
 Asser, 146. 
 Associate, 741. 
 Associate Reformed, 741. 
 Athanasian Creed, 70. 
 Athanasius, 62-70, 86. 
 
 Augsburg Confession, 285. 
 Augustine, 46, 47, 56, 105- 
 
 113, 162. 
 Austin, 126-133. 
 
 B. 
 
 Baptists, 608-614, 677-697, 
 837-849. 
 
 Barbarossa, 212. 
 
 Barnes, 768-773. 
 
 Basil, 88, 105. 
 
 Basilicas, 84. 
 
 Bataille, 346-352. 
 
 Baxter, 508-516. 
 
 Bede, 133-141. 
 
 Beecher, 711-730. 
 
 Bengel, 468-472. 
 
 Bernard, 194-201, 209. 
 
 Beza, 352-362, 366. 
 
 Blandina, 49-52. 
 
 Boethius, 146. 
 
 Bohme, 457. 
 
 Boniface, 140, 166-175. 
 
 Bora, Catharine, 269, 271. 
 
 Bowes, Margery, 415. 
 
 Brainerd, 571. 
 
 Brentz, 297-300, 316. 
 
 Brethren of the Common 
 Life, 226, 227, 234. 
 
 Brethren of the Free Spir- 
 it, 225. 
 
 Brewster, 541-546. 
 
 Bricjonnet, 328. 
 
 Britain, Church of, 114- 
 148, 186-194,239-249. 
 
 Brunehilde, 165. 
 
 Bucer, 297, 338, 384. 
 
 BuUinger, 302, 314. 
 
 Biires, Idelette de, 339. 
 
 Burmah, 837-849. 
 
 Calvin, 298, 332, 333, 335- 
 
 345, 348, 354, 370. 
 Campbell, 668-677. 
 
 Cauustein, 467, 476. 
 
 Capito, 316. 
 
 Cecelius, 40. 
 
 Charles Fifth, 288, 295. 
 
 Charles Martel, 169, 174. 
 
 Charles the Great, 153, 156. 
 
 China, Church of, 217-219, 
 
 819-837. 
 Chrysostoin, 76-85. 
 Ciaran, 1 1 7. 
 Cistercians, 195. 
 Claudius, 157-162. 
 Clement of Alexandria, 23. 
 Clement of Rome, 29-32, 
 
 183. 
 Clotilda, 150. 
 Clovis, 149. 
 Coliguy, 358, 362^67. 
 Colman, 125. 
 Columba, 116-122. 
 Columban, 163-166. 
 Comgall, 163, 166. 
 Congregationalists, 541- 
 
 565, 609, 703-740. 
 Constantine, 59, 63, 66, 73. 
 Constantinople, Council of, 
 
 75. 
 Constantius, 66. 
 Cotta, 265. 
 Councils of Nice, 57, 58, 60, 
 
 76. 
 Covenanters, 741. 
 Cranmer, 379-388, 415. 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 512. 
 Cuthbert, 138, 139. 
 Cynics, 13. 
 Cyprian, 39-45. 
 Cyril, 181. 
 
 D. 
 
 Damasis, 95. 
 Dante, 250, 370. 
 Davies, 574. 
 Dickinson, 569-574. 
 Didymus, 96. 
 Disciples, 668-676. 
 Docetes, 6. 
 
872 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Dominicans, 214. 
 Donatus, 104, 110, 111. 
 Donnell, 661-668. 
 Druids, 11.5. 
 Dwight, 703-710. 
 
 E. 
 
 Easter, 19. 
 
 Edward Sixth, 389, 415. 
 
 Edwards, 547-557, 703. 
 
 Edwin, 122. 
 
 Egede, 479, 783-788. 
 
 Egypt, Church of, 22-29, 
 
 57-59, 62-70. 
 Eliot, John, 513, 546. 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 415. 
 England (see Britain). 
 Epiphanius, 81. 
 Episcopalians, 647-657, 
 
 814-819. 
 Erasmus, 279, 328, 342. 
 Erastus, 306. 
 Ethelbert, 128,129. 
 Eudoxia, 81, 82. 
 Eusebius of Cesarea, 1, 49, 
 
 65. 
 Eusebius of Nicomedia, 65, 
 
 67. 
 Eustochium, 96. 
 Evangelical Association, 
 
 657-661. 
 
 F. 
 
 Farel, 326-335, .338. 
 
 Felicitas, 52-56. 
 
 Finnev, 730-740. 
 
 Fisk, Wilbur, 631-639. 
 
 Florentius, 226. 
 
 Fox, 405. 
 
 France, Church of, 148-157, 
 
 194-208, 326-367, 482- 
 
 508. 
 Franciscans, 214. 
 Francke, 461-468, 585, 586. 
 Frederick the Wise, 268, 
 
 275. 
 Friends, 534-540, 559. 
 Fry, 533-540. 
 Fuller, 697-703. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gall, 166, 169. 
 
 Gaul, Church of, 32-39, 49- 
 
 52. 
 Gerhardt, 375, 439-448. 
 Germany, Church of, 163- 
 
 175, 208-213, 222-339, 
 
 265-320, 439-488. 
 
 Gnostics, 2, 5, 18, 34, 35. 
 Goths, 70, 76, 112. 
 Graham, 740-749. 
 Greenland, 783-788. 
 Gregory of Cesarea, 27. 
 Gregory of Nazianz, 95. 
 Gregory of Rome, 127, 128, 
 
 146. 
 Groot, 220. 
 Gurney (see Fry). 
 Gustavus Adolphus, 431- 
 
 439. 
 Gustavus Vasa, 323. 
 Guthrie, 501-505. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hamilton, 403-410, 413. 
 Hegesij)pus, 1. 
 Henry, 8, 379, 388. 
 Henry of Navarre, 360, 
 
 366. 
 Hilary, 68. 
 Hilda, 124. 
 Hildegard, 208-213. 
 Hodge, Charles, 761-766. 
 Holland, Church of, 429. 
 Hooper, 397-400. 
 Hopkins, 557-565. 
 Hosius, 68. 
 Huguenots, 363-367. 
 Huss, 250-259. 
 
 Ignatius, 3-10. 
 
 India Missions, 796-803. 
 
 Irenteus, 32-39, 49. 
 
 Italy, Church of, 29-32, 85- 
 
 93,157,213-217,219-222, 
 
 259-264, 368-379. 
 
 J. 
 
 Jerome, 93-99. 
 
 Jerusalem, 1. 
 
 Jesuits, 429. 
 
 John of Milic, 250. 
 
 John of Monte Corvino, 
 
 217-219. 
 John the Constant, 275. 
 Judson, 837-849. 
 Julian, 63, 69. 
 Justin, 10-14. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kentigern, 119. 
 Knox, 411, 413-421. 
 Kurtz, 589. 
 
 Laborie, 346-352. 
 Lambert, 405, 409. 
 Laiifranc, 186. 
 Laski, 304, 384. 
 Latimer, 386, 389,396, 397, 
 
 402. 
 Lawrence, 46-49. 
 Lefevre, 327, 328, 380. 
 Leo First, 46. 
 Leo Tenth, 267. 
 Linus, 30. 
 
 Livingston, 639-647. 
 Lome, 116. 
 Louis Ninth, 201, 215. 
 Lull, 558. 
 Luther, 265-279, 293, 313, 
 
 321, 336, 342. 
 Luther, Magdalena, 274- 
 
 279. 
 Lutherans, 337, 442, 584- 
 
 590, 796-803. 
 
 M. 
 
 MacGrady, 661. 
 MacKail, 505-508. 
 MacKendree, 622-631. 
 MacMillan, 661. 
 Makemie, 56.5-569. 
 Manicheans, 101-106. 
 Manning, 608-614. 
 Marcionites, 18, 19. 
 Marot, 369. 
 Martin of Tours, 188. 
 Martyn, 814-819. 
 Martyr, Peter, 302, 384. 
 Mary, Bloody, 385, 391, 
 
 399. 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, 
 
 416-418. 
 Maturus, 50. 
 Melancthon, 279-291, 297, 
 
 301, etc. 
 Meleiians, 66. 
 Methodists, 517-525. 
 Methodist Episcopal, 614- 
 
 640. 
 Methodist Protestant, 773- 
 
 778. 
 Methodius, 181. 
 Milne, 828-832. 
 Moffatt, 813. 
 Monica, 99-104. 
 Montauists, 42. 
 Moravians, 479, 518, 519, 
 
 788-796. 
 More, Hannah, 528. 
 Morrison, 819-837. 
 Muhlenberg, 467, 584-590, 
 
 597. 
 Mystics, 223. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 873 
 
 N. 
 
 Nestorians, 218. 
 
 Nicene Council, 57, 58, 60, 
 
 65. 
 Nicholas of Basel, 224. 
 Nitschmann, 482. 
 North Africa, Church of, 
 
 39-45, 52-56, 99-113. 
 
 O. 
 
 Oberlin, 492-500, 525. 
 Oberlin College, 726, 736, 
 
 738. 
 Oceanica, 849-856. 
 Ochino, 384. 
 CEcolanipadius, 315-320, 
 
 328. 
 Olaf, 180. 
 Oldcastle, 246-249. 
 Oleviau, 304, 305. 
 Origen, 22-29, 97. 
 rosins, 146. 
 Otterbeiii, 599-607. 
 
 Paleario, 371-379. 
 
 Palestiue, Church of, 1-3, 
 10-14. 
 
 Pantaenus, 23. 
 
 Paphnutiiis, 57-59. 
 
 Papias, 16. 
 
 Patrick, 114-116. 
 
 Paul, 3. 
 
 Paul of Autioch, 23. 
 
 Paula, 96. 
 
 Peck, 677-686. 
 
 Peking (see China). 
 
 Peregriims, 4. 
 
 Perpetua, 52-56. 
 
 Persia Missions, 814-819. 
 
 Peterson, 320-326. 
 
 Philip of Hesse, 281, 287, 
 313, 409. 
 
 Pietists, 452, 462. 
 
 Plutschau, 467. 
 
 Polycarp,^ 14-22, 37. 
 
 Pothiuus, 50. 
 
 Presbyterians, 415, 565- 
 583, 724-728, 732, 749- 
 773. 
 
 Presbyterians, Cumber- 
 land, 661-668. 
 
 Presbyterians, United, 740- 
 749, 778-783. 
 
 Pressly, 778-783. 
 Prudentius, 46-49. 
 
 Quakers (see Friends). 
 
 E. 
 
 Rabaut, 486-492. 
 
 Radbod, 71. 
 
 Reformed, Dutch, 639-647, 
 
 803-813. 
 Reformed, French, 482- 
 
 484. 
 Reformed, German, 442, 
 
 594, 604. 
 Reformed, Scotch, 416,501- 
 
 508, 741. 
 Remy, 148-152. 
 Renata, 338, 368-371. 
 Reuchlin, 280. 
 Ridley, 386, 388-397. 
 Robinson, John, 543. 
 Rome, Church of, 38, 46- 
 
 49. 
 Roussel, 486-492. 
 
 S. 
 
 Saba, 74. 
 
 Sachs, 291-296. 
 
 Saint Bartholomew, 360. 
 
 Sales, Francis de, 361, 366. 
 
 Sanctus, 50. 
 
 Savonarola, 259-264. 
 
 Scandinavia, Church of, 
 
 176-180, 320-326, 431- 
 
 439, 78.3-788. 
 Schade, 455. 
 Schlatter, 590-598. 
 Schwartz, 796-803. 
 Scotland (see Britain). 
 Semi-Arians, 66. 
 Servetus, 344, 355. 
 Slavonians, Church of, 185, 
 
 186, 250-259. 
 Spangenberg, 791. 
 Spener, 448-460, 475, 585. 
 Spiridion, 59-62. 
 Staupitz, 266, 279. 
 Stockton, 773-778. 
 Symeon, 1-3. 
 Synods, of Arle, Milan, 
 
 Rimini, etc., 68. 
 Syria, Church of, 3-10. 
 
 Tauler, 222. 
 Taurant, 346-352. 
 Tennents, 572, 573. 
 Tertullian, 39, 42. 
 Tetzel, 266. 
 Theodore, 135. 
 Theodosius, 75, 79,91. 
 Thomas Christians, 218 
 Trigolet, 346-351. 
 
 U. 
 
 Ulfilas, 70-76. 
 
 United Brethren, 603-607. 
 
 Ursiuus, 300-308. 
 
 Valentinians, 19. 
 Vandals, 112. 
 Vanderkemp, 803-813. 
 Vernon, 346-351. 
 Viret, 331,339. 
 
 W. 
 
 Waldensians, 221, 222. 
 Waldo, 219, 221. 
 Wales, Church of, 163. 
 Wayland, 686-697. 
 Wesley, Charles, 517-523. 
 Wesley, John, 516-525,527, 
 
 616. 
 Wessel, 233-239. 
 White, 647-657. 
 Whitefield, 520, 521, 572. 
 Wiclif, 239-246. 
 Wilberforce, 528-533. 
 William of Orange, 421- 
 
 429. 
 Williams, John, 849-856. 
 Williams, Roger, 608-613. 
 Winfrid (see Boniface). 
 Wishart, 410-412. 
 Witherspoon, 574-583. 
 Wolmar, 353. 
 
 Zeisberger, 788-796. 
 Ziegenbalg, 467, 796, 797. 
 Zinzendorf, 472-482, 525. 
 Zwiugle, 308-315, 317, 341. 
 
Princeton 
 
 Theological seminary Ljbrar^s 
 
 Date Due 
 
 y^h <4. j. 4*: 
 
 
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