PRINCETON, N. J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 BX 8495 .D8 £62 1893 
 
 
 | Shelf.... 
 
 Roche, John A. 1813-1898. 
 The life of John Price 
 Durbin 
 
 

 Digitized by 
 
 the Internet Archive 
 
 
 
 
 in 2014 
 
 
 
 https://archive.org/details/lifeofjohnpriced00roch_1 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 JOHN PRICE DURBIN, D.D., LLD 
 
 AN ANALYSIS OF HIS HOMILETIC SKILL AND 
 SACRED ORATORY. 
 
 JOHN A. 'ROCHE, M.D., D.D. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION 
 
 RANDOLPH S. FOSTER, D.D., LL.D., 
 
 Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 " The proper study of mankind is man." — Pope. 
 
 'Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not 
 ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." —2 Tim. 2. 13. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION, 
 
 NEW YORK: HUNT & EATON 
 CINCINNATI: CRANSTON & CURTS 
 1803 
 
Copyright, 1889, by 
 JOHN A. ROCHE, 
 
 New York. 
 
TO 
 
 THE YOUNG MINISTERS OF METHODISM: 
 
 IN 
 
 WHOM THE SUBJECT OF THIS BIOGKAPHV CHERISHED THE 
 DEEPEST INTEREST; 
 FOR 
 
 WHOSE ADVANCEMENT IN PULPIT POWER HE WAS EVER READY TO 
 EMPLOY THE BEST MEANS AT HIS COMMAND ; 
 AND 
 
 AS AN EXPRESSION OF THE HIGH SENSE ENTERTAINED 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 OF THE VALUE OF KEEPING BEFORE OUR RISING MINISTRY 
 SO NOBLE AN EXAMPLE 
 OP 
 
 THE POSSIBILITIES OF THEIR HOLY CALLING : 
 THIS BOOK IS 
 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IX the May number of the Methodist Review of 1887 
 there appeared an article designed to sketch the life 
 and characterize the ministry of Dr. John P. Durbin. 
 So deep was the interest thus awakened in the subject, 
 that many and earnest requests came to the writer to 
 give some larger account of this great man. The in- 
 telligence of the persons expressing this wish compelled 
 the inquiry as to available material for a biography. 
 Great weight was given to these private suggestions by 
 the action of the Wilmington and the Philadelphia 
 Conferences, which at their last session passed strong 
 resolutions requesting the writer to prepare a life of 
 Dr. Durbin. These two Conferences had formed but 
 one body nearly all the time of Dr. Durbin's member- 
 ship in the Philadelphia Conference, and felt a com- 
 mon interest in his character and services. 
 
 The New York East Conference, of which the writer 
 is a member, passed a similar resolution. To such ex- 
 pression no one of sensibility could be indifferent. 
 
 But candor constrains the confession that the writer 
 had long entertained the thought that " Homiletics and 
 Sacred Oratory," taught with so much care and profit in 
 text-books and by able professors, might be impressed 
 by example of their most weighty and influential prin- 
 ciples. The writer's knowledge of Dr. Durbin for 
 forty years presented him as an illustration of the great- 
 est number of those principles that he had met in one 
 minister. The consideration led him to commence the 
 waiting of this book. It will be seen, therefore, that 
 
vi 
 
 rREFA CE. 
 
 its object is twofold: 1. To narrate the life of Dr. 
 Durbin ; ?nd, 2. To analyze his powers as a preacher. 
 
 The writer makes his grateful acknowledgments to 
 all who have in any way contributed material that 
 served the ends of this volume. He is under pre- 
 eminent obligations to Mrs. Augusta A. Whitaker, of 
 Philadelphia, and to Alexander C. Durbin, Esq., of 
 Montclair, N. J., the surviving children of Dr. Durbin. 
 They have placed at his disposal the manuscripts in 
 their possession. From an autobiographical fragment 
 the most accurate and comprehensive information con- 
 cerning Dr. Durbin's early labors has been furnished. 
 
 The author cannot in adequate terms express his 
 indebtedness to remaining members of the family of 
 Christopher Smith, Esq., of Cincinnati. From and 
 through his son-in-law, Edward Sargent, Esq., new 
 sources of knowledge have been opened to the writer. 
 
 Cordial thanks are rendered Judge Jacob Chambers, 
 of Eaton, Ohio, for the minutes of a quarterly confer- 
 ence kept by young Durbin. A like expression is due 
 the Rev. J. O. Roberts for his account of the early 
 efforts of Durbin; and to a lady friend in Philadelphia 
 who has permitted the writer use of memoranda of great 
 value. Thanks are also due the Rev. G. W. Lybrand, 
 of the Philadelphia Conference, for original matter as 
 well as for numerous references; and to the Rev. G. D. 
 Carrow, D.D., for material that was sought with care. 
 
 The writer cannot express his obligations to those 
 who have furnished letters concerning Dr. Durbin. 
 Among those is one who had the highest honor in the 
 first graduating class of Dickinson College under Dr. 
 Durbin, whom the Church now honors as its senior 
 Bishop, Dr. Thomas Bowman. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 Memoir op John P. D CUBES', D.D., LL.D. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Ancestry — Youth — Father's death — Mother's energy and character 
 — Wise care of his brothers— Learns cabinet-making — Troubled about 
 a call to preacli — Searching question of his grandfather — Sent as a 
 preacher to Limestone Circuit, Ky., in a week after joining the Church 
 — Counsel of Benj. Lakin Page 3 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 1819. Received into Conference — Greenville Circuit — Little salary 
 — Judge Chambers's fac simile of his Quarterly Conference Minutes — 
 Close student — Rules of conduct — Account of jerks — Preaches on the 
 deity of Christ. 1820. At Lawrenceburg— Studies English Grammar 
 by the aid of his colleague, James Collord — Learns of fruit of his first 
 ministry — Circulates tracts — Means of a conversion. 1821. Hamilton 
 Station— Studies Latin — Attends Miami University — Conversion of 
 his host — His skill. 1822. Lawrenceville Station— David Young coun- 
 sels him. 1823. Lebanon— Trouble in the Church— Depressed. 
 182-1. In Cincinnati — Happy home with Christopher Smith — Enters 
 Cincinnati College— Encouraged by General William Henry Harrison, 
 afterward President of the United States— Graduates with honor.. 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Exalted character as student and preacher made in seven ypars — 
 Professor in Augusta College — Marries — Agent for the college — His 
 vigorous efforts — Resigns his chair — Elected Professor of Natural 
 Science in the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn \1 
 
viii 
 
 COXTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Chaplain totheUnited States Senate — Viewsof usefulness — Reports 
 of the difficulties of the position— What he found — His influence in 
 the place — His studies — ("lay's eloquence — Daniel Webster's tal- 
 
 ents 59 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The persistent student in Baltimore and Washington — Fame does 
 not impair his energy 79 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Elected editor of The Christian Advocate and Journal — His intel- 
 leciual vigor — Just estimate of the duties of the place — Weighty 
 lessons that he impressed on people and preachers— Progressive. .88 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Presidency of Dickinson College — Its history — The faculty — Dr. 
 Durbiu secured— Success 98 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Travels in Europe and the East — His observations and interest. 109 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The General Conference ofl844— The great men— Debates on tho 
 
 case of Bishop Andrew — Dr. Durbin's part 122 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Pastorate and presiding eldership in Philadelphia — Full of work — 
 Great influence 141 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 The Missionary Secretaryship — His interest — Plans — Labors — In- 
 fluence — Success 156 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Sermons on special occasions — Their wonderful power 165 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Correspondence concerning Dr. Durbin in the places that he filled. 180 
 
CONTENTS. ix 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Analysis of Hrs Power. Ho.miletics and Sacred Oratory. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 His eloquence — Suramerfield — Bascom — Less vehement in advanc- 
 ing life — More concentrated — Was he an artist ? 229 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 His style as a means of moving men — Plain, animated, sublime. .248 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 His imagination, dramatic power, voice, unction, as elements in his 
 
 ministry 257 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Extemporization — Extent of its use— Conditions of success 278 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Homiletic taste and skill — Subjects — Treatment 295 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 The influence of a conscious call to the ministry — Prompts, justifies, 
 sustains 313 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Eloquence a worthy study — What it is — The efforts others make for 
 its attainment — Not less valuable to a minister — That few attain high 
 excellence is no reason for its neglect — Wesley's encouragement — 
 Durbin's example — Bascom and Durbin compared — Resemblances and 
 contrasts ■ 326 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 His death — Relations — Family — Friends — Conference — His person 
 — Intercourse — Tn Conference — Christian character— Common sense 
 — Uncommon mental power — A consecrated life — Contrast between 
 the labors of the Christian minister and an arch infidel — His life a 
 moral folio for the study of young ministers 347 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL art is as rare as genius. Except 
 to the stupid most biographies are stupid — mere 
 arid recitations of matters of no interest whatever. A 
 sufficient reason for tlie dullness, in a great majority 
 of cases is no doubt that there was no reason why 
 the life should be written. It is astonishing how 
 few lives, even of conspicuous men in high posi- 
 tions — statesmen, men eminent in the professions, or 
 who have won distinction in literature or art, or in 
 any other way — have in them any thing deserving of 
 commemoration after they have passed away from the 
 earth. Immediate relatives and partial friends, unwill- 
 ing to have them forgotten, seek to prevent it by 
 publishing a biography which perhaps they read or 
 glance through, but which no one else finds interesting 
 unless it should be some one, or some classes, who, un- 
 acquainted with more profitable reading, derive some 
 entertainment and possibly some profit from the recital. 
 Where there are few books, any thing — an old almanac 
 — is better than nothing. After all there is scarcely a 
 poor excuse for inflicting a biography on the present 
 age of even a more than ordinary person in his peculiar 
 line ; if he be less than really extraordinary, or unless 
 there be that in his character and achievements and the 
 incidents of his life which is suggestive and inspiring, 
 it is better that he be permitted to go quietly to rest. 
 The age is too busy and full for commonplace. Many 
 a man who has shone with noticeable brilliancy in the 
 
xii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 pulpit, at the bar, in the senate, and who not only won 
 but deserved admiration, even wide fame, will not bear 
 the strain of a biography. The attempt to dress him 
 up for such a show is little short of abuse. He ought 
 to live in traditions, in the glamour of affectionate 
 memories, in the innocent exaggerations which simply 
 rank him with sufficient indefiniteness as among the 
 great men of the generation of giants who lived in the 
 age just gone. The growing fables will be greatly 
 more just to his memory than any narrative can be. 
 The imagination will do better by him than the facts. 
 We protest, in the interest of a class of worthy men 
 who have well served their time and deserve to be 
 well thought of and affectionately remembered, against 
 their being paraded and dwarfed in the pages of dull 
 biography. 
 
 There are occasional men who, for one reason or 
 another, or even for many sufficient, reasons, deserve to 
 be handed down to posterity in the embalmment of a 
 book; not necessarily greater than other men or the 
 very greatest of all, but for some unique qualities, or 
 possibly some accidental environments, or some inex- 
 plicable magnetism, or some triumph over peculiar and 
 great difficulties, or some marvelous influences which 
 emanated from them, or the conspicuous part which 
 they played in their generation, or some incident or in- 
 cidents of their history which are suggestive and help- 
 ful, especially to the young, or for other reasons. 
 
 It is a happy conjuncture when such a man finds a 
 Boswell to enshrine him or a biographer worthy his 
 subject ; and it is not always to be deplored when, as 
 in the case of the great essayist, the affections of the 
 biographist render him sensitive to the finest traits of 
 tbe subject, or even if the reflected imngo, tinted by 
 overfondness, should possibly flatter the original. The 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xiii 
 
 imagination may safely play a part. A photograph 
 or portrait in any style ought to be characteristically 
 realistic rather than ideal ; but it ought not to be com- 
 plained of when it gives the best expression, or even 
 though it should in a degree, not grossly exaggerate, 
 but mildly drape the form. 
 
 American Methodism rank among all her gifted and 
 eminent sons, in any work of official distinction or min- 
 isterial service has never had one, if we except her first 
 Bishop, and he only by the accidents of his position, 
 who more richly deserved a classic niche in her temple 
 of fame, or who has furnished a finer subject for the 
 pen of genius than John P. Durbin. If there have 
 been greater or more loyal sons we do not know of 
 them. If any have excelled him we are not able to 
 name them. He came on the stage in the heroic days 
 of the nati n and of the Church, and for fifty years and 
 more, without a flaw or failure, stood in the public gaze 
 only to be honored by those whose respect is discrimi- 
 nated praise, and by whom to be esteemed great is 
 proof of real greatness. He was not simply the pride 
 of his own Church, but equally of all those of other 
 Churches, whether in pulpit or pew, and of the cultured 
 of no Church as well, who were capable of appreciating 
 sacred eloquence or admiring the charm of noble and 
 magnetic manhood. Modest as a child in mien and 
 spirit in the common intercourse of life, he was, when 
 at the post of duty and roused with the mighty themes 
 of his great commission, impassioned, fervid, irre- 
 sistible as the electric flash or the great forces of 
 nature when stirred to their wildest fury; but whether 
 in the cloister or amid the amenities of social life, or in 
 the pulpit careering on the storm of matchless eloquence, 
 alike in all places he won and swayed all hearts. No 
 orator ever had more complete mastery of his audi- 
 
xiv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ences ; but it was always as the ambassador of the 
 great King that he delivered his messages and reached 
 his loftiest climaxes. He was never forgetful of his 
 great commission, and never compromised the dignity 
 and glory of his adored Master. 
 
 The Church and all the admiring friends of the 
 great Durbin have reason to congratulate themselves in 
 his biographer. Dr. Roche brought to his chosen task 
 the indispensable conditions of success : deep personal 
 affection ; long and intimate acquaintance ; special op- 
 portunities for the observation and study of his sub- 
 ject; a discriminating understanding and appreciation 
 of sacred eloquence ; dramatic skill of arrangement ; 
 to which must be added spiritual sympathy. Through- 
 out he is on fire with his theme ; never wearies of it ; 
 never grows dull or vapid. He lives it over, from the 
 boy on the Kentucky " blue-grass " farm, through all 
 the windings of a grand and beautiful career, even to 
 its culmination. There is nothing wanting, nothing 
 omitted to mar the charm uf the mind picture. He 
 makes it live as he tells the story. 
 
 The rare charm of the volume, the highest stroke of 
 biographical skill and genius, is that it is full of Dur- 
 bin himself. From the first he is present with you ; 
 you see him, hear the tone of his voice, feel the charm 
 of his sympathy ; he is talking with you ; drawing you 
 to him; you are with him on the circuit; at the homes 
 among the people where he stopped ; reading the books 
 he read ; thinking his thoughts. Further on, after boy- 
 hood has widened into manhood, and early promise has 
 grown into fruition, and study has ripened into scholar- 
 ship and position, you are sitting before him in 
 the college chapel feeling the spell of his prayers, his 
 loving, reproving, and persuasive counsels, in the reci- 
 tation-room, thrilled by his inspirations and lilted by 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xv 
 
 his instructions : anon you are with him in the senate 
 house, where his sermons and prayers hold the mighty 
 men of the nation spell-bound ; and yet, over and over 
 again you are bearing those wonderful sermons which, 
 in great city pulpits and from the rude stands of the 
 camp-ground, swayed the multitude as the tempest 
 bends and lashes the forests. 
 
 There is so much reproduction from memory gathered 
 from different sources, and so much from his own pen, 
 that you seem to be listening again to the matchless 
 orator and hearing the very tones of his voice, and find 
 yourself crouching under those amazing gestures of his 
 which no one who beheld can ever forget. That Hash, 
 rather shall I say glare, of his eye startles you as it did 
 when you sat before him, that, transfigured countenance, 
 that upturned face, that wand of the uplifted hand, to- 
 gether with the words that made him the most magic 
 of preachers, come to you over and over again as you 
 read the interesting pages. 
 
 I must not detain you. Dr. Roche has nobly done 
 his noble task. If I mistake not the book will not only 
 be read with thrilling interest by multitudes of the 
 present generation who knew and admired the great 
 Doctor, not indeed in the glory of his prime, but in the 
 toned autumn of his declining age ; but it will live on 
 as a classic of the now rapidly- vanishing mythic age of 
 our church life ; the age amid whose shadowy outlines 
 we discern with sufficient indistinctness to magnify 
 their forms the heroic men who laid its foundations. 
 " Distance lends enchantment to the view ; " but there 
 were great men in those times. None among them all, 
 in the best respects, excelled the hero of this story. 
 
 The young men in the ministry of the present gener- 
 ation, who come upon the stage with such improved 
 equipment, entering as they do into the labors of these 
 
xvi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 honored fathers will not permit their memories to 
 perish or their laurels to fade ; but coming again and 
 again to the study of their struggles and story of their 
 successes will strive to emulate them in spirit and power. 
 They will continue forever to be the great legion in 
 our traditions and in our affections. 
 
 The Church will not grow weary of the story of the 
 past or of the men who made it illustrious. We com- 
 mend Dr. Roche's book with unqualified indorsement. 
 Let it be read by our children in the thousand homes 
 of our Methodism in city and country. It will not fail 
 to inspire them to a noble life as well as entertain them 
 with the fascination of a romance. Let it find a place 
 in every Sunday-school library for the more advanced 
 youth it will inspire them with love for their Church. 
 
 There are hints and rules as to the use of time and 
 habits of study and methods of preparing sermons 
 which cannot fail to be educating in a high degree to 
 young ministers. The book abounds with allusions to 
 other men in all the professions, but especially the most 
 celebrated preachers of all Churches who were the con- 
 temporaries of the subject of the memoir, so that a 
 most valuable light is thrown upon the age itself. There 
 is scarcely a celebrity that has not a discriminative and 
 appreciative analysis of his peculiar powers. It is really, 
 in the closing chapters, a treatise on sacred eloquence 
 as well as an historical resnme of the men and their 
 peculiar styles of thought and speech who in the forum 
 and the pulpit impressed the generation just gone — as 
 Webster, Clay, Calhoun, among statesmen ; Bascom, 
 Olin, Maffit, among pulpiteers ; as well as the great 
 orators of all countries and all times. The book is thus 
 rendered rich in a remarkable degree. 
 
 I cannot close this brief Introduction without per- 
 sonal mention of the distinguished subject of this ex- 
 
IXTRODUCTIOX. 
 
 ceedingly interesting sketch. I feel under personal 
 obligation to the author for doing that, and doing it so 
 admirably well, which I had almost despaired of seeing 
 done at all. It seemed that the man who most of all 
 deserved a memoir was not to find a biographer. It 
 must have been an inspiration that led Dr. Uoche to 
 undertake the work. Perhaps no other living man 
 could have done it so well. 
 
 My recollection of the great Doctor dates back nearly 
 fifty years, just at the time when he was in the zenith 
 of his fame. He had just passed out of his youth into 
 the full strength of his mature manhood. It was when 
 Bascom and Hamline were at the height of their power. 
 Simpson was just in the dawn of his rapidly-rising 
 popularity. I think it is safe to sav that Methodism 
 has never since had four comparable names, and prob- 
 ably never will again. Circumstances have greatly to 
 do, certainly, with the quality of men's fame ; possibly 
 with the cpuality of men themselves. 
 
 The country was new. The age was uncritical. The 
 pulpit was the great throne of power. The pen and 
 printed page were less in use. The people were eager 
 to hear. Impassioned speech thrilled and swayed the 
 vast expectant assemblies who rushed for miles to hear 
 the famous orator. There was eloquence in the air. 
 All the circumstances conspired to kindle enthusiasm. 
 It was inevitable that, standing in the focus of such 
 forces, the speaker should be at his best. The effect 
 was inchoate before he began. Hungry of combustion, 
 the assembly took fire at the first spark. On the eager 
 flame, the orator himself more impassioned, rose and 
 soared to the sublimest heights of inspired eloquence. 
 The effect was often magical. It is impossible for ibis 
 generation to conceive of it. The waves of feeling 
 that rushed over the assembly were as visible as the 
 
xviii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 effect of the storm on ocean or forest. Hundreds 
 would rise to their feet under unconscious impulse, 
 lean forward, press toward the speaker, weeping, sob- 
 bing, or shouting, under the thrilling appeal. Many 
 times numbers fell like the slain in battle. Under 
 Durbin and Bascom I have repeatedly witnessed all 
 these effects myself. It would not accord with truth 
 to say that there are not as great men now living ; but 
 the times make it impossible that any should produce 
 such visible signs of emotion as attended those mighty 
 and glorious men. I must stay my pen. Read the 
 book, and you will read it again, and will thank Dr. 
 Roche that he has set in order his admirable words 
 commemorative of the great life whose spell still lin- 
 gers with us. 
 
 R. S. F. 
 
PART I. 
 
 MEMOIR OF JOHN P. DURBIN, D.D., LLD. 
 
 2 
 
MEMOIR OF JOHN P. DURBIN, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Ancestry— Youth— Early Ministry. 
 
 HUMAN greatness commands the savage and the sage. 
 It inspires the genius of the poet and is the chosen 
 theme for eloquence. History records its results and 
 wisdom avails itself of its benefits. In exalted reputa- 
 tions and influence men are "not born to die." Their 
 lives do honor to our nature and their history is the 
 heritage of the race. When, therefore, one has sub- 
 limely served his generation by the will of God, duty 
 may demand that we gather up the facts that made him 
 illustrious, and thus impress lessons of value upon those 
 who survive. The Bible immortalizes, by name and deed, 
 the great and good, and teaches that no man liveth to 
 himself and no man dieth to himself. Tamerlane was 
 accustomed to read of his progenitors, not for boast- 
 ing, but to improve his virtues. The noble acts of our 
 predecessors may lure us from paths of indolence and 
 awaken a just ambition to imbibe their spirit and follow 
 in their steps. Worth begets worth. As from the ashes 
 of the phenix others rise, from great men others are 
 produced. 
 
 Few men in any Church have ever occupied and filled 
 with efficiency and honor so many important positions 
 as Dr. Durbin. We may, then, be allowed to say, "As 
 some entranced limner seizes the setting of the golden 
 sun to sketch the landscape when lighted up with rays 
 
4 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 still glowing, though fast fading away — as filial rever- 
 ence seeks the artist's skill to portray a parent's face 
 while expressions of the past yet play amid the wrinkles 
 of age; or as the Kestor of some old philosophy en- 
 circles it with the last halo of enthusiasm ere yet new 
 theories are called to occupy the uppermost seats," so 
 would the writer, were it in his power, present the feat- 
 ures of a character that remains and perpetuate the 
 memories that linger to enshrine the man who, while 
 living, achieved so much for the cause of Christ, and 
 who, though dead, may be to the ministry so grand an 
 illustration of what the conscientious application of all 
 our powers to our appropriate work will enable us to 
 accomplish. 
 
 In a record prepared by himself John Price Durbin 
 says: " I was born October 10, 1800, in Bourbon County, 
 Ky., three miles from Paris. My paternal grandfather 
 was from Havre-de-Graee, Md. My maternal grand- 
 father was from Georgia. Both their families settled 
 in Kentucky among the first who immigrated thither. 
 They were of industrious, plain habits, and hence made 
 a comfortable living approaching wealth. My maternal 
 grandfather and family were among the first Methodists 
 in Kentucky, and continue to this day (January 28, 18:50). 
 
 "My father, Hozier Durbin, married my mother, 
 Elizabeth Nunn, A. D. 1799. I was their eldest child. 
 There were five sons of us, all living at the death of 
 my father. . . . My father was a generous and highly 
 honorable man, professing no religion. His fortunes 
 were ruined by the faithlessness of friends whom he 
 trusted. . . . He died suddenly in March, 1813, and 
 left us to the protection of my mother and the clem- 
 ency of the world. Fortunately, she was a woman of 
 extraordinary constitution, though small and delicate in 
 appearance, and has rarely been equaled in point of in- 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 5 
 
 dustry, perseverance, economy, and the government of 
 her family. In the last particular she was considered 
 by some as too severe. But she had sons to rule and 
 none to help her. To her we are indebted for whatever 
 we have of morals, industry, or a sense of honor and 
 propriety. I can never think of her but with gratitude 
 and wonder. Assisted in some degree by her father, 
 she supported us by her own industry until we w ere old 
 enough to be put to trades. She spun and wove the ma- 
 terial for our clothes, and, when w oven, made them with 
 her own hands. We were raised before the simplicity 
 of the West yielded to the extravagance of the present 
 day." 
 
 In the History of Methodism in Kentucky, by Rev. 
 A. H. Redford, D D, Vol. I, p. 316, Dr. Durbin says, 
 in a letter of March 5, 1868, "My mother was married 
 to Mr. Theobold, of Grant County, Ky. A son and 
 daughter were the fruit of that marriage. The son is 
 dead, but the daughter, now Mrs. Sayres, of Grant 
 County, is still living, and is the mother of a large 
 family of children." 
 
 Again, Dr. Redford says: 
 
 "Among the distinguished women of the Methodist 
 Church in Kentucky no one presented a brighter Chris- 
 tian example than Mrs. Durbin. Devoted to the Church 
 of her choice, as well as to the common cause of Chris- 
 tianity, she contributed the influence of a holy life and 
 a liberal hand to promote the great ends of religion. 
 Endowed with an intellect of superior cast, with a heart 
 sanctified by grace, and with an inflexible purpose to 
 accomplish the highest aims and ends of life, whether 
 by the bedside of affliction or in her own family circle, 
 or pouring out the devotions of her heart around the 
 altars of the Church, she seems every-where an angel of 
 mercy. Through many years her house was consecrated 
 
6 
 
 JOIIX P. DURBIN. 
 
 to God, and beneath her hospitable roof the faithful 
 minister of Christ found a welcome and a place of rest." 
 
 In a brief biography written by her pastor soon after 
 her death, lie says: " Many there are who bless God that 
 she ever lived. Her place in the Church and family 
 circle cannot be easily filled. In her death a pillar of 
 Christianity has been broken and a moral guiding light 
 extinguished. Her children and society have sustained 
 a loss that time' cannot repair. She in an eminent de- 
 gree trained up her children in ' the way they should go,' 
 and had the high satisfaction of seeing them all soundly 
 converted and exemplary members of the Church, while 
 two of them became eloquent ministers of the Gospel 
 of Christ." For several years she suffered from severe 
 affliction, yet her last attack, a disease of the throat, 
 was brief. After a few days' illness calmly and easily 
 she passed away. 
 
 In the record kept by Dr. Durbin, he says: 
 
 " As I advanced to manhood my mother, of course, 
 became more infirm, and, as if by common consent, the 
 care of the younger brothers devolved on me. As it 
 was very evident to me that they could not expect to 
 rank in point of inherited fortunes with their near rela- 
 tions I determined it was best to remove them from 
 their native State and place them among strangers. I 
 had two reasons for this: 
 
 " 1. For fear they might be moved by some disagree- 
 able feeling by seeing their friends growing up in pros- 
 pect of better fortunes, and to which they might, and 
 justly too, feel they had a partial claim, which I foresaw 
 never could be realized. 
 
 "2. Because I had seen enough of the world to know 
 that when one's fortune depended on his own exertion 
 he is more successful and better sustained among 
 strangers than among friends or relations. For if 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 7 
 
 among his relations be will naturally look to tbem for 
 some support, and if he does not receive it he feels 
 grieved and injured. Moreover, when among strangers 
 he looks for no indulgence or favors other than such as 
 his virtues, industry, and success may authorize him to 
 expect. He feels himself responsible to the community 
 and dependent on himself in respect to his conduct and 
 fortunes, and these things awaken in the heart feelings 
 and resolutions and energies of such elevation and 
 character as cannot be felt or formed by the person who 
 grows up in prospect of ease and protection in the 
 bosom of an indulgent family. From these circumstan- 
 ces I thought it best to remove my brothers from the 
 house of their parents and scenes of their childhood that 
 they might, as I have done, and expect always to do, 
 try their fortunes among strangers, and make and keep 
 friends only by their virtues and merits. Nor have I 
 been disappointed in them yet, and feel pretty well as- 
 sured that even my best wishes will be realized in re- 
 gard to them. 
 
 " The same course should be pursued in reference to 
 all youth, no matter what their prospects are. Place 
 them in circumstances which require all their energies 
 and make them depend on themselves. It is the only 
 possible way to make them active, efficient, and in- 
 dustrious citizens, and to prevent them from being de- 
 based and useless drones, an expense to their families, 
 and a loss to the community. The history of the 
 brightest gems of our free and happy country will at- 
 test what I have here written." 
 
 This is rare reasoning for one of his age. The polit- 
 ical economist who, in the maturity of his intellect and 
 the most careful consideration of that which pertains to 
 a State or a nation, reasons out safer conclusions than 
 J. P. Durbin reached in relation to the best temporal 
 
8 
 
 JOHN P. D URBIN. 
 
 interests of his brothers and young men in general 
 shows a wisdom that makes him worthy of his exalted 
 study. 
 
 In 1868 Dr. Durbin wrote, "Myself and my brother 
 William (third son) are the only ones living." That 
 brother still lives in the State of Indiana and is a de- 
 voted member of the Church. His youngest brother, 
 Hozier J. Durbin, was a member of the Indiana Con- 
 ference, and at the time of his death was agent of the 
 American Bible Society. On August 11, 1851, while 
 energetically prosecuting its interests, "he was killed in 
 a storm by the limb of a tree falling on him." Before 
 this he had been a member of the State Legislature in 
 Indiana. He was a speaker of " persuasive eloquence " 
 and a "powerful preacher." 
 
 The early life of J. P. Durbin was spent on a farm. 
 "His education up to his fourteenth year was of the 
 commonest kind of the frontier. When fourteen years 
 old he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker in Paris, Ky., 
 with whom he remained till he learned the trade." 
 
 He says, " About my eighteenth year I became per- 
 manently serious and was admitted a member of a class, 
 mainly with a design, as I afterward learned, to procure 
 a recommendation to the Quarterly Meeting Conference 
 for license to preach. The license was granted on No- 
 vember 19, 1818, and signed by that truly good and 
 great man, Alexander Cummings. . . . On Tuesday 
 following the grant of my license to preach I was sent 
 by the presiding elder, Mr. Cummings, to Limestone 
 Circuit, in the Kentucky Conference." 
 
 He was converted at Riddle's Mills; but "one of his 
 young friends was pungently convicted, struggled hard 
 and long, and was powerfully and suddenly converted 
 in his presence." Durbin assumed that his experience 
 must be of the same kind in order to be genuine j but 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 9 
 
 as it was gradual and tranquil, without violent signs, 
 he began to distrust it, when by a gentle, yet clear im- 
 pression on his mind he was convinced that " God for 
 Christ's sake had pardoned his sins and accepted him in 
 the Redeemer." 
 
 The Church had seen his change of life, and while he 
 hesitated it moved. The action of the Quarterly Con- 
 ference, presided over by such a man as tilled the chair, 
 and the conduct of the presiding elder in placing him 
 immediately on a circuit, showed remarkable confidence 
 in his character and talent, and also illustrates the care 
 with which the Church marked its material for the 
 highest service. 
 
 Twelve years after his entrance upon the itinerancy 
 he thus writes: " If any one period of my life is more 
 dear to me than another it is that in which I entered 
 the itinerancy. I can never reflect on the incidents 
 attending it without gratitude. The impression in re- 
 gard to preaching the Gospel fastened on my mind long 
 before I became permanently serious. This may seem 
 strange ; it is even so to myself, and yet it is true. When 
 I was very young, hearing my father say to a friend 
 that he intended to make me a physician, I asked him 
 if a doctor could be a preacher. I well recollect that I 
 concluded in my own mind if a doctor cannot be a 
 preacher I will not be a doctor. When I found it was 
 necessary to go to a trade, I did it cheerfully ; not be- 
 cause I expected to get my living by it, but because I 
 found it was the only way in which I could pass my 
 time satisfactorily to my friends or, indeed, as things 
 were, to myself. I therefore learned the cabinet-mak- 
 ing trade. I followed it to some profit for a year or 
 more ; but during the last year I had but little peace, 
 because of the strong impression resting on my mind in 
 regard to preaching the Gospel. I often resolved with 
 
10 
 
 JOHN P. BUBBLY. 
 
 myself to go cheerfully, but as often proved faithless 
 to my resolutions. At length I resolved when a certain 
 engagement was out I would disclose my mind to my 
 elder brethren for their advice. But I failed, and was 
 on my way to a second engagement when, walking 
 alone on my way, I felt so overcome with a sense of 
 my obstinacy that I sat down by the way-side and wept 
 until the sound of a horseman roused me, and I arose 
 and went on. This engagement lasted about a month, 
 after which I returned to the house of my grandfather, 
 Mr. Ilai Nunn. 
 
 " I was much dejected, which he observed, and said to 
 me, '■John, tell me the truth, do you not feel that you are 
 culled to preach the Gospel f I was compelled to ac- 
 knowledge it with tears, perfectly astonished that he or 
 any other being should have suspected any thing of the 
 kind. He then gave me the following advice : 
 
 " ' Go and explain your feelings and views to Mr. 
 Lakin. He is an old Methodist traveling preacher of 
 experience and good judgment, and he will advise you 
 properly.' 
 
 "1 took his advice and visited the Rev. Benjamin 
 Lakin, and found him in his bed somewhat unwell, as 
 he was then worn out by long service in the Church. 
 He was one of the first Methodist preachers that visited 
 Kentucky. It was his custom to preach in the dwell- 
 ings of those who would give permission, and he 
 dressed, as the people generally in those early days, 
 in a hunting-shirt, wrappers (or leggings), and moc- 
 casins. He lived to see the Methodist Church numer- 
 ous and respectable, and spread over the western coun- 
 try, and still lives, enduring patiently the frailties of 
 old age and the infirmities brought on him by his early 
 and continued ministerial labors. The name of Ben- 
 jamin Lakin is dear to the hearts of thousands, and is 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 I 1 
 
 consecrated in my memory as among my most endear- 
 ing recollections. 
 
 " When I was shown into the room where he was rest- 
 ing, in the house of Mr. Lakin, of Bourbon County, 
 Ky., the old man of God arose and sat on the side of 
 his bed and read the letter which I brought from my 
 grandfather with tears in his eyes. After some con- 
 versation he said, ' I advise you, first of all, imitate no 
 person in the style and manner of your preaching; copy 
 not their tones of voice nor gesture; study to speak in 
 that style and manner, accompanied with such gesture, 
 as will be perfectly natural to yourself. Let your 
 whole performance be that of animated conversation, 
 with such elevation of voice as will be suitable to the 
 size of the assembly. Make choice of plain subjects, 
 and, of course, plain texts, and endeavor rather to illus- 
 trate them perspicuously than laboriously and finely. 
 Recollect that you should benefit the great body of 
 your hearers and not the few. Simplicity and utility 
 are the best traits in the composition and delivery of a 
 sermon. These two properties will create interest and 
 feeling; and in order to give full effect to them, with- 
 out becoming incoherent and wild, you must make, 
 either on paper or in your own mind, a draught of your 
 discourse before you go into the pulpit, containing at least 
 the general propositions and outlines of the subject — 
 and, if it be a difficult one, the minor points and principal 
 arguments in brief — and the mind will well recollect and 
 finish them out when you come to preach. Give attention 
 to reading also. It is a great mistake to suppose one can 
 do his work well as an evangelist who is not studious. 
 Study, unaccompanied by religious character and the 
 call of God, will not qualify for the work of the ministry ; 
 neither, on the other hand, is religious character and the 
 call of God sufficient without study. Cultivate your own 
 
12 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 language closely. You have to use it as the medium 
 of communication to sinners. Cultivate biblical litera- 
 ture as of the first importance, but by husbanding your 
 time you will find opportunity to cultivate every branch 
 of literature in some useful degree. And, recollect, 
 every species of knowledge is, or may be, useful to a 
 minister. Recollect that you will find it more difficult 
 to command your time than any thing else, because 
 in traveling you pass into different families every day, 
 and each will regard you as a visitor, a guest, not recol- 
 lecting that you are always somewhere in the same 
 character. Resist this tax on your time prudently, and 
 they will shortly see you inclined to improve your time 
 and talents, and will also see the good effect of it in 
 your ministry, and instead of complaining of you as 
 morose and churlish they will approve, and assist you 
 by providing you with every convenience when you 
 come. This is my best advice. Go, and the Lord go 
 with you.' Such is the outline of the advice which 
 this excellent man gave me. It is true that, as I im- 
 proved by it very much, I have added a little by way 
 of enlargement as the result of my own experience. 
 But I am indebted to him for the nucleus around 
 which all the minor points are associated." 
 
 From the narrative of young Durbin's anxious and 
 painful experience concerning his duty to preach and 
 the impression he made on those who best knew him 
 Ave can judge their conduct in pressing him into the 
 work in which, notwithstanding his convictions, he was 
 so slow to engage. 
 
 That his grandfather, a man of commanding influ- 
 ence in the Church and in the community, a pioneer of 
 Methodism in Kentucky, should have addressed to him 
 the searching question that opened up the whole mat- 
 ter of his solicitude, is evidence how God, who in 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 18 
 
 ancient times "revealed to his servants," still holds 
 such access to their minds as to induce conduct that is 
 not wholly of themselves. 
 
 The wisdom of Mr. Nunn in sending young Durbin 
 to Mr. Lakin for aid in his perplexity may be seen in 
 the character of the man and in the estimate placed 
 upon his counsel by the inquirer. 
 
 3Ir. Lakin was an experienced and honored minister 
 in Methodism. He understood the demands made upon 
 a young preacher. He knew his difficulties and his 
 dangers, as well as his mental and moral possibilities. 
 He had a clear intellect, and was a calm though ear- 
 nest thinker. He was distinguished by conscientious- 
 ness, by self-sacrifice, by strong faith and burning zeal. 
 He had industry and methodical habits. He seemed 
 to be steadily governed by the rule of our Discipline, 
 "Never be unemployed; never be triflingly employed." 
 He was a great reader, and it was his practice to make 
 abstracts and write an analysis of the books he studied, 
 lie thus accumulated large stores of knowledge. He 
 was accustomed to prepare notes of li is sermons, and 
 sometimes wrote them " in full," but only to impress 
 them perfectly upon his mind. With energy of char- 
 acter he was conservative. He had marked prudence, 
 and his executive skill inspired confidence in his adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 Such facts gave force to his advice, as his practice 
 was an illustration of the principles he inculcated. He 
 retired from the ministry the year that Durbin en- 
 tered it, and on the same circuit. He died February 
 5, 1849, in the eighty-second year of his age and in the 
 fifty-fifth of his ministry. Can we trace any resem- 
 blance between the attributes and habits of the coun- 
 selor and the counseled ? 
 
 These were the circumstances under which the Dur- 
 
14 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 bin of eighteen years, in a few days after his connection 
 with the Church, entered upon the Limestone Circuit, 
 where he labored for eight months with Walter Griffith 
 as preacher in charge. In later life he said, " When 
 I look back at this period of my ministerial labors I 
 am astonished that the people bore with me at all. I 
 was young and inexperienced. My manners must have 
 been rude, though, I presume, artless and unpresuming. 
 My knowledge of divine things was very limited, 
 and my manner of explaining what I did know must 
 have been unsatisfactory to a great many, and probably 
 disgusting to some, as I was not acquainted with the 
 English grammar. My reading at this period was very 
 limited and desultory. I had no system for study 
 either in regard to books or time. Hence I learned 
 nothing, or very little. Yet with all these disadvan- 
 tages it pleased the Lord to bless my labors in some 
 degree. It is still refreshing to me, and I will record 
 it here for the comfort of others, to recall one inci- 
 dent. I had been absent from the Limestone Circuit 
 several years. As I returned to see my friends I called 
 on my friend Johnston Armstrong, of Maysville, Ky., 
 and dined with him. After dinner lie observed, 'I have 
 never yet told you that you were the instrument under 
 God of my conversion. It is even so. I shall never 
 forget it. It was in August, in the old white church, 
 the last sermon you preached for us.' This came to 
 my pilgrim heart as the rain to the parched fields, and 
 I thought to myself, as I have a thousand times, the 
 minister of Jesus Christ does not, nor will he know, the 
 good he is doing in this world until the Lord judges the 
 world in righteousness. My Brother Armstrong has been 
 an ornament to his profession from that, time until this. 
 I hope he may be faithful unto death and die in peace. 
 "Iu this circuit I also met with one judicious and 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 IS 
 
 faithful friend, Mr. John Todd, formerly of Balti- 
 more. He was then a journeyman in Maysville, and 
 very remarkable for his piety. ' You are about,' said 
 Mr. Todd to me, ' to leave our circuit. You are now 
 young, and should seize the opportunity of improving 
 your mind and confirming yourself in the habits of 
 piety. I would suggest to you that possibly you have 
 been too conversant, too much given to talk with all 
 persons, on all subjects, and in all places. It is diffi- 
 cult to break our habits with old acquaintances, but 
 recollect when you go to a new circuit you will be a 
 stranger. Begin from the first to rule yourself down 
 to a few words, and even this only on necessary occa- 
 sions. Make a good selection of books to read and 
 devote yourself to reading and prayer. Read one book 
 at a time ; read all of it and read it carefully. Study 
 the English language closely, and make yourself master 
 of a perspicuous, correct, and strong style.' 
 
 " This is about the substance of the advice which I 
 received from this young man. It was of much service 
 to me. Connected with a few other circumstances this 
 advice directed my course chiefly during the next year." 
 
 The means of education that society affords to one 
 disposed to team are incalculable, and the readiness that 
 the capable show in contributing to the worthy ends of 
 the modest and meritorious is one of the greatest ad- 
 vantages of human intercourse. Durbin found friends 
 in every place and sphere. The: supply seemed equal to 
 the demand. Where the least hope might have been 
 cherished the most positive benefit was bestowed. He 
 was eager to learn, and his receptivity was equal to his 
 need. A hint was help. With him life presented not 
 the question of ease, but of possibilities and duty. His 
 ambition was sanctified, and his auxiliaries sustained 
 his purpose. 
 
16 
 
 JOHN P. DURBiy. 
 
 How unlooked-for and yet how valuable was the coun- 
 sel of his "journeyman friend ! " That Mr. Todd knew so 
 well the wise course for a young preacher to take as to 
 conversation, reading, and style, is evidence how closely 
 we may be criticised and how accurately we may be 
 judged by persons who rarely approach us to tell us our 
 faults and " show us how to mend." Nor can we fail 
 to think, if young Durbin was ever addicted to the 
 things named by Mr. Todd, either the remarks of his 
 friend or his own reasoning made a complete change. 
 His life, as we knew it, showed an utter freedom from 
 such tendencies as here became matters of caution. 
 How refined and judicious was the statement of the dif- 
 ficulty of some of the changes named, and how intelli- 
 gent was his recognition of the advantages that our 
 itinerancy affords to one who enters on a new course! 
 
 Did ever student from college or young man from the 
 office of his preceptor more fully exhibit the impress of 
 character or wisdom that such contact gives ? 
 
 On this circuit it must have been that, from vehemence 
 in delivery, he failed in voice and health; returning to 
 his home with the apprehension that his ministry had 
 ended. Another friend opportunely appeared, and ad- 
 vised him to visit the cabins of the colored people and 
 talk religion to them. Again he accepted counsel and 
 found the benefit. In six months his voice could fill 
 the largest house, and he resumed his work. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Greenville Circuit, Lawrenceburg-, Hamilton, 
 Zanesville, Lebanon, Cincinnati. 
 
 HE says: "I was appointed in the summer of 1819 to 
 Greenville Circuit, which lay in the north-west part 
 of Ohio, and was at that time a frontier settlement, 
 and bordered on the Indians. It was my first appoint- 
 ment from the Conference, and I was alone, of course, in 
 charge. From the circuit I received in all about fifty-five 
 dollars in depreciated paper, worth about seventy-five 
 cents on the dollar." Through the kindness of Judge 
 J. Chambers, of Eaton, ()., the writer is furnished with 
 a transcript of the second Quarterly Conference of the 
 year, when Walter Griffith was president and J. P. 
 Durbin acted as secretary. The minutes are in his own 
 hand, as now contained in the stewards' book. The 
 members present are distinguished by capital letters 
 opposite their names. Thus, J. P. Durbin, T. P.; Will- 
 iam Stubbs, L. P.; James Dwiggius, C. L. The stewards 
 are Henry Eidson, Daniel Lease. The salary of J. P. 
 Durbin is thus rendered: "From August 1819, to 
 August 1820, $48 62i" Mr. Durbin says: "I found 
 about 140 members on this circuit. The country was 
 very new, very few houses which had more than one 
 room — log-cabins not exceeding twenty feet square. 
 In this one room frequently a whole family, consisting 
 of six, eight, ten, or a dozen sons and daughters, as well 
 as myself, ate and lodged, and in the winter all the cook- 
 ing was done here. This was used for chapel, parlor, 
 3 
 
18 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 kitchen, dining-room, and chamber for the whole fam- 
 ily. As would be naturally supposed, the fare was 
 coarse. Sometimes I could not tell whether to call what 
 I was drinking tea or coffee, nor what it was made of. 
 To some persons this would be a gloomy prospect; but 
 all this was counterbalanced by the cordiality with 
 which they received me and the cheer and pleasure 
 with which they offered me what they had." There 
 were very few appointments except at private houses 
 such as have been named, with all their inmates and dis- 
 comforts; but he found treasures of knowledge that 
 were to him more than homes of capacity and splendor. 
 On this circuit was an old German who was not too 
 poor to have Clarke's Commentary in numbers. These 
 he borrowed, and slipped two numbers at a time into a 
 tin canister about four inches in diameter and lashed it 
 behind his saddle, and thus carried it around his circuit. 
 As soon as preaching was over and the class dismissed 
 he sat down in the midst of a frontier family with pen 
 and ink to study and take notes of Clarke. His own 
 words are, "During that year I studied English grain- 
 mar considerably, and read all of Mr. Wesley's and 
 Fletcher's Works, and Dr. Clarke's notes on the Penta- 
 teuch and New Testament, and Josephus. All these 
 works I read closely and made abstracts in my own lan- 
 guage from them. This exercise gave me two great 
 advantages; namely, First, it fixed the sentiments of 
 ihe authors in my mind. Second, it gave me a habit of 
 composition, and, by consequence, a command of lan- 
 guage. But some might be at a loss to know how I 
 found time and means in such a circuit to read so much. 
 1 answer thus : 
 
 "1. I made it a rule to go to bed at nine and rise at 
 live. This gave me sixteen hours for business. 
 
 " 2. I made it a rule to be ready to read at six, 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 19 
 
 after having washed, said my prayers, and taken a 
 walk. 
 
 " 3. I made it a ride always to have my books, paper, 
 pen, and ink at hand. 
 
 "4. I made it a rule immediately after preaching to 
 sit down to read, even before dinner, or while the peo- 
 ple were not yet all gone; and if any wished to talk 
 with me merely out of civility or sociability, and not 
 on necessary business, I gave them so careless an answer, 
 continuing to read at the same time, that, after making 
 repeated trials to converse with me without effect, they 
 departed. 
 
 " 5. When the people saw that I was bent on improv- 
 ing my time, instead of being offended they seemed 
 pleased, and afforded me every facility in their power, 
 such as the following: lent me books, provided me 
 candles, and when this could not be done provided dry 
 wood or bark to give light, gave me a room to myself, 
 or, when they had no room to give, ruled the children 
 into silence that I might have an opportunity to read. 
 
 "Under these regulations I prospered much in knowl- 
 edge and piety, and came to Conference with a good 
 report. 
 
 " While on Greenville Circuit I was compelled to 
 study and defend the character of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ against the Arians, called in that country New- 
 Lights. They were numerous in that part of the coun- 
 try, having settled it principally from Kentucky, where 
 the sect first took its rise among the Presbyterians 
 of Bourbon County, in a neighborhood called Cain 
 Ridge. There was a large sacramental meeting 
 among them. The Lord visited them wonderfully; it 
 insensibly and wit hout design grew into a camp-meeting, 
 and the people remained for seven or eight days. At 
 this meeting began the inexplicable exercise called 
 
2Q 
 
 JOIIN P. D U It BIN. 
 
 jerks. It was involuntary, and in some cases so violent 
 that two or three strong men could not confine one 
 female, and if they did attempt to hold her it always 
 caused a great soreness to her. In some instances the 
 arms would he violently thrust forward and backward 
 alternately — that is, one arm forward, the other at 
 the same time backward. Sometimes, and most gen- 
 erally, I believe, the head would be violently and quickly 
 thrown backward and forward, moving on the shoulders 
 (the shoulders also moving in the same direction slightly) 
 with such velocity that the hair of females would come 
 down, and when loose crack like a whip, and with such 
 force as to draw the blood from the face of the by- 
 stander if it cut it. The strongest and most wicked 
 men were equally subject to it with the weakest and 
 most superstitious females. It would generally come on 
 suddenly, frequently when the person was not in any 
 religious assembly, and sometimes when alone, engaged 
 in ordinary employment. Some would be silent and 
 appear sullen, some resigned, and some mortified; some 
 would be enraged and swear profanely; all dreaded the 
 exercise. It is said that it first seized a Presbyterian 
 minister while preaching. It was not confined to any 
 denomination. There was certainly no advantage in a 
 religious point of view in being the subject of it, nor 
 was it peculiar to the religious. Physicians examined 
 the subjects both during the paroxysms and afterward, 
 and in some instances gave medicine, but without effect. 
 I have never been the subject of it . but I have witnessed 
 it, and asked others who had been the subjects in regard 
 to their feelings and views, but could never obtain any 
 satisfaction. All declared it involuntary and inexplic- 
 able and painful. Some have been known to be jerked 
 to the ground in an instant, others have laid hold of 
 trees and have been jerked round them until they were 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 21 
 
 literally belabored and the tree partially lashed. These 
 are the facts; the explanation I leave to others." 
 
 The writer has at various times and from different per- 
 sons had some account of the exercise called " jerks." 
 Some thirty- seven years ago he had a strong and 
 strange statement from a Presbyterian minister who 
 had been in the West and was supposed to have 
 knowledge of what he spoke. But at no time has he 
 had so minute, comprehensive, and graphic a narrative 
 of the operations as that furnished by Mr. Durbin. The 
 account comes to us, in the present instance, in a way to 
 admit no question as to its certainty. Whatever may 
 have been the cause, Mr. Durbin both witnessed the 
 affection and inquired of those who were its subjects. 
 A more competent witness or calmer investigator of the 
 facts might not be found. In vain would we search for 
 a trace of superstition or fanaticism in him. If the 
 physicians who examined and tried to treat the cases 
 could not by their knowledge of the human system and 
 its liability to be operated on by external forces and 
 influences ; if from their study of physiology and psy- 
 chology, or from any science, observation, or experience 
 that they had to help them, they were unable to ex- 
 plain the phenomenon, and if Mr. Durbin called the 
 affection " inexplicable," we certainly shall not attempt 
 to do more than he or the physicians could accomplish. 
 We may have as good a right, if we have equal intelli- 
 gence, to render a judgment as to the cause as those of 
 that day. With no more science and knowledge of the 
 human system, and no better acquaintance with the facts, 
 we may be alike unable to satisfy the mind. 
 
 At this same meeting five or six Presbyterian minis- 
 ters took the incipient steps which led to their separa- 
 tion from their brethren and to the formation of a new 
 sect called " New Lights." They were Arians in doctrine. 
 
JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 Of these ministers all except one or two returned to the 
 Presbyterian Church. They had a considerable follow- 
 ing in the West. Their preachers laid down these two 
 great rules of action : 
 
 1. Human creeds are injurious to religion. Hence, 
 
 2. That they should not dwell on the controverted 
 points in theology in their ministrations, or but very 
 rarely. As a consequence of these things there was no 
 consistency or uniformity in their religious opinions; nor 
 did the people generally seem disposed to believe them. 
 Many of their people were not Arians in sentiment. 
 This state of things continued more or less for above 
 twenty years. 
 
 "At the time I was on Greenville Circuit," says Durbin, 
 " their sentiments began to assume tangible form and 
 the people to be sensible of the difference between the 
 New Lights and others. This difference became more 
 apparent as it regards the Methodists from the following 
 circumstance. I had an appointment in the court- 
 house in Eaton, Preble Circuit, O. At the same hour 
 an elderly gentleman, Mr. David P., had one in the 
 same place. As I had the prior appointment I proffered 
 to Mr. P. to preach first. He did so, and devoted two 
 hours and some minutes in attempting to prove that 
 Jest/s Christ w<is not even the thirtieth part of a god. 
 This doctrine he said he had believed for twenty years, 
 but he had not been in the habit of proclaiming it. 
 During his sermon I felt alarmed, being very young 
 and inexperienced, and he aged and wise. But when 
 he said: 'Some indeed affirm that our Saviour had, and 
 has yet, two whole and perfect natures in his person, 
 namely, godhead and manhood,' and ' If this could be 
 proven then would I instantly give up the point and 
 yield to the doctrine of a trinity:' it instantly occurred 
 to me that the Scriptures were explicit on this point, 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 £3 
 
 anil the following passage, among others, came to ray 
 mind: 'Of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came' 
 — here is his humanity; ' who is God over all, blessed 
 for evermore' — here is his divinity. Instantly a flood 
 of light burst on my mind, and I have not been embar- 
 rassed since. I rose after he had concluded and made a 
 few remarks. Since that time I have pursued the light 
 which I thus received, and have found, on close exami- 
 nation, that the Scriptures which speak of our Lord 
 Jesus may be classed under three heads, by observing 
 which the reader will find them free from confusion 
 and contradiction : 
 
 " 1. Sometimes they speak of our Lord as a mere man, 
 having reference to his human nature, as when they 
 say, 'he wept,' 'he hungered,' 'he knew not, but the 
 Father,' or any other expression which implied or ex- 
 pressed his inferiority. 
 
 " 2. Sometimes they speak of our Lord as the true 
 God, as when he says of himself, ' I am the Almighty,' 
 'the first and the last,' 'the Alpha and Omega,' and 
 when John says, 'The Word was God,' and when he is 
 presented as the object of worship, etc. 
 
 " 3. Sometimes they speak of our Lord as having both 
 natures combined, as 'Who was the son of David, ac- 
 cording to the flesh' — here is his humanity; 'declared 
 to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit 
 of holiness' — here is his divinity. Again: 'Of whom, 
 as concerning the flesh, Christ came' — here is his hu- 
 manity; 'who is God over all, blessed for evermore' — 
 here is his divinity. By observing these simple distinc- 
 tions in the Sciptures you will discover the most per- 
 fect harmony running throughout them. I once made 
 this statement at a camp-meeting where was one of our 
 oldest and best local preachers, who had once been ex- 
 pelled the Church for his Arian opinions, but came 
 
24 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 back again and promised to be silent in regard to them, 
 and was restored, lie continued to be embarrassed 
 with his difficulties on these points until he heard this 
 simple analysis of the Scriptures in reference to our 
 Lord, which I gave on that occasion. The moment 
 he heard it his eyes overflowed, his countenance lighted 
 up with joy, and from that hour he has been unembar- 
 rassed. The thing is so simple. The three classes of 
 Scripture sustain the three corresponding proposi- 
 tions: 
 
 " 1. Our Lord Jesus is really and truly man. 
 " 2. Our Lord Jesus is really and truly God. 
 "3. Our Lord Jesus is really and truly both God and 
 man." 
 
 In 1S20 he was appointed to Lawrenceburg, Ind. lie 
 says: "My colleague this year was James Collord, a 
 truly worthy and pious man, who entered the traveling 
 connection a young married man with a growing fam- 
 ily, and traveled Jioe years without receiving $-500 in 
 that time. The consequence was he had to locate, 
 and returned to New York and engaged in business. 
 I recollect well the Saturday evening on which I ar- 
 rived in the circuit. The first appointment was in 
 Lawrenceburg. The sun shone on the two small 
 steeples, one on a tavern, the other on the court-house, 
 and gleamed at a distance on the eye of the traveler as 
 he gazed on them from Hardentown, two miles above 
 Lawrenceburg, on the Big Bottom. I called at the 
 house of my much-esteemed friend, Isaac Dunn, Esq., 
 who lias long been a pillar in the church there. Him- 
 self and Mrs. Dunn were not at home, but returned in 
 an hour or two. They received me kindly, though they 
 had not much confidence in our religious prospects. We 
 performed service in the court-house, having no church 
 at that time. But before our Conference year was out 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 25 
 
 we had large additions to our society, and the founda- 
 tion of an excellent brick chapel was laid. 
 
 "This was a year of great prosperity and peace to us 
 all. I was much indebted to my colleague, who was a 
 critical English scholar, for his assistance and encour- 
 agement in the study of the English grammar. I not 
 only attempted to learn the rules, so as to parse accu- 
 rately, but I endeavored, both in composition and public 
 speaking, to be always correct. Thus I improved my 
 style and corrected early-contracted improprieties. 
 
 " While on this circuit I was in the habit of carrying 
 with me always a number of religious tracts, purchased 
 at my own expense, in order to distribute as I found 
 occasion. Sometimes I would inclose them in a letter 
 form, sometimes drop them in the path when I saw 
 some one coming, and sometimes give them personally. 
 I recollect on one occasion to have called to a young 
 man who was plowing in the field as I rode by, and 
 asked him if he would have a book. He answered he 
 had no money to pay for it. I asked him if he would 
 read one if I would give it to him. lie answered he 
 would. I gave him four tracts. This I was induced to 
 do partly because I had seen him in class-meeting the 
 day before and he seemed to be serious. I saw no more 
 of the young man until some years after, when, dining 
 in Cincinnati at a friend's house, a young man sat oppo- 
 site to me and seemed to regard me very earnestly. At 
 length he observ ed, ' I presume you have forgotten me, 
 Mr. Durbin, but I have not forgotten you.' I observed 
 I believed I had not the pleasure of recollecting him. 
 'Do you not,' said he, 'recollect the young man to 
 whom you gave the tracts while plowing in the field ? 
 I am he. From that day I have sought the Lord in ear- 
 nest, and have attached myself to the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church.' " 
 
•26 
 
 JOHN P. DC KB IN. 
 
 Dnrbin says <>f Greenville and Lawrenceburg circuits: 
 " They were comparatively new, and had few appoint- 
 ments except in private houses," and these such as have 
 been described, with fare of kindred character. But then, 
 he writes, " I have reckoned, and do still reckon, these 
 years the best of my life. In them I made as much prog- 
 ress in divine things as in any other, and did as much 
 good, apparently. I ever found it convenient to read 
 much, notwithstanding I had no apartment to retire to. 
 . . . My manner of reading was this: I always read but one 
 book at a time besides the Bible. I did not even allow 
 myself to read a newspaper. I took care to read this 
 one book carefully, noting down its contents briefly 
 with my pen. ... I did not wait for an opportunity 
 to read, but always made one. In this way I proceeded, 
 generally reading 500 or 600 pages a week, besides the 
 Bible. 
 
 " I am aware that many young men among us say they 
 cannot find time and opportunity to read, write, and 
 study. I have detailed the manner in which I found 
 it. They could do the same, and I may add they 
 must do the same, or they cannot do the work of the 
 Lord as they ought to do it. 
 
 " One of the injunctions of Paul to Timothy was, 
 ' Give attention to reading.' 
 
 " In the fall of 1H21 I was appointed to Hamilton 
 Station, Ohio Conference. Methodism had just been 
 planted there, and the society had built them a neat 
 little church. We had a peaceful, prosperous year in 
 our Zion. 
 
 "At the instance of Dr. Martin Ruter I commenced 
 the study of the Latin grammar and language. I com- 
 mitted the grammar well, and immediately commenced 
 reading Virgil's works, reciting once a day to Mr. 
 Monfort, a Presbyterian minister. I pursued this course 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 27 
 
 for some time and then declined reciting, and read and 
 studied without assistance from any person. . . .This 
 year I read Virgil's works and committed the Greek 
 grammar to memory and commenced reading the Greek 
 Testament. I read also Newton on the Prophecies and 
 some other works." While at Hamilton he studied in 
 the Miami University, and returned to his charge, a dis- 
 tance of twelve miles, on Friday afternoon. 
 
 "I cannot omit recording a little incident which hap- 
 pened this year, and in order to make it understood, I 
 must give the proper preface. The society heing small it 
 was quite an effort to support their preacher. Mr. Jo- 
 seph Hough, a merchant in the place, as his wife was a 
 member, was in the habit of inviting the preacher to 
 live with him the principal part of the year without 
 any charge whatever. After I had been in the station 
 some weeks he called and invited me to come and spend 
 some time with his family. I complied. Of course I 
 had family prayer in his house. At first, having been 
 raised a Quaker, he would stand up very respectfully; 
 after a little he kneeled down on o;;eknee; then at last 
 he kneeled down on both, as did the re-^t of us. Cold 
 weather came on. His ice-house stood in his back yard. 
 They were filling the house one day with ice, and Mr. 
 Hough was in the house packing the ice away. There 
 was a long plank from the wagon to the bottom of the 
 icediouse, or rather to the surface of the last layer of ice, 
 down which plank the ice was slid into the house. Some 
 person engaged in the wagon in sliding the ice down 
 the plank threw it against Mr. Hough's foot and injured 
 it severely. Mr. Hough, upon receiving the injury, 
 swore at the man profanely. But at that moment I 
 happened to be passing the ice-house, and looking in at 
 the door, beheld Mr. Hough without his perceiving me, 
 and heard him swear. I said not a word, but passed on 
 
28 
 
 JOHN P. Dl'RBIN. 
 
 unobserved by him. On the Saturday evening follow- 
 ing he came into my room (which he kindly afforded 
 me, with every convenience) and sat down and engaged 
 in conversation, during which I observed (not knowing 
 he was accustomed to use profane language), ' Did I 
 not hear you swear in the ice-house, Mr. Hough '? ' 
 He smiled, with a little flush on his countenance, and 
 answered, ' he thought it was probable he did, as he 
 was in the habit of swearing without knowing at all 
 times when he did it, and I remember I did at the ice- 
 house, when one of the hands threw a piece of ice 
 against my foot and hurt me. But I know it is a very 
 unbecoming and ungentleinanl y practice, and I wish I 
 could quit it ; but I am inclined to think I cannot, 
 as I do it unconsciously from habit.' I then urged him 
 to try. After some conversation he said, 'I will try, 
 and will inform you next Saturday how I succeed.' 
 Next Saturday came, and in the evening he came into 
 my room and sat down. There was a mixture of serious- 
 ness and lightness and an inclination to smile, and he 
 was evidently a little agitated. I said nothing on the 
 subject of swearing, and he also was silent for some 
 time. At length he said, ' I have come to tell you 
 that I have sworn twice since I was here ; but I am de- 
 termined to quit it; I am more and more dissatisfied 
 with the practice.' As he said tins he seemed morti- 
 fied and concerned, and I immediately replied, ' You 
 cannot cease from profane language unless you will 
 pray' 'Pray!' said he; ' I never prayed in my life ; I 
 was never on my knees in my life but once, and that 
 was to gratify Parson Wallace, and I then laughed the 
 whole time.' Indeed, he seemed a little amused at the 
 idea of his praying. I insisted he could not cease to 
 swear unless he would use prayer. He became silent, 
 and alternately thoughtful and amused. At length he 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 29 
 
 said, ' I will try to pray once if you will never mention 
 it.' ' Very good,' said I, and we parted. Two or 
 three days afterward he came into my room, and sitting 
 silently a few minutes, he said, smilingly, ' I told you I 
 could not pray; I have tried twice, and when I kneeled 
 down 1 could not utter a word. I knew I could not be- 
 fore.' While he was saying these things I could perceive 
 an increased concern in his countenance; I therefore in- 
 sisted on his continuing his efforts, which he did, in- 
 creasing every day in earnestness, until in less than three 
 months he was a member of the Methodist Church, and 
 was such the last time I saw him. 
 
 "This circumstance, as well as several others, con- 
 firmed me in the opinion that the smallest beginning 
 in religious matters should not be disregarded, but sed- 
 ulously cherished, both by the subject of them and the 
 minister of religion. 
 
 " In the fall of 1S22 I was appointed at the Marietta 
 Conference to Zanesville Station, though I shared 
 the station witli Brother B. Westlake, owing to the 
 illness of his family. Hence I was on Zanesville Circuit 
 half the time. I was informed that this appointment 
 was made with design to promote the gracious work 
 which was begun in Zanesville. The year was not so 
 prosperous as I could have wished, notwithstanding 
 we had precious seasons. I found in this station, as is 
 the case in all large societies, a few turbulent spirits, 
 and their course since is an additional proof of an al- 
 most well ascertained fact, that such never can be at 
 peace, not even if they be first in all things. They 
 have since withdrawn and associated themselves with 
 the radicals of the present age of the Church. These 
 have taken the denomination, 'Associate Methodist 
 Society.' 
 
 "I cannot omit to record the name, services, and friend- 
 
•1 0 
 
 JOHN P. DURB1N. 
 
 ship of Brother David Young, all of which are associ- 
 ated with the events of this year. A good understand- 
 ing well improved, and deep piety, made him a desirable 
 acquaintance. His experience and sincerity made him 
 a valuable friend. He admonished me of my errors in 
 preaching, specially in manner and length; he also 
 taught me the proper principles of the composition of 
 a sermon, and added to his own remarks a recommen- 
 dation of Claude's Essay on the Composition of a /Ser- 
 mon, which lie very kindly lent me. In his house I 
 experienced every thing which a Christian brother 
 could ask. With him I prayed often, and for him I 
 have and hope still to pray often. He is now one of 
 the oldest and most valuable of the traveling preachers. 
 He was a pioneer in this Western world, and continues 
 in the work, so gloriously enlarged, which he himself 
 assisted in planting." 
 
 After going to the West in his early ministry David 
 Young was identified more than almost any of his con- 
 temporaries with the progress of Methodism in Ohio. 
 He had a superior intellect. It was cultivated, disci- 
 plined, and finely furnished. " He knew theology, was 
 well acquainted with philosophy, general history, na- 
 tional law, and whatever pertained to our Federal or 
 State affairs. He was especially familiar with Church 
 history and Methodist jurisprudence." 
 
 Bishop Morris said, "No man conducted public re- 
 ligious service more solemnly and impressively than he 
 did, especially in reading the holy Scriptures or in prayer. 
 He was deeply experienced in the work of grace." 
 
 In the pulpit he was a master. He had logic, style, 
 and energy. "His voice enabled him to be heard at 
 the largest camp-meetings, where he was a favorite 
 preacher." Under one of these sermons Bishop Morris 
 saw his sin and danger. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 31 
 
 The Hon. John McLean, LL.D., said, " When his soul 
 became stirred, as it sometimes did from its lowest 
 depths, he would enchain an audience beyond almost 
 any of his contemporaries." He died November 15, 
 1858. As proof of his abiding love for the ministry he 
 left his choice library for the use of the successive pas- 
 tors of South Second Street Church, Zanesville, Ohio. 
 
 Was there a man in the Church better fitted to crit- 
 icise and direct the promising preacher than he ? His 
 character gave weight to his words, and they lay on 
 Durbin's intellect and heart. 
 
 " 1823. In the fall of this year," says Durbin, " I re- 
 ceived an appointment to Lebanon, Ohio, a small station, 
 but in a neighborhood remarkable for many years for 
 the flourishing state of Methodism. In this society there 
 is a strong proof of the importance of brotherly love. 
 Two of the best men (as is commonly supposed) differed 
 in the settlement of a partnership, and the simple fact 
 of each one seeming to incline to his own interest infused 
 suspicion into both minds, and tainted them, I fear, for- 
 ever. Suspicion being attached, each, to clear himself 
 from it, proposed to yield the claim, but each refused 
 a settlement on principle of gift, or the acquisition of 
 property when the one giving it up did not think it was 
 proper, being offered merely for peace' sake. Their 
 sense of independence and honor refused the adjust- 
 ment of claims in this way, and as they could be ad- 
 justed in no other they remain unadjusted and still 
 rankling in the vitals of the individuals, and gradually 
 poisoning the existence of society. 
 
 " In this station I toiled hard, and I think faithfully 
 and saw but little fruit of all my labors. Immediately, 
 however, on the commencement of the next Conference 
 year ten or twelve young men came in to brighten the 
 hopes of the Church. During this year I applied myself 
 
32 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 closely to my classical studies in the house of my much- 
 loved Brother Reeves. I must here record the kindness 
 of this gentleman and his family to me. It continues 
 mutually until this day. 
 
 " 1824. In the fall of this year I was appointed to 
 Cincinnati Station as assistant preacher to my dear 
 Brother William H. Raper, whom I love sincerely in the 
 Lord." This was a critical period in the history of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. "The Reformers" in 
 the West, as in the East, were seeking a radical change 
 in the form of our government; strong men took sides 
 with them. Prudence at such a time was a cardinal 
 virtue. The spirit of reform showed its greatest power 
 in some of our strongest centers. Cincinnati had its 
 share in the excitement. Raper and Durhin were not 
 the men for incautious action, but neither of them es- 
 caped the criticisms of adverse reasonings. 
 
 At the Chillicothe Conference a resolution was offered 
 disapproving the course of one of its members in preach- 
 ing for the "Reformers," who were organizing "Union 
 societies." Mr. Durhin supposed this resolution would 
 do harm, and opposed it for half a day, and finally got 
 it laid on the table, and presented a substitute as an act 
 of tenderness to the brother concerned. " It, was merely 
 to direct the president of the Conference to request the 
 brother not to preach for the 'Reformers' owing to the 
 present state of excitement in Cincinnati." This gave 
 offense. Language of keenness was indulged when 
 words of kindness were merited. 
 
 It is painful to see how devout and intelligent people 
 are sometimes separated by facts which, in themselves, 
 have no moral quality. Churches, like individuals, 
 have had memories that they could wish the last trump 
 might not awaken. Time, if not greater charity and 
 wisdom, has effaced many of the difficulties that iu 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 33 
 
 earlier days divided us, and no one more certainly 
 joyed in this than did Dr. Durbin. 
 
 His appointment to " the Queen City of the West " 
 was a flattering testimonial to his talents. A leading 
 member of " the Stone Church " had heard him in one 
 of his first appointments and was charmed with his 
 earnestness and simplicity, and saw in him the promise 
 of a great future. He was anxious to secure his serv- 
 ices for the charge. Then, as now, the judgment of a 
 layman of intelligence, piety, and strength justly com- 
 manded influence with the episcopacy, and Mr. Dnrbin 
 Mas appointed. Young as he was he "showed himself 
 a man." 
 
 A friend of Dr. Durbin says, " His marked ability, 
 refined and courteous manners, soon attracted the at- 
 tention of prominent men in Cincinnati, among whom 
 was General William H. Harrison, afterward President 
 of the United States, Judge McLean, the best talent of 
 the bar, and some of the most distinguished members 
 of other Churches, Unitarian as well as our own peo- 
 ple." While in this charge he resided in the family of 
 Mr. Christopher Smith, whose house was to the close 
 of his life his Cincinnati home. Mr. Smith was a prom- 
 inent man in the Church, and was a member of the first 
 Methodist class in Cincinnati. He knew a preacher's 
 heart. Now Mr. Durbin had the best opportunity for 
 study. He immediately entered the Cincinnati College, 
 located in the city, and his people gave him six months 
 of special devotion to his college course. But mean- 
 while he attended to all the duties of his station. Here 
 was, indeed, a contrast to the embarrassments of his 
 early studies. 
 
 At Mr. Smith's he had as real a home as if he had 
 been a son. As his time was at his command he em- 
 ployed it to his mind. One of the perils of his position 
 4 
 
34 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 was like that of a man with a voracious appetite, long 
 restrained, before whom, for the first time, a banquet is 
 spread with liberty to eat to satisfy. Indulgence might 
 be death. With him such was the luxury of learning 
 that in his application to his books there was danger of 
 impairing health and so defeating his purpose of greater 
 usefulness. With every facility, comfort, and encour- 
 agement his efforts and progress were amazing. But as 
 in other things, so in this, reason restrained his ambition 
 and directed his energies. " His wonderful application 
 and great economy of time were soon noticed by his 
 friends; each day was systematized, each hour had its 
 own special work." He was an early riser, and was at 
 his studies long before the family were astir. "The 
 house was surrounded by ample grounds, which offered 
 many quiet spots. To one of these in pleasant weather 
 he usually took his book, after the morning meal, to pre- 
 pare for the hour of recitation. The after part of the 
 day he gave to pastoral work, and study in his own 
 room." 
 
 He seldom accepted an invitation for company, feel- 
 ing his time at this period of life was too valuable to be 
 spent otherwise than in positive duty. Yet he remem- 
 bered that the bow that is constantly bent loses its elas- 
 ticity, and in his own way he unstrunsr it. But he was 
 careful that its fiber was not impaired or the string 
 broken by any contact or use. 
 
 After a day of hard work he devoted the evening 
 hour to the family circle, and his moods and manners 
 and stories charmed thp children. 
 
 His labors and experiences made their impression, 
 and helped to form his intellectual and social habits. 
 Years after he walked past the old home, looking at the 
 windows where he had sat and studied, exclaiming, 
 " Dear me, what hard work I did in that room ! " This 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 35 
 
 place was as real to him in its memories as Bethel was 
 to Jacob. 
 
 Thence he went with his completed purpose of col- 
 lege graduation. Thence he went, with the knowledge 
 that all his duties as a Methodist minister had been 
 sedulously observed, that they had commanded his at- 
 tention, elicited his energy, and shown their fruits. He 
 had noi done the work of the Lord deceitfully or 
 partially, nor had he offered to God that which cost him 
 nothing. Study meant study, whether in college or 
 cabin, in forest or by the fireside. But he was not more 
 certainly the " earnest student " than the attractive 
 preacher and the faithful pastor. 
 
 In due time (1822) he was ordained deacon, and in 
 1824 he received elder's orders. He was graduated with 
 honor, and as a special reward of diligence and scholar- 
 ship the college at once conferred the degree of 
 "Master of Arts." 
 
 Who can fail to honor the Providence that, after 
 testing a man, uives him what his character deserves? 
 As in spiritual things, "He that goeth forth weeping, 
 bearing precious seed," comes again with rejdcing, 
 bringririsr his sheaves with him, so in faithful labor the 
 reward is certain, and the contrast between weeping and 
 reaping may be in a short period realized. 
 
 The foundation of his future reputation in the de- 
 partment of education was now laid and the problem 
 of his labor had found its solution. 
 
 The richest resources of man are in himself, and their 
 depth and fullness are never so revealed as when under 
 the pressure of adverse circumstances he is roused to 
 the most vigorous and persistent effort. A great soul 
 may show its impatience of restraint, but difficulties 
 do not conquer conviction. Only the first man was per- 
 mitted a paradise to his mind, and with him it soon 
 
36 
 
 JOHN P. BUBBLY. 
 
 ceased. Some of the grandest achievements that his- 
 tory records have been performed amid embarrassments 
 best calculated to repress energy and forbid hope. 
 There are great elements in all great natures, and it is 
 for their possessors to determine whether difficulties 
 shall destroy or develop them ; whether they shall be 
 as water to extinguish the fires of genius or as wind to 
 fan them to a flame. A great spirit spurns no auxiliary 
 to its advancement, but is ever ready to adopt the best 
 means for the end proposed. The wise man does not re- 
 fuse the ladder to a true fame. John P. Durbin knew 
 that the college would advance him in the purposes of a 
 sanctified ambition. We speak of self-made men. All 
 that are really made are so made. None are great by 
 accident. No one receives enough from ancestry or 
 environment either to make him truly great or really 
 small. 
 
 " Men at some time are masters of their fates; 
 The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, 
 But in ourselves, that we are underlings." 
 
 But while we have marked the progress, admired 
 the courage, and rejoiced in the success of the college 
 student, we have had no adequate idea of his power in 
 the pulpit. Modesty forbade a full record of facts. 
 Some fruits, indeed, he has named; some trials he has 
 stated; and we have seen through him the theological 
 errors that he encountered, and that caused " the 
 Spirit of the Lord to begin to move upon him " for 
 their refutation. But the years of his close study were 
 years of grand, if of diverse, experience as a preacher. 
 In the pulpit he had his trials as well as his triumphs. 
 
 The Rev. J. O. Roberts, of Kansas, in an article in 
 The Christian Advocate, of New York, July 2, 1885, 
 says that " at a quarterly meeting held near the village 
 of Dayton young Durbin was put up to preach on Sat- 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 37 
 
 nrday night, that being the time to try the boys. Dur- 
 ing the sermon the cx-ufficio presiding elder ' asked 
 tin' Lord to give patience.' A brother who knew said, 
 'John would have preached a good sermon if he had had 
 half a chance.' " 
 
 One of the fathers is represented as declaring he 
 might as well go home, as there was not much in the 
 young man. Time soon showed that there was enough 
 in him to commend him to the notice of the world. 
 
 Mr. Roberts, who refers to his failure at the quarterly 
 meeting named, says, " The following August, when the 
 Methodist hosts within a radius of thirty miles were 
 gathered at a camp-meeting, some thirty miles south- 
 west of Dayton, on Sabbath morning, before sunrise, 
 the Revs. John Sale and Arthur Elliott, presiding 
 elder and preacher in charge, were in consultation 
 touching the order of the day. Looking up just as the 
 light was breaking from the purpling East the former 
 exclaimed, 1 Why, there comes white-headed John Dur- 
 bin.' 'Yes,' said Elliott, 'and we must put him up to 
 preach.' But Sale objected, referring to the Dayton fail- 
 ure. Elliott was persistent, and declared he would be re- 
 sponsible for costs. The presiding elder finally agreed, 
 holding the other to the responsibility. 'But,' said he, 
 ' \vr will put him up at eight o'clock, and if he fails, 
 we will have him out of the way.' Elliott immediately 
 ran to meet John, took him in his arms, and told him 
 to be ready to preach at eight o'clock, leaving him at a 
 tent for refreshment. Prompt at the hour the trumpet 
 sounded, and to the astonishment of thit great com- 
 pany of elect men and women, instead of greeting one 
 of the giants present there stood before them that deli- 
 cate-looking boy. His reading of the hymn was with 
 trembling, the prayer humble, but there was a holy 
 unction about it. The introduction of the sermon was 
 
38 
 
 JOHX P. BUBBLY. 
 
 faulty ; it was slightly drawling and embarrassed ; but 
 Lark ! there sparkles a sentence of beauty ; others 
 follow in rapid succession of marvelous splendor, unc- 
 tion, and power. 'Bless the Lord,' said the presiding 
 elder.' ' Amen ! The costs won't be much,' replied the 
 preacher in charge. Soon the vast throngs arose to their 
 feet, crowding to tlie glowing orator and swaying 
 like trees under the blast of a tornado, while the shouts 
 of 'Glory to God in the highest !' were heard afar off." 
 
 As his ability had become known, lie was requested by 
 the presiding elder to preach at a camp-meeting near 
 Lebanon, Ohio. The occasion was greater than he had 
 supposed. The day came, and the preacher pondered 
 his theme and asked God to prepare his heart. The 
 plan was formed and his mind was filled with the sub- 
 ject. He returned to the preachers' tent, and was lying 
 upon the straw, as if he had already learned one of the 
 most important lessons in connection with pulpit prep- 
 aration, namely, to allow the intellect rest befoie it 
 makes the greatest effort. The elder, seeing him at 
 ease, said, "John, are you ready to preach to the 
 crowds that are pouring in to hear you ? " " This," 
 said he, in after life, "gave me the first intimation that 
 any would come twenty miles to hear me," as he was 
 told they were then doing. The result of that sermon 
 is not yet forgotten. God made the place of his foot- 
 steps glorious. Preachers and people were in trans- 
 ports. None came too far, nor did Durbin study too 
 long to prepare, nor rest too long to deliver that dis- 
 course. While yet in the West he was requested to 
 preach at another camp-meeting. It was in a com- 
 munity where "the Trinity " and " Triune " were words 
 regarded with disfavor. He was impressed to deliver 
 a sermon on the deity of Christ. His mind and henrt 
 were full of the subject. It took possession of him. 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 39 
 
 Awed by his theme, and stirred by the demands of the 
 occasion, he entered upon his duty with faith in God. 
 He commenced the discourse with unaffected modesty, 
 but realized his authority as a teacher of the divine 
 word. There was nothing vague in his thoughts, 
 nothing dubious in his language, nothing indifferent 
 in his manner, his expressions were vigorous, his con- 
 victions profound and active. He was in a moral mood 
 for great service. He plied them with Scripture, he 
 pressed them with facts, he urged them by arguments. 
 Logic was on fire. Sentence after sentence shot forth 
 with convicting force, and the strength of every op- 
 posing argument was broken. He brought his proofs 
 from two worlds. The infinite attributes of Jehovah, 
 as illustrated by Christ in time, and his glories as the 
 Son of the Highest in eternity. He showed them " God 
 manifested in the flesh," and now seated with the 
 Father on his throne, with the redeemed casting their 
 crowns at his feet and saying, "Thou art worthy, O 
 Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power, for thou 
 hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are 
 and were created." Light flashed in every direction. 
 The divine page was illuminated, and the Saviour, as in 
 his transfiguration, appeared with claims as pure and 
 countenance as bright as the raiment through which 
 his glory shone when the voice came from the cloud, 
 "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; 
 hear ye him." And they did hear him, to confess his 
 claim, to honor his mission, and seek his power. The 
 genius of the speaker was forgotten. The "brightness 
 of the Father's glory filled the horizon of their vision, 
 and the unbelieving, like Thomas, exclaimed, " My Lord 
 and my God ! " The eye of Durbin, that in a climax 
 seemed never equaled, revealed his soul. Truth was 
 riveted. Looking round in the pulpit he saw a min- 
 
40 
 
 J OILY P. BUBBLY. 
 
 isler who had been in great perplexity on the sulx 
 ject, and, to use the words of Dr. Durbin, "the big 
 tours, like bullets, were rolling down his cheeks." The 
 work was done, the snare was broken, and he had 
 escaped. Only in the next world can it be known how 
 many clouds were that day dispelled, how many doubts 
 were dissipated, and in how many cases the true faith 
 was established. His fame spread, and the marvels of 
 God's power that day through him have made many a 
 thrilling narrative. The reputation then gained rested 
 upon nothing meretricious or sensational, but upon the 
 wise, the weighty, and the eloquent presentation of es- 
 sential truth. The people who were so impressed were 
 not strangers to able and popular preaching. It was 
 the West of a William Beauchamp, from whom light 
 broke upon the most bewildered understanding ; of 
 Itussel Bigelow, of pure taste, ponderous thought, great 
 emotion, intense earnestness, and in the language of 
 Bishop Thomson, " of an eloquence of the most ex- 
 alted kind ; " of Samuel Parker, keen in perception, 
 forcible in logic, elevated in style, with a voice that 
 was rich, mellow, and harmonious, of whom Bishop 
 Morris declared that before him multitudes of people 
 melted like snow before an April sun." It was the 
 West of John Strange, " one of the brightest lights 
 of the American pulpit, formed by nature to be elo- 
 quent." " A man who could transport his hearers in 
 one moment to the third heavens, and make it bright, 
 glorious, present, and real to them, and the next he 
 could bear them away to the world of woe and freeze 
 their blood with images of terror." A man of whom 
 Aaron Wood said, " He breathed into his sentences his 
 own strangeness, which can't be imitated or described/' 
 It was the land of James Quinn, of James B. Finley, 
 and of John A. Waterman, "men of mental caliber and 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 41 
 
 moral might ;" it was amid such ministers, and hy their 
 confession, that John P. Durbin rose and stood the 
 acknowledged prince. Nor is it to be accounted for, 
 except on the ground of his pre-eminence, that when- 
 ever in after years he went to the West people of all 
 C hurches and conditions nocked to his ministry and sat 
 with rapture under his discourses. 
 
 If ever the ability of Durbin was a problem, it was 
 solved before his habits and history had made him the 
 scholar. 
 
42 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Exalted— Character Made in Seven Years— Pro- 
 fessor in Augusta College. 
 
 DEEDS express character. We have si en the youthf ul 
 Durbin, and he has made his impression of energy, 
 aptitude, and success. At the age of fourteen years, for 
 reasons sufficient to influence a mature mind, he deter- 
 mined upon a trade. When eighteen he had not only ac- 
 quired a knowledge of the business, but had " followed it 
 to some profit for a year or more." By what power did 
 lie in so short a time make it available to himself? Cab- 
 inet-making requires skill, but he had learned and used 
 the art. Have we felt no surprise at his accurate think- 
 ing and wise conclusions in regard to the present good 
 ami future welfare of his younger brothers? At eight- 
 een we have seen him entering upon the work of his early 
 taste and of his moral convictions, and then rising above 
 the difficulties that beset his path as a student. We 
 have seen him at the age of twenty-five the peculiarly 
 honored graduate of college, while as a preacher he has 
 risen to an eminence that places him in the nation's 
 eyes. 
 
 In seven years John Price Durbin was made. 
 
 The foundation of his future was laid, the attention 
 was directed, the confidence was inspired, and the 
 power was evoked by which he was conducted to the 
 positions that distinguished his after life. 
 
 1. What teas he made? 
 
 We answer, a Methodist minister, with his sympathies, 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 43 
 
 experiences, and purposes; a herald of the cross that 
 could be satisfied with nothing short of spiritual char- 
 acter, of ardent worship, of a ministry that instructed, 
 convinced, persuaded, and was the means of saving men. 
 The zeal that prompted him from his own meager means 
 to purchase, carry, and distribute tracts, putting them 
 in the path of the traveler, or seeking and with avidity 
 supplying the plowmen from the field, reveals his 
 spirit; such assiduity gives us insight as to his earnest 
 wish to do all the good he could, in all the ways in his 
 power. 
 
 WhiTe the results that crowned his efforts speak with 
 eloquence to every one, " Be instant in season and out 
 of season," the report that reached him years after he 
 left the circuit on which the presiding elder placed him, 
 showed, in addition to facts previously known, that his 
 "labor was not in vain in the Lord," and became to his 
 soul the joy of sitccess. The convei-sion of his host at 
 Hamilton maybe regarded as an illustration of the influ- 
 ence of character and intercourse in securing access to a 
 heart difficult to reach, and of even so conveying rebuke 
 that it was received with welcome; and the delicacy with 
 which he dealt with his friend shows that he had early 
 learned that "he that winneth souls is wise." While 
 he maintained his solicitude he would not, by overdoing, 
 defeat his purpose. In this he shows a holy art that 
 is sometimes our greatest help in bringing souls to 
 Christ. If the important question that is sometimes 
 so pungently put concerning a young minister, "Has he 
 fruit?" is asked in relation to Durbin, we answer, Yes, 
 he has fruit — real, rich, ripe, and manifest fruit. 
 
 As an orator he had commanded thousands. 
 
 But his power as a speaker was not merely in fluency 
 of utterance, beauty of language, and force of logic ; it 
 was still more in the interest he showed, the spirit that 
 
44 
 
 JOHN P. DUHBLV. 
 
 energized, and the unction of the Holy One that the 
 people felt. 
 
 As a scholar he was made. 
 
 His attainments in seven years caused him to be 
 eagerly sought as Professor of Ancient Languages in 
 the first Methodist College in the land, and to remain 
 in highest demand in the most distinguished institutions 
 of the Church. 
 
 2. How was he made ? 
 
 Shall we briefly say, God made him, that he called 
 him, sent him, sustained him, and honored his labors ? 
 Of this we have no doubt. John Newton said, "Only 
 God can make a minister." We accept the statement ; 
 but to be more particular, how did God make John P. 
 Durbin a preacher ? We answer, by so influencing him 
 to recognize the divine economy in him, the man, as 
 to nesjlect no power, and to employ to the best purpose 
 all the talents, time, nnd means at his disposal; to use 
 every endowment, to discipline every faculty, to devote 
 every energy that centered in him to the achievement 
 of highest intellectual and moral results. Then God 
 made him, by his stature and symmetry of character, a 
 force in the ministry that genius alone never reaches, 
 and that divine grace only makes perfect — a grace 
 always at the command of him whose " sufficiency is 
 of God." 
 
 He gladly accepted the help of men. 
 
 He was one of the most teacludde pre.ichers. He knew 
 his want, and he rejoiced in the aid of the competent. 
 And as a man's " gift makes room for him, and brings 
 him before great men," so the singleness of a worthy 
 aim, the continuance of noble conduct, and the unre- 
 served devotion to duty of all his resources, constrained 
 those who had the ability to facilitate his advancement 
 to make their contribution to his just ambition. Thus 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 45 
 
 men helped Durbin, as they saw he deserved it, and 
 would reward their attention. 
 
 The grandsire roused the youth to duty. Mr. Lakin 
 spoke wisely to his wants; Collord helped his grammar, 
 Rater incited him to linguistic knowledge; the German 
 furnished Clarke's Commentary to aid the study of 
 tlie Scriptures. The journeyman made the correction 
 of faults easy. David Young gave highest criticisms 
 and presented hasis for abiding fame. When vehemence 
 of speech had broken the voice and impaired the 
 health, and sent him home in apprehension that his work 
 was at an end, a plain man suggested the effective 
 means that in six months restored his voice for any 
 service, and secured to him in the conversational address 
 a secret of power that philosophy never transcended, 
 and that to his latest life showed its benefits. 
 
 It was not the day of " theological seminaries." 
 Misled, indeed, is the young man who, having the op- 
 portunity, declines their advantages ; but let us honor 
 our fathers in the help they rendered us ere Method- 
 ism provided the schools. 
 
 When on one occasion Dr. Doddridge was commend- 
 ing to his theological students modern authors of 
 merit, he paused to praise the Puritans, and said, 
 " There were good sense and learning in our fathers' 
 days, as well as in our own — as our grand-mothers had 
 beauty, though their antiquated dress might disguise it 
 in some measure." 
 
 Yes, honor to the fathers ! But the stone must be 
 of the right quality to receive the shape and take the 
 polish that the sculptor seeks to give and that the lapi- 
 dary labors to impart, or all is vain. 
 
 It is not for want of means and helpers that there are 
 not many Durbins. Helps indeed he had ; but they did 
 not make the scholar, the divine, or the preacher. 
 
46 
 
 JOHN P. DTJRBIN. 
 
 As we read his studies, consider his circumstances, 
 ohserve his labors, and mark his devotion, we can hardly 
 marvel that such a man should obtain any thing upon 
 which he set his mind and heart. Will he who would 
 attain the highest excellence consent to emulate his 
 virtues as a student and his habits as a preacher ? 
 
 May we not reverently say, as the course to the divin- 
 est riches is through a " strait gate and narrow way " 
 of sacrifice and effort, so the most valuable and abiding 
 wealth of the mind is through the strait gate and nar- 
 row way of the renunciation of ease and the acceptance 
 of labor? 
 
 When a king asked Euclid, the mathematician, 
 whether he could not explain his art to him in a more 
 compendious manner, he answered that there was " no 
 royal road to geometry." Might and money may seize 
 and secure other things, but knowledge is the result of 
 careful, if not painful, search. 
 
 1825. Mr. Durbin writes, "At the Conference of 
 this year I was appointed professor of languages in 
 Augusta College, Kentucky." Scarcely had he re- 
 ceived the seal of his alma mater before he was invited 
 to a chair in the first college established in the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church. The reputation that he had 
 made as a scholar and the distinction he had attained as 
 a preacher justified and commended this election. His 
 conviction of the Church's duty in higher education 
 was a worthy motive for his acceptance of the place. 
 It was not from indifference to the value of colleges 
 that our fathers did not before this time have them in 
 successfid operation. In 1780 John Dickins, a fine 
 scholar, advocated an academic institution for Method- 
 ism. In 1784, the year of our organization as a Church, 
 our two Bishops, Coke and Asbury, were engaged in 
 laying the foundation of a college at Abingdon, Md. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 47 
 
 In 1 7S7 Asbury consecrated and opened it with public 
 ceremonies. As evidence of their identity with it 
 the names of the two Bishops blended in the title of 
 the institution. It was Cokesbury College. But neither 
 name, nor purpose, nor consecration, preserved it from 
 devouring flames. In 1795 it was destroyed by fire. A 
 second edifice was provided in Baltimore, and this fell 
 as the former. These adversities, following in quick 
 succession, tempted the thought in some minds that 
 Providence frowned on our effort, or at least that the 
 time had not come for us to engage in this work. 
 Though such reasonings for a time repressed ardor 
 they did not extinguish the fire of the Church's zeal. 
 The flame burned on, and in different localities a jet 
 would shoot forth giving evidence of the presence of 
 much more that would soon show itself in a broadened 
 flame. 
 
 Asbury encouraged hope of brighter days at hand. 
 In 1818 Dr. Samuel K. Jennings, a graduate of Rut- 
 gers College, New Jersey, and other Methodists, at- 
 tempted a college in Baltimore; but this failed. 
 
 Before the admission of Kentucky as a State into 
 the Union the Methodist Episcopal Church was in the 
 van of other Christian denominations in inauguiating 
 measures for the education of youth. The building of 
 " Bethel Academy," and the noble efforts made by our 
 fathers to sustain it, though unsuccessful, showed the 
 vigor of their purpose and furnished ground for faith in 
 the future. The formation of the Kentucky Conference, 
 in 1820, placed the Church in a position to consider her 
 resources and rise to the measure of supposed duty. 
 Ohio, as well as Kentucky, felt the need of a college. 
 
 James B. Finley, at that time presiding elder of the 
 Lebanon District, exerted his influence in its behalf. 
 Aware that neither Conference alone could support such 
 
48 
 
 JOHN P. DUItBlX. 
 
 an institution, Ohio and Kentucky united in the un- 
 dertaking, and the seat of the college was fixed at Au- 
 gusta, Ivy. It was properly chartered by the Legislature 
 of the State, Dec. 22, 1822. The Rev. John P. Finley 
 was appointed professor of languages in 1822 and 
 afterward had charge as president. He died on the 
 8th of May, 1825. 
 
 In 1825 the college edifice was erected, and Dr. 
 Martin Ruter was elected president, Joseph S. Tomlin- 
 son became professor of mathematics and natural 
 philosophy, and John P. Durbin took the professorship 
 of languages. A little later, in 1831, Henry Bascora 
 was chosen professor of " moral science and belles- 
 lettres." 
 
 "Who that reads these names and knew those minis- 
 ters can fail to wonder at the early power of Method- 
 ism to raise up men for its necessities? It was a 
 wonderful concentration and combination of mental and 
 moral forces ! It showed astonishing ability of adap- 
 tation to the Church's demand ! It is difficult to think 
 of these four men in one college, and that our first. 
 The world had long witnessed our success in saving 
 souls. It was our glory. To this we were trained. 
 Nothing was ever to impair this power or disturb this 
 purpose. On this we had fixed our thoughts and to 
 this we had directed our spiritual energies. 
 
 Some knew, however, that with all this zeal for con- 
 version Methodist preachers could, amid the difficulties 
 of the itinerancy, cultivate habits of study, and make 
 progress in learning. Among them were logicians and 
 linguists, metaphysicians and natural philosphers, nu n 
 acquainted with various sciences, well read in history 
 and familiar with general literature. Though unaccus- 
 tomed to "college shades " they made shades for them- 
 selves, and buried themselves in their depths -while they 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 49 
 
 explore 1 systems, exploded errors, and solved difficult 
 problems. "Through desire they intermeddled with 
 all wisdom." They had in those days but small libra- 
 ries, yet they knew their contents and could use them 
 to advantage. It was not with them so much a question 
 how many books they had upon their shelves as how 
 much of their contents was in their memory. Their 
 study for thought and their closet for prayer were one 
 and the same, and after far-looking beyond the skies they 
 often found their minds were clearer and keener to see 
 the things at hand. Then they showed a mental acuteness 
 that made them mighty men. They could delve as 
 well as soar. They knew where some of the richest in- 
 tellectual mines are found, and they spurned the theory 
 of "the unprofitableness of deep mining." They ob- 
 tained more than the labor cost. Some of them were 
 not only walking concordances, but living cyclope- 
 dias. 
 
 We may glance at the men whom the Church first 
 called to this new department of her solicitude and 
 service. 
 
 The Rev. John P. Finley, named as first president of 
 Augusta College, was a brother of Rev. J. B. Finley. 
 "Under the instruction of his father he had acquired a 
 competent knowledge of the sciences and of the Latin 
 and Greek languages ; and of the English language 
 Bishop B 'scorn pronounced him a perfect master." 
 
 The father under whom Mr. Fijalev studied was a stu- 
 dent in the " College of New Jersey " under Dr. Wither- 
 spoon, and, according to the testimony of the son, James 
 B., he passed through the regular college course at 
 Princeton, though for some unknown reason his name 
 does not appear on the list of graduates. — Spraguc's 
 Annals of the American Methodist Pulpit. 
 
 The first President of Augusta College was "an ami- 
 
50 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 able and highly gifted man, an excellent teacher, and 
 an earnest and impressive preacher." 
 
 Dr. Martin Ruter was one of the earliest men in 
 Methodism to receive the degree of doctor of divinity. 
 This honor was conferred by the Transylvania Univer- 
 sity, Kentucky, in 1822. It was at a time when the 
 degree meant more than honor. In 1801 he was admit- 
 ted on trial in the New York Conference and filled 
 stations of high responsibility. In 1818 he was placed 
 in charge of the New Market Wesleyan Academy, un- 
 der the patronage of the New England Conference. This 
 afterward became the " Wilbraham Academy." From 
 1820 to 1828 he had charge of the Western Book Con- 
 cern at Cincinnati. Thence he was called to the presi- 
 dency of Augusta College, which he accepted, and re- 
 mained there till 1832. 
 
 His heart was in the regular work of the ministry, 
 and he longed to return to that service. This he did 
 in the Pittsburg Conference, and was stationed in that 
 city. There he remained till 1837, when Bishop Hed- 
 ding appointed him Superintendent of the Texas Mis- 
 sion. To this field Littleton Fowler and Robert Alex- 
 ander accompanied him, and in Texas he laid the 
 foundation of a splendid superstructure. He had just 
 entered upon his work with consuming zeal and im- 
 plicit faith when the Master said, " Well done." lie 
 died in Washington, Texas, May 1G, 1838. All 
 Methodism mourned ! He sleeps in a missionary grave 
 on the banks of the Brazos, in Texas. The fine scholar, 
 the trained teacher, the early friend of John P. Dnrbin, 
 who so encouraged him in his classical studies when on 
 the circuit, served as president of Augusta when Dur- 
 bin was professor. As a writer his name has found 
 an abiding place in his work on " Church History," so 
 V>ng a text-book in the Conference course of study. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 51 
 
 Joseph S. Tomlinson, after an apprenticeship at 
 the saddlery business, entered Transylvania Univer- 
 sity, and for his support depended principally upon his 
 trade, to which he devoted his spare time. lie gradu- 
 ated with honor and was called to Augusta College, 
 and there at various times tilled the professorships of 
 languages, mathematics, natural science, moral phi- 
 losophy and belles-lettres. In scholarship and in brill- 
 iancy of intellect, as a conversationalist, a debater and 
 preacher, he was one of the rare men of Methodism. 
 After serving as professor he was at last chosen presi- 
 dent, and remained in that oftice till 1849. He died at 
 Neville, Ohio, on the 4th of June, 1S53. Art, science 
 and religion mourned his untimely end. 
 
 Henry Bidleman Bascom, who tilled the chair of 
 moral science and b< lles-lettres, was one of the most re- 
 markable ministers in Methodist history. He had no 
 advantages of early education, and the need of his 
 family demanded his utmost energy and care as a boy. 
 But he entered our itinerancy in his seventeenth year, 
 and through incredible difficulties and painful prejudices 
 made his way to the very front of the American pulpit. 
 So great was the influence of his eloquence upon Henry 
 Clay that, through his advocacy, in 1823 he was elected 
 chaplain to the lower House of Congress. In 1827 he 
 was elected president of Madison College, Pa. He filled 
 in succession the most distinguished positions in the 
 Church, and in 1850 was made Bishop of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, South. On September 8, of the 
 same year, he died at Louisville, Ky., in the fifty-fourth 
 year of his age. 
 
 In this college, distinguished by the talents, virtues, 
 and labors of these men, John P. Durbin began his life 
 as an educator. There he showed his ability to simplify 
 truth, to communicate thought, to impress principles, 
 
52 
 
 JOHN P. DUHBLV. 
 
 and to impart to young men the noble sense of their 
 responsibility, their duty, and their hope. Here he so 
 explained the difficult that the least receptive imbibed 
 knowledge, and the dullest intellect could not say " the 
 subject is dark." Here he added to his already remark- 
 able ability in judging men. 
 
 Will they who recall those days of their college-life 
 at Augusta ever forget them? Will they forget these 
 honored teachers, these sublime preachers? Will they 
 ever forget their massive and eloquent sermons, the 
 eagerness with which they heard them, the miles they 
 sometimes walked to listen to the discourses — when they 
 preached at distant points? 
 
 Will the writer be pardoned for expressing the belief 
 that never on this continent has any college had more 
 able and eloquent and overpowering discourses than 
 those delivered by the men of that faculty in this our 
 first college? 
 
 The desirableness of Methodist colleges, and the fruits 
 of this one now established at Augusta, were soon seen 
 in the students that entered it from Methodist families 
 at even remote points, and the position in society that 
 they took after their return from this institution. The 
 writer well remembers on one of his first circuits — Acco- 
 mack County, Va. — two young men wdio went to Au- 
 gusta, and on return cherished happy memories of the 
 college, and showed in their wider spheres the advan- 
 tages of their course. Robert J. Poulson, son of Major 
 Poulson, of Onancock, in a short time represented his 
 county in the Legislature of Virginia, and Albert Melvin, 
 son of a devout widow near Horntown, graduated to 
 the bar in Drummondtown, of his native county. 
 
 From New York went one son of the Rev. Samuel 
 Merwin, the present Rev. John B. Merwin, D.D., long 
 an honored member and now the oldest effective minis- 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 53 
 
 ter in the New York East Conference. Nor can the 
 Church forget what she has received through two of 
 the early students of Augusta still with us, Bishop 
 Randolph S. Foster, D.D., LL.U., and the Rev. John 
 Miley, D.D., Professor of Dogmatic Theology in "the 
 Drew Theological Seminary." 
 
 One of the first cares of Professor Durhin was to ob- 
 tain funds for the college, and he spent the year 1825 
 in the South and East making collections in money and 
 books for the school, and he says, "I collected about 
 $4,0u0 in money and 1,000 books." This result might 
 astonish us at this time when colleges receive such 
 princely donations. It might be supposed that this was 
 only gleaning. No, it was reaping ; and that when the 
 sickle was in a skillful hand. If John P. Durbin did 
 not know how to appeal to the intelligent and strong 
 men of the Church and to collect for a college, then the 
 writer, who had evidence of his labors, is at a loss to find 
 the man who does. Yet, with all his ability, one year 
 gave him only 84,000 in money. It is not easy for those 
 who live sixty years after those days to judge the facts. 
 Our country in 1825 was rich in territory, in talent, in 
 patriotism and virtue, but not in money. The popula- 
 tion was sparse ami there were few men of wealth 
 among us. Methodists were not rich, and to them 
 chiefly was the appeal. 
 
 The writer remembers when, for the raising of 81.000 
 at the dedication of one of our ablest churches, the fact 
 was heralded as an illustration of what great things 
 Methodists can do when they fully set themselves about 
 it. Nor has he forgotten that when in a borough of 
 8,000 people lie undertook to build a church it was as- 
 sumed if we could get the strongest man in the society 
 to give 8100 we should accomplish the work which, 
 from the lack of such liberality in former times, had in 
 
54 
 
 JOHN P. D URBFN. 
 
 repeated trials caused failure. The $100 was given by 
 the man, and $50 was afterward added. The walls rose and 
 the church was dedicated, and still stands, and is crowned 
 with honor. It was $100 for their own purposes that 
 was asked. 
 
 Nor must it be forgotten that $4,000 then would go 
 as far, perhaps, as four times that sum now. 
 
 1826. Professor Durbin writes: " Nothing of great 
 consequence occurred this year except my acquaintance 
 with my wife, and this is not of much consequence to 
 any but myself." On entering the ministry he adopted 
 for his motto Job xxxi. 1: "I made a covenant with 
 mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?" It 
 might excite no wonder that with his experience of less 
 than $50 a year, and with the fact before him that bis de- 
 vout and educated colleague in five years had not received 
 more than $500 or $600, and then had to leave the min- 
 istry and go into business, one might justly ask, Why 
 should I think upon 'a maid? Surely not to take care 
 of her, and he might not wish her to take care of him. 
 In the days of early Methodism many ministers had to 
 leave the itinerancy when they married, as they could 
 not obtain support. It was a grief to Bishop Asbury, 
 who never felt that he was in a position to take proper 
 care of a wife. Up to 1836 the Discipline required a 
 young preacher to remain single four years, or at least 
 till admitted to the Conference. 
 
 But a weighty reason for Mr. Durbin's making this 
 covenant was, that he wished to give himself wholly to 
 study till he had compassed his end and made a charac- 
 ter. But now the seven years were passed, the condi- 
 tions of the covenant had been kept, and he allowed 
 himself to think upon a companion, and on the 6th of 
 September,1827,he was married to Miss FYances B. Cook, 
 daughter of Alexander Cook, Esq., of Philadelphia, and 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 55 
 
 in his noble companion God showed him how in a wife 
 he can honor him who first seeks the divine honor. 
 
 In 1828 he writes, "I have anticipated 1827." This 
 was in his marriage. He says: "We spent a pleasant 
 year with Mrs. Sarah Armstrong, with whom we boarded, 
 and who is one of the excellent of the earth. On the 
 16th day of December of this year our first child was 
 born, a daughter named Augusta, after our collegt, .aid 
 Ann, after her grandmother Cook." . . . No change of 
 relation or domestic cares relaxed his energy in the 
 work of God. 
 
 In 1829 he says: "In the fall of this year we visited 
 Philadelphia to see our friends." But he spent the year 
 in making collections for the college. The winter was 
 passed chiefly in Washington City, endeavoring to get a 
 hill passed giving the college a township of land. He 
 says: " I got it reported, passed to a second reading, and 
 then it was laid on the table in the Senate." Here, as 
 in every place, we see the man in purpose, in his re- 
 sources, in his perseverance. He put himself into what- 
 ever he undertook, so as to secure all that earnestness 
 and effort made possible. Had he been successful in his 
 proposition to Congress a future would have been se- 
 cured to the institution that the innovations of time 
 might not liave harmed 
 
 In 1829 he was nominated to the chaplaincy of the 
 United States Senate. There was a tie vote, and John 
 C. Calhoun, President of the Senate, gave the casting 
 vote against liim. On receiving additional information 
 he regretted his action and sent for Mr. Durbin and 
 apologized, and some of the political friends of Calhoun 
 told him he had made the mistake of his life. Mr. Cal- 
 houn assured Mr. Durbin he voted for the other candi- 
 date only because he was a minister of the same church 
 to which his mother belonged. 
 
56 
 
 JOHN P. DUB BIN. 
 
 In 1830 he says: " I sent to London for some apparatus 
 for Augusta College." 
 
 The Rev. D. Stevenson, of Barbourville, Ky., writes: 
 " The only piece of apparatus of any value that still re- 
 mains in the old college building is a telescope secured 
 to the college by the labors of Dr. Durbin." 
 
 Professor Durbin says: "On the 16th of November, 
 1830, our second child, a daughter, was born in Augusta, 
 Ky., whom we called Margaret, after her aunt Margaret 
 Cook." This daughter was the late Mrs. Fletcher Har- 
 per, Jr., an honor to her sex, and a benefactress in society. 
 Of 1830 Professor Durbin says: "This was a year of a 
 good deal of anxiety and some perplexity which 1 need 
 not describe ; but losing a little confidence in the institu- 
 tion's prospects, especially pecuniary, and not seeing 
 how to remedy it, I determined to resign, and did so 
 August 6, 1831." He adds: " Upon my resignation at 
 the commencement of the college information from 
 Philadelphia of the dangerous illness of Mrs. Cook 
 arrived. Myself and family set out for Philadelphia 
 August 8." They reached the city through many diffi- 
 culties from modes of conveyance and the sickness of 
 Miss Margaret Cook, who had been stopping with them 
 in Augusta. They accomplished their journey in time 
 to see Mrs. Cook pass from the cares of earth to her 
 reward in heaven. September 25 he writes : "At the 
 invitation of preacher and trustees of the church in 
 Baltimore I spent a quarter of a year with them. It 
 was a season of great peace to my own heart and of some 
 good, I hope, to the church. I generally spoke publicly 
 three times a week, and as I did not like preaching at 
 night I preached at 3 o'clock P. M." 
 
 Professor Durbin had done his utmost for the inter- 
 ests of Augusta College. Much of his time had been 
 given to the raising of means to sustain the efforts, 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 57 
 
 meet the expenses, and maintain the reputation of the 
 institution. But all who read the history of our colleges 
 know that while a few are richly endowed, many, with 
 the hest men at their head, and planted when the de- 
 mand seemed imperative, have languished and expired. 
 Diekins.iji College came into our hands after having in 
 its trustees some of the greatest men in America and in 
 its faculty some of the ablest scholars and preachers, 
 and that when the locality made so strong an appeal 
 and Presbyterian prestige was back of it. So, alas! 
 after long and painful struggles to sustain itself, in 
 1S49 Augusta College, with all the hopes that it had 
 inspired, and with all the good it had accomplished, 
 broke down from the withdrawal of the patronage of 
 the Kentucky Conference and the repeal of the charter 
 by the legislature of the State. 
 
 Of the deep devotion of Professor Durbin to this col- 
 lege we have most eloquent proof in the name of hhfirst 
 bom, now Mrs. Augusta A. Whitaker of Philadelphia. 
 Though the college has ceased she lives, and we trust 
 ■w ill long live to perpetuate the virtues of her parents 
 and the name of the institution that was a demonstra- 
 tion of the zeal of Methodism in higher education, that 
 received so much of her father's sympathy, suppo t, and 
 wisdom, and that for nearly a generation was so highly 
 honored in the men it graduated. 
 
 While the extinction of such a light in Kentucky 
 leaves gloom in the community it is the Church's joy 
 that there are now twenty-six universities and col- 
 leges, fourteen female colleges, and sixty-one semi- 
 naries and academies, all of them denominational 
 institutions, under the immediate patronage and control 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church. To these are to 
 be added three well-appointed and well-endowed theo- 
 logical schools. The buildings and grounds belong- 
 
58 
 
 J GUN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 ing to these institutions are valued at $8,000,000. Their 
 endowment funds amount to near $6,000,000, and their 
 annual income is not far from $800,000. 
 
 For the cause of education the Church now makes 
 such an exhibition as justifies exultation. If the first 
 light in Kentucky ceased, a hundred others blaze over 
 the land, and Methodist education shines all through 
 the republic. 
 
 In the department of education a wide door was 
 quickly opened for Professor Durbin, as in 1831 he was 
 appointed professor of natural science in the Wesleyan 
 University, at Middletown, Conn. He had evidently 
 cherished fondness for this department of study. His 
 first appearance of which we have knowledge in the 
 way of authorship is in an improved edition of the 
 Mosaic History of the Creation of the World, by 
 Thomas Wood, A. M. 
 
 The original work, by Mr. Wood, shows research and 
 learning. The later, of Professor Durbin, greatly broad- 
 ens and advances it in the more modern discoveries <>f 
 science. The introduction, written by him, is brief, di- 
 rect, and intelligent. The Notes through the book are 
 many, ample, and weighty. They show an acuteness 
 and discipline of mind that are an honor to an author 
 of thirty-one years. About this time he also edited for 
 J. & J. Harper LyelVs Geology. 
 
 These Notes of Professor Durbin, in their scope, de- 
 sign, and influence are largely of the character of the 
 Bridgewater Treatises, showing the power, wisdom, and 
 goodness of God. They also antagonize the theologi- 
 cal teachings of Dr. Priestley. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 59 
 
 CHAPTER IV- 
 
 Chaplain to the United States Senate. 
 
 E have seen that in 1829 Professor Durbin failed 
 of election to this chaplaincy on a tie vote, in which 
 John C. Calhoun, as president of the Senate, through 
 misapprehension, gave the casting vote for another. 
 
 But on the 19th of December, 1831, writes Professor 
 Durbin : " This day I left Baltimore for Philadelphia, 
 where my family is. Next day I received intelligence 
 from Washington City that I was elected chaplain to 
 the Senate of the United States. This was very unex- 
 pected news indeed. I had not solicited the place ; I 
 had not been to Washington for nearly two years; I 
 did not know that any such project was intended until 
 the fact was announced to me in Philadelphia. The 
 election was made on the day I left Baltimore. As I 
 had already accepted the appointment of professor of 
 natural science in the Wesleyan University at Middle- 
 town, Conn, I hesitated about accepting the appoint- 
 ment of the Senate. Finally, upon weighing the whole 
 subject, with advice from friends and consent of the 
 president of the university, I accepted, and arrived in 
 Washington, January 3, 1832." 
 
 In the following papers he gives his reasoning as to 
 the acceptance of the honor, the responsibility it in- 
 volves, and clearly shows the spirit with which he entered 
 upon the duties ami strove to discharge the obligations 
 of the place, while he justly conceived and forcibly ex- 
 pressed the possibilities of usefulness in one who prop- 
 erly filled the office. 
 
60 
 
 JOHN r. DURB/.V. 
 
 We have the reasonings of a clear mind and the as- 
 pirations of a devout heart as lie withstood those prej- 
 udices that statements of the difficulties of the place 
 would have created. 
 
 It is to the honor of those whom he served, and a 
 commendation of the discretion, the dignity, the Chris- 
 tian devotion, and the eloquence of the man, that as 
 chaplain he had encouragements and supports that 
 probahly transcended his strongest faith. He says : 
 
 "I undertook this duty with fear and trembling; 
 and do earnestly pray I may prove the means of coin- 
 fort and good to those to whom I minister. 
 
 "I preached in the hall of the House of Representa- 
 tives, January 8, 1832, from ' Christ was once offered 
 for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to 
 God,'' and again on the 23d, from ' Fight the good fight 
 of faith,' etc. 
 
 "Judging from the deep and almost breathless atten- 
 tion, and other indications, I have presumed to hope 
 some good was done in the immense assembly. Indeed, 
 I have since seen some little fruit of it. On the 24th 
 of January I received a letter signed 'a young man,' 
 expressing his great distress, and wishing my prayers; 
 and this day (January 24) one of the members (Mr. 
 Howard, of Baltimore) requested me to call and see Mrs. 
 Howard, at her earnest request. He seemed concerned 
 that I should call, and observed his wife was a Presby- 
 terian, belonging to Mr. Nevins's church, Baltimore, but 
 hoped that would not prevent my calling. Surely not ; 
 and I promised to call. . . . 
 
 The Senate. 
 " Previously to my serving in the capacity of chap- 
 lain I had supposed that the Senate and House of Rep- 
 resentatives showed very little respect for religion or 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 (51 
 
 religious services. I had taken up tlvs opinion from 
 the remarks of some who had served, and others also. 
 Rev. Mr. B. told me he resigned because of the irrev- 
 erence of the members. But I must here do justice to 
 both Houses, and say I have not seen them deficient or 
 disrespectful in regard to religious services either in 
 the ordinary morning services or those of the Sabbath. 
 I cannot hope to say prayers for a more respect fid body, 
 and I am sure I cannot desire to preach to a more re- 
 spectful and attentive assembly. Some, no doubt, will 
 dissent from this. I cannot help it ; I speak and write 
 what I see and know. 
 
 " I do not intend to say that the members are relig- 
 ious when I say they are respectful to religion ; but let 
 religion approach them as she ought and she does not 
 meet with a rude repulse. 
 
 1832. Washington City. 
 
 " Employment of Tune. — As the winter had already 
 set in before I left Philadelphia Mrs. Durbin did not 
 accompany me, and I am here alone, boarding in the 
 family of a worthy friend, Mr. Enoch Tucker. 1 have 
 a delightful room in the third story (the second being 
 parlors, and the lower kitchen and dining-room), well 
 furnished and completely retired. My windows look to 
 the south, a little east. I leave one window-curtain 
 drawn aside that I may see when 'jocund day stands 
 tiptoe on the misty mountain's top.' I usually rise then, 
 sometimes before, shave with cold water, dress, say my 
 prayers, and, if the morning be favorable, take a walk, 
 or rather a run, throwing my hands about and lifting 
 up my arms as high as I can, in order to stretch my 
 limbs and dilate the chest, etc. 
 
 " I find this good exercise, and return to read a por- 
 tion in the Old, and one in the Xew Testament, before 
 
62 
 
 JOHN P. BUR BIX. 
 
 proceeding to the morning reading, which is now geol- 
 ogy. If I find any thing curious or doubtful in my 
 Scripture lessons I consult some commentary as a help. 
 
 "I shall not say any thing of my scientific reading 
 here, except to mention the authors. I have just finished 
 Bakenelly's Geology, having made extracts and memo- 
 randa of it in a book for that purpose. 
 
 " I generally go to the Capitol, when it is my week to 
 serve, at half past eleven A. M. ; when it is not my 
 week to serve, 1 go up between eleven and twelve 
 o'clock, and devote the time to miscellaneous reading 
 in the splendid library saloon, which is well furnished 
 with books, chairs, tables, ink, pens, paper, etc., and kept 
 well-manned. 
 
 "The chaplains generally serve alternately for a week 
 and preach in the hall of the House of Representatives 
 alternately on Sabbath morning. We serve the House 
 first; go into the hall five or ten minutes before the 
 time; when the Speaker comes in he knocks on the 
 clerk's desk with his knife, and all rise and stand during 
 prayer, which occupies about one and a half or two 
 minutes; which should generally be ended with the 
 Lord's Prayer, as some of the members requested a 
 chaplain before me, and which is certainly proper. The 
 chaplain then immediately repairs to the Senate cham- 
 ber and performs prayers in a similar manner. Both 
 houses are generally very respectful to the services. 
 
 " I am convinced many ministers misjudge the manner 
 in which religious services should be performed here. 
 I make them as simple and devout as I can in morning 
 prayers, varying occasionally with grateful reference to 
 the providence of God in giving us independence and 
 liberty, filling our land with peace and plenty, and to 
 the necessity of wisdom and heavenly guidance in order 
 to be able to do the duties of legislators for a great 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 63 
 
 nation, and to the necessity we are under (for I identify 
 myself in prayer with the members) of' commending our 
 families to the puterivd guardianship of Heaven. In 
 preaching, select plain and important subjects — impor- 
 tant because they present some grand leading point in 
 the salvation of men. Discuss them calmly, clearly, and 
 forcibly, with a mixture of argument, reflection, and (if 
 judiciously done) anecdote rarely, and apply the whole 
 at every opportunity, and, in conclusion, with as great 
 earnestness and power as you possibly can. 
 
 " I have not the presumption to hope I shall be the 
 instrument of great immediate good to the members, 
 as their political employments and associations stand 
 greatly in the way. But I do hope for three great ad- 
 vantages: 
 
 " 1. To elevate and impress the national mind favor- 
 ably to religion by the uniform and profound respect 
 which our national Congress evinces toward its institu- 
 tions and ordinances. 
 
 " 2. By this same respect, to cause religion to find a 
 lodgment in their minds which shall shut out infidelity. 
 
 " 3. To make good impressions on individual minds 
 which may awake to life in alter years and under bet- 
 ter circumstances, and bear the fruit of salvation. 
 
 " I will simply record my opinion here of the great 
 advantage to any Church to have an efficient and able 
 minister as chaplain to Congress. It brings that Church 
 more before the eye of the world. The vast concourse 
 of strangers as well as members, from every part of the 
 country, then hear the words of life occasionally from 
 a Methodist minister who had been in the habit of sup- 
 posing no such minister could be fit to preach. A fa- 
 vorable impression is thus made, and tolerance and even 
 liberality of feeling, which is often improved into good- 
 will and respect, grow from these occasions. Our 
 
64 
 
 JOHN P. DURBfN. 
 
 friends should not contend improperly for the place, but 
 should take any reasonable and proper means of having 
 it filled efficiently. 
 
 "Saturday, Jan. 28. — Saturday and Sabbath I gener- 
 ally devote to religious and moral reading, and I must 
 here say by 'miscellaneous reading' in the library I do 
 not mean strolling from alcove to alcove, and from chap- 
 ter to chapter, and from book to book ; but I select a 
 book and read it through, or read throughout the sub- 
 ject I have selected in it. 
 
 " I have hitherto appropriated my miscellaneous read- 
 ing to Germany. It is an interesting country, and not 
 generally well known. I have read the papers in the 
 American Quarterly Review on ' German Literature.'' 
 They are very good, and would bear a reperusal. I 
 read the first volume of Hodyskirts Travels. This is 
 good in order to get an insight into German manners 
 and customs in the lower walks of life. He was a pe- 
 destrian traveler. His second volume is devoted exclu- 
 sively, or nearly so, to Hanover, its government and 
 statistics of every description, and to German literature 
 and universities. Of these I did not think him a com- 
 petent judge, and therefore have commenced reading 
 Russell's Travels in Germany. His volume is a very 
 good one, though it is deeply tinctured with irreverence 
 for religion, if not actual hostility to it. 
 
 " I felt, of course, more interested in the schools and 
 literature of Germany. Scarcely a century since Ger- 
 many could be said to have a national literature. 
 Wieland, Klopstock, Schiller, Goethe, Herder, etc., laid 
 the foundation of German literature. All of these, ex- 
 cept Klopstock, were collected at the court of Weimar, 
 and chiefly around Amelia the duchess. Hence Weimar 
 may be said to have taken the lead in the higher litera- 
 ture. It is very probable we have not yet correct and 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 65 
 
 full ideas of the extent and excellence of German 
 literature. 
 
 " Their universities are founded on the same general 
 plan ; namely, a small fixed salary, with privilege of 
 lecturing on any suhject they please, hesides the one 
 committed to them by their appointment. Hence there 
 is great, and in some cases unpleasant, competition, as 
 one professor may invade the province of another, and 
 there is no remedy hut superior talents and popularity. 
 
 " They do not generally have university and college 
 buildings, as other European universities. For instance, 
 at Gdttingen the number of rooms registered for the 
 accommodation of students was above 1,000 in various 
 parts of the town. Each student selects his own room 
 and restauretum, or boarding house, from those regis- 
 tered, and he is registered on the books of the university 
 accordingly. If he change, the change must be regis- 
 tered. The students are allowed to attend such lect- 
 ures as they may choose. There are from 800 to 1,200 
 students generally at Gottingen, and above seventy 
 professors. Such were the facts of that period. 
 
 "Their recitation rooms are provided by the profess- 
 ors. The library is the first great concern of the uni- 
 versity, and its general fixtures, collections, etc., in 
 which there is much more attention to utility than to 
 splendor. Hence the means of education are at Got- 
 tingen more abundant and probably superior to any 
 other university. 
 
 "Notwithstanding the reputation of this university 
 and its professors they can scarcely provide suitably for 
 their families if they should die. Hence there is a 
 widows 1 fund attached to the university, partly given 
 by the Government, partly by private donations, partly 
 by the professors, for the support of their widows and 
 orphans in case of their death. 
 6 
 
66 
 
 JOHN- P. DURBIX. 
 
 " Prussia is said to be very careful of the interests of 
 education. Education and religion are joined and are 
 committed to a proper minister of the crown, resident 
 at Berlin, who has charge of the whole interest. The 
 ministers of the Church are made to serve an appren- 
 ticeship to school teaching before they take charge pas- 
 toral. The minister of education and religion directs 
 the department by means of the consistorium in the 
 several districts of the several circles of the Government. 
 Education is said to be more generally diffused in Prus- 
 sia than in any country in the world. 
 
 " Austria, capital Vienna, 300,000 population — very 
 luxurious and very licentious. No liberty of speech 
 because of the secret police, no liberty of press because 
 of the censorship. In a population of 23,000,000 of 
 souls about thirty newspapers. Austria has very lit tie 
 sea-coast; Trieste her only sea-port, properly speaking. 
 But she has an ample and fertile territory, and some of 
 the noblest rivers in the world. 
 
 " There are districts of great interest to the mineral- 
 ogist and geologist. The salt mines, not far from Cra- 
 cow, in Poland, and the quicksilver mines in Idria, in 
 the mountains at the head of the Sarc. 
 
 "Austria is justly considered the most despotic and 
 intolerant government in Europe. She does not encour- 
 age liberal education, but rather takes every means to 
 keep her people in ignorance. Prussia, in this respect, 
 has set Austria a noble example. Under the adminis- 
 tration of Stein and Hardenberg she created the peas- 
 antry real and independent land-holders, and instituted 
 universities, and supports them liberally. Yet the great 
 mass of the population in Austria is as contented as in 
 Prussia, except her Italian subjects. But they are con- 
 tented on different principles; namely, the enjoyment of 
 a great majority of the political arrangements which 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 67 
 
 benefit a country. The Austrian population is happy 
 because it is devoted to pleasure, and the fertility of 
 the soil is such as to prevent actual want; and they are 
 not concerned about the administration of the govern- 
 ment, in which they have no part. 
 
 " From these circumstances the Austrians are fond 
 of the fine arts and exhibitions which impart pleasure, 
 but can scarcely boast a single Austrian author of ce- 
 lebrity. They are passionately fond of music, operas, 
 dancing, theaters, etc. ; but they have no native com- 
 posers or performers of merit; and though all play on 
 many or even most instruments of music, they are 
 chiefly imitators, and perform well from practice. 
 
 " 1832. Monday, Jan. 30. — Yesterday morning I 
 preached in Georgetown to a good audience and saw 
 some of my old friends. 
 
 " Tuesday, Jan. 31. — Went to Alexandria to assist in 
 a missionary meeting of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 A pleasant meeting. 
 
 '* Wednesday, Feb. 1. — Called to see Bishop McKen- 
 dree at Mr. McKenney's, Georgetown, and found him 
 quite unwell. He is a venerable old man, full of days 
 and good fruits, and his end doubtless will be peace. 
 May it indeed be so." 
 
 He Gives His Estimate of Clay and Webster. 
 
 " Thursday and Friday, Feb. 2, 3.— Mr. Clay. I have 
 heard this gentleman on the great question of the Amer- 
 ican System, in the Senate of the United States. It is 
 allowed on all hands it was his master effort. I have 
 heard him with deep interest, and after careful reflec- 
 tion I must say he is not a finished orator according to 
 the rules. He has not the elegance, grace, and dignity 
 of action and speech which become his years, his rank 
 (senator), and the place in which he was speaking. 
 
08 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 Yet he is eloquent, very eloquent ; he has the power of 
 arresting the attention forcibly and detaining it irre- 
 sistibly, and this must be eloquence. He is very vehe- 
 ment at times: frequently pleasant, and sometimes too 
 low in his style, evidently evincing a disposition to 
 make himself agreeable to the superficial when he should 
 win the judgment of the profound. Upon the whole he 
 is a good parliamentary speaker, and well calculated to 
 be a leader of a party. He is a powerful man, a strong 
 intellect, but he has not the intellectual resources and 
 power of Webster. He has too much volatility to make 
 commanding and permanent impressions. 
 
 " As it regards Mr. Clay's policy in the American Sys- 
 tem, I must think his general principles correct; their 
 detads in the present tariff may be injudicious." 
 
 United States Senate, Feb. 0, 18.32. 
 " I heard Mr. Clay nearly three hours to-day on his 
 motion to reduce the revenue by taking off the duties on 
 imported articles. He didnotexcel himself to-day, though 
 he was able. I have no doubt but his policy is the true 
 interest of this country; yet he does not advocate it 
 always with becoming dignity. In speaking of his 
 willingness to reduce the revenue as low as any gentle- 
 man of tlie United States, he said: 'They shall not out- 
 brag me.' His references to sacred Scripture and sacred 
 subjects were not always happy nor always correct — 
 sometimes savored of profanity. For instance, he said 
 he would 'take his oath on the holy evanyelists of Al 
 'nihility God that General Smith (of Maryland) was an 
 enemy to the American System.' But the termination 
 of the session was a personal altercation between him- 
 self and Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith rose and said he could 
 unfold something, but would not be personal. Mr. Clay 
 called to him to speak out. Mr. Smith repeated the ex- 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 69 
 
 pression, he could but would not. Mr. Clay, with a great 
 <k :il of vehemence, said to him across the Senate cham- 
 ber: 'I dare you! I dare you!' 'Order! order!' from 
 several parts of t lie Chamber and from the Chair. 
 Senate immediately adjourned." 
 
 Daniel Webster. 
 
 " I called on Mr. Webster this morning. He was 
 affable, yet dignified. As my call was merely respect- 
 ful, our conversation was promiscuous and diversified. 
 
 '• There is something sui generis indeed in Mr. Web- 
 ster, and he does not seem to be insensible to it, as I 
 heard one of his friends remark that he (Mr. W.) on 
 being asked why his card was simply Mr. Webster, and 
 not Daniel Webster, in order to distinguish himself from 
 others of the name of Webster, answered: ' I am Mr. 
 Webster.'' Others, of course, might put their given 
 names on their cards; he need not. Mr. Adams's card is 
 simply 'Mr. Adams ' also, and probably for the same 
 reason. 
 
 " Several opportunities of hearing Mr. Webster and of 
 observing him have confirmed the opinion I had taken 
 up two years since; namely, that he is the most per- 
 fectly full and ripe man of this country. You cannot 
 hear him speak or be in his presence without feeling 
 that he is a superior intellect, every way exceeding his 
 fellows in strength and majesty of mind. 
 
 " Yet Heaven gives not every thing excellent to one 
 being. It was Mr. Webster's political fault or misfor- 
 tune to be too closely allied to the measures of the op- 
 position in Xew England to the last war; and this gave 
 his enemies a great advantage over him. 
 
 "Mr. Webster is justly considered the great bulwark 
 of our Federal Constitution, and I think it probable 
 that he may be more serviceable to the country in time 
 
10 
 
 JOHN' P. DURBIN. 
 
 to come than any man in it. I believe he is held in great 
 respect even by his political enemies, and every stranger 
 feels a curiosity to see Mr. Webster, and all who can 
 call on him. I could not but observe the great number 
 of visiting-cards stuck in his mantel glass of the must 
 distinguished personages in the country. The number 
 and respectability of visiting-cards which collect in one's 
 drawing-room may not be an incorrect measure of the 
 consideration in which he is held. I observed that 
 Chief Justice Marshall used no printed cards, but wrote 
 his name with a pen. 
 
 "Feb. 22, 1832. — To-day was one of the proudest 
 days of America. One hundred years have rolled away 
 since the birth of that greatest of men, George Wash- 
 ington. To celebrate this day in an appropriate man- 
 ner seemed to be the desire of the whole nation. A 
 joint committee from both Houses of our National Legis- 
 lature for the purpose of making arrangements for its 
 celebration directed divine service to be performed in 
 the Capitol. This was well done — wisely done; it will 
 be grateful to the nation ; we owed it to that God 
 whose special superintending providence guided and sup- 
 ported us through our Revolutionary struggle. The per- 
 formance of the service was left to the two chaplains. 
 It fell to my lot to preach. It was a heavy lot indeed. 
 Yet I determined to speak in honor of my Master. I 
 knew the rulers of the land would be there, and the 
 Supreme Court, and the bar; indeed, I never expect 
 again to see such an assembly; I therefore determined 
 to present the worship of God as a national obligation." 
 
 We copy the following from a paper of the period : 
 
 Outlines of a Discourse, 
 
 delivered at the request of both Houses of Congress, 
 in the hall of the House of Representatives of the United 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 71 
 
 States, on the Centennial Birthday of George "Washing- 
 ton, by the Rev. John P. Durbin. 
 
 " Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory and honor and 
 power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure 
 they are and were created." Rev. iv. 11. 
 
 The subject which the text presents immediately to 
 our consideration is the worship of God ; and our 
 appearance in this hall, by a joint resolution of both 
 Houses of our National Legislature, for the purpose of 
 divine service, clearly indicates how deeply the national 
 mind is impressed with its obligations to Heaven. Our 
 obligations to worship Jehovah are founded, mainly, on 
 his infinite excellence, our relations to him as his creat- 
 ures, and his benefits to us. 
 
 It is fairly to be inferred that the present service was 
 intended to recall, in some degree, our national obliga- 
 tions to God for his beneficent providence toward us as 
 exhibited in the events connected more or less inti- 
 mately with the person and actions of George Washing- 
 ton, whom we rightly call, under God, the lather of our 
 country. 
 
 It certainly was not intended that the present serv- 
 ices should partake in any degree of the nature of fun- 
 eral obsequies or of a eulogium on that illustrious man ; 
 but rather an offering of thanksgiving to our common 
 Lord for our chief national blessings, the possession 
 of which is so clearly referred to his agency by all who 
 bestow a moment's reflection on our history. 
 
 It would be a pleasing and profitable employment, 
 and might well consume an hour, to contemplate the 
 blessings we have received from God, in all their bear- 
 ings, as a cause of worship and gratitude to him. In 
 such an exercise each individual heart should burn with 
 devotion, which would be abundantly increased by con- 
 templating the innumerable benefits to mankind by the 
 wide diffusion and firm establishment of the light and 
 institutions of religion. 
 
 But as this is a national jubilee, I propose to contem- 
 plate a few of those national blessings which are of 
 national interest, and which ought to inspire the national 
 
12 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 mind with a sincere and permanent devotion to God. 
 It is scarcely possible to mention one of those which 
 may not, by a very little effort of faith, he referred 
 either prospectively or directly to that great man whose 
 centennial birthday we celebrate. 
 
 1. The settlement of a transatlantic population from 
 Europe on ihe shores of North America has commanded 
 the astonishment and awakened the admiration of the 
 whole civilized world. The causes which drove the 
 pilgrims from their homes in the Old World, the strongly- 
 marked providences which directed them to the New, 
 the unearthly fortitude with which they encountered 
 and endured the unparalleled perils and difficulties of 
 their novel situation, the high, holy, and apostolic piety 
 which marked their general character, all point out a 
 superintending, paternal, and almighty hand. 
 
 2. Passing over a wide chasm of time, from the land- 
 ing of the pilgrims to the commencement of the diffi- 
 culties between the colonies and the mother country, it 
 is impossible to contemplate the ascendant spirit of that 
 period without perfect astonishment and the deepest 
 conviction that it was awakened and sustained by the 
 special agency of our heavenly Father. This is a fact 
 of vast importance to virtue, to religion, and to our 
 country, and has been too generally overlooked. 
 
 It is impossible to account for the deep and ardent 
 spirit of liberty and patriotism which agitated every 
 American bosom at that period, from any existing 
 principles or elements, either on this side the Atlantic 
 or the other. 
 
 We can indeed readily find the immediate cause which 
 set fire to the match ; but we cannot find the origin of 
 those principles which oppression in the mother country 
 forced into action, except we look to the special agency 
 of Providence. 
 
 In other countries oppressions were felt more severe 
 and intolerable than those which pressed upon our 
 fathers, and occasional patriots, or bands of patriots, 
 appeared and struck for their country ; but the spirit 
 of virtuous freedom and well-regulated patriotism had 
 not gone through the land to sustain those friends of 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 73 
 
 mankind. In this respect the history of America is 
 ■without a parallel. The world has never seen, possibly 
 may never see again, so many distinct colonial govern- 
 ments lying through so many degrees, from Massachu- 
 setts to Georgia, having so many various interests, all 
 awake with Mich simultaneous impulse and resolution 
 to resist encroachments upon their liberties. 
 
 The uniformity and energy of this spirit of freedom 
 I could not even shadow forth, much less illustrate. 
 The only correct picture ever drawn or that can be 
 drawn is composed of the unexampled fortitude, hero- 
 ism, and devotion of the army and country. 
 
 3. The unexampled diversity of talent which was 
 associated in the direction of the action of the spirit of 
 liberty at thai period must also be referred to a special 
 providential agency, which prepared in anticipation the 
 materials for this astonishing revolution. It would not 
 require an American mind to be convinced, nor an 
 American tongue to declare, that the sun never shone 
 before nor since on such an a>sociation of patriotic 
 talent. 
 
 But amid all these elements which were engaged for 
 the civil redemption of mankind, and which had made 
 their first unconnected and unconcerted efforts, there 
 was one necessary agent wanting still — a master spirit 
 which could command the confidence of the whole, 
 concentrate their forces, or distribute them at pleasure. 
 All felt that this superior spirit was wanting, and all 
 looked around to discover him. Without management, 
 without the machinery of modern political decisions, 
 as if by revelation from Heaven, George Washington 
 stood forth that, spirit. Nearly six thousand years had 
 rolled away, and no such man, with such peculiar destiny, 
 had appeared. One hundred years have passed away 
 since, and such has not appeared a second time. 
 
 It is not so much my province to-day to illustrate his 
 personal excellencies as to show that he was the 
 peculiar gift of Heaven to us; the instrument by which 
 God gave us our national liberty and blessings. He is 
 not, therefore, so much an occasion of boasting or ex- 
 ultation as of gratitude to God, who raised him up and 
 
JOHN P. BUR BIN. 
 
 preserved him, and guided him through all that event- 
 ful era of our national parturition and infancy. From 
 this view of his character and destination by Heaven 
 his political sentiments and example should be held but 
 little less, if indeed less, than sacred by all American 
 citizens. 
 
 That he was the peculiar gift of God to us, and 
 his special servant, his history and actions sufficiently 
 show; that he was the special care of Heaven, inso- 
 much that we may say, in the language of a great man 
 on another occasion, he was immortal until his work 
 was done, his almost miraculous preservations attest. 
 
 4. His own mind seems to have been deeply impressed 
 with the same view of this subject ; so much so that all 
 his public papers, general orders, and private letters 
 during this period have constant and frequent reference 
 to a special superintending providence over himself and 
 our affairs. 
 
 His orders on the day after the surrender of York- 
 town closed as follows : "Divine service shall be per- 
 formed to-morrow in the different brigades and divis- 
 ions. The commander-in-chief recommends that all the 
 troops that are not upon duty do assist at it with a 
 serious deportment and that sensibility of heart which 
 the recollection of the surprising and particular inter- 
 position of Providence in our favor claims." 
 
 In his address to the governors of the different States 
 at the close of the war reference to a superintending 
 Providence is made no less than eight times. It closes 
 in these words: "It remains then to be my final and 
 only request that your Excellency will communicate 
 these sentiments to your Legislature at their next meet- 
 ing, and that they may be considered as the legacy of 
 one who has ardently wished, on all occasion*, to be 
 useful to his country, and who, even in the shade of 
 retirement, will not fail to implore the Divine bene- 
 diction upon it. 
 
 " I now make it my earnest prayer that God would 
 have you and the State over which you preside in his 
 holy protection ; that he would incline the hearts of the 
 citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedi- 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 75 
 
 ence to government ; to entertain a brotherly affection 
 and love for one another ; for their fellow-citizens of 
 the United States at large, and particularly for their 
 brethren who have served in the held; and, finally, 
 that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us 
 all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean our- 
 selves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper 
 of mind which were the characteristics of the divine 
 Author of our blessed religion, without an humble imi- 
 tation of whose example in these things we can never 
 hope to be a happy nation." 
 
 In his address which accompanied the resignation of 
 his command of the armies of the United States, which 
 took place at Annapolis, there is one paragraph which 
 cannot be read by an American without the deepest 
 emotion. It is this: "I consider it as an indispensable 
 duty to close this last solemn act of my official life by 
 commending the interests of our dearest country to the 
 protection of Almighty God, and those who have the 
 superintendence of them to his holy keeping." 
 
 Many instances of his devout and religious feeling 
 could be given; but surely these are sufficient to show 
 all American statesmen and patriots that the father of 
 our country always carried with him a profound respect 
 for the Christian religion, and considered a deep and 
 permanent sense of religious obligation a necessary 
 principle in every good citizen's character. These 
 quotations also will answer the anxious inquiries of 
 many heaits in regard to Washington's religious senti- 
 ments and feelings, and will place the recollection of 
 him and his deeds, if not in a higher, at least in a holier 
 shrine in the memory of his country. 
 
 5. As was to have been expected, the fruits of his 
 patriotism and that of his compatriots and countrymen, 
 under the special governance of God, have been indeed 
 national blessings. 
 
 They have been so abundant there is danger that our 
 hearts may become proud and forget the God of our 
 fathers. Yet scarcely are the fruits begun to be gath- 
 ered. The harvest is not ours only ; the world is reap- 
 ing, and shall reap largely from it. Our success under 
 
76 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIK 
 
 God has given a powerful impulse to the spirit of free- 
 Join and sent it abroad into the Old World. Nothing 
 can enchain it or lay it to rest but our political degrada- 
 tion and tall. If we stand the world is free. 
 
 6. The stability of our civil and political institutions 
 is desired by all the country. The all-absorbing inquiry 
 is, How can it be insured? A glance at this question 
 will close our discourse. 
 
 It is neither my will nor my province to allude to those 
 political measures which may affect our stability as a 
 nation. No; I have to refer to a higher and ulterior 
 cause, namely, the respect we pay as a nation to the rea- 
 sonable service and worship of God. 
 
 The theocracy and history of the Jews as developed 
 in the Old Testament completely establish one fact: 
 that a nation may fill up the measure of its iniquity as 
 well as an individual, and then God visits it with na- 
 tional calamities. The history of all the nations of the 
 earth which have fallen by great and dreadful evils 
 is a luminous commentary on this fundamental prin- 
 ciple. 
 
 The national morals, therefore, is a subject of vastly 
 more importance than particular political measures. 
 Because when these are sound no measures can be ab- 
 solutely fatal. But when the degradation of these 
 passes the limits of the forbearance of Jehovah, no 
 measures can save us from national ruin. 
 
 7. Finally, I hail the services of this day as an aus- 
 picious omen, to which the rulers of our land will do 
 well to take heed. They should recollect, also, that in 
 this, as in all other countries, the public morals take 
 more or less their complexion from the morals of the 
 government and rulers of the land. The subject of good 
 morals, which can be based on a proper influence of re- 
 ligion only, should be ever in their thoughts — should 
 occupy the thoughts of every good citizen. Let it en- 
 gage our earnest and constant prayers; so shall the 
 blessings of Heaven rest upon our country. The light 
 of our institutions shall illumine the political world, and 
 our national happiness become an irresistible example 
 to awaken the patriotism of all countries and bring to 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 the nations that state of national liberty which is to 
 precede the universal establishment of the kingdom of 
 peace. 
 
 Thus writes Professor Durbin in relation to this 
 effort : 
 
 '■ Surely a whole life-time will not he sufficient for me 
 to express my gratitude to God fortlie special and unex- 
 ampled aid he gave me on this occasion. Undismayed, 
 because I trusted in the living God to be able to glo- 
 rify him on this great occasion ; calm, collected, and 
 earnest, because I felt full conviction of the greatness 
 and goodness of my cause, I chose the subject which 
 would give me occasion to present these two great 
 truths: 1. A special superintending Providence pre- 
 pared the materials of our national existence and inde- 
 pendence, and made George Washington a special gift 
 to us, ami his peculiar servant to accomplish this great 
 work. 2. That our stability as a nation depends ulti- 
 mately on our national morals, which are intimately 
 connected with the reasonable and constant service of 
 God. 
 
 " Never did T see a more profoundly attentive as- 
 sembly. I iiope the effort will not be without its 
 fruits. I ask the blessing of Heaven upon it." 
 
 Yielding to the demand of this memorable occasion, 
 we have from Professor Durbin's own pen what seem 
 to be roords of the heart upon entering upon the duty, 
 his forceful expressions on the delivery of the discourse, 
 his evident conviction of the presence of a higher power 
 that gave calmness to his spirit and control to his 
 thoughts and energies, while he glows with gratitude 
 for the manifest results. 
 
 As we consider the outline of this discourse we 
 honor him in the choice of his theme, we admire the 
 train of his thought, commend the logical coherence of 
 
78 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 the parts, and mark the progress of his subject, and 
 clearly see what a climax the orator could secure. Who 
 feels not the force of his appeal to the mighty men 
 before him ? 
 
 But vain is any attempt to reproduce the power of his 
 culmination. He was one of the last of men to be judged 
 by the words he employed. There was so much in his 
 utterances besides the language used that his sentences 
 were inadequate as a conveyance. And we can as 
 readily paint the vivid lightning's flash when it dazes, 
 or show the rending bolt from the artillery of heaven 
 when it sunders the gnarled oak of a century or shiv- 
 ers the massive tower that has stood forages, as to hope 
 for any complete exhibition of the eloquence of Dur- 
 bin at a time like that, when patriotism made its strong- 
 est appeal — when before him sat the mightiest states- 
 men of the republic listening to a discourse that they 
 had invited on the mnn "first in peace, first in war, and 
 first in the hearts of his countrymen." Sense of duty 
 woke the mind and set the speaker's heart on fire, 
 when the heart threw its brightening flame on the in- 
 tellect, and love of God, more powerful than even that 
 of country, constrained the just recognition of the 
 Providence that, through our immortal Washington, 
 gave us our territory and our triumphs. None may 
 wonder that when he was at his intellectual and moral 
 height his magnetic eloquence awed and transported 
 that vast assembly. At the close of the discourse 
 John C. Calhoun approached him, shook his hand, and 
 said, "I advise you never to preach again," as this, he 
 assumed, could never be reproduced. Tlie same state- 
 ment is made by Governor Wickliffe, of Kentucky. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 79 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Persistent Student in Baltimore and 
 Washington. 
 
 IS it not proof of the greatness and the essential en- 
 ergy of a human mind when by no progress in 
 knowledge or achievement of skill it can be long sat- 
 isfied, but is ever reaching out for something beyond ? 
 Is it not evidence that that which is done is unequal to 
 the mind that did it, as "he that built the house is 
 greater than the house." God, that made the worlds, 
 is greater than the worlds he made. Nor can we con- 
 ceive of him as unemployed. And has it not been 
 a fact, through all the ages, that however long the 
 life and multiplied and brilliant its successes, the light 
 of all great minds has gone out in death while yet 
 there remained some work of supposed importance to 
 be accomplished ? Thus death is a perpetual nonplus. 
 He who is profoundest in wisdom, 
 
 " Dying, sighs to see how little lie has learned." 
 
 Why is this? Why these undying aspirations? 
 Why such fruitfulness in devising and ingenuity in 
 employing means for a higher end ? Shall we call it 
 mental instinct? Intellectual intuition? Is it that the 
 mind can find no proper rest but in labor? Is it that 
 man, made in the likeness of God, retains in his in- 
 tellect so much of the original impress that he still 
 feels the stirrings of that which is only less than the 
 infinite ? 
 
80 
 
 JOHN P. D IIRBIN. 
 
 Does the Author of our being thus speak within us in 
 relation to our faculties, as lie does without us in 
 regard to moral investments, saying, " Occupy till I 
 
 come ? " 
 
 As in our graces, so in all our endowments, we are to 
 "go on to perfection." This is the law of our being, 
 and He only may not obey it who is a law to himself as 
 the eternally perfect One. O. W. Hervey, Esq., related 
 to the writer a fact of which he avails himself as illus- 
 trative of the experience of one distinguished in his art. 
 " Soon after Thorwaldsen, the great Danish sculptor, 
 had finished his celebrated colossal statue of Christ for 
 a church in Copenhagen, a friend called at his studio 
 to see it. During the visit the sculptor remarked : 'I 
 think my faculties are failing.' ' Why do you so 
 judge?' asked the friend. 'Because,' replied Thor- 
 waldsen, ' with this statue I am satisfied. I can find no 
 fault with it. From this state of mind I infer my 
 ideal of perfection is decaying, for never before have I 
 been able to satisfy its demands.'" With the great 
 artist the creation is not equal to the conception. 
 
 The achievement that relaxes energy by the satis- 
 faction that it has given must always be regarded as a 
 misfortune for the future reputation. It prevents prog- 
 ress and precludes what was the possible ; but he 
 who studies our complex nature sees that even the 
 greatest minds are liable to impulses and habits that 
 interfere with the noblest designs and throw the in- 
 tellect off its guard. There are susceptibilities that 
 war with each other — as Paul found in his moral nature 
 the good and the bad, that made strife. There is in 
 him who has grand purposes the inert as well as the 
 vital — passion as truly as reason. Success may ener- 
 vate or energize. Powers from without exert them- 
 selves to exalt or depress. Adversity may dispirit, 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 81 
 
 criticism impair, adulation puff up, and wind may take 
 the place of nerve and muscle. There is no "pressing 
 toward the mark." The eye is taken oft*. The ardor is 
 cooled. Such can now "sacrifice unto their net and 
 burn incense unto their drag." Apathy, in its silent 
 encroachments, closes the keen vision of the intellect. 
 Mental obliquity has carried the man from the straight 
 line of duty upon which he entered, and when the di- 
 version is discovered the innovation has gone so far as 
 to set effort for recovery at defiance. If indolence enter 
 the mind it is a foe difficult to dispossess It is a strong 
 man armed with logic and proneness to self-indulgence. 
 Of the facts so presented, the ministry, as well as others, 
 have felt the influence. Candor makes the confession 
 and intelligence deplores the results. That praise or 
 blame should quench the ardor of a flaming herald of 
 the cross, that any thing should suppress the vigor of 
 one called of God to preach, might excite amazement. 
 But history is vocal. He who ceases effort at advance- 
 ment, at accomplishing more in mind and heart and 
 ministry, either from reputation gained or from appre- 
 hension that success is not within reach, makes a mis- 
 take that is little less than a sin against his nature and 
 his calling. He immolates his greatest self, or the most 
 of himself, in his undeveloped powers, upon an altar 
 whose sacrifices God always spurns. What follows? 
 Character is fixed. Improvement is at an end. Satis- 
 faction in what he has done, or faithlessness in Ins en- 
 dowments, has induced rest; but it is rest on the edge 
 of an anguish that future results will awaken. He that 
 does not advance declines. Were it only a rocket 
 none could expect more than that, when it exploded in 
 mid-air, by a law of gravitation what remained would 
 descend. But there are forces and tires in man that 
 remain to act as long as they are possessed. He is 
 7 
 
82 
 
 JOHX P. DURBIX. 
 
 kindled as a light to shine brighter and brighter to the 
 perfect day — that is, when all the beams of the intel- 
 lect give forth their effulgence. 
 
 When from any cause one concludes the acme is 
 reached, whether it is high or low, we look in vain for 
 close application. In five, ten, fifteen, twenty years, 
 are comprehended the mental labor of one who in age 
 reaches fifty or seventy years. It is soon remarked 
 that freshness of thought is gone and there is no fruit 
 of present study. The observant say, " He has gone 
 to seed." Has it not been seen that some who prom- 
 ised most have never risen above the reputation of the 
 first five years of their ministry? Why is this? Is it 
 so in secular professions? Is it so with a live lawyer — 
 with the worthy physician? Does not the scientist 
 grow ? Is it not of the nature of the mind to reveal 
 its powers when encouraged ? Is not advancement a 
 normal result of exercise? Shall the lines of Ovid 
 apply to the minister whose reputation is soon made: 
 
 "Succeeding years thy early fame destroy: 
 Thou who began'st a man, wilt end a boy ? " 
 
 This is not God's order. We grow from boys to men, 
 not from men to boys. It is as if the sun rose with 
 meridian splendor and at noon gave only the early 
 dawn. 
 
 Dr. Samuel Johnson has said that "the advance of the 
 human mind toward any object of laudable pursuit may 
 be compared to the progress of a body driven by a 
 blow. It moves for a time with great velocity and 
 vigor, but the force of the first impulse is perpetually 
 decreasing, and though it should encounter no obstacle 
 capable of quelling it by a sudden stop the resistance 
 of the medium through which it passes . . . will in a 
 short time . . . wholly overcome it. Some hinderances 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 83 
 
 will be found in every road of life, but he that fixes his 
 eye upon any thing at a distance necessarily loses sight 
 of all that fills up the intermediate space, and therefore 
 sets forward with alacrity and confidence, nor suspects 
 a thousand obstacles by which lie afterward finds his 
 passage embarrassed or obstructed/' 
 
 It was remarked of Hannibal that lie wanted nothing 
 to the completeness of his martial virtues, but "that 
 when he gained a victory he should know how to use it." 
 Nor is it less necessary to a great general that he should 
 be superior to a defeat. Commanders that are immor- 
 tal have snatched victory from the hand that had con- 
 quered. He is the great soldier whose courage rises and 
 whose skill improves from the adverse issue, and 
 achieves, by greater skill, the purpose of the conflict. 
 Thus, too, the faithful preacher who has left the pul- 
 pit for the day with a sunken spirit has returned to 
 witness the grandest moral conquest. 
 
 If early success in learning or in preaching would im- 
 pair his energy, few men have had such temptation as 
 we have seen in J. P. Durbin. He early rose to favor; 
 but it may be a question whether he was ever a more 
 persistent student or a more assiduous minister than 
 when the positions that he filled were best calculated to 
 satisfy a different nature. He resembled the general 
 who would deem nothing done while there remained 
 any thing undone. 
 
 That he had been invited by the pastor and trustees 
 of the Methodist church in Baltimore to spend three 
 months with them, preaching the word, was one of the 
 most convincing proofs of their estimate of his ability. 
 In no city of this land might Methodism boast a more 
 intelligent membership or a more efficient ministry. 
 He went there, not as an evangelist or revivalist, but as 
 an edifying and eloquent preacher who could build up 
 
84 
 
 JOH.V P. DUI.'DLV. 
 
 the Church and extend its influence. Three times dur- 
 ing the week, as well as on the Sabbath, he delivered 
 his powerful discourses. The numbers who crowded 
 to hear the word were immense, and the Lord helped 
 him mightily. 
 
 But the biographer who should overlook the use that 
 he made of his time while in Baltimore and Washington 
 would fail in seizing facts essential to the integrity of the 
 narrative. With work of such magnitude and responsi- 
 bility as that which engaged him in Baltimore, with 
 services in which the mind and heart took so dee}) an 
 interest, with successes such as crowned his efforts, with 
 the attentions and hospitalities that continually forced 
 themselves upon him from a people famed for their 
 entertainment of preachers, it might be supposed he 
 would be perfectly absorbed, and that any thing out- 
 side such interests and engagements could not be al- 
 lowed. But his record shows that he found time to 
 increase his scientific knowledge and to improve his 
 mind. Thus lie writes: "I attended lectures, or some 
 of them, in the University of Maryland medical depart- 
 ment, also mineralogical lectures in the department of 
 science." He adds : "I must here record my grateful 
 recognition of the gentlemanly professors who so kindly 
 proffered me their tickets gratuitously, but must be 
 more particular with regard to Dr. Cohen. He was not 
 only so kind as to admit me to his lectures, but to his 
 collection of minerals daily, and offered me his aid in 
 familiar and personal explanations. I can never forget 
 his friendly and gentlemanly conduct toward me, and I 
 felt this all the more acutely because he was a Jqw — a 
 child of Abraham in whom I have always felt especial 
 interest. He came once to hear me preach the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. I do sincerely hope that he may yet find 
 him to be the Hope of Israel." 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 85 
 
 Elsewhere Durbin says: "About this time I com- 
 menced reading lire's Geology a second time. I thick 
 him a man of great research — self-taught. His lan- 
 guage is strong, rather imperious, and sometimes severe." 
 
 Professor Durbin was no sciolist. The superficial did 
 not satisfy him, and dogmatism passed for no more than 
 its worth. His mind delved, grasped, and utilized. Ashe 
 had opportunity, he sought the reason of things. When 
 his own mental penetration and breadth were unequal to 
 the inquiry he bowed to a superior intelligence. He 
 could not brook the imperious of men, or think of being 
 " wise above what is written." He would illustrate the 
 fact that mental culture, moral growth, and spiritual 
 usefulness may co-exist and co-operate in the aggregated 
 influences of him who pleads for God and souls. 
 
 But if possible, we are more deeply impressed by 
 the tenacity with which, while in Washington, he ad- 
 hered to his habits of study and the success with which 
 he prosecuted his purpose to increase his knowledge 
 in science and literature. He who reads his convic- 
 tions of the possibilities of usefulness in the chaplaincy, 
 and observes his solicitude to accomplish all that was in 
 his power for the spiritual benefit of those who had 
 chosen him, will know that he neglected nothing that 
 would be profitable to them. He brought beaten oil 
 that would afford the best light to those he would guide. 
 No time was too long that this required. His sermons 
 before the great men of the nation were not perfunctory 
 deliverances. They were of vital thought — were living 
 words — often as "goads and as nails fastened." They 
 had sentences that were " swords piercing to the divid- 
 ing asunder of soul and spirit." Sermons they were 
 with facts and force which the most rebellious and ob- 
 durate might not readily resist. Of this an illustration 
 is furnished in the desire of the member from Balti- 
 
86 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 more. Cases of conscience might be submitted to him by 
 men in public life — cases requiring great skill and much 
 t hought for their adjustment. lie w ho keeps in mind what 
 there is in the national metropolis during Congress to dis- 
 tract and dissipate the mind — the demands of etiquette, 
 the calls of friends, the visits of persons from a distance, 
 the courtesies expected from him by ministers of his 
 own Church and of other Churches, the appeals made for 
 services in various places — these required the devotion 
 on his part of much time, and often awakened deep 
 sympathies which made sad inroads on his nervous sys- 
 tem, and demanded rest. Then a man of his capacity 
 and taste would often feel a deep interest in attending 
 Congress to hear great arguments and witness the effects. 
 It was, as we have seen, the days of Henry Clay, of Dan- 
 iel Webster, of John C. Calhoun. Besides these greater 
 lights there were other stars of acknowledged brilliancy. 
 He would naturally desire to see and enjoy their beams. 
 Of the care with which he heard the mightiest of them, 
 and the candor with which he judged of mind, of char- 
 acter, and of eloquence we may form some idea in the 
 expressions he gives of his estimate of Clay and of the 
 result <>f his call on Webster, and of the impression that 
 intercourse and hearing produced. lie was not more 
 reulhj a student of subjects than of men. 
 
 With such duties as we have named to engage a chap- 
 Iain, besides many of which we have no knowledge, we 
 would naturally say study outside his chaplaincy was im- 
 possible. Desultory reading must satisfy him. We would 
 be inclined to say "the thieves of time" are too many, 
 too active and artful, to allow more than this. He did 
 not permit them to invade the precinct of conscience and 
 rob it of its dictates. It told him to " redeem the time." 
 He did it. He that had learned to study by the back- 
 woodsman's fire, that secured mental serenity in the 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 61 
 
 room of the log-cabin with six or twelve of various ages 
 about him, with as much difference in the matter of dis- 
 cipline as there was in age, he who could under such cir- 
 cumstances reveal his intellectual and moral manhood 
 would not yield to the diversions and difficulties of study 
 in the city of Washington during a Congressional session. 
 He rose early, took exercise, attended to his devotions, 
 entered upon the public work of the day at half past 
 eleven o'clock, went to the duties of chaplain, then en- 
 tered the library of the Capitol, not to go from alcove 
 to alcove, from chapter to chapter, not from book to 
 book to open and shut it, to examine the table of con- 
 tents, and then assume knowledge of the author. But 
 he selected his book, and then, if necessary for his pur- 
 pose, read it " from end to end," or as much of it as his 
 reason for studying it induced. He was there as the 
 close, consecutive thinker, making progress in science, 
 broadening his acquaintance with the best English lit- 
 erature in the lines that lie perused. The record he 
 left speaks for the man. He did not, according to the 
 figure of Dr. Johnson, allow the "blow" that the mind 
 had received to send it " toward its object," to spend 
 its force till the end for which it was given was reached. 
 That end was his highest improvement and greatest 
 efficiency. He measured the distance, considered the 
 force, adopted the means, reached the end. In Wash- 
 ington he was the chaplain and the student. He secured 
 honor in both relations. 
 
88 
 
 JO UN P. hURBIN. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Editor of the " Christian Advocate and 
 Journal." 
 
 ON the 26th of May, 1832, Professor Durbin was 
 elected by the General Conference editor of the 
 Christian Advocate and Journal and Eton's Herald, 
 Youth's Instructor, Child's Magazine, and of Tracts and 
 Sunday-school Books. This was a remarkable evidence 
 of the confidence reposed in his literary ability and 
 adaptation to the place'. He was not then, nor had he 
 ever been, a member of the General Conference. He 
 was but thirty-two years old. He entered upon his la- 
 bors with a promptness and intellectual vigor that 
 showed his deep conviction of the importance of the 
 duties that his place imposed, and with a manifest pur- 
 pose to exert the proper influence of this great denomi- 
 national office. 
 
 July 27, 1832. In an article on the design and 
 progress of the Chartered Fund he urges the duty of 
 the people to save the pastor from perplexing care and 
 the obligation of the preacher to give himself wholly 
 to his work. He is to " give himself to reading that his 
 profiting may appear," as says the apostle ; and the 
 Discipline says the minister should give the morning to 
 rending, at least five hours in the day. If all preachers 
 would do this how differently would their performances 
 appear in the pulpit ! How clear, well arranged, and re- 
 freshing would be their discourses, and consequently 
 how their power and influence would be elevated and 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 89 
 
 extended in the community for good ! Then he urges 
 upon the people the importance of the fact that a studi- 
 ous man must have a study, must have many and vari- 
 ous books, and says, " few have the means." Then, as 
 through all his life, he considered the duty of the minis- 
 ter to seek by all the means in his power the culture in 
 mind, as well as grace in heart, to make him the greatest 
 power among his people. On Sept. 6, 1833, he writes 
 upon a subject ami expresses a judgment that is pleas- 
 ant to recall — the first Commencement of Wesleyan Uni- 
 versity at Middletown, which took place August 28, 
 1833. He says : " We were struck with the absence of 
 that excess of pomp and splendor, both in diction 
 and gesture, of the speakers, which is too common on 
 such occasions. Most of the sentiments in the compo- 
 sitions were elevated and just, and many of the para- 
 graphs were elegant and chaste. Their gesture was 
 sometimes very fine, often appropriate, rarely excessive. 
 President Fisk presided to the entire satisfaction, per- 
 haps I ought to say to the admiration, of the whole 
 assembly, and Professor Whedon's inaugural address 
 was very good, abounding with some new thoughts, 
 many new combinations of thought, and excellent reflec- 
 tions and inferences. Finally, we are assured that this 
 first Commencement of the Wesleyan University is, or 
 ought to be, a new era in its progress to complete suc- 
 cess." 
 
 On October 4, 1833, he records another fact that 
 goes with our history. This is the first visit of the 
 Christian Advocate and Journal to its subscribers from 
 the new building erected in Mulberry Street, between 
 Broome and Spring streets. New York, for the accom- 
 modation of the General Book Concern. He gives its 
 history in the issue of October 4, 1833. 
 
 December 6, 1833, he writes of the morality of the 
 
90 
 
 JOHN P. DURBLV. 
 
 theater, and says in his editorial, " The theater repre- 
 sents the highway to destruction, degradation, and 
 ruin, especially to youth." 
 
 The Sunday-school of the Church became an early 
 and a constant care, and he discussed the system of re- 
 wards and methods of instruction with a clearness and 
 candor that showed the attention he had given to the 
 work. He made weighty suggestions for its increase, 
 intelligence, and efficiency. Early in his editorship he 
 projected the publication of the Sunday-school Library, 
 and edited many of its earlier volumes. " This," 
 says Dr. Longking, " was a favorite enterprise with 
 him." 
 
 He gave the closest attention to our doctrines, econ- 
 omy, peculiarities, and, as far as need suggested, to 
 our administration. 
 
 The deep reverence that Dr. Durbin associated with 
 public worship, and the proprieties to be observed in re- 
 gard to attendance, show his exalted moral sense. Nor 
 are his suggestions to the preacher as to the proper 
 spirit of reproof to the people for delay and irreverence 
 of less value to him who is striving to do good, but 
 who by incaution may do harm. 
 
 He says : "There are those who seem to think that 
 the power of public religious services to do good was 
 considered too generally to rest almost wholly with the 
 preacher. Congregations calculate and prepare but 
 very little, it is to be feared, to enter into and sustain the 
 spirit and forms of public services. Hence but few are 
 serious, fewer still join reverently, devoutly, and uni- 
 formly in the public prayers, and many, at least too 
 many, make very little account of reaching the church 
 in time, and often leave it as soon as the service is 
 closed. Their object seems to be simply to hear the 
 sermon. They do not appear to enter themselves into 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 91 
 
 public services and take a suitable part in tbe worship 
 and praise of God. The deficiency can be remedied, 
 measurably, at least, by the prudent, firm, and affection- 
 ate conduct of the ministry. If they will on all suitable 
 occasions insist in proper manner, in a spirit of kindness 
 and respect, not of scolding or satire, upon the people's 
 being all quietly seated in the church before the time 
 of commencing the services, and in the same affection- 
 ate manner upon their remaining until dismissed, these 
 important points can be carried effectually." 
 
 In editorials of the Christian Advocate and Journal 
 of September 13, 1833, and October 25, 1833, we have 
 a calm, clear, and vigorous setting forth of the doctrine 
 of the "Witness of the Spirit" to our conversion, in 
 reply to an article in the Evangelist on "Premature 
 Hopes," in which the writer says, "The settlement of 
 our controversy with God is a business which respects 
 our whole past life." Dr. Durbin replies, " Surely, it is 
 unspeakably important that our hope be built upon a 
 rock, and that we have an assurance of an interest in 
 his favor ; our holiness as well as happiness is so con- 
 nected with it that neither can be stable or nourish 
 without it." lie sees the mind confused from the sub- 
 stitution of the word " hope " for " assurance." He says, 
 "The inspired writers never employ the word hope for 
 what is matter of experience and present possession. . . . 
 We Bee or know the things that are freely given to us 
 of God. Here substitution of the word 'hope' for the 
 word 'assurance' in relation to Christian experience 
 is not a matter of small moment ; it has the effect to 
 lower the standard of Christian experience ; to bring 
 into the Church a host of merely awakened sinners 
 and to weaken the springs and motives of holy obed- 
 ience. It is difficult to see how the fruits of the 
 spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, good- 
 
92 
 
 JOHN F. nun BIN. 
 
 ness, faith, can subsist in the soul without the 'Witness 
 of the Spirit.' " 
 
 In an editorial on " The Building up of the Church" 
 he remarks : 
 
 " Next to the conversion of souls the leading on of the 
 Church to the perfection of holiness should be the object 
 of the ministers of Christ. The honor of Christ, the 
 prosperity of the Church, and the happiness of indi- 
 viduals all require them to pursue this course. 
 
 "And here we may inquire why so little has been 
 done in reference to this object? It cannot be that 
 the necessity is not apparent. Look which way you 
 will, lukewarmness and the love of the world are pre- 
 vailing evils among Christians. From the evil roots 
 which remain in them every evil practice may spring 
 up, to the wounding of the cause of Christ, the grief of 
 the few truly pious, and the exultation of enemies. All 
 of which evils would be prevented by the perfection of 
 holiness. 
 
 " Why, then, we ask, has so little been done to perfect 
 the saints? To this we may answer, that little com- 
 paratively has been done to set the subject fully before 
 the Christian. The evils growing out of this neglect are 
 frequently felt, and almost as frequently palliated by 
 saving, 'That is human nature;' 'We do not expect 
 perfection here,' or something to the same effect. 
 
 " Sometimes, indeed, the duty of perfecting holiness is 
 asserted, but to little effect, while Christians are given 
 t<> understand that they cannot be perfectly holy in 
 this life (we speak only of moral holiness); nay, that 
 they can never rise above being carnal • sold under 
 sin while they remain in the body. 
 
 " Now we cannot think t hat the minister of the Gospel 
 does his duty while he asserts the duty of holiness but 
 offers no encouragement to expect it. Holiness can only 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 93 
 
 bo obtained by faith. If, therefore, we repress expec- 
 tation, we repress faith, or rather cut it up root and 
 branch, and induce a state of hike warmness as the nat- 
 ural result of our erroneous instruction. 
 
 "To such teachers we woidd put the following ques- 
 tions: Is not God infinitely well pleased that his 
 rational creatures should possess perfect moral holiness? 
 If this be his will is he not able to effect it? Mas he 
 not made provision in the Gospel for this very thing ? 
 Is not the blood of Christ efficient to cleanse from all 
 sin ? And is not the Holy Spirit able perfectly to re- 
 new us in the spirit and temper of our minds ? Would 
 it not be for the glory of God thus to renew and save 
 us 'i Indeed, we want but two points yielded (neither 
 of which can be denied) to enable us to infer this, the 
 possibility of holiness, with the utmost certainty; 
 namely, that it is his will that we should be practically 
 and perfectly holy, and that he has made provision for 
 this in the Gospel. But our presentobject is not so much 
 to prove the assertion as to ascertain why those who 
 believe it make so little use of it. One branch, at least, 
 of the Christian Church has been highly famed for the 
 last half century in having the doctrine of holiness, 
 both in precept and in promises relating to it, clearly 
 set before them. The great and good men whom God 
 has raised up among them have clearly explained and 
 powerfully proved tha doctrine of Christian perfection 
 or complete moral holiness. They have not only shown 
 this to be the doctrine of the Bible, but they have shown 
 also that the thing is attainable. Many have believed 
 the divine testimony and entered into the enjoyment of 
 this, the greatest of all blessings. A considerable number 
 at the present day can testify 'truly that they have fel- 
 lowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ,' 
 and that ' the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin.' 
 
04 
 
 JOHN P. DURE IN. 
 
 "But it is a serious question whether the number of 
 these bear a fair proportion to the instances of conver- 
 sion among us at the present day — that is, whether 
 these are increasing in the same ratio as conversions 
 are. In truth we must say they are not. . . . 
 
 " The standard of Christian holiness is not to be 
 taken from the creeds and writings of men, but from 
 the word of God. That commands us to love the Lord 
 our God with all the heart, soul, mind and strength, 
 and our neighbor as ourselves. Did we fulfill the former 
 of these commands we should devote ourselves, our 
 whole selves, our life and health, time and substance, 
 to the service of God; not in profession merely, but in 
 deed and and in truth. . . . 
 
 "Did we fulfill the latter there would be no war, no 
 oppression, no defaming or slandering one another, no 
 strife of tongues or angry disputations, nor any of those 
 passions which embroil society. . . . 
 
 " The views which the Scriptures give us of the per- 
 fection of holiness lead to the conclusion that it is a 
 distinct thing from what is commonly understood by 
 regeneration ; distinct, not in nature, but in degree and 
 in its completeness. This being the case, all who ob- 
 tain regeneration should be taught to seek that high 
 moral state of evangelical righteousness which the 
 Scriptures describe as the perfection of holiness. And 
 if they seek it with all their heart they shall obtain it. 
 For, 'if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to 
 forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unright- 
 eousness.' 
 
 "But how can this succeed without the aid of the 
 ministers? These must show the 'household of faith' 
 what is in this respect the hope of their calling, what 
 the length and breadth of the commandment, what is 
 implied in the provisions of the Gospel, and what the 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 95 
 
 character of the covenant of promise. Let a conviction 
 of remaining depths of depravity in the nature be 
 deeply fixed in their consciences, and let an earnest de- 
 sire after a full conformity to the will of God be pro- 
 duced within them. This will enable the minister to 
 point out the course and to 1 lead them like a flock.' He 
 must be as attentive to this branch of his work as to that 
 which goes before it ; and never till this is the case will 
 this work revive with power and appear in all its glory. 
 
 " Here is the great responsibility of the ministers of 
 Christ ; and yet here they most frequently fail, not, in- 
 deed, in respect to preaching this doctrine occasionally, 
 but in following it up in private as well as in public, in 
 introducing it into prayer-meetings, class-meetings, and 
 love-feasts. And here let me mention one thing more 
 which deserves the most serious attention of all minis- 
 ters, and that is the institution of meetings expressly 
 for this object. Till this is done little will be done to- 
 ward filling the earth with righteousness and peace. 
 While it is impossible for a number of Christians, how- 
 ever small, to meet together for this object without 
 being benefited, on the other hand, if no meetings are 
 instituted, this work, when it occasionally revives, will 
 be greatly limited and decline. Brethren, let us think 
 on these things." 
 
 As an exhibition of his desire to advance our minis- 
 try in learning and pulpit power we have an editorial 
 of July 18, 1834, giving his views on "An Educated 
 Ministry," and approving a "Theological Seminary." 
 And this at a time when even Bishop Hedding could 
 go no further than recommend a " Biblical Institute." 
 This was a long step, and at first a staggering one ; 
 others soon followed of greater steadiness. 
 
 Dr. Durbin says : " It is hoped the reader will not 
 be alarmed at the words which stand at the head of the 
 
96 
 
 JOHN P. DURDiy. 
 
 article. They are intended simply to open a very grave 
 ami weighty question for the consideration of the 
 Church. It is not intended to decide the question in 
 its details, but to present it for calm and prayerful ex- 
 amination. This is done the more cheerfully, and in 
 some degree in the discharge of our duty, because our 
 correspondence, conversations, and observations made 
 exclusively clearly develop the interesting fact that the 
 question of an educated ministry among us is occupy- 
 ing the thoughts, eliciting the attention of many of the 
 wisest, best, and most experienced both among the 
 preachers and the people. ... In order to consider 
 this question fairly it is necessary to divest ourselves 
 of our prejudices against theological seminaries as we 
 have been accustomed to see and understand them. 
 There was a time when these seminaries were chiefly 
 employed in educating young men for the ministry 
 merely as a profession, without proper regard to their 
 morals and evangelical piety. The profession was too 
 much a matter of calculation for subsistence, as the law 
 or medicine. But, in our opinion, most of these insti- 
 tutions have rapidly approximated the true and tenable 
 genius of an educated ministry, the grounds which we 
 ought to occupy if, upon calm reflection throughout the 
 Church and free exchange of opinions privately and 
 publicly, it should be deemed advisable to act in the 
 case. The grounds are these: 
 
 " 1. Let none be educated in view of the ministry but 
 such as are called of God to this work and approved by 
 the proper authorities. 
 
 " 2. Let the education be solid and useful, directly in 
 view of the work they are called to do. 
 
 " ;3. Let its extent and time consumed depend very 
 much upon the demand for laborers in the work and the 
 progress they have made." 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 97 
 
 Among the advantages lie gives are these: 
 
 "1. It would advance and establish the young minis- 
 ter's personal piety and deep rational devotion. 
 
 " 2. It would impart a moral and intellectual power 
 which cannot be derived in any other way. This is the 
 general rule ; of course there will be exceptions. 
 
 " o. Such an education would en-ible the ministry to 
 perform its pastoral duties much more successfully, to 
 fill our churches and retain our families — they go else- 
 where." 
 
 While editor, Durbin's literary taste, mental fur- 
 niture, Christian spirit, denominational loyalty, just 
 perceptions, and sound judgment made the paper a 
 means of intellectual and moral culture to the Church, 
 and a power in building up Christ's kingdom in the 
 world. 
 
 The Advocate was like eyes to the Church to over- 
 look her territory, to discover her opp >rtunities, to re- 
 veal her resources, to awaken her energy, to encourage 
 her hope, to broaden her sense of obligation, and to in- 
 spire the purest ambition for the grandest future. 
 
 Never were the doctrines and institutions of Method- 
 ism more sedulously guarded or vital piety more con- 
 sistently enforced. Dr. Durbin resigned this place to 
 fill the presidency of Dickinson College; duty seemed 
 to demand such action. 
 8 
 
98 
 
 JOILV P. DURBIX. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Presidency of Dickinson College. 
 
 THE war of the Revolution had hardly closed and 
 our independence been established before great 
 men in the nation, looking to the future of the country, 
 saw we had need of all the advantages that education 
 could give to enable us to meet the high demands of 
 the Providence that had strangely set us free. 
 
 The Pilgrim Fathers, with their religion, had sought 
 to establish education on the best basis. Harvard was 
 organized and did its work. Yale's influence was com- 
 manding. William and Mary gave advantages to the 
 youth; and Princeton, known as the "Log College," 
 had entered the field for needed service. But now 
 that independence was established several gentlemen 
 of high character determined to have a college west 
 of the Susquehanna River. Among tliese men were 
 the Hon. John Dickinson, whose name the college bears, 
 and who was then Governor of Pennsylvania; Dr. Ben- 
 jamin Rush, William Brigham, and others noted for 
 their public spirit and benevolence. A charter having 
 been obtained from the State the first meeting of the 
 Board of Trustees was held on the 15th of September, 
 1783. " The attention of the board was probably directed 
 to Dr. Nisbet, as a suitable person to lay the founda- 
 tion of the college, by Dr. Rush, who is believed to 
 have made his acquaintance during his residence in 
 Scotland." Dr. Nisbet was accordingly elected presi- 
 dent of Dickinson College on the 8th of April, 1784. 
 
MEMOIR. 99 
 
 The prospects of the college were gloomy enough, ex- 
 cept in the glowing imagination of its projectors. A 
 report was made to the board at the very time of Dr. 
 Nisbet's election which stated the total amount of the 
 funds of the college, including money, stocks, and 
 lands, to be £2,889, 12s. and Gd., Pennsylvania cur- 
 rency, I he productive portion of which yielded only 
 £130 per annum. The trustees relied for increase of 
 the funds upon the liberality of the public and of the 
 State Legislature, and yet they offered Dr. Nisbet a 
 salary of £250 sterling, a house rent free, and the pay- 
 ment of his expenses from Scotland to Carlisle. Dr. 
 Rush wrote to him repeatedly in pressing terms, mak- 
 ing the most unqualified promises, indulging the most 
 sanguine prophecies of success, and pledging the honor 
 and estates of the trustees for the payment of the obli- 
 gations. . . . Dr. Nisbet finally yielded. On the 23d 
 of April, 1785, he sailed from Greenock with his family 
 and landed in Philadelphia on the 9th of June follow- 
 ing. He reached Carlisle on the 4th of July and was 
 received with highest marks of respect. On the next 
 day he took the oath of office as president of Dickinson 
 College, and commenced his duties at once. ... "It 
 was a period of unvaried labors, constant anxiety, and 
 mortifying disappointments on his part." . . . Promises 
 failed, assurances of success did not avail. The country 
 languished for years after the close of the exhausting 
 and protracted war. The derangement of the commerce 
 and currency, and the prevailing scarcity, presented diffi- 
 culties for which the trustees were not responsible. They 
 who were disposed to be liberal toward the college 
 found themselves so embarrassed that they could neither 
 give money to its aid nor educate their sons in its halls. 
 Dr. Nisbet was grieved, depressed, and humiliated in 
 seeing the failure of the trustees and the people to sup- 
 
1(H) 
 
 JOHN P. DUMB1N. 
 
 port the institution as had been promised. He resigned 
 the presidency. It was not from apathy. It was tliat 
 they had been incautious in the steps they had taken, 
 and had raised false hopes in one who did not so well 
 know the condition of the country as they who invited 
 him were supposed to know it. 
 
 Dr. Nisbet was a man of exalted reputation. He 
 had graduated in the ministry at Edinburgh, had re- 
 mained six years in Divinity Hall, and had filled po- 
 sitions of high responsibility as a preacher. In 1767 
 Dr. Witherspoon applied to him to permit his name to 
 be presented among the candidates lor the presidency 
 of Princeton College. He was regarded as among the 
 most learned men in Scotland. He was a hard student, 
 and was called the " walking library," and his memory 
 bordered on the prodigious. The late Dr. Samuel 
 Miller, of Princeton, says, " He was one of the most 
 learned men of his day." After Dr. Nisbet, in 1804, 
 Dr. Robert Davidson was elected. Then followed, in 
 the order named, Dr. Jeremiah Atwater, Dr. John 
 McKnighr, Dr. John M. Mason, Dr. William Neil, and 
 Dr. Samuel B. How. 
 
 President after president came to the chair, and every 
 one to witness the failure of his hopes. The institu- 
 tion did grand work for those who entered it. It grad- 
 uated some of the first men of the country. There 
 James Buchanan, late President of the United States, 
 graduated, and it was the Alma Mater of Chief Justice 
 Taney. 
 
 In December, 1821, Dickinson, that had entirely sus- 
 pended for several years, received as its president that 
 princely preacher, Dr. John M. Mason. As a scholar, 
 teacher, and divine he had great influence among the 
 first men of the nation. He had been the intimate 
 friend of Alexander Hamilton, and delivered a famous 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 101 
 
 address at his funeral. On going to Carlisle, Dr. Mason 
 took with him as students some of the most promising 
 young men of the country, among "whom were the late 
 Dr. George W. Bethune, Drs. Morris, Erskine Mason, 
 Bishop McCroskey. 
 
 lie had an able faculty, and the college enjoyed the 
 labors of that brilliant genius and eloquent preacher, 
 Dr. Alexander McClelland. Despite the erudition and 
 eloquence of Dr. Mason, despite his reputation as a 
 great preacher and the encouraging patronage that his 
 presidency secured, despite the cherished hopes, distin- 
 guished talent, and earnest effort of the faculty, the 
 institution failed, and in 1824 Dr. Mason resigned his 
 place. The trustees elected as his successor Dr. William 
 Neil, of Philadelphia. Dr. Mason congratulated them 
 in procuring "a gentleman of such standing." For 
 eight years Dr. Neil filled his position with scholarship 
 and personal dignity; but, failing in his purposes and 
 plans, lie resigned his place. 
 
 Under such circumstances and with such a history of 
 the college, Dickinson was offered to the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. Bishop Emory was residing within 
 the bounds of the Baltimore Conference, and he, with 
 the Rev. Alfred Griffith, took such steps as resulted in 
 the acceptance of the offer. To the memory of Bishop 
 Emory the Church and the ministry owe a debt of 
 gratitude that time may not repay ; himself a very schol- 
 arly man in Methodism, it was his effort to raise the 
 standard of ministerial qualifications, and afford to the 
 Church the advantages of college education. On reach- 
 ing the episcopacy, at the early age of forty-four, he 
 turned liis attention to preparing a Course of Study for 
 Candidates to the Minist ry. He soon after issued a small 
 volume, entitled One Hundred Questions on the Bible, 
 a work which necessitated research, and burned its way 
 
102 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 into the memory of many a man, and of which the 
 writer has a vivid recollection. In the future of Dick- 
 inson and of Dr. Durbin we see his hand and feel his 
 power. In the brief space of four years in the episco- 
 pate he left his intellectual impress, never to be effaced. 
 
 In the Christian Advocate and Journal of November 
 15, 1833, Dr. Durbin wrote of Dickinson College, 
 " This is the oldest college in the State except the uni- 
 versity at Philadelphia, and has received liberal appro- 
 priations from the legislature at different times. From 
 various causes the board found it necessary to close 
 the institution and the faculty was dissolved. The 
 building is an extensive and durable stone edifice, with 
 ten acres of ground, situated in one of the healthiest and 
 most beautiful towns of Pennsylvania, with a popula- 
 tion of three thousand persons, the morals, manners, and 
 intelligence of whom are very favorable to a literary 
 institution. The Baltimore and Philadelphia Confer- 
 ences propose to endow the college with permanent 
 funds for its benefit." Dr. Durbin and Dr. Holdich 
 were appointed to prepare an address in behalf of 
 Dickinson College. They saw " no insurmountable 
 difficulty to its prosperity " in the fact that Middletown 
 University was commenced; "no reason why a college 
 should not flourish at Carlisle." 
 
 Again he writes of Dickinson College in the Chris- 
 tian Advocate and Journal, April 4, 1834, "In one 
 hour in the Baltimore Conference there was subscribed 
 $12,000. This is an indication of vast importance. It 
 is characteristic of the true spirit and enterprise of 
 Methodist preachers in any cause which they think .con- 
 tributes to the glory of God and the conversion of the 
 world. There is scarcely such a body on the earth as 
 a Methodist Conference. Dr. Durbin was present, 
 Bishop Andrew presided, and Bishop Emory was with 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 103 
 
 him. The entire subscription in favor of Dickinson 
 College in both Conferences amounted to about $30,000. 
 About as much more is wanted in order to meet the 
 resolution on which the college is to be opened." 
 
 The following is an interesting and eloquent record 
 of the strong men in Methodism associated with Dick- 
 inson College when it came under our control. The 
 Board of Trustees were: 
 
 Hon. John McLean, Judge Supreme Court, United States. 
 Rev. John Emory, D.U., Bishop Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 Ex officio. 
 
 Rev. S. G. Roszel, Baltimore. 
 
 Rev. Joseph Ly brand, Wilmington. 
 
 Rev. Alfred Griffith, Baltimore. 
 
 Rev. Job Guest, Carlisle. 
 
 Dr. Theodore Myers, Carlisle. 
 
 Dr. Samuel Baker, M.D., Professor 
 Materia Med. University, Md. 
 
 John Phillips, Carlisle. 
 
 Dr. Ira Day, Mechanicsburg. 
 
 Dr. Thomas Sewall, Professor Co- 
 lumbian College, Washington. 
 
 Sam'l Harvey, Esq., Germantown. 
 
 Henry Antez, Esq., Harrisburg. 
 
 Dr. J. M. Keagy, Philadelphia. 
 
 John Davies, Esq., Harrisburg. 
 
 Dr. Matthew Anderson, Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
 Richard Benson, Esq., Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
 Henry nicks, Esq.. Wilmington. 
 George W. Noble, Esq., Attorney- 
 at-La\v, Baltimore. 
 
 Dr. S. H. Higgins, Wilmington. 
 
 Charles A. Warrield, Williams- 
 port, Md. 
 
 Dr. James Roberts, Harrisburg. 
 
 James Dunlop, Esq., Chambers- 
 burg. 
 
 Benjamin Matthias, Esq., Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 Charles McClure, Esq., Attorney, 
 Carlisle. 
 
 Samuel Parker, A.M., Esq., Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 William M. Biddle, Esq., Attorney, 
 Carlisle. 
 
 Thomas A. Budd, Esq., Attorney, 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 Dr. Thomas E. Bond, Bahimore, 
 and J. B. Longacre, Esq., Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 Rev. J. P. Durbin, A.M. 
 
 Hon. John Read, Law Professor, 
 Carlisle. 
 
 Under this organization of the college Dr. John P. 
 Durbin was, by a " unanimous and enthusiastic vote," 
 elected president. 
 
 On July 18, 1834, Dr. Durbin resigned the editorship 
 of the Christian Advocate and Journal to fill the presi- 
 
104 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 dency of the college, being profoundly impressed with 
 the need of the institution to Methodism. It is just to 
 history to remark, that as editor his salary was only 
 $1,200, and Dr. Durbin said he was unable to live on it. 
 When complaint is made of the high salaries of some 
 of our most distinguished preachers and officers in the 
 Church, it were well to ask if any in our ministry lose 
 more financially than do those whose talents elsewhere 
 would secure them double the support they receive. 
 
 If it is instructive and salutary to watch the progress 
 of mind in its struggle upward to the goal, it should 
 not yield less interest and pleasure to witness its 
 achievements when it has attained the place for the 
 full exhibition of its powers and skill: to know that 
 past efforts are rewarded by the greatness of present 
 results. 
 
 Dr. Durbin was now in a most responsible, not to say 
 critical, position. He was but thirty-four years old. 
 Dickinson was among the earliest of our colleges. With 
 us they had not been popular. This institution, with 
 ablest men, had failed under the great Presbyterian 
 body. Dr. Durbin, though a graduate, was a Methodist 
 preacher ; his training had been in the itinerancy, and 
 for such a man under the circumstances to expect 
 success shows no little faith and determination. It re- 
 quired a great heart and uncommon capabilities to en- 
 gage with wisdom in this work. But he at once showed 
 himself master of the situation. He was remarkable for 
 his knowledge of men, as is shown by the character of 
 those whom he secured for the various chairs of the in- 
 stitution. 
 
 At the beginning of his presidency Robert Emory 
 was elected professor of ancient languages. He had 
 graduated at Columbia College, New York, with the 
 first honors, and perhaps no man of his age in our his- 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 105 
 
 tory was of greater weight and worth than this honored 
 son of Bishop Emory. He was elected president when 
 Dr. Durbin resigned. Rev. John McClintock, who was 
 a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, was 
 elected professor of mathematics, and it was said his 
 education fitted him for any chair in the college. Will- 
 iam H. Allen, graduate of Bowdoin, who was subse- 
 quently and for many years the distinguished president 
 of Girard College, was called to the chair of chemistry 
 and natural history. Merritt Caldwell, also a graduate 
 of Bowdoin, was professor of metaphysics and political 
 economy. He was also a most successful teacher of 
 elocution. Who will wonder that with such a faculty 
 Dickinson College at once obtained influence and sup- 
 port? The sagacity of the president was as manifest 
 in the conduct of the institution as in the selection of 
 men. By his prudence and suavity he maintained disci- 
 pline, as he imparted to the students a self-respect that 
 was a glory to Dickinson. Sympathy on the part of the 
 patronizing Conferences induced many of the ministers 
 to subscribe for its pecuniary needs, and in every way 
 the president sought the improvement of* its finances. 
 
 Notwithstanding the prejudice existing in many minds 
 at that day against colleges Dr. Durbin obtained an an- 
 nual collection throughout the patronizing Conferences, 
 and secured the appointment of Charles Pitman and Ed- 
 mund S.Janes as agents for the Philadelphia, and Stephen 
 G. Roszel and John A. Collins for the Baltimore Confer- 
 ence, to travel through the bounds of the Conferences 
 and obtain subscriptions to aid the rejuvenated institu- 
 tion. Ministers of the best talent and in great demand 
 by the strongest churches were secured to help the col- 
 lege. To do this required no little influence on the part 
 of the president. He appealed to the legislature of 
 Pennsylvania and received from year to year an appro- 
 
106 
 
 J GUN P. DURBIN. 
 
 priation of $1,000. Members of Conference sometimes 
 said the president of Dickinson did not know their 
 trials. Once he replied, " If the brother thinks I know 
 nothing of the difficulties of his life I shall be pleased 
 to exchange notes with him on ministerial privations." 
 To Dickinson College Dr. Durbin gave eleven of what 
 he called the best years of his life; and while through 
 its entire history it has done noble work for the Church 
 its friends fail not to recall the days of his connection 
 with it as a palmy period. 
 
 Some of the first scholars and most eloquent ministers 
 of our Church came from Dickinson during Durbin's ad- 
 ministration. Not to name laymen that have made their 
 impress at the bar or on the bench, in the American Con- 
 gress, in different professions and positions, the Church 
 can boast in the pulpit the names of Rev. T. V. Moore; 
 of Bishop Bowman; of the late Bishop Cummins, of the 
 Reformed Episcopal Church ; of Dr. Charles F. Deems, 
 and Dr. George R. Crooks. After eight years of con- 
 finement to college duties Dr. Durbin deemed it desira- 
 ble to have relief from his cares, and also leisure to 
 increase the stores of his knowledge by travel. 
 
 While president of Dickinson College Dr. Durbin 
 had the great sorrow of burying his wife, the mother of 
 all his children. She was a lady of great modesty and 
 merit. 
 
 To those who have long felt so deep an interest in 
 Dickinson College, and who made contributions to its 
 meager means in its earliest struggles, it affords no 
 common delight to know that within the last few years, 
 besides raising the standard of education and sending 
 forth some of the largest classes in its history, it has 
 made so great an advance in its material means and in- 
 creased its facilities to the high purpose of its origin. 
 Within the last sixteen years, under the presidency of 
 
MEMOIR. 107 
 
 Rev. J. A. McCauley, D.D., there have been added 
 three new buildings: 
 
 Memorial Library Hall, Scientific Building and Gymna- 
 sium $120,550 75 
 
 Repair of old buildings 17,87181 
 
 $138,422 56 
 
 Increaso of Permanent Endowment from 1872-1888 
 
 about 103,000 00 
 
 Total additions $241,422 56 
 
 The Church may justly felicitate herself in the fact 
 that Dickinson College, though starting with means so 
 limited, received such an impulse and inspiration as 
 well as character under the young Durbin that for 
 more than fifty-four years it has been accomplishing 
 its appropriate work. That our first colleges should 
 have been so distinguished by the men placed over 
 them might well awaken wonder. We have noted the 
 remarkable faculty of Augusta in the South. In the 
 North, Wesleyan University had Wilbur Fisk as first 
 president, who deserved, as he received, the highest 
 honors. To Dickinson was given John P. Durbin, who 
 filled the presidency with an efficiency and success that 
 might be a marvel. When Fisk died came Stephen 
 Olin for the Wesleyan, and when Durbin resigned 
 Robert Emory took his place. If in our first efforts 
 at higher education it seemed as though Providence 
 frowned on our purpose, allowing our property once 
 and again to be destroyed; now once and again, and 
 again at a later period, it looked as if Providence was 
 full of benignity in giving us the men that were equal 
 to their high responsibility. 
 
 The following are the presidents of Dickinson since 
 the college came into the hands of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church : 
 
1()8 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 Dr. John P. Durbin in 1833; Dr. Robert Emory in 
 1845; Dr. Jesse T. Peck in 1848; Dr. Charles Collins 
 in 1852; Dr. Herman M. Johnson in 1860; Dr. Robert 
 L. Dashiell in 1868; Dr. James A. McCauley in 1872. 
 Dr. McCauley served a longer term than any of his 
 predecessors. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 109 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Travels in Europe and the East. 
 
 AFTER filling the presidency of Dickinson College for 
 about eight years Dr. Durbin indulged the wish 
 that he had long cherished, to go abroad. The period 
 of his service in Dickinson had been marked by care 
 and labor that no one not familiar with the facts can 
 adequately judge. His attractions as a preacher caused 
 him to be sought on great occasions and in every 
 direction. The sermons that he then preached were a 
 heavy tax upon his nervous system; while to increase the 
 financial resources of the college, to extend its patron- 
 age, and to secure the most exalted reputation to the 
 institution were his perpetual ambition and effort. His 
 vacations could hardly be called seasons of rest. Then, 
 as at other times, he was devising means and executing 
 plans to accomplish the high purpose of the Church in 
 this, one of her first colleges. No power that he pos- 
 sessed, no time that he could command, was withheld 
 from this service. 
 
 For years he suffered from his throat in such a way 
 as to demand daily attention. A desire of relaxation 
 was both natural and proper. But, apart from the 
 need of rest and recuperation, he had a wish to increase 
 his knowledge through the observation and intercourse 
 of foreign travel. As a tourist he went not merely 
 for pleasure and health, but for intellectual profit. 
 And in this, as in other matters in which he engaged, 
 he applied himself to the end he sought. He was as 
 
1 10 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 really the student abroad as at home ; the difference 
 was in the direction of his faculties. The customs, 
 civilizations, governments, systems of education and re- 
 ligion, the fine arts, sciences, the spirit, the manners of 
 the people where he traveled, all entered into his calcu- 
 lations when he went abroad. Alexander was accus- 
 tomed to say, " He had discovered more with his eyes 
 than other kings comprehended in their thoughts." 
 Thus he spoke of his travels. Lord Bacon remarks : 
 " When a traveler returneth home, let him not leave 
 the countries where he has traveled altogether behind 
 him." 
 
 In 1844 Dr. Durbin published his Observations in 
 Europe, principally in France and Great Britain (2 vols. 
 1*2 mo). Shortly after this he gave to the press his Ob- 
 servations in the East, in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and 
 Asia Minor (2 vols., 12mo). The Harper Brothers 
 were his publishers. 
 
 No fitter title could have been chosen for these 
 works. They were emphatically and pre-eminently 
 "observations" on what he saw, on what he studied, 
 and on what impressed him. They are the " observa- 
 tions " of a man of fine culture and in mature life; of 
 one who in every place was accustomed to observe. 
 They are also the " observations " of a man of calmness, 
 candor, and sagacity; of a tourist who takes nothing on 
 trust where his opportunity and capability enable him 
 to judge for himself; one who will dare to differ from 
 any supposed authority when his own investigation 
 leads to an adverse conclusion. 
 
 Such are the works of travels that an inquiring mind 
 should seek. It will be found that, while in these vol- 
 umes much is brought before the reader that others 
 have presented, it is sometimes in aspects and with 
 reasonings that give him a claim to special attention. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 Ill 
 
 In these works there is an excellence of style, a fasci- 
 nation of narration, a philosophic breadth and vigor 
 of statement that commend them to the inquiring and 
 intelligent reader. 
 
 On leaving the country Dr. Durbin writes: "At two 
 o'clock on the afternoon of April 27, 1842, we cast off 
 the cables of our steam-tug in the Narrows and spread 
 all our canvas to a stiff breeze. In a few hours our 
 noble ship. Ville de Lyon, was plunging her bows into 
 the waves looking directly toward beautiful France. 
 The city of New York had vanished in the distance; 
 the Highlands of Navesink disappeared with the set- 
 ting sun ; and at this last glimpse of my country I 
 awoke to the assurance that I was about to accomplish 
 my ardent and long cherished desire of visiting the 
 Old World, whose history had inspired my young 
 heart with a restless longing to behold the scenes of 
 so many great achievements. 
 
 " We sat down to our first dinner at sea full of life 
 and gayety. I need not tell the reader what a change 
 came over the spirit of our company when our gallant 
 vessel began to mount the waves and descend from their 
 crests into depths from which the inexperienced pas- 
 senger felt an involuntary apprehension she could never 
 rise again. Laughing eyes became mournful enough, 
 and jolly faces were lengthened into dolorous visages 
 as one by one my companions sought the sides of the 
 ship and looked wistfully into the sea. Inexorable 
 Neptune demanded his accustomed tribute. One of 
 my young friends obeyed at one gangway, while Pro- 
 fessor L answered at the other. My time came 
 
 late, but alas ! when once arrived it never departed. 
 I shall never make a snilor. There was a little coterie 
 of Frenchmen and women aboard whose mercurial tem- 
 perament was proof against seasickness, and expended 
 
] 1-' 
 
 JOHN P. DURBLV. 
 
 itself in laughing, dancing, and every form of merry- 
 making. I envied them most heartily." 
 
 After this vivid and facetious sketch of some of his 
 experiences in the voyage he lands at Havre on the 19th 
 of May. We soon find him in the magnificent cathe- 
 dral at Rouen, and have his graphic description of its 
 interior. " Let us enter the gloomy Gothic pile. Our 
 sensations are indescribable. It is not admiration ; it is 
 not the religious sentiment, hut a strange astonishment, 
 not unmingled with awe, yet certainly not akin to rev- 
 erence. The long ranges of lofty pillars ; the countless 
 sharp Gothic arches ; the numerous chapels on either 
 side, adorned with pictures and statuary, frequently 
 with candles burning before the image of the Virgin 
 with the infant Jesus in her arms, all seen in a flood of 
 light poured into the church through more than a hun- 
 dred windows, whose glass is stained with every shade 
 of color, from fiery red to the soft tints fading into 
 white, until nave, and choir, and aisles seem magically 
 illuminated; the silence that reigns in the vast space, 
 broken only by the occasional footfall of a priest, in 
 his long black robe, flitting along the nave, or entering 
 one of the numerous confessionals followed by a peni- 
 tent ; with here and there the form of an aged and de- 
 crepit female kneeling in superstitious reverence before 
 some favorite image ; all taken together overpower the 
 eye and the mind of the Protestant traveler unaccus- 
 tomed to such scenes with strange impressions and op- 
 pressive feelings; and he retires from his first visit 
 confused and astonished." 
 
 But the aisthetic taste that here shows itself makes not 
 so strong an appeal to our admiration as the tenderness 
 of his spirit when respecting the request of a bereaved 
 heart. He says : " When I was leaving home a wid- 
 owed friend had requested me to find out the grave of 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 113 
 
 her youthful husband, who died a stranger in Paris, 
 and bring her back a rose, a flower, or a spire of grass 
 from his resting-place. I promised her to do so; and 
 looked for the English quarter of the cemetery, nat- 
 urally supposing tiiat I should find the tomb of the 
 American stranger among those of his fatherland. 
 Tliere were many noble English names, but none of 
 historical celebrity, and we passed them rapidly by, 
 until at last one of my companions cast his eye upon 
 a group of neat, plain tombs, and saw 'Baltimore,' 
 'Philadelphia,' ' New Jersey.' Here I soon found the 
 tomb for which I had been in search, by the inscrip- 
 tion, ' W W. M , counselor and advocate at the 
 
 bar of New Jersey in the United States of America, 
 died in Paris, July 24, 1825, aged twenty-nine years.' 
 A vigorous maple is springing at the head of the tomb 
 and will completely overshadow it. I plucked some 
 tender leaves and spires of grass (no rose or flower was 
 there) to convey to his widow and orphans at home; 
 wreathed round tlie urn with ray own hands a rich 
 green garland from the boughs which shaded it ; went 
 on my way with sadness and returned from this city of 
 the dead to the busy abodes of the living within the 
 walls of Paris." What could better show the man of 
 sensibility ? lie offers remarks also on the battle of 
 Waterloo so minute, comprehensive and forcible as to 
 suggest a war critic. He noticed the facts of Method- 
 ism in England and Ireland; and his descriptions show 
 that he felt the disabilities under which it then labored. 
 
 Geneva was to him full of interest and suggestion. 
 He dwells upon its history in a "religious point of 
 view," and deplores the moral decline that it had long 
 shown, but extols the work of Mr. Robert Haldane 
 about the year 1S1G, when he invited a number of 
 students of the theological seminary to meet him at his 
 9 
 
114 
 
 JOUX r. DCRBIX. 
 
 rooms in the hotel. . . . "About a dozen of the young 
 men were awakened, enlightened, and turned to God 
 with all their hearts. Among these were Dr. Malan, 
 Felix-Neff, Mr. Henry Pyt, and Dr. Merle d'Aubigne. 
 This was the commencement of the second Reformation 
 in Geneva." He says : "It bears some resemblance to 
 the origin of Methodism in the Church of England, and 
 lias the same object in view — that is, a revival of piety 
 and sound doctrine in the State Church of Geneva, among 
 the Protestants of France, Belgium, and Holland, and a 
 more general diffusion of vital Protestant Christianity. 
 Like Mr. Wesley and his associates, these first children 
 of the second Reformation became children of Provi- 
 dence, and followed its openings. Part of them formed 
 themselves into an evangelical society to labor for the 
 advancement of the kingdom of God, 
 
 " 1. By teaching theology, for which purpose they 
 have instituted a theological seminary at Montauban, in 
 France. 2. By popular exposition of Scripture, for 
 which ministers, but particularly traveling evangelists, 
 are employed. 3. For the distribution of the Script- 
 ures and of tracts and religious books, either by gift, 
 loan, or sale. This society was instituted in 1831." 
 
 Dr. Durbin was not less an American for his tour in 
 England. Nor does he fail to charge upon Alison's 
 History of Europe the injustice done us in his chapter 
 on our country. But he sees in the true sentiment of 
 the intelligent in both Europe and our own land that 
 which justly binds us closely together. 
 
 Dr. Durbin as a tourist in the East had much to en- 
 gage his talent Cor observation and to gratify his taste 
 as a Bible student. He went as a Christian minister, 
 and devotion mingled with inquiry. An intelligent 
 tourist in Palestine on his return to this country said : 
 " The Holy Land was to him like a fifth gospel." Not 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 115 
 
 less did it impart added power to Dr. Durbin. There 
 were "sermons in stones, and good in every thing." 
 
 We may gi\e a short description of his approach to 
 Alexandria: "On the morning of the 5th ot' January, 
 as the sun struggled up through the clouds which pressed 
 down heavily on the sea, the low coast of Egypt showed 
 its sand swells to the east of the Pharos, or lighthouse 
 of Alexandria, and in the course of an hour the fort 
 and indented sand coast became visible to the West. 
 The sea was exceedingly high, and the pilot-boat h:id 
 much d fficulty in getting to windward so as to give us 
 the direction of the narrow channel between the shore 
 and the breakers which extend westward from the light- 
 house. But having once got our bearings our gallant 
 steamer moved into the deep, safe harbor, and touk her 
 station amid the fleet of merchantmen and Egyptian 
 ships of war." 
 
 We see him at the pyramids. "But what a sight is 
 that from the top of Cheops ! The world has nothing 
 like it. To the east is the Arabian desert, boundless 
 and desolate like a sea ; while westward stretches that 
 of Libya, without a green spot, far away to the horizon's 
 verge; in the south appears the valley of the Nile, like 
 n thread of green earth lying on an ocean of sand, and 
 the pyramids of Abukir, Sakkara, and Dashur tower- 
 ing up in succession to the skies. Turning northward 
 your eye rests upon the widespread Delta in the dis- 
 tance, and nearer, in the north-east, upon the lone obe- 
 lisk of Heliopolis. Immediately before you rise the 
 precipitous heights of Mount Mokkatam, crowned with 
 the citadel of Cairo, under which lies the ancient city 
 enveloped in a thin vapor which just suffices to hide 
 the deformities of the place, while a thousand domes 
 and minarets of graceful proportions, their gilded cres- 
 cents glittering in the sunbeams, rise up to complete 
 
116 
 
 JOHX P. DURBIX. 
 
 the vision of beauty. I turned from gazing on it to 
 look upon the rocky plain immediately around the pyr- 
 amid. There, deeply buried in the rock now covered 
 with sand and rubbish, lie the dead of four thousand 
 years ago. It is, indeed, a vast necropolis. It seemed 
 as though I were among the earliest born of men. From 
 the plains before me had gone forth the elements of 
 science, art, and wisdom, to Greece, to Europe, to 
 America. I felt as a child, born after unnumbered gen- 
 erations, returned to the home of his ancestors, and be- 
 hold ! it was all desolate." 
 
 Not less impressive is his language concerning Sinai. 
 " It was three miles from our position on Jebel Musa 
 to the summit of Sufsafeh (Sinai on the map) which 
 overlooks the plain Er-Rahah. It took us three hours, 
 with great fatigue and some danger, to reach it. No 
 one who has not seen them can conceive the ruggedness 
 of these vast piles of granite rocks, rent into chasms, 
 rounded into smooth summits, or splintered into count- 
 less peaks, all in the wildest confusion as they appear to 
 the eye of an observer from any of the heights. But 
 when we did arrive at the summit of Es Sufsafeh and 
 cast our eyes over the wide plain, we were more than 
 repaid for all our toil. One glance was enough. We 
 were satisfied that here, and here only, could the won- 
 drous displays of Sinai have been visible to the assem- 
 bled host of Israel ; that here the Lord spoke with 
 Moses; that here was the mount that trembled and 
 smoked in presence of its manifested Creator! We 
 gazed for some time in silence, and when we spoke it 
 was with a reverence that even the most thoughtless of 
 our company could not shake off. I read on ihe very 
 spot, with what feelings I need not say, the passage in 
 Exodus which relates the wonders of which this mount- 
 ain was the theater. We felt its truth, and could al- 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 117 
 
 most see the lightnings and hear the thunders, and the 
 ' trumpet waxing Loud.' 
 
 " I had stood upon the Alps in the middle of July and 
 looked abroad upon their snowy empire. I had stood 
 upon the Apennines and gazed upon the plains of beau- 
 tiful Italy. 1 had stood upon the Albanian Mount and 
 beheld the scene of the ^Eneid from the Circean prom- 
 ontory, over the Campagna to the Eternal City and the 
 mountains of Tivoli. I had sat down upon the Pyra- 
 mids of Egypt, and east my eyes over the sacred city 
 of Heliopolis, the land of Goshen, the fields of Jewish 
 bondage, and the ancient Memphis, where Moses and 
 Aaron, on the part of God and his people, contended 
 with Pharaoh and his servants, the death of whose 
 ' first-born of man and beast in one night' filled the land 
 with M ailing ; but I had never set my feet on any spot 
 from whence was visible so much stern, gloomy grand- 
 eur, heightened by the silence and solitude that reign 
 around, but infinitely more by the awful and sacred 
 associations of the first great revelation in form from 
 God to man. I felt oppressed with the spirit that 
 seemed to inhabit the holy place. I shall never sit 
 down upon the summit of Sinai again, and look upon 
 the silent and empty plains at its feet ; but I went down 
 from that mount a better man, determined so to live as to 
 escape the terrible thunders at the last day, which once 
 reverberated through these mountains, but have long 
 since given way to the gospel of peace. I could scarcely 
 tear myself away from the hallowed summit, and wished 
 that I too could linger here forty days in converse with 
 the Lord." 
 
 His remarks on the " Reputed Sepulcher " of the 
 Lord are of high interest. He says: " To visit this spot 
 had been one of the earliest dreams of my youth. The 
 impression which a perusal of Chateaubriand at that early 
 
118 
 
 JOHN P. D UHBIN. 
 
 period made upon my mind followed me through suc- 
 cessive years. A subsequent reading of the journals of 
 less ardent and less credulous travelers should perhaps 
 have corrected these impressions, but they did not ; my 
 judgment was convinced for the time being, but the 
 earlier visions of the imagination always triumphed over 
 the convictions of reason. It remained for the painful 
 revelations of a personal vi it to the reputed sepulcher, 
 the monstrous absurdities of an unreasoning tradition, 
 the frauds and impositions of a corrupted religion,_the 
 degradation and debasement of credulous pilgrims, the 
 strifes between contending factions all professing Chris- 
 tianity, and all unworthy of the name, to banish for- 
 ever the dreams of my youth, and to correct whatever 
 tendency to superstition might have existed in my im- 
 agination." lie discusses the restoration of the Jews to 
 Palestine, and anticipates its accomplishment. There 
 is real sublimity in his remarks on the seven Churches 
 of Asia. " Ephesus affords one of the most striking 
 instances of the mutability of human affairs, and per- 
 haps of the fulfillment of divine predictions, that can be 
 found in history. The wealth in the old pagan times 
 rivaled, if it did not exceed, that of any of the Grecian 
 cities of Asia ; in the arts her name was connected 
 with the renown of Parrhasius and Apelles ; in architect- 
 ure she far outstripped all her rivals. Her splendid 
 temple, which required the wealth of Asia collected for 
 centuries for its creation, was the wonder of the world, 
 and around its sacred inclosures the Persian, the Lydian, 
 the Greek, and the Roman in turn bowed as worship- 
 pers. Nowhere in the world did the old idolatry dis- 
 play so much pomp and magnificence. Nowhere did it 
 press into its service with so much success the highest 
 powers of human art. But it was not only in the 
 palmy days of paganism that Ephesus was glorious. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 119 
 
 The visits of Paul, the preaching of Apollos, the minis- 
 try of Timothy, the faith and patience of the first con- 
 verts to Christianity — these, and a thousand other recol- 
 lections make the early Christian days of Ephesus glo- 
 rious in the annals of the Church. And even after the 
 lessons of Paul and Timothy had been forgotten, and 
 the 'first love' of the Ephesian Church had waned, the 
 city was still the seat of Christianity and the chosen 
 place of assembly for her bishops, her synods, and her 
 councils. 
 
 " But all this glory has departed. ' Unto the angel 
 of the Church of Ephesus write,' was the message of 
 Christ by his servant John. 'Remember, therefore, 
 from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first 
 works, or else I will come unto thee quickly and will 
 remove thy candlestick out of his place, unless thou 
 repent.' It was not long before the candlestick was 
 removed. For a few centuries the Church of Ephesus 
 was powerful, but in that period error and superstition 
 on the part of the people, combined with and fostered 
 by worldly-mindedness and ambition on the part of 
 the lordly prelates who sat in the place of Timothy, 
 Onesimus, and John, prepared the way for its destruction. 
 The Christian history of Ephesus may be said to have 
 ended with the sixth century ; since that period it can 
 hardly be said that the Church has existed there at all ; 
 and now there is neither angel nor candlestick in the 
 once flourishing city. From the ruins of her theater, 
 the scene of noble martyrdoms, from the broken columns 
 and scattered sculpture of her temples, from the desola- 
 tion of her once peopled plain and terraced hills, a voice, 
 audible enough to those who will listen, proclaims, 
 'He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith 
 unto the Churches.' 
 
 "The promise of divine interposition in the hour of 
 
120 
 
 JOHN p. dubbin: 
 
 temptation is the distinguishing feature in the letter of 
 Jesus to the Philadelphians ; and wonderfully has it 
 been fulfilled for the last eighteen hundred years. The 
 candlestick has never been removed ; the angel of the 
 Church has always been there. The altar of Jesus has 
 been often shaken, both by the imperial pagan power 
 when Philadelphia supplied eleven martyrs as compan- 
 ions to Polycarp in the flames at Smyrna, and by the 
 arms of the false prophet when Bajazet and Tamerlane 
 swept over Asia Minor like an inundation; yet it has 
 never been overthrown. The crumbling walls of twenty 
 ruined churches, and the swelling domes and towering 
 minarets of a dozen mosques, attest the hours of fiery 
 temptation ; yet three thousand Christian Greeks, and 
 a half a dozen churches still kept in repair, and still 
 vocal with praise to Jesus, attest that he has been 
 faithful to his promise, 'I also will keep thee from the 
 hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the 
 world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.' Ephesus 
 is desolate, and without a Christian temple or altar; 
 Laodicea is without inhabitants, except the foxes and 
 jackals that prowl amid her circus and her theaters ; 
 Sardis is represented by one Turkish and one Greek 
 hut; a handful of downtrodden Greek Christians wor- 
 ship in a subterranean chapel at Pergamos; but, in the 
 language of Gibbon, ' Philadelphia alone has been sa ved 
 by prophecy or courage. At a distance from the sea, 
 forgotten by the emperor, encompassed on all sides by 
 the Turks, s/ie only among the Greek colonies and 
 churches of Asia is still erect — a column in a scene of 
 ruins.'" Christianity in the East is considered with 
 solicitude and faith, as he knows the efforts of mission- 
 aries doing their appropriate work, and regards them as 
 the highest hope of the Oriental world. 
 
 A beautiful illustration of the vein of sentiment, of 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 121 
 
 the delicate anrl almost feminine susceptibility which 
 pervaded Dr. Durbin's character, and appeared in fine 
 contrast to stronger qualities, is afforded by the neatly- 
 arranged volume in which he preserved floral mementos 
 of various points of interest in his extended tour 
 through Europe and the East in 1842. 
 
 Here are roses from the soil over Pompeii, then un- 
 disturbed by the excavator's pick, and a cluster of 
 maiden-hair from the fountain of the nymph Egeria. 
 These leaves are from the lofty galleries of the Coli- 
 seum, and these from the walks in the gardens of 
 Cicero. On other pages are suggestive reminders of 
 the tombs of Luther and Marshal Ney, and palaces of 
 Frederick the Great at Potsdam, and Mehemet Ali at 
 Cairo. 
 
 As a means of the most definite instruction, Dr. Dur- 
 bin had a map of the Holy Land prepared which was 
 used in our Sabbath schools as a help to the study of 
 the Scripture. 
 
 Dr. Durbin had knowledge and grace enough on 
 leaving his native land to return a wiser and better 
 man. lie had a broader education, and such verifica- 
 tion of Scriptural history as prepared him to present 
 Bible truths with greater realization and effect. Few 
 men knew so well how to render all that they gain 
 available to the highest purposes of evangelical instruc- 
 tion. Not only in books but in the pulpit the results of 
 his travels won their way to the minds, and became 
 the means of reaching the hearts of those among whom 
 he moved, or to whom he ministered. To him knowl- 
 edge was power. His intellectual store had no dead 
 stock. What he had was usable, and he used it. 
 
122 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The General Conference of 1344. 
 
 DR. DURBIN led the delegation of the Philadelphia 
 Conierence in the memorable General Confer- 
 ence of 1844. No fact of his history is more worthy 
 of notice and commendation than his heroic conduct 
 in that great crisis. The marriage of Bishop J. O. 
 Andrew to a lady in the South owning slaves had 
 precipitated upon the Church a difficulty that it had 
 not anticipated, as it could not allow slave-holding 
 in the episcopacy. For successive weeks this was 
 tlie burning question of the body. The strongest min- 
 isters delivered their greatest speeches in the debate. 
 The writer was present when Bishop Soule gave such 
 expression to the proposed action as showed his desire, 
 lie charged them to " beware what they did," adding, 
 "the civilian, the jurist, will examine your action and 
 judge you by this book," holding the Discipline of the 
 Church in his hand. He then asked, "Where do you 
 find authority in this book to depose Bishop Andrew, or 
 to do what is proposed ? " It was all the South could 
 ask : it was enough for the Church to deplore. Bishop 
 Soule, though originally of the North, had performed 
 less of his episcopal labors there than in the South. He 
 was a preacher of great ability and was remarkable for 
 personal dignity. When Robert Newton, as delegate 
 from the Wesleyan body, attended the General Confer- 
 ence in Baltimore in 1840, and delivered Ins farewell 
 words, he expressed the wish that we would send Bishop 
 Soule to England as fraternal delegate. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 123 
 
 The General Conference appointed him, and lie selected 
 tlie late Dr. T. B. Sargent as his traveling- companion. 
 In 1842 Bishop Soule went to England in this official 
 character. His preaching received great commendation. 
 In person and manners he was compared to the Duke 
 of Wellington, lie was the first Bishop sent in this 
 relation. Tlie high honor rendered him at home and 
 abroad would naturally add to the influence of his 
 office and give weight to his deliverances. 
 
 It is iinpossihle to tell the strength or weakness of a 
 nation till some great crisis reveals its resources in 
 men and means, or what it lacks in one or both of these. 
 Let war rise, and patriotism speaks as never before; 
 military prowess displays itself ; diplomacy achieves its 
 grand results; and coffers yield a wealth never sus- 
 pected. Others now see, admire, and commend. Great- 
 ness is confessed. If wanting in those things that give 
 distinction the conflict stamps the cause with weakness. 
 
 Thus it is in a deliberative body. It is never fully 
 known what talent is in it till some subject or occasion 
 makes an appeal that rouses thought, quickens intellect, 
 and taxes the forces at command. 
 
 This statement has its illustration in the contrast be- 
 tween two General Conferences, the one in Brooklyn, 
 in 1872, the other in New York, in 1888. In Brooklyn 
 there was next to no discussion. Yet in that assembly 
 were some of the strongest laymen and ablest ministers 
 of the Church. There was nothing to call them out, 
 and they were not soldiers on parade. In New York 
 city there probably was not, in proportion to numbers, 
 more talent than had been in Brooklyn, but there was 
 a vast difference in the evidence furnished. At the 
 very beginning the question of the eligibility of "wo- 
 men as lay delegates," became the absorbing theme. 
 Scores, not to say hundreds, were anxious to "show 
 
124 
 
 JOHN P. DUniiLV. 
 
 their reason." For five consecutive days there seemed 
 no abatement of interest or decline of eloquence. The 
 warmth was maintained, and hardly a spark of the fire 
 was quenched till the vote decided it in the negative. 
 
 The size of the "Metropolitan Opera House," where 
 they met, and the difficulty of being heard by the chair, 
 induced almost a scream by those eager to obtain the 
 floor. This added to the seeming earnestness, that 
 might half exhaust a speaker before he began his 
 address. 
 
 From first to last it was an exciting scene. At no 
 General Conference were there ever so many questions 
 as to rules of order raised — so many of equal breadth, 
 diversity, and novel aspect — so many of privilege. 
 Never were questions submitted to the chair answered 
 with greater promptness and precision, and all this 
 when hands were shooting up all over the house like 
 the bayonets of an army. 
 
 But, able and eloquent as were the debates of 1888, 
 greater talent never showed itself in any General Con- 
 ference than was called out in 1844. The most tremen- 
 dous issues were trembling in the scale. The fact faced 
 the speakers. Every mind was awake ; every nerve was 
 tense. And there was no heart not ready to pour out 
 its fullness. The coloring of the thought was of the 
 graver hue. There was some sharpness, but great depth 
 of feeling. For twenty days the cloud hung upon the 
 horizon. Day after day but deepened the gloom and 
 intensified the sadness that fear awoke. In ability of 
 speech the South was not behind the North. Dr. 
 Channing once said of it, " Here eloquence is most at 
 h >me, as seen in Marshall, Madison, Patrick Henry, and 
 John Randolph." 
 
 As an orator Henry B. Bascom had a national fame. 
 Though not accustomed to discussing questions on the 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 125 
 
 floor, he was a brilliant' and powerful writer. Ho was 
 therefore selected by the Southern delegates to ] pare 
 the "Protest" against the action of the majority of 
 the Conference. In 1828 Dr. William Capers, of South 
 Carolina, was appointed the representative of the .<Icth- 
 odist Episcopal Church to the British Wesleyan Con- 
 ference, where his eloquence won him high honor. In 
 1844 he still had a smooth voice, a fine address, and was 
 distinguished for a steady flow of language and for sil- 
 very eloquence. Such was his reputation in the South 
 that he was invited to be the successor of Dr. Henry 
 Kollock, of the Presbyterian church in Savannah, where 
 the salary was $4,500; supposed to be the highest at that 
 time in the country. Dr. Kollock was one of the finest 
 preachers in the American pulpit. Dr. Capers was 
 deemed worthy to follow him. Hut he was strongest 
 i» debate. 
 
 Dr. Lovick Pierce was a princely man. He made no 
 set speech on the case of Bishop Andrew, but was un- 
 J ieldinu" in his support. His son, George F., late Bishop 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was a bold 
 ami brilliant speaker. As his father was by some con- 
 sidered our best preacher in the South, so the son was 
 deemed by many its greatest orator on the platform. 
 Though one of the youngest members of the General 
 Conference, he indulged in the most defiant utterances. 
 
 William Winans ranked among the ablest preachers 
 and most skillful debaters of the South. He had mental 
 gins]) and tenacity of purpose. In person he was tall, 
 slender, and almost haggard. But that casket con- 
 tained a precious jewel. He had a strong voice, and 
 his temperament and determination forbade its re- 
 straint in this discussion. He did not obey Bishop 
 Soule in using " soft words ; " but he did his best to 
 give " hard arguments," as the Bishop had suggested. 
 
126 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 Dr. William A. Smith was a frequent and fluent 
 speaker. To him the floor had no terrors. He had a 
 quickness and aptness in discussion and repartee that 
 showed him to advantage ; hut he sometimes did more 
 with an off-hand shot than by deliberate aim. 
 
 A. L. P. Green was remarkable for his colloquial 
 style, easy address, and, as a preacher, for his natural- 
 ness and magnetism. 
 
 Rev. B. M. Drake was in an agony of apprehension 
 for results that he was anxious to avert. In the esti- 
 mate of judges no man from the South was his superior 
 in polish and moral beauty. 
 
 The Rev. A. B. Longstreet, usually addressed as 
 " Judge," enjoyed the highest confidence. He well 
 knew the power of language, and his words lacked 
 neither vigor nor sharpness. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. John Early, afterward Bishop in the 
 Church South, was a strong character. There was a 
 show of hauteur in his manners. His speeches were 
 brief and his utterances oracular. He had the skill of 
 a leader, and he swayed men. 
 
 Dr. Robert Paine, afterward one of the Bishops of the 
 Southern Church, was deliberate, firm, and influential. 
 He was modest, quiet, and well poised. Men looked to 
 him for safety. These were men to be weighed, as 
 well as counted. Others there were that we would 
 gladly name. 
 
 From the North came George Pickering, after Jesse 
 Lee the most honored pioneer of Methodism in New 
 England. Stephen Olin, an intellectual and moral 
 colossus. Nathan Bangs, the historian of the Church. 
 George Peck, one of the most honored ministers of his 
 day; he was calm, clear, and strong. James Porter, a 
 man of conviction and prompt action. 
 
 Jesse T. Peck, though one of the young members, 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 127 
 
 never more distinguished himself than in his reply to 
 George F. Pierce, who in his flaming speech had said, 
 "Let New England go." Peck was full of force and 
 fire, but took care of his lo»ic and rhetoric. When he 
 closed .Mr. Pierce rose and, witli amiability and wit, 
 acknowledged he might owe an apology for his unfortu- 
 nate expression about " New England," but added, " if 
 my speecli has shocked the nerves of Brother Peck, my 
 explanation will not ruffle a hair upon the crown of his 
 head." This was a stroke that gravity could not resist, 
 and there was a burst of laughter. Then, as in later 
 life, the "crown of his head" was as destitute of 
 hair, and about as round and bright, us a new silver 
 dollar. 
 
 From the West came Peter Akers, the erudite, the 
 far-seeing, and the weighty. Charles Elliott, in patris- 
 tic lore the scholar of the Church. James B. Finley, 
 whose age, ability, and influence suggested him as the 
 proper person to offer a resolution in Bishop Andrew's 
 case. Though much younger in years the character and 
 position of J. M. Trimble made him a worthy seconder 
 of the motion. He still lives, as one of the few survivors 
 of that General Conference. Peter Cartwright, whose 
 eccentricities and style diverted thought, was also dis- 
 tinguished for hard sense. Thence also came E. R. 
 Ames, Edward Thomson, L. L. Hamline, and Matthew 
 Simpson. For astuteness, logical force, rhetorical 
 beauty, sublimity of thought and pathetic eloquence, 
 these were men that cannot die while history lives. 
 They were all exalted to the episcopate. 
 
 The border Conferences sent men that would be dis- 
 tinguished in any body. Baltimore gave Alfred 
 Griffith and John Davis. The one was the seconder 
 of the resolution that the other offered. These were 
 mentally stalwart men. From the same Conference, 
 
128 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 more uniformly prominent in debate, came John A. Col- 
 lins, the parliamentarian and orator. 
 
 To name no more from the Philadelphia Conference, 
 in the midst of that assemblage of the mighty men of 
 the Church stood John Price Durbin. The North, the 
 West, and the border Conferences, as well as the South, 
 were honored in their delegates, who were not more 
 distinguished by their talents than by their devotion. 
 It was a tremendous conflict. It was like a battle 
 among the gods of mythology. 
 
 Bishop Soule took what he called a favorable mo- 
 ment to offer to the Conference a few remarks . . . 
 before final action ... on the subject pending before 
 the Conference. His remarks were neither few nor 
 feeble. They were multiplied and vigorous. Dr. Dur- 
 biu rose to reply, and expressed the embarrassment of 
 the hour, but stood in the serene dignity of conscious 
 right. His mien was modest, but his courage was com- 
 mensurate with his convictions, and no dignity of 
 office or weight of character on the part of an oppo- 
 nent deterred him from duty. He was a native of 
 Kentucky, and was in a position to judge both of the 
 North and the South, being from a Conference that 
 contained slave-holding territory. He was president of 
 a college that thence derived much of its patronage. 
 Four out of the six delegates of the Conference that 
 he represented were with the South. He and the late 
 Bishop Scott stood alone. It was a "border Confer- 
 ence," the whole of the State of Delaware, the east- 
 ern shore of Maryland and of Virginia being included 
 within its bounds. No harder battles were fought in 
 the division of t he Church than on that ground. But he 
 was intent on his purpose. Though one of the most pru- 
 dent men he squarely met the issue with Bishop Soule. 
 He knew the trouble of the Church in the secession of 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 129 
 
 1828. ITe was in its midst, saw its influence, felt its 
 power, and deplored its results. It was like the iron 
 going afresh into his soul. He said : 
 
 The first remark that I have to offer is in regard 
 to a statement of Judge Longstreet, that in the 
 early Church the aggression of popery had always been 
 resisted by "a pure and steadfast minority." What was 
 the application of this remark ? Did the brother mean 
 to say that the action of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church in regard to slavery in any way resembled the 
 growth of popery ? Or did he mean to say in this age 
 of the world and in this country that the interests of 
 society, whether civil or religious, are safer in the 
 hinds of the minority than of the majority? Sir, the 
 voice of history does not say so. The institutions of 
 our country do not say so. The brother will not go 
 befoiv the world and say so. 
 
 The brother has also stated very broadly that the 
 legislation of the Methodist Episcopal Church on the 
 subject of slavery has always done harm ! So, then, 
 the objection is not so much against our action in this 
 case as against the uniform action of Methodism on 
 the general subject. Sir, I wish I could go before the 
 world and to the bar of God witli as clear a conscience 
 and as firm a trust in regard to every other part of our 
 legislation as in regard to our action on slavery. But 
 we are told, again and again, that we are called here to 
 judge of the laws of sovereign States; that in the case 
 of Harding, and in every similar case, we must be 
 jti Iges of law— a business with which we have nothing 
 to d i. Nay, more, sir; we are told that in the vote on 
 Harding's case this l>ody not only acted above the law 
 of the land, but above the law of Methodism — that we 
 voted to sustain not the Discipline of the Church, but 
 simply the u.Kirfe of the Baltimore Conference. I have 
 heard this repeatedly on this floor, and have seen it 
 repeatedly in print, and fear that the public mind has 
 really been misled by these statements so confidently 
 reiterated. But, sir, I deny the whole statement. It 
 is utterly groundless. It is unjust, both with regard to 
 10 
 
130 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 the Baltimore Conference and this General Conference. 
 The sole question we had to judge of in Harding's case 
 was, whether it was practicable for him to eraan< ipate 
 his slaves. We found, sir, that it was practicable. It 
 is to-day practicable. On that ground, and on that 
 ground only, in full conformity with the provisions of 
 the Discipline, we voted against the motion to reverse 
 the decision of the Baltimore Conference. We could 
 not do otherwise, sir, with the Discipline in our hands. 
 I did not vote, nor, I believe, did my brethren in the 
 majority, to sustain the usage of the Baltimore Confer- 
 ence, but to sustain the laws of Methodism. 
 
 We of the North have been repeatedly taunted on 
 this floor with our differences of opinion on the subject 
 of slavery. Sir, whatever other differences of opinion 
 there may be among us, on one point there is none. 
 Our minds and hearts and feelings are all united on this 
 one point at least — that the episcopacy of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church ought not to he trammeled with slav- 
 ery. On this point, sir, our minds are as the mind of one 
 man, and the brethren of the South will find it so. Nor 
 is this any sudden purpose. It is the ground we have 
 always held, and we shall be found standing up for it, 
 shoulder to shoulder, to the end of the battle. We 
 have also been told, sir, that the early Methodists, in 
 their protest against slavery, went further than Christ 
 and his apostles had done. Nay, sir, we have had 
 arguments to-day drawn from the Bible to sustain 
 slavery. What do brethren mean, sir? Ts it their 
 intention to plead the word of God in defense of slav- 
 ery ? Do they really believe with the brother from 
 South Carolina, who spoke this morning, that the sys- 
 tem of slavery is to find its authority in the Decalogue, 
 written by God's own hand ? Sir, they cannot mean 
 this; they will not affirm this. And yet we were gravely 
 told that because the commandment speaks of the ox 
 and the ass, and the man-servant and maid-servant in 
 the same connection, that therefore the right of prop- 
 erty was assumed on the same ground for the latter as 
 for the former. As well go a little further and assume 
 that the wife too was a chattel, according to the intent 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 13] 
 
 of the commandment. O, sir, I hope we shall never 
 be compelled to hear the Bible, the record of God's 
 truth, the charter of human freedom and human rights, 
 appealed to in support of American slavery. 
 
 We have had some strange statements here in re- 
 gard to the legislation of the Church on the subject of 
 slavery. Brethren have tried to make the impression, 
 to use one of their own figures, that the North has 
 been putting the screws on the South, and continually 
 pressing them harder, until at last the compression can 
 be endured no longer. Sir, the facts in the case are 
 just the reverse of all this. The liistory of the Church 
 shows this point indisputably : that the highest ground 
 that has ever been held upon the subject was taken at 
 the very organization of the Church, and that conces- 
 sions have been made by the Church continually, from 
 that time to this, in view of the necessities of the 
 South; that, while the antislavery principle has never 
 been abandoned, our rules have been made less and 
 less stringent, and our language less and less severe, 
 because experience has shown it to be absolutely neces- 
 sary for the welfare of the Church in the South; and 
 these concessions have been made, too, while the power 
 of the Church has been continually passing from the 
 slave-holding to the non-slave-holding States. I trust 
 brethren will bear this in mind. Without laying 
 stress upon Mr. Wesley's denunciations of slavery, what 
 was the declaration of the Church in 1780 ? " We pass 
 our disapprobation on all our friends who keep slaves, 
 and ailvise their freedom." The language of 1784, 
 when the Church was organized, watt equally bold. All 
 private members were required to emancipate their 
 slaves in those States where the laws allowed of manu- 
 mission. The action taken was too strong, sir, and in 
 six months it was suspended — in accordance with the 
 genius of Methodism, which does not all the good she 
 would, but all she can. The Church then made a con- 
 cession to the South on the score of necessity. Even 
 the language' of the question on slavery was mitigated. 
 In 1796 it was, "What regulations shall be made for 
 the extirpation of the crying evil of African slavery?" 
 
132 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 In 1S04 it was, " What shall he done for the extir- 
 pation of the evil of slavery?" In 1808 all that 
 relates to slave-holding among private members was 
 stricken out, ami no rule on the subject has ex- 
 isted since. I might advert to other points to show 
 the truth of my position, that the Church has grad- 
 ually made concessions to the necessities of slave-hold- 
 ing States until our brethren from the Soutli say they 
 stand firmly on the ground of Discipline. But I for- 
 bear; it will not be denied by any who are conversant 
 with the history of the Church. Is it necessary to make 
 still another concession, and allow slavery to connect 
 itself with our episcopacy ? 
 
 Now, sir, I do not mean to say that these conces- 
 sions ought not to have been made. Our fathers wisely 
 made them on the ground of necessity. The Methodist 
 Church could not have existed at all in the South 
 without them. This should be a rebuke to our abo- 
 lition brethren every-where who would urge this ques- 
 tion to extremities. I take my stand on the conserva- 
 tive ground of the Discipline, as far from extreme 
 opinions in the North as in the South. I have no sym- 
 pathy with either. I would not, dare not, urge on our 
 Southern brethren to a position where they cannot 
 stand. The Discipline has placed the Church in the 
 proper relation to slavery in the South. She does not 
 propose to distrust the relations of our Southern 
 brethren on the question of slavery in the South, but 
 to leave them free to contend with the evil in the best 
 manner they can under the laws of their several States. 
 But while I stand up firmly for their rights and priv- 
 ileges, and shall he ever ready to lend what weight I can 
 to protect them if assaulted, I must beg our brethren 
 of the South not to turn the question of slavery upon 
 the North in connection with our general superintend- 
 ency. This is the real question : Shall slavery be con- 
 nected with our episcopacy, which is common to all 
 parts of our Church, the North as well as the South, 
 and thus cause the Church to give her example in favor 
 of the " great evil of slavery " in a form which will be 
 pleaded as decisive of her judgment in the general 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 L33 
 
 question, and in those parts of the country where no 
 necessity exists for such a declaration, and where it 
 will fearfully agitate our societies ? There is no neces- 
 sity in the South for any one of our Bishops to hold 
 slaves in order to do his work there. This is admitted 
 on all hands, while it is as readily admitted, even by 
 the South, that there are many Conferences "in which 
 his connection with slavery would render his services 
 unacceptable." 
 
 I come now, sir, with as much delicacy as possible, 
 to examine the question of the power of the General 
 Conference over the Bishops. It has been maintained 
 here, sir, that the General Conference has no power to 
 remove a Bishop or to suspend the exercise of his func- 
 tions unless by impeachment and trial in regular form, 
 for some offense regularly charged. If this be true, 
 sir, I have greatly misunderstood the nature of our 
 episcopacy. From whence is its power derived ? Do 
 we place it upon the ground of divine right? Surely 
 not, sir ; you do not plead any such doctrine. Whence, 
 then, is it derived? Solely, sir, from the suffrages of 
 the General Conference. There, and there only, is the 
 source of episcopal power in our Church. And the same 
 power that conferred the authority can remove it, if 
 they see it necessary. Nor is this a new doctrine, sir. 
 The Minutes of 1785 declare that at the organization of 
 the Church " the episcopal office was made elective, and 
 the elected Superintendent or Bishop amenable to the 
 body of ministers and preachers." The Notes to the 
 Discipline assert that the Bishops are ' perfectly subject 
 to the General Conference ; their power, their useful- 
 ness, themselves, are entirely at the mercy ' of that 
 body. Again, sir, I bring you the authority of a wit- 
 ness sanctioned by the Conference of 1792 and by 
 Bishop Asbury, and whose doctrine on this subject is 
 indorsed by our late beloved Bishop Emory. I do not 
 mention those venerated names for the mere purpose 
 of awaking the feelings of brethren. 
 
 I would not call the sleeping dead from their hon- 
 ored graves, as some have done on this floor. No, sir; 
 they are escaped from all our strifes and warfare. Let 
 
134 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 them rest, sir; let them rest. They never saw the Meth- 
 odist Church threatened with so fearful a storm as that 
 which now hangs over us. I know not what they would 
 say or do were they with us now. But hear my wit- 
 ness : Rev. John Dickins, the most intimate friend of 
 Bishop Asbuiy, in a pamphlet published in 1792, as 
 already stated, with the sanction of the General Con- 
 ference, thus answered a question put by Mr. Hammett 
 in reference to this very point: " Now, who ever said 
 the superiority of the Bishops was by virtue of a sepa- 
 rate ordination ? If this gave them their superiority 
 how came they to be removable by the Conference ? 
 We all know Mr. Asbuiy derived his official power from 
 the Conference, and, therefore, his office is at their dis- 
 posal." "Mr. Asbuiy was thus chosen by the Confer- 
 ence, both before and after he was ordained a Bishop; 
 and he is still considered as the person of their choice 
 by being responsible to the Conference, who have power 
 to remove him and to fill his place with another, if they 
 see it necessary. And as he is liable every year to be 
 removed he may be considered their annual choice." 
 Bishop Emory states that this may be considered as 
 expressing the views of " Bishop Asbury in relation to 
 the true original character of Methodist episcopacy," 
 and gives it the sanction of his own authority by quot- 
 ing and using it in the twelfth section of the Defense, 
 of Our Fathers. 
 
 I have thus, sir, expressed, and I trust maintained, 
 my views of the authority of the General Conference in 
 regard to the episcopal office. I am sorry, sir, that this 
 opinion differs somewhat from your own (if I may be 
 permitted to address you personally), knowing, as I do, 
 that my judgment, thrown into the opposite scale to 
 yours, is hut a feather against a thousand pounds' 
 weight. Still, sir, I must hold my opinion. 
 
 A few words now in regard to the application of 
 this power in the present instance. The action that is 
 proposed to be taken in the case of Bishop Andrew is 
 contained in the substitute now before us. We are told 
 that it is in fact a proposition to depose Bishop Andrew. 
 Sir, we do not so regard it. The venerable man who 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 1 35 
 
 moved it does not so regard it. I am sure he does not. 
 I know him well ; he has called rae "John," sir, from 
 my boyhood, and on the day when he offered this sub- 
 stitute he called to me across the pews, " John, explain 
 this tor me." Understanding his views of the substitute 
 I now piopose to explain it, having the opportunity of 
 doing so for the first time. It reads: 
 
 " Whereas, The Discipline of our Church forbids 
 the doing of any thing calculated to destroy our itin- 
 erant general superintendency ; and whereas, Bishop An- 
 drew has become connected with slavery by marriage 
 and otherwise, and this act having drawn after it cir- 
 cumstances which, in the estimation of the General 
 Conference, will greatly embarrass the exercise of his 
 office as general superintendent, if not in some places 
 entirely prevent it; therefore, 
 
 " liesoloed, That it is the sense of this General 
 Conference that he desist from the exercise of his office 
 so long as this impediment remains." 
 
 Now, sir, this action is not contemplated without 
 cause. The preamble states the ground of the action 
 clearly and distinctly in a statement of undisputed and 
 indisputable facts. And what does the resolution pro- 
 pose? Expulsion? No, sir. Deposition? No. If I 
 am pressed to a decision of this case in its present form 
 I shall vote for that substitute, and so will many others; 
 but if, after we have voted for it, any man should come 
 and tell us personally that we have voted to depose 
 Bishop Andrew, we should consider it a personal — shall 
 I say insult, sir? The substitute proposes only to ex- 
 press the sense of this Conference in regard to a mat- 
 ter which it cannot, in duty and conscience, pass by 
 without suitable expression ; anil, having made the 
 solemn expression, it leaves Bishop Andrew to act as 
 his sense of duty shall dictate. Will any of the breth- 
 ren on the other side of the house tell us that if such is 
 our deliberate sense, and we deem it our duty to the 
 Church to say so, we ought to suppress it ? One 
 brother answers, " Yes." I will not take that brother's 
 answer for the answer of the South. There is too 
 much magnanimity among the brethren of that region 
 
136 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 of chivalry to allow of such an answer from them. In 
 passing this substitute — if we do pass it — we make a 
 clear declaration against the connection of slavery with 
 our episcopacy, a declaration which we cannot avoid 
 making if we would, and ought not if we could ; a 
 declaration, sir, which the world will approve. I will 
 take the excellent advice which you gave us this morn- 
 ing, sir, and not appeal to the passions of this Confer- 
 ence, nor to the audience in the gallery; hut if an ap- 
 peal must be made, sir, to any tribunal out of this body, 
 we are willing to abide by the verdict of the world, sir, 
 and by the decision of a far higher tribunal. There, 
 sir, we shall fear no reversal of our action in this case. 
 
 O sir, when we were left to infer this morning, 
 from the remarks of the Chair, that the passage of this 
 substitute would affect not only Bishop Andrew, but 
 perhaps others of our Bishops, I could not but feel that 
 a momentary cloud gathered before my eyes to dim the 
 clearness of my vision. The feelings which that remark 
 excited were not calculated to give greater freedom to 
 the action of my reason or greater precision to my 
 judgment. But, strong as were and are those feelings, 
 they cannot stifle my conscience or darken my under- 
 standing. I have read in the public reports of the pro- 
 ceei lings during my absence some things that gave me 
 great pain. Mention has been made here of proceed- 
 ings at law — of the possibility of obtaining an " injunc- 
 tion" upon the Book Concern, and stopping our presses. 
 I am sorry such words have been uttered here. Per- 
 haps such an injunction might be issued. I do not 
 know but a judge or chancellor might be found (though 
 I do not believe it) wicked enough to rejoice in our dif- 
 ficulties and exult over our strife. Ah, sir, wicked men 
 would indeed exult in it! Satan would exult in it. 
 Perhaps, I say, such an injunction might be obtained; 
 but what then? You may lay an injunction upon types 
 and presses and newspapers, but, thank God ! no in- 
 junction can be laid upon an honest conscience and an 
 upright mind. The Book Concern ! There is no man 
 here, I am sure, whose soul is so mean and paltry as to 
 be influenced by such a motive. Sir, that Book Con- 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 137 
 
 cern was burned clown once, and I grieved over its de- 
 struction ; but gladly would I see it destroyed again 
 tliis night — gladly would I welcome the first flash of 
 light that might hurst into that window, even though 
 in the conflagration buildings, types, presses, paper, 
 plates, and all, were this night to be destroyed — it' it 
 could place the Church back where she was only six 
 months ago. 
 
 Before I sit down I desire to call the attention of 
 the Conference to a proposition made by the brethren 
 from the South in the Committee of Pacification. The 
 language of part of that proposition was, "that Bishop 
 Andrew should not be required to preside in any an- 
 nual Conference in which his connection with slavery 
 would render his services unacceptable." Now, sir, 
 here was a clear admission of the fact that Bishop 
 Andrew's position did render him unacceptable to 
 many of the Conferences, and a proposition founded 
 upon it. Keeping the admission in mind, and recollect- 
 ing that we are forbidden by the constitution to do 
 any tiling that shall impair our itinerant general super- 
 intendence I beg the Conference to look at the bear- 
 ing of this proposition, and of similar ones that have 
 been made here from time to time. It is wrong to do 
 that for one of the Bishops which, if done for all, would 
 be destructive to the system. Now, sir, suppose that 
 you should become an Abolitionist, and on that account 
 you could not go to the South; for the same reasons 
 precisely a resolution might be brought here to confine 
 your services to the East. Suppose some similar con- 
 tingency to continue another Bishop in the North and 
 another in the West — is not our itinerant general super- 
 intendency effectually destroyed ? Assuredly it is, and 
 it seems to me that we cannot take the first step to- 
 ward such a result without violating the constitution as 
 it now stands. 
 
 I am free to declare that I do not wish to come to a 
 direct vote on this momentous question. I have looked 
 long and earnestly for some way to escape. I have 
 hoped our brethren of the South could agree to say to 
 this Conference, " Brethren, we have been very unex- 
 
138 
 
 JOHN P. DURB1X. 
 
 pectedly and unintentionally the occasion, in the person 
 of our beloved bishop, of bringing the Church into great 
 danger ; we had not apprehended such a cloud as now 
 covers our Zion; we have stood up for what we believed 
 to be our rights and the interests of the Church in the 
 South ; we have heard you feelingly and plainly declare 
 the certain danger which threatens you in the North. 
 The. sacrifice of the peace and unity of the Church is 
 t'>o costly a sacrifice to be made almost by accident; 
 postpone all proceedings in this unfortunate case and 
 we will see that the Church suffer no harm." Such an 
 announcement as this would come upon tlie Conference 
 and the Church like a message from heaven; and no 
 man would ask you how, when, or where you are going 
 to deal with the case. This Conference and the Church 
 would trust your word and your religion in the case, 
 and ask no questions. I will conclude, sir, by saying, a 
 few days ago Brother Early, from Virginia, threw out 
 a suggestion at the close of the session — namely, " might 
 not this matter be referred back to the Church or the 
 Conferences?" This course was distinctly advised by 
 yourself, sir, this morning in your address to the Con- 
 ference. These weighty facts led me to believe that 
 tlie North would meet the South on the following reso- 
 lution, which I would willingly offer if I had the least 
 intimation that our brethren from the South would 
 meet us on it — namely: 
 
 " Resoloert, That the case of Bishop Andrew be refer- 
 red to the Church, and that the judgment of tlie next 
 General Conference be deemed and taken to be the 
 voice of the Church, whether Bishop Andrew shall con- 
 tinue to exercise his functions as a general superinten- 
 dent in the Methodist Episcopal Church while he sustains 
 the relation to slavery as stated in his communication 
 to the Conference, as reported to the Conference by the 
 Committee on the Episcopacy. " 
 
 In the speech of Dr. Durbin the orator as well as the 
 logician appeared. No one can tell the energy, the 
 pathos, and the moral majesty of the man when, drawing 
 to a close of his weighty address, he exclaimed, "O! 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 139 
 
 sir, we were left to infer this morning," etc. As he 
 spoke of the predicted result of the passage of the 
 resolution, and of a remark that had been indulged not 
 calculated to "give greater freedom to the action of his 
 reason or greater precision to his judgment," yet de- 
 claring that strong as were those feelings they could 
 not stifle his convictions or darken his understanding; 
 and when the apprehension was expressed that an in- 
 junction might be secured upon the Book Concern — an 
 event that would cause Satan to exult: yet even the 
 conflagration that might destroy building, types, presses, 
 paper, plates, would be a slight matter to him if it 
 could place the Church back where it was six months 
 before — with an emotion that imagination may never 
 reproduce he showed the power of speech when pervaded 
 by the deepest sympathy, the profoundest conviction, 
 and the intensest grief. 
 
 Afterward, as chairman of the committee consisting 
 of J. P. Durbin, George Peck, and Charles Elliott, to 
 reply to the protest from the South by their committee 
 through Dr. Bascom as chairman, Dr. Durbin declares, 
 the doctrine advocated in the "Protest " is "novel and 
 dangerous in the Methodist Church, that such diffi- 
 culties cannot be corrected unless the person objected 
 to be personally arraigned under some specific law to 
 be found in the concise code of the Discipline — doc- 
 trine not the less dangerous because it is applied where 
 'objections, unimportant in others might be productive 
 of the most dangerous consequences.'" 
 
 The speech of Dr. Durbin, and the answer to the 
 " Protest," together with that most powerful and con- 
 vincing speech of the late Bishop Hamline, have gone 
 into our history as the most intelligent vindication of 
 our economy and of the inflexible purpose of the de- 
 nomination to keep its episcopacy clear from the evil of 
 
140 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 American slavery, though at so great a cost as the divis- 
 ion of the body. 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church has passed through 
 three periods of great perplexity and peril. In 1792, 
 when James O'Kelly made a schism: in 182S, when the 
 conflict resulted in the organization of the Methodist 
 Protestant Church: and in 1844, when the Church di- 
 vided between North and South. It was our comfort in 
 1792 to have John Dickins as a power to sustain. It 
 was our joy that in 1828 Dr. John Emory and Dr. 
 Thomas E. Bond were equal to her defense. Nor can 
 the time ever come when the Church will forget the 
 service rendered her in 1844 by L. L. Hamline and 
 J. P. Durbin. The difficulty of 1792 was a burning 
 fever ; the secession of 1828 was a lancinating pain ; 
 but Bishop Andrew's case in 1844 rent the body and 
 covered the Church with enervating gloom. But Drs. 
 Hamline and Durbin then threw around our economy a 
 breastwork of argument that the heaviest artillery failed 
 to impair. 
 
 That Dr. Durbin, then only forty-four yenrs old, 
 should have had the position of chairman of the most 
 important committee of the General Conference, though 
 the first General Conference of which he ever was a 
 member, is strong evidence of the confidence reposed in 
 his wisdom. That he performed his part with such 
 ability did honor to the choice. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 141 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 His Pastorate and Presiding Eldership in 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 IN 1845, having resigned the presidency of Dickinson 
 College, he returned, after the absence of twenty-five 
 years, to the pastorate, and was stationed at the Union 
 Church, Philadelphia. Some believed that for his repu- 
 tation this was a mistake. He had been in great demand 
 on special occasions, and these exerted their greatest 
 power through the commanding influence of his presence 
 and ministry. His sermons, addresses, and lectures had 
 made him a peerless preacher. It was thought im- 
 possible for him to sustain himself with his two ser- 
 mons every Sabbath. He had said that no man should 
 be expected to preach more than once a day to the 
 same congregation. Two such as he preached on extra 
 occasions no man could deliver. They were often an 
 hour and a quarter, or possibly an hour and a half, and 
 even two hours in length, and with a physical expendi- 
 ture as well as mental tax that would break down the 
 strongest man. On entering upon this charge he dis- 
 played the practical wisdom that distinguished him in 
 every place. It was shown in the disposition of his 
 time, in the devotion of his talents, and the direction of 
 his resources to the best results. There was a ready 
 recognition of all departments of his work, and he ad- 
 dressed himself to every duty with an interest and 
 energy that made success inevitable. From the begin- 
 ning to the end he commanded a congregation that 
 
142 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 filled and thronged the church, and his sermons were 
 regarded as incomparable in excellence and power. 
 
 He was a faithful and edifying pastor. As in Cin- 
 cinnati, so in Philadelphia, he showed the importance 
 he attached to this duty. Here, where the preacher is 
 seen in his sympathy, solicitude, and spiritual qualifica- 
 tions as he can nowhere else appear, he conversed 
 with the sick, the sorrowing, the tempted, and such as 
 might be disturbed by questions of conscience, and im- 
 parted the instruction and cheer that were the highest 
 commendation of his holy labor. His visits to his 
 people were neither formal nor perfunctory, and they 
 secured the end he sought. 
 
 The late John Whiteman, Esq., who was a member 
 of his charge, and one of the most intelligent Method- 
 ists in Philadelphia, and who from his relation to Dr. 
 Durbin as trustee of Dickinson College and otherwise 
 knew him perhaps as well as any man in the city, said 
 to the writer, we " knew when Dr. Durbin came to our 
 charge that we were receiving a great preacher, but we 
 did not know what experience has shown us — that in 
 him we have also one of the best pastors." 
 
 He would have necessary time for his studies, and if 
 disturbed would appear and stand, and, if no business 
 was expressed, asked, " Is there any thing I can do for 
 you ?" If there was no duty in the call there was one 
 in his study, and he resumed it. To be able to deliver 
 two sermons to please and profit the people, as well as 
 to dispose with judgment his material, he cut his ser- 
 mons down to fifty minutes and divided one day into 
 two. He retired after the morning sermon just as he 
 did at night, and took such rest as nature demanded, 
 that he might come to his work at night with the fresh- 
 ness of the morning. These sermons were listened to 
 by many students of the university and medical col- 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 143 
 
 leges, as well as l>y his own people, with delight and 
 profit. He delivered special discourses to young men, 
 and was honored in seeing many of them come into the 
 Church, of whom quite a number entered the ministry. 
 An extensive revival followed his preaching, and he 
 was loved as well as honored. 
 
 He was full of work. His character as a preacher 
 was maintained, while as a student he was constantly 
 making valuable accessions to the stores of his knowl- 
 edge. He kept himself up in the literature of the day, 
 and in all his reading was the thinker and the critic. 
 He read to judge. It was for assimilation or rejection. 
 And as " aliment is changed to vital blood," so he was 
 becoming more and more the man of power. Thirty 
 years ago the writer said, on the physiologist's theory 
 that the human body so changes in every seven years 
 as to present a new one, so Dr. Durhin gained enough 
 knowledge every seven years to make another great 
 man. The first seven years of his ministry raised the 
 uneducated youth to the professor of languages; other 
 sevens were appropriated with equal judgment. He 
 could not live without work, and he knew how to do it 
 with advantage. It was as if, with an ancient philoso- 
 pher, he made it a practice " to do some difficult thing 
 every day," or as if his motto was, " no day without its 
 line," or, still stronger, 
 
 " Deem that day lost whose low descending sun, 
 Stes from thy hand uo worthy service done." 
 
 He gave a week-night lecture on " Bible lands." 
 His tour and studies in the East "furnished necessary 
 material." These discourses were sought with eager- 
 ness and heard with delight. The writer has recently 
 seen a lady in Philadelphia who was drawn to his church 
 by the interest that these awakened. From her youth 
 
144 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 she had not only been a reader but even a student of 
 the Scriptures. These lectures met her wish. She 
 was charmed by the richness of the matter, the famil- 
 iarity of the style, and the directness of the address. 
 She then attended his Sabbath sermons, and though 
 of another denomination, believed she owed it to 
 her highest good to join his Charge, and did so, 
 and to this day she continues a devoted member 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Wishing to re- 
 tain as much as possible of the sermons that yielded 
 her so much profit she took ample notes. These 
 she retains, and prizes for the memories they re- 
 vive and as choice treasures of the mind and heart. 
 To these the writer has been permitted access. They 
 show the spirit of the man and the care with which he 
 presented doctrinal, practical and experimental religion. 
 They have a wide range but a close application. They 
 instruct, encourage, and exalt. In this Dr. Durbin 
 showed the pastor after God's own heart. " Repent- 
 ance," "conversion," "secret seeking after God," "jus- 
 tification by faith," "death," "the punishment of the 
 wicked," each had its place. 
 
 Scriptural biography was made a powerful means of 
 enforcing truth. With what skill did he present the 
 case of Esau ; the sad condition of Balaam ; the lessons 
 of Lot's wife and the moral grandeur of Christian 
 heroism in the "death of Stephen." So simple, direct 
 and impressive were the sermons of Dr. Durbin not- 
 withstanding his reputation of a great preacher, that 
 children could understand. The wife of the Rev. 
 A. H. Ames, D.D., of the Des Moines Conference, when 
 a child of nine years, on hearing a sermon from Dr. 
 Durbin on " the harvest is past and the summer is 
 ended, and we are not saved," says she was so im- 
 pressed that she felt that she could not delay giviug 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 145 
 
 Iior heart to God, and at that early age was con- 
 verted. 
 
 It was no uncommon thing for Dr. Durhin to preach 
 a series of sermons upon a theme or a history. He had 
 one on " the life of Christ;" another on " Christ under 
 the old dispensation," another on the "kingdom of 
 Christ." With the beatitudes he spent several Sabbaths. 
 On a week night he delivered a series of lectures on 
 the epistle to the Hebrews, and dwelt pariieularly on 
 the " priesthood of Christ." 
 
 It clearly appears from the notes how full were his 
 thoughts of the glory of Christ's character ; of the 
 grandeur of his dominion ; of the righteousness of his 
 claim and of the blessings he brought to men. Nor 
 did he fail to show "the priesthood of Christ," in lan- 
 guage of assurance, of exaltation, and of divine power. 
 
 In the administration of the "Lord's Supper," in the 
 address he made and in the spirit that pervaded the 
 service, it is said communion was an occasion of rare 
 manifestations of grace, and that after the benediction 
 was pronounced the people would linger as at the gate 
 of heaven and ready to enter. 
 
 Full as Dr. Durhin was of the work of a pastor while 
 in Philadelphia, he nevertheless cherished a desire to 
 help young ministers in the study of sacred eloquence. 
 To this end he formed a class to which he gave the 
 observation and experience of his life. The writer was 
 permitted a place with the favored few that formed it, 
 and he can never forget some of the important lessons 
 that he strove to impress. To three of these we may 
 give some notice : 
 
 1. As to the length of a sermon. 
 
 In a pastoral charge it should not as a rule transcend 
 forl vdive or fifty minutes. But he supposed a preacher 
 might say, " I am not through my plan, and some of 
 11 
 
1*6 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 my best matter is yet to come." To this his prompt 
 reply was : " The people do not know what you have 
 in store, and can feel no privation from your withhold- 
 ing it. Keep it lor another occasion, and know the 
 value of husbanding your material. You have had time 
 enough to feed them with knowledge. They will 
 receive it better when they are hungry for the word." 
 Surfeiting sickens. 
 
 2. Take texts that have the Gospel in them. 
 
 Here he related his experience as given by the Rev. 
 Mr. Roberts. He selected the passage, " The trees of 
 the Lord are full of sap." With some, analogical ser- 
 mons were popular. Dr. Adam Clarke notices the pos- 
 sibility of going too far in such efforts. Keech on the 
 Metaphors is a fruitful source of such discourse, and 
 it has its use. Bunyan showed its power in " Solomon's 
 Temple Spiritualized." But young Durbin did not have 
 a good time. The venerable Solomon Sharp said, in 
 such cases " the preacher got in the bushes." Well, it 
 is a very embarrassing position, especially if the bushes 
 are in the mire. It is worse than a tangle. " The Boy 
 Preacher " got into " the tree," and though it was one 
 of the trees of the Lord he did not find it so easy and 
 expeditious a thing to get down as Zaccheus did. He 
 talked about " trees," " trees," " trees," till for a time 
 he would have been glad if he could have just been a 
 "tree" and no preacher. He talked about "sap," 
 "sap," "sap," till he felt too sapient. For such aspi- 
 ration in preaching Durbin was ready to say, 
 
 " I charge thee, fling away ambition." 
 
 3. As a general preparation for preaching he urged 
 storing the memory with the best passages of literature, 
 whether in poetry or prose. They were to be so at the 
 command of the preacher that if they came appositely 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 147 
 
 the memory would throw them off, in the ardor of ex- 
 temporaneous speech, and so add force to the sermon. 
 Any one familiar with the "sermons and plans of Joseph 
 Benson,' one of the best theologians and ablest preachers 
 in early Wesleyan Methodism, will see what use he 
 made of the best poets. 
 
 Ganganelli, who had given so much time to sermon- 
 izing, when writing to an abbe in relation to the " Soul 
 of Christian Eloquence " urges upon him better ac- 
 quaintance with the " Fathers of the Church." lie 
 says, "They are like the fertile trees, which ornament 
 gardens while they enrich them." He compares the 
 genius of Tertullian to iron, which breaks the hardest 
 bodies and will not bend; Athanasius to the diamond, 
 which can neither be deprived of luster nor solidity; 
 Cyprian to steel, which cuts to the quick; Chrysostom 
 to gold, whose value is equal to its beauty; . . . Jerome 
 to brass, which neither dreads swords nor arrows; Am- 
 brose to silver, which is solid and shining ; Gregory to 
 a mirror, in which every one sees himself. 
 
 The advantage of a judicious use of such resources 
 may be judged by the high authorities whence they 
 issue and observation as to the effect. 
 
 When his aid was asked by a young minister with 
 regard to helps in his pursuit of necessary knowledge, 
 he gave the following " What and How to Study." In 
 this he expresses his views of what ought to constitute 
 a young minister's library after completing his Confer- 
 ence course. He writes: 
 
 Philadelphia, July 12, 1847. 
 Dear Brother: I have not neglected your letter of 
 June 13. I have been busy and absent, and it requires 
 some time to give you a judicious answer. Below you 
 have such books as I suppose would be suitable to be 
 read in addition to your Conference course. Perhaps 
 
148 
 
 JOHN P. DUEBLV. 
 
 I., IV., and V. might be read together, then II. and 
 III., and then VI. and VII. Yon should have an Index 
 Rerum to insert references, and a commonplace blank- 
 book in which to copy any sentence or to write any re- 
 marks of your own as you read; also a blank-hook in 
 which to insert texts for sermons as they occur in your 
 reading, and such subordinate divisions under each 
 head as may occur to you at the time. Thus you will 
 collect a magazine of material for use in the pulpit. If 
 you were with me an hour in my own study I could 
 show you much more readily and clearly how to pro- 
 ceed. If you are in the city call and see me. It wdl 
 give pleasure to aid you. 
 
 I. Profane History. 
 
 1. Tyler's Universal History. 
 
 2. Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 
 
 3. Hallani's Middle Ages. 
 
 4. Russell's Modern En i ope. 
 
 II. Church History. 
 
 1. Ruter's. 
 
 2. Moshoim's. 
 
 3. Gieseler's, 3 vols, (very good.) 
 
 4. NeanderV. 
 
 5. Milman's History of Christianity. 
 
 6. Neander's Planting and Training. 
 
 III. Theology. 
 
 1. Sehruncher's or Stockhousc's Body of Divinity. 
 
 2. Dwight's Theology. 
 
 3. Storrs's and Flatt's Theology. 
 
 4. Knapp's Theology. 
 
 IV. Interpretation of the Scriptures. 
 
 1. Ernesti on Interpretation. 
 
 2. Clarke's Commentary. 
 
 3. Benson's Commentary. 
 
 4. D'Oyly and Mant's Notes. 
 
 5. Lowth and Patrick's Commentary. 
 
 V. Helps to Interpretation. 
 
 1. Jahn's Hebrew Commonwealth. 
 
 2. Jalin s Biblical Arelneology. 
 
 VI. Doctrines and Interpretation. 
 
 1. Burnet on the Thirty-nine Articles. 
 
 2. Pearson on the Creed. 
 
 VII. Scripture Geography and Hist/ ry. 
 
 1. Robinson and Smith's Palestine. 
 
 2. Home's three volumes, late edition. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 149 
 
 VIII. Homiletica. 
 
 1. Porters Lectures on Homiletics. 
 
 2. Preachers' Manual. 
 
 3. Claude's Essay on Composition of a Sermon. 
 
 IX. Townsend's Bible, arranged chronologically, should he used in 
 daily reading, with at least two commentaries at hand to consult 
 when necessary, as well as biblical dictionaries and other books 
 of relerence. 
 
 The desire of Dr. Durbinthat young ministers should 
 have every facility for their improvement, was clearly 
 brought out in the days of his editorship, as appears in 
 various articles from his pen. So far did he <:o, as we 
 have seen in his editorial of July 18, 18:34, as to advo- 
 cate a " Theological Seminary." 
 
 In all young men lie had a deep interest as the hope 
 of the country as of the Church. He felt the impor- 
 tance of impressing them with sound principles of mo- 
 rality, of broadening their intelligence, and of adding 
 weight to character by the lessons of wisdom that they 
 should carefully si ml v. 
 
 While pastor in Philadelphia he wrote an introduc- 
 tion to Burgh's Rules for the Conduct of Life, as a 
 means of inculcating correct conduct. We quote his 
 language: 
 
 The instructions and rules contained in this unpre- 
 tending volume are not applicable only or chiefly to 
 the emergencies which may arise in our affairs, but also 
 to the ordinary business and relations of life. Success 
 in these respects depends chiefly on some settled plan, 
 and a few sound maxims by which Ave are steadily 
 guide d. President Edwards owed much of his great- 
 ness to seventy-five rules which he drew up for his 
 daily conduct; and although they are not so generally 
 applicable to the ordinary affairs of life as those in this 
 work, yet I have deemed it proper to present them to 
 the reader in the form of an appendix. 
 
 It is impossihle to ascertain the prominent characters 
 and instances of extraordinary success in life which 
 
150 
 
 JOHN P. DUIiBIN. 
 
 have resulted from the sound maxims that Dr. Franklin 
 published on the margin of his Almanac, under the 
 sobriquet of "Poor Richard." I happen to know that 
 the most extensive publishing house in this, or, perhaps, 
 in any country, was produced by its elder partner 
 adopting while he was an apprentice, and practicing 
 steadily afterward, one of the maxims of Poor Richard. 
 
 He says, "As the slightest touch will defile a clean 
 garment, which cannot be cleaned again without a great 
 deal of trouble, so the conversation of the wicked and 
 the debauched will in a very short time defile the mind 
 of an innocent person in a manner that will give him 
 great trouble to recover his former purity. You may 
 therefore more safely venture into company with a 
 person infected with the plague than with a vicious man ; 
 for the worst consequence of the first is death, but of 
 the last the hazard of a worse destruction. For vicious 
 people generally have a peculiar ambition to draw in 
 the innocent to their party, and many of them are fur- 
 nished with artifices and allurements but too effectual 
 for ensnaring." 
 
 The advice to those who are just commencing busi- 
 ness for themselves, particularly with regard to the 
 strictest integrity and patience, and overtrading and ex- 
 pensive living, is exceedingly judicious. The methods 
 recommended in order to penetrate the characters and 
 motives of those with whom we have to deal are just 
 and honorable. The following remark is worthy to be 
 remembered. It will save us a great deal of that trou- 
 ble which holds out no prospect of profit. "There are 
 six sorts of people at whose hands you need not expect 
 much kindness: The sordid and narrow-minded think 
 of nobody but themselves. The lazy will not take the 
 trouble to serve you. The busy have not time to think 
 of you. The overgrown rich man is above minding any 
 one that needs his assistance. The poor and unhappy 
 have neither spirit nor ability. The good-natured fool, 
 however willing, is not capable of serving you." 
 
 The rules laid down for conducting the affairs of 
 courtship and marriage will be read with pleasure and 
 profit even by those who have already entered prudently 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 151 
 
 into the marriage relation. The instruction to parents 
 on the proper management of children, and advice with 
 respect to aiding their early settlement in life are ex- 
 cellent. I conclude by expressing my opinion that a 
 more suitable book could not be placed in the hands of 
 youth of both sexes, particularly when they are about 
 to enter into the world and assume at least some of the 
 important relations in society, and come into contact 
 not only with liberal and right-minded persons and 
 favorable opportunities, but also with ill-natured peo- 
 ple, untoward circumstances, and eager competition in 
 business. 
 
 Again, in the introduction to Edmondson's Short 
 Ser>nons, he makes an extract as most salutary counsel 
 to young men. 
 
 There is scarcely a condition in life that will not find 
 a sermon in this volume appropriate to it, in which judi- 
 cious advice is given to guide the conduct in the case. 
 The two sermons to young men are an invaluable treas- 
 ure. They are not so much an appeal to them on the 
 subject of religion as a manual to direct them in the 
 affairs of life. I select two passages as specimens of the 
 matter and manner of the discourses on the various 
 conditions and duties of life. The first is a word to 
 young men on going into business ; the second, on their 
 duties to their parents: 
 
 " Many young men have entered on business at the 
 wrong end, and have made a figure in the world with- 
 out a sufficient capital to support it ; but their thought- 
 less extravagance has soon dashed them down to the 
 lowest degradation. They would be gentlemen at first, 
 and, before they knew on what ground they stood, 
 involved themselves in debt, robbed their creditors, 
 disgraced themselves, and in their folly sunk into 
 poverty and want. That you may avoid these fatal 
 rocks, 'let your moderation be known unto all men.' 
 Be attentive to business ; keep correct accounts ; deal 
 in good articles; aim at a moderate and fair profit; 
 be punctual to all your engagements ; be kind to your 
 
152 
 
 JOIJX P. DURB1N. 
 
 servants; live rather below your income; and resolve 
 to be fair traders and honest men." 
 
 "Have you parents? Let them be dear to you. Re- 
 member who hath said, 'Honor thy father and thy 
 mother, that thy days may be long upon the land 
 which tlie Lord thy God giveth thee.' Obey them in 
 all things lawful, and if they be poor supply their 
 wants. They have done more for you than you can do 
 for them, and the time may come when you may need 
 the help of your children. Conceal as much as possible 
 the faults of your parents; bear with their growing 
 weaknesses and infirmities, and cheer their drooping 
 spirits. He who is unkind to his parents under any 
 pretense is unworthy of a place in the Church of God." 
 
 But in all this work there was proper care of his pul- 
 pit duties. No day was so cold and no storm so heavy 
 as to prevent his preaching sermons that filled the 
 people with rapture. The same wisdom of conduct 
 and grace of intercourse that had distinguished him in 
 college relations marked his intercourse with the 
 people. His plans were accepted as his ministry was 
 commended and sought. Having served the Union the 
 full period he was appointed to Trinity Church in Phila- 
 delphia. IL re he sustained the same reputation. In the 
 outer world he was known by his eloquence in the pulpit, 
 on the platform, and wherever he appeared. Besides the 
 studies for the improvement and better furnishing of 
 his own mind lie was in his own house as a professor to 
 his children, training them in their studies and giving 
 them the results of his observation and skill. During 
 his pastorate in the city, amid the pulpits of Albert 
 Barnes, Dr. S. H. Tyng, Dr. G. W. Bethune, and of Dr. 
 T. II. Stockton he was an ascendant attraction. 
 Among such popular lecturers as Judge Conrad, Morton 
 McMichael, and Joseph R. Chandler he commanded the 
 most eminent place. His pastorate in Philadelphia did 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 153 
 
 not impair liis reputation as a man of mental and theo- 
 logical resources, nor was his eloquence in less repute. 
 
 While in this city there was a Sabhath Convention 
 held in the Musical Fund Hall, then the popular place 
 for great assemblies. The Convention was to petition 
 the Legislature for a law in regard to the sanctity of 
 the Sabbath. It was a large and intelligent body of 
 laymen and ministers. Among those who spoke was 
 the late Governor Alexander Cummings, at that time 
 the editor of the Evening Bulletin. His speech was 
 prompt, direct, incisive. The ftev. Thomas Brainard, 
 with his accustomed wit and brilliancy, had delivered 
 an address with tine effect. Rev. Dr. G. W. Bethune, 
 at the height of his fame as a pulpit orator, had spoken 
 with an eloquence transcending any thing the writer 
 had ever heard from him. He declared that he belonged 
 to a church whose faith is that Christ's kingdom is not 
 of this world in the means by which it is advanced, that 
 her appeal is to God and not to legislators. His atti- 
 tude, gesture, and manner, suggested George White- 
 held as no other speaker had ever done. With uplifted 
 and extended arms he exclaimed, "Christianity has 
 cost us mountains of wealth, and rivers of blood, and 
 ages of suffering, but the repose of the saints is in the 
 Saviour who is strong to deliver; he still walks 
 in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks and holds 
 the seven stars in his right hand." The audience was 
 at fever heat. This was not the time for a like exhibi- 
 tion, but for all the weight that wisdom gives to words. 
 Dr. Durbin rose. There was universal stillness. He 
 was calm, clear, conciliatory and convincing. There 
 was no passion ; it was all logic. At the close of his 
 remarks the Rev. Mr. Longmore, of Manayunk, a Pres- 
 byterian minister lately from Ireland, full of enthusiasm, 
 said : "I have listened to the last speaker with the 
 
154 
 
 JOHN P. BUR BIX. 
 
 greatest admiration, as I have thought how forcible are 
 right words. How valuable is good common sense ! " 
 
 At the end of his pastorate at Trinity, having been 
 in the city four years, he was compelled by the law of 
 the Church at that time to leave. In this brief period 
 he had done a work that only eternity will fully disclose. 
 He had brought many to Methodism who had r.ot 
 known its character, and made an impression upon our 
 Church that abides. 
 
 He was then appointed presiding elder on the North 
 Philadelphia District. Though there but one year it is 
 spoken of as a period of thorough supervision, and as 
 furnishing a brilliant episode in the history of the dis- 
 trict. The position was not pleasant to him, but his 
 great sermons were an untold power. One on the 
 resurrection, preached at the Attleborough camp-meet- 
 ing, is still spoken of as overwhelming in its effects. 
 
 A short time after his appointment he made an offi- 
 cial visit to Bristol, Pa., and preached on Sabbath 
 morning. His congregation was very large. Among 
 those present was the Rev. S. II. Smith, now and long 
 a member of the New York East Conference, but at 
 that time a resident of Burlington, N. J., just across 
 the Delaware from Bristol. Mr. Smith says he was 
 accompanied by a very intelligent member of Saint 
 Mary's Protestant Episcopal Church, Burlington, then 
 under the rectorship of Bishop Doane. 
 
 The preacher conducted the introductory services in 
 a very quiet manner, and then announced his text, Heb. 
 iv, 14-16, presenting as his theme the priesthood of 
 Jesus. 
 
 There was nothing particularly impressive in the 
 first few sentences of his discourse, but soon he uttered 
 something which seemed slightly paradoxical, which im- 
 mediately arrested the attention of all hearers. They 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 155 
 
 soon saw from lucid statements that though at first ap- 
 parently doubtful it was entirely legitimate to the sub- 
 ject in hand. From that moment onward to the close 
 of the sermon he not only held the attention, but evi- 
 dently enraptured his congregation. The whole scene 
 of priestly offering and intercession as known to the 
 Levitical dispensation was so graphically depicted, and 
 the superiority and effectiveness of Christ's mediatorial 
 office so powerfully shown, that every one seemed to 
 see and feel that remission of sins had been clearly 
 provided for in God's great method of atonement. It 
 was interesting to watch the effect upon the hearers, as 
 seen from the close attention given, and expression of 
 deepest interest upon every face. Mr. Smith says : 
 "The friend who accompanied me at first seemed disap- 
 pointed, but soon he became fixed, and then transfixed, 
 and with the spell of that marvelous sermon upon him 
 declared, as he mingled with the returning throng, that 
 it was the greatest religious discourse he ever heard." 
 
 While in Philadelphia it was well understood he 
 had a most tempting offer of a pastorate in the city 
 from another denomination, when the weightiest argu- 
 ments were brought to bear to induce his acceptance. 
 This, too, was at a time when he keenly felt the law that 
 compelled his removal from the pastorate of the Meth- 
 odist church after a service of four consecutive years in 
 the city. Besides, he was filling the presiding elder's 
 office, which was one that he did not desire. 
 
156 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 The Missionary Secretaryship. 
 
 IN 1850, on the failure of the health of Dr. Pitman, 
 Secretary of the Missionary Society, the Bishops 
 unanimously called Dr. Durhin to fill the vacancy. 
 
 The General Conference of 1852 elected him to this 
 office, and successive General Conferences continued 
 him there till 1872, when bodily infirmities induced his 
 resignation. To this position Dr. Durbin came in his 
 physical vigor, his mental strength, and in the full 
 knowledge and discipline of all his powers. His execu- 
 tive ability, superior judgment of men, as well as his 
 remarkable eloquence, commended him to the Church as 
 a most suitable person for this high office. By travel 
 in foreign lands he had added to his intellectual re- 
 sources and become familiar with the moral wants of 
 the world. The place was most congenial to his tastes. 
 He entered upon his work with the force of conviction 
 and the inspiration of hope. lie formed his plans, 
 adopted his policy, and as far as possible reduced every 
 thing to system. He called to his support competent 
 men, and exercised a supervision at once general and 
 minute. His alertness was equal to any exigency. 
 His oversight often seemed like prescienre. He im- 
 pressed pastors with the obligation of enlightening and 
 inspiring our people. For this he urged monthly mis- 
 sionary concerts for prayer and the diffusion of appro- 
 priate literature. He insisted that with such zeal and 
 effort the people would be educated to giving. He 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 157 
 
 guarded against spasmodic action as sure to react. He 
 discouraged collections at the Annual Conferences, ex- 
 horting the preachers to give with their people, that 
 their charges might have both the inspiration and 
 credit of their offerings. He assured the pastors that 
 he reposed more upon their skill than upon his own 
 efforts. He organized auxiliary societies and directed 
 contributions to the proper treasury. 
 
 In the public anniversaries he made it a study to put 
 the greatest amount of matter in the smallest space and 
 to render it the most vital. The addresses on these oc- 
 casions were such as gave the broadest views and 
 the brightest prospect. They increased liberality ami 
 awoke a higher ambition. Who that was present on 
 the occasion can ever forget the anniversary at Steinway 
 Hall, when Bishop Thomson, on his return from abroad, 
 delivered his mighty address on India? Did we ever 
 so see the country and its peoples ? Did we ever so see 
 the learning we have to meet, the logical skill and 
 powerful prejudice we have to encounter? lie studied 
 every question of the foreign work in its relation to 
 country, government, and race. He considered the ob- 
 stacles and inducements to missionary service. With 
 the statesman he was the statesman ecclesiastic, wisely 
 presenting the condition, showing the triumphs, and 
 securing the protection that the comity of nations 
 demands. In the monthly meetings of the board of 
 managers, and in the committees on various mission 
 fields, he showed his perfect grasp of all detail and 
 knowledge of the cases to be considered. Himself the 
 center of intelligence, he threw light on every subject. 
 His reports to the board were so clear and just as to 
 allow little discussion, as they carried with them the 
 force of a logical statement and of an inevitable con- 
 clusion. In the board were business men and minis- 
 
15S 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 ters accustomed to independent thought and expres- 
 sion; but it was difficult to make an issue with the sec- 
 retary. He had discernment, foresight, address with- 
 out cunning ; and if he managed men it was not because 
 he was a manager. If the world ever saw greater har- 
 mony than pervaded that hoard, the writer lias not 
 lived long enough or gone far enough to see it. But 
 who can tell his service to the Church in his keen dis- 
 crimination of character, his ready perception of the 
 qualification of candidates for the diverse fields, the 
 education demanded, the abilities possessed, the grace 
 enjoyed, and the subjection to discipline required. His 
 correspondence with them in the work, his recognition 
 of their cares, his estimate of their difficulties, his gen- 
 erous judgment of their mistakes, the sympathy he ex- 
 pressed in their sorrows, his words of cheer in their suc- 
 cesses, and his perpetual anxiety to succor and strengthen 
 them are beyond the power of words, while loyalty to 
 the interest that he was to guard and direct compelled 
 a strictness that is the offspring of inflexible integrity. 
 
 "With a heart so full of the cause it was natural that 
 he should wish to visit the missions, that he might bet- 
 ter understand their needs. The society approved his 
 proposition. He went and made such observation and 
 reached such conclusions as were of permanent profit. 
 He lived, he wrote, he gave addresses, preached ser- 
 mons, and kindled his own ardors in hearts as cold as 
 icebergs. Parsimony unlocked its coffers, and mines of 
 unknown wealth were discovered. Many a saint near- 
 ing the celestial city remembered in his will the cause 
 that would "bring many sons unto glory." Churches 
 felt their dignity increased by the munificence of their 
 offerings, and the Philadelphia Conference, of which he 
 was a member, was and continues to be in its collections 
 the banner Conference. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 159 
 
 What character, what church, what Conference could 
 be cold when he showed the "signs of the times?" 
 Will the spectacle ever vanish? Will the reasons ever 
 cease to operate ? Under his administration the " Wom- 
 an's Foreign Missionary Society " was organized, and 
 received his sanction and support. When Dr. Durbin 
 became Missionary Secretary the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church had but two small foreign missions : one in 
 South America, one in Liberia; one just being formed 
 in China. Under him its missions were extended in 
 China, into India, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Nor- 
 way, Denmark, and Bulgaria. When he took his place 
 as secretary the receipts of the society were one hun- 
 dred thousand dollars per year; but before he retired 
 they amounted to seven hundred thousand dollars a 
 year. 
 
 In 1866, the centennial year of American Methodism, 
 appropriations were made on the basis of one million for 
 the missionary cause. Within the last year a million dol- 
 lars has been raised. To this sublime work Dr. Durbin 
 gave twenty-two of the best years of his life. If ever his 
 unreserved powers were given to an interest they were 
 to this. When, in 1852, much was said about making 
 him Bishop, he expressed his conviction that he had a 
 work of superior claim on his energies, and one that he 
 preferred. 
 
 The following is from the pen of the late Bishop 
 Wiley when editor of the Ladus 1 Repository, January, 
 1872: 
 
 Dr. Durbin cannot be called the father of Method- 
 ist Missions, for our society had a history of thirty 
 years before he came to its head; yet in very important 
 senses he is the creator of the society in its present 
 form and magnitude, and deserves and will receive 
 the undying gratitude of the Church as the chief in- 
 
160 
 
 JOUX r. DUB BIX. 
 
 Btrument in the wonderful development of our mission 
 ary work during the past score of years. 
 
 In 1850, when Dr. Durbin entered the office as sec- 
 ret ary, the missionary appropriation was $100,000. Of 
 this sum 823,400 were appropriated to " domestic mis- 
 sions,' 1 $38,300 to " foreign populations in our own coun- 
 try," $37,300 to "foreign missions." Our only foreign 
 missions were Africa, China, and South America. The 
 African Mission was a pet, and received $21,000. South 
 America took care of itself, the missionary being sup- 
 ported by American and English residents. The China 
 Mission was in its infancy, having just secured its loca- 
 tion at Foochow, and receiving an appropriation of 
 $7,000. California and Oregon were reckoned, in some 
 sense, foreign missions, two missionaries having just 
 been sent to the former and seven operating in Oregon. 
 The collection for the preceding year was $100,196 09, 
 being an average of 16y\ per member. From that 
 time to the present there has been a steady increase in 
 appropriations and receipts, except a seeming decrease 
 since 1805 and 1806. The highest point reached in 
 these appropriations was $1,000,000 for 1866. The 
 highest point reached in receipts was in the same year, 
 $671,090 66, being an average of 77 cents per member. 
 
 In accepting this post Dr. Durbin knew the care it 
 would cost, the wisdom that it would require, the la'>or 
 that must be performed. He could conceive the solici- 
 tude that the demands of the work and the needs of 
 the treasury might compel. He knew that to him the 
 Church would look as inspiration to men, as argument 
 for increased liberality, as judgment for foreign fields. 
 He was not unmindful of the wear that would be upon 
 body and mind. He knew that Conferences would ex- 
 pect, his presence and ask his knowledge, and individ- 
 uals might tax his faith and try his patience. 
 
 But no knowledge of facts, however weighty and 
 difficult, kept him from a proper study of his duty and 
 the acceptance of what the Church imposed. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 161 
 
 "When the Rev. Elias Cornelius, D.D., was appointed 
 Corresponding Secretary of the American Board of 
 Commissioners for Foreign Missions he said, in writing 
 to a friend some weeks after his election, " Hitherto I 
 have felt more like praying tlian either writing or con- 
 versing. The most I can or dare say at present is, and 
 that with my eyes turned to Heaven, and death and the 
 judgment before me, I am trying to ask, 'Lord, what 
 wilt thou have me to do?' Next I desire to have my 
 ears open to every thing which is likely to make known 
 his will. ... I beg you to remember me in your 
 prayers."' 
 
 Thus felt the man of God when contemplating the 
 duties that his position involved. Dr. Durbin had as 
 full a realization of his responsibility when he became 
 the " Corresponding Secretary of the Missionary Society 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church." But he loved 
 the cause, and he welcomed the work when he saw the 
 " linger of God." lie was converted about the time 
 that our Missionary Society was organized. In his 
 early ministry he was permitted to see this work 
 among the Indians in the West, and it was his delight 
 to narrate the conversion of John Steward, a colored 
 man, who had some experience among the Indians in 
 what was then the far West; of his remarkable solici- 
 tude for the red men of the forest; of his determina- 
 tion to go among them and tell them of the Saviour 
 that he had found ; and how God honored the labors of 
 this earnest laborer in one of our first mission fields, in 
 the daysw T hen James B. Finley, by his devotion to their 
 good, was honored by being made a " chief." The cases 
 of Jason Lee, of Joshua Spaulding, the condition of the 
 " Flat Head Indians," and of the anxious inquiry about 
 the work of the Great Spirit — these men and facts had 
 taken hold of his heart and produced and deepened 
 12 
 
162 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 sympathy. Such also was the case with regard to 
 Melville JB. Cox and his African work. 
 
 He saw the world lying in wickedness. He saw mill- 
 ions of his race " without God and without hope in 
 the world." He saw peoples of every color and clime 
 bowing down to gods of wood and stone. In human 
 souls he saw no discriminating hues excepting those 
 that are moral. He knew ihe Gospel would save them. 
 The Methodist Church had it in its power to send it. 
 For this it had organized the Missionary Society, and 
 he believed that what, might not be accomplished by 
 individuals could be effected by the combined effort of 
 many. He knew that the voluntary association of good 
 men for advancing the kingdom of Christ could accom- 
 plish wonders. He believed that there is no object to 
 which this power cannot adapt itself, no resources which 
 it may not ultimately command, and " that a few indi- 
 viduals, if the public mind be gradually prepared to 
 favor them, can Jay the foundations of undertakings 
 which would have baffled the might of those who reared 
 the Pyramids." Has not this bold statement been jus- 
 tified in the cause of missions ? 
 
 Early in the history of our missionary efrWts as a 
 Church Rev. Stephen G. Roszel, of the Baltimore Con- 
 ference, a man of exalted character and of strong faith, 
 had the holy daring to predict that the day would yet 
 dawn when his Conference would raise as much as 
 $1,000 a year ! Let us not be severe on his judgment : 
 it was a day of small things. 
 
 Of John P. Durbin we may say the cause of mis- 
 sions commanded his confidence, inspired his hero- 
 ism, and furnished a basis of the highest and holiest 
 hope. 
 
 When the Macedonian cry fell on his ear, " Come over 
 and help us," his response was, "lama debtor both to 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 163 
 
 the Greeks ami to the Barbarians, both to the wise and 
 to the unwise." 
 
 His faith saw the sword converted into a plowshare 
 and the spear into a priming hook ; saw idols going to 
 the moles and to the bats; saw the " wilderness and 
 the solitary place " becoming glad, and the desert blos- 
 soming "as the rose." 
 
 Such thoughts, such faith, such appeal, made him 
 willing, anxious, to give his powers to this department 
 of the Church's service. Study had trained him, edu- 
 cation had honored him, the pastorate had roused his 
 moral as well as intellectual powers : the editorship in 
 the Church had given him a wide view of the world's 
 want, and now the missionary cause absorbed him. 
 
 Others might be discouraged ; he borrowed faith 
 from emergency. While others stood still and specu- 
 lated he went forward and demonstrated. Pressure did 
 not crush him, for love was mighty in his support. To 
 him every cloud had its "silver lining," and when the 
 sun of the hopes of others was going down his rose 
 full orbed on the moral horizon — the clouds gave way, 
 and the sun tinged what he touched. The deep silence 
 or stirring statement of an empty treasury made him 
 ring out as the battle-cry, "Can ye not discern the signs 
 of the times ?" Who can tell the value of such a man? 
 What a spirit did he inspire ! What self-abnegation did 
 he induce ! What possibilities did he make manifest ! 
 
 When he resigned his place as Corresponding Secre- 
 tary of the Missionary Society, the General Conference, 
 in appreciation of his services and to retain his coun- 
 sel, elected him Honorary Secretary of the Missionary 
 Society. Then he, whose life had been so full of labor 
 and whose labor had been so full of grand results, 
 withdrew from the active services that had been his 
 delight. 
 
164 
 
 JOHN P. DURB1N. 
 
 It is reported of Queen Mary, when about to die, 
 that she said, " If her hody was opened ' Calais' would 
 be found written on her heart." If mind could so im- 
 print itself on matter, and the affections show themselves 
 on human tissues, the examination of the heart of this 
 great Secretary would show " The Missionary Society 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church." The writer has 
 not been accustomed to think that a human intellect 
 wears out by use ; but if he has ever been tempted to 
 this, it is in the case of John P. Durbin. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 165 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Sermons on Special Occasions. 
 
 'O thoughtful person knowing the diverse and 
 
 -L' responsible positions which J. P. Durbin filled for 
 so long a period with so much success can doubt that, 
 irrespective of his pre-eminence as a speaker, he was a 
 man of remarkable endowments and skill. 
 
 For fifty years the name of J. P. Durbin teas before 
 the country as a synonym of inimitable eloquence. 
 
 Though the writer may not literally reproduce the 
 great sermons that Dr. Durbin delivered allusion is 
 allowed to some of those discourses that will never die 
 in the memory of those who heard them. 
 
 We have seen that while Dr. Durbin was pastor in 
 Philadelphia his themes had adaptation, and that there 
 were variety and popular power. For these his method 
 of preparation was uniform. But his sermons on 
 special occasions, in subject and treatment, respected 
 the facts before him. For any thing else he seemed 
 not to have the slightest concern. He would preach 
 from the same text any number of times or in different 
 places though near together. The writer heard him 
 preach at the seat of the Conference in East on, Mary- 
 land in 1848 from the text : " I have written unto you, 
 young men, because ye are strong, and the word of 
 God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked 
 one." The Sabbath before he preached it in Balti- 
 more. Easton was just across the Chesapeake Bay. 
 He was not deterred by the fact that Dr. Bond and 
 
166 
 
 JOHN P. DUE BIN. 
 
 others from Baltimore had heard it. At the dedica- 
 tion of the church at Cambridge that week he took " I 
 have written unto you, young men." There may have 
 been a score of people at Cambridge that heard him on 
 both the former occasions. He knew the advantage of 
 having a sermon fully at his command. Dr. Southey 
 commended Whitefield in his habit of often preaching 
 the same subjects, because he could thus learn the points 
 of power — what to leave off, how to add, or to modify. 
 Dr. Franklin said he could tell when Whitefield had a 
 new subject by its lack of maturity. No one could tell 
 how often Dr. Durbin preached from his chosen themes. 
 Frequent preaching from the same text was one of the 
 advantages of our fathers when they traveled circuits 
 or filled the office of presiding elder. Dr. Durbin once 
 said in the Preachers' Meeting of Philadelphia, " I am 
 like the old Roman, I never throw away a sword 
 while it will cut." If rusty, he rubbed it up. 
 
 Balaam. 
 
 Among the interesting and impressive biographical 
 sermons that Dr. Durbin preached while pastor of the 
 Union was one on Balaam. A friend has told the 
 writer that when he announced his text "tears were 
 in his eyes." It' the history of the subject gave him 
 such pathos at the start we might naturally suppose 
 the sermon would not be wanting in emotion. It was 
 not. It was as if the heart of the preacher ached in 
 the contemplation of such a false character, a man of 
 such contradictions in himself : a man of such exalted 
 conceptions of God and such sublime utterances of his 
 power and grace, of such knowledge as suggested the 
 true prophet, and yet with a conduct to show how per- 
 fectly a strong man may be lured by love of lucre ; and 
 in the face of the most instructive facts in the history 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 1GT 
 
 of God's people daring to desire their defeat and rep- 
 robation, yet uttering language that would indicate di- 
 vine inspiration ; cherishing desires to die the death of 
 the righteous, and willing, it' he might be permitted, even 
 to curse the people of God. When once refused, ag:iin 
 applying, and after such answer as allowed to his mind 
 the liberty that he sought, hasting to the house of the 
 messengers of the king to inform them of the gratify- 
 ing answer given. Arriving at the place Dr. Durbin 
 represents Balaam as eagerly rapping at the door, anil, 
 "suiting the action to the word," with the dramatic 
 power that he possessed, made three raps upon the 
 pulpit that sounded as if eterniiy was making its 
 terrific charges upon the ears of guilt. 
 
 We may not now give the moral word-painting of 
 Dr. Durbin. Word-painting, was it ? Did he not rather 
 sculpture character? If in ordinary thought he pre- 
 sented the thing can we wonder that this strange com- 
 pound of good and evil, of prophecy and profanation, 
 of orthodox faith and heterodox practice— two men 
 in one, two natures struggling one against the other, 
 which Balaam presented — should command his great 
 power in the delineation of character ? Shall we say 
 of Balaam 
 
 " To hell and heaven equal bent, 
 While both a devil and a saint ? " 
 
 For lucid exhibition, for forcible reasoning, for 
 analysis of human nature, for profound pathos, for 
 stirring appeal, for facts to induce moral introspection, 
 the writer must not be expected to give a just im- 
 pression. 
 
 Naaman. 
 
 Dr. Durbin had a sermon of great eloquence upon 
 Naaman. In this was the best exhibition of the beauty 
 
168 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 and force of his familiar style, a power to any one 
 who understands its use. 
 
 Lord Brougham, writing of Bushe, said : "His merit 
 as a speaker was of the highest order, and his power of 
 narrative has not perhaps been equaled." He assumes 
 that the narrative of Livy himself does not surpa:>s 
 in the great effect of his orator. He names perfect 
 simplicity, but mingled with elegance ; a lucid arrange- 
 ment and unbroken connection of all the facts and 
 constant introduction of the most picturesque expres- 
 sions, but never as ornaments. These, the great quali- 
 ties of narrative, accomplish its end and purpose. They 
 place the story and the scene before the hearer and the 
 reader as if he had witnessed the reality. 
 
 Dr. Durbin's vividness in moral word-painting was 
 one of the most striking features in the composition of 
 this sermon. Narrative had large place. Who has 
 not seen this in Dr. Durbin? Was it not this that gave 
 such effect to his statements of the claim, condition and 
 prospects of the missionary cause ? Perhaps there was 
 no power that Dr. Durbin possessed of which he was so 
 conscious as this. While commending narrative in 
 preaching, on one occasion in the Philadelphia Preach- 
 ers' Meeting, he said: "This ability I owe to my 
 mother's habit of telling me stories when I was a small 
 boy. I would lie on the floor as she walked to and fro 
 drawing out her yarn with a large spinning-wheel, so 
 common in those days, and she would tell me some 
 story and fill me with delight, and, looking up from the 
 floor into her face, I would say, 'Mother, tell me 
 more.' And more she gave." Dear mother and woman 
 of God ! how little did she think when spinning yarn 
 for the clothing of her household and telling stories to 
 amuse her son that she was imparting a taste for narrative 
 that would cause him to thrill vast congregations; that 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 169 
 
 she was teaching him to weave a net to catch the ear 
 and win the heart of many a sinner ! 
 
 In his sermon on Naaman Dr. Durbin showed his 
 homiletic skill in the use of the facts of Scripture history 
 and his ability to derive from them, and present to the 
 congregation, lessons of profoundest wisdom, and to 
 render practical, in the highest sense, portions of the 
 word which, though familiar, are rarely seen in their 
 deep moral significance. 
 
 Pride was made odious, and human power unavail- 
 able to the great necessity of human salvation. The 
 altar of God on the camp-ground or in the church, the 
 bread and wine at the Lord's Supper, were seen to have 
 a claim that had been denied them, even as the Jordan 
 was a means that Abana and Pharpar could not reach. 
 Now, in the full swell and sweep of his voice, he would 
 urge the dying sinner to forget all but his disease and 
 God's cure, and to believe, after all our reasoning, that 
 God is wiser than man, and with an earnestness that 
 only the peril of the sinner justified he urged the spir- 
 itual lepers to come to the " fountain opened in the 
 house of David for sin and uncleanness," and so have 
 a new nature. In the Hebrew maid he saw r the mis- 
 sionary for Christ. All Christians were to show what 
 they could do in any sphere where Providence places 
 them. Thus the sermon was practical in the highest 
 sense. 
 
 Dedication of Trinity. 
 In the use of choice literature Dr. Durbin did as he 
 advised others to do. The climax of his sermon at the 
 dedication of "Trinity," Philadelphia, in 1841, was in a 
 quotation. The service was on a week-day. It is 
 doubtful whether we ever had such a congregation as 
 at this time. Men of all professions were there. Min- 
 isters of various churches were present in great numbers. 
 
170 
 
 JOHN P. DURBW. 
 
 When the preacher had so far shown the sins of men 
 and the word of grace — when the audience had hung on 
 his words though in profound silence — he gave vent 
 to the strongest emotion and the most burning passion 
 in what the writer regarded as familiar language from 
 Cowper : 
 
 " 0 I for a lodge in some vast wilderness, 
 
 Some boundless contiguity of shade, 
 
 Where rumor of oppression and deceit, 
 
 Of unsuccessful or successful war, 
 
 Might never reach me more. My ear is pained, 
 
 My soul is sick, with every day's report 
 
 Of wrong and outrage witli which earth is filled." 
 
 It is impossible to tell the power of that passage, 
 unless it was heard from Durbin's lips and with his im- 
 pulse and emotion. When he laid his emphasis on " my 
 ear is pained" we felt disgusted at wickedness. When 
 he pronounced " wrong and outrage " we knew not how 
 to meet the enormity. With the first it was as if a 
 shingle started; when he uttered " outrage " as if the 
 roof rose. It was as if a stone spoke out of the wall 
 and a beam out of the timber answered it — as if 
 material things were shocked at such unexampled sin ; 
 as if the very temple became vocal with accusations and 
 filled with revolt, while virtuous Nature sought sanct- 
 uary from sin in the lodge of "some vast wilderness," 
 in "boundless contiguity of shade." Beside the writer 
 sat Dr. George B. Ide, the brilliant preacher of the First 
 Baptist Church. He said, as we separated, " parts were 
 inimitable." We had often heard that poetry quoted, 
 never before rendered. It was not the quotation ; it 
 was not the words, but Durbin in them. 
 
 Resurrection. 
 Conception can hardly transcend the influence of his 
 quotation from Dr. Young when preaching on the 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 171 
 
 " Resurrection of Christ." The didactic and expository 
 had had their place, reasoning had exerted its greatest 
 power, and for a time logic seemed to predominate in 
 the discourse ; but when the moment came to be 
 relieved from severe mental process — when the proof 
 presented had accomplished its end, the soul took 
 wings and mounted from the earth and seemed sub- 
 limed by the subject. The fact made its full appeal ; 
 some wept, others shouted ; all were absorbed. Then 
 in the fullness of a triumph never more manifest in any 
 moral demonstration, he exclaimed : 
 
 " And did lie rise? 
 Hear, 0 ye nations, hear it, O ye dead! 
 He rose ! he rose ! he burst the bars of death. 
 Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates I 
 And give the King of glory to come in. 
 Who is the King of glory ? He who left 
 His throne of glory for the pangs of death. 
 Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates ! 
 And give the king of glory to come in. 
 Who is the King of glory ? He who slew 
 The ravenous foe that gorged all human race. 
 The King of glory He, whose glory filled 
 Heaven with amazement at his love to man, 
 And with divine complacency beheld 
 Powers most illumined 'wilder'd in the theme. 
 
 The theme, the joy, how then shall man sustain ? 
 
 0 the burst gates ! crushed sting 1 demolished throne ! 
 
 Last gasp of vanquished death ! shout, earth and heaven, 
 
 This sum of good to man, whose nature then 
 
 Took wing and mounted with him from the tomb. 
 
 Then, then I rose! Then first humanity 
 
 Triumphant passed the crystal ports of light 
 
 (Stupendous guest) and seized eternal youth. 
 
 Seized in our name. E'er since 'tis blasphemous 
 
 To call man mortal. Mans mortality 
 
 Was then transferred to death; aud Heaven's duration 
 
H2 
 
 JOHN r. DURBIN. 
 
 Unalienably sealed to this frail frame, 
 This child of dust! Man, all immortal, hail! 
 Hail! Heaven, all lavish of strange gifts to man, 
 Thine all the glory, man's the boundless bliss." 
 
 No one can wonder that the sermon at the Attle- 
 borough camp-meeting that contained this passage is 
 remembered and spoken of as one of such stupendous 
 power. He had no need to go to others for either 
 elegance, elevation, or eloquence ; but he did it to sup- 
 port the grand truths that he presented. 
 
 Bascom with Coleridge's Lay Sermon. 
 
 The passage that we have heard quoted from Bascom 
 more than any other is from S. T. Coleridge. Speaking 
 of Christianity he asks, "But whence did this happy 
 organization first come? Was it a tree transplanted 
 from Paradise, with all its branches in full fruitage ? 
 Or was it sowed in sunshine ? W as it in vernal breezes 
 and gentle rains that it fixed its roots and grew and 
 strengthened? Let history answer these questions! 
 With blood was it planted ; it was rocked in tempests ; 
 the goat, the ass and the stag gnawed it ; the wild 
 boar has whetted his tusk on its bark. The deep scars are 
 still extant on its trunk, and the path of the lightning 
 may be traced among its higher branches. And even 
 after its full growth, in the season of its strength, when 
 its height reached to the heaven and the sight thereof 
 to all the earth, the whirlwind has more than once 
 forced its stately top to touch the ground : it has been 
 bent like a bow, and sprung back like a shaft." 
 
 The readiness of Dr. Durbin to utilize important 
 material in a way consistent with high intellectual 
 capacity extended, in one case, certainly, even to the 
 flan of a sermon. In The Christian Advocate of No- 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 173 
 
 vember 13, 1884, there is a very copious outline of a 
 sermon on the text, Hosea ii, 8, 9, " For she did not 
 know that I gave her corn, ami wine, and oil, and mul- 
 tiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for 
 Baal. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn 
 in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, 
 and will recover my wool and my flax, given to cover 
 her nakedness." No one on reading Jay's sermon and 
 Durbin's sketch can deny the close conformity, and 
 there is no doubt that the outline was derived from Jay. 
 But even in the three main propositions there is a verbal 
 and real difference. The themes are different. The in- 
 troduction of Dr. Durbin as given, no doubt about its 
 full length as preached, is entirely unlike that of Mr. 
 Jay. Then, in the progress of thought, it is seen how 
 Durbin extended, illustrated, and impressed truth in his 
 own way. Besides these differences in the most weighty 
 part of the discourse which the Doctor presents as the 
 peroration, we have the following points not recognized 
 in Jay : 
 
 1st. Let us be continually impressed with the con- 
 stant agency of God in all our affairs. 
 
 2d. Let us make all our plans conform to his will, 
 that they may receive his blessing. 
 
 3d. Let us remember that all the instances of God's 
 goodness lead us to repentance. 
 
 4th. But if, through all these, we go down to hell, 
 how terrible will be our damnation ! 
 
 Moreover, the Doctor's sermon is about three times 
 as long as that of Jay. His fruitfulness of thought, his 
 verbal affluence, and the mental independence that dis- 
 tinguished Dr. Durbin, together with the dissimilarity 
 of style, preclude thought of culpable plagiary. 
 
174 
 
 JOHN P. D UK BIN. 
 
 The Lamb of God. 
 
 Among the great doctrinal discourses of Dr. Durbin 
 was one on the text, "Behold the Lamb of God, that 
 taketh away the sin of the world." The Atonement 
 was his theme. With what clearness, fullness, and force 
 did he present the sin of the world, real, aggravated, 
 damning ; the sin of the heart and the life ; the sin of 
 unbelief and of rebellion ; the sin, not of a color or 
 clime, of a nation, but of a race; the sin that has i nn 
 through the ages, and that as a tide surges in the streets 
 and avenues of our cities, and that sometimes as really 
 inundates the homes of the refined as the huts of the 
 rude. This called Christ from heaven. lie came to 
 be led as a lamb to the slaughter. The paschal lamb 
 had its significance and exerted a power; the sacrifices 
 by the priests under the Levitical law impressed their 
 moral lessons. But through the "Lamb of God 1 ' we 
 have "eternal redemption." By his death on the cross 
 he has made the pardon of sin a possibility. And no 
 sin, however atrocious — no iniquity, however long in- 
 dulged — no depravity, however deep and dire — is too 
 great for the merit and might of Calvary. 
 
 Then, as a means of our saving benefits through the 
 atonement made, he bade us " Behold the Lamb of God." 
 Attempt nothing impossible; repose in no way upon the 
 merit of good works, but with the soul concentered in 
 his eye, " behold," not Moses, not Abraham, not the 
 prophets, but Christ. To him look as the Author and 
 Finisher of our faith. Though there is sin, and the 
 Lamb that taketh it away, it is only by looking to this 
 Lamb that the sin of our hearts and lives is removed. 
 But as it is hunger that prompts the effort for food, as 
 it is thirst that induces approach to the fountain, as it 
 was peril that caused the man-slayer to flee to the city 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 175 
 
 of refuge, so it is the felt need of Christ that makes be- 
 holding liini of any avail. 
 
 But Dr. Durbin did not show the Lamb without the 
 law. "The law was our school-master to bring us to 
 Christ." He knew whence the law issued. There- 
 fore to Sinai he took us. We heard its angry thunders 
 mutter. We saw its lurid lightnings glare, the smoke 
 was upon its summit, and even a Moses quaked with 
 fear. But when he did this it was in sight of Calvary. 
 Long centuries intervened between the convulsing of the 
 one and the crimsoning of the other. But as a star 
 may suddenly shoot athwart the midnight of gloom so 
 in a moment the splendors of noonday may bre.ik from 
 the darkest moral horizon, and we may be "all light in 
 the Lord." 
 
 Fidelity to his calling constrained him to utter the 
 fact, "God is angry with the wicked every day." But 
 it was to induce the transgressor to lay hold of the hope 
 set before him in the Gospel. Promises he brought to 
 revive the spirit of the contrite ones. But whenever 
 he entered the Bible, as a garden of the Lord, every 
 rose that he plucked, every flower that he culled, every 
 garland that he wove, was to deck the brow of Him 
 whom malignity crowned with thorns. He understood 
 his place. Sinai should only blaze that Calvary might 
 bless ; and such was the relation in which he placed us 
 to each, that from the rending height of the one we be- 
 held the bloody summit of the other, assured that a 
 visit to Calvary would accomplish nothing without a 
 sight of the mount that flashed and flamed. With such 
 a beholding of the Lamb of God, in intensity of desire, 
 in depth of penitence, in implicit faith, the brow that 
 care had wrinkled was smooth, the heart that guilt had 
 tortured found peace, and the spirit that had been ready 
 to sink into the depths of despair rose in divinest rapt- 
 
176 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 lire to the very bosom of God. Then did we so "be- 
 hold the Lamb of God " that all other objects passed 
 from our vision. We saw the meaning of the atonement 
 and the function of faith. People were swayed like the 
 trees of the forest before a mighty tempest. Men wept 
 and praised, and it was as if God would now show some- 
 thing of what Isaiah saw when he said, " The posts of 
 the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and 
 the house was filled with smoke." The Rev. B. F. 
 Crary, D.D., told the writer of the great grace that 
 rested upon the people as Dr. Durbin preached from 
 this text before the Illinois Conference, held at Paris, 
 about 1853. During its delivery attention was fixed; 
 interest was manifest and profound ; but silence reigned 
 except as the preacher's voice filled the place. It 
 seemed as if the thoughts of others could almost be 
 heard. There was a majesty in the man, there was a 
 grandeur in the theme, and there was the conscious 
 presence of the Holy Ghost in the assembly. The feel- 
 ing that prevailed was like, 
 
 " The speechless awe that dared not move, 
 And all the silent heaven of love." 
 
 But who shall tell the effect at the close, when Dr. 
 Durbin broke forth in his climax and quoted from 
 Cowper, in his own matchless manner, 
 
 " There is a fountain filled with blood 
 
 Drawn from Immanuel's veins ; 
 And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, 
 
 Lose all their guilty stains. 
 
 "The dying thief rejoiced to see 
 
 That fountain in his day ; 
 And there may I, though vile as he, 
 
 Wash all my sins away I " 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 111 
 
 He gave the entire hymn. The whole congregation, 
 as they rose to sing, seemed full of the sense of the 
 presence of the Holy Ghost. They took each other by 
 the hand, and with gushing tears, and glowing hearts, 
 and many almost speechless, stood on the verge of 
 heaven. Bishop Ames, Peter Cartwright, and Peter 
 Akers seemed as profoundly moved as any of the 
 assembly. 
 
 Hope the Anchor. 
 
 To exhibit Dr. Durbin's claim to the highest style of 
 eloquence, we name a sermon, the first the writer heard 
 from him, delivered in the "Union," Philadelphia, on 
 Sabbath morning, April 12, 1836, during the Conference. 
 This church had :i short time before been built on the site 
 of the old " Academy " of Whitefield. Dr. Holdich had 
 filled it as pastor. He had been succeeded by Charles 
 Pitman. Both were at the height of their reputation. 
 They were followed by the Rev. Samuel Kepler, trans- 
 ferred from the Baltimore Conference. It was the 
 period and place of his greatest success. The edifice 
 was in size and style unequaled in the Conference. In 
 architecture and furniture it was such :in advance upon 
 any other Methodist " meeting house " in the Confer- 
 ence that some wondered if it was not a departure 
 from our simplicity. 
 
 The pulpit was broad and of mahogany. It had a 
 platform that was covered with Brussels carpet. Only 
 a lew years had elapsed since ingrain carpet on the pul- 
 pit steps of another of our churches had given offense. 
 Of the Union Church Dr. Durbin, while editor of the 
 Christian Advocate and Journal, thus writes, April 25, 
 1834: "It is certainly the most superb and convenient 
 church I have seen among us. All the materials are 
 select." The choir was sustained by the skill in singing 
 13 
 
178 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 of James Harmstead and Samuel Ashmead, leading 
 members of the charge. The house was usually filled 
 with one of the most quiet and intelligent congrega- 
 tions in Methodism. As the seat of the Conference it 
 was now thronged by people and preachers anxious to 
 hear Dr. Durbin. It was a question whether we could 
 obtain a seat. How far the aesthetic taste of the 
 preacher exalted his thoughts in a temple of such at- 
 traction and associations, how much such an assembly 
 roused him, others may as well judge as the writer. 
 This we may say: the place, the occasion, the audience, 
 the theme, were well calculated to awaken every energy 
 of mind and heart. 
 
 The text was one of the grandest in the Bible, Heb. 
 6. 17-20: "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to 
 show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his 
 counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable 
 things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we 
 might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge 
 to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we 
 have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, 
 and which entereth into that within the vail." Difficult 
 as it now is to write of that sermon, it was then more 
 difficult to speak of it. The people heard it with atten- 
 tion, delight, and transport. The preacher showed that 
 the Christian has real, strong, everlasting consolation in 
 Christ. That we are in the world as the ship is in the 
 sea ; that we as really need an anchor for the soul and 
 that we as truly have it. Storms arise, dangers threaten. 
 Satan allows "no sea of glass" in the present state. 
 Our anchor is hope. Its ground, the promise and the 
 oath of God. It is cast within the vail of the upper 
 temple, and as the anchor holds the ship so this holds 
 the soul. This shown, the preacher seized the anchor of 
 our hope as if it were of iron, and flesh were equal to 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 179 
 
 spirit. Like a Samson of strength, with gesture and 
 posture answering to his purpose, he gave one tremen- 
 dous heave and shouted, "Brethren, it is within the 
 vail! " Judging from the accuracy of the aim, the im- 
 pulse it received, the direction that it took and our own 
 feeling, with the appearance of the preacher, we ac- 
 cepted his word. Then he declared, " The ground is 
 good and there is no dragging of the anchor." He began 
 to draw on the cable, the people joined him. It was as 
 if every one in the congregation would lay hold. The 
 preacher was more than himself. His eyes like orbs of 
 light rolled and tlaslied as it' kindled by celestial fire. 
 His countenance radiated. Every feature spoke. Every 
 fiber of his frame seemed charged with an electrifying 
 power. Had Vinet been there he might have quoted 
 this as one of the most perfect demonstrations of the 
 power of "dramatisme" in the pulpit. In that ser- 
 mon was there lacking a single element of the sublime 
 given by Longinus? Was there not "grandeur in the 
 thoughts;" "the pathetic;" "skillful application of 
 figures ; " " graceful manner of expression ; " M and the 
 structure or composition of all the periods in all possi- 
 ble dignity and grandeur?" There is a lady in Phila- 
 delphia who, when we meet, speaks of that sermon as 
 the joy of her life. 
 
ISO 
 
 JOHN r. DURBIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Correspondence Concerning Dr. Durbin. 
 
 TO aid in conveying the best idea of Dr. Durbin's 
 power as a preacher, as an educator, missionary 
 secretary, etc., we present the reader with the follow- 
 ing letters prepared for his biography. 
 
 The first we offer is from the Rev. John B. Merwin, 
 D.D., the oldest effective minister in the New York 
 East Conference. His father, the Rev. Samuel Mer- 
 win, was one of the distinguished Methodist ministers 
 of his day. He availed himself of our first college for 
 the education of his son. 
 
 The nation and Church were awakened, interested, 
 and expectant by reason of the eloquence that distin- 
 guished the bar, the senate, and the pulpit. Webster, 
 Clay, and their confreres were gratifying and training 
 the taste of the public. In the Church the seraphic and 
 sainted Summerfield had drawn together and fused into 
 one assembly people of all denominations. Henry B. 
 Bascom, grand in appearance, and by grandeur of ora- 
 tory and argument, drew crowds that overflowed the 
 largest churches. Among the attendants were found 
 in large numbers lawyers and students of all pro- 
 fessions. In the air there is borne a rumor of the 
 equal of any of them, in the person of a young 
 professor of Augusta College, Ky. In the summer of 
 1829, in Philadelphia, it is circulated that John P. 
 Durbin is to preach in the Academy (the Union) on a 
 Sunday morning. A member of its Sabbath-school, 
 I occupied a front seat in the gallery, commanding a 
 good view of pulpit and congregation. The house was 
 filled. Unnoticed in his coming in, a quiet, neat, unpre- 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 IS I 
 
 tentious man appeared in the pulpit. In every mind the 
 question is, " Can this be he ? " The hymns and Script- 
 ure were read, prayer offered with low and monotonous 
 tones and peculiar cadence. The text was Heb. xi, 
 24, 25, " By faith Moses, when he was come to years, re- 
 fused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter ; choos- 
 ing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than 
 to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season," was read more 
 measured! y and in more drawling tones than his former 
 readings, and ended with the rising inflection, and an in- 
 stant full opening of the eyes. For half an hour, with 
 voice and manner little changed, his statements were 
 clear, his thoughts a chain of appropriateness, his ex- 
 pressions often of marked aptness and condensation, 
 hut all in language so plain and accurate that to mis- 
 take or misunderstand were impossible. The audience 
 listened eagerly and inquiringly at first, then restfully 
 and expectantly. A few concluded it was a disappoint- 
 ment, and here and there one and another left. Soon he 
 stood erect, his voice took on strength, his eyes flashed 
 with emotions — preacher and audience were trans- 
 formed. In some way the attraction was felt in the 
 street, and the seats were filled, and in the space between 
 the pews and doors the people stood. After that when 
 it was known he was to preach the throng came from 
 every direction. 
 
 At this time commenced that acquaintance of Dr. 
 Durbin with my father and family that became intimate. 
 
 In 1830 Dr. Durbin and family had been on a visit 
 to Philadelphia. I had come home from Wilbraham, 
 and arrangements were made for me to accompany him 
 on his return to Augusta and enter the college there. 
 In June Dr. Durbin and his wife, her sister, with a 
 young lady of Augusta, who had graduated in a ladies' 
 school in Philadelphia, and myself, started together from 
 New York. J>y steamer we went to Albany. From 
 there by stage to Schenectady, where we took boat on 
 the Erie Canal to Buffalo. From Buffalo by steamer on 
 Lake Erie to Painesville, and from Painesvillc across 
 the State by stage to Wellsville on the Ohio, where we 
 took boat for Augusta, which we reached in a little less 
 
182 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 than a fortnight from New York. Our journey was so 
 arranged as to avoid traveling on the Sabbath. We spent 
 one day at Niagara, so the days of actual travel were 
 about ten days and nights. The faculty took their turn 
 in preaching. Once in about five weeks we heard Dr. 
 Durbin. None were willing to lose their opportunity 
 of hearing him. His statements and propositions were 
 so lucid and manifest as to captivate assent. His man- 
 ner disarmed your criticism, and you were left fully 
 under his power as his imagination took wing, or he en- 
 forced the conclusion of his argument. The prevalent 
 feeling left was, we ought and must be better, and we 
 will. 
 
 If to know people we must travel with them, the op- 
 portunity was most perfectly furnished by the time and 
 mode of this journey. The considerateness, genialness 
 and affability, the playfulness and instructiveness in 
 conversation of Dr. Durbin leave an impression un- 
 marred and indeficient. 
 
 In a few days Joseph Longworth, of Cincinnati, Alex- 
 ander Crawford, Mrs. Durbin's nephew, and myself were 
 installed members of his family. As such we were 
 treated and made to feel. Dr. Durbin was at that time 
 editing Sir Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology, for 
 J. & J. Harper, and we became participants of what 
 was striking and special in this new science of wonder- 
 ful disclosures, and in ways so easy and natural that it 
 seemed like talking of the news that the daily papers 
 furnished. Each was allured without embarrassment to 
 express opinions or thought on any subject introduced, 
 and to add from their own stock of reading, gossip, or 
 invention. 
 
 The family devotions after breakfast completed the 
 bond of home feeling and tlie kindliness that was en- 
 kindled and kept alive gave proof of its benediction. 
 As professor and member of the faculty no feeling was 
 entertained for him but the fullest respect. He re- 
 garded and treated the students as gentlemen. The 
 spirit of mischief and fun that overflows in pranks of 
 ringing the college bell in the night and introducing 
 animals or effigies in the chapel, and such like, could 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 183 
 
 never make him the object of its diversion. To do 
 so would only be to have it return and plague them- 
 selves. 
 
 In the recitation room no intimation was given of his 
 suspicions or intentional shrewdness when a passage 
 was given to this one or that, or one was selected for 
 the burden of the lesson, but it came to be felt that it 
 was wise for each to be fully prepared. He favored a 
 liberal translation in the reading of the Classics, but 
 kept us to the grammatical construction, or secured 
 proof that we knew how the sentence was to be parsed. 
 There was a freshness and interest in the lesson that 
 made the impression that he was botli teacher and 
 learner ; that we were pursuing the subject together, 
 with this advantage to us: that he had mastered the 
 subject, and was ready with the aid that we needed. 
 Sometimes an incidental conversation and debate would 
 elaborate itself into a lecture exhaustive of some point 
 or fact. lie was observant and thoughtful of the moral 
 and spiritual interest of the young men, and for his 
 kindly and timely counsel, unobtrusively given, many 
 will hold him in grateful esteem more than for all things 
 else. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Hebberd. 
 The following letter of the Rev. E. S. Hebberd, of 
 the New York East Conference, gives an account of the 
 earliest appearance of Professor Durbin in New York 
 city : 
 
 I first saw and heard John P. Durbin about fifty- 
 six years ago; he was then called Professor Durbin. 
 The first time that I heard him was at a mis- 
 sionary meeting in the old Greene Street Church, 
 New York. There were three speakers who addressed 
 the meeting. The first was the Rev. J. Holdich, who 
 made a very fine speech— clear, chaste, beautiful. The 
 next was Rev. F. Hodgson. I thought those speeches 
 were the best I had ever heard. Professor Durbin was 
 announced, whom I did not then know even by repu- 
 tation. He commenced his speech in a very tame, un- 
 
184 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 interesting manner. I pitied him, and wondered why 
 they should put up so poor a speaker after the congre- 
 gation had listened to such eloquent speeches. But 
 as he proceeded, in a little time his face became radi- 
 ant with intelligence, his eyes sparkled, and his words 
 glowed with fire. I was entranced ; such eloquence I 
 had never heard before. The congregation was aroused 
 with enthusiasm, and showed their appreciation of the 
 orator by hearty old-fashioned Methodist shouts. 
 
 I heard James Harper, who afterward became mayor 
 of the city of New York, describe his impressions the 
 first time he heard Dr. Durbin. Mr. Harper was then 
 a member of the old John Street Church. He said one 
 Sabbath afternoon, after Rev. Peter P. Sanford had 
 preached, he called upon a man whom he had never 
 seen before to conclude the services. It was announced 
 that Professor Durbin would preach this evening, who, 
 he learned upon inquiry, had just dismissed the con- 
 gregation. Mr. Harper said, " I made up my mind I 
 would stay at home that evening. But before the serv- 
 ice my friend, the Rev. Mr. Collord, who was then 
 foreman of the printing department in the Book-room, 
 called on me, and invited me to go with him and hear 
 a great preacher. I said, " Although I had made up my 
 mind to stay at home this evening, I will go with you 
 to hear a great preacher. But where does he preach ? " 
 My friend replied, " In John Street." I said, " I beg 
 you will have me excused. A dry college professor is 
 going to preach there to-night ; I heard him read and 
 pray this afternoon." " Come along! " said Mr. Collord, 
 "and after you have heard him if you do not pronounce 
 him a great preacher you may charge the disappoint- 
 ment to me." I went and heard him, and during the 
 first few minutes of his sermon I said to myself, " If he 
 is Collord's great man I do not know where he will 
 find his small men," when suddenly a flash of elo- 
 quence startled me. It seemed like a sky-rocket blazing 
 in the heavens, and I said, " That is fine." Then he fell 
 back for a few moments into his calm manner, and then 
 came another sky-rocket, and ever and anon another, 
 until the church became illuminated with brilliant 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 185 
 
 thoughts and glowing eloquence, and as he concluded 
 I said, "A great man indeed." 
 
 When, in 1832, the cholera was raging so terribly in 
 many places and had not yet visited any part of New 
 York State, the Governor of the State appointed a day 
 of fasting and prayer, and called the people together in 
 their several churches to pray that the cholera might 
 be averted from our shores. A meeting was appointed 
 in the Greene Street Church, and Rev. P. P. Sanford 
 preached. After his sermon Professor Durbin ex- 
 horted ; and such an exhortation ! After dwelling on 
 the dreadful ravages with thrilling power and showing 
 that the victims were largely among the intemperate, 
 he said with great earnestness : " But should the 
 scourge visit us it would be one of the greatest auxiliaries 
 the temperance cause has ever had, and were it not for 
 the consideration that men have immortal souls I would 
 say, " Good Lord, let it come." The effect of this speech 
 on the congregation was thrilling, and sobs and crying 
 were heard throughout the church. 
 
 I heard him about this time deliver one of his inimi- 
 table missionary speeches in New York. He announced 
 his theme, " The Missionary Society the crowning 
 glory of the nineteenth century." I can only say that 
 that speech was the crowning glory of all the brilliant 
 and eloquent missionary speeches that I ever heard, be- 
 fore or since. 
 
 I heard the Doctor deliver a Missionary speech before 
 the New York East Conference in its session at Bridge- 
 port in 1856. He dwelt in that speech largely upon 
 the success of our missions among the American Indians. 
 He said that in the early part of his ministry he was 
 very much prejudiced against the Indians. He thought 
 they were a cruel and treacherous race. He said that 
 when very young in the ministry he was invited by 
 a missionary, who was going to visit and preach to a 
 tribe of Indians, to go with him. He accepted the in- 
 vitation. He said : " As I sat in the stand, when the 
 missionary was preaching, I fixed my eye upon a large, 
 rough, hard-featured Indian, and when the missionary 
 was dwelling upon the evil of sin and its consequences 
 
ISO 
 
 JOHN P. DURBLV. 
 
 the Indian looked ugly and ferocious, and I said to 
 myself, ' He is an ugly fellow; why preach the Gospel to 
 such ?' But when the missionary passed on to speak of 
 the sufferings of Christ for sinful men, of redemption 
 through his blood, the Indian's countenance changed, 
 the tears started in his eyes and ran copiously down 
 his cheeks, and he sighed audibly. I then looked 
 around and saw others affected in a similar manner. I 
 saw then that the red man had a heart that could feel 
 the power of the Gospel of Christ, and ever since I 
 have been a particular friend of the poor Indian." 
 There were heard on that occasion, when the Doctor 
 was delivering his eloquent speech before the Confer- 
 ence, loud aniens and enthusiastic hallelujahs. 
 
 I heard the Doctor preach liis great sermon on John 
 i, 29, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away 
 the sin of the world," during the session of the New 
 York East Conference in Hartford, Conn., in 1852. 
 The sermon was preached in the largest Congregational 
 church in the city. The church was crowded to its ut- 
 most, capacity ; the Governor of the State of Connecticut 
 and many distinguished citizens were there. It was a 
 great occasion, and the Doctor was in his happiest mood. 
 The Rev. J. J. Matthias was present, and he was a pre- 
 cise man every way; of the strictest school of ortho- 
 doxy, and ever watchful against the approach of hetero- 
 doxy. He sat in a chair near the pulpit, and as his 
 eloquent brother would soar away in his brilliant 
 flight he would move forward in his chair, as though he 
 feared he would go beyond the bounds of orthodoxy, 
 and then he would fall back with a look of satisfaction, 
 as much as to say, "all right." 
 
 It seems tome that John P. Durbin, without going be- 
 yond the bounds of orthodoxy, was fifty years ago 
 further advanced in progressive thought, than any of 
 the Methodist preachers with whom I am acquainted 
 at the present day. 
 
 Again I was impressed with the fact that, while he 
 ranked among the greatest pulpit orators of the world, 
 there was a power in his moods of simplicity that all 
 great orators do not have. In my youth I used to 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 187 
 
 hear Bascom quite frequently. "While he stood as 
 high in the Bublime flights of oratory, he could not de- 
 scend with Durbin to what St. Paul calls "the simplicity 
 that is in Christ." Bascom would not condescend to 
 tell an anecdote in his sermons, he called those 
 preachers who would " anecdote mongers." Durbin 
 was not only grand and sublime, but was also beautiful 
 and sometimes overwhelming in his simplicity. 
 
 I heard him in one of his grand missionary speeches 
 in New York, in speaking of the folly of heathen 
 worship, say, " If I had before me on this table some of 
 the gods that the heathen worship, little, ugly, impy 
 things, and should say 'These are the gods that made 
 heaven and earth,' I do not ask what this intelligent 
 congregation would say ; but that little girl whose eye 
 has been so steadily fixed on me during my speech 
 would say, ' No, these are not the gods that made the 
 heaven and the earth ; for my mother and my Sunday- 
 school teacher taught me the Lord God omnipotent 
 made the heaven and the earth.'" 
 
 In a sermon delivered in New Haven during the ses- 
 sion of the New York East Conference in that city, in 
 1850, I heard him relate his experience on his conver- 
 sion. He said for some weeks he was under deep con- 
 viction for sin. In a protracted meeting at that time 
 there was a young lady named Miss Prince converted; 
 she was brought into the liberty of the Gospel so 
 clearly, and told her experience so sweetly, that I 
 thought I would like to be converted just in "that way, 
 and I prayed that the Lord would convert me just as 
 he had converted Miss Prince; but the blessing did not 
 come in that way. One day, as I was kneeling at the 
 altar, I heard a man next to me say, ' Praise the Lord! ' 
 and I repeated it, 'Praise the Lord!' and then the 
 blessing came, and I shouted, ' Glory to God!' and I 
 found that I was not converted in Miss Prince's way, 
 but in the Lord Jesus Christ's way." And there was 
 no part of that great sermon that melted the hearers as 
 that simple relation of his conversion. The experience 
 of that great and good man was a great help to me in 
 revival services, and I helped penitents into the king- 
 
186 
 
 JOHN P. DURBLV. 
 
 the Indian looked ugly and ferocious, and I said to 
 myself, ' He is an ugly fellow; why preach the Gospel to 
 such '? ' But when the missionary passed on to speak of 
 the sufferings of Christ for sinful men, of redemption 
 through his blood, the Indian's countenance changed, 
 the tears started in his eyes and ran copiously down 
 his cheeks, and he sighed audibly. I then looked 
 around and saw others affected in a similar manner. I 
 saw then that the red man had a heart that could feel 
 the power of the Gospel of Christ, and ever since I 
 have been a particular friend of the poor Indian." 
 There were heard on that occasion, when the Doctor 
 Avas delivering his eloquent speech before the Confer- 
 ence, loud aniens and enthusiastic hallelujahs. 
 
 I heard the Doctor preach his great sermon on John 
 i, 29, " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away 
 the sin of the world," during the session of the New 
 York East Conference in Hartford, Conn., in 1852. 
 The sermon was preached in the largest Congregational 
 church in the city. The church was crowded to its ut- 
 most capacity ; the Governor of the State of Connecticut 
 and many distinguished citizens were there. It was a 
 great occasion, and the Doctor was in his happiest mood. 
 The Rev. J. J. Matthias was present, and he was a pre- 
 cise man every way; of the strictest school of ortho- 
 doxy, and ever watchful against the approach of hetero- 
 doxy. He sat in a chair near the pulpit, and as his 
 eloquent brother would soar away in his brilliant 
 flight he would move forward in his chair, as though he 
 feared he would go beyond the bounds of orthodoxy, 
 and then he would fall back with a look of satisfaction, 
 as much as to say, "all right." 
 
 It, seems tome that John P. Durbin, without going be- 
 yond the bounds of orthodoxy, was fifty years ago 
 further advanced in progressive thought, than any of 
 the Methodist preachers with whom I am acquainted 
 at the present day. 
 
 Again I was impressed with the fact that, while he 
 ranked among the greatest pulpit orators of the world, 
 there was a power in his moods of simplicity that all 
 great orators do not have. In my youth I used to 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 187 
 
 hear Bascom quite frequently. "While he stood as 
 high in the sublime flights of oratory, lie could not de- 
 scend with Dnrbin to what St. Paul calls " the simplicity 
 that is in Christ." Bascom would not condescend to 
 tell an anecdote in his sermons, he called those 
 preachers who would "anecdote mongers." Dnrbin 
 was not only grand and sublime, but was also beautiful 
 and sometimes overwhelming in his simplicity. 
 
 I heard him in one of his grand missionary speeches 
 in New York, in speaking of the folly of heathen 
 worship, say, " If I had before me on this table some of 
 the gods that the heathen worship, little, ugly, impy 
 things, and should say 'These are the gods that made 
 heaven and earth,' I do not ask what this intelligent 
 congregation would say; but that little girl whose eye 
 has been so steadily fixed on me during my speech 
 would say, ' Xo, these are not the gods that made the 
 heaven and the earth; for my mother and my Sunday- 
 school teacher taught me the Lord God omnipotent 
 made the heaven and the earth.' " 
 
 In a sermon delivered in New Haven during the ses- 
 sion of the New York East Conference in that city, in 
 1850, I heard him relate his experience on his conver- 
 sion. He said for some weeks he was under deep con- 
 viction for sin. In a protracted meeting at that time 
 there was a young lady named Miss Prince converted; 
 she was brought into the liberty of the Gospel so 
 clearly, and told her experience so sweetly, that I 
 thought I would like to be converted just in that way, 
 and I prayed that the Lord would convert me just as 
 he had converted Miss Prince; but the blessing did not 
 come in that way. One day, as I was kneeling at the 
 altar, I lieard a man next to me say, ' Praise the Lord! ' 
 and I repeated it, 'Praise the Lord!' and then the 
 blessing came, and I shouted, ' Glory to God!' and I 
 found that I was not converted in Miss Prince's way, 
 but in the Lord Jesus Christ's way." And there was 
 no part of that great sermon that melted the hearers as 
 that simple relation of his conversion. The experience 
 of that great and good man was a great help to me in 
 revival services, and I helped penitents into the king- 
 
188 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 dom by telling them how God converted John P. 
 Durbin. 
 
 In regard to Dr. Durbin's gift in prayer, I remember 
 that James Harper received a poor opinion of the doc- 
 tor's talent after hearing him pray and before he 
 heard him preach. My opinion is, that there were times 
 when his prayers did not show a marked ability ; but 
 at other times in prayer he would have " the unction of 
 the Holy One," and his prayers were attended with 
 great power. I heard him pray previous to a sermon 
 that I heard him preach in New Haven, and it was one 
 of the most impressive prayers I ever heard. Although 
 forty years ago, I remember some of the phrases of 
 that prayer. He prayed with much fervor that nothing 
 might occur to militate against the sacredness of that 
 hour; that there might be no unusual noise, on alarm 
 of fire, but that we might quietly and without disturb- 
 ance wait on the Lord. It seemed a prayer like those 
 of Cornelius that came up for a memorial before God. 
 The Rev. Otis Helland, of the Norwegian and Danish 
 Conference, told me that he heard Dr. Durbin pray 
 during the session of the General Conference of 1844, 
 and, although nearly a half a century has past, he re- 
 members that prayer. How earnestly and eloquently, 
 in that day of her peril, he prayed for her union, her 
 prosperity, her future welfare and usefulness! 
 
 One thing more I remember, nearly allied to this: Dr. 
 Durbin's regard for the pure worship of God. I was 
 present some years ago at the preachers' meeting in 
 New York when the question was discussed of the im- 
 propriety of allowing some notices of secular character 
 to be read from the pulpit. Dr. Durbin said when he 
 was pastor he never read any notices in connection with 
 the worship of God. The first thing he did when he 
 entered the pulpit was to read the notices, and then say, 
 " We will now commence the worship of God." 
 
 Another thing I observed in this brilliant and eloquent 
 man was his impulsive extemporizing; his readiness to 
 turn passing events to account. I heard him preach 
 a Thanksgiving sermon on Thanksgiving afternoon, in 
 the old Mulberry Street church. Toward the conclu- 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 189 
 
 sion of his sermon a cloud came over the sky and 
 brought twilight earlier than usual. He seized upon 
 the departing light as a figure of the passing away of 
 life's short journey, and poured forth a burst of the 
 most charming eloquence I ever listened to. At another 
 time I heard him deliver in New York one of his in- 
 comparable missionary speeches. He announced two 
 propositions, and then said, "Allow me to digress a mo- 
 ment. A fresh thought strikes me;" and he continued 
 uttering fresh and inspiring thoughts until he had con- 
 sumed his time, and as he sat down he remarked he 
 would at some future time deliver the speech he had 
 prepared for that evening. 
 
 I did not in my former communication give an ac- 
 count of a sermon that I heard Dr. Uurbin pi - each, on 
 the Prodigal Sou, in the Seventh Street Church in New 
 York, in 1834. The discourse was very eloquent and 
 produced a great effect upon the congregation; but I 
 have a more distinct recollection of the application than 
 any other part of that wonderful sermon. I remember 
 how earnestly he pleaded with sinners to leave the land 
 of famine and come home to their Father's house. He 
 impressed upon them the necessity of coming home now, 
 and quoting from our hymn-book; and who could re- 
 cite Charles Wesley's poetry with such force and effect? 
 The effect produced upon the audience when he, in his 
 best style and with the unction of his peerless elo- 
 quence, quoted 
 
 "All things are ready, come away; 
 Ready the Father is to own 
 And kiss his late-returning son ; 
 Ready your loving Saviour stands. 
 And spreads for yon his bleeding hands. 
 Ready for yon the angels wait, 
 To triumph in your blest, estate." 
 
 And then he said, " Sinner, Gabriel is here now, wait- 
 ing for your decision. What do you say, wanderer ; will 
 you come home? And then he bent forward in the 
 attitude of a listener, as if waiting for the prodigal's 
 answer; and then, changing his position and looking 
 up, he cried in a tone of sadness, " O, Gabriel, the sin- 
 
190 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 ner says, ' No ;' he will not come home." And, after a 
 short pause, lie said, " O, thou messenger of heaven, 
 write not ' No ' on the docket of eternity ! Wait, an- 
 gel of God, the sinner relents. I see the tear in his 
 eye. Gabriel, the sinner says 'Yes;' the prodigal is 
 coming home." Then, with expressive gesture and 
 appropriate words, he represents God's angel as flying 
 through the heav ens andentering the pearly gates of glory 
 to announce the good tidings. And then the eloquent 
 preacher cried aloud, " Lift up your heads, O ye gates, 
 and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, that we may 
 behold the joy of the happy hosts of glory, and hear 
 the joyful notes of the heavenly choir singing, ' The 
 dead is alive, the lost is found ; ' " and then, amid the 
 sobs of penitents and the shouts of the redeemed, he 
 sat down. It seemed as if we could look through the 
 gates and see the happy immortals and hear their songs 
 of rejoicing. 
 
 George Whitefield said something like this; Durbin 
 might have taken some grain from his garner, but the 
 kernels went through Durbin's mill and came out with 
 his brand upon them ; the voice, the action, the manner, 
 the whole thing, was Durbinian. 
 
 Professor Durbin made his first appearance in New 
 York as an eloquent and popular preacher about the 
 time of my conversion, and from the first I took to him. 
 His voice, his manner, his words charmed me, and 
 helped me very much in my early Christian life. I 
 once heard him address young men, and, with the much 
 excellent advice which he gave them, he said, " Young 
 men, lay up in youth a stock of useful knowledge. 
 What I learned last week I have to learn over this 
 week, but what I learned in my youth comes to me with 
 the freshness of the morning. So, young men, what 
 you learn now becomes part and parcel of yourself, and 
 when you become old it will not depart from you." So 
 I pondered over and cherished and laid up in my mem- 
 ory many of the sayings of this great and good man. 
 I observed as closely as I was capable his doctrine, 
 manner oflife, purpose, faith, charity. This I observed 
 also : that as a pastor, college professor, president, or 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 191 
 
 missionary secretary, he always could say to all, with 
 tin' apostle, " I am an ambassador for Christ: as though 
 God did beseech you by me, I pray you in Christ's 
 stead he ye reconciled to God." I ohserved, farther, in 
 all his great missionary speeches that I was privileged 
 to hear he loved to dwell upon the power of the Gospel 
 in the conversion of the heathen. He would shame 
 into repentance the impenitent living in Christendom 
 by showing them the greater contrition of the heathen 
 with inferior privileges. His eloquence and zeal were 
 calculated to move the lukewarm professor to diligence 
 by considering the work of grace and salvation going 
 on in the regions beyond them. He showed his hear- 
 ers that while they were feeling for and praying for 
 the salvation of the pagan, and giving of their means to 
 send the Gospel to them, their prayers and bounty 
 would return to their own bosoms. Under the charm 
 of his evangelical eloquence his hearers were made to 
 feel (to borrow the language of an eminent divine) that 
 while the love of distant nations glows in our hearts it 
 melts us all down into love to each other, and burns up 
 all jealousies and strife, and makes us workers together 
 with Him who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes 
 became poor, that we through his poverty might be 
 rich. 
 
 Rev. S. A. Seaman. 
 
 Men fight their way to fame. The reputation of the 
 young preacher from the West might not satisfy a New 
 York audience, and we see in Rev. S. A. Seaman's 
 letter the reasoning of strong men. 
 
 On Sabbath morning Rev. S. Merwin entered the 
 church followed by a stranger of gentlemanly appearance, 
 who occupied the pulpit. In reading the hymn and first 
 Scripture lesson there was considerable apparent hesita- 
 tion, and a disagreeable twang in his voice. The prayer, 
 however, though marred by t lie same defects, abounded 
 in rich thought and melting pathos. His text was the 
 Song of Solomon iii, 2-4. As he proceeded his manner 
 changed, he suddenly seemed to grasp a great thought, 
 
11) J 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 and in a moment was another man. The disagreeable 
 t\v;ing disappeared, his voice rose, his eyes glowed, and 
 his gestures were easy and natural. For nearly an hour 
 he held his hearers enchained, and closed with au address 
 to young Christians in which he referred to his own 
 experience and the teaching and example of a godly 
 grandfather. No one who remembers the Rev. J. P. 
 Durbin will need be told that he was the preacher. 
 My father used to tell of his going to John Street, one 
 Sunday morning, and heing told when he got there that 
 a very able preacher was to occupy the pulpit. When 
 the services began, however, there was such a drawl 
 and twang in the preacher's voice, that he concluded 
 the expected preacher had not come, and this was some 
 raw backwoodsman who had been put in his place. 
 But when the sermon was fairly begun my father was 
 convinced that lie was the preacher. This sermon of 
 which my father speaks must have been among the first, if 
 not the first, which Dr. Durbin preached in New York. 
 
 The following letter is from Rev. Thomas Bow T man, 
 D.D., LL.D., senior Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. He was a member of the class of 1837, which 
 was the first that graduated after Dickinson College 
 came into our hands, and by the vote of the faculty was 
 the valedictorian. 
 
 In personal appearance Dr. Durbin was not specially 
 attractive. He was a little below the average in 
 height, and his limbs were not well proportioned. His 
 features were somewhat irregular, and when in a quiet 
 mood were not very expressive. When, however, he 
 became engaged in conversation or in a public address 
 the whole man became entirely changed. 
 
 He was always approachable, and in a few minutes 
 the fear excited by his prominence and reputation 
 would disappear, and one would feel entirely at home in 
 his presence. In his own house the visitor was made 
 to feel at ease, and abroad he was always a welcome 
 guest. After my first acquaintance with him I never 
 felt any special restraint in his presence anywhere. 
 
MEMO in. 
 
 193 
 
 As a teacher I have never known his superior. He 
 bad a wonderful ability to communicate his ideas in 
 plain, simple language, and in a most interesting and 
 attractive manner. In the recitation-room we frequently 
 started questions suggested by something in the lesson, 
 sometimes, perhaps, to have a hard lesson laid over for 
 another day, but generally for the information needed 
 and desired. Before we were aware of it the hour 
 would be gone, and as we retired to our rooms such 
 expressions as these would be heard from every mem- 
 ber of the class : " Wasn't that interesting ! " " Worth 
 a dozen recitations !" '"Delightful !" " What a won- 
 derful man ! " I do not think that I ever heard a stu- 
 dent complain of a dull hour in Dr. Durbin's room. 
 
 As president of the college, both in his administration 
 and governing power the Doctor was fully up to the de- 
 mands in the case. The institution was in its beginning 
 with us. and every thing was in a formative state. It had 
 failed thrice in the hands of other denominations, and 
 our church in Carlisle was comparatively weak. The 
 students were of a mixed character, representing various 
 grades of society north and south. Indeed, every tiling 
 was in a crude state. But the wise and prudent presi- 
 dent managed all the affairs with marked success. It 
 is true lie had a noble faculty, composed of Professors 
 Caldwell, Emory, Rnszel, Allen, and McClintock, 
 whose equals are rarely found. But he secured and 
 retained their confidence, respect, and love to such an 
 extent that there was no division among them, and he 
 had their hearty support to the end. He was equally 
 successful in winning the confidence and respect of the 
 students. He had a high sense of manliness and honor, 
 and both by precept and example he imparted these to 
 his students. He was firm and decided, yet kind and 
 tender, and none but the most wayward were inclined 
 to disobey him. On one occasion there was quite a 
 rebellion among the boys. Under the leadership of a tall, 
 courageous fellow, they marched into the campus, and 
 after a fiery speech or two were ready for any thing. 
 The president, having become aware of the trouble, 
 came out of his office and made his way into the midst 
 14 
 
194 
 
 JOHN- P. BURBLV. 
 
 of the enraged crowd. He spoke kindly but firmly of 
 the impropriety of the course they were taking, and, 
 having suggested a wiser and more honorable way, he 
 asked them to retire to their rooms. In less than five 
 minutes the campus was clear and we heard no more of 
 war. A little incident in this writer's college history 
 will illustrate the manly, honorable spirit of President 
 Durbin. 
 
 My father having business in Harrisburg, and not 
 having time to imikeme a visit, requested that I should 
 be permitted to spend a couple of days with him. 
 Leave of absence was obtained ; but ray father detained 
 me a day or two beyond the time specified in my leave 
 of absence. On my return late in the afternoon I 
 sought the president in his office and at his home, to 
 hand him father's letter of explanation. But I could 
 not find him. Soon the evening prayer-bell rang, and 
 I went to prayers, intending to hand him the letter at 
 the close. Unfortunately, however, two or three stu- 
 dents had been before the faculty for the violation of 
 the rules during my absence. Immediately at the close 
 of the service the president announced the penalty 
 a warded those students, and added, " the case of Mr. 
 Bowman has been laid over for further consideration." 
 I was terribly mortified, and, handing him my father's 
 letter, with explanations for not having given it sooner, 
 I retired to my room, determined to pack up my books 
 and go home. My chum and other students tried to 
 dissuade me. But I said, "I cannot stay here under 
 this open disgrace." In the evening the president, as 
 he was passing through the building, called at my room 
 and found me packing my things. "Why," said he, 
 " what are you doing ? " I frankly told him, and he said, 
 "You had hetter take a little more time tor reflection," 
 and retired. This rather added to my grief. But the next 
 morning after prayers he said : " Young gentlemen, I 
 wish your attention for a moment. Last night I 
 thoughtlessly committed a mistake which I wish as 
 publicly to correct. I did injustice to Mi - . Bowman, 
 and I ask his pardon." This settled the whole matter. 
 If he had said any thing like it even privately I 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 195 
 
 Would have boon satisfied. As we retired from t lie 
 chapel the students gathered around me and said, " Von 
 cannot go after such a manly and honorable apology." 
 1 felt so too, and Dr. Durbin stood higher in my respect 
 and admiration and in the confidence of all the students. 
 
 But it was in the pulpit and on the platform that Dr. 
 Durbin reigned supreme. During a period of nearly 
 forty years 1 heard him speak in public under greatly 
 varying conditions. I heard him in the country vil- 
 lage, in the large towns and cities, at the camp-meeting, 
 at the Conference, and at great public anniversaries ; 
 and I never heard him when lie did not give me valu- 
 able instruction, move my emotional nature, and leave a 
 lasting impress on my heart. 
 
 It is always difficult to analyze the elements of an 
 eloquent speaker's power. In Dr. Durbin's case there 
 seemed to be a wonderful combination of elements, no 
 one of which could be positively said to be the source 
 of his marvelous power over an audience. His dis- 
 courses abounded in strong, practical thoughts, pre- 
 sented in clear, plain, pure English. In the beginning 
 his voice was somewhat heavy and drawling, and his 
 general delivery a little repulsive. After a little all 
 that disappeared. His voice became clear and full, his 
 action animated, his face radiant, his eyes enlarged, and 
 his entire person almost transfigured. He was happy 
 in illustration and had a wonderful power of descrip- 
 tion. I once heard him describe the destruction of 
 Sod mn in such a vivid manner that the whole scene 
 seemed to lie a living reality, and I a part of it. The 
 great audience seemed to. be similarly affected. One 
 bright young skeptic, sitting just in front of me, became 
 so powerfully affected that he could hardly contain 
 himself. And yet, as I afterward heard him say, lie 
 went to the church fully determined that the great 
 preacher should not move him. 
 
 The doctor's elocutionary powers were quite superior. 
 His voice was rich, full, and melodious. His gesticula- 
 tions were easy and natural. His features were re- 
 markably variable and expressive. Indeed, the outward 
 man was in lull harmony with the inward, and both, 
 
jony P. DURBIN. 
 
 their feet, pressed around the pulpit, and stood spell- 
 bound to the end. At one time, while lie was describ- 
 ing the condition of the lost, an intelligent, well-edu- 
 cated lawyer standing near me grasped a tree against 
 which he was leaning and began to climb it. Three 
 times I had to pull him down, and after the close of 
 tlic services he could not be made to realize the condi- 
 tion through which he had passed. 
 
 On the platform as well as in the pulpit the doctor 
 was rarely equaled, and never, I think, excelled. His 
 Sunday lectures in the college always drew a crowd of 
 citizens and students, and they seldom retired without 
 feeling that their fullest expectations had been realized. 
 
 On several occasions at missionary anniversaries I 
 heard the doctor speak in connection with several of 
 the most distinguished platform speakers of the day, 
 and, in every instance I think the general judgment was 
 that his address was fully equal to the best. 
 
 The following letter from a distinguished layman of 
 New York city may justly follow that of Bishop How- 
 man, as it shows a like spirit to that which so affected the 
 young Bowman: 
 
 An illustration of his wisdom as well as kindness in 
 compassing his ends in the government of a college was 
 furnished by a gentleman of Mississippi, well known for 
 his genial hospitality, charming manners, and literary 
 culture, who used to tell how, as a boy and through life, 
 he had cause to love Dr. Durbin most gratefully for his 
 wise counsel, kind forbearance, and discreet use of au- 
 thority. While a student at Augusta College in Ken- 
 tucky he was inclined to show more devotion to fishing 
 and shooting than to study. Professor Durbin, who 
 was then acting as president of the institution, had 
 vaiidy endeavored to lead him to a better observance 
 of academic rules, but the young gentleman, in the ex- 
 uberance of health and spirits, continued to be careless 
 of discipline, until one day, while engaged in some 
 sp »rts on the grounds, he heard a window raised and 
 himself summoned, in the peculiarly mild but firm 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 1 99 
 
 and controlling voice of the professor, to come to his 
 room. Professor Durhin there read to him a letter which 
 he had carefully prepared for the young man's father, 
 setting forth clearly and with affecti' 'iiate regret the 
 shortcomings of the pupil, and advising that the boy 
 should return to his home and remain there until he 
 ■was better prepared for the discipline and steady work 
 of earnest schooldife. The young man was asked if 
 there was any thing in the letter which was not just. 
 "No!" he frankly answered, "the letter is just and 
 fair in every way, Professor Durbin ; all I ask is, that 
 you will withhold it for one month, and give me the 
 opportunity to redeem myself in your eyes and save 
 my dear father from the pain which such a letter would 
 inflict upon him." The wise and kind professor never 
 had occasion to send the letter or to again remonstrate 
 with his young friend, whose devotion to his books soon 
 equaled his devotion to sports. He was graduated with 
 distinction at a northern university, and became well 
 and widely known as an honored and useful citizen of 
 his State. 
 
 Doubtless during the many years that Dr. Durbin 
 was a teacher he had many such cases to manage ; and 
 doubtless, too, hemanaged them with wisdom, discretion, 
 forbearance, and tact, and, above all, with that kindness 
 united with firmness so characteristic of his administra- 
 tion of many enterprises better known to the world, 
 perhaps, but surely not more useful and important than 
 the training of the young and the development of manly 
 character. 
 
 The following letter is from one of the early gradu- 
 ates of Dickinson College, the Rev. C. F. Deems, D.D., 
 pastor of the Church of the Strangers, New York. It 
 was prepared for the biography of Dr. Durbin, though 
 published in The Christian Advocate: 
 
 My father was a local preacher in the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. It was natural that he should send 
 me to the new Methodist college under the great 
 preacher, that I might receive my education. 1 was 
 
200 
 
 JOHN /'. BUR BIX. 
 
 five years in Carlisle — one in the preparatory depart- 
 ment and four in tlie college — and therefore came in 
 sight of Dr. Durbin and under his influence when lie 
 was in the prime of his power. Wonderful were the 
 advantages of the boys who lived in that college town 
 at that period. Apart from the scholastic advantages 
 there we re the immense church privileges. 
 
 Dr. George Duffield was at the Presbyterian church, 
 a ruan of rare learning and great skill in preaching. 
 Dr. MuGill, since of Princeton College, was preaching 
 to a small congregation, 1 believe of Covenanters. 
 Young as I was, I was struck with the contrast between 
 the smallness of his congregations and the massiveness 
 of his discourses. Two years of the time the Method- 
 ist pastor was the Rev. George G. Cookman, one of the 
 most thrillingly eloquent preachers of his denomination. 
 In the college were Drs. McClintock and Emory, two 
 young, gifted, and accomplished professors, who had 
 the stimulus of alternating with such men as Durbin 
 and Cookman. No mortal man in any age of Chris- 
 tianity, I am persuaded, ever enjoyed superior church 
 privileges, so far as preaching was concerned, to those 
 at the command of students in Carlisle from 1834 to 
 1839. 
 
 The chief of these pulpit princes, by great odds, was 
 the Rev. Dr. Durbin. I have never studied any man 
 so closely to find out his methods as Dr. Durbin; and 
 yet, putting together all I have thought through the 
 nearly half-century since I first knew him, I find it 
 difficult to give a satisfactory analysis. His physique 
 Mas not at all impressive. An orator should be large. 
 Indeed, size in a man counts every-where. In public men 
 the lack of the last half foot can be compensated only by 
 doubling the brain-power. Dr. Durbin was small. He 
 did not have that brow which is supposed to be the throne 
 of thought. He lacked the great nose by which Napo- 
 leon set great store. His eye was very pleasant, but not 
 striking, when he was in repose. His manner was a 
 little finical, his voice was not very musical, and his 
 utterances at the beginnings of his discourses were 
 made with a drawl. Yet, being a man like that, he 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 would begin his sermons in an elocution which is a 
 cross between a Quaker intonation and the hard-shell 
 Baptist whine, and succeed in almost immediately ar- 
 resting the attention of his hearer by making the ap- 
 pearance of a cat-like approach upon his intellect. The 
 hearer would watch to see what was coming next, and 
 felt very much like a mouse that knew that the distance 
 between the cat and himself had diminished, but was 
 afraid to run lest any motion should provoke the 
 dreaded sudden spring. 
 
 Then there came a period in which the attacking 
 party moved from side to side, apparently, and did not 
 make much additional approach. Then there was a 
 moment of stillness, and then there was a bound, not 
 as of a cat on a mouse, but as of a tiger on some nobler 
 game, producing a thrill that made all the vegetation 
 of the jungle tremble. 
 
 I can think of no other figure to describe my remem- 
 brance of I he style ot this remarkable man. So sudden 
 and so prodigious would be those shocks tint I have 
 seen whole congregations swayed by them. Twice in 
 my junior years I sat and watched the approach, and 
 just as it came sprang to my feet to meet it. The 
 word magnetic is sometimes used about men, <jenerally 
 very loosely, I think. I have met only two men who 
 to me were magnetic; namely, Henry Clay and John P. 
 Durbin. In my boyhood 1 could never see Mr. Clay 
 rise from his seat to speak without having a nervous 
 chill, although I heard him only in his declining years. 
 So John P. Durbin drew me, thrilled me, tilled me, and 
 in a large measure formed me. I am sure he could not 
 have done this merely through the great kindness 
 which he always showed me in the class-room, in his 
 own study, in his home, and when I began to preach, if 
 there had not been behind it all a remarkable force of 
 intellect. 1 could not call that intellect profound. It 
 was searching, analytic, practical, forceful. He was a 
 student of books and a student of men. He was a Tiian 
 of affairs as well as a man of pious offices. Rarely do 
 men who had his oratorical powers succeed in business 
 matters as Dr. Durbin I know succeeded in the presi- 
 
202 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 dency of the college, and, as I think his Church be- 
 lieves, as he succeeded as a great missionary secretary. 
 
 I cannot conceive how any printed sermon of his 
 would give any adequate impression of his genius as an 
 orator to one who had not heard him. His most pow- 
 erful passages were really like claps of thunder out of 
 a clear sky. Men have set themselves to watch him, 
 but have found themselves like hunters who were so 
 absorbed in the rush of the deer that they forgot to 
 fire the rifle. 
 
 I remember that on one of the hottest days I ever 
 felt in Philadelphia I saw a congregation actually 
 almost asleep during his introduction, who all seemed 
 to wake up and turn to him with brightened eyes at the 
 first explosion of his oratorical battery. It is much 
 easier to describe phenomena than to assign causes or 
 explain methods. 
 
 Dr. Durbin prepared his sermons carefully, ordi- 
 narily spoke from a brief, and largely engaged himself 
 in tracing the soundness of what he had learned from 
 books by his application thereof to his current knowl- 
 edge of human nature, which he had seen under many 
 phases. I have gazed upon most of the constellations 
 of pulpit oratory in America and in Europe. To this 
 day, in memory and imagination, John P. Durbin stands 
 as the one particular star, divinely bright, always beam- 
 ing with something of the radiance of that glory of God 
 which shines in the face of .Jesus. 
 
 I do not think that this estimate of him is greatly 
 exaggerated by my affection, since we met very seldom 
 in the last forty years of his life. If I spoke of him as 
 a teacher I should pronounce his distinguishing char- 
 acteristic to be the power of stimulating the intellects 
 of his students. The moment he found one of the 
 class interested in the question he would drop every 
 thing else, and perhaps lose the whole recitation, in 
 oider to discuss that question with him. Having dis- 
 covered that, and having found that I was particularly 
 able somehow to get into a metaphysical discussion 
 with the doctor, our class in its senior year put me 
 forward two or three times when their preparations 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 203 
 
 were not very complete, to start a question with the 
 doctor and argue with him by the space of ten minutes. 
 That was all that was necessary. The rest of the hour 
 was spent in a thrilling, glowing discussion of the ques- 
 tion in hand. I ought to say, perhaps, that my occa- 
 sional deficiency of preparation to he questioned 
 increased my zeal in these questioning exercises. 
 
 At last one day Dr. Durbin sa d to me, with his 
 peculiar intonations which must be supplied by those 
 who heard him : 
 
 "Mr. Deems, do you not think that you and I may 
 be a little selfish? I have noticed now for several 
 mornings that you and I have taken up the whole hour 
 in discussions in which we both were very much inter- 
 ested, but it had the result of cheating the class out of 
 recitation. If you will come to my room after recita- 
 tion we will discuss this question which you have just 
 asked, but we must not take up another hour with our 
 little debating society." 
 
 And then he went in on me and the other fellows 
 through the rest of the recitation, absolutely refusing 
 to explain any thing, and demanding that we should 
 explain every thing. 
 
 I need not tell any student in psychology that that 
 treatment cured me of my little trick, which will 
 probably be pardoned, as it was almost the only mis- 
 chief of my college course — a course without a single 
 lark, a single hair-breadth escape, a single dramatic or 
 picturesque situation; a course which was probably as 
 barren of mischief as any ever passed in collegiate walls. 
 
 It gives me pleasure at this late date to lay this 
 humble tribute on the grave of my old master. 
 
 Some recollections of J. P. Durbin, from Rev. W. 
 Lee Spottswood, D.D. Dr. Spottswood was one ot the 
 early graduates of Dickinson, under Dr. Durbin: 
 
 How carefully we keep the recollections of departed 
 friends! Such recollections are rich treasures. It is a 
 pleasure at fitting times to bring them from their store- 
 house and show them. 
 
204 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN 
 
 Dr. Durbin was chargeable with artifice; but like the 
 cunning of St. Paul, when he wrote to the Corinthians, 
 " Be: 1 1 l»' crafty, I caught you with guile," it was sinless. 
 Whc he bad prepared a sermon he knew that lie had 
 something worthy of being said, and he desired very 
 properly to say it to as many hearers as possible. So 
 he had — for students, at least — a notification of his being 
 booked to preach somewhere. It was this: the wearing 
 at Sunday morning prayers in the college chapel of a 
 white cravat, never worn under any other circumstances. 
 The students knew the sign, and asked, "Where does 
 the president preach to-day ? " And they always flocked 
 to the church indicated to hear him. 
 
 lie could in a public assembly, with well-trained skill, 
 seize a circumstance and make it tell with great effect. 
 In the Eutaw Street Church of Baltimore, many years 
 ago, he spoke on a platform to a crowded congregation 
 met in the interests of the Tract Society. In the very 
 torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, whirlwind of his 
 passion, he cried out, "I would rather, .Mr. President, 
 that a young man would read novels than never 
 read at all." Bishop Waugh said, " Doctor, I have 
 been told of your making that remark before, and I 
 thought that if I had been present I would have re- 
 buked you. Now I am here, and I have heard you 
 for myself, and I rebuke you." When the Bishop 
 took his seat up sprang Dr. Durbin anil excitedly re- 
 plied, " What I want, Mr. President, is to give the 
 mind a start; it is then in the wrong direction, to be 
 sure, but I hope to head it off and turn it back and 
 press it into the right course." His reply brought 
 down the house. 
 
 He was an interesting teacher. His lecture-room was 
 not a place to suffer a burden, but one to enjoy a real 
 pleasure, lie was a shrewd instructor as well. In the 
 spirit of students, everv-where and in all times, who will 
 go to more trouble to avoid a lesson than to learn it, our 
 class, in order to escape a recitation, used to provoke a 
 controversy on some point suggested by the author 
 studied. Dr. Durbin would take the bait readily, enter 
 the arena of debate with a will and keep up, with keen 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 205 
 
 jest and great vigor, the wrangle till the ringing of 
 the college-bell told the wranglers that the hour for 
 recitation in his room had ended. Then the president, 
 witli that peculiar smile of his, almost an agreeable 
 grin, showing all his front teeth, would blandly say, 
 "Gentlemen, if you please, get today's lesson over, 
 with so much in addition." And we, green students as 
 we were, would leave, chuckling in the belief that by 
 trickery we had foiled our teacher. But now, after 
 more than one third of a century in pondering the 
 matter, we know full well that he was not foiled a whit. 
 The wise president knew what he was about; he was 
 aware that such a discussion, awakening thought and 
 making it all alive, requiring intellectual skill, demand- 
 ing the application of knowledge, and calling every 
 mental gift into exercise, was far better than any mere 
 recitation from a text-book. 
 
 He was an accomplished declaimer. The writer has 
 heard him at a church-meeting, where several exercises 
 were in progress, declaim with the correctness and action 
 of a true elocutionist, and with the fire of religions emo- 
 tion burning in his heart, the whole hymn commencing 
 
 "Sinners, turn ; why will ye die? 
 God, your maker, asks you why ! " 
 
 The effect of his declamation was profound. He was a 
 genuine orator. In his oratory, however, was reversed 
 the usual order of things, often named, "After a storm 
 there is a great calm" 1 His order was, After a great 
 calm a storm. One of the young men who accompanied 
 him on his European tour used to tell of the doctor's 
 first sermon in Kngland. The preacher lingered so long 
 in his uninteresting way that his fellow-tourists began 
 to fear that he would linger in that way to the end. as 
 he sometimes did, and that his sermon in consequence 
 would be a marked failure. But no; the sign was given, 
 up went t lie right arm, crossed over to the other side, 
 and struck hardly the palm of its hand upon the left 
 breast. Then burst the oratory suddenly, and rolled on 
 continuously, to the wonder and rapture of all his 
 hearers. Forty years ago, when a mere lad, the writer 
 
206 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 heard Dr. Durb'm, then in his prime, preaching at a 
 camp-meeting. His text was, "That at the name of 
 Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and 
 things in earth, and tilings under the earth; and that 
 every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, 
 to the glory of God the Father." The impression made 
 upon the relater, especially by the concluding portion 
 of that sermon, can never be effaced. It is as clear to- 
 day as it was in the long ago. On that Sabbath morn- 
 ing the orator's voice very soon lost its drawl, monotone, 
 and lameness, and then reaching the richest tones it 
 rang out rapidly, clearly, and in the fullest volume. 
 His eloquence came "like the outbreaking of a fount- 
 ain from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic 
 fires, with spontaneous, native, original force." And his 
 peroration was a picture inspired by a vivid imagina- 
 tion, and so graphically word-painted by the aid of 
 superior descriptive talent in its best estate that it 
 seemed a picture of terribleness, real and present to the 
 sight, and the writer remembers that a tremor passed 
 all over him, as it did, no doubt, over others also. . . . 
 Longfellow, in Mbrituri Salutamus, says: 
 
 " The great Italian poet, when he made 
 His dreadful journey to the realms of shade, 
 Met there the old instructor of his youth, 
 And cried in tones of pity and of ruth, 
 '<) never, from the memory of my heart, 
 Your dear, paternal image shall depart: 
 Who while on earth, ere yet by death surprised, 
 Taught me how mortals are immortalized: 
 How grateful am I for yoiu patient care 
 All my life long my language shall declare.' " 
 
 And the author of this simple In Memoriam repeats, as 
 all other pupils of Rev. John P. Durbin, D.D., at the 
 mention of his name, will also repeat: 
 
 " To-day we make the poet's words our owu, 
 And utter them in plaintive undertone." 
 
 The following is from the Rev. J. II. Hargis, D.D., 
 of the Philadelphia Conference: 
 
HEM 01 a. 
 
 207 
 
 On the occasion of bis last visit to Carlisle, during 
 the last session preceding the Wilmington division of 
 the old Philadelphia Conference, convened in Harris- 
 burg, March, 1.S06, Dr. Durbin, as a member of the 
 Conference and first president of the college under the 
 Methodist regime, came from Harrisburg, an hour's ride 
 to Carlisle, to fill his appointment for the Sunday-morn- 
 ing sermon in Emory Chapel. It was largely descriptive 
 of the Tabernacle, delivered distinctly, with delibera- 
 tion suited to his time of life, atid in a narrative style. 
 The remarkable feature of the discourse was the facial 
 expression of the preacher when he reached the cli- 
 macteric description of the Shekinah. His eyes dilated 
 ami illuminated with a light that never was seen on sea 
 or land. His face was transfigured and "did shine as 
 the light," and the congregation was entranced with 
 the shining splendor of his person until the venerable 
 form, with closed eyes, was bowed in the final prayer. 
 
 The following is from Rev. Thomas II. Burch, D.D., 
 member of the New York East Conference : 
 
 Residing for a term of years in New York, he often 
 officiated in the pulpits of that city and its vicinity. I 
 heard him frequently — in fact, whenever it was practi- 
 cable. But of these eagerly coveted opportunities 
 two left a deep and lasting impression on my memory 
 because of certain extraordinary features which I want 
 briefly to describe. 
 
 The first of these sermons was delivered at the dedi- 
 cation of a church in Brooklyn. It was a bright and 
 balmy Sunday morning in June. The congregation 
 filled the audience-room; even the aisles were crowded 
 with the occupants of chairs and camp-stools, while a 
 considerable number were obliged to be content with 
 standing-space about the doors. Several clergymen 
 were present, some of whom conducted the preliminary 
 exercises. Then Dr. Durbin announced his text: "Be- 
 hold the Lamb of God, which taketli away the sin of 
 world ! " He began with the characteristic drawl, though 
 much abridged, however, in this instance, and soon 
 
208 
 
 JOHN P. DUUDIX. 
 
 passing into various vivacious tones. The earlier part 
 of the discourse was largely taken up with references to 
 Old Testament scriptures, familiar to most hearers, yet 
 so put as to tix attention and excite growing interest. 
 Perhaps he was never more animated: form erect, face 
 Hushed, eyes rolling in a way peculiar to him in higher 
 moods of thought and expression; in short, each tone 
 ami movement betokened rapt absorption in his theme 
 as he advanced from one period to another with telling 
 force. At length the turning-point was reached, in ef- 
 fectiveness at least, when the preacher introduced a 
 touching narrative, quite simple in its materials, but 
 used with masterly skill. In substance it was this: 
 
 Some years ago while in Cincinnati he had been 
 asked to visit a dying man, a stranger in the city, cut 
 oil' from Christian association and sympathy. Agreeably 
 to this request, at midnight the visitor climbed seven 
 flights of stairs to the top floor of a high building, 
 where he found the sick man, obviously in the last 
 stages of mortal disease. Although religiously edu- 
 cated he was much disturbed concerning the great 
 hereafter; for, having been caught in the meshes of the 
 Calvinistic theory, not daring to count himself among 
 the elect he could see no room for hope. His visitor 
 made no attempt to reason away these gloomy impres- 
 sions other than by citing pertinent Scripture passages, 
 especially the words, "Forasmuch as the children are 
 partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise 
 took part of the same." I remember asking myself 
 at the time whether that was the most, felicitous quotation 
 to be used in the circumstances ; but as it was repeated 
 slowly, and then the question put more than once with 
 most persuasive emphasis, "Are not you a partaker of 
 flesh and blood?" all doubt, vanished. Assuredly that 
 was the exact passage demanded. The dying man caught 
 the meaning, and clinging to it, lost his fears in blissful 
 confidence, affirming that he could fearlessly trust him- 
 self to his Saviour. The effect of this recital was 
 electrical. Sitting where I could see the whole con- 
 gregation, there seemed not so much a wave of emotion 
 sweeping gradually over it as a down-rush of feeling 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 209 
 
 simultaneously touching and melting every person in the 
 house. For so wonderfully vivid ami graphic was the 
 picture that each felt himself a witness of the scene ; 
 eacii looked into the face of the dying man, heard him 
 cough, listened to the fervid words of his counselor, 
 saw the troubled expression change into one of sweet 
 tranquillity; in short, realized the whole at once. As 
 also when the preacher added that, going the next 
 morning to the stranger's room, he found him dead, but 
 on his face a smile of a soul that had entered into rest, 
 every one saw that smile. 
 
 Thereafter the speaker swayed the audience at his 
 will. The merit of the sermon was sustained to the 
 end ; hut hail it fallen off, or had the discourse been 
 greatly lengthened, not one would have become im- 
 patient It was a rare triumph of oratory. 
 
 When the people were dismissed, a brother, then as- 
 sistant pastor of the dedicated church, but since serving 
 with distinction in another denomination, a man of con- 
 siderable phlegm, and strong self-control, came up to 
 me, his eyes swollen with weeping, and exclaimed, 
 " What a wonderfully effective discourse ! " 
 
 That was the first occasion. The second, following 
 an interval of not more than six weeks or two months, 
 differed very widely from the former. Indeed, the 
 strange and strong contrast of the one with the other 
 has chiefly prompted this letter. 
 
 About the time referred to some persons in the city 
 of New York united in an effort to promote a larger 
 attendance at public worship, particularly among non- 
 church goers. For this purpose several churches in 
 the lower part of the city were induced to open their 
 doors for Sunday-afternoon services, and eminent 
 preachers were sought for to insure the success of the 
 project. Dr. Durbin preached to one, if not more, of 
 these afternoon congregations; for then I heard the 
 second of the two sermons I am writing about. As 
 said above, this was strikingly unlike the first. One 
 point of resemblance, however, was noticeable at the 
 outset; namely, the text, which was the exact language 
 used before. The opening sentences, too, suggested 
 15 
 
210 
 
 JO UN R DURBLV. 
 
 that the sermon to follow might be similar. To me 
 that was no disappointment. On the contrary, a repe- 
 tition of what he esteemed the most powerful discourse 
 he had ever heard would afford a young minister, eager 
 to learn all the mysteries of the sacred art, a more favor- 
 able opportunity to penetrate the secret of the great 
 preacher's power. Well, the sermon proved to be the 
 very same, and yet how different ! Identical in structure, 
 in agreement, in illustration, in diction, in every literary 
 aspect, nevertheless, it fell so far short of the mighty 
 utterance first heard as to he altogether another and 
 vastly inferior thing. Possibly there were verbal dif- 
 ferences, perhaps even minor changes in illustration, 
 but I did not perceive them; most assuredly the same 
 in substance, but by comparison how tame, and stale, 
 and dull ! There came, too, in due order, the story of 
 the dying man, identical in /'ormjjut all the pathos and 
 power lacking. Nobody seemed moved by it; even 
 the preacher appeared to have no special interest in it. 
 Yet there it stood in the right place, a mere memory, 
 a sort of ghost ! So to the end — except that in the first 
 sermon some concluding sentences were especially con- 
 formed to the dedicatory character of that service — to 
 the end the second was a reproduction of the first in 
 every particular, so far as I was able to note, save effect- 
 iveness. The man sitting next to me drowsily nodded 
 from time to time. In seats to the front several per- 
 sons were asleep. Sheer amazement at the contrast 
 between the two deliverances of the same message, if 
 nothing else, kept one hearer wide awake. 
 
 I left the church thoroughly puzzled. Of course, due 
 allowance ought to be made, on the one hand, for the 
 greater inspiration of the first event, and, on the other, 
 for the less favorable time of day when the second dis- 
 course was delivered. So, too, it might be surmised 
 that the physical condition of the preacher was not 
 good, though of that there was no sign. 
 
 But after every concession the strange discrepancy 
 still remained perplexing. Even now I cannot solve 
 the problem with any satisfaction to myself. Can 
 you ? 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 21 1 
 
 The following is from the Rev. L. F. Morgan, D.D., 
 member of the Baltimore Conference, and one who 
 had known Dr. Durbin from the time of his entering 
 upon the presidency of Dickinson College : 
 
 I regard Dr. Durbin as the extraordinary man of 
 the extraordinary men of his time; the greatest orator 
 and organizer the Church has produced. I have heard 
 almost every preacher and statesman who has risen to 
 eminence in the country for the last fifty years. Dur- 
 bin was the first to measure up to my conception of 
 the power of eloquence in a sermon preached at the 
 Baltimore Conference, in the city of Winchester, Va., 
 in the spring of 1835. I never lost an opportunity of 
 hearing him afterward. My admiration made me seek 
 to know him in the early years of my ministry. I was 
 honored with his friendship, and frequently had his 
 services in the pastoral charges I served. When I was 
 stationed in the city of Washington he preached for 
 me in the Foundry Church. The building had recently 
 undergone repairs. An immense audience crowded the 
 place of worship. The girder of the end gallery broke 
 with a crash, winch produced the wildest consternation. 
 Almost every one left the house ; but when they saw 
 from the outside that the walls and roof were all right 
 they crowded in again, and were soon made to forget 
 every thing but the "Lamb of God, which taketh away 
 the sin of the world." Contrary to his usual rather prosy 
 opening, he seemed at the very outset to catch the in- 
 spiration for which he was remarkable in reaching his 
 climaxes, which were often overwhelming to his 
 audiences. 
 
 As an organizer of church-work he excelled as much 
 as he did in pulpit eloquence. The great missionary 
 scheme for the conversion of the world to Christ oper- 
 ated by the Methodist Episcopal Church is a monument 
 to his genius. For generations to come he will be 
 recognized as the great missionary secretary. It is no 
 disparagement to those who have filled the office since 
 he vacated it to say that he has not had an equal, and 
 he of the future who shall rival him must be blessed 
 
L> 1 2 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 With the opportunity of developing agencies now 
 unknown to the work of evangelization. 
 
 The Rev. Benjamin F. Price, of the Wilmington Con- 
 ference, a minister of more than titty years, thus writes 
 of Dr. Durbin : 
 
 In him simplicity, courtesy, and dignity of manners 
 seemed to find perfect exemplification. In the gallery 
 of great men I look upon Dr. J. P Durbin as the high- 
 est portrait. And I am willing to be criticised, if any 
 have the temerity to do it, when I say that as a 
 preacher, if he had any equal among his contem- 
 poraries, none surpassed him. And in all the qualities 
 that give efficiency to manhood he abounded and ex- 
 celled. In nothing, it would seem, was his life a failure; 
 he honored every post he tilled. As college professor 
 and president, as editorial journalist, as missionary 
 secretary, as representative in church councils, as 
 presiding elder, and as pastor and preacher, simplicity, 
 clearness, grandeur, and power, were elements that 
 made his eloquence the wonder of his hearers. If lie 
 did sometimes speculate in the pulpit it was never in 
 a way to mystify the subject ; he was always sure to 
 make his meaning plain, and even if you disagreed with 
 him, which was seldom the case, you were at no loss to 
 understand him, and you were fascinated by his in- 
 genious methods of illustration and argumentation. 
 His eloquence in the pulpit was like a gale full of 
 odors; the stars flashed and the electric chords made 
 music as the current pas ed. On the Conference floor 
 he was the statesman and philosopher. When a question 
 seem tangled and tied in knots, and ii was necessary 
 to understand the situation, Dr. Durbin would calmly 
 rise, and by his wonder-working analysis not only un- 
 ravel the web, but present its various phases with such 
 skill of exposition that the perplexity would cease and 
 the end of the debate was reached ; the vote was taken 
 without dissent, and while the older men would smile 
 with satisfaction, the younger ones wondered in admi- 
 ration, lie has disappeared from, our midst, but the 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 213 
 
 trail of a comet will radiate the moral firmament for 
 half a century. 
 
 The following letter is from the Rev. O. H. Tiffany, 
 D.D. Few ministers had stood in so close a relation to 
 Dr. Durbin as the writer of this letter: 
 
 Once on paying a visit to Chambersburg, Pa., Mr. 
 Seibert, a venerable member of our Church residing 
 there, took me to see the physical proof s oi Dr. Dur- 
 bin's eloquence. We went to the old brick churcli, 
 then standing, and he pointed out to me the sockets of 
 the outside fastenings of the shutters: they were many 
 of them deprived of the irons which they formerly 
 held, and some of them gave clear and unmistakable 
 evidences of force and violence used in their removal. 
 Mr. Seibert then told me the following story, lie said 
 that Dr. Durbin preached there one bright and sunny 
 Sabbath, when the windows were all raised on account 
 of the heat, and the blinds all closed on account of the 
 sunshine. The doctor preached on "the coming of the 
 day of judgment," and drew a vivid picture of the con- 
 sternation wrought on a city full of people; he then 
 passed to note the effect on a village hamlet, and depicted 
 with rare skill the coming just, at the moment when an 
 aged man was holding family prayer, ami pleading for 
 an only son far away from home ; tlnrr-, turning sud- 
 denly, he exclaimed, "Where is that wandering boy?" 
 and traced an imaginary journey, till at last he found 
 him on a ship at sea, keeping his watch alone on deck. 
 As the young man looks up to the stars suddenly the 
 heavens are parted as a scroll ; the audience heard the 
 tearing, ripping, of the skies as a piece of parchment 
 cracks when it is torn, and became violently agitated. 
 Xo one knew whether a passing cloud momentarily 
 obscured the sun or not ; but the whole assembly rose 
 as one man and rushed to get. out of the building, paying 
 no regard to the doors, but pressing against the. closed 
 shutters, which were wrenched off from their fasten- 
 ings by the hurrying crowd; the utmost, consternation 
 prevailed, and many persons were more or less injured, 
 but none seriously. I once asked Dr. Durbin about it, 
 
214 
 
 JOHN P. DURBTK 
 
 but he would say nothing except that " there was some 
 
 excitement." 
 
 When Dr. Durbin returned from liis trip to the East 
 there was a great desire on the part of the college and the 
 citizens of Carlisle to make some fitting demonstration 
 in his honor. I was then a student there, and had the 
 proud distinction, as I then felt it to be, to be placed 
 on the committee of reception. I was on the sub-com- 
 mittee of illumination, and we succeeded in placing 
 a lighted candle at each window-pane in all the 
 windows of the college buildings. The town was 
 alive with excitement, and on the arrival of the 
 Doctor, in the forepart of the day, after he had 
 been seen by the members of his family, he was told 
 something of the plans for the celebration. He at once 
 sent for me and forbade the illumination, on the ground 
 of the danger to which the buildings would be exposed 
 in case of fire. I pleaded with him not to disappoint 
 us in our cherished plans, told him all the money had 
 been already spent for candles and necessary fixtures, 
 and said the disappointment would be intense. For a 
 long time he would not yield, but finally consented, on 
 condition that some person should be placed at each 
 window with a bucket of water, and not to leave the 
 place until all the lights were out. Very many of the 
 students were thus deprived of the chance to greet the 
 Doctor in the reception, and grumbled accordingly; 
 but we had the illumination and counted it a great 
 success. This will suggest the extreme diligence of the 
 Doctor in looking after details. No man was ever more 
 scrupulous in his attention to the little things which go 
 to make up more conspicuous results, and no man more 
 sincerely in earnest in carrying out his plans to success. 
 
 Little details sometimes help to depict a man. He 
 always dressed in the morning for the principal event of 
 the day; would put on his best suit at breakfast-time if 
 he was to wear it to an evening entertainment. So on 
 Sundays if he was to preach anywhere during the day 
 he would appear at morning prayers in the chapel in a 
 white cravat. On such occasions there would be an 
 immense rush of students to discover where he was en- 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 215 
 
 gaged, and to secure permission (necessary in those days) 
 to attend. Closely watching him I discovered that if lie 
 was to preach in the morning his cravat would be nicely 
 folded and securely tied so as to conceal the knot, but 
 if he was not to preach until evening he would have it 
 carelessly wound about his neck in less fastidious 
 fashion. I made use of my observation, and seldom 
 made the mistake that others constantly made in at- 
 tempts to hear him. As I became familiar with him, 
 by being employed to transcribe his journals when he 
 w;is preparing them for publication, he once, when I 
 asked for the customary permission to attend some other 
 than my own church, said to me, " Tiffany, how do you 
 always manage to find out when and where I am to 
 preach ? I wish you would tell me, for I try not to 
 have it published.'" I said to him : " Doctor, you always 
 tell me when you are to preach, and it is easy to discover 
 where." "I tell you!" he exclaimed, with astonish- 
 ment, " I tell you ! Why, I never told you in my life, 
 and yet everywhere I go I always find you there." 
 Then I told him about his always wearing a white 
 cravat on preaching Sundays instead of the usual black 
 one; and when he pushed me ahout how I knew the 
 fact of his evening and morning sermons, " because," 
 he said, " you never make the mistakes the others 
 do," I told him about the tie of his cravat. He 
 refused to credit me until Mrs. Durbin, being sum- 
 moned to the study, confirmed my statement. He 
 merely said, " Young man, I'll fix you yet." And so 
 one Sunday I did miss hearing him, for he purposely 
 wore and preached in a black handkerchief. When he 
 gleefully informed me of it afterward I ventured to say to 
 him that I probably did not miss much, as the sermon 
 •was preached on false pretenses and with the intention 
 to deceive. He laughed, and snid I was probably correct. 
 
 He had a curious way of preparing his great ser- 
 mons. The Annual Conferences which he was called to 
 attend all met in the spring; the Baltimore Confer- 
 ence usually in March, and the others following aliout 
 as they now do. Some time in January he would begin 
 his preparation by going out some Sunday morning to 
 
216 
 
 JO UN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 a neighboring town and preaching quietly, develop- 
 ing some one idea; the next Sunday he would go some- 
 where else, and add another thought to the one previ- 
 ously discussed, and SO he would complete the round of 
 ideas with a round of separate sermons ; then on the 
 Sunday before Conference he would arrange all the 
 effective parts of these separate sermons into one logical 
 order and preach them in Carlisle ; the whole sermon of 
 the future would be there, but only in outline. The 
 altar was arranged, the sticks all laid for the fire, but 
 there was little if any heat ; but those who heard him 
 the next Sunday at the Conference would scarcely be 
 able to contain the tremendous electric shocks of dis- 
 charged power with which the matured sermon was 
 preached. Those who never heard him will probably 
 never hear his like, for the day of such magnificent dis- 
 play of moving, melting, persuasive power would seem 
 to have passed. He would present the simplest truth as 
 if it were a startling novelty, and so clothe it, with a 
 new force and distinctiveness that the hearer would 
 wonder why he never had thought of it before in such 
 relations. lie had a marvelous power also in prayer. 
 
 I remember that once in the absence of the stationed 
 preacher I was appointed to conduct a series of pro- 
 tracted meetings in the church, which had been begun 
 with some indications of good results, and on one 
 Thursday evening about twenty persons were forward 
 at the altar, as penitents, for prayers ; the meeting 
 seemed to have passed the crisis of power, and I was 
 very fearful that there would be no conversions that 
 night, and felt terribly moved at the prospect. I ex- 
 plained my apprehension to Dr. Durbin, and asked him 
 to pray. We all knelt inside the chancel-rail, and he 
 began in the low, subdued tone so habitual to him, to 
 intercede for those seeking forgiveness. Soon his words 
 came more and more calmly, but with more and more 
 power; slower and slower he prayed; but there came 
 such a divine presence that it seemed tangible. Heaven 
 and earth seemed coming together. I felt oppressed as 
 with a weight, and prostrated myself more and more in 
 the altar until the prayer closed, when I was prone on my 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 217 
 
 face on the floor. But during that prayer every soul for- 
 ward was powerfully converted, and the whole congrega- 
 tion was moved as I never since have known people to be 
 moved. The meeting was dismissed and we all went out 
 silently. I do not think that there was any interchange 
 of words except the hearty greeting of joy we gave the 
 new-born. Every one was awe-struck and kept silence. 
 
 His hearty sympathy with young men kept him 
 always fresh, and his earnest way of putting the evils 
 of dissipation before them saved many a one from 
 destruction. He would approach a man in such a side- 
 way — so unexpectedly — as to disarm intended conceal- 
 ment. I remember that four friends had been guilty 
 of some violation of rules, and were to he " hauled up " 
 before the faculty, as they supposed, but bound them- 
 selves by the most solemn compact to stand by each 
 other and not reveal the delinquents. I was with them 
 at the compact, and also at the time when one of them 
 Avas summoned to the presence. He was the one of all 
 the number in whose bravery and persistence we had 
 the greatest confidence, and we waited hopefully for 
 his return. He was not long gone from us, but when 
 he returned all bathed in tears he said, "Boys, it's no 
 use ; the old man got it all out of me in the first five 
 minutes." Durbin had first asked him some side ques- 
 tion which, though wisely planned, had no seeming re- 
 lation to the case on hand, and then suddenly turned on 
 him with a remark so unexpected and astounding as to 
 throw him off his guard and complete his discomfiture. 
 As an administrator of discipline I have never heard of 
 his equal. And however severe his decisions every 
 body loved him, and no fault was found with him even 
 by those most intimately affected by the issues. He 
 was a most masterful college president. 
 
 The following letter is from Rev. J. A. McCauley, 
 D. P., who resigned the presidency of Dickinson last 
 June, after serving for sixteen years. 
 
 It is with diffidence I venture on personal impressions 
 of Dr. Durbin as a college president. The conditions 
 
218 
 
 JOHN P. DURB1K 
 
 essential to discerning judgment, competence and oppor- 
 tunity, were not, perhaps, during my college residence 
 sufficiently mine to warrant confidence in such impres- 
 sions. The first year of my college life happened to fall 
 in the last of his connection with the college, affording 
 thus but a single year for personal impression ; and as, 
 in the distribution of work obtaining then, first-year men 
 had but an hour a week with him, it was the year of 
 least avail for lecture room impression, affording but the 
 minimum for testing the touch of the great teacher. 
 For the rest — aims and methods of administration, ex- 
 ecutive ability, disciplinary tact— a freshman's estimate 
 would hardly pass for that of a competent judge; were 
 little apt, indeed, to be discerning or just. Hence to 
 reminiscences of him, or of his performance, having 
 ground no more assuring than the inexperienced and 
 inopportune conditions of this association, little value 
 could attach. The occupance, however, through six- 
 teen years, of the position he so ably filled lias had the 
 effect largely to supplement these deficiencies — to inter- 
 pret and verify reminiscence — has ministered opportu- 
 nities for noting his impression on the organism of the 
 college, and, as I may claim, a measure of competence 
 to estimate the work which has won for him enduring 
 place among the greatest educators of his time. The 
 tradition of him which lingers here as the ideal pres- 
 ident has assuredly less of exaggeration than com- 
 monly attaches to traditions. As this judgment can 
 derive warrant only from his work, these lines have the 
 aim of tracing these memories in the sobering light of 
 experiences and responsibilities similar to his. 
 
 Had it been his part, on coming to Carlisle, to lay 
 new foundations — to plan as well as build — that mar- 
 velous organizing faculty from which the Church in 
 after years so greatly profited would doubtless have 
 had earlier exhibition. As it was, the college had been 
 half a century in operation at his accession to the presi- 
 dency. Charter and statutes both were old. Around 
 it, moreover, had grown a net-work of custom and tra- 
 dition more intractable, as more exacting and impe- 
 rious, than written codes. The question, then, that 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 219 
 
 fronted him was not of working as he wished, but as, 
 under this environment, he might. Inheriting the labors 
 of distinguished predecessors, and girt about with in- 
 fluences of inveterate prescription, it was unavoidable 
 that this environment should largely influence, if not 
 determine, the course he must pursue. The task im- 
 posed by his office was, therefore, to modify and judi- 
 ciously adapt existing provisions to the altered condi- 
 ditions created by the transfer of the college to its new 
 control. That the Conferences assuming its patronage 
 were fortunate in having this work committed to him 
 is unquestionable. With a distinct perception and a 
 thorough comprehension of the problem demanding so- 
 lution, he gave himself thereto with a single purpose and 
 a practical wisdom rarely excelled. With strong views 
 of prerogative the founders of Dickinson had, by char- 
 ter provision, reserved to themselves ultimate authority 
 in all that related to its management, including even 
 the penalties of discipline. Untold evil had come of 
 this. At times in the history of the college friction 
 and collision between the boards of instruction and of 
 control had led to crimination and recrimination, not 
 only subversive of college order, but even sometimes of 
 the peace of the community. One of the first cares of 
 the new president was, therefore, to secure by legisla- 
 tive enactment the remedy of this evil. The amended 
 charter vests discipline wholly in the faculty, reserving 
 to trustees appellate jurisdiction in cases only of expul- 
 sion. The cure was complete and final. The bitter 
 stream was dried at once, and its existence even has 
 ceased to be remembered. 
 
 When Durbin came to organize the new venture, that 
 knowledge of men for which he was famed stood him 
 in as good stead as in any need of his after career. In 
 the constitution of the faculty which so grandly 
 wrought with him this intuitive discernment of men 
 was especially conspicuous. Were his penetration with- 
 out other witness, his discovery and selection, one by 
 one, of the notable men who took the chairs at Dickin- 
 son render it incapable of question. Composed of men 
 mostly young, with reputations yet to make, and, 
 
220 
 
 JOHX r. DURBIX. 
 
 thougn dissimilar, without exception able, and growing 
 with their work, they proved a teaching ami disciplin- 
 ary force of unsurpassed ability. Under their impulse 
 the college speedily advanced lo a reputation for schol- 
 arship and efficiency which stirred the admiration of 
 the Church, and gathered to it the enthusiastic interest 
 of its patronizing territory. Memory lingers fondly 
 around these dear names, from which the lapse of years 
 has taken nothing of youthful admiration. Though 
 asked for reminiscences of the president alone, so large 
 was their ministry lo his success that mention at least 
 with him is always their due ; all, now, among the 
 crowned ! Merritt Caldwell, oldest in years and least 
 a novice in teaching, of balanced faculties, imperturba- 
 ble composure, a very Rhadamanthus in equity, w is a 
 careful, patient, and successful teacher. Robert Emory, 
 himself just from college, and but twenty years of age, 
 took the chair of languages, and, except a brief period 
 of pastoral service, gave the whole of his working life 
 to Dickinson — the closing years in guiding the helm. 
 Of faculties, analytic and synthetic, marvelously keen 
 and strong, of executive ability versatile and great, 
 there was in every sphere in which he wrought the 
 demonstration of ability entitling him to foremost rank 
 in each. When Dr. Durbin left there was unanimity in 
 thinking him the fittest man to take his place. At the 
 early age of thirty-four he passed away, with the im- 
 pression widely made that, if he left an equal, he left 
 no superior in the Church. John McClintock and 
 William I lenry Allen, the remaining two, of whom oidy 
 I venture a word, though in the main contrasted men 
 were yet in much alike. Both were men of genial, 
 kindly nature, urbane, complaisant, and of aptitudes 
 and requisites for easy and effective teaching. Per- 
 haps no single statement, would better describe what 
 then seemed most notable in Professor McClintock than 
 to say that he united almost electrical celerity of men- 
 tal action with exceptional power of continuous appli- 
 cation. He could study hard and long, and with match- 
 less rapidity. Hence, though hut in youth, his acquisi- 
 tions were extensive and minute, and thoroughly pos- 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 221 
 
 sessed. Of all the faculty he was, perhaps, the most 
 magnetic and inspiring. It' as an instructor there was 
 in him any thing, I will nut say to fault, hut to wish 
 different, it was that his own intellectual quickness, 
 coupled with a nature bordering on the impulsive, ren- 
 dered him, under special provocation, a trifle impatient 
 with those whom indolence or lack of aptitude caused 
 to grope or stumble. For myself it is a pleasure to re- 
 cord that, while consciously a debtor to all the noble 
 men composing that faculty, the best fruits of college 
 life were gained through his assistance. Professor Al- 
 len, in his early prime enthusiastic, keeping himself 
 abreast with current achievement in every branch of 
 natural science, was an equal master in his department. 
 
 Such were the men who, under their great chief, 
 made the opening era of the new regime illustrious It 
 was, indeed, a bright day for the college. In the dawn 
 of a new alliance, ardent friends pressing to its side, 
 the pulsing of new life where late was the languor of 
 decline, able men in all its chairs, and at its head the 
 prince without a peer, it is not without reason that peo- 
 ple reckon that the "golden age" of Dickinson. 
 
 But, returning to the president: Dr. Durbin, having 
 been professor in Augusta College, Augusta, Ky., 
 brought to the office some experience in the work of 
 instruction. The picture of him which rises to me 
 through the mists of more than forty intervening 
 years is of an alert, solicitous, enthusiastic teacher ; of 
 one whose primal purpose was to draw 7 out — educe 
 — what students knew of the matter in hand ; to assure 
 himself how thoroughly it had been grasped ; one in 
 whose presence deficiency or inattention were certain 
 of detection ; whose rare power of concise and lucid 
 statement, of apt and facile expression, and of abound- 
 ing illustration, served admirably for dispelling mists 
 and for making the recitation-hour rich in interest and 
 instruction. While it was his custom to explain freely, 
 and to gather illustrations from wide fields, he never 
 lost control of the situation. Alert, shrewd, discerning, 
 he never, perhaps, was lured to wasting time by any 
 of the artifices to which, in emergency, students some- 
 
222 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 times resort to evade the testing of orderly recitation. 
 While for myself I would have to say that, in power 
 to inspire — that contagion of activity which contact 
 imparts — he was excelled by at least two members of 
 the faculty, he yet had this power in high degree, and 
 had I gone with him, as afterward with them, through 
 abstruser realms, I would not, perchance, have this to 
 say. 
 
 As executive, it is conceded that through the twelve 
 years of his presidency he administered the affairs of 
 the college with exceptional ability and with marvel- 
 ous success. Vigilant, forbearing, firm, he knew how to 
 exercise effective discipline with the smallest measure 
 of severity. Prudent, discerning, wise in measure, and 
 fertile in resource, and of energy that rested only with 
 s iccess, he was peculiarly fitted to grapple with the 
 difficulties that lay around tlie college in its second 
 infancy. R ference was made to his early removal of 
 the organic bar to harmony between the boards. It is 
 not known that, during his protracted term, a shadow 
 of dissension came between himself and those with 
 whom he wrought. The felicity was theirs of spending 
 all their strength in promotion of the interest supreme 
 in their regard. 
 
 But the most availing force which the new president 
 brought to his office undoubtedly was that wondrous 
 eloquence, of which the fame already filled the Church; 
 and, in the newness and urgency of the enterprise, it 
 hardly admits of doubt that the most availing service 
 rendered it by him was his devotion of this gift to the 
 pleading of its cause. So greatly did this force minis- 
 ter to the success of his presidency and to the enduring 
 weal of the college that, while attempting no adequate 
 analysis or description of it, a word respecting it seems 
 called for. 
 
 Any just account of Dr. Durbin'a power in the 
 pulpit or on t lie platform would need to credit 
 much to his knowledge of human nature. He was 
 familiar with the easiest approaches to mind and heart. 
 11 is faculties, moreover, were of a kind peculiarly suited 
 to make this knowledge serve the purpose of conviction 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 223 
 
 and persuasion. His manner of conceiving and present- 
 ing truth was uncommonly felicitous. Quick perception, 
 nice discernment, skillful distribution, taken with a 
 singular felicity of language and of appropriate illus- 
 tration, enabled him so to shape and clothe the truth he 
 was presenting that pleased attention and impression 
 were the uniform result. The dictum of the ancients 
 demanding emotion in the speaker — si me vis flere, 
 flendum est tibi primum — was instanced in him. At 
 times his deep emotion, flashing from look and trem- 
 bling in tone, stirred and thrilled vast assemblies. In 
 the earlier stages of discourse there was little in his 
 manner to please or impress. His voice, of tenuous 
 tone and of movement slow almost to drawling, was apt 
 to cause a feeling of disappointment in those who were 
 hearing him for the first time ; but, exercised awhile, 
 that wondrous voice acquired a power little short of 
 fascination. His style was mainly conversational, but 
 when he wished to emphasize some truth, or to vent some 
 emotion with which his whole being seemed aglow, he 
 rose from the colloquial to the highest order of impas- 
 sioned speech. At such times voice and eye and atti- 
 tude were eloquent in a way peculiar to himself. 
 Masses swayed under it like trees in the wind. Certain 
 sermons of his early prime are yet, alter the lapse of 
 more than fifty years, spoken of as instances of trans- 
 porting and overmastering power, with which memory 
 yields nothing to compare. This great force he 
 wielded to the utmost for the «oJJege. From platform 
 and pulpit it sounded in strains of convincing and per- 
 suasive speech, and with marvelous effect. Churches 
 and communities were stirred- Preachers were moved 
 to zealous advocacy. At familv altars, as in social and 
 public worship, prayer was made in its behalf ; and it 
 was not long till in the great commanding centers of its 
 territory there was earnest practical co-operation in the 
 common work of nurturing to strength this new agency 
 which the Church was preparing to assure its future. 
 Along with these benign results bright minds in every 
 community were stricken with desire to receive the 
 training of the college. Though ot the things we can- 
 
224 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 not know, there yet is reason to believe that no achieve- 
 ment of this honored servant of the Church will, in the 
 final showing, transcend that wrought by him for the 
 institution whose infancy it was his mission to nurture. 
 
 As Dr. George R. Crooks found himself unable to 
 write a letter for this biography, as he had intended, he 
 kindly sent his Centennial Oration on Dickinson Col- 
 lege, delivered in 1883. From this we select for our 
 use the following eloquent tribute to his honored pro- 
 fessors, and pre-eminently to Dr. Durbin as the presi- 
 dent : 
 
 Come to me, ye memories of long past years ! and 
 bring before me again those beloved, those idolized 
 men, the members of our first faculty. I see Emory, 
 the picture of manly vigor, walking up the chapel aisle 
 and taking the oath of office administered by Judge 
 Reed. Durbin, whose large, lustrous eyes fascinate the 
 beholder, reads once more with slow ami measured 
 accent the morning lesson from the chapel pulpit and 
 offers the simple prayer of childlike faith and trust. 
 Caldwell, the Christian Aristides, tender and just, sits 
 again in his chair and with slow and hesitating speech 
 unfolds the intricacies of mathematics or clears up a 
 dark point in psychology. McClintOck, as radiant as 
 Apollo, and as swift, too, as a beam of light, amazes us 
 l>v the energy with which he quickens our minds. 
 Allen, massive in form and solid as his own New En- 
 gland granite, moves among us to show us how tran- 
 scendent power can he blended and interfused with a 
 sunny temper. But what shall I say of him, the man 
 of u'i'nius of that brotherhood, whose lips had been 
 touched with celestial lire — orator, administrator — the 
 matchless John P. Durbin? In the class room his con- 
 versation was more brilliant than the text which he ex- 
 plained. His fertile and suggestive mind wandered 
 from point to point, and we sat exhilarated as new- 
 vistas of truth, one after the other, opened before us. 
 Or it is Sabbath morning, and he occupies his throne, 
 the pulpit. The text is, " Wherefore God also hath 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 225 
 
 highly exalted him, an 1 given him a name which is 
 above every name;" the heme, the humiliation and ex- 
 altation of Christ. The first propositions are so simple 
 that they seem to be truisms, the first manner is so 
 didactic that but for the composure of the speaker you 
 would resent the attempt to fix your attention by such 
 methods. Statements are made so obviously convinc- 
 ing that you wonder you had never thought of them 
 before, lie holds you, and you cannot choose but listen. 
 All the time the enchanter is weaving his spell about 
 you and preparing for the triumphant assertion of his 
 power. Suddenly, as suddenly as the lightning flash, 
 his vehemence and passion burst upon you. The tor- 
 rents of feeling which he had until now sternly 
 repressed flow forth with irresistible force. He has 
 made no mistake ; he has calculated to a nicety his 
 possession of your sympahy, and you are borne along 
 by him whithersoever he will. His port and bearing 
 have changed ; his manner is that of one fully conscious 
 of mastery over the hearts of his fellows, and his voice, 
 vibrant with emotion, searches all the recesses of the 
 soul. You are absorbed, captured, and when all is over 
 you are aware that for a time you had wholly lost con- 
 sciousness of yourself. 
 
 It abates nothing from these facts that Dr Durbin's 
 power as an orator declined after he had committed 
 himself wholly to administrative tasks. In his later 
 years he lived among us less as an orator and more as 
 a statesman : 
 
 " W"ith shoulders fit to bear 
 
 The weight of mightiest moaaruhiL'S." 
 
 He himself never grieved over the change, and wel- 
 comed the men who increased in public favor while he 
 decreased ; for he was careless of fame, solicitous only 
 to do his appointed work thoroughly well. 
 
PART II. 
 
 H0MILE1ICS AND SACRED ORATORY. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 His Eloquence. 
 
 THE life of Dr. Durbin is not to be merely narrated. 
 It should be construed. We can derive from it the 
 best lessons only by an analysis of that power that gave 
 him such distinction. He who would adequately render 
 this service should be the philosopher, the moralist, and 
 the divine. 
 
 As in the study of the human system the physiol- 
 ogist inquires into the origin and laws of animal life 
 and learns the functions of the tissues and organs, as 
 the anatomist gives detail and description of whatever 
 enters into the system, so to find out what there is in 
 the physical, mental, or moral constitution that distin- 
 guishes one man from another may justify the greatest 
 effort of the understanding. If there be underlying or 
 interpenetrating facts we should search for them as for 
 essential knowledge. 
 
 In the interest of homiletics and sacred eloquence we 
 may justly inquire after the elements of Dr. Durbin's 
 strength. From its origin Methodism had been distin- 
 guished for the ability and popularity of some of its 
 preachers. But in the first quarter of this century three 
 ministers arose who may be denominated the triumvirate 
 of eloquence in the Methodist Episcopal Church — Henry 
 B. Bascom, born in 1796; John Summerfield, born in 
 1798, and John P. Durbin, born in 1800. 
 
 Of Bascom's preaching the talented but erratic John 
 N. Matfitsaid : "The model of his sermons is not found 
 in the libraries of the Old or New World. He is a pure 
 
230 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 original; his shining dims no other star; he is the soli- 
 tary star that tills with a flood of effulgence the skies 
 of his own creation." There was majesty in his manner; 
 there was depth and richness in his voice. His diction 
 dazed and his utterance awed men. No one who 
 heard him in his prime could fail to feel that he was 
 an amazing speaker — in his way peerless. But his elo- 
 quence allowed no relief in the progress of his discourse. 
 His address may have seemed rather to the imagina- 
 tion than to the conscience. In the kind, diversity, and 
 accumulation of his figures the hearer might sometimes 
 be confused if not confounded. There would have been 
 less to perplex had the composition presented more 
 unity of idea, better articulations of thought, and a more 
 easily-recognized logical coherence. A more conscious 
 " touch of nature " would have added to the effect. 
 
 Of John SummerHeld we may speak in the language 
 that Izaak Walton employed to describe Dr. Donne. 
 " He was a preacher in earnest — weeping sometimes /'or 
 his auditors, sometimes with them, always preaching to 
 himself; like an angel, from a cloud but in none; carry- 
 ing some, as St. Paul was, to heaven in holy raptures; 
 here picturing a vice so as to make it ugly to those 
 that practiced it, or a virtue so as to make it beloved 
 even by tliose who loved it not; and all this, with a most 
 particular grace and an inexpressible addition of come- 
 liness. His life was a shining light." 
 
 Summerfield blazed on the world as if by the light 
 of his example God would show young men what they 
 may be in the pulpit with a consecrated intellect, a 
 sanctified spirit, and a soul in profoundest sympnthy 
 with His work. Rev. Dr. G. W. Bethune writes "of 
 the charm of his seraphic eloquence," and says, " He 
 was the most persuasive preacher I ever heard." James 
 W. Alexander regarded William Wirt as one of the 
 
HIS ELOQUENCE. 
 
 231 
 
 most classical and brilliant extemporaneous orators in 
 America, but declares " John Summerfield was a greater 
 orator than he." He asserts that "he was the most en- 
 chanting speaker he ever heard ; " and adds, " The charm 
 of his brilliant and pathetic discourses will never be 
 forgotten by those who heard him." He had a genius 
 for eloquence. His heart was in his genius for divine 
 subjects, and God filled and ruled his heart. 
 
 Bishop Bedell, in his admirable work, T/ie Pastor, p. 
 304, says of Summerfield: "The tradition of his holy 
 humility, his loving, earnest, quickening utterances of 
 the Gospel, his soul, wrapt in the power of his theme, 
 thrilling and swaying and melting into passionate tears 
 whole masses of almost breathless auditors, will live as 
 one of the choicest memorials of the brightest days of 
 the Methodist Church." Summerfield died young. 
 
 Bishop Bascom lived till the resources of his genius 
 were fully furnished to the Church — till its highest 
 honors crowned him. He died at fifty-three. 
 
 Dr. Durbin was spared to us till his seventy-sixth year. 
 He had time which he grandly improved in revealing 
 those abilities which so eminently fitted him for the ex- 
 alted spheres which he was called to fill, and in his pro- 
 tracted life conferred upon the Church the benefits of his 
 wisdom and worth that only eternity will fully disclose. 
 
 Between Bascom and Summerfield there was great 
 contrast, Bascom had grandeur and vehemence. Sum- 
 merfield had simplicity, pathos, and a flowing stream of 
 silvery eloquence. Durbin was unlike them both, but 
 had some of the elements of each. What was said by 
 the English poet Dryden in reference to Milton, as com- 
 pared with Homer and Virgil, might be asserted of Dur- 
 bin as associated with Bascom and Summerfield: 
 
 " Tiie force of Nature could no further go ; 
 To make the third she joined the former two." 
 
232 
 
 JOHN P. DURB1X. 
 
 If we speak of Dr. Durbin in the pulpit as he seemed 
 we should say he attempted nothing in the way of elo- 
 quence; that his single object was to present with sim- 
 plicity, directness, and persuasive power the message 
 that he had received from God. In the progress of his 
 discourse we should be profoundly impressed with the 
 belief that nothing less than the salvation of men would 
 satisfy him. To obtain or retain reputation was no part 
 of his care. As he began to address the people there 
 was no show of physical earnestness ; but at no time 
 was he aimless. 
 
 An old writer says, "A good orator should pierce the 
 ear, allure the eye, and invade the mind of the hearer.'''' 
 All these Dr. Durbin did. His commencement was calm 
 and undemonstrative. His first utterances were meas- 
 ured and seemed sluggish, but his sentences were fraught 
 with meaning, his paragraphs showed progress, and 
 when he reached his theme the subject was opened. 
 He could be heard in all parts of the house, and for 
 simplicity and precision of language could be under- 
 stood by all. Though there was no display there was 
 something assuring in speech and manner. His concep- 
 tions were clear, and in a little time what seemed slug- 
 gish disappeared. Thought deepened and broadened. 
 Genius began to flash ; a novel idea mnde its appear- 
 ance. The hand was drawn from the bosom; the soul 
 was lender. Style was diversified; a beautiful figure 
 was employed, and there was no lack of vivacity. He 
 was felt to be a fine teacher, and his resources enter- 
 tained. He had pierced the ear, so it was all attention. 
 He allured the eye. His audience saw in him more than 
 an instructor; he pleased. His voice, manner, spirit, 
 showed he was becoming more exalted by his theme. 
 It was as if the hearts and minds of all who heard were 
 in his 2>ower, to be taken where he would. Now he 
 
HIS ELOQUENCE. 
 
 233 
 
 painted a picture or described a fact. It Avas life-like; 
 he awakened sympathy and was a magnet that drew. 
 There was a charm in his address. He kept his purpose 
 in view, himself out of sight. 
 
 He allured the eye, and it was well taken; no fitter 
 object could engage it. The eye is an opening to the 
 heart, lie invaded the mind of the hearer. He con- 
 sidered human passions and well understood the avenues 
 to the sonl. He comprehended his duty and performed 
 it. Attention was fixed by instruction. Interest was 
 awakened by the force of truth. Impression was made 
 by the power of appeal. Every thing contributed to 
 the end sought. He invaded the mind ; he removed the 
 doubts that tilled it — conquered the prejudices that there 
 struggled ; found way to the heart. It was as if the 
 "louse" was being "set in order." He offered argu- 
 ments that could not be answered. He presented facts 
 that were readily confessed. He showed conclusions 
 that candor pronounced just. The subject that filled 
 the speaker possessed the hearer. From the flaming 
 tongue shot a strong sentence that like a bolt went 
 crashing through a coat of mail and pierced a mind 
 that was thought invulnerable. So did Dr. Durbin " in- 
 vade the mind." assailing it with the heaviest weapons 
 that logic can forge, assaulting the heart with facts that 
 no power could repel. There was a breaking down of 
 moral resistance, and there was no sanctuary but in sur- 
 render. He was full of his theme. His wife was before 
 him — by the pulpit. He did not see her. lie saw nothing 
 but subject and souls. In such concentration and in- 
 tensity eloquence always resides. If he saw the congre- 
 gation was under the influence of the word he would not 
 lose his hold, lie repeated ; he emphasized ; he said 
 "one more thought" — now a "last word" — and it was 
 the longest in the language. He was like Queen Esther, 
 
234 
 
 JOHN P. DUEBIN. 
 
 who ventured her own life for her people, saying, "If I 
 perish, I perish." Then with an earnestness that breathed 
 her soul she said, " We are sold to be destroyed — to be 
 slain — to perish ! " Why this triplication ? Was not one 
 word, one expression, enough ? No, one word would not 
 express what her soul felt. Now redundancy is a merit. 
 It gives force. It is not enough to say, " he will kill us.'''' 
 The thought is ground into her soul, and she will grind it 
 into the soul of the sovereign. Noble woman! she had 
 an orator's spirit. The finest expressions of poetry, the 
 most eloquent utterances of patriotism, the noblest 
 achievements of human skill, and the most convincing 
 demonstrations of philanthropy and Christian devotion 
 are found in association with self-abnegation. St. Paul 
 counted not his life dear unto him. 
 
 Quintilian says : "The orator must do all not only in 
 the best manner but with the greatest ease ; for the ut- 
 most power of eloquence will deserve no admiration if 
 unhappy anxiety perpetually attends it and harasses 
 and wears out the orator. He that has reached the 
 summit ceases to struggle up the steep." Vol. ii, 450. 
 
 Ganganelli (Pope Clement XIV) sa}'s : " There are 
 certain moments when great orators seem neither to have 
 style nor words, lest the sublimity should be altered 
 by studied phrases. There are people who put them- 
 selves into an alembic to be eloquent, and nothing issues 
 from the operation but forced conceits and bombastic 
 phrases. Whereas, if they would give themselves up 
 to the energy of their hearts they would have golden 
 tongues." He adds, " I find nothing but elegance in 
 almost all the writings of the times, and yet they are 
 very far from being eloquent." Quintilian supposes of 
 one that "his greatest excellence is that he has no 
 faults, and his greatest fault is that he has no excellence. 
 Elegance pleases, but eloquence captivates, and when it 
 
HIS ELOQUENCE. 
 
 235 
 
 is natural it amalgamates itself with all the beauties of 
 nature and genius to show them in all their luster and 
 according to truth." 
 
 Dr. Durbin was now the inspired orator. Nature, 
 under the divinest influences, pressed into the service 
 every power tributary to the result. Gesture came 
 without call — came to assist or to impress when words 
 sought an auxiliary. We should say he made no gest- 
 ures ; they made themselves. At first they were few 
 and modest, and came with such ease and stealth 
 as hardly to be recognized. They expressed emotion 
 as words conveyed thought. In the periods of his 
 highest excitement and grandest achievement all his 
 powers were vocal. The body was full of tongues, 
 and gesture was the rival of speech. The finger, the 
 hand, the arm, the attitude, as well as the eye, com- 
 municated, but each in unity with the other, and the 
 hand could not say to the foot, "I have no need of 
 thee." Abbe Besplas declares, "Sweetness, with noble 
 simplicity, should form the constant character of dec- 
 lamation." Pascal believed that in gesture the motion 
 of the body or its members should help to paint the 
 thoughts of the said, and that the painting ought to be 
 exact. 
 
 Gesture, with Dr. Durbin, was unaffected, appropri- 
 ate, inspired, and therefore necessitated. When thus in- 
 fluenced, all his faculties waited on him. Memory came 
 as purveyor of the soul and promptly yielded her treas- 
 ures. Invention revealed its fruitfulness, passion flamed, 
 but left reason unharmed. Logic took fire and burned 
 its way through the whole realm of thought ; every 
 faculty was alert, every force at command. We saw 
 the man in all the fullness of his mental resources. The 
 late Dr. Nadal, after hearing Dr. Durbin in one of his 
 grandest efforts to " preach the word," said, "The spell 
 
236 
 
 JOHN P. DUE BIN. 
 
 of his eloquence remained on me, and the very air was 
 full of the figures that he used, and they gleamed and 
 glowed with their brightness." The cyclone is not 
 more unlike the ordinary currents of the air ; the 
 earthquake is not more dissimilar from the uniform 
 operation of physical laws ; the ocean, when the tempest 
 sweeps it and the mountain billows break upon the 
 shore, presents no greater contrast to the serene surface 
 when it tempts children to sport upon its waters, than 
 does the orator under his high afflatus to the same 
 speaker when no pressure is on him. 
 
 His eloquence was the soul in its intellectual culmi- 
 nation. It was the high- water mark of the emotional 
 nature. It was the tidal wave of influence that carries 
 every thing in its course. Rev. Joseph Castle, D.D., a 
 classic and a critic, expressed the belief that Demos- 
 thenes was not more eloquent than, in particular pas- 
 sages, was Dr. Durbin. 
 
 Between Dr. Durbin's earliest and later ministry 
 there was difference in manner. We have seen that at 
 the commencement of his labors his vehemence broke 
 him down in six months; that as professor in Augusta 
 College failure of health required respite from his 
 duties. On coming East he made it a study to hus- 
 band his strength in the opening of his discourses. The 
 conversational speech that he had learned in the cabins 
 of the colored people now availed him, and he acted on 
 the principle that the conservation of his forces was 
 essential to culminating effect. His eloquence, therefore, 
 became less pervasive and more concentrated. His 
 greatest power might not be found in more than two 
 or three passages. Here, in his grandest moments, it 
 was surpassing eloquence. At such time he was a law 
 to himself. 
 
 It was a remark of Dr. Lawson, that " he who is ani- 
 
HIS ELOQUENCE. 
 
 23 7 
 
 mated all the time is not animated at all." However 
 such statement may apply to certain styles it is true of 
 that which distinguished Dr. Durbin. 
 
 Dr. Nott, of Union College, in his day one of the 
 grandest pulpit orators of this land, laid it down as a 
 fact not to be disputed, that " No man can be eloquent 
 for more than five minutes at a time." We argue this 
 as a philosophical necessity. " All high emotions are 
 of short duration." The influence upon the speaker or 
 hearer is not sustained for a longer period ; like 
 violent diseases, they cannot be both acute and pro- 
 tracted. 
 
 For pungency or power a well-couched sentence can- 
 not be too brief. For pathos and moral grandeur 
 what verse in the Bible makes such an appeal as that 
 which is shortest — "Jesus wept?" 
 
 It is, however, a mistake to suppose that, while the 
 effect of Dr. Durbin's eloquence was in a short pas- 
 sage, it derived none of its influence from that which 
 preceded it. As in painting there is needed light and 
 shade, so the mind of the hearer is prepared for the 
 greatest effect by that which went before. 
 
 There was eloquence in stilling tin- thoughts, in hold- 
 ing the mind, in insinuating the truth, and in keeping 
 the soul in a state of moral receptivity. The result 
 n cognized was the work of a moment, but not the 
 preparation. 
 
 For long years General Newton, acting under the 
 authority of the United States Government, was work- 
 in;; on a reef of rocks at the entrance of the New 
 York harbor. What he did was out of sight. Many 
 were skeptical as to his opening the passage. The 
 conception was formed ; the engineering was done ; the 
 labor was over. When all was ready the hour was 
 fixed, and at the touch of an infant's finger there was 
 
238 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 the explosion that shivered and scattered (he rocks, 
 shook two cities, and opened " Hell Gate." It was the 
 work of a moment, and commerce exulted in the achieve- 
 ment. But for this grand result preparation was an 
 imperative demand. 
 
 Dr. Archibald Alexander's Life, hy his own son, Dr. 
 J. W. Alexander, gives an account of his wish to know 
 more of the eloquence of Patrick Henry. He says : 
 " When a young man in Virginia I was anxious to as- 
 certain the true secret of his power. One thing I had 
 particularly desired to have decided; namely, whether, 
 like a player, he merely assumed the appearance of 
 feeling, or whether it was real. Understanding that 
 Mr. Henry was to appear in the defense of three men 
 charged with murder I determined to seize the oppor- 
 tunity of observing for myself the eloquence of this 
 extraordinary orator. I obtained a place in the court- 
 room. The examination of the witnesses closed. It 
 was at the twilight of evening. Candles were brought 
 into the court-house. The judges put it to the option 
 of the bar whether they would go on with the argu- 
 ment or adjourn until the next day. The attorney of 
 the State, a man of uncommon dignity and an accom- 
 plished lawyer, professed his willingness to proceed 
 immediately, while the testimony was fresh in the minds 
 of all. Now, for the first time, I heard Henry. He 
 began with declaring his willingness to proceed with 
 the trial, but added, ' My heart is so oppressed with the 
 weight of responsibility which rests upon me, having 
 the lives of three fellow-citizens depending probably on 
 the exertions that I may be able to make in their be- 
 half (here turning to the prisoners behind him), that I 
 do not feel able to proceed to-night. I hope the court 
 will indulge me and postpone the trial till the morning.'" 
 Dr. Alexander remarks, " the impression made by these 
 
HIS ELOQUENCE. 
 
 •239 
 
 few words was such as I assure myself no one can ever 
 conceive by seeing them in print. In the countenance, 
 action, and intonation of the speaker there was expressed 
 such an intensity of feeling that all my doubts were 
 dispelled. Never again did I question whether Henry 
 felt or only acted as feeling." He continues, " I ex- 
 perienced instantaneous sympathy with him in the 
 emotions which he expressed, and had no doubt the 
 same sympathy was felt by every hearer." The pro- 
 ceedings were deferred till the next morning. He de- 
 clares, "The speech that he made was ingenious; his 
 appeals were overwhelming." In spite of his better • 
 judgment Alexander confesses he was swayed, though he 
 could counteract the impression by a moment's reflection. 
 The illusion of his eloquence was complete, but nothing 
 that he ever heard so convinced liim of Henry's powers 
 as the speech of five minutes which he made when he 
 requested that the trial might be adjourned till the 
 next day. E. G. Parker, biographer of Rufus Choate, 
 said, " Daniel Webster once in a sentence and a look 
 crushed an hour's argument" of an adversary. 
 
 But Dr. Durbin was the sacred orator, and felt that 
 the Gospel is the great commission. The object that 
 he sought, the spirit he possessed, and the effort that 
 he made showed that his eloquence was a " virtue." 
 No sermon that lie published, however grand the 
 theme, or excellent the plan, or appropriate the dic- 
 tion, or logical the reasoning ; nothing that he ever 
 wrote or that others can ever write of him, will give 
 his voice or exhibit his spirit. Eloquence cannot be 
 printed. Like the soul, it is never found by dissecting, 
 though that soul is the immortal part of our nature 
 and eloquence is that which gives immortality to the 
 man. The brain is cold, the heart is still, and the 
 tongue is silent that could express this eloquence. 
 
240 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 No man is eloquent at all times. Owen Feltham 
 
 says, "He who speaks thus cannot speak thus always." 
 This statement applies alike to the secular and sacred 
 orator. 
 
 In 1832 the writer heard Henry B. Bascom in 
 Smyrna, Del. He preached on the resurrection of 
 Christ. From the first to the last sentence it was a 
 rushing current, not to say torrent, of magnificent 
 speech. Figure followed figure in such quick suc- 
 cession that in the attempt to catch one we lost 
 another. The late Dr. J. B. Hagany, of remarkable 
 verbal memory, on hearing him said, he could retain no 
 figure except the comfort of infidelity is "like a moon- 
 beam playing upon a mountain of ice." Again we 
 heard Mr. Bascom in 1844, during the session of the 
 General Conference. He had gone with the late Dr. 
 William Cooper, pastor, to attend the re-opening of 
 Wharton Street Church, Philadelphia. There was every 
 thing in the place, the period, and the circumstances to 
 induce the greatest effort. The congregation was from 
 all parts of the city, and Bascom was at the height of 
 his fame. But the di>course presented a broad con- 
 trast to the one of 1832. The multiform and multi- 
 tudinous figures of the former had faded out, and the 
 color and substance of the thought did not compensate 
 their absence. 
 
 That holy man and honored minister of Christ, whom 
 the writer can never name but with profoundest rever- 
 ence as having been the instrument of his conversion, 
 thf late Rev. Henry G. King, told him the following 
 fact: 
 
 Bascom and Summerfield met in Philadelphia. They 
 preached the same Sabbath ; Bascom at St. George's, 
 in the morning, Summerfield in the old Academy, or 
 Union, in the afternoon. Summerfield heard Bascom, 
 
MS ELOQUENCE. 
 
 241 
 
 and marveled at his ability. Summerfield's home was 
 with the Rev. Dr. Thomas F. Sargeant, who loved him 
 as a son. While dining the Doctor said: " Well, John, 
 what did you think of Mr. Bascom?" Snmmerfield 
 answered, with bated breath, "A wonderful man, 
 Doctor." The Doctor observing that Snmmerfield was 
 not eating, said: "Help j'ourself, John." "I will," 
 replied Snmmerfield. Again the Doctor said : " Why 
 don't you eat, John, my boy?" In his guileless spirit 
 he exclaimed, " I will, Doctor, for spite;" to defeat the 
 adversary, who whispered, "How can <>ne like you 
 preach after such a man ? " He went to fill his appoint- 
 ment; but the saintly Summerfield failed. The excite- 
 ment of the morning, from Bascom's sermon, was too 
 much for mind and body. 
 
 When Gavazzi made his first appearance in this 
 country he was an orator of amazing power. The 
 writer heard him on his chosen theme. He spoke 
 in the largest hall in Philadelphia. He was in his 
 physical and mental prime. He had a grand physique; 
 his person was tall, and his movement majestic. He 
 had a swarthy complexion, black hair, an eagle eye, a 
 massive brow, and his features expressed intellect. 
 His voice was full, deep, and of great compass. His 
 spirit was buoyant and brave. His passion was like a 
 furnace. He had a consuming earnestness. His ability 
 for sarcasm and ridicule can hardly be conceived. His 
 derisive smile expressed the deepest contempt, but his 
 scowl was vengeance. The tragic and the comic were 
 equally at his command. The platform that he occu- 
 pied was deep and broad ; but the space was not too 
 great for his transitions. His attitudes and gestures 
 knew no limits. He wore a dark heavy mantle that 
 was as a Roman toga, which, as really as any action, he 
 made to serve his purpose for impression. In a moment 
 17 
 
242 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 he would gather it close to his person and stand like a 
 massive statue in disdain of danger. Again, throwing 
 it out at will he would dart across the stage to exhibit 
 expedition in grand achievements. And now he would 
 so dispose of it as to show himself like a moving tower. 
 Then he would spread or draw it about him so as to 
 appear as ludicrous as desire determined or as taste 
 told. He represented the Roman pontiff as an old 
 woman, disabled and disfigured and humiliated. There 
 was the wrinkled brow, tlie corrugated cheek, dishev- 
 eled hair and anchylosed limb. She was made tooth- 
 less by the tooth of time. Kneeling on the platform he 
 impersonated one utterly broken down, crouching and 
 looking upward with hands clasped and eyes anxious, 
 asking help for her needy children, yet receiving none, 
 and with no device eijual to the demand. We certainly 
 might have looked for her death before this time. 
 
 In his mood and place Gavazzi was stupendous. 
 Every thing was carried to the greatest height. Lan- 
 guage seemed made for his lips, and it rang through 
 the vast assemblage. In voice, passion, gesture, sub- 
 ject, all his resources were brought out, and in the on- 
 rushing of a mighty soul every thing seemed swept 
 before him. Such was the Italian priest. 
 
 His eloquence in these efforts induced the citizens of 
 Philadelphia to ask a lecture on a popular subject. He 
 consented. Again the writer heard him. His fluency 
 and force, attitude, gesture, and dramatic power, every 
 thing that went to make him so mighty on his chosen 
 theme, was absent. He appeared without the toga, and, 
 as if his mantle was the inspiration of the man, we saw 
 Samson without his locks. He was like other men. 
 We could hardly have imagined one less likely to fail 
 at such time and place than he. Yet fail he certainly 
 did. 
 
MS ELOQUENCE. 
 
 243 
 
 Dr. Durbin sometimes failed to produce the moral 
 effect that he justly desired and that others expected. 
 In manifest result there would be positive disparity. 
 The most striking illustration of this that the writer 
 has known is given in the letter of Dr. Burch. This 
 difference none knew better than Dr. Durbin. But at 
 such time he was one of the best examples of meek 
 submission without nervous irritability or mental de- 
 pression. The way he received the disappointment 
 was a lesson to all ministers, as all have a like ex- 
 perience without like philosophy or grace. He said, 
 " If the help does not come, I do not fret." A minister 
 does well at such time to ask himself: "Did I make 
 necessary preparation ? Did I depend too much on 
 what I had studied ? Was my ambition sanctified ? 
 Did I look to (^od?" A physical or mental condition, 
 a psychological cause for which the preacher is not re- 
 sponsible, or something in the subject or occasion might 
 explain an apparent failure. Nor is it to be forgotten 
 that sometimes the greatest visible success follows 
 painful experiences. The soul has thus been roused to 
 sublime effort. 
 
 It is just to say, as far as the observation of the writer 
 extended, and it was over many years, he never knew 
 Dr. Durbin to fail to edify. He had thought, language, 
 logic, order; and in these his profiting would appear. 
 
 Dr. Durbin was remarkable for his power of emphasis. 
 It was not what one in derision calls the "sledge-hammer 
 emphasis." This excellence appeared in his reading in 
 public worship. But its full force was seen only when 
 be was under the strongest impulse. Then a word was 
 a thought. That thought was a photograph of the mind. 
 
 His pronunciation of a sentence would sometimes pro- 
 duce an amazing effect. An elocutionist gave an example 
 of this power in a speech of Senator Preston. It was in the 
 
244 
 
 JOHN P. BUR BIN. 
 
 presidential campaign of 1840. Crittenden had spoken. 
 Webster had occupied about two hours, but the people 
 were still attentive. Preston rose and uttered but the 
 name " Martin Van Buren ! " This he thrice did ; the 
 first time with the accent of incredulity. The people 
 shouted. The second time with an accent of scorn. 
 The people stormed. But when the third time he ex- 
 claimed, " Martin Van Buren! " with an accent of con- 
 tempt, the vast assembly was wild. They clapped, they 
 stamped, they threw their hats into the air, and were 
 at a loss for any adequate demonstration. It was cli- 
 max on a, word. David Garrick, who would give so many 
 pounds to pronounce "O" like Whitetield, understood 
 this | lower. Who that ever heard him can forget the 
 " Ah me!" of Dr. A. L. P. Green ? 
 
 If we were asked, was Dr. Durbin an artist. ? we might 
 answer Yes, or No, according to the meaning of the in- 
 quirer. If it is art to retrieve nature from the artifi- 
 cial and restore it to the easy, graceful, normal action ; 
 if when, by study, observation, and practice the speaker 
 has freed himself from the trammels of custom, the 
 force of habit, and the influence of false teachers ; if 
 when, by care and the closest attention to even minute 
 matters he secures to nature self-assertion, so that it 
 acts without restraint and assumes the attitude that 
 gives the liberty of genuis, and by voice, gesture, lan- 
 guage, accent, emphasis, pause, intonation, inflection, 
 and whatever tends to his aid in the result sought, 
 producing an impression corresponding to nature's place 
 and power ; if this be art, then John P. Dubin was a 
 consummate artist. If in true art there is no show of the 
 artificial, he was such an artist. If art is found when, 
 in treating with men, there is skill that compasses an 
 unselfish and noble though difficult purpose, he was 
 an artist. If it be declared " The art of the art is 
 
HIS ELOQUENCE. 
 
 245 
 
 to conceal the art," we only say, If it is nature to be 
 natural, he was that. If it is art to be artificial, that 
 he teas not. " Nature, not nature's journeymen, had 
 made him." 
 
 May we not suppose this is the attainment that Schil- 
 ler had iu mind when he said, "I hope ultimately to 
 advance so far that art shall become second nature, as 
 polished manners are to well-bred men ; then imagina- 
 tion shall regain her former freedom and submit to none 
 but voluntary humiliations?" 
 
 He had the taste and skill that come from culture 
 and that men associate with art. He had a quick per- 
 ception of the mental if not of the moral state of those 
 whom he addressed. He had an intellectual alertness 
 that at once adapted itself to the need of the people. 
 He was as prompt to execute as he was quick to discern. 
 He was a master in securing attention, in holding the 
 thought and in impressing the minds of his hearers. 
 The means of mental arrest were always at his com- 
 mand. And in this his design was as undetected as in 
 any thing he did. Without adopting the sensational, 
 of which he was utterly free, he would give such a turn 
 to thought, such a change to language, or voice, or 
 manner, or by anecdote or brief narration, as at once 
 fixed the mind of* the hearer with a vivacity that 
 compelled interest. If he saw the congregation was 
 under the influence of the word he would not lose his 
 hold. He makes a statement, offers an argument, thinks 
 its full force is not felt. He would say, " I fear I 
 am not understood." Then, like a skillful rider who 
 reaches a chasm that the animal is unable to bound, 
 and starts back to a greater distance to add mo- 
 mentum to speed, and then with a leap passes it, so 
 did this preacher, by device to which his ingenuity was 
 always equal, compass his end and "go on his way re- 
 
246 
 
 JO UN P. BURBIN. 
 
 juicing." The fact was felt, the argument was clinched, 
 and the work was done. A striking case is given by 
 J. M. Phillips, Esq., our late Senior Book Agent. On 
 a certain occasion Dr. Durbin was making a platform 
 speech in Columbus, Ohio, and giving statistics that the 
 report of missions demanded. He thought there was a 
 listlessness that he always tried to preclude. His array 
 of figures was not the eloquence which they wanted. 
 There was no " fever heat." He turned to the chair, 
 made a polite bow, and said, "When I entered this Con- 
 ference two days ago I looked upon the faces of those 
 before me and saw only two of all that were here forty 
 and four years ago, when, a stripling, I joined the Con- 
 ference. I felt lonely ; I felt sad." And drawing his 
 coat closer round him he said, " I felt like some oak 
 riven of its branches." By this time, said our in- 
 formant, the house was in tears ; he then resumed his 
 subject with the undivided attention of the people. 
 But he " invaded the mind of the hearer." There was 
 an intelligent order. He would be heard, understood, 
 and felt. He preached for instruction, impression, per- 
 suasion. To this his skill, his art, were directed. In 
 the plan of his sermons, in the conduct of his discourse, 
 in the progress of his thought, in the climax that he 
 reached there was the art of sermonizing and the skill 
 of literary finish. In the effect he was above art, he 
 was beyond nature, he was a divine preacher. 
 
 He was an elocutionist of incomparable merit. Many 
 study it ; he had it. Books are written, lectures are 
 delivered, professors are employed, and by such at- 
 tention as is given many are spoiled. He was made ; 
 he was an example of the thing itself. In his language 
 we see the rhetorician, in his arrangement we confess 
 the logician; but in his delivery we bend before the 
 mighty orator. 
 
MS ELOQUENCE. 
 
 247 
 
 It was a striking fact, and one of great beauty in the 
 ministry of Dr. Darbin, that he carried his hearers with 
 him. He did not enter regions of scholarly thought 
 and metaphysical discussion where they could not follow 
 him ; he did not " preach over their heads." He kept 
 both head and heart in view. Like the eagle that first 
 rises slowly from the ground, but when fully on the 
 wing ascends with an ease, celerity, and strength that 
 show its power ; that is never more at home than 
 when farthest from earth, nearest the source of light, 
 and basking in the burning splendors of a meridian sun, 
 so did this sublime preacher rise by degrees to those 
 celestial heights that awaken ecstasy and inspire awe ; 
 yet never transcending the vision of those to whom he 
 showed the path of light, leaving us to rejoice more in 
 the inspiration that he imparted than to marvel at the 
 imperial soul that soared. 
 
248 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 His Style. 
 
 N analysis of Dr. Durbin's eloquence requires us to 
 
 -lA- consider his~ style. 
 
 In an orator every thing should respect the end. As 
 thought is the great means of producing conviction and 
 of inducing action, and as language is its vehicle, it is 
 a primary care of the speaker to secure the best medium 
 for its conveyance. It should be presented with least 
 fault and with the greatest force. 
 
 It is impossible to tell the influence of style as an 
 auxiliary to eloquence. Two speakers of equal learning 
 may address an audience upon the same subject. It is 
 alike familiar to both. They offer the same facts, they 
 employ the same arguments. They are anxious for the 
 same results; but the language of one is inaccurate, 
 parenthetical, and tangled: that of the other is clear, 
 definite, and to the point. The words of the one are 
 chosen, like arrows, for the mark: those of the other, 
 if things so crooked can be called arrows, are taken 
 at hazard, and, if shot, are let fly at random. Each 
 has words enough, but those of the one may he 
 uncouth and without order; those of the other show 
 discipline and grace. The one confuses, the other clar- 
 ifies. The one is heard with pleasure, the other with 
 pain. Style makes the difference. Solomon in his wis- 
 dom as the preacher " sought out acceptable words." 
 Wisdom still resides in like selection. The language 
 is ample enough, the interests involved are great enough, 
 
HIS STYLE. 
 
 249 
 
 and the convictions that have constrained consecration 
 to the ministry have been profound enough to induce 
 necessary effort to secure the best words to commend 
 the truth to every man's intelligence and " conscience 
 in the sight of God." 
 
 Cicero named three things as essential to successful 
 oratory: 1. That the speaker know what to say. 2. 
 That his thoughts be properly arranged. 3. That he 
 employ the most suitable expressions. Thus he makes 
 ability to speak in the best way the crowning qualifica- 
 tion. Thought is obscure or transparent, languid or 
 nervous, feeble or strong, as language makes it. Nor 
 must it be forgotten that there is a vast difference be- 
 tween propriety and tameness; between the bold and 
 the reckless; between the elegant and the affected; be- 
 tween the familiar and the vulgar. Dr. E. T. Chan- 
 ning, for thirty years professor of rhetoric and oratory 
 in Harvard College, and not, therefore, to be suspected 
 of extravagance, says, "We need not be cold to be cor- 
 rect, nor ostentatious to be elegant. We may be as 
 magnificent, as vehement as our nature will permit or 
 allow us to be, and all the while violate no rule of sound 
 criticism. Indeed, all the while we owe our success to 
 a careful observance of precision." Eloquence eschews 
 as fatal or harmful to its purpose whatever in style di- 
 verts or confuses the mind of the hearer. Its purpose 
 is not to shine, but to impress, to convince and per- 
 suade. As the finest porcelain cannot satisfy hunger, 
 so mere ornamentation will not avail for a live intellect 
 and a conscious want. Thought is the aliment of the 
 mind, and it craves it. Eloquence seeks by the words 
 employed the most perfect contact of mind with mind. 
 It is like the grasp of friendship with ungloved hand. 
 It is one nature receiving the intelligence, feeling tlie 
 warmth, and deriving some of the vitality of another 
 
250 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 nature. It is like two hemispheres that, united, make 
 one globe, and the circle is complete. 
 
 There is no law for grandiloquence. Sound may 
 take the place of sense. Intellectual barrenness finds 
 concealment in the show and spread of verbal costume. 
 Whenever expression is stronger than the thought it is 
 bombast. There is a flashy style that imposes upon the 
 unthinking, and there are flowers that fall off with shak- 
 ing. As meretricious attire gives neither symmetry to the 
 form nor beauty to the feature, so the ornament that 
 adds nothing is worth nothing. The shadow is some- 
 times longer and always thinner than the substance. A 
 lexicon cannot make mind, and "the mind's the standard 
 of the man." 
 
 Dr. Durbin was a preacher of great power in illus- 
 tration. 
 
 He thought, with Thomas Fuller, that if " reasons are 
 the pillars that sustain the temple of Christianity, illus- 
 trations are the windows to let in the light." These 
 " windows " he sometimes made very large, and was care- 
 ful not to stain them. Whatever taste might prompt 
 in relation to "a dim light" that falls on the "long 
 drawn aisle," he desired that the light that falls upon 
 the intellect should be as bright as the sun, and, like 
 that, seen without effort. His illustrations were con- 
 fined to no department of thought. They might be 
 from art or science, from history, sacred or profane, 
 from nature, from the commonplaces of life, or from 
 the classics. The Bible was to him a rich and never- 
 failing supply. But knowledge of what he selected 
 gave him skill, and he used art like an artist, science 
 like a scientist, and history like a historian. Classics 
 he employed as one who had traversed the ground. 
 After his tour in Europe and Palestine they afforded 
 such illustration as taste and time suggested. 
 
HIS STYLE. 
 
 2.31 
 
 But, whatever the source, they were to illustrate some- 
 thing. They were not substitutes for necessary matter. 
 That was a keen criticism by an intelligent Christian 
 lady, who, when speaking of a difference in the min- 
 istry of great preachers that she heard abroad and 
 some that she heard at home, said, " Foreign preachers 
 preached the Gospel and illustrated it by science, but 
 that those alluded to at home preached science and 
 illustrated it by the Gospel." If this were true of any, 
 the charge did not lie against Dr. Durbin. He preached 
 " the word," and by illustration concentrated the beams 
 of his intelligence upon it. 
 
 We reduce bis style to three descriptions that were 
 used as best served his purpose. 
 
 1. The Plain. — This is simple, familiar, direct, and 
 unadorned. Its aim is not so much to impress as to 
 enlighten. It is much as men talk on ordinary affairs. 
 The language is pure, and gives no offense to the most 
 cultivated. Many sound discourses are preached and 
 published that from first to last show no other style. 
 This is what we may suppose Mr. Wesley meant when 
 he wrote, " Only let your language be plain, proper, 
 and clear, and it is enough;" yet in Mr. Wesley we 
 have every st\le that we notice in Dr. Durbin. 
 
 2. The Animated. — Dr. Durbin showed progress in 
 style as well as in thought. As, therefore, the magni- 
 tude and interest of a subject increased and the faculties 
 found fuller play, his effort was to fasten the truth that 
 had been only communicated. Style assimilated. Pe- 
 riods presented greater smoothness and dignity ; they 
 changed their form, were inverted, transposed ; they 
 were simple, complex, or periodic. There were variety 
 and climax. Similes had place. 
 
 Herbert Spencer says, " To have a specific style is to 
 be poor in speech." The gifted Henry Ware, Jr., in 
 
252 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 writing to his brother William, says, u By the way, why 
 won't you write sermons in precisely the brief, pithy, 
 broken dialogue style of this letter of yours ? It would 
 be prodigiously taking and lively, and it would inevi- 
 tably do good to your delivery. Try it in some passage 
 of your next sermon. We want greater variety of style; 
 our hearers' minds want to change their positions as 
 we proceed, and this should be a matter of calculation 
 and effort with us, just as much as the plan of the ser- 
 mon. When we always keep up the same sort of talk, 
 always equally dignified, solemn, exact, no wonder peo- 
 ple gape and think it a long half hour. A really excited 
 extemporaneous actor does not do this. He changes his 
 key, goes quick, then slow, asks questions, answers them, 
 exclaims, reiterates, speaks by hints, by short sentences, 
 by single words; and through this variety not only sus- 
 tains but increases attention and the interest. Pas- 
 sages drawn up like your letter, thrown in toward the 
 close of a sermon, would electrify." — Life of II. Ware, 
 Jr., i, in 7. Thus wrote one of the most brilliant and 
 eloquent Unitarian divines. Was there ever better 
 illustration of the force of his remarks than was fur- 
 nished in the ministry of our early Methodist preach- 
 ers? By statement, by argument, by interrogation, by 
 evolving a thought, and in repetition presenting it in 
 different forms and various aspects, as the skilled advo- 
 cate does before the jury till he has fixed it in the mind 
 least receptive, so did the Methodist preacher sink it 
 into the heart of the hearer. John P. Durbin grew up 
 under the labors of such men. He was a careful ob- 
 server. The Methodist preachers seemed to be "turning 
 the world upside down," and he desired to have a hand 
 at the lever. Quick to perceive, intelligent to appre- 
 ciate, and wise to adopt the most efficient means, he 
 imbibed the spirit and sought the power of our fathers. 
 
HIS STYLE. 
 
 253 
 
 He was not an inapt student of the facts, nor an unsuc- 
 cessful laborer for the results. 
 
 3. The Sublime style. — Suitable and necessary as is 
 the plain style for its purpose ; excellent as is the ani- 
 mated for setting forth divine truth in its nature, beauty, 
 and claim ; positive and manifest as is its influence 
 in fixing attention and winning the regard of men; ex- 
 alted eloquence is never attained till such emotion is 
 awakened and such passion is kindled as compel a 
 higher style. As language is to express the heart as 
 well as the intellect of the speaker, and is to reach both 
 in the hearer, the orator should realize that he must 
 not have the vehicle merely for his thought, but for his 
 soul. 
 
 In the fullness of his matter, in the outgushing of 
 his speech, in the celerity and vigor of his mental 
 movement, in the strength of his convictions, in the 
 intensity of his desire to compass his end impelling 
 to every means to secure his object, he presses on irre- 
 spective of the length of sentence or of any thing but 
 the desired result. Facts force themselves on him, and 
 he notices them. Reasons multiply, and he gives them. 
 Clause joined to clause and epithet added to epithet 
 give force to the vast volume of truth ; the channel 
 widens; the current of thought goes rushing on with 
 increasing strength and pours its fullness into the pe- 
 riodic sentence. The soul could allow no arrest. When 
 such a sentence is not forced it gives grandeur to the 
 composition and weight to the purpose. This in his 
 highest moods was illustrated by Dr. Durbin. 
 
 According to Longinus, "the sublime is an image re- 
 flected from the inward greatness of the soul." Ad- 
 dison says, "The sublime is from the nobleness of the 
 thoughts, the magnificence of the words, or the harmo- 
 nious and lively turn of the phrase." Composition, 
 
254 
 
 JOHN P. DORBIX. 
 
 therefore, that expresses exalted conceptions, profound 
 moral yearnings, and unyielding purpose to achieve all 
 that the good of the sinner and the glory of God de- 
 mand—a composition that is alike the offspring of a 
 burning brain and of a melting heart — must be an 
 " image reflected from the inward greatness of the 
 soul." It is the soul shining on the intellect; the soul 
 speaking from the glowing tongue; the soul subduing 
 all to itself. In the moral world intensity is an essen- 
 tial condition of sublimity. The soul in ecstasy or in 
 agony may exhibit the sublime. When the speaker 
 feels as nearly as may be the full force of divine veri- 
 ties sentences assume the greatest strength, and may 
 fairly break under the weight of the thought they are 
 intended to convey, and exclamation takes their place. 
 Did not Thomas feel this pressure when he exclaimed, 
 " My Lord and my God ! " 
 
 The real Durbin never appeared till he reached such 
 eminence. Here his step was quick and firm and un- 
 erring ; here he was' at home ; here he reveled, and 
 thence descended with a dignity equal to the strength 
 with which he rose. In his style there was great contrast. 
 In the first, or plain, he talked and taught. In the sec- 
 ond, or animated, he interested and pleased. In the 
 third, or sublime, he seized, held, and made captive. 
 
 While in the first there were those who could have 
 left without the sense of loss, in the second the same 
 persons would have resisted an argument to go; but in 
 the third it was impossible to make them stir. They 
 who at the beginning were indifferent became charmed; 
 those who were interested are now in transport. Now 
 the pulpit is the only power. Time is nothing but as 
 it allows the hearer to drink in the word and imbibe 
 the spirit of the speaker. As in the seven prismatic 
 colors we have all the diversity of light and shade — 
 
HIS STYLE. 
 
 255 
 
 every tinge and tint in nature and in art — so in these 
 three styles we have the force, the finish, and the fire of 
 the mightiest orator. As in the combination of the 
 twenty-six letters of our alphabet we form all the 
 words of the lexicon, and from these present the law 
 of Sinai, the utterances of Pentecost, and the Sermon 
 of our Lord, so from these three styles we have all the 
 wealth of literature, whether sacred or profane. 
 
 The foundation of appropriate style is sound sense. 
 Intelligence measures thought. Judgment weighs 
 words. Skill adapts one to the other. Dr. Durbin's style 
 had perspicuity and precision, beauty and elevation, 
 variety and force. May we not assume for style as for 
 eloquence what the philosopher says of matter : " It is 
 capable of receiving all manner of forms?" 
 
 In Durbin there was no dead level. Now it might be 
 close and exact, as he was calm ; if he were vehement, 
 copious and diffuse. His words expressed beauty of 
 conception, breadth of knowledge, intensity of spirit, 
 and grandeur of thought. He understood "how forci- 
 ble are right words." He knew that they may carry 
 frost or fire; that they may congeal or melt; that they 
 may paralyze or electrify. He had seen words fall like 
 snow-flakes or as the crushing aerolite. Though not 
 lavish with language there was no paucity. He had all 
 that rhetoric asks or eloquence demands. He had a 
 word for every thought, and a thought for every emo- 
 tion. He could address himself to every case and ques- 
 tion, and with style suitable to each. He could be as 
 simple, direct, and home-like as condition required. 
 He knew the pangs of penitence, and how to describe 
 them; the joy of pardon, and in what way to express 
 it. He made faith easy and holiness a ready attain- 
 ment, and all in language that a wayfaring man would 
 understand and approve. With what vivid colors did 
 
256 
 
 JOHN P. BUR BIN. 
 
 he show the dying sinner ! Who ever presented the 
 departing Christian in words better calculated to induce 
 every man to say, "Let me die the death of the right- 
 eous ? " 
 
 There was sublimity in his simplicity, for it set forth 
 great facts. There was simplicity in his sublimity, as 
 all was natural and just. 
 
 The last century gave to English literature two men, 
 Samuel Johnson and Joseph Addison. They were 
 princes in their places. Johnson's style has made that 
 of many. It has fullness and grandeur. Addison's 
 taste has told on others, who have assimilated to his 
 style. It has purity and precision. Each of these great 
 writers has had his critics; both have their merits un- 
 impaired. Fashion is found in language as in dress. 
 Time modifies estimates. In Bascom there was more 
 of Johnson than of Addison : in Durbin, Addison pre- 
 dominated; but as a rhetorician he knew all styles and 
 could command any. He adopted for the time that 
 which best suited his purpose, but believed, with Seneca, 
 that " fit words are better than fine ones." But the 
 man dwelt in his style as " Uriel in the sun." 
 
DRAMATIC POWER, VOICE, UNCTION. 251 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Imagination, Dramatic Power, Voice, Unction. 
 
 IX an analysis of Dr. Durbin as a sacred orator we 
 must consider the influence of his imagination, his 
 dramatic power, his voice, and the divine unction. 
 
 In popular and powerful address we may uniformly 
 trace the influence of imagination. The discourse in 
 which it predominates is wanting in moral weight, but 
 the orator can neither doubt nor decline its advantages. 
 A disordered imagination harms by its fantastic exhibi- 
 tions; but a sound one elevates thought, imparts inter- 
 est, and impresses truth. Logic is necessary for order 
 and conviction. For instruction didactic speech is an 
 imperative demand. Familiar narrative, facts of his- 
 tory, and principles of science afford lessons of wisdom. 
 But imagination is like an added sense — a sense indeed 
 comprehending in its use the other senses, but in its ac- 
 tion transcending them all. It is based on observation, 
 improved by culture and constrained by emotion. It 
 takes in more than the eye hath seen, or the ear hath 
 heard, or the hand hath handled. It combines and cre- 
 ates; it 
 
 " Bodies forth 
 Tlie form of tilings unknown." 
 
 The orator, like the poet, sees the possible as well as the 
 certain. The most logical and majestic minds give force 
 to their reasonings and sublimity to their conceptions 
 by the use of this faculty. "Without it a speaker may 
 argue with clearness; may communicate knowledge of 
 18 
 
258 
 
 JOHN P. DURB1N. 
 
 great value; may present conclusions that none can dis- 
 pute ; may obtain the reputation of a strong thinker 
 and profound divine; and in some departments of study 
 there may be no need of imagination. Science gives 
 demonstrations. But the pulpit appeals to every sus- 
 ceptibility of man by every faculty and force at the 
 preacher's command. It may sometimes be justly as- 
 serted that there is too much imagination in the sermon. 
 It may likewise be said with equal truth there is too 
 much reasoning. It is needless when things are self- 
 evident. There is too much show of exposition; that 
 which by a few words is made clear by many becomes 
 cloudy. 
 
 There are those who speak of the preacher of imag- 
 ination as if this were his only faculty. Was it so with 
 Latimer, with Jeremy Taylor, with Henry Melville ? 
 Do we associate great imagination with a little mind ? 
 Do not the ablest thinkers often appear to greatest ad- 
 vantage, and make the profoundest impression, when 
 imagination asserts its power? Milton is immortal in 
 his works of imagination. But was he not one of the 
 strongest prose writers of his age? The fathers of the 
 Revolution were not men of small intellect. But in 
 the most powerful words they uttered we see their 
 imagination. James Otis exclaims, "England may as 
 well dam up the waters of the Nile with bulrushes as 
 fetter the steps of freedom, more proud and firm in 
 this youthful land than when she treads the sequestered 
 glens of Scotland or couches herself among the mag- 
 nificent mountains of Switzerland. 1 ' 
 
 Not less does Patrick Henry command us when he 
 declares, " Our chains are forged; their clanking may be 
 heard on the plains of Boston." And, when love of the 
 whole country prompted the reply of Webster to Hayne 
 iu the American Congress — words that will be our 
 
DRAMATIC POWER, VOICE, UNCTION. 
 
 259 
 
 glory while the republic lasts — the words of the consti- 
 tutional lawyer, of the mighty statesman, the words 
 that childhood will be taught to recite for coming gen- 
 erations and that maturity and patriotism will not cease 
 to reproduce, were the utterances compelled by a naming 
 imagination. Weighty as were the principles he laid 
 down, solid as was his reasoning, it was the climax of 
 power in his speech as he s.iid: 
 
 When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last 
 time the sun in heaven may I not see him shining on 
 broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious 
 union; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on 
 a land rent with civil tends, or drenched, it may be, in 
 fraternal blood ! Let their last feeble and lingering 
 glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, 
 now known and honored throughout the earth, still full 
 high advanced, its anus and trophies streaming in their 
 original luster, not a stripe erased or polluted nor a sin- 
 gle star obscured, bearing for its motto no such raiser- 
 able interrogatory as, " What is all this worth ? " nor 
 those other words of delusion and folly, "Liberty first 
 and union afterward;" but every- where, spread all 
 over in characters of living light, blazing on all its am- 
 ple folds as they float over the sea and over the land 
 and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other 
 sentiment, dear to every true American heart, " Liberty 
 and union, now and ever, one and inseparable." 
 
 But nowhere do we more clearly see the use and 
 power of this faculty than in the " lively oracles." To 
 what part of nature do they not appeal ? The floods " lift 
 up their voice." Bel "bows." Nebo " stoops." "The 
 mountains and the hills break forth into singing, and all 
 the trees of the field clap their hands." The desert 
 blossoms as the rose, and instead of the thorn comes up 
 the fir-tree. Of the sinner God says, " The heavens 
 shall reveal his iniquities and the earth shall rise up 
 against him." How does imagination influence the ex- 
 
2G0 
 
 JO UN P. D UHBIN. 
 
 pression of Isaiah when writing of the proud monarch 
 of Babylon, who was about to follow aud meet the 
 kings and oppressors that had gone before him ? He 
 says: "Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet 
 thee at thy coming. It stirreth up the dead for thee, 
 even all the chief ones of the earth: it hath raised 
 from their thrones all the kings of the nations." And 
 the Son of God makes the climax of his didactic teach- 
 ing in his Sermon on the Mount in a picture of the im- 
 agination from two builders: "Whoso heareth these 
 savings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto 
 a wise man, which built his house upon a rock; and the 
 rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, 
 and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was 
 founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these 
 sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened 
 unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 
 and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the 
 winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell : and 
 great was the fall of it." How else could this lesson be 
 so impressed ? How could the incaution, the recklessness, 
 and the ruin of the soul be more forcibly shown? 
 
 We can hardly conceive of the sacred orator whose 
 mind and heart are properly influenced by the great 
 realities of religion, and that has some realization of 
 the powers of the world to come, without such emotion 
 as kindles imagination and constrains the figures that 
 most forcibly convey the absorbing and overwhelming 
 thought of the speaker. 
 
 David Hume, judging of the eloquence of the an- 
 cients by " the noble remains and the few strokes "that 
 have come down to us, concludes they are infinitely 
 more sublime than English orators. As proof of this he 
 refers to the "noble apostrophe of Demosthenes," so 
 much celebrated by Quintilian and Longinus, when, 
 
DRAMATIC POWER, VOICE, UNCTION. 261 
 
 justifying the unsuccessful battle of Chaeronea, he breaks 
 out, "No, my fellow-citizens, no; you have not erred. 
 I swear by the names of the heroes who fought for the 
 same cause in the plains of Marathon and Platea." 
 Hume exclaims, " What noble art and sublime talents 
 are requisite to arrive by just degrees at a sentiment so 
 bold and influential." For this he thinks the English 
 too cold. {Moral, Political, and Literary Essays, i. 1 10.) 
 
 But does this apostrophe transcend St. Paul when he 
 would inspire moral heroism in Christians of his day? 
 He shows the victors of faith in Hebrews xi and xii. 
 There is Abel, the first martyr; Enoch, the translated; 
 Noah, saved from the flood; Abraham, ready to offer his 
 Isaac; Moses, forsaking the grandeur and prospects of 
 an Eastern court to suffer affliction with the people of 
 God; David, Samuel, the prophets, and other mighty 
 men, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought 
 righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of 
 lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of 
 the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed 
 valiant in tight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens; 
 women received their dead raised to life again, and 
 others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that 
 they might obtain a better resurrection. Did Demos- 
 thenes rise higher? What is there in vision that the 
 apostle did not command ? He lifts the curtain between 
 two worlds and shows the cloud of witnesses, the race 
 set before the Christian, and Jesus the inspiration and 
 the Judge. 
 
 What a prize! What an assemblage ! Seers, patri- 
 archs, prophets — the good of all the past — looking from 
 the heights of celestial happiness, as if incapable of per- 
 fect repose until the struggling saints are crowned. Is 
 the Grecian orator grander than the apostle of the 
 Gentiles? And shall the successors of Paul— men of 
 
262 
 
 JOHN P. DUEBLV. 
 
 the same calling, conviction, spirit — shall God's minis- 
 ters, in the fire of their zeal, in the subduing tenderness 
 of their commission, be too cold for apostrophe or vision ? 
 
 Dr. Durbin had an imperial imagination, and when 
 he gave it the exercise it asked, nature and revelation, 
 every thing within the domain of thought, contributed 
 to its influence. It availed itself of objects of beauty, 
 novelty, and grandeur. It re-peopled the past, opened 
 the future, made the distant present and the difficult 
 easy. It verified and vivified its possessions and its own 
 creations. There were times when the boldest figures 
 seemed as real in what they embodied as the pulpit where 
 the preacher stood or the people whom he addressed. 
 Then imagination made the intellectual canopy shine 
 with the stars that his genius kindled and that his ardor 
 intensified. 
 
 Reason has been called " the master of the mind." 
 Imagination, by like authority, has been pronounced the 
 mistress of the intellect. The same has been said of the 
 powers and pleasures of the imagination that Plato de- 
 clared of the soul: that they are "like the harmony of 
 the harp — invisible, material and divine." 
 
 In imagination Dr. Durbin saw the things he showed, 
 and showed them as he saw them. Who even now fails 
 to see Sinai as he showed it when he declared, " I have 
 stood on the lightning-scarred rocks ?" He said, " If I 
 speak of a horse I see him; " and he did see him in form 
 and strength. It might he the war-horse of Job, his neck 
 clothed with thunder, his nostrils terrible, pawing in the 
 valley, going on to meet the armed men, turning not back 
 from the sword, heeding not the quiver rattling against 
 him, nor the glittering spear and shield, swallowing the 
 ground with fierceness and rage, smelling the battle afar 
 off — the thunder of the captains and the shouting. When 
 he spoke of the tabernacle in the wilderness, or the tern- 
 
DRAMATIC POWER, VOICE, UXCTIOX. 
 
 263 
 
 pie at Jerusalem, each appeared in its size, material, 
 adornments, sacred emblems, and use. He made us see 
 the person, tlie dress, the service of the high-priest, as 
 compared to the appearance and functions of the great 
 high-priest of our profession. The ark of the covenant 
 stood before us, and there was the nnrcy-seat and the 
 cherubim, and we learned much of the sliekinah. For 
 a time we were in the holy place of the tabernacle of 
 the Most High, "beholding the glory that excelleth." 
 
 He did not make drawings on the " blackboard," but 
 he did on the brain, and they were with intellectual 
 material that time itself can hardly efface. What a 
 moral spell bound the people as he showed the signifi- 
 cance of the words, " See that thou make all things ac- 
 cording to the pattern showed to thee in the mount." 
 How imperative did he make the demand! How need- 
 ful the conformity urged ! It meant moral accuracy, 
 divine resemblance, and in ourselves scriptural holiness. 
 When he spoke of "the signs of the times" they were 
 easily traced in states, in sovereigns, and in circum- 
 stance. It was as the "lightning coming out of the east 
 and shining to the west." It was a blaze across the 
 whole canopy. It was lightning, and nothing less. The 
 signs signified that God was in them as really as shadow 
 proves a substance. Not more truly did the Almighty 
 direct the moon when it stood still in the valley ot 
 Ajalon, or the sun when it went back on the dial of 
 Ahaz, than he showed the cloud in which were "showers 
 of blessings" for the mission held that constrained the 
 solicitude of Dr. Durbin. 
 
 In his graphic presentation of the fall of man we 
 could see " the living temple " in moral ruins. The 
 stately columns of holiness and happiness were thrown 
 down. Decay had climbed over the walls and " abode 
 within its confines." Amid the dilapidation that Isaiah 
 
264 
 
 JOHN P. DURBW. 
 
 describes there were the " cormorant, the bittern, the 
 owl, and the raven," with "the satyr crying to his fellow, 
 and the beasts of the desert meeting with the wild 
 beasts of the island." Dr. Uurbin showed this ruined 
 temple filled with unclean spirits; yet triumphantly he 
 assured us that the "Holy One of Israel " will " build 
 the temple and bear the glory." It rose before us " pol- 
 ished after the similitude of a palace," and "all glori- 
 ous within." It stood in strength, it towered in maj- 
 esty. Its dome pierced the heavens, and its open door 
 invited from the four quarters of the globe. The pil- 
 lars that sustained it could not be prostrated by the 
 convulsions of nature or impaired by the innovations 
 of time. Into this temple he entered with reverent 
 step and careful survey. He approached its altar, felt 
 its lire, and flamed with the invitation for all to enter 
 it and be saved. 
 
 The imagination of Dr. Durbin was equal to his men- 
 tal demand. Whether in thought he ascended the 
 mountains or descended the vale; beheld the ocean in 
 its sublimity or the heavens in their grandeur ; whether 
 he pointed to paradise in its bloom or in its blight ; a 
 deluged world or the flaming cities of the plain ; 
 whether he looked upon Jerusalem as the city of the 
 great King, or without one stone left upon another ; 
 Avhether he spoke of the "great white throne" or the 
 "Lord Jesus revealed from heaven with his mighty 
 angels in flaming fire taking vengeance upon them 
 that know not God," or the Almighty gathering his 
 saints for eternal recompense, he had a verbal afflu- 
 ence that conveyed his thought, and a judgment that 
 kept this faculty within proper bounds and secured the 
 desired result. 
 
 Closely associated with imagination in its highest ef- 
 forts was an element that few command and none may 
 
DRAMATIC POWER, VOICE, UXCTION. 265 
 
 often indulge. It was the dramatic power. A manifest 
 attempt at this in the pulpit uniformly displeases and 
 sometimes disgusts. Even gesture, when forced, offends. 
 Aim at the dramatic may appear in "the start theatric," 
 and an affectation that awakens indignation. The dra- 
 matic that is not in harmony with gravity and warmth 
 is justly distasteful. It is a power only as the offspring 
 of the occasion, as the exhibition of deep emotion and 
 self-forgetting earnestness. It comes unsought, like 
 proper gesture. It can be good only as itistiueto 
 the soul. But when a burning heart, with all the 
 powers of the intellect, can so project itself, and nothing 
 is seen but the force that impels, no one may describe 
 the result. Tully speaks of an orator who tore open 
 the bosom of his client to show the wounds he had 
 received for the republic. Patrick Henry dropped on 
 his kiiees at the bar of the House of Delegates when 
 pleading for others with a power that was said to be 
 "enough to soften rocks and bend the knotted oak." 
 
 Time would fad us to tell of this dramatic power as 
 seen in the ministry of the logical Ezekiel Cooper, the 
 eloquent John Strange, and of the magnetic George 6. 
 Cookman. 
 
 The Rev. J. O. Roberts, of Kansas, wri es: "Mr. 
 Durbin, when a young man, preaching at a camp-meet- 
 ing on the ' Godhead of Christ ' was so carried away 
 with his theme that as he quoted, 'This is the true God 
 and eternal life,' as only John Durbin could say it, 
 exclaimed, ' If you deny it take the whole Bible from 
 me.' At the same moment a small Bible flew from his 
 hand into the congregation and fell just at the feet of 
 an unbeliever in the deity of Christ." He says the 
 effect was tremendous. We are sure that this would 
 be a very unsafe thing for any man unless it might be 
 considered involuntary. Dr. Durbin was too much of 
 
JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 a thinker, and too close an observer of facts, not to 
 know what folly prompts and what wisdom and the 
 occasion permit and constrain. 
 
 The Rev. J. H. Hargis, D.D., writes: "The Hon. 
 Willard Saulsbury, formerly member of the United 
 States Senate, now chancellor of Delaware, was a stu- 
 dent under Dr. Durbin at Dickinson. A score or more 
 years thereafter to a young Dickinsonian Mr. Saulsbury 
 told of the vividness with which President Durbin, in 
 the pulpit of the old Methodist church in Carlisle, once 
 set forth the unprofitable servant taken and cast into 
 outer darkness. Said the Senator, 'So vivid was the 
 scene depicted by Durbin as he suited the action to the 
 word that I saw the fellow fall, and heard him when 
 he dropped.' " 
 
 The writer is indebted to the Rev. Joseph Longking 
 for an illustration of this power in Dr. Durbin's first 
 labors in the East. It was at an anniversary of the 
 Sunday-School Society, held in Forsyth Street Method- 
 ist Episcopal Church. Mr. Maffit had delivered a 
 characteristic speech. Durbin followed. When well 
 warmed with 1) is subject he referred to the case of the 
 young woman who was the Sunday-school teacher of 
 the afterward world-famed Morrison, the translator of 
 the Scriptures into the principal Chinese dialect. As 
 he figured that young lad and his female teacher he 
 spoke of the deep, quiet, unperceived, but not unfelt 
 influence she had exerted on that young mind. Warm- 
 ing still more with his theme, he exclaimed, "She did not 
 know what a lion of God site was training! His mane 
 had not yet grown, his paws had not yet put on their 
 strength, nor his claws their mighty grip." Then draw- 
 ing himself into a crouching attitude he suddenly 
 sprang forward, as might a lion in seizing his prey, and, 
 grasping the Bible, and holding it aloft, exclaimed, 
 
DRAMATIC POWER, VOICE, UNCTION. 267 
 
 " So he, Morrison, raised a nation unto God!'''' The 
 effect was wonderful. Some shouted hallelujah ; some 
 clapped their hands ; some wept aloud, and others tried 
 in vain to restrain their sobs. Dr. Longking adds, "I 
 have seen congregations greatly moved . . . but never 
 did I see another congregation so carried away as was 
 that of Forsyth Street that evening by Dr. Durbin." 
 A striking illustration of this dramatic power is given 
 in the letter of Dr. Tiffany. 
 
 In " Men and Measures of Half a. Century, by Hugh 
 McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury in the adminis- 
 trations of Presidents Lincoln, Johnson, and Arthur," 
 that distinguished author speaks of Durbin as a man 
 of not only large literary but scientific attainments, and 
 says : " I was much impressed by one of Dr. Durbin's ser- 
 mons from the text, ' We are fearfully and wonderfully 
 made;' in which he presented, in a manner which would 
 have done honor to one who had made the human form 
 a lifedong study, an argument in favor of divine creat- 
 ive power as illustrated in man's physical mechanism. 
 One who listened to that sermon said to me that as 
 Mr. Durbin, with a finger of his right hand upon his 
 left wrist, described the regular but intermittent flow 
 of blood through the system by the action of the heart, 
 he could feel the beating of his own heart as though 
 he had within him a steam-engine." 
 
 But in any analysis of Dr. Durbin's eloquence his 
 voice demands particular notice. According to Cicero, 
 in effective as well as in pleasing delivery the voice 
 " holds the highest place." Payson thought that it is 
 half the pulpit. With some it is more than half. Emer- 
 son says of the voice, "It sometimes of itself enchains 
 attention, and indicates rare sensibility; that the voice, 
 like the face, betrays the nature and disposition, and 
 soon indicates the range of the speaker's mind." He 
 
26S 
 
 JOHN P. DURB1N. 
 
 quotes one as saying, "he learns from the first tones of 
 his voice on Sunday morning whether he is to have 
 a successful day." A feehle, harsh, strained, or nasal 
 voice is a great hindrance to a speaker. This presents 
 one of the weightiest reasons for its cultivation. From 
 failure of the voice of Dr. Durbin in his earliest minis- 
 try the work of his life seemed brought to a close ; 
 but by care and proper use it was restored and strength- 
 ened. It had compass necessary to the greatest occa- 
 sions and grandest themes. When he rose to speak it 
 seemed to lack body, but it was clear, and audible to a 
 large assembly. With advancing thought, and under 
 the influence of the listening multitude, it acquired 
 swell and fullness. The quality of his voice can hardly 
 be described. We may more easily convey an idea of 
 what it was not than what it was. At the beginning 
 it had no oily smoothness ; but it was not uncouth 
 or disagreeable. If it did not awaken interest it did 
 not hinder effect. In pitch, in loudness, in modula- 
 tion, he was its master. Physical and psychological 
 causes sometimes told on its exercise. 
 
 Its expression was more than its compass and quality. 
 Of the power of the voice to awaken emotions corre- 
 sponding to those we feel we have only to consider facts. 
 How are we affected by the cry of "Fire," of "Mur- 
 der " ? The one creates alarm, the other horror. The 
 result is according to the utterance, and this agrees with 
 the emotion. There is a contrast between the feelings 
 awakened by the exclamations Hallelujah and Rabboni. 
 The one expresses ecstasy, the other awe. The voice 
 may be cheerful or pathetic, may start a tear or heal 
 an aching heart. At one time it may be like the 
 sound of the bugle to the war-horse that rushes to bat- 
 tle, at another time like the piping of the highland 
 shepherd when the flock gather about him as charmed 
 
DRAMATIC POWER, VOICE, UNCTION. 
 
 269 
 
 by the music. He knew this cultivation of the voice in 
 song ami in the artist. If it is capable of any thing that 
 Dr. Durbin did not understand we are unable to name 
 it. It was trained for all parts of a discourse — the 
 didactic, the expository, the narrative, for illustration, 
 or for climax. This was seen in his addresses for mis- 
 sions as well as in preaching the Word. In a moment 
 he could kindle a fire or extinguish a flame. In his ad- 
 dress he was much accustomed to the rising inflection, 
 which seems more spirited and intimate, while the fall- 
 in- inflection is more suggestive of the dogmatic and 
 authoritative. 
 
 A teacher of the art of speaking has given three 
 voices, that he severally distinguishes as the English, 
 Roman, and Attic. The English is that employed in 
 conversation and in good reading. This we may see 
 in the sermons of Robert Robinson, and, from his feeble 
 health, in John Summerfield. This makes the colloquial 
 preacher. 
 
 The Roman voice is full, round, commanding. This 
 we may assume was the voice of Otis when, in disdain 
 of oppression, he said, "Arbitrary principles, like those 
 against w hich we now contend, have cost one king of 
 England his life, another his crown, and they may cost 
 a third his most flourishing colonies." In this voice 
 Bascom delivered his entire sermon. 
 
 The Attic is of greater compass and intensity. Such 
 we may suppose was the voice of Patrick Henry when 
 he uttered the memorable words, " There is no longer 
 any room for hope. . . . We must fight ! I repeat it, 
 sir, we must fight ! An appeal to arms and to the God 
 of hosts is all that is left us. The war is inevitable, and 
 let it come ! I repeat, sir, let it come ! " 
 
 Daniel Webster was excellent in the English, was 
 grand in the Roman, but when passion carried him to 
 
270 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 the Attic, as it was apt to do in great subjects, his voice 
 broke and the effect was unequal. Dr. Durbin began in 
 the English, advanced to the Roman, culminated in the 
 Attic. He was easy and familiar in the English. He was 
 noble and commanding in the Roman ; but in his grand- 
 est thoughts and sublimest utterances, when most of the 
 dramatic element came out, it was in the Attic voice. 
 Here it revealed its wondrous power ; here was the man 
 in the intellect, utterance, attitude, gesture, voice, 
 emotion. Here was each in its fullness. Now was seen 
 his peerless eloquence. But when the voice was under 
 the highest pressure it showed no strain to impair either 
 its flexibility or smoothness. It could shoot out like 
 light to dispel doubt, or explode like a shell to accom- 
 plish its design; but, unlike the shell, it did its work with- 
 out destroying its own integrity. A United States 
 Senator from Virginia, years after the chaplaincy of 
 Dr. Durbin, declared that he never heard a voice that 
 so affected him, and that he could never forget its tones. 
 
 But more than imagination, dramatic power, or the 
 voice was the unction of the Holy One in the ministry 
 of Dr. Durbin. 
 
 No one familiar with the preaching of our fathers in 
 Methodism can have failed to observe the prominence 
 given to the work of the Spirit in awakening, convert- 
 ing, and sanctifying the soul. If it be inquired, What 
 has been the one thought that has filled the mind of the 
 minister? it is this: " Without me ye can do nothing." 
 
 That which distinguished our early preachers was 
 not mental idiosyncrasy, new theological beliefs, nor 
 physical force, whether judged by voice or gesture or 
 forms of labor. They could not, as a rule, chum the pro- 
 found learning of the schools. They were not remark- 
 able for the exhaustive treatment of their subjects ; but 
 whether they sang, or prayed, or exhorted, or preached — 
 
DRAMATIC POWER, VOICE, UXCTIOX. 271 
 
 whether they met in class, or formed a " band," or held 
 a love-feast — their perpetual thought was, " It is the 
 Spirit that quickeneth." The books they read, the 
 letters they wrote, the conversations that they delighted 
 to hold were eminently spiritual. In their conversion 
 they claimed that the " Spirit bore witness with their 
 spirit that they were born of God." In many cases, if 
 they were not spiritual they were nothing. The confi- 
 dence of the pulpit was in the Spirit to secure the 
 highest success. This awoke the faculties, inspired the 
 purpose, prompted the language, and compelled the no- 
 blest utterances of the man. The heart spoke, the tears 
 flowed, and the joy that thrilled them animated others. 
 The careless and the rebellious were subdued. As on 
 Pentecost, the people were amazed, marveled, and 
 said, "Whence this work?" The spirit in Meth- 
 odism seemed to be turning the world upside down. 
 Society showed the influence in the vices thai were 
 abandoned and in the moral purity that took their 
 place. It was such sensational preaching as the Church 
 might justly honor. This is a present need. 
 
 In many a minister's discourses we may have the best 
 evidence of a richly endowed intellect, of a finely culti- 
 vated mind, of a memory stored with choicest liter- 
 ature ; there may be a faultless style, a polished elocu- 
 tion, and rare homiletic skill. In Christian apologetics, 
 ami in surveying and sustaining the outworks of Chris- 
 tianity, they certainly are able and may be popular 
 men. Yet while they have the symmetry of form there 
 may also be the coldness and the dcadness of the 
 corpse. He who vitalizes must himself be vital. 
 
 To our fathers, rhetoric, logic, elocution, even expo- 
 sition, were only the stepping-stones to something 
 higher. Where, as a ride, other ministers left off they 
 did execution. Then they took firmer hold and obtained 
 
JOHN P. D URB1N. 
 
 a closer grasp. When they had put the subject before 
 the mind they tried to get it into the heart, and felt 
 that nothing was done till the citadel gave away under 
 the heaviest lire. It was as if, in the language of John 
 Fletcher, " they would storm perdition and take the 
 heavenly Jerusalem by force." 
 
 But Dr. Durbin looked to a period beyond, when an 
 apostle spoke and said, " Paul may plant and Apollos 
 water, but God must give the increase." This was set- 
 ting truth in the strongest light. If they could not 
 succeed without the Spirit, who can ? " Who then is 
 Paul?" He was a man of power. His mind had 
 acuteness, compass, and vigor; his taste and tact and 
 teachings showed superior judgment, and there was no 
 want of imagination. He knew how to influence men 
 by courtesy and charity. His heart was not inferior 
 to his head, and with God as supreme in his affections 
 he had himself under good control. He possessed great 
 skill in reasoning, and could kindle a fire in his logic 
 that consumed "the wood and hay and stubble" of 
 false leaders. The intellectual Anakim of his day 
 quailed before him. 
 
 In delivering sermons, directing councils, writing 
 epistles, in all the work of an itinerant preacher was he 
 not peerless? Who would not have such a minister as 
 Paul? Would we not study his matter, commend his 
 methods, admire his manner, and invoke his influence? 
 Would he not fill our churches, rouse our members, 
 convince our skeptics, revolutionize community, save 
 men ? Would we not bring the frigid that the fire of 
 his zeal might warm them? Would we not seek the 
 chronic complainers, that he might effect their cure? 
 Would we not be ready to do as they did in his days, 
 "bring the sick in beds and couches, that the shadow 
 of an apostle might fall on them ?" Grand man that 
 
DRAMATIC POWER, VOICE, UNCTION. 273 
 
 he was ? When Cowper would describe the "faithful 
 preacher " it was " such as Paul." Yet what says 
 Paul? "God must give the increase " of convictions, 
 the " increase " of conversions; the " increase" of holi- 
 ness is of God. 
 
 Besides this he says, " A polios may water; " hut then, 
 too, " God must give the increase." In spiritual hus- 
 bandry watering is as necessary to fruitf ulness as plant- 
 ing. Apollos had high claim. He was an eloquent man 
 and mighty in the Scriptures. That which the Bible 
 emphasizes deserves special notice. He mightily con- 
 vinced the Jews, publicly showing by the Scriptures 
 that Jesus is the Christ. He stood in the radiance of 
 celestial truth, and it shone all around him. Yet who 
 is Paul, or who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye 
 received the word? Good in their place, and they were 
 faithful to do their part. 
 
 Paul could plant in any soil. Apollos could water as 
 the diffusive dew, as the gentle rain, or as the heavy 
 shower. Yet clearly they saw, profoundly they felt, 
 and candidly they confessed they could not give the 
 " increase." The very thing for which they labored 
 they could not give. "Increase" is the only thing that 
 the farmer wants. It is the great thing for which the 
 minister sows beside all waters, and for want of 
 which his head may become a " fountain of tears." 
 
 The fact remains. The preacher may excel in word- 
 painting, attract by voice, by matter and by manner — 
 may have the commendation that the intelligent and 
 influential bestow, and yet find the painful lack ; the 
 "souls for whom Christ died are not saved." 
 
 It is related of Narni, an Italian bishop, that he so 
 preached to the people that as they walked the streets 
 they exclaimed, " Lord, have mercy ! " In one week 200 
 crowns were spent to buy ropes for self-invented pen- 
 19 
 
274 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 ance. When he preached before the pope, cardinals, 
 and priests he so represented the evils of non-residence 
 that forty of them went back to their cures. When in 
 the pulpit of the University of Salamanca he induced 
 eight hundred students to renounce the pleasures and 
 honors of the world and betake themselves to different 
 monasteries. But after all this the priests and the 
 people went on as before, and Narni left the pulpit in 
 despair. Why was this? It was the power of human 
 eloquence without the proper presence and power of the 
 Spirit. Without this an angel cleaving the heavens 
 could not accomplish salvation. 
 
 It forever stands : " Without Me ye can do nothing." 
 
 John P. Durbin began and continued his ministry 
 with the motto, worthy of the most ardent Methodism, 
 that it is the " unction that makes the minister." This 
 he sought with deepest solicitude. This he would illus- 
 trate in all his efforts to save the sinner and to bless 
 the Church. In that Spirit was his highest hope and 
 noblest triumph. He well knew that when rhetoric, 
 logic, and eloquence had achieved their greatest results 
 there remained the absolute necessity for the Spirit to 
 take of the things of God and show them to those 
 whom he sought to persuade. His divine resource was 
 in the presence and efficiency of that Spirit that brings 
 heavenly beauty and order out of the wreck of our 
 moral nature. Amid the multiplied temptations of the 
 minister to repose on human attainments and skill it 
 must stand before him as the utterance of infinite wis- 
 dom, and therefore as an indisputable fact, "Without 
 Me ye can do nothing." 
 
 How far the " unction of the Spirit" gave power to 
 Dr. Durbin's ministry may be judged by the influence 
 that rested upon him at times in public supplication. 
 
 Joseph Longking, D.D., told the writer of the first 
 
DRAMATIC POWER, VOICE, UXCTIOX. 275 
 
 prayer he heard John P. Durbin offer. It was in 
 John Street. When lie began he was slow and con- 
 versational. There was nothing to impress with favor 
 except that it was reverent and sensible. But in a 
 little time he seemed to be drawing very near to God ; 
 then he warmed ; then the people warmed ; then he 
 glowed; then the people took fire; then he seemed to 
 be talking to God, as if he was with him, face to face 
 in tlie pulpit. So profoundly was Mr. Longking stirred 
 and so filled was lie with wonder that he involuntarily 
 rose from his knees and looked at the man in audience 
 with Deity as he had never realized with any man 
 before or since. Other instances of his amazing power 
 are presented in letters furnished in this volume. He 
 had no respect to length, or loudness, or any thing but 
 for those who awoke his solicitude. For a time these 
 prayers awed and then whelmed the people. A moral 
 earthquake is a tremendous thing to associate with col- 
 lege life in the efforts of the president in prayer. 
 But when Dr. Durbin bent under the burden of souls 
 it was as if the heavens bowed and the earth shook. 
 After such seasons his physical energies required days 
 for repair. 
 
 Dr. Durbin, Avhen he felt the unction of the Holy One, 
 had a nature so responsive to that power as to reveal 
 and awaken deep emotion. They who consider emotion 
 out of place in religion conceive quite as much as intel- 
 ligence will permit. In what realm of thought, in 
 what sphere of action, under what circumstances of our 
 being is our emotional nature forbidden flue exercise? 
 Is it when gladness thrills? When apprehension tort- 
 ures ? When the irreparable loss is sustained ? May 
 the sorrowing never say, "Lover and friend hast thou 
 put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness?" 
 In the domestic circle may not joy make the eye 
 
276 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 sparkle or bereavement cause the head to bow ? Then, 
 verily, stoicism is an exalted virtue. 
 
 There are times when emotion is wisely repressed; 
 when we may restrain the tear, forbid the look, dis- 
 courage the action. No one knew this better than 
 Dr. Durbin. But may it never be indulged? Is it 
 always out of place? Is it, when the soldier leaves 
 his family to go to war? Is it, when the prodigal 
 comes home ? Is it, when victory returns to its scabbard 
 the sword that neccessity drew and that patriotism 
 wielded? Who are they who are strangers to the ex- 
 hibition of emotion? Why do angels rejoice when a 
 sinner repents ? Why does the Father of mercies say, 
 " My bowels are pained within me, my repentings are 
 kindled together?" An emotionless intelligence, where 
 is it ? In heaven ? No ! The shout of their triumph is 
 as "the sound of many waters." Is it in hell? No! 
 There they weep, and wail, and gnash their teeth. 
 And shall ministers sent to warn men *' that they come 
 not into the place of torment," and when they " know 
 not what a day will bring forth," shall preachers be cold ? 
 Who will assert that the great Teacher was emotionless ? 
 Why then did he say, " Fear him who is able to destroy 
 both soul and body in hell?" Is fear emotionless? 
 Why then did the knees of Belshazzar "smite one 
 against the other?" and, under the ministry of Paul, 
 why did Felix tremble? Is love emotionless? Then 
 explain the tears of Jesus at Jerusalem. 
 
 This unction that rested upon Dr. Durbin spoke in 
 melting pathos. This was sometimes the very soul 
 of his sermon ; but love was the soul of his pathos. 
 Ganganelli says, "The preacher is to scatter the oint- 
 ment of grace while he diffuses the light of truth." 
 Fenelon declares of Chrysostom, "He entered into the 
 hearts of his hearers." One has said, when speaking 
 
DRAMATIC POWER, VOICE, UXCTION. 
 
 211 
 
 of sculpture, that " the artist ought to have two souls, 
 in order to transfer one of them into his work." Under 
 the divine afflatus the soul of Durbin was great enough 
 to allow transfusion without harming its nature or less- 
 ening its powers. Who wonders that, when they saw 
 the anchor cast, and were assured that it was within the 
 vail, they wanted to lay hold of the cable and pull for 
 the celestial shore ? 
 
 The power of truth and the emotion of one kindled 
 the emotion of many. Was it the breath of a mortal 
 that now made dry bones stir? No ! No ! It was the 
 Breath that came from the four winds. 
 
278 
 
 JOHN P. DUE BIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Extemporization . 
 
 IN any analysis that we make of a preacher's power 
 we are compelled to consider his communication — 
 whether it is read, memorized, or extemporaneous — 
 whether with or without notes. Dr. Durbin is presented 
 as an extemporaneous speaker. He was not an extem- 
 poraneous sermonizer. He had his subject before him, 
 his plan matured, and his matter was well studied. 
 Though not accustomed to write sermons for delivery 
 he was not the "student in the pulpit, " but in his 
 study. In the pulpit he was the speaker, the messen- 
 ger of God, with his message on his tongue, which, 
 for its purpose, he implicitly trusted. He knew that 
 message in its import, design, and adaptation. He was 
 far from the reproach that Owen Feltham casts upon 
 negligent ministers when he says, " I admire the valor 
 of some men, that before studying dare ascend the pul- 
 pit and there do take more pains than they have done 
 in the library. . . . And this makes some such fugi- 
 tive divines that, like cowards, they run from the text." 
 The preparation of Dr. Durbin for the pulpit when a 
 pastor was reduced to a system. Early in the week he 
 studied and digested his subject and had his sketch 
 in readiness for the pulpit. When he began to speak 
 the current of his language flowed on in the channel of 
 previous thought, and words were extemporized as they 
 were wanted. If on some occasions a text, a theme, a 
 division came to him as by inspiration, then everything 
 
EXTEMP ORIZA TION. 
 
 279 
 
 was extemporized. Theme, thoughts, terms, sentences, 
 were seized. An exigency, it may be, was thus the oc- 
 casion of a most appropriate and memorable discourse. 
 But this was not his dependence or fancied justification 
 for neglect of proper study. 
 
 For some occasions, as is seen in Dr. Tiffany's 
 letter, ii is sermons were prepared with great Labor. In 
 the early ministry of Dr. Durbin a paper sermon in a 
 Methodist pulpit would have been like an ecclesiastical 
 heresy — would have been regarded an invasion upon 
 essential economy. Imagination could hardly conceive 
 it. Read sermons in any church were construed as 
 evidence of want in spirituality in the minister who 
 ga\e such discourses and in the people who would con- 
 sent to accept them. It seemed bold in the president 
 of Dickinson College fifty years ago to have the 
 skeleton of a sermon in the pulpit and hold it up be- 
 fore the congregation. But with us colleges were new, 
 and we did not know how much was to be allowed to 
 come with them. 
 
 If there are any ministers in whom we might be ex- 
 pected to confide as extemporaneous speakers, they are 
 those whom Methodism has reared. Thus our fathers 
 went forth when God bade them "speak to the people 
 all the words of this life." And whether in field or 
 forest, in barn or church, they drew listening multi- 
 tudes, who heard, believed, and obeyed the Gospel. 
 Thus, without education except in their calling, by 
 their ardor and eloquence they attracted rich and poor, 
 refined and rude, and other Churches were glad to have 
 some of them for their pulpits, which, on accepting, 
 they did not fail to honor. 
 
 Thus Dr. Durbin began, went on, and finished. It is 
 a weighty fact, and therefore worthy of careful consider- 
 ation, that in the beginning of Methodism, when we 
 
280 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 made such popular and powerful appeals — when the 
 masses thronged our places of worship, and when many 
 of the great of the land were awed by our influence 
 and identified themselves with our Society — then ex- 
 temporaneous preaching was all we knew ; our ministers 
 were mighty in this, our members were edified by this. 
 By this the land shook, the Churches wondered, and it 
 was as if the kingdom of darkness was coming to an 
 end. This was in broad contrast to the reading prac- 
 ticed in the other Churches, and it drew. Philosophic- 
 ally considered, it might he said that the vigorous ex- 
 ercise of the mind in extemporaneous speaking would 
 naturally create earnestness of feeling and of manner. 
 JSarnest they were. 
 
 Dr. Thomas II. Skinner, professor of homiletics in 
 the " Union Theological Seminary," gave as his judg- 
 ment to the class that no man is prepared for the 
 ministry who cannot extemporize, saying, Occasions 
 will arise, and appeals must be made, when to want 
 this ability will be construed to the serious disadvan- 
 tage of the preacher. Though one may write with el- 
 egance, and memorize with ease, and have good elocu- 
 tion, for readiness to his work and efficiency in his 
 labors he must be able to extemporize. But while all 
 may commend the extemporaneous when successful, 
 many show reasons for reluctance in adopting it ; as 
 fear of inaccuracy and inelegance. 
 
 They think that language thus spoken is necessarily 
 immature. If the immaturity appear only in lack of 
 finish, and there is found greater directness and force, 
 we may ask if the absence of the one is not more than 
 compensated by the presence of the other; whether 
 efficiency is not more than beauty? But is it just t > 
 assume that the extemporaneous is necessarily wanting 
 in accuracy or elegance? Is it not the mind that dis- 
 
EXTEMPORIZA TION. 
 
 281 
 
 tinguishes both pen and tongue ? Is it not the culti- 
 vation of the intellect that gives choice to language 
 and precision to speech ? And may not the speaker 
 as truly as the writer show culture? 
 
 From the philosophy of the case shall we conclude that 
 the artificial is better than the natural — that the pen, 
 which is man's invention, is superior to the tongue, 
 which is God's organ ? Is the alliance between brain 
 and pen more intimate ? Are the treasures of the in- 
 tellect more fully yielded to the pen than to the 
 tongue? Is the composition of the one necessarily 
 more noble and truthful than the utterances of the 
 other? Will fancy afford more beauty, or imagination 
 take a higher range, or will invention show more skill 
 when the pen calls than when the tongue appeals ? 
 Have not the readiest writers found themselves unable 
 to reproduce by the pen what was in the tongue during 
 a conversation, or in a time of seclusion and thought? 
 
 Were not the words more vital and vivid when spoken 
 than they were when the pen was employed ? Is not the 
 pen of the tongue more naturally dipped in the ink of the 
 heart than the pen of the scribe? Is not the soul more 
 fully revealed when there is no paper between it and 
 the people — when thought, and speech, and sympathy, 
 seem one and instantaneous ? Does not the mind 
 move under a higher impulse and inspiration when the 
 speaker is standing in the holy place amid the influ- 
 ences of a waiting and worshiping congregation than 
 when alone and writing ? 
 
 We do not claim for all extemporaneous speakers 
 either accuracy or elegance ; but can these be predicated 
 of all written composition ? If want of time to pre- 
 pare is a reason for inaccuracy, inelegance, and imma- 
 turity in the spoken word, is not lack of time for 
 written composition a reason why that too should be inac- 
 
JOHN r. DUBBIN. 
 
 curate, inelegant, and immature? The truth is, there 
 is much extemporaneous writing for the pulpit. There 
 is composition of the pen as well as utterance of the 
 tongue thrown off without careful thought. 
 
 We submit — 1. How much time does it require of a 
 man that knows grammar, and is accustomed to its use, 
 to employ good syntax? How much time is requisite 
 for one of a clear mind and beautiful thought to find a 
 fitting dress ? The tongue is as true as the pen, and 
 can make as just an impression. Did any one ever 
 detect disparity in Dr. Durbin's spoken word as com- 
 pared to any thing that was written for his use ? 
 
 2. But we reason from facts furnished. When Dr. 
 Durbin was thrilling his great assemblies with extem- 
 poraneous address, there were teachers of science and 
 professional men in the same city, outside the ministry, 
 that were showing ability in the extemporaneous utter- 
 ance of the most weighty thoughts that their position 
 demanded them to present. Not to speak of others 
 whom we would be glad to name, there was — ■ 
 
 Dr. Robert E. Rogers, professor of chemistry in the 
 medical department of the Pennsylvania University, 
 with a class of from three hundred to five hundred 
 students, all seeking the most accurate knowledge of 
 that which was so necessary for their profession. He 
 was lecturing day after day, and week after week, 
 for nearly six months in the year, and with eloquence 
 that held the students spell-bound. When on one occa- 
 sion the writer thought he would like to have one of 
 the grandest passages he had ever heard on the sub- 
 ject, he took the liberty to ask it of the professor, who 
 assured him he would be delighted to give it, but that 
 it was wholly extemporaneous. 
 
 At the same time there was in the Jefferson Medi- 
 cal College Robley Dunglison. He was a volumi- 
 
EXT EM P ORIZA TION. 
 
 283 
 
 nous writer in medical science. He filled the chair of 
 physiology, a department that demands the greatest 
 accuracy. To him we listened in the rush and fullness 
 of an eloquence that suggested Dr. Chalmers as no 
 other man ever did. In the Philadelphia College of 
 Medicine was Dr. James McClintock, the brother of 
 Dr. John McClintock. To think of substituting written 
 composition for his Huent, precise, and eloquent extem- 
 poraneous address would be as if one would seek for 
 the shimmering cascade, the sluggish stream. 
 
 At the bar were David Paul Brown, Joseph R. In- 
 gersoll, and George M. Dallas. For fluency, elegance, 
 and eloquence, we might have searched long and dili- 
 gently, and in vain, for better illustrations among read- 
 ers of manuscripts. Can men of science, where there 
 is so much terminology and such demand for precision in 
 language, and in a profession where such momentous 
 earthly issues are involved — can these afford to adopt 
 extemporaneous speech if there is necessarily immatu- 
 rity? If they believed that by manuscript they could 
 more clearly, fully, and impressively inculcate their 
 subject or make their appeal to a jury, would it be just 
 to those concerned that they should fail to write and 
 only speak? Surely it may not be imagined that men 
 of science and other professions are better acquainted 
 with what they teach, or that their minds or hearts are 
 more in their work. Will any allow the belief that the 
 men in these professions have better minds than those 
 whom God calls ? 
 
 3. But have not Christ's ministers special reason to 
 expect success in extemporary speech ? Are they not 
 justified in looking for necessary help from the Spirit? 
 Is there no "speech" that shall be given them "in that 
 self-same hour?" Are they not permitted to make 
 present application of an old promise, though no older 
 
284 
 
 JOHN P. nun BIN. 
 
 than revelation, that we are constantly preaching, 
 "Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it?" Pentecost 
 filled the mouth of Peter the fisherman, and there are 
 still " tongues of fire " as really as pens of light. When 
 the minister has done his part, may he not, as really 
 and as justly as did St. Paul when shipwreck impended, 
 say, "Sirs, I believe God ?" It is no more presumption 
 to believe God's revealed word than to accept the 
 statement of the angel that stood by Paul and as- 
 sured his deliverance. Christ appealed to his apostles: 
 " When I sent you without purse, scrip, or shoes, lacked 
 ye any thing? "' They replied, " Nothing." 
 
 But history has a voice to show that extemporaneous 
 speech may be accurate and elegant while forceful and 
 eloquent. We shall be slow to find fault with the 
 speech of Peter on Pentecost. Who will have the 
 temerity to accuse Paul of any deficiency in style when 
 he was accused by the orator Tertullus, and made his 
 defense or when he faced the philosophers of Athens? 
 In the early Church we have Origen, the great father 
 of pulpit oratory, at the age of sixty, when habit is so 
 difficult to break, adopting the extemporaneous as the 
 more appropriate style. It is said of Cyril and several 
 of his contemporaries that they spoke to their people in 
 extemporaneous language, and that many sermons of 
 Chrysostorn, together with his celebrated discourse upon 
 his return from banishment, are proof not only of the 
 existence of the custom, but that extempore composi- 
 tions are not necessarily deficient either in elegance or 
 in method. 
 
 Was not Bishop Janes an accurate speaker ? Did 
 Bishop Thomson lack elevation or beauty ? We hesi- 
 tate not to say that language never has greater point, 
 precision, and power than when the extemporaneous 
 speaker is in the right mood for its utterance. 
 
EXTEMP ORIZA TIOX 
 
 285 
 
 We have the strongest testimony in favor of extem- 
 poraneous speech from some of the wisest and weightiest 
 ministers of later times; men who are never to he ques- 
 tioned as to the accuracy of their thoughts or the ele- 
 gance of their language. The Rev. Albert Barnes, 
 in later life, adopted the extemporaneous address, and 
 in power transcended the efforts of his former years. 
 
 AVe are familiar with the vigorous thoughts of Dr. 
 K. S. Storrs, as conveyed in his Notes on "Extem- 
 poraneous Preaching," and we have this eloquent fact, 
 that this commendation is from a minister who had at- 
 tained the greatest eminence as a preacher before he 
 tried what he now rinds is "the more excellent way." 
 
 And are we not urged to extemporaneous preaching, 
 from the high commendation it receives from churches 
 long accustomed to the manuscript? And is it not a 
 weighty fact that so many ministers with whom read- 
 ing was a habit are now assiduously cultivating talent 
 for extemporization ? 
 
 But excellence in this is attained only by the effort 
 that determination induces. Any one might fail as did 
 those whom we have quoted. In this, as in other things 
 of interest and magnitude, we must resolve if we would 
 achieve, and never relinquish purpose till facts show 
 success is impossible. Dr. Hepworth has written with 
 eloquence of his freedom from the shackles of manu- 
 script, and of his incomparable delight in the better 
 expression of his mind and heart by the power to ex- 
 temporize that he has attained. That some have more 
 language than others admits no doubt ; that by good 
 society men may improve their speech will not be dis- 
 puted. But they are greatly mistaken who think that 
 right words are to roll from the lips like waves from 
 the ocean by a necessary law ; that even sentences and 
 propositions are to be turned from the tongue in ex- 
 
286 
 
 JOHN P. DUE BIN. 
 
 quisite shapes for use as ornaments are turned off by 
 ingenious machinery. Extemporization is not the 
 refuge of indolence. 
 
 Dr. Durbin sought no such sanctuary, and neither 
 offered to God or the people that which " cost him 
 nothing." Gravity does not more certainly become the 
 pulpit than industry and earnestness. Demosthenes 
 said he " became an orator by spending more oil than 
 wine." And efficiency, not ease, is the craving of the 
 gospel minister, and he knows that the sweat of the 
 brain has more heat than that of the broio. The 
 extemporaneous speech of Dr. Durbin had accuracy 
 and elegance, ease and energy. 
 
 Dubious as extemporaneous speech may appear, other 
 methods have had quite enough of failure to show that 
 they are not without risk. 
 
 Dr. South was one of the finest minds in the English 
 Church. He trusted his memory in delivering a ser- 
 mon. It failed, and he was covered with shame. Dr. 
 John M. Mason was one of the grandest preachers of 
 any nation. Ex-Chancellor Ferris told the writer he 
 was present when memory failed, and, putting his hand 
 to his head, he said, " I am unable to say more." After 
 this he used manuscript. Have we known no one come 
 to grief with manuscript sermons? The light was 
 poor, the writing was bad, the sight was failing, and 
 the preacher had not sufficiently studied his composition, 
 and received little sympathy. 
 
 But are cases ot breaking down in extemporaneous 
 speech common ? If so, the writer has not witnessed 
 them. Many times he has known extemporaneous 
 speakers to be wanting in liberty. Fifty years ago he 
 heard one at camp-meeting who on entering the pulpit 
 did not give the best evidence of his trust in God, and 
 in a short time he gave proof that he needed help. 
 
EXTEMPORIZA TION. 
 
 287 
 
 Tliere had been some signs of rain, and he found it 
 convenient to say, " Brethren, I perceive a cloud arising, 
 and I will bring my remarks to a close." The preach- 
 ers thought there was a clottd that had already settled 
 upon the speaker's intellect; but he was not speechless, 
 and was able to say something by way of closing. The 
 only conclusion in cases of other kinds was a dead 
 2Muse. About the same time on a camp-ground under 
 like circumstances the writer heard a memorable 
 preacher. At once his memory failed. lie rubbed his 
 head, he stood, he trembled, he recovered and resumed 
 his speech. At another time he was listening to one 
 of the most h'nished preachers in the Conference. The 
 thread of his discourse became tangled. To see a 
 minister trusting memory for his entire composition, 
 and in the rush of his utterance in a moment brought to 
 a halt, though not so disastrous, reminds us of a loco- 
 motive at high speed stopped in a moment. The agony 
 is not confined to the speaker. 
 
 Men who fail in extemporaneous speech might ask, 
 "Why is this?" Was the subject studied? Was it 
 the fear of man that brought a snare? 
 
 Dr. Durbin once asked the writer, "How do you ac- 
 count for the difference in young men in public speak- 
 ing? Some will prepare a fine composition, but in 
 delivering it will sometimes come to a dead pause and 
 be unable to say any thing. Others will have composi- 
 tions of perhaps less beauty, but from whatever diffi- 
 culty they meet they readily extricate themselves" The 
 reply to his inquiry was, ''No man better understands 
 that than he who was so long president of Dickinson," 
 but added, "one depends entirely upon memory, the 
 other retains such freedom as always preserves him from 
 becoming such a mortifying spectacle." This was ac- 
 cepted by the Doctor as the reason. We then wished to 
 
288 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 know of him which of the two young men he would 
 prefer, the one with the better composition or him that 
 had the reserve of power. His answ er was, " Uy all 
 means, the latter." 
 
 It is not denied that extemporaneous speakers some- 
 times lose the train of thought. In private conversation 
 we <lo the same. But the extemporaneous speaker has 
 an alertness and fruitf illness of mind that greatly les- 
 sen the risk of utter failure. When the train of his 
 thought is broken the mental locomotion continues, and 
 there is some idea to carry him on till the train returns, 
 and then he accepts it, unless he thinks his diversion 
 was for a good end. 
 
 The mind puts on strength and shows its treasures. 
 
 A friend asked George G. Cookman if in extempo- 
 raneous speaking he never lost the connection, and, if 
 so, how he did. He replied, "I do sometimes lose the 
 connection, and I just dash into an exhortation, and the 
 people may see no difference, and the result is not 
 spoiled." 
 
 To those who would acquire or cultivate talent for 
 extemporization we may assume that there are essential 
 conditions of success, and show that these met in Dr. 
 Durbin. 
 
 1. There should be knoicledge of the theme. The 
 mind must have the material of thought which lan- 
 guage is to convey. We speak not to acquire, but to 
 impart. The tongue can no more make matter for dis- 
 course than the hand can for a globe. It is not for the 
 eye to create objects of vision or the light by which 
 they are seen. It would be a feat to write about noth- 
 ing. It is an equal exploit to extemporize with nothing 
 to say. In such case the pen should be still and the 
 tongue silent. It was a sin in the task-master of Egypt 
 to require " bricks " with no straw to make them. One 
 
EXTEMPORIZATION. 
 
 289 
 
 of the greatest difficulties of extemporization is that the 
 tongue is oppressed — that they give it the doable task of 
 making ami of uttering thought. So did not Dr. Dur- 
 bin. He who complains that he cannot express himself 
 may do well to ask whether it is not because he has 
 nothing of himself to express. It is hard pumping 
 where there is no water. Even mutes can express 
 thought by signs, and irrational creatures have a lan- 
 guage that makes known their suffering or their pleasure. 
 
 He who extemporizes may be far from general intel- 
 ligence; but this is equally true of him that writes. 
 Whether the young preacher is from the plow, or shop, 
 or seminary, knowledge of his subject is an essential de- 
 mand. He who has seen no college may know his text 
 and treat it in the language to which he is accustomed. 
 
 As an essential condition of success, 
 
 2. There must be sympathy with his subject. "We 
 believe and therefore speak." No man is fit to preach 
 who does not accept and appreciate the truths of the 
 Gospel that he is called to inculcate. He should have 
 close fellowship with C4od. He must have deep sym- 
 pathy with men. The moral wants of the world must 
 move his soul. He must be anxious " that the word of 
 the Lord may have free course and be glorified." The 
 lawyer that is not concerned for his client is unworthy 
 of a case. The physician who is not anxious for his 
 patient is undeserving of practice. The general that 
 does not love his country should not be trusted to fight 
 her battles. A heart intent upon accomplishing its end 
 woidd speak " though tongues were out of use." A 
 warm heart puts a still tongue in motion and makes a 
 cold brain burn with such thoughts as would reduce the 
 flesh to ashes if the pent-up fires could find no outlet. 
 Thus Jeremiah felt when he said, "His word was in 
 mine heart as a burning fire, shut up in my bones." 
 20 
 
290 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 As sympathy with the theme shows the soul in its 
 highest powers so the soul thus awakened gives words 
 the readiest and noblest utterance. Fancy, imagine, if 
 we can, that such ministers would fail for words. There 
 are streams that dry up, there are lights that expire, 
 but we would as soon expect the Hudson to exhaust her 
 waters or the sun to spend his beams as that the sym- 
 pathy of the earliest Methodist preachers would lack 
 language. 
 
 3. Mental Poise. No man can appear at his best with- 
 out the control of all his faculties. That which disturbs 
 the mind distracts thought and interferes with utter- 
 ance. Hence come hesitation, inaccuracy of language, 
 recalling words, and reconstructing sentences. What- 
 ever composes the mind brightens and invigorates it. 
 As the eye in an unclouded sky takes in all in the range 
 of vision, so a serene mind apprehends according to its 
 capabilities. And as a transparent statement comes 
 only from a clear intellect the utterances of the tongue 
 show a governing intelligence or lack of mental con- 
 centration and control. Mental poise is indispensable to 
 easy, coherent, effective speaking. 
 
 In mental poise the extemporaneous speaker's invent- 
 ive and constructive power are appealed to and re- 
 spond. Amplification, so necessary to successful speech, 
 is cultivated and disclosed. Dr. Durbin was a perfect 
 custodian of his endowments. A critical observer said 
 of John Wesley, "The most remarkable thing about 
 him w r as, that while he set all in motion he was himself 
 perfectly calm and phlegmatic. He was quiescence in 
 turbulence." Dr. Durbin could 
 
 " Sit calm on tumult's wheel." 
 
 In the pulpit, on the platform, in the scientific or pop- 
 ular lecture, in the discussion of a great subject, in the 
 
EXTEMPORIZA TIOK. 
 
 291 
 
 vast assembly and on the floor of Conference his powers 
 were at his command, and he seemed imperturbable. 
 On the floor of the General Conference, when he rose 
 to reply to Bishop Soule, though the Church was con- 
 vulsed he was calm. And with the grasp of a great 
 intellect, the appreciation of the weightiest facts, he 
 towered in the majesty of his soul. 
 
 R. W. Emerson gives a striking illustration of the 
 want of mental poise in Dr. Chancey, a distinguished 
 minister of Boston, a century ago. As he was about to 
 begin a sermon he learned that a boy had fallen into 
 Frog Pond and was drowned. He was so disconcerted 
 as not to be able to make a direct prayer, but went 
 round and round. After praying lor Harvard College 
 and for the schools he implored the divine Being to — to 
 bless to them all "the boy that was this morning drow ned 
 in the Frog Pond." Emerson says, "This was not want 
 of talent, but of manliness." This is the man who so dis- 
 liked sensational preaching — of his time — that he prayed 
 that he might never be eloquent. In this Emerson says 
 " his prayer was granted," and yet he lacked what he 
 called manliness. Had he been more composed, his 
 prayer would have shown a sensation better than that 
 he evinced. There is an excitement that interest in a 
 cause awakens. Cicero said he never lost this on rising 
 to speak. Luther declared he never entered the pulpit 
 without trembling. This is good. 
 
 Want of mental poise was witnessed in the late Dr. 
 S. H. Tyng, when a young rector in Georgetown, D. C. 
 He went to church with an intention to preach an 
 extemporaneous discourse. " Henry Clay and other 
 notables" entered the church. Tyng became sick with 
 excitement and left his post. Why did Peter begin to 
 sink in deep waters when Christ bade him come to 
 him? Because he looked at the billows rather than at 
 
292 
 
 JOUN P. BUR 11 IN. 
 
 the Saviour. Looking at Clay made Tyng powerless to 
 speak. But he did not give up his purpose to be an 
 extemporaneous preacher, and for precision, fluency, force 
 and eloquence, became one of the finest specimens of 
 pulpit ability. "A too earnest desire to speak well is 
 almost sure to make us speak ill." 
 
 A word comes to the man beginning to extemporize. 
 It may not be the best for his purpose. He pauses; 
 another is not at his command; he is embarrassed; he 
 stops. Failure in such way is perfectly natural. It were 
 innocent at such time to realize, " A bird in the hand is 
 worth two in the bush." A word in the mouth is worth 
 a score in the vocabulary. 
 
 We may name another essential condition, 
 
 4. Confidence of success. Doubt in any cause that 
 demands energy is half defeat. Faith is half victory. 
 If Monsieur Blondin lacked confidence in his ability to 
 perform his feats across Niagara Falls the attempt 
 Avould be more than temerity. No one admires egotism. 
 Self-conceit causes disgust ; hut there is a self-assertion 
 that enables one to project his powers without any dis- 
 play of vanity. Modesty has no merit when it hin- 
 ders a just expression of what we are called to do. No 
 one will commend the humility in a speaker that makes 
 him distrust "the ability that God giveth." 
 
 An extemporaneous speaker, or one wishing to be 
 such, rises to speak. What is asked of him is such a 
 command of thought and his subject as to employ ap- 
 propriate words. We will suppose he is called on for a 
 funeral, and an address is proper. What point is there 
 that the occasion offers that he may not present? What 
 fact that it is right to state that he may not name? 
 With the Scriptures in his memory what consolation 
 that the case admits may he not urge? What exhorta- 
 tion to the living may he not deliver? If summoned 
 
EXTEMPORIZA TIOX. 
 
 293 
 
 suddenly to preach, is there no doctrine that he has so 
 studied as to be able to explain and exhibit? Is there 
 no history in the Bible, no hero of the Old Testament 
 or saint of the New that can furnish him a theme ? All 
 men in their places can convey their thoughts in words 
 that any can understand. The plowman in the field, the 
 woodman in the forest, can each find words appropriate 
 to his wants. Surely the mouth-piece for God can ex- 
 temporize. Let him in what he attempts have con- 
 fidence. When the writer, with a young friend, was 
 beginning to exhort, there was in one of the congrega- 
 tions the maternal grandfather of the late Bishop Cum- 
 mins, John Durborough. He was an itinerant preacher 
 in the early administration of Bishop Asbury. To speak 
 before him seemed too much for inexperienced youth. 
 We told him so. He made in substance the following 
 reply: '' If you speak on a text it is fair to assume that, 
 having just studied it, you know more about that passage 
 than any one present ; therefore have confidence. When- 
 ever I am in the congregation be not embarrassed, hut 
 consider there is one man praying for you and be con- 
 fident." Nearly fifty years have closed over the g ave 
 of this venerated minister, but his memory must ever 
 remain green in the mind of the writer. His exhortation 
 to youth was, " Fear not, but be strong." 
 
 We know of no condition essential to successful ex- 
 temporaneous speech that did not meet in Dr. Durbin. 
 "With the sensibility and spirituality that are at the 
 foundation of pulpit eloquence there was such devo- 
 tion to his purpose, such understanding of his theme, 
 such sympathy with his subject, accompanied with 
 mental poise, and a confidence that facts justified him 
 in his work, that he attained his end because he em- 
 ployed the means. How much it cost him to become 
 what he was we are not informed; but of this we are 
 
294 
 
 JOHN P. DURE IN. 
 
 certain — the cost was not equal to the profit. Without 
 wishing to disparage able ministers w ho pursue a dif- 
 ferent method, we are allowed to exalt that in Dr. 
 Durbin which presents him to us as so nearly, if not 
 fully, the ideal orator actualized, and as making so near 
 an approach in his manner to the preaching of Christ 
 and his apostles, and as affording so fine an exhibition 
 of that style of ministry which the intelligence, the 
 observation, and the Christian earnestness of the age 
 are coming more and more to admire and commend. 
 
HOMILETIC TASTE AXD SKILL. 
 
 295 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Homiletic Taste and Skill. 
 
 OF Dr. Durbin's homiletic taste and skill, and of their 
 influence upon sacred oratory, we may form some 
 idea from the lessons that he impressed upon the class 
 of young preachers that he instructed while pastor in 
 Philadelphia, and from facts furnished as to preparation 
 and result. 
 
 In an Introduction which he wrote to the Short Ser- 
 mons on Important Subjects, by Jonathan Edmon- 
 son, A.M., he expresses his view of the kind of sermons 
 the people should receive to secure the ends of able and 
 faithful preaching. Of Edmonson's discourses he says, 
 " His style was as varied as the topics and the occa- 
 sions." 
 
 Having noticed the intellectual and moral lapse of 
 the pulpit from the sixth to the sixteenth century, and 
 of the strange and trifling themes that sometimes en- 
 gaged the minister, as " Was Abel slain with a club ? 
 or, Of what sort of wood was it?" "Of what sort of 
 wood was Moses's rod ? " " Was the gold which the 
 Magi offered to Christ coined or in mass?" he turns 
 from " the Dark Ages" to the time of the Reformation 
 and to the subjects that then engaged the preacher. 
 These were "controversial and speculative;" the di- 
 dactic had become tedious. The public mind became 
 fatigued with the dry theological discussions, "and, 
 having settled down upon the fundamental principles 
 of Christianity, required that these should be adorned 
 
296 
 
 JOHN r. DURBIN. 
 
 and recommended by eloquence, which had become the 
 powerful instrument in forming and directing men's 
 minds. This produced a class of rhetorical sermoniz- 
 ers, in which may be placed Bourdaloue, Massillon, 
 Bossuet, Saurin, Tillotson, Atterbury, Blair, Da vies, 
 and others. 
 
 " Of these various classes of sermons the controver- 
 sial are unacceptable to the present peaceful age ; 
 the doctrinal are not sought after by the multitude; the 
 rhetorical are read chiefly for the pleasure they afford as 
 specimens of sacred oratory. None of them address 
 themselves to the multitude; and yet the characteristic 
 of the age is, that the multitude demand and must re- 
 ceive instruction in every department of knowledge. 
 The pulpit is required to furnish sanctified literature 
 for the masses," ... in " short and plain sermons." 
 These he recommends in the discourses of* Mr. Edmon- 
 son, who was one of the finest specimens of a sound, 
 devout, able, and earnest Wesleyan preacher. His ser- 
 mons have excellence of style, force of logic, fullness 
 of matter, and are adapted to alarm the careless and 
 edify the Christian. 
 
 Dr. Durbin speaks of Mr. Edmonson as discussing 
 topics admitted by the sound portion of the Church, as 
 avoiding controversy, and as aiming at illustration and 
 application. He says, "The reader will find in this 
 volume, expressed in perspicuous, easy, and often forcible 
 and eloquent language, the opinions of a candid man, 
 a good scholar, nearly every topic that can interest him 
 in theology, morals, and experience." 
 
 Thus we have the idea of Dr. Durbin as to what a 
 sermon should be, and in one entitled " Christian Min- 
 isters Declare the Counsel of God " we have his forci- 
 ble expression as to the duty, manners, spirit, and di- 
 verse qualifications of those who preach the word. 
 
UOMILETIC TASTE AND SKILL. 
 
 297 
 
 But we have from Dr. Darbin's own pen, while ed- 
 itor of The Christian Advocate and Journal, April 18, 
 1834, his clear and vigorous expression as to the great 
 characteristics of a sermon. His remarks are founded 
 on the question in our Discipline of the " matter and 
 manner of preaching, 1 ' and of the answers given by the 
 book. 
 
 " 1. To convince. 2. To offer Christ. 3. To invite. 
 4. To build up, and to do this in some measure in every 
 sermon. 
 
 " 1. To convince— that is, of sin. This is the first 
 thing toward the conversion and salvation of sinners; 
 till this is done nothing is done to purpose. To con- 
 vince of sin is indispensable in order to repentance, and 
 without repentance there is no salvation. In this con- 
 viction of sin two things may be noticed: 'original or 
 birth sin,' or, in other words, as our article lias it, the 
 Corruption engendered of the offspring of Adam, 
 whereby man is very far gone from original righteous- 
 ness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that 
 continually." The present is no time to give up this 
 doctrine for the speculations and doctrines of men. It 
 is that which the Church has always held; that which 
 the Methodists, after the Reformers, have preached with 
 tlie power and demonstration of the Spirit ; and a great 
 multitude that no man can number have experimentally 
 attested and do attest the soundness of this doctrine. 
 So that if it be false all these are found false witnesses 
 before God. To convince men that their moral nature 
 is defiled is a laborious and difficult task, especially in 
 this philosophizing age, wherein there is a strong tend- 
 ency to the error of the Pharisees, the laying our own 
 instead of the righteousness of Christ as the founda- 
 tion of the hope of salvation. The minister of Christ 
 should be clear in his views on this point, and must, 
 
298 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 like Paul, be able to reason from the Scriptures in its 
 support, and, withal, to make the most pointed and 
 powerful appeals to the consciences of his hearers for 
 the truth of what he preaches. 
 
 " Secondly. Actual transgression, both in respect to 
 things enjoined and things forbidden. Here the min- 
 ister of Christ must make much use of that command- 
 ment which is exceeding broad, and is a discerner 
 of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The law 
 must be preached not only as the rule of morality in 
 our conduct toward men, but as the rule of piety in our 
 conduct toward God. When the sinner is thoroughly 
 convinced of his lost and wretched state and of the utter 
 impossibility of his helping himself, then 
 
 " 2. The offer of Christ may be made to him. In offer- 
 ing Christ we offer all the benefits of redemption by 
 him. As Christ has made an atonement for sin — that 
 is, as our second article expresses it, " has reconciled the 
 Father to us," and has obtained pardon, adoption, and 
 all the privileges of the children of God for us: the 
 whole are implied in the offer of Christ, so that if we 
 receive Christ we receive the whole. In the offer of 
 Christ is implied also the gracious design of God in 
 giving his Son and of Christ in dying for us. The de- 
 sign respects all to whom the offer is made. If God 
 eternally intended that any part of the human family 
 should absolutely perish, he could have had no merciful 
 design concerning them, and consequently the offer of 
 Christ could not be sincerely made to them. If Christ 
 be offered to us, then we must receive him in order to 
 be saved by him, and the necessity of receiving him is 
 implied in the offer. If we reject Christ we reject all 
 the blessings which he has procured for us. And here 
 it should be recollected that the object of faith — that 
 object which is to be received by faith, and on receiv- 
 
HOMILETIC TASTE AND SKILL. 
 
 299 
 
 ing of which the sinner is freely justified — is not what 
 God will do for him, but what he has already done. It 
 is true that he who cometh to God must believe that 
 " He is, and that he is a rewarder of all them that dili- 
 gently seek him." But this is not the object on which 
 justifying faith chiefly acts, and on the receiving of 
 which the sinner is justified. This object is Christ cru- 
 cified for us. 
 
 " 3. To invite. To bid sinners come to Christ and to 
 the provisions which he has made in the Gospel for 
 them. Here it is proper to enlarge upon the love of 
 God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ ; to show 
 the freeness and abundance of God's provisions; and to 
 employ the entreaty and expostulation of the sacred 
 Scriptures with the sinner to bring him to Christ, or to 
 induce him to receive Christ. 
 
 "4. To build up in grace and holiness those who have 
 received Christ. Here is ample room for the exercise 
 of all the skill of the minister. The believer is at first 
 but a babe in knowledge and skill and strength. He is 
 required to go on to perfection; but many trials and 
 difficulties lie in his way. He still needs a guide and a 
 sympathizing friend. The minister is to be that guide 
 and friend, and to accomplish the object he must enter 
 into all the circumstances of the different cases that 
 exist in the flock over which lie is appointed to watch. 
 
 "If there be want of zeal and earnestness, lie must 
 admonish. If there be a sickly state of soul, the par- 
 ticular cause must he searched out and guarded against, 
 whether it be temptation or sin, or want of information 
 on some point of doctrine, duty, or privilege. When 
 the cause is ascertained, the cure will be suggested. 
 The minister of the Gospel is to watch over his charge 
 and lead them on to the perfection of holiness. This 
 he cannot do by dealing in generalities. The minister 
 
300 
 
 jouy P. DURBIX. 
 
 who contents himself with saying on all occasions, 
 "you must be faithful," or "you must live nearer the 
 Lord," is like the physician who never distinguishes 
 the nature and cause of one disease from another, but 
 prescribes tlie same remedy in all cases. 
 
 " The above are to be the general subjects of our pul- 
 pit discourses. A little different view of them is sug- 
 gested by the threefold office of Christ, that of 
 prophet, priest, and king. A preacher may find other 
 subjects adapted to please the curious and philosophiz- 
 ing ; but if he be a minister of Christ and seeks the 
 spiritual edification of his Hock he will have little 
 occasion for a greater variety than the above heads 
 will yield him. 
 
 "The end of all preaching and of all ministerial labor 
 is to build up the spiritual temple of God, and to bring 
 forth the top stone with shouting " Grace, grace unto 
 it." The ministers of Christ should never lose sight of 
 this, nor satisfy themselves with the incidental mention 
 of it, or occasionally teaching it more largely. Their 
 preaching and praying should all have a direct tendency 
 to this end. It should enter into their private instruc- 
 tions and their whole intercourse with mankind. Then, 
 and not till then, will both ministry and people be 
 imbued with the spirit of holiness. God will dwell 
 among men, and the whole earth shall be full of the 
 glory of God." 
 
 It is hardly possible to speak of this exhibition of the 
 duty of the pulpit in terms equal to its merit. At this 
 day, when men are pressed on all sides by tastes and 
 tendencies and innovations that touch the minister at 
 every point, how difficult may it seem to keep in the 
 plain path marked out by the Son of God; and yet the 
 day that sees the rigor of conscience relax as to proper 
 duty, as to our specific call and necessary work, the day 
 
HOSIILETIC TASTE AXD SKILL. 
 
 301 
 
 that sees any thing in the pulpit not in consonance with 
 this conviction — no matter with what ingenuity and skill 
 presented — will he a day of gloom as real, if not as 
 painful, as was known in the "Dark Ages." The light 
 of the pulpit is the light of truth ; that truth is to re- 
 cover the lost, exalt the depressed, refine the impure, 
 dignify the abject, and show society something of the 
 first Paradise — the prelude to that heavenly state for 
 which the (Gospel is the only means of preparing 
 men. 
 
 Dr. Durhin's sermons were constructed on the prin- 
 ciples of homiletic art. There was order, progress, and 
 climax. In all that he prepared there was implicit 
 respect to the result. Whether he inverted a sentence 
 or transposed a paragraph or changed the numher or 
 place of a proposition, he kept before him the sense of 
 the sacred writer, and strove by all the means that logic 
 and rhetoric furnished to present it in the fullest sense 
 and with the greatest force. Progress icos an essential 
 condition of success. This was as really the case with 
 his matter as with his voice and manner. His sermons 
 were formed to instruct, impress, and move. 
 
 As in architecture there is the foundation and the 
 "top stone" — there is the purpose, the plan and the 
 building — so he had the place for every part necessary 
 to the intellectual structure. 
 
 As the osseous system is essential to the human or- 
 ganization, so is a skeleton to a sermon. There must 
 he something to build on. As through the entire 
 length of the spinal column there runs what may be 
 called brain matter, so in every well constructed dis- 
 course there must run the matter that shows a sound 
 and disciplined mind. The part of an oration that mind 
 does not influence fails to show the orator. Passion is 
 not enough. Thought must kindle passion, as passion 
 
302 
 
 JO UN P. DURBIN. 
 
 awakens emotions. This Dr. Durbin realized. His 
 respect to result expresses itself in strongest language. 
 
 The introductions to Dr. Durbin's sermons were 
 varied by subjects and circumstances. One might be 
 formed from a scriptural fact or from the occasion of 
 the passage ; another from a philosophical principle or 
 an event of history. Pertinence was the governing law. 
 As a rule it was brief and direct. One thing bore 
 upon another and there was nothing useless, lie had 
 none of the abruptness of Sterne, who began with " that 
 I deny ;" nor the elaboration that Richard Winter Ham- 
 ilton shows, especially as we see him in a sermon on the 
 Last Judgment, from the text Rev. xx, 11-13: "I saw 
 a great white throne and Him that sat on it." After a 
 most vivid exhibition of Bishop Massillon, on the occa- 
 sion of a royal funeral, closing with the expression 
 "there is nothing great but God," Hamilton says, 
 "There is nothing solemn but the judgment." Then 
 he declares: "The thunder-storm is solemn, when 
 lightnings as arrows shoot abroad, when the peals 
 startle up the nations, when the dread artillery rushes 
 along the sky. But what is it to that far-resounding 
 crash, louder than the roar and bellow of ten thousand 
 thousands, which shall pierce the deepest channels and 
 which all the dead shall hear ? 
 
 "The ocean tempest is solemn when the huge billows 
 lift up their crests, when mighty armaments are wrecked 
 by their fury, when the proudest barks are shattered, 
 broken as the foam, scattered as the spray. But what 
 is this to that commotion of the deep when its proud 
 waves ' shall no more be stayed,' its ancient barriers 
 be no more observed, the largest channels be emptied, 
 and the deepest abyss be dried ? 
 
 " The earthquake is solemn when, without warning, 
 cities totter and kingdoms and islands flee away. But 
 
HOMILETIC TASTE AXD SKILL. 
 
 303 
 
 ■what is it to that tremor which shall convulse our globe, 
 dissolving every law of attraction, severing every prin- 
 ciple of aggregation, heaving all into chaos, and heap- 
 ing all into ruin? The volcano is solemn when its cone 
 of fire shoots to the heavens, crimsoning the zenith with 
 its portentous blaze, while from its burning entrails 
 lava rushes to overspread distant plains and to overtake 
 flying peoples. But what is that to the conflagration 
 in which all the palaces and the temples and citadels 
 of the earth shall be consumed?" 
 
 Of the merits of that composition, of its terrific 
 grandeur, we need say nothing ; but are we not justified 
 in asserting this ought not to be an example for an in- 
 troduction? In all the sermon there is not such another 
 passage. Was this the place for it ? Dr. Durbin's 
 purpose would not allow such an introduction. It is 
 said of Dr. John M. Mason that on one occasion he be- 
 gan a sermon with rapping three times upon the pulpit 
 and saying, "A voice from the eternal world addresses 
 you," and then announced the text, and at once the con- 
 gregation showed emotion. Yet, as a remarkable fact, 
 he held the closest attention of the people to the close 
 of the sermon. Few men could accomplish such a re- 
 sult. Certainly this was not his habit. We never saw 
 it in Dr. Durbin. In his sermon in the Methodist 
 Preacher, founded on John i, 1, " In the beginning was 
 the Word, and the Word was with God, and the 
 Word was God," the theme is the "Character and Mis- 
 sion of Jesus Christ." He begins this simply: "By 
 consulting the fourteenth and eighteenth verses we learn 
 how the text regards the Lord Jesus Christ, and the 
 whole is predicated of him." This was one of his great 
 sermons preached while he was at Augusta College, 
 Kentucky. On the same theme he preached for two 
 hours at Vincentown, N. J., and such was the influence 
 
304 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 against the error of Elias Hicks as to keep the sermon 
 in perpetual memory. Six lines comprehend his in- 
 troduction. 
 
 His sermon on the " Omnipresence of God" is from 
 the text, 2 Chron. vi, la, "Will God in very deed dwell 
 with men on the earth ? Behold heaven and the heaven 
 of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this 
 house which I have built." The introduction covers a 
 half page. 
 
 With a sermon so introduced he would raise his prop- 
 osition or divide his text. Then he began an exposition 
 that was usually calm, clear, and luminous; not permit- 
 ting himself to impair his purpose by consuming too 
 much time in the earlier parts of his discourse. 
 
 Arguments, narratives, illustrations came in natural 
 order. But application — what our fathers called the 
 £i life of preaching" — was to Dr. Durbin a strong hope 
 for the moral effect and permanent result of the dis- 
 course. His peroration was the place of concentrated 
 thought and power. 
 
 He expresses caution against being "too diffuse and 
 minute in the first part of the discussion, leaving but 
 little time for the latter part, which is generally the 
 most important." lie says, " Probably the preacher 
 ought never to exhaust himself on his subject ; certainly 
 not in the first part of his discourse. His matter ought 
 to increase in interest and importance to the close, and 
 the expenditure of his strength and energy ought to in- 
 crease with the increase of his matter. In this way the 
 services terminate with a powerful and abiding impres- 
 sion, under the influence of which the people depart to 
 their homes. Such a sermon on ordinary occasions need 
 rarely exceed three quarters of an hour. This leaves 
 time for hymns and suitable prayer. If there beany 
 two things of the prudential and discretionary kind 
 
HOMILETIC TASTE AND SKILL. 305 
 
 more important than others to the success of the 
 preacher of I he word of God they are these : 
 
 " 1. Judgment and discretion in the selection of a 
 subject. Recollect the subject is the object of the se- 
 lection rather than the text ; the text is the occasion 
 generally to discuss the subject. 
 
 "2. So arrange the matter that it will not make your 
 sermon too long, seizing upon the strong and practical 
 points in it and not attempting to exhaust every point, 
 and in doing this, if possible, and it generally is, throw 
 the most interesting part or parts of it toward the close, 
 and often dispose of one division of the subject by way 
 of application if it be copious." 
 
 In studying Dr. Durbin's pow er as a preacher we may 
 consider : 
 
 1. The general character of his sermons. In the 
 specimens of the discourses furnished we can see his 
 skill in treating subjects in the various departments of 
 homiletic teaching. They were expositions, illustra- 
 tions, and divine orations. His themes corresponded 
 with his purpose and his plans were suited to his de- 
 sign. His texts presented ample matter for discussion 
 and declamation, for philosophy, poetry, and the high- 
 est Christian eloquence. They sometimes permitted 
 speculation, which he was quick to perceive and careful 
 to guard. 
 
 Evremont advises the minister to "make choice of such 
 subjects as are susceptible of ornament and energy." 
 To a nature capable of apprehending or appreciating 
 things according to their claim a great theme induces 
 great thoughts, and these in turn compel vigorous and 
 elevated language. Genius asks scope, and eloquence 
 will have fullness and freedom. 
 
 Sublime artists and poets give proof of this demand. 
 Rubens sought immortality in the "Crucifixion;" Ra- 
 21 
 
306 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN 
 
 phael, in the "Transfiguration;" Michael Angelo, in the 
 "Last Judgment;" our own West, in "Death oil the 
 Pale Horse." Homer lives in the " 111 iad; " Milton, in 
 "Paradise Lost;" and Dante, in "The Vision." This 
 includes paradise, purgatory, and perdition. Great 
 sermons are associated with great subjects. Thus we 
 have Bourdaloue in "The Pa-sion ;" Barrow on "The 
 Resurrection of Christ;" and Massillon on "The Small 
 Number of the Elect;" Howe on "The Redeemer's 
 Tears over Lost Souls ; " McLaurin on " Glory ing in the 
 cross;" Edwards on "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry 
 God." Amid the great number of sermons that we read 
 from Hugh Blair, with high admiration of the beauty 
 of his rhetoric, where is there one that for its grandeur 
 makes such an appeal as that on " Father, the hour is 
 come " — the death of Christ 'i 
 
 Great subjects are found in every department of 
 Christian teaching. They may be doctrinal, exper- 
 imental, or practical. They may be expository, textual, 
 or topical. Types and parables, biography and history 
 offer themes to interest the mind, to touch the con- 
 science, and to subdue the heart. Dr. Durbin employed 
 all. 
 
 He presented symmetry in the body of truth. Every 
 doctrine had its place and purpose. Essential truth 
 gave him f/reat themes, such as " The Omnipresence of 
 God," "The Incarnation," " The Character and Mission 
 of Jesus Christ," "The Atonement," "The Conversion 
 of Saul of Tarsus," "The Resurrection," "The 
 Word of God Abiding in Us," " The Signs of the 
 Times," and "Divine Providence." These subjects in- 
 duced sublime thoughts. As he who would rear a ma- 
 jestic structure must have a strong foundation, or as 
 the tree that is exposed to storm and tempest can only 
 war with the elements and retain its place by having 
 
UOMILETIC TASTE AXD SKILL. 
 
 307 
 
 sufficient soil, and sending down and out its roots, so bis 
 ministry respected the means of stability and support. 
 
 His preaching looked to tbe conviction, conversion, 
 and profiting of men. To fell the forest requires a ro- 
 bust woodman ; but he has honor who cultivates the 
 grounds so cleared. Tbe psalmist, speaking of building 
 the temple, says, " A man was famous according as he 
 bad lifted up axes upon the thick trees." Thick trees 
 fell under tbe stroke of Dr. Durbin. lint he knew and 
 improved the soil and gathered of the fruits. 
 
 His ministry was not weakened by dangerous theo- 
 logical speculation. He did not add to or take from tbe 
 words of the book, nor mystify the manifest. He had 
 an active mind and an inventive genius. It was quite 
 common with him to suggest an inquiry that philosophy 
 might prompt in relation to things not revealed. Then 
 be showed vigor of reasoning and plausibility of con- 
 jecture. It imparted the interest that novelty gives, 
 and served to enlarge, if it did not brighten, tbe realm 
 of thought. But it was in profound submission to the 
 written word. This was calculated to exalt rather than 
 depress faith. He well knew our perpetual tendency 
 and multiplied temptations to lean to our own under- 
 standing; that a cultivated mind is prone to depart 
 from the simplicity that is in Christ. He was not a 
 stranger to the lures that offer and the diversions that 
 are so easy and frequent. He would consider a weak 
 faith one of the saddest things in its effect upon the 
 ministry. It compels weak utterances. He cannot be 
 called a "preacher of the word" who does not know 
 the word to preach. The language of his labor was, 
 " The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream ; 
 and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faith- 
 fully." While he acknowledged there is much that is 
 unknown in relation to the future, as there certainly is 
 
308 
 
 JOHX P. DURBIX. 
 
 in regard to the present, he felt, as does the true scien- 
 tist, that the unknown is not to impair the power of the 
 known, or to lessen the effort of securing from it all 
 that it offers. He who knows God, and Jesus Christ 
 whom he hath sent — he who knows that he is born of 
 God, and possesses the peace that he gives — knows some- 
 thing ; knows that he has not followed fables. Dr. 
 Durbin spoke with authority. 
 
 His preaching loas not distinguished as polemical. 
 He had a creed and he preached it. In some instances 
 he encountered an error with directness and vigor, as 
 when in his early ministry he delivered his famous ser- 
 mon in the West on the "Deity of Christ." He was 
 not ostentatious of his ability as a logician in seeking to 
 show how he could demolish a difficulty or annihilate an 
 adversary. He rather projected truth than fought error. 
 He expelled the one by making place for the other. 
 His treatment was systemic. He Avas like the physi- 
 cian who builds up the constitution to overcome the 
 infirmity, and by moral means secures natural ends. 
 
 Christian apologetics had only due place in his min- 
 istry. With him the pulpit was not the professor's 
 chair. He could defend the Scriptures in the evidences 
 furnished by their necessity, inspiration and benefits. 
 But his custom was " to preach the word." He had less 
 rubbish to remove than truth to offer. He did not 
 make fruitless attempts to convince men's minds, when 
 he knew that their hearts presented the citadel to at- 
 tack. It was wittily said by a great statesman, when 
 Bishop Watson wrote his Apology for the Bible, 
 that the Bible needs no apology. Of Dr. Durbin we 
 may say the Scriptures commanded his reason, inspired 
 bis confidence, and satisfied his noblest aspiration. He 
 found Scripture history sustained by facts, Bible doc- 
 trines the necessity of the race, and showed the influ- 
 
1WMILETIC TASTE AXD SKILL. 
 
 ence of its moral precepts in exalting a nation and in 
 purifying and honoring men. 
 
 Me was pre-eminently a preacher of fundamental 
 truths. To this he was called; in this he delighted; 
 and the results of this that he witnessed satisfied him 
 that to this no merely sesthetical or metaphysical preach- 
 ing hears any comparison. He sought to " make the 
 tree good that the fruit might he good also." He in- 
 sisted, therefore, that neither circumcision nor uncircuni- 
 cision avails any thing, hut a new creature, and that 
 without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Dr. 
 Durhin knew that in Christianity Jesus Christ is " all 
 in all ;" that he is our rock of stability and defense. 
 
 Some of his discourses were highly expository. He 
 loved the logical, and frequently made his sermons on a 
 theme before selecting his text. 
 
 Analysis was the habit of his mind, yet the synthet- 
 ical found large place in his preaching. He was fond 
 of the psychological treatment of subjects. This he 
 used to achieve the best results. He looked at princi- 
 ples that, though unconsciously to ourselves, influence 
 conduct — principles that are as real, though not recog- 
 nized, as the intuitions. By close observation, by nat- 
 ural tendency, by rational processes, he detected and 
 exposed the springs of moral action. 
 
 As the astute statesman by broader observation and 
 deeper insight foretells results of legislation or govern- 
 ment, and the course of events that astonishes the less 
 acute, so he, by discussing " mind-nature," revealed to 
 men facts in their own bosom that they had failed to 
 recognize, but that, being now made manifest, they 
 were compelled to acknowledge in the obligations that 
 they involved. Such reasoning is to our consciousness 
 what introspection in the Christian is to the heart. It 
 gives to conscience the greater grip, and compels con- 
 
310 
 
 JO UN P. DURBIN. 
 
 viction to assert itself. But we are not to suppose that 
 he indulged in terminology that perplexed the hearer, 
 or that lie dealt in the abstruse or recondite, that true 
 oratory forbids. Metaphysical labyrinths were con- 
 demned alike by his intelligence and his purpose. It 
 was only as people followed him here that he obtained 
 the desired response. 
 
 Thus to an enlightened conscience he held up the 
 mirror and compelled men to see themselves, or pre- 
 sented scales the accuracy of which was accepted and 
 constrained men to weigh themselves, and acknowledge 
 they were " found wanting." 
 
 His sermon in Pulpit Eloquence of the Nineteenth 
 Century shows this character of preaching. " Will God 
 in very deed dwell with men on the earth ?" 2 Chron. 
 vi, 18. He sees in "the constitution of men, the nature 
 of reason, the observation of every day, the conscious- 
 ness of each pure heart, the mission and testimony of the 
 Holy Scriptures, that a sense of continual personal om- 
 nipresence of Jehovah is the most powerful restraint on 
 vice and the most efficient encouragement to virtue." 
 F. V. Reinhard, the illustrious "Court Preacher " at 
 Dresden, furnishes a fine example of such preaching in 
 his sermon on John the Baptist, as given by Professor Ed- 
 wards A. Park in the sixth volume of Bibliotheca Sacra. 
 
 Saurin's sermon on " the Passions " was pronounced 
 by John Foster one of the best specimens of such dis- 
 course in the language. Bishop Butler's sermon on 
 " Human Nature " illustrates the highest skill in this 
 kind of pulpit appeal. 
 
 Of the same class is the celebrated sermon of Dr. 
 Chalmers on the " Expulsive Power of a New Affec- 
 tion; " of like nature is Bushnell's admirable discourse on 
 " Unconscious Influence." In this grand category we 
 place the eloquent sermon of Dr. McClintock in 
 
I10XILETIC TASTE AND SKILL. 
 
 311 
 
 Pulpit Eloquence of the Nineteenth Century. The sub- 
 ject is " the ground of man's love to God." 
 
 It requires a high order of intellect to produce its 
 proper power; but here Dr. Durbin was a master. He 
 reasoned likePaley; he searched like Butler ; he warmed 
 like MassilloD ; he subdued and conquered like Wesley. 
 Shall we call this psychological probing? The rather 
 let us say, Moral vivisection. Only the soul can certify 
 the scrutiny. It was like Nathan's parable to David 
 to impress the sin of the sovereign. 
 
 With what delicacy and deference did he prepare 
 the case and address the king! How perfectly did he 
 conduct the parable to awaken the indignation of a 
 man by an appeal to moral consciousness ! In all the 
 concealment of his design how fairly and fully did he 
 obtain a verdict of an inward but now outspoken con- 
 viction of moral right ! Thus is it in the kind of 
 preaching of which we now write. Truth is exhibited; 
 her claim is so clearly shown, the evil of the sin is so 
 manifest, that the man pronounces sentence upon him- 
 self. This is individualizing. It is thus that God 
 says, " Out of thy own mouth will I judge thee." This 
 is tremendous preaching. It is moral consciousness that 
 has become the preacher. The pulpit has fired on the 
 fortress, and there is war within. 
 
 But Dr. Durbin knew how men become Christians 
 indeed, and he struck at the conscience, that "main 
 pillar of the soul," which amid all the ruins of the fall 
 gives evidence of the original grandeur of the moral 
 temple. Before the highest tribunal on earth he ar- 
 raigned the sinner and made him tremble, and when 
 conscience failed in its functions he caused the truth 
 of God to flash into the darkest corners of the heart, 
 and showed the chamber of images with all kinds of 
 idolatry and odious objects. 
 
312 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 Did ever any mere man possess the power to make 
 a bold and startling statement of the most weighty 
 truth greater than he sometimes did, when his soul was 
 full of his subject and the end for which he labored 
 made the demand ? 
 
 The writer is indebted to Edward Sargent, Esq., of 
 Cincinnati, for the following illustration. He says : 
 " Dr. Durbin was preaching a sermon on the general 
 judgment, and in the course of it said the general 
 judgment might last an indefinite length of time, 'per- 
 haps ten thousand years,' and then, with a flash in his 
 eye, said, ' the damnation of the sinner would then come 
 soon enough.' " 
 
THE LORD'S CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 313 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 The Lord's Call to the Ministry. 
 
 A CONSCIOUS call to the ministry is both an inspi- 
 ration to duty and a guard against discouragement 
 in the work. 
 
 In secular pursuits men justly make their choice. 
 Their future is at their disposal, and they are responsi- 
 ble for its results. Having freedom of action they may 
 consult their tastes, their talents, and their opportuni- 
 ties. Their supposed interests influence their conclu- 
 sions, and excellence and success may be anticipated 
 where the widest doors open and aptitudes and prefer- 
 ences are indulged. But a call to the ministry is of 
 God. He who from the beginning has had a cause in 
 the earth has had his own way of sustaining and ad- 
 vancing it. Moses saw God in the burning bush and 
 heard his voice from the flame. The tribe of Levi was 
 separated for the tabernacle, and he inspired the 
 prophets. Isaiah responded to his appeal amid the 
 glory that filled the temple and awed the six- 
 winged seraphim, when his tongue was touched with 
 a "live coal from off the altar." To Jeremiah God 
 said, " Whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak." 
 Paul was a chosen vessel to bear his name to the Gen- 
 tiles and to the kings and to the children of Israel. 
 To his apostles he said, " Go ye into all the world and 
 preach the Gospel to every creature." The commission 
 to preach remains with the divine head, and " no man 
 taketh this honor to himself but he that is called of God, 
 
814 
 
 JOHN P. I) URBIN. 
 
 as was Aaron." Greatly as he has honored the Church 
 in her labors to extend his kingdom, positive as is the 
 aid that his people often render the student in prepar- 
 ing for his work, and manifest as is the power of the 
 faithful in sustaining him when in the held, the au- 
 thority to preach is from a higher source. This the 
 Church recognizes when she asks the candidate, "Do 
 you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy 
 Ghost to take upon you the office of ministration ? " 
 
 Respect for the offices, the functions, and usefulne-s 
 of the minister might induce an earnest Christian to 
 desire the place, and one might reason from his natural 
 endowments, his educational advantages, his mother's 
 prayers, and his father's wishes, and ask himself whether 
 it is not his duty to preach ? If after the careful 
 searching of his heart, rigorous analysis of his motives, 
 and humble prayer to know the will of God, the im- 
 pression is made, and stirs the soul to such effort, he 
 may accept it as the inward call. If then in attempting 
 to speak he has the help of the Holy Spirit, and the 
 Church witnesses his "gifts, grace, and usefulness" — 
 if providence opens the way and seems to point out this 
 path — if in following those indications the mind settles 
 in the belief that God calls, we say this is enough to 
 justify conviction of duty. This is the outward call. 
 This ends anxiety. He discriminates between a con- 
 ception and a consciousness, between a wish and an obli- 
 gation. He then acts on divine authority, which feeling 
 is one of the greatest forces that he ever experiences in 
 delivering his message. 
 
 It is not himself speaking ; it is not merely the 
 church that licensed him; it is not the ecclesiastical 
 economy that directs him, but it is God that speaks 
 through him. It is not too much to assume that a man 
 may be conscious of such call. If God by his " Spirit 
 
THE LORD'S CALL To THE MINISTRY. 315 
 
 bears witness with our spirit" as to our conversion — if 
 the "Spirit help our infirmities" so that we know the 
 things we ought to pray for," surely it is not presump- 
 tion to suppose in desiring men for the greatest work 
 on earth he should satisfy them concerning his will. 
 He who called Samuel by a vocal utterance can now 
 speak by the inward voice of his Spirit, and thus make 
 an indelible impression upon the mind. 
 
 It was for such consciousness that young Durbin 
 waited. The taste of his childhood, the wish of his 
 mother, his respect for the ministry, and the exercises 
 of his mind were not sufficient. The mental struggle 
 continued till facts compelled conviction. The search- 
 ing question as to his duty, coming from his saintly 
 grandfather, went through his soul with such power 
 that it shook all secular purposes out of his heart. The 
 observing church expressed its judgment, and the pre- 
 siding elder sought his service; such concurrent evi- 
 dence and the influence of the Spirit satisfied his 
 mind, and he modestly but earnestly entered upon his 
 work. 
 
 Consciousness of a call from God, and the felt pres- 
 ence of the Holy Spirit, are the highest inspiration that 
 the preacher needs. It causes the obedient servant to 
 spring forward with a noble alacrity and with neces- 
 sary determination. The soul rises into a moral realm, 
 where earthly ambitions and prospects have no influ- 
 ence. Gold has lost its glitter, fame its lure, and the 
 richest possessions fail to deter or divert from duty. 
 A holy passion subordinates all things to its control. 
 With "the obligation comes the impulse to its discharge. 
 He says, "This work shall make my heart rejoice." 
 Not less is this consciousness a guard against all dis- 
 couragements. Profound as are the convictions that 
 impel to action, powerful as is the influence that urged 
 
316 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 on the young preacher, he will become familiar with 
 trials which this consciousness alone will overcome. 
 
 (a.) There may be physical suffering that will test de- 
 votion to the work. He who reads the journal of Free- 
 born Garrettson in the earliest ministry of Methodism 
 in this country well knows what it is to suffer in this 
 calling. Even in Maryland, his native State, he was 
 beaten by his persecutors and left unconscious on the 
 road, and Mr. Hartley was imprisoned. 
 
 Who can read without tears the narrative of minis- 
 ters of later years ? In the biographical sketches edited 
 by Dr. T. O. Summers we have two, written by Bishop 
 H. N. McTyeire. They were the first laborers in 
 Louisiana. The Bishop says, " Louisiana has been the 
 Macedonia of the Methodist Episcopal Church." As 
 an example of suffering he quotes from Elisha Bowman, 
 the pioneer, January 29, 1806. " Every day that I 
 travel I have to swim through creeks or swamps, and I 
 am wet from my head to my feet, and some days from 
 morning till night I am dripping with water. ... I 
 have given you a faint idea of my travels. . . . What I 
 have suffered in body and mind my pen is not able to 
 communicate to you ; but this I can say : while my body 
 is wet with water and chilled with cold my soul is 
 filled with heavenly fire. . . . And while these periods 
 drop from my pen my soul is ready to leave this 
 earthly house and fly to endless rest." What but con- 
 sciousness of his call held this man in such a work ? 
 He was a writer of beauty, tenderness, and force. The 
 next case is that of Richard Nolley, of whom we have 
 a sketch also in Sprague's Annals of the Methodist 
 Pulpit. He was a preacher of whom the late Daniel 
 De Vinne, of the New York East Conference, used to 
 make devout mention. In self-denial and in holiness 
 Mr. Nolley would compare with Thomas Walsh. Of 
 
THE LORD'S CALL TO THE 3ILXISTRY. 
 
 317 
 
 South-western Louisiana it was said "the gospel plow- 
 share never struck into a harder soil," but this saint 
 essayed to break it. Omitting his almost, unexampled 
 difficulties, shameful persecution, and the great revivals 
 that marked his short history, we view him in Ins clos- 
 ing suffering and triumph. He had finished a journey 
 of three hundred and fifty miles through the wilderness, 
 swimming deep creeks and lying out, eleven nights, 
 and had reached his appointment. He passed a vil- 
 lage of Indians, and in attempting to cross a swift 
 stream he and his horse were parted. He escaped 
 drowning, but, chilled and exhausted, the cold and 
 darkness every moment becoming intenser, he sank 
 down and seemed conscious of his approaching end. 
 On Friday, his fast-day, amid the gloom of the place 
 and period, the Bishop says, " he met the shining ones." 
 Thus in his divine vocation, when only thirty-four years 
 of age, perished one of the best men out of heav en. 
 " His knees were muddy, and the prints of them were on 
 the ground, showing what his last exercise had been. 
 . . . A traveler the next day about four o'clock found 
 the corpse . . . and the neighbors bore the frozen form 
 to the house where it was supposed he aimed to go." 
 Died he not as a martyr ? Received he not a martyr's 
 crown? May it not be written of him as of Saint Paul, 
 "In perils of waters ... in perils in the wilderness 
 . . . in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in 
 hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and naked- 
 ness?" 
 
 Such cases are not common, but they show us the 
 necessity — at least for our fathers to know they were 
 moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon them this min- 
 istry. How much was comprehended in J. P. Durbin's 
 case has never had a full record, but we have seen 
 sufficient to justify our joy that he was conscious that 
 
318 
 
 JOHX P. DURBIN. 
 
 God separated him to this work. Few preachers of the 
 present day have the same kind of trials or so much of 
 such difficulty. But we shall see that they have enough 
 to make it desirable that they should realize how im- 
 perative is their duty. 
 
 (b.) lie has the depression that arises from felt inade- 
 quacy to his work. An apostle exclaimed, " Who is 
 sufficient for these things?" Flushed as the young 
 preacher sometimes is with the results of his first 
 efforts, encouraged as he has been by the kind expres- 
 sion of devoted friends, there are few, if any, who do 
 not experience a mental depression that their failures 
 to meet their wishes have induced. Criticisms may be 
 heard, sometimes doubts are expressed ; his painful 
 want of knowledge, his need of more of the Holy 
 Spirit, and his exalted ideal of a sermon, may awaken 
 strong temptations to despair in the prosecution of bis 
 ■work. He is not unwilling to deny himself. lie 
 shrinks from no part of his labor because of its difficul- 
 ties, but he is oppressed with the thought that he is 
 unequal to the place. Nor has this been the experience 
 alone of those not educated nor distinguished for talent. 
 Preachers who have been most admired have had this 
 trial. Robert Hall was a great orator, but he called 
 together his vestry to resign his pastorate because of 
 the thought of his inadequacy. It was not because 
 Lawrence Laurenson, of the Philadelphia Conference, 
 was not one of the most eloquent men of that body 
 that he rolled on the floor and protested that he could 
 not preach. We have seen what were the reasonings 
 of J. P. Durbin in relation to his first efforts, and of 
 the kindness that he thought was necessary upon the 
 part of the people to receive and treat him so well. 
 
 (r) The preacher needs the consciousness of a divine 
 call to guard him against discouragement. 
 
THE LORD'S CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 319 
 
 According to the Methodist Discipline, the sole busi- 
 ness of a preacher is to save souls. It says, "You have 
 nothing to do but save souls." For this he studies, 
 prays, and weeps between the porch and the altar, but, 
 like the disciples, lie sometimes says, "we have toiled 
 all night and taken nothing." What, then, will satisfy ? 
 Will the hospitalities that have been received, the cour- 
 tesies extended, the commendation bestowed, the friend- 
 ships formed, or the salary promptly and liberally paid ? 
 Will the largeness of the congregation or the intellect- 
 ual make-up of the assembly ? Will these satisfy 
 him ? If they will he is out of his place or is out of 
 the right state of mind and heart. A Methodist preacher 
 without souls is like a glorified saint without a crown. 
 What is our hope, our joy, our crown of rejoicing? Are 
 not even ye, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at 
 his coming ? 
 
 The preacher considers the import and difficulty of 
 his work. To operate upon matter is one thing, to 
 influence mind is another. To span the East River 
 with a single arch, to bridge the distance and to open 
 a highway of travel and commerce between Xew York 
 and Brooklyn, is a work that intelligence, energy, time, 
 and necessary means could accomplish. By civil en- 
 gineering, by scientific knowledge, by mechanical skill, 
 by a wise calculation of the forces of nature, all this 
 has been done, and millions in a single year chose 
 this as a highway without apprehension of harm. To 
 this the genius of a Roebling is equal ; but who shall 
 close up the moral distance between an offended God 
 and an unforgiven sinner? One Mediator bridged the 
 chasm of the fall by the cross of Calvary, that opens a 
 " highway and the redeemed pass over it." But what 
 unrepenting soul experiences its advantages ? Who 
 shall conquer rebellion ? By what power shall we make 
 
320 
 
 John p. bur bin: 
 
 the alien a real child ? To move the mind in the right 
 direction, when taste, and habit, and a depraved heart 
 are behind it, is such labor as even the Holy Ghost does 
 not accomplish without the sinner's consent. God asks, 
 " How shall I put thee among the children ? " It is not 
 in man to do it. The vastness of the interest at stake, 
 the authority on which the minister speaks, the ardor 
 of his spirit, the earnestness of his effort, and the efficacy 
 of his prayers, together with the force of his arguments 
 and the power of his appeal, will not secure the end. A 
 church in tears, a revival in progress, and angels in 
 waiting to carry the intelligence of a sinner's repenting 
 are not enough to save one soul, who will not have 
 this man to reign over him. This almost breaks a 
 preacher's heart. 
 
 He may feel that his skirts are clear, but he knows 
 that the skirt? of others are crimsoned with "blood- 
 guiltiness." How felt the holy Rutherford when he 
 said, " My witness is in heaven ; your heaven would be 
 two heavens to me and your salvation two salvations?" 
 
 Richard Cecil declares a country minister fighting the 
 devil in his parish has a higher idea than Julius Caesar 
 or Napoleon ever dreamed of. All ministers may say, 
 " We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against 
 principalities, against powers, against spiritual wicked- 
 ness in high places." 
 
 (</.) The obstacles that are sometimes encountered in the 
 state of the Church demand the guard and support af- 
 forded by consciousness of a call to the place. God 
 says, " I would that you were cold or hot." Paul de- 
 clares it is good to be zealously affected always in a 
 good thing. 
 
 Zeal for God in the Church is the pastor's hope, want 
 of it his fear. If there be inertness, it matters not what 
 else there is, there is real grief. The learning, the 
 
THE LORD'S CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 
 
 321 
 
 wealth, the social position, the numbers may all be read- 
 ily and gladly acknowledged ; but what are these if 
 conscience is obtuse or energy sleeps; if they know not 
 that they are poor and miserable and blind and naked? 
 
 Not to help is bad, but it is worse to hinder. 
 
 In the Evangelical Alliance held in New York, in 
 1873, no essay moved that vast assembly like the one 
 delivered by Dr. T. Christlieb, professor of theology and 
 university preacher at Bonn, Prussia. It was on 
 " Modern Infidelity." But the utterance of greatest 
 power was to the effect that modern infidels do not read 
 tlie Scriptures. They study the Bible in those who 
 profess to follow its teaching. If they are not right 
 they condemn this book. Thus religion is judged not 
 by what it is, but by what our example makes it. If they 
 see in the life of a professor even apocryphal conduct, 
 the charge is upon religion — that it does not make us 
 just and good. It has often been found that the church 
 that is not a hot-bed for the fruits of the Spirit is one 
 of noxious weeds, and that roots of bitterness springing 
 up trouble it. There are those who " walk disorderly 
 and will not be reproved." Thence come dissensions 
 and every evil work, and the minister is compelled to 
 resort to the discipline of the Church. Inaction is con- 
 si rued into connivance or cowardice, and administration 
 may be regarded by others as unnecessary or severe. 
 This is the most painful, and sometimes the most per- 
 plexing duty of a pastor, and he may ask, "Did my call 
 mean this ?" " Besides those things that are without, 
 that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the 
 churches. Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is 
 offended and I burn not?" 
 
 Young Durbin knew the import of what we have thus 
 stated. But as our ministry sometimes involves phys- 
 ical sufferings, and even death, so it comprehends such 
 22 
 
322 
 
 JOHN P. DURBLV. 
 
 trials that we justly deplore. Who would not shun 
 such a fold ? 
 
 (e.) Financial embarassments may add to the facts 
 already named. When one gives himself to the itin- 
 erancy his first care is to make full proof of his minis- 
 try. He may have but himself to support. Whether 
 his salary is less or more than $50 a year is a minor mat- 
 ter. The trade of young Durbin might yield more in 
 a month than his preaching would in a year. But what 
 of that ? He lived among the people and his wants were 
 met. Yet the man who has a family, and for five or six 
 years receives about $100 a year, as was the case with 
 one clergyman, is in a different case. He can bear pri- 
 vations, but his wife and children must have support. 
 To add to the trial, he sees men in business rising to 
 wealth, and that with no more talents, energj-, and enter- 
 prise than are demanded of a preacher in order to success. 
 
 He sees, moreover, that riches gained are enabling 
 men in secular life to accomplish for the Church and so- 
 ciety what the minister is unable to do —planting mis- 
 sions, establishing Sunday-schools, endowing professor- 
 ships, building hospitals, and contributing largely to the 
 support of the Church, whereby they obtain an influ- 
 ence to which the minister can never rise. It may not 
 astonish us that he is tempted to think he would be 
 justified in departing from the work. 
 
 When Sir Matthew Hale meditated the ministry and 
 the law, and thought of the influence that lie might 
 exert in adopting the legal profession, he reasoned thus: 
 The same acts that the love of God prompts in an ear- 
 nest Christian exert more power when coming from a 
 layman than from a minister. In a lawyer it would be 
 attributed to zeal for usefulness, in a minister it would 
 be regarded as a part of his profession. In the law he 
 certainly made himself useful as a Christian. 
 
THE LORD'S CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 323 
 
 But the minister ponders his call and what it involves. 
 "With something like a just appreciation of his case he 
 says : 
 
 " I am a 1 shepherd ' of Christ's sheep, and must fold 
 and feed, must guide and guard the flock. Shall the 
 sheep perish for whom Christ died ? 
 
 " I am a ' steward,' and it is required of him that he 
 be found faithful. Shall I be derelict to duty ? 
 
 " I am a ' watchman.' Will I see the sword and give 
 no alarm ? 
 
 " I am an ' ambassador.' Shall I not entreat men to 
 be reconciled to God ? 
 
 " Shall I leave my post ? If dignity be judged by the 
 authority that confers it — if his intelligence and skill and 
 loyalty are equal to his charge — then earth and heaven 
 meet in the ministrations of him who negotiates betw een 
 God and man." 
 
 Who shall describe his responsibility ? The shepherd 
 must go into the wilderness after the lost sheep. That 
 is what Garrett son, Bowman, and Nolley were doing. 
 
 The steward must give to every one his portion in 
 due season. The watchman lifts up his voice like a 
 trumpet, and the ambassador in Christ's stead asks, im- 
 plores, and exhausts his resources that this war with 
 God may come to an immediate end. All this was 
 recognized by John P. Durbin. 
 
 Such relationships do not allow these spiritual func- 
 tions to be neglected. In the life of Robert S. McAlI, 
 LL.D., we have an illustration of the liability to dis- 
 couragement in a minister of pre eminent ability and of 
 the power that held him in his place. He was called 
 ''the Cicero of Nonconformity;" yet he declared that 
 such was his sense of responsibility that nothing could 
 induce him to continue his labors but the most absolute 
 conviction of duty, and that he dared not retire, else 
 
324 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 he should have done so long since, adding emphatically 
 these words, " (), sir, frequently have I come home 
 Sabbath morning when, under the agonizing feeling, I 
 have Lhrown myself on the sofa, and had it not been a 
 sin to commit suicide I should have done it rather than 
 preach again in the evening." 
 
 This language is too strong; but it came from one of 
 keen sensibility, who allowed the tempter too much 
 power ; but it gives those who do not know it some 
 view of the mental sufferings of which a faithful min- 
 ister may be the subject. 
 
 Such are some of the trials that ministers meet, and 
 that make a clear sense of duty an imperative demand. 
 When a weak mortal feels the confluence of so many 
 streams, and some of them of such volume — when such 
 bitter waters rise and rage around him, could it be ex- 
 pected that he will stand firm if he has nothing behind 
 him but his own tastes, a college education, a theological 
 training, or his past preparations of whatever sort — 
 nothing but those things that are from the human to 
 keep him firm ? If there was ever a tinge of romance in 
 the life it is gone. If there was ever experiment, it is 
 over. If it was to reach a cert iin reputation, that mat- 
 ter is settled with joy or grief. But there is some- 
 thing higher. He pauses, he prays, he weeps. His 
 mind reverts to his mental processes and his moral con- 
 clusions. He thinks of the books he read to help his 
 thoughts of duty. He remembers that then, if ever, his 
 devotion to God was pure ; then, if ever, his eye was 
 single; then, if ever, he had God's work at heart, and 
 he asks with an agonized mind, "Shall such a man as I 
 flee ? Shall a standard-bearer faint ? Is the necessity 
 absolute? Then only may I feel my call for this work 
 at this time is out." He sees his way is not fully shut 
 up. Now he would retire but for the conscious call. 
 
THE LOHD'S CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 
 
 325 
 
 With one who once was an evangelical power in this 
 land, he says, " Die on the field of battle." 
 
 Before once fleeing, welcome a thousand deaths. We 
 honor the soldier whom danger makes more brave. We 
 laud the physician whom pestilence does not drive 
 from duty ; but worldly ambition may prompt the one, 
 while lucrative practice may influence the other. But 
 God's minister looks at his commission, and says it is 
 from a higher power, is for a nobler end, and is gov- 
 erned by celestial motives. What if the depressed 
 Elijah was under the juniper-tree — what if Jeremiah 
 said. " I will not speak any more in his name." I live 
 under the dispensation of the Holy Ghost, and mine 
 may be the tongue of fire. "lie that walketh in the 
 midst of the seven golden candlesticks holds the seven 
 stars in his right hand." 
 
 Of the trials of Dr. Durbin in the ministry we may 
 not adecpiately speak. He was not accustomed to re- 
 count or to dwell upon them. He saw the end rather 
 than the difficulties in his way. Time and trial were 
 less than duty and destiny. But we have seen his as- 
 pirations and the obstacles in his path. We have seen 
 him with a salary that it shames our present Methodism 
 to remember. We have seen him with loss of voice at 
 the end of his first six months, a fact well calculated to 
 crush hope and extinguish every fire of sanctified am- 
 bition. We heard him tell of painful failure in preach- 
 ing the word, but he had heard God. He had heard 
 the Church. He had not gone without being sent. 
 He knew the exercises of his own mind, and the ex- 
 periences of his heart, and he could calmly say, "Xone 
 of these things move me." And his life was made 
 grand. What like such consciousness of a call makes a 
 man courageous and eloquent as a preacher of the word. 
 
326 
 
 JOIIX R DURDIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Eloquence a Worthy Study. 
 
 ELOQUENCE is a reality. Nothing more certainly 
 affects individuals or masses of men. In war and 
 in peace it makes appeals that compel response, and if 
 it is truthfully said "the pen is mightier than the 
 sword," he who knows the full power of speech will 
 confess the tongue is mightier than the pen. The 
 fathers of the Revolution did well to consider the state-* 
 ments and the arguments of Jefferson's pen ; but what 
 roused the colonies like the utterances of Adams, of 
 Otis, and of Patrick Henry ? 
 
 In classic Greece and ancient Rome eloquence was the 
 highest study for power and fame. It was a remark of 
 Henry Clay that "there is no power like the power of 
 oratory. Caesar conquered men by exciting their 
 fears; Cicero by captivating their affections and sway- 
 ing t heir passions. The influence of the one perished 
 with its author, while that of the other continues to this 
 day." It is said, " Julius Caesar was subdued by the elo- 
 quence of Cicero, and absolved the criminal whom he 
 had determined to punish." 
 
 But this very power has been made an argument 
 against the cultivation of eloquence. It has been said, 
 '•it may influence the simple, but not the wise." There 
 may be those who can make the worse appear the 
 better reason. But eloquence is not sophistry. Elo- 
 quence has been pronounced a "virtue." This, like any 
 other power, may be used for good or evil. The sun 
 
ELOQUENCE A WORTHY STUDY. 327 
 
 that warms the soil for the seed may burn up vegeta- 
 tion and cause famine. And the rains of heaven that 
 the farmer asks may flood his fit-Ids. The very strength 
 that God gave to Samson made him the sport of fools 
 that " make a mock at sin." 
 
 We are even cautioned against " receiving the grace 
 of God in vain." There is no faculty with which we 
 are endowed, and there is no acquisition in learning 
 that we can make, that may not be turned to ill account. 
 As really from the printing press that gives us Bibles 
 at so cheap a rate comes polluting literature at prices 
 that any may pay. Men do not refuse money because 
 there are misers; and even Christians labor for its pos- 
 session, though " the love of money is the root of all evil." 
 
 But what is there in the eloquence of speech to jus- 
 tify opposition to its cultivation ? It is the clothing of 
 our thoughts in such language and expressing them in 
 such manner as are adapted to produce conviction and 
 persuasion. It is the art of speaking to effect our pur- 
 pose. Quintilian says, "It is in the heart, in the genius, 
 and in the thoughts, that eloquence properly consists," 
 and surely a wise man will not refuse these. It will 
 hardly be assumed that Benjamin Franklin was a weak 
 man, or that David Hume or Lord Chesterfield were to 
 lie pronounced simple as to their judgments of the 
 works of men. Yet the eloquence of Whitefield made 
 Franklin, despite his former purpose, empty his purse 
 for a collection, and caused Chesterfield to say he would 
 go twenty miles to hear him. It caitivated Hume. 
 
 Emerson says : " The orator is he whom every man 
 is seeking when he goes into court, into conventions, 
 into any popular assembly. His speech is the electricity 
 of action." Hervey declares, " When Seeker preaches 
 or when Murray pleads, the church is crowded and the 
 bar is thronged." 
 
S3U 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 yet vitality is more than color. But as the place of 
 our birth, notwithstanding love of locality that it in- 
 duces, does not forbid emigration if found to our ad- 
 vantage, so our tastes should not prevent the exercise 
 of our talents in the direction where they can accom- 
 plish most. As like genius does not always reach equal 
 eminence, so like effort may not invariably reap the 
 same fruit. One may do with difficulty what another 
 does with ease. But ease and difficulty are not the 
 question to govern one intent on a worthy object. 
 Genius is not to be disparaged, but industry must not 
 be ignored. In some things the impulse of genius will 
 do what hard study will not effect. But he who con- 
 ceives of genius as that which makes men wise without 
 study, or illustrious without effort, conceives of some- 
 thing that no sensible man should covet. 
 
 Dr. Johnson says, " Men have sometimes appeared of 
 such transcendent abilities that their slightest and 
 most cursory performance excel all that labor and 
 study can enable meaner intellects to compose, as 
 there are regions of which the spontaneous products 
 cannot be equaled in other soils by care and culture. 
 But it is not less dangerous for any man to place him- 
 self m this rank, and fancy that he is born to be illus- 
 trious without labor, than to omit the cares of hus- 
 bandry and expect from the ground the blossoms of 
 Arabia." Because Providence gave the church such 
 young preachers as Spencer and Summerfield is no 
 reason for youthful presumption. Genius does much, 
 but let no one presume. 
 
 The counterpart of Napoleon's genius for war may 
 not appear in a century. We may in vain read all 
 history to find another Julius Caesar, and many years 
 may elapse before our " military academy " will give 
 us another Grant. But this is no proof that "the 
 
ELOQUENCE A WORTHY STUDY. 331 
 
 sword has become a plowshare, or that the spear has 
 been converted into a pruning-hook." Nor would it 
 be deemed wise lor our nation to close West Point, 
 or for our young men to decline to study the science 
 and art of war. Ages have passed without producing 
 another Demosthenes or Cicero. Yet England boasts 
 her Sheridan, her Canning, and her Fox ; and America 
 points to her mighty orators in Patrick Henry, Fisher 
 Ames, and Henry Clay. And the names of Gladstone 
 and Webster will live in history for their eloquence a8 
 well as for their wisdom. 
 
 Another John P. Durbin may be sought for in vain 
 among the pulpit orators of the land ; but the influence 
 of his example survives him, and the lessons and labors 
 of his life will go on blessing the world. Other men 
 have learned eloquence from his utterances, and some 
 of his characteristics have been and may yet be repro- 
 duced in those who heard his discourse or study his life. 
 We wisely aim at what we may not fully reach. The 
 effort is both a discipline and an advantage. We are 
 endowed for labor, and the minister may not only cher- 
 ish a sanctified ambition, but indulge an animating 
 hope. 
 
 When Rubenstein heard a distinguished preacher say, 
 " A man must not be expected to do better than he can," 
 he declared he did not like the sermon, because, said the 
 great pianist, "It is false; for men must do the impos- 
 sible. I tell my pupils if they do not try to compose bet- 
 ter than Beethoven they must never come to my tuition." 
 The Greek adage is, " The gods sell every thing to labor." 
 Eloquent speaking maybe assumed to be largely the re- 
 sult of study and practice. Much that is almost forgotten 
 may have been learned in childhood at school when the 
 mind and the organs of speech might readily receive 
 some of the best aids to the end meditated. " In former 
 
332 
 
 JOHN P. D URBIN. 
 
 ages the opinion was held that the talent for eloquence 
 M as pre-eminently one of discipline, and it is one of the 
 maxims that has descended to the present time that 
 "men must be born to poetry, but bred to eloquence;" 
 that the "bard is always a child of nature and the ora- 
 tor always the issue of instruction." (John Q. Adams's 
 Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory, vol. i, 25.) 
 
 Temperament, sympathy, grace of person, compass 
 and sweetness of voice, together with readiness of utter- 
 ance, make their contribution to the speaker. But which 
 of these may not be improved by use or impaired by 
 disuse ? By reading, by conversation, by study of models, 
 one may imbibe the spirit and find the secret that we 
 seek. Eloquence spurns idleness and disowns the self- 
 sufficient. If to be public speakers men study grammar, 
 rhetoric, and logic, why not eloquence in its best mani- 
 festations ? One may have grammar, rhetoric, and logic ; 
 yet lack of ability to speak makes all unavailing. If to 
 be a scholar, to acquire useful arts, we pursue study, and 
 adopt the best means to fit ourselves for positions of 
 responsibility and honor, surely it is not unworthy our 
 best effort to prepare for the calling of a minister of 
 Christ. Galen says, "An unskillful sculptor spoils only 
 a block of marble, but an unskillful physician spoils a 
 man." But a more painful thought is, the unskillful 
 minister may at least fail to save a soul from death. 
 
 Men not influenced by the high motives of the Chris- 
 tian have deemed no cost too great if they might ac- 
 quire eloquence. We are familiar with the narrative of 
 Demosthenes — the impediment in his speech and awk- 
 wardness of gesture; that to overcome his faults, under 
 the shame of his defeats he sought seclusion for careful 
 study ; then harangued the ocean that he might be supe- 
 rior to the tumult of a great assembly, and put pebbles 
 in his mouth, that if with them he could manage to 
 
ELOQUENCE A WORTHY STUDY. 
 
 333 
 
 speak lie might find case in their absence; and to correct 
 the shrug of the shoulder placed a sword to pierce him. 
 His reward was greater than his expenditure of time 
 and effort. 
 
 Cicero failed in the beginning "through weakness 
 of lungs and excessive vehemence of manner, which 
 wearied Ins hearers and defeated his purpose." Study 
 conquered, but it was not till he had traveled in various 
 lands, secured the aid of instructors and critics, that he 
 reached his mark. He passed no day without exercise 
 in his art. The end justified all the means employed. 
 
 When Fox first rose in the House of Commons he 
 blundered, stammered, ami at last "sat down in discom- 
 fiture." But success followed failure, and diligence raised 
 him to the first place of an English orator. When 
 Richard Brinsley Sheridan began his course as a speaker 
 his painful failures induced a friend to say, "Speaking 
 is not your calling." With an emphasis of more vigor 
 than refinement he exclaimed, "It is in me, and I will 
 bring it out." In that reply we have the elements of a 
 mighty orator. There was intensity, determination, and 
 consciousness of Ins own capability, and all his labor 
 was in faith. It has been stated on good authority that 
 Patrick Henry owed more to the study of the art of 
 eloquence than many have supposed. In early life he 
 had one habit besides that of indolence; it was that of 
 watching the working of the passions and of detecting 
 the motives of human conduct. For these purposes he 
 drew around him groups of companions and engaged 
 them in conversation on excellent subjects. 
 
 If there be enough in eloquence to justify such efforts 
 and reward such toil in men of the tcorld is there any 
 labor too great for him xchose highest ambition is to 
 reach the minds and hearts of men to save then) from 
 "going down to the pit?" Can the minister of the 
 
334 
 
 JO UN P. DURBiy. 
 
 Son of God allow men of any calling to do more for 
 their purpose than he will do to accomplish the end of 
 his mission ? What are crowns on earth, though studded 
 with diamonds, compared with the honor of him that is 
 faithful to his divine vocation, when every soul that 
 he saves by his speech shall be ' a star" to shine in the 
 crown of his rejoicing forever and forever? Eloquence 
 is eloquence whether at the bar, in the senate, or the 
 pulpit. If in eloquence there is enough to inspire an 
 army when on the fiery edge of battle; enough to rouse 
 the patriot's soul when death looks him in the face; 
 enough to kindle the fire that no waters of adversity 
 can quench; enough to make the men who heard De- 
 mosthenes say, "Let us march against Philip ; " if there 
 is enough to cause Burke to say of the speech of Sheridan, 
 " Such a display of powers is unparalleled in the annals 
 of oratory — such a display that reflects the highest 
 honor upon himself, luster upon letters, renown upon the 
 patriot and glory upon the country " — then surely there 
 is enough in eloquence to make the minister do what he 
 can to command it. 
 
 What like the eloquence of reason, of conscience — and 
 that the Spirit gives — makes men feel their obligation to 
 rise superior to all the enemies in their path ? At such 
 time it is not so much a question as to what a man 
 knows as a student as what he feels and expresses as the 
 mouth-piece for God. With half the human knowledge 
 of another he exerts double his power and secures ten- 
 fold the benefit. He carries his cause because he is in 
 it and makes others feel it is in them. Who, then, shall 
 ask, Is there enough in eloquence to justify a minister 
 in using the means for its attainment? Are not the 
 means of acquiring eloquence as really at his command 
 as of any other person? Are his faculties and suscep- 
 tibilities inferior? Will it cost him any more than it 
 
ELOQUEXCE A WORTHY STUDY. 
 
 335 
 
 docs others of like condition but with dissimilar sphere ; 
 or can any motives be more powerful to impel than 
 those that influence one of his vocation? Is there not 
 as much in his calling to demand and reveal the highest 
 style of oratory? Has he not greater aids to his pur- 
 suit of this power in the fact of God's presence and in- 
 fluence? If he hear God saying, "Go, stand in the 
 temple and speak all the words of this life," is he not 
 then under obligation to employ every auxiliary iind 
 improve every opportunity to his usefulness? In the 
 imposed duty to speak there is the implied obligation 
 to speak the best he can. But who has not marked the 
 disparity between able men in relation to eloquence? 
 What makes the difference in many cases between two 
 ministers as to their fields of labor and their opportuni- 
 ties of success? At this day what numbers of excellent 
 preachers are scattered through the country with few 
 to hear them and little to encourage labor ! At college 
 and in the theological seminary, or in the places of 
 their preparation, they were the equals of and even su- 
 perior to those who now fill positions that afford them 
 every encouragement in the work. What is the differ- 
 ence between these men ? Piety? No! Learning? No! 
 Unfitness by training for the best society? No ! It is 
 solely as to the "art of speaking." In this the differ- 
 ence is sometimes slight, but it is real, which, added to 
 some otlier minor matter, gives the disparity. In other 
 instances the contrast between preachers is very broad. 
 This calls for the greater effort. We have seen a 
 theological student, about to graduate from one of the 
 noblest institutions of the land, after all the advantages 
 of a college course attempting to deliver a sermon from 
 manuscript in a way that no congi cgation would endure. 
 We have listened to another, from one of the first schools 
 of theology, standing with his manuscript before a large 
 
336 
 
 JOUN P. DURBM. 
 
 audience with no more apparent knowledge of what was 
 written than if another had just sent it to him and lie 
 was trying for the first time to make out the subject, 
 yet in a manner so irreverent as to excite the derision 
 rather than the pity of the people. Any one of taste for 
 divine things would infinitely prefer the rustic from the 
 plow, without knowledge of a rule in grammar, provided 
 his heart glowed and he "just spoke right on." Ralph 
 Waldo Emerson relates that the Persian poet Saadi 
 heard a person with a disagreeable voice reading the 
 Koran aloud, when a holy man passing by asked what 
 was his monthly stipend. He answered, "Notliing at 
 all." " But why do you take so much trouble?" He 
 replied, "I read for the sake of God." The other re- 
 joined, " For God's sake, do not read ; for if you read 
 the Koran in this manner you will destroy the splendor 
 of Islamism." 
 
 If any have need of an audience for the work and for 
 a worthy end ii is he who speaks for God. Martin 
 Luther, in naming the qualifications for the preacher for 
 the word, says, " He should be eloquent." It is recorded 
 of Chrysostom, "the golden-mouthed," "that he studied 
 the Greek orators." It is stated that George Whitefield 
 took lessons of Garrick. It is certain that John Wesley 
 advised "all who could to study the art of speaking." 
 He names particular " faults and vices " to be corrected, 
 and impresses rules that secure ease and efficiency in 
 public address. To remedy bad gesture he suggests 
 even a " large looking-glass," that there may be seen 
 reflected in a mirror what the people see in our action 
 before them. He gives Demosthenes as an example of 
 benefit by such means. He says, "There is but one way 
 better than this, which is to have some excellent pattern 
 as often as may be before your eyes." 
 
 The Methodist Discipline, in receiving preachers for 
 
ELUQUEXCE A WORTHY STUDY. 
 
 337 
 
 the itinerancy, asks, "Do they speak justly, readily, 
 clearly ?" Here is the foundation for eloquence, and no 
 Church has a broader, firmer, better one. 
 
 Longinus says, " The works of the great masters are 
 like so many sacred sources, where the most frigid kin- 
 dle and take tire." It is said that Rubens loved to have 
 some one read to him while he delineated his pictures, 
 asserting that the finest imagination needed warming. 
 No one who seeks eloquence has greater helps to its at- 
 tainment than the gospel minister. 
 
 The Father of languages has inspired one Book that 
 is a study and authority and an inspiration to the 
 preacher. Its themes are diverse and its reasonings 
 conclusive. Its light is so perfect and pervading that 
 all may walk in its brightness. For mental elevation, 
 for verbal grandeur, for exalted spirit, for the material 
 and examples of eloquence, the Bible has no equal. 
 The greatest statesmen, the sublimest orators, as well 
 as the most illustrious ministers of Christ, have sought 
 its aid and showed its impress. What book like the 
 Bible quickens thought, broadens intellect, incites and 
 increases mental penetration ? In its study we rise to 
 the vastness of eternal verities. 
 
 " I have often observed," says Addison, " that when- 
 ever the Roman orator, in his philosophical discourses, 
 is led by his argument to the mention of immortality, 
 he seems like one awakened out of sleep; roused and 
 alarmed at the dignity of the subject he stretches his 
 imagination to conceive something uncommon, and 
 with the greatness of his thoughts casts, as it were, a 
 glory round the sentence. Uncertain and unsettled as 
 he was, he seems fired with the contemplation of it." 
 
 What God thinks of the power of language and of 
 speech may be judged by the facts that he has fur- 
 nished. The eloquence of Scripture speaks for itself ; 
 23 
 
338 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 and when the lawgiver of Israel thought his lack of 
 ability to speak would be a hinderance to his work the 
 Almighty gave him Aaron, saying, "I know him, that 
 he can speak well. ' 
 
 But did not St. Paul say he " came not with excel- 
 lency of speech," and that he " determined not to know 
 any tiling among them but Jesus Christ, and him cru- 
 cified ? " Yes, he said this. What did he mean ? 
 That he ignored rhetoric? That there was no passion 
 in his utterance ? That he did not try to persuade 
 men ? Study his life, analyze his speeches, and tell 
 why Felix trembled and Agrippa was almost persuaded 
 to be a Christian, and how it came to pass that he made 
 suc h an impression in Athens. 
 
 St. Paul speaks of himself as less than the least of 
 all saints. Was he? He spoke as it seemed to him 
 rather than as it was. Why did the people of Lystra 
 do him such honor? Longinus, in his work on the sub- 
 lime as it comes to us, in giving the list of great orators, 
 adds, " And Saul of Tarsus, the chief supporter of an 
 opinion not yet established." 
 
 It is justly asked, Where is there a writer that can 
 vie with St. Paul in sublime and pathetic eloquence? 
 Demosthenes couhl rouse up the Athenians against 
 Philip, and Cicero strike shame and confusion into the 
 heart of Anthony or Catiline. And did not the elo- 
 quence of St. Paul, though he was bound in degrading 
 fetters, produce equal effects? 
 
 But Peter was the preacher of Pentecost. He says, 
 " Ye men of Israel, hear the words of Jesus of Naza- 
 reth, a man approved of God among you by miracles 
 and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the 
 midst of you, as ye yourselves also know : him, being 
 delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge 
 of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have 
 
ELOQUENCE A WORTHY STUDY. 
 
 339 
 
 crucified and slain." His words cut like ciraeters; his 
 sentences were like battering-rams. The people were 
 pricked in their hearts, and said, "What shall we do?" 
 Was it the Holy Ghost that made Peter so eloquent? 
 Then that is a high commendation of eloquence. Judg- 
 ing from the narration, did his speech have any power 
 with men in producing great results? Then eloquence 
 is to be desired for such good. Who shall tell the 
 power that Apollos exerted when he " mightily con- 
 vinced the Jews? " But we come to a higher source — 
 to Christ himself. 
 
 As if to give dignity and weight to the ministry, 
 " Jesus began to preach," and the officers said, "Never 
 man spake like this man." The truths that he pre- 
 sented were pure, majestic, and necessary. The style 
 that he employed was simple, direct, and appropriate, 
 and "the common people heard him gladly." He 
 knew what he spoke. He had come from heaven and 
 was familiar with its glories. The fires of hell had 
 flamed on his vision, and he could tell their intensity. 
 He knew the enormity of the sin for which he died, 
 and the "beauty of the holiness" that he came to ex- 
 hibit and impart. His words were things, his figures 
 were facts, and his ministry was life. The seed he 
 scattered was from his heart. Archbishop Leighton 
 says, " He is fittest to preach who is most like his 
 message." When the Sun of Righteousness rose the 
 benighted saw his beams and came to the light. His 
 intellect and heart, his voice and manner, blended in his 
 presentations of truth. He put his whole self into his 
 subjects. If he was not a sensational preacher he was a 
 preacher to produce a sensation. He took every subject 
 by the right handle, and handled every subject that he 
 took in the right way, and " they came to hear him 
 from every quarter." He hallowed the pulpit by his 
 
340 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 presence, taught it by his doctrines, and inspired it by 
 his spirit. Yes, yes; he once stood where we stand. 
 Marvelous, peerless honor of our vocation ! The 
 physician can boast his Galen, the jurist his Justin- 
 ian, the soldier his Leonidas, but the pulpit can boast 
 the majesty of Him that was " God manifest in the 
 flesh." When John Newton would actualize his ideal 
 orator he took the virtues of many and united them in 
 one. But in this Preacher we have all the rays of light, 
 all the forces of life, and all the blessing of speech 
 centered in and emanating from one. For all time the 
 " Prince of the kings of the earth " is the Prince of 
 preachers. 
 
 Is there enough, then, in eloquence to justify the effort 
 demanded for its attainment? 
 
 If sought as an auxiliary to usefulness, then to the 
 extent of our concern to do good should be our desire 
 for this means. If sought for selfish ends, we may 
 backslide while we study it. If it is the eloquence of 
 sound, not of soul, it is no more than " sounding brass or 
 a tinkling cymbal." 
 
 Though it has been asserted that there are few great 
 orators in any age, it may be said without presumption 
 the pulpit has in every period had its share. No coun- 
 try has been without some of which they might justly 
 boast. From the days of Apollos and Austin and 
 Cyprian and Chrysostom there have been eloquent men 
 and "mighty in the Scriptures." 
 
 Albert Barnes, than whom perhaps we have had no 
 better judge, remarks in his Life of President Davies, 
 " It is one of the honors of our country, young though 
 we are, that we do not lack for examples of the highest 
 order of preaching ; and even now, when we look 
 through the great library for the best models, we in- 
 stinctively fix on some that have been produced on this 
 
ELOQUENCE A WORTHY STUDY. 341 
 
 side the ocean. The purest models of preaching are 
 to be found undoubtedly in the discourses of the apos- 
 tles and of the great Preacher ; but after leaving those 
 times we shall find no land, probably, where there have 
 been exhibited more correct specimens of pure classic 
 style, of sober thought, of instructive discourses, of ap- 
 peals adapted to rouse the conscience of a sinner or to 
 warm the heart of a child of God, than have been fur- 
 nished in our own land. The American pulpit, imper- 
 fect as it is, is more elevated in its influence and power 
 than that of any other nation, and in no other country 
 is its influence so justly appreciated or so deeply felt 
 on the public mind. Much as we may revere the mem- 
 ory of the past, much as we may learn from the wisdom 
 of other generations, and much as we may honor those 
 who have been or are distinguished for eminent useful- 
 ness across the waters, yet if we wish to see the power 
 of preaching exemplified in the history of men, and 
 derive instruction from the lives and success of those of 
 other times, we cannot find a more appropriate place 
 than to sit down at the feet of such men as may be 
 named." 
 
 Have we not reason to believe, from the eminence 
 tliat some of them attained as speakers, that the fathers 
 of Methodism, both in this and in the old country, made 
 sacred oratory a careful study ? To this day the Wesley- 
 ans speak of Samuel Bradburn, one of their first preach- 
 ers, as the Demosthenes of their history. Quickly after 
 him came Robert Xewton, whom George G. Cookman 
 called the "Apollos of Wesleyan Methodism." To 
 show the appreciation of sacred eloquence by the holy 
 William Bramwell, he at an early period revised and 
 reproduced from the French an old work on the subject, 
 and gave it the name of The Earnest Preacher. Miles 
 Martindale translated from the French another eminent 
 
342 
 
 JOHN P. DURB1N. 
 
 author on the Eloquence of the Pulpit. And such was 
 Dr. Durbin's conviction of the importance of cultivat- 
 ing eloquence in our ministry, that, while in the pastor- 
 ate of a large charge, as we have seen, he formed a 
 class that he personally taught. Mr. Wesley wrote on 
 " Voice and Delivery,'' both with regard to pronuncia- 
 tion and action, and says, " They are far more acquirable 
 than has been commonly imagined. A remarkably 
 weak voice has by steady application become strong 
 and agreeable. Those who stammered at almost every 
 word have learned to speak clearly and plainly. And 
 many who were eminently ungraceful in their pronun- 
 ciation and awkward in their gesture have in some time, 
 by art and labor, not only corrected that awkwardness 
 of action and ungracefulness of utterance, but have be- 
 come excellent in both, and in these respects likewise 
 the ornaments of their profession." — Wesley's Works, 
 vi, 220. So wrote the founder of Methodism for the 
 benefit of his preachers. 
 
 How great may be the force of the felt want of elo- 
 quence in some instances may be judged by a case. 
 " A worthy gentleman listening to the debates in the 
 General Assembly of the Scottish Kirk in Edinburgh, 
 and eager to speak to the question, but utterly failing 
 in his qualification, and delighted with the talent shown 
 * by Dr. Hugh Blair, went to him and offered him one 
 thousand pounds sterling if he would teach him to speak 
 with propriety in public." 
 
 " In much labor there is profit." 
 
 It lias been stated that Dr. Durbin took lessons in 
 eloquence from the best teachers. It is certain from 
 his attention to the great speakers when chaplain of 
 the Senate, and his remarks on such an orator as Henry 
 Clay, that he had a critical taste and a high ideal. 
 That he had a genius for it must account for some of 
 
ELOQUENCE A WORTHY STUDY. 
 
 343 
 
 his earliest efforts. For, though we have heard of 
 doubts expressed as to his having " much in him," we 
 have it on good authority that he gave positive promise, 
 and " that he held his audiences by a strange spell and 
 thrilled them with his electric bursts of surpassing elo- 
 quence." Yet he was a constant student of the power 
 of speech, and used what he believed to be the best 
 means to secure the highest eloquence. 
 
 A discriminating writer and great admirer of the 
 eloquence of Dr. Chalmers, of its effect, of his holding 
 his audience " spell-bound," and as advancing with a 
 speed and strength that none could withstand, pauses 
 to ask, " What was the secret of this amazing power? " 
 Was it the importance of the subject, the loftiness or 
 vigor of his thoughts, the originality or splendor of the 
 composition ? He then says : " All these have existed 
 in equal completeness, perhaps, in other preachers who 
 have yet failed to make any particularly strong impres- 
 sion on their hearers ; who, at least, have never been 
 run after as men of commanding and extraordinary elo- 
 quence. With a dull, tame delivery, the discourses of 
 Chalmers would read as well as they now do, but their 
 fame as preached would never have been achieved." 
 He adds, "There is something potent, then, about de- 
 livery. The greatest of ancient orators assigned to 
 this the first, second, and third rank in the order of 
 qualities requisite for eloquence." 
 
 We abate nothing of our estimate of the excellence 
 of his style, the soundness of his exposition, the fullness 
 of his matter, the force of his reasoning, or the skillful 
 construction of his discourse, when we say the pre-emi- 
 nence of Dr. Durbin as a preacher was in his imperial 
 imagination, the dramatic power of wdiich he was mas- 
 ter, his voice that obeyed all his mandates, the divine 
 unction that attended his presentation of the word, and 
 
344 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 in his peerless delivery. Well as the sermons he has 
 left us read, it was eloquence that gave them power. If 
 any thing is better than the best thing we have to say 
 it is — the best way of saying it. 
 
 In introducing the eloquence of Dr. Durbin we made 
 allusion to the three men who formed the triumvirate 
 of eloquence in the Methodist Episcopal Church. The 
 benign Providence that permitted the sainted Summer- 
 field to burst forth as a light to shine over a continent, 
 in his twenty-seventh year extinguished his beams. How 
 much brighter would have been his light had he been al- 
 lowed to attain his meridian we may conjecture rather 
 than predict. But Henry B. Bascom and John P. Durbin 
 lived long enough to reveal their full powers. These 
 two men were for many years moving in the same cir- 
 cles and commanding vast audiences by the charms of 
 their eloquence. Each had those that admired him the 
 more, while the high merits of both were confessed by 
 all. They were Henry Bidleman Bascom and John 
 Price Durbin. They both rose in the West; they both 
 began their ministry with about equal disadvantages 
 as to education. In a few years they were professors 
 in Augusta College, Kentucky ; they both traveled 
 at large as agents — Durbin for Augusta College, Bas- 
 com for colonization. Near the same period they 
 each served as chaplain to the American Congress. 
 Durbin was editor of Tlie Christian Advocate and Jour- 
 nal, Bascom of the Southern Quarterly Review. At a 
 later time they were presidents of different colleges — 
 Durbin of Dickinson, Bascom of Transylvanii. They 
 met as Delegates in the General Conference of 1844. 
 Bascom wrote " the protest " to its action. Durbin wrote 
 the reply. In 1850 Bascom was made Bishop of the 
 Church, South. In 1852 Durbin declined to be a candi- 
 date for the episcopacy, preferring missionary service. 
 
ELOQUENCE A WORTHY STUDY. 
 
 345 
 
 Bascom died when fifty-four years of age, Durbin at 
 seventy-six. 
 
 As when they lived many things were said of their 
 eloquence, so now we hear inquiry as to the two. As 
 there may be comparison without disparagement, the 
 writer, having heard them both, may suggest some con- 
 trasts as well as some resemblances. 
 
 In some things few men could compare with Bascom, 
 and in some things Durbin stood alone. In port and 
 person Bascom was a prince. Durbin had no external 
 attraction except in refined taste and manly bearing. 
 Bascom's style was gorgeous; Durbin's luminous. Only 
 the personality of Bascom broke the charge of bom- 
 bast. Durbin's language is its own vindication. Bascom 
 labored as if the body was the engine to give power to 
 the soul, Durbin as if the soul only used the body to 
 show itself in its intensity and ardor. The first para- 
 graph of Bascom was a burst of eloquence. With 
 an electrifying shock Durbin closed. Bascom began 
 as if five minutes were to do the work, Durbin as if 
 preparing a foundation for a pyramid. Under Bascom 
 infidels hid for very shame ; under Durbin they threw 
 down their weapons and sued for pardon. From first to 
 last Bascom was vehement ; Durbin restrained his vehe- 
 mence for cumulative force. Bascom was Niagara, 
 with the rapids behind it ; Durbin was the Hudson, 
 with mountains and vale, with highlands and jialisades 
 crowned with villas and pediments gleaming like dia- 
 monds upon crests of beauty. But as amid the charms 
 of that noble river there is the strength of a West 
 Point so amid the attractions of Durbin there was the 
 power of moral conquest. The effect of the preaching 
 of these two men on a minister was dissimilar. On 
 listening to Bascom one felt as did the musician when 
 he exclaimed, listening to one more skilled, " I will bury 
 
346 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 my instrument." On hearing Durbin he would say, "I 
 will dig it up, for now I have learned how to play better." 
 If we should attempt to convey an idea of these men by 
 authors, let Robert Montgomery and Richard Winter 
 Hamilton represent Bascom, Bishop Atterbury and 
 Archbishop Tillotson, Durbin. They were alike men 
 of rare qualities, endowments, and successes. They 
 are still great in the influence as well as reputation 
 that follows them. For either to have attempted the 
 other would have been to mar the economy of God. 
 As in the works of creation, there was unity in di- 
 versity. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 347 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 Conclusion. 
 
 IN the General Conference of 1872 Dr. Durbin, as we 
 have seen, declined re-election as Corresponding Sec- 
 retary of the Missionary Society. "Then he whose life 
 had been so full of labor, and whose labor had been so 
 full of grand results, withdrew from the active services 
 that had so long been his delight." Needful as rest 
 had seemed to him, it was soon found that, out of his 
 accustomed work, the powers of his mind and body 
 more rapidly failed. He rarely appeared on the plat- 
 form or in the pulpit, and after a serene and happy 
 old age he was stricken with paralysis, and on October 
 18, 1876, at his residence in New York city, sur- 
 rounded by his children and grandchildren, he saw the 
 last of earth and first of heaven. The Church ren- 
 dered him appropriate honor, and he was buried at 
 Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia. 
 
 In his life of the Rev. John Ryland, Sr., Dr. Newman 
 when speaking of his death says : " Well do I remember 
 the awful stillness of that evening. I felt as if all the 
 world was dead." Strong language this, but the lan- 
 guage of the heart is always strong. Kindred to 
 this was the feeling of the writer when John P. Dur- 
 bin ceased from among men. But as " mists and vapors, 
 when exhaled, descend in rains, as fountains and rivers 
 pour their fullness into the ocean, as every morning sun 
 rises but to decline, by the same necessity, the same 
 inviolable order of nature, every man is born to die." 
 
346 
 
 JOHN P. DURB1N. 
 
 my instrument." On hearing Durbin he would say, "I 
 will dig it up, for now I have learned how to play better." 
 If we should attempt to convey an idea of these men by 
 authors, let Robert Montgomery and Richard Winter 
 Hamilton represent Bascom, Bishop Atterbury and 
 Archbishop Tillotson, Durbin. They were alike men 
 of rare qualities, endowments, and successes. They 
 are still great in the influence as well as reputation 
 that follows them. For either to have attempted the 
 other would have been to mar the economy of God. 
 As in the works of creation, there was unity in di- 
 versity. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 347 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 Conclusion. 
 
 IN the General Conference of 1872 Dr. Durbin, as we 
 have seen, declined re-election as Corresponding Sec- 
 retary of the Missionary Society. "Then he whose life 
 had been so full of labor, and whose labor had been so 
 full of grand results, withdrew from the active services 
 that had so long been his delight." Needful as rest 
 had seemed to him, it was soon found that, out of his 
 accustomed work, the powers of his mind and body 
 more rapidly failed. He rarely appeared on the plat- 
 form or in the pulpit, and after a serene and happy 
 old age he was stricken with paralysis, and on October 
 18, 1876, at his residence in New York city, sur- 
 rounded by his children and grandchildren, he saw the 
 last of earth and first of heaven. The Church ren- 
 dered him appropriate honor, and he was buried at 
 Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia. 
 
 In his life of the Rev. John Ryland, Sr., Dr. Newman 
 when speaking of his death says : " Well do I remember 
 the awful stillness of that evening. I felt as if all the 
 world was dead." Strong language this, but the lan- 
 guage of the heart is always strong. Kindred to 
 this was the feeling of the writer when John R Dur- 
 bin ceased from among men. But as " mists and vapors, 
 when exhaled, descend in rains, as fountains and rivers 
 pour their fullness into the ocean, as every morning sun 
 rises but to decline, by the same necessity, the same 
 inviolable order of nature, every man is born to die." 
 
34S 
 
 JOHN P. BUR BIX. 
 
 " I said, Ye are gods" by the loftiness of your intel- 
 lect, by the dignity of your station, and by the glory of 
 your achievements ; " but ye shall die like men, and 
 fall like one of the princes." Mortality shall shoot 
 its shaft, and neither majesty nor merit shall change its 
 aim or impair its power. 
 
 But who can think of the removal of such a moral 
 force from the earth as John P. Durbin exerted with- 
 out feeling this world has sustained a loss ? That life is 
 long enough for our highest interest when it reaches 
 life's great end. But who that contemplates the de- 
 parture of one who has caused the blessing of so many 
 ready to perish to come upon him without think- 
 ing of loss to the race ? We are accustomed to say 
 " God buries his workman, but earries on his work." 
 He does. No one doubts this when he knows that the 
 mantle of Elijah rests upon Elisha. But when the 
 leader and lawgiver of Israel died the Almighty said, 
 "Moses, my servant, is dead." This is pathos above 
 the human; and it is as if God thought more about a 
 bereaved world than of the reward of the saint. 
 
 But beams from the Sun of Righteousness form the 
 rainbow of hope in the falling tears of Christian affec- 
 tion. The inexperienced youth of eighteen years who 
 "girded on the harness," ere "his hands had been taught 
 to war or his fingers to fight"— that in his early man- 
 hood showed such discipline and skill, and that in ad- 
 vanced life could look back upon victories gained in 
 perilous conflicts — he surely could illustrate the Script- 
 ure, "Let not him that girdeth on the harness boast 
 himself as he that putteth it off." He girded it on 
 with uncertainty as to the issue ; he put it off with the 
 recognition of the nature of the victories won; he that 
 girded it on with trembling put it oft' in triumph. 
 And it was fitting that he who had been the means of 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 349 
 
 bringing so many sons to glory should himself at three 
 score and sixteen hear the voice of the great Commander 
 saying : 
 
 " Servant of God, well done I 
 
 Thy glorious warfare's past. 
 The battle 's fought, the race is won, 
 
 And thou art crowned at last." 
 
 As we have endeavored to make an analysis of the 
 powers that distinguished Dr. Durbin as a preacher, so 
 we may notice him as lie appears before us and in his 
 various relations a* a man. 
 
 He was twice married, in each instance to a daugh- 
 ter of Alexander Cook, Esq., of Philadelphia. By 
 his first wife he had three sons and two daughters. 
 She entered into rest in 1836, while the Doctor was at 
 Dickinson College. Only one of the sons survives, Al- 
 exander C. Durbin, Esq., of Monlclair, N. J. One of his 
 daughters was married to William Whitaker, Esq., of 
 Philadelphia; the other daughter was married to 
 Fletcher Harper, Jr., of New York. But a short time 
 has elapsed since the tears of the Church and of human- 
 ity fell upon her grave. 
 
 All the wealth of Dr. Durbin came through his 
 marriage. It is doubtful if his salary ever more than 
 supported him. In domestic life Dr. Durbin showed 
 the love of the companion, the devotion of the father, 
 the kindness of a friend; and affection and reverence 
 were rendered him as the head of the family and the 
 priest of the household. Even in his home he was not 
 without the impress that public duties made upon his 
 spirit. He was thoughtful and weighty, but was 
 observant of those attentions that go so far toward im- 
 parting happiness and dignity to domestic life. He 
 trained his children in useful study, while he impressed 
 the duty of remembering the Creator in the days of 
 
350 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 their youth. His table was not made a snare to con- 
 science by indulging conversation that would violate 
 " the golden rule," or be likely to impair the proper 
 influence of the minister or the man. In extending, as 
 in receiving, hospitality, he was without display. He 
 was accustomed to say, "when a friend calls in we 
 just set one more plate, and it is no trouble." His 
 friendships were real and tenacious. We can see the 
 heart of the man in the grateful memory that he main- 
 tained of those who in his comparative youth rendered 
 him great kindness. The following is a glance at a 
 correspondence of fifty years. It was his custom to 
 send his New Year salutations. Even when his domestic 
 bereavement was exerting its depressing power he 
 adhered to this habit. 
 
 Writing to one whom he had known from her child- 
 hood, and at whose father's house he had received great 
 sympathy in his early struggles, he speaks of "your 
 dear mother and mine" and says : " She is to me half 
 natural mother and half Christian sister ; therefore I 
 have double pleasure in loving her." To mother he 
 writes when she was in deep sorrow from the death of 
 her husband, who had been an honor to the Church and 
 an example of Christian uprightness and purity in 
 the community. Philadelphia, April 4, 1853: " Grace, 
 mercy and peace from God our heavenly Father, be 
 given unto you all, through our Lord Jesus Christ, to 
 sustain and comfort you under your sore bereavement. 
 Out of my immediate family circle I could not have 
 lost a friend whose death I do so sincerely regret and 
 so deeply feel; my early, warm, fast friend." 
 
 We see the father's heart in a letter dated New York, 
 May 13, 1859. It relates to the death of his son 
 Willie. "I write to say that not all the light has gone 
 out in our house, but one of the most pleasant and 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 351 
 
 promising is extinguished. It is strange. When I sud- 
 denly think of him it seems that he cannot be dead, that he 
 is only asleep and must awake. Alas ! He is dead. But 
 he died in peace ; his death was beautiful, triumphant ; 
 he was sensible to the last, spoke to us within five 
 minutes of his death ; his last words were heard on the 
 subject of religion, and just before he died they were, 
 'I go to Jesus just as I am.'" Writing of early years 
 in 1861, he says, "I am too old to create other such 
 friendships again. With your dear mother and myself 
 the journey has been a long one and not yet ended, but 
 we are so near to Jordan that we ought now to see 
 over, to the promised land." In the fullness of Christian 
 hope he writes, "Our next dwelling together, all will he in 
 heaven " but adds, " I must not preach, nor is it needed." 
 
 In 1866, amid the cares that crowded him, when 
 about to sail for Europe, he wrote with the devotion 
 of ardent friendship; when abroad amid the interests 
 of travel and the responsibilities of office as Correspond- 
 ing Secretary of the Missionary Society he kept before 
 him the helpers of his early joys. 
 
 July 4, 1866 he writes to a friend : " Mrs. Durbin has 
 just handed me a letter she has written to Elizabeth, 
 and requests me to send or forward it. . . . God, whose 
 work made us friends, and whose mercy and goodness 
 have kept us friends for many years, will, I trust, spare 
 us yet to see each other in the flesh; you now seem to me 
 to be the only link that binds me to my early ministry 
 in the old stone church in Cincinnati. Those were 
 bright days, and I never can forget them. I say you 
 are the only link in my ministry in the old stone 
 church : perhaps I ought to add, Lizzie and Hester and 
 Mary. They were children, and link me back to my 
 youth rather than to my ministry. God bless them for 
 your sake and for my sake ; for they know that I love 
 
352 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 them. . . . Let us strive so to live that we may meet 
 in heaven." This letter was written amid the mount- 
 ains of Switzerland. 
 
 Again he writes from Biel, Switzerland, July 16, 
 1866: "The evening of life is drawing on in both of 
 our cases, but we have been many years preparing for 
 it, and I hope it will close on both of us without a 
 cloud. Let us take care that this shall be tlie case. I 
 have thought that you and the children might be 
 pleased to see the inclosed photographs, taken in Ger- 
 many. The vignette one does not look like the boy 
 preacher that used to live with you in Sycamore Street 
 nearly forty years ago. We are all quite well and have 
 been quite well since we left home. We have seen the 
 most interesting places and objects in Germany and 
 Switzerland, and I have visited nearly all of our mis- 
 sions in those countries. The war in Germany pre- 
 vented my seeing our missions in Saxony and Ham- 
 burg, and in Denmark and Norway and Sweden. But 
 I propose to visit there while Margaret remains in 
 England. We go to Geneva and on to Paris this week, 
 where Margaret and John will remain two or three 
 weeks, and then go over to London. We expect to 
 return to New York in the first half of October. 
 
 "I do not expect you to be at the trouble of reading 
 this, much less of answering it. But Hester or Lizzie 
 can do both, for your and my benefit. A letter written 
 on receipt of this and inclosed to the office in New 
 York, to Brother Terry, would reach me in London, 
 whither Brother Terry will forward it. Let Mary and 
 Edward share this letter. Adieu ; may you yet live 
 many days. Margaret bids me give her love to you all. 
 She wrote to Lizzie a few days a<;o." 
 
 To the same friend he writes, New York, September 
 24, 1870: "I cannot tell you and your dear mother 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 353 
 
 how much we are grieved by the death of John. 
 Although it was expected, it came so suddenly that we 
 could scarcely realize it. He was struck down Saturday 
 morning, some time before day, in his room, and he was 
 insensible to his end. It occurred ;>t Saratoga, among 
 strangers. I arrived two hours before he died, but lie 
 knew me not. He died easily." ... He adds, " Your 
 dear mother will feel as I do, somewhat. We feel 
 like pilgrims standing on the bank of a river wait- 
 ing to cross, while the young and beautiful cross over 
 before us ; but when we do cross we shall find them 
 on the other side." Again writing of the same painlul 
 event, the death of his son John, he says : " He died 
 from apoplexy. . . . For three or four years his mind had 
 been almost entirely on recovering his health and saving 
 his soul. I believe he escaped into the bosom of his 
 heavenly Father. It is my earnest purpose to join him 
 there." In the midst of his own sorrows he thinks of 
 another's anxiety, and writes, November 26, 1870: 
 "If you see Edward tell him I sympathize with him in 
 Mary's ill-health, and do earnestly pray that she may 
 be spared to him and his children." God permitted 
 this honored servant to be visited with stroke upon 
 stroke. His heart bleeds at the death of his grandson, 
 named after him. He says: "Affliction makes us 
 remember our faults and our friends. Our dear little 
 Durbin is no more. He died last Saturday morning 
 without a struggle or a sigh. He was sensible to the 
 last, and spoke to his mother not more than five 
 minutes before he died. He said: 'Mamma, is that 
 you ? ' She answered, ' Yes.' He said, ' I cannot see 
 you.' He was then laid down on his pillow and died in a 
 minute." The gloom of Dr. Durbin's mind again caused 
 him to say, "I feel tempted sometimes to complain of 
 Providence, but I still strive to say, 'Thy will be 
 24 
 
354 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 done.' " But in the midst of his sorrow he writes : " I 
 might as well send my New Year's salutations to you 
 all. How little did I dream that my only grandson 
 would be taken from us! He was with us in New 
 York Inst New Year full of life and hope. Now he is 
 gone — I trust, to the heavenly world, to grow up there 
 free from danger and sorrow." 
 
 We may speak of Dr. Durbin's personal appearance. 
 He was of medium size. His head was not Lirge; his fore- 
 head was low, narrow and receding. His eye was hazel 
 and was sometimes sleepy. In repose it suggested no 
 genius. It was, in size and show, what circumstances 
 made it. It was capable of an indefinable expression. 
 His hair in early life was light and soft. Time gave 
 it a darkish hue. His mouth was that of an orator. 
 His dress was faultless. His senses were unimpaired, 
 even when his body and mind showed the effects of 
 age, if not of labor. 
 
 Bishop Wiley says of the second likeness contained 
 in this volume : 
 
 The portrait we consider the greatest success that 
 has yet heen attained in getting the physiognomy of 
 Dr. Durbin on paper. He is one of the impracticable 
 men for all kinds of artists; the photographer dreads 
 such a man, so much of whose facial appearance and 
 character depends upon his moods, and whose appear- 
 ance differs so widely as you look upon him alive, and 
 with his animated countenance aglow with feeling and 
 inspiration, or as he sits down in quiet repose to have his 
 face caught up in the camera. The same facts make him 
 the dread of portrait artists and of engravers. We 
 remember his leading us at one time to look at a very 
 finely-painted portrait hanging in a room of his son-in- 
 law's house. The picture was an admirably-executed 
 one, but we were mortified at our blunder in not for a 
 moment supposing it had been intended for himself; 
 but were saved by his genial laugh when we inno- 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 355 
 
 cently asked whose portrait it was. Several attempts 
 have been made to put him on wood, but the failure 
 has been complete. Years ago Dr. Stevens, then 
 editor of the National Magazine, made a desperate 
 effort to secure his likene-s, but unmercifully threw the 
 block under the table. A few years ago the Doctor 
 visited Europe for the purpose of studying more 
 closely our European missions. The Germans caught 
 him, led him to a gallery in Berlin, and in a moment 
 the sun fixed him on the plate in one of his best moods. 
 From this photograph our engraver has produced the 
 excellent likeness that embellishes this book. 
 
 The manners of Dr. Durbin were such as would indi- 
 cate a born gentleman. It cost him no effort to be 
 what he was. Dr. McClintock said of him, " He was 
 always a gentleman through and through." In per- 
 sonal intercourse he had a quiet dignity, and, though 
 never austere, rarely relaxed. While he was every- 
 where recognized in his superior talents and position, 
 in no instance did we ever know him to indicate the 
 existence of vanity. On going into a company there 
 was a reserve that might be construed to shyness or to 
 pride. There was the business rather than the social 
 air. But contact and conversation drew him out, and 
 he mingled with the company and in sympathy with 
 the occasion. With personal friends he could even be- 
 come sportive, and one remarks that at such time he 
 had a smile full of benignity and delight and could in- 
 dulge a hearty laugh. Under no circumstances would 
 he make himself the hero of the company. He was 
 never the monopolist of conversation. Nor did he fail 
 to give respectful attention to the opinions of those least 
 in harmony with his own. He entered into no cabal, 
 and was a stranger to cliques and cunning. He sought 
 not by indirection what open honesty would spurn. 
 Jealousies, envies, rivalries were not indulged, when the 
 
356 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 greatest freedom prevailed. Though not remarkable 
 for fluency, wit, or humor, he had enough of each, which 
 with the salt of wisdom made all savory, ami imparted 
 the raciness that is remembered without a pang. The 
 positions that he filled were thrust upon him, and such 
 were the responsibilities that he felt, and such his de- 
 votion to his work, as to leave little time for rest, for 
 amusement, or relaxation. So intent was he on dis- 
 charging the obligations that his place imposed, and such 
 were his habiis of reserve, that though while in Europe 
 multiplied opportunities were afforded him for mingling 
 in the society of distinguished men, he avoided rather 
 than sought such intercourse. 
 
 Dr. Durbin's position in his Church and in community 
 for fifty years gave him power. But who ever knew 
 him to be arrogant with the weak or supple with the 
 strong? If at any time he was subjected as a writer, 
 or in any way, to criticism, he let it pass, and it was a 
 rule with him to allow no concern for the results of duty. 
 
 The same charateristics that marked his intercourse 
 in society distinguished him in his Conference rela- 
 tions, lie was transferred to the Philadelphia Confer- 
 ence in 183G. It was a Conference of strong men. 
 
 The princely Pitman was in his prime. The sublime 
 Lybrand was exerting his attractions, the majestic Sorin 
 was never greater, and Henry White was melting his 
 congregation by his pathos. The late Bishops Janes 
 and Scott, and T. J. Thompson and Solomon Higgins 
 and William Cooper were known as distinguished in 
 the business of the Conference. Among such men J. 
 P. Durbin received the honor that his station would 
 suggest and his talents command. But he showed the 
 deference that his association prompted, and by real 
 affiliation secured the confidence, the affection, and ad- 
 miration of his brethren. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 357 
 
 His identity with the Conference was not nominal 
 but real. He observed its doings and took part in its 
 debates. As a rule, he spoke only when others had ex- 
 pressed their convictions or thoughts and the subject 
 was fully before them. Then, with a modesty and 
 suggest ivoness that gave weight to his words, he would 
 express a judgment that was often like the conclusion of 
 the matter. When, as in some instances, there was a 
 slight abrasion, he was even remarkable for the ur- 
 banity of his manners and for the control of language. 
 
 He who should have accepted Dr. Durbin as an ex- 
 ample of "clerical manners" in debate might never 
 find cause to criticise his conclusion. Seven times suc- 
 cessively was he elected a delegate to the General Con- 
 ference, and his Conference never ceased thus to honor 
 him till the infirmities of age forbade the compliment. 
 
 The Christian character of Dr. Durbin re-enforced his 
 ministerial influence. Though not accustomed to ex- 
 pressions of spiritual rapture he had the fruits of the 
 Spirit, and the consciousness ol divine approval. 
 
 He had the same kind of reasoning in regard to 
 his spiritual character that many of the most con- 
 scientious and consistent Christians have indulged. So 
 far are such from the presumption too common in the 
 Church that they fail even to rest as fully on the foun- 
 dations of fa it /tas facts justify and the word commands. 
 No one that did not know the youthful Durbin can 
 tell the tendencies that he recognized, fought against, 
 and overcame. As we saw him in his quiet reserve and 
 caution, we would not suspect that his temper ever re- 
 quired particular guard. lint he knew the struggle 
 that it cost him; that he had attained so perfect a master)/ 
 is one of the evidences of the reign of grace in his 
 heart. The brief extracts that we have made from the 
 letters of friendship show the devout spirit of the 
 
358 
 
 JOHN P. DUBBIN. 
 
 man. Nor can we think of his demeanor in the 
 house of worship, the care with which he guarded the 
 divine service from the interruptions and intrusions so 
 common in some of the churches, the instructive and 
 edifying manner in which he read his hymns, and the 
 devout rendering of the lessons from the Holy Script- 
 ures, his profound reverence in prayer, and the outflow- 
 ing of his heart in his comprehensive supplications, 
 without thinking of him as an example in his place. 
 His prayers might vary in length and ardor, but not 
 in becoming humility or in the simplicity of language. 
 He was a child speaking to or pleading with his Father. 
 But there were times when lie seemed to open heaven 
 to the penitents at the altar and to hold back the arm 
 of the Almighty in providence. No one can conceive 
 of such prayer without recognizing the grasp of his faith 
 and the firmness of his trust. Illustrations of this power 
 have been furnished in the narrative of Dr. Joseph 
 Longking and in the letter of Dr. O. II. Tiffany. We 
 give one in this place from Dr. Spottswood. It was 
 at a camp-meeting. He says of Dr. Durbin: 
 
 He talks with God as one talketh with his friend. 
 He tells his heavenly Father the simple story of the 
 people's trouble and expense in coming there, of the 
 purity of their motives, to get good and to do good, 
 and of the constant and excessive rain that had in- 
 terfered with his children's holy plans. "Now, Lord," 
 he prays, " If it be thy will, give us clear weather 
 from this time to the end of the meeting." Here he 
 lingers, wrestles, asks, pleads, and importunes. At last, 
 iu an exclamation, nay, in a triumphant shout, lie de- 
 clares "It shall he done; we shall have clear skies from 
 this time forth ! " Never can the teller of this incident 
 forget his feeling at that moment. It was a cold shud- 
 der as the thought rushed into his brain, What if the 
 preacher's prediction should prove a false prophecy? 
 Hut it did not; that "prayer of a righteous man" was 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 359 
 
 no doubt directly inwrought in his soul by the Holy 
 Ghost. It was an effectual, fervent prayer, and might 
 by a sublime faith, to which all things are possible, ac- 
 complish its end. It verified the divine affirmation— it 
 availed much; for the rain ceased, the clouds departed, 
 and God gave clear weather from that time to the close 
 of the "camp-meeting." He that had such acc< ss to the 
 Almighty, that so clearly told inquiring souls how to 
 find the heart of God, was not without the comforts 
 and strength of successful prayer. Sometimes in his 
 sermons he bore his grand testimony of his personal 
 experience of the "powers of the world to come." 
 
 In a conversation with the Rev. A. Lowry, D.D., when 
 dining at the residence of his son-in-law, Mr. Whita- 
 ker, of Philadelphia, in 1876, Dr. Durbin in substance 
 said, " In my experience as a Christian I have never 
 been impulsive, but I have a steady peace with God 
 and am resting in the truth of his word." A short 
 time before his death Bishop Janes, the Missionary Sec- 
 retaries, and the Book Agents, called on him to present 
 a resolution passed by the Bishops at their last meeting. 
 On hearing it read he replied, " he could recollect but one 
 paper of the sort in all his life that was not distasteful 
 to him," adding, " this paper was so evidently sincere 
 and was expressed in such terms that he received it 
 with gladness, and would cherish it among his pleasant 
 memories." He alluded to his Christian experience. 
 At first he said, "The fact that he had not the joys 
 which other Christians had gave rise to questioning 
 doubts. But he afterward had learned better, and 
 though he had never been demonstrative, his experience 
 as a Christian had been and still was satisfactory to 
 his heart." 
 
 But in considering the elements of Dr. Durbin's 
 strength there should be a stead;/ recognition of his 
 sterling cotjuuon sense. Amid his multiplied, diverse, 
 
300 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 and brilliant endowments this in many eases was a 
 basal fact in accounting for his success in his varied 
 labors and in enterprises of great moment. It did what 
 nothing else could do. 
 
 Want of this power, besides subjecting the individual 
 to humiliating criticisms, is sometimes attended with 
 worse consequences than result from deficiency of edu- 
 cation. Was it not this in St. Paul that caught some 
 with guile ? Was it not this in Dr. Durbin that caused 
 the management of difficult cases in college to end in 
 peace and honor? Common sense is sometimes called 
 " mother-wit," as if inherited from the mother. It is 
 a gift of nature, but may appear, like other mental fac- 
 ulties, in various degrees. It may be improved by ob- 
 servation and exercise or impaired by indifference to 
 its value or neglect of its dictates. 
 
 Some have conceived the idea that remarkable gen- 
 iuses and profound scholars are as a rule wanting in this 
 power. If so, the fault is not in genius or scholarship. 
 Common sense is exercised before learning is acquired. 
 It is one of the earliest, as it is one of the most neces- 
 sary, exercises of the mind. It may be called common 
 sense, as that which we may expect in every well-organ- 
 ized human being. We therefore look for it in men 
 much as we do for intuition and conscience. It is not 
 what is sometimes seen in absence of mind. This may 
 be found in the greatest intellects, and is the result of 
 mental absorption. Uoused to its exercise it is found 
 in its force. 
 
 One of the infelicities of the lack of common sense 
 is seen when he who is deficient cannot be persuaded 
 of its absence or its need, and so gives no hope of im- 
 provement. Was it this that many years ago induced 
 a theological professor to say to his class, what others 
 have since thought, "If you want Hebrew, we can 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 361 
 
 teach it; if you seek Greek, we can impart it; if you 
 come for theology, we can give you necessary in- 
 struction; hut if you have not common sense, the Lord 
 help you, for we cannot?" Thomas Adams says, "An 
 ohl man that is not made wiser hy his experience is 
 like a holter, that lets all the fine flour go through and 
 cat dies only the bran." But there are those to whom 
 the lesson of one day is nothing for the next. By the 
 same processes the same bitter experience is kept up. 
 Thus they go stumbling and falling, then rising up 
 with a bruise and again falling with greater injur;/, 
 now inviting and now encountering an opposition that 
 is as real, if not as hard, as adamant ; yet reposing in 
 their own strength they show an inflexibility of purpose 
 in matters of indifference that is justified only where 
 principle is involved. No man more certainly needs 
 common sense than the Christian pastor. To be wise 
 in preaching the word, in suiting his sermons to the 
 people, in the labors of the altar and the Sunday-school, 
 in the leaders' meeting and quarterly conferences, 
 when in all these places we have so many facts to con- 
 sult, here is indeed a loud call for the exercise first 
 of grace and then of common sense. Lack of this 
 shows what we call imprudence. A word improperly 
 spoken in some of these relations may kindle a fire 
 that no waters can extinguish and that hardly any 
 time will cause to die out. Such ineantion has made 
 many a minister pass sleepless nights and weeks of 
 uncertainty as to result. But the discomfort to his 
 own mind may not be the worst of it. A generation 
 has not removed from a community the difficulty that 
 the lack of common sense in administration has cre- 
 ated. 
 
 Strife about minor matters has blasted all hope of 
 success in things of greatest moment. " The mint, 
 
362 
 
 JOHN P. BUBBLY. 
 
 anise and cumin " have destroyed the weightier mat- 
 ters of the law, and the preacher is powerless. 
 
 The writer once heard one of the wisest professors 
 in a theological seminary say to his class, with great 
 tenderness, " Brethren, more men in the ministry lose 
 their positions and are kept out of places from want 
 of discretion than from want of talent and learning." 
 They are scarcely in a charge before some novel thing 
 of questionable utility is proposed, suspicion is roused, 
 prejudice is awakened, and opposition starts, a schism 
 is made, and the pastor is gone. He enters another 
 parish; he begins on the same course; the people now 
 inquire of his history and find he is reproducing the 
 past, and for like reasons he has to leave. The facts 
 are carried to other churches. In vain is it said he is 
 a good man, that he is educated, that he is eloquent, he 
 is young, and therefore allowance is to be made. He 
 has lost his place, and there is no prospect of another, 
 and this when he should be in the height of ministerial 
 power. 
 
 It may sometimes excite our marvel that the cause 
 seems so slight that renders high merit unavailable. 
 But as a fly may spoil the apothecary's ointment, so 
 "doth a little folly him that is of great reputation for 
 wisdom." 
 
 Common sense does not forbid an issue when prin- 
 ciple demands it. He is a craven who will not meet 
 responsibility. There were times when Dr. Durbin 
 encountered difficulty with a courage that no fear 
 could daunt. The narrative of his life has set forth 
 some such occasions. It is not the fear of man, but the 
 fear of God, that gives caution to the wise. 
 
 If common sense could not be taught as well as im- 
 proved it were vain to speak or write of it. Like some 
 faculties of the mind, it may be of difficult develop- 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 363 
 
 merit, but by close observation, by past mistakes, by 
 careful guard against those tendencies whence greatest 
 danger arises, even the obtuse will reveal new charac- 
 teristics. By studying theories, indulging speculations, 
 allowing unhealthy trains of thought and habit, the 
 wise may become foolish, and by ignoring common 
 sense fanaticism may take the place of discretion. Is 
 it not a high tribute paid to such decision when we 
 say in ordinary affairs "our first thought is generally 
 the best." Common sense seems like a law within us — 
 determining the questions of which it is capable. 
 
 In the face of the assumption that great geniuses and 
 scholars are apt to be lacking in common sense we 
 present John P. Durbin. Will any doubt his genius? 
 Was he not an example of the excellence of common 
 sense even from youth to age ? Guardianship of his 
 younger brothers; the care with which he sought and 
 the fidelity with which he observed the counsel of his 
 friends in his early ministry; his manly recognition of 
 the need of study and education for the highest useful- 
 ness that he desired; his administration of affairs in 
 the various departments of his work, and nowhere 
 more than in his conduct as Corresponding Secretary of 
 the Missionary Society, all manifest the possession of this 
 faculty in an uncommon degree. Let any one read his 
 articles in The Christian Advocate and Journal when he 
 was editor, and especially the one on " Worship," and tell 
 us when as a preacher, debater, writer, he failed, with all 
 his genius, to show his common sense. Let those who 
 consider the exercise of this faculty after he became 
 learned say whether fine education impairs its exercise. 
 Was it not like the background in the picture of his 
 life, that showed all Ids other powers to greatest ad- 
 vantage ? 
 
 It was remarked of the Rev. Albert Barnes that 
 
364 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 his clear, strong - , honest, practical good sense was 
 the secret of his power and the source of his 
 success. But, while showing this sense what honor 
 did he bring to the Church ! What benefit by his 
 writings did he confer upon the world ! Was it not 
 the sterling common sense of Dr. Durbin that showed 
 his administration in every place that he filled to such 
 advantage? Is it not permitted ministers still to say, 
 with St. Paul to his son in the Gospel, "God has not 
 given us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of 
 a sound mind?" 2 Tim. i, 7. 
 
 But while we justly emphasize the common sense of 
 Dr. Durbin we must not fail to consider those powers 
 that impress us with his high capabilities. He had a 
 mental penetration, a clear and comprehensive view 
 of matters of magnitude to the Church of Christ ; a 
 recognition of the tendency of events. He well under- 
 stood the workings of human nature ; the influence of 
 the varying conditions of society ; he had accuracy 
 in estimating the forces that it is necessary to compute 
 in the anticipation of desired results. His self-control 
 in the midst of strong excitements kept him from the 
 mental disturbance that impairs energy and destroys 
 faith, and so unfits men for a great crisis or important 
 changes. These facts marked him as a controlling spirit 
 in any association, and fitted him for the highest eccle- 
 siastical statesmanship, while his elevation of character, 
 his utter freedom from sinister or selfish motives, gave 
 weight to his reasoning and made his conclusions next 
 to moral demonstrations. 
 
 The greatness of a man may not be traced to its 
 origin except in God. One who is truly great lives 
 rather in posterity than in ancestry. Like Abel, " he 
 being dead yet speaketh." 
 
 One has beautifully said that " The beginnings of 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 365 
 
 many a successful career, like those of the river Nile, 
 are unseen." And Mahaffy declares, "The intellectual 
 kings of the world are, like Melchisedec, without fa- 
 ther, without mother, without descent, having neither 
 beginning of days nor end of life." 
 
 Dr. Durbin is one of whom it is difficult to write 
 with fairness and fullness without seeming to exag- 
 gerate ; and yet not to describe him as he was is to do 
 injustice to his memory. The writer knows no motive, 
 for adulation, and the biographer of an extraordinary 
 man should not write of him as of one of ordinary 
 powers. 
 
 David said, *' In thine hand it is to make great." 
 "Whatever of intellectual or moral susceptibility Dr. 
 Durbin had he received from God, and recognized it as 
 a divine gift, and improved it as one who must give 
 account. lie as truly as St. Paul could say, "By the 
 grace of God I am what I am." If we consider the 
 powers of Dr. Durbin's mind in the departments of 
 study to which he devoted his attention, and remember 
 the embarrassments under which he in so short a time 
 accomplished so much, we have no reason to doubt 
 that his aptitudes were equal to his aspirations — that 
 he could have achieved any other purpose that he 
 might have cherished. He who at the age of twenty- 
 five had risen so far as to be the skillful professor of 
 ancient languages, at the age of thirty to be elected to 
 the professorship in natural science in our first univer- 
 sity, that at thirty-two could edit The Christian Advo- 
 cate and Journal with such ability, that at thirty-four 
 could till with highest reputation the presidency of a 
 college that had failed under the greatest talents and 
 strongest denominational influences; he who could honor 
 all these positions and at last give twenty-two years of 
 his mature life to such a work as Corresponding Secre- 
 
366 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIX. 
 
 tary of the Missionary Society and advance it to snch 
 a power; he who showed himself a master in skill, an 
 oracle in wisdom, and a pillar of strength in tlie cause 
 of his advocacy, he surely may be accepted as " a 
 jirince and a great man in Israel." Might not the 
 words that were considered an appropriate epitaph for 
 Wordsworth be applied with equal justice to Dr. Dur- 
 bin, " Here lies a man who did what he intended ? " 
 
 To one who carefully observed the life and labors of 
 Dr. Durbin it would be just to conclude that from his 
 conversion to his death he was influenced by the con- 
 viction that human existence implies real, stern, abid- 
 ing responsibility ; that talents are for improvement 
 and time for a wise appropriation, and that opportuni- 
 ties impose obligations. We cannot better convey the 
 estimate of Dr. Durbin as to his true position than in 
 the language of Albert Barnes on another occasion : 
 " It has been comparatively rare in this world that 
 any individual has embarked on life, or on any enter- 
 prise, with a determined purpose to see how much 
 could be done by the utmost efforts of which the 
 mind and the body could be made capable. Occasion- 
 ally such an individual has appeared, and appeared to 
 astonish us no less by the vastness and the success of 
 his own efforts than by the proof which he has thus 
 furnished of the imbecility and indolence and wasted 
 talents of the great mass of mankind. Such a man 
 was Howard — living to make full proof 'of how much 
 could be done in a single object of benevolence.' The 
 energy of his determination, it has been said, 1 was the 
 calmness of an intensity kept uniform by the nature of 
 the human mind forbidding it to be more and by the 
 character of the individual forbidding it to be less.' 
 The habitual passion of his mind was a measure of 
 feeling almost equal to the temporary extremes and 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 367 
 
 paroxysms of common minds, as a great river in its 
 customary state is equal to a small and moderate one 
 when >wollen to a torrent.' Such a man, in a far differ- 
 ent department, was Napoleon, living to illustrate the 
 power of great talents concentrated on a single object, 
 and mnking 'full proof of the terrible energy of the 
 single passion of ambition. Such a man, too, was the 
 short-lived Alexander; and, in a different sphere, such 
 a man was Paul; and, to a considerable extent, such a 
 a man was Whitefield. But, compared with the im- 
 mense multitude of minds which have existed on the 
 earth, such instances, for good or for evil, have been 
 rare. A part has been sunk in indolence from which 
 no motives would rouse them. Part have been wholly 
 unconscious of their own powers. Part have never 
 been placed in circumstances to call forth their ener- 
 gies, or have not been endowed with original power to 
 create such circumstances or to start a plan that should 
 require such concentrated efforts to complete it. Part 
 have never been under the right influence, in the proc- 
 ess of training, to make 'full proof of the powers of 
 the soul. Part have wasted their talents in wild and 
 visionary schemes, unconscious of the waste or of the 
 main error of their life till life was too far gone to at- 
 tempt to repair the loss; some are thwarted by a rival; 
 some meet with discouragements, are early disheart- 
 ened, and give up all effort in despair. Most reach the 
 close of lite feeling, if they have any right feeling, that 
 they have accomplished almost nothing; the good 
 usually with the reflection that if they ever accomplish 
 much it must now be in a higher state of being'' Dr. 
 Durbin felt he was God's property, and that he must 
 make the most of the divine investment in him. To 
 show the benign influence of a life of such labor and 
 success in the cause of God and the results of the ef- 
 
368 
 
 JOHN P. DURBIN. 
 
 forts of an arch-infidel upon the world, whatever may- 
 he ins learning or eloquence, we adopt the language of 
 Dr. Southey in his contrast of the lives of Voltaire and 
 Wesley. He says: " While the one was scattering with 
 pestilent activity the seeds of immorality and unbelief, 
 the other, with equal unweariable zeal, labored in the 
 cause of religious enthusiasm. The works of Voltaire 
 have found their way wherever the French language is 
 read, the disciples of Wesley wherever the English is 
 spoken. The principles of the arch-infidel were more 
 rapid in their operation; he who aimed at no such evil 
 as that which he contributed so greatly to bring about 
 was himself startled at their progress. In his latter 
 days he trembled at the consequences which he then 
 foresaw, and, indeed, his remains had scarcely moldered 
 in the grave before those consequences brought down 
 the whole fabric of government in France, overturned 
 her altars, subverted her throne, carried guilt, devasta- 
 tion, and misery into every part of his own country, 
 and shook the rest of Europe like an earthquake. Wes- 
 ley's doctrines, meantime, were slowly and gradually 
 winning their way; lint they advanced every succeeding 
 year with accelerated force, and their effect must ulti- 
 mately be more extensive, more powerful, and more 
 permanent, for he has set mightiest principles at work." 
 Nor can any one calculate the influence for good that 
 went forth from Dr. Durbin, in the various positions 
 that he filled in the Church, upon our own country and 
 upon the globe: while he who rejects the claims of the 
 Almighty, of whatever power of tongue or pen, must 
 be regarded as an enemy to the human race. 
 
 More than thirty years ago Dr. Abel Stevens, the 
 historian of Methodism, pronounced Dr. Durbin "the 
 most interesting preacher in the Methodist pulpit." 
 Learned men we may have had of a more accurate, if 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 369 
 
 not a broader scholarship ; writers of a more fruitful, 
 if not of a more facile pen ; but where one whose mind 
 was better disciplined, whose faculties were better di- 
 rected, or whose resources were more fully at the 
 Church's command, or by whom more was accomplished 
 in the divers and responsible positions that he filled ? 
 When was learning, genius, culture, devotion to duty, 
 turned to better account? American Methodism has 
 always had men adapted to her stations, but who from 
 her origin has occupied so many distinguished places, 
 and for so long a time ? Is there one of all those various 
 positions that he did not exalt by his talents and his skill 
 and moral worth ? If as a Church we can boast a greater 
 name than John Price Durbin, then indeed we are hon- 
 ored ! In the senate, cabinet, diplomatic corps, judi- 
 ciary, or chair of the executive, he might have filled 
 the first place in the nation. 
 
 To the glory of Christ's kingdom, he laid his talents 
 at the foot of the cross and gave his life to the duties 
 of the ministry. To the young Methodist preacher the 
 life of John P Durbin is a vast folio for study, but in 
 iis title-page is the motto that formed the theme of one 
 of his first baccalaureate discourses at Dickinson Col- 
 lege : "The High Purpose and Firm Resolve." This is 
 the key to his greatness, and Grace furnishes that key. 
 25 
 
 THE END. 
 
The Lire of 
 
 John Price Durbin, P.P., LLP., 
 
 WITH AN ANALYSIS OF HIS HOMILETIC SKILL AND SACRED 
 ORATORY, 
 
 By JOHN A. ROCHE, M.D., P.P. , 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 RANDOLPH S. FOSTEK, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. 
 
 l2mo., $1 50. 
 
 SOME OF THE MANY NOTICES OF DR. DURBIN'S LIFE. 
 
 From Thomas Bowman, Senior Bishop of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church.— " I am greatly pleased with the life of my dear 
 College president. I am glad you found so much material out of which you 
 could prepare so good a book : every one who has spoken to me about it has 
 given it praise ; it is first rate." 
 
 From J. C. Keener, Senior Bishop of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church, South.—" It was due the Church, the Missionary Society, 
 and Dr. Durbin, that his biography should be written. The admirable preface 
 of Bishop Foster is fully vindicated in the Life which you have written of this 
 distinguished Kentuckian and able minister of the Gospel." 
 
 From Bishop E. G. Andrews.— "I am glad to hear that the Life of 
 John Price Durbin has such a wide sale, but I am not surprised ; the qualities 
 of the man were admirable. Your treatment of him and them not less so." 
 
 From Bishop J. F. Hurst.— "f congratulate you on the Life nf John 
 Price Durbin. You have made a most excellent biography of a man of 
 genius." 
 
 Bishop C. D. Foss says : " You have done your work well. ... It will 
 long be of use to young ministers." 
 
 Eishop E. S. Foster says : " It will live on as a classic ; let it find a 
 place in every Sunday-school." 
 
 From Bishop H. W. Warren.—" i am glad you are able to continue 
 the marvelous helpfulness that Dr. Durbin exercised toward young men." 
 
 Eishop J. EC. Vincent says : " You have succeeded in giving a vivid 
 and attractive, and I may say inspiring account of that great pulpit prodigy." 
 
 From Bishop W. F. Mailalieu.— " I wish the book might be widely 
 circulated, especially with all young preachers." 
 
 Bishop J. P. Newman says : " It is the most vigorous biographical 
 work extant. It will be of immense service to our preachers. It is a com- 
 memorative monument to the unrivaled genius of one of the greatest men of 
 the nineteenth century." 
 
Prom the " Methodist Review," by the Editor, Dr. J. W. Men- 
 denhall.— " It is not enough to say that the author has produced a remarkable 
 book, or that he has faithfully portrayed the career of 0:10 of the m.ist remark- 
 able, men of the century, for, while both statements are true, he has gone 
 beyond the ordinal y range of the biographer. . . . His is historical, psy- 
 chological, homili'tical, and philosophical. . . . The details are given with 
 a fullness that is satisfactory, and in a style that falls little below that of Bos- 
 well, and occasionally reminds the reader of the excellencies of Motley. . . . 
 We most cordially commend it to the clergy and the Church." 
 
 Dr. A. S. Hunt, Corresponding' Secretary of the Ameri- 
 can Bible Society, in a resolution unanimously adopted by the New 
 York East Conference, said, on the Life of Dr. Durbin, "It affords us great 
 pleasure to afllrm that, interesting and valuable as we trusted the Life would 
 prove to be, it far surpasses our expectations. We congratulate our brother 
 on the warm welcome which his work has earned on every hand." 
 
 From General Clinton B. Pisk.— " I have read it with my interest in- 
 creasing through all its pages. May the good book inspire in the hearts, minds, 
 and souls of thousands of young ministers the high purpose and the Arm re- 
 solve ! " 
 
 From Professor W. F. "Whitlock, D.D., of the Ohio Wesleyan 
 University. — " When I finished reading the Life of Durbin, I was convinced 
 that it had no equal among the biographies of Methodism in this country, and 
 110 superior in American literature. Feeling, because of my lire-work, a special 
 interest in young men, I heartily wish they might all read it." 
 
 Prom the "Divine Life," by the Rev. A. Lowrey, D.D.— "To 
 say that Dr. Roche has done his task well is tame eulogy. He has done it in a 
 masterly fashiou. It is what we seldom And — an eloquent biography. It is 
 not a book of annals, but a philosophical treatment of a great life." 
 
 From " Christian Thought," by the Rev. Dr. Chas. F. Deems.— 
 " There is one book we should be pleased to have placed in the hands of every 
 theological student in the land. We know no recent book that would do him 
 more good. It is the Life of John Price Durbin, by Dr. Roche. ... He was a 
 prince among preachers. He has probably never been surpassed in America 
 
 From the " W atchman," Boston, by Dr. Olmstead (Baptist).— 
 " Any one wh > shall read this richly suggestive and stimulating volume, . . . 
 particularly younger ministers, will not fail of being both instructed and 
 moved." 
 
 From Professor M. D. Buel, D.D., Dean of the School of Theol- 
 ogy, Boston University.— - ' You have laid the younger generation who 
 have only heard of the fame of that wonderful man under great obligation. 
 I am sure, too, that the method you have chosen for impressing upon younger 
 ministers the principles of homiletics by exhibiting the illustrious examples of 
 so many of those principles is a very wise and effective one." 
 
 F:om Dr. J. A. McCauley, late President of Dickinson Col- 
 lege. " My estimate is very high. It has taken place among the few biogra- 
 phies . . . which stand apart from the multitude as being nearly a perfect 
 presentation of their subject. The style is clear, terse, strong. It is a book Of 
 lucid statement, animated narration, and graphic and glowing description." 
 
 From Dr. A. Rittenhouse, Professor in Dickinson College.— 
 " Its contents will furnish illustrations for my class in rhetoric." 
 
 From the Rev. George H. Whitney, D.D., President of Cen- 
 tenary Collegiate Institute.—" A fascinating, blessed, and profitable 
 
boob. . . . Would that every young man about to enter the ministry could 
 read t'.iis book ! " 
 
 From the Rev. H. B. Ridgaway, D.D., President of Garrett 
 Biblical Institute.—" You have done your part in setting the jewel ad- 
 mirably. How glad I am that you were prompted ! I wonder at your success." 
 
 From the Hon. John Field, Philadelphia. — " In perusing the 
 pages it really seemed to me as if the dead had come to life again, and I 
 could hear his voice and feel anew the inspiration which his thoughts and 
 words imparted. Young and old, lay and clerical, owe you a debt which they 
 can never pay." 
 
 From the Rev. Charles J. Little, D.D., Professor in the Syra- 
 cuse University.—" You have rendered the Church, and especially our 
 younger ministers, a great service in this portraiture of Dr. Durbin." 
 
 From Dr. Henry A. Buttz, President of Drew Theological 
 Seminary.—" I have read with great interest and satisfaction the Life of 
 Dr. Durbin. He was great as a preacher, college president, missionary secre- 
 tary, and you have succeeded in placing him before t:ie reader in all these re- 
 lations with such force and beauty as {■> hold the attention from the beginning 
 to the end of the work. . . . While full of interest to all readers ... it is es- 
 pecially valuable to young preachers . . . and students." 
 
 From Dr. James M. Buckley, Editor of "The Christian Ad- 
 vocate."—" The young ministers of our Church should read Dr. Roche's 
 work. While Dr. Durbin"s life is the center round which the thoughts are 
 gathered the book contains much collateral matter." 
 
 From " The Central Christian Advocate."—" We wish all our 
 people, especially all our young preachers, could read and ponder this marvel- 
 ous life." 
 
 From Dr. Joseph Cummings, President of the North-west- 
 
 TJniversity.— " From personal knowledge of many of the incidents and 
 qualities described I feel prepared to appreciate the great ability displayed in 
 this work. ... In preparing this book Dr. Roche has rendered great service 
 to the Church, and it is to be hoped that those to whom it is dedicated will 
 earnestly study it. Iu doing so they will receive a stimulus to a higher and 
 nobler life." 
 
 From "The Philadelphia Methodist."— " Had Dr. Roche done 
 nothing but produce this work he would deserve to be held in everlasting re- 
 membrance." 
 
 From New England " Yale Review."— "One of the interesting and 
 valuable features of this volume is its discussion of homiletical principles in 
 the light of their concrete manifestation in the subject of this memoir. It, in 
 fact, succeeds iu becoming a valuable contribution to homiletical literature." 
 
 From the " Lutheran Quarterly."—" With his fine subject the author 
 has most successfully achieved his biographical task. . . . Young men, and 
 young ministers especially, will be instructed by it in the secret sources of 
 power and usefulness, and find in it inspiration and stimulation to indus- 
 try, self-reliance, courage, Christian consecration, and fidelity." 
 
 From " The Western Christian Advocate," by Rev. Isaac 
 Crook, D.D.— " I know the fascinations of Hugo and Tolstoi and Macaulay 
 ar.d Motley, Samuel Johnson and Bulwer I.ytton, but here is as fascinating 
 and a more universally commendable book." 
 
 From "Zion's Herald."—" The young ministers of Methodism to whom 
 this volume is dedicated will receive it with pleasure and read it with satisfac- 
 tion, joy, and profit." 
 
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From "The Evangelist."— " We are thankful to the author for his 
 bonk, not only because it paints a consummate master, . . . but also because It 
 revives men and movements in Church and State winch ought not to be for- 
 gotten." 
 
 From "Christian Witness."-" A volume that every Methodist will 
 find great proQt in reading." 
 
 From the "Northern Christian Advocate."— " The work is of 
 special value in the biographical literature of Methodism. ... In the second 
 part we have a valuable discussion of homiletical topics illustrated by the style 
 of Dr. Durbiu's preaching." 
 
 From J. O. Roberts, of Kansas, in " The Christian Advo- 
 cate."—" The book is like a land of springs, planted with goodly trees 
 crowned with a rich foliage, draped and festooned with beautiful and lovely 
 vines." 
 
 From the " Ocean Grove Record." by Dr. Adam Wallace.- 
 " The introduction by Bishop Foster is in itself a treatise of remarkable ana- 
 lytical power. . . . How these burning pages thrill the writer! ... For the 
 success of some books there may be a question. We apprehend nothing of 
 failure in Dr. Roche's brilliant biography." 
 
 From the " Buffalo Christian Advocate."—" It is no ordinary 
 memoir. The biographical part is as charming as a romance, while the hom- 
 iletical section is replete with suggestive, helpful matter to a preacher or pub- 
 lic speaker. It is one of the best books of the kind we know of to place in the 
 hands of a young preacher." 
 
 From Dr. Sims, Chancellor of Syracuse University— " The 
 life of Dr. Durbin up through all its successive stages is an Inspiration to noble 
 young manhood wherever it is known. . . . You have done a valuable service 
 to the Church in the graphic, true, and entertaining biography you have given 
 of this great man." 
 
 From Dr. T. Hanlon, President of Pennington Seminary.— 
 
 "In my class of nearly ninety young men studying for the gospel ministry 
 I have recommended this book as a text-book in homiletics, as well as fur- 
 nishing a graphic and charming picture of one of the greatest preachers 
 in American Methodism. . . . Take him for all in all I have never known his 
 equal." 
 
 From Dr. John Miley, Professor in Drew Theological Sem- 
 inary.— "Our young preachers should take it into their souls. It would 
 greatly help them in their own ministry. No one with a true soul could fail 
 of great profit." 
 
 From Dr. J. O. Peck, Corresponding Secretary of the Mis- 
 sionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.— It will rank 
 with the great biographies of great men. ... Dr. Durbin is known in Meth- 
 odist history as the great Missionary Secretary. You have placed this office 
 under special obligation for the discriminating and masterly portraiture of 
 this distinguished official, . . . this pulpit genius of Methodism." 
 
 In an article over the signatures of Drs. W. Ilerr, J. M. 
 Trimble, and J. F. Marlay the " Western Christian Advocate" 
 says : " We call the attention of all members, and particularly young ministers, 
 to this book as one of the most stimulating and helpful of its class, in our judg- 
 ment, ever written. Young men preparing for the ministry, as well as those 
 already upon their sacred calling, will And the closing chapters ... to be a 
 masterly treatise on sacred eloquence." 
 
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